I'm back to 2 Thessalonians. We just finished up 1 Thessalonians, and we saw where Paul had written
to them out of this first letter about the coming of Christ, His
return, and how He was going to bring those who had fallen
asleep in Him with Him. Those who remained would be caught
up to meet the Lord in the air. And evidently, evidently, there
were some who just thought this was just going to be immediate.
Some even quit working. The lazier sort. Those that are
lazy find a reason. They always find a reason to
quit working. But they just thought this was going to be immediate,
so Paul writes this second letter to them. And he lets them know
that there's going to be some certain things that has to happen
before he returns of falling away. And we'll see that in the
next chapter. And so he writes this letter
to them, and it's about a year, about a year or two goes by between
the two letters. And I titled this, Glorified
in Him. Christ is our glory. You know,
apart from Christ, no man or woman has any glory. We're all
fallen sons of Adam, sons and daughters of Adam, all of us.
Everyone that's born into this world is born into this world
a sinful man or a sinful woman. But when God saves a sinner,
that sinner is glorified in Christ. Christ is all his glory. He's
all my glory. Who am I? What is my house? Who
am I? I'm nobody. Apart from Christ,
I'm a nobody going nowhere. Well, I guess you could say I'm
going somewhere. I'm going to hell. Apart from Christ, really, truly. I'm
going to destruction. But we're glorified in Him. He's
our glory. Now, Paul thanks God for the
church at Thessalonica. He said the church which is in
God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the
church is. The church is in Him. Now, we may be scattered. We
have local assemblies here and in other places. But we're all
assembled in Him. And Paul thanks God for that
church. It was God who raised the church up there. Someone
said to me, are you starting the church? No. No, I'm not starting
the church. The Lord creates His church. The church is a creation of God. When God created Adam, He created
him from the dust of the ground. And he said, it's not good that
man be alone, so he created him a helpmate, and he created Eve,
his wife. And he did not create Eve from
the dust of the ground. He created Eve out of Adam. If
you could take, if you could go back, if you could take the
DNA of Eve, it would match Adam perfectly. God is taking the
church and making up the church out of Christ. And if you could
take the DNA, if you could do it, of every believer, of the
body of Christ, which is the church, it would match in perfectly. She's made up of the nature of
Christ. So God created this church here, raised up this church here
in Thessalonica. It's a work of God. And so Paul
says, I thank God for you. You're the reason, God's the
reason you exist. And then Paul, the best thing
he could pray for them was this, that God would give an increase
in them grace and peace. There is nothing that I could
pray for this congregation more than this, that God would give
us more grace and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He would
increase that. And then Paul thanked them. He
thanked God for them and for their faith and love. They didn't
come up with it. If you believe God, that's a
gift of God. If you love, that's a gift of
God. If you love God, you love God
and you love the brethren. These are gifts of His grace.
It's not something we come up with. It's not something we humanly
produce. It's a gift of God. It's produced
by the Holy Spirit. To believe God is of God. It is of God. And to love God is a response
of His love to us. That's what it is. And to love
one another, it's a response of that love of God that's shed
abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. You are a work of God. I'm looking at a work of God.
When I look and when you look at a believer, when you look
at a body of believers, you're looking at a work of God. You know, John says this concerning
love, love for the brethren, love for God. He said, you cannot
love God whom you have not seen and hate your brother whom you
have seen. He said, that's not possible. That's not even possible.
You can't do that. If the love of God is shed abroad
in my heart, in your heart, you can't help but love. You can't
help it. It's going to come out. You can't
help but be gracious when grace is in you. It's going to come
out. It's going to come out. The grace of God in us will not
allow it. He will not allow us not to love one another. You
can't help but love one another. And then Paul spoke to other
churches. When he went around and he visited these other churches,
he spoke to them of their faith and their patience, not to shame
these other churches, but to use them as an example. If you're
going to be an example, be a good one. If you're going to be an
example, be a good one. And Paul says this church here
that God raised up in Thessalonica is a good example of faith and
love. A good example. And this church suffered. It
suffered much for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, the gospel cost us our life, won't it? It'll cost you your life.
It'll cost you everything. He that saves his life shall
lose it. He that loses his life for my
sake shall find it. A gospel that does not cost us
the friendship of the world A gospel that does not cause
us persecution from false religion is not the gospel of God. It
will always bring out enmity from this world. Always. Especially false religion. And
they suffer for it. They suffer for the gospel that
they preach. It's not an easy road. Following
Christ is not an easy, it's a narrow way. It's a narrow way. A narrow path. And there's suffering. Look here
in verse 5 and 6. Let me go back to verse 4. So that we ourselves
glory in you in the churches of God for your patience, patience,
waiting upon the Lord, and your faith in all your persecutions
and tribulations that you endure, which is a manifest token of
the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy.
And one writer said this, that you may be made worthy. made
worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer. I heard this said several times.
