2 Thessalonians 1 verses 7 through 12 this evening will be our text. The year was 32, 33 AD. Jesus had been crucified, but all that remained was an empty tomb. Now a group of Jesus' disciples were performing miraculous wonders, claiming that Jesus had risen from the dead and is the Jew's Messiah. One of those men named Stephen was brought to answer for these claims and for all of the miraculous works that he was doing in Jerusalem. In Acts 6, we find Stephen declare boldly the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So convicted were the Jews by his proclamations of the truth of their Messiah, the Messiah that they had rejected. So convicted were they, hearing him claim that they had slain their very Messiah, that they lashed out against Stephen and immediately had him stoned in the street. And in Acts chapter 6 we see the record of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. The first three centuries of Christianity in the Roman Empire until the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. when Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire for 300 years. the Christians of the Roman Empire, the Christians of the New Testament, and just past the New Testament church, were in deep persecution. Could you imagine nearly 300 years of Christianity being illegal in the empire that spanned almost the entire world? Nearly 300 years of Christians having to meet in homes secretly, in caves, hide out lest their faith be found and they be killed." 300 years. The persecution was often compelled by public opinion, but certainly had the general support of the government, as Caesar was considered to be a god, and of course, no Christian would burn incense to Caesar. In fact, in 64 AD, there was a great fire that broke out in Rome, Rome's Caesar, a man named Nero, blamed Christians for this fire. It's believed now in history that Nero himself started that fire and burned a large portion of the city of Rome. This brought a deeper level of persecution to the church than ever before for the next 200 years or so. Christian writers claim that it was within this wave of persecution following Nero's actions that Peter and Paul were martyred. In 155 AD, a man named Polycarp, who was a disciple of John the Evangelist, refused to burn incense to Caesar, and he was summarily burned at the stake. In 1415 AD, John Huss refused to recant his claims against the Catholic Church and their false doctrines, particularly of ecclesiology. He was burned at the stake. In 1536, William Tyndale was tried for translating the Bible from Latin into English. He was choked to death, and then his body was burned. In 1956, Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Ed McCulley, Pete Fleming, and Roger Udren were martyred in Ecuador as they sought to spread the gospel to an indigenous tribe there called the Acas. They were speared to death. Around the world, every day, Christians are being killed, many by the Muslim faith, for refusing to deny the deity of Christ. Throughout every century since the inception of the church, men and women have given their lives standing upon the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But this brings us to a question. See, last week we talked about that, right? We talked about the martyrdom. We talked about the tribulation. We talked about the trials. We talked about the persecutions. We talked about the reality that God will prepare us, that if we are Christ's, that He will give us strength to stand in that day. We talked about the need to be prepared for such things, whether they come or not, that we need to have a heart, a mindset that is already so yielded to Christ that regardless of what comes our way, we're His. But the question comes up, what about the wicked? What about the wicked? We read in the psalm this morning, did we not? In Psalm 94, a psalm where the psalmist laments the pride of the wicked, the prosperity of the wicked. What of those that persecute these followers of Jesus Christ? What of those who killed Stephen? What of those who burned Polycarp at the stake? What of those who burned John Hus at the stake? What of those who destroyed these men and women who claimed Christ? Is God truly sovereign and all-powerful? And if those who are dying are truly His followers, What is he doing about it? Are they getting away with their evil deeds? Well, those are the questions that we are going to consider today. Last week, we considered the righteous judgments of God. We recognize that indeed, under the righteous judgments of God, no, the wicked do not go unpunished. But God is, and always has been, a very, very gracious God. All throughout Scripture, whether Old Testament or New Testament, we see that God was very long-suffering with the wicked, was He not? When God promised Abraham the land of Canaan, He promised him this land, but he said, you will not receive it yet, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. God gave the people in that promised land another 400 years to repent before he sent Israel in to remove them for their wickedness. Noah was a preacher of righteousness for 120 years while the ark was being prepared before God sent the flood that every single person had been warned that was coming for 120 years. God is so long-suffering. And we live in an age of long-suffering. The long-suffering of God upon the wicked. But it