Sermons

It is good to be together with God's people on the Lord's Day. And before we begin, I want to just encourage you again to be at the fellowship next week, the church picnic. It's going to be a great time of fellowship. I can tell you that because it's going to be my first time, so I'm going to enjoy it. So, if you haven't been to one, join me in being new at these things. But I hear it's always been a great time to be together. Obviously to be over at the new property will be a huge blessing as well, but just to be with God's people is... great on a Sunday morning already, and then to have that extra time next week will be amazing. Also, I'm a messenger of good news.

Mark said to sign up by today. My boss, Becca, our admin help, she told me Monday was the due date. So just a little grace extended. Just sign up if you could online. It'll give us a head count, but it'll help us to also just pray this week toward that time next week. So just sign up for that and be there if you would next Sunday afternoon. I invite you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter 21. We will continue our study in the book of Luke. And we come to the end of chapter 21. Luke 21 will be in verses 29 to 38 this morning. We continue in the Olivet Discourse.

Jesus is teaching during the last week of His life, and really Jesus' teaching expounding on and clarifying the significance of His life and His ministry and what He was about to go do as He headed toward the cross. Andrew, these past couple of weeks, has taken us on the sort of tour de force through the Olivet Discourse, through the intricacies of Jesus' teaching about, if you remember, the 70 AD temple destruction, and also the coming of the Son of Man. These two, at that time, future events that in our reading and in our minds are so often lumped together, but clearly, we've seen they're two distinct events. Kind of like, it's described often, prophecy is two mountain peaks on the same range where it's hard to see any difference from afar. But we've seen with our study these past two weeks not only the great distance between them in terms of time, but the great significance of each of those events.

And so, this morning we come to the end of Jesus's sermon, and in these verses, Jesus turns the corner and gives us some application as to what He has been teaching about. And this morning I almost feel bad, almost, because Andrew has done all of the heavy lifting, and we get to glean from this very practical instruction in Jesus' teaching, sort of the conclusion to His sermon here in Luke 21.

As we've considered these events in Luke 21, both for us here today, past, 70 AD, and future, the coming of the Son of Man, I believe that Jesus, what He says here, helps us today, this morning. And so, if you're not already there, turn to Luke 21, and I invite you to stand as we read God's Word. Luke 21, we'll be in verses 29 to 38, but for context, let's start at verse 25. Luke 21, beginning in verse 25:

(Scripture reading) "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth, distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.

For the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. Verse 29, and he told them a parable. Look at the fig tree and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Verse 34,) But watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.

And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning, all the people came to him in the temple to hear him."

Let's pray.

(Prayer) Father, thank You for Your Word. Would You work in our hearts and in our lives this morning, open our ears to hear and our eyes to see. Would You do so by Your Spirit in Jesus' name? Amen. (End)

You may be seated.

I want you to think of the last time that you were waiting for somebody that you hardly knew. Maybe for some of you, it was a blind date. That's right, don't make eye contact, it's okay. For some of you, it may have been at the airport, picking up a friend's friend. Maybe for some of you, it was, and for a lot of you, it was a Facebook Marketplace deal. And you were just trying to get rid of that old thing for $20, and you'd take 10 if they offered it. Think of the last time you were waiting for somebody that you hardly knew. Compare that with the last time you were waiting for somebody that you not only knew, but that you loved dearly. Maybe again, for you, some of you, it was a date.

And they're running a little late. Maybe for some of you, you were at the airport and you were picking up not just your friend's friend, but a family member or a dear friend. Or maybe it was someone at the church you were waiting for and they were running late and you weren't trying to sell them something, but you were trying to give them something, bless them with something that you needed to pass off at the coffee shop to them.

