I invite you this morning to
turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. My message this morning is born
kind of from a two-fold experience. One is that the gospel in our
day, gospel preaching, has all but been relegated to the scrap
heap. It means nothing. Preachers are
no more than employees of the church, just like the janitor
and the song leaders and all of these other positions. They're
employees of the church. They have councils and bodies
that hire and fire preachers. These men are educated. They
don't need a calling from God, they go to seminaries and get
their calling. They go to seminary, they are
trained and qualified and sent out and they are taught philosophy
and they are taught psychology and they are taught all these
things and they go out and they minister to men and women. Gospel
preachers in our day have all but been relegated to the scrap
Preaching in the average church takes no more than 15 minutes
to 20 of their time. Occasionally, they might go 30,
but that's a long message. Most of it is taken up with other
activities other than preaching the gospel. The second thing,
and I'm calling this an experience because we're all going through
it. It's all around us. but experience these things.
You hear these things. I hear them talked about. I hear
them on the radio. I see them on TV all the time.
It's in our movies. You can't hardly turn a movie
on without something being said about it or portrayed concerning
these things. And then the second thing is
my personal experience in my study. This is a big book. This is a deep book. It's way
over my head and way over yours. It's a spiritual book. And if
God doesn't give me His message from this book, I'll guarantee
you I'll never find it. And you won't either. Has to
be given. Given of God. Revealed of God. Everything in this book has to
be revealed. Revealed of God. You go into
it. I don't care how many books you read. I'll tell you what
you do. You find you an old book. And
all these old writers, they weren't privileged like we are in our
day to have grace preachers all around them, internet access
to books and libraries. They didn't have all that. A
lot of them had to learn three or four languages just to be
able to read the Bible and to read whatever commentaries were
made. They had to learn German. They had to learn Latin. They
had to learn all these things just to be able to read and study.
And so these men had some quirks. And we grab a book and we read
it. You know what you're going to take away from it? Nine times
out of ten, you're going to take away the quirk. That's what you'll
take from it. I don't care if you're reading
a book or reading a Bible. It has to be revealed to you.
The message of God has to be revealed by the Holy Spirit of
God. That's how you get it. And I'm
becoming more and more and more aware of it. looking around,
dealing with men, preaching to you every Sunday, preaching wherever
the Lord opens the door. I'm becoming more and more and
more aware of that. Aware of that. Now, I have what
might seem an unusual message this morning. My message is just
this. Pray for preachers. That's what Paul is talking about
in chapter 3 of 2 Thessalonians. He said, for us. Pray for us. Now, when this letter
was written, the Apostle Paul was by God's own hand in His
direction down at Corinth, down there digging out a church, establishing
the church of Corinth. And Timothy and Silas were down
there with him. You can read about it over in
Acts 18. And God had told Paul, Paul was ready to leave. He was
ready to pack up his bags and leave. That's how bad it was
at Corinth. And God said, no, you ain't going to leave. He
said, you tarry here because I've got much people here. And
he encouraged him. And Paul stayed and continued
to preach. But those Jews down there despised
him. And they blasphemed God concerning
the message he preached. And he said to them, he said
After he preached to them and labored to teach them and tell
them the truth, they just actually blasphemed God with their comments
back in his face. That's what it says over in Acts
chapter 18. And he said to them, your blood
be on your own head. I've told you the truth. You
wouldn't have it. Now your blood be on your own
head. I'm clean. Having told you the truth, he
said, I'm clean. I'm clear from your blood. And
from henceforth, I'll go to the Gentiles. Now, in the light of
what was taking place and that fierce persecution that he faced,
he found great joy and comfort when he looked back onto the
work that God had already established with the Thessalonians. Here
was a people who were just as ignorant as they were at Corinth,
just as ignorant as all these other places. But God overcome
them. That gospel came to them not
in word only, but in power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit.
And God did a work in them. He revealed Himself to them.
And they become followers of Paul and of Christ. And they
become obedient men. And they become concerned with
the ministry and the gospel. And they supported him when all
the rest of them wouldn't. They supported him. And he looked
back on that work as he was down here working. He looked back
on that work. And he looked on it with joy.
With joy. And he got joy and comfort. in these Thessalonians whom he
was convinced were the elect of God. And this letter to the
Thessalonians is just full of warnings about the spirit of
Antichrist and plain declarations concerning the preaching of the
gospel as God's means whereby this spirit of Antichrist is
exposed. Paul under these persecutions
was made keenly aware of the weakness of his flesh and of
the necessity of God's presence, which is what these verses here
are all about. I become more and more aware
as I hear the conversations of men who write and comment on
the messages on the internet and people here local and people
from this church. I become more and more aware. that this thing must be accomplished
by the power of God. Not something I can do in the
flesh. And that's where Paul was here.
