The Son of Man is Coming Again . . . What Now?

If you don't mind, I'm going to stay sitting. My cast came off this week and I'm supposed to wear a boot. I'm not doing that because I'm a stubborn old man. And so I'm not doing that. So I'm going to sit and, uh, you know, I can't stand for long periods of time. People would say, well, if you didn't preach so long, you wouldn't have to stand so long. Uh, but, um, you know, what can I say? I still preach a long time, but you gotta be able to give the word of the Lord out. Listen, this is such a great day as we come together to partake of the Lord's table.

I want, I want you to understand that we know that Jesus is coming again, but what now? What now we've been talking about the last couple of weeks, right? Luke chapter 12, looking at what the Bible says about the return of the King and how Christ himself explained that, that the son of man is coming at an hour that you do not expect he's coming.

That's for certain. The time is uncertain. So what now? To begin, I want to take you back to the book of Amos. Okay. So if you ever have your Bible turned back to the book of Amos, uh, maybe for no other reason, just to figure out where it is in the old Testament. Okay. The book of Amos, Amos was a great man of God. He preached three sermons in this book, one in chapter three, one in chapter four, and one in chapter five, all the word of the Lord. The first sermon in chapter three specifically was about an explanation of the judgment that was coming upon Israel.

The second sermon in chapter four was the accusation as to why the Lord was going to come in judgment upon Israel.

And in chapter five, he begins again with here, the word of the Lord, which was that lamentation by Amos because of the impending doom on the people of Israel. So he preaches three sermons, one, an explanation, one, an accusation and one, a lamentation. The one we're looking at this morning very briefly as an introduction is found in chapter four. He says these words, hear this word, you cows of Bashan. Now, is he talking to the cows on the field? No, no, he's talking to, he's talking to the wives of the wealthy.

Now, could you imagine coming to church and the pastor calling ladies cows? That wouldn't go very well, would it? In fact, most of the words that the people say in the Bible today would not go over in churches today. So that's why preachers don't preach the words of the Bible anymore because they don't go over too well. But here, here he calls them cows, not because they were overweight, simply because they were fattening themselves for judgment because of their sin. And Amos the prophet calls the wives of the wealthy cows.

Wow, what an indictment. Listen to what he says. Who suppressed the poor, crushed the needy, who say to your husbands, bring now that we may drink. The Lord God has sworn by His holiness, behold, the days are coming upon you when they will take you away with meat hooks and the last of you with fish hooks. Now that's literal because the Assyrians, what they did was that when they took captives, they would take hooks, put them in your nose, put them in your lips, tie rope around them and pull you. And so Amos was giving them a vivid picture of what was going to happen to them because they had fattened themselves for the slaughter by the upcoming Assyrian captivity.

Amos accuses them simply because of three sins. Number one was the sin of luxury. Come feed me husband, give me more to drink. All they could think of them was themselves and no one else. And he condemned them for their sin of luxury. He condemned them for the sin of hypocrisy in verse number four into Bethel and transgress in Gilgal. Multiply transgression, bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. Offer a thank offering also from that which is leavened and proclaim free will offerings.

Make them known for so you love to do. You sons of Israel declares the Lord God. Oh you love to play the game. Oh you love to come and you bring your tithes, you bring your offerings, you go to Bethel, you go to Gilgal, those two historical places of worship and and you go there you just play the game. You don't go because your heart's right. You go to put on a show. Maybe that's you today by the way. You're here today for the show. Not because I'm going to give you a show but because you're putting on a show.

You're here to show people that you're spiritual. You're here to show people that that that that you're good. That's what Israel was doing. It was almost like a like a holy irony as Amos would say go ahead do what you've always done you hypocrites because judgment is going to come. And then he condemns them for their sin of obstinacy. But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places yet you have not returned to me declares the Lord. He talks to them about their famine.

He says I sent a famine yet you did not return to me for seven and furthermore I withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest. He sent them a drought per se yet you have not returned to me declares the Lord. So verse nine I smote you with scorching wind and mildew and the caterpillar was devouring your many gardens and vineyards fig trees and olive trees yet you have not returned to me declares the Lord. I sent you famine. I sent you a drought. I even came to destroy your crops yet you would not return to me.

