Escape for Your Life!

is there in your bulletins in
its entirety. Luke 17. We began this passage last week
and we won’t finish it this week. And in God’s providence, we won’t
finish it next week either because I won’t be here. What we began to look at is what
is introduced here in this passage, the kingdom of God. The Pharisees
had come to Christ and they were asking, essentially, you keep
talking about this kingdom, where is it? And it prompted an answer
that the Pharisees didn’t quite expect and probably the disciples
themselves didn’t even expect in its fullness. Jesus uses the
opportunity, this challenge that He receives from the Pharisees,
to give one of the fullest accounts of a description of the Kingdom
of God. I want to pick up again, if you
would, beginning in v. 20 of Luke 17. Now, having been questioned by
the Pharisees as to when the Kingdom of God was coming, He
answered them and said, the kingdom of God is not coming with signs
to be observed. Nor will they say, look, here
it is or there it is. For behold, the kingdom of God
is in your midst. And he said to the disciples,
the days will come when you will long to see one of the days of
the Son of Man and you will not see it. They will say to you,
look there, look here. Do not go away and do not run
after them. For just like the lightning,
when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other
part of the sky, 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 happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in
the days of the Son of Man. They were eating. They were drinking.
They were marrying. They were being given in marriage
until the day that Noah entered the ark. The flood came and destroyed
them all. It was the same as first happened
in the days of Lot. They were eating. They were drinking.
They were buying. They were selling. They were
planting. They were building. But on the day that Lot went
out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and
destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the
day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on
the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go
down to take them out. And likewise, the one who is
in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever
seeks to keep his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life will
preserve it. I tell you that on that night
there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other
will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place.
One will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be
in the field. One will be taken and the other
will be left. Answering them, they said to Him, Where, Lord?
And He said to them, Where the body is, there also the vultures
will be gathered. And so Jesus takes this affront
from the Pharisees and uses it as an opportunity for his own
end to glorify God in uncovering, revealing to his own disciples
primarily, the nature of the kingdom of God. And he began
and we began and we picked up the first point of the kingdom
last week when we noticed that first and foremost, the first
characteristic of the kingdom of God that we notice is that
it is subtle. It’s not going to come in some
great pomp. It’s not going to come in some
great fanfare. Look at verse 20, having been
questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was
coming. And we believe, and as I laid out to you, I think it
was an affront by the Pharisees. I think they were trying to set
up Christ, saying, you keep talking about this kingdom, so where
is it? When is it coming? And he answered and said, the
kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. Many
times in the capture of a great city, the conqueror would come
back, either the general or perhaps even the king would come back
and leading this trail would be this great fanfare of trumpets
followed immediately by the king and ultimately by those that
he had captured. And that’s the kind of situation
that the Jews were expecting. They wanted that kind of conquering
king. That’s the kingdom they wanted.
Where is it? When is it coming? Where are
the trumpets? Jesus said it’s not going to
be that way. It’s a subtle kingdom. Kingdom
is not coming with signs to be observed. No matter how close
you watch, no matter how fixated you are upon so-called signs,
it’s not coming because it’s ultimately a spiritual kingdom.
Point two. Jesus says, nor will they say,
look, here it is or there it is, as if possibly There are
those followers of Christ, those children of God who somehow missed
it. And they have to be informed
by someone else. The kingdom of God is down the
street. For behold, Jesus says, the kingdom
of God is in your midst. First and foremost, it begins
in the heart. It’s a work of God that begins deep down within
and then permeates. But it’s a subtle and spiritual
kingdom. It’s not going to come with the
fanfare that the Pharisees expected. It’s not going to come in that
fashion at all. As we saw last week, it is a
spiritual kingdom. It is first and foremost in you. But ultimately, Jesus points
to them and says, it is already among you. Here I stand as the
very King which all of Scripture has proclaimed through the ages.
