Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Okay, so today we are starting a new book which excites me. I hope you guys are happy to start Second Thessalonians, but at the same time, it's not the newest book that we could choose because it's very related to First Thessalonians, not just because of the name, but amongst letters. You know, letters that have a first, second, or a third. I think these two are particularly closely related. It also seems that they were written pretty close together, but they are distinct. But we should think of some of the similarities. For example, it was obviously written to the same church. At the time, there was one church in Thessalonica. So the church of Thessalonica received both of these letters. Originally, it was written by the same three authors, Paul, Silas and Timothy. Or you would look down and probably see Sylvanus, which was another form of the name Silas. So these three missionaries wrote both of these letters. It also closely follows the exact same themes, very similar themes. It was even written not too long after the first.
[00:01:16] In fact, I'm not even going to do a recap of First Thessalonians, which I've been trying to do, so we can remember what we've talked about before to help us. And I'm not going to, because he kind of hints at it in this first part of the letter. As we'll see and go through, and we'll see these themes, we'll see perseverance through persecution. We're going to read about hope in the future coming of the Lord, and we're going to read about the relentless pursuit of sanctification. All of these are prominent themes in both, both first and Second Thessalonians.
[00:01:50] And so that's why we're going to stick with the same overall theme between these letters. And this overall theme, as a reminder is this phrase that anytime you open one of these, look, any one of these letters, one of these books, I want you to think of this. Excel still more in faithfulness, for this is God's will. I think this is a good directional phrase that can kind of help us remember, what is Paul doing? What's he talking to the Thessalonians about? He's telling them to excel still more in faithfulness because that's God's will for them.
[00:02:21] Chapter one, which we're covering today, looks very normal from the outset with a, you know, greeting, Thanksgiving section. Very, very normal. But I do think we'll see something unique in this chapter. Paul reveals to the Thessalonians how God's righteousness is confirmed through suffering.
[00:02:43] The main idea of second Thessalonians 1 is the continuing faithfulness of the Thessalonian Church proves that they are already worthy of the kingdom.
[00:02:56] As they continue so the continuing faithfulness of the Thessalonian Church proves that they're already worthy of the kingdom. So that is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, while being made worthy for it by the work of Christ.
[00:03:11] So as they continue in faithfulness, they are considered worthy in the eyes of God. But at the same time, the work of Christ is preparing them to be made worthy.
[00:03:22] The Thessalonian Church in this first chapter is described in three ways. These three ways are going to be the three points that we're going to follow. The first way they're described is that they are constantly faithful. They are constantly faithful, and here we'll see. Paul commend them. This is kind of a commendation section. Look at starting in verse 1. Just follow along as I read Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians and God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
[00:04:07] Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all the persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God.
[00:04:23] So if you're anything like I was and have been, then very rarely does something stick out to you when you read the opening of a letter.
[00:04:35] Maybe that's just me, but I think it's pretty normal to read these opening parts and kind of just glaze over it. Ignore everything we just read and to get into the meat of the letter. And there's a lot in the meat of letters, but we don't want to skip over it too quickly. I mean, it is such a familiar formula.
[00:04:55] And in fact, this reading in particular is actually really not unique.
[00:05:01] Now look at verses 1 and 2 again and follow along Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Great grace to you and peace.
[00:05:17] What I just read was 1st Thessalonians 1:1.
[00:05:21] They are almost the exact same. Did anybody notice differences? You may have noticed that I stopped a little early. But there's one other difference. Paul refers to God the Father as God our Father. That's one of the two differences.
[00:05:37] Now, his theology did not change. He didn't suddenly think, okay, God is the Father, but now he's our Father, he didn't change.
[00:05:45] It's hard to know exactly why. It's probably just an inconsequential difference. But perhaps he is hoping to especially remind this church, this struggling church, I mean, struggling against persecution, not in faithfulness, this church in persecution. He's reminding them that the Father is not just a father. He's not aloof, but he is connecting them all. He is active, our Father. Even amongst the missionaries who have been chased away from them, they're not with them any longer. They have the same father. In fact, we are all brothers and sisters, all with God as our adoptive father. This can be incredibly comforting, especially as we have to part ways in this life with many Christians that we love.
