Second Coming: Consequences for the Godly

Introduction: The Second Coming and Present Trials

0:02 I would encourage you to follow in your own Bibles as I read again this evening the first chapter of Paul's second letter to the Church of the Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, unto the Church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you toward one another abounded, so that we are not alone in our faith. We are not alone in our faith. We give ourselves glory in you, in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which also ye suffer, if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are in the kingdom of God, and to you that are in the kingdom of God, and to you that are in the kingdom of God,

1:25 and to you that are afflicted, rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus, who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction, from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified. In his saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed, because our testimony unto you was believed in that day, to which end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and every work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2:34 I mentioned this morning that in the light of the disrupted nature of our congregation, or complexion of our congregation today, in the light of the family conference, we would suspend our consideration of our normal studies in the prophecies, or in the life of the prophet Elisha in the evening, and I fully intended to just have a two-message sermon, series, but I'm convinced now that I must at least carry it over to next Lord's Day morning, and possibly next Lord's Day night. I make no promises on these matters. I only got half as far as I had hoped to get this morning. But in the light of the pressures that are upon us as people living in this world, though not of it, I suggested that we as the Lord's people need to come again and again to this great doctrine of the second coming of Christ, and in the light of that doctrine to bring all of our present trials and afflictions into proper focus. And there are few chapters in the word of God more rich in their teaching concerning this great and wonderful and climactic event that will come at the consummation of history when the Lord Jesus himself returns.

The Nature of Christ's Return: An Unveiling

3:53 This morning in our study, we had time simply to open up, to open up, to open up, to open up, to open up, to open up, to open up. We have unpacked some of the passages or some of the segments of this passage of Scripture under the general heading of the nature of the event anticipated. And we discovered together that the return of the Lord Jesus in this passage is described by this very pregnant phrase, the revelation of the Lord Jesus in verse 7. It literally means, it means the unveiling, the uncovering of the Lord Jesus.

4:33 And then the apostle goes on to use three parallel prepositional phrases which underscore certain dimensions of that glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will be an unveiling from heaven with the angels of his power and in flaming fire. And we concluded this morning with the corporate conviction I trust that this coming referred to in verse 10, when he shall come, is nothing less than the visible, bodily, personal, and glorious return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now we move on tonight to consider in the second place the consequences of this event described. For in this passage, we not only have the nature of that event which is anticipated, but we have some of the major consequences of that event described. And the consequences of this event are described basically in terms of two categories of people and the different consequences which the one event will have in respect to those two categories of people. Now if we were speaking topically on the subject of the second coming of Christ,

Consequences for the People of God: Focus of the Sermon

6:03 the only responsible thing to do would be to underscore that the second coming of Christ will be cosmic in its consequences. That is, it will influence the entire cosmos. We read in Romans chapter 8 that the earthly creation will be affected by the events surrounding the return of Christ. Similar words are given to us in 2 Peter chapter 3.

6:33 But because it is my purpose basically to open up this passage and to bring others into it only so far as they elucidate the teaching of this passage, let us concentrate our attention on the consequences of this event, particularly as those consequences terminate on the first category called the people of God, and then God willing next Lord's Day morning on the second major category, those who are not the people of God. What then are the consequences of this event described as the unveiling of the Lord Jesus from heaven in the power or with the power of his angels and in flaming fire? What precisely will those consequences be to the people of God? Well, as we attempt to answer that question, will you notice first of all tonight the specific identity of the people of God, and then we will consider the anticipated blessings of the people of God in the light of the Lord's return. In this passage in which the apostle describes the consequences of the unveiling of the Lord Jesus for the people of God,

The Specific Identity of the People of God

7:56 we are very careful to give us a rather comprehensive description of who the people of God are, so that none will have any grounds to question whether or not these blessed consequences are coming to him. Now, will you notice in the first place that the identity of the people of God in this passage is given to us in verse 1? Paul and Silvanus and Timothy unto the church of the Lord. Now, will you notice in the first place that the identity of the people of God in this passage is given to us in verse 1? Paul and Silvanus and Timothy unto the church of the Lord.

