The blessed hope of every Christian is the second coming of Jesus Christ, a truth emphasized 318 times in the New Testament. The sermon draws from Acts 1:1-11, where Jesus ascends to heaven and angels promise his return in like manner. It contrasts the disciples' expectant gaze with Jerusalem's and the modern world's indifference to spiritual realities, highlighting that Christ's return is a certainty, not a speculative event. The message concludes by urging listeners to be prepared for Christ's imminent return, emphasizing the importance of personal faith and salvation through Him.
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Good evening, everybody. Well, we turn to the book of Acts, please, chapter one. And tonight we'd like to say a little bit concerning the subject that is very important to everyone who knows the Lord, and the subject that is of utmost importance to anyone who does not know the Lord. So you see, that pretty well includes all of us, doesn't it? So we want to talk about what is the blessed hope of every child of God, and that is the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I read about a school where one morning the teacher asked the school of girls, and the teacher asked the girls, what is the first thing You think about when you wake up in the morning. Well, one of the girls said, it's the exam that I'm going to have today. Another one spoke of one thing or another, and finally one of the young ladies said, first thing I think about when I get up in the morning is this. Jesus may come today. Another wonderful thing? I wonder when was the last time we thought about that.
Jesus may come today. It is said that no less than three hundred and eighteen times in the New Testament we read that Jesus is coming again. Now you know when I was growing up I had a very a very disciplined father and of course you had to be you know there were four of us boys and four girls and with four girls at the same table, at the same time, you have to have some discipline, you know. And my father believed in discipline.
But when he called us for supper time, he called only once. That's all. It was once. And if we were out of earshot and didn't hear his call, That was no excuse. We should have known. And since I was the oldest, I was the one of God, because I should have known. Now when the Bible speaks at least three hundred and eighteen times concerning this one particular subject, the fact that the Lord Jesus is going to come again It certainly should tell us something.
It should tell us that God in His grace and in His mercy and in His love is attempting to tell us that one day the Lord Jesus is going to come again. Now we want to look at the first chapter of Acts, beginning at verse one. We'll read a few verses here. The former treatise, have I made, O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began, both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion, by many infallible truths, being seen by them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which said thee, ye have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, that ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, will 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 which the Father had put in his own power. but ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him, out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white power, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Now here we have, I think, a very interesting scene of the New Testament times. Here we come now to the place where the Lord Jesus, where the company of believers, is standing there on the house of olives. For two days before that they had witnessed his death upon the cross. He had met with them in that upper room, and he said, I am going to go, and if I go, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
Now some of them had been with him for three and a half years of public ministry. They had witnessed as he dealt with the underworld. They had witnessed as he cast the demons out of the demon possessed. And they had stood by him and watched as he raised the dead. There were those who witnessed the raising from the dead of that little girl. twelve years old. And they had witnessed at the funeral of that young man, whom his widowed mother was taking out the ferry, and they saw him raised from the dead.
And they had been standing there, and they heard his call at the grave of Lazarus when he said, when he cried with the Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. They had been witnesses to that and they had seen his body placed in the tomb. And they had been witnesses to his resurrection from among the dead. And now here they were, called out a small company of believers out to the Mount of Olives. And that's a wonderful place to be. Or if you could just stand on the Mount of Olives and look over the city of Jerusalem.
as the Lord Jesus did. And one day as he stood there looking over that city of Jerusalem, he wept as he looked at that city. And as he wept, he said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, stonest them that are sent unto thee. How oft would I have gathered thee as a hen that gathered her chickens under her wings but ye would not ye would not in another place he said where I am ye cannot come I wonder if there's anyone here tonight who has heard the pleadings of the Son of God and is pleading for you to come to him He isn't asking you to ask him to come to you.
He said, You come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now there were many who heard and who responded to that call. But our world today and this evening is still filled with men and women and young people who just as it was in the days of the Lord Jesus before He went to heaven, that still have no room for Him, no room for Him, that could care less concerning His death on the cross, could care less concerning His resurrection from among the dead, and could care less as to the truth of His coming again.
Our world today hasn't changed one bit from what it was when the Lord Jesus stood on that Mount of Olives with those few believers before he went home to heaven. Back in the city of Jerusalem, business going on as usual, trade and commerce going on as usual. There were men and women there who were too occupied with themselves. and their own interest to have any concern what went on on the top of Mount of Olives. Same thing today.