[00:06:32] So that's one difference. We also see that he repeated that same phrase, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, after he said grace to you and peace. So again, this probably isn't a groundbreaking change, but this emphasis of Paul's theology is clear.
[00:06:50] The little church is a church. It is a church. It is a. That is to say, it's a group of Christians who have intentionally united together and they've done this because of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:07:05] The Father and the Son are the reason that this church is a church. Their existence stems from the Father and the Son and the grace and peace that is given to them through the Spirit. They are a God centered church. They exist because of God. And so, yes, grace and peace also play a big role in second Thessalonians as well.
[00:07:28] In first Thessalonians, to make it clear that grace and peace were central, Paul, if you remember, he bracketed that first letter with those two themes. Remember, 1st Thessalonians 1:2 says, Grace to you and peace. And then at the end of the letter in chapter five, he says, now make the God of peace. And then a few verses later, he talks about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. So he's closing them off to remind us that this is central to the letter. And then again, second Thessalonians 1:2, grace to you in peace. And if you were to flip to chapter three in verses 16 and 18, you'd read now, may the Lord of Peace himself give you peace at all times. And then the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
[00:08:17] Who has written an essay for school?
[00:08:20] Good, good, good. Lots of essays out there. When you write an essay for school just generally might depend on what you're writing about. But it is a good practice to state your argument or your thesis at the beginning and the end of your essay. It's just very basic. It's a way to tell people, this is what I'm going to say, and then at the end to remind them what you were trying to say so they can evaluate if you actually did a good job. That's why we do it, to remind people what is the main point. That's why I give a main idea and I read it at the end of my sermons. I want us to remember this key idea. This is what Paul and the missionaries are doing to emphasize their points.
[00:08:58] Reminding us of grace and peace and the centrality of those things in the church and in the Christian life. Beginning and end all throughout. No matter what is said. Grace and peace are central because again, the church exists only because of God's grace and peace. And what do I mean by that? Well, grace as a reminder is that good gift of salvation that God sovereignly has given to everyone in the church. That is to say that everyone who has believed in the Son receives saving grace. So what is peace? Well, peace is the result of grace. It's the relational result of having been given God's grace, saving grace.
[00:09:45] Whereas in your sin before you trust in Christ, you are, whether you acknowledge it or not, you are at war with God. Your sin makes you an enemy of Him. But when he grants you grace that you may believe and be saved, he also brings peace to that relationship and also gives you the ability to have peace better with one another in the church.
[00:10:10] And now as we look at verses three through five, we finally get to this recap, the summary that I mentioned earlier. Paul and his co authors are driven to thanksgiving for these Thessalonian Christians. But why?
[00:10:24] He says they always give faith. Why? One Their faith is growing and their love is increasing. So their faith and love are both growing. Now, to remind us, in 1st Thessalonians 1:3, Paul says, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love.
[00:10:44] Both faith and love were virtues being lived out among this congregation. And the second letter probably coming again not too long after the first, but it could have been several years.
[00:10:56] It shows us that this church is living and it is vibrant and it is growing. The virtues of faith and love are growing healthy. That's what a healthy church does. It grows. It does not stick. And I don't just mean numerically, I mean it spiritually grows.
[00:11:14] And that's what he's observing in this church, we don't know how many members have been at it, but we know that they are increasing in love and faith. And that is central, that is important, but it's significant that faith and love are two virtues. Also that Paul, in that first one. So he says the first letter, that you guys are doing this already. He's bringing it up again. But he also tells them that they do need to grow in faith and love. In First Thessalonians 3:10, he says, we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. So there's something lacking. He wants them to grow. And then love, like faith, is growing among this congregation. But this virtue was also one that Paul encouraged growth. So first Thessalonians 3:12, just two verses after that last one, he says, may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.
[00:12:12] So both of these verses are things that Paul had prayed for.
[00:12:17] So he had observed these virtues before. He encouraged them to grow and he had prayed for them to grow in these ways. And now what we're seeing, that he's giving thanks because their faith and love are increasing.
