The Glorious Second Coming of Jesus!

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We're opening up the Sermon Library again with a series John gave to his congregation in 2017 and 2018. called the Glorious Second Coming of Jesus. This is another one of our favorite studies, and it's from 2 Thessalonians. Let me assure you up front, this is going to be a highly encouraging study. You'll hear right away, John steers clear of putting any kind of date on the calendar for the second coming of Jesus.

It never seems to age well, as they say, and it has a bit of a counterproductive effect on people, especially Christians. Believers, no matter what hardships or persecutions we face, are looking to Jesus' glorious return to redeem history. Right all wrongs, and bring long-awaited justice. The second coming of Jesus is a blessed hope of the gospel that the church is anticipating, and not a day goes by. That we don't need some encouragement or hope on how to live until then.

Let's listen in. Here's John with the introductory message to the glorious second coming of Jesus.

So we're going to be in the book of 2 Thessalonians for a while.

Now this morning is an introduction. The book of 2 Thessalonians, as you see, it's only three chapters, so it's quite short. Shouldn't take us too long to get through it. But it's a powerful letter.

So let me talk about why Paul wrote it. And what is its purpose?

So let's just start there. Why did he write it? And what were the circumstances under which he wrote it? What was its purpose?

So let me give you some background material about the Thessalonians in the city of Thessalonica. Thessalonica was an important, flourishing city in Paul's day. It was the capital city of the Macedonian province.

So, if you're thinking, where is that? That's modern-day northern Greece. and modern day the southern part of Macedonia.

So it's over in Europe. If you're in Acts chapter 17, this is where you get the background and some of the history of when he planted the church. Paul was accompanied by Silas and Timothy. when he planted the Thessalonian church during his second missionary journey.

So if you want to read about it, just go to Acts 17 this afternoon. But in verses 1 through 4 of Acts chapter 17, Paul goes into the Thessalonian city and he begins to proclaim the gospel. The reception that he and his companions, Silas and Timothy, had was both positive and negative. In verse 4. Luke tells us that a good deal of pagan Greeks, Gentiles, came to saving faith.

In Christ, as Paul proclaimed the gospel to them. But then in verses 5 through 9, there was a massive response that was negative towards Paul and his companions, and a mob resulted from him preaching the gospel. This mob, this persecution was so violent and so swift. Luke says in verse 10 of Acts 17 that Paul and Silas were forced to leave the city of Thessalonica very quickly. And so Paul's stay in Thessalonica was a lot shorter than he wanted it to be.

Acts 17, too, says that he may have been there three Sabbath days, or at the most, he was there just a couple of months. But the point was, he left very abruptly because the persecution was so intense. And so shortly after leaving his young little tiny church plant. These young converts in Thessalonica Paul is in Athens, and that's where you hear about when he preached the gospel to the Athenians, right, at the marketplace on Mars Hill. And he was with Timothy.

In Athens, and he's desiring to know how this little church plan and these young believers are faring under this great persecution.

So he sends Timothy from Athens back to Thessalonica to find out how the Thessalonians are faring. And so while Timothy goes to Thessalonica, Paul and then Silas soon after go to Corinth. Timothy then goes back to Thessalonica, and then he travels from Thessalonica back to Corinth. This is Acts chapter 18 in 1 Thessalonians 3. And he travels back to Corinth and he gives Paul the report.

So he went to Thessalonica, he took the report of how the church was doing, and he travels back to Corinth and he meets Paul and Silas in Corinth. And so, in response to Timothy's report, Paul writes the letter of 1 Thessalonians.

So, that's how 1 Thessalonians came about. And he wrote it from Corinth about AD 50, which is perhaps about six months after he had abruptly left Thessalonica because of the intense persecution. And so, what was in the report that Timothy gave Paul?

Well, we can reconstruct Timothy's report by looking at the contents of 1 Thessalonians.

So, this was the content. Let me just give you the content because this has everything to do with 2 Thessalonians. Timothy reported to Paul that this young church filled with young brand new converts, this young church plant, was actually spiritually healthy notwithstanding intense persecution that they were facing.

So, this is very encouraging news to Paul. Second, Timothy reports that some outside of the church. We're slandering the Apostle Paul. And they were accusing Paul of trying to make money off of the Thessalonian believers because in Paul's day, in the first century, Traveling teachers in the first century were known to be charlatans who ripped people off for money. And so they were saying, Well, Paul just came to your city quickly, and the persecution hit.

