The King is Coming!
Review- What's Next on God's calendar?
- Revelation 2-3
- Revelation 3:10
- The Return of Jesus Christ is Promised (Acts 1:11)
- The Return of Jesus Christ is Imminent (Luke 12:40 | 1 Thessalonians 5:2 | Revelation 16:15)
- What happens when Jesus Returns? (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17)
- Jesus will come with the saints in heaven. (1 Thes 4:14-15)
- Jesus will gather His church. (1 Thes 4:16-17)
- Jesus will judge the world. (Revelation 6-20)
John 14:2-3 | Philippians 3:20-21
- What do we Do with the truth that Christ is returning? (Matthew 24:36-49)
- Word to the Wise: Work and Watch! (Matt 24:46-47)
- Word to the Wicked: Be Warned! (Matt 24:48-50)
Matthew 26:29 - I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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But we are people that live from event to event.
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And today we're going to be talking about the next big event on God's calendar.
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Can we get our bookshelf up there please?
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Just as a way of review, this library represents the Bible that you're holding in your hands.
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Okay, so in the series we spent some time talking about the book as a whole.
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And why I believe 105%, 110% that God wrote this book.
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I am thoroughly convinced of that.
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This could not have been put together by human beings.
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Holy Spirit wrote this book through people.
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So we spent some time talking about creation and how Adam and Eve, The first people that God created brought sin and death into the world.
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That's in the book of Genesis.
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Things got so bad, as we saw in the video, as we studied a few weeks ago, God blotted out everything with a flood.
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And shortly after that flood, man decided that we were all going to get together, we were going to exalt ourselves and build this tower, this idolatrous tower.
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God says, "Spread out, fill the earth." and mankind said, "No, we're good.
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We're going to stay right here." And God says, "No, that's not going to work for me." And remember, he confused their languages and they spread out.
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We spread out as a human race.
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And then we saw Abraham.
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This man called from a pagan culture.
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God says, "I got big plans for you.
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A whole nation is going to come from you.
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A special chunk of land is going to be for you.
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And there's going to be a blessing that's going to come through you It's going to be for the whole earth.
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Then when we get to the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, these books mainly centered around Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.
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And through Moses, God gave the Old Testament law.
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And remember, we saw the purpose of the law wasn't the rules that you keep to get saved.
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The purpose of the law was to show us that none of us are good enough.
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That we desperately need grace.
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the purpose of the law.
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And when you go through the rest of the Old Testament, the books of history, these are books about the history of Israel in the Old Testament.
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Entering into the promised land and conquering the people that were there and the rise of the monarchy.
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Books of poetry, these were also called books of poetry and wisdom.
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Psalms in particular.
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That was Israel's hymn book.
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And these were written by Israel for Israel.
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And then the major and minor prophets.
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These were the preachers.
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Some during the time that Israel was living in the land.
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And some of these preachers came while Israel was returning to the land after exile.
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But these were preachers telling Israel to repent.
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And these preachers were also saying that the Messiah was coming.
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We spent some time talking about that last week, didn't we?
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So when you get to the New Testament, really, Jesus said all of this is about Him.
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And when you get to the New Testament, the four Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - these are biographies about Jesus Christ written from four different perspectives.
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The book of Acts - this is the story of how the church started.
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Jesus promised that He would build His church.
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And then the book of Acts, as we're going through here at Harvest Bible Chapel, where are we? Acts 18 I think is where we're at now when we get back to the series.
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Acts talks about how Jesus' church is built and advancing.
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And then we get to the rest of the New Testament.
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There's letters to churches and to individuals.
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These are from the Apostle Paul.
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These were from some other authors.
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But these letters were written again to churches, to pastors, to individuals.
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And these letters are really all commentaries on what Jesus Christ did in the Gospels.
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Who He is and what He did and what that means to us.
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What does that mean to me as a person and in a family?
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And what does that mean as a church?
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These are just all commentaries on the life of Jesus.
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And the book of Revelation is where we're going to be spending some time next week. In the book of Revelation, we read of the promise being ultimately fulfilled of the very thing that we're talking about today. So on your outline, number one, what's next on God's calendar? What's next on God's calendar? Well, the Lord has a day on His calendar, circled in red, that says, "I am the Lord, and I will be with you." And then The return of Jesus Christ.
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The Bible says the next big event is that Jesus Christ, who lived about 2,000 years ago, He's coming back.
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And the second time He arrives, it's going to be a lot different, and for a much different purpose than the first time that He came.
