How to be Counted Worthy of the Kingdom of God - 2 Thessalonians 1

Paul's first missionary trip was to the area of what we call Galatia, or today we call Central Turkey. This was about 14 years after Jesus Christ's death. So that was his first trip, and it lasted about three years. So that was around about the years 45 to 48 of the current era, as some people call it, AD.

We come across in Acts 13, we'll go to there as a bit of an introduction. We come to Acts 13 when Paul was preaching. You can see there, let me just turn to Acts 13. We're going to read in verse 13. Now, when Paul and his party sent a sial from Pathos, they came to Pergia in Transylia, and John, departing from there, returned to Jerusalem. And when they departed from Pergia, they came to Antioch in Sidiyeh. There are two Antiochs in the Bible. There's one in the middle of Turkey, so let's call it in land. That's the Antioch that he went to. That's the head of Galatia. That's in what we call Central Turkey today.

And there's another Antioch which is south of Turkey in the northern part of Syria. And that Antioch was more like home base with Paul Woz. So you go from that Antioch of Syria, and then he would travel in inland into Turkey, what we call today Turkey, and then he got to this Antioch in Pergia, which is in Central Turkey, as I mentioned. And he went there in each one of his trips. He went through that area.

And then he says, and he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down. And after reading of the law and the prophets, then he was invited to talk, and then he talked. And we go a little bit further in verse 38.

In verse 38, therefore, this is Paul saying, Let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, that's Christ, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of service. And by him, that's Christ, everyone who believes is justified. I gave a sermon a month or two ago about being justified through the faith of Christ. So through that we are justified. And then he goes on, From all things, justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

No law, no law pays the penalty of you breaking the law. It's like saying for instance, if you are breaking the traffic law and going through a red light, and you get a fine, you cannot go and say, I don't need to pay my fine because now I'm always going through a green light. So obeying the law does not pay the fine.

And that's basically in layman's terms what it is. Obeying the law, you can't pay the penalty of breaking the law. And that's what it is. The penalty of breaking the law, God's law, is death. And the only way of paying for that is death. And so that's why Christ had to die for us. So he brought us back, freed us from that.

So he is explaining about Christ and then a little bit ahead in verse 42. So when the Jews, so there was a mixed community, there was Jewish people and Gentiles, which are believers, went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached on the next Sunday. Oh, no, of course not, on the next Sabbath. So there we are. The Gentiles said, right, the next Sabbath. Let's now hear this again. We want to hear more. And then in verse 44, then on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city. Now imagine, almost the whole city. You have a whole. I don't think that we're practicing social distancing.

It was packed. Packed. Everybody was there and people outside the door and almost the whole city came to that synagogue. Came together to hear the Word of God. Can you imagine how many people must have been there? Now, the Jews, when they heard that, they were so happy. No, no. Read in verse 45. So when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy.

You know what envy is? It's part of the human nature. Well, we got to overcome. Remember? Pride, jealousy, lust and greed. Remember I gave a sermon about those four words. Pride, jealousy, lust and greed. I've told some of my children, or grandchildren rather, and maybe some of you that have grandchildren. If you as grandchildren, or your children, can come up with a song of those four words, I would like to hear it.

It would even be rap, you know? But just pride, jealousy, lust and greed. Something like that. You have no need to have those or something like that, you know? Come up with something creative. You know? At least it helps us to remember those four words of carnal carnality. Anyway, they were filled with envy.

And because of that, they contradicted and blessed him, and they opposed the things spoken by Paul. If it was one of them that was teaching this, one of my group, great! But yeah, it was a foreigner, and he was drawing more people than us. Wow! We envious! And that is one of the problems. So we can see the Jews became filled with envy. And therefore, we see it turned to the Gentiles. You read that in verse 46. When Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, it was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first, Jews.

But since you reject God's Word and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. When you reject Christ and this Word, you turn yourself unworthy of everlasting life. So, from this situation, we see that this was one instance, and there were many others, that then Paul went to synagogues in other towns, and they then rejected him. What basically developed is a great opposition from the Jewish community against the preaching that Paul was doing, particularly Paul, because he had been a strong Pharisee. So, he really knew how to talk to those Pharisees. He really knew how to touch them.

