Smith, Daniel H: Ozark Camp-Turkey Hill-1994-09 ~ Maranatha-O Lord Come

Well, these days have passed very quickly. On behalf of Martha and myself, I'd like to say how good it's been to be here. We look forward to this for months and months and months. We are very grateful for the opportunity to fellowship with you during this week, renew some friendships, make some new friends, and to share in the good things of God. It's always good to minister the word of God to people who appreciate it. I have to confess, sometimes one finds himself at a conference where you feel just like sort of a necessary evil as the speaker, that people are there for a lot of other fun things, and you're just sort of like the commercial, you endure it so that you can get with the rest of the program. It is not so here, and we're very grateful for a number of good conversations, and I'm sure that many of you that we didn't even have a chance to talk with about a lot of specific things have been thinking carefully about the word of God, and it's always good to minister the word to those who appreciate it. It's certainly been our privilege here, and we're most grateful for the wonderful time of fellowship with you, your gracious hospitality to us as a conference. And I would like to reiterate what was said earlier, that we'll value your prayers for us as we return to the ministry of Emmaus and touch a lot of lives through that ministry for the glory of Christ. We'll be slipping on our way early in the morning, as many of you will, and I pray that the Lord will bless you and sustain you and keep you going on well for his glory. Now, this evening we want to look at a... a series of references in First Thessalonians. We'll begin by reading the first ten verses, which is chapter one. Again, we're considering the subject of the practical implications of the doctrine of the rapture. Put another way, if I really believe that Jesus Christ is going to return for his church and may return at any time, what does that mean to me? Will that make any difference in my life? The scriptures obviously say yes. And I have to admit to you that my thoughts really got going on this particular theme some time ago when I ran across a brief outline by a man of a previous generation named G. Harding Word, who, um, saw this very truth in the references to the return of Christ in First Thessalonians. That not only does the Bible teach that Christ is coming, but in the process of teaching that Christ is coming again for his church, the Bible also repeatedly tells us that there are therefore some implications for us who believe that. And certainly in First Thessalonians, this is true. We're going to read chapter one together, beginning in verse one. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your lo- your work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and Father. Knowing, brethren beloved by God, his choice of you. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about you, about us, what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. That is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Again, let's seek God's blessing. Father, again, we want to quiet our hearts before you. We thank you for the ministry of music to our hearts, for the good time we've had together in this week and in this day, and now again, as we turn to the scriptures, we want to confess again that our conscience is subject to the authority of your word, and we want to receive the ministry of your word tonight by your spirit, and we pray that you will be free to minister to us and lift our hearts up to anticipate the return of Christ and instruct us in grace to live godly lives as we wait for him. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. One of the most astounding records of the effect of the gospel and of establishing a new local church is the New Testament record of establishing the ministry in Thessalonica. You recall that on the second missionary journey, Paul and his associates waiting at Troas, received that Macedonian call, and as Paul had earlier confessed in his life, he was not disobedient to this heavenly vision as well, and Paul and his team crossed the Aegean Sea into Europe. I doubt that we really fully appreciate the significance of that event. I have often wondered, what if the Spirit of God had led them to the east, over into India or China. They'd probably be sending missionaries to us. I think it's one of the striking things in the New Testament that God providentially and sovereignly saw fit early in the history of the church to get the gospel into Europe. I say that because I'm of European descent. It's a great heritage to have had the gospel in our cultures for so many, many generations. And of course, one of the early ministries there after Philippi was the ministry in the city of Thessalonica, a very large, thriving, uh, Roman city, a major seaport, a city that was filled with all kinds of vice and corruption in that first century. And Paul, as customary, began his ministry in the synagogue. You recall that there he proclaimed Christ, and some believed, some opposed. In fact, the opposition got so great that after a couple of weeks they had to leave the synagogue and continue their ministry in