Turn back to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 3. We'll finish this epistle up
tonight. I titled this message, The Lord
Direct Thy Heart. There in verse 5, Paul says,
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, that He
would lead and guide and keep on your mind the love that He
has for you in His Son. That's a powerful, powerful prayer. When I was going over this, I've
been reading it for about a week. Last night I sat down and tried
to write some things. But I could just feel Paul's
heart in this for this church. He wanted them to know Christ.
He wanted them to To enjoy the peace and love of God that's
in Christ. And he wrote to them so affectionately
here. That God would direct their hearts.
That's what salvation is. It's a heart work. It's not changing
theology. You can't change theology without
changing God. You can't do it. Can't do it. It's a heart work. It's God giving a new heart.
And it's God dwelling in that heart. You know, the gospel touches
every area of a believer's life. And it touches that all the time. Not just here. It's all the time. Whether private
or public. The gospel touches every area
of a believer's life. It touches his life at home. As I heard it said, it makes
a husband a good husband. I don't know anything that would
make a husband a good husband than the gospel. It makes a wife
a good wife. It makes a worker a good worker.
It makes an employer a good employer. And even if others slack, and
Paul's going to deal with this, he's going to deal with some
slackers in the latter part of this epistle, this chapter. But even though others slack,
the believer, he's of a different character. He walks as before
the Lord. It doesn't matter if anyone sees
him or not, he knows the Lord sees him. He knows the Lord sees
him. Our Lord said this to the disciples,
ye are the light of the world. He didn't say try to be the light
of the world. You might be if you mature and grow up. No, He said you are. You're the
light of the world. And with this in mind, let's
look at these verses. Paul says finally, he's going to close
out this letter. He's coming to the end of it.
And what Paul deals with in this latter chapter here, this last chapter,
is no less important. I thought about this last night.
This is no less important than any other subject that he deals
with. It's no less important. A man's life will match who he
believes, O Lord. It'll match who and what he believes.
It'll match it. So Paul says here, finally, brethren,
pray for us. Paul was probably one of the
most praying men that's ever lived. He was earnest in prayer
all the time. And now he says here to the church,
pray for us. Church, pray for us. You know,
Spurgeon, he said that part of his success was this. his church pray for him. He said,
I know they pray for me. And Paul says, pray for us. You
know, prayer is commanded in the scriptures. Now our Lord
tells us to pray for one another. Samuel said this in 1 Samuel
12. Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin, listen, that I
should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. It would
be sin, Samuel said, it would be sin against the Lord if I
did not pray for you, if I ceased to pray for you. And they were
being rebellious. But he said, God forbid that
I should sin against the Lord and cease to pray for you. Our
Lord went about to pray. Well, what an example. Here is
a man, the only man who knew no sin. Here is a man who who
was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure. But here's a
man who prayed more than anyone. I mean, we can't even comprehend.
He was in constant prayer. Either in private, in his thoughts,
he was in constant prayer. And he'd go apart sometimes and
pray all night. He'd pray all night long. I thought,
my soul, to be able to do that. And even now, He intercedes for
us right now. I desire your prayers. I do. But His prayers, well, He intercedes
for us. That's what we desire is His
prayers for us. His intercession for us. The
Scripture says the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
And He is a righteous man. Let us never take lightly The
awesome privilege and responsibility of calling on God for one another. It's a privilege, but it's a
responsibility also. Note what Paul requests here.
Note what he requests them to pray for. That the word of the Lord may
have free course. His concern, his heart, was that the gospel
would go forth freely, powerfully, unobstructed, unhindered. He said, pray that the Lord would
send forth the gospel and it would have free course. He didn't
say, pray for me that I would. No, he prayed that the word,
that the gospel would go forth freely. That the Lord would open
doors for the preaching of the gospel. We need to be much in prayer
for this, don't we? We need to pray for this, that the Lord
would open doors for us to preach the gospel of the glory of God
while we have time on this earth. That He would allow us in on
this for a little while. That we would be a part of this,
of spreading the gospel of His kingdom, the gospel of His glory.
