23 Jan

12/2/18    MATT. 24:36-44       “ARE YOU READY FOR JESUS?”

This is the time of the Christian year when we get ready for Christmas and we call this season Advent.  It is a time when we look forward to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Christmas has lost some of its meaning over the years due to the commercialization of the holiday.  Personally I have no problem with the giving and receiving of gifts as long as we are doing it for the right reasons.  We could really take a lesson from the children in this.  In case you haven’t noticed, they get pretty excited for Christmas.  Sometimes they cannot even contain themselves and it’s a fun time to be around them.  It doesn’t take much on the parent’s part to channel this excitement to Jesus.  All you have to do is tell them that all these presents are from Jesus.  After all this is true.  All good things come from Him, so let’s give Him the credit.  Anyway, today we are going to look at how we are to get ready for this wondrous event.  Let’s see if we can give Jesus the credit for everything everywhere all the time.

I’m going to begin today with a little American history.  We have to remember that this country was founded on the Bible and its principles.  Back during the Revolutionary War in the spring of 1780, the Connecticut House of Representatives was in session when suddenly the sky overhead was ominously dark. In fact the atmosphere became so scary that some of the representatives feared the end of the world was at hand. Some clamored for the assembly to adjourn immediately.  At that point – a Colonel Davenport rose from his seat and said these words,        “The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought.”  He was saying that they were ready for Jesus to come a second time.  You can be too.

This is where we are today only many don’t have their faith to fall back on.  That is why I will always preach the truth as it’s found in the Bible because anything else is just a lie.  So as we begin we find that Jesus is giving his listeners a little history.  This is a technique that Paul and others would use later.  I have also found that it’s a very effective way to preach.

Jesus begins by talking about Noah. I think that we all know the story pretty well but I’m going to go into it a little because if it’s important enough for Jesus to talk about, then it’s important enough for me to review.  You can find this story in the Bible in Genesis 5-9.  First of all, I would like to say that the great flood really happened.  We know this for several reasons.  First is the fossil record.  There have been many places where much older fossils are found many layers above the newer ones.  The only way this could happen was if something very forceful, like a flood, came along, stirred up the fossils so much that they ended up in a different order than where they originally fell.  It is quite logical that older fossils would end up above the newer ones.  The question is ‘what made these things happen?’  Some sort of flood is a likely explanation because this can be seen to happen when we have modern floods.

Another reason I know that this great flood happened just the way it’s described is because all the ancient religions talk about a great flood.  If you research this you will find that there is a version of the great flood in all our ancient ancestral beginnings.  I’m not one who is going to argue with what every person of ancient times knew.

The last reason I will bring to us today, is that Jesus tells us.  I know for a fact that whatever Jesus tells us is true.  This is a major sticking point for most of the world today.  Especially in this country, we are so caught up in thinking that we as individuals are always right.  We have raised a generation that is never wrong.  They don’t believe in Jesus Christ as presented in the Bible.  Rather they believe in Jesus as they, we, you see fit to define Him.  This is absolutely wrong.  Just because we pass laws saying we can do certain things doesn’t make them right!  We have brought on all sorts of trouble because of this.  I could spend the rest of our time today talking about this but that isn’t what Jesus would want us to dwell upon.

Jesus is telling us that the people before the flood were eating, drinking and marrying up to the day that Noah entered the ark.  Life was the usual for them as they continued their lives and made fun of Noah.  It will be the same way when Jesus comes back again.  I feel so bad for all the people who are in false churches.  These are led by so-called pastors who don’t even believe in the Bible.  If you don’t believe me think about this.  There are many pastors who don’t believe in the virgin birth.  There are even more that don’t believe in heaven and hell.  It’s no wonder that most people have never heard a sermon on either of these topics.  But the most telling is that most pastors in this country don’t believe in the first 2 chapters in Genesis where the creating of the earth and Adam and Eve are described.  My answer to these people is this question.  If you don’t believe in Genesis, then what else don’t you believe?  Therefore why don’t you just tear out the parts of the Bible that you don’t believe?  These types of pastors are heretics and should be banned from the pulpit.  Anyway, I digress.

These are the things that will happen when Jesus returns.  You will have friends and neighbors who will be left behind as you are taken to be with Jesus.  Jesus has been absolutely fair about all of this.  It’s your decision as to where you will spend eternity.  If you just think that you will be going to the right place, then you might be wrong.  You are able to know this with absolute certainty.  All you have to do is ask Jesus to live in your heart and He will give you the assurance that you will be in heaven.  It is that simple.  All you have to do is put your total faith in Jesus and believe that He is exactly who He said He is.  All this goes along with the theme of this sermon.  You need be ready.  This is Advent.  This is the time when we are to be getting ready for the birth of Jesus Christ.  This is the time when we should be ready to face the second coming of Jesus.

