Through the Bible - 2 Thessalonians

Lord, Your word says to study to show ourselves approved as workmen, workmen who are not ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. As we look into Your word tonight and consider this passage of Scripture, I pray that You would speak to us. Continue to sanctify us completely, wholly, by Your word, Lord. Just as You said in John 17, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." We know that You are able to completely transform us. As the Psalms say, "How shall a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed to Your word." So, Lord, as we study it, help us to take it to heart and heed it as well. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you need a Bible, there are some Bibles on the back shelf. We are going to go through this book tonight. Over the last year and a half, we have been taking a book a week through the Bible. If you want to study through some of those messages that you may have missed, you can find them on lineuponline.com, one of the webpages we have for the church. It is a podcast of all the messages we have been going through, from Genesis all the way up to 2 Thessalonians. You can download any of those messages for free and listen to the Word of God taught verse by verse, line upon line, book by book.

We are moving right through the Bible. It won't be too much longer—another 15 or 16 weeks—and we will be done with the entire Bible. At that time, we will not stop the service completely. No, we will probably go back and look at some of the minor prophets after that point. I am still praying about what we will do at that time. But tonight, we have this great letter before us, very likely Paul's third letter to the church at Thessalonica. His first letter was likely the letter to the church at Galatia.

And then 1 Thessalonians was his second letter, and now 2 Thessalonians is his third letter. He wrote this somewhere around 50 to 52 AD from the city of Corinth. You'll remember, as we were studying through the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians and also through the book of Acts, that Paul spent almost two years in the city of Corinth. While he was there, he wrote to the church in Thessalonica a couple of times.

Last week, as we were going through 1 Thessalonians, we looked at how this church was birthed. Paul was the one who planted this church in Acts chapter 17. He was only there for a few weeks, but during that short time, as he preached in the synagogues of the Jews in Thessalonica and from house to house, he did a very good job of equipping these saints, these believers. He told them a lot about doctrine and what is to come, especially the second coming of the Lord.

However, when he left, he was kind of run out of the city, as was often the case. Wherever Paul went, he was either widely accepted, with people repenting and turning to the Lord, resulting in a revival, or he faced rebellion and was kicked out of the city. Thessalonica was one of those cities where we saw last week in Acts chapter 17 that a group of not very nice individuals, described in the King James Version as "the baser sort," went to the magistrates of the city. They said, "These are the guys who've turned the world upside down, and now they've come to our city," and they wanted to get rid of them. Consequently, they sent Paul and Silas out, and Paul went to Athens for a time.

While he was in Athens, he became antsy and sent Timothy back to Thessalonica with his first letter. Then, while he was in Corinth, he wrote the second letter to them. In his first letter, he was really encouraging them about the coming of the Lord. In fact, that was the major theme of the first letter. At the end of each chapter—there are only four chapters in that first letter—he speaks of the coming of Christ. The major theme revolves around the Lord descending from heaven with a shout and the trumpet of God, where the dead in Christ will rise first, and those who are alive and remain shall be caught up with the Lord, and they shall ever be with Him.

At the end of chapter 4, he says to comfort one another with these sayings. We considered how the word of God and His prophetic promise is a comfort to you and me. Now, he writes to this church a second time because they still had some questions and errors regarding the second coming of Christ. It seems that somebody had written a letter to the church at Thessalonica.

They had put Paul's name at the end of the letter. They said they received a letter from Paul, which confused the church to the point where they thought the day of the Lord had already come and that they were in the midst of it. When I mention the day of the Lord, your mind may start running, or perhaps you've never even heard about it. We will discuss it a little tonight as we delve into this letter that Paul wrote to encourage those who were discouraged and to exhort those who were unruly or walking in a disorderly manner.

Chapter 3 really deals with those who are walking in a disorderly manner. Chapter 2 addresses those who are fearful, thinking they are in the midst of the day of the Lord. Chapter 1 focuses on encouraging those who are downhearted or discouraged because of the challenges they were facing. This church was experiencing persecution and tribulation. The Bible declares that there is coming a day of great tribulation. Jesus prophesied about it, and we read about it from the prophet Isaiah, the prophet Ezekiel, and the prophet Joel. You can go through all the major and minor prophets, and they all make references to this coming great and terrible day of the Lord, or this tribulation period.

Jesus also told His disciples at the end of the Gospel of John, chapter 16, that in the world, they would have much tribulation. We are going to experience trials and difficulties in this world. However, Jesus said to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. We all know that when we go through difficult times, it is easy to become discouraged. This church had become discouraged, thinking they had missed something that seemed to be a very important part of the body of Christ, an essential aspect of the church. They wanted Paul to clarify some things for them.

