Luke 12:39-40

Luke 12, I’m reading verses 35 to 40. Our focus is on 39 and 40. Let your loins be gird about, and your lights burning, and you yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He come as shall find watching, Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and he will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and you find them so, blessed are those servants. and this know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered the house to be broken through. But ye therefore, be ye therefore ready also, for the son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. May God bless to us is sacred. and holy word this morning. There was a woman who lived in California all her life, and she says she goes to sleep every night with her shoes and a flashlight tucked under her bed. When she was a child, her father always required every family member to be ready to leave the house if an earthquake were to come during the house. the night. And during a tremor, the windows would get shattered, electricity would be lost, but with shoes you can walk on glass, and with a flashlight you can see in the dark. And the woman said, I never go to bed without my shoes and a flashlight on hand. I’m ready. Jesus has been speaking here to his disciples in particular about his seat. second coming. And the key idea is to be ready and watching for Christ’s coming. There’s a sense in which we too should be prepared, not for an earthquake, so to speak, but for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he has portrayed his coming under two word pictures. The first we looked at last week was to be a servant. It was like a servant being ready for his master who returns from a wedding. You’re told, though, in our text this morning, that Christ is going to come like a thief in the night. Christ promised to return, and that’s what we’re going to look at this morning. Now, you’re told that Christ will come as a thief in the night here in verse 39. This is often used. with regard to Christ coming in some manner. It says here, and this know that the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come. He would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through. In writing to the Thessalonians, it appears that Paul was fully aware of this passage of scripture because he says, Yourselves know perfectly that, that the day of the Lord shall cometh as a thief in the night, 1 Thessalonians 5.2. Now, as you know, thieves don’t give you warning as to when they’re going to come. They secretly come to plunder your house. Here Jesus intimates to us that the house has already been robbed. The homeowner, if he had no. ahead of time would have carefully watched, but he was not aware. He would have taken steps to prevent the robbery from taking place, but he was caught off guard, is the point. I remember when I was 11 or 12 years old, Michael Harry’s house was robbed by professional thieves. Michael was a coin collector. He had many rare and value. coins and he sold them from time to time and this is probably why he was targeted. What the thieves didn’t know that was that he had a safe, a big safe in his house, which they were not able to rob when they first robbed the house. But about two months later, they came back, blew the safe, and and stole its contents. Thankfully, my uncle had removed already all of the most valuable coins and they only got a few hundred dollars that were left in the safe. Now, our family, I think, had a hesitated, a heightened sense of alertness because of this. and it wasn’t long after this that one day a car pulled into our driveway and sat there for a few minutes and then left. And it looked highly suspicious. Perhaps the fees were now going to target our house. Well, that night, I remember my dad put the car in the garage, loaded a rifle, and we sat there in the living in the dark and waited. If the thieves had come, they would have met with a deadly reception by my father. We were alert, and we would have prevented any robbery from taking place, which is the idea here of our text. Since you as a believer have noticed of the Lord’s coming as a thief in the night, you shouldn’t be caught up. off guard. There’s no excuse for you to be unprepared because Christ has warned you and told you. Now, there is complete uncertainty as the time of your Lord’s coming. You’ll notice he says in verse 40, these words, be ye therefore ready also for the son of man cometh at an hour when you think not. As to Christ, literal and personal coming on the last day, you are told by the Savior of that day an hour, knoweth no man, no, not the angels in heaven, nor the son. That is regard to his human nature, that it would have to be made known to him, but the father only, Matthew 2436. After that great event, don’t be deceived by those who provide elaborate calculations pinpointing the exact day that Christ is going to return. We have some would-be prophets making claims that as though we don’t know the day and the hour of Christ’s coming, somehow rather we may know the year, the month, and even the week. that he’s going to come. Well, don’t be taken in by this foolish notion either. You’re assured there are many false prophets for their predictions have proven down through history to be completely erroneous. Every so often someone will still make a new prediction, but don’t be fooled by these predictions. Since you don’t know the day when Christ is going to come. You must live each day an anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ. And when you get up that morning, you need to think, today, may be the day, my Lord may come. And this means we must act in a manner consistent with our profession of faith every day. You must be thinking, what if Jesus, would come. What would he think of me if he were to come? There are some places into which a Christian should not go, but you wouldn’t like your master to find you there. There are some conditions of angry temper, maybe of pride, impatience, laziness, covestness, in which you would not like to be found by your Lord and Master either. There are some types of amusement, amusements and pleasures. You would be ashamed for your Savior to find you indulging should he come. What a check and bridle this is then to us. The Lord’s coming. The Lord’s coming should keep you from strength. from the narrow way. This is exactly what Christ, I think, is teaching here. So act just as you would wish to be acting if Jesus Christ would come and find you and as he suddenly appears before you. There is complete uncertainty as to the time of your Lord’s coming. Being ready for Christ’s return is your duty. This implies, I think first of all, you being in a state of regeneration and pardon. It does no good to know that Jesus Christ is coming if you are unprepared for his coming. How awful to think of your immortal soul hurried before the holy judge of all the earth. And you’re not prepared. for that moment. You cannot be at ease when facing Jesus Christ if you’re an unregenerate state and you’ve never been born of the Spirit. Do not know Jesus Christ as the Savior. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We read about the sons of Eli. how they were sons of Belial, and they did not know the Lord. They certainly were not ready to face him. Blessed is he, the scripture says, whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. But cursed then, is he who has to face a holy God whose sin has not been forgiven. transgression has not been covered. My friend, it is the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s dear son, that cleanses us from all sin. Unless that blood is interposed on your behalf, you will perish in your sins when Christ returns. Remember the gospel is the only method of saving sinners. It’s the only way you can find forgiveness. you need to confess you are a sinner against the Lord that you have broken and disobeyed His commandments. You must renounce all trust and hope in your own good works and depend solely on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the merits of Christ to shed blood and his perfect righteousness to be. say. God then declares your sins and iniquities. Well, I remember no more, Hebrews 8, 12. Blessed are you who are found in Christ, not having your own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which comes from God, and it comes by faith. I read a story about a man who was passing through a village of Suto land, which is in southeast Africa. At least it was a small country there in the past. And he noticed some chickens. And all the chickens had these little red ribbons that were fastened to their backs between their wings. And the people explained that the red ribbons protected the chickens from the vicious hawks, which otherwise would attack them. It seems that hawks are afraid of red ribbons. The blue ribbons, green ribbons, and any other color would not do. If they wanted immunity, they needed the red ribbons. Friends, it’s only by the red ribbon of Christ. atoning blood that we have protection from the wrath of God. Unless we are covered by the red ribbon of Christ’s blood, we are in serious trouble. So are you prepared for Christ’s return? You need to be in a state of regeneration, a state of pardon. Secondly, you need to pursue a holy walk. You ought to live like a servant who expect his master to return. You need to carefully carry out your Christian duties, knowing the Lord will be evaluating everything you’ve done. Therefore, follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, we’re told. Russell read to you from Matthew 24. Versus 45 to 51, where Jesus has the very same theme. And he talks about his servants that are left to take care of his house. And you recall that some of them were faithful and some of them were not faithful. And some of them were not faithful. These two types of servants were awaiting Christ’s return. The faithful servant will be blessed. and rewarded by his master, for he will be found doing what his master has commanded. However, the unfaithful servant does not do what his master’s command has commanded. He thinks to himself, my Lord, delayeth his coming, Matthew 2448, which leads him into all kinds of wickedness. Even the worst kind of wickedness, Jesus mentions drunkenness. and how he abuses the fellow servants. The Lord will severely punish such an unfaithful servant. And remember what Jesus said of him. He’s a hypocrite. He does not live up to his profession of faith. And the Lord will severely punish him. He will be cast into hellfire, into outer darkness, where there’s weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, the Bible says. So take pains to live up to your profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Examine yourself. Make sure you’re not a hypocrite. Else you will perish. So you need to pursue a holy watch, or holy walk. And you must be constantly watchful. The standard of life demanded by Christ is an exceedingly high one. So high that you as a Christian may even despair of obtaining it. But there’s nothing demanded of you that should make you afraid as a believer. Readiness for Christ return to this earth implies nothing impossible or unattainable. It will require a life of repentance, faith, faith and holiness. Repentance, for you will fail at times, and you will fall into sin. But you have a means of being restored and everything made right. Faith? Because you must believe God’s promises and not doubt the truthfulness of Scripture. For if God says to you that He will forgive you, if you you confess your sin and repent of it, then you need to believe him and holiness. For if your faith is genuine, then you will desire to do what the Lord has commanded you to do. And you obey his commands. You will at least be trying to do so. Obviously, we’re never going to reach angelic perfection in our obedience. But the Lord knows whether you are sincere. or not in trying to obey him or whether you’re a hypocrite. So if you are living by faith, you’re looking under Jesus, the author, and finisher of your faith. You’re a person whose loins are girded, whose light is burning, and you earnestly watch for your Savior to come again. So the Lord has told you not only to wait for him, but to watch for him. I suppose there is somewhat of a difference between waiting and watching. We could illustrate it perhaps by a story I heard of a Scottish fishing village. After many days at sea, the skipper of the fishing boat was bringing the craft back home. It would have been gone away from home for months. And if they neared shore, the men gazed eagerly toward the dock. where a group of their loved ones were watching. The skipper looking through his eyeglass identified some of the women. He said, I see Bill’s Mary. There’s Tom’s Margaret and David’s Anne. One man was very anxious because his wife wasn’t seen on the shore. He left the boat with a heavy heart, pressed up the steps. Presta steps up the hill toward his cottage. And you can see there was a light on in the cottage. He opened the door and his wife ran to meet him, saying, I’ve been waiting for you. He replied, yes, but the other wives were watching for them. And she was not. So you may be waiting for Christ coming while you’re preoccupied with the things of this world. You know and believe that Christ is going to return, but you should be watching, eagerly prepared and waiting for him to come back. Well, that woman who lived all her life in California went to sleep every night with a flashlight and her shoes under a bed. She was prepared for an earthquake. Are you living in such a manner that you are prepared for Christ’s return. This is a question it would be good to ask yourself every day. It might keep you from backsliding. And you should not only believe in Christ and love Christ, but also look and long for his coming. Let us close with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that we might be a people ready and prepared for the coming of Christ. our Savior. Bless us and help us, we pray. Let’s stand for the benediction. May the Lord bless his people. Brother, in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit. Amen.