Okay, 2 Thessalonians chapter
1. Now, this 2nd epistle was written
from what we gathered just a few months after Paul's 1st epistle. And he writes it largely for
the same reason that he wrote the 1st epistle. He wrote to
encourage them to continue in the faith. And he's got some
good instruction for them in the faith. So, let's begin this
study in 2 Thessalonians and see what encouragement and instruction
God has for us. Paul begins in verse 1, Paul,
Silvanus, and Timotheus, under the church of the Thessalonians,
in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you recall
back in 1 Thessalonians, Paul gave this very similar greeting
about the church of the Thessalonians that's in Christ. Now, we often
refer to the church of God, and that would be correct. The church
is of God. It's of God's creation. of God's
election, of God's purchase, of God's redemption, of God's
calling, of God's sustaining. It's the church of God. But the
being of the church, the existence of the church, the life of the
church, the righteousness of the church, the security of the
church is this, that the church is in God the Father and in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Look back at Ephesians chapter
1. This is the hope of every believer
to be found in Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 3, notice how
many times he says in Christ, in him, by Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he has chosen us in him. before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise and the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated. According to the
purpose of him who worketh all things unto the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of His glory who first
trusted in Christ, in whom He also trusted, after that you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise." Every spiritual blessing that we have is in Christ. See how many times Paul says
that? In Him, in Christ. Our election is in Christ. We're
made children of God in Christ. The Father accepts us in Christ. Redemption is in Christ. Our
inheritance is in Christ. Faith is in Christ. Our trust
is in Christ. And the whole church is in Christ. The whole church. Whether the
church is in heaven or the church is in earth. That's what he says
in verse 10. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might
gather together in one all things in Christ. which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him. Abraham's in heaven and
he's in Christ. And you who believe, you're still
here on earth. And you're just as much in Christ
as Abraham is. The whole church, whether it's
in heaven or on earth, the whole body of Christ is in him. The church is not a building.
The church is not just a building. The church is not an organization.
The church is a body. the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the head and we're the body. Look over Colossians chapter
1. Verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father
which has made us meet fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn,
the King of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him, And he's before
all things, and by him all things consist. And he's the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, and in all things he might have the preeminence.
So every believer is in Christ. We're all one body. And that's
why Paul includes, he includes Silvanus and Timothy in his greeting.
Now, Paul's the one writing this epistle. He's the one who's under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But they're all together in this.
Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, they're all together. They have
the same message. They have the same love. They
have the same care for these folks that they're writing. They're
in this together. And you and I are in this together
too. We're in this ministry together. Paul would feel very free to
speak for Silvanus and Timothy because they're one. They're
one mind and one heart. And I'm thankful that I can do
that too. Here, I've just been out of town down there in North
Carolina. I can't tell you how many people have asked me about
the church. I can speak for you, because
we're of one mind. We're of one heart. We've got
one goal. We're in the same body. Now,
verse 2, Paul goes on in his salutation. He says, Grace unto
you, peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's
prayers, it is so many times as he opens his epistles, are
for grace and peace. Grace, mercy, and peace. If we're
going to be objects of God's grace, we have to be in Christ,
don't we? That's why the church is in Christ.
All of God's grace, every blessing He has for sinners in Christ,
if we're going to be objects of God's grace, we've got to
be found in Christ. Just like Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. How do you know that? I mean,
besides the fact you read it, so you know it. So how do you
know that? God put Noah in the ark. That's how you know. How
do you know you're an object of God's grace? God's put you
in Christ. He's revealed Christ to you.
