This is from Rob’s actual study notes during a Sunday evening service, August of 2006
Matthew 24:42-51
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43 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.
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I read a story about a woman who had caught her husband cheating on her with another woman.
She was distraught and wondering what she was going to do with her life now that the one person she trusted with everything had betrayed her. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to kill her husband or take her own life…
Finally after much debating, she decided that it would be her life that she would end. So she went out onto the balcony of the 4th floor apartment that her and her husband had shared, and stood on the ledge.
Just as she jumped from the ledge, unknown to her, her husband had just turned the corner of the apartment building on his way home from work. The woman landed right on top of her husband and killed him instantly!
She lived…
“Watch therefore…”, for you never know who might be dropping in!
Jesus said that He was going to come “at an HOUR that you do not expect…” Jesus had just been telling the disciples about the Last days, when He was going to come. Now he is giving them inspiration for all of their life
The teaching of Prophecy is not so that we can get you all excited and spark your interest.
The reason that we teach you about Bible Prophecy, is so that it will motivate you into living a “Purified” life, so that you will be living as if Jesus was coming for you at any minute.
In Matthew 24, Jesus give the signs that reveal that the Last Days are upon us, then he tells us to be doing 3 things:
Be watching; verses 42, 43, 44
Be wise, verses 45, 46, 47
Be warned, verses 48-51
First of all you should be Watching, because you don’t know what hour your Lord is coming for you.
Listen to what Jesus said:
Matthew 24:42-51
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43 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.
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
He would not have been caught off guard, he would have been ready.
When will Jesus come? In an hour that you really don’t think He is going to come.
How many of you this morning think that Jesus is going to come for you in your lifetime?
How many of you think that Jesus is absolutely, positively going to come in the next Hour?
Jesus said in that hour that you really don’t think that He is going to come, that is when He will come. Most of you said that although most of you believe that Jesus is going to come in your lifetime, you are not really convinced that He will be coming in the next 60 minutes.
Matthew 24
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Watch, be watching, Jesus is coming when you least expect Him..
The Lord is coming soon, and if you are feeling discouraged or depressed, or you are tired or afraid, the Lord is coming, He’s coming for you. Don’t forget that it really is going to happen.
“BE WISE”
Matthew 24
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?
Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.
Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
A master leaving his home for a season, leaving it in charge of his servant.
The wise servant is one that is caring for His Masters household while His master is gone. Then when His master returns and he finds that His servant was waiting and watching for Him, He will reward that Servant beyond anything that he could imagine. Be wise Jesus says, “I have gone to prepare a place for you…”
John 14:2-3
2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
“I have gone to prepare a place for you, and when it is done, I will come and get you…”
What are we to be doing while Jesus is gone? Not just sitting around, kicking back, taking it easy, “Oh the Lord is coming soon, I am just waiting for Him…” The wise servant is doing in verse 46 is working, being busy for Jesus till He comes
Luke 19:12-13
12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, “Occupy till I come”.
The idea behind “Occupy till I come” is A force that occupies a territory militarily When the Americans occupy a territory, as in World war 2:
They secure the territory…
They Make sure there is not a rising up of the enemy…
They keep themselves disciplined…
They are Keeping peace and order…
When we teach prophecy, sometimes people can get the wrong idea:
“Lets charge up our credit cards, the Lord is coming, lets get all the stuff we want…” Instead of developing their gifts and working for the Lord, they begin to live irresponsibly. Jesus wants you occupying territory, expanding the territory, doing good, so that when Jesus comes back He finds you being busy for him
Yes the world is messed up and it is hard now to reach people for Jesus.
So why should we even try to witness for Jesus? What difference is one person going to make in a world that is so messed up? I mean, Jesus is coming soon, I am just going to wait and let Him straighten all of this worlds mess up. I as a single person cannot change the world.
There was an elderly man in the 40’s and 50’s who steadily watched the deterioration of his city day by day.
He watched the increase of Adult bookstores.
The drugs being sold on the streets.
The plague of Alcohol and crime on his city….
