Second Thessalonians, Chapter number one, the bible read, "Paul and Sylvanus and Timothius, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our father and the lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace from God our father, lord Jesus Christ." Now this book starts out with pretty much the identical wording that first Thessalonians started out with, it's from the same people, to the same people. In fact a lot of the same subjects are discussed in both books. Both books have a big emphasis on end times bible prophecy. They talk a lot about tribulation, they talk a lot about the second coming of Jesus Christ, and this chapter is no exception.
Now notice in verse number two it says, "Grace unto you and peace from God our father and the lord, Jesus Christ." When you read Paul's epistles, over and over again, you'll see something similar to that. Grace unto you and peace. It's interesting because it's always in that order, it's always grace and then peace. Why? Because the Bible teaches, for example, in Romans 5:1 it says, "therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord, Jesus Christ." So the Bible says by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast them. Before we're saved the Bible says that we're at amity with God, the wrath of God abides on those who do not believe in Jesus Christ. But, we have peace with God through salvation, which is through faith, which is by grace. That's why it's always in that order. Grace unto you, and peace, because you're never going to have peace without the grace of the lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says there's no grace to the wicked.
So the Bible says in verse number three, "we are bound to thank God always for you brethren, as it is neat, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of everyone of you toward each other abounded." Now, we all have faith, and obviously without faith, you wouldn't even be a child of God, you couldn't even be saved, because we're saved by faith. But, our faith grows after we're saved. The bible talks about how me move form faith to faith in Romans chapter one. So getting saved is easy, the bible says that if thou shalt confess by mouth to Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Some people wonder, did I believe enough, how much faith do you need? There was a guy who came to Jesus and said, "Lord I believe, help thou, mine unbelief. So that guy has a doubt, and yet Jesus came through for him, even though he had that doubt.
So the question is, how much do you have to believe. Jesus talks about the fact that even if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would be able to say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea and it would be done for you. So it's not the quantity of our faith that matters, it's not how much did you believe or how much faith did you have. The thing that matters is whether all of your faith is on Jesus. The bible says in Act 8:37, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayeth." So it's not how much faith you have, it's just whether you choose to put all of your faith in Jesus. You can't be saved by having part of your faith in Jesus, and part of your faith in Buddha, or part of your faith in Jesus and part of your faith is in your own works, your own deeds. Rituals that you've gone through at your church, or the fact that you go to church. No, it has to all be the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and all of your faith is in him that saves you.
So you can have very little faith. But if you have enough faith to confess with your mouth to lord Jesus, just enough to say it, and believe, then that's enough faith to get you saved. But as we go through our Christian lives, hopefully our faith is increasing, we grow in faith. As we go through the Christian life we have less doubt and more faith. That's what the bible is talking about here when it says, in verse number three, it says "your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other abounded." So one of the things that he's complimenting this church for is that they're getting better, they're not backsliding, they're not going backward, but actually they're growing. Their faith is better than it was when he wrote first Thessalonians, their charity, their love one toward another is increasing and abounding as they go.
Look at verse four, "so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God." Now our modern word fro glory there would be bragging. He's saying we boast about, we brag about what a great church the church of Thessalonica is, "so that we ourselves glory in you, in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure." Now, tribulation is a very important word in the Bible, and it is especially important when we're talking about end times bible prophecy, because of course there's going to be the great tribulation that everyone talks so much about. When it comes to the rapture, or the doctrine of us being caught up together in the clouds with Christ when he returns and the trumpet sounds, people will talk a bout a pre-tribulation rapture, meaning a rapture that comes before the tribulation, a rapture that could happen any moment.
Then there are those who, rightly, believe in a post-tribulation rapture, meaning a rapture that comes after the tribulation. But what confuses a lot of people, is that they don't realize that the tribulation is not the same thing as God pouring out his wrath on this earth. Because people have been tricked into thinking that God pouring out his wrath is somehow referred to as the tribulation, they say "well why would God pour out his wrath on his own people?" Not realizing that, yes, the rapture is pre-wrath, but it's nor pre-tribulation. Because tribulation and wrath are two completely different things.
