This morning it's our wonderful privilege
to return to the 21st chapter of the gospel of Luke. You can take your Bible or one near you there
in the pew, and turn to Luke chapter 21. As you well know because we've been working
our way through the gospel of Luke, we find ourselves in the 21st chapter of Luke on a
Wednesday, unlike any other Wednesday. This is Wednesday of Passion Week, the final
week of our Lord's life. On Thursday there will be preparations and
a Passover meal held with Jesus and His disciples and He will give them His great spiritual
legacy in the upper room teaching. He will be betrayed, and on Friday He will
be crucified. On Sunday He will rise again. But this is Wednesday. It is twilight on that Wednesday and Jesus
is with His disciples now. He has left the hateful rulers behind after
numerous confrontations with them in which they had endeavored to discredit Him publicly
so they could have cause for the Romans to execute Him. All unsuccessful and so in order to execute
Him they had to fabricate and lie, come up with false accusations. He has left them behind. He has left behind the crowd still indifferent,
still uncommitted even after all that Jesus had said and done, leaving the temple with
only His disciples. From now on He will speak only to them. It is twilight then on that Wednesday. They are gathered around Him on the Mount
of Olives. And from a human viewpoint, it looked as if
all their hopes and ambitions and desires for Him had been smashed and crushed. In a combination of very evident and obvious
hatred and hostility from the leaders and at best indifference from the crowd, it was
a far cry from their expectation that Jesus would come and be hailed and received as the
true Messiah, as it seemed He might be on that very Monday when He came into Jerusalem. But the crowd was growing colder and colder
toward Him and eventually they would cry, "Crucify Him, crucify Him," and commiserate
with the leaders in His own execution. This wasn't the way they expected it to turn
out. And as they leave the temple, we pick up the
story in verse 5. "Some were talking about the temple, that
it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts. He said, 'As for these things which you're
looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which
will not be torn down.'" Walking away from the temple, looking back
at that magnificent facility; Jesus says, "It's all coming down." The temple, the city, the people, the nation,
and, by the way, it is a long-term judgment. He had said this before, that Jerusalem would
be judged by God and that it would remain under that judgment and the desolation of
that judgment until the Jewish people embraced their Messiah. He said, "Your nation is desolate and it will
be desolate until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'" And so, the desolation that was pronounced
upon that temple and that city remains to this day. It is not the city of God, it is still a city
under divine judgment. It has no temple, it has no faith in the Messiah,
Jesus Christ, and so it remains in desolation. They didn't expect that. There was no way that they would have expected
that any judgment on that temple, any judgment on that city or nation would last this long. They knew the Lord was displeased because
on Tuesday, the day before this, He had cleansed the temple. He had run out the buyers and the sellers
who had turned His Father's house, which is a house of prayer, into a den of thieves,
cave of robbers. They knew He was displeased. They knew the populace and the leaders had
rejected Him. But their assumption was that whatever judgment
is going to come is going to come and immediately be relieved by a restoration and a revival
and an establishment of the reign of Messiah. It all is going to come together. They had no idea of this great interval of
several millennia. And so, when they hear about the coming destruction,
which began in 70 A.D., forty years after this, when the Romans destroyed the temple
and the city and the nation, they questioned Him, saying, "Teacher when, therefore, will
these things be? And what will be the sign when these things
are about to take place?" And Matthew's account of this same conversation
adds, "What will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?" They thought the judgment and the signs of
judgment and the coming of Christ in glory and the end of the age and the establishment
of the messianic age was all going to happen at the same time, certainly in Jesus' lifetime
because He was the Messiah and therefore in their own lifetime as well. And that's why even after His resurrection,
when they were meeting with Him, they said, "Will You at this time restore the kingdom
to Israel?" Is it now? Is it now? They expected it all to happen then. And if there was going to be judgment, the
judgment would come. It would then be relieved and Christ would
be present to establish His kingdom of righteousness as promised in the Old Testament. But Jesus says in verse 8, and I just want
us to look at this, this morning, and we'll expand it a lot, "See to it that you be not
misled." You are in a very vulnerable position. You have an intense hope for all fulfillment
