Until He Comes
9th August 2026
READING:
James 5:7–11
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
You will be relieved brethren this morning, and due most especially to the fact that we have a very special celebration and so time is short, I do not have my typical four points for you today.
Knowing therefore “the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we beleived. The night is far spent… (Rom 13:12), I’ve replaced the four points with four sermons…each of which are one point long.
My true hope is that Hope Baptist Church will continue UNTIL HE COMES.
As such there are four considerations that truly motivate the members of this Church more than anything else in the world.
The first is that the members of this Church are “not appointed to wrath” (1 Thess 5:1-10), like all truly saved Christians, we are “the bride of Christ” who is awaiting her groom.
Jesus was given as a ransom for the sin of the world, it was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone that pays the penalty of the sin of all those who beleive in him.
There is NO Wrath that abides those who have trusted him, no, not when they die, and no, not when that soon coming judgment of God comes on this world…
The second sermon is that we are “Ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor 5:17-21).
Having received that free gift of eternal life, we are moved and motivated to tell the world of who he is, in this way we are messengers of the good news, of the gospel, that all people may have the same hope, knowing that they too need not be “condemned with the world” and “appointed to wrath”.
But we are also ambassadors in another way, re are his RE-PRESENTATIVES. Yes, this certainly places both pressure and responsibility on us, but our guide is the book God has authored, we seek its pages for the answers to all our questions and we are both led and transformed through it as we fall more and more in love with its author, Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, we are here “FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS” (Esther 4:12-14).
God has chosen YOU as the most perfect representation of him NEEDFUL for such a time as this. You are not here by accident, you have a particular and very distinct purpose and roll to fulfil, even if you have no clue as to what that roll is as yet.
Nevertheless, know for a certainty that the works prepared in you were ordained from the foundation of the earth (Eph 2:10).
Lastly, all that this Church is here for, and all that those who love his appearing and desire to do his will and his work, we pray we are enabled to continue it “UNTIL HE COMES“…FOR he is certainly coming again first to both bring his bride home as he meets them in the air, but then shall he return with his bride “For the day of vengeance is in [his] heart” (Isa 63:4).
Not Appointed To Wrath
1 Thessalonians 5:1–10
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
It is clear by the context that the apostle is speaking of what the Bible refers to as The Day of The Lord, it is a specific and yet future time of trouble that is going to come upon the whole world, a time when that long spoken about AntiChrist will rule the world and when all people of the world will be forced to worship him at pain of death.
He will come interestingly on a White Horse, as one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse of Revelation 6:2. In doing so he shall give the appearance to the world that he is their deliverer (indicating in itself that the world will suffer great turmoil and cry for help), he will deliver them and so comes in peace.
It is interesting that deep in the Old Testament we see that very same one presented that “by peace he shall destroy many”.
Daniel 8:23–25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
This is the specific time that is spoken about in the text, it is a time of great trouble, indeed of wrath and it is identified as a time “when the transgressors are come to the full”, a complete and utter moral collapse of society when the entire world will transgress anything to do with God, first through their denial of his existence and then their deliberate transgressions of the Laws he gave to bless and prosper them.
Yes, we ought to be witnessing everything good about God turned to evil through the rejection of God.
- Lies will fill the world rather than TRUTH.
- Division will separate the peoples of the world rather than unity and communion.
- Hate rather than love.
- Enslavement rather than freedoms.
- War rather than peace.
- Poverty rather than prosperity.
- The promotion death rather than life.
- Indoctrination to replace education.
- Insanity rather than sanity.
- Injustice rather than justice
- All that is good will be seen as evil, and all that is evil will be celebrated as good.
Yes, there will be a RESET, but it will not be what the globalists and the elites have ever imagined.
All this is yet the “beginning of sorrows” that will be a part of the signs of his coming and of the end of the world (Matt 24:3).
ALL WHO WILL BELEIVE JESUS DIED FOR THEM PERSONALLY, will not be appointed to this wrath. Not the wrath coming to a God forsaken world, nor the eternal judgement that is appointed at death.
