Scriptures now mark chapter 13
I Want to bring you Lord willing God is my helper this message
on the Lord's second coming It's found in Mark 13 verse 24 down
through verse 37 I'm not going to cover all those verses But
we'll cover the majority of them now the title of the message
today is the Lord is The Lord is coming. Notice verse 26. Then shall they see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds. He comes from above. And He comes
with great power, almighty power, and He will come with great,
great glory. The Lord Jesus Christ, He said,
I'll be back. I'll be back. Those old Jews,
when they crucified Him and put Him in the tomb, they thought
they were done with Him. Done with His preaching. Done
with His ministry. We're done with Him. No, God
brought Him forth from the dead. He lived among men as a risen,
glorified Christ in the body, resurrected body, and then He
ascended to glory. But before He did, He said, I'm
coming back. I'm coming back to the Lord Jesus
Christ is coming again with great, great power. Great glory. So much so that I can't even
begin to describe it. What will the coming of the Lord
of glory be? To behold His coming. Taking
vengeance on them that know not God. than that believe not and
obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, coming with great
wrath, great judgment, but also coming to be glorified in all
believers who admire and worship Him, those who have been given
faith, the faith of God's elect to believe Him, and the love
of Christ manifested in their heart to trust Him for all of
salvation and to rest in Him as God our Savior. He's coming to be glorified in
His people, coming to be honored in His people. Before the Lord
ascended to glory, having accomplished all of our salvation, having
established for His people a justifying righteousness, He assured His
disciples that He would come back again to receive His elect
unto Himself. Hold your place there and find
John chapter 14. John chapter 14. This is something that we ought
to think about as His people every day. When we get up in
the morning, we should have this thought. Is today the day the
Lord will return? He says He will. I believe Him. John 14, look at verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. Many dwelling places. I go to prepare a place for you. And here I believe He's talking
about going to the cross to prepare righteousness for us, to put
away our sin. 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 to Myself that where I am, there you may be also. The Lord is coming back. Stay
right here in John 14. Look at verse 18, verse 18, I
will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Again, in verse 28 of John 14,
you've heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again.
I go away, I'm coming again. If you love me, you would rejoice
because I said, I go to my father for my father is greater than
I. The Lord promised his disciples, his church, that he will soon
return. It is said by some historians,
the early church looked for his coming. It has often been said
by some that the early believers back in the first century would
greet one another with these words, the Lord has risen, the
Lord has risen. He has died for our sin. The
Lord is risen, having justified us by His glorious atonement, being
justified by His grace. The Lord is risen, having accomplished
all of our salvation. And then when they departed from
each other, they would depart with these words, The Lord is
coming. The Lord is coming. That would
be a good thing for us to, when we greet one another, The Lord
is risen. The Lord is victorious. We have
salvation in Him. And then when we depart, He's
coming again. He is coming again. You know,
this is often said to out the Word of God. If you'll find Acts
chapter 1 for just a moment. Acts chapter 1. the departing words of the resurrected
Christ unto his disciples, in Acts chapter 1, when he hath
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and
a cloud received him out of their sight, verse 9, and while they
looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men
stood by them in wise 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
see him go into heaven. He's coming back. Now find 1
Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians. And be at the ready because we're
going to be turning throughout this message to several passages
of scripture. But in the first epistle written
to the Thessalonians, I want you to find chapter 4, but sometimes
you can go back and look at the end of each of these 5 chapters
in 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and at the end of every
chapter, the Apostle Paul reminds the believers of the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in chapter 4 we have this,
1 Thessalonians 4, we'll begin reading at verse For this we
say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or
precede them which are asleep. For the Lord shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the
trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." We'll look at chapter 5, 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5, look at verse 23, I'll read you this one more verse.
that very God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your
whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Any doubt in your mind? The Lord
is coming. The Lord will return. May the
Lord ever make us mindful of his second coming and be watchful
and be ready to meet him to be prepared to meet Him. For in
a time we think not, the very time that you think not, He will
return. He will return. John writes these
words in Revelation 1, 7, Behold, behold, He cometh. That means
He's on His way. Behold, He cometh. with clouds,
and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him.
