Introduction:
2 Timothy 3:1-5 - But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
Great News About Suffering! (2 Thessalonians 1:1-12)
- Suffering is Proof God is at work. (2 Thes 1:1-5)
- Things will not Always be as they are Now . (2 Thes 1:6-10)
1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…
- It doesn't stop our Mission . (2 Thes 1:11-12)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:41-00:44
Second Thessalonians. Open your Bibles there, please.
00:47-01:35
When I was in college, I made this friend. His name was Nate. And I remember one day Nate was like, "Hey, you want to go play tennis?" And when I was in my 20s, I was pretty good at tennis. And the older I get, the better I was. But I was pretty good at tennis. So I'm really looking forward to playing Nate. He goes, I'm like yeah I'd love to play tennis. He goes, all right I'll pick, he goes I'll pick you up at four. So there I am in my apartment waiting for him to pick me up. I've got my tennis racket, all ready to play some tennis, got my tennis shoes on and I am ready to go and four o'clock he's gonna be here and 430 he's just running a a little bit late, five o'clock.
01:37-01:42
He's running a lot late and 5.30, he's probably not coming.
01:44-01:49
And the next day I saw him at school, I saw him on campus and I said, I thought we were supposed to play tennis yesterday.
01:50-01:51
He goes, oh yeah, you know what?
01:51-01:54
I ran into Shane and Jason and they wanna see the movie.
01:54-01:56
So we went up to the cheap theaters and saw a movie.
01:57-02:02
And then I used that tennis racket in a way it was not intended.
02:02-02:04
And that's how I got thrown out of Bible college.
02:04-02:06
But that last part's not true.
02:08-02:09
But have you ever been stood up?
02:09-02:11
Maybe you don't want to raise your hand.
02:13-02:15
Especially not this close to Valentine's Day, but have you ever been stood up?
02:18-02:21
That's like a sick feeling, isn't it?
02:21-02:21
Like, oh.
02:25-02:30
And you know, I think a lot of the church feels like Jesus stood us up.
02:32-02:45
We just spent all that time in the Gospel of John, and we saw all this, "I'm coming back, I'm coming back, I'm coming back, I'm coming back." And I think a lot of people in the church have sort of thrown their arms up, like me standing there with my tennis racket.
02:46-02:47
I thought He was coming.
02:51-02:53
We're going to be spending the next five weeks talking about that.
02:54-02:56
And I feel like I need to start with this.
02:56-02:58
Jesus Christ said He's coming back.
02:59-03:03
Therefore, He is coming back.
03:04-03:04
All right?
03:07-03:17
So we don't know when, but He said that there are going to be signs when the time is near.
03:18-03:21
And these signs are literally, literally everywhere.
03:23-03:24
You're like, "What signs?
03:24-03:29
Oh, I could spend a whole lot of time on this." I'm just going to give you three categories of signs, all right?
03:29-03:32
Like what signs are there that Jesus is coming soon?
03:33-03:35
I'm going to give you three categories, jot these down.
03:35-03:36
The first, Israel.
03:36-03:37
Just write Israel.
03:38-03:38
Keep your eye on Israel.
03:38-03:43
Israel was reborn as a nation, so to speak, in 1948.
03:43-03:50
All the plans to rebuild the temple, all of the constant hostility towards the Jewish nation, all the constant fighting.
03:51-03:52
Just keep your eye on what's happening in Israel.
03:54-03:56
So many signs associated with Israel.
03:56-03:58
God's not done with Israel.
04:00-04:08
Second category of signs that say Jesus is coming soon are the very things that Laura was talking about on the video.
04:09-04:10
Matthew 24.
04:11-04:12
Have you noticed?
04:12-04:19
Wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes.
04:19-04:22
Jesus talked about lawlessness.
04:23-04:23
Have you noticed?
04:25-04:27
Persecution of God's people.
04:29-04:30
Global events.
04:30-04:32
So there's Israel, that's the first category.
04:32-04:37
Second category, I'm just calling that global events, Matthew 24 stuff.
04:37-04:44
The third category, very explicit and very obvious, I just called it people corruption.
04:46-04:58
The closer we get to Jesus' return, the more difficult the world becomes and the more godless the world becomes. Like where did you get this? Just very, very quickly. 2 Timothy 3.
05:01-05:16
It's going to be on the screen for you. It says, look at this, "But understand this, that in the last days," ding, ding, ding, "there will come times of difficulty." Why?
