WHAT IF JESUS CAME TONIGHT?
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A department store manager noticed a young boy staring intently at the handrail of an escalator. The manager walk over to him and asked, “Son, are you all right?” The boy nodded yes without looking up. “Can I help you?” he asked. The boy shook his head no and continued to look at the handrail. “Well, young man, do you want me to explain to you how escalators work?” The young man replied, “No, Mister. I’m just waiting for my bubblegum to come back!”
2. Although I appreciate the funny story, there is something I admire about the little boy – His diligence in watching.
3. We have something vastly more important to watch for: people’s souls and their eternal destinies. But are we doing a good enough job of that?
B. OUR FRIGHTENING INDIFFERENCE
1. The apostle Peter declared people would get tired of hearing the message of our Savior’s return. He said, “I want to remind you that in the last days there will come scoffers who will do every wrong they can think of, and laugh at the truth. This will be their line of argument: ‘So Jesus promised to come back, did He? Then where is he? He’ll never come! Why, as far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly as it was since the first day of creation’ ” (2 Peter 3:3-4, Living Bible).
2. Once the Scottish preacher, McCheney, was in a train car with a group of intellectuals who thought themselves too elevated to read or be concerned about the Bible. McCheney asked them, “Do you think Christ will come tonight?” One after another they said, “I think not.” When all had given this answer he solemnly repeated this text, “The Son of Man will come at an hour when you think not” (Luke 12:40).
I. CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING
A. COMING INSPITE OF OUR UNBELIEF
1. “Ho Hum, Jesus is Coming Soon. How long have we been hearing people talk about that? BEWARE!
2. Many Ancient events were prophesied, but not believed; yet they occurred exactly as God said.
3. Examples:
a. Flood of Noah. Noah preached for 80-120 years, but people didn’t believe it and paid for their unbelief by drowning in the floodwaters.
b. Sodom and Gomorrah. Undoubtedly they were warned by God. Yet they persisted in unbelief and were destroyed.
c. Captivity of the Jews. God through His prophets warned the Jews that if they didn’t repent, they would be carried away into captivity. They didn’t believe it, but it happened just as God had said.
B. JESUS SAID HE WAS COMING BACK
1. Early in His Ministry (Luke 4:18), Jesus told Jewish leaders that He had come to heal the sick. They didn’t believe He could, but He healed the people anyway.
2. Jesus told them He could drive out demons. They didn’t believe He could, but He did it anyway.
3. Jesus told them He would rise from the Dead. They didn’t believe He would, but He did.
4. This same Jesus told us, “I am coming back.” Some don’t think He will, but they’re wrong.
HE’S COMING BACK & ALL THE POWERS OF HEAVEN OR HELL, OR ALL THE ARMIES, OR NUCLEAR MISSILES CAN’T STOP HIM!
5. All the powers of Caesar and Satan couldn’t keep Him in the grave.
a. His body was wrapped in grave clothes
b. A heavy stone was rolled against the tomb’s mouth,
c. Soldiers were posted outside the tomb to guard it,
d. The door was sealed so it couldn’t be opened….
BUT NOT HELL, NOR DEMON FORCES, NOR ROMAN LEGIONS COULD STOP THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS! HE’S ALIVE & REIGNING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD!
6. Jesus said, “I will come again.” John 14:3. 6X in the Book of Revelation He said, “I am coming quickly!” Rev. 2:5; 2:16; 3:11; 22:7, 12, 20. Are you ready?
II. BENEFITS OF CHRIST’S RETURN (4X)
A. YOU WILL SEE JESUS FACE-TO-FACE
1. The Bible says, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven” 1 Thess. 4:16.
2. Imagine the joy of seeing Jesus in person – the ecstasy of seeing His loving face and be holding His glory!
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. 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
At Christ’s coming, we “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds” 1 Thess. 4:17. 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” Rev. 22:12.
2. 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).
b. While others will “scarcely be saved” (1 Pet. 4:18), yet only as by fire.
3. It is 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.
4. Jesus will judge us for: the hungry we feed, the strangers we take in, the naked we clothe, the number of people we visit in hospitals (Matt. 25:46).
III. THE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH WHEN CHRIST RETURNS
A. COLD HEARTED
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of most shall grow cold” (Mt. 24:12). This is talking about Christians; in the last days, the love of most of them for God will grow cold. Has your first-love grown cold?
B. FALL ASLEEP SPIRITUALLY
1. In the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matt. 25, Jesus told us that in the End Times, ALL the saints will fall asleep. When the Bridegroom/ Jesus comes, only half of God’s people will be ready and get to go with Him back to Heaven. This underscores why it’s important to be walking with God daily and not be like Lot & his wife – caught up in the culture.
