Title: The Three Appearances of Jesus Christ
2 Tim. 3:1-9
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth--men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
The verses following describe some of the tell tale signs of the LAST DAYS
THESE EVIDENCES CONCERN PEOPLE
PEOPLE will BE
Lovers of themselves
Lovers of money
Boastful
Proud
Abusive
Disobedient to their parents
Ungrateful
Unholy
Without love
Unforgiving
Slanderous
Without self control
Brutal
Not lovers of good
Treacherous,
Rash,
Conceited,
Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God
Having a form of godliness but denying its power
This kind of Vice List was brought up by both Jews and Christians whenever the End Times where the topic
It was believed by the Jews and here confirmed by the New Testament that the Last Days will be marked by
Turmoil,
Apostasy,
And increased sin and oppression.
IN THE LAST DAYS
2 Tim. 4:3
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
2 Peter 3:3
TN THE LAST DAYS “scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires,
They will say “WHERE IS THIS COMING HE Promised”
We are living in the last days that the BIBLE speaks about.
And the Lord would have you to know that HE IS COMING SOON
I BELIEVE IN THE Imminent RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
He is going to appear.
At an hour
And on a day
That we know not
But praise be to God you can be prepared for his appearing
PRAYER
This morning I want to talk about the “THREE APPEARANCES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST”
Text: Hebrews 9:26-28
The first appearance of Christ is referred to in
Hebrews 9:26
. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Christ’s first appearance began in Bethlehem
and ended at the cross
His first Appearance was
1. To redeem from the captivity of sin all who will believe
One winters night in 1935. LaGuardia - - the mayor of New York city showed up at a night court in the poorest ward in the city.
He dismissed the judge and took over the bench.
That night a tattered old women was brought before him for stealing a loaf of bread.
She defended herself by saying “my daughters husband has deserted her, she is sick and the children are starving”.
The shopkeeper refused to drop the charges saying “Its a bad neighborhood. Your honor and she has to be punished to teach other people a lesson
LaGuardia sighed; he turned to the women and said.
“I’ve Got to punish you, the law makes no exceptions.
TEN DOLLARS OR TEN DAYS IN JAIL”
However even while pronouncing the sentence he was reaching into his pocket, He took out a ten-dollar bill, and threw it into his hat with these famous words.
“Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit, and furthermore I am fining everyone in this courtroom 50 cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread to feed her starving grandchildren. Mr. Bailiff collect the fines and give them to the defendant”
The following day a new York paper reported
“Forty seven dollars and fifty cents was turned over to a bewildered old grandmother who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, making forced donations were a red faced shop keeper, seventy petty criminals, and a few New York policemen.
LaGuardia, paid the price, and set the prisoner free, out of compassion...
The Lord Jesus first appearance was for a purpose
We like that old women are forced to pay the penalty for sin.
Because the law is the law
but the penalty for our sin is not ten bucks
“The WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH”
and not just death in a grave or some sort of annihilation
but if you live your life never receiving the salvation of the Lord He will say
“Depart from me ye Workers of iniquity, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”...
Like Laguardia, God in His mercy knew there was no way we could pay the penalty for our sin
So in his mercy he paid for us
In this way as 2 Cor. 5:21 says,
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The price he paid, he paid for all who would believe on His name.
John 1:12 “For as many as received him to them he gives the power to become the sons of God even to them that believer on His name.
Titus 2:14 “He gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness, and to purify for himself a people that are his very own”.
HE APPEARED THE FIRST TIME TO TRADE HIS LIFE FOR OUR SINS SO THAT WE MIGHT TRADE OUR SINS FOR NEW LIFE
HIS SECOND APPEARING WILL BE
2. To receive all who have believed
Hebrews 9:28 he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting eagerly for him”
His second appearing will be to receive all who have believed
1 Thes. 4:16-18
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words.
On a day that has already been set by the Lord, JUST A SHORT TIME FROM NOW
* CNN will be running news stories about the “Great Global Vanishing”
· Airplanes will fall from the sky, because their pilots disappeared
· Ships at sea will run aground
· Cars will crash
as all true believers are caught up or RAPTURED from this earth.
1 Cor. 15:51-55
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"
But the wicked
they will be faced with seven years of great tribulation..
JESUS SAYS “How dreadful it will be in those day . . ..For then their will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now -- and never to be equaled again”. MT 24
REV 8
-Hail and fire mixed with blood falling upon the earth.
-A third of the world is burned up
- a mountain will be thrown into the sea,
- 1/3 sea creatures will die, and the ships will be destroyed.
-a star will fall from the sky destroying the rivers and streams
-the sun moon and stars will be struck so that they will give no light
- the ground will open, blackening the sky, and out of the smoke will come locusts that will torture all the people of the earth for 5 months.
“during these day men will seek death, but it will elude them
but God has not appointed his disciples to suffer this wrath
1 Thes. 1:10
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
And after this time God will appear a third and final time
3. To recompense judgment to all who have not believed
Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Romans 14:10-11
You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11It is written:
" ’As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
’every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.’ "
On that day there will be no second chances there will be no mercy
Your good deeds will not save you
“for it is not by righteous things that we have done but it is by his grace that we are saved
Your money will not save you “
Proverbs 11:4 Riches will not count on judgment day only righteousness counts on that day:
Matthew 25:31-46 DESCRIBES THIS JUDGEMENT.
Matthew 25:31-46
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37"Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40"The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41"Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44"They also will answer, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45"He will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Back in the colonial days in Africa
An African chief had done something for which the English government wished to punish him and sent a gun boat for this purpose.
A runner brought the chief word that the gunboat had entered the river
The chief had the courier killed
The next day a second runner arrived to tell the chief how far the boat had come up the river.
The Chief had him killed also
The other couriers who arrived the following days to report of the coming judgment met the same fate.
This however did not keep the English boat away nor did it delay the Day of Judgment.
Suddenly the jungle echoed with the thunder of cannon, and the huts of the chief’s village collapsed like cardboard.
How will you respond to this message that judgment is coming.
You could kill the preacher, but that won’t stop it.
You can keep the truth of the word closed, but that Won’t stop it
You can stop listening to your Christian friends and relatives, but that won’t stop it.
You can silence your conscience, and grieve the Holy Ghost,
But that won’t stop Gods judgment day
You could respond like the scoffers who say
“WHERE IS THIS COMING HE PROMISED”
He hasn’t come yet,
oh he is never coming,
but that won’t stop the appearances of Christ.
CONCLUSION
He will appear to recompense judgment on all who have not believed
He will appear to receive all who have believed
You can be prepared for his appearing
By turning unto Jesus who has already appeared to pay the penalty of sin for all who believe.
