Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Where's The Hope? Pt.1

Tomorrow night is an exciting time for us. At seven o'clock an evangelistic meeting here for young people. Many of you have already heard of the great things that have been going on and the youth out ministering on the high school campuses sharing the gospel, going on the campuses and intimidating, we've heard, so many of the young people in the public schools. It's interesting. They are having to have cops on there and security guards and talking about metal detectors. A few little Christians come on and scare everybody. It's interesting feedback that we're getting. We've gotten calls from the director of the school system and different principals and people that are really concerned that the children are being scarred emotionally because they've been told they're going to hell.

These are the same kids that are watching horror movies on TV and all of the different things; all the movies they see on abortion of babies, and they're having hard times dealing with the reality of eternal life. A lot of the feedback has been interesting to see, the perception that's going on. We had one principal tell us that we couldn't witness to the kids because from the time they walk out of their front door until the time they return, that they are the possession of the public schools, and every place they put their foot, like Abraham, it belongs to the public school system. I was just wondering if that went for the ones that were holding up 7-11s and starting fights in the McDonalds and if they're going to assume responsibility for all of that. There are a lot of things that have been going on. Of course, that's their interpretation of those particular public school ordinances.

But there is a higher law, and it's to go into all the world and preach the gospel, amen? We can understand their reasoning, and we just don't accept it. There has been some good ministry and a lot of young people invited out to be here tomorrow evening at seven. Be prayerful about it. Let's believe that seed that's been sown will have really touched hearts and that some of these young people—think back when some of you that are not so young anymore like others of us—think back when you were that age, and you had to try to portray to everybody that you really had your act together, but you were scared. There were questions that were real that you didn't have answers to. Some of these kids are being challenged for the first time. Let's believe for their salvation.

Somebody needs to love these kids that have been deserted by their parents for a few dollars, and society has given them up for political correctness, and somebody that will really love them whether they're the computer geeks or the kids with all the black hair and pierced everything that sticks out. Those people need Jesus, and they need to know that somebody loves them. That's what our kids have been sharing. It's exciting. Tomorrow we're going to be having an opportunity for them to hear the gospel more. Be in prayer. This is for the youth only. A number have asked if they could be there. No, it's for youth only. There are a few adults that have been invited just as chaperones that will be able to be there. But these are young people hopefully—we don't know if anybody's going to show or not after all this effort. If they don't show, it doesn't matter. Noah preached a hundred years and didn't have a convert. It doesn't have to do with who accepts. It has to do with our obedience of going and preaching. So that's exciting and our young people have done that. Be in prayer. It's a very important time, and we're expecting some fruit to come from that.

Also, Friday evening at 7 p.m. don't forget our graduation in the Fellowship Hall; just a time of honoring these young people as commencement takes place. Everyone's invited, and it'll just be a good time, a family gathering together.

Richard had asked me to share some of what took place on our little journey to the Midwest, and I was going to—I think we might wait and take Sunday night to share a little bit of that so I can have maybe Greg and Jimmy and Richard share—he's up in children's church—to get their perspective of what had taken place and the ministry that had gone forth. A lot of very interesting things did occur. Some doors opened that were definitely the Lord ordering our steps in that. It was a very rewarding time.

One of the things that was interesting was that the director asked us to come out and provide ministry in Phoenix in October. I thought, dear Lord, it will kill you to drive out to Chicago and back in a couple of days, and everything else that went on. It really didn't strike me at first, and the more I've thought about it and the more I've realized that we really haven't reached into the west coast and to be able to reach—many will be there from California and Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada. Who knows, the Lord may be wanting to open doors for us in that area that we're going to be prayerful about. So pray about that—whether this would be a door open for us to continue to get the ministry out.

There were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people being challenged with the gospel of Jesus this last weekend. They went and hand-picked a site for us, a vendor's site. They literally went and hand-picked the prime site and put us right dead center, the middle of everything. Not a lot of people wanted to come to the booth because the message was pretty straightforward-you heard it. People, frankly, get real nervous. Janet said it was interesting when that name of Jesus would be spoken with such confidence and love and assurance of the reality of who He is. She said she would sit there and watch people literally cringe, and just try to find someplace for cover. One afternoon it just poured rain and literally all of the thousands of people in there had to run for cover. They were under the bleachers, and we turned the volume up. It was interesting as this mob, people standing right here by the monitors, and as soon as we began to share the name of Jesus, people would try to kind of work their way back into the crowd and somebody else would kind of pop out toward the monitor and then there they were. It went on for a little while, and it was great.