Hebrews 9:27–28
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
YOU ARE NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH, BUT ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, UNTIL HE COMES!
Ambassadors For Christ
2 Corinthians 5:17–21
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
You can be so overcome by the immensity of the information conveyed in these 125 words that you dont even begin to parse them.
If you are truly a saved person, if your sins have truly been paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, you personally are NO LONGER the same person you were before, not figuratively, LITERALLY.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
NOTHING IS THE SAME ANYMORE. You view the world differently, you WERE BLIND, but now you SEE. NOT THE SAME.
If there has never been a person to tell you that you are different, then it is very likley that you are not different, you remain the same, you are NOT a new Creature, though you call yourself a Christian, NOTHING HAS REALLY CHANGED and you ought to obey 2 Corinthians 13:5
5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
Those of you who ARE A NEW CREATURE, you have been reconciled to God by Jesus Christ and are therefore now given “the ministry of reconciliation”, a charge to tell the world of the love of God through Jesus Christ.
There is not a soul in this room that is not so dealy loved by God, there is not a soul in this room that Jesus has not PROVED HIS LOVE FOR by dying on the cross for your sins, to reconcile you to God.
God had literally “made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (v21).
And so Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.
Isaiah 52:7
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
AHH this is you beloved, this is you!
You are the one that is given this infinately wonderful “ministry of reconciliation”, the message that ALL people OUGHT to hear, that there is hope in the world.
Though all the world is falling about us, there is hope, true and joyful realy hope that the world only knows through its presentation of Super Heroes, that one LONE person who saves the world, the fiction of entertainment is but a shadow of the fact of salvation!
You are ambassadors for Christ, for the world is getting more and more desperate to hear “Good news”, and to understand its madness.
Now what is it brethren that you linger and will not go into all the world to publish peace? You tarry as if you have not been sent.
You distract yourself with the vanity of the world that you will not go…go…go..compel them to come in…go because ALL who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:13–15
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
The first task of an ambassador is to “GO”.
WRATH is coming to this world and its not long now, we are literally living in THE TIME OF THE SIGNS.
BUT
YOU ARE NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH, BUT ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, UNTIL HE COMES!
For Such A Time As This
Esther 4:12–14
12 And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words. 13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
The uniqueness of the event that was come to the Jews ought not to be underrated. They were literally set for anialation not just trouble.
The King of Persia had been deceived into destroying all the Jews in his 120 provinces, which were effectively all the jews in the world and Esther was risen as the “fairest of them all” and to be queen in the place of Vashti the former queen now removed.
It was a unique presentation and a unique setting with a serendipitous situation that she and she alone was set to deliver the Jews if she would accept it.
If she did not accept the opportunity, and due to the careful eye of God for the people of Israel, they would still be delivered, but it would come at the cost of her destruction;
14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed:
You and I are here, is this world, at this particular time of history, for a reason.
There is a person in this world where you and you alone can reach with the Gospel. Only you have the unique personality that may get just one person into heaven and change their forever.
Yes, you might be the one that planted the truth of the Gospel, or you may be another who has watered it, God alone will bring the increase.
DONE FOR A MINUTE THINK THAT SOMEONE ELSE WILL DO IT BELOVED.
Matthew 9:37
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
My own journey ought to be a testament to how rare it is that even Christians will share the gospel of Christ, the Love of many has already waxed cold, be not an addition to the frost.
From the age of 17yrs until I came to Christ late in my 29th year, not a single person ever shared the Gospel with me…not ONE.
These were the most SOCIAL days of my life, the most turbulent days of my life, and if it were not for Maria who entered it permanently, Im not sure how things would have panned out.
At 17 yrs of age a young girl shared Christ with me.
Not well, but enough for her to be eternally remembered by me.
She was there for such a time as that.
She was only sixteen years old, she came from my high school in Melton, yet there she was on a Thursday night in Footscray and she had the WILL to approach and speak to me.
Her presentation was anything BUT convincing, but she seemed to know it was the reality of God that I needed to hear.
