In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the hope of the coming of Christ as presented in the book of 1 Thessalonians. The early Christians are commended for their patience and assurance in this hope. The preacher emphasizes that Jesus Christ is coming again to consummate our blessed hope, and encourages believers to be on fire for Jesus and to actively share the gospel. The sermon concludes with a story of a blind woman who experienced a life-changing encounter with God through Jesus Christ.

There are incredible things that are happening in our world that have prophetic significance. And I trust that God will help us as we just come to this particular subject. Church must never lose sight of this truth. If a third of the Bible has to do with predictive prophecy, then obviously it is a very, very important matter. And we need to find it emphasized in our preaching and teaching in the pulpits of our land, the coming of our Lord Jesus. And also the need to understand this truth in its various aspects and to do so from a biblical viewpoint, not speculation. I find there's a lot of people who will attend meetings where the subject of the second coming is announced as the theme because they have itching ears, they're wanting to hear something new and something clever, something speculative, something sensational, but don't want to speculate and come up with any fanciful ideas because there's going to be a consummation of God's purposes. And his word is very clear on it in relation to the church and in relation to the nation of Israel and also the nations of the world. And so since there is going to be this passing from the present order and the ushering in of a completely new order, then we need to know just what God has to say about it. May I also say that in view of the imminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ, and let me say just at this point, the next major event that's scheduled in the unfolding of God's plan for the ages will be the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for his church, for his people, for Christians across this world of ours. And when he comes for his church, then the day of grace will close and no longer will spirit-filled preachers be found proclaiming this glorious gospel. So in view of this, we must reach people now with the gospel to bring them to faith in Christ that they might also be ready for his coming. So let's just pray that God will help us. Our Father tonight, as we come to your word, we come with the confession that we depend totally upon the Holy Spirit to unfold to us the truth concerning the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I pray, Lord, that you will help us, that it will impact us, it will affect us, it will change us, because that is what your word is given for, that we may be changed, changed from glory into glory. I pray that those who do not know the Savior will come to know him, and we as believers we will be shaken out of the apathy that we have been just told about tonight that's across this land of ours, that we will be stirred out from indifference and indolence. And grant, Lord, we shall be a church that's on fire, a people who are filled with a passion for Jesus, not only watching and waiting for his coming, but occupying so that many will come to him ere that trumpet sounds and Christ returns. And so open the eyes of our understanding and bless us this evening as we open your word in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Will you turn with me then to the first letter to the Thessalonians? For tonight we are going to lay the foundation for faith in the literal, personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul has something to say about this second advent in his writing to the church in Thessalonica. So, the first letter, chapter 1, and reading verses 9 and 10, you have 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, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Hallelujah. Now, here is a scripture which tells us that the Christian is one who is different and one who has a destiny. He has a different master because he has turned from slaveship to serve God. He has a different lifestyle because he has forsaken the sins and idolatries of the past to follow and to honor Christ as Lord. He has a different motivation for living. The Christian lives unto the true and the living God. And with the believer there is a work of faith and there is a labor of love. That is what Paul speaks of here in this letter. But also, he has a different outlook upon life itself. The Christian even endures afflictions with joy. He's a strange person, this Christian. When things are tough, he's happy. Amen. He's got a joy that exudes when he ought to be so disconsolate and looking oppressed and depressed because he has a strong faith in the one with whom he has come into such relationship and the one who has all things in control. Because the believer, you see, knows there's something far more real, far more permanent than the present. As we have said, he is a person of destiny who lives in anticipation of Christ's second coming. And I want to say, friends, it's the only substantial and worthwhile hope that we have in this forlorn and frantic and fearful world of ours. The coming of Jesus. Time and again in our home, you will hear these words being said, Jesus must come soon. He must come soon. Things that are happening in our world are of such a magnitude. They're of such a kind that God cannot allow things to continue as they are. He's got to intervene. In fact, we see everything just heading up to this marvelous truth that Christ is coming. It's the blessed hope of the church. As in 1 John 2, 17, John says, the world passeth away and the luster of, and we can see that taking place, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. My friends, tonight what we need to know at the outset of our meditations is that whatever else may seem to be a mystery in the whole orbit of biblical prophecy, Jesus Christ is coming to consummate our blessed hope. He is coming again. And so we wait, says our text, we wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. I want us to look at these, these five chapters. Certainly