The other thing that was so cool about this is that we were right across from the main—there were numerous of them—but the main refreshment stands to where from the time you got in line until you got your food was about probably eight to ten minutes, just about the length of the video. So by the time the last guy was in line waiting there, he's listening to this whole thing by the time he got his hot dog. So the Lord made some great, great opportunities. The guys hung up hundreds of our posters, and everywhere you looked, you saw the ministry represented. People knew that the Lord was being honored there and presented. It was excited. I won't go into any of the others. Some of the testimonies are interesting. We'll let the guys share that part of it. I thought that was an exciting time.

Let's turn to the book of John—John's gospel chapter 14. The Lord did bless us in the other physical activities of that. They had the racing that was going on, and there were people from all over the nation that were there. They were from California and from Virginia, and we saw people from Pennsylvania, Florida. It's a national event. As we were qualifying for the Sunday shootout in the drag racing, it was broken down into five classes, and they were heads-up classes, which means the fastest guy is going to win if he doesn't make any mistakes. The class that was twelve seconds and under, the A Class, they had a number of the cars that were demonstration cars, 7-second cars, etc.

The next class after those, the B Class, was where most of the people hang out. It was a 12-second class, and we were able to qualify our cars one and two in that particular class. So we had a good shot at it, and then the event rained out for Sunday. We qualified in the 12-second class. We qualified the one car with a 12.01 and the other car with a 12.05 in a 12-second class, so we were only one-thousandth of a second off of a perfect run. We were looking in good shape for that. We had a good time in the racing part of it, and that was what we were really looking forward to. We were able to repeat and win the triathlon championship again this year, which is the biggest award they have for the whole show. It's a trophy that stays intact from year to year, and the inaugural champion was from the Sword of the Spirit and Finish the Race Ministry. We repeated this year again for that, so that was an interesting time that we had there. I'll let Greg and them tell you about the announcer's response to all that. It's a good story.

John 14; are you there yet? John 14, look at verses 1 and 2, "Let not your heart be troubled..." This is a passage that's used at funerals. If you've ever been around church and somebody died, you heard this passage. But this isn't necessarily a funeral passage. When Jesus is speaking here and says, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions." Or "dwelling places," is probably a better rendering. We've all heard the old song, "I've got a mansion just over the hilltop..." We talk about our mansions. The Scripture talks about dwelling places. We know that God does everything big. There's no little shacks in heaven. We understand, though, that the true desire of our hearts isn't a big house; it's to be in the presence of God. As Jesus is speaking to us here He says, "In my Father's house are many mansions." Or, many "dwelling places." Some people say there is actually one house and a lot of rooms. That's not an issue. Jesus says, "If it were not so, I would have told you."

Then look at the last phrase of verse 2, "I go to prepare a place for you." Aren't you glad that Jesus, having raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, is not only awaiting that admonition to go and receive unto Himself those that He died for and purchased, but that there was a work done for you and I, and a place has been prepared for us. Think about it right now. There's a place in the presence of God waiting for you. What are you doing to prepare yourself? He has prepared the place. Are you going to show up? Because the Scripture says that whosoever will, may come. What are we doing to come into His presence? What is it that we're doing on a daily basis to receive that free gift of God? All has been made ready, and we now are in the preparation process of appropriating that.

He said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, [verse 3] I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." I want to talk just a little bit this evening and maybe on Sunday some about the coming of the Lord. He said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." It's really kind of sad that the return of the Lord has almost been put on the back burner in so many churches today. People are so caught up with what's going on in their own personal pleasures of life and so happy with the homes that they're in now that that mansion really doesn't have the same appeal to them.

