Fellowship in the Word

Bil Gebhardt: Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bil Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her. So you have what, two amazingly sacrificial acts? One out of poverty, one out of extreme wealth. It’s an amazing thing; one had a little and the other had a lot.

But both of them at both ends of this, and so what is He telling us by this inclusio? He’s telling us we should serve the Lord sacrificially. Doesn’t matter whether you have a little or a lot. That’s the whole point of this. So it’s the use of your money, your time, your talents, your gifts—do you use it? Do you just get about serving the Lord?

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bil Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church, located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let’s join Pastor Bil Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God’s word meets our world.

Bil Gebhardt: In the first coming of Christ, many people did not believe in Him; some did. And then He was crucified and resurrected, and still many people didn’t believe in Him and some did. But other people after even the resurrection, you always had a chance to correct your view. You always had a chance to trust Christ as your Savior after the first coming. After the second coming, there’s no second chance. There will be none. The door’s shut.

At the second coming of Christ, He doesn’t come as the Lamb of God, but He comes as the judge, and so the door is shut. So the whole idea behind this is simply you need to be on alert, you need to be prepared. Don’t be foolish about this.

Now go with me to Mark chapter 13 and verse 28, another parable. In verse 28 of Mark 13, it says, "Now learn the parable from the fig tree." Jesus is going to teach a parable again. He said, "When its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. Even so, you too," He says, "when you see these things happening, recognize He’s near, right at the door." When the fig tree buds, you’ve got an idea something’s coming up. That’s the analogy.

"Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." Now this is called often the season in which He’s coming. And for 2,000 years, someone will always tell you we’re in the season now. But we couldn’t have been in the season because Jesus just said that generation will not pass away until the things take place. So the season still—we could be in the season right now. You always could be because the second coming of Christ is imminent.

But in the past, people always said this is the season. Not necessarily. He said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, my words will not pass away." He said, "But on that day or hour," He says, "no one knows. Not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, only the Father." This is the Father’s business. He’s just saying that. I’ve seen this often attacked, especially by cults, saying that Jesus didn’t know everything as the Son of God.

That’s not what Jesus is saying. What He is saying is the plan of when it happens comes down to only the Father. It’d be no different than Jesus—remember how many times He said it, "I came to earth not to do my will but to do your will." You see the Father sent Him and so He does the Father’s will. So He’s not talking about He’s limited in His deity at all in that situation.

Now He says, "Take heed, keep on the alert. You do not know when the appointed time will come." That’s the third time I’ve said that. You do not know. So if someone tells you they know, they do not know.

He says then, "It’s like a man who went away on a journey upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, assigned to each one a task, and commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert." Now you’ve got the image in your head. He’s gone, servants are still here, got a doorkeeper. He says, "Therefore be on the alert for you do not know when the master of the house is returning, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning."

That’s the four watches, by the way, of the Roman night. Notice the four sections. He said it’s evening, okay, after sunset, midnight, when the rooster crows around four, and then in the morning, when daybreak comes. The four watches of the Roman night. He said, "In case he should come and suddenly find you asleep." He said, "What I have to say to you all is you better be on the alert."

You see, there is a tendency for us that we’re not good at waiting. And if you have to wait a really long time, you get a little drowsy. If you wait an excessively long time, you kind of go to sleep. Some of you are fighting that right now.

And the point of it is though, what He’s trying to say that I think is such an interesting thing is that it’s easy to have happen. Even more so for us. Paul said the second coming of Christ is imminent. It can happen at any moment. Wow, that’s an amazing statement on his part. Any moment? Yes. Well, how long ago did he say that? 2,000 years ago. So now you get down to our day and age and what happens? We’re drowsy. It’s easy to be drowsy. It’s easy for us to think that.

I know it could happen any moment, but it hasn’t happened in 2,000 years, so I don’t think it’s going to happen right now. That is what Jesus is warning us against. He says whatever you do, don’t do that.

Now turn with me to Romans chapter 13, Paul’s this time speaking to the church in Rome. Now notice what Paul says in verse 11. He says, "Do this, knowing that the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep, for now salvation is nearer than when we first believed." That’s a great statement. Is Jesus closer to coming back than He was yesterday? Last year? In the 50s? The 15th century? Obviously, that’s what Paul’s saying.

He then says, "The night is almost gone and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." It should make a difference in our life. That is what he is saying. Now go with me to First Thessalonians, Paul speaking again, chapter 5 and verse 1. First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 1. Paul again, this time speaking, similar theme.

He says, "Now as to the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anyone, anything being written to you, for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night." Unexpected. He says, "While they are saying 'Peace and safety,' then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains of a woman with child, and they will not escape.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that in the day that the day will overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night or the darkness. So then, let us not sleep as others do, let us be alert and sober." Keep hearing the same thing over and over. We all should be alert. We should all be thinking about this.

