In our Bible survey we come to 2 Thessalonians, the second epistle of Paul the Apostle to Thessalonians. This was written from Corinth, also about AD 51, very shortly after 1 Thessalonians. This deals with doctrine and discipline. We see in Thessalonians that we call to patient, joyful discipleship in the face of suffering, persecution and abuse. There will be those who are hostile to the faith, and we should expect persecution and abuse from them. Those faithful to the kingdom of God will inevitably face diabolical opposition and persecution. And so the Apostle Paul begins in verse 2, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He starts with encouragement. Chapter 1 is primarily encouragement. Chapter 2 is exhortation. We see the balance here between encouraging the people and then exhorting, which includes correction and rebuke. He starts with commendation in verse 3. We are bound to thank God always for you brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly. Faith should always grow. There should be life, just as we expect the plants and the crops to grow if properly watered, if properly cultivated. We expect to see growth of any healthy plant. We should see growth in any healthy Christian and any healthy church. Because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you all abounds towards each other. Faith and love are meant to grow together. Verse 4, so that we ourselves, most of you, among the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. So we can see here the emphasis is endurance during persecution. Verse five, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. This is a point that's repeated again in two Thessalonians, that we are worthy of our calling, that we're worthy of the kingdom of God. God deserves our very best, and therefore it's so important that we who bear the name of Christian and have the privilege of being Christians, that our work is excellent, that our witness is excellent, that it is without any kind of justifiable accusation that we are lazy or that we lack integrity. These are major emphases that the truth has learned. Verse 6 of chapter 1, Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those that trouble you, Now here we get into very serious and extremely solemn facts that those who oppose the Church of God, those who persecute the people of God, will suffer eternal judgment. And so, verse 6, God will repay with tribulation those who trouble Him. Verse 7, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." So don't expect much rest this side of the Lord's return. But when the day of the Lord comes, there is rest in heaven. We can rest from the labors then, but right now we have tribulation, we have persecution, we have warfare. Verse 8. in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 8 is reminding us that the Lord's return, while it will be a great comfort to believers, it's going to be a great condemnation. for those who resist God, who reject God, who disobey His commands, who will not submit to His Lordship and will not obey His gospel. Notice the word obey the gospel. So many people would understand, oh, but the gospel is only to be believed. But the emphasis of scripture is not only on believing, but on obeying. The Lord will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire. taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Interesting as so many people think ignorance is an excuse, but in the Bible ignorance is culpable. Ignorance is a sin. Ignorance is something that is condemned. Over and over the Lord challenges people, rebukes people, did you not know Have you not heard? You should have known, you should have heard. And so people who say, I did not know, that is no excuse. In fact, try that with any law officer, whether it's traffic violations or anything else, or even when it comes to taxation, they will say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. That is true throughout all the history of law, and it's even more true when it comes to the law of God. You should have known. and therefore if a person claims ignorance, I'm an agnostic, I don't know, for example, well, that's not going to get them out of it. Those people who say that they do not know, well, they should have known, they should have investigated. If you are traveling to another country, and you think you didn't need a passport or a visa, I've actually stood at borders, such as Swaziland, and seen people all upset that they were being turned away because they didn't have their passport with them. They thought they could cross the border without their passport. Well, they felt absolutely nothing, the border guards, to say, you should have known and we won't let you in. But you've only come in for the weekend. You cannot cross the border without the passport. Or, I've seen people arrive at a place not having the visa, or the inoculations required. and then they will send you away. It doesn't matter if you say, I didn't know. They feel nothing about that, because you should have known. If you are traveling to a faraway country, you should know what their currency is, you should know what their laws are, you should know what their requirements are. And people make tremendous preparations for a holiday, for a visit, for a journey, whether it's business or otherwise, and yet they make no provision or investigation into what's required for our greatest journey into eternity. And to think that people would make no preparation for eternity, yet they'll make so many preparations for just a weekend holiday or something. This just shows how ignorance is culpable. Verse 9. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes in that day to be glorified in the saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because the testimony among you was believed. So the Lord will judge the wicked with everlasting punishment, with everlasting destruction, with tribulation, with vengeance, These are words that we find just in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. So when the Lord comes it will mean comfort for the believers and condemnation for those who reject God and do not obey his gospel. Notice again, just in these few verses of the first chapter, sola gratia, grace alone in chapter 2, sola fide in verse 3, how your faith grows exceedingly, and solus Christus in verse 8, how it is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ alone is the only Savior. He's the only head of the church. these ongoing emphases, verse 12 has got soli deo gloria as well, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Notice again the Trinitarian emphasis in verse 12 of chapter 1, the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ, so often God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are put together, showing the deity of Christ and showing part of the doctrine of the Trinity, but also everything has to be done for the glory of God alone, that Christ may be glorified in you and you in Him. So we see the solos of the Reformation intertwined in all these epistles, which is magnificent. So that's chapter one, Encouragement. Chapter 2 has exhortation, whereas Chapter 1 deals with endurance during persecution. Now we start to see doctrine. The Apostle Paul has encouraged them. In Chapter 1, yes, you are suffering persecution, you are suffering tribulation, but those who persecute you, unless they repent, they will face judgment. They will have to give an account for everything. God will put things right ultimately. Now we get to chapter 2 and here's the heart of Thessalonians. He's concerned about their faulty eschatology. Eschatology means study of the last days and last things, which includes the Lord's return, judgment, heaven and hell, doctrines of the end times, eschatology. They have faulty eschatology and this has led to faulty conduct, bad behavior. in a word, laziness, idleness, which is the big sin of the Thessalonians which God has led Paul to rebuke in the first letter and now he rebukes it even more strongly in 2 Thessalonians. So now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or body, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of the Lord had come. So here we've got in verse 2 a suggestion that they may be getting false teaching, perhaps even by letter purporting to come by the Apostle Paul. That's possible. Because he says, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us. And at the end of this letter, he emphasizes his signature, he's authenticating the letter, the authority of an apostle, that he signs all his own letters. Even though he may dictate it, and someone else may write, yet the Apostle Paul will always sign his letters. It's possible that the Apostle Paul had an eye defect. that he was not able to write as much, because he even speaks about, see with what big letters I write when I sign my letters. And he also spoke to the Corinthians that you would have given your own eyes to me if you could. And there's several indications that his thorn of flesh could have been his eyes, his inadequate eyesight. But at any rate, he dictated his letters and he only signed the last part of it to authenticate. But apparently there could be false apostles. So in verse 3 of chapter 2 it's emphasized even more. Let no one deceive you by any means This is a major emphasis throughout the scriptures. Our Lord emphasizes it. Do not be deceived. Do not allow anyone to be deceived. Beware of false prophets. Beware of false teachers. Beware of false shepherds. Gullibility is not to be commended. Today, if you listen to the average fake preacher, you would think that our highest goal is to be gullible. Just believe. Don't test anything. Don't check it out. Don't be like the brilliants who studied the Word of God daily to see if these things were true. Just be gullible. A blind leap into the dark is somehow considered spiritual. That is not Christianity. Christianity is an intelligent step into the light. It's always faith in facts. It is always logical and rational. Come let us reason together, says the Lord. We're not meant to be unintelligent and gullible. There's so many deceivers out there, and so the emphasis against being deceived is so much throughout the Bible. It makes you wonder why so many of the tele-evangelists emphasize faith no matter what. But in the Bible, emphasis isn't our faith, but in whom the faith is placed. You can have all the faith in the world that you can put on this Superman suit and it'll enable you to fly, but even the sales thing says, warning, this does not enable wearer to fly, and things like that. You could be as sincere as it comes and believe this is Coca-Cola, and meanwhile it's poison. They'll actually put on Coca-Cola is poison. Still, it doesn't matter how sincere you are, it's whether your faith is justified or not. And so the emphasis here is again on do not let anyone deceive you. Be discerning. For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first. There will be a tremendous posse. And here we get a verse that end times people have gotten quite worked up over. Verse 3 of chapter 2. that the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. Now, the man of sin is also translated lawlessness. In fact, the text would suggest the man of lawlessness, but then the scripture also says sin is lawlessness. So, lawlessness and sin comes together. The son of perdition, who is he? Well, of course, to the average televangelist, the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, is the beast, the Antichrist. That's all very convenient. So we talk about one person. But there are students of scripture who say, no, no, the man of lawlessness is a different individual from the beast. The beast is plainly a political figure. The man of lawlessness seems to be a religious figure. The son of perdition, Because if you read further, 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 4, "...who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Okay, so this person is a religious antichrist. There are, as John says in his letters, many Antichrists, and the spirit of Antichrist, which is at work in the world. So, those people who want to put Antichrist, and they use the word THE Antichrist, whereas