March 22, 2025 • 26 mins
It has been so GOOD to spend time in our current teaching series called Defiance! And again, Pastor Mark is not calling us to be jerks! No, it is a calling of God to be different, to share our faith, to live as Christ in this world that needs Jesus. Speaking of the world, I know there’s been one question on the minds of people … and that’s are we getting close to the end of the world? Get the answer to this question as well as how to act and react right now, on Moody Presents!
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:00):
Today on Moody Presents with Mark Jobe how to not
be surprised when Jesus returns.
S2 (00:07):
If he were to come today, would I be about
my father's business? Would I be living right, acting right,
doing what's right? And so every believer lives with this
sense that Jesus Christ could come again at any moment.
And I want to live ready for the second coming
of Christ, expecting the second coming of Christ at any moment.
S1 (00:27):
This is Moody Presents featuring the teaching ministry of doctor
Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and
the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago.
I'm John Gager hoping that you've been tracking along with
us in our current teaching series called defiance. Now, when
you hear that word defiance, we're not talking about being
a jerk. No, it's a calling of God to be different,
(00:50):
to share your faith, to live as Christ in this
world that needs Jesus. Now, speaking of the world, I
know there's probably been one question on the minds of many,
many people. And that is, are we really getting close
to the end of the world? How close? Let's ask
pastor Mark.
S3 (01:07):
You know, we're talking about what it means to prepare
for the coming of the Lord Jesus. We live with
the imminent return of Christ in mind. Right? And sometimes
we don't think about this, but one of the most
important aspects of preparing is our relationships. And the apostle
Paul jumps into that right away and says, hey, you
need to take care of your relationships, live at peace
(01:28):
with other people, because two things last forever the Word
of God and people.
S1 (01:33):
All right, great reminders for all of us there. And
with that, let's dig into today's message. It's called Surprised
by His Coming. And here's Mark Jobe once again.
S2 (01:43):
You know, there's been a lot of talk in the
last year or so about the end times. How about it?
There's been movies made about what could happen in the
end of the world. There's been predictions by radio preachers
and televangelists Evangelist talking about giving dates and saying the
(02:03):
end has come. You look at what's happening around the world,
and we have seen the toppling of several governments that
have fallen almost overnight like never before in the Middle East.
There have been earthquakes and natural disasters like I've never
(02:26):
seen in my lifetime. The intensity. It seems like we
get over one earthquake and there's another earthquake happening. There's
a global economy that's tied together, and we're all experiencing
the shocks of this global economy. Never before in our
history has the world been set up like it is today,
(02:47):
for the fulfillment of some of the prophecies that are
found in Scripture. Now, as I talk about the second
coming of Christ, some of you may have deep fear
about these prophetic apocalyptic events in the end times. Uh,
in fact, some of you may, may say, well, I'm
not sure I want that to happen. And because I
(03:08):
don't really understand it. But if you're a believer and
truly understand what the second coming of Christ is, then
you will be one of those saying, come, Lord Jesus, come.
I can't wait for that to happen. Now the Bible
talks about the second coming of Christ in first Thessalonians,
(03:28):
and we will be talking about it in just a second.
And it talks about the coming of Christ being in
an instant, a lightning flash, and Jesus Christ will come again.
Not like he came 2000 years ago as a child
to be born in a manger. But this time Jesus
Christ will come again as a king reigning in power
(03:49):
and might. And his first order will be to take
all those that are believers, followers of his legitimate, I said, believers,
not church goers. Notice the difference? Um, take those that
are following him and will take them before the final
(04:09):
chapters of The End Time. Now, I remember when I
was a kid hearing about the second coming of Christ,
and I would try to picture what it would be like.
I thought to myself, well, what if there's an airplane
pilot that's a Christian? And the second coming of Christ happens,
and the airplanes left without the pilot and 275 people crash.
(04:35):
What if there's a whole bunch of traffic downtown Chicago,
and suddenly a bunch of drivers with Jesus stickers on
their back disappear? And the chaos that that could cause
in traffic? I even thought to myself, hey, what would
happen if on a Sunday morning. Yeah, Sunday morning, like today,
(04:56):
suddenly Jesus would come. I mean, talk about a launching pad, right?
But but it could be a little scary because the
Bible says that some will be left behind. The Bible
in first Thessalonians gives us two images. One is the
(05:16):
image of a thief. The second is the image of
a pregnant woman. I like the idea of comparing the
second coming of Christ to a pregnant woman and her
labor pains. Because what it has in common is this
when a woman is pregnant with a child, she knows
(05:36):
that the date of her delivery is on its way. Now,
any doctor, any pregnant woman, will tell you you cannot
predict the exact time and date of that delivery. Even
though the doctor will try. How about it? 19 years ago,
my daughter was In my wife's womb. And the doctor
(06:03):
had predicted, well, you know, he did the whole ultrasound.
