220925 Guard against discouragement

Genesis 3:15 (NASB95) — 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

This is the first Prophecy in the bible. This prophecy looks ahead to the final showdown between God and Satan and between God’s Christ, and Satan’s anti-Christ.

Prior to the conclusion of the history of man and this world, every type and every prophecy, every “I will” of God, will be fulfilled. Not a single letter or mark of the bible will be left unfulfilled.

There are the promises for those who study prophecy.

Luke 11:28 (NASB95) — 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

Revelation 1:3 (NASB95) — 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Revelation 22:7 (NASB95) — 7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

We live now and have lived even prior to Joshua according to his dissertation, the principle of his words still is relevant to this day.

w Joshua 24:15 (NASB95) — 15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua says choose this day. Not tomorrow! Not the next day after that! But this very day! We can almost tie it in with the Model prayer of Jesus

Give us this day our daily Bread

Calling upon Christ for our provision. Though this passage, I do believer and teach that it is for our daily needs, we can draw a parallel to the spiritual needs as well where we pray for the bread of life which is my Salvation the Lord Jesus Christ.

The door of the ark is open. The preacher of righteousness is proclaiming the need of salvation. But this day will come to a close, and the “this day” of tomorrow and the next and sometime soon, I believe, the door of the ark will close one last time separating the believer and the unbeliever.

The believer safely sealed from the day of redemption and the unbeliever, the one not covered by the covenant of God to face the wrath of God.

Today while the door is open, there are two kinds of people.

The first are those who are wringing their hands about how bad the world is. They are grieving the loss of their freedoms and the advances the wicked not only in our country but those all around the world. Evil is in full display just as it was in the Days of Noah and the days of Lot.

gr Genesis 6:5 (NASB95) — 5 Then the Lordsaw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

wil Genesis 19:4–5 (NASB95) — 4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5 and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.”

There is the moral man without doctrine wringing his hands and shaking his head, saying…

“What has come of our world.”

And there is the Righteous man with Doctrine proclaiming

“The Lord is near!” and though his righteous heart is troubled and tormented detesting the wickedness the man and woman of Doctrine can read the signs and know the pending return of the Lord.

This morning are you…

Μακάριος happy with confident expectation that the Lord is near?

or

are your hearts troubled? Depressed because the freedoms and the things of this world which once made you happy are fading away?

What do you hear generally is the content of most conversations.

When the day of the Lord comes, it will be a day that all who rejected that open door, those who scuffed at and mocked the Men and woman of righteousness declaring God’s Salvation will have to face the day of reckoning.

2 Thessalonians 1:8–12 (NASB95) — 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

The Gospel is the power of God for salvation. It is offered though the mouths of those who proclaim it by the power of the spirit to receive it through common grace.

The message is clear

Judgment is coming, the way of Salvation is Clear. Choose this day.

Prior to the Lord’s Day, the Church will be removed and only the unconverted will be left.

What about unconverted Israel.

They will be converted. Still on this earth, but the scales of the scales of the eyes of the Israelites will be removed and they will call upon the Lord. They will have entered into the covenant of death with the anti-Christ and when all their options are removed they will call out

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

9 These (the unconverted world) will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.

31.85 πιστεύω; : to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust.’

Some people don’t like that it is “Faith alone in Christ alone.”

It is too easy. It is too elementary. It leaves open some doubt.

Faith is the accrediting another the ability, the power, the willingness the integrity to accomplish what he says he will do for those who trust in him.

The merit of faith is not in the one who is doing the believing but what is being believed.

Yes, it is simple to believe the promises of God, just as it is simple to doubt the word of the Lord.

Faith is the only way to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

And in “Christ Alone.”

Have we missed what Peter preachers

wil Acts 4:12 (NASB95) — 12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Caution with one who wants to throw cold water on the Gospel, creating doubt of one’s own salvation preventing them from sharing the good news of Christ and advancing forward from the gospel to spiritual maturity.

Point of doctrine:

1. Causing doubt in salvation is Satan’s objective against one who has believed

2. as the believer struggle with the elementary things of doctrine, they remain stagnant in our spiritual growth.

