Behold the Second Coming of Christ

If you want to open up your Bibles to Revelation 19, 11 through 21.

It was so sweet singing with you all this morning.

Man, that was good.

Hey, it is mid-May.

We are entering wedding season.

Woo!

I know at least one couple are going to be getting married here pretty soon.

And it's not infrequent to have weddings in this room.

But imagine that this coming June, you've been invited to a wedding.

And it turns out it is the most unusual wedding you've ever been to.

You get there at 1245.

Get here because it's a 1 o'clock sharp wedding.

You take your seat.

Let's say you're on the groom side.

You know the groom.

1 o'clock sharp.

The families are seated.

And then the procession of the wedding party takes place.

And so you have groomsmen in tuxes and bridesmaids.

And the matching kind of bow ties and cumberbuns with the whole dress.

The whole thing looks great.

And so they come down.

And here's the preacher standing right here.

And they come down.

They take their sides and form the wings.

And it's really cool.

And then this is where things get unusual.

Because usually the groom is out at this point.

But there's no groom.

And the preacher seemingly completely ignorant of that says,

All rise.

Which is everybody's cue to stand up and turn and look back at that door right there.

Because when that door opens, you're going to see the bride.

And holding on to her is her father.

And it's exactly what happens.

And the dad walks his bride down the aisle.

And her dress is spectacular white.

Of the finest linen, pure and bright.

And the father walks the bride down to the preacher.

And then the preacher says this.

He asks,

Who gives this woman to be married to this man?

This, wait.

Wait.

And at that moment,

while everyone is still standing,

from the back door

comes a sound.

Clip-clop.

Clip-clop.

And at that moment,

the groom makes his entrance.

And he steals the show.

Last week,

Billy preached a wonderful sermon

that showed us the marriage supper of the Lamb.

That day that every Christian is longing for.

To be reunited in person

with our risen King,

Jesus.

And this morning,

I get to show you

the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus.

Jesus.

It is his return.

It's known as his second coming.

It's the appearing of the Son of Man.

It's what we were just singing about

when we were singing,

How does it go?

And all will be made right

when you appear.

In Revelation 19,

7 through 9,

we are given a picture of the bride

at the altar,

waiting for her groom,

dressed in white,

pure,

pure,

and bright.

But we're not given a picture of the groom.

That's why 1911 through 21 is here.

The groom makes his entrance

and he steals the show.

So,

this morning,

I get to point you

to the second coming of Jesus

and I'm guessing

there's going to be

three responses in the room.

Some of you,

your hearts are going to drop

because you're going to be like,

Oh no,

he is coming.

Some of you are going to

have your hearts,

it's going to be like this.

You're going to be like,

Nah,

it can wait.

you'll have an indifferent response.

But others of you,

hopefully most of you,

your hearts are going to rise.

When you see the descriptions

of the risen,

returning Jesus,

your heart is going to rise

and you're going to be saying,

Oh yes,

don't stop,

keep telling me about that.

You see,

the doctrine

of the return of Jesus,

it is essential

to the testimony of Jesus.

And the doctrine

of the return of Jesus

is a prophecy of Jesus.

And so here we see

the fulfillment of it

and it's glorious.

Jesus himself

talked multiple times

about that.

He will come back.

In 2531,

he says,

When the Son of Man

comes in his glory,

you have at the end of Matthew

parable after parable

of the coming of Jesus Christ.

So this morning,

may your heart rise

at the sight

of the coming

of your long-awaited bridegroom,

Jesus.

And here's the point.

When Jesus comes back,

when he bodily comes back

for all to see,

he will come

in unrivaled glory

to utterly destroy

all of his rivals

in an uncontested victory.

Unrivaled glory,

uncontested victory,

we see that

in Revelation 19,

11 through 21,

11 through 16,

you see his unrivaled glory,

and in 17 through 21,

you see his uncontested victory.

And brothers and sisters,

let your heart rise to it.

So let's look at this together.

Let's see this unrivaled glory

at his glorious coming

in verses 11 through 16.

Robin, thanks again for reading.

Let me just point you

to several things

in these few verses.

In verse 11,

we see John says,

Then I saw heaven opened.

When you read of heaven opening,

it is this clue

that there is a vision at foot.

Heaven's perspective.

And we're told,

Behold, a white horse.

A white horse would have

pinged every reader

in the first century.

They know exactly

what's being talked about.

Because Roman generals

and emperors

in the first century,

after a military conquest,

they would enter Rome

riding a white horse.

It's a symbol of victory.

