Standing in Readiness

Today we're going to look at Luke chapter 17, 22 through 22, standing in readiness. There are four points, and I'm going to be brief about these today because of everything else going on, but there are four points of end time posturing that we're going to look at. longing for Jesus' return, discerning the end times, living in readiness, and avoiding the vultures. Those will be the four things that we look at today. So let's bow together and ask the Lord to help us study His Word at this time. Lord, Your Word is truth. And we stand on the truth in this place. And Lord where we might not understand some things It is amazing how you bring revelation When we seek your face Lord we pray for earnest hearts in this place Hearts that are open to the Holy Spirit Hearts that are willing to be touched by the word of God Lord we trust you And we love you in Jesus name Amen Alright let's look at this real quick let's read through it and then I'll make some points about it today starting with verse 22 and he said to the disciples the day shall come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it and they will say to you look there, look here Do not go away or do not run after them. For just as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day. Boy, could we sink hours into that, huh? But first, he must suffer many things. and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating. They were drinking. They were buying. They were selling. They were planning. They were building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, It rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. Makes me shaking my boots. On that day, let not the one who is on the housetop or whose goods are in the house go down to take them away And likewise let not the one who is in the field turn back Remember Lot wife Whoever seeks to keep his life shall lose it And whoever loses his life shall preserve it. I tell you, on that night, there will be two men in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place. One will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other will be left. And then he concludes with this. People go, what in the world? In answering, they said to him, we're Lord. And he said to them, Where the body is, there also will be the vultures gathered. Longing for Jesus. In verse 22, And he said to his disciples, The day shall come When you will long To see one of the days of the Son of Man And you will not see it At least not immediately Posturing in expectation I want you to write that in your minds Posturing An expectation Jesus is saying This should be the norm For his followers But they're not going to see That physical kingdom set up immediately Because he's initiating That spiritual kingdom Other things must occur Before he returns To be the king of the kingdom But listen to me He does not dismiss The posturing of longing Or expecting You hear that? Colossians 3.2 I'm going to read that to you in a minute But let me make this statement Of one of the guys I read this week He said this is the tension we experience as believers living in the already but not yet. Now sink your teeth into that. Living in the already but not yet. Now that's talking about the physical kingdom not yet here but the spiritual kingdom is an already experience in our lives. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We can walk in the heavenlies now, guys. I want you to understand that. Jesus is not dismissing that we should posture ourselves and longing and expectation. Colossians 3, 2. If then you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your mind on the things above not on the things of this earth You see, he's telling us to posture ourselves in the expectation of heavenly revelation that will culminate at his return. And I'm telling you, we can live in the heavenlies now. We get a glimpse into the heavenlies now. We are kingdom people We're not worldly, earthly people any longer We are kingdom people In 1 John 3 verses 2-3 And you know we know who John is John is the prophet of the end times isn't he He wrote a whole book about it Listen to what he said in 1 John 3, 2-3 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this, underscore these words, hope, fix on him. Purifies himself just as he is pure. Where's the focus there? Our eyes, our hope, our spiritual hearts are fixed upon him. That is the posture of expectation. That's the posture of true believers on this earth today. We are posturing ourselves looking for his return. Secondly, discerning the end times Verse 23 And they will say to you Look there Or look here Do not go away Do not run after them Don't get caught up in following them That's what he's saying here You keep looking up Don't get out of your posturing stance You know, too often the church has got out of its posturing stance. We've got our eyes down here instead of up there. I want to tell you, when you bring heaven into the church, then down here will change. We must keep our eyes, our posture up there. He says, don't run here or there listening to false prophets. The Bible's very clear that the father knows the timing of the son's return. Only him. The son didn't even know the exact time. But mark my word. His next return will be unmistakable. Unmistakable. Revelations 1-7. Behold he is coming with the clouds And every eye Will see him Every eye even those who pierced him It will be unmistakable, guys. If I'm postured and looking, I won't see it. Verse 24 here says, and we understand this in West Texas, for just as light as light when it flashes out of one part of the sky shine to the other part of the sky so will the Son of Man be in his day. You know, I can remember just when I was a little bitty boy and the storms had rolled up and we were standing out in our driveway there in Lorenzo and