05:16-05:37
Why is it going to be so hard? Look at this, "For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control.
05:38-05:40
I should do a sermon series on that sometime.
05:41-05:44
Brutal, not loving good, excuse me.
05:45-05:48
Treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit.
05:49-06:21
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people." Then you go over to chapter 4, same book, it talks about people being devoted to deceitful spirits. Does it seem to you, ladies and gentlemen, that the world is devoted to deception right now? Like there's an obvious lie being propagated and And the world's just like, "No, I believe that." And all of the people corruption.
06:21-06:22
Are you seeing these signs?
06:22-06:23
Are you seeing them?
06:24-06:25
Do I have to sell you on this?
06:26-06:27
Do you have a TV?
06:29-06:30
Do you even have internet?
06:30-06:34
These things are so obvious when your eyes are open.
06:37-06:39
Jesus is coming any second.
06:41-06:46
And you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, how do we live now, knowing that Jesus is coming any second.
06:46-06:47
How do we do that?
06:49-06:52
Second Thessalonians tells us exactly how to do that.
06:55-06:59
This was a church that was established in about 49 AD-ish.
06:59-07:03
Paul was on his second missionary journey with Silas.
07:04-07:07
You can read all about it, Acts 17, not now, maybe later.
07:07-07:17
He wrote this letter to the Thessalonians shortly after he wrote the first letter.
07:17-07:19
And do you know what that book is called?
07:21-07:24
Okay, just so you're still with me, 1 Thessalonians, right on.
07:26-07:32
And apparently it was reported to Paul that persecution was ramping up.
07:33-07:50
And the church, though enduring, was confused/misled about the details of the return of Jesus Christ. That's why we have 2 Thessalonians.
07:51-07:59
So first up, in the book, we go where the text goes, but the first thing that Paul addresses is their suffering.
08:01-08:05
So this is a sermon about suffering.
08:06-08:08
And you're like, "Yay!
08:10-08:21
I was wanting something that would make me feel good." No, this is a sermon about suffering, and right now I know there are people that are thinking, "Uh, yeah, can we get that guy we had last week?
08:24-08:29
Because I felt a lot better after that message." Debbie Downer.
08:30-08:32
Now hang on, I would say, hold on a second.
08:33-08:38
This sermon is about suffering, but this is all good news.
08:39-08:45
That's why on your outline, I got some great news about suffering for you today.
08:46-08:54
It's usually when we hear suffering, we're like, ah, but after this message, you're gonna hear suffering and you're gonna be like, yeah, right?
08:56-08:58
You're not all convinced.
08:59-09:00
Stay with me here.
09:01-09:06
You're gonna see God's word make some changes in your heart today.
09:07-09:10
Number one, write this down, suffering, like what's great about suffering?
09:10-09:11
What's great about suffering?
09:11-09:13
Number one, suffering is proof that God is at work.
09:15-09:16
Look at the first three verses.
09:17-09:26
It says, "Paul, Silvanus," that's Silas, "and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians "and God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
09:26-09:47
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." He says, "We are always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." Stop there.
09:48-09:50
Verse 3 gives us two marks of a healthy church.
09:52-09:53
Their faith and love are growing.
09:54-09:57
That's how you know the church is healthy.
09:58-10:04
Now look, none of us in this room or watching this stream, none of us have perfect faith.
10:05-10:06
None of us do.
10:08-10:10
And honestly, none of us have perfect love.
10:13-10:19
But as we grow in our walk with Jesus Christ, we should see these things growing in our life.
10:19-10:25
You should be able to say, "Yeah, you know what, my faith isn't perfect, Jeff, "You know, my faith is stronger than it was a month ago.
10:25-10:35
"And yeah, I don't love people as perfectly as I should, "but I really see that Jesus is changing me "and I am growing in the way that I love people." That's what we're looking for is growth.
10:35-10:37
That's what Paul was commending them for.
10:37-10:40
He was also commending them, excuse me, for their endurance.
10:40-10:41
Look at verses four and five.
10:43-11:12
He says, "Therefore, we ourselves boast about you "in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith." In all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring, 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." Stop there.
11:14-11:15
He commends their endurance.
11:15-11:17
What were they enduring?
11:18-11:19
I mean, were they being arrested?
11:20-11:21
Were they losing their jobs?
11:21-11:23
Were they getting their stuff confiscated?
11:23-11:25
Were they being beaten? Were they being fined?
11:25-11:27
Your Bible says the same thing that mine does.
