Let's turn this morning to 1 Thessalonians.
Even though Paul's letters in the Bible are
beginning with Romans and ending with 2 Timothy,
as far as we know, they were not
written in that order.
There are certain indications in some letters that
as to the time in which they were
written, Paul was probably converted about 6 years
after Jesus died and rose again.
And this was probably Paul's first letter in
all the letters that are in the Bible,
written probably about 15 or 16 years after
his conversion.
And maybe 5 years or so after he
had started his first missionary journey in Acts
13.
So, 1 and 2 Thessalonians were, as far
as we know, the first letters that Paul
wrote.
And if you'd like to know the order
in which I think the other letters were
written, it's Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, then
Galatians, then 1 and 2 Corinthians, then Romans.
And then we have 4 letters that were
written in prison.
Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians.
When you read those 4 letters, remember they
were written from prison.
It will give you more light on those
letters.
And then we have the last 3 letters,
1 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy was definitely his last.
So, that's the order in which they were
written.
And it's very interesting that the very first
letter that Paul writes deals so much with
the second coming of Christ.
The subject is basically being ready for Christ's
return.
And this church was a persecuted church.
And Paul was prepared to minister to this
church by being persecuted in Philippi just before
he came there.
I mentioned how we have to be mini
forerunners for other people.
You cannot encourage a persecuted church if you
have not been persecuted yourself.
And I look at it like this, that
God knew that the church in Thessalonica was
going to suffer a lot of persecution.
So, before God sent Paul to Thessalonica, what
did He do?
He allowed Paul to be imprisoned in Philippi.
You read that in Acts 16.
And he went through some persecution there.
And then he went to Thessalonica.
So, he was fresh from an experience of
persecution.
And then, later on, when the Thessalonian Christians
were persecuted, they realized that the great apostle
who came and gave us the gospel and
established the church was persecuted himself.
So, when God prepares you for a ministry,
and He knows what that church is going
to face over there, He will prepare you
by making you go through the same thing,
so that you can minister to those people
in that church in a powerful way and
not just in theory.
So, don't be surprised at the things God
takes you through.
That is a preparation for your ministry in
the days to come.
And here, he says, he speaks of their
faith, love, and hope in verse 3.
Their work of faith, labor of love, and
steadfastness of hope.
And in the closing verses of that chapter
1, he mentions what true repentance is.
This is one of the clearest definitions of
true repentance in any of the verses of
scripture.
It says that when they themselves report to
us, that means the others who heard the
word of God from you, how you turn
to God from idols.
So, repentance is, if you're facing idols, you
turn around to God.
When you're living in sin, you're facing idols
with your back to God.
Your idol could be yourself, could be a
girlfriend, could be money, it could be a
job, it could be your ambition, it could
be just sinful pleasure, and it could be
visible idols too.
There are many idols.
All repentance is a turning from all those
idols right around to God so that your
back is to those idols.
Now, a person who has not turned his
back to these idols that I just mentioned
hasn't really repented.
See, some people are trying to face God
and at the same time face their idols.
They have got a lot of interests and
ambitions in the world and they also want
Christianity.
They are the most unhappy people in the
world.
The people who live totally for these idols
of pleasure and money, they are very happy.
And the people who live totally for God,
they are supremely happy.
But the most miserable people in the world
are those who try to live for both.
It's like keeping your foot in two boats
and the boats are going in different directions.
It splits you right in the middle.
So, a lot of problems that people face
in their Christian life, I said the other
day, is because of a lack of a
proper foundation.
And repentance is one of those essential foundations
in the Christian life.
And it must be total if it is
to be effective.
So, we need to examine our life and
see if there is anything, an idol is
anything in our life that takes the place
of God.
It could be a Christian leader.
He could be your idol.
It could be a, you know, some people
make an idol of a certain doctrine.
They are always talking about that.
So, we must make sure that we don't
worship anything other than the one living and
true God.
And once you turn to God, it says
in verse 9, we turn from idols to
serve Him, to worship Him, to serve Him.
We don't just turn.
No, the rest of our life, if you
are truly repented, is to serve the living
and true God and to wait for His
Son from heaven.
Now, here is a perfect description of what
repentance and faith is.
This is conversion.
And a person who has been converted like
this, we can say, has got a good
foundation.
He has given up all his idols, turned
his back to them.
He has put money in its proper place,
comfort in its proper place, sleep in its
proper place, food in its proper place.
Everything on earth in its proper place, the
opinion of people in their proper place.
And he has turned to God and he
says, my life is to serve God.
You may be in a secular job, but
repentance still means that your primary aim in
life is to serve God.
And you keep on serving, not without any
expectancy of anything, but we do expect and
wait for the second coming of Jesus from
heaven.
When Jesus comes, He is going to deliver
us, verse 10, from the wrath to come.
So it's good for all of us to
check whether our experience is corresponding to verse
9 and 10.
