Truth That Changes Lives

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the Senior Pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in Biblical Studies at Biola University.

Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Foundations. Let's listen in as JP gives us part two of The Second Coming.

JP Jones: Do you know that Jesus taught more about the kingdom than any other topic? More about the kingdom than heaven and hell, more about the kingdom than money, more about the kingdom than love, more about the kingdom than any other topic. In fact, you can take a concordance, which is like a Bible encyclopedia, and you can look up topics and then find every verse in the Bible where those topics are mentioned.

So you can look up potential, any topic you want that you think Jesus might have said something about, and you'll find every reference in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, the Gospels, where Jesus would have said something about that topic. And you can count how many times that topic was discussed or that word was used. And you will find 173 times that Jesus says something about the kingdom.

The number one teaching topic of Jesus. Let me tell you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, that ought to right away make you think, well, I better know something about the kingdom. If Jesus taught more about the kingdom than anything else, and I'm following Jesus as my king, I ought to know something about the kingdom. If you're here and you're a seeker and you're considering, is Jesus really who he claimed to be? Well, one of the things that you ought to consider is what did Jesus teach? And if Jesus taught more about the kingdom than anything else, you ought to try to figure out what he said about the kingdom.

So, here we are, after the resurrection, 40 days before his ascension, Jesus is teaching the apostles. Guess what he's talking about? The kingdom. So, they ask a kingdom question. It says this in Acts chapter one, verses six and seven. "So when they met together, they asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" Here's his answer. He said to them, "It's not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority."

Don't you love it when people answer your question with a vague, kind of indirect answer? Not really giving you an answer? I love doing that with people in the church and students of mine at Biola. They come and ask me, you know, really deep spiritual questions. I'm like, oh, hmm, that's really interesting. What do you think?

Jesus redirects the question. He doesn't correct the question, he redirects the question. There is a kingdom. But what Jesus says is, I'm not going to tell you all the specifics as it relates to its establishment. We're going to see in a minute what he does say is really important for us to understand about the kingdom in Acts 1:8.

But at this point, what I want you to see is Jesus taught about the kingdom. The disciples understood Jesus taught about the kingdom. So the disciples ask a kingdom question. Jesus, when he comes back, is going to establish his kingdom. When is that going to be? Jesus says, the Father has fixed that by his own authority. We don't know with certainty when it's going to be. It's just going to be.

Have you ever thought what what you have to have to have a kingdom? There are three things you have to have to have a kingdom. You got to have a king, a ruler. You got to have subjects, those who are ruled. And you got to have a realm, the sphere in which they're ruled. And the kingdom of Jesus has all three. Jesus is the king, we are his subjects, and this earth and the universe is the sphere of his rule.

Jesus is coming back as the King to rule his subjects in his kingdom. That's what the Bible says. Jesus is the king who is returning to establish his kingdom. He will judge the living and the dead. Now, the passage in the Bible that tells us the most about this is in the book of Revelation. Now, the book of Revelation, the name Revelation, it comes from the Greek word apokalypsis, which means unveiling or manifestation or revelation.

When we look at different types of literature, not only in the Bible, but just the genre of literature, if you were to take a literature class, there is a particular type of literature known as apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literature is characterized by visions and dreams and symbols and allegorical representation. The book of Revelation is very mysterious to some people and difficult for some people because it's it's spiritual truth communicated through symbols. It's literal truth, but literal truth communicated in symbols.

So, in Revelation chapter 19 and chapter 20, we have the truth of Christ's second coming revealed to us in symbols. All right? I want to read this portion of scripture, but I want to set that up for you so that you can understand what's being described here is the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's apocalyptic. There's all kinds of symbols here. This is what it says.

"I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses, and dressed in fine linen and white and clean. And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has this name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Who's this talking about? Jesus.

Now, it's a symbolic representation, but it's Jesus. John sees heaven open up, and Jesus is riding forth with his army because this is describing the end of the age. And there is an end of the age, and Jesus does have something to do with it. And he's coming back to rule.

In fact, if you're really into, you know, prophecy and apocalyptic study and studying the book of Revelation, let me make it real simple for you. This is all you really need to know. Jesus wins. That's it. We don't need to have a week-long prophecy conference. Jesus wins. That's it.