[00:12:33] So what should this teach us about faith? Maybe something I've mentioned or not faith, prayer. Maybe something I've mentioned a few times. We should pray for other Christians. We should really pray for other Christians for. No, I mean, for many reasons, but one, because it works.
[00:12:50] It clearly works. He prayed for these Christians and they did so more and more they excelled still more because God empowered them to do so through the prayers of others.
[00:13:03] So yes, their faith is growing in their love. Another reason that they were driven to thanksgiving is that the Thessalonians were not driven by persecute or shaken by persecution.
[00:13:15] They were, he says, your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. So remember, the persecution was pretty bad. Bad enough that it chased Paul and the others out of town. They weren't able to really return, except for Timothy was able to return it just to get a report. And evidently these persecutions had not stopped. They hadn't slown. Slowed down at all, but they are continuing in the faith. And that reality is boastworthy. Not that they can boast in themselves, but that Paul can boast in their lives. Their living, their endurance through persecution is a testimony to the power of the Gospel.
[00:14:01] Remember the power that a testimony can have if you've been saved by Christ. Then you too can leverage that story for the sake of evangelism, just as Paul is doing, pointing to this church as he goes around to other cities saying, hey, that church, they stood fast under persecution because the Gospel is worth it. What a great example to those other churches all around the world.
[00:14:28] And now briefly, as you know, we come to verse five. It pivots to where Paul's going to explain the purpose of God's allowance of suffering.
[00:14:38] This is a hot topic. It always has been.
[00:14:42] How can a good God permit people to suffer? Well, Paul is saying that this is evidence of the righteous judgment of God.
[00:14:53] So people suffering can be the church suffering at least is evidence of the righteous judgment of God.
[00:15:00] Now, that's interesting. And we'll unpack that in our second point, which is already worthy. So that is to say, the Thessalonians are already worthy. So we just commended them. And now we get to this section where Paul and the missionaries are going to comfort them.
[00:15:17] Follow along as I read, starting in verse 5.
[00:15:21] This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering, since 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, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
[00:16:10] Now, the point of this section is to comfort the Thessalonians in the sufferings. But we also learn a bit about the fate of the ungodly and also the righteous judgment of God. But I want to notice what Paul's putting forward as the reason for their comfort.
[00:16:29] Their suffering is happening according to God's righteous judgment so that they may be considered worthy of the kingdom.
[00:16:38] They are worthy of the kingdom because they are in fact suffering for it.
[00:16:44] So in this sense, suffering for the sake of the gospel is maybe the strongest way to get assurance. We talk about being assured that you can be saved. What better way than to have your faith stand the test of persecution?
[00:17:03] If your faith can stand the test of persecution, then you have all the more reason to be assured that your faith is genuine. Because a saving faith is a living faith that can survive earthly troubles. If it can't survive persecution, it's not real.
[00:17:21] If, if it can't endure hardships, it's not real. And if it's not living and growing, it's dead.
[00:17:28] We want a living faith. And thus, by having a faith that perseveres, the Thessalonian Christians are said to be worthy of the kingdom already. And to be clear, this isn't necessarily something you can just muster up in yourself, but this has everything to do with where your faith actually lies. If you truly and genuinely have your faith completely in the Savior, in the Lord Jesus Christ, then he gives you a faith that is strong.
[00:17:58] If our faith is shaky and weary, we should think about in what are we actually trusting? Are we trusting the Savior that can stand through trials and persecutions?
[00:18:12] Now, Paul gives the Thessalonians a better understanding of God's justice after this, when it. When it comes to suffering. See, we learned that God's system of justice considers these Christians worthy of the kingdom, yet it allows them to suffer.
[00:18:28] So these Christians, they're worthy of the kingdom of God, but God is allowing them to suffer anyway.
[00:18:35] Why?
[00:18:37] You might in life, have someone ask you a similar question, if not that exact question, the reason is that God is concerned with ultimate or final realities, eternal realities. So while we live on this earth, God has made it so that Christians suffer for at least a couple of reasons, but they're connected to this eternal perspective that God as an eternal being has.
[00:19:05] One reason is that suffering disciplines us.
