back to indexSunday Service 12/27/20
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that we can approach Him with fear and reverence, 00:00:06.480 |
that as we come and sing before the throne of God, 00:00:09.640 |
we can reflect on His great mercy towards us as well. 00:03:40.280 |
And if any of you are here for the first time, 00:03:44.580 |
Please do stop by and visit our welcome table, 00:03:46.900 |
which is right at the entry of the parking lot. 00:03:59.300 |
We're gonna be having our New Year service online at 11 p.m. 00:04:03.960 |
We're gonna open up that Zoom room a little bit early 00:04:14.340 |
there's gonna be a password protection on that. 00:04:20.380 |
The second announcement is for our Bible study. 00:04:23.000 |
Please make sure to sign up for the next session, 00:04:26.280 |
the book of 2 Thessalonians, called Future Hope. 00:04:32.220 |
We're asking just for a little bit earlier sign up 00:04:34.260 |
so that we can allot people to the right groups. 00:04:39.080 |
even for those of you who've been going to home groups 00:04:43.300 |
we ask that you do sign up so we have a good, 00:04:47.300 |
Lastly, I wanna highlight again that our membership class 00:04:57.980 |
It takes place Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 10.30. 00:05:02.860 |
and it's gonna be starting again on January 17th. 00:05:11.580 |
And again, if you wanna submit a physical check, 00:05:21.920 |
Heavenly Father, we wanna say to you, God, in prayer 00:05:26.660 |
that you are truly worthy of all of our worship 00:05:31.640 |
And it is our prayer, God, that whether we are singing, 00:05:34.900 |
whether we are attentively listening to your word, 00:05:38.040 |
whatever we're doing, Lord, we wanna be worshiping you. 00:05:44.940 |
And so we pray, Father God, that you receive our gifts 00:05:55.700 |
and that you would continue to advance your kingdom. 00:05:58.020 |
We pray, Father Lord, for this morning's service, 00:06:00.620 |
God, that ultimately it would be something honoring to you, 00:06:07.580 |
And God, that as we are here gathered to worship you, Lord, 00:06:11.860 |
We thank you, Lord, it's in Christ and we pray, amen. 00:06:53.860 |
We're gonna sing this song, it's a fast song, 00:06:58.620 |
And I want to encourage you to follow our sister, Kat, here. 00:07:04.300 |
And just a reminder that as we come before our God, 00:07:07.980 |
that obviously we're singing these songs with our heads 00:07:11.460 |
and our knowledge that these things are true, 00:07:18.300 |
It's hard for us to see your emotions through your mask, 00:07:23.440 |
But just as an encouragement that as we sing these songs, 00:14:34.900 |
♪ The grace that you entered our brokenness ♪ 00:15:01.860 |
♪ And day hath forgiven this load as of love ♪ 00:16:52.400 |
♪ Father of kindness, you have poured out grace ♪ 00:17:12.300 |
♪ Giver of mercy, you're my help in time of need ♪ 00:18:10.940 |
♪ Beautiful Savior, you have brought me near ♪ 00:21:24.940 |
Now if you could turn with me to Matthew chapter 24. 00:21:27.780 |
I will be reading verses eight through 13 here. 00:21:44.140 |
"Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." 00:21:48.340 |
"No, there will not be enough for us and you too. 00:21:51.340 |
"Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves." 00:21:54.540 |
And while they were going away to make the purchase, 00:22:06.220 |
But he answered, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you. 00:22:24.260 |
God, we can't help but give you worship and praise. 00:22:27.260 |
Thank you that we can trust in a faithful God 00:22:31.680 |
And Lord, I pray that as we look into your word, 00:22:42.160 |
God, past all the rebellion and stubbornness of our hearts, 00:22:50.780 |
All right, well, this is the last Sunday of 2020. 00:23:15.620 |
and think through, man, what was the year like? 00:23:24.020 |
This year, you know, it's pretty self-explanatory. 00:23:33.720 |
to some of the things, I'm not gonna go very long, 00:23:36.200 |
some of the things that happened this past year. 00:23:39.260 |
It was a year filled with protests, political turmoil. 00:23:52.700 |
Wildfires, many of you were displaced from your homes 00:24:03.780 |
to the surface of all of this is the global pandemic, 00:24:09.900 |
2020 really, really has been a crazy year, right? 00:24:17.660 |
For those of you who don't know what a meme is, 00:24:22.420 |
and then people describe something with this picture. 00:24:32.900 |
