Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20020707.htm

2 THESSALONIANS: BLESSING BY RIGHT ESCHATOLOGY
Part III: Blessing By TRUSTING GOD'S HELP to STAY In The Truth
(2 Thessalonians 3:1-5)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Over the years, some who have attended our Church have expressed the fear of being misled into ERROR since they are confronted with so much of it both outside the Church as well as inside even reputable Christian groups:

(1) Various believers have reported the opposition they have faced from extended family or associates they have who are opposed to what we teach at Nepaug! One man reported his whole family has been repeatedly pressured while visiting in a relative's home to recant their beliefs and "return" to their former errant religious religion!

(2) Then, I was told by a reputable believer a marriage in our area is unraveling due to the views of a nationally-known Evangelical.

(3) A professor of theology at Bethel College and Seminary, Roger E. Olson, asserts we should depart from the idea of absolute truth as Evangelicals have viewed it to develop a "post-conservative'" idea of relative truth (Armstrong, The Coming Evangelical Crisis, p. 36-37). In the same vein, J Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh of the Institute for Christian Study in Toronto, Canada are calling for a complete departure from absolute truth in Evangelical circles! (Ibid.)

(4) Outside the Church, two months after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, told Georgetown University students that America's belief it holds to absolute truth has made America appear conceited and self-righteous to Muslim terrorists so that it would become a target for them! "Nobody's got the truth,' he told students. You're at a university which basically believes that no one ever has the whole truth, ever . . . We are incapable of ever having the whole truth.'" Thus, the solution in this former President's mind to the terrorist problem is for America to back away from asserting it can know absolute truth like what we teach from the Bible! [One wonders if he would apply the same idea to the terrorists whose convictions led to their attack!] (cf. John MacArthur, Why One Way?, p. 20-21)



In view of the CHALLENGE to TRUTH in the WORLD, let alone in CHRISTIAN circles, should we FEAR ever LOSING the truth? WHY or why NOT?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "In view of the OPPOSITION to God's TRUTH in our world, let alone the ERRORS that exist in even Gospel-preaching churches, should we fear WE will LOSE ACCESS to God's truth?"
  1. When Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians, his letter arrived to a group of believers UNDER SIEGE regarding God's TRUTHS:
    1. Paul's readers were troubled by unbelievers opposed to the truth:
      1. Paul as well as the Thessalonian believers themselves had felt the persecution of Judaizers for their Christian faith, Acts 17:1-4, 5-10.
      2. So angry were these unsaved opponents that they even chased Paul out of Berea where he had fled from Thessalonica, Acts 17:10-16.
    2. These believers were troubled by error within the Church:
      1. Though Paul had taught these Thessalonians the Rapture would come before the Great Tribulation (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 5:1-10), word from either an alleged prophetic utterance ("by spirit"), a teacher ("by word") or an epistle from an alleged reputable party ("by letter as from us") claimed the Great Tribulation had already come, implying the rapture was not PREtribulational, cf. 2 Thess. 2:2b.
      2. Hence, these Thessalonians were troubled, and tempted to be shaken about Paul's Pretribulation Rapture view, 2 Thess. 2:2a; Paul had thus written to certify the rapture would occur before the future Great Tribulation, cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-17.
  2. Yet, PAUL expressed great CONFIDENCE in GOD'S DESIRE and ABILITY to PRESERVE the TRUTH in the TRUE Church:
    1. Paul asked the Thessalonian believers to pray for his evangelistic team that God's Word might "spread rapidly" and "be honored," 3:1.
    2. This request came against the backdrop of vexing opposition from opponents to the Gospel OUTSIDE the Church, 2 Thessalonians 3:2:
      1. Requesting intercession for the Gospel's spread and honor arose from Paul's experience of being hounded in his outreach efforts by men who were "improper" in an insulting way, UBS Grk. N.T., p. 717; Moulton & Milligan, Vocab. of the Grk. N.T., p. 90.
      2. Paul also requested prayer for deliverance from what the Greek text calls ponayron men, or men who are aggressively evil, Ibid., UBS Grk. N.T., p. 718; Trench, Synonyms of the N.T., p. 315-316.
      3. Such men were so troublesome since, not belonging to Christ, were led by Satan to hound Paul, 3:2c with John 8:44; Ephesians 2:2.
    3. Nevertheless, REGARDLESS of this difficulty, Paul expressed how reliable was God Who would OVERCOME Satan's efforts to try ruining their faith as follows (2 Thessalonians 3:3-5):
      1. First, the Lord would "firmly fix, strengthen" (stayriksei) Paul's readers, Ibid., UBS Grk. N.T.; Arndt & Ging., A Greek-Engl. Lex. of the N.T., p. 775. This applies to their staying with the truth versus pressures of insulting, aggressively evil opponents let alone misleading, errant teachings from within the Church (the context).
      2. Second, the Lord would guard them (fulaksei), Ibid., UBS Grk. N.T.; Ibid., Arndt. & Ging., p. 876. This guarding applies to being shielded by God in their stand for the truth amidst the pressures of insulting, aggressively evil opponents, not to mention strongly misleading, errant teachings within the Church (see the context).
      3. Third, this strengthening and protection would be in reference to the highest ENEMY, Satan, the Evil One behind such trials:
        1. The word rendered, "evil" in 3:3b has the article, and in the context of Paul's letters to the Thessalonians refers to "The Evil One," or Satan, UBS Grk. N.T.; Hendriksen, I-II Thess., p. 195.
        2. Hence, even Satan, the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4) and father of all unsaved men (John 8:44) would be held at bay by God from forcing these new converts into any error!
    4. So confident was Paul in God's ministry to them, he expressed his confidence the Thessalonians were even then doing what God wanted them to do [as they of course depended on Him (Heb. 4:1)], and would direct their hearts this way into God's love and Christ's perseverance as they kept heeding the Lord's leading, 2 Thess. 3:4-5.
Application: For not only ACCESS to God's truth, but even SURE GROWTH in it, (1) we need to believe on Christ as did the Thessalonians to be justified by God and come under His care, John 3:16; Romans 8:31. (2) Then, whether we face insulting, aggressively evil opponents to the truth outside the Church, or errors from allegedly reputable parties within it, (a) by trusting the Lord, (b) He WILL strengthen and guard us from even the WORST that SATAN can throw our way to get us apart from the truth, and we will even GROW in God's truth in the process!