You put a little gel on her belly and the
ultrasound and he tries to predict the age of that
unborn child. And so he told us, I think this
child is going to be born on July 9th. Now,
I said, yeah, because July 9th is my birthday. Write
(06:24):
it down in your calendar so you don't forget. And
I just kidding. So I thought great double birthday whammy. Well,
as the time came closer and my wife got bigger.
July 9th came and July 9th went and we had
no baby. And the 10th and the 11th and the
(06:45):
15th came, and the 16th and 17th and 18th came.
And we kept thinking, this will be the day, this
will be the week. But it didn't happen. Now we
could have started thinking, well, it's never going to happen.
We might as well just plan a vacation. You know,
they were all wrong. A baby's not going to come,
but we would be ignoring the signs that this baby
(07:09):
is truly coming. And then as my wife started having contractions,
we realized, hey, it's getting closer. But even when you
have contractions, you cannot quite know when because you can
have contractions. How about it ladies? For a long time.
And so it is with the coming of Christ. The
(07:32):
Bible compares the Second coming somewhat like a pregnant woman.
We know that it's coming. We know that the day
will come when this child will be born. We know
that Jesus Christ is coming, but we do not know
the date. We do not know the time. In fact,
the Bible tells us that anybody that predicts the date
(07:53):
and the time should be ignored as a false prophet,
because really, not even Jesus himself said he knew the
date and the time that the father himself knew the
date and the time of his return. And so the
Bible tells us that we are to understand the seasons
and know when it's getting close and be prepared, but
(08:13):
ignore the setting of the dates. How about it? So
if we look at first Thessalonians, it amazes me that
although Paul had only three weeks with the Thessalonians church
that he started, they knew so much about the coming
of Christ. In fact, it's been convicting. And I thought
to myself, I need to be teaching more about the
(08:35):
coming of Jesus Christ, about his return, and how to
know the signs of the time. So today, I want
to talk to you a little bit about how to
be ready for that, and know one of my points
is not to buy a bomb shelter in Nebraska and
put water and tuna cans there. That will not be
my point, because I don't believe that's how you get
(08:58):
ready for the second coming of Christ. I believe there's
four things you need to do to to be ready
for the coming of Christ. And they're found in first
Thessalonians chapter five. I'm going to begin reading in verse
one of first Thessalonians. Now, brothers, about the times and
the dates. We do not need to write to you.
(09:19):
For you know very well that the day of the
Lord will come like a thief in the night. While
people are saying peace and safety, destruction will come on
them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and
they will not escape. But you brothers are not in darkness,
so that that day should surprise you like a thief.
(09:41):
You are the sons of light and the sons of day.
We do not belong to the night, nor to the darkness.
So then, let us not be like others who are asleep.
But let us be alert and self-control. Word of the Lord. Amen.
If you're taking notes, write this down. Number one, how
(10:03):
to prepare for his coming. You prepare for his coming
by watching for the signs of the times. It tells
us in verse one, now, brothers, about the times and
the dates. We do not need to write to you,
for you know that very well that the day of
the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
(10:23):
The point that Paul is making is that the coming
of Christ will be unannounced. Now, I've lived in Chicago
for quite some time, and you and I know that
if you live in Chicago and maybe now not Mount Pleasant, Iowa,
that we lock our doors, we lock our car doors,
we lock our house doors. We usually have bolts on
(10:45):
our doors. Why? Because we know there's people around that
would like to rob us of what we have. It's
just kind of expected you prevent robbery. You may have
a bad under your bed. Some of you may have
other weapons of concealment just to make sure because you think,
let's be ready for that time. I've never heard in
(11:05):
all my years that a thief would send a warning
note postcard in advance. I've never known of a thief
to say, on Tuesday at 10:00 I plan to burglarize
your home, so be ready. No, that's not how a
thief works. What a thief does is a thief tries
to catch you unprepared. Unexpected. The point that Paul is
(11:29):
making is the coming of Jesus Christ will be like that.
When people are saying peace and safety, then Jesus Christ
will come again like a thief appears unexpectedly. Now in
verse one it says, I don't have to write you
about the times and the dates. There's two words that
(11:50):
are used here times and dates. Uh, in our NIV
it says times. In the Greek that word is kronen.