And he was saying the law of Moses, particularly the ceremonial law, is not going to make it just. The real sacrifice is Christ, and they did not like it. So, great controversy developed in the Church. Great controversy developed in the Church. And the controversy became so great, that you read in Acts 15, that there was what they called this Jerusalem Conference, that is in year 49.

And you read in Acts 15, it says, "...and certain man came from Judea and taught to brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And it wasn't just a circumcision, it was about the whole ceremonial law. And verse created a big argument, because you read Old Testament, and when you read Old Testament, it says, you've got to be circumcised, to be part of, to be an Israelite. And so, the verse was what?

You can't have that. And so you read in verse 2, therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension, that means there was a big argument. When he says no small dissension was a big argument, a big argument in church, and dispute with them.

And then they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go to headquarters, to Jerusalem, to the apostles and the elders of the church about this issue, about this question. So they went. And you know the situation there, because you read in verse 5, it says, but some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, in other words, they believed in Christ. They were believers. But they came from a background of Pharisees. They were Christians, they believed in Christ.

But they had this background. They rose up saying it is necessary to circumcise them, that is Gentiles, and command them Gentiles to keep the law of Moses. In other words, talking about the ceremonial law. And so they had this council, and you know the decision there is that, hey, to the Gentiles, what do the Gentiles need to stop this sexual immorality in those things? This is important. And as far as the law, the law about the consular, it says in the year that every Sabbath, we don't have two years anymore.

You read that in verse 21. So you're about the law, every Sabbath, we don't have to tell them any further. But what they need to overcome is high unism and sexual immorality. So this got settled, Paul got a letter, and then Paul went out on his second trip, second missionary trip. And that was around about year 50 to year 53. That was a trip for about four years. And first you went back to Elisha, central Turkey. And then as he was moving up, God's Spirit led him to go across, let's call it the Bosphorus, to Europe.

And basically northern Europe. So you went to what was then called Macedonia, which kind of northern Greece today, and then into southern Greece. And he went into cities like Philippi and Thessalonica. As we read in Acts 17, it says, Now when they had passed through Amphipolos and Apollonian, they came to Thessalonica. So they went. And verse 2, Paul, as was his custom, he went into them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.

So we can see a message that Paul had. And the message was, basically, Christ had to suffer, he was to rise again, and you would have to come back as the Messiah there. But first he had a suffering servant, so he had to suffer, he would rise, be resurrected, and then he would come back as the Messiah for the coming Kingdom of God.

So, as we read in verse 4, we finish reading after verse 3, and when some of them were persuaded, and a great multitude of devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Cyrus. Verse 5, But the Jews were not persuaded, becoming envious, again, envy, again, the carnal mind, they were envious, the Jews becoming envious. It says, took some of the evil men from the marketplace. Think about it. Nothing is new. Think about it. Nothing is new. You read that also at the time of Christ's death. Imagine the devout Christians after the Passover at 6 o'clock in the morning, being out there trying to kill Christ.

No, they would be looking after the children around and getting them out of bed and things like that. It was, they got a group of, what the Bible says here, evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob. In other words, it's like you buy people and bring in and create this mob of people, and then you got all the media and the TV cameras out there and say, you see, everybody's against it.

But it's actually plotted. John the citizen was not involved, like in the days of Christ. John the citizen, when they all got up and whatever it is next to him, Christ is already being crucified.

He says, what happened? It has the same thing. It's evil people gathering a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rules of the city, crying out, these who have turned the world upside down, have come up too. And so you can see, and then they say, well, they signed the reason of the King Jesus.

So they created the whole fake news stuff, and the whole turmoil. And you know, brethren, today is nothing different. It's exactly the same thing. You know, you get these mobs of people, they kind of, a lot of them, they don't even know why they're there, and things like that. So it's nothing different. So, you know, that Paul was persecuted. He had to leave Thessalonica, but the brethren in Thessalonica had a hard time.

