For the last several Wednesday
evenings, we've been looking at promises, various promises
that the Lord has given to us in his word, and I want to speak
to us tonight again from one of these exceeding great and
precious promises. But before we look at the promise
tonight, I want us to consider the fact that the Apostle Paul
in 2 Corinthians tells us that all the promises of God in him
are yea and amen. unto the glory of God by us. All the promises of God in him
are, yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. When
we read of the promise, the promise, singular, it is a promise of
eternal life. And it is yea and amen in Christ
Jesus. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
1, we read, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of
God according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus. The promise, singular, is a promise
of eternal life. And all the promises, including
the promise, is yea and amen in Christ Jesus. He said, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. Again, he said, he that hath
the Son hath life. The Apostle John does here in
1 John. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. That is eternal life, spiritual,
everlasting life is Christ. He is our life. Without Him,
there is no eternal life. There is no everlasting life. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. So the promise, the promise,
is yea and amen in Christ Jesus. The promise of eternal life. The promises, plural, they too
are yea and amen in Jesus Christ. We know that He alone existed
before the foundation of the world when these covenant promises
were made. They were made with Him as a
surety for His people. Titus chapter 1 and verse 2 says,
In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began. So all of the promises of God,
and we know there are many of them. We've looked at three,
I believe, before this one tonight. And I just wanted to remind us
all again that these promises are ours and they're sure because
they are in Christ. And without Him, none of these
promises would come to any of us. This past week, I've thought
about Three different promises and trying to decide which one
we would look at tonight. I had three in my mind, but I
decided on this one here in 1 John chapter three and verse two.
1 John three and verse two. Beloved, now are we the 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. Actually, there's two promises
here in this one text. There's two promises. The first
promise is he shall appear. And the second promise is we
shall be like him. So let's look at those two promises.
First, he shall appear. The Apostle John writes this
with no uncertainty at all. It's not if he appears, but when
he shall appear. He shall appear. And we know
that the Lord Jesus, or the Apostle John here, is speaking of our
Lord's second appearance. He appeared first in the fullness
of the time, He came into this world made of a woman, made under
the law, that He might redeem His people from the curse of
the law. But He is to appear a second
time. We usually refer to this as our
Lord's second coming, His second appearance. In Hebrews chapter
9 and verse 28, We read, so Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear
the second time without sin unto salvation. When he appeared the
first time, he came to deal with our sins, with the sins of his
people. When he comes a second time,
his next appearing, it will be, as that verse of scripture tells
us, without sin unto salvation. In other words, he's never coming
again to deal with sin because he's dealt with sin, and he's
finished sin. He's made an end to sin, as the
prophecy said that he should do. In Daniel chapter nine and
verse 24, he shall bring in an everlasting righteousness, which
he did, and he made an end of sin. We rejoice in the truth
that he took our sins in his own body, the Apostle Peter said,
and bared them in his own body on the tree. And I like to think
of the fact that he took our sins and he took them to the
grave. He took them in his own body
on the tree and he suffered the penalty for sin And He took our
sins to the grave, and He left them there. They're gone. They shall never, ever appear
against God's people again, because He appeared the first time in
relation to sin, but the next time, no, no, not in relation
to sin, without sin, unto salvation. That is the complete saving of
His people. John here, the Apostle John,
says, He shall appear. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when He shall appear. Again, John knew it's not a question
of if He shall appear, it's when He shall appear. And John knew
this by inspiration of God, of course, as he's writing, but
he knew this because he heard. He heard the Lord Jesus Christ
tell the apostles that he would come again. For instance, in
John chapter 14 and verse three, very familiar passage to all
of God's people. When the Lord said, you believe
in God, believe also in me. Let not your hearts 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. And I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, and He did, I will come again and receive you unto myself. So John heard the Lord Jesus
Christ himself say that he's going to come again. And John
heard the angels. Look with me in Acts chapter
one. John heard the angels the day the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
unto the Father. Acts chapter one. He heard the angels say that
he would come again. verses 9 through 11 of chapter
1 of Acts. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up, that is the Lord
Jesus Christ, bodily, 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, these are angels, which also said, now John heard
this, he heard these angels declare, he's coming again, he's going
to appear again. Ye men of Galilee, why stand
you 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. He shall so come in like manner
as you have seen him go into heaven. Did you know I was preparing
these messages and I thought about the man that God inspired
to write the epistles. Paul, John, James, Peter, and
Jude. And every one of these men in
one place or the other, they mention the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to come again. We see that in our text tonight.
