In the sermon titled 'The Mindset of a Christian,' Jason Dohm delves into Matthew 24:35-44, emphasizing the importance of adopting a mindset rooted in Christ, which goes beyond mere positive thinking. Dohm explains that Jesus teaches us to develop a thought pattern centered on abiding in Christ, fostering a continuous readiness for His return. The sermon distinguishes between the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and the end of the age, highlighting a transition in Jesus' discourse from 'those days' to 'that day,' signaling the final judgment. Dohm stresses the significance of our ignorance of the exact day and hour of Christ’s return, citing scriptural references like Deuteronomy 29:29, which underscores the secret things belonging to God. This ignorance serves to enhance our vigilance and faithfulness, rather than promoting slothfulness. Using the analogy of the days of Noah, Dohm warns against complacency and the dangers of becoming overly attached to worldly routines. He advocates for a life that prioritizes spiritual readiness, marked by active watchfulness and prayer, and being fully committed to Christ's teachings. Additionally, Dohm explores the mystery of the Trinity and the humanity of Jesus, who at the time of speaking did not know the day or hour of His return. The sermon closes by urging listeners to live with an eager expectation of Christ's return, to be like a bride awaiting her groom, and to be prepared for the final separation of the righteous from the wicked.

The sermon text for today is Matthew 24, verses 35 to 44. And I read this word in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Heaven and air will pass, pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allow his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Heavenly Father, Please bless your word. And anoint Jason with the power of the Spirit that he may teach us to feel them and give glory to the Almighty God. The mindset of a Christian. In our text that's before us today, our Lord is teaching us to think in a certain way so that we'll live in a certain way. So the danger of a title like this, the mindset of a Christian, is that someone would walk away thinking that this is a power of positive thinking sermon.

Or to think that this is a mind over matter sermon. And if that happens, somebody has failed horribly. Either I've failed in the communication of what the text is about, or you haven't paid attention to what was said. Because this is not power of positive thinking, and this is not mind over matter. This is our Lord Jesus Christ giving us, imparting to us a thought pattern wrapped up in Christ.

Okay, so this is what you have to come away from this text with. That Jesus is teaching us a thought pattern that is Wrapped up in Christ so that we're abiding in Christ, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month, soaking in Christ. And readiness for His return is all part of that. It's not all of it. It's not all of abiding in Christ, but it's part of that.

Having in mind the surety that He's coming back and having an eager expectation for it is such an integral part of abiding in Christ. Now, where have we been? Up until the very end of last week's sermon, verse 34, where all these things, Jesus says, will take place in this generation. So I've been making an argument week by week that everything up to and through, verse 34, deals with 70 AD. Trumpets included, gathering of the elect included, stars falling from heaven included.

And that 34 is the hinge point. And now in 35 and beyond we shift from 70 AD, the destruction of the temple, the judgment upon the generation that had the perfect sermons and saw the miracles and rejected it all. The shift is happening now from then to the end of the age when Jesus will come and on a single day the heavens and the earth will pass away and he will come to judge the living and the dead. So I believe that 35 represents a significant shift. So let's read 35 and 36.

Matthew 24 verse 35, Matthew 24 verse 35, Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only." So Jesus is giving a guarantee that His words are so sure that heaven and earth will pass away and His words will still be remaining. But I think in 35 we have more than just a guarantee. The guarantee is absolutely there, but I believe we have a shift to Jesus speaking of the day that actually heaven and earth will pass away. Of that day and that hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only the Father.

Now is this consistent with the structure of the passage? I believe it is. When you go to the very beginning of the chapter, Jesus says in verse 2 that the temple is going to be destroyed, utterly destroyed. And then in verse 3, his disciples come to him privately, and these are the questions that they ask. Tell us, Jesus, when will these things be?

When will the utter destruction of the temple be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. And I believe the chapter unfolds this way. Jesus is answering the first question first, what will be the sign of these things? When is the temple going to be utterly destroyed?

So Jesus spends the first part of the chapter answering that question. And now we're hitting a point where I believe we're transitioning to Jesus answering another question. When will be the end of the age? And Jesus is beginning to speak of it now. So to me I believe that this verse 3, this question, Jesus, when will the end of the age be?

