Sermons

Matthew 24:32-51 – Winning the world at its worst (pt. 5)

 

Prop: How believers persevere when the world is at its worst

 

1. Run from evil (vv. 15-22)

 

1. Discern false Messiahs (vv. 23-28)
   1. Flee false gospels (v. 23)
   2. Flee false miracles (v. 24)
   3. Flee false communities (vv. 25-26)
   4. Flee false promises (vv. 27-28)

 

 

1. Embrace the true Messiah (vv. 29-31)

Marked by this kind of return!

1. Unimaginable fallout (v. 29)
2. Unmistakable sign (v. 30)
3. Unchangeable outcome (v. 31)

 

[TRANS]

1. Be ready for Christ’s return (vv. 32-51)

 

 

1. Christ’s picture (vv. 32-35)

 

[KEY] Describing an unmistakable event (cf. vv. 29-31), X draws picture for application.  

• Analogy, fig tree.
  • 2 days before, X cursed a fig tree.
    • Hungry from a long journey, he looked through leaves for food (pre-seasonal figs).
    • Found “nothing but leaves” so he cursed it.

 

• Picturing, Faithless Israel.
  • Religious, hypocrisy.

 

 

 

^ESV  Matthew 21:18-22 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.

¹⁹ And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.

²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"

²¹ And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

²² And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." (Mat 21:18-22 ESV)

[TRANS] Matthew 24:32 X considers fig tree in positive light.

• Lesson to anticipate not condemn.
  • “…as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near” (v. 32).
    • The tender branch spouts leaves.
    • Winter months are over.

 

[Illus] Think of when we see snow dissipate through April/May, especially on the mountains. Think of the roads drying up, the grass coming out, then you know it is spring into summer. “…you know summer is near” (v. 29).

 

[KEY] Repetition of “near” in verse 33, changing foliage means nearness of X’s return.

• “So also, when you see all these things, you now that he is near…” (v. 33).
  • X conveys point w/gentle illustration.
    • Intriguing comparing cataclysmic descriptions (vv. 29-31).
    • w/spring leaves coming out.

[Illus] Signs leading up to tribulation magnify contrast.

Anticipation of the Great Tribulation. People claiming to be the Christ, others luring people into cults lead by false-Christs.

Days literally being cut short because of God’s judgment preceding the tribulation. Increased wars, kingdoms battling kingdoms, nations killing nations, mass starvation, earthquakes, hate-fueled persecution, and public executions to rename what Christ said. Then three and a half years at the abomination of desolation led by Anti-Christ.

[Question] “What are we to make of this unlikely comparison?” A clear level of false equivalence with a sort of lessor to greater idea maybe.

[Point] Still, I think this is where Christ’s use of a newly greened bush is making the point about the state of mind that a believer should assume, when the world is at its worst.

[KEY] “So also…” meaning as winter turns to summer, things are breaking on a world scale.

• Count on that, Jesus is “…at the very gates” (v. 33).
• Events, mounting.

[KEY] X’s affirmation: “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (v. 34).

• X cementing expectation for imperturbable state of mind for believers.
  • Saints will not “fade away” (not “lose strength) in the end.
  • From outward appearances, they should.
    • The Harder things become outwardly.
    • The More fortified believers will become inwardly.

By God’s measured grace.

 

[Note] “this generation” misunderstood as Jews alive during the life of Christ.

• Whom he was addressing.
  • X speaking of a future generation.
  • Tribulation saints, who model perseverance.

“…this generation will not pass away until…Heaven and earth will pass away…” (vv. 34-35).

• Sky falling but faith is not failing.
• Key is reliability of God’s Word.

“…but my words will not pass away” (v. 35).

^ESV  Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

 (Isa 40:8 ESV)

^ESV  Isaiah 55:9-11 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰ "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

¹¹ so shall my word be that goes out 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. (Isa 55:9-11 ESV)

 

[Appl] Should not underestimate the bedrock Truth, embedded inside our hearts. Bc/Word of God has been sown there by the Holy Spirit.

You can face so much more than you might think however, without Truth, you when life takes a hard turn, you’re left reeling; falling, unable to grasp a handhold.

 

God will not fail you because his Word will not fail.

 

[TRANS] Verse 36, begs question raised @/Lord not knowing timing of his return.

And why it matters?       

 

1. Christ’s personhood (v. 36)

[KEY] Tension every believer is supposed to endure.

• Tension Xians called too.
  • Alert to signs and suddenness of X’s return.
  • Yielding to Father’s timetable.
    • His timing, not ours.
    • Well meaning believers (beginning w/X’s disciples) want X’s ETA!
      • People draw out the timeline.
      • Whole conferences and ministries based on the BIG MAP.

 

• Moral realm to this.
  • Spiritual choice to be humble.
  • Submission God’s sovereignty.

 

• X’s return becomes a temptation to feel in control.
  • Your circumstances.
  • An escape.

  

• X teaches, believers are to be left in a state of alert-anticipation.
  • A kind of ambivalence.
  • What the angels said @/X’s ascension.
    • 120 disciples from the upper room.