of messianic promise. You can therefore be verily easy misled. You can be deceived. Your enthusiasm for this, your expectation
of this puts you in a very vulnerable place. "Do not be misled, for many will come in My
name, claiming to be Me and represent Me saying, 'I am He,' and saying, 'The time is at hand.' Do not go after them." Here is a hint that His coming is a long way
off. It has to be a long way off because in the
meantime they're in a danger of being deceived because they have so much anticipation and
eagerness and in that anticipation and eagerness, there will be many who come and make false
claims to be the Messiah, false claims that this is the time of His coming and establishing
His kingdom. He says, "Do not go after them." In verse 9, He says, "When you hear of wars
and disturbances, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the
end does not follow immediately." And here He says, whatever you expect, it
isn't coming soon. They're going to be wars, disturbances, terrifying
things. There are going to be many, many false claimants
to be Messiah, many saying the time is now, the time is now, the time is now. Don't be misled. The end does not follow immediately. It's a long way off. Is He coming at all? Look at verse 27, "You will see the Son of
Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Yes, He is coming. You will see Him coming. "But before that, many things must take place." Starting in verse 9 and running all the way
to verse 27, He describes the preliminaries to His coming. Then he describes His coming and then He describes
how to prepare for His coming. This then is a sermon by Jesus about His own
return in which He warns us to realize it's a long way off. There are many preliminary things that are
going to happen before He comes. He will come and then says, here's how to
prepare for His coming. We're going to work our way through all of
this. And by the way, Mark 13 has a parallel account
to this and an even more full account of this is found in Matthew chapter 24 and 25, the
largest record of our Lord's conversation with the disciples about His return. This is so important. The timing of this is absolutely critical
because it looks to the disciples and I'm sure it looked to everybody else as if the
last chapter on Jesus was about to be written in two days. He would die on a cross and that is the end
of that. The people had not responded to Him. The leaders had not received Him. In fact, just the opposite; they resented
and despised Him. This is not the scenario that everybody expected,
even those who were true believers anticipating the coming of Messiah. It wasn't going in the right direction. He leaves the temple alone with only His disciples
following Him. That's all He has after this full ministry
of three years, after this tremendously intense week and this wild reception on Monday, there's
just the disciples, a few left. On the side of the Mount of Olives in the
twilight and Jesus says, this is not the last chapter. This is not the last chapter. I'll come, I will return when the desolation
is over, I will return. When Israel looks on the one they pierced
and mourns for Him as an only Son, as Zechariah put it, when they say, "Blessed is He who
comes in the name of the Lord," I will return and I will fulfill all the promise. It is said that future predictive prophecy
occupies one fifth of Scripture, not a small amount. Of that one fifth of Scripture which is predictive
prophecy, one third of that speaks of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge sinners
and to reward and reign with the righteous. So one third of the one fifth is focused on
the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There are about 660 general prophecies in
the Bible. Half of them are about Jesus Christ. Of the 330 that are about Christ, 110 of them
are about His first coming and 220 of them are about His Second Coming. So there is a huge amount of Scripture that
focuses on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Another sort of statistical way to look at
the importance of this subject is, out of the forty-six Old Testament prophets, ten
of them spoke of matters related to His first coming. Thirty-six of them spoke of matters related
to His Second Coming. Someone has estimated that over 1500 verses
in the Old Testament look to the return of the Messiah in glory and judgment. One out of every twenty-five verses in the
New Testament relates to Christ's return. For every time Christ mentions His first coming,
He mentions His second coming eight times. That is every time the New Testament mentions
His first coming, it mentions His second coming eight times. Our Lord referred to it twenty times and there
are over fifty times in the New Testament we are warned that He's coming. He's coming. In spite of that, look at 2 Peter 3 for a
moment. In spite of that, and because of that, because
it is a cardinal doctrine of Christianity, because it is a foundational truth of Christianity,
because in a sense it is the main truth, because at the end of the story is the point for the
story, the end of the story is the reason for the story, because it is so important,