In chapter 2, Paul reminds them, you know,
you fellows are being persecuted.
But you know, brethren, when we came to
you, we had already suffered and been mistreated
in Philippi, verse 2.
And as you know, we had the boldness
to speak to you the gospel of God
amid much opposition.
And if you read in the Acts of
the Apostles, you find the opposition they faced.
And in spite of all that opposition, Paul
proclaimed the gospel.
And there he was an example to the
Thessalonians of one who was not afraid to
preach the gospel, lest he be persecuted.
That was a great testimony.
And he says there, our exhortation doesn't come
from error or impurity or by way of
deceit.
And notice what he says in something about
his ministry, which we should take heed to.
We preached, verse 4, we spoke not as
pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.
See, that's a good word for anyone who
preaches the gospel or who preaches any type
of preaching or teaching of the word.
To always be able to say, we're not
speaking to please anybody sitting here.
We're speaking to please almighty God who has
entrusted us with a gospel.
And God examines our hearts, it says in
verse 4, to see whether we preach in
a way that is pleasing to him.
Paul was telling the Thessalonians, this is how
I preach to you and this is how
you must preach to other people.
Paul emphasized that to the Galatians too.
He was frequently emphasizing the fact that he
never sought to please men.
This is one of the fundamental requirements.
To seek the honor of men is a
sin that is not recognized in Christendom sufficiently.
We recognize other sins, but we don't recognize
this terrible sin of doing something to seek
the honor of some man.
It's a very serious sin.
Because we saw in Galatians 1.10 that
such a person can never be a servant
of Christ.
So, then he says in our speech, verse
5, we never flattered anybody.
We never said anything to please somebody sitting
there or somebody sitting there or some rich
person or some influential person.
We never flattered anybody.
When we spoke to people individually, we didn't
use flattering words.
There's a lot of use of flattering words
by preachers to rich people and influential people
to try and butter them.
So that they can get some help from
them when they need that help.
A servant of God will never flatter.
And the other thing we read about the
ministry here is, we never preached anything in
order to make money.
Nor with a pretext for greed.
You know, people can preach in such a
way that underneath they are motivated by greed.
For example, you go into a certain place
and you know that if you preach in
a certain way, they'll be happy and give
you a good offering.
But if you preach the whole truth, the
way God wants you to speak it, you
may get nothing.
You may get a kick in the pants
perhaps.
And so you don't want that.
So, you speak in a way that pleases
people.
We must examine our motives.
And then he says in our preaching, verse
6, we did not seek glory from you
or from others.
Another thing he says, we did not assert
our authority over you, even though as apostles,
verse 6, we could have.
See, there are a number of verses here
that teach us how we should serve the
Lord.
It's a beautiful passage.
I believe anyone who serves the Lord must
meditate on this passage.
Not pleasing men, not with flattery, no desire
for money, not seeking glory from people, and
not asserting our authority.
You know, a lot of preachers just impose
themselves and assert their authority.
And in contrast to all these things he
did not do, these are all a lot
of negative things.
Not pleasing men, not with flattery, not with
greed, not seeking glory, not asserting our authority.
Okay.
Now he says a couple of, a few
positive things as to how he ministered and
served among them.
First of all, as a gentle nursing mother
cares for her own children.
You know, like a nursing mother who's just
had a baby and feeds that baby.
He says that's how he cared for you.
A true servant of God must be like
a mother to people.
You know how a mother treats a baby
gently?
That's how we are to serve.
And then he says in verse 8, we
had a fond affection for you.
No man is fit to speak God's word
to people unless he has a great love
for the people whom he's speaking to.
If he doesn't have a real love for
the people in his heart, I say forget
it.
Don't preach.
Go and do some other job.
And here's another positive thing.
He says we wanted to give you not
only the gospel of God, verse 8, but
we wanted to give you our lives.
What an example.
We didn't want to just give you a
message.
We wanted to pour out our life to
serve you.
And verse 9, he says, you know how
we worked hard night and day.
A true servant of God must be a
hard-working person.
Working night and day so that we don't
become a financial burden on you.
See, a lot of full-time workers in
our country today are not really doing much
most of the day.
They go in the evenings here and there
for some meetings and many of them just
sleep and lull around in bed during the
day.
And they call themselves full-time workers.
They're not full-time.
They're just evening workers.
The full-time workers are those who are
doing a secular job.
And after they finish their secular job, they
go and do something for the Lord.
Now that's not how Paul was.
Paul was working night and day and he
found something to do.
And when he had spare time, he said,
well, I can do something with my hands
and earn my living.
So that even though I do get a
little support from here and there, I don't
want to be a burden to people.
This man was so upright.
And he says there, how devoutly, verse 10,
uprightly, blamelessly we behave towards you believers.
Wherever Paul went, he was always saying, it's
not just my message.
It's the way I live that demonstrates the
gospel.
What a need there is for Christian workers
in India to be able to say that.
