At this time, kids can go to Children's Church and go ahead and open your Bibles with me to the book of 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. I know we've been studying 1 Thessalonians for quite some time, but today we're in 2 Thessalonians, different book. If you're using one of the Pew Bibles, that's page 989, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. We're gonna read verses three through 10. But before we read God's word, let's pray. Pray with me. Mighty God in heaven, we love your word. We believe it's living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, capable of piercing into the division between soul and spirit, joint and marrow. Lord, we pray that your word would do its work now. Lord, please, by your spirit, regenerate those who don't know you. Edify those of us who do, give all of us faith in your word, particularly as we think about the second coming of Jesus. Please give us a conscious awareness that he is coming again, and that we need to be living in light of that. Help me to preach with clarity and power. In Jesus we pray, amen. 2 Thessalonians 1, reading verses three through 10. This is God's word. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right. because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted, as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. May God give us ears to hear his word. Our world is perpetually obsessed with the end of the world. You see evidence of this? I find this so fascinating. We think of ourselves as evolved animals. We think of it as a purely materialistic universe. And yet, nonetheless, there's this obsession with how human history is going to end. Literally every single year, new predictions are released about how the world's going to end. And I kind of love collecting these. Over the years, I've got this kind of running list of oddball predictions of the end of the world that obviously none of them have come to pass yet. Thousands of people, sometimes millions, are led astray by these predictions. They often cost billions of dollars for people to prepare for them. And yet again, without fail, they've all been proven wrong. For example, for Notre Dame, you've heard of him before? He famously predicted the world would end in 1999. Many my age remember Y2K and how we thought it would be the cataclysmic end of all civilization. In 2001, William Hutton predicted a worldwide earthquake that would cause the Earth to implode. In 2003, it was predicted that the Earth would be demolished by crashing into the planet Nibiru. In 2008, a number of scientists thought the Hadrian atomic collider would create a black hole in the center of our planet and consume the universe. In 2011, Harold Camping claimed the second coming of Jesus would happen on May 21st, 2011. The Mayan calendar claimed the world would end on December 21st, 2012. David Mead claimed the earth would be destroyed in 2027 by crashing into a mythological planet called Planet X. Those are just a small handful of literally dozens. You know, I had to think through how many of these you actually want to hear, especially since they haven't come to pass, but it is kind of interesting to collect the oddball, bizarre conspiracy theories about how human history is going to end, and they're coming out continually. Every single year more of these are made. In recent years, the end of the world has been specifically tied to climate change and global warming. I think this is just sort of the most recent manifestation of this obsession with the end of the world. So many, especially young people, think the world is literally about to end due to melting polar ice caps. Summarizing the results of a recent poll, listen to what Martin Burillas writes. He says, more than half of young people, pardon me, more than half of young Americans fear the end of humanity is near because of climate change, according to a recent survey. According to a recent Rasmussen survey, 29% of all American voters believe it's at least somewhat likely that the earth will become uninhabitable and humanity will be wiped out in the next 15 years. Half, 51% of voters under 35, believe it's at least somewhat likely humanity will be wiped out in the next decade or so. Just pause and realize that's what the majority of our unbelieving neighbors think. Keep that in mind as we desire to reach them with the gospel, that this is the foundation that they're building on. They think that the world's about to be destroyed by global warming. Just as an aside, according to another survey, though millions think the world's about to end due to climate change, guess how much money the average person was willing to donate to fight climate change? 