There are thousands of people in this world who see nothing unique in Jesus, nothing glorious in the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m asking, have you begun to marvel at Jesus? When you believe in the Son of God, you will begin to marvel at Him. And those who begin to marvel will marvel forever and forever. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. And Colin, you’ve used a word there several times that we don’t often hear these days, unless we’re big fans of comic books and films. So what does it mean to marvel at Jesus? I love the fact that the English Standard Version of the Bible, the version that I use and love so much, uses that in 2 Thessalonians and chapter 1, where we are at the moment. To marvel, of course, is to be amazed. And what Paul says is that when believers see Christ, they will just be overwhelmed, amazed, marvel at Him. Here He is, the Son of God. God, man, the one who died and rose again and in all this glory that is incomprehensible to us. And of course, worship is the beginning of marveling at Jesus. And that’s one of the marks of a true Christian. And there are thousands of people who see nothing marvelous about Jesus. So what’s the big fuss about? Well, if you have not yet seen what is marvelous in Jesus, you are not yet a Christian. And I’m so glad you’re listening to this program. I hope that as you hear about Jesus Christ, you’ll say, well, there has never been any other person like Him. And maybe I must come to know more about Him than I’ve discovered so far. Well, I hope you’ll continue to listen to this program and discover more about who Jesus is. Let’s join Pastor Colin in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, and verses 10 to 12. As we begin the message, Christ will be glorified in you. Here’s Colin. Everyone has their battles, and there will be times in your life when you get tired of the battle. And this letter we’ve been seeing is written to help Christians persevere when the going gets tough and when you get tired of the battle that you face. In the first chapter, and we come to the end of the first chapter today, there are really three strategies for staying the course. In our first message from this chapter, we saw that in order to have perseverance, you need to exercise faith and practice love. That’s verses 3 and 4. Perseverance flows from faith and from love. Faith and love are the roots from which perseverance or patience grow. If you sow faith, you sow love, then the fruit you will get will be patience or perseverance in your life. And so we saw very practically together that if you want to persevere in ministry, the way to do it is to grow in love for the people you serve and in faith with regards to what God can do among them. That’s the only way to persevere, to have patience and to continue in ministry. If you need to have more patience with a difficult person in your life, here is where you begin. You have to ask God for his help to renew your love for that person and to renew your faith that he can bring a good outcome in their life. So when you’re tired of the battle, here’s where to begin. When you feel like giving up, exercise faith and practice love and you will persevere. That’s how it works. That’s the first strategy. The second strategy we looked at last weekend, and it’s simply this. You trust your suffering into the hand of God. If you’re going to stay the course, you need to learn how to do this. And remember we saw that these new Christians in the town of Thessalonica, they had experienced a relentless onslaught of difficulty since their conversion to Christ. They’d suffer violence, slander, false accusations, court cases, constant aggravation. And it all started when they became followers of Jesus. Well, that puts the pressure on people to turn back, doesn’t it? And of course, this is just the point. It started when they began following Jesus because this is what Jesus experienced. And he tells us it will be the same for us. Anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will in some way be persecuted, the Bible says. So if we are to endure the kind of suffering that in some way will come to each of us in the course of following the Lord Jesus Christ, we need to learn to do what Jesus did when it came to him. And you have that in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 23. When he suffered, he made no threats. Jesus, how did you do that? How did you not strike back when you suffered so much? Here’s the answer. Instead, he trusted himself to him who judges justly. And Peter is saying in his letter, now you must do the same. A little later he says those who suffer according to God’s will, they should commit themselves to their faithful creator and continue to do good. Now that’s the second great strategy for staying the course when you’re tired of the battle. The first is you have to exercise faith and practice love. The second is you have to, when it comes your way, trust your suffering into the hands of God. That’s how you persevere. That’s how Jesus did it. And that is the point of verses 6 to 9 that we looked at last week. God is just and so we are to leave room for God’s wrath. If you experience injustice, if you experience slander, if you suffer in any way as a Christian, then trust it into the hands of God. Take the evil you have suffered and give it to him and he will do what is right. So that’s what we’ve covered so far. These first two strategies in chapter 1. Exercise faith, practice love, and trust your suffering into the hands of God. Now today we come to the third strategy which is in verses 10 through 12. And it’s simply this. Anticipate your glorious future in Jesus Christ. This is the most wonderful part of this chapter, I believe. Last week we looked at the hardest of all truths in the Bible. This week we’re looking at the greatest of all promises in the Bible. And here’s what Paul is saying to us in this third strategy. When you’re tired of the battle, here’s what you need to do. You need to look up and you need to anticipate all that will be yours in Jesus Christ. Your glorious future in our Lord Jesus. Now you’ll notice from verse 7 that Paul is speaking about the day when Jesus Christ will be revealed. None of us has seen Christ. We believe in him but we’re walking and living by faith. But it will not always be so. The Bible repeatedly states and Jesus stated clearly himself that one day we will see him. Faith will be turned to sight. You will see Jesus Christ and so will everybody else who has ever lived. And for all who believe this day when Jesus Christ appears in glory, when he is revealed, that’s