And what Jesus says in verse 35, heaven and earth will pass away, form the context for verse 36. And following, when Jesus says, that day and that hour, the end of the age, that day and hour, The day when heaven and earth will pass away. Now I want you to notice this. In verses 4-34, What we've been talking about for weeks now. Jesus is speaking of days, plural.

Specifically those days, plural. You see it in verse 19. You see it in verse 22. And then again in verse 22, it appears twice. Those days appears twice in verse 22 and you see it in verse 29.

Then in verse 36 we have day singular and we have it again in verse 38 and we have it again in verse 50 And we have it again in verse 38, and we have it again in verse 50, and we have it again in chapter 25 verse 13. So that very next parable that Jesus is teaching. Now we have the days plural of Noah in this week's text, but that's speaking of the time leading up to the day singular when Noah goes into the ark. So comprehensively, before verse 35, it's those days, plural. And it's speaking of the time period that encompasses the destruction of the temple and the coming of the Son of Man in judgment.

It's not a visible coming. It's not a physical coming. But he's at the head of a foreign army to come and judge the wicked. And then in verse 35, and after you have a focus on the day. The day.

Singular. So, has Jesus used this term before in Matthew? The day. Singular. Yes.

Repeatedly. Listen to Matthew 7 verse 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name." Or listen to Matthew 11 verses 22-24. Matthew 11 verses 22-24. Jesus is condemning Chorazin and Bethsaida, these two cities that He's been operating in and around and preaching in and doing miracles in, and yet he's not received and accepted and honored as the Messiah there.

So this is who he's speaking to, and he says this, But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you Capernaum who are exalted to heaven will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." Or in Matthew 12 verse 36, Jesus says, But I say to you that for every idle word men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. So Jesus has spoken repeatedly in the Gospel of Matthew about a singular day, and His usage of it is really clear every time He uses it.

It means that day where the age of human history comes to an end and He returns to judge the living and the dead. Well, what about that day? Jesus says something very important about that day in our text in Matthew 24. No one knows when it's going to be, the day or the hour. No one, No man or woman or child has ever known when this day, no one, not even the exalted Angels in heaven who stand in the presence of God day and night, none of them know when this day or hour is going to be.

This is remarkable. God has revealed so many things, but he's never revealed this to a single man or woman or child. He's never revealed this to any angels. In fact, when Jesus says this, Jesus doesn't even know when this day will be. When we go to Mark 13, 32, which is the parallel text, all of that discourse, just like Matthew 24, Mark records Jesus saying, Not even the Son knows when this day is going to be.

So there are two questions that I think have to be asked and answered. The first is this, why won't God tell us? Why don't any men or women or children or angels or even Jesus then? Why don't we know? The second question is this.

If Jesus is God, why doesn't Jesus know? Serious questions. Consider Deuteronomy 29, 29. Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God.

But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. That we may do all the works of the law. Deuteronomy 29 verse 29 lays out before us God's turf and man's turf. And they're not the same turf. God, in His wisdom, has reserved some things just for Himself.

And He's never telling you. And He's never telling me. It's in the none of our business category. And this is one of those things. The secret things belong to the Lord our God.

But those things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever. That we may do all the words of this law. The reason that He's revealed certain things to us and not withheld everything is that we might obey him. So would knowing the day that he's coming to judge the living and the dead increase your obedience, increase your wakefulness, or decrease it? Which is, Would it increase your obedience and the doing of His will?

Or would it increase your slothfulness? You better believe it would increase your slothfulness. It would leave you sound asleep, very likely. What would the last 2, 000 years have been like if people knew Jesus was coming back to judge the living and the dead in the year 2052? What would the next 40 years be like?

They'd be more wakeful. God reveals things with us so that we can be faithful with the things that he's revealed. And this wouldn't advance our faithfulness, it would probably stymie our faithfulness. So God has kept it to himself. Now, why doesn't even the Son know at the time when this was spoken?

I do think he knows now. I think it was absolutely true at the time he said it. I think it's absolutely No longer the case now. In this, we get a glimpse of the mystery of the Trinity. So if you're looking for someone who can unfold the mysteries of the Trinity to you, You'll have to go to another church, I guess.

