In his sermon 'Continuing With the End in Mind,' Jason Dohm draws from 2 Thessalonians 1:1-10, urging believers to focus on the final goal of their faith amidst life's tribulations. He parallels the business mantra 'begin with the end in mind,' emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision of the Christian endgame to endure present challenges. Dohm highlights Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, commending their growing faith and love despite persecution, which serves as evidence of their worthiness in God's kingdom. The sermon stresses that enduring persecution with patience and faith is proof of belonging to God's kingdom, akin to the parable of the soils where true believers bear fruit despite adversities. Dohm explains that God's enemies, defined as those who do not know Him or obey the Gospel, face everlasting destruction, while His friends, those who stand firm in faith, will receive rest and be glorified with Christ. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to keep the end in mind to remain steadfast in their journey, trusting God's righteous judgment will prevail.

Second Thessalonians chapter 1, I'll be starting at verse 1, reading through verse 10. And peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed.

Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you for this text that you have us in. We pray that as Jason comes and preaches that your spirit will speak through him and that our hearts will be open to your word. Please plant the seed down deep in our hearts and make our hearts fertile soil. In Jesus name. Amen.

The Title of the sermon this morning is, Continuing with the End in Mind. I'm actually working off of a phrase that I heard many times in my career in business, which was this. Begin with the end in mind. And when you hear that in the business world, what is intended is that before we start a project, we define really what we're hoping to accomplish. So that we get it really clear in our minds what the objective is so that when unforeseen things jump on us in the middle of the project that we have a clearly defined goal that we're pressing towards and we're not just reacting to things as they happen to us, but we stay focused because we have this clearly defined objective.

So you're going to hear that all the time in the business world. Begin with the end in mind. And I think that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, as they write to these new converts in Thessalonica, have something very similar in mind. They want the minds of the Thessalonians to be fixed on the end, so that as they're assailed by tribulations and persecutions, and they are being assailed by tribulations and persecutions, that they won't be diverted, but that they'll stay focused on where God is taking them. The Gospel has come to Thessalonica, and it's been accompanied by pressure and persecution.

And so, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, as our authors, are exhorting them to continue with the end in mind. Because it helps us. It helps us to keep our view out on the horizon when the pressures and the trials come. And they are always going to come. If you're not in the middle of that right now, if you're on a calm sea right now, there's one thing for sure, the waves are coming.

This is why the authors of the New Testament are always making their converts ready. Because You might be in a calm time now, but it's going to last forever. Life is always going to be pressing in on us sooner or later. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. God, we are so prone to have tunnel vision and only see the thing right in front of us, and when the pressures come, when the persecutions come, and your gospel is hated, and all those who embrace your gospel are hated, so easy to take our eyes off of the future that you have said.

You've made ready for those who love you. And to be disquieted when we should have faith and stand fast. So God I pray that you would use this text to help us to stand fast in times of tribulation and persecution. I know that you have given these words to your people as a gift to help us, and I pray that this would be a mighty help to us in Jesus' name. Amen.

So the first point you have on your outline, if you're taking notes on the handout, has to do with verse 5, but it is clear evidence of the righteous judgment of God. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in the blanks, the blank is evidence. Clear evidence of the righteous judgment of God. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in the blanks, the blank is evidence. Clear evidence of the righteous judgment of God.

Now let's read verse 5. I'll read it and follow along. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5, Which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer. So the verse begins, we're beginning in the middle of a sentence which is sort of confusing by itself. And actually, Is all of our text a single sentence?

No, it's two sentences. But there are lots of phrases that jumble up that describe each other and explain each other. So we're going to spend a lot of our time just untangling that and carefully looking at the portions and how they relate to each other. Verse 5 begins right in the middle of a sentence with this phrase, which is manifest evidence. So we're confronted with evidence of something.

But we're mid-sentence. So what is manifest evidence? Well back up to verse 4. Let's look at verse 4. So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure." So tribulations and persecutions have come upon these people and verse 4 tells us how they're reacting to all the pressure.

Remember tribulations the Greek word that is rendered tribulations there just means oppressing. So the pressures that have come upon them, these believers have had a reaction to those pressures. What was it? Patience and faith. Now Paul points back to their reaction to all the pressures, their patience and faith, and says, that's evidence.

