Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truths so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. The second coming of Jesus Christ. Is the greatest prophetic event of the ages, and as you study the Bible, you're going to find out that the Bible puts a tremendous emphasis upon the second coming of Jesus Christ.
As important as the new birth is, the new birth is mentioned nine times in the Bible. As important as baptism is, baptism is mentioned twenty times in the Bible. As important as repentance is, repentance is mentioned 71 times in the Bible, or 70 times, some would say, in the Bible. But over 380 verses in the Bible speak clearly, plainly about the second coming of Jesus Christ. One verse out of every 25 points with an eager finger.
To the second coming of Jesus Christ, and the early church was taken up in thinking about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Alexander McLaren said that early church did not think primarily about death or about heaven, but about the second coming of Jesus Christ. He said it this way: He said they were not looking for a cleft in the ground. Called a grave, they were looking for a cleft in the sky called glory. They were not looking for the undertaker; they were looking for the upper taker.
Amen. I like that. I really do. And we ought to be looking for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Did you know, in the dome of the Capitol in the United States of, in Washington D.C., if you were to look, you would find inscribed these words: "One God, one law." One element and one divine, far off event toward which all creation moves.
What is that one far off divine event toward which all creation moves? Why, that far off event that was far off in the eyes of some may be right upon us, and that is the second coming of Jesus Christ. This lost generation may be the last generation. You know, we hear preachers talk about signs of the times, and they say, "Well, we've always had those things. We've always had the war.
We've always had the famine. We've always had the pestilence. We've always had the apostasy. We've always had these things." But you remember in Matthew chapter twenty-five, the Lord Jesus said, "When you see all these things begin to happen." That you know that the end is nigh, and then he said, "For these are the beginnings of sorrows." And the word that he used there for sorrows is a very interesting word. It's the word that means birth pains.
Do you know anything about birth pains? Why is it all little babies are born at two in the morning? Why is it that your wife says to you now, honey, I'm I I I'm feeling I'm feeling that that first pain? And you say, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't get excited. It's all right, honey.
I'll take care of you. You, and that gives her a lot of confidence, you know, and a lot of comfort. And and and and she she says, honey, I, I felt another one. You get out your your watch and you start to, like the doctor told you, you start to time. Then she said, I felt another one and it was harder.
And then they get harder and closer and harder and closer, and you say, "Oh, this is it." Now listen, your wife may have a pain at any time, but friend, if you know that she's expecting, and those pains begin to come close together, and they begin to get more and more severe, these are the beginning of birth pains. And if you've got any sense, you're gonna get ready because if you're like I am, you don't want to deliver any baby. You're gonna get to that hospital, you know, and the policeman'll stop you and say, "It's all right, officer. I didn't mean to be doing 80 miles an hour, but my my baby's going to wife to have a hospital, and I I've got to I've got to get there. I've got to get there in a hurry." And so he just he just leads you on there because you know that that that something is about to come forth.
Now Jesus said that the The signs of the times are like that. He says they're like birth pains. You see, we've had famines before, we've had pestilences before, we've had all of these things before. But when all of these things begin to come to pass, Jesus said, when there is a convergence of the signs, when there is a concentration of the signs, when there is an intensification of the signs, when there is a multiplication of the signs, then Jesus said, get ready, be ready. We know that we're living in the time where Jesus could come at any moment, some glorious morning.
All will be peace when Jesus comes again.
Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come.
Some golden daybreak, battles all won. He'll shout the victory, break through the blue.
Some golden daybreak for me, for you. One of the signs of the last days is apostasy. Apostasy, Paul said, in the last days men shall depart from the faith. As a matter of fact, he said in Second Thessalonians, the second chapter, that day shall not come except the apostasy, the falling away, come first. We know, therefore.
That the apostasy, the turning from the faith, is a sign of the last days. And what is an apostate? An apostate is someone who has received the truth, then he rejects the truth, then he repudiates the truth, and ridicules the truth, and tries to replace the truth of our Lord. And the book of Jude is written to warn us about these apostates. But now Jude is also going to warn the apostates.