But this is part of the mystery of the Trinity. And Jesus actually says that he doesn't know the day or the hour that he'll return to judge the living and the dead. But we have had places in the Gospel of Matthew, as we've studied it, where we see Jesus knows lots of things that we don't know. In Matthew 9-4 it says, but Jesus knowing their thoughts, knowing their thoughts, they're just thinking it. And Jesus knows and addresses their thoughts.

Not their actions, not their words, but He addresses their thoughts. Or in Matthew 12 verse 25, But Jesus knew their thoughts. There's been multiple places in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus knows things that we don't know, wouldn't have any ability to know. So we see in the Gospels that there's enough of the divine nature on display in the life of Jesus Christ so that it's clear that He's more than just a normal man. Isn't it when we read the Gospels, it's very clear Jesus is not just a normal man.

Listen to two verses from Hebrews. The first is Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17. Therefore in all things he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Jesus had to be fully man to assume his office as Redeemer and High Priest of the people.

He had to be fully man. Now this is not an assault on his Godhood. Church councils have come together to wrestle with how could it be true And they've all affirmed the same thing. Jesus is fully God and Jesus is fully man and that gives our brains a lot of trouble. We don't even know how that can be, but it is to be believed even if it's not to be fully understood in all its nuances.

It is to be believed. And it had to be. He had to be made like His brethren so that He could take up the office as mediator and high priest and be a merciful one, and be a faithful one. Listen to Hebrews chapter 5 verse 8. Hebrews 5, 8.

Though He was a Son, Yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. I don't understand that. I do believe it. Jesus, though he was a son, you can tell the author of Hebrews, whoever it is, probably Paul, You can tell the author of Hebrews, whoever it is, probably Paul, you can tell the author of Hebrews is grappling with this. Though he was a son, Though he shared in the nature of God, he didn't consider it robbery to be equal with God as Paul says in Philippians 2.

Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. He was made like us so he could be a high priest that was fit for a people who don't know everything. Listen to what Jesus prays to His Father in the Gospel of John, Chapter 17, Verses 4 and 5. I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do.

And now, oh Father, glorify me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was." So Jesus is saying that His job is done, and He's asking His Father to glorify Himself and to glorify Jesus with the glory that he had before the worlds were made. In other words, he laid down his glory to come do the work which the Father had given him to do. It was required. In order to do the work that God was giving him, It was required that he would lay aside his glory and take on the form of a servant and come. And now Jesus is saying, that's done, I'm done with my work.

Glorify me again with the glory that I laid aside to come do your work. So Jesus knows. Jesus has picked His glory back up again. He's at the right hand of the Father. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lord.

He's ruling in the midst of His enemies. His enemies are being made his footstool and he knows the day and the hour that he's coming back. If Jesus didn't know. Forget every man or woman or child who's ever lived. Forget all the exalted angels who live in the presence of God.

If Jesus, the Son, co-equal member of the Trinity didn't know, We should be content not to know. We should be happy not to know. We shouldn't be striving after things that God has said. This is a secret thing. This belongs to me.

In fact, it is rebellion to God to be panting after the things that God hasn't revealed to us in His own wisdom. This lust to know and to pin the pin right on the right day in the calendar is open rebellion to Almighty God it is. Harold Camping and all the likes of Harold Camping are in open rebellion to God. Acts 1 verse 7, the disciples have just asked, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel at this time? I don't even know what that question means.

I don't even know what they mean by this question, but I know the answer. Here's what Jesus says, it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. It's not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. It's not for you to know times or seasons that God has put in His own authority. N-Y-B, None of your beeswax.

None of your beeswax. That's a new Annie song. I'll sing it for you after the service. NYB, it's none of your business. Verses 37 through 39.

But as the days of Noah were so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Jesus begins to speak of the days of Noah, and He says that this day, the day when the heavens and earth will pass away, the end of the age, the day when He'll come to judge the living and the dead is going to be like the days of Noah. In the days leading up to that judgment, in the days leading up to the flood waters coming on the earth, Everything just went on like normal. One day after another, after another, with nothing to break the pattern, with nothing seeming like it was a mess, nothing unusual happening, so that people had the luxury to just give themselves to the routine of life, and drift on the current. Just drift on the current of life.

