WWUTT 548 Guarded Against the Evil One?

Sometimes, this world can be a rather pleasant place and we can find things that keep us.

Happy.

But we need to remember that it is a fallen world and it will perish. So will those who did not follow Christ when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, studying God's Word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Find all our videos online at www .wutt .com, as well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Paul’s Request for Prayer and the Advance of the Gospel

Thank you, Becky. I wanted to come back one more time to this opening section of 2 Thessalonians 3, these first five verses here. And then God willing, we'll finish up the chapter next week with Paul warning the Thessalonians about idleness, disciplining those disobedient brothers in the church, and those final instructions that he gives there.

So here is, again, 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 1 through 5. Paul says,. So as Paul asks for the Thessalonians to pray for him and his missionary brethren as they are taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, he has already expressed in the letter multiple times about how he has lifted up prayers for the Thessalonians.

We have this wonderful tender care that Paul has given to this particular church because they were so insecure about the day of the Lord, the first letter he wrote to them, and they were insecure still about the same thing in this next letter, although it was a little bit different context.

In his first letter, it was because the Thessalonians thought that the brothers and sisters in Christ who had preceded them in death had missed the day of the Lord. So that day that Christ comes back, well, they've already died.

They're not going to be participants on that day. But Paul says, no, no, we all participate on that day. The dead in Christ will rise first. And then the next letter he wrote to them, it was because somebody had fooled the Thessalonians into thinking that the day of the Lord had already come.

So now they thought we all missed the boat. But Paul says, do not be alarmed by any letter that seems to come from us for the day of the Lord will not happen until these things happen first. So it's as though Paul is saying, have you seen these things?

Well, therefore, the day of the Lord has not happened yet either. We're once again, all participants on that day. And when the Lord comes back, it will be in fiery vengeance with his angels inflicting judgment upon those who did not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so he has that contrast again. It's almost as if he's summarizing the statements that he's made in chapter one and two with these statements here at the start of chapter three. So finally, brothers, pray for us.

We've prayed for you. We thank God for you and all that the Lord has done through you. And now we ask that you pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored. So Paul is saying here we continue on with our adventure now spreading the gospel throughout.

The world.

And just as you heard the gospel and believe the Holy Spirit was ahead of us working in your hearts that you would believe the gospel once it was proclaimed. May the spirit continue to do that same thing in these other cities that we go to, as has happened among you.

And those who hear the gospel will honor the gospel as you have. So Paul, very tenderly, once again, complimentary of the Thessalonians and the ways that they have been faithful. And Paul goes on verse two, that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men for not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful.

He will establish and guard you against the evil one. So they've faced wicked persecution, a lot of the places that they have gone and not even the half has been told yet, because many more persecutions would Paul and his missionary brothers face that they had not come into yet as of the time of this writing.

So first and second Thessalonians are among the earliest letters that Paul wrote. They may have been preceded only by Galatians, depending on where you date that book and different scholars have different opinions about that.

But there were there were much deeper persecutions that were yet to come. For a sampling of that, read Second Corinthians chapter 11, where Paul says that he endured far greater labors, far more imprisonments with countless beatings, often near death.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. So in addition to all of the physical persecutions that Paul had endured, he also had an anxiety in his heart for all the churches that he had planted and all the churches that he had cared for and the believers that had come to know the faith.

And he knew were being persecuted in those respective cities that those churches were.

In.

And so he would even toil in his own heart in prayer, in anxiousness for the faith of those believers that they would endure to the end. This is the kind of thing that Paul went through for the gospel of Christ.

And many of these things had yet to come upon him at the time that he was writing to the Thessalonians. So he's asking for them to pray for him and his missionary brethren, knowing that there were very evil men in the world that were going to oppose the advancement of the gospel of Christ.

But just as Jesus said to his own disciples, if they hate you, remember that they hated me first. And seeing the things that Paul went through over the course of his missionary journeys, we understand even more deeply the statement that he made to Timothy in his last letter, a second Timothy, where he said that those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

The Christian life is not the easier life. It is not your best life. Now, praise God, our best life now is in the kingdom that is to come.

Amen.

If a person is not a believer, then they are experiencing their best life. Now, I remember something my dad taught to me very, very young. He said to me that for those who are Christians, this is the worst hell that they will ever experience.

And for those who are not believers in Christ and will never come to Christ and will die in their sins, this is the only heaven that they will ever know. Two things I think that speaks to us. Number one is that we can rejoice in knowing that this is not our final resting place and that all these things are working together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8, 28, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. As it also says in Romans 8, more than conquerors means that we know that everything that happens to us in this world is ultimately for God's glory.

God is using it to make us more like Christ, that we would glorify him all the more. And we can praise him even in the midst of those things. Paul saying also in Romans that the glory that awaits us doesn't even compare to the things that we are enduring here on this earth at this time.

So number one, that communicates to us the greatness of the kingdom that is to come and that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord. But number two, it also speaks to us the serious condition that sinners and unbelievers are in right now so that we would be charged all the more to share the gospel with the lost that they might turn from their sin and know Christ and believe and be saved.