Here I am, the Messiah, and they could not, would not behold Him. They couldn’t grasp this Kingdom
that God was unfolding in their very midst. Couldn’t grasp it. And so we come to point three.
The third characteristic of the kingdom of God that Jesus Himself
lays out here. The third characteristic is that
it is a surprising kingdom. It is a surprising kingdom. And
I want to take you back to verse 22 to a, if you’ll pardon the
unintended pun, a striking illustration. He uses the illustration of lightning. Just that fast. That’s how quickly
the Pharisees were going to realize that the kingdom was already
upon them and that they had missed it. Let’s go back, if you would,
to verse 22. He said to the disciples, the
day will come when you will long to see one of the days of the
Son of Man. I mean, we’re in that period
of time, aren’t we? I mean, I can remember, I think
it was 1988 reasons why that when the Lord is coming back
in 1988. And I wish the guy hadn’t said that, because then I knew
for sure it wasn’t going to happen in 1988. And then it happened
again, didn’t it? In 2000 or Y2K, something happened
and everybody’s predicting that Christ is coming back. I wish
they’d just be quiet. Because you can guarantee if
they predict the day and the year, it’s not happening then. And so we’re in that period,
aren’t we? The disciples were already in that period. They
wanted some kind of kingdom advance. We long for the days when Christ
is going to have ultimate rule. We long for the days when we’re
going to be glorified. And we no longer are subject
to the effects of our sinful temptations, don’t we? The days will come and you’ll
long to see one of the days of the Son of Man. It talks about
an intense yearning. And granted, there are many people
that have almost forgotten about those days. They’ve forgotten
about longing and looking and waiting upon Christ for His return. But there will come a day, Jesus
says, when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of
Man, and you will not see it. And then there are going to come
the amateur news people. You know who they are, right?
These are the people that are up on everything. They can’t
wait to break to you in some kind of a news flash the latest
buzz that they heard. And they go from one news channel
to the next. They track it via the Internet.
They track it via the radio. They track it via the TV because
they can’t wait to be in the know to share it with people
like you and me. You know them. And what better, what more glorious
news to share than to come to you and say, guess what? Jesus
is here and I know where He is. Ridiculous. Look at it. They
will come and say to you, look there. Here’s Jesus. Look here. Come attend this seminar. Get this particular baptism.
Join this particular movement because Jesus is in our midst.
Hooey. That’s the technical term. Jesus
says, do not go away and do not run after them. And you look
at our day and age, and the gullibility of the average Christian, the
complete deceptibility of the average Christian to take and
to listen to every manner of nonsense. I can’t even go in
to the local so-called Bible Superstore anymore. I can’t go
in without having my conscience offended. Because it has gone
from bad to absolutely worse. I can’t imagine them putting
anything more ridiculous in there. That you can actually go in now
and mine out of Scripture a biblical exercise program. That’s the
rage. An entire aisle filled with this
stuff. Not saying exercise is wrong.
Is that the point of Scripture? Is that what Christ has been
reduced to now? The church today is absolutely
gullible. This is for us. This is for this
day and age. And we are running after them. I love the proverb that talks
about feet that run swiftly to evil. And that describes the
church in our day and age. Where else can you have this
great big movement about being slain in the spirit or holy laughter? Where else can you have all of
these so-called Christs and all of these so-called things that
Jesus is apparently a part of? And he’s not. Not at all. And the very thing that Christ
has given for His church, prayer and preaching, is completely
obliterated in many cases. Do not go away. Do not go after
them. There were all kinds already
of so-called messiahs that were being advanced. Here is the messiah. And there would be these people
who would put forth these men, charlatans, fakes, And there
were always these dupes that were willing to follow them.
Where else do you get a movement that still to this day follows
a guy named Muhammad with a towel wrapped on his head? That’s where
so many of the dupes get duped, is by these so-called charlatans
claiming to be some kind of Messiah. This isn’t just someone wanting
to start a Bible study that somehow gets away from them. It’s the
David Koreshes of the world. It’s the Mohammeds of the world.
