Dedicated To The Men of God
Who Preach the Word of God As It Is To Men As They Are
"Preach The Word"
Proper Attitudes Toward Our Lord’s Return
Text:
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Heb.9:26-28
"For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him the second time, shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation."
Introduction:
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I am so glad, as a boy coming up in church, that I was priviledged to hear preachers who preach the return of Christ to this world for His own.
Through the years I have tried to study the Second Coming. I probably have 50 to 70 books in my study on that deal with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a subject of delight to spend much times studying concerning the soon coming of our Lord.
I am looking for Jesus to come. I believe in the bodily, imminent, personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth. The angels were right when they 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 ye have seen him go into heaven"(Acts 1:11).
Jesus said in Jn. 14:2-3, "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 ye may be also."
This doctrine has become a vital part of my ministry. Any church that is going to be a lighthouse for the Lord Jesus Christ must grasp this wonderful truth of the imminent return of our Savior for His own. As we serve the Lord here together, it is only for a while. All the time we should be looking for Christ to come in the clouds of glory. It should be a vital part of our personal lives and our church lives. He is going to come again!
I had rather people say that I emphacise the coming of the Lord too much, that for it to rightly be said I do not speak on it enough. If you are stirred about something, it is hard not to say something about it.
When Jesus comes, he will catch some church members unprepared and unaware. If I did not remind you of the coming of the Son of God, I would be a traitor to the gospel and the Word of God. Are you living every day expecting Jesus to come at any moment? At any time he could come on the clouds of glory and receive the saints upinto Heaven to be with Him in the air. What are we to do in view of the coming of the Lord? The Bible tells us several things we are to do.
I. PREACH HIS COMING
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In Titus 2 verse 13-15 we are told to look constantly for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Then down in verse 15 he says, "These things speak."
Titus was written to a young preacher. Paul the aged minister of the gospel, writes to one of his ministerial students. He tells the young preacher to always look for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Then he says in verse 15, "Speak ye." It is a command from God to preach on the second coming of the Lord Jesus.
I love to read biographies of great men. Great men are those who have shaken the world for God. There is one thing that I have found to be true of the great preachers of this generation and the lasts generation. Those men who had power with God have been men who preached on the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We also today are commanded to preach the coming of Jesus. You would be surprised how many people in American who are born again, God fearing, Christ loving people, who know about the virgin birth, the new birth, the story of Bethlehem and the manger, and other things in the Bible, but know little or nothing about the truth of the return of Christ in the air. Why? The message is not coming forth from the pulpits of America as it should. Many teachers and preachers have taken certain Bible truths and have either neglected them or perverted them.
The Bible teaches the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the subject of speaking in tongues, and the doctrines of Jesus coming, and have perverted them. Date setters, time setters, people who spend too much time among the signs and less time of the coming, get things out of whack concering our Savior’s return. Some have gone so far overboard speaking of the Second Coming all of the time, that it turns some people off from spending the time they should considering it. I DO NOT WANT TO CHEAT YOU OUT OF THIS WONDERFUL DOCTRINE.
I am commanded to preach it.
Illustration
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Two preachers were talking. One believed that Jesus would return and the other one did not. One preacher said to another, "The difference in you and me is that I just don’t preach on the coming of Christ and you do."
The other preacher replied quickly saying, " No sir. That isn’t the difference in you and me. The difference is that I am doing what God has told me to do and you are not.
God says to preachers, "These things speak." One who does not point to Christ’s coming is living in disobedience to Almighty God.
I. PREACH HIS COMING
II. LOOK FOR HIS COMING
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Heb. 9:28 says, "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." To them that what? To them that "look." Look actually means to gaze or stare. We are to constantly be on the look for Jesus to come back. We are to look constantly, expectantly, lovingly, wishfully toward the skies. Look behind every cloud to see if Jesus is behind the cloud that you see. Look for Him!
Illustration
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There was a preacher of years gone by called Bishop Steed. Before he went to bed every evening, he went to his bedroom window, lifted up the shade, raised the window, and looked up to see if Jesus was coming. The first thing he did in the morning was rise up to go to the window, lift the shade, raise the window, and look out to see if Jesus was coming that morning. That, no doubt, is loving the appearing of Christ.
I dare you to really start looking for Jesus to come!
If you want you life to be clean, look for Him..
If you want to give up some sin, look for Him.
If you want to go places that will honor Jesus, look for Him.
Do you want to watch what you read? Look for Him.
Do you want to be careful about you habits? Look for Him.
If you look for Christ to come, you will do what the Bible says.
Gaze and fix your eyes upon the sky. He may not come today, but He might come tomorrow.
Note:
I loved my Dad. I know when I was a boy, I looked foward to seeing my Dad come home from the cotton mill. He was my hero. I thought he was the strongest man around. I just loved to see him get home in the evening. I knew about what time he came home and used to be in the yard when I could, waiting for him. When I knew it was about time for him to come home, I began to look for Him.
Let’s keep our eyes heavenward. Look, and then look some more for Him.
PREACH HIS COMING
LOOK FOR HIS COMING
III. PRAY FOR HIS COMING
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Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father which are in heaven, hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come."
