Longing for His Return, Part 1

The Ascension and the Promise of Return

0:01 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, June 24, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to follow with me in your own Bibles as I read two portions of the Word of God, both from the pen of Dr. Luke as he was guided of the Holy Spirit, the first in Acts chapter 1, and then we shall read the very brief portion from the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The Book of Acts, chapter 1, and I shall read the first 12 verses.

0:44 The former treatise, with reference, of course, to what we now know as the Gospel of Luke, the former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which he was born. Until the day in which he was received up, after that he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. Which, said he, you heard from me, for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence. They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, do you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within.

2:04 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you beheld him going into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh to Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey off. And now Luke chapter 24, remembering that it was the one man who by the guidance of the Spirit wrote both of these portions, we see this supplemental information given to us by Luke. We may regard it as a supplement to the account in Acts, or the Acts 1 passage as an expansion of what is here recorded.

3:33 Verse 50 and 51 of Luke 24. And he, that is, the risen Lord, led them out until they were over against Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. Well, let us again seek the face of God in prayer, asking the Lord's help, as we come to the ministry of his word.

4:05 We're going to pray that the Lord will strengthen my vocal cords. These days of dampness have taken their toll. It's about the only time I have any problem with my pipes. Let's pray that God's strength will be made perfect in their weakness, and that the Spirit of God will help us as we come to the preaching of the word.

4:24 Let's pray. Our Father, we are so thankful that though we have bowed in your presence times without number in this very place, and have cried out to you before we have taken your word in our hands and set it before our minds, you have graciously heard and answered our cries. And so we come again this morning to plead for your grace and for the help of your Spirit. I commit to you my voice and my vocal faculties.

4:58 Lord, you've made them. You superintend their use. We plead. Amen.

5:04 We ask for your grace and help that there would be no impediment in being able freely and with liberty to open up and proclaim your holy word. But above all, we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit that he will be present, that I may rightly open up and apply your word, that your people may rightly receive that word, that together we may be conscious that we are not dealing with a book and words on a page, but that by means of these words on the pages of Scripture, we are dealing with you, the living God, and with your returning Son, our Lord Jesus. Hear us, we plead, in his name. Amen. Now turning back to the Acts 1 passage and having it before us, according to this passage read in your hearing, the eleven apostles had no doubt whatsoever that their Lord had indeed risen from the dead. You will remember that although they were reluctant to believe the initial report of his resurrection, a report conveyed to them by some women who had visited the empty tomb early on that first Easter morning,

6:29 the Lord Jesus had spent no fewer than forty days subsequent to his death and resurrection, repeatedly appearing to the eleven and spending time with them. And during these post-resurrection meetings with the apostles, our Lord was continually giving them further instruction concerning the kingdom of God. Luke tells us that in this period he was found repeatedly speaking concerning the kingdom of God. And on the last of these post-resurrection meetings, these post-resurrection appearances, they ask a question concerning Israel and the kingdom.

7:13 And our Lord responds with a final statement concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit and the subsequent divine program for world-wide witness. And then, according to the supplemental material found in Luke's Gospel, in chapter 24, verses 50 and 51, our Lord takes this company out with him to the Mount of Olives, Acts 1, 12, a place near Bethany. Then he raises his hands in priestly blessing. And as he begins to bless them, perhaps using the very Aaronic blessing that they had heard many times in their life experience, that blessing recorded in the word of God, to be pronounced by the priest at the conclusion of their ritual of worship, as our Lord's hands are raised and as he is blessing them, he begins to rise, to levitate before their very eyes. And unlike the sudden appearances and disappearances that had marked some of his post-resurrection interaction with them, this was no sudden disappearance.

8:34 The Scriptures are clear that our Lord began to rise, certainly but slowly, in their very presence. Like a slow-moving elevator, they saw our Lord beginning to rise before their very eyes. And as his hands are raised over them in priestly blessing, while he is pronouncing that blessing, he begins to ascend upward and upward and upward until Luke tells us in Acts chapter 1, a cloud envelops him and hides him from their view. Now put yourself in their place.

9:18 Suppose you had been one of these 11 for months and even several years, references to the fact that your master was going to die didn't register. And then they began to register and then you witnessed him being apprehended in the garden, hauled off like a common criminal, first of all before the high priest and then before Pilate and up to Herod and back to Pilate and then mocked and jeered and beaten and blows upon his head and face at the hands of the soldiers. And then the mockery and the rejection of the masses and the instigation of the religious leaders. You had seen all of this.

10:02 And then you knew your Lord had been impaled upon a cross, this instrument of cruel and sadistic execution that was used by the Romans for the lowest dregs of society. And then you had heard that after three days he had been raised from the dead. And at first you wouldn't believe it. And after a period of time, your unbelief and your doubts are all dissipated because you've seen him take some broiled fish in your very presence and eat it.

10:36 You've seen him stretch out his hands and turn to Thomas and say, reach hither your finger and thrust it into my sight. See, it is indeed Jesus. That's who I am. And as you had begun to get acclimated to the fact that your Lord who had truly been crucified, who had been truly raised from the dead, was the living Christ, and yet possessed of properties that he never had before, you had heard the story of how the two on the road to Emmaus had a companion, and while they sit and eat with that companion, suddenly he disappears.

