The Son of Man Shall Come

In this sermon the speaker opens by reading Matthew 16:27‑28 and uses the passage to outline five key truths about Christ’s return. He first emphasizes that the Son of Man will certainly come, regardless of any earthly upheaval, and points to the many New Testament references that affirm this promise. He then explains that the coming will be in the glorious presence of the Father, describing the holiness and radiant light that will accompany Christ at the final battle, and how that glory will overwhelm the forces of darkness. The third point highlights the role of angels, describing their nature, their constant ministry, and their participation in the Second Coming, from the annunciation at Christ’s birth to the final triumph. The fourth point shifts to the reward that awaits believers at Christ’s return. The speaker urges listeners to examine their faithfulness, talents, and generosity, insisting that the judgment will be a reward for the faithful rather than condemnation for the redeemed. Finally, he argues that the Second Coming is nearer than many expect, interpreting Jesus’ words about some standing there who will not taste death as a reference to believers who will be caught up alive at the moment of Christ’s return. Throughout, he calls the congregation to readiness, repentance, and a renewed commitment to live as if the Lord could return at any moment.

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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!

Will you turn with me in your Bibles, please, to Matthew chapter 16, the last two verses, verses 27 and 28. We should all know where Matthew is by now, the 16th chapter, verses 27 and 28. The fact that this passage begins with the word for suggests that it is the continuation of something important that has gone before, and we shall look at that in just a moment. For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth him up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Jesus Christ had previously made one of the most profound statements of his life. And I shall explain what he meant in detail tonight when I preach on the subject, Tell No Man, when in the 20th verse he had told the disciples, strangely, to tell no man that he was the Christ. The reason was very simple, that the world at large was not yet ready to receive the fact of his glorious, powerful reign over the earth. Because they were not yet ready to comprehend the fact that there was a negative side, that he must die on the cross before he would reign in great power. And so Jesus goes on to say, However, don't misunderstand. Don't miss the point. Don't think that because I have said I am going to die on the cross, that that does not mean that my coming to this world does not have a positive side. That I will not come in great glory and splendor to be the Messiah, to be the Christ, the anointed of God, because I will. And he goes on in the next two verses to make five things powerfully clear. First of all, the Son of Man shall come. Secondly, he shall come in the glory of his Father. Thirdly, he shall come with the angels. Fourthly, he will come to reward. And last, his coming will be sooner than you think. First of all, the Son of Man shall come. Heaven and earth may pass away. The earth and the elements and the heavens and the skies may dissolve with fervent heat. The stock market may fail. Armies may crumble. Governments may topple. Everything may change and dissolve. But of this one thing you can be confidently sure, the Son of Man shall come. The Bible says repeatedly, The Son of Man shall come. Over 300 times, the New Testament refers directly to the return of Christ. There is more said in the New Testament about Jesus coming than about heaven, hell, baptism, repentance, and the church all rolled into one. Jesus said himself, I am going to come. The disciples believed he was going to come. The Apostle Paul said, We shall not all be alive. We're not all going to go on like this. We're going to be, some of us, dead. Some will come out of the graves. Those who are alive and remain at his coming shall be caught up, translated in the twinkling of an eye. And so shall we meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The apostles, the disciples believed he was going to come. Peter said, We look from heaven. Our conversation, our manner of living, that is to say, is heavenly or heavenward from whence we also look for the glorious appearing of our God and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Over 300 times, the disciples, the apostles, the gospel writers, the Lord himself, mentioned the coming of Christ, even the angels. At the ascension of the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, two men arrayed in white apparel stood by and said to the bewildered congregation of believers, Why stand ye here gazing into heaven? Know ye not that this same Jesus should in like manner come as you have seen him go. I am a part of a church, a fellowship, a part of an educational process, and a denomination, and a tradition, and a book, and a promise that believes and promises that Jesus Christ shall come again. But I want you to know that none of these things are the main reason that I believe Jesus is going to come. My heart tells me he must come. Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary of the United Nations, said just before his death, I see no possibility for world peace. We have tried so desperately and have failed so miserably. Jean -Paul Sartre, French philosopher, said there is no exit from the human dilemma. We are living in a room without windows and doors. But ladies and gentlemen, there is an exit. There is an answer. I believe the answer is the coming of Christ because Jesus himself promised. And Jesus cannot lie, for he is the truth incarnate in human flesh. Jesus himself said, I will come again. When General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines, he left those people for four years with a hope when he said, I shall return. But Douglas MacArthur could have made a mistake. Circumstances could have evolved. Circumstances could have developed that it was impossible to fulfill that promise. But you can put it down. History is moving toward a grand crescendo. The coming of Christ is that