Welcome back to
Books of the Book,
00:00:01.43\00:00:02.86
where we begin our
study of 2 Thessalonians.
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We are in Chapter 1
and I'm going to pick it up
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now John from versus 5 and 6.
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"In all your persecutions
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and in the
afflictions you are enduring.
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The evidence of the
righteous judgment of God,
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so that you
might be counted worthy
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of the kingdom of God,
for which you are suffering,
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since it is
indeed just God's mind
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to repay with affliction
those who are afflicting you."
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One thing I should
mention right after
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that here is that
verses 5 to 10 have
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a strong Old
Testament feel about them.
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So a lot of language that echoes
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all kinds of places back,
it's like you are in a cave
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and there are echoes everywhere.
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And what striking
about this is 1 Thessalonians
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is notable as the
book of the New Testament
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that almost seems to say
nothing about the Old Testament.
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Very, very little.
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The strongest
ones probably the one
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you mentioned a few programs ago
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where about
coming with His saints
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seems to echoes Zechariah
14 but very, very little
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Old Testament
in 1 Thessalonians.
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In 2 Thessalonians Old
Testament is everywhere
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and particularly in the
passage that we have here.
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Probably viewers
will have noticed
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that Pastor Jon
added a piece of verse 4
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into the reading
of verses 5 and 6.
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'Cause we mentioned
earlier it's all one sentence
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and so verses 5
and 6 by themselves
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don't flow as a sentence unless
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you see them in
the larger context.
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So basically verse 5 starts out
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"the evidence of the
righteous judgment of God."
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What does that mean?
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Just sort of out on
an island by itself.
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It's pointing back. Okay.
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What is the evidence of
God's righteous judgment?
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It's the
persecutions and the afflictions
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the Thessalonians are enduring.
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Now that's troubling. Yeah.
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What does that mean?
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Evidence of the
righteous judgment of God.
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How is it-- how
is their persecution
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evidence of God's judgment?
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I mean he is not saying
that God is judging them.
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No, it is this.
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The fact that they
are being persecuted
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and that they're
joyful in that persecution
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anticipates the final judgment.
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Because you see in
the immediate situation
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the persecutors are
thinking we are right,
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they are wrong, that's
why we're persecuting them.
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So everything that you see
in that immediate situation
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suggests the
opposite of reality.
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The reality will only be seen
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in the righteous
judgment of God at the end.
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There it will be proven
the Thessalonians were right.
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Their persecutors were wrong.
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So the fact that
they're not being persecuted
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as bad people but they
are people who are joyful
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and peaceful and they
are being persecuted anyway,
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the very character in
the middle of the persecution
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is evidence
that God is righteous
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when He judges
their persecutors.
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They have--the
persecutors have upset
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the order of the
universe and while judgment
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doesn't come now it
will come eventually.
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God's people will be vindicated
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injustice will not last forever.
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The future
judgment will demonstrate
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that God is
approving them in the present
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and it validates
God has chosen them.
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As we saw so all
these things are happening.
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It's a, it's a tough passage
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but Paul is trying
to bring out the idea
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that your present
experience should draw in
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from the future
judgment encouragement.
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And in fact that's what
they're joyful in suffering
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and that's why Paul is
so impressed with them.
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Somehow more
than any other church
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either their persecution
was worst than anybody else
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or the way they responded
to it was so much better
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and Paul just says
these guys are special.
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You know it really
can give us some comfort.
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You know God
will set things right
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and that can
really-- should really inform
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and motivate us in our
behavior today on trusting God.
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Just resting and having
patience with Him in that.
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I think of the verse,
you know, where God says
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"vengeance is
mine saith the Lord."
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It's not for me to take
vengeance on my situation
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or whatever might
be happening to me
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but to trust that God is
going to set things right.
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You know that's why I
love about what Jesus said too
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when He gave that
famous sermon on the mount.
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You know the beatitudes.
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God is here and He is
beginning to set things right.
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So if you are
this or you are that
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or this is what's happening
don't worry God has come
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and He is setting things right.
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Things are in motion
and they're moving forward
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and despite your situation
you can rejoice because
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that--because that is coming.
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Injustice will not last forever.
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So be patient on your own.
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And it's so tempting
to retaliate sometimes
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and I've been encouraged
by a text that I wanna share.
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It's in James
Chapter 2 and verse 13
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and I've chosen the English
Standard Version for this.
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It says, "for
judgment is without mercy
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to one who has shown no mercy.
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Mercy triumphs over judgment."
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What this text is
saying is that in a sense
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the standard of
judgment at the end
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will be the kind of standard
that I held up to other people.
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If I'm merciful
to others, I'm saying
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that's the way to judge
people who are struggling,
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that's the way to judge
people who have done wrong.
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You see when I'm
critical and faultfinding
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and overbearing
then God said, oh,
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that's the standard you
think you wanna be judged by.
