Judgment Is Coming — Edwin H. Waldvogel

Union With God and Life in Christ

1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is a striking word. What does it mean to be in God? What does it mean to be in Christ, Mr. Timothy?

We just read your name here, only we read Timotheus. Timothy, what do you think it means to be in God and in Christ? All right, of course, you do God's will. To be in Christ. It's a very wonderful call.

Jesus prayed, didn't he, before he went to the cross. He told the Father, he said, there's one thing I want. You notice in his prayer that he says, Father, I will. He asks the Lord for things, but then he gets quite strong in his request.

He says, I want them to be where I am. I want them to be one with us. As I am in you, I want them to be in us, so that they will be in Christ, and Christ is in the Father, and the Father is in us. He prayed for that union.

That's a marvelous prayer, to think that God would open the door for human beings, his people, to enter right into that union with the Father and with the Son. Say, I don't think we appreciate that enough, do you?

That's a very high calling, and that's what God wants from you and from me. He wants us to live in him, to walk in him, to be united to Jesus, and we ought to pray that the Holy Spirit will make that real to us, because we live below our calling, and of course it requires a holy walk, to be in God and in his Son.

That has a very great meaning for God and for us, it should have. We ought to make that our aim. Say, Lord, I don't want to live outside of Christ, but I want to be in Christ. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.

Christ's Indwelling and the New Birth

Say, that's what God offers you. Did you know that? All of us, once we were enemies of God, we didn't know God very well. We knew something about him, we had heard about him, but to really know him, there was no spiritual life in us.

But then we came to Jesus and asked him to forgive us and to come into our hearts. I like those expressions that the children use when we teach them to sing, into my heart. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

Now, of course, he promises to come into our lives in John 14. He tells us that he's coming again by his Spirit to dwell in us. That's what makes us Christians. It's not something we try to do, but it's accepting Jesus Christ to live in us.

That makes us children of God. So many have received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God. And it's when we open our hearts and Jesus comes to live in us, he makes the change. He makes everything new.

And here we read of a church that was in God and in our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, it hadn't been more than 20 years about since Jesus prayed that prayer, and here we find a Gentile church already.

People that were far from God. And the Apostle had gone and preached in the synagogue, first of all. Some Jews there. And proselytes, people that had come in and joined the synagogue because they wanted to worship God.

When they heard Paul preach about Jesus, they opened their hearts wide. And then there were Gentiles that weren't connected at all with the synagogue. And you read there are four different classes of people mentioned there.

Jewish people that were in the synagogue. Jewish people that were outside that came and were saved. And the proselytes and then the raw heathen. You find that Paul preached there in Thessalonica. And they were saved, born again, filled with the Holy Ghost.

And now their whole lives were transformed. Say, we need the power of God, don't we? That just makes my heart so happy when I read a thing like this and begin to think about what it says. Praise the Lord.

Here now this young church starts out an altogether new life, living in Christ. Our water baptismal service that we have speaks of that. We are buried with him. We are raised together with him. Now to walk in a new life, united to Jesus Christ.

That's God's offer of salvation. And that's where we're changed. By letting Christ in. And if you haven't let him into your life and don't really know the experience, you ought to find him like that. Because he's willing to come to you.

But then to be in Christ and to find a church, a company of people, and all of them are in Christ. That makes them one. Because they're united to him. And now they want to please him. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Thessalonian Church, Grace, and Righteous Judgment

This is generally the Christian greeting in the New Testament in the letters. Grace and peace. Grace is the life of Christ. The mercy and the love of God manifested to us through Jesus. And the peace of God.

Because Jesus made peace for us on the cross of Calvary. Now the apostle says we are bound to thank God always for you brethren. As it is meet. Because that your faith groweth exceedingly. And the charity, that is another word for the love, of every one of you all toward one another aboundeth.

So that we ourselves glory in you and the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God.

That ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. Seeing it as a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. To you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.

With his mighty angels in flaming fire. Taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe. Because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling.

And fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him. According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Judgment and the Moral Decline of the Church

As thinking of this meeting tonight or coming in here the Lord just seemed to whisper into my heart judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. I wonder if we're awake to that. We're living in a world that is moving very quickly.

Great changes have taken place in my lifetime. Great changes. And in yours too. My, how our business has changed. The world has changed. The computer has changed a lot of things. And will change a lot more before long.

That's just beginning to grow. But things are changing rapidly around us. And also that is the development that we find in science. Changing our way of living. And also we find that there are other changes that are taking place very quickly in the world.