if you haven't noticed, people kind of get angry. 00:24:35.260 |
Or if something bad happens, people yell out, "2020!" 00:24:40.420 |
It doesn't really make sense, but people are like, 00:24:51.740 |
knowingly or unknowingly, we're looking forward 00:24:58.780 |
As if 2020 coming in is going to actually change something. 00:25:11.780 |
it doesn't mean that anything's going to change. 00:25:27.340 |
If you think back, especially at the month of March, 00:25:31.300 |
when it felt like the whole world flipped upside down, 00:25:40.480 |
a word that comes to mind, a favorite of Berean, 00:25:55.620 |
and the entire world was brought to its knees. 00:25:58.500 |
This virus, it's unseen by the naked eye, right? 00:26:20.900 |
among whom, I mean, we need many prayers for them now, 00:26:25.340 |
many of us found ourselves working from home. 00:26:33.340 |
and thinking, wow, people sound very sober right now. 00:26:53.460 |
I mean, I don't know if you kind of relate with that, 00:26:59.680 |
there were a lot of people who had just sweet times 00:27:17.380 |
I had a friend, he had a phrase that he used to use a lot. 00:27:28.940 |
and that awareness and that perspective change 00:27:31.760 |
and that sharp kind of jab of the reality of the world. 00:27:36.080 |
And so for Christians, it was actually a great time. 00:27:50.080 |
The reality of a sovereign God who reigns over the world 00:27:59.520 |
And so something that we can espouse so easily 00:28:07.880 |
he is the king, he is authoritative over all things. 00:28:14.320 |
But when we stare at something so life-changing, 00:28:20.420 |
and we realize how far we are from the things 00:28:35.140 |
And talk of a sovereign God became very lip service. 00:28:39.480 |
And I think during that time, many of us began again 00:28:50.100 |
I think many of our prayer lives were restored 00:29:08.960 |
and as we think about everything that's been happening, 00:29:11.640 |
my hope is that today, as we go to a couple passages, 00:29:15.800 |
or I mean a couple points, we're gonna be jumping around 00:29:18.760 |
in a lot of passages, but that it would be an opportunity 00:29:21.320 |
for us to think again about whether the soberness 00:29:25.240 |
that came with the pandemic is still with us, 00:29:30.820 |
Or to think about now, where have our attentions again gone? 00:29:34.580 |
Where before it brought soberness and clarity 00:29:40.700 |
Even just this morning, when you think about yourself 00:29:50.020 |
And these two points are gonna be pretty simple ones. 00:29:52.280 |
The first point is that the Old Testament people 00:29:57.080 |
The Old Testament people were waiting for the coming King. 00:29:59.220 |
And then the second point is very similar to that, 00:30:01.180 |
is we similarly are waiting for the coming King. 00:30:04.940 |
So as this pandemic, that broke us out of the pedestrian 00:30:11.060 |
now, if you think about how we're living now, 00:30:17.260 |
And so there was a time when these things weren't a thing. 00:30:20.220 |
You go into a supermarket and see everyone wearing a mask, 00:30:46.660 |
and the coming of a King, and the coming of a kingdom, 00:30:52.820 |
And so if you look at Christmas, for example, 00:30:59.400 |
is that there was a people called the Israelites 00:31:02.060 |
who were waiting for the Messiah King to come, 00:31:07.060 |
And this Messiah King was supposed to bring in 00:31:30.240 |
With Abraham, he promised that a singular seed 00:31:39.180 |
that there would be a great people that come out of you, 00:32:00.080 |
Coming in to help us conquer the promised land. 00:32:25.940 |
wanting to look for a savior that's going to come 00:32:29.380 |
and make this kingdom the one that we're living for, 00:32:39.780 |
Because Assyria comes in and conquers the northern kingdom, 00:32:42.620 |
Babylon comes in, conquers the southern kingdom, 00:32:45.300 |
and these kingdom after kingdom after kingdom comes in 00:32:48.780 |
and takes over and we're like, oh, that wasn't it. 00:32:54.380 |
That wasn't the Messiah who was supposed to come in 00:32:58.260 |
And so Israelites, again, are brought to that place 00:33:21.800 |
to the salvation that he'll bring to the people. 00:33:47.620 |
I mean, these promises of a king that's supposed to come, 00:33:54.660 |
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. 00:33:56.960 |
"Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, 00:34:04.480 |
"and the government will rest on his shoulders, 00:34:06.460 |