26 bucks. So they think it's this existential threat that's about to destroy the entire universe, but they'd only devote $26 to fighting it. I think that raises all sorts of questions. Well, suffice it to say, our world is obsessed with the end of human history. Whether it be due to global warming, nuclear war, some sort of asteroid collision, the great earthquake that we all think is coming, some man-made virus that wipes out the human race, people are eager to know when and how human history will come to an end. If you're here today and you're not a Christian, you're not a follower of Jesus, We're glad you're here. Thank you for coming. In fact, there's nowhere we'd rather you be on a Sunday morning at 1045. But I'm curious, if you're not a follower of Jesus, how do you think human history is going to come to a conclusion? I mean, certainly you've got some idea here, some inkling of how things are going to wrap up. How do you think human history will conclude? Now, in a world like this, in a world that's so obsessed with the end of history, Christianity is so very helpful. Christianity is helpful for a wide variety of reasons, but not the least of which is that we have the true definitive answer to this question. The world, as we know it, will end when and only when the Lord Jesus returns physically, bodily to earth. The Bible could not be clearer on this. Listen to 2 Peter 3.10. The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Then the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. You can almost imagine that. It's almost like some sort of great universal nuclear conflagration. Verse 13, but according to his promise, we are awaiting a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Realize, brothers and sisters, according to the Christian worldview, this then is the event that will conclude human history as we know it, the return of our Lord Jesus. And get this, no nuclear war, no alien attack, no ecological disaster can prevent that or change that. I hope you've read the last book of the Bible. Jesus is going to come again to a planet that's still got people on it, meaning that we aren't going to be able to so destroy the human race that nobody's here when Jesus comes again. Well, to help us this morning in thinking about Jesus' second coming, We're continuing a tradition that we've been maintaining here for at least 15 years. For at least 15 years, we've concluded every year with a sermon on Jesus' second coming. And my goal is to deepen our faith in the trustworthiness of God, in his ability to control and guide history, and ultimately to build our faith that God is a trustworthy God. And we need not be terrified by ecological disasters or human viruses or nuclear war. Yes, some of those things might happen. But in the end, Jesus is going to win, and God is still going to be on his throne, and Jesus is going to build his church. Therefore, we need not be shaken. We're going to be looking today at 2 Thessalonians 1. If you're not there, turn there with me. If I could just quickly put 2 Thessalonians 1 in context, we think the book of 2 Thessalonians, and if you were with us in our series on 1 Thessalonians, you'll remember the difficulty I have in continually pronouncing Thessalonians. It's not a word that just flows off your tongue. But we think that this book was written roughly 50 AD. We think that this was one of the very first books written in the New Testament. Now, like we saw in our studies in 1 Thessalonians, the Thessalonian Christians were very young believers. When they received this letter, they had been saved anywhere from between two and six years. So very young believers. Chances are most of you have been Christians longer than the Thessalonians had been. Furthermore, these believers were experiencing active aggressive persecution, and that's going to come out in the passage we're looking at today. Just imagine you're in a congregation and some of the members, I mean, you might even look around now, imagine some of the members being imprisoned for their faith, beaten in the streets for their faith, maybe even killed because they follow Jesus. That's the congregation that this letter is sent to. Now, in all likelihood, this congregation was probably very small, especially in light of today's expectations. Most of the churches in the New Testament we think were roughly 30 to maybe 60 people, so not gigantic congregations, and yet true churches nonetheless. These believers they probably met in various homes and they were overseen by maybe three or four elders and served by maybe three or four deacons. That's the church in Thessalonica. Now one last detail. We know from both first and second Thessalonians that these believers were somewhat easily confused. They did not have the Jewish background of believers say in Jerusalem, but they came out of a very pagan background. They were naive. They were easily led astray. And because of that, Paul's teaching in both 1 and 2 Thessalonians is not terribly technical or complicated. They're actually great books that you might use in discipling a new believer. Just some basics to walk through. Well, with that context in mind, the first thing I'd like you to notice from 2 Thessalonians 1 is the purposes of Jesus' second coming. We'll see this in verses 6 and 7. Paul clarifies for the Thessalonians and for us two purposes behind why Jesus is coming back to earth. In verse six, we read this, God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Now let's pause there. The first purpose behind Jesus' return that we see in this passage is one of retribution. Retribution. I mean, Jesus says he will repay with affliction those who afflict you. Now, like I said, the Thessalonian Christians were experiencing active, harsh persecution. And one of the truths