It means length of time, meaning the chronological periods which
occur before the Second Coming of Christ. There will be
seasons that will take place before the coming of Christ
(12:11):
and Paul. Paul says, I don't have to write to
you about that because. But I want you to be
aware of it, that there will be seasons of signs,
things that will be happening before the coming of Christ,
that will give you an idea that the coming of
Christ is getting closer. The second word he uses is seasons.
(12:32):
In our NIV, the word there is carrying. It's the
quality of time. It refers to significant events that take
place during these times. What Paul is telling them is
you do not know the day. You cannot predict the hour,
but you can know the season. You can tell that
(12:55):
it's getting close. You can see that everything is lining
up that things are being prepared for the coming of Christ.
In fact, if you read in Scripture Jesus forbade setting
the dates he said of the day and the hour
no one knows. Matthew 24, verse 36. God wants this
(13:17):
day to be unexpected. It says, Jesus said, no one
knows the day or the hour, not even the angels
in heaven. Nor, and this may be surprising to some
of you, the son, Jesus himself, in his own humanity,
had self-limited himself, according to Philippians chapter two. The people
(13:37):
call it the kenosis or self-emptying passage, but only the
father knows. In other words, if the father has that date,
he's holding that date very close to his chest so
that not even the angels of heaven know the day
and the time of the coming of Christ.
S1 (13:56):
You're listening to Moody Presents with Mark Jobe. Our message
is called surprised by His Coming. And if you'd like
to hear this message again, or if you'd like to
share it with a friend who might just appreciate hearing
this timely and relevant content, you can do that online
at Moody Presents Dawg. Moody presents.org, and while you've got
(14:17):
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explore our website, find tools and resources all aimed at
helping you learn more about God and His timetable for
Christ's return. Or check out our Moody Presents Advance Team gift.
Your future self will thank you. Secrets to Self-control from
the Bible and Brain Science. Drew reminds us that habits
(14:38):
are not just somewhat important, but hugely important. And no
habit is probably more critical than that of self-control. Well,
this book really is loaded with secrets to self-control. I
often pull it off my own shelf to refer to
it again. It's called your Future Self Will. Thank you.
And it's our thank you to you for your gift
of any amount in support of Moody Presents you can
(15:00):
give online at Moody presents.org. That's Moody presents.org or call
us will you at (800)Â 400-7022. That's 800 407 022 right
now let's get back into the second half of today's
Moody Presents message, which has everything to do with being
(15:21):
prepared for Jesus return. Here's pastor Mark.
S2 (15:30):
You say, well, why would God keep it such a secret?
I think because God knows human nature. Think about it
for a second. If you knew that Jesus was going
to come back and you knew the time, I know
how most of us work. Some of you would think,
I still have time. I don't have to ask forgiveness.
(15:53):
I don't have to get things right. And you would
be counting your days. And then a week before, man,
you'd be super spiritual. praying fast and reading your Bible,
getting everything right, cleaning all your sins out and you
wait till the last moment because hey, haven't you done
that with a lot of other things in life? I've
seen that happen with people all the time. Just like
(16:13):
God knows the day. I believe that God knows the
day that you will die, but he doesn't tell you
in advance what day. The Bible says that our days
are counted numbered by God, but he doesn't tell us when,
because the whole point is that we live our life expecting, prepared,
ready for the coming of Christ, so that today I
(16:38):
don't know when he's going to come, but I live
as though he could come this afternoon. And if I
believe and know that he could come at any time,
it causes me to live expecting I hold short fuses
on my resentment. I don't want to walk in sin
for long because Jesus could come at any time. And
(17:00):
he wants to find I want him to find me
ready at his second coming. It's an incentive. It's a
challenge for us to be ready for the second coming
of Christ. Paul uses the image of a thief, and
he uses the image of a pregnant woman. In Second
Peter chapter three, verse ten, it says, but the day
(17:21):
of the Lord will come like a thief. Matthew chapter 24,
verse 42 through 44 says, therefore stay awake, for you
do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of the house
had known in what part of the night the thief
(17:42):
was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not
have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also
must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour that you do not expect. Here's the thing.
Look up at me. This is huge and very important.
(18:03):
God expects you to live as though Jesus Christ could
come at any moment. He wants you to live with
that expectation. So if you start to go down the
wrong road, you ask yourself, hey, what if Jesus were
to come now? Is this what I want him to
catch me doing? If he were to come today, would
(18:24):
I be about my father's business? Would I be living right,
acting right, doing what's right? And so every believer lives
with this sense that Jesus Christ could come again at
any moment. And I want to live ready for the
second coming of Christ, expecting the second coming of Christ
at any moment. Paul goes on to tell us in
(18:47):
verse four, but you brothers are not in the darkness.