Have you noticed how excited people get when a presidental election is about to take place? Each party has their conventions. Side taking forms and the nominations are about to be finalized. There is such overwhelming excitement at those televised conventions! They shout, scream and hollar. They say, "We want Dole, we want Dole, we want Dole!" But if many of those same people came to church and someone gave a little grunt of an "amen" they would say that he was nothing more than a fanatic. They would think there was a screw loose in his brain. They would say he should’t act like that in the church house.
We ought to be able to get more stirred about Christ and his coming kingdom that people can get over who is going to sit in the Oval Office for the next four years.
If we manifested more expectancy of the Lord’s coming, then folks will believe what we preach and believe what we say.
Our country is dying for Christians who will constantly feel as citizens of Christ’s kingdom that we pray, "Thy kingdom come."
Several times in my years of ministry, I have preached on Rev. 22:17 which says, "And the Spirit and the bride say come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." That verses actually means that the Spirit of God says, "Come to Jesus," the bride says, "Come to Jesus," and those who hear say, "Come to Jesus."
But think about this:
The Book of the Revelation is a book about the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the book is closed is says in Ch. 22:20: "Even so come Lord Jesus." The Holy Spirit says "Come Jesus," the Holy Ghost says, "Come Jesus," and him that hears says, "Come Jesus." We join that heavenly chant and say, "Come Jesus, come Jesus, come Jesus."
ILLUSTRATION:
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After a touchdown is about to be scored on the ten yard line, the cheerleaders take big megaphones and begin shouting, "Go, go, go." Then the student body joins in , "Go, go, go." Then all the fans join in, "Go, go, go." They are anxious for a touchdown. Something better than a touch down is going to happen one of these days. Jesus is coming again! Why can we get as moved over the things of God as a crowd does over a pig-skin on a football field? As the Spirit, and the Bride, and those who hear say "come", we should be crying, "Come back from heaven Lord. Come back and get me. This world is full of pain, sorrow, bereavement, death, and heartbreak, come back and get me. Take me home to heaven."
The last prayer found in the Bible consists of these words, "Even so come Lord Jesus."
The last prayer in the Bible is not now I lay me down to sleep, or praying for the Holy Ghost, not praying for daily bread, not praying for strength in temptation, but it is this, "Even so, come Lord Jesus."
We are to pray for His coming. Preach it! Look for it!
Pray for it!
IV. LOVE IT
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2 TIM 4:7-8
Paul says, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; 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."
He knows his race is about over, battling is almost finished for him, and he is about to receive heavenly reward. He says, "I am going to get a crown of righteousnes, and you can have one too Timothy, if you will love Jesus’ appearing."
There two main words in the Bible for love:
Phileo: which means like you love to eat, love to sleep, love to come to church, love to take a nap, love to rest, or love to read a book. It means an affectionate love.
Agape: is a word for love which means a deep yearning, heart kind of love, heartthrob, or heartbeat love. The word here in Timothy is agapae love. It is a love that is deep in their souls for His appearing.
Note:
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To some of you the coming of Jesus would be OK. You
wouldn’t mind if He came but you might want Him to
wait until you buy that new car or buy that new dress or
suit. You don’t mind Him coming, but maybe you do
not long for it! You feel like it is alright to preach
about it because it is in the Bible, but you don’t
get stirred up about it. Those who love His coming have a
deep, intense yearning and abiding love for the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We like to take parts of the Bible and leave the rest out. We like to take Jn. 3:16 and say we are Bible believers, but until we love the appearing of Jesus. When we love his appearing, when we are wrapped up and looking for it, then we will receive a crown of righteousness like the Apostle Paul will receive.
Illustration
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What does it mean to love His appearing? Remember having
loved ones away at war? You had some pictures of your
loved one on the mantle, a letter came once in a while,
and you had a few precious memories to hold on to. You
wondered if your loved one would come back alive.
When wars are over it brings delight. When our nation heard the Japanese had surrendered to end World War II, folks were elated. Grow men were wildly celebrating the end of the war.
At home you realized your loved one would be coming home after all. Little children would say, "Daddy is coming home." Mothers said, "My son is coming home." Sweethearts would say, "My love is coming home." Wives would say, "My husband is coming home." Some folks went by the piers to wait and to the airports watching for their loved ones to come in from overseas. Every moment lives were lived longing for that loved one to come home. FINALLY one day it happened. It took place! That loved one came home! What a thrill! You love his appearing. It it something that you spend a great deal of your time in anticipating!
Our lives should be consumed with the love of the appearing of the Lord Jesus. He is coming someday.
"Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come, some golden daybreak, battles all won. He’ll shout the vic-tory, break through the blue, some golden daybreak, for me for you.
He is coming to get his bride and take us to a land where the sun never sets and the roses never fade. We should be saying, "Come, come, come."
When you get up in the morning, say, "I wonder if He will come today?" Before you go to bed says, "Jesus come tonight while I am asleep." When you walk up the next morning says, "Jesus please come today." We need to love His appearing, having an abiding, yearning love, begging for the Savior to come again.
Our attitude should be to preach it, look for it, pray for it, and to love it.
