October 10th - Apocalyptic Horsemen

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Ced Gifford

Text – Zechariah 6:1-8

Today we look at Zechariah’s eighth and final vision. This is God in action against his enemies and we see a nice little circle in the way these visions wrap up, that what started the visions also finishes them.

What was Zechariah’s first vision? It was of a man on a red horse standing among myrtle trees along with several other horses. What did his red horse represent? War, Christ had just defeated Babylon through his servant Cyrus. Let’s read a verse to see why now God is about to send these horses out again,

Zechariah 1:15 And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster.

So explain to me why God is angry at the nations, specifically what is left of Babylon? Because they greatly mistreated his people, they went above and beyond in their persecution of the Jews. Today we are going to see God’s vengeance.

Before we get there, if someone does something evil to you, should you avenge yourself? Can God avenge himself and you? Let’s let the Bible answer:

Romans 12:19 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."

Peter calls us exiles in Babylon, even though we’re not in physical Babylon, we as Christians are away from our true home in Heaven, and Babylon represents the world because of its great sin and persecution of God’s people. Peter tells us what we ought to do when someone does evil to us,

1 Peter 2:11-12 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

So we leave all vengeance up to God, we repay evil with good, and in so doing we trust that God’s judgment or mercy is just. We desire all to be saved, but equally we desire for evil to cease, so our efforts are to show all that Jesus Christ will put an end to sin one day, when he perfects his saints and crushes his enemies.

Zechariah 6:1-8 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" And the angel answered and said to me, "These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the LORD of all the earth. The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country." When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, "Go, patrol the earth." So they patrolled the earth. Then he cried to me, "Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country."

This passage has an amazing message with a ton of symbolism and detail. It requires a basic understanding of the geography of Israel, some knowledge of metallurgy, and in order to thoroughly understand this passage we are blessed to have a New Testament which reveals to us many of the details.

v.1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out…

This is Zechariah’s eighth and final vision, the end of chapter 6 next week is going to tell us the major purpose of all of these visions. Zechariah sees four horse-drawn chariots coming out of Heaven (This detail is given in verse 5). The first thing we learn is that whatever we’re about to see is ordained and sent by God, just as it was God’s will to send the curse of the law, and his plan to let wickedness reign for a time in this world.

v.1 from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze.

These mountains represent the perimeter of Heaven. Heaven is impregnable, immovable, and veiled to outside eyes. We can’t see over the mountains, nor can we dig under the mountains. But, there is a path leading in and out, if there were only one mountain then we would be severed from Heaven forever, but there is a narrow road that leads to life. The only thing we can see is what is revealed to us.

Some have tried to specifically place these mountains in Israel or Cilicia (Turkey) or Arabia, but they make the major mistake of missing what these mountains are made of. They take it literally looking for a place where metal is mined, but bronze is an alloy, it is not found naturally; which two metals make bronze? Tin and Copper. It may even be that the Hebrew word doesn’t refer to the alloy, but something made of a bronze, like an adjective, which fits perfectly that God creates things both out of nothing, and out of other things.

Here is a weird little detail that may be related to these mountains, or it may not be. When Solomon built the temple, they carefully weighed the gold and silver, but they said that they had so much bronze that it would take too long to weigh, so they didn’t. When the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and burned the temple, Jeremiah tells us they took ALL of the bronze to Babylon. This new temple was going to be sufficient in gold and silver which was being imported, but deficient in bronze. I don’t really know if this is an important detail, but if we see that Heaven is represented here by mountains of bronze, we realize that anything we lose here on earth, either to sin or enemies of God, will be repaid a hundredfold in Heaven.

We can’t see past these mountains to see what God has prepared on the other side. Consider this also as God’s will; we only see what is revealed, though he has revealed much.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

So finally, let’s get to these horses!

v.2-3 The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong.

Red horses represent war and bloodshed, black represent famine and disease, white horses represent conquering armies (with or without bloodshed), and then the dappled horses I have no definitive answer. It may be that a better translation isn’t dappled, which means speckled, but that these are several horses all different colors. Or, and I think this is probably the right answer, that the word for dappled horses is the same word for hail, so these horses could very well represent natural disaster. I’m not sure, but just like we saw bay/sorrel horses in chapter 1, here we see that God is doing things that we don’t know about and don’t understand.

The word for brown and strong in Hebrew is exceedingly similar, the difference between amets and awmets, some have thought that the last chariot also had our brown horses drawing it, while others say that the dappled horses are especially strong. I believe that obviously if these are God’s horses, they are perfect, and so the awmets means they are all strong. And all that to say, they aren’t really horses, but they represent God’s ministers, let’s see why we know that.

v.4 Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"

This is Zechariah’s last question. I hope it has been thoroughly impressed into you that if you don’t know the answer, you should ask. Even if you think you should know the answer, like Zechariah should have a few times, it’s better to ask then not to know. Zechariah’s question is a good question because if we didn’t have the book of Revelation to interpret this passage for us, we wouldn’t know either.

v.5 And the angel answered and said to me, “These are going out to the four winds of heaven, after presenting themselves before the LORD of all the earth.”

We’ll go over this quickly because we already know these are ministers of God’s will throughout the earth, we learned that detail in chapter 1. These are the same spirits, angels, from Job who presented themselves before God when Satan came with them and identified himself even as one of these, though we don’t know which. Probably one not here identified which we’ll see in Revelation 6.

Here’s a weird and interesting detail: the word for wind is neat in Hebrew, it is ruwachhhhh. Everybody say, ruwachhhhhhh. The word means what it sounds like, this is the sound they heard on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given to all saints, and it’s also the word in the Old Testament for spirit. What’s the word in the Greek New Testament for spirit? Pneuma, everybody come to D-Now to learn much more about the Holy Spirit! That was a shameless plug, but seriously, come to D-Now.

These chariots have presented themselves before God for inspection and orders, and now they are ready to go on their missions.

v.6 “The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.”

The way that Israel is geographically situated, really the only two directions to go are North and South. To the West you’ve obviously got the Mediterranean Sea, and Israel has no natural ports, to the East you’ve got the northern end of the Arabian Desert, as well as a massive mountain to climb from the Jordan River to the top of Mount Zion, a 4,000 ft elevation change.

The chariots could go East, but it’s more expedient even if you want to go East to go North first. The black horses, representing famine and pestilence, go North, definitely to weaken and afflict what is left of the Babylonians. Following those black horses are our white horses, representing a conquering army, and these will turn the weakened Babylonians over to the Persians.

