Appointment of the Son

The Importance of Location-Consciousness in Scripture

0:02 Now let's turn again this morning to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

0:12 I trust that at least some of you have memorized this paragraph as we've been reading it over each Lord's Day morning. At least you ought to be very conscious of the general content of the paragraph, its relationship to what precedes, as well as its introduction to what follows. One of the great blessings that comes to any minister of the gospel and preacher and teacher who is committed to a verse-by-verse exposition of Scripture is that he unconsciously memorizes whole chapters without even knowing it. And I was discussing this with someone the other night, and I said, well, let's see if that's happened, and I just started quoting chapter 5, verse 1, and it's just amazing how it'll just... flow out of you if your mind has been steeped in it in seeking to understand its content.

1:08 But one of the most astounding things to me is to go around to evangelical churches and to see how little location conscious the people of God are who've been around the Scripture, some of them, for 20 or 30 years. And yet you'll say, well, where can you find something about the times and seasons of Christ's return? And they can't say, Matthew 24. 1 Thessalonians 5.

1:34 We ought to be location conscious of the Word of God so that even if we're not conversant with the actual words and can quote it, we know, well, there's something about that in that chapter of that particular book. And I know of no reason for this. Two basic reasons, I'm sorry, but beyond this I don't see any valid reason. One is, either preachers have not been giving them the content of Scripture, or, secondly, people have just been too lazy to relate the content to the place in this particular section of the Word of God where it's found.

2:07 Now, I trust that the former is not true here. With all the faults that haunt me at times and drive me afresh to the blood of Christ, at least one thing gives me some ease to my conscience that at least I'm setting before you the content of the words of Scripture. Now, if you'll not exercise yourself to localize those portions and remember where they are, then this is your own fault. And I would seek...

2:32 I would seek to stir you up, to seek to be location-conscious and content-conscious if not actually able to quote the very words of Scripture. So with that little word of exhortation, which I trust you will suffer and endure, follow as I read again this paragraph, 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 1 through 11. But concerning the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that ought be written unto you. For yourselves...

3:02 Know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day.

3:31 We are not of the night. Nor of darkness. So then, let us not sleep as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night.

3:43 And they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and foreign helmet the hope of salvation. For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do.

The Effect of Christ's Return: Watchfulness, Sobriety, and Preparedness

4:21 This paragraph is dealing with the general subject of what effect should the doctrine of the suddenness of Christ's return have upon the children of God. Amen. We're drawing to the close of that particular subject because we're coming in our study this morning to verse 10. The answer of the apostle to this question, what effect should the doctrine of the suddenness of Christ's return have upon Christians, is very simple.

4:50 It should make them watchful, it should make them sober, and it should make them seek to be prepared for battle. Watchfulness, sobriety, and preparedness. As he dealt with the subject of preparedness under the figure of the armor of the Christian, his breastplate and his helmet, he then launches out into this discourse which could really be entitled the metal of which the helmet is made. He says that which will protect your head is this helmet called the hope of salvation.

5:28 That joyful and confident expectation of the promise, promised blessings of grace that will come at the return of Christ, that hope burning within your breast will act like a helmet to ward off those fiery darts and those thrusts of the enemy. As I'm confident that the best is yet to come, I'll not be discouraged when things aren't as they, I think they ought to be now. And when sin comes with all of its dazzling, scintillating enticements, the confidence that, my purest joys are yet to come, will enable me to face the tinseled joys of seduction and temptation and say, away, my joys are yet to come. Pure joys, eternal joys, joys with no terrible hangover of a nagging conscience and a grieved Holy Spirit and a quenched Holy Spirit. I want no joy at that price. My best joys are to come.

The Metal of the Helmet: The Appointment of the Father and the Purchase of the Son

6:30 Then someone says, yeah, that's all right and well, talk about pie in the sky by and by, but how do you know that helmet isn't made of paper mache? How do you know your hope is a true and a valid hope? And the Apostle says, well, I'll tell you how we know. There are two things that comprise that hope.

