Thank you for taking time out of your busy day for this timely episode of Leading the Way Audio with Pastor and International Bible Teacher Dr. Michael Youseth. Today, Matthew chapter 24. A place that many people look to when they see world events pointing towards the last days. You will be challenged to get ready for the return of Jesus through obedience and obediently sharing God's amazing grace.
Listen now to Dr. Yousak and his encouraging leading-the-way message of truth from God's Word. Today I want to look at the passages Beginning at verse thirty-six to fifty-one, of Matthew twenty four. And Jesus saying to those who are watching, He gives us three illustrations or three stories. And these three illustrations are emphasizing How suddenly And unexpectedly, the return of Christ.
It's going to be so sudden and be so quick and so fast. The first Is the equivalence to the days of Noah. The second Is the separation between believers and non-believers on that day. And the third is the thief who breaks at homes at nighttime while everybody's asleep. Then finally, he emphasizes the imperative for being faithful.
And he distinguishes and contrasts between those who are faithful and those who are not.
So first of all, the days of Noah. It is fashionable today. Among Mega church pastors. In order to please the non-believing churchgoers. They say Or deny the historic account of the flood and Noah.
And they say, if you don't want to believe it, you don't have to believe it. Read my lips. Yes, you do. I'm going to tell you why. If Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, Who coexisted with the Father before all worlds, whom the Bible said, through whom and for whom the whole world is created.
Who was there in the time of Noah? When he says it happened, it means what? It did happen. Otherwise, you are questioning the integrity of the Saviour. And how can you worship a Christ as your only Savior and Lord when you question his integrity?
Do you understand why? Both Old and New Testament affirm The flood. as a historical event. that had taken place. The most important thing here that the Lord is emphasizing.
In this telling of the story, and telling us why it's going to be similarities between the days of Noah and the days of the return of the Lord. is the southernness of it. It's going to be sudden for most people. Those who have rejected Noah's invitation to be saved and enter into the ark. They were taken by surprise.
What were the days of now alike? You've got to look back to text Genesis chapter 6. Let me tell you a few things. From Genesis chapter 6, it tells us: first of all, there was a rapid increase in population. The word of God said, It came to pass that when men and women began to multiply on the face of the earth, Increase in population.
is neutral. is neither good nor bad. But often, with increase of population comes an increase in moral. Decadence. Then there was an increase in knowledge.
Knowledge used to multiply every few hundred years, now they're multiplying every few months. Increase in knowledge contributes to wickedness. to self-indulgence. to complacency. to greed and to demand for luxury.
The Bible said there was also an increase in wickedness. The Bible said God saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of man's heart is only evil. In verse thirty-eight. Matthew 24. Jesus says That they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.
Now listen to me. There's nothing wrong with eating and drinking and marrying.
Okay, I'm going to explain that. But there is something deeply wrong. When people are obsessed with food, When people live to eat instead of eat to live, there's something seriously wrong. But listen, you don't have to be just obsessed with food. For human food, now there is an obsession with pet food.
I read that we spend in the United States more money on pet food than the entire budget of the country of Uganda. In the same way. There's nothing wrong with marriage. The Bible makes it clear in his biblical for heterosexual marriage and rearing of family. It is very biblical.
But when biblical marriage is constantly come under attack by the courts, And now they're talking about some cases pending in the courts about how any two people, but any three people, or four people, can marry. That is the wrong obsession with the wrong marriage. Beloved. Judgment. could not be far away.
And other characteristics of the days of now Which we're seeing today, literally with our own eyes, is a mockery of the preaching. of biblical truth. In 2 Peter 2:5 says, That while Nowah was building the ark, inviting people to come and escape the judgment, they were mocking him, they were laughing at him, and they were ridiculing him. But no doubt they thought that Noah lost it. He just lost it.
They have never seen rain in that region of the world, let alone a flood. What is he talking about? And the Bible said that for a hundred and twenty years, think about that. This guy preached for 120 years. and he preached and he warned and he invited people to repent.
But none of them would. They scoffed at him, they mocked him. In 2 Peter 3, 3 and 4, it says, in the last days, scoffers will come scoffing and following their own evil desires, they will say, where is his coming that he promised ever since our fathers died? Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. In 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 to 5, there will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, having the form of godliness, but deny its power. In First Timothy 4:1, it says, They will abandon the faith. You don't abandon the faith if you did not claim it at some point. He's talking about what we're seeing today of these pastors and musicians turning their back and they're saying they're going through deconstruction. They're not believing anymore.
They will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits. And things that are taught by demons. Listen to me, universalism. which is I'm going to come back to in a minute, is truly demonic teaching that has invaded the mainline denominations years ago and now invading the evangelical churches. It's a teaching of demons.
