I never have been one to criticize people because I find it awfully hard, Pastor Dave, to sing well with a smile. The way I sing, it kind of hurts. Not only hurts to sing those high notes, but it also hurts to hear me. We used to have a television program. My dad, or I should say the family, really had a television ministry for a number of years. I ministered there. My sister, who doesn't sing at all, all she does is play the piano. She directed the program and produced it. And she was always saying, Paul, smile more. You've got to smile. And I said, I can't smile and sing at the same time. I'll smile before I sing. I'll smile after I sing. But don't ask me to smile while I sing. So if that were one of the stipulations, I'm afraid I'd never make it. But anyway, some notes you can smile on easier than others. If we just were monotones and sang that note all the time, it wouldn't have been any trouble. But it's a little difficult. The Bible says that in the last days scoffers are going to come, and they're going to say, where is the promise of His coming? Or from the beginning, men have said that Jesus Christ is coming again. Where is He? I don't see Him. I see no evidence. The world is just the same as it ever was. Nothing really has changed so very much. and God still has not brought the world to account for its rebellion and for its sin. The Bible also declares that the reason he hasn't come is because he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so we need to reckon on the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament, for every mention of the first coming of Jesus Christ, and there are many, there are no less than eight mentions of his second coming. In all but four of the 27 New Testament books, there is a second coming emphasis. In fact, one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament speaks concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ. The second coming of Jesus Christ is, if you please, the pinnacle of history. Alexander McLaren said, the primitive church thought more about the second coming of Jesus Christ than about death or about heaven. They were not looking for a cleft in the ground called a grave. but for a cleavage in the sky called glory. They were not watching for the undertaker but for the upper taker. Charles Wesley who with his brother John founded the Methodist movement and for many many years labored together in a ministry of Methodism and teaching the Word of God, not only in Great Britain, but here in the United States, particularly in the southern states. Charles was the songwriter and the song leader. John was the preacher. But they worked as a team together. And Charles Wesley, during his lifetime, wrote 7,000 hymns. I think we've got 16 or 17 of them in our hymnal. But he wrote 7,000 hymns. 5,000 out of the 7,000 mention the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The thing that we need to realize is that the cross is not the last chapter of the world versus Christ. Christ is not done as yet. We have talked in our study in the book of Revelation about the aspect of the rapture of the church. And I'm sure you all realize that the rapture of the church is an event for which we look. We don't know exactly what may happen in that day when the church is caught away to be taken to be with the Lord. Perhaps a headline would look something like this. Or perhaps the streets of a major city might look like this. Some speculate that perhaps drivers being caught into the sky will leave accidents. So some people have in their cars, if the driver suddenly disappears, grab the wheel, I'm going in the Rapture. You know, things like that. I've been in cars where they have that little blurb there on their dashboard. We don't know. But one thing we do know is that Jesus Christ is coming again. And we know that the second coming of Jesus Christ is really in two phases. There's some disagreement among theologians as to exactly how this all fits together. But the general agreement is that Jesus Christ indeed is coming. And perhaps it would be something like this, in that first of all comes the rapture of the church, and then the tribulation period, and followed by the return of Christ in glory. Now mind you, that is not two returns of Jesus Christ. There's a clear distinction in scripture concerning the coming for the church and the coming back in glory. For instance, the rapture sees the saints caught up in the air to meet the Lord in the air and so to ever be with the Lord. But the return in glory sees Jesus Christ returning to the earth, His feet upon the Mount of Olives, and the Mount of Olives cleft in twain, and a great valley between, and so on. The rapture is when Jesus Christ comes for His saints. The return in glory is when Jesus Christ comes with His saints. The rapture removes believers from the earth. The return in glory reveals and manifests the Son of God upon the earth. The rapture is the time where he claims his bride. The returning glory is where he returns with his bride. The rapture results in the removal of the church and marks the start of the seven years of tribulation. The returning glory marks the end of seven years of tribulation and establishes a millennial kingdom. The rapture is the message of hope and comfort quite clearly in scripture. It mentions that this is the hope of the believer. But the second coming of Jesus Christ is a time of judgment and a message of judgment. The rapture primarily has to do with the church. The coming in glory has to do with Israel. The rapture was a mystery in the Old Testament. The return is revealed in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The rapture leaves creation unchanged, except for the removal of the believers. The return of Jesus Christ entails a change in creation, for the lion will lay down with the lamb, and men will beat their swords into plowshares, and there will