Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, August 21st. Scripture promises that Jesus Christ will come back one day. Let's finish Dr. Stanley's Life Principles series with a reminder to anticipate the Lord's return. In God's economy and in His seasons of time, the next big thing that's going to happen is He's coming for His church. He says He's not going to take us through the wrath of the tribulation. Now you'll find some people who say, yes, we're in the tribulation now. Well, you just need to read the Scripture.
It's not half as bad as that's going to be. That's why He says you're not to live every single day of our life conscious that we can meet the Lord. And the truth is this. Many people wake up in the morning, go about their job and never get there, killed instantly in an automobile accident. Never have a chance to even think. And people who are so unwise who say, well, at the last instant of my life, probably then I'm going to believe. You may not have a conscious moment to believe.
How foolish. Jesus says we're to be conscious of His return. Now, Second Peter three, eight, and notice what He says in this passage. He says, He says, the Lord is not slow about His promise. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise. That is, He's not going to fail to keep His promise. He says the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, He's not going to fail to keep His promise.
Think about this. If a thousand years is one day with the Lord and one day is a thousand years, then you know what? He's only been gone two days. Two thousand years ago, He left. If a thousand years is one day and one day is a thousand years, you see, what happens is, listen, we are earthbound. If a thousand years is one day and one day is a thousand years, we are earthbound. With God, there's no such thing as time as we know it. Though He acknowledges time as we sit, but in His economy of how He's created things, He says a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years like a day.
He says a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years like a day. And we're down here wondering, oh, I wonder if He's coming today. I hope He comes today.
Well, I hope He does too. I'm only going through all of this to say to you. When your unbelievers say to you, well, the Bible's full of errors and let me point out one to you and turn to Revelation chapter twenty, and they very pridefully say to you, I'm coming like a thief in the night. I'm coming like a thief in the night.
I'm coming like a thief in the heavens. What was Jesus saying? Jesus didn't make any mistakes.
He didn't make any errors. He said He's coming back. He's coming back. He says I'm coming like a thief in the night. He says you have to live a godly life, live it daily, expecting, anticipating, but not sitting around just waiting for Him to come. He says we have a responsibility as a follower of Jesus. And He says we're the children of God. And He says we can't even conceive of what we're going to be like when He comes. But He refocuses our attention every single time. Now, I think there are four activities that we ought to be engaged in until He comes. We don't have to be concerned about when He's coming. And He says it's not for us, He made it clear, it's not for us and it's not for us, it's not for us, it's not for us, it's not for us, it's not for us, it's not for us, it's not for us. We have to know the times or the seasons of His activities.
Then forget the time business. And remember this, we have an awesome, at least fourfold responsibility till He comes. And the first one is this, and that is to be watching faithfully. Now, we say, watching what? We're to be watching what? We're to be watching what? We're to be watching what? We're to be watching what God does to us.
To do what? To live a godly life. That is, we're to watch how we live. We're to watch what our testimony's like. We're to watch for those who are watching us.
What kind of a testimony are we living out before them? He says we're to be faithfully watching, watching for His purpose. We're to be watching for His purpose. We're to be watching for His purpose. We're to be watching for His purpose. We're to be doing what He called me to do until He comes.
Faithfully watching. Secondly, we should be waiting peacefully. That is, we shouldn't be worried about it. We shouldn't get all hung up.
And what did Paul say? He says, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything about prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your faith be with you. We're to be at peace. We're to be at peace. We're to be at peace. We're to be at peace. We're to be at peace.
Why? Because we know who we are. We're the sons and daughters of the living God. Because we know we have the gift of eternal life.
Because we know that our name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We know that we're indwelt by the very Spirit of God who has all power to do all things. We know that He is always with us. He will provide what we need. He will protect us. He will watch over us. He will be with us. He will be with us.