So the first thing I want you to understand is
this we need to watch the signs. Be aware of
the signs of his coming. I want to mention as
well that there are things 30 years ago that I
thought could never happen, and today I see how they
(19:09):
could happen. The Bible talks about the in the end times.
It talks about a a cashless society where people would sell,
buy and sell things based on numbers. And and years ago,
we never thought that could happen. But hey, how many
of us now don't walk around with a lot of
cash in our pocket because we have credit cards, right? Amen.
(19:32):
At one time, years ago, the idea of a global
world and that talks about that in the end times,
that leaders that would affect the whole world, that was
almost impossible to think of. But now we have summits
of leaders. Now the world is connected together like it's
never been connected before. We are entering some seasons that
(19:53):
people could have only dreamed about previously. Paul goes on
to tell us that not only must we be aware
of the signs of the times so that we know
the seasons that we're living in, but secondly, he tells
us you need to prepare by being fully awake spiritually.
(20:15):
Notice what he says, but you brothers are not in darkness.
We're not the children of darkness that this day should
surprise us like a thief. He's going to come like
a thief. But if you know your Bible, that day
will not surprise you, because you'll know that the times
are getting close and that you expect the coming of Christ.
(20:36):
There will be a lot of people in our society
that will be absolutely 100% caught off guard when Jesus
Christ comes again, because they're biblically ignorant about what the
Bible says. They won't expect it, they won't anticipate it.
They will be absolutely caught off guard. But if you
and I are following Scripture and have our ears and
(20:57):
eyes open, we will not be caught off guard like
a thief will know the time is coming soon. When
Jesus was asked by his disciples when he would return.
It's interesting that Jesus never answered the question of when.
He answered the question of how we should live. In
(21:19):
Matthew chapter 24, verse three, the disciples came to Jesus privately,
and they said, tell us, when will this happen? And
what will be the sign of your coming and the
end of the age? They wanted to know, like all
of us want to know when. And Jesus, in the
(21:40):
next two chapters basically gives them several parables. He talks
to them about the parable of the sheep and the goats,
the parable of the Ten Virgins, the parable of the talents.
And all those parables. Never talk about the win. They
talk about the how we should live so that we're
(22:03):
ready for his coming. It's like a parent that leaves
the teenager in charge of the house, and the teenager
wants to have some friends over. Hello. And so the
teen says, hey, mom, when exactly will you be getting home?
And the mom and the mom says, don't worry, I'll
(22:24):
let you know right before I come, but just know
that I'm coming back. You see, if the team would
know the time, he'd plan his party right? To have
everything cleaned up. But if the mom doesn't give him
an exact time, then she could show up right in
the middle of his party. And that's exactly what Jesus says.
(22:45):
He avoids the question of when I will come, but
he answers the question of how we should live and
the question of how we should live. He says, I
don't want you to be spiritually asleep. Notice what he says.
He says, but you brothers are not in darkness. Verse five,
you are sons of the light and sons of the day.
(23:08):
So then we do not belong to the night, nor
to the darkness. So then let us not be like
others who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.
You see, a lot of this world is sleeping spiritually. Remember,
he's talking to believers and he's basically saying, there's a
(23:30):
lot of believers, even in the churches, that consider themselves Christians,
that are spiritually asleep. You've kind of allowed yourself to
be lured into a nap by the lullabies of this world.
And so you're not looking at what God is saying.
You're not active in what God is doing. You're just
(23:51):
taking a nap while a major event is occurring. How
do you and I sleep? We fall asleep when we
become Consumed with the things of this world, and we
forget about the bigger spiritual things.
S1 (24:08):
This is Moody Presents, and you've been listening to the
Bible teaching of doctor Mark Jobe. All of Mark's messages
are online, which is great. And that means if you've
missed any of the messages in this particular series and
you want to catch up, you can do that at
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(24:32):
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(24:54):
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(25:15):
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820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten well, that's
(25:39):
all the time we have for today. Sure. Appreciate your
being with us. And next week we'll be back, Lord willing,
with the conclusion of this message. Surprised by his coming.
I'm John Gager, and Moody Presents is a production of
Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Today on Moody Presents with Mark Jobe how to not
be surprised when Jesus returns.
S2 (00:07):
If he were to come today, would I be about
my father's business? Would I be living right, acting right,
doing what's right? And so every believer lives with this
sense that Jesus Christ could come again at any moment.