will not last forever. There's coming a day when the sure judgment of God will appear. And that's what we're going to learn about today. The wrath of God declared in the scriptures that will rest upon the unbelieving world and more abundantly upon those who have personally persecuted the followers of Jesus Christ. Now, as we step back into the text today, it's important to understand the perspective from which Paul is working. We were reminded last week in Romans 12 that God does not want anyone to take vengeance into his own hands, to avenge those that hate you. Paul specifically said not to avenge ourselves, but rather, the scripture said, If a man is hungry, if our enemy, excuse me, is hungry, we should feed him. If our enemy is thirsty, we should give him drink. And do you recall what the scripture said would be the result of these kind and gracious, loving actions toward our enemies? The text said that in doing so, we would be heaping coals of fire upon their heads. We had a talk last time about what that intends to mean, what God intended when he had that written. It likely does not mean that you're going to kill them with kindness, that you're going to make them more and more angry by being kind to them. You know, that happens, right, with siblings? I used to kind of... Actually, it's my siblings that more or less did that to me. I never really did it to them because it didn't work with them, but I was one of those. That when I was being mean to them, they would be really kind back to me, and it... Man, that made me angry. Because I wanted to pull them into my anger. Because sin loves company, right? Sin loves company. And I feel more justified in my bad behavior if I can get them to have bad behavior. And if you just calmly love them, then they just get angry at you. That was the way I was growing up. And it's a valid point, but I don't think that's what the text means. My wife brought up another concept this week as we were talking about it. She had appealed to some history that suggests that possibly people used to carry coals from one place to another on baskets or something on top of their heads. And so the heaping of coals upon their heads would be like helping a friend, where you're the one that's heaping the coals so that they can carry the coals from point A to point B. And it's simply talking about an added amount of friendliness and of kindness. And it's possible Though I did not find that when I was doing my research, I still believe that the best explanation is that when we are kind, when we do not avenge ourselves, when we do not recompense evil upon those that are doing evil to us, and we rather stick to the stuff, doing what God would have us to do, which is to be kind to all men, which is to love all men, then what we have effectively done is we have effectively delegated or given back our right to vengeance to God, and then God is keeping the tally. God is stacking the vengeance. God is heaping more and more judgment upon those to whom we are not avenging ourselves. God says, I'll avenge you. And for every wrong done against you in the name of Christ, there's greater vengeance on that person because you are letting it go, but God's not going to. God's watching. God is keeping a count. And one day, those who have troubled you will be troubled by God. The concept of finding some degree of closure or comfort in the future destruction of the wicked can be somewhat difficult to swallow, can't it? Paul is going to be speaking this week about the fact that he desires believers to be comforted that the wicked will one day be judged. And as I think about that, that's kind of hard for me to do. I feel almost guilty feeling comfort in the judgment of the wicked. After all, Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 44, I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. This command seems to conflict with the idea that our comfort in the midst of affliction, our comfort in the midst of persecution, our comfort in the midst of tribulation, tribulation and persecution and affliction perpetrated by wicked men, who are by their choice our enemies, it seems weird to think, and it seems almost wrong or contradictory to think, that my comfort should be recognizing that they will one day be judged. That my comfort to those I'm supposed to love, I love my enemy, and yet I'm comforted in the reality that one day God's wrath is going to be poured out on them. Is this a contradiction? Can we love someone while at the same time being comforted by the reality that they will suffer the eternal wrath of God? Two thoughts on this. First, we must always remember what love is. Love is a choice, right? Love is not an emotion. Love is a choice. We can love anyone. And those we truly love are those that we love because we've chosen to. Love is not demonstrated by feelings, love is demonstrated by actions. We define love regularly in this church. Doing what is best for the object of our love, regardless of self-interest, and regardless of circumstances. I can do that for anybody, even if they're my enemy, right? I can do what is best for them regardless of me. regardless of self, regardless of circumstances. I can do that for the very worst of men. Love does not ever demand that we like that person. Do you know that? Loving a person never demands that we like that person. Loving a person never