God's Wrath

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Mike K.)

Good morning family!

Ask guests to fill out connect card

____ announcements:

1) Announcement 1

What to do and how to respond

2) Announcement 2

What to do and how to respond

3) Announcement 3

What to do and how to respond

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Holly Boutot)

Prayer of Praise (Psalm 96:7-10)

Holy, Holy, Holy

Only a Holy God

Prayer of Confession (Ronnie Evans), failure to evangelize

Assurance of Pardon (1 Timothy 1:15)

In Christ Alone

His Mercy Is More

Scripture Reading (2 Thess. 1:5-12)

You can find it on page 1175 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Mike K.)

Prayer for PBC—Give us a heart for the lost

Prayer for kingdom partner—Ham, Justin & Angie (IMB)

Prayer for US—House of Representatives

Prayer for the world—Vanuatu

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

What do you feel when you think about hell?

Long ago the primary emotion people felt about hell was fear.

Think of the first and second great awakenings in Britain and North America where people screamed in terror as preachers warned about the horrors of hell.

Those days seem to be far behind us.

Today you are more likely to hear people feeling excited about hell.

Think of rock and roll bands like AC/DC, happily singing about being on the highway to hell.

Or authors like Mark Twain, who recommended “heaven for the climate [but] hell for the company.”

Some people feel angry about hell.

Think of people like Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, who famously said “I would rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”

Or atheists like Christopher Hitchens, who argued that teaching children about hell was the worst form of child abuse.

Still others seem to think about hell with a sort of sadistic glee.

Think of religious cults like Westboro Baptist Church, who celebrates the fact that people are going to hell.

Or think of the flippant ways we tell people to “go to hell” when we’re angry.

But I think the primary emotion most modern Christians feel when they think about hell is shame.

Many of us are almost embarrassed to talk about it.

Perhaps some of you are already feeling low-level embarrassment now. “I hope Pastor Hopson doesn’t say anything too crazy in his sermon on hell today. Doesn’t he know we have guests here this morning?”

That sort of shame and embarrassment about hell is foreign to the Bible.

Turn to 2 Thessalonians 1:6

About 20 years after the resurrection of King Jesus, Paul wrote his second letter to a little church in Thessalonica.

These Christians were not living sheltered lives in carefree congregations.

They were being persecuted for their faith.

A mob had taken church members and dragged them into the city square.

They were physically assaulted, falsely accused, unjustly fined, and perhaps some had even been killed.

To these believers, Paul writes about the horrors of hell.

And as best as we can tell, they received Paul’s teaching as comforting truth.

They were not ashamed to believe what Paul taught them about the wrath of God.

The Big idea I hope to communicate with God’s help this morning is that We must be unashamed to believe what the Bible clearly teaches about hell.

Our passage this morning provides some of the clearest teaching in the Bible about hell. [1]

As we examine God’s Word closely, we’re going to find the answer to Four Questions About Hell:

Who is Hell For?

What is Hell Like?

Why is Hell Just?

How Should we Respond?

Before we begin—since this is such a delicate topic—can you join me in prayer one more time?

PRAY

1) Who is Hell FOR?

2 Thessalonians 1:5–6—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

Last week we examined verse 5, where Paul says the Thessalonian’s spiritual growth amidst persecution is the evidence that they truly belong to King Jesus.

But then in verse 6 Paul adds a promise that God is going to repay those who are persecuting them.

Unless they repent, the men and women who persecute the people of God will be punished.

Men like Nero, who a few years after this letter was written, used Christians as human torches to light his gardens at night.

Men like Diocletian, who in the third century required Christians to either renounce their faith or be thrown to wild beasts in the arena.

Men like Stalin who forced countless Christians to Siberian labor camps.

Men like Kim Jong Un who arrests, imprisons, and tortures Christians in North Korea.

Men like those in the Islamist terrorist group that just last month beheaded 70 Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Christians are the children of God. And because God loves His children, He will not sit idly by while His people are attacked. He will judge those who afflict His people.

Perhaps you’re hearing all this and you’re thinking, “Okay, great! I don’t need to worry about hell because I don’t persecute Christians!”

Or maybe you’re a Christian, but you’re thinking about an unbelieving friend or family member. Are they safe as long as they’re not antagonistic to Christianity?

Let’s keep reading...

2 Thessalonians 1:7-8—[God will] 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.

These verses are clear there are two—and only two—eternal destines for all people.

One group will receive comfort and relief when Jesus returns.

The other group will receive wrath and vengeance.

But notice in verse 8, Paul widens the group who will receive God’s wrath…

Hell is not reserved only for the horrible persecutors of Christians.