11:28-11:29
We don't know. No specifics are given.
11:32-11:35
But here's the point. It doesn't matter.
11:37-11:42
Because when it comes to suffering, we all get our share, don't we?
11:43-11:44
We all get our share.
11:45-11:47
I mean, yours is going to look different than mine.
11:48-11:53
But we all get our portion.
11:55-12:01
But we get this false notion that suffering means that God is absent.
12:02-12:15
That we're going through this suffering, whatever that looks like for you, this prolonged period of suffering, and we start to think, "You know, maybe God doesn't care about me the way that I thought that He did." Maybe we lost our job.
12:15-12:22
maybe we have a sick child, maybe we have an unruly child.
12:25-12:31
Maybe there's a health issue that you're forced to deal with, that you never imagined you'd have to deal with.
12:33-12:37
And you start to get to the place where you're like, "You know, I thought better.
12:38-12:42
I thought God cared about me." Have you ever been there?
12:44-12:45
I have.
12:48-13:02
We get to the point that we're like, "God, you're not doing anything." And here, right out of the gate, Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reminds us that it's quite the opposite.
13:04-13:06
Suffering doesn't mean the absence of God.
13:08-13:10
Suffering is the evidence of God at work.
13:12-13:21
You're like, "How can that be?" Because only God can give you the perseverance to get through the suffering.
13:21-13:23
That's why you haven't folded or collapsed.
13:27-13:31
And when it comes to affliction, look, let's just be honest, anybody can be committed to Jesus when it's easy, right?
13:32-13:36
There's no personal sacrifice, there's no persecution, there's no struggle.
13:37-13:51
"Who wants to go to church? Okay." But mark this down, because we are seeing this very flagrantly, especially to our friends and neighbors up north in Canada, eh?
13:52-14:05
When it costs you something to follow Jesus, and you are willing to gladly pay that cost, it proves how much you value Jesus.
14:06-14:07
It's one of the great things about suffering.
14:08-14:08
It shows you what you're made of.
14:10-14:11
That's God-powered perseverance.
14:13-14:15
And only when suffering comes will you find out if you have.
14:18-14:30
If I said to you, "Are you committed to Jesus Christ unto death?" I imagine everybody in here is like, "Yep." And my response is, "We'll see. We'll see." All right, number two.
14:31-14:32
That's good news about suffering, right?
14:32-14:33
It's proof that God's at work.
14:34-14:39
Number two, there's a message I can preach every week.
14:39-14:39
It's this one.
14:41-14:43
And I'm so glad I get to do it this week.
14:44-14:46
Write this down, number two, great news about suffering.
14:46-14:48
Things will not always be as they are now.
14:52-14:59
If you're suffering for any reason, I got some good news for you.
15:01-15:03
Things will not always be as they are now.
15:06-15:20
That's why my favorite verse in the Bible, Revelation 21.5 says, "And he who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'" We just sang that, right?
15:23-15:24
And I'll be honest with you.
15:26-15:37
There are days I'm dropping my son off at the Watson Institute, and I see some of these parents wheeling their children into school.
15:38-15:55
I just want to go up and grab them, like by the face, and say, "It's not always going to be this way, because Jesus promised He's making all things new." And I don't do that because I'd probably get arrested if I grabbed people by the face.
15:57-15:59
But I hope you understand the sentiment here.
16:03-16:13
Because when we go through prolonged periods of suffering, we start to resolve ourselves to this lie, "Nothing's ever going to change.
16:14-16:16
It's always going to be like this." Have you ever felt that?
16:17-16:18
Because I have.
16:18-16:19
"Nothing's going to change.
16:20-16:21
It's going to be like this.
16:21-16:23
We just got to resolve ourselves.
16:23-16:32
I hate this and it stinks and God's obviously not going to do anything about it right now and I guess this is just how it's going to be.
16:35-16:36
Here we have a reminder.
16:38-16:41
This is the thing that Paul just like comes right out of the gate.
16:42-16:44
First thing he wants the church to know.
16:46-16:48
Things will not always be as they are now.
16:49-16:51
Let's look at what he says about that.
16:51-16:52
Look at verse six.
16:53-17:14
It says, "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." Stop there.
17:15-17:18
That last thing, that's the key phrase to this whole passage, this whole sermon.
17:18-17:29
And really the whole book here, this is the key phrase, "When the Lord Jesus is revealed." That is the game-changing phrase in the passage.