one central event of history toward which all of history is moving and without which none of history makes any sense at all. Heaven and earth may pass away. Situations may change. Nothing you have ever hoped or believed may turn out to be true. You may be mistaken about a lot of things. But I'll tell you this, the Son of Man promised he shall come and come he will. The Son of Man is coming back to this earth. What decision would you make if you knew you were coming today? Some of you would make some reconsiderations about your work and about your livelihood. I don't think I'd want to be driving a beer truck if Jesus came. I really don't. I think I'd change jobs and drive a taxi cab. I don't think I'd want to be sitting in an X -rated movie. I think I'd want to be in a G movie. I'd want to be seeing Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. If the roof of that thing opened and Jesus said, Come on up! And the saints came out of those seats. I'd want to be careful about where I was. Some of you have some of God's money at home in the bank. You haven't brought your tithes in years. I'd want to get my checkbook up to date. Some of you have grudges and unforgiving spirits. And people you haven't spoken to in months and years. Some of us have unconfessed sins. And unforgiving iniquities. And uncleaned transgressions. The Bible says, He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. There is nothing that behooves us to a more consistent and current Christian life than the imminent coming of Jesus Christ. The Son of Man shall come. Secondly, Jesus said, The Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father. What is the glory of his Father? It is unspeakable and it is manifold. It is the glory for one thing of his holiness. Look over with me, if you will please, in Romans chapter 1, verse 3. Regarding the gospel, Paul says, Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. When Jesus Christ came to the earth, he came as the holiness of God, incarnate in a human body that could have but did not yield to sin, a body that was holy and perfect. The Bible characterizes holiness as pure purity and cleanliness and whiteness. The Bible says of the church that he is cleansed by his blood, that it is a holy church without spot and wrinkle, cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. When Jesus Christ comes in the valley of Armageddon, the enemies of God will be arrayed against the enemies, against the soldiers of God. And the Bible says that Christ will come with the breastplate of righteousness and all of the saints with their garments made white by the blood of Christ and all the holy angels with him. And listen, he shall destroy them with a thousand bazookas. No. He shall destroy them with a hundred atom bombs. No. he shall destroy them with the brightness of his coming. I believe at the coming of Christ in the final consummate battle of the ages that the pure white glistening holiness of Jesus Christ will be so blinding to the kingdoms of darkness which will be arrayed in battle against him that he will blind them with the Shekinah glory of his holiness and they shall in their blindness and in their confusion turn and slay each other. The Bible says the blood will run to the bits of the horse's mouths but the Christians will not do battle. It will be the blindness of Christ's glory that will destroy them when Jesus comes in the glory of his father. Number three, Jesus said the son of man shall come with his angels with him. Look again in Matthew chapter 16. The son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels. The study of angels is the most interesting one in the word of God. Angels are sexless beings. They do not procreate. They do not reproduce. They do not multiply. Their number is limited and it seems to me that either God had enough to go around to begin with or each angel that is a protection over each Christian is having more and more to do because there are a lot more Christians than there ever were. And on top of that it seems that a third of the angels must have fallen from heaven and sinned and became evil spirits to begin with. But the truth of the matter is that regardless of how many angels there are and they are sexless and they are numberless that these literal beautiful powerful present beings are here in this world and they have ample coverage and interest and concern in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us before the earth began there was an angelic society a society in which all of the angels the seraphs the cherubs Michael Gabriel Lucifer all of the archangels gave the son of God great glory and great homage. But one day Lucifer's heart was filled with pride and he led rebellion against God and was banished and came to the earth. But there are still millions billions and billions and unspeakable multiplicity of angels in heaven. The angels adore the Lord Jesus. They minister to the Lord Jesus. Think of his birth. When Jesus came to the birth to be born in a stable in a manger the Son of God to become the Son of Man. It was the angels who on Judea and hillside announced with angelic throng glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill from God toward men. As a little child the angels protected him. The Bible says God had given him a promise lest he dash his foot against the stone that he would so not so much as stub his toe because the angels had charge over him were responsible as a boy to keep him. And let me say the good news to you that God has a holy angel a personal angel for every boy and girl for every little child. How many times is the fluttering wings of death have been by that child have the angels wings more powerfully swept them and carried them to safety. When Jesus Christ was tempted in the garden of Eden for in in the mount of a tribulation of a temptation for 40 days and 40 nights he fasted and after he was finished angels stepped forward and ministered unto him always with interest always with attention let us love him let us care for him. The songwriter has said it so beautifully of him of angels and seraphs in heaven adored and they followed him to the earth to love him. To the earth to minister to him to the earth to care for him and protect him. Then you remember when Jesus Christ went into