And all the kins of the earth shall wail because of him. Our
Lord says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, the ending, saith
the Lord, which is, which was, which is to come, the Almighty,
great power and glory." Now you look back at Mark 13. In these
verses today, I want to bring out and point out to you four
plain facts about the Lord's coming. Four glorious facts about
the Lord's coming. Here's the first one, found in
verses 24 and verse 26. 26, the glory of His coming. Verse 24, but in those days after
that tribulation the sun shall be darkened, The moon shall not
give her light, the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers
that are in heaven shall be shaken. Then shall they see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds with great power and great glory."
The coming of the Lord is going to be a glorious sight. What a Solomon! awful majesty,
awesome majesty will attend his second coming. It's obvious that
the second coming of the Lord of Glory is not going to be any
secret thing. The trump of God will be sounded. Every eye will behold His coming. Before the Lord descends, there
will be a universal upheaval, a complete dismantling of the
first creation, affecting the sun, the moon, the stars. All things will be shaken. All
things will be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. The
words of 2 Peter 3 describe these things for us in verse 10, but
the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise. The elements shall
melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
therein shall be burned up. Notice the words of verse 26
in Mark 13, the Lord will come with great power and great Glory. The Lord's second coming will
be totally different when compared to His first coming. His first
coming. What a contrast. That reminds
you of the contrast. He came the first time in humiliation. The Word was made flesh. God who inhabits eternity inhabited
the body of the God-man mediator. Born of a woman. He who created
man and the woman. Born of a woman. Laid in a manger. Nowhere. No one. had any room for him as the babe
laid in a cow trough, in a stable, in a manger, made under the law,
unnoticed, unhonored, unknown by those in that day." That's
his first coming. Oh, what a contrast in His second
coming. He shall come a second time with
great power, great glory, with royal dignity, with the armies
of heaven marshaled around Him, to be known and recognized, worshiped
and feared by all. It says every knee is going to
bow, every tongue is going to confess, He is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. You see the contrast? The first
time He came to suffer for our sins, to redeem us from the curse
of the law. To die for our sins according
to the scripture. To bear the wrath of God for
our sins in His own body on the tree. To redeem us from the curse
of that loss being made a curse for us. To shed His blood to
put away our sin. He shall come the second time.
without sin, to reign forever, to put every enemy under His
feet, to rule in absolute sovereignty, to judge all men in righteousness,
He will come. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews
chapter 9. Begin at verse 24. Here's three
appearances of Christ in these verses. In Hebrews 9. For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, verse
24, which are the figures of the truth, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us." He appears in
the presence of God for us. He lives to intercede for us.
Nor yet that he should offer himself often as a high priest
enters into the holy place every year with the blood of others.
For then he must have often suffered since the foundation of the world,
but now once in the end of the world, end of age, hath he appeared,"
there's a second appearance, "...to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself," verse 27, Hebrews 9, "...as it is appointed unto
man once to die, But after this judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sin of many, the just for the unjust, and
He might bring us unto God to bear the sin of many. And unto
them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without
sin unto salvation. The Lord is coming again. He appeared the first time to
put away our sin. being made sin for us, He'll
come back, He will come back a second time without sin unto
salvation. Glorious contrast. How vast a
difference, how great is the contrast, how startling the comparison. What great comfort these things
bring to the heart of the believer. We shall reign with Him forever. You remember what we read? 1
Thessalonians chapter 4, We shall meet Him in the air, and so shall
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort ye one another
with these words. We shall reign with Him forever,
His people. So shall we ever be with the
Lord. We shall receive our eternal incorruptible inheritance that
He has worked out for us and has given to us. Peter said it's
incorruptible, it's undefiled, it's reserved in heaven for you
who are kept by the power of God. He's made us heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. What great comfort
the coming of the Lord will be to his people. But the flip side
of that is this. What great terror this thought
ought to strike in the hearts of every unbeliever. in the hearts
of every rebel against the Christ of God. The very gospel you despise
and the very Christ you reject will hold you accountable before
His throne, and you must stand and answer unto Him." Let me
show you that. Find Acts chapter 17. Paul here in Acts 17 is preaching
to a bunch of intellectuals, a bunch of know-it-alls. They're in Athens, Mars Hill.