"and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, 00:34:08.880 |
"Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." 00:34:13.780 |
Micah 5, 2, "But as for you, Bethlehem Epiphthah, 00:34:19.940 |
"From you one will go forth from you to be ruler in Israel. 00:34:27.940 |
These are just three prophecies, three passages, 00:34:57.340 |
See, these Israelites weren't too different from us. 00:35:03.740 |
a promised Messiah who would bring the salvation, 00:35:10.540 |
I mean, when we see how the Israelites were living, 00:35:23.060 |
is that the Israelites were waiting for the king. 00:35:25.900 |
Are you catching where we're going with this? 00:35:39.740 |
for the Messiah to bring in the coming kingdom. 00:35:42.100 |
I mean, they were serving, they were sacrificing, 00:35:48.000 |
they were worshipers, they were the chosen people of God. 00:35:52.900 |
These Israelites, many of them are crying out to God 00:36:17.820 |
waiting for the kingdom of God to come, Yahweh worshipers, 00:36:21.580 |
that when the Messiah that they're waiting for, 00:36:28.220 |
waiting, waiting, waiting, that when he comes, 00:36:42.880 |
"because you think that in them you have eternal life. 00:36:54.860 |
Their entire lifestyle, everything about their life 00:36:58.060 |
was supposed to be waiting for this king to come. 00:37:09.580 |
after years and years and years of anticipation 00:37:35.300 |
This reveals something about the human heart. 00:37:40.220 |
and looking for a Messiah king of their own making. 00:37:43.200 |
These Israelites, they were looking for a Messiah king 00:37:47.940 |
who would deliver them to everything their hearts desired, 00:37:53.700 |
like the king they wanted or the king they expected, 00:37:59.820 |
and unwillingly, grumblingly follow God or follow Jesus. 00:38:04.500 |
They didn't just say, "Oh, man, this wasn't what I expected." 00:38:07.460 |
They didn't just push Jesus aside and ignore him. 00:38:21.540 |
When the promised Messiah king finally arrived 00:38:26.620 |
into the world, their reaction completely exposed 00:38:29.260 |
the desires of their hearts and how far they were from God. 00:38:32.620 |
A simple definition of sin means to miss the mark. 00:38:39.680 |
I mean, what they did to Jesus was this tangible, 00:38:43.700 |
a concrete example of what sin is and what sin does 00:38:58.940 |
Look at this prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 53.2. 00:39:01.820 |
It says, "For he grew up before him like a tender shoot 00:39:09.920 |
"nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. 00:39:23.020 |
I mean, this picture of Jesus being unattractive 00:39:35.860 |
It's that people are just unattracted to the man. 00:39:39.040 |
But when you think about that, you're like, okay. 00:39:42.440 |
what about Jesus was particularly unattractive? 00:40:17.600 |
No, actually, you know, when we go evangelizing 00:40:19.540 |
around the campus at UCI and different places, 00:40:26.540 |
He's a pretty like, I mean, I know he's a loving guy, 00:40:29.600 |
But this passage in Isaiah 53 is talking about like, 00:40:36.500 |
There's actually something repelling about the man. 00:40:59.900 |
it's incredibly threatening to the sinful heart. 00:41:28.980 |
You know how threatening that is to the sinner? 00:41:34.940 |
it demanded recognition that everything is about God, 00:41:49.940 |
who says that life is not about me, but that it's about him. 00:41:56.060 |
that life is about his glory and not my glory. 00:42:02.940 |
But man, the glory that we desire in sinfulness. 00:42:08.420 |
Sinners will murder the one that threatens that, 00:42:22.740 |
Sinful man will hate him, see him as an enemy, 00:42:25.540 |
a threat, and a danger to the very way they want to live. 00:42:38.780 |
"I want them to be fixed up in heaven where Jesus is, 00:42:45.900 |
"I wanna seek the heavenly things and the kingdom things, 00:42:52.900 |
But when we really look at where our eyes are, 00:43:00.500 |
when we really look at where our ambitions are, 00:43:15.300 |
I want my student loans paid off and a girlfriend. 00:43:20.220 |
But it's still just everything revolving around me. 00:43:22.900 |
And while desires themselves are not always wrong, 00:43:31.620 |
many times if you take a good stare at your desires, 00:43:34.820 |
if you evaluate what's going on in your heart, 00:43:37.460 |
you can see how quick we are to ascend to that throne 00:43:50.860 |
That's not just pushing him aside or ignoring him. 00:43:54.700 |
