Back to title page. When He Shall Appear. 1 John 3: 1-3

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1 ï» Back to title page When He Shall Appear 1 John 3: 1-3 Intro: (Show video Are You Ready? from Youtube) Was that a powerful video or what? That was a pretty good depiction of what might happen if Jesus was to return during a church service. Of course, I believe there would be a much higher percentage of people left behind than that showed. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15: 52. I believe it will be much like that video. Everything will be going on exactly the same way it always does and then as is says in 1 Corinthians 15:52, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Thessalonians 4: 17, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1 John 3:1-3, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth 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 purifieth himself, even as He is pure. The translation of the church will be worldwide, for there are true believers in Jesus Christ in every country on Earth, and they all shall be taken. Every country will find itself in turmoil. Each government will have to act as quickly as possible to prevent a wild tide of anarchy and terrorism. Strong measures will be put into effect. This may explain why America does not appear in prophecy. It could be that our government will be so decimated by the Rapture that the US will cease to be a world power. Millions of people will suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth, including all of the infants, young children and unborn. From all walks of life, and from virtually every phase of life, there shall be people missing. The freeways, subways, airports and streets will be in shambles as many engineers, pilots, bus-drivers and a multitude of private car owners shall suddenly be caught up out of this world. It will be many days before they can unscramble the mangled cars, trains and fallen aircraft. The remaining millions of people will be wailing, dazed and shaken by the event. They ll be frantically striving to locate loved ones in all of the rubble of broken cars and amid broken storefronts and smashed residences.

2 Communications will be greatly disrupted. Many key people shall disappear and much of the communication system which is still above ground will be broken by crashes of cars and aircraft. Distraught and searching multitudes will jam and overload the communication lines and systems that do remain. Dazed and confused pleas from bewildered men over the Emergency Broadcast System will try to bring about some semblance of order. Policemen, firemen and rescue crews will work around the clock. Hospitals will overflow. Emergency shelters and first aid stations will be inadequate. The Red Cross and all other emergency units, plus the army facilities will still not be enough. Opportunists will add to the confusion and the misery by looting and killing. They will feel that under such a total emergency they can get way with anything. CHAOS WILL BE ON EVERY HAND. Authorities will try to explain the disappearances. I believe that science fiction writers today are preconditioning the minds of the masses to the point they will believe anything - even that a vast armada of UFOs came swiftly and suddenly snatching millions out of the world. While the world looks for us, we will be with the Lord. The word hope in 1 John 3:3 is an interesting word. It does not carry the usual meaning of: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out well. It is not like hoping for a new car for your birthday or a new stereo. It is not like hoping for a raise at work. It is not that kind of hope. Those who are born again are not going around hoping that they will go to Heaven: nor is it a situation where if everything goes right then we will go to Heaven. It means: to anticipate, usually with pleasure; expectation, confidence or faith, hope: the anticipation; the expectation; the confidence; the faith. A little girl heard a preacher on the radio say that Jesus may come today. She went upstairs, took a bath, put on her clean white dress and then stood by the window. Her mother went upstairs and saw her, and asked her, What are you doing? I am waiting for Jesus to come, she replied. If we really believed what this verse means then we would be doing the same thing. We would be getting ourselves ready. When you were a child maybe your mother had gone somewhere and while she was gone you did something maybe to the radio, the TV, the VCR, maybe a scratch on the dining room table. Maybe you broke a window. There was no anticipation or eagerness; there was no expectation of desire for mom to come home. Why? because you were not ready for her to come home. Well, Jesus Christ IS coming back. And He is coming back very soon and unannounced. His coming is absolutely imminent. We are not waiting for anything to happen or for anything to be fulfilled before He comes. We are just waiting for Him. Are you ready for His coming? There are three groups of people here this morning. There are those who know they are not ready. They have never placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. They have heard about Jesus. They have heard about His death. But they have never placed their eternal destiny in His hands. Because they have never obeyed, or believed, the Gospel, they would be one of those left behind if Jesus should come back today like we saw in the video. You may ask, what is the Gospel? Turn to 1 Corinthians 15: 1-4, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Quite simply, that is the Gospel. Jesus left His home in glory and was born as a little baby to a virgin. He lived a sinless life of perfection even though He was tempted just like we are. He was taken, beaten and crucified. He shed His precious blood and gave His precious life to pay for your sins. He was buried and He rose on the third day. That is the Gospel. All a person needs to do to be