we're not going to expound the five chapters because we could never do that in the little time that we have this evening, but we are going to look at a principle truth from each of the chapters that has to do with this wonderful hope of the coming of Christ, our King. In chapter one, you will notice Christ's coming is presented to us as a real hope, a real hope. This morning, we had that wonderful message of the sure things that God has done in and through Christ who died for us. And here is something that also has certainty about it. There is no hope more sure. There is no prospect that's more consoling than this. God's son will come from heaven and our waiting will not be in vain. You know, these early Christians, they are commended for the patience they showed in respect of that hope in verse three, because the gospel is such that carries with it much assurance. Notice verse five, our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And I want to say tonight, friends, that that assurance is not simply related to the matter of forgiveness and thank God for the assurance of forgiveness. Thank God for the assurance of eternal life. But it's also an assurance concerning the future. There is an expectancy about the future. And these Thessalonians, they knew that their savior was coming back again. And we know it on the authority of God's word. And that is what is implied in this word to wait for, the son of heaven. These believers were a people eagerly looking forward to one whose arrival is anticipated at any time, at any time. And he would come and says from heaven, literally out from the heavens, from the very abode of God, where Jesus has been since his ascension. In Hebrews chapter four, verse 14, it says that Jesus passed through the heavens. In chapter nine, verse 24, it says he has gone into heaven itself. In Hebrews eight and verse one, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. And he who passed into the heavens, we wait for him to come from the heavens. What am I saying tonight? Simply this friends, that to those early Christians, the coming of Jesus was a real hope. And it became an essential part of the proclamation, the preaching of the gospel. In fact, I suggest to you tonight that a present deliverance without a future destiny appears to be pretty pointless. If there's nothing beyond this, which now we are involved in with God, if there's nothing else, oh, what hopelessness, what confusion, what delusion. But thank God tonight friends, Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. To me, it is both a tragedy and a sad reflection upon the spiritual state of the church today, to see how the church has seemingly lost this expectancy, this expectant waiting for Jesus. As one man comments, he says, without this attitude of expectation, there is something lacking in the Christian character. The Christian who does not look upward and onward, he wants one mark of perfection. There's something wrong with a person who is not looking for Jesus to come, who is absorbed with that second advent of Christ. It must become an obsession with us. Jesus is coming. Hallelujah. I tell you where friends, apart from wanting to do God's will and preach the word of God and proclaim the gospel, I am sick of this old world. That's why I can empathize with Paul when he says, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. There's a far better world than this. There's a far better life than this. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That day will come, friends, when Jesus, Jesus will return. Who is coming? Well, the text says even Jesus, even Jesus. That is the human, historical Jesus, the one who nearly 2,000 years ago, he graced this world of ours in sinlessness and love, who went to that cross in order to make atonement for your sin and my sin, who died for our sins. But thank God, he rose again from the dead, having made full atonement for us. And thank God, this is the one who is coming back, the one who died and rose and ascended into heaven. He's coming back again. Oh, let the godless scoff and let the sinners seek their pleasures with no thought for God. And let this whole world of ours continue in its rebellion without a care for the consequences, either in life or in eternity. And let our business world engross itself in its nightmare of stocks and shares with no time for little else. Listen to your friends tonight. Suddenly, eminently, gloriously, personally, Christ the King will come back again. Praise the Lord. This is a real hope. A real hope. Why? His coming is the hope of the Christian. Listen to Hebrews 9, 28. And to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin and to salvation. That's our hope. Jesus is coming. He is also the hope of the Jew. His coming is the hope of the Jew. Joel 3, 16. The Lord will be the hope of his people. And you read that passage to see the awesome things that are predicted for the nation of Israel. It's the Lord's coming that's the hope of the Jew. And the strength, it says, of the children of Israel. In fact, friends, his coming is the hope of all the nations. Haggai 2 and verse 7. God says, I will shake the nations. I think something's happening at this present time. Although that's not the fulfillment of Haggai's prophecy, there's something greater coming. He said, I will shake the nations and the desire of all nations shall come. He's coming. Our hopes will not be denied. And first of all, he'll come for his saints. And then he will come with his saints to reign upon the earth. It will be real. It will be literal. It will be physical. It will be visible. It will be glorious. It will be in great power. Jesus is coming again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I guess as we are proceeding week by week to share upon the second coming, some of these things are going to be explained a little more when I talk about him coming first for the saints and then with the saints. Two very important aspects. But look into chapter 2 of Thessalonians with me because we have there Christ's coming, a rewarding hope. Paul teaches us here that those who have believed the gospel of God, notice twice he refers to this in verses 8 and 9, the gospel of God. He