He was being made keenly aware of the weakness of his flesh
to accomplish these things. To root out what had been brainwashed
into him for generations. To overcome those things. To
overcome what everybody thought was right. To overcome it. I
can't do that. That takes the power of God.
Now, having already read our text to you, let me give you
five things that I see in these verses concerning this subject,
praying for preachers. First of all, I see here an earnest
request for prayer. Paul's earnest in this thing.
He didn't write to them. He wasn't just trying to sound
religious. He wasn't just trying to use religious. That's, you
know, religious folks. I was taught that early in religion. You just pick it up like flies
on flypaper. You pick up that religious language
very quick and you begin to use it right off the bat. And have
no idea about what you're saying. Just like that rich young ruler
come and say, good master. That's what everybody was taught
to say, good master. We talked about prayer all the
time. Pray for me. Pray for me. But we weren't sincere
in it. I didn't think about what I was
saying. I didn't have any idea why I needed prayer. But Paul was sincere and he requested
for prayer. Why? Why? Why would this man of God, this
chosen, ordained man of God who was caught up to the third heaven?
I never experienced that, but he did. He knew his calling. God caught him up to the third
heaven and taught him personally just like He did all the rest
of His disciples, these apostles. And he had a unique experience.
God smote him down with a light from heaven and spoke to him
in an audible voice. I've never experienced that,
but Paul did. Paul did. This man was chosen of God, ordained
of God, whose ministry was both given to him and confirmed to
him and taught him by the Lord Himself. Why should this man
ask for prayer? Why should he ask for prayer?
Well, not because of the superstitious belief that the greater number
of prayers, the greater power you're going to have with your
request. Now, I'm going to tell you something. I sat at the hospital
with Kathy out in the emergency room, and I just listened. I just listened to the conversations
around me and some of the things that they said to me. And one
of the things that was talked about a lot in there was things
called prayer walls. and prayer chains. And the idea
behind this is the greater number of people that you have praying
for you, the more weight you carry before God. That's not
what Paul was asking prayer. That's not what he had in mind.
And then another thing I noticed as I listened to the people there
is that they were requesting prayer in great numbers because
they hoped to change God. They hoped to change God's mind
concerning whoever it was that was sick. They wanted to change
God's mind about it. Now, my friend, God's unchangeable. I don't care who asks Him. And
I don't care how many ask Him. I remember one time Moses flew
up in His face and He said, if you're going to blot them out,
just blot me out. He said, I'll blot out whoever
I will. Now, you go take your place over there. I'm God. I'm God. You're not going to
change my mind. Not one whit are you going to
change me. I am the Lord. I change not.
Ain't that what he said? Listen to this. James tells us
this in the very first chapter. He said that every good gift
and every perfect gift is from above. Well, ain't that how we
pray? Our Father, which art in heaven,
we know that. We know that. Every good and
perfect gift cometh down from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, now listen, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. This giver of gifts, this supreme
giver of gifts, changes not. Not only won't he change, they're
not even a shadow of turning within. Not even a hint of turning
with Him. And so when the Lord taught us
to pray, what did He say? Our Father which art in heaven,
there's the giver of gifts, hallowed be Thy name. Now how is His name
hallowed? One of them is immutability.
Huh? Because the very next thing He
tells us is not our will, but Thy will. Huh? Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. We're going before Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. There's no variableness
with Him, neither shadow of turning. Our Heavenly Father is the source.
He's the wellspring of all gifts. He's the giver of every good
and perfect gift. And we're instructed to pray
for Him just that way. Not going to change concerning
the gifts He gives. And he's not going to change
concerning the objects of these gifts or the nature of these
gifts. Prayer simply acknowledges God
and makes our needs known to Him, and then waits patiently
for the will of God to be done. And then along these same lines,
James also tells us to ask in faith. When we come before God,
we're to ask in faith. He said, nothing wavering. What's
he talking about? Nothing wavering like a wave
of the sea. Listen, he that wavereth is like
the wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. He's tossed
about with every wind of doctrine. We don't approach God that way.