demands that we approve of what they do. That's pretty important after the Supreme Court decision of this week, right? Loving a person never demands that we approve of that person's actions. Loving a person never demands that we like them. Loving a person never even demands that we enjoy being in their presence. Love simply means that we are doing what is best for them regardless of me, regardless of my self-interest, regardless of my circumstances. So there's actually no direct conflict between the idea of loving an enemy today while simultaneously finding comfort that that enemy will one day be judged. Because by loving them, it doesn't mean I have to like them, and it doesn't mean I have to approve of what they do, and it doesn't mean that I have to not hope for their destruction just because I'm loving them. Because love is a choice for today. Now second, a second thought on this. We read Matthew 5.44. Let me read it again and then I'd like to read to you verse 45 of Matthew 5. Jesus says in 5.44, But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and he sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Now, Jesus presents God's motivation for love, not a motivation of liking people, but rather a motivation of grace. That God is extending grace to the unbeliever. He is sending them his love in the form of sunshine, in the form of rain, in the form of seasons. That his grace is pervasive upon even those who hate him. Hitler still woke up every morning to the sunrise. Hitler could have still walked to the back of his house, planted a garden, and watched it grow because it got sun, and it got rain, and it got everything it needed. God's grace did not form a bubble that excluded this wicked, awful man named Hitler. No man in history has ever been excluded from the general grace of God that has been poured out, we would say, from the love of God. And the idea here, Jesus saying, love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you, is that we should love our enemies, not because we like them, but because we're children of God, and this is the example that God sets. That even though the world hates God, God sends them favor. But here's the thing, and here's what we're going to see this evening, and you know it already, and here's the connection. Jesus tells us to love our enemies because God loves His enemies. But is that going to stop God from one day pouring out His wrath upon those people that today He's showing love unto? Absolutely not. There's coming a day where God's wrath will be poured out upon those who are His enemies. And so there's no contradiction. God reveals no contradiction between his love poured out on them today and his wrath poured out on them someday in the future. And if that is the case with God, then certainly it is not a contradiction for us to think about loving our enemies today, even though we are comforted by their judgment in the future. Not only can we comfort ourselves through the eventual judgment of the wicked, but in fact this is what Paul appeals to here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 7. He says, and to you who are troubled, Rest with us. Literally, to the troubled ones, to the ones who are under deep persecution, you who are experiencing the deep trouble of the enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ, notice what he says. Rest with us. That word rest literally means to relax or to find relief. Find relief. Find comfort. I'm comforted, Church of Thessalonica Paul says. I've been comforted and I want you to be comforted by the same thing that I'm comforted by. When I am stoned and left for dead, when I have to flee a city for my life, When I am beaten, when I am scoffed, when I am abused, when I am scorned for the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is something that gives me rest in the midst of it, and I want to tell you what that is, and I want you to rest with us. That's what Paul is saying here. And notice what he says is this rest. The second half of verse 7 and into verse 8. He says, When the Lord Jesus Christ 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." The rest that Paul preaches to the Thessalonian believers is a rest that is, pardon the pun, resting on the reality that one day all of those who are enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ and who have rejected the grace that God has extended through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection will one day be punished in a blazing fire. He says in verse 9, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. Verse 10, 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 in that day. Now within these three verses, verses 8, 9, and 10, we find four truths about the doctrine of the judgment of God upon the unbelieving world. that are often maligned, often ignored, often misinterpreted. And we're going to set them out this evening briefly in order that we can all understand what these verses are saying and what the body of Scripture teaches about the judgment of God at the end of this age. And the first of these truths is found in verse 8, that the vengeance of God upon the unbelieving world, upon the persecutors of Christ's church, will be a vengeance of deep suffering in a tormenting fire. It's a literal suffering in a literal fire. And Jesus regularly taught about the reality of the fire of