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So when is Jesus coming back?
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Well, we know that He's coming back before the Great Tribulation.
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What's the Great Tribulation?
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If you study the book of Revelation, Revelation talks about seven years of God's judgment on the earth.
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I believe that Jesus will come and He will remove His church from the earth before the seven year period of tribulation.
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Now I know when we talk about end times, the school of study here is called eschatology, that whole branch of theology, you know, talking about end times.
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You can research this.
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I know some of you have.
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There are a lot of different timelines and graphs and flowcharts that say what's going to happen.
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And I personally believe that Jesus is going to come and take His church out of the world before the seven-year tribulation, the events outlined in Revelation, and you're like, "Okay, well, you sound very serious about that.
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I am serious about that. Thanks for noticing." How can I come up to that conclusion?
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I'm going to give you two reasons.
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And if you disagree with me, you are still my brother.
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You're wrong, but you're still my brother.
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Now, I promised myself I wouldn't say it.
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That's a joke, okay?
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There's different views. I get that.
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different views. It's okay. I can only preach about what I believe, right? I believe that the rapture takes place before the tribulation. Why? Why? Well, when you read the book of Revelation - not now - but when you read the book of Revelation, in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, it's the church, the church, the church. Jesus has messages to all these churches.
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The church, the church, the church, the church. Church in Laodicea, the church in Philadelphia, you know, church and Thyatira.
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Jesus has these messages for the church, but did you know that after Revelation 3, when the events of the end times are laid out, the judgments are laid out, you don't see anything about the church in the book of Revelation.
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You see a lot about the world, about sinful, lost, rebellious people, and you see a lot about Israel.
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But there's not one mention, not one, not one passing mention, not a verse, not even the word church.
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in the events outlined in Revelation.
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So that tells me that the church isn't there.
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Why would Jesus be making such a big deal of communicating these truths to the church in Revelation 2 and 3, and then not mention them at all?
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Not mention the church at all during the events of Revelation?
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Another reason I believe the rapture takes place before the tribulation because of Revelation 3.
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In verse 10, Jesus said to the church in Philadelphia, "Because you have kept My word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth." You see, Jesus promised the church that He was going to keep the church, remove the church - literally is what that means - remove you to protect you.
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I will keep you." And he says, "From the hour," meaning it's a specified time, the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world.
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There has never been an hour of trial on the whole world.
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It's never happened.
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He's talking about something that's yet to come, obviously.
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And I believe that his keeping from that hour of trial, I believe that's manifested through the rapture, that he's going to come, He's going to take His church out of the world.
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We'll talk about that in more detail in just a moment.
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So like I said, there's a lot of timelines.
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A lot of interpretations of the timelines, a lot of schools of thought.
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But there are two things that we can all agree on.
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These two things we can all agree on.
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The first one is this, the return of Jesus Christ is promised.
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No matter when you think, the rapture, tribulation, how all that timeline shakes out.
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Something that we have to agree on is the return of Jesus Christ is promised.
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Acts 1.11, we studied this about a year and a half ago now.
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"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?" Remember, this is an angel speaking to the apostles.
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"Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?
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This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
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Remember that story?
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You know, Jesus gives the final marching orders, you'll receive power, you'll be my witnesses.
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And Jesus flies up and disappears into the clouds and the apostles are just like standing there.
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Like any of us would be like, what in the world is going on?
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He just flew away.
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And then an angel shows up and, what are you guys looking at?
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And he says, "He's coming back the same way." Meaning what?
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Gloriously through the clouds, He's coming back.
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The return of Jesus Christ, not only is it promised, it's also imminent.
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Luke 12, 40, Jesus said, "You also must be ready.
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"For the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect." Nobody knows when that is, okay?
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Nobody knows.
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And there are these, I was going to say theologians, but that's not the right word.
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There are these, we'll say preachers, that's a safe word.
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There are these preachers that say, "Well, we know exactly when Jesus is coming." Remember Harold Camping?
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They get their 15 minutes of fame because, "We have your ear, and this is exactly when Jesus is returning." What was the thing a few years ago about the Aztec calendar or something?
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It only goes to 2012, so the world's going to end in 2012.
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Do you remember the hysteria around that?
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And Jesus said that nobody knows.
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He said, "It's going to come in an hour you do not expect." In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5.2, Revelation 16.15, Jesus describes His second coming like a thief in the night.
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You've heard that phrase before.
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Like a thief in the night.