He began going out into the streets wearing one of those sandwich boards over his shoulders and witnessing to people about the power of Jesus Christ to change a heart and a life completely…
People began to ask him why he continued to go out into the streets when he didn’t seem to be making much of a difference in a city of millions of people… This elderly man said something very important, “I may not be changing them, but I am doing this so that they don’t change me…”
If we are not busy occupying for Jesus the territory that He has given to us till He comes for us, there is a very real danger that our territory is going to change us… Maybe some of us here this morning have already, slowly but surely been changed to begin to become more like our surroundings, instead of changing those who surround us.
We are not to just get excited now as we are studying prophecy and the return of Jesus, but we are to be busy and occupying this territory here in Winslow and the reservations, that Jesus has given us stewardship over.
We are to be faithful, and carrying out his commandments.
BE WATCHFUL
BE WISE
Using our time wisely, do what the Lord has called us to do personally.
Matthew 24
But if that evil servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,’
and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The evil servant that says in his heart, “Oh the Lord is not coming that soon…”
“Oh we shouldn’t be talking THAT MUCH ABOUT PROPHECY AND THE RETURN OF JESUS. What did Jesus say about the person that says such things? They are “An Evil Servant!” Now notice here that they are a servant!
They are “A servant in the house of the master…”
But this servant is not being wise, or watchful
He has began to think in his heart: “The Lord is delayed in His coming.”
This servant is not denying that His Master is coming…
He believes He is coming, but just not soon…
This is “An evil servant.”
“I believe that Jesus is coming, probably in my lifetime, but I am not sure if Jesus is coming at any moment!” As a Bible Teacher, I never want to be found teaching that Jesus cannot come in the next 60 minutes.
That category of Bible teachers who say that Jesus cannot come until the events of the tribulation happen. This is a dangerous place to be, why? Because Jesus said that the one who begins to think this way in his heart is “An Evil Servant!”
To dig into the Holy Spirits meaning here, lets look at the Original Greek word here for “Evil”
“Evil” servant comes from the Greek word “Kakos”, it means “Something that was once good but now has gone bad.”
An instrument that goes out of tune, it once was in tune but it is now out of tune.
I have a guitar that once was in tune and played beautifully, but now it has gone out of tune…
I have a barrel of apples, but now one of those apples in the barrel has gone bad
How did the servant go bad, by losing that watchfulness that Jesus can com at any moment By beginning to believe that Jesus may not be coming immediately, he begins to go bad Now, as believers in Jesus, we are falling into this “evil servant” thought when we do two things:
Matthew 24
48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
Beginning to beat the Lords other servants.
Beginning to eat and drink with the drunkards.
Beginning to beat up on people verbally, be unkind, backbite against them, say things about people in an unkind way…
If we really believe that Jesus can come in the next hour, as he said we should believe, than we wont be likely to say unkind things about other people.
We wont beat up on people verbally, be harsh or critical.
Men, you will treat your wife with more kindness, patience and understanding, if you really believe that Jesus is going to come in the next hour. At work, you will be doing the best job you can, because you believe that Jesus is going to come in the next hour and you want to be found by Him, doing a good job, being a good representation of someone who claims to belong to Jesus.
We will be eager to volunteer to teach a Sunday school class of mid week children’s study, because we believe that Jesus is coming in the next hour and I want to be found being faithful by Him. We will be faithful in our finances giving to the Lord His first part, because we believe Jesus is coming for me at any moment.
But if I think that Jesus is not coming back for a time, I will begin to beat up on Jesus fellow servants…
There was a very rich man who invited several hundred honored dinner guests to join him on his 1,500 acre estate for a night together. After dinner they began to walk over his property and the guests noticed many small lakes on the property…
One of these lakes was full of Crocodiles, snapping and lunging at the guests as they went by “What is that lake of crocs for, asked one of the guests?”
“Well I became rich by having great courage and intestinal fortitude, so I built that pond to remind myself that it takes courage to be successful” “Also I made a vow that anyone who can swim across that lake with those Crocs in it, because of there courage, I will give them anything they ask for, up to half my fortune.”