judgment in His ministry. Many will say, oh, it's just allegory, Pastor. This is just a way to describe God's anger, and it's not true, literal, flaming fire. Well, let's talk about that together. One of the best examples, one which will also teach us of the timing of these events, of Jesus Christ's teaching on eternal judgment through fire, is found in the parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew chapter 13. Perhaps you're familiar with the parable. Jesus said in verses 24 and 25, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, His enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. Jesus continues in this parable, and he describes a time when the good seed of the wheat begins to grow. And as it grows, the good man's servants find out that there have been weeds planted and the weeds are growing up, what are called tares, the tares are growing up with the wheat. And the servants of course are distraught and they go to the master and they say, Master, an enemy came into our field at night. It's very clear that somebody planted weeds. This field was not full of weeds before and now Look, the wheat is beginning to grow and we see weeds growing with it. Master, do you want us to pull up these weeds?" And the master says, absolutely not. Don't pull up the weeds, because it's possible that by pulling up the weeds, you might pull up some wheat as well. And that is why it would have been such a malicious thing. That is why it must have been an enemy that did it. Because in pulling up the weeds, you would uproot some of the wheat as well. Some of that grain before it could come to full harvest. And then you would lose some of your crop. You would lose some of the wheat that you have planted as you were pulling the weeds. He says, we're going to do it a different way. He says, you're going to let those weeds grow with the wheat. You're going to let the weeds grow until the wheat is ready to be harvested. And when that wheat is finally ready to be harvested, well, we're going to pull it up anyway, right? So at that time, we'll pull the weeds and we'll pull the wheat. And then we'll separate the weeds from the wheat, and the wheat we'll take into the barn, and the weeds we will burn. And that was the parable of the wheat and the tares. Now, the disciples were intrigued by this parable. As with most parables, they said, wow, that's really interesting. We have no idea what you just said. And Jesus Christ oftentimes would not necessarily explain the parables. The disciples would just be really quiet and say, nobody knows what he's thinking about, talking about, but nobody wants to admit they don't know what he's talking about, so we're just going to keep our mouths shut and pretend like we do know what he's talking about so that we don't look silly or dumb, and we need to look spiritual. So we're not going to ask him what that meant. And we'll just kind of let that one go. Hey, John, did you figure it out? Did you get that one? No, I thought, no, maybe Peter got it. So that was typically what they did. But in this case, they didn't. In this case, they asked him. Jesus, could you tell us about that parable of the wheat and the tares? And he answers in verses 37 through 42. He says this, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. The tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest, see, is the end of the world. And the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing. and gnashing of teeth." Here, as Jesus teaches what the parable means, he states explicitly that the tares represent children of the devil, contrasted with those who are children of the kingdom of God. Therefore, those that are of the kingdom of God are all those in this life who will have accepted Christ as their Savior, and the tares represent all those in this life who are unbelievers, who have rejected Jesus Christ, their Savior. Now, the tares were meant to represent people. Jesus makes that very clear, right? The tares represent people. And we see that in the parable, the tares are thrown into the fire. But when Jesus brings the parable into reality, tares are thrown into the fire, the people in his parable, in the reality, the explanation, the interpretation, are thrown into what? the fire as well. So while the terrible tear represents people, the terrible fire, when Jesus brings it into reality, it's still fire, folks. It is still a furnace of fire. He didn't parallel the tears with the children of the devil and then the fires with general judgment. or just discomfort or lack of the presence of God, he paralleled the fire of the parable with the fire of reality. Jesus Christ taught a literal flaming, burning, tormenting hell. Jesus called his followers. to do whatever it takes to be found worthy of the kingdom. And as he did so, he said in Mark chapter 9 verses 43 and 44, if thy hand offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell. And notice how he describes hell, into that fire that never shall be quenched. where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It was enough that Jesus said the fire is not quenched once, but he didn't just say it once, did he? He said it's the place where the fire is not quenched, where the worm dieth not. Oh, and by the way, it's where the fire is not quenched. The judgment on the unbelieving world will be a literal tormenting fire