Now, it should be easy for someone to figure that out if they just read the New Testament a few times, because over and over again the New Testament uses this word tribulation, and it's so consistent, the way it's used. By the way, you look it up for yourself, 90% of the time the word tribulation is used in the New Testament, it's talking about believers going through tribulation. So we're not talking about the wrath of god. No, tribulation, simply put, means trouble, or affliction, or persecution. Those are words that are associated with tribulation in the New testament. Right here in this verse we see it coupled with persecution. He says "we thank god for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure." Notice persecution and tribulation are used in the same breath. Let's keep reading.
"Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer." So the suffering that they're going through, that's the persecutions and tribulations. Then it says this, "Seeing it as a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." Now notice how it's used interchangeably with trouble there, he said they're troubling you, so God's going to give them tribulation in return. This is one of the few verses that refers to unbelievers going through tribulation as well. But of course, anybody can go through tribulation. Everybody has trouble in their life, I mean unsaved people, saved people got through trials, afflictions, troubles. Unsaved people could be persecuted for all manner of reasons, and so that has nothing to do with the great tribulation, except for the fact that the definition of the word applies to the great tribulation. So the tribulation is just a time of trouble, it's a time of affliction, and it's a time of persecution. And it is a time that Christians will be here for, and there's plenty of Scripture to prove that, and I'm going to prove that this evening from this very passage.
But let's keep reading here, it says "Seeing it as a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled," you see that? So it's used together with tribulation, "to you who are troubled, rest with us when the lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." So let's look at a few scriptures on tribulation, flip over to second Corinthians chapter one. Second Corinthians one, because remember I told you that tribulation is associated with the word trouble, the word affliction, and the word persecution in the Bible. Look at Second Corinthians, chapter one, verse three, the Bible reads,"who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort, wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." So you see that tribulation and trouble are again used interchangeably again there.
Flip back to Romans, chapter number five, Romans chapter number five. Which is where that great verse is found, in verse one there, "therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," but the Bible reads as we continue in that chapter, "by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of god. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Now what did Paul say over in second Thessalonians chapter one? He said that he had gloried about them in the churches because of their patience and faith in all their persecutions and tribulations that they endure. So what are they being commended for? Patience and faith in tribulation.
What's he say in Romans five? The same thing, he says, that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope make us not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. SO what do we see here, tribulation in our live, troubles, trials persecutions, they work patience. Why? Because we learn that we have to put up with these things. We have to go through these rough times, we have to make it through these dark tunnels to get to the light at the other side. So, the more tribulations we go through, the more patience we develop, we learn to be content. We learn to have patience and to wait, but then it says that patience worketh experience. Obviously the more times we patiently go through tribulation, the more experience we have with it.
Then it says that experience worketh hope. And what does hope mean? Hope is when we believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and our hope is increased because of the fact that we've been through tribulations int he past and God always got us through it in the past, so if he always got us through it in the past, he's going to get us through it this time. Why? We have experience. We have patience, and that gives us hope. And he said hope maketh not ashamed. What he means there by being ashamed, if you study the bible on the word ashamed. When people are ashamed, basically it's when they've put their trust in somebody and they're let down. The bible talks about how if we trust in the Lord, we will not be ashamed, we're not going to be let down by him. We're not going to be left with egg on our face that basically God didn't come through for us. So he's saying, hope maketh not ashamed, God's not going to let us down. If we hope in him, if we trust in him, he's going to come through for us, and the more tribulations we go through, the more we know that to be the case.
So let me ask you this, are tribulations good in our live or bad? Well they're good, because they're working patience, he said we glory in tribulations. Does that sound like it's a bad thing? No, he's saying we glory in tribulations because we want patience, we want experience, we want hope. It's like David said in psalm 1:19, "it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might thy word." Afflicted, tribulation, those two words are related. So all throughout the bible we see that this is something that Christians go through, it makes them stronger and it builds their character.
