Well, once again, thank you for
joining us. We have diverted for the last
two Sundays, and this one will be also included in that from
our study of the book of Numbers. Lord willing, we'll be back there
next Sunday in that fourth chapter of the book of Numbers and hopefully
complete it. But a couple of weeks ago, we
started a series, a three-part series, on the way that the pastor
who brought me the Gospel Divided up the entire Word of God in
such a simple way. It's been easy for me to remember
the Old Testament shares with us and in that message we tried
to bring out some of those thoughts and If you remember that it wasn't
until almost the close of the Gospels that the Old Testament
era was over when Christ went to the cross and the temple veil
was ridden too, and all that system was put behind. But up
to that point, they were still under the Old Testament economy,
and they spoke of someone coming. We noticed that. So the Old Testament
and much of the Gospels shared with us someone is coming. And last week we looked at the
subject of the second part, the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, They declared, someone is here. We also find that that's
brought out in the rest of the New Testament, but how important
it was that the declaration was made, and we find that that angel
mentioned to the shepherds there in the field as they watched
their flocks by night, the greatness of the announcement that a Savior
was come, Christ the Lord. Well, today we'd like to look
at the subject of what is basically brought out to the rest of the
New Testament. Someone is coming back. Someone is coming back. That's the promise of the Lord
Jesus. That's the message of the Scriptures. And we'd like
to spend a little time on that this morning. Now, I have to
admit, I have no chart. And I have no special notes in
my Bible about that. I have the Bible and it is my
desire this morning to just bring out some scriptures that declare
that Christ is coming back and what will happen when he does.
I would encourage you to read the Old Testament to interpret
the New Testament. Have it interpreted by the New
Testament. Now one of the things that I did in religion was to
read the New Testament and go back to the Old Testament for
the interpretation. Now that is backwards, that is
just backwards when we come to this subject particularly today
because the Old Testament is brought out in the New Testament
and we find that the writers of the New Testament, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself and all the apostles were sharing to
us what the Old Testament had to say. It is a bad idea to reverse
that. So, would you join me this morning,
first of all, in the book of Acts. The book of Acts, chapter
1. The book of Acts to the book of Revelation, someone is coming
back. The Lord Jesus, in His glory,
is coming back, just as He promised He would. And here in the book
of Acts, chapter 1, I'd like to begin reading with verse 11.
excuse me, with verse 1 and read down through verse 11. In Acts
chapter 1, the former treatise have I made, O Theopolis." Now
this apparently Luke is being used of the Holy Spirit to write
this book to leave it for us this letter and this is not the
acts of the apostles this is the acts of the Holy Spirit this
is the acts of God by his people and here it says former treatise
former book and that's the book of Luke have I made O Theophilus
of all that Jesus began both 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 also he showed himself alive after his passion. After his death, after his burial,
and after his resurrection, he showed himself and by many infallible
proofs. being seen of them forty days,
and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Now when
he's talking about the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God, he's talking about his spiritual kingdom. He's talking about his
kingdom in our heart. He's talking about reigning in
our heart in a very special and particular way after he regenerates
us. Now he is reigning over the whole
world. The world belongs to him. The universe belongs to him.
he is reigning he is the king of kings and lord of lords but
there is that speciality among the elect that he reigns over
them 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 ye have heard of me For John truly baptized
with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom of Israel? Now, it's going to
be a while before these disciples understand that he never came
to set up a kingdom for Israel. Never had that. It was not part
of his promise. And when we look at that in the
Old Testament, we find that he's always speaking of it from a
spiritual context. He's always talking about Christ
being resurrected. That's what he is talking about.
