Ready or Not – Here I Come
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Introduction: When I was a child we played the game of hide and seek. One person was “IT” and they were the seeker, or person who would look for the other players who ran and hid. “IT” stood at the designated home base covering their eyes and counting to an agreed number. When the person who was “IT” finished counting, IT would say "Ready or not, here I come" and run to find everyone. I can remember playing the game and hearing “IT” say “Ready or not, here I come” and getting rattled because I hadn’t found the perfect hiding place and wasn’t ready. Jesus Christ is coming again. He warns us to be ready for His coming. The countdown to the Rapture of the church has begun and we need to realize that “Ready or Not” - here He comes!
I. Ready or Not - Christ’s Return is Certain – He is Coming Back
A. John 15:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also
B. Acts 1:11 “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
C. On June 16, 2011 The New York Times ran an article entitled “Epistemology and the End of the World” by Gary Gutting. In his conclusion about Christians who believe in the Rapture, Gutting wrote, “It’s not just that “no one knows the day and hour” of the Rapture. No one knows that it is going to happen at all.”
D. 2 Peter 3:3-10 “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…”
E. Canon Liddon once said: "If Christ is not coming, we might as well lock the west door of this cathedral and throw the key into the river." In other words, Christianity would be proved false and all its lights and hopes would have faded, its great music quenched.
F. Revelation 22:20 “He which testifies these things saith, ‘Surely I come quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
G. The how is not certain, the when is not certain, but the event is sure!
II. Ready or Not - Christ’s Return is Imminent – He could come today
A. Definition of "Imminent” - The quality or condition of being about to occur or happen. It is an event "likely to happen very soon" without warning, unexpectedly, catching people by surprise. So, to say that the Rapture is imminent, means that the return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His followers is an event that can happen at any moment, without any warning.
B. There are no prophetic events that must take place between now and the Rapture.
C. Matthew 24:42-46 "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.”
D. All over the Northeast, half a million Adventists -- disciples of New York evangelist William Miller -- awaited the end of the world on April 3, 1843. Journalists had a field day. Reportedly some disciples were on mountaintops, hoping for a head start to heaven. Others were in graveyards, planning to ascend in union with their departed loved ones. Some high society ladies clustered together outside town to avoid entering God’s holy kingdom amid the common herd. When April 4 dawned as usual, the Millerites were disillusioned, but they took heart. Their leader had predicted a range of dates for the end -- dates that have also come and gone. – Today in the Word, April 28, 1993.
E. In a now-discredited book, the dates between September 11 and 13, 1988 were forecast to be the Rapture of the Church. Edgar Whisenant, a former NASA rocket engineer, wrote the book called "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will be in 1988". More than 6 million copies of the $2 book were sold across America. Whisenant claimed that during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that began at sundown Sunday, believers will be Raptured taken up to heaven to meet Christ. Global disasters will follow. Whisenant reportedly spent 15 years researching the Scriptures and such matters as the stars and the position of the planets to make his calculations. (A few years later, Whisenaut published a modified edition of his booklet, which discussed a few errors which he'd made in his previous calculations and described the 92 reasons why the Rapture would occur in May of 1992) - copied
F. Christians never should set dates for the Rapture but need to realize that the Rapture is imminent.
G. Luke 12:40 “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”
H. Christ could come at any moment. I believe that with all my heart—not because of what I read in the newspapers, but because of what I read in Scripture. – John MacArthur.
I. Titus 2:13 “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ”
III. Ready or Not? Are you ready for the Rapture?
A. Matthew 25:5-6 “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
B. My concern is not the “certainty” of the Rapture or the “when” of the Rapture, but, are you ready for the Rapture?” Have you fallen asleep?
C. John Calvin, the reformer at Geneva during the 1500s and founder of the Presbyterian Church, made the following statements in some of his commentaries on books of the Bible: "Be prepared to expect Him every day, or rather every moment." "As He has promised that He will return to us, we ought to hold ourselves prepared, at every moment to receive Him." "Today we must be alert to grasp the imminent return of Christ."- copied
D. 1 John 3:3 “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
E. Romans 13:11-14 “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. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
F. Ephesians 5:14-16 “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
G. In 1John 2:28 we read: "And now, little children, abide in Him; that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." The original of "not be ashamed" is "not stand disgraced." Many Christians, who are now regarded as fine believers, are going to stand disgraced before the Lord when the secrets will be revealed and it will be seen that secretly they indulged in things and practices displeasing to the Savior who bought them with His own blood.
H. Mark 13:35-36 “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.”
I. A man visiting a certain school gave out that he would give a prize to the pupil whose desk he found in the best order when he returned. "But when will you return?" some of them asked. "That I cannot tell," was the answer. A little girl, who had been noted for her disorderly habits, announced that she meant to win the prize. "You!" her schoolmates jeered. "Why, your desk is always out of order." "Oh, but I mean to clean it the first of every week." "But suppose he should come at the end of the week?" someone asked. "Then I will clean it every morning. "But he may come at the end of the day." For a moment the little girl was silent. "I know what I'll do," she said decidedly; "I'll just keep it clean." So it must be with the Lord's servants who would be ready to receive a prize at His coming. It may be at midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning. The exhortation is not "Get ye ready," but "Be ye ready."—Mattie M. Boteler
J. The word "Maranatha" is a Syriac expression that means: "our Lord comes." It was used as a greeting in the early church. When believers gathered or parted, they didn't say "hello" or "goodbye" but "Maranatha!" If we had the same upward look today, it would revolutionize the church. O that God's people had a deepening awareness of the imminent return of the Savior! While on a South Pole expedition, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them. Contemplating their narrow escape, the explorer said to his men, "It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!" They replied, "We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, 'The boss may come today.'" The hymn writer Horatius Bonar exhorted us "to be ready for the last moment by being ready at every moment...so attending to every duty that, let Him come when He may, He finds the house in perfect order, awaiting His return." The trump may sound anytime. How important for us as Christians to be "packed and ready to go!" - Our Daily Bread.
Conclusion: Jesus return is certain. He is coming – ready or not. Jesus return to rapture His church is imminent ready or not. The question is will you be ready or not?