the Bible speaks of many Antichrists and the spirit of Antichrist. Therefore, let's understand Antichrist are those who are the antithesis of Christ, they oppose Christ. Those who persecute the Church, those who are against Christ, are Antichrist. So I may accurately say, along with all the reformers, the Pope is Antichrist. The papacy is Antichrist. The papacy, after all, exalts itself above God, claim they can create scripture, claim they're above scripture. The Pope sits in a temple and claims to speak ex cathedra with the authority of Christ. He claims to be the vicar of Christ, the mouthpiece of Christ. The papacy has persecuted the Church, they've persecuted Protestants, they've banned Bibles, they've burned Bibles, they've burned Bible translators. So all the Protestant creeds and confessions declare that papacy is Antichrist. And in fact, both Luther and Calvin would have thought that the Pope is Antichrist, and that this passage, the man of sin, the man of lawlessness, the man of perdition, is the papacy, whoever happens to be inhabiting the papacy at that time too. And that certainly seems justified. But you could also say Islam is Antichrist. because Islam persecutes the church and they claim to have a revelation that's above Christ, plus they claim that when Jesus comes he will reinforce Islam and that he's going to kill all the pigs, break all the crosses and he's going to enforce Islam. So they have put a false Christ. Those who promote a false Christ are Antichrist. Those who persecute Christ are Antichrist. But there's something else to add. There is another family of interpretation here which says the man of sin he has spoken about although it obviously can be applied to the papacy and is very valid and this he opposes he exalts himself he sits as God in the temple of God and he shows himself to be God the triple crown of st. Peter they claim he's got temple power he's got political power he's got spiritual power, and he's even got power and the keys of the kingdom. He can determine who is banished to hell and who is permitted into heaven. He claims to have those keys. In fact, that's on the Pope's own flag, the crest as well. It's got the keys to St. Peter's Cross. So, interesting. But, the man of sin and the man of perdition here, at first, applies to the Jewish high priest sitting in the temple, and we know that because it speaks here about that he's already among you. So, verse 7, it says, 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. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to all the working of Satan, with all power and science and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception amongst those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And so, Its first application is to the first century church. This is written in AD 51. This is already at work among you. Now, as we saw in the first Thessalonians, the church of Thessalonians was being persecuted by the Jews. They were persecuting the Christians. They were so angry that they were receiving the gospel and they were believing in the Messiah that they had rejected. Now we are approaching the time, A.D. 67, when there will be this revolution, this revolt against Rome in Jerusalem, which is led by the High Priest, and that they will slaughter the entire Roman garrison who surrendered to them, and then they killed them all after they'd surrendered, and therefore the wrath of the Roman Empire came upon them. And the Lord had said, when you see the armies of Bannis around Jerusalem flee, And so no Christians went to Jerusalem when it was destroyed. They slaughtered, some of the estimates are over a million and a half, some say over two million people in Jerusalem when the Romans took over. stripped the area of all wood, they crucified people for so far that there were no trees standing all around Jerusalem and in the area of Judea. The man of lawlessness, that's exactly what the high priest was. He, now remember the high priests were the ones who had crucified Christ, persecuted the apostles, persecuted the believers, and so the man of lawlessness applied here in 1st century, already at work in the time of Paul, in the time of the Thessalonian church, so we're talking about AD 50-51, he is the Jewish high priest sitting in Jerusalem in the temple. He sits as God in the temple of God we read in verse 4. And so, yes, the original man of lawlessness, and there will surely be many since who follow the same pattern, because Satan is not original. He does the same kind of thing over and over. You can see it fulfilled already in the first century. And the wrath of God came upon them. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was destroyed. All the priests were destroyed. Their records were destroyed. The people who had taken part in this lawless And it was Lawless. If you've read books like The Great Tribulation by David Chilton, or the antiquities of the Jews by Josephus then you would know what is being spoken of here. It was a lawless time and they were murdering, massacring, there were so many different groups from the Zealots and the Scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they all had their own armies and all doing their own murders. It was a time of such lawlessness and therefore you know who restrains and the one who restrains was the Roman army. And once the Roman army was withdrawn from Jerusalem, then the lawlessness exploded and they could see all lawlessness and all the vile debauchery and evil that took place in that time which is described in the Great Tribulation by David Chilton or in the Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus. So this does not mean to say that these principles can't be seen even in our own time. And while the apostles say that this is already at work, the reformers also saw, but we see this mystery of lawlessness at work in our own time too. And we can look in the 21st century and say, we also see this mystery of lawlessness at work amongst us. Well, it's the same spirit, but the historical roots is, the man of lawlessness here is not the beast. The Beast