another location, which is not named. Interestingly enough, however, the opposition continued and increased, and it seems, as you you look in the book of the Acts, that within three and a half or four weeks of time they had to leave the city in peril of their lives. That's not very long, folks. For, at the most, perhaps six weeks of time there, in which the gospel was presented to pagan peoples, people were saved, brought together, and established in an embryonic local church fellowship there in Thessalonica. And Paul and his associates left in great persecution, leaving behind them young believers, none of whom were saved more than four to six weeks, to live amidst persecution. And in the weeks that followed, Paul's heart went out to these fellow believers, and when he finally arrived in Corinth, as a burden of his heart, he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica, see how they were doing, to encourage them, to teach them further. And when Timothy came back to Corinth and met Paul, bringing good news that in spite of the persecution, believers were standing firm and true to Christ. The message of the gospel was sounding out from their little fellowship, and that they not only loved one another fervently, but they loved Paul and were deeply appreciative of his ministry. And Paul's heart was just rejoicing. And it was on that occasion that the Spirit of God moved Paul to write his first New Testament letter, First Thessalonians. And we read the first chapter of that letter here today. Now, it seems like, as you read through First and Second Thessalonians, uh, that several astounding things happened in Corinth. Not only did the gospel have a tremendous impact in such a short time, uh, but as the believers got together in that local church there in Thessalonica, Paul just spent seemingly day and night teaching and discipling these people, and in a very short time covered virtually every area of Christian doctrine in the book, uh, before he left. But there was one area of teaching that seemed to not only, um, appeal to and grip these Christians, but also leave them with some problems and questions, and that was the truth concerning the return of Christ. And in both the first and the second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul gives evidence that they not only were very keenly interested in this truth of the return of Christ, but they didn't have full understanding, and they needed further teaching. And so some of the content of these letters are designed to give some straightening out kind of teaching with regard to the doctrine of the return of Christ. But it was such a major issue in their minds that as you turn to First Thessalonians, you find a key reference to the return of Christ in each of the chapters in this letter. Chapter one, two, three, four, and five. In each chapter, there is a major consummating reference to the return of Christ, and in each one, a slightly different dimension of that glorious future event. Now, you may well want this outline. I should have brought it to you in print. I'm sorry, but let me give it to you. It is so choice, it is so helpful. Let me give you the brief outline from a man named G. Harding Word that highlights these five references to the return of Christ in the five chapters in the epistle, and we want to take that structure for our thoughts this evening. Uh, this scholar of the scriptures prefaced this five— simple five-point outline with this statement: A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for, colon. Hit that again. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for, colon. Give it to you a third time. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for... one, idols in his heart. Chapter one, verse nine and ten. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for slackness in his service. Slackness in his service. Chapter two, verses nineteen and twenty. Divisions in his fellowship. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for, what? Depression in his mind. Chapter four, verses thirteen through eighteen. Depression in his mind. And finally, a Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for sin in his life. Chapter five, verse twenty three. Talk about some practical implications of the doctrine of the rapture. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for idols in his heart. He has no room for slackness in his service, no room for divisions in his fellowship, he has no room for depression in his mind, he has no room for sin in his life. Very practical implications. Now let's look at these quickly. We can't exhaust them. You will certainly want to look at each of these in its context more carefully, but let's look at them as they are presented to us in the page of the scripture. First of all, chapter one verse nine and ten, Paul says, for they themselves, that is the people who heard the gospel sounding out from Thessalonica, report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. You turned to God from idols. What a statement. What is idolatry? If there's any negative subject dealt with in the scriptures at length, it's idolatry. Idolatry, of course, is one of man's perverted religions. And a fixation upon, a dependence upon, a worshipful