It's nice to be gathered here
together. It's nice to be able to come to the Lord's Word and
read of precious things, read of eternal things, read of the
most important things in all of life, in all of creation. We began our studies in Acts
a few weeks ago and I'd like to read the first 11 verses again
for us. This is the word of the Lord. He opens by talking about the
Gospel of Luke. He's writing to Theophilus, who
means lover of God, or loved of God. In the former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and
to teach, until the day in which he was taken up after that he,
through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen. to whom he showed himself alive
after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty
days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that
they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, you have heard of me. For John truly
baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy
Ghost not many days hence. When therefore they were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them,
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the
Father has put in his own power, but you shall receive power.
After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and you shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and
unto the uttermost parts of the earth. 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 them
in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
from you to heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have
seen him go into heaven.' Then they returned unto Jerusalem
from the Mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath
day's journey." What a remarkable time. What
a remarkable time in human history it was. What a remarkable time
for us to have these faithful witnesses remind us of who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. As we've seen in this last little
while, the Lord Jesus is doing the things now that He did then. He's continued to do as he began
in Acts. And what does he do? The things
that he does, he shows himself alive. He shows himself alive
to his people. And when he shows himself alive,
he speaks of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. He speaks
of God's kingdom, God's dominion, God's rule over all things. God's sovereign hand, God's King,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse 4 we see what He
does. When He shows Himself alive,
when He speaks of the Kingdom of God, He is assembled together
with them. And in assembling together with
them, He commands them and He promises. He promises them that
the Holy Spirit would come upon them and that they would be witnesses,
witnesses unto Him. They'll be witnesses when they
have received power, they'll be witnesses to all of this world. It is remarkable, isn't it? Here
we are, a little gathering of people that the whole world could
ignore. All of Shoalhaven could ignore,
all of Nowra could ignore, all of central Nowra could ignore. But we are here to speak of Him
who rules this universe. And today I'd like, if the Lord
allows, to speak to you from those words of the angels, this
same Jesus. There is in this world, as promised
by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself over and over again, there are
a multitude of Jesuses out there. Hundreds and thousands have been
invented. The mind of depraved man outside
of the grace of God is an idol factory. It's continually making
idols. Our task, if the Lord would allow
us, is to speak of this same Jesus, to bear witness to this
same Jesus. And I can't do it to you. I can speak at Him, but it's
when people receive power from on high, the Jesus who's revealed
in the books of the scriptures, the Jesus who's revealed in this
history that's laid out before us, the Jesus who's revealed,
faithfully revealed by these witnesses to us, He has to be
revealed personally. of your eternal soul, something
about which you should be intensely selfish and intensely self-centred. You must, you must have him,
you must know him, you must look to him and you must do it personally. You must do it spiritually, you
must, to be saved. This is eternal life, says our
Lord Jesus Christ in John 17, verse 1, a verse I quote regularly
to you. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent. This is eternal life. To know
Him. What a privilege it is. What
a privilege it is for us to have the Gospel. We might be ignored
by the world. But if He does as He's promised
here in Acts, assembles together with us, shows Himself alive,
and speaks to the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Gospel. Let's ask the
Lord to help us and to guide us. Our Heavenly Father, we do
pray that as we speak the words of your apostles this morning,
the words inspired by the Holy Spirit, that you would cause
life, spiritual eternal life, to be found and to be seen in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, our Father, we pray that
you would bless us with your presence as you have promised,
that you would speak to the hearts the souls of eternity-bound sinners. You would speak to them by a
power which is not of this earth at all. We long, Heavenly Father,
to see your Son high and lifted up. We acknowledge the weakness
and the frailty of our flesh and the constant enmity of this
flesh against the things of the Lord. And we pray in this quietness
that we have, in this brief time in busy lives, that you might
come and minister to the hearts of your people and bring them
a comfort from heaven, that we might know This same Jesus. We pray, Heavenly Father, for
Your blessing to attend Your Word into the hearts and souls
of Your people. For we pray for the glory of
Your Son. Amen. This same Jesus. It is remarkable in His resurrection