you would know that the enemy of God would assault it. And so we find in verse 3 of 2 Peter 3, Peter
saying this, "Know this, first of all, that in the last days..." What is that? The time since Messiah came. When Jesus came the first time, that inaugurated
the last days. As the other writers tell us, Christ appeared
once in the end of the age. Or as John says, "Little children, it is the
last time." We're living in messianic times, so these
are the last days. "In the last days, mockers will come with
their mocking following after their own lusts and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?'" Scoffers and mockers will deny the Second
Coming of Jesus Christ because it is associated with accountability and judgment and they
want to continue to live in full, lavish indulgence in their own lusts and therefore they don't
want to contemplate any coming judge and judgment. And so, cultivating their own lusts, they
mock the idea. Their argument is pretty basic. They say this, "Ever since the fathers fell
asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." This is the argument of uniformity. What do you mean Jesus is coming and He's
going to judge the world and destroy the earth and give a new and renovated earth to...to
His glorious kingdom and then create a New Heaven and a New Earth? That's not going to happen. No such change will ever come." Reason: It never has happened. Which is like saying: "I'm not going to die. I never have. I'm not going to get cancer, I never have. I'm not going to have a heart attack, I never
have." This is a very simplistic argument. Why should we believe that? Nothing has ever changed since the creation. That's what evolutionists would have you believe. It all just goes along the same way. However, says Peter, "When they maintain this"
verse 5 "it escapes their notice" conveniently "that by the Word of God the heavens existed
long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which the world at that
time was destroyed, being flooded by water." Did they forget that all things have not continued
from the beginning as they were? There was a worldwide universal flood that
drowned the entire human race with the exception of eight people. Pretty significant, I think. Have they willfully overlooked that? They have a model for total judgment. They have a model for massive devastation. And next time, verse 7, it's coming by fire
not by water. By fire will come the Day of Judgment and
destruction of ungodly men. Unless you think because a couple of thousand
years have gone by since Jesus pronounced these judgments, then be reminded of verse
8. "Don't let this one fact escape your notice,
beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one
day." The day of the Lord, he says in verse 10,
will come like a thief with stealth and the heavens will pass away with a roar and the
elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and His work shall be burned
up. It's coming. And verse 13 says, we are looking for a new
heaven and a new earth. So in spite of the scoffers, in spite of the
mockers who wanted to continue in the expression of their own lusts, don't like the concept
of the idea of accountability to God, don't like to think of facing a judge, they will. But they conveniently eliminate it from the
realm of acceptable possibilities because it impinges upon their sin. We are being warned a lot in this society. In my life growing up...I've been around long
enough to know. I don't remember so many warnings. Just about everything you buy has a warning
on it, doesn't it? Everything. We have warning labels coming at us from everywhere. And we're constantly being warned by... warned
by the doomsayers, warned about pollution is going to destroy our planet. Pollution is going to...petroleum products
of some kind are going to destroy our planet. Or carbon poisoning, or some other kind of
toxic waste, or melting ice caps or nuclear war or global warming. And we hear it all the time, just endless. Some meteor is going to crash into the earth
and scatter us into the universe into oblivion. I'm actually waiting to get a call from CNN
or NBC or somewhere saying, "John, we have just discovered that there's a massive amount
of reliable evidence that Jesus is coming back to judge sinners and destroy the earth. Could you please come on and explain this
to us?" Folks, I'm not holding my breath. Christian yoga, maybe, but not that. And I'll tell you in all honesty, I'm working
hard at it. I'm really trying to believe the scientists. I do understand the value of science. I'm trying just to figure out which ones to
believe because the ones that are linked to all the doomsday prophecies are loaded with
so many suppositions that I'm not just exactly sure how objective any of this information
is, but when it's all said and done, I will just tell you this...and I'm ready, if CNN
wants me any time, to say, "None of that is going to destroy this world. This world will be destroyed by its Creator
Himself." As I've said to these people on occasion,
if you think we're messing up the planet, wait till you see what Jesus does when He
gets here. Heaven is going to unleash incomprehensible,
devastating judgment power, first of all, on all the ungodly in this world, then on