One last verse, Revelation chapter 16 and verse 15, which by the way is an unusual verse from a text point of view, from the Greek text. You’ll see in your Bible there should be parentheses around this verse. And the reason is some of the copyists didn’t like the wording of the verse so they just eliminated it. They didn’t like what it said, and I’ll show you in a moment as I read it.

John’s writing and John says, "Behold, I’m coming like a thief." Same idea, suddenly. "Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame." That was what really threw the interpreters. Why would they walk around naked? What John is trying to say is, he said, "Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes." You’ve got to be awake. He’s using an analogy. And then he said, "So that he will not walk about naked and have his shame."

Now let me try to apply this. This happened to me about 20 years ago. I was in the shower. And I thought, what if the rapture occurred right now? You ever thought that? Somebody’s going to be in the shower when the rapture occurs. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. And it really bothered me. I mean, my shower sped up.

But then I thought about it, and this was a couple weeks later than that, I said, but it says that we’re all changed in the twinkling of an eye. And so once you have that, go ahead and shower. It’s not going to matter, you’re not going to have shame. You see that there’s not going to be any shame with something like this. But notice what we keep seeing here about the second coming. You and I need to fight the drowsiness and we should be on the alert. You see that’s the way this thing should work because He’s coming. He’s made it as abundantly clear as He can that He’s coming.

One of my favorite stories was told years ago by John MacArthur, and I remember reading this and it’s still at his website. It says Jesus is telling you, "I’m coming, I’m coming." He said, "I remember a preacher was preaching on the second coming, and he was one of those guys who believed that you shouldn’t have any notes, that you ought to preach strictly off the top of your head."

But he forgot his point. All he could remember is, "Behold I come quickly, behold I come quickly." And it should have jogged his mind. So he said it about five more times, but nothing happened. The final time he thought, if I hit the pulpit real hard and say, "Behold I come quickly," maybe something will jar loose and I’ll remember. Instead, he knocked the pulpit over and fell into the lap of a lady in the first row. He apologized, and she said, "Why are you apologizing? You warned me eight times that you’re coming."

And He’s coming. She got the point. Jesus places a really high value on this. You see we should be on our alert. What shouldn’t we be doing? We shouldn’t be setting dates. And we’re not waiting in line like we’re waiting for a bus or something like that. We’re not talking about that. Because remember when I was in Mark, I said—and we’ll go back there in a moment—the servants were doing their job. You’re not just waiting, like I’m not going to do anything, I’m just going to wait for the Lord to come back. That’s not what the Lord means at all.

But we should live a normal life. That’s the way this should be. One of my favorite stories about this was Martin Luther, you know, this great leader of the Reformation. And Luther believed very strongly in the second coming of Christ. And so he was asked by somebody, "If you knew Jesus Christ was coming back tomorrow, what would you do when you got up in the morning?" And Luther said, "I’d till my garden."

Think of that. "I’ll till my garden" because that’s what I do in the morning. I think that’s a wonderful answer. See, what would you do? Well, the first thing I’m going to have to clean this place up, right? Then you get on your favorite clothes. You see, we should just go about our life. That’s what Luther is saying, and he’s right.

Jesus stresses three things that you and I should be able to do until He comes. Now back to Mark where we were and I’m going to go to verse 5 now in chapter 13. Mark 13 verse 5. "And Jesus began to say to them," and here it is, he said, "See to it that no one misleads you." That’s such an important thing.

When it comes to the second coming, there is an awful lot of misleading. In fact, most of the material ever said or written about it, it’s all misleading. The whole idea said, don’t let anybody mislead you. And that’s a very important thing. Remember when Peter was writing his epistle and most of the people that were enemies of Christ said, "Hey look, He’s not coming back, He’s not here, is He? He’s never come back."

Now remember the early church, many of them stayed in Jerusalem thinking He would be coming back very quickly because it was imminent. And so now the enemies are saying He’s never coming back. And so there’s a whole group of people that say He’s never coming back, that’s never going to happen. Then there are a bunch of other people that, as I said, set the dates and all this stuff, and "I know who He is, I know who the Antichrist will be, I know when He’s coming back." That’s all misleading us.

And Jesus says don’t let anybody, whatever they do, don’t let anybody ever mislead you in something like this. That’s what He is telling us. Just watch for the fact that I’m coming back. Ray Stedman wrote this, he said, "Now what is he to watch for? Is he to watch for the master’s return?" He said, "That is the way this is usually interpreted." And that’s talking about what I read earlier about the servants.