that Paul reminds them of to comfort them in their affliction is that when Jesus comes again, those who are persecuting you will be brought to justice. Those who are afflicting you will be afflicted themselves by Jesus. Now, since this is the major focus of both verses 9 and 10, we'll delay our main discussion of that theme until then. But suffice it to say for now, our God is a God of perfect righteousness and justice, a God of perfect holiness. In fact, the Bible actually promises that every single solitary act of sin will be justly dealt with. Did you know that? Every single one. Even to the smallest degree, consider what Jesus says in Matthew 12, 36. I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every careless word they speak. So it's not just the great acts of genocide, not just the Holocaust, not just what took place in Israel on October 7th. No, every careless word you speak, you will answer for. And if you really let this sink in, that can be terrifying. And realize this holds true, again, for everybody in this room. you will answer for every evil act you've ever done without exception. You will answer for every impure thought you've ever thought, every unkind word you've ever spoken, every scent you wasted on sinful pleasures, every inappropriate movie you've ever watched, every indecent book you've ever read, every time you cheated on a test or cut corners at work. All of it will experience the righteous judgment of God. With God, there will be no sweeping things under the rug, no ignoring our faults because, oh no, we're human, no boys will be boys kind of thinking. Every single solitary act will be justly dealt with. God's justice demands this, and here's how it'll be dealt with. It'll be dealt with in one of two ways. These are the only two options. Either by unbelievers going to hell and suffering for those acts forever, or by embracing Jesus when sacrificed on the cross. Those are the only two options, but someone must deal with your sins. Now, since this is the case, since God will righteously deal with every single act of evil, this is why the Bible teaches us never to take revenge or to seek to take justice into our own hands. The Bible actually teaches this several times. Regardless of the offense committed against you, regardless of how deeply you've been hurt, regardless of how flagrantly you were offended, you never seek revenge. If, say, your spouse neglects you, Your son or daughter betrays you. Your boss takes advantage of you. Your classmate cheats you. You get bullied on the playground. You leave it into the hands of God. Now, oftentimes, there are rightful authorities that you can appeal to. You can call the police. You can talk to your teacher, and that's appropriate. But at the same time, you don't seek personal revenge for something that's committed to you. You entrust that to God. It's just like Romans 12, 19 says, beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. So this is the first purpose for Jesus' second coming, retribution. And again, we're gonna talk more about these themes in verses nine and 10. The second purpose for Jesus' return we see in verse seven. And the second purpose is one of relief. Relief, look at verse seven. And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Now I remind you that the Thessalonian Christians were experiencing active, hostile persecution. And because of that, some might think that the reason mentioned here only applies to those experiencing persecution. And since we aren't experiencing the same kind of persecution that the Thessalonians had been, maybe this doesn't apply to us. Well, we do know from other passages of scripture that when Jesus comes, he will bring relief from the curse to all who call upon his name, not just those who are being persecuted. For example, in Philippians 3.20, Paul promises us this, our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself. For those of us who are believers on the Lord Jesus, the very nanosecond we see Jesus, in the twinkling of an eye, we'll immediately experience the freedom and deliverance from all the consequences of sin. And I am so looking forward to that. I don't know about you, but the older I get and the more my body is turning into like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz, I'm like, Jesus, why don't you come right now? My back's hurting right now. Come back right now. I am really looking forward to that. Never again will you be persecuted for your faith. Never again will you suffer from backaches or headaches, cancer or COVID. Never again harassed, abused, bullied. In fact, our bodies will no longer be limited by any sin-related limitation. The second we see Jesus, it will be perfect relief for all of us who call on his name. And aren't you looking forward to that? I always imagine preaching to a more enthusiastic congregation. You know, you preach, you know, you see these sermon or, you know, YouTube videos of people preaching. They're like, yeah. And then, you know, that happens and you think, whatever. Hopefully you're paying attention. Rejoicing possibly in your hearts and because I mean seriously what we're talking about. Why is it and this is something I think about myself When I watch like a football game my