That's proof of something. That's clear evidence of something. And what is it evidence of? That these believing Thessalonians belong in the kingdom of God, that they belong to the kingdom of God. When you become Christ's, tribulations and persecutions are going to come sooner or later.

And when they come, if you have the ability to endure them with patience and faith, it's proof positive that you belong in this kingdom. They are suffering for the kingdom. And so they're proving that they believe that the kingdom of God is worth suffering for. That's in this text. They're giving evidence that they believe that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a kingdom worth suffering for.

That if they're faced with a choice to back off from the pressure, to be relieved from the pressure, and the price for that is to let go of this kingdom. They say no. This kingdom is worth more than that. This kingdom is worth suffering patiently and with faith for. And I won't let it go because it's too precious.

There's too much at stake. If you see that and you prove that by suffering patiently and with faith, you're saying, I belong to this kingdom. You're counted worthy of the kingdom. This is the mark of a Christian. Now think about the parable of the soils in Matthew chapter 13.

It's one of the great parables that Jesus teaches in the gospels, the parable of the soils. In the second instance, it's a seed falling on stony places. When Jesus explains it, he says, this is the person that receives the gospel with joy but then tribulations and persecutions come and they stumble and they don't bear fruit they prove that it wasn't real they prove that the Kingdom of God wasn't worth suffering for. The Gospel sounded great. They heard the Gospel and they received it with joy and they sprung up like a plant just overnight.

And they looked like the real thing, but tribulation and persecution revealed reality. And they say, no, the Kingdom of God is not worth suffering for, and they didn't bear fruit, and they proved that they were not worthy of the kingdom of God. Think of the third instance in the parable of the soils. It's the seed that falls among the thorns, and it too springs up. It looks like it's a real plant.

It looks like it's going to bear fruit. But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke out the plant. And it doesn't bear fruit. The person had the gospel and they thought they could have it along with the cares of the world, and alongside the deceitfulness of riches, when they found out they couldn't, when they found out they had to choose between the kingdom and bearing fruit in and for this kingdom, or giving themselves to the cares of the world and to riches, and They found out they had to choose, they did choose. And they proved they were unworthy of the kingdom of God.

And then there's that fourth instance, the good soil, the seed falls on it, and it springs up, and it bears not just fruit, but an abundance of fruit, thirty-fold, or sixty-fold, or a hundred-fold of fruit, proving that the Kingdom of Heaven was worth suffering for, that the Kingdom of God, they would not let it go. It's not that in the fourth instance, there were no tribulations or pressures, or there were no weeds to choke. No. It means that they persevered through all that and bore fruit, proving that they belonged to the Kingdom of God. So we should ask ourselves, For me, is the kingdom of God worth suffering for?

If I get pressed, when the pressures come, am I going to let go of that? I'd bear the thought of letting go of that. That reveals a lot to us. Everyone likes it when the sun shines and the birds chirp. But that's not what life is going to deliver to our front door every day, the rest of our lives, if we're going to cling to Christ.

No, no, no. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. It says they're counted worthy. Now this doesn't mean that they've earned it or that the kingdom of God is then merited by them. It means that they've proved that they belong in it.

God is sustaining them so that these tribulations and these persecutions are met by patience and faith. That's a miracle of God. We in our own strength and acting according to our own natures turn, tail and run. So if you meet these persecutions that come to Christians with patience and faith, it's a sign of a miracle of God that has overthrown your old nature. And that has come alongside your weakness with strength.

Now here's what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are setting up. They're setting up the rest of the verses. Verse 5 sets up 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Which is this, God's judgment is going to be proven completely righteous. In the end of all things, Everyone is going to say, God got it exactly right.

He dealt with his people just right. He dealt with the wicked just right. Right now, It looks to the Thessalonians like the wicked are getting away with it. What's this? We're innocent and they're persecuting us and God is doing nothing.

Where is God? Has he forgotten his people? No, he hasn't forgotten his people. So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, who have walked this walk for a while, and have been patient and had faith in tribulations and persecution for a while, say, you have to continue with the end in mind. You have to see what the future holds.

And what the future holds is God doing just right by His people. And God doing just right by the wicked. Everyone is going to get exactly what they deserve. The wicked will get exactly what they deserve. Those who rejected Christ and the gospel are going to get exactly what they deserve, and Christ is going to get exactly what he deserves.

