A Great Man Prays A Great Prayer To A Great God

We'll begin in Hosea 2. Hosea 2 beginning with verse 14.

Please stand for the reading of God's word. Therefore behold

I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her and there

I will give her her vineyards and make the valley of Achor a door of hope and there she shall answer as in the days of her youth as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt and in that day declares the

Lord you will call me my husband and no longer will you call me my bale for I will remove the names of the bales from her mouth and they shall be remembered by name no more and I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field the birds of the heavens and the creeping things of the ground and I will abolish the bow the sword and war from the land and I will make you to make you lie down in safety and I will betroth you to me forever

I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice in steadfast love and in mercy I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and you shall know the

Lord and in that day I will answer declares the Lord I will answer the heavens and they shall answer the earth and the earth shall answer the grain and the wine and the oil and they shall answer

Jezreel and I will sow her for myself in the land and I will have mercy on no mercy and I will say to not my people you are my people and he shall say you are my

God. Next if you'll turn to Acts 1 beginning in verse 1.

Acts 1. In the first book

O Theophilus I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the

Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God and while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the

Father which he said you heard from me for John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the

Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together they asked him

Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons that the

Father has fixed by his own authority but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all

Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And when he had said these things as they were looking on he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight and while they were gazing into heaven as he went behold two men stood by them in white robes and said men of Galilee why do you stand looking into heaven this

Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for another

Lord's Day. We thank you for a day when you will speak to us through your word. I pray that you would be with Pastor Josh as he preaches to us.

Please give him words that will stir our souls. I pray that the Holy Spirit would be working among us to open our ears and to open our eyes to your truth.

I pray that we would have our eyes turned to your son and that we would our hearts would be lifted up in thankfulness for what he has done and that we would greater desire to serve and honor him in Jesus name amen.

We'll turn in your Bibles please to Titus chapter 2 and we will look at verses 11 through 14 this morning.

Titus 2 11 through 14. This is from the

Apostle Paul. His letter to young Titus. He writes this, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self -controlled upright and godly lives in the present age waiting for our blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great

God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Now during this time of Advent or Christmas there is of course this focus on the birth of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Now we can stop for just a moment and ask what is

Advent? What does Advent really mean to us? Well Advent simply means a coming and more fully an

Advent is the beginning or arrival of something anticipated. Now I'm going to date myself a bit but the group called the

Fifth Dimension way back in the late 60s had a big hit with the refrain in it.

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius. I will spare you my rendition of how it sounded but it happened over and over in this song.

This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius whatever that really meant or means but it does get to us an aspect of an

Advent. It is the dawning of something. It's the beginning of something that was longed for, something expected even if the details were a bit fuzzy during that anticipatory period.

Advent is simply the coming of something that was looked forward to and Advent in the context of the season that's now upon us is of course the coming of Jesus Christ born of the

Virgin Mary. And here is something that I think is too often missed even in conservative circles where never shall be seen a roly -poly man on a sled with presents or anything like that.

Advent inaugurates something. It inaugurates something. God sending

Jesus brought to fulfillment centuries of prophecy stretching back from the manger in Bethlehem all the way back to Genesis 3 .15

where the Lord said that the seed of the serpent would crush the head or excuse me, the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent.

The seed was of course a single descendant whose line was guarded from then until his birth.

Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph and his coming, this Advent is an inauguration, a beginning of something.

If we think about that in our current political context, think of the inauguration of the president of the

United States. Now he's president, all controversies aside, by the vote.

As soon as the vote is counted, he or she someday probably is the president.

And yet before they actually begin to act and administer the office of president, what do we do?

We inaugurate them. We have the presidential inauguration. It's the beginning of an age limited by our constitution to four years.

Our Advent season is something like that. It inaugurates something, something anticipated all the way back from the first sin, which occurred back in Genesis chapter three.

Anticipated until Bethlehem some 2000 years ago and his coming, he has inaugurated something which we're going to discuss this morning.

I want us this morning to gain a confidence that this first coming, this

Advent, this inauguration of this age secures something for us. It's more than just the child in the manger and all the other things that attend this season.

It secures our hope that because he came and inaugurated something, this age in which we now live, he's going to return and again, inaugurate something.

That if God kept his word given way back in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, and fulfilled it in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, then that word which

Jesus gave of his return, which as you can now see, that's why I had Colleen read from chapter one, verses one through 11 of the book of Acts, where that return is stated by Jesus Christ himself and then confirmed by the angels.

