Back in the 1700s, there was a man who wrote hymns… a lot of hymns (nearly 750 songs during his lifetime). He was a very famous and popular song writer in his day – and his name was Isaac Watts. He wrote a several songs that are still being sung today and we’re going to sing a few of them… a little bit of a songfest this morning:
• "At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day!"
• "I sing the mighty pow’r of God, that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day; the moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey."
And one of his songs was so popular… that a modern group gave it new chorus:
• When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, on which the Prince of glory died. My richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. (Chorus) O the wonderful cross. O the wonderful cross. Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live. Oh the wonderful Cross, oh the wonderful Cross. All who gather here, by grace draw near and bless Your name."
ISAAC WATTS WROTE THOSE SONGS, and of course, he also wrote one of the most famous Christmas carols of all time – “Joy To The World.”
"Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let Earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And Heaven and nature sing; And Heaven and nature sing, and Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing."
It seems that every church sings that Christmas Carol at Christmas. But there’s one small glitch with that practice. Isaac Watts didn’t write “Joy To The World” to glorify the birth of Christ. No, he wrote that song to glorify the DAY that will Jesus returns to earth. IT’S CALLED THE 2ND COMING.
Notice some of the words in that song: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come - Let earth receive her King." "Joy to the World, the Savior reigns – let men their songs employ." "He rules the world with truth and grace."
When Jesus came the 1st time - when He was born - He was born to die for the world, but when He comes again He will return to RULE OVER the world - to Reign as KING!!!!
ILLUS: Several years ago, Billy Graham was a guest on Johnny Carson (a talk show of the day). At one point there was a lull in the conversation and Johnny said, “You know what Billy, I bet if Jesus ever came back to earth, I bet we’d do him in again!” Billy Graham leaned forward in his seat, and said, “In the Bible we read that Jesus predicted that He would return to earth again. But the first time He came in love. The next time, He’ll come in power. And no one will DO Him in!”
ILLUS: In the 2nd coming God will invade. When that happens, it’s over. It will be the end of the world. When the author of a play walks on to the stage, the play is over.” (a variation on a quote by C.S. Lewis)
But Isaac Watts looked forward to the 2nd coming with a Joyful Expectation. That’s why he wrote joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her king! And he got his inspiration from Psalm 98:4-9. I want you to notice how many times that passage speaks of JOY:
“Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD! Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.”
So, Jesus will come as a KING and He will come to JUDGE the earth. We’re told, to let there be “Joy to the world the savior reigns, let men their songs employ!”
Oddly enough though, not everybody seems excited about Jesus coming back! Some folks they don’t want Jesus to come back because when He does return, He’ll return to judge them. Lots of people like living the way they live, and so they DENY that He’ll come back. And if Jesus doesn’t come back… He can’t tell them their living wrong lives. And if He doesn’t pass judgement on their sins, they can go on living like they always have. They use the same reasoning men use for not going to a doctor. If I don’t go to the Doctor… he won’t be able to tell me I’m sick. And if the Doctor doesn’t get to tell me I’m sick then I can go on pretending that I’m NOT sick.
Our passage for today tells us… “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.” II Peter 3:3-5
They are scoffers, and they scoff at God because they want to continue to follow their own sinful desires.
ILLUS: Sir Julian Huxley was one of those scoffers. He was a very prominent public figure. He was also an atheist, and one of the World’s leading proponents of evolution. He was asked, in a TV interview, why the scientific community so quickly embraced Darwin’s ideas of evolution. He replied “I suppose the reason we leapt at the ‘Origin of the Species’ was that the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.”
That’s what scoffers do. They scoff at God because God gets in their way.
ILLUS: But there are others who are AFRAID that Jesus might come back. Back in 2005, NBC launched a TV show called “Revelations”. In that show, the title character played a nun named “Sister Jo” who was investigating strange phenomena that may signify the Apocalypse (the 2nd coming of Christ). The executive producer said “Sister Jo believes in Revelations, but she refuses NOT TO HAVE HOPE. She feels that humankind can come together and forestall (hinder) the end of days.” (TV Guide, March 27, 05, p. 18)
What? Why would anyone WANT TO HINDER Jesus from coming back? Well, NBC is a secular organization, and as a secular organization they try to think how they’d feel IF Jesus came back. And what they would feel… would be fear! They don’t want Jesus coming back, because when Jesus returns, He’s coming back to lay down the Law. He will come in power and in judgement. And you don’t want to be on the wrong side of the street when that happens.
