Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. You know, that last song, The King is Coming, that's a declarative statement, right? We know it's a fact. He is going to come. That's a pretty big event, right? When we're getting ready for a big event, we usually mark our calendars so that we're sure to remember it. We might even mark down important stages in anticipation. We have to have this done by this date, this done by that date, etc. But when we think of the return of Christ and the accompanying actions of the last days, there is no big that ushers in god's final program for the world. It is the big event of all history. The fact that Christ's return was clearly stated to the disciples of Jesus ascension in in Acts chapter eleven where they were or one verse eleven where they were told, men of Galilee, why do you who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Notice the certainty of that statement that the angel gave to the disciples. I think in the King James it says, this same Jesus. I think that's probably an important thing. It's not a different Jesus. It's the very same Jesus. And they had, this is after they'd seen him die, They saw him after his resurrection, and then he spent 40 days with them, teaching them, coming and going. And then, while they were talking, he just ascended up into heaven, into the Father, visibly. And that's when they were told this. This same Jesus, who was taken up, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven, a certainty. We also have Matthew twenty-four where he said, they will appear in heaven, the sign of the son of man and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. definite statement. Jesus said, there will be this visible, glorious coming that the the And in fact, many will mourn. They will be in fear, they will be in terror because of the power and great glory that they see. And then we have in John 14 where Jesus in talking to his disciples said, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, then where I am, you may be also. The fact of the future return of Christ is certain. It's not a question mark. It will be an earth shattering event as we see here. But even though we know it's certain, we know it's gonna be an earth shattering event, we can count on it. We also need to not get too hyped up about marking our calendars. Why? If you look at the the Olivet Discourse which we find in Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus made several statements in that discussion with his disciples as, you know, they're on the Mount of Olives and this is as Jesus is tying together all the loose ends before he dies. And he's telling them things in preparation for his soon departs. And throughout that all the discourse in Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus said that we will not cannot know the time of his coming. He he said, but concerning that day and hour, no one knows. Not even the angels of heaven nor the son but the father only. He said, watch therefore for you do not know what hour your lord is coming. He said, therefore you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. No one knows, you do not know, an hour you don't expect. He continued on, he said, in talking about this servant that was given a job to do, he said, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. And then again he said, watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Do you think Jesus was trying to get across you don't know? He repeated it so many times that when it comes to us preparing for the Lord's return, our calendars are useless. Because we don't know when that event is going to happen. It is sure, it is certain, We know the reality of it, the certainty of it, but we don't know when. When you look at the the title of our message, check your calendar, that wasn't a typo. It didn't mean to say check your calendar. When it comes to the coming of our lord, All of these verses that we've looked at, they talk about the second advent, the visible, glorious appearing of our Lord back to this earth to bring judgment on the earth and to establish his kingdom. That's what all of these verses talk about. And if this uncertainty of the day or the hour of that glorious return visible return is true, how much more would that same truth bear out regarding the first part of the Lord's second coming, the rapture? Paul wrote in First Thessalonians 4, 15 through 5, 2, that the day of the Lord, which includes, that's the designation of the larger framework. It includes the calling up of both living and dead saints and then the glorious return. He said, it will come like a thief in the night. It is imminent. That word imminent means it could happen at any moment without any warning. another time II have described it here as you you think about if you look at a cliff and there's this overhanging rock and you can see the cracks in it. It's like it is imminent that that rock is going to fall. We don't know when We know it's short. but it's not going to tell us. Oh, by the way, guys, tomorrow about don't know. That's the way it is with what the lord said about his return. It is imminent. It could happen at any moment without any warning. And so, with that in mind, What does the lord want us to do? How are we to be prepared for his coming? We've already seen in these verses, some of his In other words, anticipate it as though it might happen immediately. Now, some people, when they talk about the imminent coming of Christ, it generates fear. Partly because they know that there is judgment that's tied in with that. But for us as believers, it shouldn't be a fearful thing. It shouldn't make us scared or gloomy. It should be a very exciting thing that we yearn for because it also means that we will be forever with him in his presence. Remember what Jesus said, and if I go, I will come again to bring