Turn with me if you would now
to Titus chapter two. Titus chapter two. One of the verses that we looked
at this morning really got my attention and made me want to
look at it a little bit more deeply. It's verse 13, Titus
2, verse 13. It says, looking for that blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. Paul said that's what God's people
are doing. They are looking for, they are
waiting for, they are longing for that blessed hope, which is the glorious appearing
of the great God Our Savior, Jesus Christ. The older I get, the more I love
and cherish the thought of Christ's return and being in glory with
him. When I was young, And this is OK. All right, young
people, this is OK. I want young people to know.
That this is OK. When I was young. And when all of us are young,
even though it's very possible for us to know the Lord. And
to love the Lord. Even so, when we're young, it's
hard for us to truly want and desire for Christ to come back. And it's because we have a lot
of things in this world that we're looking forward to. There are a lot of things that
we want to experience before we leave this world. I remember a time in my life
when if I was honest, I would have to admit that I was not
ready for the Lord to come back. Just being honest. I wanted to get married. I wanted
to have kids. I wanted to make a home and a
life with my own family and. I wanted to do that before the
Lord came back. I wanted to experience that before
the Lord came back. And if I'm honest, right now
I still have things that I want to experience before the Lord
returns. Pretty much most of those things
involve my girls coming of age and becoming established in their
own lives and their own families, that kind of thing. And that's okay. It's okay for
me to still feel that way. There was a time that I used
to feel guilty about it. I used to feel so guilty about
that. But it's okay for us to desire
things in this life that our Lord has given to us. And I don't
mean, I do mean he has given us things, but I'm saying he's
given us this life. It's okay for us to desire things
in this life that our Lord has given to us. And to enjoy things
in this life that our Lord has given to us. The scripture says our Lord has
given us all things here richly to enjoy. We don't have to hate our life
here. We don't have to hate our life
here. As a matter of fact, we're commanded by God not to. We're commanded to be joyful. We're commanded to be happy. He tells us in everything here
to give thanks for it. He tells us to be content. This is where he wants us to
be right now. If he wanted us to be in glory,
we would be in glory. In John 17, where we were this
morning, our Lord praying to his father said, I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world. He said, I'm not praying for
you to take them out of the world. We've been given a life here
to live and it's okay. It's okay to desire to live it. We have an appointed number of
days here. And it's okay to desire and enjoy
living them. But as I live mine, okay, as
I live my days, as I live my life, the longer that I go in
mine, And the more things that I check
off of my list of desires in this life, the longer you go,
the more you check boxes of things that you desire to do and desire
to see. And the more of those that I
get checked off of my list, the more ready I feel I'm becoming
for the Lord's return. And it's because of what it means.
Maybe the longer I go, the more I'm realizing really what it
means. I mean, really what it means.
The moment that he returns, I just can't. You know, we read about
it, we think about it, but in one moment, it's about to become
a reality. And the moment that he returns,
I'm going to get to be like him. That's really not something that
I ever put a lot of concern into when I was young. I'm going to get to be like him.
