Rivals, if you would, to Acts
chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. I've been looking
at this text this week. Just thrilled my soul. Just absolutely
thrilled my soul. Acts chapter 1. Name of the message
is this, same Jesus. Now, four great events shine
out in our Savior's life story. His miraculous birth, His substitutionary
death on Calvary's cross, His glorious resurrection, and His
wonderful ascension up into glory. And think upon this, that the
Son of God was born into this world, and that he died in the room and place of his
people. And the fact that he rose from the dead, that he rose from the grave,
is the warrant of our justification. An assurance of the resurrection
of his people, because since he rose from the dead, Our bodies one day will rise
from the dead. We know that to be absent from
the body is to be present with the Lord. So the moment the believer
dies, their soul goes right to glory. My, oh my. And equally delightful to think
upon is the remembrance of his ascension,
his ascension. No song is sweeter than this.
Thou has ascended on high. Thou has led captivity captive."
What a sweet song. How this fills the born-again
believer in Christ with great joy. Each one of these four points
lead to another, his birth, his death, his resurrection, and
his ascension. They each lead one to another
and lead up to it. And you know what they lead up
to? All four of those together lead up to his second advent, his second coming. Had he not come the first time
in humiliation, he could not have come a second time in glory. It says he comes without a sin
offering unto salvation. First time he came as a substitute,
as a lamb. Next time he comes as the lion
of the tribe of Judah. Conquering king. Conquering king. Boy, that excites my heart. Is
it so for you? Oh, my. Because he died, the believer
can rejoice. In his return, he will come again
and destroy the last enemy, which is death. Which is death. And it is our joy that as a consequence
of his rising, the trump of the archangel, it shall sound for
all his slumbering people. My, oh my. And because he died, we can rejoice,
can't we? We can rejoice. As for his ascension,
he could not come a second time if he had not first descended
back up into glory, right? And we'll start from the ascension
of our Lord here tonight. Picture our Lord walking with
the 11 disciples up to the side of the Mount Oliet. And they come to a standstill.
They come to a standstill, having reached the brow of the hill.
While his disciples are looking, the Lord just ascends into the
clouds. Oh, my. Let's look at Acts chapter
1, verses 6 to 11. Starting in verse 6, when they
therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord,
wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
So again, they're thinking of an earthly kingdom here, aren't
they? They haven't learned yet. They're learning, but they haven't
learned yet that this is going to be a spiritual kingdom, that
God's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. And 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. Right there we know that the
second coming of Christ, no man knows the hour of the day. Only
the Father knows when that is going to happen. So I've said
this before and I'm going to say it again because it's really
worth repeating. Milton Howard once said, if a
man sets a date, you can be sure the Lord isn't coming back on
that day. OK? So just if you hear some guy
say, well, the Lord's coming, or some, it could be a guy or
a lady, saying, oh, the Lord's going to come back, and this
thing. You mark it on your calendar. The sun's going to set that day.
The sun's going to rise that day, and the sun's going to set
that day. No man. That means no man. That means
no man or woman, right? No man. No man or woman knows
the times when the Father hath put in his own power, but ye
shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you,
and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in
all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the
earth." Now, the gospel's going forth right now, isn't it? And
from here, it goes all over the world. We've got countries all
over the world downloading messages from just here, and at Donny's,
and at Norm's, gyms, all over the world. The gospel's going
forth. And God's people rejoice. And when he had spoken these
things, well they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received
him out of their sight. Now, could you imagine that?
You're standing there. Yeah, brother, we can't even
fathom it. You're standing there. with the
Lord. Let's just picture Peter and
them standing there. And all of a sudden, the Lord just starts
to rise off the ground and rise up into the air. Oh my goodness. And there's no
rocket ship. There's no backpack. Fueled backpack rocket backpacks
at least to say nothing like the Lord in his power Just raises
from the ground up and ascends into the glory And they are there
are witnesses of this Now we see We see In here in the next portions
that their reaction is exactly the same as ours would be It
says here, and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, they
watched him go right up. And then they watched him taken
away by a cloud. Two men stood by them in white
apparel. White apparel. That pictures
the righteousness of Christ. And these are angels, though.