What do the Dappled ones do in the South and in which country? Only God knows, but we know that God is working even if we don’t know what exactly he’s doing. A fantastic book to read on this is Esther, which is a young Hebrew girl in the Babylonian captivity who stands up for her people and faith, and though we never even see the name of God or even the word God mentioned in that book, we see him working in all sorts of miraculous ways.

Do we know that God is doing something good for his name? Absolutely, that’s what he does, it may be that he is afflicting these people so they will turn to him, or it may be that his patience has utterly run out and he is punishing them with a view of sending them to Hell. One way he’ll receive glory for his great mercy, the other way he’ll receive glory for his great judgment. It was only on the cross where he receives glory for his mercy for us and his judgment against sin imputed to his Son. Wrath and grace kissed each other on the cross. (Psalm 85)

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Some have tried to allegorize these horses partly as God’s word, but we see in Revelation, which we’ll read in a moment, that these horses are representing physical events. However, they do act similarly to God’s law in their expediency and purpose especially since we saw the law represented as a curse that goes out over the earth. These horses can definitely be a curse on those they go to, and we’ll see a final horseman who is a great blessing on those who are his friends.

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

These horses are also living and energetic, which is what the Greek in Hebrews 4 literally says.

v.7 When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth. And he said, "Go, patrol the earth." So they patrolled the earth.

They want to go! They are chomping at the bit, straining against the reigns. But God is literally reigning, holding back his judgment until his appointed time.

Amos 3:6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

He lets them go and do what they are appointed to do. Think back to the Word of God for a moment. Charles Spurgeon asked, “Defend the Bible? Would you defend a lion? Loose him, and let him go!”

And let’s see if these loosed horses accomplish God’s purposes:

v.8 Then he cried to me, "Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country."

Remember in chapter 1 that God was exceedingly angry with these nations? He felt indignation towards them, but now that he has sent punishment upon them, his Spirit is at rest. Nations don’t have souls, they can't be tormented in Hell, so God punishes them here on earth, and he has two ways of doing so, he can do it internally by putting boys as leaders, thieves as treasurers, and idiots as experts, or he can do it externally through disaster, war, famine, and pestilence.

So let’s look at the last time these horses will be sent out, turn to Revelation 6. This is during the tribulation, God is furious and he is sending his horsemen out to wreak absolute vengeance on the nations.

Revelation 6:2-8 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!" When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hell followed with him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

The antichrist rides the white horse, a false christ deceiving many, he conquers the world without firing a shot. Indeed, he has a bow but no arrows. A time of peace exists on earth, but it is short lived. The second horse is red, for war, and great conflicts arise throughout the whole earth, and many are killed. The third horse is black, he is famine, and because of his work just enough food to feed a single family costs about $100. People will work all day just to be able to eat for the day. Luxuries like flavor will be abandoned.

The fourth horse is one we haven’t seen before, he is pale, not beige, but a light green like decaying flesh (chlorine has the same root word), and he represents death, and he does not come alone, but with comes an army of Hell. Through the work of these horsemen, a quarter of the earth will perish. We’re talking at least two billion people, probably more.

And after these things are accomplished, then Revelation 19 will occur,

Revelation 19:11-16 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 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.

Our King is a conquering king, he will come against his enemies with such fury that Isaiah 63 tells us he will be covered head to toe in the blood of his enemies. The rest of this chapter tells us that as a result of his wrath the carrion birds will eat until they are gorged on the flesh of everyone from princes to paupers.

So beloved, your application is that God is working in the world, nothing can happen lest he causes or allows it. He will avenge his people, so we need not worry about that, rather we repay good for evil, we love our enemies through action and proclamation that lest they repent, they will meet the Faithful and True Christ not as a friend, but as an enemy. We, Christians, who are still alive on that day will be called up to meet Christ in the air, those of us who have died will be amongst that warring army.

Know that God is working all things for good to those who love him and are called according to his name. And know that if you will not bow to Christ now, then you must prepare to war against him, for he will come as a conqueror, and beloved, this King does not lose wars. Let’s conclude with Hebrews 9:27-28:

Hebrews 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

June 27th - Surety of Victory

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Tyler Preaching Wednesday
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Lucas in Indonesia

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4th of July Witnessing

Text – 2 Peter 3:1-15

I had planned to spend some more time in Second Peter 2, but I think for the most part we’ve covered the important parts of that chapter, and I know how tedious it can get when the teacher teaches on the same topic multiple weeks in a row, so we’ll just do a quick review and move onto the fun part, which is in chapter 3.

If there is one thing I dislike most about our modern Bible it is the chapter and verse break-ups, this is especially evident today as we look at one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible. As I researched this passage I couldn’t find a single person who looked at the thought of Second Peter 3, but only people that looked at single verses, which is utterly dumb.

It is important that we see Second Peter as one book and not as three chapters or sixty-one verses, because if there is any book in the New Testament that is so pointed at where it is going, it is Second Peter. Another book like it is Romans, which really is masterfully written to give you an exceptional theological lesson in chapters 1-11, then gives you a perfect application in chapters 12-16. First Corinthians is also a good example, that we see how utterly wrecked that church is in chapters 1-14, that they’re having sexual immorality problems, money problems, communion parties, cliques are forming, people are speaking in gibberish, everybody talks at once in the church services, and marriages are falling apart, and it all comes to a head in chapter 15 to show that the reason for all of the other problems was a denial of the resurrection of both Christ from the dead, and the believer after death.

Second Peter has a gorgeous progression to make four major points really well so that they are memorable for you. Does anyone remember what those four points are? How to know you’re a Christian, how to grow in knowledge by reading your Bible, the danger of listening to men instead of the Bible, and Christ’s return and the sureness of his victory.

We’re going to see that in Christ’s return is also a definite proof that God will save his saints, just as we saw last week that though God crushed Sodom and Gomorrah he saved Lot. One thing I forgot to mention last week requires approaching that topic again. First, when Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned in books other than Genesis, what are they normally used to demonstrate? God’s ability to make a complete end, even extinction, of the wicked. But which was the sin that the Bible says they were partaking in which showed their complete depravity? Homosexuality. After praying about last week’s lesson I really think it’s important that I share one last point which we missed last week.

Romans 1:27 the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

I have to share that the life expectancy of a homosexual man is two-decades less than the life-expectancy of a heterosexual man. There is both a temporal and eternal penalty for this sin, there are many diseases and infections which are only spread through promiscuity, especially within the homosexual lifestyle. I want to make sure you see that this is not just a sin which God picked out at random to pick on, but there are many reasons for it. Who could possibly dislike the guys on Will & Grace? They seem so nice, and definitely have a lot of love, but we need to remember the dangers of this sin and realize that it is really a horrible sin against God and humanity, and we must not give approval to those who practice it.

