Living in Anticipation — Randy Amos

Greetings, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our soon coming Lord Jesus Christ. As we look at the subject before us this morning, we can begin by turning the Word of God to Luke chapter twelve, please.

The Gospel according to Luke, chapter twelve. As we do that, I might say a couple of things in the way of announcement as we begin. In the book room, there's a room after it, adjacent to it, where they have some free things on a table, and we put some things there to help build up the believers.

There are some believers building booklets, I brought a good supply of number seven called Body Dynamics. It has to do with the truth for God's assembly. But not only truth, God's truth is not only true, it works and has power when it's obeyed by the heart.

It's dynamic. To show God's truth, why it works, because of his wisdom behind it. They're all free, if they can help you or others, help yourself. There's a blue manual called The Church, a discipleship manual for the body of Christ.

How does God expect his church to run? We try to take the structure of the church and give scripture for it. There's also a little magazine we put out called Kronos, we put it out as the Lord leads ever so often.

It is meant to make you think, to think things through. The front and back page are allegorical. Kronos stands for the Greek, it comes from the Greek word time. And different stories that happen in the Bible at different times, how a newspaper of that day might have reported it, and then how God views it, the scriptures given for you to look up, to see how God views in contrast to what man views.

And the inside is always straight teaching for church building, to encourage the church and the great work the Lord Jesus Christ is doing. There's copies of them, if you would like them, or a free subscription, you just write your name and address clearly, and if you write it clearly, Lord willing we'll see that you get it.

Living in Anticipation of Christ’s Coming

Now as the theme has been announced to you this morning, living in anticipation of his coming, and in light of the judgment seat that follows. The theme verse, as you know, is based on 2 Peter 3 .11, where in light of this world being destroyed, we are told, seeing then, that all these things will be dissolved.

What manner of persons ought ye to be in a holy conversation and godliness? Based on the end of this present world system, it should affect our lifestyle. With that in mind, we want to consider the subject of living in anticipation of his coming, and I have you in Luke chapter 12, where the Lord Jesus speaks of that.

And if we could go to verse 31, verse 31 of Luke 12, verse 31 from the word of God. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give unto you the kingdom.

Sell that ye have, and give alms. Provide yourselves bags, which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for the Lord, when he will return from the wedding, and when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I will say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to step down to meet, and will come forth and serve them.

And if he shall come unto second watch, or come unto third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would have come, he would have watched, and would have not suffered his house to be broken through.

Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. The Lord will bless his word, and we'll be reading more later on. You know, brothers and sisters, I don't believe there'd be one believer here who doesn't believe, who doesn't hold the truth that the Lord Jesus is coming, including myself.

But I ask myself and the rest of us, while we hold the truth, does that truth that he's coming have a hold of us? There is a difference, you know. You know, I can go back. Some of you can go back even farther than me, and some of you can't.

But I grew up in the fifties, and even then, there was an element that the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ coming had a hold of them. I can remember people used to get saved, myself included. I'd walk past my parish bedroom door and listen to them breathing, and I'd say, the Lord hasn't come yet.

And it would be a fear that would make me realize I need to be saved. And many people make financial and career decisions. They believe he was coming back, and it could be that day, the imminent coming.

We see, as the Lord Jesus speaks of his coming here, it is to affect our lifestyle. He speaks of what we do with our treasures. He speaks of how we live. That, brothers and sisters, is the truth of the Lord's coming having a hold of us.

We don't know the day or hour when it happens, and so we have to be ready. In verse 40 of Luke 12, when he says, Be ye also ready, or therefore ready also, it's not so much here to the unbeliever, although there's a great application there, but it's to the believer that our lifestyle should be in such a way that he will be pleased when he comes back, and so we are ready in the way that we're serving him acceptably.

Having said that, you'll notice in verse 41, Peter asked him a question. Verse 41 of Luke 12,. Then said Peter unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? Is it just to the eleven disciples, or the twelve at that time, or to all?

Well, Christ answered. He doesn't really say yes or no, but the answer will show it to every servant of God. Verse 42,. And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise stored, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?

Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But it is that servant say in his heart, My Lord, delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men, servants, and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken.