Suddenly behind them they heard, “Splash” and turned to see a young man quickly swimming across the lake with a swarm of Crocs fast after him… He made it to the other side, and was obviously shaken by the whole experience.,
The wealthy man ran over to him and said to Him “I have never seen such courage, ask me anything you want and I will give it to you, up to half my empire… The young man dazed by his experience said: “There’s just one thing I want…Yes said the billionaire…”I want to know who pushed me in…”
Sometimes, we need someone to push us in…
To push us into the lake, so that we can begin to swim the way that the Lord designed for us to swim…up stream, against the flow, against this world thought and the way that they live their lives…WHY
Because your Lord is coming for you at any moment!
You will not be pushing other believers around.
You will not be brutal with them.
You wont be talking negatively about them behind their back.
You will be kind, considerate, humble and seeking to be in unity.
What happened to this servant that Jesus is describing here in Matthew 24?
Matthew 24
48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
He began to believe that Jesus was not coming soon and so he began to be brutal with the brothers and sisters in the fellowship, and showed them no compassion… Because he lost that expectation of the coming of His master
Next, he began to eat and drink with the unbelievers. He began to give himself over to whatever his flesh wants to do. He began to party with the unbelievers, eating and drinking with them
How many of you here this morning, if you truly believed that Jesus was coming back in the next hour, would go out and begin to go over to PT’s and drink with your old friends?
If you really believed the Lord was coming, your not going to be doing these kinds of things. This is why most of the Bible is About Prophecy. This is why you cannot teach about prophecy and the return of Jesus too much…
Listen to what John said:
1 John 3:2-3
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Did you get that?
Everyone that has this hope within themselves that Jesus is about to come at any moment, will be doing what? “Purifying themselves…” Not that you will be perfect, but you will be trying to purify yourself of all of the garbage that is in this world.
Purify: To rid something or become rid of something harmful, inferior, or unwanted To free somebody of sin, guilt, or uncleanness, for example, in a ceremony or a ritual cleansing
If you are looking for the coming of Jesus at any moment, it will affect the way that you live your life…
And I am so thankful as I look out into our fellowship, that we have a church of people who are looking for the return of Jesus at any moment, and as a result you are trying to treat each other with humility, compassion, and Love…
And you are trying to rid yourself of all of the junk in this world that serves no purpose in helping us grow in our relationship with Jesus and His people.
The Lord is changing us because we are looking for His coming for us.
Even though we fail and fall all of the time… We put away those things that we were once in bondage to… We are trying to treat each other with love and tenderness…
Matthew 24
48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
What servant is this that Jesus will come on a day when this servant is not looking for Him?
The Evil servant, the “Kakos”, “Someone that was once was a good servant but now has gone bad.” One who has began to be brutal with other believers. One who begins to party again and return to their old lifestyle..
Matthew 24
50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Dichotomeo”, (Dee-khot-om-eh’-o) “To cut, to Bisect, to flog severely, to cut asunder”, where we get our work dichotomize
Di-chot-o-mize “To divide something, or become divided, into two classes or groups.
The servant that is being brutal with people and has given themselves over to their own flesh, that servant will be “cut in-two”. Verse 51, he is appointed his portion with the hypocrites.
Does this mean that this evil servant, one who has been brutal with people, one who has given themselves over to their flesh, does this mean that this servant is going to go to Hell? No!, that is not what Jesus is saying. It means that when the master comes there is going to be a cutting, a separation, a dividing of believers into two classes:
Those who were living like Jesus could come at any moment, and they go on to receive reward for what they did and how they lived for Jesus. Those who were not living like Jesus could come at any moment and they are denied any reward by Jesus, they are “Cut Asunder”, from the rewards that they could have had…
“…and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…” as a result of believers realizing that they wasted their lives on living for themselves…
When Jesus returns, all those who have asked Him for forgiveness and are Born Again, we are not going to be judged for our sins, that judgment for our sins has already happened on the cross,
Every sin you ever have done, are doing, ever will do has already been paid for by Jesus Christ. Those sins do not exist anymore. But as believers in Jesus, we will go before the judgment seat “The bema seat of Christ”, where what we did after we gave our lives to Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
You are going to be Rewarded for your service to Jesus But you will give An account of how you spent your life… What you did with your time, your finances, your resources, and you will be rewarded by Jesus for what you did for Him.
But the evil servant will find that he will be cut in two, as he finds that he wasted his life on meaningless things…and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth as they realize they wasted their life.
