Midweek Bible Study | 2 Thessalonians 1 | Gary Hamrick

second Thessalonians is where we're gonna be if you'll take your Bibles and turn there with me to second Thessalonians and we do have some Bibles available if you want one you can raise a hand as the ushers come down the aisles they'll be glad to hand you a Bible second Thessalonians chapter one is it that funny I don't know it's like second Thessalonians chapter one is where we're gonna be it's page 837 in the church Bibles if you take one from our Usher's and while you're turning there let me give you a little bit of background on this book and I think what we're gonna do because the kind of the answers are the questions that you thought we forgot became so popular I think what we're gonna end up doing on our Wednesday night studies is to give you the chance to make it a little interactive not every Wednesday night but when we get to the end of second Thessalonians well I'm gonna save sometimes that you can text in your questions so that you know you can have some interaction with the material and maybe get some questions answered in the course of my teaching that I may not have addressed so as we go through 2nd Thessalonians just kind of jot down questions you might have because when we get to the last of the teaching it's only three chapters so we're only going to be in here for a couple of weeks but when we get to the last chapter will allow some time for you to text into your questions so you could write them down now and remember them to text them in later when we get to the last of the of the studies for this book and then we'll keep going through the rest of the Bible as we do here on Wednesdays and Sundays but for tonight we're here second Thessalonians so let me give you a little bit of background on the city of Thessalonica and then on the Church of Thessalonica which is not too different from our study of first Thessalonians so as we come in to second Thessalonians a little bit about the city Thessalonica located in modern Greece a population of around 200,000 plus and Paul's day considered a very large city in 1st century AD originally called Therma because of the hot springs that were found there and the city was renamed after Alexander the Great's half-sister in 315 B see her nameless Thessalonica today it is called Salonika with a population of a little more than 300,000 and now a little bit about the Church of Thessalonica it was founded by Paul around 51 52 ad Acts chapters 17 and 18 record his second missionary journey when this church was planted he was only there for three to four weeks then he left so he birthed a church very young church then he left and now he's writing a letter about a year later giving instruction to this young church it was mixing a mixed population of Gentile and Jew but it was mostly Gentile with some Jewish believers presence now in addition this second letter here to the Thessalonians was written by Paul when he was in Corinth a few months after 1st Thessalonians so the year is still around 52 53 AD and the main theme of this letter is just like first Thessalonians it's about the second coming of Christ we're gonna notice here in chapter 2 in particular that he spends a great deal of time talking about the Antichrist it is one of the most lengthy sections of the New Testament as it relates to the Antichrist so when we get to chapter 2 Lord willing next week we're going to talk a little bit about the Antichrist but here's the main purpose as an overview of why he wrote second Thessalonians and again he wrote it a couple of months after 1st Thessalonians because apparently we're going to see here in chapter 2 there was circulating this false prophecy and even a letter that some were saying this came from the Apostle Paul that basically said that the persecution that they were going through was the Great Tribulation and that they had missed the second coming of Christ so Paul's gonna come along and correct this false prophecy this letter that's circulating in his name somebody has stolen Paul's identity and so they've kind of signed his name to a letters I guess that's not my letter and said so if you'll notice we're just a quick glance at chapter 2 look at verses one two and three because in chapter two verse 1 he says concerning the coming of our Lord is Christ okay the second coming and are being gathered to him the rapture we ask you brothers not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy report or letter supposed to have come from us saying that the day of the Lord has already come and he says in verse 3 don't let anyone deceive you in that way don't let anyone deceive you in any way and he's going to go on later in chapter 2 to say there's a couple of things that have to happen first before Christ is going to come again and the things that he tells us in chapter 2 that still have to happen still have to happen in our own day as well so even though he's writing in the first century some of these things are prophetic as it relates to the second coming of Christ and things that will be kind of the precursor to the Lord's second coming so he wants to reassure the people of Thessalonica listen you haven't missed the second coming because they're going to experience it we'll see here in Chapter one in a moment there they are experiencing tremendous persecution and suffering from people who who don't believe as they do in Christ so now the early church is persecuted they went through tremendous hardship particularly under Emperor Nero Emperor Nero was very depraved he he basically burned Rome and then blamed it on the Christians in addition to that he persecuted Christians by literally dipping them in tar while they were alive and lighting them as human torches in his garden so that's