Today we are in chapter 17, verses 20 to 37.
I encourage you to open your Bibles to Luke chapter 17, verses 20 to 37.
We did print it for you today in the worship guide.
We usually do not do that because we want people to bring their Bibles
so that they can see the context of the passages that they read.
But if you don't have a Bible today, you can use the worship guide that we printed for you.
Before I read and preach, let me pray for God's help.
Heavenly Father, we gather once again around your Word
because we believe that you speak today through your Word.
Because we believe that you rule us through your Word.
Because we believe that in your Word we find life and joy and peace.
Because through it we come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
So we ask once again that you will address us from your Word.
So that instead of being distracted by the currents of this world,
that we might be able to maintain our focus and perseverance
as we follow after your Son, Jesus Christ.
So that we might live with awareness of and anticipation of
the Kingdom of God that will be fulfilled
as you promised.
So now help us as we incline our ears to hear.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Luke 17, verses 20 to 37.
Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come,
He answered them,
The Kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,
nor will they say,
Look, here it is, or there.
For behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.
And He said to the disciples,
The days are coming when you will desire to see
one of the days of the Son of Man,
and you will not see it.
And they will say to you,
Look there, or look here.
Do not go out or follow them.
For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky
from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man be in His day.
But first, He must suffer many things
and be rejected by this generation.
Just as it was in the days of Noah,
so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
They were eating and drinking and marrying
and being given in marriage,
until the day when Noah entered the ark
and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot,
they were eating and drinking,
buying and selling, planting and building.
But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom,
fire and sulfur rained from heaven
and destroyed them all.
So will it be on the day
when the Son of Man is revealed.
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop
with his goods in the house
not come down to take them away.
And likewise, let the one who is in the field
not turn back.
Remember Lot's wife.
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life will keep it.
I tell you, in that night,
there will be two in one bed,
one will be taken and the other left.
There will be two women grinding together.
One will be taken and the other left.
And they said to him,
Where, Lord?
He said to them,
Where the corpse is,
there the vultures will gather.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
According to a poll conducted in 2012
for Reuters,
it spanned 20 countries,
it said that one in seven people,
about 14% of the world's population,
believe that the world will end in their lifetime
for one reason or another.
And according to the Wikipedia page
that lists all the dates
that have been predicted for apocalyptic events,
there have been no less than 173
end-of-the-world predictions
that have already come and gone.
And most recently,
Ronald Wineland,
a leader of a cult that splintered off
from a Christian denomination,
predicted that Jesus would return
on June 9, 2019.
It's two months ago.
He had previously predicted
the world would end in 2011,
and 2012,
and 2013 as well.
Such attempts to predict
the end of the world
often becomes obsessive
and unhealthy.
And this was the case
for ancient Jews as well.
Many of them were preoccupied
with reading astrological science
to figure out
when the end of the world would come.
And they believed
that the world,
as they know,
will come to an end
when the Messiah comes,
the Christ comes,
to establish the kingdom of God.
And so,
it's not surprising then
that after Jesus performs
wondrous signs,
such as healing lepers,
and announcing the kingdom of God,
that they asked Jesus
this question
at the beginning of our passage.
When will the kingdom of God come?
Verse 20.
They're asking,
if you claim that you are
performing the signs of the kingdom,
when will this kingdom
of God's rule and authority
actually come?
And Jesus answered them this way
in verses 20 to 21.
The kingdom of God
is not coming
in ways that can be observed,
nor will they say,
look, here it is,
or there,
for behold,
the kingdom of God
is in the midst of you.
There's no way,
Jesus is saying,
to observe
the coming of the kingdom of God
by studying the stars
or the times.
No one can say,
look, here it is,
or there it is,
because the kingdom of God
will not be tied
to a specific,
visible location
like the kingdoms
of this world.
For behold,
the kingdom of God
is in the midst
of you.
And with this statement,
Jesus is challenging
the Pharisees'
misunderstanding
about the kingdom of God
in two ways.
First,
they believe that
the kingdom of God
was still to come
in the future
and not yet here
in any real sense.
But Jesus is saying
that the kingdom of God
is already here.
It has not been
fully consummated yet,
that does lie in the future,
but it has already come
in a real sense
with Jesus.
And so he says,
it is in the midst of you.
And second,
the Pharisees believed
that the kingdom of God
will come with
observable signs
that we should look for,
trying to set a timetable
for Christ's return
or for the kingdom of God.
But Jesus tells us
that there is no need
to look around
because the kingdom of God
is in their very midst.
Sometimes this phrase,
in the midst of you,
gets interpreted to mean
that the kingdom of God
is within us,
in our hearts.
