"Remembering"

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place
Pulpit Series Volume 17 Issue 41 11/11/2007

Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were 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 to myself; that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:1-3

My prayer is that our hearts will be rekindled with a new flame concerning the blessed hope of our Savior's return.

The apostles had a lot to say about our Lord's return.

Paul shows us the resurrection of the dead and the translation of the living saints at our Lord's return in I Corinthians 15.

Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul gives the great assurance of the coming of the Savior… We’ll be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Peter writes that there is a new world coming. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. II Peter 3:13

The apostle James believed in the second coming of the Lord. Be patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws near. James 5:8

Hebrews 10:35-38 certainly encourages and warns us not to cast away our confidence in His coming.

Paul calls the second coming the Blessed Hope. Looking for that BLESSED HOPE, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13

John in his book of Revelation wrote 22 chapters having to do with salvation, signs of Christ's return and the actual, literal, personal, visible and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that the Lord is coming very soon.
We’ve only a little time left to present the truth that is able to convert souls. We are to present it in the utmost simplicity, even as Christ presented it, so people can understand it.

There are basically four themes between the covers of a Bible: Creation, Sin, The First Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When Christ came the first time He took care of the sin problem; when He comes again He will take on sorrow and death.

I heard of an old preacher who was presenting a powerful sermon on the Second Coming, and a man who did not believe it rose to his feet and said, You can't get that out of the Bible. The preacher paused and said, You sir are right, you can't. It's in there and you can't get it out. It is in there to stay.

If we believe Jesus died and rose again, then those which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him I Thessalonians 4:14
Every time the gospel is preached, every time a person comes to know the Lord through the saving grace of the gospel, it reminds us of His return. In the gospel, we find the sin of the sinner forgiven and the salvation of the Lord bestowed.

His first coming was promised in Genesis 3:15 and that promise was kept by a real and literal advent. Now, friend, since God kept His first promise of the Savior's first advent, we can be assured that He will keep His second promise of the second advent. I WILL COME AGAIN John 14:3

There are several reasons why the Lord must return.

First, He must return because of the flood and because of Sodom and Gomorrah! If the Lord doesn’t return and punish sin in our world today, He’d need to apologize to the people of Noah's generation and the people of Lot's time.

Second, the Lord must keep faith with the dead saints. Those blessed saints who died in the Lord were promised a resurrection from the grave and life without end. He will come again to keep that promise and to keep faith with the saints.

Third, the Lord must secure the universe. Satan, sin and sorrow have marred the universe and this must be brought to an end. His return and the creation of a new world will take care of this: There is a new world coming.

Fourth, He is coming again because love cannot tolerate separation. Love cannot put up with separation, it cannot endure separation. The Lord longs to be with His people.

And fifth, He must return to finish what He started. What He began must be ended. Sin was taken care of at the cross. John 19:30 Now, He will return to change these vile bodies and give us a body like His. Philippians 3:21
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I Thessalonians 4:16,17

His coming will be PERSONAL. Verse 16 the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven

His coming will be SUDDEN. Be ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes Matthew 24:44

A Scotch preacher asked some people, Do you think Jesus will come today? They said, No, we think not. The preacher replied, In an hour that you think not the Son of man comes.

When Noah was expecting the flood, he went ahead building the ark and preaching concerning the coming flood.

While he waited, he worked, and while he worked, he witnessed.

And that is how it should be with the church today.

We must occupy until He comes.

His coming will be VISIBLE. There will be no secret rapture.


Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kinds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so Amen. Revelation 1:7

What kind of people should we be?
II Peter 3:14 says, Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be DILIGENT that you may be found of him in PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT, and BLAMELESS.

DILIGENT: It is a sad, tragic thought to know that many will be left behind because they haven’t made preparation for that day.

PEACE: Peace with God and peace with others. Every sin confessed, every sin forgiven, every sin washed by the blood.

WITHOUT SPOT: When we come to God through His Son, we are clothed with the robe of His righteousness just like in the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) and the robe for the marriage supper. (Matthew 22:11)

BLAMELESS: John, the beloved, was standing on the Isle of Patmos when Jesus came to him and said, Behold, I come quickly The old saint of God looked up longingly and cried, Even so come, Lord Jesus.

John Newton the converted slave-dealer, who wrote the universally loved hymn "Amazing Grace," wrote, if I ever reach heaven, I expect to find 3 wonders:
1. to meet some I had not thought to see there
2. to miss some I had thought to meet there
3. the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there!

And it is that greatest wonder that will cause all of God's children to fall on their knees in gratitude for God's amazing grace. But why wait, now is the time to begin expressing our gratitude.

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Let each of us be there.