He took what he could get and he took off.

So, Paul is just in it for the money. He doesn't care about you.

So, Paul was being slandered to these young converts. Third, Timothy reports how the young church members were disturbed and alarmed over questions concerning the second coming of Christ. And then the fourth part of the report was that some church members, because they had a false understanding of the second coming of Christ, some church members were being led to become lazy and idle. giving up their jobs and not working. And so shortly after Paul's first letter was delivered to this young church plant, 1 Thessalonians.

Paul then receives additional reports about the condition of the Thessalonian church.

So in response to these new reports, he writes 2 Thessalonians from Corinth. And he does this shortly after 1 Thessalonians, which is again AD 50, maybe at the most, early AD 51. And so we can reconstruct the reports, the content of the second report from the book of 2 Thessalonians, which is what we're going to be studying. Let me just tell you what was in the reports that he received. The contents of the book of 2 Thessalonians show us that the problems that were in 1 Thessalonians have now escalated and gotten worse.

But there was also good news, and the good news in this second series of reports is that these young believers. This young church plant continues to be spiritually healthy despite the ongoing persecution they're facing.

So that was the positive. But the bad news is that these young Thessalonian believers We're increasingly alarmed over a false understanding of the second coming of Christ still. And these false teachers had come into the church, 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1 through 2, and they were teaching a false doctrine of the second coming of Christ. Basically, what happened is they were telling these young believers that the day of the Lord had already come and they had missed Christ's second coming. That Christ had already arrived.

And so, because of this false teaching in chapter 3, some of them had left their day jobs. And they became disorderly in the church, and they were depending upon other members in the church for their daily bread, their physical sustenance for life. They weren't working anymore. And so Paul again has to address the problem of idleness. In the church, that had escalated among the church members.

So that's the occasion and purpose of 2 Thessalonians.

So you have to read 1 and 2 Thessalonians together to get the whole picture, and that's the big picture.

So this brings us, what is the theme of 2 Thessalonians?

Well, when you look at the book of 2 Thessalonians, it's organized around one central theme. The central theme is summarized in chapter 1, verse 7, and chapter 1, verse 10.

So just look at it with me just briefly. 2 Thessalonians, look at chapter 1, verse 7. Look at this phrase. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven. That's the theme.

When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, look at verse 10. When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints.

So you take these two phrases out of verses 7 and verse 10 of 2 Thessalonians, and clearly 2 Thessalonians is a second coming letter. It is a second coming letter, and it's important to note that Jesus. Paul says in verse 10, listen carefully, is revealed. He comes again to be glorified. Everything in chapter 1, as we're going to see, points to the glorification of God, and we see that in verses 10 through 12.

God's glory, Paul's teaching, will be consummated at Jesus' second coming. He will be glorified in his second coming.

So, what we can say then is that the theme of 2 Thessalonians is this. Here it is. It is all about the glorious second coming of Jesus. That's the theme, the hope of the gospel. The second coming of Christ is the hope of the gospel.

So we could say it like this: the theme of 2 Thessalonians is about the hope of the gospel in which God is glorified. As we move through this, it's important to observe From this letter, that Paul's teaching on the second coming of Jesus stands in stark contrast to much of the sensational and fanatical teaching on eschatology that we can run into today in popular American evangelicalism, especially on TV like TBN, right? Let me give you one example from my family that happened just this past week. During family devotions this past week, David raised his hand and said, Daddy, I got a question. And I said, okay, what's your question?

He said, Daddy, um My teacher at school this week told me in class that Jesus is going to return next year. I'm like, oh, wow. Put down the Heidelberg Catechism and focus on David. I'm like, what? Could you repeat that?

He said, yeah, Daddy, he said, my teacher taught us this week that Jesus is going to return next year. I said, well, what does he base that on? He says, because he told us that Jesus' return has everything to do with the dating of Israel's reconstitution as a nation-state.

So we just had another Bible study at that point. Paul has no interest in the irresponsible, fanciful date setting in this letter about the second coming of Christ. His objective in 2 Thessalonians is not to satisfy wild curiosity and fanciful speculations about end-time events associated with Jesus' second coming.

So we're not having the Jerusalem times in one hand, and we're not having Fox News on TV on the other hand, and the Bible in the middle, and trying to say every event, oh, there he is. Like some, I had some people during Barack Obama's presidency email me and say, Hey, we've heard from this Bible teacher that Barack Obama is the Antichrist, John, and what are we going to do about that? I can assure you, I don't know who the Antichrist is, but I can assure you it's not Barack Obama. He was our past president, and that's all he was. He's not the Antichrist.

