Ready Or Not, Here I Come!

Revelation 22:12 (KJV)
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Revelation 22:12New Living Translation (NLT)
12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward withme to repay all people according to their deeds.

Remember when you were a child the game of Hide and Seek?

• Remember being “It”?
• Who ever was “It” in my neighborhood would haveto go stand under the streetlight and cover theireyes and count to 50.
• This would give everyone sufficient time to “Hide”.
• And somewhere around the count of 50, theywould shout out, “Ready or not, Here I come!”
• And when they did there was always this last second scrambling to make sure you were hiddenenough that they couldn’t find you.
• How many remember Hide and Seek?It’s interesting to me that Jesus speaks from the Book ofRevelation and says, “behold, I come quickly” or as the

New Living Translation puts it, “Look, I am comingsoon”

Here is a message that we seldom hear in church and yet it is repeated 6 times in the last book of the Bible –the Book of Revelation.

When we read the Bible we can glean so much,

• but there in that last book.
• That final book.
• That final chapter if you will of God’scommunication with Humanity,
• we hear Him shouting from the Heavens,
• “Ready or not, here I come!” (I’m paraphrasing.)I love preaching the book of Genesis.
  • “The book of Beginnings”
  • I love to talk about Adam and Eve• and the Flood
  • and the Tower of Bable,And I love preaching all the books in between Genesis and Revelation.

• But after all the stories of King David
• and the baby born in Bethleham
• and the Acts of the Apostles
• and the early church,
• there is a crying out of the Spirit of God from the final book of this great Text to all that would hearit…

• “Ready or not, here I come!”

We forget sometimes that there is coming a day of judgment.

• And a time of reward, either good or bad.
• Sometimes when we hear reward, we think it’sgoing to be something good.
• But a reward can be something bad too.
• It pretty much means, “What you’ve got coming toyou.”
• The Bible does let us know that there is a Heaven to Gain and a Hell to shun.Do you ever think about it?
  • Do you ever consider the fact that WE WILL oneday answer to Him?Some people go through life like they’ve got nothing toworry about.

• They’re not concerned about their sins.
• They don’t care who they’ve offended or whothey’ve hurt.
• But whether they believe it or not or whether they are ready or not, the book of Revelations tells us that He is coming and His reward as He says is with Him.So, how do we get ourselves ready?

• How do we “Hide” if you will?

Jesus told Nicodemous in John 3:3 KJV Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

So we’ve got to ask ourselves,
• When He returns and finds us –
• and He will…
• What reward do we want to receive?

Here in John, Jesus is offering the Kingdom of God.• Or Heaven if you will.

He doesn’t mention the other place,

• but He let’s us know here that IF you want to seeHeaven,
• “You’ve Got To Be Born Again”Now I’ve heard it said that there are many roads that

lead to God.

• And there may be a bit of truth to that statement,
• but there is only ONE way to get into Heavenaccording to what Jesus told Nicodemous and that is to be “Born Again.”Listen to him in John 3:7

Marvel not that I said unto thee, “Ye must be born again.”

• And can I just add, “If” born again, then “Living Born again”.

That word “must” doesn’t leave much room for other options does it?

So I’m hearing two declarations from Him today,• “Ye must be born again!”
• and “Behold I come Quickly”.

So what does it mean to be Born Again?

John 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

So let’s talk about this being born of the water for aminute.

• Now we all know that when a person is born intothis world that there is a certain “Breaking of thewater” that takes place.

• Every woman who has ever given birth to a child understands very well what Jesus is talking about here.
• But in this text, Jesus is not just referring to the water that breaks when a soul is brought into this world,
• but He is also talking about what happens when a person is Baptized by emersion in water for the remission of their sins.Here is what Peter was trying to tell the Jews in Acts 2:38King James Version (KJV)
  38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.Now why would it be important that a person have their sins remitted?

• The simple answer is that you can’t get into Heaven unless you do.

Romans 6:23King James Version (KJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So on one hand we have spiritual death and on the other hand we have Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

• Which do you choose?
Well, Jesus is saying Ready or not, Here I Come!

• What we’ve got to answer today is are we ready?
• Have we done what it is that we are supposed to doto allow salvation to come into our hearts and lives?Next week, we are having a Baptism service.I would like to give you the opportunity if you are ready, to be baptized in that wonderful name of Jesus as Peter told us to.Now there is one prerequisite that you need to be aware of before you can be baptized

• and that is you need to be sorry for your sins
• and in your heart, be ready to turn away from thethings that are sinful in your life.That’s what 180 means – it means going the other way.• That’s what “Repent” means – it’s a military termthat means to go the other way. If you want to be ready for His return.

If you want to have your sins remitted

Please speak to me after the service and let me know that you are ready to accept that wonderful gift of forgiveness that Jesus promises each and every one of us.