He's revealed Christ in you. He's put you in Him. He's revealed
to you that Christ was punished for you. He's punished for your
sins. Christ suffered as a substitute
so that you have eternal life in Him. That's how you know you're
an object of God's grace. God's put you in Christ. And
you know what will follow grace every time? Peace. If your sin's gone, you've got
peace, don't you? I mean, the only reason you don't
have peace is sin. There's no reason for God to
be angry with you if you're in Christ, because Christ put your
sin away. There's no reason for God to punish you because He's
already punished Christ, your substitute for your sin. So you
have peace. And you have peace with your
brethren, too. Now, generally speaking, when a person never
has peace with other people, It's an indication of lack of
grace, because grace will always produce peace. It's the natural
product of grace is peace. Now, verse 3, Paul says, we're
bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it's me. It's
fit. Because it's your faith groweth
exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward
each other abounded. Now, Paul just thanks that their
faith grows. Now you remember back in the
first epistle, Paul gave thanks that God had given him faith.
Now he's giving thanks that that faith grows. And he gives thanks,
secondly, that their love toward each other abounds. It continues
to grow and overflow. And those two go together. Faith
and love always go together. Faith works by love. And where
there's a growth in faith, there will be a growth in love. Where
there's a growth in faith, there'll be an abundance of love. There'll be an abundance of showing
that love for one another. It's not just this gushy feeling
that you feel in your heart, but it's showing that love. The
evidence that we have of growth in faith is the growth in acts
of love. Our faith is seen by our works. Isn't that what James said? I'll
show you my faith by my works. That those are works of love,
acts of love. And Paul says we're bound to
thank God for this growth in grace. It's right. It's me that
we give God the thanks for this. Look over in Philippians chapter
one. It's right that we thank God for this. He's the one that
gave the faith. And he's the one that causes that faith, just
like every grace to grow. In Philippians one verse six.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun
a good work in you will perform it. He'll perfect it until the
day of Jesus Christ. God's the one that gives the
growth. And so we, it's right that we
give him thanks for that. We didn't do anything to deserve
it, did we? And we didn't do anything to
cause it to grow. God did all that. Grace, it'll produce peace. And grace also produces a thankful
person. It always produces a thankful
person. Now, verse 4, we're going to
see the means that God uses to make this faith in Christ grow
and to make our love for one another grow in its trial and
trouble. Verse 4, so that we ourselves
glory in you and the churches of God for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.
Now, Paul's doing the same thing in this second epistle he did
in the first. He thanks God for them. And he thanks them, too. He says, I glory in you. You
know Paul's not glorying in men. He's glorying in what God has
done for them and what God's done in them. God's made them
examples to the other churches. He's made them examples to the
other believers. And Paul enjoyed talking about
them when he was in other places. He talked about their brethren
in Thessalonica. And I do, too. I have to tell
you, when I was down there in North Carolina, I enjoyed talking
about you. Someone asked about the church
and asked how certain individuals were doing. It was a joy to talk
about you. I thank God for you. And I thank
you, too. That's what Paul's doing. He
thanks them for their labor of love. It's their labor. Now, I know God gave it. God
gave them the will to do it. God gave them the ability to
do it. But now it's their labor. And it's a blessing. I thank
God for you and I thank you. You just, you don't know how
much you mean to me. But here's another reason to
be thankful for these growth and these graces, the graces
of faith and love. We need them. How we need faith
and love to be able to endure trials and persecutions and troubles
that are coming. The only thing that will sustain
us in a time of trouble and persecution is faith. Faith in Christ. And
faith will grow stronger because of the trial. Trials are given
to strengthen our faith and also to reveal true faith. These believers
that Paul's writing to, now they're suffering some real trial. I
mean, this is genuine persecution that they're suffering. And Paul's
thankful that these trials have revealed true faith. true faith
in Christ and love for Christ. And Paul's thankful that the
Lord's enabled you to endure these trials with patience. You're
suffering with patience. And it's not just gritting your
teeth and biting your tongue so you don't say anything. It's
wise often for us to bite our tongue so we don't offend our
brethren. You know, I always think that. Lord, don't let me
Bring my brethren down. Oh, don't let me do that. Suffering
with patience is more than that. Just keep it a rain on your tongue.
