Will you please turn to 1 Chronicles, chapter 12?
And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, that could handle shield and spear;
whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains.
1 Chronicles 12:8
May we have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for giving us the privilege of coming together to listen to Thy Word. We pray, Lord, that Thy Word will be life to each and every one of us.
May we be so taken up by Thy Word that Thy Word will become life to each and every one of us. We give this time into Your hands and ask Thy blessing upon it, to the praise of Thy glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, I consider it a privilege to share the Word with you all.
The Lord is so merciful that even in this last age—we are living in the last age—it is our belief that the Lord is coming soon. He may come at any moment.
How good it would be, brothers and sisters, if we were meeting here this morning and suddenly the Lord came. But what if He should come at this moment and some were left behind? That would be a serious thought for every one of us this morning.
Dear brothers and sisters, are you expecting the Lord to return? Are you prepared for His return? What if He were to come back now? Will you be taken by Him, or, unfortunately, will you be left behind because you are not ready?
So, dear brothers and sisters, we do consider this time, when we are coming together, as a most serious moment. We have to consider: What if the Lord should return now? Will we be taken up, or will some of us be left behind?
As we search the Scriptures this morning, we want to have this seriousness within us. We want to be those who are ready, not to be left behind.
You know, at the time of David, he was a fugitive. He was with the Philistines because of the persecution of Saul.
And yet we find a group of people, the Gadites. They were a people who understood the time in which they lived. Even though Saul at that time was king of Israel, and David was a fugitive among the Philistines, these people understood the time.
They knew that one day David would be king. That was the will of God. So these people went to David instead of staying with Saul. They knew the time in which they lived, and because of that, they followed David. They were greatly rewarded afterwards.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we are living in the last time. I sincerely believe that we are living at the time of the return of our Lord Jesus.
Before He left, He promised His disciples that He would come back to receive us unto Himself. Now, brothers and sisters, two thousand years have passed since our Lord spoke this word. Two thousand years is a long time. Why is it that He has not fulfilled His promise?
It is not because He is not anxious to return. If we know the heart of God, the heart of Christ, we know how anxious He must be to come back and receive His own unto Himself.
But somehow there was delay, and the reason is because we are not ready.
But thank God, even during the time when David was a fugitive, the people of the Gadites understood the time. Even Saul was on the throne, but they knew that the kingdom belonged to David.
So these people came to David. They followed David during the time when David was a fugitive, and because of this they were greatly rewarded.
Now, brothers and sisters, do we know our time? Do we know that our Lord is coming back?
Are we those who still follow the world, thinking there will be plenty of time and that we can continue to live our own lives as we want? Or are we like the people of the Gadites? They understood the time. They followed David when David was a fugitive. Eventually, they would be crowned with David.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we find that we are living at that critical moment. We believe that the Lord may return at any moment.
Even while we are meeting here this morning, what if the Lord should suddenly return? Will we be raptured and be with Him, or will we be left behind, gnashing our teeth and repenting that we have not been ready for Him?
As we come together this morning, I do sense in my spirit that this is a most critical moment for us. We want every one of us here to be ready for the Lord’s coming. He may come at any moment now.
It is not because He does not want to return that He has waited for two thousand years. That is not His heart. He is just as anxious to come back and receive His own. It is because we are not ready.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the question this morning is: Are you ready? If the Lord should come now, will you be taken up by Him, or will you be among those left behind?
The Bible tells us that, as in the days of Noah, people were eating and drinking and marrying while Noah was preparing the ark.
Noah must have been preaching to the people when they came to see him building a huge boat. You know, there had never been flooding in the past. So when they saw Noah building that huge ark, they must have been wondering and questioning. Something must be wrong with Noah, because there had never been rain, never flooding.
But Noah, through the revelation of God, knew that God was going to send the flood. He was preparing for that day.
Noah was preaching to the people during that period, but people must have laughed at him, thinking that something must be wrong with Noah.
