Good morning again. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write,
for these words are true. and faithful. It's the truth. The truth. This world is not our home. Abraham
looked for a city which had foundations whose maker and builder was God.
And so the child of God anticipates his new home, seeing Christ in
all of his glory. Will you stand with me, Tom's
gonna come and lead us in number 485, revive us again, 485. We praise thee, O God, for the
Son of thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. ? We praise thee, O God, for
thy Spirit of light ? ? Who has shown us our Savior and scattered
our night ? ? Hallelujah, thine the glory, hallelujah, amen ?
? Hallelujah, thine the glory, revive us again ? All glory and
praise to the Lamb that was slain, who has borne all our sins and
has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. Please be seated. Good morning. Our scripture this
morning is going to be located in Colossians chapter 2. And we're going to
begin in verse 8. Colossians chapter 2. We're going
to read verse 8 through the end of the chapter. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in
him dwelleth all fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
completing him which is the head of all principality and power. And this is gonna be talking
about our union with Christ in whom also ye are circumcised
with their circumcision made with our hands in putting off
the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Bury with him in baptism wherein Also ye are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
the dead. And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have he quickened together
with him. having forgiven all your trespasses,
plotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to the cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a slew of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat or drink, or respect to any holiday, or of new moon
or Sabbath days, which are a shadow to come. But the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in voluntary humility
and worshiping of angels, intruding in those things which he hath
not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding
to the head, which from all the body joints and bands, having
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the
increase of God. Wherefore ye be dead with Christ
from the rudiments of the world, while as through the living world,
and are subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle
not, which are all to perish with the using after the commandments
and doctrines of men, which things have indeed showed of wisdom
and will worship. and humility in neglecting the
body, not in any honor to satisfying of the flesh. Father God, we come before you
by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, by his works. We come
before you giving you thanks for your many blessings that
you provide to us, which are all in Christ. We thank you that
we are able to come here and get together and worship Father
and sing. We ask that you accept all this
worship in Christ, that you might wash it with His blood, Father,
and that you might send your Holy Spirit this morning, as
we are in great need of it, in order to see more of Christ,
to see more of His glory. We ask that Pastor Greg be filled
with the Holy Spirit and preach Christ clearly, correctly, and
giving honor to him as he's due, Father. In Jesus' name, we pray
these things also for all the other churches that preach the
gospel. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. We're going to stand together
again, sing the hymn on the back of your bulletin. The hymn on
the back of your bulletin. Approach, my soul, the mercy
seat, where God will hear our prayer. There humbly fall before
his feet, for none can perish there. Thy promise is my only
plea. With this I venture nigh. Thou callest burdened souls to
thee. And such, O Lord, am I. O wondrous love to bleed and
die To bear the cross and shame That guilty sinners such as I
Might plead thy grace The hearing ear, the seeing eye,
the contrite heart bestow, and bless us with thy precious word,
that we in grace may grow. Please be seated. Adam Charon
and Rachel Clark are now going to bring special music. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me, as thou didst break the loaves
beside the sea. Throughout the sacred page, I
seek thee, Lord. Hands for Thee, O Living Word. Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord,
to me, to me. As Thou didst bless the bread
by Galilee, Then shall all bondage cease,
all fetters fall, and I shall find my peace, my all in all. Thou art the bread of life, O
Lord, to me. Thy holy word, the truth that
saveth me. Give me to eat and live with
thee above. Teach me to love thy truth, for
thou art love. O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now
unto me, that He may touch my eyes and make me see. Show me the truth concealed within
Thy Word. And in thy book revealed I see
the Lord. And in thy book revealed I see
the Lord. That was good. Thank you, Rachel.
Thank you, Adam. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me to the first chapter of Acts. Acts chapter one. By way of introduction, I want
to read. Three verses. Four verses from Colossians chapter
three. If you then be risen with Christ. If you are in Christ, if you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're resting all the hope
of your salvation in his glorious person and in his accomplished
work, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things
above, not on things of the earth. We need to be reminded that,
don't we? Our affections get so Get so drawn away from Christ
to the things of this earth. For you are dead. Dead to what? Dead to this world.