Whatever life brings to you, you just partake And you just float down the river. This is what's happening in the days leading up to the flood. Eating and drinking, marrying, and giving and marriage. Now, Eating and drinking is not sinful. Try to stay alive without eating and drinking.

Good luck. It's not a sin. Not only is it lawful, it's necessary. When you stop eating and drinking, you're on the clock. You are on the clock.

Marrying and giving in marriage is not sinful. Try propagating the human race without marrying and giving in marriage. It's not only lawful, it's normal. It's the normal pattern of life. Most people are going to marry.

Being a citizen of earth will damn your soul to hell forever. This is what Jesus is getting at. Not eating and drinking. Not the lawfulness of it. Not the sinfulness of marrying and giving in marriage, but being a citizen of earth.

It will take your soul from you. Notice it doesn't say killing and stealing, fornicating. Now there was a lot of that, a lot of all that going on in Genesis 6. The world was filled with violence. It's what Moses says in Genesis 6 of these days leading up to the flood.

Jesus doesn't talk about any of the murder or the theft or the fornication or the adultery. He doesn't talk about any of the sins that we think are vile and worthy of condemnation. He talks about just a life filled with eating and drinking and marrying and the normal things that happen in a life. And if you're satisfied with eating and drinking and marriage and work and neighbors and football games and just the normal things of life, all of which are lawful, And if you're satisfied with your sinful state, and your coldness of heart, and your hardness of heart, and that's enough for you, And you're a citizen of this earth and you've learned to love your citizenship. And you have no hunger for anything above that.

You're just like the people in the days of Noah. And it seems to you like life will go on forever in this and the pattern will never be broken and you have time. You have time to settle the more important matters of life. But for now, let's have lunch. Let's go to a wedding.

This is the mentality that Jesus is imparting to His people. He's teaching us to be strangers and pilgrims in the earth. Strangers and pilgrims. Our citizenship is somewhere else. We are looking to a better country.

We don't want to be citizens here. Because our homeland is another homeland. And we're not content to just have lunch. And just to attend a wedding. We're just passing through.

Christians seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all these things are added to them. Christians eat and drink, Christians marry and give in marriage. But it flows out of a life that abides in Christ, that's soaking in Christ. It's not the end of anything, it's the means to faithfulness. It's a means to being the subject of a king.

A day came in what seemed like an endless rhythm of life. Endless rhythm. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. January, February, March, April, on and on and on.

Endless rhythm of life. And it seemed like it would just continue on forever, but a day came where Moses went into the ark and the waters rose and eight people were left, and everyone else died in their sins. Jesus says, that day and that hour will be like that. It will find so many people satisfied with lunch and with attending weddings and they will die in their sins. Verse 39 says, they did not know until the flood came.

NASB renders that, they didn't understand, they did not understand until the flood came. Now, what is this? Had God left Himself without a testimony to Himself, His truth, impending judgment? No! God always leaves Himself with a testimony that He is, and that He's righteous, and that He judges.

It's not that kind of ignorance. It's not a lack of data ignorance. So when it says they didn't know until the flood came, or they didn't understand until the flood came, it's not that kind of not knowing. It's the ignorance of unbelief that Jesus is speaking of here. A hundred years the arc's been going up.

Now what kind of a spectacle was this? It's the size of a football field and it's three stories tall. You think there were a lot of these in the ancient world? I've got my ark, you've got your ark. And year by year it's going up.

Do you think there was a structure on the face of the earth that was more well known than this art? Now the text doesn't say it. I'm just saying it's hard to keep a project like this secret. And Noah didn't want to keep this project secret. In 2 Peter chapter 2, Noah is called a preacher of righteousness.

So his sermons aren't recorded, but if he's like every preacher of righteousness in the Bible, he's preaching repentance. That's the message of all the preachers in the Bible, repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. And it changes in form a little from generation to generation, but that's the message, repent. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and he has this picture of judgment going up for a hundred years, bigger and bigger all the time. But the people didn't believe.

People were lulled to sleep by Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Friends, do not be lulled to sleep and think that you have time and you'll deal with the important matters of life later. This is exactly what Jesus is warning us against in today's text. Not to presume upon his goodness and his patience, because a whole generation in the time of Moses presumed upon his goodness and his patience.