the phrase that Paul uses, it will be for all who believe a day of indescribable joy. And I want you to see simply from these verses the three things that will happen for you if you are a Christian believer on that day. The first is that you will see Christ’s glory. You will. Verse 10, when Jesus Christ is revealed, he will be marveled at, verse 10, among all those who have believed. And Paul says to the Thessalonians, now that includes you because you have believed our testimony. So if you’re a Christian, if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you’re included in this. You will marvel at Christ’s glory. You will see it. Now try to picture with me as best you can the whole thing that Paul is talking about the whole church marveling at Jesus Christ. What is this going to be? Here we are, Christians from around the world and across the centuries who have loved Christ, we have worshiped Christ, we have served Christ, we have suffered from Christ. Here are Christians and we’ve sat in church and we’ve heard about Christ and we’ve believed what we have heard. We’ve sung about Christ, sometimes a little lamely, sometimes with great gusto and heart. But now, though it had seemed sometimes as if he was quite distant from us, we’re there and we see him, all of us, in his glory. And Christ is so much more than the best thought that any of us in this congregation have ever had about him. And we’re saying, I knew he was great, but I never knew he was quite like this. We live in a what’s next world. How many of us are excited about seeing the Bears this weekend? And we’ll watch the Bears this weekend, we’ll enjoy watching the Bears, and then when the game is over, the TV goes off and we’ll say, now what next? What are we going to do now? Nothing holds us for long. But no one will be saying what’s next when the glory of Jesus is revealed. We will marvel at him. That’s the word that the Apostle Paul uses. And that marveling at Jesus will continue and increase in your soul for all eternity. You will see his glory. Let me ask this question before we move on. Have you begun to marvel at Jesus Christ? Is he marvelous to you? There are thousands of people in this world who see nothing unique in Jesus, nothing glorious in the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m asking, have you begun to marvel at Jesus, the Son of God, who took our flesh and lived our life and died our death and bore our sins and rose for our justification and lives for our sanctification and will come again for our glorification? Have you begun to marvel at him? Is he marvelous to you? When you believe in the Son of God, you will begin to marvel at him. And those who begin to marvel will marvel forever and forever. When Christ comes, here’s the first thing, you will see his glory. So that, as Colin just said, is the first thing, and we’ll look at the second in just a moment. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And a message, Christ will be glorified in you. And it’s part of our series, Staying the Course When You’re Tired of the Battle. And if you ever miss one of our messages, you can always catch up or go back and listen again online. Why don’t you come to our website? It’s openthebible.org.uk. Also on our website, you’ll find plenty of other resources. You’ll find Open the Bible Daily. That’s a series of two to three minute reflections, a new one every day, written by Pastor Colin Smith and read in the UK by Sue McLeish. As well as checking out the website, you might want to receive our messages and Open the Bible Daily as a podcast. You can always do that by going to your favorite podcast site, search for Open the Bible UK, and subscribe to receive regular updates. We’ll get back to the message now. We’re in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verses 10 to 12. Again, here’s Colin. When Christ comes, here’s the first thing, you will see his glory. You’ll be marveled at by all his people forever. But that’s only the beginning. Here’s the second thing. When Jesus Christ is revealed, you will be glorified in Christ. Now this is something that is going to happen to you. If you are a Christian believer, when he comes, you are going to be changed and you are going to be glorified in him. Now notice how Paul states this in verse 12. He’s praying that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you. We’ll come back to that in a moment. But notice first he says, and you in him. You glorified. You glorified in him, verse 12. So think about this. Not only are you going to see Christ’s glory, you are going to share Christ’s glory. Not only are you going to be in the glory of Christ, but the glory of Christ is going to be in you. You will be glorified in him. That is what it is saying. And you will recognize if you know the New Testament that this is stated many times in different ways. Paul says in Romans, for example, that our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8 and verse 18. In us. Not just the glory revealed to us, not just something that we see that remains external, but something that happens within that involves a transformation of you. So that as John puts it in his letter, when we see him, we will be like him. This is the great promise of the New Testament. Not only will you be in glory, but this glory will be in you. Now you say, what does that mean? What does it mean that I will be glorified in Christ? That his glory will be in me? Well, it means you will have a body like Christ, like his resurrection body. Think of what that means and let it be an encouragement to you today. No pain, no sickness, no disability, no weariness, all of that gone. You will have a body that is suited to eternal life, which is the gift of God to you. And not only will you have a body like the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have a soul like the Lord Jesus Christ. You will be like him. That’s internal as well as it is external. In other words, you will love what Christ loves. You really will. And you will love as Christ loves. You will be free not only from all sin in your soul, but you will be free from all inclination to sin in your soul. Will that not be marvelous? This long battle against temptation that goes on in the experience of every believer will be over. It will be done. And you will share Christ’s joy and you will contribute to the joy of heaven itself. I’ve been greatly helped this week by reading a sermon preached by C.H. Spurgeon on these verses way back in 1879. The language is old, but the truth is always new. And I’ll give you one or two samples of what he says today. But I love this. He’s