Ways to Prepare For The Return of Christ | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

I'm gonna begin here in a moment, but I wanna let you know that I will not be preaching from Mark today. And the reason why I'm not gonna be doing that is because if you've been following us, you know that we have been in Mark chapter six for quite some time, and we are about to enter into Mark chapter seven. And Mark chapter seven is really about tradition and how Jesus speaks about the idolatry of tradition and how people scripture twist to try to justify their tradition. And I really wanna take my time through that chapter to actually expound on things that is unfortunately confusing to many, not just to those who might hold a different expressions of what we believe, but even for those who do hold to the truth but don't understand differences and don't understand why certain places and people and institutions do things the way they do and why we do things the way we do. So that's gonna be a very different series within a series that I want to really, really take my time on.

And so before we enter into Mark chapter seven, prayerfully, we're gonna step back, take a breath. Take a breath. I'm gonna address something that is relevant to what's happening in your life, in the world around us. And I I pray I've been praying that this would touch your heart as it did mine. And so I just have a question to ask.

My question in the beginning of the service is, how many of you in this place would say that more than any time in your life you believe that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is more probable than ever? Would you say yes to that? Yes. Yes. That's most of you.

And if you do say yes to that, honestly, then I would follow it up with another question. And my question is this, how many of you who have just confessed that would be able to also say that as a motivation of the soon return of the Lord, you have consciously attempted to strengthen certain aspects of your walk with the Lord in preparation to meet him. Has that been true in the past few years? Has that been true in the past few months? Has that been true as things seem to be escalating week after week?

Is there any part of you in your walk with the Lord where you sense the need to say, oh, Lord, you can be coming. I need you to strengthen me here. I wanna be ready. I wanna be found ready when I see you and when you meet with me. You know, there was a time in evangelical circles where the preaching of the second coming was common.

And some of you who are more seasoned remember those days. It wasn't very hard to enter into a church where from time to time, frequently, you would hear a pastor get up and and talk about Jesus coming back. That seems to be becoming more and more rare for some reason when it is in fact a pillar in our belief system. If you do not believe in the bodily return of Jesus Christ, you're not a Christian. Christians hold to this.

This is the hope of the believer. That is the completion of our salvation. And unfortunately, you have people today who view the second coming of Jesus Christ as a singular event that holds no bearing upon us who are saved by faith. But when you read the New Testament carefully, what you will see is that there is much emphasis and many exhortations given to not the world but the church in what to do in order to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. It's everywhere.

It's absolutely everywhere. And you would think that that's not relevant for us because we're sealed with the Holy Spirit. We have redemption. It What do we need to do apart from confessing him as Lord and believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead? And I would say, read your Bible carefully.

Read your Bible carefully because you'll realize in your Bible that as much as the true church yearns with the spirit and says, come Lord Jesus. Oh, yes. That is true. At the same time, the Lord Jesus has desires from you upon his return. The Lord Jesus has expectations of us when he comes.

And it is my desire, my prayer today that as his word is delivered, you would have much more clarity and understanding what it is that your bridegroom wants from you. As he and the true church anticipates that celestial wedding day. Why is that important? Because of many reasons and it's the duty of a pastor. If you wanna know one of the job descriptions of a pastor, it's to prepare the people that God has entrusted them for eternity.

A pastor does much more than give you some holy advice or spiritual insights or instructions of how you can navigate through this life as painless as possible. Now one of the things that a pastor does is in fact train and exhort and live in a such a way where the people who are around him or have been brought to his pasture would be more ready to meet with the coming king. And if you want proof of that, let's just begin in one verse, in second Corinthians 11 in verse two. Again, good hearted believers have a one dimensional view of the return of Christ. The Lord is coming to rescue us.

The Lord is coming to redeem us. The Lord is coming to resurrect us. The Lord is coming to renew us and to reward us, and all of that is true. But Christ also wants to find something in us. He wants to find us dressed in a certain way.

He wants to find us postured in a certain way. You might be wondering, well then what is that of me? How can I be ready to be saved? Amen. Be saved.

