His Word Today

^” But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3 (ESV)

In contrast to the faithlessness of the unconverted (2 Thess. 3:2), The One, True Lord of heaven and earth is faithful. Faithfulness is one of God’s most familiar attributes. It is a predominant theme throughout the Old and New Testaments.

^9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” (Deuteronomy 7:9 (ESV)

“Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.” Psalm 36:5 (ESV)

“O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you?” (Psalm 89:8 (ESV)

“Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! ² For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! “(Psalm 117:1–2 (ESV)

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ²³ they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22–23 (ESV)

⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:9 (ESV)

 ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23 (ESV)

Not only is Scripture filled with references to the Lord’s faithfulness, but so also are the hymns and songs of the church. Here is but a brief sampling of recent praise songs concerning the faithfulness of God.

1. Same God – Elevation Worship

How I need You now, yes
O Rock, O Rock of Ages
I’m standing on Your faithfulness
On Your faithfulness

2. Goodness of God – Bethel Music

And all my life You have been faithful
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

3. Firm Foundation (He Won’t) – Maverick City Music

Cause He’s never let me down
He’s faithful through generations
So why would He fail now?
He won’t

4. Yes, and Amen – Chris Tomlin

Faithful, you are
Faithful forever you will be
Faithful, you are
All your promises are yes and Amen

5. Evidence – Josh Baldwin

All throughout my history
Your faithfulness has walked beside me
The winter storms made way for spring
In every season, from where I’m standing

6. Do It Again – Elevation Worship

Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
This is my confidence
You’ve never failed me yet

7. He Is Faithful – Bryan and Katie Torwalt

He is faithful, He is glorious
He is Jesus, all my hope is in Him
He is freedom, He is healing right now
He is hope and joy, love and peace and life

It would be remiss if there was no mention of the classic hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas O. Chisholm & William M. Runyan.

As one hymnologist recently wrote, “Few songs have brought more daily comfort than “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Written in 1923 by Thomas O. Chisholm, a humble insurance agent and former Methodist minister, the hymn reflects his personal testimony of God’s steady provision. The music, composed by William M. Runyan of Moody Bible Institute, matches the lyrics with gentle strength and clarity.

“Inspired by Lamentations 3:22–23, the hymn declares: “Morning by morning new mercies I see.” This line alone has been the quiet strength for countless believers walking through seasons of suffering, change, and uncertainty. The hymn doesn’t celebrate dramatic miracles—it celebrates the daily, consistent faithfulness of God in ordinary life. That’s why it endures.”

“Among classic hymns of the faith, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” stands out not only for its poetic beauty, but for its theological richness. It reminds us that God’s character never shifts. His compassions never fail. In a world of instability, this hymn anchors hearts in the One who is always faithful. Whether sung in sanctuary choirs or at kitchen tables, it continues to minister peace to every generation.”

What does the Scriptures mean when it states God is faithful? In today’s text, the word faithful (πιστὸς; pistos) means trustworthy, dependable, committed and honorable. The Lord is all of these and much more.

“Between the strengthening and the guarding there is a very close relationship. By being positively strengthened in faith, love, every good work and word (1 Thess. 3:2, 12, 13; 2 Thess. 2:17) believers will be guarded against the sin of capitulating to Satan. In all this the Lord (Jesus Christ) will manifest his faithfulness (cf. 1 Thess. 5:24). His promise never fails. He ever completes that which he began (Phil. 1:6),” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Great is His faithfulness. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

Our current weekly study from Scripture concerns the subject of holiness. This week’s essay continues to examine the holiness of God from Isaiah 6:1-7.

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:6-7).

Have you ever sensed the touch of God in your life? I refer to this touch as an overwhelming sense of the presence of God and His gracious forgiveness. Touch can also refer to a sense of God’s divine call to serve Him, perhaps in full-time ministry. I have encountered both of these events in my life, along with numerous moments of rededication, repentance of sin, and forgiveness from God as His child (I John 1:8-10).

To truly know God is to know that He is, according to Isaiah 6:1-3, holy, holy, holy. I Peter 1:15-16 says, “But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (Lev.11:44).  Isaiah 6 contains one of the most striking accounts of not only the holiness of God but also the un-holiness of man.