The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in thunder, and will point him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of strife, shall be beaten with few stripes. For I say, Whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required, and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

The Judgment Seat of Christ and the Believer’s Service

We've been asked not only to look at the Lord's coming, but living life in anticipation of that, and the judgment seat that follows. You see, the Lord here spoke of looking for his coming, being ready, but he also spoke of stripes.

He used the analogy here, depending on how we served him. Those who knew the will of God, and did it not, will receive many stripes. And those who are ignorant, while they're worthy of stripes, it's few stripes.

Brothers and sisters, it is one thing to be ignorant. My heart goes out sometimes to Christians, and they just haven't been taught, they don't know. It's altogether a different thing to know the truth of God, and embrace it, and drop it for whatever reason.

To know the will of God, and not to do it. Much is given, much is required. You see, we know that once he comes for his church, there is a judgment seat that follows. We get that from verses like 2 Corinthians 5 .10, written to the assembly, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

You see, we don't want to confuse that, though. There are different types of judgment in the word of God. The judgment seat of Christ, for the believer, has nothing to do with punishment, and going to hell.

You're already in heaven when it happens. You see, in this world, we have both kinds of judgment. You watch the Olympics sometimes, and you'll see in a special section of the audience will be a group of judges.

Those judges are not there to see which athletes will get punished, but they're there to make an evaluation of their performance, and then when they come to what the Greeks called the bima, the judgment seat, the judgment there is not to punish them, but to reward them according to their performance.

The rewards will be different. Some won't get any, and so on. That's the type of judgment seat he's speaking of here to the servants. Now, time doesn't permit to go into the servant who was cast into outer darkness.

The kingdom is somewhat different than the church. That might come up in the question time, but the judgment here of the stripes is the judgment of poor performance that we may receive in the body, according to what we have done.

Now, there's the other type of judgment, as you know. If you got arrested for a crime and had to go before the judge, they're the judge. Once you're proven guilty, he's going to decide what your punishment, what your sentence is.

That type of judgment is for the unsaved dead. It's in Revelation 2012, when the great white throne is there, and he says, I saw the dead small and great stand before God, and the books were open. Another book was open, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in their books.

The issue there isn't rewards, but to show them why they're going to the lake of fire as the context goes on to teach. It is a punishment judgment, the brothers and sisters. When we speak of the Lord's coming and the judgment seat that follows, we are not speaking of a place where you will be punished for your sins, but where you'll be rewarded or lose reward for your performance in serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

With that kind of truth in mind, he's coming back, and there's a judgment seat that follows, I would think, that would affect our lifestyle, living life in anticipation of his coming. I'd like you to go to your outline sheets.

In your booklet, it will be the yellow page of the first message, the yellow page. We have on that yellow page seven points of how living, just not knowing he's coming, but what it has a hold of you. Knowing it could come today, not the mindset, my Lord, that might delay his coming.

The imminent coming of Christ, the rapture, he could take his church home today. When you realize that, and there's a judgment seat to follow, it should affect our lifestyle. Now we have seven things listed here, not that there's only seven, but that we'll find in the word of God of how it will affect your lifestyle.

Now knowing myself and what I do with time and outlines, I don't think we'll ever cover the seven, but at least it will give you something to further study upon. You'll notice the first one we have suggested is the overcoming of depression.

Rejoicing in the Lord Over Depression

And I'll explain what I mean by that, but I'd like you to start, to go to Philippians chapter three, please, in the word of God. Philippians chapter three. And we'll see that the coming of the Lord Jesus and the glory that follows is one of the root doctrines of the New Testament.

It is something that all other things grow out from. When this has a hold of you, it changes everything. Today we get a lot of quick fixes for problems, but as I study the Bible, and I hope the Holy Spirit conveys to us this morning and this afternoon, that when we live in anticipation of his coming, it has a hold of us.

He could come today and we'll see him, and there's a judgment seat that follows. It changes a whole lot of things in attitude and action. It's a root doctrine. It's a root for life in the word of God.

Philippians chapter three and verse twenty, verse twenty of Philippians three. For our conversation, or some of you might have citizenship, is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body or body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

So we see that we look for the Lord Jesus, he's going to change our body. But the truth isn't done yet. You look at verse one of chapter four, and of course it starts out with, therefore, therefore because he is coming and our citizenship is in heaven, therefore, my brethren, it's going to have a practical effect, therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for my joy and crown.