They were idolaters. In Acts 17, this is some of his
words recorded for us, verse 29, for as much then as we are
the offspring of God, we are the creation of God, we ought
not think that the Godhead is like unto gold and silver or
stone, graven by art of man's image, device. And the times
of this ignorance God winked at, overlooked, but now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent, because, verse 31, he hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world and righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all, that is, all his people, that in that he raised him from
the dead, delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification. The pointing of the man who wants
to die. We read that a moment ago. And after that, judgment.
You will hear him say in that day, those who are unbelievers
will hear this dreadful word, depart from me ye cursed into
everlasting punishment. I never knew you. Untold, eternal,
unparalleled sorrow unto his foes, unto his enemies. Dreadful. Dreadful. untold joys
unto his friends." Let me show you something about that. Find
Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, verse
20. For our conversation is, that
is our citizenship. It's from heaven. From whence
also we look for the Savior. We look for it. The Lord Jesus,
who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body. according to the working whereby
He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. He's going
to fashion our body like unto His glorious body. Oh, I tell
you, what a day. Glorious coming of the Lord.
Here's the second point. Back to Mark 13, verse 27. The
gathering of His elect. Then shall He send His angel,
then shall gather together His chosen. His elect from the four
winds, from the uttermost part of earth and heaven, the gathering
of His chosen, His elect. And one of the primary purposes,
one of the primary reasons of the Lord's second coming is to
gather out what He purchased, what He had selected. what He
has bought with His own blood. He has bought us. All that God
has done and is doing and forever will do is for His elect, for
the sons of God and for their eternal glory, welfare, and for
His glory. For all things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to God's purpose. Just as God's servants today,
God's servants, God's ministers, are sent into this world to preach
the gospel of Christ to every creature. And this is ordained
of God and used of God to gather out His elect unto Christ. For
it pleased God through preaching to call out His own. Even so,
when the Lord comes, the elect angels shall come and gather
together the elect sheep of the Lord." That's what it says there.
He shall send His angels. These are His elect angels. His
chosen angels, and they shall gather out His chosen people."
Now, preceding the Lord's fiery and righteous judgment on this
earth, the Lord's people will be safely taken out and removed
from all harm. I'll give you some examples of
that. Some prior examples and patterns found in the Bible that
illustrate this point. You remember in the day of Noah?
Noah, you know Noah was called a preacher of righteousness.
He was preaching the gospel there as he was building that ark,
120 years. It had never rained upon the
face of God's earth as we know rain. But Noah kept preaching,
Christ, get in the ark. Christ, get in the ark. Judgment's
coming. Rain's coming. No one believed
him but his own family. But the rain didn't fall, the
judgment didn't fall, the wrath didn't fall until all of those
elect were in that ark, and then judgment fell. Same is true in
this day. God's rain of judgment will not
fall until all of His elect have been safely taken out of harm's
way. Here's another example of that.
You remember the nephew of Abraham, Lot? He thought that Sodom and
Gomorrah held out some good possibilities of prosperity, so he went into
that land. But it was a perverted land,
filled with perverted people. And God rained down fire and
judgment on that country. But before he did, remember,
Lot was safely out of town, and then fire fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. God's wrath will not consume
His enemies until He has taken His elect unto Himself and gathered
them out of harm's way. There is coming, my friend, a
great day of gathering unto the Lord. Let me show you. Find 2
Thessalonians. There is a great day of gathering. Oh, a great day of gathering
unto the Lord. This is 2 Thessalonians 2. Look at verse 1. Now we beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
see that? It's everywhere in the Word of
God. By the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch this.
