Second Coming: Consequences for the Ungodly

The Need for a Proper Perspective on the Consummation

0:02 Our study in the Word of God this morning will be the third and final meditation in the chapter that was read in your hearing this morning, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. In introducing our brief series of studies in this passage last Lord's Day, I suggested that when the pressures of life reach unusual heights, it is in just such times that we are most tempted to lose our proper perspective as the people of God. And when the pressure of temporal necessities pinches in upon us with unusual heights, we are most tempted to lose our proper perspective as the people of God. And when the pressure of temporal necessities pinches in upon us with unusual rigor, we can so easily lose that perspective which is thoroughly Christian, even the perspective articulated by the Apostle Paul when he said, We look not on the things that are seen, for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. And so we need again and again as the people of God to come back to that great biblical doctrine of the consummation.

1:20 And so we need again and again as the people of God to come back to that great biblical doctrine of the consummation of all things at the glorious and powerful return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so rather than approach that subject topically, we have parked for several hours in this passage that is one of the richest portions in all of the Word of God with respect to the one glorious second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Last Lord's Day we considered first of all the...

The Nature of Christ's Second Coming and its Consequences for the Godly

1:50 nature of this great event that is anticipated. And we noted that this event is described in these wonderful words in the middle of verse 7, the revelation of our Lord Jesus. And here the coming of Christ is described as the unveiling, the uncovering of the Lord Jesus Christ. An unveiling that will be marked by those...

2:20 those three prepositional phrases from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire. And the Bible knows absolutely nothing of any other kind of second coming than a coming that will be the unveiling of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire. And then we began to consider in the second...

2:50 in the second place, the consequences of this great event. And the consequences in this passage are described in terms of two great categories of humanity. There will be certain wonderful consequences for the people of God. They are the first category.

3:10 And they are described in this passage in their specific identity as those who are in vital union with God the Father, and with his son, verse 1. They are described as those who manifest the fruits of that union in these dominant Christian graces, verses 3 and 4. He speaks of their love, of their faith, of their perseverance or steadfastness. And then they are designated as saints and as believers in verse 10.

3:47 And so the people of God... are to be understood in those biblical categories.

3:54 Not everyone who is born in a so-called Christian nation, or baptized into a so-called Christian church, or going through the motions of Christian worship. The people of God are such as have been brought into vital union with God the Father and with his son. They have been born of the Spirit, and the Spirit has become the bondage, of their union with the living God. Furthermore, they are those who in the virtue of that union have become new creatures in Christ.

4:30 The old is past, the new has come. There will be evidence of growing faith, growing love, and steadfastness in Christian graces, even in the face of opposition and persecution. And they are those who can truly be called...

4:50 saints. Those who have been set apart unto God and to his service. They are believers. They are those who do credit the testimony of God concerning his son, and live and frame their lives in the light of that testimony.

5:10 For them, this coming will anticipate, or is a coming in which they can anticipate, the cessation of... of all their affliction.

5:22 Verse 7, And to you that are afflicted he will bring rest at the revelation of the Lord Jesus. Then there will be the glorification of Christ in them. Verse 10, And the adoration of Christ by them. Well, that's a brief overview of what we discovered in the passage last Lord's Day.

Introduction to Consequences for the Ungodly

5:45 Now this morning, we want to consider the consequences of this... same event as it pertains to the second group of people envisioned in this passage.

5:57 For this passage not only speaks of the glorious and wonderful things that will come to the people of God when the Lord returns, when he is unveiled, but it speaks in some of the most sobering, almost frightening language. Of what that same event will bring to those who are not the people of God. And it is my purpose this morning simply to expound those portions of this passage which speak of the return of Christ in relationship to the ungodly. Having considered the consequences of that return with respect to the people of God, we now direct ourselves... our attention to the consequences of that same event with respect to the ungodly.