That He would let us just speak a word. Him sees it. To a sinner in need of mercy. That's what Paul prayed for. He said, pray that the Lord will
open the doors for the preaching of the gospel. Pray that it will
flow like a river. Flow like a river. And that the
Word of the Lord may be glorified, extolled, lifted up, magnified. You know, when the Word of the
Lord is glorified, Truth, first of all, is preached, isn't it?
Truth is preached. If the Word of the Lord is glorified,
you can be sure truth is preached. And then secondly, Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ, is lifted up. He's lifted up in His Word. When the Word is glorified and
truth is preached, Christ is lifted up and the church is edified. And sinners are saved. When the
Word is lifted up, when the Word is glorified. He said, pray that
the Word of the Lord would go forth, that it would have free
course, and that the Word would be glorified. I thought we need to be, and
I put here, I need to be more selfless, selfless in my prayers. Or that we pray that the gospel
of God's glory would go forth. That it would slay sinners and
bring them to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like
I'd like for it to slay my grandchildren and my children. God would give us a heart that
it would be like that for everyone. Not just local family. That it
would go forth and sinners would be brought to the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And now Paul says this to them,
he says, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord
may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you, as it
has with you. He said the same effect it's
had with you, pray that it will have that with others also. And that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men. For all men have not faith. He's not talking about here just
all men in general. He's talking about all those
who stand to preach, all those who teach, all those who make
a profession have not faith. He said not everyone that goes
around saying or using the name of the Lord Jesus is saved. Our
Lord said that there'll be many who'll say, Lord, Lord, we preached
in your name. We cast out devils in your name. We've done many
mighty works in your name. And he's going to say to them, depart
from me. I never knew you. All men have not faith. Not everyone
who teaches a class or stands in a pulpit is of God. Not everyone. There are many more false preachers.
You know this. You know this by experience.
There are many more false preachers than there are true ones. I'd
say when you find one true preacher of the gospel, you'll find a
thousand false ones. Satan has his army too. But pray
that the church also, the body of Christ, would be delivered
from these men, these unreasonable men that God would deliver. Not only us who preach, but the
whole body of Christ would be delivered from these unreasonable
men. Oh, Satan is subtle. He'll do
whatever it takes to keep our minds and hearts away from Christ.
He'll bring whatever He's allowed to. Put it that way. Whatever
He's allowed to, He'll bring it to keep your minds and hearts
off the Lord Jesus Christ. But know this. Paul says, know
this here in verse 3. But the Lord is faithful. Aren't you glad of that? Faithful. He changes not. I'm the Lord. I change not. That's
why you sons of Jacob, you sons of election, are not concerned.
Because I don't change. Oh, he said he's faithful. Faithful
is he who calls you who also will do it. He's faithful. He
will keep his own. You know, Sunday we looked over
in chapter 2. He spoke of the Antichrist and
he spoke of the mystery of iniquity. They said, but God chose you.
You're not going to be deceived. You're not going to fall. God
chose you and He's going to keep you. He's faithful. God's faithful. He's going to
keep His own. Not one sheep shall perish. He will, in His time,
deal with unreasonable men. But He'll keep you. You won't
fall away. You won't fall away. And these
unreasonable men won't destroy His work. They will not destroy
His work. He will establish you and keep
you from evil." And here's what he's saying, he will keep you
from the evil one. I know we have some idea, but
really we have no real idea of how Satan would love to get a
hold of one of God's children. It's like he did Job. It's just
like, let me at him. Just let me tear into him. For
God, He says here, will establish you and He'll keep you from the
evil. He won't turn you over. He won't
turn you over. Satan will not destroy the work
of God. God will keep His own till the end. He which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
He'll not stop. He'll not stop. I know we look to pastors for
instructions and exhortations. And that's what they should do.
They should study the Word of God. They are to study the Word
of God and instruct the church. But it's God that we look to
to keep us. Read Psalm 121. All of it's on His shoulders,
isn't it? You read that Psalm, it's the Lord. The Lord is thy
keeper. It's not the Lord and the pastor. It's the Lord is
thy keeper. Someday I'll die or someday I'll
be gone and someone else will stand, but it's the Lord who
keeps us. The Lord is thy keeper. He's the only one who can keep
you from falling. It says this, look over in Jude
chapter 1. Look in verse 24, Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless, absolutely
faultless, not a spot of blemish on you, not a spot of blemish
on your character, Faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. He's able. He's able. That's
what it says in Hebrews 7, 25. He's able to save unto the uttermost
them that come unto God by Him. Seeing He ever lives to make
intercession for them. Our confidence. Our confidence. Look in verse 4. And he says
here, and we have confidence in the Lord touching you. Our
confidence is in Him. You know, my confidence and our
confidence is not us keeping ourselves or me keeping you.