In Luke 21, we are reminded that we are waiting. We're waiting, not for someone we hardly know, not even just for someone that we love, but we are waiting for our Savior, Jesus. We are waiting for the One that we worship. We are waiting for the One that we live for and the One that we long for. Titus 2 describes us as waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And yet, you and I would both admit, we don't know what to do with that sometimes. Because Jesus coming back, that sounds great. His coming kingdom, that sounds great. We long to rule and reign with Him in eternity. But what exactly do we do until then? How do we, as verse 28 says, how do we straighten up and raise our hearts? How do we look up?

We don't know exactly what it looks like to wait, and so sometimes that causes us not to long for it like we should. I believe we don't long for Jesus's coming like we should because we don't know exactly what waiting should look like. So often we live the Christian life reportedly waiting for Jesus's return. But there's a disconnect, right? Because we worship Jesus on a Sunday morning. We gather and we worship Jesus. We pray and we pray to live for Jesus. And yet Jesus, He is up in heaven at the Father's right hand and eternity seems so far off.

So, waiting becomes what we know to do. Waiting becomes stewardship and efficiency in this life. Doing the best with what our hands bring ourselves to do. That's waiting, faithfully, is grabbing on to what we have in this life and being a good steward. Waiting becomes bearing with the pains of this life faithfully and trusting God through them. Waiting becomes enjoying as many of the pleasures that He's designed for us as possible in a responsible way. Waiting becomes, for some of us at times in life, just surviving.

And amen, that is what faithful waiting is indeed. But waiting is much more than that, and waiting is much more immediate than that, and I believe that's what we'll see in our text this morning. Here in Jesus's words, we see how to wait for the kingdom. Three instructions for us. As we wait for the coming of the Son of Man, this is how we wait.

Know that God is working (v. 29–33)

First in verses 29 to 33, we see an instruction, and the instruction is this. Know that God is working. Know that God is working. In this first section of what is a conclusion to a sermon here, Jesus reinforces what He's been teaching, and He does so in a familiar way. He does so with a parable. You can think of this as if Luke 21 is an entire sermon, this is Jesus's closing illustration. Look again at verses 29 to 31, and he told them a parable.

Look at the fig tree and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Jesus is illustrating what these things are like. And these things are, verses 25 and on, the description of the things that must take place, the signs of the end times.

And Jesus points to a familiar illustration because probably there was a fig tree right next to Him. And so, Jesus points to the fig tree. And then He also says, to capture all the attention of all the people, and for us today, He says, look at all the trees. He broadens it. And Jesus uses this very familiar, relatable, almost truism of a truth to say that when you see a tree have leaves, you know what's coming next.

Summer. Now, my family and I, we got here in the summer. We got here in June. And all of you kept saying, hey, don't worry, it's going to cool down. Hey, don't worry, it's going to cool down. And then some of you would add, because you're meteorologists at night and have day jobs, you would say, hey, don't worry, it'll rain and then it'll cool down. You know what comes after the rain is cooler weather.

Jesus is saying, after you see leaves on a fig tree, or any tree, you know what's coming is summer. And so, there's a parallel He's drawing, just like you can count on the seasons and the signs. When all these things that Jesus has described occur, you will know that the kingdom of God is at hand. Now, verse 31, that phrase, you know, that the kingdom of God is near. If you have an ESV, it says, you know, it's a statement, a fact. It's, for us grammar nerds, present indicative. It's, though in Greek, you can translate it, that form, two different ways. It could be you know, present indicative, or you know, imperative. In other words, Andrew quoted the Message translation last week, so I can quote the LSB.

The LSB says, know that. In other words, you should know that. You need to know that. And then command form, know that the kingdom of God is at hand. When you see these things, know this. I like what the NASB says, or the CSB, they say, recognize the kingdom of God is near. I think that's the most helpful, most accurate way to understand this as an imperative. Know this truth, recognize this truth when you see the signs, that the kingdom of God is at hand, that the Son of Man is coming.