We don't approach God with this mumbo-jumbo. When we come before
God, we have a sense of who He is. It's not a perfect sense,
but we have a sense of who He is. And that governs our prayers
when we pray to Him. But this man who is tossed by
the wave like the waves in the sea, this man's prayers are driven
by whatever the prevailing wind is. And then this, Paul tells
us over in 1 Corinthians 14 to pray with the Spirit that is
in line with his preaching, in line with his ministry. Pray
with the Spirit in according with His teaching and pray with
the understanding. And over there he is talking
about these men who were mimicking supernatural gifts of the tongues
and praying in unknown tongues and gibberish before God. He
said, you pray with the understanding and you pray with the Spirit. But now listen to me, if only
what God has willed is going to come to pass, why pray at
all? Huh? That's a good question,
isn't it? Why pray at all? Because prayer
is as ordained as preaching. It's as ordained of God as preaching. It is ordained of God. Why assemble? You can say the same thing about
preaching. Why preach? God's going to do whatever He
will. Why preach? A lot of churches do that, what they call hard-shell
churches. What suits you? Why bother? Why bother? God's going to do
what He will anyway. You can say the same thing about
assembling yourselves together. We're not saved because we assemble
together. So why assemble? God's going
to save whom He will. Why meet? I'll tell you why. Same reason. Prayer, same reason
for preaching, same reason for... We're commanded of God to do
it. That's why. We're commanded of
God. Old Samuel said back there, I
think it's in 1 Samuel 23 or somewhere right along in there,
he said, God forbid that I should sow sin against Him as not to
pray for you. Prayer is as ordained as preaching. And all of these things, even
the book of God itself, why have a Bible? Things have to be revealed. Can't God reveal it to you without
a Bible? He could, but He ordained this book and He commanded to
use it. commanded to study it, commanded to read it, commanded
to teach it. All of these things, even the
book of God itself, are ordained means by which God will reconcile
His elect. But prayer goes even past that. It goes beyond the means. It
expresses the heart. Prayer is the expression of the
heart before God. It's a bubbling up of appreciation. It's a holding up of those means
of grace that it's already experienced. It knows how this thing of God,
how this thing of reconciliation was taught. It knows how it was
received. It recognizes those means. And like those Thessalonians,
he said, you become examples to all that believe. You've become
exemplary. You supported the gospel. You
did all of these things. And you did them because you
experienced them in your heart. That's the experience of grace
that I talk about all the time. Is my heart really concerned with
the salvation of sinners? Well, let's see. Do I pray for
them? I can feel the whip on my back.
I don't know about you. Do I pray for them? What about these preachers out
here? They're not a handful of known preachers. I don't know
who all God has in this country, but the ones I know, just a handful,
comparatively, in this country. Do I hold them up before God?
Do I pray for them? Paul said, pray for us. Pray
for us. Do I honestly pray Thy Kingdom
come? Do I pray that way? Well, there is here, and there
ought to be with us, a sincere request for prayer with those
who are convinced, when we're convinced that a man is the elect
of God. I'm going to ask you to pray
for me. That man over there bouncing all over the place and don't
know beans from apple butter, I'm not going to ask him anything
from him. I don't want him on his prayer
wall. I don't want him on his prayer chain. I don't even want
to talk about them things. But if I can find somebody that
I'm convinced that God done a work in their heart, I want them to
pray for me. Bring me up before God. And then
secondly, watch this. What was his request? That his
sufferings be taken away? He was suffering something awful
down there in Corinth. No sir, he didn't ask for that.