6:47 That helmet is made of an alloy that will stand any kind of test. And he takes us immediately then to the doctrine of verse 9, the appointment of the Father, and the doctrine of verse 10, the atonement of the Son. And he says, if you Christians are conscious that your hope is rooted in the eternal appointment of the Father and was secured by the saving purchase of the Son, you have a helmet which will stand the test. Last week we looked at verse 9, the appointment of the Father, and how it acts as the helmet.

7:25 This morning we shall look at the purchase of the Son, who died for us, that whether we wait, or sleep, we should live together with Him. Now every word in this text is filled with meaning and significance, and so we want to grapple with the meaning of those words, the actual meaning of the text, and then we shall see how it relates to this matter of the hope of salvation. So you have these two things that are the basis of the Christian's hope, the appointment of the Father, and the purchase of the Son. Now, what does he say about this purchase of the Son?

The Purchase of the Son: Fact, Objects, and Purpose of Christ's Death

8:04 Well, in the first place, he announces the fact of the death of Christ. The fact of Christ's death is asserted, and then the objects of that death are defined, and then the special purpose of that death is delineated. The fact of His death is asserted. Notice what he says, who died for us.

8:29 A simple statement of fact. In other words, the Christian's hope is rooted not only in the eternal purpose of the Father, which is something that takes us back into eternity, but it is also based upon this historical event of the bloodshedding of our Lord Jesus Christ. What God has appointed in eternity had to be brought to pass in time by the terrible death of His own Son. The problems connected with your salvation and mine were so great that only this could solve them.

9:12 The great problem that some of us were reminded of this past week at the conference in Carlisle, how can God be just? A God who punishes evil, who upholds His law, and still justify guilty sinners. That problem could only be resolved by giving up His Son to the terrible, agony and shame of the cross. And we'll never understand the cross in any measure until we understand that problem.

9:42 And so the Apostle tells us here that the Son of God has died. He died for us. And that death, its fact in space and time, is the foundation of our hope. And it's interesting, wherever people begin to relinquish the fact of the death of Jesus, Jesus Christ, it's only a matter of time before the whole concept of the Christian's hope is also relinquished.

10:12 People who deny or ignore the biblical teaching about the significance of the death of Christ are never found thinking or speaking much about the second advent of Christ.

10:25 The one is the foundation of the other. And where you do away with the foundation, the superstructure will be gone.

10:33 For you see, it's that salvation which he purchased with his own death that gives us this perspective. What he has begun on the basis of his death, he will complete at his second advent. But do away with the foundation and then there is no perspective of the hope. So he states the fact of his death.

10:56 Then he tells us the objects of his death. For whom did he die? Notice, who died for or concerning death. He died for or concerning us.

11:07 It was a death in that sense that had nothing to do with any problems of his own. He did not die concerning some sin of his own. Concerning some problem of his own that had to be resolved. The apostle uses a preposition here that could be translated concerning.

11:25 He died concerning us. The whole focus of the concern in the death of Christ was us. And who are the us? Well here, in the most strict sense, it was the apostle and the believers at Thessalonica.

11:39 He is writing to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, who are in union with God the Father and the Son, those who have had the word come to them, not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. So the objects of his death are believers, those whom Jesus calls his sheep, those of whom he speaks in John 17, 19, when he says, and for their sakes, those whom thou hast given me, I sanctify myself, that is, I set myself apart for this work of sacrifice and intercession that they may be sanctified by the truth.

12:25 What we're saying then is that Paul is asserting that this atonement was a definite atonement, not only a factual atonement. He died for us, but it was a definite, a definite atonement. He had specific objects in view, his own sheep, his church, the body of all true believers who have come to rest in him. Now the core of what he's saying is this.

The Specific Purpose of Christ's Death: Living Together with Him

12:52 What is the specific purpose of that death? And here he describes it. The fact of it he asserts, the objects of it he defines. Now the specific purpose of that death is described.