I sent a plague among you after the manor of Egypt. I sent sickness to you he says. I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses you experienced defeat in war and I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils yet you have not returned to me declares the Lord. Wow I have overthrew I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. He gave them catastrophe defeat in battle famine drought destruction of crops sickness yet you have not returned to me declares the Lord.

What am I going to do? I have sent you all these things yet for some reason you don't want to respond. You don't want to come back to me. Sometimes in our Christian life we experience droughts don't we droughts, famine, famines, catastrophes, sicknesses. God's trying to get our attention come back come back come back and we continue in our obstinacy. You know people like that? Are you one of those people today? Are you married to one of those people today? Do you know those kind of people? They just will not return to the Lord.

The Lord did everything he could from a disastrous standpoint for them trying to draw them back as his people. Therefore, verse 12, thus I will do to you oh Israel because I shall do this to you prepare to meet your God. I'm coming I'm coming and I'm going to come and I'm going to judge you. You don't want to be in that place my friend. Please respond to the warning signs that God gives you because the Lord says through the prophet Amos prepare to meet your God. No matter what discipline he sent them they would not return.

So what would he do? He himself would come the Lord of hosts for behold he who forms mountains and creates the wind verse 13 and declares to man what are his thoughts. He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth. The Lord God of hosts is his name. And in chapter 5 he begins the lamentation of what's going to happen when the Lord comes in judgment upon Israel. It says in verse 17 in all the vineyards there is wailing because I shall pass through the midst of you says the Lord.

Prepare to meet your God. Jesus says in Luke chapter 12 in essence prepare to meet your God. For the son of man who is God in the flesh is coming at an hour that you do not expect him. But he is coming. It's a warning as well as a promise. For those of us who know him it's a it's a great promise of his ultimate redemption of his children where we receive all the glory that he has promised. For those who do not know because they would not come to the Lord they would not return back to him. Oh he had sent them warning signs.

He had given them opportunities. He had called them back to himself yet they would not return. They will experience the horrifying judgment of the living God. Wow. The son of man is coming in an hour you do not expect. What now? What do we do now? Let me give you some principles that will lead us to our time around the Lord's table this morning.

Number one oh by the way there's 13 of them in case you want to know how far we're going and we will get through all 13 this morning.

That's my promise to you. Okay. Repent of your sin. Repent of your sin. Acts 17 says in verse 30 therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. Wow. Repent of your sin. If you're here today and you've heard the sermons about the coming of the Lord I think there were four in Luke 12 verses 35 to 40.

We covered one last week in verses 41 and following. It's five of them leading up to this one. If you've yet to repent of your sin and give your life to Christ today's you need to do that. Prepare to meet your God. Are you prepared? Because he is going to come again. He's fixed a day in his own mind his own time from eternity past which he's going to judge the world in righteousness. Are you ready to face that judgment and return from your sin? That's why God's declaring that all men everywhere should repent.

So Peter said in 2 Peter 3 9 God is not that he should perish but that all should come to a point of repentance. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He never has. He never will because that's the way he is. And so you need to repent of your sin. Number two you need to read and heed the book of Revelation.

You need to read and heed the book of Revelation. Listen to what the Bible says in Revelation chapter one.

The revelation of Jesus Christ. This is not the revelations, plural, it's the revelation, singular. The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is the book of the Bible that paints for us the clearest picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all 66 books are a revelation of Christ. But there's one book in particular that's called the revelation of Jesus Christ, the apocalypsis, the unveiling. This is how he is unveiled to the world for all to see, for you to see.

So he says the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his bondservants the things which must shortly take place. He sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant John who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it for the time is next. This is next. Some of your text says the time is near. The better translation will be the time is next.

This is next on the prophetic agenda. So John gets this this picture of the glorified Christ. The revelator is revealed in chapter one and then you go to chapter two and three and you have the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia minor which by the way five of them are told to repent of their sin. Why? Because he comes quickly. He comes quickly. He's coming. Then in chapter four John is caught up into heaven. He sees the glorious reality of the son of man. One the lion of Judah as if he's slain.

