ANTICIPATING CHRIST'S RETURN
Text: 1 Jn 2:28-3:3
Introduction
1. Illustration: Biblical prophecy provides some of the greatest encouragement and hope available to us today. Just as the Old Testament is saturated with prophecies concerning Christ’s first advent, so both testaments are filled with references to the second coming of Christ. One scholar has estimated that there are 1,845 references to Christ’s second coming in the Old Testament, where 17 books give it prominence. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second advent of Christ--an amazing 1 out of every 30 verses. Twenty-three of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ’s first advent, there are 8 which look forward to His second! (Today in the Word, April, 1989, p. 27).
2. The second coming of Christ includes the rapture of the saints, which is our blessed hope, followed by the visible return of Christ with His saints to reign on earth for one thousand years (From the Statement of Fundamental Truths of the Assemblies of God, #14).
3. The doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ gives us hope, peace and a future. However, it is also an encouragement to live a godly life here and now.
4. The Apostle John tells us that the second coming makes us...
A. Confident
B. Gifted
C. Pure
5. Let's stand together today, out of respect for the Word of God, as we read 1 John 2:28-3:3.
Proposition: The second coming of Christ gives us hope for eternity and encouragement to live holy here and now.
Transition: First of all the second coming makes us...
I. Confident (28-29).
A. Full Of Courage
1. In their song entitled, "Glorious Day," Casting Crowns says this about the second coming of Jesus, "
One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One bringing
My Savior Jesus is mine
Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day
Glorious day
Oh glorious day
2. In v. 28, John gives us both hope and encouragement when he says, "And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame."
A. Remaining faithful in Christ is the antidote to false belief, and John encourages his readers to remain faithful by reminding them of the second coming of Christ.
B. Although the time of his coming is unknown the fact is his coming is without doubt.
C. John is making two points here. First, he is talking about the invisible becoming real.
D. The first coming of Jesus was the unveiling of the previously hidden Word of God in human form, so that those with eyes could see and confess, "we have seen the glory, the glory of the One and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
E. Now he is once again hidden from view, although he is spiritually present with us today.
F. The second thing John wants us to understand is the idea of his return.
G. The word that he uses here is a word that was used to describe the visit of a King to his subjects.
H. Now while we have become accustomed to seeing Presidents and Monarchs on TV and social media, people will still turn out in great numbers to see them in person.
I. However, in John’s day this was a major event, even the event of a lifetime.
J. This is the idea that John is trying to convey with the idea of the second coming of Christ.
K. For the Christian the second coming is associated with the resurrection of the dead, where his people will be with him forever.
L. That is the idea that John is conveying here. Jesus is coming and his return brings hope and encouragement for his people, but its possible that some of his people may not be so excited to see him.
M. Imagine if you will Jesus returning, as the Scripture explains it, "in the blinking of an eye," and you are in the middle of doing something you know is wrong.
N. In that situation, would you be excited to see him?
O. However, John tells us that we can be confident in his coming and not have to shrink back or be ashamed. Would you be ashamed or confident? (Marshall, 165-167).
3. John then tells us that while we await his coming our main objective should be to follow the example of Christ in how we live. In v. 29, he says, "Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are Gods children."
A. John uses two different words for knowledge in this verse (since weknow [eidete] ... we also know [ginoskete]).
B. The former (eidete) is absolute and instinctive, to be aware of the fact. The latter (ginoskete) is consequent, knowledge learned or gained by experience.
C. The combination of the two may indicate that the absolute, instinctive knowledge that Christ is righteous is the basis of the logical conclusion that those who do righteousness have His very nature by their rebirth.
D. They know that Jesus the Son is righteous; therefore they know that those who behave righteously possess the righteous nature of their Father through spiritual birth. (Akin, New American Commentary Volume 38: 1, 2, 3 John, 130).
E. Believers know that God is always right. If a persons actions demonstrate his or her allegiance, then all who do what is right are his children.
F. People do not become children of God by doing right; instead, doing right is a sign that people have already become Gods children.
G. Because true faith always results in good deeds, those who claim to have faith and who consistently do right are true believers.
H. Good deeds cannot produce salvation, but they are necessary proof that true faith is actually present (Barton 1158).
B. Encourage One Another
1. Illustration: In the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvins boss is catching him sitting at his desk staring out the window. "Why aren’t you working Calvin?" Without much thought Calvin confessed to his boss, "Because I didn’t see you coming." In many ways we are asleep and we don’t see what’s coming.
2. The key concept to understand about the second coming is be ready!
A. 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 (NLT2)
2 For you know quite well that the day of the Lords return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.
3 When people are saying, Everything is peaceful and secure, then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant womans labor pains begin. And there will be no escape.
B. Jesus said that even he does not know the day or the hour of his coming.
C. So what really matters is not when is coming, but the truth that he is coming, and since he is coming we need to be ready.
D. That means to always be in a right relationship with the Lord.
E. That means if we have an unrepentant sins in our life we to confess our sins and be forgiven.
F. That means we need to daily ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts to see if there is something we need to change.
G. That means if we have been playing games with God we need to get real with him and get right.
H. That means that if there is anything in your life that is keeping you from God get rid of it.
I. Being right with God gives us confidence that no matter when he comes we'll be ready!
Transition: The second thing that the second coming does for us is that we are...
II. Gifted (3:1).
A. See How Much
1. Frederick Buechner in "The Magnificent Defeat":
A. "The love for equals is a human thing of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.
B. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.
C. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.
D. And then there is love for the enemy love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured love for the torturer. This is Gods love. It conquers the world."
2. That is what is so mind blowing about what John says in 3:1, "See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are Gods children because they don’t know him."
A. The adjective potapen translated "how very much", which occurs only seven times in the New Testament, always implies astonishment. Admiration is usually conveyed as well.
B. Being a child of God stirs within John a sense of wonder, awe, and amazement.
C. The expression carries both a qualitative and quantitative force, what glorious, measureless love.
D. Originally, the adjective meant of what country. Stott captures this original sense when he writes, "The Fathers love is so unearthly, so foreign to this world, that [John] wonders from what country it may come."
E. Gods love is foreign to humankind in that we cannot understand the magnitude of such love. It astonishes, amazes, and creates wonder within those who properly reflect upon it.
(Akin, 131).
3. See how great the gift of his love really is! Why he has identified us as being his very own children! And this is exactly what we have become through his acts.
A. We have really been born of him. Clearly the author means to encourage his readers by reminding them of the grace of God they have received through the lavishness of God's own love.
B. Such grace and love are missing from his opponents' lives. Love appears to be of no concern to them. They fail to recognize God's love and feel no obligation to express it.
C. But apart from love, there would have been no children of God. Because the believers are the children of God, the author warns them that the world is unable to recognize them or relate to them.
D. That should not surprise them because neither did the world recognize God. The failure of the world to know God is one of the basic themes of the Gospel of John.
E. Those who belong to the world live in darkness. They cannot come to the light but must inevitably hate it.
F. This "belonging to the world" becomes also a matter of their choice; i.e., they refuse to acknowledge God in their hearts.
G. The author wants his readers to know that approval by the world is to be feared, not desired.
H. To be hated by the world may be unpleasant, but ultimately it should reassure the members of the community of faith that they are loved by God, which is far more important than the world's hatred (The Expositor's Bible Commentary Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation, 330).
B. Love Of The Father
1. Illustration: One day, C.H. Spurgeon was walking through the English countryside with a friend. As they strolled along, the evangelist noticed a barn with a weather vane on its roof. At the top of the vane were these words: GOD IS LOVE. Spurgeon remarked to his companion that he thought this was a rather inappropriate place for such a message. "Weather vanes are changeable," he said, "but Gods love is constant."
"I don’t agree with you about those words, Charles," replied his friend. "You misunderstood the meaning. That sign is indicating a truth: Regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love."
2. God's love is so incomprehensible that it boggles the mind!
A. Romans 5:6-8 (NLT2)
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
B. God loved us when we were rebellious to his commands.
C. God loved us when rejected his holiness.
D. God loved us when we turned against him
E. God loved us when we were his enemies.
F. God loved us when we had done nothing to earn his love.
G. God loved us when we were helpless to fix our own mess.
H. Above all he loved us enough to send Christ to die for us when we were still sinners!
I. His is the reckless, crazy love of God!
Transition: Another thing that the second coming does for us is that we are...
III. Pure (3:2-3).
A. Keep Themselves Pure
1. In the forests of northern Europe and Asia lives little animal called the ermine, known for his snow-white fur in winter. He instinctively protects his white coat against anything that would soil it. Fur hunters take advantage of this unusual trait of the ermine. They don’t set a snare to catch him, but instead they find his home, which is usually a cleft in a rock or a hollow in an old tree. They smear the entrance and interior with grime. Then the hunters set their dogs loose to find and chase the ermine. The frightened animal flees toward home but doesn’t enter because of the filth. Rather than soil his white coat, he is trapped by the dogs and captured while preserving his purity. For the ermine, purity is more precious than life.
2. John follows up his incomprehensible statement in v.1 with one almost as amazing in v. 2, where he says, "Dear friends, we are already Gods children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is."
A. Not sometime in the future, not when Christ returns, but already believers are Gods children.
B. Yet Gods people have a future, as John further explained that we cant even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns.
C. Christians have been born into Gods family, and they presently enjoy Gods kindness and blessings through Christ.
D. But in the future they will also fully share in his glory. Believers don’t yet know the specifics, but they do know that when he comes they will be like him.
E. This hints of what this future glory will be like. Christ will be revealed and his people will be like him, for they will see him as he really is.
F. The Greek word for "see" involves more than a merely physiological occurrence; it means "perceiving," "recognizing," even "appreciating."
G. In order for people to truly know each other to see each other as they really are they have to share similar experiences.
H. Therefore, in order to see Jesus as he really is, Christians must experience the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.
I. This was Paul’s aspiration; it was also Johns, as expressed in the following verse (Barton, 1159).
3. In v. 3, John takes this amazing thought of seeing Christ as he truly is as an inspiration for holy living. He says, "And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure."
A. Because Jesus Christ lived without sin (he was pure), believers will keep themselves pure.
B. To be pure means to be morally and ethically free from the corruption of sin.
C. This is an ongoing cleansing process, beginning at rebirth and continuing until the day Jesus returns.
D. The more pure his people become, the clearer will be their view of Jesus, who is pure through and through.
E. God also purifies Christians, but they must take steps to remain morally fit (Barton, 1159).
B. Let Us Cleanse Ourselves
1. Illustration: After a violent storm one night, a large tree, which over the years had become a stately giant, was found lying across the pathway in a park. Nothing but a splintered stump was left. Closer examination showed that it was rotten at the core, because thousands of tiny insects had eaten away at its heart. The weakness of that tree was not brought on by the sudden storm; it began the very moment the first insect nested within its bark. With the Holy Spirits help, lets be very careful to guard our purity.
2. While we will never be perfect in this life, our goal should always be to continually grow in holiness.
A. 2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT2)
1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
B. It is true that we are not, nor will we ever be sinless in this life, that does not mean that we use it an excuse to sin.
C. Our objective is to become and grow others to be disciples of Jesus.
D. That's why we pray, because the closer we get to Christ the more we grow in holiness.
E. That's why we read and study Scripture, because as we do the Holy Spirit reminds us of what we have read in our hour of temptation.
F. The closer we get to God the further we get from sin.
Conclusion
1. The Apostle John tells us that the second coming makes us...
A. Confident
B. Gifted
C. Pure
2. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER...
A. WHEN WE GROW IN HOLINESS WE WILL ALWAY HAVE EAGER ANTICIPATION ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
B. AS THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN BLESSED TO BE CHILDREN OF GOD OUR GOAL SHOULD BE TO CONTINUALLY BECOME MORE LIKE OUR FATHER.
C. GROWING IN HOLINESS SHOULDN'T BE AN OPTION BUT A PREOCCUPATION.