And he says here, in verse 7, he said unto them, it is not
for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father
hath put in his own power. but you shall receive the power
after that the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be
witnesses unto me both in jerusalem and in judea and in samaria samaria
and into the uttermost parts of the earth there are going
to be some places that the gospel is taken that is not uh... from a physical standpoint a
good place to be but from a spiritual standpoint he sends us there
because there's some elect 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,
can you imagine? They saw their Lord their Savior
the one that they had spent three and a half years with the one
that was crucified The one that was buried one that rose again
the third day This one that spent 40 days with them with many infallible
proofs of he is the Son of God the Savior God sent God come
in the flesh all the Old Testament scriptures and had been fulfilled
in him all the types and shadows and pictures as they're there
visiting with him he disappears out of their sight and it just
just think of that for a moment toward heaven and as he had went
up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said
ye men of Galilee now in this point I want to be called a man
of Galilee at this point you want to be called a woman of
Galilee because he's speaking to us he's speaking to the church
here he says you men of Galilee why stand you gazing up into
heaven now notice this this is God's word given to us about
the Lord Jesus coming again someone is coming the promises made this
same Jesus this just think about that for a moment right right
now we could have that pause that we find so often in the
Psalms just pause and think about 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. This same Jesus, just as he went,
he shall return. Just as he ascended up, he shall
descend. Just as he was taken up, he shall
come back. This same Jesus, not another. Now the Holy Spirit is going
to come in a special way. God the father is going to come
in a special way, but the son when he comes again is going
to come like he went now There's some things about that that we
need to bless us in our Worship of God and study of the God's
Word in our position in this world right now. He shall come
as personally As he left, he shall come personally for his
elect. He shall come personally for
everyone that he redeemed on the cross. He shall come personally
and he shall come visibly. It's not going to be an invisible
return. Many people in the past have
got brought into a system of theology and they said he's going
to come back invisibly. Well, he doesn't say that. That's
not the word of God. The word of God is he shall come
visibly and also he shall come gloriously. He shall come back
glorious. He shall come in his glory. And
we're going to read some verses of scripture that share that
about our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Someone is coming and someone
is coming back. This is his promise to the church.
I will come back for you. I am going away, but I will come
back for you. Now, keeping this in mind, would
you turn with me to another book of the New Testament, the book
of 1 Thessalonians. Many of the books that the Apostle
Paul wrote, the books that John wrote, the book that Peter wrote,
the New Testament has much to say about someone is coming back.
Someone is coming back. This same Jesus is coming back. And here in the book of 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, Now we're just gonna touch some passages of scripture
this morning, but by no means is this a thorough study about
this subject, because there's much said in the scripture about
Christ coming back, coming back the second time. Now I don't
say much about the second coming of Christ, because when people
mention that, they're looking for signs. But when we talk about
Christ coming the second time, he's the fulfillment of the old
of the scriptural prophecies about his coming. And just as
sure as someone is coming and someone came, someone is coming
back. All right. Can you imagine how
how long the Old Testament is and someone's coming? And yet
he let people know when he was here as a babe, this is him. This is him. All right. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning
with verse 13. Much said in this. Now, why was
the Holy Spirit leading Paul, the apostle, to write so much
about this subject? Well, there are a lot of people
that had been chicaned A lot of people had been told by those
who didn't know anything that he'd already come and left them
behind. Can you imagine how that would
feel? Someone you've been waiting for, and then you find out they
came and didn't take you? How'd that make you feel? Well,
the apostle Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to say, listen, listen,
listen, listen, listen. He's not going to do that. He's
not as a man that is going to do that. He is God. And he has
promised to take his children to his, to his presence. So here
in the book of first Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13, but I
would not the apostle Paul led by the Holy spirit says, but
I would not have you to be ignorant brethren. I don't want you to
be ignorant about this. And brethren, I want you to understand
this. I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, those who have died
and are buried, but they are believers in Christ Jesus. I
don't want you to be mistaken about them. I don't want you
to be ignorant about them, that you sorrow not even as others
which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, that's God-given belief. God-given belief He gives
us the new birth and we are blessed with belief. We're blessed with
repentance We're blessed with all the spiritual blessings in
Christ Jesus He says Jesus if you believe if we believe now,
it's not a head belief, but it is a it's an actual Gift that
God gives us in regeneration even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him Now, the scriptures tell
us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Well, right there it tells us there is a separation between
the soul and the body. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. We're not put into some cubbyhole
somewhere, but we're in the presence of God. Our spiritual being is
in the presence of God, but our body is here. Now, how it's disposed
or how someone else disposed of it, that's irrelevant. When
it comes to the second or Christ coming the second time, let me
rephrase that he's going to take care of that problem Wherever
that is how long it's been in the grave how long it's been
in the sea how long how long how long? He says here For this
we know that we say unto you by the word of the Lord that
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall
not precede or prevent, that's what that word is, it's precede
them which are asleep, for the Lord himself, now notice this
with me, notice this with me, how glorious is this, the Lord
himself, what, shall descend from heaven the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven." Now, you and I are so thankful for
the communication that God gives to us through the Holy Spirit.