And in the past,
I have thought the same.
But the more I think about it,
I don't think that's what it means
because Jesus is speaking here
to the Pharisees
who are the last people
in the Gospels
to whom Jesus will say,
the kingdom of God
is inside you.
And secondly,
Jesus is also,
pointing out
the fact that
the kingdom of God
is something that we enter in,
something we,
by submitting to
the lordship of Christ,
to the rule of God,
it's something we enter into.
The Gospels do not speak,
usually,
of the kingdom of God
entering into us.
He never speaks of it that way.
And so Jesus is saying
that the kingdom of God
is God's rule,
it's His domain,
it's wherever Jesus reigns,
and it's wherever Christ
and His followers are,
those who are the subjects
of the king,
the citizens of the kingdom of God.
That's the kingdom.
And Jesus is teaching the Pharisees
the reality of that.
And after He says that,
Jesus then turns around
to the very disciples
who do belong
to the kingdom of God.
And then He says this,
in verse 22,
The days are coming
when you will desire
to see one of the days
of the Son of Man
and you will not see it.
Even though the kingdom of God
has already been started,
inaugurated,
Jesus speaks of a future day
when it will be consummated,
when the king will return
in full glory
and power and authority.
There is this already here,
but not yet fully here,
aspect to the kingdom of God.
A heavenly colony,
so to speak,
has been established
here on earth.
But the kingdom of God
has not exerted its rule
over the entirety
of this world yet.
And so Jesus says
the days are coming.
It's yet to come.
When you will desire
to see one of the days
of the Son of Man
and you will not see it.
And the days are coming,
it's referring to the future days.
And one of the days
is kind of an idiomatic way
of saying first of the days.
So these disciples,
the days are coming
when the followers of Christ
will long to see the first
of the fullness
of the kingdom of God.
The first day,
the initial,
the beginnings
of the reign of Christ
in full power.
That's what they will long to see,
but they will not see
the Christ return that way.
The phrase Son of Man
is the most common way
that Jesus refers to himself
in the Gospels.
And it's an allusion
to Daniel chapter 7
verses 13 to 14.
Daniel said this,
I saw in night visions
and behold,
with the clouds of heaven
there came one
like a Son of Man.
And he came to the Ancient of Days,
that's God,
and was presented before him.
And to him,
the Son of Man,
was given dominion
and glory
and a kingdom
that all peoples,
nations,
and languages
should serve him.
His dominion
is an everlasting dominion
which shall not pass away.
And his kingdom,
one that shall not be destroyed.
So this is the expectation
that's behind
this frenzy
about the kingdom of God
and the Son of Man.
The Son of Man
will come with
the very authority
of God himself
to rule.
But that time,
Jesus says,
lies in the future.
It's not now.
But this won't stop people
from looking for him.
It says in verse 23,
and they will say to you,
look there
or look here.
Do not go out
or follow them.
Jesus is warning us
false rumors
will circulate.
Timetables
will be proposed.
But don't be deceived
by them.
Earlier in Luke
chapter 9,
verse 23,
he uses
very similar verbs
like this
to describe
following him,
to describe
Christian discipleship.
He told them
to come after him
and to follow him.
And Jesus
is making a contrast here.
In order to be
faithful disciples
who go after Christ
and follow Christ,
we cannot be disciples
who go out
after these rumors
and timetables
and follow these
distractions
because they really
are distractions
from true
Christian discipleship.
And Jesus
gives us the reason
why we should not
be duped by these
speculations
in verse 24.
For,
as the lightning
flashes
and lights up the sky
from one side
to the other,
so will the Son of Man
be in his day.
If a lightning
were to strike
right now,
no one's going
to look around
and wonder to themselves,
did a lightning
just strike?
Because we're all
going to know
that lightning
just struck
because it's obvious.
It comes with
the crack
of deafening thunder.
It lights up the sky
from one end
to the other.
It's visible.
It's obvious.
It's plain to everybody.
And the return
of Christ,
the coming of the Son of Man
and his full authority
will be the same.
There will be
nothing to mistake
about it.
So there's no need
to speculate
or go searching
for him
because as one
Bible scholar
Alfred Plummer
sums it up,
none will foresee it
and all will see it
at once.
But there is something
that must happen
before the Son of Man
returns in glory.
Jesus says
in verse 25,
The Son of Man's return
in all power,
glory,
and authority
will first be preceded
by his suffering
and rejection
at the hands of men.
In Luke,
as in the other
Synoptic Gospels,
Jesus repeatedly predicts
that he will suffer
and die.
But this is the only place
of all the Gospels
where Jesus connects
his suffering
with his glorious return
in the future.
