We're turning to the second letter of Paul
to the Thessalonians, and we're at the first
chapter of this evening.
Second Thessalonians, chapter one.
It's a short chapter, just twelve verses.
And if you're looking at the notes, you
will notice that I have divided the chapter
into four parts.
The first two verses give off the introduction.
Shall I call that the apostolic introduction?
Two verses give off the introduction.
Then in the next two verses, verse three
and verse four, we have the commendation.
And a very worthy commendation it is.
Paul commends these points of the circle of
Micah for three things.
And when we come to look carefully at
the commendation, we'll underline these three things that
they were commended for.
Then having looked at the introduction and the
commendation, from verse five right through to the
end of verse ten, we have what I
call the revelation.
It was a special revelation of special truth
through Paul, from the Lord, to these young
believers.
And of course this is where we'll get
the weight of our teaching this evening.
There are some very important things from verse
five right through to the end of verse
ten.
And I have called that the needed revelation.
Indeed it was needed truth then, and I
believe that it's needed truth tonight.
So that the chapter opens with the introduction.
Verses three and four give off the commendation.
From five to ten bring off this needed
revelation.
And the last two, verses eleven and twelve,
bring off the supplication.
Sincere supplication, Paul praying for the Thessalonian converts.
So there we have the chapter before us
in the full part.
The introduction, the commendation, the revelation, the supplication.
Now let's get into the depth of the
great truth that's in the chapter.
You'll notice that in the introduction here, this
letter begins, like all Paul's letters, without one
solitary word, Paul.
Now you remember how I pointed out to
you when we began the first letter to
the Thessalonians that Paul began his letters with
the word Paul.
Let's never forget that he was the greatest
preacher the Lord had on earth.
One of the greatest, I would say the
greatest.
The most outstanding warrior that God ever had.
When I view the life of Paul, seeing
him going into the prison of Philippi, and
his feet made fast in the cross, and
in the midnight hours hanging on to God,
being lifted from Philippi, going down to Thessalonica,
preaching the gospel in the synagogue, winning the
Gentiles for Christ, being hunted for his life,
fleeing down to Berea, starting over again, being
again hunted like a partridge in the mountains,
and on to Athens, where he was mocked
and feared, and on to Corinth, where there
was no holding of this man back.
He was an outstanding warrior for God.
An instrument unto honor.
One of the greatest servants the Lord ever
had.
And yet, he just calls himself Paul, just
Paul.
My dear friends, there's a lesson to learn
here still.
The humility that we notice when he penned
his first letter, it's still the same, he
hasn't changed.
The unchanging humility is marked here.
He just called himself Paul.
Was the God that we all could learn
to be humble in the presence of the
Lord.
There's so much show-off and hypocrisy and
pretense among the servants of God these days,
that we're all most afraid to read the
newspapers when they're announcing preachers.
Henry Morehouse went to America and when he
saw the bills that the Americans printed about
the amazing English preachers, he'd tear them down.
There's nothing amazing about the Simmons.
The only thing that we have to boost
the boss to make is the craft work
of Calvary and the Christ who died and
rose again.
He just calls himself Paul.
You can notice the unchanged humility.
And as he commences this letter, Paul and
Silvanus and Timotheus, on to the Church of
the Thessalonians, you will notice the unchanged unity.
Why this church could be called the Church
of the Thessalonians.
You see, there were no divisions among the
saints of Thessalonica.
This was in Thessalonica, the Church of the
Thessalonians.
We couldn't say that we're the church in
Logan.
It's true that we have a great bond
of faith.
But we are bound to recognize that there
are saints in other denominations.
Yes, there are saints among the Presbyterians, saints
among the Methodists, saints among the Episcopalians, saints
in almost every denomination that we can name.
I am saints down in Williamstreet or Northstreet,
down in the Roman Catholic Church.
Why I think sometimes we miss this.
You know, there's a man in the meeting
tonight, and he was leaving Goodven not so
long ago into the convent in Lisbon.
And he was going in whistling the very
hymn that we started the meeting.
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds when
a believer's here.
And an old nun asked him, she said,
that's a lovely hymn you're whistling.