Nero that's first century and Nero will be the one who will eventually behead Paul so Paul will die at the hands of Nero and there's such persecution now against Christians in the first century that all this persecution some are saying is the Great Tribulation and Paul's come along saying Christ is coming again but this ain't the Great Tribulation yet okay you're going through suffering you're going through hardships you're going through persecution no doubt about it but this is not yet the second coming you haven't missed the second coming of Christ here's a few things that have to happen before Christ comes again so that's where we're going in this study here of second Thessalonians again it is a book rich with Biblical prophecy as it relates to the second coming of Christ and this is somewhat of a corrective letter saying don't believe all this nonsense that you're hearing and thinking as relates to your suffering and persecution you haven't missed the Second Coming he's even gonna warn them in Chapter three and don't get lazy some people have checked out because they they so believe that Christ is coming in their day or that they've missed it either way they're like muzzle quit our jobs and eat Twinkies because you know either either we've missed it and so life isn't going to be good or he's coming soon so why are we even working and Paul's gonna tell him in Chapter three get a job and he's gonna say to them if you don't work commanders who does not work shall not eat so he's like there's kind of a principle it goes hand in hand if you want dinner you got to work for dinner and so he's gonna even challenge him about the way that they're living in Chapter three so a great book together we're gonna hopefully get through chapter one tonight so let's first pause and pray father we just thank you now as we open up our Bibles here and just pray that you would use the second Thessalonians to speak to our heart as you do through all of your word and especially as it relates to your second coming we just always want to be ready and watching and expectant but Lord not anxious not afraid Lord we want to live out our lives and occupy until you come we want to be faithful to be good stewards of our time and everything you've given us while we wait for your imminent return may we make the best of each day may we continue to be salt light in our world and share your love and your truth and it's because we want as many people to be saved like us Lord that we might go to heaven together and be rescued when you come again so we just thank you for your word tonight bless it to our hearts we pray in Jesus name and everybody said amen second Thessalonians chapter 1 paul silas and timothy you'll notice that these guys here are traveling companions paul has left Thessalonica he's gone down to Athens where he separated from Silas and Timothy his traveling companions he's gone on now to Corinth which is where he's gonna write this letter and Silas and Timothy joint rejoin him there in Corinth so he's writing on the behalf of the three of them and he says to the Church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ the word Church in your Bibles there the New Testament written originally in Greek the Greek word for churches ekklesia and ekklesia is from two greek words meaning out and Kaleo meaning to call the church is literally the called out once we are we are to be called out from the rest of the world on the rest of the culture not to be stuck in the four walls of the church to be still influential in our world and to engage our culture and to make a difference in our world but we are called out once literally the church is to be people who are called out from the way that the rest of the world lives their lives we are to be distinct in our world we're to be called out from the culture not just to be doing everything that everybody else does we are to be called unto Christ called out from the world and then sent back to the world to make an influence for his glory but that's the real definition for Church ekklesia the called out ones to the Church of the Thessalonians of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and then here's his common greeting the twin sisters Grace and peace Grace and peace chorus a familiar greeting to the the Greeks and Romans peace Shalom a familiar greeting to the Jews so he's covering both Gentiles and Jews grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ he says in verse 30 we ought always to thank God for you brothers and rightly so because your faith Circle that word is growing more and more and the love circle that word every one of you has for each other is increasing and therefore among god's churches we boast about your perseverance circle that word and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring so there's that reference to the suffering persecutions that they're going through now Paul begins this letter here by commending them for three particular things he commends their them for their growing faith in the Lord that's verse three he commends them for their increasing love for one another that's also verse three and he commends them for their perseverance through trials so first thing first he commends them for their growing faith in the Lord how do you grow in your faith in the Lord you grow in your faith in the Lord because of what Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God the more that you read your Bibles and hear Bible studies like tonight you know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God we're going through God's Word and the more you hear God's Word read God's Word get God's Word into your heart it has this natural effect where it will produce greater faith you will grow in your faith in your walk with