Let us turn again in our Bibles
to 2 Thessalonians, this morning to chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 3. As we read this last chapter,
let us remember this letter was brought to a local church, much
like our local church, no doubt. larger in number, but still they
would have been gathered together to hear the letter read, the
letter from the Apostle Paul to this church. Finally, verse
one of chapter three. 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.
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 behave 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 you, 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. Now the Lord of peace himself
give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with mine
own hand, which is a token in every epistle, so I write. The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. I see
a division in this chapter that I'm going to use for my message
today. I see first a request in verse
1. Brethren, pray for us. And this
will take us through verse 5. And then second, I see a command
in verse 6. We command you. And this will
take us through the end of the chapter. First, a request. Brethren, pray for us. Here are
two things we should observe about this request. First of
all, brethren, pray for us. He's not requesting that only
the elders, the pastors and deacons, those that were teachers in the
congregation, that they pray for them, but the brethren, that
is all the children of God. Three things about this. Prayer,
making our requests known unto God is a privilege that all the
family of God are granted. It's not a privilege that is
only granted to those of a certain age or to those of a certain
growth in grace or to those who are officers of the church. This
is a privileged prayer. Making our requests known unto
God is a privilege that all the family of God are granted. When a baby is born into a family,
he doesn't need to wait until he reaches a certain age to cry
out, but immediately he begins to cry to his parent. He immediately
avails himself of this privilege, that is, a baby born into a family. And the same thing is true of
the family of God. When we are born again of the
Spirit of God into the family of God, we have this privilege,
each and every one of us. The Apostle Paul wrote this. He said, because you are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father." Abba was a term that only the smallest
children used in a house. Many in the household, even servants,
would call the master Father. But only those who were born
into the family, the children, they used that term, Abba. It
was a term of love, Abba. And every child of God, we all
have this privilege. And Paul wrote to this church.
I'm sure there were people in the congregation of all ages
as far as spirituality is concerned. There were some who were babes,
like the Apostle John speaks of in 1 John chapter 2, some
who were young men, and some who were older. But all in this
church, he admonishes, brethren, pray for us, or he requests,
I should say, brethren, pray for us. This is a privilege that
is granted to all the family of God. And second, prayer, making
our requests known unto God, is a privilege that all the family
of God have the help of the Holy Spirit. Every child of God, no
one is a child of God who does not have the Holy Spirit. This
is something that people have taught the wrong thing about
when they teach that you receive the Holy Spirit after you have
been saved. No one is saved apart from the
work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and there's
no new birth apart from the Holy Spirit. And when a person is
born again, we have the Spirit of God, every child of God. In
fact, the Apostle Paul said, what? No, you're not. that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, that God the Holy Spirit,
if you can receive this from the word of God, that God the
Holy Spirit dwells in every child of God. And he is dwelling in
us and we have his help when we go to the Lord in prayer.
In Romans chapter eight, And verse 26, Paul said, likewise
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. And we feel more infirmities,
I believe I speak for all of God's children today, when I
say this, when we kneel or when we pray and speak to God our
Father in heaven, we feel our infirmities as much at that time
as any other time. And thank God we have the Holy
Spirit he helpeth our infirmities. For Paul said, for we know not,
we know not what we should pray for as we ought. People asked
you and they asked me, they asked others, pray for me. And their
need may be thus. We don't know how to pray. We
don't know the Lord's will. We know this, that whatsoever
we ask, which is according to his will, he heareth us. And
if he hear us, John says, we know that we have that which
we ask. So in prayer, we feel our infirmities
and thank God we have the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, every
child of God. That's the point I'm making is
that this blessing of prayer, when Paul says, brethren, pray
for us, that the blessing of prayer, is something that is
true. The privilege of prayer is something
that is true to every child of God. Everyone who is born into
the family of God, we may call upon God. And we have God the
Holy Spirit dwelling in us to help us to pray. Let me finish
that verse. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, But the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with
groaning which cannot be uttered. Now think about Abraham. Abraham,
the father of the faithful. What a man of God he was. And
yet when he was praying to the father, when he was interceding
for Sodom and Gomorrah, you remember he used this in his prayer, he
said, Behold now, you ever feel the humility of prayer? Here we are upon this earth and
we are clothed in flesh and blood. God the Holy Spirit lives in
us, but we are speaking to God Almighty. We're going into the
throne room of heaven. And we have access there. Abraham
felt that. He said, Behold now, I have taken
upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes.