Fanciful, irresponsible speculation is not the point Paul's making here. Paul's intent with teaching us about the second coming of Christ is pastoral. He has an ethical objective in mind. The theme, the glorious second coming of Jesus, this hope of the gospel, controls all three chapters of 2 Thessalonians.

So this brings us to an outline of the book. And this outline will give you a summary view of the big picture of the contents of this letter.

So the glorious second coming of Jesus underlines Paul's thought in each chapter. The blessed hope of the gospel.

So let me just outline for you and walk you through the whole book this morning very quickly. Following Paul's initial Christianized welcome or greeting in verses 1 through 2 of chapter 1, this is what we have. Chapter 1, verses 3 to 12. We have the comfort of the glorious second coming of Jesus. Chapter 1 is all about the comfort of the glorious second coming of Jesus.

The pressing pastoral matter, because remember, Paul's objective is pastoral, ethical, not fanciful. The pressing pastoral matter that Paul is addressing in chapter 1 is the persecution of believers, hardship, suffering. The key pastoral issue of chapter one is comfort.

So Paul begins in verses 3 to 4 expressing his thanksgiving gratitude over the report that he's received from Timothy concerning the Thessalonians' spiritual health in the midst of persecution. And then because they're being so persecuted in Thessalonica, Paul wants to comfort, he wants to assure these young persecuted believers, this young vulnerable church plant, He wants to assure them with the comfort that at the glorious second coming of Jesus, their persecutors will receive vengeance. That's what he says in chapter 1, verse 8. God will pour out his vengeance on those who persecute his church. And then in verse 10, he says, I want you to also have comfort, knowing that not only will God pour vengeance on those who persecute my church, but also when Jesus comes again, My people will receive vindication.

Chapter 1, verse 10. And so the summary of chapter 1 is the glorious second coming of Jesus, Paul teaches us, comforts suffering Christians by bringing vengeance on persecutors and vindication to saints. And that's great comfort. The Lord's vengeance on his enemies and on the church's enemies, and the Lord's vindication of his faithful saints glorifies God. That's Paul's whole argument here.

And so we can say that the Lord is glorified in his second coming both in judgment and in salvation. That's chapter 1. Here's chapter 2. In chapter 2, we have the signs of the glorious second coming of Jesus. That's all of chapter 2.

The pressing pastoral matter that Paul addresses in chapter 2 is false teaching concerning the second coming of Jesus. The key pastoral issues of chapter two are calm and correct. Due to false teachers, as I said, some of the young believers had become alarmed, 2 Thessalonians 2.2, thinking that the second coming of Christ had already arrived. And so Paul's aim in chapter two is to calm these alarmed young believers by correcting the false understanding. of both the nature and timing of Jesus' second coming.

So Paul informs his young converts that two events must occur Before Jesus comes again. And if these two events have not occurred, take, be calm, don't be alarmed because you haven't missed his second coming. What are these two events? Chapter 2, verse 3. Paul says that the two events that must occur before Jesus' second coming is a great religious apostasy, where people no longer tolerate the truth of the gospel and rebel against it and fall away inside the visible church.

So there is coming a great religious apostasy. And it's connected, he says, with the revelation of the lawless one whom he calls the son of destruction, that is the great Antichrist figure who is to come. And so the key pastoral issues of chapter 2 are to calm and correct, calm alarm believers by correcting the errors of false teachers who are making them become alarmed about the second coming of Christ.

So how do we summarize chapter 2? The glorious second coming of Jesus, Paul argues. calms alarmed believers. By informing them that two events must occur before the Lord's second coming. And then we come to chapter 3.

And chapter three is this: it is living in view. of the glorious second coming of Jesus.

So, how do we live out as we wait for Jesus to come? Paul teaches that in chapter 3. The pressing pastoral matter that Paul addresses in chapter three. is idleness. Among some of these young believers.

And the key pastoral issues of chapter 3 are command and discipline. Command and discipline.

Now, I showed you that Paul had previously, because of reports from Timothy and First Thessalonians. addressed the problem of idleness in the Thessalonian church. This problem has now escalated and gotten worse. Because of false teachers, These believers had become idle, and because of the false teaching about Christ's second coming, they had left their daily places of employment. And Paul says they have become, quote, busy bodies, meddling in the affairs of others.