[00:19:10] If you've dealt with persecution or suffering in various ways, and I think to varying degrees, we probably all have at least some, then you might know, and you probably do, if you are a Christian, you probably know that God comes close to us in his grace when we are weak and when we're suffering and when we need Him. It is in those times that we particularly can feel a closeness with God because indeed we feel the need to draw near to him as well.
[00:19:43] Difficult seasons help us to mature in the faith because we are forced to rely on God.
[00:19:50] Another reason that Christians suffer is because it convicts the world.
[00:19:56] The world continues to be convicted and to heap upon itself more and more sin, more and more judgment, as it persecutes God's beloved children all the time. And this is continuing to convict the world because these afflictions will be paid for.
[00:20:12] So this will lead the world to receiving their due, which is retribution.
[00:20:18] Now, retribution is punishment or vengeance inflicted for a crime. Or in this case for a sin committed as retribution, as a type of punishment or justice. You know, for example, people might juxtapose rehabilitation instead of people being punished for crime. Instead we just try to rehabilitate them into society. Well, God's justice with sin is retribution, punishment and vengeance for the sins against him.
[00:20:53] And God considers it just. That means righteous and good. So he considers it just to afflict those who afflict the Church.
[00:21:03] Persecutors will receive punishment for what they do to God's children. But this retribution of the wicked actually has another consequence.
[00:21:12] The consequence is that the children of God will not receive retribution, but rest, salvation.
[00:21:21] God will grant relief when Jesus comes again.
[00:21:27] So there's retribution and punishment for the wicked where there's rest for those who have faith in Christ in that day.
[00:21:39] Based on where you are as you sit tonight, what will God give to you?
[00:21:44] Do you deserve retribution? Or is God going to grant you gracefully rest?
[00:21:52] This retribution and this rest are both eternal realities. See, God is concerned with eternity.
[00:22:01] Again, Paul is giving the Thessalonians hope, appealing to this imagery of the future time when Jesus will come to earth again from the heavens. And he is coming, as we learned in the last letter and in this section, with the shout of an archangel, the trumpet blast from heaven, and with his mighty angels in flaming fire. What we just read this fire from heaven, I believe, is the fire which will burn with God's wrath against the ungodly in eternal destruction. And frightening though it is, our God is a consuming fire and he is just. And this is what the Word teaches us about eternity. So we know that he will ensure that all those who are not found righteous by the works of Christ will suffer forever.
[00:22:56] Such people will suffer God's wrath. And this is just, and it's right. And in fact, it's fair.
[00:23:04] It can be hard to accept that so many people will suffer God's wrath for eternity, but we should recognize that it is fair.
[00:23:12] In fact, it would be more fair because all of us deserve eternal destruction as sinners against God, as those who have made ourselves enemies of God. By nature, we are not at peace with Him. Right by nature we don't have peace with Him. We deserve retribution. We have committed treasonous crimes against the Almighty God, the living God, the consuming fire God.
[00:23:39] We are sinners in the hands of a living God. But you are not without hope. As long as we sit here, at least tonight, you are not without hope. Because Paul juxtaposes then eternal destruction with eternal glory.
[00:23:55] Eternal glory is attainable because of what Christ did in this life, on the cross, in the grave, and at the resurrection.
[00:24:05] You just need to believe in the testimony of the Gospel, in His works, to be saved.
[00:24:12] Though, again, we deserve eternal destruction if we acknowledge that when we turn from our sins, we trust in the Savior, Jesus, he will rescue us from the pits of hell and destruction.
[00:24:30] That's all it takes, faith in the Savior.
[00:24:37] And this is what he will do for all the saints. You see that word used, right? He does this for the saints.
[00:24:46] He does this on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed. So who are these saints? Well, the word saints, it's not necessarily. It's not referring to this special group of people.
[00:24:58] Some church traditions, namely the Roman Catholic Church, teach this. But this is instead referring to the holy ones. This is referring to those who have been made holy. Well, who are the holy ones? Well, while we pursue holiness in life, we can really only be considered holy if Christ makes us holy. If he grants us his own holiness and covers us with his holiness like clothing, his holiness must be credited to your account. So that means, in summary, all Christians, everyone who has turned from their sins and trusted in Christ is a saint. So he's doing this for the Church.
