Well may it please Almighty God
as we continue our meditation in this second epistle of Paul
to the Thessalonians to turn this evening to the third chapter
and we'll read verses 1 & 2 So the second epistle of Paul
to the Thessalonians, chapter three, and reading verses one
and two. Finally, brethren, pray for us. that the word of the Lord may
have free course and be glorified even as it is with you and that
we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have
not faith. I'm sure we are familiar with
the fact that the Apostle Paul was himself a man of prayer. And how often he prayed for the
churches and prayed for the people of God. What a great blessing
that must have been. But now he comes and he exalts
the Thessalonians and by that, the whole Church of God. As he
comes towards the end of this second letter and he says, finally,
brethren, pray for us. He wanted the people to pray
for him and, when he says us, all those who preach the everlasting
gospel and indeed for the whole Church of God. What a privilege
it is for us tonight to gather together to pray. And let us
pray in faith, nothing wavering, believing that we come to a God
who hears and answers prayer. It was a great concern with the
Apostle it should be a great concern with us. And we should
always realise that with regard to prayer, it is really the vital
breath of a true Christian. If a Christian does not pray,
then there's not the evidence of spiritual life in that person. And it's a great blessing when
the Lord does give us that spirit of prayer, It's a wonderful favour
and we should be very thankful for it. It's not something which
is just a vain repetition, but we pray from our heart to our
God in heaven that he will hear and answer our prayers. And so
he says here, finally brethren, pray for us. That means that
We must all pray for those who preach the gospel. We think of
Gerald coming on Friday. We mustn't just assume he's going
to arrive and therefore God will bless him. We hope that will
be so. But we are told, the Lord tells us, I will be inquired
of by the House of Israel to do these things for them. How
important, how necessary, how vital it is that the people the
Church of God pray for those who preach the everlasting gospel. And therefore how wonderful and
appropriate it is for us here tonight to have the opportunity
to pray here collectively for God's blessing, but not just
then. You know, we should really pray
almost continually. Sometimes I think as a preacher,
I finish one sermon, and my mind immediately, almost immediately,
goes to the next sermon. And as the hearers hear one sermon,
I wonder whether, and it should be so, their minds go to the
next service, the next time of preaching, and pray that might
be a blessing. Generally speaking today, the
Church of God is not in a very healthy state. And yet, if we
look back in history, And we see times of revival and one
of the principal points that always arose was an outpouring
of prayer. And we might think, well, I pray
and I don't get anywhere. Well, we are told, draw near
to God. and he will draw near to you. And that may seem sometimes impossible. We are to press on. We are to
press on. We are to pray and seek that
he would indeed draw near to us and grant us a gracious and
glorious spirit of prevailing prayer. And so such words as
this really are very relevant. And we often forget them. And
we often pass by them and then we are disappointed because we
find that there is not the blessing. We find that there is not the
favour of God toward us. Well, let us remember then a
very simple statement. Finally, brethren, pray for us. And then the Apostle gives a
wonderful reason for that. It's not just something that
we just pray for aimlessly. No, there's a direct and necessary
purpose. And this is what it is, that
the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. And that really means that the
preaching of the gospel may be wonderfully blessed. and God's
name lifted up and honoured and glorified. That is the purpose
and the aim of preaching. God tells us to preach the Word. We're to preach the Word in season
and out of season. We're not to make any excuses. We're to press on that the Lord
will indeed bless His Word, that the Word The glorious gospel
of the Lord may have free course and be glorified. Having free
course can also be that it may run freely. The gospel may run
freely, may enter into many hearts. What a blessing it is if that
occurs. How needful it is and how we
often lack that as we gather for worship. There is not this
free course there is not that running there is not that glorifying
of the name of the Savior and yet the Apostle tells us here
very clearly that the Word of the Lord may have free course
and be glorified even as it is with you. Now that was a great
statement wasn't it? He was able to commend the Thessalonians
for their worship, for what they were able to do, for their sincerity
and the things of the God and we know of course also In their
giving they were very generous. What a mercy it is to be able
to give, give of our time, give of our substance. And the scripture
tells us it's more blessed to give than to receive. Well all these things are very
necessary and are very important. But what a great favour it will
be if the Lord gives that urgent prevailing prayer continually,
not just on an odd occasion. But we shall be concerned that
we are continually blessed with true prayer, prevailing prayer. It's very easy. to fall into
a pattern, a tradition, a phraseology. And yet here we have a wonderful
requirement as the Apostle says, finally brethren, this is the
important thing, listen to what I'm saying. Pray for us that
the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified
even as it is with you. And that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men For all men have not faith. And we see that, don't we? There
are those who are unreasonable and wicked men. They don't really
seem to appreciate the importance of preaching the gospel. They
seem satisfied to come and go. And they're coming and going. They tick the box and they think
they've therefore done their duty. Well, that's not worship
and that's not real religion. and what a blessing it is to
be delivered from such unreasonable and the apostle is bold and he
says unreasonable and wicked men you see there are wicked
men who gather in the church of God and we should remember
that the evidence evidence of life is the gift of faith and
that's why the apostle comes and says for all men Have not
faith. Well, what a mercy if you and
I are able to examine ourselves and to discover that God has
given us faith to believe. Faith to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Faith to believe the great and
glorious truths of the gospel. and faith to be those who work
it out. Remember what James says, faith
without works is dead, no value. And so we have so many encouraging
words to follow, and may we be able to do just that, that we
may be delivered, freed from unreasonable and wicked men,
remembering for all men have not faith. Well these are quite
short verses they're not difficult to remember but there's a great
deal of truth in them and we pray the Lord will help us to
follow his word and to earnestly seek that we may be amongst those
who pray in faith nothing wavering and then wait and watch for answers
to our prayers but not to pray and forget what we prayed we
are to pray and watch. If it emanates from Almighty
God, if we've been moved by the Spirit of God, we will watch
and we will wait and we will rejoice indeed and give God the
glory when prayer is indeed answered. Well, may God be with us and
may God bless us indeed.