He's going to warn them that Jesus Christ is coming, and when He comes, He will come to judge these apostates. And the three things that I want you to learn about the second coming of Jesus Christ here in this book of Jude that we learn really that Jude learned from Enoch. Enoch was the first man, the first human being. To ever prophesy the second coming of Jesus Christ, and the Bible tells us that He was the seventh from Adam. There are three things I want you to learn about the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The very first thing I want you to learn is what I'm going to call the surety of His coming. The surety of his coming. Notice verse fourteen. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, "Behold, the Lord cometh." But you know what it literally says in the Greek language? "Behold, the Lord came," not the Lord cometh.
The Lord came.
Now we know he hasn't come yet, but Enoch said he came. To Enoch, Enoch had seen the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible, you find out that much Bible prophecy, things that are going to come to pass, are put in past tense because in God's mind it is as good as already done. Enoch saw it so clearly.
So clearly did Enoch see the second coming of Jesus Christ that he spoke of it as though it had already come to pass.
Now the Bible says that this man Enoch was the seventh from Adam, and if you figure it out, you'll find out that Enoch and Adam were contemporaries. As a matter of fact, Adam was in just in the prime of life when Enoch was born. He was only 622 years old.
Well, you see, Adam lived to be 930 years old.
So, so he he had a he had about a third of his life left to live when Enoch was born, and Enoch and Adam lived together for three hundred eight years. Enoch knew Adam, and Adam knew Enoch. I I certainly believe because they were great leaders of their day and of their age. Enoch was a contemporary of Adam. He was the seventh from Adam, and that long ago, that far back in human history, here was Enoch prophesying the second coming of Jesus Christ.
And how fitting that Enoch would prophesy the second coming of Jesus Christ, because you remember Enoch, he was the man that was raptured. You remember that?
Well, you don't remember it. You remember reading about it. Enoch, Enoch was the man who was raptured. He went to heaven without dying. In Genesis chapter five and verse twenty-four, we read, and Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him.
Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. By the way, I thought about that. Why did Enoch walk with God?
Well, I believe that Enix talked to Adam, and you remember the Bible says God walked with Adam in the garden, and Enix said to Adam, "Adam, tell me what it was like to walk with God." Adam had get that far away look in his eyes, and he said, "Oh, Enix." It was wonderful. He walked with me, and he talked with me. He told me I was his own, and the joys we shared as we tarried there none other has ever known. Oh, it was wonderful! And oh, Enoch said, "Hey, I believe I'm going to walk with God.
I like that." And Enoch walked with God, and the fellowship with God was so wonderful. Here was this man Enoch. You know, all the rest of the people there in Genesis chapter five, it says, "So and so lived and he died.
So and so lived and he died.
So and so lived and he died.
So and so lived and he died." And then it says, "And Enoch." Walked with God, and it was not for God took him. He didn't die. He pictures us, dear friend. He was the seventh from Adam. I believe it been seven thousand years of human history.
I believe that he prophesized that last generation that's not going to die, but be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. He pictures those of us who are going to be raptured, people. Going to be raptured. Why you say, Pastor? You really believe that happened?
Yes. You can read about it in the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews. It says the same thing. Hebrews chapter eleven and verse five. By faith, Enoch was translated; that he should not see death, and was not found.
That is, they looked for him, but they couldn't find him. He was translated. He and God were just out on a walk one day, and and God said to Enoch, Enoch, you're not going to die, son. You're not taste of death. I'm just going to take you on up to glory, and the Bible says he was not found.
That means they looked for him.
Well, well, well, you say, hey, that is so superstitious sound. That that's so supernatural sound. Yeah, yeah, it really is. But folks, we already have the historical precedent. That's the way Enoch went to heaven.
We already have the historical precedent. That's the way Elijah went to heaven. You read about it. We already have the historical precedent. That's the way Jesus went to heaven.
You read about it. Don't try to explain it away. One of these days, our Lord shall come. Paul says in First Thessalonians chapter four, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which remain, and are alive, shall be caught up with them in the air to meet the Lord in the air.
We're going to be caught up. I mean, folks, we're going to meet our Lord in the air, just as Enic was. And they looked for him. I can imagine, old Jared, that was Enic's daddy. He looked for Enic.