Hear me right, please. When God Shut the door of the ark. And listen carefully, the never says now I shut the door. No, no, the Bible said God shut the door, nobody could open it. Justice And that was too late.
And just as the return of Christ will be too late. Too late to repent. Too late to believe. Too late to come to him. The second illustration, our Lord.
Uses here to emphasize the suddenness of his return is in the separation. Between believers and non-believers. Between those who love the Lord Jesus and those who pretend to be Christians. Two working together. Too closely related to each other.
Two next door neighbors. Two may share office space. Two roommates One will go to heaven, the other one will go to hell. That alone, my friend, that alone. Should make everyone at the sound of my voice, everyone at the sound of my voice.
Do some soul searching. The professing Christians who think that all religion leads to heaven. are going to be in a world of hurt. A world of hurt. Ex-church leaders saying that everybody's going to make it.
God is not going to let anyone perish. Everyone is going to be saved, everyone is going to go to heaven, as preached from many a pulpit even to this day. They're going to be in a world of hurt. By this simple illustration. Our Lord wants to disabuse them and disabuse us of His heretical teaching.
He wants to warn us and warns us against departure from the true gospel. And believing. that there will be the saved. and the perishing. Our Lord is trying to disabuse them of that evil, demonic teaching of universalism.
People often say, well, God is not going to send anyone to hell.
Well, that's actually half-truth. 'Cause they're gonna take themselves to hell. They're going to take themselves right there by themselves. God's longing, God's desire, God's wish, if you like, is that no one would perish. Why do you think he left heaven?
And came to earth, lived as he lived, died as he died, rose again. Ascended into heaven.
so that he might give everyone The opportunity. to come and believe in him. Listen to me. No one, no one, no one, no one, no one in the Bible spoke more about hell than Jesus. He even goes on to say in verse fifty-one, saying, When the master returns He will cut down the unfaithful.
And send them. Whether it's weeping. And gnashing of teeth. If you think I have joy in saying that, please understand I don't. No one should.
No, there's a heart. For the lost See, in this illustration of the separation, our Savior, who paid with his blood for our salvation, is warning us. That not everyone will be saved. Many will be lost. And listen.
God is not a communist. God is not a socialist. He's not going to treat everybody equal. Giving everyone a trophy is not the God of heaven and earth. God is going to separate the faithful.
from the unfaithful. That's why. Anyway, at the sound of my voice, must examine themselves Am I in the faith? Am I in the faith? The third illustration.
that our Lord uses here. is that of a thief at night.
Now you have to understand the Middle East. In the time of Jesus, certainly I remember as a boy too growing up in the Middle East, that was common. You seldom get the house burgled during the day. There were not many thieves that come around during the daytime because always somebody's in the house. House being empty during the day is just unheard of.
So, generally speaking, robbers and thieves don't come in the daytime. That's why you now understand why at night. They always came at night time. Night time. These night thieves Actually Start By Pushing On the door.
of a house Or a shop. They kind of push on it gently first. They want to see in case the owner of the house forgot to bolt it.
So that way They can stealthily go in. Then, even if it's bolted, they have ways of kind of breaking in quietly so they will not have to wait. They don't beat the door down, so they know they're going to, if they make a ruckus, they're going to wake people up. They don't do that. That's why he talks about the thief at night.
They're more what we would call cat burglar. And that's why we say, see the same thought in 2 Peter. We see it in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. These two apostles, Peter and Paul, basically repeating what our Lord Jesus said. And again, you find it in Revelation 3:3, in the letter.
To the church in Sardis, the letter to the church in Sardinia. In Sardis. I'm going to repeat this. This is not to the agnostics and the atheists, this is not to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. This is a letter to the church in Sardis.
I want to keep making sure you understand as I read what it says. Here's what he said: if you do not wake up in time. Church I will come like a thief in the night. And you will not know at what time I will come to you. Question.
What does the thief come to steal? What does he come to steal? The trash?
Well the trash bag is outside, he can take it. Actually save them trouble. Yeah. He comes for the valuables. The valuables.
That which we consider the most valuable. Prized possession. That's what they're after. And that is why people place their valuables in a safety deposit box and have alarms, and we insure our valuables with the insurance company. We don't leave them lying around carelessly, come in and help yourself.
We don't do that. Only careless people do that. Question. What can be more valuable possession than your soul? Your soul is the most valuable possession.
And that is why Jesus asked the question: what can anyone profit? If he gains the whole world. And there was this own soul. I know some people get worried sick about their possessions, their valuables, and whether it be money or gold or silver or jewelry or. Stocks of bonds.
