I come quickly

Let's read in the last chapter of our Bible, verse 7, the Lord Jesus is saying three words, three expressions that he wants to impress on our hearts. Verse 7, Behold, I come quickly. Behold, I come quickly.

Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings, the word, he that guards, maintains, prizes, and treasures the sayings of the prophecy of this book. We go down to the chapter, verse 12. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be.

And then again, the last two verses, he which testifies these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. And even so come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. I really believe at the close of the conference, it's nice to be reminded of the imminence of the Lord's coming. I hope we all believe in it.

I hope we all anticipate it. I sometimes ask the question, and maybe you find it a strange question, are you surprised to be here? Well, you see, I come here every year. April rolls around, Stout has a conference.

So I come, sit and listen to the ministry and enjoy the fellowship. That's a great thing. But are you surprised to be here? I ask myself sometimes on a Lord's Day morning, I'm surprised to be here because if I really believe that the Lord is coming quickly, I would be surprised.

I would wonder how could it be that I rise tomorrow morning and go to work or be engaged in my natural activities if I really believe the Lord was coming quickly. Because the word means suddenly, without hesitation, without delay, without putting it off. And I think sometimes we settle into a routine, day blends into another day and day after day goes on and Lord's Day after Lord's Day comes and goes.

Listen, every Lord's Day you need to be at the Lord's Supper. You need to gather with the Lord's people, but don't take it for granted because the Lord says I come quickly. I believe that.

I'd expect some amens from that one, but I really believe the Lord is coming quickly. And if we believe that, what would it do to our lives? How would it affect our worship on a Lord's Day morning? It may be the last time that I can come together with the Lord's people to seek to pour out my heart and worship and praise to the God who gave his son for me and the one who died for me. It would change our worship.

It would alter our attitude toward coming next Lord's Day in the Waterloo Cedar Falls. If it happens, we're going to look at Psalm 84, right? I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. You say, what a privilege it is.

The Lord has given me one more opportunity before he has come because I could be in the glory. I hope you look forward to that too. It's interesting to me that three times over in the last chapter of the entire Bible, it says, behold, I come quickly.

And I take it that the Lord is trying to impress us with a very genuine reality that he's looking forward to that coming as much as we ought to be looking forward to it as well. You know, there's four times over in the book of Revelation, he says, behold, I come quickly. I come quickly.

You find it in chapter three. And then you find it three times here. I agree with our brother Meakin this morning.

He says, when God gives us four, he divides it one and three or three and one, not two and two. And there you have one in the letters to the churches, the seven churches. And he writes to Philadelphia, that faithful church.

He says they didn't have very much. They were weak. They were small.

They were feeble. They didn't have the greatness of other ones. But he said, what thou hast hold fast, that no man take thy crown.

It's not a matter of how much we have brethren. It's using what we have. It's taking advantage of what we've been given.

It's availing yourself of opportunities because he's coming quickly. And he says, a crown, you know, that's something you and I should look for. We should be anticipating that we should be actually earnestly desiring it, living for it.

I want the crown. I want some reward. I want something from our savior.

We're holding fast the truth of the word of God and seeking to live in the good of it and to put it into practice and to display it in our lives. He says, hold fast what you have, that no man take your crown. I wonder how well we're doing in holding fast the principles of the word of God.

I really wonder what we're doing in terms of maintaining the truth and proclaiming it. You know, a lot of assemblies hardly have a gospel meeting anymore. That bothers me.

You know, when gospel meetings fade out, you know why we don't have gospel meetings on Sunday night in some places? He says, nobody comes or nobody invites them either. Hold fast what you have because time is earnest. Three times over in chapter three, and I'm going to move fast because three times over in chapter three, he says, behold, I come quickly.

Notice what he says in verse seven. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. God places a great deal of importance on this word.

I appreciate what our brother Frank was saying. The importance of maintaining and proclaiming and teaching and exhorting the Lord's people in relation to the word of God. I said yesterday, I regret the fact of time wasted when I was young.

I didn't study the word of God like I should have. I studied it. I thank God for afternoons I spent in the hammock, laying out between two pine trees down in Mississippi studying the word of God.

That's where I'm from, you know, I'm down from Mississippi. I'm just a Southern boy, even though don't talk like it. But nevertheless, those were precious moments.

