2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Isaiah 66
Turn in your copy of the scripture
to 2 Thessalonians 1. Today, we’ll look at verses 5-10. Remember that verses 3-12, I
believe, are one long sentence, a run-on sentence. We looked
at two verses last week, the signs of grace and the life of
the believers. They’re bearing up. under hardship
and they are loving one another and growing in their faith. Today
we want to look at Paul’s encouragement to them. You know, take heart
under your affliction. Judgment day is coming. God will
repay those who afflict you and you’re going to be glorified
in Christ. That’s encouragement. The next
week we’ll look at the little prayer that Paul gives for the
Thessalonians. And so here now God’s word, 2
Thessalonians 1, 5-10. This is evidence of the righteous
judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom
of God for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers
it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to
grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord
Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming
fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and
on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment
of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord, away
from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to
be glorified in his saints, to be marveled at among all who
have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. Pray with me. Lord, may we hear
your word and tremble at the threatenings, embrace the promises,
and yield obedience to everything that you would call us to be
and do. This we ask in Christ’s great
name, amen. Amen. Y’all heard the one about
the woman who walks into the doctor’s office. She’s got a
cucumber in this ear, a carrot in her nose, and a banana coming
out of this ear. And she asked the doctor, what’s
wrong with me? He says, you’re not eating right. Yeah, funny one, right? Perhaps
you’ve been in the doctor’s office and maybe you’ve had a spot.
You’ve had a feeling, certainly not fruit coming out of your
ears or nose, we trust. But something wasn’t right and
you go in the doctor and doctor says, everything’s fine. This is normal for someone your
age. normal for someone in your state
of life, and you are relieved, all this worrying for nothing. You needed to hear the doctor
say it, and you needed to come to the conclusion, no, I am not
crazy. Christian, you may be in a difficult
stretch of life, maybe your health, perhaps your finances, sadness,
depression, relationships. If you’re spinning your wheels,
you can’t get traction. Yes, those are problems, but
I’m thinking more spiritual issues, bigger problems. You are weary
with this world. You are disgusted with the present
evil age. The devil has been perhaps attacking
you. The flesh, the remnant of sin
and corruption that remains in you has been flaring up, been
firing up. the digital age perhaps as oppressed
you and the encouragement from the heavenly doctor is this our
just Our righteous God sees, our righteous King knows, and
our Savior has appointed a day. And on that day, all things will
be reconciled. Everything put into the scales
and they will be balanced. We live in a world right now
where the scales are tipped with sin and darkness and curses. But one day we will be saved
to sin no more. Gone will be our pain, our suffering,
our sorrows, our sicknesses. For God will usher in a new creation
and the dwelling place of God will be with men and we will
spend eternity with God. That is the end for the righteous.
That is the end or the everlasting place and position for those
who put their faith, their hope, their trust, in God, though we
read earlier and hopefully soberly the confession of faith, where
it speaks of what will happen to the unjust, those who know
not God, nor do they call on his name. Paul will speak of
that here in Thessalonians. But isn’t it good maybe to be
in church under the word of the great physician, the Lord Jesus,
and to hear that suffering, Affliction, hardship is just normal kingdom
business for somebody in your condition, for somebody of your
faith, for someone who trusts in Jesus. This is normal, you’re
not crazy. You do not have cucumbers coming
out of your ears or bananas, carrots. We need it said, don’t
we? We need it said and it’s good
to be under God’s word and to realize that if we are suffering
or when we are suffering, perhaps it’s not on us now, perhaps one
day soon it may be, it’s good to hear that’s the way Jesus
said it would be. Think of Peter. Peter, perhaps
the apostle, the disciple who suffered the most, writes in
1 Peter 4, beloved, do not be surprised of the fiery trial
when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange
were happening to you. If you’re a King James Bible
reader, Peter begins it this way, think it not strange. The
ESV has it, be not surprised. He goes on to say, but rejoice.
