THE END- PART I

THE RETURN OF CHRIST- WEEK 1

this week I’m going to lay a foundation. Next week, we’re going to look at what happens after Jesus returns according to Scripture; where do we go as Christians? What’s Heaven like? How are we judged versus those who are not Christians? And we’ll look at Heaven and what eternity will be like. And then in the third week we’re going to take kind of a survey of the Book of Revelation. And I’m going to pick what I consider to be the most important verses that deal with the end times and we’ll cover a bazillion verses and hopefully answer a bazillion questions.

Today we’re going to start in Thessalonians and let me give you the context of what we’re going to study.

These first century Christians were so convinced that Jesus was returning, they just knew He was coming back at any moment, like maybe Tuesday okay, or Monday night and they were freaking out because their relatives and their loved ones who had already died and were believers, they were wondering, “Are they going to miss out on what is to come?”

And so Paul was writing First Thessalonians Chapter Four to kind of explain what would happen to those. And so we’ll look at a big chunk of Scripture and then we’ll break it down verse by verse.

Let’s start in First Thessalonians 4: 13 and Scripture says this,

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.”

Here’s the essence of Christianity:

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

And that’s what I want to do today is encourage you with this truth as we look at three reasons we as Christians have hope. The first reason if you’re taking notes is this, write this down, I want to study the return and the good news is:

Christ is coming again.

let’s say that aloud; we’re looking at the return, what is that?

Christ is coming again.

In fact, Jesus Himself talked about this in John 14:3 Jesus said:

And if I go and prepare a place for you...

What did He say? Everybody say it aloud, He said:

...I will come again; and will receive you unto myself...

Jesus said, ‘I will return, I’m coming back.’

So, in the early church they were so excited about the return of Jesus that they actually had a greeting that they would use with each other. Like, when we see somebody our greeting is spiritual right? It’s like, “What’s up dude? What’s happening? What’s going on?”

Their greeting when they would see each other, they would greet each other, another Christian, and they’d grab the hand and say with faith in their eyes, “Maranatha!” And what that means is, “Our Lord is coming, Our Lord is returning!” And there was this deep sense of anticipation from Christian to Christian, Maranatha, He’s coming back! We should be anticipating it.

In fact, there’s Scripture that says:

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. 2 Ti 4:8.

Those of you that can’t wait for Him to come back there is the reward of a crown for those who long for the Lord’s returning. The problem is most of us probably won’t get that crown because people are so in love with this world that they don’t long for the return of Christ.

How many of you have ever prayed that Christ wouldnt return for a moment? I mean like “Jesus please dont come back yet, i want to get married first, or i just want to graduate high school…)

Maranatha! He’s coming back! In fact, this is what Paul said in the Thessalonian text, he said this:

If We believe that Jesus died and rose again

everybody read it aloud, that:

...Even so them also which sleep in Jesus God will bring with him..

This is His return:

...those who have...

What? Those who have:

...fallen asleep in Him.

Now what does that mean? Does that mean that there’s a guy in the third row at church just bored and he’s like sleeping Jesus? No, that’s not what it means! What this is it’s kind of a poetic way of saying dead, that’s what it means, it’s those who have died. And as Christians we don’t technically die forever because we’ll live with God. And so, it’s kind of a poetic way to say that they’re asleep in Jesus. temporarily.

In fact, I think that Greek word is used 14 times or so in the Bible. In John 11, it’s used of Lazarus who had fallen asleep or had died before Jesus raised him from the dead.

κοιμάω (koimaō), sleep; fall asleep.

Let’s look at the next verse, verse 16 in this text that says this:

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

Let’s stop there for a moment, this is great! The Lord Himself will come down. Remember, God spoke and created the world. There were times when God would whisper, this time when Jesus returns what’s going to happen? There’s going to be a loud command and the voice of the archangel Michael is going to shout and the trumpet of God will blare, why? Because the greatest victory in the history of the world demands the greatest shout from our Lord. The trumpet of God sounds, the archangel cries, the Lord shouts, and what happens? The Bible says:

...and the dead in Christ will rise first.

The dead in Christ will rise first. Who are the dead in Christ? Well remember, Paul was talking to the Thessalonian believers and said, ‘Hey, your loved ones who were Christians and died, they’re going to rise first.’