Suffering with patience is suffering with a quiet, submissive attitude. With an inward strength that
we know is not our strength at all. I was going to mention this
before the service and everybody gathers together, but you get
to hear it twice. Jan told me the other day on
the phone, she said, you be sure to tell everybody how much I
love them and I appreciate your outpouring of affection and your
prayers. She said, I know they're praying
because the Lord's given me something that's not of me. It's a strength,
it's a peace that can only come from Him. That's when God sends
these trials, that's suffering with a submissive attitude. with a strength that doesn't
come from us all. It's the strength of Christ in us. So in these
times of trial, and we all are going to have them, many of you
are going to film at this very moment, and Paul is going to
give us some comfort for these times of trial. There's a two-fold
comfort he's going to give us. There's a present advantage,
a present blessing that we have because of the trial that God
sent us. And then secondly, there's also a future advantage. First,
there's a present advantage from these times of trials that we
endured. Trials reveal to God's children that he's made us part
of his kingdom. Look at verse 5, which is a manifest
token of the righteous judgment of God that ye may be counted
worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. There
is this present advantage that we have when we suffer trials,
first of all, as an evidence that we're in Christ. That Christ
has already endured the punishment for our sins. He's endured the
punishment of the sins of every believer. So when God sends these
trials to us, it's a manifest, obvious token that we're a believer. Look over in John chapter 16.
And we talked about grace and peace earlier. A believer has
peace, peace in the heart, peace in Christ. But we do have tribulation
in the world. In John 16, verse 33. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In Christ we have peace. But every believer in the world,
he shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. So the present advantage is when
God sends us these trials, it's a manifest, obvious token that
He's made us His child. Trials are not sent to us to
punish us for our sin. Christ has already been punished
for our sin. These are not punishments. Trials
are sent to strengthen our faith and to reveal true faith that
God's already given. Look over in Hebrews chapter
12. These trials are manifest covens, obvious evidence God's
made you a child of God. Hebrews 12 verse 5. And you've forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God's
dealing with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."
So when God deals with us in trial and tribulation, he's dealing
with us as sons, sons and daughters. And then look back over in John
again, John 15. Here's a comfort, a present comfort
and blessing that we have from trials. If we're hated and afflicted
by the world, do you know what that reveals? That the world
is persecuting you. For Christ's sake, it reveals
a union with Christ. Look in verse 18, John 15. If the world hates you, you know
it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, if I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you. Remember the word which I said
unto you. The servant's not greater than his Lord. If they've persecuted
me, they'll also persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they'll
keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that
sent me. This trial and persecution and
affliction that we have from the world for Christ's sake reveals
a union with Christ. Now that's a pleasant, a present,
I guess it's pleasant too, but it's a present blessing to know
that in this time of trial and trouble, I'm a child of God. He's put me in his kingdom. I
have union with Christ. That's a present blessing. But
look back in our text in verse six, Paul gives us Also the promise
of future advantage that we have from times of trial and trouble.
Verse 6, seeing it's a righteous thing with God to recompense
tribulation to them that trouble you. Notice a two-fold lesson
here. God's righteous judgment is shown
to us in a mirror. The title of the lesson is Judged
in Christ. I can't remember how I titled
it. Punished. Punished in Christ
or punished by Christ. God's righteous judgment is shown
to us in a mirror. First of all, the believer who
has faith in Christ and love for the gospel, that faith and
that love will bring the wrath of this world because it's contrary
to this world. And that believer is going to
be hated, is going to be persecuted for that faith in Christ and
that love for Christ. Well, God will absolve that believer
in due time. But the other side of that mirror
is this. The wicked, they prosper in this world. They walk in pride
and unbelief. They have said their eyes stand
out with fatness. They've got more than the heart
could desire. Yet, they hate God. They hate God's people.