Matthew 24
51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Oh Jesus, I was so foolish, I wasted my life on things that don’t have any meaning now here in eternity…all of my activities were for me, my hobbies, seeking my own satisfaction, what a waste…”
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth as people realize they wasted everything.
Did I really need to spend all of my time…on?… whatever…
Did I really need that brand new…. Whatever.
Why did I do everything for myself…and not for Jesus?
Why didn’t I live my life like I expected Jesus to come at any moment?
In heaven we are told that Jesus will wipe away all of our tears, What? Tears in Heaven, what kind of tears, what for?
Revelation 21:4
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes…
Jesus is not going to chew us out, heaping condemnation on us, we will do that to ourselves
There will be tears in Heaven, but tears that apply to this judgment seat of Christ, as believers realize that they have been “Cut Off” from receiving any reward from Jesus…
“I had all the opportunities…”
“I could have lived my life for Jesus..”
“But I wasted it!”
And Jesus will wipe away even these tears, as you realize that you made it to heaven, but you lost something that would have been extremely valuable to you for all of eternity…
1 Corinthians 3:13
each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
At the Judgment seat of Jesus, all of the things you did after you were saved, will be put into the fire.
If you lived your life only for yourself, all those works will be burned up and you as a believer will suffer the loss of reward. But you will be saved, yet as through a fire, having suffered the loss of everything that WILL BE important to you in eternity.
You might say, “Well as long as I just make it into heaven, that is all I care about…” You can say that now here on earth because you don’t have the perspective of eternity to see what this loss is going to feel like… But do you trust the perspective of Jesus and the Word of God.
Jesus said that you will feel the loss deeply when you are there at His Judgment seat. You will realize that you wasted your life on yourself and now will suffer the loss of rewards that Jesus wanted to give to you, but now he cannot give them to you…
It will be an eternal loss…
You will realize that you were cut off from a part of you that you can never again get back… 1 Corinthians 15 and Daniel 12 say that just as there are different intensities in the stars, and the moon, so also will there be differences in the intensities of Believers in Heaven…
1 Corinthians 15:41
There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory
Daniel 12:3
Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
The Idea here in all of these verse, when we get to heaven, these rewards are not just little medals, these rewards will effect your very being forever and ever. This is why Jesus spoke so much about His return, this is why the Bible describes these rewards…because he wants you to have these rewards, but it is up to you..
Jesus wants you to shine with the brightest intensity…and He will say to you “Well done good and faithful servant…”
Maybe you don’t have the best job
The best house
You never achieve material success here on earth.
Hey who cares, live for Jesus, and you will shine like the stars forever and ever.
Other will say at this judgment seat of Jesus: , “what have I done? I wasted my life and I lost my reward. Reorganize your priorities. Live for Jesus like He is coming at any moment. Finish the work that Jesus gave you to do
John 17:4
I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
When Jesus said this there were still millions of people that haven’t heard about Him yet Jesus learned the secret of priorities, He finished the work that the Father gave him to do
What has the Lord given you to do? Finish that work. Right where you are at now.
How did Jesus know what work to do? We read that Jesus rose early in the morning and asked the Father at the beginning of every day, “Father what do you ant me to do” Not what people demand of you or the pressures of Life, what does the Lord want you to finish?
So that you will hear Jesus say: “Well Done…” Jesus said that his yoke was easy, his burned was light. In the Old Testament, the priests were not to wear any wool when they came to serve the Lord…
Ezekiel 44:17
And it shall be, whenever they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they minister within the gates of the inner court or within the house
Wool causes you to sweat, so the Lord says that when you come and serve me, only wear linen, because he doesn’t want you to sweat when you serve the Lord, It is not to be hard…if it is, you have taken on something that the Lord did not intend for you…
First thing in the morning, Lord what do you want me to finish today. Write down the things that the lord places on your heart, just like Moses wrote down the things that the lord told him to do.
Maybe it is just serving someone here in this body, good if that is what the Lord wants you to do. Maybe the Lord would say to you “Could you take 1 hour and pray for Winslow on Tuesday night, instead of watching an hour of TV” Could you take a Sunday school class one Sunday or one Wednesday Can you reconcile with your parents or a member of your family
Tonight we finish up the Time line that we began last Sunday morning of the completion of all last days prophetic events…