11:12 You had been with the apostles in that room with the door shut and locked, and suddenly the Lord appears in your midst. You'd begun to be acclimated not only to the reality that he was the living Christ, and that in the life of his resurrection existence he possessed properties that were unique to that resurrection life, and you'd just begun to get acclimated to all of this. But in all of that, when you were with him and you were walking, his feet stayed on the ground. And when you were sitting and talking, his seat stayed on the seat.

11:52 And now, after all of these unusual events, suddenly this very one who's raising his hands and pronouncing blessing upon you begins to rise, and rise, and rise, and rise, and rise, until he's enveloped in a cloud. Let me ask you, what would you do? You'd do exactly what they did. The scripture tells us in verse 10 of Acts 1, while they were looking steadfastly into heaven, standing there, bud-eyed, transfixed, can we believe what we are seeing?

12:29 We have not been interacting with an apparition or a ghost for 40 days. It is our Jesus, crucified, risen from the dead. It is our Jesus in true human existence, albeit resurrected body, a body that possessed properties that were not evident prior to the resurrection, but he is nonetheless our Jesus, whose body seems to be influenced by specific gravity, as our body is influenced in our walks with him, even though he may have disappeared suddenly and appeared suddenly. We never saw him six inches above the ground or a foot or two feet above the ground. He's always been on terra firma with us, but now he's rising before their very eyes. No wonder their eyes were fixed steadfastly upon him, while he is going up into heaven. And as they are standing there with their eyes transfixed upon him, suddenly two men, this is Luke's description of angels, in Luke 24, 4, Luke records two men were there at the open tomb.

13:47 Two men in white apparel stood by them. There appear these two men, two masculine forms, in white apparel. They are not called angels, but by the analogy of Scripture, we know that they were angels. And then they speak, apparently in unison, or perhaps antiphonally.

14:12 Maybe one asked the question, one made the prophecy. But verse 10 says, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said. And so the two speak, unison or antiphonally, we do not know. And when they speak, first of all they ask a question, and then they make a prophecy.

14:34 The question is not a rebuke, but in a very real sense is a transition into the prophecy. And so they ask, you men of Galilee, you men of Galilee. This address would immediately bring to their minds all that surrounded their interaction with the Lord Jesus in His days with them. These were Galileans.

15:04 The only Judean was Judas, who had gone out and hung himself. And now these Galileans, those who were called into fellowship with Christ in the Galilee region of Upper Palestine, those who had accompanied the Lord in the area where most of His mighty works had been accomplished. These angels recognize that these are men of Galilee. These are those who were attached to their Lord in Galilee, who in company with their Lord had seen mighty works in Galilee.

15:41 And so the angels ask the question, why do you stand looking into heaven? Is there anything to be accomplished by standing there amazed at what has just transpired and is even now transpiring? And following this question, which may have a little bit of a mild rebuke, but I believe should more be understood as a transition into this marvelous prophecy, look at the prophecy that they make. You men of Galilee, why stand you looking up into heaven?

16:16 This Jesus, using a demonstrative pronoun that points the finger unmistakably, this very Jesus, not some other Jesus like Him, not some other Jesus substituting for Him, but this very Jesus who was received up from you into heaven. You are not dreaming. You are not having a vision. What your eyes and your brain are telling you is reality.

16:55 This Jesus, you Galilean men, who knew the Jesus of Nazareth, who were called into fellowship with Him, who were called and commissioned to be His apostles, upon whom He conferred apostolic powers to perform miracles, you men of Galilee, who have known these several years of intimate communion and fellowship with your Jesus, your Jesus who went into Gethsemane, your Jesus who was apprehended, your Jesus who was dragged before the high priest, before the Roman authorities, your Jesus who was put to death upon a cross, your Jesus whom you know was raised from the dead, your Jesus who for forty days has been with you off and on, instructing you, instructing you concerning the kingdom, your Jesus whose hands a few moments ago were raised up in blessing upon you, your Jesus, this very Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you beheld Him going into heaven. And I pause for a little bit of Greek grammar here.

18:22 In that short statement, these two angelic visitors use two particles of comparison in which they are careful to underscore that with respect to this very Jesus, He shall so come in like manner. As you've seen Him go up into heaven, this very Jesus, not another, it's not your imagination that's gone into heaven, it is your Jesus, and this very Jesus shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven. What your eyes have seen is reality. What your brain has told you when the signals have come in by the optic nerve is reality. And as you have seen Him go into heaven, this same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him. What are they saying?

19:30 They are telling these 11 apostles that the Jesus who was received into heaven departed with an unmistakable identity. He was Jesus of Nazareth. And their prophecy says this very same Jesus with unmistakable identity shall so come. Furthermore, the Jesus who was received into heaven was received bodily.

20:01 The very Jesus who was with them, whose hands were raised above them, that Jesus in His bodily presence glorified, risen from the dead, yes, but now that same Jesus shall so come in like manner. He went up into heaven with unmistakable identity. He shall come out of heaven with unmistakable identity. He went into heaven in bodily form.

20:30 He shall come out of heaven in bodily form. And further, He went visibly and He shall return visibly. This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven. Now, why have I taken this amount of time to focus upon this incident?

20:57 Well, for this simple reason. As a result of this event, there beholding Jesus ascend up into heaven and the word of the two angels that this very Jesus would so come in like manner as they saw Him go into heaven, this became so much a part of the apostolic witness that when we open up the scriptures, we find that the kind of religious faith and the kind of Christian experience molded by apostolic preaching is faith and experience literally percolating with the reality and the hope and the confident expectation of the return of Jesus Christ with clear and unmistakable identity in bodily visible form. John says, Every eye shall see Him. As surely as the witness of these apostles affirmed the facts of the life and ministry of Jesus and the ministry of Jesus that attested to His identity as Messiah and you think of the sermons in the book of Acts, He was approved of God among you by mighty signs and wonders.

