If you'll turn with me to Acts
chapter 1 tonight, I know a believer, a dear brother
in Christ, who was a father to me in the gospel. And as he was dying, It was asked to him what he would
like engraved on his gravestone. And he replied with one word. Waiting. Waiting. And I thought about that for
a long time. Why would somebody want the word
waiting put on their gravestone? when a man or a woman, a believer,
dies, there's no waiting. They go immediately into the
presence of God. The Lord Jesus Christ told that
thief on the cross, that thief said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. And he said, today you'll be
with me in paradise. And I thought about that for
a long time. There is no soul sleep. But there
are some things that all God's people, whether living in the
flesh or living with Christ in glory, have been promised. And
therefore we wait to see. We wait to see those things.
We are waiting for the day when all His redeemed shall be gathered
together, called out into the fold. He has promised us they
shall be. We believe Him, don't we? Believe
Him. We're waiting for the day when
every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He's Lord. He's Lord. That'll be a great
day. When everybody confesses the
same thing. He's Lord. And we're waiting
for the day when He'll make all things new. He makes a new creation
in His people when He comes in the Spirit of grace. One day He is going to raise
these bodies glorified, new. And He bought this world. He
bought heaven and earth by His blood. We don't see what God
created. We see a world affected by sin,
briars and brambles and clear cuts and the whole creation groaneth
together. But He is going to make the heaven
and the earth new. All things will be made new.
We are waiting for that day. We are waiting for the day when
the whole host of His people, a multitude that no man can number,
will sing with one voice, worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. And all this shall be accomplished
when our Lord returns the second time. I want you to look with
me in Acts 1 verse 9 through verse 11 for our text tonight.
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he
was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while
they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in like manner as you've seen Him go into heaven. The title
of the message tonight is, Why Stand Ye Gazing Up Into Heaven? I think that's an appropriate
subject considering what Brother Pete just read. We didn't get
together and conspire on this thing. But God leads His people's hearts
together. He'll lead a man to read a verse
of Scripture that applies exactly to what the message is. And that's
the case. Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? I want to look at three things
tonight with you. First of all, my first point
is this same Jesus. My second point is He shall come
in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven. And then
I want to address this question. You men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? First of all, the verse says
here, this same Jesus. These two men stood by them in
white apparel. I can't be too harsh with these
men because I believe if I saw my Lord, Standing there speaking
to me and 40 days Seeing him do these giving me these infallible
proofs that he's risen and as he's sitting there speaking to
me Blessing me he starts to ascend And I watch him go and I see
Him go out of sight and a cloud receive him out of my sight.
I believe I'd stand there gazing up into heaven I find myself
gazing up into heaven if I just watch a helium balloon go out
of sight. This is the Lord of Glory. This same Jesus, who was born
of a virgin, who is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh,
the angel answered and said unto Mary, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit, not of Adam's
seed, of the Holy Spirit. Therein we see our sinfulness,
our depravity. The Son of God had to be born
of incorruptible seed. He couldn't be born of the same
seed that we're born of. He'd be conceived in sin. He
is born of the Holy Spirit. And Scripture says, And she shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior. For, because he shall save his
people from their sins. I like that. That's good news,
Art. It's not a maybe. It's not a
possibility. It's a he shall. We need to learn
the name of our Savior. His name is He Shall. Not He Might. Not He Will if
we do. He Shall save His people from
their sins. That's you who profess to believe
Him. What's He saved you from? He
saved you from your sins? If He saved you from that which
you couldn't save yourself, and He still, as Paul said, He saved
us, He's saving us, and we believe He shall save us. Everything
we come into contact with. Paul said we were in Asia, and
we had the sentence of death in ourselves. They went to Asia
and they were preaching the gospel. And they were telling men to
turn from these idols, turn from these images, turn from these
outward carnal images whereby you worship God. And the men
of Asia, they were worshiping the goddess Diana. Athena got
Diana. And they had these images. And
these men were workmen, craftsmen. They were making these images.
And they realized if men turn to this Christ that He is preaching,
we will be out of business. That is the problem of today.
Men realize if they turn to this Christ whom This people's preaching
would be out of business. And they rushed in upon Paul
and would have killed him. And Paul said, but we had the
sentence of death in ourselves that we shouldn't trust in ourselves.
He delivered us from so great a death, from our sin and our
rebellion, from Satan, from that which we couldn't deliver ourselves.