I've heard our pastor say this several times. God had one son
without sin, but none without suffering. Every one of God's sons are going
to suffer. All His sons and daughters in
this life, in this world, We're going to suffer. We're going
to suffer tribulations for following Christ, for being connected and
joined to Him. We're going to suffer for it. God's going to try faith. He's
going to prove faith. I tell you this, I sure want
to know I got it here. I don't want to wait until I
stand there. You don't want to wait until you stand there to
find out whether or not you have, whether or not you believe. No,
He's going to prove this faith that He gives. Unproven faith is no faith at
all. But proven faith will be exalted
and glorified. It will be proven. Here's what
it will be. It will be proven. It will be proven to be of God. It will be proven to be of God,
the gift of God, the work of God. That's what it will be proven
to be. And it will give God all the glory. It will not try to
give part of it to Him and part of it to me. It all belongs to
Him. All the glory belongs to our
God. All of it. If we come through
a trial, a difficult trial, and we give Him the glory, that's
of Him. That's His Word. That's His power. That's the faith He's given. It's of Him. And Paul says here, but concerning
those which trouble you, those who are bringing upon you
persecution and trouble and heartaches, Take what you say and twist it. It is a righteous thing with
God. It is a just thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you. When God brings judgment on this
world, it's a righteous thing. It's a righteous thing. It's
a just thing. No one ever gets away. Listen. You ever seen someone
say, boy, he gets away with murder. No one ever gets away with anything. You can go to some of these labs
where they've got unsolved, what they call unsolved murders, unsolved
crimes. And they don't know who committed
them. And they think, well, somebody's
getting away with it. Nobody. Not one person gets away
with anything. I thought last night as I was
going back over this, not one person, I'm talking about unbelievers,
will get away with even an idle thought. That's how searching
justice is. That's how strict and searching
the justice of God is. Not even an idle thought will
slip by. He said every idle thought will
be brought into judgment. It won't even get by. No one
gets away with anything. I might not catch him. But you
know what? That really doesn't matter. It
really doesn't matter. God's the last judge. He's the
last one that everyone will stand before. This old world. Every
thought will be brought into judgment. And justice will be
served in His time. Oh, the way... He's talking here
about patience. Paul said he thanked God for
their patience and faith in persecution. They knew that justice would
be served in His time. It will happen in His time. I
don't have to get even. It doesn't matter to me. God
will serve justice. Look over in Deuteronomy. I've
got this marked. I'm reading this this morning. In Deuteronomy chapter 32. Let me read a few verses here. Deuteronomy
chapter 32. See now, in verse 39, see now
that I, even I, am He, and there is no God with me. I kill. Boy, it's different from
the preaching that goes on today that you hear on television,
radio, pulpits, most of them, not all of them, most of them.
God says, I kill. No one ever dies, no one ever
is taken out of this world, but God didn't take him out. A few years ago, there was a lady
whose son was killed. She said to me, her pastor said
to her, the devil did this. This is the work of the devil.
The devil killed him. God uses means, but God's the
cause. He said, I kill. I'm the one who, He gives life,
He's the one who takes it. I kill and I make alive. If anyone's
alive, God made them alive. If anyone's spiritually alive,
it is God who made them alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. I lift up my hand to heaven and
say, I live forever. If I wet my glittering sword,
and mine hand take hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to mine
enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine
arrow drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, and
that with the blood of the slain, and of the captives, from the
beginning of revenge upon the enemy. But now, you who believe,
rejoice. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his
people. For he will avenge the blood of his servants, and he
will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful
unto his land and to his people. He says, Concerning them which
trouble you, I'll take care of them. I'll take care of them. Paul says this to that church.
God will take care of them. He'll recompense judgment to
them. Now, as far as you're concerned,
you rest with us. Rest with us. Don't be over-anxious about this.
Rest with us. Rest with us in His promises.
You know, we have a whole book of promises here. It's not like
we've got one or two promises. I tell you what, if we only had
one or two and it's from God, that's enough, wouldn't it? But He's
given us a whole book of promises. Take hold of the promises of
God. Rest with us in His promises. and rest with us in His person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Six times he mentioned the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let's rest with us in Him. Let's
rest in who He is. He's God. This is not an ordinary
man that we are preaching. This is not an ordinary man that
we are following. This is the God-man. This is
God manifested in the flesh. You want to know who God is?
Find out who Christ is. Study Christ and you'll know
who God is. Rest with us in Him. He's the
Redeemer. He's the Judge. Nothing like
having a judge on your side, is there? If God be for us, who
can be against us? If the Judge of all the earth
be for us, who can be against us? Rest. Rest. In the midst of tribulation,
troubles, rest with us. rest in his power. He rules and
reigns over all things. This is not out of control. The
war in Iraq is not out of control. It's under his control. You believe
that? I believe that. It'll end whenever
he's accomplished his purpose. Whatever that purpose is, when
it's finished, it'll stop. He maketh wars to cease until
the ends of the earth. He's the only one who stops them
now. He's the only one who makes them cease. If he didn't make
wars to cease, they'd never stop. The first war would still be
being fought. Still be going on. And then rest
with us by just waiting. Waiting. Waiting on God. He'll
recompense. He'll deliver. Let's wait on
Him. Wait on Him. And listen, he says
here, wait on him, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with his mighty angels. Well, the first time he came,
it was quiet, wasn't it? Really, it was quiet. Only a few people knew about
it. But this time when he comes,
he's coming with the angels of his majesty. However, that throng
of angels, however many that is, He's coming with them. He's
coming with them and He's going to gather His elect from the
four corners of the earth and He's going to punish the wicked
at the same time. He's not coming alone. No, He's
coming with the angels of His majesty. He'll not be sweet little
Jesus. No, that's not who they're going
to deal with. They are going to deal with the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord. The Ruler. It's going to be a rude awakening.