That’s weird, you’re suffering. But rejoice insofar as you share
Christ’s sufferings, that you may rejoice and be glad when
his glory is revealed. You see a connection, don’t you,
between Peter and Paul here. If you are insulted for the name
of Christ, you are blessed. because the spirit of glory and
God rest upon you. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
And he goes on to tell the church for his time for judgment to
begin first at the household of faith. Yes, Christians will
be judged. Thankfully we’re in Jesus. And if it begins with
us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the
gospel of God? And he quotes the Old Testament,
and if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the
ungodly and the sinner? And here’s the therefore. Therefore,
let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls
to their faithful creator while doing good. And so perhaps you’re
walking through the veil of tears. You’re going through the valley
of the shadow of death. feeling persecution or struggling,
entrust your soul to the faithful creator while doing good. Five things to think about from
this passage from 2 Thessalonians 1. The first is the Christian
life is a cross bearing life. So think of yourselves as cross
bearing Christians. You may feel out of place in
this world. That’s good. You may feel like the weirdo
on the block as a Christian. That’s good. You don’t have fruit
coming out of your ears and nose, but you do have a cross on your
shoulder. Remember, Jesus says, if anyone
would follow after me, he must deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me. No, we don’t go to the cross
of Calvary. No, we aren’t nailed to the cross
and suffer and die that way. No, the sins of the elect are
not poured out on us so that we can save them. That’s Jesus.
But cross bearing, daily living for Jesus is what we sometimes
call the crucible or the furnace or a place of hardship. And if you aren’t suffering,
guess what? You’re probably doing it wrong,
right? Now we live in the health and
wealth American pie in the sky gospel world. Come to Jesus. And how does that, how does that
fake gospel go? And all your problems, Go away. Oh good, y’all don’t know that.
Come to Jesus and all your problems will go away. That is about as
false as you can get. In my experience, you come to
Jesus and it gets worse. Right? We realize we’re sinners. We see the depths of hell in
our hearts. We get attacked by the devil.
We are enamored with this world, but supposed to be living for
heaven. are tempted to give in to the
voice of Satan and his sweet whisperings, but we need to pay
heed only to the voice of Christ. And so if you are a believer
in Jesus, you are a cross bearing Christian. And verse five says
of the Thessalonians, been talking about the evidences, the signs
of grace in their lives. He says in verse five, this is
evidence of the righteous judgment of God. that you may be considered
worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering.
So if you’re doing it right, you’re increasing in faith, you’re
increasing in the love you have for your fellow believers, you’re
growing in grace, you’re hating sin, you’re worshiping God. With
God’s help, you’re living the Christian life, ups and downs,
two steps forward, couple steps back, fall on our face, Jesus
picks us up, all the guts and glory of it, it’s evidence. that God himself, the righteous
one, remember that, considers you worthy of the kingdom. Pretty amazing encouragement,
isn’t it? You’re going through hardship, but remember, Jesus
counts you worthy. That’s better than Gatorade,
isn’t it? That’s better than Powerade. That’s better than
getting pumped up. Hebrews 11, the great chapter,
the hall of fame, the hall of faith. says of the unnamed people,
you know, it goes through Moses and Noah and Sarah and a bunch
of them by name, but in a little stretch it says, those who through
faith escaped the edge of the sword, probably none of us, were
made strong out of weakness. It says some were tortured, some
refused to be released so they could rise again to a better
life. Others suffered mocking and flogging. Even chains and
imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn
in two. They were killed with a sword. They went about in skins
of goats and sheep, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. And
catch this, of whom the world was not worthy. They are not counted worthy by
the world. We are not counted worthy by
the world. What’s that big beam on your shoulder? What’s that
cross you’re toting around? Why do you suffer with a smile?
That’s weird. No, the world may not count us
worthy, but in God’s sight and the Lord Jesus sight. And perhaps
we’re wondering about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves
of the earth. But remember this, it’s the way
of the master. It’s also the way of the student.
It’s the way of the prophets and the apostles. It’s the way
of Paul and Silas and Timothy and the Thessalonians. And it’s
our way as well. We’ve mentioned before, perhaps
we’re not really suffering persecution from the outside. You know, we
didn’t come and there were padlocks on the door. Nobody’s bulldozed
our building or burned our Bibles or no government imposed, can’t
do this or that stuff. We can still in America live
and worship and serve God as we are convicted to do as we
read and understand the scriptures. That’s not the way it is in the
other parts of the world. They have lots of external persecution,
but let me assure you of this. You do have internal persecution.