God and your relationship with him to the degree that you are reading his word and hearing his word and a part of this Bible study like you are tonight so I commend you for being here because by studying together God's Word you are growing in your faith so he commends them for growing in their faith he commends them for their increasing love for one another how do you increase your love for one another well Jesus says in John 13 verses 34 and 35 he says a new command I give you a new command like this John 13 verse 34 a new command I give you love one another now before I finished the rest of the passage why is that a new command that's a new command because he let me finish the rest of the but he goes love one another as I have loved you so you must love one another it's a new command because before Jesus made that a new command the highest degree of love that man knew was self-love that's why in Leviticus the command of the Old Testament was love your neighbor as yourself Jesus comes along and he says a new command I give you because he raises the bar of love and he says love one another as I have loved you so you must love one another and then he adds by this will all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another so it's a new command because now Christ is telling us how do you love one another more you love one another more by the way that you have received the love of Christ so Jesus is I want you to love each other as I have loved you how much has the Lord loved you when you stop and consider how much the Lord has loved you that's the kind of love that he wants us to extend to others because in loving one another it shows the rest of the world that we belong to him by this will all men know that you are my disciples when you love one another so love must be sincere love must be genuine love must be not just simply in words only but in deeds expressed we must demonstrate our love for one another we must show our love for one another we must tell each other how much we love one another and he commends them for increasing their love for one another and then he commends them also in verse 4 for their perseverance through trials now the NIV that I'm reading from uses the word trials if you have ESV translation it uses the word afflictions if you have new King James or King James it uses the word tribulation now it is small T again this is not Great Tribulation but this is trials afflictions and tribulations smalti' the word tribulation is from a Latin word tribulus used was this cart or this plank of wood and on the underside had sharp metal teeth and they would run the tribulus ever week to separate the grain back and forth back and forth so these sharp metal teeth would be used on the underside of a board to go back and forth on wheat to separate the grain that's a picture of tribulation tribulus where we get the English word tribulation from that Latin word tribulus so it's this picture of suffering trials difficulties hardship and some of you can relate when you think of your own lives and some of the things you've gone through you're like yeah it's kind of felt like a board with some teeth that has been piling over my back back and forth and back and forth and some of the things you've been going through and Paul is commending them here for their perseverance in their tribulation trials will mature us they are never Pleasant but they will mature us and through other passages of scripture like Romans 5:3 2:5 Paul reminds us he says we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that our sufferings produce perseverance and perseverance character and character hope and hope will not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit but he speaks there of how we grow in our maturity and it begins with suffering because it produces perseverance perseverance character character hope hope will not disappoint us because God has put out his love into our hearts and so when tribulation comes and when it is met with perseverance it brings maturity into our hearts and into our lives also Paul would write in or James would write in James 1 2 2 4 consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything now I don't know about you but I've often prayed Lord grow me into maturity without letting me experience any trials or tribulation and many of you prayed something similar to that it's like Lord I want to grow on my faith I want to be deeper with you but can you do it in an easy way and there are times that God will grow us in our faith just you know through wonderful opportunities but most of the growth that we will experience in our lives will come through persevering through difficulties because in the perseverance is when we can often see the hand of God that we don't often see when everything's going well so it magnifies difficulties in trials have the opportunity to magnify the hand of God and His faithfulness in the midst of what we're going through and then that gives us a deeper appreciation for who he is a deeper love for who he is and we draw near to him in a more you know profound way and it grows us in our faith but I wish I could say that the maturity will come in in other ways but the Bible probably makes it pretty clear in various passages that most of the maturity we experience the most of the growth most of the strengthening of our faith happens through difficulties as we persevere so that's this is why I'm part he's encouraging them he's like you know hang in there your perseverance through trials has been noted thank you for your perseverance thank you for enduring and you know when Christians go through difficulties it can sometimes cause us to question the goodness of God I don't say that to shame anybody I think that's often a normal reaction Asaph