We are back in Thessalonians today. And our focus AGAIN is on the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is when Jesus comes back.  On that day it is either God’s wrath or God’s glory for every person who’s ever lived. It’s eternal punishment or eternal life. The Day of the Lord should drive every person to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. 

For believers, that day should fill us with hope. It’s the day our Lord comes for us and we are gathered to Him.  It’s the day of our resurrection.  In that day all our suffering will be turned to unspeakable glory. We are living for that day. We are living with our hearts and mind and affections focused on that day.  It’s a day we love and long for.  But not everyone is!

The Bible describes a philosophy of life common to unbelievers, that hasn’t changed in more than two thousand years. And that is: “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” If there’s no judgment day. If there is no accountability to God. If there is no coming wrath.  Then let’s just soak up whatever enjoyment we can, here and now. 

The contemporary version of that philosophy is: life is short so play hard.  Or life short so get your bucket list done before you die. People who live absorbed with that philosophy are not preparing for the day of the Lord. They either deny there’s a day of judgment, OR it means very little to them. 

There’s a danger that this attitude of get all your pleasure now, can creep into believers hearts. So we need to be aware of that.  But that’s NOT how Jesus and the apostles talked about life. Jesus constantly told stories about people who sought after the pleasures and treasures of this world who were not rich toward God, and not prepared for the day of judgment. 

Paul said, “God commands people everywhere to repent, because He has SET a day in which He will judge the world with justice” by the man He raised from the dead.  (Acts 17)  Psalm 96:13 “the LORD is coming—He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.  Jesus warned over and over to live your life NOW in light of the day of judgment! The most important issue in everybody’s life is to be prepared for that day! 

2 Thessalonians 2 is about that Day! And Paul said there are those who are perishing and those who are saved. Perishing means a life that ends under God’s wrath, it means to be excluded from the glory and presence of God. Salvation means to be saved FROM the wrath to come, and to enjoy safety, joy and glory in God’s Kingdom forever.   

In this passage, Paul begins with those who are perishing, and WHY they are perishing: *First: They do not obey the gospel. 1:8 “the Lord Jesus (will be) 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 rebel against the truth about Jesus. 

*2nd They do not love God’s truth.  2:10 They are “perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” They close their heart and their affections toward the truth.  

*3rd They are perishing “because they did not believe the truth”. 2:12  The close their minds to the truth. They simply will not believe it. 

*And 4th Instead of believing the truth, they took pleasure in wickedness. That’s verse 12. Their REAL reason for refusing to believe the truth about Jesus is that they want to keep on enjoying their sins (wickedness). We often hear about people brought up in the church who come out and say they no longer believe the Christian message.  And they repudiate it publicly.  And then we find out they just committed adultery or started sleeping with their girlfriend.  Choosing the pleasure of sin will cause people to reject the truth. You can’t love God’s truth and love to continue in your sin. 

These are the thoughts and the choices of those who perish. But they will be supernaturally assisted to their terrible end! First Paul said they’ll be deceived by the satanic powers of the man of lawlessness.

Paul spoke of this man earlier in chapter 2. He said two events must come before the Day of the Lord, “the rebellion”, and “the revealing of the man of lawlessness”. And the Lord Jesus Christ will kill this man with by the breath His mouth when he appears. 

Then HERE he describes HOW this man of lawlessness will use powers from Satan to perform false signs and wonders and he WILL deceive those who are perishing. Verse 9 “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception FOR those who are perishing”.

He may heal people. He may demonstrate supernatural knowledge about events before they happen. He may counterfeit the miracles of Jesus or the gifts of the Spirit but they’ll be false, counterfeit, energized by Satan. Those who do not love the truth will be deceived by the man of lawlessness. 

Rev. 13:3 describes this same kind of phenomenon. “The whole earth MARVELED as they followed the beast.”  The word marveled is the same word used dozens of times in the gospels to describe people’s reaction to the miracles of Jesus.  

Those who are perishing will be amazed at what this evil man does and follow him and even worship him. 

Verse 10 They fall into this deception “BECAUSE they refused to love the truth and so be saved”. When people reject the word of God, they open themselves up to all kinds of lies.  We see that on a massive scale in our culture today and it happens on a personal level in all people who spurn the truth. Please listen! It is incredibly dangerous to NOT love the truth. You put yourself in a very vulnerable situation by not knowing and loving God’s truth.    

