 Matthew chapter 24 beginning at verse 36. Jesus says, But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know. Until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of man be. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. But of that day and hour, no one knows. The disciples had asked Jesus, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? And in response, Jesus listed various signs that would precede his return. And these things that he listed served as indicators of his return and also were intended to reveal its nearness. So the disciples had asked that question, what will be the sign? But they also had asked, when will these things be? So at this point, Jesus gives insight into the when part of their question. There will be observable worldwide indicators, but the exact time Jesus is making very clear is hidden. That's why in verse 36, he says, but of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. In other words, the exact moment of his return is unknown to human beings. It's even unknown to angels. Only God knows the answer to that question. And God has chosen not to reveal it. When you read your Bible, you look in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy in chapter 29, at verse 29. And there it says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, that the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this loss. Secret things belong to God alone. Other things are revealed to us. This is one of those times that only God knows the exact moment. So the signs that he'd been describing indicates the nearness, but they don't give the exact moment of his arrival. So we know that we're in a general period of time because even as he had mentioned in verse 32, the fig tree has already blossomed. Yet there are specific events awaiting to transpire before his return, and those events include the rapture as well as a seven-year period of time called the tribulation. But as for the exact moment of his return, no one knows for sure. Now notice how he says of that day, no one knows. No one would obviously include every human being. No one knows of the exact moment of that day. Nobody knows. Now there are those who would like to say that they know when he's returning. There are those who have written books saying that they know the exact moment of his return or the year of his return. There's one book that was written concerning the rapture where the guy gave, and I don't remember his name at the moment, perhaps some of you might, but he had said 87 reasons why Jesus is returning in 1987. Some of you may remember that 87 reasons why Jesus is returning in 1987. In the next year, he wrote 88 reasons why Jesus is returning in 1988. Well, that was speaking of the rapture, but Jesus here in this contest is not speaking of the rapture. He's speaking of the second coming when he returns, and he's making it very clear as for the exact moment, no one knows for sure, which would include every human being. Now, why won't men know the precise moment of his return? Well, one reason would be is that men would be tempted to put off receiving him until the last moment. If they knew that he was coming December 23rd, then there would be a temptation to put off coming to Christ, we'll say, until December 22nd. They would be tempted to put off receiving him until the last moment. So to put off following Jesus when given opportunity to know him reveals the absence of faith. Something we need to remember is salvation is not something you delay in receiving. It's something that you receive quickly when offered to you. You don't put it off. You know, I've never met anybody, anybody who's ever said to me, I wish I would have waited longer to get saved. I've never met anybody who has said that. Now, maybe somebody in this room might say, oh, I wish I'd have waited. I have never met anybody who has ever said, I wish I'd have delayed. I have only met, and it would include myself, men or women who have said, it would have been better had I gotten saved earlier. I just have never met anybody who says, I enjoy delaying my coming to faith in Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 2, the apostle Paul says it like this. For he says, in the time of my favor, I heard you. And in the day of salvation, I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation. It's a now thing. It's not a tomorrow thing. It's a now. And so Jesus is saying here of that day and hour, no one knows. Not a single human being would know. He says, not even the angels of heaven. Now, when we've been studying through Matthew, we've noted that the angels are very involved in the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us, for example, that angels are actually accompanying him or returning with him. In Matthew 16, 27, it says the son of man is going to come in his father's glory with his angels. And then he will reward each person according to what he has done. Paul, when he was writing to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7, wrote that the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. So angels are very involved in the second coming. They return with him as a matter of fact. They separate the saved from the unsaved. He had made that clear in verse 31 where it says here in chapter 24, he'll send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. He's already mentioned that. He also had made that statement in chapter 13 verses 39 through 42 when he had said the harvest is the end of the age. The harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The son of man will send out his angels and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So angels are very involved in the second coming of Christ and yet they don't know when he'll return. There are other copies that speak concerning Jesus himself not knowing it says nor the son. Jesus himself has self-imposed restrictions in his human knowledge and during his incarnation the father alone exercised unrestricted divine omniscience and