I would like to, if I might this
morning, continue some themes that I have been
speaking to you on, especially in reference to
the second coming of our precious Savior Jesus
Christ.
The second coming is the great doctrine of
Scripture outside of the atonement.
The atonement is number one because the atonement
is that which will privilege us to take
part in the second coming.
But the second coming of Christ is by
far mentioned more times than the atonement.
It is said by those who do counting
that every 24 verses in the Bible mentions
the second coming of Jesus Christ.
So this becomes the great theme of Scripture.
And yet, of course, it is neglected by
most churches.
It is neglected by, naturally, the modernist churches.
They have nothing to do with the second
coming of Christ.
They would pass it all aside and they
never would read the book of Revelation.
Although the book of Revelation in the first
chapter tells us that those shall be blessed
who read, just read the book.
I challenge Christians to take hold of that
promise that is given, that whosoever reads that
book shall be wonderfully blessed.
And so, beloved, when I think of that
second coming of Christ, just as an off
start, a start from the side, for I
am using Hebrews 1, the tenth to the
twelfth verses, as the off beginnings.
In other words, this area where it speaks
about the creation and then the final folding
up of the earth, taking in all of
man's history in three verses, I am referring
back now to the second coming of Christ,
which is most important because this is going
to bring us into the great kingdom of
God for all eternity.
This is that which you and I long
for if we're really born-again Christians.
Let me tell you, every born-again Christian
is yearning for the coming of Jesus Christ,
and you can judge about your new birth.
Well, this is the great cry of the
church.
The early church was all wrapped up in
the coming of Jesus Christ.
They yearned for the coming of the Lord
Jesus.
It was so important to them that Christ
was coming soon.
As a matter of fact, when you get
to the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews,
the first verse tells us, God hath spoken
unto us.
This is, remember now, when Paul wrote the
book of Hebrews back around 75 A.D.,
anywhere between 69 and 75.
But when he wrote that, he said, God
hath spoken unto us in these last days.
Now we're in the last days.
From that day on, it's been the last
days.
It is a period of great culmination, the
period of all of the solidification of all
the prophetic utterances, so that the time would
come when the true Christian would be able
to say, I can discern the signs of
the times because I know what the seasons
are.
And God says, if I know the seasons,
I ought to be able to see the
signs of the times.
And you hardly have to get beyond your
daily newspaper to recognize that Christ is coming
soon.
Everything you read, you read about the church,
its corrupt condition.
You read about Israel back in the land.
You hear great politicians and statesmen say, Vietnam
is not our problem.
It's Israel and the Arabs.
That's our problem.
While the cauldron is boiling, and I think
God is keeping our eyes off that, and
getting the world involved with Vietnam, which means
nothing.
I believe that the preaching against communism is
a fruitless venture.
Let the politicians take care of this.
This is not my job from this pulpit.
I could preach ten sermons on communism, and
I hear them on television, I hear them
on radio.
This is not the salvation of souls.
The prime concern of the Church of Jesus
Christ is the salvation of souls.
And I believe that while we're preaching on
communism in Russia, we are bucking our heads
against the prophetic wall that can't be broken.
The powers of the Northern Confederacy are set
by God to descend upon Israel.
And you can preach, and you can teach
about communism, and we got to beat it,
and you're not going to beat it.
Because it's in God's prophetic plan that the
powers of the Northern Confederacy shall descend upon
Jerusalem to take a spoil.
And then God says, and then shall my
wrath come up in my eyes, and I
will send a fire from heaven and devour
them and deliver my people.
So why should we waste our time preaching
against communism?
If I bring Russia into the picture, it's
not because it's communistic, it's because it's Russia.
It's because I feel that prophecy has clear
references to Russia.
I'm not going to go into that now.
I will go into it, but it has
clear reference to Russia.
And there's not a bit of doubt that
the future, already predetermined by God, young people,
older ones, why do I pray as I
pray God put a passion in this people's
heart?
The time is short, and here we claim
to be born again.
We never acted.
We have families that have problems.
We have families that have problems between husbands
and wives, families that have problems between them
and their children.
Unsaid loss, they never get to a prayer
meeting and have never prayed with their brethren
or opened their hearts and say, pray for
my son, pray for my daughter.
Instead they hold that silent little secret in
their hearts, and they've got a myriad of
brethren and sisters who could pray their hearts
out with them.
There's no yearning, no passion.
It's as though we've got a lifetime.
We're going to die and go to the
grave, and maybe the kids will get saved
in our death.
Well, maybe they will.
Maybe you'll live that long.
I don't know.
I couldn't help but think when I went
down the other day to see Barbara Fritchison's
father had died.
