It's about the coming of the Lord.
And I'm so glad that I can speak
about it today.
When the Lord blessed His disciples, He lifted
up His hands, and while He was blessing
them, He was lifted up to heaven.
That in itself is a message, but we
don't have time for that.
And the disciples watched Him as He was
lifted up into heaven and disappeared in the
clouds.
And two men appeared to them and said,
Why do you stand here lifting up your
eyes to heaven?
This Jesus who has been taken from you,
as He has been lifted up, He will
return in the clouds one day.
And the second coming of the Lord was
something very important to the early church, to
the Christians at that time, and to the
disciples.
In fact, the disciples spoke much about the
second coming, even more about His second coming
than about His first coming to this earth.
Many, many times more about the second coming
than His first coming.
To them it was something wonderful, it was
a topic on their lips all the time,
every day they spoke about His coming.
In fact, they didn't even expect that they
would die before He would return.
They were actually surprised and shocked when some
among them started dying before the Lord had
returned.
And then the servant of the Lord, inspired
by the Holy Spirit, wrote to them and
said, I don't want you to be confused
about those who have fallen asleep.
Because they were truly confused, because
they had really believed that the Lord would
return before any of them would die.
And they couldn't understand how some of them
could have died and He had not returned.
Jesus Himself, before He was crucified, told them
about His coming again.
Let's now read in Matthew chapter 24, verse
36.
But of that day and hour, no one
knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor
the Son, but the Father alone.
For the coming of the Son of Man
will be just like the days of Noah.
For as in those days which were before
the flood, they were eating and drinking, they
were marrying and giving in marriage, until the
day that Noah entered the ark.
And they did not understand until the flood
came and took them all away.
So shall the coming of the Son of
Man be.
Then there will be two men in the
field, one will be taken and one will
be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill,
one will be taken, one will be left.
Therefore watch, be on the alert, for you
do not know which day your Lord is
coming.
But be sure of this, that if the
head of the house had known at what
time of the night the thief was coming,
he would have been on the alert and
would not have allowed his house to be
broken into.
For this reason, you be ready too, for
the Son of Man is coming at an
hour when you do not think He will.
And then 1 Corinthians 15 verse 51 Behold,
I tell you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet
will sound and the dead will be raised
imperishable and we shall be changed.
Philippians 3 verse 12
or 11 In
order that I may attain to the resurrection
from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained it or
have already become perfect, but I press on
in order that I may lay hold of
that for which also I was laid hold
of by Christ Jesus.
Stop reading there.
Jesus says He will return, but no one
knows the time.
No one knows the time of His return.
No angel knows it.
Even Jesus Himself does not know it.
Only the Father.
And many people have their theories and even
some Christians they say that Jesus will come
at the end of the world.
But Jesus says don't be deceived, no one
knows that time or hour.
And Jesus in Matthew 24 you can read
for yourself, He says there will be people
who will come and false prophets will say
Jesus has come again or He is there
at a certain place, don't be deceived He
said.
And He said and warned how evil times
would come and the love of many would
grow cold.
And He said to them, don't be deceived,
don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't
be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be deceived,
don't be deceived.
Just like the brother from the Eastern Cape
spoke earlier on, he came here, met with
the Lord and his heart burned for the
Lord.
But then he said slowly other things crept
in, the devil came, that love grew cold
and he started doing the wrong things.
Eventually where did he end up?
Out there with the neighbors, boozing there and
with girls, with a prostitute because that's what
a girl that lives such a life is.
He said to them, don't be deceived, don't
be deceived, don't
be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be deceived,
don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be
deceived.
He said to them, don't be deceived, don't
be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be deceived,
don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be
deceived, don't be deceived.
But he came and he apologized, he made
it right and that's why he's still here
today.
If he would have persisted in his sin
and not brought it to light and confessed
it, he wouldn't have been here anymore.
And he came, apologized, even prayed together and
asked the Lord to forgive him too.
So you see, this is a good example
of someone who makes right his sin, he
is forgiven for it, but the person who
persists in his sin and doesn't make it
right, he must know that he will have
to leave, he cannot stay here.
He said to them, don't be deceived, don't
be deceived, don't be deceived, don't
be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be deceived,
don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be
deceived.
And Jesus said it will be like in
the days of Noah, where people will be
getting on with their lives, they will be
marrying and given in marriage and going along
as if nothing is going to happen and
suddenly the flood came.