3 saved and not be left behind when the Rapture takes place is to simply believe that Jesus is the One who did all that for them. Trust in Jesus Christ and nothing else. Baptism won t save you. Church membership won t save you. Communion won t save you. Being a good person who tries to keep the Ten Commandments won t save you. Only Jesus Christ can save you and unless you place your faith in Him, you will be left behind. Will you come to Jesus today? He will save you. What in the world are you waiting for? He did everything that needed to be done for you to have eternal life. Just trust Him. Then there are those who play the game. They come to church regularly. They may sing in the choir. They may even tithe every week. But when Jesus comes back they also will be left behind because they have only played church and have never truly trusted Christ alone for salvation. They are professors of Christ and not possessors of Christ. They are just as lost as those who know that they are not saved. In fact, they may be in more danger because they have a false sense of security based on their own self-righteousness. They think they are okay because they do this or that for the church, but they may be the ones Jesus talked about in Matthew 7: 21-23, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.. Finally, there are those who are saved and who will be going up with Jesus. They have no doubt that they would be gone if Jesus came back like the video showed. They have that blessed hope within them. But, even in this group there are those who are not ready to meet the Lord. They need to purify their lives before He comes. Once He comes it is too late. Once He comes it is too late to get right. These will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and will be embarrassed and suffer loss of reward because of sin in their lives. Christian, if there are things in your life that would embarrass you before God, cast them off today. Get your heart right with Him. There is only one thing that you need to do when it comes to the expectation of the coming of Christ; that is to purify yourself. Purify means to make clean. 1 John 3:3, And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. I. You Should Purify Your Heart A. The Heart Is Wicked Jeremiah 17: 9, The heart is deceitful above wicked: who can know it? Proverbs 4:23, Keep thy heart with all issues of life. all things, and desperately diligence; for out of it are the 1. First, the heart must be cleansed through salvation a. Are you ready for Him to come? You can get ready today. Will you trust Him today? b. Is there joy in your heart when you think about His return or is there fear because you know that you are not saved and you will go to Hell if He comes back before you are saved? c. You can be saved today if you will simply come to Jesus and trust Him as the One Who died in your place.

4 faith in Him. His blood will wash away your sins if you place your Revelation 1:5, And from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood Lord Jesus Christ, house. Acts 16:31, And they said, and thou shalt be saved, and thy Believe on the 2. Cleansed through sanctification a. That word sanctification is a fancy word for living life separated from the world and its sin. Sanctification is the growing process after we are saved. b. It is the time of going on to perfection, or maturity, as spoken of in Hebrews. c. Growth in Christ will produce a clean vessel. It is a pretty simple process. You get saved and you do something you always did before, but this time something is different. This time when you do whatever it is the Holy Spirit lets you know that you should stop doing it. When you stop doing it you have cleansed your life to a degree and you are a little more holy. d. You ought to be more holy today than you were five years ago. Are you? You ought to be more like Christ everyday. Are you? 3. Cleansed through the Scriptures Sometimes God uses the Bible to cleanse you. Ephesians 5: 25-26, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, which I have might not sin John 15: 3, Now ye are clean spoken unto you. Psalm 119 says, Thy Word have against Thee. through the Word I hid in my heart that I on a regular basis takes place. a. When our hearts are exposed to the Word of God then there will be a cleansing that

