1 Thessalonians 2, I'll read from verse 13 through verse 20. Let us hear God's Word. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, for joy, for a crown of rejoicing? Are not ye even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? For ye are our glory and joy." Thus ends the reading of God's holy and inspired Word. Now, this Lord's Day morning, return again to our series of messages on Paul's first epistle to the church at Thessalonica. In our Scripture reading, we saw Paul's journey there and his short visit there. Him having to leave due to persecution that had come upon him and the church there just shortly after he had seen conversions through his preaching in the synagogue there. Shortly thereafter, as a likely occurrence, he writes this epistle to them. He greets them and praises God for the word that he's gotten from Timothy that they are doing well, that they have a certain faith and a hope and a love that's working its way out in their love for one another, their service, and their standing firm in the midst of much suffering that they are undergoing. Having spoken to them about that, he begins in this letter to speak of the past. He spends the first three chapters talking about his previous ministry amongst them. Before, in chapters 4 and 5, he begins to exhort them about how they should live in the present. In this long discussion about his previous ministry, Paul first talks about their reception of the gospel in chapter 1, verses 5 through 10. He also then speaks of his ministry, how he came to them. His integrity, his uprightness, his disposition of affection demonstrated both in a feminine affection as well as a masculine affection. All the way up through verse 12 of chapter 2. Having done that, he then in verses 13 through 16 that we looked at last week, returns again to speak of how the Thessalonian church, Thessalonican church had accepted the suffering that they were undergoing. You see now all of a sudden Paul says you're suffering and even from your own countrymen, people that you have an affinity to, people that culturally are like you and Your family is interwoven with, that you have great connections with, and now those people are persecuting. In other words, there's been some severance of your relationship with these people because now you no longer serve the idols that they once did, but you serve the true and the living God. Having been translated out of the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, the people of God at Thessalonica found themselves bereaved at some level. Separated. from people that they cared very much for. And now these people not only were separated from them philosophically, but they were even persecuting them. They were treating them poorly. They were viewing them with disdain. Don't you find that sometimes when you tell people what you believe about certain things? About the reality of Christ? About the reality of His virgin birth? Suffering is resurrection. People who are very naturalistic, who can't believe in miracles, do you not sense, even if they don't say anything, do you not sense a certain disdain in their own eyes, their own response to you facially in their expressions? We suffer. We know what that suffering is like. Well, they suffered greatly of their conscience. They underwent that. But then Paul, having spoken of that suffering and how he likens it to the suffering that the Jewish Christians were experiencing in Judea, then I believe explains his absence from them here in verses 17 through 20. He's making an apology. He's going to say, I want to explain why I haven't been back. I think he's also making another form of apology that is in a defense. I think it's likely that his detractors are saying, you know, this Paul that was influential in you coming out of the synagogue and stirring up the city, this Paul really doesn't care that much for you. If he did, he would be with you. So I believe Paul is explaining to them why he hasn't been able to be back, but I think he's also seeking to defend himself against potential slander from his detractors. And so in this section, verses 17 through 20, I believe Paul is focusing upon his great desire, as he speaks of at the end of verse 19. His great desire, and this word desire I'm translating as affection. This word is used in the Scriptures to speak of a desire or a longing to be with somebody. It actually is translated to be covetous of at times. It's actually the word that sometimes translated lust. In certain contexts it refers to a wrong desire, a sinful desire, a desire outside of the bounds of God's commands. But quite often it refers to a desire that's within. the bounds of God's commands. So in verses 17-18, I believe Paul gives us an expression of this brotherly affection. And then in verses 19-20, he gives us the reasons, or at least some of the reasons for this brotherly affection or brotherly love that he has to these people. First, His expression of brotherly affection or love. He tells us in the beginning of verse 17 that He has real affection for His brethren. And then in 17b and 18, He says this is demonstrated by His resolute purpose to visit them. He really has a love for them and it's expressed in His real desire to see them again. You see, if we love somebody, we really want to be with them. It's not really