The Thessalonian
Epistles
Standing Fast
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Lesson XXIV
Written: July 23, 2005
2 Thessalonians 2: 13-17
(13) But we are bound to give thanks alway
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth:
(14) Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(15) Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the
traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
(16) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our
Father, which hath loved us, and hath given [us] everlasting consolation and
good hope through grace,
(17) Comfort your hearts, and stablish
you in every good word and work.
When
Paul concluded writing about those who believed not the truth, he then gave
thanks for those who did believe the truth. To him they were “brethren, beloved
in the Lord.”
How
did he know?
“Because God hath chosen you” that being proven by “their
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.”
1 John 4:19
(19) We love him, because he first loved us.
Romans 3:11
(11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after
God.
Remember
it is written: “We love him because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Don’t be too quick to take any credit if you
are a believer. God loved. God made
choice. God saved. God sanctified (set apart) by the
Spirit. He called you by the gospel and
you believed. He sought you before you
sought after him. Of all men it is
written: “there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans
3:11).
Luke 19: 3, 10
(3) And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not
for the press, because he was little of stature.
(10) For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost.
“Oh, the love that sought me! Oh, the blood
that bought me! Oh, the grace that
brought me to the fold! Wondrous grace that brought me to the
fold!”
We
don’t understand it all but we do believe it.
We read in Luke 19:3 that Zacchaeus sought to
see Jesus. Then we notice in the 10th
verse: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost.” Jesus came seeking Zacchaeus. That is
why he was seeking Jesus.
When
he called you, it was “to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Romans 8:18
(18) For I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed
in us.
1 Peter 5:1
(1) The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also
an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the
glory that shall be revealed:
We
read in Romans 8:18 “for I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in
us.” Who will dare say that the
sufferings of the present time are not real?
So the glory will be as literal and real as the sufferings or we do
injustice to the text. Furthermore 1
Peter 5:1 says: “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a
witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall
be revealed.” My wife and I sang
a duet entitled, “Only glory by and by.”
And so it is for a believer.
“Therefore,
brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught,
whether by word, or our epistle.” When
these words were written Paul was leading them back to the beginning of their
Christian life. He had taught them by
word, that is, by his own preaching, and now teaching them again by this
epistle.
1 Corinthians 16:13
(13) Watch ye, stand fast in the
faith, quit you like men, be strong.
Philippians 1:27
(27) Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see
you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one
spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
1 Corinthians 15:58
(58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
In
1 Corinthians 16:13 we read “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you
like men, be strong.”
Philippians 1:27 “...that ye stand
fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of
the gospel.”
And
like words in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that
your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Perhaps
we should be giving more attention to these exhortations.
Thirty
years ago preaching a funeral sermon, using 1
Corinthians 16:13 as his text, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones
said:
“If I understand the situation at
all, the whole evangelical outlook is fighting for its very life at this
moment. What are the dangers? Well, the first is this. There are supposed changes in the Church of
Rome and they are being put before us in order that we might no longer hold our
own views and take the old stand with respect of the Church of Rome. Some would have us believe that the Church of
Rome has become through and through evangelical. It is a very subtle danger which is increased
by what is called the new Charismatic Movement.”
“And then there is the serious
matter of what is called the new or neo-evangelicalism. Their attitude to Scripture is slowly
changing. They write ‘that there are two
main sources of revelation. One the
Bible, but there is a second. That is
nature. The one complements the
other. Now to me this undermines the
authority of Scripture…all I can say is, God save us from it.”
Jones
then went on to say:
“Do not stand in
Denominationalism. Don’t stand fast on
Experience. … Don’t stand fast on entertainment. Well now it’s about time we
knew what the faith is and that we began to stand fast solidly for it. I am not saying that individual Roman
Catholics cannot be Christians. Of
course they can. What I am saying is
this. Never acknowledge that Church, so
called, as a church. She is not a
church. She denies essential truth with
regard to the way of salvation.”
If
those words by Lloyd Jones were needed thirty years ago, they are more needful today.
Mark 7:13
(13) Making the word of God of none effect through your
tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
There
are traditions of men that make void the Scriptures (Mark 7:13). And we must be aware of them and the dangers
that come with them.
Paul
concludes the chapter with these statements:
“Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our father which hath
loved us and hath given us everlasting
consolation, and good hope through grace….”
Because
of grace we have a good hope.
Because
of grace we have a sure hope.
Because
of grace we have a hope that cannot fail.
On
any other ground our hope would not be a sure hope.
These
words “comfort hearts” imply “encouragement.”
In
one of my last conversation with a brother in the Lord, Bill Stockdale, he
said: “It’s grace!
It’s all grace! Let the truth of
God’s grace encourage you and “stablish you in every
good word and work.”
Let
the message of grace strengthen you to both say and do
all that is good and right.
The
Hymn, “He will hold me fast”, was made popular in the late 1800’s and early
1900’s by Charles Alexander. Mr. Alexander tells the story about his leaving
the hills of Tennessee to go to the big city of Chicago to study Music at the
Moody Bible Institute. He had never been
away from home, was homesick, felt alone and did not know how he could manage.
1 Peter 5:7
(7) Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Hebrews 13:5
(5) [Let your] conversation be without covetousness; [and
be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
And
what better way to conclude these remarks than the words of Peter. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). We all need to feel that someone cares for
us. Why not let it be
the Saviour who will never leave and never forsake us
(Hebrews 13:5).