Turn with me, if you would, back
to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. I pray the Lord might speak today. Our brother just prayed for him
to speak. And I pray he might speak today.
I pray the Lord might open my eyes today, open all of our eyes. Let's begin reading in verse
six. Seeing it is a righteous thing
with God. To recompense tribulation. To them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled.
Rest with us. When the Lord Jesus. Shall be
revealed from heaven. With his mighty angels. In flaming fire. Taking vengeance on them that
know not God. And that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction. From the presence of the Lord. And from the glory of his power. when he shall come to be glorified
in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because
our testimony among you was believed in that day. Now that's something,
isn't it? Last Sunday evening, A brother
brought a message to us titled Salvation in Christ. And that's what I would like
to preach on this morning. Salvation in Christ, that's what
we preach every time, isn't it? That's what we preach every single
time. That is the message of the gospel. The gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That is a sinner's only hope. Salvation is in Christ. Life is in Christ. When I was writing this message
out, I thought, let's go ahead and go straight to the punchline.
Let's just tell it all immediately. What if He returns before I finish
this message? You know, John was preaching.
John the Baptist was preaching and all of a sudden he cried,
Behold the Lamb of God. What if he comes back before
the message is over? Life is in Christ. Life is in
Christ. All the blessings of God are
in Christ. The good news of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Our brother used Genesis 6 for
a text on the story of Noah. and the ark, and the judgment
of God that came down on the world. And he clearly declared
that that ark was Christ. That ark was Christ. God destroyed this world with
a flood of water. And the reason He did is because
of the sin that the world was committing. He saw the wickedness
of man that it was great and he said, I'm going to destroy
man. I'm going to destroy man. But he gave a witness to all
of that before he did it. The scripture says that our Lord
has never left himself without a witness. Aren't we so thankful
for that? Never a preacher, a God called
preacher to declare the only place of safety. The only place
of salvation from the wrath to come. Thank God he's raised up
witnesses all over this world. But do you know how many witnesses
he had in the days of Noah? I hope this makes an impression
on us. I hope this is striking. Some say that the earth was just
as populated then as it is today. I think about this. Do you know
how many God called witnesses he had in the days of Noah? One. This earth was full of preachers. This earth was full of preachers,
but God only had one true witness. Noah, the scripture says, was
a preacher of righteousness. A preacher of righteousness.
He preached judgment is coming and there's only one place to
hide. He didn't stand up and say everybody's
going to pretty well be okay. You got all these different places
and we'll make it work somehow. Y'all just come on in. We'll
all make it work. He cried there's one place of safety. One place. One place. I don't like your message Noah.
doesn't change the fact that there's one place of safety. And I'm telling you because I
love you. There's one place of safety. He cried, you must be
in Christ for 100 years. He cried, do you see this arc?
You must be in the arc. It's our only hope. I'm sure some people say, well,
I'll help him out a little bit. I'll go take care of the grounds
around the ark. That won't help you. I've done a lot for him. I had
a bunch of trees on my property and I let him cut those down.
That won't help you. That won't help you. You must
be in the ark. You must be in the ark. God destroyed
the entire world once before. And he is going to do it one
more time. The first time God physically destroyed this world
by water. And he's given us a promise to
never destroy it that way ever again. Never again. The rainbow
is the token of his covenant. He said, I'll never destroy it
by water ever again. But on the day that he returns. On the day he returns, you know,
people think this is fairytale. On the day that he returns. He is going to gather his elect
to himself, God has an elect people, a chosen people. And
he chose to say that he gave to Christ and Christ redeemed
him, spirit is calling him. And God is going to gather all
of His elect to Himself. And He said that everything and
everyone that remains on this earth after His elect are called
to Himself, every bit of it will be destroyed by fire. Now let
me show you some of the things that our Lord has said about
this in His Word. Go with me to Matthew 13. Here in this chapter, our Lord
told the parable of the wheat and the tares. A man sowed wheat
in his field, and the enemy came and sowed tares with the wheat. Verse 36 says, Then Jesus sent
the multitude away, and went into the house, and His disciples
came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares
of the field. Tell us spiritually what you
were saying. What was the spiritual meaning
of that parable? Verse 37, and he answered and
said unto them, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. That's Christ. The field is the world. The good
seed are the children of the kingdom, his people, his elect.
But the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy
that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world. And the reapers are the angels.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall
it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth
His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things
that offend. and them which do iniquity, and
shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. Who hath ears
to hear, let him hear." Our Lord said, whoever has been given
ears to hear, let him hear. Now, He spoke on this in many
places. Let me show you one more. Turn
with me to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter 3 verse 1 says, This second
epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir
up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be
mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets,
and of the commandment of us the apostles, and of the Lord
and Savior. He said, I speak these things
to stir up our remembrance. of the things that were written.
