Book of 2 Thessalonians - Ch. 1, Vs. 1-12 (01/27/2002)

Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, under the

Church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Silvanus is, or Silas is a contraction of Silvanus.

Timothy is a contraction of Timotheus. This is

Paul's usual greeting to a friendly church, one that's theologically sound, under the

Church of Thessalonians. That was the local church in Thessalonica.

Paul believed in the local church. He went about establishing churches.

And the church in Thessalonica was in God our Father and the

Lord Jesus Christ. Their position was in Christ.

However, was in God the Father, through Christ. This means that Paul taught the deity of Christ.

There was no doubt in Paul's mind that Jesus the Christ was

God's Son. In John 10, 27, 29, we have the

Lord Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my

Father's hand. In this verse you have the two hands of God.

The two hands of deity. They belong to the Lord. The important thing is not the name of your church.

But the important thing is that you and other true believers are in Christ. We're forced to have a name, an address, or mail.

And that makes the local church very important. Paul made the local church very important.

The Holy Spirit indwells true believers. And by his power they can manifest

Christ in the local neighborhood, in the community, in the town, in the state, and in the world.

Showing forth the life of God. That's what Paul is saying to these believers in the introduction.

Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The word charity in this verse is love.

In the next verse Paul picks up the third word which he uses as love and faith.

It is patience. Love, faith, and patience. This is not the patience now of waiting for a light to turn green.

It is the patience that is willing to live for God and accept whatever he sends your way.

Knowing that all things do work together for good. We know that.

We forget it, but we know it. It is the patience that has as its goal coming into God's presence someday.

This enables you to get over the rough spots that come into your life.

The life of a Christian reminds me. We used to travel when

I was at home. I can remember taking a trip to California.

Way back there in the thirties. Every once in a while we would come across a detour sign.

You had to detour. They were working on the road. Now, detours seemed to be all the way from Oklahoma to California.

There would be many places where the detour sign would put us on a rough road. But along the way we would see a sign that read five miles to the concrete, to the pavement.

The rough road became smoother then. We knew that in just a little while we had hit the asphalt or concrete for a little while.

Many of us are on a detour of life. The road is rough.

We're called upon to suffer. Well, if you have a good view of the future, it will give you the patience and hope that you need.

I cannot imagine going through or going to California, for instance, and you're on a detour and you have no idea how long.

You don't know where the proper road's coming back. The hope here looks down yonder to the good, smooth road coming up.

It may be closer than you think. We're bound to give thanks to God always for you,

Paul says. Peace is the world's softest pillow.

Peace is the world's softest pillow. Here are the two feet and hands of destiny, grace and peace.

Verse three, we are bound to give thanks, thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet because that your faith groweth exceedingly.

And the charity of every one of you, every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.

Now, when we get to heaven, maybe not till we get there, but we're to love each other.

I do love you, each and every one of you. But the most amazing thing to me is that you love me.

When we get to heaven, you'll love me or you won't go.

When you grow toward your brother in grace and faith, you grow toward God. As you exhibit the love in your life, you grow closer to him.

God sends us just enough trouble to produce faith.

Think about it. And in this strength, he encourages them, moreover, showing what gifts they must mainly have, that is, with faith and charity which must daily increase.

We don't know, but we don't realize that our faith is increasing.

Now, he's not giving us more faith. We're just learning to trust him more, more today than I did yesterday, more today than ten years ago.

So that we also glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.

Willing to accept whatever God sends. Now, we can say those words.

And to you, I could say, yes, I'm willing to accept whatever he sends. But I wonder when we get along.

The better your view of the future, the better your patience of the present, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be grounded, 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.

He dispenses it, we don't. Though God neither rewards nor punishes in this life in a general way, yet he often gives proof of his displeasure, especially against those who persecute his followers.

They therefore who have given you tribulation shall have tribulation in recompense.

And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.

