Second Thessalonians 3, one through
five. 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, but
the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from
evil. And we have confidence in the
Lord touching you that you 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. Let's ask the Lord to bless it. Father, please meet with us this
morning Teach us by the Holy Spirit,
Lord, that we might hear with ears of faith the truth of your
Son. And heed these exhortations and
pray these prayers in this text from our own hearts. Trust you and depend on you completely. And may your name be exalted. In Christ's name we ask, amen. Now, in the last part of verse two,
when he says all men have not faith, that's the faith of God's
elect, that's belief in Christ, that's saving faith that God
gives to sinners when he saves them. By grace are you saved
through faith, and that's not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So God gives
faith to sinners to believe on his son, And not all men have
that. And that's not just a statement
of the obvious. It's another way of describing
those who are a threat to the ministry. You see, he has to
be protected, to be delivered from unreasonable and wicked
men, for all men have not faith. So
you see, it's identifying them. It's not just an obvious statement.
Those who do not believe on Christ are unreasonable and wicked. To not believe God, to believe
a sinner and not God, to believe your own wicked, depraved heart,
follow your heart, which is godless and sinful by
nature, is unreasonable. It doesn't make any sense. That
one man told the enemies of the disciples, if this is of the
Lord, do you really wanna fight against God? That's unreasonable
to set yourself up in opposition to the living God. And it's wicked,
it's evil, it's sinful to reject Christ. It's not just, oh, poor
sinner. Yeah, poor, wicked, vile, wretched,
hateful, rebellious, evil sinner. That's us now. But does that
mean that we look at everybody who doesn't believe on Christ
as a little devil running around? Well, God may see them that way,
depending on whether they're his sheep and just don't know
it yet. But we don't look at them that way. Not every unbeliever
is an obvious threat, an open threat to the ministry. And we
may make friends with unbelievers on some sense, on some level,
in some sense, with people that don't know Christ. And you don't,
when you work with neighbors or whoever that you might be
friendly to, you don't sit around pressing
them on who Christ is and on what He did, what He accomplished
on Calvary when you're with them. I get that. But it's also important
to see them how God sees them. That's what Paul's talking about
here. We see them as God sees them. To reject the Christ of
the Bible and to live for yourself in this world is wicked and unreasonable. They forsake their own mercy. We don't judge people who have
not faith in the sense that we consider ourselves better and
condemn them in our hearts. We're the worst of the worst.
God didn't choose the best ones, He deliberately chose the worst
so that no flesh should glory in His presence. We're worse
than they are by that measure. So we don't judge them in that
sense. We're sinners too. We're the worst of sinners. Paul
called himself the chief of sinners, though he was a preacher of the
gospel. But we are taught to judge in another sense. We're
taught by the Lord to judge righteous judgment, to be wise as serpents
and harmless as doves, to judge and know people by their fruits,
to understand the difference, to see, the evidences, not so
we can condemn and judge them in the other sense, but why? Why are we to make a judgment
regarding those that are without? How are we to obey the exhortation
that we read in our Bible class to act a certain way toward them
that are without, redeeming the time, because the days are evil,
and so that we can be a witness to them How would we be able
to do that if we couldn't pretty much identify that? We don't
know people's hearts, but there are judgments concerning that
by their fruits. You shall know them. But listen,
why do we make those kind of judgments? Colossians 4 to listen
carefully. Continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving. With all praying also for us
that God would open unto us a door of utterance. to speak the mystery
of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it
manifest as I ought to speak, that I may make it obvious. You
may not like the Christ that I preach, but I hope you'll know
who He is at least when I'm done. That I may make it manifest that
He's sovereign, that I may make it manifest that he can't fail,
that he doesn't try. He does what he pleases in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth. And
none can stay his hand or saith unto him, what doest thou? I
make it manifest that sinners come to him for salvation. They
come to him for faith, not with faith. Any faith that you come
up with is gonna be full of holes. And that's being nice about it.
It's God given saving faith with which sinners come to Christ.
And we make that clear. We make it clear that salvation's
of the Lord, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. And then he says this, now you
walk in wisdom. You walk in wisdom. You pray
for me that I may make it clear, the gospel. that a door of utterance
would be opened to speak the mystery of Christ. This is something
that sinners don't know. They don't understand the mystery.