Men and women today are too concerned, too overly concerned as the responsibility and as the cares and as the pleasures. And as to the deceitfulness of riches, just spend one minute concerned about the Son of God. As these disciples stood there, they were invaded by men from outer space. There they were. Two men from outer space.
There they were. While they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, two men stood by them in white apparel. Now I wonder what would you feel like if you saw all at once two men in white, two angelic beings from outer space, and they're standing right in front of you. How would you feel about that? I don't know how I am. I think if I woke up from sleep one night and saw an angel at the foot of my bed, I'd die afright.
I'd just pass out. Either that, I'd say I'd split, but I wouldn't have strength enough to get out of bed. much less to communicate with that being from outer states. Now here were these two men with a question. The question was, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? As though they were saying that there's no need to be stargazing here. You're wasting your time. You're standing here in utter unbelief.
The Lord Jesus said he's going away, and now he's gone. Now that was a rather traumatic experience for these few disciples. As I mentioned, he had been their companion. They had been his companion. He administered comfort to these people. They had seen him at work, and they heard the gracious words that came from his lips. And here he was, disappearing from sight. And these angelic beings say, Now ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into heaven?
And then they spoke to him as though what they were saying was news for them. Well, in some respects it was. They had heard it before. In fact, the Lord Jesus three times over had told them he was going to the cross. He told them that he was going to be betrayed. He told them that he would be placed into the hands of his executioners and that he would die the death of the cross. They had been told that. but just like with you and me, they weren't listening. They weren't listening.
So here these men say, why are you standing here gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which has seen go into heaven shall so come again in like manner as ye have seen him go. Now all Jerusalem was as totally unconcerned after he had gone as they had been before. And it's like our present age, totally, almost totally unconcerned as to whether he went, much less whether he's coming back again or not.
Do you believe the Lord Jesus is going to come again? Do you really believe that? And are you here tonight without Christ? As a young person, you sat in a meeting and you heard the message time and time again, and you weren't listening, occupied with thoughts of yesterday or of tomorrow, and totally unconcerned. I read about a young man who was sitting in a meeting one evening, and he wasn't concerned about what was going on.
He wasn't listening to the message. What he was doing was looking up to the ceiling. Then hanging from the ceiling was a chandelier with five light bulbs. And as he looked at that chandelier, he noticed that one of the light bulbs was out. it wasn't shining. And he counted them. One, two, three, four, five. One, two, three, four, five. Four were burning, one was out. Four were bright and one was dark.
And you know what he thought of? He wasn't listening to what's going on in the platform. He was concerned about those five light bulbs. Four were shining brightly, and one had burned out. Five were bright. One was dark. There was father and mother, and three children in the family. Now, if my arithmetic serves me right, that makes five, or it should. Five in the family. Mother and father knew the Lord. The other two in the family also knew the Lord, and he was the only one in the family without Christ.
One dark light bulb. And that young man still hadn't heard a word that the preacher said from the platform, but as he realized that light bulb was a picture of him without God and without Christ, he got saved where he sat. Still hadn't heard a word the preacher did. Jerusalem was going on totally oblivious to what was going on in the Mount of Olives. The Lord Jesus had come, and now he was going away. And his disciples were left to face a hostile world. They said, I'm not going to leave your orphans.
I'm going to send you the comforter. He's going to come. They had a question to ask him. They said, Lord, will thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Israel is still today concerned about that kingdom. They had a kingdom, but they lost it because of their unbelief. They had it, but they lost it. And they're looking for that kingdom again. And the Lord Jesus replied very interestingly, whether it was a rebuke or not, I don't know. He said, it's not for you to know. The times are the seasons.
Not for you to know. There are some things for you and for me to know. And there are some things that are not for you and me to know. And one of the things that are not for us to know is the moment when He shall come again. We don't know that. Luke here speaks of the suffering of Christ. He speaks of the cross. And the cross is central in this matter of redemption. We sing the hymns from time. I must needs go home by way of the cross.