And we believe He that saved us He'll also save us, continue
to save us, and He'll save us to the end. That's His name. The Word. The Word of God. The Word was made flesh. Look at your flesh. He was made
flesh. We talk about things that we
don't grasp. The Word that was from the beginning,
that was in the beginning. Wisdom that was with God when
He created the heavens and the earth. It was created by Him
and for Him. This Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. Depraved, sinful, wretched creatures
dwelt among us. Perfection came down and dwelt
among us. You ever in a place where You're just not very comfortable.
It's a wretched place to be and you don't want to be there. You
don't like it. Imagine what our Savior endured
coming to this place where everybody He encountered was a rebel against
God. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us. We beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
This same Jesus This one that was born of a woman, God-man,
the God-man who grew in wisdom and stature
as a man, who was baptized of John, who said, It behooves us
in fulfilling all righteousness. I be baptized of you, John. He went about preaching the Kingdom
of God. He went about preaching and healing
all manner of sickness. He walked this earth. We pick
up some soil, some dust, and know our Lord walked this same
earth. God came here and walked this
earth. This same Jesus, this same Jesus
who not only was born of a virgin, who fulfilled all righteousness,
but who went to the cross and laid down His life. This same
Jesus who freed His people from the law, which was sin and death
unto us. He freed us from that. Listen
to Scripture. John 10. Look there with me.
John 10 and 11. John 10, 11. He said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, somebody
hired that doesn't love the sheep, and not the shepherd who's owned
the sheep or not. He seeth the wolf coming, and
he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and
scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he's a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I'm the good shepherd,
and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. and other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down on myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment I received of
my Father. This is This same Jesus who went
to the cross for His Father and for His sheep, who laid down
His life for His sheep, God hath made Him sin, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Does that might
mean what we say might? That might means they shall. That might means They will be
made the righteousness. They are made the righteousness
of God in Him. You know that He was manifested
to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. If you're in Him,
you have no sin. If you're in Christ, you have
no sin. In Him is no sin. Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. What was the curse of
the law? You're a sinner. The law told
you you were a sinner. The sting, the sting of death
is sin. The sting is when a bee stings
you. and injects venom into you, poison
into you, then there is a result from that. When the law pronounced
us as sinners, we died. We became dead. Sin entered in
and we died. But He redeemed us, fought us
from that curse. How did He do that? He was made
sin for us. And when the law said, Satisfy
toward him, Eric, the law said, Satisfy toward you. When the
law said, No more sin, Michelle, the law said, No more sin for
you. Death has no more claim on you.
You died when he died. You can't die again. You were
redeemed from the curse of the law. Look at Romans 8.1. Romans 8.1. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Are you born
of the Spirit? If you profess to believe Christ,
have to believe you're born of the Spirit. You have to be born
of the Spirit in order to confess Him to be Lord. And if you're
born of the Spirit, you're walking after the Spirit. And if you're
walking after the Spirit, you're not walking after the flesh.
And if you're not walking after the flesh but after the Spirit,
you're the one this is talking about. There is therefore now
no condemnation to you. Can't come into condemnation.
For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. There's
the law of liberty. There's the law of grace. That's
the law we're under. The law of the Spirit of Life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
I'm free from that law. I'm not under that law at Sinai
anymore. I'm out of it. I'm done with
it. I'm done with the law at Sinai.
I'm free from it. Is that what law it's talking
about? Look at verse 3. For what the law could not do.
What law is he talking about? He's talking about the law at
Sinai. In that it was weak through the flesh. The law wasn't weak.
The law is holy and good. But I couldn't fulfill it. I
couldn't do anything to obey it. Still can't in my flesh. Still can't. But by faith in
Christ, I fulfilled the whole law. Look here. Because he was
weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, what did He do? He condemned sin in
the flesh. Condemned the condemnation. That
the righteousness of the law, there is that word might again,
that doesn't mean maybe, that means shall, is, it's done, it's
fulfilled in us. who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. See from His hands, His head,
His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love
and sorrow meet or thorns compose so great a crown? This same Jesus, born of a virgin,
walked perfectly before God's law, went to the cross, laid
down His life for His sheep, condemned the condemnation, condemned
sin in the flesh. This same Jesus rose from the
grave on the third day. Sunday morning the women came
to the tomb. And they walked to the tomb and
they were like we would do when somebody dies. We go to their
grave. We are going to show our respects.
