Here He Comes, Ready or Not, Part 1

Today from Chuck Swindoll. They would be. What did you do in your life with Christ. Did you trust him as your Savior or did you reject if you trust in your standing before the Lord sure the blood of Christ is given for you on the cross for your sins and open the door to heaven. You all by his grace, which you do not deserve the Bible clearly teaches that the end of time is come when Jesus will return to earth. We don't know the day or the hour but he's coming again whether or not we are ready today on Insight for living Chuck Swindoll will describe how this reality drives us to make a decision. Teaching for Matthew chapter 24. In this passage we see Jesus teaching his disciples about the last days. His instruction has serious implications for our time, Chuck titled today's message here he comes ready or not disciples for a few moments of quietness and he took advantage of those moments by by teaching them giving him insight they would otherwise never have any chose unusual moments for that as we go through this gospel by Matthew we find him where we are today in the 24th chapter of all places, sitting down on this easy flowing slow of a mountain called the Mount of olives you travel to Israel you will you will visit the Mount of olives. There's a Western slope and after the crest the Eastern and he is moving from Jerusalem, which is on the western side of the bout. He's on his way to the little village of Bethany which is on the eastern side and along the way conversation arises spontaneously as the disciples ask about something regarding the future Jesus. Realizing this is the moment knowing his arrest trials and death will soon come. This is the moment he needs to tell them about things in the future, so he set down and he taught them is called a discourse. Theologians called Matthew 24, 25, the Olivet discourse on the Mount of olives, he taught them. Matthew covers it into chapters and then it's over.

When you read it it it's so intriguing and captivating because it has to do with the future but it's brief, very brief and he doesn't answer all of our questions, he simply like a good teacher lays out the facts and let you wrestle with. Think about where in the middle of that in chapter 24 were in the latter half of the chapter.

It's a long chapter 51 versus so will only take a couple of excerpts for the sake of time, be sure you listen carefully to what Jesus said to his disciples about the future I'll be reading from the new living translation because it is easier to understand for those who are not well acquainted with their Bibles.

My desires always to interest those who don't know a lot about the Bible.

Even though I'm surrounded by many of you whom a great deal but were going to be reading excerpts from Matthew 24.

If your Bible is open. I began reading in verse 29 that will skip a little section and read another few verses. Chapter 24 verse 29 immediately after the anguish of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky and the powers in the heavens will be shaken and then at last the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be D morning among all the peoples of the earth, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send out his angels with a mighty blast of a trumpet and they will gather the chosen ones from all over the world from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven. Verse 37, when the Son of Man returns and will be like it was in Noah's day in those days before the flood. The people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time no one answered his boat people didn't realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away.

That is the way it will be when the Son of Man, two men will be working together in the field. One will be taken.

The other left.

Two women will be grinding flour at the mill. One will be taken and the other left.

So, you too must keep what for. You don't know what day your Lord is coming to study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll. Be sure to download his searching the Scriptures by going to insight world.org/studies. Now the message from Chuck titled here he comes ready or not the return of Christ, never fails to create mixed emotions. For those of us who anticipated. There is great comfort and relief in the thought. Finally, the promises will be fulfilled at last, will be able to see the one we have believed in by faith and we will know him as he is just as he is always known us. However, to those who are not ready for his return. The spectrum is as broad as one extreme to the other there are those who fight against the thought and are skeptical to the core with even the idea that there will one day be an end of the world and the return of Jesus all the way to the start of the passive indifference that that might occur. What difference will it make anyway. I have a friend who was a skeptic before he was a believer and during his years of skepticism. He he sort of kept all religious things at a distance. My safe distance either didn't think about them or if they surface, he would have a quick combat and then would pass it all with little thought any further. He was hitchhiking across America.

A number of years ago and clouds were forming in night was falling and he really did need a ride not only to get to where you want to go ultimately but get in out of the rain. Just as the sprinkles began to fall. A car pulled over and the door flew open and the driver yelled hot and my friend was delighted to get in before the rain. As soon as he got in the rain started pounding the car you said so he just sort of settled into the seat and then was shocked to look in front of him and to see a small card that had been taped to the glove box right in front of it. Read morning in the back of Christ's return. This driver will suddenly disappear and this car will self-destruct at the bottom in bright red handwritten letters.

