The Second Coming (Compilation) — Compilations

Apostasy and Disbelief Concerning Christ’s Return

Probably one of the greatest tragedies in Christianity today, I believe, is the apostasy concerning the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I honestly believe that those among us here who are really looking for his coming and yearning for it, would be absolutely shocked at the masses in Christianity today who no longer believe in the coming of the Lord.

They have jettisoned that from their thinking and their theology. They are not looking for his coming. They are saying he will not come in my lifetime. Our teachings now say he may not come for centuries.

And so they have put away and out of mind the truth of his coming. We are seeing fulfilled right before our eyes the warning of Peter, the apostle. There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking according to their own lust and saying, where is the sign of his coming?

Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of time. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

Paul says more than once to Timothy, be sober, be sober, be sober, the end of the world is coming. Dear Lord, if it was coming two thousand years ago, where are we tonight?

Makes me wonder if he is coming for those who are not expecting him. He said for those who look for him shall he appear the second time without sin under salvation. The crown of righteousness waiting for all who are looking, yearning, loving his appearance.

Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord is coming.

Expecting Christ as a Motivation to Holiness

Come on, there is not much time left. I am going into his eternal presence forever. So what if I suffer a little? What if I am not right?

No matter what happens to the society, if you have ever uppermost in your mind that Jesus is coming at any moment, any hour, as he said he would, this is a motivation to holiness, it is a motivation to keeping focused on Jesus Christ, no matter what happens in your day and age.

And we have a whole army of ministers in the pulpit today, preachers of peace saying, relax, you are okay, I am okay, relax.

Endurance Amid Increasing Lawlessness

And because iniquity shall abound, escalate like an avalanche, the literal word, like an avalanche, nothing can stop it, it just escalates more and more and nothing can stop it. Because iniquity and lawlessness literally, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, the Greek, the love of the most.

We profess Christianity, we wax cold, God said. It is happening right now, sir, in case you do not see. Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that endureth unto the end shall be saved, shall be saved.

Who then is a faithful and wise servant? Who then is a faithful and wise servant? Whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.

The Bible says he began to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken. Now this servant is not eating and drinking Christ anymore. He is not into the Word, he is bored with the Word of God now.

He does not want to hear anything about the coming of the Lord because it is going to ruin his lifestyle now. Because you see, the world is creeping in, the spirit of the age is creeping in, this man's thinking is changing completely.

Feeding on Christ and Watching for His Return

I have got all the time in the world. You lot of Christians today are living for the devil and saying, well, he is not coming right now anyhow, but if I get sick and before I die, I will repent. Chances are you will not get that chance.

Because only those expect the coming of the Lord are feeding on Christ. What are you eating and drinking? Are you as much in love with Jesus this morning while I am talking to you as you were a year ago?

Are you as hungry for the Word of God? Or have you put Jesus on the back side of your mind? He is back here somewhere and you say, oh yeah, I believe him, I trust him, but you know, I have got all these things to do, I have got things in my life.

And little by little you eat and drink the other things of this world and you are not focused now on Jesus. You are not eating and drinking and the only reason you would do that is because you really do not believe Jesus is coming soon.

If you really believe Jesus is coming at any moment and you believe what he said, be ye ready. You see, when you are not eating and feasting on Christ, you do not expect his return. You turn to the world.

You turn to its filth. It is time for us to love purity and stop loving the pollution that comes through the airwaves and television and radio and the smut that is being printed in magazines and books.

We need to sober up and realize that God is active to save and by default he is also active to judge and that there are souls perishing.

Worldly Intoxication and Spiritual Neglect

Eating and drinking with the drunken. It means that you are eating the same food, drinking the same food that has intoxicated the world. They are intoxicated now with sports and entertainment. And not one thought of spending an hour along with Jesus in the world.

There is an intoxication with sports in the United States that is absolutely demonic. There is nothing filthier than soap operas. Nothing. Nudity, filth, adultery, fornication. And I am going to look you right in the eye and tell you that if you are sitting there when Jesus comes and you are watching that filth, how do you expect to come out of that cesspool suddenly into the arms of Jesus?

Come on now. How do you sit there and watch those talk shows that are nothing but slop from the very pits? Absolute filth. And you are going to feed on that? You are going to drink that drink? You are going to eat that food with the drunken and get intoxicated with this?

This is life and death. If you think I am putting on a show then you are missing the whole point. What are you eating and drinking from that computer? Come on, what are you eating and drinking? And I say this for the young people especially.