the garden the Lord Jesus Christ when Peter picked out the sword and wanted to fight off his enemies said put the sword up Peter don't you know that if I wanted to I could call down legions of angels and they would fight thousands of them and come and fight for me but my kingdom is not of this world. After the resurrection there stood by the tomb two men again the angels arrayed in white and said why seek ye the living among the dead he is not here hallelujah he is risen. When he went back to heaven there were the angels again to announce the good news that this same Jesus why stands you here gazing into heaven the little rendition is why do you stand here like a bunch of empty -headed idiots that's literally what it means why are you gawking toward a bunch of skies Jesus is coming again and listen the angel was very careful to say this same Jesus I'm glad they're not going to send a substitute the same one we've loved the one that died on the cross the one we've prayed to the one we've adored the one we've served the same Jesus shall in like manner come as you have seen him go yonder in heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the father pleading his blood interceding for the saints there the angels do homage to him there from hallelujah boulevard to glory lane all down the corridors of heaven the angels sing the song the seraphs the cherub of the lamb high and holy lifted up and exalted on his throne but did you catch it only one time from the foundation of the world to the consummate experience of eternity was Jesus devoid of the presence and protection of adoring reverent worshiping angels and it was at the cross only at the cross ladies and gentlemen everything else in nature responded the bowels of the earth rumbled the father turned his head the skies blackened the graves gave forth their dead the demons shrieked men cried women wept everything in creation responded to the cross except the angels let us save him let us rescue him from the cross see them as they strain at the precipice of heaven like like chargers pressing at the gate of a race let us go down let us read redeem him but Jesus had to go through the hell and awfulness of the cross by himself alone for your sins and for mine but now when he comes in triumph over the cross in triumph over the world that nailed him to the cross it shall be with the chorus and accompaniment of great angels that love him that come back I believe with a grin from ear to ear saying here is the son here is the lamb that we have loved here is the one you've crucified we told you he was the lamb of God look at him coming in adoring great power little wonder that he shall come and he saints and all the holy angels with him when he comes when he comes now the fourth thing that Jesus says is this when he comes to the earth he shall come to reward now you notice that he will judge the unsaved at the great white throne judgment but that is not mentioned in this description of the coming of Christ why you must understand in context again that Jesus was trying to explain to the people who believe that his coming should have been in glory that he was going to come gloriously later on he was not discussing the negative aspects of his coming the great white throne judgment of the damned and the doomed the judgment of the unsaved he is now talking positively only about those wonderful and beautiful aspects of his coming of which are the judge are the reward of the saints hear me you and I as Christians you and I as believers in Jesus will not stand before the great white throne judgment we will not be judged for our sins in any future judgment because I have already been judged I have found myself guilty and in need of a savior and have gone to the cross to plead his blood and have passed from death unto life and have no more condemnation according to Romans 8 to them that are now in Christ Jesus so when I stand before him when the believer meets Jesus that he's coming it will not be for a judgment it will be for a reward for what reward one thing reward over faithfulness to your ability and your opportunity some of you are men who run businesses and you could use that same talent to direct the Sunday school department some of you have the ability to talk to people you are winsome you're charming it's easy for you to get your point across it's easy for you to talk talk you're a natural sales talk talk you're a natural sales it isn't easy for some of us to talk I'll tell you that brother listen you have abilities and talents that you could be faithfully using for Christ how faithful are you he'll not reward you whether you gave a dollar or a hundred thousand dollars to the Lord he will reward you on how faithful you were in proportionate relationship degree to how forth how faithful you could have been over how much opportunity you had listen if any man's works his way of life were self -centered for himself for his own glory his works will be burned up and he will suffer loss i plead with you whatever talent you have whatever possessions you have whatever you are whatever you can do where you are to do it to the honor and glory of jesus you may not be able to do anything except contribute 15 cents to a bus fair to ride across town to come teach a sunday school class to little three -year -olds to sing jesus loves me but if you have done what you could with what you had to do with he will reward you for that he says even a cup of cold water given in a disciple's name will earn a disciple's reward positively beautifully wonderfully he wants it to be a reward it is coming for faithfulness to his own have you been faithful what will your reward be when jesus comes now the last thing he says to us is this the second coming of jesus christ is going to be sooner than you expect i want us to examine a difficult passage of scripture frankly it is one that i did not believe i could trust any commentator on i've not read a single commentary because i knew what would happen in advance a hundred men would have a hundred different explanations let me explain to you what i believe that the lord has given me as to the explanation of what this verse is from my own heart and for yours look in matthew 16 he says something very difficult to comprehend verse 28 verily i say unto