And that's the end of the story. That's the reckoning. You say, where do I fit in that? Well, you're either wicked or you're in Christ. Remember, that was the preposition, the outstanding preposition for verse 1.

In God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers and the little churches that they make up are in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you won't repent and if you persist stubbornly in your wickedness, God will give you what you deserve. For those who are in Christ, they get what Christ deserves. So you might say, I don't want to get what I deserve.

Well, I'd say amen to that. But remember, back when we were studying verse 1, we were back in Colossians 3, verse 3. For those who were in Christ, we died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. Our life is hidden with Christ. What we deserve is what Christ deserves because our sins have been dealt with on His shoulders on the cross.

God did give what we deserve to Christ, and now we get what Christ deserves. That's how this is going to end. That's how all of this doing in the world is going to end. The wicked, those who reject the gospel and persist stubbornly in their rebellion against God are going to be given what they richly deserve and Christ is going to get what he deserves and his people are going to partake in that. I want to close with Philippians chapter 1.

So turn there, close this section. This section. This is going to be a long sermon. So, get comfortable. Actually, don't get comfortable.

That won't help. Philippians chapter 1, where Paul is going to say to another group of Macedonians, by the way, the Thessalonians are from Macedonia, and the Philippians are from Macedonia, this region. And these churches get planted in quick succession. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are in Philippi, and then they're in Thessalonica. So both of these letters are to people in cities very close to each other.

This is Philippians 1. I want to read verses 27 through 30 and just look at how similar the language is. He is speaking about the same things in many of the same ways, and I think it throws additional light on it. Philippians 1 verse 27, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is in me." So here as he writes to the Philippians he's saying, I want to hear that you're standing fast in the face of your persecutors.

Why? Because when you stand fast in the face of persecution, It is a proof of perdition for them and of salvation to you and all that from God. And it's been granted to you not only to believe but also to suffer for His name. Suffering for the Christian isn't the train being derailed and going off the tracks. It is the train going down the tracks and accomplishing what God has desired to accomplish.

And We have to make our brains start to think that way. It's not the plan of God being derailed when we suffer. It is God working His good pleasure for His glory and our good when we suffer. He's proving things. He's giving us evidence by sustaining us through pressure and persecution that we're His, that we belong to his kingdom, that we are worthy of his kingdom.

Not in a way that we earn it, but in a way that says we belong. It's proof that we belong. Now verse 6. Now here, I'm going to do something different. You can see on the handout I have got verse 6 and then verses 8 and 9.

So I have skipped verse 7. Here is what I am doing. This section of the sermon is about the end of God's enemies. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, the blank is enemies. The end of God's enemies.

So the title of the sermon is Continuing with the End in Mind. Well, here is the end for the enemies of God. It's explained to us in verse 6, and then in verses 8 and 9. So Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, they weave together the end of the righteous and the unrighteous and they go back and forth. I'm not going to go back and forth.

I'm going to trace out God's enemies in this text. And then trace out God's friends in this text. So we're going to skip verse 7 and deal with that separately. So I'm going to now read 6, 8, and 9. Follow along.

Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, now to verse 8, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy are giving us the end of God's enemy. There is an everlasting end prepared for the enemies of God, and we're given it here. I say it's an everlasting end because I don't want to be thought of saying when I say the end of God's enemies that it's just a final point and there's no continuation beyond it. The text is so clear that the punishment is everlasting.

The end of God's enemies is an everlasting end of eternal, never-ending destruction. Verse 6 says that it's a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble the Lord's people. So we don't know Greek so we might not catch what's being said here. It's a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble. Now, It's been rendered as two different words, but the root Greek word is exactly the same.

It's two different forms of speech, but it's exactly the same Greek word. Tribulation and trouble. The idea is that if you trouble the Lord's people, that trouble will come back to you on your own head. Because it's exactly the same Greek root. You trouble them in this life, God troubles you.

It comes back on your own head. That's the nature of the repayment. That's why it says to repay, to recompense you. You trouble the Lord's people and God troubles you. Listen to Hosea 8, verse 7.

It's the first part of that verse. Hosea 8.7. In Hosea 8, it's talking about those who are God's enemies and what they have done and what he's going to do. And Hosea 8.7 says, they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. That's the nature of this text.

