Earth Center of the Universe: Ready for Christ's Return

If Jesus Christ returned today, would you be glad or would you hope for more time? That single question drives this half-hour message from Pastor James W. Knox, and it refuses to let the second coming of Christ remain a distant doctrine. We start with the bedrock: Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, the only way to heaven, and the risen Savior whose resurrection proves His power to forgive sins and give eternal life. From there, we challenge the drift that cools Christian urgency and replaces the early church’s expectancy with modern comfort.

We talk about the “blessed hope” the imminent return of Christ and why it should change Monday morning as much as Sunday worship. Expectation creates responsibility: a task to do with the gospel entrusted to our hands, holiness to strive after in a polluted world, and a vigil to keep with our lights burning. Scripture after scripture is used to show how the New Testament connects Christ’s appearing to practical Christian living: watchfulness, sobriety, repentance, faithfulness, purity, brotherly love, endurance in trials, and a mindset fixed on eternity rather than the temporary pull of the world.

The message also holds both comfort and warning in view. There is comfort for believers grieving the dead in Christ, hope in the resurrection, and confidence in Jesus’ promise to come again. There is also a sober call to self-examination for anyone delaying repentance or treating God’s words lightly. Listen, share with a friend who needs a wake-up call, and if this helped you, subscribe and leave a review so more people can hear the call to be ready.

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Transcript

Welcome And Gospel Foundation

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Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delha, Florida. Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. Now here's your host, Pastor James W. Knox.

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And welcome once again to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, the ministry of the Bible Baptist Church of Deland, Florida, going out all around the world, being heard now on Transworld Radio, Voice of America, many radio stations around the world, including the one you are listening to. And we thank you very much for tuning in today. We greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. He was the only way to heaven, Jesus Christ the Lord, said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. He proved that he was telling the absolute truth. When three days and three nights after he laid down his life as the sacrificial payment for the sins of the world, he rose from the dead and claimed, not only by his resurrection, but with his lips, that all power in heaven and on earth was given unto him, including the power to forgive your sins and give you as a love gift, everlasting eternal life. Now, Christians, those who have trusted Christ as their Savior, received him as their personal Lord and Savior, are people with an eternal hope, because they have eternal life, and Jesus Christ is the substance of their hope. Jesus Christ living in every one of them is the hope of glory.

The Early Church And Blessed Hope

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Because Christ lives in a believer, the believer's hope is kept alive to the very end. We believe that the risen Christ was the message of the early church, and the returning Christ was their blessed hope. The reappearing of Jesus was to them as much a reality as his resurrection. While they talked and lived every day in the power of a risen Christ, they looked forward to his reappearing. There was an earnest expectation of Christ's imminent return in the early church. This made a profound impact upon their lives. Though their feet were moving about on this earth, their hearts' desires were geared to that blessed hope of the reappearing of Christ, and what a difference it made in their lives. They talked like people whose home was not in this world. They lived like people who had an eternal inheritance in heaven. Somewhere in the course of history, Christians lost the warmth and excitement of the second coming of Christ. Though the second coming of Christ forms one of the pillars of Christian faith, our conduct as Christians has been a poor demonstration of the reality of this fact. Living as we do in a worldly world, it is imperative on our part as true Christians to recapture the spirit of that blessed hope, which permeated the whole atmosphere of the early church. This becomes all the more compelling in an age of crucial happenings that unmistakably point to the imminent return of Christ. Not only are we nearer to his glorious second appearing, we are so near to it. The world events, as well as the present condition of the church, in the light of what our Lord Himself has clearly told concerning the end days, lead us to the compelling conclusion that our King is at the door. If you really believe in and hope for the return of Christ at any moment, and if you do not, there's no meaning in your profession of being a Christian. But if you really believe in and hope for the return of Christ at any moment, you will come face to face with a few facts that you cannot ignore. The blessed hope of Jesus coming builds you up and binds you to some inescapable responsibilities.