It is also for “those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

Let me say this clearly: If you do not know God, you will go to hell.

It will not do to say you know about God. You must know God.

Imagine you leave here and try to get into the White House. You get stopped by Secret Service, and you tell them “Let me in, I know Donald Trump! I know he was born on June 14, 1946 in New York City. I know he is 6 foot 3. I know he has five kids. I know him! Would they let you in to see the President?

Of course not! Because there’s a world of difference between knowing about a person and knowing a person.

Do you know God? The Bible is clear the only way for us to know Him is through His Son Jesus. Do you believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God? Do you believe He lived a sinless life? Do you believe He died a sinner’s death? Do you believe He rose from the dead so that whoever believes in Him can have everlasting life?

If not, what awaits you after death are the horrors of hell.

We must be unashamed to believe what the Bible clearly teaches about hell.

The only way to escape the wrath of God is to truly know the One true God. Hell is for everyone who doesn’t know Him.

There’s a second question about hell we need to answer...

2) What is Hell LIKE?

Popular culture depicts hell as a place of rebellion, freedom, excitement, and self-expression.

But the Bible consistently presents hell as a horrible place.

In verse 9 we see three horrors of hell.

First...

A) Hell is SUFFERING

2 Thessalonians 1:9a—They will suffer the punishment…

The wording in the original language conveys the idea of paying the penalty.

You and I have incurred a mountain of debt because of our sin. Hell is the place where that sin debt is paid, and yet it’s never paid off.

Listen to the ways the Bible describes this place called hell...

Isaiah 66:24 pictures hell as a place of eternal decay, where the “worm [that eats them] shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Daniel 12:2 describes hell as a place of “everlasting contempt.”

In Matthew 3:12, Jesus says hell is an “… unquenchable fire.”

In Matthew 13:42 Jesus calls hell “… the fiery furnace. . . . [where] there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In Matthew 25:41 Jesus portrays hell as an “… eternal fire…”

In Luke 16:22-24, Jesus depicts hell as a place of “anguish” where our thirst can never be satisfied.

2 Peter 2:17 calls hell “… the gloom of utter darkness...”

Jude 6 describes hell as “eternal chains”

And Revelation 21:8 calls hell “…the lake that burns with fire and sulfur…”

If you go to hell, you won’t be hanging out with your buddies.

You won’t be hanging out with anybody.

You’ll be alone, cut off from every blessing that comes from relationships.

The warmth of a hug, the beauty of a listening ear, the comfort of another human voice. All of that will be gone.

If you go to hell, you won’t be partying.

You won’t experience the slightest pleasure. No relief from the torment. Not even for a moment.

And what makes these horrors even worse is the truth that...

B) Hell is ETERNAL

2 Thessalonians 1:9b—They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction…

The Bible clearly and consistently presents hell as an eternal reality.

The Apostle Jude calls hell “eternal chains” and “eternal fire.” [2]

The Apostle John describes hell as a place where “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.” [3]

But nobody speaks more often about the eternal nature of hell than Jesus. He calls it an “eternal fire,” “eternal punishment,” and an “unquenchable fire.” [4]

Just consider His words in...

Matthew 25:46—“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

What does Jesus mean by eternal life? Does He mean believers live for a really long time, and then eventually get extinguished into a vast nothingness? Or does He mean we live forever in a world without sin, suffering, or death?

Of course we believe that heaven is forever!

How then can we possibly argue that hell isn’t also forever? Because the same word—eternal—is used to describe both heaven and hell!

Dear friend, if you will not turn to Jesus, you will suffer an eternal hell.

But the worst horror of hell is that…

C) Hell is SEPARATION

2 Thessalonians 1:9—They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might

There’s a common sentiment among militant atheists that it would be better to spend eternity in a place of suffering called hell than be in the presence of the God of the Bible.

What a damnably foolish thing to say!

Every good gift you have ever received—your children, your spouse, your health, your possessions, your pets; the gifts of sunlight, taste, touch, warmth and shade—everything good you’ve ever experienced is given by the God from whom all blessings flow.

James 1:17—Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

All these gifts are scattered rays of light, but God is the sun! They are drops, but He is the ocean! If you’ve ever experienced anything good in this life, those gifts were designed to point you to the Giver who is infinitely better than all the greatest pleasures of this world!

But if you reject Him, you will be cut off from His presence and the glory of His might FOREVER.

We must be unashamed to believe what the Bible clearly teaches about hell.

It is a place of eternal suffering separated from the presence of the Giver and all His gifts.

Which naturally leads to a third question about hell…

3) Why is Hell JUST?