Verse three, knowing this first, that there shall come in the
last days scoffers walking after their own lust and saying, where
is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the
heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and
in the water whereby the world that then was being overflowed
with water perish. He said they're ignorant, they're
willingly ignorant of the fact that God by his own words spoke
this world into existence and then destroyed the world that
he created. They're willingly, not just,
they haven't just forgot, he said they're willingly ignorant
of the fact that God destroyed the whole world by water. Verse seven, but the heavens
and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord is a thousand
years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long
suffering to us word. The us word. His people not willing
that any of the us word should perish. but that all of the usward
should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to
be in all holy conversation and godliness? looking for and hasting
unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. This judgment of fire is coming. It is coming. It is definitely
coming. Hebrews 10 says, It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God is coming. Judgment is coming. God is coming. Hebrews 12 says, Our God is a
consuming fire. God will bring one more physical
judgment to this world. And this judgment is an eternal
judgment. This one is an eternal judgment.
He is going to return. And he is going to gather some
to himself. To eternal glory. And he is going
to cast out all others into the fire of an eternal judgment. He said in our text, it's an
everlasting destruction. A destruction that never ends,
it's a destruction that never ends. Now. What makes the difference? What makes the difference in
a soul enduring eternal damnation? Or eternal glory? The answer
is Christ. Christ. He is the difference. He is that place of safety. I speak in current terms. He is right now the only hope
we have. just like Noah and his family,
securely hiding in the shelter and the safety of that ark. When
God's judgment rained down, there they sat. God poured out all of His destruction
on the world, which included Noah and his family. And every soul that was standing
on this earth bore the beating of God's judgment. Except for eight souls. The ark bore the beating for
eight souls, God poured out his wrath. He poured out all of his
judgment and the ark bore the beating. for eight souls, bore
it in their place. Noah was a sinner just like everybody
else. The scripture says Noah found
grace. What that means is Noah got something
he did not deserve. Well, see, Noah was a righteous
man. Noah was a just man. No, no, no. Noah found grace. That's what grace means. Getting
what you don't deserve. His wife was a sinner just like
everybody else. His sons and his sons' wives
were sinners just like everybody else. But God put Noah and his
sin, and his wife and her sin, and his three sons and their
sin, and his three sons' wives and their sin. He put all of
it in the ark. He put all of it in the ark.
And then God took out His vengeance. on all eight of them. You know
when God poured that rain down on that ark? You know what He
was pouring down that vengeance on? All eight of them. All eight
of them. Why did that rain hit the ark?
All eight of them. He poured out all of His wrath
on all eight of them. Noah suffered God's wrath. Noah got exactly what God said
was coming to him. But he was in the ark. All because of the ark. They were saved. They lived. They safely made it through.
It's not that judgment is coming to some, but not to others. No,
no, no. Judgment's coming to all. All
have sinned. But God's going to put some in
the ark. And he's going to beat on that arc. He did beat on that
arc. The arc was the difference. The only hope that this world
had the first time judgment came. That's the only hope this world
has right now. There is one hiding place, one
place of safety. Christ, our arc. The gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The good news of our Lord Jesus
Christ is that God took some sinners and sealed them up in
Christ. Just like Noah and his family,
they were just sitting there, the door was open. How did that
door get closed? How did it get shut? God shut
the door. God sealed them in. And God took
some sinners and He sealed them up in Christ. Christ said, I'm
the door and God shut it. And on the cross of Calvary,
He poured out all of His fury and all of His wrath on their
sins by bringing all the fire, that
consuming fire, down on His own Son. He recompensed tribulation to
His own Son. He took His vengeance out on
His own Son. He punished His own Son. He did everything to the sinners
he chose that he said he was going to do to them. He did not
go back on his word. That's the thing to understand.
He did not go back on. Well, I tell you what, I choose
to sweep yours under the rug. No, he did not go back on his
word. He poured out all the wrath on
them that he said he was going to pour out. But he did it by
pouring it out on his son. He poured it out while they sat
in safety. They sat in Christ. Now, for
every soul that was protected in Christ, that judgment is over. A dear sister in Christ sent
me a text this morning thanking me for a message. And as in our response, I said
to her, I was thinking the other day how thankful I am for the
message God has given me to preach, because I have the greatest news
that could ever be told. I have the happiest message ever
told. If this was my message, God's
coming, you better straighten it up. Oh, that's terrible. I
can't straighten it up. That's the worst message a person
could ever hear. But this is the message that
I get to preach based on the Word of God. In Christ the judgment's
over. Yes, He's coming back. And He
is coming in fire. And He is coming in judgment.
On all those that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in Him, it's over. How did it feel? It's over. The sin is purged and gone. Yeah, but I still feel it. Well,
God says it's gone. In Christ, God said it's gone.
