The King is Coming, Part 3

If you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 17. We are looking at a marvelous passage of scripture that unfolds for us the King who's going to come in judgment. And the unique thing about this for us as a church is that it follows the festivities of Christmas. In fact, this is the, we're in the aftermath of the Advent. Just three weeks into January, having celebrated Christmas, there are certain things that Christmas teaches us. And a number of years ago, I did a series entitled following the festivities.

Don't forget, that was the title of the series. And in there we said, having just followed the festivities of Christmas, you cannot forget to keep going with this story. You must keep going with the story of salvation. You must keep going with the story of redemption, the story of the King that was born, because the story is not complete. It's not finished. So you must keep going with the story of the Christ. And then number two, you must keep growing in intimacy with Christ.

You must keep growing. You can't stop growing following the festivities. And there's a certain element of Christmas that when you're in the throes of Christmas, that there's a certain type of mood that is set that sometimes keeps you more focused above than below. We try to focus that for you during our time of December so that we are constantly talking about the prophecies surrounding the coming of the Messiah. And so as you begin to study those prophecies, you become more acquainted with the Messiah, you begin to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and that's what you need to do.

But following the festivities, you can't forget to keep growing in intimacy with your Messiah. Because as you walk hand in hand with him, as you begin to understand the details of his life and what he wants to do in and through you, you begin to grow deeply in your love for him. So you can't stop growing in intimacy. That's why we encourage you to come on Wednesdays and Sundays, because they're like springboards, they're like trampolines. Wednesday's a trampoline day, Sunday's a trampoline day. That is, you bounce off that day into the next few days.

And as you begin to come down, you come down on Sunday and you bounce again to Wednesday, and then you bounce again to Sunday, and then you bounce again to Wednesday, because there are springboards that take you into the next few days. They're like refueling time, recharging time, refocusing time, so that you can know exactly what you need to be doing. So you continue to grow in intimacy with your Messiah. So following the festivities, you can't not go with the story. You must keep going with the story.

You must keep growing in intimacy. You must keep giving to your ministry. You must keep giving, not just financially, but your ministry as your family, in the service of your family, and your ministry as your church family, and your serving of your church family. You must keep giving to the ministry that God has entrusted to you in the aftermath of the advent. You must keep guarding your testimony. You must keep guarding your testimony. Why? Because Satan wants to destroy your testimony. He does.

He wants to get you off track. That's why we're told in Proverbs chapter 4 by Solomon, guard your heart, for out of it flow all the issues of life. Guard it. Protect it. Your testimony is to go before you, that you might speak forth the truth. You know, there's an interesting passage of scripture in Philippians chapter 2, where Paul talks about how God is at work in you, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. And it says, do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God, above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.

You know, one of the aspects of guarding our testimony is to be a person who doesn't grumble and murmur and complain. That's what the world does. In fact, that is such an interesting phrase, that you know that God is so against it, that in Jude, when he talks about the prophecy of Enoch, where the Lord is going to come and to judge all of his holy, all of the ungodly with his holy ones. He comes with his holy ones to judge the ungodly. He says this, because of their all their ungodly deeds, he says in verse 16, these ungodly ones are grumblers.

Can you imagine that? God is so against grumbling, that the characteristic of an unbelieving world is that they're grumblers. They're always dissatisfied. They live a life of dissatisfaction. In a Marxian godly, and isn't it interesting that the characteristic of the ungodly that God is going to judge when he returns, the number one is grumblers.

That's why you got to keep guarding your testimony. And then you must keep grieving over your iniquity. Grieving over your iniquity. Matthew 5, verse number four, those who mourn over the sin, their sin are the ones who are comforted. And then you must keep guiding your family. Following the festivities, you must continually guide your family, because you need to lead them into truth. Having spent time with them in the month of December, talking about the prophecies of Christmas, that's why we do this, so that you can gather your family around the Word of God, read the Word of God together, memorize the Word of God together, sing the Word of God together, so that you can keep guiding your family after the advent, or the celebration of the advent.

See that? But, number seven, in the aftermath of the advent, following all the festivities, you cannot forget to keep gearing up for eternity. Gearing up for eternity, because the King is coming. And the celebration of the advent, the first coming, is a celebration in anticipation of the second advent, the return of the King.