And there are things that I learned there that are embedded deeply in my mind even now. But when I was in a service in Naples, Italy, I got involved in meditating and memorizing the word of God. Listen, that's the most valuable thing you could do.

Hide the word of God in your heart. The sword of the spear is not what you have written in 66 books of the Bible. The sword of the spear is what you have here in your mind, in your heart, that you could use it.

Well, you have to use it because you can't turn to a chapter or verse and say, well, let me see if I can find a verse that applies to this problem. If it's not here, you'll not have it. He says, Behold, I come quickly.

Blessed is he that keepeth, maintaineth guards, prizes, precious truths for the word of God. And I hope if nothing else has happened this weekend, I take away something that is instilled in my heart, a desire, a longing to know more of the blessed truths of this book. He says not only that, in verse 12, he says, I come quickly, and my reward is with me.

I like to think that the Lord is just waiting, waiting for the day when he'll be able to bestow some reward for you and me for faithful service, for truth that's maintained and displayed in the word of God, assemblies that have been unified and kept together and taught and led and strengthened and encouraged. He says, my reward is with me. It's right in my hand, ready to give it out.

And he's a faithful, righteous judge. But last of all, quickly, he puts his confirmation on the entire book. 66 books have been written.

All the truth coming from Genesis chapter one right to Revelation 22. Behold, I come quickly. He says this.

He testified these things, put his affirmation, his absolute certainty on the word of God and all his value. Listen, if we gain nothing else from a conference like this, we should gain a deeper desire to know something more of this book that we have in our hands. God didn't give it to us to collect dust on the shelf.

He wants it to be hidden in our hearts and work out our lives. I'll mention three more things about this thought that I've had today. In Luke chapter 19, we have a parable of the nobleman that went away into far country.

He left talents, you might say, I forget exactly what they are, but with his servants in his absence. He says, occupy till I come. Do business till I come.

It wasn't a matter of whether one had ten or five or one talent. They were simply to use what God had given to them, what the nobleman had given to them. And you know, I look at brethren here.

I say, they can preach better than I can. I know they can. I say, they know more of the Bible than I do.

They do. Absolutely. But God expects me to use whatever I have.

And you say, well, so and so, this brother over here, he's able to do more. He's able to be better. He's able to do other things that express words perhaps in a way I can't do it.

You say that. Just use what you have. Use what you do, because that's all God expects you to do.

Some would say, well, I only have one little bit, one talent, one little ability. Well, just use it. Don't bury it in the dirt.

Don't put it under the bed. Don't hide it in the cupboard. Put it out there and use it.

And you'll gain something from it. Occupy till I come. We have in the last chapter of John's gospel.

You see, John, he's following Peter. Peter's with the Lord Jesus and the Lord is speaking to Peter, remember, about tending the sheep and caring for his own and loving them and so on. And Peter turns around and he says, Lord, what about this man? What should he do? He says, don't worry about what he should do.

You tarry till I come. Don't worry about somebody else. Don't be concerned about comparing yourself with so and so.

Don't be occupied with how somebody else is following. Just follow. Just keep following.

Just keep going on. Just keep moving forward. Tarry till I come.

Last of all, you know that precious passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul is telling us about the Lord's Supper. Institute of the night in which he is being betrayed.

Do you this until I come. There are ways that you and I can be faithful in an unfaithful world. We can be godly in an ungodly world.

We can walk in faith and fellowship with God in a world that is a rebellion against him. Just remember, it's until he comes. I told my father once, he was an overseer in the assembly in Arlington, Washington, and there were things that were bothering him.

The things that were seemingly overwhelming him and giving him very great distress of heart. I think he was thinking about the future and how things were going to turn out. I said, Dad, the Lord only wants you to continue one more day.

Just one more day. And brothers and sisters, just go on one more day. And then another day.

The Lord said I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following. And after that, I should be perfected. Listen, brothers and sisters, the Lord is coming.

Do you believe it? I hope you do. May God help us to live in the reality of it and the expectation of it. And I hope you'll be surprised if you sit down around the table next Lord's Day morning to remember the Lord Jesus.

If he hasn't come, be there. But I trust he'll come before then. May God help us to live in the expectation of the one who has promised, I come quickly.