But what Jesus is saying here in broader form is that this is God working. What God has said He would do will come to pass. The kingdom He has promised to His people, generation after generation throughout their history, will be established. And when you see these signs that we've been studying the past couple of weeks, know for a fact that it's going to happen. And why? Brothers and sisters, it's because God is at work. The God who never lies is at work. The ever-faithful God is at work. The all-powerful God who accomplishes what He has said is at work. He has promised and it will come to pass.

The God who made the sun and moon and hung the stars in the sky will shake and dim the powers of the heavens, like Luke 21 says. The God who made the sea and everything in it will cause the roaring of the sea and the waters, like Luke 21 says. The God who set apart land from sea will shake the earth. The God who made man in His own image will cause man to faint with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world. The God who provides for every living thing and who owns the cattle on a thousand hills will bring famine and pestilence in those days.

The God who formed the nations and directs its leaders like streams in His hands will set nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom. All these things by the hand of the living God will be signs that the kingdom is near and the Son of Man will come. His kingdom will come.

So often, we think of the end times and the signs of the end times and everything that seems to need to happen before it all comes to fruition. We think of it like some kind of code to crack or a puzzle to put together that some of you have most of the pieces for. We think of it as a timeline to be filled in that we paste into the back of our Bibles. But Jesus is saying simply, know this. Be sure of this. Get it in your brain and in your heart that this will happen. Turn your attention, yes, but turn your affection toward this truth and know for a fact that God is working. Look at verse 32:

Jesus says, truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. It's a statement that sounds a little funny at first. Sounds like Jesus is promising those right in front of Him that this is going to happen. And us, this side of the cross, think, wait a minute, this hasn't happened though, and there's various interpretations of faithful men and women who have taken this phrase to mean different things, but I think the best, the simplest, and the most straightforward to understand in a literal way would be to understand this phrase, this generation, not as thinking about a people group, not as thinking about that first generation with Jesus, but to think about the proximity of the signs with the actual coming of the kingdom of God.

That is to say, between the signs of the kingdom and the kingdom itself, it happens fast. It happens with this generation. The same generation that sees the signs, well, this generation will also experience the coming of the Son of Man. And so, the instruction for whatever generation that sees these signs, it is to see these signs and know that in that same generation, the kingdom will come. Now, saints, we don't know. This generation could be us.

But for us, regardless of whether we are this generation or not, it is for us to know that a faithful God is indeed at work. And He is and always has been working through redemptive history to establish this kingdom and call many out of darkness and into marvelous light. It's for us to know and be sure that God will be faithful to all His promises.

And yes, to know God is working is to study and to explore eschatology. It is to know and it is to study and know more. Indeed, but it's not for us to pick apart current events or install a seismograph in your den. No one knows the day or the hour. If you are His, it is simply this, to know that God is working and then to deepen your trust in Him.

Understand this, this is something that Yahweh, God, has promised for generations and generations. We think with one flip of the Bible, that was just earlier in the book. But that is hundreds of years that God had promised that, and now Jesus, in the first century, promises again. And Jesus here layers assurance upon assurance. Look at verse 33.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. These words are reminiscent of words that you should recognize, but the disciples and those listening would have not only recognized, but would have known with their hearts. Isaiah 40:8, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endures forever. Isaiah 55:11, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. God had said in the Old Testament that His kingdom would come, accomplished through the person and work of this Son of Man. And Isaiah was the suffering servant. And here in Luke 21, our perfect Savior Jesus, who is the Son of Man, the suffering servant, He reaffirms and renews that very same word.

And so church family this morning, know that God is working. And to know that God is working is to want to know even more. To know that God is working is to trust Him. To know that God is working is to rejoice. Friends, this is assurance for troubled souls. This is patience. You and I should be lent as we watch the clock on all the plates that we spin in our lives. Know that God is working and trust the God who is working.

Live vigilantly to the end (v. 34–36)

There's a second truth we need to see, a second instruction we need to see in verses 34 to 36. It's this, live vigilantly to the end. Live vigilantly to the end.