That kind of sinful heart is closer and more representative 00:43:58.660 |
of what sinners were doing to Jesus on the cross. 00:44:08.460 |
off the throne of my little heart is that bad. 00:44:12.700 |
I'm here to humbly say that what humanity does in sin 00:44:34.980 |
I mean, just one simple thing of hermeneutics, 00:44:54.620 |
When we read this, understanding that this is talking 00:45:14.100 |
And so when we read this passage, rightfully, 00:45:26.060 |
We sing about it, we sing about it this morning. 00:45:43.100 |
See, this is the desire of every sinful heart, 00:45:45.340 |
not just to turn and to grumble and push God aside, 00:45:55.940 |
That's why the Israelites, they were living for the Messiah. 00:46:02.540 |
crying out for the Messiah, and when he came, 00:46:14.820 |
The Messiah did not fulfill their deepest desire 00:46:18.580 |
for them to ascend to the supremacy of the throne. 00:46:25.540 |
And so this brings us into the pivot of our second point. 00:46:28.420 |
Similarly, we are waiting for the coming king. 00:46:39.180 |
And this is where our passage today comes in. 00:46:41.380 |
We're gonna start from verse one here, Matthew 25. 00:46:43.780 |
So if you could turn there, Matthew 25, verse one. 00:46:49.780 |
"who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 00:46:51.980 |
"Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. 00:46:57.820 |
"but the prudent took oil and flasks along with their lamps." 00:47:04.180 |
and you could think about them as bridesmaids. 00:47:06.300 |
That's probably the best way to describe them. 00:47:09.460 |
Bridesmaids, that's probably the best parallel 00:47:15.980 |
like patrol the period before the actual wedding 00:47:23.180 |
and people would be waiting for the groom to come 00:47:24.800 |
to receive him so that the groom could go to the bride 00:47:34.620 |
but they would not know when he was supposed to come. 00:47:37.600 |
They just knew he was supposed to come soon, and that's it. 00:47:45.700 |
There could be natural disasters that occurred 00:47:48.460 |
or storms that happened so that it would impede 00:47:51.380 |
their path and things like that, and so they didn't know. 00:47:59.500 |
It says, "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, 00:48:05.880 |
"Behold, the bridegroom, come out to meet him. 00:48:08.840 |
"Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps." 00:48:14.740 |
And there's no judgment pronounced on the women 00:48:20.220 |
We're in First Thessalonians as a church right now, right? 00:48:22.060 |
The falling, we're not supposed to fall asleep. 00:48:26.120 |
They don't harp on the 10 saying they should have been 00:48:38.940 |
and then quit our jobs and then we all sit out there 00:48:44.700 |
Because we don't know when he's going to come. 00:48:50.500 |
The point was that they were supposed to be prepared 00:48:57.020 |
And so when the bridegroom comes in the middle of the night, 00:49:05.620 |
And then as they're going, they're all trimming their lamps. 00:49:08.620 |
But we know from verse two, even though it's all, all, all. 00:49:18.220 |
But verse two, it showed us that there are two groups 00:49:22.620 |
When I would think of this parable, I would think, 00:49:35.540 |
We try to identify what made the prudent the prudent, 00:49:42.580 |
First, I thought maybe it's because they all fell asleep. 00:49:45.820 |
Well, but that can't be it, because they all fell asleep. 00:49:53.940 |
they let the lamp go out, or close to going out. 00:49:56.500 |
But it can't be that either, because they all got up 00:49:58.300 |
and they all realized their lamps were running low, 00:50:01.900 |
In verse three, is where it helps us to identify 00:50:06.900 |
why five were wise, and why five were foolish. 00:50:13.020 |
And the conjunction four is very helpful there, 00:50:15.900 |
It says, four, when the foolish took their lamps, 00:50:19.700 |
they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil 00:50:26.940 |
why some were called foolish, and why some were called wise. 00:50:31.100 |
They weren't foolish because they fell asleep. 00:50:34.100 |
They weren't foolish because they let the lamp go out. 00:50:36.180 |
They were called foolish because they did not 00:50:46.280 |
the foolish ones did not prepare extra oil, that's it. 00:50:51.440 |
That's what differentiates the wise and the foolish, 00:51:04.060 |
The foolish were not prepared to meet the bridegroom. 00:51:09.300 |
