Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast.
How do we know where to find answers to the toughest questions in life?
While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search and how do we discover
this truth?
Today, in this teaching podcast, John Metter, lead pastor of Cross City Church, takes a
specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth for the life we're searching for.
Well we're ready to begin our Great Expectations series.
I hope you're ready and I want you to take your Bibles and turn to Titus chapter 2 today.
We're going to begin by talking about the why and who of prophecy.
Now the first thing you may think of when you hear me ask you to take your Bibles and
turn to Titus is, is that really a prophetic passage?
Does that really deal with like the end of Christ, the end times, the last days?
Does it deal with the rapture?
Does it deal with the triumphant return of Christ?
And the answer is no, it's just a basic text about salvation.
But in it, we are brought to an understanding of prophecy in a huge way.
So the why and who of prophecy, by the way, I hope you're with us this whole series.
It'll be for the next six or eight, nine weeks I think it is.
And we're going to enjoy touching on every aspect of the end times.
How many of you believe that we might be in the end times?
Just say amen.
Raise your hands, say amen.
How many of you hope we're in the end times?
I kind of hope that, right?
And so we have a lot of expectations, but I want to talk to you about the great expectations
that scripture points us to today when it comes to the return of Christ.
Let's stand together.
I'm going to read a passage, Titus chapter two, verse 11, 12, 13 and 14.
The Bible says, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing
us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly
in the present age.
It goes on and says, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great
God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed
and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Keep your Bible open to that passage in Titus two.
We're going to walk all the way through those verses over these next few moments.
Father, in Jesus name, my prayer is that you will bless this series and this message today.
Father, I pray that you would help us know what to look for and what to be excited about,
what to be anxious and expecting for.
Father, I pray that you would quicken in our hearts the desire for Christ's return and
understanding all the signs of the times that we're seeing today.
Holy Spirit, illumine this text to help us live the life you've called us to live.
I ask it in Jesus name.
All God's people said, amen.
Please be seated if you would.
If you could know the future of the world, would it help you in living life as you move
into the future?
If you could know what the future held, wouldn't it help you during those uncertain times where
you're wondering, well, what's next?
What could possibly happen next?
What kind of things am I going to have to deal with?
What kind of suffering am I going to have to undergo in the days ahead?
When you think about world events, maybe like me, you look at those things and say, is the
world completely out of control?
How many of you think sometimes it feels like the world is completely out of control?
I'm happy to tell you today, it's not completely out of control.
There is a God who sits on the throne and he does talk about the appearance of these
last days and these final times before the end time.
And we have some things to look at, some things to look forward to, and things that reassure
us as we go through these times.
Now many of you may know by now because I've shared it a couple of times that I am a new
WNBA basketball fan.
I'm a Caitlin Clark fan.
I've watched her at Iowa.
She graduated, she was drafted, and Indiana Fevers, the team she plays with, and I've
enjoyed watching her.
I haven't missed a game all year long.
My wife and I enjoy watching her play.
I don't know what it is, her joy for the game, her passion, her great shootings, logo three-point
shots, something I could never master as a basketball player in college, nor would my
coach want me to try the logo three-point shot.
But I've enjoyed watching her.
I rarely miss a game, but one game I was tied up doing something else and I couldn't watch.
And so I had this app called Score, and on this app I can tell who's ahead, who's behind.
I can tell all the data about the game.
And so I kind of watched that app while I was at this other activity that I was involved
with, and I would keep picking every once in a while, and I found out that at the end
of the day, the Indiana Fever won, Caitlin Clark had a great game.
And then I went home and watched it on TV.
And when I watched it on TV, I realized that there was a huge battle throughout the whole
game.
The first half of the game was awful for the Indiana Fever.
Caitlin Clark did so badly, and I thought, what's going on?
I know we're going to win the game in the end.
I know she's going to have 25 points at the end.
And then I just kind of hung in there, and the third quarter and the fourth quarter were
phenomenal, but knowing the score at the end of the game, before I watched the game, helped
me get all the way through the game.
You know where I'm going with this, right?
It's important for you to know the end game so you can make it through the entirety of
life and all that life throws at you.
And I have to tell you today, I think life's throwing a lot of stuff at us.