So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech you, Odious and beseeched and picky that they be of the same mind and the Lord and I out and treat the also true yoke fellow help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow labors whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Notice what we're to rejoice in were to rejoice in the Lord, because the Lord is at hand, because our Lord Jesus Christ is going to appear when I speak of depression, brothers and sisters.

I'm not speaking of being concerned about something I'm speaking of what the Bible will call faking. You know, we read in Hebrews twelve to says, looking unto Jesus, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despised the same, and it sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.

You see, because of the joy before him, he could endure. Then it says this in verse three of Hebrews twelve for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind.

I speak of depression in the sense you think you mentally give up. You say it's not worth following the Lord. I can't take it anymore. I'm just not going to do it anymore. That's what I mean here by depression, fainting in your mind, simply passing out and not mentally discerning Scripture and God's will.

And he says, consider him. Why did he? Why could he endure the joy that was set before him? You see, it's keeping your eyes on the future. Now here we see that we're to rejoice in the Lord because the Lord is at hand.

You know, brothers and sisters, there's some things down here we can't rejoice in. And if you focus on that and lose sight of your future calling and then he could come back today, it might swallow you up.

You know, he beseeched here, Eodius and Syntyche to be of the same mind, and that would disturb an assembly when people aren't of the same mind. And we have no guarantee or proof that they became of the same mind.

So is my joy and how the assembly is going. I understand the heart. I understand to some degree that we do joy when people walk in truth. But is our ultimate joy and satisfaction in down here? Heard one brother say once he said, if you're looking for satisfaction, complete fulfillment in your wife, in your family, in your job, in the assembly, you're going to be depressed, he says.

He says, because that's always going to fail you. It'll never live up, including yourself, to your highest expectations. But I want to tell you, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a unique promise, doesn't promise the perfect assembly, doesn't always promise that two people will be of the same mind.

Although we're exhorted to, there'll be things, so to speak, to depress us down here. But the unique promise of the true gospel, and you can study the other religions, they have a lot of promises that are similar paradise, forgiveness and so on.

But none promise. I will come again and receive you unto myself. John 14, three, he's alive, he's coming back, and as far as the rapture is concerned, it's imminent. It could be any day and we're not to say, my Lord, delay it.

There's a danger in thinking that it could be delayed and you start to change your lifestyle. It doesn't matter. It's not as urgent anymore, but to live in the imminency of his coming. You see, Proverbs 13, 12 puts it this way.

Hope deferred make it the heart sick. If you've lost sight of his coming, say, ah, well, probably won't be for five, six years, middle of the tribute, whatever you say, doesn't really matter now what happened.

Hope deferred make it the heart sick, but when the desire come with it at the tree of life to realize that if he doesn't come today, he promised it could be tomorrow and to live in anticipation. It won't have a sick heart.

Things down here will never live up to your expectation, but the promise that he cannot break it. I will come again and receive you under myself and blessed is that servant, whom is Lord when he cometh, shall find so doing so brothers and sisters.

We read here in Philippians that while we might not be able to rejoice in the way people are getting along in the assembly, we can be assured that our Lord Jesus is coming from heaven and we can rejoice in the Lord for the Lord is at hand.

And then look what it says in verses six and seven, which you know so well. Be careful for nothing or anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus.

I believe a mind is kept through Christ Jesus to rejoice in the Lord and to lean on his sovereign will and his promises. You can rejoice in the Lord and the person that does their mind are kept. So, yes, it does to live in the anticipation of his coming and trusting his plan overcome depression.

Endurance Through Suffering and Persecution

Not only does it do that. We must go on here. Number two, which flows out of number one, is endurance as you see on your outline, the yellow page in your notebook. Number two, living in anticipation of his coming and the judgment seat that follows.

It will give you endurance for the suffering of service. Not only endurance for service, but the suffering of the hard knocks, the things that go with serving our Lord Jesus Christ, like you to see some of this as you go to second Corinthians chapter four, please.

Once again, I trust you'll notice how the Lord connects these things with what follows his glory and so on. As I said, the coming of Christ is a root truth of the Bible. Everything hangs on that in the Bible and affects every part of our lifestyle.