He will return and what secures our hope in this second coming? The $64 word for the second coming in theology is called parousia, parousia,

P -A -R -O -U -S -I -A and all it means is second coming, the parousia, the return of the

Lord Jesus Christ. What secures our certainty, our hope, our anticipation of that is the season we're in now, the advent.

If God kept his word from way back then, then that gives us the confidence and the hope that he will again do the same.

We know that the parousia, the second coming will come because the advent came. The time between the two is what

Paul in the verses I read from Titus calls the present age, the age of the new covenant, the age of the

Holy Spirit's personal ministry to and for and in the disciples of Jesus Christ.

If the advent of 2000 years ago means anything, the verses from Titus 2, 11 to 14 tell us that living self -controlled, upright, and godly lives is not only possible, but worthwhile.

It means something to conduct ourselves in godly lives. Jesus asked in Luke chapter 18 and verse eight, when the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?

If you think about this for a moment, what is Jesus Christ saying is that he will return. He says, when the son of man comes, there he is, the son of man who came.

And he talks about another coming, his return, the parousia. When the son of man comes, which he will, the advent now secures that hope.

Will he find faith on earth? You see, these two concepts go together.

Advent without a parousia is just a neat trick by a clever deity. As Israel's hope was made final by the advent, so the church's hope will be made the same by the parousia, by his return.

And Paul here in those verses from Titus strings them together. The grace of God has appeared.

It's happened in time and space. The grace of God appeared. That's the advent.

And then he goes on training us in the present age, in this time where we live here and now, as we're waiting for the next age.

I want us to leave here this morning strengthened in our lives as Christ's disciples now.

More sure that our disciplines and the strenuous effort towards godly living, towards mortifying the flesh, and giving ourselves more and more to the things of God given to us in scripture, it's worthwhile.

It really does mean something today because Christ is going to come again tomorrow or next week or next month or next year.

No one knows the time except God the Father. But the fact that he came secures our hope that he will come again.

And in between the times when Paul tells us, therefore, we're going to live these self -controlled upright and godly lives, it means something.

It's worth something because Christ is going to keep God's promise again.

These two go together, parousia and advent. The verses

I read from Titus speak of an appearance. An appearance, appeared, has kind of a subjective ring to it, doesn't it?

It appeared to me to be something like this or that or the other. What did Halley's Comet look like?

Well, someone might say, well, it appeared to me as a bright light followed by a trail of bright particulate matter beginning at the end of the leading light and expanding as its distance from that leading light, its source grew longer.

That would be a fair way to describe what it appeared to me to be like. Is that really what

Halley's Comet is? I'm sure an astrophysicist or could give a much more detailed and expanded explanation than that short description, but it's a good start in describing an appearance, even if it leaves a lot out.

The Lord once appeared as a warrior, brandishing a sword against re -entry to the garden.

And the Lord sent the dove, which spoke of peace to his people. He was thunder over Sinai and the flame that did not consume the bush.

He was a still small voice to Elijah and a fierce judge to Isaiah.

Our God sent his spirit to light the way for Israel's wandering. And by that same spirit, he brooded over the primordial waters, bringing purpose to formlessness.

These are all appearances of the Lord. And in the same way appeared in Titus 2 .11

denotes a literal event, something that actually did happen.

God came into existence. He came into existence of humanity in Christ Jesus.

The advent. We need to look at what actually came.

Paul says the grace of God has appeared. The grace of God came.

Grace is what? Grace is an attribute of God. It's a part of his very nature.

Remember how he revealed himself to Moses? He said, the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

And of course, my careful listeners will know that I stopped before the part but not forgetting the iniquity and not forgetting to punish sin.

Psalm 45 .2 speaks of God this way. It says, grace is poured upon your lips. Grace is

God's unmerited favor. God's self -determined will to be well disposed towards someone who has no deserving of such goodwill.

It is related to mercy, which is to withhold deserved punishment. The two go together.

It's like what the Psalm says in Psalm 85, that righteousness and peace have kissed. And here in Christ Jesus, God's grace and his mercy come together with no compromise to his wrath at sin or his justice.

Grace, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation. Grace is inseparable from salvation.

Ephesians chapter two, verse eight would back this up, for by grace you have been saved.

For because of this attribute of God, this nature of God, this graciousness that is God, by that you have been saved through faith.

And he goes on to show that how the very ability to believe, to have faith, is itself a gift of God given by his irresistible grace.