It's going to be a rude awakening. When they see the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords with His host of angels, and He's going to
come and He's going to judge the quick and the dead. And He's
going to deal with men and women just as they are. And He's going
to destroy everything that offends. He's going to just finally do
away with it. everything that offends, everything that's offensive
to God. He's going to do away with it. He's going to destroy it. The
coming of Christ is going to be a great and glorious day for
every believer. Oh, what a day. We sing a song.
What a day that will be. And my Jesus, I shall sing. When
He comes and we look upon His face and we admire Him, it says
He comes to be admired. We are going to admire Him. But
there are going to be some that's not. What is going to be a day
of glory and honor for every believer is going to also be
a day of horror and destruction for everyone that did not believe
God. Everyone. Vengeance is going to fall on
all who obey not the gospel of Christ. It's going to be an awesome day.
It's going to be a day. And it's going to be a real day.
And it's going to happen. And they're going to be punished,
he says, here in verse 9, who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power. Hmm. He's going to make a final
end of all sin and wickedness. That's good for the believer,
isn't it? Won't that be a good day when
everything that offends God, when all sin and all wickedness
is gone? Won't that be a good day for
every believer? He's going to do it. He's going
to make a final end of all sin and wickedness by destroying
all who promote it. They are going to be destroyed,
it says, from His presence. One person said this I heard
some time ago. I don't remember where I heard
it, but hell is the absence of God's presence. I heard someone
say one time, call this a God-forsaken world. This is not a God-forsaken
world. The sun wouldn't shine. If God
forsook this world, the sun wouldn't shine, the rain wouldn't come
down, there would not be a good day. But there will come a time
when all those who oppose Him, who do not believe Him, will
be forsaken by Him. Right now it rains on the just
and the unjust. The sun shines on the just and
the unjust. They enjoy the day just like you and I enjoy the
day. But one day that day will be over. And they'll be destroyed
from the presence of the Lord. And that's forever. The glory that believers will
enjoy with Christ will have no end. Can't imagine that, can
we? Because we keep looking to die. You know, we don't know when,
but we keep looking to die. But one day that will be over
with. One day that event will be over with and we'll never
think of it again. And never be thought of again. And we will
be forever with the Lord and we will enjoy His presence forever. But the wicked also, their punishment
will have no end. It will have no end. It will
go on. And one thing we must realize, if God punishes a man,
if He punishes a man, He's punishing a man for what he deserves. And
if He punishes a man, that man's wicked. That man's wicked. You can mark it down. That man's
wicked. And when will all this happen?
In verse 10, when He shall come, this is when all this is going
to take place. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints
and be admired in all them that believe, when he shall come to
be admired and glorified in his saints, at this time all the
wicked will be destroyed. They'll be put out of the way.
But not only will he be glorified and admired, but the believer
but we'll be glorified in Him. Everything He receives, we receive. He's given us His glory. So everything that happens to
Him will happen to us. Is He exalted? We'll be exalted
in Him. Is He glorified? We'll be glorified
in Him. If you glorify You're not going
to just glorify my head. If you glorify me, it's not going
to just be my head. It's going to be my whole, it's going to
be all of them. My body, all of us are going to be glorified.
And so when Christ is glorified, when He comes to be glorified
in His saints, they too are going to be glorified in Him. They're
going to be shown to be who they are. Right now they're looked
upon as foolish by this world, but one day, oh
one day, it's not going to be that way. They're going to be
glorified in Him. And why? He says here, because
they believe the gospel of God's glory. God granted them faith. They brought the faith in Christ.
And they're going to be glorified with Him. Therefore, Paul says,
wherefore we pray. He said, wherefore also we pray
always for you, that our God would count you worthy. He'd
count you worthy and He'd make you worthy of this calling This
calling to His glory, it'd make you worthy. And He'd keep you. You know, we start by the power
of God, and we end by the power of God. At no time do we ever
walk in the power of the flesh, this race. It's in the power
of God, from beginning to end. We start in Christ and we end
in Christ. And Paul prays that our God would
count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure
of His goodness. The purpose that God purposed
in Christ before the world was concerning you, that He would
fulfill it. And the work of faith with power. And he says here in verse 12,
that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you
and you in him. He's the reason for everything,
isn't he? The Lord Jesus Christ is the reason for everything.
He's the one who's to receive all the glory. He's the reason
for it. And this is according to the
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. according to His eternal grace
which was given us in Him before the world was. And we can only experience, we can only truly experience
grace as we experience the Lord Jesus Christ as we are in Him. That's the only way we can really
truly experience the grace of God is to experience Him. Because
all grace, all glory, is on him.