And your life is hid in Christ. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Now this life is filled with
hopeful anticipations. Young children anticipate their
next birthday or some special event. Young adults may anticipate
getting married. Married adults might anticipate
an empty nest. Older adults might anticipate
retirement and those things are fine. There's, you know, there's
just anticipations in this world. And when each of those things
come and go, they never are as satisfying as we anticipated
them to be, are they? They're always disappointing.
There is one future event. that the child of God has a hopeful
anticipation for. An event that will exceed all
our expectations. For truly, eye has not seen,
nor has ear heard, nor has it even entered into the imagination
of man the things that he has prepared for us. Don't think
of heaven as an improved version of earth. It's not that at all. It's not that at all. The scripture
says, behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the
world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved, beloved,
I'm speaking to God's people right now. Beloved, we are the
children of God and it doth not appear what we shall be. But
we know that when he shall appear, when he shall appear, we shall
be like him for we shall see him as he is. And the child of God says, come
Lord Jesus, even now come. As I mentioned in the previous
hour, I grew up being reminded every time I went to church of
the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I wasn't a casual
Catholic. I went to Catholic schools, was
an altar boy, said the mass in Latin, was there, went to mass
every day. That was part of our school. We had to go through mass before
we went to class. Maybe I missed it, I don't know.
But I remember at the age of 20 years old, the very first
time I ever heard of anything about the second coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I never heard of it. And my first impression was,
that's glorious. You mean he's coming again? There was a so much misunderstanding
back then as to what the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
was all about. But I want you to see from our
text this morning. What God says about the second
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because that is the believers
hopeful anticipation that will not disappoint. Will not disappoint. Child of God, set your affections
on things above. Long for the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I know sometimes in my experience,
sometimes I want the Lord to come just to deliver me from
my circumstances. You know, things get so difficult
in this world. You just want, you know, come
Lord and take me away. And then other times when things
are going well, the Lord gives you that joy of anticipating
his presence and being made like him. That's the that's the hope
that I have for us. We won't just be hoping for his
coming so we could be delivered from our circumstances but that
we would be hoping for his coming that we might be delivered from
this sin and be see him as he is and be made like him. In Acts chapter one The Lord told the disciples,
you go back to Jerusalem and the Holy Ghost will come upon
you and you shall be my witnesses. You remember they wanted to know,
is it time now for you to establish your kingdom? They were still
confused about what the kingdom of God was. They thought it was
some sort of earthly kingdom. It's a spiritual kingdom and
it requires faith and spiritual sight to see this kingdom. You're not going to experience
it in flesh. We've got to have the Spirit
of God. He said, you go back in Israel, the Holy Spirit will
come upon you and you're gonna be my witnesses. You're gonna
testify to the things that you have seen and the things that
you have heard in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and unto
the uttermost parts of the world. And in verse nine says, and when
he had spoken these things. I mean, that's the last thing
he said. And while he was yet speaking, they're standing there
looking at him and all of a sudden, His resurrected body defies gravity and begins to rise into the clouds. Can you imagine? I mean they're
looking and wondering what's going on. And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by him,
by them in white apparel. The Lord sent two messengers,
angels. That's what the, that's what
the messengers of God are called on to do too. The angels of God
are called on to testify, to witness, to give evidence of
what the Lord is doing. And also said, they spoke, ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into heaven? And by now his body had disappeared
into the clouds and they're still gazing up into heaven. I suppose
they were expecting him to come right back. 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. The same Jesus, the one you've
just lost sight of, the one that's been caught up into heaven, the
one that has taken his rightful place at the right hand of the
majesty on high, the one who's gone to present himself before
the Father for all your righteousness, this same Jesus, he's coming
again. He's coming again in like manner. Now, I'm not going to
try to describe what that like manner is going to be. I don't
know what it's going to be like. I know every eye will see him
and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory
of God the Father when he comes. It's not going to be a staged
event. It's not going to be as we have
been taught in religion that, well, this is going to happen,
that's going to happen. No, it's going to be a cataclysmic event. It's all going to happen at one
time. Christ is going to come. The trump of God will sound.
The dead in Christ will be raised. Those of us which are alive be
caught up together with him in the air and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. And God is going to send a fire
of wrath and judgment to this world. That's what the scripture
teaches about the second coming of Christ. You say, when is that going to
happen? I don't know. Hope it happens before we leave this
building. Maybe it'll happen tomorrow.