22:24 As surely as the apostolic preaching and witness affirmed the facts of the life and ministry of Jesus, facts which affirmed and attested His identity as Messiah. As surely as their witness affirmed His death and resurrection as procuring redemption for sinners. We find it again and again in their preaching and in their letters. So with equal clarity and certainty, their witness involved an unmistakable declaration that this Jesus, attested as Messiah by His mighty works, this Jesus, procuring redemption by His suffering and resurrection, this Jesus would indeed come again just as the angels said, this same Jesus in like manner as they saw Him go into heaven. And because this was true, when we pick up the New Testament documents, particularly the letters sent to these communities of people brought into the faith of Christ, through the preaching and testimony of the apostles and those who had received the message of the apostles, we find that the truth of the second coming of Christ

The Return of Jesus in New Testament Belief and Experience: An Overview

23:52 is not some secondary issue buried away to be taken out occasionally for consideration. But rather, we find that their whole experience of the Christian life is molded by this reality, the same Jesus who went up into heaven shall so come in like manner out of heaven. And so for the remainder of our time this morning and then, God willing, tonight and next Lord's Day, I have at least four sermons to preach. On this subject, I labored for something that was a little less drab, but as I've acknowledged many times, I don't have any particular gift for sermon titles. I hope I have some measure of gift for preaching sermons that edify. But titles that scintillate and grab the ear, facility for that I have next to none, if any. So we're going to consider the return of Jesus in New Testament belief and experience.

24:57 That's what I'm going to preach about. The return of Jesus in New Testament belief and experience. In the message this morning and again this evening, I'll be doing what I'm calling nothing more or less than demonstration. I want to demonstrate by opening up six particular passages in the New Testament.

25:19 This is what I want to demonstrate. That an eager, yearning expectancy for the return of Jesus Christ was ordinary, normal Christian experience for those whose faith in life was molded by apostolic preaching. An eager expectation and yearning for the coming of Christ is part and parcel of normal Christian experience. And he who asserts must prove.

25:54 And so demonstration will be the thrust of the remainder of our time this morning and again this evening. Then God willing, next Lord's Day, it will be explanation. I want to answer the question, why? Why, aside from the fact that it was preached by the apostles, what is there in the whole complex of the Christian life that makes the coming of Christ something to be eagerly anticipated, yearned for?

26:23 There must be some connection between the reality and the state of the heart, the affections, the perspective of the people of God. So from demonstration I'll move to explanation. And then finally, one or two messages on the subject of exhortation, in which I want to show from some major passages of the New Testament that because this was part and parcel of the stuff resident and percolating in the hearts of the believers in those communities of churches to whom the New Testament letters were sent, the reality of the coming of Christ becomes the very stepping off point for exhortations across a whole broad spectrum of the Christian life. And by doing this, what I trust will happen to us is that if we find ourselves out of sync and strangers to that mood, to that atmosphere of New Testament apostolic Christian faith and experience, that by the grace of God we'll get on board until it is true of us, as a people, that this matter of eagerly anticipating and expecting and yearning for the return of our Lord Jesus is as much a part of our common ordinary experience as is our constant recourse to Christ alone

27:52 as our mediator and high priest, the Holy Spirit alone as the one who can take the things of Christ and make them real to us, that this matter of the coming again of our Lord Jesus will take its rightful place in our hearts and in our experience. Now I know the moment I say that, some of us have great fears because you're aware of the untold pile of rubbish and nonsense surrounding the doctrine of the second coming. That wretched movie that was promoted a few months ago, and we were led to believe as the stuff came to my house that if I as a pastor was really concerned with evangelism I'd get all of you, all of you, in a furor of trying to get everybody, your neighbors, to go see Left Behind, the whole Left Behind series of books. Millions of them have been promoted and sold or tens of hundreds of thousands, I don't know if it's in the millions yet, and you say, well, wait a minute, has Pastor Martin gotten infected with this bug? I assure you, no. I have absolutely no sympathy for any nonsensical, unbiblical notion about somebody being snatched away and nobody knowing about it.

29:14 This same Jesus shall be taken, who was taken up from you, shall so come in like manner. And when Jesus comes it ain't going to be a secret to nobody. All right? So please, please, don't have fears that I'm going to indulge in some kind of wacko consideration of prophetic matters.

29:35 Not at all. I want us to let the testimony of Scripture come and confront us that anticipation of the fulfillment of this prophecy by those two angels is indeed part and parcel of the belief and experience of ordinary believers within the orbit of apostolic preaching. Well, we're going to have time then this morning to look at the first three texts in our demonstration of this reality. According to, and here's our first text, 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10, eagerly awaiting Christ's return is a distinct evidence of true conversion. Let me give you that again. According to 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10, eagerly awaiting Christ's return is a distinct evidence of true conversion. Turn with me please to 1 Thessalonians in chapter 1.

