Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
4. Now this is the last epistle
that Paul would write before his death. This is the last part
of that last epistle. He knows he's going to shortly
die, and he says in verse 6 of 1 Timothy chapter 4, For I am
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at
hand. Now, Paul was saying, I am ready
to die. And he said in another place,
Philippians chapter 1, for me to live as Christ and to die
is gain. I'm ready to die. I'm poured
out like a drink offering to die. And the time of my departure
is at hand. I think that's really neat, the
way he describes the death of the believer as a departure.
A departure to a better place, actually. Two weeks from tomorrow. I'm going on a departure. We're
going to fly to Montana, pick up Aubrey, and we're going to
go places we've never been. It's a departure. We're going
to northern California, see the redwood forest. I've always wanted
to see it. We're going to go down Highway 1. I can't wait. It's a departure. I'm excited
about it. Now, the death of the believer.
You listen to me. The death of the believer is
something they can be excited about. It's a departure to an
infinitely better place. I'm going to be just like Christ.
I'm going to stand in His very presence. And I don't know what
all that means. I don't know what I'm talking
about when I say it, but I believe it. And I am anticipating this
departure. Paul says, I'm ready to be offered.
And the time of my departure is at hand. Truly to die is gain.
Now look what he says in verse 17. He says, I fought a good
fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith. I've fought
a good fight of faith. I finished my course. The Lord
gave me a course to run, and I ran it, and I finished it.
What do you mean by finishing it, Paul? He says, I've kept
the faith. I haven't departed from the faith.
By the grace of God, He's preserved me, and I have kept the faith. Now, look what he says in verse
8, henceforth. After having fought a good fight,
having finished my course, I've kept the faith, I'm ready to
die. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing. Now there's laid up for me a
crown of righteousness." Now, what's he talking about? They've
laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Is he talking about his own personal
obedience, his personal righteousness, or is he talking about the righteousness
and merits of Jesus Christ? Which is he talking about when
he says they've laid up for me a crown of righteousness? Listen
to this. Both. Now, what do I mean by
that? Here's exactly what I mean by
that. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is my personal righteousness. That perfect obedience that He
worked out when He walked upon this earth really is my righteousness
before God. So when I talk about Christ's
righteousness, I'm talking about my personal righteousness. Isaiah
chapter 54 verse 17 says, their righteousness, their personal
righteousness, that which is theirs is of me, saith the Lord. Now, here's the point. When I
come into God's presence, I have no reason to fear death because
the obedience of Christ is my righteousness before God. My
sin became His. That's why He died on the cross.
My sin became His. And just as truly as my sin became
His, His perfect obedience is mine. And so henceforth, there's
laid up for me a crown of righteousness. Isn't that wonderful? This beautiful
crown that every believer is to wear? A literal crown? I don't know. It's metaphor,
so to speak. A crown of righteousness is laid
up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to
me." Now, is this crown, I've got a question, is this crown
of righteousness only for a select few? Only the most obedient and
only the most faithful and the best people? Or is this for every
believer? This is for every believer, and
look how he describes these people. Let's go and read in verse 8.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that
day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love
His appearing." Now here is who is going to get
this crown of righteousness. Those who love His appearing. Would that be me? Would that
be you? Am I one who can be described
as one who loves his appearing, not simply those who know about
his appearing, but those who love his appearing? Now, when
God looks into my heart, when God looks into your heart, does
he see someone who loves the appearing? of Jesus Christ. Not someone just who knows facts
about it, but someone who actually loves the appearing of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now what does the Bible have
to say about His appearing? The Bible gives a lot of information
about this, and what I want to do is find out if I'm somebody
who loves His appearing, because if I am, That means I'm one of
these people who has no reason to fear death, who can actually
look forward to it with anticipation, who's going to be given a crown
of righteousness if I'm somebody who loves His appearance. So
what does the Bible have to say about the appearance of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Now, first, I want us to consider
the appearances of our Lord that no man ever saw. Now, there's
some appearances of our Lord. That the scripture points out
that no man has ever seen. We believe them because the Bible
reveals them. But as far as a man seeing these
appearances, that's not happened. First, there's the appearance
of Christ with his father. Now, Jesus Christ is the son
of God. He's uncreated. There was never
a time when he began to be. There was never a time that all
of a sudden he appeared on the scene and there he was, but he
wasn't before that. He's always been the eternal Son. He's God. He's God the Son. Turn back with
me to Proverbs chapter 8 for a moment. He's always been one
with the Father. Proverbs chapter 8. And this is the Lord Jesus speaking
in verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of His way before His works of old. I was set up from
everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. When
there was no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills, was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass
his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was by him as one brought up with him. And I was daily