And what this does is it brings exposure to the heart. 00:51:30.420 |
they're ready to receive him and light the way. 00:51:32.660 |
They all fall asleep because it takes a while, 00:51:57.680 |
They're not being prepared showed that they did not care 00:52:05.880 |
The problem wasn't their action at his arrival, 00:52:27.160 |
They had no desire for the bridegroom's arrival. 00:52:53.680 |
I still play fantasy basketball with my old students 00:53:01.600 |
One of my old students had six different boards. 00:53:08.720 |
but if one person gets taken at the top of the draft board, 00:53:11.920 |
then what happens is they move on to their next draft board. 00:53:21.920 |
I'm gonna choose this person and things like that. 00:53:39.700 |
I heard that fantasy basketball became an idol 00:54:02.200 |
when they're gonna be in contact with somebody they like? 00:54:17.920 |
you know your roommate is going out to a bam for six 00:54:20.600 |
and this roommate of yours likes this one other person. 00:54:51.520 |
and they're like getting themselves all ready. 00:54:58.680 |
all written down in these like collated notes. 00:55:02.400 |
It's like, if they say this, I'm gonna do this. 00:55:04.600 |
Oh, I know they're gonna come up with this question. 00:55:09.320 |
even though none of them might come out in the interview. 00:55:21.040 |
I mean, that correlation between preparedness 00:55:26.760 |
and caring is very intimate, it's very close. 00:55:29.600 |
When you care about something, you always prepare. 00:55:42.600 |
So these five foolish women, they're exposed. 00:56:04.880 |
to go into town and like purchase it and have it ready? 00:56:11.440 |
And so these five foolish ones, exposed at the moment 00:56:23.760 |
give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. 00:56:28.040 |
no, there will not be enough for us and you too. 00:56:30.400 |
Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. 00:56:33.160 |
And while they were going away to make the purchase, 00:56:37.080 |
went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. 00:56:47.160 |
But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. 00:56:50.080 |
And here's the exhortation, be on the alert then. 00:56:57.420 |
See, the five foolish can't take the oil from the five wise. 00:57:03.080 |
The five wise are like, hey, you gotta get your own. 00:57:17.040 |
And so we understand it is on each individual's plate. 00:57:28.240 |
And these five, the moment they realized they needed oil, 00:57:49.560 |
Talks about this is what the kingdom looks like 00:57:54.920 |
And so this is what kingdom people look like. 00:57:59.680 |
is telling you what the kingdom people look like. 00:58:07.000 |
You will be either prepared or you will be unprepared. 00:58:27.160 |
and we think, man, they completely missed it. 00:58:33.860 |
There is a danger of us being in a similar place 00:58:51.600 |
You can say so many things that look so similar 00:58:57.800 |
All of us would say we're waiting for the coming king 00:59:14.840 |
That they actually have no desire for the king 00:59:24.240 |
So when Jesus comes again, many will be in panic mode. 00:59:32.920 |
of what they were supposed to do but it will be too late. 00:59:41.400 |
It's the heart that's presented in that moment. 00:59:45.680 |
If there's an uncaring heart that has no love 00:59:51.640 |
for the coming king way prior to his arrival, 01:00:01.040 |
It's not for if I had just a little bit more time. 01:00:04.440 |
We see that with the story of this Lazarus, right? 01:00:11.600 |
He finds himself in a place where it's too late. 01:00:14.360 |
The time when he comes will only be an exposure 01:00:27.360 |
they will run around, they'll look for excuses. 01:00:41.600 |
They want to be on that throne and judgment awaits. 01:00:44.780 |
We're gonna take a look at 2 Peter 3 here, verse eight. 01:00:52.400 |
"that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years 01:00:58.520 |
"Some count slowness, but is patient toward you, 01:01:05.080 |
See, this time period that we're living in right now 01:01:26.900 |
This world, we're existing in a ticking time bomb. 01:01:42.180 |
And so it says here that this time is actually meant 01:01:54.400 |
that when we're talking to people about this, 01:02:04.400 |
That's why in the verse right after this in verse 10, 01:02:13.480 |
it says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief." 01:02:26.280 |
In which the heavens will pass away like a roar 01:02:29.560 |
