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Hello, this is Bob from Hackberry House, and welcome to God's Word. Father, your Word is true. We love your Word. We want you to be with us today as we share it together. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hackberry House can be accessed from your computer by typing in myheartcry.net. Go there now, if you will, and find the lesson for today, which is Lesson 42. You'll find it on the library page of the website. Unit 9, Lesson 42, Acts 15 to 18, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. We've already finished the Acts portion of that lesson. Now we're starting with 1st Thessalonians today on this 108th lesson, is it, of our study together? We've been together quite a while. 108 lessons we start today, and that's Lesson 42 in the written form. And on that website, by the way, you'll find some other things that might be interesting to you, like the work that we did called Scarlet Threads that traces mystery Babylon from its ancient days until the present time, even until our future. There's always been a Babylon, a mystery Babylon, and always will be. It's Satan's masterpiece of deception. But that's another subject. We have a lot of other things on the website. I'll let you check that out for yourself. It's all free. Just download it, enjoy it, and may God bless you with it. But today, The letter of Paul, the first letter of Paul, the apostle to the Thessalonians. You know, he had just been ministering in Thessalonica with Silas and Timothy, and so that's why the letter starts out, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Silvanus being another form of Silas. It's the same person. Timotheus, Timothy, Silvanus, Silas. This is a love letter. I hadn't looked at it quite that way before. We think of the Apostle John as the apostle of love and his epistle of 1 John, a true study in love, but it's a pretty fiery thing too. But this letter, at least the first few parts of it, are love. He's sharing his love for this church. They've gone through a lot together and when he gets off to another place where he can think about them and pray about them over in Corinth, where he is now. We'll join him in just a little while. While he's there, he's writing back to the Thessalonians to let them know, wow, I really appreciate all you've done. Verse 2, we thank God for you. We remember you. All that you did, your faith, your love, your hope, I mean, it just really began to grow in the Lord. You've been called of God. It's so obvious. And our Gospel came to you, verse 5, in power and the Holy Ghost. We just watched how you received it and accepted it. We're so happy for you." He recalls the bad things that happened to them there and the way that they had received the Word in much affliction, verse 6. But they were so much overcomers in their faith, accepted this thing so well, and done so well initially with this, that they were examples to all the other churches that had already been in existence. The Macedonian church that is now on the way to growing up, and the Achaean church that's down in Greece proper. These churches that are starting to spring up. The Thessalonian church is becoming one of the standard bearers of the area. And he says in verse 8, you guys have preached the Word from there, everywhere. It's just like a lighthouse that you've erected in the Spirit there. And wouldn't that be nice to be said about your church and about your life? That you're just so much into Jesus Christ and He's so much a part of your life, that from you, the Word of God just sounds forth through that whole area that you live in. That's what God wants. Well, that's chapter 1. a thank you, and a greeting, and a welcome, and just a joyous time of fellowship with them in this letter. And he talks in chapter 2, he really goes on with some of the same things, talking about how he came in, the little history of his coming into Thessalonica, and all the trouble that he had had also at Philippi. Verse 2, he says, even after we had suffered before, and they treated us so bad at Philippi. That was, you remember, the Philippian jail situation when he was in jail with Silas. He said, even though we had all that trouble, we wanted to speak to you the Gospel of God. And we did it not deceitfully, not in guile, but as God approved us. Not to please men. I hope you know this, guys. He's telling this church. I hope you realize we're not doing this for people. You must see that now after all we've gone through. We didn't try to flatter you. We didn't try to seek glory from you. We didn't try to seek anything from you. And we didn't make demands of you either. You see, we're apostles. We're apostles of Christ. Now when he says we here, he's talking about Silas and Timothy too. And so he includes the men that travel with him as apostolic. It's true that there were originally 12, and then 11, and then 10. And if Matthias is in there, it's back to 11. And Paul, of course, being definitely an apostle, having seen the Lord. But these other men that travel with him are considered apostolic, with a small a anyway. Whether they saw the Lord or not, I don't know. But they travel with the apostles, and they are being sent out by the church. And that's one of the qualifications for being an apostle, is that you're sent out. You don't just go. But you're sent. If you're sent to another land with a particular mission in Christ, you are, in another language, an apostle. You're a missionary. It's the same root word. We use this word missionary all the time. Where did we get it from? It's not a Bible word, but yes it is. But if you trace it back, it means one sent in the Latin. And one cent in the Greek is apostle. So yeah, they're very overlapping. I'm not saying that we have apostles in the same sense that we had then. We surely don't need the foundation to be laid again. But we do have men who are sent with the gospel, and that's how he includes these other men with him. I like the pictures that he makes of himself in verse 7 and 11 especially. First he says, how gentle we were among you. We were like a nursing mother that cherishes its children. Get a picture of this