[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening for a short while, and with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read, the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 24, and if we take as our text the words, verse 44, Matthew 24 and verse 44.
[0:30] Where Jesus says, therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
[0:43] You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
[0:53] As you know, this morning for our Christmas family service, we were considering the origin of the Advent calendar and how it was invented in 1839 by a German Reformed pastor called Johann Heinrich Wichern.
[1:13] Johann, he was the founder of what was called Home Mission in Germany. It was a Christian charity providing practical and pastoral care for those in poverty, for those who had just been released from prison, and also for those who were disabled.
[1:30] Johann, he also, as we said to the children, he also established a children's home, a children's home for neglected or orphaned children. And as we said this morning, during the month of December, the children in the orphanage, they would all ask Johann, when is it going to be Christmas?
[1:47] And in order to answer their question, Johann, he invented the Advent calendar using 24 candles on an old cartwheel. And what's remarkable is that Johann's Advent calendar, it was quickly adopted by many of the other Protestant churches in Germany.
[2:06] So it became a huge, huge face in Germany. And that actually wasn't until the 1920s that the Roman Catholic Church then adopted the Advent calendar with candles.
[2:21] Now, as you know, it's referred to as an Advent calendar because the word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means coming or arrival.
[2:32] Therefore, our Christmas Advent calendar is for counting down the days until we remember the coming or the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
[2:44] But as you know this evening, the Apostles' Creed is directing our attention not to the first advent as such, but particularly to the second advent, the second arrival, the second coming of Jesus Christ.
[2:59] Because as we believe and as we confess from the Apostles' Creed, it says that there at the end of the middle section, it says, He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
[3:15] He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. And so as we begin again this evening, will you once again please say with me the Apostles' Creed.
[3:30] I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
[3:48] He descended into heaven. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[3:59] From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
[4:15] Amen. And this evening, as we said, I'd like us to consider the second advent. The second advent of Christ. And I want us to think about it under three headings.
[4:29] The second advent of Christ under three headings. The person who is coming, the promise of his coming, and the purpose of his coming.
[4:40] The person who is coming, the promise of his coming, and the purpose of his coming. So the person, the promise, and the purpose of his coming.
[4:53] So first of all, the person who is coming. The person who is coming. Look at the words of our text. This is our focus this evening. Verse 44. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
[5:12] Now this verse, verse 44, it is a key verse in Jesus' final sermon to his disciples. Matthew chapter 24 and 25, they contain what you could call Jesus' final sermon before his betrayal, arrest, trial, and then crucifixion.
[5:32] And it's a sermon, when you read through it, it's a sermon all about the second advent, or the second coming. But this verse is a key verse.
[5:43] Verse 44 is a key verse because it draws our attention to everything that's said before this verse, and everything that's said after this verse. It highlights for us the promise of his coming, and also the purpose of his coming.
[5:58] But in this key verse, as we read, we also see the person who is coming. The person who is coming. And this is important because in this key verse, Jesus uses a specific title to refer to himself.
[6:15] He says, You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Jesus says that we must be ready because the Son of Man is coming.
[6:30] Now, Jesus uses the title Son of Man in order to emphasize and in order to explain both his humanity and his divinity. Because as the Son of Man, Jesus is, as we were saying from Psalm 8, Jesus is a son of Adam.
[6:48] He's a descendant of Adam. In fact, that's where the word man comes from. It comes from the Hebrew word Adam. Therefore, as the Son of Man, Jesus is a son of Adam.
[7:00] He's a descendant of Adam. He's from the offspring of Adam. He possesses the human nature of Adam. And this is what we've been considering over the past number of weeks from the middle section, this middle section in the Apostles' Creed, that in the first advent, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.
[7:25] We saw that, that he humbled himself by taking to himself our nature, Adam's nature. And it's just as we were singing in Psalm 8, that he made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with dignity and honor.
[7:42] You know, it was the early church fathers who would say about the first advent. They would say it was subtraction by addition. And you really have to think about that some.
[7:54] It was subtraction by addition. It was subtraction by addition. Jesus humbled himself. He subtracted his crown of glory.
