Dear Lord, we do pray you will bless the preaching of your holy word, the inspired word of God that we have preserved for us through the blood of martyrs by your wonderful providential hand. Lord, we thank you that you are coming again to rule this world with a rod of iron. We thank you, Lord. We pray we will be ready for your coming. In Jesus' name, amen. The title of my message is The King's Return. The king's return, our focus and motivation. Last week I preached a message on Philippians chapter four, verse five. I titled it moderation, the idol man's idol. That there is a good moderation where we are balanced in all of our priorities in a proper biblical way. But people have turned this to mean you need to be lukewarm. It says in Philippians four, five, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. That is, moderate our emotions, moderate our speech, moderate everything according to the biblical balance and truth and guidance that we are to have. But notice, what is the motivation for us to get everything in order? The Lord is at hand. That means the second coming is near. It was near 2,000 years ago when Paul wrote that because he could have come at that time. They were to always be ready. But this whole thing's wrapping up. God has a timetable, and it's not gonna be as long as it was in the Old Testament. So the whole last days, the Bible refers, this is Holy Ghost inspired. He's the one that says, from the time of the first coming, you are already in the last days. So we are in the last of the last days right now. The Lord is at hand and what is the motivation? The Lord is at hand. We see the same thing in the last chapter of the Bible, in the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 22, verse 10. And he said unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. What time is that? The time of judgment, the time when God comes down, the Lord Jesus, to this earth and rules and reigns and destroys the wicked and rewards his servants that are faithful. The time is at hand. Look at verse 12. And behold, this is Jesus talking, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. So today's point, how everything we do should have a second coming focus out of a first coming foundation. Jesus came the first time to die for our sins, to pay our sin debt and give us eternal life if we believe. He gives us a new life. He gives us new power, a new identity in Him. And what we see is we should always be thinking about His return. We should always be hoping for His return. We should always be watching for His return. In everything we do, we ought to have that in our mind as a motivation, as a hope, as a focus. Now, there's no true revival without a second coming focus. There's no true revival without turning to God in holiness. With the Charlie Kirk things that have been going on after his death, there was already a turning to God in some degree, and now a lot of people are focused and sober. And there's a lot of people talking about revival that don't really tell you what revival is. Anytime in history, the great revivals were a revival of holiness, a revival of Christians turning to God and then unbelievers awakening because Christians are turning to God and giving out the word. It always had a holiness focus. And certainly you see Charlie Kirk on the college campuses giving a holiness focus to people. He said some things that many preachers are afraid to say. But what we shouldn't leave out is a revival involves a second coming focus. And to some degree, we have this today, not as much as we need to have it, but people are looking at the trans thing. They're looking at politics. They're looking at the world, the nations of the world, all lining up as the Bible said they would. They're looking at the technology that we have and the mark of the beast technology. And people are, these alien, so-called findings, and everybody's talking about these aliens, and people are realizing, wait a minute, this is all lining up according to the Bible, and that's in people's mind to some degree, not as much as it should be. You're gonna find that the people that come in and try to use the momentum to bring a false revival will always want to focus on the here and now. They'll never want to talk about holiness and the commandments that have been forgotten that we need to make sure that we're living and obeying. They're not going to talk so much about Jesus coming because they want you to have a kingdom of this world, see. And so looking at the Lord's coming, and the rewards that he's going to bring. What did he say? Behold, I come quickly, my reward is with me. To give every man according as his work shall be. What we need to understand is that is negative reward and positive reward. You get positive good rewards if you've been good and obedient, you get bad rewards. You get punishment if you have been living in sin and not ready for the Lord Jesus. It's a forgotten motivation today. You ask the average Christian, why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you obeying God? They might not even be able to say. But you will rarely hear, I want to be ready for Jesus when he comes and I want the rewards that he promised me and commanded me to aim for. So if we're witnessing to somebody, if we're trying to help a young Christian, we have to teach, listen, everything you do in life ought to have a second coming motivation. Now it's not the only motivation, it is a major one though. People should say, I want to love the Lord out of gratitude. I want to be holy because he first loved me and forgave me of my sins, so I want to live for him. That's a good motivation, a proper one. But Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments. Let's look at one of his commandments that he gave to new Christians. Look at Matthew 620. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Does that sound like a suggestion to you? Is Jesus saying, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, but wink, wink, if you're really holy, you'll be so humble that you wouldn't dare seek rewards in heaven. There's nothing in that passage about that. That is a command for these young Christians and a command for us today. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. That is a command. If you love Jesus, obey Jesus. This is one of the first things Jesus taught. Now Jesus is not gonna stay in heaven. And when he comes, he's bringing rewards with him. He's also bringing judgment to those that have not lived properly. And judgment begins at the house of God. Talking to the churches and really to every man, he says in Revelation 22, verse 12, as we've already seen, behold, Jesus says, I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. Interesting. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4. Paul says, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. What is that day? That's the second coming. And not to me only, but unto all. Them also that love his what his appearing I want you to look at these words henceforth there is laid up for me a crown Do you see that he has a crown it's laid up It's stored up there and what does Jesus say lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven Paul did not think what the Lord Jesus said right there was up something you're just supposed to ignore if you're humble no You're not to strive for earthly rewards from men, that is to please them and get praise for your good works from men in a selfish way, like the Pharisees, but you are to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And Paul says that he's been fighting, and he has kept the faith, and there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous shall give me at that day. It's laid up there when the Lord comes. So Jesus wants you to be excited about his coming and to have confidence and hope that you're going to be rewarded while we also make sure we're not presumptuous. As we also understand, we're not to say, you know what, I'm going to stand and I know I'm going to get rewarded without special revelation. Paul was at the end of his life about to get his head cut off and the Lord could have given him special revelation or he might just speaking of his great hope and expectation because the Lord is not unrighteous to forget. He tells him in the book of Hebrews, God's not going to forget all the good things that you've done for him, but we're to have that balance between hope and expectation through our obedience that the Lord has given us, but also we're to fear Because a lot of people will deceive themselves about how holy they really are. And many will say in that day, says, Jesus, Lord, Lord, we've done great things for you. Look at all the good things we've done. But they had wickedness in their life. They had bad things in their life. So Paul repeatedly connects almost every key duty in the New Testament with the imminent return of Christ. The second coming is our motivating reason for holiness, patience, love, endurance, watchfulness, and service. But never forget it's twofold. These rewards are positive and negative, which means We hope to be rewarded with kingdom reign, with the crowns, with the blessings that he gives us at the second coming. And we also hope, another way of saying that is we hope to escape the chastisement, the loss of rewards, the punishment. Paul put it plain in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men. Paul is saying that one of his motivations, one of his main motivations for serving God is that he wants to escape the terror of the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. And he wants us to escape the terror of the Lord. It's fearful. Paul says in Hebrews, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Look at Colossians. Chapter three, whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men. If you're a good husband and you want to be an obedient husband and father, then do it for the Lord. Do it for the Lord. Do it for your children, do it for your wife, but do it for the Lord. If you want to be a godly wife, do it for the Lord. Everything we do, soul winning, our ultimate goal should be to please God. Knowing, and don't do it halfway, he says, do it heartily. And knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. Whatsoever you do, you are to do it knowing expecting that the Lord will give a reward of the inheritance. Part of the inheritance is conditional here. And some shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That's the millennial kingdom. You shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong, talking to believers, shall receive for the wrong which he hath done. And there is no respect of persons. You can't say, well, I'm the mayor of this city. You're going to be judged. You can't say, I'm the president. It doesn't matter who you are or how rich you are. There's no respect of persons. Everybody's going to stand before God. Let's list some other reasons for the second coming focus. When you are watching and waiting for the Lord Jesus to come, it shows your loyalty and allegiance to your King. Mephibosheth in the Bible is an example. As a son of Saul, Mephibosheth was lame on his feet. And because of Jonathan, When David came to power and Jonathan was dead, he had promised Jonathan that he would be kind to his house. And he had Mephibosheth come sit at his table. He honored Mephibosheth. A lot of kings come to power, they kill the sons of the former king, you know. But David showed him honor and blessing. Now, when David was usurped by his own son, he left to go out into the wilderness. until he got the power to come back. Now God right now, Jesus, our Lord Jesus, did not leave because he doesn't