13:04 One of the first things you learn, and you fellows in seminary, you forget what I'm doing this morning, I seldom do it, so you don't hear this, is you learn that a certain word spelled in English, H-I-N-A, Hina, when you find that, something's stated, and then you have a Hina and a description, it's called a clause of purpose. This happened, Hina, in order that, for this distinct purpose. Now here you have one of those clauses of purpose. He died for us.

13:34 The fact of his death asserted, the object of his death defined, but what was the purpose of the whole thing? What was the end, the object? Here it is. Notice.

13:45 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. If I were to ask you this morning, to write down on paper, all of the reasons why Christ died, what would you put?

14:03 Well, if you have any kind of thinking oriented by scripture, you'd put probably, he died to satisfy God's justice. And you'd be right. Perhaps you'd put, he died that we might be forgiven. And you would be perfectly right.

14:19 He died to save us from sin. And you would be right. He died to deliver us from hell to come. You would be absolutely right.

14:28 And all of those statements would be accurate, biblically determined, and biblically oriented statements. But may I say, that all of those were but a means to a glorious end. And that end is set before us in this text. What is the ultimate end of his death?

14:48 What did he have in mind in dying in order to satisfy divine justice? In order to provide a basis upon which God could forgive us? What was the whole end of all of this? The apostle describes it in these words.

15:02 He died for us, that we should live, together with him.

15:12 The glorious end which our Lord had in view was that we should enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with him in the context of endless resurrection life. He died and rose and now lives. And the end for which he died and rose and lives is that we might live together with him. And it doesn't mean that we, together, might live, but the together means next to, glued to, with him, alongside of him, in his glorious presence.

God's Desire for Fellowship and the Certainty of His Purpose

15:50 Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon on this text. And you know what his outline was? God's desire to have his people with him. How God accomplished that desire.

16:03 He sent his son to die for them. And we read in our psalm, this morning, one of the most profound and staggering truths. The Lord hath desired Zion for his dwelling place.

16:19 The infinite God. The self-contained God who had no need of anything that he made to be completely perfect in himself. Yet he made a world. And he made his crowning creation man.

16:36 And he gave to man that which no other creature possessed. The capacity to volitionally, intelligently, and from the heart, worship him, praise him, and have communion with him. And I trust I say it reverently. It was this that satisfied the heart of God in man.

16:58 It was this that brought delight to the heart of God. That man lived together with him in unbroken, delightful fellowship and communion. But sin is enthralled and the greatest tragedy of sin is that God has been robbed of this in his creature. There is none that seeketh after God.

17:24 No, not one. There's none that desires to live with him. Oh yes, we desire to live with his gifts, with his blessings. Anything that he'll give to us that will make our lot better we'll gladly take and even abuse.

17:42 But there's none of us of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam who has any spark of desire by nature to live together with him. There is none that seeketh after God. And yet for such God has put forth his arm of redemptive power and upon those whom that special eternal love of the Father alights as we read in verse 9 those whom he's appointed unto life what is his glorious object in all the work wrought in the death and resurrection of his dear son it is this that he might have that people dwelling together with him. And when the work of redemption is accomplished God's going to have what he put forth his arm to obtain. And when you turn to the book of the Revelation the description you find of the redeemed of God is one in which they are dwelling in intimate and delightful relationship with their God. God doesn't answer our silly questions about what are we going to do.

18:54 God doesn't answer our silly questions how we're going to spend our time as far as the details. God doesn't answer all of these silly questions that we raise. But he has told us this his servants shall look upon his face and they shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. God himself shall be with them.

19:19 He tells us that. But of the other details he tells us little. Why? Because in the heart of everyone who's truly been redeemed that's the heaven of heavens to be with him.

19:33 And so the apostle sets forth as the specific purpose of the death of Christ that the Lord Jesus would have a people who live together with him. So, the specific purpose what was it? We've answered it. Second question we want to ask under this specific purpose is this.

19:54 Can anything frustrate that purpose? Sure, it's all right and well for Paul to write and say he died that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him. But what assurance do I have that that purpose will be realized? Now follow closely.