But the day came when God told Noah and his family to enter into the ark, and the door was closed. Then the heavens opened, the earth broke up, and rain came upon the earth.
People tried to get into the ark, but God had closed it. It is a sad thing when we think of what happened in the days of Noah. Such a huge boat could accommodate so many people, and yet only Noah and his family were saved in the ark.
Brothers and sisters, the Bible tells the story of Noah and his ark in order to warn us today.
The day will come. It will come unexpectedly. The door of the ark will be closed, not by man, but by God Himself. When that should happen and the rain begins, people will flock to the ark, trying to get in. But Noah could not open the door. I think Noah would have opened it if he could, but God had closed the door.
So unfortunately, during the time of Noah, only eight people were saved in the ark. Think of the tens of thousands of people at that time, but only eight people were saved.
Brothers and sisters, the Bible gives us this story as a warning, telling us that we are living as in the days of Noah.
The flood is coming, but the door will be closed. So are you, by the grace of God, within the ark and saved? Or are you outside the ark and drowned? I think this is a thought that each one of us should consider very carefully now.
Again I say, the Lord may come at any moment. He has waited and waited for two thousand years. He is anxious to return, but He is waiting for you. He wants you to be ready, so that when the flood comes, you will be within the ark and be saved.
But what a pity when you think of the one hundred and twenty years Noah was building that ark and preaching to the people, and yet none of the people believed him. They laughed at him. They joked about him.
But at last they found that it was real, and it was too late.
So, brothers and sisters, as we come to this time, the question for each and every one of us is: Are you ready?
Two thousand years have passed. It is a long time. The Lord has waited patiently for you because He wants none to be lost, but all to be saved.
You know, the Bible tells us that when a master left, he left his house with his servant to take care of the house.
Now, if the servant is faithful, he will carefully take care of the house, knowing that his lord will return at any moment.
In Matthew 24, we are told that such a servant, when the Lord comes back, will be greatly rewarded because he was faithful in small things, and he will be granted greater things.
But on the contrary, the Bible also tells us of the servant who thinks that the Lord will not come so soon. He begins to eat and drink, and he even begins to beat his fellow servants. He thinks that the Lord will not come that soon.
Unexpectedly, the Lord comes. The Bible says that the Lord will come and cut him in two. He will be in darkness, gnashing his teeth and repenting—but it will be too late.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the Bible warns us very seriously. We cannot afford to be careless anymore.
Dear brothers and sisters, may I warn you again? If the Lord should return at this moment, will you be left behind, or will you be taken?
Blessed is every person who will be taken by the Lord, because he shall reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Dear brothers, we live on this earth for a very short time. If you live over one hundred years, it is still just a very short period. But think of the millennium, of the thousand years that you will reign with Christ.
But a wicked servant tries to find pleasure in his short period of time. The Bible says he will be cut in two, and he will be in darkness, gnashing his teeth and repenting.
Now, I know people are very curious. Wherever I go, young people ask me the question, “Where is outer darkness?”
Of all the books that I have read—and I have read a lot—there is only one author who tries to explain what outer darkness is. That is Robert Govett. Robert Govett is one who takes the Bible literally, so he tried to explain what outer darkness is.
Everywhere I go, young people ask me this question: “Can you tell me what outer darkness is?” Do you think I would tell you?
Of all the books that I have read, only one book tells us what outer darkness may be. It was Robert Govett.
He said the Bible tells us that when our Lord Jesus travels, outside He is covered with darkness, but inside there is glory. That is how the Lord is traveling.
But when He shall come, He will shed off His outer darkness, so He will come in inward glory. So outer darkness, as Govett explained, is the outer darkness that is shed off.
Those who will not be raptured will be cast into that outer darkness. In other words, they will be outside the kingdom of God in the millennium. They will be outside of God’s kingdom, and there will be outer darkness.
Think of that. If we are not ready for the Lord today, this will happen literally to us. We will be cast into outer darkness.
You remember the story of the ten virgins. These ten virgins represent the church of God.