They stumble at that stumbling stone, which is the head of the
corner. And also you, you walk in wisdom
toward them that are without, redeeming the time and let your
speech be always, not with condemnation, with grace. When you're dealing
with lost people, you don't look down on them or condemn them.
You don't say I know more than you and you need me to enlighten
you. Let your speech be seasoned with
grace. Not only let it be gracious,
but let it be seasoned with the grace of God in Christ, the message
of grace, the gospel of grace. Speaking of him who sits on the
throne of grace. You see that? Seasoned with salt. that you may know how you ought
to answer every man. We don't answer every man with
rebuke. Obviously, if somebody is violently
and openly opposed to the gospel and going around spouting it
all, then yeah, they probably need to be rebuked. And maybe you're thinking about
that scripture. Chris, what about this thing of not walking with
darkness, light? Let's look at that together,
2 Corinthians 6, 14. And let me say this, I know I've
departed from the immediate context of our verse this morning here. We're taking this further than
the context itself, but he's talking about those that are
without, those that are unreasonable and wicked men that have not
faith being enemies of the gospel. And we're talking more generally
here now of those that may well hate the gospel and not necessarily
openly oppose the gospel. But look at 2 Corinthians 6.14. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
This is important to understand. There is a level of yoking that
is wrong, that can't be done, that can't happen. There's no
fellowship. That word fellowship is key there.
And I'm gonna show you in a minute how that we can't go through
this world without having anything to do with unbelievers, nor should
we. I'll show you that, but this also, there's no fellowship,
not in Christ, not in the gospel, in the truth of God, between
righteousness and unrighteousness. And what communion hath light
with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath
the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come ye out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing. and I will receive you and will
be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty." That's pretty clear. There's no fellowship. There's those who are in Christ
and walk in Christ and have Christ dwelling in them. And then there's
everybody else. Belial is Satan. Everybody running
around boasting about their free will is captive to Satan at his
will, the scripture says. And that's not something to gloat
over. Again, we've departed from our
original context here, but Paul is speaking of those who have
not faith that have been confronted with the gospel. They hate the
gospel and outwardly oppose the gospel. And he asked for prayer
to be protected from them, but in the broader sense of those
who have not faith and what our interaction with them is and
ought to be according to scripture. Though it's not a strict exposition
of our text, but still according to scripture, and I think very
important. Now clearly, we don't have anything spiritually in
common with those who believe not God. That didn't keep our
Savior from eating and drinking with sinners. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that the Son
of God didn't have the attitude that a lot of religious people
do? I'm not gonna have anything to do with those bad people. But look why he did, look at
Mark 2 with me. Look why he ate with them. And
I think this will be a lesson to us. Mark 2.16. And when the scribes
and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said
unto his disciples, how is it that he eateth and drinketh with
publicans and sinners? There's your religious people.
Oh man, I wouldn't go anywhere like that. I wouldn't have anything
to do with those people. When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, now this is the way the Son of God character, you
see the scene, he's eating in a public place apparently with
just riffraff. People that clearly weren't the
religious. They didn't measure up to the
standard of the Pharisees and the scribes. But he was sitting
there eating with them. But here's how he described it.
They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that
are sick. Is that the way we see it when we have friends in
this world that don't know the Lord Jesus Christ? We're not
the great physician, but we know who he is. We have the medicine,
don't we? We have the medicine. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. He saw that fellowshipping, you
know, that's what they said. How does he have anything to
do with sinners like that? Well, what he saw it as was a
mission of mercy. If you really care anything about
them, if they're just acquaintances and you have to work with them
and you really, you know, then whatever, whatever it is, it
is. But you see the difference in
attitude. The Pharisees, how dare he have anything to do,
if he knew, and then Simon, in Simon's house, he said, if he
knew who that woman was, he wouldn't let her touch him. Yes, he would,
he knew exactly who she was. But our Lord did not eat with
people who rejected Him. And remember, these are people
that didn't know the Lord, and you can look at them as poor
sinners that just don't know any better, but even nature renders
them without excuse before God, Romans chapter one. These are people who have rejected
God and rejected His Son. He didn't eat with them because
He liked to play in the mud. He ate with them to pull them
who were his sheep among them out of the mud. You see the difference? If we dabble in this world because
we just kind of like, you know, as the song says, the sinners
are much more fun. If that's our motivation, that's
not a good place. It's necessary for us to have
certain relationships with lost people, 1 Corinthians 5, 9. Turn
over there with me. We just looked at this recently,
but 1 Corinthians 5, 9. 1 Corinthians 5, 9, I wrote unto
you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether
with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous,
or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then you must needs go out
of the world. He said, I'm not saying don't
have any dealings whatsoever with fornicators, and idolaters,
and extortioners, and covetous people. Those who have not faith,
as Paul describes them in our text. He said, I'm not telling
you not to have anything. You'd have to leave this world.