I don't know. The Lord has given us, those
are the secret things that belong to the Lord our God. We're not
to delve into those things. But the Lord has revealed the
truth about his second coming in such a way as to give every
generation of believers reason to anticipate that it's going
to be in their lifetime and no generation of believers have
had more reason to anticipate that it'll be in our life than
us. None. There are some similarities between
the first and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
that they are both promised by God. And we worship a God who
cannot lie, and faith is believing that God is faithful to all his
promises. God promised the first coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, behold, a virgin shall be with child,
And a child was given, and a son was given, and a child was born.
And his name shall be called Wonderful, a Counselor, Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The Lord
Jesus Christ is promised all throughout the Old Testament
of his coming. Abraham rejoiced to see his day. Abraham believed that God was
going to send... It all began back there in the
garden, didn't it? When the Lord told Adam and Eve, He said, the
seed of the woman, and that seed is singular, and it is a reference
to Christ Jesus the Lord, shall crush the head of the serpent.
And he did that on Calvary's cross. He satisfied all the judgment
of God when he gave his life to the father on Calvary's cross. When he shed his precious blood,
that promise was fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ came made
of a woman made under the law to redeem them who were cursed
by the law of God. The last of the Old Testament
prophecies found in Malachi chapter 3. Behold, I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And we know that Elijah was John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus
Christ came in fulfillment of the promise of God. Right there
at the end and now and now we have another promise from God.
this same Jesus which is taken up from you shall in like manner
come again. And the last verse of the word
of God The Lord says, surely I come quickly, quickly. As I said, well, it's been 2000
years. Well, I remind you that a thousand years to the Lord
is a day and a day is a thousand years. It's only been two days
since the Lord left. Turn to me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter four. 1 Thessalonians chapter four. I want us to leave here this
morning. With a hopeful anticipation. Of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and I want us to be. I want us to have comfort and
hope that when he comes. That when he comes, we're ready.
We're ready. 1st Thessalonians chapter 4.
Look with me in verse 13 and I would not have you ignorant
brethren. I was ignorant. I was religious.
I knew about his death. I didn't know what it meant.
I knew that it happened. I knew about his resurrection.
I knew nothing about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope. all that we can live leave here this morning with a hopeful
anticipation not only in his return but in our preparation
for his return for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again
even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them
the believers now several years later Knowing that the Lord had
promised those disciples on the Mount of Olives that he was going
to come again, figured that he would come before anybody died.
But now some of the believers are starting to die and they're
wondering, well, what's happened to them? What's happened to them? For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and
with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and
the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore, comfort ye one another with these words. Are
those words comforting to you? And the scripture speaks of our,
of spiritual things in time and in eternity. You say, well, does
that mean that all the believers that have died in the last 2000
years are somehow in some sort of a, of a, of a, of a spiritual
sleep and they're waiting for the, well, from our perspective,
yeah, the resurrection of not yet come in time, but in eternity
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
They're already there in eternity. The Lord's speaking to us in
terms of our understanding of time, time. Time shall be no
more. Time is a, well, in a sense,
it's a figment of our imagination. It really is. The truth and reality
of everything is in eternity. It's in eternity. The first coming of the Lord
and the second coming of the Lord are promised by God. Child of God, you can rest your
immortal soul on the promises of God because he is going to
be faithful to his promises. And just as he was faithful to
come according to his word, In Daniel, Daniel prophesies by
the Spirit of God to the exact year that the Lord Jesus Christ
will come upon the earth. And the Jews didn't believe it. That's why the wise men came
from the east. Those were disciples of Daniel. Those men of Babylon believed
the prophecy of God more than the people in Israel believed
the prophecy of God. They knew that that 70 years
had been accomplished and that the coming of the Christ, it
was time for him. Believe God's promises. The second
similarity between the first and second coming of Christ is
that it is a personal appearance of the son of God. Like I said,
I, I don't know how I know this. I know what I used to believe
is not true in terms of the Lord snatching away his church in
the rapture. and then leaving the rest of
the people here for a period of time and there's a great tribulation
and in that tribulation that if you suffer persecution for
Jesus and you're able to remain faithful to that persecution,
even unto death, that that'll be your salvation. That's nothing
but Baptist purgatory. That's what that is. I grew up
believing in purgatory. You know, you die and you go
to purgatory and you stay there in a hot room for a while until
you've paid your dues and then you go to heaven. That old thing
about the rapture and the tribulation and the next coming of Christ,
that's just purgatory is all. It's not true. It's not true. When the Lord comes, it's going
to be over just as quick as he comes. And in like manner, as
you saw this man go, he's coming again. And the whole world's
going to see him, and he's going to accomplish his purpose just
like that. What a glorious day that'll be.