It's not just our message.
It's the way we live that demonstrates the
truth of the gospel.
And he goes on to say, it's not
only as a mother, verse 11, he says,
we also exhorted you, rebuked you and encouraged
you and implored you as a father.
So we see a true servant of God
is a mother and a father.
You know, the mother treating the baby gently
and the father giving advice and discipline.
Both are necessary in a true servant of
God or an elder of a church.
I would encourage anyone who wants to serve
the Lord to read verse 4 to 11
and meditate on these negatives and positives deeply.
I've just shown them to you.
And if you are serious, you can meditate
on this yourself and see how you should
serve the Lord.
And then we move on to verse 18.
Paul says, he says about all the opposition
he faced from different people.
And then he says in verse 18, more
than once, I wanted to come to you,
but Satan hindered me, thwarted my purpose.
Now, think of that.
We have often said and it's true that
Satan was defeated on the cross.
His armor was taken away.
He has no power over us.
Jesus has given us authority, Luke 10, 19,
over all the power of the enemy.
And Paul was certainly an outstanding servant of
God.
But yet he says here that Satan hindered
him at a certain point.
He wanted to go to Thessalonica and Satan
hindered him.
We know in 2nd Corinthians, he speaks about
a messenger of Satan that was constantly troubling
him.
See, Paul was such an outstanding servant of
God that Satan was after him more than
anybody else in the world.
He may have sent his junior demons after
other Christian workers, but he was himself after
Paul.
And I can imagine that whoever is the
most outstanding servant of God in the world
today, Satan will be after him personally and
he will send his junior demons after the
other Christian workers.
And among the demons also, there are different
levels of power.
It says principalities and powers and all that.
So the stronger demons will go after the
more outstanding Christian workers and the weaker demons
will be sent after the other Christian workers.
And the useless Christian workers, he'll just leave
them alone because he knows that they won't
harm his kingdom at all.
See, some Christian worker is running after money.
The devil will say, just leave him alone.
He'll just destroy himself and destroy other people.
Forget about him.
So it's a great honor that if Satan
thinks that you are worthy to be persecuted
and harassed and troubled, that means he considers
you to be a danger to his kingdom.
I believe it's good to seek that honor
that Satan considers you to be a threat
to his kingdom.
Satan was after Paul and he hindered him
from going somewhere.
But that did not hinder God's purpose.
Just like the thorn in the flesh did
not hinder God's purpose, even though it is
a messenger from Satan, it fulfilled God's purpose
by keeping Paul humble.
So even this hindering of Paul did not
hinder God's purpose.
Because he says, chapter 3, verse 2, we
sent Timothy.
And Timothy came and he came back, verse
6, after visiting you.
And he brought us good news of your
faith and love.
And we were greatly comforted when we heard
about that.
So, you see, when Paul could not go,
Timothy went.
And that was good.
Because that gave Timothy some experience in the
ministry.
And it brought Timothy to some maturity.
Which is a good thing.
Sometimes it's a good thing if a senior
worker does not go and a junior worker
goes and gets some experience.
So did Satan succeed there?
No.
God turned the tables on Satan like he
always does.
That when he stopped Paul, something better happened.
That Timothy went and the ministry was fulfilled.
And not only the ministry was fulfilled, Timothy
got some experience.
So what do we see from that?
That in our ministry, if we live in
the will of God, nothing that the devil
can do can ever hinder God's purpose for
our life.
Let me move on to chapter 3, verse
12 and 13.
There are a number of expressions there of
his great joy in them.
In chapter 2, verse 19 and chapter 3,
verse 9, where he says, My greatest joy
is found in you people, you Corinthians, you
Thessalonians.
He found his joy in the believers.
And I feel that a servant of God
who does not find joy in those whom
he serves, something is wrong with him.
So many people serve in a grumpy, long
-faced type of way.
We need to find joy in those we
serve.
In verse 12 and 13, we have a
beautiful expression that teaches us what true holiness
is.
Just read verse 12 and 13 together and
then you'll understand what true holiness is.
May the Lord cause you to increase and
abound in love for one another, just as
we also do for you, so that, why
should you increase and abound in love for
one another?
Because that is the only way he can
establish your hearts unblameable in holiness.
So what is holiness?
Holiness is increasing in love for one another.
That's what it says there.
You cannot be established unblameable in holiness if
you don't increase in love for one another.
Now that's a very important corrective for people
who think that holiness has got nothing to
do with other people.
It's just got to do with me.
You know, a lot of people who pursue
holiness in the world today, they're just careful
about their dress and simple dress, and try
to keep their thoughts and eyes and tongue
and all pure.
They are so selfish, utterly selfish.
They're only thinking of their own purity.
And they don't have a concern for other
people.
They don't have a love.
They're not growing in love for other people.
Such people are not holy.
They are Pharisees.
If you don't increase in love for other
people, according to this verse, Almighty God can
never establish you unblameable in holiness.