great, stern, well, ex-murderer. That's what he was. He was involved in killing Christians before, but look how he has become now. When we were with you, we didn't demand anything from you. We were apostles, but we didn't demand. We were gentle with you, like a nursing mother. We longed for you. We cared for you. We just wanted to give you good things. Remember all this labor and toil and serving that we gave you, night and day. We didn't ask you for money. We worked with our own hands. And we exhorted you, verse 11, like a father does his children. So he was both parents to them, mother and father. How he loved these people. This was his life, building the Church of Jesus Christ. that you would have a walk worthy of God who calls you. That's what he lived for. That's what he lived for. What are you living for? Are you living for anything that wonderful? If you're not living for the kingdom of God like he was, what are you living for? What is your Christian life about? What are you here for? What makes you get up in the morning? Verse 13, So because of all these things that have happened, what God did in us and through you, we are so thankful. Because when you received this Word, you heard it as though it were God's Word, which it really is, and not just something from us. And you became imitators of the Judean churches, examples to the Macedonian churches, and you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as the people in Judea did from theirs. You know, the Jews in Judea, and then the Jews in Thessalonica. The Jews were the Jews. Wherever they were, if they were not for Christ, they were very much against him. Verse 15, he talks about them, you know, because he is not one of them now, although he was one of them, who killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets. And he's distant from them now, but in the flesh he is from that same people. They do not please God and they are contrary to all men, just as Paul himself was. They forbid us to speak to the Gentiles so that we can get them saved. And their wrath is coming. Wrath has come, he says upon them. In the Spirit, it's already there. And it will just be a matter of a few years before the wrath falls there in Palestine And the Jews are overcome totally by the Romans, and there's more destruction of the temple and the whole city, total wipeout. And then down through the years, there's no question about what has happened to the Jewish people and what's still happening to them. The horrible, horrible things that the Jews have had to suffer from that day that they said, His blood be on us and on our descendants. It's happening, isn't it? Gentiles, however, who reject that same Christ, are in no better situation than are they. Gentiles will be lost in the same way. Whole nations will come down, and only those who come to Christ will be saved in either Jew or Gentile. Well, I wanted to see you, verse 17. I've had to come away from you. I'm over here in Corinth now. I've got things to do here, but I really want to see you guys. I want to come to you, but Satan keeps stopping us. Because verse 19, what is our hope? What do we live for? What is our joy? What is our crown of rejoicing? Isn't it you? You are our crown. You are our glory. You are our joy. Not just you, but you in the presence of the Lord. When the Lord Himself is encompassing you and growing you into His people, and we see Christ formed in you, then we're happy, happy, and we can sleep nights and have peace and joy. So, you know, we waited and we waited, but we couldn't stand it any longer. So we thought it would be good to be left in Athens. I'm in chapter 3, alone. And we sent Timothy. You know Timothy? He calls him our brother and minister of God. He's a servant of the Lord. That's all he is. He's not Pastor Timothy. Pastor temporarily here and there while the church is being built, but he's a co-traveler, a co-apostle with Paul the Apostle. He's our fellow laborer. We sent Timothy to you to establish you. So Timothy's first assignment was not Ephesus, I believe is where we normally put him. But he was in Thessalonica for a while. And I wanted to establish you, to let you know that these things that you're going through shouldn't shake you, even though it's very difficult to bear. I know you're going through some very difficult times right now, but this is what we are called to. I tried to teach you that. I want Timothy to reinforce that. We are called to difficult times. We've got to suffer tribulation as it's already happened and as I taught you, as you know. So I sent Timothy to find out what your faith was like and wanted to be sure that the tempter hadn't got to you, hadn't destroyed you. I've just been worried about you. But now Timothy comes back and he's got good news, verse 6, and I'm so happy. And so, brothers, in all of our affliction and distress that we're having here, when we heard about the fact that you are still following the Lord, we got happy here too. And we're comforted. For now, look at verse 8, this is the man's heart. And is this your heart? Now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. Now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. I need a heart like that for my children, my wife, persons that I've ministered to you who are listening to these words. The little group that I'm fellowshipping with right now, trying to establish them in the Lord. I need a heart like that for these people to be able to say to them, I cannot live if anything bad happens to you. I pray for you night and day. I want to see your faith. I want to help perfect what's lacking. I want to pray over you. I want to give you the word of God. I just want to help you in any way I can. Wow, what a heart. This is a love letter. You see what I'm saying about that? He continues on. May God direct our way to you. I'm coming back. As soon as I can get over there, I'll be over the Thessalonica. And may God make you increase and abound in love to one another. And to everybody, like we do you. And you may establish your hearts blameless. That's chapters 1, 2, and 3. Let's pick up some questions before we move on. First, introduction, I'm sorry. Didn't give you the Thessalonians. The