Eagerly Awaiting Christ's Return: Evidence of True Conversion (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)

30:40 After an ordinary greeting brought by Paul, Silas and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians, Paul in verse 2, as he often does, records his prayers of thanksgiving for the Thessalonian believers. And he tells them, we give thanks to God always for you all making mention of you in our prayers. And then he tells them the things that give him occasion to be thankful to God for the Thessalonians. And he first of all thanks God as he remembers without ceasing their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience or steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

31:24 Then he goes on to say, we pray with thanksgiving because we have come to confidence that you are indeed God. You are God's elect and we know that you are God's elect not because God allowed us to peek into the secret role of his decree but because of how the gospel came to you. He said our gospel did not come to you in word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance even as you know what manner of men we showed ourselves toward you for your sake. Now follow his train of thought.

31:58 He said we give thanks to God for you. As we do we remember that God has planted in you faith, love, and hope. We remember your work of faith, your labor of love, your patience of hope. And brethren, we are confident that you are within the circle of God's elect and that confidence is born out of the fact that when we preached to you our gospel was not a bunch of words that bounced off your ears.

32:25 It became a mighty instrument of God in which the Holy Spirit laid hold of you. But Paul, how do you know that the Spirit of God worked in them? Was it that they all jumped two feet? They got tingles up and down their spine?

32:39 No. He said we know that the gospel came to you not in word but in power not because of some subjective feelings you got but because of the objective, moral, ethical, and religious transformation that was produced by the Word of God blessed by the Holy Spirit. So now he begins to describe that moral, ethical, religious transformation. Verse 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.

33:11 You became an example to all that believe in Macedonia for from you has sounded forth the Word of the Lord not in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place your faith to God is gone forth so that we need not to speak anything. Now Paul says look we know that you were God's elect because of the way in which the Word came to you in power and we know the Word came to you in power because of the transformation it made and furthermore he says not only are we aware of this wherever we go and we start to open our mouth and say hey let's share with you what God did at Thessalonica they say Paul you can't share any news with us we already heard about it. He said wherever we go we don't need to even say what happened. The Word has gone forth about your faith to God Word and now notice what he says for they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how you turned unto God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for His Son from Heaven literally for His Son out of the heavens whom He raised from the dead even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Now do you see the train of thought?

34:38 Paul has been giving thanks along with Silas and Timothy maybe they had stated prayer times when they prayed for the churches and they give thanks for their faith and love and hope and they give thanks that they are numbered amongst God's elect because the Word came in power and they know it came in power because of its ethical and moral and transforming grace evident in their lives and now he says and this is not only our persuasion but wherever we go we find people talking about how our ministry among you was blessed they report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you and when the report was collated and people had to give sort of a thumbnail sketch what did the gospel do at Thessalonica what were the moral religious and ethical effects of the gospel when it came in power Paul says they focus on these three things look at it you turned unto God from your idols secondly you turned with a disposition to serve a living and true God and thirdly you turned to wait for his Son out of the heavens the very Jesus who was raised from the dead and by whose redemptive work we are being delivered from the wrath to come so that these

36:06 three things were the summarizing characteristics of their genuine conversion to Christ and to the Christian faith they turned to God in the name of Christ and in the name of Christ and in the name of Christ and in the name of Christ and in the name of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ of Christ true, and living God. They came home to the very purpose for which they were made. They were made to know God, made to serve God, made to love God supremely, and whatever was their idol was robbing God of His due. And in their true conversion, they begin to give God His due.

37:20 They turn unto God from their idols, and what is the disposition with which they turn? To serve, literally to slave a living and a true God. Not in terms of any thought of oppression, but they saw this God as worthy of being served with all the submission and devotion of a willing slave.

37:50 In true conversion, sinners not only turn from their idols, whatever those idols, may be, and unto God, but they turn with a disposition of commitment to make His will the rule of their lives with joy. They report the manner of entering in we had unto you. You turn to God from your idols, and you turn not with a disposition, simply ready to receive from God all the blessings, all the blessings of His salvation in Christ, but with a disposition of joyful submission to this God, so that His will from henceforth becomes the voluntary chosen rule of your life in every area. And he goes on to touch many of those areas, right down to what you do in your bedroom and what you do in your house. Please turn this cassette over to continue the message. ...of your life in every area.

39:04 And he goes on to touch many of those areas, right down to what you do in your bedroom and what you do with your boyfriend and your girlfriend in chapter four. But then he said there's a third thing that was characteristic of their true conversion. Look at it. Not only did you turn unto God from idols to serve the living and the true God, but and to wait for His Son out of the heavens.

39:35 Now, the verb used here, to wait, is one of three verbs used in the six passages we're going to look at. Oh, in five of the passages, the sixth one uses the word loving, His appearing. But they're basically synonyms, so I'm not going to go into the subtle nuances of difference. They all have the connotation of eagerly awaiting.

39:55 Not the kind of waiting you do in the dentist's office. You've got an appointment for two o'clock, you're in there at five till two, and another patient is there, overlaps a little bit. You're waiting, but you sure ain't waiting with eager expectation. You're waiting, but you sure ain't waiting with eager expectation.

40:08 You're waiting, but you sure ain't waiting with eager expectation. You're waiting, but you sure ain't waiting with eager expectation. You're waiting, but you sure ain't waiting with eager expectation. Not if you're a normal human being.

40:13 None of us waits in the dentist's office, unless you've got such a wretched, horrible toothache that anything's worth getting rid of the toothache. But generally speaking, it's not that kind of waiting. It's not the kind of waiting in which we're frustrated and irritated that someone's not on time. It's the eager expectation and waiting of the beloved wife who kissed her husband goodbye when he went off on a ship To go off to fight in the Second World War.

40:43 And she's heard the news that his ship is coming in at such and such a time. At such and such a port. And she's there at the place where the ship is to arrive. Eagerly awaiting, anticipating her beloved.