17:31-17:35
The word revealed is where we get the word apocalypse.
17:36-17:37
That's where we get that word.
17:38-17:41
And you're like, "Well, okay, Pastor Jeff, what's he talking about here?
17:41-17:44
When he's like, 'When the Lord Jesus is revealed,' is he talking about the rapture?
17:44-17:47
Is he talking about Revelation 19, the battle of Armageddon?
17:48-17:51
What exactly is he talking about?
17:52-17:56
In general, he's talking about all of the above.
17:59-18:03
He's speaking of the rapture, the tribulation, Armageddon.
18:03-18:05
He's speaking of those things as one event.
18:05-18:06
We do that all the time.
18:07-18:11
Like when we talk about the second coming of Jesus, like what do we mean exactly?
18:12-18:14
We're talking about all that stuff, right?
18:15-18:17
Like, look at the book of Revelation.
18:19-18:21
There's a lot of stuff that is going to happen.
18:24-18:30
But the bottom line here, Paul wants to point out two things that Jesus is going to do when He returns.
18:31-18:34
You see very clearly in the text, verse 6, He's going to repay.
18:36-18:42
That's why the title of this message is "Payback is Coming." First thing He's going to do is repay, verse 6.
18:42-18:43
That's the second thing He's going to do.
18:43-18:55
Verse 7 is "relieve His people." And that's why I'm so happy to tell you that things will not always be as they are now.
18:57-19:07
However, if you're sitting here today, you're watching this and you don't know Jesus Christ, and you're hearing me say, things will not always be as they are now.
19:08-19:10
If you don't know Jesus, please hear me.
19:12-19:13
Don't get too excited about that.
19:15-19:21
Because things are going to get a lot worse for you, if you don't know Jesus Christ.
19:23-19:24
Look at verse 8.
19:27-19:39
It says, "Yet Jesus revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Our Lord Jesus.
19:43-19:46
He's coming to inflict vengeance.
19:50-20:03
If you're carrying this idea that Jesus is some effeminate Mr. Rogers, just give everybody a hug kind of guy, I'd suggest you underline verse 8 in your Bible.
20:04-20:08
Because it says He's coming back inflict vengeance.
20:10-20:10
Man, on who?
20:11-20:12
Well, he tells us who.
20:13-20:14
In verse 8 he gives us two groups.
20:14-20:17
First of all, those who refuse to know God.
20:19-20:22
You know, Romans 1 tells us that no one has an excuse.
20:22-20:26
There's not going to be anybody that stands before God like, "I didn't know you were up there.
20:26-20:34
I didn't know you existed." Romans 1 says nobody has an excuse because God has revealed himself to the world through creation.
20:35-20:38
And He calls us to respond to that revelation.
20:39-20:41
And some people just flat out refuse.
20:41-20:42
I don't want to know God.
20:42-20:44
I know there's an obvious Creator.
20:44-20:45
I don't care to know Him.
20:48-21:04
And it's at this point when we talk about God inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, somebody immediately says, "Pastor Jeff, what about that guy sitting in Africa that ain't never seen a Bible?" I'm like, "Okay, first of all, 'ain't never seen' that's like terrible English.
21:05-21:14
"Please restructure your protest." But you know, what about that guy sitting in Africa that he doesn't know, he never been to church?
21:16-21:18
What about that guy, Pastor Jeff?
21:18-21:20
I'll tell you about that guy.
21:21-21:23
Romans 1 says he's without excuse.
21:25-21:27
Let me tell you something else about that guy.
21:27-21:28
God will deal with him in perfect justice.
21:31-21:32
Do you believe that God's just?
21:34-21:35
and God will deal with him in perfect justice.
21:37-21:39
But what about you?
21:40-21:46
Let me ask you a question, you who wants to talk about that random guy sitting in Africa that ain't never seen a Bible.
21:47-21:49
How much have you thought about that guy in the past week?
21:52-21:57
Has he consumed your thoughts, talking to your friends about this random hypothetical guy?
21:59-22:08
It's just so interesting to me that when people are confronted with the gospel, Now all of a sudden, I'm gonna talk about some hypothetical guy sitting in Africa.
22:10-22:17
And my response is, look, God will deal with him in perfect justice, but I know you, for sure, have no excuse.
22:20-22:28
The second group of people, he talks about that we're going to experience this vengeance that Jesus will inflict.
22:30-22:31
People that don't obey the gospel.
22:33-22:39
They know about Jesus, and they have chosen to reject everything they know about Jesus.