the planet itself, restoring it, giving it a new life in which then Christ reigns for
a thousand years, then it is completely imploded in a nuclear holocaust in which it disintegrates
into nothingness and is replaced by a new heaven and a new earth, that's how it ends. And it's all associated with the return of
Jesus Christ. And there is massive evidence, reliable evidence,
evidence from the most reliable source in the universe, God. This is the Word of the Creator, Sustainer,
and Consummator of everything that exists. Let Him tell me the future. He who wrote it, let Him tell me. He who created it, He who sustains it, let
Him tell me how it ends. And that's the truth from God. The present earth will not be destroyed by
anything inanimate, no pollution, no hydro-carbons, no bombs, no meteors, no ocean inundation,
no earthquakes. The earth will be attacked by its maker for
it is a disposable planet, only to serve for a few thousand years and be gone. He will return first to gather His own into
heaven. Then to punish sinners in a fiery destruction
that is detailed for us in the Old and New Testaments. He will then in a renovated world after the
destruction is over, set up His kingdom for a thousand years, after which He will create
a new heaven and a new earth where all who belong to Him will dwell in sinless perfection
and perfect joy and peace forever, while the unbelieving spend forever in hell. That's where we're headed. And we can't be too far away. So in our text, this is what Jesus is going
to tell us about. He's coming. He's going to point us in the direction of
preliminary events and how to be prepared. But before we look at the warning itself in
Luke 21, let's remind ourselves that this is not new. Let's go back to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter
12 verse 35, "Be dressed in readiness, keep your lamps lit." These are the words of Jesus, "Be like men
who are waiting for their master when he returns from a wedding feast so that they may immediately
open the door to Him when He knocks and comes...when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall
find on the alert when He comes. Truly I say to you that He will gird Himself
to serve and have them recline at the table and will come up and wait on them. Whether He comes in the second watch or even
in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. Be sure of this, that if the head of the house
had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be
broken into. You too be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour you do not expect." Turn to chapter 17, chapter 17 and verse 22,
Jesus again says to His disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of
the days of the Son of Man, you will not see it." You'll wish I were here. You'll wish I was around. I won't be. And they will say to you, "Look here, look
there, here's the Messiah, there's the Messiah. Here's the kingdom, there's the kingdom. Do not go away and do not run after them. You will know when I come." Don't let anybody tell you it happened in
70 A.D. like the preterists do. Don't let anybody tell you it happened in
1880 or 1920-something, and it was a spiritual coming, like the cults do. Don't let anybody tell you that He's here,
you just can't recognize Him. You'll recognize Him because verse 24 says,
"When He comes, it will be like lightning flashing out of one part of the sky, shining
to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in that day. But first He must suffer many things and be
rejected by this generation." So first He comes, He's rejected, He suffers
for sin. Then is a long period of time before He comes
again. And why is He waiting all of this time? Peter answers that question in the text we
looked at earlier, "The Lord is not slow concerning His promise as some men count slowness, but
is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish." This is the time when He gathers in His redeemed
church. And so, Jesus has said much about this. He has given ample warning about this. In chapter 19, just as He was leaving Jericho
after healing Zacchaeus on His way into Jerusalem for this Passover, He says, "A certain nobleman
went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return." He's talking about Himself. He's going away and he will return. "But there were citizens," verse 14 says,
"who hated him, sent a delegation after him saying, 'We don't want this man to reign over
us.' And it came about that when he returned after
receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves to whom he had given the money be called
to him in order that he might know what business they had done." It's accounting time, and you remember that. It's accounting time. The rest of the parable tells about he confronts
what people did while he was gone, and it all comes down to verse 26. "Everyone who has shall be given more." Those who were faithful shall receive blessing. "But from the one who doesn't have, even what
he does have will be taken away. These enemies of mine who did not want me
to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence." So our Lord has given very strong warning
