My Brothers and Sisters in Christ; My Dear Friends and Neighbors; To All Who Hear Me This Day, Listen Carefully To What I Shall Say!  I am speaking To You From God's Book!

 I want to extend to you a welcome to a study about THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, or THERE'S A GREAT DAY COMING!   A subject of great importance to us!!  We will introduce our lesson  by reading the following passages of scripture.  First of all, Peter writes in:  2 Pet 3:7  "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.  In 2 Pet. 2:9 we read, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."

 Secondly, a passage from a gospel sermon that was preached by Paul to the people in the city of Athens, recorded in:  Acts 17:31 "Because He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath  raised him from the dead."

 Then, finally, this verse in the book of Jude, we read:  Jude 6  "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness  unto the judgment of the great day."

 It is that "great day" that we wish to talk about for a little while.  Paul told the people of Athens, "God has appointed a day"; Jude tells us that even "some angels are reserved unto chains -- under darkness -- unto that great day" and Peter tells us that ALL -- ALL  MEN  EVERY WHERE -- who fail to hear the appeals of heaven's message -- when we reject the Lord or become unjust -- that "He will reserve such to the Day of Judgment  TO  BE  PUNISHED."

 Paul evidently, preached about this matter, and kindred matters, very often, because he pointed out once in:  2 Cor 5:11  "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest  in your consciences." You remember, one time, he was preaching and reasoning with a man named Felix in Acts 24:25,  as he reasoned with him of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, IT  MADE  THAT  MAN  TREMBLE!

 Today, I believe, for ALL of us, whether you are a member of the church, whether you claim to be a Christian or whether you make no claim, whether you are a prodigal or whatever your spiritual condition might be, I believe that we certainly need to be aroused and look at ourselves and see where we are and indeed, think about the way that we are living, and determine today that God Almighty has, through His infinite grace and mercy, offered us an opportunity to make ourselves right and get ourselves ready for that day that God has appointed.  I hope I can make you tremble as Paul did Felix! I hope, however that you will do more than tremble, I hope and pray your will submit to King Jesus before this hour passes into history!

 There are a number of things which we will not say, because we cannot say everything in a study such as this, but we do want to say enough and bring enough verses to our minds that we may, truly, as best we can, get a picture of "that day" that is coming!

 There are about four or five things that we want to depict that will be germane to our subject.  First of all, that Jesus is coming again!  I could say this, and probably everyone within the sound of my voice would agree.  They believe that Jesus is coming again!  But the reason I say this to people that I know are already convinced of this, is that some people, over a period of time, seem to let this slip from them (Heb 2:1-2).

  I'm talking about some that even profess Christianity!  Some people --the carelessness that we see in their lives -- become so irresponsible.  Some people become so haphazard about living the life of a Christian .  They must lose sight of the fact that one day, Jesus Christ is coming again!

 We read this in a number of passages, but note this in Revelation 1:7, where John says:  "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and  they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.  Even so, Amen."

 We are assured here that He is coming again, that He is going to make this advent in the clouds.  And, somehow, and this is difficult for us to comprehend, every eye shall see Him, even those that on that terrible day when the rocks rent and the vail was rent in twain, and the sun, as it were, just turned black and there was darkness over all the earth, even those that day that pierced His side, they'll see Him, too!  All the kindred's of the earth shall wail because of Him.  Again, coupled with this in: 1 Thessalonians 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 So, then, a day is coming when Jesus Christ is going to appear in the clouds, and there will be a noise that will be heard around the whole universe, a shout that is unprecedented!  The trumpet, he says, will sound.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians that all of this will happen: 1 Cor 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump;  for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.