We are so appreciative that the Holy Spirit would teach us from
God's Word, and He would teach us the truth of God's Word. We're
so thankful for His leadership. We're so thankful for Even that
when we do something that we shouldn't have been doing he
corrects us. We're thankful for that But when the end is wrapped
up the Lord himself shall descend from heaven now notice this With
a shout With the voice of the Archangel
and with the Trump of God there is going to be some noise and
People will know what's happening. Now, when Jesus came, born of
a virgin, laid in a manger, it was quiet, quiet, quiet, except
some angels spoke to some shepherds. Herod didn't know about it. The scribes didn't know about
it. The philosophers didn't know about it. The Pharisees didn't
know about it. But it was given to some shepherds
to go and see him who was born Christ the Lord. But this time,
this time, when he shall come, He shall come, he shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,"
and who is the archangel? This is the archangel. He has
spoken in the past. He is speaking here. "...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. Now there was a lot of concern
here in the church at Thessalonica and other places. People had
come through and spread nonsense. They had spread a lie. They spread
Jesus has already come and all this nonsense. But when Jesus
Christ comes his church will be gathered with him in the clouds
that is the truth of the matter it will not be secret it will
not be noiseless it will be an astonishing thing that God will
do and he's gonna raise his people from the dead he's gonna changes
people that are alive at that time. But there's also a truth
about this that everybody that has ever been born in every condition
that their body is shall also be raised. His shall be with
him. Now, we'll look at that in just
a moment. Now, turn with me, if you would, to the book of
Hebrews. Hebrews. We looked at this a little bit
last week. Brother Craig read this from the pulpit last week
and shared it with us here in the book of Hebrews. the books
of the New Testament share with us someone is coming back someone
is coming back the Lord Jesus as promised shall come back in
the book of Hebrews chapter 9 9 verse 24 chapter 9 verse 24 now There is a there's a similarity
here when we read about our Savior in this passage of scripture
in the book of Hebrews There is a similarity here about the
high priest in the Old Testament going into the holy of holies
But when that high priest went into the holy holies and he came
back out of that holy of holies You know what he had to do the
next year Do it all over again There was no end to this day
of atonement It was a picture and a type and a shadow. Now
the writer of the book of Hebrews is using that Old Testament type
to share with us that there's something very special about
the priest after the order of Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus.
When he shall come, when he shall return, when he shall be in the
presence of his people one more time, notice as we read this,
he shall come not to deal with sin again. He's not going to
have to go through this process again. You know, there are those
that teach that from this passage of scripture, there's going to
be an opportunity for a second chance. No, that is not true. Now, today, and if the Lord should
tarry today, today is the day of salvation for his people. Nobody that belongs to God in
the covenant of grace can send away their day of grace. He is
faithful to bring the gospel to all of his elect children,
lost children. All right, let's notice here
in the book of Hebrews chapter 9 verse 24. For Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands. Which are the
figures of the true but into heaven itself now to appear in
the presence of God for us That's what he's doing. He's making
intercession for us How glorious is that that we
have the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven for us for the church
and the very beginning of the church to the very end of the
church. He's there making intercession for his people. He's in heaven
for us. He's in the presence of God for
us. How greatly does the Lord Jesus
love his people? How greatly does the Father love
his people? How greatly does the Holy Spirit
love his people? The Son is in heaven for us. Nor yet, verse
25, that ye should offer himself often as the high priest entered
into the holy place every year with the blood of others. The
Old Testament types and shadows, they were types and shadows,
but they were beggarly elements of the law. They had nothing
that was capable of delivering anybody from the state they were
in as a result of the fall. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, just as those types and shadows
of the animals, as they typified the Lord, but they could never
do what Christ is going to do one time. As he goes on to say
here, for then must he often have suffered since the foundation
of the world, but now once in the end of the world, once for
all time, this is it when he was here as
the scriptures promise someone is here he came on purpose he
went to the cross on purpose he died on purpose he had our
sins imputed to him on purpose and he did his glorious work
and paid the very last farthing to purchase his people and he
went to the tomb a victor and he rose a victor And he ascended
back to heaven a victor. And he goes on to say here that
not once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him. Now who are the lookers? His
church are his lookers, those who look for him the second time,
those who anticipate his coming. I'll never forget walking downtown
here in the Dalles one time, and a friend of mine who had
a shop here, he said, come on in here, Norm, come in here.
And he handed me a hat, and I forget whether it said Jesus is Lord
or whatever. He says, now you're really gonna have to toe the
mark. You're gonna have, and I says, why would a hat have
to make me change? You know, we do more sin than
we ever want to, but that doesn't make us unapproachable by Christ
when he comes back because he's going to have to put us away.
