God is Faithful

Introduction

After offering up a quick prayer for his listeners in the last couple of verses in chapter two, Paul, in the first few verses of chapter three asks his audience to pray for him. (Pause) How often do we ask other believers to pray for us? (Pause) You know, it’s nice to know that there are people going to war for us and with us against the forces of evil, the powers of darkness, by lifting up our names in prayer!

Illustration: “In March 1887, Charles Spurgeon published in his monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel, an article titled “The Down Grade.” The article, published anonymously but written by Spurgeon’s friend Robert Shindler, declared that some ministers were “denying the proper deity of the Son of God, renouncing faith in his atoning death.… ” They were, Shindler said, on a slippery slope, or “Down Grade,” away from essential evangelical doctrines.”[1] The downgrade, as it was called, stretched Spurgeon to his limit and many times during the controversy he called upon friends to lift up prayers on his behalf. Eventually, though it took a toll on him, by God’s grace Spurgeon prevailed and the church he pastored, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, held tightly to its biblical roots, even doing so to this day! In fact, while other congregations have come and gone in London, the members of the Metropolitan Tabernacle have witnessed God’s faithfulness and protection throughout the years as the leadership has been faithful to follow and stay true to God’s will.

In the text before us, 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5, we’re going to take a quick look at how those who preach and teach God’s Word need our prayers, along with the fact that God is faithful to protect those following his will. As believers, while waiting on the return of our savior, we are called upon to pray, understanding that God is faithful. So, if you’ve got your Bible open, let’s read our text.

[1] https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-29/down-grade-controversy.html

2 Thessalonians 3:1–5 NKJV

1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. 5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

Prayer

Teachers of the Word Need Our Prayers

2 Thessalonians 3:1–2 NKJV

1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.

-Let’s start out by looking at vv.1 and 2.

How many of you teach or have taught God’s Word? Maybe you’ve taught a Sunday School class, or maybe you teach a Bible study of some kind. Did you know that you can’t preach without teaching? That’s right! Even though some people tend to think that when a man preaches, he has to force the Word of God down the throats of the people in the congregation, the Bible itself never presents preaching or teaching in that way. No, the preaching and teaching of Scripture is presented as a Spirit inspired speaking of the truth and setting upon the mind of the listener what’s given to us in the inspired and inerrant Word of God. (Pause) But if you think about it for just a minute you’ll quickly realize that often there are those who hear the message but are hostile to it. In fact, they take offense to what’s said to them! That said, one of the questions this obviously brings up is, “How do we help combat this?” Well, I’m glad you asked because Paul gives us some help here in the first few words of vv.1. He begins by saying, “1 Finally, brethren, pray for us …” Folks, I often think we forget that we’ve got a direct line of communication with the Father in Heaven. James tells us that “… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (Jas. 5:16b, KJV). Church, Paul tells us to pray so that “… the word of the Lord may have free course [or “run swiftly”] and be glorified, just as it is with you …” Teach of the Word need our prayers! Why(?) Well, among the many reasons that could be discussed, Paul presents us with a very good one in v.2. It’s so that they “… may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men … [because] … not all have faith.” Like I said a minute ago, there are those who are hostile to what God’s Word teaches! It’s because what they perceive to be right is met with the truth of what a Holy God says is right, and friends, a person’s sinful nature doesn’t like that! Therefore, one of, if not the most important thing, you and I can do for those who are teachers of God’s Word is to offer up prayers on their behalf. The question we need to ask ourselves is this, are we doing so?

God, in His Faithfulness, Protects His People

2 Thessalonians 3:3 NKJV

3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

-Take a look at v.3.