We think back in the days of early America when the gospel was being preached and people were living in log cabins and dying at thirty-eight years old, and at forty years old they were worn out. We see pictures of some of our ancestors, and we look at them and they say, "There's great grandma." You look and the person looks ninety, and they were only thirty—well, I guess some of us here are still able to do that. We realize that that was a hard life. They had to go down and draw water and cut wood, and our concern is whether our filter is working properly, and whether we want to keep the house at sixty-eight degrees or seventy. Big battles go on in the home over where the thermostat is set. People didn't have a thermostat. If they did, they didn't have an air conditioner to hook it up to. This was the life that they experienced. We have just come to where life is so easy, and we're so blessed in this nation that many have lost, really, an urgency for the Lord's coming.

We've heard the criticism in the past about Christians who believed in the coming of the Lord. They would say, Those people are so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good. In other words, people were just so looking for the return of the Lord and thinking on spiritual things that they weren't caught up in the social programs of the day. Back in the early twentieth century, the social gospel came on the scene, and Christianity turned away from being an organism proclaiming eternal life and the kingdom of God and the body of Christ in union with its head, Jesus, into social organizations to where we were feeding the hungry and clothing those who were in abject situations as it pertained to poverty. We began to deal with the drug problems, and now the churches would get into wanting to get into the methadone programs and some of these different areas. Now we want to try to somehow embrace the beaten-down drug generation and somehow to go out and make life a little easier on them. But God forbid that we would tell them that if they don't repent, they're going to go to hell.

God forbid, as the society's perspective on who the church is, that we would make spiritual things more important than the temporal, and the spirit more important than the body, when we know that according to the gospel it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment. We're going to die. This body's going to decompose. What does it profit a man, the Scripture says, to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What good do the bigger barns do when you're going to leave everything behind? You brought nothing into the world; you're taking nothing out.

We were able to share this message with a number of people over the weekend as it pertained to their gods, their worship of plastic and metal—just share with them the reality of the spirit realm and the love of God and that godliness with contentment is truly the treasure, the great gain that's been afforded us. As I was meditating on these things, it began to disturb me as some of the great personalities in the church today are almost mocking the rapture of the church. Men like Pat Robertson saying that to teach the rapture of the church—now don't mistake what I'm saying, not the second coming; he believes in the second coming—but to teach the rapture of the church is a heretical teaching. It's heresy, he says. That's tragic. For years the arguments have gone on over the coming of the Lord Jesus and whether it would be a premillennial or postmillennial or amillennial. Then you have those that come down into a pre-, mid-, or post-tribulation return of the Lord. There has been an argument, if you would like to put it that way, among scholars over where the return of the Lord would occur, but not whether or not it would. You come into your amillennialists, those who believe that the church will go not only through the tribulation but through the millenium without the Lord's appearing, still believing the return of the Lord.

We're not going to deal with the second coming. Most believe He's coming. The question is when is He coming. The Scripture says clearly that no man knows the day or the hour. So anybody that's going to tell us the day or the hour—Eighty-eight Reasons Why Jesus Will Come in '88. How many of you remember that book, bestseller? How many of you were here for 1988? How many of you are still here? Then in 1989, he wrote Eighty-nine Reasons Why He Didn't Come in '88! No man knows the day or the hour, but we believe He's coming. The real problem comes in the rapture of the church.

What's really grieving my heart is that many of these personalities no longer believe in the rapture of the church. They believe in the second coming—they believe in an event similar to this, that when Jesus does return that the saints will actually go up into the air to meet Him and then immediately return with Him into His earthly reign. If that's the case, then it necessitates that the church would go through what we refer to as the great tribulation. Remember the seven years of tribulation when the Antichrist will be in power—we're going to talk a little bit about Antichrist—remember when the Antichrist is in power. "Anti" is an interesting word too. It doesn't just mean "the opposite of;" it doesn't just mean "in opposition to," though it does mean those. It also infers "another Christ," and so "anti" would mean "instead of," as you see its biblical usage—so not only in opposition to Christ, but instead of Christ. Isn't that what Lucifer wanted to do in the first place. I will ascend above the throne of God; I will be like the Most High, Isaiah tells us was Satan's goal. Of course, he was cast down.