and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat 01:02:31.600 |
and the earth and its work will be burned up. 01:02:36.080 |
Everything that we're working for, just gone. 01:02:54.640 |
And we say, how could God's kindness and grace 01:02:59.920 |
It's not that it ever changed, he never changed. 01:03:09.160 |
Today, we can be so certain that tomorrow will come, 01:03:26.600 |
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, 01:03:32.960 |
looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, 01:03:35.320 |
because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning 01:03:37.640 |
and the elements will melt with intense heat, 01:03:41.000 |
we are looking for new heavens and a new earth 01:03:50.080 |
You know what word I love a lot in this passage, 01:04:04.960 |
are more aware of Christmas and all that kind of stuff. 01:04:07.640 |
So for the first time, my firstborn was trying to hype up 01:04:12.640 |
and get my secondborn all excited about Christmas. 01:04:17.120 |
She'd be like, four more days, three more days. 01:04:21.440 |
and then we made that thing where those blocks, 01:04:23.320 |
they change and count down the days till Christmas. 01:04:48.880 |
It's like someone that's like, dude, chill out. 01:05:14.200 |
And this passage is talking about this desire. 01:05:17.960 |
It's not just like, oh my gosh, the end is gonna come. 01:05:32.440 |
Pastor Peter, as he's been preaching through Hebrews 9, 01:05:36.720 |
"Inasmuch as it's appointed for men to die once, 01:05:50.360 |
but just to highlight, those who eagerly await them. 01:06:03.200 |
And once you're there, there is no second chance. 01:06:12.720 |
"Tomorrow is the devil's day, but today is God's. 01:06:15.680 |
"Satan does not care how spiritual your intentions are 01:06:20.460 |
"if only they are determined to be done tomorrow, 01:06:24.080 |
"And it's exposing something about your heart today anyway." 01:06:38.520 |
"so the sons of men are ensnared in an evil time 01:06:44.120 |
It's this fish that's swimming around, eating 01:06:46.720 |
whatever food it could find floating around in the ocean, 01:06:48.800 |
but one day it eats the wrong one and then it's caught 01:06:57.400 |
when he's sitting there on the fisherman's boat. 01:07:12.000 |
"This is now, beloved, the second letter I'm writing to you 01:07:16.340 |
"by way of reminder that you should remember the words," 01:07:19.600 |
listen to that, "you should remember the words 01:07:27.620 |
"Know this, first of all, that in the last days 01:07:31.060 |
"following after their own lusts, and saying, 01:07:41.640 |
but I kind of get the feel of when the people 01:07:47.280 |
and they're saying like, "Who's going to save you? 01:07:52.980 |
I mean, it says, "In the last days, they're gonna," 01:08:01.340 |
"for when they maintain this, it escapes their notice 01:08:03.260 |
"that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago, 01:08:05.540 |
"and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 01:08:09.180 |
"through which the world at that time was destroyed, 01:08:12.600 |
"But by his word, the present heavens and earth 01:08:14.420 |
"are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment 01:08:23.480 |
The scary thing about this passage is that these people 01:08:36.160 |
I highly don't recommend it, it's called 2012. 01:08:40.600 |
but there's this one picture in the middle of it 01:08:50.160 |
before anybody really, I think this was 2012, 01:08:54.160 |
before anyone realizes that the world is coming to an end. 01:08:56.760 |
So everyone, you know the beginning of a movie 01:09:01.720 |
the eeriness of it, like, everything seems so normal, 01:09:06.440 |
it's the end of the world then, and so you know, right? 01:09:08.760 |
And so they're just walking by this homeless man, 01:09:19.800 |
Holding up this sign, like, prepare to meet thy maker. 01:09:36.880 |
tsunamis and earthquakes and stuff, you see that? 01:09:40.680 |
a homeless man just standing right there in the middle, 01:09:43.800 |
And you're like, dude, I shouldn't be laughing at it, 01:09:59.560 |
Like, when we see the world being torn apart, 01:10:09.200 |
That's what we see in the book of Revelation. 01:10:11.240 |
But you know what's so crazy about the stubbornness 01:10:20.080 |
they still refuse to bow the knee before God. 01:10:26.040 |
That would have changed anything about unbelieving hearts. 01:10:35.280 |
Matthew 25 is in the middle of the Olivet Discourse 01:10:39.640 |