But just as we saw that God was willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of the righteous, so are we going to see today that God has a patience which has a purpose, and unfortunately one which many mistake for inaction or nonexistence.

2 Peter 3:1-15 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But 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.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation…

In verse 1, Peter affirms that this is the second letter he has written, which is the first letter he wrote? First Peter…that’s a crazy coincidence that his first letter is called the first and his second letter is called the second! Does anybody know which is the third letter he wrote? I believe quite surely that he cowrote Hebrews with Paul, with Luke as the amanuensis. Which Gospel did Peter heavily influence? Definitely Mark and probably Luke as well.

The important part here is that Peter is pointing us back to his first letter, do you remember what the major theme is in First Peter? It’s the resurrection; added into that is a surety of Judgment Day, that this life is not all there is, but that we live a life of godliness looking forward to eternity.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Peter reminds us in verse 1 that he is speaking to believers, by using the term, “beloved”, which references Christ’s beloved and the brotherly bond within the church. This is hugely important as we look through his passage that it is to believers.

In the last days scoffers will arise, and the reason they will scoff is in verse 3 for their sinful desires. Let’s let Paul tell us which these desires are:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

v.3 They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."

This is what is known as “uniformitarianism” or the belief that God does not intercede or cause massive changes to the world, that natural processes have been going on since the beginning, which here clearly references the future religion of Darwinism with the idea of the Big Bang. Paul gives a similar warning about avoid science falsely so called. In order to believe in uniformitarianism a person has to deny the Flood, which is exactly what Peter is going to say they will do.

v.4-7 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Peter’s favorite Old Testament event, without a doubt, is Noah’s flood. He references it three times making three major points with it. Here he is comparing the effective end of that world to the total end of this world, and the fact that the unbelievers will overlook that fact. Do you know how long Noah was building the ark? 120 years, it was over a century between when God said he would deluge the earth and when he actually did, and during that time no doubt Noah was ridiculed and God was blasphemed. I wonder if they had celebrations every year to make fun of Noah’s boat that he wasn’t using because there was no flood. But they mistook God’s patience for inaction.

v.8-9 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God is willing to wait, he is outside of time, he has a plan and a purpose to accomplish before he will pour out his wrath. His patience is amazing and meant to lead us to repentance.

Romans 2:4-5 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

God is waiting for something very specific to happen before Christ returns to judge the world and for the whole world to be burned up in wrath. Before we look at what that is, let’s look at what God was waiting for before he deluged the world in Noah’s day. When we look at the genealogies in Genesis 4 and 5 we something interesting, that Cain’s genealogy is quite wicked, and Seth’s is quite godly. Cain killed his brother, then went out from God’s presence, Lamech was the first one to say, “If one wife is good, then two wives must be extra good.” On the other side we have Seth who led his family to follow God, he had a grandson named Enoch who walked so closely with God that he never died, Enoch had a son named Methusaleh, and Methusaleh had a grandson whose name was Noah who God found favor with. Without a doubt this is my favorite verse in the Bible, it doesn’t add much to our lesson today but I really want to read it:

Genesis 6:5,8 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

What is special about Methusaleh? He’s the oldest man who ever lived, how old did he live to? 969. What is special about when he died? It’s when the flood started. The Bible isn’t clear to exactly when the flood started, only an approximate time, but I wouldn’t be surprised that when Methusaleh breathed his last, the first raindrop fell. The Methodist church believes Methusaleh died in the flood, but it’s hugely important for Peter’s lesson that we see that he died and then the flood.

So what was God waiting for to send the flood? The last righteous man on earth besides Noah to die. So now what is God waiting for to send Christ back to earth? The last of his elect to become a saint, to reach repentance. What would have happened if Christ had returned fifteen years ago? None of you would have even existed, let alone reached repentance! God knows exactly how many will believe and Christ will come back at the exact moment that the last of his saints reaches repentance.

He doesn’t want all people to reach repentance and he certainly is willing that some perish, because many do perish, and what God wills will come to fruition, else he wouldn’t be sovereign and omnipotent.

Romans 9:22-23 God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory…

v.10 But 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.

So we see a world prepared for destruction, when with a tremendously loud sound the sky will roll back, Christ will be seen, and he will wage war on his enemies. Let’s read my all time favorite verse:

Revelation 19:11 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.

At that precise moment we will have his heavenly host of angels gather his saints from all corners of the globe and save them from the destruction to come, at which time it is described that Christ will trample out the winepress of his enemies and he will be covered head to toe in the blood of those who stand against him.

So then we are faced with what we will set our affections on, will it be things of this world, a nice house, a nice car, the body we are currently wearing? Peter tells us exactly where to set our affections.

v.11-13 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

If this world will pass away, then we ought to set our affections on the new heavens and new earth, on the Righteous and Resurrected Christ, growing in holiness and godliness and calling everyone to repentance. Here is what is neat for us that Noah couldn’t do anything about. What needed to happen for the flood to start? Noah needed the Ark, which he had, and every righteous person had to die. Methusaleh’s son, Lamech (not the same Lamech of Cain’s side) had died some five years earlier, and so only Noah and Methusaleh remained. Peter tells us not just to wait for every saint to reach repentance, but also to hasten that day, to hurry that day up. How do we do that? By preaching the gospel! If you witness to someone and they repent and they are the last saint, you could see the heavens opened! Then for all eternity you can bear the crown of calling the last saint to salvation.

v.14-15 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation…

The Father knows what he is doing, and so we continue to grow in grace, being sanctified, living as exiles in this world seeking the welfare of the city we are sojourners in, calling everyone to repentance, and we’re not mad at God for failing to send Christ back, rather we rejoice in his great patience which will result in every single one of his saints reaching repentance, and then the end will come.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Oswald J. Smith has a fantastic quote which says, “We speak of the second coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” Robert Moffat said on his missionary journeys to India, “I have sometimes seen in the morning sun the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been.”

And finally, this prophecy and surety of return is not given for us to stand looking towards Heaven, it is to motivate us to action. William Varner, a professor at the Seminary where I want to pursue my doctorate, put it this way, “Prophecy is not given to form a calendar, but to form a character; a character of prayerfulness, watchfulness, honesty, and holiness.”

September 13th - Looking into Angels

Prayer Requests
Dave and Brooke’s Mexico Trip

Next Mexico Missions Trip
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Deeper Conference Results

Taste of Kennesaw Witnessing

Deborah feeling better

Hannah feeling better

Palmer's 7th Grade Science Teacher's Heart Attack

Bethany's Cousin

Ms. Sanders from Awtrey continued healing

Text – 1 Peter 1:12

Last week we talked about the supernatural nature of the Bible, that even though the prophets wrote down the Word of God, they still needed to search it out to find out what it meant. Whose job, after Christ has come, is it to search out the meaning of the Old Testament in order to preach it? Preachers and Apostles.