appropriate to tell somebody you love them but have no interest in seeing them. And so, Paul says, I did love you and I demonstrated in my desire and my real effort to see you. He first begins, but we. But we. In spite of real potential for persecution when they return. But we, brethren. But we, brothers. But we who are part of a bigger family, the family of God, we were prepared to come back. But we, brethren, brothers, being taken from you. It's the Greek word that's translated here, being taken from you, is the word that we get the word orphaned from, separated from. It can mean just bereavement in general. It doesn't just mean a child who loses their parent, but it means anybody that's connected together that's separated. And we all know what bereavement's about, don't we? We know what separations between loved ones is about, don't we? We've seen separations in families. We've seen separations of those that we have loved who are now with the Lord. We've seen those that we have loved depart for one reason or another. But Paul has departed and he's bereaved. He says, I've been taken from you. It's not just the fact that he's apart from them that he's speaking of. He's speaking about the internal affection that he has that's affected him by this separation. Yes, he's serving some other people. in Corinth. He's loving them and serving them, but he misses the people he was serving months ago in Corinth. Is he a joyful man? Yes, he's a joyful man. Is he a bereaved man? Yes, he's a bereaved man too. And that's the life we must live in the Christian life. We know what bereavement is. We can't erase it. And yet we are called to walk in the joy of the Holy Spirit. We see how Paul was taken from them in Acts 17.1 that we just looked at in the Scripture reading. Paul says, but we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time. In other words, it hasn't been that long since I've been away. But Paul goes on to say, I was taken away in presence, not in heart. Don't think out of sight, out of mind for me. Don't think out of sight, out of heart for me. Even if my detractors might be trying to plant that seed in your mind, Paul saying, don't buy it. Out of sight doesn't mean out of heart and affections for me. You see, Paul could even say that when he wrote the church at Colossae later on in his ministry from the prison in Rome or actually from that rented home that he was bound in, he said in Colossians 2.5, to a church that he probably never visited. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the Spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." Paul was very concerned about any of the churches. We find in Corinthians, he says he was always concerned about all the churches. Churches that he knew the people in, churches that he didn't. So, though he wasn't present with him, he says, my heart's still with you. My affections are still towards you. So, Paul, having expressed that his affections were towards him, now he says, this is an expression or a fruit of that. I've made resolute efforts to visit you. I've made resolute efforts already. I've endeavored the more abundantly to see your face. This word endeavored means literally to be prompt and earnest and diligent. He says, I was that. I was prompt and diligent and earnest to come. And he actually adds another word to it. I endeavored more abundantly. He's piling on. And he's doing this under inspiration. This is really true of Paul. Paul's not playing it up. He said he abundantly did it or he persistently did it. He persistently was making efforts to come back to see them. In other words, he sought various opportunities to visit with them. And he says he did it with great desire or great affection, with great longing, with great covetousness, with great lust. He rightfully lusted to be with them, to covet fellowship with them. for His profit as well as theirs. And he says there in verse 18, Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. In other words, I was trying very diligently to come. I really want to come. Paul could tell the church at Rome a little bit later in his ministry this, Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purpose to come unto you but was less hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as other Gentiles." I really want to come to you. In chapter 1, a little bit later, he says, I want to come to you so I'm edified and you're edified. Here he's focusing on their edification. I want to come to be built up by you, but I also want to build you up. And that's what Paul wanted to do in Thessalonica, even though he had many other things in his inbox, so to speak. He had many other people to be concerned about and to seek to assist in their newfound faith throughout the known world. Paul says, I would have come to you, even I, Paul. He's been really talking about him and his companions, but here he wants to say, I'm not just speaking of us as a group of people generically. We all kind of talk about wanting to get back together. He says, I'm even, I'm really thinking about that. I really want to do it. I've actually made plans myself. I've just not entered in with some discussion of some people about potential plans to get up and visit you in northern Greece. I actually have been thinking about this and purposing myself. He says, we've been doing