John did. And Jude, in his very short letter,
he quoted Enoch. He quoted Enoch as saying the
Lord is going to come again. He's going to appear again. He
said, behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints. I think most of us, and I speak
for myself when I say that, most of us are more familiar with
the Apostle Paul's words about our Lord's second coming. In
1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, he wrote, for the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God. Now the time of our Lord's
coming is not revealed. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, this is in Matthew 24, as sometimes referred to as the
Olivet Discourse, the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to his disciples
on the Mount of Olives, but he told them, but of that day and
hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels which are
in heaven, neither the son, but the father. No man knows the
day that our Lord is going to appear a second time. And that
hasn't stopped men, has it, from predicting and being so sure
that they had figured out by some passage of scripture or
the other the exact day an hour when the Lord shall return. And they not only have taught
this, but they have gathered followers. And many people over
the years have sold all their belongings and gathered on a
particular mountain, dressed in a certain way, expecting on
that particular day that the Lord Jesus was coming again.
And in spite of the fact that the Lord said no man knows that
day or that hour. We don't need to know it. We
just know he's going to appear. We know he's going to come again. What we do know about our Lord's
coming, not the time, not the time, it could be tonight, couldn't
it? It could be today. It's going to be in a time when
no one expects him. I know that. Just like it was,
he said, when Noah In the days of Noah, people were eating and
drinking and giving in marriage, and nobody expected there was
going to be a flood. They'd heard the messenger. They'd
heard Noah preach that there's coming a flood. No one believed.
And things were just going on as normal until the rain started,
until Noah and his family entered into the ark. It's going to be
like that. when the Lord comes again. But
this is, here's some things we do know about his coming. He shall appear, first of all,
this same Jesus. That's what the angel said. That's
what he told those disciples there. We read it in Acts chapter
one. This same Jesus, which you have
seen go into heaven. Now, which Jesus did they see
go into heaven? The same Jesus, well, He who
is the Son of the Father, the eternal Son of God who came into
this world and took into union with His deity that body which
was prepared Him. And it was a body, He ascended
bodily into heaven. He's going to appear in like
manner, bodily. When He appeared to His disciples
after His resurrection, you remember He showed them His hands and
His feet. You've all heard this, I'm sure,
but someone said one time that the only reminder in heaven of
sin is going to be the marks in His body. The marks in His
body, because that is the way he appeared, and this same Jesus
is going to come again. And that will be the only thing
that will remind us, remind God's people about sin, is the fact
that our Savior's going to bear those marks in his body throughout
eternity. So that's one thing we know.
He shall appear this same Jesus, like manner, and his appearance
is going to be said. We know that. Those two things.
It's going to be sudden. How many times, at least two,
I can think of, does his appearance, is his appearance, rather, presented
to us like a thief. Like a thief in the night. Now
thieves usually do not announce they're coming, do they? They
usually don't announce they're going to be at your house on
a certain day, certain time. No, no. They come unexpectedly,
and they come suddenly. And so His coming shall be like
that. So that's the first promise,
He shall appear. And we look forward to that.
We look forward to His appearance. And one reason we look forward
to His appearance, the second promise, is we shall be like
Him. We shall be like Him. It is not
that we are sons of God now, and when he appears, we're going
to be something else. It's not that at all. We are
sons of God now, John tells us. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. When he appears,
we're the sons of God now. We're not going to be something
else when he appears. we're going to be still sons
of God. Sons of God. The contrast is
between what we are now as the sons of God and what we shall
be then as the sons of God when He appears. We are now the sons of God and
we live in a world of evil. We live in a world of sin. When
He comes again, we shall be in a new heaven and a new earth.
We are sons of God now, but we carry about with us that old
nature. And we're going to continue as
long as we're in this world to have that old nature that wars
and lusts against the Spirit, which is that new nature that
is created in us, and righteousness and true holiness. We are now
the sons of God. We live in a world that knows
us not because it knew Him not. Sometimes people say, well, let
people know by your conduct that you've been with Christ. They
didn't recognize Christ. The world didn't. I know our
conduct should be should be right in this world. We should strive
for good conduct, but don't expect the world to recognize you as
a child of God. The world didn't recognize Christ. And isn't that what he says here,
that the world knows him not and shall not know us or knows
us not? We live in a world of sin which
is passing away. But when he appears, we're going
to be in a new world. And as John says here, it doth
not yet appear what we shall be. But the promise is we shall
be like him. Actually, as I looked at this,
I thought, well, we could consider this as three promises in this
text. Number one, he shall appear.