8:27 Now, will you notice in the first place that the identity of the people of God in this passage is given to us in verse 1? Paul and Silvanus and Timothy unto the church of the Lord. Now, will you notice in the first place that the identity of the people of God in this passage is given to us in verse 1? The church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8:36 When the apostle describes the church of the Thessalonians, he describes them as a congregation, a called-out assembly, who are in vital spiritual union with God the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. As the apostle writes, writes his letter and thinks of the peculiar nature of the church of the Thessalonians, he thinks of them primarily and supremely as a company of sinners who have been brought into nothing less than vital union with the living God and with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. So he describes the people of God in this very forceful language, those who are in, that is, in vital spiritual union with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the great blessings that will come to the people of God at this event are blessings that come to the true people of God because they are the people of God. And those people are only such as have been brought into vital spiritual union with God the Father

10:01 and vital spiritual union with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing so tragic as to see people who've made a decision, who've gone through the motions of becoming Christians, who cling yet to a basic pattern of salvation, selfishness in self-indulgence, but who go to church a sufficient number of times where there is a sufficient measure of truth to pacify their consciences and to see them with a semblance of rejoicing in the return of the Lord. And generally it's in terms of, well, when things get too hot, the Lord will come and just whisk us all away and take us out of this mess. My friend, these great anticipated blessings of the return, the return of the Lord, the unveiling of Christ are blessings which will come not to every Tom, Dick and Harry and Susie and Helen and Patricia who have merely named the name of Christ. They will come only to those who are in vital, living, spiritual union with God the Father and with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, their specific identity is given to us in verse 3.

11:28 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, even as it is meet or necessary, for that your faith groweth exceedingly and the love of each one of you towards one another aboundeth so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith.

11:54 Do you see the true identity of the people of God? They are not only in vital, spiritual union with the Father and with his Son, but they manifest the fundamental graces which are the inevitable fruit of that union. Whenever there is vital, spiritual union with God the Father and with his Son, that union is never a barren union. It is always...

12:23 It is always productive of growing dynamic expressions of the graces herein mentioned. Notice those graces. They are three. Faith.

12:36 He says that your faith groweth exceedingly. Love. The love of each one of you toward one another abounds and then patience or steadfastness even in the face of opposition. You will remember in the parable of the sower when our Lord describes those that receive the word into good soil, he describes them in the gospel of Luke chapter 8 with this language.

13:07 These are they who having received the word into a good and honest heart bring forth patience.

13:21 No one.

13:23 No one. Man or woman. Boy or girl. Has any ground.

13:28 To believe he has savingly embraced the word unless he is bringing forth fruit with patience. With endurance. In the face of opposition. Opposition from his own remaining corruption.

13:45 Opposition from the world, the flesh and the devil. For you remember in the parable of the sower, it was the son of opposition that revealed the shallowness of the response of the stony ground here. He seemed to have something until the withering influence of the son of tribulation and persecution arose and then it was revealed he had no root in himself. And so the apostle is very careful in this passage while speaking of the tremendous blessings that will come to the people of God at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus to make it abundantly clear that these blessings are not to come to everyone who's made a profession.

14:30 To everyone who having made a profession brings forth a little fruit for a little time. No, no. The mark of vital saving union with the father and with his son is this manifestation of the fundamental graces which are the inevitable fruit and the necessary accompaniment of that union. And then thirdly, their specific identity is given to us in verse 10 by the names with which they are called.

15:00 Or by which they are addressed. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all them that believe. They are identified as saints and as believers. And this word saint literally means holy ones.

15:24 But it emphasizes not so much holiness wrought in them by virtue of the process of their life. Or sanctification. But the basic concept of holiness is separateness. Separated by God unto God and his service.

15:43 And so the apostle says when he comes it will be with the purpose of being glorified in his holy ones those who have been separated unto himself and to his purposes by his own amenity. Amazing grace. And they are described further in verse 10 as those that believed. Those who have believed and continue to believe the testimony of God in Jesus Christ as given to us in the word.

16:21 Now that's the specific identity of the people of God. So when we discuss tonight the consequences of this great event for the people of God we're not talking about everyone who bears the name Christian. Everyone who has made the profession of becoming a Christian or everyone whom others may regard as a Christian we are speaking only of those who are found within the framework of the specific identity of the people of God in this passage. Those who are in vital union with God and with his son. Those who manifest the fundamental graces which are the fruit of that union. Those who can be legitimately designated as saints and as believers. Now how in the world did they get into that position? Whereby they could be called saints and believers. Whereby