city of Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia, which is just across from Asia Minor. It is first stop into Europe. It's near the famed Mount Olympus you've heard about. The Olympics, you know. A town of about 200,000. Presently it is a town. It is still there. It's called Salonica. Paul visits there, as we know, on his second journey. That's in Acts 17. We've been there. Stays there several weeks or months and supports himself by tent making. When he's forced to leave for Berea, then Athens, he's met by Silas. and Timothy, and he sends Timothy back to Thessalonica to help the new congregation. We've already seen that in these first three chapters. By the time Timothy rejoins Paul, Paul is in Corinth, as we already said. There Paul writes his first letter, 1 Thessalonians in A.D. 51, responding to Timothy's good report. He encourages them to continue and instructs them about the Lord's coming. Now, we're going to do the second letter here in a bit. The second letter of Thessalonians is written just a few months later, also from Corinth, and it's a response to false teachings that have surfaced regarding the coming of the Lord. Now, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are very important treatises, letters, on the coming again of the Lord. And we need to read them very carefully. And read them just as they are, not as we wish they were. I'll explain that later. He tells them it's not the time to go quit their job and wait for Jesus, but that they must continue on. The Christ of these letters delivers, rewards, perfects, resurrects, sanctifies, returns, and judges. Of course, Christ is all over the New Testament books, and we won't be bringing that out quite so much since it's so obvious. And then the questions. What good report has Paul heard? Their work of faith, their labor of love, their patience of hope. How does Paul describe the initial receiving of the Gospel in Thessalonica? Well, it was in power, it was in the Holy Spirit, It was in assurance. Number three, how had the Thessalonians been reaching out? Well, to Macedonia, Achaia, every place. Their examples to the believers, even Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, every place. Number four, what restraints did Paul practice while preaching to them? Well, he wasn't deceitful. There was no uncleanness. There was no guile. He was not pleasing men. He was not flattering them. no covetousness, no glory, no demands. 5. Describe the special love Paul had for the Thessalonians, what was like a mother, in verse 7, and like a father, in verse 11 of chapter 2. And he worked with his hands. Number 6. What is Paul's verbal reaction here to the Jews who persecuted him? Well, they killed Jesus. They killed the prophets. They don't please God. They're hostile. They forbid us to preach, and there's wrath coming upon them to the utmost. 7. How had Satan hindered Paul from being with them? By warning of unbelieving Jews still there. He had to go to Athens and Berea. 8. How did Paul then stay in touch? He sent Timothy. 9. Paul's life was all wrapped up in churches being successful. We're in chapter 4 now. He's already coming to his last words. So far he's just praised them, thanked God for them, and pleaded for their hearts. Very little in terms of practical, please do this, do this, do this, as you see often in Paul's letters. It's not there yet. But he's going to come to some of that. First he says, We want you to abound. Just keep on doing what you're doing. You're doing fine, as you received from us. You know what we already told you. Just keep it up. For this is the will of God for you. And by the way, friends, this is the will of God for you, too. It's your sanctification. That means being set apart, made holy unto the Lord. God wants that of you. God sets you apart by His Word. You must cooperate with Him and set yourself apart. Sometimes you'll find in Scripture commands to set yourself apart. Sometimes you'll get the promise that God's doing it. But however it's done, and it's done both ways, be sure that you are sanctified, that you're set apart. For one thing, that means sexual immorality cannot be named among you anymore. You better know how to possess your vessel. Now some people who read this say that that has to do with your own wife, the weaker vessel she's called. So possess your vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust. That's not how we go after a woman to make her our wife. Some people interpret it that way. You can go that way with it, or it's talking about your own body. possess your own body in sanctification and honor, not like the Gentiles are lustful all the time, don't even know God. Not like you used to be. Christ is in you. Just go away from that now. Grow up. And he's even saying, this is what gives some people the idea that it's talking about wives, is that verse 6 is very definitely talking about wives, because in the Gentile mentality. You could just swap wives or steal one. That was considered, you know, macho to go steal somebody else's wife. Of course, it is today, too, in the Gentile world. But he says, no, that's got to stop. You have one wife. That's it. No one should take advantage of or defraud his brother in this matter. Stay away from your brother's wife. That's what he's saying. The Lord will get you for that. God didn't call us to uncleanness. He called us to holiness. Holiness. I know many of the words of the Bible have gotten a bad name, many of the doctrines of the Bible, but holiness is still a doctrine of the Bible. It's not for, again, those folks. It's for you, Christian. You're called to be holy. You don't get it all at once. I suppose theoretically you could, but I know of no one who has. Most people, are going through a process, not works. I'm talking about the Holy Spirit here, getting more and more of the Holy Spirit, more and more set apart from the world, more and more of the Word in you, and just growing in you. I tell you, when the Word is in you and you really believe it and you start to do it, that'll set you apart. Because not too many people are doing that. You're going to be set apart. You're going to be different, peculiar people