And they seem to be exalted and prosper and lifted up in this
life. God's going to punish them in due time. When He exalts the
believer, He's going to lay them low. Look in Philippians chapter
1. I'll show it to you. This is God's righteous judgment.
Philippians chapter 1 and verse 28. And in nothing terrified by your
adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you is an evident token of salvation and that of God.
For unto you is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. And you'll be exalted
in due time. And in the day of judgment, God's
going to deal with each person in absolute justice, in absolute
righteousness. He's going to give each person
that stands before his throne of judgment exactly what they
deserve, exactly what they've earned. But what's the believer
earned? If I'm going to be given exactly
what I earned, I want to know what is it that I've earned.
Well, believers, they've earned everything that Christ purchased
for them. A believer has earned everything
that Christ earned for us as our representative in His perfect
life. We've earned everything that Christ purchased for us
with the blood of His sacrifice. And even though we suffer trials
and troubles in this life, There's not going to be any of that in
eternity. None. Because Christ our Savior was
already punished for us. And we're going to have everything
that He purchased. Look over 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy
2. Verse 11. It's a faithful saying. If we
be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer,
we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him, he'll also
deny us. Now a believer, look in Romans
chapter 8, a believer is trained up for glory
in the school of trial and affliction. In Romans 8 verse 17, and if
children than heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together. For I reckon," this is, Paul's
not saying, I guess. We use the term reckon. I mean,
when I say that, I mean, well, I guess. This is an exact accounting
term. Paul says, I reckon this. I've
added up the size of the ledger. I reckon. that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. A believer is trained
up for glory in this school of trial and affliction. Now that
unbeliever who persecutes and troubles God's people in this
life, God will deal with him. He'll trouble them in eternity.
And I always want to be careful about this, about my attitude
here. I don't ever want to right now
find joy in the eternal damnation of my enemies in this life. That's
the wrong attitude. Absolutely the wrong attitude. How do I know that? How'd the
Lord tell us to handle our enemies? He said, pray for them. Pray
for them. But there is comfort in knowing this. I don't want
to find joy in their eternal damnation. I'd rather God save
them. He'd be merciful to them like
He was to me. But there's some comfort knowing this. That person
is only going to trouble me as long as God allows it. Now he's
either going to change them or he's going to put them away for
eternity. But they can only trouble me for so long, as long as God
allows it. And there's comfort in this.
Trials that are brought upon us by the enemies of Christ,
that's a token of their damnation. It's an obvious token, evidence
of their damnation that there's been no work of grace in their
heart. What's the difference between me and them? God's grace. Who maketh thee to differ? The
only difference is God's grace. And the same God who's righteous
and just in your salvation will be righteous and just in their
damnation. Now those are the comforts. There's
a future comfort and there's a present comfort from these
trials that God sends us. But now let's just be real honest
with one another. Being truly comforted in a time of trial
It's easy to say and hard to do. I mean, you know, this is
not something you can conjure up. God's got to give it to you.
So Paul says to those who are still troubled by these trials,
he said, now you come and you rest in Christ with us. See that
in verse seven? And to you who are troubled,
you rest with us. You rest with us in Christ. Rest
now. And then you rest with us in
him through all of eternity, because this is going to be over
soon. To you who are troubled, rest with us. And when the Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
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." Now when Christ
returns, his mighty angels, they're going to be ministers of good
to God's people. They're going to gather us to
be with Christ and to be with him eternally. And they're going
to gather up unbelievers to be damned eternally. And they'll
be cast out from the presence of our Lord and suffer eternally
because they would not obey. They wouldn't bow. They wouldn't
believe. And God's going to give them exactly what that disobedience
deserves. And the wages of that, what that
has earned is eternal death. The wages of sin is death. Because
the wages of sin against an eternal God. must be eternal death. And that tells us something about
believing Christ. Not believing Christ is not a
right thing. It's a stubborn act, a stubborn
will of disobedience. And this flaming fire that Paul
talks about, it may be a real fire. It may be the fire that
God will use to burn up the heavens and earth when God makes a new
heaven and a new earth. I believe this is a figurative
fire that he's speaking of here. A fire of judgment that's going
to reveal true faith and false faith. That's going to reveal
true faith and wicked works. It's a fire that's going to try
every man's work to reveal the true nature of that man's work.
