By Pastor Tony Cirigliano
CD Brooks gave an illustration that showed the difference between the Time of the End, and the end of time.
He said when they start fattening up the turkeys in September for Thanksgiving Day, that’s the time of the end.
Thanksgiving morning is the end of Time!
We are in the Time of The End, and moving fast toward the end of time!
The world has changed a lot since the sudden unlooked for calamity of 9/11.
Pope John Paul has passed away and already people are talking about making him a saint people can pray to!
The new pope is one that headed the renamed office of the Inquisition!
Now an American holds that office – Imagine if he became the next pope – an American pope who would cooperate with the American president to bring in a national Sunday law.
The religious right boasts of putting the American president in office and claims the power to sway any election.
The supreme court is changing as religious right members are replacing old judges.
The seas and the waves are roaring – the tsunamis
Global warming – seas will rise 1.5 feet in the next 10 years!
The end-time pieces are on the board and crucials moves are being made now.
Soon the Lord will say checkmate!
The gospel is going to all the world for a witness – Jesus said, when that’s done, “the end shall come.”
Wars and rumors of wars – people are without natural affection for one another.
The very last deception of Satan to make of no effect the Spirit of Prophecy is happening now!
Books of a different order are being written.
The churches are low on funds because Laodicea does not return the Lord’s tithes as it should!
We have come to the place where we must gather warmth from the coldness of others!
The rocks are crying out that the Savior is soon to return!
I’m tired of this world of sin. I’m ready to go home? Are you?
The Lord wants to end the sin and suffering of this world and come back and take His children home!
He sent His church with the gospel message so none need be lost!
The very last words of Jesus recorded in the Bible is “Surely, I come quickly.”
The coming of Jesus has been the blessed hope of His church down through the ages.
Every child of God from righteous Abel to the present day has looked forward to that great day when their Lord will come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
No church yearns more for Jesus to come than the Seventh-day Adventist Church which rose out of the great Second Advent movement!
In our very name – Adventists we declare that we preach and believe in the soon return of Jesus – His great Advent!
Ellen White said that the second coming should be the “keynote” of every sermon!
It is to be prominent in our minds!
The second coming of Christ is the most prominent doctrine in the Bible!
It is referred to 380 times in the New Testament alone!
That’s an average of one verse in every 25!
I have news for you – this old world is passing away and eternity is staring us all in the face!
There were over two hundred Scriptures that predicted Jesus’ first coming, and He fulfilled them all!
There are over two thousand Scriptures in the Bible that predict His Second coming!
How foolish it is for some to doubt that these Scriptures will not be fulfilled as were those for His first coming!
The Scriptures cannot be broken!
Jesus is going to finish the job He came to do, and the Second coming is a most important part of Jesus’ mission – for without it, we have no hope Paul says
Great men of God down through the centuries have longed for the blessed hope of the Lord’s return.
Martin Luther in approximately 1544 wrote: “I persuade myself verily, that the day of judgment will not be absent full three hundred years. God will not, can not, suffer this wicked world much longer. The day is drawing near in which the kingdom of abominations will be overthrown.”
Interesting that Luther said that the judgment would begin three hundred years future to his day – that would take us to 1844 when the Investigative Judgment began in heaven!
We are now 161 years this side of the judgment and all the signs are being fulfilled
John Calvin wrote: “We must hunger after Christ. We must seek, contemplate, till the dawning of that great day when our Lord will fully manifest the glory of His kingdom.”
The great Scottish reformer Knox wrote:
“Has not the Lord Jesus carried up our flesh into heaven? And shall He not return, and that with expedition?”
Dwight Moody, the great evangelist said, “The church has had very little to say about the second coming of Jesus. Now I see a reason for this: The devil does not want us to see this truth, for nothing would wake up the church so much!”
May 2005 Review – not a mention of the return of Jesus!
We need to hear about and look for the return of our Lord!
The prophet Amos warns the church to “prepare to meet thy God O Israel!”