There's no other way but this. I shall never get side of the gates of life. if the way of the cross I miss. My friend, are you going to miss the way of the cross? Are you sitting in this meeting tonight, totally oblivious to what's going on, and not the least concerned about your need of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Now we have several truths here in this first chapter of Acts.
The Apostle is writing concerning the sufferings of Christ, and that's the substitution. He died for me. There was, I heard many years ago, I'm not saying old, I have to be careful how I use that term now, an elderly gentleman who wasn't so gentle, He lived in a home with a high fence around it, built a high fence around it. And the reason he did that was because he hated kids with a passion, nothing to do with children. And so he built a high wall, so he wouldn't even see the kids.
But one day he was out in the yard, it was on a Sunday, and children were coming home from the Sunday school. and they were singing a chorus that they had learned in the Sunday school. And the chorus was this. Jesus died for all mankind and Jesus died for me. Very simple, of course. Jesus died for all mankind and Jesus died for me. The dear gentleman picked up his ears at couldn't believe what he heard. Through the words of that chorus, that elderly gentleman got saved.
And down came the wall. And the way he got saved was, he thought the children were singing. Jesus died for old mankind, and Jesus died for me, and that was his name. Jesus died for all mankind, and Jesus died for me. Oh, I hope, my friend, that you'd take that to heart, and that you'd make it as personal a thing as old mankind is, for that expression. But he got saved, and as long as if you come to Jesus Christ, and that's the point.
It doesn't make a difference how you get there, as long as you get to him. the sufferings of Christ. The resurrection of Christ is at guarantee. He said, Because I live, ye shall live also. And the matter of getting right with God and the matter of being saved is simply that of taking God at his word and believe that what God says is so. Resurrection of Christ. He ascended. Now he's interceding and he's going to come again. Let's turn to First Thessalonians chapter four for just a few minutes here.
First Thessalonians chapter four and the apostle in writing to these Thessalonian believers answers a few of their questions. They were young believers in Thessalonica and their question was what's going to happen to those we love who have trusted Christ, who have died and the body is buried, and what's going to happen if Jesus should come again? What's the matter? What's going to happen then? The Apostle Paul answers and replies to that question. Notice how he puts it in verse thirteen of First Thessalonians four.
But I would not have you to the England brethren concerning them that are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with them. For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not precede them who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the cloud.
to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. What a word of comfort it is for living believers who have loved ones whose bodies have been put in the grave, and we wait that glorious and happy day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again. and his coming shall can be at any moment. What if he should come today? What if he should come before the day breaks tomorrow morning, and should find you without Christ and in this hymn?
I read in Mr. Warnworth's book just a few days ago, a story he told, about an occasion at a Bible camp. And he said that they had planned to carry out a rapture. I never heard of that anymore. But he said it took place on a day when the camp director was away in town. And it evidently was carried out in a most efficient way. For when the camp director got back from his visit to town, there was nobody to be seen anywhere.
Everybody was gone. Everybody had disappeared. He checked in the dormitories and there were clothes on the floor as though people had just stepped out of their clothes and disappeared. The motorboat on the lake was going around in circles. Nobody in the boat. He looked in the kitchen. The kitchen was functioning. No cook in sight. And about that time he got a well-timed phone call from Intel. And the voice on the other end said, Hey, what's happening?
Everybody's disappeared. There's nobody around here. And then the camp director said, I really got shook up for a minute. Really shook him up. What about you tonight? What about a father and mother? Maybe have a son or a daughter was saved at Sunday school, but you want nothing to do with it. What about boys and girls who have saved fathers and mothers? That is who have nothing to do with Christ.
What about a husband who has a wife who has come to know the Lord? But you don't care. What about a wife? You have a husband who's come to know the Lord, and you're still without Christ. And when the Lord Jesus comes again, there'll be a wholesale evacuation. and saints caught up to be with the Lord and to be forever within. And this is real. There's no game such as was played at Bible camp. The camp director who was a Christian was shook up for a minute. Think, my friend, of what's going to take place one of these days or one of these nights.
when the Lord Jesus comes again, and you will be left behind. Paul says here, wherefore comfort one another with these words. Is there any comfort in that to you? I would trust not. I would trust it be restless, and my prayer would be that you'd have no sleep, or a moment's peace. until you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. John says very simply, As many as received him, to them gave thee power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.