That's why in the book of Romans, the eighth chapter, it says these words, Romans 8, verse 23, and not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves.

Instead of gearing up for eternity, you can use the phrase, keep groaning for eternity. Because it says, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body, for in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. We keep gearing up for eternity. We put off the flesh, and we put on the things of God, because the King is coming. And we know he's going to come, and we live in anticipation of his return.

And so you can't stop gearing up for eternity. You must continue to do that. You can't forget that important aspect of your life. So much so that Paul would talk to the Church of Thessalonica. Now, the Church of Thessalonica was a very sound church, because it was a saved church. It was a sanctified church. It was a soul winning church. But it was a second coming church that marked them as unique.

That is, they lived expecting Christ to come at any moment. So at the end of each chapter, and we know that when Paul wrote the letter, he didn't give it verses and chapter separations. But when we look at our Bible today, at the end of each chapter, there's something about the return of Christ.

Look what it says, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse number 9 and 10. For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we have with you. And now you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait expectantly for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. And then in chapter 2, it says these words, verse 17. But we, brethren, having been bereft of you for a short while in person, not in spirit, were all the more eager with great desire to see your face.

For we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once, and yet Satan thwarted us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus? And it's coming for you are our glory and joy. And then in chapter 3, it says this, verse number 11. Now may our God and Father himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all men, just as we also do for you, so that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God, the Father, at the presence of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

And then in chapter 4, that great passage about the rapture of the church, the translation of the church, and how the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive remain shall be caught up together in the air with them.

And then he says, comfort one another with these words. And then when you come to chapter 5, he says in verse 23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful as he calls you, and he also will bring it to pass. Why is that so important? Because the return of Christ is the most dominant theme of scripture outside the subject of faith. It is absolutely dominant in scripture.

And we told you last week, we're not to be ignorant of these things. We're to know it. So I've spent my time this week in my study looking over this passage, reworking this passage in my mind, trying to put it all together for you. And so I'm going to sum it up for you in eight phrases over the next couple of weeks. So you understand Luke chapter 17, the king coming in judgment. The first one is this.

The king is coming in judgment. How do we know that? Because it is scripturally defined. It is scripturally defined. This is so important. Because we don't need to be in the dark about the coming of Christ, because it's everywhere. It's everywhere. It's all throughout the scriptures. That's what we told you last week. That of the 46 Old Testament prophets, how many of them spoke of the second coming?

36. Less than 10 of them spoke of the first coming. Because it's a dominant theme of scripture. You must know it inside and out. It is the most purifying aspect of your life. First John three, he who has his hope in him purifies himself, even as he himself is pure.

The number one aspect to living a pure and holy life is to live in the light of the return of Christ.

Those who don't live in light of his return are more likely to live impure lives than pure lives. Because we expect him to come at any moment. And so we are always watching. We are always waiting. We are always looking. We are always longing. Why? Because we love the coming of the return of the king. But it is scripturally defined in scripture. The Bible says in second Thessalonians chapter one, just as an example, these words, verse number seven, he will give you relief who are afflicted when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed for our testimony to you was believed. In Luke's gospel, the one we're in, chapter 17, they came and they asked the question, when is your kingdom going to come? When is it going to come? Because it was a major topic of our Lord while he was here. So it is so scripturally defined.

I could not but give you once again a overview of that time. And so I know I did this in Luke chapter 12, but that was a long time ago. And now we're in Luke 17. And I'm probably going to do it again in Luke chapter 21. Why? Because you know, my ministry is like Peter's ministry. You know, Peter had a ministry. You know what his ministry was? His ministry was just to remind people of what the Bible said. He had a ministry of remembrance. I'm just going to bring everything back to your memory. You need to know this.

In fact, that's what he says in second Peter chapter three, verse number one, this is now beloved the second letter I'm writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.

I'm just writing you a letter to remind you of things that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Listen, I'm just going to write you to remind you that you need to remember what has already been written. That's the job of the pastor. I'm not up here to give you all kinds of newfangled ideas and give you all kinds of shows and dance and pony things that will make you happy. And I'm just here to remind you what the Bible already says.