about His coming. It is a coming of blessing for the saints. It is a coming of judgment for the world. And the moment again is so poignant. Let's go back, for a moment, to Luke 21. It's so poignant at this moment that Jesus
give the most comprehensive, complete treatment of His Second Coming that He ever gave in
His ministry. It was imperative for Him to tell them that
they had not seen the last chapter. He not only would die, not only would rise,
but after a long time He would return. Now when we contemplate this big picture,
I...I.. .I want to back away from the text for a minute
before we get into it. I want to give you the big picture of the
Second Coming. I am committed to the fact, and I'm sure you
are if you know the Bible at all, that this is a cardinal doctrine of the Christian faith,
not to be mocked at or scoffed at. The end of the story is the reason for the
story. This is the great glory of Christ yet to come. It will happen, Jesus will return. God's person demands it. God's program demands it. And God's priorities demand it. Those three things: God's person, God's program
and God's priority. We're going to work our way through that a
little bit. Let's start with God's person. And we could extend this, but I'll endeavor
not to do that unduly because we only have a little time this morning. First of all, the promise of God the Father
demands it. The promise of God the Father demands it. God who is truth, God who speaks only truth,
God who is the God of truth, God who cannot lie, God who has spoken and His Word is trustworthy,
God who always does what He purposes to do, of Him it is said, 1 Kings 8:56, "There has
never failed one word of His good promise." The God of all truth has promised this glorious
return of Christ. He promised many things in the Old Testament
concerning His first coming. And what is important to recognize is they
all took place literally, literally, actually, really. You can't spiritualize the Second Coming because
in His first coming all the prophecies were fulfilled literally; therefore in the second
aspect of His coming, literal is the key interpretive idea. For example, God promised that Jesus would
be born of a virgin, Isaiah 7:14. He was. Micah 5:2, God promised He would be born at
Bethlehem. He was. In Hosea 11:1 God said, "Out of Egypt I have
called My Son." Jesus fleeing to Egypt to avoid Herod was
then brought back from out of Egypt actually. Isaiah 11:2 says He would be anointed with
the Holy Spirit, and He was at His baptism. We remember that. Zechariah 9:9, God said He would enter Jerusalem
riding on the colt, the foal of an ass, and He did. Psalm 41:9 and 55:12 says that He would be
betrayed by His own friend. He was, Judas. Zechariah 13:7, that He would be forsaken
by His followers who would flee. They did. Zechariah 11:12: that He would be sold for
30 pieces of silver. He was. That with that silver a potter's field would
be purchased. And that's exactly what was done with the
money. Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 6 says He would
be spit on and scourged. Psalm 22 that He would be crucified. Psalm 34:20 that not a bone of Him would be
broken. Psalm 69:21 that He would be given vinegar
to drink. Psalm 22 that His hands and feet would be
pierced. Again Psalm 22: that His garments would be
parted and lots would be cast for them. And that's exactly what the Roman soldiers
did. Psalm 16:10: that He would be raised from
the dead, and He was. All of these prophecies literally, physically,
actually fulfilled in time and space; they're not just spiritual ideals, they are real prophecies
that had real fulfillment. And they set the standard for all Old Testament
prophecies and the 220 that are not yet fulfilled will be just as literal and just as real as
those 110 that are. The character of God is at stake. God said He would do things at His first coming
through the prophets and the writers of the Old Testament, and He did. There were things that God said that had not
been fulfilled when Jesus completed His earthly ministry. For example, Genesis 49:10. In Genesis 49:10 God the author of Scripture,
it is the Word of the Lord, says, that "when Shiloh comes," that is Messiah, "the one whose
right it is to rule, unto Him shall the gathering of the people be," the gathering of the nations. That certainly did not happen in His first
coming. Quite the opposite. Not only did the nations not gather to Him,
but "He came unto His own and His own received Him not. He was in the world; the world was made by
Him. The world knew Him not." That prophecy has to be fulfilled. Shiloh, Messiah, the one whose right it is
to rule, must come and the whole world gather to Him and bow at His feet, and they will. In Psalm 2 we read in verse 6, "But as for
me" this is God speaking "I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain," meaning
the Messiah, God installing the Messiah upon Zion, "My holy mountain." That is obviously not true today. On Mount Zion is the remnants of Herod's footings,
the empty place where once dwelt the temple where a mosque to Allah competes with vestiges
of the temple of old. The King, God's King, is certainly not installed
upon the holy mountain in Zion. Further Psalm 2 says, "I will tell the decree