It’s the Buddhas and others who claim to be far more than a man. Here He is. There He is. And
Jesus urges, He pleads, He warns solemnly, do not go away. Don’t go after them. Why? Look at the answer. Just like
the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines
to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in
His day. The faithful are going to be
challenged, He says. They’re going to be tested. They’re
going to get frustrated. They’re going to be longing for
the kingdom. And there are going to be those, Paul says, even
the elect possibly could be deceived. They’re going to be longing for
the coming of the kingdom and they’ll settle for something
less. They’ll go running after some of these other things. They’ll
think that they’ve got to go have something else. They’ll
have to have another experience or find Jesus in something else,
some other movement. All kinds of seducers will arise
and Jesus says, don’t fall for it because it’s going to be just
like the lightning in the sky. You’re not going to have to have
one of these so-called news hounds inform you of it. It’s going
to happen instantaneously and overwhelmingly. One said it this way. He said,
there will be people who in their nervous excitement will believe
that Jesus has already arrived. but that he’s hiding somewhere.
I mean, can you imagine something so absurd? The very purpose of
Christ’s return is to reveal Himself, and some will think
that He’s towering in a corner, waiting to surprise His people. Jesus warns them it’s not going
to be that way. It’s not going to come as a surprise
to anybody. He says, don’t go running after
them. Matthew 24 adds that the day
and the hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven or
the sun, but the Father alone knows that day. And Jesus, when
He comes back, it is going to be to reveal Himself, not to
hide Himself. And you know what? It is an absolute
mark of divine genius here to use the image of lightning. Just pause for a moment and give
you a brief science lesson on lightning. This is my understanding. As
an unscientific person, essentially what happens is you have these
positive charges build up in a cloud. And you have these tracks,
if you will, find their way to earth. And essentially what happens
is the earth answers back and says, yeah, come on down. And the message goes up to the
cloud and bang, down comes the charge. That’s the technical
explanation. Each flash of lightning contains
one billion volts of electricity. Imagine that powering your light
bulb and how long that would last. And it can take about a
half a second for the entire process to take place. And that bolt of lightning, it
is hotter than the surface of the sun, scientists have estimated. These lightning bolts travel
instantaneously. and our eyes catch these flashes
just as a mere flash of light traveling across the sky up to
9,000 miles, one estimated. Wow. So when Jesus says, don’t go
running after these reports, Here He is. Look there. Look
here. Because it’s going to be just like lightning. And when
it happens, you’re not going to have time to turn on the radio.
You’re not going to have time to run to the paper. Go log on
to the internet to get the latest news information. It is going
to be just like lightning. It is going to permeate the earth
and the sky. It is going to be instantaneous
and overwhelming. And everybody is going to know
it at once. At once. Matthew 24 says it in similar
terms. If anyone says to you, behold,
here is the Christ or there he is, do not believe him. False
Christ and false prophets will arise and they will show great
signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
Behold, I’ve told you in advance. So if they say to you, behold,
he’s in the wilderness, do not go out or behold, he’s in the
inner rooms, do not believe them. Just as the lightning comes from
the east and flashes to the west, even so will the coming of the
Son of Man be.” What does lightning light? It is bright. It is unmistakable. If you’re staring out into the
sky, it is absolutely overwhelming. You have to cover your eyes.
If you’re too close, it is swift. I mean, how long does a half
a second take? Most of us couldn’t even count
it. Bright, it’s swift, it’s sudden, it’s universal, it’s
overwhelming, it’s irresistible. There’s going to be no time out
on the day of the Lord. There’s going to be no, Jesus,
can we have just a quick prayer meeting? The Son of Man is going to have
His day. And it’s going to come upon the
world like lightning that suddenly shines from one end of the sky
to the other. And just as mere men can’t predict
the locality of the next lightning strike, neither can they predict
the day of the Son of Man. But it’s going to be sudden.