So that's what I'm going to do. So if I can have the chart up here, I'm going to review it for you once again. Now, if you can't see it, move closer, but this chart is something I've given to you. It's very simple. You can pick this up in the tape ministry and it has all the verses to it. All the verses are written on it in the different areas so that you know. But for me to reiterate to you that the second coming of Christ is scripturally defined and delineated in scripture is crucial because Christ doesn't mumble the end.

He doesn't fumble around and say, well, I hope it all comes out okay at the very end. No, he has it all under control. He has planned it out very systematically, very succinctly, so that we are not left in the dark. And so we know that the Bible teaches, and I'm pretty dogmatic on this. You know, people say, well, you know, you're just too dogmatic. Yeah, I am. I'm dogmatic on the end because Jesus was dogmatic on the end. And I think you need to know for certain how it all ends. And so we know that we here are in the church age.

We understand that from, and these encompass the last days. The last days are the last days of when Christ came to the earth the first time until he comes the second time.

That encompasses the last days. So you need to understand that. We presently are in the church age. When the church age is complete, when the last person in the church age is saved, and we don't know when that's going to be, Jesus, first testimony in chapter four, is going to come, and he's going to, the dead in Christ will rise first.

We who are alive and remain shall be caught together in the air with them, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And we will go home to be with the Lord. And that will end the church age. This is the bride of Christ. And as Christ is bringing people to himself, there's going to come a time where he's going to come back and take them home to be with him. And that's when the marriage supper of the lamb will be, the judgment seat of Christ and the marriage supper of the lamb in heaven. At the judgment seat of Christ, there is no condemnation.

That's where we receive our rewards. Christ's not going to stand there and say, well, you know, you should have done it this way. You should have said it that way. Sorry, you didn't do it. You're losing your reward. No, it's all about the praise. In fact, the Bible says that God will praise you.

That's at the judgment seat. That's not the great white throne judgment. That's something completely different. That's for the unbeliever only. This is for the church of Jesus Christ. And so we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Well, when the church is translated up in the glory, what happens on earth is what the Bible calls in Revelation chapter 6 and 19, the great tribulation upon the earth that encompasses seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. And that is defined and clearly it's seven years based on Daniel's 70th week, which is we will see in days ahead that that is exactly seven years.

And so what happens during that time is that there's, this is called the day of the Lord. It's called the time of Jacob's trouble. Why? Because the tribulation is designed for Israel more so than anything else. That's very important. You need to understand that and see. So when you, when you understand this, we believe the church will be translated out of here before the tribulation. That is not hard to understand. That's clearly delineated in scripture. And so Christ takes the church home to be with him and havoc happens on the earth.

Now, exactly when this happens, seven years does not begin with the church being translated into heaven. The seven years begin when the Antichrist signs a peace treaty, a covenant with Israel. That could happen a day after the rapture. It could happen two days, two weeks, three months. We don't know, but we know that it begins according to Daniel chapter 9 when the Antichrist signs the covenant with Israel, breaks it in the middle of the tribulation. And that has come called the great and terrible day of the Lord signifying the latter half of the tribulation with the trumpets blowing and the bowls judgments being poured out upon mankind.

And then Jesus returns. This is the second coming. Christ comes back down to earth. This is the revelation of Christ. This is the rapture of the church, but they both encompass the second coming of Christ.

This is not dependent upon anything. It's the next aspect on God's prophetic calendar. Nothing has to happen before the rapture of the church, but before the second coming, which we will talk about Lord willing today, if not next week, something must happen.

Something must take place. And I'm not just talking about the tribulation either. Something must happen. There's a reason that Christ gives us as to what must take place before the king comes again. But for the rapture of the church, nothing has to take place. That's the next element on the prophetic calendar. When Christ comes back down to earth, you have, which is have Armageddon there. I should say Bozrah. It's a battle of Bozrah. Most people call it the battle of Armageddon. We'll talk to you about that as well.

And those of you going to Israel with me, we'll be able to understand where Bozrah is because we're going to that vicinity down in Edom. Okay. But it's called the battle of Bozrah. Christ comes back. He sets up his kingdom according to Revelation 20. It's a thousand years. During that kingdom, Satan is bound. He's bound for a thousand years and this is the kingdom. We are talking about this element right here where Jesus comes back in Luke 17 in judgment. Okay. We're not talking about the sequence of events that lead up to this.