in Psalm 73 wrote a whole Psalm basically about having confusion as to why it seems that here he is trying to be a godly person and he's going through such hardship but he looks around his world and he sees people who are ungodly and they seem to have it relatively easy you ever played that game where you've looked at your life and you thought you know Lord I'm just trying to serve you I'm just trying to love you I'm just trying to honor you why is it that I'm going why is it this hardship this trial why this divorce why this health issue why losing my job when it seems like you know this this numbskull that I work with seems to everything's firing on all cylinders how come it's working out for him or for her and not for me and we can get into this quandary and it could play a game in our head and Asaph wrote Psalm 73 and I just want to read some of it to remind us the conclusion that he comes to I know many of you familiar with Psalm 73 but he gets through talking about all his observation when he looks at the world he sees how so many people who don't know God or doe profess to follow God seem to have it so well why is it I don't so this is what he writes in Psalm 73 he says surely God is good to Israel he says I know it intellectually to those who are pure in heart but as for me my feet it almost slipped I had nearly lost my foothold for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked they have no struggles now this isn't this isn't entirely true I mean sometimes when we're going through difficulties you know our perspective is often blurred so we think everybody else has it well except ourselves this where Asaph is struggling because you know they have no struggles the wicked they just they're doing fine their bodies are healthy and strong they are free from the burdens common to man they are not plagued by human ills therefore pride is their necklace they go around you know all proud their club their clothes themselves they clothe themselves with violence and from their callous hearts comes iniquity the evil conceits of their minds know no limits they scoff and speak with malice in their arrogance they threaten oppression their mouths their mouths lay claim to heaven and their tongues take possession of the earth therefore their people turned to them and drink up waters in abundance they say how can God know does the Most High acknowledge that you know there growing around scoffing God mocking God they talk about heaven but they're all about the earth and they mock God and so ACF says this is what the wicked are like always carefree they increase in wealth and he says surely in vain I've kept my heart pure in vain if I washed my hands and innocence all day long I'd been I have been punished every morning same say a saps questioning he says maybe my relationship with God is all in vain you know I've been putting my hope in him for nothing because I look and I see all the people who are wicked around me and they seem to have it so well and so he questions God and he says if I had said I will speak thus if I've talked in a certain way I would have betrayed your children he realizes if I had said what I'm thinking it wouldn't have been a good witness so please just as a word of encouragement if you're going through a difficult time it's okay to question God because God's a big God he can take our questions okay all through the Psalms David and other psalmist are questioning God like a salmon just like you know why is this happening why is that happen it's okay God's a big God he can take your questions but please just don't talk out loud around other people because you don't want to blow your witness and you don't want to disparage the character of God while you're sorting out your theology of why things are happening in your life so ASAP realizes that he says if I had said thus he says I would have betrayed your children Lord he says but when I tried to understand all this it was oppressive to me I was just burdened by all this why God and then the next verse this is Psalm 73 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God and then I understood their final destiny you know what he comes to the conclusion if he realizes he's is okay when I'm looking at all of the stuff in my life and I'm comparing my life to other people don't even profess to know God is as confusing to me it's perplexing it's burdensome why God has all this happen to me and doesn't seem to happen to other people okay he says but then when I stepped into the house of God I got this heavenly eternal perspective and I realized that okay God is just and he's going to take care of the wicked and he's going to honor the righteous because of our relationship with him so I'm just going to hold on till the end and God's gonna sort it all out you know friends listen that's not a cop-out to just say Lord I'm some you're gonna find sometimes you might be at a place like this in your life if you're not now Lord I'm just gonna hold on for dear life and I'm gonna trust you're gonna sort it all out in the end that's okay to say that that's where ACF was that so he came to the conclusion you've given me the right perspective when I come into the house of God as I just start to worship your Lord then the right perspective and this eternal perspective comes into my heart and I begin to realize it's all worth it and it's all gonna be worth it one day I'm just gonna hold on and stay true to you and trust that you're gonna sort it all out now I share that verse of that passage from Psalm 73 because that's basically the conclusion that Paul's going to come to here with the Thessalonians back here in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 because you'll notice now in verse 5 he says all this is evidence that God's