study war no more, and there will be a reign of peace upon the earth. The rapture leaves the Gentiles virtually unaffected, except for the shock of having millions of people disappear at the time of the rapture. The return of Jesus Christ in power and glory shows us the Gentiles judged. The rapture speaks of, or I should say, the rapture leaves the covenants with Israel, the unconditional covenants of the Old Testament, unfulfilled. But the coming in glory sees those very covenants fulfilled. The rapture is the expectation of the Church. The return of Jesus Christ to this earth for his reign is primarily the expectation of the nation of Israel. One of the reasons that there is some blurriness in the minds of some in regard to this subject is because of the failure to distinguish clearly between God's program for the nation of Israel and God's program for the church which is unique in this age. Now, there are some that say, well, but then this sounds like it's two comings. You realize that Jesus Christ gives to us in his word concerning, in the Old Testament, if I can find my pen here, which I had just a moment ago, and suddenly do not have. That's terrible. Here it is. Found it. I buried it under all those overheads. You realize that in the Old Testament it was hardly discernible. between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. This is probably more like a peak of a mountain there. As the viewer here saw it, that they don't see, they see in a straight line, but I can't draw one, all right? They could see the promises concerning the second coming, they could also see the promises of the first coming, but just like when you look at mountains over here, those mountains may be hundreds of miles apart, but you can't see the valley between and they look almost like they're side by side. Now to a great degree we have the same thing in the New Testament. The New Testament writers saw no great reason to make a great distinction between the rapture of the church and the coming in glory because they are virtually one event. There is only a short seven year period between them. And obviously if as you look at the first coming of Christ and then at least 2,000 years in between, if they look in scripture like one event at certain places, then obviously it would look like one event when you see the rapture side by side with the second coming or with the coming in power and glory. So don't be alarmed by the fact that so many times you can't distinguish between the two. The admonitions in scripture are for both. because they go hand-in-hand. For we say that the rapture is the first phase of the second coming of Christ, and the return in power and glory is the second phase. It's that second phase that we have in view in our passage in Revelation chapter 19 tonight. Let's look at Revelation 19, beginning at verse 11. During that seven-year period, things are going to take place in heaven. We know that there will be the Bema, the judgment seat of Christ. We know as well that there will be the marriage of the bride to the bridegroom and then the coming back to the earth for a wedding feast. But as a part of that coming back to earth, there is the conquering of this world and the taking possession of this world and those things that we refer to as a part of the campaign of Armageddon. Look at Revelation chapter 19 beginning at verse 11. And I, that is John, saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. And the armies that were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Now the first thing that we should note here is in verse 11, and that is his aim in his coming. Remember that concerning the rapture, the aim that Jesus Christ has in coming is to catch up the saints to meet him in the air and so shall they ever be with the Lord. That's the aim of the rapture. But the aim of Jesus Christ coming in power and glory is clearly stated in verse 11. He comes to judge and to make war. Now the text here says that heaven was open. Chapter 4, verse 1, heaven was open so John could enter. But in this text, heaven is open so that Christ can exit. The time has come for the great stone cut out without hands to roll down the mountainside, if you please, and strike the image at the feet of iron and clay. And then that mountain, after it has destroyed world empire as it is known today, will then fill the whole earth. And that stone is none other than Jesus Christ. And so the heavens are open and Christ comes down. But He does not come as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So many times in Revelation we've seen Him that way, haven't we? How thankful we are that to us He's the Lamb. The Lamb that took our place. Those that received Jesus Christ even during the tribulation period will know Him as the Lamb who was slain for them, as their substitute. But get this, the day is coming where Jesus Christ will don a different garb, and He will ride upon a white horse, going forth to conquer. The white horse, as we pointed out before, was the armed horse, of the ancient world. It was the ultimate weapon. It was considered to be the greatest of all weaponry. A man with the right kind of equipment upon an armed horse was almost considered invincible in warfare. The white horse, of course, represents the fact that he indeed is the commander. And we gave you a list of a number of commanders down through history that have ridden white horses. Alexander the Great rode a white horse. Napoleon rode a white horse. It is a symbol of leadership. It's a symbol of being the emperor or being the leader, being the general of the particular warfare in which they're engaged. There was another white horse in the book of Revelation. We saw that in chapter 6 as the seal was opened. We saw a white horse come forth. But you see that was a counterfeit white horse. And that white horse came forth as a false peace movement. A bow without an arrow. A