When he put the goods on the window,
he was as quick as he could.
He said, do you know the hymn?
She said, I not only know the hymn,
dear, I know the author.
I know the one the hymn speaks of.
He said, do you know the law?
And she said, I'm seventy-three years of
age, and when I was seventy I got
saved.
That's true.
My dear friend, the devil's not getting them
all, you know.
The Lord works in spite of the devil,
but a special nature all the saints will
run.
The unity was there so that the church
could be called the church of the Thessalonians.
You'll notice the unchanged unity.
I mustn't batter this first bit out too
long.
Then Paul goes on and says, unto the
church of the Thessalonians, then God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can see again the unchanged deity.
Yes, God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ are co-equal here.
It's an equality.
He can place these two names together without
a quiver in his conscience.
Unto the church of the Thessalonians, and God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord is really God.
Now let's go on further.
Do you see the second verse?
Grace unto you and peace from the same
source.
Because grace and peace comes from God.
Yes, our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ is
God.
This is the unchanged necessity.
As long as we're in the flesh, as
long as we trump the pilgrimage, as long
as we pass through this with howling wilderness,
we'll always need grace.
And we'll always need peace.
I pointed out when we opened the last
letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, the first
letter, I pointed out that he's not talking
about the grace that saves, you know.
This is not saving grace.
These people are a levitating.
These people are walking with the Lord.
This is not saving grace.
This is the grace that keeps when the
storms of life are raging.
This is the grace that makes you steadfast
and unmovable and always abounding in the work
of the Lord.
It's keeping grace, not saving grace.
And when he talks about peace, he's not
talking about peace with God.
These people had peace with God through faith
in Christ.
They were justified and they had peace with
God.
But he's talking about the peace of God.
My, that's something you need in your mind.
You need the grace that makes you stand
and keep your eyes upon the Lord and
being anxious for nothing, you pour out your
heart to Him.
And the peace of God, that part of
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds.
It's not peace with God, it's the peace
of God.
And as long as we're down here, we'll
need grace to make us stand and we'll
always stand in need of the peace, that
part of all understanding.
So that will do for the introduction.
Then we come to this word of commendation,
and it's worthy commendation.
Because he says, we are bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, as it is
meek.
Because thus you'll keep growing exceedingly.
Do you know what he's commending them for?
He's commending them for growing forth.
Isn't that lovely?
My dear friends, these young believers, I want
you to get the hold of this.
There came the day when Paul came into
Thessalonica and he preached the gospel, and he
said, O gospel came not unto you in
word only, but in power and in the
Holy Ghost, and he turned to God for
my good.
My faith trusted the Savior.
That was an act of faith.
The day you got saved, that was an
act of faith.
Oh, but you notice, that act of faith
in these young believers became an attitude of
faith.
When they began to walk by faith, everything
they did was by faith.
By faith they were advancing.
And Paul noticed this.
That faith was growing exceedingly.
Why?
I wonder if it was opposite of you.
I wonder, is your faith growing exceedingly?
It's a growing faith, isn't it?
You remember the disciples in the boat?
My, they stepped into the boat with great
faith when the Lord said, let's go to
the other side.
And they stepped in, you know, and dropped
down, and the sky was clear, and everything
was all right.
They were trusting the Lord.
And then the storm came, and the boat
filled with water, and they lost sight of
the Lord.
And the Master had to say, O ye
of little faith.
So it wasn't growing then, was it?
How's yours tonight?
Could you be commanded?
Could somebody write of you?
Your faith grows exceedingly.
Have you got a trust that's held fast?
Does it shrink?
Do you get afraid?
Are you worried about something?
Because it still works like this.
When you're worrying, you're not trusting.
And when you're trusting, you're not worried.
Is your faith growing exceedingly?
Now watch again.
He went further.
Verse 3, We are bound to thank God
only for you, brethren, out of this meat,
because that your faith grows exceedingly, and the
charity, or that which really should be love,
and the love of every one of you
all toward each other aboundeth.
My, not only was their faith growing, but
their love was abounding.
I think that's lovely.
The love of half a dozen of you?