And they found out as the waters were rising. And it was too late to repent. The time had come and gone. Verses 40 and 41. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken, the other left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, and the other left. When Jesus returns on that day, whenever it is, there's going to be a great separation. Think of the passage we memorized for three months. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats." Jesus is describing this here. Two men are in a field together.

Maybe it's a father and a son. Maybe it's two brothers. Maybe it's two friends. Maybe they're just acquaintances and coworkers. It doesn't say.

But just think about the pairs of men, a pair of men who would be out in the field together. They're sort of living the same kind of life, probably in many, many ways. Probably in many, many ways. And it's just like the parable of the wheat and the tares growing up together. One is wheat and one is a weed.

And God has allowed them to continue growing up together, reserved for a day. They won't always be together, they've just been allowed to grow up together. And one day the wheat and the tares will finally be separated, never to be joined together again. And though their lives were so much the same, after that it will never be the same in any way. Maybe this father was satisfied and never had a hunger and always figured it would work out, and thought that he was good enough, moral enough, that if there was something afterwards, that he'd be able to make the cut.

But maybe the Son had been brought to his knees by the Spirit of God to the place where he couldn't even look up And he beat his breast and he said, God have mercy on me, a sinner. And he stopped trusting in himself. And the day comes and one is taken and one is left, even though their lives look almost identical. Two women grinding at a mill together. Maybe it's a mother and her daughter.

Maybe it's two sisters. Maybe it's friends. Maybe they're just acquaintances and coworkers. They're living very similar lives, just like the wheat and the tares growing up together. But the day comes when the wheat and the tares are separated forever.

They'll never be mixed again. Maybe the mother is the one who'd been brought to her knees and shown her sinfulness and given a hunger and given eyes to see and ears to hear so that she stopped trusting in herself. And She trusted in Christ instead and the work that He did on her behalf. Maybe the daughter was careless. Maybe the daughter thought, my whole life is before me.

There's plenty of time. But see, she was preempted by the day. The day came, like a thief, at a time when she didn't expect. And then it was too late. Then there wasn't time.

And they're separated forever, and one was taken and one was left. Though so many things about their lives have seemed the same, everything through eternity will be completely different. One, everlasting punishment and agony and torment and fire where the worm doesn't die. One, to eternal pleasures to dwell with Christ forever and to be in His presence and to be at His feet worshipping him. So which one is saved?

The one taken or the one left? The real answer is it doesn't matter. It's not the point. The point is there's going to be a mighty separation on that day. My best guess is that this ties into 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 17 where it says that when he comes back The saved will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air.

That's what I think it probably is, but Scott and Dan don't think so. So you can listen to their explanation. I'm not really fussed, but that's my guess. Verses 42 through 44. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Jesus refers to Himself as your Lord, Your Lord. So he's laying claim to Lordship. He's laying claim to being Lord. And he's laying claim to you if you trusted him.

This is such a precious phrase, your Lord. Be ready, watch. Your Lord is coming in an hour, a day in an hour that you don't expect. There are two things in view in these three verses. One is the expectation of His return.

Always expecting. In other words, it's impossible to catch you off guard. It's impossible to surprise you. Jesus intends for our patterns of thought and our patterns of life to be such that it's impossible to surprise us. It's impossible to catch us off guard.

The second thing is eagerness for his return. So there's expectation, knowing so surely that he's coming back. And the second is the eagerness for His return. What does it mean to watch? Well verses 43 and 44 really explain it.

It's to stay alert when everybody else is sleeping. That's what it means to watch. That's what Jesus is talking about. It's to stay alert through the middle of the night where everybody else is snoozing, and comfortable, and confident that everything's OK. In our parallel text in Mark 13 again, the Olivet Discourse in Mark, Mark 13 verse 33, Mark records Jesus saying, take heed, watch, and pray.

So that's the fuller version in Mark. Take heed, watch, and pray. And these are just the things that are used about Gethsemane. Jesus is going, it's the last night, they've just had the last supper, and they go out and Jesus goes a little bit further with Peter, James and John, and then he leaves them there to watch and pray. And he goes a little bit further and prays.

