Well may God instruct us and
bless us from his holy word. And now let us once again turn
to the second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians and this
evening we'll read verses 8, 9 and 10. The second epistle
of Paul to the Thessalonians and reading verses 8, 9 and 10. In flaming fire taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that 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. Last week, you will remember,
we concluded with the seventh verse, which really joins to
these three verses we've read here this evening. And I'll just
read that seventh verse. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels. So Paul here is describing very
clearly that certain time and that certain occurrence when
the Almighty God, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come and will return
on this earth. We know that's going to happen
because we read when he went up from the earth in the first
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the angels told the disciples,
the Lord would return in like manner. So we know he will come,
and here it is spelt out for us. And to you who are troubled,
and he's referring there to those true believers who walk through
this world with much opposition and much tribulation, as the
previous verses describe, and tells us, and to you who are
troubled, rest with us. when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. So it's very clear
the day will come, whether we will be on the earth, when that
occurs, no one knows. But it is certain that it will
come, and as we must realize, the times that we live in point
to this occasion coming nearer, and indeed not far off. And so
the Apostle writes here to the Thessalonians, conscious, of
course, that this could occur any time. And he gives us this
picture in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not
God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
we can perhaps appreciate this will be a most terrible and awful
occasion for those who do not know the Lord, for those who
are aliens, those who are strangers to the Gospel, those who do not
believe the truth of Almighty God. And so we can be sure the
Lord tells us here, He will return with the angels in flaming fire. And we know when the end of time
comes that will occur. Flaming fire. and it will burn
up everything. And so the Lord will take and
come with his flaming fire, taking vengeance. You see, all those
who are not under the blood, all those who are not redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ, will indeed suffer this terrible
situation. And we should realize, it's not
just for a few moments, you and I can think, can't we? In the
age in which we live, we see a fire and we see it go out or
it's put out and doesn't usually cause too much damage. But here
we have something which will never go out, the fire of Almighty
God. In flaming fire, those who are
found in that fire will not be able to escape. It's a terrible
thought, isn't it? It's not just for an hour or
a day or a year, if we can put it in words that we understand. It
will be for eternity. And the reason, the reason is
spelled out here very clearly. God's taking vengeance. He's
a just God. He's a just God. And He's laid
down in His Word very clearly that which is right and that
which is to be obeyed. And man disobeys God. And man turns his back upon God.
And man says, I will not have this man to reign over me. I'm
going to believe what I want to believe. I'm not going to
listen to God's Word. I'm not going to obey God's Word. And yet here is this very clear
statement, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, it's
a very solemn realisation to realise that all those who are
favoured to read the word of God and to hear the gospel, as
we all are, every one of us here tonight, and we are without excuse. We can never stand before Almighty
God and say, well, of course, no one ever told me and I never
heard about these things. We will never be able to hide
under such an excuse as that. And so here the word of God tells
us these solemn, solemn words in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that no, not God. And don't forget, as I've said,
It's a righteous vengeance. It's a fair vengeance because
we have offended God. We've disobeyed his word. We
haven't believed in his great and glorious truth. And then
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore,
he says, who shall be punished. Shall be punished. You know,
naturally, if you and I do wrong things, if people steal and well,
there has to be punished, isn't it? Our courts are there to punish
people who do such things, or murder, or whatever evil it is. They appear before a court of
justice and they're punished. Well, that punishment is only
for a short time. But here we have the Word of
God, which tells us it will be forever, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction. Let us not think that God's word
is not true. Let us not think, well, it's
a bit harsh. In actual fact, it exaggerates.
Well, let's be very clear. God's word never exaggerates
because, as the Lord Jesus said, thy word is truth. And therefore, what we have here
in these words that the apostle writes to the Thessalonians is
true that all those who do not obey the gospel, all those who
do not believe the truth of God shall be punished. It's not something
which is perhaps shall be punished. All those who are out of Christ
indeed shall be punished. That's why I read really This
third chapter in the Colossians, it's a wonderful commencement.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. And we're not in a vacuum because
the word says, but on things, sexual affection on things above,
not on things on the earth. So what a wonderful favor it
is if you and I are blessed with this true desire to worship the
Lord and to obey the Lord, not the gospel. That's why it's a
wonderful blessing for us to be able to display those Bibles
and to offer the Bibles for people who would like to take one, that
they might be able to read and understand the glorious truth
of God, which under the, they are so wonderful prospect and
so very different to those who have not believed and those who
have not obeyed. What a wonderful thing is if
we're able to discern in our life the wonderful gift from
God to believe his truth and to seek unto him in a time when
he may be found for mercy and forgiveness, that we may flee
from the wrath to come. Roth to come spelt out here,
isn't it? My friends, for grace, for all
of us to flee from it. These things
are written for our instruction. They're written for our good. When he shall come to be glorified,
the Lord will be glorified by his saints. The purpose of the
redeeming of the Lord is to glorify His name, and that's forever
and ever. And to the true believer, those
saved by grace, that is their real desire, to glorify that
great and glorious Saviour who came into this sinful world and
died upon that cross, endured all the agony in order to redeem
their souls. Oh, it's a wonderful, amazing
blessing. We have to look at ourselves
and stand amazed that this God should have looked upon us and
had mercy upon us and called us out of the darkness of nature
into the glorious light of the gospel when he shall come to
be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that
believe. Well, my friends tonight, what
a mercy if you and I amongst those who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and admire the great and glorious plan of salvation,
admire the work of the Savior, admire the sovereign grace of
our God, Well, that's what true believers will. And to be admirers,
believe He came to seek and to save that which was lost and
to believe that He came to save my soul, our soul. Oh, bless
God if that's been made over to us. And if we don't know,
we need to pray earnestly. The Lord will confirm His word
to our souls so that we may be confident that we do have a good
hope through grace that it is well with our soul 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