In chapter 1, verse 1, Paul writes, "I don't think there could be anything better for a discouraged believer than the peace of God." It is the peace of God that rules our hearts, as we saw in Colossians chapter 3. It is the peace of God that removes anxiety, as we saw in Philippians chapter 4. If you are anxious and discouraged, or if you don't quite know what to do or where to go, it is the peace of God that is truly needed in our lives. Paul speaks to this church and says, "Grace unto you and peace." Every one of Paul's 13 letters in the New Testament begins with those same words. It was often the way he would open a letter.

Grace and peace. It is important to note the origin of true peace and grace; they come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately after that, as was Paul's typical pattern in writing a letter, he acknowledges that this was a church growing in their faith. Even though they were in the midst of tribulation and difficulty, they were growing in their faith.

I would say that our faith grows the most when we are tried, when we are going through hard times. If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time, you have likely found this to be the case. You grow the most in your walk with the Lord, and in your faith and trust in God, during difficult times rather than when everything is just fine. When things are fine and great, we tend to not pray or seek God. It is our natural sinful nature that when everything is perfect, and we have what we need—or so we think—we do not really cry out to Him or seek Him. This is a danger.

In fact, David touched on this in the Psalms. He said, "Lord, don't allow me to become rich to the point where I don't seek You any longer." Sometimes we can find ourselves in that place where we think we do not really need anything. This is why I think Jesus told His disciples that it is very hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is not impossible, but it is hard. Oftentimes, those who are wealthy—whether in money, pride, or other things—may feel secure and think they do not need God.

This was one of the issues Jesus addressed in His letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation. He said to them, "You think that you have need of nothing." In fact, to the church at Laodicea, He pointed out that they were miserable, poor, blind, and naked. He urged them to call out to Him. They had everything materially, and as a result, they allowed their walk with the Lord to dwindle, becoming lukewarm. This is always a danger.

However, this church was going through tribulation and difficult times. As a result, Paul expressed gratitude to God for them because he had heard that their faith was growing exceedingly. Now, I do not know that it is always best to pray for trials.

Because trials have a way of coming anyway, you don't really need to pray for them to find their way into your life. However, in the midst of trials, we can still thank God for them, as Paul was here thanking God for what was happening through the trials and the difficulties this church was facing. Their faith grew exceedingly, and their love for everyone abounded. Their love for one another began to overflow.

The word for love here is "agape" in Greek. There are several words used in the New Testament for the word love that is translated into English as love. Agape is the word associated with the love of God, the love described in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It is often translated in our Bibles, especially in the King James Version, as charity. This kind of agape love manifests itself in a way that is charitable; it gives to other people self-sacrificingly, without desiring to receive anything in return.

We just celebrated Christmas. How many of you gave somebody a gift on Christmas? All of us did. We gave something. If we have something, we gave to somebody. However, a lot of times, and I don't think any of you fall into this classification, people give to receive. They give something with the expectation that they will get something in return. But here, agape, the love of God, is the love that gives without trying to get anything.

We see God's love displayed in such a beautiful way in the New Testament. God demonstrated His love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son with no desire or intent to try and get anything from us. In response, we begin to love Him back. We love Him because He first loved us, as the Scriptures say. Our love for God is a response to the way He has loved us and shown us His love.

As we receive God's love and begin to love God, that love will overflow towards others. We are told here that this church was a church that grew in faith and that their charity abounded toward one another. Even though they were going through difficulty, they still found a way to be a giving church. As you read through the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament, you find that this church and the church at Philippi, two churches that suffered and went through difficulty, were the most giving churches of all the New Testament churches. The churches of Macedonia exemplified this spirit of generosity.

That was the region that Philippi and Thessalonica were in. Those churches were the most giving and charitable, and their love was evident to all. It was a great testimony. They were growing in faith and in love—the agape charitable love that we read of in the Scriptures.

We also read in verse 4, "so that we ourselves glory in you." Paul says we boast about you. How cool would that be to have the Apostle Paul boasting about you? He was going around telling people, "The church at Thessalonica, that's a church to follow. That's a church to be like." We glory in you because of your faith and your love, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience of faith.

Not only were they a church that was charitable, but they also had faith and patience of faith. They were long-suffering, going through difficulty. Patience of faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. The word "endure" and the word "patience" are often associated with hope in the New Testament.

You see, you will be more apt to endure, to patiently go through something if you know that something good is going to come out on the other side. How many of you went to college to get a degree? Several of you did. If you knew your third year into college that there was nothing going to come from it, that there was no way they were going to give you a degree, and all you were going to have at the end was student loans, how many of you would have quit?