40:57 That's the sense of the three different words that are used in these passages that we'll look at. And now Paul says, this is the report that went out about you people. You not only turned from your idols to God. You not only turned to God with a disposition of joyful submission.

41:15 But you had a total reorientation of what counts in life. You saw in that turning and in your trust in Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead. That what you received in your turning to God from your idols to serve him. Was but the beginning of a glorious salvation.

41:36 And you longed and yearned for the completion of that salvation. Your heart went out in love to the object of your faith. And of your love. And you longed to see him.

41:48 The disposition that grew out of their true conversion. Was one of eager anticipation and waiting for the return of Jesus. Now do you see that in the passage with your own eyes in your own Bible? I'm not dipped down out of context.

42:07 I've given you an overview of the whole brief chapter. Now when you turn back to Acts 17. And read the account of the evangelization of Thessalonica. Acts chapter 17, 1 to 9.

42:21 You find that Paul and his companions concentrated on the synagogue for the first three weeks. And then they got a lot of flack from the Jewish community. And so they obviously turned their attention to the Gentiles. And they got more opposition in the Jews.

42:37 And stirred things up. So in a very short time they had to run out of town for safety. And commentators differ. We don't know how long Paul and his companions were there.

42:46 But it was a very relatively short time. Some say as short as four weeks. But it was not one of his extensive ministries. Such as he carried on at Corinth for a year and a half.

42:57 Or Ephesus for over three years. But in this relatively short time. Here is a community of new covenant believers. Who are marked.

43:07 By these three things. They've turned from their idols to God. They have a disposition in which God himself is their joyfully owned master. And they are other worldly in their perspectives of life.

43:25 Their hearts have been taken to the place where they will eventually go. And as one of the old Puritans says. God never takes a man's person. To heaven.

43:38 But that he first of all takes his heart to heaven. And that's what happened to them. Hearts that were enmeshed. In nothing beyond this life.

43:48 What I can feel. And touch. And enjoy. And see.

43:52 With my senses. Here. And now. You only go around once.

43:57 Grab all the gusto you can.

44:01 Suddenly. These people say no. Oh but that's pie in the sky. By and by religion.

44:07 They say ah. But what. By. We're going to see the Savior.

44:11 Whom we've never seen. But of whom we have heard from the apostles witness. We have heard of how he was attested as Messiah. By his mighty works.

44:22 We have heard how he died under the Roman authorities. And under the pressure of the religious leaders of the Jews. We have heard how he was raised from the dead. And appeared to his servant Paul.

44:34 But we've also heard. That when he went back to heaven. And two angels stood by the apostles. And said.

44:43 This same Jesus who is taken from you into heaven. Shall so come as you have seen him. And we long to see him. The one whom though we see him not.

44:54 Yet we believe in him. And we love him in the language of Peter. This was the orientation. Of their foundational.

45:04 Initial. Early. Christian experience. Now.

45:11 Are we prepared to say. Well. That was unique to the Thessalonians. Well if so.

45:17 Then let's say that turning to God from idols is unique. And you can be saved without turning to God from your idols. You want me to preach a gospel that says you can be saved. Without turning to God from your idols.

45:29 You want me to preach a gospel that says you can be saved. Without having. That marvelous work of the spirit. In which the heart of stone is removed.

45:38 And the heart of flesh is given. And the spirit is put. Within us. And the law of God is written upon our hearts.

45:44 And we can say I delight to do thy will. Oh my God. Thy laws within my heart. You want me to preach a salvation that leaves rebels rebels still.

45:54 You say no pastor. Then how dare we wrench loose this third strand of this mark of true conversion. It brought them into a posture. Of eager anticipation.

46:09 And waiting. For the son of God. Out of heaven. Even Jesus.

46:15 And it's interesting. He says this Jesus who is delivering us. From the wrath. To come.

46:24 This Jesus who delivers from the wrath to come. Is the one who delivers. From wrath to come. To a people.

46:33 Who eagerly wait for him.

46:36 Don't separate. What God has joined. All right. That's text number one.

Eagerly Awaiting Christ's Return: Accompaniment of Saving Union (1 Corinthians 1:7)

46:41 In my demonstration we come to text number two. According to first Corinthians one seven. Eagerly awaiting Christ's return is a distinct accompaniment. Of saving union with Christ.

46:57 We've seen in the Thessalonians passage. That eagerly awaiting Christ's return is a distinct evidence. Of true conversion. Now in first Corinthians one seven we will see that eagerly awaiting Christ's return.

47:12 Is a distinct accompaniment. Of saving union with Christ. Turn please to first Corinthians chapter one.

47:25 Again. Paul gives his general introduction that followed the basic contours. Of the protocol of the first century Greco Roman world. He wrote a polite letter in an acceptable form.

47:39 He just pumped it full of Christian theology. And he does that in verses one through three. Then he begins as he did with the Thessalonians. To tell them.

47:47 That they are not. They are not. They are not. They are not.

47:47 They are not. They are not. They are not. They are not.

47:48 They are not. They are not. They are not. About how he prays for them with thanksgiving.

47:50 I thank my God always concerning you. For the grace of God which was given you. Now notice the language. In Christ Jesus.

48:02 That in everything you were enriched. In him. In all utterance and all knowledge. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.

48:12 So that you came behind in no gift. Waiting for the revelation. Of our life. Of our Lord Jesus Christ.