20:09 Those who take the position that the death of Christ actually secured nothing but only made a person who made many things possible are in a terrible dilemma. If the terrible agonies of the cross and all that our Lord bore simply made possible certain provisions which can be forfeited in terms of man's initiative what kind of a helmet is that? Here you're in the midst of the conflict and you say the best is yet to come. And here come these fiery darts of the enemy.

20:44 Here come these perplexing circumstances that press you and cause you to question and you begin to say ah yes, but the best is yet to come because Jesus died but wait a minute it's possible that some of the things for which he died may not come to pass unless we add to it our faith and add to it our perseverance and add to it our this and our that it can all come to naught. What kind of a helmet is that? But you see if in the midst of the conflict in the midst of the pressures the temptation comes to be part of the now generation the temptation comes to question the ways of God to dabble with the sin that looks so gratifying to our flesh and I say no, wait a minute the best is yet to come I'm marked for eternity and I say how do I know it? Because back there he died and the purposes of his death cannot be frustrated he died that I might live with him and since he died I know I shall live with him I can afford to live with him I can afford to say no to sin no to the world no to the perplexing circumstances that would press me to unbelief and discouragement it's the confidence of the certainty of the purpose of his death that makes that helmet of good hardened Roman steel you see it? That's exactly how the apostle uses it here

22:12 he knew well the statement Isaiah 53 verse 11 he shall see you of the travail of his soul and be satisfied the Lord Jesus said in John 6 39 and 40 I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day that's why he adds this little phrase notice who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him because the question is wait a minute did Jesus die that we should live with him? look at my loved ones I laid them in the grave three years ago wasn't that one of their problems that he dealt with in chapter 4? concerning those that fall asleep I would not that ye sorrow as those that have no hope they got a heavy heart did Jesus die that all his children all true believers should live with him? well look they're dead he's allowed them to pass through the doors of death he's allowed the black chariot of death to come and carry them away ah but says Paul now I quote the words of one of God's eminent servants death is God's black chariot to come and carry his dear ones

23:41 to his own bliss it's a black chariot but it's God's chariot Paul says all things are yours not only life but death itself has become my chariot all death can do to me is release me from all the of this mortal body and free my spirit to wake up looking upon the face of Jesus for to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord why? because that's what he died to bring to pass who died for us that whether we wake whether we're alive when he comes or whether we sleep in the dust of the earth we should live to die together with him so in answer to the question can anything frustrate that purpose? no and it's that very reason for which the apostle brings in that argument and I've already answered the third question I was going to ask under this heading of the specific purpose of the death described how does this relate to the helmet? I think you already see it and I jumped ahead of myself you see how this relates to the helmet the father appointed and that appointment cannot be turned aside the son of God the son has purchased in a place outside Jerusalem when some good Jerusalem dirt was spattered with the clotting blood of the son of God

Implications: Wonder at Trinitarian Salvation and Definite Atonement

25:07 it was assured that all believers would one day be with their redeemer with them with him forever now if that's true it bears some tremendous implications and I want to work out several of those in the time that remains in the first place I hope it fills us all with some sense of wonder at our Trinitarian salvation we are saved by God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and our hearts should be filled with wonder at a salvation wrought out by the beautiful and if I say it I hope not irreverently the symmetrical outworking of the Triune God Psalm 111.2 says the works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein let me illustrate what I'm driving at try to picture with me a man who's blind he can't see anything he's poor he has no money his body oozes with sores added to all of that he's shut up as a criminal in the prison bound over to death now that's a pretty miserable existence that could give Job some competition night after night he drifts off into sleep feeling the pain and the pain of his body

26:34 knowing something of the darkness in which he's surrounded and the sentence of death that hangs over him one morning he wakes up and when he does for the first time in his life he sees for the first time that he can remember there are no chains clanking there are no bars around him he wakes up a man with sight he wakes up with health he wakes up with light and with freedom and no condemnation now he doesn't know how this has come to pass but he finds a book that has been placed in his pocket and on the first page of that book there is just a brief statement of who set him free and then there's a statement that if you read further the details of why you were set free and all the intricate plans that had to be laid in order to set you free and all of the different interaction of individuals that were involved in your freedom it's all set out in detail from page two to page twenty what would you think of the man who was content to just read the brief statement on page one and say oh well I know that Mr. So-and-so set me free and he did it because of his grace fine if this man appreciated his deliverance do you think it would be a matter of of laborious effort to him to read pages two to twenty to trace out the details of his deliverance would you?