There's got to be something on the other side. You don't just go through the difficulties, trials, and tribulations of school, of studying, of college, for nothing. There's a reason for it. You will endure; you will patiently go through it; you will suffer long if you recognize that there's something coming out on the other side.

Paul told the church at Corinth that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. The Bible declares that there is a life after this life. This is not all there is. When we have that expectation, when we have that hope, then we will patiently endure. If there was no hope, if there was nothing after this life, then there's really no reason to live. A lot of times, a person who loses hope...

The type of person who oftentimes takes their life does so because they have no hope for what is to come. There is really no reason to endure, to patiently wait, or to continue steadfastly. Their endurance and patience reveal that they are a church filled with hope. Paul says, "You have faith that grows exceedingly, you have love that abounds towards all, and you are a church that's filled with hope."

Now, I want you to turn back to 1 Thessalonians 1 for a moment because I want you to look at what Paul said in the first few verses. It starts very much the same way: "Paul and Silas and Timothy unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." That sounds just like 2 Thessalonians. "Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

We give thanks to God always for you, always making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your labor of love—that's the charity—and your patience of hope. You see, there are those three characteristics once again: faith, hope, and love. I believe these are the characteristics of a maturing or mature believer. These are the things you will find in a person who is maturing in their walk with the Lord. They are growing in their faith, abounding in charitable love towards others, and they possess hope. This means they will patiently endure and face trials because they have hope that this is not all there is.

Notice what else we read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Paul says in verse 8, "Be sober, walk circumspectly, open your eyes, be awake, and put on faith, hope, and love." These were the three things he encouraged this church to grow in. When he writes to them in his second letter, even though they are going through difficult times and many of them are discouraged, he says, "I boast about you because you are a church that has faith, hope, and love." Those things should be present in my life as well.

Faith should be in your life because it reveals that we are growing in our walk with the Lord. We're going to be in the book of Hebrews in just a few weeks, and you're going to see that faith, hope, and love are key themes in this book. Hebrews is all about growing to maturity. Those 13 chapters focus on a Christian becoming mature in Christ and leaving behind the elementary teachings we learn at the very beginning.

The author says to this church, "Your faith grows exceedingly, your love abounds towards all, and you are patient and endure in tribulation. You have hope." This hope is the manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. They weren't suffering for nothing; they were suffering because they were God's children and part of His kingdom. They looked forward with hope to His coming kingdom, enduring these sufferings because it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those who trouble you, as stated in verse 6.

There is something else to hope in: recognizing that God is going to be the judge. "Vengeance is mine," the Lord says, "I will repay." I think that was one of the strengths of David, the great king in the Old Testament who wrote many of the Psalms of Israel. He was not a perfect man, but one of the key things that was commendable about King David is that he recognized God as his defender. God was his shield, just as David says in Psalm 3, "The Lord is my shield; He is the lifter of my head."

David had the opportunity, twice, to take King Saul's life when Saul was persecuting him and causing him trouble and tribulation. Yet, David knew that God was his defender and that God would recompense or repay those who troubled him. This is a hard thing for us to swallow sometimes because we often think that vengeance is justified. We are told that vengeance is not a good thing, but God is the one who will repay. He is the judge, a righteous and just judge.

Sometimes, we want to be the ones to take vengeance for ourselves. If someone wrongs us or does something that crosses our path, we want to enact justice. I know this, at least for myself.

Because when I'm driving down the freeway and someone goes flying by at 90 miles an hour and cuts me off, I wish I was a cop right now. I would like to take justice and vengeance. I would pull him over and give him a ticket.

Now, of course, we love mercy for ourselves. When we're the ones doing the cutting off, we pray, "Oh Lord, please don't let that be a cop." When we look in the rearview mirror and our hearts jump at the thought of a cop behind us, we all know what that feels like. We love mercy for ourselves, but we want to enact justice upon others.

However, here is the promise of the Scriptures: God is the one who will recompense tribulation upon those who trouble you. Paul, in chapter 1, is trying to encourage discouraged believers who are going through difficulty and trouble. He says, "And you who are troubled, rest with us."

This is a hard thing for us to do in the midst of tribulation. How do we rest when we're going through trials? Again, he points us forward. He reminds us that we will rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. There is coming a day of rest, a day when you and I will be removed from trial and suffering.

The Bible declares in the book of Revelation that He is going to come and wipe away every tear. We look forward to that. That is where our hope comes from: this is not all there is. There is coming a day when we will enter into that rest. If you have that mindset, if you are persuaded of this fact, you can face anything in this life.

Standing upon this truth, we know there is coming a day when Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.