you to myself so that where I am, you may be also. That is part of what is tied all in. As we look forward to the reality of Jesus' return, it is so that we could be with Him. And that should be the exciting part for us. When we think about this second advent of our Lord, one second, before I get too far into that, let me ask you a question. Biblically speaking, how important is it What was their anticipation? What was their prophecy telling people what was going to happen, what to expect because of this and we we even had some people that because they have the ability to kind of put two and two together, connect the dots. We're saying, oh, it it could be at any time, right? It was imminent. We had Anna in the earnestly desiring to see the Lord's Christ. As important as the first advent of Christ was, and all of the prophecies, I mean, we have hundreds of prophecies of the first coming of Christ, right? And without His first coming, we would not have salvation. That's rather important. Here's something that, perhaps, In the Old Testament, the second advent of Christ is referred to 1845 times in 17 different books of the Old Testament. That's pretty significant, right? When we add in the New Testament, We now have, in the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second coming of Christ in 23 out of the 27 books, and so when we put that together, compared with the prophecies of Christ's first coming, for every prophecy of Christ's first coming, there are eight prophecies about his second coming. Where did God place the emphasis? On the second coming. The glory is coming where he comes to finalize his program of redemption for this creation. Where he comes as a king in glory. To finally destroy all of his enemies and to establish his kingdom and to bring in the blessed age, the eternal age. The return of Christ is a major And it's one that we are told to get ready for. Watch. Be ready. I want us to look at some other scriptures that talk about the call of God's Word for us to be ready for the Second Coming of Christ. In Romans 13, 11-14, we are told, The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." Paul said here that we need to wake up to realize how short the time is. year and out and when we first believe we're we're stepping ever closer to the time. When he closes it off, when he finishes these things, the night is far gone. The day is at hand and what does he said say we need to do? Cast off the works of darkness. and put on the armor of light. We we need to live for submission, separating ourselves from sin and putting on the righteousness that He has prepared for us. In 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 7, He said, As you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Philippians 320. We await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 10, encourage one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Now, I want to point out something. In these passages where there's this reference to waiting for the arrival of Christ, this is put the word out there, anticipate. It's a waiting with anticipation. It's an expectation. It's not just a, okay, I'll just wait for it to come. Right, it's a waiting as in, is it there? Is it there? It's now the time. Getting ready for. Eagerly awaiting. And as we eagerly await, we're told, encourage one another. all the more as you see that day drawing near. And in fact, in another portion there of Hebrews 10, it says that we ought to be stirring up one another to love and to good works. That's part of how we encourage one another. We are putting a body together to help one another live for Him. And that's part of what He expects us to do as we prepare ourselves for his return. We we go on to uh Oh, let's see here. Oh, I'm not ready for that slide yet. Hold up. Some other statements. James tells us in James five eight. You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the lord is at hand. That at hand, that's that And so he says, be patient and establish your hearts. Peter says in 1 Peter 4, 7, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Notice they're still, they're focusing back on how do you live your life? Are you formulating the direction and practice of your daily living prepared for him. First, John two eighteen. John says, it is the last hour and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now, many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. And of course, we have Revelation twenty-two twenty. say at at the end, he who testifies to these things says, surely, I'm coming soon and then John responds, Amen. Lord Jesus, even so come, right? So, there's that anticipation of yes, but I need to be ready. I need to be doing what he has called me to do. I need to be encouraging and putting on righteousness. As we look back again at all of that discourse in Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus said some very important things there about what the society around us is going to be as we approach these last days And in Matthew 24, verses 37 through 39, Jesus said that, as in the days of Noah, so it will be with the coming of the Son of Man. What did he mean? He went on to say, well, they were living their lives. They were going about their daily routines. They were marrying and giving in marriage without a care in the world. Even though for over 100 years, Noah had been warning and proclaiming Judgment is coming. Repent. Judgment is coming. Oh yeah, Noah, you've been saying that for 100 years. It's never gonna change. Come on, Noah. Get over it. There's crazy Noah again. The end is here! Right? And what did Peter say? Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days. And they'll say, where is the promise of his coming? Because look, everything continues on as it has ever since the beginning of time. Nothing has changed. It's kinda like back in Noah's day. Peter continued on saying they deliberately overlooked this fact and what did he point back to? The flood. The world that then was was overwhelmed by water. And those that were unconcerned, perished. They were carried away. The world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. Peter says, just as it was back in the days of Noah. Jesus said, just as it was back in the days of Noah, there would be scoffers who have no concern for the coming judgment. They tell us that people will get tired of hearing about His return. Do we see that today? Yeah? They'll go about their lives as though judgment will never happen. And it says they will be caught unaware. Just as the people of Noah's day. And as we think about all of these different scriptures and we've looked at what Jesus said and what Paul said and what Peter said, and what James said, drawing it all together, they all warned us about having a careless attitude regarding the return of Christ. At least four times in the New Testament, the second coming of Jesus is referred to or compared to a thief in the night. if you come at any moment. The thief does not say, hey, if it's all right with you, I'd like to come at about two in the morning on Tuesday, and so just, you know, if you hear noises, ignore me. Oh, and by the way, leave the back door unlocked. That's not what a thief does. He comes unannounced, unexpected. because Jesus said that his coming would be like a thief in the night without warning. It's imminent. It's at hand. It's at the door. You know, all these different phrases that were used. What are we supposed to do? We're supposed to prepare for his imminent arrival. Pack your bags, right? I mean, think about what what and she's approaching the due date. She doesn't know exactly. I mean, there's this anticipation. Okay, we'll take Tim and Molly as an example. May 18th is the due date, right? They plan towards that, but do you suppose that they're gonna wait until May 18th to gather things together to have what they need when Molly goes to the hospital? I don't think so. want to have that ready ahead of time, right? That's the idea here is pack your bags, right? Be ready to meet him when he comes because we don't know exactly what the day is going to be, what the hour is going to be. How do we pack our bags? Doesn't mean that we sit on the bench waiting for the train to come. You know? Packing their bags Matthew twenty-four verses forty-four through forty-seven. Jesus said, therefore, you also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour. You do not expect who then is the faithful and wise servants whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant whom his when He comes. Truly I say to you, He will set Him over all His possessions." How did Jesus say we ought to be prepared? Doing the work. Living for Him. Obeying His commands. Preaching the Gospel. Calling people to repentance. Encouraging them to live faithfully. Those are all the things that should be included and we do it all the more as we see the day approaching, as Hebrews tells us. We don't know when he's going to come, but we can be prepared. As Paul said, we as believers should not be caught off guard by that day. because we've been told what we need to be doing in preparation for the anytime return of Christ. It is the world that will be caught unawares. It is the world that is dwelling in darkness. We're children of light. We've been given the lord's promise of his return. We've been given the instructions of how to prepare for his return and we've been given the encouragement is mentioned in scripture of a crown that awaits those who, what? Love is appearing. There's even a reward that God gives when we love and hope for and anxiously await His return, the fulfillment of His program. He wants us to have that positive anticipation of it. And in fact, there's one more thing that I want to point out regarding the return of Christ. When we look into Paul's instructions that he gave to the church in Corinth about the Lord's suffering, do you remember what Paul said about it? By doing this, you do what? You show the Lord's death as real as His first coming and His death and resurrection were, even so, the same Jesus will come again. And we do this in obedience to Him. We do this as a reminder to ourselves and to one another of what He has done for us, but the reminder that this same Jesus who came once to give us salvation is coming again to finish the job. coming again. And so we do this in faith, in demonstration of our belief that, yes, the Jesus who saved us is coming back for us. To take us to be with Him. And to finish His work and establish His Kingdom on earth. And we worship and serve Him. Forgiving us not only the salvation of our sins, though we know that certainly is enough for us, that we escape the punishment that is due to us for our sins, but Lord, you've gone beyond that and promised us an inheritance, a place with you in heaven. to ever be in your presence, adopted as children. Father, thank you for your great blessings. We thank you for the promise of the soon return of Christ to accomplish the next part of that plan. We're reminded that It is so easy for us to get lazy, complacent, sleepy with regards to something that is out in the future at a time that we don't know, yet we're told many times in your Word to be ready, to be watchful, to be awake, to be anticipating, eagerly awaiting your return. Help us to live our lives in that way. Help us to be busy doing your work each day, that we might be that servant that is found so doing when our Lord comes. Thank you for the privilege that we have being your servants, doing your work, help us to point others to faith in Christ, to the certainty of that soon event. Lord, help us to maintain that excitement, that love of your appearing. We are going to partake of.