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Today we start a brief series, just three weeks on Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians church. It's written in large part to encourage the church to remain steadfast in their faith in Jesus because they're facing persecution. Verse 4 it says we boast about you and the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and afflictions that you're enduring. So what was the cause of their affliction? Why were they being persecuted? We can get an answer from Luke's account in Acts chapter 17 verses 1 through 9 if you have your Bibles you can look at that. It says now when they passed through Amplepolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews and Paul went in as was his custom on three Sabbaths reasoning with them from the scriptures explaining and proving that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise from the dead and saying this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas and did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar to attack the house of Jason seeking to bring them out to the crowd but they could not find them. So they dragged Jason and some of his brothers before the city authorities shouting these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also and Jason has received them and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar saying there is another king Jesus. And the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things and when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest they let him go. So there is another king that is the issue. Notice the Jews were in league with the authorities in the persecution of Christians. They claimed allegiance to Caesar but what is interesting is they despise Caesar. So why would they claim allegiance to Caesar? So there is an old Sanskrit text from Arthur Shastra dating back to around 4th century B.C. which states the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And so since Christ and those who proclaimed faith in Christ and believed Jesus as the king the Jews perceived as enemies of Caesar even though they were enemies of Caesar they considered Caesar a friend against believers. They opposed Jesus and his followers on religious grounds but they appealed to the Roman authority on political grounds that Jesus had claimed to be king and his followers believed him to be king. This isn't new. This has been the case from the beginning of Jesus' life on earth. Maybe you'll remember after Jesus was born in Matthew chapter 2 it says that in the days of King Herod wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born king of the Jews. Where we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired to them where the Christ was to be born and they told him in Bethlehem Judea for so it is written by the prophet and you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among rulers of Judah for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. So Herod wanted to know where this supposed king was to be born. He pretended he wanted to know so he could worship him but that wasn't the reason. The reason is he wanted to know where this Jesus was born so that he could send soldiers there and have him killed. But if you remember the account the Lord warned an angel warned Joseph in a dream that Jesus might be in trouble. So they fled to Egypt and the wise men had promised that they would return and tell Herod where the child was born the one who was to be king but they didn't they left by another way and when Herod saw that he'd been tricked he became furious and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem in all that region who were two years old or under according to the time he had ascertained from the wise men. It continued when Jesus entered Jerusalem and accepted the praise and worship of the people and cleanse the temple the Jewish authorities were enraged against him and again they appealed to Rome to do their bidding and remember they hated Rome they hated Rome they hated the tax collectors they considered themselves oppressed in Rome their oppressors but apparently they hated Jesus even more says in Luke twenty three the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate they began to accuse him we found this man misleading our nation forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ a king see they were forbidding they accused Jesus of forbidding to give tribute to Caesar but he hadn't if you remember the account the Pharisees tried to trick him they brought him a coin and said should we pay taxes to Caesar or not they were hoping that he would give an answer which would either get him in trouble with the Roman authorities or get him in trouble with the people who also hated Caesar but Jesus asked whose image is on the coin and they replied Caesar's and he said then give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's meaning the image of God is in all of us so we owe our allegiance to God but you can give the coin to Caesar and the Pharisees were amazed at his answer but after they arrested him and brought him to Caesar they appealed to Caesar who they hated Pilate asked him are you king of the Jews and he says you have said so and Pilate said to the chief priest I find no guilt in this man but John 19 says the pilot was seeking to release him but the Jews cried out if you release this man you were not Caesar's friend everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar and pilot being a coward heard these words and he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat in a place called the stone pavement in the Aramaic gabatha that was the day of preparation for the Passover was about the sixth hour he said to the Jews behold your king and they cried out away with him away with him crucify him shall I crucify your king Pilate asked and the chief priest to their own judgment said we have no king but Caesar even denying that God is their king we have no king but Caesar so he delivered them over to be crucified so the persecution and affliction that the Thessalonians are experiencing that Paul is talking about here in this letter is because they believed Jesus is their king and Paul is boasting about them and praising them for their steadfast belief in the gospel their willingness to hold fast to the truth of the gospel and to obey Jesus as king and face of persecution and Paul calls this evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of God for which you are also suffering so willingness to continue to believe the gospel in face of persecution Paul says is evidence that you do believe the gospel many people say they believe the gospel in fact in Canada it used to be that more than half of the people would say that they believe the gospel many of them say they're still Christian such as the case in the United States and I dare say Mexico and a lot of South America as well many people can say that they believe the gospel some of them have been to have been church members and regularly attended worship most of their lives but when it comes time to stand against persecution and affliction even though in our country it's very mild by comparison they shrink back it might not be it might be not speaking up when Christ and his word is attacked could be in school it could be at work could be with neighbors when you hear Christ and his church being belittled when non-christian values and ethics are being espoused and we say nothing we're not standing steadfast in our faith in God and worse yet sometimes we nod in agreement just to avoid the embarrassment or the affliction but evidence that we believe is our willingness to face affliction for the sake of the gospel doesn't mean it's easy for some of you you may lose your job over it people all over the world are facing persecution for their belief that Jesus is the king all over the world some face financial hardship that was the case early on for Christians they were not allowed to participate in the synagogue where most of the market was held so they were outside of commerce they were outside of the community they were outside of good standing in there with their neighbors and now some people face financial hardship some face legal troubles confiscation of property or even imprisonment and