Let us turn in our Bibles today
to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul
and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians
in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is made,
because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the love of every
one of you all toward each other aboundeth. so that we ourselves
glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and
faith and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,
which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God,
that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which
you also suffer, 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, inflaming 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. Wherefore also we
pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of
this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness
and the work of faith with power. That the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be glorified in you and you in him according to the
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I brought a message
last week that I entitled A word to the troubled. And I took my
text from the words in verse seven, to you who are troubled,
rest with us. A word to the troubled. And in
that message, we established that these words were written
to believers, to Christians, to God's children. that God's
children, God's people do experience troubles in this world. In fact, David the psalmist said,
many are the afflictions of the righteous. And I named four areas
in which Christians may experience trouble. I said that there's
so many different ways that God's people have trouble in this world,
but I just wanted to name those four areas. The first area is
one that every child of God has trouble in, and that is the area
of sin. Sin. Every child of God has a
new nature, but he also has that old nature, that sinful nature
called the old man. And then we thought about the
fact that some people experience trouble in this world because
of unsaved relations, that is, family members who are unsaved. And then thirdly, the fact that
this body in which we live experiences many troubles in this world,
sicknesses and old age and things of that nature. And then lastly,
I said there's trouble that believers experience by hard providences. Hard providences. Hard in the
sense hard to accept, hard to understand. But today's message
I'm going to entitle another word to the trouble. Another
word to the trouble. I said that the apostle exhorts
believers in trouble to do two things. You notice the words
in the text, to you who are troubled, rest with us. The first thing,
and this is the only thing I actually spoke about last time, we are
to rest in Christ. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's
the rest that we have when we first come to Christ and the
burden of sin is removed. But he also said, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest." And as we learn of Christ, the Apostle
Paul said, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me. And he said that just after he
made the statement, I have learned to be content, whether I'm abounding
or whether I'm abased in this world. Whatever God's providence
is in this world, we are to rest in Christ. We are to learn of
Him, and He gives us rest. He is our rest. But I say that
the apostle admonishes believers also in this matter to be conscious
to be conscious and to be aware of the revelation of Jesus Christ,
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this means that the
trouble, whatever the trouble is, is temporary. Whatever the
trouble you may be in is temporary. Notice the scripture. And to
you who are troubled, first of all, rest with us. But now, he
says, he mentions the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. when
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. First this morning, what does
the Bible declare about the revelation of Jesus Christ? Now we refer
to this as his second coming. His first coming, of course,
is when he was born a little over 2,000 years ago of the Virgin
Mary, but the scriptures teach us that he's coming again, the
revelation of Jesus Christ. There are three things about
his second coming that I'm going to mention to us today. We are
taught in the word of God. That's what we come to hear,
isn't it? The word of God. When we meet
here on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, we
don't come here to socialize, though we enjoy fellowship with
one another. But primarily, we come to worship
God. And part of that worship is studying
the word of God. So what does the word of God
teach us, declaring to us about the revelation, the second coming
of Jesus Christ? Number one, we are taught that
his coming will be personal. His coming will be personal.
If you want to turn with me to Acts chapter 1, we read about his ascension. After he arose from the dead
and appeared by many infallible proofs to his disciples over
a 40-day period, On the 40th day, as we read here in Acts
chapter one, beginning in verse six, when they therefore will
come together, that is the Lord Jesus and his disciples, they
ask of him saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it's not
for you to know the times or the seasons, which the father
hath put in his own power. But you shall receive power after
that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. And we know that he's
referring there to the day of Pentecost. That's 10 days later
when he poured out his spirit upon his church and his disciples
received the power These were weak men in themselves, as all
men are, really, weak in themselves. And yet, by the power of God
the Holy Spirit, they became witnesses, flaming witnesses
of Christ in Jerusalem, first of all, and Judea, Samaria, and
unto the ends of the earth. And the gospel of Jesus Christ
has gone around the world. It has gone into all nations,
all places. God the Holy Spirit has sent
the gospel. But now notice, and when he had
spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and
a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked
steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood
by them in white apparel, angels we believe, which also said,
you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? This
same Jesus. The revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The first thing that I mention
is we are taught that His coming will be personal. This same Jesus. which is taken up from you into
heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go
into heaven. When I think about his personal
coming, this same Jesus, I think about his words that he spoke
on the day of his resurrection when he first appeared to the
disciples. They were gathered together and
the doors were shut and the Lord Jesus Christ came in among them
and they were terrified. They were afraid. They had seen
the Lord Jesus Christ upon the tree. They had heard His cry,
no doubt, from the tree. It is finished. And they had
seen His body taken down from the tree and laid in the tomb.