devotion to anyone or anything other than the true and living God is idolatry. It may be some hideous image, it may be a stump, it may be heavenly bodies like the sun, moon, and stars, uh, a number of things. In fact, in man's religious propensity, bent wrong in sin, it's amazing what people will worship. Bugs, creepy crawly things. It's amazing what man will worship. But devotion to or dependence upon anything other or anyone other than the true and living God is idolatry. We know, for example, through the Old Testament record, that it was a constant problem for ancient Israel. Again and again, in spite of God's warnings and warnings and his punishment and his punishment, they turned again to follow the idols of the pagans around them. And sometimes, as I read through the record, I want to shake these people, say, you stupid people, didn't you have enough sense? Why do you keep doing this? But they did. They did. Then I come to the New Testament. And in the New Testament, I read covetousness is idolatry. Oh. In the New Testament, I see John concluding his first epistle by saying, little children, keep yourselves from idols. And then I go back to the book of Romans, and I find out that man has had in his history again and again a tendency not only to, instead of worshiping the Creator, to worship the created thing, like creepy crawly things and bugs and mice and animals and heavenly bodies, but also man. And if you follow that train of thought into chapter two of the book of Romans, you find that in the final analysis, the darkest but least recognized form of idolatry is the dark idolatry of self. Of self. The idolatries of our Western world, covetousness and self. And I really fear if we had understanding like we should, we would see that believers in the church have been as prone to again and again fall into the idolatries of covetousness and self as ancient Israel did in following the idols of the pagans around them. Now, let me just give you a quick illustration, the dark idolatry of self, and I point to the conflict that rages in our society between the pro-life and the pro-death factions in our society. And I stand in awe as I think of the thousands and millions of unborn infants that we murder every year in our society. It overwhelms me, it appalls me, it sickens me. You'll recall that in ancient Israel, as the nation degenerated spiritually and morally and ethically, finally it came to the point that God brought judgment, and Babylon came in and wiped it out. What was the last straw? God had been warning them for generations, but what was the last straw? Well, the prophets used the expression, they caused their children to pass through the fire, which meant that they were taking their newborn babies and throwing them into the sacrificial fires of Molech. And that was the last straw. God said, I've had it, that's it, boom, you're done with. And hundreds of thousands were massacred, and the rest carried away as captives and slaves. Let me ask you, which is worse, to take your newborn babes and throw them in the sacrificial fires of Molech, or to abort the fetus and incinerate it as medical garbage? Which is worse? I submit to you there's not a stitch of difference. God help us. God help us. Government statistics say that it's three thousand a day, a million a year that we murder in this way. The Christian Medical Society says it's three times that. Three thousand a day. Hard to say, isn't it? Three million a year. It's appalling. God help us. God help us. And if you ask the pro-death people, and that's what they are, their final appeal is, I want control over my body. The dark idolatry of self. And we incinerate more babies in the dark idolatry of self than Israel ever incinerated in the idolatry of Molech. God help us. But Paul says to these Thessalonians, ha ha, you're different. You turn to God from idols. What a triumph. Notice the way. He didn't say you turn from idols to God, he said you turn to God from idols. And I submit to you, if you turn to God, you will automatically turn from idols. See? That's what happened in Thessalonica. And not only that, he said, you serve the living and true God, and you're waiting up for his son. It's a very interesting word. That word wait really has a prefix, ana. Literally translated, and to wait up for his son. Now, for whom do you wait up? If you have guests coming to visit you on the tenth of September, when you get home tomorrow night, are you going to wait up for them? Mm. But if they're not there by sundown the tenth of September, you'll probably wait up for them. Who do you wait up for? For somebody you're expecting at any time. Talk about imminence. Talk about the teaching of imminence. Here it is in one word. Paul commends these believers not only for turning to God from idols, but for waiting up for his son from heaven. Are you waiting up, fellow believers? Are you waiting up? We should be. Waiting up for whom? For God's Son, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. It's a present active participle, literally translated, the one who is delivering us from the wrath to come. Our Lord Jesus is currently at work delivering his people from wrath to come. This very unique word, orges. And this is not talking about