Meditate on that verse.
Don't think there's any holiness which does not
make you increase in love for others.
It's a counterfeit holiness.
True holiness is love.
Love for God and love for our fellow
believers.
And for all men.
And if we continue in this, one day
when the Lord comes, it says in verse
13, He'll establish us unblameable at the coming
of our Lord Jesus.
And that's what He's speaking about.
This epistle is preparing people for the coming
of the Lord Jesus with all His saints.
And again in chapter 4 verses 1 to
8, He's speaking about purity in the sexual
area.
Verse 4 could be translated in two ways.
Each of you must know how to possess
his own body in sanctification and honor.
That could be one translation.
You must know how to keep your body
holy and pure.
That's your responsibility.
Because verse 3, this is the will of
God.
Your sanctification.
There are many areas where we don't know
God's will.
But here is one area where we definitely
know God's will.
We don't have to find it.
Your total sanctification.
Sanctification means separation from everything that is sinful,
worldly, evil.
And each of you must know how to
keep your own body pure.
Another way we could translate verse 4 is,
Each of you must know how to acquire
his own wife in sanctification and honor.
That means the way you get your wife
must be in a holy way.
Everybody must know how to get a wife
in a holy way.
There are a lot of unholy ways in
which people try to get wives.
By looking for dowry for example.
That's one of those unholy ways.
Each of you must know how to get
a wife in a holy way.
Did you get your wife in a holy
way?
Are you looking for a wife in a
holy way?
Or are you looking at unholy, earthly considerations
when you look for a wife?
And certainly not in lustful passion.
Verse 5, like the heathen.
When your desire for a wife is because
she's attractive and you've got a lust for
her.
That's not the way to look for a
wife.
If you're a servant of God, if you're
one who wants to live for God.
You must look for a wife who's got
a godly desire.
That's a very important word.
And then it says here in verse 6
that no one should ever cheat his brother
in this matter.
That means don't fool around with somebody else's
wife.
Because God is the avenger of people who
do these things.
If you ever try to get friendly with
somebody else's wife.
I tell you God will take revenge on
you in some amazing way.
And make you an example to everybody else.
We got to be very very careful in
this area of sexual relationships.
In relationships with the opposite sex.
And particularly because we live in a society
like the Thessalonians.
Lived in a society where sexual immorality was
not considered serious.
There's a lot of it going on even
in our country in the colleges among young
people.
And outside there's a lot of it among
Christian workers.
In all denominations.
And it's essential that we become different.
That we have a clear testimony.
Every single person has got to know how
to preserve his body in purity in this
area.
Otherwise you'll just fail as a servant of
God.
Samson is an outstanding example.
And many many others in the last 50
years around the world.
And he goes on to say.
Verse 11.
Make it your ambition.
To lead a quiet life.
To mind your own business.
To work with your own hands.
Just as we commanded you.
That's a good verse.
We saw in 2nd Corinthians 5.
Our ambition is to please God.
And this does not contradict that ambition.
Our ambition must be to lead a quiet
life where we don't fight and quarrel with
anybody.
To mind my own business instead of being
a busybody in other people's affairs.
So many believers are interfering in the affairs
of other people.
And to work with my own hands.
As far as possible.
To earn my own living.
Verses 13 to 18.
He speaks about how it'll be when Jesus
comes.
He says we don't want you to be
uninformed as to what's happened to those people
who have slept in the Lord.
That means those who have died in Christ.
That Jesus died and rose again.
So we believe that these people who died
in Christ will also rise again.
And God will bring them with Jesus.
That when Jesus comes.
We who are alive will not go before
those who are dead in Christ before us.
We will go together with them.
They will rise from the graves.
That'll be the first resurrection.
And we will go to meet the Lord.
The unbelievers will not rise for another thousand
years.
They'll rise in the second resurrection.
But we who have died trusting in the
Lord will rise up together to meet the
Lord in the air.
And those who are alive will be caught
up.
Verse 17.
And we will meet the Lord in the
air.
Now notice verse 16.
And 17.
What are the things that he said are
going to be there at the coming of
the Lord?
The Lord will descend with a shout.
The voice of the archangel.
The trumpet of God.
And then all the saints will be caught
up to meet the Lord in the clouds.
Now if you turn to what Jesus said
in Matthew 24.
He spoke about these very same things when
he was on earth and he spoke to
his disciples.
In Matthew chapter 24 he said about his
coming.
It'll be like this.
Don't believe people who say he's here or
he's there or he has come secretly or
any such thing.
Verse 26.
There is no secret coming.
When he comes it'll be like the lightning
flashing from the east to the west.
And when will his coming take place?
Matthew 24, 29.
Immediately after the tribulation.
Not before.
Now I know some of you or perhaps
many of you believe it is before.
But I believe what Jesus said.
It is after the tribulation.
And what's going to happen after the tribulation?
The sign of the Son of Man will
appear in the sky.