Who is the greatest Apostle ever to live, keep in mind we’re in Peter’s Epistles? Paul wrote the most letters, John lived the longest, Andrew’s my favorite. But none of these three are the greatest…the greatest Apostle who ever lived and still lives is Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.

The word Apostle just means sent one, albeit when Jesus appointed his Apostles, there was something very special in it, they were given special authority and abilities, but we should do our best to live up to our titles of prophet, one who speaks for God, apostle, one who is sent by God, ambassador, one who represents God, and priest, one who ministers for God. We’re going to talk more about the priesthood of believers in chapter 2.

John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."

The third group that want to look into the ministry and Word of God through his Messiah are who?

1 Peter 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

We’re going to talk about the angels, and look at the gospel from a different perspective than we normally look at it. We usually look at the gospel from two directions, either as a minister of the gospel trying to get people saved, or as a recipient of the gospel who needs the forgiveness of God. There are five major ways to look at the gospel, we could look at it from Satan’s point of view, that it is waging war on his kingdom. Or we could look at it from God’s point of view, that it is his war and ministry and church, and that the ultimate goal is his glory, or we can look at it from the perspective of the angels.

Board Illustration - Circle in the middle with "Gospel" written in it."

Four arrows pointing out:

top - God (Glory)

bottom - Satan (Warfare)

left - Sinner (Condemnation)

right - Saint (Salvation)

One arrow pointing in - Angels

The perspective of the angels is considerably different, because they don’t need forgiveness, their goal is solely to see God glorified.

At first I thought we’d just read every verse that talk about angels, but there are 273 of them, so we’ll look at the definitive verses. First question, are angels created beings?

Psalm 148:2,5 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Let them praise the name of the LORD! For he commanded and they were created.

And how many angels?

Hebrews 12:22 innumerable angels in festal gathering

There are a lot, the Bible doesn’t say how many. When Christ was going to the cross, he said that he could have twelve legions of angels come to his rescue, a legion at the time was about 6,000 men, so that’s 72,000 angels at least.

There are different kinds of angels too, and ranking.

We usually call good angels, angels, and bad angels, demons. It would be correct though to call them all angels. The Bible differentiates by calling the good ones the “elect” angels, because these were the ones who were not allowed to fall in the rebellion.

1 Timothy 5:21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

Seraph – This word literally means the “On Fire Ones”
Cherub – The blessed ones (Satan is the most beautiful Cherub)
Putti – Baby Angels (We have no reason to believe they exist)

Archangel – Head angel, a prince of angels. Michael is an archangel.
Herald Angel – Proclaim the goodness of God. Gabriel is a herald.
Guardian Angel – Protect God’s Saints.

Some angels have six wings, some two, and others seem not to have any.

Isaiah 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Exodus 25:20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.

Genesis 19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth

So what do they do, are they just pretty wingy thingies, or do they have a purpose?

Hebrews 1:13-14 And to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Angels are first and foremost ministers of God for his saints. Besides this though, they also are warriors, guardians, heralds, and they’ll help with the rapture.

I used to wonder what would happen during the rapture if you were inside…would you just go through the ceiling, and what if you were in a reinforced building? It sounds like an angel is going to come get you and carry you skyward.

Matthew 24:31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

They are very powerful warriors, in the Old Testament an angel killed 70,000 in one day and was on his way to destroy Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 21:15 And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

One of the most beautiful stories about angels as our ministers and guardians is when Elisha and his buddy were about to get slaughtered by the Syrians:

2 Kings 6:15-23 When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" He said, "Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then Elisha prayed and said, "O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see." So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD and said, "Please strike this people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek." And he led them to Samaria.

As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, "O LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see." So the LORD opened their eyes and they saw, and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. As soon as the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, "My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?" He answered, "You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master." So he prepared for them a great feast, and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the Syrians did not come again on raids into the land of Israel.

Elisha is sitting there in Jerusalem, and the Syrians come to destroy them, and they are way outnumbered, or so it looks. But Elisha knows that God has given them a heavenly host to protect them, but instead of waging war, God shows his grace by allowing the Syrians to be taken captive and treated as prisoners of war instead of being killed.

Psalm 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

God is big, and powerful, and in control, and nothing bad will ever happen to you that he didn’t allow and/or have a purpose in using. If and when something bad happens, it is good to step back and ask, “Ok, God told his angels to let this happen, what for?”

So angels are neat, they are powerful, they are beautiful, they are capable, and yet, they are paying attention to the gospel, they long to look into it. Since angels are so impressive, there have been varying people throughout history who have desired to worship them.

The books of Hebrews and Colossians are written against angel worshippers. Many people have thought that Jesus was an angel, or even worse, that angels were higher than him.

Hebrews 1:5-9 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God’s angels worship him." Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire." But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

Angels are created, Jesus Christ is not. But Jesus, in his humility, stepped out of Heaven, left his glory in order to be able to save men.

Hebrews 2:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

A note that I couldn’t figure out where to stick, but I want you to know, is that angels are often compared to the stars, they sing, they’re called flaming fires, Satan is called a morning star, the Star of Bethlehem moved, I’m certain it was a heralding angel…we’ll have to wait ‘till Heaven to figure it out, but there is some link between angels and stars.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Angels are not low by any means, we see that angels are great, but they are not nearly so great as Christ. Which is more like God, an earthworm or an archangel? Neither, God is so much higher and holier than them that to even try to compare him to something created is impossible. We should not worship angels, but in them we see something incredible. Is God able to do everything without help? Of course, in fact it says in Psalm 148 that he commanded the angels to be created. But he still uses them as his ministers. It is glorious that even though God is able of doing everything, he employs his creation to make his glory manifest.

And the result is that we will have a higher standing in Heaven, because we have the inheritance of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

And so the angels search these things out, they want to know so they can better minister for God, they also want to know so that they can know what to expect. So, if the gospel is worthy of angels to look into, whom have no stake in it, then it must be a hugely glorious thing. We see that saints and sinners have a stake, God and Satan have a stake in the gospel, but the angels, who do not have a stake in the gospel still find it magnificent. I hope that it will encourage you to know more about the gospel and the God whom the gospel has reconciled you to so that you can be a minister of that gospel.

Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

And one last verse to sum it all up.

Hebrews 13:1-2 Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

When I first read this verse, I was actually a little angry. I thought, “So these angels, who are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, are taking ministry resources…what’s their problem? Why are they wasting our time?” But then I realized that the glory of God is our goal, not just the salvation of souls or the feeding of hungry, or the giving drink to the thirsty, but we do these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to the Father through him. This is why the angels are looking into the gospel, not to see what they can get out of it, but to see how it magnifies and glorifies the name of God.