And I tell you, I missed them.
I was there for an hour and a
half, and unfortunately, I didn't get to see
them.
But I did get to talk to the
brother.
I think God intended I should talk with
the brother.
And I tell you, my heart rejoiced because
his father died, and that morning he got
saved.
The preacher led him to Jesus.
That dad had prayed all his life, and
I let him talk.
And all he talked to me about was
Jesus, and how wonderful it was to know
him as Savior.
And he didn't know it.
I knew that he'd just come.
And I was rejoicing in Christ and thinking
of that father who had prayed and prayed
and born a great witness for the Lord
Jesus.
And I said to him, Tom, why not
take up your father's life?
A few tears came.
He said, I'm going to do all that
I can to do it.
So pray for him.
Pray for him.
But I can't help but think that these
are the things, beloved, if you really believe
that Christ is coming soon, that all of
the signs point to his coming, if you
have burdens, if you have needs, if your
family, and is there any family that doesn't
have needs, that doesn't have loved ones outside
of Jesus Christ, that doesn't have a need
in their own little family life?
Your life is secret to God in many
ways, but all you have, brothers and sisters,
that you should be sharing some of your
burdens with others, and you should be praying
with mothers for the children and husbands and
fathers and all of this.
Why do we have a prayer meeting but
for this reason?
God has said, don't forsake the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of some is.
And I want to tell you, he didn't
mean Sunday morning worship.
He meant prayer first, because when the disciples
met in the early church, it says they
went from house to house and prayed.
Prayed!
And broke bread together.
So, beloved, if we recognize these things, we
should truly be yearning that we might please
God in every way we can in these
last days.
And what I say for parents, I say
for young people.
I'm glad that I have so many young
people who come out to prayer meeting.
It's a thrill to my heart.
I want you to know that, young people.
You thrill my heart to come out to
prayer meeting.
My wife can tell you that.
When I, on the way home in the
car, I think the first thing I mention
is, isn't it great to see the young
people?
So come, come.
Pray together.
Yearn together.
Christ is coming soon.
Every sign points to it.
And I just want to read this portion,
have a few words with you from the
epistle of Paul to Timothy.
For I would remind you, over in 1
John, the third chapter, I'm going to read
the first three verses.
This is the area that tells you why
your life should be lived godly right now
as never before.
Listen, you should be separated from the world,
beloved.
You should be separated from all the alcohol
that's ever been put in it.
And you know me, I never preach on
these things.
I never go into long extensions.
But beloved, I am saying that this is
a day for purity as never before.
Separate yourself from anything that would not please
the Holy Spirit.
And I can assure you, I remember the
man I dealt with on this, and when
I said it to him, he was horrified.
But since then, there's been a changed life.
When he said to me, I enjoy my
drinking.
And I said to him, I tell you
this, are you born again?
He said, I am.
I said, I tell you this, here's what
I want you to do.
The next time you go to take a
drink, I said, does the Holy Spirit dwell
in you?
He said, yes, the Holy Spirit dwells in
me.
I said, the next time you want a
drink, does he really dwell in you?
He said, yes, he dwells in me.
I said, then you have to say to
him, Holy Spirit, do you want a drink?
And I said, if the Holy Spirit says
yes, go right ahead.
And that's the true test.
It's not preaching on drinking.
It's not being those who are part of
a temperance league.
I'm not concerned with this.
It's knowing who you are, that you are
a son of God.
You have joined yourself to the most holy
thing of all, to our Lord Jesus Christ,
to that Holy One.
You are joined to him.
And now it is Christ in you, your
hope of glory.
And so our bodies, what does Paul say?
What, know you not that your body is
the temple of God?
I didn't tell you the other part, I
said to him.
I said, I tell you what I want
you to do.
Next Sunday, I want you to bring a
bottle of beer into the congregation and I
want you to sit down in the front
pew and while I'm preaching I want you
to drink it.
Oh, he says, that's sacrilegious.
I said, is it?
I said, let me tell you something, this
brick and this stone is not the temple
of God.
You are.
You tell me that you wouldn't do it
here, yet into the temple of God you
would do this.
He said, I'm horrified.
Don't say another word.
That man is here this morning and that
man is one of the best witnesses there
is for Jesus Christ.
It's just a matter of comprehension.
It's a matter of understanding.
It's a matter of knowing who you are.
Are you a child of God?
Are you really, are you really a son
of God?
Are you?
Then let's live like the sons of God.
Why are you chasing your children for little
things?
And then remember that it is God now
who is our father by faith in Jesus
Christ.
So as I read this, notice what God
says here, behold, what manner of love the
father has bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God.
When you read, do you, do you, you
know, when I read, I stop and I
say, Lord, help me to understand.
This is a tremendous statement.
God, help me to understand it.
I know my children are my children.
I know my son is my son.
I know that it required a birth.
I know how I feel about them.
I know how I love them.
I know how I yearn for them.
I know how I pray for them.
I know the burdens of my heart, Lord.
I keep praying and praying, Lord, Lord, bless
the children all day long in my life.
I don't think there's an hour that passes
that somewhere I don't say, God bless Donald.
God undertake for Donald, undertake for Martha, undertake
for Bob and Cheryl, undertake for Lynn and
for Jack.
Lord, my heart is burdened.
Bless them in a wicked, evil world.
Keep them from sin.
Is that how you pray?
Is it mother says how you pray?
Father, this is how you pray.
This should be the burden of our hearts
should be always the burden.
Are you interested in the frivolities of life
here?
God says, understand who you are.
Behold, what manner of love the father has
bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God.
You know, now I've taken all that Christ
had to say in the gospels of John.
Now this is the epistle.
I'm going to speak of Paul's epistles, but
this here is John's epistle that we should
be called the sons of God.
He says, can't you see this?
What manner of love the father has for
you?
Do you understand this?
Mother, father, do you see it?
Young person, do you see it?
Have you comprehended it?
Can you laugh at all?
Can you say, I believe the Bible and
yet not acknowledge this position that God has
called you in through faith in Jesus Christ,
the cleansing of the blood of the lamb?
Can you see it?
Should not every effort, every passion, every motive
be toward him?
In all things he must have the preeminence
above your business, above your home, above your
lawn, above your wife, above your husband.
For any man that loveth his father, his
mother, his wife, or husband more than he
loveth me hath no part with me.
Oh, God is saying, when you understand and
you come to love Christ the way you
love, should love Christ, then you'll begin to
really love your wife and your husband like
you should love them.
And they'll get more love from you than
they ever would have gotten before.
Because when you fell in love with Christ,
you became capable of loving them as Jesus
loved them.
Not looking at the floors, not criticizing, not
copying, but loving them with the love of
Jesus.
Do you recognize who you are this morning?
The sons of God.
Therefore, the world does not know us.
Does the world know you?
Is the world well acquainted with you?
The world doesn't know us.
They can't comprehend why we are the way
we are, why we go to prayer meeting,
why we worship, why we pray, why we
speak the way we speak, why we bear
a witness for Jesus, why we don't tell
dirty stories, why we don't laugh, why, why?
The world doesn't know you, he said.
He said, they didn't know me.
The world knows us not because it knew
him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God.
It's not a future thing.
It's now, right now, we're the sons of
God.
And it does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him, for
we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in
him, notice, purifies himself even as he is
pure.
Now, beloved, the great cry for purity comes
on the base of one thing.
Christ is coming soon.
The cry of God to every one of
you here this morning is, Christ is coming
soon.
My son is coming back.
Every man that hath this hope in himself
purifieth himself even as he is pure.
We know not what we shall be.
We cannot comprehend fully.
All we know is I hath not seen
nor ear heard the things that God hath
prepared for them that love him, but God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.
He's given us a little taste.
He's given us descriptions.
He says that our vile body shall be
changed and be fashioned like unto his glorious
body.
He says this is what it's going to
be.
You're going to have eyes that will perfectly
see Christ.
You're going to have ears that will be
attuned to all the beautiful things of the
Spirit.
You're going to have bodies fashioned like unto
his glorious body.
This is what it will be.
And yet he says that it is impossible
to fully know how glorious this is going
to be.
Paul says at one place, I went up
into the third heavens and the things I
saw were so great that I'm afraid I
can't tell any of you.
It is forbidden for me.
For if I told you, you wouldn't want
to stay here for one minute.
You'd have been driven by some passion that
should have been turned to Christ, and you're
bound or wrapped up in some relationship that
is wrong, sinful, unclean.
If you're saved, you'll forsake it, because you'll
know Christ is coming.
And every man who hath not sung, may
I make this very clear, you know whether
you're saved this morning by your attitude on
this very thing.
It says, everyone that believes that Jesus is
coming purifies themselves.
You're not saved if you don't believe it,
because God's Word says so.
Every man that really has this hope, not
just some, don't you dare say, I'm saved,
but I can live in sin.
You know how you ought to know that?
Because Hebrews tells you very clearly that if
you're a son of God, he never lets
you get too deep.
He says, whom the Lord loves, he chastens
and scourges as a father a child.
So if you're living in sin, you're going
right on in it, and it doesn't affect
you.
You have the hope of his coming, and
you're not so chastened that you're falling on
your face before God and pleading for forgiveness,
unsaved in God's eyes.