The sad thing is that many people who identify as Christians do not love truth. They have no heart or affection for God’s truth. Instead they love teachings that are NOT found in the scripture. They’re NOT satisfied with the access the blood of Christ has given us to the Father.  Not satisfied with the Holy Spirit and genuine gifts of the Spirit. Not satisfied with the hope of resurrection and salvation and eternal life. They are looking for something new and different. It’s like the gospel of Jesus isn’t good enough. Looking for some secret, mystical greater revelation than what we have right here in our Bibles. 

A recent Gallup poll reported that 82% of Americans identify as spiritual or religious. It’s so common to say I’m not Christian or I don’t go to church, but I am a spiritual person. People like that will be so easily deceived by the false spirituality and counterfeit miracles of this man!  These are prophetic words.  These things will happen.

There’s a warning here for Christians. Don’t be overly impressed by signs and wonders! God does signs and wonders but we are not to be overly impressed or easily deceived by anybody just because they manifest some kind of supernatural gift. The days are coming when supernatural signs will be performed by a man who is energized by Satan. Paul said, “Let no one deceive you in any way.”

But there is something else driving this end time deception.  Verse 11 “BECAUSE they refused to love the truth and so be saved, THEREFORE God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false.” He gives them up to delusion much people are given up to God’s judgment as in Romans 1.

Verse 21 “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God....Therefore God gave them up to impurity.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie....For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.” They are not yet experiencing the final judgment but they are experiencing in some sense the present temporal wrath or judgment of God. It  seems Paul is talking about the same king of thing here. Because they reject God’s truth, God gives them over to a strong delusion so they believe what is false.  

Verse 12 God does this “in order that judgment may come upon all who have not believed the truth and delighted in wickedness.” There comes a day of no return.  We preach a gospel of love and grace and that today is the day of salvation and we appeal for all people, no matter what their past sins may be to come and receive the grace of God and be loved by God but there is a point of no return.  They choose to enjoy their wickedness instead of believing the truth SO God will KEEP them on the path of judgment!  We see the same thing in Revelation 22. There is a point where God says, let those who are doing evil, keep doing evil and those who are righteous, keep being righteous.  Those choices get strengthened and enforced and there comes a day when people are actually KEPT on that path of judgment.

****Up to this point in this scripture Paul has been talking about those who are “perishing”. There is nothing hopeful, or lighthearted about this.  It is sobering and sad, something to fear and to flee from at any cost. YET obviously Paul intends for Christians (at Thessalonica and for us) to know how it is going to turn out for those who refuse to love the truth.  Jesus and the apostles never sugar coated this reality or hid it from the saints. 

Why? First: It’s the truth! And our God is a God who speaks truth.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. The day of the Lord will come!  And some will go to eternal punishment and some to eternal life.  We need to know that truth. 

Second: We need to know WHAT we are saved from. Where the day of the Lord is not taught, people don’t know what they are saved from.  They use the word salvation. And usually that means just to feel better or to have a better life her and now. But they don’t understand the full magnitude of what it means to be saved when this truth is not taught. 

There are churches here in Ankeny where people would never hear a word about “the Lord Jesus appearing from heaven in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not obey the gospel.”’  I had a conversation with a dear brother who is now going to what I consider an apostate church. He told me how positive and encouraging the teaching was there.  And I said I’m sure it is, but what I’m concerned about at that church is what they WON’T tell you.  I’m concerned about what they are NOT preaching there.

Ignorance about that day diminishes our appreciation for our salvation. If we don’t really know what we are saved FROM, we are not going to appreciate what we have. And it diminishes our appreciation for Jesus. Paul told the Thessalonians, “You eagerly wait for God’s Son to come from heaven, that is Jesus Who saves us from the wrath to come.” It was a big deal to them to be saved!  They understood that!  Paul wants us to understand what a big deal it is to be saved! 

*Then in verse 13 Paul turns from the perishing to those who are saved.  We are on a completely different trajectory. “BUT we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits TO BE SAVED.” He gives thanks for them because they are chosen by God to be saved! They are NOT perishing. NOT under condemnation! But they are to be SAVED!   

We enjoy so many present blessings of salvation! We have the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we stand in grace! We enjoy the love and fellowship of the saints, answered prayers. We have God’s favor upon us, NOW! And daily blessings all the time!  BUT the ultimate deliverance, the ultimate work of Jesus is to save you from the wrath to come.  And to bring you safely into the Kingdom of God, to raise you from the dead, to make you live forever, in peace and happiness in the new earth and heaven. Salvation is from the wrath of God into this new life that is so good and so safe!

Verse 13 God chose you as the firstfruits, or among the first to be saved”  God chose you for this salvation. God was at work before you knew Him, drawing, calling you, choosing you for salvation.  And this happened. “Through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and through faith in the truth.”  God chooses but he does it through your faith in the truth, and the working of the Spirit IN you to make you holy.