He will be at peace. And so, we shouldn't let people who want to mock us and criticize us get the best of us. So, I want you to turn back to First Peter, excuse me, Second Peter, and I want you to look at this third chapter again. And I want to read a portion of it for a reason. I want to show you something. Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours and have received the faith of the Son of God.
And I want you to read it. He says, And they are going through a real difficult time of persecution. And so, here's what He says in verse three, Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence, but by His own glory and excellence, but by His own glory and excellence, but by His own glory and excellence, He has given them a very magnificent promise so that by them, listen, He says, we may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that's in the world.
That's in the first chapter. He's set in the tone for what He's going to say to us here. Now, so all of these things that have taken place and He's giving them encouragement. He's giving them a warning in spite of all the blessing that they have. Notice, first of all, that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.
He says that's what they're saying. And for example, they will say, For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the Word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of the water and by water, through which the world of that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His Word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that the Lord with Him one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord is not slow about His promises. He says, Look out for the mockers. You say, Well, what's a mocker? Here's a mocker. Well, let's go back to the Scripture.
Here's a mocker. When the soldiers were persecuting Jesus for His crucifixion, what were they doing? The Bible says they were mocking Him.
Oh, so you're a king. And they stripped Him of His clothes. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They beat Him. They whipped Him. They put a crown on His head. They did all kinds of things to demean Him in every single possible way, criticizing Him, Oh, You're the king.
Why don't You deliver Yourself? They were doing that at the cross. Here's a present day mocker. So, you're a Christian, you're one of those believers. You're one of those churchgoers. You must be one of those fundamentalists. You call yourself a Christian.
Many people don't think about it as a good thing. We all think, we're just doing something, we're just doing something. You know, we're innocent.
You know, we're innocent. We have different errors, and why do you believe that thing anyway? Why do you try to be so good? In other words, what do you have that I don't have. You say you're going to go to heaven one of these days. I'm just as good as you are.
I can just go on and on and on. That's mocking you. That's belittling your personal relationship to Jesus Christ. Jesus said we're his sons and daughters saved by His grace We have chosen to accept Him as our personal Savior. We are His followers. To mock the children of God is to mock the Son of God. Because the Son of God is living within us.
He has become our life. The Holy Spirit indwells every single child of God. To mock a believer is to mock the children of God. To mock the children of God is to mock Him. You cannot criticize the children of God and get away with it. You say, well, I criticize.
Nothing's happened to me. You forgot one word. It's three letters, yet. You cannot mock God, the children of God, and get away with it. The Scripture says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin is death. There's a physical death.
There's a spiritual death. That is, mocking the children of God is not just a sin. It is a dangerous thing to do. And so, what He's saying in this passage, He says, there will come a time when the mockers will come mocking, following after their own lust. Now, what does He mean by that? Because they know we have something they don't have. And they want everything they can get. They don't like it when they see God giving us a joy and a peace and a happiness and a contentment in our life. They don't understand. They don't like it, so they criticize us. They call us holier than thou and all the, listen, anything they can come up with that makes us look bad and them feel better, it doesn't work. And He says, they will come.
It's not going to do any good, but they will come. And so, what we have to remember is this, our responsibility is to live a godly life no matter what happens, and we have the right to claim the peace of God. In fact, in Second Thessalonians, look at that for a moment.
Second Thessalonians in chapter two. There's one verse here that it's a good admonition for us all. He says in verse fifteen, So then brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. That is, Paul said, look, in those times when you are being persecuted, and they were in those days continuously, he says, you stand firm in the truth that you've been taught. Because, listen, truth will keep us in the most difficult times. And that's, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. All truth's wrapped up in Him. And the more truth you and I understand, the more we're able to stand before people who would mock us and criticize us and criticize Jesus.