Oh no.
The love of every one of you all
aboundeth.
Oh, what a lovely little assembly it was.
My, their faith was increasing, and their love
for each other and all was abounding.
I wonder where we stand with faith.
It was just a young church.
They were just young believers.
But what a wonderful combination is here.
Their faith was increasing, and their love was
abounding.
And then he goes on further.
Verse 4, So that we ourselves glory in
you in the touches of God, for your
patience and faith in all your persecutions and
tribulations that ye endure.
You see, not only did he commend them
for their increasing faith and abounding love, but
he commended them for their continuing patience.
My, what qualities he could spy in this
little church.
Your faith growing exceedingly.
Your love abounding.
Your patience is continuing.
And all this was happening in the midst
of persecutions and tribulations.
My, the flag was flying over the fort.
And the devil had them hemmed in at
every time.
And they were being crushed and crushed and
scarred and mocked.
Persecutions and tribulations.
And in the midst of it all, their
faith was growing exceedingly.
And their love was abounding.
And their patience was continuing.
My, they put some of us boys to
shame.
They would, they were only young believers.
I wonder how we all stand here tonight.
Could we be commended for growing faith and
abounding love?
And continuing patience in the midst of persecution
and tribulation?
What a commendation.
My, I put the word worthy.
Worthy commendation.
And now we come to the cream and
the depth of the church.
This is very important, and I'd like all
the young ones to get the hold of
this.
Because Paul knew that these persecutions and these
tribulations that had come against this young church,
Paul knew that all this was for a
purpose.
And now he's going to comfort their souls
and enlighten them with this needed revelation.
And that's why he says, These tribulations and
persecutions, 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 ought to suffer.
Well, that's a difficult one, isn't it?
Well, I want to teach it very carefully
so that you'll get the truth.
I want you to get the hold of
this, that the only way that you become
a subject of the kingdom of God is
by the new birth.
That's the only way you become a subject
of the kingdom of God.
And you know this as well as I
do, that you're born again, says the Apostle
Peter, by the incorruptible seed of the Word
of God.
That's the only way the new birth is
produced, by the incorruptible seed of the Word
of God.
And what he meant by that phrase was
just this, that the Word of God is
brought to you in the gospel of God,
and the Word of God in the gospel
of God always uplifts the Christ of God,
so that there came a day in the
life of these believers when Paul brought them
the great message of Christ who loved them,
the one who left heaven for them, the
one who went to Calvary for them, the
one who fought the battle for them, the
one who shed his blood for them, the
one who rose to be triumphant for them,
the one who was alive forevermore, the only
Saviour.
Why not the incorruptible seed?
And the moment you listen to this message
and put out the hand of faith and
accept this only Saviour as your Saviour, the
Bible says you're born again.
And you're born again by the incorruptible seed
of the Word of God, and the moment
you're born again, you're in the kingdom of
God.
You're a subject of the kingdom.
You're a child of the king.
Now, that's how you get into the kingdom
of God, but it's another thing proving that
you're worthy of the kingdom of God.
And you know, sometimes God tests His children,
and sometimes God allows them to be tested
to see if you're worthy.
Oh, are you worthy?
You know, when you suffer for the kingdom,
you're counted worthy.
And that's exactly what was happening here.
You know, this was righteous judgment.
God was allowing these persecutions and these tribulations
to come upon these young believers that they
might have the privilege of proving to all
in summary they were worthy subjects of the
kingdom.
They were prepared to suffer for the kingdom
of God.
Now, wait a minute.
I don't think you'll get that just clearly
unless I do something else.
Let's go to the Acts of the Apostles
for a moment, and we're at chapter five.
The Acts of the Apostles, chapter five, and
to get the connection, look at verse seventeen.
Then the high priest rose up, and all
they that were with him, which is the
sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with
indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles,
and put them in the common prison.
Now, they arrested the apostles here and put
them in the common prison.
If you read the rest behind that, you'll
find the angel of the Lord let them
out.
And then in verse twenty-seven it says,
And when they had dropped them, and set
them before the council, and the high priest
asked them, saying, Did not we strictly command
you that we should not teach in this
name?
And behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your
doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood
upon us.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and
said, We ought to obey God rather than
men.
And Peter started teaching to the council.
And verse thirty-three says, When they heard
that, they were chopped to the heart, and
took counsel to slay them.
Oh, they were going to slay these apostles.
And then a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor
of the law, he spake up for them.
And in verse thirty-nine he said this,
But if it be of God, ye can
it overthrow.
Lest haply ye be found even to fight
against God.
And to him the council agreed.
Now watch this.
And when they had called the apostles, and
beaten them.
And I want you to watch that phrase,
and beaten them.
Now the Jews had the custom in those
days that they could beat a man if
they thought that he'd break their religious law.
And the beating was something like the Dutch.
The Roman life was a leather life with
leather balls at the end, and that's what
our Lord Jesus Christ was lost with.
But these fellows were before the Jewish council,
and they were being beaten with something like
the Dutch.
And usually they got thirty-nine marks.
They were supposed to get forty, but the
Jews were always very careful to be exact,
so they said thirty-nine, to make sure
they didn't get one too many.
And can't you see these apostles?
Their back is dead, and the king is
ready to slap their back.
Forty-nine times!
Now you can see the marks across their
back as they leave the council.
Now watch this.
Here they're leaving the council, verse forty-one.
And they departed from the presence of the
council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for his name.
My, that's a wonderful text, isn't it?
Oh, you know, I feel that if some
of us had been put in before the
council, and they threw your shirt over your
head and beat you with stripes, my, you'd
come down the main street groaning and moaning
and murmuring and wondering.
No, not these fellows.
These fellows had the truth in those days
that I feel we have lost.
They rejoiced that they were counted worthy.
I forgot it.
My, you know, the young Thessalonian congress, they
were counted worthy to suffer for the kingdom.
And the apostles were counted worthy to suffer
for the king.
Let's get the hold of this that the
Lord has left us down here below as
witnesses to the Saviour and a subject to
the kingdom.
I wonder if you've got that truth in
you, that God counts you worthy to suffer
for the kingdom and worthy to suffer for
the Saviour.
You know, someday you'll be in a place
where somebody will laugh at your religious beliefs.
Somebody will mock when you talk about your
belief in the virgin birth.
Somebody will laugh.
You think he's a big fellow?
And somebody will mock when you say you're
going to remember the Lord.
Somebody will mock.
And thorn will be thrown at you.
And a lion will roar.
Yes, you'll be jeered and scoffed.
I wonder when you get this truth away
down deep in your heart and say, thank
God, I'm counted worthy.
I'm counted worthy to suffer shame for His
name.
One may rejoice.
When their backs were crossing, they rejoiced that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for
His name.
And Paul's getting this truth into these young
believers at Thessalonica who said, you know, this
persecution and these tribulations, my extra-righteous judgment
of God, because God's testing your faith and
you're being counted worthy subjects of the kingdom
to suffer for the kingdom of God in
which you're placed.
It was a great truth.
Now, let's go on and watch 1 Thessalonians
and we're at verse 5.
Read it over again.
Tribulations and persecutions is a manifest token of
the righteous judgment of God that ye may
be counted worthy of the kingdom of God
for which ye ought to suffer.
Now, I want you to get this bit.
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God
to recompense tribulations of them that trouble you.
You know, I want you to get that.
You see, if men are led by the
devil and they hit you without a cause
and they bring persecution and tribulation to bear
upon you, God may well allow that.
Thus to test your faith and to prove
to all and sundry that you're worthy of
the kingdom of God for which you suffer.
But let me say this.
God will punish those who persecute you.
Oh, yes.
You see, I want you to get the
hold of this truth.
This is where I'm getting round to.
There's one thing proved beyond doubt that you're
a subject of the kingdom.
And that is when you're willing to suffer
for it.
And there's one thing proved beyond doubt that
you're a subject of the devil when God
is perpulating in your head.
Both things are true.
My dear young man, if you're in this
meeting tonight and you're not saved, maybe it
has been you a lot in the days
gone by to mock and to jeer.
Maybe through your slanderous tongue you brought persecution
and tribulation to some kind of God.
