That's a long song. And while
we were singing it, I was thinking maybe I could shorten it and
cut out a verse, and I'd look ahead and say, not that verse.
Then I'd look ahead and say, nope, not that verse. Too good. Turn with me now to 1 Corinthians
11. First Corinthians 11, let's read
from verse 23 to verse 26. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, And when he had given
thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner, also,
he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament
in my blood. This do ye as oft as you drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till
he come. Last Wednesday night, we observed
the Lord's table. And as I was reading those verses
and we were eating the bread and drinking the wine, verse
26 said, as often as we do that, we are showing the Lord's death till he comes. Those last three words, they
really sunk into me last Wednesday night as I read them in the moment. It really, really hit me hard. Till he comes back. Till he comes back. Our Lord is coming back. You know that I know that. And I know that you know that.
I preach that, I say that all the time. But, it really hit me this time. And
I thought I'd really gotten a hold of it until just now when I was
singing that song. It says, one day the trumpet
will sound for his coming. One day the skies with his glory
will shine. Wonderful day, my beloved one's
bringing. Glorious savior, this Jesus is
mine. Our Lord is coming back to this
earth. Like I just had a, a moment with
my own mind and my own heart. Our Lord is coming back to this
earth, bringing all the saints that have gone before Him with
Him. He's at least coming back to
this atmosphere. He's at least coming back to
the sky that, you know, we just read for our scripture reading.
We're going to meet the Lord in the air. But He's coming back to this
earth. Our Lord is coming back. How
amazing is it to think that God came to this earth the first
time. He came here many times. Our
Lord came here many times. I mean, our Lord is everywhere
at all times. But in body, He came here many
times. And how amazing it is that He
would come here. He made this earth But he made it along with all
the other planets and the stars and the solar systems and the
galaxies. And I saw a video on the Internet
the other day and you've seen videos like this. It starts off
in somebody's backyard and it's a map. And it backs out, and
then you can see a whole town. And then it backs out, and you
can see a state. And it keeps backing out, and
you can see a country. And it backs out, and you can
see the Earth. You can see a globe. And it keeps
on backing out, and now you're in space. And you've got the
Earth and the Moon. And it keeps on going, and you
have other planets. And the sun. Which I should have
known this. You kids are smarter than me,
I'm sure. Tell me the sun is a star. Why didn't I know that?
Did you know that all stars are burning balls of gas? Did you know that?
Stars are suns? I didn't know that. When you
see all those stars in the sky, those are suns. But here's the point, as it started
backing out, you see how tiny Earth gets. Like he made all
of these things and Earth was just so tiny in all of this,
just so small in all of this. But this video kept going and
I just got lost in the awesomeness of our God. You know, the closest
star to us to our sun and the earth is four and a quarter light
years away. Light travels at the speed of
186,000 miles per second. So how far does it go in a minute?
How far does it go in an hour? How far does it go in a day?