They all go out to meet the Lord because the Lord is coming. But because the Lord seems to have delayed, they all went to sleep.
The sleep here represents that they all died. Brothers and sisters, throughout the ages, God’s people have been waiting for the Lord to return. They all go out to meet the Lord, but because of the delay, they all went to sleep. In other words, many of them died.
But that is not the end. Suddenly the word came: “The Lord cometh.” And they all woke up.
They all tried to trim their lamps. The wise ones had extra oil in their vessels, so they were able to replenish their dying torches.
But the foolish ones did not have any extra oil ready. They filled their vessels with other things that they considered more important, more precious; but now those things were useless.
The wise ones were able to replenish their torches because they had extra oil. But the foolish ones could not, because what they found in their vessels was not oil, but other things which they considered most precious.
It could not be shared. It was not that the wise ones were unwilling to share. I think if they had enough oil, they would certainly share, but they could not.
So when the foolish virgins went to buy oil, the Lord came, and the door was closed. When the foolish ones came back, we do not know whether they got the extra oil or not. Most likely, they did not.
They knocked at the door, but the door was closed to them. They were sitting outside in darkness, gnashing their teeth in repentance.
So, brothers and sisters, this is a very clear picture. If we are not waiting for the Lord’s return now, one day, when the Lord shall come back, we will be those in outer darkness, gnashing our teeth in repentance.
Thank God, He will never forsake us. Once saved, forever saved. This is the mercy of God.
When God’s mercy has come upon you, you will never end. Even if you miss the opportunity of being taken by the Lord into the millennial kingdom, yet even so, in outer darkness, you will repent.
Brothers and sisters, think of the long-suffering of God. If He has saved you, He will save you to the uttermost.
You may misuse your time today, but God will never forsake you. You may have to go through outer darkness and repent, but He who has called you will save you to the uttermost.
So you find in Romans 8, we are told: whom He has called, He has redeemed; whom He has redeemed, He has saved to the uttermost.
But, dear brothers and sisters, so far as God is concerned, this is the mercy of God. But so far as the wicked servant is concerned, he has to suffer much that he tried to escape.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the warning to us today is this: as long as it is today, this is our opportunity.
Thank God for gathering us together here at this time. I do not know if this is the last opportunity. It is quite possible. The Lord may come today.
It is His longing that He can save you to the uttermost, and that you will not be left in outer darkness to repent.
Eventually, all who have been called will be saved to the uttermost, because it is God who is doing this work.
But, brothers and sisters, a thousand years is a long period compared with our life here on earth. If you live over one hundred years old, compared with the millennium, it is just a fraction.
Why should we forsake God’s grace and rather be in discipline until God’s purpose in every one of us is fulfilled?
So, brothers and sisters, as I talk with you this morning, on the one hand I feel most happy because I know God’s will: God’s will is that He will save us all to the uttermost.
When He lays His hand upon you, He will never leave you.
But on the other hand, I feel sad as I think of people who, for the sake of the pleasure of this life for a little while, have to suffer darkness. They have to go through repentance in order that God’s mercy may completely come upon them.
And this is why we are here this morning. Brothers and sisters, are you serious? Are you careless?
What if the Lord should come back this morning? Where will you be?
It is the prayer of my heart that, if this should happen this morning, this auditorium will be emptied. None will be left behind, but all will be taken. Praise the Lord!
But if this does not happen, and some—or even most—will be left behind, how sad it will be.
Brothers and sisters, I cry for you lest you be left behind. I will rejoice with you if you are taken.
So I want each and every one of you to consider very carefully this morning. Let not this opportunity pass.
Brothers and sisters, this is the time to be ready for the Lord’s return. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, it is with a heart of gratitude that we know Thou dost love us and love us to the uttermost; that Thou dost desire to save us and save us to the uttermost.
It is not Thy will that we should pass through outer darkness. It is Thy will that when Thou shalt come, we will all be taken up by Thee and be with Thee for a thousand years.
So may this mercy and grace be upon each and every one of us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.