You have the flesh remaining sin and corruption in you. Yes,
it’s been pardoned in Jesus and it’s been subdued by the Holy
Spirit. But the rest of our Christian life, until we are glorified,
contains, has remnant sin, like little cancer cells. And they
are busy and they are active. And our duty as Christians is
to put to death what is earthly in us. It’s to put to death the
things, the deeds of the flesh. And remember our calling, it
is an imperfect, lifelong, knock down, drag out battle. And so
that could be your struggle now. That could be the fiery trial
that you are under. But the way of the Christian
in this world is a difficult one. Your affliction may be Satan,
it may be the digital age. It could be the lust of this
life, chasing money, chasing dreams, not achieving it, being
cast down because of it, whatever. But at least this, whatever way
we are suffering, whatever shape or form it does take, we’re in
very good company. And so the cross bearing Christian
life is something we need to wrap our minds and hearts around. The little funny saying, if you’re
not suffering, you’re not doing it right. If you’re in a reprieve,
that’s great. But generally speaking, Christian
life is cost-bearing. The second thing to think of,
God repays affliction with affliction. How about that? When I was a
kid, elementary school, we had a little girl in our class. Her
name was Tiffany. I remember it. And she loved to tell on
people and she would cover her mouth and point, you know, ooh,
You’re going to get it, right? And it sent chills. You know,
she was going to tell, we were going to get in trouble with
the teacher. Christians. It’s a good thing to think and
say, isn’t it? Look at all the evil around and not in a self-righteous
way, but just think in your head, God is coming. Uh, they’re, they’re,
they’re gonna get it. And thanks be to God. I’m in
Jesus. Now, the context of the Thessalonians
remember is one of great difficulty. Paul went there and spent three
Sabbaths with them. He went in the temple and he
reasoned with the Jews, uh, persuading them, at least hoping to that
Jesus Christ, the Messiah had to suffer and die. Uh, some Jews
believe some Greeks believe some of the leading women believed,
and then the rest just got jealous, stirred up a rabble, ran them
out of town and chased them really to the end of his life. as he’s
in Jerusalem and on his way off to Rome. They didn’t pursue him
to Rome, as best we can tell, but the unbelieving, jealous
Jewish population and those that they drummed up to come with
him, drove Paul nuts to the end of his life. But that’s the context
of Thessalonians. Great harassment, new church,
new faith, new Christianity, baby church, but they are being
harassed. And that’s the context of the
church throughout many ages. Now, gotta say this, because
we live in America where churchianity is just glamorous. I went Thursday,
You know, a preaching conference in Charlotte, big church, good
church, faithful church, having my lunch in the gym, gymnasium. They got a Christian school,
all that. There’s a little climbing wall, right? Nothing wrong with
having that, but isn’t that where American churchy entity is? It’s
about the amenities and it’s about the amenities only generally.
And how good’s the coffee? How comfy are the seats? Is there
a climbing wall for the kids? Whatever was wrong with Bible,
Jesus, sacraments, baptism, a pat on the head from somebody two
generations ahead of you, those kinds of things, we don’t know
what affliction is like in many ways. But the church throughout
the ages, perhaps you, us, we are under some sort of affliction. And verse six says, God considers
it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. How does that encourage the Thessalonians?
How does that encourage missionaries around the world? How does that
encourage a pastor in a closed country sitting in a dark jail? And by dark, I mean no windows,
no air. One case, I remember a minister
who was imprisoned in Eritrea, imprisoned with 50, 60 other
people inside a trucking container, you know, the shipping containers,
those metal things. They had to live there, eat there.
If they ate, they had a bathroom there, all the rest. You get
the picture, pretty dark, dank, nasty. God considers it just
to repay with affliction those who afflict you. Remember, God
is a just, God. He is a righteous God. There
is no evil in him. What he does is right. And he
judges by that righteous standard. It’s not today this and bribe
that on the next. No, he has a standard. And we
live in a world that is broken by sin and cursed by sin, a sin-filled
world. And it will bring him glory one
day to come fix it back to the standard. He’ll make a new creation,
he’ll judge the unrighteous, and he’ll raise up the righteous
who’ve looked to Jesus. All things will be made right.
That’s why the end of the Bible, that’s why the apostle Paul and
others say so well, and we love to echo it, come Lord Jesus,
come again and make all things right. And so the cross bearing
life, A prospering Christian life is something to consider.
Jesus repays affliction with affliction. The third thing is
God grants relief to the afflicted. If you read in the book of Revelation
about the souls under the altar who are crying out, how long,
O Lord, till you avenge our deaths? They pray, O sovereign Lord,
holy and true. How long before you will judge
and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Here’s
the answer. They were each given a white
robe and they were told to rest a little longer until the number
of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete,
who were to be killed as they themselves had been killed. God sovereignly looks over the
world and everything in it, the righteous and the unrighteous,
and he knows the sufferings of his people and he will grant
relief to those who are afflicted, to Paul, to Silas, to Timothy,
to the Thessalonians, to the Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith folks. Down the centuries and even to
you, if you go through hardship, you go through the valley of
tears, if you go through the furnace, God considers it, verse
six and seven tells us. He considers it just to grant
relief to you as you are afflicted. And that will be when the day
the Lord Jesus is revealed. We think of that song from time
to time, be still my soul, when dearest friends depart. Be still
my soul when all is darkened in this veil of tears. Be still
my soul, then you shall better know God’s love, God’s heart. God comes to soothe you. He comes
to soothe your sorrows and your feels. your sorrows and your
fears. And then it says, be still my
soul, your Jesus can repay. You know, when we think of injustice,
we think somebody owes me something because I’ve been taken from,
right? That’s how we think, isn’t it?
Reparations is the word of the day, isn’t it? Be still my soul,
your Jesus can repay. from his own fullness, all that
he, notice that, he takes away. It’s not the scripture, it’s
a song somebody has written, but isn’t it true? God sends
us into the furnace. And you remember Shadrach, and
Meshach, and Abednego, and wasn’t there a fourth? Many will say
that was a Christophany, that was Jesus in the furnace. And
so God grants relief to the afflicted. And there’s a day that has been
appointed, that’s the fourth thing for us to think. Christian
life is crossbearing. God repays affliction with affliction. He grants relief to the afflicted.
Now, a day has been appointed. And if you read through the scripture,
this day that appointed is a terrifying day. In fact, you’ll read in
the Gospels, you’ll read it in Revelation that says the wicked
will say mountains at the appearing of Jesus fall on us. They’ll
want to crawl into the cleft of the earth and have the mountain
crush them rather than face the terrifying sight of the mighty
God and the Lord Jesus and his angels. Now, you’ll hear from
people from time to time say this. I don’t like the Old Testament
God. He’s grouchy and mean. And you
know what I say back? Well, you’re not going to like
the New Testament one either because After all of his grace and mercy
that he has extended to the world through Jesus, and they continue
in hardness of heart, he’s just going to have enough. He’s just
going to say, it’s over. The arc of the door is shut.
No one else gets to go in. Noah preached a hundred years. Nobody came in with him. And
so I’ll save Noah, his three boys and their families. A day
has been appointed as a terrifying day. People do not want to see
it. And we get little harbingers
or glimpses of what that’s like. This morning, it got kind of
windy and nasty. Probably some trash cans knocked
over, trees down. Tornadoes, I think, have been
going up the east coast, maybe more mid-Atlantic or, I’m sorry,
the mid-south and coming on up this way. We’ve seen a lot of
natural disasters, and those things remind us. They ought
to give us little shivers, boy, when he does the whole big business.