They went to the grave. And it came to pass, as they
were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them
in shining garments. And they were afraid and bowed
down their faces to the earth and said unto them, these men
said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?" Why do you seek the living among
the dead? Imagine if you went to the grave
of somebody you saw die. And two men stood by you in white
apparel and said, Why do you seek the living among the dead? Do you know a believer who's
perished, who's died? Why do you seek the living among
the dead? Why do you go to their gravesite
and seek the living among the dead? They said, He's not here,
but He's risen. And they said, Remember how He
spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of
Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men? He knew
what was going to happen. It was the determinant counsel
and foreknowledge of God. And be crucified, and the third
day rise again. And they remembered His words. You know what I'm here for? Not
to tell you my words, but to speak so you'll remember His
words. They heard these men speak, and
these women remembered. He did tell us that. We've forgotten
these things so quickly and come to His grave, and He did tell
us those things. And they remembered His words
and returned from the sepulcher and told all these things until
eleven and to all the rest. He came to them and ate with
them. Thomas touched his hands. This same Jesus is risen in body,
flesh, flesh, just like we have. He's risen. And this same Jesus
ascended back to the Father. In the flesh, Christ ascended
back to the Father. This same Jesus is seated at
the right hand of God, the right hand of power. The right hand
is power. The right hand is Love, the right
hand is the special favor, the arm of the strength of God, the
right arm. Our Lord Jesus Christ is seated
there. And He said, He said, My little
children, these things write I unto you that you sin not.
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. Who inspired John to write that? The one that's seated at the
right hand of God. John, write this, if any man sin, tell him. I'm here at the right hand of
God. They have an advocate with the Father. Someone pleading
their case. Flesh, bone of your bone and
flesh of your flesh, seated at the right hand of God to plead
your case. There's one God, one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And right now,
Believer, you have a representative pleading your case at God's right
hand. This same Jesus. They sat there
and watched Him ascend to the right hand of the Father. And
now these two men in white apparel tell us this same Jesus is coming
again. He's coming again. Here's our
second point. 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." Our Lord promised this, didn't
He? Look at John 14 with me. John 14.1, before He went to
the cross. Who told this to His disciples,
to His apostles? He tells this to you and me right
now. This is what he says. Let not your heart be troubled.
Is your heart troubled? Don't let it be. You believe
in God? Believe also in me. In my Father's
house are many mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not
so, I would have told you. He's honest with us. If there's
one that's honest with us, it's our Lord. Our Master. He said,
if it wasn't so, I'd have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. They told Him. They told these disciples, these
apostles. They stood there looking up.
And they said, He's coming in like manner as you see Him go.
How is He going to come back? How is he coming back? Well,
he went up visibly with the same body that he walked this earth.
He ascended as a real man. That is how he is going to return,
as a real man. For the Lord Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. The
Lord Himself Do you believe there is a man just like you and me,
seated at God's right hand? I believe. God help my unbelief. I believe there is. I can't explain
that. I can't explain the least of
the mysteries of God, much less that. But there He is. He is going to come in a cloud.
They saw Him go in a cloud. He is going to come in a cloud.
He said in Revelation 1-7, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see Him. And they also which pierced Him. That includes everybody from
the beginning of creation to the end that have pierced Him
in unbelief. Not just those that pierced Him
hanging on the cross, but they have pierced Him through not
believing on Him. They are going to hold Him. And all kindreds
of the earth, they are going to wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. He is going to
come by His own power. He said, No man takes My life.
I have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up
again. He is coming by His own power. He said, All power is
given to Me in heaven and in earth. Then shall appear the
sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn." They'll see the Son of Man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He's going to come with majesty.
With majesty. You see, when He ascended, He
ascended triumphant. That's what His ascension to
the right hand of the Father tells us. that he is triumphant. God received him because he fulfilled
the purpose and mind of God. And he's triumphant. And he's
going to come back into sin triumphant. He came the first time a tender
plant, a root out of dry ground. There was no form, no comeliness
about him that we should desire him. He's not coming that way
again. The next time he comes, He is
not going to come riding on a lowly ass's coat. He is going to come
on a white horse. Glory and majesty. Triumph in
the heavens. He is coming again. He is not
coming again to make a sacrifice for sin. He is coming next time
without sin. No sacrifice to be made. Sacrifice
is accomplished. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He came the first time to redeem
a people, to buy. He is coming the second time
to take that which He purchased. It is His. He is coming back
for it. 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 be gathered
all nations, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. Look at 2 Thessalonians 1 and
verse 7. To you who are troubled, rest
with us. Rest. When the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified
in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe. Because
our testimony among you was believed in that day. He is coming again
in majesty. There won't be any Pharisees
trying to entangle Him in His Word. There won't be any Sadducees
denying the resurrection. There won't be any Herodians
trying to blaspheme His name. Those men that say the resurrection
of Christ has passed, they're going to shut their mouth in
that day, Eric. They're going to stand in awe
and look at Him, and they're going to confess, this is the
King of glory. Now I see. Now I know. Now, point number three. Now, you men of Galilee, why
stand you gazing up into heaven? You see, everything that has
ever happened, these things that happened, our Lord being born
of a virgin, Him going to the cross and laying down His life,
Him rising from the dead and showing Himself to His people,
Him ascending back to His Father, All these things were promised
in the Old Testament. They are promised in Scripture.