appearances. This same Jesus both appeared
at times to be God and that at times appeared to be man. He both was man, wasn't he? He was man. He said to Thomas,
you put your finger in here, you put your hand in my side,
you touch and see. In fact, the apostle John in
1 John speaks of those events, doesn't he? He says, that which
was from the beginning, the Lord Jesus Christ is God from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon. Our hands have handled the word
of life, for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear
witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship
with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. These things we write unto you,
that your joy may be full." What a glorious, glorious request,
isn't it? this same Jesus that can be touched
and handled, this same Jesus that we bear witness to. He was,
in His resurrection appearances, quite remarkable in so many ways,
wasn't He? He could eat, and He could drink,
and He could talk, and He could sit at a table, and He could
break bread. He could also appear in that
form, through a locked door. He could appear and disappear. He could come to his own. He
could come at times of their greatest need. He could come
and teach. He can sit by the lake at Galilee,
and there on a fire of his own making, with a fish of his own
creation, he can have breakfast ready for his apostles. He can speak, and a net can be
full of fish. He is, in His resurrection appearances,
revealing again and again to His own. And I remind you that
not once in the Scriptures does He ever appear to the unbelievers. Not once. There is never a resurrection
appearance, nor will there ever be, to unbelievers. Until this great event that the
angels speak of here, this same Jesus which is taken up from
you into heaven shall come in like manner as you have seen
him go into heaven. He is, in his resurrected life,
he's able to bring to the hearts and lives of his apostles and
his disciples and those he loved, he's able to bring those remarkable
communicable attributes of God. He loved his own in the world
and he loved them to the end. I love how he spoke to Mary.
What a remarkable meeting that must have been on that resurrection
morning. She came to that tomb weeping
and in anguish, and the anguish had been exacerbated by the days,
the days of heartache, the days of heartache as she saw her beloved
saviour hung on that tree, mocked by men, covered in his own blood
and the excrement of men, desperate, desperate, knowing that even
in his burial he wasn't honoured as she would have liked. And
then he comes to her, doesn't he? He says, Woman, why do you
weep? Why are you weeping? As if he
didn't know why she was weeping. Whom seekest thou? And Jesus said to her, Mary. When he comes to his own, he
speaks personally to them. He comes to a place of their
greatest need and he communicates his love. And I love what he
says. He says to her, touch me not,
for I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren
and say unto them, I ascend unto my father. And what else does
he say? I ascend to my father and your
father, to my God and your God." The unity, the oneness of him
with his people means that his God is the God of all of his
own. He loved his own. He loved them
to the end. He was touched with a feeling
of our infirmities. and He's now able to come to
us in the depths of our infernities and our temptations and He is
able to care for us. You cast all your cares upon
Him because He careth for you. He has in His glorious resurrection
revealed that His death, His substitutionary atonement, was
perfectly satisfactory to the justice of God. He bore in His
own body on the tree all the sins of all of His people and
He bore all of the guilt of all of those sins and all of the
shame of those sins. And now this same Jesus bears
the proof of the satisfaction of the justice of God in His
honouring the holiness of God and is magnifying the faithfulness
of God and the Word of God and the very character of God. He
honours it and he displays it in his resurrection body. This
same Jesus is the message of heaven. This same Jesus is witnessed
to by these angels. This same Jesus is going to return
as he left. This same Jesus, both man and
God, this same Jesus, comes to his own. This same Jesus now
is in heaven. I love in Revelation, I don't
have the time to read it all as we ought, but in Revelation
John sees, he's taken into heaven and he sees that book and he
wept much. The book is the book of the purpose
of God, the sovereign eternal covenant of God. And no man in
heaven or earth or under the earth was able to open the book,
neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
me, Weep not, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David, has prevailed to open the book and loose the seven
seals thereof. And when he looks, When he looks,
and I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the
four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb,
as it had been slain. He is both the Lion of the tribe
of Judah and the Lamb, the Lamb as if it had been slain. And in his coming, he reveals
himself to be both. He reveals himself as a lamb,
a lamb gentle, a lamb having been slain. And he will reveal
himself as a lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah. He will,
as we read and listened to as Graham read in Psalm 2, He will
rule the nations and He does rule the nations with a rod of
iron. The psalmist call upon all of
humanity, the psalmist call upon you right now is kiss the sun. lest he be angry and you perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Kiss the
Lamb now is the day of salvation, not tomorrow. There may not be
a tomorrow. Now is the day of salvation.