and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here we see presented this place of judgment, a place called hell. And we find in scripture that if you want to call it this way or describe it this way, there are actually two phases to this judgment. The first place where all will go when they are killed or when the Lord comes, they will be cast into a place called hell. hell, hell proper we might call it, and this is where they will await their final judgment and the conclusion of God's plan for this earth. We often refer to this as hell proper and I personally believe that in the Greek when you find the word Hades in a negative context. Hades is not always negative in the Greek. Hades can also be simply the grave or a resting place. But when you find it in its negative context, you are finding this place. The resting place, the awaiting place, But it is a place of burning, and we know that from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. That the rich man and Lazarus die, Lazarus goes to Abraham's bosom, and the rich man goes to Hades, and he is there being tormented by the flames of a fire. However, there is a second place, and this is the place that we would call the final abode of eternal torment for unbelievers. And this would be following the great white throne of judgment. So Jesus Christ will return, the millennium will begin. During that millennium, there will be believers. Of course, we will have our resurrected bodies ruling and reigning with Christ. At the end of the millennium, Satan will be loosed from the bottomless pit. Now, at this point, the Antichrist and the False Prophet are already in a place called the Lake of Fire. Satan is released from the bottomless pit, he deceives the nations, and all of those who follow him, along with Satan, will be cast into this Lake of Fire, and the Scriptures tell us in the book of Revelation, chapter 20, verse 14, that death and hell are cast into the Lake of Fire. And I believe that when Jesus is teaching and the word he uses for this torment is Gehenna. This is another word that in the King James is translated hell. I personally believe that when we hear Hades, it's speaking of that place of waiting torment. When we hear the word Gehenna, it's speaking of that final place of torment that the Bible calls the lake of fire. Both of them are flaming torments, but one is eternal, one is temporal. Death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. And the lake of fire is that eternal place of torment, the place I believe Jesus calls Gehenna. And we believe that hell is a literal place of tormenting fire because that's what Jesus taught. And that's what the Bible says. So in verse 8 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul says, comfort yourself because Christ is coming and he's coming with his mighty angels in flaming fire to take vengeance upon them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction. Now, the second doctrine concerning God's vengeance, God's wrath upon the unbelieving world, is that this tormenting fire will be eternal in nature. Paul teaches this in verse 9, that in the context of the flaming fire of God's vengeance, that this punishment will be everlasting destruction. And we saw Jesus teach this in that Mark 9 passage, right? He said it's where the fire is never quenched, or the fire is not quenched. The idea of eternality. Paul just makes it explicit here, that this vengeance, this destruction, that this punishment, that this wrath will be eternal. In the parallel passage to Mark 9, found in Matthew 18, Jesus calls the place of judgment everlasting fire. Jesus would say a similar thing in Matthew 25. I'll begin reading in verse 31. He says, Doesn't that sound similar to what we just read in verse 9? Let me read verse 9 of 2 Thessalonians 1 again. Excuse me, verse 8. Excuse me, verse 7. And to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. Okay? The Lord Jesus being revealed from heaven with His mighty angels. We come back to Matthew 25. When the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him. We're talking about the same event, alright? Then shall he sit upon the throne of glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king, that would be Jesus, say unto them on his right hand, that would be the sheep, come, ye breast of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger, and ye gave me meat. And I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in, naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee, and hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, and as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And here's where he goes from the sheep, and he goes to his left hand, to the goats. Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed. into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The fire is everlasting. It was not prepared for man. It was prepared for the devil and his angels, but it will also serve for the rest of eternity as the place of perpetual torment for those whose names are not written in the book of life. for those who have rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ through unbelief. And let me tell you why it is important that we nail down these doctrines. There are two prominent doctrines taught by denominations today, currently being taught, that are directly opposed to what we've learned this evening. One of those is taught by the Seventh-day Adventists, and it's a doctrine called annihilationism, a false doctrine called annihilationism. They teach that believers will go to live with Christ forever, but they teach that the souls of the damned are not eternal, and that they will go to hell, and that depending on how bad they were, it will mean a period of time of burning, and then eventually their soul will burn up, and they will cease to exist. It's not found in the Bible. Much to the contrary, Jesus Christ says that he will say to all those on the left hand, depart from me, not to a period of fire, not to temporary fire, not to a little bit of fire. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. It will be everlasting. will be everlasting. We'll talk about the second doctrinal problem after our next point. Back to verse 9, Paul says, Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power? In many ways, the physical torments of the fires of hell will only be a part of the torments of that eternity. The other element of judgment upon the unbelieving world, we might even say the greater aspect of this judgment, is that the enemy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will not just be burning in everlasting fire, but he will also face everlasting, complete separation from God. that for all of eternity there will be utter and absolute separation from the Creator of all things, from all that is life, from all that is light. Eternal separation from God. Jesus may have described it best. We read it already, right? Just in this past Matthew 25, verses 31-41. In verse 41, He said, depart from Me, right? He's telling them to depart. There we see that separation idea. But he may have described it best as he warned against those who believed they were followers of Christ, but in their hearts had never come to a true saving knowledge of Christ. He says this in Matthew 7, verses 21-23, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? Then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Complete separation from the presence of the Lord. Jesus calls himself the Light of Life. The judgment upon the wicked is described as outer darkness. There is no light. Why? Because where there is no Christ, there is no light. Jesus said that he is our peace. Torment in hell is described as weeping and gnashing of teeth. There will be no peace because there will be no Christ. And here we face a second problem, a second false doctrine regularly taught, the false doctrine of the Catholic Church called Purgatory. Purgatory teaches that, well, as it's come today, just about everyone goes to a place of suffering while they work off their sins. And eventually, at some point, and it can be shortened through prayers and giving money to the church and such things. At some point, however, you will have paid off your debt to God and will be allowed, you will be sanctified, cleansed of your sins through fire, and you will be allowed into the presence of God. And yet, as Paul speaks in verse 9 of 2 Thessalonians 1, he says, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of our Lord and from the glory of his power. Paul does not say who will be removed from the presence of our Lord for a time. who will be punished with temporary destruction through a temporary loss of the presence of God until such time as you burn off your sins and then you can be entered back into the presence of God. Paul says it will be a punishment of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. And so purgatory is a false doctrine. Annihilationism is a false doctrine. One more doctrinal point to make this evening. Verse 10, Paul said, "...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 in that day." The judgment. upon the unbelieving world will be one of literal fire. The judgment upon the unbelieving world will be one of literal separation from God. The judgment upon the unbelieving world will be eternal burning and eternal separation from the Creator God. This final aspect is the timing of this judgment. We've mentioned already that we do not see it today, do we? It's not as if when a man does something wrong against a believer, lightning bolts come down from heaven. We see it in the cartoons, you don't see it in real life, do you? As a matter of fact, all throughout the Psalms, we see lamentations. Why do the wicked prosper? The psalmist so regularly said. Why do they solidify themselves in their pride? They literally think that God does not see them. We don't see the judgment today because today's not the day. Well, it might be the day, but it hasn't happened yet. The day of judgment is not yet come. And this is what Paul says in verse 10, that this vengeance and flaming fire and everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord is coming on the day when Jesus returns for his saints. The judgment upon the wicked is delayed, but it is coming folks. We look forward to the day. Those who are in Christ in this room look forward to the day that Jesus Christ returns. Those who are in Christ look forward to the day when we will be lifted out of this world and taken to be with the Lord forever. But on that day we will also witness the wicked finally receiving the recompense of their sins against us and against our Lord. And Paul goes on to say in verses 11 and 12, 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. Paul