28:00 if he had any appreciation of his deliverance would this be a tedious task for him?

28:06 what do you think?

28:09 at least wiggle your ears do you think it would be?

28:12 well you say of course not well you know I wonder when I meet Christians and I meet relatively not a few of them I can't be bothered with this idea of theology and seeing how the father purposed and all of that I'm just a simple Christian I know that I'm saved because Jesus died and somehow in some way the Holy Spirit imparted life let's end it there I want to be a simple Christian do you love your deliverance? the works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure therein and the work that has been wrought in your redemption is a work that caused sweats in the triune God that caused the expenditure of thought that caused the very letting out of the blood of the Son of God and if your heart has any appreciation for that deliverance it should be it should cause you great delight to trace out what God has said in page 2 to 20 of your deliverance and don't you see it here and doesn't it make your heart thrill from this very practical exhortation put on a helmet the hope of salvation the apostle then goes back and traces salvation to the eternal purpose of the father in electing grace for he hath appointed us

29:41 not unto wrath but to the obtaining of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ then he goes into the doctrine of the fact and the definiteness of the atonement of Christ and then he's already covered in several very clear statements in the previous parts of the book how the Holy Spirit with mighty power has wrought this work for the gospel he says came unto you not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance and he gives to these simple minded Christians of the first century this invitation to the infant church of the Thessalonians he gives them pages two to twenty and says seek out the works of the Lord and marvel at a salvation that is wrought by God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost one of the most heartbreaking things is to see people whom in all charity we must acknowledge to be the children of God who don't have a clue of the place of the Father in their salvation or the place of the Holy Spirit they know something of the fact that Jesus died and has given them life if you ask why did he die they can tell you nothing the fact that he died because there was between the Father and the Son this contract this covenant in eternity in which the Father

31:09 gave a people to his Son Jesus thought it important enough to make it a central part in his prayer you've given him given me authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given to me this is the will of the Father that of all that he hath given me I should lose none this was vital to him it framed and shaped his whole ministry I lay down my life for the sheep other sheep I have it was important to him Christians who know nothing of the work of the Holy Spirit just somehow as my wife one time said when she first began to think seriously these areas she said to me she said you know dear she said up till now I've just known the Holy Spirit had something to do with my getting saved and somehow had something to do with opening up the scriptures and something to do with helping me to live the Christian life but that's the extent of it that it was he who quickened me in a state of death opened my blinded eyes unstopped my deafened ears broke my chains and brought me into union with Christ God has revealed these things that we might appreciate and trace out his mighty works in our salvation in order to love him more in order to love him more intelligently and so the first implication I draw from Paul's description of the metal of which that helmet is made is that God would bring us to behold with wonder our salvation

32:37 and then in the second place I trust you see the importance of having a biblical concept of a definite atonement if Christ's death was only a general provision of deliverance actually securing nothing for any what consolation can that give to the Christian in the midst of battle if Christ has died with a direct intent to save multitudes who never come to salvation what assurance do I have that this thing for which he died will really come to pass did he die that we might live with him well if he's died in the same sense that multitudes of others might live with him who never lived with him how do I know there's any hope for me if it can fail in them why not in me that's a real grounds of assurance and confidence isn't it it's when I know that the blood of Jesus Christ as we sing so often dear dying lamb thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all without exception the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more that's what gives us confidence Lord Jesus you died you shed your blood that I might live together with you and in that perspective then I can plead for the necessary grace Lord I will not live with you

