Confident (6) - Is Hell Real? - 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 - November 19, 2023

 

Confident (6) – Is Hell Real? – 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 – November 19, 2023

This is our final lesson in our series entitled “Confident in the Face of Hard Questions.”

Our focus scripture is 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12.

The Thessalonian Christians had questions concerning the second coming of JESUS. They thought it had already happened which the Apostle Paul attempted to address in 1 Thessalonians. So, Paul wrote Second Thessalonians.

Why did GOD create earth? Why did GOD create man and woman?

Our subject in this lesson is, “Is Hell Real?” The answer is “YES!” Why does Hell exist? Verse 41 tells us ----

Let’s consider Matthew 25:41: ⁴¹ “Then he (JESUS) will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!

Notice for whom Hell was prepared: “the devil and his angels.”

Key points are the reference to the devil and his angels. They rebelled against GOD.

Can you imagine a place without GOD?

I can tell you, I do not want to go to Hell but I can also tell you that it was not the fear of Hell that caused me to seek GOD. It was the love of GOD and JESUS that led me to my decision to be eternally born into GOD’S eternal Family through faith in JESUS at about 9 years old.

Heaven awaits those who place their faith and trust in JESUS. When a person makes a profession of faith in JESUS, he/she receives the Holy Spirit (Divine Sperm) which instantly unites with the human spirit, the egg. A Spiritual conception takes place instantly. This spiritual conception results in that person, in the words of JESUS, being “born-again.” Spiritual birth in just that, Spiritual. Those born Spiritually, never to be unborn, from GOD’S eternal Family. Salvation is eternal but the rewards received in eternity can vary depending upon a person’s obedience to their FATHER, GOD.

GOD created the heavens and earth. HE declared it good. It would sustain human and animal life for as long as GOD needed it.

GOD’S desire was to form human life that would choose to love HIM because of WHO HE is, “I AM.”

The devil/Satan was already present in the realm but he had rebelled against GOD. GOD desired for a people that would love HIM, simply by choice, so HE formed man from the dust of the ground and HE made woman using a body part from Adam. Thus, human life began upon earth with the freedom to choose.

Satan enters the garden and GOD allows Satan to test them. They failed but GOD had a redemptive plan which was based upon choice.

We fast forward to GOD laying the foundation for HIS redemptive plan. GOD sent HIS only SON (the second Adam/JESUS) to earth to be born of a human virgin, Mary, live a sinless life, yet to be tempted in every way humans are tempted, which HE did not sin, to redeem those who will place their faith in HIM.

Fast forwarding to near the beginning of the ministry of JESUS - We read in Matthew 4:1 - 4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted (tested) by the devil.

JESUS was tempted over the span of HIS earthy life in all ways as humans are tempted, yet without sin. WOW! That’s why when HE willingly gave HIS life to pay for the penalty for sin, in full, it pleased FATHER GOD – Why did GOD create the world and form us?

Billy Graham responded to this question:

God created us for one reason: to know Him and love Him and have fellowship with Him. And originally that’s what happened; Adam and Eve loved God and had unbroken fellowship with Him. They not only lived in a perfect world, but they had perfect fellowship with their Creator.

But God created them with a free will—that is, with the ability to either love Him or reject Him. Otherwise, they would have been like robots, unable to choose to love God. We may enjoy watching a robot in action—but we can’t really love it, nor can it love us. And that’s why God didn’t make us like robots. Instead, He gave our original parents the ability to love Him—or even reject Him. True love requires the ability to respond.

But you know what happened. Satan told Adam and Eve that God was deceiving them (which was a lie), and if they obeyed him instead of God, they’d become like God. Tragically, they believed his lie—and their fellowship with God was broken. You and I now share in the consequences of their sin.

But God still loves us, and He still yearns for us to know Him and love Him and have fellowship with Him. And He has made this possible by sending Jesus Christ into the world to give His life for us. Have you responded to His love by accepting Christ into your life? The Bible says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

Let’s read 2 Thessalonians 1:3-7a:

³ We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,^[a] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. ⁴ Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

Satan likely thought he had won when JESUS gave HIS sinless life upon the cross. JESUS allowed the Romans to crucify HIM to atone for the sins of all who will place their faith in HIM. The shed blood of JESUS upon the cross paid for the sins of mankind but each person must acknowledge that fact by accepting JESUS as his/her Savior. When a person accepts JESUS as his/her Savior the miracle of Spiritual birth takes place quicker than the twinkle of the eye and that person is Spiritually born into GOD’S Family for eternity. That person, at that instant, is given the Holy Spirit WHO guarantees that he/she has been born-again in his/her spirit.

JESUS victory over sin and death was confirmed when GOD raised JESUS from the physically dead on the third day! JESUS trusted GOD, HIS FATHER to give HIM eternal life.

⁵ All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. ⁶ God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷ and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.

Why did GOD create earth?

GOD created the world and all that is in it for HIS own Glory and because HE desired to share HIS life with others. In Isaiah 43:6b-7:

“Bring my sons from far away,
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
⁷ everyone who bears my name
and is created for my glory.
I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”

Our existence was formed in the mind and heart of GOD. The scripture written by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians has always intrigued me. It is Ephesians 1:3-6.

³ Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him, “before the foundation of the world”, to be holy and blameless in love before him.^[c] 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons/daughters through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. (GOD chose us but the question for us is do we choose HIM. Don’t miss eternity with GOD in Heaven.)

⁷ In him (JESUS) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸ that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding.^[d] 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the right time^[e]—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.

¹¹ In him we have also received an inheritance,^[f] because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, ¹² so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory.

Does this mean a person does not have a choice? Oh yes! All chosen do have a choice. Choose wisely because JESUS gave HIS sinless life just for each of you.

¹³ In him (JESUS) you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. ¹⁴ The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

A Spirit-born person will never experience the death of his/her body. Their Spirit-born body will exit their earth suit before his/her body dies. WOW!!!

Prayer for Spiritual Insight

¹⁵ This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, ¹⁶ I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,^[g] would give you the Spirit^[h] of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. ¹⁸ I pray that “the eyes of your heart” may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

I love the statement the “eyes of your heart.” Where are “the eyes of your heart” located? To me it is the most secret part of a person’s being. We can fool some people but we know “truth” in the “eyes of our heart.” A person knows his/her relationship with GOD through faith in JESUS and the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s read 2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10:

This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might ¹⁰ on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

Eternity without GOD is Hell. Don’t be stubborn but acknowledge that you are a sinner and ask JESUS to forgive you for your sins and for JESUS to come into your heart and redeem you from the consequence of your sins and give you the Holy Spirit as your guarantee of eternal life.

Let’s read 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12:

¹¹ With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. ¹² We pray this 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.^[b]

CHRIST in you is the hope of Glory and the delight of GOD.

JESUS is coming again to claim all who are Spirit-born and physically alive upon earth. In the twinkle of the eye all who are Spirit-born will be transported into Heaven with JESUS. Spirit-born people will disappear.

Are you ready for the second coming of JESUS? Are you ready to meet JESUS when you die? If not ask JESUS to forgive you for your sins and ask JESUS to come into your heart. When you do, thank JESUS for saving you and for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, WHO assures that you are GOD’S Son or Daughter. Then, if you are not already in a Spirit-led church, Bible study, ask JESUS to lead you to the place where you can be Spiritually fed and grow Spiritually.

Blessings!!!