Now back in second Thessalonians, chapter one, it says that "we ourselves glory in you and the churches of god for your patience and faith, and all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 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 also suffer." Seeing it as a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. Why is that a righteous thing with god. Well, if someone troubles someone else, then god is going to bring that back around to them. Because the bible says, "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." He that leadeth into captivity shall go away into captivity. He that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Notice those tow words, patience and faith. So all this stuff goes together when you study the bible and put it all together. That was a quote by the way, from Revelation chapter 13, which is an important tribulation chapter.
We see here that the bible is saying that God will punish those who trouble us. That's why the bible says, "vengeance belongeth unto me, sayeth the lord, I will recompense." Which is why is says here that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, 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 them that know not God, and on them that obey not the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ. Now this is a key here, because it says in verse seven, to you who are troubled, rest with us when? So we have some timing here, because he's talking about the fact that the believers who today are struggling, going through trials and tribulations, are one day going to have rest from their trials, rest from their troubles, rest from their labels, and the question is, when will they get that rest? Well the bible tells us when that rest will come.
The bible says when the lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ. So is this saying, well you know you're going to have rest with us before the tribulation, you're going to disappear like on the Left Behind movie, and everybody's going to be wondering where is everybody and nobody's going to see Jesus coming in the clouds because it's a secret rapture. Is that what this passage is teaching? No this passage teaches that we will have our rest, we will go to our rest when Jesus is revealed from heaven, meaning that people see him, and when he comes in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not the gospel, or know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ.
You see, Luke 17 makes it crystal clear, that just as the same day Noah entered into the ark, the flood came. And the same day that Lot was removed from Sodom and Gomorrah, God rained fire and brimstone. It's going to be exactly the same, in the day when the son of man shall be revealed, same word. It says when the son of man shall be revealed, then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left, etc. All of this fits together, the only people who don't see it are people who just don't want to see it, because Luke 17 is consistent with first Thessalonians four and five, second Thessalonians one is telling us the same thing. And all the other passages the book of Revelation, it all fits together perfectly once you just read it and take it for what it says. Now stop and think about this, back when we were in first Thessalonians, we nailed down the timing of the rapture right there in first Thessalonians, because it said that the timing of the rapture was basically the same timing as the day of the lord.
He described the rapture and he said, but of the times and seasons brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night for when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction come up on them, as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape. So notice the same day that we're caught up together to be with Christ in the clouds, sudden destruction is coming upon them, those that are the unbelievers. Doesn't that sound like in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not god and obey not the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ. Not only that, but when you go to the book of Revelation and you look up where the day of the lord occurs, easy to find, because the sun and moon are darkened and the stars fall, Revelation six.
What do you see in Revelation six happening? Well first there's silence in heaven about the space of half an hour and then he's raining fire and brimstone, that's the first step to God pouring out his wrath. The first trumpet, and in fact, even before the first trumpet sounds, just when the seventh seal is opened, the angel takes fire from the altar and casts fire into the earth, but then when the first of the seven trumpets sounds, when the first trumpet sounds, it talks about fire and brimstone raining from heaven, and the third part of the trees being burnt up and all of the green grass burnt up. It sounds to me like Jesus Christ in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ. So the when here is key.
Look at Revelation chapter one if you would, Revelation chapter number one because revelation chapter one makes this very clear as well. Right toward the beginning of the book of revelation, while you're turning there I'll read to you verse nine, because verse nine gives us another great mention of tribulation in the bible. It says, "I John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom in patience," notice how patience and tribulation are often associated, because it's something that we have to patiently endure, "and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was in the aisle that was called Patmas for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Back up to verse seven, this is right at the beginning of the book of revelation. I consider this to be the most important verse in the entire book of Revelation, this is the key verse.