The brethren, the Thessalonians, brethren at a hard time. So then we read through the story that Paul went to Berea, and then from there he went to Athens, and you know about the story we spoke in Athens. And from Athens he went to Corinth. That's using the southern part of Greece. And then he settled in Corinth for about a year and a half.

It's like the base there, and he stayed there for about a year and a half. And this was around about year 51 and 52. We are talking about 20 years after Christ had died in year 31. So we're talking about 20 years after Christ had died. And during this process of time, maybe a year, maybe six months, maybe a year, and after he had been in Thessalonians, during this process of time he had sent Timothy to help the Thessalonians, and then Timothy had returned.

And we read about that in 1 Thessalonians. He had returned, and then Timothy had come back to Corinth, and then Paul and Timothy right to the Thessalonians to encourage them. See, Paul's letter, 1 Thessalonians, was a letter of encouragement to encourage them in face of persecution, because as you know, these people in Thessalonians that we're going through persecution, to encourage them that we're still living and which had been thinking that they would be living until the time of Christ, but some of them had died.

You know, 20 years had gone by since that, and they said, well, you know, so these people that were faithful, they died, and therefore they're not going to seek Christ's resurrection. And so he's encouraging them in 1 Thessalonians, saying, hey, you know, 1 Thessalonians, you know, he talks about in chapter 4 that, you know, the ones that are living will be transformed first, and then, I mean, the ones that are dead will be resurrected first, and the ones that are living will then be transformed.

And so, you know, that's part of 1 Thessalonians. He was encouraging them about that. You read that in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 15 and 18. And then he also writes to them in 1 Thessalonians 5, saying Christ is going to come as a thief. You don't know when, but be ready. Be watchful. You read that also in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 3 and 6. Be watchful. Be ready. Very similar to what is in Matthew 24. So, in 1 Thessalonians, he's basically encouraging them, look, Christ doesn't come, but those people that have died in the faith, they will be with Christ when Christ resurrects them.

So, don't be discouraged. And then he also, in 1 Thessalonians, he encouraged them about living a life of purity. In other words, we have to be obedient. We've got to be living in a life that is clean. And then finally, he encourages them not to be lazy. You see, because some people were saying, well, Christ is coming tomorrow or the day after. Then, I don't need to work. I just use my savings. And therefore, I'll be lazy. I don't have to work.

I live a life of, you know, just use what I've got. And we've got to be careful of that. We've got to be careful of that. So, they had gotten this message from Paul. But, you know, when you explain something, there's a way somebody is going to misinterpret it some other way. I mean, you don't even think. You think you're trying to explain it very clearly.

And then some people say, oh, there's something else. Well, even though Paul explained in the reasons, some still believe that Christ was coming quite soon.

And therefore, it's possible that even some people may have written some letters to the Thessalonians, saying as if they were from Paul, and giving them false ideas. So, when Paul heard this, when he heard this misunderstanding, he immediately wrote to them 2 Thessalonians. And that was around about the year 52. And he, there, was also a letter of encouragement to re-encourage the brethren, and saying that certain things have to happen first before Christ comes. And that he addresses in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians. But today, after this introductory background, I want to cover 1 Thessalonians, which is more about, and now I kind of subtitle this, as how to be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. How to be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. Now, you and I know there are scriptures, for instance, in Luke 21, verse 36. It says, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are about to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man that is coming. In other words, not only escape, but to stand with Christ that is coming. In other words, to be worthy of the kingdom. But it says, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy. Now, the question could be, how can I be counted worthy?

And certain points about how to be counted worthy are mentioned in this first chapter of 2 Thessalonians. So we want to highlight those points. So let's start reading 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. So let's go there, and you might want to put a marker because we're going to be in and out of 2 Thessalonians. And it says, Paul, Silas or Sylvanas, and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians, in God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There's no mention of the Holy Spirit. We've highlighted that a number of times in the past. There's no need to spend more time to talk about that. God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And then he goes on, starts encouraging us, says, Grace to you and peace. From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. A second time he says it, from the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. So, and grace and peace. Grace means everything of good, everything of happiness, everything of joy, be to you, and everything that God gives us. And the outcome, the outcome of God's goodness is peace.