22:43-22:46
They hear the command from the gospel, "You need to turn from your sin.
22:46-22:54
You need to receive Jesus Christ." "No, I will not do that." Well, then you have to face the alternative.
22:57-23:01
That's who's going to experience this vengeance.
23:01-23:03
You're like, "Well, what is the vengeance?
23:03-23:11
Like, what is this vengeance that Jesus is going to inflict?" And that's verse 9.
23:12-23:17
And I'm going to tell you, this is one of the most sobering verses in the entire Bible.
23:19-23:21
Look at verse 9 with me.
23:24-23:25
What is the vengeance?
23:25-23:43
He says, "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might." He's talking about eternal hell.
23:46-23:53
And He shares the two most horrifying features of hell.
23:54-24:02
The Bible says so much about hell, but right here, he shares the two worst aspects of hell.
24:03-24:05
Number one, eternal destruction.
24:09-24:14
That word "eternal" is used about 75 times in the New Testament.
24:14-24:15
Do you know what the word means?
24:17-24:18
It means eternal.
24:20-24:30
And there are people that today want to explain away hell, rewrite doctrine, let's explain around it.
24:32-24:34
I don't know how to explain around this.
24:35-24:41
The Bible very clearly says this is a forever destination.
24:44-24:44
Eternal.
24:47-24:51
There is no eventual annihilation like some people teach.
24:52-24:54
The word eternal means eternal.
24:56-24:57
There's no reprieve.
24:59-25:00
There's no relief.
25:01-25:02
There's no probationary period.
25:03-25:04
There's no second chance.
25:06-25:08
He describes it as eternal.
25:09-25:10
Like eternal what?
25:11-25:12
Eternal destruction.
25:13-25:14
Like, well, what does that mean?
25:16-25:25
Well, really the best synonym I can give you for the word "destruction" is the word "ruin." Eternal ruin.
25:25-25:26
It's eternal tragedy.
25:26-25:28
It's eternal loss.
25:32-25:47
You know, we hear eternal, you know, really don't think of it as like it's hours and days and months and years and I'm watching the time tick, tick away.
25:48-25:49
Like, it's not that.
25:51-26:02
You need to think of it as one moment of the worst grief imaginable, and that moment itself never ends.
26:05-26:07
In other words, just think of your life.
26:09-26:13
Can you think to like the worst moment of your life?
26:14-26:20
Maybe it was a moment of incredible pain or tragedy or loss or regret.
26:20-26:22
Can you think of a time like that in your life?
26:25-26:30
That you were just completely undone, completely devastated, completely ruined.
26:32-26:33
Can you think of that time in your life?
26:37-26:39
And that moment never ending.
26:42-26:42
It's just no relief.
26:45-26:48
And you see the tragedy of hell is this is far worse.
26:50-27:00
Because whatever horrible thing you endured in that moment we were just recalling, hell is spending eternity in the tragedy of rejecting Jesus Christ.
27:01-27:09
God gave me His grace and I said, "No!" I ruin myself for eternity!
27:10-27:12
And I get to live with that for eternity.
27:14-27:18
That's the first horrifying feature, it's eternal destruction.
27:21-27:23
Second horrifying feature, he says it's away from the presence of the Lord.
27:27-27:29
It's away from the presence of the Lord.
27:29-27:30
Do you know why hell is so horrible?
27:31-27:31
Do you know why it's so horrible?
27:32-27:33
It's because God isn't there.
27:34-27:34
That's why.
27:36-27:39
Nor is His glory, your Bible says, His goodness.
27:41-27:41
It's not there.
27:45-27:47
You're like, "What do you mean, Jeff?" Here's what I mean.
27:49-27:56
On earth, right now, even in this life, an unbeliever knows about the goodness of God.
27:57-28:07
Somebody that lives their whole life and has nothing to do with God, there is a real sense in which they get to experience the goodness of God.
28:08-28:09
Like, what do you mean?
28:11-28:27
I mean, an unbeliever, just by virtue of living on this earth, gets to experience things like love, family, and friendship, and beauty, and times of happiness.
28:30-28:31
Because God is here.
28:33-28:35
But in eternal hell, that's all over.
28:38-28:40
There are no more moments of any of those things.
28:45-28:53
Because God's grace and presence is still just so powerful, even here in this fallen, cursed world.
28:58-29:09
You see, that's a real issue because this world is so full of God's mercy that it just sins freely and joyfully.