48:19 Who shall also confirm you unto the end. That you be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful. Through whom you were called into the fellowship.

48:30 The koinonia. The shared life of his son. Jesus Christ our Lord. Now you see Paul did not have one plastic one-size-fits-all prayer that he prayed for the churches.

48:44 He gave thanks for specific things in the Thessalonians. He even finds things to give thanks for in the Corinthians. Believing that they were a true church in spite of all of the irregularities and abnormalities and deficiencies. He says I give thanks to God for you and this is what is the focus of my thanks.

49:03 I give thanks verse 4 for the grace of God that was given you not out of Christ or on the behalf of Christ but in Christ Jesus. This was given you in the sphere of your being united to Christ. The little phrase in Christ in him in whom used more than a hundred and sixty times in the Pauline letters is the most crucial phrase concerning the biblical concept of salvation. Paul says in Ephesians 1 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies where?

49:46 In Christ Jesus. Amen. You see God has stored up all of his saving blessings in Christ and he doesn't dip in with a ladle and ladle them out of Christ into the sinner. A little bit of forgiveness, a little bit of reconciliation, a little bit of no, no.

50:04 He puts the sinner into Christ and in union with Christ the sinner has all of the salvation that God has stored up in Christ. That's the wonder of the biblical doctrine of union with Christ. You are going to the Southern Conference, you're going to get four. What I trust will be wonderful sermons from Pastor Donnelly on this wonderful subject.

50:24 But back to our subject. Paul's praying for the Corinthians. He says, I give thanks to God for all of the grace given to you in Christ. He sees the grace manifested in them as flowing out of their union with Christ.

50:40 Then he says that in everything you were enriched, now here it is again, in him, not from him, but in him. You were enriched. In him. Even the gifts that have been manifested among you, they come out of your union with Christ.

50:56 And then he says to this bunch that the Lord Jesus Christ will confirm you to the end unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, confident that to the extent that God had begun a good work in them, had placed them into union with Christ, he had enriched them in various gifts in Christ. So that in their union with Christ, they were called into the fellowship, the shared life of Christ, they will experience a perfected salvation. Now, what's the point for our subject today? It is simply this.

51:35 The Apostle Paul assumes with all of the deficiencies and all of the defects, all of the skewed thinking and all of the aberrant living at Corinth. That to the extent they are true believers, even the Corinthians can be marked with this characteristic. Look at it. He says that even as the testimony, verse 6, of Christ was confirmed in you, you came behind in no gift, waiting for the apokalupsis, the revelation, the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ.

52:16 That's a technical term for his second coming. Three major terms are used in the New Testament. The parousia, the epithania, and the apokalupsis. And this is Paul's statement that these Corinthians, as surely as they had grace in Christ, they were enriched in Christ, and one day would be found unreprovable in the day of Christ, they were a people eagerly waiting.

52:46 Waiting for the coming of Christ.

52:50 So that Paul cannot conceive of anyone being truly given grace in Christ, being enriched in Christ, being perfected in Christ, without that person, in virtue of his union with Christ, eagerly waiting, anticipating, longing for the revelation of Christ, that is, his second coming, visibly. Bodily, in power, and in glory. I'm forced to that conclusion from the text. Dare I say there's a salvation that you can have where grace is given any other place than in Christ?

53:34 I'm not about to negate that grace given in Christ is Christian norm, and be true to the scriptures. Am I prepared to say that spiritual gifts of whatever kind, if they are true gifts, of God are given in any other spiritual sphere than union with Christ? I'm not prepared to do it, nor am I prepared to say that anyone can be in Christ and enriched with grace, in Christ and enriched in utterance and knowledge, and be marked out to be unreprovable in the day of Christ, who is not found to some degree yearning, longing for the coming of Christ. Why? Why? Why?

54:23 Why? Why? Why? Why?

54:23 Why? Why? Why? Why?

54:24 Why? Why? Why? Eagerly awaiting Christ's return is a distant accompaniment of saving union with Christ.

Eagerly Awaiting Christ's Return: Lesson of Saving Grace (Titus 2:13)

54:34 All right, third and final texts for this morning as we engage in this act of demonstration, demonstrating from the scriptures that eager waiting for Christ's return is part and partial of the belief and experience of apostolic Christianity. Here's our third text this morning. According to Titus 2.13, eagerly awaiting Christ's return is a distinctive lesson in the instruction of the saving grace of God.

55:07 According to Titus 2.13, eagerly awaiting Christ's return is a distinctive lesson in the instruction of the grace of God.

55:21 Turn, please, to Titus chapter 2. The Apostle has been giving very specific directions to Titus with respect to the kind of instruction he is to give, as we saw in the previous hour, to the various categories and groupings of people within the churches of Crete. There are old men and older women, and there are young men and younger women, there are husbands, there are wives, and there are servants. And so, he is concerned that all of these various groups...

55:55 ...groupings of believers be given specific directives for practical godliness.

56:01 You see, the Apostle Paul didn't have this notion, just preach the broad strokes and the Holy Spirit will deal with the particulars. No, he didn't have that mentality. He says now, in chapter 2, verse 1, speak the things that befit the sound doctrine. And then he gets very specific.

56:18 Older men are to be marked by these graces, older women, etc. Now then, at the end of verse...

56:25 ...verse 10, when he's dealt with servants and how they are to conduct themselves, and says that this is the great end in view, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

56:35 Notice how verse 11 begins. Four. Four. Four.