Jesus comes back. He's coming back to rule. This is being described as John sees it through all these symbolic representations. And then John says this. It's Revelation chapter 20, verse one. "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss, and holding in his hand a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that is the ancient serpent, who is the devil or Satan. And he bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss and he locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. And after that he must be set free for a short time. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. And they had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him for a thousand years."

So here's the flow. Revelation 19, verse 11 to the end, is describing the second coming. Revelation 20, verses 1 to 6, describes what Jesus does when he comes. He rules and he sets up his reign. Now, if you were listening, five times it says in there, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years.

One of the early translations of the New Testament, New Testament written in Koine Greek, it was translated into Latin by a guy named Jerome. And in Latin, the term thousand is millennium. So the discussion about the second coming of Jesus Christ, as it relates to his earthly reign, is known as your view of the millennium. Historic followers of Jesus Christ have always believed that Jesus is coming back visibly, physically. Jesus is coming back to rule and to reign. Now, in-house, in a as a family, there's been some disagreements about the particular characterizations of that, but those are the details, not the big picture. The big picture is the church has always held on to the blessed hope of Christ's second coming, and he's coming to rule and to reign.

If you were following Revelation 19 and 20 and you were taking that from a more literal perspective, you would believe Jesus would come back, he'd set up his reign, that reign would last for a thousand years. That's known as the pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ.

In Acts chapter one, Jesus establishes the fact that he's been raised from the dead. He teaches his followers about the kingdom. Before their very eyes, he's ascended out of their sight. Two angels show up and say, he's coming back the same way. Jesus is coming back visibly, he's coming back physically. The disciples ask Jesus, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus says, I'm not going to give you all the details about the times and the epics. But by inference, yeah, I'm going to. I'm coming back to be the king of my kingdom.

Here's the third observation from this passage in Acts chapter one. You might think that because Jesus has been teaching about the kingdom, and the apostles ask a kingdom question, Jesus would give them a kingdom answer, and you know what, you'd be right. Only the answer isn't what the apostles expected, and it's probably not what we expect. Because Jesus says, "I'm not going to tell you about the times or epics which the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the remotest parts of the earth."

Here's what Jesus says. "I'm coming back. I'm coming back to set up my kingdom, but until I do, your focus shouldn't be on trying to figure out the time and the date. Shouldn't be about writing charts with ups and downs and all kinds of graphs in between. Shouldn't be about having prophecy conferences. Shouldn't be about arguing with one another about whether your view or my view is better. You know what you should be doing until I do come back and reign? You should be telling the whole world that I'm the Lord and Savior, and you should be doing it in the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, you're going to receive power to be my witnesses.

The kingdom work of Christ right now is for his church to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to tell other people about Jesus. That's it! That's what Jesus said, because they asked this kingdom question, and Jesus said, "I'm not going to tell you all those specifics, but you shall receive power." That's a promise. "And you shall be my witnesses." That's a promise and a command. Every follower of Jesus Christ has been given this awesome privilege, promise, and calling to be a spirit-filled witness of Jesus Christ. And to be that witness right where they are and to the whole world.

Well, because the apostles, where were they? Well, they were in Jerusalem. So he says, you should be my witnesses in Jerusalem. What was the surrounding area of Jerusalem? Judea and Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. I mean, if Jesus was giving this promise to us right now, he said, you shall be my witnesses in South Orange County, in California, in the United States, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. It's one of those passages that we call the Great Commission passages. There are five of them: in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 21, and here in Acts 1. These are the final words of Jesus. These are the marching orders for Christ's church.

Remember when we talked about what we believe about the church? In Matthew 16, Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." Christ is going to build his church. But how does Christ build his church? Through spirit-filled witnesses who proclaim the gospel. Like if you could visualize this was a big map up here, a huge map. And so we've got, you know, kind of the United States over here and we've got Canada, and then, you know, Mexico and Central America and Latin America, and then you got Europe and Asia, and you got Africa, and you got all the all the islands off over here. So it's just this this big map across here, all right?