And I want to live ready for the second coming
of Christ, expecting the second coming of Christ at any moment.
S1 (00:27):
This is Moody Presents featuring the teaching ministry of doctor
Mark Jobe. Mark is president of Moody Bible Institute and
the senior pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago.
I'm John Gager hoping that you've been tracking along with
us in our current teaching series called defiance. Now, when
you hear that word defiance, we're not talking about being
a jerk. No, it's a calling of God to be different,
(00:50):
to share your faith, to live as Christ in this
world that needs Jesus. Now, speaking of the world, I
know there's probably been one question on the minds of many,
many people. And that is, are we really getting close
to the end of the world? How close? Let's ask
pastor Mark.
S3 (01:07):
You know, we're talking about what it means to prepare
for the coming of the Lord Jesus. We live with
the imminent return of Christ in mind. Right? And sometimes
we don't think about this, but one of the most
important aspects of preparing is our relationships. And the apostle
Paul jumps into that right away and says, hey, you
need to take care of your relationships, live at peace
(01:28):
with other people, because two things last forever the Word
of God and people.
S1 (01:33):
All right, great reminders for all of us there. And
with that, let's dig into today's message. It's called Surprised
by His Coming. And here's Mark Jobe once again.
S2 (01:43):
You know, there's been a lot of talk in the
last year or so about the end times. How about it?
There's been movies made about what could happen in the
end of the world. There's been predictions by radio preachers
and televangelists Evangelist talking about giving dates and saying the
(02:03):
end has come. You look at what's happening around the world,
and we have seen the toppling of several governments that
have fallen almost overnight like never before in the Middle East.
There have been earthquakes and natural disasters like I've never
(02:26):
seen in my lifetime. The intensity. It seems like we
get over one earthquake and there's another earthquake happening. There's
a global economy that's tied together, and we're all experiencing
the shocks of this global economy. Never before in our
history has the world been set up like it is today,
(02:47):
for the fulfillment of some of the prophecies that are
found in Scripture. Now, as I talk about the second
coming of Christ, some of you may have deep fear
about these prophetic apocalyptic events in the end times. Uh,
in fact, some of you may, may say, well, I'm
not sure I want that to happen. And because I
(03:08):
don't really understand it. But if you're a believer and
truly understand what the second coming of Christ is, then
you will be one of those saying, come, Lord Jesus, come.
I can't wait for that to happen. Now the Bible
talks about the second coming of Christ in first Thessalonians,
(03:28):
and we will be talking about it in just a second.
And it talks about the coming of Christ being in
an instant, a lightning flash, and Jesus Christ will come again.
Not like he came 2000 years ago as a child
to be born in a manger. But this time Jesus
Christ will come again as a king reigning in power
(03:49):
and might. And his first order will be to take
all those that are believers, followers of his legitimate, I said, believers,
not church goers. Notice the difference? Um, take those that
are following him and will take them before the final
(04:09):
chapters of The End Time. Now, I remember when I
was a kid hearing about the second coming of Christ,
and I would try to picture what it would be like.
I thought to myself, well, what if there's an airplane
pilot that's a Christian? And the second coming of Christ happens,
and the airplanes left without the pilot and 275 people crash.
(04:35):
What if there's a whole bunch of traffic downtown Chicago,
and suddenly a bunch of drivers with Jesus stickers on
their back disappear? And the chaos that that could cause
in traffic? I even thought to myself, hey, what would
happen if on a Sunday morning. Yeah, Sunday morning, like today,
(04:56):
suddenly Jesus would come. I mean, talk about a launching pad, right?
But but it could be a little scary because the
Bible says that some will be left behind. The Bible
in first Thessalonians gives us two images. One is the
(05:16):
image of a thief. The second is the image of
a pregnant woman. I like the idea of comparing the
second coming of Christ to a pregnant woman and her
labor pains. Because what it has in common is this
when a woman is pregnant with a child, she knows
(05:36):
that the date of her delivery is on its way. Now,
any doctor, any pregnant woman, will tell you you cannot
predict the exact time and date of that delivery. Even
though the doctor will try. How about it? 19 years ago,
my daughter was In my wife's womb. And the doctor
(06:03):
had predicted, well, you know, he did the whole ultrasound.
You put a little gel on her belly and the
ultrasound and he tries to predict the age of that
unborn child. And so he told us, I think this
child is going to be born on July 9th. Now,
I said, yeah, because July 9th is my birthday. Write
(06:24):
it down in your calendar so you don't forget. And
I just kidding. So I thought great double birthday whammy. Well,
as the time came closer and my wife got bigger.