But they're holy in the sight of God. which also said, ye men
of Galilee, look at this, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
So they're sitting there, and they're just like, I can imagine
their jaws is probably almost on the ground. They are in awe of what just
happened. And remember, there's no airplanes then. There's no,
none of that stuff. None of that stuff. The only
things they could see fly were birds. And our Lord just, right up. And it says they just stood there
and gazed. Can you imagine? They'd be shocked. See, this
is our Lord, though. This is our God, beloved. He's
the one who has all power. Look at this. Which also said,
ye man of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus, there's the title of our text, this same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, so shall come in like
manner as you have seen him go into heaven. He's coming back.
They said, why are you standing there gazing? He's coming back
again. This same Jesus, the same Jesus
that was standing right in front of them, the same Jesus that
went to Calvary's cross and died upon the cross, The same Jesus,
God incarnate in the flesh. The same Jesus. And the believer
in Christ can say, the same Jesus saved me. He saved my soul, praise
his mighty name. He saved me. Oh, my. And remember that word,
those words in Romans, right? Who can bring any charge against
God's elect? It's God that justifies. My, God looks at us and he sees
us in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful, isn't it? He don't see no fault in us.
He doesn't see our sins. He sees us in Christ. My, absolutely
wonderful. So they're gazing up into heaven.
I could see them standing there just spellbound, can't you? Just
spellbound. Our Lord just ascended. He just
was standing on the ground, and all of a sudden, up he goes. And a cloud comes, and he's gone.
My, oh my. They're riveted. They'd
be riveted to the spot. So would we, wouldn't we? They'd
be literally riveted right there, just gazing up. I could imagine, I'd be like,
is that really real? Did he really do that? Wouldn't
you? Did we really see what we saw? I guarantee you they've never seen
anything like that before. Never. Never. But we see that their contemplation
about this situation is interrupted by two messengers. Two messengers
of God who appear in human form, that they may not alarm them,
and in right to remind them that all was bright and joyous. This
is not a sad occasion. This is a joyful occasion. And we see in verse 12 that they
at once gird themselves after the angel speaks to them, the
two angels speak to them at once. Then returned they unto Jerusalem
from the mount, call all of it, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath
day's journey. They returned to Jerusalem for
active service, beloved. Right? They were the Lord's soldiers.
Off they go. They've received their marching
orders, haven't they? Yes, they have. Oh, my. In these three verses of Holy
Scripture, look at this. We're going to be looking mostly
at this tonight, this verses 9 to 11. They're both solemn and delightful.
They're both instructive and they're practical. Let's read
verses 9 to 11. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received
him out of their sight. 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, ah, the same Jesus, which has
taken up from you into heaven, so shall come in like manner
as ye have seen him go into heaven. He's coming back. That's what
he's telling them. He's coming back the same way
as you saw him go up. He's coming back. He's coming
back. Oh, does that not fill your heart
with joy? Oh, my. Because we know to be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. So if we die before
his second coming, we're going to be in his presence anyways.
But he's coming back. Scripture says he is, and we
believe it. And it fills our hearts. It thrills our hearts.
We are God's people. We're to comfort one another
with these words. We're going to see that in our study in 1
Thessalonians. We're in chapter 4 now, and we're
not quite at the latter part of the Lord's second coming of
the chapter of chapter 4, but we will get there. And we are
to comfort one another with these words. These are words of comfort. I remember telling someone I
was so excited about the second coming of Christ, and they told
me, well, I'm pretty young. I got a lot of life to live.