says, listen, those who have believed have not believed in vain. We not only have the promise of the life that now is, but also that which is to come. And here Paul emphasizes what it's all about. And as Pastor Barrett said this morning, friends, that when we talk about heaven, heaven has to do with Jesus primarily. That's why one of our grand old hymns says, the lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel's land. Because when we talk about the future, that which is to come, it's not just heaven with its gates of solid pearl and streets of gold. It's not just mansions and that tree of life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations. My friends, there's something more intrinsic and important for those who stand redeemed, rejoicing in Christ's holy presence in that day being crowned because we will then realize the true goal of God in our redemption and the true objective of all our enterprises in the work of the gospel. Because here is the reward. It's not just having a mansion. It's just not walking on streets of gold. It's not just breathing in celestial air. My friends, this to me is astonishing that God could ever grant it to us. It's being with Christ and partaking of his glory, which is his holiness without the present limitations. That is what the gospel is all about. Here is the goal that God has got in mind. It's to have you and me who have believed in his son with him, perfected in the likeness of his son Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. I may feel pretty wretched now and I may be so concerned about my imperfections and very much aware of them. But oh, when we see him as he is, oh, we'll praise him as we ought. Why? Because, friends, when we see him, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Hallelujah. And here it tells us in verse 12, he has called us to his glory. And in verse 19, he crowns us with his glory. We turn to the second epistle for a moment and chapter 2 and verses 13 and 14. We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel. Listen to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus. Some people say he will never share his glory. Well, there is an aspect when that is right. But to me, friends, the astonishing thing is that he makes me a partaker of his nature, which is his glory, his holiness. And this is where God's rule and righteousness will be known in their perfection when Jesus comes. In Daniel 12, 3, we shall shine as the stars. We will come into possession of those indescribable honors that await the faithful on that day of Christ as we appear before him and in his likeness. Again, I quote from 1 John 3, verses 1 and 2. We shall be like him. We shall be like him. That's why I urge you tonight, as I urge my own heart, let's get our eyes off the perishable honors of this world. Do not be deluded by the gaudy attractions of this world. May God save us, friends, from merely grasping for what is only material, as though such things were everything and forever. They are not. They are not. We have to get right with God and we have to live for God and we have to cherish this blessed hope and we have to look for his appearing. It's not only a real hope, it is a rewarding hope. Hallelujah. But when we come into chapter 3, it is a revolutionizing hope. When you read through this chapter, what praise is here. In verses 6 through 9, Timothy had brought good news to Paul of the steadfastness of faith that was manifested by these believers that Paul was writing to. They were a revolutionized people because they had turned to God from idols. Just as Paul says to the Corinthians, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. Let me ask you tonight, dear friend, in this meeting, do you know such a change? Have you come and had such an encounter with God through Jesus Christ that your life has been revolutionized? If it hasn't, then thank God it can take place. Right now, right now, while you're hearing the word of God, something can happen with you. As you receive it, as you imbibe it, you can be changed. I was preaching in the British conference just a few years ago and the meeting was a lady who was totally blind. She'd been blind for 21 years. She was only able to get about without another person helping her with the aid of a guide dog. She came to that conference and she sat in that morning gathering where God had given me a particular message relating to prayer. And her testimony was she sat on the edge of her seat, just imbibing what God was saying and say, oh God, you are speaking to me. I just want to do what you're telling us to do. And now she was eagerly just drinking in the word of God. This woman who'd been totally blind for 21 years suddenly saw the preacher. And then she saw the executive brethren sitting just behind me. What a thrill it was that night to see that lady just walk down the aisle and up onto the platform without any assistance whatsoever to give testimony of this miraculous healing. She attends my cousin's church in Manchester and her healing, friends, has been verified. She has appeared on television and her story has been in many magazines. Just sitting in the congregation like you are tonight, God met her. She just listened to the word of God. He can do it for you. Let's not be sermon samplers, friends. Let's listen to what God is saying to us. Let's imbibe. Let's have a heart to say, God, I just want to know your will and to do it. It'd be amazing to you to know what God will do for you. I believe that morning that God confirmed his word with signs following. It wasn't the preacher. No one laid their hands upon her. God did it sovereignly. Oh, a revolutionizing hope that begins with that revolution that takes place in the life of a person who believes. Thus we have Paul's prayerful desire in verses 12 and 13. The Lord, he says, make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you to the end. He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with his saints. You see what glorious truth this brings to our attention tonight. The second coming of Christ is a great incentive to live our life in holiness before God and to be ready when Jesus comes. A people who are living in the light of that blessed, that