But Christ goes beyond that. And Paul illustrates and communicates what it is that he desires from us. And it's here in verse two of second Corinthians 11. He speaks to this church and he says, for I feel a divine jealousy for you. Notice, not a personal jealousy, a divine jealousy.

A jealousy that's inspired by the Holy Spirit. A jealousy that is God word. For I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. You know what phase in the relationship we are at with our Jesus? We're in the be betrotal stage.

We're in the engagement phase. There's a wedding to come. And Paul speaking here as a friend of the bridegroom. And as the friend of the bridegroom, he senses this duty as a leader over those that he has brought the gospel to to do what he can in order to prepare the people to meet with Christ, to protect her, to provide for her, to do all these different things for the sole purpose of being pure for when Christ comes. To shoo away all different lovers.

To confront when there is spiritual adultery. This is what a leader does and I I'm trying to imagine what that would be like on that final day. I wonder if there will be a segment there for the church when Christ will call the leaders to one side. The all knowing one, understanding who it is that these leaders have been commissioned to shepherd and oversee. And then these leaders being called maybe one by one, I'm not sure how it's going to happen.

But the feeling I had when reading this and meditating on is that the leaders of this church and the leaders of every church will stand before the Lord and say, Lord, here are the people that you brought to me and here's what I've done in order to assure that they were pure virgins unto you. How does a pastor do that? Does he micromanage people? Does he walk over your shoulder? Does he stalk you?

Does he become legalistic to assure that you don't do anything that might come to breaking the law? Now, if you wanna know how a pastor does it, just read the rest of the chapter and you get the heart of this man. He teaches. He preaches. He warns.

He exhorts. He lives an exemplary life. He inspires through him as a model. He causes others to want what he has. That's why he can say in this book, follow me as I follow Christ.

He said that in first Corinthians to the same church. That's what a leader does. He wants the people not just to be able to face tomorrow, but to face Christ. And that's my endeavor today. Because one day, I will have to give an account.

Like, I don't understand how anybody would assume ministry as a job for a paycheck. You are out of your mind. You are. It has to be a calling and it has tremendous, tremendous responsibility. And that's why in part as a church, this local church, we take candidates for elders very seriously.

Elders are not an advisory board to the head pastor. Elders are fellow pastors of a church. And it is absolutely vital that they qualify. And it's absolutely vital that they understand the eternal ramifications of their position. So here's my desire for you.

Here's my prayer. Here's what I was able to just gather from the scriptures, ways to help us be ready for the coming of Christ. I know a lot of people are preparing for many things for all the turbulences that have been forecasted in our nation, in our world, but we are a different breed of people. You're pilgrims. You're sojourners.

You're traveling by. Your citizenship is not just US. It's heaven. And so how do we prepare for the coming of our Lord? He's coming.

He's coming soon. And when he comes, he wants to see us in a certain way. He wants to embrace us in a certain way. He wants us to be adorned in a certain way. And so let me bring you to the first thing that Jesus wants to find in us as he prepares to come and grab us and take us home with him.

First John two twenty eight. I'm sure there are many things. Today, I just have three things to bring to your attention, and the first thing that the Lord would wanna find in us is to be in fellowship with him. Jesus wants to find you in fellowship with him when he comes to meet with you. First John two twenty eight, and now little children abide in him, So that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

Let's just set this straight. John is not speaking to unbelievers. He addresses his audience, even in this one verse, there's no confusion about it, as little children. These are the ones that belong to God. These are those who have been adopted by his grace.

Little children. That frames every other instruction in this verse. He's saying, little children, here's my call to you. Abide in him. What does it mean to abide?

Another word is to remain. And so you can replace that word with remain in him. What that speaks of is close proximity. What that speaks of is constant connection. It's the opposite of visiting.

It's the opposite of sporadic presence. It's to be concrete, close, secure, near in all things and at all times. Abide in him. Stay close to Jesus. And not just close to him, but be in him and let him be in you.