In both categories, both for the righteous and for the wicked, both for those who are in Christ and those who won't obey the gospel. They sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. They sow a breeze and they reap a tornado. That's what's being taught here. In verses 8 and 9, this is more fully developed.

We're given three points regarding the end of God's enemies. So I'm going to give you the three points from verses 8 and 9 about how God repays with tribulation those who trouble the Lord's people. How God troubles those who trouble the Lord's people. Here are the three things, the three points I believe that we find in verses 8 and 9. Number one, God is going to return in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies.

God is going to return in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies. That's just the words of the text. The inactivity of God, the seeming inactivity of God regarding the persecution of His people, is easily misinterpreted. Those who are in rebellion to God are always misinterpreting the kindness of his long suffering. People who won't obey the Gospel are always misinterpreting the kindness of his long suffering.

They see the seeming inactivity of God and say, seeming inactivity because he's not inactive at all. He is a strong support to his people, enabling them to endure and suffer persecution with patience and faith. That's not inactivity. When God is the strong support of His people so that in the face of all this pressure and persecution they can endure with patience and faith, God is not inactive at all. But the seeming inactivity of God to the persecutors is very often misinterpreted and misappropriated, meaning God is giving them time to repent and they are misappropriating the opportunity afforded to them by God being patient.

Being patient. God has even held his people back from taking their own vengeance. All the way to the very end when he comes in flaming fire to take his own vengeance. Remember Romans chapter 12 verse 19, Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So what are we supposed to do when we encounter persecution?

Take vengeance! No, no, no. Vengeance is God's turf. We suffer patiently and with faith, and that's clear evidence that we belong to his kingdom and he will take care of the vengeance at the end. He lays claim to vengeance.

Vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord. When we're persecuted the Lord's people need to cling to two truths. First, but for grace I would be that. So here is the first thing you just need to think when you are persecuted. When you are unrighteously treated because you love Christ.

First thing you need to think, if it wasn't for God's grace, that would be me. I'd be on the other side of this equation. Where is that in this text? With the author. Paul wrote this.

Paul was on the other side of this, persecuting the Lord's people. Hell bent, literally, on the destruction of the New Testament church. But Paul proves that doesn't have to be the end of the story. There's hope even for persecutors. How do we know?

Because of Paul. That's where it is in this text. Our author was on the other side of this. He was a violent blasphemer. And God in a moment captured him.

He took a captive. God took a captive in the Apostle Paul. The second thing we need to think when we're persecuted, after having pity on the persecutor and thinking, that could be, that should be, that would be me. The second thing is to know that every wrong is going to be set right. Every single one is going to be set right.

In the end, God's justice is going to be completely exonerated and everyone is going to say he did exactly right for everything. Every little thing he did right. Vengeance is only ever delayed. Sometimes he pours out just a little bit of it in this lifetime. Sometimes you do get to see it.

You get to see. The rebellious and the wicked get just a little bit of what's coming to them. We're not guaranteed that. Sometimes it's delayed. But it's only delayed.

God will set it right. The tally books will be, the ledger will be completely balanced in the end. Our God is a consuming fire. That's how he describes himself in Hebrews 12.29. Our God is a consuming fire.

Sin can never stand before Him. Sin will always be dealt with. It will be burned up like chaff in a furnace. We should fear Him. We should live in Godly fear.

That's what Hebrews 12 says. So that was number one. God is going to return in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies. He keeps getting said in 1 Thessalonians and now 2 Thessalonians, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming, every chapter, he's coming. And the ledger will balance.

Number two, his enemies are defined and described in two simple ways. That's the second thing we get in verses 8 and 9. His enemies are defined and described in two simple ways. In other words, what makes an enemy of God? How do you describe them?

Two simple ways. One, they do not know God. Two, they do not obey the gospel. They don't know God. They don't obey the gospel.

They may say they know God, but there is a head knowledge that is not knowing God. To say you know God does not mean you know God. To know many things about God is not the same as knowing God in the sense that we have in our text today. Think about Nicodemus in John chapter 3. Nicodemus is a teacher in Israel.

He's already forgotten more of the Old Testament than you will ever know. So he knows all about God. And Jesus says, you're near the kingdom. You're near. You're not in.

You teacher of Israel, but you're near the kingdom. To know things about God is not the same as knowing God. People may claim to believe the gospel. That is not the same as obeying the gospel. The gospel is more than just fact points to be assented to.