Almost everybody believes God is just to send some people to hell.

People like the man who opened fire on a crowd of thousands attending a music festival in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017.

Over 1,000 rounds were fired, 400 people were injured, and 60 people were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Country singer Chris Stapleton, who isn’t known as a follower of Jesus, wrote this song about that man…

Only a coward would pick up a gun

And shoot up a crowd tryna have fun

Now the Vegas lights, they won’t lose their glow

And the band will play and go on with the show

I wasn’t there, I didn’t see

But I had friends in your company

And you’re gonna get your turn

Yes, you’re gonna get your turn

Son, you’re gonna get your turn

Devil gonna watch you burn

Almost everybody believes God is just to send some people to hell.

Even the Bible agrees…

2 Thessalonians 1:6—… God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you…

What we don’t agree upon is WHICH PEOPLE deserve hell.

The Bible consistently presents hell as just because God is infinitely holy and we are incredibly sinful.

One of the most vivid depictions of this in all of Scripture is in...

Isaiah 6:1–3—In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!”

To understand what the angels are saying here, you need to know what that word “holy” means. It means God is altogether different, utterly unique, and set apart in glory. There is no one and nothing that compares to Him.

And it also helps to understand these verses if you understand something about Hebrew poetry.

In English, if we wanted to emphasize God’s holiness we would use an adverb like “very” or “really.”

God is very holy, or God is really holy.

But in Hebrew, they emphasized something by repeating the word. Like when Jesus says “truly, truly I say unto you.” He’s not stuttering. He’s emphasizing something so He repeats it.

But this is the only attribute of God in Scripture that is repeated three times. The Bible doesn’t say God is “love, love, love,” or “mercy, mercy, mercy.” It says He is “holy, holy, holy.” [6]

Now notice how Isaiah responds to this vision of God’s holiness...

Isaiah 6:4–5—And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Isaiah’s response is even more profound when you remember he is already a prophet doing the Lord’s work!

It’s often easy to feel pretty good about yourself when you compare yourself to other people. But stand in the presence of a holy God and you will come undone. Because your sin goes far deeper than you could ever imagine!

Hell is just because God is infinitely holy and we are incredibly sinful.

If you scratch a totaled car in a junkyard, nobody will care.

If you scratch my minivan, nobody would notice.

If you scratch your neighbor’s new Ford truck, you’re going to have to pay.

But if you scratch a 1955 Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, the world’s most expensive car after recently selling for $143 million, you will pay a far, far greater price.

The same act—scratching a vehicle—can have different consequences based on the vehicle’s value.

Similarly, there is no Being in the universe more valuable and precious than God.

He is holy, holy, holy, which means He is utterly unique and glorious beyond comprehension. There is no one like Him!

And you and I have the audacity to rebel against Him.

We worship other things instead of Him. We worship Him in the wrong ways. We misuse His name. We fail to set aside time to worship Him. We rebel against the authorities He’s placed in our lives. We mistreat our neighbors who were created in His image. We lie, steal, and covet what doesn’t belong to us.

We sin in word, deed, thought, emotions, and motivations.

We sin by doing what we shouldn’t and not doing what we should.

C.S. Lewis wrote that “the doors of hell are locked on the inside.” [7] He doesn’t mean unbelievers can escape hell, but that they don’t want to escape hell. Because they don’t want to be where God is.

And so they continue to suffer eternally because they continue to sin!

That’s why hell is just.

We must be unashamed to believe what the Bible clearly teaches about hell.

It is a just punishment for sin because sin is an offense against the most magnificent, glorious, holy Being in the universe.

Which leads to our final question about hell…

4) How Should We RESPOND?

Everybody hearing my voice needs to respond to this message in one of three ways:

First, some of you need to…

A) TRUST Jesus

There are only two destinations for every person in the universe past, present, and future.

Jesus put it this way in…

John 3:16—For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

You will either live forever with Jesus, or you will perish forever in a place of eternal suffering called hell.

And the only way to escape hell is to believe in Jesus.

That’s what Paul means when he talks about “obeying the gospel” in verse 8.

You must turn from your sins and trust in Jesus.

Admit that God is holy and you are not. Believe that Jesus lived a sinless life and died a sinner’s death in your place on the cross. Believe that He rose from the dead three days later. Confess your sins to Him and ask Him to save you.

Would you do that today, friend? If you do, would you talk to me or another one of our pastors at the white flag after the service? We’d love to talk with you more about what it means to follow Jesus.

Maybe you hear that and you’re just not sure. You think you’ve trusted Jesus, but how can you know for sure? What if you’re wrong?