kids are like what on earth happened to dad He's like, you know, I know I'm jumping up. But then again when I'm like meditating on this I'm like, oh cool. Why I don't know why we're like that but let's pray that God works by his spirit in our hearts that we would be filled with wonder love and praise of the things that God has done and will do anyway Since this is the kind of radical relief that will accompany Jesus' second coming, this is why the Bible regularly tells Christians to look forward to and even pray for Jesus' second coming. Did you know this? The Bible frequently calls us to look forward to and even pray for Jesus' second coming. And in fact, one evidence that God's Spirit is at work in your life is a longing to see Jesus. Titus 2.13, we wait for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Philippians 3.20, our citizenship is from heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 22.20, this is a prayer you should pray every day. Amen, come quickly, Lord Jesus. According to the Bible, it is a good and righteous thing to look forward to Jesus' second coming. This is the longing of a sailor out to sea, longing to get home to his family. The longing of a husband away on a long business trip, wanting to get home to his bride. The longing of Somebody lost in the jungles of Brazil wanting to get to civilization. If you've got any inkling of that when it comes to Jesus' second coming, take that as an evidence that God's spirit at work in your heart. This is going to sound harsh, but I know it's true. I know that for some of you, you claim to be Christians, you claim to call upon Jesus' name, but the thought of Jesus' second coming just seems downright miserable to you. You might not say it out loud, but you're thinking in your heart, to be totally honest, I'd rather if Jesus didn't come again in my lifetime. I wouldn't mind if it wasn't another thousand years from now. I'd prefer to just keep partying with my friends and playing endless hours of video games and fooling around with women and enjoying the pleasures of sin. So Jesus, please don't come again in my lifetime. Thank you very much. I got to say in love that if that's you, you are not a Christian regardless of what you profess. I don't care if you've prayed the sinner's prayer, walked the aisle a hundred times, maybe even been baptized in a good church. If the thought of Jesus' second coming is pure misery to you because it will separate you from your worldly fun, you're not a Christian. For again, it's a mark of God's Spirit working in somebody's heart that they look forward to and long for the return of Jesus, even a little bit. In addition to that, the Bible also considers this longing for Jesus' return as actually essential for growing in holiness. This is a theme that I've sort of only recently discovered. But the Bible considers a longing for Jesus' return as essential to fighting sin. In other words, if you want to successfully fight the sins that beset you, one strategy is to cultivate your longing for Jesus' second coming. Listen to 1 John 3.2. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. Now listen to this next verse. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. For some of you, you might be believers, you might be true Christians, but you're totally stuck in your walk with the Lord. You haven't made any discernible progress in years. There's really no noticeable fruit in your life. You're still dominated by those same old besetting sins that have dogged you for decades. Is that you? If so, maybe, just maybe, what's wrong is that you've fallen in love with this present world. You think of yourself first and foremost as an American and not as a Christian. You think of yourself first and foremost as your career and not as a follower of Jesus. You're devoting all your time, energy, money to storing up treasures here on earth and not treasures in heaven. And what you need to cure yourself from that love for the world is this longing for Jesus' return. So brothers and sisters, let's do everything that we can to cultivate our longing for his appearing. Read the great Bible passages on Jesus' second coming. There are actually a lot of them. And then read them again. Make prayer for Jesus return a daily prayer request. And I'd encourage somebody to bring this up on a regular basis in our prayer meetings. Discuss the second coming regularly with your brothers and sisters. And even if you disagree, which we all know that there is disagreement and debate on the secondary issues, even if there is that disagreement, better talking about that than, say, secular politics, don't you think? Ask yourself this question regularly. Would I be comfortable doing this if Jesus were to return and catch me in the act? Do everything you can to increase your longing for Jesus' second coming. That is essential to killing your love for the world and increasing your joy in Jesus. One last thing before we move on to the next point. Notice just quickly the way in which this passage assumes both the kindness and the severity of God. You see that? Both the kindness and the severity of God toward those who believe in the Lord Jesus and are being persecuted. Incredible kindness. Relief is coming. But toward