you there be some standing here notice that he does not say some of you standing here but there shall be some standing here he did not say you shall be standing here he just said there should be some standing of you here which shall not taste of death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom now you have to ask the question sometimes did jesus mean what he said or did he mean what he meant he said if your right hand offends you cut it off did he mean what he said or did he mean what he meant he said you're the salt of the earth are you literally a pillar of salt did he mean what he said or did he mean what he meant well let's look at the alternatives for one thing there are people who suggest that jesus was wrong he was sincere but he was mistaken for he meant there are some of you to whom i am now speaking standing on this very spot who will not die before the coming of christ occurs obviously this could not be what he meant because jesus has not come and all of those who died two thousand years ago have already been buried they're already dead so he didn't mean that there are some people who think that he was talking about pentecost you know so many people try to explain around the reality of the second coming of christ many people say that pentecost was the coming of jesus but you make a mistake because pentecost was the coming of the holy spirit the second coming of jesus is the coming of the savior of the holy spirit because jesus has not come and all of those who died two thousand years ago have already been buried they're already dead so he didn't mean that there are some people who think that he was talking about pentecost you know so many people try to explain around the reality of the second coming of christ many people say that pentecost was the coming of jesus but you make a mistake because pentecost was the coming of the holy spirit the second coming of jesus is the coming of the savior there are those people who think that the second coming of christ occurs at the death of a christian but remember we have a problem of logistics because the home going of a believer is the christian going to be with god going to be with christ the second coming of jesus is christ coming to be with the christian and there's a difference now jesus did not mean and obviously he could not have that these men to whom he was speaking that some of them would not die before the second coming occurred that's happened two thousand years ago so obviously he didn't mean that and what did he mean i believe that he was saying to them that there will be some people standing right here on this very spot who will not die when the coming of jesus occurs and this is consistent you see with the concept of the transliteration the translation of the believer the glorification of the christian which takes place when jesus comes back to the earth you need not turn but in first thessalonians 4 7 12 through 17 Paul makes it very clear that when Jesus Christ comes to the earth, there are going to be two kinds of Christians, dead Christians and living Christians. Now he says, we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We're going to be translated, we're going to be transformed, glorified, we're going to get our new perfect glorified holy body which is not capable of or susceptible to sin and death. It will be a new perfect body. But we're not going to shoot up to meet him in the air before the dead Christians. He says, we shall not prevent that. That is to say, we shall not go before them for the dead in Christ shall arise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now why is it that I believe that it is this to which Jesus referred? Because, and the chapter dividers of the scripture have not always done us great service, it is immediately on the heels of this that the next significant event in the scripture occurs when Jesus takes his own disciples and gives them a preview of that glorified state of the believer, a preview of what he was talking about. I can imagine that they must have gone out of there with their minds staggered. What does he mean? How does he explain this? And surely they must have looked back years later and said, why Jesus has not come and all of us, most of all of us are dead. Was he mistaken? And then perhaps in relationship, they might have remembered what Jesus did in the very next sequence of activities when he gave them a picture of what it was going to be like when a body is translated, glorified into that perfect state when Christ comes for the believer that is alive. For you see in chapter 17, after six days, Jesus took Peter and James and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart and was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the sun and his raiment was white as the light. Now, ladies and gentlemen, after Jesus Christ came out of the grave, after he rose from the dead, he came forth in a body which is not like this body. It was a perfect body. It was a glorified body. A body that could not feel suffering, could not feel hunger, was not capable of sin, could not get sick, or could never die. Some of you are facing crisis in your life and let me tell you that though you live 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 years in this earth, outside of the billions of years of eternity, it's nothing. It's just a passing thing. And we're soon going to be translated with a body that will live forever when Jesus comes and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And so it's important in properly trying to exegete a passage of scripture to keep in context what's going on here. And the very next thing that happens, Jesus is glorified for a few minutes before them. He gives them a preview of what his glorified body for himself and all believers is going to be like. And it was so glorious that the disciples said, man, this is great. Let's just build three tabernacles and stay here. Man, let's stay here forever. I like this. Jesus said, no. And he got himself unglorified and went on until he died on the cross, rose from the grave, and was permanently existing in a glorified body. Why did he do it right there for a few minutes? To show them what he was talking about, how some people who are alive at his coming, the believer will not taste