Now how much closer can you get to that? And he says this because to abide is necessary for so many things but it's especially necessary for confidence at his coming. Confidence. When you abide in Jesus, you have a clear conscience. That's what one of the rewards of it is.

And what does that mean though? Okay. Remain, but practically speaking, well it's very easy. It's the call to continually recognize the Lord in your affections, in your thoughts. It's depending on him for your source of strength, wisdom, and grace in all matters.

And the means by which this takes place is obvious. Right? You know it. It's not it's not rocket science. You get his word in you.

You you bring it in you day after day. You meditate on it. And then from there, you commune with God. You pray without speech ceasing. You speak to him.

You pour your heart to him. You give him sighs of concern. You give him outburst of praise. It's just the sense of continual unceasing fellowship. The way you do with people that you really love, though you may be distant physically in your heart, you're with them and you're able to communicate with them.

And this is what the Lord wants from us. Now those ideas may seem obvious. They're not foreign to us as Christians. We know, pray, read your bible, try to keep Jesus on your mind. But there's an aspect of abiding in Christ that we often overlook and it's found in Jesus' own teaching about abiding.

I mean John here is obviously borrowing from his master. There's an entire chapter where Jesus gives us the call to abide in him. But we often skip his introduction and his introduction is absolutely insightful to what it means to really remain in him and what that call looks like. And so you know the chapter. It's John 15.

But don't go to verse four right away. Go to verse one and learn something I hope new, if not new, as a refresher to your abiding in Christ. In John fifteen one, I am the true vine and my father is the vine vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

How often do we associate abiding with pruning? Before Jesus even uses the word abide, he prepares the people with this idea that if you are to be connected to the vine, you should expect pruning. We have some gardeners in this place. We have some people with green thumbs. They know what pruning is all about.

It's eliminating certain things, elements, aspects from a plant, from vegetation in order to prepare it to grow even more. It's to expand its ceiling of potential. That's exactly what Christ does to every single person who truly abides in him. And what that means is, I mean out of all the things he could have alluded to, he alludes to something that cuts. Something that eliminates.

Something that removes. Something that is painful. And this is so fascinating to me because it shows me what abiding includes. It includes more than just constant devotion and and striving to obey the Lord Jesus in all my ways. It also means that I willfully submit to his providential pruning and give myself over to him with joy when he comes to cut me.

To cut things from me. To cut people out. Cut things, ways, habits, ideas. Abiding includes pruning. Let me put it this way.

A person who claims to abide in Christ will be able to say, I will stay close to the Lord no matter how painful it gets. Because it's so easy to give up when it gets hard. So easy to give up when your prayers don't seem to be answered. So so easy to give up when people give up and when people disappoint you who bear the name of Christ. But a person who abides says, I'm staying here even if it hurts.

Am I going anywhere? I'm staying here and I will enjoy him no matter what it costs me here below. And the promise of daily abiding no matter what your fate is, as I said earlier, you will know a confidence. One that makes us bold to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. One that will generate not just an expectation, but a desire.

I want to see the one in whom my soul loves. That's what abiding does. Because as you abide, you ex you discover and as you discover, you enjoy. And as you enjoy, you're satisfied. And as you're satisfied, you want more.

And you can come to a place in your walk with Christ where it's not just him answering some prayers for your provisions, but you want his glory. Lord, I've reached so much here. You've done so much before me. I'm blessed beyond measure, but oh God, like Moses, show me your glory. But we see a warning here because the same people who can have confidence can also, if they're not careful, experience shame.

He's not speaking to non believers. He's speaking to Christians. And it's possible for Christians to live in a way in which they are not abiding, and because they're not remaining, they don't have a confidence. And when the Lord does come, the word shame there denotes embarrassment. It denotes your awkwardness, being uncomfortable.

God doesn't want that for you. He doesn't want the first reunion with him to be like that. But it will require something on your part and mine and that is to abide in him. So today, I wanna ask you as you believe more than ever that Christ can come, my question to you is, are you abiding in him? Are you very distracted?