When Paul writes of the grace of God appearing, he means just what the Christmas event is all about. Jesus Christ's coming.

The grace of God came in the person of Christ. He is the grace of God. He is the wisdom of God.

He is the mercy of God. All that God is, Jesus is. All that God has ever been,

Jesus, the eternal son of God, has always been. If it were simply that grace was somehow manifested in some action of God, then we'd say that the grace of God has been made apparent or we'd say something like that.

But Paul says something different. Paul says something stronger. He says the grace of God has appeared and did something and brought salvation.

Grace of God not only came in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the grace of God.

And this, beloved, this is the advent. Christ was born under the law.

We have that in Galatians 4. If his conception was anything but routine, his birth was common to the point of boredom.

Two gospel writers, Matthew and Luke, speak about his conception, his nativity.

When it comes to his birth, Luke only says this. After all the buildup, he says, and she gave birth to her firstborn son.

Then he gets on with the rest of the gospel. Matthew begins his second chapter with this, now after Jesus was born, and then he gets on with the rest of his gospel.

You see, the wonder of it all is that in Christ, God entered into humanity.

The marvel is that the grace of God, far from being just a mere concept, came in a person.

Jesus, the grace of God personified. Jesus, the grace of God made real. Jesus, the grace of God appearing for all men to see.

It's a wonder that the grace of God, this attribute, this nature of God, actually appears physically in a person in Christ Jesus.

Think about it. That this thing, if you will, that virtually defines

God or that aspect of God, comes in the physical humanity of Christ Jesus, his eternal son.

There's another appearing that Paul speaks of, just a little past the one I read to you in Titus 2. Look down a bit, if you still have your

Bibles open, to Titus 3. Titus 3, beginning at verse 4.

I said a moment ago that the wonder of the advent is that God appears in the person of Jesus Christ, not just some good man walking about and saying godly things, but the very nature of God becoming human in him.

Titus 3, verse 4. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God appeared, God our Savior appeared.

Same verbiage we have up in Titus 2, 11 through 14. Where the grace of God appeared here, now the goodness and the loving kindness of God our

Savior has appeared. He goes on. He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the

Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might have become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

You see, God is good. God is kind. He has steadfast love, and these being, like grace, personified in Christ.

Of all the reasons for the season, I mean, this rises to the top like sweet cream. The advent means that God became man in Christ Jesus, his

Son. We can't say that enough. We can't stop and wonder and meditate and ponder this long enough.

We worship a Trinitarian God. First three letters, T -R -I, meaning three, a three -person

God, one God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all persons of God, eternal, all persons of God, the grace of God, all these persons of God, all that it means to be

God, and yet God, this God, this eternal Son of God, who never was not, comes to earth, is born as a man and brings salvation to us.

This is jaw -dropping. This is worthy of a lifetime of pondering and meditating and praying and thanking

God. All that it is to be

God fully and equally as Christ's in his humanity that never ended.

John 1 .17 says, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Do you know this

Jesus? Do you today know this Jesus we're speaking of here as Lord and Savior?

And they're both here, Lord and Savior, both here in the verses I read. If you own him as such, then he has appeared to you as it's meant here.

Most of the people in Titus' church had never seen Jesus. Perhaps they'd never been out of Galatia.

But he appeared to them, each and every one, when he gave them faith to believe and eyes to see, and is no different for us today.

We can say with the Hebrews, if you have faith, you can say with the church. If you believe in this Lord Jesus Christ who came, then we can say, but we see

Jesus. But we see Jesus' eyes of faith overcoming the inherent dysfunction of natural sight.

It's grace of God that appeared to all men. This grace of God personified in the

Lord Jesus Christ, it did something. It brought salvation and it does something. It trains us in two ways, negative and positive.

In the negative way, it trains us to renounce some things and in the positive way, apprehending others.

The way Paul lays this out for us in Titus 2, what we renounce, we then take in its opposite number.

So if we renounce ungodliness, what do we take in, which is godliness. But it trains us this way.

This is the age in which we live. This Advent, this age that was inaugurated by Christ's coming.

It trains us to renounce. Renounce is a very strong word. It's the word used of Peter's violent denial that he even knew

Jesus. You remember this when he was outside while Jesus was in the presence of the high priest being tried for these trumped up charges.

He said, weren't you one of his? He says, I don't know the man. He renounced him. He denied him.

