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The
young Scottish minister Robert Murray
McCheyne once asked this question to a group of his friends “Do
you think
Christ could come tonight?”,
pausing before each individual he waited for
their reply. Everyone answered, “No, I think not”.
Then he solemnly quoted the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ –
Matthew 24:44
“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think
not the Son of man
cometh.”
The
Bible clearly teaches the imminence of the coming
of the Lord Jesus. In John’s gospel chapter fourteen we read
about the Lord
Jesus. He is sharing some wonderful truths with His disciples, just
hours from
His arrest and subsequent crucifixion and death on the cross for our
sin, this
is what He said –
John
14:2&3
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if [it
were] not [so], I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a
place for
you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
[there]
ye may be also.”
The first great truth the Lord Jesus reminds us of is the reality
of heaven
– “In my
Father’s house are
many mansions: if [it
were] not [so], I would have told you”
What
the Lord is reminding us of is that heaven is a real
place, as the Saviour spoke the heavenly mansions were already in
heaven, “in
my fathers house ARE
many mansions”.
If heaven has mansions it must be a real place. The Lord Jesus goes on
to say “if [it
were] not [so], I would have told you”. The
Lord Jesus is saying if it was all a big lie, I
would have
told you. Dear friend, heaven
is a real place;
it has been called a prepared place for a prepared people.
Are
you prepared for heaven? In order to be prepared to
enter heaven a person must realise their sinful condition,
God’s word says that
we are all born in sin (Psalm 51v5) the Bible also teaches that
un-repentant
sinners cannot enter heaven, Luke 13:3
“I tell you,
Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Therefore
we
need to repent and have our sins forgiven. The only person who can
forgive sin
is the Lord Jesus Christ: Mark 2:10
“But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth
to forgive sins”
If
you ever want to see heaven you must have a personal
relationship with the only saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10:13
“For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The
second great truth that the Lord Jesus presents to us is
the necessity
of the cross. Verse 2 says “I go to
prepare a place for you.” Heaven
was real enough,
but it was closed to sinful man. To open a way to heaven God sent his
only
begotten son, and he lived as a man among men the bible says, “He took on him the
form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men” (Phil 2v7). As
a man the Lord Jesus lived on earth for
about thirty-three years, unlike every one of us the Lord Jesus was
born of a
virgin and he was born without sin, He lived a sinless life but on the
cross
the sinless Son of God suffered and bled and died for sin and sinners,
three
days later the Lord Jesus rose from the dead and from that moment
heaven was
opened to everyone who would repent of their sin and put their trust in
the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way to get to
heaven
but through the Lord Jesus. Acts 4:12
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
The
third great truth that the Lord Jesus presents is the imminence
of his return,
verse 3
says,
“And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I
am,
[there] ye may be also.”
The
only event that had to happen before the Lord could come
again was that He had to go to the cross and make a way for repentant
believing
sinners to get to heaven. Jesus said “if I go and
prepare a place for you, I
will come again”
Dear
unsaved person the Son of God went to the cross and
opened up a way of salvation for sinners, He did everything that needed
to be
done to satisfy the demands of a Holy righteous Just God, no ordinance
of man
or not religious ceremony can help a sinner on his way to heaven. Romans 5:1 “Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
Salvation
is found alone in Jesus Christ, if God by the
power of his Spirit is challenging and convicting you about your sin
you should
repent and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation, time to
be saved
is running out, the Lord Jesus is coming, the Bible says that He will
come “In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”
(1 Cor
15v52). If Jesus came now are you ready for the real place called
heaven or
will you have to face a lost sinners Hell for all eternity?
Do
you think the Lord Jesus could come today?
Matthew 24:44
“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think
not the Son of man
cometh.”
Kenny
Wilson (Pastor, Limavady Baptist Church) |