[8:05] He didn't subtract his divinity. But he subtracted his crown of glory by adding to himself our nature. Adam's nature. Human nature.
[8:16] It was subtraction by addition. Where, as our creed says, he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary.
[8:26] My friend, in the first advent, in the first coming of Christ, the Son of God became the Son of Man. The Son of God became the Son of Man.
[8:38] And he was, as our catechism tells us, and he continues to be both God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. But as we said, Jesus uses this title, Son of Man, in order to emphasize and explain not only his humanity, but also his divinity.
[8:58] Because as the Son of Man, Jesus is the Messiah. He's the Christ. He's the Anointed One. He's the Divine Savior of sinners. In fact, he's the one whom the prophet Daniel saw in a vision.
[9:13] When you read in Daniel chapter 7, we read that Daniel receives a vision. And it's a vision of the final judgment. And Daniel says, And so what Daniel tells us is that 500 years before the first advent, Daniel was given this vision of the second advent.
[10:02] 500 years before the first advent, before Jesus was even born, Daniel is given a vision of the second advent. Daniel is given a vision of the final judgment when the Son of Man will come as judge.
[10:17] And you know, here in Matthew 24, Jesus is asserting and attesting and even affirming Daniel's vision.
[10:29] That when he comes again, Jesus says, His advent, his coming, will no longer be as the Son of Man who humbled himself down, down, down, from the crown to the cradle to the cross.
[10:44] No, Jesus says, the Son of Man will return as the one who has been highly exalted. Up, up, up. As we saw last week, he was exalted from the grave to Galilee, back to glory.
[10:58] And so, my friend, in his humiliation and in his exaltation as our prophet, priest, and king, Jesus is reminding us that he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
[11:10] And he has been given it all to come and judge the world in righteousness. And the thing is, he will come.
[11:22] He will come. Paul asserts and attests and affirms this too. Paul says in Philippians 2, At the name of Jesus, at the arrival of Jesus, at the second coming of Jesus, at the second advent of Jesus, every knee will bow.
[11:45] Every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and in hell. And every tongue, he says, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[11:59] Doesn't matter who you are, he says. Doesn't matter what you've done in life. Doesn't matter what position you hold. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[12:14] And you know, my friend, you will be there. And I will be there. We will all be there when Jesus comes in his glory.
[12:29] And as Jesus says later in chapter 25, you can read it for yourself. He says, we will all be there when the Son of Man comes in his glory.
[12:40] And all the holy angels with him. And he will sit, we're told, on his glorious throne. And before him, Jesus says, before him will be gathered all peoples, all nations, all tribes, all tongues.
[12:57] And he will separate us. We will all be there. But we will all be separated. He will separate us one from another.
[13:09] Jesus says he will separate homes and families. Parents and children. Spouses and siblings. Friends and neighbors. The Son of Man will separate us.
[13:21] Like a shepherd separates sheep from goats. And Jesus says he will place the sheep on his right hand. But the goats on his left.
[13:33] And he will say to those on his right, come. You blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you. And he will say to those on his left. Depart from me.
[13:46] For I never knew you. Depart from me. Into the everlasting fire. Prepared for the devil and his angels.
[13:58] And you know, my friend. What solemn words to hear from the lips of Jesus. Especially for those of you who have sat under the gospel all your life.
[14:11] To hear from Jesus at the last day. Depart from me. For I never knew you. You knew about him. But he never knew you. As one who was following him.
[14:24] And confessing him. What solemn words to hear from Jesus. At the last day. Depart from me. Depart from me. And you know, thinking about what Jesus says here in his final sermon.
[14:37] Do you know, that's why Paul preached. That's why Paul was someone who preached with such passion for the Lord. And passion for the lost.
[14:49] You go to Acts chapter 17. And Paul is there and he's preaching in Athens. And he's pleading with people. And he's saying to them that God commands all people everywhere to repent.
[15:00] And the reason Paul says this. The reason he gives for saying that God commands all people everywhere to repent. Is because God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness.
[15:14] By a man whom he has appointed. And Paul says God has given us assurance of this. By raising him from the dead. You want to know who you're going to stand before on the last day.