Now oddly, the fear of Jesus’ return isn’t necessarily a bad thing. II Peter 3:10-12 tells us that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in LIVES OF HOLINESS AND GODLINESS, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”
ILLUS: Someone once asked me if I believed in global warming I said yeah! II Peter 3:12 tells us the “heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.” You can’t get much warmer than that!
ILLUS: My granddaughter Luella is a little over 3 years old and she loves to be near me. Some time ago I was cooking eggs on the stove and she got up on a chair to watch. I had to warn… “DON’T touch. This STOVE will burn you.” I said this several times because at her age she doesn’t know enough to be afraid of the heat coming off the burners of the stove. BUT FEAR ISN’T ALWAYS A BAD THING. I wanted her to be a little afraid… and so I warned her. She’s never been burned, but she has been warned.
And that’s what God wants for us. He doesn’t ever want us TO BE BURNED, but He has warned us! We’ve been warned that… in the heat “of the day of God” the heavens will be set on fire and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. Therefore GOD WARNS US: “Be careful and don’t get to close to the fire. Just live lives of holiness and godliness. You do that, and you’ve got nothing to worry about.
You see, the 2nd Coming Of Jesus will be dangerous… but not for us. We don’t have to be worried. We don’t have to frightened. If we’re following Jesus we’re going to follow Him all the way to heaven. And so, for us, Jesus’ 2nd coming will be a time of JOY!
You know, there are a lot of modern day 2nd coming preachers/teachers who FOCUS ON THE WRONG THINGS. They focus on fear rather than joy. They tend to focus • On the anti-Christ rather than the return of Christ; • On the mark of the beast rather than the mark of the Lamb; • On fearing the beast rather than hoping in Christ; • And on following the time table they think they see in Revelation rather than on the fact that, when all is said and done we’ll be joining with Christ at the great Wedding Feast.
I’ve always loved the meme that has Andy Griffith and Opie setting by the lake. Opie asks “Pa, when is Jesus coming back?” And Andy replies “I don’t rightly know, Opie. You see, we’re not the planning committee. We’re on the welcoming committee.”
That’s all we really need to worry about: being on the welcoming committee. Because – you see – that’s what we’re looking for His RETURN. For us, it will be a time of Joy! Because, when Jesus comes back… He’ll be coming back for US! Jesus said “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3
So, here’s the deal. When Jesus returns, He will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the WORKS that are done on it will be exposed. And when that happens, we’ll want to be ready so that we can go to be with Him for eternity.
CLOSE: Charles Swindoll said that he once worked in a machine shop with a man named George. George’s job was to sweep and clean out the shavings out from under the huge lathes and machines we were running. George loved Jesus, and he loved the teaching about Jesus’ return. Swindoll said: “I remember hearing him sing hymns as he worked. Many of them had to do with the coming of Christ, such as ‘In the Sweet By and By’ and ‘When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.’ One Friday afternoon about 10 minutes to quitting time and we were all worn out. I looked at George and said, ‘George, are you ready?’ (as in, are you ready to go home), and he said “Yep.” But he was all dirty. He was just obviously not ready. In fact, he looked like he was ready to keep on working. I said, 'Aren’t you ready to go home?' He said, 'Yeah, I’m ready.' I said 'Look at you! Man, you’re not ready. You’ve gotta go clean up.' '“No,' he said, 'let me show you something.' So he unzipped his coveralls… and underneath were the neatest, cleanest clothes you can imagine. He had them all ready. All he had to do, when the whistle blew, was just unzip and step out of that coverall. Then he could walk up, and punch his clock and he was gone. He said, ‘You see, I stay ready to keep from gettin’ ready - just like I’m ready for Jesus!’”
For George… the coming of Jesus was going to be a time of Joy and he intended to be ready. The question this morning is this: ARE YOU READY?? (Invitation)