set apart to His work. And starting with verses 9-12, some general comments about leading a brotherly life and an orderly life. I don't need to go any deeper to that, but he's saying basically, no more parties, no more gossip, no more laziness. You belong to Christ now. Don't follow the Gentiles anymore. Follow Christ. See how He lived and live that way. Then he launches into to talk about the coming of the Lord. He says, I don't want you to be ignorant. Some of you don't seem to understand about the coming of the Lord. And some of you have been worried about the people who have already died because you think they're going to be at some disadvantage and they're going to miss out. Oh no, listen to me. If you believe Jesus died and rose again, you see, they're worried. because they thought Jesus was coming back so soon, and that no Christian would die before Jesus would ever come, and people are dying. Paul has to say, wait a minute, no, no. He's coming soon, and they believed it with all their heart. But if somebody dies, Jesus will just bring him back with him. The spirit goes right to be with the Lord anyway. So really, they have an advantage. Half of them is already there. Their spirit's already with the Lord. All they have to do is get their body made, and Jesus can do that in the twinkling of an eye. And He's going to do that. It's all planned out. All these bodies are going to rise from the grave and be reunited to their spirit. And Jesus will bring those folks with Him as we who are on the ground are caught up to be with Him in the air. 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 by no means precede those who are asleep. He put Himself in there. He really believed He'd be a part of it. I believe that was a faith that the Lord has given all His people and all generations, that it could be today. And that's an okay faith. It could be today. It might not be, but it could be. So He puts Himself in there. And He says, we don't get an advantage. Here's what's going to happen. By the way, oh boy, how do I do this without losing half of my group? I'm sorry, I just cannot buy in to what's being theorized today. And it's only about a 50-year-old theory. that there's two things he should be talking about here. But in fact, he only talks about one thing. And for all the generations from there to now, almost every Christian believer just looked at that and said, he's coming back a second time, that's it. And I still believe that. Where the other came from, I'm not totally sure. I see some of the theory that makes sense, but you won't find a scripture. Now this verse, these verses here are usually said to be the rapture as opposed to the final Second Coming. And I'm sorry, I've read between the lines and around the lines and on the margin of my... I just don't see it. And I'm going to quit looking for it, because it's not there. This matches up perfectly with Matthew 24 that Jesus said was immediately after the tribulation of those days, the great tribulation. Immediately after that, Jesus says, A bunch of things happen to you. Jesus appears in the air. There's a great sound. There's angels. There's clouds. Put all that together. There's a trumpet. All that's in Matthew 24. Trumpet, angels, Jesus, and the people of God. Well, what's different here? Nothing. It says the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout. With the voice of an archangel, there's your angels. With the trumpet of God, there's your trumpet. And the dead in Christ will rise first. There's the gathering together, as Jesus talks about in Matthew 24, from all the four corners of the heavens, of the four winds of heaven. It's all the same. And we really become defenders of the indefensible when we try to put a third coming in there. Let's just live with what there is right here. He says, first Jesus comes, appears in the sky, with the angels, with the trumpets sounding behind Him, And suddenly the dead in Christ are rising everywhere. And we who are alive and remain then, remain what? Until the coming of the Lord. We who are alive and remain until that final coming will be caught up together with them in the clouds, there's the clouds mentioned, to meet the Lord in the air. We meet Him. We don't stay up there. That's just the meeting place. And then we all come down together. Oh my, don't you miss that. Don't you miss that? Don't be on the wrong side of this thing when that happens. Be sure your heart is right with God right now. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. So go around, tell everybody, be comfortable about this. Don't worry about the ones who have already died. We'll meet them again. You'll see them again if they died in Christ. Now, the times and the seasons, moving on to chapter 5, I don't need to tell you exactly when it is. You don't need me to be telling you about this. You yourselves know, because I taught you and you've heard it from the Lord and so on, that the day of the Lord is coming as a thief in the night. Jesus taught that and Paul just showed them what Jesus said. So he says, that's why you know that. And when they say, peace and safety, then will come sudden destruction. Now these are the people of the world. 99% of the world, perhaps, a great huge percent of the world, this is all just going to be an absolute total shock to them. Thief in the night. They won't be thinking about it, expecting it. Maybe they joked about it, but it will be nothing serious to them at all. Great portions of the world will never even have heard about it. And sudden destruction comes on them. But you brothers, huh? But you brothers, look at verse 4. for Christians, what I just said. It's not going to be like a thief in the night to us. We're going to know when he's coming. Brothers, you're not in darkness. He gave you all the signs. He told you, Daniel told you things. And that book of Daniel, when it's opened up, gives you some very clear directions. Revelation will help you. If you don't know when the Lord's coming, you need to start looking it up. I know it's not simple. It's not real obvious to the surface reader. But when you dig, dig, dig, dig, it starts getting real obvious. And you know what? People