so he'd say but my father only. Only the father knows exactly the moment he will send the son. And when he says that he begins to speak concerning something else verse 37 as an illustration. He speaks of the days of Noah. He says but as the days of Noah were so also will the coming of the son of man be for as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark did not know until the flood came and took them all away so also will the coming of the son of man be so one aside and then we'll move into this. Jesus obviously believed the days of Noah to be an actual event and not a myth or a story. He speaks concerning it in a way as a warning to people. So I want to develop this with you for a moment when he says again in verse 37 as the days of Noah were. Well when it speaks of the days of Noah it begins by pointing to the attitudes and lifestyles that characterize the time of Noah. He's saying that the same kinds of sins will be rampant among the people living when Jesus returns. During the time of the tribulation mankind will be hardened in sin. He's speaking specifically of the time of tribulation yet today we see the world moving in this direction and it actually should serve to prepare the existing church. So as we look at this we ask the question what were the days of Noah like? And the Bible reveals to us that during his days evil was rampant. Evil was rampant. Genesis gives us a description of the days of Noah in chapter 6. Let me read to you out of Genesis chapter 6 beginning at verse 1. When the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them these were the mighty men who were of old men of renown then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast creeping thing and birds of the air for I'm sorry that I've made them but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In verse 11 he continued to say the earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. Now notice with me the days of Noah. Notice how it says when men began to multiply in the face of the earth the population explosion. Men were multiplying on the face of the earth the earth was becoming populated. According to PBS news hour it took all of human history up to 1804 for the world's population to reach 1 billion. The next billion came only 100 years later in 1927. After that the rate of growth accelerated 3 billion in 1959 4 billion in 1974 5 billion in 1987 6 billion in 1999 and now 7 billion. We are adding a billion people to earth's population every 12 years. In Africa the current population of 1 billion will increase to 3.6 billion by the end of the century. In Asia the population will increase from its current 4.2 billion to 5.2 billion by 2050. And so the point he's making is there's going to be like in the days of Noah a population increase. We're seeing that even as I'm standing before you this morning which is a population explosion. Secondly in verse 38 he said they were eating and drinking. In other words they're going about their regular routine they're ignoring what is going on around them plus they're ignoring the preaching of repentance. You see that's what occurred during the time of Noah. While Noah was building the ark he also preached of coming judgment. When you look at 2 Peter 2 verse 5 Peter calls Noah a preacher of righteousness and so there was an obvious indifference, hardness to and rejection of the message that was taking place during that day. Noah built the ark. God gave the population 120 years and as he was building the ark there he was repairing the world for judgment. There's no doubt that the people around saw what was going on, saw this huge ship and had no idea why someone would do something like that. And so when Noah would speak to them concerning coming judgment and if he described it as a flood the people at that time wouldn't have understood what that meant because there was no rain on the face of the earth. The Bible says there was a mist that watered the earth but there was no rain that was taking place. And so he was speaking of something they did not understand in the yet future and it was saying you need to turn away from your wickedness because as we just read wickedness was flooding the earth and every thought and intent of a man's heart was only evil continually and Noah was preaching that there's a judgment coming because of the way you're living and they rejected it. They would not listen. There was indifference too. There was a hardness too. There was a rejection of that message and that's taking place even as we see it today. That kind of attitude is already forming in the mind of many people, a rejection of repentance. There's no need for it. He also speaks in verse 38 of marrying and giving in marriage. Genesis 6 verse 2 speaks of the sons of God taken wives from the daughters of men. It's speaking of careless marriages. In other words, indiscriminate marrying was commonplace. That infers a lack of marriage commitment. It speaks of loose sexual morals. They went about their lives with a lack of concern for what was right before God. There was a lack of understanding of marriage and there was a lack of understanding of his meaning during the time of Noah and again we can see that to be true with us today. Now as Christians we know that marriage is created by God and is not lightly entered into. We have the scriptures to guide us as it pertains to that most sacred institution and we know that God intends marriage for good and he intends us to not only make our vows before him and promises to one another but to fulfill them because we know that marriage is designed by God. Hebrews 13 4 says marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral and the word of God is very clear about that and yet during the time just before the return of Christ marriage will be taken very lightly which is what we are seeing even right now we are starting to see that to be a truth here not only in the United States but worldwide where marriage is not only being redefined but it is