Let me tell you that if you die
the way you're living might have terrible days
ahead of you.
There's a whole eternity where God will let
you think and think and think.
The child of the devil.
Mind you, there's something just behind this that
we want to see.
Now watch.
The whole truth will only come out as
we get a bit by bit.
We'll read from verse five again.
All these persecutions and tribulations is a manifest
token of the righteous judgment of God that
ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom
of God for which ye ought to suffer.
Seeing it as a righteous thing with God
to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you.
And to you who are troubled, rest with
us.
You know, here's one thing that Paul wanted
these young believers to get a hold of.
That these storms and these persecutions would not
go on forever.
Miners, arrest for the people of God.
The Lord Jesus is going to take us
out of this withstanding wilderness and he's going
to bring us into eternal rest.
Miners, arrest for the people of God.
It's perfectly true that when we talk about
guilt on our conscience why that's a burden.
And it weighs a man down.
And he may be burdened for years with
the guilt of the past.
And then one day he hears the word
of the truth of the gospel and there's
a Christ before him saying, come unto me
and I will give you rest.
And the moment that man exercises faith in
Christ the burden loads away.
He's got rest for his conscience.
Yeah, but you know, he may have to
pass through persecutions and tribulations on the way
to heaven.
But sure enough, there's a rest eternally for
the people of God.
Miners, arrest eternally.
Now Paul wants them to get the hold
of this that these people that persecute you,
God will deal with them.
There's a rest eternally for you and while
the storms blow in you're only being counted
worthy of the kingdom of God for which
you suffer.
But he goes further.
Watch verse seven.
And to you who are troubled rest with
us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming
fire taking vengeance on men.
I want you to get the hold of
that.
Now here's the bit that sometimes gets mixed
up.
You see, when Paul talks about the Lord
Jesus being revealed from heaven now that's not
the rapture.
That simply couldn't be the rapture.
That's the revelation of the Lord.
You know, when the Lord Jesus comes to
the air for his saints and that can
happen at any second you know, only his
own believing ones will see that's not the
revelation of the Lord at all.
That's the rapture of the saints.
But there'll come a day when the same
blessed Lord Jesus will come right to earth
and the big second revelation, every eye shall
see him.
That'll be the revelation of the Lord Jesus
and all his mighty angels at that moment
when he comes to earth it will be
the day of vengeance.
Come to take vengeance on those who were
persecuting the saints.
You know, there are one or two things
I think we need to get the hold
of.
Just watch Isaiah chapter 61 for a moment.
I think this is wonderful.
I'm just doing this for young believers and
I want you to pay attention.
Isaiah chapter 61, at the first verse.
Remember these words were written 600 years before
Christ appeared.
Isaiah 61, verse 1.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon
me because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the midst.
He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and
the opening of the prison to them that
are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of
the law.
Now you'll notice there's an apostrophe after the
word law because that's not the end of
the sentence.
The whole phrase is this.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God.
Now that's a remarkable statement.
Now you look at Luke's gospel now, chapter
4.
Luke's gospel, chapter 4.
And this is one of the first messages,
the Master Preach.
Do you see verse 16?
Luke's gospel, chapter 4, verse 16.
And he came to Nazareth where he had
been brought up.
And as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood
up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book
of the prophet Isaiah.
That's just the Greek way of saying the
Hebrew word Isaiah.
And when he had opened the book, he
found the place where it was written.
Chapter 61.
There were no chapters there.
But he found the place.
This is where we were reading.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
because he has anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives and the
recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the law.
And he closed the book.
You know, he stopped in the middle of
a sentence.
He never finished the sentence.
You see, friends, if there's somebody here and
you always question dispensational truth, you would need
to take another look at what the Lord
did.
The Lord differentiated between three different places.
He said, I've come the first time and
the Spirit of God is upon me to
preach the good tidings, the acceptable year of
the law, unto the elite to come again
before the day of the angels is here.
So he didn't bring it in that time.
He stopped at an apostrophe because he differentiated
between the two dispensations.
Oh, but the day of vengeance will come
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed to
this world with his mighty angels.