So, as angels sing holy, holy, holy, lets join them as they sing.


Homework

Read Revelation 22:8-9 and explain why John was in the wrong when he fell at the feet of an angel to worship him.

July 18th - Antichrist

Prayer Requests
Sarah and Tyler in China
Pastor Aaron's Minor Surgery
Pastor Dave preaching
VBS Results
Student Volunteers

Bethany's Counsin's New Salvation

The Costello's Rafting Trip

Text - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Real quick let's do a quick look-through at some books in the Bible that are written to specific churches and which ones they are.

From Revelation:
Ephesus - Loveless Church
Smyrna - Persecuted Church
Pergamos - Trying to love God and the World simultaneously
Thyatira - Doctrineless / Charismatic Church
Sardis - Works-Righteous Church
Philadelphia - Perfect Church
Laodicea - Apostate Church

Who were John's Gospel and three Epistles written to? Ephesus, for one reason to fight lovelessness and self-centeredness.

Any idea who the letters to Corinth were written to? The Charismatic Church.

Galatians? A works-righteous church.

First Thessalonians? A persecuted church, a wonderful church; full of hope, love, and faith.

Second Thessalonians? The hopeless church. How did they go from being a First Thessalonians church to a Second Thessalonians church? That's what we're going to look at today, and why their hopelessness was unfounded.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

They were shaken and alarmed by a fake letter from Paul and Silas saying that the Lord had come. Last week we considered why they would believe such a letter, and I missed a huge fact which would have impacted this. It's the "spirit and spoken word" which preceded the letter. This references the supposedly supernatural discerning of events that will lead to the end. Like the December 21st, 2012 supposed end of the age. Prepare to see huge cults grow up in the next few years around that date.

Thessalonica was probably caught up in all of these weird astrology and prophecy of men, and then lo and behold, a letter seeming to be from Paul saying that they'd missed it. My guess is that a friend of Paul who was not a Christian had written the letter and delivered it, and so combined with an sensationalized expectation of the end, and a trustworthy letter-carrier, and the church fell for the heresy that they had missed the rapture.

And it wrecked their lives. They were shaken in mind and alarmed, and we'll see in a future lesson that their church fell apart over the loss of hope.

How important is hope? It is vital.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-5 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

Paul yells at his church here, angry that his church was deceived, but more angry that they fell for it. He reminds them not to be deceived but to remember the Word of God which he relayed to them. There is a huge mistake growing in the church called Preterism. This is a new belief from the 17th century, but it's becoming more and more common. It holds that all prophecy has been fulfilled with the exception of a few things, maybe Christ's return, but some go so far as to say there will be no end or final judgment of all, but each judgment is personal. It's unbiblical and dumb.

Paul gives two major things that have to happen before Christ will return. The first is a rebellion, or a massive falling away, or an apostasy. This will be discussed more with the second point.

The second this is that a man of lawlessness be revealed, the very son of destruction, Satan manifest in the flesh. He will claim to be God, taking his seat in the very temple of God. This is interesting, because the nation, not the people, Israel REALLY want to rebuild a temple on the temple mount in Jerusalem.

What is the temple of God right now? It's me, it's you, it's our body, for we worship in Spirit and Truth, not on any certain mountain. The problem is that the Muslims have a very special church on that rock. I hope to see it fall before I am called home. When that church falls, a temple will be rebuilt, and this will open the door for a man to exalt himself as the Holy One of Israel.

For the first two centuries, the church was certain this man would be a Caesar. But then the Roman Empire fell. The Catholic Church was quick to call out those who would speak against their cult as potential antichrists; especially Martin Luther and John Calvin. From the 1500's to the late 1800's, there was very little doubt that the Antichrist would be a Pope. But now the Catholic Church is an impotent little organism which is only a bother to the true church. Adolf Hitler was probably as near to an antichrist as there has been. After that, there was a mass craze that the antichrist would be a Soviet leader, but then the USSR fell. Not a few people surmised that Obama was the antichrist, but he's proved that he's not smart enough to be the antichrist. All this points to a desire for the church to have special knowledge of the end of the age. We'll see next week that our job is to glorify Christ and do good works, not to figure out who is the Antichrist.

And here we're looking at one man, Satan manifest in the flesh, for in the past there have been many antichrists.

1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

Historically, the church of the antichrist has been called Rome, but let me show you something interesting that is happening.

Revelation 17:1-6 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk." And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations." And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

Some basic things, this church is lacking in holiness, her purple and scarlet robes are indicative of the priesthood. The angel goes on to describe that she is made up off all of the world, and used by the Antichrist for his purposes. Since the Reformation, this church has been called Rome. This seemed to be true then, but I guarantee you she's made up of multiple churches under a flag of ecumenicalism.

Today in the world, Pope Benedict the whatever is using very Evangelical language, which is the squishy stuff saying if you just believe, you'll be fine, Rome has a very hard time saying anybody will go to Hell. They are leaning in the direction of Protestantism without going so far as to be saved. Likewise, Protestantism is leaning towards Catholicism with their mysticism, doing things to draw near to God. How do we draw near to God? God brings us near by the blood of Christ, we become efficient in our faith by loving God and loving others in deed and truth, not just in word or talk. Rome and Evangelicalism are leaning towards each other about to meet in the middle, and neither is redeemed.

Likewise, the great antichrist Rick Warren is embracing Islam and saying that Jesus Christ's Father is the same God as Allah. He is not, Allah is bribable, unjust, capricious, whimsical, and ungracious. He couldn't be any farther from the Living God. Richard Dawkins, one of the world's leading atheists, has announced that Christianity is an excellent source of morals. Likewise, the guy in the White House is a Muslim who claims to be a Christian.

All of these religions are leaning in towards a common point; they will not be saved, but a time is coming very soon when there is one world religion under the banner of tolerance, and then all they'll need is one leader, who will claim to be the God of this tolerance and all of these religions.

Where is he now? Let's read.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

Very important to see here, Christ is WAY bigger than Antichrist. He is restraining him, and he will easily put an end to Antichrist's life. These things all have to happen before Christ will come. This is a lot to happen, but it's not to say it couldn't happen in a decade. It's not going to happen today, but we should still have an urgency to minister for Christ. Even if he doesn't return during our lifetime, we're still racing against the clock to live for him in our measly few years, which might be 100 years if we're lucky. For example, Jim Elliot, whose video we watched at VBS, died at 29 and yet did amazing things for Christ; history is replete with great saints dying young having done much in their short lives.

