11-10-19 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

November 10, 2019

Welcome Home: Where You Are Perfectly Safe 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 1) At Christ’s Last Judgment 2) At The Present Moment Tomorrow we are celebrating Veterans Day when we give thanks for all those who are and have served in our nation’s armed forces. We give them thanks because what they do is not easy. They are willing to put their own wants aside in service to our country. They are willing to undergo physical and emotional difficulties that we civilians will hopefully never have. It’s because of their dangerous duties that our nation wisely insists on training them before they see action. Between the drill sergeants, the fitness regimens, and rigid structure, everything is done to keep them safe when the time comes for them to serve their country and us back home.

It’s not just our armed forces that wants to keep people safe. Our Lord also wants us to be safe for eternity. He does so by letting us know what is going to happen on the Last Day so that we can prepare for it and be perfectly safe. He doesn’t do this through screaming instructors and boot camp. Rather he does it through his Word as we see in our verses for this morning from 2 nd Thessalonians chapter 1. It is by taking these words to heart that we can be both perfectly safe at Christ’s last judgment and, in addition, at the present moment.

1) At Christ’s Last Judgment Our verses for this morning are one of the handful of places in Scripture where God plainly tells us what to expect on the Last Day. We’re told that at some unknown time in the future, our Lord Jesus will be come back with all his power and glory to do one final round of judgment. On the one hand, for those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel, Jesus will cast them off away from his presence into the eternal destruction that hell is. But on the other hand, for those who are his saints – more on that later – it will be the opposite. They will marvel at him and be glorified with him.

When we look at all the Bible teaches about the Last Day, it becomes clear that Jesus will judge all people into one of two groups. Either we’re counted among those who are saved and going to heaven or among those who are condemned and going to hell. I think it’s safe to assume that most, if not all, of us here today expect to be counted among those going to heaven. But might not it still 1

Pastor Tim Patoka

November 10, 2019

be beneficial for us to consider Christ’s Last Judgment so we can guard ourselves against the eternal consequences?

I don’t know about you, but when I read how God’s Word describes those whom Jesus will condemn to eternal destruction in hell, it rang a warning bell. Our verses describes them in this way, as “those who do not know God and...those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8) We don’t know God as we should. It’s not enough to simply acknowledge that there is a higher power out there. We need to know who he is as found only in the Bible.

But when we come here to do that, how well do we actually take these words to heart? Perhaps these words are in one ear and out the other because coming to church has become a matter of habit or compulsion. We hear what God teaches us about eternal matters which provide the foundation of how we view and live in this world. But once we leave this place, our minds drift away from God until the following Sunday. Or we think back to our days in confirmation class when we intensely studied the Bible. Since we’ve left, have we in a sense “graduated” from such faith-building study? But not only do we struggle to know God as we should, we also struggle to obey the gospel as we should. Jesus commands us to love God and our neighbor perfectly (Matthew 22:37-39) in all times and in all places. Who here can say they’ve done that for even one day in their lives? No one.

When we realize how much we have in common with those whom God is going to condemn to everlasting destruction, we start to feel a little unsafe about Christ’s Last Judgment. Perhaps we don’t want to think about it, so we ignore it.

But that’s no different than ignoring our car’s check engine light which, if left alone, will lead to serious problems.

When we realize that we have to deal with this unsafe feeling, here too we can go astray. We can think we’re safe because of our association with Grace whether it be our name on its membership list or because the people here know us.

We compare ourselves to others who don’t have the slightest clue who the one true God is and suddenly we’re looking pretty good. Certainly, God has bigger fish to fry than not so bad me! While we admit that we haven’t obeyed the gospel as we should, we can fool ourselves into thinking that at least I’ve done more good than wrong. At the very least, I have a net positive in my account.

