Now it's always been my impression that the police like to have the element of surprise in their favor. Suddenly there's a police car coming up behind you, or appearing out of nowhere. That's why I was surprised by something I saw when I was meeting with our Latin American team in Guadalajara, Mexico. At night we were driving around with our Director, David Isais and we saw a police car in front of us. Now, he was in no particular hurry, but his lights were flashing - and David said, "You know the police cars here do that all the time, they leave their lights on whether they are on call, or not." Now, that's an interesting approach to law enforcement - let them know you're coming.
Well I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "The Warning Lights Are On."
Now our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 24:30. Jesus says, "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." Now Jesus lets us know here - He's coming back! There's no doubt about how it's all going to end. The same Jesus who ascended into heaven, after his resurrection will return to this earth. The first time He came to take the death sentence for our sins. The second time He's coming to take over.
It's described again over in Luke 21:27, again in the words of Jesus, He says, "At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory." What time? Well, verses 10 and 11 say this, "There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places and fearful events and great signs from Heaven." Now, actually the Bible describes many signs that will come just before Jesus comes. The warning lights will be on first. A lot of those signs sound strangely familiar. Like the Bible says there will be a nation of Israel, before Jesus comes back, and there wasn't for 2,000 years and there is now. There will be great turbulence in the environment, Jesus said. There'll be talk of peace in the Middle East. Jesus said the Gospel will spread to the ends of the earth to every nation. That's a prophecy that can finally be fulfilled now by Christian radio that reaches every corner of the planet - and all of the world's three great religions have a sense of destiny about this year two thousand. Now, is Jesus coming soon? I don't know. But He'll return to a world that looks very much like ours.
Now here's the warning of Jesus in Matthew 24:44, "You must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him." He's coming. The warning lights are on. Are you ready? Well, only if you have asked this Jesus to be your personal Savior from the penalty of your personal sin.
John 3:18 says, "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of God's one and only Son." Now, what does it mean to believe in Him? It's recognizing that your sin is a life or death issue. And that your only hope of forgiveness or heaven is the One who loved you enough to pay your sin bill, Jesus Christ. And you believe when you consciously put all your trust in Him to be your spiritual rescuer from your sin. It's time to get serious about Jesus, He is your future. Someday, maybe soon, one way or the other you will suddenly be facing Jesus. He's warned you He's coming. It's time to get ready.