of death, what will be glorified on the spot. Now, while I believe that to be the correct theological explanation of what's happening here, let me say something that I think is really more important than that. And that is that Jesus Christ did everything that he did in relationship to believers of all ages relative to his coming to this world couched in a perspective in which he expected and chose to have every one of us believe that Jesus was going to come in his lifetime. I believe Jesus wanted them to believe he was coming in their lifetime. I believe he wanted the Christians of the third century and the fifth and the tenth to believe he was coming in their lifetime. And he wants us to believe it today. And if he does not, I believe he wants the Christians of the 21st century and the 22nd, the 23rd to live as though Christ were coming then because he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. You see, there is no single scriptural truth which constantly goads us and inspires us to perpetual commitment and fidelity to righteousness and to Jesus Christ than the fact that at any moment the roof may split, the skies burst asunder and Jesus Christ come in great glory. Let me read for you in 1 Corinthians. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. We shall all be changed in a moment. Changed in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we too shall be changed. For this corruptible body must put on incorruption and this old mortality must put on immortality. You see, the important thing is, well, that is, I believe, the theological proper division of this passage of Scripture, that the essence, the overriding essence of the whole thing that Jesus says is, be ready, be ready. The Bible says when Jesus Christ comes, the believer will be taken to heaven, glorified. The unbeliever will be left and all hell will be break loose. There will be great tribulation on the earth. Such a world without Jesus, a world without the Holy Spirit, a world without God in government, a world with no spiritual witness, that men shall plead for death and death shall flee from them, that they shall cry for the rocks and the mountains. They shall beg to die and will be unable to die. Hear me. Two will be sleeping in a bed. One will be taken. The other left. One of these Sunday mornings, some of you old boys are going to wake up about 11 o 'clock like you usually do, and you're going to turn over and Mama's going to left and she's gone to church like she usually does. About 12 .30 or 1, well, not if you go to First Baptist Church, about 2 or 3, you'll expect her to come home and she won't come home. And you'll call your neighbors and you'll call your friends and you'll call the Sunday school teacher and you'll call the pastor and about 4 or 5 you'll begin to panic because nobody's there. The preacher's gone. The Sunday school friends are gone. You'll call the police department and they'll say, I don't know where she is. We've got a problem. Half of our police officers are gone. John Levere's gone. The believers are gone. Can't find them. And planes will be flying over the skies and the Christian pilot will be taken and the co -pilot, the believer will be taken. And somebody in the back will say, here, let me. I know what to do. And they'll run in and they'll try to save the thing. Planes will plummet to the ground and people on the operating table will die because the believer, the doctor will be taken and the left will be unbelievers and they won't know what to do. The world in pandemonium, the world in confusion, the world in chaos, the world in great tribulation because the witness, the spirit, he who now letteth will act till he be taken out of the way. The Holy Spirit who restrains, who holds sin in check, who keeps the salt of the earth from letting the putrid world rot and putrefy, will be removed. And this whole hellacious, rapacious, hell -born, hell -spawn world is going to get what it's always wanted, all the sin it really wants. Without Christians, without the spirit, Jesus taken out. It'll be so awful, men will try to die and they won't be able to die and the end is not yet. Oh, hear me. Jesus is going to come. The Son of Man shall come. He shall come in the glory of his Father, the glory of his Father's holiness and justice and forgiveness and righteousness and judicial restraint and control of the world. He'll come with all these holy angels. He shall come to reward the faithful and he shall come sooner than you think. Are you ready for the coming of Jesus? I plead with you to make that decision today, whatever it might be that you know you would make if he were to come at straight up 12 o 'clock because one of these straight ups, he's going to come straight down. Let us bow our heads together and close our eyes and pray. Oh, our Heavenly Father, there are many men and women here today who need Jesus. Many of them who intend someday to be saved, who know they would be saved if this is the last chance they had to be saved. Some men and women will be in a church. They'll be seated on the back row. They'll be shaking their head no at God. They'll be saying, no, not tonight, not tonight, not tonight and Jesus will come and that'll be their last not tonight. Oh, God, we pray for sinners to come under the healing blood of Christ to find forgiveness. We pray for church members who are hiding behind a church membership who are baptized and good but not saved. And Father, we pray for young people whose lives have secret sins and for young couples and for moms and dads with grudges, with unforgiveness, with God's money, with sins of youth never cleansed, with a hundred things they need to straighten out who would do so in light of the coming of Jesus. We pray for Christians to identify themselves with the church by moving their letter to just stand up for Jesus and walk down the aisle and say, I'm on his side, count on me, I want to be a part of his church. Lord, I just pray that our dear people now shall come to join the church to rededicate their life, to change some things, to accept the Lord Jesus, to make whatever decision they would make if they knew that in the next five minutes, this word, this promise of Jesus would be fulfilled. The Son of Man shall come. For we pray in his name. Amen.