No, we can tell by your accent. You were one of them. No, no, no. I don't know him. I deny him.

I renounce him. Same word was used there. It's the same word that this

St. Peter is going to use in his Pentecostal sermon. When he comes to the end of that sermon and he speaks to Israel, that part of Israel that was on their way to the temple for the worship service.

And they stopped when the Holy Spirit made himself known with the tongues as a flame in the great rushing wind.

And Peter preaches to them. And at the end of it, he says, but you denied the

Holy and Righteous One. Same word we have here in renouncing in Titus chapter two.

And this is what his gracious salvation teaches us, to deny, to renounce, to do great violence to anything in us that smacks of this ungodliness or the worldly passions.

Now the root word means to shrink back from something. The root word for ungodliness means to shrink back away from something.

We could say that the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to renounce, renouncing God. And wouldn't this be first in line for us?

To not deny God, to renounce our renouncing, remembering how strong, how internally violent this word is.

There's another object in line for destruction, and that is the worldly passions. It says first we renounce ungodliness.

We renounce our renouncing of God. Now we renounce our worldly passions. What John calls the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride in possessions.

And that's all closely related to ungodliness, because as John goes on to say, all that is not from God, but from the world.

And then James, the Lord's brother and the author of the book in our New Testament that bears his name, he warns us that friendship with the world, which is to let those things appeal to us, to covet those things.

James warns us that that demeanor, that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

He means, as does the first John verse that I read, that when we assimilate worldly practices, worldly ways of thinking, when we fail to filter and transform our thought life by the terms of the gospel, rather than the terms of the world, when we maintain our old practices, thinking that the work of growing into the image of Christ ended the moment we believed, in all this we have cherished rather than renounced the things that should be the object of this spiritual violence.

You see, if the Advent has meaning, which indeed it does, it is that there is a necessary response incumbent on the creature to exert any and all effort against any and all that is in him or her that is in any or all ways opposed to the

God whose grace appeared bringing salvation. That was a bit of a mouthful.

I'm sure it was an earful for you, so I'll say it again. If this Advent has any meaning, this period, this age inaugurated begun by the

Advent, by the coming of Jesus, if it means anything, it means that there's a necessary response incumbent on the creature to exert any and all effort against any and all that is in him or her that is in any or all ways opposed to God whose grace has appeared bringing salvation.

Well, that's the negative side. That's the violent side. That's the renouncing side. That's the mortifying side that Paul speaks of in Romans chapter six.

The positive side is to live self -controlled, upright, and godly lives. And those words stand well enough on their own, as they are the opposite of ungodliness and passion -driven living.

These qualities are to be pursued with a strain equal to the repudiation of their opposing numbers.

And it is a strain. It is a hard work to renounce the one that we've lived with for so long, that those things that we did, those attitudes we have or had, the desire for possessions, to renounce that is difficult because it appeals so much to the flesh, to the old nature, to the pre -Christ you were before God made you new by this washing and regeneration that I read from Titus chapter three verse five.

As hard as it is to renounce those who suggest an equal effort, an equal discipline, an equal strain to assimilate their opposing numbers.

So the question we might be asking, can we do this? Is the preacher up here just telling you, stop being so bad as you are and start being better than you think you should be or think you can be?

Just don't be bad anymore. Just do these things. Can we do this? And the answer is, of course not. Not on our own.

I can't, you can't. It's the grace of God that brought salvation, that teaches us how to live, teaches us how to renounce the ungodliness.

And how do we do this? Where are we able to? Well, this has everything to do with the

Advent because the Advent, as I said, was an inauguration of an age. Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 26, but the helper, the

Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I've said to you.

That's the age of the Advent. That's what was inaugurated. This time between Christ's ascension and the coming of the

Spirit and then the parousia, his second coming. This time we were supposed to live these upright, godly, controlled, self -controlled lives.

How do we do this? By sheer force of will? We can try.

Experience tells us it won't last very long. What was inaugurated in this age?

What does the Advent mean? It means that once Christ, after having died for your sins, been buried, and on the third day resurrected, which is something we'll take some time out in a few months to focus on even more.

Once he sat down at his Father's right hand, what happened next?

He sent his Spirit. Jesus said there where I read from John, when the

Holy Spirit comes, he will remind you. He will dwell in you. He says, my

Father and I, and later he says the Spirit will make our home in him or her who believes.

Yes, we are to strain at this. We're to work at this. We're to discipline ourselves. Paul speaks of that when he compares himself to an athlete who batters his body as it were.