It’s going to be as fast, proverbially, as lightning, God says. But there’s
a second illustration that he gives. There’s not only the likeness
to lightning, but there is the likeness to the day of the flood.
And this one is a rather striking image as well. I suppose we have a modern day
example in this tsunami. And I think the most striking
image that sticks out in my mind is the video image of a man,
a younger man, standing on the beach, almost mocking God, amused
by the huge wave that was coming his way, bracing himself, as
it were, to take the hit. Calling back to his friends.
Mocking. And in seconds, first the man
was hit, and then you saw the stun on his face. And you didn’t even need to know
the language that he spoke. Because it was a universal cry
of agony. He knew that he was doomed and
doomed forever. It was sudden. Look at verse 26. Jesus’ return
is likened to the flood. Just as it happened in the days
of Noah. Well, how was it? Turn, if you
would, to Genesis chapter 6. What was it like in the day of
Noah? It wasn’t unlike our day. In
Genesis 6, we get one of the descriptives that is so universally
accurate about the heart of man. It’s timeless. This is the rubber
stamp on humanity for all time. The Lord saw, verse 5, that the
wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Could God have underlined it
any more than that? God looked down at this precious
creation that He’d made that fell in the garden with Adam
and Eve and had gone downhill ever since. The Lord God saw that the wickedness
of man was great on the earth, and that’s one of the greatest
understatements of all. It was exceedingly great. Every intent of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he made
man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And the
Lord said, I will blot out man whom I’ve created from the face
of the land. from man to animals to creeping
things to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
It’s a sad day. You might think it was a sad
day for humanity. It was a sad day for God. It’s
a sad day for God to look down and see this putrid creation
that had become so vile in His eyes. Is it any different? Was that generation any different
than our own? Have things not gone from bad
to worse in our own day? Could we honestly say that somehow
we’re more moral than those were in that day? V. 8, But Noah. But Noah found favor
in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless, God had looked
down. Look at v. 12. He looked down
and, behold, The world was on the earth and behold, it was
corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way in the earth. Skip
to verse 17, then God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has
come before me for the earth is filled with violence because
of them. And behold, I am about to destroy the whole earth. And
God gives Noah this process of building this ark and salvaging
two by two. Everything but the dinosaurs.
There’s my take. Genesis 7-1, Then the Lord said
to Noah, Enter the ark, you and all your household. For you alone
I have seen to be righteous before Me at this time. Look at verse
4 of chapter 7. For after seven more days I will
send rain upon the earth. Forty days and forty nights I
will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that
I have made. And Noah did according to all
that the Lord had commanded him. Then verse 7, then Noah and his
sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered with him in the
ark because of the water of the flood. Not because they saw water,
because God warned of the water. This was an act of faith, not
an act of fear. Verse 10, It came about after
the seven days that the waters of the flood came upon the earth.
In the sixth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth
day of the month, on the same day, all the fountains of the
great deep burst open and the floodgates of the sky were opened.
The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.”