I think if you look at the world today, you have reason to be discouraged.
A person facing death can be discouraged until they remember that Jesus promises an eternal
life on the other side of death, and then you can make it through that time.
It helps us know there's a reward for those that stay faithful and steadfast and serve
God all the way through their lifetime, even though it's not the easiest thing to do.
You can endure because there's reward.
It helps you to know that in the end, Jesus wins when you deal with evil, and it looks
like evil is going to overcome the world, but then you remember, oh no, in the end,
Jesus comes back and he restores everything as it should be.
That's why the Bible gives us prophecy to help us know what the end's going to be like.
In fact, knowing about the return of Christ can help you navigate life in a way few other
things can do.
So as we look at the text today, we're going to find out first of all the why of prophecy
and the who of prophecy.
You know, whenever we talk about the why of prophecy and the who of prophecy and the when
of prophecy, people want to know what are the dates that Jesus is coming back in.
People have always put dates out there.
Back in the 80s, I was pastoring a church in Oklahoma, first pastorate, and the first
church I'd ever led in, and a book came out called 88 Reasons that Jesus Christ is Coming
Back in 1988 by Edgar Huisnacht.
Many of you remember that book.
And everybody bought the book because 88 was a tough year and we were looking at all he
said about the 88 reasons Jesus is coming back in 1988.
And as the year went on, September, October, November, finally December, we realized Jesus
is not coming back in 1988.
So much for that.
And then the first week of January, Edward Huisnacht writes another book called 89 Reasons
He's Coming Back in 1989.
And nobody bought that book.
You'll never know the day.
You'll never know the time.
Jesus himself says, no man knows the hour, only the Father who has set the hour.
But here's what we can do.
We can know the why of biblical prophecy and how it impacts us.
And I want to talk to you about that for just a few moments.
This unusual passage is a salvation text, but it involves the fulfillment of Old Testament
prophecy about the first coming of Christ.
And it points to the other prophecies about the second coming of Christ, all buried there
in Titus chapter two, 11 through 14.
So let me give you some reasons that prophecy is so important.
Here's why we're studying prophecy, which is the foretelling of Christ coming both the
first time and in his return.
First of all, prophecy anchors us in scripture.
Paul opens his text up by saying, for the grace of God has appeared.
And that word's going to be very important as we study prophecy, because this word simply
means Jesus always was.
John 1.1 says in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God.
And it talks about Jesus Christ being the creator of heaven and earth.
Jesus always has been, but he appeared when he was born of a virgin and put in a manger.
You know, he lived a life, he died on the cross.
And Paul describes all that as the grace of God has appeared.
And in that he's saying, you didn't know it, but God knew it and sent him and prophesied
that he would come at the appropriate time.
Now when it comes to Christmas time, we talk all about the Old Testament prophecies of
Christ, how they point to Jesus the Messiah.
For example, it's Micah, the Old Testament prophet that prophesies that the Messiah
would be born in a city called Bethlehem, which is not a city at all, but just a small,
little insignificant village.
And no other prophecy would ever point out that.
No other person could ever predict that.
But Micah said, by the word of the Lord, that the Messiah would be born there.
Matthew validates that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
And the fulfillment of that Old Testament prophecy gives us courage to believe all the
prophecies of the Bible.
Peter said it like this in 2 Peter.
This is the passage that everybody needs to know, spend a little time on.
He says, but know this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's
own interpretation.
For no prophecy was ever made or given by the act of human will.
That is, the Bible was not written by men who just decided to write this or that, but
rather men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
In other words, what we have in the scripture is inspired by God.
The Old Testament prophecies as well as the New Testament words regarding Jesus Christ,
all given by God, all these things should give us confidence in the scriptures.
That is, when you open the Bible, you can know that they are reliable and helping you
with everything you need in life, including the return of Christ.
Now if you ask me if I want to build my life on solid ground or shaky ground, I'm going
to answer this way.
I'm going to say I want to build my life on solid ground, so I'm going to build my life
on the Bible.
I'm going to build my life on the Bible because it's God's word to us.
Every time I look at prophecy, it reaffirms that.
It anchors me in that understanding that everything prophecy says about Jesus' second coming is
going to happen because everything it said about His first coming absolutely happened.