You better get ready GRT you better get rid last him how he felt rain falling mouth pretty close to nightfall. In these in the car with this fanatic. Is he would call them… Exit while he's driving on the field. I asked and he said well I didn't know whether the right and I will pray or jump. I really didn't know.

So I said what did you do he said you laugh, but the first thing I did was unlock my door. So why would that help if suddenly the whole thing went up in flames. But he said he remembers I engaged him in constant conversation because I thought Jesus won't interrupt our conversation but were talking back and babysit. We talk about everything you can imagine that I kept wondering about Jesus and I Want to stay away from Jesus, but at least he said we were able to talk.

We were we were discussing nonsensical things just to keep talking. Funny how superstitious people can be. As the spectrum runs from one extreme to the other guy couldn't wait for Jesus to come back. Sitting next to him as a man who doesn't have time to even think about it until he reads about it from a card written in front of them there in the car while I was going through these chapters in Matthew 24, 25, I think back over a number of years that I've spent in passages like this that deal with future things and climax with the return of Christ, and I remember being taught carefully by professors at the seminary that took these words seriously as they took all the words of the Bible seriously and I remember having explained to me how the Lord would come in the clouds to read to receive us from the earth as believers would be taken, leaving only earth, only unbelievers to go through what a terrible time of anguish and tribulation that would reach greater intensity toward the latter half of that time and ultimately would wind up with Jesus returning to the earth. There is a difference between his coming in the clouds, often referred to as the rapture of the church which is the next event in the future and is coming to earth to judge the earth and to set up his kingdom where he fulfills his promises to Israel and carries out events that are set forth in prophetic passages like the one were dealing with I also have lived long enough to have heard a lot of foolish predictions. As many of you I I've heard people put literally put dates when Christ would return. I remember back in 1974 I was preaching about Anna Pastor number miles away from where we lived in Rob's ministry who had made an announcement that a certain date, Jesus would, say, May 20, 1975, and I remember waiting until May 21, 1975 and I will and I ask you how you doing because he had predicted Jesus would come on the 20th and and obviously he didn't and I wanted I was reacting. I never heard back from him and others. I could've written you could have who have made predictions. In fact, I did some research and I came up with two pages of predictions where people determine Jesus would come all the way back to 8500 to January 1, 1000 to the year 1415 Joelle Pope Innocent the third.

In the Middle Ages took the number 618 which is the year Islam was founded and he added the number 666 which is the number of the beast and of that came up with 1284 as he claimed would be the year Jesus would return. He didn't and then February 14, 1835 Joseph Smith made his prediction, he was wrong. William Miller made a prediction between 1843 1844 he was wrong.

Another guy us that this was interesting. What worries this awareness in 1998, which was a good year for prophecies, since number 66 6×3 = 1998. Of this, a psychic named Edgar Casey taught that a secret underground chamber would be discovered between the paws of the great Sphinx in Egypt within the chamber would be documents about the history of the lost city of Atlantis and this new revelation would activate the second coming of Jesus. It didn't there was also no document up in the year 2000 number Y2K oh my, how many people predicted Jesus would coming didn't even show fell off the computers we went right on and then Harold camping made his comments in 1994 and on and on and on and on and on it is like you never read Matthew 24, 36 look you read English. All you you're able to read verse 36 just the first few verses.

However, no one knows the day or the hour.

When these things will happen. Not even the angels look at the words know one knows May I give you a tip that kind of insults the intelligence of any thinking person. If you're the teaching of someone sitting dates you're following a false teacher get out, get away from that teacher, he or she is dangerous. They'll tell you other things that are fallacious. No one knows no one will ever know.

That's what God says in his word. Let's believing there are details here that are debatable and if you study, as I've studied it, and continue to study it. I keep coming across the debatable issues and I decided not only do I not want to do it, prophesying which would be ridiculous and wrong.