29:12-29:19
Because God hasn't just brought this destruction upon the first moment of sin.
29:19-29:21
The world starts to presume it is mercy.
29:22-29:23
I can live however I want.
29:24-29:25
I can do whatever I want.
29:29-29:31
Because God's obviously not going to do anything.
29:33-29:52
Oh, and then you know somebody gets up and preaches a message like this and people hearing this are like, "No, no, no, no, Jeff, you're so out of touch." You know, this whole idea of divine judgment, like...
29:55-29:56
So unfair.
29:59-30:00
So unfair, God wouldn't do that.
30:01-30:08
You mean to tell me you really believe that God would, God would allow someone to go to hell for eternity.
30:12-30:15
And I would say, well, look, it's not a message that I made up.
30:16-30:21
It's the message that he very clearly said, in His Word on many, many pages.
30:24-30:32
But you get the guy, and I've told you before, there've been times going through the Bible, we've preached on hell in this church, and I've told you, we've had people get up and walk out.
30:33-30:51
I remember one time I said, "Hell is a real place, "and real people really go there." This whole row of visitors got up, single file walked out, and it wasn't like, "Hey, where's the bathroom?" It was, "Start the car." At the time, that row of visitors made up about half of the church.
30:52-30:54
It's tough to see half of the church walk out.
30:56-31:01
But you get people that are like, "Well, hell's unfair, that's harsh.
31:02-31:14
God wouldn't do that." I've heard it so many times over the years, and I imagine many of you have too, people say something like this, "I don't believe a loving God would send someone to hell." You ever heard somebody say that?
31:14-31:21
"I don't believe a loving God would send someone to hell." Well, allow me to respond to that.
31:24-31:33
Somebody says, "I don't believe a loving God would send somebody to hell." I would say, "Well, first of all, God's love is not in question." Look at the cross.
31:35-31:36
God's love isn't on trial here.
31:37-31:40
You want to know what God's love looks like?
31:41-31:41
Look at the cross.
31:42-31:47
Because the Bible says God demonstrated His love through the death of His Son.
31:47-31:50
The Bible says God spared not His own Son.
31:51-31:55
And that's the kind of love that I can't fathom, because I wouldn't do that.
31:55-31:57
And I've told you that before, and I stand by that.
31:58-32:02
If the salvation of the world meant me sacrificing my Son, you're all doomed.
32:04-32:04
I wouldn't do it.
32:06-32:07
Either of my sons.
32:09-32:10
You see, God's not like that.
32:11-32:18
God was willing to give His Son so that you could be saved.
32:22-32:22
That's my first response.
32:23-32:24
God's love isn't in question.
32:25-32:31
And the guys say, "Well, I don't believe a loving God would send someone to hell." Here's another response I have for that.
32:32-32:36
"Okay, you think hell is unfair.
32:36-32:37
You think hell is unjust.
32:37-32:38
You think it's harsh.
32:38-32:45
you this, what would you have God do then? So it's obviously you know better than God.
32:47-33:13
You tell me, and maybe God's listening, but what do you think God should do with someone that would wholesale reject the gospel of Jesus Christ? I don't want God telling me what to do. I don't want anything to do with his son. I don't want anything. Okay, well, If you think the penalty that's being described here is too much, then you don't really understand the crime.
33:17-33:20
You don't really understand how horrible sin is.
33:24-33:32
Sin is not, "Whoops, I accidentally put the salt in the pepper shaker." You have rebelled against a holy God.
33:35-33:37
You think the penalty is too much?
33:37-33:38
You don't understand the cross.
33:40-33:43
I don't believe a loving God would send someone to hell.
33:46-33:47
Well, I tell people this.
33:51-33:52
Here's a response.
33:53-33:56
I say, "You know, an unbeliever would be miserable in heaven.
33:57-33:58
Do you know that?
33:59-34:03
An unbeliever would be miserable in heaven." I mean, think about it.
34:04-34:08
Okay, so you have this guy that spends his whole life saying, "I don't want God.
34:09-34:11
I don't want God's truth.
34:11-34:13
I don't want to be around God's people.
34:13-34:16
I don't want to worship." Well guess what heaven is?
34:19-34:25
God's presence, God's truth, God's people, worshiping for all of eternity.
34:26-34:28
So is the unbeliever going to be comfortable there?
34:29-34:42
You spent your whole life saying, "I don't want anything to do with these things." And as horrifying as it is to think about, listen, hell is God giving people what they want.
