LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2021
1 CORINTHIANS 15 VERSES 51 - 58
What will it mean for multitudes today if the Lord returns? For those saved, they will be taken into glory to stand at the judgement seat and receive rewards for the efforts made in this life. For those not saved they will face such terrible times of tribulation. Those unsaved will be left behind. What will happen to them? A terrible time when the antichrist and the false prophet will appear, when people will have to take the mark of the beast. Then an eternity that will never end in a Christless hell. What a tragedy. This great subject is not to fill our hearts with gloom and fear but with a joy that the Lord is coming again to take us from this scene of time, to take us into the splendours of heaven. God is in control today. God will define the finish of this world.
The secrecy of the Lord's return. In verse 51 we read of a resurrection body and the certainty of it. "I show you a mystery." These bodies are not suited for heaven but rather just for this life. They are prone to sickness, difficulties and diseases, injuries, decay and rot that cannot enter into heaven. Something must take place when the Lord descends from heaven to take us home. There must be a change at that moment in time. The body that is taken to the grave is corrupted. It decays away. When the body dies the soul must depart from it. But it will be reunited one day when Christ comes to raise them again to heaven but it has to be changed to a body that does not corrupt. This will happen suddently, in a moment. Paul says it is a mystery. "We shall not all sleep". Death is referred to as sleeping. 1Thessalonians 4 verse 13 speaking of those who are asleep as a metaphor for those who are dead. We will not all go through the shadow of the valley of death. We could be still alive when Christ comes. Paul was accused of trying to put a time on Christ's return but he really was trying to say that there would be a generation in the future who will not actually die. They will be alive when Christ comes. A mystery is something that cannot be found out by man's ability. Those of us alive and remain in a moment we are going to be changed that we might have a body for heaven. Before we go we need to be changed. The Lord himself spoke of 2 going out into the field one morning to work then suddenly Jesus appears and the one is taken and the other is left. That is how sudden it will be. No time for preparation, to get ready to be saved. Once he appears this transaction happens, all in the blink of an eye. Murray McSheyne when asked to do a series of meetings on prophetic ministry asked the elders "do you think the Lord could come tonight?" One by one all gave their answers and the reason for believing such. He turned to Luke 12 verse 40 "be ye ready for the Son of Man cometh in an hour when ye think not."
The suddenness of the Lord's return. In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9 we read "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do." Jesus himself taught about his coming again using 2 Old Testament characters - Noah and Lot. Noah was tasked with the building of the ark. The people lacked interest and concern. The same day God called Noah into the ark all the fountains of the great deep opened and the windows of heaven too. The world was destroyed. Then God speaks of Lot in Sodom. Sin had reached its peak but God sent his messengers to warn Lot. God sent his angels to see if it was true what he had heard. Lot was there with his family. Lot's family mocked him because he had no testimony. The day Lot left judgment fell. Lot needed to be virtually pulled out of Sodom. Jesus said "as it was in the days of Noah so shall it also be in the days of the Son of Man."
The separation at the Lord's return. It is a secret on when it will happen. We do know it will be sudden. Notice the separation - Luke 17 verse 34 Jesus says "I tell you in that night there shall be 2 men in one bed, one will be taken and the other left." This little phrase shows the separation that takes place. One taken the other left. The saved and the unsaved. One is ready, is prepared. A father and mother taken and the children left. Or children taken and mother and father left. Such is the separation of this particular day. Are you ready? Jesus said "be ye also ready". Jesus spoke of 10 virgins, 5 were wise and had lamps and oil, ready and waiting on the bridegroom. 5 were foolish, had no oil, were not ready. At midnight the shout went up. The suddenness of his coming. The foolish were caught up because they couldn't buy or borrow the oil they needed. When Christ comes if you are not saved, not trusting in Christ you will not be ready. A little of Christ will not suffice. It is all or nothing on that day. W P Nicolson said on the rapture "when it happens multitudes will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord but multitudes will be caught out because they haven't the preparation."
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