How One Becomes Part of God's People

17:24 they were united to the Father and to the Son. Whereby they bring forth the fruits of that union. Whereby they can be truly called what they are. Well from the divine perspective Paul says in chapter 2 and verse 13 it's because God had set his love on them from the beginning. We are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren beloved of the Lord. For that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation. And oh we can very easily lose sight of some of these precious truths that in a very real sense formed the very rationale for our coming together as a people many years ago. And we must never grow silent on our conviction that if anyone is numbered amongst the people of God from the divine perspective it is because they were loved of God from eternity. They were chosen

18:28 from the beginning unto salvation. And the apostle is not at all embarrassed to write to young believers and to permeate his letters with the concept of free and sovereign electing grace. This is no truth to be pushed as it were under the carpet and to be kept there and once in a while brought out for theological debate or discussion. The apostle brings it right into the heart of his prayer life and he says we're bound to give thanks to God for you brethren.

19:05 And then he brings it right into the center of his pastoral concern for the church and reminds them that if they are numbered amongst the people of God if they are part of that group that will be blessed at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire it is because God loved them. It's because God chose them and he wants their hearts to be fanned with new dimensions of love to a God of free and sovereign grace but from the human standpoint they are numbered amongst those people because they believed the gospel and he's not at all to attribute their standing in that category because they believed. Look at verse 10 again. He gives this little parenthesis when he shall come to be glorified in his saints to be marveled at in all them that believed because our testimony unto you was believed. And then he goes back to his theme he comes to be marveled at in that day. He says

20:14 you are in this category because you believed our testimony. Now notice carefully. He didn't say you're in this category because you felt a special word from God telling you you were elect.

20:33 He doesn't say you're in that category because a promise leaked from your own heart into your consciousness. Are some of you listening to me now?

20:44 He says you're in that category because our testimony, that is the objective proclamation of the gospel was believed. You see it? They're not in that category because something leaped up from within them but something came objective to them, the testimony. The testimony of God's truth in the gospel.

21:10 And when you read Acts 17 you see what that testimony was. It was simply preaching from the scriptures the truth concerning the Lord Jesus. And you will never be numbered amongst the people of God until you believe that testimony. And you say, Pastor, here you go back to that same old note again. That's right.

21:30 I have no other message. Until you believe the testimony of God concerning His Son, that Jesus is what He claimed to be and He came to do what He said He came to do and He now lives as a risen Savior having been crucified for sinners and sincerely and earnestly offers Himself to you in the gospel saying, Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now my friend, do you fit that category, the people of God?

22:15 Can you say sitting there tonight that in spite of your sins and dullness and all of your hang-ups and problems and remaining perversity and all the rest, you have something more than empty religion. You know what it is to be in union with God the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. This is life eternal. That they may know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

22:45 Do you know anything of what it is to have a living, vital spiritual union with God and with His Son? A union that is producing in you right now these cardinal graces, increasing faith, increasing love in the face of opposition so that they are being produced with steadfastness, not with perfection, not with equal intensity at any given point in your Christian life. We all have our valleys and our mountain peaks, our dry periods and our fruitful periods. I'm fully conscious of all of that.

23:23 I try to guard the language, but I bear down upon the issue. Is there growing faith, growing love in a context of steadfastness? If not, my friend, you have no grounds to believe you're part of this number. And can you really be called a saint and a believer?

23:44 Has your professed experience of union with God and with His Son set you apart unto God? Not perfectly, but as the basic purpose and bent of your heart, you gladly acknowledge, I'm not my own. I've been bought with a price. Therefore, I want to glorify God in my body which is His.

Anticipated Blessing 1: Cessation of All Affliction

24:07 Well, you see the consequences of this event that are described as the portion of the people of God are consequences which will be exclusively the portion of the true people of God. And so their specific identity is underscored in this passage. But now let's move on to what I trust will be ravishing to our hearts if we fit that description. What are those specific anticipated blessings? I suggest that the text sets three before us. First of all, the cessation of all affliction of every kind. The cessation of all affliction of every kind. Now here I want to give you a little bit of the background of what was happening at Thessalonica.

25:04 That church came to birth, as it were, in the dust and smoke of open opposition to the gospel. You can read the record of it in Acts chapter 17. Paul's stay was very brief, only three weeks because things got so hot he had to leave town. And there was a recalcitrant bunch of unbelieving Jews who stirred up a bunch of unbelieving Gentiles and made them their lackeys to disrupt things there in the church. And there was a bunch of unbelieving Gentiles who stirred up a bunch of unbelieving Gentiles and made them their lackeys to disrupt things there in the church. And there was a bunch of unbelieving Gentiles and made them their lackeys to disrupt things there in the church. And there was a bunch of unbelieving Gentiles and made them their lackeys to disrupt things there in the church. And apparently that persecution continued right on to the time when Paul wrote this letter to them.