looking, in fact it was the night that, in 1971 when Lubbock was hit by at least five tornadoes and Lorenzo's 20 miles east and literally we were standing in our driveways and could see all of this back to the west. And you could see that lightning just striking across and where it started and where it ended. The Son of Man will be seen like that. he will come in his glory now there's a lot of debate here about that you're going to find out when we get to Luke chapter 21 that I'm pretty much a pre-trib guy that he's going to come in the clouds and he's going to take his church home and I'm not going through that seven years of tribulation and then he will return and he will put his foot on the mountain of God in the second coming. But it will be unmistakable. Every eye will see him. Every eye. Thirdly, living in readiness. Verse 26. And verses 28 and 29 and 34. These are examples. Let me just read these to you. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the Son of Man. What's that? We know the story of Noah, don't we? You know, he's out there building this ark, and I'm telling you, everybody's going about their daily affairs, and they're looking and said, what's that old fool doing? And Noah was a preacher. I'm sure he's telling them what he's doing and why he's doing it. But they wouldn't listen. They would not get ready for what was fixing to happen. Now we must posture ourselves for readiness. Verses 28 and 29. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating and drinking and buying and selling and planning and building. But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. They were going about their regular business ignoring the signs of the times. When we get over in Luke 21 and we'll drop back in Matthew 24, we'll identify the signs of the times. And guys, we're living in them right now today. I tell you, on that night, there will be... Two men, one in bed, one will be taken. One will be taken, one will be left. He makes the same analogy of two women working at the grist mill, or two farmers in the field. One will be taken, and one will be left. Now, I'm telling you where I've got my posture, I'm taken. I have, there is no reason for a Christian to be fearful of what's going to come. Hear what I'm saying? You can, you can solidify that on this earth today. And you know when he returns, you're going. In Matthew 24 In the Olivet Discourse In the section on Watchfulness in verse 42 It says this Therefore Be on alert For you do not know Which day your Lord Is coming Be ready Be on alert Trim those lamps You see what I'm saying? We need to live in readiness. If you're postured, you're living there. Avoiding the vultures. I really had fun studying this. Avoiding the vultures. In answer then, they said to him, where Lord? Where's all this going to take place? And he said to them where the body is there also will be the vultures. Now I'm an old boy scout. I grew up scouting. And I saw lots of vultures. If you live in West Texas you've seen vultures in action, haven't you? What do vultures prey on? Death, don't they? They prey on death I did a little study about vultures Vultures are not tacked birds They're not going to fly down and attack you. In fact, they're quite passive. But they prey on what's dead. In Colossians 2, Colossians 3, I read to you the first part in verse 2 a minute ago intentionally I want you to listen to all of it though set your minds on the things above and not on the things of the earth for you have died and you are hidden in Christ in God when Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed in his glory. Now you know what that says to a West Texas mind right there? You're not a dead piece of meat. You are hidden and alive in Christ. When I was 20 years old on my knees I finally postured myself in my bedroom by myself after a whirlwind of sinning terrible sinning more than I ever thought I'd ever do I postured myself And in that room looking to Jesus Discerning my lostness without him And committing my readiness to follow him Thus avoiding the vultures of sin and shame I got converted and it stuck it wasn in a big revival it wasn in a church meeting It wasn under great evangelists I was in the presence of Jesus. And when Jesus walks in, what goes on in your heart will stay forever. Now I thought how do you conclude this sermon Well verse 25 He stuck it in there on purpose But first he must suffer many things And be rejected By this generation You know I ask myself the question Why did he fit this truth in the midst of this passage. Y'all remember that old song we used to sing? I owed a debt I could not pay. He paid the debt he did not owe. I needed someone to wash my sins away. Before all this was to take place, Jesus had to be crucified. we're going to study in more detail the second coming but the second coming means nothing if I don't know the Lord who's coming he paid my debt on the cross he said it is finished the Greek word there is tell tell us die it's a banking term which means your debt is paid in full it a happy day when you get debts paid off isn it And you know what's so interesting about this? In 1 Corinthians 11, 26, talking about Holy Communion, this is what Paul wrote. for as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes until he returns that's the best sermon of all isn't it and he proclaims it through us in the drama of holy communion when I wrote when I got to that in this sermon I just got on my knees and wept because I thought I'm kind of like those people in Lots and Noah's day I get so busy about all of this stuff that I get out of my posture of looking up so when we come to take Holy Communion today Maybe you need to get repostured That make sense to you? Maybe you need to refocus On what's most important Jesus is the king And the kingdom glory glory glory glory amen