horse with a rider upon it that was trying to say great words, swelling words of peace, and yet there was no peace. They cried peace, peace, but there was no peace. For there's no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. That was the counterfeit leader. Jesus Christ is coming back to make peace, but first of all to make war. He's coming back not merely armed with a bow, but with no weaponry, no arrow, but rather he is coming with a sword. and he will judge and following his judgment then of course he will reign in a great reign of peace. But this is the real thing. This is why Titus chapter 2 calls this the glorious appearing or the appearing in glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is going to appear in power and great glory. Look at the description here of this one upon the white horse. It says first of all that he is faithful, that is, he is faithful to his word. How thankful I am that he is not an unfaithful king. We're told in the book of Hebrews that he is a faithful high priest. We're told faithful is he that is promised, who also will accomplish it, will do it. Jesus Christ is that faithful one. And, oh, we could spend hours just talking about the faithfulness of our wonderful Lord. But He's not only faithful, He's also true. He's faithful to His Word. He's true to His promises. Jesus Christ, in the first chapter of John, verse 14, says there that He is full of grace and truth. He said, Thy Word is truth. said that you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Christ said in John chapter 14 and verse 6, I am the way, the truth and the life. He is a conqueror but he will judge according to truth and he will judge as well in accordance with righteousness. Now it's a marvelous thing to see that He is a righteous judge. He's going to judge. He's going to make war. I remember hearing during the Vietnam War a lot of people talking about the fact that this was an unrighteous war, that this was an unjust war. Now, everybody has their opinion about that and I'm not even interested in getting to that debate tonight as to whether that was a just a moral or immoral war. That's not the issue. But I wanted to use that as an illustration, because you see, there are reasons that men give. According to their evaluation, a particular war may or may not be necessary. It may or may not be a just war. And it depends, of course, on which side you're on a lot of times, whether you think it's a just war or an unjust war. But there is going to be a just war. There's going to be a war where there is no mistake. No mistake in judgment. Where all of those on one side will be slaughtered. And all of those on the other side will be untouched. I admit that's not much of a battle. At least it's not, it doesn't seem to be. You think of a battle as everybody losing something. There will be no loss. on the side of the rider and the white horse. Because you see, his war is a perfectly just war. It is a righteous war. He is right in every degree, but he's not right according to man's weak standard. He is right according to God's standard. Now that's the righteousness with which he will make war. but it's with that same righteousness that He will judge the world. The word righteousness in the Old Testament means correct according to a standard. Correct according to a standard. And in the Minor Prophets we read that the prophet was told to take a plumb line and to put that plumb line in the midst of the people. That was the absolute standard. And do you know what was found? The people were crooked. And the people said, change the plumb line to suit us. Oh no! God has an absolute standard. He cannot change His plumb line. And the plumb line is set in the midst of people in that day. And the people of Israel are found to be crooked. And in the day where Jesus Christ judges, again, the plumb line will be set. There will be no deviation from an absolute standard. And men will be found guilty before God. Now mind you, The book of Daniel points out to King Belshazzar, Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. So if you don't like the plumb line, then we'll use the balance scale. However you like to look at it, God used many figures to depict his judgment and his righteousness. God will place upon one side of the balance scale absolute righteousness with no depreciation at all. On the other side of the scale he will put a man and every man other than those that have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ will be weighed in the balance and found wanting and he will judge righteously. When it says that he is faithful and true I need to just pause for a moment and say this that what we are seeing here in the faithful and true one that is coming is an absolute fulfillment of a program that God has promised down through the ages. And he's going to be faithful to that. My friends, I believe, as you know, in a literal interpretation of Scripture. I believe there's any reason or any hermeneutical principle that would ever lead a person to anything other than a literal interpretation of scripture. There are symbols in scripture, but they're explained symbols. And if they're explained, then obviously they're symbolic when they're explained. But everything that the Word of God gives is to be understood literally. And when God said to Abraham that you are going to have a kingdom forever and ever and ever and ever, it will be an eternal kingdom, it will be an earthly kingdom, we believe that it's exactly that. It will be ultimately in the new heaven and the new earth. But God will fulfill his covenants to the nation of Israel. And we can be certain that he will be faithful. That he will be true. That he wasn't spoofing anybody in the Old Testament. And he will fulfill in future Israel what he could not fulfill in past Israel. Now that's his aim. But now look at his appearance in verse 12. His eyes were