“When we truly encounter God’s holiness, we are changed. Consider Isaiah 6. Isaiah is overwhelmed by the display of God’s holiness. He is completely undone, crying, “Woe is me!” (Isa. 6:5). Encountering God’s holiness humbles us, exposes our sinfulness, and reshapes our minds and hearts, compelling us to align our desires and will with His desires and will. Recognizing our need for Him, we are set apart for His purposes and transformed into His likeness,” explains one commentator.

To truly know God is to recognize and understand that He is holy, and we are not. He is set apart from sin, while we belong and revel in our sin. How then can sinful creatures ever hope to eternally be in the presence of this God who is holy? How can we ever hope to serve Him? Our only confidence is in the gracious justification, redemption, reconciliation, and sanctification from the LORD. This is illustrated in today’s featured biblical text,

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.” God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the one who takes the initiative in cleansing sinners from their sin. This is illustrated by one of the seraphim angels who, with one set of his wings, flew to Isaiah. The angel had in his possession a burning coal. This was a very hot live ember taken from the altar, presumably the Altar of Incense.

“Realizing his impurity, Isaiah was cleansed by God, through the intermediary work of one of the seraphs. It is fitting that a seraph (perhaps meaning a “burning one”) touched Isaiah’s lips with a hot coal … from the altar, either the altar of burnt offering, on which a fire was always burning (Lev. 6:12), or the altar of incense where incense was burned each morning and evening (Ex. 30:1, 7–8),” explains Dr. John A. Martin from the Bible Knowledge Commentary.

And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” The angel touched the prophet’s mouth with the burning coal. With that touch from God by His angelic emissary, the angel stated that Isaiah’s sinful guilt was removed and his sin atoned for and forgiven. This scene is a symbolic reminder that repentance is painful, but cleansing and purifying

Dr. R. C. Sproul adds, “The purification is specifically applied to the point of his sin—his lips—making the prophet acceptable as a minister of God’s words (Jeremiah 1:9).”

“The action of the seraph in touching the coal to the lips of Isaiah symbolized the fact of the necessary propitiatory sacrifice having been made, his sins were forgiven. Acting in accord with God’s behest, the seraph caused the stone to touch the lips of the prophet,” states commentator E.J. Young.

“This stone, taken from the altar, was merely a symbol of forgiveness; the fire in itself could naturally not cleanse from sin. The cleansing and purifying work is not that of the fire, but of God alone. God alone is the author of forgiveness, and the seraph is but His messenger, flying to do His bidding.”  

God forgave Isaiah and the prophet became useful for God. This was not on the basis of anything the prophet could have done, but solely based on the gracious mercy of God. When God touched Isaiah, the prophet became holy. Isaiah was now immediately set apart from the penalty of sin, purified from the power of sin and received the God-given eternal promise of freedom from the presence of sin.

Dr. D.A. Carson states, “People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise; . . . we drift toward disobedience; . . . we drift toward superstition.”

Have the Lord touched you with a sense of His holy presence? If so, when and where? How do believers in Christ practically pursue God’s call to be holy as He is holy? This question will be considered when next we meet.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a God honoring and holy day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, ² and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1–2 (ESV)

The following message is from Dr. John Piper. He is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, He preached this sermon on January 13, 1985.

A Challenge to Pray

We stand at the end of the week in prayer and at the beginning of 1985. We have begun it in the way we should. The ministry of the word will run and be glorified at Bethlehem Baptist Church this year to the degree that we remain faithful to God’s word and to the degree that we pray for its victory. Everything of eternal significance happens by the word and prayer.

Let me hold out a challenge to you. Would you be willing to join me in resolving to pray this prayer every day this year? “Lord, cause your word to run and be glorified in the ministries of our church and in the missions we support.”

It implies praying that the word of God will win converts to Christ in our midst. It implies praying that the word of God will conquer sinful habits in our lives. It implies praying that the word of God will rise up and send out from among us ministers of the word at home and abroad. It implies praying that the teachers of the church will be kept from the evil one and will hold to the truth and be filled with spiritual power to proclaim and explain the word of God.

But all I am asking is whether you will make the promise. God helping me, I will pray each day in 1985 this simple prayer: Lord, cause your word to run and be glorified in the ministries of our church and in the missions we support.