The outcome of God's goodness is peace. So grace and peace. One of the outcomes of God's goodness is peace of mind. This peace of mind that is beyond understanding, that we hear from God. It's an outcome of God's goodness. And then in verse 3 he says, We are bound to thank God. So, Yah is positive encouragement to the brethren in Thessalonians. We are bound to thank God always for you brethren. We thank God for you brethren because you are faithful. You are coming to church, you are serving, you are dedicated. Thank God for you as it is fitting because your faith grows exceedingly. You see, our faith needs to grow exceedingly. We need to grow in the trust of God, in the confidence that God is with us.

And the love of every one of you bounds towards each other. In other words, we are growing not only in faith, but we're growing in outgoing concern and love for the fellow brethren. And whatever we do, whatever we act, we need to grow in love.

Now, you know, in Matthew 24, 12, what he talks about the 7 on the Mount says, At these end times the love of many will lacks hope. Read it? This is a problem in the society. And I am convinced that this whole COVID thing is employed by Satan to do just that. Because how many people have become over this last year, by being separated, by having social distancing, by not hugging, by not shaking hands, it kind of creates an environment of slowly a subtle coldness. And yeah, we have to be loving and caring for one another and take precautions, but we need to be careful that we don't allow ourselves to be cold. And this is what's happening at this end time. The love of many will wax cold.

It's very similar, in a way, to the attitude that people say, I'm okay, I'm doing well, I don't need anything. I'm well, and... And we don't realize how much are we lacking in genuine love for others.

And we've got to be careful in this society.

There is a attitude of saying, well, we've got things, we've got a lot of things, we are doing well, and we forget God. And that ties in nicely, in a way, or nicely, because it's bad, but ties in with the understanding of what allowed the C&Es in the time of the game. Because we think we've got a lot of things, we've got nothing, unless we have love for one another. And we've got to be careful that we don't allow our love to rest cold. But Yahweh says, grow in absolute trust in God and love towards one another. We've got to grow in love towards one another. Alright. Verse 4. So that we ourselves boast so that we, as God's ministers, we boast, we are proud, quote-unquote, maybe I will not say proud, maybe I say we're well pleased, alright, that your conduct is that you are, and it says, we boast of you amongst the churches of God. So, when we talk to the churches in Jerusalem, or we talk to other churches, we say, look how well the Thessalonians are doing, because they're growing in faith, and they're growing in brotherly love. And what a compliment that is to a church, to a congregation. So, we boast of you among the churches of God. For what? Because of what? Because of patience and faith. Now, think about it. Patience and faith. What is patience? Patience is, of course we all know what patience is, not being patient, but patience is persevering, just sticking to it, sticking to it. You saw that? I think we have a phrase, like a word called phosphyte. I've mentioned that a few times to you. It's just holding on and being patient, being persevering, not letting go, and just being patient. And you even read in Revelation, yeah, it's the patience of the saints. Those that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus Christ. In other words, they persevere, they stick to it. So, we boast ourselves of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith. And faith, a simple word to describe faith is trust. When you have faith, you have absolute trust, absolute confidence in God. You have absolute confidence in God. So, we have two different things because of your patience and faith. And then, it says, in all your persecutions and tribulations that you enjoy.

Again, that's two different things, persecutions and tribulations.

The brethren in Thessalonika were going through persecutions because of the faith. You know, they were persecuted. Paul was chased out of Thessalonika. That was persecution. That is saying, I don't like your religion. Get out of here. I don't like you. You are keeping the Sabbath. We don't have to keep the Sabbath. And therefore, I don't like that or whatever. That is persecution. You know what? Some people can make your life difficult because of what you believe.

That's persecution.