[00:25:36] The Church then receives eternal glory.
[00:25:41] So there's eternal destruction and eternal glory. Again, this is an eternal reality.
[00:25:46] What is your fate?
[00:25:49] Are you in sin? Or have you been clothed in Christ's holiness?
[00:25:55] Will his return from the heavens be terrifying or happy?
[00:26:00] And if you're in Christ, you're considered worthy of the kingdom already because of this holiness from the Lord clothed upon you. And yes, all of this is just. We look at God and know that he is a good judge.
[00:26:17] Now imagine a judge, because some people would prefer that God operate this way. Imagine a judge in some court somewhere who just. Who always, out of mercy, lets the criminal go every time.
[00:26:32] And we can say that such a judge is merciful, but we can't say he's a good judge.
[00:26:38] Society would be horrific. He's merciful, but not good. A good judge knows when to show mercy and when to hand down punishment. And God is a perfect judge with wisdom that we cannot comprehend. And he always judges rightly because his mercy is given only to those who are clothed in the perfection and righteousness of His Son.
[00:27:03] He looks at us and sees innocence that we have not earned, innocence that His Son instead earned.
[00:27:11] God's a good judge.
[00:27:13] And the Thessalonians, because of the blood of Christ, are considered worthy already. But now, point number three, the Corinthians, they are considered not yet worthy.
[00:27:28] So this is interesting. This is the part of the passage where Paul kind of gives them a challenge. He's commended them, he's comforted them, and now he challenges them. Look at verse 11. To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:27:58] So Paul's not praying in these verses, but he is telling them what he does, pray for them. And this has two functions. So you know, why is Paul telling them, I pray for you guys like this?
[00:28:12] First, he's encouraging them. It is encouraging to know that someone's praying for you.
[00:28:20] I get texts weekly from two men, Kelly Keach, one of our deacons, and Phil Martin, who's a local director of a ministry called Child Evangelism Fellowship. Both these men text me weekly to tell me what passage they're praying over me on that particular day.
[00:28:39] This is incredibly encouraging and so loving. I'm not saying you have to do this systematically like them, but if you think of someone this week, you should pray for him or her and tell him that you prayed and what you prayed. This again is encouraging. It could also spark gospel conversations with somebody. So if you do find someone coming to mind, consider that God's leading to pray for such a person. Even if he's not leading you to pray for them, it can't hurt, right? It's not a bad thing to pray for somebody.
[00:29:17] That's what Paul's doing here. He's encouraging these Christians to specifically obtain the worthiness of the calling of God.
[00:29:25] Now, this is something already granted by God, right? If they they believed in Christ, it's already been granted to them. But at the same time, he's saying it's something you need to obtain and to continue to pursue. This is a tension of being in between two realities. This already not yet tension. It's present throughout the Bible. And it's because we're living between earth and heaven, between justification made right with God and glorification. When Christ returns, we are in between these two.
[00:29:58] And basically, in effect, the purpose of this is to challenge them to not give up. So this is for you to don't give up. Don't quit the faith. Don't walk away from the Lord. You must persevere to obtain the inheritance. And you need God's help even for that.
[00:30:20] And again, even so, Paul's theology is present. He knows that they will not be able to do this with their own power and will. They need God. It is God who makes them worthy. That's why he says, we pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling. It is God who does this for them. He empowers them to do it, rather. And this is because this work, though we have agency and responsibility, is God's work. He gets the glory for all of this.
[00:30:53] And so he's encouraging them with this reality. Do not worry. We are praying that God will work this in you. Second, by telling them how he's praying, he is challenging them. This list of things he prays is another way of saying, you should do this. Right? He's saying, I pray. You know, if I said to you, hey, I'm praying that you would go share the gospel with that guy, I'm probably just telling you, hey, you should do that. That's kind of what Paul's doing here. He's saying this in a way that is kind of urging them to do something.
[00:31:28] And these two challenges set up the rest of Second Thessalonians. I do think that. I think that these verses right here are hinting at the rest of the letter. So first we see him say that he's praying that they may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith.