Three Duties Task Holiness Vigil

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Number one, you have a task to do. Number two, you have a holiness to strive after. Number three, you have a vigil to keep. When the Lord returns, he wants to see you in this disposition. In Luke chapter twelve, verse thirty five, the Bible says, Let your loins be girded and your lights burning. In verse thirty-eight he says, Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. Again in verse forty three, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Just as it pleased God to reveal his Son, Jesus in us, it has pleased him to entrust the gospel of Christ into our hands. The stewardship of the gospel is the greatest trust we are holding as his people. When the master returns, he wants to find his servant faithfully carrying on his stewardship. If he is found so doing, he is a blessed servant, worthy of commendation from his Lord. The world is just well, it's just reliving the days of Noah, just before the flood, and those of Lot just before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Wickedness, immorality, and defiance are the order of the day. In an enlightened age of science, a spiritual darkness is enveloping the world. There is utter confusion everywhere. Humanity is out of gear. Oh Christians, if there is a time to gird up your loins and keep your lights burning, it's now or never. When our Lord said ye are the light of the world, he meant it. His exhortation to us is to shine before a generation groping in darkness so that through us it might see Jesus the light of the world and be saved. We have the responsibility to keep the light of the gospel burning. We have to keep the fires of holiness burning. We have to keep the light of the blessed hope of his return burning to the very end. The end is undoubtedly much nearer than people think. The Lord Jesus Christ, our bridegroom, is coming to gather the church, his bride, who keeps herself without spot and wrinkle, holy. Our desire to keep ourselves undefiled from the stains of the world is a mark of our readiness to meet the Lord at any time. While with one eye we look for the appearance of the Lord in the clouds, with the other we have to watch our step, lest we should fail in our stewardship. While the craving of our hearts should be to be caught up with the Lord at His glorious appearing at any time, we should be faithfully fulfilling the task committed to us until He comes. Let the blessed hope of His imminent appearing give you the delight and determination to gird up your loins and keep your lights burning at all costs, through the smoke and fog of a polluted world. Train your eyes upon the horizon to see the Lord descending from heaven with a shout in the clouds at any moment, through the din and bustle of a turbulent age. Train your ears to hear the trumpet sound heralding the coming of your Savior. There is need of much patient waiting as well as persevering watchfulness. Let us not be found wanting in these at a time when they are most needed. Hebrews ten thirty seven, for yet a little while he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Revelation twenty two twenty, surely I come quickly. Do you have this blessed hope? Have you made yourself ready for the day of its realization? Romans thirteen, verse eleven and twelve. And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. You know, the Holy Spirit inspired holy men of old to write concerning the second coming of Christ with such fullness that almost one twenty-fifth of the New Testament deals with the Redeemer's return. When Jesus wished to stress the vital importance of watchfulness and readiness, he linked his admonitions with his speedy lightning flash return. Faithful apostles

Virtues Driven By Christ’s Return

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grounded their converts in repentance, sobriety, truthfulness, holiness, and heart purity, in brotherly love and holy conversation by using as a motive this great truth that Jesus Christ is coming again. No doctrine of the Bible is used to enforce holiness of conduct more than the second coming. Listen to these verses of the Bible. I'm going to give you the Word of God and show you how that the some of the cardinal virtues of true, genuine Christianity hinge upon the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our expectation thereof. First of all, watchfulness. Matthew 24, 42 to 44. Watch therefore, your Lord cometh. Therefore be ye ready, for in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man cometh. Sobriety. The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. Let us watch and be sober. That's 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 2 and 6. Be sober and set your selves for the I'm trying to quote 1 Peter 1 13. It's getting away from me just now. Let me give you this on repentance and come right back to the verse on sobriety. Repent, therefore, repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and he shall send Jesus Christ, whom the heaven must receive until the restitution of all things. We are urged on to repentance by the knowledge that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming very, very soon. That verse on sobriety from first Peter 113, wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Fidelity. Matthew twenty five, nineteen to twenty one. After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh. He that had received five talents came and brought five other talents. His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. What about this matter of not being ashamed of Jesus Christ? Mark eight thirty eight. Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. What about this matter of having our minds on heavenly things? In Matthew sixteen, twenty six to twenty seven, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? For the Son of Man shall come, then he shall reward every man according to his works. Moderation. Philippians four, five, let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Mortification of fleshly lusts and desire. In Colossians three, four and five, when Christ shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupicence, and covetousness. Sincerity. Philippians 1 10, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Sanctification and holy living. The very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians five twenty-three. You see how these things all hinge upon the coming of Christ? Do you see how the reality that Jesus may come today provokes you to live a holy life, motivates you to live a holy life, compels you to live a holy life? There's more. What about faithfulness to the ministry that God has given you? In Second Timothy four, verses one and two we read, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, at his appearing, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort. Keeping the commandments. First Timothy six, fourteen. Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, unto the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Diligence in a pastoral ministry is also encouraged with the thought that Jesus may come today. In first Peter 5, verses 2 and 4, feed the flock of God, being in samples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Purity. 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, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure. That's first John three, two and three. Abiding in Christ, first John two twenty eight, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence. We endure temptations and trials of faith by keeping our minds stayed on the truth that Jesus may come today. The Bible says in first Peter 1 7 that the trial of your faith, though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Later in the same letter, chapter 4, verses eleven to thirteen, holy conversation is spurred by the reality of Jesus soon coming. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, but rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, ye shall be glad with exceeding joy. What about brotherly love? The Lord make you increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all men, to the end that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians three, twelve and thirteen.