And now word has come to them on this third day that He has
arisen, that He's alive. And they are afraid, and so when
He appears unto them, He says, be not afraid, it is I. Behold
my hands and my feet. This same Jesus, this same Jesus
who was crucified shall so come again. His coming is going to
be personal. He said, behold my hands and
my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me. In other words, touch
me, told Thomas who was not with him that first night. later,
eight days later, reach hither thy hand. He showed himself alive,
personally, the same Jesus, the same Jesus who was crucified. And those marks, when he showed
them his hands and his feet, they're the only reminder in
heaven of sin. Those marks, my friends, speak
to us of his love that show us and show his disciples at that
time that yes, that body that was sacrificed on the tree, it
was a sacrifice. That's what it was. It wasn't
an example. It was a sacrifice. It was a
propitiation for the sins of his people. And yes, he has put
away the sins of all of His chosen people. They're gone. His coming
is going to be personal. Rest with us. Be conscious. Be aware. Whatever trouble you
are in, it's only temporary. The Lord is going to be revealed
from heaven. His coming is personal. And second, we are taught that
His coming will be sudden and visible. Personal, yes. Sudden, visible. If you want
to look at this verse in Matthew chapter 24, these are his words. In Matthew chapter 24 and verse
30. And then shall appear the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And verse 27, for as the lightning
cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, So shall
also the coming of the Son of Man be. His coming is compared
to the lightning which flashes across the sky. It's compared
to the lightning to remind us that it's going to be clear to
the eyes of men, and it's going to be swift. Several places in
the scripture we're told that his coming will be like a thief
in the night. And a thief does not announce
his coming as it was in the days of Noah, the scripture says. People were eating and drinking,
buying and selling, giving in marriage until Noah went into
the ark. And his coming is going to be
personal, it's going to be sudden. It's going to be visible. Every
eye shall see Him. And the third thing about His
coming, we're taught His coming will be glorious. That verse
30 of 24 that I read, they shall see the Son of Man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. When our Lord
came the first time, He came in great humility. He came in
great humility. He came, he said, not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Think about this, as low, as
mean as his first coming was, so great shall be his second
coming. When he comes in great glory,
with all the holy angels. He came the first time as a servant
of Jehovah. Remember that passage in Isaiah
chapter 42. You see, as the surety of the
covenant, the everlasting covenant that God made, He, Jesus Christ,
the God-man, He came as a servant of Jehovah. And that's the reason
in John, he says, my father is greater than I. not in his relationship
in the Trinity. There's one essence. God is one. There are three persons
in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each of
them all have the same attributes because there are three persons
in the one God, and one is not greater than the other. But in
His coming the first time, He came into this world as the Servant
of Jehovah, as God-Man. And then He said, My Father is
greater than I. But it was as the Servant of
Jehovah. That's the way He came the first
time, but He's not coming the second time as a Servant. I'm
so thankful He came the first time as a Servant, aren't you?
He said, I came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give my life a ransom for many. And yes, men were allowed to
mistreat him. They were allowed to beat him,
to mock him, to crucify him. Yes, in the purpose of God. They were allowed to do that.
He came as a servant. But when He comes a second time
in glory, He's not coming as a servant. He's not coming in
relation to sin. In Hebrews chapter 9, let me
read this passage here in Hebrews chapter 9. It speaks of His coming. Verse 24, we read, For Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us. That's where He is now,
in the presence of God. And He appears there for us,
that is, for His people. And listen, just as sure as He's
there, all of the members of His body, we too will be there. I read this years ago, and I'm
sure you've heard me say it before, but you cannot drown. You've all heard you can drown
in just a few inches of water. Well, that's true. But you cannot
drown as long as your head is above water. Right? You can be up to here. You're
not going to drown. And Christ is our head, he's
our life, and we are members of his body. And he appears now
in the presence of God for us. And just as sure as he's there
now, one day we who are members of his body, we too shall be
there. But notice, read on. Nor yet
that he should offer himself often as the high priest entered
into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now once in the end of the world, this is 2,000 years ago,
once in the end of that Jewish world, hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall
He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. I said He
came the first time in reference to sin, to be the sacrifice for
the sins of His people. But when He comes a second time,
when He comes in glory, He's not coming in reference to sin. He's not coming as a servant.