was a political figure, and he was sitting on the seven hills of Rome. Pliny Caesar Nero was the first Beast referred to. And in fact, his name, if you take it in the Greek, the numeric value of Caesar Nero is 666. And that's been well documented in books like The Beast by Ken Gentry. And we've got those books in our library too. The mystery of lawlessness at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. So he who restrains is the Roman army and he's restraining until he's taken out of the way. Once the Roman army is taken away, you saw the lawlessness of the Jewish Sanhedrin under the chief priest in full work. And then the fulfillment came upon them what was prophesied by Christ in Matthew 24. that the blood of all the righteous, of all the prophets will come upon this generation. Which generation? The generation which rejected Christ. The generation which said, crucify Christ, release Barabbas. His blood be upon us and upon our children. And it was. Within 40 years of crucifying Christ, that generation and that evil Sanhedrin and all their scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees who had not repented and come to Christ, and they had a generation to do so. They were given enough warning. They were destroyed. And so that is historically fulfilled. So Jesus learns to, historically was fulfilled in and through the Jewish high priest, the man of lawlessness, the man of perdition, and his whole Sanhedrin, and those who supported him were accessories before, during, and after the fact to the worst crime in the history of mankind, which is the betrayal of the Messiah, and the illegal trial, and the wicked putting to death of our Lord Jesus Christ. So notice now, again in verse 8 of chapter 2, that the lawless one, the Lord will consume him with the breath of his mouth. The Lord will consume him with the breath of his mouth is speaking about the Word of God, or the sword of the Spirit. So we see in the book of Revelation how when the Lord comes, he will come with a two-edged sword coming from his mouth. That means the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. When He says He'll destroy them with the breath of His mouth, He will do this through the preaching and the teaching and the proclamation and printing of the Word of God. The Word of God is the truth that conquers, as Jan Hus said. This is the sword of the Spirit. This is the breath of His mouth. It is the Word of God. And notice that we see that the wicked one in verse 9 has power signs in lying wonders. When a person sees miracles, that is not necessarily a proof that it's of God. There are false miracles, Satan does have power, and Kirk Crock has documented in his books on Occult ABC and Christ and Satan, Kirk Crock is a great demonologist, has documented many false miracles done by false religions. And so, as he documented, you get many, many, many pagan cults and false religions that use tongues. Tongues do not have to indicate it comes from God. It can come from the devil, it could be psychological, it could be fake. And other miracles, there are miracles of healing. Somebody could have been healed and they said, you know, it has to be God. No, healing can be from the devil. As Kurt Koch pointed out, when the devil heals a body, he takes the sickness from the body and puts it in the soul. And you can often see there are cases of people who might have gone through a physical healing, but they're not spiritually improved at all. Healings that come from God give glory to Christ, and you can see a positive result. But there are those who've experienced miracles, but they're demonic miracles. So lying wonders are part of it. Going to verse 10 of chapter 2, with all unrighteous deception amongst those who perish, Because they did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. It's so important that we love the truth, that we seek the truth, that we are continually studying the Word of God to discover the truth. But those who don't love the truth and those who don't receive the truth, they will be deceived. And they will be destroyed, because deception brings bondage. There's no such thing as an innocent lie. Every lie brings bondage. And that is why we need to know the truth. The truth of history, the truth of scripture. The first of the items of armor in the full armor of God is the belt of truth. Truth is so important. We need to stand for truth and expose the truth. And the amount of Christians think, oh well, it's just an innocent lie, or I just had to say this because it would make people think that I'm better, and so if I can just pretend along with the world. But all of these lies bring bondage, and they all bring negative consequences. Verse 11 it gets even more serious. So 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 11. And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion so that they should believe the lie that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but at pleasure in unrighteousness. Now you can't read these verses without thinking first of all of evolution. That the people should believe the lie. The first lie. Did God really say serpent-tempting thief in the garden. Question God's Word and the lie. There's so many lies in the world, but evolution's just one of them. And then, those who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. I can't read that verse without thinking of Hollywood. Talk about taking pleasure in unrighteousness. Taking pleasure in blasphemy adultery, fornication, blasphemy, idolatry, murder, torture, horror. The things that they take pleasure in. They take pleasure in unrighteousness. They take pleasure in deception. And so all those will be condemned who did not believe the truth but who took pleasure in unrighteousness. And to think that it's not just that people will believe a lie, but God will even send a strong delusion on them so that they will go even further into their lie, to their own self-destruction. Believing the lie, whether it is a lie of history, whether it's a lie of the textbooks, whether it's lies given in the name of science or in the name of