I want to preach this morning about something. I talked to a young man last night, and he was kind of where I was at for a long time before I got saved. He was not contrary to the things of God. It didn't bother him. It wasn't offensive to him. But he said, you know, that stuff's just not for everybody. You know what I mean. It's fine. You go on. You do your Jesus thing. That's fine. It's okay. But that's just not for me. Because it's just not real to me. And that's where I was at for a long time. Till I got saved. I could smell Jesus on people. They'd come to me and shake my hand. And one day I said, oh, no, sir. Don't worry about it. I know what you're talking about. That's just not for me. One thing that just kind of struck me later, I didn't fuss at the young man, I tried to encourage him. And although it may not be real to him now, it will. It will be real to him one day. He's going to see Jesus one day. And that's just what I wanted to preach about today, that everybody is going to see Jesus. So let's turn first to the book of John, chapter 14. When the pages stop turning, we'll pray. Lord God in heaven, Lord, we thank you so much for loving us. We thank you for this book. Lord, help us to never get over the fact that you've redeemed our souls from hell. Lord, thank you for doing that. Thank you for knowing me and still loving me and my family. Lord, thank you for letting us come to your house and sing about you and praise you. Lord, help us to worship you today. and not be in form and function and putting on a show, God, but to come and worship the one true living God. Thank you, Lord, for loving us and help us today as we get in this book, please. In Jesus name we ask. Amen. Amen. John chapter 14, verse one. Lord's talking to his disciples. He's just told him he's going to be leaving and going away. And he starts out with the, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. For were it not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." If you're a part of the church of the living God, if you're a part of the body of Christ, if you're saved, If the Lord has received you unto himself, you've received him. If he's washed you and cleansed you and made you his child, you're going to see him. You're going to see him. We need to walk around with that real in our hearts, that this thing is not just something for Sundays. It's not just a story, it's not a fable. It's more real than anything else. The things you count as real are the things that he's made, that you're walking around in and seeing every day. You're walking in his creation, you are his creation. This thing is real, you're gonna see him. Your first chance to see him, it depends on how long you live. If you die before he comes, Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 8, be absent from the body, be present with the Lord. Be your first chance, amen. But amen, if you live until he comes, which you may. We don't know if the Antichrist has been revealed yet or not. We don't know when he's coming, but he's coming. And when he comes to gather his church, if you live till then, well, let's just read about that. And you know these verses, but man, is it good to read it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. He's comforting his disciples in John 14. And 1 Thessalonians 4 ends with the same words. The same word in that verse. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 starting verse 13. It says, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and we do, right? Amen. Even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be called up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. Amen. That comforts me. And same thing, we're just going to run a few more references. You don't have to turn. I know we're short on time. Colossians chapter three, verse four talks of Christ, who is our life shall appear. Then shall you also appear with him in glory? 1 John 3, 2, 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. If you're saved, this whole idea, if you believe the Bible, and you believe what God has told you, words spoken from his mouth, words spoken by his spirit, if you believe what God has told you, this is a joyful time. something to look forward to Amen, if you're not looking forward to it, you just it's gonna I don't know what's gonna be like Amen, but I don't know if you believe it if you're not looking forward to it. It's a joyful time I'm gonna be reunited with your Savior. You're gonna see him Amen, you're gonna see him and all them dead Saints in the ground that you ain't been able to see, that you never met, and we'll see them. Amen, it's a reality. More real than anything you know right now. And what's he gonna do? Let's go to Philippians chapter three. It's a joyful time and encouraging time to read about it, to read what God's gonna do. And you know he can. already performed a miracle when He turned a dirty old sorry sinner into a Son of God. Did that. Yeah, and He can turn this dirty old sorry body into one like His. He can do that. Not hard for Him. Amen. Philippians chapter 3 verse 20, For our conversation is in Heaven. From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. He's able, amen. And one more reference about, I bet everybody knows where we're going right now, talking about the rapture, talking about God changing us. We're going to 1 Corinthians 15, to the end of the chapter, We're gonna get to see some things. We're gonna see some things, amen. Verse 50, 1 Corinthians 15, 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. And I'm glad, I don't wanna take this sorry body to heaven. I don't wanna take it. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, But we shall all be changed. And he says it's a mystery, but not anymore, because he's explaining it. You understand? He's explaining this to you. We shall all be changed 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Death, that terrible enemy, amen. That terrible enemy that we're all gonna face. It's hurt everybody in this room. It's gonna be swallowed up in victory. And you're gonna get to say the words. You're gonna get to say the words. Verse 55, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, amen, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That day is coming, and it's gonna be a joyful time for those that are the children of God. And if you're saved, you will see this and you will be there. But for every side, there's another side. If you're not saved. And I don't know you. You would think the preaching that goes on in a Baptist church, amen, the challenge, the Bible, and everything that people are surrounded by, you would think that everybody in a Baptist church is saved. I sat in a Baptist church 18 years, not saved. Didn't even care. So I'm not gonna say that everybody in this room is saved. I want everybody in this room to be saved. Amen, God wants you to be saved Amen, but if you're not all that stuff we just read about You're gonna miss that You're gonna miss that you're gonna see that Amen, so the church is gonna see him The lost people are gonna see him too Just not right there Not right there Let's go ahead and turn to mark 13 and If you're lost today and you know it, maybe you don't know it, amen, you need to check up. Can you point to a time in your life when you know you were saved? Can you think back to a day, amen, where you asked God to save you and he did it? Maybe you're not saved. If you know you're not saved, your first chance to see Jesus won't be the rapture, it'll be at his second advent. be your first chance, if you live through the tribulation. And half of the world won't, more than half won't live through it. So if you live till that time, if you live through that time, your first chance to see him, I gotta turn to Mark 13 too, amen. Okay, Mark 13, verse 26. Lord Himself spoke these words. He says, then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. That day's coming. That day's coming. Mark 24 30. Turn if you want, I'm just going to read it. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Why would they mourn? The King of glory has come. Amen. Because they know now. Amen. Why would the earth mourn to see the King of glory coming? Because they denied his coming. They built their life around a lie that he ain't coming, that he ain't real, that it's just some story, some fable, some guy, some movie. It's never real to them. It'll be real then. Amen. They might have believed the lie when the Holy Spirit left, and the government might have told them or something. They would have said, oh, it's an alien invasion or something stupid. People believe anything. Might have believed it until this time. and they see him, then they'll believe. Then it'll be real. Then it'll be way too late. And he'll mourn. He'll mourn. Revelation 1-7, behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. That's true. He's coming. I'm going to see that. I'm going to be there. Amen. I don't know how good I can ride a pony and all that, but I better be all right. I'm going to be there. Amen. I'm going to see that. You can be riding behind. Amen. King of glory. King coming. King coming. Amen. Can't wait. If you ain't saved, there ain't going to be a good day. No. That's the day when you're gonna, remember we talked about last time, where we talked about the last guy left in Egypt, if there was one, Bible didn't say there was, but if there was one Hebrew that didn't put the blood on his doorpost, amen, and died, and we would say, what would you say about that guy? Say, what an idiot, God told him what to do. Well then at this time, those people are gonna say, oh man. Don't be that guy. Don't be that guy. Have you never watched the movies where people are doing something, and it's stupid, and it's not going to work out well, and you're just thinking, no. Don't do it. Don't do it. And they do it. And you're like, oh. Don't let that be you. Don't be the guy who's saying, oh, no. They were right. God told me this all those thousands of times, and I didn't believe him. I wanted, I don't know what I wanted, I wanted something else. And then you got something else, and you're gonna wail. You're gonna mourn the fact that you ain't got what God has tried to give you over and over and over in your life. That's if you live that long. If you don't live that long, when this happens, you're gonna be in hell. You won't see him, I mean, you're not gonna see the armies and all these things. You're gonna be in hell. knowing that you heard the Word of God. And then you'll see Jesus. We turn to Revelation 20. Verse 11. This is John's eyewitness account. He didn't have to be told these things. He saw these things. Right. Verse 11, And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. Jesus was not some sort of a feminine, sissy, pale, 100-pound weakling like you see in the pictures and all that. God Almighty. whose face the heaven and the earth fled away. Amen. Earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God. And I'd like to ask people this question. Did John see you? Because he saw this judgment. He didn't see some. He saw it. I hope he didn't see you. Because if you're standing there, I don't know how you say it without being disrespectful, you're toast. It's over. Not a good place to be. Why would you be the one guy standing there hoping your name's written in the book of life, knowing there ain't no reason for it to be there? Man, don't be that guy. Man, come on, don't be that guy. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man, according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Saw that. And we plead with you. Your church pleads with you. Your family pleads for you. Your preacher prays for you. Don't be that guy. No, man, no. Don't be there, knowing that you heard the word of God, and every time you heard it, knowing you needed to be saved, and just for whatever reason, whatever was missing, whatever wasn't locked, whatever was messing with you, or whatever you kept, and you didn't do it. Man alive, don't be that guy. Don't be that guy. So in conclusion, we've seen that the church is going to see Jesus. Amen. The lost is going to see Jesus. Amen. And for the believers, I have two challenges to end with. One for believers, one for saved people. You don't know when the rapture will be, right? But after the rapture, we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. That's in your Bible. That day is coming. Let's turn to Romans 14. Verse 10, "'But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.'" Is that pretty clear? It's in context. It's plain English. Yeah, so that's, we shall all stand, this is written to save people. We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. First John chapter three. Verse 2, it says, 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. Amen. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. One page backwards, chapter 2, verse 28. Chapter 2, verse 28. 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. Why would you be ashamed when he comes? You know how many Christians right now are not in church today? Save people, go into heaven, ride in a couch, You know how many of them were in the bar last night watching UFC? With a beer. Save people. You don't know when the rapture's coming. You don't know when that trumpet's gonna sound. Please do not go into the presence of God smelling like cigarettes. Beer on your breath. Don't be raptured off a bar stool. Don't be raptured in front of HBO. Don't do it, man. Don't go from that to the presence of God. Why would you want to be ashamed that He's coming? You don't know when He's coming. It says He's coming like a thief in the night. You don't know. You don't know. He's dealt with your sin. But you don't need to be ashamed that He's coming. And if you're mixed up in stuff like that that you ain't telling your preacher and you ain't telling nobody about, and you got your own little world of stuff you're doing and nobody knows about it and you're just doing it anyway, I'm not stupid. You need to quit that mess. Set it down. Walk away. Lay it on the altar. God will help you. That's the spirit of God in you. You can set stuff down. You can quit doing stuff. Ain't no reason you can't. Ain't no reason you can't. Don't go to God with that on you. Man, please. Maybe that's what your pastor wants. What do you think he's trying to do every Sunday? He's trying to polish you up, son, for the judgment seat. Best possible judgment seat you can have. That's what that man wants for you. Yes, sir. So that's for the believers. And then for the lost, turn back to John 14. So believers, you know, they say, you don't know when the rapture's gonna be. You better be right. For the lost, you don't know when the rapture's gonna be. So you better be saved. You need to be saved, and you know it. You need to be saved. You don't have to miss the rapture. Because you're lost this moment. Because you're lost right now. Because you're not a saved man right now. You haven't received the Lord right now. It doesn't mean you have to miss the rapture. God don't want you to miss that rapture. No, man. It's not the will of God for you to die and go to hell. To see that white throne judgment. No. It's not the will of God for you. It's not the will of God for you. He tells you how to miss it. Remember? He puts you to the test. He gives you all the answers. Easy money. 14 we stop at verse 3 we just pick up in verse 4, and whither I go ye know in the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. You want to miss that rapture? Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Amen. He died that you could miss that rapture. He shed his blood that you could miss that rapture. He was buried and rose again the third day that you could not miss that rapture. Amen. Excuse me. That you could catch it. You could catch it. I saw everybody correcting me with their eyes. Amen. Don't you dare. Don't you dare burn in hell for nothing. Come on. Don't be the cliche Baptist that goes, I say put all them preachers out of business. I say let everybody in this church be saved. Amen. Let people be saved from our church going out and preaching the Bible. Not half the people in the church don't care and go home and throw on HBO and do all this stuff and just come to church for I don't know why. Come to church just to tempt God, pretty much. Don't do that. Don't be that guy. Don't you dare. Do that. And I'm going to close in prayer, so we're on time and everything. But I beg you, if you know you're that guy, and you do, it's no mystery. It's no mystery. It won't be bad, and it won't nothing to be ashamed of. God Almighty wants you to be saved. Everybody in this church wants you to be saved. Your family wants you to be saved. And if you know that's you, I'm just going to pray. I'm not going to do any kind of, you know, repeat after me junk. None of that. No, no. If you know that you get your tail on this altar, amen, and get right, be born to the family of God, amen. Can we pray? Lord, thank you so much for this Bible. Thank you, God, for loving us. Thank you for the sweetness of your spirit. Thank you, Lord, for shedding your blood for my soul and my family. Thank you, God, for making a way for us to be saved, Lord, and we do, we want to pray For that person that's here today that has never received you, and they know it. God, please don't let them leave this church today lost. In Jesus' name we ask, amen.