Kiss the Son. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. May God grant to you, my hearers,
that blessing. This same Jesus, what a great
description of Him. In fact, Peter was so taken by
this description from heaven that he used exactly the same
words in his speech in Jerusalem, which we'll look at in the next
few weeks. This same Jesus, God has made
this same Jesus both Lord and Christ. This same Jesus came
to his own. He brings comfort to troubled
souls by his presence and by his word. He brings comfort to
souls. He comes, doesn't he? He comes
again. He comes again to his own. as he did in those days. And he comes, he comes to his
people in extraordinary times. One of the most remarkable things
in all of the scripture is that God's people see God and are
saved. They see him. But where is he
now? We will look at it in time to
come, as if the Lord allows. But Stephen saw him as those
wild dogs, those religious zealots, stoned him to death. He had preached
the gospel to them. He had preached the history of
their nation to them. He had told them exactly what
had happened and what they were doing. and he was being full
of the Holy Ghost as he was dying. He looked steadfastly up to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand
of God." See, God's children will see him standing on the
right hand of God. And they stoned Stephen, calling
upon God. He called upon God. His face
was like the face of an angel. And he said, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit. He saw him. the resurrected Lord
Jesus. We see him through the eyes of
faith. He comes to his own after his
resurrection. He comes not to all, but he comes
to his own. And he comes to his own at chosen
times, in chosen seasons of their lives. This same Jesus comes
to his own after his ascension. This is salvation, isn't it? That he comes and reveals himself. He reveals himself in the preaching
of the Gospel. There is nothing more important. There is nothing worth holding
on to apart from this. Paul says in Philippians 3, but
what things were gained to me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless I counted all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I count
them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not
having my own righteousness, He had the most remarkable righteousness
that this earth provided to someone in religion. He was before the
law of Moses in the eyes of people, and in his own eyes he was able
to say that he was blameless. He kept it perfectly, so he thought. He didn't have a clue what the
law was about. He didn't have a clue about who
God was. As religious and as zealous as
he was, he had no idea who God was, and he had no idea who Paul
was. He counts them all but loss.
For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness which is of the Lord, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable
unto His death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection
of the dead. That I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection It's a glorious subject to ponder,
isn't it? The power of the resurrection
of our great God. It is remarkable, but it is true,
isn't it? That it is the greatest display
of the power of God, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead. Not only is it the greatest display
of power in the past, it is and will be the greatest display
of power in the future. Our God, our Creator, sits above
this universe and sits outside of time. In Hebrews 1 it says
that this universe can just be wrapped up like you put a coat
around your shoulders. Such is the nature of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This earth is promised to destruction. This is not a place for the children
of God to build their nest and to find a place of comfort and
ease. Our God is returning, and when
He returns, it will be the same Lord Jesus Christ. He will return
with great power. Remarkable events are going to
happen. Let's go back to Acts chapter
9, chapter 1 verse 9. The Lord Jesus had finished speaking.
From now on, he'll speak through his apostles. He'll speak through
his word made effective. When he spoke of these things,
while they beheld, he spoke the words of promise, didn't he?
He spoke the words of promise that they will receive. They
will receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They will be immersed
in the Holy Spirit of God. He speaks to them in verses 7
and 8. He speaks words of perspective,
isn't it? There are things which we are
to know and things which we are not to trouble ourselves with.