Said, "Where is that boy? He hadn't come home. It's it's way past supper time. He hadn't come home yet. Where is Enic?" They looked for him.
They couldn't find him. After a while, Jerry said, "Well, you know, he's been acting strange anyway lately. He's been going on these long walks, and he comes home. He's got a funny look on his face, always smiling.
Now, the day I heard him singing a little chorus, 'This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through,' and he's gone." That's right. He was gone, and he pictures he pictures what's going to happen to us at the rapture of the church, when the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which remain and are alive are going to be caught up to meet them. Do you know what Jesus said? You might want to put this scripture in your Bible, Luke seventeen.
Verses thirty-four and thirty-five. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; one shall be taken and the other left. And two women shall be grinding together; one shall be taken and the other left.
Now that's interesting.
Some are sleeping and some are working. Part of the world will be daylight, and part of the world will be dark when Jesus comes. You see how accurate the Bible is. You know, people in Jesus' time did not know that it was light on one side of the world, what was dark on the other. But Jesus knew that.
Some will be in bed, and some will be at work when Jesus comes. One will be taken, and the other left.
Some are going to be swept up to glory if the Lord Jesus were to come right now, and others would be left. And Enoch, who understood all of these things, was a man who prophesied the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had inside knowledge. The Bible says, "Surely the Lord our God will do nothing except He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets." And Enoch was a man that God gave a vision. I mean, only seven generations from Adam, and yet he saw the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Enoch prophesied, "Behold, the Lord cometh." And Enoch told us of the surety of His coming. And by the way, do you know when Enoch lived? He lived in a period of time known in the Bible as the days of Noah, as the days of Noah. Because Enoch lived right before the flood, and the days of Enoch and the days of Noah were the same. And Jesus said that as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:37. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.
Now, in the days before the flood, that's exactly when Enoch lived, and therefore Enoch becomes not only a prophet of these times, but he also becomes a picture, or at least his age was a picture of these times in which we live. And what were the days of Noah? I mean, what were what kind of a place did Enoch live in?
Well, number one, it it was a time—the days of Noah were days of anarchy and violence. Genesis chapter six and verse eleven, and the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. You see, violence is the mark of the end of an age.
Now, there've always been wars and rumors of wars, but I'm talking about the violence that we've seen. This is an age, a time of violence. Ladies and gentlemen, do you read the newspapers? I read the newspapers. I tell you, if I did not know the Lord, I would be an A number one genuine pessimist.
Pessimist. History is like a Shakespearean tragedy. Did you study Shakespeare? You, you know, in a Shakespearean tragedy, you see things coming to an untimely end, and you know nothing's going to stop it. There's just nothing to stop it.
That's what history is like. I mean, without the Lord, you you think of the violence and the wars that are everywhere. There are uprisings and rebellions and riots. Think of the famines. Think of the of the war and the crime that is in America today, and the the terrorism and assault and murder and the drug traffic, the vandalism, the arson.
It perhaps has happened to us so slowly that we think this is normal. That we live by barred windows. That all of us are trying to get burglar alarms and all of these things. That's violence. Listen.
The days of Enoch were days of anarchy, but not only were they days of anarchy; they were days of apostasy. That is the point. Listen. If you will, in Genesis chapter six and verse five, the Bible says, "In God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Now, that word "imaginations" is a very interesting word. Every imagination of the thought of his heart.
John Phillips says that that word "imaginations" comes from a Hebrew root word. Which means to make something or fashion something, as a potter would fashion a vessel. Don't get the idea that in that day men were just having bad thoughts, or they were daydreaming. That's not what the word imagination means. It means that they had carefully crafted, wicked, ungodly philosophies.
God had given them His word, but rather than taking the word of God, there were these thoughts, these philosophies, these theologies that they had fashioned and they had crafted, and they tried to squeeze the world into their filthy mold. That's the way it was. The days of Enoch were days of anarchy. They were days of apostasy, but they were primarily days of apathy, because in Genesis chapter six and verse one, God says, "My Spirit shall not always strive with a man." God had sent His tender Holy Spirit to strive to woo, and God pled with that generation to repent. But Jesus said they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.