also being taken extremely lightly and there are those who have their starter marriages because they say well we give it a try and see if it works if it doesn't the second marriage will be better and then we have others who say I don't even see marriage is that important we'll just live together what's the difference well during the time before the return of Christ marriage will be taken lightly a fourth thing we know is a season of grace was extended God didn't flood the earth in judgment immediately Genesis 6 3 says the Lord said my spirit shall not strive with man forever for he is indeed flesh at his day shall be 120 years so God gave the world time to repent then he flooded the earth during the time of the tribulation God gives people 7 years to turn to him and that's because God is gracious and patient in 2 Peter 3 15 it says bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation in Romans chapter 2 verse 4 Paul said do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness tolerance and patience not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance God's kindness leads you to repentance sometimes people think that because the Lord hasn't dealt with them he must approve of them and that's not true he's giving you a space to repent he's giving you opportunity to turn from your wicked ways and embrace him to turn from that which is killing you and to come to faith in him so that he can give you life well they don't care at that time a fifth thing is there's no self-restraint sin at that time had free reign and was accepted as normal Genesis 6 5 said every inclination of the heart was only evil continually so there was this inclination towards evil that was constant in Romans 1 28 through 32 Paul said it like this furthermore since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God he gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done they have become filled with every kind of wickedness evil, greed and depravity they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice the gossips, slanderers god-haters, insolent arrogant, boastful they invent ways of doing evil they disobey their parents they're senseless, faithless heartless, ruthless although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them that sounds like my staff and the problem is every inclination of their heart is only evil continually constant evil one of the things that stands out is inventors of evil things inventors of evil that's an interesting thing I mean evil is corrupted good marriage is honorable fornication is not sexual pleasure is honorable in marriage sexual pleasure outside of marriage is a sin what sin is very often is good that has been corrupted to evil good things can can be invented but good things that are invented can be used for evil things you look at the internet after Al Gore invented it you look at the internet and it's used for a dissemination of a lot of information and for that reason that's a good thing you're able to post scripture and encourage people to live godly lives that's a good thing but it's also used for evil and sometimes they're just taking what was originally meant for good and they use it they invent ways to use it for evil and we see that in our day now during the tribulation evil will be accepted righteous will be martyred in Revelation 6 verses 9-11 it says when he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of god and for the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice saying how long old lord holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood and those who dwell on the earth then a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were was completed a sixth thing is Genesis 6-11 says the earth was corrupt before god filled with violence so the inhabited world was morally corrupt and idolatrous and violently rejecters of god in Romans 1-25-27 Paul said they exchanged the truth of god for a lie worshipped and served created things rather than the creator who is forever praised amen because of this god gave them over to shameful lusts even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion so they left the roles of male and female began to be attracted to one another and rejected the things of god so during Noah's time god's patience reached its end and god brought judgment after 1727 they ate they drank they married wives they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all the flood didn't come without warning Noah had preached but they rejected the message and that's what's going to occur before the second coming in the days of Noah unbelievers were taken in judgment through the flood and even so this family were saved because they obeyed god at the second coming some will enter into judgment but others will be saved you see in verse 40 it says two men will be in the field one will be taken the other left two women will be grinding at the mill one will be taken the other left so that happened in Noah's day they rejected the message they were not prepared and the word taken there means to be caught it's a picture of them being caught in judgment like the members of Noah's family some will be prepared and some will be saved so during the tribulation some will come through and enter the millennial kingdom but others will be caught in judgment so verse 42 the warning watch therefore for you do not know what hour your lord is coming be on the alert be in a state of constant expectancy because if you're alert and expectant that ensures that you are prepared watch therefore be on the alert the word watch can be used in a military sense of being on watch standing watch or being on guard, being vigilant you're to have this anticipation do not be unprepared because the unprepared are the ones that will be surprised it says in verse 43 know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched not allowed his house to be broken into the thief doesn't write you a letter and say by the way at 11.30 on Thursday I'll be there so just