When you think about all of this, we have to see that the rapture—and I believe the reason that it's being opposed by Satan so strongly by the spirit of Antichrist, by the "secret power of lawlessness" is what the Greek really says—the spirit of iniquity has already come, the apostle tells us; the secret power of lawlessness; Antichrist, "instead of" Christ. To oppose the rapture of the church to me denigrates the blood of Jesus, the effect of redemption. What it does is it puts the church into the tribulation period which is called the hour of God's wrath. Beloved, we have to understand that the church is not appointed unto wrath.

The whole issue does not come down to whether God can preserve us through the tribulation. Of course He can preserve us through the tribulation. You and I can go through the seven years of tribulation, the great tribulation, the vials, all of the different trumpets, the judgments of God, and not have a hair of our head singed. Do you believe that? Just like the children of Israel, just like the three children were thrown into the furnace and not only were they not consumed, their hair wasn't singed, there wasn't the smell of smoke upon their garments. All of the God haters of the hours of Noah as he preached for a hundred years preparing for the judgment of God—God sustained them through all of that that was taking place—the mockery and the preparation of the ark. As they went upon the ark, the eight souls that were saved we realize were there by the mercy of God, and God sustained them when every other living thing on earth died. He can do the same thing for us.

This isn't a message that came out of people's fear of judgment. To me, it's a message that's based upon one thing—the integrity and the holiness of God. God can easily preserve us, but we don't belong in the hour of wrath. Jesus' blood bought us out. This time that's called "the tribulation," or the time that's called "the time of Jacob's trouble," or as you study it in the book of Daniel, "Daniel's seventieth week," it all has to do with the judgment of Israel and the judgment of the nations. Nowhere in the Scripture is the church to be under this time of judgment. To me, the whole issue has to do with whether redemption is finished or not. That's what we want to study.

When we talk about the second coming, I want to make a clear distinction between the rapture—and that's what we're going to talk about, which is the first stage of the second coming of Christ—and the second coming of Christ where He visually, literally descends, sets His feet upon the Mount of Olives, it cleaves asunder, He takes control of the nations with a rod of iron, He rules and reigns for a thousand years, and we reign with Him. They are two different events, but a lot of the scholars don't believe that, so I have to ask the question why? Why would a man like Pat Robertson say it's heresy, that the teaching originated with some young Pentecostal woman who had a vision somewhere? That's not the origin of the teaching of the rapture of the church! Paul is the origin. When we understand that when people like R.C. Sproul come and begin to question the validity of the rapture—not denying the second coming, but questioning the validity or the necessity of the rapture—then you have to ask, What is it that's going on in the spirit realm that's causing men to make these kind of observations?

Then it causes us to ask this question, What do you believe? You can wear yourself out studying eschatology. I want to tell you something right up front: this will not be answered intellectually, but His sheep know His voice and another they will not follow. How in tune are we with the heart of God and how He responds to His children? I believe that eschatology is best understood by intimacy. How well do you know your Father's heart and His purpose for you? What was redemption for? When you can study it from the position of not having to understand every detail, but know the heart of God, it will bring you to peace; and it will bring you back to what I believe has been lost in the church—the blessed hope.

It's sad today how many Christians have lost the blessed hope. Headline news on CNN, "Southern Baptist Convention Votes Down Women Pastors." What does CNN care about the Southern Baptist Convention, except that they're mistreating women, except that the world wants to rise up and say that the Word of God is wrong in how it perceives men and women and the application of Scriptural requirements.

How much has the world influenced what we really believe and how we apply it in our daily walk? How has the spirit of lawlessness affected you and I as it pertains to our looking up for the coming of the Lord? How much have we become earth dwellers and lovers of the pleasure and the ease of this life, that we've lost sight of the imminent return of Jesus Christ in the rapture? Does it occupy your thoughts daily, moment by moment? Do you understand that we're just pilgrims here passing through? This world is not our home! Come quickly, Lord Jesus. How strong of a hold do all of those temporal things have on you—the fact that maybe I'm going to be getting married, the new job, the new house, the new baby, whatever it is; those things that are so many times rewarding to us in life and in and of themselves there is no problem? But have they occupied our minds to the place where we've lost sight and hunger, a desire, a passion for the return of Jesus?

"I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Look at verse 28 in this same chapter as the Lord is speaking to the believers. He says, "Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I." He said He's coming back. Not everybody believes that. He said, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself." Look over at the sixteenth chapter of John. John is full of the Lord's return. For your notes, John 16:16 and 22. He says, "A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father." He said, "And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you."

Being in His presence is the fullness of joy. I want to tell you something else: the anticipation of His presence will bring you joy. Are you bummed out? Do you feel depressed? Are you burned out? Just start thinking about the Lord's coming to receive you. Think about Him having gone and prepared a place. Think about His dwelling within you and the intimacy that's been afforded us by the residence of the Holy Spirit. It will change your perspective and it will change the condition of your heart.

The Bible says over in Hebrews, the 9th chapter—turn over there for just a second as we're anticipating now these words that the Lord spoke to us—I'm coming back. He said, I'm coming and I will not tarry, in Hebrews 10:37. Revelation 22:20, He says, "Surely I come quickly." That word "quickly" means "imminently, momentarily, it's at hand." In the 9th chapter of Hebrews, we find these words. It's an interesting statement that the Holy Spirit makes through the apostle. He says down in verse 28, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." "Without sin unto salvation." Who is He going to appear to? To those that are what? Looking for Him. Do you mean to tell me that Jesus is going to be able to come and there will be some people that aren't going to be aware and not see Him? Yes, that's what we're saying.

Even now the disciples asked the question, How is it that you're going to come and dwell in us and be able to speak to us and not to others? He said, You don't understand. I'm coming and I'm going to be in the person of the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to live within you, and I'm going to speak to you in a way that others can't understand [Pastor held up the Bible]. People can read this and don't have a clue what it says because they are spiritually discerned, the Bible says. God speaks in spiritual code. You can read it and intellectually understand it, but it doesn't bring life to you. By His grace He is always affording that supernatural ability for anyone who has a desire to pursue Him and know Him. He'll change you in a moment, the Scripture says. That's what makes this Word the power of God unto salvation, and that's why we have to speak the Word as often as we can. It offends people; it frightens people. The Koran doesn't do that to people, the sayings of Confucius don't do that to people, but the words of Jesus burn into people's hearts and challenge them and bring fear of judgment. The return of the Lord is a reckoning. The thing that's interesting is there's no appeal.

I can still—it's so clear to me as I was speaking to Justice Clarence Thomas that day, and I can still just hear those words ringing, and I'm sure he can too. I said, "One of these days you're going to stand before the Judge and there is no appeal. What are you going to do with the person of Jesus Christ?" I had responded to him in light of the fact that he said, "My wife is a believer, and I agree with everything that you're saying." I said, "That's not the issue. What are you doing about the person of Jesus Christ? How are you going to stand before Him that day in judgment, and what's your case going to be built upon if you don't know Him?"

He's coming back, the Scripture says, and it will be unto those that are looking for Him. What are you doing to get a better eyeshot? What have we done to take away all of the cloudiness, or as the apostle goes on to say, the sins and the weights that do so easily beset us? What have we done to strip ourselves for this race that we could be free and strong and fresh in our pursuit of this great promise of the coming of the Lord? It's going to be to those that are looking for Him, those that have made the preparation.

Look over at Timothy for just a second. In 1 Timothy 3:16 he says, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." Look at all that precedes in preparation for this coming. All that He did there that Timothy talks about was preparatory for His return and His effecting that in our lives and in this world. He's coming back. It's a hope that you and I should have as a reality in our lives, and yet I think it's part of our doctrine but not necessarily our true expectation.

1 Corinthians says this—look over at Chapter 1 as Paul is speaking here again. If you're not careful in your reading of the Scriptures, you're going to miss some great biblical truths because the Bible isn't written in a way that categorizes subjects. It's not written topically; it's an exegetical-type approach. It's something that as the Holy Spirit is addressing issues through the writers of these books in bringing about edification of the church, He is speaking to specific geographic, specific organisms, churches, and trying to bring a stability and a growth to those particular communities—and at the same time, in a way that's going to be universal for you and I. He didn't set a whole biblical topical-type approach to the truth of the rapture or the second coming, but all through the epistles there are little statements like this that are made. In Chapter 1of 1 Corinthians, verse 7, "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Just a little phrase.

It was so real to them; it was so expected that imminently He would return that in their minds—remember, they weren't the authors, the Holy Spirit was—but in their minds, there didn't need to be an established theological approach. Jesus was coming back soon! He said, when He ascended into the clouds and they watched Him go, I will come again in like manner. They said, Far out! This is cool! He's coming back! They never believed anything else, even to the place of believing—and you can see the writing in Thessalonians—that He ascended in the clouds, and He's coming back in the clouds. He ascended visibly, and He's coming back visibly.

Look over at the Acts passage for just a second and do something if you can—some of us have better imaginations than others. If you can for just a moment, put yourself in this, and if you can grasp what might have been going on in the hearts of these people that were watching Him, you can see why the expectation was so real. I understand that you guys had a good time celebrating Pentecost and the great gift of the Holy Spirit that was sent to us. The question in verse 6 was, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, [Acts 1:7] which the Father hath put in his own power." You're asking the wrong questions. It's not for you to know the times or the seasons. People spend hours and hours trying to find out: who is the Antichrist, where is he coming from? What's that got to do with anything? When's he going to come? What does it matter, if you're ready? If you figured it out and tell people, they won't believe you anyway. He said, You're asking the wrong question. It's not for you to know.

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me…And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up." I am a firm believer—and I haven't read any of the books—I understand there have been, like now we're going into mega-series mode for some books that LaHaye or somebody wrote. That's great. Lives have been challenged and stirred with the coming of the Lord. It's a great way to get the message out. I'm a believer that the rapture is going to occur this way. I really believe that we're not going to disappear. In other words, that you are dealing with somebody at work and all of a sudden, poof, you're gone. They go, "Whoa, where did that guy go?" I believe that just as Jesus ascended and they beheld Him, I believe that's the way we're going. It's not an important issue, necessarily. The disappearing thing's fine. It doesn't make any difference to me how it happens. But since Jesus was our example in every other area, my assumption is that He was the prototype, and His departure was going to be what our departure is going to be.

It says, "While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly..." They stared; they looked steadfastly. I don't know if they were expecting Him to fall or whatever, but they're checking this thing out and as it said, "And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men [angels] stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" He is gone now. If you were there and you saw Him begin to ascend, and He kind of went into a cloud, would you go, "Okay, He's gone; let's go get lunch"? Some might do that. "Let's go get some lunch." "What do you want to do?" You know what's going to happen. You're watching Him go up, and He goes into the clouds and then you might see Him again and He'd go into another cloud, or whatever. I'm waiting! If you were doing this [Pastor is staring up toward the heavens] in New York, you'd really draw a crowd. The only thing that would move these guys out of there—the angel shows up and says, Hey guys, you can go home now, but He's coming back. "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." He's going to come again, and we'll share that in another passage later. He's going to come again. He will visibly be seen. He will descend and put His feet upon the Mount of Olives. Jesus is returning visibly, literally, to this earth. Oh happy day. So we understand, then, that His departure was observable.

The angels said He's coming back and so these writers—people say, "Where's all the theology? If this is such an important issue, shouldn't it be systematized in the Scriptures?" It really is if you put all the books together, but there's no book called the rapture of the church. He wrote to different families, churches—the Corinthians, the Ephesians—dealing with our daily existence, how we can edify and love one another, because our love and our unity and our doctrine was what was going to, for two thousand years, be the representation of His lordship. He knew that it wasn't going to be in Paul's lifetime, but Paul didn't know that. Paul makes some interesting statements. Paul talks about "we." He talks about being one who believed to see the coming of the Lord Jesus. We'll see that, how imminent it was. But it was real. They just made statements like this: "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of the Lord." Gifts are to be used and will be used most effectively when you understand that everything we do is preparatory for the coming of the Lord. It's not to build our own reputation to become some spiritual big shot in the church. Everything is preparatory for this great, imminent return of the Lord.

The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians—turn over there, in Chapter 3, verse 5—that there is to be a "patient waiting" taking place right now. A patient waiting. As the apostle is speaking to us in Chapter 3, he says—2 Thessalonians 3:2—there is to be a delivering "from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil." Then he goes on and makes an interesting comment. He says, I want you to do and will to do the things that are commanded, and the Lord's going to direct your hearts into a patient waiting for Christ. He's talking about sanctified living here as you go on into the context of this, because look at verse 6, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us."

I believe contextually what this is saying to us is that we withdraw ourselves from those who aren't expecting the return of the Lord. They will pollute you; they will vex you. Not all men have faith to believe that Jesus is coming back—there's going to be a church that doesn't believe in My return, and they'll pollute your life. "But the Lord is faithful, [verse 3] "who shall stablish you..." That word means "to appoint, or solidify, to stabilize" you in the midst of this world. I think in Paul's theology that the rapture of the church was a great, great emphasis in their daily sanctification. They remained as sanctified as they expected Jesus to return.

Have you been having trouble keeping your life sanctified lately? Orderly? Have you tried to pray a little bit more because you realize it's starting to get out of control, and the cares of the world and things are starting to weight you down, and things that you used to be free from are trying to take hold of your life again, so you say, "I need to pray a little more and I need to study a little more"? Let me encourage you in one other approach. Why don't you start meditating on the return of the Lord? Why don't you start making your daily decisions based upon a momentary judgment, a momentary appearance of the Lord? Why don't we set our course in light of His imminent return, and then realize that that alone is the blessed hope. It's why we're continuing to pursue and purge ourselves. As John says, that we'll then see Him one day, and when we see Him we'll be like Him. It's being lost in many other doctrines.

Don't misunderstand, because we teach strongly on this, and it's a big part of the ministry. But it's interesting to me how many bookstores you can go into today and find volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes and volumes of focus on the family. I just use that as a generic term, not the program itself, but just "us." How do we have a better home; how do we have a better marriage; how do we raise better kids? I'll tell you. Have them look up. Do you want to raise better kids? Have them looking up into the heavens and wondering whether Jesus is coming in those clouds or not. That's how you raise a good family. I thank God our children didn't grow up seeing little doggies—"Ooh, that cloud looks like a doggie." They were looking for Jesus in the clouds. The focus on self and our dwelling here—I understand how much of the epistles are written dealing with interpersonal relationships and church responsibility and evangelism and all of these different areas. But if you're not careful, you're going to read and miss those little phrases like were made in the first chapter of Corinthians and these statements, and understand how real the return of the Lord was throughout all that made this stuff happen: why we gather together; why we love one another; why we serve one another. It's because He went to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to us, and He's coming again for a perfect church, one without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

Let's look at just a couple of passages here that will prepare us for Sunday's lessons. The first epistle to Thessalonians, we see His return being our hope, that He's going to appear to those that are looking for Him, and that we stand actively waiting the return of the Lord Jesus. Thessalonians 1:10 says this to us, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." That will play, of course, into our study as we go on later—that we've not been appointed unto wrath. But it's God's whole purpose that you and I miss the judgment and that we prepare ourselves as a bride for that imminent return of the great bridegroom.

The fourth chapter, verse 16 tells us, it says, "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." The day is coming when there is not going to be any comfort. As the judgment of God begins to be met, the Antichrist is going to come and do some very powerful things.

One of the things he's going to do is solve a worldwide economic problem. There's going to be a collapse of the economy worldwide. When is it going to happen? We don't know. It is going to happen, and there's going to be a superman that will come and fix it. How many of you think, from what you've seen around people today and the wringing of their hands over a couple hundred points in the Dow, how many of you think when it all goes bust and somebody comes and fixes it he's going to be a hero? Do you think people will follow him? How about some of your neighbors? How about some of your little cronies at work? How about some of the little Beamer chasers, and all of these people that have set up these idols and these gods, and they are removed and someone is willing to give them back if they'll just bow down and worship him—instead of Christ?