It anchors us in scripture.
Basically, prophecy challenges us to resist worldly living.
If we know something is going to happen in the sense of Christ's return, we're going
to live like we know that.
Paul says this in verse 12.
He's bringing salvation, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to
live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.
You say, what is worldly living?
Well, look at the world.
That's worldly living.
Worldly living is living as though there is no God in your past.
There is no God in your present.
There is no God in the future.
You do know, don't you, that the world has their own answer to how we got there, their
origins without God.
They have their own definition of gender without God.
They have their own definition of mental health without God.
They have their own definition of marriage and family without God.
And they have their own definition of future without God.
And the outcome is disastrous.
If you want to know what the outcome of all that thinking is, look at what we have now.
It's disastrous.
But what Paul says in this passage is that the salvation that we have in Jesus and all
the words that point to him instruct us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and live
sensibly and righteously and godly in the present age.
Paul says there's an age in which you live and that age will be for as long as your life
on this planet until this future age comes when Christ comes back.
Live as though you know he's coming back.
It was John that wrote these words, beloved, now we are the children of God and it's not
appeared as yet what we will be.
We know that when he appears we will become just like him because we will see him just
as he is.
And that is what he says next.
And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure.
John says if you're looking for Jesus Christ to come back, if you're one of those that
love his appearing, then you're also going to live as though you know he's coming back.
He's your master.
He's coming back and you're going to want to be found living like he wants you to live
while you're on this planet.
And if you remember all the promises of his return, you're going to live resisting worldly
living.
It helps you live the way you're called to live.
Prophecy also points us to the future.
It gets to our mind not so much on the past but for what's ahead.
The last part of that verse 13 says looking for the blessed hope and appearing of Jesus
Christ.
The many of us are so entangled by the past, past regret, past disappointments, past events
that have happened to us.
Everywhere there's hurt and division because of things in the past, all kinds of suffering
and catastrophe because of things that are already happening or are happening right now.
Do you ever look at the degradation of society, at the disasters and the cataclysmic events
going on around us and say how long Lord?
Do you ever look at the direction some people take about their lives and how messed up their
lives are and say how long Lord?
How long is it going to continue like that?
Well prophecy does this.
It says to us it won't always be that way.
We are to look for the future where he brings the fullness of hope to us, a transformation
to everything in our lives and everything on this planet.
Paul says this in Romans 8 and I love this verse because when times are tough, I read
this one.
He says for I consider that the sufferings of this present time, now if you're suffering
for something, if you're going through hardship and difficulty right now, this really helps
you.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that is to be revealed to us.
That's Romans 8 verse 18.
That's the triumphant passage by the way.
Chapter 8 is amazing in Romans 8.
And what Paul says is no matter how rough it gets in life, no matter how hard your suffering
is, no matter what you may be going through physically or financially or whatever it may
be, relationally, whatever you're going through, what you're going through right now, as bad
as it possibly can be, it's not even worthy to be compared with the glories that this
next life, that your future life will have.
Listen, let me tell you something today.
You'll never ever have the kind of blessing you hope to have until Jesus Christ comes
back.
Your best life will not be now.
You can live a great life now.
You can live a life that is blessed in so many ways right now.
You can live for the Lord in a way where He will give you favor, no question about it.
But your best life, your very best life is not now, it's future.
It's future.
As I want to read about prophecy, we think about the future.
It gets our mind on the things that are to come.
I like to say it this way.
The Christian, and this is challenging by the way, the Christian must have one eye on
the present and the other eye on the future coming of the Lord.
I mean, I've got to keep my eyes open to what's around me, but I also have to keep in mind
He's coming back.
Am I living now in such a way that recognizes that He's coming back?
Warren Worsby said it like this, there are two stakes in a Christian's life.
One stake is at the cross and we always look back to the cross as that moment where we
became right with God.
The other stake is His return.
And here's the Christian in the middle of those two places looking back at what He's
done for us, looking ahead at what He will do for us.
And we're living in this present moment, standing on that foundation, but looking for that future
coming.
That's what we want you to do.
Paul says, I want you to look ahead and have your eyes on the things above, not just here,
but there.
And then let me give you one other principle that I think prophecy does.