We're not to know the hour of His coming. We're not to know
and we're not to spend our time looking into those things. Everyone
who has ever predicted the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ has
lied to people. It is just the plainest, plainest
words in all of Scripture, isn't it, you would think. And yet
we have been plagued. The Thessalonians were plagued
by people who were predicting and saying that the resurrection
had already come. And we've seen a multitude of
them in this day. And they spend their lives examining
things and examining all the details of what's happening in
the Middle East, trying to figure out when it's all going to happen.
And God says that you won't know. Why bother? Why bother about
chasing after things that God has said are hidden? There is a perspective, isn't
there? There is something far more important than knowing when
He's coming. It is to receive power, to receive
a promise from God. I promise that this Gospel, this
Gospel that we proclaim here today, this Gospel of the Apostles,
this Gospel of God, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, is
going to be proclaimed to the uttermost parts of the earth.
And here we are bearing witness to it, down in little old New
South Wales, a long, long way from Jerusalem, the uttermost
parts of the earth. You only have to go to Tasmania
and New Zealand to get further away. We're nearly it. It has
been promised and it has been delivered by our God. As we saw earlier in Luke's Gospel,
he says that as he spoke these words, he blessed them. They are words of blessing. Our
Saviour lives with blessing to his people. He was carried into
heaven. And while they beheld, he was
taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." He was
taken up as he was. He was taken up as a man, a real
man who is God, who could be touched, who could eat, who could
talk, who could communicate, who could come to his own and
love them. He was taken up. He wasn't changed,
and he was received by a cloud. One of the great purposes of
it is that we know because he wasn't changed, he is now unchanged
again. What he was doing when he was
here is what he is doing right now. Unchanged. And it wasn't a vision. There
were 11 witnesses plus the witness of heaven. It wasn't a vision
that could just dissolve and disappear, but it was the Lord
Jesus Christ in His glorious humanity. The Lord Jesus Christ
marked with the emblems of our forgiven sins, brothers and sisters. And while they looked steadfastly,
verse 10, and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as
He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel. The angels of God attended the
Lord Jesus. They attended Him in the garden
and comforted and strengthened Him. The same angels that in
John 20, verse 12, the two angels in white were there at the beginning of
his resurrection appearances. It's interesting that the angels
ask questions, don't they? To the people in the garden outside
the tomb, why seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here. The empty tomb was promised to
them. The Lord Jesus went to great
lengths again and again to promise these people that they'll bury
me, but I'm going to rise on the third day. We understand
why people would go to a tomb, but also we rejoice in the fact
that the tomb was empty. The tomb that held his dead body
is now empty. because He lives. You see, we
need Heaven's messengers to set us aright. So often in life,
isn't it, we are prone to do things again and again. And yes,
we need the direction of heaven. We need the guidance of heaven
to set us right. Even the best of us, in the most
blessed times, can be doing things which need to be stopped. There
are times for meditation and prayer. There are times for being
gathered. There are times to be scattered.
There are times now for gazing into heaven and there are times
to stop gazing into heaven and get down to Jerusalem. And they also said, Thee, ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, which is taken up into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen him go up into heaven." He'd been told. He'd already given them instructions
about what to do. They're not to gaze up into heaven,
but to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon
them with power. They are to go there and be assembled
together. This same Jesus, His name means
Saviour. In His very name there is a call
to sinners to come to Him. You shall call His name Jesus,
for He will save His people from their sins." This same Jesus
has gone up into heaven. It's not a disaster that He has
gone. It's for our good that He has
gone. His going up is not a sign of
defeat, but a sign of His reigning. In Matthew 28 he gives those
instructions to his disciples, doesn't he? And the eleven went
away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus
came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, this great promise, isn't
it, I am with you always. even to the end of the world. This same Jesus, with his people,
with his church. This same Jesus, this same Jesus,
triumphant now in heaven, reigning and ruling. He's taken up from
you into heaven. taken up from us into heaven.