Well, if you could picture in your mind's eye little dots all over this map of Christ-following communities, we call them churches. You got Crossline Community Church here in South Orange County. You got churches all around here. You got churches in greater L.A. You got churches up in San Francisco and all up the West Coast. You got churches all over the Midwest and the South, and churches all over the United States and all on the East Coast. And you got churches going down into Mexico and Mexico City and in Central America. You got churches in the northern part of Latin America. You got churches all the way down in Latin America. You got churches in Europe, and you you you got churches in Asia, and you got churches all over Africa.

And each one of those Christ-following communities, they're taking this seriously. "You shall be my witnesses when the power of the Holy Spirit has come upon you." And so you have witnesses for Christ in their community and then in their own Judea and Samaria, all right? So picture this in your mind, this spiritual multiplication as individual followers and as congregations and as groups of congregations, in the power of the Holy Spirit, live out this calling of being witnesses for Christ. And this happens all over the world.

Well, what ends up happening is these circles start intersecting. And that's when the whole world is reached for Christ. And Jesus said, "That's going to keep going on until I come back." Matthew 24 says, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the nations, and then the end shall come." And you know what? If you read the whole book of Acts, which I have, in fact, I've read it several times, I encourage you to do the same thing. You'll find the apostles figured out what Jesus was talking about. They lived it out.

Acts chapter two says the Holy Spirit fell upon that company of gathered together, because it was not only the apostles, it was about 120 of them who were praying and waiting upon God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to preach the gospel. Several thousand got saved on that one day. They formed a church, and it says the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved. In Acts chapter four, it says Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and was asked how a miracle could happen in his name, and he says, "There's salvation in no one else. There's no other name given among men from heaven by which we might be saved, other than the name of Jesus Christ." And there was real pushback from that preaching of the gospel because a bunch of other people came to know Christ as a result of Peter's preaching. So the church gathered together and prayed, and they asked for God's divine intervention. In Acts 4:31, it says, "And when they prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and all began to speak the word of God boldly."

And in Acts chapter six, it says the church was growing so much, people were coming to know the Lord, that there was people started falling through the cracks. I mean, the way they had set up to do church wasn't working. So the apostles said, this is not working, but we got to preach the word and we got to pray. So let's pick some more leaders to serve the body. And so they picked spirit-filled people. And then the Bible says, as a result, the word of God continued to grow, and many priests were added to the faith.

And in Acts chapter seven, Stephen, who's one of those guys who was picked to be one of those first deacons, he gets put on the spot. A huge crowd gathers around him. In Acts 7:55, it says, "He was filled with the Holy Spirit." He saw Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, and he proclaimed Jesus to the crowd. Acts chapter eight, a persecution rises upon the church. Philip, who's another one of those first deacons that got picked in Acts chapter six, he gets sent off to Samaria. Remember, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. Philip goes down to Samaria and says, filled with the Holy Spirit, Philip preached Jesus, and the whole town of Samaria believed in Christ.

This great revival is taking place in Samaria, and it says the Spirit snatched Philip out of there, took him out to the desert. He's out in the desert, you know, he's probably thinking, what am I doing here? And he sees this one guy in a chariot. And he sees the guy's reading a scroll of the Old Testament. So he runs up alongside the chariot, you know, "What are you reading?" The guy says, "I'm reading something out of Isaiah, but I don't really know what it means. Do you know what it means?" "If you let me get in the chariot, I'll tell you." Boom, he gets in the chariot, and it says, "From that very passage he preached Jesus to him." And the Ethiopian eunuch became a follower of Jesus Christ. And then it says, Philip was snatched away to some place called Azotus, and he says, he kept on preaching Jesus.

Acts chapter nine, the Apostle Paul's on a mission to hunt down Christians. Jesus appears to him, the resurrected Jesus appears to him. He's blinded. He doesn't know what's going on. A guy is sent to him. A guy named Ananias is sent to him. He lays hands on Paul and says Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately began to proclaim Christ. Acts chapter 10, a guy named Cornelius, who was a Gentile, but he was seeking after God. In the middle of his prayers, all of a sudden has this vision where God says, "You need to find a guy named Peter because he has a message you need to hear." So he sends off for Peter. Same time, Peter is having a vision where God says, "You can eat all the animals that formerly were unclean, now you can eat them all." So Peter's thinking, well, you know, I'm going to go have a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.