And I said, man, I want to go home and be with the Lord right
now. I'm ready. And all of us are, aren't we,
as believers? We who are believers, we're ready to go home. And the
Lord just says, no, you need to tarry there for a little while
longer. But don't be afraid, because
I'm always with you. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. I'll guide and direct you, because
I love you with an everlasting love, a love that will never
ever cease." Oh, my. Oh, what a Savior we have. What a Savior we have. So these
disciples are riveted to the spot by these two messengers
of God who appear in human form. Angels had said once to a woman
Why seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here, but
he's risen. That's when he rose from the
grave. And we see in verse 11, these
angels here, they say, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall come, shall come in like manner
as ye have seen him go into heaven. My, oh my. And then we see that our Lord,
he just went up into glory. Well, they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as he went up. Behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel. Yup, he went. And these verses speak of our
Lord's glorious ascension. And this is proof of his deity
as well. You know that? This is proof
of his deity. None can do this but God. Remember,
he just appeared in a room with the disciples. No one can do
that but God. No one. My. So having finished his work,
our Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, ascended into heaven and assumed
his rightful place upon the throne of God as King of kings and Lord
of lords. Turn, if you would, to John 17.
And we're going to see he spoke about this very thing. John 17.
He ascended into his rightful place, beloved. He descended
down from glory, right? To be born, to become a man. He descended down from glory.
He lived upon this earth. He died in the sinner's place.
He was buried, and he rose again. And then he appeared to his disciples,
and then he ascended up into heaven. And he is seated at the
right hand of the Father. Look at this in John 17, verses
1 to 5. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh. Look at that. He has power over
all flesh. Every single, every living, breathing
thing. So the things we can't even see. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal. They might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified
thee on the earth. Look at this. I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do. It's finished. Look at
that. Now that's glorious in itself,
isn't it? Any work that was demanded of
us, Christ, as our substitute, fulfilled it for his people. He said, I finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. Look at this, though. And now,
O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. He's just speaking
of his deity, who he is. He's God. And he's speaking to
the Father. And look at verse five is absolutely
spectacular. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. And what did he do? He ascended
up into glory and is seated at the right hand of the Father
right now. That prayer's been answered. That prayer's been answered.
Scripture declares, to this end Christ both died and rose and
revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.
He's Lord over all. He's Lord over the living. He's
Lord over the dead spiritually. He's Lord over the dead physically,
too. He said, Lazarus, come forth.
And what happened? Lazarus came forth. He didn't say, well, wait.
I haven't decided yet whether I can come. Lazarus was dead. And God in
power called him forth. And that's a picture. That's
a picture of God calling us while we're dead in trespasses and
sins. That's a picture. Put your name there with Lazarus'
name. That's what he did for us in our natural state. And even so, the time appointed
by the Father When the time appointed by the Father comes, our Lord
will come again to this earth, and here come in power, and here
come in glory. Here comes a lion. The lion of
the tribe of Judah hath prevailed, says Revelation, to open the
seals. Oh, I love that title of our
Lord. Just saying, you know, a lion.
I remember seeing a picture. Henry Mann used to always say,
you put stuff on a black background and it just pops out, right?
I'll never forget seeing a picture of a lion, just the head and
the mane. You know, they're king of the
jungle, right? They're the top of the food chain. And someone
had taken a picture and then put it on black. And that lion
just popped out and looked Like a king of the jungle. And I often
think, my king, he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He's a
king of kings and a lord of lords. He appeared to Joshua as a warrior,
didn't he? He is. Oh my, and he's going
to come back in power. How do we know this? Well, the
text makes it quite clear, right? Text makes it quite clear that
he's coming back. But here are some other references. I'm going
to read these. If you want to write them down, the first one
is Revelation 1, 7. Scripture says this. Behold,
he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. And they also
which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of him. Even so, amen. His appearing
is not going to be secret. It's going to be public. Every eye shall see him. My, oh my. Then 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, verses 13 to 18, which is the area we're going to be
studying probably about two or three weeks from now in our Wednesday
night studies, it says this. But I would not have you be ignorant,
brethren. Paul's writing to the Thessalonian believers. He doesn't
want his brothers to be ignorant. He says, I would not have you
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are also which are
asleep, that ye so will not, even as others which have no
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 words 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
with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, 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. And then Paul finishes that wonderful
section about the second coming of Christ with these words. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words. Oh, what comfort we can
find. contemplating the return of our
king. And whether he comes back in
our life, or whether he comes back when we're gone, he's coming
back. He is coming back. 2 Thessalonians
1, yeah, chapter 1, verses 7 to 10 also says this, and to you
who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, Oh, he's coming
in power with his mighty angels. Now, remember, one angel killed
100,000 men, right? They're mighty angels, all right.