25:45 They were going through it. You read of this in chapter 2 of the first letter, just to show you that I'm not spinning this out of my own head. Chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians

26:00 verse 14. For ye brethren became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and pleased not God, and are contrary to all men. He says, you're having it just like the churches in Judea.

26:27 As they had opposition from the unbelieving Jews, you're getting it from your own countrymen, Jews and Gentiles, as the record shows. Now then, as this pressure is brought to bear upon them, what are they to do? What is held out before them as the ground of their consolation and continued stability in the midst of all of these afflictions that are coming upon them? Does he hold out the hope that they may yet live to see such a manifestation of the power, the power of God through the gospel, that there will no longer be persecution of believers? Does he hold out that hope? I suggest there is not one place in the New Testament that that is ever held out as the hope for suffering Christians. That a glorious hour is coming when the Lord will come with such power through his church, that the church and its influence will be in ascendancy over the universe, and evil and evil manifest.

27:36 And will be so restrained as to be virtually non-existent in their influence. Now, some very good and godly men say that they see in Scripture such a vision. Well, I say bring forth one clear passage from the New Testament which asserts it. And I will begin again to seriously consider that position which I now, after many, many years of wrestling with it, formally and publicly reject as unscriptural.

28:07 It's the first time. It's the first time I've ever said that publicly. For some of you know a little bit more, we're talking about the latter-day glory theology. Evangelical, post-millenarian, eschatological perspective for some of you theologians.

28:21 Now, you just chew over that mouthful, but that's what we're talking about. For the rest of you, forget I even said that, all right?

28:29 But you see, the apostle does not give them comfort by holding out the hope that there would be this great blessing of the overturning of the gospel. Or the overturning of opposition, or the Christianizing of society, or the overthrow of the opposition by political Christian action. No, no. He says, and look at his language, after reminding them of his thanks to God for their perseverance in these graces in the face of opposition.

28:58 He says this, verse 4, So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecution and affliction, which he envisages. A manifest token of the righteous judgment of God to the end, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which also ye suffer, if so be. Now notice, it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted, he will recompense rest with us at the revelation of the Lord. Jesus.

29:40 Now I confess, until I studied this passage in the original, I always read it as though it were a command. And to you that are afflicted, rest with us at the coming of the Lord Jesus. No, no. The word rest is connected with the word recompense.

29:57 Notice the connection now. God will recompense affliction to them that afflict you at the revelation of Christ. But at the same revelation of Christ, he will recompense rest with us to all the people of God.

30:19 And so the great anticipated blessing of the return of the Lord for the Christian is the cessation of all affliction of every kind. This word rest, and it's apparent that most of the commentators understood its more literal rendering, but it would have seemed almost out of place. We could translate it literally, relaxation or relief.

30:46 Relaxation or relief. That's the way it's translated, relief, in other passages in the New Testament. And so the apostle holds out to these believers as their great hope that the moment the Lord Jesus is unveiled, unveiled in the manner in which we considered this morning, unveiled from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire at that instant, every afflictive pressure upon the child of God will be utterly and eternally removed from the Christian.

31:27 Now obviously in the context, he's referring primarily to the opposition from human beings that came to them because they were Christians. But when we look at this word, phlipsis, the general word for tribulation, the general word for affliction, we find, we find that the scripture teaches, though not every Christian may bear the brunt of a focused, concentrated persecution from the hand of haters of the gospel, affliction and tribulation are to be part and parcel of every Christian's experience. Jesus said in John 16, 33, in the world ye shall have tribulation. Same word in the original. Ye shall have affliction. Furthermore, we read in Acts 14, 22, that when the apostles went back to visit all of the churches where they had originally preached, they had this message.

32:33 They went back to the churches, assuring them that through much, same word, affliction, tribulation, they must enter the kingdom of God. They didn't go back and say, now that they're converted, let's really, let's really fill them with the vision of the triumph of the gospel, that the day is coming when everything that opposes the gospel here on earth will be put down through the power of...

32:57 No, no. They didn't do any such thing, my friend. That's why I say, I stand to reject that teaching because it places a false focus of hope before the believer.

