Jesus is Coming Back!
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 16 viewsNotes
Transcript
Be Mindful
Be Mindful
1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),
2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
Confession of Faith
I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name!
Introduction:
God needs you and I to get prepared! Prepared to receive God’s Son again! We need to be ready for Jesus to return, for the Return of Christ or we will be doomed!
Be Mindful!
Be Mindful!
You must arouse your mind!
Focus your mind on what has been preached, what you have read in the bible, what the Holy Spirit has placed in you to be true!
If we are going to understand, know and live in expectancy of the return of Jesus - Our minds cannot be lazy or just wandering about!
Our minds must be alert, focused, concentrated and actively engaged!
It is imperative that we remember what has been preached and taught in the bible about the return of Jesus Christ!
We need to operate with
Pure Minds
The phrase "pure minds" means to have a clear, pure, unmixed, uncontaminated, focused, and concentrating mind.
It is the picture of our thoughts being sifted just like wheat is sifted in order to be separated from the chaff.
Thoughts are to be sifted in order to separate the true and pure from the untrue and impure.
There is always so much false teaching about the end time that the mind must be pure in order to sift the true teaching from the false.
The picture of a pure mind is this: the mind must be exposed to the light of the sun and be found flawless.
The mind must be pure and clear from wandering and impure thoughts if it is to study the Word of God and learn its great teachings.
The mind must be pure and clear if it is to grasp the great truth of the return of Jesus Christ to earth.
2 I want you to think about the words the holy prophets spoke in the past, and remember the command our Lord and Savior gave us through your apostles.
The unity of Scripture.
The unity of Scripture.
The prophets of the Old Testament and the words of Jesus Christ and the preaching and teaching of the apostles are all tied together and put on an equal footing!
They are all considered to be authoritative, to be the Word of God.
Here is what I’m saying
There is a focus for us to get our minds right
The stress is upon the mind having —a pure and clear mind,
a mind that is focused and learning and remembering what it has been taught.
Now here is the challenge Before a person can remember something, you first have to study and learn the facts.
This stresses the utter necessity for us to study the Bible, to learn all we can about the return of Jesus Christ to earth.
There is no place in the Christian life for lazy, lethargic, unfocused, and wandering minds.
Jesus Christ demands total dedication from you and me,
the total commitment of our mind and life to His teaching.
This requires intense and diligent study of the Word of God.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.
The first coming of Jesus Christ to earth was the pivotal point of human history.
4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son who was born of a woman and lived under the law.
20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
2 But now in these last days God has spoken to us through his Son. God has chosen his Son to own all things, and through him he made the world.
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
Since Jesus Christ first came to earth, history is in its last stage.
Right now, the time between Christ's first coming and His second coming, is called
The Age of Grace
The Age of Grace
the age when God's mercy and grace are flowing out to the world through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The thing to remember is that this period of history is called The Last Days
20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
1 Remember this! In the last days there will be many troubles,
18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come.
Wake Up!
Wake Up!
The things we worry about , the things that have us stressed are attached to world that being destroyed!
Are we going to attach ourselves to the world and be destroyed with it or attach ourselves to Jesus Christ and enter into the glory of the new world that is soon coming?
The choice is ours.
We either follow the world that is doomed to destruction or else we follow Jesus Christ and enter the new world promised by Him.
The end time, the destruction of the world that is coming, is not a message of gloom; it is the most glorious message of hope—the hope of a new world.
There is a new world coming that will be gloriously perfected: no corruption, evil, sin, or death—only glory and splendor, health and life; and it will last forever and ever, world without end.
Watch Out For The Mockers!
Watch Out For The Mockers!
But note the point: there are mockers or scoffers in these last days, people who scoff or make fun of the idea of Christ returning to earth and recreating the universe.
3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.
Know that scoffers walk after their own lusts.
They live like they want and do their own thing.
They want the possessions and pleasures of this world. ⇒ They want the right to seek and keep as much as they can of money, houses, lands, furnishings, recognition, popularity, honor, position, authority, power, fame, recreation, comfort.
⇒ They want the right to enjoy all the pleasure they feel safe doing such as partying, drinking, eating, and engaging in suggestive immoralities and sexual relationships.
These are the mockers, people who walk after their own lusts.
They have to mock and reject the second coming of Christ.
If they accepted it, they would have to change their lives;
they would have to repent and turn to Christ or else live under the terrible fear of eternal judgment.
They are unwilling to change their lives; therefore, they reject Jesus Christ and His return to earth in judgment.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”
Remember that scoffers ridicule the return of Jesus Christ. They make fun or criticize for two reasons.
1. Because it has been thousands of years since Jesus Christ came to earth the first time.
They sarcastically ask: "Where is the promise of Jesus return?
What has happened to His promise?
It has been thousands of years since He first came, if he came at all and Christians have always been proclaiming that He was coming soon.
Even today you are declaring that He is coming soon, declaring that His coming is just around the corner, declaring that everyone must expect His return today. What has happened?
Where is He? If He was coming back to earth, He would have surely returned by now."
Some mockers even argue this:
"There is so much suffering and evil in the world, Christ would have certainly returned by now if He was going to. He would have returned and brought the peace and abundance of life that Christians proclaim."
This mockery suggests to people that they can live anyway they want to live, do what every they want to do, forget the bible go ahead and do you boo!
Here’s what the bible reminds us:
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 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.
The return of Jesus Christ
The return of Jesus Christ
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,
6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
7 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.
People willingly forget
They choose to ignore, to be unreasonable, and to reject the fact that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world.
Scripture declares that the world is not self-creating and self-sufficient
It was not made by the laws of nature and it does not run and operate itself by the laws of nature. The heavens and earth were created by the Word of God.
It was God, His speaking the world into existence, who created the universe and the laws of nature.
The heavens and earth were created by God simply speaking and bringing them into being.
God is God, the Supreme Intelligence and Power; therefore, God can simply will and speak, and His Word creates whatever He wills.
Here’s my point : mockers, skeptics, worldly people willingly choose to ignore and reject God, to deny God's absolute intelligence and power.
Therefore, they are willingly ignorant that God created the world and that He sustains it by the mere power of His Word.
The world and its laws are existing today only because God keeps them existing today.
The only reason Jesus Christ has not yet returned to earth is because it is not yet God's time.
God is not yet ready for Christ to return.
When God's day arrives, God will simply speak the Word and Christ will return. The final chapter of human history will then be closed.
7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
25 In the beginning you made the earth, and your hands made the skies.
15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them,
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Don’t Be Misinformed!
The Bible declares that the world has not always continued on as it presently does.
The earth has perished before; God spoke the Word and judged the world.
His Word destroyed the world with a flood and all life was destroyed except Noah and his family and two of every creature.
God did not let people go on and on in their sin forever.
God judged and punished sinners.
The world is a moral universe. God created it to be moral, and He expects man to live righteous and godly lives while here on earth.
If they refuse, then He speaks His Word and judges the earth.
Again, mockers willingly choose to ignore and reject the facts about a flood that destroyed all of life.
The bones and the imprint of the bones of sea life can be found all over the dry land of the earth, yet men continue to reject the evidence of a cataclysmic flood that destroyed life upon earth.
They ignore and reject that this is a moral universe that is answerable to a loving and just God.
They reject Him because they want to control their own lives and live as they wish.
The point is this: the world was destroyed by God's Word once; it can therefore be destroyed by God's Word again.
One cataclysmic destruction took place; therefore, another catastrophic destruction can occur.
In fact, the only reason the world has not yet been destroyed is that it is not yet God's time.
But Scripture is clear; God has spoken: Jesus Christ is going to return to the world and the world is going to be judged and destroyed again.
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Scripture declares that the heavens and earth are being kept, reserved, and stored up for destruction by fire .
How? By God’s Word. God is controlling the heavens and the earth.
They have not yet been destroyed because God has not yet spoken the Word. But note: he is keeping, reserving, and storing up the world for destruction by fire.
Why? Because of ungodly people.
This is a moral universe and God expects men to live moral and pure lives.
The day of judgment and destruction is coming because men have chosen to live ungodly lives.
It is this that men and mockers have chosen to ignore and reject:
they are accountable to a loving, holy, and just God.
It is this that they refuse to study and know and submit to.
Therefore, they continue on in their selfish and hoarding and unjust and immoral ways. And they continue to make fun of and scoff at the coming again of the Jesus Christ to judge the earth.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
Why Jesus has not yet returned.
Why Jesus has not yet returned.
God does not measure time the same as man!
8 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.
To God, a thousand years is only as one day. God is eternal. Think of thousands of years heaped upon thousands of years. Multiply ten thousand years times ten thousand and then multiply that by thousands of years again and keep on multiplying, never quitting.
That is eternity. What then is one thousand years?
Time is relative; it has no span to God.
But this is not so to us.
Man measures time by days and years, and he walks minute by minute throughout the day, all 365 days of the year.
Therefore, time stretches on and on to him. But to God, who is eternal, it takes one thousand years to make a day.
Therefore, to ask why Jesus Christ has not yet returned after two thousand years is ridiculous.
To God it has only been about two days since Christ died and arose.
Two thousand years may seem like a long time to man, but not to God.
To God two days is only a drop in a bucket.
Hear me: As believers we must not be discouraged because Christ has not yet returned. God may want a lot more to take place on earth before He sends Christ back to earth.
Our task is not to question when He is returning, but to watch and be ready in case He returns before we depart this life and go to Him.
There is the intensity of time. Note that one day with God is as a thousand years.
Picture one day on the earth and consider...
• all the trials and temptations
• all the suffering and pain • all the accidents and diseases
• all the sin and evil
• all the cursing and blasphemy against God
• all the selfishness and hoarding while millions are in desperate need
• all the people dying and being sent to hell God feels every ounce of all the events.
He loves us; therefore He feels it all.
He suffers along with us, and the intensity of His feeling is absolute.
God is absolute and perfect; therefore He feels in an absolute and perfect sense.
He suffers with us with such intensity that we could never even imagine the experience.
This is what is meant by "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years."
The feelings of one day are so intense that it feels like a thousand years.
Whereas we bear only the sufferings of our own personal experience, God bears the sufferings of all the experiences of all men.
Therefore, to God the experience during just one day of an evil earth is as a thousand years to Him.
Here’s my point : it is a warning to us.
God will not bear evil forever. He will not suffer the rejection and rebellion of men too long.
He will speak the Word and send Christ back to judge the world.
Scripture definitely teaches that we are living in the last days.
9 The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives.
God is not slow in sending Jesus back to earth, but patient!
God is longsuffering
God does not want anyone to perish
God wants everyone to repent - turn from the world and it’s ways and turn to him
1 Peter–Jude (King James Version) B. The One Thing Not to Forget: Why Christ Has Not Yet Returned, 3:8–10
Very simply, God is slow to give in and to judge and condemn us. God loves and cares for us despite our sin and rebellion, cursing and rejection. This is the very reason He sent Christ to save us. He loves and cares for us; therefore, He is suffering a long time with us.
The Day Of The Lord will come - beyond question
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The skies will disappear with a loud noise. Everything in them will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be exposed.
The glorious fact is that He shall return.
The Day of the Lord is coming.
He is going to bring about the glorious day of redemption, giving all believers the wonderful privilege of living with Him forever and ever.
1. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.
Fact: a person never knows when a thief is going to hit their house.
No thief tells you ahead of time that he is going to rob your house.
If you knew, you would watch and prepare.
This is just the point: the Lord Jesus Christ has told us that He is coming back to earth.
He has forewarned us, but He has not told us when.
Why? ⇒ Not knowing when Jesus is returning keeps us focused upon Him and His return.
It keeps us looking and longing for Him.
It keeps us watching, and it stirs us to live pure and holy lives.
⇒ Not knowing when Jesus is returning serves as a warning to unbelievers.
It warns them that they must repent now, today, for He could return today and catch them unprepared.
The day of the Lord is coming, but it is coming as a thief in the night.
His return is going to be totally unexpected by most people.
As believe’s we must...
• not be careless: get tired of waiting up, get sleepy, be caught off guard, begin to disbelieve.
(All of this can happen to a house owner waiting on a burglar.)
As believer’s we must
• watch: sit up, stay awake, listen, look, take notice of all noises and sights (signs). (The burglar always comes in an unexpected hour.)
Be Diligent!
Be Diligent!
14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
As believers wemust be diligent and prepared for the coming of Christ.
The word "diligent" means to be eager; to strive earnestly; to be zealous in seeking after.
As believer’s we must be eager, earnest and zealous in preparing our-self for the return of the Lord.
As we prepare for 2021
1. find peace in your life! You must be at peace with both God and man.
You must not be living in rebellion against God or be divided against your brothers and sisters.
You can’t be... • living like you want instead of how God says
You can’t be doing your own thing •
You can’t be disobeying God
You can’t be living in sin
You can’t be cheating, lying, or stealing
You can’t be selfish and hateful
You can’t be gossiping and criticizing
You can’t be grumbling and backbiting
You can’t be stirring up trouble within the church
You can’t be neglecting and ignoring God
You must be at peace with God and with men.
You must be at peace with God and with men.
Next Steps
Old Testament
Ezekiel & Daniel
New Testament:
Philemon & Hebrew