The Lord is coming one day to give you and me, who trust in Him and have placed our faith in Him, rest. But for those who are unrighteous and have rebelled against Him, the Scriptures make it very clear that He will bring about justice and judgment upon them. It's not a pretty thing; it's not something we hope for. We do not look forward to the day of God's wrath upon the unrighteous, but we do recognize that day is coming, and it should inspire us to evangelism.

That there is coming a day of vengeance should cause us to want to share the truth of the Gospel with people who don't know Him. In reality, when we begin to grasp the justice, the wrath, and the punishment of Almighty God, we don't want anybody to go through that. Even someone we might consider our enemy, we wouldn't want them to face that.

When we have an understanding of the rest that we shall receive from Christ and the recompense that is going to come upon those who are unrighteous, it should motivate us to share the Gospel truth with those who don't know the Lord. We read in verse 10, "When He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day."

Wherefore, Paul says, "We pray always for you." He emphasizes that he is praying always for the church, that our God would count them worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power. This is so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in them and they in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Chapter 1, Paul is speaking to a church that is discouraged because they are going through difficulties. He encourages them with the truth of the coming Kingdom of God and the rest that we shall receive in that. He reassures them that God is the rewarder of those who seek Him, as well as those who rebel against Him. He will reward those who rebel, and the wages of sin is death. There is coming a day when He will judge those who are unrighteous, but it is the desire of Paul—and my desire as well—that you, as the body of Christ, would grow, walk worthy of the calling wherewith you have been called, and fulfill all of God's good pleasure, just as Paul prays for this church.

Now, in Chapter 2, he shifts and begins to speak again about the coming day of the Lord. Look at this in verse 1: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him, that you do not be soon shaken in mind or troubled." This church was troubled because of outside influences. They were experiencing tribulation and difficulty due to various events happening in the city of Thessalonica. There were people who were against the Christians, many of whom were the Jews that were part of the synagogue in that city—the very same Jews who kicked Paul out of the city.

Did the church have an external problem? They had an internal confusion and problem as well. They were troubled in mind and shaken because of some sort of letter that came to them or some sort of word. Notice what he says: that you be not soon shaken or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ was at hand or is now happening, is present. He says, "I don't want you to be shaken and troubled because somebody came to you and said, 'I have a word from the Lord,' or 'I've had a prophetic vision,' or 'Paul sent me a letter just to tell me that the day of the Lord has come. The day of Christ is now here.'"

Now that brings up a very interesting question: What is the day of the Lord? What is the day of Christ? The only way that you can begin to understand what this day is, is as you read through the Scriptures, especially the Old Testament. I want to take us back to some passages in the Old Testament, and we're going to start with Isaiah chapter 61.

Back in the Old Testament, about the middle of your Bible, open to about the middle of your Bible and go right. You'll come to the book of Isaiah, chapter 61. In Isaiah 61, verse 1, we read a passage that Jesus spoke. He read it in Luke chapter 4. Remember when Jesus went to the city of Nazareth, his own home city? He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and they gave him the scroll of Isaiah. He read from this passage in Isaiah 61.

It says in Isaiah 61, verse 1, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

Now Jesus stopped there, closed the scroll, and sat down. He told the people there that today this is fulfilled in your hearing. He says, "I've come." Jesus came 2,000 years ago to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Now he is going to come again in the future, and we read in verse 2 of chapter 61 that he has come to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God. When we read of the acceptable year of the Lord, we're talking about the period of time that you and I are now living in. From the time that Jesus came until now, we are living in the acceptable year of our Lord. It's a period of time where man is able.

To receive forgiveness from God by grace through faith, we are living in this acceptable year of the Lord. Jesus came to proclaim it at His first coming. Remember, the first thing that He preached was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." We are in the midst of the acceptable year of the Lord.

Now, has it been longer than one year? It's been 2,000 years. This is a long period of time during which God's grace has been poured out upon mankind. However, there is coming a day of vengeance of our God. Notice the difference in time periods: the acceptable year of our Lord has lasted for 2,000 years, but there is coming a day of vengeance. This is a very short period of time, but it is still a length of time; it is not just one day.

There is a time when God will pour out justice and wrath upon this world, specifically on a Christ-rejecting and sinful world. This is referred to in the Scriptures as the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, or the day of the vengeance of our God. Anytime you read about it—whether in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, or Daniel—you will find that the day of God, the day of our God, the day of the Lord, or the day of Christ is always associated with vengeance, destruction, recompense, wrath, fierce anger, and terrible darkness.