By getting ready we are to keep watch for the signs of things to come.  This is why so many people feel that we are now in the end times.  As I have said last week and the week before, this may be true but it also may not be true.  Jesus puts this in very easy terms and He does this more than once.  We do not know the hour of His return.  As a matter of fact, no one knows except God.  The angels don’t know.  Jesus doesn’t know.  So who in the world do we think we are that we know or think we know that these are the end times?

One of the reasons Jesus refers to Noah is this.  Did Noah know the flood was coming?  Of course he did.  The only problem was that he didn’t know when the flood was coming.  Noah had total faith in God.  He and his family continued to work on the ark even though all the other people were making fun of him.  Those others continued to revel in their evil ways.  These ways would soon be their undoing.  They would all be lost and only Noah and his family would survive.  Noah’s family did these things because of their love for God.  God promised them wondrous things and they believed.

This is what we hold onto also.  God has promised you many things and He will deliver if only you believe.  During this advent season I would like each of you to take a little inventory of what God has promised you.  I’m sure you will be like me and find that some of the promises haven’t come true yet.  Sometimes when this happens I find that I haven’t been obedient.  I haven’t followed Jesus and His ways.  I am the one who is at fault when I find the promises haven’t been kept.

Jesus Christ loves you so much that He sent His only Son to be born of the Virgin Mary so many years ago.  This is your focus during this season.  You are to be focused on the baby Jesus and what He will eventually do for you.  Just think about how innocent that baby was so many years ago.  Think about the people that hated Him before He was able to do anything.  He was just a baby and Herod already hated Him.  People, babies are innocent!

I think that one of the most important things to remember in all of this is that you are watching for God and not just waiting.  There is a difference between watching and waiting as can be seen in this story as told by Jerry Shirley.  A man worked on a riverboat for 30 days at a time, and couldn’t wait to return home. As the boat approached his home port the captain announced, “Your wives are gathered on the dock! There’s Bob’s Mary, and there’s Tom’s Betty, etc…” One man was disappointed because his wife wasn’t there. He caught a ride home w/ another couple. He walked in to his house and there was his wife, who smiled and hugged him and said, “Hey there, I’m so glad you’re home! I’ve been waiting for you.” He replied, “Yeah, but the other guy’s wives were watching for them.”  What I’m trying to say is that if you are going to be ready then you have to watch, just waiting won’t do.  In the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 waited but didn’t get ready.  The other 5 watched and as they watched they got ready.

People, this is the God of the universe we are talking about.  He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords.  He is the maker of everything in the sky.  All the planets and all the stars were made by Him.  He made all the earth and everything that we take for granted like just the perfect mixture of air and water.  He even put all the cells together to make our bodies and our plants.  He made everything big and small. He is everything to us whether we acknowledge it or not.  All He asks is that you watch and be ready for His return.  This isn’t much.  Many of you are ready and that is good.  For others, get ready because when you do you will be on your way to the greatest adventure of your life.  You will find peace for the first time in your life.  You will find love that you have never imagined before.  Jesus Christ is the absolute mainstay of our lives.

And the best part is that He loves you.  Oh, He loves all of us but He wants to focus on you and help you to be ready.  I love this story from Charles Swindoll, who is a wonderful teacher of the Bible plus a very good preacher.   He tells of the time he worked for a few years in a machine shop. He said there was a man there named George whose job was to sweep up the shavings from under the lathes and other machines they were running.  It was a dirty job.  He said “George was born again, and he loved the teaching of Scripture. I remember hearing him sing hymns as he worked. Many of them had to do with the coming of Christ, such as “In the Sweet By and By” and “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.”

It was late one Friday afternoon about 10 minutes to quitting time when they were all tired and ready to get out of there. Swindoll looked at George and said, “George, are you ready?”

He said “Uh-huh.”  But he was all dirty. He was obviously not ready. In fact, he looked like he was ready to keep on working.

I said, “Aren’t you ready to go home?”

He said, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

I said “Look at you! Man, you’re not ready. You’ve gotta go clean up.”

“No,” he said, “let me show you something.”  So he unzipped his coveralls and underneath was the neatest, cleanest clothes you can imagine.  He had them all ready. All he did when the whistle blew was just unzip and step out of his coveralls, walk up and punch his clock and he was gone.

He said, “You see, I stay ready to keep from gettin’ ready – just like I’m ready for Jesus!”

That’s what Jesus is telling us in Matthew 24: Get ready or be ready so you can keep from having to get ready when Jesus comes.

Getting ready for Christmas is as easy as just remembering who is in charge of everything.  It’s as easy as getting a present for someone who least expects it.  It’s as easy as loving the people around you.  Jesus gives us this love so we can give it to someone else.  He is the reason for this season!  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.