“I Shall Return”
Various Scriptures
Introduction
March 11, 1942. Corregidor, in the Philippines. I’m sure most of the WWII veterans in the congregation today can tell you what happened that day.
The Japanese forces were invading the Philippines, and on a day that marked the beginning of a dark chapter for the American and Filipino forces, General Douglas MacArthur prepared to leave, uttering what was to become probably his most famous statement: “I shall return.”
When he made the promise to return, many thought he was crazy. But his determination to free the Philippines from Japanese occupation would not be drowned by criticism and doubt.
Roughly 2 ½ years later, Gen. MacArthur landed once again on Philippine soil with the words, “People of the Philippines, I have returned!”
But we are not here to celebrate MacArthur. We are here to celebrate Someone else, who said He would return.
We are not celebrating a mighty general, we are here to celebrate the Conquering King of Glory, who died and rose from the grave so you and I could have eternal life!
The Bible tells us that if Christ were not raised from the dead, we are of all men most to be pitied. But we do not need to be pitied!
My purpose today is to point you to the ultimate Victor, who defeated death and hell by rising from the grave, and who will return someday to free His people once and for all.
To do that, I want to look at 3 promises of God made possible by the resurrection of Christ.
I. The Promise of the Holy Spirit.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to John 14. This is on page _____ of the Bibles in the racks in front of you.
-“If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Couselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him or knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.”-
Skip down to verse 25:
-“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”-
We are not in this alone, folks! We have the Holy Spirit with us every moment, indwelling us, guiding us, and comforting us.
When I tell people about the life they can have in Christ, I don’t give them some smokescreen about a trouble-free life in Jesus, because Jesus didn’t promise that. In fact, He promised trial and persecution. But He also promised a full and abundant life.
I tell them that their problems probably aren’t going to go away just because they accept Christ. But now they have help they never had before: the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit gives us the motivation and the POWER to overcome sin and live for Him. It is the power of God Himself, not our own. Left to ourselves, no one in here would choose godliness – rather, we would choose to continue to wallow in sin.
One of the key ways the Spirit helps us is in the area of prayer.
Please listen as I read Romans 8:26-27
-In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.-
That’s great, isn’t it?
But allow me to point out something about the Spirit by reading from John 16. You can turn there if you wish, but I will read it quickly.
-“But I tell you the truth: It is for your own good that I am going away. Unless I go away (meaning back to the Father after the resurrection), the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.-
Here is what I want to point out: because of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, we have the Holy Spirit.
II. The Promise of a Home in Heaven.
The next promise I want to look at is found back in John 14:1-3
Follow as I read these verses:
-“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with Me that you may be where I am.”-
Jesus is preparing a place for you and me! Isn’t that wonderful!
Musician Keith Green had a song with a line that went like this: “In six days You created the whole world. But You’ve been working on heaven 2000 years!”
Let’s take a couple glimpses of heaven.
First, turn with me to Revelation 7, verses 15-17, on page _____ of those Bibles:
-“Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; He will lead them to the springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”-
A place where there is no sorrow or pain! A place where no one will hurt us, or let us down or disappoint us, or place unrealistic expectations on us.
A place where all we will know is joy in the presence of God!
The second glimpse of heaven we will take can be seen by turning to Revelation 22:1-5, which is on page _____ of the pew Bibles.
-Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse.-
Stop right there for a moment. Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden? God told them they could eat from any tree in the garden except one: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. After they had sinned, God banished them from the garden. Do you remember the exact reason? Genesis tells us it was so they could not eat from the Tree of Life, and live forever. Understand? Let’s get back to our passage in Revelation.
-The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.-
Can you imagine such a place? And it’s waiting for us, made possible by the resurrection of Christ.
III. The Promise of His Return
The last and greatest promise we will examine this morning is the promise of His return. And really, it is my main point today. My message today hinges on this great promise.
Please turn with me to the first chapter of Acts, which is on page _____ of the pew Bibles.
Jesus had risen from the dead, and was about to ascend to heaven, but He had one more meeting with the disciples, described here.
We start in verse 6.
-So when they met together, they asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will by My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After He said this, He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.”-
It ain’t over, folks! He’s coming back, and it won’t be anything like the humble birth in a small stable in Bethlehem. No way! Take a look with me at 1 Thess. 4:13-18, on page _____.
-Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.-
Isn’t that exciting! I can’t begin to understand everything about how this will happen, or when it will happen, but I don’t have to. I know it WILL happen, and that’s good enough for me, amen?
I have asked the Lord numerous times to delay His coming until all of my family, including my brothers and sister, mom and dad, and all my step-family came to know Him as their Savior.
Folks, people in my family ARE beginning to come to Christ, and you can guess that I’m getting fairly excited about His return.
At this point, about the only way I could be happier with His return is if He comes while I am watching my favorite John Wayne movie!
When He comes, it will be like nothing the world has ever experienced, or ever will. The world will finally know once and for all the truth of Christ.
His triumphant return is possible because of His resurrection.
Conclusion
Let’s summarize, shall we? Jesus has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us as we walk on this earth. He uses His Word, other believers, and such to do so.
He is preparing a wonderful place called heaven, where there will be no more curse, just the awesome presence of God, away from the cares and hurts of this world.
HE SHALL RETURN for us someday, in a mighty and glorious meeting in the air, to take us to that wonderful place.
Boy, I can’t wait.
General MacArthur fulfilled a promise that he really couldn’t guarantee. What if the enemy had discovered his plans to retake the islands, and defeated him? His promise would have rung hollow, and he would have probably been disgraced.
Not so with Christ. HE SHALL RETURN.
Nothing can defeat the purpose of God. No man or nation, no matter how great, can get in the way of God and His promises to me and you. In fact, Scripture says that He just laughs at the plans of men who would try to get around God’s control.
You can count on Him to come through. On every single promise in Scripture. Every one. HE guarantees it. The Bible says God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should change His mind.
He is faithful.
Gospel Presentation
Earlier in the message I spent a good bit of time describing the place Jesus is preparing for those who know Him as their Savior.
Now I want to spend just a few minutes talking about how you can be sure you will be there.
The Bible says that we have all sinned, and that the wages of sin is death. Christ paid the wages for us. Scripture tells us that Christ, who knew no sin became sin FOR US, so that we could become righteous. He paid the penalty for our sins.
But it doesn’t just end there, because Scripture tells us that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God is offering you a gift today: the gift of eternal life. It is free for the asking.
If you don’t know for sure if you are going to heaven when you die, you can know from this moment on.
How can you REALLY know, Brian?
It’s very simple: God tells us we can know, and here is how.
The Gospel of John tells us that to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.
How do you receive Christ? It is as easy as ABC:
“A” stands for: Admit you are a sinner, as all of us are, turning from them with God’s help.
“B” stands for: Believe Christ died for you and rose from the grave. The Bible says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
“C” stands for: Call on Him to save you and give you the eternal life He promises. The Bible says that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Won’t you call on Him right now?
Nothing in this world, and I do mean nothing, is more important than this. Securing your place in heaven helps us put everything else in its right place, because now you live for Him.
We are going to pray. And if you want to pray to receive Christ as your Savior, you will get the chance to do that right now.
I am going to pray a prayer that you can say silently to receive Christ. After we are done, I want everyone to keep their heads bowed and their eyes closed for just a moment or two longer. Let’s pray.