And Paul is saying here to the Thessalonians that some of them are not going to turn. It is inevitable that we would face evil men. We are going to face evil men who are going to persecute us for our faith.

We're going to hate us because of the Christ that we love. Maybe you won't be physically persecuted, but you'll certainly be ridiculed. You'll have family members turn against you. People turn their backs on you because you worshipped Christ instead of joined the world in their debauchery.

That's what Peter talks about in first Peter chapter four. So Paul is saying, pray for us that we would be delivered from those wicked and evil men. And if you want to, if you want more examples of the wicked, evil men that are sure to come against us because of the righteousness that we pursue in Christ, read the Psalms.

I mean, how many Psalms did David write asking God to deliver him from his enemies? Psalm 13. How long, O Lord, are you going to forget me forever? But even in those six short verses in that beautiful Psalm, he says that I will trust in the steadfast love of the Lord for he has been good to me.

We need to remember that even when we face these wicked, evil things in this world, we were just like them. That's the point that Paul makes at the start of Ephesians two, you were once dead in your sins and your trespasses walking in this world like the rest of the sons of disobedience walk.

You, you also were children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Ephesians two, three, but God who is rich in mercy delivered us by grace. You have been saved through faith. And Paul makes the same point as well.

In Titus chapter three, we were once hated by others and hating one another, but God who is rich in mercy, he saved us by the atoning sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. We were once just like the wicked and evil men in this world who are perishing and the message of the cross was foolish to us at a time until the spirit of God conditioned our hearts, changed our minds and our thinking to see the cross as salvation instead of foolishness.

And it is by this wonderful grace that has been given to us in Christ Jesus, that we are saved from our sins, from death, from the wrath of God. And so we praise God for that. In the meantime, there are still going to be those evil men in this world.

We cannot be prejudiced against them as though we're somehow better than them for the faith that we have is not because we're smarter. It's not because we have made ourselves more enlightened. It is the gift of God that we have the faith that we have.

And so we pity them and we would want them to hear the gospel. So they too would turn from their sin and be saved. Nonetheless, there are going to be those who will not turn. They are destined for destruction, as Peter talks about, destined to stumble against the rock of offense, who is Christ Jesus, 1 Peter 2.

So not all have faith. They are wicked and evil men. And through them, the devil is going to try to entice us by wicked and evil schemes. Paul's concern for the Thessalonians as young Christians would be that they would suffer so much in this world, they would turn away from the faith and maybe go back to their pagan ways that they were in before, because that was a lot easier.

Even Jesus said in Matthew 7 that following him is the difficult road. Wide is the path that leads to destruction. And many are going to are going to find that way because that's the easy way. But narrow is the gate and long is the way that leads to life.

And few will find it. That's the difficult way. Following Jesus is not easier. In a lot of respects, it's harder. But the prize at the very end of that journey is incomparable. I mean, what can we say about it?

The kingdom of God and his righteousness is what we should be seeking first, and we will receive it. We will be fellow heirs with Christ in his eternal kingdom if we endure to the end, praising God for the salvation that he has given to us.

Your life is going to be hard, might be very difficult. You won't even feel your stresses and anxieties relieved of you. And at times you will pray as David did. How long will you forget me forever? But trust in the steadfast love of the Lord that he is going to deliver you as he has delivered his his faithful saints in the past.

We read stories about that all the way through scripture, even with the Apostle Paul, and he endured much greater persecutions than you are probably ever going to have to face. And yet he knows at the end of Second Timothy, read it, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is come.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day.

And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing, love the appearing of Christ, love his word, love the words of his apostles and endured in these things to the end. And you will be saved, delivered from the wicked schemes of the devil, wicked and evil men who are who are agents of Satan in this world, attempting to entice us from the things of God.

You know, we actually for some of us, we have to be very, very careful from believing that this world is a good place and a happy place, because what that does is we our hearts are here on Earth. They're not in heaven with the Lord where our hearts are supposed to be.

Jesus saying, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Paul saying in Colossians three, if we've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

And if we get too comfortable with this world, then we're not fixed heavenward. We're longing for the stuff of Earth. And for many of us who live in your casual, common, everyday, middle class life, a lot of the times we're walking around with blinders on.

You go through your daily routine. Yes, but bad stuff will happen to you. Occasionally, a friend will backstab you or maybe marriage gets rough or something happens with the kids or somebody has received a diagnosis and now you got an illness that you have to deal with.

So sometimes those things do indeed happen. But for the most part, we go through our average everyday lives just as it is our typical.

Routine.

And we think life is beautiful and people are lovely and everybody is just generally.

Good.

That's actually a dangerous mindset to get into, that people are just naturally good because then you don't think everybody is a sinner who needs the gospel. When you start thinking everybody is just inherently good, then nobody needs saving.

Anymore.

So it is necessary for us to realize people actually are quite wicked. And every once in a while, the blinders will come off and we'll realize that this is a.