And that juxtaposition
is jarring.
That glorious Son of Man
that Daniel 7 talks about,
he will first suffer
and be rejected.
That Son of Man
who will light up the sky
and have all dominion
over all kingdoms,
over all peoples
and nations,
who will judge the world
and bring justice,
that Son of Man
will first suffer
and be rejected
by this generation.
Jesus' reign
in glory and power
comes through the path
of humility
and suffering
and that's instructive
for us as people
who seek to follow him
in his footsteps.
Sometimes Christians
who emphasize
the end times
have this triumphalist
attitude.
We will conquer
the world for Christ.
We will win this nation
back through our activism.
We will grow
ever more influential
and powerful
and prepare the world
for Christ's return.
We have all heard
these slogans
or rallying cries.
But Jesus teaches us here
that the glory,
authority,
and power
await only those
who go through
suffering
and rejection
and humility.
Jesus says later
to his disciples
in Luke chapter 21,
people will lay their hands
on you
and persecute you,
delivering you up
to the synagogues
and prisons
and you will be brought
before kings
and governors
for my name's sake.
This will be your opportunity
to bear witness.
The church that is not
prepared for suffering
is a church
that is sure to decline
because God intends
for us to bear witness
to this world
in the context
of suffering
and rejection.
We should expect
rejection
when we share
the gospel of Jesus Christ
with people.
We should expect
various forms
of suffering
and persecution
in this life.
To follow Christ
is to submit
to his lordship
and to give up
our selfish desires.
To follow Christ
is to
consider others
better than ourselves,
to look out
for their interests
not merely our own.
To follow Christ
is to stand firmly
on his word
in a world
that rejects
God's word.
All of these things
necessarily
lead to suffering.
So have you
accepted this reality?
Are you prepared
to suffer for Christ?
Nobody ever said
that following Christ
will be free
of hardship.
But is following
Christ better?
Is following
Christ sweeter?
Is following
Christ to experience
his comfort
and guidance
every step of the way?
Absolutely.
Because in suffering
with Christ
we have fellowship
with him.
He is with us
and he is worth
forsaking the entire
world for.
And because of this
we can endure.
Looking forward
to the fact that
the suffering
in this life
is not the end.
It's not the final word.
There will be glory
that comes.
There will be redemption,
vindication
that comes
when Christ
returns.
Whether we die
before he comes
and go to him
or whether we remain
alive for his return
we will see him
face to face.
And when we see him
face to face
the demons
that we have been
fighting both literal
and figurative
will be subdued
underneath
our feet.
The world
that had hated Christ
and had persecuted
his people
will be repaid.
the sins
that had plagued
us
in this life
that we had fought
so long against
will be behind us
forever
and all of our sorrows
will be washed away
and he will wipe
away our tears
and we will get
to behold
Christ's gracious
and loving face
the face of our Savior
the one whom we
today dream about
and fight for
and long for
and persevere
for.
it's only by
remembering this
by living with
awareness of
and anticipation
for the kingdom
of God
that we can
persevere to the
end
and be faithful
to Christ
in the midst
of our sufferings.
And so Jesus
continues this
teaching in
verses 26
to 30
verse 26
just as it was
in the days of
Noah
so will it be
in the days
of the Son of Man
they were eating
and drinking
and marrying
and being given
in marriage
until the day
when Noah
entered the ark
and the flood
came and destroyed
them all
likewise
just as it was
in the days
of Lot
they were eating
and drinking
and buying
and selling
and planting
and building
but on the day
when Lot
went out
from Sodom
fire and sulfur
rained from heaven
and destroyed them all
So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Jesus compares the time leading up to the return of Christ, His return in power.
He compares that to the times of Noah and Lot.
During the times of Noah and Lot, the people of that age were characterized by really unprecedented wickedness, desperate wickedness.
And that's why they received such severe judgment.
In Noah's time, by a flood that drowned them all during Lot's time, fired himself a kind of volcanic-like punishment raining from heaven.
And only Noah and Lot and their families escaped these judgments.
And they alone were prepared for God's judgment.
And Jesus warns about that in the same way.
And note the comparison that Jesus is making. It's very interesting.
Because even though the times of Noah and Lot were characterized by great wickedness,
Jesus makes nothing of how wicked they were.
And Jesus is not trying to say here that His generation and the people that will be there at the time of Christ's return will be extraordinarily wicked.
He doesn't say that.
The only comparison He's making here is not of their depravity, but of their unawareness.
Of the fact that they will be unsuspecting when Christ returns.
They will be immersed in their normal, harmless, day-to-day activities.