Are you consumed with so much that Christ is an afterthought? Have you lost that delight in him? Check the pulse. Check the pulse of your devotion and be honest with yourself and say, how much of me in these times where things are falling apart? How much of me says, Lord, would you just come already?

And just take me from here and let me be in your presence forever and ever? How much of that is true? Would you be amazed to know that Christ has an overwhelming desire for you? Oh, it's so true and so real that even before his passion, he prayed to the father. He said, father, oh, would you bring them into my presence that they might behold my glory forever?

And what did he say to the very same disciples? I'm going to a place to prepare a place for you. That's why I'm going away. What does that communicate? Let's not debate whether you're gonna get a room or a mansion.

Okay? Let's look at the heart of our savior. He wants us. You. He wants you and he wants me.

And oh, can you imagine a bridegroom getting ready to marry a bride who doesn't feel the same way about that wedding day? I can't. And we are his bride, and he wants us and he wants us to want him. But that doesn't just come out of nowhere. That comes with abiding and him revealing through that abiding, where you just grow in love with him.

This is what John said. At his coming, he wants to find you in fellowship. He doesn't want to find you as a stranger. He doesn't want to find you embarrassed because you know that you spoiled your life, and that you gave so much to different things, that you were limping back and forth between mammon and the master. Worldly, carnal entertainment and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Oh, may he find us in fellowship with him. But that's not it. We go to Luke chapter 12 together in verse 42. Luke twelve forty two. We are to be found in fellowship with him, but we are also to be found fulfilling what he ordained for our lives.

And that is what Jesus says here in this chapter, in these verses. In verse 42 of Luke 12, and the Lord said, who then is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household to give them their portion of food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant, blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Do you see a trend here with the verses that I'm selecting? When he comes, at his coming.

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Now it's clear here that Jesus is communicating to his disciples and he is highlighting the role of a leader. Right? Whom his master will set over his household. And so, those type of individuals are those who take care of the servants and take care of the members of a certain place.

And these are clearly the disciples and leaders that would follow them, who are in charge of one main task, to feed them. To feed them. I hope you you're being fed here because that's the goal. That throughout the week, whoever occupies this pulpit has been putting together a recipe and faithfully honoring the ingredients and the blueprint of God's word and then presenting that before you so that you can eat and that you can know fullness and you can know greater strength in your strides. And this is what he's saying here.

Blessed are those leaders who take care of the ones that I put under their care. Blessed are those who are found preparing. Blessed are those who are found feeding when I come. But the application goes beyond leaders. Goes beyond evangelists, it goes beyond prophets, it goes beyond pastors and elders.

No. God desires to find all of us in the capacity to which we have been called to serve him being found serving him. And you might be wondering, but what do I do? I mean, your your job makes sense. You preach.

That person's job makes sense. They they they have time to do these certain things. What about me? You know, I thought to myself, there are so many examples throughout the word of God about how God honors the things that we tend to not even think about as ministry. And the thing that came to mind out of all the examples, and I'm just gonna honor that, is Samuel the prophet.

You hear Samuel, what do you hear? A mighty man of God whose prayers were answers, who who could just speak the word and it would come to pass. But that is not how we are introduced to Samuel, and that is not how we're introduced to Samuel ministering. Can I show you how the Holy Spirit identifies the ministry of Samuel before you understand him as that mighty man of God? Go to the third chapter of first Samuel and see it with me.

When I saw this, it blessed me tremendously. When I saw this, with all honestly, it really refined the way I view people's service to the Lord. In verse one of chapter three, we are told, now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord. Do you think that's an exaggeration? No, it's perfectly accurate.

Was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli and the word of the Lord was rare in those days. Sounds like today, there was no frequent vision. Samuel was ministering to the Lord. This was before he was a prophet. He would be commissioned as a prophet in this very same chapter, but this is before that and yet, he's ministering.

What does this young lad do for the Holy Spirit to say that he was ministering to the Lord? What could he have done? He was in the presence of a high priest and his sons who were priests. What else is left for you in the context of the tabernacle for God to be able to highlight that he was serving the Lord? You know what's so interesting?

