Well, once again, so Lord may
bless us, we'll turn to the second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians,
and the third chapter, and this evening we'll read verses three
to five. So it's the second epistle of
Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter three, verses three to five. But the Lord is faithful. who shall establish you and keep
you from evil. And we have confidence in the
Lord touching you that ye both do and will do the things which
we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. The Apostle brings before the
Thessalonians, and of course the Word of God brings it before
us, important and wonderful truths which are strengthening to the
hearts and souls of the believer, and also words of instruction
for us to know how we should live our lives on this poor sinful
world. So this third verse begins by
this great statement, but the Lord is faithful. That means that God does not
change. Indeed, we read in Malachi, I
am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. And this should be a great encouragement
to us, especially if the Lord has graciously spoken a word
into our heart. And we perhaps rightly rely upon
it as the word from God. And therefore, we don't want
to consider it just as something which could be removed. But we
have here this very simple and very important statement. But the Lord is faithful. We need to remind ourselves of
that very often. When perhaps things don't seem
to be going quite as we anticipated. And sometimes indeed in an opposite
direction. And we're tempted to think that
almost we've mistaken away. And perhaps those things which
we were relying on from God's mouth to our heart, we now are
tempted to think that they will never come to pass and they were
just of the flesh. Well, remember this, but God
is faithful. And so what a mercy it is if
God gives us faith to believe the great and glorious truths
of the gospel, which they are. The wonderful truths which we
are privileged to read in the Word of God and we should be
so thankful that there are these truths which are establishing
to us as the Apostle goes on to say, who shall establish you. It's needful, is it not, to be
established in the truth. We live in a sad day when truth
has almost disappeared but we're thankful to know that God's Word
is true. God's Word is truth and we're
thankful therefore to have that which we are able to read and
to meditate on and to think upon and to be encouraged and therefore
this Lord God who is faithful we're told shall establish you
the Lord doesn't leave his people sometimes we might think he has
left us but my friends God never leaves his people sometimes perhaps
he withdraws his powerful influence and we seem to be left but we
can be assured of God's Word who says, He will never leave
us nor forsake us. And what a blessing such a statement
is. So here we have these simple
words, who shall establish you, shall establish us in the truth,
not in false things, in the truth. And we should bless God that
we have such a Lord who is, faithful and who does establish and strengthens
us. There'll be many times of temptation. The devil is a very wily foe
and all the time he's trying to present to us that the truth
of God is false. We'll always remember the gracious
and glorious example of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he
was greatly tempted after he had been baptised. But what did
he do? He relied upon the Word of God. He quoted scripture to the devil
and the devil was not able to countermand it. And so it's the
same today. And therefore may we be blessed
with that faith to believe that the Lord is faithful and will
establish us. And also then we're told, and
keep you from evil. keep you from evil. What a great
blessing that is. And how are we kept from evil? We're kept by the power of God. You may remember that in the
first chapter, the first epistle of Peter. Peter, who had been
left, left himself for that time, that evil heart of unbelief,
when he was questioned whether he was a disciple or not, and
he denied his Lord and Master, not once, not twice, but three
times, and we're told with oaths and curses. Well, we're wonderfully
told that having done that, he looked and the Saviour looked
at him. And that wonderful look caused
Peter to go out and to weep bitterly. Yes, he was ashamed and sorry
for his denial of the Lord. But he's able, therefore, to
make this great and important statement, who are kept by the
power of God, through great faith, under salvation, ready to be
revealed in the last time. and my friends it was true when
the Apostle wrote it and it's true today and therefore this
Lord can keep us from evil and we need to pray that sometimes
think we have those wonderful words in the Lord's Prayer where
the Lord instructed us to pray lead us not into temptation and
deliver us from evil kept by the power of God. What a blessing
that is. And so, but the Lord is faithful
who keeps us from evil. And then, and we have confidence
in the Lord touching you. that ye both do and will do the
things which we command you. Well, what a mercy it is to have
a word like this and to be encouraged with a word like this. Confidence
in the Lord. trust that we do have a confidence
in our God not in ourselves not in ourselves because left to
ourselves we would have fallen into all manner of sin but what
a blessing to have a confidence in the Lord touching you sometimes
we have what we refer to as a touch from the Lord. That means perhaps
when we read the Word of God, perhaps read a verse, perhaps
read a few words, our hearts are strengthened and we rejoice. in that which God has touched
us with what a mercy then confidence in the Lord touching you and
then he says that ye both do and will do the things which
we command you and of course the things which the church of
God were commanded are laid forth in the Word of God and we read
together in that second chapter of John about the importance
of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a command. As we
read, we read together in that third chapter and from verse
22, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep
his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in
his sight. And this is his commandment. And often people today don't
realize this gracious word. This is his commandment that
we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and
love one another as he gave us commandment. It's a great truth
that is and sometimes people seem to not want to hear such
words as that and yet it is a gracious command and we need to pray that
we may indeed have strength and faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and believe He is our all-sufficient Saviour. Indeed
He is the only one who can deliver us from the wrath to come. The
only one who can save our souls. So how wonderful it is if God
gives you and me faith and grace to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so here we have, and we'll
do the things which we command you. And then, and the Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God. How needful that is. And what that really means is
that we need God to come and control our hearts and minds
and direct our thoughts into the great and glorious love of
the Saviour. Indeed, love of God the Father,
the love of God the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit. It's a wonderful and glorious
privilege to know something of the abounding love of God and
if you consider what the Lord Jesus Christ did in dying upon
that cross at Calvary and how much he endured in order to pay
that ransom price so that our sins would be altogether forgiven
and that by his grace we should be eternally blessed and with
him forever and so he tells us and the Lord direct your hearts
it's a good desire and it's a good prayer the Lord will direct our
hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for
Christ yes my friends we need sometimes to be patient. We have need of patience, but
we have many examples in the Word of God where God graciously
gave patience. Patience is a gift of God and
what a mercy it is if the Lord gives it to us. Well, three beautiful
verses really, very instructive to us and may we be able to meditate
on them and may we find they are truly profitable for our
souls.