Tribulation is completely different. Tribulation is precious. It's stress. It's financial difficulties. It's precious in life. It's anxieties, being anxious. It's health issues. All this is challenges, tribulations that we have. So, it's saying that you have patience and faith. In other words, you perseveering, not giving up, and you absolutely trust God, even though you're being persecuted, in other words, even though you are people against you because of your religion, and even though you have difficulties in life, be it health issues, be it financial issues, being anxieties, whatever tribulations you have.

For which you also suffer. Verse 6, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation, does it trouble you?

But, before I move that onto verse 6, let's look again at verse 5. In fact, I think I read over verse 5. So, let's read verse 5 carefully. It says, in all persecutions, the relationship between you, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. Now, let me ask, how can it be that you're being persecuted and that you are having tribulations, that that is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God? When you say, these people that are disobedient, they're living a great life. And as, and I'm trying to obey God, I'm having all these persecution and all these trials. I'm trying to obey God, I have these persecution trials, and these people that are not obeying God, they're kind of being blessed, and everything is going rosy for them. And it says, the fact that you are going through persecutions and tribulations is the manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God.

It kind of, doesn't make sense, does it? It kind of looks contradictory. So, why are persecutions and trials a proof of God's righteousness?

Because they are a sign of the evidence of the righteous judgment of God. So, let's look a little bit about that. Particularly when we think about, let's just read a bit more, the rest of the verse. It says, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. And so, remember I mentioned as a title, how can you be counted worthy of the kingdom of God?

And it says, trials and persecutions are proof of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God. Should we? Let us talk a little bit more about this and dig into these scriptures a little more profoundly, because there is something profound stated here that you and I can just read over. In fact, just now I read verse 4 and I jumped onto verse 6. It just shows how it's easy to read old things.

So, let's look a little bit about persecution. Let's go to 2 Timothy. So, keep your fingers there or a marker there on Thessalonians, because we're going to come back to it. But 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy chapter 3, we're going to read verse 12 and 13. It says, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, will suffer persecution. It doesn't say, you might, you could, you will. But evil and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Yeah, in fact, that things are going rosy and you're doing wrong and things are going rosy, they're being deceived and they're doing it even more and they're getting worse and worse. You and I can see that in the wall today. It says, you will be persecuted. Alright, let's also look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Sorry for jumping around back and forwards, but we were in 2 Thessalonians. Let's look now at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 14 to 16. It says, for you brethren, become imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus. In other words, add congregations, talking in the skies to the Thessalonians. Imitate, copy, do the same thing as the churches of God, you know, as the different congregations in Judea. So do the same things. For you also suffered, yeah, the Thessalonians are suffering, the same things from your own countrymen, so you're suffering from your own people, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they do not please God, and are contrary to all men, for bidding, verse 16, as to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved. So, as always, to fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them to the outwards. So persecution is due to all of us. We all have to be persecuted. It will happen. Look at Philippians chapter 1.

Philippians chapter 1 verse 27. Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 and 30. It says, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Our conduct needs to be worthy, so there is something to do with our conduct needs to be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to see you or am absent, I am a year of your affairs that you may stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. And I am not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which to them approve of perdition, but to you of salvation and death from God. For to you it has been granted on the outwards of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. Having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is me. It also has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, it says in verse 29, to suffer for Christ's sake. You and I have been granted the grace to suffer in the name of Jesus Christ.

Wow, why? Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 7. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 7. That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold and perdicious, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. God will allow tests in our life, difficulties, challenges, sufferings, persecutions, why? To prove that we actually trust Him. For us to prove, even though it does not appear temporarily, that God can see by that mere fact that we trust Him, and therefore, it says, may be found to receive praise, honor, and glory at Christ's God. There is the answer. There is the answer. The righteous judgment of God is that He is testing our loyalty and our faithfulness and the difficulties, because He wants to know whether we are genuine or not. That's why He talks about the genuineness of your faith. He wants to know whether we are really, truly dedicated or just fake stuff. Just, you know, what they call, murders, windows and mirrors.