Jesus here in effect is saying, it is not enough to simply know God's plan and be aware of what will happen. It's something we know from Scripture. It's never enough to know simply the truth, to just know it in our heads and maybe in our hearts. James 1, be doers of the word and not hearers only, otherwise you're deceiving yourselves. Well here, Jesus' instruction hones in on this principle. It's not enough to know that God is working, and that as the time for the kingdom is drawing near that you'll see signs and that God will follow through with His great plan. It's good, know it, but it's not enough only to know it.

You must also live in light of that beautiful reality. Jesus speaks to how to live in light of the end. Look at verse 34. But watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. This is a call to awakeness. This is a call to alertness, to being watchful. There's a translation called the NET. It says, be on your guard. This is Jesus calling you and I to live vigilantly. My kids are involved in youth baseball. And if you know anything about youth baseball, it's glorified babysitting. Often. I'll admit it.

But as the kids get older and as they get coached up on all the different things they need to do, all the different places they need to stand, move in, move out, stay down on the ball, one of the key things in almost every kind of defense or offense instruction is to be in a ready stance.

You know this, not on your heels, of course not picking daisies, but again, not on your heels. Be on the balls of your feet, whether it's in the batter's box, or getting ready for a ground ball, or getting ready to go back on a fly ball. Be in a ready stance. Be in a forward posture. Have some sort of urgency and readiness to the way that you're looking for the ball. Well, this is what we're seeing here. Guard yourself as being in a ready stance. There's a purpose to this. There's an avenue to this. There's a specific channel to this.

Guard yourself, not just in general, but guard yourself, look at what Jesus says, lest your hearts be weighed down. Guard yourself from your heart being burdened. Guard yourself from your heart being dulled. Guard your heart from being overcome. Jesus is saying, in regards to your attention to and your affection for the kingdom of God and eternity with Jesus, don't get bogged down. Don't be burdened by what this world has to offer. Don't get overtaken by other things. Well, what are those other things? Look again at verse 34. Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life.

It's an interesting list, isn't it? Some of you immediately think, amen and amen, the Lord has saved me from a past where those were struggles. Some of you immediately think, I've never struggled with that, so I guess I can move on. And yes, well, what Jesus is saying here certainly includes literal dissipation and drunkenness. It's more than just that. What Jesus is identifying here in our hearts is a tendency to be enraptured, to be, in a sense, drunken with this life. This life, not the next. We have a tendency to let our emotional and mental faculties to be captured by the pleasures, yes, but also the pains of our earthly existence. We have a tendency to let our hearts be weighed down by this world and this life.

We are often so overcome by the things of this life, where dissipation is the drunken kind of nausea that you might get, or a headache. That's the kind of pain that comes with this earthly existence. Drunkenness in the Greek means drunkenness. It's the stupor that comes from drinking too much alcohol.

And with that is not just the pain of it, but the lack of control, the lack of self-control. So often we can't help ourselves in this life, not just with good things, pleasurable things, but with even things that pain us. We have a lack of control and self-control. And Jesus then broadens it, so helpfully, the worries of this life, that phrase there, it's the cares and anxieties, the attachments that we have, again, to this life, not the next. It might be responsibilities, even good things, but we have a certain sense of possessiveness with them that causes us to be attached in such a way that Jesus is saying, let go, guard yourself, do not be overcome. You can be so weighed down by life here and now and all that it has to offer and all that it amounts to in the cares and concerns that come with it that you forget the reality of His kingdom come. You can live so much like a citizen of your country or your state that thinks it's a country that you forget your heavenly citizenship. This idea of your heart being weighed down is what Jesus also describes in verse 36 as falling asleep.

Some of you identify right now with that. It's all good. We can reconcile after the service. And Jesus says, and here's the solution. Here's how to live vigilantly. Look at verse 36. But stay awake at all times. And here's how, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man. We are to pray. We are to pray for two things, that we would have strength and that we would stand before the Son of Man. We'll get to that in a second.

