Bitter Revenge
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intro
intro
Revenge is a dark side of human life.
I do not think there is a single person in this room for whom revenge has not seemed like a good idea.
In fact I am sure many people in this room have actually taken steps to get revenge.
Revenge is when we try to correct an imbalance in life’s justice.
Someone wronged us, hurt us, cheated us, robbed us - And the scales of fairness where imbalanced. So we decide to correct this injustice by seeking revenge.
We try to hurt them back.
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
We were at “rest” they actions stole our rest, so we think that revenge will restore that rest.
And as everyone who has gone down that dark road has discovered: Revenge does not give you rest.
Today I want to talk about the connection between regency and rest. We think they are in our hands, but the reality is that they are both in God’s hands.
Only he will ever give us rest.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
And:
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
The word vengeance must not be confused with revenge.
The purpose of vengeance is to satisfy God’s holy law; the purpose of revenge is to pacify a personal grudge.
God does not hold a grudge against lost sinners.
Quite the contrary, He sent His Son to die for them, and He pleads with them to return to Him.
Why does this matter? Because many a christian has found themselves consumed with bitterness, hate and unforgivness towards those who have wronged them.
With God there its no thought of revenge, rather we must must understand it as recompense
Recompense
Recompense
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
God will recompense affliction to the lost, but rest to the saved.
To recompense means “to repay.”
It is not based on personal feelings but on Godly order.
Whatever a man sows….
If a man sows thorns bushes and then reaps thorns - that is not the ground personally attacking the man, it is simply him reaping what he sowed.
When wicked people sow evil and they reap disaster, they are simply being repaid for their work
Certainly, the wicked who persecute the godly do not always receive their just payment in this life.
In fact, the apparent prosperity of the wicked and difficulty of the godly have posed a problem for many of God’s people.
1 Truly God is good to Israel, Even to such as are of a clean heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; My steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the foolish, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no bands in their death: But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men; Neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; Violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish.
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: They speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return hither: And waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
11 And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, Who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocency.
1 Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
Why live a godly life if your only experience is that of suffering?
As Christians, we must live for eternity and not just for the present.
In fact, living “with eternity’s values in view” is what makes our Christian life meaningful today.
We walk by faith, and not by sight.
This brings to mind the story of the two farmers, one a believer and the other an atheist.
When harvest season came, the atheist taunted his believing neighbor because apparently God had not blessed him too much.
The atheist’s family had not been sick, his fields were rich with harvest, and he was sure to make a lot of money.
“I thought you said it paid to believe in God and be a Christian,” said the atheist.
“It does pay,” replied the Christian. “But God doesn’t always pay His people in September.”
What kind of a future does the unbeliever face?
Look at the dramatic words Paul used to describe it:
tribulation, vengeance, flaming fire, punishment, and everlasting destruction.
The Christ-rejecting world will receive from God exactly what it gave to God’s people!
When God recompenses, He pays in kind; for there is a law of compensation that operates in human history.
Pharaoh tried to drown all the male babies born to the Jews, and his own army was drowned in the Red Sea.
Haman plotted to wipe out the Jews, and he and his own sons were wiped out.
The advisers of King Darius forced him to arrest Daniel and throw him into a lions’ den, but later they themselves were thrown to the lions. T
he unbelieving Jewish leaders who sacrificed Christ in order to save the nation in a few years saw their city destroyed and their nation scattered.
It is a righteous thing for God to judge sin and condemn sinners.
A holy God cannot leave sin unjudged.
People who say, “I cannot believe that a loving God would judge sinners and send people to hell” understand neither the holiness of God nor the awfulness of sin.
While it is true that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), it is also true that “God is light” (1 John 1:5), and in His holiness He must deal with sin.
A Christian doctor had tried to witness to a very moral woman who belonged to a church that denied the need for salvation and the reality of future judgment.
“God loves me too much to condemn me,” the patient would reply. “I cannot believe that God would make such a place as a lake of fire.”
The woman became ill and the diagnosis was cancer.
An operation was necessary.
“I wonder if I really should operate,” the doctor said to her in her hospital room. “I really love you too much to cut into you and give you pain.”
“Doctor,” said the patient, “if you really loved me, you would do everything possible to save me. How can you permit this awful thing to remain in my body?”
It was easy then for him to explain that what cancer is to the body, sin is to the world; and both must be dealt with radically and completely.
Just as a physician cannot love health without hating disease and dealing with it, so God cannot love righteousness without hating sin and judging it.
This judgment will take place when Jesus Christ returns to the earth with His church and His angels.
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
Rest
Rest
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
God will recompense tribulation to the lost, but rest to the saved.
“to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you (and to you who are troubled, rest with us) when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed.”
The saints receive their rest when the Lord returns in the air and catches us up to be with Him.
The word rest means “relief, release, not under pressure.”
It is the opposite of “tribulation.”
The word describes the releasing of a bowstring.
In this life, God’s people are pressured, ‘’pressed out of measure”, and under the burdens of trial and persecution.
8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
But when we see Christ, we will be released.
We need not fear fiery wrath and judgment (1 Thes. 1:10; 5:9), for God has already judged our sins at Calvary.
10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
What kind of future is there for the lost?
They face punishment and eternal judgment (2 Thes. 1:9), while the saved shall enjoy the rest and glories of heaven.
The lost shall be separated from God, while the saved “shall see His face” (Rev. 22:4).
Conclusion:
You cannot let your rest, your peace be dependance on someone else.