We know that we need to pray for those who preach and teach God’s Word, but one thing we need to realize is that when we do, we, ourselves are often met with push back in both the human and spiritual realm. In discussing the battle that we fight, Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus said, “… we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Note the contrast that Paul brings out there between “flesh and blood” and “principalities and powers”. Church, those “principalities and powers” are NOT earthly human rulers; that’s made clear when Paul says they are the “rulers of the darkness”, and that they are located in “heavenly places”. Even though it often seems that our struggle is against those in the human realm, and there is certainly much truth in saying that it is, our main opposition comes from the forces in the spiritual realm acting behind and driving the human counterpart. Paul makes it clear in v.3 of our text that this spiritual realm has a leader. Look at what v.3 says. “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” Note that the NKJV and virtually all modern translations like it render the last portion of v.3 as “… guard/protect you from the evil one.” That’s a correct translation because in the Greek it reads (ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ) and that (τοῦ) is a definite article meaning that Paul is referring here to a specific entity. That specific entity or driving force heading up the pushback against the preaching of the gospel is Satan. He is “the evil one”. Now, there’s something really important I want you to see here. Note what Paul says and also what Paul doesn’t say. He says that God protects us from the “evil one”, Satan, but Paul doesn’t say that God always protects us from sickness, death, or persecution. Certainly, God can and often does protect those who are his from these calamities in life, but we need to understand that God often permits bad things to befall good people because as James says, “2 … count it all joy when you face various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience (perseverance)” (Jas. 1:2-3). Now, we need to be careful here. People will often say things like, “Man, that ole Devil really got after me and made me do …!” (Pause) Satan is NOT omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. In other words, he’s not all knowing, present everywhere all the time, or all powerful. Satan is NOT on par with God! That’s dualism and it’s heresy! Satan is a created being who leads a plethora of rebellious spiritual beings against the kingdom and purposes of God. The amazing thing is that he knows he’s already lost the war and yet he still pushed back. That should tell us a lot about how deeply evil is entrenched, and it should also make us who are believers feel blessed in that we are given the ability to keep on keeping on until the end. The amazing thing about of this is that in this perseverance we are being prepared for the kingdom that will openly manifest itself when Christ returns! God is faithful and he protects those who are his from schemes of the “evil one”.

(Appeal) Let me ask you, is the Father protecting you from the schemes of Satan; do you belong to Christ? If not, then you don’t have this protection spoken of here. How is it possible for you to get it? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved; give your life to him today!

God’s People Faithfully Follow His Wil

2 Thessalonians 3:4–5 NKJV

4 And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. 5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

-Let’s finish up by looking at vv.4 and 5.

In these last two verses Paul gives believers hope in two ways. First, in v.1 he says, “… we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we commanded you.” Did you catch the fact that Paul said he had “confidence”? The word that’s used there can also be taken to mean that Paul has been persuaded. But did you notice how he’s been persuaded or, in other words, where his confidence comes from? Paul said, “… we have confidence in the Lord concerning you …” Paul’s confidence, his persuasion, if you will, didn’t come from within these believers themselves, but instead it came from the fact that God had been working in and through them. Paul could say that because he understood the truth that these people had been indwelt with the promised Holy Spirit, the down payment of the age to come. It was evident from their actions and the way they lived their lives in submission to the will of God.

(Appeal) Let me stop right there and ask you, is there evidence of this in your life? Are you living a life that reflects the truth that you’ve been indwelt by the Spirit?

Second, in v.5, Paul says “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.” That expression, “direct your hearts” is taken from the OT and it comes from places like Prov. 23:19, “Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart (or “direct your heart”) in the way.” The point is that here Paul is asking for God to direct/guide the hearts of believers, that is the center and desire of their purpose, toward the “love of God”, that love being a self-sacrificing love. We know this because the word Paul uses for “love” is ἀγάπην, coming from the word ἀγάπη and that’s the type of love that Jesus had for us in giving up himself for sinners that we might have life in him. (Pause) Paul also asks that believers’ hearts be directed to “the patience of Christ”, in other words, the patient endurance of Christ. As believers we should look to the example of our Savior, who in his suffering for us, gives us the most excellent example of perseverance we could possibly ever find.

Conclusion

Let me ask you, do you look to Christ as your example? The fact is, church, we will face trials and persecution in this life, that’s a given, and in facing those trials we need to pray for those who are on the front lines preaching and teaching God’s Word. We also need to be well aware of the fact that they, and we, will face opposition from the powers of darkness as they seek to thwart the purpose of God in calling a people to himself. That means that we’ve got to be faithful in realizing that God will be faithful to us, and in his faithfulness, we can have confidence that he’ll will give us the ability to persevere to the end.

Invitation

Closing Prayer