Well, good morning, everyone.
If you would open your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 13, where
we'll be studying from this morning, Mark chapter 13. Before we begin,
let's bow before our Lord. Our Father, we come into your
courts this morning with great reverence, with humility, And
Father, with great thanksgiving, how thankful we are that sinful
men and women like us can come before your throne of grace and
have our prayer heard, be accepted, not because of anything that
we've done or anything about us, but accepted in the beloved.
And we have so much to be thankful for. but chiefly how we thank
you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for his obedience,
which is our only righteousness. We thank you for his blood, which
is the only hope that we have of the cleansing of our sin and
forgiveness of our sin. And father, I pray this morning
that by your spirit that you would enable us to worship him,
that the name of your son would be lifted up and exalted as your
people would see with the eye of faith that we'd see and that
you give us a heart of faith to believe the things of our
Lord Jesus Christ that we hear, cause us to believe Him and run
to Him and rejoice in Him, enable each of us to leave here this
morning rejoicing in Christ our Savior. And what we pray for
ourselves, we pray especially for our children's class that
You would bless this time that you might be pleased to take
this teaching of the word and plant the seeds of faith in their
heart and cause it to grow, Father. Cause it to grow to full faith
in Christ. Cause them in your time to see
who and what they are and to run to Christ. Of all of our
desires for our children, this is our chief prayer. Father,
that you would be merciful to them. And we dare not forget
to pray for your people that are going through times of great
difficulty and heartache, sorrow, trial. We pray especially for
our brother Gary Holback that, Father, you continue to be with
him and heal him. We thank you for the good report
so far and pray that you continue to heal him, be with him and
Janie during this difficult time. We pray for Novi Sparks as she's
awaiting this surgery, Father, that you'd use it to touch her
body and heal her and help her. Others that need you especially,
Father, we pray that you'd meet their need. And how thankful
we are to know you are able to meet their need, comfort their
hearts, heal and deliver according to thy will. All these things
we ask in that name which is above every name, the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. I titled the lesson this morning,
Christ is coming again. I've told you this before as
we've been studying through this chapter that there is a prophecy
here of the destruction of Jerusalem, which would come roughly 70 AD,
some 35 years or so after our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection. And when the Lord comes to destroy
Jerusalem, he's showing he is destroying. He is ending this
way of worship, him through the law and through the ceremonies.
And he's gonna destroy that. The Jews rejected him and he
gave them what they wanted. Now he's gonna send the Roman
army to destroy them. But also as the Lord talks about
the destruction of Jerusalem, he's giving us a picture also
of his second coming. and the destruction of the world
and these things that will happen when he comes. And there can't
be any question from reading the scripture that Christ is
coming again. You know, the whole Old Testament
tells us someone's coming, someone's coming, someone's, our Savior's
coming, he's coming. The gospel tells us he's here
and here's what he's come to do to save his people from their
sin. And it gives us an account of
his earthly ministry showing us what he did to save his people
from their sin. And the epistles tell us what
they expand on, I guess is what you'd say, what Christ has done
for his people, how it is that he saved his people from their
sin. And all the epistles tell us he's coming again. The Old
Testament scriptures promised that he would come. The gospels
tells us he did come. And the epistles are telling
us without question, he is coming again. But you don't just have
to read the New Testament to find out Christ is coming again.
I love this, that they say that the book of Job is the oldest
recorded writing in scripture, that Job lived before Moses lived,
and Job knew about Christ's second coming before Christ even came
the first time. Job talked about that. I know
in the latter day, my redeemer, he liveth, I'm gonna see him,
he's gonna stand on this earth, and I'm gonna see him with these
eyes, and he won't be a stranger. He talked about his second coming
before he even came the first time. The Lord told the Pharisees,
well before they put him to death, he's coming again. You're gonna
see the Son of Man sitting on the throne, coming in the clouds
of heaven. And what's the first thing the
angels told the disciples after the Lord ascended back into the
clouds? They stood there, their mouths
hanging open, and the Lord just descended into the clouds, and
the angels said, you men of Galilee, what are you staring up in the
heavens for? This same Jesus that you've seen ascend or descend
in like manner, he's coming again. So this is no secret that the
Lord is coming again, but we don't know when. I don't know
for sure all the events that are gonna surround our Lord's
coming. Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish, is the Lord talking
about the destruction of Jerusalem or is he talking about events
that will happen immediately before he comes? I don't really
know. But you know what? I don't need
to know. I don't need to know when he's
coming. And it's good for us not to know when he's coming.