Now, that’s the overview. But watch this. Look at verse
17. Imagine You live just down the road from
Noah. And you just happen to be watching
out your living room window the day that Noah gathers his family,
he’s put all the animals on the ark, and now he boards, and you
watch the door close. And not three minutes after that
door closes, you see a drop fall from heaven. And perhaps your heart questions
for a moment, and then you hear a crack of lightning. And then
more drops. And then the deluge begins. Imagine
the judgment, the fear of that judgment. Imagine the overwhelming
degree of sorrow that you would have as Noah’s neighbor. That’s what Christ wants you
to know. Because He says there are going to be people on the
day of Christ’s return that have that inkling of remorse. Oh, my friend was right about
Christ. Because here he is. Verse 17 says, Then the flood
came. Just that suddenly the flood came upon the earth for
40 days and the water increased lifted up the ark so that it
rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased
greatly upon the earth. The ark floated on the surface
of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth
so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens
were covered. You know that people were scrambling. And as people
gathered on these small hills, you know that perhaps they found
themselves cut off on an island that was disappearing. It was
judgment and it was coming upon them. And probably as an act
of mercy, all these animals on the ark, the cries of humanity
were drowned out to Noah and his family’s ears. But it was judgment. Verse 21. Pardon me, verse 20, the water
prevailed 15 cubits higher and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth
perished. Birds and cattle and beasts and
every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth. And that wasn’t
even God’s main concern. The main concern comes at the
end of verse 21, and all mankind. Of all that was on the dry land
and all whose nostrils was the breath of the Spirit of life
died. It was a sad day. There had never
been a day like it. And there will never be another
day like it until the day of Christ. Jesus had told the disciples
that the Son of Man wouldn’t come like they wanted, in verse
22. He wasn’t going to come in the
way that they wanted, verses 23 and 24. He was going to come exceedingly quickly.
And he tells them about the condition of the human race. And he tells
them it is going to be a despicable day and age. What more nonsensical position
could you have than to say that the earth is going to get better
and better and people are going to get better and better. And
as soon as we’re all good, Christ will come. Evil men will proceed from bad
to worse, and it’s going to be that. I mean, what more clear
passage do you have? to obliterate that dominionist
position. They will be eating and drinking
and marrying. You know what? It isn’t pointing
out any sinfulness here. There is nothing inherently sinful
about any of those things. Eating, drinking, giving in marriage.
Nothing was wrong with that. He’s just talking about the fact
that everything was going just like it had always gone. The problem was they thought
that that’s how it would continue to go. And it didn’t. God intervened. God intervened suddenly and brought
judgment. One said it this way, by means of these very things,
eating and drinking, people are able to glorify God. What he
points out is the fact that there’s nothing wrong with those things.
But when the soul becomes entirely wrapped up in them, so that matters
such as these become ends in themselves, and spiritual tasks
are neglected, they no longer are a blessing, but have become
instead a curse. They’re eating and they’re drinking.
They’re parties. They’re weddings. That’s all
they knew. It reminds you immediately of
the rich man, the rich fool. It wasn’t that he was rich. That
wasn’t his judgment. Not that he was rich, but that
he was rich and that he was poor towards God. Remember? What better commentary than that
passage at the end of 2 Peter? Know this, first of all, that
in the last days mockers will come with their mocking. You’ve
heard it. You’ve shared the gospel with
people, right? Oh, yeah, Jesus. Yeah, I heard He’s coming back.
It’s been 2,000 years. Mockers will come with their
mocking, following after their own lusts and saying, where is
the promise of His coming? Is that any different than what
the Pharisees asked? For ever since the fathers fell
asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of
creation. Oh, really? Did you know that a universal
flood overwhelmed the earth. That’s exactly what Peter points
to. When they maintain this, it escapes their notice that
by the Word of God, the heavens existed long ago. This earth
wasn’t always here. It came into being by God’s Word,
was formed out of water and by water, through which the world
at that time was destroyed, being flooded by water. Everything
doesn’t continue just as it always was. It didn’t in the days of
Noah. They learned that lesson. And
it didn’t in the days of luck. The third illustration. It is
likened Christ’s return, Christ’s kingdom to the sudden coming
of Sodom’s judgment. Look at verse 28. It was the
same as happened in the days of Lot. They were eating. They
were drinking. And then he begins to add some
new and different ones. Different daily activities. They
were buying. They were selling. They were
planting. They were building. You say, aha, there’s the sin.