July 9th came and July 9th went and we had
no baby. And the 10th and the 11th and the
(06:45):
15th came, and the 16th and 17th and 18th came.
And we kept thinking, this will be the day, this
will be the week. But it didn't happen. Now we
could have started thinking, well, it's never going to happen.
We might as well just plan a vacation. You know,
they were all wrong. A baby's not going to come,
but we would be ignoring the signs that this baby
(07:09):
is truly coming. And then as my wife started having contractions,
we realized, hey, it's getting closer. But even when you
have contractions, you cannot quite know when because you can
have contractions. How about it ladies? For a long time.
And so it is with the coming of Christ. The
(07:32):
Bible compares the Second coming somewhat like a pregnant woman.
We know that it's coming. We know that the day
will come when this child will be born. We know
that Jesus Christ is coming, but we do not know
the date. We do not know the time. In fact,
the Bible tells us that anybody that predicts the date
(07:53):
and the time should be ignored as a false prophet,
because really, not even Jesus himself said he knew the
date and the time that the father himself knew the
date and the time of his return. And so the
Bible tells us that we are to understand the seasons
and know when it's getting close and be prepared, but
(08:13):
ignore the setting of the dates. How about it? So
if we look at first Thessalonians, it amazes me that
although Paul had only three weeks with the Thessalonians church
that he started, they knew so much about the coming
of Christ. In fact, it's been convicting. And I thought
to myself, I need to be teaching more about the
(08:35):
coming of Jesus Christ, about his return, and how to
know the signs of the time. So today, I want
to talk to you a little bit about how to
be ready for that, and know one of my points
is not to buy a bomb shelter in Nebraska and
put water and tuna cans there. That will not be
my point, because I don't believe that's how you get
(08:58):
ready for the second coming of Christ. I believe there's
four things you need to do to to be ready
for the coming of Christ. And they're found in first
Thessalonians chapter five. I'm going to begin reading in verse
one of first Thessalonians. Now, brothers, about the times and
the dates. We do not need to write to you.
(09:19):
For you know very well that the day of the
Lord will come like a thief in the night. While
people are saying peace and safety, destruction will come on
them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and
they will not escape. But you brothers are not in darkness,
so that that day should surprise you like a thief.
(09:41):
You are the sons of light and the sons of day.
We do not belong to the night, nor to the darkness.
So then, let us not be like others who are asleep.
But let us be alert and self-control. Word of the Lord. Amen.
If you're taking notes, write this down. Number one, how
(10:03):
to prepare for his coming. You prepare for his coming
by watching for the signs of the times. It tells
us in verse one, now, brothers, about the times and
the dates. We do not need to write to you,
for you know that very well that the day of
the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
(10:23):
The point that Paul is making is that the coming
of Christ will be unannounced. Now, I've lived in Chicago
for quite some time, and you and I know that
if you live in Chicago and maybe now not Mount Pleasant, Iowa,
that we lock our doors, we lock our car doors,
we lock our house doors. We usually have bolts on
(10:45):
our doors. Why? Because we know there's people around that
would like to rob us of what we have. It's
just kind of expected you prevent robbery. You may have
a bad under your bed. Some of you may have
other weapons of concealment just to make sure because you think,
let's be ready for that time. I've never heard in
(11:05):
all my years that a thief would send a warning
note postcard in advance. I've never known of a thief
to say, on Tuesday at 10:00 I plan to burglarize
your home, so be ready. No, that's not how a
thief works. What a thief does is a thief tries
to catch you unprepared. Unexpected. The point that Paul is
(11:29):
making is the coming of Jesus Christ will be like that.
When people are saying peace and safety, then Jesus Christ
will come again like a thief appears unexpectedly. Now in
verse one it says, I don't have to write you
about the times and the dates. There's two words that
(11:50):
are used here times and dates. Uh, in our NIV
it says times. In the Greek that word is kronen.
It means length of time, meaning the chronological periods which
occur before the Second Coming of Christ. There will be
seasons that will take place before the coming of Christ
(12:11):
and Paul. Paul says, I don't have to write to
you about that because. But I want you to be
aware of it, that there will be seasons of signs,
things that will be happening before the coming of Christ,
that will give you an idea that the coming of
Christ is getting closer. The second word he uses is seasons.
(12:32):
In our NIV, the word there is carrying. It's the
quality of time. It refers to significant events that take
place during these times. What Paul is telling them is
you do not know the day. You cannot predict the hour,
but you can know the season. You can tell that
(12:55):
it's getting close. You can see that everything is lining
up that things are being prepared for the coming of Christ.