No, no. My friends, He's coming as a
judge. As a judge, all judgment has
been committed unto him. His appearing is glorious. Have you ever witnessed maybe
on television or something a movie where there's a lot of dignitaries,
maybe kings and presidents? congressmen and different people,
ambassadors, and as they come into the banquet hall, they are
announced. They're announced. The Lord Jesus
Christ, when he comes again, is going to be announced. There's
a trump of God. The trump of God is going to
sound. voice of the archangel, and he
shall appear in glory. So his coming, if you're, whatever
trouble you are in, it's only temporary. He's coming again,
and his coming is personal, and it's sudden, and it's glorious. Now second, what does the Bible
declare shall take place at his coming? Well in our text here,
we see in regard to those who obey not the gospel. Verse 8. In flaming fire taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And I ask you this morning, have
you obeyed the gospel? Have you obeyed the gospel? Let
me be clear, as the Word of God is, if he were to come right
now, and you have not obeyed the gospel, he will come in flaming
fire, taking vengeance upon you. That's what the Word of God says,
isn't it? Read it again. Verse 7, and to you who are troubled
rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels, that's his glorious coming, in flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. How does a person obey
the gospel? A person obeys the gospel when
he believes the gospel. Believes the gospel. Paul said,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation unto everyone that believeth. Those who believe
not the gospel shall be punished, the scripture here says, with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. We, listen, and I'm just as serious
as I know how to be when I preach, but my friends, we can't even
begin to imagine what it would be like, what it's going to be
like to be exiled from the presence of God. God is present in this, His creation. And even lost people experience
the blessings The mercies of God. His mercy, the scripture
says, is over all His works. Can you imagine what it will
be like to be cast into outer darkness away from the presence
of God? The presence of God. Everlasting
fire, the scripture here says. The Bible teaches that there
shall be degrees of punishment It does. In Luke chapter 12,
47 and 48, our Lord said, and that servant which knew his Lord's
will, and that's all of us here today, we know our Lord's will. What is his will? That we repent
and believe the gospel. That servant that knew his Lord's
will and prepared not Neither did according to his will shall
be beaten with many stripes. I said there are degrees of punishment,
no doubt, in hell. But he that knew not, and sometimes
I've been asked this question, what about a person who's never
heard the gospel? What about a person in a land
where the gospel has never come? Well, our Lord clearly here teaches,
he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall
be beaten with few stripes. For to whomsoever much is given
of him shall much be required. And much is given to every one
of us here today. The gospel of Jesus Christ. It's
given unto us. Have we obeyed the gospel? Do
we believe the gospel this morning? Someone said, well, I've been
thinking about it. Well, you haven't believed. I'm
concerned about it. You should be. But believe. When that jailer asked Paul and
Silas that night, men and brethren, what must I do to be saved? That's the most important question
you will ever consider. Most important question I will
ever consider. What is required to be saved? What is required to have my sins
put away? To be reconciled unto God? Men
and brethren, what must I do to be saved? They answered, believe. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's what's
going to happen as far as lost people are concerned when he
comes again. Those who do not obey the gospel
and notice they do not know God. That's the only way any of us
may know God. Look at the verse again. In flaming
fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God. How does a
person know God? Through Christ. He's the one
mediator between God and man. Through Him. Through believing
in Him. Trusting in Him. Looking to Him. Eating His flesh and drinking
His blood. Coming to Him. All these different
words are used, but they all mean the same thing. Look, he
said, look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth,
for I am God and there is no other. Thank God he also said,
I am a just God and a savior. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you believe the gospel,
believe Christ, that's how you come to know God. But second, in regard to those
who obey the gospel, to these Christians who were in trouble,
who were in trouble, notice that believers and saints are the
same persons in verse 10. When he shall come to be glorified
in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe. Don't be misled by men who teach
that they have the power to make saints. No man, no preacher has the power
to make a believer or to make a saint. That's God's work. I
can't make a believer. I can't make a saint. And neither
can any other man or any group of men, any church. That's God's
work. He's the only one who can give
a new heart to believe the gospel. Believers are saints. Two things we are told will take
place with those who believe the gospel when the Lord comes
again. First of all, they shall admire
Him. Look at that. Verse 10, when
He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired
in all them that believe. This will be the first time when
this takes place. This will be the first time when
all of God's elect, when all of His chosen, when His church
are all gathered together and all have a new body, be the first
time that all of us together look upon Him. He will be admired. Amen? He's going to be admired. Oh, we look forward to that day.
He's going to be admired. Admired for who he is, God's
darling son. Admired for what he has done,
saving his people. Admired on that day. At the same
time, we will be glorified. We will be glorified. The Apostle
John said it like this, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Right now, today, those of us
who know Him, who trust in Christ, now are we the sons of God, and
it doth not yet appear what we shall be. We don't know how this
glorified body, how it's going to be, but we're sons of God
now, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is, to be admired. This is what's going to happen
for the saints, for believers. They're going to admire him and
at the same time they're going to be made like him, a glorified
body. Lastly, third, what does the
Bible declare about the Christian's trouble in the light of eternity? Whatever trouble you may be in,
what does the Bible declare about your trouble if you are a child
of God today in the light of eternity? Paul sums it up in
Romans 8 in verse 18. He said, for I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. In comparison
to eternity, whatever trouble you may be in, it's light, it's
short. It's not going to last forever.
It's temporary. I pray that the Lord would bless
his word to all of us here today. I want us to sing hymn number
332 as our closing hymn.