Chapters four and five he hears the glorious praise of heaven. Then chapter six the seals are broken and thus begin to tribulation upon the earth. The bible says if you read this book the book of revelation says it in chapter 21 as well.

If you read and heed I'm sorry chapter 22 if you read and heed this book you're a blessed man. Do you want to be blessed? I mean I would think that you want to be blessed. You'd want to find a blessing right? You want to experience the blessing of the lord. People say well you know the book of revelation oh man all those seals and bowls and trumpets and and horns and tin horn figures and it's just it's just it's just too much for me to grasp. Folks that's just satan trying to get you not to understand the reality of the future.

He doesn't want you to look with anticipation to the coming of the messiah. He doesn't want you to do that. That's why there's a special blessing attached chapter one verse number three chapter 22.

I think it's verse number seven that brackets the book of revelation says you know read this book. Read it. Heed the words of this book and you will experience a blessing unsurpassed. Listen carefully by any other blessing you can experience this side of eternity. There are seven beatitudes in the book of revelation. Seven beatitudes that give you a tremendous blessing if you heed the words of this book. The seven minutes coming in an hour that you didn't expect was coming. What now? Repent of your sin.

Read and heed the book of revelation. Number three reflect his purity. Reflect his purity. Peter would say it this way. Second Peter chapter three verse number 14.

Therefore beloved since you look for these things what's the things he's looking at? The new heaven and the new earth. Be diligent to be found by him in peace spotless and blameless. Wow spotless and blameless. Earlier he says that we are to live our lives in holy conduct because the lord is going to come like a thief in the night. John said in first john three that whoever has this hope in him the hope of seeing christ face to face and becoming like him purifies himself even as he himself is pure.

We need to reflect his purity, his holiness, his righteousness. Paul saying something similar in romans chapter 13. Said in verse number 11. In this do knowing the time that is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep and now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day not in carousing and drunkenness nor in sexual promiscuity and sexuality not in strife and jealousy but put on the lord jesus christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust.

Oh the day is coming nearer now that's ever been before ever. What do you do? Reflect his purity. Read and heed the book of revelation. Repent of your sin. Number four. Resolve to pray with thanksgiving. The son of man is coming in an hour that you do not expect. What now? Resolve to pray with thanksgiving. You got your bible turn to philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four. Verse number four. You know this verse. Rejoice in the lord always again I will say rejoice. Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men.

The lord is at hand or the lord is near or the lord is next. In other words he's coming. This is next on the agenda. This is the next big thing. Rejoice always. The lord is near. He's coming. Never be without a rejoicing spirit. Never have a boring day. Don't be in the doldrums of life. Don't be dreary. Rejoice in the lord always. The lord is next. He's at hand. He's right at the door. And this is this. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.

The son of man is coming in an hour that you do not expect. Resolve to pray with thanksgiving. Matthew 6 verse number 13. We'll be beginning in verse number 10. When you pray pray this way the lord says our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven thy kingdom come. When you pray you pray for God's kingdom to come to this earth as it is in heaven. That should be a major part of our prayer life. We are praying for the kingdom of God to come to earth.

To do that we are recognizing that the lord is next. He's at hand. Therefore we resolve to pray with thanksgiving because Jesus is coming again. Next number five. Remain steadfast. Remain steadfast. Repent of your sin. Reflect his purity. Read and heed the book of revelation. Resolve to pray with thanksgiving and remain steadfast. Don't quit. Sharing with Michelle and Esteban yesterday at their wedding. He can't quit. He can't. Based on first Corinthians 15 58 which says be steadfast and movable always abounding in the work of the lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the lord.

All predicated by the fact that Jesus is going to come again in the moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump and we we the people of God are going to be changed in a moment. This mortality will take on immortality. This which is perishable will now become imperishable. We are going to be like Christ. Therefore remain steadfast. Don't quit. You can't quit. You can't quit on your Christian faith. You can't quit on your marriage. You can't quit your ministry. You can't quit serving the lord.

You just can't quit. What's the motivation for living for Christ? It's the fact he's coming again. Remain steadfast. What keeps me coming every Sunday? It isn't you as much as I like you. It has nothing to do with you. Nothing at all. It has everything to do with Christ and his coming again. That's why I come every week. That's why I'm here every Wednesday. It's one more opportunity to get the word of the lord out before he comes again. You know I would do it every day of the week if it was physically possible to be here every day and to hold a service every single day on this campus 365 days a year because people need to know the truth.

Remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the lord. What work has God called you to do? Are you steadfast? Are you swayed to and fro? Are you up and down? Are you quitting your ministry? I don't do that. No, that's not for me. Really? What is for you? What is for you? And Paul would make it known this was his motivation for ministry as well. This time of man is coming in an hour that you do not expect him to come. James said this way, James 5 verse 7. Be patient therefore brethren until the coming of the lord.

Behold the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until he gets the early rain, early and late rains. You too be patient, strengthen your hearts for the coming of the lord is at hand. In other words, wait, be long-suffering, be patient for the coming of the lord is at hand. Be like the farmer who goes, he plants the crop, he waits for the early rains, he waits for the late rains, he knows that God's going to produce a crop but he doesn't do it in the next day or the next week.

He does it over a period of time. You too be patient. You strengthen yourself in the lord. You remain steadfast. Don't quit. Son of man is coming in an hour that you do not expect. Repent of your sin. Read and heed the book of Revelation. Make sure that you reflect this purity. Resolve to pray with thanksgiving. Remain steadfast. And number six, recommit to ministry. Recommit to ministry. 2nd Timothy chapter 4. 2nd Timothy chapter 4. Paul says, verse number one, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom.

In other words, Timothy, Jesus is going to come again. He is going to appear again. Therefore, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears to go, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to miss. But you, Timothy, be sober in all things.

Endure hardship. Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry. Once you remain steadfast in your steadfast endurance, recommit yourself to ministry over and over again. For some of you, it will be your marriage because your marriage is your ministry, right? And so you need to recommit yourself once again to the ministry that God's given to you in your husband or your wife. And you make that recommitment knowing that Jesus is going to come again and you want to endure hardship as a good soldier.

You want to fulfill your ministry to the end. You want to remain steadfast so you recommit yourself to the ministry God's entrusted to you with your husband or with your wife, with your family. That's your number one priority.

That's your number one ministry. If your ministry fails at home, your ministry fails, period. Did you get that? If your ministry fails at home, your ministry fails, period. Your influence is minimal. Your impact is diluted because the power of your ministry lies in your power to lead in your home and to reflect Christ to those closest to you. Such a powerful thing. Recommit to ministry. And maybe you've recommitted to your marriage and your ministry and you're steadfast there, but in the church you're lacking.

There's always a ministry for those who want to serve. Because Jesus is going to come again, recommit to ministry. Number seven, rescue the perishing. Rescue the perishing. Wow. The Bible says in the book of Jude, the book of Jude, verse 21, keep yourself in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

In other words, He's coming again and the great mercy of God has given you eternal life. And have mercy on some who are doubting. Save others, snatching them out of the fire. And on some, have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Do you know that we have a ministry of rescuing the perishing? I was talking about that. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. Jesus will save. Are you rescuing those who are perishing? Ted West is in our audience today and I met a friend of his and mine this past week, an acquaintance that I had not seen in years.

And he said to me, I was talking to a friend of Ted's at work this past week. He said to me, he said, could you tell Ted to stop trying to convert me? Can you tell Ted to stop talking to me about Jesus? Can you tell Ted to leave me alone? And the mutual friend that Ted and I have said, can't do that. That's just the way Ted is. You're not going to change him. He's perishing. He needs to hear the truth. We need to rescue the perishing. In your family, in the neighborhood, the people at work, you're snatching them out of the fire as if it were, they're on their way to hell.

And you're grabbing them, snatching them out of the fire because you're sharing with them the mercy of Christ that wants to save them from their sin. The seven minutes coming in an hour that you do not expect, but now rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Next, number nine, I'm sorry, number eight, refuse to neglect church. Refuse to neglect church. Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembly together, as is the habit of some, but encourage you one another and all the more as you see, what?

The day drawing near. What day is that? That's the day that Jesus is going to come again. Because Jesus is going to come again, refuse to neglect church. Because we need to stir one another on to love and good deeds, stimulate one another, motivate one another. And what do you best do that? Right here. We gather together. We share the word of the Lord together. We praise God together. We pray together. We proclaim his name together. We serve side by side together. And we motivate one another. We stimulate one another.

We're massaging one another to continue to do the love and good deeds. And therefore we refuse to neglect church because the day of his coming is at any moment. We don't know the day, nor do we know the hour. We know for certain he's coming. As to when, it's uncertain. But for certain we know he's coming. Refuse to neglect church. Boy, I tell you, I don't know how else to say that. I know it sounds self-serving as a pastor when he says that. But it's not about me. It's really about you. It really is.

It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with you and the ability that you will experience to be side by side with those who love the Lord and experience his truth. This is where relationships are birthed, are born, are enhanced, are strengthened. Is it perfect? No, it's not. And if you're looking for a perfect church, don't join it because you'll ruin it. You will. This is not a perfect place. Not at all. It is a progressing place. It is that. It is a perfecting place because we want to mature in our walk with the Lord.

But it's not a perfect place. And because it's not, then you can really identify with the person sitting next to you. You really can. You don't have to wonder about, wow, they're just so holy and so spiritual because they're probably not that holy or that spiritual if you really got to know them. They experience the same kind of temptations and trials that you experience. Oh, maybe they handle them differently than you do, but wouldn't it be good to know how they've handled their trials and difficulties that you might learn from their experiences that God has taught them?

Sure it is. Refuse to neglect church. Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Next. This is number nine, revive the brokenhearted. Revive the brokenhearted. First Testimonies 4.16 talks about the fact about the Lord's going to come and we who are dead in Christ shall be, the dead in Christ shall rise first and we who are alive and remain shall be caught together in the air with them.

So shall we ever be with the Lord. Verse 18 says, therefore comfort one another with these words. That's how you revive the brokenhearted. You know somebody's brokenhearted? Tell them that Jesus is going to come and take them home again and everything will be perfect. Perfect. Jesus said in John 14, I know your hearts are troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. And then he goes in that long dissertation in my father's house and the dwelling places. He's gone to prepare a place for you so that when he comes again he can receive you unto himself.

For where he is there you're going to be. That's how you comfort troubled hearts. That's how you revive the brokenhearted. We've shared this with you before. That's the only way to do it because everything else is superficial and surfacey and shallow. It just is. But the very fact that Jesus is going to come and this too will pass. It will. It will pass. I mean, you know, I know in Laurie we had all these kids, you know, and you know when they're really young and you're trying to raise them it's just so much work.

It is. It's just so much work. It's 24-7 to give your life to your children and to be there with them and be home with them and to raise them and to nurture them. And it's work, it's work, it's work, it's work, it's work. But it will pass, all that work. And one day you'll reap the benefits and the joys of their adulthood if you raise them in the fear of the Lord, right? It will pass. It's not forever. The pain you experience today is not forever. The brokenness you experience today, it's not forever.

Truly, not even a blip on a screen compared to eternity. And Jesus wants us to realize it's only for a while. It's not forever, just for a while. Peter says, if and it is, you suffer trials necessarily. In other words, there is a necessary trial for you, but it's only for a brief time. It's not forever. So you revive the brokenhearted by reminding them of their eternal home, by reminding them that you're going to go home and be with the Lord. It's not forever. And meanwhile, resolve to pray with Thanksgiving.

Reflect His purity, right? Be the kind of person who reads and heeds the book of Revelation and repents of their sin because Jesus is coming. You can revive the brokenhearted. Number 10, we are flying this morning. Number 10, renew your relationships. Renew your relationships. First Thessalonians chapter 3.