Uh this language of busybody literally means this. One who puts his spoon in someone else's cup.

So what the Thessalonian believers had done was because they had a false understanding of the second coming of Christ and left their day jobs, they were now depending on other believers in the church for their complete physical sustenance. They were putting their spoon, so to speak, in everyone else's cup and becoming busybodies, meddling in the affairs of others and disrupting the church through their disorderly conduct. And so Paul responds to this, and he calls for restorative discipline. Of those who are disorderly in the church, and he commands the church to stay away from those who are disorderly, and he directly demands the disorderly to repent of their unruly behavior in the church. That's chapter 3.

And so he calls on us, rather than living as busybodies in view of Christ's second coming, he exhorts the Thessalonian believers and all of us. In view of the second coming of Christ to live orderly lives. And not grow weary of doing good because Jesus is coming back. That's basically chapter three.

So, what's important to note as a point of application before we move on is that what's important to note is this: Paul shows us in chapter 3 how the hope of the gospel, the second coming of Christ, Encourages believers to live godly, orderly, rather than ungodly, disorderly lives. Don't let anybody ever tell you the gospel is a license to sin. Paul destroys that teaching in chapter three and shows you that when you place your hope. When you place your faith in the hope of the gospel, the second coming of Christ, it will lead and encourage you to pursue godliness in your life. And so here's the summary of chapter 3.

The glorious second coming of Jesus corrects disorderly Christians. And it encourages faithful Christians to live lives of godliness so that the church, chapter 3 verse 16, can live in peace.

So what is Paul doing in 2 Thessalonians? Let me just break it down very simply in the outline. Here are the pressing, there are three pressing pastoral issues because of the reports he received that he wants to help correct. And so, based on this report, here's the outline of 2 Thessalonians chapter 1: to comfort persecuted Christians. Chapter two to calm alarmed Christians.

Chapter 3 to correct disorderly Christians. That's 2 Thessalonians right there. But the thing that controls all three chapters of 2 Thessalonians is this glorious second coming of Jesus.

Now, as we reflect on this introductory survey, there it is. This is what I want to spend the rest of our time with this morning. Answering this question. Why study 2 Thessalonians? Why study this book?

So, this morning, as we finish, I want to give you four reasons for studying this letter. Four reasons for studying this letter. Here's the first. First. 2 Thessalonians with 1 Thessalonians, but we're studying 2 Thessalonians, so we'll just focus on that.

But 2 Thessalonians is a book about last things, about eschatology. Eschatology just simply means the study of last things.

So, when you think about the distinctive contribution of 2 Thessalonians and 1 Thessalonians, you have to think immediately about eschatology, the study of last things.

Nowhere do we find more source material for the doctrine of last things as in the eight chapters of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Every chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with a reference to Jesus' second coming. Isn't that interesting? And then, 2 Thessalonians is completely organized around one central theme: the second coming of Christ. And so, with these two letters, we come really to the heart of the Bible's teaching about the future.

Namely, the most significant event yet ahead in redemptive history, which is this, the second coming of Jesus, which Paul in Titus 2 says is the church's blessed hope.

So, this letter is all about the blessed hope, the hope of the gospel, the second coming of Christ. This glorious second coming of Christ is the consummation of the kingdom of God. It is the consummation of the new creation. It is the answer to the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:10. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So this is a very important letter. It's also important to note that 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, along with the book of Galatians, are Paul's earliest letters in the New Testament. Why is that important?

Well, it's important for a couple of reasons. First of all, when we read Second Thessalonians and First Thessalonians, we get. We get insight into the earliest teaching and earliest thought of the early church on how they understood last things. We get the earliest understanding and insight of the church's view on end-time events. And of vital significance, the Apostle Paul combines the gospel with eschatology as he begins the letter of 1 Thessalonians in chapter 1, verse 10.

Listen to this hope-filled statement about Jesus. And he combines both the gospel and eschatology in one verse. He says, quote, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. That's gospel and eschatology in one phrase. And so, in order to comfort the Thessalonians, Paul in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians, verses 13 to 18.

And then in Second Thessalonians chapter two, the whole chapter. Goes into more detail than anywhere else on the precise sequence of events involved in Jesus' second coming.