Application: The Folly of Unrooted Hope and the Revelation of the Soul

34:07 unless you conquer sin in me unless you give me grace to persevere and overcome here are the duties set before me but these are purchased blessings I don't draw them up from the depths of myself I draw them from the fountain head of blessing in Christ as purchased blessings the grace to persevere the grace to press on the grace to endure to the end these are purchased blessings which I draw from the Son of God and then I would also say in a word of application in closing see the folly of having any hope of the future that isn't rooted in these two things the unrighteousness the appointment of the Father and the purchase of the Son I wish this morning I could take the time to start right here with Mrs. Millett and go right down through and say do you have a joyful and confident expectation of future blessing at the coming of Christ that's the hope and if you said yes then I'd like to press you what is the basis or grounds of your hope there is nothing that would more clearly reveal the state of your soul than that what would you answer to that question if I called you by name and I could call almost every one of you here by name there may be only one two three or four of you that I couldn't call by name suppose right now I just said well we've got time we're ending a little bit early

35:36 we've got time maybe for three or four and I said you what is the basis of your hope what would you say what would you say now I'm not asking what you think is the right answer after we've preached through here when you're not thinking about these things as we've preached them and you contemplate the world to come when sin comes with its present allurements and you're fortifying yourself to say no to it and you say I can't afford to I have pure joys coming in the world to come because what is the basis of the because what is the basis oh I say this morning any hope that is not rooted in the salvation which God purposed in eternity and purchased in his dear son is a hope that will be consumed at the coming of Christ and to turn the thing over and look at it from another perspective this object of the death of Christ and how we respond to it emotionally and I use the word purposely how we respond to it emotionally is a good revelation of the state of our soul how do you respond to this the object of this death is that we should live together with him does that make your heart leap within you and say oh God what greater privilege could I have

37:02 than to dwell together with my savior for all eternity to look upon his countenance with eyes undimmed by sin and the ignorance of this sphere in which I now live does that make your heart leap within you the thought that he died that I might be in his presence does it make you want to go back to the bargaining table for more fringe benefits huh I'm convinced that a lot of these stupid questions about what's going to be in heaven are a revelation of something defective right here now granted you may wonder as I do and I'm sure many true children of God do at times what we'll do in the rest but I'm talking about that kind of almost insistence where did God tell us more I'm not quite sure I want heaven unless God lets me know a little bit more of the terms you know I'm not going to take a trip to Afghanistan unless they tell me what you do when you get there what do you have to know well if you're a child of God to know that he died that you might be with him that takes all the itch out of the desire to have these other questions answered that satisfies you in the words of the hymn writer you've been brought to the place where you confess heaven itself without thee dark as night would be Lamb of God thy glory is the light above Lamb of God thy glory is the life of love

Exhortation to Clothe Oneself with the Helmet of Hope

38:29 now what does that reveal then about your state your relationship you young people you adults visitors you adults even members of this assembly do you have that helmet the hope of salvation described here is it one made not of the paper mache of just wispy hopes that everything will turn out alright is it one constructed of this good Roman steel of the knowledge that the father is appointed and the son has purchased and in that appointment and in that purchase you rest and from them you draw confidence to faith and to the truth and to the truth and to the truth and to the truth and to the truth and to the truth and to the truth and to the truth clothed with a helmet that never dents or breaks down in the midst of conflict may God grant that if this is not your confession you might seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near cast yourself upon his mercy and ask him to clothe you with this helmet the hope of salvation the Lord willing next week as we come to verse 11 we are going to see how Paul comes all the way from the practical exhortation of watchfulness goes way way up into the stratosphere of high doctrine and then he comes right smack back down to terra firma wherefore comfort one another build one another up and it just is amazing

39:59 to see how he does this again and again moves from the practical kicks in his active burner goes straight up 50,000 feet and cruises in election and a definite atonement and then right back right smack down again to the nitty gritty and says now even though you've got that helmet on and even though you've got the breastplate on some of you are going to get wounded and when your fellow soldiers wounded in battle you don't stand there and throw stones at them and say shame on you you go over and bind up his wounds so he says now you've got some fuel to help one another and build one another up all in the context of being sober watchful and armed for the battle may the Lord prepare us to receive new light on this very basic duty in the Christian's life all in terms again of being prepared for the suddenness of the return of Christ let us unite together in prayer