his delight, rejoicing always before him. rejoicing in the
habitable part of the earth, and my delight were with the
sons of men. Now, before there was ever a
creation, before there was anything but God, Jesus Christ stood with
his Father. He appeared with his Father as
the eternal Son of God. And nobody saw this appearing,
but we know it is. Now, sometime during that period,
if I can speak that way, and you know it's so hard to talk
about eternity because we can't grasp it. It's eternity. We're creatures of time. But
there was a time when there was no time, when all there was was
God and His Son and His Spirit. The one God revealed in the three
different persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. Now, sometime during that time,
and I know that's wrong language, but I don't know what else to
say. Sometime during that time, God gave His Son a people. And His Son agreed to be their
surety, their guarantee. And when He did that, when Christ
said, I'll save Todd. I'll save all my lack. I'll save
all those the Father gave to me. At that time, God, everything
He requires of me, He looked to His Son. Everything God requires of me,
there's such sweetness in this, if God gives us grace to see
it. Everything that God requires of me, and there's a lot He requires
of me, He looks to my substitute for, my surety for, my Savior
for. He was the one who appeared in
creation and said, let there be light. And there was light.
And he himself is the light that God commanded to shine out of
the darkness. Christ Jesus is that light. Now
that's his appearance that you and I never see. We only believe
him because the word of God teaches it. But let's, well, do you love
this appearance? When I talk about these appearances,
do you love this appearance? I do. And then there are his theophanies. That's a big word, but it's really
simple. It means a pre incarnate appearance. They're called theophanies. When
he appeared before he became flesh and he became flesh when
he was born of Mary. That's when the Son of God became
flesh. But, you know, he made a lot of appearances in the Old
Testament before he became flesh. And they call these things theophanies. There are so many of them in
the scripture. He appeared to Adam after the fall, walking
in the cool of the evening. That was a pre-incarnate appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared to Noah, giving him
instructions regarding the ark. He appeared to Abraham. Remember
when the Lord met him on the plains of Mamre and tell him
about the destruction of Sodom? He appeared to Jacob and wrestled
with him. He appeared to Moses in the burning bush. He appeared
to Joshua as the captain of the Lord's host. But this is the
one I want us to look at. This was such a delight to read
once again. Turn to Daniel, chapter three. This is a theophany. Now, if you remember in this
story, King Nebuchadnezzar had set up an idol and everybody
was commanded to bow to this idol. And Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego refused to bow to this idol, and so they were cast
into a burning, fiery furnace. Now look here in Daniel 3. Verse
22. Or verse 21. Then those men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were bound. Daniel 3.21. They were bound in their coats,
their hoses, and their hats, and their other garments, and
were cast into the midst of the burning, fiery furnace. Therefore,
because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace is
exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took
up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bowed into the midst of the burning,
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar The king
was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said unto
his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Do you love His appearance? And then there is His appearance
in His incarnation. That's another big word which
simply means He was made flesh. There was a time when He was
not flesh, and there's a time when He was made He became a
man. He became bone of our bones and
flesh of our flesh. John 1.14 says, The Word was
made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He said in
Hebrews 10, A body hast thou prepared me. Lo, I come in the
volume of the book. It is written of me. I delight
to do thy will. Oh God, and that's exactly what
he did in the flesh. His appearance. He appeared in
a body, in the flesh, and he did the will of God. Now what's
meant by that? First of all, he's the only man
to ever obey God perfectly. And the only obedience there
is, is perfect obedience. If I obey imperfectly, that's
called disobedience. He's the only man to ever truly
obey God. He's the only holy man to ever
live. He's the only man to ever keep
God's law. He worked out a perfect righteousness. He truly did the will of God. I love to think of him doing
God's will. He never sinned. He never thought of sin. He never
spoke of sin. He never committed a sin. In
him is no sin, he did the will of God. But not only did he do
the will of God in his perfect obedience. He was nailed to a cross. According
to the will of God. You see, all of God's purpose
of salvation, all of his eternal counsels are made manifest by
the appearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Listen
to the scripture. Second Timothy one nine says he saved us. And
He called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which were given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest. All this that was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began is now made manifest by
the appearing, the appearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. Now, not only did He keep the
law in the flesh, He died in the flesh. Now, why did he die? Why does anybody die? There's
only one reason for death. The wages of sin is death. The sins of God's people became
his, and he died. Now, would you turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 9? I want you to look at this with
me. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 26. For then, Hebrews 9, verse 26,
for then must he have often suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Now, what a wonderful
thought. He appeared for this purpose.