Lesson: God is so POWERFUL and so WILLING to strengthen and guard believers' in the truth who DEPEND on Him that the WORST errors WITHIN the CHURCH, or the WORST opponents to the truth OUTSIDE the Church, including SATAN himself, the believer's WORST enemy, CANNOT BUDGE such believers FROM the TRUTH! >

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 While I was typing up this sermon, I received a telephone call from a believer in our Church about an incident that occurred in her recent past.

The believer had previously experienced many years of verbal persecution from a real mind-distorting Christian associate to the point where she had heeded the teaching in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 to withdraw instituting social contact with this persecuting party. It appeared to be the only way to avoid being mentally "set up" for hurt.

Well, quite unexpectedly, this believer's path crossed that of this difficult party in an eye doctor's waiting room! There, the opponent confronted her in a rather "baiting" kind of way with a different pitch to the voice so that this believer (who can not visually identify others due to eye problems) did not at first know who it was.

The believer innocently got into a general conversation with this party, being vulnerable to the opponent's wiles until she could identify in the middle of the conversation who the troublesome opponent was!

However, so wonderfully protective and directing was the Lord in the whole conversation, that this believer was able DEFTLY to circumvent any mentally "entrapping" efforts by her usually skillful "mind-game playing" abusive opponent, and was able politely to leave the office without the usual hurt that eventually would always occur.

So excited and pleased was this believer over GOD'S equipping and protection in this encounter that she called me to express her JOY at the way GOD had led her to spiritual victory in the whole event!



Our God CARES about us, is ABLE to help us and is WILLING to strengthen and GUARD us from sin and error, no matter WHAT pressures of DECEPTION we face. Whether the issue is the error in the WORLD or in the Christian community or CHURCH, He is the One Who takes the CARE of our MINDS to heart when we LEAN upon Him!