And then God says, "No, it's not about that." Because when he gets the message from Cornelius to come down to talk to Cornelius, he realizes that was all about the fact that this gospel isn't just for Jews, it's for Gentiles. Because Cornelius went and went and invited everybody he knew. Got all his family there, all his friends, all his servants, everybody you could think of. Bible term for that is Oikos, it's translated as household. And Peter, it says, filled with the Holy Spirit, shared Jesus with them, and all of them believed.

Acts chapter 11, the church of Jerusalem finds out that some of the believers from Jerusalem had gone up to Antioch, and they were telling people about Jesus, and Gentiles were coming to faith. So they picked Barnabas, and Barnabas, it says, was a good man. It says Barnabas, filled with the Holy Spirit, went up to Antioch, and he brought many to the Lord. So they started a church in Antioch.

And in Acts 13, all the leaders of the church were together praying, it says, and ministering and worshiping the Lord. And the Holy Spirit spoke and said, "Set apart Barnabas and Paul for the ministry that I have for them." And the church at Antioch sent off Barnabas and Paul as missionaries. And from Acts 13 to Acts 28, the end of the book, is all about the missionary expansion of the church. Acts one through seven, the church is in Jerusalem. Acts eight through 12, the church is in Judea and Samaria. Acts 13 to the end, the church is going to the uttermost parts of the earth. And the book of Acts ends with Paul under arrest because he was preaching Jesus, and it says the last couple of verses of the whole book of Acts, "And Paul was speaking daily the things of the kingdom of God and preaching Jesus to anyone who would listen."

They got it. "You will receive power when my Spirit has come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses." Jesus is coming back. He's coming back visibly and physically. Jesus is coming back to be the King over his kingdom, and until he does, he is calling us as a church to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and to be his witnesses.

This morning, among us here, two kinds of people. Those of us who know Jesus Christ, we're followers of Jesus. And if we are, we need to be obedient to what Jesus says. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to fill our lives and to surrender ourselves to be witnesses for Christ wherever we are. Others of us are here, maybe we're guests, maybe we've been invited. We're seekers. Maybe we didn't even know we were on a spiritual journey, but today could be the very day that we give our lives to Jesus Christ. And the very fact that we're here today is because somebody has been some kind of a witness to us. That's what God is here in the first place. Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, today say yes to Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're in the series talking about the essentials, the foundations for our faith in Jesus Christ. What are those biblical doctrines and truths that unite all true followers of Jesus Christ? And what we're talking about is the second coming of Jesus Christ. We as followers of Jesus look forward to the soon return of our Lord. He's coming back physically, he's coming back visibly, he's coming back to rule and to reign, to establish his kingdom, to judge the living and the dead, where believers will enter into eternal fellowship with him in heaven, and unbelievers will be separated from him under eternal judgment in hell. This is an awesome truth. It is a glorifying truth to know that our God reigns. He is the King of Kings and he is the Lord of Lords, and Jesus Christ is coming back again as savior and as judge.

We look forward to that, and the Bible makes promises about the second coming of Christ. Here in Acts chapter one, Jesus gives what's called the Great Commission. He empowers his disciples to be witnesses, spirit-filled witnesses, to the very ends of the earth, the remotest parts of the earth. And he says that that is our preoccupation as followers of Christ. That's how we champion his kingdom agenda right now. And we do so looking forward to the fact that he's coming back again. In fact, in the passage, the angels come after Jesus ascends out of the sight of the apostles, and the angels inform the apostles that Jesus Christ is coming back in the same way that he was taken up into heaven. He's coming back again physically, he's coming back again visibly, and he's coming back to reign and to rule on earth. We look forward to that. It gives us hope. It gives us a sense of purpose and a sense of destiny that we live in the here and now looking for the life to come.

Jesus Christ is coming back. Do you know him? Do you know Jesus as the Lord of your life? Do you know Jesus as your savior? Every person one day, according to the book of Philippians, is going to bow before Jesus. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. For some of us, we'll have the privilege of doing that in a saving, love relationship with him. But for others, they'll have to confess him as Lord as they go away to judgment. You can be prepared for eternity by right now believing in Jesus Christ. If you would like to do that, would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, I need you. I confess I'm a sinner. I believe you died and you rose again. I believe you're coming back again. And I ask you to come into my life to save me, to forgive me, and to be the Lord of my life for all eternity. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California, 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.