Well, do you see it?
It's far clearer in Jude than anywhere else.
That's the little epistle before the book of
the Revelation.
Jude, and do you see verse
14?
And Jude's preaching of Enoch.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied
of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with
ten thousands of his saints.
Now, can't you see that?
How could the Lord come with his saints
before he came for them?
Wouldn't he have to come for his saints
so that he could come with his saints?
So the rapture is the time when he
comes for his saints and the revelation is
the time when he comes with his saints.
And every eye shall see him.
Now watch what he's coming for.
He's coming with ten thousands of his saints
to execute judgment upon all and to convince
all that are ungodly among them of all
their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed
and of all their odd features which ungodly
sinners have spoken against them.
My, he's coming back, you see.
It will be the day of vengeance.
Ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
My, he's coming back, you see.
It will be the day of vengeance.
Now, turn back again to 2 Thessalonians 1.
You see what Paul's trying to get over
to these young believers.
He's teaching them that tribulations and persecutions are
a load of God that he may be
counted worthy of the kingdom of God and
then that the God who allows it will
punish those who have troubled them and that
you who have gone through the tribulations you'll
find eternal rest when the Lord puts down
every enemy.
You see there's a little question comes in
there and it's surface sometimes when we're up
to it and we meet the Lord in
the air do we not enter into rest
then?
Oh my, wait a wee minute.
You know, you've got to face the judgment
seat of Christ in a minute or two
after the rapture.
You know, then we rise to meet him.
Yes, it will be a wonderful moment but
for some who really grew up my, it
will be a time of shame.
There'll be a shame.
And he's coming.
Some of them will be caught in old
modernistic churches.
Some of them will be caught supporting ministers
who tore the book up.
Some of them will be caught in dens
of iniquity.
Some of them will be caught in the
dog track.
Some of them will be caught on the
football field.
Then Jesus comes.
All will rise but I'll be a stone.
Then you know before everything's sealed and settled
for eternity there's a lot of things to
be squared out of the judgment seat of
Christ.
You know things have taken place even in
assemblies down here.
And some of the saints whose love never
abides they never forgive.
If somebody's took them wrong one day they've
no forgiveness.
They'll never forgive.
Dear son, you'll put it right at the
judgment seat of Christ.
You'll put it right.
And if you've held something against your brother
and sister you'll put it right.
And it'll take all the days of the
tribulation and the rest to put things right
at the judgment seat.
And when everything's squared up the Lord will
come to us and we'll enter into perfect
rest.
Perfect rest.
Why are you learning tonight?
The Lord might test you tonight just to
prove that you're a worthy subject of the
kingdom.
And those that persecute you will see the
Lord in you.
And there's rest for you.
And for every persecuting of the saints as
they die as they live there's a day
of vengeance.
By the Lord's coming back, mind you, and
He'll avenge the saints.
There's a day of vengeance.
And that's what it says here.
That's it.
And flaming, fire-kicking vengeance on them that
know not God and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I'd like you to underline that word.
And that obey not...
You know, there are some of you men
and women in this place tonight and, you
know, you've been disobedient to the gospel all
your days.
Now your mother locked you a cradle singing
your gospel hymns.
And you were brought up in a place
where the old godless Sunday school teacher taught
you the gospel in plain English.
And you've always been under the gospel.
But tonight you'll undertake this, obeying the gospel.
You obey not.
He wouldn't let them in.
But you obey not.
And you know, friends, you're going to be
punished in the day to come.
I want you to notice this particular verse.
We'll read verse 8 again.
When the Lord Jesus comes from heaven and
flaming, fire-kicking 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.
My, there are no quibbles about that.
My, that everlasting destruction, that's eternal torment.
Eternal torment.
Go along and say, friends, you that mock,
you that criticize the saints, you that would
persecute.
There's no man who better the subject than
the man who tends.
As he went on that the mosque was
roaring, breathing out slaughter against the saints.
As a voice from heaven said, Paul, Paul,
why persecute us?
Amen.
He was a persecutor.
Some of you may be in this meeting
are persecutors of the saints.