The reason I say that, it's given a place of preeminence, notice it has an amen right before it and an amen right after it. It's set off by amens, like it's just a standalone verse there, just its own statement. It reminds me of when you'd write an essay in school and they'd have you give a topic sentence, or some kind of a key sentence. This is the key sentence of the book of revelation it says, "Behold, he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even so, amen." Again fits perfectly with the day of the lord. Hey, Jesus is coming in the clouds, and the unbelievers will be wailing, they will be weeping, and the trumpet will sound and the believers will be caught up together with Christ and those who are on this earth will have God's wrath poured out upon them, so the pre-tribulation rapture is false. Okay, because this all happens after the tribulation.
The bible says in Matthew 24:29 that after the tribulation the sun and moon are darkened, the stars fall, etc. That's when the day of the lord takes place, that's when the rapture takes place, that is known as the second coming of Jesus Chris, and that is when he begins to pour out his wrath on this earth, pouring out his wrath will take place over the ours of several years, and then at the end of those several years, Jesus Christ will ride in on the white horse at Armageddon and set up an earthly millennial kingdom, Satan will be bound into the bottomless pit, etc. So back to second Thessalonians chapter one here, now that we got that timing nailed down of when our rest will some, and we notice that is fits in perfectly with Matthew 24, mark 13, Luke 21, first Thessalonians four and five, all of the passages fit together perfectly.
Look what it say is verse eight, "in flaming fire, taking 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 for the glory of this power. Now there's a doctrine out there that a lot of people teach that hell is separation from God, and this is a really popular doctrine, the Jehovah's witnesses will take about this, the pope has made statements about this, and even independent baptists will constantly tell you that hell is separation from god. Many even have it in their statement of faith. Now this is a bad doctrine because of the fact that it's used to try to tone down what hell is really like, instead of focusing on what the bible focuses on, that hell is fire, brimstone, torture, torment, no rest day or night, no water, this horrible place. Here's what they say, " Well hell is just being separated form god."
If you would, flip over the Revelation 14, keep your finger there and save Thessalonians one, but go to Revelation 14. I've even heard them say this, "Well the worst part about hell is that you're separated from God." Not the fact that you're on fire, not the fact that you're there forever being tortured, but no, no, no, the worst part is that you are separated from God. Nonsense, here's the thing about that. Unsaved people don't really care if they're separated from God. In fact there are plenty of atheists and plenty of reprobates out there who would be glad to tell you that they would enjoy being separated from God for all eternity. In fact, when you describe the God of the Bible to them, they'll say things like "Well if that's the way God is, then I'd rather just go to hell, just to get away from him. I don't even want to go to heaven if the God of the Bible is real."
We've all heard atheists make statements like that. But the truth of the matter is that those who are in hell are not separated from God. This view is a false doctrine, and it was created by people who wanted to downplay the significance of hell, people like Billy graham, people like the pope, who want to be popular, and they basically would just say, "well hell is just separation from God." I remember when I was a teenager, and you know you do a lot of prank calling when you're a teenager sometimes, but anyway, I was a t a friends house, and we were used to calling 1-800 numbers and whatever as a kid. So he calls the 1-800 number on the Billy Graham crusade. He said, "let's call the Billy graham crusade and see what they say." So he calls the Billy Graham crusade on the 1-800 number and asks them hey what do I need to do to be saved, and of course they gave him a totally wrong answer.
But he asked the operator, and I was sitting there listening with him, he asked the operator he said, "well, what about hell? What do you believe about hell." And he said, "well, I don't want to go beyond what the bible says." Because my friend point blank asked him is hell a place of fire? He said "well the bible doesn't really tell us." He said, "now I don't want to go beyond what the bible says," he said, "but there's one thing we know about hell, is that it's separation from God. That's the one thing we know. Fire, not sure." It's amazing how people still listen to Billy Graham, when he flat out said, "I don't know if there's any fire in hell." Well you're not reading the bible then Billy boy, because the bible says over and over again hellfire, everlasting fire, fire and brimstone, I'm in torment int his flame. Hey just in case you don't understand, fire, flame! I mean just, every possible way of telling you you're on fire in hell, but look at what the bible says in the Revelation 14 and tell me if hell is separation from god according to the Bible.
