The past month or so, the world has heard the story over and over about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. But, did you know He lives and He has promised to come again? Yes! He is coming again with the clouds! He said He came before to "seek and to save the lost" world. What is He coming for when He comes again? That's our study today. Oh say! We are glad you have joined us.
Welcome, my friend, to a religious program that is different. In our search for the Lord's way, we focus on the faith of the New Testament Scriptures. We are different, too, because you won't hear us asking you to send us money-- or to buy anything that we are offering. We are not here to get rich and to live like kings. We are here through the generosity of some of your neighbors who are members of churches of Christ in the viewing area of this station. We are glad to be guests in your home today. Over the past few months we have received a lot of questions about what are called "last things" or “end-time things”. What do we believe about "the rapture,” Armageddon, the thousand-year-reign of Christ in Jerusalem-- and all of that, but-- really now-- it doesn't matter what we believe about all that; the important thing is what does the Bible say.
If you think you might want a free printed copy or CD or audio-cassette tape-- the message titled "When Jesus Comes," please jot down our address now. It's In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. And our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. As I said, it is free, and we will even pay for the telephone call. Or, you can see the program again, or hear it or, if you like, you may even read and study it on our website-- searchtv.org. Lots and lots of people are doing that, all around the world-- India, Africa, South America and many islands of the sea. We're using Hebrews chapter 9, verses 26 through 28 as our text today. And we will return for the reading of it after Ken Helterbrand leads the Edmond Church of Christ in praising God.
I said before the song that our text was in Hebrews chapter 9, verses 26 through 28. But, I am going to begin reading with verse 24. “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Now with the reading of that passage that describes both His first ministry and His heavenly ministry, now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful that You sent Jesus Christ into this world as Your son to die upon the cross and He procured our salvation at the cross in His death. And we are thankful for that, Father, and we are thankful that He lives today and that He will come again and that He will receive the faithful to Himself and to You in heaven. And it is through Him that we pray today, Amen!
When our Lord's earthly ministry was almost completed and the cross was in view where He would soon finish the work of redemption which the Father had sent him to do, He announced his impending death and His departure to his chosen apostles. Quite naturally, they were saddened and very sorrowful. Of course they were; they were His friends. In an attempt to comfort them, He made a promise: "Let not your heart be troubled," He said. "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. 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."
Lest anyone should forget that promise, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. In the first letter to the church at Corinth (chapter 11, verses 23 to 26), the apostle Paul said, "I received of the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner, he continued, "He also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.”
Luke, the inspired historian, says that the first century disciples under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, came together upon the first day of the week to observe this memorial (Acts chapter 20, verse 7). And it's on the strength of that promise, "I will come again," that His disciples continue almost two millenniums now, to eat the bread and drink the cup on the first day of every week. You will find it so in most churches of Christ everywhere. When you think of it, the continuance of the Lord's Supper in the present-day congregations, borders on the miraculous, doesn’t it? And it is one of the most convincing verifications we have, despite modern teaching that He has already returned, that Jesus will some day "appear the second time;" not to bear our sins as He once did on the cross, but to consummate our salvation, to take us home to live with God. What a great promise! Confirmed or sealed by the Lord's Supper! Thus, one of the cardinal doctrines of Christianity is the second coming of Christ and there are literally scores of references to it in the Scriptures. Christians live in joyous anticipation of the time when He shall come to receive his own. In other words, the Christian says, "The Lord said it; that settles it; I believe it."
But, there are two extreme views about His return: One is skepticism; the other is speculation. One doubts it will ever happen and the other weaves all kinds of fantasies about it, even to setting dates for it.
Concerning the skeptics-- the Holy Spirit said, by the pen of the apostle Peter, "That scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willfully forget: that the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because the heaven will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat" (2 Peter chapter 3, verses 3 through 12).
There are six things to remember from that reading: Number one: It’s a mistake to grow skeptical and faithless simply because our Lord has delayed his coming and the world just keeps on going along as it always has. Number 2: You have to remember that time is not as important to the Eternal God as it is to us. The Psalmist prayed, "A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night" (Psalm 90 and 4). Applying that truth to this situation, Peter reminds us that with God, a thousand years is as a day, and a day is a thousand years. The third thing we need to remember: When the Lord makes a promise you can bank on that, my friend. If Christ said, "I will come again," so you can be sure of it, and that He has said. Number four: God is being longsuffering to sinful man, because it is not His will that a single one of us should perish; it is His will that every one of us comes to repentance. His delay is giving us time to repent, friend. The fifth thing to remember is that His coming will be as unannounced and as unexpected as a thief in the night. Anyone-- man or woman-- who says that he or she knows when the Lord is coming is an obvious false teacher, friend; it's just that simple. Number six: His coming will mark the end of the world and everything in it.