Now, this is where some people get confused and so I want to go kind of slow and say, it appears to be very clear that there will be two resurrections; there’s the first resurrection and the second resurrection.

The first resurrection is for those who are Christians who will be raised from the dead. The second resurrection is for those who are not Christians, it’s known as the resurrection of the dead and they will be judged very differently;

We’re talking here about the first resurrection, the resurrection of those who are Christians. In fact, Scripture talks about it this way in Revelation, it says:

Blessed and Holy are those who have part in the...

What? In the:

...first resurrection...(Rev 20:6)

If you’re dead, this is the one you want to be in. Blessed and Holy are those who have part in the first resurrection.

And then the Bible says the what? Read this aloud:

...the second death has no power over them.

The second death.

If you’re a part of the first resurrection the second death has no power over you. What does this mean? Well, someone said this and I like the way it’s said:

You can be born once and die twice or you can be born twice and die once.

Well what’s that mean? You can be born one time and all if you have been born one time, what happened? Your momma screamed, she pushed you out, the doctor spanked you, you were born once, okay? If you’re only born one time you will die twice; you would die a physical death and then you’d stand before God and you would die an eternal spiritual death and you’d die twice. The good news is though; if you’re born twice you only die once.

Now, you might say, “How in the world can you be born twice?”

Well, your momma screams, she pushes you out, the doctor spanks you; you’re born once. And then Jesus said to Nicodemus in John Three, He said that a person can be born what? If you know the answer say it aloud, He said that a person can be born again, you can be born a second time. How is that? Can we enter back into our mother’s womb? No, you’re born spiritually; you had a physical birth and now you have a spiritual birth. When you call on Jesus what happens is you are spiritually born anew. Your old life is gone, forgiven, transformed, made completely new. So for those of you who are Christians a lot of people go around and they say, “YOLO!” Who knows what YOLO is? If you know what YOLO is say it aloud. YOLO is “You Only Live Once!” That’s what people say before they do something really stupid! “YOLO...” that was stupid, okay! YOLO, you only live once.

If you’re a Christian you can say, “YODO!” You know what that is? You only die once! Oh I made that up and you’re sitting there all quiet like that! I like that! YODO, you only die once!

So what do we have? We have the return of Jesus, Christ is coming again. The second thing if you’re taking notes is this:

2. We have the rapture.

What is the rapture? Everybody say it aloud, the rapture is when living Christians are taken away. It’s when living Christians are taken away. Let’s see what our text says:

After that...

The Bible says:

...we which are still alive and remain will be...

What? What are we going to be? We are going to be:

...caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air...

After the dead in Christ rise first, if that happens in our lifetime and you’re a believer and follower of Jesus, we who are still alive will be caught up.

Now this word “caught up” comes from the Greek word harpazo and it means to be seized, to be snatched, it means to be rescued.

I’ll tell a story to illustrate it. Years ago when I was much faster and more immature in the Lord, I was at a lunch with all of our pastors and their wives and we walked out of the building. And Pastor Sam had to leave early to go to a meeting and his wife Jamie was coming out of the restaurant when three guys in a pick-up truck pulled up in front of us.

Now, there’s a spiritual principle that everybody knows. If you’re young and no one has told you this, you need to know it. And that is, nothing good ever comes out of any incident involving three men in a pick-up truck! Any time you see three guys in a pick-up truck, just turn and run okay! It’s the principle. And so, these three guys came up and they saw Sam’s wife Jamie and they said something very obscene, I mean we’re talking very obscene. And something in me just snapped! I was like, “No, you’re not getting away with that!”

So I’m not proud of this, but as they drove by I just instinctively took off on foot, Pastor Craig pursuing at full speed, three men in a pick-up truck trying to flag them down to bring justice to them for their ungodly behavior! And so, I’m yelling, waving, chasing!

Well, Pastor Jerry and Pastor Kevin happened to be there and they’re thinking news story, they’re thinking dead Craig, they’re thinking all of this kind of stuff! And so, they went and got in the church van and Kevin was driving and by the time I got the guys pulled over, I was like, “All three of you get out of the car right now!”

And that’s when the van pulled up and the doors flew open and Jerry came out and grabbed me and threw me into the van and slammed the doors and sped away, okay!