And by our gathering together unto Him. That you should not
be soon shaken. Be not soon shaken in mind, be
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as
from us, as the day of Christ is at hand. Now let no man deceive
you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalted himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God,
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. there will be a gathering together
unto the Lord. You know, this is our prayer.
This is the believer's prayer. Turn over here to Psalm 106. This is our prayer unto the Lord. Lord, gather us, gather us together
unto Him. Psalm 106, look at verse 47. Oh, save us, O Lord our God,
and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy
holy name and to triumph in thy praises." That's our prayer.
Lord, save us and then gather us unto the Lord. Look over here
at Isaiah 43. This is our prayer and this is
part of our comfort that we have while we live here. Our Lord
says to us repeatedly through Isaiah, Isaiah 43, look verse
5, fear not for I am with thee, I'll bring thy seed, I'll gather
thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west. I'll say
to the north, give up to the south, keep not back. Bring my
sons from far, my daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone
that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory,
I have formed him, I have made him. I'm going to gather him. He's going to get What's His? He bought us and He will gather
us. Those who believe the gospel
look forward to this blessed day of eternal worship and we
shall sing unto Him and that day unto Him who loved us and
we'll sing it in this day too. Unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood, to Him be the glory both now
and forever. And the elect said, Amen. This gathering is an act of His
will, not ours. It's the act of His sovereign
determination. It's not of Him that will it,
nor of Him that run it, but it's God that shows mercy. This gathering
is a righteous gathering in Christ Jesus. But of Him are you in
Christ, who has made unto us our righteousness. This gathering
is a gathering of love. You know, He gathers those whom
He loves. Find 1 John, 1 John chapter 3. He gathers those whom
He loves. Your little grandchildren, when
they come around, you gather them up in your arms. Why? You love them. You love them. I can talk about my grandchildren
now. When they come around, they don't
come around very often, but when they do come around, you gather
them up in your arms because you love them. And that's the
way the Lord does to His own, His babes. Look at 1 John 3. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath besowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, We shall
be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Beloved, now are
we sons of God. It's a gathering that's an act
of His will. This gathering is a righteous
gathering in Christ Jesus. This gathering is a gathering
of love unto Him who loved us, washed us. This gathering is
a complete gathering. Not one sheep of Christ will
be missing. Don't turn, but let me just remind
you of two scriptures. They're in John chapter 6. You
remember he said, all that the Father has given to me, they
will come to me. And then he says at that last
day, I'll lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
And then in this scripture, don't turn them and just read it to
you. Here in Hebrews 2, the Lord Jesus said, behold I and the
children which you've given me, they're all here. Not one will
be lost. This gathering will be complete.
Not one for whom He died will be lost. And this gathering is
a permanent gathering unto the Lord. He said, I give My sheep
eternal life and they'll never perish. They'll never depart
from Me. We'll be with Him forever. Here's a third point. Back in
Mark 13, verse 28, in verse 29 and 30. Now learn
a parable. This is a story. A story about
a fig tree. We see this happen each year.
You have a peach tree or an apple tree, and early in the spring
those buds come on, and you think, summer's nigh. Warm weather's
coming. Now learn a parable of the fig
tree when her branch is yet tender, and put forth those new shoots,
those leaves, you know that summer is near. So when like manna,
when you shall see these things come to pass, know that it is
nigh, His coming is near, even at the door. Verily I say unto
you, that this generation shall not pass till all these things
are done." Done. Now, lessons from the fig tree.