What's he doing now in heaven? How does he get entrance into
heaven? How do you get entrance into
heaven? How do you get taken into heaven? You can only get into heaven
by being as holy as God is holy. You cannot get into heaven without
being absolutely perfect in the sight of God. Not a single spot
of sin, a stain of sin, absolutely perfect. He was taken up into
heaven. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews
chapter 9 and we'll read what God says about what He's doing
now. Hebrews 9.24 For Christ has not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are figures,
which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us. He's in heaven,
taken up into heaven to appear in the presence of God for us,
on our behalf. nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest enters into the holy place every
year with the blood of others, for then he must often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once, in the end of the
world, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. Unto them that look for Him,
He shall appear a second time without sin unto salvation. He'll appear a second time without
sin. The sin of all of His people
is put away, put away perfectly and forever. Why don't we read on, for it's
glorious. For the law, having a shadow
of the good things to come and not the very image of the things,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered, year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then they would
not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers
once purged should have no more conscience of sin. But in those
sacrifices, those sacrifices of the mosaic law, there is a
remembrance again made of sin every year, for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Therefore,
when he comes into the world, he says, sacrifice and offerings
thou wouldst not. but a body hast thou prepared
me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
to sin thou hast had no pleasure, no satisfaction. Then I said,
Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of thee,
to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and burnt offerings, and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither
hadst any pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He's taken away
the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oft times the same sacrifices which
can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering, He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost is also
a witness to us. For after that He said before,
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
says the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them. Their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of
these is, where they have been put away, there is no more offering
for sin. I love those words, isn't it?
There is no more offering for sin. You cannot offer anything
of your own doing for sin. You cannot perfectly and completely. He's
a great High Priest. He's now in Heaven, interceding
for us. He's now in Heaven, revealing
again, revealing eternally the wounds in His hands, in His feet
and His side. The blood of bulls and goats
and the ashes of heifer sprinkling on the unclean sanctify to the
purifying of the flesh. How much more, Hebrews 9.14,
how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. His cleansing is
a cleansing that's perfect and eternal and internal. What a remarkable thing to have
a clean conscience, a perfectly clean conscience. That's what
purge means, isn't it? It means to take something that's
dirty and make it white. Even though your sins be scarred,
they shall be white. snow, white as wool. Our great Saviour is extraordinarily
and remarkably successful in all that He does. He shall come
He shall come in like manner as you have seen Him go into
heaven. He shall come again as you have
seen Him go into heaven. The remarkable thing in the history
of redemption is that God acts in enormously powerful and effective
ways in a short space of time and then there are those long
periods where to the world's eyes he seems as if he can be
forgotten. Even in the eyes of religion
they can play games with him it seems and yet he comes and
when he comes he acts so powerfully. When you think about it, creation
and before Probably didn't last any longer than a week. I doubt
very much whether Adam and Eve got to enjoy the Garden of Eden
for very long at all. The whole extraordinary creation
of this universe as he spoke this creation into existence. It was all over in six days and
he stopped. And Adam and Eve fell in a very
short time I believe. And it was all then, this world
that we see. We have those 4,000 years of
Old Testament history. And all of it leads to and all
of it points to one life, ultimately to one life and one event on
one day. The Incarnation of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the fulfilment of thousands of years of prophecy. And though
the vision tarry, you wait for it, it will come, says the Lord.
And He came in a way which was so extraordinarily unexpected. Nothing, nothing in religion
Nothing in religion at all, even a religion where they knew the
book off by heart, nothing in their religion prepared them
for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came suddenly, He
came powerfully, He came effectively. And he came just for that brief
period of time, 33 and a bit years on this earth, three and
a half years of ministry, all of it focused on one day, one
event outside of Jerusalem, all of human history. is wrapped
up in that one person and that one event outside that one city
with a million witnesses to see it and the Word of God testifying
to it. And he came exactly as was promised
and he did exactly as was promised. And people did to him exactly
as was promised. And here we are 2,000 years later. We've had 2,000 years of New
Testament history, and it's all about one life. It's all about
one event. It's all about one day. It will, brothers and sisters,
come upon this world as a thief in the night. Nothing in man-made
religion ever prepared anyone for the first coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Nothing in the religion of man
in this world will prepare anyone for the Lord Jesus' coming the
second time. His second coming and the consummation
of all things, the end of this world as we know it, the wrapping
up of this creation, the final judgement, the taking in remarkable
ways. of all of God's people into the
air to meet the Lord. It will all happen, the great
judgement will all happen in a very quick space of time and
the new creation will happen in a very quick space of time.