[15:27] Paul says to us, it's Jesus. Because he was raised from the dead. You want to know who you will have to give an account to on the last day. It's Jesus.
[15:39] Because he's the one who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. My friend, God has fixed a day on which we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
[15:49] And give an account. We will all give an account. And we will give our account. To Jesus. We will give our account to Jesus.
[16:02] My friend, the person who is coming. Is King Jesus. Jesus is coming. And that's a promise.
[16:14] That's a promise. Which brings us to consider, secondly, the promise of his coming. The promise of his coming. The person who is coming. And then the promise of his coming.
[16:26] The promise of his coming. Look again at our verse. The words of our text. Therefore you also must be ready. For the Son of Man is coming.
[16:37] At an hour you do not expect. Now I'm sure I've told you this story before of Horatius Bonar.
[16:48] Horatius Bonar was a 19th century free church minister. He's fondly remembered for many of the hymns that he wrote. Including the well-known hymn, I heard the voice of Jesus say.
[17:01] It's one of my favorite hymns. With Bonar he writes, I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. Lay down thou weary one, Lay down thy head upon my breast.
[17:12] I came to Jesus as I was. Weary and worn and sad. I found in him a resting place. And he has made me glad.
[17:22] But it said that one evening, Boys and girls, are you listening? Or girl and boys. It said that one evening after preaching, Horatius Bonar, He came down the steps of his pulpit.
[17:35] And he spoke with three of the elders As everybody else was leaving the church. And he asked his elders the question, Do you think the Lord will come tonight?
[17:48] And the elder closest to him replied saying, I think not. So he turned to the second elder. And he asked him the same question, Do you think the Lord will come tonight?
[18:02] And the second elder answered the same as the first, I think not. So he turned to the third elder. And he asked the same question He had asked the other two elders. Do you think the Lord will come tonight?
[18:17] And like the other elders, this third elder said the same thing. I think not. To which Horatius Bonar responded with the words of our text, Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour, as you think not, the Son of Man will come.
[18:39] My friend, do you think the Lord will come tonight? What makes you sure that he won't come tonight?
[18:52] Because, you know, the promise of his coming is that he will come at an hour we do not expect. But as we mentioned earlier, this verse is a key verse in Jesus' final sermon to his disciples.
[19:09] Matthew 24 and 25, they contain his final sermon about the second advent, the second coming of Christ. And it's a key verse because, as we said, it draws our attention to everything that comes before and everything that comes after this verse.
[19:23] It highlights for us not only the person who is coming, who is the Son of Man, but also the promise of his coming and the purpose of his coming. And in these verses, or in the verses that come before our key verse, Jesus emphasizes and explains the promise of his coming.
[19:44] Because the disciples say right at the beginning of the chapter in verse 3, the disciples say to Jesus, tell us, tell us, tell us, they say, when will the second advent be?
[19:55] When, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the world? Tell us. But, you know, when Jesus was asked that question, his greatest concern was that they believe the promise of his coming.
[20:12] His greatest concern was that they believe the promise of his coming. Because Jesus says to his disciples in the passage that we read, he says that there will be many who will try to lead you astray.
[20:24] There will be many who try to lead you astray. He says, there will be false Christs, there will be false gods, there will be false religions that will tell you that they are the way, the truth, and the life. But see to it, says Jesus.
[20:35] See to it that no one leads you astray. And Jesus says, there will be wars. There will be rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation.
[20:46] Kingdom against kingdom. Empire against empire. Government against government. All these things must take place, says Jesus. But the end is not yet.
[20:57] Then he goes on to say there will also be famines. There will be earthquakes. There will be floods and hurricanes. There will be global warming. But these are only the beginnings of the birth pains.
[21:12] As you know, we hear so much about global warming nowadays, especially with the recent COP26 summit in Glasgow. And there's no denying that the world is heating up.
[21:22] But I don't think it's because of climate change. Our Bible tells us that the creation is groaning.
[21:33] And it has been groaning since the fall. The creation is groaning. It's waiting and wanting, says Paul in Romans 8. It's waiting and wanting a new creation.
[21:46] It's looking and longing for a new heavens and a new earth. Jesus promised, he says, that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.