Here's what it says. Jesus comes back. He says this, Simon, are you sleeping? Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour?

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Jesus teaches us something about watching and praying in Gethsemane. One is that it's going to require warfare with your flesh. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

So Peter couldn't even watch and pray for a single hour. Jesus comes back, he finds him sleeping. He goes away, he comes back, he finds him sleeping again. So Your flesh, which your spirit is still married to in this body, is at war with you watching and praying. We learn this in Gethsemane.

But It's necessary that we watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. Okay? So Jesus is teaching this in Gethsemane, and we'll just pull this right over to the same language in Matthew 24. Our flesh is at war with watching and praying, but we need it. We have to have it or we're going to fall to temptation.

Watching means to think and therefore live like you know that He's coming. You know that, you know that, you know that, you know that, you know that He's coming. It's not a doubt in your mind that Jesus is coming, though you don't know when He's coming. You're like everybody else, including the angels. You don't know when He's coming.

So when is a mystery, but that He is coming is a certainty. A man at Men's Bible Study on Monday said, when I read this text, it makes me want to live a life so that no matter when Jesus comes back, I'll be delighted for him to find me doing what I'm doing. I thought that's a great way to think about this. No matter when he comes back, I'll be glad to have him find me doing what I'm doing because I'm either in the middle of a hard day's work where I'm giving an honest day's work for an honest day's pay and I'm working like it's worship. Or I'm at home with my family, I'm discipling my kids.

We're Organizing our lives around worshipping God or I'm sleeping Because I Served him with all my might today, and I have to have some sleep so I can serve Him with all my might tomorrow. Okay? Living a life so no matter what, so that He won't come home while we're in the middle of our besetting sins. He won't return to earth while we're in the middle of our besetting sins. That, when he said that on Monday, it just made me think.

What if he returned when I'm in the middle of my besetting sins? Thinking thoughts I shouldn't be thinking. Saying words I shouldn't be saying. Doing things I shouldn't be doing. What if the trumpet sounded then?

What would it be like for me? Let's resolve to live life so we'd be delighted to have him come back in any moment. Because we're spending and being spent for him until he comes. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. There are two texts that wrap up so well all of what Jesus is teaching in our text in Matthew 24.

The first is Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We'll read verses 1 through 8. We'll read verses 1-8. 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 1. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.

For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, Peace and Safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation." So Paul starts out a lot like Jesus started out by talking about those who think it's a time of peace and safety. Paul actually quotes them here. For when they say peace and safety it comes upon them.

It's just like the days of Noah. But Paul says, your sons of light, your daughters of light. We don't have the peace and safety mindset. We have the Jesus is coming mindset. We have the abiding in Christ mindset.

It shakes off that sleepiness, that dullness, that presumption on the goodness and patience of God. And that means things. What does it mean? Verse 7, let us not sleep as others do. Everyone around us, Christians, are going to be sleeping and presuming that it's going to go on like this forever.

It's happening today. Your neighbor thinks that way. Your coworker thinks that way. Sons of light don't think that way. Daughters of light don't think that way.

They watch and they're sober-minded. And they arm themselves for watchfulness and prayer. Verse 8, they're putting on the breastplate of faith and love. They're putting on the helmet of the hope of salvation. They are arming themselves to watch and pray for the return of their Lord.

The second passage is 2 Peter 3. So turn to 2 Peter 3. Peter 3. Wow, can you tell that Peter was here when Jesus is talking in Matthew 24? So he's just giving his exposition of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 24.

2 Peter chapter 3 starting in verse 3, reading through 15. 2 Peter 3 verse 3. Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willfully forget." Okay, got that?

This is the ignorance of unbelief. This is just what Jesus is talking about. They willingly forget it. Continuing in verse 5, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. That the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace without spot and blameless. And consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you." So again, Peter starts with the scoffers who are mocking that it's been such a long time. Oh, he's coming back. Is he?

In the year 2012, he's coming back. 2012 years after he said these things, he's coming back. That's right, he's coming back. And he speaks of the day of the Lord and the reason for the length of time. What's the reason?