Here I am. This is what he says. Here I
am, but dust and ashes. That's all any of us are. Our
bodies were made from the dust. from the ground. Here I am, but
dust and ashes, and I've taken upon myself to speak unto the
Lord." And we know in that prayer that he was interceding for Sodom
and Gomorrah, and he kept bringing the number down, didn't he? If
there be 50, if there be 50 found in Sodom, will you destroy the
righteous with the wicked? No, if there be 40. If there'd be 30, if there'd
be 20, if there'd be 10, 10 righteous people in that city
and there wasn't 10, there wasn't 10. But the privilege that we
have and the help that we have from God the Holy Spirit, and
I know in my experience there's this matter of boldness You know, you wouldn't run into
the Oval Office in the White House. They would escort you
there, right? You wouldn't just open the door
if you got in the White House and walk in there. Why? Because there's a spirit of reverence
about the office. We have boldness. Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in the time of need. Yes, there's a
boldness, but my friends, there's also a reverence, a reverence
of speaking to the Father, speaking to God Almighty. Brethren, pray
for us, all the family of God. Paul asked to pray. Paul requests
their prayer. All the family of God have the
help of God, the Holy Spirit. And prayer, making our requests
known unto God, is a privilege that all of the family of God
have through the mediation of Jesus Christ. There is no approach
unto God apart from Jesus Christ. These people who call upon God,
and they do not call upon God through Jesus Christ, are not
heard. God is a consuming fire, my friends,
apart from and out of Jesus Christ. Every child of God, we go to
Christ. We go to God, the Father, through
the mediation. We're trusting in His blood,
His blood. washes away our sins, and there's
nothing else that can cleanse a sinner, can cleanse the guilt
of any sinner except the blood of Jesus Christ. That means His
death, who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. Not only His blood, the mediation
of Christ when we go to the Father, we go through Christ our Lord,
His blood to cleanse us and His righteousness to justify that
we have the privilege to be called a son of God. So that's the first
thing we see here. Brethren, pray for us. Second,
he requests two specific things. The Apostle Paul did when he
asked the believers here at Thessalonica to pray for him. He has two particular
things. First of all, God's blessing
upon the Word of the Lord. Notice how he says that, if you
will, in verse one. Brethren, pray for us that the
Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even
as it is with you. Do you have a Bible that has
a marginal reading? If you do, you see in the margin
the word run. Run. That the word of the Lord
may run. In other words, that it may go
forth in power. And that is with the blessing
of God the Holy Spirit. And notice he says, even as it
is with you. How had the word of God come
among the Thessalonians? Well, look back to chapter one
of 1 Thessalonians. Chapter one of 1 Thessalonians. Brethren, pray for us that the
word of the Lord may run. When you pray for me and you
pray for other preachers, pray that God will bless his word,
that it may run, that it may go forth in power. Words of men fall off the lips
of our mouths, and that's just about as far as they go, apart
from the blessing of God the Holy Spirit. But with the blessing
of God the Holy Spirit, His word may run like arrows that are
shot from a bow to pierce the hearts of men and women who are
lost, who are dead in trespasses and sins. Brethren, pray for
us that the word of the Lord may run, even as it did with
you. Notice back in 1 Thessalonians
1, beginning with verse 2. He said, we give thanks to God
always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering
without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of
God and our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your election
of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only." It did come in word. Paul preached. He preached the word. He went
to all the world and preached the gospel. every creature. It did come in word, but it did
not come in word only. God made it run. God caused it
to run. Came not unto you in word only,
but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. as you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sake, and you became followers of us."
You see, when the gospel is made to run, when it comes in power,
then it brings forth fruit. It brings forth fruit. It brought
forth fruit in their lives, and that's what Paul is saying here
in our text this morning. that it may be glorified even
as it was with you. The gospel is glorified when
it is believed. That's when the gospel is glorified.
It is when men not only hear the word, not only hear the gospel,
but believe the gospel. When it is believed and when
sinners are converted. And when those who are converted
receive the proper estimation of the word of God. How precious, how precious is
the gospel? How precious is this message
of Christ? How precious is this message? that God has given us. And when
the word of God comes in power and it is received, then people
rightly appreciate the word of God. They appreciate the gospel.