Let's get clear on this.
It doesn't say some people.
It says, everyone that has this hope in
himself purifies himself, even as he is purified.
Now, you can look at ten translations, and
they all say the same.
God's calling us to purity and cleanness and
holiness.
He says, be ye holy even as I
am holy.
God is calling us.
He's not saying we'll ever be sinless.
He's saying there may be thoughts, and it
is mostly thought life, thoughts that go through
our imaginations.
But if you're really redeemed, he says, you'll
forsake it all.
You'll be willing to give it all up
and sacrifice it, because you comprehend of who
Christ is.
It's the comprehension of Christ.
It's the understanding of Christ.
God, keep me clean, keep me pure.
Let not the devil deceive this people, luring
us into fleshly lusts that thou hast told
us, destroy us all.
Keep us pure and clean and holy.
And, beloved, I want to warn you that
Christians are slumbering in the night and have
been wrapped up and torn up by Satan
out of family lives and have become involved
in things in the world.
And I dread to say it, but I
believe much of the present discoveries that men
have discovered, and I mention it quickly, such
as a pill and all the rest, is
making for sin.
Because now there is a sense of complete
protection.
It's no longer sin.
I want to tell you, sin has never
changed.
Sin never will change.
It is the same tomorrow and forever.
Jesus can't change.
Beloved, the word of God here concerning the
second coming in John's epistle says, Now are
we the sons of God, and it does
not yet appear what we shall be.
But we know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is.
And, underline it for me, will you?
Every man, every man that hath this hope
in himself, get that young person purity.
You'll need strength, let me tell you.
Every single one, your fathers, your mothers, all
of us, we went through the same trials
and the same temptations in the flesh that
you are going.
You're not one bit of difference.
Man has been man from the beginning.
You'll have the same temptations we've all gone
through.
It's not unusual.
God says there's no temptation that has taken
you, but it's common to man.
And isn't that wonderful to know, fellas and
girls?
Your mother, your father went through the same
things.
In our plenary, we forget this.
But I want to tell you that God
can purify you and give you strength to
win the battles.
You have a Christ who says you can
do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
You have no strength in yourself, and every
single one of you know it, just as
we know it as adults.
You don't have the strength to avoid one
sin in your flesh.
Paul says, in my flesh there dwells no
good thing.
No power will keep you.
You can't control it.
But we have a Christ who gives us
strength to overcome sin.
And God says, if you have this hope
that Jesus is coming, and oh, can I
plead with your mothers and fathers and children,
please, in Christ's name, remember this.
You'll purify yourself even as He is pure.
And I want to say this this morning.
Don't let slumber come into your heart when
the word of God is preached, because Jesus
says slumber comes in, and they slumber as
those who sleep in the night, and in
such a day as they thought not, Christ
came.
Christ came.
I'll never forget when I was a boy,
I used to go to mass, you know.
And I'll never forget when I was an
altar boy.
I used to be able to go through
all the motions.
I used to be able to take that
Bible, this side here, you see, the left
side of the altar was the epistle, the
right side is for the gospel.
And I would go up and take the
Bible and come down, genuflect before the lamp
which was lit, which indicated Christ's presence was
in the tabernacle, where the host was, that's
what it means.
Christ is only there when the light is
lit, because the tabernacle had the host in
it.
And I would bow, and I would bring
it over to the right side and put
it there.
Then the priest would bless it, hold his
hands up, and read it toward the altar.
And I remember going through all of the
motions, everything.
But beloved, I want to say something.
I never had Jesus in my heart, and
I could be there on my knees and
even carrying a Bible from the left to
the right side, and I played semi-pro
baseball, and right after the mass I was
going to play, I was going to pitch,
and I could remember as I would walk
with a Bible, and I have the Bible
in my hands and think, I hope I'm
pitching good today.
This is ritual.
This is not the dynamic of our Christianity.
Our Christianity is crying out to us, crying
out to us, purify yourselves.
Notice what it says, even as he is
but pure.
Do you think it's easy for a preacher
to preach this?
We'll be preached in one in a hundred
pulpits today, but I believe God's called me
to preach the truth, and I happen to
believe that you want the truth.
And as long as Christ gives me breath,
I'll preach what his word has to say,
and trust that God will do the rest
in your hearts.
Let us pray.
Now, Father, we thank thee for thy precious
word this morning.
Blessed to our hearts, Lord, we pray that
we will take it to heart.
We remember thy word which says, be not
hearers of the word only, but be ye
doers of the word.
Now, Father, apply it to all of our
hearts together, preacher and people alike, we pray
in Christ's precious name.
Amen.