V. BE COMFORTED BY THOUGHTS OF IT
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1Thess.4 says, "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, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." The verse immediately following this verse says, "Wherefore (since the resurrection is true) comfort one another with these words."
Some people have the idea that comfort is some soft, soothing, hopeless, helpless word from someone with a gloomy personality saying, "Mr. Shurefoot, may the Lord bless you."
I know a better way to give comfort that that way of doing so. Tell someone who is about to die that Jesus may come before he dies. That is real confort.
Do you want to comfort someone who has laid a loved one in the grave? Tell them the grave will open one day and their saved loved one will come out of the grave. That is real comfort.
Do you want to comfort someone who has a serious illness? Remind him or her, that when Jesus comes in the clouds of glory with His holy angels, there will be no pain, heartache, sorrow, suffering, heartache, no funeral homes, no hearses, no tombstones, and no caskets or coffins. Those words will bring comfort.
No need in counting on dying, when Jesus may come at any moment.
I read of a famous preacher who was dying, but said Jesus would come in his lifetime. As he was dying, someone came to his bedside and said, "They say you are dying." The preacher said, " You tell them they are lying. You tell them they are lying."The main said, "What do you mean?" He said, "I am looking for Jesus to come, and I believe He is going to come back before I pass one."
That is comfort, to know that Jesus may come before we have to undergo physical death.
Preach his coming
Look for his coming
Pray for his coming
Love his coming
Be Comforted by his coming
VI. BE PREPARED FOR HIS COMING
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1 Jn. 3:1-3 says, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should becalled the sons of God..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.
Every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure."
Why do people have dirty lives? Not looking for Jesus to come.
Know why some of you young folks may have dirty, filthy, vulgar records in your collection? You do not realize Jesus could come while you are playing those records.
Reason some of you men have some pictures where you work of ladies posed immodestly is because you are not looking for Jesus to come and find you looking at your unbecoming pictures.
The reason some of you may have four letter filled novels and books is because you do not realize that Jesus might come back while you are reading that trash.
The reason some of you go on the dance floor is because you do not realize that Jesus could come again while you are in the arms of somebody else’s wife or husband.
The reason some women clothe themselves in immodest apparrel is because they are not looking for Jesus to come.
THE REALITY IS THAT JESUS COULD SHOUT, THE TRUMP OF GOD COULD SOUND, THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL COULD ECHO THROUGHOUT THE HEAVENS, AND THE GRAVES COULD OPEN. THE DEAD IN CHRIST COULD RISE AND JESUS COULD COME.
Do you know why I come to church on Wednesday nights, and come on Sunday morning and Sunday evening? I would not want Jesus to find me sitting at home watching tv, watching a prize fight, or watching the Superbowl, when I ought to be in His house with His people. Would you not be embarrassed if you were sitting at home watching a movie, when you should have been at church, and Jesus returned? That would be worse that being caught with your hand in the forbidden cookie jar.
Lets be prepared for the coming of Christ.
Let folks call us fanatics, nit-wits, crazy.
The world laughs at us because of our lack of dedication to something that we say we believe so strongly.
Mahatma Gandhi could have turned a third of the world to Christ but he made this statement: "I would have become a Christian had it not been for Christians."
Note:
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We do not need more Baptists, but better Baptists. When we become better Baptists, we will have more Baptists.
I am looking for His glorious appearing. Do you Christian friend have somethings in your life, you are not going to give up to the Lord? You do not want some preacher to point his finger in your face and tell you about your sins. BUT THANK GOD, THERE ARE SOME WHO WILL. Some of you have sins in your life that are a reproach to the Lord Jesus Christ. You ought to say, "By God’s grace, I will get rid of anything that would be a reproach to Jesus." Prepare for his coming.
Conclusion
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The story is told of a lord of an estate who called his fool in and said, "Fool, I believe you are the biggest fool I have ever seen. Here, take my rod and circle the world. If you find a bigger fool than yourself, give my rod to that fool. But if you come back after your trip and you still have the rod, I will know that you are the biggest fool of all."
The comedian or fool began his trip and looked around the world for a fool bigger than himself but he could find not one who was a better fool than him. He returned after a while to his lord. He still had the rod. When he went into the estate, he heard that the master was seriously ill. The fool went into his room and the lord was about to die. The doctor said he could not live.
The fool walked in, rod in hand, and said, "My lord, someone said you are ill."
He said, "That is right. Fool, I am going to take a trip."
The fool said, "Are you ready to take the trip?"
The man said, "Fool, I am not ready to take the trip. I am going to die, but I am not ready."
The fool looked at him, placed the rod in his master’s hand, and said, "Here master, if you are going to die and are not ready, you are the biggest fool of all."
If Jesus is going to come, and He is, and you are not making preperation to meet Him, then you are foolish.
Just suppose Jesus were to come back this Monday night, would you be embarassed for Him to know where you were and what you were doing, last Monday night? You should live every day so that Christ would be pleased if He came and found us in our condition presently.
Scan the skies--the promise is night--He is coming. Look for him today, tomorrow and in the days ahead.
Sermon by Dr.Tom
Walker-Zion Hill Baptist Church--Marion, NC--USA