Comfort And Warning In His Coming

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Fight the good fight of faith. I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, not to me only, but to all also to all them that love his appearing. That's Second Timothy chapter four, verses seven and eight. Do you see how that over and over again the New Testament scriptures written to the saved child of God and the body of Christ in this generation point out to you, admonish you, encourage you, remind you that a certain knowledge that Jesus Christ may come today, enables you, strengthens you, makes it imperative upon you that you live a holy life. What about keeping your crown? Revelation 3 11 Behold, I come quickly, hold fast which that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Titus 2, 12 and 13. Watchfulness is encouraged. Luke 17, 24. For as the lightning that lighteneth out of one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his coming. Judgment. False judgment, judgment of motives, which you cannot determine. First Corinthians four five. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes. What about assurance of a time of rejoicing to come in spite of all your troubles and trials and tribulations? Well, Philippians 2 16, holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. And this comfort it lasts all the while that Jesus is away. John fourteenth, verse three. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. We wait for his Son from heaven, first Thessalonians one ten. It's also a time of judgment. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, Matthew twenty five, thirty-one and thirty two. It's the time of the resurrection of the saints. The Bible says in this verse of Scripture, in Christ shall all be made alive, but every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward, they that are Christ at his coming. It's at this time also that the saints shall be manifest. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians three, four. It's a great consolation for the dead in Christ, as we think about them and their loss, and we bear the burden of going on without these dear loved ones. The Bible says in First Thessalonians four, I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, for the Lord himself should ascend from heaven with a shout, that the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. It's the time of the tribulation of unbelievers. Second Thessalonians 1, 7 and 8, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And each time we gather together as the Lord desires, as he requested, as he invited us to do, in the breaking of bread, in the drinking of the cup, to show forth the Lord's death. What does the Bible say? Till he come. You know, Jesus and the apostles use the second coming to enforce many practical admonitions, many of them we've read about in the last few minutes. We are to watch and be ready, robed in our wedding garments, confess him before depraved and sinful man. We are to be faithful and to repent completely, to stem the fierce tide of worldliness. We are warned to be moderate and patient, to mortify the deadly, soul blighting lusts of the flesh, to be sincere and godly and righteous in this present world. We are commanded to be holy and unblamable, unrebukable and upright. We are admonished to obey the commandments, for Christ is coming. Now I know that from time to time our hearts are torn with inward battles. There to be established in holiness. We must be sober, we must set our hopes on the grace of God and be godly in conversation. As the branch and the vine, so are we exhorted to abide in Christ, to have our lives hid, submerged in Christ, to purify ourselves from the taints of evil. As good soldiers we are to bear scathing persecutions and fiery trials and the testings of our well grounded faith. Following the example of Jesus Christ, we are to increase in brotherly love, to stay our pure minds on the heavenly citizenship. As men dwelling in a world of crass materialism, we are asked to love and look for the second coming of Christ, for his coming draweth nigh. We are admonished to have complete confidence in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. As love servants, we are to hold fast our hope and let no man take our blood bought crown from us. Looking for that better country on high, the city whose builder and maker is God, we are to be separated from entangling lusts, wrapping their slimy cords about the soul, sinful practices and the delights from the deadly perfume of the flowers of passion's garden. We're to guard against hasty judgment, and he shall come as he promised. You may be poor in worldly goods, just have a tent or cottage, where to hope and labor for a rich reward from the hand of the King of Kings, to gain comfort from the thought of being resurrected with a glorified body, to be caught up during this great time known as the rapture. We are addressed to be ready with garments washed in the redeeming flow from Calvary, saved to new heights divine. We are to be the sons of the mighty God, to shine forth as beacon lights and power and might. We are exhorted to abound in love and in the deep things of Christ to look up, to gaze heavenward, to watch for the first gleams of the sun of righteousness, to take hope in unsheathing the sword of faith to fight and to labor and to love, for the Lord comes as a thief in the night. Oh, my friend, let us preach it. May our messages be rock ribbed with its precious truth, may our songs herald it with sweet melodies of celestial strains. Behold, He cometh. There's no question about it, there's no doubt about it. There is nothing in the Bible that's any more certain than the fact that Jesus Christ is coming again. There's no question about it whatsoever. A man was addicted to drugs. Drinking wine and getting drunk.

