To Encourage You

1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 “Who . . . oppose all mankindby hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved.”

So often the language of this world is couched in such benevolent words as “love” and “tolerance.”  As viewpoints in direct opposition to the message of the gospel are espoused, we are told that the underlying motives are the benefit of man.  The message of the gospel, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that because of that sin men are headed for death and hell, and that the only remedy is repentance from that sin and receiving the truth of the Word of God as the only way to salvation, is rejected out of hand as “hate speech.” More and more we see efforts to silence this message in the name of tolerance of any viewpoint, including viewpoints that call good evil and evil good.  So, what would the Bible tell us is the truth about such attitudes and actions?  Well, in the verses above we are told that such things are in opposition “to all mankind.”  It may be an unwitting opposition, but it is an opposition just the same. 

In Paul’s message to the Thessalonian believers above, he is speaking about those individuals who opposed his preaching of the Truth. He mentions not only the unbelieving Jews of Judea who had such a large hand in crucifying Jesus, killing the prophets who came before Him, and persecuting the believers that came after, but also the unbelieving Gentiles of Thessalonica who attacked the believers there.  It’s no different today.  There have always been those who have opposed the gospel and opposed the believers who have spread the gospel’s message of salvation. Paul had been one of them.  For the rest of his life after his transformation on the Damascus Road he was horrified by what he had done and overwhelmed by the grace of a God Who would forgive such sin.  He knew that he had formerly not just opposed Christ and those who followed Christ, but he had actually opposed “all mankind,” including his own countrymen, his own family, and his closest friends as he influenced them to oppose the gospel. In reality, he had come to realize that he had had a hand in leading them towards unbelief and the wrath of God that will be revealed against that unbelief in the end. 

That’s the truth about anyone who would influence anyone else against belief in the Word of God. Though they may think they are helping those around them, though they may view their espousal of “tolerance” as kindness toward men, in truth they are hating those around them because they are having a hand in leading them on a path that will inevitably lead to their eternal destruction. 

I’m sure you’ve heard those who mock the Word of God and mock the judgment of God as they laugh and say they’ll have lots of company in hell with all their friends.  Well in reality, in hell they will have company with no one, for it will be nothing but utter desolation and a lack of anything good for all those who end up there. There will be no friendship, no laughter, no fellowship, and no joy for anyone that is there, forever.  And to have a hand in opposing the only truth that saves is not friendship with men, but hatred towards them.  That’s the Truth of the Word of God whether you believe that truth or not. It is those who love sinners who will tell them the truth about sin and the Way of salvation from the curse of that sin.  It is those who hate sinners, whether they fully understand that hatred or not, who would oppose the truth of the gospel for any other message that opposes it. In truth that is the real “hate speech” that so many are engaged in at this very moment.  That’s the way it has always been, for any message other than the gospel is a message that “opposes all mankind” rather than helps them, no matter what the purveyors of such a message might contend.