And that one asks oneself, but didn't they
see that great wonder that took place when
all the different animals, the monkeys, the lions,
and all the different animals went into the
ark.
One can't imagine how such a thing could
have gone unnoticed.
But history repeats itself.
Like Dr. Lutuli recently, when she was shown
around here and she saw what was happening
here, she said, I can't believe this, I
never knew such a thing was happening in
Africa and was possible.
And I said, well, it's amazing, you're just
from close by here at Belito and you
don't know what's going on.
And so it was in the time of
Jesus as well, when he was born, the
people close by in Jerusalem, they didn't know
about it.
The people from far away, the wise men,
they knew about it.
And so it can be that people are
blinded to the fact.
They don't see what is really going on.
And that time as well, they probably saw
the boat, the ark being built, and they
just saw, oh, here's something being built.
They didn't realize what was really going on.
That big construction didn't impress them or touch
them.
They just said, oh, that man is busy
doing his own thing.
They were busy with their own politics.
And at that time, all manner of lust
and defilement was around.
It was a terrible time.
They did all sorts of perverted sexual things.
Like the internet today, it's a cursed, a
damned thing concerning sex.
Many a Christian falls.
And sometimes they come here into this building,
looking at those damned things.
Things of hell.
And you'll defile yourselves and your wives even
with those things that you pick up there.
And you will defile even your children with
those things.
So as it was in the days of
Noah, so it is today.
And that's why we expect the second coming
of the Lord is imminent.
Jesus said, in that time there will be
earthquakes, there will be famine, and many diseases,
and all those things are happening today.
It's possibly only one thing that's outstanding, and
that is that the gospel is preached to
the uttermost people.
To the uttermost parts of the earth.
Even though today the gospel is preached via
radio, and that is broadcast across the world,
but maybe it still needs a more in
-depth working in those areas.
Because Jesus said, before he comes again, the
gospel needs to be preached all over.
They say every time Moody preached a sermon,
before he preached he'd tell himself, I've got
to preach in such a way, because it
could be that before I end this sermon,
Jesus will come again.
Do you see that this was something that
was burning in his heart?
That's what he told himself daily.
Is that the life you live?
That you live in such a way knowing
that he could come at any time before
the sun sets today?
So the early Christians, they were expecting the
Lord at any time, and even when some
of them fell ill, seriously ill, they thought,
well, they obviously won't die before he does
come.
And so it was confusing for them when
some started dying.
How will it then be when the trumpet
sounds?
They say two will be in the field,
and it says that one will be taken,
the other one will be left behind.
Two will be grinding at the mill, one
will be taken, the other will be left
behind.
I don't even know whether it could be
a married couple, this, and one will be
taken, the other left behind.
When she was on her deathbed in hospital,
she asked for someone to come to see
her, and when that person from here got
to see her, she couldn't speak anymore, she
just could say one word over and over
again.
God had locked the door.
She was unconscious.
I don't even know whether it could be
a married couple, this, and one will be
left behind.
I don't even know whether it could be
a married couple, this, and one will be
left behind.
Woe to you when God gives you an
opportunity to make things right, and you don't
make use of it, because the day comes
when He locks the door, when you can
do nothing about it anymore.
You can do nothing when He's locked the
door.
So two will be in the field, or
two will be at the mill together, and
then the trumpet will sound, one will be
taken, and the other will be left behind.
And then in Corinthians we read that this
will happen in the twinkling of an eye.
It won't be like when he was taken
up slowly into heaven.
No, this will happen in a twinkling of
an eye, when suddenly you will notice that
the person that was with you before is
no longer there.
So it won't be like when you're working
with someone and suddenly he drops down dead,
just all of a sudden without warning.
No, this is something different.
This is when the Lord comes again, when
the trumpet sounds, the one will be snatched
away, and he will no longer be there.
So that person will be snatched up, but
because flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom
of heaven, that person is changed in a
moment.
And then in Philippians Paul writes, he says,
he also would like to attain to the
resurrection of the dead.
What does it say in English?
Philippians 3 verse 11.
What translation have you got?
In order that I may attain to the
resurrection from the dead.
Oh yes.
That's not what the Greek says.
If you read the Amplified Bible, they've translated
according to the Greek.
To the resurrection, not only of the dead,
all the dead that will rise.
The resurrection out of the dead.
Many will remain dead.
Out of the dead, some will rise.
Just as those two, the one stays, the
other, in the twinkling of an eye, will
meet the Lord.