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Now, here's a question
I've got for you. Did He do it? Did He put away sin? Now, you
listen to me real carefully. The sins of everybody He died
for, the sins of all who believe, the sins of all of His elect,
they are put away. You know what that means? It
means you don't have any sin. If you're somebody who believes
on Christ, your sin has been washed away by the blood of Christ,
and you stand before God without guilt. Now, how can that be when
I feel so guilty? I don't know. Well, I do know.
I know how it is. It's because the blood of Christ
washed them all away. And you stand before God if you're
somebody who believes on Christ, and you trust Him as your righteousness
before God. You don't have any guilt before
God. Your sin has been washed away. He appeared once in the
end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And that is precisely what he
did. Do you love his appearing? I
love his appearing to put away sin. That's my confidence before
God. And what about his appearance
after his resurrection? Now, in the flesh, he kept the
law. In the flesh, he died. And there's only one reason for
death, as we said, sin. The sins of his people became
his and he died. But three days later, I love
to think about this here. There's a dead corpse laying
in that tomb. The Lord Jesus Christ literally,
truly and actually died three days later. Think, he opened
his eyes. He was raised from the dead. And he made several appearances
after his resurrection. You know who he appeared to first?
Anybody know? Mary Magdalene, the woman who
was a sinner, the woman who had seven devils. The scripture says
he appeared to her first. And then there was his appearance
to Peter. I love it where it says in Mark
chapter 16, seven, he told Mary Magdalene to go tell the disciples
and Peter that he's risen from the dead. I would imagine Peter
felt like he was probably no longer one of his disciples.
After what he had done, He thought, well, he might be raised for
somebody else, but not for me. And he said, especially you go
tell Peter, the one who denied me, the one who who who feels
like he's so cast away. You go tell him I go before him. Then there's his his his manifestation
to the two on the road to Emmaus. Remember that how they were walking
along discussing the death of Christ? They didn't have any
understanding of it. He told them what it meant. And the Scripture
says that our hearts burn within us as He opened to us the Scriptures
along the way. Oh, what an appearing that was
to them. And there's the appearing to 500 brethren at once, 1 Corinthians
15 speaks of. And then there's, last of all,
His appearance to the Apostle Paul. Don't you love His appearing? And what about His appearance
in heaven right now? You're there in Hebrews 9. Look
back in verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are figures of the true,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
for us. Now, what an appearing! He's
in the very presence of God. Now, what that's saying... I try to pray. And my prayers, in and of themselves,
are worthless. You know what the problem is
with them? Is it the fact that maybe I fell asleep while I'm
praying? Well, that's a problem, but that's not the problem. Is
it perhaps the fact that while I was praying, some evil thought
came through my mind that just scared me to death, that I could
have such a wicked thought even while I was praying in the very
presence of God? Is that the problem? Well, that's a problem,
but that's not the problem. The problem with my prayers,
or who's praying, that's the problem. Me, I'm the problem. But when Jesus Christ, my High
Priest, takes my prayer and brings it before the Father, it's a
sweet-smelling savor. It smells good to God. He likes
everything about it. He loves because it's presented
by my great High Priest. We've already read this Scripture.