BUT what IS the BIG benefit of this salvation? Verse 14 Listen! “God called you to this salvation, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, SO THAT you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Right there is WHY you were saved! The end goal of salvation is the GLORY of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not perishing, not condemnation, not destruction. But glory! Christ in you now is the hope of glory, the hope of all the glorious things to come. You will be glorified WITH Him.  You will OBTAIN the glory of Jesus.You are going to get it.

Paul’s thinking about the future was dominated by this glory. And I think it plays way to small of a part in our thinking about life and the future.  He said this glory is so great that it compensates for the worst suffering in this life.  “I do not consider the sufferings of the present time even worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  No matter what you lose in this life, no matter what you are suffering through, it is made small in comparison to the glory coming to you.  

And we are NOT desperate to get our hopes and dreams fulfilled right now. We’re not frantic to get all our fun in now before life is over. Our day is ahead of us. Our party is ahead of us. Our eyes are on THAT DAY! 

There was Far Side comic that depicted a Christian sitting on a cloud in heaven. He is obviously bored and he says, “I wish I’d brought a magazine”.  That kind of thinking about heaven is why Christians so often look just like unbelievers in excessive passionate pursuit of earthly pleasures. It’s because there is a serious LACK of awareness of the pleasure and glory that is ahead of us.  

Then Paul goes on to HOW all this information should affect our lives. Verse 15 “So then, brothers, stand firm.” The coming wickedness is great so STAND FIRM. THE man of lawlessness will deceive many so STAND FIRM. We are in constant danger of being shaken by trials and being influenced by the ungodly culture around us. So stand firm!

Remember the Lord is coming to get us. Your salvation will be fully manifested. You are destined for the glory of Jesus Christ!  No matter what you are going through, no matter how bad things get in the world around you, don’t be shaken, or troubled, by ANYTHING!  STAND FIRM!  

The verse goes on,“AND hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter”. That means we are hold fast on these truths delivered to the church in these letters by Paul and the other apostles in our Bible! Christians are in constant danger of forgetting or neglecting or being moved away from these truths by the tricks of the devil and worldly ideas. We must hold fast to the truth! 

Verse 16 “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”

Now Paul turns to God in prayer. And he asks God to comfort the Thessalonians and to strengthen them.  What a great thing to pray for each other and it is a prayer God WILL answer!  But Paul’s prayer has a message for them and for us too. He reminds us that God the Father loved us, He gave us eternal comfort, and good hope. 

*We ARE beloved of God now! God the Father loves you. The love of God is the ultimate pleasure and joy of our life.  It satisfies us every morning. It’s what makes getting up in the morning worth it.  And our future is the love of God, not the wrath of God! 

*And we have eternal comfort. Our future is not condemnation, but comfort for all eternity. It’s not a comfort that lasts for a moment, like so many experiences in this life. But it’s an everlasting comfort that will never be diminished by a sorrow or a disappointment.

*And we have a good hope!  Good things are ahead for us that cannot be taken away from us.  This hope is not MAINLY in this life. (I do think we have hope in this life! David said, I would have despaired if I had not believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” I expect to see God’s goodness and mercy this afternoon and next and next year!) 

We ARE blessed now BUT our treasure is in the age to come. Our glory is in the world to come. Our reward is at the resurrection of the righteous. Our hope is fixed completely on the grace and benefits that will be ours when Jesus appears.  He WILL slay the man of lawlessness.  He WILL establish righteousness on earth.  He WILL rule and reign. The knowledge of the Lord WILL fill the earth. THAT’S what we are living for. And that is our good hope! 

When we’ve lost our joy, when we’re complaining, sulking, dwelling on how hard things are, or being bitter about life, that means we’ve forgotten these blessings, OR they’ve come to mean very little to us. That’s a problem! God’s love and eternal comfort and good hope ARE big enough to over-shadow our trials and losses!  If these things don’t actually mean that much to you, ask God to wake you up this morning! We need to be awakened to how good we have it – being saved people.

I hope the Day of the Lord, the appearing of Jesus from heaven, the coming Kingdom looms large in your thinking. It loomed large in Paul’s thinking. He instilled an anticipation for the day of the Lord in the Thessalonians.  I hope when you think about the future, I hope you don’t just think about next year, I hope you think about the day of the Lord and the fact that you are going to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I hope when you are suffering, or in trouble. or even when you are dying that your hope will be firmly in that day, the day of the Lord, the coming glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Pray: Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.