It's the Lord keeping us. Paul said, here's our confidence.
It's touching you. The Lord will keep you. The Lord
will keep you. That's so comforting to a pastor,
to an apostle. And you know, Paul said in one
place that the care of the church came up on him daily. But when
he lay down at night, he knew this. The Lord will keep them.
He died for them. He'll keep them. He'll keep His
sheep. And He'll enable you to do these
things. Our Lord said this in one place. Without Me, you can
do nothing. Our confidence is in Him. You
know, that's what faith is. Faith is just nothing more than
confidence in Christ that He'll do just as He said He would.
It's confidence in Him. And then he says here in verse
5, the Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. And
over in the margin it says, the patience of Christ. You can translate
it both ways and not do any harm. But the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God that He'll keep on your mind and lead and
guide you to meditate and think upon that love that He has for
you in the Lord Jesus Christ. That as you go through your life,
as you grow in the Word and in Christ, that your heart will
be directed into meditating and thinking upon the love of God
for you in Christ. That everlasting love He had
for you before the world was. Can you imagine that? God loved
you before the world was. God loved you when you were an
enemy. When you set out to think that you were an enemy of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and yet, He loved you. And made you a son. Brought you
into the family. Made you a part of the family.
Gave you the inheritance that belongs to Christ. Everything
that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ belongs to you because
God loves you. You can't comprehend that kind
of love. No more than Cole can comprehend
how much I love him. He can't do it. He can't comprehend
the way my heart beats for him. He just can't do it. The other
night, I bent over and I said, Cole, I love you. He just stood
back like this. I whispered in his ear, is he
getting ready to leave? And he just stood back, didn't say a
word, and then reached over and kissed me. And I thought, that's
a good response. When we understand something
of God's love for us in Christ, then you kiss the Son. Then you can kiss the Son. And
you don't have to respond. He couldn't put that in words,
and I knew he couldn't understand it. No more than you and I can
really comprehend that deep, deep love that God has for us
in Him, in Christ. And I thought when he did that,
and when I said that to him, and what I felt at that time
talking to him, I thought multiply that by an infinite number and
you'll have some idea of God's love to us in Christ. Just an inkling of that. To never
be off his mind. He said he'll what? Never slumber
nor sleep. Never away from his thought for
a second. We just, in this flesh, can't
comprehend that kind of love, can we? Even in our sinfulness, in our
wretchedness, it never dimmed his love for us in any way, shape,
or form. It never does. It never has. He said that the Lord would direct
your hearts, that He would immerse you, that He would put you into
this ocean of love and let you drink of it and really start
to comprehend something of God's love for you. And I'm telling
you what, that'll affect your whole life. It will. If you grow
in that, if you're able to drink of it, there's no way it cannot
affect everything you do. Everything you do. you'll do
also out of love to Him. It'll just be a natural response.
Because the love of God will be shed abroad in your heart. The Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God that He give you some comprehension of His
love for you in Christ. Look what He did to His Son. Absolutely tormented Him. He
was tormented. He suffered a wrath that you
and I can never, ever, ever comprehend. And he did that out of love.
He did it out of love. And also, he says here, into
the patient waiting for Christ, or into the patience of Christ,
that He would guide, direct your heart into meditating upon His
love and to the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look how patient
our Lord was. Look how patient He is with us. There was no one more sensitive
to sin than Christ. There was no one more sensitive
to insults than our Lord. But it says when He was reviled,
what did He do? Reviled not again. When those
disciples were with him, and you read the Gospels, they're
just like me. I mean, saying stupid stuff. Saying all kinds of things. And
he just so patiently, he just so patiently just dealt with
them. So kindly. And the way he dealt with all
men. So patiently he dealt with all men. And he said, you think
upon these things. You immerse your minds and hearts
into these things. Think upon the love of God and
the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ, and also patiently waiting
for His return. Patiently. Love will make you
patient. I believe a person, when they
really love someone, they're more patient with them than they
are anybody else. They are. You let a stranger come here
and see how patient you are with him. But you let your children,
or your spouse, come up more patient with our children. And you see how much more patient
you are with those whom you love. But here also, patiently waiting
on the Lord's return. Patiently waiting. You know what
this shows? You know what it demonstrates?
