--

State of the Church

--

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

--

II Timothy 2:2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

--

I Corinthians 2:1-2 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

--

I Corinthians 2:3-4 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power

--

I Corinthians 2:5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

--

Scripture Reading Just Prior to Sermon - II Thessalonians 1:9-12

--

II Thessalonians Life in the Light of the Return of Christ:
The Glory of Christ Now and Forever

--

I.    The Purpose of the Return of Christ - Glory

--

II Thessalonians 1:9-10 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.

--

II.   The Eternal Gulf that Hangs on the Razor's Edge of our Response to the Gospel

     A.   Rejection of the Gospel means

            1.   Eternal destruction

            2.   Separation from His glory

--

I Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

--

Matthew 22:8-9 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’

--

Matthew 22:10-11 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.  “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes

--

Matthew 22:12-13  and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

--

     B.    Believe in the Gospel means seeing, experiencing and enjoying forever Jesus Christ glorified

--

John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. 

--

John 17:24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

--

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

--

Revelation 5:10-11  “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,

--

Revelation 5:12  saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

--

Revelation 5:13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

--

II Thessalonians 1:9-10 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.

--

“In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now a certain shyness.  I am almost committing an indecency.  I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you – the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism;

--

the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both.  We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. 

--

We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name.  Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter...But all this is a cheat…The books or the music in which we through the beauty was located will betray us if we trust them;

--

it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing.   These things – the beauty, the memory of our own past – are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. 

--

For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.  Do you think I am trying to weave a spell?  Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales.  Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them. 

--

And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us…It is a remarkable thing that philosophies of Progress or Creative Evolution themselves bear reluctant witness to the truth that our real goal is elsewhere. 

--

When they want to convince you that earth is your home, notice how they set about it.  They begin by trying to persuade you that earth can be made into heaven, thus giving a bribe to your sense of exile here on in earth... 

--

They can do whatever they will but we remain conscious of a desire which no natural happiness will satisfy.”

--

II Thessalonians 1:11-12 To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

--

II Thessalonians 1:4-5 ...for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

--

III.   Paul's Prayer for the Church

     A.   Worthy life

     B.   Good works

     C.   The Lord Jesus glorified now

     D.   All of this according to the grace

--