The Specific Identity of the Ungodly: Three Descriptions

6:56 Now, first of all notice the ungodly in their specific identity and then we shall consider their predicted treatment at the return of the Lord Jesus. Paul is not content to use one simple term to describe those who are not the people of God. more than he was content to use one simple term to describe those who are the people of God. And here the ungodly are described in three ways. First of all, they are described as those who know not the person of God. Verse 8, Jesus Christ will render vengeance at his return to them that know not God. When the apostle would describe the unconverted, when he would describe the ungodly and the unbelievers, he uses this language which from his pen becomes an almost technical term to describe the hordes of the Gentile nations who were without the pale,

8:19 of the revelation of God in the scriptures and through the prophets. Notice how this very phrase was used in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians and verse 5. Speaking of the subject of sexual purity, he uses a contrast and says, not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God. Notice similar terminology in the book of Galatians chapter 4 and verse 8. Speaking of their pre-Christian condition, how be it at that time not knowing God. Ye were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods. And then in Ephesians 2.12 he speaks of those who are without God. And so it seems

9:19 plain from the rebuke that the ungodly are the people of God. And so it seems plain from the repeated usage of this little phrase, that when the apostle describes the ungodly as those who know not God, he is speaking particularly of the great masses of the Gentile nations who had never been brought into contact with the saving revelation of God in the scriptures, or at the time of this writing, who had not yet been exposed to the gospel of the grace of God. Now in using that little phrase, the apostle is indicating that the greatest tragedy of sin's intrusion into the human race is that it has severed man from the knowledge of the God who made him. That which sets man apart from the God who made him is the knowledge of the God who made him. The beast above all other things is that man was made with a capacity to know God, made with a capacity to have fellowship with God, made with a capacity to delight in God, and in the truest sense, he is only a true man as he knows God, as he has fellowship with God, as he communes with and finds delight in God. And so,

10:44 when the apostle would take a phrase that is most descriptive of the condition of those who know, who are outside the power of the gospel, he uses this terminology, they know not God.

11:04 What they do know of God according to Romans chapter 1, what can be known of God in terms of looking at the creation without, in terms of the image of God, in terms of the image of God that is yet upon them within, they suppress that knowledge. Even that knowledge is too much for them to leave them comfortable with their sins. And so, according to Romans chapter 1, they hold down the truth of God in unrighteousness, or in the language of the apostle, they do not like to retain God in their knowledge. There's the first aspect.

11:46 The second aspect of his description of the ungodly, those with whom the Lord Jesus will reckon at his unveiling are all such as know not the person of God. And I may add, before we pass on to the next category of description, that no one can know God in a personal way apart from Jesus Christ. For our Lord himself said, But then he uses a second description in this passage, as he would give us the specific identity of the ungodly. He describes them not only in the category previously considered, they know not God,

12:52 but notice verse 8, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

13:05 They know not the person of God, according to this part of the text, they obey not the gospel of God. And the structure in the original would seem, to indicate that the apostle is thinking primarily of another category of the ungodly. Not only does he think of the hordes of the Gentile nations with whom the gospel and the written revelation are strange things, they have never come near them, but now he's thinking both of Jews who have had the revelation of the gospel in the Old Testament scriptures, and who have since then had the gospel preached unto them, both Jews and Gentiles. But he describes them as people who, though they have come within the orbit of the proclamation of the gospel of God, which is the gospel centering in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, they have not rendered obedience to that gospel. They have heard the good news, which is what the word gospel simply means, good news that

14:27 has announced the wonderful things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, good news that has laid out the facts of who he is, good news that has proclaimed to men that God has laid upon the shoulders of one who is mighty the work of human spirit. In other words, it's a gospel of a true salvation, that Jesus Christ is truly God, giving worth and power to all that he does as a Savior of sinners. Jesus Christ is truly man, so that as man he might obey the law, as man he might die, as man he might enter in sympathetically to all of the realities of the human situation in order to be a sympathetic and an understanding and a peaceful person. The gospel is, as we have written, a gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is a gospel compassionate priest for sinners. This gospel is the gospel which proclaims all of those truths which cluster around the glory of his unique person. But also it's a gospel that proclaims the realities that cluster around the work that he did for sinners, that he died the just for the unjust, that he was buried, that he was raised again from the dead the third day, that he ascended to the right hand of the Father, and that in his

15:52 name salvation is proclaimed freely and without any reservation. The announcement is made Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But now notice how he describes these people. They have heard all of those wonderful truths, but he says they obey not the gospel.