 This, my friends, is the summons!  This is the judgment!  To this great day that these great men of God -- Jude and Peter and Paul have all alluded to.  And now, that time has come and the trumpet marks that time.  And this great sound will resound around the universe!  Remember, Jesus said in John 5:28 "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,  29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the  resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

 You know, when we read about that day with all the different aspects of it, it would be wonderful if I could tell this today that on April 1,1999 that the Lord is coming at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and so as we approach that time, you be sure and be ready.  That would be great, wouldn't it?  But I can't make that announcement -- you can't - there's not a man alive who can- as a matter of fact, Jesus doesn't even know when He's coming, because we read in:   Matt 24:36  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Only the first person in the Godhead with whom all inherent power resides knows, unless He has told the Son since He was here on earth. ( Let me make this side point right here. There are three who share equally in the state deity in the Godhead, but they do not share equally as regards authority! That explains why the Son did not know when this event would transpire. It in no way affects the facts of his equality with the Father as regards deity! Some brethren not understanding this would shorn Christ of His full attributes of deity!)

 Listen to this: Matt 24:37 "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the son of man be". What does this mean?  Well, He qualifies that as He explains it in:  Matt 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that  Noah entered into the ark,  39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. So, we can pretty well see the picture as it was in the days of Noah.  God said, "I'm going to destroy the earth."  And he meant it!  One day, after another day, Noah started to work on that Ark that God told him to prepare.  People passed by and Noah preached to them (Peter said that Noah was "a preacher of righteousness "2 Peter 2:5).  He told them what God was going to do but they didn't believe him!

 I can imagine how they reacted.  I can imagine that they scoffed at him and mocked him and jeered at him.  They had their snide little remarks, every time they passed by and saw what he was doing. The neighborhood idiot, that old radical crank!  So narrow minded!  He probably thinks that he and his family are the only ones that are going to be saved!  Days passed; months and then years -- over a hundred of them -- those people probably just got tired of mocking him and went on their merry way.

 But one day, it started raining.  And it rained and rained and the waters rose and rose and the flood came and took all those people away!  But when it happened, those people were in the dens of iniquity and they were behind closed doors and they were committing abominations before God.  But that day came, as God said it would, as Noah preached that it would, it came and it happened! ?God invited the Noahs to come into Him in that great ark.  I learned something recently in studying with Bert Thompson about this event. It was as just stated, 'they went in to the Ark where God was.' God shut the door and now all opportunities were past. The day of God's mercy had ended and now the day of His wrath had come 2 Peter 3:3-9!

 It was too late for those people then!  He says, now, as he makes application of this, "So shall also the coming of the Son of man be."  When Jesus comes they are going to be in bars, they are going to be shooting dope in their veins, they are going to be cursing God, they are going to be in the dens of iniquity, and the people are going to be on the rampage, and sin will be running rampant, and Jesus is going to come on a day such as that!  He says in:  Matt 24:40  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.   41  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.   42  Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour you Lord doth come.

 Yes, Friends, Jesus IS coming again.  He's coming as a thief; He's coming suddenly; He's coming unexpectedly; JUST AS IT IS WRITTEN!  There will be many people -- the kindreds of the earth who will wail when He comes because they will not be ready for Him!

 Let's read in Matthew, 25 some things, beginning with verse 31 about that coming and what it will be like:  "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of glory;"

 When He speaks of glory, I'm sure that he means that when Jesus comes again, it is going to be a glorious day.  I don't believe that any of us can really visualize what a glorious sight that it will be!  We do know that it will be glorious.

 When we read of the glory of Jesus, when we think of Him coming out of the  heavens from the right hand of God in all of His glory -- Oh!  What a sight that's going to be!  And all of the holy angels will be with Him.  It says, "Then shall He sit upon His throne of glory."

 Matt 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: This is the Throne of Judgment!  His coming ushers in the judgment, and as we have already seen in 1 Cor 15:52, this will happen "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye."  All of these things will take place!  What a great day that's going to  be at the end time!  As He sits on His Throne of Judgment, it says, ".....before Him shall be gathered all nations."

 We may think that we have a large assembly when we have a  100  people   or more.  If everyone who lived in our town were at the assembly Sunday morning, you would really be impressed, especially if you live in Chicago, Peoria, Springfield, even Pekin, Illinois!   What about everyone in Illinois?  That's really getting large now.  How about everyone in the United States? That's over 200 million people!  What an assembly!

 How about everyone in the whole world?  Well, it's going to be larger than that!  Everybody who has ever lived will be in this great assembly, everyone from Adam to the end of time, that have EVER lived on the earth.  They are going to all be in this great general assembly!  "Before Him shall be gathered all nations."  We read in: 2 Cor 5:10  "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Romans 2:6-11 says much the same; then look at Romans 14:12.