Not five minutes after that conversation, it would be God that put the FULL STOP at the end of her argument.
In short, I was already running late for the last train home.
She said she would pray it was late. I said “good! You pray, I’ll run”.
As I ran over the rickety overpass, I could see the train at the platform and increased my speed. I ran through the station building only to see the back of the train and the conductor standing under an old yellow sign swaying in the breeze with the words “Bacchus March”.
“I just missed my train” was the first thought that came to mind.
When wanting to confirm that thought with the conductor, he simply said “no mate, it’l be another twenty minutes, the lines are down”. What “the lines are down meant, I still have no idea, but learning that the train would be late answered my own silent prayers as I ran from that girl toward the station.
She was there for such a time as that, and YOU ARE HERE FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!
Who else is going to share the hope of Jesus to that one person looking for hope?
The temporal troubles people are going through today is to draw their attention to God.
It was CS Lewis who wrote in his book titled “The problem of pain”;
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
There is much pain in the world today, but there is going to be WRATH in this deaf world soon.
YOU ARE NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH, BUT ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, UNTIL HE COMES!
Until He Comes
James 5:7–11
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
The imminency of the Lords coming is not vague in this passage. Twice James alludes to the nearness of it, twice he presents its very present expectation as he writes.
…for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
….behold, the judge standeth before the door.
The disciples of Jesus asked for the signs that would occur prior to his coming and it truly seems that we are today living in the very times of those signs and many other signs.
Its not just the rise of catastrophic natural events.
Its not just the increase in wars and rumours of wars.
Its not just the troubling of the hearts of the people; the apostate nature of both mankind AND the Church.
Its not just the move toward a global government, a global economic system with a global digital currency, and the militaristic pressing of a global Religion as Islam sweeps the world under its rug.
But the most incredible sign of all is that of Israel!
Not only are they back in the Land as the Bible prophesied they would be after almost 2000 years in absence, but that the world is turning against them on masse just like the Bible said it would prior to the end;
Zechariah 12:2–3
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
Zechariah 12:9
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:3–4
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Jesus said of Israel
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Matthew 23:38–39
It will be through those trials of the world against it that they will seek after the Lord;
Hosea 5:15
15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
We are to do his work UNTIL HE COMES, not after. All we do we are to do until then and he is coming at any moment;
5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Philippians 4:5
“At hand” is not some way off, but at hand…
1 Peter 4:7
7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
The first was Paul’s writing to live moderately, calmly as opposed to having great turnings of emotions, here we have Peter writing also that the “end of all things is at hand” and motivates his readers to live soberly and to “Watch”… I love this word in this context, it reminds us of Jesus words
Mark 13:35–37
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
Well, what are we looking for beloved?
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Titus 2:13
As we know that the Lord will return for his Church momentarily, our desire ought to be to be able to have confidence at his coming and not be cought lasily covering our talent with a cloth and burying it, but labouring as ambassadors for Christ;
John wrote;
1 John 2:28
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
James, Paul, Peter, Jesus, John, all encouraging us to be ever expecting the Lords return.
How long should Hope Baptist Church endure?
UNTIL HE COMES.
Revelation 3:11
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Wrote Jesus to the Church of Philadelphia at the beginning of Revelation, encouraging them to endure and keep “the word of his patience” (v10).
Revelation 22:12
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Yet another text from the mouth of Jesus encouraging his Church to endure and to be ever expecting his imminent return.
Beloved, you and I have work to do.
The first is to share the Hope of Christ…do you know him?
When TIME takes you, will you be ready?
Time expires at death and their are terms and conditions to life eternal, what are they? Turn from your rejection of Jesus and believe he died for your sins.
He has given to you eternal life….its there for the accepting. He gives you eternal life in exchange for your sin and its condemnation. It is not only the deal of the century, but the deal of eternity.
Will you believe?
Will you believe that YOU will NOT be APPOINTED TO WRATH, BUT ARE an AMBASSADOR FOR CHRIST FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, UNTIL HE COMES!
And he is coming…soon!
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