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You see that.
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I almost see God
smiling in the statement.
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But it has really
encouraged me to say,
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hey, if I to some degree set
the pattern of my own judgment,
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how should I treat other people?
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They'll say, I
wanna be merciful.
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I wanna be kind.
I wanna be gentle.
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Forgiving even in
the worst of situation.
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As Paul said in previous letter,
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don't repay evil for evil.
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Yeah, yeah. So.
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Well, shall we move on? Yes.
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Let's move on to
verses 7 through 9
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here in 2
Thessalonians Chapter 1.
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And Paul says this,
"Repay with affliction
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those who are
afflicting you and rest to you
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who are afflicted along with us,
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at the
revelation of the Lord Jesus
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from heaven with His
mighty angels in flaming fire,
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directing vengeance
toward those who don't know God,
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and who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
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who pay the penalty
of eternal destruction,
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away from the face of the Lord
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and from the
glory of His power."
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Wow, Jon. Yeah.
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This is a passage
some people get nervous on.
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This is idea of
God who pays back.
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You know say
how does that fit in
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with the God of
love and so forth.
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And I think basically
this, any good government
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has as a major
task restraining evil.
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It has to be, I mean
if wasn't for police cars
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who would obey the
speed limit, right?
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I mean even among godly people
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there's a temptation
to just hit that thing
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just a little bit harder
and there is a restrain--
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the greater the evil the
greater the restraint necessary.
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Sometimes smart bombs.
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Sometimes
predator drones, you see.
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Government's role
is to restrain evil
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in the universe
and God is like that.
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I remember one time I was
driving in state of New York
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and I had a lady
in the back that was
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telling me her
husband just left her
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and I was just
so-- I'm listening to--
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this was 35 mile
zone I headed over 50.
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I was just listening-- Oh, no.
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Little red
light, you see. Right.
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And I was pulled into the judge.
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It was a really
small New York state town.
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This little judge, you
know, he hands me the seat
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and says the state of
New York against Jon Paulien.
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And I'm thinking 20 million
people and they all hate me.
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This is terrible, you
see, but that was kind of
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what the wrath of God
is about its restraining,
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you know, I didn't
intend to do it but, boy,
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I was sure restrained on my
future actions in that town.
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You know that judge
who was a young guy.
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This is your pastor, he
says, I don't expect that
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I'm gonna be seeing you again.
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I'm just gonna let you go.
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And his mercy was
also a powerful restraint
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on my behavior
in that situation.
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So I think we have to
see, yes, God will bring
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an end to
violence and oppression
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and that will be a good thing.
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God of mercy isn't gonna
let injustice go on forever.
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Ultimately when He
shows His presence those who
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have chosen evil will
not be able to stand it.
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Yeah, yeah, well, I
think we take great courage
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that we don't need to take
justice into our own hands.
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You know that Gods not on trial
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with these words on the Bible.
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And you know I love
how you brought out that,
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you know, God has to deal
with the evil in the world
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and that He will take
the situation into His hands
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and we can know and
trust our loving Father,
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our loving God to
deal with the evil
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and He is making things right.
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Well, we
probably should move on to
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2 Thessalonians
Chapter 1 versus 10 through 12.
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And Paul continues and he says,
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"On that day when He comes
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to be glorified
in all His saints,
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and to be marveled
at in all who believe
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because our witness
was believed by you.
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With this end in view
we pray always for you,
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in order that our
God might account you
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worthy of His
calling, and He might fill up
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your every intention of goodness
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and work of faith with power,
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so that the name
of our Lord Jesus
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might be glorified in you all,
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and you in Him, according
to the grace of our God
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and the Lord Jesus Christ."
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I love that part in verse 11
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"that He might fill up
your every intention of goodness
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and work of faith with power."
00:10:01.60\00:10:04.43
Our good
intentions He will fill it up.
00:10:04.43\00:10:06.37
He will work with this.
00:10:06.37\00:10:08.00
In verses 3-10, we
have important details
00:10:08.00\00:10:11.31
about the Second Coming.
00:10:11.31\00:10:12.47
There's angels, there's
fire, there's destruction
00:10:12.47\00:10:16.24
and He is setting
the table for Chapter 2.
00:10:16.24\00:10:18.55
'Cause in Chapter
2 there apparently
00:10:18.55\00:10:20.52
people are saying
He's already come.
00:10:20.52\00:10:22.52
He's already
come. Quit your job.
00:10:22.52\00:10:24.72
You know, chill out so this is--
00:10:24.72\00:10:27.22
eternity is here
and Paul is saying look
00:10:27.22\00:10:30.29
if Jesus had come
where is the fire,
00:10:30.29\00:10:33.56
where is the angels, where
is the destruction, you see.
00:10:33.56\00:10:36.23
He is piling up evidence
that their theology is mistaken
00:10:36.23\00:10:40.37
and it's causing
them to behaviors
00:10:40.37\00:10:43.17
that are not worthy
of the people of God.
