Alright, turn with me if you
would to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Last week we looked at verses
4 and 5 which say, 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. God's people are saved by the
blood of Jesus Christ. God's people are saved by His
grace. They are saved by His gift, free
gift. They're saved by a work that
He accomplished. They are not saved by any decision
that they made. Masses of people are being told,
you need to make your decision to be saved. God's people are
not saved by any decision that they make. They are not saved
by any work of morality that they perform. They're not saved
by anything that they could ever do, nothing that they could ever
do. They're saved by God's grace. They're saved by the free gift
of His blood, the free gift of His righteousness. That blood
covers our sin, that righteousness makes us perfect in His sight.
Saved by His faith that He gives to us to look to Christ and believe
on Christ. Saved by His salvation. All right, now with that free
gift, will come the evidence of the free gift. With that free
gift will come the evidence. God performs a work in each one
of His people and that work can be seen. There are things that
His people do and will do. When He says, believe on Christ,
They will believe on Christ. All right? They didn't before.
They went through their whole life giving no thought to Christ.
And all of a sudden, he'll say, believe on Jesus Christ. And
that heart will believe on Jesus Christ. When he says, come, all
of his people will come. When he says, bow, bow to what
this word says, they will bow. When he says love, and he does
a lot, when he says love, they will love. David said, when you
said, seek ye my face, my heart cried out unto thee, thy face,
Lord, will I seek. That's how it happened. And he said, we have confidence,
Paul said right here, we have confidence in the Lord touching
you that you both do and will do the things that we command
you. And he said, we also have confidence in this. Verse five,
the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the
patient waiting for Christ. Now He is about to tell them
what He commands. He said, we have confidence in
the Lord that you'll do what we command. And He is about to
tell them what He commands. There are three things that I
would like for us to see in this. A warning, an exhortation, and
a word of comfort. We need all three. We need the
warning. We need the exhortation, and
we need the word of comfort. So I want to steadily go through. I want to make sure I get to
all three. I believe that this word that is given to us right
here from our God I believe this is what will direct our hearts
into His love and into patient waiting for Christ. All right,
let's read now verses 6 to 15. Now we command you, brethren,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves
from every brother that walketh disorderly. and not after the
tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how you
ought to follow us. For we behaved not ourselves
disorderly among you, neither did we eat any man's bread for
naught, but wrought with labor and travail, night and day, that
we might not be chargeable to any of you. not because we have
not power, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow
us. For even when we were with you,
this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should
he eat. For we hear that there are some
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they
work and eat their own bread. But ye brethren be not weary
in well doing. And if any man obey not our word
by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him,
that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy,
but admonish him as a brother." All right. Three things I'd like for us
to see in this. Here's the first one. Verse 6,
it says, NOW WE COMMAND YOU, BRETHREN, IN THE NAME OF OUR
LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT YOU WITHDRAW YOURSELVES FROM EVERY BROTHER
THAT WALKETH DISORDERLY AND NOT AFTER THE TRADITION WHICH HE
RECEIVED OF US." Disorderly means out of ranks. It means immoderate. It means irregular. It means
deviating. Deviating, walking not after
the tradition which he received of us, deviating from it. Tradition means ordinance, precept,
word. If a brother rejects this word,
or one who seems to be a brother. If it's plainly declared and
plainly set forth and he rejects this word, withdraw yourselves
from him. Now the Apostle Paul is not teaching
us to be self-righteous. You know, those who are self-righteous
They do everything in their power to separate themselves from sinners. That's all they want to do is
separate themselves from sinners. They won't eat at a restaurant
that serves alcohol in it. And it's probably not this way
much anymore, but there was a time when people wouldn't go swimming
at a pool that had, you know, co-ed. They want to do everything
they can do to separate themselves from whatever could cause them
to be seen with sinners or be seen as a sinner. God's people
are not self-righteous. Our Lord received and ate with
sinners. That's who he saved, every soul
that he saves. knows what he is. He knows he's
contrary. He knows that he's prone to wander. Lord, he feels it. Every soul cries, I'm only a
sinner saved by grace. That's all that I am. We're not
running from sinners. We're running to sinners. We're
preaching the gospel to all the world. That's what he commanded
us to do. All the world, the highways, the hedges, the ditches. We run crying, there is good
news for sinners against God. There is good news for rebels
against God. And that good news is found in
the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood that covers our sin.
That is the tradition. That is the doctrine, that's
the precept, the word that God has commanded all of his people,
all of his disciples to preach and believe and hold to, walk
in. All right, but this is what our
Lord said to his disciples in Matthew 10. He said, if my message
of truth is rejected, if they will not hear of my sovereignty,
If they will not hear of my will and my power, my purpose, if
they will not hear of my work being finished in the shedding
of my blood, then he said, wipe the dust from your feet and move
on. Withdraw yourselves. Don't entertain
their blasphemy. People will want you to enter
into conversation with them. And they'll tell their blasphemies
on God. Don't enter into their blasphemy. Entertain anything
that goes against the glory of the Lord. Withdraw yourself.