He pummels himself to train himself towards godliness. And yet if it's just us doing it, a whole life of self -abasement will get nowhere.

It's the working of the Holy Spirit. There's a couple more pillars here in how we do this.

What this is all about, what this Advent does, how it encourages us and strengthens us to live rightly, as trusting, because God accomplished the

Advent in Christ Jesus, because all that Scripture was fulfilled in him then, everything we have since then will also assure us that this effort, this effort pays off in sense when the

Lord returns, the parousia. In verse 13 of Titus 2, he says, he gave himself, that's

Christ Jesus. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness. Another way of saying ungodliness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works, which is just what he writes in another letter, the one to the

Philippians, for it is God who works in you to will and to do for his good pleasure. It is

Christ who redeemed himself for a people. It is his spirit who comes and makes us able to follow his gracious teaching.

And so we go back to Titus chapter 2 and verse 11, and we're trained to renounce these things and to take upon ourselves these others, really to put off the old men, to put on the new men, as it says in Ephesians and Colossians.

Here's the answer. This age inaugurated by the advent, not the age of Aquarius.

That was a cool song, had a great sound to it, but that's not what we're talking about.

The age of the church, the age of the spirit indwelling his people, and by that spirit

Christ rules his people through his rulership over their hearts.

By the indwelling spirit, that's the age that we're in now. It is God who works in you to will and to do for his good pleasure.

And why does God work in you to will and to do for his good pleasure? Because the spirit came. I think the advent is more about that than almost anything else.

It's Christ by his spirit who makes us able to follow his gracious teaching. C .S.

Lewis wrote, the Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God. How do we live out the fruit of the spirit?

How do we become that which the fruit of the spirit says we should be? What's the fruit of the spirit?

It's love, joy, peace, long -suffering, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, self -control.

Are we able? None of us consistently. Are we able at all?

Not in a way that pleases God, except in this age inaugurated by the coming of Jesus Christ some 2 ,000 years ago in Bethlehem, and then begun when he returned to his father and the spirit came.

We do have the Holy Spirit. We do have him working in and among us to will and to do for his good pleasure.

So can you renounce ungodliness, worldly passions?

Can you live self -controlled and upright and godly lives in the present age? The answer, because of the advent, because of the age which

Jesus inaugurated by coming, and in which we now live as his faithful disciples, the answer is resoundingly yes.

Do you do that of your own strength? The answer is just as resoundingly no. Let us renounce that answer.

It's God working in and through you. The language of gave himself, he gave himself to redeem a people who are zealous for good works.

He gave himself. That brings us from his advent, which is the Christmas event, to his death on the cross, where he gave himself up as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

When he died, he was buried. Third day, he rose from the grave, which is the Easter event.

As I said, we'll come around to that in a few months when that comes about. But I will say that an advent without an

Easter is worse than only half a story. Because if he came, if Jesus Christ, the grace of God came, but didn't die for us, then his coming accomplished nothing.

But some 33 years after his advent, he did go to the cross. And three days later, he did rise again.

An advent without an Easter is as sparse a hope as an advent without a parousia. The advent tells us that God keeps his word, that God makes his promises good.

And so we have that pillar, that strength, that fortification to live as we ought in the present age, the age of the spirit.

And what are we doing? We're waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

That's Titus 2 verse 13. Waiting for our blessed hope. This is what we're doing as we are renouncing and assimilating, as we're renouncing ungodliness and worldly passions, as we live self -controlled, upright and godly.

What comes next? What's the overarching theme of this life just there described?

Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Great God, Savior, both relate equally to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our great God. Jesus Christ is our

Savior. They both relate to him. What's the advent? The advent is a down payment, is a sort of surety bond on what is to come.

It's a common idea with our author, who's the apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13.

He says that we are now sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

Is that not the same as we're speaking of from Titus chapter 2 verses 11 through 14? Sealed now with the

Holy Spirit. And we have this guarantee of this inheritance that we're waiting for until we acquire possession of it.

And when will we acquire possession of it? Only the Father knows. But I can tell you the event that will bring that on, that will inaugurate the next age, the age that will go on for all eternity, is the parousia, the second coming.

It's that which the first coming, the advent assures us. You see, our faith is a then and now affair.

We're those who believe that Jesus came in the flesh then, is with us now, and will come again.

This assurance is wed to an equal confidence that as the word was fulfilled in the advent, so also this promised return is equally important.