hell, folks. This word is not used of hell. And people who are lost are always seen as going to hell. The wicked shall be turned into hell, the psalmist said, and all the nations that forget God. But orges wrath, that is God's wrath outpoured in this world, is always seen as coming upon the world, the tribulation, if you please. And Paul says here that Jesus Christ is currently at work delivering us from the wrath to come. I'm so grateful when you come to chapter five of First Thessalonians, Paul says, I have an appointment card in my pocket. It's not with wrath, it's with rapture. I hope you're carrying that kind of card, because that's what we find in the scriptures. The second reference to the Thessal- of the Thessalonian epistle to the coming of Christ is in chapter two verses nineteen and twenty. Paul says, for who is our hope, our joy, our crown of exaltation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? There's that word parousia again, by the way. For you are our glory and our joy. Now, if you look at the content of chapter two, you find it begins with a strong defense by Paul of their ministry there in Thessalonica. He is reflecting back on those very busy and strategic days of those few weeks of time when they went into this pagan city and proclaimed the gospel, brought believers together in, in the capacity of a, of a new local church, and taught them and established them. And all of this happened in just a few weeks. And now Paul looks back on that, and he is defending the ministry that they fulfilled. Their message was true, their motives were pure, their methods were honorable. The message, the method, the motive. It's a real treatise for how the Lord's work ought to be carried on. That's chapter two. He is reflecting upon that great ministry that was fulfilled there in Thessalonica and defending the honorable nature of the ministry, the message, the methods, and the motives of the servants of Christ. And in that context, he reminds them that they, believers, are eventually, in the coming of Christ, going to be Paul's and his associates' source of joy and hope, and even their crown of exaltation. When? At the coming of our Lord Jesus. The second reference. You see, this had motivated Paul. He was a man who lived in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. He was a man who was driven by the hope of the coming of Christ and that day when he would stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus at the Bema and have his life as a servant reviewed. And Paul was driven in the light of that day, and he looked forward to that day, and he said, in that day, there's going to be a crown. In that day, he said, when we stand before Christ in his presence and his coming, there's going to be a great source of joy and rejoicing in his presence. What is that? You, you people. You people that came to Christ when the gospel was proclaimed. You people who have gone on and who've grown as Christians so quickly and so, uh, wonderfully in your newfound faith. You people who are standing firm amid persecution. You are going to be our source of joy and rejoicing. You know, the whole issue of rewards is an important one. It's found all through the scripture. In fact, the writer of the Hebrews tells us what made that man, thousands of years before, his name was Moses, perhaps destined to the throne of Egypt, which was the greatest empire on the face of the earth. What made him set aside his aspirations or his qualifications to take Pharaoh's seat in Egypt and identified himself with a persecuted minority of people up in a corner of the empire? What made him cast his lot with the Hebrew people when he was living as the son of Pharaoh? What made him do that? The writer of the Hebrews says he looked forward to the recompense of reward. See? All through the scriptures, men and women of God have lived with the future in view when they stand in the presence of Christ, and Paul was no exception. And now here he is saying, look, when Christ come in his presence at his coming, there's going to be a crown of rejoicing, and we are going to stand in his presence in that day, and we're going to have joy. We are going to glory in the fact, what? You. You're our glory and joy. And it goes something like this. What is God's program in history? What is God's program in this age? Our Lord expressed it when he said, I will build my church. That's the program of God. Another way to put it is the program of God is people. Reaching people in sin and degradation, bent wrong like Adam, saving them by his grace, transforming their lives, and eventually making them like Christ. That's the program of God. God's a people person. And the scriptures make it clear that if you want to stand with joy in the presence of the living God, you better get with the program of God. See, God's a people person. He's a people person. In fact, the Bible says when this present scene of history is over with, everything's going to be incinerated. All these things, Peter says, are going to be burned, one big fire. See, God's not going to salvage anything out of history but people. We've talked about this before, but we need to remember that. He's not going to salvage this wonderful facilities here at this Bible