letting you know just warning you, no it's an unexpected thing you're unprepared for and the tribulation will not know the moment of his return and thus it'll be a surprise and it will be unexpected to them and he's saying here notice everything in verse 43 everything they have valued and cherished will be suddenly lost everything I was watching a program that was highlighting fires and how fires are so devastating and how these individuals were caught unprepared for the fire how the fire rushed upon them so quickly that they just got out and the only thing they were able to say was what they were wearing when they got out of the house and it just highlights this there was nothing there for them to be able to save and sadly in many ways their entire lives that they had pictures and various things that meant something to them it was all lost at the same time just lost and it reminds me to be prepared for the things of the Lord because everything that they value and everything that they cherish is suddenly gone and so he says in verse 44 therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect Noah was prepared and he delivered the message and he told people be ready the Bible tells us in Genesis 6 verse 8 that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and so he had the grace of God and he was 117 says by faith Noah when warned about things not yet seen in holy fear built in Ark to save his family by his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith so he had the grace of God and he exercised faith and thus he and his family were able to survive and so that would be the application to us to walk in grace and exercise faith and then he goes on in verse 45 who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods but if that evil servant says in his heart the master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards the master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him and at an hour that he's not aware of and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites then Jesus says there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth to emphasize his point he now gives an illustration notice with me how he begins by asking the question who then is a faithful and wise servant by speaking of a faithful and wise servant he's referring to Christians in 1 Corinthians 4 2 Paul said it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful so Jesus would be saying that believers are faithful stewards of the trust that God has given to them and that's what distinguishes them to be a believer now this faithfulness is not something unusual it actually is one of the identifying marks of a genuine follower of God and so we recognize ourselves as his servants but I want you to notice a second thing because as he's speaking here he says to us that that servant is distributing he's distributing in verse 45 it says to give them food in due season who is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made rule over his household to give them food in due season a second thing is a faithful servant distributes food to others in due season we supply others with the spiritual food that strengthens them in their walks now we're sharing with the first service something I'll share with you and hopefully it'll make some sense it didn't first service let's try it again many of you are young and wouldn't wouldn't have experienced this and thus it can be difficult to give an illustration that requires a little explanation but I'll try because the Bible says here that we believers are to distribute food to others in due season and that's taken place of course during the tribulation but as I look at that I'm also aware of the fact that Christians today are also faithful and also to be distributors of these things and thus God has called us to supply others with spiritual food that strengthens them in their time of need and strengthens them in their walk in other words we feed one another with the word of God to encourage each other now when I got saved back in 1970 into 71 I was driving and as I was driving I had been I was so happy and so joyful that I was saved that I like to sing the songs that I was learning as I was going to church there at Calvary Chapel and the songs that we were singing were praise songs and were scripture songs and I was being taught the joy of the Lord and I was being taught how to praise God and it was just something I was learning because I love music anyway and I love so many types of music I grew up in a music revolution so I heard so many kinds of music and during that time you would listen to music and you could hear all kinds of songs everything from early rock and roll with the guys like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard and so many others like that I grew up my mom was only she was actually 19 years old one month shy of her 20th birthday when I was born and so I grew up in a home filled with music and so she was always playing the radio so I grew up listening to all the early rock and roll I mean that's what mom listened to and I grew up with that into the 60's and in the 60's there's developing new kinds of music and all of that there's the Motown sound that breaks in and then there's the British invasion and then there's the heavy metal and there's all of these different genre and different kinds of music the folk rock you name it and I heard it all and that music as appealing in many ways that it wasn't and remains to this day because there's some beautiful songs it still didn't have the hope of eternal life and now I got saved and now I'm hearing a new kind of music praise music songs about Christ and songs about being saved but it's unusual because you see what you have today I didn't have when I first got saved we didn't use FM radio that was something that was unused it was almost completely empty I mean some of you who are older know this I mean you would turn on the radio and if you put it on FM it was empty the whole bandwidth was