some in some parts of the world that will even face death for believing the gospel and refusing to renounce Christ so you have to ask yourself are you willing to be steadfast in your belief in the gospel no matter the cost are you willing or will you shrink back Paul is saying that evidence of your faith that you're worthy of the kingdom of God is that you hold steadfast you don't shrink back in the face of affliction Paul encourages the Thessalonians that their faith will be rewarded and those who afflict them will be repaid verse 6 he says God in indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus gospel is considered good news in fact that's what it means gospel means good news and this is good news even if it doesn't sound like it it's good news for a couple of reasons probably more than a couple but I'm going to mention to first Jesus himself is going to deal justly with those who persecute and inflict vengeance on them justice will be done many times in this life it seems as though the unjust are rarely facing any kind of punishment any kind of justice at all it seems that they get away with it that's what job said in Chapter 21 why do the wicked live reach old age and grow mighty in power their offspring are established in their presence their descendants before their eyes their houses are safe from fear no rod of God is upon them their bulls breed without fail their cow calves and does not miscarry they send out their little boys like a flock and their children dance seems as though it's always been this way that those who oppose God that those who mock God that those who have values and ethics and make laws against God seem to prosper and yet God is promising to the test of one audience and to us that he will meet out justice that he will have vengeance on those who do not obey the gospel so why is this good news well it's good news in that justice will be done and the persecutors will be punished justice will be done maybe you don't believe in a God who judges every major religion in the world Islam Judaism Christianity even the Eastern religions believe in some sort of judgment at the end of life that you'll be judged for what you've done good and bad and if there is no judgment then those who committed evil and atrocities all their life they got away with it even if they're killed in this life so what everybody dies but if there's a judgment at the end and if as God has said he will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and a flaming fire fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel then there will be justice in the end the second good news is this it's because the Thessalonians don't have to exact vengeance themselves in other words they know that God is going to take care of it so they don't have to and we don't either so if you feel you've been treated unfairly because of your faith you don't have to concern yourself with exacting revenge or getting even instead remember what Romans twelve says beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord to the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty give him something to drink for by doing so you will keep burning coals on his head do not overcome be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good now some of us think well I would never seek revenge I would never try to avenge myself but for some of us the only reason we say that is because we're too cowardly to do so but it's in our heart we're always comparing ourselves with others and coming out on top we're always thinking that they should be doing what we're doing we're always comparing others with ourselves as though we are the standard forgetting that God is the standard and we fall miserably short just like everyone else maybe you're here and you're not sure which side you're on how can you tell I'm going to help do you believe the gospel do you believe that Jesus is the son of God become man do you believe that after he became a human he lived a perfect sinless life in your place and became a sinful person he was given our sin and punished with the sentence we deserved Paul describes they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints away from the presence of God is what we deserve what does that mean that means away from anything good anything and everything good it means away from anything and everything loving it means away from anything and everything friendly anything and everything caring away from anything and everything warm and comforting now the Bible calls this hell and the lake of fire studying for this you realize that some commentators are convinced that when the Bible describes fire is punishment the lake of fire is punishment they believe it's a metaphor they believe that it's not really fire it's a metaphor it's it's as close as we can get to something we would understand in this world and some people when they hear that they seem relieved but please don't be relieved because if it's a metaphor if fire is a metaphor it's a metaphor for something worse eternal punishment is an eternity alone with the fire of your regret unable to do anything about it if fire is a metaphor it represents something worse and if you believe the gospel first you believe that that's what your sin deserves and sin is disobedience to the law of God any law of God just once and to believe the gospel you believe that Jesus died and took the punishment in your place which is why he said on the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me you also believe then that Jesus was raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God until he comes again this time as the judge and king they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in the saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because of our testimony to you was believed to be glorified in the saints his glory in us who believe the gospel his glory in us who have Jesus as our king and we will marvel at him there's a passage in revelation 19 beginning in verse 11 i saw heaven opened and behold a white horse the one who's sitting on it called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war his eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written that no one knows but himself he is clothed in robe dipped in blood and by the name which he has called the word of god and the armies of heaven arrayed and fine linen white and pure were following him on white horses from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of god the almighty on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords and when he comes on that day to be glorified in the saints and to be marveled at by all of us who believe but you know we don't have to wait to marvel at jesus think of all that he is that only he could be that only he has ever been i'll just mention a few things he's both divine and human two natures in one god and man he is the eternal son of god the second person of the trinity and he's born of a woman mary the second person of the trinity who's infinite and eternal who was who is and who always will be and yet he became flesh and dwelt among us he was a fetus a newborn a child an adult subject to the impermanence of any human yet without sin isn't that marvelous he is both sovereign and dependent he rules over all that is and it all belongs to him yet he submits himself to the father and is dependent on him saying i can't do anything except what the father tells me so at the same time he has created everything that there is he is upholding everything by the word of his power according to colossians 1 15 and yet he submits himself to the father and is dependent on him he gave us the commandments and yet he's obedient to the point of death he's infinitely just no sin will go unpunished and yet he's infinitely full of grace and grace he is full of wrath for those who oppose him and full of mercy for those who believe he's infinitely holy when the angels the diadem the seraphim when isaiah saw them in the throne room of god singing holy holy holy the gospel of john said isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him whose glory god the sun that's who he's talking about so he's infinitely holy and yet he was made sinful for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of god isn't he marvelous let's pray