But on this white horse,

you don't have

a Roman general or emperor.

On this white horse,

you have the bridegroom.

And what follows

in 11 through 13,

just these few verses

are seven descriptions

of the rider

on the white horse.

You ready?

You ready for your hearts

to rise?

Are you ready to see

your unrivaled king?

The first thing we notice

in verse 11,

this first description

is actually a name.

It's the name

faithful and true.

The one sitting

on the horse

is called faithful and true.

Faithful means trustworthy.

True means the real thing.

And that is in direct contrast

to the beast

who is anything but faithful

and anything but true.

He sits on a throne of lies.

This one riding on this white horse

is faithful and true

to all of his promises.

He's faithful and true

to this one great promise

of when the Son of Man

comes in His glory,

here He is

coming in His glory.

He's faithful and true

to His bride,

unlike the beast,

who kills His lady,

the prostitute.

He's faithful and true

to His Father.

The second description

is in verse 11 too.

In righteousness

He judges and makes war.

Because this rider

is faithful and true,

no one can say

at His judgment

or when He makes war

that these things

are unjust.

Have you heard

of just war theory?

He is the personification

of just war theory.

All that He does

is completely right.

So the judgment

and the war

that He's bringing with Him,

He is the divine warrior coming.

No one can say

that it's wrong.

No one can say

this is unfair.

In righteousness

He makes war and judges.

Verse 12,

we see the third description.

His eyes are like

a flame of fire.

We came across

these fire eyes

early in the book of Revelation

in chapter 1 verse 15

where the risen,

reigning,

and radiant Christ

is pictured with these fire eyes.

And then in the church

of Thyatira in 2.18,

again you see the fire eyes

and He knows everything.

Those eyes.

Those eyes see all

with a burning purity.

He is looking right now

into the depths

of your soul.

verse 12,

the fourth description,

on His head

are many diadems.

A diadem

is just another way

of talking about a crown.

And we've come

into contact

with crowns

in the book of Revelation

earlier.

It's just interesting

whose head they're on.

For example,

in 12.3,

on the head of the dragon

are seven diadems.

And in 13,

verse 1,

on the beast's

seven heads

are ten diadems.

So,

what is a diadem?

Well,

it's a crown

and what it represents

is

a domain.

An area

or a people

of reign.

And if you remember

from our study

of the book of Revelation,

seven

and even ten

have this,

carry this sense

of completeness.

And so,

the dragon

and the beast

are making

these false claims

just by their diadems

that they rule

over all.

Have you ever seen

a boxer,

a championship boxer

enter a ring?

He's got his belt on

and if he's like

the welterweight champion

of this federation

and this continent

and he has other belts

with him too,

his entourage following

are usually carrying

the belts.

And so,

he gets into the ring

and he's like,

yeah!

And all of his entourage

are like,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah!

He reigns,

man!

These aren't boxing belts,

these are diadems.

Crowns that represent

domains over people

and places.

Did you notice

how many diadems

are on the rider

of the horse?

Many.

You can like,

and miss it.

Unnumbered.

They're not numbered.

You're left thinking,

how many?

Too many to count?

More than seven.

More than ten.

Rightful claim.

Crown him with many crowns,

the one who's on his horse.

He has the diadem

of the United States

of America.

He has a crown,

a diadem that says

Northern Hemisphere,

Southern Hemisphere.

Our solar system,

our universe,

all the micro,

many universes.

He even has a diadem

with your name on it.

rule over your life.

The fifth description

is actually

the second name.

He has a name

that no one knows

but himself

in verse 12.

What does that mean?

Well, it means two things.

First is this.

There are things

about our warrior bridegroom,

the divine warrior,

that we just

cannot comprehend.

He is

an unfolding mystery

to us.

Unfathomable.

It's not that we can't know him.

We can know him truly.

We will just never know him

exhaustively.

So, if you think

your idea of heaven

is showing up

and you're like,

I'm bored with Jesus,

it's way beyond that.

He's unfathomable.

You're not going to get bored

with him.

And if you're bored

with Jesus now,

that means

it just says more about you

than about Jesus.

Jesus.

There's also,

at this time,

when this was written,

an ancient belief

that if you knew

the name of a God,

you were able

to control that God.

And so,

here's what that getting at.

Jesus says,

there's parts of me

you don't know anything about.

You can't control me.

He's sovereign.

He does what he pleases.

He's sovereign overall.

There's nobody in the room

that can control Jesus.

Nobody on the planet

that can control Jesus.

In Psalm 115,

we read,

our God is in the heavens.