Like eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building.
And that's precisely the point.
People will be going about their business as usual when the Son of Man returns in full glory and power.
They will be completely oblivious to the fact that their eternal fate hangs in the balance.
Jesus made a similar point earlier in Luke chapter 14 where people in a parable refused the invitation to God's heavenly banquet
because of their preoccupation with their property, their family and their jobs.
These are necessary preoccupations of life.
There's nothing inherently sinful about them.
But even these harmless occupations, these concerns, they're not valid reasons for neglecting to pursue Jesus Christ.
And if they become the reason why we do not pursue Jesus Christ, then they will become fatal reasons.
They will become the reasons that damn us for eternity.
This is an important point for us to recognize.
I firmly believe that if you look at the spiritual obituary of the people that are in hell at the end of the days,
many of them will have very ordinary sentences.
Not that they committed heinous crimes,
but that they were given to day-to-day preoccupations so that they were blind to Christ's message.
That they didn't believe in Jesus.
You can be unprepared for the return of Christ because you're consumed with being a serial adulterer.
But you can also be unprepared because you're simply trying to be a devoted spouse and a family man.
You can be unprepared for the return of Christ because you're a hedonist running headlong after all these illicit pleasures of life.
But you can also be unprepared because you're simply distracted with working and earning money and buying and eating food.
Christian writer C.S. Lewis illustrates this idea in a very imaginative way in his books, The Screwtape Letters.
The Screwtape Letters is a series of dialogues between two demons.
One is named Screwtape.
He's kind of the senior devil.
And he is advising kind of, I guess, an intern or whatever, Wormwood.
And he advises him, interestingly, to involve his patient, his human subject, in ordinary kind of small sins.
And he writes it this way.
You will say that these are very small sins.
And doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness.
But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the enemy.
That's God.
It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the light and out into the nothing.
Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.
Indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.
Even things that are harmless in and of themselves, such as eating, drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, and marrying and being given in marriage.
If they prevent us from being followers of Christ.
If they lead us away from Christ, they'll lead us unawares down the path to hell.
And that's why Jesus is warning his disciples sternly here.
Don't be caught unprepared when the Son of Man returns to render his final judgment.
Be expectant.
Live with awareness of and anticipation for the kingdom of God.
And if we live with such awareness and anticipation for Christ's return,
we will not be encumbered by the things of this world.
And that's what Jesus emphasizes in verses 31 to 32.
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with the goods in the house not come down to take them away.
And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back.
Remember Lot's wife.
If you have ever done a fire drill at school, you are familiar with these instructions.
First, stop whatever you are doing immediately.
Second, do not gather your belongings.
Leave everything behind.
And third, head straight to the emergency exit.
You guys have all heard these instructions.
As a child, I always wondered why my teachers told me not to gather my belongings.
If there's a fire, I don't want my stuff to burn.
Why should I leave them behind?
Of course, the rationale is that seconds can be the difference between life and death as a fire spreads.
And the moments spent gathering your belongings can be your very undoing.
And trying to carry, lug those luggages along with you can prevent you from a speedy exit.
And it can in fact block other people from exiting as well.
Jesus is getting at the same idea.
On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away.
And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back.
When Jesus returns, there will be no time to go back and gather our belongings.
When Jesus returns, there will be no second chances, no time to change our mind.
We will have to leave all of our earthly possessions and preoccupations behind us.
And so Jesus warns us, remember Lot's wife.
In Genesis 19, when God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because of their exceeding wickedness,
Lot's family alone is rescued because they're warned beforehand.
And as the family is escaping, Lot's wife, it says, looked back at Sodom that was being destroyed.
And she became a pillar of salt as punishment.
Lot's wife could not leave the life she knew behind.
She looked back with regret and longing and was punished as a result and became a pillar of salt.
19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon says this about Lot's wife, that she was, quote,
almost saved, but not quiet.
How tragic is that verdict?
What are your worldly attachments?
What are you trying to salvage from this world?
The paycheck you worked hard for?
The spouse or family you always wanted?
The house you had dreamed of?
The retirement you saved for?
Are these things keeping you from following Christ?
Will they say of you when you die, almost saved, but not quiet?
Jesus continues in verse 33,
Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life will keep it.
Whoever clings to his own life and tries to maintain his autonomy and rebellion against God,
instead of surrendering his or her life to God,
will actually end up losing his life.
But whoever forsakes his own life for the sake of following Christ will end up saving it.
So let me ask you, what good is grabbing your laptop only to be consumed by the fire?
What good is having all the respect and power you could accumulate in this world?
What good is being beautiful and desirable and famous?
What good is a billion dollars?