Does any of this sound good? No, it is not something that you and I look forward to. As we saw last week in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, it is not something that we will experience when we talk about the wrath of God. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 that we are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You and I have obtained salvation because we have received Him by faith during the acceptable year of our Lord. However, there is coming this day of wrath. The Bible discusses it in many different places. Let me just read a few of them to you. In Isaiah chapter 13, it speaks of this day. Does that sound good? No. In Joel chapter 1, verse 15, it states, "Alas, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it is destruction."

From the Almighty it has come. In Joel chapter 2, one chapter later, it says, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm from my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble. My holy mountain, let the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord comes, for it is nigh and at hand." The Lord shall utter His voice before His army, for His camp is very great, and He is strong that executes His word. The day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can abide it, or who can stand in the midst of it? The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord.

In the very next chapter, in Joel chapter 3, verse 14, it says, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, the day of the Lord in the valley of decision." These references to the day of the Lord make it very clear that it is a time of wrath, a time of destruction. It's not something that you and I anticipate with excitement, thinking, "Ooh, the day of the Lord is coming." No, we look at it with dread, understanding that you and I are not appointed to wrath if we've placed our faith and trust in Christ Jesus.

Now, Paul here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 says, "Don't be deceived about this day of the Lord." He states, "Do not be soon shaken in your mind or troubled, neither by spirit, or by word, nor by letter as from us, that the day of Christ had already come." You see, somebody had told this church that they were in the midst of it and were going to face it. Again, Paul told them in his last letter, "You're not appointed to wrath; you're not going to experience it. Let no man deceive you."

In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, he writes, "Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there comes a falling away first and that the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." This day of the Lord is not going to come until two things happen that Paul tells us. He warns, "Don't let anybody deceive you," because there is a lot of deception out there about the day of the Lord. In fact, this is a common theme when the day of the Lord is spoken about. Jesus spoke about it in Matthew chapter 24. Let me read to you what He said in verses 4 and 5: "Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name saying, 'I am the Christ,' and shall deceive many." Then down in verse 9...

Of the same chapter, Jesus says, "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and many shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise and deceive many."

So, Jesus, when talking about this day of the Lord, indicates that there is a lot of deception that surrounds it. He warns us not to allow anybody to deceive us. Paul expresses the same sentiment when he writes to the church at Thessalonica. He says, "Don't let any man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except for two things."

The first thing we are told is that there shall be a great falling away. The word "falling away" in the original language is "apostasia" in Greek. It is where we get our word "apostasy," and it means a departure, a forsaking, or a defection. We will see this when we get into 2 Timothy in a couple of weeks, where it says that Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. He committed apostasy; he departed from Paul.

The word "apostasia" is seen in the Bible only a couple of times, and it always refers to a negative occurrence—people fleeing from or rejecting Christianity or the faith, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Paul also tells us, as we will see in 1 and 2 Timothy, that this coming apostasy is going to happen.

If you would, look in 2 Thessalonians and then flip one book to the right to 1 Timothy, chapter 4. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 1, Paul says, "Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons." They have been deceived and are going to depart from the faith, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared as with a hot iron, and so forth.

Then, flip over to 2 Timothy, one more book to the right. In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, Paul says in verse 1, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection."

True spitbreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof. From such, turn away.

In 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 3, Paul says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts, they shall heap up for themselves teachers having itching ears. They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." Paul says to the church, "But watch thou in all things; endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and make full proof of your ministry." He warns that in the last days, people are going to depart from the faith. There is going to be this apostasia. Many people are going to be deceived, and they are going to fall away.

Paul states that the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord's wrath, is not going to come until the apostasia happens first. In every age and in every generation, there have been those who have fallen away from the faith, those who have departed from Christianity and the truths of Scripture. However, the Scripture makes it very clear that there is coming a day when there will be a mass exodus, and people will depart from the faith. I don't think we've seen this yet.

The second indicator of the wrath of God coming in the very last days is that the man of sin shall be revealed. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, Paul asks, "Who is the man of sin and the son of perdition?" Notice what else Paul says about him. He describes this man of sin and son of perdition as one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Paul reminds us, "Remember you not that when I was with you, I told you these things?" That's an interesting verse. We'll get to that in a second. And now you know what withholds that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does already work. Only he who now lets will let until he be taken out of the way. Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit.

Of his mouth, He shall destroy with all the brightness of His coming. Now, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness and unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved.

Now, this one that's going to be coming, called the man of sin and the son of perdition, is said to sit in the temple and claim that he is God. Who does that? The Antichrist. That's right. The book of Revelation reveals, and also Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 17 reveal, that there is coming a day when a man is going to sit in the temple. What temple? Well, the temple in Jerusalem. Is there a temple in Jerusalem today? There isn't.