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A thief doesn't announce His coming.
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He just shows up when nobody's expecting Him.
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The return of Jesus Christ is promised.
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The return of Jesus Christ is imminent.
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Number two on your outline.
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Let's get into a little more detail.
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What happens when Jesus returns?
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So we have done that he's coming and we It could be any time do you realize that it could happen before our service is over today wouldn't that be awesome You're like, yeah, especially if it cuts the sermon short I'm kidding the service not going to be short. But when Jesus When Jesus returns what what's like what's like what's going to happen? I want you to turn to your Bibles the first Thessalonians chapter 4 1 Thessalonians 4.
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We're just going to look at a few verses here.
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I want you to jot some things down.
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This is a whole school of study that we're trying to reduce into one sermon.
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Our purpose is Bible 101, right?
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We want to get a strong overview of what God's story is all about to equip us to study these things deeper.
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What happens when Jesus returns?
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1 Thessalonians 4 verses 14-17.
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He says, "For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep." That's a euphemism for death.
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"For this we declare to you by word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
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For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
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And the dead in Christ will rise first.
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Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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And so, we will always be with the Lord.
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So what happens when Jesus returns?
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Very quickly, three things here I want to point out in this passage, the verse is this, "Jesus will come with the saints in heaven." Did you see that?
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Verse 14, "Through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep." When Jesus returns, He's going to be leading an army of believers who are in heaven right now.
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That's the first thing that happens when Jesus returns.
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Second thing we see, Jesus will gather His church.
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Verses 16 and 17.
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It says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command." That word "cry" in the Greek is actually a military word.
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It's a military command.
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Okay?
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So when Jesus comes back, rather, He's going to cry out a military command.
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"Hey guys, I'm back." Ten hut!
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He's going to have everybody's attention.
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Caught up. See that in verse 17? Caught up. Some people say, "Well, I don't believe in a rapture because the word rapture is not in the Bible." The word grandpa isn't in the Bible either, but the concept is certainly there, right?
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Right? Okay, thank you.
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Caught up. Rapture.
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That's just a word that's been attached to this concept.
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Verse 17, do you see the concept in your Bible?
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"We who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds." That's what we call the rapture, the catching away of the church.
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Jesus talked about this in John chapter 14 when He said, "In my Father's house are many rooms." If it were not so, would I have told you that I'd go to prepare a place for you?
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Just stop there for a second.
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Can we just take a moment to soak in the awesomeness that is that verse?
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That right now, do you know what Jesus is doing right now?
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He's doing a lot of things. He's interceding for us.
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He's watching over His church. The Bible says that He's very active right now.
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Do you know one of the things Jesus is doing right this second?
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He says right here what He's doing.
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He is preparing a place for you.
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Wrap your brain around that.
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That when you leave the earth, it's not going to be, "Well, your guest room isn't quite finished, you're going to have to give us some more time." Right now, the master carpenter is preparing a place for you in heaven right now.
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What do you think that's like?
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He goes on, he says, "If I go and prepare a place for you," look at this, "I will come again and will take you to myself." It's the rapture.
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I'm going to come and get you.
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In the last phrase, he says that where I am there, you may be also.
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Jesus is going to return with the spirits of the people who have gone before us.
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The Bible teaches that Jesus, at that time of his return, Jesus is going to resurrect their bodies into glorified bodies.
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The saints who are coming with Him, their bodies are going to come out of the grave, and Jesus is going to give them glorified bodies.
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And the living, upon Jesus' return, are going to be gathered, and immediately are going to receive glorified bodies.
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1 Corinthians 15 verses 23 verses 51 through 52.
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Someday, Jesus Christ is going to give you a brand new body.
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How many people could use that right about now?
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I totally could.
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Think of that. A body that...
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No more pain.
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No more disease.
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No allergies, no asthma, no cancer.
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A perfect, indestructible body.
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What's that like?
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Philippians 3.20-21 says, "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Look at this last phrase, "Who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body." We are going to have a glorified body that's similar to the glorified body that Jesus Christ had when He rose from the dead.
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If you read your Bible, what kinds of things did that body do?
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Remember, He could walk through walls.
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How about He ascended into heaven.
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Do I think that you're going to be able to fly in your glorified body?
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Yes, absolutely.
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It is going to be awesome.
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You're going to have this perfect, glorified, indestructible, ageless body you have for eternity.
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That's what happens when Jesus returns.
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He's going to bring the saints.