These things cannot give us any safety at Christ’s Last Judgment. So what can? The cross. The only way we can have the perfect safety at Christ’s Last 2

Pastor Tim Patoka

November 10, 2019

Judgment is by trusting in what Jesus did at the cross for us. We’re in the season of the church year where we focus on Jesus’ 2nd coming. But his 1st coming is no less important. On this journey that started at Bethlehem, he did what was necessary so that we could have salvation. Jesus, who knew God perfectly because he is God, perfectly obeyed all that the Bible requires. After this, he went to the cross where he sacrificed his perfect life to pay the price that our sins required.

It’s because of Jesus’ sacrificial death that our salvation is possible. And as we continue to learn who God is, we learn about his loving promise – that whoever believes in Jesus for salvation has the forgiveness of all their sins. They will be perfectly safe at Christ’s Last Judgment.

And do you know why we are certain of that safety? Because it is what God promises to his saints. Typically when we think of saints, we think of the Roman Catholic definition of some model Christian who has passed away and now lives in heaven. But the Bible has a different definition. A saint is simply a person who is holy – a person who is purified from their sins and set apart from the unbelieving world. This is exactly what happens to us when we receive the forgiveness of sins.

As a result, even though every believer continues to sin, in God’s eyes we are saints. And that is what counts. That is why we will be perfectly safe at Christ’s Last Judgment.

2) At The Present Moment These verses also assure us that we are perfectly safe at the present moment because we have God’s righteous verdict. This righteous verdict phrase is full of courtroom connotations. God, the almighty judge, hands down the verdict that we are not guilty for all the wrongs we have done. This is not an accidental verdict.

It’s a righteous one from a righteous God which in turn makes us right with God. Another comforting part of this verdict is that it is given to us regardless of how much we have or haven’t earned it. God chose to send his Son to be our Savior before any of us were alive. He broke into our sinful hearts with the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. He continually washes our sins away to renew us as his saints.

And because we have God’s righteous verdict, we are now at peace with God. Yet life is not all sunshine and roses. Like the Thessalonian Christians, we too have our share of sufferings because of God’s righteous verdict. Yet even in these situations, our perfect safety informs us how to respond. When people trouble us and cause us to suffer, we remember that it is not our right to exercise 3

Pastor Tim Patoka

November 10, 2019

vengeance. Rather, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, that right is for God alone.

Therefore, we willingly endure our troubles and patiently wait for God to make all things right because we are certain that these troubles cannot trouble the safety he has given us.

The things we suffer or give up because we are Christians are not a cause for grumbling. Rather it’s a cause for rejoicing! The reason why suffer such things is because we are Christians and thus become visible evidence of God’s righteous verdict; an opportunity to witness for the Word without saying a word; yet another way to show this unbelieving world that we will put up with such things because the safety we have from God is so much more important.

And throughout it all, our eyes are fixed on what is to come. Not just on the scene of Christ’s Last Judgment when we get to marvel at our glorified Savior. But also on the relief that we will have in the heavenly realms. Oftentimes when we speak of heavenly relief, we define it in terms of this world, as an end of pain and suffering. But there’s more to it than a lack of problems. We will also have the fulfillment of our godly desires and be part of a community made up of God and all our brothers and sisters in the faith. It is that eternal, safe relief which encourages us to stay on the straight and narrow path until we reach our heavenly goal.

Our veterans have gone through all types of training in hopes of keeping them safe when it was their time to serve our country. Sometimes it is successful; sometimes it is not. But when it comes to the Last Day and the eternity that follows, there is only one place to go to be perfectly safe. And that’s the cross. It was there that our salvation was made possible by Jesus’ 1st coming into this world. Through faith in him and what he did for us on that cross, we are now his saints – his holy ones who are forgiven of all their sins. And we have nothing to be afraid of whenever Christ comes back for his 2nd and final time for Last Judgment.

We are also perfectly safe at the present moment and thus can respond in a number of ways when sufferings and troubles come our way. May our God continually work in our hearts so that we may always look forward to returning to our church home and so ground ourselves in the safety which God alone gives. Amen.

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