That’s gonna be a terrifying and scary thing. What was it
Billy Graham said about America? If God doesn’t judge America,
he owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. Well, verses seven,
eight, and then 10 tell us this. When the Lord Jesus is revealed,
that’s at his second coming. When the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, when he comes
on that day to be glorified in his saints, to be marveled at
among all who believe, because our testimony was believed. The day has been appointed. The
saints will look at the sight of Jesus and they’ll rejoice,
they’ll glorify him. They’ll be in wonder, love, and
praise and all, but it will be a terrifying day to those who
do not believe. And so this is the age old admonition,
seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek entrance into the
ark before the doors are closed. Seek shelter in the shadow of
the Almighty before it is too late. Well, this passage also
speaks about everlasting punishment. You know, ultimate questions
always come up. What happens when a person dies? There’s mixed
reviews. All dogs go to heaven, right?
It’s kind of out there. There’s reincarnation. You know,
when I come back, I want to be my dog. or ever cross the way
we don’t eat, don’t eat beef. Cause you know, it could be your
uncle. All that kind of stuff. There’s
annihilation. When we, once we die there, you know, no more,
there’s the soul sleep. Our souls are just, you know,
all this stuff. Well, verse 10 tells us very clearly. We saw
this in Isaiah 66. We saw it in the chapter of our
confession of faith. There’s going to be everlasting punishment. God will, verse 10 says, inflict
vengeance on those who do not know God. God will inflict judgment
on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Just
think of the Thessalonian context. Paul went and preached the good
news. Some believed and some raised Cain. Some believe and
their lives are changed and he’s writing letters to them saying,
I’m so thankful the gospel got into you. And I’m so sorry the
unbelievers are trashing the name of Jesus and terrifying
you. the church, they will suffer, verse 10 says, the punishment
of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and
from his glorious might. When we die, whether righteous
or unrighteous, we all go to the grave. From dust we were
made, dust we will return. And for unbelievers, their soul
goes right to hell. And at the resurrection, they’re
raised up and judged and their body and soul cast out forever
into everlasting darkness. It is too late. The door has
been closed. Think of the rich man and Lazarus
in Luke’s gospel. There was the rich man who wore
purple, royal colors. And it says in Luke, he ate sumptuously. That sounds good, doesn’t it?
Lunchtime. Preacher would ever end, we could go eat sumptuously.
And the rich man had his good things at his table and just
outside his door was Lazarus, a man covered in sores and he
wished for a morsel. He wished for a morsel and the
dogs would come and lick his wounds. And one day Lazarus dies
and the scripture tells us that he went right to Abraham’s bosom. I’m sorry, Lazarus went. The
rich man was still eating his sumptuous food, probably getting
fat. But then it says, in Hades, being in torment, the rich man
lifted up his eyes, saw Abraham far off, and we assume Lazarus
there at his bosom at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham,
have mercy on me. Father Abraham, have mercy on
me, send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool
my tongue, how desperate. This man had chalices full of
drink, probably dumped half of them out before the, went in
the dishwasher. Able to waste, I am in anguish,
send him to dip his finger in water, cool my tongue, I’m in
anguish in this flame. Abraham said, child, Remember
that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus
in like manner, bad things, but now he is comforted here. Sounds
like Paul, doesn’t it? He is comforted here and you
are in anguish. Besides this, between us and
you, a great chasm has been fixed. in order that those who would
pass from here to you may not be able and none may cross over
to us. The decision is firm and is fixed
at his final judgment. Then he said to Abraham, I beg
you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my house for I have five brothers
that he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment.
Abraham said, they have Moses, They have the prophets, let them
hear them. And he said, no, father Abraham, if someone goes to them
from the dead, they will repent. He said to them, if they do not
hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced
if someone should rise from the dead. Brothers and sisters, someone
has risen from the dead and that is Jesus Christ. And he alone
is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father
except through him. And the gospel that is promised
to us is this, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory.
But if we look to Jesus, the righteous one, and seek his faith
and his face and the gift of repentance, we will be in Abraham’s
bosom and not in the torments of outer darkness forever. May
it be so that God grants us the grace to believe. Let’s do pray. Lord, help us to tremble at your threatenings
of judgment, to embrace your promises of salvation through
Jesus, and then to live a life of obedience, glorifying and
enjoying you forever. May this be our Christian walk,
we pray in the mighty name of our Savior, amen.