You and I, we all know the feeling of drifting off to sleep. Sometimes on purpose, and sometimes you are a victim of that comfy couch in your living room. Sometimes it's on purpose, hopefully not right now. And we all have our antidotes to the sleepiness that comes upon us.

Coffee is a favorite. Tea in the afternoon. Maybe it's gum or a mint that's so strong it jolts you awake. Some of my friends in college would use Burt's Bees and put it under their eyelids. Never tried it. Apparently, it works. Some of you, and there's none this morning right now, but you go to the back of the room and you stand up, right? Stay awake. There are antidotes for sleepiness.

Jesus is saying, stay alert, stay awake at all times, and the antidote He gives us is something we far too often work right past, and its prayer. Our alertness in this life to the coming of the Son of Man and its kingdom ought to be prayer. It ought to be prayer that drives us to dependence on Him, trust in Him, humility before Him, and prayer for the strength to live faithfully in this life, and prayer that we'd be found faithful and that we'd be able to stand before the Son of Man.

Now that phrase, to stand before the Son of Man, isn't just stand before Him in judgment, it's to stand and to be able to stay standing and to be found faithful in that judgment. In other words, you don't stand and get judged. In this phrase, this understanding of it, you stand and you are found faithful, so you are left standing. The faithful stand and the wicked fall. Now if you don't guard your heart against being weighed down, if you don't stay awake and alert, if you don't pray for the strength to do so, that day, Jesus says in the end of verse 34, will come upon you suddenly like a trap. Verse 35, Jesus says, that trap, there's no escaping it. It's coming for everyone. Look at verse 35, for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

That's a statement helpful for Jews in the temple listening to Jesus who think, no, I'm a part of the people of God. I'm in the congregation, I'm okay, I'm safe. And it's helpful for us this morning, if that's the way that you think about your attendance here. I'm good, I'm faithful, I stay in the congregation. What Jesus is calling us to is, yes, corporately, but yes, individually, to stay awake, praying that you would have strength and praying that you would stand before the Son of Man.

Because ultimately, the escape from this trap isn't escape just of the coming distress and duress and the natural disasters that Jesus has promised will happen. The real measure of every person who has ever lived will be whether you and I will escape the judgment of God, whether you and I will stand in the judgment, because all will stand in the real sense before the Son of Man in the end, and it's a matter of what your verdict will be. It's a matter of whether you have placed your faith in Jesus and whether you have His perfect righteousness or whether you try to hold up your own righteousness as some kind of loose change to pay the impossible price for your soul. But also, what's in view here is that if you do escape the judgment of God, because of the blood bought price that would be paid by the Son of Man in just a few days after this text. Even if you do escape, Christian, it's still a matter of how you live. What Jesus is saying here still applies to you, even if you will stand in the judgment. Even if you don't fall like the wicked, if you are a Christian this morning, you will stand in the final judgment of the Son of Man, but before God, you will answer still for how you lived.

Romans 14:12. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Matthew 12 tells us, Jesus says that we will account for every careless word spoken. Christian, God is worthy of your worship. God is worthy of the way that you live for Him as you wait upon the coming of the Son of Man.

And that's why we live vigilantly. That's why we stay alert. That's why we stay awake at all times. And that's why we pray. Because to live vigilantly is to live faithfully. To live vigilantly is to live dependently. To live vigilantly is to live worshipfully.

Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul writes in Thessalonians, to encourage the believers who had questions about what would happen to fellow believers who had already passed away, what would happen to them in the day of the Lord. In chapter five, Paul writes this, concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, while people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Verse four, but you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you were all children of light, children of the day.

We are not of the night or of the darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let's live vigilantly to the end. And let's encourage one another to do so.

Behold the Son of Man (v. 37–38)

There's a third and final instruction we need to see in Luke 21. You can turn back to Luke 21.

And it's found in verses 37 and 38. And it's this, behold the Son of Man. Behold the Son of Man. The end of this chapter shifts from Jesus's teaching and shows us His pattern of life in the days leading up to His trial and affliction and eventual death on the cross. Look again at verse 37 and 38.