16:18 He doesn't say they believe not, that's true. But he says they obey not. For you see the gospel comes as good news concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ, and all that God offers to sinners in that person based upon his work, but it comes with the overtones of a divine commandment. The God who sets forth these wonderful truths, the God who sets forth these wonderful truths says, repent and believe the gospel. Turn from your own self-righteousness and embrace the righteousness that is in Jesus Christ. Turn from your own self-will and yield yourselves to the government of your rightful sovereign, even the Lord of heaven. Turn from your own self-sufficiency and come as a servant of the Lord of heaven. And come as a servant of the Lord of heaven. And come as a servant of the Lord of heaven.

17:18 And come as a beggar and a pauper, and cry that God would make you wealthy with all the spiritual riches that are in Christ. You see, Almighty God does not simply announce the gospel and then say, there it is, take it or leave it if you like. The same God who announces the gospel is the God who commands you to repent, and not only to repent, but to believe the gospel. That is the gospel.

17:49 That is to cast the weight of your soul upon Jesus Christ without reservation. To confess that you will look no further for an answer to that great question. How shall I, a guilty sinner, have all of my sins pardoned and find acceptance with the thrice holy God of heaven? You end your controversy at that point and you say, I will believe.

18:18 The gospel comes, I say, not only as good news to be heard, but as imperative news to be obeyed. When Paul would describe the identity, the specific identity of the ungodly, he not only describes them as those who know not the person of God, but those who do not obey the gospel of God. But then he gives us a third dimension of description. The ungodly are those who love not the people of God. Look at verse 6.

19:02 If so be it is a righteous thing for God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you. And here our Lord's dealings at his return in a way of divine affliction and retribution are said to terminate upon the ungodly under this description. They afflict the people of God. That is, they love not the people of God. And in a very special way, this was the area in which the ungodliness of the Thessalonian community was manifesting itself to the church of Jesus Christ in that place. From the very inception of that church, there seemed to have been a lot of ungodliness. But the ungodliness of the Thessalonian community has been an unusual spirit of open hostility and blatant opposition to the cause of the gospel. But now the scripture does not teach, nor does human experience affirm or confirm that the hatred or the absence of love to the people of God always manifests itself in open physical affliction and persecution. No, there are many ways in which the ungodliness

20:22 of the people of God can be manifested. It can be manifested in terms of social coolness, verbal slander, innuendo, disassociation, many ways. But that the people of God will always be the object of the hatred of those who are not the people of God is the clear teaching of scripture. Jesus said, marvel not, or John said, marvel not.

20:52 Brethren, if the world hate you, Paul said, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Our Lord said, if they have hated me, they will hate you. You see, one of the marks that a man is a Christian is that he has a positive, outgoing, active love for the brethren. By this we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And in the biblical mentality, we know that we have to love the brethren.

21:22 In the biblical mentality, the absence of that positive, outgoing love and its fruits is the evidence of hatred and indifference to the people of God, the mark of an ungodly man or an ungodly woman. So then the apostle describes the ungodly as those who know not the person of God, obey not the gospel of God, they love not the people of God. Now let me ask you a question. Is that a description of you? When the apostle said that at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus, that gracious, condescending, compassionate Savior, returning as a conquering judge, will deal with all who know not God, is he talking about you? When he says he will deal with all who obey not the gospel, is he talking about you? Is he talking about you? Is he talking about you?

22:27 Is he talking about you? Is he talking about you? Have you rendered proper obedience to the gospel? When he said he will come to afflict those who love not the people of God, is he talking about you? Do you count it your delight to be found amongst God's people, to be identified with God's people, to bear the reproach of his people? Or are you ashamed? Do you side with the ungodly? Do you take your stance with the unbelievers?

