Two Concerns of God's People
As I travel about the country and preach, and as I hear from many of you through letters, there are two things which especially disturb the people of God in our day.
The first is this: there is so little true preaching of the Word of God. There is much religion — a great deal of entertainment and socializing in the name of God, a lot of zeal, a lot of church activities, a lot of programs — but very little teaching and true preaching of the Word of God. People just don't know anything about the Bible. They can quote two or three favourite passages, but as for knowing something of the mystery of God and the mystery of godliness — justification, sanctification, redemption, righteousness, how God can be just and justify the ungodly — these things people know so little about. But that is a fulfilment of Amos' prophecy:
The second thing that concerns God's people is that sin and wickedness literally abound today. People ask me: “Preacher, have you ever heard of a day like our day — when evil prevails from the top to the bottom of society, when fear grips the hearts of people young and old, when the streets are unsafe?” There is greed from top to bottom, drugs and drunkenness, murder, child abuse, divorce — the streets are dangerous. This is a great concern of the people of God.
But I tell you this — it is no new thing. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica nearly two thousand years ago and he talked about this very thing: the poverty and famine concerning the preaching of the truth, and the wickedness that abounds.
The Spirit of Antichrist and God's Restraint
Here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul talks about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord before he ascended said: I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again. And when he ascended, the angels appeared to the disciples and said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go.
Paul says here in verses 6 and 7 that the return of Christ will not come except there come a falling away first — a desperate falling away in spiritual matters and in carnal things, a falling away in which the spirit of antichrist prevails. But he also says that this spirit of iniquity is restrained by the Spirit of God. He that letteth will let, till he be taken out of the way. God restrains this wrath, this enmity, this wickedness — he holds it in check as he holds the ocean and says: hitherto shall you come and no further.
That is the reason the people of God need not fear. Fear not — Christ said: I am with you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. So you can boldly say: the Lord is my helper. A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand — it shall not come nigh thee, because the Lord is thy keeper.
And in verse 10, Paul says many will be deceived — they receive not the love of the truth. But notice: people are not deceived by the Word of God. The Word of God does not deceive anybody. The Word of God is the truth; it reveals Christ, it comforts and brings faith and blesses the heart. People are deceived by men who use the Word of God to their own advantage and not to the glory of God. These two things always go together: a disrespect for the Word of God and evil practices. Where you find no reverence for God's Word, you will find evil. And where you find truth, you will find obedience; where you find faith, you will find godliness.
Comfort for Christians — 2 Thessalonians 2:13–17
But — and here is what I am coming to — after writing of the evil and wickedness of that day and the departure from the love of truth, Paul says:
Lest you be discouraged and depressed, lest you should be fearful of these forces of evil, lest you should doubt the sure mercies of a covenant God — Paul says: I thank God for you and I want to comfort you. Here are the reasons:
First: God has chosen you to salvation. He did not pass you by. He did not leave you in the darkness of false religion. He chose you in Christ to be saved. David one day went in and sat before the Lord — just sat there in meditation and contemplation of God's mercies upon him and his house and his people — and finally he spoke and said these simple words: Who am I, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? What a comfort — what a comfort to know that he set his love upon us from all eternity and chose us in Christ.
I was preaching in Louisiana some time ago and a lawyer named Sid Horn and his wife Linda — full-blooded Jews, both of them, brought to saving faith in Christ — invited me to lunch. I asked him how he came to have the name Horn, which is not a Jewish name. He told me this story.
His family name was Bernstein. His grandfather was a German Jew who in the early 1900s, during World War I, received a notice to report to the army. He would not go — he ran away and fled toward the German border, tired out, worn out, frightened, fleeing for his life with no papers. He came to a farmhouse and knocked on the door. The couple there — Mr. and Mrs. Horn — heard his story and took him in. Their son had just died in a farming accident and was buried in the family cemetery. They said: Our son's name is on that grave. Now you're going to take his place. They went out and put the name Bernstein on the grave marker, gave the fleeing young man their son's papers and his name, and sent him to America. When the authorities came looking for Bernstein, they were shown the grave: He's dead — died in a farming accident. They turned and walked away. And this young man — now named Horn — came to America and became a very prosperous man.
My friend, that is what Christ did for us. He chose us to salvation and took our place. He came down to this earth and died, and your name is on the grave. You died with Christ. You are buried with Christ. The name is on the grave — and he gave you his name, a new name. We are no longer sinners, rebels, traitors. We are dead in Christ and buried. We are free.
Second: God called you by his gospel.
When our Lord sat on the well, was it an accident that that woman came there? When Paul went down by the river, was it an accident that Lydia was there? When Christ walked under that tree, was it an accident that Zacchaeus was up there? The eunuch in the chariot — was it an accident that Philip joined him out there in the desert? Oh no, my friend. Christ said: Other sheep I have; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. You may be a child like Timothy, a religious rebel like Saul of Tarsus, a rebel like Zacchaeus, a harlot like Rahab, a businesswoman like Lydia, a government official like the eunuch — but if you are one of his sheep, he will call you. He calls you not to a position, not to a profession, not to a place, but to a person — to the obtaining of the glory of Jesus Christ.
Third: God has taught you by his Word. Paul says in verse 15: stand fast and hold to the truth which you have been taught. You will be oppressed. You will be opposed, persecuted, hated for what you believe. But the Lord chose you to salvation, gave his Son to redeem you, called you by his gospel, and has taught you his Word. Hold fast to his Word. Stand — and having done all, stand.
Fourth: God has given you a good hope.
What is that hope? He shall appear, and we are going to be like him. And he that hath this hope purifieth himself. So the very last word is: Comfort your hearts. Do not be moved by all these things that are going on — the famine of preaching, the wickedness, the evil, the confusion and the religion. Comfort your heart and be established in the Word in every good word and in the work of God.
Comfort — comfort for Christians. It is found right here in the Word of God.