^ESV  Acts 1:6-12 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" ⁷ He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,

¹¹ and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. (Act 1:8-12 ESV) (Act 1:6-7 ESV)

• Same in 2 Peter 3:

^ESV  2 Peter 3:8-12 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

¹⁰ But 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.

¹¹ Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

¹² 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! (2Pe 3:8-12 ESV)

 

[TRANS] Believers keep life in perspective w/God and God’s will, not being in control but yielded to control.

[Appl] Growing perspective that this world will melt under God’s judgment. Being motivated to win others in missions and evangelism, seeing alignment btwn/our efforts to win people to the kingdom; and the Lord using this to draw our world to a close.

 

[TRANS] Angels also do not know Jesus’ timetable.

• Created beings, likewise called to submission to the Father’s will.
  • Since Satan’s fall.
    • Unfallen angels, sealed as holy.
    • Set apart for heaven’s abode and service.

^ESV  1 Peter 1:10-12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,

¹¹ inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

¹² It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1Pe 1:10-12 ESV)

 

[TRANS] We understand man not knowing. Angels not knowing.

But @/the Son, not knowing?

 

[Note] Some Early MSS (i.e. Latin Vulgate) omit phrase, “nor the son” in v. 36;

 

• Though present in other MSS’s.

 

• Mark 13:32 includes, “nor the son” w/no controversy.
  • Either way, “nor the son” implied by: “but the Father only.”

 

• Matthew implies what Mark explicitly states.

 

[Question] “Why, does Jesus not know?”

 

^ESV  Philippians 2:6-7 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Phi 2:6-7 ESV)

 

^ESV  Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (Luk 2:52 ESV)

 

^ESV  John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (Joh 15:15 ESV)

 

• “X obediently restricted his knowledge to the things the Father wanted him to know during his earthly ministry” [MacArthur].

 

[KEY] X practicing what he’s preaching.

• At least in this unique moment.
  • Jesus’ humble admission.
  • Even X does not yet know the timing of the Father’s will @/return.

 

 

[Question] “How can this be since he is God’s Son?”  

 

• Of the same substance as God.
  • Earliest stage, X said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9)
    • Prophesying future, of all events preceding.
    • Leading up to the Tribulation.
      • Detailed descriptions.
      • Terrible day and glorious return.

 

• Yet, this humble admission how he does not know “that day and hour” (v. 36).

 

[Question] “Why is this significant to us?”

 

• X models humility.
  • Same humility 144,000 must have.
  • Ensures, endurance and witness.

 

• X lived this tension, anticipation, ambivalence best.

 

• X’s admission…proves this.

 

DA Carson said: “Jesus plays out his servant-Son role not knowing the timing of his return.”

 

• Jesus in full humility willingly laid aside the independent exercise of his divine attributes.

 

• Jesus set aside his divine prerogatives aside as an act of obedience to the Father’s will.

 

• Existing in full humanity, in full possession of divine attributes, would at times, voluntarily move some to the back burners.

 

 

[Appl] X is our model for how we are to be, think, and conduct ourselves on earth.

 

 

[Question] “Does X now know when he will return?”

 

• Scripture does not reveal to us the answer to this question.
  • X is forever, God-Man.
    • So, he will return.
    • In the same way he left (cf. Acts 1:6-8).

 

• The Son of Man.

 

[TRANS] State of mind meant to stay geared this way.

 

• Next verses build on this foundation.
  • What we should be, think, and how we should conduct ourselves.

 

[TRANS] History goes to the days of Noah where the great flood was imminent.

 

• Our world today is fast tracking to a certain end.
• No less disastrous than the flood…and even more.  

 

 

 

1. Christ’s parallel (vv. 37-42)

[KEY] X is builds one point on top of the other; making a single overarching point.

• Verse 42, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (v. 42).
  • “Stay awake” – ρηγορε���τε (Mat 24:42 BGT) is used over and over in NT in the context of intense urgency.

 

[Illus] Remember examples as X’s warning his disciples to keep alert when falling asleep in the garden of Gethsemane at the threat of X’s capture.

 

Or, Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders to keep alert for wolves that would enter the flock to steal sheep away (cf. Acts 20:31).

 

Numerous parallel passages that allude to Christ’s second coming, where the Master suddenly returns, all with the call to be on watch.

 

• X uses one of history’s most memorable events as a rivalling parallel to the future’s most memorable event to stir maximum obedience of his followers.

 

• X parallels the days of Noah from the past w/the future coming Day of the Lord.

 

 

[TRANS] Verse 37, “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (v. 37).

1. Societal ignorance

[KEY] X’s emphasis is NOT ramped sinning! But the general malaise of complete ignorance of the LORD.

• Genesis 6, from God’s vantage point all about incessant and increasing, sinning.

^ESV  Genesis 6:5-7 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

⁶ And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

⁷ So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them."

(Gen 6:5-7 ESV)

[KEY] Comparing this depiction w/Matthew 24:38, you see what was happening from man’s perspective. A completely opposite tone.

• From heaven, God sees how dark the world really is and from man’s perspective, things are playing out in appears to be normal life.

 

• “…they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…” (v. 38).
  • All is going along with no perceived accountability.
    • Jesus timestamps a massive shift in the world by simply stating that all is going along,
    • “…until the day when Noah entered the ark” (v. 38).