The Predicted Treatment of the Ungodly: An Overview

23:02 And where ever possible do you choose your friends from their ranks. Oh my friend, if so see yourself in this passage and listen. Listen as we now move on to consider their predicted treatment at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. And I confess to you as I have meditated upon this passage, as I have done word studies on the various words that are used in it.

23:33 I've come away with a sense of trembling in my own spirit. For in this passage, there is one of the most frightening and concentrated collection of terms to describe the destinies of the ungodly or the destiny of the ungodly at the return of the Lord. One of the most frightening collections to be found anywhere in Scripture. Look at the language in a broad overview before we unpack it in detail.

24:05 Writing a word of comfort to suffering Christians, he says in verse 5, it is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. If so be that it is a righteous thing with God, now here's the first term, to recompense affliction.

24:31 Verse 8, rendering vengeance. Verse 9, who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might. Now put them all together. You have God recompensing or paying back affliction.

24:57 You have God rendering vengeance. You have God inflicting the suffering of punishment, even eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might.

25:12 My friend, I didn't write those words. The same God who has come in the gospel with all of its overtures of tenderness and mercy and kindness is the God who comforts the suffering saints at Thessalonica with the knowledge that at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus, as surely as they shall then know the cessation of all of their afflictions, as surely as Christ will be glorified in them and be the object of their admiration, so at the return of the Lord Jesus, God will come as an afflictor of all who afflicted His people. He will come rendering vengeance, the very thing He forgave, and He will punish with everlasting destruction from His face and from His glory. Now as we attempt to enter in more fully to the meaning of this language, notice with me three lines of thought in the passage. First of all, the moral quality of all this treatment.

The Moral Quality of the Ungodly's Treatment: Righteous Judgment

26:30 When at the return of Christ these things will come to pass, the apostle is... He is very careful to underscore the moral quality of the treatment the ungodly will receive from Christ at His return.

26:47 Verse 5.

26:50 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. Verse 6. If so be it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction. You see?

27:09 The apostle Paul is very careful to underscore that whatever the ungodly receive at the return of the Lord Jesus, they will receive in perfect righteousness. They will receive not one whit more than they deserve, not one whit less than they deserve. In fact, there's a very interesting parallel between these two. These verses in Romans 2 and verse 5 in which the apostle Paul uses this word apokalupsis, the unveiling, the uncovering, and he says that the last day will not only be the unveiling of the Lord Jesus as in our text, but it will be the unveiling of the righteous judgment of God.

28:06 We must establish at the very outset that just as we pour out our blood, as we pour out our blood to the poor blind sinners cannot begin to fathom the height and the depth and the length and the breadth of the love of God, as surely as we poor limited creatures cannot penetrate the abysmal depths of the mind and wisdom of God, we cannot sit in judgment upon God as to what is right and what is fair. But Almighty God says that everything that the ungodly receive at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus will be utterly, absolutely, impeccably righteous.

29:03 So much so that we have one of the great songs in the book of the Revelation as a song celebrating the righteous judgment of God. In Revelation 19 and verse 5, verse 2, we find this chorus going up into the presence of God. Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and righteous are His judgments, for He hath judged the great heart.

29:41 What will be the moral quality of the treatment? You, my friend, listen. You who know not God, you who obey not the gospel of God, you who love not the people of God, what will be your treatment from the hand of a returning Christ? It will be utterly, perfectly, impeccably, blamelessly righteous treatment.

Specific Elements of the Ungodly's Treatment

30:04 And all the angels and redeemed and glorified beings will worship God for His righteousness expressed in His treatment of you. But then notice in the second place, not only the moral quality, not only the moral quality of the treatment, but the specific elements of this treatment. The apostle underscores three elements of the treatment the ungodly will receive at the return of Christ. First of all, affliction from the hand of God.

30:36 Verse 6,

30:39 If so be it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you. Here he uses, a play on words. The common word for tribulation is this word, afflicted. And he says to the saints, Now, my dear saints there at Thessalonica, pressing on with love and with faith in the midst of suffering and tribulation, those who tribulate you, he says, take courage.

31:16 The hour is coming in which God will righteously, tribulate them. Those whose hands now afflict you will have the hand of the Almighty upon them, afflicting them at that day.