Now, to believers, that's going to be a refining fire. It's going
to be a fire that reveals true gold and purifies that gold,
makes it beautiful. If our work is the work of Christ
for us, is our representative. All that fire is going to do
is reveal the beauty of that work. But to unbelievers, that
will be a consuming fire. The same fire that purifies and
makes the gold beautiful is going to consume the wood, hay, and
stubble of man's works. Now that's the eternal misery
of unbelievers. I want you to look at verse 10.
Here's the eternal joy of believers. When he shall come, to be glorified
in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because
our testimony among ye was believed in that day." In that day of
His return, Christ is returning, and He's going to come again.
And He's going to be glorified by His saints. We will sing like
we've never sung before, to Him be the glory. And Christ is going
to be admired by His saints. Can you imagine See him face
to face, how we're going to admire him. I mean, you think how much
you admire him now? How much are we going to admire
him then? Oh, he'll be the fairest of 10,000. He's the lily of the
valley. We're going to know he is altogether
lovely. We're going to admire his grace
and his goodness toward us. We're going to admire both his
tenderness and his power. We're going to admire the place
He's prepared for us and we're going to admire how He's prepared
us for the place. But this says Christ is going
to be glorified in them, not just by them. He's going to be
glorified in them. When Christ returns, His glory
is going to be revealed. His grace and His power is going
to be glorified when all creation sees not only what Christ has
purchased for people, not only what He's prepared for them,
But what He's made His people, He's made them righteous. He's
made them holy. He's made them just like Him. And all of creation is going
to admire that perfect, glorious work. We're going to be trophies
of His grace so that He's glorified and admired by all creation to
say, look what He's done in my soul. Well, verse 11, Wherefore
also we pray always for you, that our God would count you
worthy of His calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His
goodness in the work of faith with power that the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in Him according
to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Our chief
prayer every day is that God save His people. Oh, how I pray
that. Those that we know and love,
those who We don't know. We're out here in the community.
Maybe hear the gospel. We pray God save His people.
And we pray that God would count you worthy. Now that means that
God would make you worthy. Count you means to make you.
Paul told Timothy, God counted him faithful, putting him in
a ministry. That means God made him faithful, putting him in
the ministry. Abraham believed God. It was
counted to him for righteousness because God made him righteous.
The Greek lexicon for this word, I didn't look this up, I'm not
that smart, but one of the writers said this. This word refers to
facts. It's not suppositions, it's not
guesses, it's facts. God's made you worthy. Knock, he'll make you worthy
someday. He's made you worthy. He's made
you accepted. Not acceptable, accepted. He saved you. He's not made you
savable. He saved you. He's made His people
righteous. God counts His people worthy
of His calling because God made His people worthy in Christ.
We don't have any worthiness of our own. If we're worthy,
God had to make us worthy, didn't He? And that's what He's done
for His people in Christ. And He does all that for this
one reason. That Christ would be glorified.
That He's going to be glorified in His people. He's going to
be admired in His people when He comes. But that's not just
in eternity. That's right now, too. That Christ
would be glorified. And that ought to be our daily
prayer. That ought to be our goal in everything we do. That
Christ would be glorified. If you want to be happy, and
everybody wants to be happy. If you want to be happy, I'll
tell you something. Pray that Christ would be glorified in
you. If He is, you'll be happy. If you want your loved ones to
be happy, your friends and neighbors, pray that Christ would be glorified
in them. That'll make us happy. That'll
do me just fine in the time of trouble and trial. That'll give
me some comfort, give me some patience. All right. Lord, God
bless that too.