I don't want to get in it to the end any of the debatable stop because I'm honest with you when Christ has a stand before him here this no one will have to pass a theological theology exam. No one will have to go through Bible quits. No one would ask you how you handle Matthew 24, 25 that will be the issue in eternity it's release you eternity will be what did you do in your life with Christ.

Did you trust him as her Savior. Or did you reject him. What did you do with Jesus.

If you trust in him.

Your standing before the Lord, comfortable, confident in the full assurance that is the blood of Christ that was given for you on the cross that forgave you of your sins and open the door to heaven for you all by his grace, which you do not deserve and will never be able to repay us while you're there are without Christ, as we will emphasize today your future is dreadful beyond imagination.

No one is gifted enough to describe how dreadful your future is and you are a fool to live your life and die in unbelief. I tell you to your face or if you're not here two years I tell you the most intelligent thing you can do is to act by faith and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ's as your Savior and then live a life that honors him.

I'll tell you, you have before you the most marvelous future. Not without its problems, not without surprises. Not without the unexpected things that happen to people regularly, but you will have the inner assurance that if you died that night you would stand completely safe.

Before your God. Now, in light of that, I decided to take a whole different track. What I want to do is simply provide you with six or seven facts based on these two chapters just several facts.

Someone once wrote, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but no one is entitled to his or her own facts. Facts are true, whether you believe the word accept them or not the facts that we believe God's word is God's word. There were several things set forth here. You can count on as fact that's what, to me, is the most important thing we can take from a message like this since he is coming, ready or not he is coming. We just don't know when. So to give you the facts as I see them and they will not be based on superstition or opinion they will be drawn from the scriptures we can, clickable, one, two, three, right down to seven I didn't outline. I completed my this morning. You may want to go through yours as well. The completed septa you.

Fact number one, his delay will be lengthy. I rarely hear people talk about that but I find that that is set for in this. In these chapters, and I think the lesson we learn from it. With each fact to give you lessons another week to take with us the lesson we learn is, let's wait with patient anticipation. Let's wait causes delay will be quite some time between when he said it and what it would occur. In fact, we know now it would be essentially the time Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 24, 25 until he returns for his own will be centuries. Now we believe is closer than ever. Of course we believe it's eminent to be at any moment he can come for us and take us to be with him, leaving unbelievers on this earth. Look at 24, 36, again, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen. Not even the angels look at 24 verse 30 and then at last the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear at last, sounds like time doesn't. When I read that I think of it when we say to someone, you're here, at last, meaning you've waited a while sometime a long time. Your home from the war.

At last you made it home safely. At last there will be a delay in the delay will be lengthy but don't let the length of the delay make you think it won't happen. Peter writes about this. Check it out for yourself. Second Peter three in verse eight God's timing is totally different from our timing one day is as a thousand years with the Lord so the Lord's plan is just when he's ready to send his son Gibson. Not until halfway through a message Chuck Swindoll titled here he come ready or not, is just one portion of her comprehensive study through the entire book of Matthew. Let me urge you to join us again next time to hear more about the return of Jesus Christ. Right here on Insight for living. To learn more about Chuck in this ministry. Please visit us online@insightworld.org. In the meantime were pleased to remind you, Chuck Swindoll writes a daily devotional that sent via email. And there's no cost to receive it is practical. Writings cover a variety of issues that will help you merge biblical truth with the realities of your life to receive this devotional email from Insight for living. Just follow the simple instructions@insight.org/devotional now to receive a physical devotional book when you can hold in your hands will direct you to another resource from Chuck. It's a daily devotional called God's word for you about this book, Chuck said it's easy to spend our days seeking to be entertained.

There something that satisfies the soul much more fully when we think deeply and nourish our souls with spiritual truth to purchase a copy of this 30 day devotional go to insight.org/off in the let me add that when you give a donation to insight for living your gift empowers us to provide Chuck Bible teaching provide a free resource sent out as well. I just I know the said Chuck you have no idea how much I needed to read your devotional today was as if you wrote it straight to me. Thank you, thank you but to support insight for living ministries with again. Here's another call if you listening in the US dial 1-800-772-8888 or give a donation online, go to insight.org the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll message theory comes ready or not, was copyrighted in 2017 and 2021 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. all rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited