Stand Fast

Those of you who are listening at home may think that the church is full. Well, we've exceeded ten by a few people, but everyone's been up here on the platform singing. And so, hopefully, it gave you a sense of our congregation singing together even as you sing at home. It gave us the sense here, that's for sure. Take your Bibles this morning and let's turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

We'll be looking this morning at verses 13 through 17. If you would, you follow along as I read God's word. Verse 13. But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope, through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Let's pray. Father, we're thankful that you are with us all no matter where we are, and that your Spirit can teach us all no matter where we are.

We are thankful for your word today. We're thankful that it can speak to us. And Father, we pray that as we understand your word, you would give us the desire to look to you in faith and to step out in confidence in order that we might stand fast in the doctrine that you have given us. Thank you now for your goodness to us, even in this difficult time. we pray now that your word would minister to us we pray it in jesus name amen of course everybody i would assume knows that tom brady has signed with the buccaneers now i don understand frankly and i no sports analyst but I trying to understand why a team would sign a 42 quarterback as good as he is But my guess is they're pretty confident in his ability.

They're very confident that he has the ability to lead their team. However, I don't think they're going to call off practices. I think they're going to get together, probably near as summer begins, as the training camps start. I think they're still going to get together to practice because their confidence does not mean that they that they can quit doing what they're supposed to do they're still dependent on putting a team together and being and dependent on those practices in order to accomplish so they're confident and yet they're dependent and that's what we want to see today in the word of God as Paul speaks to us about confidence and dependence now let's remember what's transpired as we look through these scriptures.

The congregation of Thessalonica has been shaken in its beliefs because they had received some kind of teaching. Some kind of teaching had come to them which said the day of the Lord had come. And because they believed that, it caused a great deal of alarm and confusion. So Paul writes them and reaffirms to them what he had taught them when he was there.

And that is the fact that the day of the Lord had not yet come and that before it arrived there must be this greatest apostasy and the revelation of the man of lawlessness which who would lead this apostasy within the church we saw that satan will empower him with false miracles and signs that he will deceive many and his end will come with the appearance of jesus and glory who with a mere word will destroy this powerful wicked man now having said all that we spent the last few weeks looking through that, having said all that, what words would you expect Paul to say after all that? I would expect him to say, so then brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us. But that's not what he says.

Instead, he writes that he and the missions team have an obligation to thank them because of God's work in their lives. In other words, the reason they can obey this command to stand firm and hold fast is based on the work of God for them. And he reminds them of the work of God for them before he says stand fast Now you too must hold fast to the teachings of the apostles that you find in the word of God But like that congregation of long ago you can hold fast you can stand firm because of God work on your behalf.

So the first thing we see is that you must stand fast with confidence. Stand fast with confidence, verses 13 through 15. But we are always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth to this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ so then brothers stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us either by our spoken word or by our letter now notice you can stand fast because God chose you for salvation.

Yes, it's true. God chose you before you chose to believe in the Lord Jesus. In fact, we can say that you believed in Jesus because God took the initiative in choosing you. Let's face it, no one would choose God. God has to take the initiative. If he didn't choose you, you would never believe.

You would go your own way. But instead, he says, He emphasizes to them that God chose you to salvation. He says this particular congregation was the first fruits of God's choosing. That's a term from the Old Testament. Remember in the Old Testament that people would go out to the harvest, and the very first thing they would harvest, they would bring in and give it to God.

That is to say, they believed that God would produce the rest of the harvest, that this was the first of the harvest. And they believed that the rest would come. They showed that faith by bringing in what they first harvested and offering it to him as a sacrifice, if you will, giving it to God. And so he says this congregation is part of the first fruits of humanity.

They're the guarantee that God's still going to work. In fact, they're the first fruits of the harvest that we're a part of, right? Centuries later. But notice this. Notice the motive of his choice was love. He calls them brothers beloved by the Lord Make no mistake about it God did not love you and choose you because you were more attractive than all the other rascals around you Alright Now that how we love You fell in love with your husband because he was good looking, he made you laugh, and you really liked his intellect.

There were things about him that drew you to him. There were things about him that drew you to him. He wasn't repulsive. He was attractive for some reason. But that can't be why God chooses us. Let's turn to Ephesians 2 for a moment.

Ephesians 2. If there's any passage that talks about the grace of God in loving us and choosing us, it is this passage. Ephesians 2. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

Now, what is there here to attract God to us? There's nothing here but dead, enslaved, corrupted people, a pile of stinking corpses. There is nothing there to attract God's love. But notice what it goes on to say. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved. Even though there was nothing in us to attract him to us, that in fact there was so much in us that would repulse a holy God, yet he chose to love you and raise you from that unresponsive state. Nothing on our part attracted him to us, but he loved us because God is love. The reason for his love flows entirely from him, nothing from us.

And that's why the Apostle Paul says, it is by grace you have been saved, because he's just made the point that there is nothing in us, absolutely nothing in us, that would move God to love us. It is all of grace, right? His choosing demonstrates his love for you. Now let's go on. He says God chose you to be saved and he accomplished that by sanctifying you by means of the Spirit.

Now to sanctify essentially means to set apart or to consecrate. Most often it means that God or the Spirit, that God through the Spirit has set you apart in position. that is you are set apart from sin to God you occupy a holy position you're holy already in your position God sees you as holy but it's also used in the sense of not just position but practice that is you're becoming more holy you are growing in your sanctification so it's used of our positional set apart from sin set apart to God in a position right we occupy that position and then it's also used in the sense of being set apart from sin to God in practice as we grow in that holiness but here it carries the idea that the spirit of God has set you apart at your conversion you are set apart from the rest of humanity when you are converted when he gives you new life when he gives you new birth he sets you apart from the rest of humanity for the purpose of displaying that new birth by obedience, by your obedience to God. You see that, for example, in 1 Peter 1.

You can see it clearly stated. I think this is what Paul has in mind when he uses that term here. Look at 1 Peter 1. All right. He says, verse 1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, note, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.

So the Spirit sets us apart for sprinkling, that is, being cleansed, and for obedience. And that's how Paul uses the term here. You, God, accomplish your salvation by the Spirit setting you apart so that you would obey him. God by means of the Spirit sets you apart Notice as well God chose you to be saved through belief in the truth The fact that God chose you does not mean that you do nothing.

You must believe the gospel in order to be saved. But the outworking of God's election is that you believe the truth. What truth? well in the first epistle you remember he said near the end of that epistle for god has not destined us in first thessalonians chapter 5 verses 9 and 10 for god has not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation through our lord jesus christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him that is to say we have to believe that jesus died for us for us in our place as a substitute if we're going to live with him.

And that by that belief we are saved from the destruction that is certainly to come when he shows up to judge. When Jesus returns, those who have believed in him, in the one who died for us, we know that we're not destined for wrath. But whether we're alive or dead, we might live with him. So what does he say? He says you can stand fast with confidence because God has accomplished your salvation.

You will not stand fast because you're more clever or you're smarter or stronger than the average Joe, but because God has worked. God has worked. That's how you can stand. But he goes on. He says you can stand fast because God called you through the gospel. again god doesn't just choose whom he will save but he also chooses how they will be saved no one will be saved without the preaching of the gospel all right for those of you who struggle with the idea of god choosing us god doesn't just choose who's going to be saved he also chooses the means by which they will be saved and that is through the preaching of the gospel but the gods who chose you to salvation is the same God who makes sure that the message of salvation reaches you by the proclamation of the gospel Notice he said you were called by the gospel that we proclaim to you So the gospel of Jesus arrives and in it you hear the voice of God beckoning you to find real life in Christ But that call, notice, he says in our verse, that call does not just result in sins forgiven and a blessed life now, but joy forever.

For he says here, to this you were called, through our gospel so that you may obtain or you may possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That would be your possession. The very purpose of God's call in the gospel is to gather a people who will share in the glory of Jesus when he returns. Now for these people or any people who suffer persecution and humiliation because of their faith, God promises that they will share with Jesus and exalted honor before the entire world.

The idea of glory here is the idea in Paul's day, this idea of glory also carries with the idea of being honored, right? You're glorified, you're honored before the whole world. And so let's think through this. Jesus was judged a blasphemer and a criminal he was judged the scum of mankind but what happened God glorified him God exalted him in honor by what by raising him from the dead exalting him to the throne of authority at God's right hand and one day he will display that glory to all mankind okay now those who are united by jesus who are united to jesus by faith they may be considered the dregs of mankind we're starting to see that a little bit who are you christians you're a bunch of narrow-minded bigots unsophisticated fools worthy of disdain you are disgusting to us these people will be exalted in honor before all mankind and so what does that do to people like the thessalonians as we've seen in in in former sundays what do we see these people who are under persecution who are pressured socially who are persecuted by the government how does this help them they see yes we humiliated now yes we considered the dregs yes we scum but in the sight of the whole world but there coming a day because God has called us in the gospel to share in the honor that Jesus has when he displays his glory on the day he comes we will share in that and the whole world will see it and that will help us to what stand fast so then And because of what God has done and because of what God promises, what does he say?

Verse 15. He says, stand fast. Hold to the truth. Right? God from eternity past all the way to the glory of future eternity has guaranteed your salvation. On that basis, stand firm and hold fast to the truth of God.

Do not be swayed by any doctrine or teaching that does not line up with what you were taught. Listen. It's really easy when new doctrine comes along. Novel ideas come along to go with that because typically those novel ideas make us comfortable where we are. Right? They make us comfortable.

Much of the doctrine that floods the church today, the professing church today, is doctrine that helps us fit in with the culture, that helps us fit in with what's going on. Right? And so what we see, for example, just as an illustration, And we see all this pressure to be accepting of homosexual lifestyles and transgenderism. We see all these kinds of things that are forming the professing church in a certain way.

And you notice all those. Do you ever notice how these newly discovered doctrines of the Bible tend to fit what's going on in the culture? You ever notice that? It's amazing. It's amazing. And so what he's saying here, you're going to be unpopular. right and and yet you can stand fast why because you even though you're considered fools and unsophisticated and ignorant and bigoted someday you will share in the glory of Christ because the gospel has called us to share in that glory and so we can stand firm and hold fast to the truth of God because we have been promised the glory of Jesus himself and so we can stand fast in the word do not be moved away from the traditions of the apostles now that word traditions may spark something in us it says traditions what that's what's that all about all that is is the apostle paul says listen hold fast to what what i and silas and timothy taught you when we were first with you that's what he means by word of mouth what we what we taught you when we were there and right by letter that first epistle that we've already seen well what does that mean for us it means today we should hold fast to the teaching of the apostles that we find in the scripture their tradition has been deposited right here okay you can stand fast then because of god's work for you and because of his promises to you and so that is why paul expresses his confidence in them we ought to thank god for you how can he say that because of what god has done for them and because of his promises to them and so we can have confidence that we will hold fast because of what God has done.

Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that we're not dependent. We are dependent. We can be confident because of what God has done for us and the promises he's made to us, and yet we are dependent. And so in verses 16 and 17, Paul says you must stand fast with dependence. Dependence. Verses 16 and 17.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and hope good hope through grace comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Even after expressing such confidence Paul tells them what he prays for them. Now listen prayer always expresses our dependence on God. Prayer always says that we are utterly unable to do what God expects us to do without his intervention.

Let me say that again. Prayer always expresses our dependence, that is our utter inability to do what God expects without him working in us. When we pray, we pray god give me the grace to do what you've called me to do this day right this congregation has heard me say it a hundred times before your feet hit the floor in the morning while you still in bed in your waking moments the first thing off your lips ought to be Oh God I can do it I need your help Please please help me today And so Paul says, even after he expresses confidence in them, we ought to always thank God for you.

Right? Because of what God has done. Nevertheless, he says, and this is what we're praying for you. he prays that god the father and god the son would exhort their hearts and establish those hearts in every good work and word that's what he's praying for them and so we have to pray like paul did lord jesus and god our father thank you for loving us and by your grace giving us eternal comfort and good hope please exhort our hearts and establish them in every good work and word Now, here's a footnote for you.

I'm getting off. I'm getting out of my line of argument here, all right? Do you notice here that Paul has totally done something different that he hardly ever does? What is it? He talks about Jesus before the Father. You notice that?

That's a little jarring. When you're used to Paul and looking at how he writes, he usually mentions God the Father and then the Son. Here he mentions the Son first and then God. and and um in essence he implies very strongly that jesus and the father are equal right he doesn't come right out and say it but it is certainly certainly jarring enough to spark that in your mind wait a minute why would he do that because he thinks they're on equal footing all right so that's the freebie that's the footnote that's not part of the argument that he's making here it's just kind of an implication that comes in so paul is praying for them what do we learn from that prayer just this we can stand fast only because of our heavenly father's character the the adjectives that follow or or the descriptive phrases that follow god our father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace is speaking of the father at that point what has God the Father done he's the one who loved us how do you stand in the midst of persecution hatred and humiliation in a broken world where the curse of sin seems to win at every turn for example how do believers in countries like Iran and North Korea stand fast and hold to the truth in face of persecution from government and hatred from their families Or the curse of sin Have you felt the pressure of this pandemic personally And I'm sure we're all going to feel it in the economy.

It gets a little disheartening, doesn't it? Well, here's what he says. They and we stand because we're convinced that God loves us. He's not playing games. He's not playing games with us. He loves us in the hardship.

He loves us by the hardship. That is, the hardship even comes from his loving hand. All right. Remember what the Apostle Paul is going to write a few years later after this. He's going to write this, for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God loves us. He loves us deeply. And that is how we can stand. We can stand. We can say, God loves us. Yes, this persecution is here.

Yes, the curse of sin in this pandemic is clearly bearing down upon us. But this is God loving us. He's not playing games. He's not being cruel. He's a good God who loves his children. Not only does he love us, but he is the one who gives to us by grace.

He gives these good gifts, what he identifies here as eternal comfort and good hope. We have those by the grace of God, not because we've done well in God's eyes. He doesn't say you earn that. We get those because we are his. We get those because, merely because we are his. He's gracious, right?

You ever think that parents, you're not as cruel as Santa Claus? Ever think of Santa Claus as cruel? Yeah. Think about it. Just think about that for a moment. You love to give your children gifts at Christmas because they belong to you and you love them.

Not because they've been naughty or nice. Right? How would you like to be a kid whose parents had naughty and nice hanging over your head all year long before you got Christmas presents? I'm telling you, Santa Claus is cruel. Right But because He our Father because He loves us that why He gives us these things You see That His grace We don earn that comfort We don earn that hope He gives it to us Now what is this eternal comfort and good hope that he gives us by grace What he's doing here is looking at the comfort and hope we have that we receive as God points us to the revelation of Jesus in all his glory and to our resurrection and glory.

In this context, I think he's saying that this eternal, notice, eternal comfort and good hope is ours by his grace. He says, look, my son is coming. He's going to bring with him glory and honor. You will share in that. He will set everything right. Everything will be as it should be.

And it's all yours. Okay? He doesn't say, and if you're good enough, okay, you can share in that glory. You can be comforted by that. But look, if you go over the 50% mark, when you hit 50.5, then I'm not going to let you do that. That's not yours.

No, he says, I'm guaranteeing to you. I'm giving you this by my grace. I'm sending my son. And remember what we already saw in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, which if you were in the Thessalonian church, you would have heard that about three minutes ago. You heard it about four weeks ago. Okay?

So they're still thinking this. What? Remember what he said in the first chapter, how Jesus is going to come with his flaming angels. He's going to afflict those who afflict you. He's going to set everything right. Judgment's coming and glory's coming.

Judgment for them, glory for you. And that's where we find our comfort. That's where we find our comfort. God gives us eternal comfort and good hope in the revelation of Jesus. And we're going to share in that glory because of the grace of God. So you have the confident possession of such comfort and hope because it's yours by God's grace and not by your merit.

He says we can stand fast not only because the character of Heavenly Father. We can stand fast only if God the Father and God the Son works in the way we ask him to. Now he talks about what the Son and the Father are going to do. And what is that? exhort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word that is we're going to pray to that end here he prays that the lord jesus and god the father hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

We should pray that God exhorts our hearts. Now, it says, encourage, comfort your hearts. That's a word that can be translated comfort, encourage, exhort. All three definitions. Depends on the context. Depends how it's used.

But typically, when it's connected to the word heart, it normally means exhort. It normally has the meaning that you find that we saw like in first thessalonians chapter 2 first thessalonians chapter 2 if you remember as we went through it chapter 2 verse 12 where he says um speaking of his own ministry we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of god who calls you into his own kingdom and glory that word exhorted in verse 12 is the same word that we find in our text you see it as well in chapter 3 verse 3 verse 2 and we sent Timothy our brother and God co in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you in your faith to exhort to say this is what you must do and so he says because of what God has done in the past choosing you and what he done in the present saving you and what he will do in the future with the result that we have comfort and hope he wants you to embrace what he demands of you what he commands from you to exhort your heart God exhorts you to obey in the heart, the very center of your existence. We should pray that God's commands become the part of our very existence, that we obey wholeheartedly, given the comfort that we have from God, given the fact that God loves us, that he chose us and all these things, because all that is true, we should be praying, God, help us now to obey. that's what he's saying here that we obey wholeheartedly from our very heart that we'd obey and we should pray that God establish those obedient hearts in every good work and word he's talking about comprehensive obedience now whatever we say whatever we do must point to our Savior and to our Father we must live in such a way that people see God You see That people see God He says, look, you ought to pray.

God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for choosing us. And God, help us to live in light of that in a way that sets us apart, that makes us distinctive. That you exhort our hearts, that you speak to us what you expect of us, right? And that it's comprehensive that in everything that we do, every word and every work that proceeds from us would glorify you.

And so we can stand fast, again, only in dependence on God. We must ask him to remind us of who he is and then ask him to work in us what he demands, you see. that is what that is what we must do and so then stand firm hold fast to what he's told us don't give up what God clearly teaches in his word we live in a day when doctrine doesn matter and we also live in a day when novel teaching is popular God says stand firm and hold fast to what he has revealed And so we can be confident, but we are dependent. May God help us to do that.

Father, thank you for your word today. thank you that we can look to you and because of what you have done for us and the promises you have made to us we can be confident but father we pray that we also ask we pray lord that you would also work in us that obedience we pray because we are utterly dependent on you to hold fast we are utterly dependent upon you for all of this so help us Lord exhort our hearts so that you would establish them in every good word and work thank you for your word today thank you for the sake of Jesus Amen