If it has a hold of us, second Corinthians chapter four, we get to verse sixteen and you look at this. We've already talked a little bit about this in verse sixteen of second Corinthians four. For which cause we think not.

But the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Why don't we give up? We're told to serve him, but I want to tell you can be in the center of his will and find trouble, find persecution from the world and problems in the assembly.

You can be doing exactly what he tells you to do and find problems. It doesn't mean he's mad at you. Christ, our Lord, was in the center of his will when he hung on that cross and suffered right in the center of the father's will.

If you look at the context of second Corinthians four, we take you there for a minute, such as verse eight. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed, troubled, but not distressed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed.

How can we live and endure serving him? And the Bible tells us in second Timothy three twelve, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. How can we endure, keep going on and keep going on, cast down, but not destroyed and not think?

Well, this is the context that leads up to verse seventeen of second Corinthians four, verse seventeen, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment working for us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal or temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal, because we do not have our mindset on down here.

If we did, we would be in despair, but we have it on glory. We have it on something eternal. What we can't see, brothers and sisters, last forever. What you can see will be gone a hundred years from tonight.

It makes sense to go to go in for put your roots and all your lifestyle into something gone, but we understand there's glory coming. That's the coming of Christ to change us into his glorious body and will be in glory with him.

And so looking at it that way, that our problems here are temporary, but our eternal future and reward is forever. He calls it in verse seventeen, our light affliction doesn't seem light at the time. I understand that, but it's only for a moment in this grand scale of eternity, just a speck of sand on the ocean beach.

And so it works for us because of the judgment seat that follows, because he wants to see how you'll handle it and be faithful to him. It works for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, our light affliction.

He's watching you and I, you know, it's one thing to serve him when everything's going right. You know, it's easy to praise him. But what about when you hurt for it? What about when you stand alone for truth and for the Lord Jesus, you still follow him?

He's watching and it's working as we do by the grace of God. And if we do an exceeding eternal weight of glory, some of you might have heard this analogy, but it helps understand for those of you that haven't.

I'll share it. There was a man one time. The story goes and he was in a prison, falsely accused, but he ended up in the king's dungeon and they put great iron balls on him with shackles to him. And he used to be about after a year or two, he said, I can't take this anymore.

He said, if the balls were just a little later, I could move a little, I could handle. But he says, I can't take it. And it went on to three years, four years, five years, six years, seven years. He said, I can't go.

He said, if it was shorter, I could probably endure. One day, as the story goes, they checked the king's chronicles and the king found out he was falsely accused. The king said, bring him before me. He said, guards, take those shackles and those balls off and put them on the scale and weigh it.

They weighed him. He said, give them that weight in gold. Now, he said, how many years was the end? And they said, seven to multiply that time. Seven. You know what the prisoner thought? Those balls have been a little heavier.

The years have been a little longer. And when we get a look at it, if I say in light of eternal glory, it works for us an exceeding weight of glory. It's a light affliction. And up there, we'll wish we'd done it different.

Brothers and sisters, it gives power to know there's glory ahead, to endure suffering, to stand for God, no matter how it goes. And it endures suffering for our Lord Jesus Christ. You will suffer persecution if you live godly.

Faithfulness and Reward in Christian Service

But let's move on on our outline list. We now on the yellow sheet of your outline will go to point three. And this flows right out of one and two. It will produce faithfulness in service. Now, there is a difference of enduring and being faithful and Dorian means I keep going on.

Faithful means I keep doing it his way and I'm loyal to him. I'm faithful to him. I stick with him and do it his way. Enduring on their faithful, I'm doing it his way. You know, we learn in Second Timothy two five that if a man strives for mastery, yet he is not crowned, except he strives lawfully, according to the word of God, it matters to God not only what we do, but how we do it.

Let me show you this from the word of God. We're here in Second Corinthians four and then chapter five follows up. And for the sake of time, we'll just go down to verse seven of chapter five, Second Corinthians, chapter five, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether we present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Now, let me stop there for a minute.

You say, but we're already accepted with him and you're absolutely right. Ephesians one six says that the praise of the glory of his grace where he has made us accepted in the beloved your position, your standing, your eligibility, if you will, for heaven, you are accepted.