They suffered with Paul, so they can rest with Paul. When the

Lord Jesus shall be revealed. But this fullness of tribulation to them and rest to you shall not take place till the

Lord Jesus comes in judgment. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not

God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, his vengeance, we like to say

God will get you for that, I don't hear that much anymore, it's not true anyhow, but my problem is

I want to see it right now. His vengeance is not because they mistreated you or mistreated me.

Why is it then? Because what?

Alright, he is just, but why is it that his vengeance is not because they mistreated us?

That's right. They didn't believe him. He did not come to give us new personalities or to make us successful, but to redeem us and to deliver us from hell.

That's why he came. That's not popular today and folks don't like to hear it, but it's true.

He came to die for the Heavenly Father. He did everything to please the

Heavenly Father. Now in the doing of that, it saved us. It had to save us.

The most important thing today when giving your testimony is not what he has done for you, but rather from where he delivered you.

Where was I? And where am I now? In thunder and lightning taking vengeance, inflicting just punishment on them that know not

God, the heathen who do not worship the true

God and will not acknowledge him, but worship idols and on them that obey not the gospel, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the

Lord and from the glory of his power. Now we learn by this that they will not be in the presence of the

Lord. They will not be in the presence of God. They will be in hell.

And God's not in hell. Can you imagine a place where God is not?

That's hell. It would be hell here if he wasn't here. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the

Lord and from the glory of his power. Everlasting destruction. It's not destruction for a while.

It's everlasting. It goes on and on and on every day the same.

As there can be no end to their sins, the same enmity against God continuing sin and his punishment running throughout eternity itself.

They must of necessity therefore be cut off from all good and all possibilities of it.

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all of them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day.

I'm more impressed with the little lady laying flat of her back for most of her life and still has a radiant smile for Christ.

That the Christian who God has made successful and financially independent admired in all of them that believe that is in the person of all of them that believe for they will be transformed into Christ's image in soul and body and will reflect his glory.

You remember the old assayers crucible would put the sample in and cook it and cook it and cook it and skim off the dross.

How did he know when he was through? He didn't just cook it for 10 minutes, 30 minutes.

He cooked it until he was through. Bill, how could he tell when he was through?

The assayer could see his image with no dross. Now that's you and I.

God is cooking us until he's through. When he's through he'll take us home. Wherefore also we pray always for you that our

God would count you worthy of his calling and fulfill all the pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power.

We're counted worthy as we submit our will to his calling. You are worthy if you do that.

This calling, they're calling to eternal life.

Fulfill. Where are you going to fulfill? It's in your soul. All the good pleasures of his goodness and manifested in carrying forward to completion the work of sanctification in your souls.

This is something that goes on that we can't see. It's so subtle we can't see it.

Yet I would dare say every one of you know more than you did ten years ago, five years ago, a year ago.

The work of faith, that is, fulfill the work of faith in your souls by making perfect your faith with its fruits.

Twelve, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to grace of our

God and Lord Jesus Christ. That you may glorify, that he may be glorified in you.

Let me turn back. That the name of our

Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you now and ye in him.

It's useless for me to ask the question, do you glorify God? I hope you do in every way possible every day when you're not here as a captured audience.

Be glorified in you and ye in him by their bearing his image.

Don't ever be ashamed to be called a Christian. Promoting his glory, being admitted to his rest.

Let's see if we can come up with an example. Suppose a man rushes into a burning building and carried you to safety and he liked you so much that he adopted you, he made you his son.

What would you tell the people about him? Well, that's true.

All right. David, what would you tell people? All right.

I hope you would not only thank him for making you his son, but would most of all thank him for saving you from the fire.

Nothing else would make much difference if he hadn't done that. Saved you from the burning building.

This chapter has been short. Is there anything from anybody?

Did you see anything as we went through it? Did you learn anything?

Well, we just wasted our time, didn't we?

Yes. But that's been put off because I didn't...

I ask you to think about what is the sense that so easily besets us.

I want you to think about that for a couple more weeks. We'll get to the twelfth chapter eventually of Hebrews.