56:42 Whenever you see a four, ask, why four? All of this instruction in verses 1 through 10. Now the Apostle is saying, I want to tell you, Titus, and I want you to make plain to the people of Crete, Titus...

56:56 ...what lies behind all this specific, concrete, detailed instruction about practical godliness.

57:04 I want you to know, Timothy, Titus, and I want the people of Crete to know, Titus, that I have not suddenly become a backslidden Christian who's become a Pharisaic moralist, and so I'm given a bunch of ethical instructions. There are people in our day who say, if you do anything other than preach Jesus and give the broad strokes of the Christian life...

57:26 ...you're a moralist.

57:27 I reject and resent that description. Because if we're preaching specifics as Paul does, and as Titus is instructed to do, they will always be rooted in the great redemptive realities of God's salvation in Christ. And that's exactly what Paul does here. Four.

57:49 This is why you must do this, Titus. And if any of the old ladies and the old men and the young men and the servants ask you, why in the world? Why in the world? Why in the world?

57:56 Why in the world? Why in the world? Why in the world? Why in the world?

57:56 Why in the world? You say, this is what you tell them. Four. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.

58:05 Literally from the original, the grace of God has appeared, saving to all men. God's grace in Jesus Christ has appeared. And in Jesus Christ, a salvation suitable to all of these various categories of men, all of these various stations in life, a salvation suitable to all of these various categories of men, Salvation has been brought in Jesus Christ. The grace of God has appeared, not in abstraction, but in a person.

58:36 And that person is the Lord Jesus, full of grace, full of truth. The grace of God has appeared, saving to all men. But now notice, grace is here described as a teacher, instructing us, taking us under its tutelage. Grace that brings salvation to hell-deserving sinners.

59:02 Grace in the person and work of Jesus and in the outpoured Spirit. That grace has not only appeared, saving to all men, but it comes instructing. And what is its instruction? Instructing us to the intent, here's the negative, that denying ungodliness, and worldly lust, turning away from everything that is unlike God.

59:32 What's ungodliness? It's being unlike God. We're to image God. Anything we want, do, think, any place we go, any association we enter, that is not like God, is ungodliness.

59:46 And we're to turn from ungodliness as a pattern of life. That's what grace teaches us. When it holds out salvation in Jesus Christ, it calls us to repent, to turn away from ungodliness and worldly lust. That is, lust, desires, ambitions, passions, appetites, that have their tap-roots not in sanctified human desires.

60:14 The desire for love, acceptance, sex, food, blue sky. We will see it again. Puppy cumulus clouds. Those desires, sanctified human desires.

60:30 Grace does not war with what is natural. It wars with what is sinful. And we are to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, desires, appetites, passions, that are framed by life in detachment from God and under the control of the devil. That's worldly lust.

60:49 That's the negative. Grace comes always teaching us that. Anyone tells you they're saved by grace, they've been taught to grace, and they've not denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, they are self-deceived. Grace never comes silent about ungodliness and worldly lusts.

61:08 Grace always comes offering salvation, not in sin, but from sin.

61:15 Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, that's the negative. But now look at the positive. We should live soberly and righteously and godly when we get to heaven after we die. That we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age.

61:37 In this present age in which there is so little sobriety. People live as though they're going to live forever. They're not in touch with reality. A sober man is a man whose brain is not affected by overload of alcohol, causing him to see pink elephants.

61:56 A sober man sees, he sees one, two, three, four, five sides of an octagon on the rim of his pulpit, and he says, this is a chopped off octagon. A sober man doesn't say, I'm in a circle. I'm in a square. No, reality is one, two, three, four, five planes, equal in size.

62:16 Add three more and we've got an octagon. A sober man is in touch with what is. Grace teaches us to get in touch with what is. Get out of our never, never land of trying to act like a sober man.

62:30 To act as though we are nothing but the sum total of our passions and appetites. We are stamped with immortality. We're heading to an eternity in the horrible woes of hell or in the unspeakable bliss of heaven in the face of Christ and the glory of the new Jerusalem. The grace of God teaches us to live soberly and righteously.

62:55 A word despised by our generation. To live righteously means you live right. By who? By the standard, by the standard of God's law.

63:03 You take seriously the Ten Commandments as a summary of what God expects of you. In all the length and breadth of those commandments touching motives and glances of the eye and everything that we think and do, grace teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly. To be like God. Where?

63:25 In this present world. But now look at verse 13. All the while, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Does grace ever come telling a man he need not deny ungodliness and worldly lust?

63:47 No. Does grace ever come instructing us to live soberly, righteously, and godly? Does it ever come without instruction? No.

63:57 Does grace ever come and do anything other than bring its response into the place where eager, awaiting the return of Christ is a distinctive part of the teaching of that grace? It has taught us in the midst of seeking to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age, we know that this world is not our home. We're just a passing through. Our world, our treasures are laid up not somewhere beyond the blue, but in the very presence of Jesus.

64:38 This same Jesus taken up from us into heaven who shall so come in like manner as they saw him go into heaven. God's grace in Christ is never taught to any man or woman in any other way than the framework outlined in this passage. And if we say we've been taught God's grace and that we have come under the tutelage of that grace and there is no smidgen of a yearning and an eager longing and a waiting for the coming of Jesus, we better ask ourselves whether or not we've ever truly been taught by the grace of God. Now I've set before you these three texts which clearly demonstrate I trust to the presence of God. I trust to the persuasion of everyone who believes his Bible that eager anticipation, expectant longing for Christ's return was indeed a vital element in the faith and experience of New Testament believers. We saw that according to 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10, eagerly awaiting Christ's return was a distinct evidence of true conversion.