It's called a great and terrible day of the Lord. Great for God's
people and terrible for the world. The similarity between the first
and second coming of Christ is that it is a personal appearance
of the second person of the triune Godhead, the creator and sustainer
of all of life, the sovereign one, the self-existent one, the
uncreated one, the eternal one, the omnipotent God, the holy
son of God himself, just like he came the first time, is coming
the second time. He's not changed. He said, I'm
the same, the same. He's not coming in as a different
person, same person that came the first time coming the second
time. In the first appearance, the
word was made flesh and he dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory
as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and full
of truth. And it is the word of God that
is coming again. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem
them who were cursed by God's law. There he came the first
time, he comes a second time. When Paul speaks in Romans chapter
one of the gospel of God, he says, it is concerning Jesus
Christ, which was made the seed of David according to the flesh. And when Simeon, you remember
when Mary and Joseph brought the Lord to the temple at eight
days, that was the tradition, that was the law, circumcised
the eighth day, and Simeon saw him. And Simeon saw, Simeon said,
oh, the consolation of Israel, this is the promise. This is
the fulfillment of all that I've been hoping for. I'm ready to
die now. Lord, you can take me home. I know he's come. I know
he's come. Paul said in 1st Timothy chapter
3 verse 16, without controversy, without controversy, God was
manifested in the flesh. There's no controversy about
this. That's why we don't debate the gospel. We don't, we declare
the gospel. We just, you know, let the world
debate it all they want. Let them contradict it all they
want. We know it's true. It's without
controversy. God Almighty was manifested in
the flesh. Do I understand that? No. How
could God be confined to a body? I don't know, but he was. He
was. Hebrews 2, verse 14 says, for
as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took on the same. That, why was God manifested
in the flesh? That through death he might destroy
him that had the power over death, that is the devil. God had to
be made flesh in order to die. And his death was necessary to
destroy the works of the devil. When the spirit of God comes
he will convict the world of sin because they believe not
on me, of righteousness because they go to my father, and of
judgment because the prince of this world has been judged. He's
been judged. Judgment was executed on Calvary's
cross. That's why he came to destroy
the works of the devil and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lives held in bondage. The natural man doesn't
fear death. The child of God has an understanding
of what's involved in death and the Lord is the only one that
can deliver them from that bondage. And that's exactly what he does. He's called Emmanuel. God with us. He is himself the
fullness of the Godhead bodily and now we have in the Word of
God this same Jesus which was taken up from you into heaven
shall so in like manner come again. In Mark chapter 15, the chief
priests, the scripture says, were mocking the Lord on the
cross when they said, he saved others, himself he cannot save.
If you be the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the
cross that we might believe. Descend. The Lord couldn't come
off that cross. Not, not if he was going to accomplish
his father's will, which is the saving of his people. But then
listen to that passage again that we read in first Thessalonians
chapter four, chapter four, verse 16, for the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with the shout of the archangel and with
the Trump of God. Oh, he's going to come. He's
going to descend, and all men will know who he is. You remember
when Peter said, the Lord said, you're all going to deny me?
And Peter said, they might, but not me. You can count on me. I'll be right there at your side.
I'll die for you. What did the Lord say? Oh, Peter,
before the cock crows in the morning, you're going to deny
me thrice, three times. And there's a chapter division
in the scriptures between that verse and the next verse. But
remind you that those chapter divisions were put there by the
translators. They're not part of the text,
not the chapter, just so we can find the verses. That's what
the chapter divisions are for, so we can identify the verses.
Because the very next verse says, let not your heart be troubled. Peter, you're going to deny me.
How many times have you denied Christ? Let not your heart be
troubled, for I go and prepare a place
for you. If it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare
a place. What did he do to prepare that
place? He went to the cross. He ascended back into glory.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself so that where I am there, you may be
also. Brethren, the Lord Jesus Christ
is coming again. The same Jesus, which is ascended
into glory and seated at the right hand of God is coming again. Believe it. Believe it. There's another similarity between
his first coming and his second coming, and that is that his
first coming was unexpected, and so will be his second. Mary and Joseph were given special
revelation as to who this thing in her womb was, this holy thing.