Every time your tongue touches a kind of
God, you touch the Christ of God to
whom you belong.
Why persecute us?
Amen.
And remember, there is a day of vengeance
and you'll be punished from the presence of
the Lord and the glory of His power
with everlasting destruction.
There's no second chance about that.
Everlasting destruction.
Dear friends, there are heavy truths for you
in this chapter.
But once again, here's something more for the
saints to learn.
When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven and flaming fire taken 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.
Then He shall come to be glorified in
His saints and to be admired in all
them that believe.
I think that's lovely.
Here's what He's saying to these persecuted young
believers.
He's saying, now I want you to get
the hold of this, that this may be
the righteous judgment of God whereby your faith
is being tested so that you make the
proved worthy of the kingdom for which you
suffer.
And remember there'll be rest for you.
You are in an eternal kingdom and you'll
have eternal rest.
And remember you'll have eternal glory.
When the Lord will come He'll be glorified
in all His saints.
My, at that moment the blaze of the
glory will bow every knee on earth and
every tongue will have to confess that He
is Lord.
But wait a minute, He'll not only be
glorified will be glorified with glorified with all
the saints.
And you know, as we look at Him
and admire Him and from our hearts cry
out God will see Him in one another.
He'll be admired in all them that believe.
We are My dear friends, look, if you're
going to go into any tribulation or somebody's
going to stop or somebody's going to say
something about you would you remember that you're
a witness of the Savior and rejoice that
you're counted worthy to suffer shame for His
name?
Would you remember that you're a subject of
the kingdom and you're being tested to prove
that you're worthy of the kingdom?
Would you remember that there's eternal rest along
the road of it?
Would you remember that one day you'll feel
like Christ?
Now here's what He said to these unbelievers
He said, you know, you're in the kingdom
you're going to have eternal rest you're going
to be glorified and you'll have the beauty
of the Lord where the Lord will be
admired even in you.
Do you see the word because?
In verse 10 Because our testimony among you
was believed.
Ah, listen to this.
He said, you young believers you got put
into the everlasting kingdom you're bound for everlasting
rest you'll have everlasting glory because you believe
the gospel we teach.
Oh, that's lovely.
It's all yours because you believe the gospel.
Dear friends, I think that's wonderful.
That's thrilling.
He said, you know, we came in among
you fellows sometime back in that day.
He's looking back at the day he walked
into Central Jamaica.
He said, our gospel came not unto you
in word only but in power.
It was a testimony of God from Paul.
He said, you took it not as a
word of man but as a word of
God.
And you trusted the Christ and you turned
from idols and you're in the everlasting kingdom
and you've got everlasting rest ahead and you'll
be everlastingly the Christ because you believe.
Not because.
Because.
Get the hold of it.
Get the hold of the Christ.
There's no other way.
For the everlasting kingdom.
And the man that tells you anything else
is an emissary from hell.
My, isn't it a lovely truth.
My, surely when the storm blew the next
day my, they would raise their heads high
put their shoulders back.
We're subjects of the kingdom.
We're going on to everlasting rest.
Forever and ever and ever and ever through
eternal, unceasing cycles of eternity we'll be like
the Lord.
My, it would make a man straighten up
and stand up.
That's the truth for us.
Because you believe the gospel that I preach.
You're a subject of the kingdom.
You're born for everlasting rest.
And you'll be ever and ever like the
king.
Now that's the needed revelation.
I think it's lovely.
Now we come to this last part.
The sincere supplication.
Here's Paul praying for them.
Wherefore verse 11 Wherefore also we pray always
for you that our God would count you
worthy of this calling.
You know, Paul's praying praying that God will
continually give these saints the privilege the privilege
you get that word the privilege of being
counted worthy.
My, that was the whole policy that kept
Saint Peter going on.
He said, you know, I used to know
when the sword was held and the enemy
was near and the lion was raised and
know that that's putting your
colors on the mask that's standing fast.
Unbelievable.
That's the sort of belief of the Lord
looking for.
My son, if you couldn't give thanks to
Macbeth you'd be ashamed of who you are.
You say you're following the Lord.
You're a wishy-washy.
