Sermon Tone Analysis

Unanswered Questions Part 2

Let me first of all compliment you all on how these messages about the second coming of Christ have been handled.

There may be some conversations happening that are not so positive that I am simply not aware of but I have have to tell you ALL the feedback I have been getting is positive.

Some of you have been fired up to study more, others are making sure they are not missing sermons and church because they want to know more and others are coming to Christ and surrendering to his Lordship through this.

With all this happening, I must continue to press on and with that I want to look at some more unanswered questions.

I want to keep bringing some of these questions to the table.

I repeat again that

Primary: We are willing to die for

Examples: Jesus was God in the Flesh

Saved by grace through faith alone

Secondary: Baptism of infants

Third: Christian brothers and sisters in the same church disagree about the interpretation of scripture.

Some of these third doctrines you might disagree with me on but we can disagree on these third doctrines and still be friends.

I also realize that you might have your opinions on these questions that are unanswered and I would encourage you to listen with humility.

We start this morning with

The salvation of Israel

Some believe this will happen before the return of Christ.

Others believe during the millennial rain of Christ.

Romans 11 speaks of a massive end gathering of the Jewish people who will believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

Let me bring some clarity about Jews.

Jews who do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah are not Christ followers or Christians.

Amy and I had the opportunity to go to Israel and it was not at all a Christian country.

As a matter of fact, it was like 3% born again believers.

I saw many Jews in Israel and they were lost without Christ.

So the question is when will this salvation take place of Israel that the Bible speaks of.

Romans 11 seems to indicate a massive end gathering of Jewish people.

When it comes to the second coming of Jesus there is a lot of questions about who Israel is and what role does Israel play in the second coming?

We are not going to go in depth on this so let me summarize some of this for you.

All Christians believe in a future for Israel

So these promises in the Old Testament and specifically the New Testament who are they referring to when they speak of Christ.

Many Christians disagree on the identity of Israel.

An Ethnic people?

Is this the Jews who are scattered all around the world

A national state?

Israel’s independence was declared in 1948.

This fueled speculation about the end times and this also effected political views.

The Church?

Some people believe the Church is the true Israel.

The Christ?

Is Israel simply a reference to Christ.

Have all of God’s promises to and about Israel been fulfilled in Christ.

What we believe about Israel relates to the return of Christ.

We could go more in depth on this and spend many Sunday’s trying to get the bottom of this but we are not going to do that.

So here are some conclusions.

We as Christians are heirs of a Jewish promise.

We are heirs of a Jewish promise.

We are heirs of a Jewish promise.

We are heirs of a Jewish promise.

We are saved by a Jewish Messiah.

We are saved by a Jewish Messiah.

We are passionate about Jewish mission.

We desire that all people from all nations, tribes, and races come to know Christ as the Messiah.

This includes the Jewish people that they would come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

I think again about our trip to Israel and all the lostness we experienced among Jews and Muslims.

I then contrast with some of the fundraisers or commercials I have seen on tv about supporting bringing Jews back to Israel.

This is not the Jewish mission we need to be passionate about.

We need to be passionate about sharing the Gospel with Jews that they would believe that Jesus is the Messiah and be passionate about this.

Is the second coming of Christ one event or two events?

Two events

First, a secret coming for His church before the tribulation.

This is what is referred to as the rapture.

Jesus does not actually touch down on earth but he comes and raptures the church before the tribulation.

Second, a public coming with His church after the tribulation.

One thing I do find interesting is that this rapture theory was not taught or spoken of until 1830 by John Nelson Darby.

So this two events coming or the rapture of the church was not taught, wrote about or spoken of until 1830.

That is a lot of years without any person interpreting scripture in this way.

I would say this belief has exploded in my life time among the church and particularly among southern baptist thanks to Tim Lahaye and Left Behind books.

Contrast to this position, there are others who believe that the second coming of Christ is one event.

A single moment when Jesus returns for his church.

Could Jesus come back at any moment?

Certainly how you respond to these “unanswered questions” will help you to understand weather or not you believe Jesus could come back at any moment.

Regardless of what you might believe about these questions scripture seems to teach that Christ could come back at anytime.

The Bible talks about the second coming in such a way that fills the hearts of believers of every generation with anticipation for the second Coming of Christ.

“ The prophets were little interested in chronology, and the future was always viewed as imminent .... e Old Testament prophets blended the near and the distant perspectives so as to form a single canvas.

Biblical prophecy is not primarily three-dimensional but two; it has height and breadth but is little concerned about depth, i.e., the chronology of future events .... e distant is viewed through the transparency of the immediate.

It is true that the early church lived in expectancy of the return of the Lord, and it is the nature of biblical prophecy to make it possible for every generation to live in expectancy of the end.”

George Ladd