Prophecy promotes witnessing.
It helps us tell others that they need to come to Christ.
In verse 13, Paul goes on and says, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ.
Now he's referring to Christ's second coming and he's saying, I want you to live in such
a way where you understand He's coming back.
And I would ask you the question today that's very important, and that is, what's the difference
between the first appearing of Jesus and the next appearing of Jesus?
In the first one, He came in humility and He came to serve.
And the second, according to this text, He's coming in glory.
He's coming in a very different way.
He's coming in glory to transform us.
And when He appears again, there will no longer be any opportunities to lead other people
to Jesus.
Now is the time for that to take place.
If you have loved ones, family members that don't know Christ, now is the time to talk
to them about coming to Christ.
Because when Jesus Christ comes back, He's coming back for those of us who do believe
and others will be left behind as harsh as that may seem.
Knowing about the return of Christ makes you able and hopefully more willing to share the
gospel of Jesus with other people.
As I studied this prophecy over these last few weeks, it moves my heart.
It makes me think of people I need to be talking to, people I need to be pointing out the fact
that Jesus is coming back someday.
You won't have forever to think about this, to process this.
He's coming back and the offer is for you now.
Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 11, Paul, he said it this way, therefore, knowing the
fear of the Lord, we persuade men.
Who needs to know in your life?
Tell them before Christ comes back.
So about that little bit about the what of prophecy, but I want you to look today at
the who of prophecy.
Because the who of prophecy helps us know exactly what the expectation should be for
Christ's return.
Knowing about great expectations, my very first Dallas Cowboys football game was the
time of great expectation.
I'll have to tell you the date of it and it'll kind of help set the scene.
The Dallas Cowboys were still playing in the Super Bowl.
I mean, I'm sorry, they're never playing in the Super Bowl.
Excuse me.
The Dallas Cowboys were playing in the Cotton Bowl and it was 1970, December 26, 1970.
I was 12 years old.
My dad got tickets to the Dallas Cowboys versus Detroit Lions in 1970 playoff game.
Now, we lived in a small town in Oklahoma, so real Oklahoma.
The whole town's population was 700 people, right?
There was a high school football team and they played on a football field that I think
never got mowed.
I mean, it wasn't a great field.
We sat in wooden stadium seats that bent when people sat on them.
That's the kind of kind of football team we had, the kind of football field we had in
high school.
And there was never more than 250 people in the stands watching the football game.
The uniforms of our football team didn't match hardly at all.
I mean, basically the same color, but they weren't all the same color pants and so forth
and so on.
So going to the Dallas Cowboys football game, which I'd only seen on black and white TV,
some of you can't remember that, black and white TV, and I had huge expectations and
it was met at every turn.
I mean, there were 70,000 people in the stands and I had never seen that many people in one
place in my whole life.
The hot dogs were to die for.
The popcorn was amazing.
The football uniforms were incredibly coordinated.
I mean, it was beautiful silver and blue like I'd never seen before in my life.
It was an amazing and amazing experience.
We had end zone seats, which normally are not great seats, but in this particular day,
there was a safety at the end of the game in the end zone right there.
I could smell the football player for this 12 year old boy.
It was great expectations, absolutely fulfilled.
Now the Dallas Cowboys won that game by a grand score of five to nothing.
It is now called the worst playoff football game in history, but my expectations were
met because I was just a little kid.
I've never seen anything like that.
Now why am I telling you about that?
Because I want everything that you think of when it comes to the return of Christ to be
a great expectation.
And I'm going to tell you this, he will not disappoint you when he comes.
You will not be disappointed in the way he comes.
You will not be disappointed in the time that he comes.
You won't be disappointed in the glory with which he comes.
You need to have great expectations about the future times, the end time and not frightening
expectations, not panicky expectations.
You don't need to be anxious about the things that are coming because he will fulfill every
great expectation you can ever possibly imagine.
But you have to focus on the who and not the what.
Now there are all kinds of things that are going to be happening as we talk about the
last days and the end times.
I believe we're living in the last days, but the end times will not be initiated until
the rapture of the church.
And I'll tell you more about that in just a few moments.
We'll have a message where we focus on just the rapture of the church.
But these are the kind of things that we'll be talking about.