When you patiently wait for the Lord's return, really waiting
for it, expecting it, that you believe God. That you believe
God. One who does not really believe
does not wait patiently. They said, where is His coming? It's the same since the beginning. Where is His coming? They don't
wait patiently. But the believer, He looks for
his Lord's return. He doesn't know when, but he
knows who's returning and he's waiting on him. He knows he'll
be here. He said he would. He said he
would. He said he'd be back. So we wait. We wait. God is faithful. He'll be back. He'll be back. Now Paul turns after giving these
verses here of instructions and comfort edification to the church,
he turns and he deals with some slackers that are in the church.
And he got them everywhere. You can't, you know, they're
like flies, you can't kill them all. And he says here there's
going to be some slackers. And there are some slackers.
He says in verse 6, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourself from every
brother that walks disorderly. and not after the tradition which
he received of us. For yourselves know how you ought
to follow us. For we behave not ourselves disorderly
among you. We didn't take advantage of 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." He's talking here about some slackers,
some freeloaders, busybodies. And there will always be some. It's like, you know, you go to
a picnic, there are always flies in there. There are always going
to be flies. You've got to shoo off the food. There will always
be some. And you're always going to have
these that are going to rise up. And there were some there who
would not work. They wouldn't go to work. Lazy.
Lazy. They were lazy and they took
advantage of the generosity of the sheep. The Lord's people
are generous. They are. They are a generous
people. You know, I look at what this small group here give. It's
amazing, really. What this small group is able
to give. The Lord's people are generous. But you'll have people
that will rise up and try to take advantage of that. There will be always some who
will come and try to take some of it. And Paul says, I gave
you an example by my own conduct. I didn't come in and I didn't
take advantage of you. It was an infant church. He had
the right, as an apostle, to be supported by that church.
But he wouldn't do it. He wanted to be an example to
them. So he worked over in Acts. They would make tents. He makes
it work night and day so he can preach the gospel to them. And
it wouldn't be hindered. He says, you mark those who will
not work, and you don't have company with them. He says, don't
let them eat. He says down here, for even when
we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work,
let him starve. That's Paul's attitude toward
it. He said, let him starve. If he's able to work and he won't
work, He said, just let him go hungry. That's not hard. That's just treating it truthfully. Just treating it truthfully.
But he says this also, and I'll close. Over here in verse 14. 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. Always think the best of him
until proven wrong. He's still in this situation.
He still says, but don't treat him like an enemy. Treat him
like a brother. After saying, if he won't work, don't let him
eat. But don't treat him like an enemy. That's grace, isn't
it? That's grace. It just leaks out.
It just keeps leaking out. It comes out if it's there. And
that's what Paul says. He said, oh, don't treat him
like an enemy. Admonish him as a brother. But ye brethren, look back there
in verse 13. But ye brethren, be not weary
in well doing. Don't let others who have bad
motives and bad manners harm you toward everyone. That's what
he said. Don't get weary in well doing.
I know there's slackers. Some won't work and they take
advantage of you, but don't let that harden you and think like
that toward everyone. Because there are some who do
need. There are some who are in need.
There are some who really need you. The Lord gives you wisdom
in knowing the difference. He said there are some who really
need you. And the Lord gives you peace.
Now in verse 16, Now the Lord of peace, Himself,
give you peace. Give you peace, always, by all
means. Oh, that God give you peace.
You know, if the Lord gives you peace, real peace in mind, heart,
if He really gives you peace, you can handle whatever comes
your way. Whatever He sends your way. If He really gives you that
inward peace, you can handle it. And here's the best. The Lord
give you peace and the Lord be with you all. That's the way
to close, isn't it? That's the way to close an epistle.
The Lord be with you all. And I'm going to leave it like
that.