Well may it please Almighty God
to bless us this evening as we gather together to meditate in
his word. Let's turn to the second epistle
of Paul to the Thessalonians and the first chapter and we'll
read verses 5, 6 and 7. So that's the second epistle
of Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter one, reading verses five,
six, and seven. Which is a manifest token of
the righteous judgment of God that ye may be counted worthy,
excuse me, of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. seeing it is a righteous thing
with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. And
to you who are troubled, rest with us, and the Lord shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Well, these verses,
of course, follow on from the previous ones, and last Tuesday
we spoke about the previous verses and this is what the fourth verse
tells us. So that we ourselves glory in
you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all
your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. Well, it's quite clear from the
word of God that the people of God, the children of God, travel
through this world, and this world is not their home, they
are indeed strangers and pilgrims on it, and as such therefore
we should not really expect a comfortable existence. And yet the Lord is
very gracious and grants us very, very many favours and very many
blessings for which we should be very thankful. But then he
comes down and tells us, seeing it is a righteous thing with
God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. So
there are those also who will face and endure tribulation. But remembering the church of
God and what the Apostle Paul wrote to his son in the faith
Timothy in the in the second letter and in the second chapter
and the 12th verse we're told, or perhaps the 11th verse, it
is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with him, we shall
also live with him. If we suffer, we should also
reign with him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us. If we believe not, Yet he abideth
faithful, he cannot deny himself. So from these statements, it
really is clear, isn't it, that if we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. That means if we do endure tribulation,
if we do endure hardship, if we do endure opposition, then
you see the blessing is that we shall reign with him. And
surely that is our end, that we each desire to be found reigning
in heaven with Jesus forever. It is really a very wonderful
thought, a great and glorious prospect as we travel through
this world and constantly there are difficulties and trials within
us and without us, but to realise if we have the evidence that
we are suffering if we suffer we shall also reign with him
eternally and therefore it means really that we confess his name
we don't deny his name because he tells us if we deny him he
also will deny himself well what a blessing it is then to be found
a true believer and one who has the evidence that God is on their
side and God is helping and keeping and directing and blessing them
for which we should be very, very thankful. And really the
Apostle Peter picks up this theme also in the fourth chapter. And if he comes down towards
the end, he says this, for the time is come the judgment must
begin at the house of God. And that's a solemn statement,
isn't it? To think that judgment begins at the house of God, not
in the midst of the evil and wicked world, but it begins at
the house of God. And if it first begin at us,
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore,
let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the
keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful
creator. Really, that means trusting in
the Lord, realizing the Lord has ordained a path for every
true believer, and that ordained path will, by His grace, bring
us safe at last to glory. And yet, you see, again we have
this statement, wherefore let them that suffer according to
the will of God. God's will is revealed to us
and brings us into this pathway That pathway of suffering and
that pathway alone leads to that place where suffering is unknown. Wherefore then, let them that
suffer according to the will of God, it's God's will you see,
to ensure that this is not our rest, it's not a place of comfort
for a true believer. We're aliens and foreigners,
pilgrims, but to realise that we're travelling in that path
and on that journey which by the grace of God brings us to
our desired haven. Therefore, wherefore let them
that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping
of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator. Our God is faithful. what a mercy
it is to realise we do have a faithful God. And yet you see, also by
comparison, sometimes we may perhaps think we have a very
hard pathway, a very difficult pathway, but it's good when we're
able to weigh it up in the words of Scripture and in the second
epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and the fourth chapter the Apostle
refers to it as a light affliction a light affliction and why do
you think he refers to our difficulties as a light affliction because
he tells us the benefit and this is what he tells us in the fourth
chapter 2 Corinthians and verse 17 for our light affliction which
is but for a moment, only a short time. Our life on
this earth is only a short time. It's but as a moment. But he goes on, worketh for us
a far more and exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So we really have the comparison
here of a light affliction and an eternal weight of glory. We need to think of these things
sometimes as we journey on and have to face the oppositions
and realize what the apostles said here, which is a manifest
token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted
worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. Seeing
it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you. Well, we should be thankful therefore
if we have on this earth light affliction and if we can look
forward to the glory of Emmanuel's land and that eternal way to
glory. And so Paul says, while we look
not at the things which are seen, but at things which are not seen. But of things which are seen
are temporal, just the things of time. But of things which
are not seen are eternal, that inheritance which is incorruptible
and undefiled and which is reserved for the true living church of
God. Well, how thankful we should
be for that great and wonderful truth. And so the apostle tells
us And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Well, there's two points there,
really. The first is we read in that seventh chapter, the
Revelation, a little view of this. And as we come towards
the end and the 14th verse, well, the 13th verse, perhaps, We're
told, and one of the elders answered saying unto me, what are these
which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they? And I said
unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Well,
perhaps we're very thankful to realize this is the great blessing
for the Church of God, to have our robes washed and made white
in the blood of the Lamb. And perhaps we truly can be thankful
and rejoice in that, but we don't always take on board the previous
words, these are they which came out of great tribulation. That's what we're promised as
you and I walk through this world. not a case of ease, not a time
of comfort, but a preparation for our eternal home. And what
a blessing it is if God is graciously and gloriously preparing us for
our eternal home. And so we should truly be able
to thank our God for these things and praise him who is that great
and glorious one. And in the last little part of
this seventh verse, we read unto you who are troubled, rest with
us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with
his mighty angels. His mighty angels. That's a very
great expression, isn't it? And just to realize how mighty
God's angels are, read about angels we spoke about angels
didn't we on the Lord's Day evening but to realize the power of angels
and we read just a little bit about it in the second book of
the Kings and the 19th chapter and the 35th verse and this is
where we're told about Isaiah's prophecy against Sennacherib
And we're told, and it came to pass that night that the angel
of the Lord, the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the
camp of the Assyrians and hundred four score and 5,000 to 185,000
men. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they
were all dead corpses. So we see there
the greatness and the power really of angels. We're thankful therefore
that the Word of God is so complete and so straightforward and tells
us exactly the truth of these things and we should be very
thankful therefore that we do have the Word of God to encourage
us and to strengthen us and to bless us. So here we have then,
and to you who are troubled Rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. That's when
the Lord comes and returns, which he will do. As we know, we're
told in the Acts of the Apostles, the first chapter, the Lord will
return in the same way that he went with all his holy angels. What a day that will be. And
to realize that every one of us will be there. We'll all see
that. Some to rejoice eternally, some
to curse and rebel eternally. Well, what a blessing it will
be if on that day when it will come, it's sure it will, we should
be amongst those who are to be found forever with the Lord. Well, may God bless His word
to us. encourage us by it and realise that we are journeying
home to God in the way the fathers trod. They are happy now and
we soon. Their happiness shall