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He's going to gather His church.
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Letter C, thirdly, underneath point two.
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What happens when Jesus returns?
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It's not going to be good news for everybody.
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Because the Bible teaches that Jesus will judge the world.
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Revelation 6-20.
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I alluded to this earlier, but Revelation 6-20 talks about a seven-year tribulation.
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The Bible also calls that the day of the Lord.
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It's a manifestation of the judgments of God.
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If you read the book of Revelation, John describes this vision that he has, and I personally believe that John, John who wrote Revelation through the Holy Spirit, writing through him rather.
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I believe that John was transported to the future.
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I believe that John somehow, in God's indescribable ways, he let John watch this future event take place.
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What John saw were judgments.
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There are seven seal judgments.
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There are seven trumpet judgments.
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There are seven bowl judgments.
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All of these judgments are manifestations of God's judgment.
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Ecological disaster and demonic attacks.
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That's in Revelation 6-18.
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Revelation 19 says that Jesus Christ is going to return to slaughter His enemies.
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You know, we used to sing that song, it had that one line in it, "He wears a robe that's dipped in blood." And when we would sing that, I would think, "Oh, that refers to His own blood of the crucifixion." And that doesn't mean that at all.
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The whole concept of the robe dipped in blood that you see in Revelation 19 actually comes from a prophecy in the book of Isaiah.
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And if you read that whole prophecy, that robe wasn't dipped in His own blood.
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That robe was covered with the blood of His enemies.
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The Bible says Jesus Christ is going to come back, and with a sharp sword from His mouth, He's going to cut down everyone that exalts themselves against Him.
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Revelation 19.
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Then you get to Revelation chapter 20.
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You see that Jesus Christ is going to establish a thousand year reign on earth.
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A literal thousand years Jesus Christ is going to personally be here and reign over this millennial kingdom with His people.
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The final judgment comes after that.
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After the millennial kingdom, the Bible says that all enemies, all enemies of God, including Satan are thrown into the lake of fire.
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that takes us into the eternal state.
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The Bible talks about a new Jerusalem.
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That's the place that Jesus is preparing right now.
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A new Jerusalem will descend down from heaven.
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There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth.
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That's the subject matter next week.
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I'm not going to get into that now.
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But I want you to see when Christ returns, He's going to come with His saints.
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He's going to gather His church, giving us glorified bodies.
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And also, according to the book of Revelation, according to John 5, according to so many verses in your Bible, He's going to come and He's going to judge the world.
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So what's next on God's calendar?
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The return of Christ.
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What happens when Jesus returns?
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We covered number three as we close.
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What do we do?
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What do we do with the truth that Christ is returning?
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See, we have to do something with this.
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I wouldn't expect you to walk in here and say, "Hey, by the way, guaranteed the Lord Himself is going to come back, and He's going to grab some people from the earth, and eventually He's going to slaughter those who rejected Him.
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Have a nice day." What do we do with the truth that Christ is teaching?
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And there are so many passages that answer that very question, but one in particular I want you to turn to, and you're going to see why I picked this one.
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Turn to Matthew 24.
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Matthew 24.
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Are you there?
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Matthew 24.
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What do we do with the truth that Christ is returning?
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Pick up in verse 36.
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Jesus is talking about His return.
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"Concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
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For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
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For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark.
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And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.
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So it will be the coming of the Son of Man.
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We spent some time talking about Noah and the flood.
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And you have to see there's a direct connection between that event and an event that is yet to come.
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Jesus said His return is going to be just like Noah's day.
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What was happening in Noah's day?
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It was business as usual.
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People were eating and drinking, people were getting married, and it was just life as usual, when all of a sudden, God gave the warning, right?
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We talked about that.
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Noah preached.
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Like 120 years he preached, and only his family got on the ark.
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The ark would have held every single person that would have chosen to believe.
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They thought Noah was foolish.
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building a boat in the middle of the land because God's going to judge the world really? You really think God's gonna judge the world? How stupid are you? You really think that? Noah was right. Jesus said regarding his second coming it's going to be just like that. If you believe that Jesus Christ is going to return as his word says, people are going to think you're stupid too.
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Really? Really you're getting ready for the return of Jesus and people are They go about their lives, business as usual.
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Remember we talked about this when we went through the story with Noah and the flood.
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Think of the difference between being on the ark and being in the water.
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It can be just like that when Christ returns.
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Jump down to verse 44.
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"Therefore you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming in an hour.