Everybody say harpazo! Okay, that’s what it means, it’s rescued, it’s taken out, it’s Jason Bourne snatched away! It’s you’re there and then you’re gone! And this is what Scripture says, ‘...those who are still alive will be snatched away...’, you’ll be rescued.

In fact, there are generally four different beliefs about this rapture and people debate this back and forth. There’s what’s known as pretrib, midtrib, postrib and pantrib.

Pretrib would be those who believe that Christians are rescued before the Tribulation, before things get bad. There’s midtrib, people believe that Christians are rescued in the middle of the seven year Tribulation, before the second half when it gets really bad.

There’s postrib; those who believe that they’re rescued after the Tribulation.

And then there is pantrib and that’s those that don’t really know, but believe it’s all going to pan out in the end, right!

And my personal belief is I believe in pretrib, much because of this verse that God in His goodness, harpazo, He rescues us, He takes us away, He snatches us out; He is that good!

In fact, Jesus describes it this way, this is pretty intense in Matthew 24, verse 40, and I want you to pay careful attention to this because this is how Jesus says it will happen:

...This is how it will be at this coming of the Son of Men...

You ready for this? He says:

Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Mt 24:40–44.

Two men will be in the field; and one will be taken and the other left...

He goes on to say:

Two will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left...

Now, don’t miss the application of this. Jesus says:

...So you also must...

What? You must, say it again, say it like you mean it, come on guys be with me! So you must:

...also be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour that you do not expect Him.

Listen, if you are a believer in Jesus, this is really serious stuff that He is returning, that the trumpet will sound and you must be ready because it could happen at any time and when it does in our context it might mean this:

Two people are sitting at the computer typing away; one is taken and the other is left.

It could be that there’s a whole family eating dinner at the table and three are taken and three are left.

It could literally be at church like right now, two people sitting side by side; one is taken and the other is left.

So be ready, be ready, be prepared! Be doing the work of the Lord, sold out for Him! Not with half-hearted, lukewarm Christianity, but be ready! Maranatha, our Lord is coming, He is returning!

And for those of you that are nudies, you need to be forewarned. What’s a nudy? There’s two types of people and only two types of people in the world. There’s clothies and there’s nudies! You know what I’m talking about, you go to bed at night and there’s only two types of people; there’s clothies and there’s nudies. Raise your hand if you know what I’m talking about at all of our campuses, you know what I’m talking about? Okay, some of you didn’t raise your hand; do I need to go into more detail? No, now listen, if you’re a clothie raise your hand, you wear clothes to bed at night, raise them up! Put them down! If you didn’t raise your hand, you’re disgusting! Okay, I’m just joking, there’s no judgment here, there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, okay!

If you are a nudie, what you just need to know is keep some clothes close by! Okay, no judgment! You say, “What are you talking about Craig?”

This isn’t just me; these are the words of Jesus. This is what Jesus said in Revelation 16:15. Jesus said, it’s red in your Bible if your Bible if you read it:

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and (

Does what? Read it aloud somebody! And:

keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” )

He’s saying if a thief comes in the night, you don’t want to be caught naked, you want to have clothes on in case you have tomake arun for it outside. right?

BE HONEST- WHO has ever thought this while l aying in bed?

Now, to be quite honest chances are He was speaking metaphorically and there’s spiritual application; but just in case, He’s being literal keep your boxers and shirt close by okay! I’m joking around but you better be ready, you better be ready!

There is the return of Jesus.

Second, there is the Rapture.

Third thing if you’re taking notes and this is really exciting:

3. There is the reunion.

What’s going to happen at the reunion? Would you all just read this aloud:

The Bible teaches us a principle that Christians will be where? They will be with God forever.

The reunion, let’s look at what the text says. Scripture says this, First Thessalonians 4:17-18, we’ll read this again:

“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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Can you imagine that? We meet face-to-face the Lord who gave His life for us, we’ll meet the Lord in the air.

AND WE’LL BE THERE FOREVER!

I want to come back to this. I want to let this sink in. When this happens you will be with the Lord for how long?--- forever! We’ll talk more about this next week, but I want you to think about what this means. You’ll be with the Lord forever. What does that mean? No more pain; no more sin; no more heartache; no more brokenness; no more disease; no more sickness; no more poverty; no more starving children; no more divorce; no more loneliness; no more cancer; we’re talking you will be with the Lord forever! If there is any sort of tear, He will wipe away your tears and you will mourn no more. You will be with the Lord forever! Maranatha, comfort each other with these words! Maranatha, our Lord is coming back!

