Standing Firm
Paul's Epistles - 2
Thessalonians - Part 4
Pastor Bruce A.
Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
Thessalonica was the second city in Europe
where Paul established an organized Christian community.
Paul sent his first letter (epistle) to
the church after Timothy returned with good report of the community. His letter
filled with praise to God for them, as well as instruction to continue to do
good, and be mindful of teachers, and preachers. He instructed them to hold
dearly to the teachings of Christ, and not to allow false teachings or beliefs
to pollute the Truth, or they may have troubles as some of the other churches
were experiencing because of influence by the circumcised, the Gnostics, and
other Pagan and false beliefs that had snuck into the churches ranks.
Not long after sending his first letter,
Paul felt it necessary to write to them again. This is 2 Thessalonians. The
reason for this letter was because Paul had received reports that a forged
letter, and a false verbal message had been spread around, supposedly coming
from Paul himself.
These false teachings in Paul’s name made
mention of imaginary revelations of the Spirit given through some member or
members of the Thessalonian Church. The members believed they were passing
through a great tribulation because of this, and were greatly distressed.
Mislead into thinking the Great Day of the
Lord had come. Paul wrote this letter to set their minds at ease. Paul declares
in this epistle that certain events MUST take place before “The Day of the
Lord”.
A) A great falling away from the faith.
B) The coming of Christ for His people (Rapture)
C) The coming into public view of the “Man of Sin”
D) And his open and awful campaign against the Lord
E) Then the coming of the Lord (Second Coming) with His
people in terrible judgment
2 Thessalonians is really broken into four
major themes.
1) Persecution and the
Lord’s Coming
a.
A comfort to the persecuted (2
Thessalonians 1:1-7)
2) The
unrepentant and the Lord’s Coming
a.
A terror to the unconverted (2
Thessalonians 1:7-12)
3) The Apostasy and
the Lord’s Coming
a.
For His people leads to the revealing of
the Man of Sin
b.
With His people means the destruction of
the Man of Sin (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)
4) Service and the
Lord’s Coming
a.
The delay of the Lord’s Coming for;
i.
Unique opportunities for service (2
Thessalonians 2:13-17; 3)
Last week we looked at Paul’s comfort to
the persecuted, today we will look at the unrepentant and the Lord’s coming.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
But we
ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord,
because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He
called you to this
through our gospel, that
you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers and
sisters, stand firm and
hold fast to the teachings we
passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus
Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal
encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
Standing Firm
I. HOW ARE
YOU SAVED?
a. They (unsaved)
perish (second death) because they refused (choice/action) to love the Truth
(Jesus) and be saved.
i. Salvation through choosing to love Jesus
ii. Free-will in action
b. God chose for
you to be saved through;
i. The sanctifying (set apart, declared holy, make legitimate…free one
from sin) work of the Holy Spirit
1. Not our work or deeds
2. When we chose to love Jesus, we are saying we
submit (allow) God’s Holy Spirit to do this work in us.
3. We stop resisting Him and become saved because we did
not refuse to love Him, and His Holy Spirit does the work in us!
c. He called you
to this
i. God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Holy
Spirit AND belief in the Truth
1. What is belief?
2. It is NOT believing something is real…James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even
the demons believe that--and shudder.”
3. Belief in this means “to trust in”
ii. God chose for you to be saved through the
sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit AND your trust in the Truth
II. GOD
CHOSE YOU TO BE THE FIRSTFRUITS
a. Firstfruits =
First Christian Churches
i. First to receive reap the benefits of Christ’s dying on the cross
ii. First to have the opportunity to “trust” in Jesus
iii. First to have the Holy Spirit do the work of
sanctification because of their action of free-will in choosing to Trust Jesus
Christ
b. To be an
example to all
i. They were an example
1. To other churches who had trouble keeping the Truth
2. To people who were not sure of the “Way”
3. To future churches who face similar situations as
they
c. Paul continues
to thank God for them because of their devotion to the Lord
i. Surrounded by sin, the resisted and stuck to the Truth
ii. Infiltrated by sin, they resisted false teachings,
false converts, and those who were trying to confuse the teachings of Paul and
Christ
iii. They held to the Truth, regardless of outward
circumstances
III. BROTHERS
AND SISTERS, STAND FIRM
a. Stand firm and
hold fast to the teachings
i. Which is what got them this far!
ii. Paul is saying, “Keep up the good work! Continue
doing this!
b. May Jesus
Christ and God the Father encourage your hearts…
i. Because when we are faithful to the truth, we have access to many
blessings, benefits and promises of God which can only come through our Trust
in Jesus Christ.
1. Encouragement from God through the Holy Spirit
because of our trusting in Jesus
2. Access to the Whole Armor of God
3. Our Spiritual Gifts for other believers to reap
benefits
4. Our Spiritual Fruits which are produced naturally
because of God’s Holy Spirit in us, which will draw others to God through our
lives and living for God.
ii. Everything we may need can and will be provided by
our Father in Heaven, through the Holy Spirit BECAUSE of our Trust in Jesus
Christ
c. …And strengthen
you in every good deed and word
i. All things are possible in Christ Jesus
ii. Good deeds (our works) may sometimes be difficult,
such as the case with the Thessalonian church surrounded by evil, however, our
strength comes from the Lord.
iii. And He will also guide our words, so that we may be
a light, or a beacon in this dark-age!
CONCLUSION – So then, brothers and sisters, stand
firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you
In other words,
So then, those
of you who are saved, keep trusting Jesus, and allowing the Holy Spirit to do a
work in you, hold on to the teachings of Christ, and give this Gospel message
to others, so they too can have the opportunity to Trust in Jesus, and receive
salvation through the Holy Spirit, and be forgiven and declared Holy be God the
Father.
No comments:
Post a Comment