You'd have to go live on another planet if you're not gonna have
relationships with people who hate God. For what have I to do to judge
them also that are without? We don't go around telling them
you ought not to do the things you do. If we have opportunity to witness
for Christ, then we do that. Do not you judge them though
that are within. The church is an assembly of
believers, and there may be unbelievers in the midst, there always is. But don't pretend to have fellowship
in Christ with somebody that hates God. He says in that sense now, in
the sense of the worship, put away from among yourselves that
wicked person. But you see that key part of
it there that I'm not telling you to not have anything to do
with any fornicator. That's not the issue at hand
here. The issue at hand is the worship of God, the fellowship
of His assembly, His church, His family, His honor, His glory. But we're not of this world.
And back to our text, not all lost people are gonna be open,
active enemies of the ministry. But some are. I could give you
names if you want to know their name. I don't mind telling you
their names either. That's what Paul did. He named people and
said, stay away from them. If I could think of all of them
right now, I'd give them to you. Some are open enemies of the
gospel and often from within. And so Paul asked for prayer
about that. And then in verse three, he encourages
the church in the truth that though we do have many enemies,
God is faithful. God is faithful. All men have
not faith, and some of them, for that reason, they oppose
and they openly reject Christ. but God's faithful. That's our
hope. Not, well, you're smarter than
they are. No, not you know more than they do. No, God is faithful.
He'll keep you. He'll keep you. Pray for me that
he'll keep me. He'll keep you. He's trustee. That's the word
there, trustee. Those who put their trust in
the Lord shall not be ashamed. Trust the Lord in that. He will
establish you and keep you from the evil. See that in the text?
He will establish you. He will establish you and keep
you from evil. You see how that the need is for you and concerning others.
If you are established, you do not fall. The need is for you. Lord, protect me, he said. Pray that I will be protected,
but also concerning others, but us first,
right? If you're established that you
do not fall, what good is protection from
enemies? If you're not established, that you do not fall, what good
is it to have protection from your enemies? You have to be
established by God. You notice the Lord will do this,
he said. The Lord has to protect you from
your own evil as well as that of others. He sets your feet
on the rock so that you don't move away and also hedges you
about so that you cannot be moved. You see the two things. I didn't
make that clear at first, It's within and without, isn't it?
And how necessary and gracious is the keeping power of Christ?
Are we continually thankful for that when we pray unto him, do
we thank him for that? Listen to Psalm 16, eight. I have set the Lord always before
me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Because why? Because he, because
he. Psalm 21, seven, for the king
trusteth in the Lord and through the mercy of the most high, he
shall not be moved. Because of God's mercy toward
me, I'm gonna stand on the rock. Psalm 62, six, he only is my
rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. He only. It can't be him and
your strength and courage and ability and faith and whatever
works. It's him only. If he is the only
defense you have, then you have perfect defense. If he's all you have, he's enough. Listen to Romans 16, 25. Now to him that is of power to
establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus
Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept
secret since the world began but now is made manifest And
by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience
of faith to God only was be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Be glory to him, why? Because
he is of power to establish you. You have no power to stand on
your own, but he is of power to establish you according to
my gospel, that's the good news, it ain't up to you. That's the
good news. So you have double security.