It's what scripture calls the Lord Jesus Christ in the womb
of Mary, this holy thing in you. How else could they describe
him? This is God in the womb of a
woman that he created. Joseph and Mary knew who he was. Elizabeth
and Zachariah knew who he was. They were given special revelation. Anna and Simeon, you remember
when they took the Lord to the, they knew who he was. There was
a few humble shepherds out in the field that heard the voice
of the angels and were given special revelation. The wise
men that came from the east that I made reference to earlier,
they knew who he was because of the revelation that had been
given through the prophet Daniel and because of the light of the
star. which is just a picture of God's Word. We have the light
of the star too. We're not looking for a star
in heaven. We've got the light of the gospel given through the
revelation of scripture. The rest of the world had no
idea. The rest of the world is illustrated by that inn in which
there was no room for him that night. That's the whole world. Nobody expected the Son of God my creator, the one who gives
me my next breath, the only one that can save me from my sin,
that's who that is. They went about their lives. And the scripture says, as it
was in the day of Noah, so shall it be in the day of the coming
of the Son of Man. In his next coming, it will be
just as unexpected as it was in his first coming. The scripture says they were
Eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, that
doesn't mean they were living some sort of debauchery life
of excess and shame. No, it just means they were going
about their lives, doing their thing, investing their time and
their energy in the things of this world. Set your affection, child of
God, on things above, not on the things of the earth. This
world's not our home. The Lord's coming and no one's
going to be expecting him. When the eastern sky splits and
the trump of God sounds, no one will be expecting him. He's going
to come as a thief in the night. If you knew a thief was coming
at 2 o'clock in the morning, you'd be up with a gun loaded,
wouldn't you? But the world's going to be sleeping
when he comes. Don't be asleep. He is coming. God's people are going to be
awake, watching and waiting. And the other similarity between
His first coming and His second coming is that in both times
the Lord comes from heaven. You see that? He caught up into
heaven. The same Jesus that you're gazing
at, men of Galilee, is coming in like manner. He's going to
come from heaven. James tells us that every good
and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. He's not talking about that.
I'm thankful for the gifts that God gives us in this world, the
things that sustain us in this life, and the things that we
can enjoy and make us happy, but that's not the perfect gift. Every good gift, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the good gift. Why callest thou me good? There's
none good but God. How cause my goodness to pass
before me? Paul said, In me, that is in
my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. He's the good gift. He's the
perfect gift. Came down from our Father of
lights, with whom there is no variableness. In other words,
he doesn't change his mind, nor shadow of turning. He's not having
second thoughts about it. You say, well, if he looked at
me, he'd have second thoughts. No, he won't. Not if you're one
of his. He's got nothing but affection
and compassion and hope and truth and love for you. Isaiah said, oh, that thou would
rend the heavens, that thou would come down, that the mountains
might flow down at thy presence. Both times, the Lord's coming
down from heaven. And that which is perfect and
that which is good comes from our heavenly Father in heaven.
Turn to me to Genesis chapter 28. Genesis chapter 28. Jacob has deceived his brother
Esau. Esau has sold his birthright. Jacob, under the instruction
of his mother, has fled town. He's running for his life because
she knew Esau was going to try to get revenge. And so on his
way, Jacob stops at a place that he calls Bethel, the house of
God. And notice what it says in Genesis
chapter 28, beginning at verse 11. And he lied upon a certain
place and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And
he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows
and laid down a place to sleep. Now I think I would have found
a log or a bunch of grass or something to use as a pillow,
but a stone? Yep, a stone. What's that? These are pictures of Christ.
What is that stone? He's the rock of ages. He's the
rock from which flowed the rivers of life. He's the cornerstone
of the church and he's the one that we rest our heads on and
sleep. We have rest in him, he's our
Sabbath. And he dreamed and beheld a ladder
set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold
the angels of God ascending and descending on it and behold the
Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham,
thy father and the God of Isaac, the land wherein thou liest.
To thee will I give it and to thy seed. And thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad
to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.