They laughed, they danced, they mocked, they played, they worked, they ate, they feasted. But no thought of God. They had been chloroformed by the spirit of that age, and here with the flood coming, the imminent judgment of Almighty God. There, but they knew not. Jesus said, "Until the flood came and carried them all away." As it was, so shall it be.
Enoch prophesied, "The Lord is coming. The Lord is coming. The Lord is coming. The surety of His coming." Second thing. Notice not only the surety of his coming, but also the severity of his coming.
Look in verse fifteen. Why is he coming? All right, here it is: to execute judgment upon all. To execute judgment upon all. The Lord is coming to judge.
Jesus Christ came the first time as a Savior. He is coming the second time as a judge. You will meet Jesus Christ. You will meet Jesus Christ. You will meet Him as Savior, or you will meet Him as Judge.
But you will meet Jesus Christ. One day you will bow before Jesus Christ. As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. And every one of us will one day confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Some will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and be saved. Others will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and will be damned. You may not walk down this aisle to receive Him. One day they may roll you down this aisle or some other aisle in a funeral. But if you're not saved, your soul will be in hell before the undertaker hears you're dead.
And then, dear friend, at the second coming of Jesus Christ, your soul will come out of hell. Be reincarcerated in your body, and you will stand face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ to be judged. He is coming to judge. The Bible says, "the the the living and the dead." The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. What I'm saying is this: that the same Jesus today, who wants to be your Savior, if he does not become your Savior, will be your judge.
The first time he came to redeem; the second time he is. Is coming to judge the Lord comes, Enix says, to execute judgment. He is coming to judge. How severe is going to be that judgment?
Now, why hasn't he come yet? Because of the severity of that judgment. Do you know that God's great heart yearns not for you to be judged? The Lord is not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to repentance.
The Bible says in Second Peter chapter three verse nine, He doesn't want you to die and go to hell, and therefore the day of grace is being pushed back. This is so well illustrated again in the life of Enoch, who gave us our prophecy. Do you remember when Enoch walked with God? The Bible says in Genesis chapter five that Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah. Do you know who the father of Methuselah was?
Of course, Enoch. And when Enoch had that little baby boy, he named him Methuselah. Would you name a kid Methuselah? Methuselah, what a name! But it's a composite name; it's several words put together.
And in the Bible, names had special significance. Do you know what his name means? His name means when he is dead. It shall be sent. What shall be sent?
The flood. You see, God gave Enoch. God gave Enoch an inspiration and insight into what he was going to do. Surely the Lord God will do nothing except He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets. And God said to Enoch, "Enoch, you see this baby.
When he is dead, it shall be sent. I am going to send judgment. When he is dead, it shall be sent." You say, Pastor, that may be the Hebrew meaning of a word, but do you think that the flood came when he died? Yes. As a matter of fact, you get your Bible and you go home and do some arithmetic, and you can figure it out, and you can prove just with an open Bible and those early chapters of the Book of Genesis that the flood came the year Methuselah died, and now you understand why Methuselah lived so long.
He lived longer than any human being ever lived. Nine hundred and sixty-nine. Yes, the reason why we say oldest Methuselah. There's a little riddle that goes this way: the oldest man who ever lived who died before his father did. Who was that Methuselah?
Well, how could he die before his father did?
Well, you see, his father never died. His father never died. His father was caught up to glory. His father was Enoch, and he never died. The oldest man who ever lived was Methuselah, and yet he died before his father did because his father never died.
Now, why did Methuselah live so long? Why did this man live longer than anybody else? Because, my dear friend, listen to me. Methuselah represents the mercy of God. The mercy of God.
And God knew that one day the flood would come, and the flood was due, and the judgment of God was smoldering, and man deserved to be judged and ought to be judged. But God kept pushing the judgment day back. God said, "Give them another year. Give them another month. Give them another week.
Give them another day. Give them another hour." Oh, I'm not willing that any should perish. But one day, Methuselah died. One of these days, your Methuselah will die. One of these days, mercy will give way to judgment.
Now they were laughing, and Peter tells us about it. People were mocking, and Peter's day saying, "Where is the promise of his coming?" For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. And Peter answered in Second Peter chapter three verse nine. He says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward." Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come.