There was a temple in Jerusalem when Paul wrote this in AD 50 to 52, but that temple was destroyed in AD 70 by Titus, the Roman governor, who came and destroyed the temple, and it hasn't been there since. There is a lot of fighting going on in Jerusalem and in Israel today. Even as we speak, there are bombs falling in the Gaza Strip because of the great conflict between the Jews and the Palestinians, and that conflict is going to continue for who knows how long.

It started after May 14, 1948, when the Jews became a nation, gathering together again as the nation of Israel. Ever since then, there has been this war and struggle over that little piece of ground called the Temple Mount, just west of the Mount of Olives, which is really the big sticking point. Right now, there is a big golden dome on it that is seen as one of the most holy sites of the Muslims. There is a lot of open space there, and many Jews are hoping that one day they will be able to rebuild their temple.

I believe the Scriptures, and I will tell you that one day there will be a temple built there. After that temple is built, there is coming a time when a great world leader of some sort is going to go in there and claim that he is God. When that happens, basically what Paul is telling this church, and what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, is that this is one of the key signs of the coming great and terrible day of the Lord.

Turn, if you would, to Matthew 24 just briefly. Jesus' disciples asked Him, "What shall be the sign of your coming?"

At the end of the age, the disciples wanted to know when this great tribulation time would come. Jesus said, "Don't let anybody deceive you," just as Paul said to the church at Thessalonica. He warned that many would come in His name, saying, "I am the Christ." In verse 5 of Matthew 24, He stated that they would deceive many.

Jesus continued, "You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." Wars and rumors of wars are not the sign. Nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places, and these are the beginning of sorrows. Jesus emphasized that wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes, and famines are not the signs; they are just the beginning.

Then, He said, "They shall deliver you up to affliction and kill you, and you shall be hated by all nations for My name's sake." Many will be offended, betray one another, and hate one another. Persecution is going to come for the church, and many false prophets shall arise and deceive many. Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold. However, he that endures to the end shall be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. Then, the end shall come.

All the things that Jesus mentioned from verse 4 to verse 14 are events that will take place in the world from the time Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts chapter 1 until the great and terrible day of the Lord. Now, He tells us what the sign is. In verse 15, it says, "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet in the holy place, that is when the great and terrible day of the Lord is about to come."

Daniel the prophet tells us in Daniel chapters 9, 11, and 12 that there is coming a day when this wicked man will stand in the temple, in the holy of holies, and proclaim himself to be God. He will commit what is called the abomination of desolation. Paul states that this great and terrible day of the Lord will not come except there be a great falling away. Many will be deceived and fall away, and the man of sin will be revealed—the one who will commit the abomination of desolation, just as Jesus said.

We are told that great tribulation shall come, like the world has never seen before, as stated in verse 21 of Matthew chapter 24. For then shall great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be, come. That's when the Lord is going to bring His wrath upon a Christ-rejecting and sinful world.

Paul reassures the church at Thessalonica, telling them not to worry; the day of the Lord has not come yet. They were discouraged and fearful that they were already in the midst of it. Paul says, "Don't be afraid that you're in the midst of it. It's not going to happen until these things happen first, until this man of sin is revealed."

Is this an important teaching for the church? I believe it is. Paul told the church at Thessalonica in 2 Thessalonians 2:5, "Remember you not when I was with you? I told you these things." Paul was only in the city of Thessalonica for three weeks, and in that short time, he thought it important enough to warn them that this day would one day come. He provided them with instruction about how and when it will come.

When it comes, we are told that we are not going to be appointed to that wrath that shall come. The day of judgment is going to come upon those who, as stated in verse 10 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved. That day of God's wrath will come upon those who have not received the love of the truth.

What is the truth? Jesus said, "I am the truth," in John chapter 14, verse 6. For this cause, God shall send them, as stated in verse 11, a strong delusion, and they shall believe a lie. In the original language, it says they shall believe the lie. What is the lie? I don't fully know what the lie is, but Paul also discusses it in Romans chapter 1, where he mentions that those who are appointed to wrath believe the lie. They might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

However, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of God, because God has...

From the beginning, God has chosen you. He says we give thanks to the Lord for you, church, because God chose you. What did He choose them for? To salvation, in verse 13, through sanctification. God wants to clean us. He wants to transform us. He wants to remove everything that is evil and everything that is wicked from my life and yours. He does so by pruning.