You get a glimpse of it in the very same chapter. You ready for this? Go to verse 15 of the very same chapter, first Samuel three fifteen And what are we told? With this tender child, Samuel lay until morning, then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

I think one of his responsibilities, one of the things that Eli gave him as a child is, Samuel, now every morning, I'm gonna need you to open the doors of the church so that the worshipers can come and give their sacrifices. How do you view the greeters? How do you view the the ushers that come here with the plates? How do you view the person that puts on the lyrics on the screen here so that you can sing? How do you view the person that organizes these instruments so that there can be harmony and quality?

You know how the Lord views them? As ministers. Ministering to the Lord. It's as though God wanted us to see what he values, ministering to the Lord. And what did he do?

He just made sure that there was no obstacle to coming into the house of God. Is that how you view your service? Is that how you view your contributions to this ministry? Or have you fallen to the temptation? What am I really doing here?

What do I really have to offer here? Am I really pleasing the Lord? Oh, let me tell you. If it meant something to God for Samuel to open those doors, believe that the nature of your service is a blessing to him as well as long as you do it for the glory of his name. And the nature of our service to him varies, does it not?

But what stands out from Jesus' words in Luke chapter 12 is not necessarily what is being done, but how long it's being done for. What did he say at the end of that? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. That's insightful. That's important.

That tells me something about what Jesus wants from me. He doesn't just want me to find him to be my everything and for me to be so in love with him when he comes. He wants me to be busy at work. That's what he desires. Whether that's opening the door or holding a microphone, he wants to find me busy at work.

Now let me ask you something. In this time of history, in this time of chaos, confusion, and darkness, and Bible prophecy, may I add, what's your assignment? What is your particular assignment for the Lord? What is it that you know you are doing and you could be confident you will be doing when he comes? Does it have to be grand?

Does it have to be spectacular? It just has to be something that God asks of you, and that you know is from him and that you know you're doing for him. Have you identified that yet? And if you haven't, where are you in your desire to identify it? And if you have, are you committed to it?

We heard last week about the disciples who were rowing and rowing and rowing, though there was so little progress. And we we drew from that the commitment of these disciples, despite the fact there was little fruit in their efforts. Oh, we need that again. If there's any motivation for commitment, it's the return of Christ. Because what Christ wants to see when you and I are here awaiting him, is us serving him.

Samuel went from ministering in the presence of Eli to ministering to the nation. And it's true that your service throughout your lifetime might evolve and that's fine. It might look different. It might be different gifting that he puts in you at a different point in your life. But what is the same is this, your participation in the work of the kingdom of God.

That's that's something that never changes. Right? I personally don't believe in this idea of retirement for ministry. If you disagree, let's talk about it. But the idea is, I will put my hands to the plow until he calls me home or until I can't do it anymore, physically speaking.

You know, I looked at this chapter and there's a verse that sprung out to me in this very same context that blew my mind. That blew my mind and I pray that it blows your mind. Because in this short chapter, you have Jesus in a very, very close proximity, rehearsing blessed is the servant, blessed is the servant, blessed like he wants you to know the blessings that come when he finds you serving him. And one of those blessings is following what we just read that he will give even more possessions, right? And that's what we're familiar with.

But there is a reward tucked in these verses that amazes me more than any other reward that Christ can offer. You ready for this? Scroll back a little bit and look at verse 37 of chapter 12 of Luke. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. There it is.

Now look here in verse 38 before we complete verse 37. Verse 38, if he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them awake, blessed are those servants. So he starts by saying blessed and he ends by saying blessed. Well, what's the meat in the middle? What are you telling me is gonna be a blessing if I found am I found awake and if I'm found serving you?

Blessed, verse 37, are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes truly. Pause. He wants to say, you can count on what I'm about to say. You can take it to the bank. You can assure yourself that what I'm about to tell you is valid.

Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table and he will come and serve them. Who's serving who here? Yeah. It's Christ. It's Christ who says, you know why you're gonna be blessed?