That's in Luke chapter 21. We are talking about this event right here. We're bypassing all of this to get to this in Luke 17 to understand the essence of the kingdom because the question was asked, when is the kingdom going to come? Well, it can't come until Christ comes in judgment. And in here, the judgment comes, you have Matthew 25, the sheep goat judgment where the sheep are put on the right and the goat are put on the left and God judges them and the sheep go into the kingdom and the goats don't.

And thus you have the kingdom age where Jews and Gentiles enter in together. Save Jews, save Gentiles. We as glorified saints will be in the kingdom age. We will have glorified bodies because we will have been raptured into glory. We, our bodies will be like Christ's glorified body. What people say, well, what does a glorified body do? It does the exact same thing that Jesus's glorified body did when he was resurrected from the dead. And we will rule and reign with him along with the nation, the 12 apostles on the 12 tribes of Israel during the kingdom age.

And some people will get saved and some will not. A lot of people won't get saved. And so at the end of the thousand years, Satan is loosed, Revelation chapter 20. When Satan is loosed, he gathers all from all around the world, all those who have rebelled against the king during the kingdom age. And there's one great catastrophe that takes place according to second Peter chapter three and heaven and the earth are destroyed.

And when you come to Revelation 20, you have what is called the great white throne judgment where the books are opened and all the unsaved dead of all the ages are judged right here. Old Testament saints are not judged here. New Testament saints are not judged here. No believers are judged here, only unbelievers. Church is here, it's here, but the unsaved dead of all the ages will rise and be judged. All the books will be opened and they will be cast into the lake of fire along with Satan himself.

We will go then into the new heaven and the new earth, and then you have eternity. That is all scripturally defined very clearly in scripture. If you're with us in our study of the book of Revelation, you can read about it. We did a series called the return of the king. You can study it. We did a series of Luke chapter 12 about the coming of Christ. It's all right there. That is just a composite diagram of the end. That's how it's going to happen. We don't worry about a nuclear war and the destruction of the world.

That's not how the world's going to end. We're not worried about the economy, not the economy, but we're not worried about economy either, but what the ecologists say about, you know, I got a thing in the mail the other day, you know, it was about save a tree, don't buy stamps, do everything online, you know, save a tree. I'm not interested in saving any trees. They're all going to burn up anyway. That's not my thing. And who's going to burn them up? God is. So I'm not interested in that stuff. So I don't worry about some meteor hitting the earth and destroying the earth.

That's just not going to happen. It's all going to happen as God has designed it in the book of Revelation. It's very clearly presented. Now, having said that, having said that, we don't know the when, the when of this or this, by the way, we don't know the when. Say, well, it's seven years. Yeah. But the Bible says in Mark chapter 13, no one knows a day nor the hour of the return of the Son of Man.

You say, well, all you got to do is add it up from the day that the peace treaty is signed with Israel to the end of seven years. Well, you might think it's that easy, but if Jesus says nobody's going to know the day or the hour, that means nobody's going to know it no matter how good your math is.

So that's very important to understand. So we don't know the when. We don't necessarily know all the hows and we don't even necessarily know all the who's. For instance, we don't know who the antichrist is. People have been speculating for years who the antichrist is going to be, whether it was Mussolini or whether it was Hitler or whether it was Henry Kissinger or whether it was Bill Clinton, you know, that people give all these ideas about who the antichrist is going to be. Listen, folks, you're not going to know who, so stop trying to figure it out.

How do we know that? He will not be revealed until after we are gone. So stop trying to figure it out. We're looking for the Christ, not for antichrist. And so just keep looking above, not down below. So we don't know the who. Now the Bible does define for us the characteristics of the antichrist. That's very clear. You can read about it in the book of Daniel, Revelation chapter 13. You begin to understand the character and nature of antichrist. But we don't know who he is. We don't know who the false prophet's going to be, right?

God doesn't tell us that. There's going to be a false prophet, but who is that going to be? We don't know. We don't know who all the kings of the earth are going to be that are going to gather together and be a part of this one world government. We don't know. We can speculate. We can kind of put some things together, but we don't know all the who's. We don't know all the how's. We don't know all the why's. And we don't have to know that. In fact, the Bible says in Peter's epistle, these words in first Peter chapter one, verse number 10, as to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was indicated as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look. So in other words, Christ says through Peter's pen is that the old Testament prophets didn't understand all that was going to happen with salvation.