camp. He's not going to salvage our cars and our speedboats, our patios, our bank accounts, our computers, our great instruments of war, our magnificent jet planes. He's not going to salvage any of this. All that God's going to salvage out of human history is people. See, and if you want to stand with joy in the presence of Christ, you get with his program. You invest your life for the sake of Christ in people. See? And that's why Paul reminds us in this passage of scripture that a Christian who's waiting for the return of Christ has no room for slackness in his service. Don't rest on the oar, folks. Let's pull hard. Let's serve him with diligence. Let's give ourselves to touch the lives of people with the gospel of Christ, with the ministry of the word of God. And you won't regret it, because as Paul said, there's coming a day when all that we invested in your lives, Thessalonians, is going to come to a glorious, glorious fruition. When we stand in the presence of Christ at his coming, you will be our source of joy. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for slackness in his service. Chapter three. when you come to the end of the chapter, you see here in verses twelve and thirteen: and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all men, just as we also do for you, so that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before or in the presence of our God and Father at the coming, there's Paracelsus again, of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. What's the context here? In the beginning part of the chapter, Paul is rejoicing for the good news that Ty- that Timothy brought back. News that the believers in Thessalonica, in spite of their youthfulness in the faith, they were only babes in Christ, in spite of the persecution which they lived, they were standing firm, and they were continuing on, and above all, they were showing love one for the other, and in fact, he says, toward all men. And Paul is not chiding them in this chapter, saying, you people lack love, you'd better begin to... No, he's, he's commending them for the love that they show, even as newborn babes in Christ, even as people living under persecution. He commends them for showing love for one another and for all men, even those who are persecuting. But he is appealing to them more and more, more and more, see? Commending them. God bless you, you are showing love. Now keep it up and do it even more and more, see? And he reminds them of the coming of Christ. He reminds them that in the demonstration of their love toward not only each other, but toward all men, that they will be established in their hearts, unblameable in holiness, and when will all of this come to manifestation? Before our God and Father, with the coming of our Lord Jesus, with all his saints. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for divisions in his fellowship. Do we love one another as we should? I'll just give you an illustration. If you go over to Philippians chapter three where Paul is talking to the Philippians about loving one for the other, he says, and I would like for you to have the same love one for the other. Now, don't do it now, but next time you're sitting in your assembly, just sort of cautiously look around and ask yourself the question, Lord, do I love all of these people the same? It's not easy. Oh, there are some people we just sort of hit it off with, you know, we gravitate to them. They, they think like we think, uh, we have a lot in common, and, and we can stand and chit-chat after the meeting and ignore every visitor that comes in and everything else. A roof would have to fall in, and we wouldn't know. We just really enjoy each other. But there are others, mm, well, he's a little flaky, mm, or ooh, I don't like the way he dresses, or ooh, her hairstyle is very, very out of date, or whatever, you see? Uh, no, no, Paul says, having the same love. Mm. I am convinced that just as our Lord said about divorce, the bottom line is the hardness of heart. Matthew nineteen. That the splits and the squabbles and the feuds among the Lord's people, the bottom line is we don't love each other as we should. Our Lord Jesus died not only to redeem us, but he gave himself, he prayed that we might be one with him and with each other, even as he and the Father are one. It's a pretty astounding statement. But again, even in the Old Testament, we find that harmony was one of God's purposes for his people. How good and how blessed it is, the Old Testament writer said, for brethren to dwell together in unity. It's not new. It's fundamental to the program of God, that his people should be united in love. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ, says this passage, has no room for divisions in his fellowship. I intentionally reframe a lot of comments. God help us. We've got problems, folks. We've got problems in the assembly movement in North America. There's another chapter. In chapter four, Paul again concludes with a reference to the coming of Christ, and we read this the other night. It's that classic passage on the rapture of the church, beginning in verse thirteen down through verse eighteen. and Paul begins this by saying, I would not want you to be uninformed or ignorant, that you may not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. The context is, some of these believers had apparently already died. Hadn't been saved long, but some fellow believers had already died. Now, whether they had died from persecution or whether they had died of other illnesses or natural causes, we don't know, but obviously some fellow believers had died, and apparently there was grief and consternation and anxiety on the part of the living believers as to, now what about these people? Paul told us Christ is coming, and now these people have died, they're going to miss out or something. They seem to have been worried or anxious about, confused about, ignorant about how all of this was going to work when Christ comes, when some of us have already died. What about them? And in this passage, Paul writes to clear up their minds. In fact, he tells them they're not going to miss out a thing. In fact, when Christ comes, he says the first thing that's going to happen, the dead in Christ will rise. Those bodies will come out of the grave. And then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. They're not going to be one split second behind us. They're not going to miss out on a thing. In fact, he's not only going to raise their bodies from the grave, but those who sleep through Christ he will bring with him. Did you see that? And there will be a glorious meeting in the air of their resurrected bodies and the redeemed souls of these people who've already been with Christ. They're not going to miss out on a thing, not on a thing. And so Paul gives that wonderful teaching so that we will not be ignorant and so that we will not grieve. Notice how he says it, so that you won't grieve or that you won't sorrow, as do the rest who have no hope. Now, he doesn't just say so that you won't sorrow. He doesn't say it's wrong for a Christian to weep at the funeral of a loved one. He doesn't say that. What he really says is, I don't want you to experience the same kind of sorrow that people do who have no hope. You know, in the final analysis, when a believer dies and we hurt and we weep and we cry, we're really sorry for ourselves because we miss him, and that's valid, and there is a valid expression of sorrow. We can't sorrow for them, better off than we are. We wouldn't call them back. By the way, someone has said, I remember when our first child died, a very dear friend reminded us, why do you think the Lord wept at Lazarus' grave? Maybe he wept for Lazarus. Hm? Imagine this, Lazarus only been in heaven four days. Still standing there in dumb awe at the glories of the throne of God, and an angel comes and taps him on the side and say, I'm sorry, Lazarus. I'm sorry, you got to leave. You got to go back down to that old wretched earth. The Lord's calling for you. Maybe the Lord wept for Lazarus. Hm? You see, when a fellow believer dies, we may sorrow, and as I say, that's natural and appropriate, and our Lord did weep. In fact, death made him angry. But not for that, see? And it's not a hopeless, morbid sorrow. It's a sorrow for our temporary separation. Why? Because when Christ comes, we're all going to be in this together. Whether we've died or whether we're still alive. No believer's going to miss out on anything. What a great truth. A believer who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for depression in his mind. And finally, in chapter five, another reference to the coming of Christ in verse twenty three: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete and without blame at the coming, there's the word again, Perisseia, of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for sin in his life. What's the theme here? Sanctification. Do you see it there? It's a prayer of the apostle. Now I, now may the God of peace, it's pray. You may notice here that, like other apostolic prayers, it's for their spiritual welfare. Now, please hear me out. I'm not scolding here, but I sometimes am impressed when I sit in prayer meetings. We pray for, you know, for broke down cars and and operations and and weather and lots of things, and we don't pray much for people's spiritual well-being. When I go to the prayers of the New Testament, they're all for the spiritual well-being. I don't find any New Testament prayers, really, that have to do with with with surgery or or ingrown toenails or whatever. I I it's interesting how different our prayers are than New Testament prayers. Paul's prayers were all directed toward the spiritual well-being of the people for whom he prayed, and that's true here. I pray God, he says, the God of peace himself may sanctify you entirely. What does it mean to be sanctified? It means to be set apart for God. And Paul is praying that these people will e- will know in their lives that glorious work of God by his spirit and by his word, in which he sets his people apart from sin to a life that is holy and pleasing to God. You see, some references to sanctification refer to what happened the moment I trusted Christ, when God picked me up out of my sin and need, translated me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love, and I was sanctified, I was set apart, I was sanctified from the penalty of sin. But the Bible also says that there