The closest star is four light years away. Every time you see
that twinkle in the That happened four years ago. The closest one
happened four years ago and it finally made it to us. Does this
not show the awesomeness, the greatness of our God? So this, you know, this thing
kept backing out and it's showing all these stars and stars and
stars. And then it finally backed out
and showed the Milky Way, our galaxy, the Milky Way. And it
said that there are over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way,
100 billion suns. And I don't know if that number's
right. They say that it's 100,000 light years from one side to
the other side. How do they know that? I will
give them this. It's big. It's very big. However big that is, it's very
big. But then it backed out after you get your mind around all
of that. 100,000 light traveling, 186,000 miles per second. It takes 100,000 years to get
from one side to the other side. Then it backed out and it showed
thousands upon thousands of galaxies, just like the Milky Way. Can you fathom this? And these are images that they've
seen with telescopes. According to them, I haven't
seen them, but according to them, they've seen them. When I look
at that, I think, what is Earth? What is man? This tiny, insignificant
speck called Earth, what is man that God would come here and that he would walk with Adam
in the cool of the garden. All of that stuff I just mentioned
to you, that's, I mean, that's the dust of his fate. He has
to humble himself to look down on all of that. This is ridiculous,
but according to them, I'm not buying into this, but according
to them, the seen, known portion of space that they can see with
telescopes is 63 billion light years in diameter across. All right, but look, honestly,
I don't care how wrong their numbers are. Our God is a big
God. Our God is a big God. How amazing
is it that this God would humble himself to come down here and
walk with Adam in the garden? Visit Abraham in his tent. Go
sit with Abraham in his tent. Stand there and talk to Moses
face to face as a man speaketh with his friend. It's amazing. Be born of a virgin. Live here. That he would spend
33 and a half years living here. That he would die here. That his purpose, will, design,
plan was to come to this little speck and die. to save some sinners
from their sins. Isn't that amazing? To bring peace to his people. To turn judgment to mercy. You know, I love that illustration
that you cannot look directly in our sun. You can't look at
the sun. There's just too much judgment
there. It'll burn you. It'll hurt you. You can't do
it. until it comes down and touches
the earth. Once it hits the horizon, you
look straight into the same sun. And that's what our God did for
us in mercy. He came down. He came down, God
came down, God came here. And what's amazing to me is he
is coming back. He is coming back. God is coming
back. The Old Testament prophesied
that God was going to come to save His people on that cross,
and He did. And the New Testament is now
prophesying that He is going to come back to gather those
people to Himself, and He will. But again, I just, I'm trying
to get it across to you that it's just hitting me how the
reality, the reality of this. It's not just statements. It's
not just history, the reality. God is going to come back to
this reality. This place, this futuristic world
that we live in. At His given appointed time,
this thing is going to become real. All of the sudden, this
is going to become real. Very real. He is coming here. He said so. He said He was coming
back. Look with me at Matthew 24. Matthew 24 verse 42, it says, Watch therefore, for
you know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that
if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his
house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for
in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh."
In a moment that you do not think He's coming, He's coming. That's exciting to me. That's
very exciting to me. Turn over to Acts chapter 1. I get so excited thinking about
this. Acts chapter 1, verse 9, it says, when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, while the disciples beheld,
he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. A cloud
did. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. A cloud received him out of their
sight. And those angels said the way
he went up, that's the way he's coming back. He went up in a
cloud. He's coming back in a cloud.
Turn over to Revelation chapter one. Every time we see a cloudy day
from here on out, we ought to get excited. Revelation 1 verse 4, it says,
John, to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you
and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come. And from the seven spirits which
are before his throne. And from Jesus Christ who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and
the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests unto our God and his father. To him be
glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Behold, he cometh
with clouds. He's coming with clouds. And
every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.
And all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even
so. Amen. He went with clouds, he's
coming with clouds, and when he does, every eye shall see
him. I've told you this before, but
I spent years hoping that the Lord would come back in my lifetime
because I wanted to see that. I didn't want to miss that. And
it was such good news when I got a hold of the fact that all the
dead in Christ are going to rise first. Nobody's going to miss
it. Nobody will miss it. Every eye
shall see him. Every eye that has ever existed
Every eye that he has ever created will see him when he comes back
to this earth. Every single eye. 2 Thessalonians
1 says he's coming back in vengeance on those who are not his people
and have not bowed the knee to his lordship and the truth of
his gospel. Brethren, let's bow the knee. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. This is a reality. This is about
to be a reality. He's coming back in flaming fire,
taking vengeance. Lord, make us bow. Let us see your holiness. Let
us see your justice. Let us see your judgment. Let
us see your mercy. Before we see you, Lord, before
we physically see you in the flesh, let us see your mercy. Let us bow. Thank God, 1 Thessalonians
4, we just read it for the scripture reading. It said he's coming
back in triumph and victory. The trumpets are gonna resound.
All of heaven's coming with Him. He's going to gather everything
that is His to Himself, His elect, His redeemed people, and He's
going to take them all away from this earth before that vengeance
falls. Mark 8, verse 38 says, He is
coming back in glory. He's coming back in glory, the
very glory of God the Father. And I love the thought of that.