What's going to happen in the midst of this when all of this demise begins to—I wonder what's going to happen, whether or not there's going to be a people at that time that believe in the coming of the Lord that are going to be able to comfort one another with these words. How comforting would it be to you when you lose everything to hear, "Don't worry about it. Jesus is coming." Can those words bring comfort in the time of your greatest distress? If not, then we're not looking for Him. The things that we face on a daily basis, how do we hold them in light of eternity? How much would that bother me if I knew for a fact Jesus was coming tomorrow and that everything will have run its course, the judgment at hand, and the words ready to be spoken, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? Where's our treasure? What are we looking for? What comforts us in these days?

For over thirty years, this has been a passion, a zeal, a fire in my bones—my belief in the imminent return of the Lord. I see it being challenged, and I see it being mocked. I see it being diluted because of the love of this world. Hopefully in these next sessions, we're going to be able to refresh our own hearts and reestablish the value on the imminent return of the Lord—that every decision we make would be made in light of this great doctrine.

Father, make it real to us in Jesus' name. Father, cause our hearts to be moved with a hunger for Your return, that even this night the great shout from heaven would be heralded—the voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God—and those who have died in You would rise and those of us that remain would be changed.

Jesus, it's a world that is in such need. It's a world that makes its inhabitants weary. The weather is changing; the environment is in trouble. You've said it in Your word that the world, the earth, reels like a drunk man waiting for its day of redemption. Sin has even worn the world out. You have said if the days were not shortened even the very elect couldn't stand, but Your grace is sufficient and the remnant that's been chosen will be sustained and strengthened. So we don't trust in ourselves; we have to trust in Your presence and Your grace because nothing will stand without it.

You've said that we would be raised incorruptible. You said we would be raised in power, and You said You would raise up those who have died in You and those who will be transformed into a spiritual body. We're weary, Lord, but we're made strong because of the acknowledging of this weakness. We need You to finish this race. We need You to cleanse our eyes and our hearts because we've been distracted by all that goes on around us, warring for our souls—more in tune with tomorrow's weather, today's project, than the return of the Lord. How real is it to you this evening? Is it just another doctrine that we file away? Some Scriptures that we can quote? Or does the challenge tonight with the fact that Jesus could sound that great heralding, "Come up hither" at any moment affect the course of your life? If believing in His return doesn't affect the course of your life, then you don't believe. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Let's stand before Him tonight. As Gary plays, and our hearts are just in fellowship with the Lord here this evening, "I go and prepare a place for you" and "I will come." I wonder if during the torment of Mao and Idi Amin if that's not what sustained the believers as they were tortured and imprisoned. I wonder if the return of the Lord isn't what gave them their strength and their belief—that He could come at any moment and bring His judgment and even if they died, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord; that to partake of that martyr's crown would give them preeminence in the resurrection, because the dead in Christ will rise first.

It brings comfort and it brings hope. It'll take away depression, and it'll destroy apathy. It'll create an anticipation of your lover's arrival and the last minute preparation for when you finally see Him and rush into their arms. To those that love His appearing—can you envision someone coming back from the war and World War II and after having been gone and fighting and returns, and there's no one at the dock? Finally he makes his way back to the apartment and opens the door and here's someone lying on the couch in their curlers watching television, and says, "Glad you're home. There's a TV dinner." There's no love there. You stand on the dock, you wait for the boat, you see this little speck on the horizon, and finally this massive vessel brings your treasure. A sea of faces pour off the gangplank, but you can only see one. Your eyes meet and your heart leaps. How much of an anticipation is there for Jesus' return?

Let's sing it together. "In moments like these..." Just take a moment and desire that embrace and long and love His appearing. Come quickly, Lord. Jesus, that You would come and that we would be changed in a moment. All of this corruption would take on incorruption, mortality immortality. The Scripture says, So shall we ever be with You, Lord. We'll never be out of Your sight. We'll never be in a place again where we're not aware of Your presence to where it's the light and the life of our existence. Lord, cause these shadows to be seen for what they are, and drive us into Your presence with an awareness of the reality of that light, that love, Your presence. Just one look that comforts and strengthens us, and we'll never, never be absent from it again. Thank You. Thank You, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody and say, "Jesus is coming." Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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