A time is coming when this apostasy will result in almost no new converts to Christianity.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

But now we have a similar question of why did Thessalonica believe the false letter; why will people follow after this Antichrist?

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Satan is able to do parlor tricks. He can do signs and wonders. This is reminiscent of Moses and Aaron in front of Pharoah;

Exodus 7:9-13 When Pharaoh says to you, 'Prove yourselves by working a miracle,' then you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.'" So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Satan is able to do tricks that are reminiscent of God's miracles. God's are obviously much better and longer lasting, but when people hate God, they'll follow any weird things, having itching ears heaping teachers to themselves. We'll talk more about God blinding their eyes next week, but God gets to a point where he loses patience with people and gives them up to Hell. This is called reprobation, we'll talk more about it next week.

What sort of false signs do you think Satan may be doing? Healings, prophecy, gold-dust, and pretending to cast out demons. If you watch these things on TV, you see all manners of people with weird things wrong with them being healed. You can never see these things, it will be like brain-tumors or eye problems or hearing problems. Dr. Justin Peter's has made it his life's work to preach the true gospel to people who are falling for this antichristian religion, and he says when you go to one of these churches, you see all sorts of sick people hidden away in the back, who would never make it up on stage because you can see what is wrong with them. He says he's seen it so bad as healthy people to sit in a wheel-chair so they can stand up and walk on stage.

Matthew 16:4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

What's the sign of Jonah? A miraculous salvation, the Resurrection, a transformed life, and preaching of repentance.

This coming religion is wicked, and Jesus Christ hates it, yet he is losing patience and is giving men over to their lusts, but he won't let it happen forever.

2 Peter 2:2-3 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

Christ hasn't returned yet, many things need to transpire before them. We must hold fast to the hope of the Resurrection and his return, striving for holiness, and serving him until he returns or calls us home.

July 12th - Hope

Prayer Requests
Vacation Bible School
Sarah and Tyler Going to China
Pastor Aaron Preaching

Text – 2 Thessalonians 1:3

We’re going to spend an entire lesson today on a word that is not there. We’ve already looked at this verse, twice, actually, but something flew out at me while preparing that we HAVE to look at, because it sums up the WHOLE letter of 2 Thessalonians, and it’s a missing word.

Let’s see if you can see it,

2 Thessalonians 1:3 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.

What’s missing? Let’s look at First Thessalonians and First Corinthians;

1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Faith, _______, and Love. These three are a unit, they’re a trinity of good things; a three legged stool, remove one and the other two fall.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. If we lose hope, we lose faith, if we lose faith, we lose our justification, if we lose our justification, we lose everything. Have any of you ever heard of anybody being someone afraid of Hebrews 6 and what it seems to say? Hebrews 6 sounds like you might be able to lose your salvation, if you read it wrongly; but of course that is not true, for we trust in the perseverance of the saints, that he who began a good work in you will see it to completion on the Day of Christ.

Hebrews 6 is about how vital hope is to our salvation, and beloved, if we are without hope, then we are without salvation. Hebrews 6 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, because I’m not afraid of it because I know that the author could not possibly be saying that we can lose our salvation, so we see what this passage is trying to teach us.

It’s strange all of the sudden that we’re in Hebrews 6, but it’s so vital for hope, and because of what it says is why Thessalonica was without hope. It begins by instructing teachers not to spend all of their time on salvation. It is wonderful to preach repentance, faith in Christ, the resurrection, eternal judgment; but there is SOOOOOOO much more to the faith. It says that if you’re saved, that you can’t be resaved, so what is the point of then spending all of your time trying to get saints saved. We have a much better hope and infinitely better inheritance in front of us than just being saved.

Don’t get me wrong, salvation is awesome, it is huge, it is worth talking about, but Hebrews 6 says don’t fixate on one thing while ignoring the full richness of our inheritance in Christ.

Hebrews 6:11-12 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

I earnestly desire to see in each of you the full assurance of the hope we have, so that you might serve the church in love, that this faith and patience will lead to the full inheritance of all of the promises that are available in Christ, not just the salvation.

Hebrews 6:18-20 It is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Hope is huge. Where does it come from?

Ephesians 2:12-13 Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We were without hope without God, but through Jesus Christ shedding his blood, purchasing us in his ransom, we have a full assurance of hope in him.

Hebrews 3:6 Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Hope does not disappoint.

Romans 8:24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Wouldn’t it be a little weird if I said, “I hope [student in class] comes to class today.” Of course it would be weird, because they’re here, I don’t hope because I see, I know, there is no patience required.

On the other hand, would it be weird if I said, “I hope [regular attender not present] comes to class today.” No, because there is a chance of that happening, but my hope is not perfect.

How about, “I hope Pastor Aaron comes to class today.” This is not really hope, because we know he is preaching right now and has made no obligation to come, and so while it would be nice if he’d stop in and say hi, this hope is small.

On the other hand, if before class I said, “I hope [student in class] comes to class today.” And I had talked to that student and he/she told me they were coming, because I trust them, and their parents, my hope was well founded and I wasn’t the least bit surprised when he/she came into class.

Hebrews 10:19-23 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

When Jesus Christ makes a promise, beloved, you’d better believe it is binding. He has promised to return, to gather his saints to him, to present us holy and blameless and above reproach before his Father. It is a big hope, and Thessalonica didn’t have it, and it wrecked their lives.

Jenny asked why they believed the false letter that said they had missed the rapture. I had to think about it a lot, and I think I have the answer. They were trusting in men rather than God, and Satan has many tricksters, tricks, and schemes to damage the faith of the believer and blind the eyes of the unbeliever.

My guess, and this is largely conjecture, but is founded on verses and also on past experiences, is that Thessalonica was trusting more in men than God. For example, I felt awful after our lesson on dating/purity when I said I wasn’t dating or even kissing another girl until I was pretty sure she was the one I was going to marry, then I went and dated a girl who I realized probably there was no future with, but because of circumstances I skipped some important steps. Beloved, I will do my best to be faithful, honest, and true, but I guarantee I will let you down again as I have in the past; so trust in Jesus, who will never let you down.

So why did Thessalonica trust the letter that was supposedly from Paul that said they’d missed the rapture, even when it was directly contradictory with his first letter, which said that saints would be caught up to meet Christ in the air when he returned?

First hint:

2 Thessalonians 3:2 [Pray] that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.

Second hint:

Romans 16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae.

Third hint:

Ephesians 6:21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.