have the power. The Bible says he left to go prepare a place for us and get everything ready and then come back to reign. But the picture is still clear. Our Lord is not present bodily. The king is not here in a bodily way. And it should be our longing that the king comes back. We should look at this world and see ourselves as strangers and pilgrims. This is an age where Satan has usurped God and is rebelling. Now God has everything under control, but we're looking for the day when he comes to reign on this earth and rule this earth as he presently rules heaven. Where evil is not allowed temporarily. So now look at second Samuel 19 and Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. David is coming back into the land. The king is back. And he had neither dressed his feet, this is the Holy Ghost talking right now, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace. In other words, Mephibosheth was mourning the fact that the king was not here. Mephibosheth was living in a certain way that showed he desired the king to be back. The Bible said when the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will mourn. They will mourn. They will fast. And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, this is very interesting, the king said unto him, Wherefore winnest thou not with me, Mephibosheth? A lot of people went out with David. They said, I'm not going to stay under this usurper. I'm not going to be with his rebellious son here in the land. I'll leave my house. I'll leave everything. I'll leave all my property. We're going to go out to David in the wilderness. And the King says, wherefore wentest not thou with me? Now you get a fuller picture here when you realize that because Mephibosheth was lame, he had been appointed a servant, Ziba, to take care and manage the property of Mephibosheth and take care of everything. But that servant had become wicked and wanted to usurp the property from Mephibosheth. So it says in 2 Samuel 16, when David was, this is earlier. When David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them 200 loaves of bread, and 100 bunches of raisins, and 100 summers fruit, and a bottle of wine. In other words, Ziba is coming out as the King is departing the land. And the King said, where is thy master's son? In other words, why isn't Mephibosheth with you? Why isn't he coming out to at least give me his allegiance and loyalty? And Ziba said unto the king, behold, he abideth at Jerusalem, for he has said, today shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. In other words, he's celebrating the fact that you've been cast out of the land. He's celebrating the fact. He really despised you in his heart and is glad you're gone. Don't you know Satan right now is accusing you? before God. Hey, he's glad you're not here. She's glad you're not here. She's glad you're not present reigning. They don't want you to be here. They look at your coming as, oh, that goes, all our fun's gone now. Can't enjoy sin no more. Boy, we sure love this world with Jesus not here reigning. That's what Ziba was saying. He was slandering. Mephibosheth. And we know it was slander because the Bible tells us, the Holy Ghost tells us, that Mephibosheth had not dressed himself in the sense of taking care of himself, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day the king departed until the day that he came again in peace. The Bible's telling us that Mephibosheth loved David, was grateful to David, and wanted David to return. But what happened was, and Mephibosheth's gonna tell you what happened, this wicked Ziba, When finally Mephibosheth gets to see the king who has now come back from the wilderness and is now coming back to his throne, it says in verse 25 that it came to pass when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king that the king said unto him, wherefore winnest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? And I'm gonna tell you right now, the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna say that to every one of us. If you haven't been loyal in his absence, if you haven't been, faithful to Him, longing for His return. He's going to say, Wherefore, when is thou not with Me? Why did not you walk with Me in My absence? Why did you give allegiance to My enemy, Satan? Why did you give allegiance to My enemy, Mr. World? You were commanded to not love the world or the things of this world. You were told that if any man loved this world, he is an enemy of God. Wherefore when is thou not with me? In other words, we have to give an account for ourselves, for why we did what we did. Now, unlike David, our Lord's going to know all things and know our thoughts, know our motives, know everything about us. He knows why we did, but we still got to give an account. And Mephibosheth's gonna give an answer for himself. My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass that I may ride their own and go to the king because thy servant is lame and he has slandered thy servant unto my lord, the king. The application for us is who are we identifying with during his absence? We ought to desire the Lord's return out of loyalty, love, and allegiance. Do we even care that the king is absent right now? The whole Bible ends with, come quickly. We should want him to come. Now there's a tension there. We should also want more time. to gather rewards and make up for our slackness and laziness. But we ought to look at this world and see the abortions, see the Christians being killed, see all the evil and rape and deception and lies of the devil. And we ought to long for the Lord to come. Come Lord, come please. Ephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. Oh, many will not be ready. They're not going to be looking for him. They're not going to be ready to meet him. They're going to be ashamed. They're going to