00:10:43.17\00:10:45.97
So he's setting the stage
here for where is about to go.
00:10:45.97\00:10:49.41
Yeah, you know, I
love-- we talked about
00:10:49.41\00:10:51.28
this before in Chapter 4
but just that great picture
00:10:51.28\00:10:55.42
when Christ comes
back again you know.
00:10:55.42\00:10:57.72
And I wanna encourage you
as viewers I mentioned before
00:10:57.72\00:11:00.36
that you can take 1
Corinthians Chapter 15,
00:11:00.36\00:11:02.62
1 Thessalonians Chapter
4, and Revelation Chapter 20
00:11:02.62\00:11:05.69
and you can see
the whole picture.
00:11:05.69\00:11:07.66
You know that wonderful picture
00:11:07.66\00:11:09.33
when Christ comes back again
and the dead in Christ rise
00:11:09.33\00:11:12.53
and those who are
alive in Christ rise with Him
00:11:12.53\00:11:14.77
and then Satan and his demons
are bound for a 1,000 years
00:11:14.77\00:11:19.74
and Christ and His
people reign for a 1,000 years
00:11:19.74\00:11:22.24
and they see that
all of God's judgments
00:11:22.24\00:11:23.91
of making things right
were actually just and good.
00:11:23.91\00:11:27.98
And then when Christ
and His people come back
00:11:27.98\00:11:30.35
and that wily devil
the serpent is let loose
00:11:30.35\00:11:33.89
again then God and
His people come down
00:11:33.89\00:11:36.69
and cleanse the
earth for that new earth
00:11:36.69\00:11:38.63
that we're gonna have
and God will ultimately
00:11:38.63\00:11:40.83
make everything right.
00:11:40.83\00:11:42.63
And verses 10 to
12 I think He makes
00:11:42.63\00:11:44.83
clear that character is
critical moving forward.
00:11:44.83\00:11:48.37
It is our character that to
some degree is a window on to
00:11:48.37\00:11:52.41
God's character in
the eyes of people.
00:11:52.41\00:11:54.88
We glorify God
at the Second Coming
00:11:54.88\00:11:57.78
by exhibiting His character
that's what Paul says here.
00:11:57.78\00:12:02.22
Yeah, definitely.
00:12:02.22\00:12:03.49
Well, God, Paul uses God
and Jesus interchangeably here
00:12:05.39\00:12:09.46
and if Jesus is truly God then
the Father is just like Him.
00:12:09.46\00:12:14.00
So in looking at
Jesus we can really know
00:12:14.00\00:12:15.93
what our Father is like.
00:12:15.93\00:12:18.43
Let me sum up what we've been
00:12:18.43\00:12:20.24
doing in this
program with a quick story.
00:12:20.24\00:12:22.54
There was a
Seventh-day Adventist farmer.
00:12:22.54\00:12:24.84
There are a
bunch of locust coming
00:12:24.84\00:12:26.98
and all his neighbors
said the locust are coming.
00:12:26.98\00:12:29.91
They're gonna eat up the crops.
00:12:29.91\00:12:31.08
Let's get them all in.
00:12:31.08\00:12:32.25
The problem is the locust
was supposed arrive on Sabbath.
00:12:32.25\00:12:35.62
This Adventist farmer says, no.
00:12:35.62\00:12:37.62
He says I'm not
gonna work on the Sabbath
00:12:37.62\00:12:39.75
and let God take care of things.
00:12:39.75\00:12:41.62
The other farmers all
work throughout that day
00:12:41.62\00:12:44.19
and throughout
the night and so on.
00:12:44.19\00:12:46.86
Sunday morning came
the Adventist farmer
00:12:46.86\00:12:49.46
looked out of the window,
the field was totally barren.
00:12:49.46\00:12:52.47
When the neighbors say
they were sorry for this.
00:12:52.47\00:12:54.17
Man, what you're gonna do now.
00:12:54.17\00:12:55.50
He says God doesn't always make
00:12:55.50\00:12:57.91
a final settlement in October.
00:12:57.91\00:13:01.18
Patience I think is a
major message of this chapter.
00:13:01.18\00:13:04.15
Yeah, he really had a
vision of God what wanted.
00:13:04.15\00:13:07.45
We just wanna
encourage you to know that
00:13:07.45\00:13:09.48
no matter what you
might be going through,
00:13:09.48\00:13:11.49
to know that God is
about making things right.
00:13:11.49\00:13:14.06
It's in process and ultimately
00:13:14.06\00:13:15.99
when He comes back again evil
will finally be done away with
00:13:15.99\00:13:19.79
and we'll reign
with Him forever.
00:13:19.79\00:13:21.36
God bless. We'll
see you next time.
00:13:21.36\00:13:22.86