They didn't understand the suffering of a Messiah and the glory of the Messiah. They didn't get that. They couldn't put it together. In fact, there was a time that came up with the two Messiah syndrome. That is there'd be Messiah, son of Joseph, Messiah, son of David, Messiah, son of Joseph would suffer Messiah, son of David. Well, he would be the king and rule forever. They always try to wiggle around the suffering, the death of the Messiah as clearly portrayed. Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Genesis chapter 22.

It's very clearly portrayed in scripture, but they always try to wiggle around it to come up with some other idea. All that to say is that we don't have to know every little detail. If so, Christ would have revealed that to us. He wants us to know the essence of his coming. That's important. He doesn't want us to know the time nor the hour. We know that the rapture of the church being translated into heaven is the trigger event that causes the ball to roll downward this way. Okay. We know that, but no one knows when that day is going to happen.

No one knows when that last person in the church age is going to be saved and off we go. We don't know that. Only God knows. And then we don't even know when he's going to come back because he says, no man knows the day or the hour. In fact, in Matthew's gospel, Christ says it this way, excuse me, book of Matthew 24 chapter verse 42.

Therefore, be on the alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming, but be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason, you be ready too, for the son of man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. You do not know, but it's coming again. All that to say is that point number one, based on Luke chapter 17, is that everything about the coming of the king and judgment is scripturally defined.

Number two, and yet, listen carefully, it is unwisely debated and disbelieved. It is unwisely debated and some with some disbelieved. You see, the big debate is about the kingdom age. The big debate is when is the tribulation going to happen and will we be gone before the tribulation in the middle of the tribulation or after the tribulation? People want to debate that. They really want to sit down and debate when it is the church will be translated out of here. And yet the Bible is very clear. In fact, we did a series on why the church won't go through the tribulation and give you 10 iron-clad principles that guarantee the church will not go through the tribulation.

In fact, every time I do that study, I am so committed to a pre-tribulational, pre-millennial view, I don't even eat post-toasties. I am so committed to it because it's so biblically accurate. And so we know that this is going to happen, but yet it's debated all the time. It's debated about the kingdom age. Is there going to be a kingdom for Israel? Romans 9, 10, and 11 delineate for you very clearly that God's not done with Israel. And yet there's a whole sector of evangelicals who say, yeah, God's done with Israel.

There's not going to be this kingdom thing. They're called all millennialists. There is no 1,000 literal reign, 1,000 year literal reign upon the earth. There is no actual millennial kingdom. There is no actual literal kingdom upon the earth. And yet the Bible very clearly delineates that six times in Revelation 20, it says 1,000 years. God only had to say it once, but he said it six times to make sure you understood how long this kingdom age was going to last. That would eventuate into an eternal kingdom with the King of kings and Lord of lords.

And so you need to understand this because it is unwisely debated among people and unwisely disbelieved by others. That's why we read last week, second Peter chapter three, that many will scoff at the coming saying, where is the promise of his coming?

Everything happens as it's always happened. Everything goes on as it's always gone on because they disbelieve that Jesus is going to come again. We don't, we believe that Jesus Christ is coming again to this earth. So understand this, that the King coming in judgment is scripturally defined, unwisely debated and disbelieved. And that's happened in Luke 17, when the Pharisees came and said, when is this kingdom going to happen? Because they wanted to debate about the kingdom. They wanted to debate about whether Jesus was the King of the kingdom.

And they even disbelieved that Jesus was that King. They believed in a kingdom, but they didn't believe that Jesus was that King. Which leads us to verse 22 of Luke 17. And that is this, that the King coming in judgment is passionately desired. It is scripturally defined. It is unwisely debated and disbelieved, and it is passionately desired. And that's why the Bible says in verse 22, and he said to his disciples, the day shall come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

You're going to long for it. Epithumia, an inter drive, a passion in your soul. It's passionately desired. You're going to want it. Why? Not for you. Not for the fact that one day you're going to go home, and you're going to be with Christ, and you're going to have a glorified body. You're going to involve in the judgment seat of Christ, where you'll receive your rewards, and you'll involve yourself in the Merry Supper of the Lamb, and celebrate Christ, and then come down to earth with him in a glorified body, and rule and reign on the earth with Christ.