He said that the Word of the Lord may have free course. Now
turn with me to Titus chapter 1. Here's what I want you to
see. That the Word of the Lord might
have free course. What I want you to see is that
there is no distinction between the word of the Lord and the
gospel. He's talking about the same thing. This book is full of words, but
it won't do you any good until you understand that the testimony
of this book is the gospel. They go hand in hand. There is
no distinction between the Word of the Lord and the Gospel. Now
foolish men try to distinguish between these two, but there
is no distinction. Paul commanded Timothy, what
did he tell him? He said, preach the Word. Huh? Preach the Word. And here in
Titus chapter 1, watch this, verse 1. Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's
elect, and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot
lie, promised before the world began. Now watch this. But hath in due times manifested
his word through preaching. How did he do it? Through preaching. I need to read that again, don't
I? "...in due times manifested His
Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior." Turn with me to I Peter
chapter 1. In this passage, Peter is talking
about the new birth. He is talking about regeneration,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Then look down
there at verse 25. He talks about us there in verse
24 just being dried up like the old leaves in the grass, just
nothing in us but the Word of the Lord. But the word of the
Lord, verse 25, endures forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. There's no distinction. People want to distinguish this
book from the preaching of the gospel. And in the scriptures,
they're together. They're together. And it's the will of God that
chosen sinners be reconciled to God through the preaching
of the gospel. That's why Paul was down at Corinth. That's why
he was suffering. And that's why he looked back
at that work he'd already established with the Thessalonians and found
comfort and joy. Because this was God's means
of reconciling sinners to himself. And he knew it. He knew it. I'll tell you this, to them that
are perishing, it's foolishness, it's absolute assertivity. They
look at it and they say, what a proud, prideful man that is. Thinks he's called of God. Thinks
he's the only one who can preach the gospel. I wonder if we ever thought about
that same statement when we say we're children of God. Huh? I've had folks ask, don't you
feel a little pride in saying that you're a child? No. No,
I'm a child by grace. I'm a child by grace. I was made
worthy in Him. I've got no worthiness of my
own. But to them who perish, it's just foolishness. It's just
a man standing up giving his opinion. A man standing up pretending
to be a dictator or whatever. I've heard a thousand comments
about preaching. But to those who are being saved,
that's who I'm interested in. The rest of them are going to
be cast into hell. I'm interested in those that
God is saving. To them who are being saved is
the sense of that verse there in I Corinthians chapter 1. Those
who are being saved. It is the power of God. My friend, when you and I come
to see this and believe this, we'll pray for preachers. We'll
pray for them. We'll bow our heads and whatever
it is our need is, we'll ask God. Lay it on that man's heart
to speak to mine. Give me that message. Give me
what understanding I need. Give me something. Tell me who
you are. Bless that man. Clear his mind
in his study. We'll pray for him. But if he's
just an employee, we're not going to have much to say. If he's
just a man standing up there going through the motions, we
ain't got much to say. But if he's God's man, and we
know it, and we've experienced it, we'll pray for him, won't
we? Sure we will. We pray for preachers. Pray for
me, Paul said. Pray that the word of the Lord,
His gospel, may have free course. Unobstructed in God's providence. Unobstructed in the minds and
hearts of His hearers. Unobstructed from the lips of
God's messenger. That our minds be clear in our
studies and meditation. That our lives be free and unobstructed
with the affairs of this world. And then thirdly, Paul says to
pray for the messenger himself. He said, pray for us. Pray for
us. How shall you hear without a
preacher? How shall he preach except he be seen? If gospel
preaching be the means God has ordained to call out His elect,
then let's pray for these men and their message alike. Let
me show you something over here in Luke chapter 10. Talking about praying for preachers.
Praying for preachers. I don't know a more needful subject
in this day when gospel preaching means absolutely nothing to nobody. I'm telling you the truth. They'd
fire a preacher. If they saw one of their preachers
out there smoking a cigarette, they'd fire him. If they saw him down in a store
somewhere that sold beer and whiskey, they'd fire him on the
spot. You're out of here. Huh? Watch this, Luke 10, verse 1.
After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also. And He sent them two by two before
His face. Now watch this. into every city
and place whether he himself would come. And he still does. He still does. He sends his preachers
to those places that he himself intends to visit. Therefore, said he unto them,
the harvest truly is great, but the labors are few. What are
we going to do about it? Watch this. Pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labors to
his harvest. He didn't say build a seminary
there, did he? No, he said pray to the Lord of the harvest. That's
the only one who can send them. That's the only one who can recruit
them, ordain them, prepare them. You pray Him that He sends more
labors to His hearts. And then as runners in a race
to remove every obstruction. that the gospel run its course
according to God's design. Pray for God's messengers. And
then fourthly, he said, pray that the gospel we preach have
free course, now watch this, and be glorified. How is gospel preaching glorified? You know, I ask you these questions
because I'm as guilty as you. I've read through these verses
a hundred times and never asked myself these questions. But when
I'm studying these things and the Lord begins to speak to me
about things, then I've got a thousand questions. And I'm asking you
these questions because these are the questions I ask myself
when I read. How is gospel preaching glorified? Well, it's glorified when it's
declared, when God makes the, when he makes the opportunity.
for His preacher to stand before an assembly of men and women
and declare His gospel. I don't care if it's to three
or three thousand. It doesn't make any difference.
The declaration of that gospel glorifies God. It glorifies God. Well, what about if nobody believes?
It doesn't make any difference. It's glorified either way. It's
glorified. In 2 Corinthians 2, verse 15,
it said, For we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them
that are saved and in them that perish. It doesn't make any difference. When the gospel is preached and
men and women will not receive it, there is a justification
of God in their righteous condemnation. God justifies Himself. He glorifies
Himself. in a righteous condemnation of
that man who believes not. Paul said, we're a saver of death
unto death. And he that believeth not the
Son, John said, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. And when it's received, it's
a sweet justification of God in their righteous redemption.