Let God be true and me be a liar. The sin is gone. The fear is
gone. Everything that kept us from
God has been removed. You know, when Christ died on
that cross, he cried, it is finished. He bowed his head and he gave
up the ghost. What did God the Father do at
that exact moment? He laid hold of the veil in the
temple that kept every one of his children out of the holiest
of holies, and he ripped it in half, said, come on in. Everything
that kept us from God is removed. The righteousness that we need
to stand before God is earned. How did we sinners earn a perfect
righteousness before God? Same way our sin was purged in
Christ. In Him, everything is perfectly
finished. Here's the message of the gospel.
In Him, everything is perfectly finished. It is perfectly over. The judgment is finished. Righteousness
is finished. Perfect obedience to His law
of commandments is finished. Did you know that God says, if
I'm going to stand in His presence, I've got to perfectly obey this
law? Did you know in Christ I have? As He walked this earth in perfect
obedience to the holy law of God, I walked in Him. And God
looks at me in Him and says, well done. God looked at me in
Christ on the cross and said, damned. But in Him it's finished. Every
work that needs to be done is finished. Here's the question
everybody wants to know. What must I do? What must I do? What must I do to be saved? The
gospel comes. It's done. It's done. Salvation is finished. How? In Christ. All right. Here are two very
important questions. How can I be in Christ? Two very important questions.
How can I be in Christ? John 1.13 tells us. Romans 9.16
tells us. Ephesians 2.5 tells us. Every
page in this book tells us. Let me show it to you in 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30 says, But of Him, who? God. Of Him, are you in Christ Jesus? who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. God puts men and women in Christ. It's not something that they
do, it's something He did. God taught that to Jonah by putting
him in the belly of a whale for three days. And after that whale
spit him back out, Jonah ran into Nineveh crying, salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation, I promise y'all, salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation from this terrible
wrath. This wrath is terrible. Oh, it's
terrible. Salvation from this terrible
wrath is of the Lord. It's not something we do. It's
something he did. All right. Now, if that's the
case, here's my second and last question. How can I know if I'm in Christ? How can I be in Christ? That's
something God does. That's God's choice. That's his
doing. How can I know if he put me in
Christ? The Apostle Paul told us back
in our text. Go with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 1. He said in verse 7, you'll rest
with us. You will rest with us. You'll believe God's Word. You will believe God's Son. You
will believe in and you will believe on the fact that He accomplished
everything that this Word says He accomplished. With no buts
about it. You will believe that He accomplished
it for you. And here's the reason why. It's
because this Word says He accomplished it for ungodly sinners who deserve tribulation, vengeance,
and punishment. And you will believe that that's
what you are and that's what you deserve. And then through the Gospel message
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the good news of what He did for
unworthy sinners. Through the preaching of that
message, God's Holy Spirit will speak peace to your heart. He will speak peace to your heart. He'll say, Dear sinner, rest
with us. He'll cause you to rest. He'll
cause you to look to Christ. He'll cause you to trust Christ.
He will cause you to stop looking to yourself. You'll see what's
in here, and you'll say, there's no hope there. There's nothing
to trust in here. And then you'll see Him for everything
that He is, and everything that He's done, and how satisfied
God is, and you'll say, that's it. That's it. And you'll look to Him, and you'll
trust Him, and you will. anxiously await his return. You'll fall in love with him.
This is what it means. You know, people fear the day
of judgment. Don't come back. I'm happy right here. As soon
as you see Christ as he is, you will fall so in love with this
man. You'll want to a run and tell everybody, come see a man.
I'm going to show you a man. And you will so anxiously await
his return. You will long for the glorious
day that he comes back just so you can see him face to face
and say, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord, for
saving my soul. Are you looking forward to telling
him that? Oh, you could have chosen anybody and you chose
me. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole, look at me, I look like you. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation, so rich and so free. On that day, that'll
be the heart of all of God's people. They'll be so excited.
They're going to be so excited when He comes back. In everything
that it says He's coming back in, God's people are going to
be so excited. They're going to be standing there with their
arms like this. Verse 10 says, When He shall
come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them
that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that
day. Not only is He going to be glorified
by His saints, they're going to give Him all glory. Not only is He going to be admired
by all of them that believe, because of the beauty of what
He did for His people. I can't describe it like I wish
I understood it. But because of the beauty of
what He did for His people, He is not only going to be glorified
by His saints, He's going to be glorified in His saints. He's going to be admired in all
them that believe. As He is, they will truly be.
He said, My glory I give to them. And every child of God is going
to cry this. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. We're all going to cry with one
accord, oh with glory in the Lord. Glory to the Lord. What a glorious day that's going
to be. Let's all stand together.