They're mighty angels, but they're under his control. In flame and fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to those words. in flame
and 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. Hell is real. That's what the scripture says
here. 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 in all them that believe, because our testimony
among you was believed in that day. Now, here are four things, four
things, that are of our paramount importance. Let us be sure to understand
them by the grace of God. Number one, the Lord Jesus Christ
has ascended into heaven. We see that in the text. It says
this. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld
in verse nine, he was taken up and a cloud received him out
of their sight. Turn if you would to Luke chapter
24, Luke chapter 24. Oh, he's coming. And he really
did ascend into glory. He ascended into heaven. Luke 24 verses 50 to 53, and
he led them out as far as to Bethany. And he lifted up his
hands and blessed them. And they came to pass while he
blessed them. He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
Look at that. Carried up into heaven. And they
worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and
were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. Look at that, though. We can be sure Christ ascended
because the scriptures declare that. Look at verse 51. And it
came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them
and carried up into heaven. Oh, it's marvelous, isn't it?
And think of this, because he rose, we're going to rise too. Because he's the head and we're
what? The body. So where the head is,
the body soon falls, doesn't it? It sure does. So what is the meaning of the
ascension? Why was the Lord Jesus Christ taken up into heaven?
What happened to the Son of God when he went back to glory clothed
in human flesh? And what is he doing in heaven?
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended back into heaven to claim his
rightful place as king of the universe. Listen to this in Daniel chapter
7. I saw in the night visions, and
behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven,
and came to the Ancient of Days. And they brought him near before
him, and there was given him dominion and glory. And our Lord
has all dominion and glory, doesn't he, in a kingdom. Listen to this. That all people,
nations, and language, we know that God's people are of a kindred
tongue and nation. This is Daniel 7. You want to
write it down, 13 and 14. Out of all people, nations, and
languages should serve him. Should serve him. And then it
says this, his dominion is an everlasting dominion. That's
our king. That's talking about our king. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away. And his kingdom,
that which shall not be destroyed. So the father's reward to the
son For his meditatorial obedience is our substitute, his dominion
over all things." He has full dominion over all things. God
the Father has put all things into hands and under the rule
of King Jesus, the God-man, mediator. And in heaven, the Son of God
is carrying on his great inaccessory work. Turn, if you would, to
1 John 2. He's carrying on his great intercessory
work as our advocate and as our high priest. He's entered into
heaven with his own blood. He sat down upon the throne of
God, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He sat down. The work's finished. He sat down. And when one sits down, they're
resting, aren't they? He sat down. Why? And by virtue of the blood of
Christ, he offers continual intercession for his redeemed people. That's
wonderful for we sinners, isn't it? We save sinners. Look at
this in 1 John chapter 2, verse 1 and 2. Wonderful verses here. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. We sin more than we want to,
don't we? Absolutely. We don't want to sin, but we
sin more than we want to. And if any man sin, look at this.
We have an advocate. Praise God for the heavenly advocate. Praise God for the heavenly advocate.
Who's the advocate with? Well, the one we sinned against.
Never forget, we sinned against God. But we have an advocate. God's people have an advocate
with the Father. What's his name? Jesus Christ. Look at this. The
righteous. The righteous. That can be said
of no other man. And nor the woman, and nor the
child on this earth. The righteous. That's who he
is. He is the righteous one. The righteous. And then it goes
on. It gets even better. It gets even better. It really
does. Look at this. And he is the propitiation
for our sins. He is the offering for the sins
of his people. That means he's appeased the
wrath of God that was against him. Remember this morning I
said the wrath that was due me and due you as a believer, fell
upon him. He's our propitiation. I remember
hearing one fellow preach on this one time and he said, Christ
has extinguished the wrath of God against us. My. He's extinguished it. That gives
God's people hope. That's a hope like no other hope.