[21:56] And on that day, this world will be burned up with a fervent heat. My friend, global warming should actually be a global warning.
[22:13] Global warming should be a global warning. Because, you know, it's a reminder and a reassurance to each and every one of us living on this planet that he's coming.
[22:27] It's a reminder and a reassurance of the promise of his coming. Global warming should be a global warning. But there's more because Jesus goes on to say that there will also be persecution.
[22:43] They will put Christians to death. They will hate Christians, he says. As Tertullian said, and as we were seeing in our study of the Beatitudes, the blood of the martyrs will be the seed of the church.
[22:55] Persecution, as we saw in Matthew chapter 5, persecution is a gift and it's a guarantee. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[23:07] And as Jesus said, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. And down throughout the centuries of the Christian church, there have been countless millions of Christians who have been persecuted and died a martyr's death.
[23:24] As we said before, some have been burnt, others beaten, some scolded, stoned, stabbed, clubbed, and even crucified. And it's now estimated that in the 21st century, one in nine Christians in the world are being persecuted for their faith, which works out at over 245 million.
[23:47] And North Korea is the worst place to live as a Christian. Jesus says, many in the church will be persecuted. But he also says, many will fall away.
[24:01] Many will betray one another. Many will even hate one another. Many will grow lukewarm. Many will grow cold. But the one, says Jesus, the one who endures to the end, the one who perseveres to the end, will be saved.
[24:23] Therefore, says Jesus, the gospel must be preached and proclaimed to the ends of the earth because God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness.
[24:36] God has fixed a day on which we must all appear before this judgment seat, the judgment seat of Christ and give an account. But of that day and hour, says Jesus, no one knows.
[24:53] Not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. But know this, says Jesus. And you know, I always find these words so solemn.
[25:06] Know this, as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be with the coming of the Son of Man. As it was in the days of Noah.
[25:17] Noah, as you know, he was the preacher of righteousness. Noah proclaimed the message that God was going to flood the world in judgment. Noah pleaded with the people he knew and the people he loved, the people he lived beside.
[25:30] He pleaded with them to come into the ark to find safety and security. My friend, Noah preached and proclaimed and pleaded with his community to be ready.
[25:42] Even though Mr. Noah built an ark, the people thought it such a lark. And Mr. Noah, he pleaded so, but into the ark they would not go.
[25:54] You know, my friend, the awful tragedy of Noah's ark, the awful tragedy is that there was room for them, but they refused to listen. There was room for them, but they refused to listen.
[26:07] They insulted the preacher. They ignored his pleadings because they were complacent. They were comfortable. They were content in their lot in life.
[26:19] They were eating and drinking, we're told. They were marrying and giving in marriage. They were all unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. And Jesus says, so will it be.
[26:36] So will it be with the coming of the Son of Man. You know, my friend, the promise of his coming is that it will just be a normal day.
[26:51] It will be just another day in Barvis or in Bru or in Bove. There will be eating and drinking people in their own homes. There will be births and deaths and weddings and people at work.
[27:04] There will be school and travel. It will be just another day, another day in Barvis. No one will know the day. No one will know the hour of the second advent. No one will know when judgment has finally come.
[27:19] No one will know until there are those who are too late. Because judgment will be the purpose of his coming.
[27:32] Judgment will be the purpose of his coming. That's what I'd like us to consider lastly. The purpose of his coming. The person who is coming, the Son of Man.
[27:43] The promise of his coming, he is coming at an hour we do not expect. the purpose of his coming. The purpose of his coming. Look at verse 44 again.
[27:55] Therefore you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Sasra.
[28:09] I'm sure you've heard of Sasra before. Sasra is an acronym for Soldier and Airmen Scripture Readers Association. Sasra. As many of you know, Sasra are missionaries to our armed forces.
[28:24] They work alongside the British Army, they work alongside the RAF, and they seek to bring the gospel to our armed forces. But you know what always intrigues me about Sasra is that Sasra's motto is the words of our text.
[28:40] Matthew 24, 44. Therefore you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
[28:52] You know, I'd like to think that when you're working with men and women in the armed forces who are entering war zones and putting their life on the line on a daily basis, I think that for Sasra there would probably be a bit of urgency with the gospel because, well, they just don't know what a day nor an hour will bring in the lives of these soldiers.