All of us!  I'm going to be there!  You're going to  be there!  Young!  Old!  Everyone!  Revelation says:  Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. This just means that when the judgment finally comes around that all of the great men and all of the small men -- Alexander the great, remember reading about him in our history books- all of the pomp and splendor and majesty of that man? He's going to be there!  All of the Caesars, all of the pharaohs, all of the geniuses, all of the kings and presidents -- they're all going to be there! Napoleon will be there!  Adolph Hitler will be there! Bill Clinton will be there! Everyone!  All the great people will be there!  A lot of people live like they think they won't, BUT ALL OF US ARE!  We 're going to ALL be there and it may be sooner than a lot of us think!  We continue reading in Matt 25 to get every thing we can to get the picture of this great day.  He says:  Matt 25:32  ".....and he shall separate them one from another, as a  shepherd divided his sheep from the goats:"

All that this is saying, my friend, is that when that time comes, there is going to take place a separation.  That's because of judgment.  But what does the Lord use?  How does He determine who belongs on the right and who belongs on the left?  We read again in:  Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: What were these books? ...and another book was opened, which is the book of life. Have you ever read of the book of life?....and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them:  and they  were judged every man according to their works 13.

 The book of life -- What do we know about the book of life?  Jesus, when He was teaching the apostles, once said in: Luke 10:20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are  subject unto you:  but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. In Philippians 4:3, Paul writes of his fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.  In Hebrews 12:23 we read: "To the general assembly and the church of the firstborn,  which are written in heaven....."

 Those whom the Lord adds to the church, those saved people in Acts 2:47,  those people who did the things that the people did in Acts 2, verses 37 through 41 have their names written in the Lamb's book of life because they are members of that body that Jesus loved and died to bring into being, that He gave Himself for Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25.  Therefore, the Lord has placed their names in the Lamb's book of life Revelation 20:12-15!.

 Friend, you want to be sure before you die that you do those things that the New Testament directs you to do in order to have your name written in the Lamb's book of life.  If it's not there in the judgment, then you are in REAL TROUBLE!

 The other books that He alludes to are the only books that we recognize that service to God has ever been based on -- the Old and New Testaments.  These are the books that are going to be opened in the judgment, when all of this great throng of people are standing before the Great Judge!  Now, He's going to determine their judgment.

 The Jews who lived before Christ, from the time that Moses brought the law of commandments and ordinances to the children of Israel, will be judged by the Old Testament Law.  Those from the day of Pentecost forward until the coming of Christ shall be judged by the New Testament.

 These shall be opened to determine our eternal destiny!  Jesus said in: John 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath  one that judgeth him:  the word that I have spoken, the  same shall judge him in the last day.

 Can you imagine that all of the things that Jesus taught in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- about loving our enemies and praying for those who despitefully use us and going the second mile and doing unto others, etc. etc. etc, can you imagine, as you stand before the Lord with these things determining your judgment?  What will our answer be?

 Sometimes we preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and we preach our hearts out and see little if any results!  It's done quite a bit nowadays.  It just seems that most people aren't listening anymore.  We try to convince people of things that are revealed in God's book and sometimes it seems that we utterly fail.  Whether it is a personal visit in someones's home as we try to sit down and talk to them and get in a serious frame of mind -- try to get them to come away from the materialistic things of this society in which we live, and let's get our minds on spiritual things!  So many people are so very casual and many simply not concerned about spiritual things.

 We try to convince people of seriousness of this matter.  But I'll tell you this, of a truth,  whether I can convince you or you can convince someone else of these great things you BE SURE OF THIS -- on that great day when judgment comes, you WILL be convinced!  Jesus is going to see to it that they are convinced -- of their failures, of their iniquities!  We read in Jude, verse 15 of this:  To execute judgment upon ALL, and to convince ALL.....I hope that some of these things will help you to see that the judgment is a serious matter in each life -- yours included!  God bless you. Contact us at either of these numbers. 1 (309) 347-3582 or 347-5645.