He's our propitiation for our sins. Remember, he's
the sinless one. He's the propitiation for the
sins of his people, and not for ours only, but also for the sins
of the whole world, for all the elect of all the ages. My, my. And through the virtue of his
blood, all the blessings of grace are bestowed upon his people.
bestowed upon God's elect, and the exalted Christ has claimed
and taken possession of heaven as the forerunner of his people.
He's the forerunner of us, isn't he? He's the one who's led captivity.
The head goes before the body. Scripture says we're already
seated in heavenly places. That's because we're in Christ. My. The exalted Christ has claimed
and taken possession of heaven as the forerunner again of his
people. He has claimed all the inheritance of heaven's glory
for all God's elect, for all whom his blood was shed, for
all whom shall believe upon him. Do you believe on him? Is he your savior? Is he a rest? Is he a redeemer? Oh, the believer
says, yes, yes, he's everything to me. And our Savior took his place
upon the throne of glory, and he's there right now. He's there
right now. And he secured everlasting salvation,
the everlasting salvation of all his redeemed. He's purchased
it. He's obtained eternal redemption
for us. It's already a finished work. Do you see how it's not about
us? We saw today that it was impossible
for men or women to save themselves this morning, right? Utterly
impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. He's the propitiation for our
sins, the just one, the holy one. My, oh my. And he purchased every single
one of his sheep by the shedding of his precious blood on Calvary's
cross. And right now he reigns in glory. And those whom he has purchased
with his precious blood 2,000 years ago, every single one of
them will be with him in glory forever. And we're all gonna sing praises
to him. Heaven's anthem is give him all
the glory, isn't it? And to him that has redeemed
us with his own blood, purchased our eternal souls.
So his ascension is so important because now he's in glory. We
know we're going to be going to glory one day. One day we
will. Romans says this, for if when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
How much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
He wills all things for the salvation of his people. Remember that,
too. All things happen according to God's plan, doesn't it? For
the good of his people. There's a reason all this stuff
is happening now. Now, we don't understand it.
But God's working it all out according to the good of his
people, and most of all, for his glory. for his glory. He'd be glorified. My, oh, my. This pandemic come along. No
one's experienced that. We haven't in our lifetime experienced
anything like this. But it's all working out for
his glory and for our good. Sure made me cherish church even
more and cherish you all more. It really did. Not being able
to see each other in the flesh, my, oh, my. It was hard. And praise God,
he's allowed us to come back together. And it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Secondly, the Lord Jesus Christ
is coming again. Let's read Acts 1, verses 10
and 11. And while he looked steadfastly
up toward heaven as he went up, and 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." Well, here's a cause of great
rejoicing for God's people. God sent these two angels with,
now remember too, this is a word of promise. This is a word of promise, beloved. This is a word of promise to
his, beloved children. Why? So that we might have a
hope. We know our hopes in Christ. When we go through this world
and slug through the things in this world, our hope is constantly
Christ. Do you wait for His imminent
return? Of course we do. We also wait
if He takes us home before He comes, don't we? Our lives are in his hands, but
we live in anticipation of his coming, don't we? And again, he does not intend
for us to know the time. The Father does not intend for
us to know the time of the Lord's appearing. But we can see here,
there's a certainty of it, isn't there? This is a promise of God. My. This same Jesus, which is
taken up from you into heaven, so shall come in like manner,
as ye have seen him go into heaven. So the second advent of Christ
is a matter of certainty. And we wait for the Lord to return,
don't we? Be it in our lifetime, or be
it when we're gone. Scripture says this, for our
conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We look to Him. We look to Him
while we're on this earth. We look to His return. If He
comes during our lives, it'll be glorious, won't it? Could
you imagine just being translated in the twinkling of an eye and
to be with the Lord? No more pain, no more back pain,
no more hip pain, no more feet pain, nothing. No more sickness,
no more sorrow. It'll be glorious, won't it? So this promise here of our Lord's
return ought to cheer our hearts, eh? It should cheer the hearts
of the believer, enliven our souls, and encourage our hope
in Christ. Because it's He who's coming. And there's a certainty here
that He's going to return again. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses
16 and 17 says, for the Lord himself shall descend. He's coming
back. The Lord himself is coming back.