65:58 1 Corinthians 1, 7, it was a distinctive manifestation of saving you from the sin of sin. In communion with Christ, Titus 2, 13, it is a distinctive lesson in the instruction of the saving grace of God. Now, I close this morning with a question that I would be very surprised is not in many of your minds.

Why the Lack of Eager Expectation? (Concluding Application)

66:21 Pastor, why is not this eager expectation a greater part of my Christian experience and of that of my brothers and sisters? Well, I would not insult you with a simplistic answer, but I've wrestled with this in my own heart. And I would answer very briefly by way of concluding application. Some of it is because of the defective preaching of some of us who stand in the pulpit.

66:53 I'm pointing the finger at myself.

66:56 And I've been convicted as I've prayerfully waited upon God where to go in the ministry now that we completed that section in the Constitution and those truths of requirements for church membership. And my mind and heart were drawn inescapably with tremendous pressure to this whole theme. And I've had to say, Lord, if there are defects in the experience of the people to whom I preach, I want to take whatever blame is justly laid at my feet. And it could be that my preaching is not reflected this element to the degree that it was present in the apostolic preaching.

67:36 And if so, then perhaps there's some weakened measure, some undeveloped measure of this eager anticipation, the blame of which I take upon myself and for which I've asked God's forgiveness and I ask yours. A second reason could be some of you that had a spurious conversion. Can't be said of you that you turn to God from your idols to serve and to wait. And the reason you don't wait is because you've never turned to serve.

68:14 You've just snatched at Jesus to get a little fire insurance. If you never known the breaking up of your heart in deep and thorough repentance, you've never come to grips once with this simple question. What am I here for? I'm here to glorify God, period.

68:31 That's who I am. And that's what I've embraced. And anything that stands in the way of that is an idol, which I repudiate. I turn from my idols to this God to be his servant, to be saved, by his son, to live to his praise.

68:50 All of my faculties and powers, all that I am and possess and ever hope to be. Oh God, it's yours. Be glorified in this brand plucked from the burning. So some of the cause may be my defective preaching.

69:09 Some of it may be your spurious conversion. But I suspect with many of you, it's the third reason. There is a subtle eroding form of worldliness that has taken off the edge of eagerly awaiting Christ's return. Why want him to come when I'm having such a good time?

69:36 Could it be that you're hanging not loosely? Nor can you say with Paul, while we look not on the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Sand has gotten into your spiritual, the sand of a subtle creeping worldliness.

70:01 Could it be that that is the reason with some? And then of course, I'm convinced with others that my fourth and final reason, maybe you've overreacted to the bizarre and sensational left behind nonsense. And we've said, I want to put that idea as far from me as I can. And the devil has used people's excesses and bizarre teaching to cause an incipient, revulsion that should never be there.

70:32 Well, perhaps there are other causes. You ask God to show them to you as I ask him to show them to me. But there are some of you who would frankly confess, no, I have no longing for Christ's return. You think I'm crazy?

70:48 As much as I try to deny it, I know enough from what I've heard from my infancy that if Christ were to come, it'd be all over for me. I know he'd come in flaming fire, to take vengeance on me as one of those whom Paul describes, who does not know God and does not obey the gospel. Certainly you don't want Christ to come anymore. And you go down and sign your own death warrant.

71:14 No desire to love Christ, no desire to be with Christ. Or maybe you've in fact been infected with the skepticism. Second, Peter, Peter mentions people say, where's the promise of his coming? My old grandpa used to talk about that.

71:31 And he'd get this funny gleam in his eye. And occasionally he'd get tears. And he'd talk about Jesus coming. Grandpa's dead.

71:38 And grandma's dead. And Pa and Ma will be dead soon. Where's the promise of his coming? My friend, listen to what God says.

71:50 The day of the Lord will come. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. He's long suffering, long suffering, not willing that any should perish. Don't mistake his long suffering for an erosion of his integrity.

72:08 We come right back to where we started. Those two angels stood there. And they said, this Jesus, whom you have seen go into heaven, shall so come. And the moment is coming when in all of your consciousness, you'll say, oh God, have mercy.

72:30 This is that. That's when people will cry for rocks and mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the face. And they'll cry for a church to be built of God and from the wrath of the Lamb. They know why he's coming.

72:50 My friend, don't be one of them. Don't be one of them. Run to Christ while he's still the Lamb upon the throne, extending his sincere welcome. All who come, he'll cast none out.

73:09 God grant that you run to Christ and eagerly expect his blessed return. Let's pray. Our father, how we thank you for these words. portions of your word i would confess in your presence and before these your people my sin and not giving do wait to these portions of scripture and lord to the extent that my failure has stunted the development of this strand of vital biblical godliness oh lord forgive and cleanse help me to at least in this brief beginning to bring forth fruits meet for repentance we pray for those whose conversion is furious and therefore leaves them utterly unable to have this eager expectancy for the return of your son for those in whose spiritual eyes the sand in the dust of worldliness has been blown lord clear their eyes may they buy of you i salve that they may see clearly have mercy upon those who have no desire

74:31 for the return of jesus for they know it would mean their eternal destruction lord would you not use the preaching of the word today to bring them under the canopy of your gracious pardon and acceptance in christ seal then your word and receive our thanks for your help and your presence with us in jesus name amen you