All the prophets spoke of Him. All the Psalms spoke of Him.
From Moses to Malachi, they spoke of Him and all that He would
accomplish. Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced
to see it, the Lord said. How did Abraham see his day? By promise. It was promised to
Abraham, and by faith, the substance of things hoped for, Abraham
saw it. And he rejoiced to see it. Now,
me and you have a promise. We have a promise given to us.
He is coming again. He is coming again. Do you see His day? Do you see His day when He will
come? Do you see it by faith? Science has to look out and has
to see everything because seeing is believing. If you can't see
it and lay hands on it and qualify it substantially, physically,
it don't exist. That's not how we see things,
is it? We see things spiritually. By faith we see things. And He's
promised. Do you have the promise? Do you
see everything that God promised came to pass? Everything God
promised in His Word has come to pass. He came to this earth. He lived righteously before the
law of God. He went to the cross. He justified
His people from all things which they couldn't be justified by
themselves. He rose again. He showed Himself by many infallible
proofs. And He ascended. And these angels
stood and they said, Why do you stand gazing? He's coming again.
You believe He's coming again? I believe He is coming again.
I believe He is coming again. Would
you be happy if He came now? I believe He is coming again.
Oh! Is there anything that we have
to do? Anything that is more important than Him coming again?
Let me give you some things. What are you and I who remain,
who believe on Him, what are we to do as we wait for Him to
come again? We're not just to stand, gazing
up into the heavens. The angel said, why do you all
stand here gazing? He gave you commission. What did he say when he was here?
He said, you go and you preach in my name. You tell the world
about me. You preach in my name. Let me
give you some things here. Here's some things we do. I'm
going to give you three things here. Let's keep sound words,
sound doctrine, and exhort one another. First and foremost,
that's what we've got to do. If there's going to be a work
done, the Lord's going to work through His people. That's what
the book of Acts is all about. The Lord has done many wonderful
works. He's sitting on the right hand
of the throne of God. He's king, He's reigning, He's
ruling, and He's working even now through His people. through
His people. So first of all, hold on to that
which you have heard. Hold on to that which you have
learned. We read here in Acts 1.14, these all continue with
one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother
of Jesus and with His brethren. What does 1 Corinthians 11.26
tell us? 1 Corinthians 11.26. It says this, as often as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death
till He come. We gather here together. Every
time we gather here together, you know what we gather here
for? To drink of His blood and eat of His flesh to hear of Him.
We observe the Lord's table on occasion. Every first Sunday,
we observe the Lord's table. We do that every time we come
together. We eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. And He
said, do this in remembrance of Me. Do it till I come. That's what we do. When we do
the physical ordinance that we do, we do it to show we're of
one accord, of one mind, centered on Christ till He comes. Because
we believe He's coming. In Revelation 2.25, the Lord
said, that which you have already, Hold fast till I come. That's what you've been taught.
Hold fast to it. Don't waver. Don't move to the
left, to the right. Hold fast. It's a sound word.
You know what Paul told Timothy? He said, Timothy, I'm going to
come see you. It's a picture of Christ coming.
Paul told Timothy, he said, I'm coming till I come. Here's what
he told Timothy to do. Read. Read. Give yourself to reading. Harlequin
romances? No, this right here. Read this
right here. Read it. This is God speaking
to you. Read this word. Don't try to
find life in this word. Read this word and hear God who
is life speaking to you. He said, give yourself to exhortation. You know what that word means?
Comfort. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.
Speak to Jerusalem, saith your God. Tell them their warfare
is accomplished. Comfort them. That's what I intend to do every
time I stand in this pulpit is to tell you Christ is the captain
of our salvation. And He said, and give yourself
to sound doctrine. I'm not going to stand up here
and just speak words to you that I can't prove with what He spoke. If I say it to you, I'm going
to show it to you. Because I'm not here to tell you what I think.