I just love the thought of that. When He came the first time,
He came as a tender plant. That's how He came the first
time, a tender plant, a root out of dry ground. There was
no form or beauty that anyone would desire Him. He came meek. He came lowly. He came unnoticed. Unrecognized. Not this time. Not this time. There is not an eye on earth
that has ever been on this earth that when they see him will say,
who is that? There's not an eye on this earth. When He comes back this time,
He is coming in power and great glory. And I don't know what
that means, but I know it's going to be powerful and glorious. It's going to be so glorious.
Every eye is going to see Him. Every eye is going to know exactly
who He is. And every knee at that point
is going to bow. to His sovereign kingship, lordship
over all of creation. Every soul who does not believe
on Him is going to be punished with everlasting destruction.
I mention that because that's a reality that's coming. That's
a reality that's coming. But every soul who has been caused,
lovingly caused to believe on Him is going to be received up
to glory with Him. Look with me at 2 Peter 3. 2
Peter 3 verse 1 it says, This second epistle, beloved,
I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds
by way of remembrance. He said, I'm saying this just
to remind you of these things. That you may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the
commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers
walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise
of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of. that by the word of God the
heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and
in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed
with water perished. But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. Since Adam, we have
finished 6,000 years, six days. We're in the seventh day right
now. A day's as a thousand years.
We're in the seventh day right now. What did our Lord do on
the seventh day? He ended all of his work and
rested. He said, that's it. That's the
end. And he rested. Verse 8, Beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord, is a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to the whole world? No, His elect, the usward, the
ones Peter said he was writing the letter to. the usward, not
willing that any of the usward should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, We, now that's
talking about what's gonna happen to this world and every unbelieving
soul in this world. Verse 13, nevertheless, we, according
to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. That's all that will be there,
righteousness. And it's because Christ is there,
who is our righteousness. No sin of any kind will be found. It's not there. It's not there. It never will be. This day right
here is coming. This is coming. I know that in
life we have a lot of fairy tales. I understand that. This is not
one of them. This is not one of them. This
day is coming. He is coming to make everything brand new. He said he's gonna make new heavens.
New heavens, new planets and new stars and galaxies and a
brand new earth. One where, he said in another
place, lions and lambs eat side by side with each other. Looking
forward to seeing that. No thorns, no briars. None. No sorrow, no pain, no tiredness,
no weakness, no sickness. It's only love, peace, safety,
unity, all in Christ. Everything there has been conformed
to the image of Christ. Let me see what I got left here.
I'll just tell you that Romans 8 says the whole creation right
now is groaning, waiting. Let me, let me just hang with
me here. It says, I like the wording of this, Romans 8, this
is, This is beginning in verse 18. He said, I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us for the earnest expectation
of the creation. That's what creature means. The
creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Creation
is waiting for this moment. When the Lord descends and all
of God's people see Him in the twinkling of an eye, we're all
changed. We don't know what we shall be,
but we know that when He appears, we're going to be just like Him.
And all of creation is waiting for this moment. It says, verse
20, creation was made subject to vanity, not willing, but by
reason of Him who subjected the same in hope. Because the creation
itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
into the glorious liberty of the children of God. God's people
are going to be delivered from sin and all of creation is going
to be delivered from sin. You see all these animals out
there? Their nature is the result of sin. And everything that is
is going to be delivered. Verse 22 that says, The whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together, Verse 23, the
end of it says, waiting for the redemption of our body. Everything is waiting for this
moment. And when that moment happens, we and creation and
everything will cry, oh, give thanks to the Lord. For he is
good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of
the Lord say so. Whom he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy, which is us, we're the enemy. Our sin, our
death, our hell, He has delivered us from all of it. Our Lord is
coming back to us, for us, to deliver us. To finally, ultimately
deliver us from all of this. And in His own words, He said
He is coming quickly. He said He's coming quickly.
I'll close here, go to Revelation 22. Revelation 22 verse 7, He said,
Behold, I come quickly. Verse 12, Behold, I come quickly. Verse 17, the spirit and the
bride are saying, come. Let him that heareth say, come,
come. Verse 20, he which testifieth
these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Amen. Let's all stand together.