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 temple
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 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 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 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 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. 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. And
so the people of God are to be understood in those biblical
categories. 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 bond of their
union with the living God. Furthermore, they are those who,
in the virtue of that union, have become new creatures in
Christ. 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 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.
For them, this coming will anticipate, or is a coming in which they
can anticipate the cessation of all their affliction, 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. 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. 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 our attention to the consequences of that same
event with respect to the ungodly. 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, any 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 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. He 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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, No one knows the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son willeth to reveal him. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And so everyone who is ignorant
of the gospel is also ignorant of the saving knowledge of God. 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, but notice verse 8,
and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 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
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 is proclaimed
to men that God has laid upon the shoulders of one who is mighty
the work of human 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 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 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. 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 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 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 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
Christ Holy God of heaven? You end your controversy at that
point and you say, I will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel comes, I say, not
only as good news to be heard, but as imperative news to be
obeyed. And 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. 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 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
absence of love to 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, 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, 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? 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? Are you ashamed? Do you side with the ungodly? Do you take your stance with
the unbelievers? And wherever 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, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 Bethlehem, 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 forbids us to do. 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. When at the return of Christ
these things will come to pass, the apostle is very careful to
underscore the moral quality of the treatment the ungodly
will receive from Christ at his return. Verse 5, 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, 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 verses in Romans 2 and verse 5. in which
the Apostle Paul uses this word, apocalypsis, 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. We must establish
at the very outset that just as we 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. 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 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. 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. 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 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, verse 6. 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 afflict. 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. 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. 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 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. The whole idea that the judgment
of God is nothing more or less than God passively sitting back,
folding his arms, and letting sinners feel the full weight
of the inevitable results of the 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 ecliptus? 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. They were
positively intruding and afflicting them. Paul says, in the same
way, the Almighty will come with the positive infliction of retributive
justice. affliction from the hand of God.
My friend, I don't know what that means, but that scares me.
The hand that threw galaxies into space to have that hand
turned against me. If you're at all awake, and if
you've not totally seared your conscience, Surely it strikes
a note of terror in your heart. What will it be to have the Almighty
become my afflictor? And there is a second specific
element of their treatment, not only affliction from the hand
of God, but vengeance from the Son of God. Verse 8. To catch the thread of thought,
grammatically let me read starting with verse six, 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.
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. 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. Therefore, in Romans 12, we are
commanded not to return evil for evil, for God says vengeance
is mine. I will repay, but vengeance is
his. 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. My friend, that 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. Think of that. 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 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? Feed my
sheep. Do you love me? Take care of
my sheep. Do you love me? 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. 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. The commentators debate the matter
not because the grammar is not clear, but because the concept
is strange to some of them. He uses the preposition which
means away from, and he uses the noun that is the standard
noun for face. Now sometimes it has a figurative
meaning from the presence, but here's the picture. They shall
suffer punishment even banishment away from the faith of 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 shall be in their foreheads. They shall follow the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth. The apnea, the pinnacle of the
delight of the saints, is expressed by John. We shall see Him as
He is. And what is the hell of hell? My friend, it is banishment from
this person. Those words depart from me. Me. Who is he? Source of all
light, all 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 Lord's Day evening, will be revealed in His saints at
His coming, when He, who has begun a good work in them, will
bring it to its completion at His return. And there will be
the outshining of His saving power when the many sons whom
He's brought to glory are totally conformed to His image. But now
he says, for the wicked, for those who know not God, obey
not the gospel of God, love not the people of God, will be banishment
from that outshining of the power of God in redemption. 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. 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 and the fire is never quenched. As long as the redeemed behold
his face with joy and gaze upon his glorious might with wonder,
so the ungodly shall feel the righteous judgment of God banished
from the glory of his might and from the beauty of his My friend
listened 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 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 a resurrected body will either
be banished into punishment eternal, or life eternal? I ask, do you reflect upon it?
May God have mercy. If you're so besottened 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 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. 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
forms. 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
was to comfort saints. You say, that's a strange kind
of comfort, but it is. 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 yet suffer, that's a token that a day is
coming when God's going to even the score. 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 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. 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, 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
close this morning, my friend, If your dealings were only with
Me, there's something you could bear if they were with ten thousand
fellow mortals. But what will you do when the
Almighty Son of God is unveiled with the angels of His power? And He summons an angel to take
you and to bind you hand and foot and 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 And
so I've 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. 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 the gospel
of God. You cannot claim ignorance like
the hordes of the nation. You've heard the gospel, the
truth concerning Christ in 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. 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 amongst those pious ones, you know, who 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, 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, a willing, and an able Savior. And we 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 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. 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 oh God,
this frightens us this morning. And yet they seem to have no
capacity to fear for their own souls. Have mercy upon them,
oh our God. Give them no rest. Give them
no rest. Give them no rest, we pray, until
they repent and believe the gospel. 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.