it once and again. In other words, often. We've been really trying to pull this off often already, even though I haven't been gone that long. In other words, Paul knows that he's left the church vulnerable because he's had to leave so early after their immediate conversion. I think what we're seeing here is that in Thessalonica, he would have liked to stay a little bit longer, like he was able to do in some places. Philippi, he had to get out of there pretty quickly as well. But other places he was able to stay a little bit longer and have the church a little bit better established. I think that's potentially why they do apparently have some problems, particularly related to eschatology or their teaching in the end times. They end up being confused about it. We see in this book and in 2 Thessalonians, even though Paul will say that I've taught on it, sometimes we have to hear some teaching several times before we start getting it, don't we? Sometimes many more times than several times before it starts sinking in. So he says he's tried to get there. It appears that he did get to Thessalonica at least one more time in his third missionary journey in Acts 20 verses 1 through 3. We don't really have much detail there, but it's pretty clear that he went through that geographical region, and I think it's most likely that he did visit there. What do we learn from this? I think we learn that we shouldn't give up too easily on trying to get together with the brethren. We ought to have a desire and at first blush when our endeavors don't work out. We don't give up. Paul didn't give up. He said, I kept trying. Yeah, Satan may be hindering, I'll keep trying. I don't say, well, this is the will of God. We're just not going to be able to get together. We ought not to give up so easy. But Paul says, but Satan hindered us. Now why would Satan hinder Paul from getting the Thessalonians? I think for the same reason Paul hinders Christians from fellowshipping with one another. I'm not talking about socializing, I'm talking about fellowship. Why would Satan discourage Christians from fellowshipping? The reason is because fellowship is an important means of grace. It's not the primary, it's not the only means of grace, but it is a means of grace. Part of that context in which we as Christians who have been translated from darkness to light grow in the grace that God has given us. And so, Satan is obviously seeking to hinder. He's seeking to hinder the worship, the true worship of God. He seeks to hinder true discipleship and learning the Word of God and growing in the knowledge of Christ and in His grace. He seeks to hinder witness. He also seeks to hinder fellows. Why not? How does he do it? The Puritan James Ferguson said that he probably did it in this case either by stirring up some to lay snares for Paul in the way, or by raising new troubles in other churches which required Paul's presence. In other words, we can't be exactly sure exactly how Satan was doing it, but we ought not to be surprised that Satan was hindering. Again, Ferguson says, either hindering by there being so much disruption in Thessalonica that Paul knew if he went there, it's only going to create more trouble for him and for the people of God there, or other things may have been happening that required his attention elsewhere. Ministers of the Gospel, shepherds of God's sheep can't always get to the sheep exactly on the timetable the sheep might prefer. And even, I mean, many of them don't do it because they don't care for the sheep. But even amongst ministers who do truly care for the sheep, you may not know that there's a higher priority. You may think your situation is just dire, and it may be, but there may be something that's even more pressing. And so, this is possible that there was maybe something more pressing upon Paul. As concerned as he was about the Thessalonians, he may have felt like, in God's prudence, he needed to be somewhere else. Don't know for sure, but we shouldn't be surprised that Satan hindered it. You see, because we learn in Ephesians 6-12 that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. In other words, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan are at war. And what sometimes we forget is the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of light are made up of visible beings and invisible beings. Right? There's some on our side that we can't see with our own eyes. And then there's some on the other side we can't see with our own eyes either, but only by the eyes of faith. This might be somewhat discouraging that Satan actually hinders Christians. Do you find that discouraging? Well, let's compare some Scripture with Scripture. How about Job 1, 6 through 12? Was Satan at work in making life difficult for Job? Yes, he was. But did Satan hinder Job in opposition to what God desired for Job? Did God want one thing and Satan was able to do something else for him and to him? Or did God overrule? Did God rule what Satan could do? Did God say, Satan, this is as far as you can go. And though Satan meant it for evil upon Job, God meant it for good. God meant it for good. And so, God uses even Satan's hindrances for our good. He even uses when we desire to be together in fellowship and aren't able to. And those longings well up. He can even use those for our