Light and dark cannot dwell together. This word tells us that time
and time again, once Christ's glory is rejected, have no fellowship
with that person anymore. For Christ's sake, for our own
sake, and for the one who did the rejecting sake. Verse 14
says, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that
man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. But verse 15 says you don't have
to count him as an enemy. He may come back. He may come
back. The Lord may break his heart.
The Lord may grant repentance to him. So we said in verse 15,
admonish him as a brother, pray for him, be truthful with him,
warn him, hopefully the Lord will have mercy. And there will
be times whenever the gospel is flat out rejected, flat out
denied, flat out pray that the Lord will have mercy. All right,
here's the second thing. Verse 7, for yourselves know
how you ought to follow us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly
among you, neither did we eat any man's bread for naught, or
for nothing in return." We didn't come eating your bread, giving
nothing in return. He went on to say, but wrought
with labor and travail, night and day, that we might not be
chargeable to any of you." Paul said, we went to work. We went
to work. He's about to condemn those who
can, but will not work. They just expect everybody else
to support them. Paul is about to condemn that. He's about to say, if a man won't
work, neither should he eat. And he said, do not be chargeable
to any of you because I'm giving this commandment. I went to work
for a period of time. He was a tent maker. And he labored
with his hands and I can envision him doing that in the day. Making
tents Monday through Friday in the day. I know from experience
he studied this word at night. He studied this word on Saturday,
and he preached all day on Sunday. Paul was a hard-working man.
He was a hard-working man. And verse 8 says, neither did
we eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travail
night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you,
not because we have not power, not because we don't have the
ability to be supported or the right to be supported. God has
ordained for those who work in the ministry to live off of the
ministry. It's always been that way. He always made it to be that
way. The Levites, the priests in the Old Testament, those that
worked in the temple, God told everybody to give 10%. That's what he told everybody.
Everybody give 10% of everything that you have, not just money.
If you have 10 cows, give one of them. If you have 10 blocks
of salt, give one of them. 10 bags of spices, give one of
them. The reason is because the Levites
needed all those things too. They needed the same things that
everybody else needed. They had to live. They had to
survive like everybody else. They had wives. They had children,
the sons of Levi. And they needed meat. They needed
for it to taste good. They needed some salt. They needed
some spices. They had the same needs that
everybody else had. So God provided it for them so
that they could give themselves to the work of the ministry. And Paul said in verse nine,
it's not that we don't have the God given right to be supported
for the work in the ministry. That's not why I went to work.
He said, I did that to be an example of how we all ought to
work hard. Whatever God's given our hand
to do, let's do it with all our might work hard. And he said,
I did that so I wouldn't be chargeable to any of you. So I could give
you this commandment without being accused. Well, you know,
Paul, you just sit there and we give to you and you just take
and take and take. And what did we get for it? Verse
10, he said, for even when we were with you, this we commanded
you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. He's not
talking about being out of work. He's not talking about being
sick. He's not talking about being injured. He's talking about
a man who can work and just won't. A man who won't. A man who will
not provide for his own, our Lord said, is worse than an infidel.
And in verse 11, He said, For we hear that there are some which
walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. They're trying to make it look
like they're working, but they're not. And they don't have any
business of their own, so they're just in everybody else's. They're
just going around in everybody else's business. Verse 12, Now
them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus
Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread.
But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. If someone takes
advantage of your generosity, don't let it kill your spirit
to be generous. Be not weary in well-doing. Verse 14, And if any man obey
not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company
with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy,
but admonish him as a brother. Now, let me give you a little
illustration. I believe it'll make clear what
he's saying. And I hope the Lord will bless this. I really do. I hope the Lord will bless this.
If we all lived in a house together, one house, If we all lived in the same house,
one same house, and this house had enough bedrooms for all of
us, and it had enough bathrooms for all of us, and it had a table
that was big enough to seat all of us, there would be a lot of
work that would need to go in to maintaining that house and
maintaining all of us. Beds would need to be made. Bathrooms
would need to be clean. Money would need to be made.
Food would need to be cooked. Dishes would need to be cleaned.
Laundry would need to be done. A lot of work. It wouldn't be
right if 5, 6, 8, 10 of us did all the work that needed to be
done. everything that needed to be
done. 10 people got up and made all the beds every morning for
everybody, folded all the clothes, did whatever, went off to work,
made all the money, left work, went to the store, did all the
shopping, bought all the food, cooked all the dinner, cleaned
all the dishes, scrubbed all the bathrooms before they went
to bed, while the rest of us sat on the couch watching TV.
It just wouldn't be right. Oh, you know, we sit there waiting
on them to let us know when dinner's ready. They call us, we go sit
down, get our bellies full and plop back down on the couch.