say, David is in the land, the son of David. Of course, he's coming in the sky, but my point is, They're going to deceive themselves about their readiness or they're either going to be ashamed and love not as appearing. And so we need to live in light of the second coming because it is the day of judgment as it begins at the house of God. And the Lord says every word, even every idle word that has come out of your mouth, you're going to give account for in the day of judgment. If we're going to give account for every idle word, even the words that weren't important and serious, just idle conversation, we're going to give an account for everything that came out of our mouth. How much more are we going to give account for every deed we have done in our body and all the things we neglected to do? He says in Mark 13, for the son of man is as a man taking a far journey. Just as David went out of the land, of course he was forced out, but nevertheless, the son of man is as a man taking a far journey who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch. In other words, our Lord's saying, I had things for you to do while I was absent. Watch ye therefore, for you know not when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight or at the cock crowing or in the morning. lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping, when you should not be." In other words, he says in Luke 12, 36, And ye yourselves, like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. We got a lot of pictures here that the Lord gives us. Sometimes he says that he is the vine and we are the branches. Sometimes he's the shepherd and we are the sheep. Here there's a parable of imagine a man that went out and got married and he's bringing his bride home and you are the servant that's supposed to have the house all ready for the new bride and all of a sudden you are not ready. And how embarrassing that's gonna be. In the book of Revelation, the bride is New Jerusalem, a city that he's bringing down to this earth. And he wants us to be ready for him to adorn that city. In the book of Ephesians, the church, the local church is the bride, the wife of the Lord. And so we got various pictures in the Bible and we ought not clump them all together in a way that's that takes away from the point. In other words, a lot of people would say, well, this isn't talking to us, that's talking to Israel, and they get all confused in the Bible by running all these pictures together. Let's observe some other places where the Bible gives a second coming focus, okay? as one of the chief motivations for our life. For almost everything we are commanded to do or called to do as Christians, the Bible gives us a second coming focus. Imagine how anemic, how weak and pathetic our Christian life would be if we tried to live and do everything without this focus. That's why when Christians got together and had all these conferences and studies on the second coming and they were stirred up, man, you had revival all over the land. Colossians 3, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. And Don't get this idea that, oh, I just want to go to heaven and be up there, way in outer space, up there in the third heaven. That's where I want to be forever. No, no, that's not what they said in the book of Revelation. You see those Christians that were called up to meet the Lord and they said, we shall reign on the earth. They're waiting to come down and reign in the coming kingdom. They're in the sky with the Lord. They're waiting to come down on earth. The Lord is not just going to stay in the clouds. He's going to come down. His feet are going to be on the Mount of Olives. He's coming down to this earth to reign and rule. That's the kingdom, the expectation of the whole Bible. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. And when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, Then shall ye also appear with him in glory. That is, if your affection has been set on it so that your life has been motivated by that affection, then you will appear with him in glory. But James says, I'm sorry, John tells us that some will appear in shame before him. Their affection was not on the things above. Their affection was not on the city to come. Their affection was not on the king coming back into the land. Their affection was not upon the rewards. Mortify, that means put to death, therefore your members which are upon the earth. fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, things you should not be loving, evil concupiscence, sexual lust, covetousness, wanting what other men have, which is idolatry. Some people sit around and said, I sure wish I had that. I wish I had that husband. I wish I had that wife. I wish I had that car. Oh man, I wish I had that. The Bible said that's idolatry. That's idolatry, that's covetousness. He's saying put to death this sin in your life and in your heart. Put it to death. Starve it. Don't feed it. If you're to put it to death, why would you go feed it? Why would you go listen to the world and let the devil preach to you? It's just going to stir up all that stuff in you. And now you're going to be ashamed when Jesus appears. But the Bible promises. that when He appears, if your affection is on things above, and it shows forth in your life, then you will appear with Him in glory. Oh man, that's the hope. Wow, that means you get to reign in the coming kingdom. 1 Thessalonians chapter three. The Lord make ye to increase and abound in love, one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. Just abound in love, true love. To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, what? At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the saints. Paul says, I want you to increase in love toward your fellow Christians and toward all men. I just want you to love all men in a biblical way that you might be unblameable when he comes. Second coming focus. at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. It says the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. He doesn't want us murmuring and complaining. He wants us thankful. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know Paul, he's gonna have a second coming focus. Anytime he tells you to be holy just about, he says, because Jesus is coming. So you'll be ready at the coming of the Lord. Let's look at these verses and let them speak to you now. First Timothy 6, 11, but thou, O man of God, flee these things. That is all the things that people of the world lust after. Flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. You got a lot of people that fret, a lot of people that murmur. You say, what's the matter? It'd be great if they said, I just want to be more holy. I just want more righteousness. I want more godliness. I'm just really seeking more faith in my life. I'm seeking more love for others, less self-love. I'm seeking more patience in my life. I'm seeking more meekness that I can suffer for the Lord without murmuring. No, they're not seeking any of those things. They're not following after those things. They're not reading books and studying the Bible and trying to obtain these things. They're not making sure they're in church and listening. They're not doing these things. They're chasing the things of the world. that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how Paul always ends it. Do all these things, man. Be holy, seek after him. Jesus is coming, that you can be found faithful at his coming. You say, I don't care about that right now. Oh, you might care about it tonight. You might care about it before this message is over. Jesus could come, the twinkle of an eye, and all of a sudden you're like, what in the world just happened? Oh, this is judgment. Jesus has come to judge his people. Titus 2, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us. People said, I just want to hear about grace. Hey, the grace of God teaches you something. It teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world and looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior, Jesus Christ. If you want to know what the Lord thought of sin, it's so horrible that only God and his blood can atone for it. And it caused Jesus to die. He did it in his love. He did it willfully for us. but He had to do it if we would be saved. That's how horrible that He has to save us by grace. That hurts the pride of men. They say, I don't need the blood sacrifice of the Savior. You're saying that I'm such a worm and so wicked that I need the death of God's Son on a cross to redeem me? I'm not that bad. I'm a good person. No, you're not. No, you're not. But look at it again. Looking for that blessed hope. What's the blessed hope? It's the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we get to reign with Him, fellowship with Him in person, and have the rewards of ruling with Him this wicked world, which begins by Him cleansing the whole earth And then the new nations that will be created in natural bodies, we get to reign over them in the coming millennial kingdom, the blessed hope. If you suffer, you shall reign with him, says the Bible. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Paul again says, let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works. In other words, you're not just to provoke yourself, you're to provoke others. You're to say, come on, come on, let's get right, come on. The Bible says Paul charged you as a father does, his children, admonished them, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Why should you go to church and assemble one another? Well, that we might be encouraged, that we might hear the Word of God, that we might go to church and worship and pray for the leaders of our land and pray together in a special sense, God is presence in a special sense, but also that we might provoke others. that we might provoke others by our presence, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. And so much the more, as you see the day approaching, Paul always anchors it just about. Chapter after chapter, he anchors whatever we are called to do because Jesus is coming. And whenever you read earlier books with all these missionaries, and godly saints of old and martyrs, they had a second coming focus, man. I tell you, I have their books on my shelf from hundreds of years ago, and I'm telling you, they had a second coming focus. I used to have Charles Wesley, his very own book of revelation and signature, but I think down the road I had to sell it one time because of, to pay bills, you know, church bills or whatever. That was many years ago, but you could see his writings, it had his signature right there in it. These people loved the Lord Jesus, man. The people that ever did anything just about for God had a second coming focus, like you would not believe. We want revival in our families, get a second coming focus. Revival in your church, revival in your neighborhood. If there's gonna be a revival in this land, it's true, it'll have a second coming focus. James says, be patient therefore. Why, James? Unto the coming of the Lord. There it is, folks. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the earth and latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts. Why? For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. If you feel like your heart is just unraveling, it's just blowing with the wind, the Bible says, gird up the loins. Gird up the loins of your mind. Gird it up. Quit letting it just blow with the wind. Let's get focused. Let's cast down the vain imaginations and make sure that we are thinking correctly, that we've got right motivations in our life because He's coming. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Not only be patient, not only establish your emotional life and your thought life, but grudge not one against another brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. You ought to underline this in your mind, at least, or on your note, lest you be condemned. People say, well, there's no condemnation for me. Well, you need to read it in the King James Bible, man. There's no condemnation for those that walk after the Spirit, not the flesh. Oh, that's missing from your NIV? Well, you ought to get you a new Bible, amen? Get you a real Bible. Who told you you cannot be condemned? You're not gonna be eternally condemned. But you can be condemned! Paul told the Corinthians that some of them have been killed, some of them have been made sick, and some of them have been made weak. Weak must be something else other than sick. That means almost sick. God says that he did that as a judgment right now. And you're telling me Jesus at the second coming can't bring judgment. We're to get happy and encouraged about the great rewards that he has. And we are to have fear. You say, well, how can I do both of those at the same time? I want you to read Psalms. Psalms says rejoice in the Lord with trembling, with trembling. Okay, so I'm rejoicing in the Lord, but I also have trembling. It's a dual balance, two sides of the anchor, man. But notice how a lot of these Christians, they've got grudges right now, man. They got deep-seated, bitter, resentful grudges. And a lot of it's just malice and perverted thinking. And the Lord's gonna deal with that stuff. He warned them in Mark 9, you better have peace with yourselves, and he warned to fire. And he told his disciples, they better quit their bickering, and they better get right and start having some peace with one another. If it be possible, live in peace with all men. You might not be able to change them, but I could change my actions and make sure I'm not in sin with others, right? And we could pray that they would repent. A few more verses, 1 Peter 1. We're just going through the New Testament a little bit here, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. He's not saying the brakes on my car, I gotta go get those fixed. Those are manifold temptations, but the people he's talking to have seen loved ones die and die death, be martyred. have property confiscated. When you greatly rejoice, so now for a season if need be, he tells them in Hebrews, you know, you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing you have a better substance waiting for you in heaven that the Lord's gonna bring. You don't sit there and say, I'm glad my property's stolen. No, it's not that. But you are able to see the other side of it. It'd be like you're in prison, and I used to give this analogy. You're in prison, and you have a radio there, but somebody came over and took your radio, but you know you're getting out here in the next few days. Hey, Bob, have my radio, man, okay? I'm not bickering with you anymore. If you want it so bad, I'm getting out. In other words, we get that ultimate look at things. It doesn't mean you just give everybody everything. Oh, you want my children? Have my children. God forbid. You fight for what you're called to fight for. But at the same time, we have this rejoicing. The trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whether it's Paul, whether it's James, whether it's Peter, they all are telling us have a second coming focus for everything you do. Imagine what our life's gonna be like if we don't have this. 2 Peter 3, look at the next epistle, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. You trying to build a kingdom on this earth? Every mountain's gonna be flattened, buddy. Everything is gonna burn. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God? wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless." Found of him? Found of him? Yeah, at his coming. He's coming in fire. The Bible says he's gonna appear in flaming fire. What does it mean, hasting unto? You're not able to make him come any quicker. He already says he's coming quick. But you are to make haste, as if you're running behind. People said, what are you doing? I said, man, I'm trying to make up, man. I make up. It was like I was asleep. It was like I was drunk. I don't know what I was doing, man. If he's not coming tonight, then I've got more time. I've got to hurry. I've got to hurry. He could come tonight. I've got to make up. I've got to haste unto His coming. 1 John, And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Paul said at his appearing, if we set our affection on things above, that we will be in glory when he comes. But John is saying, but some people are gonna be ashamed. They're not gonna be in glory at his coming. They're not gonna receive the reward of the inheritance. So we gotta abide in him. How do we abide in Jesus? He says, if you abide in me, as the branch abides in the vine, you'll bring forth much fruit. That means obey him. It means fellowship with him in his word and in prayer. It means have faith in him and trust him, abide in him. I don't wanna follow the Lord's word. Well, you're not abiding. 