real hope, just as though he were coming tonight. And who knows, he may come tonight. Next week I'm going to talk about the rapture and I will talk to you friends from the word of God, why I believe in the imminency of Christ's return. Why it is the rapture can take place at any time for the church. Hallelujah. Now it must be said here that if Jesus tarries and does not return tonight, you cannot presume on tomorrow anyway. Now that's not being pessimistic, it's being realistic. You can't presume on tomorrow anyway. Someone said when you come to die, make sure it's the only thing you have to do. We say it again, when you come to die, be sure it's the only thing you have to do. Because you're ready. You're ready. Whether it's the upper taker or the undertaker, you're ready. It's a revolutionizing hope. Those who have this hope in them purify themselves, even as he is pure. In chapter 4 you will notice Christ's coming is spoken of as a reassuring hope. These believers in Thessalonica were anxious about loved ones who had had lived for Jesus. Those who had exhibited true faith, those who had hoped to the end for salvation. But they had died. They had died before Jesus had personally returned, as they had expected. Why, they lived in an any moment return then. But what about them? That was the question. That was the perplexity. In fact, with some, they were anxious about it. Was their faith in vain? Would they miss out on this blessed hope of seeing Jesus because they had died? Oh, Paul so triumphantly says, no, no, no. Christ himself died. And thank God he rose again from the dead, saying that in verse 14. And Paul says, well, if you believe that, then you can be sure that he, Christ, is the firstfruits of them that slept. In other words, his resurrection from the dead is the guarantee of our resurrection from the dead. And when he returns, Paul says, them that sleep in Jesus, God shall bring with him. Oh, what assurance or reassurance. Look at verses 15 to 17. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. That is, when Jesus comes, those who are actually here, alive on the earth, who are believers in him, we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, that is, precede them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we be together forever with the Lord. Hallelujah. What a reassurance this brings. Now listen friends, Paul is not teaching soul sleep here. That error which is taught by many, particularly some of the cults. He is saying, as did Jesus, he is using a well-known euphemism, that is, a saying that is put in a mild way instead of the stark reality, the direct way of saying something. And so to speak of death as sleep hides the hideousness, the harshness of it, because Paul does say death is an enemy. So when Paul uses this term, sleep as did Jesus, it indicates not unconscious repose, but the restful effect of death for the child of God. We do rest from our labors, as it says in Revelation. And it is the body in particular that is thought of as being asleep, because it is no longer in communication with its earthly environment. And we will see again a little more of that truth when we talk about the rapture, because it must be considered in that context. But our purpose in just referring to it tonight is to say that a day is dawning, and it is not far distant, friends, when the King returns. Hallelujah. And he will unite loved ones who have died in faith with those who are still living on the earth when Jesus comes for his saints. Hallelujah. There'll be a glorious reunion, caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we be forever with the Lord. It's a reassuring hope. Praise the Lord. I think our desire must be to see Jesus first and foremost, but it would be nice to see mom and dad and my dear old pastor. I want to thank him because I didn't thank him as much as I should have. I tell you what, he was one of the godliest men that ever walked in shoes. But oh, when we see Jesus, oh, I want to see him look upon his face, there to sing forever of his saving grace on the streets of glory. Let me lift my voice. Cares old past, home at last. Heaven is our home, friends. This world is not our home. We are just a passing through. Our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. Praise God forever. And that which cannot be touched, and never mind what happens with the monetary systems of this world, never mind what happens with a dollar or with a yen or with a pound. Here's something that cannot be touched. It never becomes devalued. Praise the Lord. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. All this reassuring hope. And one thing further into chapter five, Christ's coming, it's arousing hope. Notice what Paul says here as he commences the chapter, but of the times and seasons, you need not that I write unto you. Paul, he introduces a subject here. It's the day of the Lord, and we are going to see the difference between the day of the Lord and the day of Jesus Christ. They must be distinguished. There's so much confusion in the whole area of Bible prophecy because we are not distinguishing between very important terms. And he talks here about the day of the Lord, the day when God intervenes in history to judge his enemies and to deliver his covenant people, Israel, and to establish his kingly messianic rule in the earth. This is what Paul talks about now in the fifth chapter. So whereas in chapter four, we have the rapture of his saints, the church. This now is the prophetic period covering the time of the great tribulation. In verse three, notice for when they shall say peace and safety. And friends, that day will come very soon. They are going to make their agreements. They're going to come to a place where they feel everything is right now. We've achieved it. This is what the nations want. When they say peace and safety, then, mark it, then, sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. And I don't want to go into the awesome details of the great tribulation in our little message tonight. All I want to say, friends, that that has nothing to do with the Christian believer. Notice what it says in the text. The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them as