And we do anticipate, if you think of ancient Israel, the word of the prophet, speaking of this coming one, this one who is to come that was spoken of by God back in the garden after sin.

Those early chapters of Isaiah, especially chapters 7 through 9, where we get so much of our Christmas theology, so much of the music.

His name will be Emmanuel. He's a great God. He's the eternal Father. He's wonderful counselor, all these descriptions.

And you can think of Israel, as Peter says of the prophet, or the angels looking over the prophet's shoulder, sort of on their tiptoes as Isaiah was preaching this or writing this and saying, who is this going to be?

What's he talking about? As they waited for that advent, so we wait for the next.

Hebrews 9 .28, 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.

Now what Paul says, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3 .10, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief when 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.

What will bring that on? The parousia, the second coming, that which the first coming assures us.

Just one more 1 John 3 .2, beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, that's the parousia, that's the second coming.

That's what the first coming gets us waiting for and assures us will happen. When he appears, we shall be like him, speaking of Jesus, because we shall see him as he is.

You see the advent, this season now, this

Christmas season right now, grounds our hope in his return. If God did as he promised so long ago by his prophets, if he brought all the details of history to bear and bring this one thing about, surely his arm has not grown weary and become unable to send

Christ again. Our striving, your striving against sin is not wasted.

He will come at a time not expected and what will he find us then doing? Maybe he'll find you doing the laundry or the whole family sitting at the table and eating dinner.

Maybe we'll be driving to work or mowing the lawn. Mundane, everyday sort of stuff.

Luther spoke of the plow boy who if he had the Scriptures in his own language, he's more a priest than all the popes.

And what would he be doing at that point if the Lord came and found him so doing? He might just be plowing a grove for his father or for the landlord.

And yet, he'd be a person purified for Christ and doing good works in his name.

What will he find when he returns? Because brethren, as an advent with an out and Easter leaves us bereft of all hope.

So also this advent without a parousia, not only does it give us a strength to live these upright godly self -controlled lives, but it purifies us.

It makes us zealous to serve him the more and more. I want us this morning to think of this advent season, to think of this has appeared, that the one who has appeared is

Jesus. Paul doesn't here distinguish between Jesus in his nativity or Christmas, if you will.

He doesn't distinguish between that and his manhood. He came, he appeared to all men. All here means something more grand than to every human without limit.

It means to all without distinction of ethnicity or sex or age or anything else like that.

No respect paid by God to any person or any merit, save the person and the merit of his son,

Jesus. As Malachi says it in chapter four, verse two of his prophecy, that Jesus came with salvation in his wings.

You know, the ESV's bringing salvation is a bit unfortunate because it sounds like a continual bringing, but that word is not a verb.

That word is an adjective and so it's controlled by the verb it modifies, which is has appeared.

Has appeared, that event in time and space, 2000 years ago in a manger, the grace of God has appeared.

And when he appeared, he was bringing, he brought salvation. Bringing of salvation is a singular event, the advent.

Now that's not to say that the door to salvation closed by no means.

That door was swung open by Jesus in his first coming and it remains open because he brought that salvation and that salvation continues to be open until what?

Until the parousia, until the second coming that the first one assures. Now salvation has been brought and there's one salvation provided by the one true

God by means of his one and only son, Jesus Christ. And this is by faith and repentance.

This is by you saying before God, yes, your word says, and I believe

I am a sinner. Your word says, and I believe that the only hope I have because of my sinful condition is to beg your forgiveness and to know that that is available only by faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ, this one who came, this one who gave himself up, speaking of the cross, where he became the atoning sacrifice for your sins.

That salvation remains open until this event, which I've been speaking of so much this morning, the parousia, the second coming.

And then as Peter says, it's all burned up. It's all over. Creation itself is going to get sort of a reset button.

The advent is God's grace appearing, bringing salvation to all men. If you don't know the salvation this morning,

I pray that you would stop even now in your heart, consider your condition before God and know that Jesus Christ is the only way to him.

That the grace of God that brought salvation is in him, and in him you must believe.

And if you will believe in him, if you will seek forgiveness for your sins before God in the name of Christ Jesus, who alone atoned for your sins, who alone will reconcile you to God, then all

I've been speaking of this morning is speaking of you before you even leave this place.

In Christ, neither Jew or Greek, neither man or woman, neither slave or free, but only this faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came. And by that coming gives us the strength to live the way he would have us to live until he comes again.