empty you'd have one or two things there was one program that my friends would listen to on occasion I would too and it was a guy who would just he got FM radio and because it came in stereo we would listen to it and it was some guy who was just playing Beatles albums and things and then pretending he was smoking dope maybe he was for all I know and it's always he'd do that and we'd said to go oh this is so cool so that's kind of but we listen to AM so we heard all this music and now I'm driving and as I'm driving I'm saying to Jesus I would love to hear worship music Jesus I want to praise you and I went through it it's AM so I went from the bottom of the dial to the top and there was nothing there nothing because we didn't have K wave we didn't have KKLA we didn't have all of the different genres and Christian stations that we have today we had none of that so I said Jesus I just want to praise you I want to sing to you I said please I want to sing can you give me something to sing praise to you and guess what I found George Harrison my sweet lord so I sang you know hallelujah and at one point it says Hare Krishna and I said hallelujah and I just kept it hallelujah you know but that was it see and why am I telling you that it's because I've got time I'm telling you that because that was what is called fruit of a revival I came out of darkness into the light of Jesus Christ and I wanted to praise him listen I used to go to parties you tell me where the party is and I'm going and now I'm saying where's the Bible study so I could go to a study and sit there and listen to how wonderful Jesus Christ is and what Christ does in someone's life and that was amazing see we didn't hear that we didn't hear that that was brand new to us it was a revival God was moving through this nation sweeping through southern California and young hippies like me were getting saved and violent men like Roy Reeves were getting saved and and and and mindless hippies like Mike McIntosh were getting saved and and guys like Steve Maisie who you know was shot in the leg and laying in a gutter and then he gets saved I mean that's what God was doing oh amazing grace how sweet the sound amazing that saved a wretch like me the word of God give me more of Jesus I want to know him so Bible studies that's what we went to it wasn't an option to me it wasn't forced on me it was where I wanted to be I wanted to be hearing about Christ I didn't find excuses not to go I didn't say oh it's a holiday I got a barbecue I said this is what changes lives the gospel of Jesus Christ this is what changes a nation the gospel of Jesus Christ I will not elect a Messiah I received one and I understand that I wanted Jesus Christ I want to follow him I want to worship him I want to know him I have a friend of mine who came to see me just this Friday I haven't seen him in 42 years he sure got old I haven't seen him in 42 years and he came to see me he lives in another state and he's in the area for a family reunion he said I just wanted to stop by and see I haven't seen him in 42 years and we're walking in the back in our foyer area and some of you have never even wandered off to the northern side of this foyer and there's a timeline that shows the history of the Jesus movement and how this church began and I walked him through it and I pointed to a picture of me with the long hair and a hat and I said do you remember that guy and he goes because that's what I looked like when I was hanging with this guy and as we sat and visited had a great conversation as we sat together and visited I couldn't help but tell him Gary God has been so good to me God has been so good to me he said Dave do you ever get death threats I said of course we all do if you preach the gospel of Jesus Christ yes there will be people who come after you indeed but guess what I said the truth sets you free let's keep preaching the truth of Jesus Christ and that's how it works why because when Jesus got hold of my heart he got hold of everything and that's what's missing in the church today we got to wake up the church has got to rise to the occasion and we're not and we're not we're caught up fighting about things that don't matter we're caught up today thinking about things that do not matter what matters is not my freedoms what matters is the liberty that Jesus will bring to a sinner we need to come back to what God originally wanted to do and that is let us preach the gospel and prepare people because there are those who will say my Lord delays his coming and they are the ones who enter into judgment and if your friends and your family don't know Jesus Christ pray for them and find a way to share with them to know Jesus we need revival why can't it begin with us why can't God reignite in us the flame and passion for Christ that is so necessary for this moment stop worrying about your boyfriend stop worrying about your girlfriend stop worrying about whether you have freedom to drink start worrying about people's salvation start worrying about their souls and watch what God will do watch what God will do you need you need to come back I am telling you this it's the truth we need as a church to come back to first things I promise you God will bless your life as you pursue him seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness all these things will be added to you make sure you're seeking the right things and so when Jesus is speaking here he's making it very clear we have the responsibility to distribute spiritual food that's your job embrace it see I was proclaiming the gospel long before my name was Pastor David I was sharing the gospel the day I got saved in testimony form and my sister Madeline is listening and she says whatever you did for my brother Jesus do for me I was sharing the gospel with my mom and dad when I opened up a Bible and walked in three weeks after being saved read a portion of scripture told my dad he's going to be the best man in hell if he doesn't give his heart to Christ bow