who dig are the same kind of people who are faithful to the Lord. It's the people who don't get into the Lord's Word, that don't get into the Lord. They're the ones who will be caught off guard, and are not His own. But the ones who are His, as that day approaches, they're going to be more and more ready. Because I've heard people say, you know, if we knew when He was coming, well, we would start living bad. No, we wouldn't. Not the ones who are His. Not the ones who are His. The ones to whom this mystery is revealed are the ones who want it to be revealed to them, and they're God's holy people. And He reveals a lot of other things, too, about how to live holy, so they'll be ready. So, brothers, you're not in darkness. You've got the Word of the Lord all around you. You're sons of light. We're not of the night. We're not of darkness. So stop. Don't even think about sleeping like other people do. Stay watching. Stay serious about this. Those who sleep, sleep at night. This isn't the night. Come on. Get up. We who are of the day must be serious. Get ready for the Lord's coming. God did not appoint us to wrath. I've heard the pre-tribulation rapture people talk about how if the ones who are left behind for seven years, those are the ones that are appointed to rapture. He's catching us up out of that. All wrath of all time? All judgments of God? Oh no, there's judgment of God going on right now. I think what happened in America on 9-11, that horrible year last, that was a judgment of God. And Christians are still living in that. It's going to be judgments of God falling all over this planet. But the final judgment comes right after Jesus comes and catches His people up to meet Him in the air. And we come back and then it talks about how the sword goes out of His mouth. That's in Revelation. Yes, we haven't been appointed to that wrath. But the tribulation, the trouble for Israel, Jacob's trouble, There'll be Christians here. We know that. Everybody says that there'll be believers here. Some people want to give them a special classification. They call them Tribulation Saints. Well, let me tell you something. There's tribulation saints alive in the world today. They're here, going through tribulation while we sit in fat America, in the fat Western world, thinking that those who are suffering are somehow second-class. And we rich folks, we well-off folks, need to take a look at Lazarus in the Bible. We need to take a look at who the real second-class people are when we look at lukewarmness that riches cause. And we need to humble ourselves before God and cry out to God on our faces before God and repent of hoarding all the money that was supposed to go to believers all over the world. But God did not appoint us to wrath. No, He didn't. And He won't send His judgment on us personally. Anyway, comfort one another with these things. Then some various things that he says at the end. 1 Thessalonians 5.12 Recognize those who labor among you. Esteem them highly. Warn those that are unruly. Most of what he says in the end of both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians has to do with unruly people. We'll hit it more in the next letter. People that are unruly, just running around causing problems. Comfort the fainthearted. Uphold the weak. Be patient with all. Don't render evil for evil. Pursue what is good. Always rejoice. Always pray. Always give thanks. That's the will of God. People crow around, Oh God, I don't know your will for my life. Here's the will of God for your life. Your sanctification. Always rejoicing. Always praying. Always giving thanks. Isn't that enough to start with? Why don't you do that and see what else He brings along for you? Don't quench the Spirit. I know we're against them, whoever they are. Yeah, we're against them. But you better be careful that in your church there is a flow of the Spirit of God where God is allowed in your church. He's allowed to be there and do what He wants to do. Is He? Is He allowed? Don't quench that. Don't despise prophecies. Well, we don't do that in our church. Do what? You don't allow the Word of God to go forth? If somebody is in the congregation and just really feels that there's a certain scripture that ought to be read that morning, he just feels the church needs to hear that, would he be allowed to do anything? Is the Spirit of God allowed to speak in your congregation? Test everything, verse 21. Yes. Even those prophecies. Even those scriptures if they're given with the wrong motivation. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil and God Himself sanctify. You see here? It's talking about God sanctifying you completely. Your whole spirit your whole soul, your whole body, everything totally set apart for the Master's use. And He'll preserve you blameless. He who calls you is faithful who will also do it. I think he's talking about himself there. The Lord Himself already did it. Paul said, I'm calling you, but I will do it too. Watch my life. I'm going to go all the way for Jesus Christ too. Brothers, pray for us and greet one another with a holy kiss. And I want this letter to be read to every brother that you find, not just there in your congregation. And so that's how the New Testament began to be spread all over that part of the world and is with us today. They just pass these letters around. The rest of the questions on 1 Thessalonians, Paul's life. Okay, number 10. What is one of the first steps in sanctification? Abstain from sexual immorality. 11. Why did they have no need of hearing about brotherly love? because they were caught of God. They were already doing it. But they did lack some other things. Two reasons you should have a job. Number 12, good example. So you lack nothing. Good example and lack nothing. We didn't talk about those in the text, but they're in there. That's in 4.12. 