Now, none of us really like pruning; it's not an enjoyable thing. But God wants to purify us, and so He is sanctifying us. Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you. Not only has God chosen us, but He has called us by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verse 14, therefore, brethren, stand fast. Since God has chosen you and since God has called you, He says, "Church, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have heard and been taught." The word "traditions" there does not refer to coming to church on Sunday or partaking of communion the first Sunday of each month. It's not those kinds of traditions. It's the doctrine that has been handed down. He says to hold fast to the doctrine, the teaching that has been handed down, which you have been taught, whether by word or by letter.

Now, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, who has loved us, has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. He says, "May the Lord establish you and may He comfort you."

In chapter 1, He encourages discouraged believers. In chapter 2, He speaks to those who are fearful that they were already in the midst of this great, vengeful, wrathful day of the Lord, which no believer in Christ is appointed to. But in chapter 3, He speaks to those who had become lazy. This is often a problem in the church when the church gets focused on the second coming of the Lord and what is often called the rapture of the church.

This happened about twenty years ago when a book came out, and the evangelical church believed that the day of the Lord was going to come in 1988. They believed that they were going to be raptured in 1981 and that they wouldn't be here.

Christians stopped paying their mortgages and dropped out of college. They went and sat on mountaintops, saying they were just going to wait for the Lord to come. Then 1981 came and went, and the Lord didn't return. He didn't come back for His church and rapture them out. The man who wrote that book then published a new one, offering reasons why he was wrong and claiming the Lord would come in 1989 and 1988. But here we sit in 2008, on the verge of 2009, and the Lord hasn't returned yet.

This is often a problem. When people focus on the rapture of the church and the second coming of the Lord, they tend to check out and decide they won't do anything. Yet, the Lord has given us a commission and a command to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. We have been called to preach the gospel to everything that breathes. Therefore, we have work to do until He comes. We are to walk circumspectly, in sanctification and in honor.

However, there was a group of people in the church at Thessalonica who decided not to do any of that. Notice what Paul says: "Finally, brethren, chapter 3, verse 1, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, as it was with you." Paul was doing what he was supposed to be doing; he was preaching the gospel. He asked that they may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all men have faith.

But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil. That is a great verse, a memory verse to hold on to. God is faithful, and He is the one who establishes us and keeps us from evil. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things which we command you. He says, "Listen, I trust that you're going to do what I'm going to tell you to do."

And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. This is what you are to be doing: preaching the gospel and waiting for the coming of the Lord. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly and not after the tradition—the doctrine which he has received from us. He says to depart from everyone who walks disorderly.

When I read "depart from everybody who walks disorderly," I have many ideas in my mind about what a disorderly believer looks like. Maybe they are that sinful brother who is committing fornication.

Or that person who has gone off into drunkenness or is greedy for money—maybe that would fall under the classification of disorderly. The word "disorderly" literally means walking out of step or out of rank. How many of you have a military background and have marched before? A few of you have. I don't have a military background, but I'm almost afraid to admit it. When I was in junior high school, I was in the marching band. That's right. We marched, and we were supposed to be in step.

I was one of the main guides there, responsible for making sure we were in step. There were always people looking to see if the angles were correct and the lines were straight, ensuring we were all in step. The body of Christ is to be marching forward in unison. We are to strive to keep the unity of the body. Yet, there are those who are disorderly, which literally means to be out of step or out of rank. An army that looks out of step and out of rank is not together.

So, Paul says to depart from those who are disorderly, who are out of step. He reminds us that we know how we ought to follow him. He says we are supposed to note the way that he walked, for he did not behave disorderly among us. He emphasizes that he was not out of step when he was with us; he was not disorderly. He was an example to us.

Neither did he eat any man's bread for nothing, but labored night and day so that he would not be chargeable to any of us. This was not because he lacked power, but to make himself an example for us to follow. He walked in a way that we could say, "That's the way I'm supposed to walk. That's the step I'm to be in. That's the rank I’m to follow." As a result, Paul did not receive anything from us while he was there; he worked with his hands.

He commanded us that if anyone would not work, neither should he eat. This is an interesting verse. We hear that there are some who walk among you disorderly. There are some who walk out of rank and out of step, working not at all, but being busybodies. Here was the problem: there was a group of people in Thessalonica who had checked out. They said, "Hey, the Lord is coming. The rapture of the..."

The church is coming. We don't have to work, and so we're just going to live off everybody else. Paul says that's disorderly. This is a little bit different from what we may have thought. When we think of disorderly conduct as Christians, we often envision a person walking in drunkenness, fornication, or some sort of wicked sin. Yet Paul says this is disorderly: those who have decided not to do the work that the Lord wants them to do, choosing instead to check out and live off of everybody else. Paul states, "Hey, those that do not work, neither should they eat." This behavior is disorderly.