like the flame of fire. That speaks of judgment, of course. On his head were many, now not Stephanoses, but rather diadems. And it shows that he is absolute sovereign. The diadems were worn by the absolute sovereign. The Stephanos was simply a woven garland that was given as a reward for winning a contest. And of course the Stephanos is what we will have in heaven. We're just going to have that, but it's going to be incorruptible, Stephanos. But his is a diadem, for he is the king. And he will be sovereign over the entire earth. And notice it says he has a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And right away people say, what is it? Guess what? I don't know. Nor do you know. And every once in a while, you'll pick up a commentary and somebody will say, I think the name is such and such. And I say, that guy's crazy. Because this says that no man knows what that name is. One individual says, well, maybe the name is the name Jesus. Well, that's fine for you to think that, but I happen to know that name. And this one is a name I don't know. How about Christ? How about Wonderful? How about all of the myriads of names that there are for the Lord Jesus? No, it couldn't be any of those. Because men know those names. This is a secret name. But you see, name always speaks of character. Name speaks of special aspects of the character. For instance, Jesus speaks of Savior. We understand that concept, don't we? Christ speaks of the Anointed One, the One who is the Messiah. And there are many other things that are given to us concerning the character of Jesus Christ, but there's a dimension missing. You know what that dimension is? I don't know. But whatever it is, it is contained in this name. A name that apparently will be unrevealed even yet at the time when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. The name that no man knows. Only Him. He's the only one. Verse 13 says that He is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. Now the vesture was a royal mantle that was worn by the military commander of the Roman army. And the blood speaks of bloodshed, it speaks of warfare. Remember that in that great battle, when Jesus Christ will finally sweep the armies of the world off the plains of Armageddon, that in that day the blood of those men are going to come even to the bridles of their horses. It's going to be a bloody carnage. It's not a very pretty picture. But Jesus Christ appears not simply with a vesture, but with a vesture as though it were dipped in blood. I want you to look with me at Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. Every once in a while, I almost did at that time, I start, I go back to my Canadian heritage and say Isaiah. But it's Isaiah probably better in the English, but Isaiah is the way the British say it. Chapter 63. Now mind you, the great question comes. Christ has been revealed in a number of ways in the book of Isaiah. Now notice the question. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I speak in righteousness, I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why art thou red or bloody in thine apparel? and thy garments like him who treadeth in the wine-fat." That is, the blood is so splattered upon his garment that it's like he's been doing as they did in that day, treading on the grapes, and the grapes would squirt, and the grape juice would be all over the garment of those that pressed the grapes. I have trodden the wine-press alone. and of the peoples there was none with me. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. I will tread down the peoples in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth." All my friends, his garment will be as one dipped in blood. The great military garb of that day he will wear, but he will come in judgment and the blood of Armageddon will be upon him. Notice though it says in our text that his name, now that's not the name we don't know, this is another name, a name we do know, is called the Logos of Theos. The Logos. Now, you know, the Greeks understood the concept of Logos as being that everything in the world was in a state of flux. Everything was changing. It was illustrated this way, that you can step into a stream and step out of a stream, and you can't step back into the same water. Because the stream moves on. And that's the way history is. That's the way time is. That's the way society is. That's the way everything is, according to the Greeks. But then they would be asked, well, what holds it all together? What keeps it in order? And they would say, Logos. Logos. Now, they didn't understand Logos to be Jesus Christ, of course. But they understood Logos to be this great power of cohesion that held things together, which is fitting in the light of what Paul wrote in the book of Colossians, that all things consist by Him, or literally all things hang together. The Jews had the concept of the power of words, and they thought of the Logos as being a God who is speaking, a speaking God. They thought of the concept of God speaking in the Old Testament And they were very careful to avoid the use of some of the special names for God in their writings, that is, in their commentaries, the Old Testament Scriptures. So one of the things they would do is they would substitute the word Logos, the word that Jesus Christ is none other than that great Logos. So this word here, the word of God, is not speaking of the written word, Though it can refer to that, it's more speaking of the Living Word, the Word of God, the Logos, even Jesus Christ Himself. So that's His appearance. Look at His army in verse 14. And the armies that were in heaven followed Him upon white horses. You say to yourself, listen, it's said in Isaiah 63 that He was alone. My friends, the armies don't go to battle. They stand in awe. He is going to fight all the armies assembled on the plain of Megiddo all by himself. He's going to take the