your head you're getting saved right now and led him to Christ and I led my mom to Christ and I led my sister Becky to Christ my brother Frank came to faith in Christ because that's what matters at the very end understand me at the very end all that matters is what you did for the Lord all the stories and the things you accumulated they perish with the using they're not that important the only thing that matters is what you did for Jesus Christ understand that as you live for Christ and watch him bless your life and so we have that responsibility and Jesus would speak concerning the servant who's doing his master's will blessed is that servant verse 46 whom his master when he comes will find him so doing I say to you God is going to bless that servant for that God is going to work in that servant he's going to be rewarded for faithful service we're going to rule and we're going to reign with Jesus Christ Revelation 321 to him who overcomes I will give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne Romans 8 16 and 17 the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children now if we are children then we are heirs of God co-heirs with Christ if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory faithful servant but he goes on in verse 48 but if that evil servant says in his heart my master's delaying is coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he's not aware of and will cut him in two appoint him his portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth my master stillain is coming you see because Jesus has not yet come they believe they can live any way that they want they live for themselves they live as if this Jesus will never return they could care less well as a result when he returns he catches them completely by surprise and that person will be judged and Jesus says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth notice how in verse 51 it says he will appoint him his portion with the hypocrites with the hypocrites he didn't call him a hypocrite that's interesting he says his portion is with the hypocrites what's that mean there are those who are religious hypocrites I preached in your name I did all of these things in your name and Jesus says to them I never knew you depart from me but there are others who are actually loftily proud about and arrogantly proud about the rejection of Christ and they will say things well at least I'm not a hypocrite I live like I do right now and it doesn't matter to me either way I don't want to be like those hypocrites in church I've had people say that to me you probably have too why do I want to go to church it's just filled with hypocrites and I say well join us we could always use one more so they think themselves noble because they are openly rejecters of Christ they are proud of the rejection of Jesus they think themselves to be moral because they're at least honest in that and yet Jesus says he's still judged along with the others there's a fable a fable which tells of three apprentice devils who are coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship they were talking to Satan the chief of the devils about their plans to tempt and to ruin men the first said I will tell them that there is no God Satan said that will not delude many for they know that there's a God the second said I will tell men that there's no hell Satan answered you will deceive no one that way men know even now that there is a hell for sin the third said I will tell men that there is no hurry go said Satan you will ruin men by the thousands the most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time that's true plenty of time I'll come to him later I've got things to do now no I believe there's a God I do you know I believe there's a God I do but I'm just not ready I had a friend of mine his name is Nick he lives up north I first got saved I was sharing with my friend Nicky and I said Nicky can you ever give your heart to Christ and he says Dave I will but I have to clean myself up first and then when I'm more presentable to God then I'll present myself to him I said Nicky you're an idolater he didn't like hearing that but it's true I said you're an idolater man you're trying to make yourself into something that only God can do he did not ask you to make yourself clean he said he would clean you what you need to do is come to him as you are confessing your sin and ask Christ to forgive you he will wash you and cleanse you he'll make you brand new and then you're a follower of Christ you see because you don't come on your own terms you come on his and there are many people today who say oh you know I've got things to do eventually I will and that's a delusion of the enemy that's why the scripture says today is the day of salvation not next week not next month not next year there are so many people who come to church on a Christmas we have a Christmas service who are thinking you know what I have one more Christmas one more party one more getting drunk or whatever I'm going to do and then I'm going to get right with God and then the next Christmas comes and then the next Christmas comes and they're still putting off making that decision you know that person says the master's delaying is coming he hasn't returned he's probably never going to it doesn't really matter I'm just going to live for myself and Jesus said no there will be weeping there will be gnashing of teeth we need to remember that today is the day of salvation and Jesus in Revelation 2220 said it like this I am coming quickly I'm coming quickly I'm not as lack concerning as promised as some counts lackness but as long suffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance it isn't God just approving of us it is God giving us opportunity and that's what we need to take today because the evil servant says my lord delays is coming the righteous one distributes the food to those in need they're the ones who are blessed by him the other is giving their portion amongst the rejecters