And they'll be in a perfect body. It's not about you. It's about the glory of Christ, the vindication of Christ, the coronation of Christ. We do it and long for it because of who Christ is. Don't you grow weary of what's happening in the world? I mean, remember Revelation chapter 6? Revelation chapter 6, you have the martyred saints from the tribulation, the fifth seal, Revelation 6, 9. And when he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained.

And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, how holy and true wilt thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed, even as they had been, should be completed also. So when the fifth seal is broken, what does John see? Now understand this. The tribulation consists of seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls.

The seven seals span the tribulation, each of them being broken. The seven trumpets that are blown, blow out of the seventh seal that's broken. They happen toward the latter half of the tribulation. And the seven bowls that are poured come as a result of the seventh trumpet that blows, and they happen in rapid succession at the end. And so, in all reality, the six seals, or the seven seals, span the tribulation. When the fifth seal is broken, John sees and hears the martyred saints. How long, O Lord, how long?

Not because they want to seek vengeance, because there's no sin in heaven, no sin. So it's not a selfish desire, it's a desire for the Lord to be glorified, for the king to come back, see. And the answer is given in a little while. More have to die first.

And when the last one dies, the king returns to set up his kingdom. But there's this longing. But you know, as believers, we look at the world.

But for me, it's not so much the world that troubles me, it's the modern evangelical church that troubles me. That's what troubles me. I want Christ to return, because I know that when he returns, the wheat will be separated from the tares. The true believers will be seen and known. The false ones, well, they'll be known as well. And so, when you look at the church today, and you look at all the happenings in the church, you know, I read books and read articles and watch TV like you do.

And, you know, I have friends in churches, and some of these churches, I just, you know what, they are the church of Sardis. They are. They are the church of Sardis. You say, what's that? Well, there are seven churches in the book of Revelation that receive seven letters. One of them is the church at Sardis. It's the dead church. I don't want to shatter your bubble, but the majority of evangelical churches in America are dead churches. They're dead. Let me tell you what the book of Revelation says.

Book of Revelation chapter 3 says, verse 1, unto the angel of the church of Sardis write, he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this, I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. You have a reputation. You have a reputation on the outside, but you are rotten on the inside. How many churches do you know that have big reputations on the outside? But on the inside, they're dead. That's the church of Sardis. And you can't fool the Lord. He knows.

He knows everything about the church. So he says, you know, I know you had this reputation. Everybody likes you. You've got this name that everybody puts up in lights, but I know what's going on on the inside of the church. I know who was really born again and who was not born again. And then he says, wake up, strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die. For I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. Oh, you're trying to get there, but it's all works. You're not there.

You failed to complete everything that I have prescribed. Remember therefore what you have received and heard and keep it and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, wake up from your indifference, wake up from your apathy, wake up from your lethargy, wake up from the things that you're doing and realize where you are. I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. That's a warning of judgment. And then he says, but you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy.

He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments. And I will not erase his name from the book of life. And I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. In other words, wake up, know this, that even in the church of Sardis, even in a dead church, Christ says, there are some, there are a few that know my name.

They had not soiled their garments, which is a phrase that deals with unbelief. There are a few that remain true. I know who they are and they are overcomers and I will clothe them in white raiment. And I will not erase their name for the book of life. It's a phrase of security. It's not that he will possibly erase their names. That's not what it means. It means that he is incapable of erasing their names from the book of life because they are solidly his. So he says, there are some, few there may be, but there are some in that dead church that have not soiled their garments.

That tells me that God is so good to preserve always a remnant for himself. A lot of dead churches in America, a lot of dead ones. They got a reputation. They got a name. Thousands upon thousands of people go to them, but the majority of them soiled their garments. There are a few that have not and Christ knows them. But is it not true that we want Christ to come back to be vindicated, to be put on display in all of his glory so truth will be prevalent on this earth? That's the longing. It's passionately desired.

And that's where we left off last week. And there's just a few minutes left today, but I do at least want to introduce this to you because it is universally displayed, universally displayed. And they will say to you, look there, look here. Verse 23, do not go away and do not run after them for just as a lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky. So will the son of man be in his day. Wow. There's going to come a time where, where they're going to say, Hey, look here, here's the Messiah.