Listen to John 17 verse 3. This is in Jesus' high priestly prayer where he's praying for us. John 17 verse 3, Jesus prays, And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. In John 17, Jesus says, this is eternal life. To know God, to know Him savingly, and to know Jesus Christ who was sent from God.

There is no knowing God the Father without knowing Jesus Christ his Son, and vice versa. There is only knowing the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or not knowing Him. Or listen to Titus 1 verse 16. Titus 1 verse 16, they profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. Titus 1 Verse 16 just says what we all know is true.

It's possible to claim one thing and another. To profess to know God but to deny Him in our works. Now that's not the same as saying you work to know God. No, no, no. That's saying the works is evidence, just like our text.

Evidence, proof that the miraculous transformation of God that always comes to believers has happened and is happening. It is possible to profess to know God but in works deny it. And to have it just be falsified for lack of evidence. Can you be convicted of knowing God? Can anybody convict you of knowing God?

Is there enough evidence? And within this Gospel, within this Good News, there are not just propositions to be believed, but also commands to be obeyed. There's no other way to understand the phrase, do not obey the gospel. They do not obey the gospel. That only makes sense if within the good news there are commands that must be obeyed to partake of it.

Otherwise there is no obeying or disobeying the Gospel. Repent and believe the Gospel. Jesus' first public statements in Mark 1.15. That's Jesus. Repent and believe the Gospel.

Or how about Paul in Acts 17 verse 30. This is Paul in Athens. Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now God commands all men everywhere to repent. That's part of the good news. What makes it good is that there is a way for us to be reconciled with God, even though He is holy, because Jesus shed His blood.

That's the good news. But it's not just left there. It's not take it or leave it. It's take it or else. Be condemned for your sins.

Or do you remember Ezra chapter 6 verse 21? In Ezra chapter 6, the first wave of exiles has come back to Jerusalem. And they're celebrating the Passover for the first time. And here's what we read in Ezra 6 verse 21. Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel.

If you were a Jew and had returned from captivity, You could eat the Passover, but not just them. Also, those in the land who were probably mixed breed at that point, genealogically, were welcome if they had separated themselves from the filth of the nations to seek the Lord God. That's the demand of the Gospel in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Hey, anyone ever saved has been saved the same way. They believe God and it's credited to them for righteousness.

That's how Abraham was saved. That's even before the Old Covenant law. That was before circumcision. That's what Paul says in Romans 4. You believe God and it's credited to you as righteousness.

But again, you have to think rightly about that. It's not just believing some facts. Believing God means that you transfer your trust completely from hoping in anything else to hope in Christ. That's what it means to believe God. That's what it means to trust Christ is you used to hope in these other things, but you forsake those hopes.

You used to love the things that God hates, but you forsake that in order to begin to love what He loves. Loves. Friends, liars don't go to hell because of lies. You're a liar. You've lied.

Liars go to hell because peace was offered to those liars. And they wouldn't have it. They wouldn't obey the gospel. They don't know God. You can't know God without obeying the gospel.

These things are so linked together. These are not two classes of people. Some who don't know God but do obey the gospel, and some who obey the gospel but don't know God. They are the same people. They don't know God, and they don't obey the gospel.

And those are linked and can never be torn apart. Idolaters Don't go to hell for their idolatry. They go to hell because pardon was extended to them and they would not have it. They wanted their idols. And they didn't want God.

Persecutors don't go to hell because of their persecution. Paul was a persecutor. Paul didn't go to hell. Peace was offered to him and he saw the beauty of God. And he saw his desperate state being in opposition to God, and he took the pardon by the grace of God.

Homosexuals don't go to hell because of homosexual acts. They go to hell because when they're confronted with their rebellion against God, they suppress the truth and unrighteousness and they say there is no God. They reject God and they reject His message. They won't know Him and they won't obey the gospel. That's why I appreciate Mark Devers condensing the gospel down to four things to help me remember how to communicate it with clarity.

God, man, cross, response. If you remember those four words, you can tell the gospel to someone. God, man, cross, response. God, Here's who God is. He made you.

He's almighty. He's holy. Man. Here's who man is. He's the creature.

He owes God everything. And he's living in rebellion. He's born hating the things of God. So you can see the problem. Just by seeing who God is and who man is.