My sister-in-law Angela and the sonic boom! She was frightened that it might be the Lord’s return!
Romans 13:11 “And that knowing the time, that it is now high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed!”
Prophecies are being fulfilled! Every passing moment brings the world closer to the return of Jesus!
Hebrews 10:37 “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and not tarry.”
Jesus Himself said, “Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour ye think not.”
Revival means being spiritually rejuvenated – cleansed from unrighteousness, renewed in the mind, given spiritual eye-salve so you can see!
It means hungering for the Holy Spirit who awaits our demand and reception inspiration says!
It means being ready for Jesus to come!
Here’s a little poem I wrote for this sermon:
Sinners mock, revile and hate
Saying, “Your God does not come. He is a fake!”
But in their hearts they can ill afford,
To mock the words of Yahshua the Lord!
So the righteous pray with tears and wait.
On Jesus’ words they hang their fate.
The sinners His words have not received
But the righteous know Whom they have believed!
Friends – The King is Coming! The King is Coming!
I want to do something different today, I want to give you an opportunity to hare a short thought on what the second coming of Jesus means to you!
I want you not only to think of it, but if you would like express your thoughts and feelings about it!
I will read some Scripture, and if I see you standing, I will let you speak between verses. Keep it short so many will have an opportunity to share.
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which
standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble,
such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that
time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the
book.
Isaiah 28
22 Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong:
for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon
the whole earth
Job 19
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth:
Jude
14Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
I believe that some here will live to see Jesus return! Those that sleep will awake to see Him come!
1 John 2
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.
Great Controversy, p. 641
“No human pen can portray the scene; no mortal mind is adequate to conceive its splendor. "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. And His brightness was as the light." Habakkuk 3:3,4. As the living cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head; but a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. "And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." Revelation 19:16.
Luke 17
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of
Lot; they did eat, they drank, they
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and
brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is
revealed.
31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff
in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the
field, let him likewise not return back.
Jesus said, “Remember Lot’s wife” when He was talking about the second coming!
Her heart was back in Sodom! We want to look for that city whose builder and maker is God!
18 months before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we had warnings about it – we were warned to “Maintain alert.” But 18 months of relaxing proved fatal!
On December 7, 1941 destruction rained down from the sky!
The Bible tells us to “maintain alert.” Jesus said, “Be ye ready!”
Luke 21
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the
waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and
lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luke 21
34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be
overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so
that day come upon you unawares.
35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face
of the whole earth.
36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted
worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before
the Son of man.
“Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror.” – GC, p. 641.
James 5
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath
long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the
Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned:
behold, the judge standeth before the door.
Revelation 1
7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and
they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
him. Even so, Amen.
John 14
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also
in me.
2 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.
3 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.
Acts 1
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up,
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into
heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Hebrews 9
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto
them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation.
The second coming of Christ is one of the greatest teachings of the Bible.
But the greatest teaching is that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The good news is that Jesus has already come and defeated the devil and made salvation possible fore every one who wants it!
He said, “He that comes to Me, I will in no way cast out!
John 12
31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this
world be cast out.
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me.
He’s drawing you and I to Him!
The second coming is the great culmination of the plan of salvation!
But unless we have been washed in the blood of Christ, and are baptized as Jesus said, as Angel Rose was today, the second coming will be a day of terror and weeping!
Only the redeemed – the righteous will look up and say, “Behold, this is our God, we have waited for Him and He will save us.”
There will be many who will say the frightful words found in Revelation 6:16-17.
Revelation 6
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us
from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to
stand?
Jeremiah asked this question?
Jeremiah 5
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by
their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end
thereof?
The Bible tells us to, “Save yourself from this wicked and perverse generation.”
Revelation 22
20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
May this be our prayer!
Now is the time to prepare – to make sure all things are right!
Now is the time to confess sins – to repent – to turn to righteousness!
Paul said, “Now is the day of salvation!”
The saddest verse in the Bible is the one that says, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
May that never be said by any family in this church is my prayer!
Let’s bow our heads!