In fact, if you read in Scripture Jesus forbade setting
the dates he said of the day and the hour
no one knows. Matthew 24, verse 36. God wants this
(13:17):
day to be unexpected. It says, Jesus said, no one
knows the day or the hour, not even the angels
in heaven. Nor, and this may be surprising to some
of you, the son, Jesus himself, in his own humanity,
had self-limited himself, according to Philippians chapter two. The people
(13:37):
call it the kenosis or self-emptying passage, but only the
father knows. In other words, if the father has that date,
he's holding that date very close to his chest so
that not even the angels of heaven know the day
and the time of the coming of Christ.
S1 (13:56):
You're listening to Moody Presents with Mark Jobe. Our message
is called surprised by His Coming. And if you'd like
to hear this message again, or if you'd like to
share it with a friend who might just appreciate hearing
this timely and relevant content, you can do that online
at Moody Presents Dawg. Moody presents.org, and while you've got
(14:17):
that extra moment today, we'd like to encourage you to
explore our website, find tools and resources all aimed at
helping you learn more about God and His timetable for
Christ's return. Or check out our Moody Presents Advance Team gift.
Your future self will thank you. Secrets to Self-control from
the Bible and Brain Science. Drew reminds us that habits
(14:38):
are not just somewhat important, but hugely important. And no
habit is probably more critical than that of self-control. Well,
this book really is loaded with secrets to self-control. I
often pull it off my own shelf to refer to
it again. It's called your Future Self Will. Thank you.
And it's our thank you to you for your gift
of any amount in support of Moody Presents you can
(15:00):
give online at Moody presents.org. That's Moody presents.org or call
us will you at (800)Â 400-7022. That's 800 407 022 right
now let's get back into the second half of today's
Moody Presents message, which has everything to do with being
(15:21):
prepared for Jesus return. Here's pastor Mark.
S2 (15:30):
You say, well, why would God keep it such a secret?
I think because God knows human nature. Think about it
for a second. If you knew that Jesus was going
to come back and you knew the time, I know
how most of us work. Some of you would think,
I still have time. I don't have to ask forgiveness.
(15:53):
I don't have to get things right. And you would
be counting your days. And then a week before, man,
you'd be super spiritual. praying fast and reading your Bible,
getting everything right, cleaning all your sins out and you
wait till the last moment because hey, haven't you done
that with a lot of other things in life? I've
seen that happen with people all the time. Just like
(16:13):
God knows the day. I believe that God knows the
day that you will die, but he doesn't tell you
in advance what day. The Bible says that our days
are counted numbered by God, but he doesn't tell us when,
because the whole point is that we live our life expecting, prepared,
ready for the coming of Christ, so that today I
(16:38):
don't know when he's going to come, but I live
as though he could come this afternoon. And if I
believe and know that he could come at any time,
it causes me to live expecting I hold short fuses
on my resentment. I don't want to walk in sin
for long because Jesus could come at any time. And
(17:00):
he wants to find I want him to find me
ready at his second coming. It's an incentive. It's a
challenge for us to be ready for the second coming
of Christ. Paul uses the image of a thief, and
he uses the image of a pregnant woman. In Second
Peter chapter three, verse ten, it says, but the day
(17:21):
of the Lord will come like a thief. Matthew chapter 24,
verse 42 through 44 says, therefore stay awake, for you
do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of the house
had known in what part of the night the thief
(17:42):
was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not
have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also
must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour that you do not expect. Here's the thing.
Look up at me. This is huge and very important.
(18:03):
God expects you to live as though Jesus Christ could
come at any moment. He wants you to live with
that expectation. So if you start to go down the
wrong road, you ask yourself, hey, what if Jesus were
to come now? Is this what I want him to
catch me doing? If he were to come today, would
(18:24):
I be about my father's business? Would I be living right,
acting right, doing what's right? And so every believer lives
with this sense that Jesus Christ could come again at
any moment. And I want to live ready for the
second coming of Christ, expecting the second coming of Christ
at any moment. Paul goes on to tell us in
(18:47):
verse four, but you brothers are not in the darkness.
So the first thing I want you to understand is
this we need to watch the signs. Be aware of
the signs of his coming. I want to mention as
well that there are things 30 years ago that I
thought could never happen, and today I see how they
(19:09):
could happen. The Bible talks about the in the end times.
It talks about a a cashless society where people would sell,
buy and sell things based on numbers. And and years ago,
we never thought that could happen. But hey, how many
of us now don't walk around with a lot of
cash in our pocket because we have credit cards, right? Amen.