And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth
be blessed." Again, that seed is Christ. This is a spiritual
picture. There's a ladder now. Christ
is that ladder and the angels are ascending and descending
from heaven to earth on the ladder. And behold, I am with thee, verse
15, and will keep thee in all places with thou goest, and will
bring thee again into this land, and I will not leave thee until
I have done that which I have spoken of to thee." And we're not talking about that
land over there in the Middle East, we're talking about heaven.
And the Lord is speaking to me and you. He's saying, rest your
head on this rock, for there's a ladder that goes, you can't
climb that ladder. You see, that's what religion's
all about. Man trying to get to heaven by his works, isn't
he? He's trying to climb the ladder into heaven. The Lord said, the angels are
going to ascend and descend upon this ladder. The blessings of
God, that good and perfect gift from God is gonna come down from
heaven to the earth. You remember when Philip went
to tell his brother Nathanael that he had found the Christ,
and Nathanael said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And
Philip said, come and see. And Philip came, or Nathanael
came, And the Lord looked at Nathanael and said, an Israelite
indeed, with whom there is no guile. Now Nathanael was a sinner. What was the Lord saying? You're
one of mine. You're one of mine. And in my righteousness, you
have no guile. And you are an Israelite. You're
a child of God indeed. And Nathanael said, how do you
know me? And what did the Lord say to
Nathanael? While you were under the fig
tree, I saw thee. What do you reckon Nathanael
was doing under that fig tree? He's doing what you and I are
doing right now. Lord, make yourself known to
me. Make yourself known to me. Set my heart on thee. Lord, I
get so caught up in the things of this world. I know you're
coming. You've told me. I believe you. I want to be ready. You know, I anticipate so many
things in this world and they're all disappointing. I want that
one thing that cannot disappoint, that thing that's sure. Reveal
yourself to me. And when the Lord told him, I
saw you under the fig tree, Nathaniel knew. For he rejoiced and said,
surely thou art the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ. And
what did the Lord say to Nathanael? You believe me because I saw
you under the fig tree? You just wait for you're going
to see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
God. The Lord was referring back to
that ladder. The blessings of God, Nathanael,
you haven't seen anything yet. You wait and see what God's going
to do and what God's going to speak. And when the Lord ascended
back from the Mount of Olives, Nathaniel knew that same Jesus
was caught up to you in the clouds. He's coming again in like manner. Oh, there's so much to be said
about the coming of Christ and there's so much scripture. Let
me just say this, there's some differences in his first and
second coming. In his first coming, he came
to pay the price for sin, to lay down his life, to shed his
precious blood as a covering for the sins of all of God's
people. In his second coming, he's coming to gather together
his reward, his church. In his first coming, The Son of Man came to seek and
to save that which was lost. He said, I did not come to condemn
the world, I came to save the world. In his second coming,
he's coming to bring condemnation and judgment, gather his sheep
and rain on the world the vengeance of God. Scripture says what God opens
no man can shut. And in the first coming he came
in order to open the door to heaven. In his second coming
he's going to shut that door. The ark, door, the scripture
says God closed it. And it was closed. It was closed. Flood came. Nothing else. The first time he came as a poor,
weak, Child, infant, the second time
he's coming as a reigning sovereign, the infinite, the infinite son
of God. In the first time he came, he
came in obscurity. Nobody saw his coming. Nobody
believed in his coming. He lived the next 30 years in
obscurity. Nobody knew the son of God was
right there in Nazareth. But in his second coming, every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Everybody's going
to know who it is. In the first coming, he came
as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, suffering the contradiction
of sinners and suffering for his people. In his second coming,
he's coming as the God of glory, riding on a white horse and wielding
his sword, gathering together his people. In his first coming, he came
in poverty. In his second coming, he's coming
in power. He came as a lamb, which opened not his mouth. He
had no defense because he bore the sins of his people and stood
before God as guilty in his second coming. He's going to cry with
the shout of the archangel and that's him himself. That's his
voice. He is the archangel. And the Trump of God will sound
and the dead in Christ to be raised. In the first coming,
he came, suffered, and died alone. And all of his familiar friends
left him. In his second coming, all of
his children are going to be caught up together with him in
the air. What a day that'll be. In the first coming, they cried,
crucify him, crucify him. And in the second coming, his
enemies will cry for the rocks and the hills to fall upon him
and to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. His first coming, he came to
save the lost sheep, and his second coming, he's coming to
separate the sheep from the goats. He offered up himself to God
as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice in his first coming.