13. List in the order given the events surrounding the coming of Jesus. Well, the Lord descends, the dead in Christ rise, and the living in Christ are caught up. That's it. Fourteen, will the day come as a thief for all? No, no, no, no, not us. Not those who are in the light. Fifteen, both Castelonians are filled with the Spirit. How many instructions does Paul give them in this chapter? In verse 14, the Spirit speaks through a teacher. Let's see here, 514. Let me give you that again. There are 14 things he says to them. even though he tells them that it's the Spirit of God that's in them teaching them. They're filled with that Spirit. John says, you have this anointing in you. And yet, the Spirit of God speaks to them and speaks to us through the Teacher and through the Word. So just having the Spirit Himself is not everything, because the Spirit has raised up teachers to teach your spirit. And God could tell us all alone. He could raise us up all by Himself, but that was not His plan. He planned a body, a functioning organization, organism called the church. Was this letter to be read only at Thessalonica? No, it was to be read to any brother who needed it, who hadn't heard it. Let's go on to 2 Thessalonians. And he starts it out the very same way. Verse 2 verses for sure. Verse 3, also he starts out thanking them, thanking God for them, about their wonderful faith And he's going around boasting about them, verse 4, and then he starts talking right away about their persecution and their tribulation. He really wants to comfort this church because they're really hearing it from the Jews. There's just a horrible persecution going on. And this persecution and this tribulation and your patience in it is the evidence of what? Of the judgment of God. a manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. God is going to be using what's going on there as a reason, a further reason, to finish the judgment that He has to put on the Jews. That you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. Does it mean that no sufferings means you're not worthy? Well, don't write that idea off. Why don't we suffer for the Lord more? I don't want it. My flesh doesn't want it. But why aren't we suffering? And if you're not suffering, don't you feel you have some time to give and some effort and energy to give that would help you kind of catch up with your brothers who are suffering? Do you feel that your free time is for you? Or is it given to the Lord? It's a righteous thing with God to repay with trouble those who trouble you. God is allowing these things to happen, that their cup will be full, and He's going to be judging them. He did that to the Egyptians. He'll do it to anyone. And when their cup is full, it's time for judgment. But you who are troubled, God wants to give you rest with us. Oh, maybe not rest from the trouble, but rest through the trouble. Comfort of the Holy Spirit within. I've tasted just a touch of this in the suffering church. I didn't suffer there, but when I went there to Romania and places like that, I saw what it meant to have the joy of the Lord in the midst of the struggle, and to have that joy be so real and powerful that the church there was even more beautiful than the church I had come from, which was not used to any kind of suffering. There is a joy in the midst of suffering that is so powerful and so real, it's touchable, you can feel it. It's a pure church. When Jesus comes, He's going to take vengeance on those who do not know God. That's verse 8. It says they'll be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. That's the greatest punishment anyone could bear. To be cast away from the presence of the Lord, from the glory of His power. If you've tasted anything of God by now, you know how horrible it would be not to have those things around you all the time. If you would never miss the presence of God, you need to get saved, because you've never experienced who He is and what He can do in a man's life. But He's coming in that day. He's going to be glorified in His saints. His saints are all going to have new bodies. Those bodies will all be individually worshiping the Lord. He'll be glorified in Him, admired among all those who believe, because you believe God's testimony. So, we want God to count you worthy of this calling. Now, brothers, chapter 2, verse 1, about the coming of the Lord again. Now, he talked about it in the first letter, but now some more questions are coming up. Evidently, they've fired back another question or two, because some of them thought now that Jesus had already come and had taken his bride away, and they were being left behind. And not only that, the reason they thought that was because somebody was writing a letter in the name of Paul, signing Paul's name to the end of it. And so they were very stirred up about this. He says, I don't want you to be shaken in mind. I don't want you to be shaken by a letter, like it came from us, as though the day of Christ had already come. It said in that letter, no, no, no, no. I want to give you once and for all, he says, what to look for, the time to look for as to when Christ will come. That day's not going to come on us first. There'll come a great falling away. That's what the Holy Spirit's telling Paul now. This is the later revelation on this matter. Here's something else to look for. The Gospel's going to be preached in all the world. There's going to be Christians everywhere, but eventually, it's all going to start to die out. There's going to be a great, great apostasy. Falling away from the faith. Although there will be many people being called Christians, but falling away from the true faith of Jesus Christ so that if you start trying to look for a really true believer, he's a man full of the Holy Ghost. He's a man full of the Word of God. He's a man full of faith. He's a man full of love, full of power, full of holiness. Look for a man or a church like that and see how long it takes you to find such a church in our day, at least in this nation. I think you could find it in some suffering nations. Baal says that day will not come until the whole church has gone downhill in terms of its belief of falling away. And because, you see, because of that falling away, because the church is not doing its work, because the presence of the Holy Spirit is not as powerful now because people are not believing to receive Christ and to receive His power, to receive His Word, because there aren't great manifestations of power and love and living the