It really is. And you have to wait a little
bit, but the message this morning, I'll make good on that. It's
not good for us to know when, when the Lord's coming, all we
need to know is that he is coming. And even though we know very
little about the Lord's return, we know really nothing about
the events that's gonna surround it, what it's gonna look like,
what's gonna happen, there are some things about the Lord's
return that we do know. And these things, just like all
other scripture, they're not written for prophecy so somebody
can figure out the time that the Lord's coming. These things
are written that we might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
hearing these things about the Lord's return, if you're a believer,
don't let people scare you about all these events that are gonna
happen, you know, right before the Lord returns or when the
Lord's return. These things are written for
our comfort. For the believer, this is a comforting
truth. The Lord is coming again. He's
coming again to get his people. He's not leaving us here. So
the first thing that, what our Lord's teaching his disciples
in our text about his return is this. There's nothing but
Christ that will last. Look at verse 24 of Mark 13. But in those days after that
tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon should
not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall and the
powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. Now this, could be
talking about actual events, that the sun will quit shining
and the stars will fall out of the sky. But I really don't think
so. I really don't think that's what
the Lord's talking about here. He's talking about spiritual
things. And he's saying that before he
returns, there's gonna be a time of great darkness. And that darkness
is not the sun not shining, it's the darkness that's gonna cover
the whole earth, the darkness of ignorance, the darkness of
unbelief. And there won't be darkness because
there's no religion. No, the earth is gonna be full
of religion. The problem is, it's false religion.
It's false religion. And in that religion, it's just,
it promotes darkness. The darkness of unbelief, the
darkness of ignorance. Because in false religion, the
sun, the S-O-N, does not shine. He can't shine because they don't
preach him. They don't declare him. And the moon, the church, which
is supposed to reflect the light of Christ, is not reflecting
the light of Christ if Christ is not being preached. So you
see how that promotes darkness, doesn't it? The darkness of ignorance,
the darkness of unbelief. And the Lord talks about the
stars falling from the heaven and the things in the heavens
being shaken. He's talking about those things
that we think are constants, things that we think are sure,
things that we think cannot change, things that we think are so stable
it will always be. I mean, what's the phrase that
we use? Well, it's sure as the sun's
gonna rise in the morning. These things that we think are
stable, one day, every single one of them's gonna fail. And
he's not talking, remember, about the things in the heavens. It's
about people and things that we think are so true. Every foundation
that is not Christ alone will be shaken so that it fails. And
anything built on that false foundation is going to fail too. We think they're so sure and
everlasting, but if it's not built on Christ, if it's not
Christ alone, it will fail. And in that day when Christ returns,
when those things that we thought in the flesh were constant, and
Christ comes and he puts them all away, in that day when he
appears again, it's no different than today,
but we'll see it so clearly in that day. All that matters is
trusting Christ. All that matters is believing
him. Now that's true today. Right now, today, As we sit and
listen to gospel and we leave and get in our cars and go out
to dinner or go back home or whatever, you remember this.
The only thing that matters is if we trust Christ or not. Now,
I know we have other responsibilities and things to take care of. Sean,
we got a lot of honeydew jobs, don't we? I mean, there's things,
you know, but what really matters? is do I trust Christ or not?
And in that day, it will be so crystal clear. This is all that
matters because everything else is going to be shaken so that
it fails. And if you look back at Amos
chapter seven, that is on page, if you got the
same Bible, I do 1146, Daniel, Jose, Joel, and Amos. What our Lord here is talking
about is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos. Amos chapter eight and verse
seven. The Lord has sworn by the excellency
of Jacob, surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall
not the land tremble for this and everyone more than dwelleth
therein and it shall rise up holy as a flood and it shall
be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt. And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause
the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the
clear day, and I'll turn their feasts into mourning. These are
their religious feasts that they observe, that they put so much
stock in, that they think this is their righteousness, and they
celebrate that. I'll turn their feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation, And I'll bring sackcloth upon
all loins, and baldness upon every head, and I'll make it
as the morning of an only sun, and the end thereof as a bitter
day. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord God, that I'll send a famine in the land, and not
a famine of bread, nor thirst for water, but of hearing of
the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea
to sea, and from north even to east, and they shall run to and
fro to seek the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it. That's
the day that the Lord is talking about, this day of darkness that's
across the whole world. It's a famine of the word of
God. It's a famine of preaching the word of God so that people
believe it. And this is gonna happen before
the Lord returns. That's what he tells us. Anything
not built on his word will be destroyed. I have no idea when the Lord's
coming, but that's happened, hasn't it? This darkness that's
covered the world. And for the unbeliever, this
day of Christ's return will be the worst day of their life. I mean, we just can't even imagine
the horror of Christ returning and us not believing him and
him saying, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I never knew
you. It'll be the worst day of their
life. Well, here's the second thing, look back in our text.