There are plenty of mockers around, but we're not to let them steal our peace. The third thing is this, and we've said a lot about it already, we should be working diligently. And you notice that passage in Matthew, he changed, focused their attention, that and in Acts, from what time is it going to be to what they ought to be doing. So, ask yourself this, as a follower of Jesus, aware of the fact that He's coming, He's given you a lifespan and a background and education and all the things that you have, what should you and I be doing according to Scripture till He comes? What should you and I be doing according to Scripture till He comes? What should you and I be doing according to Scripture till He comes? Diligently serving Him, diligently working. Now, this is why I believe, for example, that retirement, as many people believe it, is totally, well, it's unscriptural, number one. But just think about it, for example.
You worked and you worked till when? That's unscriptural, until Jesus comes, you and I have the responsibility of diligently serving the Lord God. You say, well, I can't sing in the choir. They won't have me either, so I understand that. You say, well, I can't teach.
Are you sure? Somebody says, well, when I think about it, there's not anything that I can do. Well, let's think about this. Listen, for example, you could work in the preschool department with little children who won't even quite understand exactly what's going on. But what you give them is a sense of warmth and love. And what happens is in their earliest years or moments of their life, and they're most impressionable, their idea of church is a good thing.
I'll tell you how powerful it is. One of our staff members, little boy, is only, he's coming on three, I believe. This week his mother told me, in fact she told me this morning, they were somewhere and this lady was standing there and she had a cross around her neck. He looked at this woman and he said, church. When he saw that cross, church.
She said, oh, you know, this that and the other and so forth. And then he asked her something about church. I mean, he's three years old.
She's going to think about that. Here's a three-year-old child. Watch this, we're talking about serving God.
Those people who work in the preschool who help those children feel warmed and good and acceptable and loved in church. And he goes, this Sunday, next Sunday, next Sunday, next Sunday until, listen, church, Jesus and love all begins to fit together. You say, what can you do? That's one simple thing.
That's one simple thing. And I'm asking you, there's so many things you can do. And I'm asking you, on the basis that Jesus Christ would come in a moment and He says He's coming as a thief in the night, I would ask you, what are you doing that counts as service to God?
You don't have to preach and sing and go to the mission field to serve God, but I am responsible and you are responsible before Holy God to live a godly life and to serve God in the life of Jesus. And I'm asking you, what can you do? You can't do that. Somebody says, well, suppose I'm in the hospital and I know I'm dying, then what?
Well, when the nurse comes in, talk to her. Listen, can you give me any reason biblically not to serve God till the last day you die? You cannot. Then you better get busy. When is He coming? I don't know.
The time's not the issue. He's coming. He's coming. He's coming.
And I want you to think about that. He's coming. He's coming.
And he's coming. If you are a man of God who went to the cross and laid down His life and made it possible for you to be saved, then I'd say one last thing, and that is we should be worshiping Him joyfully. Think about coming to church on Sunday morning, or whenever you go to church and you meet your friends that you, most times in big cities, you only see them when you come to church. So, when we all get to heaven, have firm a foundation, all those hymns, and we can just go through many, many, many of them, and what happens? We meet together. We fellowship together.
We worship together. We sing. We give. We pray. We are challenged. We learn.
And what happens? We go out to do what? To serve the living God, conscious at every moment. Jesus could come, take me at any moment, or He could come at any moment, He says, like a thief in the night. And what if Christ would just get this message that Jesus is coming and we are responsible till our last breath to be getting the message out in whatever way He calls us to do it? My prayer is that you'll be conscious of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll make every day count. If you didn't have but thirty days, you'd make every day count. If I love Him, I'm going to make every day count, amen? Father, how grateful we are, You're so patient with us, Lord.
How grateful we are for Your love and goodness and mercy and patience and kindness. Just etch these truths into our heart and let the result be that our life begins to count in ways that's never counted before. And that we see ourselves truly as Your servants, working, laboring, worshiping, watching and waiting, knowing that one of these days You're going to call us, either individually or when You come for all of us together as the body of Christ.
We want our life to count. Show us how to make it count because You've given us the Holy Spirit to enable us to make it count. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to part two of Anticipating the Lord's Return. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