They love it. It's their food. They must have
it. It's not like so many people who call themselves Christians,
you know, they can take it or leave it. You know, there's no
commitment. There's no dedication. And why? Because there's no love of the
truth. Pray for us, brethren, that the
Lord will bless his word. And then notice the second request
he has, that for God's deliverance from wicked and unreasonable
men. Paul and Timothy and Silas, those
who were with him at this time, They experienced persecution
and the persecution came from different sources. First of all,
the Jews, the religious Jews. I want you to keep your places,
but look back with me to Acts chapter 17. And here we have the account
of the gospel when it first came to Thessalonica and see how it
met persecution. They were unreasonable and wicked
men. Chapter 17, verse 1. Now, when
they had passed through Ampholus and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner
was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures. opening and alleging that Christ's
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead. You
see, Christ was presented to them from the Old Testament.
When it says He opened the Scriptures, the only Scriptures they had
was the Old Testament. He opened the Scriptures and
He showed them how that the Word of God had testified of the sufferings
of death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That this Jesus
of Nazareth, they'd heard of him, no doubt, that he is the
Christ. And it is shown that he is the
Christ because out of the scriptures, all of the things that happened
to him was foretold. opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. He is the
Messiah, this Jesus that I preach unto you. He's the one who'd
been promised and all of the things that you've heard that
took place in Jerusalem that happened to him, all of that
was prophesied. That's how we know that he is
the Christ. because he met all the prophecies,
all the scriptures, prophecy is sealed up in Christ. All the
prophecies were fulfilled in him. And some of them believed,
notice verse four, some of them believed and consorted with Paul
and Silas and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the
chief women, not a few, but the Jews, which believed not. moved
with envy, took unto them certain lewd felons of the baser sort,
and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and
assaulted the house of Jason. And Paul is praying here that
they be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men. First of
all, in that group would include these religious Jews. Notice
down in that same chapter, down to verse Verse 10, and the brethren immediately
sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea. Now the Jews raised
such a turmoil that they, the believers, they sent Paul and
Silas away for their safety. And they came to Berea, who coming thither went into
the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those
in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were
so. And that's the way everyone should
conduct themselves when they hear the word of God preached.
When you hear the preacher preaching and he says something, he brings
up something, he mentions some doctrine, you can't just say,
well, I don't believe that. I don't agree with that. Many
people do. No. Search the scriptures. Take what he has said, the doctrine
that he has mentioned, take it to the Word of God and see if
this is what the Word of God says. I don't know a preacher
alive myself who does not wish that everyone who hears him preach
would do just this, search the scriptures, see if these things
be so. Many people, they call themselves
Christians, they go into a church building, they hear a preacher
preach, and he may mention the subject of election. I hate that doctrine. I don't
believe that. I'm not gonna hear that. No,
search the scriptures and see if these things be so. The Bereans
did, and they were more noble, the scripture says, than those
of Thessalonica. But notice, therefore, many of
them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and
of men, not a few. But then, here we go, here we
go. Pray for us, brethren, that we
might be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men. But when the Jews of Thessalonica
had knowledge that the word of God was preached to Paul and
Berea, they came thither also and stirred up the people. So when Paul is praying, or asking
for prayer to be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men,
some of those he's asking to be delivered from were Jews.
But it was not just unbelieving Jews. But when he says here,
all men have not faith. Notice that in our text. Verse
2. And that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. Now, he's not saying this to
inform them that not everyone in the world has faith. They
knew that. Faith is a gift of God. Faith
is the work of the operation of the Spirit of God. But what
he is saying here is that there are some who profess to be believers,
but not everyone is a believer who professes to be a believer.
All men have not faith, and they cause the apostle problems. But then I want you to notice
the very next thing that he says. Notice that, but the Lord is
faithful. Now, when you think about that,
all men have not faith. Here's this church, this group
of believers, much like us here today. We received this letter
from the great apostle Paul, and we read in it, all men have
not faith. Do you know what the natural
reaction is for most of God's people? Do I have faith? Do I have faith? Now lost people,
hypocrites, they're not going to question that. They're not. But God's people, sheep, they
don't trust themselves. Just like when the Lord Jesus
Christ told his disciples the night before his crucifixion,
he said, verily, one of you is going to betray me. What was
their reaction? Every one of them. Every one
of them. Lord, is it I? Is it I? The natural reaction
For God's children, when we hear that all men have not faith,
and we know He's speaking about those who profess to be believers,
is, do I have faith? So what does He say? God is faithful. God is faithful. Ministers are
to comfort God's people, and here is the comfort. God is faithful. What He has promised, He will
do. Look to Him. And he will, as
the apostle Paul here says, establish you and keep you from evil. Notice that, but the Lord is
faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil. Don't look to yourself, look
to God. God is faithful. David, the psalmist
David, he was established by the truth of God's covenant.