cometh upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. You are all the children of light and the children of the day. You are not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. And verse 9, for God hath not appointed us to wrath. And I will show you from the word of God that that awful day of tribulation is a day of wrath. The day of the Lord in the New Testament is synonymous with the day of Jehovah in the Old Testament. It's a day of wrath. It's a day that burns like an oven. And there are some fearful things that the Bible speaks about in those days. Until it seems as though no flesh shall be saved. Until there comes one from heaven, the king, the king, the king, the rightful king of the earth. And he comes with, with, with his saints, that is with those believers whom he's already received himself and rewarded. They will come back to reign upon the earth for a thousand years. Hallelujah. The church will first receive, Jesus will first receive the church and they will be joyfully presented to the Father. And then he will come back to the earth with his saints when, says the scriptures, every eye shall see him. Listen, when he comes for the church, not every eye will see him. I'll see him. I wish I could speak for you all, but I don't know. I trust so. But you will see him if you are a believer. If you're not a believer, friends, the church will be gone. You'll still be behind. If Jesus comes tonight, you can come here next week. We won't be here. We won't be having service here. There's a greater convocation that we will be at if Jesus comes tonight or tomorrow or on Australia Day. It may be Jesus' day on January the 26th. But he will come. Every eye will see him when he comes back to the earth, coming in answer to the cry of an afflicted and near-eliminated nation of Israel to overthrow Antichrist and to establish his throne in righteousness and peace. And then, and only then, friends, will there be peace on earth and goodwill toward all men, only when Jesus comes back. And I tell you, the King is coming. The King is coming. This is the hope. And this very simple little letter of Paul's, the first letters of Thessalonians, each chapter, you'll notice every chapter, the second epistle too, every chapter has something to say about the second coming of Jesus. And it doesn't go in to give us all details of symbols and signs and mystical elements, but simply says, listen, he's coming. You better be ready. Lots of people want to know what the vials mean and what the stars mean and what the white horse and the pale horse and the black horse, you know, what they all mean. And they don't have one concern about the way they live. I'd rather, friends, be ignorant about the book of Revelation and live right, so when Jesus comes, I'm ready, than to have a full understanding of all the technical little details, but not know him. If you are a believer, if you are a believer, then you are not of the day, says Paul. You are of the light. You belong to Jesus. You possess a hope. And we should not be ignorant of what is taking place. That's what he says here. But believers, committed Christians are those who are waiting and watching. Watching what? Well, verse one says, now concerning the times and seasons, I have no need to write times and seasons, times and seasons. Jesus had something to say about this when he was asked by the disciples in Acts chapter one, will you now restore again the kingdom to Israel? Jesus replied simply like this. It's not for you to know the times and seasons which the father hath put in his own power. He's referring to that critical, precise moment of his coming to receive his people, and then to establish after that his kingdom. No one knows the hour. And listen to me, friends, tonight. I would no more presume to say he is not coming tonight, than to say, to presume to say he is coming on such a date and such a year. Both are unscriptural presumptions. The critical, the precise moment of his coming, no one knows. Or there are signs, there are indications which Jesus himself gave as to what would take place just prior to his coming. We call them signs of the times. Well, we are living in the times of the signs. They're happening all around us. We are living, friends, we are living in the most exciting day in human history. It's time you got a bit more excited. Hallelujah. I'm going to live it up for Jesus. Praise the Lord. I'm just going to enjoy him and enjoy God's people, enjoy my work for him. Because one of these days, I'm going to see him. Whatever be the cares, whatever be the disappointments, whatever be the struggles, whatever be in the oppositions, whatever be in the adversities, friends, they count for nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing in that day. I just want to be ready. If you're not a Christian, then let me tell you, you'd better get ready. And there's no better time than tonight. Because when Jesus comes, if you're not a Christian, friends, heaven will not be your home. There's only one alternative to heaven, and that's hell. There's only one alternative to everlasting life, which means life forevermore in the presence of Christ. It's everlasting torment, the lake of fire which burns forever and ever. Jesus is coming. He is coming. He is coming. Our King is your King tonight. King of my life, I crown thee now. Jesus, he's the King. Let's stand in the presence of God, shall we? Our gracious God, we are excited, we are exhilarated by the wonderful prospect of your coming. It thrills us just to know that you are going to keep your word. You said, if I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also. Lord, you made that promise, and you are going to keep it. We believe it. You can't deny your word, and we are living in the expectation of that. Lord, thank you for the hope. Thank you for the knowledge of sins forgiven, of peace with God, that we are part of that company who you are going to receive to yourself and present to your Father. Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you for your mercy toward us. Lord, I pray for any here tonight who do not know you as Savior. We want them also to have the same assurance, to know Christ as their Lord and Redeemer.