He does all that he pleases.

And when Jesus comes back to earth,

he will do all that he pleases on earth.

There's no created thing

that can control him,

that can command him,

that can constrain him.

He has a name

that no one knows but himself.

The sixth description.

Verse 13,

he has a robe dipped in blood.

He's clothed in it.

It's a reference back to Isaiah 63,

one through six,

where the Messiah

will tread upon his enemies

in the winepress of God's wrath.

It's a picture of coming judgment.

You've heard of a mullet before, right?

All business in the front,

party in the back.

Jesus is all business.

He's got a robe dipped in blood,

and you're going to see that robe

in just a second.

It's going to come back on the scene.

The seventh description

is the third name in verse 13.

It's the third of four names

we see in this whole passage.

The third name is the word of God.

You've heard that before

from something John has written

in John 1.

In the beginning was the word,

and the word was with God,

and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God,

and the word became flesh

and dwelt among us.

We beheld his glory.

You see,

Jesus is the living explanation

of God on earth.

His life shows us God.

He is God.

But remember,

this passage has to do

with his return

and final judgment.

So here's what that means.

His first coming

was love incarnate.

His second coming

is judgment incarnate.

This word

is the final word of God.

The final word

of incarnate judgment

writing on a white war horse.

Is your heart rising

to any of these?

You take all these

seven descriptions together,

and there are seven.

And it's a picture

of the unrivaled glory

of the returning Christ

full and complete.

Let your heart rise

to that.

That's not all we see here.

It's not just

we see his,

these descriptions

of who he is.

We see somebody

coming with him.

Not just as unrivaled glory,

he has with him

an unarmed army.

Did you see that

in verse 14?

And the armies

of heaven arrayed

in fine linen,

white and pure,

were following him

on white horses.

Who are these people?

Well, the dead giveaway

is in what they're wearing.

They're arrayed

in fine linen,

white and pure.

And if you look

back at 1908,

when Billy preached

last week

in this description

of the bride,

it was granted her,

it's all grace,

to clothe herself

with fine linen,

bright and pure.

It's the church.

It's us.

It's us.

Riding on horses

behind our Savior.

Riding into the great

final battle of Armageddon.

It's us.

But let me tell you something.

This linen that we're wearing,

it's kind of like

satiny silk,

beautiful.

I mean,

it's like PJs.

It's like you're wearing pajamas.

It's lovely,

breezy,

loose,

wonderful.

Why is an army

wearing PJs

into battle?

I think it's a good question.

Why are they wearing armor?

Why are they brandishing swords?

They have no fear.

You're going to see

in just a minute

that they're lined up

against them

as the beast

and the armies

of the earth.

Why aren't they afraid?

Because they're following

faithful and true,

the one whose name

he alone knows.

They're following

the word,

the final word of God,

the King of kings

and Lord of lords.

He's going to fight

the battle.

He's going to fight

and he's already won.

He's already conquered

at the cross

and so we will ride out

with him

to watch him

consummate the victory

that he won

at Calvary.

We're not going to be there

to help him.

We're going to be there

to witness it.

All of us

who are crying out,

how long,

oh Lord?

How long?

How long

until you vindicate us?

This is it.

And you'll have

a front row seat

on a horse.

Can you imagine

yourself riding out

on one of these

white stallions

following after

your risen,

radiant,

and king

who has returned?

This week

I have been imagining

that very thing

and many of you

have come into my mind

as I look left

and right.

Who is on

these white horses

wearing their PJs

with me?

following after

our great king.

He's won the victory

and he will complete it.

When we ride out together,

we're riding out

as those who know

we have faithfully

endured for Jesus

and we will then witness

his uncontested victory

over all of his rivals.

So we've seen

his coming

in unrivaled glory.

Now we've seen

his coming

with his unarmed army

and PJs.

And now I just want

to quickly show you

that when he comes,

he's bringing

universal judgment.

It's in verses 15 and 11.

Excuse me,

15 and 16.

Notice,

in verse 15,

the instruments

of judgment

from his mouth

come a sharp sword

to strike down

the nations.

It's a reference

to Isaiah 11, 4.

It's a prophecy

of the Messiah

coming to conquer.

Jesus fulfills that.

Verse 15,

he will rule the nations

with a rod of iron

in his hand.

Behind that is Psalm 2, 9,

another messianic psalm.

The Messiah,

God's king,

will be victorious

over the nations

that oppose him.

And then,

he will tread

the winepress

of the fury

of the wrath

of God Almighty.

