Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
HOPE OUT OF DESOLATION
Luke 13:34-35, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
Nearly 2000 years ago Jesus stood on the top of the mountain overlooking the capital city of his chosen people. Israel had been chosen by God Almighty to be the nation that would bring the message of salvation and to bring forth the Savior for all mankind.
He knew what was soon to befall those who were living in that city just a short time later. It would be less than 40 years later, in 70 AD that the Roman Army symbolized by the Eagle, would swoop down, cover the city and utterly destroy it just as Jesus would prophecy that it would be done. The beautiful buildings and the temple would be destroyed so that the walls would be leveled and every citizen taken captive or killed with the sword.
This great city of the Jews, so loved by Jesus, would soon be destroyed and the nation of the Jews would be scattered like lost sheep upon the hills of the earth to remain in that condition until 1948 when, once again, the flag of the nation of Israel would once again flutter in the wind above the city.
The Jews had ignored their final warning. Even worse, they had rejected the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and would suffer untold agony for many generations to come because of their great sin of unbelief.
Jesus stands before the world where we live and I can feel the sorrow in His face and I can almost hear Him cry out in love to our lost and dying world. How much does he have to do get our attention? What price must He pay before we will hear His voice?
Yet our world, just as it was in the time of His earthly ministry, still rejects the Messiah. There is nothing that will incite men to riot quicker than to mention the name of Jesus in a crowd of unbelievers. They will accept anything but that name. No other name has the power and glory of Jesus’ name. No other name has the power to heal, to deliver, to set free and to save the lost soul. No other name brings peace, prosperity and joy like that name does. But man won’t accept that name because they prefer to live in sin and darkness.
How much gospel must be preached before we, in America, will begin to listen. Jesus stands weeping over America for America has shaken its fist in the face of God and declared Him as irrelevant to our times. America has been shaken and I believe that we will be shaken again and again and again until we finally come to our senses and bow our knee before the Lord in repentance for our evil and self-sufficiency, if we ever do.
Romans 10:15-16, "… as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel…"
Yes, we have the message that is needed for the hour and what a beautiful message it is. The message of peace, the message of salvation, the message of deliverance, and all good things that Jesus offers is preached every hour on the radio, TV, the Internet, and in pulpits across our land and yet I wonder how many really hear? I wonder if anyone is listening? Are we just talking to the wind? Are we making an impact?
In recent days we have seen the Spirit of God as He has drawn many to the foot of the Cross and praise God for them. But, Jesus is still standing and weeping over the vast multitudes that don’t know Him. He is not willing for anyone to perish but He paid the price for every one of us to be saved. His blood is sufficient for every sin, for every man, in all the earth and for all time.
Luke 19:41-44, "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation."
We read of this same event in Luke 19 where Jesus cried bitter tears over His people. He had done everything He could within the self-imposed limits of righteousness and justice to reach out to the Jews. He had healed their sicknesses, their diseases, cast out devils, and performed countless miracles in their sight. He had taught them in the synagogues, preached to them from a ship on the water, and taught them on the Mount of Olives and yet they did not hear.
I want to tell you that God is doing and will continue to do everything within the limits of righteousness and justice to reach out to the lost of our world too. He will send us signs and wonders. He has given us His written and infallible Word. He has sent the very presence of the great Holy Ghost. He has given us preachers, teachers and evangelists to spread the good news of salvation. He has died on the cross and rose again so that we could be saved. What more could God do?
I believe that we are living in the very last of the very last days of the Church Age. I am convinced by the Word of God and by all that I see about me that we will soon be gone and that Jesus is coming soon!
I am tired of this desolate world! I am tired of the tricks of the devil to get me to stumble and fall. I am tired of be tired! I want to be ready when He comes. I surely don’t want to be left behind!
Our world is in desperate trouble. There is war and rumors of war on every side. Ethnic genocide is rampant! Men are killing other men for any reason, whether it’s the color of their skin, their ancestry, their religion or their possessions and yet we read in Revelation that it will get far worse before its over.
It is no wonder that Jesus said that in these last days that men’s hearts would be failing them for fear of those things that are coming on the earth. This world is in desperate straits. This world is dying and all mankind is on the brink of eternity. The end of all that you see around you is just over the horizon. Jesus is getting ready to take back this earth and his inheritance from the devil
Yes, we live in desperate, depressing and desolate times but even in the midst of these times we have great hope if we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior! If He is our Savior, then we know that we won’t be here for the worst times of war and tragedy that the world will ever know.
1 Thessalonians 4:14-18, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we, which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them, which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Herein is the Great Hope of all who believe in Jesus, accepted Him as the Lord of their lives and who are looking and waiting for His appearing!
One of these days and it won’t be long – Jesus is coming to catch His Bride away for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Those of us who believe in Him will be changed in a moment and in the twinkling of eye into an immortal body without any sickness or deformity to live in perfect peace with our Lord in glory.
There is an old song that says this:
There’s a blessed time a coming, coming soon
It may be evening, morning, or at noon
The wedding of the Bride, United with the Groom
We shall se the King when He comes!
We shall see the King. We shall see the King.
We shall see the King when He comes
He is coming in power, oh hail the blessed hour
We shall see the King when He comes!
Are you looking for His coming! Are you watching that eastern sky? Are you ready for the shout, the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God to call His people home?
What a great hope we have in the soon coming of the Lord. It won’t be long until all these troubles are over. It won’t be long before we are shouting on the hills of glory! It won’t be long until we shed these mortal bodies, decaying and dying from the effects of sin and put on that perfect body made in the very image of God. It won’t be long until we are at home with our Lord and beholding the wonders of His grace.
Are you ready for His coming? Is everything right between you and Jesus? Have you been washed in the Blood of the Lamb?
It takes more than just believing in Jesus. The Devil believes in Jesus and he certainly won’t be saved.
It takes more than lip service or “believing that you are saved”.
It takes “knowing that you are saved”!
How many of you know, beyond any doubt, that you would go in the Rapture if Jesus were to come for us right this moment! Would you be gone or would you be left standing here alone to face a terrible future for the next 7 years?
Jesus told us that after the Rapture of the Church that there would a time known as “Jacob’s Trouble”. It will a time of war, famine, pain, death and destruction such as the world has never known and will never know again because, in the end, the earth and all that is in it will be destroyed by the fire of God as God rids creation of evil once and for all.
Will you be ready or will you be left behind to face the rise of the Antichrist and his demons from the pit of hell that are unleashed upon sinful man? Will you make your heart right with God or would you rather be left here to experience the greatest earthquakes, the worldwide famine, the end of all peace, and the near annihilation of mankind?
Why not make it right with Jesus tonight? Why not surrender your heart and life to Jesus and ask Him to come into your heart right now?
You can leave this meeting tonight with the sure knowledge that you are ready to meet the Lord in the air with the rest of us so why wait?
Jesus is standing before you right now with His hands outstretched and with tears in His eyes as He pleads for you to come to Him. He doesn’t want you to be lost forever. He wants you to live in Heaven with Him forever!