In verse two, from evil without. In verse three, we are kept from
evil. The evil within, from persecution
without and from temptation within. We desire and seek that protection
from God, keep the evil from us and us from the evil. That's
what our Lord prayed for us in John 17, was to keep them from
the evil, keep them. Verse four, look at verse four
with me again. And we have confidence in the
Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things
which we command you. And this is not Paul being a
dictator. This is he's given them the, the gospel, the obedience of
the gospel, as we just read. Where was Paul's confidence placed? We have confidence in the Lord
concerning you. You think about that, even when
Paul is talking about their works, he's exalting Christ. That's what works are for. If
they don't exalt Christ, they're not good works. Let your light
so shine before men, why? That they may see your good works
and glorify your father. What religion calls good works
causes them to brag on one another. What God calls good works brings
glory to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what works are for. That's
why God includes us in the ministry at all, in his kingdom at all,
makes us witnesses, uses us in any way. That's why he chose
the foolish and the weak. This is why the glorious gospel
of the blessed God is committed to our trust, 1 Timothy 1.11,
that Christ might be glorified and that no flesh should glory
in his presence. Why was Paul confident that they
would be doers of the word and not hearers only. Because if they had faith, you're
talking about all men don't have faith like the Lord's given you, but the Lord's given you faith.
And if they had faith, it was God that gave it to them. And
Paul understood that. And when he gives faith, he also
gives works. Ephesians 2, eight through 10.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast,
for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. That's his work, that's him doing. How completely saved we are.
Think about that. God has saved us in every way
that somebody can be saved. Even what we do is evidence of
Him saving us. If we ever worship Him, if we
ever witness for Him, if we ever believe anything that God said,
we give glory to Him and have to cry, salvations of the Lord.
Verse five, look at verse five. And the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.
What more can God do? What more could He do? Look at
the words in our text. In this brief passage of Scripture,
we have God delivering a sinner, verse 2. Establishing, verse
3. Keeping, verse 3. And now in
verse 5, directing. He who turns in his hand the
hearts of kings as the rivers of water, whithersoever he will,
directs our steps. And Paul's prayer is that he
would direct our hearts into his love. That's why Paul was confident
of them. Look what God's done, look all that God's done and
will do for them. I'm reminded of the Good Samaritan.
There's a man bleeding out in the ditch, dying. He's a goner. And here comes the Good Samaritan.
He pours in oil and wine and bound up his wounds and lifted
him up and carried him to an inn and paid his way and said,
whatever he owes is on me. What more could he do? What more
could God do than that which he'd done? It doesn't matter where else
I find myself. As long as I'm in his love, direct
your hearts into his love, into the love of Christ, because that's
inseparable love. Nobody is able and nothing is
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ.
We worry about our children and our grandchildren going out into
this world. That's a legitimate concern.
We worry about them. We know from experience, as well
as the word of God, what a wretched place this world is. But are they also not only in
this world, but in the love of Christ? That's the question. Are they in the love of Christ,
the inseparable, infinite, immutable, perfect, eternal love of Christ, We love them, and that's why
we're worried about them, isn't it? It wouldn't make that much difference
to us, except we love them. We love them so much, but our
love is a drop in the ocean of his. We care deeply for them. He gave
himself for them, if they're his. He gave himself for them. God direct us into your love. His love is inseparable, infinite,
immutable, eternal. It's also constraining love. Would you pray that for your
children? That God would direct you, the Lord direct your hearts,
into the constraining love of God, for the love of Christ constraineth
us. Because we thus judge that if
one died for all, then we're all dead. And that he died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them and rose again. That's our desire for
you. God direct your heart into his
constraining love. Lord, don't let him go. Don't
let him go. Those who are yet in this world, but are in
the love of Christ, maybe Lord, guide us into the steadfast waiting
for him. That has to do with perseverance. Perseverance is not a construct
of our character or our strength. It's a place where God puts us.
That's what this verse says. May God direct you into the steadfast the steadfast love of Christ
and the patient waiting for Christ. It all has to do with Christ
because you know why? Because it all has to do with
Christ. It's his love and him we're waiting
for. The song that we sing sometimes
waiting for the one that's my hope within, my savior, my Lord,
the one that bought me with his precious blood, the only one
that could ever be good, the one that in my place stood on
Calvary's tree. This is the life of the believer,
saved, established, kept and directed. Directed into and living in the
love of God in Christ and waiting for his son to save us from the
body of this death. God give us grace to live like
that. Amen, let's pray.