talking about how as Christians we so often grieve the Holy Spirit. We love Christ and yet we know that we do things and say things and think things that grieve the Spirit of God. And we hate it when we do it. And Spurgeon says this, by our lack of zeal and by our many sins, we are often guilty of discrediting the gospel and dishonoring the name of Jesus Christ. And then he says, Oh, happy, happy, happy day when this shall no longer be possible. Do you get that? Oh, what a happy day when it will not even be possible for you or for me to dishonor the name of Christ in any way. We shall be rid then of the inward corruption which now works itself into outward sin and we shall never, never, never dishonor Christ again. What a day that’s going to be. Not only will you see his glory, you will share his glory because you will be transformed into his likeness. And can I indulge another couple of Spurgeon quotes today? He makes these two points and they just lived for me this week. He says first, think about this, you are going to see the likeness of Christ in yourself. He says every saint will be a wonder to himself. You’ll be going, is this really me? You will be so like Christ, you will be so full of glory, you will be so without sin, you will find it hard to believe that it is really you. But you will know that it is you. You will say, this is me. I never imagined this to be possible. And then he says secondly, we will see the likeness of Christ in each other. It won’t just be that you see it in yourself. You’ll look around and you’ll say, my goodness, is this really you? So full of the glory of Christ, so made perfect in his presence. Quotes Spurgeon again, the saints will also admire Christ in one another. You will be free from all envy there and therefore you will rejoice in the beauty of your fellow saints. You will see the Lord in all your brothers and this will make you praise and adore him without end with a perpetual amazement and an ever-growing delight. You get the sense of the wonder of this promise. When Jesus Christ is revealed, you’re going to see his glory and more than that you are going to share his glory because the New Testament says you will be glorified in him. You will be glorified in him if you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is your glorious future and Paul’s telling us this because we need to be sustained when we get tired in the battle. And then there’s something else that if it were possible seems to me that it’s even greater still and it’s this. Not only will you see Christ’s glory and not only will you be glorified in him but he, Jesus Christ, will be glorified in you. Now if this was not stated so clearly or so plainly we would never even begin to imagine it to be possible. So I want you to see it right there in your Bible in front of you. Verse 10. When Christ comes he comes, quote, to be glorified in his most holy people. So it’s not only that we are going to be glorified in him, now Paul is saying that he in some sense is going to be glorified in us or through us. And you have the same statement again in verse 12. He repeats it a second time. It’s exactly the same. Paul prays that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, that Jesus will be glorified in you. You say, well now what does that mean? How is it possible for Jesus Christ to be glorified in us? I can see and begin to imagine how I could be glorified in him as what is his becomes mine. How in the world can he be glorified in me and us? At the end of the Bible, the apostle John, as most of you know, was given a marvelous vision of things to come recorded in the book that we call Revelation. John saw in that vision what it will be like when God’s people, his redeemed people, those who are in Christ are gathered in the presence of Jesus. And in chapter 7, John noted what was most striking to him. How will Jesus Christ be glorified in us, first answer? Christ will be glorified by the vast number of the redeemed. The vast number of the redeemed. And as John sees this vision, you see the first thing that strikes him is the sheer number of these people. It’s the first thing he writes. And I’m suggesting to you that this brings great glory to Christ. You’ve been listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open the Bible and the message Christ will be glorified in you. Part of our series, staying the course when you’re tired of the battle. And don’t forget if you ever miss one of the broadcasts, why don’t you come online to openthebible.org.uk. There you can find any of our previously broadcast messages. For some people, it may be difficult to tune in regularly to hear our messages. If you prefer to listen to a podcast, you can hear any of the previously broadcast messages as a podcast by going to your favorite podcast site. Just search for Open the Bible UK, subscribe to the podcast and you’ll receive regular updates. Open the Bible is supported by our listeners. That’s people just like you. If you feel that’s something you’d like to get involved in, you can do that by going to our website. That’s openthebible.org.uk. If you’re able to set up a donation in the amount of five pounds per month or more, we’d love to thank you by sending you a free gift. It’s two copies of a book called More Than a Carpenter, written by Josh McDowell. Colin, why is this book so important? Well, I’m always drawn to books that are tried and tested. And God has used this book, More Than a Carpenter, for more than 40 years. And it has been a means of God’s work in many, many people’s lives. But I think it’s perhaps a book that many today are not aware of. And so I’m just delighted that we’re making it available. More Than a Carpenter deals with real questions that a skeptic might have in regards to the Christian faith. So Josh McDowell deals with questions like what about science and what about the new atheism and how do we know that the Bible is reliable? So this is a really helpful book for believers to help us be clearer and more confident in our witness to Jesus. And it’s also a marvellous book to give to anyone who’s asking honest questions about the Christian faith. And that’s why we’d like to send you two copies, one for you and one to give away, in return for setting up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible for £5 per month or more. Details on our website, openthebible.org.uk. For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll be able to join us again soon. How’s your prayer life? How might you pray differently if you were thinking about your glorious future in Christ? Find out next time on Open the Bible.