For example, we'll be talking about the church and Israel.
What's the difference between the church and Israel?
There's a huge distinction in biblical prophecy.
How God deals with the church, how God deals with Israel are two different things.
But we do want to know what is the significance of what's happening in the nation of Israel
right now with end times?
We'll talk about that.
We'll talk about rebuilding the temple.
You know the temple needs to be rebuilt.
And Israel, into Jerusalem, we'll talk about the Antichrist.
We'll talk about the great tribulation, that seven years of tribulation.
We'll talk about the triumphant return of Christ, where we returned in glory.
We'll talk about the Battle of Armageddon.
We'll talk about the millennium period, a thousand years the Bible speaks of.
We'll speak of the great white throne judgment.
We'll also speak of eternity in heaven and what it means to see the new heaven and the
new earth.
All those things are going to be part of what we're talking about.
But the what of the return of Christ does not need to be able to be stronger for you.
It doesn't need to take your attention away from the who of prophecy.
And the who of prophecy is Jesus.
It's Jesus.
I want you to keep your eyes on what the scripture says about Jesus.
Now as we walk through this, I need to tell you that we are coming from a perspective
of dispensational premillennialism.
Dispensational premillennialism.
Now some of you are thinking now, where did you take that left turn?
I mean, what's that technical term you're talking about?
Dispensational premillennialism describes my view of scripture when it comes to the
return of Christ.
And my view of scripture has to do with the fact that the next event to take place will
be the rapture of the church by Jesus Christ.
He will appear and rapture the church.
We'll talk about this and we'll look at the verse that we've just put before you in just
a moment.
There are others who are godly spiritual people who have different views.
And so I'm not going to demean them in any way.
But I do want you to know that all of us who have various views of scripture are looking
for Jesus to come back just in different times in different ways.
Bill Anderson was a beloved pastor of his church until his death just recently.
And when I was preaching through 1 Thessalonians a few years ago, we looked at the rapture
of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4.
That next week, Bill called me and said, hey, let's go to lunch, which he never did.
And we went to lunch and we sat down and he said, I want to talk to you about your message
about the rapture of the church.
And I said, sure.
And he said, let me give you this book first of all.
I wrote it and it tells you everything you got wrong in your message on Sunday.
And I said, OK, Bill, I'll read it.
But the point is, Bill and I had a great relationship.
We differed in what we thought about the return of Christ in the sense of when and where the
church's rapture.
But we were both men that were pursuing the truth of God.
So I'm going to share with you in a way that makes sense from the scripture today about
why you're looking for Jesus himself to come back, why you're looking for the rapture of
the church.
Now, go back in your text, Titus chapter 2, and I want you to look at verse 13.
I want you to see this.
Jesus will return personally and physically.
He will personally and physically appear.
Now, if you're reading Titus chapter 2, Paul is riding to the church and he's saying, I
want you to know that the grace of God appeared when Jesus came the first time, but now you're
living in this present age in such a way where you're eagerly waiting his next appearing
and you are to be looking for his personal, physical appearance.
Here's the way he words that, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of Jesus Christ.
Now this word appearance is the word epiphany in the Greek, and it only refers to the literal,
personal return of Jesus Christ.
That's always been the focus of prophecy is that Jesus Christ is coming back.
Jesus tells us he's coming back.
The angels tell the disciples in Acts chapter 1 that Jesus is coming back.
The apostle John says that Jesus is coming back for the church, and Paul says it again
all through the scripture that we are to be looking for the return of Christ, the appearance
of Christ.
In other words, you're not looking for the tribulation.
You're not looking for God pouring out his wrath on the earth.
You're not looking for the millennial period.
You're not looking for the battle of Armageddon.
You're not looking for those things.
As believers today, we're looking for Jesus to come back.
It's so simple.
And aren't you glad?
Looking for him to return.
Paul said this in 2 Timothy 4, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness
which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day and not only to me, but
all who have loved his, and here's the word again, appearing.
In other words, we are to love and yearn for his appearance, his second time to come to
us.
So he will first of all personally and physically appear.
Secondly, he will gloriously and powerfully appear.
Now the reason that's important is because of verse 13, the appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
When he appears, when you see him next, you will see him with the glory and greatness
that you did not get to see when he came the first time.