It says in verse nine, "and the third angel followed them saying, with a loud voice, 'if any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation ,and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the lamb.'" So the bible says they'll be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of Jesus, because the lamb is Jesus. Then it says in the next verse, "And the smoke of their torment I sendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Not only that, but back in the book of Psalms, David said if I ascend into heaven, thou art there, and he said if I make my bed in hell, behold thou are there.
See god is everywhere, he's in heaven, he's in hell He's everywhere. He's omnipresent is the word that we would use to describe that, and right here it specifically tells us, that people who are being tormented in hell are being tormented in the presence of the lamb. So it's not a separation from God, it's torment in his presence. Now keep your finger there in Revelation 14, and back in second Thessalonians one, you'll see a verse that is sometimes misused to state that hell is separation from god, because they'll point to this verse that says, who shall be punished, verse nine, of course the flaming fire was in verse eight, but in verse nine it says "who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power." They interpret that as, away from the presence of the lord, away from the presence of his power.
A big reason for this is because a lot of the new modern perversions of the Bible actually change this verse to something along those lines. This is one of the reasons that it's so important to be reading a King James bible, because the new version have been tampered with. They're being translated from there false manuscripts, the Vaticanist, the Sinaiaticist manuscripts, just all of Westcott and Hort influence, Nestle Allen, all this garbage. The King James is the only bible that has all the verse in it, that's untampered with. That's a whole another subject for another sermon. But one of the main changes that, one of the biggest, most popular versions will make, to this chapter, is that they'll change this verse. So for example, the NIV, the best-selling book in america today in 2015 will change this verse, instead of saying "from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power," it says that they'll be shut out from the presence of the lord, so they add that in to change the meaning.
Now if we look at the verse for what it actually says, it says they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power. What this is actually saying, and I'm going to prove it to you, what this is actually saying is that the destruction is from the presence of the lord. It's not saying that they're going somewhere away from the presence of the lord. It says they'll be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord, and from the glory of his power. I'll prove it to you, go to Revelation 15, you got your finger there in Revelation 14, and we can compare grammar with grammar. Here's a verse in Revelation 15:8, that uses the same exact grammar as second Thessalonians one, it says "and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no man was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angles were fulfilled.
Now notice the beginning there, the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God. IS that saying away from, shut out from? No, what it's saying here is that the glory is coming from the Lord. So it says, the temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, that's the source. So look back at second Thessalonians one, they'll be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord and from the glory of his power. Say word from the glory, from the glory. Both say from the glory and it's both talking about the source of where the destruction's coming form in this passage or where the smoke is coming form int he other passage.
Now go back to the book of Isaiah, because you say, "well how is the destruction coming from the lord?" Well it should be obvious because of the fact that hell was created by God. A lot of people think of hell as being some kind of a kingdom of the devil where he rules and reigns. Go to chapter 30 in Isaiah, but actually hell is a place where the devil himself will be tormented for all eternity. He's not going to be ruling and reigning down there. He's a victim of the punishment of hell. It's actually God who rules over hell. Jesus said "I have the keys of hell and of death." And the angel of the bottomless pit that opens and shuts it, known as Abadon, or Apollion in the book of Revelation is not the devil.
Here's the proof, he throws the devil into hell a few chapters later. So how could they be the same person? Look at Isaiah chapter 30, verse 33. For Tophet, and tophet is a word being used here for Hell. Because tophet is gahenna, the valley of the sun of hennum. If you study the word tophet int he ible, you'll see it's synonymous with the valley of the suns of hennum or Gahenna, which is a picture of hell in the Bible. The bible says in verse 33, "for Tophet is ordained of old. Yay for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of the lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." So it is actually the lord's breath that kindles the fires of hell according to Isaiah 30, verse 33. That concept is present throughout the bible that hell is somewhere that God created as a punishment for the devil and his angels. And he created it and it's a place that he rules and reigns over because he rules and reigns over everything and everyone because he's God.