1 John 3, 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, that is, as the Lord Jesus. It is clear here that the Bible is not telling you that every single believer is going to be like him in the sense of being rewarded and not having shame. No, that's why he tells us in verse three, every man that has this hope in him purifieth himself. Again, we are to purify ourselves as a condition, as a condition. Revelation 2, our Lord Jesus tells us, last book of the Bible, again, but that which you have already, hold fast till I come. There's things that you have in your life right now, but you know what, a lot of people, they just get tired of the Christian life. They say, I've done this, or they look back to things they did a long time ago that were good, and they think they can live off those. I've already done some good things, you know. I'm ready to play, I'm ready to relax in my Christian life. Oh, then they start losing. They start losing their standards. Oh, they lose some of their modesty standards. Oh, now they're messing with this and now they're messing with that. And at first they said, oh, well, I'm never going to do this. I'm just going to lose this. But then you get five years, maybe two years down the road, and there's somebody that they don't even recognize anymore. Oh, the change, that drift of the world, what it caused them to become. The Bible says you ought to hold fast. Think of the word fastened, you gotta hold on to these things. Don't lose what you've already gained. That which you have already, hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. Read Ezekiel, it says what happens when the righteous man lets his works go and becomes wicked? Well, the Bible says death. The Bible says he loses everything. And the Jews say, well, that's not fair. But God says, but if that wicked man will become righteous while he still has time, he gets blessed, man. So the point of our Lord is telling you right now, keep the works until the end. To Him will I give power over the nations. You should hope that. You should want to rule the Lord, rule with the Lord. Revelations three, remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. He's always telling us just hold on, just hold on. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Revelation 3, behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. It seems to be the focus of the last book of the Bible. Hold on, man. Things are shaking around you. Things are going crazy. Hold on. Hold on to your holiness. The King is coming. I can see folks that have backslid and just gave up and threw away what they had gained. Threw away the crowns they already had. Threw them away in the trash can. And if they'd just waited and just got around the corner a little bit. they would have found relief. The Bible says your heaviness is only for a season. God refreshes you. God blesses you. Why don't you hold on? There's some people right now that have left their faithfulness, their holiness, all that they have brought. But you know the beautiful thing? If right now they turn to God and start working on getting it back, and getting back in the race, and trying, and telling God they're sorry, and telling others that they're sorry, and if they run faster than they've ever run to make up for the lost time and all the people they have hurt, God will have mercy on them. Isn't that the most amazing thing? God will have mercy. My last verse is for you is Luke chapter 12. But if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't say he's gonna delay his coming. Don't do that. Don't say he can't come tonight. Don't say that. Don't say, oh, I don't think Jesus is gonna come for years. Don't say that. It will affect your Christian life. It will affect it. And shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, that is your fellow servants. There's a lot of people that persecute, man. There's been Christians that have persecuted other Christians down through the ages. There's been Christians that persecuted Baptists all down through the ages. and to eat and drink and to be drunken. That is in sinful ways, eating too much and eating in sinful ways with no fear of God, not eating for strength. Certainly alcohol could be included in this, but not limited to alcohol. The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint him as portion with the unbelievers. That's during the millennial kingdom, that's not during eternity. And that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. You say, well, I didn't know it. The Lord says, well, you could have known it. You ought to get in the book, amen? We ought to read the Bible. You could have known it. For unto whosoever much is given of him shall much be required, and to whom men have committed much of him will they ask them more. Oh, dear homeschool generation, you know a lot. You've been blessed with a lot of light. You've been blessed with a lot of knowledge. We need far more than we have, amen? No man knows what he should know. We need to labor and no more. But God's going to require us to live holy in light of His coming. When I look at all the revivals of the first and second great awakening, they touched everything, man. They got on people for their addictions, for being addicted to drugs. They came through the land, man, and just preached all kinds of stuff, man. People turned to God. They said, I'm going to be healthy in my body. I'm going to be healthy in my life, my morals. And they got on fire for God, man. Whatsoever we do, do it to His glory. because he's coming, he is coming. Dear Holy Father, we thank you. Come quickly, dear Lord. Have mercy upon us, Lord. You said our mercy will rejoice against your judgment, and that as we show mercy to those that come to us, Lord, those that ask for forgiveness, Lord, may we show mercy to them as we want you to show mercy to us as we ask for it, God, and as we seek it in repentance, Lord. We do pray. that we would all be ready for your coming, that you would bring a revival in the land, Lord, in Missouri, in Theodosia, and all of these areas around here, in Ozark, in Douglas County, Lord, we do pray in our state and our whole nation, we do pray. And those in other lands and other countries, Father, bring a revival of your people and bring others into the fold. And we ask that we will be found busy and have this as our hope. You're coming and to do what we can while we're here to occupy until you come. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we give you thanks. Amen.