So when we get to that, it's going to be quite amazing the things that you see. And also, with these two passages of Scripture, Paul has given us the two clearest statements in the whole New Testament about the second coming of Christ. Moreover, the Thessalonian believers' letters teach us about Christ's imminent return. The imminent return of Jesus just simply means that he could come at any time. Jesus' second coming, the Bible teaches, is the next major event to occur in God's redemptive historical timetable.

And Paul in these letters teaches us that that great event will happen quickly and unexpectedly. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 2, he says, For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

So, unlike David's teacher this past week, who thinks he knows that Jesus will return next year. Right. Um w w uh Jesus, we don't know when Jesus will return. But Paul is teaching, the ethical part of this, is that we must be ready. For his return.

Because his second coming will happen quickly and unexpectedly, like a thief. in the night.

So we must be ready. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 6 through 10. Paul sets forth another eschatology: the future judgment for those who persecute the church and the future vindication for the church that is persecuted. And if you don't think. That understanding the future judgment of those who persecute Christ's church is applicable.

When I was just in Europe, in Ireland preaching, after I got done doing an evangelistic outreach in a cafe, A woman came up to me in tears and said, pray for me because I am struggling with the doctrine of eternal punishment and God putting, taking justice and vengeance out on his enemies. And because she was struggling with that doctrine, she said, quote, I have no. Comfort. And the Apostle Paul's point in chapter one is to give you. comfort.

In view that God will one day vindicate you and bring vengeance and justice on your enemies. And so, this letter has great implications and applications to our daily life. And then, lastly, of first importance, keep it in mind the early date of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. This is why you need to understand the early date is so important. 1st and 2 Thessalonians with Galatians, as I said, are Paul's first letters.

They are the earliest letters in the New Testament.

So listen, we have the earliest confirmed teaching and thought about how Christians viewed the resurrection of dead Christians. The hope of the gospel. You see, because of Jesus' victory over death and grave the first Easter, Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 he exclaims this: He says, Thanks be to God. Because humanity's greatest enemy, death, he says, quote, has been swallowed up in victory. And so, from the time death first came upon the human race in Eden.

As a result of Adam's fall, God's people have longed for the glorious day. When the dead will be raised to live again forevermore and death conquered forevermore, and Paul goes into extreme detail in these letters about the hope of the gospel. That's comfort. This hope of a future bodily resurrection is directly, Paul says, connected to the glorious hope of Christ's second coming. And so Paul and the early church, we see in this letter, looked in hope for one climactic future event, the glorious second coming of Christ.

And so this letter is filled with comfort. Let me summarize for you like this: The second coming of Christ is good news for persecuted Christians. Chapter 1. It is good news for alarmed Christians. Chapter 2.

And it is good news for believers, chapter 3, who are continually tempted by ungodly influences outside of them and by the ungodly influence of their flesh inside of them, chapter 3.

So that's the first reason we want to study 2 Thessalonians, we want to get rid of all the fanaticism and look at the true hope of the gospel. 2 Thessalonians is a book about strengthening the faith of believers, but especially the faith of young believers in the faith.

So if you're a young believer in the faith, this book is for you. Many of the Thessalonian believers, as I said, were Greek converts who had come out of a pagan background that was characterized by religious pluralism and a lax moral climate. And these young believers needed to be instructed in both the faith and its implications, ethics for living in a challenging, godless culture. And upon their conversion, these new converts faced almost immediate opposition and persecution and began to suffer. Let me give you some insight into what was happening.

Upon their conversion, they began to experience alienation from family members and from their friends. They began to experience the cooling off of their initial spiritual zeal.

So, you know what happens with young believers? They get converted and they're just on fire. In our culture, we talk about we're on fire, and then all of a sudden the on fireness goes cools off. That's exactly what happened to these young believers in Thessalonica. And so Paul he reminds these young believers that such persecution, hardship, alienation from both family and friends is to be expected in life east of Eden.

Life east of Eden is not normal. And the only time we will have normal life is when Christ comes again. But until then, this life is not normal, it is filled with trouble. Let me give us some application very quickly about that. Jesus taught this fact to his disciples in the upper room the night before his crucifixion.

He says, In the world you have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. In Matthew 10, verses 34 through 39, he says, Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it. And whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

This is exactly what happened to the Thessalonian believers, these young little converts in the faith. And I can tell you from personal experience that Catherine and I have experienced this familial opposition in our own family on more than one occasion. And it is very hard. Jesus' own family opposed him and said that he was out of his mind, a lunatic. The central point that Jesus makes in Matthew 10 is that love of God and his kingdom takes precedence over every other human relationship.