If some of the others around you were
looking at you you'd slither to pity of
you.
What sort of Christianity have you got it
for?
You'd be afraid to open your Bible in
the prayer.
You'd be afraid to turn the box.
You'd be ashamed to close your eyes in
the car on the street.
God pity you.
But where you are?
Paul says, you know what I'm praying for
you.
I'm praying that God will always give you
the privilege the privilege of being counted worthy.
I wonder, do you pray this for yourself?
Come on.
God give me the privilege give me the
privilege of being counted worthy to stand in
the storm for you.
That's lovely.
But you know what you could then pray
to not only pray that they might have
the privilege of being counted worthy but that
they might have the pleasure of being a
vessel where God would fulfil all the good
pleasure of His goodness.
I think that's lovely.
Oh God give me the privilege of standing
for you in the storm.
Oh God give me the pleasure of being
a vessel in which thou won't fulfil all
the good pleasure of thy goodness.
Say, what a prayer.
And then he prayed on.
And the work of faith with power.
He said, God give them the privilege give
them the pleasure give them the power.
You see, this work of faith with power
is a wonderful thing.
Do you know when Joshua marched round the
walls?
That was the work of faith.
It's the silliest looking thing you ever seen.
Can't you see him walking round?
Oh yes, he walked round and round the
walls.
Poor fellow.
Yes, can't you see?
It's the silliest looking thing he ever looked
at.
And the fellows looking down from the walls
of Jericho.
What sort of a daft crowd is this
which come against the city?
I think they must have smiled.
But you know, this work of faith ended
them in power.
The walls were bound into the ground.
Fall down.
It was fall down, end down.
And they're falling down, you know.
The soldiers were in trouble getting in.
But if you read your Bible exactly sometime
have a look at it the night when
you grew up you'll find this.
That the wall went down.
And with the saying just the other year
it was discovered that it was all right
down in there yet.
And the soldiers marched then without any doubt.
Look, here's Paul praying.
He says, Oh God will you give these
young believers will you give them the privilege
standing in the sword will you give them
the pleasure being a vessel wherein you can
fulfill all the goodness of thy good pleasure
Oh God will you give them the power
when they trust you.
Wonderful prayer.
And he says, look, here's what he does.
When you have the privilege of standing in
the sword and the pleasure of being a
vessel and your work of faith ends with
a demonstration of the power of God then
the name of our Lord is glorified in
you.
Oh, that's what he does.
I am he in him.
Oh yes.
Many times I've come to this platform with
a message cut and dry and I know
every detail of it and I know what
I'm hedging for and I know everything about
it and it's a message perhaps that has
filled my soul as long as I've thought
it out and then God begins to crush
it up when I come to the platform.
And you know, sometimes I've been made to
tremble and yet, and yet, I knew it
was the Lord.
I can remember now one night I came
to this platform with perhaps one of the
greatest messages I'd ever prepared.
I was thrilled with it.
I was full of it.
I felt it could swallow me.
And yet the Lord just said to me,
you know, preach on.
You have played the fool.
I have played the fool.
I said, Lord, but you have a more
thing to say about it.
And yet this thing came along.
And then I knew it was the Lord.
And then I was prepared to be his
vessel.
And by faith I stepped out and that
night power fell on this place.
And Mr. Woods just sitting back there was
one for the Lord.
And he hadn't been in a meeting for
over 30 years till that night when God
brought him in from the country and into
the place.
And here's the message.
I have played the fool.
And Christ was glorified and I was glorified
in Him.
With all this, with all this, all brethren
and sisters, you know this wonderful prayer that
ends like this, according to the grace of
our God.
You know, it takes grace to make this
chance.
It takes grace to make you yield that
the vessel make the use of God.
It takes grace to do exactly as He
wishes by faith that He might be glorified
in you and you in Him.
It's all grace.
Wonderful prayer.
Look, you young believers, get the hold of
this, that God wants to prove you worthy
of the kingdom of God.
And you'll get grace.
The grace of God will make you stand
in this call to this everlasting glory of
His name.
What a privilege.
God bless you.
We'll go on next Tuesday with that wonderful
second session.