Christian life and holiness in the world, because of all that, the man of sin is going to be easily able to be revealed. You see, the powers of wickedness cannot prosper when there's a strong godly influence in a nation. When that godly influence goes down, sin is allowed to abound more and more, and eventually sin will abound so much that the man of sin, who represents it all, will be able to be powerful in the world. Does that sound like our day? Who is this man? He's in Daniel called the little horn and a bunch of other things. He opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God. Here is the ultimate abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. They put a pig in the temple. They put a statue of Zeus in the temple. One day they'll put a man. A man will put himself in the temple. And that man will walk into that temple, the new Jerusalem temple that's about to be built, I believe. He'll walk into that temple and say, I am God. That's the abomination that makes desolate. He'll tell the world that he's God. I told you when I was with you that these things would happen, Paul says. You know. You know what is restraining. Something's restraining. What's restraining? Righteousness is restraining. Holiness is restraining. The power of God is restraining. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. The Holy Spirit recedes. Not lifted out of the world. There's going to be people saved. You're going to have the Gospel being preached. Even to the end, there will always be some faith on the earth. So he's not taken back to heaven, but he recedes. He recedes. He draws back. He draws back because people are not interested in him anymore. And sin gets more and more powerful. The mystery of lawlessness was already at work in Paul's day. The mystery of coming against the Lord. There's always been sin abounding in the world, but never like our day. And it looks like unless God has another revival coming, that it's going to get worse and worse until Jesus actually has to come. Then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord, when he comes, will destroy him. But first he has to be revealed. There can't be a second coming. of Christ to destroy Antichrist until Antichrist is clearly, totally revealed. We'll talk more about Antichrist in the book of Revelation, but for now, please understand what it says. It's talking about a man. I know what you want to believe, some of you. I've heard that it's an institution. I've heard that it's a historical thing, but in fact, I can't find it in my Bible. And when I can't find it in my Bible, I can't share it with anyone else. It's talking about a man. One man. And when you see it in the book of Revelation, it's one man and a false prophet. Two men cast into a lake of fire. You don't cast institutions into a lake of fire. He's a little horn. He's one person who grows into a powerful person. We've seen over and over in history how that can happen. We've seen it with Hitler. We've seen it with Napoleon. We've seen world powers who have risen to great fame and greatness and then been cut off. This man's coming. He may be in the world today. More than likely, he is. This man is going to be filled with Satan. of all power, signs, wonders, it's going to be a deceitful, even the very elect, if it were possible, would be deceived by such a man. And those people who didn't really want the truth, Those people who didn't lock themselves away with God and demand from God the truth, Lord, show me your Word. Help me to understand your Word. I don't want to be caught unawares in these days. Lord, show those kind of people who didn't care what the Word of God said, who didn't love the truth. They'll believe this, man. They'll believe anything. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion. And they'll believe a lie. That's how the way will be paved for Antichrist and for his great power in the world. They'll believe anything. They'll want the church to come together. They'll want all the religions to come together. We see it happening in our day. We haven't seen it all yet. We haven't seen the coming together of religion and politics yet. It's coming, and one man's going to be on top of it. And we say these are exciting days to live in, but in fact, excitement is going to turn to horrible, horrible tragedy perhaps soon. Perhaps sooner than we know. Look how much damage. Look at it. 9-11, look how much damage one man with one plan did on one day to our economy, to our nation. It looked very, very difficult there for a while. It looked like we were going under. a little bit. Two buildings. That's all it was. Two buildings. How long do we have before all these things take place? But, verse 13, don't panic. We're bound to give thanks to God always for you. You're not the ones we're talking about here. He always does this. So does the writer of Hebrews and other books. He paints a horrible picture about people, and then he says, but whoa, whoa, whoa, we're not talking about you. You who have come to Christ, who Christ is living in. Oh, we're not talking about you. We're thanking God for you. He called you. He called you to obtain glory. So stand fast, hold on, and now may Christ Himself comfort your heart. Verse 17. Finally, another finally here in chapter 3. Brothers, a few things I want to share with you. First, pray for us. If you'll pray for us, we're going to be free to get this Word out. Pray for us. There's evil men in the world. Pray for us. The Lord is faithful. Right away, verse 3, he goes right back to talking about them. He doesn't even dwell on himself more than two verses here. The Lord is faithful, who will establish you, guard you. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you do and will do the things we command you. His heart is totally given to the Lord and to these people. Now the Lord direct your heart into the love of God. And then a major treatise here on the topic of idleness, starting in verse 6, stay away. For those people who don't believe in separation of any kind in the church, I want you to look at this. He says, stay away from people who walk disorderly in the church, and not according to the tradition which you received from us. I gave you what God gave me. Now, if your people don't stick with what I gave you, stay away from them. So if you've got anybody in your church that doesn't want anything to do with the Apostle Paul's teaching or Matthew and John and all these guys, stay away from them. Withdraw from them. We told you how to follow us. We were not disorderly among you. We did what we said we were telling you to do. We lived that way. We told you if anybody doesn't work, he doesn't eat. And we worked. Watch what we did and do that. We heard, verse 11, there's some people like that among you. They're walking like that in a disorderly manner. They're busybodies, gossips. Get in other people's business. We're telling you, we're telling them, if they can hear this, they stop this and start working. And work in quietness. Mind your business. Eat your own bread. Quit going around from place to place and living off of other folks. Brothers, don't get tired of all this. And if anybody doesn't obey our word in this letter, second statement about staying away from people's separation, keep no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Now, don't count him as an enemy. Don't write him off. But don't fellowship with him. And when you have a chance, have a talk with him. admonish him, saying, the reason we're doing this is because thus, thus, and thus. Let him know what's going on, and he'll be ashamed and want to repent. Don't just include him in the hope that he gets the message. No! That's not the way of the Lord. That's not love. Love tells it straight, so the person will not have to be punished on down the road. And there you have the two letters of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians. How about some questions here? are the Thessalonians given regarding their present suffering? Well, when Jesus comes, there'll be judgment on those persecutors. Two, what order of events does Paul give now? First he comes, and then the gathering. The preachers want to have it the other way. He's going to gather them seven years early, and then he comes. No, he comes first, and then immediately gathers as he comes. Number three, what rumor was circulating in Thessalonica that the day had come and was past? They've been left behind. Number four, what two things precede the day of the coming and the gathering? Well, apostasy and revelation of the man of sin. Five, is there a temple when the man of sin reigns? Yes. Yes. Now, it's true that the popes of the Middle Ages were anti-Christ. No question about that. Anyone who says he is the Lord God, the pope, and calls himself a holy father, is coming against Christ, who is the only Christ. And yet, did they sit in the temple? Yeah, they were spiritually, we could say, in the church. They sat in the church, in the temple, in that sense. And there are many antichrists in that sense, but the Bible talks about one at the end of all time. Number six, during the growing lawlessness, iniquity, who restrains? Well, the restrains The restraining is the righteousness. It's the Holy Spirit. Is He removed? No, but He receives. He's so powerless because we won't give Him the power to act anymore. The Holy Spirit, like Christ Himself, comes in. He doesn't leave us, but He can't do anything on us if we don't believe Him. And He's going to have trouble finding believers in that day. Some say maybe it's an angel that restrains, as in Daniel. Angels restrain whole nations. I've seen both sides of that. Number seven, describe the man of sin, son of perdition, opposes God, sits in the temple, signs and wonders, deception, lawless. Number eight, how will people possibly follow him? Well, they'll be deluded or hardened. They'll have pleasure in unrighteousness. Their sin will turn them against the truth. Number nine, what was Paul's basis for encouraging the Thessalonians? God chose you. God called you. God taught you. and he saw their change. Number 10, what disorder does Paul correct? Not working. Any man that doesn't work, it's still true today. If you don't work, you don't eat. If God's given you the ability to work and you refuse to work, you do not eat. Talking to men here, providers, and women of course, in the other sense. What is to be our attitude toward those who disobey the apostolic word? Withdraw from them, not as an enemy, but so that they will repent. That brings us to the end of lesson 42. Let's just look at the very beginning. We won't start the book of Acts, but let's just look at the introduction here. We are early tonight, thank God. For an introduction to all of Acts, by the way, that's back in written lesson number 40. But before we go into this next section, 18.6-19.41, it's less than two chapters before we go to the Corinthian letter. After writing these the Thessalonian letters. Paul stays there in Corinth for a while and then finds his way back to Antioch. After a short break, he embarks on his third preaching mission. We call this the third missionary journey. He's about to go there now. And soon he gets to Ephesus. It's while there in Ephesus that he receives messages from Corinth that he addresses in his first letter to that city. So when he was writing Thessalonians, he was in Corinth. And he ministered there and made friends and acquaintances and knew what was going on, churches established, and so on. Then he leaves Corinth, does several other things, and from a distant point writes a letter back to Corinth. That's how this whole body of literature was built up. And we will start then with Acts 18 next time around. I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am. The Lord bless you, and may His Word remain in you today in the example of this great man of God. May it just burn something in you that makes you want to serve Him more and more every day. Amen.
Through The Bible, Lesson 108
Series Through the Bible
Paul, expressing great love for the Thessalonian Church, comforts it in its suffering, and corrects false ideas about Christ's coming.
Sermon ID | 5210219335 |
Duration | 57:18 |
Date | |
Category | Bible Study |
Bible Text | 1 Thessalonians 1; 2 Thessalonians 1 |
Language | English |
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