This is all an event which points forward. The resurrection of
the Lord Jesus points forward to an event which is just going
to take a matter of hours. is irrelevant to our God. He's waiting now, isn't He? He's
waiting now because He's long-suffering. The only reason he's waiting
is that the last of his blood-bought children, the last members of
his body are not brought into a living faith with him on this
earth. As soon as that is done, brothers
and sisters, he has no reason to keep this earth going for
another millisecond. Why would he put up with the
rebellion of billions of people against him? Why would he? The scriptures make it abundantly
plain. He is long-suffering. He is long-suffering
with this world that none will perish. And as the world mocks
him for his delay, the Church of God sees that our glorious
Saviour is a successful Saviour. He is now reigning over this
universe. He is now reigning over His church. He is doing exactly as He was
always. He shows Himself alive. He speaks
of the things of the Kingdom of God. He assembles together
with His people. He commands His people and He
guides them and directs them. He sits on the throne of this
universe and He rules and reigns. That's the best adjective to
describe the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? A successful Saviour. Why hasn't He gathered great
multitudes to Himself? He's a successful Saviour. He's
gathered his own. Why didn't he appear in that
remarkable time after his ascension to all of those crowds of people?
What a great opportunity to go to Herod and show him what he
really is. What a great opportunity to go
to Pilate. What a great opportunity to go back into the Sanhedrin
and show Caiaphas and Annas and all of those others, to show
them who he really was. he didn't, not because he didn't
have the power to. He came for his own. He has a body. He has a gift from the Father. He'll come to his own. He'll come in like manner. He'll come again and every eye
shall see him. He'll come again as a person
in like manner, this same Jesus. He went up to heaven as a person. He comes back as a person. Salvation
is a personal matter. Damnation is a personal matter. It's always personal with our
God. All things are always personal. We spoke some little time ago
about the fact that when God saves people, all the glory goes
to God for the grace of salvation. When people are damned, all of
the damnation is their responsibility personally. Personally. He that sinneth against me wrongeth
his own soul. says the Lord, they that hate
me love death. Our great God is coming again.
Which is why God's servants, God's messengers, keep pleading
with people as the Lord enables them, kiss the sun. Do not rest in anything other
than a real, living, personal relationship in faith, in the
living Lord Jesus Christ. Seek Him while He may be found.
Knock and the door will be opened. He'll come again. He's going
up was real and personal. His coming again will be real
and personal. It was witnessed by those apostles
and the angels. His coming again will be witnessed
by all of creation. He'll come again in the clouds. He went up in light manner, didn't
he? He went up. He'll come again
in light manner. He went up having fellowship
with his apostles, sweet fellowship with his apostles. comforting
and guiding and directing and giving proofs that he was alive
and that he was victorious. He'll come again in fellowship
with his church. He shall stand in the latter
day upon the earth as he stood before. He went up into heaven's
glory unopposed by any of these enemies. There's not a word in
those 40 days, not a single word spoken by his enemies. They did
their conniving and scheming, but they were silent. He'll come
again, unopposed. Who can stand against him? When he comes again, he will
rule the nations with a rod of iron. Our Lord Jesus Christ will
come again. No one knows when He's coming
again. He will, according to Revelation
1, He can appear at any moment. We are to look for Him. We're
not to spend our time wondering about the times and seasons He's
coming. He will come again, we are to
look for Him. He's going to come again in great
power and glory. It won't be any secret rapture
like people have laid out before people for years. He will come
in a real body, in a physical body. He'll come in His resurrected
body. He'll come with a body that displays
His wounds. And when He comes, there will
be a mighty, mighty resurrection. And when He comes again, there
will be a great judgment of the earth. Let's close by reading
some verses out of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. The Thessalonian
church was troubled by people who said that the resurrection
had already come. The Thessalonian church was troubled
by people, even in those days, who were forging letters as if
they were from Paul to deceive people. and people are so troubled about
it. There are so many different theories
going around and one of the wonderful things in the scriptures is that
we interpret God's word by studying the rest of God's word. And God
speaks again and again of his first coming and his second coming
and sometimes they seem so close together that we struggle to