I'm not here to tell you the traditions of men. I'm not here
to tell you this is how we've always done it, so we ought to
do it this way. If I say it, I'm going to try to show it to
you in this Word. And if I don't show it to you in this Word,
I don't have any warrant to tell it to you. Period. Period. That's what our Lord said. Hold
fast. Sound words. And let me tell you something
else. To question or to wrestle over when our Lord is going to
return is to stand idle, gazing up into the heavens, just looking. That is what that is. Avoid foolish
questions. As He said, it is not for you
to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in
His power. Hold fast these words. Hold fast
the Master's words. Secondly, let us be stewards
of the mysteries of God. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
4, verse 1. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul
is dealing with a situation here where men are, some saying, I
am of Apollos, and others saying, I am of Paul, and what have you. And listen to what Paul says
about Him and other ministers. And this doesn't have to do with
just preachers. This is you. This is you. Believers. Let a
man so account of us as the ministers of Christ. His ambassadors. And stewards of the mysteries
of God. A lot of people see that word
stewards and they think of money. That's like a treasurer. Stewards
of the mystery of God. Where do we get our treasure?
From God's treasury. Stewards of the mystery of God. What's required of a steward?
It's required in stewards that a man be found rich, having much
carnal gain, much riches so that he can be a good steward. No.
He be found faithful, believe in Christ, trust in Christ, sound
in doctrine. preaching the truth, edifying
the church, speaking that which is right. Paul says, but with
me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you or
of man's judgment. I judge not my own self, for
I know nothing by myself. I don't even know how to judge
myself. Honestly, brethren, I kind of can enter into what Paul is
saying here. I can't tell you if I'm doing a good job or not
for you. preaching the Word to you, I
really don't know. I don't know. And if a man says, I'm not, that
doesn't mean anything to me. I can't even judge myself. Paul says, Yea, I judge not mine
own self, for I know nothing by myself. Yet am I not hereby
justified? But he that judges me is the
Lord. There we go. That's who judges
me. Therefore judge nothing before
the time until the Lord come. Listen to me now. He'll both
will bring to light the hidden things of darkness. He'll make
manifest the counsels of the hearts. Then shall every man
have praise of God. You see, here's what Paul's teaching. Don't judge by the outward appearance.
There may, it may appear, you may get discouraged when you
see, you may see a congregation start out at the same time you
started out. And you may see them grow faster
than you grow. You may see multitudes flock
to them. But judge nothing before the time. You don't know, and
I don't know, the hidden counsel of the heart. We don't know the
hidden things of the heart. God does. I don't know that a man
might be preaching somewhere because he's trying to gain a
multitude. He's trying to gain a following. He's trying to get
a bunch of people gathered in so he can live a good life and
an easy life and so he can march right up to God and show what
all he's done. And there might be another man who's preaching
and teaching because he sincerely desires, as Paul did, for you
to know the truth. And Paul says, let's don't judge
them. Let's don't judge one or the
other. Let's don't look at the outward appearance of things.
What did the Lord say? He that is not against us is
for us. They could be saying, let's go persecute them
and kill them. Let's go persecute them and kill
them. He'll bring the light. He'll bring the light. So let's
be stewards of the mysteries of God. The Lord told them, go
preach in my name. Let's be stewards in our life.
Let's be stewards in what we say. Where do you witness? Where is it you witness? You
know, that's becoming more and more of a question to me. How
do we witness? Where do we tell people about
Christ? You know, you can't just walk up to everybody. When I
was younger, I'd go down to New Orleans You know, when you go
to New Orleans, it's the Solomon Gomorrah on the Mississippi.
You'll see anything down there you want to see. And that has
got to be my least favorite place on the planet. I believe. And
I've seen men standing out on the street corner preaching.
On Bourbon Street. People don't want it. They're
not there to hear the gospel preached on Bourbon Street. That
ain't why they're there. Trust me, they ain't there for
that. Where do we witness? You go to
a job every day. You go to a job. Children go to school as they
grow up. Wives intermingle with one another. They go to jobs.
They visit with people in the community. That's where we witness
to people. Right where God's put us. And
it's not to every single person we come in contact with. We may
be a witness to somebody and we didn't even speak a word to
them. They may have seen the way we
helped our child when they were cast down. Or their own child
when their child was cast down. They may see how that we helped
somebody in the community. The Lord may open the door and
they may ask us a question. or they may show some interest.