those who are doing the persecuting, toward God's enemies, there will be wrath and retribution. And what this reminds us of is really the multifaceted character of our God. We have such a tendency to diminish God and to simplify God. But the God of the Bible is a God of both severity and mercy, wrath and grace, anger and love. Again, to his people, he's a heavenly father. To his enemies, he's a terrifying judge. Jesus is both the lion of the tribe of Judah and a lamb who was slain. He's not either or, but both and. And we misrepresent God if we overemphasize one facet to the neglect of the other. You follow me? We'll move it on. The second thing I'd like you to notice from this passage is the manner of Jesus' second coming. All this in verses seven and eight. The manner of Jesus' second coming, something of how he will come again. Look at verse 7. Now the first thing I'd like you to notice is the way in which when Jesus comes, he'll come revealed from heaven. Like it says, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven. Realize that from the point of his ascension, when he went back up to heaven, till he comes again, he's in heaven. He's seated there at the right hand of the throne of God, ruling over all things, interceding for us, pouring out his Holy Spirit. It's there at the right hand of God in heaven that Jesus is right now. And it's from there that he'll return when he comes to judge. Listen to what we have in Acts 1.11. The angel said, this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. So that's where Jesus is now, in heaven, preparing a place for all of us who believe. But not only does this passage tell us that Jesus is coming from heaven, but it also says he's going to come with his mighty angels. And notice the his, that pronoun, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Now I'd like us to ponder just for a minute the way in which these angels belong to Jesus. These aren't some sort of like independent angels just kind of you know, flowing around and all of a sudden they got this temporary job to help Jesus when he comes again. No, these are his angels. Additionally, they're not on loan from God the Father. These angels aren't, say, Jesus' brothers or some such nonsense. No, these angels belong to Jesus. He is their commander and they are his servants. Interestingly, this little detail is so consistent with so many other passages about Jesus' second coming, because they all emphasize that when he comes again, he's gonna be coming with an angelic army in his train. Matthew 25, 31, when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Now we know from other scriptures that there are millions of angels. So imagine all of them coming behind Jesus as he's descending to earth. And by the way, by angels, don't think the ridiculous shaman cherubs that we see in the commercials. I mean, Satan's counterfeited everything and he's even counterfeited our understanding of what angels are. The angels in the Bible are like these lightning warriors that can kill you by like looking at you and I mean, are terrifying. And when people see them, they fall down on their faces. Those are the kind of angels that are following Jesus when he comes again. One last detail on the manner of Jesus coming. He's going to come in flaming fire, verse eight. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire. Now interestingly, this little detail has strong ties into the Old Testament. The Old Testament taught several times that when God came to do justice for the nation of Israel, he would come in flaming fire. Listen, for example, to Isaiah 66, 15. Isaiah says, It's likely that Paul actually has that passage from Isaiah in mind when he writes 2 Thessalonians 1. If that's the case, what we have here is just one more confirmation that Paul, and really the entire New Testament, looks at Jesus as the incarnation of Jehovah. If it's Jehovah and Isaiah coming to do judgment, and if it's Jesus coming to do judgment, and it's described in identical terms, what we conclude from that is that Jesus is Jehovah incarnate. Come to judge the living and the dead. Now, all that we're seeing here is so consistent, again, with other scriptures, and this is one of the things that, to me, so deeply persuades me that the Bible is the word of God. You'd think if these descriptions were just sort of cobbled together by primitive fishermen and tax collectors that you could find some obvious discrepancies, but you can't. They're so beautifully coherent. Listen, for example, Revelation 1911. I know that Chris already read a section of this, but see how this compares to what we have in 2 Thessalonians 1. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." Realize when Jesus comes the second time, he will not come as the harmless baby born in a manger, but as the warlord of the armies of heaven. He will return not as the Lamb who was slain, but as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And in fact, that's how we should imagine Jesus now. The glorified Jesus sitting at God's right hand is not a Galilean carpenter right now. He is the glorified, exalted Son of Man. Now put some of these details together briefly. When Jesus returns, He's going to come from heaven, which is again where He is now. He's going to descend to earth surrounded by mighty angels. He's going to come robed in flaming fire. Now if you were to wake up one day and just see that sight, how would you feel? You know, just say you're, what are we doing most of the time? Scrolling on our phones. Say you're scrolling on your phones and all of a sudden you hear a trumpet and you're like, you look up and you see this. Chances are you're going to drop your phone, don't you think? And you're going to be filled with awe, amazement. You're like, you probably wouldn't have had anything to say. Now contrast this with the way in which most people think of Jesus. Talk to your average American. If they believe in Jesus at all, they believe in this very weak, frankly effeminate Jesus. Basically this kind of 1960s hippie who sits cross-legged in a field making daisy chains and, you know, giving out free hugs. Isn't that the way that most Americans think of Jesus? A Jesus who would never tell anybody that they're wrong, never tell anybody they need to repent, who just talks about all that we need is love. That's how your average American imagines Jesus. I think we see this in a lot of popular artwork about Jesus. He's tall, long, blonde, wavy hair, probably too thin, definitely doesn't look like he could put a hard day's work in. And I suspect that because of that, most people look at Christianity as this weak, soft, effeminate religion that's fit for old ladies and effeminate guys. Realize, brothers and sisters, that understanding is the furthest thing in the world from what the Bible teaches about Jesus, and especially his second coming. Of course in his first coming he was the baby born in Bethlehem, the poor carpenter who was abused and crucified for our sins. But when he comes again, get this, his wrath will be so terrifying that people will beg for boulders to fall upon them and crush them so that they don't have to endure the wrath of the Lamb. Revelation 6.15. The kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the rocks, saying, Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb." And who's the Lamb in Revelation? That's Jesus. Just like God the Father is a God of both severity and mercy, wrath and grace, so also God the Son, Jesus, is a God of severity and mercy, of wrath and grace. And again, we need to teach people both aspects of his character to teach a proper biblical understanding of who God is and who Jesus is. We're almost done, but let's consider one final point from this passage on Jesus' second coming. Consider lastly the results of Jesus' second coming. We have that in verses eight through 10. A very vivid description of what will happen when Jesus returns, the results of a second coming. Pick up at verse eight. In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. Well, the first thing this passage speaks of are the results of Jesus' second coming on those who will be condemned. Those who will be condemned. In verse eight, they're described as those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Now, let me just explain quickly who this group is. Those two phrases are actually describing the same group of people. Those who do not know God are those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These are individuals who have not yet turned from their sins and put faith in the Lord Jesus. Now, occasionally people get hung up by that phrase, you do not obey the gospel. They think that that somehow contradicts the gospel of free grace. They say, you know, isn't it true that salvation is a totally free gift that we do nothing to earn or deserve? Why then do we obey the gospel? Well, it's totally true that salvation is a free gift. Like Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You never do anything before, during, or after conversion to earn your salvation. It's a free gift offered to whosoever will to be embraced entirely by faith. Why then is rejecting this gift described as not obeying the gospel? Well, you've got to imagine it this way. Salvation is a completely free gift, but it's offered to you from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It's offered to you from the almighty master of the universe. So while, yes, it's totally free, to reject it is to reject something that the most powerful, amazing, perfect person in the universe is offering you, and that's nothing other than treason. You see this same idea of rejecting Jesus as disobedience to the gospel coming out in a passage like John 3.36. It says, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." It's as if God is offering you a gift. Anyone can take it. Take it by faith. Eternal life. Forgiveness of sins. The indwelling Holy Spirit. The sure and certain hope of heaven. Totally free gift. Here, take it. But to turn his hand away is the most profound insult imaginable and will only increase the wrath for which you'll give an account of on the Day of Judgment. The passage then goes on to describe what will happen to these individuals who have rejected the gift of God. Look at verse nine. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. This is what will happen to all who die without conscious faith in Jesus. When Jesus appears in the heavens, coming from the heavens, in flaming fire, surrounded by these warrior angels, then those who do not know him will be eternally condemned. In the words of Revelation 20, they will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. The doctrine of hell is a shocking reality, a disturbing reality, a scary reality if you really let it sink in. And if it doesn't scare you, let it. That's the point. Eternal conscious punishment is the constant threat the Bible holds out to all who will not embrace the Lord Jesus. And I've got to say that to you sitting there this morning, if your hope is not entirely in the Lord Jesus, when Jesus comes again, you will not experience the blessing of God's presence, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and a fire of fury that will consume God's adversaries. You will forever experience weeping and gnashing of teeth cast into outer darkness outside the kingdom of God. I would not be loving if I did not tell you that. The exact opposite result is given in verse 10. While unbelievers will be cast into the lake of fire, look at verse 10, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because their testimony to you was believed. Now as horrifying as hell is, this to the other degree is glorious and wonderful. While unbelievers will be condemned, believers will marvel. While unbelievers will be consumed, believers will be amazed. and realize this expectation is what's promised to all of you who have put your hope in the Lord Jesus. For those of us who have turned from our sins and embraced Jesus' loving leadership, when he comes again, we won't see him as a threatening, terrifying judge, but as a loving defender, protector, and friend. We won't encounter him as a wrathful warrior come to slay us, but as our good shepherd. He won't come to us with the sword of justice, but with the open arms of a brother. And as this passage says, we will marvel. We'll be delighted to see our Savior. Let me ask you this. When was the time in your life that you were most amazed at anything? For me, it was when I saw what's called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Not to be confused with the other Grand Canyon, but the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Remarkable. And it's one of those times where you stand there, your mouth is open, you don't even realize it. You have nothing to say because you're looking at something that's like shockingly amazing. You ever been there, had an experience like that? Maybe it was the real Grand Canyon, maybe it was when your first child was born, just overwhelmed with awe. Take those feelings and multiply them times like a million and that's what you'll experience if you're a believer when Jesus comes again. Suddenly everything you've experienced will be worth it. The sufferings of this present life won't be worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. All of a sudden, you'll realize everything we read about in the Bible, it's totally true. I mean, I knew it was true, but now I totally know it's true. And you'll be filled with the deepest joy and happiness imaginable. If you're a believer, that's how we will marvel at Jesus' second coming. Isn't this such a radically different reception compared to the reception of wrath that those who don't know him will experience? We'll experience comfort and relief. Here are these words about Jesus' second coming addressed to believers. John 14, one through three. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. For those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus, this event which will terrify billions will be to us such a comfort and a joy. And that's a comfort and joy that will continue on throughout all of eternity. One last observation on the passage. Look at that final phrase in verse 10. It says, because our testimony to you was believed. Now what's that talking about? Well, this little clause explains why these individuals, when they see Jesus, will marvel as opposed to being condemned. Well, they won't be destroyed, but will be received into his presence because our testimony to you was believed. What's that referring to? What that's referring to is a belief in the gospel. The one determining factor that forever turns the tables, that forever alters your destiny, changing Jesus from this wrathful judge to a loving friend, is your personal embracing of the Christian gospel. What's this gospel that Paul's talking about? It's the same gospel we preach here every Sunday. The gospel tells us that we've all been made in the image of God. to know him, to have a relationship with him, to find life's satisfaction and joy and fulfillment in God. And yet we've all sinned and separated ourselves from God. We've knowingly broken God's laws. We've basically hated God in our hearts and wished God would stay out of our lives. We're all guilty of that. But under those very circumstances, God, he still loved us. He still loved the world. And though he could have turned us over to judgment, God acted himself, becoming incarnate. God took on flesh in the person of Jesus. He lived the perfect life we should have lived, but then he died on the cross. And when he died on the cross, he took the wrath of God deserved by sinners upon himself. Remember I talked about this earlier, that