(19:32):
At one time, years ago, the idea of a global
world and that talks about that in the end times,
that leaders that would affect the whole world, that was
almost impossible to think of. But now we have summits
of leaders. Now the world is connected together like it's
never been connected before. We are entering some seasons that
(19:53):
people could have only dreamed about previously. Paul goes on
to tell us that not only must we be aware
of the signs of the times so that we know
the seasons that we're living in, but secondly, he tells
us you need to prepare by being fully awake spiritually.
(20:15):
Notice what he says, but you brothers are not in darkness.
We're not the children of darkness that this day should
surprise us like a thief. He's going to come like
a thief. But if you know your Bible, that day
will not surprise you, because you'll know that the times
are getting close and that you expect the coming of Christ.
(20:36):
There will be a lot of people in our society
that will be absolutely 100% caught off guard when Jesus
Christ comes again, because they're biblically ignorant about what the
Bible says. They won't expect it, they won't anticipate it.
They will be absolutely caught off guard. But if you
and I are following Scripture and have our ears and
(20:57):
eyes open, we will not be caught off guard like
a thief will know the time is coming soon. When
Jesus was asked by his disciples when he would return.
It's interesting that Jesus never answered the question of when.
He answered the question of how we should live. In
(21:19):
Matthew chapter 24, verse three, the disciples came to Jesus privately,
and they said, tell us, when will this happen? And
what will be the sign of your coming and the
end of the age? They wanted to know, like all
of us want to know when. And Jesus, in the
(21:40):
next two chapters basically gives them several parables. He talks
to them about the parable of the sheep and the goats,
the parable of the Ten Virgins, the parable of the talents.
And all those parables. Never talk about the win. They
talk about the how we should live so that we're
(22:03):
ready for his coming. It's like a parent that leaves
the teenager in charge of the house, and the teenager
wants to have some friends over. Hello. And so the
teen says, hey, mom, when exactly will you be getting home?
And the mom and the mom says, don't worry, I'll
(22:24):
let you know right before I come, but just know
that I'm coming back. You see, if the team would
know the time, he'd plan his party right? To have
everything cleaned up. But if the mom doesn't give him
an exact time, then she could show up right in
the middle of his party. And that's exactly what Jesus says.
(22:45):
He avoids the question of when I will come, but
he answers the question of how we should live and
the question of how we should live. He says, I
don't want you to be spiritually asleep. Notice what he says.
He says, but you brothers are not in darkness. Verse five,
you are sons of the light and sons of the day.
(23:08):
So then we do not belong to the night, nor
to the darkness. So then let us not be like
others who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.
You see, a lot of this world is sleeping spiritually. Remember,
he's talking to believers and he's basically saying, there's a
(23:30):
lot of believers, even in the churches, that consider themselves Christians,
that are spiritually asleep. You've kind of allowed yourself to
be lured into a nap by the lullabies of this world.
And so you're not looking at what God is saying.
You're not active in what God is doing. You're just
(23:51):
taking a nap while a major event is occurring. How
do you and I sleep? We fall asleep when we
become Consumed with the things of this world, and we
forget about the bigger spiritual things.
S1 (24:08):
This is Moody Presents, and you've been listening to the
Bible teaching of doctor Mark Jobe. All of Mark's messages
are online, which is great. And that means if you've
missed any of the messages in this particular series and
you want to catch up, you can do that at
Moody Presente.org. Moody presents.org. You can also listen to any
of Mark's previous messages to all there at Moody presents.org.
(24:32):
And then did you know that you can also hear
this program on your mobile device? Just download the Moody
Radio app to listen whenever and wherever it's convenient for you.
Free for your iPhone or Android phone, just search for
Moody Radio at Google Play or the App Store. These
daily messages and the resources we offer, like the Moody
Radio app, are all made possible because of our partnership
(24:54):
with listeners just like you. We call it the Moody
Presents Advance team. I like that thought advance. And today
we're looking for more people to help join that team
to advance the gospel. Come alongside with us, would you,
as we share with those who need to hear the
life transforming power of the gospel, signing up to be
part of that advance team is easy. When you visit
(25:15):
Moody presents.org, or you can call (800)Â 400-7022. That's 800 407 022.
Now if it's easier, you can also send your financial
gift in the mail by addressing your envelope to Moody Presents.
820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 606 ten well, that's
(25:39):
all the time we have for today. Sure. Appreciate your
being with us. And next week we'll be back, Lord willing,
with the conclusion of this message. Surprised by his coming.
I'm John Gager, and Moody Presents is a production of
Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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