That's evident in our text. The same Jesus, the Lord, which
is taken up from you into heaven, so shall come in like manner
as you've seen him go into heaven. And we read there, and we read
there, Second Thessalonians, where he's
coming back with flame and fire and vengeance. It'll be a glorious
appearing. It'll be a glorious appearing.
Absolutely glorious. In Christ's coming will be a
personal bodily event. He's coming. The Lord himself
is coming. Behold, he cometh with clouds. And every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him. And all the kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. That's a very
public return. That's a bodily return. That's
why they said this same Jesus you saw rise up, he's coming
again. Same one. Same one. That's the same one we're going
to see in glory. The second we breathe our last breath here
and we enter into the land of the living, because right now
we dwell in the land of the dead, beloved. Dead spiritually. When we enter
into the land of the living, we're going to see them face
to face. Oh, my. Makes you homesick for
heaven, doesn't it? Even so, come quickly, Lord,
Paul wrote. My, my, oh, my. And his coming will
be the consummation of our salvation. Also, Roman 10.11 says this. In that knowing the time that
is now, now is nigh. OK, I'm going to start again. In that knowing the time that
now, it is high time to awake out of the sleep. For now is
our salvation nearer than when we believe, Romans 13.11. It's
the consummation of our salvation. Ephesians 1.14 says this, which
is the earnest of our inheritance, that being the spirit in us,
until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
his glory. My, oh my. To be in the presence of the
Lord, to have a glorified body. My, oh my. And again, our Lord's going to
appear suddenly. Turn if you would to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. It'll be a very public appearing, and it'll be just
suddenly. Suddenly. That's what the scripture declares.
Look at this. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses
1 to 6. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, again,
He's calling his fellow saints brethren. You have no need that I write
unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as what? A thief in the night. And that's the great day. For when they shall say, peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon
a woman with child. And they shall not escape. No
one will escape the wrath of God, except the elect of God. But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness. Look at that. That that day should overtake
you as a thief. Ye are what? Children of the
light. Look at that. children of the
light, my, and children of the day. We are not of the night
nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. Keep our eyes on Christ. Keep our eyes on Christ, no matter
what. No matter what. And that's a lesson that we learn
all our days upon this earth. We never stop learning that,
do we? Never. We need to keep our eyes
on Christ. The third point is, our Lord's
Second Advent will be a climactic consumption of God's eternal
purpose. It'll be, it's over. Look at Acts chapter 3. Acts
chapter 3. The climactic consumption of God's
eternal purpose. Acts chapter 3 verses 19 to 21. Repent ye therefore and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send
Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven
must receive until the times of restitution of all things,
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began. Our God has an eternal purpose. In reading the scriptures, it
appears that once our Lord appears in the second advent, everything
that will happen will happen with great speed. With great swiftness, the Lord
will wrap up his work among men. The resurrection of the dead,
the great day of judgment, the burning up of this earth, and
then a new creation, the final separation of the righteous and
the wicked, all seem to take place in a matter of moments. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
