"Be On Guard!"

 

“Be On Guard!”

 

Be on guard, keep awake.  For you do not know when the time will come.    Mark 13:33

 

Most of us have come to the conclusion that we are living in the LAST DAYS.  So, if that is TRUE, then what should the TRUE BELIEVERS be doing?  In the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, it tells us what we should be doing.  The Lord Jesus Christ tells us to “Be on GUARD, and to KEEP AWAKE, and some translations tells us to PRAY, hopefully we are doing that anyway.  In verse thirty-two, we are told that NO ONE KNOWS the DAY or HOUR when JESUS CHRIST will RETURN to RAPTURE the TRUE BELIEVERS from this WRETCHED, SIN-DRENCHED world.  Not the ANGELS or not even JESUS, Himself, but ONLY GOD the FATHER, knows.

 

So, in the meantime, the TRUE BELIEVERS, SHOULD BE ON GUARD, and KEEP AWAKE! Because we do NOT KNOW when the time will come.  But Jesus gives us a mini-parable telling what we should be doing: “It is like a man (Jesus) going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to STAY AWAKE.  There fore STAY AWAKE---for you do NOT KNOW when the master of the house will come in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows (from midnight to 3 a.m.), or in the morning---lest he comes suddenly and finds you asleep.  And what I say to you I say to all:  STAY AWAKE.”  (vv34-37)  

 

We, who are the TRUE BELIEVERS, are the SERVANTS, who each have a TASK to do, UNTIL JESUS returns. He has EQUIPPED each of us to do that TASK, whether it be PREACHING, TEACHING or ministering in other ways. And while we are SERVING the MASTER, we NEED to BE on GUARD, and to KEEP AWAKE or ALERT.  Because we do NOT KNOW, when He will RETURN.  And we want to BE READY, and ABLE to HEAR Him say: “WELL DONE, MY GOOD and FAITHFUL SERVANT!  ENTER into your REWARD!!”  Are you EXCITED about His RETURN, or are you DREADING the very thought of it?

 

For those who have NOT given their HEART and LIFE to God, they are, more than likely, DREADING the very thought of it, because, of their REJECTION of God’s SON, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, who GAVE His Life so that ALL MANKIND might be SAVED from their SINS and from an ETERNITY in HELL, with ALL its HORRORS, and NO WAY to ESCAPE, once they are there.  ALL they have to do is:  ADMIT that they are a SINNER, in NEED of a SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, and be WILLING to TURN AWAY FROM their sinful life-style, and TURN TO GOD, with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART.  And BELIEVE, with ALL their HEART that JESUS died for THEM, and that He is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for them, before God.  Then CONFESS their sins to GOD, and ask Him for His FORGIVENESS.  They MUST ACCEPT His Gift of SALVATION, and BE ON GUARD, KEEP AWAKE, and WATCH for the RETURN of JESUS CHRIST.  Do this NOW, while you still can.  He’s WAITING and COMING SOON!!!