My God and My Country

Word of God

Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God

Matthew 4:4

The Gospel According to Luke 21:36 

36 Watch therefore, and pray continually, that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and that ye may stand before the son of man.

Brethren:

Watch ye therefore, and pray always Watch against every sin, snare, and temptation; particularly, against the above things, surfeiting, drunkenness, and worldly cares; pray continually, for fresh supplies of grace: that ye may be counted worthy; not for watchfulness and prayer, but through the grace and goodness of God: to escape all these things that shall come to pass; the dreadful miseries and distress, that shall come, and to stand before the Son of man, with intrepidity, confidence, and pleasure, and meet him at his coming in this way, with joy and comfort; and likewise at death, and at judgment ( see  1 John 2:28 ).

This then should be our aim: that we may be accounted worthy to escape all these things; that, when the judgments of God are abroad, we may be preserved from the malignity of them; that either we may not be involved in the common calamity or it may not be that to us which it is to others; that in the day of death we may escape the sting of it, which is the wrath of God, and the damnation of hell. Yet we must aim not only to escape that, but to stand before the Son of man; not only to stand acquitted before him as our Judge ( see Psalm 1:5 ), to have boldness in the day of Christ (that is supposed in our escaping all those things), but to stand before him, to attend on him as our Master, to stand continually before his throne, and serve him day and night in his temple ( see Revelation 7:15 ), always to behold his face, as the angels, (see Matthew 18:10).

The saints are here said to be accounted worthy, as before. God, by the good work of his grace in them, makes them meet for this happiness, and, by the good will of his grace towards them, accounts them worthy of it: but, as Grotius here says, a great part of our worthiness lies in an acknowledgment of our own unworthiness. What should be our actings in these aims: Watch therefore, and pray always. Watching and praying must go together, ( see Nehemiah 4:9 ) Those that would escape the wrath to come, and make sure of the joys to come, must watch and pray, and must do so always, must make it the constant business of their lives. To keep a guard upon themselves. "Watch against sin, watch to every duty, and to the improvement of every opportunity of doing good. Be awake, and keep awake, in expectation of your Lord’s coming, that you may be in a right frame to receive him, and bid him welcome.’’  Additionally to keep up their communion with God: "Pray always; be always in an habitual disposition to that duty; keep up stated times for it; abound in it; pray upon all occasions.’’ Those shall be accounted worthy to live a life of praise in the other world that live a life of prayer in this world.