I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised that a world whose accomplishments have been as varied and of the magnitude of ours, would renounce faith in the unseen realities of the Spirit, to walk by sight. After all, we have launched our rockets to outer space to study the most distant planets of our galaxy and come to a better understanding of the world in which we live. We have even made human footprints on the moon, and despite all our problems, we are enjoying a better standard of living than mankind has ever known anywhere, any time upon the earth.
But, it is a disappointment when "the church" becomes so impacted with modern materialism and secularism that it abandons the fundamental doctrines of the New Testament to walk by sight and not by faith. Well, no one who is the least bit familiar with current religious thought and church life, would deny that it's happened-- not only in teaching, but in practice-- and without doubt it is at least a part of the cause of mediocrity into which modern American churches have slipped.
Well, neither can we deny the other extreme: Speculation. It has literally filled the airways, and countless numbers of books have been written with every conceivable kind of theory about signs of His coming, a countdown to final things, and every imaginable (and some unimaginable) "prophecies," if you call them that.
But there are some things we can know because of what the Bible says. Number One: We can know He is coming again. Number Two: We can know He will not be coming to die for the sins of the world. That was the purpose of His first coming (1 Corinthians 15:1 to 3) and He accomplished that, according to our text that we read a moment ago. Hebrews 9:27-28 tell us that "As it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. And to those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."
Number Three: We can know there will be a general resurrection of the dead when He comes-- I mean a resurrection of the good and the evil both at the same time. The Christians in Thessalonica were troubled about whether the dead would be at a disadvantage when Jesus comes; whether it would not be better to be living when He comes, and they were disturbed about that; and their faith was somewhat shaken in resurrection. Paul wrote them saying and here is what he said to them, "I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." That is First Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 13 through 18.
Number Four Thing. Here is the fourth thing that we should remember: We can know that while Christ's return is described in that passage as a very rapturous occasion, it is not the rapture you are hearing so much about in modern preaching and something called "the rapture." It isn't going to be a hushed appearance of the Savior in which He quietly steals away the saints and leaves sinners in a great tribulation. As a matter of fact, you won't find that taught anywhere in all the Scriptures.
Number Five: We can know that when Jesus comes, He will not establish His kingdom and begin His reign from the city of Jerusalem, but He will usher the kingdom that He has now reigned over, over which He is now King, into the glorious presence of God. There's no doubt about that. First Corinthians chapter 15 is the most thorough and complete dissertation ever written about the "resurrection." Read it carefully and see for yourself. In verses 22 and 23 and 24 tell us that "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end (that is the end of the world, my friend; that is what He is talking about) then comes the end when He delivers up the kingdom to God the Father..." Not starting to reign on it, but He is delivering it into the glorious presence of God as to be crowned now with glory.
In verse 50 God says, "...that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption (that is this body of ours, corruptible body as it is) inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, (that is, we will not all be in the graves) but we shall be changed-- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we who are alive will be changed. For this corruptible body must put on incorruption, and this mortal body must put on immortality. So when this corruptible body has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory, (I love that. Did you get it? Death is swallowed up in victory.) O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, (get this) be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Let us pray. Thank You, Father, for the blessings of this teaching that we have so clearly in Your word. The Lord is coming to receive His own and we shall be found faithful in Your work until He comes. In His name we pray, Amen!
Oh say, there is something else that we can be sure of when Jesus comes. This will be the Sixth in our lesson, I believe. And that is the simultaneous resurrection and judgment of the good and the bad. Jesus, Himself, said, "As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this: for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth-- those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of myself do nothing. (These are the words of Jesus.) As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent me." That is John chapter 5, verses 26 through 30.
My friend, are you ready for the coming of the Lord and the judgment of the Lord? He might not come for another thousand years or more. But He might come before the end of this program. It could be in your life-time or mine. But, whether we are living or dead, when Jesus comes, we both will be summoned to the bar of Divine judgment to give account of our stewardship of life. A faithful steward knows the importance of faith in Christ, as stated simply and marvelously by the Master himself: "...He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die" (John 11, verses 25-26).
But belief alone is not enough; for in another place the Lord says, "Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). It is certain we are not saved by works, and it's equally as certain that we are not saved by faith alone (James. 2:24). In the last analysis, it's the blood of Christ that saves. Revelation 1:5 simply says that He redeemed us or cleansed us with His own blood. We are baptized into Him and that is when His blood saves us when we are baptized into his death. Say, if you are not in a saved condition today, my friend, I beg of you to prepare for the coming of the Lord at once-- do it today.
I'm glad you joined us for our study today, and I pray you have been blessed. If you would like to study the message again or share it with a friend, you may have a free audio cassette tape, a CD or a printed copy by writing: In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By e-mail the address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, you may use our toll-free telephone number 1-800-321-8633; and you may also see it again or read it again or you might just listen to it again by going to our website, searchtv.org. We plan to be back next week at this time. Hope you will, too. God bless you. We love you.
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