 

• Whether anyone detects what is happening or not,

 

• Noah’s been warning everyone he could and building what appeared to be an unnecessary ship.
• While everyone’s operating in blissful ignorance, “…when Noah entered the ark” (v. 38).

[KEY] Verse 39 is X’s stinging indictment on the entire world’s state of mind.

• “…and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away…”

 

• Followed by the parallel, “…so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (v. 39).
  • Just it was then, so it will be in the future.
  • No one will see it coming, except alert, “awake” believers.

 

1. Selective justice

[KEY] Verse 40 continues X’s parallel account comparing what happened during the flood with what will take place in the end.

• Everyone outside of the ark was swept away while everyone inside the ark, preserved.
  • At the coming, Day of the LORD, verses 40 depicts two men working, “…in the field, [where] one will be taken and one left” (v. 40).

 

• Likewise, “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left” (v. 41).

 

• On the Day of the Lord, people in society will just be working alongside each other.
  • X making clear that within society, two kinds of people exist.
    • Saved and Unsaved.
    • Safe and Unsafe.

 

• Safe in Jesus (in X’s ark) and Unsafe outside Jesus (outside X’s ark).
  • One swept away.
  • The other is left.

Question: “What is the distinguishing marker between those, safe and unsafe?

[KEY] Verse 42 again tells you.

• One will be “awake” looking for the Lord’s return.
• The other, spiritually speaking, sleeps in complete ignorance.  

 

1. Christ’s parable (vv. 43-44)

[KEY] X uses another parable to expose society’s ignorance.

• When the head of the house anticipates a known threat, he stays “awake” (v. 43).
  • Repeated word “awake” (v. 43).
  • Common sense.

 

• Bc/society does not care to know @/the Lord’s return, it stays asleep!

 

• X does not leave an option for believers to “sleep” on him.

 

[KEY] “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (v. 44).

• Believers are to dignify X’s return by their holiness.

 

• 2 Peter rhetorically calls every believer to consider, “what sort of person ought we to be…?”

^ESV  2 Peter 3:11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, (2Pe 3:11 ESV)

• X will return, “…at an hour you do not expect” (v. 44).
  • At the end of the tribulation.
  • For overcomers.

 

1. Christ’s point (vv. 45-51)

[Question] “Why does the believer’s readiness, really matter as something to consider?”

• X’s answer can be boiled down to one thing: the condition of your soul.

 

• Once the Lord returns, eternal destinies are final.
• Wrapping up a final point.
  • X makes two classifications of humanity.
    • “faithful and wise servants” (v. 45).
    • “wicked servants” (v. 48).

 

 

1. The faithful and wise servant receives heaven.

[KEY] X muses out loud, prompting for self-examination!

“What is the condition of my soul?” 

• “Who then is faithful and wise servant…?” (v. 45).
  • “What does this kind of servant look like?”
  • Someone given a tremendous stewardship.

 

• He was “set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time…”
  • Jews given the Law, given their Messiah.
  • Gentiles given the witness of Creation; image-bearers transformed by Truth who likewise see Messiah.

 

• These are “awake” and “Blessed” bc/his master finds him faithful when he comes.

 

[KEY] Verse 47 says, this promises heaven: “Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions” (v. 47).

• Believers are wise stewards over what X gives, being faithful in little, blessed to be faithful over much.
• In this case, this means heaven.

 

1. The wicked servant receives hell.

[KEY] Verse 48 could not be a make a more sobering contrast.

• X returns to the hardened state of an unbeliever who rationalizes away Jesus’ return.
  • Wicked inside same household.
    • Same privileges as the faithful and wise servant.
    • Difference is wicked argues himself into a spiritual malaise.
      • “My master is delayed” (v. 48).
      • Outright denial of the Lord’s accountability.

 

• Servant claiming an inept master, who cannot hold him accountable.

 

• Sinful behaviors follow: “…and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards” (v. 49).
  • Unbelievers turning on and “beating” believers in that day.
  • Then to drink their consciences numb.

 

• Contrast between spiritual condition of each, could not be starker.

[TRANS] Verses 50-51 says, “the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 51).

• Hell, always described as an ongoing tormenting cycle.
  • Of sadness, regret, and anger.
  • The place you never want to be. Ever.

 

Conclusion: The ignorance of wicked people on earth, then and now, no wasy deter the inevitable.

[Illus] Like the child playing hide and seek, discovered in the closet. The door swings open and the young child, though found, stands there covering his or her eyes to give the self-illusion that he or she is still hidden.

[Appl] You may be convincing yourself that you are safe from judgment. A servant who believes he has God all figured out!

• He believes he can stall the inevitable by his self-confidence and wits!

 

• You might believe you are safe in societal norms when in fact you are fully exposed by your sin.

 

• Not dissimilar to those who were left outside of the arc in the days of Noah.

 

• This time the end comes not w/flood but fire.

 

• Do not delay in examining your spiritual condition.

 

• Seek the Lord and turn to him fully, today.

 

• Join the faithful who have come, “awake” living in light of the hope of the Lord’s return.