That's his feet.

Mouth,

hand,

feet,

sword,

rod,

winepress.

The winepress,

as I mentioned earlier,

is,

the background

is Isaiah 63,

1 through 6.

And again,

it's the Messiah

treading upon

the winepress

of God.

And the blood

of the enemies

of God flow.

It's a picture

of crushing.

The Messiah,

when he comes,

he comes back

to violently judge

and conquer

his enemies

in righteousness.

Those three instruments,

sword,

rod,

winepress,

should remind you

of three words.

Vengeance

is mine.

wine.

This is God

vindicating

himself

and us

on that

great

and awful

day.

What gives

him the right?

What gives

Jesus the right

to this

kind of business?

verse 16

where we see

the fourth name

of this rider.

It's a reference

back to the robe,

the robe dipped

with blood.

It's pulled back

and you can see

on the thigh

of this rider,

King of kings

and Lord of lords.

The title of

universal authority

over all.

And you might be

asking,

well,

why is it on

his thigh?

If you were

standing on the

ground

and the returned

Christ came

riding up to you

on his war horse,

do you know

where your eyes

would fall?

On his thigh.

He'd be

mounted

over you.

King of kings

and Lord of lords.

It's not the first

time we saw

this title.

It shows up

in 1714

when the

beast comes out

to make war

against the lamb.

We learn that the

lamb will conquer

them for he is

Lord of lords

and king of kings

and those with him

are the called,

the chosen,

the faithful,

us.

He wears all the

diadems.

He is all authority

and he will

exercise it

completely

when he comes.

Are you

seeing his

unrivaled glory?

No one's like

him.

We've seen

his coming glory.

We've seen

his coming army.

We've seen

his coming

judgment.

We've seen

these four names,

faithful and true,

true,

a name that only

he knows,

the word of God,

king of kings

and lord of lords.

We're going to

come back to

those names

at the end

of the sermon.

But now,

I've got to

show you

his uncontested

victory over

all of his

rivals.

We've seen

his unrivaled

glory.

Now,

let's look at

his uncontested

victory over

all of his

enemies.

Verses 17

through 21.

These five

verses,

they picture

that great

and final

battle of

Armageddon

that we

read about

already in

chapter 16

under the

sixth bowl

judgment.

But what's

interesting about

this is that

this passage

portrays that

battle as

a supper.

Verse 17,

the great

supper of God.

the great

day of God's

wrath has

come,

616.

And last

week,

Billy showed

us that

the marriage

supper of

the Lamb,

blessed are

those who

are invited

to that

supper to

be reunited

with the

Lamb.

Not so

with this

supper.

This isn't

a blessed

supper.

This is a

supper of

the cursed.

In 17

and 18,

we see

an angelic

invitation

to the

supper.

Verse 17,

an angel.

Who does

the inviting?

An angel,

a great

angel,

standing in

the sun

high up,

so you'd

be like

squinting.

In a

great voice,

he throws

out an

invitation.

Who does

he invite?

Verse 17,

a great

come.

All the

birds that

fly directly

overhead,

come.

Gather for

the great

supper of

God.

The guests

at this

supper are

not people,

they're birds,

and not just

any birds.

Vultures.

Do you know

what a

turkey vulture

is?

Those

bald-headed

beasts,

they survive

by eating

roadkill?

These

vultures

are being

called not

to eat

roadkill,

but war

kill.

It's

gruesome.

It's not

stated explicitly

in this text,

but we know

from 1616

where this

supper is

going to

take place.

It's in

Armageddon.

And

here's the

gruesome

punchline

of this

whole picture.

It's

what's

the main

course.

It's not

what's

being

served,

it's

who's

being

served.

Did you

notice that

when Robin

read?

Look at

verse 18.

They're being

summoned to

this great

supper of

God to

eat the

flesh of

kings,

to eat

the flesh

of captains,

to eat

the flesh

of mighty

men,

the flesh

of horses

and the

riders.

And then

it goes

really broad,

the flesh

of all

men,

both free

and slave,

both small

and great.

All

humanity

in opposition

to God

is the

main course

at the

great

supper

of God.

It's a

serious

business

business.

They

ride out

to

Armageddon

actually

thinking

that they

have a

shot

against

the

lamb,

but what

all heaven

knows

is that

there is

no contest

here,

that these

rebels

opposing

the lamb,

this is

the meal

arriving.

They

it's

gruesome,

it's

sobering,

and what

I just

need to

say,

what it

is not,

this is

not the

blessed

marriage

supper

of the

lamb,

this is

the

anti-supper,

the

cursed

supper

of judgment

on the

beast

and all

with him.