Not only did they neglect the work that God had called them to, but they also became busybodies. A busybody is someone who always has their nose in other people's business and affairs. Therefore, Paul instructs us to stay away from these people. In verse 12, he commands and exhorts us by the Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. He emphasizes that we should encourage them to go out and get a job. I know some people who could benefit from that verse.

But you, brethren, do not grow weary in well-doing, just as he told the church at Galatia. Don't become tired of doing the work that God has called you to. If any man does not obey the word by this epistle or letter, note that man and have no company with him so that he may be ashamed. Paul advises that if there are people in your fellowship living in this manner, you should mark them and say, "Okay, that guy is living this way," and refrain from fellowship with them. This is to ensure they understand they cannot be part of the body while living disorderly.

However, Paul clarifies that we should not count them as enemies. In verse 15, he instructs us to admonish or exhort them and encourage them as a brother. We should come alongside them and say, "Listen, we want you to fellowship with us, but you're not living in an orderly manner. You can't walk with us in step." We need them to be in step and in rank together with us so we can march forward.

Ultimately, the Lord of peace Himself gives you peace always, by all means. The Lord be with you all. It comes down to the Lord and His peace guiding and directing us, with the Lord being present in our midst. But can two walk together if they are not agreed? The Scripture makes it very clear that if we are not unified, if we are not in agreement, in step, and in rank, then how can we walk together?

How can we have any fellowship? What fellowship has light with darkness? Paul says to exhort and encourage the disorderly brother, the person who has checked out and decided, "I'm not going to be a part of the work. I'm just going to let others take care of it because the Lord's coming. I don't have anything to do." But Paul says, "No, not so."

He finishes the letter in verse 17 with the salutation of Paul with mine own hand. This is important because Paul often signed the letters that were written. He would dictate the letter, and someone else would write the whole letter out, but he would sign it in his own hand. He states, "This salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is a token in every epistle, so I write."

Why did Paul include this? In chapter 2, it appears that someone had written a counterfeit letter claiming to be from Paul, which scared the church. Paul reassures them, saying, "You know that in all my letters I sign them when I send them to you." Thus, he concludes with the salutation of Paul with my own hand, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."

One of the things I appreciate about this is that it opens and closes with grace. Sometimes there are disorderly brothers or sisters in the body of Christ, and we are to encourage and exhort them in Christ to walk in step, to be in rank. However, it must always be by the rule of grace. May it be grace seasoned with salt.

There are times, however, when we feel we cannot fellowship with someone because there is no communion, no koinonia, as they are not walking in step. Many of you know what I'm talking about because you've had friends in the body of Christ, brothers and sisters who are part of the church, who were not walking in step. They were living in a disorderly manner. It may not have been something you could label as sin, but you could say, "It's just not right. It's just not quite in step." Consequently, you might think, "I just don't know if I can hang out with that person."

Yet, we are to encourage and exhort them to get back in step. Why? The day of the Lord is coming, and there is much work to be done until He comes. We are to occupy until the Lord returns and preach the gospel at all times until He returns. Next week, we will delve into Paul's pastoral epistles, where he writes to Timothy and Titus, speaking to them very clearly about the work. One of the things Paul says to Timothy is to be ready in season and out of season, to convince, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Preach the word. Do the work of an evangelist. We are living, I believe, in the last days. We're seeing things come to pass that the Scriptures speak of, the things that come before the day of the Lord. Living in the days that we're in, we need to be ready in season and out of season. We need to be in step, walking in rank, marching as one unit, and fulfilling the work that God has called us to.

I think that 1st and 2nd Thessalonians speak to that very clearly. Yes, the day of the Lord is coming. Yes, we are not appointed to wrath, and for that, we praise God abundantly. But until He returns, there's work to be done. My prayer and my hope is that every single person that's a part of Calvary Chapel Escondido is engaged in and in step with the work that God is doing.

Perhaps tonight, as we're reading through the Word, you may realize that you are a little out of step. There are very clear things that the Scriptures declare we are to do to get into step. That's why we study the Word the way that we do on Saturday nights, going through every book of the Bible to see what it is the Lord would speak to us.

May we take it to heart that the Lord comes quickly. Even so, Lord Jesus, come. We look forward to the day He comes.

Let's stand and pray. Father, I do thank You for this passage of Scripture in this book, and I pray that You would cause us to take it to heart, Lord. Help us to take heed to what Your Word has to say and to be those who are rightly dividing Your Word of truth and declaring the truth of Your Word to those that don't know You.

Especially as we have the opportunity during the holiday season, with one more holiday coming up here, as we step into a new year and spend time with friends and family this week, would You give us the words to speak and to declare the truth of the gospel? For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.