is another kind of setting apart, and that's what God wants to accomplish continually and daily in the life of the believer. When, as his word reaches our heart and conscience, and as he ministers to us by his word and by his spirit, and as we respond in obedience and grow in grace, he increasingly sets us apart from sin and from folly in our lives for his glory and for his progress. That progressive sanctification, that sanctification from the power and hold of sin in our lives. Doesn't happen all at once, but it's one of the great purposes, and that's what's in view here. By the way, there's a third dimension, way the word sanctification is used. In the book of Romans, we see that there will be an ultimate sanctification when Christ comes and we are literally physically taken out of this world and into the glory, then we will be set apart finally and completely from the presence of sin. But in this passage, he's referring to that progressive sanctification that ought to be taking place in our lives right now. Notice how Paul puts it. I pray that God, may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, that's what's in view, you see? Now he's praying about what's going on in their lives now, that they might be sanctified, set apart unto God now, but all with a view to the coming of our Lord Jesus, and in that day that they will stand before him without blame. That you and I, who were once sinners of the Gentiles, creatures of the dust, fallen, bent wrong members of Adam's race, could ever stand before a holy God without blame. What a story. What a potential. And we know it's all because of the person and work of Christ. He died for our sins, he bore our sins away, he put them away, he bore our sins in his body on the tree in order that, Peter says, we might die to sin and live unto righteousness, for we are healed by his stripes. The purpose of God is to not only save us and take us to heaven eventually, but to work in our lives as Christians to increasingly separate us from sin and the hold of sin in our lives, and increasingly more and more form the likeness of Christ in us. What a glorious potential. I trust that this is one of the major preoccupations of your heart. Growth in grace, progressive sanctification, that you will so respond to and understand and grow in and obey the word of God, that by his word and by his spirit, the living God can work in your life, body, soul, and spirit, to make you more like Christ and more like Christ and more like Christ and less like Adam all the time. That's his purpose, and Paul said, all of it with a view to the day when we are in the presence of Christ at his coming. May you stand there blameless. A Christian who's waiting for the return of Christ has no room for sin in his life. And so there's a glorious summary, sort of brings all these pieces together we've been working at in our evening studies, in the First Thessalonian Epistle. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for idols in his heart. Has no room, no room for slackness in his service. Has no room for divisions in his fellowship. Has no room for depression in his mind. Has no room for sin in his life. Christ is coming, maybe tonight. Are you waking up, fellow believer? Is that blessed hope making a difference in your life? And I conclude with one thought from First John chapter two, where John says, and now little children, abide in him, that when he appears, we may have confidence before him and not be ashamed at his coming. Ashamed at his coming? Ashamed at his coming? Could it be? That's what John's concerned about. If he finds us in his coming not abiding in Christ, I assume what John is saying will be, oh, I thought you said once the trumpet sounds, man is high in the sky by and by. Oop, hold the phone, hold the phone. John says, oh, oh, some may be ashamed. Doesn't say they're going to be lost. He says they'll be ashamed at his coming. No, no, John says, you abide in him so that when he appears, we will have confidence before Him and not be ashamed at His coming. A Christian who is waiting for the return of Christ has no room for idols in his heart, for slackness in his service, no divisions in his fellowship, no depression in his mind, no room for sin in his life. May God help us so to live as we wait for our Savior. Father, we give you thanks tonight for a coming Lord Jesus. Even Jesus, the one who is delivering us from the wrath to come. Our hearts tonight cry out, as John did so long ago, even so come, Lord Jesus. We long to see him. I pray, Father, that each one of us will so live that, as Paul says, in that day we may receive the crown of life that the Lord has for all of those who have longed for his appearing, who have loved his appearing. Keep us fresh in the blessed hope. Don't let the theological drift and the materialism and all the other junk in our society deaden our spiritual senses and rob us of the blessed hope. Keep us, we pray, our Father, looking up. Help us to live on tiptoes. May we be like the Thessalonians who were commended for waiting up for God's Son from heaven. And may we be found in him, waiting up, serving him in love, having turned to God from idols. That Jesus Christ may be glorified, we pray in his lovely name. Amen.