If you can relate you need to…

B) TEST Yourself

In verses 10-12, Paul concludes this section with some encouragement for the Thessalonian Christians. And in these verses we get a snapshot of what a genuine believer should look like.

As we read these verses, I want you to test yourself to see if you truly belong to Jesus.

2 Thessalonians 1:10—when [Jesus] 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.

Paul says when Jesus returns His saints (all Christians) will marvel at Him. They will rejoice to see their King.

So here’s a diagnostic question to test the genuineness of your faith: Do I want to see Jesus?

I’m not asking if you want to see Him enough. Or if you want to see Him all the time.

Do you want to see Him at all?

Would you be fine in heaven if it was a world without suffering, without sin, without death, . . . and without Jesus?

If you have zero desire to see Jesus, you probably don’t belong to Him. Because a genuine Christian wants to see Him.

If you do your life will show it. Look at…

2 Thessalonians 1:11—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

As Paul thinks about the return of Jesus, he overflows in prayer for the Thessalonians.

And his prayer is that they would abound in good works.

Why? NOT because good works save us. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! Good works are not the ROOT of our salvation, but they are the FRUIT of our salvation.

So here’s another diagnostic question to test the genuineness of your faith: Am I growing in good works?

Again, I’m not asking if you have enough good works. None of us do. I’m asking if you’re growing.

Does your life look any better than it did a year ago? Or five years ago? Or ten? Are you gaining any victories over sin? Are you displaying any new fruits of the Spirit? Do you look more like Jesus?

Jesus said in…

Matthew 7:19—“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Don’t be like the phony tree that looks like it belongs in the orchard but doesn’t bear any good fruit.

A genuine Christian wants to bear good fruit because she wants to glorify Jesus. Look at…

2 Thessalonians 1:12—so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The goal of good works isn’t self-congratulation. It’s praising Jesus.

He is glorified in us as we grow in good works! And how is He glorified? Because any growth in our lives comes by His grace.

So here’s a final diagnostic question to test the genuineness of your faith: Do I want to glorify God?

Not, “do I glorify Him enough” or “all the time” but “do I glorify Him at all?”

Are there any evidences of God’s grace at work in my life?

If you faithfully examine yourself, friend, and you become convinced that you don’t belong to Jesus I have good news for you: you can turn from your sins and trust Him today!

If you have trusted Him, consider a final response to the truth about hell…

C) TELL Someone

If we really believe the truth about hell, we should tell people how to escape it.

This was the passion that motivated the Apostle Paul. It’s the reason why the church of Thessalonica existed! It’s the reason why this letter exists! The greatest passion in Paul’s life was to see unbelievers turn from their sin and put their faith in Jesus.

Listen to what Paul says in…

2 Corinthians 5:11—Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. . . .

Is that true of you, Christian?

If you believe what the Bible teaches about hell, you know it is a fearful thing to die without Christ.

So because you know that fear, you should strive to persuade other people to trust Jesus.

Who are you trying to persuade to escape hell? When is the last time you tried?

I fear that modern Christians who believe in the sovereignty of God are often the least evangelistic. And yet throughout Scripture and church history the men and women who believed in the sovereignty of God were often the most evangelistic. Why is that? Is it because we’re lazy? Or afraid? Or embarrassed?

Whatever the reason, we need to repent!

We must be unashamed to believe what the Bible clearly teaches about hell.

How do you need to respond to this truth?

Do you need to turn from your sins and trust Jesus today?

Do you need to test yourself to see if you truly belong to Him?

Do you need to commit, with God’s help, to tell someone the Good News?

I read a story recently about the famous Christian author, Francis Schaeffer. He was eating dinner with a number of his disciples at his home in Switzerland when someone asked him “What will happen to those who have never heard of Christ?” Everyone around the table was expecting some weighty intellectual answer from such a preeminent Christian thinker, but what happened next surprised everyone. Francis Schaeffer didn’t say anything. He bowed his head, and he wept. [8]

I think, perhaps, on this side of eternity that’s the primary emotion Christians should feel when we think about hell. We should weep.

Like Jesus weeping over the people in Jerusalem—even though He knew they would reject Him—we should weep tears of sorrow for the countless men and women who do not know Christ.

And that sorrow should lead us to pray for their souls and tell them the Good News of Jesus.

But we should also weep tears of joy, rejoicing that God would stoop to save sinners like us.

Perhaps that’s partly what Paul men when he said in 2 Corinthians 6:10 that he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”

Sorrowful because so many are on their way to hell.

Yet rejoicing because God will faithfully save some as we faithfully tell others.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

All I Have is Christ

Benediction (Matthew 28:19-20)