33:11 They went back through the churches saying, in spite of the mighty movements of the spirit in apostolic, in spite of the fact that it is estimated that one in 20 became Christians under the Roman Empire, we must, many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. The same apostle then says, you see, in that context, it's a righteous thing, he says, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. Any professed believer who doesn't suffer tribulation and affliction proves himself, unworthy of that kingdom into which no one enters but by the path of tribulation.

33:59 Now, we don't enter because of our tribulation. I've been preaching on justification for 12, 13 weeks for you who are visiting with us. I've made it abundantly plain, week after week, we enter only on the grounds of the work of another. But coming to rest on the work of another, he places our feet into a pathway that has as part and parcel of its pavement affliction, and tribulation.

34:26 Now, you see what a wonderful thing it is in the midst of this, knowing that no matter what life may hold, in its periods when things governmentally and sociologically and economically and ecologically and everything else are at their best, as long as we are in this world order as it is, Christian, mark it down, tribulation and affliction are going to be your bosom companion.

34:55 Mark it down. Sometimes greater, sometimes lesser. Sometimes more patent, other times more latent. Sometimes more visible and obvious.

35:06 Sometimes more subtle. But mark it down. Your rest of the Lord Jesus. But the moment the revelation comes, the rest comes.

35:19 Now, do you see why a persecuted people often are the ones who have the most glowing, burning vision? Of the return of Christ. Because it makes them hold loosely to things as they are here. And makes the heart burn for that glorious day when the Lord Jesus will come and you that are afflicted rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus.

Anticipated Blessing 2: Glorification of Christ in Them

35:51 Well, that's the first great anticipated blessing of the people of God. The cessation of all affliction of every kind. But secondly, their great anticipated blessing is the glorification of Christ in them. Look at verse 10.

36:09 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints. Now, some would translate it to be glorified among his saints. I prefer the translation and the thought conveyed by the idea he comes to be glorified glorified glorified glorified glorified in his saints. In his holy ones.

36:36 You see, because at his coming the work of redemption in his own will be complete both in the body and souls of his own. He cannot be fully glorified in them until his work is completed upon them. You see, we are the mystical body of Christ. The spiritual body of Christ.

37:02 The scripture says we are so united to Christ as the head is joined to its body. Christ is the head. The church is his body. Every believer is a member of that body.

37:13 But oh, we're not a pretty sight much of the time here. We're bent and tortured often and hindered and harassed with a body that Paul calls the body of our humiliation. Philippians 3 and verse 20. A body that he liked, he likens to a tent that he longs to shed in 2 Corinthians 5.

37:38 And surely our souls still afflicted with remaining sin in which the flesh lusts against the spirit. Our souls in which there is still that remaining propensity and inclination to evil. They're not pretty, are they?

37:55 And much of the glory of Christ is obscured in his body in its present situation. But when the unbearable unveiling comes, the moment there is the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the veil is pulled away and Christ is manifested. According to his first letter in chapter four, these bodies of humiliation will be fashioned like unto his own glorious body. And every last vestige of sin will be purged from the souls of living believers and the previously purged souls of dead believers will join their now resurrected and glorified bodies.

38:38 And what will happen at that precise moment? Christ will be glorified in his saints in a way that was utterly impossible prior to the unveiling. Because then, in the language of John, though we are now the sons of God, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

39:10 Now surely, if we have stood back and beheld the transformation of a sinner here and now, let's take a specific instance. We'll not take names, but describe an individual. Here he has been ruining his body by addiction to alcohol and by a profligate, loose, amoral life. His soul is being destroyed, being defiled by thinking thoughts commensurate with his animal passions.

39:40 And when the grace of God reaches in and lays hold of that individual, we see that body now presented to God as a living sacrifice. We see temperance in the use of all foods and drinks and meat and everything that goes into that body. We see temperance in the exercise of its physical appetites in terms of eating and sexual drive, and the desire for relaxation and pleasure and recreation. We see a body in which Christ is glorified now.

40:12 And we shake our heads and as we behold the activities of that body touched by the grace of God, we say, what a mighty Savior Christ is, and we see what he's done in the soul from a man whose soul caused his mouth to spill out all forms of uncleanness and bitterness, invectives and cursing, and swearing, and blasphemies, and filth. We see the change in the soul reflected in his speech, in his appetites. He wants to read the word, be amongst the people of God, where once he was bitter, and harsh, and sarcastic, and callous. He's now tender, and sensitive, and gentle.