good. You see, God ultimately controls all of Satan's activities. We need not to forget that. God and Satan aren't on equal footing. Satan is a created being. God created him. God is in control of him and all of his activities and all the activities of all his henchmen. We kind of see that same thought in 2 Corinthians 12. where Paul speaks of the fact that he had gone to heaven. He'd heard things that men had not heard. He'd had some heavenly experience. And he says in light of that, he's contemplated it obviously with the wisdom of God, and under inspiration he says, God's given me a thorn in the flesh to humble me. Since I've had this great privilege God's been pleased to give me a thorn in the flesh. Some physical ailment of some sort that might keep me humble. But Paul in 2 Corinthians 12.7 says that that thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan. So he says, God gave me this physical malady, but He gave it to me through the instrumentality of Satan. Now, obviously Satan didn't mean it well for Paul. Satan's thinking, if I can hinder Paul physically, well, I can hinder his gospel ministry. He's not going to be able to get around as well. He's going to be in more pain when he's ministering the Word of God. This is going to hinder him. Again, he meant it for evil. Satan meant it for evil in Paul's life, but God meant it for good. It was ultimately to humble Paul, to keep Paul under. And so I believe that's how we need to understand Satan hindered Paul. Paul could have liked that it wasn't so, and yet at the same time Paul knew that ultimately God's in control of even Satan hindering him. So we see Paul's expression of brotherly love in verses 17 and 18. Now let's look at the reasons for his brotherly love or affection in verses 19 and 20. For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. For ye are our glory and joy." Here he gives us three reasons via two rhetorical questions. In other words, he says, of course you are our hope Our joy, our glory, or our literally could be translated, boasting. For you are these things. These are the reasons why I have this great affection for you. Because you are our, not just Paul's, in his colleagues, hope, joy, boasting. But notice, as he says hope, joy, or crown of rejoicing or crown of boasting, then he gives another rhetorical question that seems to set his eyes not upon the people of God at Thessalonica being his hope, joy, and crown of rejoicing in the present, but also his hope, joy, and crown of rejoicing at Christ's second coming. So, Paul has an eschatological outlook. He's looking down the corridors of time. He's saying, you are now and you will be then. Again, the Puritan James Ferguson says, Paul speaking of that heavenly glory mentions it first under the name of hope, next of joy, and thirdly of a crown of rejoicing. So, these people are Paul's hope, joy, and crown. What is our hope? Now, do you think the Thessalonians were Paul's ultimate hope? Do you think even all the churches of God were Paul's ultimate hope? Well, of course not. Paul could say that Christ's coming is the blessed hope, the ultimate hope in Titus 2.13. He says that blessed hope is the glorious appearing of Christ. That's his ultimate hope. When Christ returns, He expects to see the people that He has been an instrument of serving up the gospel to. And in that sense, they are His hope. They're not His ultimate hope, but they are a significant hope. They're His joy. Paul calls the church at Philippi His joy in Philippians 4.1. Are they His ultimate joy? Of course not. Jude could say, as he closes his short letter, "...now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." We recognize that our joy is going to be made full. It's going to be exceedingly joyful when Christ returns. And yet again, Paul realizes that His joy when Christ returns isn't just His joy to be in Christ's presence, but there's also a joy that we can have because we will be in the saints' presence as well. And we will be present with those that we haven't been present with for a long time. Those that have gone to glory before us. Those that are still in the church militant, but aren't present with us and we don't routinely get to see. Paul saying, I hope that Christ is returning and I'm hoping you're going to be part of that. That's a great hope. I'll be with Him. And you'll be with Him. And we'll be together. And it's a great joy that I'll be with Him. He'll be with me. You'll be with Him. We'll all be together. You see, Paul already had a joy that these people are walking in the Gospel. John could say in 3 John 4, I have no greater joy to hear that my children walk in truth." Paul and the apostles, the ministers of God, always have a joy about what the people of God are doing in their lives in this earth. But there's a greater joy when we'll all be together at Christ's return. But Paul goes on to say, you're also our crown of rejoicing. Our crown of rejoicing. This word rejoicing could be translated glory, but it's not the word doxa, the word that we get doxology from, that's often translated glory. This word could also mean boasting. It's that which we speak of in eloquent terms. But Paul refers to it as a crown. It seems that he's referring to the glory wreath or the victor's chaplet that the winner of an Olympic game would wear. Or