[29:15] But as you know, my friend, that's also true in your life and in my life too. We don't need to be in the armed forces to be reminded that life is uncertain and that death is sure and that sin is the cause and Christ is the cure.
[29:32] And that's why Jesus says about his second advent, you must be ready. you must be ready.
[29:43] Because, you know, there's no advent calendar. There's no advent calendar to count down the days until the second coming. It's a day that the Father has appointed. But there's no advent calendar for us to count down the days.
[29:58] Therefore, says Jesus, you must be ready. You must be ready. It's a must of necessity. You must be ready.
[30:09] And, you know, the thing is, Jesus used the must of necessity many times throughout his life and ministry. He said, you'll remember he said, the Christ must suffer.
[30:20] The gospel must be preached. And he also said, we must work. The Christ must suffer. The gospel must be preached.
[30:31] We must work. It's a must of necessity. Because, you know, on the day of judgment, and this is for the Christian, on the day of judgment, our work, our witness, and our worship as Christians will be tried and tested by fire.
[30:51] Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 3, he asks us the question, just paraphrase what he says, will your work witness and worship for Jesus? Will it be gold, silver, and precious stones?
[31:05] Or will it be wood, hay, and stubble? It will be tried and tested by fire. But will your work witness and worship for Jesus? Will it be gold, silver, and precious stones?
[31:18] Or will it be wood, hay, and stubble? Because we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our work, witness, and worship of the Lord.
[31:33] But as you know, Jesus, he also directed his must of necessity towards our unconverted friend, whether here or at home this evening. Jesus said, you must be born again.
[31:47] It's a must of necessity. You must be born again. You must have a conversion. You need to be made new. You need a new heart and a new beginning. You must be born again.
[31:58] You must be saved, said Jesus. You must repent. And here he says, you must be ready. Oh, you must be ready.
[32:08] It's a must of necessity. It's a must of necessity because, you know, my friend, we will either be caught up or caught out. We will either be caught up, caught up to meet the Lord in the air, as Paul says in 1st Thessalonians, or we will be caught out.
[32:30] Caught unaware of his coming. We will either be caught up or caught out. And you know, Jesus, he makes it very personal because he uses personal illustrations in verse 40.
[32:45] He says, then two men will be in the field, one taken, one left. two women will be grinding at the mill, one taken, one left.
[32:58] You imagine our congregation, and that's what it was like. Two men in our congregation, one taken. One taken to the right, one taken to the left.
[33:10] You imagine two women in our congregation, one taken to the right, one taken to the left. Therefore, says Jesus, verse 42, two, therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
[33:28] But know this, know this, he says, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake, and he would not have let his house be broken into.
[33:44] Stay awake. Stay awake, because we will either be caught up or caught out. We will either be caught up or caught out, because, you know, on that day he will come.
[34:01] He will come. And as our creed asserts and affirms to us, on that day he will come to judge the quick and the dead.
[34:14] On that day he will come to judge the quick and the dead. Now, of course, the word quick, it's not those who are fast, but those who are living. The word quick is an old English word for the living.
[34:28] He will judge the quick and the dead, the living and the dead. He will judge those who are still alive when he comes, and those who have been dead and buried for centuries.
[34:39] He will judge the quick and the dead. And that's why, you know, that's why Paul said to young Timothy, young Timothy was this young minister, being taught and trained in a congregation how to preach the gospel, and Paul says to him, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.
[35:03] Preach the word, he says. Be instant in season and out of season. And Peter, the apostle, he also warned us that we shall all give an account to him that is ready, ready to judge the quick and the dead.
[35:20] We shall all give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. You know, as the risen and exalted Christ, Jesus is ready to judge.
[35:38] He is ready to judge. He is the judge of all the earth. He is the king of righteousness. And as Peter says, he is ready to judge.
[35:52] But you know the question that I ask myself and the question you should ask yourself this evening. If Jesus is ready to judge me, am I ready to be judged?
[36:08] Am I ready to be judged? Am I ready to meet my maker? Am I ready to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account?