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"I do not expect." There it is again.
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That was the point.
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I'm coming.
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You're not going to know when, but I'm coming.
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Verse 45 says, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has sent over his household to give them their food at the proper time?" In verse 45, here's the question.
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Who here is faithful and wise?
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Faithful and wise.
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Jesus makes a contrast on your outline.
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First of all, He gives a word to the wise.
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A word to the wise.
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He says, "Work and watch." Look at verses 46 and 47.
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"Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
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Truly I say to you, He will set Him over all His possessions.
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There are so many passages in your Bible where Jesus talks about the second coming.
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He tells of this in parables and these word pictures.
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Every single time Jesus was teaching about His second coming, He always had the same application.
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Always the same application.
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Be faithful.
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and watch. Let me ask you, what would you want Jesus to be finding you doing upon His return? What do you want Jesus to be finding you doing when He returns?
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Because here's the alternative, look at verses 48 through 50. He says, "But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow "Follow servants and eat some drinks with drunkards.
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The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect Him, and at an hour he does not know." Here's verse 51.
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Jesus is saying this, by the way.
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"And will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
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In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." There's a word to the wise.
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and watch, but there's a word to the wicked.
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He says be warned.
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Be warned.
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So if you're sitting here today, if you're listening to this on the podcast, and you haven't received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, by God's grace, I want to give you a warning.
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Things are not going to be as they have been forever.
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I have this idea that things are just going to keep going on, that history is a cycle.
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And you know what?
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In another 5,000 years, people are still going to be eating and drinking, marrying and be giving in marriage, and life is just going to go on.
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Life is going to go on.
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That isn't true.
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The Bible says history isn't some cycle that keeps going on.
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According to the Bible, human history is like a book.
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It's like a movie.
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was a beginning, and we are sort of in the middle of it now, but it is going to have an end.
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There's going to come a day that this is all over.
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And for the person that thinks Christ isn't coming back, mocking, ignoring in the context of this, just living in wickedness.
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Too busy partying, too busy drinking, busy sleeping around because things are just always going to be the way they are. This is a warning for you. You better wake up because He is coming and that's why this message has such urgency. You see, I'm not motivated to be doing good because I want Jesus to catch me in a good moment.
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How does that old joke go, you know, "Jesus is coming, look busy"?
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Some people have that mentality, right?
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The reason for the urgency is He could be coming today.
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There's not much time.
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It could be tomorrow.
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The Word to the wise.
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Let's be faithful.
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Let's work.
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Watch.
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A word to the wicked.
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Be warned.
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The day will come, as we said, the robe dipped in blood, covered with the blood of His enemies.
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That's coming.
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In this passage, Jesus said, "That Master," that's Him, "will cut the wicked into pieces, put them with the hypocrites, and that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." associated with hell. Christ is returning. He's returning. Are you ready for that?
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Are you ready for that? Every day that goes by, I am more and more ready for that. Every day that goes by, I find myself getting less and less attached for the things of the earth.
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And more and more longing for the way things are going to be when Christ returns and makes all things new.
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That's what we do with the truth that Christ is returning.
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If our ushers would come forward, we're going to receive the Lord's Supper together.
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When we receive the Lord's Supper, Did you know there is a past, a present, and a future aspect of the Lord's Supper?
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Did you know that?
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The past aspect.
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Jesus said that we do this in remembrance of Him.
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So the past aspect, we do look back.
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When we take these elements, we think, "This is the body.
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This represents the body of Jesus Christ.
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This represents the blood of Jesus Christ." We look back, this is the price that was paid for my sin.
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That's the past aspect of it.
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There's a present aspect of it because the Bible says that when we do this as a church, we should examine ourselves.
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I think most of us are familiar with that.
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Yeah, we kind of look to the past, we kind of look to the present.
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But did you know, concerning the Lord's Supper, there's a future aspect?
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Matthew 26, verse 29, "When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper," look at what He said, "I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day, when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." So yeah, we look back.
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We look inwardly now, but today, as we receive the Lord's Supper, I want you to think of that day.
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I want you to think of that day when Jesus Christ said, "I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 and Matthew 24:36-49
From this message, what new information did you learn about the return of Christ?
How often do you think about the return of Jesus Christ? How does knowing Christ will return affect you?
What aspects of Christ's return do you believe every Christian should agree upon? Why? What aspects do you think we don’t need to agree on? Why?
What Biblical evidence is there for the rapture to take place before the Tribulation?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.