The second coming of Christ. Now Christ, he is coming. He's
coming after a time of great darkness in the earth. And the
second thing is this, his second coming is gonna be very different
from his first coming. Verse 24. That's not it, verse 26. And
they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great
power and glory. When Christ returns, Everyone
in the whole earth is gonna see him at the same time. Now how
can that be given that the world is a globe? I have no idea. And
I don't have to understand it, just every eye's gonna see him,
I know that. Like lightning flashing across the sky in a dark night,
in this time of darkness, the ignorance of darkness and the
darkness of unbelief, when Christ appears, his glory is gonna be
seen by every eye. And that's very different from
his first coming, isn't it? In his first coming, our Lord
came quietly in the middle of the night. Almost nobody knew
it. When Christ comes again, it's gonna be in such brightness,
every eye will see it. When our Lord came the first
time, very few people saw him, didn't they? People saw him physically,
but they didn't see him with the eye of faith. They didn't
see him so that they know who he is. When he comes a second
time, Everybody's gonna know who he is. There will be no doubt. Everyone's gonna know who this
is. When the Lord came the first
time, few worshiped him. Very, very few. When he comes
the second time, every knee's gonna bow, aren't they? Every
tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every knee's
gonna bow. When Christ came the first time,
he came as a sin bearer. He came as the sacrifice to be
abused and slaughtered. When he comes a second time,
he's coming as the judge. He won't be in men's hands to
do with as they want. He's gonna be the judge. He's
coming as king over all. The first time he came, very
lowly. So lowly in such a low estate,
but when he comes a second time, he's coming in all of his glory.
And when Christ comes, his people are gonna see that. We're gonna
see his glory. The songwriter said, what a day
that'll be. What a day. Well, here's the
third thing. Now remember to the unbeliever,
Christ's second coming will be the worst day of their life.
But for the believer, it's the best day of their life. If you're
a believer, you don't fear the Lord's return. Look forward to
it with joy and great anticipation because it will be the best day
of your life. Verse 27. And then shall he send
his angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds
and from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part
of heaven. There's no reason for the believer
to fear what we just read. We should rejoice as we look
forward to, we should long for it. When Christ returns, he's
gonna gather all of his people out of this world to meet him
in the air is what Paul said, taken out of this world so that
you who believe will not be in this world when it's destroyed.
Now we know that when the Lord returns, he's going to burn up
this creation. He's going to create new heavens
and a new earth where in dwells righteousness. Somewhere in scripture,
it talks about what the elements being on melting with this fervent
heat and woo, that sounds frightening to be in the world when God comes
to destroy it, doesn't it? But God's people won't be in
it when it's destroyed. God's people can't be in this
world when he destroys it any more than rain could fall on
Noah. Not one single drop of rain. That rain was a picture of God's
wrath against sin. Not one drop of rain ever fell
on Noah. Not one drop of God's judgment fell until Noah was
safe in that ark. And the ark took every drop of
rain meant for Noah. Fire and brimstone could not
fall and destroy Sodom until Lot was out of it. The Lord told
Lot, you got to get out of here because I can't destroy this
place while you're in it. Because Christ has already borne
this judgment for you. So you don't have to worry about
suffering this judgment. Now, if Christ already suffered
for you, he's gonna gather his people out of this world. I would say the two things that
trouble a believer most are these, living in this world of sin.
Isn't that, I mean, it is so troubling to be a pilgrim trudging
through this place. It's awful, isn't it? Well, what
a day when the Lord comes and gathers his people out of it.
That's wonderful, I can't wait. And the second thing that troubles
a believer is my own flesh, to have to trudge through this world
of sin in a body of sin. But when Christ returns and he
gathers his people together out of this world, he's gonna make
his people just like him so that we will not live in these bodies
of sin anymore. Look at 1 John chapter three.