So here's the question that Thessalonians poses for us. Why do so many of us think that being a Christian is going to guarantee an easy life and give us your best life now? God has not promised us a trouble-free life, your best life now, east of Eden. Your best life now is coming at the second coming. 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, Paul tells Timothy: All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

The Bible is filled with accounts of God's people facing suffering and persecution and alienation from family and friends, and 2 Thessalonians is no exception. And what is the remedy that Paul gives for these young believers so that they remain steadfast and don't quit and give up? Because I can tell you when you receive that kind of opposition Particularly in family situations, because, you know, as I said, Catherine and I experienced that for over a decade. Of relentless, ongoing, non-stop opposition. It's quite wearisome.

What is it that makes you stick to it? Paul gives us the answer in 2 Thessalonians. He says, To these Thessalonians, remain rooted in the word of God, the gospel, which will keep you steadfast. And therefore he prays for them in 2 Thessalonians 3:5. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God.

and to the steadfastness of Christ. That's what will make you continue on when you want to quit. And so we find ourselves living in a day and time not unlike the Thessalonians. And if we are to live lives of steadfastness and orderly godliness that adorn and rather tarnish the gospel, we need to give serious attention to Paul's letter that was written some 20 centuries ago to young believers in Thessalonica. Third, why are we studying Thessalonians?

Because it is a book about the impact of the gospel. You knew that was coming, right? 2 Thessalonians is a book about the impact of the gospel. It is about the power of God's gospel for salvation. As I had just mentioned, many of these Thessalonian converts, in fact, almost all of them, had come out of a pagan Greek background.

Religious pluralism, just like our culture, was the rule of the day. Lacks moral culture, just like our culture, is the rule of the day. And so, first and second Thessalonians informs and reinforces for us this active and powerful nature of the gospel. Despite, listen, the Thessalonians' pagan background. Despite the great conflict and persecution of their surrounding environment, When Paul and Silas and Timothy came to Thessalonica, Despite all of this, Paul says their coming was not in vain.

Look what he says in chapter 2 of Thessalonians. Look what he says. He says, verse 2: We had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. In chapter 1, verse 5, he says to them, Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. And so we learn from this letter that neither one's background, no matter how pagan.

Nor one circumstance is no matter how bad. Can keep the message of the gospel from being the power of God unto salvation. First Thessalonians chapters one and two. Paul refers in those two chapters to the message of the gospel nine times. He emphasizes in both of these letters the centrality of the preaching of the gospel and shows how faith is the natural and appropriate fruit of this gospel.

And so, Paul's purpose in these two brief letters is to show the Thessalonians and to teach us how he tried his best to get out of the way of the Word of God, the message of the gospel, and to let the gospel loose and have its full impact on their lives. You see, the concern with Paul was not Paul the preacher who was being slandered. The importance for Paul was the message that he proclaimed. And that was his concern. Let me give you an example of that from the Reformation.

Martin Luther, in a sermon in 1522 that he preached in Wittenberg in Germany. He was explaining to his congregation how the significant events of the Reformation had unfolded in the span of just a few years. And I want you to listen to what he shared with his church. He says, For the Word created heaven and earth and all things. The Word must do this thing, and not we, poor sinners.

In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences. And I oppose all the papists, the popes. But I never did this with force.

I simply taught, preached, and wrote God's Word. Otherwise, I did nothing. And while I slept, Or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends, I love that phrase, and drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Phillips and Amsdorff. The words so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing.

The word did everything. I did nothing. I let the word do its work. That's Paul's message in 2 Thessalonians. The power that the gospel brought to these pagan believers.

Changed their life forever. And then, fourth and finally, 2 Thessalonians is a book about the glory of God. As I said, the entire letter points to the glory of God. Every chapter is intent about talking about and pointing us to the glory. Of God.

God's glory will be consummated at Jesus' second coming. Paul says, He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all. who have believed. The Lord's glory. Fully revealed, shining forth.

Is what this book is all about as God's people wait for the hope. of the glorious second coming of Christ, and that is the book of 2 Thessalonians. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before you hit the next episode, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity.

You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for. In his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision. For the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian.

What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways, paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. Please look for the links that I put in the description and get a copy today. Does anyone come to mind who may like this episode? Please share with them and listen again to the Him of Proclaim podcast.