of the Lord, He said to me You're My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, I'll surely give the nations as
Your inheritance. The very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and
shatter them like earthenware." He doesn't rule the world with a rod of iron
at this time. He is not the one who rules over this earth
and in whose possession are all the nations of the earth. In fact, the truth of the matter is, Satan
is the prince of the power of the air who is now the ruler of this world temporarily. That prophecy certainly has not been fulfilled. In Isaiah 9, and we could look at Isaiah for
a moment because there are many important prophecies in Isaiah, but a familiar one in
Isaiah 9. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given and the government shall rest on His shoulders." That is, He will be the unilateral ruler of
all. "His name will be wonderful counselor, mighty
God, eternal Father, Prince of peace." And then this government is defined. "There will be no end to the increase of His
government or of peace. He will rule and bring peace that has no end. He will sit on the throne of David over His
kingdom, establish it, uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forever
more." Listen: That has not happened. When Jesus left the first time, He left without
having established any kingdom on this earth. He did not sit and has not yet sat on the
throne of David in Jerusalem, ruling a redeemed Israel and a world dominated by righteousness
and peace. Matthew 25:31, "Jesus says, 'When the Son
of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit on
the throne.'" "Then" is the key word. That throne will be given to Him when He comes,
not in a manger, not all alone, but when He comes in the company of all the holy angels,
not in humble baby form, but in full glory. Then will He sit on the throne. He came in humiliation the first time. He must then come in full glory attended by
the angelic host and even accompanied by the redeemed saints who have been raptured previously. He comes to establish His kingdom and glory. Very different characteristics to that coming. In Micah chapter 4, "In the last days when
the mountain of the house of the Lord is established in the world, in the earth, nations will come
and go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob that He may
teach us about His ways that we may walk in His paths, for from Zion will go forth the
law, even the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." That has not happened. Jewish people are apostate. They do not believe in the Messiah. They do not proclaim the Word of the Lord. Further, He will judge between many nations,
render decisions for mighty distant nations. "Nations will hammer their swords into plowshares,
their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation
and never again will they train for war." And the whole world will walk in the name
of the Lord our God forever and ever. That hasn't happened, nor has anything remotely
like that happened. Isaiah 33:20 says, "Jerusalem will be a city
of peace." That hasn't happened. Isaiah 35 says, "Nature will be dramatically
changed. The desert will be turned into a flourishing
garden." Zechariah 14 says, the mountain will be split
in Jerusalem, creating valleys running west and east to the desert to the sea, and water
will flow both directions. That hasn't happened. Isaiah 45:23 says, the world will bow their
knee to the Messiah. That hasn't happened. Jeremiah 23 says, "He will be a great King
over all the earth." That hasn't happened. Daniel 7:13-14 says, He will be given by God
the Father dominion that knows no limit and no end. That hasn't happened. It has to happen. God's Word is at stake. "God is not a man that He should lie," Numbers
23:19. "Let God be true and every man a liar," says
Paul. "God who cannot lie." God has declared this. And Genesis 18, I think, records a good way
to understand this. In Genesis 18 God acknowledges that Abraham
is His friend, that Abraham had walked with God in faith and God had not withheld from
Abraham anything He planned to do. God was about to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah,
obliterate them. He did not want Abraham's faith shaken. So He revealed His plan so that when it happened
Abraham's faith was not only not shaken, it was confirmed because what God had said God
did. And in Genesis 18:17 God says, "Shall I hide
from Abraham that thing which I do?" No. Because when I do it, Abraham will know that
I speak the truth. So God didn't hide all the prophecies about
the first coming. We saw them all come to pass so that we would
trust Him for what is yet to come. The promises of God require the Second Coming. Secondly, the statements of Jesus require
the Second Coming. He said He was coming. I just took you through it in Luke alone,
Luke 12, Luke 17, Luke 19, and here the full text of Luke 21. It's also recorded, parallel accounts in Mark,
parallel accounts in Matthew, even more extensive there, and John, John. In John 13 on that Passover night on the following
Thursday from the Wednesday in which Jesus spoke of His Second Coming, Jesus was speaking
about His death in verse 31, John 13, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified
in Him." He saw His death as the path to glory. "Little children," verse 33, "I am with you
a little while longer," just a little while, really a couple of days, then after the resurrection
40 days before the ascension. "I'm with you just a little while, you'll
seek Me and as I said to the Jews I now say to you, where I'm going you can't come." I'm going to be gone. Verse 36, "Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord,
where You going?' Jesus said, 'Where I go you can't follow Me
now. But you shall follow later.'" Later? Yes, because I'm coming back. Look at chapter 14. "Let not your heart be troubled, believe in
God, believe in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again, receive you to Myself that where I am there
you may be also." Matthew, Mark, Luke, John: Every one of the
gospels record the promise of Jesus that I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming. But maybe my favorite concise promise comes
sixty years later, sixty years after these promises in visions given to John and recorded
in the book of Revelation, for in the book of Revelation six times there's a quote from
the mouth of Jesus. Here's the quote, six times, "Behold, I come
quickly." That's His reiterated promise, His last promise,
His final word about His coming from heaven. There's no change in the plan. As the character of God is at stake, as the
integrity of God is at stake, as the truthfulness of God is at stake in the promises that He
made of the coming of Christ to set up His kingdom, so the character of Jesus is at stake,
the integrity of Jesus is at stake, the trustworthiness of Jesus is at stake who keeps saying He's
coming. To deny His coming is to deny His virtue,
His character. The Redeemer must return because of the promise
of the Father, because of the promise of the Son, thirdly, because of the promise of the
Holy Spirit. All through the Old Testament God was promising. All through the gospels Jesus is promising
the Second Coming. And then came the apostles and their letters
and they begin to write. And what did they say? First Corinthians 1, "I thank my God always
concerning you for the grace of God given you in Christ Jesus. In everything you're enriched in Him in all
speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed to you, so
that you're not lacking in any gift, waiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:20 and 21: He's coming and He's
coming to give you a glorified body like His own body. Colossians 3, He's going to appear from heaven. First Thessalonians chapter 4, There's going
to be a trumpet, there's going to be the voice of the archangel, we're all going to be called
together to be with Him in glory. John says we're going to see Him like He is,
be changed into His image. The coming of Jesus Christ is a consistent
theme through all the epistles themselves. And the Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture. Is Jesus coming? Yes. How do we know He's coming? It is the testimony of the most reliable source
in existence, the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So when I say to you I'm waiting to go on
CNN and tell them that I have reliable testimony to the fact that none of the things that people
think are going to destroy this world, what's actually going to do it is the return of Jesus
Christ, I am accurate in saying I represent the most reliable source, none other than
God the Trinity. Now that's God's person. Next time we'll look at God's program which
calls for the Second Coming. Father, we thank You for a wonderful morning. What a joy and privilege to worship You, beautiful
music, wonderful, encouraging testimony to Your blessing upon Your Word, great fellowship,
sweet communion of the saints. We thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers,
for infusing our worship with Your power. We thank You for how You come to us in the
lives of all these precious people. We thank You that Christ lives in them and
when we interact with them, we interact with our Lord. Thank You for the truth of Your Word. We thank You that we know the end. We know where everything in history is going. And we know who's in charge of it all. We...We understand Your patience until people
come to repentance. We understand Your patience until You've gathered
in the redeemed. But we would say with John, "Even so, come,
Lord Jesus." Oh Lord, come, take Your glory. May the world see who You really are, who
we really are in the glorious manifestation of Your own person and the glorious manifestation
of the children of God. And until that time, may we be faithful, knowing
these things are coming to pass. May we be the kind of people that bring You
glory and honor and draw others to gospel salvation. Now, Father, give us a great day and confirm
into our hearts these glorious realities. History has already been prewritten. We are so thrilled to be able to watch it
unfold, even as Abraham did because we, too, are Your friends and You want to strengthen
our faith. And as we see the things that go on in the
world, they point clearly in the direction of the unfolding of what You have promised. May we be faithful until Jesus comes to bring
Him glory, we pray in His name. Amen.