40:53 And we stand back and say, what a monument to the power of Christ. Christ is glorified in that man's soul and body. But my friend, all that he has, God says, is just a little down payment of the best that is yet to come. So the transformation which occurs in him, body and soul, is called an earnest, a down payment. That's all.

41:19 And he is sealed by the Spirit unto the day of redemption. That's why the Bible says we are saved in hope. That is, the moment we are wrought upon in saving grace, we are saved with a perspective that says the best is yet to come at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus. Now, think of it for a moment.

41:43 If Christ receives the measure of glory he receives just from the lives he's touched here, and as I look out into your faces, and as an elder and your pastor, having heard and known the testimony of God's grace to you, I can think of the life history, of a number of you, just sweeping my face over this congregation. And in my heart, it would be easy for me to slip behind the curtain, get on my knees by a chair and say, Oh, Lord Jesus, I glorify you for the transforming power of your grace and start naming you who sit here right now as living monuments of the power of Christ. Oh, my friend, the best of us here, what a mess we still are. Oh, my friend, the best of us here, what a mess we still are. With our aches and with our pains and with our bodily infirmities and with our remaining sin, what will it be when in a moment of time we are made like him, body and soul, perfectly conformed to the image of our glorious Christ? What will happen?

42:54 He will be glorified in his saints. Now, the scripture says the angels desire to look into these things now. What will they do when they see the full display of the work of Christ in that day? You talk about a hallelujah chorus.

43:14 What will we do when we look upon one another and we see in each other not a dim reflection of Christ, but a full-arbed reflection of his moral image? We will all be caught up in a great chorus of praise, glory,

43:37 for what he has done in us and what he has done in all of his people. Now, you see, for a true Christian, that's no little part of his true hope with respect to the return of the Lord because as much as a true Christian longs to get all these monkeys off his back in terms of affliction and tribulation, a true Christian would not escape tribulation at the expense of the glory of Christ. There is something more precious to a true Christian than his own comfort.

44:16 And that which is more precious than his own comfort is the glory of Christ. That's why he's willing to suffer rather than deny Christ. That's why he's willing to undergo hardship rather than deny Christ because there's something more precious than his own skin. It's the honor of Christ.

44:37 Well, what a wonderful thing to know that my highest good, and his highest glory, are not enemies in the scheme of redemption, but God has joined them. When he comes, there will be rest for us. Perfect rest from all afflictions, but perfect glory to our Redeemer for a perfected redemption. Does your heart leap within you with that thought, my friend?

Anticipated Blessing 3: Admiration of Christ by Them

45:08 If so, it's only because grace is wrought upon you. Well, in the third place, the anticipated blessing of the unveiling of the Lord is not only this cessation of all affliction, the glorification of Christ in them, but notice the admiration of Christ by them. Verse 10, When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all them that believe. Now, the word literally means to marvel, that is, to view with glad astonishment and grateful wonder,

45:54 usually leading to praise. Let me try to illustrate.

45:59 There's a difference, you see, between being shocked at something and brought to wonderment. Here a kid for six months has entertained hope that come his birthday, he's going to get a baseball bat that he's been longing for. I know one young man that, I'm sure that could be a very real hope. He eats, drinks, sleeps baseball come the baseball season.

46:23 I won't look in his direction lest I embarrass him, but he's here. And here the little kid's been entertaining this hope now for months. And every time they go to two guys as a family, he stops by the sporting section and he says, Hey, Dad, that's the bat I want. Oh, that feels good in my hand.

46:39 That's the one I want for my birthday. And so he's got all his hopes there for his bat. Come his birthday, and they have their little family, celebration, remembering his birthday. While the time comes for the cake to be brought out in his presents, and he opens up all the little presents.

46:56 And then comes time for his big present from Mom and Dad, and he expects something to be brought out about 32 inches long and in a box about three and a half inches square, at least three and a half inches along the sides. And instead, he's told, We can't bring your present to you. You've got to go to it. But it's in the family room.

47:20 And so the little fellow runs down the stairs or through the hallway, throws the door open, and when he does, suddenly he stands there and goes, And what does he see? Not a bat, but he sees a beautiful 10-speed bike that he thought he'd never get until he was at least 13 years of age.

47:41 Secretly, he'd been longing to have one of them, but he never had the courage to even break his mind to his parents. It seemed too, too far beyond anything he could ask of them. And when he finds that the very thing he had secretly nourished a hope for, far beyond his bat, which may cost five or six bucks, he knows these things cost at least $100. He didn't have the courage.