People are sliding away from God. The world is. Things that are permitted today. We wouldn't have thought of them when I was younger. Not too long ago. You wouldn't allow them to be mentioned. And today they're spoken of openly.

Sin. Wickedness. Defilement. Bars are let down. And it is creeping into the church of Jesus Christ. Then you know that's that's the sad thing. And these things do not come upon us suddenly. In all their wickedness.

But they creep in just a little bit here. A little bit carelessness there. A little bit here. And you hardly realize how quickly changes come. My what a change. I was reading something the other day about the way the morals have slipped among the clergymen.

In penny toss. Terrible things. Now there are many many godly men and women that are holding the standards high. Thank God for them. But divorce and remarriage. Compromise. Along these lines has crept right into the sanctuary.

Things that the world would not tolerate is are beginning to be tolerated. And we see how the enemy is doing his best to deceive the people of God. Judgment is coming. Judgment is here already in the world.

And it manifests itself in ways that we have no conception of. The carelessness of the people of God toward his word. The carelessness toward the prayer life. And inner life as my son was speaking about just before.

That's something that has crept into the church. And you find very few men and women comparatively speaking who live a life of prayer. Who live a life of fellowship with God today. There are those. Thank God.

And they're the salt of the earth. And they're the faithful ones in the kingdom of God. Thank God for them. But you know that is beginning to. That light fades. The idea of wanting the power of God. As we heard before.

Oh God bless me. God make me. We just want to see your power manifested. Instead of wanting to see Jesus as Lord. That's something that has come into our circles in such a way that today people don't like to hear about obedience.

But they want the power of God. They want to see signs and wonders. They want miracles. But they don't want to let Jesus reign in them. These things have crept into our churches. And you will find them everywhere you go.

And that is why we need to watch. We need to realize that we're living in a day when Jesus is coming. In the book of Thessalonians, both books, they bring out this truth. That our hope is in Jesus. In being ready for his coming.

In 1 Thessalonians you have in every chapter a reference to the coming of the Lord. And really waiting for him. You know I have to check myself once in a while. And I say the Holy Ghost says to me. Now are you really just looking for Jesus to come today?

Are you living like that? God wants that to be our bright hope all the time. He wants us to expect Jesus to come. And love is appearing. Live like that. And we say oh you say brother, brother. They've preached that for years and he hasn't come yet.

Well that's exactly what Peter says they're going to say. But God's purpose is to have my heart ready all the time for Jesus. And when you love him and love is appearing, you love fellowship with him.

And you love to be filled with the Holy Ghost. And that hope of his coming enables us to purify ourselves and to sanctify us. To walk carefully with God. And that's why it's important. And here's a church and they had heard the message of the coming of the Lord.

And the apostle had written to them and encouraged them to prepare for his coming. And here they some of them had begun to say well he's, he's almost here. The day of the Lord is at hand. It's already begun.

The day of judgment is here. And Paul writes and he said no, no that's not it. First of all there will come a time of testing. A testing of the people of God. He talks about the mystery of iniquity, of sin in the church.

How the devil tries to manifest himself under usurp authority and how that will grow right among the saints. They'll have to be on their guard and make their choice. And there will be a terrific battle.

Persecution and Separation From the World

And here in this chapter he speaks about the coming of the Lord. He's coming and he wants our hearts to be ready for his coming. And he says God has permitted you to be persecuted. He's permitted you to be tested, just like the Christians in Judea were, as Jesus himself was tested, persecuted by the world.

God has permitted that and it's a sign that he's chosen you to come out from among them and be separate. We have to be willing to be true to Jesus. Sometimes we have no persecution because we're not very different from the world round about us.

They don't see any difference. Somebody asked a young fellow who was in the army, how was it? Did you have persecution? Oh, he said I didn't even tell him I was a Christian. That's kind of bad, isn't it, when our lives don't show it.

But that's our problem. And often it's the problem today. God wants us to be different because we belong to him. And every person that will live godly in Christ Jesus is going to suffer persecution. You're going to run up against opposition somewhere.

Somewhere you're going to have to take your stand and say I don't do that. Thank you, but I don't do that because I belong to Jesus. And then it'll start. And you might be ridiculed. You might, they might find fault with you.

That's a sign that you're different. And that's a sign that God has chosen you and he's trying you, he's making you strong. Did you ever listen to Bernard Meltzer? Don't take him too seriously. But he prays a prayer when he starts out.

And he asks the dear Lord to give us just enough persecution to develop our hard places anyway, to develop our character. Well, he means it well, but he doesn't know what he's talking about. But we need, we need to take our stand.