No, it isn’t. There’s nothing wrong with any
of those. But on that day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained
fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Let’s go to Genesis chapter 19. For the sake of discretion, I’m
not even I can’t even give you the R rated version of this. Genesis 19, two angels came to
Sodom in the evening. Lot was sitting in the gate of
Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to them and bowed down his
face to the ground. And he said, now behold, my lords,
please turn aside into your servants’ house and spend the night and
wash your feet. They said, however, no, but we
shall spend the night in the square. Not a good idea. And Lot pleads with them and
prevails. And he has them into his house,
these angels. And then a knock at the door
comes in verse 4. Before they lay down, the men
of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house. Get this.
Both young and old. I mean, how perverted, how utterly
gone was this society? Both young and old. All the people
from every quarter, rich and poor. I mean, how utterly degrading
is this? And they called out to Lot and
they wanted Lot to bring out these men. And Lot’s desperate stab at some
kind of a solution is almost unthinkable as a father. Look
at verse 11. As things get bad, as the crowd
begins to get violent, the angel struck the men who were at the
doorway of the house with blindness. You’d think, remember, that’s
all we need is a miracle. All we’ve got to see is a miracle
and we’ll believe. And here are men who are struck
with blindness, both small and great, and they still wearied
themselves trying to find the doorway to sin. What a characterization of humanity
this is. Willful blindness in sin. Skip down to verse 15. When morning
dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, this is it. Enough is
enough. Get up. Take your wife, your
two daughters who live here. You will be swept away in the
punishment of the city. And here it comes, even the God-given
title for the message. When they had brought them outside,
one said, escape for your life. Do not look behind you. Do not
stay anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains or you
will be swept away. There was judgment coming. And the angels plead with Lot
to escape for his life. And that’s exactly what Christ
is doing for the disciples. And any who would be His disciples,
escape for your life. Because this judgment is going
to be far worse than a flood and far worse than fire. No wonder it says in verse twenty
nine that came about when God destroyed the cities of the valley,
that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of
the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived. It’s overwhelming. It was overwhelming
judgment, and look what it I mean, I never knew what fire and brimstone
was. In fact, early on in my ministry,
boy, I vowed I’m not going to be a fire and brimstone pastor. Well, Here I am. There it is
in the text, and here I am, a fire and brimstone preacher. It’s
used only about a half a dozen times in Scripture, this little
phrase, fire and brimstone. What does it mean? I think you
know what fire means, but this brimstone essentially is a sulfurous
thing, but I guess the thing that I could liken it to, because
the word essentially means or refers to gum or a sticky pitch. We’ve seen the fires in California,
having lived there. We’ve had fires here in Colorado
since we’ve lived here. And the thing that they describe
in the midst of a forest fire is the heat that builds. And
the heat causes this sap to rise to the top of the tree and the
sap literally begins to boil and the tree explodes. In California,
it’s the eucalyptus trees that do it. Here, it’s the pine trees.
But what ends up happening is this sap, as it explodes, catches
fire and then spreads the fire even further. That is a good
image of what brimstone is. This fiery pitch coming down,
inflating everything in its path. What an act of mercy. What an act of mercy, Christ
says, that it’s going to be such a surprise. It’s going to be
such a surprise and it’s going to catch so many people off guard,
just like the days of Lot, just like the days of Noah, but far
worse. Just like a crack of lightning in the sky. It’s going to be
that sudden. It’s going to be absolutely overwhelming.
We’ll take up the last two points. In two weeks. The characteristics
of the kingdom. To examine our hearts to see
if we’re ready for the surprise. Let’s pray. Our merciful God. What a great
God you are. To issue this redemptive warning.
To plead with those. Not only those true followers,
even to make their own hearts ready, but even those wicked
and hard-hearted Pharisees who were within earshot. Lord, they had to know they weren’t
ready. You knew they weren’t ready.
You knew those of us in this room who aren’t ready. Father God, I pray that as an
act of Your continued mercy, You would make ready your children. Bring us to repentance. Help
us to eradicate the sin in our life so that on that day when
the lightning cracks the sky, we may embrace you fully ready
and not cower from you fearful. Grant us that grace, Father,
for your glory. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen. And.