every single solitary act of evil must be justly dealt with? The reason why Jesus died on the cross was to endure the righteous wrath of God in the place of all who would ever trust in him. Past, present, future, people from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation, from every era of human history, driven into Jesus on the cross so that God could turn to us who believe and say, my son, your sins are forgiven. You are my child. Be welcomed into my kingdom. And when Jesus comes again, he'll embrace you as a loving friend and not as a terrifying judge. That's why Jesus died on the cross. Three days later, God the Father raised Jesus back from the dead, in part to prove that what I'm telling you today is true. Jesus ascended to heaven where he is today, and again, it's from there that he'll return. And now in response, God is inviting you. God is calling you. He is commanding you. Turn from your sin, embrace the Lord Jesus, be forgiven. You don't want to experience the wrath of God on your sins. You do not want to pay eternally for every careless thought you've ever thought, every careless word you've ever spoken. Turn from your sins, embrace the Lord Jesus now, and be fully, completely forgiven. And this is why I would beg you. If you've never trusted in the Lord Jesus with the kind of saving faith I've been describing, do it right now. Right now, believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved. Perhaps you've attended church your entire life. You've never known anything different. Perhaps you know all the Bible stories as well as anybody and can tell them as easily as anybody. But maybe for the first time you've discerned that were Jesus to come today, you would be destroyed and condemned and cast into the lick of fire. If that's you, I beg of you right now, turn from your sins, stop running from God, stop telling God I'm gonna live life my own way. Turn, embrace the Lord Jesus, call upon his name, receive his forgiveness, receive his Holy Spirit, and enter back into that relationship with God you were created for in the beginning. Trust Jesus now. And as always, if any of you would like to discuss any of this further, need clarification on anything that I've said, would like somebody to pray with you, pray for you, please talk to me after the service today. I'll be at the front door to greet people on the way out. But trust Jesus today, be reconciled to God today and be prepared for when Jesus comes again. Well, our time's gone, but in conclusion, I want to address a few questions to those of us who are believers. Do those of us who have turned from our sins and embrace the Lord Jesus? And these questions all pertain to the idea, are you ready for Jesus' second coming? Are you ready if Jesus were to come today? You might be sitting there thinking, yeah, I know my salvation's secure, my eternal destiny is secure, but are you currently living in such a way that you wouldn't be embarrassed were Jesus to come today? It's interesting how often the Bible talks about this, being ashamed at his coming. And I do think that Christians can experience that. To make it more concrete, if you knew Jesus were coming, let's say, seven o'clock tonight. I have no reason to believe that. Maybe it'll happen. That'd be pretty interesting. We have no idea when he's coming, but let's say we knew that he was coming at seven o'clock tonight. Are there situations you'd want to remedy in preparation for that? Are there relationships you'd want to straighten out before that? Is there somebody's forgiveness that you'd like to seek before he came again? Is there somebody that you'd like to say, I love you to one more time before he came again? This just sort of comes to mind in light of our recent baptisms, but should you seek baptism? Baptism doesn't save at all, but at the same time, I can't imagine when Jesus comes again, you know, you've been a believer for like 10 years, 20 years, and Jesus is like, why didn't you get baptized? Maybe God's speaking to you, some of you through that. But brothers and sisters, are you truly ready for Jesus' second coming? Listen to 1 John 2.28, and now little children abide in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. Very sincerely are you prepared for Jesus' second coming? Let's close in prayer. Father in heaven, thank you so much for teaching us about the end of human history, Lord. For some reason, we need to know this information. We're in a quest to know this information. We can't really live without thinking about this. So we thank you so much for the way that you have revealed to us so much about the way in which history is going to end. You're going to send Jesus back. He's going to judge the living and the dead. He's going to bring to pass all that the prophets have spoken. Thank you for such a gift. Lord, for those of us who are believers, please cultivate our longing for Jesus' second coming. Lord, give us just a delight that we might see him again, maybe in our lifetime. But Lord, for those who don't yet know the Lord Jesus, please work in their hearts now. Convict them of sin, draw them to yourself, grant them repentance that they might trust in Jesus and be saved before it's too late. Through Jesus we pray, amen.