5. There will be a general resurrection.
Every single person on this earth who's ever lived shall stand
before the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Pilate, Caiaphas, Hitler, everybody. Me, you, we all stand
before the Lord. John chapter 5, verses 28 and
29. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice
and shall come forth. They that have done good unto
the resurrection of life. They'll only do good because
they're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. John chapter 5, verses
28 and 29. And shall come forth they that
have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation. The dead shall be raised. The
living saints shall be changed, translated in a moment, and gathered
out of the earth. Yet all men and women, shall
stand before the Lord and be judged by him according to the
strict standards of his inflexible justice. And that justice of God is inflexible. And everyone will receive exactly
what they're due. But this, the righteous, The
righteous who have been made righteous by the grace of God
in Christ shall inherit glory. We don't get what to do with
us because it fell upon Christ, but it fell upon somebody, didn't
it? It fell upon the substitute. And the wicked shall be cast
into hell. And our God shall indeed make
all things new. There'll be a new heavens and
a new earth wherein dwell righteousness." No sin, righteousness, no curse
on this earth or the new earth, none at all. And this will be a glorious rest
for God's people. Scripture declares this in Hebrews,
there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he
that has entered into his rest, that being Christ, he hath also both ceased from
his own works as God did from his. So the born-again, blood-washed
believer, we've ceased from our works. We've ceased from trying
to justify ourselves before God, haven't we? And we rest in Christ. That's found over there in Hebrews
chapter 4 verses 9 and 10, if you want to write that down.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. And that's
Christ. That's Christ in him alone. For he that is entered
into his rest. Have you entered into the rest
of Christ? He says, come unto me, all ye that are weary and
heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And it's a glorious rest,
isn't it? But he who has entered into his
rest, he also ceased from his own works, just as God did from
his. He rested on the seventh day,
didn't he? He completed the works and rested. Christ completed
the work of our salvation. Now we just rest in him, don't
we? We just rest in him. You know, that's the hardest
thing for us to do. I've said that many times from here, from this pulpit,
and that is the hardest thing for the believer to do, just
to rest, just to trust him, just to trust him. And in heaven's
glory, the triune God and all the countless multitude of his
elect will enter into an eternal Sabbath. Eternal Sabbath, eternal rest.
And in heaven's glory, we will rest from all our troubles. Think
of that. We'll rest from all our troubles. We'll rest from
all our works. And there we shall worship God.
We shall serve him with joy. We will serve him with gladness,
and we will love him completely. You know why? Because right now
we love him and we're sinners. But in glory, we're going to
love him completely, without sin. My. Last point is this. The one who
is coming for us, The text says it's this same Jesus. That's
wonderful. Let's go back to our text. We'll
read verses 6 to 11. When they, therefore, were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at 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 hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all 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, you man of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus. The same Jesus that came from
heaven. The same Jesus who walked in the land of Israel. The same
Jesus who went to the cross, set his face like a flint to
Jerusalem to die for the sins of his people. The same Jesus whose hands were
pierced, and his feet were pierced, and his side was pierced. And
they plated upon him a crown of thorns. This same Jesus who cried, it is finished, and
gave up the ghost willingly. And he was buried in the tomb.
and rose again on the third day, this same Jesus, who ascended
up into glory in the presence of these apostles, this same
Jesus, beloved, is coming again. This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, so shall come in like manner as ye have
seen him go into heaven. So these angelic messengers,
now take comfort in this, these angelic messengers assure God's
people that the Lord will never forget his people. He will never
forget his people. The one coming to bring us home
to glory is the very same Jesus who died to redeem our eternal
souls. The same Jesus who is full of
love and sympathy for his people. same Jesus who bought in everlasting
righteousness same Jesus who obtained eternal redemption for
us same Jesus who was raised from the dead for our justification
the same Jesus is coming again this is a promise promise from
God for us for his people Whether he comes for us on our deathbed,
or whether we're alive when he comes again, he's coming for
us. This same Jesus, the same Jesus you trust your eternal
soul to if you're one of his people, this same Jesus is coming
again. The same Jesus who has now gone
into heaven and is right now seated at the right hand of the
Father. The same Jesus who right now is in the presence of God,
is our mediator. This same Jesus, who now sits
upon the universal throne of glory, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, who rules over all things, this same Jesus shall
come again. Praise his name. Praise his name. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for giving us the opportunity to be here and to look at this
wonderful portion, O Lord. And we believe we are your people.
We believe because the scriptures say, you are coming back. We know that whether it be when
we die, we'll be in thy presence. Lord, if we're alive at your
return, we'll be in your presence. Glory to you, Lord, because the
only reason we will be is all because of thy mercy and all
because of thy grace freely bestowed upon us. upon your people by
the choosing of God the Father in eternity." My, how we marvel
at that. How we marvel that the same one
who right there, you Lord, right there before your apostles just
ascended right up into heaven. My, you're coming back. Our great hope, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, he prevailed. and you're coming again. Praise
your mighty name. Amen.