The Lord uses the book of nature to teach us to look and to expect
His second coming. This is certain to happen just
as surely as spring precedes summer, even so the Lord Jesus
Christ will come. Now we know His first coming
was decreed of God, right? His first coming was decreed
of God, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Even so,
His second coming is decreed of God as well. Known unto God
are all His works from the beginning. Of Him and to Him are all things
to whom be glory. While we must never try to figure
out or guess the time of His coming, we don't need to know. Our Lord warns us of the certain
increasing of spiritual darkness that will be about us in that
day, the rampant denial of the gospel of God's grace, the universal
acceptance of free will works religion as the truth, the general
and moral decline of society as a whole. Well, we see that,
don't we? You know, the Scriptures warn
us about these times. 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Things we see every day in our
lives, in whatever media or means it may be, back 50 years ago,
wouldn't have been thought of, yet alone publicly displayed
as it is today. We see the moral decline of all
men, and the scriptures speak about this as one of the evidences
of the Lord's soon coming. I don't know how it can get much
worse than what it is. Do you? Even in some religious
circles, so many ungodly, unthinkable things are promoted in the name
of God. God help us. The Lord is, look
what he says here, 1 Timothy 4 verse 1, Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly that in the latter times shall some depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of devils,
speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience sheared
with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain
from meat, which God created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth. Another scripture
finds 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3. This know also, verse 1, 2 Timothy
3, 1, that in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be
lovers of their own selves, covetous, proud, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, Fierce, despisers
of those things that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Here's the clincher,
verse 5, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Isaiah warned us of these days,
woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put
darkness for light and light for darkness, Isaiah 5.20. that
put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Notice what he says in our text,
"...this generation shall not pass away till all these things
are done." Now what does this mean? Just as all things the
Lord said would come to pass in that day regarding the invasion
of Rome to Jerusalem, Even so, likewise, in succeeding generations,
succeeding generations shall not pass away till all of God's
decrees be fulfilled." As our Lord said to His apostles in
that day, these are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
are written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms
concerning me. Now lastly is this. Look at verse
31 in our text. Mark 13, 31. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my word remains steadfast. The certainty of his word. God
has said it. That settles it. That settles
the matter. God said it. Heaven and earth
will pass away, but my Word will never pass away. The Word of
God is more certain and steadfast than the stars and planets. We
think they're fixed. One day they'll be moved. One
day they'll be changed. Our Lord said, I am the Lord.
I change not. We have a more sure word of prophecy. It is thus saith the Lord. I
am persuaded as Abraham of old that all that God has spoken,
He will bring to pass. I'm persuaded God's able to do
all that He said. The words of Isaiah 46 remind
us, remember the former things of old. I am God, there is none
else. I am God, there is none beside
me. Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times
and things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand.
I'll do all my pleasure, even calling a ravenous bird from
the east. The man that executes my counsel from a far country,
he said, I've spoken it. I'll bring it to pass. I've purposed
it. I'll do it. It shall be done. Everything our Lord speaks, a
God's true prophet must come to pass. If there's one word
that our Lord speaks that does not come to pass, he's a false
prophet. But everything our Lord speaks,
He said, what I hear that I speak, the word that I speak are given
to me and my Father, including all the promises of His mercy
and pardon in Christ Jesus, and including all the promises of
wrath and judgment on those who refuse to bow to Christ. The last words of two men in
Scripture declare unto us the last words of Joshua, He said,
you know in all your hearts and your soul, not one thing has
failed of all the good things which the Lord has spoke concerning
you. All are come to pass, not one word has failed. A testimony of Solomon. In 1
Kings 8, blessed be the Lord. God giveth rest unto the people
of Israel according to all that He has promised. There hath not
failed one word of all His good promise which He promised by
the hand of Moses His servant. All that he has spoken will come
to pass. Now, I make no pretense to be
a brilliant Bible scholar. I'm not. I make no pretense that I'm a
learned doctor of theology, for I have no degree. Nor am I a super saint or an
inspired prophet. I'm simply a voice of one crying
in the wilderness, Behold the Lamb of God. I'm a sinner saved
by grace, sent to proclaim the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, His gospel of His grace, the message of redemption accomplished,
His message of salvation in Him. I'm sent of God to warn you,
my friend, to flee from the wrath to come, and to tell you to look
to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation. for He's coming
back soon. He says in our text, verse 33,
35, and 37, He said, watch, watch, look, be ready. The believers
in Christ rejoice. The Lord's coming. He's our only
hope of salvation. And we say with John, even so,
Lord Jesus, come quickly. Come quickly. Come quickly.