34:45-34:48
God says, "You don't want anything to do with me.
34:48-34:50
You want out of my presence.
34:52-34:52
Okay.
34:54-34:55
I'll give you that.
35:00-35:40
So that's who goes, that's what vengeance is. Then why? Why will God inflict vengeance? Why will He do this? Look at verse 6 again. One word. It says, "Since indeed God considers it just to repay." Just. Like, why will God inflict vengeance? God says this is justice. God says it is the right thing to do. God says listen the punishment fits the crime.
35:44-35:53
So for anybody here watching this that thinks this is too harsh or or uncomfortable or unfair or whatever.
35:56-36:08
God very clearly says, "Look, this is the right thing." And I'm not gonna argue with him because he is God and I am not.
36:09-36:16
Oh, and verse seven says, "And," do you notice that?
36:16-36:23
"and grant relief." It's carrying over from verse six.
36:24-36:26
So try to wrap your brain around this.
36:28-36:46
Just as God says, "It is just to shut out of my presence "those who reject me," God's also saying, "It is just to grant relief for my people." But I gotta be honest with you, That's harder for me to wrap my brain around.
36:49-36:57
That God says, "I'm going to bring relief." And by the way, it is absolutely the just, the righteous, the perfect thing to do.
36:59-37:00
Now, look, don't get me wrong.
37:00-37:02
I'm happy that relief is coming.
37:02-37:05
I am so happy that relief is coming, but here's my point.
37:06-37:08
God says it's the just thing.
37:08-37:10
It's the right thing.
37:10-37:15
And I look at that and I look at my life and I'm like, I don't deserve it, right?
37:16-37:21
God's promised me relief and he says, he says, it's justice that's going to bring you relief.
37:21-37:23
And I'm like, I don't deserve it.
37:23-37:25
How can it be the right thing?
37:28-37:31
Well, that statement really says nothing about me and it says everything about Jesus.
37:33-37:43
See what God's saying is because of what Jesus did and because you have believed in the promise of Jesus, it is totally the right thing to fulfill Jesus' promise to you.
37:45-37:49
God says it's justice because of what Jesus did.
37:51-38:03
That's why 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
38:07-38:08
It's rest.
38:10-38:11
It's comfort.
38:13-38:16
Like, well, what else does he have in store for his people?
38:16-38:17
Look at verse 10.
38:19-38:33
Verse 10 says, "When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed, he will be glorified in us." What does that mean?
38:33-38:39
Oh man, I could do like four more messages just in this verse.
38:39-38:40
I'm going to give you the really short version, okay?
38:41-38:53
Basically, he's talking about how on that day, we are going to, church, we are going to stand in awe of the salvation that he manifested, and we are never going to get over that.
38:55-38:56
Like, well, what do you mean?
38:57-39:19
Like right now, in this church, we can marvel at what God's doing at the work of salvation he's doing in this group, or what he's doing with the the mission trips that our church has been involved in, and the missions that our church supports, and we hear all these stories of the way God's at work, and we're like in awe of that, like, "God, you are awesome." Now, hold that thought.
39:21-39:48
Imagine, imagine getting the full view of God's plan of salvation globally for all of history. How the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of the incorporable Son of God redeemed and purified fallen people from every tribe and nation to join the marriage supper of the Lamb and worship around His throne.
39:49-39:50
Ah!
39:53-40:18
It is going to be awesome on that day to say, "Jesus, look what you did, how you redeemed." All these things that brought so much glory to your name and so much healing and said so much about the grace and goodness of your Father.
40:19-40:20
Look at what you did, Jesus.
40:21-40:22
We're going to see this on a global scale.
40:26-40:28
Things will not always be as they are now.
40:31-40:36
Someday - listen - the curtain is going to close.
40:39-40:42
Someday the end credits of human history are going to roll.
40:44-40:48
The last page of the book of this era is going to be written.
40:51-40:54
And eternity begins for everyone.
40:58-41:00
Things will not always be as they were.
41:03-41:07
And finally, great news about suffering.
41:11-41:12
Number three, write this down, it doesn't stop our mission.
41:15-41:16
We're going to close with this.
41:16-41:30
It says, "To this end, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.
41:32-41:40
So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
41:44-41:46
So here, Paul says we're praying for three things.
41:47-41:49
Number one, that God will make you worthy of his calling.
41:51-41:54
God's put a calling in your life, and you're like, I am so not worthy of that.
41:54-41:55
You're right, you're not.