Verse 30.
He will come in the clouds.
That's what we read in 1 Thessalonians 4.
There'll be a trumpet.
Verse 31.
That's what we read in 1 Thessalonians 4.
And the angels will go and gather the
elect from one end of the sky to
the other.
We are the elect.
That is when is all this going to
take place?
1 Thessalonians 4 which we read.
Deuteronomy 24.
Matthew 24, 29.
Immediately after the tribulation.
So there's a period of tribulation.
Immediately after that.
It's so clear for me.
For many years I believed that Jesus would
come before.
Because I was young.
I didn't study the scriptures.
I just believed what everybody else said.
But I decided to believe scripture and not
what everybody says.
And this is what I believe today.
That 1 Thessalonians 4 is exactly what Jesus
said there in Matthew 24.
Now 1 Thessalonians 5.
He says, you know that the day of
the Lord, verse 2, will come like a
thief in the night.
Now many people quote this verse.
Jesus is coming like a thief in the
night.
But he says, verse 4, you are believers.
He's not coming for you like a thief
in the night.
Do you know that he's not coming for
me like a thief in the night?
If he's coming like a thief in the
night for you, you must be an unbeliever.
When a thief comes in the night, he
doesn't give an announcement.
I'm coming tomorrow night at 12.30 at
night or anything.
He just comes suddenly.
And who's the one who's not expecting him?
The unbelievers.
I'm expecting him.
So because I'm expecting him, he's not coming
like a thief in the night for me.
So verse 4 makes that very, very clear.
Because you are sons of light.
I'm not living in the darkness.
It's people who live in the darkness for
whom Jesus comes as a thief in the
night.
So, spiritually, let us not sleep.
But let us be alert.
What is the difference between sleeping and awake,
being awake?
When we sleep, please listen.
The things that are real around us seem
unreal.
I don't know what's happening.
I don't know who's in the room.
I don't know what's happening in the world
around me.
And the things that are unreal in my
dreams appear real.
That is sleep.
Sleep is a time when the unreal things
appear real and the real things appear unreal.
And a believer, we can say, is spiritually
asleep when the real things of eternity are
unreal to him and the unreal things of
the world are real to him.
That means this world is like a dream
and that is more real to him than
the real things of eternity.
Such a brother or sister is fast asleep.
For him, the Lord will definitely come as
a thief in the night.
But spiritually, a man who's alert for whom
the things of eternity are real, he's not
going to be caught unawares when Christ comes.
He's ready.
And so, he says, we look forward to
that day and we wait for his coming.
And people around us, verse 3, will say
peace and safety.
That's what the world is.
All the governments of the world are looking
for peace and safety.
But suddenly, destruction will come.
And we are ready for that.
We are ready for the tribulation.
It says here, like birth pangs upon a
woman with child, verse 3.
Now, every woman knows that before she gives
birth to a child, there's a period of
a number of hours of what they call
labor, of the preparation for the delivery of
the child, which is a very painful process.
I've heard women say that sometimes they feel
like dying.
It's so painful.
And then the child is born.
And there, the Holy Spirit is picturing the
tribulation before the coming of Christ.
There's going to be a painful time.
And then the child is born, the coming
of Christ.
Everything in scripture points to that.
Even Jesus said it.
These are the beginning of birth pangs.
No child is born without those birth pangs.
And the coming of the Lord is not
going to be without this period of painful
tribulation for God's people.
We're not afraid of that because I think
it's a great honor if the Lord will
allow us to be here, to be witnesses
for him, and to lay down our lives
for the sake of the gospel.
In chapter 5, he says in verse 12,
you must appreciate those who diligently labor among
you.
Here's a verse that tells us that we
must highly appreciate those who are our elders
and who preach and teach us God's word,
especially those who give you instruction.
Verse 13, esteem them very highly in love.
I'm sorry to say that many Christians, because
they swing to the other extreme of not
worshiping messengers, they don't even esteem the Lord's
messengers highly in love.
That is their loss.
It's not the Lord's messenger who's going to
lose.
If you disobey a command, you're the loser.
And then in verse 14 onwards, he gives
a number of exhortations.
Admonish those who are unruly.
Encourage those who are faint-hearted.
Help the weak.
Be patient with all men.
Don't repay anybody evil for evil.
Always seek what is good for others.
Rejoice always.
Pray always.
That means have a spirit of prayer all
the time.
In everything, give thanks.
For all of this is God's will for
you.
Here's some practical advice that you could spend
a lot of time meditating on to be
ready for the coming of the Lord.
Then he says something about spiritual gifts.
Don't quench the Holy Spirit.
If the Spirit of God is prompting you
to serve Him in some way, don't pour
water on that fire.
Don't quench it.
Do something.
Respond to the Holy Spirit.
Don't despise prophetic utterances.
Don't make fun of prophecies.
But at the same time, don't believe the
whole thing.