That is, dear friend, God is not forgotten His promise. Jesus is coming. He is coming to execute judgment. But God is waiting. God is pleading.
God is yearning. God is longing. God is speaking. God is wooing and saying, "Get saved!" But one of these days, just as the flood came in the time of Enoch, God's judgment is coming. One of the most graphic statements I've ever heard is this: Even now, the raging waters of God's wrath are furiously pounding against the dam of His mercy.
One day it will give, and the wrath of God will be poured out upon this world in the second coming of Jesus Christ. He's going to judge words of blasphemy, hard speeches against him, words of hostility, murmurers and complainers, words of arrogancy, great swelling words, words of hypocrisy, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. That's what a an apostate is like. He has just described an apostate, and he's telling us primarily that it is the apostate who is going to be judged. But I want to get quickly to this last thing.
Not only is did Enix speak of the surety of his coming and the severity of his coming, but Enix also spoke of the sanctity of his coming, the sanctity of his coming. In verse fourteen, again he says, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints." Now that doesn't mean a definite number. It just means a great multitude which no man can number.
Some translations give it this way. He comes with myriads of his saints. You see, dear friend, understand this about the second coming of Jesus Christ. First of all, he comes for us, and then we come with him. You see, at the rapture, he comes for us.
And then at the revelation, we come with him. You read Revelation chapter nineteen, and it shows the Lord Jesus Christ coming to judge. And the Bible says, and the armies that were in heaven followed him, clothed in white linen. Zachariah says, "Behold, the Lord thy God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Paul said in Colossians, "When he shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory." We are coming back with Jesus. He comes for us at the rapture.
So, if the rapture were to come right now, we'd go up just like Enoch did. There would be thousands and millions left here upon the earth to go into the great tribulation, to become the filthy slaves of Antichrist. And then our Lord will come to judge the apostates and the chief apostate himself, who is the Antichrist, and to set up his kingdom and to rule and to reign. I want to tell you something, folks. Are you listening to your pastor?
God's kingdom will come. How many times have we prayed, "That Thy kingdom come"? Thy will be done on earth. Do you think Jesus told us to pray that if it'll not be done, it will be done? The earth shall be filled with the glory of the knowledge of the Lord, as waters that cover the sea.
Oh, the sanctity of His coming! He is coming with His saints, and the Bible says the saints shall rule the earth. We're going to judge angels. What am I saying? I'm saying, folks, listen: the end of all things is coming, and you better choose sides carefully.
When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. A preacher went down to the train station one day and had some business there, and he saw a parable of life. He watched as the train came in and people got off, and loved ones were there to greet them. Don't you like to see that when people meet? You know, at a train or a plane.
You know, when I get off a plane, a lot of times, Jim, I just stay around for a few minutes to watch people meet each other. I like to see that. I like to see all that hugging and kissing. As a matter of fact. When Joyce and I are going somewhere, and and we're waiting on the plane and to come, so we can go off together, and people get off the plane and people come to meet those that get off, and they hug and kiss.
That's a good opportunity for me. I just you know start kissing on Joyce because nobody knows really what it's all about anyway. And that's just a that's just a good opportunity.
So I just make out like I just met her and she just got off the plane, and so I just give her a big smooch, and that's a lot of fun, you know, have a big smack attack, and and that's just that's just wonderful. Just have a good time right there, and this preacher was watching, and he saw all of this hugging and all this kissing going on, and but then he saw something else. He saw there was a man there with a handcuff; it was handcuffed to another man. Evidently, a law officer was taking a man off to prison. And there was a wife there and a child there, and they were kissing the man who was handcuffed and going off to prison, and they were weeping and crying.
And the preacher thought, "How strange it is! The same train that brought such joy and such happiness and such reunion to some is the same train that is bringing such sorrow." And such tears, and such separation to others. That, my friend, is what the second coming of Jesus is going to be like. Are you saved? I mean, if He should come today, and He might, folks.
Well, you say, I don't think so.
Well, He says, in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man coming.
So, if you don't think He's coming, that might be a good sign He is. But I tell you one thing, dear friend, the apostasy. Is a sign of the last days. It really is. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website lwf.org.
For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org, or call one eight hundred two seven four five six eight three. Thank you.