So the bible says in second Thessalonians, chapter one, "In flaming fire taking 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 form the presence of the Lord and fromt eh glory of his power." Now some people will try to say obey the gospel means you have to work your way to heaven. I've had people pull this out and say, "Well you know you have to obey the gospel." But here's the thing, what is the gospel? The gospel is the good new. Gospel literally means glad tidings. So if the gospel is the good news and if the gospel is defined in first Corinthians 15 as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that Jesus died for our sins and that he was buried and the rose from the dead, if that's what the gospel is, is that Jesus died for our sins, the only way to obey that is to believe that. See the command of the gospel is believe I'm the lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's an imperative by the way, that's a command.
The sentence believe I'm the lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved is an imperative sentence. It's a command, so are you going to obey that command? How do you obey it? By living a good life? No you obey the command to believe on Jesus Christ, you obey the gospel which is the death burial and resurrection by quitting drinking. By turing over a new leaf, by living a good life. Of course not. No you obey the gospel by believing the gospel. So that's all that's referring to when it says obey the gospel. They don't obey the gospel, they're going to be punished in flaming fire. Notice he doesn't say, "hey people who don't live a good enough life are going to be punished." No, it's people that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished and it doesn't matter how good of a person they think they are, or other people think they are, if they know not god, and obey not the gospel of our lord Jesus Christ, they will be punished with flaming fire and with destruction. By the way that destruction is an everlasting destruction.
We saw it in Revelation 14 when it talked about how the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night. Hell is a very scary place. It's a very fearful, scary, terrible place, and that's why people need to be saved, to escape the fires of hell. That's why we go out and try to reach people, and knock every single door in our area over and over again, pleading with people to be saved because we don't want them to go to hell. And God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So the bible says here in verse number 10, "when he shall come to be glorified, in his saints." Now here's another when, and it's the same when as we saw earlier. We're still talking about the same event in all these verses, it's a continuation of the same sentence, in fact.
"When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed I that day." Now again, those who obey the gospel are equated with who? Those who believed, because he said a minute ago, well the people that are getting punished, they obeyed not the gospel. Next verse he says that he's glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe. Watch this, all them that believe. All of them. Not just, well the ones that believed and did other stuff too. The ones that believed and led a good life, and joined the church and got baptized and repented of all their sins, that's not what it says. It says to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Because of the fact that when Paul came and preached the gospel, they believed it. They obeyed the gospel, they received the lord Jesus Christ their savior.
That's why they're going to be on the right side of things on that day when Jesus Christ comes in the clouds on the day of the lord. They're going to be on the right side. Those who had not believe are on the wrong side. Those who believed are on the right side. Again it comes back to salvation being 100% by faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. Verse 11 says this, "Wherefore also, we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power, that the name of our lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him according to the grace of our God and the lord Jesus Christ."
Now, go if you would to second Timothy, chapter number two, second Timothy, chapter number two. Because they've believed already, he's writing to the saints, he's saying our testimony among you was believed, you're saved, you're going to be on the right side of things. But then he goes on to say that he's praying for them though, that they would walk worthy of that calling. There are a lot of scriptures that say something similar to that in the New Testament. Walk worthy of your calling, and to be worthy, and also he's praying that they would fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. So it's not that God doesn't want us to work. The bible says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So god has ordained works for us to do, and we should walk in them. What must we do to be saved? Believe, that's it. But what should we do after we're saved? Well we should do works.
So Paul here is saying, "look, you're going to heaven, you're not going to burn in hell, why? Because you believed, but I'm praying for you because I want you to also work, and I want God to work in you, and I want God to fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness in you by the work of faith with power. Why? That the name of our lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God, and the lord Jesus Christ." So he's saying, not only do I want you to be saved, not only do I want you to got o heaven versus hell, but I want you to glorify God, I want you to bring him glory by fulfilling the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith by power. He's saying I want god to be glorified in you, and then one day God can glorify you, because you'll be rewarded with him.