You're not looked at as a condemned center, but in the beloved, you are accepted as a child of God, as totally forgiven and as righteous in his eyes. But here it's not talking about your acceptance into heaven, but it's talking about your acceptance in your performance for rewards.

And Paul says that we labor, that we may be accepted of him and that is well pleasing to him. Why? Because, as we said, when he comes, there's a judgment seat that follows, not a place of punishment, but a place where rewards will be given out and it shows that God is the God of justice.

I know we're saved by grace. Does it matter, though, how you live the Christian life? Does it matter what you do in the assembly? You know, you get the first Corinthians three, ten speaks about building in the temple of God, of which the Lord Jesus is the foundation.

And you know what verse 10 says, let every man take heed how he built it there upon. It matters to God not only what you're doing, but how you're doing it and the material you're using to see if you're faithful to him.

Look why Paul labors that we may be accepted of him. That is what because of verse 10, verse 10 of second Corinthians five. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and the Greek, as you know, that is Bema.

We had the privilege to be in Corinth, Greece this year. We stood at the Bema in Corinth. The remains are still there. They had on a little stone there to Bema. And it's a stone platform. There's a stone wall going up.

And at the top, the judge would say you stand before him and give an account of yourself. That is the picture here that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad, knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord.

We persuade men not only the love of Christ, brothers and sisters, but the terror of the Lord. We must stand there and give an account, not of each other, but every man must give an account of himself.

That's what Romans 1411 says. And we must answer for the way we have served him and what we've done with our gifts and the truth he has given us. It's not what we read in Luke 12. Too much is given, much will be required.

And those that knew the will of God and did not do it, many strikes. It correlates to first Corinthians three. You'll lose reward. And those that did the will of God, they'll be blessed, they'll receive a reward by his grace.

Brother, or if I understand the scripture right in Matthew, chapter twenty five and verse twenty one, when it talks about the kingdom, you'll say, well done and thy good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things.

I will make the ruler over many things. You see, not that you've been successful. I understand what goes through our mind in 20th century thinking. We relate success to God's blessing, and God does sometimes bring success.

And I like success myself, but he doesn't call us to that. That's up to him what he wants to do with his word. But he asked you and I to be faithful. And he looks at those servants and he says, you've been faithful with what I've given.

You've used it. You've been loyal to me. You've used it my way because I can trust you down here. I can trust you up here. I'll make you ruler over many things. We learn in first Corinthians 15 that he's coming, don't we?

Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. It goes on to say he's coming. What should that motivate us to do? Well, you know, verse fifty eight. I think somebody might have quoted it in prayer.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, because of the resurrection, because he's coming abound in the work of the Lord, be steadfast in it.

Tell you when you're steadfast in something, you don't let it go. You know, second Thessalonians two fifteen says, therefore, my brethren, be steadfast and hold fast the tradition, the ordinances which you have been taught, whether by word or by epistle.

When you're steadfast and you hold fast, it means you don't let it go. He's given us his word, but do we let it go or do we hold it fast and perform it and serve him? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.

Brothers and sisters, he's coming. It could be today and as a judgment seat that follows, it should motivate us not only in endurance, but in being faithful and how we serve. We also see some other things, though, that the coming of Christ, when it gets ahold of you, it's imminent.

A Heavenly Value System and Decision-Making

Don't say he could delay when it gets ahold of you. It changes everything. You look at number four on your outline, number four, a heavenly value system and decision making a heavenly value system and decision making.

You say, what do you mean by that? Let's start out in Colossians chapter three, please. Book of Colossians chapter three. Once again, if you'll notice over and over and over again in the word of God, what we do now is based on that he is coming and there's glory ahead and a judgment seat that follows.

There's not some new psychological gimmick that we need today. It is to be living in the light of his promise, the holy one is coming again to set up his kingdom, which by grace will be a part of when that gets ahold of us, it changes everything.

You'll see it again here in Colossians chapter three and verse one, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ said it's on the right hand of God, set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth.

For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ and God, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear and show you also appear with him in glory. This has to do with affection. We're risen with him, he's risen and our life is hid with Christ and God, and we'll appear in glory when he appears.

So in light of that, we are not to be earthly minded. Our affection is to be set on things above where he is and where our future lies on heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, affection has to do with value for what you love, you value.