He said, "But that’s not it, for he is to start watching as soon as the master leaves. They know he will not be back right away. What then is he to watch for? He is to watch lest somebody deceive them and gain entrance into the house." He said, "And wreck and ruin and rob all they have." Don’t let anything derail you from being what God wants you to be in this day and age. This is the way you watch. We are not to be looking into the sky all the time and waiting for His coming. That will happen when He is ready. We are to watch, but we are not to be deceived. First thing: protect yourself from spiritual deception.

The second thing that Mark talks about is this idea of preparing yourself for spiritual service. What are the servants doing? And this comes from outside of this parable. Mark is using a term that’s called inclusio. The Bible uses this often. inclusio is before and after this chapter, Mark inserts a story that sets the context of this chapter. Both times.

Now watch how this happens. The first one happens in 12:41. Look at 12:41. He sat down opposite the treasury and began, he said, observing how people were putting money into the treasury, and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which is about a cent.

Calling His disciples to Him, He said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury, for they put in out of their surplus but she, out of her poverty, put all she owned, all she had to live on." She gets the gold medal of giving according to Jesus. Now watch at the end of this chapter, chapter 14 and verse 3. The other end of this chapter.

Watch the analogy that’s given here. "And while he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper and reclining at table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard, and she broke the vial and she poured it over his head. But some were indignantly remarking to one another, 'Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for over 300 denarii'—that’s over about one year’s wages—'and money given to the poor.' And they were scolding her."

"But Jesus said, 'Let her alone. Why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to me. For you always have the poor with you and whenever,' he says, 'you wish,' he says, 'you can do good to them. But you do not always have me. She has done what she could, and she has anointed my body before the burial. Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.'"

So you have what, two amazingly sacrificial acts? One out of poverty, one out of extreme wealth. It’s an amazing thing; one had a little and the other had a lot. But both of them at both ends of this, and so what is He telling us by this inclusio? He’s telling us we should serve the Lord sacrificially. Doesn’t matter whether you have a little or a lot. That’s the whole point of this.

So it’s the use of your money, your time, your talents, your gifts—do you use it? Do you just get about serving the Lord? See waiting, being on alert doesn’t mean that I just sit here looking out the window waiting for the Lord to return. It just means that I serve the Lord in a sacrificial way. That means a lot to this. It should be normal for us to understand this.

Stephen Cole, a pastor, tells this story about a hotel in Chicago that makes the point. He said, "I once worked at the swanky Drake Hotel in Chicago. Years before I was there in July of 1959, Queen Elizabeth was scheduled to visit Chicago. Elaborate preparations were made for her visit. The waterfront was readied for docking her ship, litter baskets were painted, and red carpet was rolled out everywhere she walked in front of her. Many hotels were alerted to be ready. But when they contacted the Drake, the manager told the person who contacted them, 'We’re making no plans for the Queen. Our rooms are always ready for royalty.'"

That should be us. I don’t need to make plans for the coming of my Lord. I should be living my life in light of my Lord. That’s the way this should work. And so Mark writes that we should always have a life ready for sacrificial service.

And the last one is found just in verse 10 of chapter 13. And notice what Mark writes. He says, "The gospel must first be preached to all the nations." So, protect yourself from spiritual deception, prepare yourself for sacrificial service, and we must proclaim the gospel to all the people, the people that need it so desperately to hear it.

It’s an amazing thing to me, I don’t know if you think about it very much, but this phenomenal plan that God had because of the sinfulness of man and the curse on the planet. To send His Son to be the Lamb of God, to live a perfect life, to die on a cross for the sins of the world, and then to be resurrected from the dead. It’s an amazing story.

But here’s what’s more amazing: God’s plan for everyone in the world to hear about this is you and me. That’s a plan. His plan’s you and me. Now He’s God, He could do anything. No, He’s going to use us as the plan. So He said you have to proclaim the gospel to all over the world to everybody.

And I will say this, the church has done a remarkable job over 2,000 years with this, getting the gospel out there. But you can see how important it is. You know why? Because when He comes back, the door will be closed, and there’ll be no second chance. See that’s the way this works. That should be tremendous motivation for you and for me to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord.

So Jesus gives us three practical things: protect yourself from spiritual deception, and prepare yourself for sacrificial service, and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who so desperately need to hear it. Let’s pray.

Father, these last days, we often approach it in a very wrong way. We approach it analytically, we approach it academically, we talk about it as though it’s just an empty doctrine or teaching. But boy, Father, it’s real. Jesus Christ is abundantly clear that He’s coming back, and He is just as clear that we should be ready, that we must be alert, that we should not be drowsy or asleep, and it should show up in our lives today.

Father, I pray that we take the will of the Lord to our own hearts and may it motivate us to live our life in these last days for our good and for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Guest (Male): You’ve been listening to Pastor Bil Gebhardt on the radio ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That’s OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today’s broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well.

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For Pastor Bil Gebhardt, I’m Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.