And so then becomes a saver of life unto life. So he's glorified
in what? He is glorified when the gospel
is preached. And then secondly, it is glorified
in the experience of every man who is converted by it. He sees the glory of God. Paul
said, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to the lost, not hid to
the redeemed. It is hid to the lost in whom
the God of this world have blinded the eyes of them that believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine
unto them, glorified in the experience of every man who is converted
by it. Having told these Thessalonians their election of God, and that
God had from the beginning chosen them to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, he makes this statement. You can look at it just up there
above chapter 3. You can look at it over there.
He makes this statement, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 14, Whereunto He called
you by our gospel, now watch this, to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? It's glorified
in the experience of every man who believes. And then thirdly,
the Word of the Lord is glorified in its fulfillment. It's a fulfillment
of the Word of God when this Gospel is preached. It fulfills
the Word of God. I can show you four or five places
in the Scripture where it says that. He told those Old Testament
prophets thousands of years before this day come that these things
weren't given to them for them at that age, but for us in this
age. Everything, all that God said
He would do, He will do. And then the Word of the Lord
is glorified as it produces its fruit in the lives of those who
believe. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. And then fifthly, the Word of
the Lord is glorified as it is God's testimony of His Son. He that believeth not has made
God a liar. He's made God a liar because
this is the testimony This is God's testimony. And then turn
with me to John chapter 17. John 17. How is the Word of the
Lord glorified? In its declaration. In the experience
of every believer. In its fulfillment. In its testimony
of Christ. And then watch this here in John
17 verse 8. I have given unto them the words
which thou gavest me, and they have received them. And they
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they
are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am
glorified in them." It's glorified, John. It's glorified when it's
declared. It's glorified when it's received.
It's glorified as it's fulfilled. It's glorified in its testimony.
All right, now here's the fifth thing, and I'll wind this thing
up. There's a stern warning and a word to the wise. Paul asked
for the prayers of these beloved saints as he struggled down there
in Corinth, and he asked that the gospel and its messenger
be given free course Now listen, that we may be delivered from
unreasonable and wicked men. For all men have not faith. Now you don't have to be a theologian
this morning to understand that Paul's not talking here about
every man, woman, and child on the earth when he said not all
men have faith. Anybody got no sense to come
in and out of rain no better than that. Not all men have faith. We know
that. But what he's talking about here
is all men who say they have faith. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about unreasonable and wicked men who profess to
have faith. For all of these professors don't
have faith. Our Lord said this. He said,
every man who says, Lord, Lord, is not going to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Just because you say, I'm His
elect, just because you bow your head and say, Lord, Lord, and
pray our Father, that don't mean you're going to enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven. Some are just professors only.
All men have not faith. And those who pretend they do
are unreasonable and wicked men. Paul said in Romans 16, verse
18, by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the
simple. Good words, fair speeches, they're
good talkers, they're easy to listen to, they captivate the
mind. And they deceive the hearts of
the simple. There are men in this world whose goal it seems
to be to always put a question mark on God's messengers and
His message. Now they can preach anything
they want to. They can preach hopscotch. They can preach pogo
sticks. They can preach anything they
want to, and men will listen to it and say amen. But you stand
up and preach the truth. You preach the gospel of God's
sovereign grace, and you can stack scriptures up around them
until it's as high as cordwood, and it'll have no effect on them
whatsoever. And the one preacher they'll
point to is the man who told them the truth. And they'll warn
everybody on earth that he's Antichrist. He describes these men as proud,
knowing nothing. knowing nothing, doting about
questions and stripes and words. They have corrupt mind. They're
destitute of truth. They have words. They're orators,
but they're destitute of truth. They speak lies, he said, in
hypocrisy. And he said, their words eat
like a cancer. Their words eat like a cancer.
And he said, avoid them and refuse to have fellowship with them.
And don't let them bend your ears. Now, let me leave you with this
this morning, with this exhortation. II Thessalonians 3, verse 3. But the Lord... Boy, I like that
word, but, don't you? But the Lord is faithful. He is more faithful than His
preacher. But He's faithful who called that man, and He'll work
through him. He's faithful. Who shall stablish you and keep
you from evil. And we have confidence. What? In His ability? No. We have confidence. In what? Our zeal? No. We have
confidence in the Lord touching you. Touching you. that you both do right now and
will do the things we command you to do. Now, he said, the Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting
for Christ. What a prayer. May God be pleased
to do that very thing in our hearts and in our minds.