“I DON’T WANT JESUS TO COME BACK!”
Titus 2:13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: THE BAD DAY
1. A trouble-making biker walked into an all-night café, walked up to the counter and grabbed a man’s coffee and gulped it down in one swig. "Well, whatcha gonna do about it?" he says, menacingly.
2. The man burst into tears. "Come on, man," the biker says, "I didn't think you'd CRY. I can’t stand to see a man crying."
3. The sad patron replied, "This is the worst day of my life. I was late to work and my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. My wife left me a note she was done with our marriage and then my dog bit me."
4. "So I came to this cafe to “end it all.” I bought a coffee, dropped in the poison capsule and waited for it to dissolve. Then you show up and drink the whole thing down! But enough about me, how's your day going?"
5. LESSON? DON’T GRAB WHAT’S NOT YOURS!
B. ONLINE ARTICLES
1. As shocking as it may seem, some Christians don’t want the Lord to come back any time soon. All you have to do is google the subject and a list of articles will pop up like:
a. “What if I don’t want Christ to Return?” Phil Sena, July, 2017.
b. “True Confession: I Don't Want Jesus to Come Back,” Robb Ryerse, Jan. 17, 2013.
c. “The Second Coming: It’s Not Fair – I don’t want Jesus to come back.” Adventist Review, Oct. 15, 2014.
d. "I Want Jesus to Return, But Not Too Soon." Sept. 26, 2016, Debbie Werner.
2. This is worse than the scoffers Peter predicted (2 P. 3:3) who say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?”, because the scoffers aren’t the church, but unbelieving mockers.
3. What’s shocking about the confessions cited above is that they’re confessing Christians, yet they don’t want Jesus to come back again!
4. That wasn’t the attitude of the early Christians! Paul said, “…while we wait for the BLESSED HOPE—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13.
C. THESIS
1. Jesus Christ is coming again, that is certain. The midnight call may be heard at any moment. And when that call takes place we will be going home. But sadly, some Christians aren’t thrilled about the imminence of His return.
2. We’re going to look at the 5 reasons Christians don’t want Jesus to come back, and then 5 reasons we SHOULD want Him to come quickly!
3. The title of this message is “I don’t Want Jesus To Come Back!”
I. THE 5 REASONS CHRISTIANS DON’T WANT JESUS TO COME BACK
A. THEY’RE TOO COMFORTABLE
1. Amos 6:1 “Woe to you who are at ease in Zion….” We Americans are blessed to live at a time and place where we have incredible luxuries and wealth. We’ve become too comfortable in our materialism. All of our toys make us happy.
2. So we’re not excited about going to heaven because this life is so pleasant; heaven can even sound like a boring place.
3. This is the same soft prison that almost caused Lot to be destroyed; “the angels urged Lot… “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” When he hesitated, the [angels] grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city…” Genesis 19:15-16.
4. May God help us not to be so deceived by life’s pleasures that we chose the temporal over the eternal! Peter pleads, “Beloved, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” 1 Pet. 2:11.
B. NOT READY TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT, UNPREPARED
1. Jesus told many stories/parables about people not being ready to stand before God at death or the rapture:
a. the five foolish virgins,
b. the rich man and Lazarus,
c. the disobedient steward (Matthew 24),
d. the judgment of the sheep and goats.
2. The Lord Jesus saw this as one of the greatest problems and warned us repeatedly, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” Mt. 24:44.
3. “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak….You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him….The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows” Lk. 12:38,40,47.
C. THEY LOVE THIS WORLD
1. 2 Tim. 4:10 “for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.”
2. Lot’s wife left Sodom, but Sodom controlled her heart, so she looked back longingly (Gen. 19:26) and was turned into a pillar of salt!
3. The Lord Jesus used this story to point out our need to make a permanent decision to surrender our lives to Him; “Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” Luke 17:32-35.
4. This is a direct allusion to why people will be “left” behind when the rapture takes place: they love the world more than they love God. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” 1 Jn. 2:15.
5. Beware that you love Jesus more than this world!
D. THEY LOVE THEIR BESETTING SINS
1. I will never forget the story I read about the volcanic eruption on the Roman island-resort of Pompeii. When the Roman city of Pompeii was being excavated, the body of a woman was found mummified by the volcanic ashes of Mount Vesuvius.
2. Her position told a tragic story. Her feet pointed toward the city Gates, but her outstretched arms and fingers were straining towards something that she had dropped behind her. The treasure for which she was grasping was a bag of pearls.
3. Clovis Chappel said, "Though death was rolling toward her, and life was beckoning to her beyond the city Gates, she could not shake off the spell -- she loved her pearls more than life itself!” (Feminine Faces, Clovis Chappel).
4. This is like many Christians who have a besetting sin that they will not give up. You can't play with sin. Peter warned about sin, “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them” 2 Pet. 2:19.
E. THEY WANT MORE TIME FOR OTHERS TO BE SAVED
1. This is the only GOOD REASON to not want Jesus to come, if you’re desiring to see someone be saved. I have often heard parents lament the soon coming of Christ because some of their wayward kids weren’t saved.
2. But unfortunately, it’s more often than not just a smokescreen. If this is your concern, how many doors have you knocked on this past week, month, year? How many of your loved ones have you witnessed to this week, this month, this year?
3. C. S. Lewis pointed out that the more you believe in the imminent rapture, the more likely you are to witness. He wrote in Mere Christianity, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”
4. This is a rebuke to any who would consider Bible prophecy a superfluous topic and that all we need to talk about is how to live moral lives. God put prophecy in the Bible for a reason. Father knows best. Let’s embrace Jesus’ soon coming!
II. WHY WE SHOULD WANT JESUS TO COME BACK
A. IT’S THE PROMISE THAT SOME OF US WILL NEVER DIE!
1. Talking to the Corinthians, Paul said, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed…” (1 Cor. 15:51).
2. Christians often passed over the words “we will not all sleep,” but they mean, “we will not all die!” So a very real reason we should desire the rapture to happen is that we would never have to face old age and death!
B. YOU & I WILL BE CHANGED
1. “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).
2. Imagine your new supernatural body – with new strength, new shape, new teeth (remember, we’re going to eat at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb), new hair, etc.
3. Revelation 21 says He will “wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (v. 4).
C. WE WILL BE REUNITED WITH OUR LOVED ONES IN HEAVEN
1. At Christ’s coming, we “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” (1 Thess. 4:17).
2. Imagine how wonderful it will be to embrace our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters, our friends etc. in heaven! Surely our hearts will be overwhelmed.
D. WE WILL BE REWARDED
1. Jesus said, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12).
2. Many people think that all that matters is that they
are saved. Nothing could be further from the truth!
3. There will be great rewards for the faithful. Yet not everyone in heaven will receive the same reward:
a. Some will sit on thrones (Luke 22:29-30; Rev. 3:21), while others will “scarcely be saved” (1 Pet. 4:18), yet only as by fire.
b. In heaven, some saints will be richly rewarded while others will have all their works burned up (1 Cor. 3:14-15).
4. It’s like a man needing a wheelbarrow to work on a construction job. He is so poor that a friend has mercy on him and gives him a wheelbarrow. That’s grace. But what he puts in the wheelbarrow after he receives it, is works.
5. Jesus will judge us for: the hungry we feed; the strangers we take in; the naked we clothe; the people we visit in hospitals (Matthew 25:46); the people we instruct in the Gospel. These are things we’re supposed to be doing.
E. YOU WILL SEE JESUS FACE-TO-FACE
1. The BEST REASON we should want the Rapture to happen soon is because we love Jesus and are longing for the day we see Him face to face. The Bible says, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven” (1 Thess. 4:16). He’s not sending an angel or a stand-in, but coming Himself
2. Imagine the joy of seeing Jesus in person – the ecstasy of seeing His loving face and beholding His glory! This will be our greatest reward and joy for all eternity!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Lord Shackleton once went to search for the South Pole. He had to turn back, leaving some of his men on Elephant Island amid the ice and snow.
2. He promised to come back for them. He finally reached South Georgia, where he secured another ship and supplies; and then went back to get his men. He tried to reach Elephant Island, but due to sea ice, he failed time after time.
3. Suddenly one day there appeared an open place through the ice leading to the island. Quickly he ran a small boat through the opening, approached the shore and found his men all waiting, ready to step aboard. They immediately launched out and were beyond the ice crush within half an hour.
4. Once the excitement of the rescue was passed, Shackleton asked them, “How was it that you were all packed and ready for my coming? You were standing on the shore ready to leave at a moments notice!”
5. The men replied, “Sir, you said that you would come back for us and we never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was partly clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and packed our things, saying, ‘Maybe Shackleton will come today.’ We were always ready for your coming.”
6. I would to God that Christians were wanting heaven, and as diligent to be ready, as those men. May God make us so!
B. ALTAR CALL
1. The writings of the early Christians reveal that one of their earliest prayers was “Maranatha!” (1 Cor. 16:22) and means “Our Lord come!” May that become our prayer.
2. Jesus is only coming for those who “love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). Are you desiring His soon coming? Will you pray for a deeper longing for His soon return?
3. Are you affected by the pleasures of this world? Are you spiritually ready for Jesus’ coming? Do you have some sin that might hold you back? Let’s pray and surrender those things to the Lord.
4. Do you have family or friends who need to get right with God so they can go in the rapture? Let’s ask God to help us witness to them.