John said, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall
see him as he is." Peter said, I know that shortly I must put
off my tent. This tabernacle tent that I'm
living in right now, I'm going to have to put it off. Because
our Lord said he's prepared mansions for us to live in, in glory. Paul said, this corruption is
going to put on incorruption. And this mortality, that means
this death, is going to put on immortality. That means life
with no possibility of death. The moment that Christ returns
and I see Him, and I'm with Him, I'm going to experience unspeakable
joy. I know that. I believe that. My heart in that moment is going
to be filled with what it has been truly caused to desire in
the new man created in me. And all of God's people can say
this. I'm telling you, I'm talking about my life and my experience,
but all of God's people can say this. In the heart of all of
God's people in this new creation, God has put his love in there. Love for Christ, true love for
Christ. And the moment he returns, the
moment I see him, the moment I'm with him, I'm gonna be filled
with that love and I'm gonna experience that love without
the hindrance of sin on it. pure, sincere, living, thriving
love for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In that moment,
my heart is gonna truly experience peace for the first time, peace
that passes understanding. Every worry, every fear, every trouble, Every
sorrow that I have right now, it will all be gone in the twinkling
of an eye. It will all be gone. Never to
return again. Never to return again. I will be righteous and holy and just in my being. Now all of God's people are that
right now in Christ's being. All of God's people are righteous
and holy and just in him. But in that day and in that moment,
that'll be a reality for me. That'll be a reality for my flesh. And I'll finally be thankful
to my precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for securing all
of this for me. I'll finally be thankful, truly
thankful. I'll finally be able to thank
him from the depths of my soul like I want to, but I just can't
right now because of this body of sin and death. I'll be able to truly thank the
Father for choosing me. I'll be able to truly thank the
Son for dying for me. I'll be able to truly thank the
Spirit for calling me to Jesus Christ. And I'll never stop being
thankful because the remembrance of that will never slip my mind
ever again. I'll never go anywhere or do
anything that steals that from my mind ever again. The song
says, And when before the throne I
stand in him complete, and this is in quotations, Jesus died
my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat. When I'm standing
there perfect, that's what I'll be repeating over and over again.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid it all, all to him I owe. My sin had left a crimson stain
on me, but he washed it white as snow. Complete. Complete, when I stand in Him,
complete. We're complete in Him by faith
right now. But we're gonna be complete in
Him by sight then. Complete in thee, no work of
mine may take, dear Lord, the place of thine. Thy blood hath
pardoned, bought for me, and I am now complete in thee. Yea, justified, O blessed thought,
and sanctified salvation wrought, thy blood hath pardon bought
for me, and glorified I too shall be. The older I get, the more
I'm starting to enter into that, and the more ready I'm becoming
to see that day approach. I believe in my heart that the
longer I go in my life on this earth, the more that hope is
becoming a blessed hope to me. The more the hope of his return
is becoming a blessed hope to me. The word blessed means happy. That's what it means. We have
a happy hope. We have such a happy hope. And
what makes us so happy is hearing and knowing that when our great
God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears on that great day, it's
going to be a glorious appearing. It's gonna be a glorious appearing.
Turn with me over to Acts chapter one. Acts chapter 1 verse 9, it says,
and when he had spoken these things, that's our Lord, while
they beheld, that's the apostles, 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
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go into heaven. Can you imagine how glorious
that was to witness? Can you imagine how glorious
that was to witness. They stood there gazing into
heaven. Our Lord was speaking to them,
preaching to them, talking with them, blessing them. And then
He left the ground. And they watched Him go up. And
a cloud received Him, took Him out of their sight. Can you imagine
how glorious that was to witness? They heard the announcement that
He's going to come again in like manner. The same way you just
saw him go up, that's how he's going to come again. He's going
to come in the same manner as when he went up. But here's what I want us to
get a hold of tonight. It's going to be even more glorious to witness
than his ascension was. Can you imagine how glorious
it was to watch him ascend into glory? Well, it's going to be
even more glorious to witness His return than it was to witness
His ascension. The event is not more glorious. The event is not more glorious
at all. He went to the Father on our behalf. He said, Father,
it's finished. He entered into heaven on our
behalf. He has decreed for His return to be even more glorious
to witness than His ascension. As glorious as His ascension
was to witness, when He ascended up, eleven apostles
witnessed it. Okay? When he returns, the scripture
says, every eye shall see him. When he went up, he allowed 11
men to witness him. And when he comes back, he's
gonna allow every single eye to see it. Not just every eye
that's on the earth at that particular moment in time. Every eye that
has ever been in existence on this earth Scripture says even
the very ones that pierced him. They're going to see him return
wherever they are at that moment, and I'll explain that in just
a second. As glorious as his ascension was to witness. His
return will be even more glorious to witness. Because when he ascended,
it says right here in verse 10 that two angels were present
at that moment when he ascended. Two men stood by them in white
apparel. Those were angels. When he returns, do you know
how many angels are coming with him? Go to Matthew 25. I'm getting excited. When He ascended, He stationed
two angels. Two angels there. When He returns,
Matthew 25, verse 31, it says, When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he
sit upon the throne of his glory. At the appearing of his glorious
return, there's not going to be one angel left in heaven.