Well, you know that story of the little red hen? You remember
that story? The moral of that story is if
a man won't work, neither should he eat. Never is a house happier than
when everybody is pitching in doing the things that need to
be done together. Never. Husbands, if you would
like to have a happy house, pitch in. Pitch in. Never is a house happier than
when everybody's pitching in doing what needs to be done together.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said the same thing applies to my house. The very same thing. Never will
it be happier than when everybody, we are called the whole family. That's what we're called. The
whole family of God. Never will it be happier when
the whole family is pitching in, doing the things that need
to be done. We come in here and have our
moment of rest, and I do too. When the Lord blesses us, when
He sends His Spirit, I get rest too, just like sleeping in a
bed. We come in and have our moment of rest. We come in and
we sit down to His meal, feeding on His heavenly bread. He has allowed us to live here. We spiritually live here. This
is our house. We all live here. He's allowed
us to be partakers of these things, members of the family and household
of God. May God give all of us a heart
to say, starting with me. May all of us give, He give all
of us a heart to say, what can I do? How can I help? How can I say thank you? How
can I say thank you? Bathrooms need to be cleaned?
I'm on it. And we are on it. Grass needs to be mowed? I'm
on it. Children need to be taken care of? I'm on it. How can I pitch in? How can I
show how much I love this house? I love this house. I love the
father of this house. I love the husband of this house.
I love the bride of this house. I love the children of this house.
How can I say thank God for this house? Thank God for making me
a member of his family. Paul said that's the example
that God commands us to follow. It's a happy, happy example.
God's people have such motivation to follow that example, and this
is the reason why. All right? This is the third
thing I want us to see. We've had our warning, had the
exhortation, this is the comfort. This portion of Scripture Can
we all agree that this is a difficult portion of scripture? I had one
of two options, skip it or preach it. This is a difficult portion
of scripture. This portion is condemning those
who cannot claim any work. They haven't done any good work. They have no desire to do any
good work. This portion of scripture condemns
them because all they have done is selfishly take and they have
given nothing in return. They're just loiterers. That's
all they are. Abusers of the generosity of
another. All that can be said about them
is, They are unprofitable. This condemns the unprofitable. Spiritually speaking, that is
every soul in this room. All right, we look at this and
we say, go to work, man. What's wrong with you? That's
me. This is me. This is me. And this is you. When it comes
to our good works before God, we don't have any. We don't have
any. We have not done any. We have
taken from Him and taken from Him. His rain falls on the just
and the unjust. What do we have that we have
not received? We've taken from Him and taken
from Him. We have given nothing in return. Nothing. The only thing we've
given is sin, rebellion, and a disorderly walk. And this is
God's commandment against us, all those who are in that case.
He said in Matthew 25, cast ye the unprofitable servant into
outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Unprofitable, cast him out. Romans
3 verse 12 says, they are all gone out of the way disorderly. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one, not one. Look at them. Look at them. Not
one good work. A man who will not work should
not eat. He should not eat. In glory,
God is going to serve a marriage supper of the Lamb. And all who will not work have
no right to eat, none whatsoever. All right, then what hope do
we have? What hope do we have? If all we deserve because of
our disorderly conduct, based on God's If all we deserve is
to be cut off, cut him off. If all we deserve is for him
to withdraw himself from us and for him to have no company with
us, isn't that what it said? Withdraw yourself and have no
company. All right, then what hope do
we have? What good news could unprofitable servants like us
possibly have? Here it is. Verse 13 spiritually
tells us, He was not weary in well-doing. He did it anyway. That's what
that means. Do it anyway. He did it anyway. He showed His
kindness to us anyway. Verse 15, it says, He counted
us not as an enemy. But he admonished us as a brother. He came to give us his profit. He said, Father, I pray for them. He came and gave us all the profit
he earned. He took our unprofitableness
and he gave us his good work. He earned a good work. He was
a hardworking man. And he gave it to us. And now
because he did that, Every soul who sits down at that marriage
supper is going to be worthy to eat. Every soul in him and
in his perfect work is going to be allowed to sit down at
that meal. And to every soul in Christ, the Father is going
to say, well done, thou good and faithful, profitable servant. Well done. Because of that work,
His work, the work in His life, the work in His death, that Christ
fulfilled for us and gave to us, Because of that work, the
Father is going to draw nigh to us, not withdraw himself like
we should have gotten, but he's going to draw nigh to us and
he's going to keep company with us. He said, I'll be their God.
They'll be my people. They're going to live with me
and dwell with me now and forever. That blesses my heart. That blesses my heart. The exhortation
to work is an exhortation that truly comes from thankfulness. If we don't see his work for
us, nothing will motivate this cold and dead heart to say thank
you. And work in a response to him.
But with that motivation, we honestly do. We truly say, what
can I do? What can I do to say thank you?
Thank you for everything you've done for me. I pray the Lord
honestly will cause us to enter into that work. May we never
take that work for granted. We hear it, we hear it. Oh Lord,
let us never take that work for granted. Bless it to our hearts,
Lord. Make us thankful. Cause us to
be thankful. And I pray all of that will be
profitable to us. All right, you're dismissed.