God's merciful. God is merciful. Verse 9, He is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." He's giving time to repent. And in every generation, He's gathering the elect from the four winds. So far, from driving the people of God to be terrified of this day, we look forward to it.

That's what Peter says. We can't wait. We can't wait! Here's two Christians. Here's the thinking of two Christians.

The first is Paul. At the very end of 1 Corinthians, he ends 1 Corinthians with a two-verse benediction. Here are the three words right before this benediction. Oh Lord, come. The heart of Paul.

Oh Lord, come. The Apostle John. The very end of the closing words of this book. Jesus says, where am I? Jesus says, surely I am coming quickly.

John says, amen. Amen. Finally, John says, Amen. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Paul and John share the same spirit. They have the same heart. They have the same mind towards these things. The day of the Lord and the terrors of it for the ungodly Don't put them off at all. They cannot wait another minute for it to happen.

And they're ready. They're ready to be done with seeing through a glass darkly. And they are ready for face to face. Their hearts are ready because they are trusting in Christ so they have nothing to fear from that day and they know that they will be able to stand face to face because they are accepted in the beloved. They are accepted in Christ and his work So they have nothing to fear from this day.

I have a few concluding remarks. Four of them. Number one, Live with the end in mind. Live with the thought of the day of His return in mind. It's better to go to a funeral than to a dinner party, Silas.

It is better to go to a funeral than a dinner party if it makes us abide in Christ, if it makes us watchful and prayerful and sober. Heaven and earth are going to pass away. A day is coming. Peter just described it in great detail. There's going to be a melting of everything that you know, all the elements destroyed by fervent heat and then a new heaven and a new earth will emerge from that.

This has to be the central reality. We have to be thinking about this every day. The day is coming. It's going to be a day when He returns to judge the living and the dead. And it is a certain day.

Number two, don't get too comfortable here. Don't get too comfortable here. If you're his, you're a stranger and a pilgrim. And not only are you not a citizen here, and your citizenship is in a better country, grounded in a better covenant based on better promises, but you'd never accept citizenship here. Your palate won't accept this being all because it's not enough.

You've been made hungry by God. You've been made hungry and thirsty by God and you would never accept citizenship here because when you taste the things of the world, it's not enough for your palate. This is a good test. I'm not saying it's a foolproof test, but those who are in the faith are finding, as the years go by, less and less satisfaction with the world. If that's not your experience, you need to say, whoa.

God is teaching His people to be so much less satisfied with the things of the world and to become dissatisfied with the things of the world. Number three, never lose sight of the great separation, the wheat and the tares. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, sisters, brothers, co-workers, friends, acquaintances are growing together and their lives seem so much alike. Some of them are so moral, so good, so kind, so helpful. They're the best neighbors on the planet.

But the day's coming when there's going to be a mighty separation, and they're going to eternal punishment. But those who have trusted in Christ are going to eternal life. And nothing will ever be remotely the same ever again for hundreds of millions of ages. Now what is that? I don't know what that is.

But it's eternity and it matters. Don't be lulled to sleep by the wheat and the tears growing side by side and looking so similar now. There's going to be a separation of those and the tears are going to be thrown into a fire. Finally, number four, Jesus summarizes everything we need to know in verse 44. Be ready.

Be ready. Build a mind and thought patterns and a life of readiness. Build a life of readiness so that you're eager, so that you can't wait another moment. What kind of readiness is it? It's the readiness of a bride who's waiting to go to the altar.

Okay, do you need an illustration? Here's the illustration of the Bible. It's the eagerness of a bride who would sprint down to the altar if she could to get there faster. That's the readiness that the people of God ought to have, need to build into their lives. Jesus is teaching us this in Matthew 14.

Be like a bride who cannot wait for the day that her groom comes to claim her. Because that's what Jesus is talking about. Let's pray. Our Father, I thank you for this text and I pray that you would make us like a bride, eager for the day, not frightened of this day at all, but longing for it, longing to be done with seeing through a glass darkly and to see you face to face, our groom, who will come to claim his people. Oh God, what a beautiful picture this is.

I thank you that you put this picture on the earth so we would have a foretaste of it, a little deposit. Oh God, come and bless your people. Teach us, make us like this, in Jesus' name, amen.