48:05 He felt it would just be out of place to even ask for it. What does he experience when he stands there? He experiences wonderment, amazement. Now that's something of the flavor of this passage.

48:20 When he comes to be wondered at, to be marveled at, in all them that believe, so that when the Lord Jesus returns, and I've already suggested some of this in looking at that element of glorified in them, his saints will behold and experience that which goes far beyond their fondest expectations. And when they experience, experimentally feel and know what it is to be glorified, and when they experimentally know what it is to look upon the face of the Savior whom they've loved unseen, they'll be like the little boy who on his birthday got far more than he ever could wish or hope or ask for, and will be left breathless. And as soon as we're able to catch our breath, all the attention will be focused on us. All the attention will be focused upon the one by whose gracious work all of this has come to pass. Even the Lord of glory, who for a season was willing to come to the dark, damp confines of a little Hebrew maiden's womb, who was willing to pass through the humiliation

49:46 of a natural birth amidst the groans and sighs of her mother, who was willing to be dependent upon the breast of that little maid for his nourishment, who was willing to learn his ABCs and come through every stage of human development, who was willing to be subject to scorn, to mocking, to ridicule, and ultimately to the shameful death of the cross, then by his mighty resurrection entered a new phase of his redemptive work when he went back to the right hand of the Father, shedding all of his humiliation, leaving it here. But the glorified God-man went back to carry on that work of redemption by his intercession and by the sending of the Spirit until he would gather all of his sheep from all the nations of the earth. Then by covenant faithfulness secure them in a state which they now experience, surely, my friends, what could we do? What shall we do? What else would be fitting in that hour when we actually look upon this one but to admire him, to marvel at the magnitude of his grace and the glory of his person?

51:12 Well, you see, these are the anticipated blessings that Paul holds forth for suffering Christians. Do they strike a note, a chord of yearning in you? Do they cause you to think of God? Do they cause you to say with John the seer, even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Practical Effect: A Life Worthy of the Calling

51:40 Now the apostle indicates in this very passage that when the child of God has a heart that burns and yearns for these anticipated blessings, it will have a very practical effect. So he closes this very section with a prayer for the believers. Look at the language of verses 11 and 12. To which end, or as one has translated with a view to which we pray.

52:05 That is, in the light of these great blessings that I, Paul says, and Silvanus and Timothy, anticipate with you, the saints of God at Thessalonica, in the light and with a view to which blessings we pray for you. And what do they pray? That our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire of goodness and every work of faith. And that all of us with faith and with power that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and he in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus.

52:46 He says, in the light of the blessings that will be ours, this is what we pray for you. Nothing less than this is worthy of people who are the heirs of such blessing at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus. Nothing less than a life. that is worthy of our calling.

53:04 A life that somehow answers to the magnitude of the grace shown to us in our being called into union with the Father and with His Son. And practically speaking, that means that there would be the fulfilling of every desire of goodness. That is, that the implanted principle of holiness in life would have its full sway in everyday experience. And also, the impulses of faith as they express themselves in the everyday conduct of the Christian would be attended with power to do what faith desires and dictates.

53:48 And what will be the result of this? Though the Lord Jesus will not be fully glorified in His saints until His unveiling, listen, He says He is, to be glorified in part here and now, that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and ye in Him. And all of this by what? By the grace of God.

Conclusion: Proper Perspective and Witness

54:13 According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, I started this morning by speaking of the practical problems that we face. All of us. Living.

54:29 In this particular area of the country. At this particular point in history. And I said that it's only as this biblical perspective becomes part and parcel of our spiritual reflexes that we have a proper perspective on life. And I close on that very note because that's where the apostle closes.

54:48 You see, he does not give all of this so that the people of God can now go off and have a prophetic congress and try to dissect Daniel's beast right down. To every toenail and every horn. And write books that somehow line up all the events and circumstances of the Lord's return in the place of Russia and China and the Middle East. Oh, my friend, we are not to be concerned with such issues.

55:20 Our attention is to be focused upon these great blessings. Whatever affliction I now have. Whatever affliction may yet come.

55:33 All that afflict me. All that afflict me will be afflicted when he's on bail. And when he comes to be the afflictor of all who afflict me, then I shall have cessation, rest, relaxation. I shall be done.

55:50 Soon I will be done with the troubles of this world.