judgment is right and as a result you will be can you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are suffering he says God's gonna sort this all out you're gonna be counted worthy it's all gonna be okay because of what Christ has done for you so your suffering in the long run is gonna all be okay because you're going to see look at verse 6 that God is just you know right now you may not be able to make sense of everything but hold on because God is just look at the rest of verse 6 he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well okay God has just underlined that in your Bibles it's the only place in all the Bible that it says it in in that order God is just now the Bible all throughout the Bible talks about how God is just but this is the only place where those three words are together God is just and so Paul is saying because God is just the sufferings that you're experiencing now God is going to balance the scales of injustice in his timing because he is just and he's going to do two things he says he's going to pay back trouble to those who have caused you trouble okay vengeance is mine saith the Lord you don't try to pay back trouble to people call to trouble you let God deal with them he's gonna deal with those who have caused you trouble and he says Annie's going to give you relief King James uses the word rest he's gonna give you rest or relief to you who are troubled and to us as well now listen he's not gonna say it's gonna happen necessarily today or tomorrow but he says here's the eternal perspective this will happen this is the rest of verse 7 this will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels and he will punish those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ okay so notice when will all this happen when will Jesus balance the scales of injustice and make everything right and fair and just well it says this will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven and blazing fire with his powerful angels jump over to Revelation chapter 19 in the backs of your Bibles Revelation chapter 19 because this is the event that he's talking about now I'm gonna put up this chart of end times events again that we were referring to last week and are in our study on end times while you're turning in your Bibles they're to Revelation 19 he's talking here about the second coming of Christ when Jesus comes at the end of the tribulation so remember there's two aspects to the second coming of Christ the first is when Jesus raptures the church when he takes Christians from the earth snatches them up to meet the Lord in the air in the clouds he doesn't come all the way to the earth he's in the clouds that's first Thessalonians chapter 4 trumpet call of God sounds dead in Christ rise we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them to meet the lord in the air and so we shall be with the Lord forever therefore encourage each other with these words so that's the rapture of the church when he's taken but when does Jesus come with blazing fire because that's what that's what Paul's talking about now in this passage blazing fires come in here at the end of tribulation when Jesus comes to the earth and and then brings victory to the Battle of Armageddon which is the culmination of the seven years of tribulation so that's what we read here in Revelation chapter 19 look at your Bibles now and this is revelation 19 verse 11 to 16 John says here and I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called faithful and true who is that that's Jesus he's coming on a white horse so you animal lovers there is a horse in heaven at least I don't know about your dogs certainly not your cats in any way but he's coming on a white horse I don't why I do that because I get emails every single time I say that and with justice he judges and makes war his eyes are like here you go blazing fire his eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns he has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself he is dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the word of God the armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen white and clean now I want to compare this with what we just read in second Thessalonians because it tells us two different things in second Thessalonians if you're able to flip back and forth if not just listen he said this will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven and blazing fire with his powerful angels so Paul tells us that when Christ comes again to the earth he's coming with his powerful angels but here in Revelation 19 when he talks about the armies of heaven following him riding on white horses that is not a reference to angels that is a reference to the Saints to Christians who come how do we know because of how they're dressed they're they're riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen white and clean the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible and when you go up just a few verses go back up to verse 6 same chapter revelation 19 verse 6 then I heard what sounded like a great multitude like the roar of rushing waters and like the loud peals of thunder shouting hallelujah for our Lord God Almighty reigns let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory for the wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready who's the bride the church believers fine linen bright and clean was given her to wear so the church is coming literally dressed in fine linen bright and clean given her to wear now go back down to what we were reading there in verse 14 the armies of heaven were following him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen white and clean so this is the church these are the same who have been kept in heaven during the Tribulation