A Readiness Test And Final Appeal

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And he was asked, Do you have the victory? He said, No, but be patient with me. The answer was made, If the Lord came and found you in that drunken condition, would he be patient? Now that's a terribly sobering thought. Now, today is our day of salvation. Men are trifling with the things of God, treating God as though he doesn't mean what he says. But the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, said, The one shall be taken and the other left. Matthew 24, 40. And this statement is true 100% right now. Regardless of all the explaining away that all the Bible teachers and theologians and scholars down the centuries have been guilty of, the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church, the church is subject unto Christ, and he told his disciples to go and teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, under the provisions of which we are living now today, said Be ready. Be ready. You know it's a terrible thing to miss God's plan ourselves. It's horrible beyond expression to mislead others. I say, God help every one of you false teachers and false prophets that might be listening to my voice right now that are telling people that Jesus Christ isn't coming again or he may not be coming soon, or don't expect him today, tomorrow or the next day, because chances are real good he won't be coming in our lifetime. That is not the Bible message. The Lord is coming back for his own, and it's fearful to contemplate the consternation, the terror, the awful agony of those who are not ready to meet him when he comes. Friends, are you saved? Are you indwelt by the Holy Spirit? Are you ready to meet the Lord when he comes? If that midnight cry should sound today, would you be left on the outside? The Lord meant what he said. He said, Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting that's eating just to be eating, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare it shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 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. Now you know you can get drunk on things other than wine and strong drink. You can get intoxicated by listening to too much on the radio. You can get drunk by the great uh television scenes that surf at you. There's such a thing as getting drunk on reading. Many things can take a place in our thoughts and desires that God in his glorious service should have, and thus unfit us to be ready when the Lord comes for his own. Jesus is coming for those who are ready for his appearance. Those who are making themselves ready, purifying themselves even as he is pure. The Bible says exhort one another daily while it is called today, and don't you dare put off another moment. This essential matter of being born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes. You say, Brother James, I just really don't think Jesus is going to come today. Well, you, my friend, you are one of those whom God used as a picture and an example of the very fact that he is coming soon. You say, I don't understand how that can be. Jesus said, Jesus said, In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. You say, Well, I don't think Jesus is coming today, you know what that means? That means he might well come today. You don't know, let's be honest about it, you don't know when Jesus is coming again, do you? Let me give it to you from the lips of or the pen of Horatius Bonard. I do not know how it may be with others, but I feel that when I can say that the coming of the Lord draws near, I have a weapon in my hand of no common edge and temper. I can go to the struggling saint against whom the battle seems to go hard and say, Faint not, the Lord is at hand, he will bruise Satan under your feet shortly. To the saint wearied with a vexing world fretted with its vanities and troubled with the thickening darkness of its midnight, I can say, Be of good cheer, the Lord is at hand, but a little while, and the world shall cease to vex, sooner than you think the morn will break. To the suffering saint I can say, Weep not, the Lord is at hand. The torn heart shall be bound up in the bitterness of bereavement forgotten in the joy of union forever. To the slumping saint, heavy and slothful in his walk, I can say, Up, for the Lord is at hand, work while it is day. Look at a dying world all unready for its judge, cast off your selfishness and love of ease. To the covetous saint I can say, The Lord is coming, there is no time for hoarding now, heap not up treasure for the last days. Amen and amen to those words. Now, my friend, I'm going to give you a real simple test. I'm almost through today. The program is almost over, so uh bear with me just for a moment. I'm going to give you a little test. Would you enjoy, would you rejoice, would you be happy if you knew of a certainty that Jesus Christ the Lord was coming today to take all those who are saved, redeemed, washed in his blood, away from this old sin cursed earth to dwell with him forever, and to leave behind all those who never repented of their sin and put their faith and trust in him. If you say no, I hope it's not today, I hope it's a little bit later, I hope it's a little bit farther on down the line, you are testifying to the fact that you are not right with God. If you're not ready to meet the Lord today, if you would not rejoice to see Jesus Christ come today, even before this broadcast is finished, you need to get along with God and get your heart right with the Lord because he could come today. He did not say what day, he did not say what hour he was coming. He said, Be ye also ready.

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Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptistland, or our website, Bible BaptistLand.com. Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.