2 Thessalonians 3

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

March 30, 2013


 *OCT 8 - 2 THESSALONIANS 3 - COMMANDS: IN THE LIGHT OF CHRIST’S RETURN*


 *1. 3:1-2, (NNT) PAUL: REQUESTS THEIR PRAYERS. “For the rest, brethren,
pray for us, that the word of the Lord run and be glorified, even as also it
is unto you; 2 and that we be delivered from the unreasonable and evil men;
for all have not the faith.” *We marvel Father, that the apostles and
prophets need the prayers of the whole body, if Your Word and purposes are
to have full sway. We submit to Your wisdom in this. *Hallowed be your
:name.*


 *2. 3:3-4, PAUL: HIS CONFIDENCE IN THESSALONIAN BELIEVERS. “But the Lord
is faithful, who shall establish you, and guard from the evil one. 4 And we
have confidence in the Lord as to you, that you both do and will do what
things we command.” *We bless You Father, that the good work You begin in
us, You mature and perfect it unto the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. You
are no respecter of persons. You did it for Paul’s people. *Your :kingdom
come!*


 *3. 3:5. PAUL: A PRAYER OF THE HEART. “And the Lord direct your :hearts
unto the love of :God, and unto the patience of the Christ.” *Love to God
and the patience of Christ: *pour* them into our hearts, O Father! In You
we have all things. You have blessed us with *all* spiritual blessings in
the heavenlies in Christ. *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.*


 *4. 3:6 (3:6-12) PAUL: HIS EXAMPLE A REBUKE TO DISORDERLY WALK. “Now we
command you, brethren, in the Lord Jesus Christ’s name, that you withdraw
from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which
you received of us.” *Thank You Father, for being our example through Your
apostles. Thank You for the triple Plumb line: Yourself, Your Word, and
Your servants. *Our :daily :bread Give us this day.*


 *5. 3:13-15. PAUL: EXHORTS TO PERSEVERANCE AND BROTHERLY FIDELITY. “But
you, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. 14 And if any obeys not our
:word by this :letter, note that one, that you have no company with him, so
that he be ashamed. 15 And count him not as an enemy, but admonish as a
brother.” *O we bless You Father for such balance of wisdom through Your
apostles. (“Admonish” here is equivalent to Jay Adam’s book, “Nouthetic
Counseling.” It is a transliteration of 2 Greek words - “nous” meaning
“mind,” and “TIth*e*-mi” meaning “place” or “establish”. When a counselor *
establishes* the *mind* of a patient by the “Word of God” under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit - *this* is an “admonishment”). *And forgive us
our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.*


 *6. 3:16. PAUL: HIS APOSTOLIC BLESSING. “Now the Lord of :peace himself
give you :peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” *You
who *are* peace - You alone can give peace! Our eyes are upon You alone,
not unto the gods of the hills. *And bring us not into temptation.*


 *7. 3:17-18. PAUL: CLOSING SALUTATION AND BENEDICTION OF PEACE. “The
greeting of me Paul with my hand, which is a token in every epistle: so I
write. 18 The grace of our :Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” *We see You
in Your Word, Father; we see You in Your servants. The law came through
Moses but *grace* and *truth* came through or Lord Jesus Christ. What a
difference between these two covenants! *And deliver us from the evil one!*


 *NOTE**: 3:10, 12 (3:6-12) PAUL: INSTRUCTIONS HOW WE SHOULD WORK. **“For
even when we were with you, this we commanded you that, If any will not
work, neither let him eat. 12 Now the such we command and exhort in
theLord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work,
and eat their own :bread.” *How practical Your words, Father! We bless You
for them.


 *Our Psalm for the Day: 98:1-2 (98, ESV) MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE TO THE LORD. “Oh
sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right
hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The LORD has made
known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the
nations.” *Father, You have given a *new song* for Your New Creations in
Christ Jesus! *Hallowed be your :name! *We bless You for Your great
redemption worked out through Christ.


 *Title and Subject: *The present Psalm is a sort of Coronation Hymn,
officially proclaiming the conquering Messiah as Monarch over the nations,
with blast of trumpets, clapping of hands, and celebration of triumphs. It
is a singularly bold and lively song. The critics have fully established
the fact that similar expressions occur in Isaiah, but we see no force in
the inference that therefore it was written by him; on this principle half
the books in the English language might be attributed to Shakespeare.


 98:1. *O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He has done marvelous
things. *Jesus,
our King, has lived a marvelous life, died a marvelous death, risen by a
marvelous resurrection, and ascended marvelously into heaven. By His divine
power, He has sent forth the Holy Spirit doing marvels, and by that sacred
energy His disciples have also wrought marvelous things and astonished all
the earth. Idols have fallen, superstitions have withered, systems of error
have fled, and empires of cruelty have perished. For all this, He deserves
the highest praise. His acts have proved His Deity, Jesus is Jehovah, and
therefore we sing unto Him as the Lord. *His right hand, and His holy arm,
has gotten Him the victory. *Jesus never stops to use policy or brute
force; His unsullied perfections secure to Him a real and lasting victory
over all the powers of evil, and that victory will be gained as dexterously
and easily as when a warrior strikes his adversary with his right hand and
stretches him prone upon the earth. Glory be unto the Conqueror; let new
songs be chanted to His praise.


 98:3. *All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
*Pentecost
deserves a new song as well as the passion and the resurrection; let our
hearts exult as we remember it. Our God, our own forever blessed God, has
been honored by those who once bowed down before dumb idols; His salvation
has not only been heard of but seen among all people; it has been
experienced as well as explained; His Son is the actual Redeemer of a
multitude out of all nations.


 98:5. *With the harp. *God, Who accepts the unlettered ditty of a plowman,
does not reject the smooth verse of a Cowper or the sublime strains of a
Milton. All repetitions are not vain repetitions; in sacred song there
should be graceful repeats; they render the sense emphatic and help to fire
the soul; even preachers do not amiss when they dwell on a word and sound
it out again and again till dull ears feel its emphasis. The singing of
these Psalms became so popular that D’Israeli suggests that “it first
conveyed to the sullen fancy of the austere Calvin in the project” of
introducing the singing of Psalms into his Genevan discipline. “This
infectious frenzy of Psalm-singing,” as Warton almost blasphemously
describes it, rapidly propagated itself through Germany as well as France,
and passed over to England. D’Israeli says, with a sneer, that in the time
of the Commonwealth, “Psalms were now sung at Lord Mayor’s dinners and city
feasts; soldiers sang them on their march and at parade; and a few houses
which had windows fronting the streets, but had their evening Psalms.” We
can only add, would to God it were so again.


 98:9. *Before the Lord; for He comes to judge the earth. *Stiller music
such as made the stars twinkle with their soft kind eyes suited His first
coming at Bethlehem, but His second advent calls for trumpets, for He is a
judge; and for all earth’s acclamations, for He has put on His royal
splendor. The rule of Christ is the joy of nature. All things bless His
throne, yes, and the very coming of it.

As the dawn sets the earth weeping for joy at the rising of the sun till
the dewdrops stand in her eyes, so should the approach of Jesus’ universal
reign make all creation glad. *With righteousness shall He judge the world,
and the people with equity. *If ever there was a thing to rejoice in upon
this poor, travailing earth, it is the coming of such a Deliverer, the
ascension to the universal throne of such a Governor. All hail Jesus! all
hail! Our soul faints with delight at the sound of Your approaching
chariots, and can only cry, “Come quickly. Even so, come quickly, Lord
Jesus!”

*(From “The Treasury of David” by C.H. Spurgeon abridged by D.O. Fuller)*



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