Those who are found serving me? Because we understand the second second coming and what do we see in our minds eye? We see power. We see the elements melting. We see cosmic shifts.

We see a white horse. We see a sword coming out of his mouth. We see the nations bowing down and all of that is true, but Jesus adds something that we tend to overlook. When he does come to redeem his bride and evaluate their lives and there are those who were found serving him and will be found serving him, what this says is that the king of kings will remove his many crowns and put on a servant's garment, and will lead those who have been found serving at a table, and will look at them in the eyes and says, what can I do for you? Almost sounds like blasphemy, doesn't it?

It's not. It's one of his promises. I think when that happens, you and I will be crushed. Absolutely overwhelmed at the sight and the thought of Christ, the coming king, serving those who serve him. I don't even know how to register that.

I don't even know how to contemplate that. What other king is like this king? What other lord is like this lord? Jesus came not to be served but to serve. He did come to do that.

But I realize here that when he comes again, he's still gonna be serving. He will come and he will serve. Serve those who have served him. Yes, he will be worshiped. Yes, he will be adored.

Yes, he will be served. But at some point, he's gonna express his gratitude in this way. I can't even fathom it. It's like hard to even breathe when trying to understand it. But it's there.

He will dress himself for a servant and have them recline at table and he will come and serve them. And if he comes in the second watch or the third and finds them awake, blessed are those servants. Blessed indeed. Maybe even now you feel what Peter must have felt when Jesus in John 13 was wiping their feet. Lord, do you wash my feet?

Do you wash my feet? The Lord here wants to find his people serving, but there's another thing he wants to find in us and this is something that perhaps we have not considered and it's in James chapter five. In James five verse nine, Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is standing at the door. Whoever associate grumbling with the coming of Jesus, James does.

Why does he bring this up here? It's interesting because the context in James five is believers patiently enduring suffering. And to await and to establish their hearts with the truth that Christ will come and with him eternal relief and recompense. But that's precisely why grumbling is brought up. Because if we're not watchful, trials and difficult seasons can morph us into critical, edgy, calloused, unloving Christians.

That's why he brings up grumbling here in the surrounding ideas of trials and patiently navigating through them. And if that's true, then it makes you wonder, how does my personal suffering cause me to be a grumbler against other believers? That was my question. I understand here, I'm tempted to grumble and complain to and about other Christians, but how does my own trial and temptation encourage me to do that? I mean, think about it, there are many ways.

And one of the ways is when through your trial, through your suffering, you experience discontentment with your life and and with God's deal in your life, especially as you compare it to other Christians. And you see that they're enjoying something that you don't have and they're celebrating things that you wish you can celebrate and that they know some level of blessing and prosperity that you've been asking God for for so long and instead, you're carrying a burden. And that tends to lead to unnecessary friction and you distancing yourself from others and you try to justify that by accusing them of different things. And so you have people like that, who look at other believers and they mirror their lives and they say, and then it breeds all these other ugly feelings. And then there's the idea of looking at other Christians in the midst of your pain and being annoyed because they don't seem to be honoring their part as a Christian.

Right? We have more expectations of Christians than we do of a non Christians, and that's appropriate to some degree. But you have people who who who desire attention, who desire care, who have needs, and when they feel in their estimation that they're not getting what they think they desire and need, they become grumblers. And from there, what's what's tempting is that they just take off to another flock to express their woes, or within that same place they gather others that they can grumble with about pastor, or about this person, or about that lady, or about sister so and so. And so they grumble.

And there is a truth in which you and I do have an expectation from those that we have committed to join our lives with in the context of the local church. And even if there is negligence, even if if leaders might not see something and miss something, is the solution to complain? I don't think so. The idea there is to confront, and to humbly come and say, brother, I felt like I've been going through this and where were you? I mean, you know, you didn't see, you didn't hear, you didn't you didn't read my email, whatever the case may be.

And so we have people who can grumble in that way. And then you just have people who who find strange relief in projecting their frustrations on other, especially those who are nearest to them. Right? They just lash out or they blame others for their problems. That happens so often.