You know, the scripture said these be the last words of David.
He was very close to the end of his life. And listen to what
he wrote. First of all, he said, although
my house be not so with God. My house, me, I'm not what I
would be. That's what he's saying. And
my house is certainly not what I would want it to be. Well,
then you don't have any hope, David. You don't have any assurance. Oh, yes I do. Although my house
be not so with God. Yet he, God, hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this
is all my salvation. It wasn't, his salvation wasn't
in his decision. It wasn't in the life that he
led. It was that God Almighty is faithful
that he has made a covenant. And he made that covenant with
all of his people in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And it's ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation. the second part of the message,
and I'll just be very brief here. So we have that request. Brethren,
pray for us. But second, we have a command
which concerns those who walk disorderly. The disorderly walk
that Paul speaks of was that there were those who could work,
They could work and they could take care of their needs, but
they didn't. And please notice, I said, there
were those who could work. They could, but they chose not
to do so. If you look in verse 13, he said,
but gee brethren, be not weary and well doing. There will be
those who need help. In our congregation over the
years, various people have needed help at different times and God's
people have just liberally, liberally given so much to those who need
help. It is not those that the apostle
is speaking about. Those who from time to time may
need help. There may be sickness, may lose
a job. There's different things that
may cause a brother or sister to need help. But he's speaking
about some who could work, but just didn't do so. They walked
disorderly. And it seems that this had been
a problem in this church from its very beginning. Look back
to 1 Thessalonians again, chapter four. He said here in verse 11, when
he was with them, or when he wrote this first letter, and
that you studied to be quiet and to do your own business and
to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may
walk honestly toward them that are without and that you may
have lack of nothing. So from the time that Paul was
first there, he commanded them concerning this matter. In the
first letter, he commanded them again. And now in this last letter,
the second letter, he deals with this subject once again. That
brothers who walk disorderly, those who could work but do not
work. You know, when you study the
law of God in the Old Testament, God had a poverty program, didn't
he? He had a poverty program, but
his program did not encourage Sloth or laziness. There was a way that the poor
were taken care of, but it was a way in which they were not
encouraged to be lazy or slothful. Many of us grew up hearing all
kinds of sayings. One saying I remember is idle
hands are the devil's workshop. A lot of those sayings that we
learned as children came from, they're not out of the Bible,
but actually they're based on truths in the Word of God. You
see in our text, we see that the hands of some were idle,
but not their tongues. Some were busybodies. Their hands
were not working, but their tongues were working. And they would
go from house to house, and they would spread rumors and gossip
and things like that. You say, can things like that
happen in a local church? They can, they shouldn't, and
that's what Paul is dealing with here. And I'm so thankful that
God has spared us, but I know that some churches have had that
happen. Now, I don't want to close on
that note. But I do want to close on this
note, verse 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. You know, Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and he said, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know it, don't you? All of
God's children here today, we know it. We know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich, the
father's son. Yet for our sakes, he became
poor. He clothed himself in flesh.
He took a body into union with his deity. For our sakes, he
became poor, born in a stable, worked at a carpenter's shop, crucified at the age of 32. For
our sakes, he became poor, that you, through his poverty, might
be made rich. Amen? We've been made rich, and
we are heirs and joint heirs with him. And all the riches
of God are ours. We are rich. That's the reason
God's people are content. Content. You talk to people on
your jobs, I know you do, you may be here like this this morning,
and you're just not content. There's not a person in this
building that probably doesn't have more than King Solomon had
in his day as far as the wealth and the things of this world
are concerned. And yet people are still discontent. You see, contentment comes through
knowing Christ, through experiencing His grace, from believing Him. Through His
poverty, we have been made rich. And so Paul told the church at
Philippi, godliness with contentment is great gain, great gain. Are you content today? Are you? I trust that you are. I pray
that you are. I know where contentment is found.
It's found in Christ and only in him, not in the things of
this world. You read about it all the time, don't you? People
that have, as far as the wealth of the world is concerned, have
so much and yet take their lives. Use drugs, whatever. They're
not content, but oh, the contentment that we have in Jesus Christ
our Lord. We're going to sing this hymn
number 229.