Now in second Timothy, chapter two, it says in verse number 19, "nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." So does God want us to part from iniquity? Of course, but here's the thing. We don't have to depart from iniquity to be saved, or else, number one, no one would be saved, because no one has completely departed form iniquity, nobody's perfect. And then secondly, that would be salvation by works, because departing from inquity's a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort to live right and do good things and abstain from sin. That's hard work. So the bible says let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity, but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also avoidant of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. What's he saying? There are children of god, there are vessels of God, vessels of the holy spirit, that bring honor to our lord Jesus Christ, and then there are others that bring dishonor to our lord Jesus Christ.
Think about it, if you're saved and you name the name of Christ and you're a believer, but then you go out and live, according to the course of this world, you go out and live as a heathen, you go out and live just like the ungodly, well then that gives Christianity a bad name, and it gives our lord Jesus and the gospel a band name. You are a bad testimony when you do that, you're a vessel unto dishonor. You're bringing dishonor to the Lord. And he says in a great house there are going to be vessels of honor, and vessels of dishonor, and even amongst God's kingdom and even amongst God's children, there are God's children that make him proud, that honor him and glorify him, and then there are God's children that bring shame and reproach to the name of Jesus Christ.
Now they're both saved. It'd be sort of like if you had children and you had a child who did something right, that would bring honor to you, and then you had a child who disobeyed you, and in fact they embarrassed you publicly, or humiliated you by doing something so stupid. Imagine having a child who went out and got drunk, or a child who went out and got pregnant out of wedlock, or a child who went out and just did some major sin that was as public and visible, that would be dishonoring to you as the parent. Then bible's teaching that we dishonor Christ when we go out and break his commandments and live a life of iniquity, so Paul is praying at the end of second Thessalonians chapter one, that they would be a vessel unto honor, that they would honor and glorify the lord Jesus Christ, and not be a shame and a reproach unto him. That's hwy the bible says there in verse 12 or chapter one of second Thessalonians that the name of our lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God, and the lord Jesus Christ.
We all have God's grace through faith if we believe in the gospel, but we need to walk in that grace, we need to not only take advantage of God's grace that saves us, but we should also take advantage of the grace of God that actually enables us to serve him, and to obey him. The power of the holy spirit that will help us turn from sin, that will help us do great work for him, not in our own strength, not in our own power, not because of our own merits, but by his grace. He allows us the privilege that we don't deserve, of serving him, and of being a better person, and of following his word and succeeding and being able to say like Paul, "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me." That's the grace of God that even gives us the ability to do what's right. Like when Paul said, "I thank Christ Jesus our lord who has enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." God enables us to do what's right through the power of the holy spirit, through his word, and through the resources he's given us in the local church, pastors, teachers, the word of God itself.
So we can live a life that pleases the Lord, we can live a life that honors and glorifies him, but listen, not every Christian lives a life that brings honor to our savior, some people are a dishonor. It doesn't mean they're not saved, just like if your child dishonored you, they'd still be your child. Even if they humiliated you, and were a shame unto you, you'd still still say, well yeah that's my son. And you'd still love them, just like the prodigal son, as an example, goes out and humiliates the father by going out and living a life of riotous living, wasting his substance, but yet the father is still his father, still his dad, when he comes home he says "Make me as a hired servant." But no, he's a son, once a son, always a son. That's one of the things that we can learn from this passage in second Thessalonians chapter one.
Now in second Thessalonians chapter two, we get really into some of the heavy bible prophecy of second Thessalonians, it's a very key passage, it starts out in verse one, "Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." So you can see right there, that the chapter is going to deal with the coming of Jesus Christ, and it's going to deal with what we know as the rapture, because it says, "by the coming of our lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." That's going to be the key in chapter two. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for this chapter, and for what we can learn from it, please just fill us with your spirit Lord, as we study your word, that we have understanding. Open our eyes lord, that we would see the plain truths or your work, help us not to have preconceived ideas that someone has put in our head about bible prophecy that it's got to be a preacher of rapture, Lord. Help us to be able to see past that, and just read the word for what it says, with the holy spirit as our teacher. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