The resurrection out of the dead.
The rest will remain dead.
Only those that are ready and have been
ready will rise.
The others stay in the graves.
Their time will come.
But first of all, the Church of Christ,
the Bride of Christ, in the twinkling of
an eye, will be caught up and meet
with all the saints.
And their bodies in the graves will rise.
And then their souls will be together, united
again with their bodies.
And He'll come with all the saints.
Those that have gone before.
Those that have
gone
before.
Those that
have
gone before.
And then we will be caught up to
be with them at that great wedding feast.
And Paul didn't take it for granted.
So Paul didn't just take it for granted
as he says in Philippians 3.
And as he says in verse 10 or
verse 3 of chapter 3, that I may
know Him and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed
to His death, in order that I may
attain to the resurrection from the dead.
In order.
He put everything into it.
He didn't say, I take it for granted
I'll be there.
No, he says, I want to be like
Jesus.
I want to be ready.
I want to be prepared.
He said that when He comes, even if
I'm dead, that I'll...
And he says, not that I've already been
perfected.
Some don't understand that.
And they say, but how can you say
you are perfect already or perfected when Paul
himself said he hadn't attained to it.
Paul there was referring to the resurrection of
the dead.
That's what he was referring to, that he
hadn't attained to that yet, but he was
striving to attain to it.
That's why he couldn't say, I'm already perfect.
But if you carry on, he says, all
of us that are perfect, let's be like
minded.
But in this instance, he was speaking about
the resurrection out of the dead ones.
He was speaking about the resurrection out of
the dead ones.
He was
speaking
about the resurrection out of the dead ones.
Verse 44, for you do not know the
day or hour when the Lord will return.
For this reason, you be ready.
You do not know the hour or the
time.
But
But be prepared all the time, because you
don't know when he'll come.
You could be ready, but then you slip
out here to the neighbors to do your
wrong thing.
And then he comes at that moment and
you are found unprepared.
Or you are ready and suddenly you get
angry and annoyed with your wife.
You speak horribly to her.
And at that moment he comes and you're
not prepared.
For this reason, you be ready too, for
the Son of Man is coming at an
hour when you do not think he will.
No one knows when he will come, but
what we do know is that he'll come
at a time when you don't expect it.
Therefore, be
prepared, because you do not know when he'll
come.
He'll come unexpectedly.
And when he comes, it'll be so sudden.
There won't be time to then suddenly run
and say, well, now I want to confess
my sin.
I want to make right my life.
There will be no time for that.
Make right your life and be prepared all
the time.
If you stay behind when the Lord comes,
when the trumpet sounds and the Lord fetches
his own, if you stay behind there, it'll
be a time when the devil will be
let loose and you will have a terrible
time if you get left behind.
We don't have time to talk about that.
Today is a time where the Bride of
Christ and the Church of Christ are still
here on earth.
The Holy Spirit is still at work.
But when the saints have been snatched up,
taken to glory, you can imagine what it
will be like.
Everyone else who wasn't prepared and who is
living in sin will be left behind and
you'll be left with those.
So redeem the time.
The Lord is coming soon.
At the sound of the trumpet, the saints
will meet him.
Make sure that when that day
comes, when that hour comes, that you are
found to be in the ark.
Get into the ark now because when those
floods come and you're not in the ark,
there's no hope for you.
In those days, even the animals had more
brains than
we
do today.
They had more brains than the human beings,
even though they thought themselves wise.
So make sure that you are in the
ark when Jesus comes.
The animals, even the pig went in, but
the human being outside.
Woe to you if Christ returns and you're
not in the ark.
You're not in Christ.
It will be like a big magnet.
You know when you bring a magnet close
to other pieces of metal, also magnets, they
are drawn to each other.
So the Lord in that day will draw
those unto himself who are in him and
are like him.
Because of time, we won't ask the choir
to sing anymore.
We will just pray and then we can
go home and think about that, what we've
heard, that we can digest it and chew
the cud.
Lord, by
your Holy Spirit, make alive your word in
our hearts.
We've heard the words that you yourself spoke,
coming out of your mouth, saying, be prepared,
be alert, watchful, for you know not the
hour when I will return.
We see things happening here on earth.
If we look at the signs, your coming
must be very soon.
But you also say that it will be
at a time that we do not expect.
Now we wonder, Lord, when that unexpected time
comes, when it comes, what it will find
us busy with.
Amen.