Examine everything carefully and see whether it is
true.
And hold on to what is good.
Throw away the rest.
And abstain from every form of evil.
And if you do this, the God of
peace will sanctify you, make you perfectly holy
in spirit, soul, and body, and preserve you
for the second coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
This is the theme.
Being prepared and preserved for the second coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And in verse 23, this is the one
verse in the New Testament, and perhaps in
the whole Bible, that teaches us that man
is a trinity, just like God.
Spirit, soul, and body.
Because man is the tabernacle of God.
And the tabernacle, as we saw, had three
parts.
Most holy place, holy place, outer court.
Man is spirit, soul, and body.
God dwelt in the most holy place.
God dwells in the spirit.
And that is the most important part of
us.
Our body, we can see.
Our soul consists of our intelligence.
That's our mind.
Our emotions.
And our will.
And the spirit consists of our conscience.
And the ability to receive God's life.
So that's the first letter.
We now move on to the second letter
of Paul to the Thessalonians.
Which is also dealing again with the subject
of the second coming of Christ.
Probably written about a year after the first
letter.
But here, the first letter was comforting them.
Concerning the coming of the Lord.
Here, the second letter is correcting them.
Because they had some wrong ideas about the
second coming of Christ.
We need to be comforted with the thought
of the second coming of Christ.
And we also need to be corrected when
we have wrong ideas about the second coming
of Christ.
You see, what happened was, in the first
letter, Paul said, Well, the coming of the
Lord is there.
It's coming, so be prepared for it.
And what some people did was, Oh, the
Lord is coming, why are we wasting our
time working?
Let's resign our jobs and let's be ready
for the coming of the Lord.
And they were sitting around doing nothing.
And Paul said, that's not what I meant.
That you just sit around waiting for the
coming of the Lord.
Even in the last few years, we read
in the paper sometimes of some crazy cult
group somewhere.
Believes that the Lord is coming on such
and such a date.
And they wait on top of some mountain,
resign all their jobs.
And the leader of that group makes all
that money from them, from these people who
sell their property and give it to him.
So he profits from the whole thing.
And then they wait there and they find
the Lord hasn't come.
We don't know the date or the hour
of his coming.
Jesus said that.
No man knows of the day or the
hour.
We can know when it is near.
We know that Israel has come back into
the land, so we know the coming of
the Lord is near.
We know there's a lot of strife around
Jerusalem, so we know the coming of the
Lord is near.
But we don't know the day or the
hour.
It's not for us to know the times
or seasons.
So it's not for us to go and
wait on some mountain or resign our jobs
and say we don't know when the Lord
is coming.
Rather, we know the Lord is coming now,
so we just wait for him.
I don't know when he'll come.
He said he's coming and 2,000 years
have gone by.
And all those people in Thessalonica, if they'd
been waiting without a job, they'd have been
without a job forever.
So, we must not be foolish like those
people.
In chapter 1, he encourages them again to
be faithful in tribulation.
He says, we speak proudly of you, 2
Thessalonians 1.4, for your perseverance in the
midst of all your persecutions.
And your faithfulness and perseverance in the midst
of your persecution, verse 5, is a clear
proof that you are worthy of the kingdom
of God for which you are suffering.
It's a clear proof of God's righteous judgment
on those other people.
And it's righteous for God, one day, to
punish all those people who are persecuting you
with affliction and judgment.
And to you, when Jesus comes again, you'll
get relief.
Now, that teaches us that persecution will continue
until, verse 7, the coming of Christ.
We get relief from persecution only finally when
Jesus comes.
Now, when Paul wrote that, he did not
know that 2,000 years of church history
is going to be filled with persecution.
He was writing under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, and he said relief will come
only when Christ comes again.
And we have seen that that is true.
Even today, people are being persecuted.
And I have read statistics that more people
have been killed for their faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ in the last hundred years
than in all the years, all the 1
,900 years before.
And I can believe that.
A lot of those things don't get publicized.
But I think a lot of people in
the last hundred years have got the honor,
the privilege of dying as a martyr for
Jesus Christ.
So that relief will come only when Christ
comes again with His mighty angels.
And that time, He will deal out judgment,
verse 8, on those who don't know God
and don't obey Christ.
And they will pay the penalty of eternal
destruction, and He will come to be glorified
in His saints, verse 10.
So, we cannot expect in our service for
the Lord, until Christ comes, to be free
from persecution.
You'll be persecuted by your relatives, you'll be
persecuted by Christians, you'll be persecuted by non
-Christians.
That's our lot.
Because we are like a fish out of
water.
This is not our home.
This world is not our home, and that's
why we are in conflict with this world
system.
We are strangers and foreigners, and we are
a threat to this world system.
And the ruler of this world, the devil
hates us.
And that's why we are persecuted.
If you become friendly with this world and
with the ruler of this world, he'll stop
troubling you.
But then you won't be a witness for
Christ.