We need to develop as men and women of God. And I feel that's something that's been lacking in the days in which we have lived. We've lived in a really in a time when the people around about us and the Pentecostal truth too has been accepted.

People don't bother you much, but I tell you, if we really live for Jesus, really live for him, why we're going to have to pay a price. We're going to have to be different. And that's one thing where the enemy has crept in.

Preparing for Judgment Through Faithful Witness

And when judgment strikes this land, there are going to be a lot of people that are not at all prepared. They haven't got the slightest idea of suffering for Christ, of taking their stand, of living a life that bears witness to Christ, that they belong to him.

They've never rubbed up against the world. They've never lived like that. They've never tried and sought God to fill them with the Holy Ghost and make them his witnesses. They've drifted along and the enemy has got a hold there already.

And sometimes we think we're pretty safe and we can all sing. This is like heaven to me. And oh, that'll be wonderful up there having no burdens to bear. Oh, hallelujah. Won't it be great? And we don't realize that we're not living the life now and judgment and the world has already crept in and it's got a full of people's hearts.

But here he said, we thank God. This is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. Now I'm not going to ask the Lord to send you suffering or to me suffering, but I would ask him to make me true to him and make my life to be a witness for him without compromise.

We need to have some real character, strength within to stand. Judgment is coming. The day of the Lord is coming. We're going to be tested and tried. We want to be hidden in Christ. We want to be filled with the Spirit of God.

We want him to strengthen us. And here we read that it's a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation on them that trouble you and to you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day.

Mercy, Revival, and Warnings in History

Here's a statement that makes us think a little bit. It seems that there will be a manifestation of the judgment of God and God will come to take vengeance on those that have not obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The door of mercy stands open tonight and God invites people to come to him and find salvation. But the day is coming when God will come forth in judgment against those who have hardened their hearts and who have refused his grace.

That's happened again and again in history. There have been these opportunities in different lands. People have had a time of hearing the gospel and then war came. Some trouble came almost in every instance in the last years where there's been revival.

God has sent it before some great judgment has come. He has opened the door once again for people to come to him and call upon his name and given them the opportunity. They've heard the gospel. I remember when God moved throughout Eastern Europe before the Second World War, a number of years before that.

When I got over into Wuppertal and I stayed with a family there who had come out of Yugoslavia and Romania, these countries, Bessarabia, and they told of the great move of the spirit, how multitudes were swept into the kingdom of God, how the Holy Ghost was poured out upon those people and they said, my what a revival we had and how many people were drawn into the fold and then came the Hitler movement and then came the war and then those people were displaced and many lost their lives and were scattered throughout the face of the earth.

But God gave one more chance. Oh God is a good God. His heart of mercy is open and he gave opportunity but judgment came. I remember one dear brother just wept like a baby and great big fellow. He said, I could tell you some things.

God warned us in our meetings. God gave messages in our meetings that judgment is coming. We ought to seek the Lord. We ought to really get filled with the Holy Ghost and get ready for him. We're going to be scattered.

You know he said, but nobody paid attention. Nobody bothered with that. It was a woman who got up in the back of the church and gave a message in tongues and interpretation and he said, nobody paid any attention to that.

And that happened three or four times that God pled with that congregation to get down and mean business and seek the Lord. And then this man said to me today, that congregation is scattered. Some of us are here.

His name was Pfeiffer. He was a preacher. Hermina knows him. And he had a place of leadership there. And here in Austria, the DP camp, he was there. Said some of our people are in Australia. Some are in Canada.

Some are in South America. Some are in Germany. We're just scattered all over the face of the earth. But he said, brother, we were warned again and again, and no one paid attention. I wonder if God could get anybody to pay attention really to get to business and seek God.

The Holy Spirit and Readiness for Christ's Return

To get filled with the Holy Ghost. Do you know we need oil in our vessels? Do you know we need to live in the Spirit? Do you know that Jesus is coming to be glorified in his saints? There are people that are going to go through with him.

They're going to shine for him. They're going to go right through the times of testing and trial. Oh, what a glorious thing it is to find men and women who are filled with the Holy Ghost. I, I don't want to mention names tonight, but I, I know that there are some sitting right here and their parents were filled with God and were close to God and they went through and God blessed them.

And there were others that were careless and they lost out, lost out entirely. But here we read that there's a day coming when God is going to send forth judgment and punishment with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.

He's going to be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God. That doesn't mean the people that are ignorant and never had a chance to hear about him, but people that refuse to hear when they had the opportunity, he's going to take vengeance upon them and those that have not obeyed the gospel.