Period will also now return with Christ when he comes to the earth eyes blazing like fire and so when you compare revelation and let me finish reading this here in revelation 19:15 and out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nation's he will rule them with an iron scepter he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty the reference to Isaiah 63 talking about how God's enemies are gonna be crushed under his feet like grapes and a wine press okay and it says an on his robe and on his thigh he has this name written king of kings and Lord of lords so you can go back now to second Thessalonians 1 and when you combine both passages is not a contradiction it's saying to us that when Christ returns eyes blazing blazing fire Paul says here in 2nd Thessalonians 1 that the army of angels comes with him and John tells us in Revelation 19 and so did the Saints so you got this out of this picture here of here Christ comes his second coming back to the earth settles the Battle of Armageddon establishes his kingdom on the earth for a thousand years but when he comes he's coming with all the angels and all the saints in heaven and he's waging war against the enemies of God and the enemies of Israel in this battle of Armageddon and then Christ will rule and reign from the earth from Jerusalem for the thousand years and then there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth after the judgment of the great white throne among those who have gone through the Millennial Kingdom not the Saints who have already you know been made righteous and we come with the Lord and and our eternity has been sealed in him that's a different judgment for another group of people but now back here in 2nd Thessalonians 1 so this is what's going to happen now verse 8 looks looks a little difficult right verse 8 he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ but the literal Greek grammar it isn't just people who oh I didn't know people who didn't know and all I didn't I didn't know - a bet the literal Greek grammar reads willful ignorance and willful disobedience willful ignorance and willful disobedience and if you'll just glanced again to chapter 2 so that we can see even more clearly that they are deserving of punishment and God is just and punishing them if you look in chapter 2 verse 10 it says and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing they perish this is the second part of verse 10 they perish a chapter 2 they perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved okay they refuse to love the truth and so be saved God is a just God he is just in his judgments and that's why he reminds us here that God is just and he will deal with every wicked person in every evil person and he will bring rest or relief he will rescue those who know him now anybody can come to know him but if you refuse to be saved you refuse the truth you refuse to acknowledge Christ there is no remedy for you do you understand there is no other way to be saved okay I know that that's a really exclusive statement all right but truth by definition is exclusive okay and so listen for people who wrestle with well I can't all paths lead to God and you know that's the problem I have with you Christians when you start talking about the exclusive claims of Christ there's only one way and Jesus is the only way you know and I've said this statement before years ago listen this is how I settled it and you're gonna have to come to a place in your own life where where you settle things for yourself what I settled years ago was not that there was only one way but that God had made a way for me and that way is Jesus and I'm thankful for his grace and his love for me and across but he died for my sins and then so his punishment is just but he's gonna he's gonna punish those who did not know willful willful ignorance and did not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ willful disobedience and he says in verse 9 they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed this includes you those who will marvel because we believe this includes you because you believed our testimony to you now please notice here this is an important doctrine of theology verse 9 they will be punished with everlasting destruction some people believe that how is just annihilation that you just are you know you're exterminated if you end up in how that just simply isn't true the Bible describes hell as unquenchable unquenchable fire the Bible describes Hell as eternal punishment it is a place of eternal suffering now again for those of you who struggle with this doesn't seem consistent with the loving God write down Matthew 25 verse 41 in Matthew 25 verse 41 Jesus makes it clear that hell was originally and intended for the devil and the angels who rebelled with Satan the Bible says that God wants none to perish but all to be saved the heart of God Ezekiel tells us that God does not delight in the death of the wicked so it's not like God is you know in heaven just you know like some kind of a twisted you know dictator who just loves to see people punished and suffer and die he is a God of mercy and love who sends his son to rescue as many as one to be saved by trusting him as Lord and Savior he has no desire and no wish for the report for the wicked to perish he wants all to be saved so Matthew 25:41 reminds us that hell was originally intended and designed for the devil who rebelled against God and for the Fallen Angels who rebelled against God with Satan okay so that's important to understand but this is everlasting destruction it's not annihilation and you'd be surprised the number of people particularly liberal theologians who teach that it's just annihilation and even worse you have people who have kind of become outcasts from the evangelical community but you have people who actually believe in the doctoral doctrine of universalism now universalism basically teaches that that God intends to restore all things to their original state of purity through Jesus Christ so that in the end everyone will be brought into a right relationship with God there are some who call themselves Christians who espouse the doctrine of universalism who believe that basically in the end nobody's gonna really go to hell everybody's gonna get saved and Jesus is gonna rescue everybody and God's gonna just restore everything to its ultimate perfection how originally was and you have a guy by the name of for example and and I'm not you know calling him out he's you know made this his own statement of beliefs you ever got a guy by the name of Rob Bell used to pastor mega Church in Michigan he left there in 2012 but in 2011 he came out with a book called Love Wins and it was all and you know he was you know pastoring this mega church in Michigan and it was you know he was a part of the evangelical community preaching the gospel and then he just took a left turn and and in his mind his theology gravitated toward universalism and and he began to question even the existence of hell and so in April the 25th 2011 time did a feature cover story on this guy and the book that he wrote and it's it and the the title article is what if there's no help and the subtitle says a popular pastors best-selling book has stirred fierce debate about sins salvation and judgment John Piper would would tweet farewell Rob Bell because you know just goodbye Rob Bell because he has embraced universalism now he's last I read he was living in California literally surfing and he had teamed up with Oprah and I don't know what's going on there you know but anyway talk about universalism the Gospel according to Oprah but anyhow that's all another Bible study but I bring this up because don't be deceived by the doctrine of universalism it is a false doctrine and unfortunately it's even being circulated among some quote Christian camps kind of this belief that you know everything everything's just gonna in the end be all good and and there can't really be hell and so everybody's going to ultimately be rescued and listen take it from what scripture says don't don't believe me read your Bibles and Paul comes along right here he says listen there's such a thing as everlasting destruction and you know one of the worst things about the reality of Hell sometimes we just focus on the the torment part of it but notice in the rest of verse 9 and shut out from the presence of the Lord we have no idea what that would feel like because presently God is ever-present he's omnipresent he's always around us but but in how there will be the complete absence of God the complete removal of his presence and we can't even fathom what that will be like because presently whether a person even has a relationship with God or not they are the indirect or we as believers the direct beneficiaries of the presence of God that he is at least around us if not as believers in us and with us he is at least around us and the world and his presence still among us but but in this place of torment one of the worst and unimaginable things will be to be completely and totally separated from the presence of God and he goes on to say and the majesty of his power it's it's unimaginable what that will feel like to be so completely separated from the presence of God and he ends this chapter by saying in verse 11 with this in mind we constantly pray for you that our God may count you worthy of his calling and that by his power and I and I love this as a promise that it's not all up to us look at what God does with us and for us and in us and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours isn't that encouraging to him it's Philippians 1:6 isn't it you know he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus God is at work to help us it's not just what you got saved good luck getting to heaven and a wink from God it is I'm gonna come alongside of you and by my spirit I'm gonna help you to accomplish every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith so it includes our responsibility in there but God is fulfilling his good purpose prompted by our faith and he says we pray this 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 amen a good place for us to end and then next week we'll be taking a look at chapter 2 about the Antichrist so read ahead that'll be a fun time at least we know how it all ends that's what's fun we know how it all ends let's pray together father thank you for this time in your word this reminder to us of our glorious inheritance in Christ and we just thank you Lord for your grace and your love and thank you for the cross that you desire none to perish but all to be saved all to come into relationship with you Lord so we pray therefore our loved ones and our friends who don't know you that they would come to that place of surrender to receive you a savior we thank you for the promise and the hope of heaven as our eternal reward Lord and we thank you that you are coming again to rescue us from this world and you will settle every score and you will balance every injustice and in the meantime Lord we just trust you and we hold on because one day even as Paul would say I consider my present sufferings not worth comparing to the glory that awaits me in Christ Jesus we give you praise and honor in Jesus name and everyone said amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 7,964

Rating: 4.9692307 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Calvary Chapel

Id: dgrsWbG-FOI

Length: 45min 33sec (2733 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2019