And that brings us to the cross. God hasn't left us in that desperate state without hope. He sent Jesus to make a way for sinners to be cleansed So that this great gap between a holy God and sinful man could be bridged and we could be reconciled to him. He died but he didn't stay dead, he rose from the dead. And He purchased a people.

You can't stop there when you're preaching the Gospel. God, man, cross. See you later. Response! It demands a response!

You must respond when confronted with these truths that God is almighty and holy, that man is sinful and lives in rebellion, and that Jesus Christ has died to reconcile them. You must respond. And no response is a response. Every time we share the Gospel, we should say that. If you go away saying, maybe tomorrow you have responded to the Gospel.

And if you die in your sins, your guilt will be on your own head. God will deal with you justly. And The books will balance on you. We've had two things from verses 8 and 9. One, God is going to return in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies.

2. His enemies are defined and described in two simple ways. 3. They don't know God and don't obey the gospel. 3.

The punishment itself is described. Now we get the punishment. We get what it is? Everlasting destruction. We get where it's from?

From the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. It is everlasting destruction. It is unendingly being destroyed, but never finished. It is eternal. It never ends.

But it's not annihilation. Annihilation is a teaching that's out there. The bliss for the saints lasts forever, but the destruction of the wicked is in a moment, and then they cease to exist. People feel better about that, but that is not what the Bible teaches. That is not the Bible.

You give up the eternal nature of the torment and punishment, then you give up the eternal nature of the bliss and communion with God. They stand or they fall together. You cannot have one without the other. Because of the words of the Bible, because of the Greek words that are used in the New Testament. When you give up eternal bliss in heaven, you give up eternal punishment in hell, and vice versa.

You cannot have one without the other. Matthew 13. You have the parable of the tares, the wheat and the tares growing together, and at the end they're separated. And you have the parable of the dragnet. There is a net that is cast and it gathers up all kinds of fish and in the end the fish are separated and both of these parables end with exactly the same words and will cast them into the furnace of fire there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." This is what Jesus says about the end of God's enemies.

They will be cast into a furnace of fire, and there's going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth because of the unending torment. Have you ever been burned bad? Is this literal or figurative? We don't need to waste time trying to figure that out. If it's figurative, it's just intended to tell you how bad it's going to be.

So It doesn't matter whether it's literal or figurative. The torment described is unthinkable torment. At least like being cast into a furnace of fire. And you'll wail, and you'll gnash your teeth, and it will never come to an end. Matthew chapter 22, the parable of the wedding feast.

A man comes in, he doesn't have the wedding garments, he does not have the righteousness of Christ, and so he's not welcome at the feast. And he's cast into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Outer darkness. Darkness that you can feel like in Egypt. That's a plague in Egypt.

You can feel the darkness. Hell will be like that. Mark chapter 9 verses 47 and 48. Listen to this. Jesus says, And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched. Hell again is called a fire by Jesus and the worm doesn't die. The corruption and the death just goes on and on, and the fire is not quenched. It never goes out. In the parable in Luke chapter 16, There's a man there, and he's in agony, and he's begging for one drop of water to be put on his tongue.

One drop of water that might cool him just a little. And the answer is, no. Matthew 25 makes it crystal clear it's everlasting. Revelation chapter 14, 9-11 makes it so clear it's everlasting. It never ends.

It never ends, it never ends. And we have this phrase, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. There are two ways to understand this. The first is that the wicked are exiled from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. In other words, there will be no enjoyment of God's presence or the glory of His power.

And so the NASB and the ESV actually translate that way. They say instead of from, they say away from the presence of the Lord and away from the glory of his power. The NIV renders it shut out from and of course it is true that the wicked will be exiled from the presence of the Lord. Jesus says over and over again in the New Testament, speaking of the final judgment, depart from me, I never knew you. Depart from me.

Like the wedding feast in Matthew 22, cast out into outer darkness. So it's true, the question is, is that what this text is teaching? That's true whether this text is teaching it or not. The second way to understand it is that the punishment itself proceeds from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. That the everlasting destruction comes from God and who He is.