It's

very

sobering,

this

angelic

invitation

goes out

to gather

vultures

for a

feast of

human war

kill.

He's

coming

in its

serious

business.

We see

the

invitation

in 17

and 18

and then

we see

the supper

served up

in 1921.

In 19,

the beast

and the

kings of

the earth

line up

to make

war against

the one

sitting

on the

horse.

You see

this in

1616

and 1714,

this squaring

off with

the lamb,

faithful and

true.

The one

whose name

that only

he knows

because you

can't

control him.

He's the

final word,

the king

of kings

and the

lord of

lords.

They have

no idea

who they're

squaring up

against.

They must

be out

of their

minds.

They've

been terribly

deceived.

Their

wicked

hearts

have been

deceived

by the

beast

on his

throne

of lies

and his

false

prophet

who

has been

spinning

these

lies

to

cause

these

wicked

human

beings

to

actually

think

that the

beast

is

their

savior.

And we're

watching this

knowing that

this battle

for these

armies is

a fool's

errand.

Take a

last look.

That's their

end.

They don't go

beyond Armageddon.

Verse 20,

the best word I

can use for this

verse is

anticlimactic.

You come off

verse 19 and

you have these

two armies

squaring off

against each

other and

you're like

thinking,

oh man,

this is going

to be a

fight.

This is going

to be like

two towers

kind of

battle.

But there's

no battle.

There are no

clanging swords,

no arrows

flying.

I mean,

we're in our

PJs.

There's no

conflict.

There's no

and the

beast was

captured and

with it the

false prophet

who in its

presence had

done the

signs by

which he

deceived those

who had

received the

mark of the

beast and

those who

worshipped

its image.

I mean,

it's so

anticlimactic.

His final,

the final

victory of

the returning

king is so

uncontested.

It is

anticlimactic.

historic.

You just

don't get the

sense that

he breaks a

sweat.

He is the

king of kings

and lord of

lords.

He's got all

the diadems.

With his

word,

Martin Luther,

with one,

just one

word,

he shall

fell him.

the beast

and the

false prophet,

the second

and third

members of

the anti-trinity

are easily

captured.

No fight.

They are

thrown alive

into hell,

the lake of

fire,

where they

will be

tormented

day and

night,

forever and

ever.

We read

that in

Revelation

20.

What's

interesting is

that the

order in

which the

enemies of

God first

appear in

the book

of Revelation

are reversed

in their

destruction.

Let me

show you.

In chapter

13,

the rising

of the

dragon,

actually the

falling and

throwing down

of the

dragon.

In

chapters

14,

we see

both the

beast and

the false

prophet

introduced.

In

chapter 17,

it's the

prostitute.

Chapter

18,

it's the

downfall of

the

prostitute.

Chapter

19,

it's the

downfall of

the false

prophet and

the beast.

In

chapter 20,

we will

see in

just a

couple weeks

the devil,

the dragon

himself,

gets hip

tossed into

the lake

of fire.

The

risen,

radiant

Christ

returns in

his unrivaled

glory to

bring utter

destruction on

all his

rivals in

an uncontested

victory.

Supper is

served.

All

remaining

humanity

in verse

21,

stripped of

beast and

false

prophet.

They're

slain by

the sword

that comes

from his

mouth.

With

just one

word out

of the

mouth of

faithful and

true,

out of

the final

word of

God,

king of

kings and

lord of

lords,

they're all

undone.

We don't

even enter

the fray.

We're there

to witness.

And one of

those gruesome,

gruesome

pictures at

the end of

21 and all

those vultures,

they ate

until they

could eat

no more

of flesh,

of the flesh

of Christ's

rivals.

That's a

dishonorable

death.

Gruesome.

sobering,

but settling.

This victory

is secure.

In 11

through 16,

we've seen

the unrivaled

glory of the

returning Christ

and in 1721,

we see his

uncontested

victory.

The point of

all this is

that when

Christ returns

as he promised

he would,

he will

come in

unrivaled

glory to

carry out

an uncontested

victory.

Now the

question becomes

how do you

respond to

that?

Three heart

responses.

The first one

I can imagine

is this,

your heart

drops.

You're in

your seat

right now

saying,

oh no,

I'm on the

wrong side

of the

rider.

I'm on the

wrong side

of the

battle line.

I've been

living a life

in opposition

to him

because you

know that

his fire

eyes see

right through

you.

There's nothing

hidden from

his sight.