Not one angel. All of them are coming with him.
All of them are coming with him. Hebrews 13 says it's an innumerable
company of angels. So many angels, no man can count
them. I was thinking about that. It's
like, how will there be enough room in the sky? They'll have
to spill into space. And for how long? Who knows? As glorious as his ascension
was to witness His return will be even more glorious to witness
because Matthew 27 says, if you turn over a page or two here
to Matthew 27. All right, after his resurrection,
just before his ascension, our Lord arose from the grave and
then ascended back on high, okay? After his resurrection, just
before his ascension, look at verse 52, it says, and the graves were opened and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the
graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and
appeared unto many." It doesn't say how many. But it says that
many of the saints that had died right there and were buried near
his tomb, their graves were opened and they came out of them and
stood on this earth again. It could have been tens, it could
have been hundreds, it could have been thousands. When he returns, you know how
many saints are gonna come out of their graves? 1 Thessalonians 4 says every saint
that was ever elected and redeemed from all over this world throughout
the entirety of time, they are all gonna come out of their graves
and stand on this earth again. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
4. Now it appears from Revelation
20 that after the saints are taken to glory, this is what
it appears to me as I read it, the saints after they come out
of their graves and after they're taken to glory, then the rest
of this unbelieving world will be brought forth to stand before
the judgment. But for the chosen, redeemed,
called saints of God, verse 13 says, 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, no blessed hope. 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 them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 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 one another with these words. He's gonna come back to
get us. And Colossians 3 verse 4, we just read it for our scripture
reading, it says he's going to take us straight to glory. It
says, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
you also appear with him in glory. And 2 Timothy chapter 4 says
a crown of righteousness will be given to every saint there. And that crown is Christ. That
crown is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our crown, he's our reward,
he's our inheritance. And right there in 2 Timothy
4, he tells us who all's gonna be included and given Christ
the crown. And that's what I wanna know.
Am I included in this? When he comes back, Will I be
included in it? Well, he tells us exactly who
is going to be included in it. Turn over to 2 Timothy chapter
4. 2 Timothy 4 verse 8, it says, Henceforth, there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but
unto all them also that love is appearing. Does the thought
of his appearing bring a blessed hope to your heart? If it does, you're included in
the all them also. You're one of the all them also.
If the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ and being
with Christ and the glory of Christ, if you love it, you're
one of the all them also. Our Lord said in John 14, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. The longer that I go
in my life on this earth, the more I find my heart crying,
come quickly, Lord. The longer I go, Oh, the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. That is a blessed
hope that we can look forward to loving and cherishing more
and more the closer we get to that day. I find, you know, I'm
speaking on my own behalf. The longer I go in my life, I
talk to some of you who've been around here longer than me, saying,
I'm ready to go. I told you before about my mother.
I hope I don't ever forget it. Sometimes I say I'll never forget
it. Well, I might. I might get Alzheimer's. I don't
know. My mother had cancer. And about two weeks before she
died, I can remember sitting in the living room with her and
she was reading the scripture and I was watching TV. And man,
she started laughing. She bust out laughing and I said,
what's so funny? And she just shook her head,
no. Kept on reading. I said, what? Tell me what's
so funny. She said, no. I said, tell me. What is it?
She looked at me and said, I'm getting excited. And that's how it'll be for you
the closer you get. And you get more excited. You say, well, I don't know if
I'm excited enough right now. Well, it's not your time. It's
not your appointed time yet. If you've risen with Christ,
then set your heart and your affection on things above while
you walk this earth. But. When that time comes, you're
going to get excited. You know, and even if it's not
that all the saints are going to come back, every soul is going
to see his return, but for each one of us until that day come.
He's going to come get us, we're going to see his return and.
Oh, it's going to be so glorious. 1 Thessalonians 4 said, comfort
one another with these words. Comfort one another with these
words. So let's close with these words of comfort, all right?
Go to Revelation 22. Revelation 22. 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.