Smoke and mirrors, that's right. Smoke and mirrors. Right. Okay. So, God is testing our faith. So, God allows us to test, to be tested. Why? Because we're going to have a bit of resurrection. We're going to be rulers in the kingdom of God. Who does He want to rule with Him in the kingdom of God? People that are loyal to Him, regardless. And when He says, it's destiny, we say, yes sir, we believe Him, we're going to do it. Our faith has to be tested. Look at James chapter 1 verse 2 through 4. James chapter 1 verse 2 through 4. My brethren, count on all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the destiny of faith produces patience. You see, when we have these difficulties, we are developing this perseverance, that patience, that stick-to-innitiveness, that fast-biting, that holding on, trusting God. And let your patience, your perseverance, have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete without lacking nothing. If any of you, they fall in lack of wisdom, let Him ask God who gives all liberally, so ask God for help, whatever you don't understand. But the point is, count on joy when we have the difficulties. It's that easy. It's that easy when we have trials and the fingers say, oh, I'm having this great trial today, I'm so happy. Well, of course not, but we've got to look beyond that, because this is proving to us, proving to God that we are worthy of being His sons and daughters, ruling the beginning of God. We are worthy to be at that ruling, the top echelon of those people that will be in the first resurrection. That's why many are called, but few are chosen.

You see, if you are chosen to be in God's 18th God's first fruits, to be amongst those that will be in the first resurrection. Or you can say different things, but if you're not developing that sittuativeness and loyalty and faithfulness to God, then you're not worthy to be there in God's eyes. So that's why it says pray, watch and pray that you may be counted worthy. Why? So that we may have the patience and the perseverance and the complete trust in God when we see everything falling apart. And what do we do? Oh, what I'm going to do with my stock. We were talking a little earlier, you know, what are we going to do with my stock or whatever it is? We got a bad trust in God. When things are going to go bad, they're going to go bad.

And God will work it out for us.

That's our only hope. That's our only hope. And therefore, He's proving us, testing us by the fire. And for this reason, we were called. You read that in 1st Peter chapter 2, 2nd John 1. He says, for this reason, we were called. And God allows us, and allows us to every other person, and allows us to happen in the world. Why? Because He hopes that these people that are doing wrong will come to repent us. Look at 2nd Peter chapter 3, 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 4 through 9. 2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 4 through 9. He says, when people say, where's the promise of your coming? And this has been going on, and don't forget that God, for God is like a day, is like a thousand years. Just be patient. Look at it in verse 9. For the Lord is not slacking concerning His promise. In other words, we have to trust concerning His promises. We've got to trust. As some count slackness, but His long suffering. He allows this because He loves these people that are doing evil, and He hopes that some of them will repent. And therefore, He allows us to go through trials and difficulties. But He will reward us with glory, with praise, and with honor. But His reason of allowing this to go on is that He's not willing, as you read at the end of verse 9, that any should perish, but all should come to repent. So He's giving people time, and He's merciful, and He gives time, and He gives them more time. And you know what? You and I kind of exhausted our patience, why doesn't God intervene? Because He's more patient than you and I, and He's giving them more time, in the hope that some will repent. And you know, many will repent during the Great Tribulation, because He talks about a great multitude that will come out of the Great Tribulation that will repent. So they will repent. But, He has the righteous judgment of God. And go back to 2 Thessalon chapter 1 verse 6. It is a righteous thing with God to repay what Tribulation does in trouble you. In the end, those people will be paid accordingly. They will not come out scot-free. But God's giving them time to repent. And you and I have to trust God and be patient and have faith that God will do that. And yes, through our sufferings we become better people. Through our sufferings, God can see what we're made of, that we absolutely trust in Him. Therefore, that's why it says in verse 5, that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God.