But should you not be more concerned? About the Most Prize, possession, your soul. And if your soul Which is your most prized possession has been deposited in the greatest safety deposit box of all, the hands of Jesus. And you can sleep like a baby. The world be falling apart.
but you're at peace. You're at peace. Because your most valuable possession, your most prized possession, It's in his hand. It's in his hands. You have no worries, no fear, no anxiety when you see the signs of the end of times.
You're not worried at all. You have no anxiety when you see the signs of the birth pains. Even when everyone around you is panicking, You're at peace. You're a peace. Why?
Your most prized possession. But it in the very hands of the safest deposit box of all. In fact, that really motivates us to live more for Christ because we're at peace with Him. Regardless of when Christ will return. You have your spiritual bags packed.
It's more than that. It's more than it's watching. Not just waiting for him, but watching. Verse 42: Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know. When?
Verse forty-four. Saul also must be ready. In each of these three pictures, that our Lord uses here. He's stressing the suddenness, the suddenness. of his return.
In the picture Of now. And the flood. It reminds us that many will be lost. And the picture of the two men and the two women. Working in the field reminds us that we are not saved by being close.
to other saved people. It's an individual salvation. And thirdly, the picture of the thief in the middle of the night reminds us. To be prudent. about our souls.
Which are most prized possession. Finally, In verses forty-five to fifty-one. Our Lord gives us another contrast. I told you there are several contrasts in this passage. The faithful and the unfaithful.
The watching And the oblivious. The faithful servant? Is not only ready at any time. But he or she is faithful in serving And doing. and giving of themselves.
In fact, It is there. Expectations of the return of the Master that motivates them to be faithful in this life. Don't miss that. Don't miss it. That's why Jesus said Occupy till I come.
He did not say Take it easy till I come. Put your feet up till I come. Say, here I am, send my sister till I come. Occupy. What's occupy means?
Occupy means being busy. working, serving, witnessing Ministering to others. Till I come. And that's what he means. By giving food in due season.
You say, What food are you talking about? Spiritual food. Sharing with each other the Word of God, words of encouragement from the Word of God. Here's how God ministered to me through His Word today. Let me share it with you.
Let me encourage you today. Let me minister to you today. And as we minister to one another, That's the kind of food Jesus is talking about. The unfaithful ones, They're busy feeding themselves. Junk food.
The unfaithful are busy. Attacking. Criticizing. and they're beating up on the faithful. The faithful ones were watching.
No watching. The unfaithful. Slouching putting it off Maybe even give up. My beloved friends, The Bible speaks about now. The hour is now, the day of salvation is today, don't put it off.
Don't put it off. The time for faithfulness is now. Lord Jesus. I don't even know how to pray, Lord. After such a message from your word, It's convicted me.
And what I pray for myself, I pray for My beloved friends, Help us. empowered us To be Faithful. Only you can do that through the power of your Holy Spirit. Forgive us. Past unfaithfulness.
And by you Turn a new page with each one of us. For father We know that when we pray In Jesus' name. And for his sake, You don't only hear us. But you answered.
So we pray. in his name. And all of God's people said amen. Our prayer is that you have experienced and enjoyed Life Challenge through today's Leading the Way message. And what you've heard, it's part of Dr.
Yousf's series, Is the End Near?
So Are you ready for the return of Jesus? Maybe you'd like to talk with a pastor or a counselor and walk through any questions you may have. Just fill out a brief contact form at ltw. org slash Jesus, and the Leading the Way team can get you connected. You can also check out some of the FAQs on that very same page.
Go to ltw.org slash Jesus. Oh, and by the way, today's content is further explored in Doctor Youssef's special offer for this month, is the End Near Study Guide and IS THE END NEAR BOOK BOTH. Hear more details. The world is at a turning point. Disease, economic crisis, wars, and rumors of wars are overtaking our world today.
With this kind of chaotic turmoil, people, both Christian and non-Christian, are all asking themselves the same question. Is this the end of the world? Dr. Youssef's book, Is the End Near?, will embolden you to stay cemented in the hope and faith of Christ, regardless of what is happening in the world around you. Yousef examines the end times descriptions Jesus first gave us in Matthew 24 and 25.
Learn how to get your copy of Is the End Near when you visit ltw.org. ltw.org. If you'd like to speak with someone about getting a copy of Dr. Youssef's book, Is the End Near?, along with the study guide and other companion materials helping you dig into what Jesus taught about the last days, call a ministry representative. Our number 866-626-4356.
or visit ltw.org. And remember, quantities are limited, so go ahead and order today. Hey, thank you for listening to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. And do remember, Dr.
Youssef has both audio and video content available at ltw.org. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yusa.