I love what he said about himself. I am God. I change not. I'll
not change my attitude towards my people because I've loved
them with an everlasting love. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He's not
going to have to go through this again and salvation will be absolute
complete. Now the promise has been made.
He will completely save us. And our soul is completely saved. We've been passed from death
into life. We have this old flesh, though, that God has promised
He's going to do something with. He's going to do something with
this flesh. He is going to make it. Let's
just, we're going to be over in the book of Philippians for
a moment, but I would like to go back to the book of Job for
just a second, and we find out the Old Testament has much to
say about the coming of Christ the second time, as Job brings
out here, and then we'll look at a passage in the book of Philippians. In the book of Job, how glorious
is this passage of scripture, in the book of Job, There in
chapter 19, Job said, we know this. This is what God's people
know. They have been given this knowledge
by the Holy Spirit. They have been given this knowledge
from the scriptures. They've been allowed to look
into the very precious things of God. They've been allowed
to look into the very promises of God. And here in the book
of Job chapter 19 verse 25, we have these words by an old saint. dead, long gone. His bones are
just dust. But notice what he had to say.
For I know, verse 25, Job chapter 19, for I know that my Redeemer
liveth. What a statement by this old
man of the Old Testament to know this. Now this is what God's
people know. I know that my Redeemer liveth. All of God's people know their
Redeemer liveth. He has come out of the tomb.
He has been victorious over sin. He's been victorious over death.
He's been victorious over hell. He has been victorious. I know
my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. What a promise was given to Job,
and what a promise was given to every saint in the Old Testament,
and what a promise was given to every saint in the New Testament.
Everyone that God chose before the foundation of the world,
when He regenerates them, He gives them some information.
Now, we don't get the whole thing all at once, but when we hear
it, we don't say, oh, that can't be right. We say, yes, oh Lord,
thank you for that. I find in the scriptures that
it's almost normal, it's almost normal for people without this
information that we get from the word, it's almost normal
for people to want to look for signs. It's almost normal. Our friends are looking for signs.
And yet the scriptures, the Lord Jesus shares with us twice in
the book of Matthew and said, you know, when these folks were
asking me about signs, all I could share with them is an evil and
adulterous generation seek after a sign. We're looking for Christ. We're looking for Christ coming
again. God's people are looking for their Redeemer coming again
for the completion of their salvation. The whole transaction to take
place when God will fix us give us a new body like unto his glorious
body but it's almost normal for people without Christ to look
for signs now it's it's interesting I don't know what the the conjecture
is here to look for signs you know do we need to look for a
red heifer I'm sorry no no no we don't need any of that stuff
We're sitting, waiting for the coming of the Lord, and we'll
look at that in just a moment. So, looking for signs is not
the issue. Looking for, oh, there's going
to be all this happening. No. It's been happening, been
happening, been happening. One thing that hasn't happened,
though, is Christ has not come with a shout and the voice of
the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ have
not been raised, and those who are alive and remain have not
been raised up in the clouds with him. When that happens,
it will be over. We don't need to look for anything
else. All right, come with me, if you would, over to the book
of Philippians. In the book of Philippians chapter
three, this, the Apostle Paul writing these words by inspiration
of God, by the Holy Spirit moving his hand on that piece of paper,
however God did that, it is God's word that he gave to these folks.