55:55 There's a lot of good theology in some of those old spirituals. Soon I will be done with the troubles of this world. And my friend, if you hope to be done with them now, I don't care. How noble your hope is for Christian action or Christian conquest.

56:13 It is a hope that is at variance with the world.

56:19 There I stand until someone can exegete these passages and tell me that this was not the apostolic perspective. There I stand.

56:32 And I hope you stand there as well.

56:37 And if that's our perspective, then surely, with all our hearts who want to glorify him, waiting in the gas line, so whenever Nelson's custom, we don't cuss.

56:49 And when people get together and all they do is grumble and complain, oh, we can't trust the president. We can't trust the oil tycoons. Nobody's honest. We seize the opportunity to witness and say yes, and why is that so?

57:05 We say because honesty, the glue of any society, is gone from our whole society. And you don't trust the president because you lie, don't you? Are you perfectly honest in your income tax? Seize the opportunity to witness the people, turn their complaints in upon their own consciences.

57:28 And why do we do this? That we may glorify Christ while we are yet here. Buying up the opportunity, seizing time by the forelock, and all the while having our strength constantly buttressed and intensified by that great longing and great hope that he shall be unmoved, unveiled. And when he is unveiled, it will be from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire.

Call to the Unconverted and Encouragement to Believers

58:02 And for us, rest, Christ fully glorified in us, Christ admired and magnified by us, and that for all eternity.

58:17 If you're an unconverted man or woman, my friend, your future is a gloomy, foreboding, frightening thing, isn't it? When you stop, you don't stop long enough to think about it. That's exactly what it is, isn't it? Frightening, gloomy, foreboding.

58:35 My friend, you don't need to stumble through life dreading. This hope can be yours, even as it is ours in Christ. And how did we get into Christ? Not for any worth in us, but the testimony of the gospel came to us.

58:52 Christ saves sinners. Christ receives sinners. We believe that testimony. We ventured upon Christ and we found him to be true to his word.

59:03 And having come to him, we have found rest. Oh, that you'd come to him, my unsaved friend. Oh, that this night you would cast yourself upon his mercy.

59:16 And child of God, whatever, whatever afflictions are upon you, whatever trials are your portion now or in the future, will you not come back to this chapter again and again? And let the world laugh at us. Let the world say, Ah, those Christians, they have no sense of mission and destiny for them now. It's all pie in the sky.

59:41 My friend, a little bit of history completely knocks that argument in the head. No one has done more good for the world that now is than those who've lived most fervently for the world that is yet to be.

59:55 Jesus said, And while we have these perspectives, we are, the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

60:08 And when the church has been most otherworldly, it has been most powerful in its influence upon the world.

60:18 So don't be bullied away from what people call your pie in the sky by and by religion. That's pretty good pie we've looked at tonight.

Closing Prayer

60:30 May God fill our hearts with holy longings so that our prayer will indeed be even so come. Lord Jesus, let us pray.

60:47 Oh, our Father, at times we catch just a little glimpse. Our eye seems to perceive as it were a little glint of the glory that awaits the sons and daughters of the Almighty.

61:07 And when we do, we know in such moments that it would take a glorified body and a glorified spirit to gaze upon it even for a moment in all of its splendor. Oh, how we thank you that the best is yet to come. And oh, that we may be nerved with that strength that comes by your grace to so live as to glorify the one who has brought such hope into our hearts, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, amidst our present afflictions, help us to feed upon this hope. May the words, when he shall come, burn in our hearts. May the truth of the glorious unveiling of the Lord Jesus constantly be with us, regulate all of our conduct and all of our perspectives, all of our actions and reactions. And oh God, we do yearn tonight for those who have no such hope, but who could possess this hope in Christ, if they would but believe.

62:28 Oh God, constrain them to faith. Constrain them to turn from their sin and their pride and their objections and their doubts. And oh, that they may embrace the offered Savior, even in this place tonight. Receive our thanks for this day.

62:50 Receive our thanks for your presence. Surely, if here and now these little, down-payments of your glorious presence can give us such joy. We understand a bit more what your word means when it says, in thy presence is fullness of joy. Hasten the day when that which we now eye from afar will be ours in experience.

63:20 Hear our prayer. Forgive us for our weakness and our sins and our vacillation. Our earthiness, oh Lord, forgive us. Hear our cry and may the blessing of your presence rest upon us as we part from this place and from one another.

63:40 We pray through the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.