Paul continues in his letter

2 Thessalonians 2:11 To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power,

The work that is acceptable to God is through faith.

grad James 2:18 (NASB95) — 18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Apart from faith there is not productivity in the believer’s life. And while a believer continues to struggle with the elementary things such as the gospel message when it is so clear, then this prevents the believer from advancing onward to producing fruit in the spiritual life.

12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the vine and the branch concept in the abiding in Christ.

John 15:1–11 (NASB95) — 1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Note that you are already clean because of the words I have spoken to you. this is not about salvation, but it is about moving forward in the spiritual life.

Being imagers of Christ, our greatest ambition in life which is realized as we mature in the faith is the glorifying the Lord while in the body.

Each of us have a small window of opportunity to do just that and there are no do overs once each of us have been called home.

It was Jesus’ prime directive to Glorify God, and he ascended to heaven having accomplished his mission.

In turn, it is our mission now, to glorify the Father and the son in whom he sent.

Starting with a continuing conjunction

89.94 δέa: a marker of an additive relation, but with the possible implication of some contrast[1]

2 Thessalonians 2:1 (NASB95) — 1 Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gatheringtogether to Him,

📷

15.126 ἐπισυναγωγή, ῆς f: to cause to come together to, toward, or at a particular location—‘to cause to come together, to gather together.’[2]

The reference is in regard to the Joining of the bride and the bridegroom, the head and the body of the church as we are all joined together as one body in the presence of the Lord.

gun Mark 13:27 (NASB95) — 27 “And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.

1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 (NASB95) — 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

2 Thessalonians 2:2 (NASB95) — 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Satan has a two fold strategy.

One to prevent any from coming to saving faith in Christ. That is to lay as many stumbling blocks as one possibly can to destroy the minds of those who are his from every seeing the gospel.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NASB95) — 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The fall back plan of Satan is to disrupt diminish to destroy any possibility of productiveness of a believer. That is to prevent maturity where the believer’s life is maximized to the glory of God bearing much fruit. No greater weapon does the evil one uses than discouragement brought on by false doctrine.

The objective of the Believer is Spiritual Maturity to be found pleasing at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bride is in preparation, She is anxious for the coming of her bridegroom to come and take her to his Father’s house. She has her headdress with all the coins, and she maintains enough oil for her lamb. But what happens if she is made to believe that the bridegroom has come and therefore, she is abandoned?

The bridle headdress comes off

There is no longer needed to keep the lamp lit as the bride falls into disillusionment maybe even to despair.

Either by Spirit = Doctrine of demons

1 Timothy 4:1–2 (NASB95) — 1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

1 John 4:1 (NASB95) — 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Or by word = False teachers

Matthew 24:11–13 (NASB95) — 11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

Or by letter = counterfeit correspondence

2 Thessalonians 3:17 (NASB95) — 17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write.

Extra biblical sources are helpful, such as apocrypha’s but one must be discerning in what your reading. There may be very good reason why they were not included in the canon of scripture.

Satan will use any number of devices in His act of deception, creating stumbling blocks to faith and the discouragement of the brethren. As we must do as Paul writes to Timothy.

1 Timothy 4:16 (NASB95) — 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

Stick to your doctrine!

Happy is the one who knows the prophecy. They are looking forward to the blessed hope that is in the future. We as believers are not standing outside of the ark with the door closed standing along with all who have rejected the gospel.

We continue to hold our love for his appearing, in the midst of trials and tribulations, wickedness has not won but is in the times of desperation as the Lord is soon to return when every eye will see him. It will be in that day, the day of the Lord that will seal their doom.

That day is coming and with full confidence we are continuing our sharing the gospel with others, praying and seeking for others to join with us in the body of Christ.

We are maintaining the hope by which others are asking the reason for.

Now Paul qualifies his statement with proof that prior to the return of Christ the man of lawlessness will be revealed and that, has not happened yet, but the way it looks it will be soon enough living in our day.

The stage is being set.

[1]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 789). United Bible Societies. [2]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains(electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 198). United Bible Societies.