01-19-08 #Disciple Bible Study Titled: "Watch!"

[Disciple]

"Watch!" Mark 13:37

In Abraham’s life, we find that God repeats over and over again the promise of the land being given to his seed. Abraham will try over and over again to make sense of what God says by trying to take things in his own hands. First, Abraham wants to make a servant the heir that God was talking about, but God says “no”.

Second, he listens to Sarah and takes Hagar, her concubine, to be his wife and has a son by her named Ishmael and God says that Ishmael will be the forerunner of many nations, but was not the one that God promised.

Finally, God tells Abraham that he will have a son by Sarah which triggered laughs from both Abraham and Sarah because she was 89 and he was 99 years old. God in essence tells Abraham and Sarah, “Watch”. Then, God has a conversation with Abraham and shares the coming destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

These two cities were very wicked before God and He was getting ready to pass judgment upon them. Abraham remembers that Lot and his family lived in Sodom and begins to make intercession on their behalf. He asks God “would you destroy these cities if you find 50 righteous people?”, and God says “No!”.

Abraham re-considers and begins to bargain with God for 45 righteous, then 40, then 30, then 20, and finally 10. God then leaves and Abraham was left to “Watch”. The next day, he looks up and sees the smoke billowing in the air.


Mark 13:37,

There is a command that follows a discussion concerning the last days. I fully believe that we are in the final days of the church age. I believe that Jesus is coming soon for His bride. The disciples in this passage have asked the Lord to tell them the signs of the last days. He explains the signs to them and then says “Watch”. What does it mean to us to “Watch!”? Please allow me to share with you three things that it means to us.

I. Watching Means To Be On Alert.

The command to “watch” in this form takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples were commanded to “watch and pray” by the Lord. They had a problem, though, they were very tired. The Lord returns several times to find them sleeping when they should have been watching to the disappointment of the Lord Jesus Christ. This definition of “watch” reminds me of passages found in the Books of Ephesians and in 1 Thessalonians.

Read what it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:6;

“Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober”. Later in the chapter Paul writes “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” (vs. 8).

The reason for watching is to be on alert. Why do we need to watch in this way? Because there are so many things that attack our faith, love and hope. They attack the very Word of God, and try to say that it is a book of allegories rather than taking it literal. The sad thing about that statement is that many times, these attacks are happening within the church.






False doctrines and their false teachers are infiltrating the church and causing many to question the doctrines they have learned from a child. So we must watch, not idly, but with the readiness to defend our faith and the doctrines of the Bible. We must watch and be willing to defend our faith! The danger of this definition is the temptation to sleep.

This means to ignore, not pay attention, and even refuse to be involved. We must be on alert because Satan is attacking from every angle and we must be prepared in the Word of God and in prayer. WATCH!

II. Watching Means To Look Expectantly.

Secondly, we need to “watch” in a way that is expecting something to happen. As I said earlier, I believe the Lord is coming soon and we need to be watching expectantly. If we truly expect Jesus to come soon, we should be busy telling others the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to live expecting Jesus to return at any moment.

When we watch in this way, there are elements of trust, desire, and hope that are involved. As you watch with expectancy, we believe that what we are watching for will take place and that involves trust. We also watch with a desire for the event to take place. Finally, we watch with the hope that the event will happen and happen soon. We have just celebrated Christmas in which we celebrated the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jewish nation (as it still does) was waiting for their Messiah to come.

Today they continue to watch expectantly. We believe that God fulfilled His will in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today, we watch expecting the Lord Jesus Christ to come and take the church home with Him. There is a danger in the temptation to forget or take lightly the fact that Jesus will come again. This danger can lead to a Christian who finds himself ashamed at His coming.

This danger can lead to a Christian who finds himself ashamed at His coming. He will be ashamed that he did not do more for the Lord and that he lived foolishly. My friend, watch expectantly. Abraham was to watch expectantly for Isaac to be born, but found himself doubting often instead of trusting. Watch with trust in Jesus that He will do as He said He would; with a desire to see Him face to face; and with the hope that it will take place and soon. WATCH!

III. Watching Means To Be Careful.

Finally ,watching means to be careful. We must be careful with our souls, our bodies, and our minds. We must watch carefully what we do with each of them. We must watch our souls carefully, because this is what Satan is after. We must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ with our souls. We must be careful with our bodies.

Too many people are destroying their bodies in sinful and ungodly actions and practices. We must watch our minds carefully. We must guard what goes in our minds and what influences us in our thinking. This would include psychology, philosophy, and the belief system of this world.

Philippians 4:8:

The danger here is to be careless with our souls, bodies, and minds. Doing so will result in destroyed lives. To be careless with our soul is to never come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Many people are living this way today without a care or concern for their soul as if it is the least important part of them. In fact, it is the most important part of them. A soul apart from Jesus will never have His love, joy, or peace.

If they die in this condition, they will have everlasting punishment, an eternity destroyed. If we are careless with our bodies, we will find ourselves with bodies that are destroyed with disease, injuries, and other physical problems. If we are careless with our minds, we will be swayed with any and every thing that passes our way.

Abraham had a problem with trying to reason on behalf of God by suggesting Eliezer and Ishmael to be his heir, but it was not what God had in mind. To be careful with our souls, bodies, and minds, we must live according to God’s will and Word. If we do not do so, we will find ourselves careless. We must watch carefully over these matters.

Satan would love to destroy all three, but especially the soul. My friends, we must study the Word of God to find what He expects of our souls, bodies, and minds. He instructs us on all of these and to be obedient and faithful to Him is to watch carefully. WATCH!

Friends, as we enter 2008, let’s watch with alertness; watch with expectancy; and watch carefully. Jesus can come any moment and will come any moment. Will He find you watching?