the victor would be given at some ceremony after a great victory in battle. That's his picture. He's using cultural illusions. Things that the people of God knew about in their own life, in their own culture. He says, it's going to be like that. I'm going to get a glory read. He's not saying that they are His ultimate glory. Paul could say in Galatians 6.14, God forbid that I should glory or boast save in the cross of Christ. So, this boasting that Paul has of these people is not to cause us to understand he boasts in them more than Christ. He boasts in them because he boasts in Christ and they are Christ. It's interesting, in 2 Corinthians 1.14, Paul says, I boast of you and you boast of me. We speak well of one another and we're proud to say, so to speak, that we have a relationship with one another. They could speak well of Paul and say, it's a blessing that God used Paul in our lives to bring us to faith and to minister in our congregation. And Paul could say, it's a blessing of God God has used me to be part of that work there and the affection that I have for those people. So it was mutual boasting in that sense. And yet Paul also, as he speaks of the coming of Christ, can speak of the crown of righteousness that he expected to get. In his last letter, this is the last letter he's going to write before he's going to be beheaded. In 2 Timothy 4a, he speaks of the crown of righteousness he expects to get. He's about to have to undergo the shame of a common criminal who has committed some capital crime. And as he contemplates that, he recognizes that in the ultimate judgment, he will be crowned with righteousness. He'll have a crown of righteousness. Peter could say in 1 Peter 5, 4, to encourage elders to carry out their duties, he says, you will receive a crown of glory, and that is the literal word dosa or weightiness. You'll get a weighty crown if you serve Christ's sheep and thus serve Christ by serving Christ's sheep. Paul could also in 1 Corinthians 9.25 say that he buffets his body. He's careful about his lifestyle just like a runner is who seeks to win a worldly prize, who seeks to get this victor's crown, this chaplet around his head. He says, I do it too. I do it to gain, he says, an incorruptible crown. I seek to get a crown that doesn't fade. You know, you win the 100-yard dash in the Olympics and eventually that green garland around your head fades and it's brown. He says, my crown is going to be incorruptible. It won't fade away. It's not momentary. It will be eternal. And yet, Paul could say that he strives and is careful about how he lives to get that crown, yet in 1 Corinthians 15.10 could say that he's labored and yet he says, it's not I, but the grace of God which was in me. When it comes down to it, I know I haven't done anything of myself. It's all the grace of God in me. So Paul's speaking about the people being his hope, his joy, his crown. And he says, are you not even? Are you not even in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ? This word presence means in front of. Won't you be my joy, my hope, and my boasting when we're in front of Jesus? And the last judgment. And this will be. We'll be in front of Him at His coming. Or His parousia, literally. Which means His advent or His coming or His arrival. But the picture is of the arrival of a King. When Christ returns, He will arrive as the great King. And that's the picture. He will come with His entourage from heaven, but then those that are alive and those that are dead in Christ that are raised up, we will all meet Him in the air. When the King comes to town, He comes with a great entourage. In antiquity, in the ancient world, children, the people would come out of the town to meet Him. It would be showing honor and respect. They wouldn't wait for Him to come in. They'd go out and meet the King if they heard He was coming. And that's the picture. The King coming in all His glory and His humble and submissive servants coming out to give Him the honor that's due His name. Paul says when that happens, You'll be my hope, my joy, my crown. Then he repeats himself in verse 20, For ye are our Glory for our boasting and our crown and our joy. You're this glory, boasting crown. You're our hope and you are uniquely, Paul says, our joy. Now, how can we apply these words today? Six applications. Brief. Six brief applications. First, Paul missed the brethren very much, didn't he? So should we. Do we miss brethren we haven't seen for a while? We ought to. Paul here is following Christ. Will we follow Christ by following Paul? Do we miss the brethren? Paul was in the presence of many brethren in Corinth. He wasn't absent from people, but he still thought about the people he wasn't absent from. He missed them. Secondly, Paul desired to see the brethren very much. He missed them, but he made efforts to do something about it. He desired to see them. So should we. Paul made genuine attempts to see the brethren. Genuine attempts. So should we. Did his attempts always succeed? No. Could they always be carried out? Was Paul prepared to neglect the Corinthians or some other church to be with the Thessalonians? No. But it says he did make genuine attempts to be with them. Fourthly, Paul was hindered by Satan from fellowshipping with the brethren. So are we oftentimes hindered from fellowshipping