In chapter 2, He gives that word of
correction.
He says, we want to tell you something
about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and our being gathered up to meet Him.
Don't be quickly shaken from your composure, or
disturbed, either by a spirit or a message
or a letter, as if it has come
from us.
That means, don't let anybody come and tell
you, I got a message from the Lord,
or I saw a vision, and this is
what the Lord told me about His coming.
Don't believe all that.
There are lots of that happening today in
the world.
People are talking about visions, and about this,
that, and the other, about the coming of
the Lord.
He says, don't believe all that.
You got the word, that's enough for you.
And don't be shaken.
And there were some people who were writing
letters and signing Paul, to make people feel
that Paul wrote that letter.
Imagine, these things were going on in the
first century.
See, because those days, as I said, they
didn't have a Bible.
And this is probably one of the first
books of the New Testament written.
One Thessalonians.
And somebody else writes something and says, Paul.
And some people were thinking, this is a
real letter from Paul.
And it shook them up, what that fellow
wrote.
So he says, don't believe it.
That's why many times, Paul would himself sign
the letter.
Somebody else would write it, and he would
say, this is my signature, Paul.
That's how I conclude all my letters.
And he says, don't let anybody disturb you,
saying the day of the Lord has already
come.
What's he saying?
Oh, don't let anybody come and tell you,
Jesus came secretly and he's gone.
No, no, no.
He says, it's not going to happen like
that.
Because that day cannot come, until first, a
great falling away from the faith comes among
Christians.
And that's happening in our time.
And the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, has
to be revealed.
That day will not come.
Verse 3.
Jesus will not come, until the Antichrist comes
first.
And the period of tribulation.
Everywhere you look in scripture, you get the
same answer.
Christ comes after the tribulation.
And the Antichrist will oppose and exalt himself
against every so-called God and object of
worship.
See, this is speaking about the day of
the Lord.
Now, some people try to split the coming
of the Lord from the day of the
Lord.
And there are only clever ways you can
twist scripture to suit your own conviction.
We must not come to scripture with a
preconceived idea and make scripture fit my idea,
because then God will allow us to be
deceived.
We must come to scripture with no ideas.
And let our ideas be molded by scripture.
And then we will get the truth.
Many of you, I fear, have already got
an opinion in your mind.
And then you come to the scripture.
That's how I was in my younger days,
because I was young and I didn't know.
And you come to the scripture and make
the scripture, squeeze it and make it fit
your theological opinion.
You'll be deceived.
Come to the scripture with an open mind
and let your ideas be molded by scripture.
That's what I have decided to do.
And I changed my view on this subject
to fit in with scripture.
And I saw that the Antichrist is going
to rise first.
But does that mean we are looking forward
to tribulation?
No, I'm looking forward to the coming of
the Lord.
If you ask a pregnant mother, a pregnant
wife, what are you looking forward to?
Are you looking forward to the birth pains?
She says, no, I'm looking forward to the
birth of a baby.
No mother is looking forward to the birth
pains.
Have you ever heard a mother saying, I'm
looking forward to the birth pains?
No.
She says, I'm looking forward to the birth
of a baby.
I know there will be birth pains before
that, but that's a short period.
And you ask me, what am I looking
forward to?
Tribulation?
Rubbish.
I'm looking forward to the coming of the
Lord.
I know there will be a little period
of pain before that.
That's okay.
But I'm looking forward to the birth of
a baby, the birth of a new kingdom
on this earth.
And so we look forward to that.
But before that, there will be the Antichrist
who sits in the temple as God.
He gets people to worship him.
And John says that spirit of the Antichrist
is already in the world, where people sit
in the church and make themselves like God
to rule over people.
But here is the characteristic of the Antichrist.
He sits like a God in the temple,
in the church.
And this is called the mystery of lawlessness,
which is already at work.
Verse 7.
There is a mystery of lawlessness, just like
there's a mystery of godliness.
The mystery of godliness is that Christ came
in the flesh.
The mystery of lawlessness is Satan coming in
the flesh.
That is the Antichrist.
It's not that Satan becomes flesh, but Satan
possesses this man.
It's the opposite of Christ coming in the
flesh.
That's the mystery of lawlessness.
When Satan possesses a man and manifests his
full evil to fight the fact that Jesus
came in the flesh.
And then that lawless one, it says in
verse 8, will be revealed, whom the Lord
will slay with the breath of his mouth
when he comes again, and put an end
to him.
And his coming, he's describing this coming of
the Antichrist, and before the person himself comes,
there's going to be the spirit of that
moving in the world, preparing the way for
him, just like John the Baptist prepared the
way for Christ.
Here's going to be a whole movement preparing
the way for the Antichrist.
And it says here that he's going to
come with all types of wickedness, with powers
and signs and false wonders.
There's going to be all types of deceptive
miracles.
And we see that in Christendom today.
A lot of healing campaigns.
There's a lot of deception goes on.