5 b. It is not that we plan it; it is not that we have to activate it; it is that the cleansing just comes from reading and listening to the Word of God. We read and listen to the Word and the Holy Ghost lets us know where we fall short and then we pray confessing our sins to Him and asking Him to cleanse us from those sins and He does. Then we don t do the things the Word of God has exposed to us as sin anymore. washing it enough c. If our hearts are not clean, then we have not been with the Word of God. d. My mom used to have a thing about cleanliness. She would make us take a bath once a month whether we needed it or not. After we took our baths there would be the inspection time. She would smell us to make sure we used soap. She really was serious about being clean. I remember one time I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and my mom made my bed. Just kidding. e. Psalm 139: 23, Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: In this verse the psalmist is telling God that he was ready for inspection. II. We Should Purify Our Minds A. In Philippians Paul charges us to keep our minds on the Savior Jesus Christ. Philippians 2: 5, which was also in Christ Jesus: Let this mind be in you, 1. Have you ever wondered what Jesus thinks about? 2. Have you ever considered what really went through His mind as He was being tried for the crimes He did not commit? and, cried out, 3. I wonder what He thought about when His own people rejected Him Crucify Him. B. If we will focus our minds upon the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us through the cross, it will purify us. We will want to be clean because we realize what our sin cost Him. C. Not only do we need to have the mind of Christ and to think about what our sin cost Him to keep our minds pure; we also need to think about the right kinds of things. 1. Proverbs 23: 7, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. The things that fill our minds will eventually be acted out in our lives. If you fill your mind or heart with evil things you will eventually be doing those same evil things.

6 2. Philippians 4: 8, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. It is not good enough to just stop filling our minds with bad things; we also must actively and purposely fill our minds with good things. We should dwell on positive things. III. and We Should Purify Our Hands James 4: 8, Draw nigh to God, and He will draw purify your hearts, ye double minded. nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; work. A. Our hands speak of what we do with our lives: our actions; our walk; our 4. Titus 2: 11-14, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 5. Do your actions reflect that you live soberly? (with selfrestraint) Do they reflect that you are righteous and godly? (doing what is right at all times with an eye to God) B. Our works do not earn us salvation, but they are to glorify God. 1. If you are saved today, Jesus wants you to let your light shine before the dark world. He wants you to make a difference in this world. 2. We are not to become like the world, but we are to be set apart. 3. We are to be different. C. We are called on to present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice. Romans 12: 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us the reasonable thing for us to do is to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. That means that while we are alive to Him we are dead to self. Conclusion: If Jesus Came Home

7 If Jesus came to your house to spend a day or two. If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you d do. Oh, I know you d give your nicest room to such an honored guest, And all the food you d serve to Him would be the very best, And you would keep assuring Him you re glad to have him there... But... when you saw Him coming, would you meet Him at the door With arms outstretched in welcome to your heav nly visitor? Or would you maybe change your clothes before you let Him in, Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they d been? Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn t heard, And wish you hadn t uttered that last, loud and hasty word? Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymnbooks out? Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about? And I wonder... If the Savior spent a day or two with you, Would you go right on doing the things you always do? Would you go right on saying the things you always say? Would life for you continue as it does from day to day? Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace? And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace?

8 Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the book you read? And let Him know the things on which your mind and spirit feed? Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you d planned to go, Or would you, maybe, change your plans for just a day or so? Would you be glad to have Him meet your very closest friends, Or would you hope they d stay away until His visit ends? Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on, Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone? It might be interesting to know the things that you would do, If Jesus came in person to spend some time with you. 1 John 3: 1-3, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth 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 purifieth himself, even as He is pure. Do you have that hope? Are you looking for Jesus with great expectation? Are you purifying yourself? Are you ready for the Lord to come back? I know there may be some here who are thinking that you have plenty of time and that even if Jesus did come back before you are ready you would just trust Him then. I m here to tell you that is a vain and false hope. Once He comes back it will be too late for you. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

9 Notice what it says there. Because they did not receive, or believe, the truth, God will send them a strong delusion so that they will believe a lie. Why? That they ALL might be damned who didn t believe the truth, but enjoyed their sin.