with the brethren. Not just hindered from socializing. Sometimes we're hindered from socializing too. But sometimes we can socialize and still not fellowship. We're hindered from fellowshiping. Being with them and then making our time with them meaningful by having our time with them being Christ-centered. Think of Paul's words to Hebrew Christians who were starting to back away They were at first very willing to live with the persecution they were facing in Judea. They were at first apparently willing to live without all the bells and whistles of the temple worship and worship in the simplicity of New Testament worship. But things have gone on. The persecution is still there. are starting to think about their old traditions. Family traditions that had gone on for almost 2,000 years. And Paul has to say, you better take heed of unbelief. You better take heed and stop believing by faith and seeing what really is, even though you can't see it with your physical eye. Just take heed of unbelief in departing from the living God. He says, if you go back, you're moving away from God, the living God. Don't think you'll be worshipping the living God back in the temple. That's what he's telling you. But this is his answer to it. But, exhort one another daily. He says, here's the remedy. You're going to have to stir one another up. You're going to have to come alongside one another. You're going to have to encourage one another positively and negatively. Paul goes on to say you have to exhort one another because of the reality of this dynamic, what he calls the hardening by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is deceitful. It lies. It tells you that it only has good fruit. carrying it out look good and profitable. It hides all its negative effects. It makes one effect look good that's not. It hides many others. It lies. But when we commit sin, it hardens. It makes us more likely to commit it again and again and again and again. It hardens us. Paul says one of the mechanisms to soften our hard hearts that can be hardened by falling into the lies of sin that contradict the truths of Scripture, he says, is we exhort one another. We fellowship with one another. But we have to recognize that we're hindered. We have to pray that God would overcome those hindrances in our own lives. But fifthly, We should not be offended when the reality of our fellowship doesn't meet the desires of our fellowship. In other words, Paul's telling them, I have these great desires to fellowship with you. I'm not able to have those desires completely fulfilled. There are other things on my plate. Things get in the way. Sometimes those things that get in the way are not reasonable and are sinful, but Paul seems to be suggesting here that these reasons that he's alluding to seem to be biblically based. It's not that Paul's a sluggard here. Paul's not lying to them. But he's telling them, don't be offended, I really do want to get together, but reality The amount I actually do get together with you does not correspond with how much I'd love to be with you. Too often we get offended when our expectations aren't met. We can be very selfish in that. When we don't reach out, we're expecting Paul to come. We're expecting somebody to reach out to us, but are we reaching out to them? Are we making the effort? And even if we do, don't we realize that even with all that effort, it's not all going to come to fruition all the time. We have to live in that world like Paul did. I really want to be there and spend more time with you, but I believe what Paul is getting at, and this is the last application, is Paul looked forward to being with the Thessalonian brethren in glory when Christ returns. I think that encouraged him, even though his desires weren't completely met in reality. As much time as he wanted to spend with them, he couldn't. But he knew ultimately they, as well as people in other places, were all his hope, his joy and his crown. Not his ultimate hope, not his ultimate joy, not his ultimate crown. They were all in Christ. That's what he ultimately looked for, preeminently, at Christ's return. was Christ Himself. But secondarily, He certainly was always reminded that when He was with Christ, He would be with all His saints. Then fellowship would be had perfectly. And so we need to live in light of that. Desiring communion with one another in the present, working that out, living with the delta, the difference between what we would like to have and what actually happens in light of the fact that we will all spend eternity together in the heavenlies, in the new Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth. All His people will be without sin in His presence and one another's presence. That's what we as God's people have to look forward to. We've all known periods of great delight in Christian fellowship, haven't we? But they have been momentary, haven't they? Eventually, it's pretty late. Eventually, Dad's got to go to work Monday morning. Eventually, the kids really need to go to sleep and we need to leave. And sometimes that kind of sweet fellowship may not happen again for sometimes weeks, months. But what a blessing to think that fellowship that's far superior to that awaits us for all eternity in Christ's presence, in the presence of all His saints at His return.