whole thing on. And this army will be following in his train, but they will not stand as warriors with him. There is none that can be a warrior, so he has to loosen his own arm to save. No one else could do it. He's the only one who can conquer. those that are gathered there. We've said before what's going to happen is the armies are going to converge upon Megiddo with the idea in mind of annihilating each other. But when they see Jesus Christ come back they are going to team up and they're going to turn upon him and they're not going to get a shot away. He's going to destroy them all. But it says that the armies that were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen. Of course, speaking of the imputed righteousness of the saints, the armies being the saints of God, and white and clean. There's no blood, notice, on the saints. No blood on their garments. The commander's going to do all the fighting. That's his army. But it's not an army that fights because our wars will be over and he's going to fight for us and he's going to win an ultimate victory. Verse 15 and 16 speak of his authority. His aim? Warfare and judgment. His appearance? That mighty appearance with eyes like a flame of fire. The crowns on his head. The name that no man knew. The raiment dipped in blood. The name, the word of God, the armies, the saints, and his authority out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword. Now, scripture often speaks of the word of God as being a sword, but it uses the word Macaria. Macaria was the Romans short sword. The word here is the Romphia. And the Romphia was the executioner's sword. It is not the small, short sword. It's pictured here very beautifully in the idea of it being an executioner's sword, a long sword, a heavy sword. It had to be wielded really by two hands as it was used in battle. And it was used in battle, but it was primarily used to behead people, primarily used for capital punishment, primarily used as a great sword to bring about judgment. And so this is speaking not so much of the Word of God, though that obviously is the standard of His judgment, but rather it's speaking of the judgment coming forth from His mouth. He's going to smite the nations. It says here. He's going to rule with a rod of iron. And you know, I want you to catch this. Maybe we can write it. The word rule is this word right here, P-O-I-M-A-I-N-O. If you're inclined to mark your Bibles, mark that word, and then just under it, mark the meaning, which is to shepherd. Oh, I'll tell you what a relief. Now, we have had seven long years of Antichrist, and he has ruled. He has ruled with an evil hand. He has ruled with an evil arm. And if you please, Satan is the ruler of the darkness of this world. He is the spirit which now works in the children of disobedience. He is that great dictator who rules, but rules in a cruel judgment, judged by a wrong standard as well. But Jesus Christ Oh, it's going to be a firm rule. He'll rule with a rod of iron. But He doesn't rule in the sense of one who lords it over. He doesn't rule as one who carries the whip. He rules with a rod of iron, but when He rules, He shepherds. For that's the word for shepherding a flock and caring tenderly for the flock's needs. Jesus Christ is going in that day to rule, to shepherd. But he is also going to tread the wine presses, even as it said in Isaiah 63, to tread the wine presses of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And remember again, the wrath of God speaks of the natural phenomenon, the natural consequences of rebellion against God. Just like the law of gravity says that when I drop this pencil, it's going to fall to the table so when a man chooses to rebel against God he falls under judgment it's inevitable he must be judged if he fails to take the only provision that is made for man's sin and it says on his vesture that is on this uniform that he wears this military uniform and upon his thigh A name written. This isn't the name we don't know, because nobody knows that but Him. But this is a name. A name with which we're familiar. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. My Bible tells me that in that day He's going to come to the Mount of Olives. His foot is going to touch the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14.4 says that that Mount of Olives will cleave with an east and west cleavage so that the parts of the mountain move first of all to the north, then to the south, and the great valley will be in between. A few years ago, Sandy Morton wrote to the Geological Society or whatever it is over there, to find out if indeed that such a thing was possible in the Mount of Olives, they informed him that there is a fault on that Mount of Olives, in that Mount of Olives, and should there be an earthquake of magnitude sufficient that that mountain would literally split in two, one part of it going to the north, the other part of it going to the south. Coincidence? No. The scripture is literally true. It will literally take place. You say, but with all the earthquakes and things that have happened and all the earthquakes that will go through the tribulation period, why hasn't that split? Because it's not going to be an earthquake that will split it. It's going to be a foot. And the foot has to rest upon that Mount of Olives before that is split in twain. That fault will just stay there. until the foot lands there. But when the foot touches, then the mountain will be pushed in two. The Bible tells us as well that every eye will see him. We don't know how that's possible, but with television today, it's certainly not improbable. They estimated that millions of people, millions of people, witnessed the slaying of Lee Harvey Oswald because it was on television and millions of people were watching on that Sunday morning when he was shot. They estimate tremendous millions of people that were made aware of the events surrounding Patty Hearst as a result of television. And my friends, I challenge you today that it is no problem with God at all to set up whatever kind of system he needs to have if necessary a television set in the sky but every eye is going to see Jesus Christ in that day and there's going to be swift vengeance and judgment because Jesus Christ in that day according to Peter's epistle in flaming fire is going to come to take vengeance upon them that obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, in conclusion tonight, let me just say that the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ is one of the most practical and most motivating doctrines in all the Word of God. Over and over again, as you go through those numerous passages, One verse out of every 25 in the entire New Testament. As you go through those numerous passages, you will find exhortations. And you will find those words that show us that we should use the ministry of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as a basis for exhortation of God's people. Let me give you a few. In Matthew 25, 19-21, we are exhorted to faithfulness. In Acts 3, verses 19-21, we are exhorted to repent. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 2-6, 1 Peter 1.13, 4.7, 5.8, in all of those passages, in 1 Peter and 1 Thess, we are told that we are to be sober in the light of His return. Mark chapter 13, we're exhorted to watchfulness. Mark chapter 8, verse 38, we are told that we are to have a bold testimony for Jesus Christ in the light of His return. In Philippians 4 and 9, we are told that we are to be moderate, we are exhorted to moderation. In Hebrews 10, 36 and 37, James 5, verses 7 and 8, we are exhorted to patience. In Colossians 3, verses 3 through 5, we are exhorted to mortify the flesh, mortify therefore your members, and so on. Philippians chapter 1 verses 9 and 10, we are to be motivated to sincerity. 1 Thessalonians 5.23, to practical sanctification. 2 Timothy 4.1 and 2, to ministry. 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 13 and 14, to obedience to the scripture. John chapter 14 verse 3, to comfort. We are Exhorted to diligence in 1st Peter 5 verses 2 through 4. Exhorted to purity in 1st John chapter 3 verses 2 and 3. We are exhorted to abide in Christ in 1st John 2, 28. We are exhorted to endure temptation and trial in 1st Peter 1, 7. We are exhorted to bear persecution 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 13. We are exhorted to brotherly love in 1st Thessalonians 3, 12 and 13. We're exhorted to holiness and godliness in 2 Peter 3, 11-13. We're exhorted to watch in Hebrews 9, 27-28. We're exhorted to live like citizens of heaven, Philippians 3, verses 20-21. We're exhorted to hold fast our hope in Revelation 2, verse 25. We're exhorted to separation in Titus 2, 11, 13. Matthew 19, 27, and 28 tells us that we are to hope for reward in the light of His second coming. 1 Corinthians 4, 5, we're exhorted to guard against hasty judgment in the light of His second coming. We're to guard against worldliness, Matthew 16, 26, and 27. We're exhorted to have confidence that Christ is going to finish the work that He has begun. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, my life verse and the best verse I know of in scripture. We're exhorted to love His appearing in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verses 7 and 8. Those are some of the exhortations as a result of the teaching of the second coming. Now those exhortations are valid for the tribulation saints. but they're valid for you today too. The world is scoffing. Where's the promise of His coming? Things are the same today as they ever were. He's not willing that any should perish. But the clock of time is running out. When I was a boy, there were many teachers of prophecy that put the clock at 10 minutes to midnight. As a young man, I saw many illustrations of the clock being at five minutes to midnight. But my friends, today with the changes that there has been in our world, with the marvelous things that have been happening with the nation of Israel, with the common market nations, with the great formations of the world governments and the world religions you can almost sense the counting of seconds and they're ticking off and it reminds me of the little girl who sat in her home and counted the chimes of the clock around noon But to her dismay, perhaps because she had misnumbered, she counted 13 instead of 12 and went running to her mother and said, Mommy, Mommy, it's later than it's ever been before. But that's true, my friend. It's later today than ever before. Jesus, is coming again. Do you love His appearing? Do you sit at the edge of your seat just anticipating that it may be today? Let's pray. We're aware, Father, that it's later than it's ever been before. And we're aware that You have exhorted us in Your Word in the light of that Second Coming to be up and about the Master's business, to work the works of Him that sent us while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work. And how desperately, Lord, we need to be reminded of these things, not just once and twice, but again and again and again, because they are faithful sayings, because they are true sayings. And Jesus Christ is coming again. You've told us as we gather around the Lord's table that we are to be reminded that we are to celebrate that feast till He comes. And we're reminded of the cross and His death for us. His substitutionary work and the work of redemption and regeneration. And we're reminded, Lord, of the grave that is empty because he rose again. We're reminded as well of the great responsibility we have in the light of the soon return of our Lord and we know that it's later than it's ever been before. Help us to be faithful and help us not to hold back but give you our all. We'll praise you for it in Christ's name. Amen.