religion, lies will always bring bondage, and Jesus is the truth that sets us free. Now in the light of this, as we've been given here, some of the doctrine, we are told in the light of these doctrines to stand fast. Verse 13, But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which he called you by a gospel for the obtaining of the glory of a Lord Jesus Christ. So here in verse 13-14 we are seeing justification and sanctification, and glorification. Justification, just as if I'd never sinned. I have been saved. This is a legal term, like the judge declaring not guilty. Justification. Then there's sanctification, which is an ongoing process. I am being saved. I'm progressively being saved, as I'm being sanctified daily by the washing of the Word not being conformed to the world, being renewed in my mind, and that will ultimately lead to glorification, when we are saved from sin, and from the very presence of sin, and the presence of God. So you can say, I have been saved, justification. I am being saved, sanctification. I will be saved, glorification. The three tenses of salvation, and that's all in these two verses. And sola gratia is so clear. We are saved by the grace of God. God from the beginning chose you for salvation. We think that we choose God, but actually He chooses us. And if He didn't regenerate us, we wouldn't have the grace or the faith to be able to repent of our sins and trust in Him. So here you've got election, calling, faith, sanctification, and glorification in these two verses. Then we get to verse 15 of chapter 2. Therefore brethren, stand fast. That's a military command. Stand fast. Stand where you are. Hold your ground. Do not let the enemy pass. Resist. Stand fast. Hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by epistle. So verse 15 is making it important that we contend for the faith once for all, delivered for the saints. We are to defend the gospel. We are to stand for the truth. These traditions that he speaks of here are not traditions of men independent of scripture. These are the traditions that are rooted in the scripture, like the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed. the Synods of Thought, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Confession, London Confession of Faith of 1689. These are the traditions which are rooted and grounded in the scripture and you just stand for them and you're not to give way. And so today we've got so many attempts to erode these foundations of the faith, redefine marriage, redefine morality. Redefine everything. And we need to stand fast whether it's a battle for marriage or faith or an herency of scripture. We need to stand fast. We're not to be caught up in every wind of doctrine. It just comes along in this fad, this fashion. No, we don't want to be fashionable. We want to be faithful to the Word of God. And then you've got a prayer. Verse 16, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts in establishing every good word and work. You see, our word and work, faith and action, trust and obey, they go together. It's like two legs. You need both legs. You don't just want to hop around in one. You can't just hop around and trust. You need trust and obey. A bird can't have just one wing. Believe. You've got to believe and obey. You need both wings. And so as Christians we need a balanced view of eschatology and we need a balanced understanding of Christian behavior. So that's the second chapter. That's been exhortation. Now after looking at these doctrines we get into discipline in chapter 3. Notice it starts off with a prayer as well, just as chapter 2 ends with a prayer of comfort while you're being persecuted, because in light of your everlasting hope. Now we've got chapter 3 of 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 1 and 2. Finally brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it was with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all have faith. So here we see that we've got to keep things in their priorities. The first priority here is that the Word of God is advanced. Seek first the Kingdom of God. Preach the Gospel to every creature. The Great Commission is our supreme ambition. Christ's last command must be our first concern. But, remember, you've got to expect opposition. We are praying to be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for not all are faithful. You must expect opposition. If you're being faithful to God, expect opposition. If you're not being criticized, you're not doing your job. And then we see again that the Lord is faithful. Verse 3. He will establish you and guard you. Notice the need to be established and guarded and to be faithful because the character of God. Verse 4. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things that we command you. See, it's not just that you'll believe, but that you'll do. Apply. Apply the Lord to Christ in all areas of life. Verse 5. Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. The Lord will keep you in perfect peace. His mind has stayed on Him. Now we get to warnings against idleness. Verse 6. After getting doctrine, we now get discipline. And there's a great condemnation of laziness. What he started in 1 Thessalonians is increased much heavier in 2 Thessalonians, verse 6 of chapter 3. But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly amongst you. Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil, night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. Verse 9. Not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. It's so important that we are busy with God's work, because those people not busy with God's work often become busy bodies. Look at verse 10. For even when we were with you, we commanded you, This, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some amongst you who walk in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. So these people are not busy with constructive, productive work. They become busybodies. If you're not involved in something productive, you often get involved in interfering with the work of others by being gossips and troublemakers. So here you can see practical Christianity, practical holiness, as seen in the work ethic. Our character is revealed in how we work. Work is extremely important. God worked to create the world, and he created man in his image. And even before the fall, God gave man work to do. Work is not part of the curse. Difficultness of work is often caused by the curse of sin. Thorns came as a result of sin. But work itself is good, and it is the character of God. And so he's not saying if anyone cannot work. I mean, if a person is disabled or is injured or is hospitalized, it's saying if anyone will not work, neither should he. He's not saying if a person cannot work. Obviously you care for those who cannot, such as, you know, babies and toddlers, they cannot work yet. But it's saying those who will not, those who have the ability. For an able-bodied person to not work is wicked. And that's why in, you can see, think in 1930s when there was terrible depression, economic collapse, and many, many, many people out of work. How did they deal with the unemployed, in Germany and in America, they created great work parties. They mobilized the millions of unemployed in work parties to build roads, to build dams, to build massive projects. They fed them after they'd worked. There was no such thing as handing out free things to people who were not working. So even then there was this Christian idea that you cannot give charity without giving the people work. And that's why the poor laws of the Old Testament and the book of Leviticus was gleaning. Don't go a second time through the field. Leave the bits of corn, or drop them, leave the ones in the corners. For the poor monks, you know, that's not a free handout. that straining hard work to go through like Ruth went through the fields of Boaz picking up the bits of corn so that she would have enough to feed her mother-in-law and herself. So the scripture made provision for the poor but it never involved no work. work is part of God's order of things and so right here he is outraged to hear that there are some amongst the Thessalonians who are not working and apparently it's because they're expecting the Lord's coming to be soon so they'd stopped working and were waiting for the Lord and expecting other Christians to sustain them in their laziness and idleness and their speculation of the Lord's soon return and in here you will have noticed that instead of him saying that the Lord is coming any moment If you go back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 3, it says, Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the great falling away, the great apostasy comes first and so on. So it's saying there's a whole lot of things that have to happen before the Lord returns. Get on with your work. Martin Luther was asked, What will you do if you know the Lord's coming tomorrow? He said, If I knew the Lord is coming tomorrow, I'd plant an apple tree today. And so when we, around in Wittenberg, October last year on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we saw the Wittenberg citizens gathering together to plant 500 trees to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Not just little seedlings, these were tall trees, some of them almost as tall as this ceiling here. The people needed two people each to carry each one to go and do the planting. They were planting 500 trees to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in a very orderly manner that worked out exactly where each tree went and so on. But that's so Christian. Occupy till I come. Let the Lord find us busy when he comes. Not dressed in white, standing on top of a hillside. waving our hands, banging tambourines, singing. That's not Christian. You've got a chance to do that in heaven. Right now, we should be working to fulfill the Great Commission and to fulfill the cultural mandate to improve God's earth. So, beware of those who are busybodies, who are troublemakers, who are gossips, who are not busy about their own work, but they're interviewing with others. So, those who do, do. Those who cannot do, criticize those who do. And so some people have ministry of criticism and a gift of discouragement. But we are to walk with the Lord, we're to work for the Lord, we're to worship the Lord, we're to wait upon the Lord's perfect timing. So here we are in verse 12 of chapter 3. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. In other words, you've got to produce, that you can enjoy the fruits of your labours, you mustn't just live by the fruit of someone else's labours. Phil Baffin used to say to the person who came to the mission, considering the mission as a faith mission, I want to come and work on your faith or on my faith. Because there are many people who like the idea of a faith mission, but it's not their faith. It's someone else's faith they're wanting to depend on. We're each meant to carry our own burden, even as we help others to carry theirs. Verse 13 of chapter 3, But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. The purpose here is not to just make a person feel negative in a way of retribution, but it's meant to be restorative. The not keeping company with a person who is lazy is to bring them to repentance. Yet do not admonish him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. So the goal is restorative. Practical holiness is seen in our work ethic. Verse 16, now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace always and everywhere. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle as I write. So he's reminding him, don't accept a letter from me unless you see my own handwriting. I'm authenticating the authority of an apostle. I'll always sign my own letters. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. So, we're being commanded to be patient under persecution, to be discerning amidst deception, to be productive and to be prayerful, to be industrious, to live lives of integrity, be discerning, be steadfast, be diligent, Be disciplined. Be hardworking. Be persistent. Persevere. Keep on keeping on. Do not give up. Do not turn back. Be resilient and resourceful.