Remember, He's now appearing in the presence of God for us. Dawn read this a minute ago.
Turn with me to 1 John chapter 2. My little children, verse 1.
These things write I unto you, that you sin not. Make it your ambition, your goal,
your purpose to never sin again. Really? Really. Make it your
purpose to never sin again. Let's go on reading. And if any
man sin, and that word is quite often translated when, And that's
really the way it should be translated, when you sin. Now make it your
objective to not sin anymore. When you do, we have an advocate
with the Father. One seated at His right hand
right now in the very presence of God for us. We have an advocate
with the Father. And you know, here's what is
so sweet about this. When I sinned, I already had this advocate with
the Father. And there's nothing I have to
do in order to get him to represent me, because he's my high priest.
He represents me. When I sin, I have this advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. This lawyer with
the Father who's never lost a case. When you sin, we have this advocate
with the Father. Hebrews 7.25 says, Wherefore,
he is able to save them to the uttermost. that come to God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And
do you love his appearing? Do you love his appearing as
your high priest and intercessor? I do. I love his appearing. And then what about his appearing
to us in our experience in hearing the gospel? Turn with me to Titus.
Turn with me to the book of Titus. I want to begin reading in verse
3. Titus chapter 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived. And this is a description of
what we all are by nature. Foolish, disobedient, deceived. serving, being slaves to diverse
lusts and pleasure, living in malice and envy, hateful, deserving
the hatred of God, and hating one another. But after that,
the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Here's this appearing. Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. And this is when He appears to
us in the gospel. Here's what I am, deceived, disobedient,
foolish, a slave of sin, but He appears to me anyway. Because
he's merciful and because he's gracious, not according to my
works. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Isn't
it wonderful when you hear that salvation comes by the mercy
of God? It's not by works. It's by his mercy. It has nothing to do with your
personal goodness because you don't have any in the first place.
It's by his mercy. That he saved us by the washing
of regeneration. He gave you new heart and the
renewal of the Holy Ghost. He gave you grace to hear the
gospel. There was a time when you couldn't
hear. You didn't understand. It didn't make sense. It does
now. Why? He gave you hearing ears
by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Ghost. Why? Our life here, we're in
Titus. Look back to Titus chapter 2. This is a description of our
life here on earth, verse 13, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. Our life here on earth is summarized
as looking for His appearing. Now, if this is what you're looking
for, you're not going to get too taken up with anything that's
going on here. You know, it's all a bunch of vanity, really.
I mean, everything that happens. If you're if you're waiting on
his appearing, you're not going to get taken up with the things
of this world because it's just not important. It really all
the stuff that you've stressed about this week. How important
is it in the grand scheme of things? It's not important at
all, is it? Everything you've worried about,
and I don't care what it is. In the grand scheme of things,
it's not really important and you're not going to get very
taken up. If you're waiting for his appearance, this is what
you're looking for. His appearing. That's what I want to see. His
appearing. Boy, it puts everything in perspective,
doesn't it? In the right perspective. Do
you love his appearing? And then there's the appearing
of his second advent when he comes again. The Lord is coming
again. I love thinking about that. It
might be very soon. I don't know whether it's going to be in the
next year or a hundred years from now. Every generation has
said, I think this is the end. And I kind of feel that way,
too, but they felt that way a hundred years ago, too. So I don't know
when He's coming back. And the Lord says no man knows the day
or the hour. What's your view on the millennium?
I don't know. What's your view about eschatology? I don't know. I like what one fellow said.
You know, they have the different millennial views as to what's
going to happen when he comes back. There's a post-millennial
view, there's an all-millennial view, and there's a pre-millennial
view. And they asked one fellow, what's your view of the millennial?
He said, well, I'm a pan-millennial. What's that? It's all going to pan out
in the end. And it will. I mean, I'm sure that it's all
going to pan out. I mean, the Lord's going to come
back whenever it is he's going to come back. And I'm looking forward to his
appearing in that sense. But let me read you some scriptures.