And I actually tend to favor This understanding of it. Listen to Isaiah chapter 2 verse 19. It is speaking of the judgment of God. Isaiah 2, 19. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His Majesty when He arises to shake the earth mightily." Talking of the judgment of God on the wicked, they are going to try to go into the caves, They are going to try to go into the caves, they are going to try to go in the hole, because the terror of the Lord and the glory of His Majesty are unbearable to them.

They won't be able to escape it. You can't go into a cave deep enough. There are no holes that will shield you from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His Majesty. You cannot stand in His presence. He is a consuming fire.

If you bring your defilements into the presence of God, it consumes you. You are consumed. I actually think that the judgments, the everlasting destruction, actually derives from the presence of the Lord, from who God is and the glory of his power. But it could be the other, and it doesn't matter, they're both true. Now verses 7 and 10.

This is the end of God's friends. That was the end, the everlasting end of God's enemies. This is the end of God's friends. That was the everlasting end of God's enemies. This is the end of God's friends.

There is an everlasting end prepared for the Lord's people as well. Let's read verses 7 and then verse 10. Verse 7 and 10. And to give you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Verse 10.

When he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. We're going to see that the contrast between the end for God's enemies and the end for God's friends could not be more pronounced. It could not be a starker contrast. On this earth, it all seems jumbled up to me. Does it seem jumbled up to you?

Sometimes the wicked are cut off, and they are getting what they deserve. Sometimes they totally prosper, and they seem untouched. No matter how rebellious and blasphemous they get, they just seem to flourish even more sometimes. And so with the Lord's people, sometimes they prosper and they're given the grace to enjoy the good things that God gives them, and then some of God's people, faithful, humble people, seem to be under his judgments. It's all jumbled up.

That's just now. Then all the unjumbling happens. The wheat and the tares are completely separated out and there's no confusion about who's who. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy had been talking about the troublers, now they talk about the troubled. And what is the end of those who have been troubled in this life?

They will be given rest. We, if you're in Christ, we can say we will be given rest. The NASB and the ESV and the NIV render it relief instead of rest. Here's what you'll find in the Greek lexicon. A loosening, a relaxing.

Now remember this stands in opposition to tribulation and the Greek lexicon for that said oppressing, pressure. So these words are related on purpose. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are saying, Christian, life is going to bring you pressing, pressure. But when Jesus comes with his mighty angels, there's going to be a release of all that. There is going to be rest.

There is going to be relief. The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, and there will be rest for us. Every tear wiped away, every sickness gone. Every care taken care of. Then we have this precious phrase with us.

Listen to what Matthew Poole says about this phrase. And you shall enjoy the same felicity with the apostles themselves in the same state of rest. Felicity means happiness. You get the same happiness as Paul. When Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, you get the same rest, you get the same relief that Paul gets, you get the same happiness that Silvanus gets.

You get the same relaxing of pressures that Timothy gets. You. Me. Listen to what Matthew Henry says, the meanest Christian shall Rest with the greatest apostle. Meanest doesn't mean treated people meanly.

It means of least consequence. The lowest Christian shall rest with the greatest apostle. There you'll be in Christ. There the Apostle Paul will be in Christ, and you get the same rest. The same relief.

You all had pressures in life, And God relieved them all. Verse 10 says that there are two great purposes in His coming in that day. Two great purposes of His return. One, to be glorified in His saints and two, to be admired among all those who believe. So Jesus would be glorified in you and by you.

That's what's going to happen. Jesus is going to come back And the wicked will be judged and separated out and given their reward. And for those who are in Christ, Jesus will be glorified in you and by you. Listen again to Jesus in John 17. It's a little later.

I've already quoted John 17.3 and I would like to quote John 17 verses 9 and 10. Again, it's the high priestly prayer where Jesus is praying for His people. John 17 verses 9 and 10. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

And all mine are yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them." So Jesus is praying, God, thank you for giving me a people. The people you've given me, they're yours, and yours are mine, and I'm glorified in them. I get exalted. Jesus is praying to his Father. I get exalted Father by you giving me a people.

Because these people are made a bride, made pure. They weren't that at all. They were enemies. They were rebels. And they're brought in and made a bride, made pure, without spot or wrinkle.

Jesus is exalted by that. Jesus is exalted by taking your sinful self and cleansing you and beginning to transform you little by little. Hey, that's going to be accelerated. When this happens, when Jesus comes back, it's going to all get done, and you're going to be there without spot or wrinkle, because that is going to be Jesus' bride without spot or wrinkle. Radiant and Jesus will be glorified by that because he did that.