But not real miracles, not real healings.
Counterfeit healings, counterfeit miracles, and the ways being
prepared for the Antichrist.
False wonders, false signs are all being there
to prepare people for the coming of the
Antichrist.
Now there are true wonders also.
I believe Jesus heals the sick and does
miracles today.
But there's a lot of counterfeit also, and
we need to discern between the two.
And it says here that God will send
a deluding influence, verse 11, on many, many
people because they did not love the truth,
verse 10.
So as to be saved.
And if in your life or mine, I'm
not willing to face up to the truth
about myself when God shows it to me
in a message or when I read the
word, I don't want to be saved from
the sin which God shows in me.
This is the one verse in the Bible
which says God himself will allow you to
be deceived.
What a tragic thing.
When God allows a person to be deceived,
Satan is already deceiving us.
Our lusts are full of deceit, the Bible
says.
On top of that, if God also deceives
us, we're finished.
You better make sure at least God is
on your side.
You want God on your side?
Love the truth about yourself.
When God shows you your sin, when God
shows you your covetousness, when God shows you
your selfishness, acknowledge it.
When God shows you your love of money,
acknowledge it.
When God shows you your pride, acknowledge it.
Love the truth about yourself and say, I
want to be saved from this, Lord.
If you defend yourself and cover up your
sin, I guarantee God himself will send a
deluding influence on you and you will believe
what is false.
You'll believe all these counterfeit miracles.
Why is it so many Christians believe counterfeit
miracles today?
I'll tell you the reason.
Here's the answer.
They don't want to be saved from sin
in their own life.
They don't love the truth about sin in
their own life.
They don't love the truth about being saved
from the things God shows them.
But brethren, we give thanks for you because
you were chosen for sanctification.
And here is the purpose with which God
called us through the Gospel.
Verse 14.
It's a beautiful verse.
That we may gain the glory of Jesus
Christ.
The whole purpose of the Gospel is that
I might acquire that glory of Jesus full
of grace and truth one day.
Then he says, may the Lord comfort you.
Hold fast to these traditions, verse 15, and
don't stray from them.
In chapter 3, he says, stay away from
brothers who are living lazy lives.
Verse 6 to 11, he says, you know
how we lived when we were among you?
Were we lazy?
We worked hard.
We never took any money from any of
you.
It says in verse 8, even when you
gave us food regularly, Paul, if somebody supplied
food regularly to Paul when he was in
Thessalonica, he paid for it.
Amazing man.
There are very few full-time workers who
would think of paying for food.
Paul says he did it.
Not just for one meal.
Maybe somebody was supplying him regularly on a
monthly basis.
And he didn't want to take advantage of
that brother who supplied him food every month.
Saying, well, I'm the Lord's servant.
Of course, you got to give me.
He paid for that food.
He was so upright.
And he worked night and day in order
to pay for that food.
He never took any money from those Thessalonians.
Because he says, we had a right, verse
9, to it.
But we wanted to be an example for
you.
A model for you, verse 9.
A Christian, a servant of the Lord, must
be a model for others.
To say to others, do what I did.
I worked night and day to support myself.
I want to give you an example.
Because we've heard that some of you, verse
11, are leading such an undisciplined life.
Acting as busybodies in other people's matters.
We command you, in the name of Jesus,
verse 12, work quietly and eat your own
bread.
And here's a law, verse 10, the last
part.
If a man does not work, he should
not eat.
If you're serving the Lord, you should be
working harder than all those people who work
hard in a secular job.
Please remember this.
You may be in a situation where you
cannot work with your hands and make tents
and earn your living.
Never mind.
Okay, somebody's supporting you.
That's okay.
But ask yourself this one question.
Those people are working so hard from 9
o'clock in the morning till 5 or
6 in the evening to support you.
Do you work just as hard?
Or are you lazy?
If you're lazy and you're not working hard
morning till night, you have no right to
get those people to work hard to support
you.
A servant of the Lord must be a
hardworking person.
That morning till night, he's got something to
do for the Lord.
Then it's alright if other people support you
because they're working less than you.
They work 8 hours a day to support
you and you should be working 10 hours
perhaps, serving the Lord.
But that's not how it is today.
Many people in secular work are working much
harder than people in Christian work.
And that's the tragedy in Christendom in India
today.
Now there will be people who don't obey
this instruction.
Verse 14, the Lord, Paul says, don't treat
him as an enemy.
Take note of that man.
Have no fellowship with him.
Verse 14, don't associate with him.
Admonish him.
And he signs his greeting in verse 17.
May the Lord help us to think of
these things seriously because these are important truths
if we want to be ready for the
second coming of Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, help us to be ready for
the coming of Jesus.
We know there will be a period of
pain before that and we want to be
filled with the Spirit to face that.
But we look forward to the day when
Jesus will come in glory and we can
see you face to face.
Thank you, Lord.
In Jesus' name, Amen.