Do we have to know how to speak great doctrine? Do we have to
know how to preach the gospel to them? Can you say, come see? Come see. Can you say, I know
a place where you can hear it. Come see. Can we, at our business
or wherever we are, if we have an office, whatever, can we sit
down There's extra bulletins right back there. Can you set
down a bulletin out on the table out front? You don't make people
get them. You set a magazine out there. When I said something,
it's eternal life out there. They pick it up. The Lord directs
them and they pick it up and they read it. Is that not a good thing? That's
a good thing. seeing all these things shall
be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and
hastening unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? Nevertheless, we according to His promise look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be
diligent that you may be found of Him in peace without spot
and blameless. That includes, holy conversation
includes our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. If it's going
to be holy conversation, me and you can't ever entertain the
thought that we ever once did anything to please God and ourselves.
If we start thinking that, it's polluted. It's not holy anymore. Holy conversation is, I'm nothing,
Christ is everything. He's everything. Thirdly, and
we wait for the Son of God. We watch and we're sober and
we comfort one another. We exhort one another. 1 Thessalonians
1.10 says this, Wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised
from the dead. Even Jesus would deliver us from
the wrath to come. We do wait, don't we? We're waiting. The Son of Man is as a man taking
a far journey. He left his house and gave authority
to his servants. That's you. That's us. To every man his work, commanded
the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore, for you know
not when the master of the house cometh, at evening or at midnight
or at the cockcrowing or in the morning, lest coming suddenly
he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you, I say
unto all. Watch. Watch. I want to end with this. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4. We can't add to God's church.
He's going to add to it. But there's some things we've
been given a charge to do, isn't there? We've been given a charge. How do we live? How do we speak? What do we think? These things are serious. Look
here with me, 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 16. The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, those
who have passed on. 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. There's exhortation. Comfort
one another with these words. Look here, I don't want to read
this whole chapter to you. Go home and read it, but look
over with me at verse 11. Here's some things we're to do
as we watch. Wherefore comfort yourselves
together, edify one another, even as also you do. You do these
things, keep doing them. Keep doing just what you're doing.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among
you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to
esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be
at peace among yourselves." Be at peace. Don't be troubled. Don't be troubled. Now, we exhort
you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Warn them that are
unruly, disobedient, disorderly. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support
the weak. Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for
evil unto any man. That's tough right there. Our
first inclination is to fly to the law. We want to have judgment
without mercy. Don't render evil for evil, but
ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to
all men. Now look here, these are some
important things. Rejoice evermore. We've got a lot to be thankful
for. We've got a lot to rejoice in. Rejoice evermore. Pray without
ceasing. Be continually in prayer. In everything, give thanks. Even in bad things, even in things
we look at and we see that this can't be good, yep, give thanks
for them. Brother Pete, I keep... Brother Pete's just in a trial,
I know. I've been there. We don't think when we're in
a trial, though, to thank God for that trial. Thank Him for
everything. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Quench
not the Spirit. Oh, this world, we are lovers
of pleasure more than lovers of God. How many things do we
have to quench the Spirit? Turn us. We get a spark and a
light. The next thing you know, we are
carried away to something else. Quench the Spirit. Despise not
prophesying, preaching. Despise it not. Prove all things. You hear somebody say something,
here's Christ, there's Christ, this doctrine, that doctrine.
Prove it. Prove it. Try it. Wait. Hold fast that
which is good. Good. Abstain, now listen to
this, from all appearance of evil. It don't have to be evil. But if it might appear evil to
somebody, abstain from it. Leave it alone. Leave it alone.
And the very God of peace, the very God of peace sanctify you
wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you
who also will do it. That One they sit there and watch
rise up into the heaven, He's the One that's going to do it.
These things right here, we can look at them and we can say,
I know I should do those things. But I tell you, who's going to
pour out the Spirit that's going to cause us to do them? Him,
our King, our Ruler, our Commander. He's going to pour them out.
When He does, we're going to obey Him. Not a second before. But when He says it, we're going
to bow. That's what He does. That's what
He does. He's sovereign, effectually ruling
in His people. And one day, this same Jesus
is coming again. And when He does, not just that
A brother down there that has the words waiting written on
his gravestone. But all his people are going
to be caught up together with him. And we are going to all
sing. That is going to be a good song.
That is going to be a good song. No more tears. No more sorrow. No more sin. Perfectly conformed
to his image. And we are going to sing. Worthy
is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Alright,
I hope that's a blessing to you.