And they completely agree from Genesis to Revelation. The scriptures
all agree. And so when we look here into
the New Testament, we find out the Old Testament taught this,
but we're going to interpret it by the New Testament here
in the book of Philippians, chapter three and verse twenty one. Notice
this with me. Philippians, chapter three, verse
twenty one, who shall change our if you ever thought your
body was in good shape. Our flesh is in good shape. Boy,
we're getting better. We're getting better. You know,
that's just an absolute lie. We're not getting better. Our
relationship with Christ by our spirit is getting, may be getting
better and better. We're seeing more of him. We
have grown in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. But notice what the scriptures
say about our body. Who shall change our vile body? who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Oh, can you grab that? Can you
put your arms around that? Can you see that? My goodness,
that ye may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Now,
we haven't seen His glorious body as we know we will see it. but in scripture it tells us
it was glorious on the mount of transfiguration it was a glorious
body it shined it was it was just it was just beautiful it
was glorious the glory of the lord shown to us shall be like
fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself this
is our sovereign king speaking he shall subdue all things He's
going to take the bodies of God's people that died in Christ, that
have been buried, put out to sea, wherever. He's going to
take them, and He is going to bring them up, resurrect them,
and give them a body like unto His glorious body. And those
that are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, He shall
give them His glorious body. They shall be like Him. They
shall have a body like Him. Sin shall be completely put away
and the fulfillment of all God's Word towards the elect shall
be fulfilled. Salvation will be absolutely
completed then. He promised it at the cross and
He saves us from our sin as He brings us the Word of God and
we're born again by the Holy Spirit. New birth is granted
to His people but we carry along this old Vile body the rest of
our life or until the Lord should come again But the promise is
when he comes again, not only will he reunite our soul with
our body But that body will not be this body. It will be a body
like unto his glorious body What promise that is that he would
give us this great new? Personage that's like unto him. What is it going to be like it
will not sin. I It cannot fall. Sin would put away. No more tears. Glorious relationship with the
Lord Jesus Christ at his feet for eternity. No thought of,
you know, have you ever tried to read the Bible when you go
to bed? What happens? You fall asleep. I fell asleep at my table reading
it. But then, I will hang on every word of God. Hang on every word. Just a bit of trivia. And this
came from the internet, so I know it's correct. I read online that a mother had
15 children and every one of her children had at least 10
children. And when this lady died in 2010,
she had over 2,000 direct descendants. Now when I read that, my chin
dropped. 2,000 direct descendants in her
lifetime. Now how many since then? Now,
that seems like a lot. And, you know, I'm not interested
in that. But I said that to say this,
by comparison, Almighty God has a much larger family. They're all his children, given
to the Son. The Father gave all these children
to the Son. And the Son went to the cross
and died for all these children. And the Holy Spirit has promised
to bring them regeneration in their lifetime to all these children. Now what is it? What is it that
holds the Lord Jesus back? We read in the book of Revelation
that there's a group of the church is just praying, when will you,
when you will bring the end? As persecution goes on, as all
of these things happen, when will you end this? When will
you, oh God, would you end this? And we pray today, my goodness,
can things get any worse? Can things get any worse? When
will you end this? As one of my friends often says,
he has to apologize to God for the way things are. You know,
when will this end? Well, you know, that lady had
15 children. My parents had 10. And distinctly,
my mother or my father could call each one individually. Now, they may go through several
names before they got to the right name, but they could call
their children and they would come. Now all of these children
of God have been born to parents and grandparents and great-grandparents
and they're out in the world. They've been out there since
the time of Adam and they're still scattered abroad throughout
the whole world. Many or a few or one of God's
children is still out there in the world lost. You know how
I know that? Because when the last one is
saved, the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven with the shout and
the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And we shall
be raised with Him. We shall be raised and be with
Him. He is not waiting on anything to be fulfilled except that the
last one is saved. The reason Christ has not returned,
the reason is that all his lost children are not now in the fold. They're not part of his, in his
family at the moment. They don't know him as they shall
know him. That is the promise. So turn
with me, if you would, to 2 Peter 3. In 2 Peter 3, we have the
Apostle Peter writing about this. 2 Peter 3. There in verse 9, 2 Peter chapter
3 verse 9, God's people are so thankful that God keeps His promise. God has kept his promise, he
is keeping his promise, and he will forever keep his promise.
And I use the word promising only because everything else
is in that. All of the promises of God are found in the promise
of God. So here in the book of 2 Peter
chapter 3 and verse 9, the apostle Peter, part of the New Testament
writing, says someone is coming back. Someone is coming back. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise. And you know, God's people say,
thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. As some men
count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish. Now look, we're not gonna even,
well, it's just the usward, that's what he's talking about here.
But that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens now
it is going to be a time when people are not expecting it not
expecting it but don't think for a moment it is going to be
quiet because he goes on to tell us here 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 seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
the all-holy conversation in godliness? So that day shall
come as a thief in the night, but notice the noise of it, the
announcement of it, the coming of the Lord in it, as he promised,
someone is coming back, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back.