We won't have done that. Jesus will have done that and he will be glorified in us. Because there will be radiant. And then when we are forever with the Lord, remember 1st Thessalonians 4.17 and thus we shall always be with the Lord. That wasn't that many weeks ago.

And how shall we spend that always? Admiring Him. That's how we're going to spend the always. That's how the forever gets spent. Admiring Him alongside all those who believe.

We have believed the Apostles testimony that Jesus died for sinners. We believed. I believe. The Thessalonians believed and will be side by side admiring Jesus. The Greek word means to wonder at, to marvel at.

If you are in Christ, get ready for that eternity, wondering Christ, how He could do such a thing as take sinners like us and make us radiant. We'll marvel at it for all eternity. Why will we marvel at Jesus for all eternity? Because He did what I didn't do. While I was suppressing the truth and unrighteousness, He was living, acknowledging His Father.

While I was living a self-absorbed life of self-love and self-seeking. He was thankful before God and always obeying Him. I was disobeying Him every chance I got. He was always obeying His Father. And then He laid down His life and switched places with me.

Do you think I will be admiring Him for all of eternity? Do you think I will be marveling at Him and wondering at Him for all eternity. That friends is the only difference between heaven and hell. Will you get what you deserve or will you get what Christ deserves? Have you died?

Is your life hidden with Christ in God? Are you refusing to obey the Gospel, or have you believed the Apostles' testimony? The Apostles' testimony. I'd like to end with Matthew chapter 25. Turn to Matthew chapter 25.

Matthew chapter 25. Beginning in verse 31, reading through 46. Matthew chapter 5, verse 31. Jesus says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

And He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you?

Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. Then he will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

Then they also will answer him saying, Lord, when do we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Those Greek words are exactly the same. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. It's rendered differently, but it's exactly the same Greek word.

Check it yourself. If heaven is eternal, hell is eternal. Now, this is not teaching workspace righteousness. They didn't earn their way into heaven. What's being said is exactly what's in our text.

There's evidence. The indwelling Holy Spirit produced something in them, transformed them. There are no Christians who don't get transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. He's almighty. There's evidence.

There is evidence. Three applications. I just have to go back to these words that we just read. Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Three applications.

One, don't misinterpret the seeming inactivity of God. You're in rebellion, you haven't been struck by lightning. Be careful what conclusions you draw from that. Don't misinterpret the seeming inactivity of God. Things are all jumbled up now.

Sometimes the wicked prosper, and the righteous can't catch a break. All that's going to get unjumbled. God is only seemingly inactive. He is working in his people to help them to suffer with patience and faith. And it's evidence that he's at work.

Number two, consider again Hosea 8 verse 7, They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. That's going to be true of everyone in the end. You're going to sow a puff of air and reap a tornado. In one way or the other. Listen to Paul in Romans 8.18.

Romans 8.18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Little suffering for a little while. Expansive glory forever, not worthy of comparison. That is sowing the wind. To cling to Christ in this life, and take the sufferings and the persecutions, and the tribulations that go with it are sowing the wind.

If you cling to Christ, you'll reap the whirlwind in the most delightful, eternal way. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Number three, I'll just give you the title. Continue with the end in mind. This really does help us. This really does help us to keep our eyes on the horizon, to the fixed point on the horizon, where God is going to judge exactly, justly, and set everything right.

When we're assailed between here and that fixed point on the horizon, it'll help us keep the course. It will help us keep the course. Those who are born again and those who are disobedient to the gospel should continue with the end in mind. If there are those here who are disobedient to the gospel and maybe have everybody else in the room fooled, that's possible. I pray that you wouldn't be able to shake the words that we have in our text today.

As you continue forward, they would haunt you. God, I thank you for the hope of the gospel. What a glorious hope it is. I pray that you would help us to trust Christ and cling to Him, no matter how much pressure those who hate you and your gospel put on us, no matter how sharp the persecution comes, even if it includes death, that we would cling to it, So that having sowed the wind, we would reap the whirlwind. I pray if there are any here today who are disobedient to the gospel, that you would have mercy on them.

You would bring them in to your kingdom, make them worthy of it, through the merits of your son Jesus Christ. Pray In Jesus' name, Amen.