So, for us to be worthy of the Kingdom of God, we've got to be the sort of people that are prepared to have patience and faith in front of persecutions and provocations. Here is the Kingdom. There is an important Kingdom. Now continue then. And we know in verse 6, God will repay you. Romans 12 says, dangerous is mine, leave it up to God. Romans 12, verse 19-21, leave it up to God. And you know, it's like heaping coals of fire on their head. Why? Because if they don't repent, they will have righteous judgment on their heads. They've got to repent. God is giving them all the time to repent. If they don't repent, He will be a righteous judge. Verse 7, he says, and to give you who are troubled, rest. You see, God will give us rest. And we have to have faith and confidence that God will give us rest. When is that rest? And we know the Sabbath points to God's rest. And the Sabbath points to God's rest in the past. We know the seventh day of creation, God rested. But the Sabbath points to God's rest in the future, which in one way is the Hellenian. But even in a deeper, more profound meaning is the Kingdom of God forever. So, God will give us rest. In other words, God will grant us to be in the Kingdom of God. The Lord will be counted worthy to be in the Kingdom of God.

Rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. So, when Christ comes from heaven, and we are resurrected as spirit beings, or with the life changed from physical to spirit, we will be given rest. Why? Because then we will not be flesh and blood, but we will inherit the Kingdom of God, and we will be spirit beings, and then we'll have no more pain, nothing there because we'll be spirit beings. We'll have rest when the Lord appears.

Verse 8. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. So, when Christ comes, there'll be flaming fire. Now, you could say, because again, things are in duality, you could say flaming fire is at the end of the millennium, the end of the hundred years, that period, then the whole earth will burn, and it'll be the second day, and everything will burn.

True. That's duality. But Yah is specifically talking about, and it says, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, at Christ's second coming, there will be flaming fire. Do we know that? Let's look at Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14 is obviously after Revelation chapter 11. Revelation chapter 11 verse 15 is the seventh angelic sound. That's the lost trumpet. That's the seventh trumpet, and that is Christ's coming. So Revelation 11 verse 15 is Christ's coming. So then we go Revelation 12 is the history of the church, and the problems, how Satan's been trying to attack the church.

Then Revelation 13 is also an easy chapter telling you about the two beasts, the beasts that comes out of the sea, which is a civil government, and the leader of that civil government. And then in verse 11, the beast coming out of the earth, which is a religious government, and the leader of that religious government, which is the false prophet.

And then in Revelation 14, it's talking about two groups of people. One is the winners, and the other are the losers. The winners are the ones that Christ's coming, that will be resurrected, and they will be of Christ. In fact, if you read verse 1 with verse 12, it says, He eyes the patience of the sons, of the winners, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ.

Those are identified. Those are the winners. The losers are those, and it says, it talks about those that worship the beast, in other words, that have the mark of the beast. In other words, do not obey God's commandments.

Right? And it says in verse 10, they will have the wrath of God, which is poured of full strength in the cup of His indignation. These are the people that are living at that time, and He shall be tormented with fire and broomstone. You see, at Christ's coming, there's going to be fire. So these people, you know, this is after the resurrection, and Christ in the presence of the Lamb, that He says, Yeah, and the holy angels, and Christ comes with the angels, and in the presence, these people that worship in the beast, that are breaking God's laws, because we see the winners and the losers.

The winners are the ones that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus, and the losers are those that do not keep the commandments of God and do not have the faith of Jesus. In other words, they have the mark of the beast, which is the opposite of keeping God's commandments. Of which one of them is breaking the Sabbath. That's what the mark of the beast is. So those people will be tormented with fire and broomstone in the presence of the angels and in the presence of the Lamb when He comes at His Second Coming.

To back it up, look in Revelation 16. In Revelation 16, as you know, Christ is coming, then there's the seventh trumpet, and then the seventh trumpet opens up into seven lost plates. And the seven lost plates have various things that will happen. And you can read in chapter 16 these seven lost plates. One affects the earth, the other one affects the sea, the other one affects the rivers. And then the fourth one, which is in Revelation 16, you read it in verse 8 and 9.