But thank God on the other hand, you have the other beautiful word here. He's coming to be glorified in his saints and admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day.

It makes a great deal of difference what I do with the word of God today. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Paul says you believed our testimony. It was believed and there's a day coming when God's going to be glorified in his saints.

In fact, that's why he has called us to himself. You remember in the Old Testament, the Lord speaks there about Israel and he laments over them and Ezekiel, he said, Duke, I wanted my name to be glorified and you brought disgrace on my name, but I'm not going to give up.

I'm going to be glorified and for my great name's sake, I'm going to pour out my spirit on all flesh. I'm going to forgive your sins. I'm going to cleanse you. I'm going to give you a new heart and a new spirit and I'm going to be glorified and the heathen are going to glorify my name when they see the change in you, when they see what I could do for you and that's what glorifies God today.

When the worldly people or people round about us that don't know God, they see the change that he has made in your life. They see that you are now transformed, that Christ is within you and that you are living in him.

Oh, I tell you he's glorified now in many, many people in this world whose lives bear witness to the power of God on the job, in the neighborhood. They're living for God's glory and when Jesus comes, praise God, they're going to be lifted with him.

Hidden Faithfulness and the Coming Reward

What does it tell us there in Colossians? You're dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life shall appear, you're going to be manifested with him in glory. Oh, hallelujah, because our testimony was believed among you.

There's something that God wants to do in us day by day to prepare us for that day and that's the thing we need to pay attention to and we find here that he is so desirous of changing every one of us.

There is no one of us here tonight that has to fear judgment. We ought to fear God and love God and love his salvation and say, Lord, I want to be found in you. I want to be filled with you. I want to be full of the Holy Ghost and so he prays here for them at the end.

He said, I, we pray always for you that God would count you worthy of this calling. Now, who else said that, that we should pray like that? Jesus said that, didn't he? He said, you pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape the things that are coming to pass and to stand before the son of man.

Do we take that seriously? It ought to be taken very earnestly by us. Jesus, you tell me what's coming. Luke 21 and at the end of the chapter, he said, I want you to pray always that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before your Lord.

And here the apostle prays like that. He said, I want God to count you worthy of this calling. Oh, what a calling it is to be with him, to be ready for him, to live for him now, to have a life that is clean and pure before God now, to take it very seriously that I may live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and be cleansed by the Holy Ghost.

Overcoming, Holiness, and Glorifying God

I'd like to say it again. Judgment is coming. There's a day coming and it will not be a pleasant day. It'll be a fearful day for those that are not ready, but there's a division coming. There's a separation coming and God's going to be glorified.

There are people perhaps we least expected. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. And maybe those people that are looked at as leaders or as preachers or standing in the pulpit, there'll be someone else who will be shining with the beauty and the glory of the Savior in a way that we never expected.

They have paid attention to that inward life and they have overcome. There are some people that have natures and have problems that are different. We all have different natures, don't we, and different problems.

And some souls are entirely hidden and we don't know what it means for them to overcome really and to be sweet. We don't know the trial they're going through, but there are saints of God who will not give in to the flesh, who are insisting on living in Christ and getting the victory right where they are and overcoming the enemy.

And maybe there are members of their family that are giving them a hard time and nobody on the outside knows anything about it because they wouldn't think of parading those things out in the open. They hide them.

They forget. They forgive. They cover over. Love covers over, but they overcome. And there's a day coming when those hidden things will be brought to light and every man we read will receive his reward of the Lord.

We are not to judge. He says, wait till God's time comes, he'll judge. And he'll bring to light those hidden things where people have been true to God. And I tell you, God has people everywhere who are absolutely true to him in the quiet way.

And their lives may not shine now, but I tell you, if they overcome, they're bringing about the kingdom and bringing in the kingdom. And maybe there are those that make a lot of noise, you know, and they're not really overcoming.

The Lord has said one day, it's not the preachers that are going to put the devil in the pit. It's the overcomers. Men and women who really earnestly live for God and go through with God. God knows where I live.

He knows where you live. He knows all about us and his eyes upon us. And he's not going to overlook one, but he wants us, every one of us to be worthy of this calling. Oh God, my father, to shine with you, to be glorified together with Jesus when he comes in his great glory.

Hallelujah. We sing, it will be glory then to say that he's a friend of mine. What will it mean in that day for those who have been true to Jesus? You may not have been popular here. You may not have had a lot of money and a lot of fun.