So what should we do if we’re living in the end times? I’ll tell you what we should do. As Christians we should dig bunkers and stockpile food and weapons! Why? So if things get bad and someone comes through our house we can shoot them in the name of Jesus and for the glory of God! No, what should we do? We should encourage each other with these words. He’s coming back, He’s coming back, He’s coming back to take us away! We should live with an urgency to share His good news!

APPLICATION

So what’s the application, what do we do with that? Okay, if you’re a Christian what do we do? We’ve still got to pay the bills, we’ve still got sick kids, we’ve still got all of the activities, what do we do with that?

Well, let me close out with a big chunk of Scripture from First Corinthians 15. This is what Paul said, different context same story, he said:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

How fast is this going to happen? FAST

He goes on to say:

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

In other words, when He returns our physical bodies are going to be transformed into eternal bodies and we are no longer going to be mortal but we’ll live with Him forever. He goes on to say this:

Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Then here’s where it turns to application:

...But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory...

Not through our own religious efforts, not through our own good works, not through us trying to be good enough and stop doing bad things, but He gives us the victory through whom? Say it aloud:

...through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s all about Him and all for His glories. Here’s the application. What do we do with this:

Serve Him, praise Him, worship Him, give in His name, share His love, live with intensity. If Jesus were coming back next Tuesday, how would you live today? That’s how you should live! Not for the lower things of this world but for the things that matter most. He is returning, Maranatha, what would you do if He was coming back? You’d worship Him, you’d live righteously, you’d share your faith, you’d be serious about your commitment to Christ; but what do we have? A bunch of lukewarm, apathetic, worldly, church-going people because we’ve forgotten the good news; Maranatha, our Lord is coming! Therefore we should work for the Lord because you know that your labor for the Lord is what? It’s not in vain. You can live a life that won’t count in eternity, or you can live for the Lord today and bring great glory to Him. Maranatha, our Lord is coming.

Let’s all pray together. Father thank you for your presence, your goodness, thank you for the promises in the Old Testament predicting the first coming of Jesus and the even five-time more prophesies predicting that He is coming back for His church and then later even with His church.

I want to live like He’s returning soon, because I actually really do believe that He is returning soon. I want to live with that intensity, I want to devote myself fully to the work of the Lord, may He increase my passion for His Kingdom and for His name.

for those of you who would say, “I really have been a little passive about this and I want to pray that He stirs up my passion to serve Him even more fully for His glory in living for eternity.”

Would you lift up your hands right now just all over the place, just lift them up high. Man, thank God there are so many!

Father, thank you for people who really want to know you and serve you. I pray oh God that your Holy Spirit would take these words from Scripture and seal them deep within our hearts. God, that we would know and believe and live like the truth that you are coming back for your church. God, give us an intensity to share your love with grace. God, give us a desire to worship you, to leverage everything we have for your Kingdom. God, help us to live fully devoted to work and serve you, to be ready for your soon return, to be encouraged, Maranatha, you are coming back, and to make an eternal difference with this one life you give us on earth.

As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, a lot of you right now there’s something going on inside of you and you’re not sure what it is. There’s some tension, you realize; “Man, if this stuff is true I’m not ready. If Jesus returned right now, the trumpet sounded, I’m not ready, I’m not ready.”

I remember the fear growing up wondering, “Have I been good enough or have I been too bad for God, can I work my way back to Him?” But what I didn’t realize is the Scripture is really, really clear that on our own we can never, ever be good enough for God. The truth is, that’s why the Gospel is all about Jesus because God did something for us through Jesus that we could never do for ourselves. Jesus was born of a virgin, it was prophesied in the Old Testament, so that He wouldn’t inherit man’s sin nature, He was without sin; He was the Lamb of God slain for the forgiveness of sins for the world. He became on the cross sin for us, He took on all of our sin. He died with it and he rose again so that anyone, and listen carefully, that includes you, it doesn’t matter who you are and what you’ve done; anyone who calls on His name would be changed. You can be born once or you can be born twice. Some of you, you’re about to be born twice, it’s the spiritual new birth; your name will be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, you’ll belong to God and no one can ever take you out of His hand.