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch man with fire. So you were talking about Christ coming. During that period of Christ coming, there are various events that happen. Various things that are going to happen. The first thing that happens is the resurrection. But we can see there's various events that will happen. And one of the things after this, after the punishment on the land, and the punishment on the waters becoming blood, and on the rivers, then the sun gets so hot that it says it will scorch man with fire.

And men with scorch with great heat, and they blaspheme the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they still did not repent and even grow. And then after that, there's great darkness. And then after that, the river of great is dried up so that armies can gather together to fight Christ. And all this is happening, and the earth is seeing Christ there. So this is all happening during that period of Christ coming.

And it says in the sixth ball, they are gathering together for the battle of the great day. And then there's the seventh ball, which is the great earthquake. And then later, you read in Revelation 19, when there is actually that war. So you see a lot of things happening, but as Christ is coming, there is going to be flaming fire. There is going to be flaming fire. So we see the duality. Yes, it is a Christ coming. And yes, at the end of the millennium, the whole earth will burn up as well. But there is a duality up.

So let's go back to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1. I'm going to complete or read verse 7, the latter part again. And verse 8 says, God will give us rest, because we'll be in the kingdom. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, that's that he's coming with his mighty angels, because the angels will fight with him.

We, being resurrected, we want Noah to fight, and we're not there to fight. The angels will fight. So it says, but he will come, Christ will come with his mighty angels. Verse 8, In flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and those who do not obey the gospel of the truth. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, those that have the mark of the beast. See, the mark of the beast is the so-paying God. God's seal, he's doesn't obey God. That's what it is. As simple as that. So, we'll continue reading here in verse 9 and 10. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. In other words, they shall be punished at that time with everlasting destruction from being there with Christ.

So, they will not be there during the millennium. And what do you mean, everlasting fire? Well, everlasting destruction, it's also, you think about the time of judgment. In the time of judgment, you think about sections like Jude, verse 5 and 7. Jude has only got one chapter. But look at Jude, chapter 1. It's only one chapter, verse 5 and through 7. Jude... and it says, yeah.

The proper domain, but left there on a boat. He has reserved in everlasting chains and to the darkness of the judgment of the great day. Well, it's the chains that are everlasting not that the angels will then be judged on the glass bed. As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality. Sodom and Gomorrah and gone of the strange flesh are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Sodom and Gomorrah burned and they burned with eternal fire. So if you go to the area of Sodom and Gomorrah today, do you see a fire burning? No, but the fire was eternal. In other words, the fire was not extinguished. The fire burned, burned, but nobody extinguishes. There were no firemen going there with water, but it died once the fuel was exhausted. Eternal fire means a fire that will not be extinguished. And so when we talk about Yah in 2 Thessalonians, the everlasting destruction is a destruction that no man will stop it. That will be, those people will be completely destroyed from the glory of His power. When He comes in that day, verse 10, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired amongst all those who believe because of our testimony among you was believed. So He is basically saying, Yah, that there will be a judgment. There will be a judgment that Christ is coming. There will be fire at Christ's coming. There will be a destruction, but the saints will be glorified. The saints will be glorified. And so what He is saying in this introduction of 2 Thessalonians, very brief, just a couple of verses, 12 verses, and we'll read verse 11 and 12 in a moment. But in these 12 verses He is saying, Yah, I command you for being faithful, for being patient, that you have trials, you have persecutions, and this shows God's righteous judgment, because through this you are being counted worthy to be in the kingdom of God. But God is righteous. Those people will be punished in due time, and they will be, and they are everlasting destruction for them. They will be utterly destroyed. And then He concludes this first chapter, this introduction, in a positive note, saying, therefore, verse 11, We also pray, always for you, that our God would count you worthy of the Spirit. We pray that you would be worthy, that you would remain faithful, that you would persevere till the end, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power. In other words, stick to it. Remain faithful till the end, so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in Him. According to the grace, the goodness of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ again, for the third time in this section, talking about God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, with that, He starts chapter 2. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with Him, now He introduces that subject about Christ's coming where there is a misunderstanding, which will be the topic of another sermon that I will address, which will be chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians.