| The Certainty of the Second Coming II Peter 3:8-13 9-21-08 A pastor was visiting with one of his older church members. The pastor said to the older man, “Brother Tom, at your age you ought to be thinking about the hereafter.” “Oh, I do all the time,” said Tom. “No matter where I am, in the living room, or if I go upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement, I keep asking myself, what am I here after?” We laugh at that, but in truth we need to take serious the hereafter and thus I would like to share with you this morning on a subject that is always dear to me, and to most Advent Christians and that is the Second Coming of our Lord, which is a certainty. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ started out living in anticipation of His return to gather His redeemed people. When our Lord comes He will destroy the wicked and establish a glorious Kingdom on this earth made new. The earlier fathers looked for His coming and then for many years nothing was preached or said about His Coming until the Advent Christian Denomination came into existence in the 1800’s and started preaching this glorious message again. This is where we got our name, “Advent Christians.” We are Christians who are looking for the return of our Blessed Lord. It is this hope that our Lord is coming that is a motivator. In fact, it might very well be the greatest motivator for our joy, for our service, and for our striving to live godly lives. There is joy in the Christian’s heart when he thinks about the coming of our Lord and thus we ought to live in anticipation of His coming SOON. Now speaking for myself, I can think of no greater reward than spending eternity with Him and those loved ones which I have not seen for so long. Peter was faced with pretty much what the early Adventists were faced with and that was the denial that our Lord would come back to this earth as He had ascended into heaven, bodily and visible, to judge the earth and to set up His Kingdom. Now there can be no question that our Lord said He was coming back and the New Testament writers believed He meant what He said. But there were mockers back then and there are mockers today. Those early believers that were looking for His coming again found their hearts filled with anticipation and expectancy. Something like what a child feels when he is looking forward to Christmas. Oh, if only Christians today would live with anticipation and expectancy. We would see a lot more being accomplished for our Blessed Lord. I dare say we would not only live better lives, but we would be doing more witnessing, more sharing and much more praying. We would no doubt get our priorities in order. If one really believed that the Second Coming is near and that he or she is going to have to stand before the Lord and give an account of their life and be rewarded on the basis of what they have done or had not done and that every secret thing would be brought to light, wouldn’t that encourage each of us to live better lives? People love for the preacher to talk about the Grace of God, which is truly wonderful, or the love of God, which is so awesome, but most don’t care to hear about the judgment of God, and accountability. Listen friends, we have a very loving God, but HE is also a righteous judge who demands holiness and HE hates sin. We would do well to memorize such verses as Romans 1:18, “That the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness.” You know in God’s sight there is no such thing as a minor sin. A sin is a sin in His sight. However, as believers, we have a blessed hope which Paul expressed so well in 2 Timothy 4:7 when he identified Christians as those who love His appearing. True believers will indeed love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ for this is our hope, our desire, and it is then that we will put on immortality. Right now, God alone is immortal. You would think that there would be more preaching today on the Second Coming, but such is not the case. Satan doesn’t care if preachers talk about things in general, but when they start preaching about the Second Coming and judgment, Satan, as well as non-believers and those who are on the fence so to speak, become uneasy. Let me share a few facts. There are 1,845 references in the Old Testament concerning the Second Coming. There are eight times as many references concerning the Second Coming of our Lord as the first and 23 of the 27 books in the New Testament speaks of the Second Coming. Now verse 10 is one that we need to take home with us: “But the day of the Lord will come.” People, it’s going to happen. Others may say it is not true. Some may doubt it, but it’s going to happen just as surely as I’m standing before you this morning. Peter meant it when he wrote that he wanted to stir up the people. He wanted to WAKE the people up. He wanted their minds to be alert to recall those things that were written by the prophets. Oh how we need to recall the words of God, for I’m convinced that if we had more of God’s Word within us, there would be less room for the things of the world. People will sometimes ask why we believe that the wicked will be completely destroyed. We believe it because we believe that this is what God’s Word teaches, and friends, that’s the only reason to believe anything. We believe that a person can only have life in Christ. John 3:16 which everyone knows says, “So God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten that Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish, but should have eternal life.” In other words, you have one or the other; eternal life or destruction. In Malachi Chapter 4, we read, “Behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace and all the arrogant and every evil-doer will be like chaff and the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root or branch.” Nothing is left. The wicked will be destroyed. There will be no more sign of wickedness. Oh friends, we need to KNOW God’s Word. Not what anyone else has said, but His Word and then we need to believe it and to apply it to our lives. Oh, we need to be doers of the Word and not just hearers. Some people will express a desire to know more about the Second Coming, but I find that what they really desire is for someone to tell them their opinions and their thoughts. Sad to say, but most are too lazy to study God’s Word for themselves. People, if you study God’s Word you will find out everything that you need to know about the coming of our Lord. God’s Word tells us that He will come in the clouds, that every eye shall see Him and that the dead will be raised. He will come as He went. His Coming and this is important, will be unexpected. He will come as a thief in the night. You see if men knew the exact day that our Lord was coming, they would most likely wait until the last day to get ready. But friends, we don’t know and thus we need to live each and every day as if it might be the day that He is going to return. We read that Heaven and earth will pass away, but there will be a new heaven, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. I tell you friends, God is going to bring a fire with Him that is so hot, so intense, that it will literally burn up the whole universe. Advent Christians have been accused of not believing in a hell, on the contrary, we believe in a hell that is so hot, so intense, that everything wicked, .including sinful man, will be destroyed. To be honest with you, there is so much that I do not know about the Second Coming, but there is much that all ministers do not know. For God’s Word says that eyes have not seen and ears have not heard what the Lord hath prepared for them that love His appearing. But this one thing I do know, and this is a certainty, Jesus is Coming. And He’s coming soon. We can either be fearful of His coming or we can be ready for His coming. I love the story of a young couple who were going to go out on a date together for the first time. They made all the plans and Bill was supposed to pick Susie up at 7 PM. She was so excited. She went out and had her hair and nails done, bought a new dress and shoes to match, got all dressed up and was ready at 6:45 PM. She waited and she waited and she waited. By 8:15 she decided that she had been stood up and so she took off her make-up, put on her old pajamas, gathered all the junk food she had on hand and sat down to watch TV. At 9 PM the door bell rang. It was Bill, who looked at Susie wide-eyed and said, “What? I’m two hours late and you still aren’t ready?” People don’t let your guard down as far as being ready for the return of our Blessed Lord and Savior. Make sure that your garment is spotless. Look for His coming each and every day. He’s coming, of that you can be sure. The question that each of us needs to ask ourselves today is, “Am I ready for His coming?” In just a few moments we are going to sing a song that we don’t sing very often, but a great hymn, with great meaning, “Just as I am.” You can come today just as you are and make things right, or you can come before Him on the Day of Judgment and give an account. As always, the choice is yours. I only ask today that you be honest with yourself and with our Blessed Lord. |
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