1 John 3 verse 2. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God. You who believe, you're the sons
and daughters of God right now. You'll never be more of a son
or more of a daughter than you are right now. Now are we the
sons of God. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be. We're still in these bodies of
sin and we carry around this nature of sin. So it does not
yet appear what we shall be, but we know. This is what we're
looking forward to. When he shall appear, we shall
be like him for we shall see him as he is. Can you think of
anything more thrilling to your soul to think that you're going
to be made just like Christ and you're going to see him as he
is. No more seeing him through with
the eyes of faith through a glass darkly, but you're going to see
him as he is. I don't fear that, do you? I
long for that. Hasten, Lord, the day. And when
Christ returns, his people are gonna see him. We're gonna see
him as he is and we'll always see him. Here's another thing
that frustrates a believer. There are times when the Lord
lets you worship. I mean, you worship. By faith, You see Christ so clearly,
you see, oh, you're just, you're so thrilled. And 10 minutes later,
you can't remember what the preacher, what his text was, what his subject
was, and, oh, you're so frustrated, I don't see it like I did just
a little bit ago. When we see Christ as he is,
we're gonna always see him, we'll never not see him again. Look
at 1 Thessalonians chapter four. 1 Thessalonians chapter four, verse
16. For the Lord himself, he's not
just sending someone else, the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout with the voice of the arch angel, with
the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then
we, which are alive and remain should be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall
we ever be with the Lord always with him and look at Paul says
next, wherefore comfort one another with these words. Don't, don't
use the second coming Christ. Try to scare people and doing
something. This teaching of Christ's second coming is a comfort for
God's people. We're not always gonna be like
this. We're not always gonna be here. There's a day coming
that we're gonna see the Lord as he is. We're gonna be made
like him. This is gonna be an answer to
his prayer in John 17. Father, I will, that all those
that you've given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. One day we will and we'll never
not see him again. So this is a thrilling event
to look forward to. The second coming of Christ is
gonna be the best day of any believer's life. All right, now
here's the fourth thing. As we talk about the Lord's second
coming and we read these things in scripture about the Lord's
second coming It does sound like there's all these terrifying
events that are surrounding the Lord's second coming. And we
might, you know, try to think, well, you know, that means the
Lord is coming, you know, in 2025. I mean, I hope so, but you can't figure that out.
Use your common sense about this thing. Look what the Lord says
in verse 28. Now learn a parable of fig tree.
When her branches yet tender and put forth leaves, you know
that summer is near. So ye in like manner, when you
shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even
at the doors. The Lord uses this parable of
the fig tree, something that somebody in that area of the
world would know exactly what he's talking about. When you
see a certain amount of growth of leaves on the fig tree, well,
you know summer's about here, and you know the fruit is coming
very, very soon. And when he talks about this,
remember now, The Lord cannot be talking in this parable that,
oh, you can see these signs and know that any minute the Lord's
coming. He cannot be talking about his second coming here,
because we'll look at this more next week. Nobody knows when
the Lord's coming, and nobody can figure out when the Lord's
coming. You can't see these signs and say, oh, you know, the Lord,
it's gonna be months, it's gonna be very soon. You know, it doesn't
take a whole lot of spiritual light to compare scripture with
scripture. I know people just take this
verse and they take it out of context and say that you're gonna
be able to tell when the Lord's coming and so forth. No, you're
not. Just compare scripture with scripture. Just across the page,
the Lord's telling us. You can't figure it out. No man
knows when he's coming. I sure do think that the Lord's
coming soon. I mean, I hope so. I probably think that because
that's what I really hope. I sure hope the Lord's coming
soon. But it could be another thousand years. You know, to
the Lord, it's just been two days since the Lord has sent
him back to glory. Thousand years is a day, days
is a thousand. It's just been two days. If he
waits just one more day, it's gonna be a thousand years. You
know, none of us are gonna be here anymore. The Lord here is
not talking about, in this parable, his second coming, he's talking
about the destruction of Jerusalem that's gonna happen after his
death and after his ascension back into glory. And you know,
the Jews that lived in that day, and I'll deal with this more
also in the message this morning, thought when the Lord said that,
that this destruction of Jerusalem was gonna happen any day, and
that the Lord was gonna return again any day. And the destruction
of Jerusalem didn't happen for over 30 years. So just you, this
is, the whole lesson was spent on this last week. Use your common
sense about these things now. If there's persecution coming
and you can see it coming, flee from it. Just, you know, flee
from it. Use some common sense here about
these matters of the Lord's return. Since we don't know that when
the Lord's gonna return, keep taking care of your business.