And the point is clear because of the repetition 01:10:52.560 |
for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 01:10:54.920 |
Verse 44, for this reason you also must be ready, 01:10:59.800 |
Verse 50, the master of that slave will come on a day 01:11:05.000 |
So the word I think we can captivate here is suddenly. 01:11:11.400 |
I realized coming up out of that initial time 01:11:32.640 |
we get stricken with some illness or disease, 01:11:35.960 |
and you're like, whoa, and you start living soberly. 01:11:38.760 |
But soon after that, things go back to normal. 01:11:46.600 |
we're like, we're going right back to what we were doing. 01:11:49.520 |
And it's crazy that a worldwide pandemic hit us, 01:11:53.680 |
and months later, we're like, it became normal again. 01:12:03.280 |
to put our sights on things where we once again, 01:12:10.200 |
man, I can't wait for the restaurants to open 01:12:12.840 |
I've heard this term, light at the end of the tunnel, 01:12:29.120 |
I've seen pictures of people getting vaccines 01:12:31.440 |
and the whole room sobbing as if this is their salvation. 01:12:35.040 |
To the unbeliever, this thing will not save them. 01:12:44.800 |
And people think like, oh, like, where's God? 01:12:50.560 |
Or I'll do it tomorrow, or I don't know, you know? 01:12:53.400 |
Like, I'll just continue to living in the, I don't know. 01:12:57.480 |
for the groom to come or like, living all like, 01:13:02.840 |
Like, with malicious intent and all that kind of stuff. 01:13:05.840 |
I think they were just kind of living their lives 01:13:11.640 |
For any unbelieving person that's listening today, 01:13:19.920 |
There is no light at the end of the tunnel at that point. 01:13:29.000 |
We cannot live in simple anticipation for our world 01:13:32.680 |
to go back to the way it was, because at the end, 01:13:37.400 |
To conclude, I realized as I studied this passage, 01:13:45.160 |
the final, for a final application point, just one, 01:14:02.560 |
to look at this and try to identify who I am. 01:14:08.800 |
But can I ask you today, not to try to just sit there 01:14:11.640 |
and as a final application to identify who you are, 01:14:25.400 |
Not to sit there and say like, man, I'm living like, 01:14:32.200 |
you're trying to convince yourself one way or the other. 01:14:34.120 |
Instead of doing that, the whole point is, he's coming soon. 01:14:44.880 |
There's no reason to look back and go like, oh my gosh, 01:14:59.320 |
Wake up tomorrow and say, this world is passing away, 01:15:09.480 |
In Hebrews two and three, when it talks about today, 01:15:12.880 |
if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts 01:15:15.800 |
It's that, it's like, you don't have to sit there 01:15:17.360 |
and be like, oh, just continue to live in the past. 01:15:19.240 |
Just like today, if you hear the voice, listen. 01:15:30.080 |
I wanted to leave that as the final exhortation. 01:15:37.360 |
I'm really excited for the New Year's Eve service. 01:15:43.900 |
even though the arbitrary calendar date changing, 01:15:48.000 |
But still, it's a time to really reflect together. 01:15:51.920 |
I love New Year's because we can reflect together. 01:16:07.200 |
As opposed to all of us just living our own lives, 01:16:24.320 |
we realize what an unprepared heart actually shows about us. 01:16:29.320 |
Father, for those of us who have grown so accustomed 01:16:40.520 |
that we can't continue to live in a love of this world. 01:16:44.320 |
Father, would you help us to surrender our lives to you? 01:16:48.520 |
Help us to remember that the all 100% surrendering 01:17:06.140 |
So God, I pray that there would be no more lip service. 01:17:20.040 |
I think Pastor Nate asked us to sing the song 01:17:25.720 |
First verse is what is our hope in life and death? 01:17:44.840 |
So as we sing this, I pray that we find encouragement. 01:22:15.200 |
God, there would be no fear of condemnation any longer. 01:22:20.520 |
that would be our voice, our desire, our heart. 01:22:26.400 |
And Father, for the unbeliever, I pray, Lord, 01:22:39.200 |
right now patient, who desires for them to repent. 01:24:50.720 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 01:24:58.000 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 01:25:03.920 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 01:25:10.880 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪ 01:25:15.880 |
♪ Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth ♪