[00:31:47] So every resolve for good and every work of faith by his. By God's power. This anticipates chapter three. This pointing to chapter three, which discusses rebellious laziness.
[00:32:01] Again, this is even a theme in the last letter, right? We touched on it in 1st Thessalonians 5:14. He tells them to admonish the idol. He wants them to be public Christians who are working out their faith for the world to see.
[00:32:16] So a rebellious idleness is a sin that he is going to confront in this letter. And even here, he's telling them, fulfill every resolve for good, every work of faith.
[00:32:29] These parallel statements are pointing to the diligence that God asks of us.
[00:32:34] And it's a good reminder that no true faith is inactive.
[00:32:39] I read somewhere that true faith actually clothes itself with good works.
[00:32:45] When we choose to do nothing, we choose sin, which we don't. It's not a neutral decision to do nothing. Do you see that? It is an active rebellion.
[00:32:56] But even here, the Bible is not putting it all on you.
[00:33:01] You can only do it by his power.
[00:33:05] Indeed, without Christ, you are enslaved to sin. You cannot break the chains without his blood. But in Christ, you can do it by his power. You, even the good works, they're ultimately a result of his grace and his power.
[00:33:21] The second challenge then is when we read the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him. While this one's not as explicit, I think that this is pointing us to chapter two, what we're going to study next week. The next chapter, Paul talks again about eschatology. What is eschatology you should think about? What does it mean? If you have a guess, say it in your head. What it is is the doctrine or the teachings of the end times. If you didn't know it, you should write it down. It's a good word to remember. Eschatology. This is about the end times. What does the Church, what does the Bible teach about that stuff?
[00:34:02] So he's talking about it again. We talked about it in the first letter also. So the reason we know that this verse is, I think, previewing that topic specifically is the word glorified. See, glorification is that future reality that Christ brings with his second coming.
[00:34:19] Christ is ultimately glorified in that second coming as he resurrects the dead, judges the living and the dead, and renews the earth for his people to dwell on in paradise for eternity. This is the epitome of glorification. That is the day when he will be, quote, marveled at among all who believed.
[00:34:41] But also, we read that believers will be glorified in Him. So Christ is glorified in this, which is apparent and obvious by the imagery. But believers too are glorified in Him. This means that God will raise or call up all Christians from all of history, and we will be given new resurrection bodies that are glorified and eternal and perfect.
[00:35:06] We'll enjoy all of eternal life glorifying the Savior.
[00:35:12] And so at the end of it all, God will be glorified by his beloved children who have been adopted by the Father through faith. That's the end that we are all looking for. God will be glorified by his beloved children who have been adopted by the Father through faith. Christians, too, will be glorified in that day, which should bring great hope to those who have turned from our sins and already put our faith and our trust in the Savior. Eternity awaits.
[00:35:44] Our worthiness in Christ will be completed at that time, along with sanctification. And so, Christians, the call of Paul to the Thessalonians goes for you even today. Persevere. Don't be idle. Don't worry about persecution. God's righteousness will be meted out in the end through judgment and salvation.
[00:36:08] But students and leaders, we don't know the day nor the hour of this event. As we read in first Thessalonians, to delay another day is to risk eternal destruction, which we all rightly deserve. And so don't delay, but turn to Christ even now. And when you do, or if you have, your continued faithfulness will serve to prove that you are already made worthy of that kingdom that we await.
[00:36:39] The continuing faithfulness of the Thessalonian Church and the continuing faithfulness of Christians today proves that they are already worthy of the kingdom while still being made worthy for it by the work of Christ. Let's pray.
[00:36:57] God, we thank you that you are a good and just God.
[00:37:02] Lord, we recognize humbly that salvation comes through judgment. And this judgment is something we all deserve.
[00:37:13] God, we thank you for your grace that those who turn to Christ in faith will be rescued from that deserved judgment because they are clothed with Christ's holiness that he earned.
[00:37:25] Lord, we thank you for that. God, we pray that those who don't know you would turn to you tonight and that the rest of us would be strengthened in the faith that we can persevere through anything that the world might throw at us. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.