tells the church that his greatest desire for them is that they would be counted worthy to fulfill His good pleasure through their faith. He says, my greatest desire for you, and of course it would be, is that you would be one of those that are on His right hand in the day of judgment, not on His left hand. That you would be one of the sheep that enter into the place that God has prepared for us from the foundation of the world. That you would not be one of the goats who is said, depart from me into everlasting fire. And if that means that we must suffer for a time the anger and the violence of the unbelieving world so that we can enter into the joy of our Lord, then so it must be in order to fulfill the righteous judgments of God. When I read this, I believe Paul is saying something to this effect. That one way or another, God will be glorified in all men. One way or another, you will either glorify God as a believer, standing and worshiping and praising God for His redemption and His mercy and His grace, or you will be glorifying God in hell as you burn in torment for your knowing rejection of the truth of God's Word. And when we place it in perspective, Glorifying God through the suffering of this world with the eternal joy and rest that is to follow is a far better arrangement than resisting God in this life and finding the joys that come from being a friend of the world only to spend eternity glorifying God as we burn in an eternal place called the lake of fire. Now, as we apply this evening, many things need to be said. The first, let's focus in on what Paul is actually teaching. If you are a believer in this room, it is not contradictory for you to find rest, for you to find comfort in the reality that one day the wicked will be judged. That should not change how you treat them in this life. that should not change the love that you show toward your enemies. But you need not feel guilty finding comfort when that person mocks you for your faith, or when the government comes after you for your faith, or if you find yourself imprisoned for your faith, or if you're martyred for your faith. There should be no guilt in finding comfort in the reality that those people will face judgment one day for their wickedness, barring their conversion through the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, this is what Paul taught, that we can take comfort in this. But though there is comfort in this thought, that when we are in the midst of suffering, those who cause us to suffer for the name of Christ will one day meet judgment. In this country, we find that we are not deeply persecuted. We might be scorned, mocked, ridiculed, have a door slammed in our face, perhaps even lose a job, but the persecution is fairly minimal as of now. Much rather, we're living around unbelievers every day. They're our friends. We see them on TV. We hear them on the radio. We interact with them at the store. Most likely, every cashier you came across this week was one. And all of these people, if they do not repent and turn to Christ, by believing on the name of Jesus Christ, to be saved of their sin, all of them are headed toward an eternity separated from God in the eternal fiery torments of hell. And while we can be comforted that those who have afflicted pain and suffering upon us will one day be judged, there's not much comfort. when you're standing looking into the eyes of one who is on their way to hell, and you know that except they believe on the name of Jesus Christ, they'll be there. There's not much comfort when you see the neighbors walking around and you know that unless they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, they will burn in the torments of hell. And so with that in mind, What are we doing until the day of judgment? What are we doing about those who are on their way to the torments of hell? As you have opportunity, as occasion arises, as we are waiting for the day of judgment, for the day that Christ will return for us, are you busy about the Father's work? Are you telling others about Christ? Are you willing to let folks know that there will be judgment one day? It's not our job to convince people. It's not our job to save people. In fact, we can't. But are you being a mouthpiece? Is your life exhibiting the reality of your redemption? And one more thing as we close. I know we're a pretty intimate group, a group that we're all fairly familiar with each other, but far be it from me to preach a message like this without an appeal. That if there's anyone here who, as I preach on the fiery torments and eternal separation of God, find yourself in deep fear Knowing that you are not one of God's children. Knowing that if Jesus Christ were to come right now and he were to separate the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left, you do not know for sure that you would be one of his children. Could you just, would you tonight get that nailed down? Would you come see me? Talk to my wife? Talk to mom or dad? Have someone open up a Bible and guide you through the verses and bring you to a place where you are ready to make a decision to accept the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ through believing on His name so that you will not be one of those that will hear, depart from me, I never knew you, into eternal torment. Let's close in prayer.