Wicked place.

The gas station just down the street from you will get robbed in your otherwise quiet little neighborhood. Or a friend of yours was killed in a car accident and in a two car accident. And the person driving the other car was drunk.

Or somebody in your neighborhood gets arrested for selling drugs or because they were doing something sexually perverse that was against.

The law.

I mean, any of these things that every once in a while will bring the blinders off and will realize, boy, this place is pretty wicked. This world is a wicked place. You know, there are some people that work in occupations where they realize that every single day.

I think of police officers, people that work in the court system, lawyers, counselors, doctors. Even there are some occupations that they see the seediness of mankind. But there's a lot of us that aren't always as aware of the depravity of man, and we need to be reminded people are wicked and they need the gospel.

And when I say this to you, it's not to look down on people.

Everybody's wicked.

I just I'm going to close myself up in my house. I'm not going to go talk to anybody. This is actually something that Martin Luther directly confronted in monasticism. So Martin Luther was a monk and he realized, hey, we shouldn't be living as monks.

We should be out in the world being salt and light, sharing the gospel with the lost. That's what we've been called by Christ to do. And so you realize people are wicked so that you know that they need the gospel, not that you're looking down on everybody else and closing yourself in your home.

Just be careful of falling into that place where you think the world is a good place because then you long for the stuff of this world and thinking that everybody is inherently good because then nobody needs saving.

Nobody needs to hear the gospel. And there are some wonderful things that we experience in this world, whether it's sitting around a table with friends and family and enjoying a good meal and laughter or beholding the beauty of creation that is around us.

And all of these wonderful blessings from God are a taste of his glorious kingdom. But let not those beautiful things that he blesses us with momentarily here. Now, let us think that this world is heaven because it is most definitely not.

It is fallen and under the control of the devil. And this this is something that Paul was warning the Thessalonians about as well. Hold fast to Christ. It is in him that you will endure and he will establish you.

The Lord’s Faithfulness, Human Obedience, and the Evil One

Verse three, the Lord is faithful and he will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And the devil is a crafty one and he knows how to get to you. Second Corinthians 11, again, a different section of chapter 11.

But Paul says that the devil is an angel of light. And so he presents himself as glorious and beautiful. And you are easily drawn into the to the schemes that Satan will throw at you to try to pull you away from the things of God.

In Second Peter, chapter two, and in the book of Jude, where they talk about wicked men blaspheming the glorious ones, that statement blaspheming the glorious ones means that those wicked people think, hey, I'm better than the devil.

He's not going to entice me. He's not going to draw me away. I'm much I'm much smarter than he is that that evil, wicked snake. No, you're weak. Your flesh is weak. And the devil knows just how weak you are.

In fact, he knows how to entice you even with simple little tiny things like staring at your smartphone all day instead of reading the word or spending time with the Lord in prayer. It doesn't take much to get you away from the things of God and absorbed in the stuff of this world.

The devil knows how to get to you. But if you submit yourself to Christ and you ask God to give you an obedient heart, as the Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel, I will give you a new heart and cause you to walk in my statutes.

Do you worship God? Is that sovereign? Is that loving that he would even establish you to obey him? And so pray to God that he would give you a heart cleansing you from your sin and desiring the righteousness of Christ, establishing you, guarding you against the evil one.

And we have confidence in the Lord about you, Paul says, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. How does Paul know they're going to do that? Because God has given them a heart to obey.

Before you came to Christ, you were not obedient to God. You were rebelling against God. There is no one who does good. No one is righteous, not even one. Together, we've become worthless, as it says in Romans 3, 12.

And it is God who gives us that heart that longs for the things of God that seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and desires to obey the Lord because we love him. John 14, 15, once again, Jesus saying, if you love me, you will obey my commandments.

Keep the things that I have commanded you. And so, Paul says, we know that you are doing and will do the things that we command. And he's referencing his authority as an apostle there. We'll get to that next week with the instructions that he comes upon next.

Verse 5, may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Your steadfastness in the faith is because Christ keeps you steadfast. He has saved you. He keeps you saved.

Praise God for that. Let's conclude here with prayer. Our Lord, I pray that we would indeed understand that this world is a wicked and evil place full of schemes and snares and satanic attempts to try to pull us away from the things of God and entice us with the stuff of this world, this fallen world, the ruler of which is Satan, the prince of the power of the air.

And we were following after him before we came to Christ. So we praise God for the salvation that we've been given in Christ, but also realize the urgency, the importance of sharing the gospel with those who are still following after Satan, that they would be turned from the path that they are on in repentance and follow after Christ instead.

As Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, if anyone would be my disciple, he must take up his cross daily and follow after me. And so may we be ready to lay down our lives for the Lord each and every day and keep us steadfast until the end, establishing us in obedience of your word in righteousness and holiness, desiring to do the things of God.

Forgive us our sins and give us new hearts that obey you and seek after you and want to do the things that you have commanded. Direct our hearts to your love and the steadfastness in Christ. In his name we pray.

Amen.

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