Ten years ago I could not have preached this. This is where we are headed folks. And I am telling you, if you are drinking and eating at the wrong table, if you start eating and drinking with the drunken, you will not make it.

I say it again, you will not make it. Because Jesus says, the Bible says, clearly evil men are going to wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. And you and I cannot sit here now, if we had the full vision, we would all be on our feet weeping or on our knees and on our face if we knew what is coming.

The Reality of Present and Coming Judgment

To be in love with the appearing is to have a sense of reality. What do I mean by reality? The judgments of God that are here and that are coming upon the earth in mass. And then the eternal judgment of God.

Most Christians are not in touch with reality. They are not sober. There are moments and glimpses when we need God. But there is not a sense that the earth is pregnant with the judgments of God. That at the end of the age the earth will experience the most ravaging judgments of God ever.

And then there will be an eternal judgment. We do not think about these things.

First of all, you must have in your home a renewed vision of the soon return of Jesus Christ. There has to be a cry in you so that your children hear it. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

So the church needs a sense of sobriety. That things are not going to continue on the way they are.

A Renewed Vision of Christ’s Coming

And this has to be uppermost in your mind. If you do not have this truth burning and alive, a flame in your hearts. And oh Jesus, I believe that you can come at any moment. I want to be prepared. Oh God, by your Holy Spirit, enable me.

Give me power to live for you. Hey, all that is in this life. Thank God for family. Thank God for friends. Thank God for his blessings. But this is not the real world. This is not the real world. We are going somewhere for eternity.

This is just a little piece of eternity cut out called time and space to repent. A little time and space to prepare our hearts for the glory of God that awaits us. I am not living for today. You are going to stand before me.

It is appointed unto man once to die after this, the judgment. And folks, we are going to go to the judgment seat of Christ. We are going to stand before him as believers. Some of you are going to be damned.

You are not going to be saved. The Lord is going to bind you hand and foot and cast you into outer darkness for eternity. And your hell is going to be so much more terrifying than the heathen. Because the Bible says to whom much is given, much is expected.

Conviction, Repentance, and Running to Mercy

Sadly, some of you who can look at Brother Carter, you can look at me. You say, I love my pastors. I love these men. You are still going to hell. You are going to die and go to hell. Because you have never fully yielded.

You are still not, you don't even pick this up at home. You are not into it. You never get alone with him and seek him. You are not eating and drinking. Christ, you have not become that faithful wise servant.

You still speak doubt. You speak on belief. If you loved him and you believe he is coming, you will run to him. The Bible says absolutely, the law is meant to bring you to such a state of helplessness and terror that you are driven to Christ and his mercy.

And preaching like this is intended to become a law to you that exposes your laziness. Exposes everything that is unlike Jesus in you to produce a holy terror that you would say, I will run to his mercy.

His mercy is for those only who have already been convicted of their sins and admit I have sinned. And know that their sins are going to damn them. And once you know that, you run to Jesus and that is when his mercy is given to you.

He floods you. That is when the peace, that is when the miracle happens. And that is why there is not much conviction in the church anymore. That is why people are not really turning to the Lord with all their heart.

Because the law of the Lord has not been laid down as a mirror to convict them of their sins. There has to be conviction. And if you are here this morning and you are convicted, there is something turning and twisting in your heart.

This was not to be cute this morning. This is to tell you if you have been sitting there drinking smut, lay it down. I am telling you, you are going to go to hell.

Folks, this is not a game. It is your eternal soul.

And I will not stand before my maker. I will not stand before my blessed Jesus. I tell you I will not. And have anybody's blood on my hands. When I stand there and you are there beside me, I will let you know in all love.

Sunday morning I preached about his coming. I talked about that stuff you were drinking. It was going to damn you. I prayed that you would turn. I begged you. I pleaded. I did everything. I used God's hand.

I used his law. I used his mercy. You do not pay me for this. Oh, Brother Dave, those are old fashioned, older techniques from a century ago. No. I do not care what anybody calls it. I am after your soul.

I want you to pray this prayer with me right now. Jesus, I come to you to be cleansed, to be forgiven, and to be changed. I need a new mind. Oh, God, forgive me for eating and drinking the wrong food and the wrong drink.

Give me strength and a desire to feed on Christ and his word, to pray and to seek the Lord with all my heart. Forgive me, Jesus. I know you are coming soon. I want to be ready. Touch me, forgive me, cleanse me, and give me this hope.

Are you ready to meet him now? Yes.