You may have had to get away from the crowd and follow the Lord alone. And maybe people thought you were a little strange, not a very good mixer, but you followed Jesus and you took his call seriously.

Everything's going to change one of these days. I tell you, it'll change. And there are many that are going to be ashamed in that day. We'll say, Oh God, I could have done differently, but I didn't bother with this call.

I didn't bother. I didn't have time to really seek you and find you and see that you reign within my heart and that you have your way with me. Other things were so important. Oh my. And now they've all been taken away.

I stand before him and the only thing that really matters is what he's been able to do with my soul. Do you ever get into a place like that? I have. I've been in places where I realized I had wonderful opportunities to serve the Lord.

And then I said, my God, if I had only sought you more earnestly here, I've had the opportunity, but I cannot be any more than I am. You can't rise above that which God has been able to place in your soul through faithful obedience and overcoming.

And I've said, God, the chapter's closed. The opportunity has passed and I've done my best. But, oh, if I had only had greater capacity, been more faithful to you, followed you in the daily fight. What a call we have, folks.

A Call to Prayer, Obedience, and Spiritual Readiness

We've got a tremendous call. And God held it here over this people and the apostle prays for them to fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him.

According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's live for Jesus, shall we? Let us not play, but let us pray. And let us ask the Lord here, Paul says, I pray for you. Oh God, account them worthy of this great calling.

And as day by day, we live for Jesus and we say, Jesus, I want you to be glorified in my life. I want to glorify you and I want you to be glorified in me according to your grace. Hallelujah. He is able to take us, but I'd like to tell you again, their judgment is coming.

There's a time coming when we'll give an account when the day is here. Hallelujah. And we shall see him and we'll be glorified together with him. What are we going to do if we've been careless and prayerless, didn't bother really getting to God and being changed by his power, glorifying his name here, giving ourselves to the service of the great King.

Oh, let us say, Jesus, I'm glad that you pray for me. I'm glad that you called me. I'm glad by God that I belong to you and that you have put me into Christ now to live in him and walk in him and overcome in him and please him and be ready for him.

God is working and he's working in these days. And I want to let him work in me. Don't you? I don't want to be careless. The devil has done such a job today of blinding the eyes of men and women to the call of God.

They say, Oh, I'm safe. Everything's okay with me. Somebody told me that again this week. It's all right. I'm glad I belong to the Lord. I've been saved. And the idea was that I'm once saved, always saved.

And that you poor, poor fellow, what a sad thing when our hearts are not on fire with the love of Jesus and we want to be just for him, just for him, just for him. And you know, we're living in sort of a time when we're sort of got a sedative in us, you know, everything's going to be all right.

Everything's fine. Sudden destruction cometh upon them and they shall not escape. No, they won't. But we are not of darkness. We are children of the light and of the day. Let's put on the breastplate of faith and righteousness and the helmet of the hope of salvation.

Let's be filled with Christ, shall we? We can be. And Paul says, I just pray that God will count you worthy of this great call. Oh Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. How much has that call gripped my heart, Lord?

Final Exhortation to Be Filled With the Spirit

How much have you been able to grip me, oh God? God. Hallelujah. We thank you, Lord, that we can be together tonight in your presence. We thank you, Lord, for this great love that has come to us and saved us, made us your very own.

We thank you for your word that tells us something of your great plan for those that love you and are faithful to you and are following you and have determined to go through with you. We thank you that you've called us to be those vessels in whom you are glorified and who shall in that day shine, oh God, like the stars of the morning and be glorified with Christ when you come to be glorified in your saints and to be admired in all them that believe.

Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. I believe we'd like to see Jesus. We'd like to be more like him. I believe the day is coming when we're going to see Jesus in one another and see what he has been able to do and we're going to see him as he is.

When that happens, we'll see the fullness of the glory of our Christ. Hallelujah. Oh, what a day. Lord, I pray that our lives shall be changed. We shall know you like that, transforming us. God, I pray that you'll fill us all with the Holy Spirit.

Don't let us be those who have no oil, but fill us and keep us filled and work in us and perfect that which concerns us all. Oh, Jesus, we know that judgment is at hand. We know, Lord, it's not very long.

The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that you're coming. And God, I pray for Jesus' sake that you will help us all to be awake and help us to wake one another up and get on the job of putting on Christ and making no provision for the flesh.

Amen. Will you pray that God will work like that among us? It's his calling. And there are those that have gotten very, very careless, very indifferent. But let us trust the Lord that each one of us shall get a new touch from God to awaken us to be what God can make out of us, to be holy, to be filled with God, to overcome.