In his second coming, he's going to execute divine justice on
all unbelievers. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns,
all the things in this world that men value so much will have
no value in that day. No value. The things that we
consider to be so important will be of no importance whatsoever. All the self-righteous that look
for the hope of their salvation in their works will discover
those works to be nothing but stinking, filthy rags. All the decisions that men had
made in the world to let Jesus into their hearts, they will
discover in that moment of truth that they've been worshiping
the wrong Jesus. Many, many, not all, but many,
who are hoping to hear him say, well done, good and faithful
servant, because of their faithfulness, not because of Christ, will hear
him say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never
knew you. Many who think they know the
truth will discover that they've believed the lie. Many who think they've been progressing
in sanctification and getting better and better in seeing true
holiness will be left speechless to defend themselves before God. But brethren. Here's our hope. Everyone who is looking in faith. To Christ Jesus alone, the one
that ascended back into glory. Looking to him for all their
righteousness before God. He's coming to take them with
him. And to be made like him. The Lord said, come ye blessed
of my father and received the inheritance prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. You believe that the only hope
that you have when Christ returns is in that covenant of grace
established before time didn't have anything to do with you.
You didn't make any contribution to it. Jesus Christ the Lord
is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. In closing, turn to me to 2 Peter
3. 2 Peter 3. Oh yes, child of God, the Lord is coming. He is
coming. Behold this book. This book of God, this word from
God concludes with, behold, I come quickly. And what's John say?
Come, Lord Jesus, even now come. Come. What's the world say? You have your Bibles open in
2 Peter chapter 3. Verse 3, knowing this first, that there shall
come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lust
and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all continue as they were from the beginning
of creation, nothing's changed. For this, they willingly are
ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old
and the earth standeth out of water and in 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. Those who know not God, those
who have not Christ. But beloved, oh, aren't you thankful? This is not a message of doom
and gloom. This is not an end of the world
message. You know, isn't it gonna be horrible? No, this is a great message of
hope for the child of God. 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 a day. It's just been two days
since the Lord went up into heaven. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. Now, whoever God's not willing
should perish is not going to perish. Don't say, well, God
doesn't want anybody to go to hell. If He didn't want anybody
to go to hell, nobody would go to hell. God's will is going
to be done. 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
fervent heat and the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. All that we invest so much time
and energy in, the Lord says just gonna get burned up. Seeing them, seeing them. that all these things shall be
dissolved. What manner of persons ought
you to be in holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hastening 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, according to his promise, Not
according to your works, not according to your will, it is
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but according
to his promise. There's my faith. Our faith is
in the promise of God. Our faith is believing God. Look for a new heaven and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. That's what we look for, isn't
it? No sin. Nevertheless, we, I'm sorry,
verse 14, wherefore beloved seeing that you look for such things,
be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot
or blemish. How am I going to be without
spot and blemish? Only if I'm found in Christ, not having my
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness,
which is by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm
looking to Christ alone for all my hope. Blameless. That's who he's coming
for. He's coming for all those who
are blameless. Those who are without spot, those
who are without blemish, those who are found in Christ. The same Jesus. Men of Galilee,
why stand you gazing up here into heaven? This same Jesus,
same one, which you see being caught up into heaven is coming
again in like manner. Our Heavenly Father. Oh Lord,
we need you to speak. To our hearts. In a way that the voice of a
man cannot speak. We ask that you would do it.
For Christ's sake. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. 103, let's stand together, number
103. One day when heaven was filled
with his praises, one day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, my
example is he. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Married, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, a glorious
day. One day they led Him up Calvary's
mountain, One day they nailed Him to die on the tree. Suffering, anguish, despised
and rejected, Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day they left him alone in
the garden. One day he rested from suffering
free. Angels came down o'er his tomb
to keep vigil. Hope of the hopeless, my Savior
is He. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day the grave could conceal
him no longer. One day the stone rolled away
from the door. Then he arose, over death he
had conquered. Now is ascended, my Lord evermore. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day the trumpet will sound
for His coming. One day the skies with His glory
will shine. Wonderful day His beloved ones
bringing. Glorious Savior, this Jesus is
mine. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, a glorious
day.