Paul says in verse 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 and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in your love for one another. Because He's coming again. See, every principle has something about the return of the Lord attached to it, right?

In the Scriptures. So you need to renew those relationships. The Bible says in John 13, 35, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one for another.

So Paul says, the Lord's coming. May your love for one another abound. May it increase. And the Church of Thessalonica, they were the only church in the Bible that was called the pattern for living. No other church was called the pattern. Church of Ephesus wasn't a pattern. Church of Philadelphia wasn't called the pattern. But the Church of Thessalonica, they were called the pattern to follow. Why? Because they love one another. And yet Paul says, you know, increase in that love. May it abound more and more because Jesus is coming again until that day, the day which no one knows except our Lord who is in heaven.

He's going to come in an hour that you don't expect. What now? Renew those relationships. Are there broken relationships in your past that could very easily be renewed with a simple phone call, a simple letter, a simple conversation? Because time is short. Jesus is coming again. Number 11, radiate your citizenship. Radiate your citizenship. You are not citizens of this world. Stop looking at it like it. You're citizens of heaven. Start looking like children of the king. Radiate your citizenship. May that be that which is the overwhelming shining of your life.

Paul would say these words in the book of Philippians, the third chapter. He would say, Philippians chapter three, verse 20, 20. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he himself has even to subject all things to himself. Our citizenship is in heaven. And because it is, we wait for the chief citizen of that location to come and take us home, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's his place. And that's where our citizenship is. Peter says we're aliens and strangers in this foreign land. This is not something that we are to lock onto, stick with, hold onto. We're just passing through. We're here for a brief moment. So as children of the king, we radiate his kingship. As we're talking about on Wednesday nights about giving glory to God, reflecting his perfect righteousness in and through our lives because of his beauty, because of his glory. We radiate our citizenship in heaven.

When people see us, they should see heaven. When people see us, they should hear heaven sing. When people see us, they should know that we are subject to a king, that we obey his rules and follow his orders. We radiate his citizenship or our citizenship because that's where our home really lies. Next, number 12, rejoice in the anticipation of your reward. Rejoice in the anticipation of your reward. Remember, it was Jesus who said in Luke 10 to the disciples, the 70 who came back, ecstatic about people coming to saving faith and demons trembling at their presence.

Jesus said, don't rejoice that the demons are subject to your name or to my name, but rejoice in this, that your names are written down in heaven. Why? Because in heaven there is a reward. That's why Jesus said in Revelation 42, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me. Really? Yeah. He's going to reward all those who are faithful to his name, the crown of glory to those who lead the church properly, the crown of life to those who experienced trials and honor the Lord through them, the crown of righteousness to all those who love his appearing, the imperishable crown, first Corinthians nine, to those who endure steadfastly each and every day, the crown of joy, Philippians chapter one, as well as first Thessalonians chapter two, those who lead others to Christ are receiving the reward called the crown of joy.

What a beautiful thing to rejoice in, the anticipation of your reward. Jesus says, I'm coming quickly, my reward's with me.

He lets you know he's coming with his reward. You rejoice in the anticipation of that reward. The Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don't expect, but he is coming. And lastly, very simply, remember the Lord's death until he comes. First Corinthians chapter 11, verse number 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Remember me, Jesus says, remember me until I come, because I'm alive. I want you to remember my death, because it was through my death that you received your life. So now you can radiate your citizenship. You can reflect my purity. You can resolve to pray with thanksgiving. You can renew your relationships. You can refuse to neglect church because of what I did. You can do all that because of the life that I have given to you. And thus we are prepared to receive this morning the Lord's table, because we want to remember what he did for us, never forgetting that without his death, there is no life.

Because through his death, we received his life, and we now live forever with him. Let me pray with you.

Father, thank you for today. The great joy we experience through our relationship with the living God. My prayer, Lord, is that we would recognize your coming again and live in accordance to that coming. By partaking of the Lord's table today, we are fulfilling some of that, because you want us to remember your death. Remember your sacrifice, your substitutionary atoning work at Calvary. Thank you for dying in our stead and granting us your righteousness. In Jesus' name, amen.