The person that carried a letter was an emissary, an ambassador, a representative of the one who wrote the letter. It was a very important position to deliver a letter, and one that required a high level of trust. Not everybody Paul ever ministered with ended up being completely perfect in their theology, we see this Mark abandoning them, Barnabas temporarily falling in with the works-righteous crowd, Timothy starting out in the circumcision-party, and the fourth hint as to why the church at Thessalonica believed the letter;

2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Demas had ministered with Paul for at least two years, and yet he ended up being a false convert. Could there have been a Judas in the mix of Paul’s disciples who delivered a false letter under the guise of being a real disciple? Quite possibly, Demas may have even been the one who delivered both letters to Thessalonica, albeit that is a pretty wild leap.

However it happened, I would bet you that the same person delivered the fake letter as the first letter, and so the church accepted it as being from Paul.

There is a powerful application in this, that me, and your other teachers/preachers who may faithfully bring you the word still shouldn’t be trusted above God. I may preach a rock-solid message one week, then next week I may tell you that in order to go to Heaven, you have to give me $100. The false message doesn’t make the true message false, but the true message also doesn’t make the false message true. Don’t let your guard down, and make sure your hope is in Christ alone.



I was preaching at the Superbowl and had a particularly gifted heckler. He really got me off track and I lost my place in my sermon. I had gotten through that you need to be perfect to go to Heaven, and taken them through some of God’s law to show them they stood condemned before God. At this point, they were without hope. A Christian chimed in from the crowd to get me back on track, he asked, “So you’re telling us we’re without hope?!?!”

It was one of my favorite times open air preaching, my response: “Hope? Hope! O blessed hope; there is hope! When we were without hope, without God in the world, we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Christ paid our fine on the cross, God manifest in the flesh died for us and defeated death! We can be reconciled to him if we will repent and trust in Jesus Christ, that his payment on Calvary’s cross was entirely sufficient to pay our way into Heaven! I implore you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God! That’s hope!"

One of Dave’s favorite songs is My Hope is Built on Nothing Less by Edward Mote. Two verses of it go,

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteous;
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, his covenant, his blood
Sustain me in the raging flood;
When all supports are washed away,
He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.



When Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac, where was his hope and trust? In God and the resurrection. The same with Christ, his hope and trust was in the unfailing promise of God of the resurrection to come. When Thessalonica lost this hope, they lost everything, even their hope and joy in temporal things.

When you would go to Jerusalem on Mt. Zion in the days of David all the way through Christ, you’d have to walk well trodden paths that went through such wonderful sounding places as the “Valley of Death” and other such dangerous and wicked places. Pagans in the area knew that Jews would be making these pilgrimages at certain times, and would set-up for business, selling food, wares, and gods along the path, usually on the hills so that they could be seen. A song that David wrote was specifically designed to be sung when these things were encountered,

Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

We see this today in many ways; think about Christmas, what are we supposed to be celebrating on Christmas? The birth of Jesus Christ; what do the pagans want us to celebrate? Stuff. On Easter, what should we be celebrating? The resurrection of Jesus Christ; what do the pagan want us to do? Look for eggs.

I lift my eyes unto the stores, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of all this stuff.

2 Corinthians 1:7-10 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

Set your hope on Christ, on his death and resurrection. He is your help and shield, your life and righteousness. He is faithful, he is worthy of your faith and hope, hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into us through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

1 John 2:28-3:3 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. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 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. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Benediction: Now, may the God of hope grant you all joy and peace in believing, that through the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)

July 5th - Hell

Prayer Requests
Barack Obama is a Southern Baptist
Pastor Aaron's new Sermon Series
Vacation Bible School
Builders for Christ
China - Tyler and Sarah

Text - 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12

So what's going on Thessalonica? Every manner of persecution you can imagine, people have been run out of town, they've been mocked, they've been banished, they've had to pay weird and imaginative taxes, at least a few of them have been killed, and now there is even spiritual persecution that someone has written them a letter that pretty much says they've missed out on Heaven.

Do you think God cares when his saints are afflicted? Of course he does, and that's what we're going to look at today, what he's going to do about it.

First though, is there a benefit to this persecution that Thessalonica is facing? Yes. What is it? Let's read verse 3 and 4.

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 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.

What's another church that was persecuted and came out ahead? Smyrna. Persecution is a great way to have a pure church, and here in Thessalonica we have a pure church. But it is in danger because now they think they're suffering for Christ and they're missing Heaven. Paul's words that this "light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." (2 Corinthians 4:17) are meaningless because they don't think the affliction they are suffering comes with Heaven.

So Paul has two problems to address in this letter, first what God is going to do to avenge his saints, and second to reassure them that they haven't missed Heaven. We're going to talk mostly about what God is going to do to avenge his saints today, we'll be on this letter for the rest of the summer and will see what sorts of events have to transpire before Christ returns; and it hasn't happened yet.

What we're about to read is the only place where Paul explicitly talks about Hell. He mentions it in many other places, but he only goes into detail here. Some people think the reason he spoke much more about Heaven than Hell is because he was called up to Heaven momentarily in about AD 43; what year was Second Thessalonians written? AD 52. Paul saw that the glory of Heaven and the inheritance of Christ was so wonderful that he preached more on it than on the terrors of Hell. Some think, and I agree, that this passage in 2 Thessalonians is here just so that Paul couldn't be accused of denying the existence of Hell, but he definitely mentions Hell in his other letters. So let's read the passage.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 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 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on thosewho do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment ofeternal 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. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we see that God is not ignorant of their pain, and he does care. God will indeed repay those who afflict his saints, and their affliction will be bigger than the affliction we receive, because when you pick on a Christian, who are you ultimately picking on? Let's read what Jesus said to Paul when Paul was persecuting Christians.

Acts 9:4-5 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."

But God is waiting, why? Doesn't he know it hurts? Three reasons.

1. The persecution is a cleansing method for his church; suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:3)

2. Because of their hard and impenitent hearts they are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:5) There are going to be no lack of sins for them to give an account for, because God let them keep going and going, digging themselves deeper and deeper. How many sins does it take to send you to Hell? 1. But God is letting them fill up the full measure of their sins so that they know they will certainly deserve it.

3. The riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience is meant to lead them to repentance. (Romans 2:4)

When will God repay them? Right here Paul affirms that the Second Coming of Christ hasn't happened yet, for he says, "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance..." This is synonymous with Judgment Day, with the Day of Wrath, and with the Day of Christ. On that day, those who have died will be resurrected;

John 5:28-29 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

So who's going to be on God's side on that day, and who won't be? Paul tells us that Jesus will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Jesus said those who have done good will be resurrected to eternal life, who has done good? Jesus said nobody. Uh-oh.