And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning, all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. There's increasing commotion around Jesus. And as He moves toward the cross, this is His pattern.

Teach, and then retreat to Olivet. Teach in the temple, and then retreat to Olivet. Teach and retreat, teach and retreat. And Jesus is of ever-increasing popularity as a rabbi, as a teacher, because He said things no other rabbi dared to say, because no other rabbi could say them. No other rabbi had the insight that He had. And He had ever-increasing popularity as a teacher because He spoke with authority.

And so, the people, this verse says, come early in the morning, like faithful first service folks. They come to the temple to hear Jesus, our Savior. They see this great rabbi who declares the coming kingdom of God, and He does so from the Scriptures. He tells of the coming of the Son of Man, just like Daniel did, just like the prophets of old did. But these people, most of them did not know the way that Jesus had spoken of the Son of Man before. Jesus had in speaking to His disciples throughout this gospel Luke. He had identified Himself as the Son of Man.

Flip back to Luke 9. Look at Luke 9:21. Luke 9:21, and he strictly, that is Jesus, strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. Look at verse 44 of the same chapter. Jesus said to His disciples, let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men. Flip over to Luke 18. Luke 18:31.

And taking the 12, he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished, for he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit upon, and after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day, he will rise. And Luke adds this, but they understood none of these things. The saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. Turn back to chapter 21.

Jesus had spoken, here we see, three times about the Son of Man. And so, if we think in Luke 21 of the coming of the Son of Man, what would have to happen in just a few days is that the Son of Man would be lifted up to die. And Jesus knew this and said that this would happen. And with His death upon the cross, Jesus accomplished salvation for you and I. And so, if you do not know Jesus this morning, come to this Son of Man and place your faith in Him, because He paid the penalty for your sins and for mine. And in it, He also established this Luke 21 reality, the kingdom of God. The kingdom that in these verses He is proclaiming and explaining and offering to all who would hear.

In verses 37 and 38, the people are standing before the Son of Man in a different way, listening to His teaching, and I like to imagine, like in Luke 18, they do not know what He is saying, at least most of them, and yet they are drawn to Him. They're drawn to Him, and so many of them, they did not heed this warning that the Son of Man was proclaiming about Himself, nor did they understand that this was more than just listening. This is more than just plugging your brain into the technicalities of what will happen, but about the way that you live your life, the way that you know and trust that God is working, the way that you live vigilantly in worship and obedience to Christ, and the way that you behold this Son of Man who, yes, is coming on a cloud for His kingdom, but yes, that would be in just a few days after this passage, be lifted up to die, go into the grave, and then be lifted up in resurrection life. For those huddled in the temple around the Son of Man, some true disciples and many unbelievers, the long-foretold Messiah, the Son of Man, was hidden in plain sight.

But for us, the sight of the cross, and with the full revelation of God in our hands, you and I, we see with unveiled face the Son of Man. And as we've studied Luke's gospel, we see the perfect life of the Son of Man, and we see the perfect plan of God to redeem sinful man. Christian, behold the Son of Man who came to seek and to save the lost. Worship Him, place your faith in Him, submit your life to Him, bow the knee to Him today if you do not know Him. Worship Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I want you to listen to 2 Peter 3. You don't need to turn there if you don't want to. I just want you to listen to the words of 2 Peter. 2 Peter 3, beginning in verse 10.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And then Peter writes this, therefore beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace and count the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Let's pray.

(Prayer) Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Jesus and all that He has done for us, instructing us this morning about how to live and wait, to wait for Him, for His coming. God, would You help us to know that You are working? Would You help us to live vigilantly to the end? And God, would You as well help us to behold Your Son, who has, yes, accomplished all for us on the cross, but also lives to ever help us, help us to go to Him in our time of need and to pray as we wait, just like we are now. God, we thank You for Your Word this morning. Help us to be faithful, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. (End)

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