[36:24] Am I ready to stand before the king of righteousness and tell him all about the life that I have lived? Am I ready to stand before him and give an account?
[36:36] Are you ready? If Jesus is ready to judge, are you ready to be judged? That's a solemn question.
[36:48] And you know my friend, the only way to be ready is to come to Christ and to keep coming to him. As Christians, that's all we can do is keep coming to this Christ.
[37:02] As unconverted friends, you need to come to him for the first time and keep coming to him. We need to come to this Christ and keep coming to him. And so when it comes to the second advent, you know, we see that the person who is coming is King Jesus, the exalted king, the king of righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[37:27] The promise of his coming is that he will come. he will come at a day and an hour, no one knows, except the father.
[37:39] And the purpose of his coming is to judge the quick and the dead. He is ready to judge. But are we ready to be judged by him?
[37:53] And you know, that's why Jesus gives a loving warning. You know, the last sermon Jesus preached, he gave to his disciples a loving warning. Therefore, you also must be ready.
[38:09] For at an hour, the Son of Man is coming, at an hour you do not expect. It's a loving warning. My friend, are you ready for his coming?
[38:24] Be ready. Make ready by coming to this Christ and keep coming to him.
[38:36] May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks to thee for the encouragements that are found in thy word, but we also give thanks for the warnings, that these warnings are given so lovingly and so graciously, that they are given in time to prepare us for eternity.
[39:03] And Lord, that we would all be ready because we do not know what day nor hour our Jesus is coming, but help us, we pray, to be ready, to be waiting, to have oil in our lamp at the arrival of the bridegroom when he comes for his bride.
[39:21] O Lord, that we would not be caught out, but that we would be found in Christ at the last day, clothed in his righteousness, washed in his blood, knowing him and loving him and following him all the days of our life.
[39:36] O Lord, help us, we pray. Help us to keep walking in the path of righteousness. And if we have never begun this path, that we would begin it now, because now is the accepted time, and today is the day of salvation.
[39:53] O Lord, watch over us then, we pray. Keep us in the week that lies ahead, a week that is unknown to any of us. But Lord, we give thanks, that thou art the one who knows everything.
[40:04] Go before us, we ask, take away our iniquity, receive us graciously, for Jesus' sake. Amen. We're going to bring our service to a conclusion this evening by singing the closing words of Psalm 98.
[40:21] Psalm 98, it's in the Scottish Psalter, page 361. Psalm 98, singing from verse 5 down to the end of the psalm.
[40:37] As we said, the first half of Psalm 98 focuses upon the first advent. And you could say the second half of the psalm focuses upon the second advent, the second coming of Christ.
[40:50] Psalm 98, verse 5, with harp, with harp, and voice of psalms, and to Jehovah sing, with trumpets, cornets gladly sound before the Lord the King. Let seas and all their fullness roar, the world and dwellers there.
[41:06] Let floods clap hands, and let the hills together joy declare. Before the Lord, because he comes, to judge the earth comes he. He'll judge the world with righteousness, his folk with equity.
[41:22] These verses of Psalm 98 in conclusion, to God's praise. song, with harp, with harp, the voice of songs, unto Jehovah's sing, with drum, let's hornet's gladly sigh, prayer.
[41:53] without grit, good boy because the people Hit ten percent. But zod zij know their fullness roar, the world and dwellers theirratos when 22 Page let together joy declare.
[42:32] Be more than hard because he comes to charge the earth come sea.
[42:46] He'll judge the world with righteousness, his hope with equity.
[43:05] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore. Amen. I remember this evening.
[43:20] Questions? You got your answers, Anna? Yep. Okay, question one. What title does Jesus use to describe himself?
[43:31] Son of man, well done. Okay, question two. What question did the minister ask his elders? Do you think the Lord will come tonight?
[43:47] Is that what it was? Do you think the Lord will come? Do you think the Lord will come tonight? Maybe. We don't know. Who knows when the second coming will happen?
[44:03] Nobody. Is there one person who knows? God the Father. Jesus, what did Jesus say? No one knows the hour, not the angels, nor the Son, but the Father only.
[44:20] Well done. You did very well. Thank you.