What's the solution? The gospel. What's the gospel? It is the good news that Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, died on a cross paying for the evil we've done so that we can inherit his goodness, because he never sinned and was and is forever perfect. What is the response to the Gospel? How do you be obedient to the Gospel? As Jesus said, "Repent and believe." Turn from your sins, turn to God, trust in him and him alone that Christ's payment on Calvary's cross was entirely sufficient to pay your way into Heaven.

Jesus will inflict vengeance on those who do not obey the gospel, who will not repent and believe, those who refuse to submit themselves to God so that he will adopt them into his family.

v.9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might...

Hell. The eternal destruction is a destroying that lasts forever, an eternity of dying.

Luke 16:23-24 And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'

Matthew 13:40-42 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, theseworshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Hell is hot, and forever, and terrible. A man named Dante summed it all up in one statement, what he considered would be a good sign to put above the gates of Hell. "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here."

One of the reasons it is so bad is because God is Love, and Paul says that Hell is eternal separation from God, therefore there is no love in Hell, and since every good thing comes from God, if he is not there, then there is no good thing.

The second reason it is so bad is because God is furiously angry.

Psalm 7:11 God is angry with the wicked every day.

Matthew 25:41 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'

God hates sin and sinners with a vengeance. Sin has caused every manner of death and suffering on this planet and God hates it. But people love sin, going so far as to do everything they can to get God out of their lives. The worse thing that can happen to you is God says, "Fine, have it your way."

In Hell, the niceties and fun we had in this world will fade away like dreams. When we got back from camp, I started to prepare the Sunday School lesson, then took a nap, while napping I dreamt I finished the lesson, it was a nice feeling when I woke up, until I realized that there was indeed no lesson. Have you ever had a really nice dream that you didn't want to wake up from? Then afterwards you try to tell someone about it and all of the niceness is gone, you think, "I'm pretty sure it was a nice dream, but now I can't really remember." That's how Hell will be, people will think, "I'm pretty sure it was a nice life...I think I had fun, I think there was love, I think there was joy, but now I can't really remember."

Psalm 73:18-20 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

Psalm 21:8-9 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.

Who goes to Hell?

Revelation 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

God is serious about this. His perfect justice requires a perfect punishment, a sin against an infinite God requires an infinite retribution. Surely many will be terrified and hate Christ's appearing, there is even some evidence that people will continue to curse God in Hell forever, refusing to repent even as they die forever.

But, some will not hate his appearing.

v.10 [All this will happen] 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.

Why can we be happy that Jesus is returning if he is going to require payment for sins on that day?

Our sins are already paid for; he paid for them 2000 years ago on the cross. When we look at Christ's crucifixion, we see his physical appearance marred beyond semblance of a human being; you couldn't even tell he was a man when Herod and Pilate got done with him, but that external punishment was piddly in comparison to the wrath poured out on him by his Father. It pleased God to crush him, because Jesus was made our vicarious sin, and God held nothing back and our payment was paid by the God-man Jesus Christ dying in our place.

Consider this story which Kirk Cameron likes to tell, "I told him a story of a tribal Chief on an island. The Chief was a good man. He was physically strong, morally uncompromising in Justice, and loved his family and tribe greatly. The chief loved his tribe so much that his penalty for anyone who violated the law was severe, which resulted in very little crime and ensured safety for the tribe. One day, some men reported to the Chief that food had been stolen, causing another family to go hungry. The penalty for such a crime was 50 lashes. The Chief ordered that the criminal be found and publicly disciplined. Two days later, the men told the Chief that the thief had not been found, but instead, had stolen again, causing another family to go without food. The Chief commanded the tribe to search the island until they found the thief, and then bring him immediately to the place where he would be publicly punished with his sentence of 100 lashings. The tribe searched until they found the thief, and brought him to the Chief. When the Chief looked at the captured criminal, he was shocked as he recognized the man to be his very own son. All the tribe gathered around the place where the man would be punished, and they waited with great concern to see what the Chief would do. Would he uphold Justice and have his own son whipped with 100 lashings, surely causing him to die, or would he compromise Justice and overlook his son’s crimes. With tears in his eyes, the Chief knew that his son must be tied to the tree and his 100 lashes must be given. The boy was strapped to the wood, and as the man with the rock studded whips raised his massive arms to tear into the back of the young thief, The Chief stepped forward, removed his robe, and wrapped his own arms around his son’s body. With his bare back exposed to the executioner, hiding his son’s tender flesh beneath him, the Chief said, “Begin the lashings.” And the Chief took all 100 lashings, allowing his own blood to be shed to save his son. The Chief upheld Justice—the punishment was given--and at the same time, he demonstrated his great love for his precious son."

Do you know why Hell will last forever? Because it will take eternity to pay the infinite fine accrued against God. But Jesus paid that whole fine on the cross, when he ransomed us, he suffered more at the hands of his Father than any sinner ever will in Hell.

So we hope in him, that he has given us grace, granted us to repent and believe in his gospel, to know him and be known by him; for this is eternal life, that we might know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

God will be glorified in one of two ways by our life, we really don't have any say in whether we will glorify God, because we will. We will either glorify his perfect justice as he judges us guilty of sinning against him and casts us into perfect punishment for eternity, or we will glorify his grace, that while we deserved Hell, Christ died for us, so that we can go to Heaven on his goodness and his mercy.

But how do we know that God accepted Jesus' payment? If he just died and didn't come back, then maybe he was just a loony who thought he was God. But he did come back, he defeated death three days later, the tomb is empty. Death is swallowed up in victory; as Paul writes, O Death, where is thy victory, O Death, where is thy sting? For the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

After Jesus defeated death, he did something astonishing, he approached the Gates of Heaven. No-one in history had done that, for in order to approach them, you must have clean hands and a pure heart, and no-one ever in history was qualified to come to these gates. Let's look at my favorite verse; the setting is the gates of Heaven, a man stands without, and here is what he says.

Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

The Angel of the Gate, whose duty it is to keep men and sin out of Heaven challenges,

Who is this King of glory?

And Jesus answers,

The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

And the Angel challenges again,

Who is this King of glory?

And Jesus answers,

The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

And beloved, you better believe those gates were opened up.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

In Hell there is no hope, in Heaven there are no tears. Beloved, this King of Glory is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to him, those who will obey the gospel by repenting and trusting in his sacrifice.

Paul concludes,

v.11-12 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To this end Paul prays, that all will repent and believe, that all will be made worthy in Christ, walking in the truth, so that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us, and him in us by saving sinners such as us, redeeming us when we were without hope.

Oh beloved, repent and believe the Gospel, flee from the wrath to come, seek the Saviour who suffered eternity for you and died to ransom you and deliver you into his kingdom forevermore. This God-man who stepped out of Heaven so that through his resurrection he could open to you the Gates of Heaven; he is the King of Glory.