If after all, at the end of your days, you perish eternally apart from Christ?
Only those who lose their lives in order to live for Christ will find eternal life.
Only those who have a healthy disinterest in the things of this world
will actually live in a way that gives evidence of interest in the kingdom of heaven.
So I tell you, Jesus says in verses 34 to 35,
Just to clarify, this is not speaking about the popular concept of rapture.
I don't know if some of you guys have heard of that.
It's the idea that all believers will instantaneously be transported from earth to heaven
before Christ's return, or depending on how you view it, that could vary.
But that idea of a rapture is not actually a biblical idea.
It was popularized by the fictional series Left Behind.
I don't know if you've read it.
It's entertaining, but it's fiction.
That idea of a rapture that you may be familiar with
was invented by a man named John Nelson Darby in the 19th century.
It has no historical basis in church history.
It has no scriptural basis in God's word.
It's based on a misinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 15, verse 52.
The only kind of rapture that the Bible speaks of is in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 17,
where it says that those who are alive at the time of Christ's return, who are left,
will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
and so will always be with the Lord.
That's the only kind of rapture that the Bible speaks of.
And there, the word to meet the Lord in the air is not speaking of departing
and being transported away from earth.
It's actually the word that is used when you go out of your house
to greet a guest that's coming so that you could usher them in into your house.
So the going up to meet the Lord in the air is you meet Him in heaven,
in the air, so you can come down with Him to be a part of His rule and reign
in the new heavens and the new earth.
So it's not talking about rapture that you're disappearing.
So that's not in view here at all in verses 34 to 35.
What I think is in view here is instead at the final judgment,
there will be a clear separation between those who belong to Christ
and those who do not.
By all outward appearances, humanly speaking, they will be indistinguishable,
but they will be distinguished by their allegiance to Christ.
They could be roommates or siblings or husband and wife sharing one bed in a room,
sleeping at night, but one will be taken and the other left.
They could be next door neighbors or co-workers grinding at the mill together,
the ones you share your desk with, the ones that you are in the same project with,
but one will be taken and the other left.
That's why the urgency to share the gospel is ever present with us.
And even though Jesus already taught His disciples in verses 23 to 24
that there's no reason to look for this and search for His return,
it will be as plain and visible to all like a lightning that lights up the sky,
disciples can't help but to still ask at the end here in verse 37,
where, Lord?
Where will all these things take place?
Where will the Son of Man descend?
Where will the separation of the righteous and the wicked take place?
And Jesus reiterates His earlier point by quoting a proverb.
Where the course is, there the vultures will gather.
Jesus uses the same proverb in Matthew 24, 28,
and there, and likely here as well,
I think Jesus is just using that to make a general point.
It's similar to the English proverb that we're familiar with,
where there's smoke, there's fire.
If you see smoke, that's evidence that there's fire somewhere.
In the same way, wherever the vultures are gathered,
you can be sure that there is a corpse.
So the presence of vultures invariably indicate that there's a corpse.
In a similar way, when you observe these things that Jesus speaks of,
when the judgment is taking place, there will be no mistaking it.
There will be no missing it.
It will be obvious when it happens.
Jesus will certainly return to judge the world,
and He will appear when people are least expecting Him.
And when He comes, there will be no opportunity to change our minds last minute.
His judgment will be final,
and that's why we as God's people must live with awareness of
and anticipation for the Kingdom of God.
But I want to ask you,
if you are all prepared for His coming,
some of you have not yet put your faith in Jesus Christ,
how then can you prepare for this fearful judgment?
How can you escape God's judgment?
Jesus hinted at this earlier in verse 25 when He said,
But first, the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by this generation.
Jesus is on His way right now to Jerusalem
to die on the cross for the sins of those who put their faith in Him.
And He does it for our sake.
Jesus is the loyal Son of God
who alone does not deserve to be punished.
None of us deserve to escape the flood judgment
that befell Noah's population.
None of us deserves to escape the sulfur and fire
that came on Lot's generation.
We all deserve God's fearful wrath
because we have rebelled against Him
even though we are creatures that belong to Him,
are accountable to Him.
We have lived for ourselves,
for our own glory,
for our own selfish pleasures,
instead of living for God.
Someone must pay the price.
And God, out of His love for us,
sent His only Son, Jesus Christ,
to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross
so that we who believe in Him
might be forgiven of our sins.
might be received as good subjects,
citizens in good standing of the kingdom of God.
And as people who have experienced that mercy and grace,
that's how we live now
without seeking to preserve our own lives.
We live to lose our lives for the sake of Christ
with awareness and anticipation
for the kingdom of God.