Before I ask you to make that choice, let me close with an illustration of the kind of discipline and perseverance in prayer that might inspire you.

Illustration and Encouragement to Pray

David Howard, whose son teaches at our seminary and who is general director of The World Evangelical Fellowship, told recently in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly about a great movement of prayer that happened at Wheaton College when he and Jim Elliot were there in 1946.

Jim Elliot—the missionary killed by the Auca Indians in Ecuador—organized a campus-wide round-the-clock prayer cycle so that a student was praying for a mission’s movement during every 15-minute slot. One of the students’ named Art Wiens was moved during that week to pray systematically through the college directory, praying for 10 students by name every day. He followed this faithfully through his college years.

David Howard says that he did not see Art Wiens again until 1974, about 25 years later, at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Switzerland. As they renewed their friendship, Art asked David Howard if he recalled the great times of prayer they used to have. Then he said, “You know, Dave, I am still praying for 500 of our college contemporaries who are now on the mission field.” David asked him how he knew that many are overseas. He said, “I kept in touch with the alumni office and found out who was going as a missionary, and I still pray for them.”

Dave was so astounded he asked if he could see the prayer list. The next day he brought it to him—a battered old notebook he had started in college days with the names of hundreds of their classmates and fellow students.

Have you ever tested the desire to put your hand to a plow and not take it off for 25 years? Well, I would like to give you the chance to put it to the plow for one year, and the plow is very light. It takes eight seconds to say prayerfully, “Lord, cause your word to run and be glorified in the ministries of our church and in the missions we support. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, ² and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1–2 (ESV)

The following message is from Dr. John Piper. He is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, He preached this sermon on January 13, 1985.

God’s Word Triumphs Through Prayer

One of the texts that has done that for my own desire to pray is 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2. It’s short, but full of incentive for those of us who want to have a significant role in God’s purposes: “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not all have faith.”

This text gives tremendous significance to prayer in God’s victorious purposes. We could state the doctrine like this: Through prayer the word of the Lord overcomes obstacles and reaches a glorious victory.

The word of the Lord is pictured as an athlete running in a race to attain the prize of glory. An athlete is glorified when he wins and is recognized and acclaimed as superior to all the others in the race. So the word of the Lord is running in the world. It will one day win the race of words—the race of philosophies and theories and worldviews. It will be recognized and acclaimed as superior to all other words and philosophies—IF we pray! “Pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed on in triumph.”

Now just think of it. Almighty God has spoken. If he is God, it is sure that his word will accomplish all his purposes. God’s truth must win the race of words, but the text says, “Pray that the word will be victorious!” I take this to mean that God will indeed cause his word to be glorified, but he does not intend to win the victory without prayer. Or to put it in the most amazing way, he does not intend to win without giving you a part in the victory.

This is simply amazing. God’s whole purpose of creation and redemption hangs on the success of his word. Jesus said that the gospel must first be preached to all the peoples (Mark 13:10) before the end will come. In the end there will be people in the kingdom from every tongue and tribe and nation (Revelation 5:9). The word must run in triumph to those peoples if the purpose of God is to be accomplished. If his word fails, if there are insurmountable obstacles, then the new heaven and new earth abort.

Therefore, since God does not intend to win the race of words without the prayers of his people, the very purpose of God in creation and redemption hangs on your prayers.

True Significance Comes Through Prayer 

If you’re hungry for significance—for ultimate, eternal significance, not a little nationwide 50-year significance—then devote yourself to prayer for the word of God to run and be glorified, because through prayer the word of the Lord will be victorious and you with it.

We count people great in proportion to whether they have produced anything great, so some people long to write a great novel, and some long to build a business that will rival IBM or Mobil Oil, and some long to be the coach of a Super Bowl champion team, and some dream of commanding a brilliant battalion in victory, and some dream of discovering a new form of energy.

In about two seconds, all of them and all of us are going to gather before the judgment seat of God. James says that your life here is like a mist that appears for a little while and then is gone. Earthly life is like the breaths you saw in the air as you walked in this morning—about two seconds. So, the only greatness worth pursuing is greatness that is going to last in the age to come. Nobody gets excited about two seconds of greatness. Would there be any takers if God offered to let you feel the greatness of being chief executive officer of IBM for two seconds in exchange for your life?