When he comes back, Matthew 24, 30 says he shall appear. He shall appear with clouds and
great glory. Every eye shall see Him. You
know, when our Lord returns, everybody's going to know who
He is. I mean, they're going to know it's Him. And they might
not have believed on Him while they lived on this earth, but
somehow every eye is going to see. He's going to come back
in the clouds with power and great glory. Listen to this.
Colossians 3, verse 4 says, When Christ, who is our life, shall
appear... I love to think of disappearing. When Christ, who is our life...
You know, He is my life before God. My life before God is right
now seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus Christ.
He is my life before God. And when he shall appear, then
we'll appear with him, scripture says, for we shall. Well, here's
the first chapter three. I want you to read this with
me. First John, chapter three. Verse 2, Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall
be. I love that verse of Scripture
because it doesn't appear what I will be one of these days,
because I cannot imagine, I can't even fantasize what it would
be like to be without sin. My sin's ever before me. And
one of these days, it's not going to be anymore. Now, I don't understand
that. And John didn't either. When he was writing under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he says, it does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, there
it is, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Hebrews chapter 9. Appearing
is mentioned three times in this ninth chapter of Hebrews, but
look at this one. Verse 28. So Christ. Was once offered to
bear the sins of many. And that's what he did, he became,
he bore in his own body our sins, that's what the scripture says.
He bore in His own body our sins, and He went into that grave with
our sins in His body. But look what it says next. So
Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, a whole lot
of people, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear
the second time. What does it say next? Without
sin. Well, what happened to those
sins that he bore? They're gone, I know that. They
are not. All my sin is gone. And to those
that look for him, shall he appear without sin unto salvation. My sin has been put away. Do
you love this appearing? I love to think about it. And
then there's his appearing in judgment. And this is this is
what I guess this might be my favorite one. Turn to Second
Timothy, chapter four. Verse one. I charge thee, therefore, before
God, And the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick, that
means the living, true believers, and the dead, those who don't
believe, they're dead in sins. He shall judge the quick and
the dead at His appearing and His kingdom. Judgment. Everybody in here knows deep
down that God is holy and He's going to judge sin. Somebody
says, well, I don't believe in God. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you
do. Well, I don't believe there's going to be a judgment. Yeah,
you do. I mean, we're born with intuitively understanding that.
We're born knowing there's a right and there's a wrong, there's
a God, there's a heaven, there's a hell. Everybody believes that.
Everybody believes it. I know some people will say they
don't, but deep down they do. I like that saying there's no
atheists in foxholes. And that's true. Everybody will
get their religion, some kind of religion at some point. Everybody
knows it's going to be a judgment. Now, I'm going to stand before
God. I'm going to stand before God,
and my name is going to be called. What am I going to say? Am I
going to say, well, I was a preacher? No. Well, I studied the Scriptures,
and I witnessed, and I read the Bible, and I prayed. You know
what I'm going to say? You know somebody's going to,
here's what's going to happen. My name is going to be called
and somebody's going to say present and accounted for. And you know
who that is? That's my Redeemer. He's going
to answer for me. He's going to say, and when He
says present, I'm present because I'm united to Him by faith. On
judgment day, when my name is called, He's going to answer
for me. He's one of mine. I paid for
his sins. I can't help but think about
the thief. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. If the Lord remembers your name,
does anything else need to be said? Not a thing. Oh, I love to think
of disappearing as my Savior, advocate my righteousness on
judgment day. And you know that heaven itself
will be just beholding his glory. That's beholding his appearing.
That's what heaven is. John chapter 17, verse 24. Our
Lord says, Father, I will that they which you've given me be
with me where I am that they may behold my glory. Would that be heaven to you?
to behold the glory of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul says, I fought
a good fight, I finished my course, I kept the faith. And every single
believer will be able to say that. If you've kept the faith,
you finished your course, and you fought a good fight. Every
believer is going to hear, well done, now good and faithful servant. Every single one of them. I fought
a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. Henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me. But
not just me as an apostle, not to me only, but also to all of
them that love his appearing. Do you love His appearing? Well, then there's a crown of
righteousness laid up for you that the Lord is going to give
you at His appearing. Let's pray together.