No, no, no, no. Over there. There's the Messiah. Don't chase after every so-called Messiah. Don't chase after every date setter. Don't do that. Why? Because when the King comes, it will not be personal. It will not be private. It will be universally displayed for all the world to see. Everybody will see it and nobody will be caught off guard. They won't be ready for when he returns, but everybody will know when the King comes again. Matthew 24, verse number 23, states it this way, Matthew 24, verse number 23.

Then if anyone says to you, behold, here is the Christ or there he is. Do not believe him. This is the Olivet discourse. Christ talking about the time during the tribulation for false Christ and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders. So as to mislead a possible, even the elect behold, I've told you in advance. If therefore they say to you, behold, he is in the wilderness, do not go forth or behold, he is in the inner rooms. Do not believe them for just as the lightning comes from the East and flashes even to the West.

So shall the coming of the son of man be wherever the corpse is there. The vultures will gather. Speaking of course, the judgment of the carnage, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

And he will send forth his angels from a great trumpet or with a great trumpet. And they will gather together his elect for the four winds from one and the sky to the other. Let me tell you something, this event here, not this one, this is for the church only.

It will be private. It will not be public. Although there will be something that happens on the earth as to how we're going to explain or how they're going to explain where these people went. I'm not sure how that's going to happen or all the details. I don't even want to speculate about that because the Bible didn't tell us. But this right here, the return of the king will be visible for all the world to see. It's a universal display of the glory of God as the lightning shines from one side of the sky to the other.

So the coming of the son of man will be. In fact, it says in Revelation chapter one, verse number seven, behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him. That's not some eye, that's every eye. Even those who pierced him. Who's that? That's the nation of Israel. Zechariah 12, verse number 10, they will look on him in whom they, Israel, have pierced. So every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. The word mourn is the Greek word kato, which means to cut yourself.

That is, they will mourn like pagans do. In the pagan practice, they would mourn and they would cut themselves as to appease their gods. They will mourn not out of repentance, but they will mourn because of their doom. Their doom. They will not repent. Israel will repent, but the nations of this world, they will not repent. Revelation six, let me show it to you.

Revelation six, the sixth seal, verse 12, and I looked when he broke the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair and the whole moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree cast its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind and the sky was split apart like a scroll when it's rolled up and every mountain and island were moved out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the land for the great day of their wrath has come and who was able to stand.

Everybody in the world who is committed to unbelief will cry out simply because they know exactly who is doing the judging. It's the land. It's the presence of him who sits on the throne. They know, but even in spite of all they know, they will not repent. Go to Revelation chapter 9. Revelation chapter 9 verse 13, and the six angels sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel at the trumpet, release the four angels who are bound to the great river Euphrates and the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released so that they might kill a third of mankind and the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200 million and I heard the number of them and this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them.

The riders had breastplates the color of fire and of Hosea and a brimstone and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths for the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails and their tails are like serpents and have heads and with them they do harm and the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands so as to worship demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk and they did not repent of their murderers nor their sorceries nor their immorality nor of their thefts.

They did not repent. Do you think they would? But they did not. You see when the king comes in all of his glory all of his beauty all of his brilliance every eye will see him. He goes on to say those asleep in bed one taken one left those at work one grinding one taken one left everybody will know everybody will see. Folks this is absolutely crucial for you to understand. So the question comes when? When? Notice he says in verse 22 you'll long for one of the days son of man and you will not see it.

Why? Verse 25 but first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Let me tell you something the coming of Christ is not only universally displayed and passionately desired it is purposely delayed purposely delayed when he's talking to his disciples he says the son of man must suffer.

There must be a rejection listen carefully there must be a rejection of the messiah which they did that's done listen carefully but there also must be a salvation of Israel. This does not happen until all Israel is saved and I'll show you that next week because the scripture clearly shows us that the king will not come again until he suffers he's rejected and all Israel is saved. If you follow the chronology of Zechariah 12, Zechariah 13 and Zechariah 14 that's exactly what happens. We'll talk about that next week let's pray.

Father God we thank you for today and the chance to study your word what a joy to be able to look into the scriptures and to understand what it is you have said. My prayer for every one of us is that we would be captivated by the coming of the Christ so much so that it would it would revolutionize the way we look at life the way we look at our Lord in Jesus name amen.