When Jesus came the first time, he came as a suffering servant, Isaiah said.
He came in humility and he came as a sacrifice to die on the cross for us.
And so many people today still have only that view of Jesus.
I hear it all the time.
People say, well Jesus is not that strong of a judge.
He's not going to be coming in that glorious way.
He was a humble servant and he was.
But if you only have a gospel view of Jesus, you don't have a complete view of Jesus because
the whole Bible talks about not only the gospel, but what he will be like when he comes back.
People see him as meek and gentle and loving and forgiving.
It's all true.
But there's another side.
Stick with me here.
Part of the gospel is that he came to serve and love and die in our place.
And part of the gospel is that his dead body was laid in a tomb.
And part of the gospel story is that he rose again from the dead.
And the gospel story also says he ascended into heaven, but it doesn't end there.
It doesn't end there.
He came first as a baby, but he's coming back as a king.
He came first in mercy, but he's coming back as a judge.
He came first in human form, but he's coming back in glorious form.
Big difference between his first coming and his second coming.
So you look for Jesus to come back in all his glory, in all his power.
That's something to look forward to, an expectation he's going to fulfill.
But here's the clencher here.
This is what moves me.
Jesus will lovingly appear for his people.
Look in verse 14 of this text we've been reading, Titus 2, after Paul says, look for his, the
blessed hope and the appearing of him in glory, he says, who gave himself for us to redeem
us from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession.
Now I want you to have a heart moment with me for just a second.
This is an intimacy moment.
This is a moment where you take personal what these words say right here.
Jesus gave himself for you to redeem you from every lawless deed and to purify for himself
you as a person for his own possession.
I want you to think for just a moment, what's he done for you?
Think about Jesus when he forgave you of sin when you first came and put your faith and
trust in him.
Think about how he opened the wisdom of scripture to you when you began to read.
Think about how he may have surrounded you with people who loved you and encouraged you
and helped you live the Christian life.
Think about him a few moments ago when you took the bread and the juice and you said,
Lord forgive me for everything I've done.
Fill me with your Holy Spirit in those intimate moments where he actually does that in your
life.
Think about him personally investing in your life and the power of the Holy Spirit leading
you and guiding you and convicting you in all the ways he does.
Think about Jesus meeting you in your darkest times when you're all by yourself and you
have no clue if anyone else cares about you or loves you.
Think about the Jesus who rejoices with you when great things happen in your life and
the one who's your constant prayer presence and yet you've never seen him but on this
day you will see him and remember all those things.
Can you imagine that with me for a moment?
Can you imagine that?
When you see Jesus you're going to fall in love with him all over again in a way you've
never experienced in your life.
Think of the wedding picture that Jesus gave the disciples that he helps them understand
how the return of Christ will happen.
He presents himself as the bridegroom that's coming back for the bride who is the church.
Now this is what Jesus told the disciples in John chapter 14 where they were worried
about his death on the cross.
And in John 14 Jesus said, do not let your heart be troubled believe in God, believe
also in me.
In my father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you for
I go to prepare a place for you.
We know that's just speaking about heaven.
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.
He's referring to his return.
I'm going to come back and I'm going to bring you to myself so that where I am there you
are forever.
In 1 Thessalonians 4 it says and thus we shall always be with the Lord.
So from that moment on we're forever with him.
Think again of the Jewish wedding analogy.
You know the difference between most of the weddings that you see and the Jewish wedding
is that in most of the weddings you see everyone waits for the bride to come down the aisle.
You've been in weddings, you see everybody on the stage, the preachers there, the groomsmen
are there, the bridesmaids are there, the flower kids are there.
Everything is waiting on the bride.
When the bride comes in man it's a glorious moment, it's an awesome moment.
Everybody stands up and looks back to see that bride.
Forty-six plus years ago I was married and we were on the stage of a little church in
Irving, Texas.
My dad was standing here as the officiant.
He was the one doing the wedding.
Me and my basketball buddies were all standing here as groomsmen.
We averaged 6'5 on our groomsmen group right there.
My wife with her maids of honors I think they averaged 5'1 or something like that.
It definitely wasn't even but it was something like that, 6'5, 5'1.