2. Jesus said, “You must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” Lk. 12:40. We must fight the tendency to get spiritually sleepy. WAKE UP!
C. CARELESS & PRAYERLESS
People in the last days will be eating & drinking; marrying & being given in marriage & won’t realize the day of the Lord has arrived until it’s too late. WE MUST BE WATCHING AND PRAYING!
IV. HE COULD COME TODAY! (NEW SIGNS)
Not only has the Empire of Rome revived (E.U); not only is Israel back RULING in her own the land(last time was the Hasmonean Era 141-63B.C.) after 2,011 years; not only is the great Bear Russia poised with her Middle East allies to come down on Israel; and the “armies of the East” – China – now possesses an army numbering 200 million [amazing John would predict that since world population didn’t reach 200 million until 1700-1800’s! Here are some OTHER SPOOKY FULFILLMENTS:
A. MOST “UNREACHED” PEOPLE GROUPS HAVE BEEN REACHED BEFORE
1. Jesus said that the Gospel must be preached in all the world before He comes back. But most of the world has now received that witness!
2. The Middle East was reached in the first six centuries. Europe was reached. Now the previously unreached areas – China, Siberia, southern Africa, North and South America, Australia, etc. HAVE received an adequate witness of Christ! So Jesus could come at any time since the most distant areas have been reached!
B. TECHNOLOGICAL SIGNS
The Antichrist will be a master of technology, being able to track the purchases of everyone in the developed world. We see how this has come true in our time:
1. CAMERAS EVERYWHERE. Close-circuit cameras are on most public buildings, on top of stop lights…
2. IN-HOME SPYING ON YOU. Every laptop & most computer monitors have built-in webcams. Be turned on.
3. FINDING & TRACKING YOU. Your cell phone, your car (both have GPS), facial recognition cameras….For Covid-19 they’re using tracking bracelets and invisible tattoos to track people who’ve been infected! Bill Gates is pushing putting vaccine chips in 3.3 billion people! That’s the kind of thing the Antichrist will do.
4. ALL DIGITAL PURCHASES RECORDED.
5. DRONES THAT SPY OR CAN ATTACK YOU.
C. COMING OF THE ARMAGEDDON VIRUS
1. In June of 2013, epidemiologists predicted that the “Armageddon Virus” was imminent: “an animal virus will mutate and be transmitted to humans….within five years.” That was prophetic!
2. The Book of Revelation uses the word “plague” no less than 14 times. It speaks of “Ugly, festering sores on people” Rev. 16:2. Rev. 9:20. Although I don’t think COVID-19 is that virus, I think it foreshadows it’s coming!
D. POTENTIAL TO DESTROY HUMANITY
1. For the first time, Mankind has the capability to destroy all life on the planet. Nuclear weapons have only existed the last 75 years, but they have the potential to end the world as we know it.
2. The Lord Jesus described our terrible danger; “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” Mt. 24:22. There’s no doubt we live in the closing moments of human history.
CONCLUSION
A. JESUS’ PARABLES WARN US TO BE READY
1. KEEP OUR ZEAL AFLAME
a. The 5 foolish virgins- let their lamps go out.
b. “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning” Lk. 12:35.
2. MAINTAIN YOUR HOLINESS (Mt. 24:45-51)
a. Foolish stewards- ate & drank w/ the drunken.
b. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord” Heb. 12:14.
3. WORK TILL HE COMES
a. Go into the Harvest Fields – Mission
b. Parables of the Talents/Minas
c. Will “reward each” one when He comes
B. ILLUSTRATION: “YOU CAN HAVE MY HOME, JOHN”
1. There was a Christian doctor in London who wanted to get the attention of a servant in his household. One night the doctor explained to him that "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout" (1 Thess. 4:16). After he explained the rapture and how all believers in Christ would be removed to heaven he said,
2. "When the Lord comes, you can have my home, John." The young man was surprised and suddenly excited. Then the doctor added, "And you can also have my Mercedes car and all the money in my bank accounts!" The young man could only gasp, "Thanks!"
3. But later that night alone in bed, John began to think. "If the doctor and all the other good people have gone to heaven and I be left out, what good will his house or car or all the rest do me?"
4. Finally he woke up the doctor and explained that he would rather go in the rapture than to have all the doctor’s assets. And before the next morning, John also was one of those waiting for the Second Coming of Christ! Are you? Let’s pray the SINNER’S PRAYER together.
C. ALTAR CALL
1. God, give us our urgency!
2. Nothing helps you keep the house clean like knowing company is coming. I don’t know how you can live, as you do, in light of the Rapture.
3. If you believe He’s Coming, you’ll be “Payed up, Prayed up, and Packed up!”
4. ARE YOU READY SHOULD JESUS COME TODAY?