It's just easier to to not see you as a potential problem. It's easier to put it on other individuals, and you find some kind of relief in that, and it causes more pain than anything else. You just need an outlet, so you grumble. Here's the thing, when I when I studied something like grumbling, the more I read my Bible from cover to cover, the more I realized God hates it. Like, he really hates it.

It's not like it's annoying to him. He really hates it. And if I want the mind of Christ, then I wanna I wanna see what he sees and I wanna feel what he feels and I wanna align myself with him. Do you wanna know how much God hates grumbling? And this is convicting because as one person put it, there is respectable sins.

Right? They're like the obvious sins and then there are what we call as Christians respectable sins. Like, they're not that big of a deal. We all do them. It's kinda like an unspoken thing.

We all do it. But God's like, no. Let me show you the first category of people that God will actually judge when he returns. Go to Jude. And go to Jude verse 15.

No chapter. It's one chapter. Jude 15. When Enoch the prophet prophesied about the coming of Christ, notice what he says here in verse 15. To execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly, and I'm speaking about the non believer, of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way.

And of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against them. Pause. How many times can you say ungodly? Ungodly, ungodly, ungodly, ungodly. Christ is coming to judge the ungodly.

Okay. And then he goes to explain who the ungodly are. You ready for this? Verse 16. These are who?

Grumblers. The first category of people that Jesus is gonna judge is complainers. Hey, you asked me, I would murderers, drug dealers, warlords, grumblers. Why? Because grumblings are sighs of unbelief.

Grumblings are testifying that God is in sovereign. Grumblings are accusations against his perfect authorship over our lives. Grumblings. And I think there's a difference between grumbling and complaining and holy agitation. When we see unrighteousness and we see injustice and we see sin being tolerated, there is a sense of zeal that we should know, but that's not the same.

It's not the same. Grumbling down deep inside, again, is a pointing of the finger towards the heavens and saying, God, you're really not in control. And that's the first class of people that the Lord will will confront. Okay. But what does this have to do with Christians?

What does this have to do, not just with Christians, what does it have to do with Christians and the return of Christ? Well, according to James, the Lord does not just care about our attitude and our heart towards him, but our attitude and our heart towards our brothers. That matters to the Lord. And it matters to the Lord because guess who else you're gonna be spending eternity with in heaven? Look around you.

Not just Jesus. No. The church. Imperfect, impatient, inconsistent Christians. That's who's going to heaven with you because you're one of them.

As am I. Right? I didn't get any amens but And I see something about the heart of Christ here. James is hinting that the Lord is not going to let us enter in without first addressing the issues that we've harbored in our hearts throughout our journey on earth. Now, don't grumble against your brothers.

Right? Because the judge is at the door. Which assumes what? That when the judge comes, he will actually deal with our grumblings if we don't deal with them now. Either we deal with them now or we'll deal with them then.

I think the Lord prefers that we deal with them now, so so that our entrance is much more glorious than having to deal with bitterness and envy, unforgiveness. And so what's the call in these in these days? It's not just vertical, it's horizontal. It's to look around, it's to examine, do some introspection and and ask myself, what is my what is my life like with other believers? And then to really ask yourself, is the grumblings in my heart justifiable?

Are these complaints? Are these annoyances something that I can actually qualify? If not, bring them to the foot of the cross, say Lord, I wanna have an attitude of thanksgiving when you come. I wanna have a heart of gratitude. Heal me because I'm no different than an Israelite in the wilderness.

Please forgive me. And he will. And when you fall into it again, you come to him again and you can even bring your grumblings to him and he will deal with you gently. But if you feel like even after all that examination, no, I am justified. I have legitimate concerns and complaints against this and that or that.

Okay, fine. Deal with it. Go to a brother, go to a sister. With the motivation of the coming king, I don't know if that's really a motivation for us, but let it be now. I know that the Lord is gonna ask me about these grumblings, so I'm I rather have the awkward conversation with a brother or sister than to stand before him and have to deal with it then.