I remember all of a sudden the doors in the back of the church opened up and we'd been
dating for 17 months, my wife and I, but I'd never seen her in this bridal dress.
The music was playing, people were standing, I looked down at all and there she came in.
I mean I just about lost it, I really did.
I don't think I breathed for a couple of minutes.
I was just staring at that hour of that beautiful woman in that glorious white dress and as
she came down that aisle the only thing I could think of, finally she's mine.
Finally she's mine.
Man that was a great, great day.
Finally she's mine.
Let me ask you to take that picture for a moment.
I want you to flip it around.
And I want you to see the church of Jesus Christ looking up that aisle.
I want you to realize that the doors were open.
The bridegroom will come in a glorious way and you'll look at him and he'll look at you
and you'll say, he's mine.
And he will say, and you are mine.
That's what you're to be looking for.
You're to be looking for Christ to come back and when you see him as magnanimous and powerful
and beautiful as it is, it will be a loving encounter between you and your Savior.
In fact, you'll need a glorified body at that point because you won't be able to contain
all the emotions and all the love and all the joy and all the celebration that will
be happening in your heart when you see that Jesus Christ has come back for you and then
you'll be able to understand what it means to say the blessed hope and the appearing
of the glory of Christ Jesus.
That's what we're to be looking for.
It's good news ahead, great expectations and he will fulfill every part of that expectation.
So here's what I want you to know.
I want you to know that no matter how tough the world is right now, how deep your grief
might be right now, there's good news in that grief.
Jesus is coming back for you.
He will meet you in your worry.
He'll meet you in a very confused world and if you believe in Christ, if you trust Him
for your salvation, then your future is intertwined with Him completely from that day forward.
From the moment you place your faith with Christ, you are entwined with Him and He's
coming back for you.
Man, I can't wait to see Jesus.
I can't wait to see the smile on His face, the glory that accompanies Him.
I can't wait for Him to settle all the issues on this planet.
I can't wait to be in a heaven that He's prepared for all those who have believed in Him.
I can't wait for all the pain and the heartbreak and the death and the mourning and the crying
to be done with and to be with Him forever.
Jesus is coming back for you and I want you to have great expectations of His return.
Let me ask you this today, are you ready for His return?
Have you come to the place where you know beyond doubt that you are one of those people
that Titus 2 talks about, someone who's been paid for, whose sin has been forgiven, who's
been purified because you came to Jesus and trusted what He did on the cross for you?
Because if you've never had that moment, you need to take advantage of the opportunity
to put your trust in Christ now.
When He comes back, it'll be too late.
Put your faith in Him now so that you'll be ready when He returns.
In just a moment, I'll have a word of prayer and I'll give you three invitations today
as I often do.
And one is, if you have questions about your relationship with Christ, we want to help
you by talking with you about that.
We have our decision stations open at both sides of the back of the church.
Just stop by there.
There'll be somebody manning those stations who is ready to answer questions to talk to
you about your relationship with Christ.
If you don't know that you have one with Him, by the time you leave today, you can have
a relationship with Christ.
Sins paid for.
Sure that you're going to have eternity in heaven with Him.
That's the first invitation.
Don't miss that opportunity.
Secondly, if you're a guest, I'd love to see you in our guest reception room right outside
the center exit doors across the hallway, a glassed-in room.
I'll be there and I want to encourage you to come and let me say hi to you today.
Thirdly, bring somebody back with you next week.
If you have any questions about Israel and what God is doing with Israel, we're going
to talk about Israel next week.
We're going to talk about the covenant of Israel and what that means for us today, what
prophecy means today with these world events that are happening.
But come back.
This is as relevant a series as you're going to find.
Let's stand together for a word of prayer.
Father, I am so grateful for this day and for the promises that you give us.
Lord, I ask you that you help make our minds and hearts ready for your return.
Lord, in so many ways, we're not ready.
We're not thinking of eternity.
We're not thinking of your appearing.
Lord, help us to do that.
Help us shift gears in our minds, our hearts, to not be focused so much on where we are
now, but also to be able to focus on where we will be when you return.
Father, get us ready.
Help us share with those that don't know.
Help us settle that issue today in our own hearts.
Thank you for the privilege of knowing these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.