Keep taking care of what the Lord's given you to take care
of. Let's keep preaching the gospel. Think, well, the Lord's
returning tomorrow, so no sense in us preaching and meeting together
to worship today. We don't know. So let's keep preaching. Let's
keep studying the word. Let's keep praying. Let's keep
looking to Christ. I know that takes faith, but
it also seems like a lot of common sense, doesn't it? And here's
the last thing about the Lord's return. Until he returns, be
taken up with this book. Look what the Lord says in verse
31. Heaven and earth shall pass away. The Lord's gonna burn this
place up and create new heaven and new earth. Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. This word
will never change. It'll be just as true in glory
as it is today. I'm sure we'll have a better
understanding of it. We'll have a perfect understanding, a perfect
knowledge, but it's still going to be just as true then as it
is today. As we go through this life, make
much of the word of God. I don't know when the Lord's
coming, but I know he's coming. And by God's grace, I know who's
coming. This book is not given to us
to figure out when the Lord's coming. This book is written
so that we will believe on this one who's coming and he's coming. He's coming. And no matter how
you count time, it's going to be soon. It's going to be soon. Paul said in Philippians four
verse five, the Lord's at hand. I mean, he's right here. The
Lord is at hand. His return is at hand. Peter
told us in first Peter three verse 10 that the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night. I mean, it's just
going to be, we're looking for it and we're going to be surprised.
It's just going to come as a thief in the night. The Lord said in
Revelation 3 verse 11, behold, I come quickly. I come quickly. The Lord's coming soon. His second
return, I mean, it could be A thousand years, 10,000 years, I just have
no idea. A thousand years is a day, the
Lord waits a week. That's not very far away. I don't know when he's coming,
but he could come for me way before his second coming. One
way or another, I'm gonna see the Lord soon. You will too. It's gonna be soon. Some of us
are younger than others. but you'd be shocked how fast
you go from 20 to 60. I mean, it's shocking. It's so
shocking. The Lord's coming soon. So since
he's coming soon, be taken up with this book. Be taking up
with what this book teaches. This book teaches Christ. It
teaches us that all of salvation is found in him. then seek him
to have it. Beg him to give it to you. Be
taken up with the preaching of him. Righteousness is not a cooperative
effort between me and Christ. Christ is my righteousness. He's
all of our righteousness. Eternal life, it's all in Christ. He's earned it for his people.
He dies so his people will never die. And it's his to give. That's
found in this book. Seek it. how much we need the forgiveness
of our sin. People worry about meeting God
in judgment. You know why they're worried about it? My sin. But if I seek in this book Christ
and I find the forgiveness of my sin in him, I got nothing
to fear. I got nothing to fear. I think it'll be all right if
I say this. If not, Gary will forgive me.
I saw him Friday before he had that surgery, and the man had
a smile on his face. I mean, he did. He had a smile
on his face. He said, Frank, either way, I'm
going to be healed. I'm going to be better. Either
this surgery is going to be successful, and if it's successful, the doctors
tell me I'm going to feel better, I'm going to have so much more
energy, I'm going to be surprised how much better I feel. or I'm
gonna wake up and see my Redeemer face to face, and I'm gonna be
the happiest guy you know. One way or, there was no fear. You don't have reason to fear
if Christ has forgiven your sin, do you? There's no reason. This
world is a tough place to live. I mean, it's tough. These bodies
are tough places to live. Seek these precious promises. in God's word, these comforting
promises that will never fail. The sun and the moon and the
stars, the mountains and the sea, they're all gonna be destroyed,
they're all gonna be washed away, but the truth of this book will
never end. This book is full of promises
of redemption for no good, no count sinners. I mean, you seek
these promises and you hang on to them for all they're worth.
Just let those pages that are full of those promises just be
dog-eared in your Bible that you just look at them and find
such rest for your souls in these things. I know I'm a sinner.
I mean, it's horrible. I feel worse about my sin now
that the Lord's caused me to be born again, and the more he
reveals himself to me, the worse I feel about my sin, because
I'm sinning against greater light, and just, you know, if God was
like me, he'd cast me off. But he's promised never to do
that. Quit looking at yourself for
evidences that God's gonna keep you, and get ahold of these promises. Seek him in this book and remember
his promise. He's coming again. He's coming
again to get his people and take them out of this place and take
us to be with him. And the place that we'll find
instruction and comfort for our souls and then the way for our
faith to increase is in this book. And since we don't know
when he's going to come again, Every time the Lord enables us,
let's meet together and preach this word and look into that
and hope in that and find our comfort in that until he does
return. All right, hope that'll be helpful
to you.