31:40 The term is nothing less than that of affliction. And the context and the verb literally means God will pay back. The word recompense means to pay back. It's used in precise, precisely that way in Luke 14, 14, where our Lord is saying, don't just invite people that can invite you back into their own homes and so recompense you and so pay you back.

32:13 The whole idea that the judgment of God is nothing more or less than God passively sitting back, holding his arms and letting sinners feel the full weight of the inevitable results of the self-destructiveness, self-destruction, self-destruction, self-destructiveness of sin is not a biblical concept and it's gaining ground even in evangelical circles in our day. What were the Thessalonians getting from their afflictors? Was it just that the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles were standing back and watching them work out the inevitable result of their Christian faith? No.

32:53 They were positively intruding and afflicting them. Paul says, in the same way, the Almighty will come with the positive infliction of retributive justice.

33:15 Affliction from the hand of God.

33:18 My friend, I don't know what that means, but that scares me.

33:23 The hand that threw galaxies into space to have that hand turned against me.

33:36 If you're at all awake and if you've not totally seared your conscience, it strikes a note. It strikes a note of terror in your heart. What will it be to have the Almighty become my afflictor? Then there is a second specific element of their treatment, not only affliction from the hand of God, but vengeance from the Son of God.

34:03 Verse 8. To catch the thread of thought, grammatically let me read, starting with verse 6, skipping certain clauses and phrases. If so be it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you at the revelation of the Lord Jesus rendering vengeance. That's the connection of thought.

34:36 The revelation of the Lord Jesus will result in the rendering of vengeance from the Son of God Himself. What is vengeance? Vengeance is the wrathful paying back of evil. It is the wrathful paying back of evil.

35:00 That's why it's always forbidden to us. God says, and He quotes it from Deuteronomy 32, 35, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. And therefore in Romans 12, we are commanded not to return evil for evil, for God says vengeance is mine.

35:22 I will repay, but vengeance is His. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, but vengeance is His. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, but vengeance is His.

35:26 And He will repay. And that same Deuteronomy passage is quoted in Hebrews 10, 30 and 31 where it speaks of the fact that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of this living God. Vengeance. And here again the whole idea that the punishment and judgment of God is nothing but a passive allowance for sin to work out its inevitable consequences.

35:53 My friend, that will not do justice. It will not do justice to the language of the Holy Ghost. At the revelation of the Lord Jesus, He will render vengeance. He will pay out vengeance, would be perhaps a more literal translation.

36:10 Think of it. The very Son of God who wept over Jerusalem, the Son of God who stood and said, Come unto me all ye that labored or heavy laden, the very Son of God who stood and said, Come unto me all ye that labored or heavy laden, the very Son of God who wept over Jerusalem, the very Son of God who wept over Jerusalem, the very Son of God who said to a woman taken in adultery, neither do I condemn thee, go sin no more. The very Son of God who restores one of His own, who cursed and swore and denied that He knew him in a moment of weakness, and restores him to Himself and to service. Peter, do you love me?

36:49 Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Take care of my sheep. Do you love me?

36:54 Take care of my lambs. Think of it. The Son of God who is the embodiment of all the tenderness and compassion and the mirror of all those softer tones of the heart of God, look at the language, my friend, rendering vengeance on all who know not God, who obey not the gospel, who love not the people of God. But then there is a third element of the treatment they will receive, and this, to me, is the most frightening and horrid.

37:38 But it's in the text, dear people, and I have to be faithful to the language of the Holy Ghost. There will not only be affliction from the hand of God, verse 6, vengeance from the Son of God, verse 8, but banishment from the presence of God, verse 9, who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord. And from the glory of His might, the punishment and destruction are described in terms of banishment from His face and banishment from the glory of His might. What does that phrase mean? Who shall be punished, suffer punishment, eternal destruction from the face of the Lord? And the commentators debate the point.

38:36 And the commentators debate the point. And the commentators debate the point. And the commentators debate the point. What does that phrase mean?