Now, what happens at his coming? All of the old writers, every
message I can find Before some of this stuff got started, every
preacher of righteousness was preaching that there's going
to be, just like we find in the scripture, there is going to
be a host of people on the right-hand side, and there's going to be
a great grift of people on the left-hand side. That's what he
says. Well, in the time I have left,
I'd like to read two or three passages of scripture, and one
of them is found in Matthew chapter 24, verse 30. Matthew chapter
24. Matthew what's going to happen
when he comes back? Well, we have an idea some of
it from what we've just read but notice here in the book of
Matthew chapter 24 Matthew chapter 24 verse 30 and 31 And then shall
appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and And then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Verse
31. And he shall send his angels
with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together
his elect from the four winds and from one end of heaven to
the other. All of the elect shall be gathered
together, those that are in the ground, those that are in the
sea, gone, gone, gone for thousands of years. Abel's body shall be
raised. Adam and Eve's bodies shall be
raised. I mean, they've been gone for
a long time. And those who've just passed,
those whose bodies have just passed, they shall be raised. Those that are on this earth
who are alive that belong to Christ at his coming shall also
Go up with him It says they shall all the elect shall be gathered
together now turn with me if you would over to the book of
Matthew chapter 25 Matthew chapter 25 We've looked at this a number
of times in the past, but the relevance is so much here What's
going to happen when he comes back? What's going to happen
when he comes back? Well here in the book of Matthew
chapter 25 beginning with verse 31. I'm not going to read this
whole passage of scripture. I leave that to you. But notice
here. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory. Read that in other places. The
other apostles agree with this. They've been taught of the Holy
Spirit to bring the same message that's been brought. Here's the
word of the Lord about Himself. 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 and before him shall he be gathered
all nations, that's peoples, all peoples from the very first
one created to the last one they shall be gathered and gathered
before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them." Now notice this. This is what God said about the
subject. This is what's going to happen.
There is going to be a judgment, and it will be general, and there
will be everybody present. It says here, "...and he shall
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep
from the goats." And he shall set the sheep on the right hand,
but the goats on the left hand. Then shall the king say, in his
sovereign glory, he shall say, Come ye, blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And not one of those folks realize,
think about, that they deserve this. But it is all of grace. all of grace every bit of it
is of grace now dropping down there just a little bit verse
forty one verse forty one then shall he say also unto them that
are on the left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels ye cursed he cursed. And then it tells us in the latter
part of that, verse 45 and 46, Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of
the least of these, ye shall ye did it not unto me. And they
felt that they had. Their whole system of theology
and works was based upon what they were doing. And these shall
go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life. there's what God said will happen
at the end that's when it's wrapped up when he comes again with a
short shout the voice of the archangel and the trump of God
alright turn with me if you would to 1st Thessalonians 1st Thessalonians
chapter 4 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 7 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and
verse 7 it says Just a moment. Must be second. Let me go over
here to second Thessalonians chapter. Nope, second Thessalonians. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. That's what I'm looking for. Oh, verse 17, excuse me, excuse
me. I'll write that in my notes. Verse 17, 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. That's his promise. That's what
we find the scriptures teach. Now one other passage is found
over in the book of Revelation. I want to read this before we
close. Someone's coming back. It's going
to be victorious. It will be bodily. He'll be victorious
We have the sovereign return to this earth. He's going to
take those that died in Christ in every age Raise them and then
his people that are alive and remain shall be changed in a
moment in a twinkling of an eye And he shall gather them and
then he's going to line them up Those sheep welcome those
goats not so welcome depart in the book of Revelation chapter
20 Verse 11 And I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heavens
fled away and There was found no place for them. Oh Just like
today preaching of the gospel people not for me not for me
and until he brings deliverance, until the gospel comes and he
regenerates us, we'll go through that very same thing. And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were
opened, and another book was opened. This is exactly what
we just read about in the book of Matthew. This is the same
time, the same scene, just some added information. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and the
death and hell deliver up the dead which were in it, the lost. And they were judged every man
according to their works. What did we find the Lord Jesus
share with the folks there in that passage of scripture in
Matthew chapter 25? You know, it's not their works,
it's their His work in them. and the dead and death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire that's exactly what Jesus Christ shared
with those on the left hand side there in the book of Matthew
chapter 25 so for the church we have these words even So come
Lord Jesus. That's what we find there in
the book of Revelation, chapter 22 and verse 20. Even so come
Lord Jesus. As the New Testament is being
closed, we have another statement about someone is coming back
and the church saying, even so come Lord Jesus. Oh, we're just,
Well, we're kind of like the world groaning and travailing,
groaning and travailing in this flesh, looking for that time
when finally the last thing is done. He gives us a new body
like unto his glorious body. And then we will never think
an evil thought again, never have any of that hypocrisy that
we heard about this morning. in the Bible class. We'll not
have that. We'll not try to mask anything. We'll just be face-to-face
with Christ our Savior. Well, the Lord willing, next
week we'll be back in the book of Numbers, and we look forward
to that time. But I really enjoyed looking
at this. It's a very simplistic way of
looking at the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the New Testament.
Someone's coming. Someone's here. and someone is
coming back. Thank you.