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WEEKLY
Volume 2 Number 17
23 September 2007
Ready for His
Return?
(Sermon
Notes taken by Rev Hien on the Message delivered by Rev Dr SH Tow
at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, Sep 16, 07)
Text:
2
Peter 3:1-14
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
This is my first visit “Down Under” this
year, and my “Farewell Circuit” – the last of my “Scheduled Missions,”
bringing 22 years’ “Gospel Shuttle Service” to a close. As God’s Word
says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose
under the heaven” (Eccl 3:1), a time to shuttle for God, and a time
to settle into something less demanding.
Yesterday we studied the Noah’s Flood, and
our Lord Jesus Christ says, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt 24:37). In his days,
Noah preached the message of repentance to the people, warning them of
the coming flood for 120 years, but nobody paid attention to his
message. Nowadays, we also preach the soon coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and many “scoffers,
walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his
coming?... they willingly are ignorant…”
(2 Peter 3:3-5). To be sure of our Lord Jesus’ coming, we must be sure
of His resurrection and ascension as well.
Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension
The resurrection of our Lord Jesus is the
foundation of our faith, salvation, and hope. His resurrection proved
that He is the Son of God and His atoning sacrifice was accepted by His
Father and He is now our living Lord and Saviour. No resurrection, no
ascension nor second coming! Recently, some claimed that they have found
the tomb of the Lord Jesus with His bones! It is a blasphemous attack
from Satan! We would rather believe in the Word of God than the words of
men.
Our Lord Jesus was crucified on Friday to
bear our sins as well as the sins of the world and was buried on the
same day in Joseph’s new tomb hewn out in the rock in the garden (Matt
27:60; John 19:41). Then on the third day, the first day of the week,
our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and appeared to His
disciples at least 10 times during the forty days between His
resurrection and ascension, talking with them, eating with them, showing
His marks of crucifixion, and instructing them, “To whom also he
shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being
seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the
kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).
On the first day of the week (Sunday), our
Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the women returning from the tomb after
receiving the message from the angels (Matt 28:9-10), then to Mary
Magdalene, who came back to the tomb and cried after telling the
disciples of the empty tomb. Nowadays, blasphemers make up a wrong
relationship between her and the Lord Jesus to scandalise our Lord! But
the truth is that she loved the Lord much because she was delivered from
seven demons (Mark 16:9) and her many sins were forgiven (Luke 7:47).
The Lord Jesus appeared to her but she could not
recognise
Him until He called her name, “Mary,” and she said to Him, “Rabboni,”
or “Master” (John 20:11-16). Then our Lord appeared and walked
with the two disciples and talked with them on their way to Emmaus but
they could not recognise Him until He broke the bread and gave thanks
(Luke 24:13-32). Our Lord also appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34). On Sunday
evening, our Lord appeared to the ten disciples (without Thomas)
gathered in a room with all doors shut for fear of the Jews. In John
chapter 20, we see that the presence of the Lord was always a great
blessing to His frightened and doubting disciples: His peace, His joy,
His breath of the Holy Spirit, His instructions and commission. Our Lord
is still a great blessing to us today whenever we gather to worship Him
in His Name.
Then the following Sunday, our Lord
appeared to His eleven disciples including Thomas, who did not believe
the testimonies of the other ten disciples. Our Lord asked Thomas to
touch His hands and His side, saying, “Be not faithless, but
believing.” That is the same message to us today.
Then our Lord appeared to the seven
disciples by the Sea of Galilee, asking Peter three times whether he
loved the Lord and commissioned him to feed His lambs and His sheep.
After that our Lord “was seen of above
five hundred at once” and “was seen of James; then of all the apostles”
(1 Cor 15:6-7).
Although the disciples were with the Lord
for three and a half years as eye-witnesses of what the Lord taught,
preached and did, receiving a very good training under the Divine
Master, they were instructed to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit
descended upon them with power to be Jesus’ witnesses, “But ye shall
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Then
the Lord Jesus ascended to Heaven, and while they looked stedfastly
toward heaven as He went up, two angels said to them,
“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up
into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven”
(Acts 1:11). Then the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples as our Lord
Jesus promised in Acts chapter 2, and with His power, they spread the
Gospel worldwide. Dear friends, our Lord Jesus Christ will come back in
like manner as He ascended to Heaven! Do you believe that and are you
ready for that?
Jesus’ Soon Coming
Peter obeyed his Master to feed His lambs
and sheep. In his second epistle, chapter 3, Peter warned,
“Knowing this first, that there shall come
in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying,
Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For
this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept
in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance” (vv 3-9). Jesus’
disciples preached His soon coming nearly 2000 years ago, and fifty
years ago, we also preached the second soon coming of our Lord in BP
churches. Many scoffers are questioning the promise of His coming. But
dear friends, remember that our time frame is different from God’s, “that
one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as
one day.” Then when will our Lord Jesus come back? We do not know
exactly when but we know that our Lord may come today and we must be
ready.
Many signs that our Lord Jesus told us are
being fulfilled. In Matthew chapter 24, we are warned of wars, famines,
pestilences, earthquakes, false prophets and false Christs with signs
and wonders to deceive many, the immorality, ungodliness and wickedness
of the people in the world, and so forth. Pestilences are incurable,
deadly and epidemic diseases like AIDS, SARS, Bird Flu. Before I left
Singapore, there had been two great earthquakes in Sumatra. We can see
that there have been many more earthquakes in our century than the
previous centuries.
Our Lord Jesus says, “For as in the days
that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark” (v
38). How about the days of Noah? The Bible tells us, “And GOD saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…The
earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence” (Gen 6:5,11). Our days are not better, and may be worse
with wickedness, evil thoughts and violence.
Our Lord also says,
“Likewise also as it was in the days of
Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted,
they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire
and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all”
(Luke 17:28-29). How about the days of Lot, who chose to settle in
Sodom? “But the men of Sodom were
wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly”
(Gen 13:13). The Bible tells us that when the two angels came to deliver
Lot, lodging in his house, “But before they lay down, the men of the
city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and
young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and
said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring
them out unto us, that we may know them” (Gen 19:4-5). That is
homosexuality! The Bible refers “the sodomites” (1 Kings 14:24; 15:12)
to homosexual gays. How about our days? Fifty years ago, people were
against homosexuality, but today they are tolerant to it publicly, and
there are even homosexual marriage ceremonies in churches or in public!
Dear friends, the holy and righteous God had to judge the wicked world
in Noah’s days by the Global Flood, “Whereby the world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished,” (2 Peter 3:6), and this same
wicked world will be judged and destroyed by fire, “But the heavens
and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men…the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up.” (v 7,10). Then, what should we do to be
ready for our Lord’s return?
Ready for Jesus’ Return?
To be ready for our Lord Jesus Christ, we
are to live a holy and godly life, “Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
conversation and godliness” (v 11) as well as to diligently do our
duties, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be
diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and
blameless” (v 14). May the Lord help us diligently serve Him and
tell His Gospel to others until He comes.
Conclusion
Dear friends, our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself is coming very soon, maybe today. This wicked world
is now reserved unto fire. We are witnessing the fulfilments of our
Lord’s Word: wars, famine, pestilences, earthquakes, immorality,
ungodliness, wickedness, false Christs, false prophets, false teachers,
etc. Then are you ready for His coming? Live a holy life and diligently
serve the Lord till He comes. Amen.
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