understand all of what's being said. And sometimes he speaks
in spiritual language, in symbolic language, which is hard sometimes
to fathom and people twist it. But in the Word of God, in an
event that is so important, we have some very, very clear words. We have the very clear words
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels. and we have the very
clear words of Paul. And so the issue is that where
there are symbolic and difficult passages, you take them back
to the very clear words and you make, as best as you are allowed
by God the Holy Spirit, you don't allow the clear ones to be undone
by the obscure ones. He says, I don't want you to
be ignorant. 1 Thessalonians 4.13 I don't
want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that you sorrow not, even as others have no hope. God's children
who leave this earth are said to be asleep. They are alive
in heaven. Today you will be with me in
paradise. For God's children, death is
no more difficult than going to sleep. You leave here and
instantly you are in the presence of God. You leave here and all
of the infirmities of your flesh, all of its entanglements are
gone forever. And God's children are with the
Lord Jesus. Verse 14, for if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. 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, not go before them which
are asleep." So at the coming of the Lord Jesus, when He comes
back in that resurrected body, He will come back with all of
those who have died beforehand. Abraham and Moses and Noah and
Abel and Enoch and David and Solomon All of those blood-bought
children will come back with him. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. So the dead in Christ, their
physical bodies will rise from the ground. They will rise with resurrected
bodies and 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 what will happen when he comes back is that out
of this earth, wherever they have been scattered, the bodies
of all of the saints of God will be taken out of this earth. They will be taken out of this
earth. They will have glorious resurrected bodies who will be
joined together with their spirit that's in heaven now, that bears
witness and sings songs, sings the songs of heaven. They'll all be caught up together.
The ones that are on the earth will be transformed. They will
have resurrected bodies as they are taken up from this earth. Those that have died beforehand
and live with the Lord will have their bodies resurrected out
of this earth and will meet the Lord. To meet the Lord in the
air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one
another with these words." Comfort one another. It is for the comfort
of God's people that we speak of the resurrection and return
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Comfort one another with these
words. comfort one another with the
reality that His resurrection is a guarantee of the eternal
resurrection of all of His people. It is a guarantee and a promise
of His coming in glory. It is a guarantee that when He
comes He will take His people to be with Him and they will
live with Him forever. And in 2 Thessalonians God the
Holy Spirit gives a warning, isn't it? He says in verse 3, We are bound
to thank God always for you, brethren, as His right, because
your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of
you toward all each other aboundeth. So then we ourselves glory in
you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all
the persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is The
persecutions and your faith in the persecutions and tribulations
is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God that you might
be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. counted worthy by the
Lord Jesus Christ for which you also suffer, seeing it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints
and to be admired, admired in all them that believe." What
do they believe? They believe the testimony They
believe the testimony of the apostles. They believe the witness
of the apostles. They believe the witness of the
word of God spoken by the apostles, to be admired in all them that
believe. There are some things, and you
can read about it in 2 Thessalonians 2, there are some things that
must take place before the Lord returns. There will be a great
apostasy. There will be a great falling
away from the faith. There will be a great deception. There will be a coming of Satan. with all power and signs and
lying wonders, and with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved." It's a reception of the
truth, but it's more than just a reception of the truth, it's
a reception of the love of the truth that saves. that we are
bound, verse 13, always to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. remarkable
promises. Therefore, brethren, stand fast.
Hold fast the traditions, hold fast the witnesses which you
have been taught, whether by word or by epistle. And now our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which has
loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word
and work. Our God reigns. Our resurrected
Lord Jesus Christ reigns, continues His glorious work, comes to His
own in power. Let's pray.