41:55-41:56
That's why God has to make you worthy.
41:57-41:59
Right, he goes, I'm praying for that.
41:59-42:01
God would equip you to be the person he's called you to be.
42:02-42:04
The person he's declared you to be in his son.
42:04-42:13
Number two, not only will God make you worthy, he said we're praying that God would fulfill every result for good and every work of faith by his power.
42:13-42:16
In other words, he's saying, I'm praying that God would empower you to serve him.
42:18-42:28
The third thing he's praying for is that the name of Jesus would be glorified, which is the result, really, the first two, the result of truly serving Jesus.
42:29-42:31
To this end, we always pray.
42:33-42:38
Because you're enduring suffering, this is why we're praying.
42:41-42:49
Because your love is increasing, your faith is increasing, you're under the pressures of affliction, and there's a glorious future ahead.
42:49-42:54
So listen, he says, because all this is true, he says, that's why we're praying.
42:58-43:00
Now it's a clear reminder that suffering doesn't stop the mission.
43:02-43:03
We've got work to do.
43:05-43:06
Church, we've got work to do.
43:07-43:18
And that work begins with falling on our faces and asking God to empower the work that He's called us to do.
43:21-43:23
Suffering doesn't stop the mission.
43:24-43:26
There's so much more I could say about that.
43:28-43:40
But just to say that, you know, with COVID, I foolishly and wrongly thought that at the beginning of the pandemic, that it was going to shut our church down, like permanently.
43:42-43:44
Just confessing, I'm just being honest with you.
43:44-43:48
Like when COVID first hit, I'm like, what's that gonna do to our church?
43:49-43:55
We're gonna be like, and then we lost so many people that had to move to take care of elderly parents or had to move for work or whatever.
43:55-44:00
We just lost so many key leaders, and I thought we were going to be sunk.
44:03-44:04
I was wrong.
44:06-44:08
Suffering doesn't stop the mission.
44:10-44:12
I've shared with you before, we've seen the same thing in Thailand.
44:15-44:18
They're dealing with the same kind of stuff where they've closed entire villages down.
44:18-44:19
How are we going to reach these people?
44:22-44:32
Through the marvels of modern technology, the Lord has enabled us to reach even more people than ever through simulcasting our teaching time.
44:35-44:36
Suffering doesn't stop the mission.
44:39-44:40
That's why we've got to be praying.
44:43-44:47
You know, suffering is going to come to everyone.
44:49-44:52
in some way, to some degree.
44:53-44:59
But church, today, we have to bag the idea that it means that God is absent, because He's not.
45:01-45:04
Bag the idea that things will never change, because they will.
45:06-45:11
Bag the idea that the suffering is going to be a roadblock for our ministry, because it's not.
45:13-45:13
See?
45:15-45:16
I told you suffering was good news.
45:18-45:18
Let's pray.
45:20-45:26
Father in Heaven, I don't really know what else to say.
45:29-45:42
You have this glorious purpose in Your Son that You accomplished through the cross, through His resurrection.
45:42-45:58
You're going to ultimately fulfill every promise He has revealed, that's what you've told us in your Word today, and I feel like even though we maybe went a little over time, I feel like we barely scratched the surface of everything this passage is telling us.
46:00-46:09
There is a glorious future for your people, and there is a horrifying future for people that refuse your gift of grace.
46:11-46:21
your church, Father. I pray for the things that Paul was praying for for this church.
46:22-47:10
I pray, Father, that you would make us worthy of your calling. I pray that you would fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith that this church is going after in the name of Jesus. And ultimately, Father, I pray above all things that the name of Jesus Christ would glorified in this church. It's not about any individual or group of people or a name on a sign, "Father, this church is about the name of Jesus Christ being glorified." Please, Father, make that happen. And we know that means it's going to be through suffering that If you choose to work that way.
47:13-47:13
Glory through suffering.
47:16-47:17
Thank You, Father.
47:18-47:20
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
God says repaying with affliction(vengeance) is “just” (2 Thes 1:6). How so? How is it “just” for God to give relief to His people (2 Thes 1:7)?
”A loving God wouldn’t send someone to hell.” How would you reply to this?
Read 2 Thes 1:9 again. What phrases are used to describe hell? How does this motivate you to reach the lost people you know?
How is suffering proof that God is at work (2 Thes 1:4-5)?
Breakout
Pray for one another according to the 3 things Paul was praying for in 2 Thes 1:11-12.