You know

that if he

came back

today on

the clouds,

you would,

Revelation 1

7,

wail with

the rest

of the

nations of

the earth.

Judgment

has come.

It's real

guilt.

You've

really sinned.

You've

really

disobeyed

God.

You're

not making

it up.

It's

true.

And you're

accountable.

And it

can result

in fear.

You're

heart

dropping.

Well,

I've got

really good

news for

you,

fearful

one.

Did you

know that

you don't

have to

fear the

coming of

the rider

on the

white horse?

You can

actually welcome

it?

How so,

you say?

How can I

welcome that

dread warrior?

Well, the

rider of the

white horse,

he's faithful

and true.

He's got an

unknown name

that only he

knows.

He's the

final word of

God.

He's the

king of

kings and

lord of

lords.

But he's

also the

lamb who

was slain.

And he

was slain

for you.

he shed

his blood

that you

could be

delivered.

This

rider,

he's coming

in glory

the second

time.

But the

first time

he came,

he came

full of

grace to

rescue

sinners from

their sin

through his

blood.

What your

fear is

showing is

that you're

actually in

need of

his grace,

of his

forgiveness,

of his

rescue.

So you

go to

him.

You confess

to him

that you've

been opposed

to him,

that you've

been disobeying

him, and

he has

promised to

forgive you

and wash

you clean

to give you

a new set

of clothes,

fine linen,

pure and

bright.

So run to

him today,

fearful one.

You don't

need to be

afraid anymore.

But there's

another group

of people

here this

morning that

your heart's

not dropping,

your heart's

indifferent.

You're thinking

things like

this,

oh that

can wait.

I don't

need to

make a

decision about

Jesus.

When confronted

with these

glorious truths

about the

final appearing

of the

Son of

Man,

you're like,

eh,

that's nice.

It's because

you're on

the fence.

You see the

two options

before you,

you see

that the

way that

leads to

destruction

is the

way that's

being waved

on by the

false prophet,

excuse me,

the false,

the great

prostitute.

She's saying

to you,

come and

enjoy my

delights.

And you

and your

heart are

thinking things

like this.

Oh man,

I'm not sure

if I want to

give that up.

I really

like her

delights.

But you

also know

the way

that leads

to life

and that's

through the

lamb.

And in

order to

bear his

name,

in order to

follow after

him on a

horse,

you need to

forsake the

world.

You must

hand over

the diadem

with your

name on it.

That's the

rule of your

life.

and you

hand it

over to

the lamb

and says,

I'm all

yours.

You know

that's the

case.

You're on

the fence

between living

for Babylon

and living

for the

lamb.

You're

wondering,

is he

worth it?

Well,

if you're a

fence rider,

you're making

a tragic

mistake.

You

think that

the temporary

delights of

Babylon are

more wonderful

than the

eternal glory

of following

Jesus.

So just to

bring this

home to you,

let me ask

you a question

from the

text.

You tell

me, in

this text,

when the

risen Christ

returns,

who's

experiencing

the greatest

joy in

that moment?

those who

are following

after the

risen,

reigning,

and returning

king on

their white

steeds,

or those

who are on

the other

side of

the battle

line,

whom the

risen king

is coming

to judge,

on that

day whose

heart is

full of

joy.

life.

If Jesus

were to

come back

today,

and he

found you

on the

fence,

you would

find yourself

under his

judgment,

but you

still have

time.

You just

need to go

tell the

risen lamb,

you've been

indifferent,

you've been

unwilling to

hand him

over your

diadem,

and then you

do that in

faith.

you don't

know what

tomorrow holds.

There's a

third group of

people here.

It's not

people's hearts

falling with

oh no,

it's not

people with

indifferent

hearts saying

oh that can

wait,

it's the

blood bought.

Your hearts

rise,

you say oh

yes,

you hear about

these wonderful

descriptions of

the son of

man in his

final coming,

and you're

like yes,

yes and

amen.

Every name

you hear,

it puts

strength in

your heart.

His coming

doesn't

frighten you.

His

uncontested

victory sobers

you, but it

doesn't frighten

you.

You long

for him.

You see

yourself on a

white charger

riding behind

our warrior

king.

it's not a

hard thing to

imagine in

light of what

he's done

for you.

So this

morning, if

your heart is

rising, be

encouraged.

He is

coming and

we're one

day closer

to his

coming.

Don't give

up.

Don't

compromise.

Stay focused.

Stay true.

Be faithful.

But I've

been around

the block, so

I know that

someone who

gets encouraged