I'm gonna make that call. I'm gonna send that text message. Because I know you might not think it's a big deal, but this is about the mind of Christ. Christ wants us to be at peace with one another. Christ wants our hearts to be at peace, though it may not even be verbalized, our own hearts to be at rest before he comes.

So instead of grumbling, what does the Lord wanna find? Instead of complaining, what does the Lord wanna discover? I'll end it here back at Luke in Luke 18. Luke 18 verse eight. Jesus teaches on prayer.

The unjust king, the persistent widow, and this is how he ends his teaching. In verse eight, I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? When he comes, will he find faith? Faith is the opposite of grumbling.

Right? Faith is absolute trust and assurance in God's dealings even when everything looks like it's out of control. The Lord is asking, will I find that kind of faith? And in in the context here, the faith he's speaking about is prayer. Will I find a praying people when I come?

That's a whole different subject. Will I find a people who have really encapsulated what abiding in him really looks like? And that's dependency on him and crying out to him. Sure, but it goes beyond that if we'd consider the rest of the Bible. Will I find a people whose hearts believe me?

Believe me. I'm gonna end it here. As I end it here, I'm gonna trust that maybe in your own walk now you've been stimulated to perhaps look further into the scripture and say, if I really believe that the Lord is coming back, if I really believe that these days are pointing to things that I read of in my Bible, Lord, what do you wanna see in me when you do come? What do you want to see? You want me to abide?

I will abide. Give me the grace to abide. You want me to serve? Lord, show me what my calling is. Show me what my gift is in this season.

I don't care if it's glamorous. I just want to be blessed by you and I want you to be blessed. Oh, Lord Oh, grumbling. Okay. Help me not grumble.

Lord, please, this really means a lot to you, then help me trust that and to submit my life to that. Do something in me in which comes out of me the fragrance of thanksgiving and glory unto you. That's the kind of walk that Jesus wants from us now. That's what he wants from us now. I know you have a mortgage.

I know you have your problems. I know you have to finish your degree. I know. But look at the days that we're living in. And if it's gonna excite anything, he's coming.

He can come. And may we be found in him the way he desires to find us. Let's pray. Lord, your word is so clear, undeniably obvious. We believe that you will come again.

We believe that prophecy will be fulfilled. We believe that we will be saved for all of eternity. But Lord, we see and we've just heard through this message how relational you really are. And we've got a greater glimpse of what really blesses and pleases your heart. Lord, we know that we can always become better and be stronger in our walk with you.

But Lord, we also know that in your grace, all you ask of us is our hearts to be postured in that direction. And so we know, Lord, that if the desire is not there, then all that will happen from this is being guilt ridden and that will not last long. So father, by your spirit, we pray that you would come inside as you do abide in us, but that you would come inside and do a deeper work. A work in which we are able to perceive all things in light of your return, and also what you call us to do in preparation for that awesome event. Lord, for those who ministered as Samuel ministered, we pray that they would know a greater grace and strength in their service.

That they realize that they are indispensable members of the body of Christ. Loved and honored by you. And Lord, help us love and cherish and praise those who serve in less obvious ways. Lord, for for those who are easily distracted and they know that about themselves and it's difficult for them to to know what it means to really enjoy Jesus Christ. They have convictions.

They know right and wrong. But Lord, perhaps they don't know what it means to fellowship with you. To actually know joy in you. Lord, teach us. Teach us.

And for those who've known that but have lost it, win us again. Reestablish our hearts. And Lord, when grumbling comes and it's so easy to grumble grumble during these times, help us catch it. Help us catch it, Lord. And help us not condemn ourselves to death.

Help us understand, Lord, that you understand, and that you work with us. And what you cherish and what you prize is a heart that is humble, that walks in the light, acknowledges his his or her weaknesses, and believes that you are there to empower us when we ask for it. Lord, in this place, we will stand and we will sing. First, for our redemption and second, because you've made known to us what you long for us and that is our desire to please you. So we will sing with absolute delight in our hearts.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen indeed. Let's stand and worship together.