38:40 They say, the human has the means to be done, impressed, requested, and the body to be made perfect for He who is the most far-sighted, most wise, most powerful, the lord in other words from all that jesus christ is in the glory of his grace in all the plenitude of his mercy and compassion he who is the source of all light and life and joy for the scripture says in the world to come there'll be no need of the sun for the lamb himself will be the light of that state there'll be no night there and they shall see him his name should be in their foreheads they shall follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth the acne the pinnacle of the delight of the saints is expressed by john we shall see him as he is what is the hell of hell

39:58 my friend it is banishment from this person those words depart from me me who is he source of all light all for forgiveness all mercy all righteousness for sinners all compassion depart from me banishment from his presence and then banishment from the glory of his might that is the favorable outshining of his saving power which as we saw last night last lord's day evening will be revealed in his saints coming well and he who have begun a good work in them will bring it to the little reach well now he says WITH IT are filled with all left people of God will be banishment from that outshining of the power of God in redemption.

The Duration of the Ungodly's Treatment: Eternal Destruction

41:15 They shall be banished from the glory of his might. What is the moral quality of their treatment? Absolutely righteous. What are the specifics of their treatment? Affliction from the hand of God, vengeance from the Son of God, banishment from the presence of God. But now notice the third thing he tells us about that treatment. What is the duration of that treatment? Verse 9. Who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction?

41:57 Alathron Ionian. And as long as that little word Ionian stands in Scripture, we must tremble before the frightening but unmistakable. Biblical doctrine of the conscious, unending, eternal punishment of the wicked. And the duration of that treatment will not be a moment. It will not be a day, for time will be no more. And the new age is not marked by the succession of days and nights as we now know it. And therefore the Scripture marshals all of the frailty of human language to speak of no rest day nor night. That place where their worm dieth not in the fire is never quenched. As long as the redeemed behold his face with joy and gaze

43:08 upon his glorious might with wonder, so the ungodly shall feel the righteous judgment of God banished from the glory of God. My friend, listen to me this morning. I cannot do anything more than proclaim the fact. I will not add to the meaning of Scripture the unnecessary flights of imagination or any secondary speculation rooted in human thought. But I lay before you in the spirit of the most simplest language I know how. Have you ever thought soberly for five minutes that you have a never-dying soul? And that at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus, that soul with

44:18 a resurrected body will either be banished into punishment eternal or life eternal? I ask you, do you reflect upon it? May God have mercy if you are so besotten by your sin, your eyes so blinded by the glitter of the tinseled attractions of this world, your heart so perverse and held in the tentacles of the affection of your friends or pursuit of ambition, that you can't sit and think and reflect on the question where we are. Where will I be a hundred years from now? And I say to anyone who claims to be a believer in this place, if you have any controversy with the doctrine of eternal punishment, my friend, you beware. You have a controversy with the words of God.

Final Application: Comfort for Saints and Warning for Unbelievers

45:32 There is no other standard word in the Greek language to speak of the concept of unendingness but the word which is used here in its simple and in its compound form. The Apostle Paul, in comforting the saints of Thessalonica, assumes that as saints they will have no controversy with this doctrine, but will receive it with reverence. Now as we close our study, I want to say just two simple things by way of final application. It's obvious from this passage that the primary purpose for which these words that we've examined this morning were written, is that they were written for the purpose of unendingness. And that's the point. The primary purpose of the Torah was to comfort saints. You say, that's a strange kind of comfort. But it is.

46:30 He's writing to suffering saints, and he says that we're bragging about you in all of the churches, verse 4, for your patience and faith in all of your persecutions and afflictions, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. In other words, he says, if now you who honor God, Yes. Yes. Yes.

46:53 Yet suffer, that's a token that a day is coming when God's going to even the score.

47:02 Take heart, Christian. The God who allows you to suffer now at the hand of the wicked, and he allows them to afflict you, and he gives you grace to bear it patiently, that God will come, and he will be the afflictor. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, he comes as the afflictor. And when he comes, upon your enemies, but he will come as your mighty deliverer, to be glorified in you, to bring rest to you, and to be admired by you.