Number two, we shall see him as he is. And number three, we
shall be like him. But the truth is, we shall be
like him as a result of seeing him as he is. We shall be like him in body. We're going to have a body like
his body. Look with me in Philippians chapter
three. Philippians chapter three and
verse 20. For our conversation, and most
people believe that could be better translated, our citizenship,
our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body. this body of our humiliation,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
to himself. This, our vile body, is going
to be exchanged for our new body, which is a glorious body. I looked at 1 Corinthians 15. You don't need to turn there.
You will remember these words, but our vile body, that body
that is buried, that's what he's talking about there in 1 Corinthians
15. And our vile body is one of corruption. It's one of corruption. It's
one of dishonor. It's one of weakness, and it's
a natural body. That's what the apostle tells
us. It's buried a body of corruption,
a body of dishonor, a body of weakness, a natural body, but
our glorious body, just the opposite. This vile body is one of corruption,
and it will corrupt. Just as soon as the soul is separated
from the body, the body begins to corrupt. And it is a body
of corruption, but the new body is one of incorruption. And this
body is one of dishonor, but the new body is one of honor. And this body that we are in
now, this tent, this tabernacle, it's one of weakness, weakness. But our new body is one of power,
just the opposite. And our natural body is one that
is natural, but it shall be a spiritual body. Now there's much about
that we don't understand. I realize that. But in Matthew
13, in verse 43, the Lord said, the Lord Jesus said, then shall
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their
father. When our Lord was glorified,
on the Mount of Transfiguration. Remember, that's one of the things
that we're told, that his body was shining like the sun in its
brightness. And the Lord Jesus there says,
then shall the righteous, then in the kingdom, shall the righteous
shine forth as the sun. Now that's gonna be a body of
honor, isn't it? like the sun, shall shine like
the sun. And this new body, like his,
we shall be free from all sorrows, all afflictions, and death. This new body, this glorious
body. That's a wonderful promise, isn't
it? We're going to have a glorious
body, like unto his. We shall see him as he is, and
we shall be like him. Not only shall we be like him
in our body, but in our soul. We shall be like him. Now what
does this likeness consist of? It consists of complete holiness. Complete holiness. Our soul. We shall be like Him. We shall
see Him as He is and we shall be like Him. Our soul shall be
holy as He is holy. And it also consists in perfect
knowledge. Perfect knowledge of spiritual
things. As I said just a moment ago,
there's things about this that we don't know, we don't understand. And there's certainly things
about God's ways that we don't understand. I thought about this
verse in Isaiah 42 and verse 16, and it's an Old Testament
promise concerning this new dispensation, this new dispensation in which
you and I live since the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
one of the promises is, I will make darkness light before them
and crooked things straight These things will I do unto them and
not forsake them. Now we can apply that to our
soul that is being made like Christ. We shall have perfect
light, perfect knowledge, perfect knowledge of spiritual things
when he shall appear. And things, this is what really
got my attention, things that we consider crooked. We look
at God's providence sometimes and the righteous suffer, the
wicked seem to prosper in this world. That's what Psalm 73,
the psalmist was talking about, isn't it? That God is good to
Israel, but as for me, you know, things seem crooked. I remember
a book that I read several years ago, The Crook and the Lot by
Thomas Boston, The Crook and the Lot. There are things in
every believer's life that are crooked and they cannot be made
straight in this world. I'm not talking about crooked
in the sense of being dishonest. I'm just talking about things
that God's people suffer. There's a crook in everyone's
lot in this world because it's a world of sin. It's a depraved
world. It's a fallen world in which
we live. But that promise says and the
crooked things straight. Right now we look sometimes at
God's providence and the only thing we really know is God's
ways are not our ways. We can see that. We understand
that well, don't we? But we don't understand many
things that we know our Father is doing in this world. But then
the crooked things will be made straight. We'll be able to look
back, I believe with all my heart, we'll be able to look back and
see the things that bothered us and concerned us and caused
us difficulty in this world. We will be able to see in God's
wisdom why those things were necessary and how those things
served for God's glory and for the good of his people. We're
called to believe today by faith that he doeth all things well.
I believe that, don't you? That's what the scripture says.
I believe that by faith he doeth all things well. But then we
will know, we will see, absolutely, he has done all things well. I think you've heard this before,
but one man said, If we had all the power in the world, we would
change a lot of things. You've probably got some things
right now that you would change if you had power to do it. But
if you had all wisdom, you wouldn't change a thing. And God does
have all wisdom, and he has all power. And one day, we'll be
able to see that he hath done all things well. We believe that
by faith now. I trust the Lord will bless this
word. Brother Bill, if you will, lead
us in a hymn.