47:41 You see, no little part of a Christian's comfort in the midst of affliction is the confidence of the ultimate judgment of the wicked, as well as the ultimate vindication of the righteous. That's the whole thrust of the passage. But surely, all of you who are in the midst of affliction, you will come as the ultimate deliverer. Oh, but surely, it is not a mishandling of the passage to say that the apostle, under the inspiration of the Spirit, has given us these words, not only for the consolation of the saints, but for a warning to those who know not God, to those who obey not the gospel of God, to those who love not the people of God. And my appeal is to you as we pray. Amen. Amen.

48:32 I want to close this morning, my friend, if your dealings were only with me, there is something you could bear if they were with ten thousand fellow mortals. But what will you do when the almighty Son of God is on the veil, with the angels of his power, and he summons an angel to take you and to bind you hand and foot? And you will be under his control. Yes, you will.

49:03 to cast you into outer darkness. What will you do in that hour? What will you say in that hour? What will your excuses be in that hour? Oh, my friend, I want to be clean of your blood. And so I have spoken plainly from this passage. But it's not enough for me to speak plainly if I'm to be clear of your blood. I must plead with you earnestly and tenderly.

49:48 Don't go on in ignorance of God. You were made to know Him, to love Him, to have communion with Him. And if you live and die without ever attaining to that knowledge and communion, then God says, in essence, I must put you aside of the junk heap of the universe. Because you've refused to fulfill the very purpose for which you were made. Some of you do not obey. In the gospel of God, you cannot claim ignorance like the hordes of the nations. You've heard the gospel, the truth concerning Christ, and the glory of His person, the perfection of His work, the reasonableness of His claims, and all the beauties that surround His head. My friend, how long ere you obey the gospel? Oh, that you'd obey the gospel this morning.

50:53 Turn from your self-righteousness. Turn from your self-righteousness. Turn from your self-will. Turn from your self-sufficiency. Throw yourself upon the mercy of God in Christ. Some of you love not the people of God. You take your side with the world in your attitude, your disposition. Some of you young people, even this past week, the friends you chose at the Bible conference, you were very careful to choose those that made it very evident they didn't mean business with God, weren't you? You didn't want to be found among the people of God. You didn't want to be found among the people of God. Hence those pious ones, you know, that took the word seriously. Whenever you have your choice, you side with that world that knows not God and obeys not its gospel. My friend,

51:47 you better choose your lot with the people of God now if you want to know their joys in the world to come. There is one glorious second coming of the Lord Jesus. It will be the unveiling of His glory. It will be from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire. For the people of God it will be glory. For those of you who are not the people of God, it will be destruction. In which category will you be when He comes? Oh, that you may be found amongst us, poor, helpless, guilty, hell-deserving sinners who make no claim but that Jesus is a mighty God.

52:38 It will be a willing and an able Savior. And we've found Him to be everything He said He would be to those who trust Him. Join us. Join us. Join us. Join the ranks of the repenting and the believing. And then you'll be with us in the ranks of those who meet Him with joy at His return. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, how we thank You.

53:17 Thank You that You have not left us in the abysmal darkness of speculation about the future. Though there is much we do not know, whether human history will go on for another ten, a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years, we do not know. But this we know, that You've appointed a day and an hour when the veil will be pulled back and we shall see the Lord Jesus.

53:52 Even so come, Lord Jesus. And yet, our Father, our hearts are concerned for the children, the young men and women, the adults who sit in this place this morning. They do not know Your person. They do not obey Your gospel. They do not love Your people. And we're frightened for them, Lord. We believe You mean what You said, that You're going to afflict them, that Your Son is going to render vengeance upon them, that they're going to be banished from Your presence and from the glory of Your might. And, O God, this frightens us this morning. And yet they seem to have no capacity to fear for their own souls. Have mercy upon them,

54:46 O our God. Give them no rest. Give them no rest. Give them no rest, we pray, until they repent and believe the gospel.

54:57 And are found amongst Your people. Seal then Your word to our hearts, we pray, for Your praise and for our profit, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.