So, we are all there before the judgment seat of all. The novel is gone, IBM is gone, the Super Bowl is gone, the battalion is gone, and the new form of energy is a first-grade science project in heaven. But off to the side of this group of erstwhile greats is John Doe Christian who, in his life, had spent 30 minutes a day on his knees praying that the word of the Lord would run and be glorified.

And behind him, stretching as far as the eye can see, are people from every tribe and tongue and nation praising God and shouting, “Worthy art thou, Lord God Almighty, for thou hast put it in the heart of John Doe Christian to pray, and by his prayers didst cause thy word to run and be glorified in our faith. Long live the King! Long live John Doe Christian! Great is the Lord and great is the mirror of his glory!”

For those of us who long for eternal significance and hunger after true greatness, 2 Thessalonians 3:1 is a very exciting text. God has appointed prayer as the means by which we have a role in his saving purposes, which is greater than any greatness the earth has to offer. You just have to see things the way God does. 

God will be duly glorified when the knowledge of his glory fills the earth like the waters fill the sea. And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of his glory when the word of the Lord runs and is glorified. And the word of the Lord runs and is glorified through prayer.

Brothers and sisters, this is a high calling. Believe it or not, this is the kind of greatness and the kind of significance you are longing for—to be an instrument in the hands of God to cause the word of the Lord to speed on in triumph!

More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, ² and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1–2 (ESV)

The following message is from Dr. John Piper. He is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, He preached this sermon on January 13, 1985.

You recall from Ephesians 6:17-18 that Paul said, “Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God … praying.” Prayer is the power that wields the weapon of the word. 

Nevertheless—and this is the magnificence of prayer—God has put his word into the hand of prayer. He himself remains the source and goal of all things, but he has chosen to make prayer the power that wields the weapon of his word. He himself remains the source to that power, but he grants to use the privilege and joy of being the instrument of his power in prayer.

A Universal Desire to Mirror God

I believe all of you somewhere within your heart want to be the instruments of God’s power, and therefore, even if you don’t feel like it now, there is buried somewhere in your subconscious the longing to be a man or a woman of fervent and effective prayer.

The reason I am confident of this is that every one of you is created in God’s image. Each one of you was created to be a conscious mirror of God’s image. You were created to consciously reflect his glory like a mirror of God’s image. Before sin entered the world, I think Adam and Eve had an overwhelming longing to be used by God to image-forth his power and wisdom and love in the world. They wanted to be mirrors of his glory.

And that longing is deep within every person today, but it has been distorted by sin. In a sense, the distortion is only slight; but it is the difference between day and night. It is the difference between wanting to reflect his face and wanting to take his place.

The glory of a mirror is to put its face to the light and to let that light shine. This is what mirrors are made for. This is the deep longing of the heart. But then sin entered the world and its first manifestation was Adam and Eve’s discontent with being mirrors. They began to want to be their own source of light. They began to feel that mirrors are just glass with a thin black coating of tin and mercury.

They suddenly became conscious of the fact that to be a good mirror you have to turn whichever way the light moves. You can’t be your own master. So, they chose to be their own source of light; they turned their brilliant mirror-faces away from God, and now all they can do is block his light and cast a shadow across the world.

But I want you to see the longing of Adam and Eve to be the light is a distortion of a legitimate longing, namely, to reflect the light. The Bible teaches that everyone since the fall of Adam and Eve is born with these same distorted longings. We come into the world longing to be God. We want the world to revolve around our interests.

We want to decide for ourselves which way to turn our faces. We want people to esteem us and admire us and compliment us. We don’t like the thought of being a mirror which has no beauty except in the thing it reflects. We don’t like the idea of having to turn our face wherever the light wants to go. We want to be our own light. We want to be God.

This comes with our fallen humanity. It is the very essence of sin. If you are honest, you will admit that you have felt this way. But this universal experience of sin is Satan’s distortion of something wonderful. And the wonderful thing is the pure and righteous longing to be used by God to reflect his glory in the world.

It’s not wrong to want to be significant. It’s wrong to want your significance to reside in yourself instead of in the one you reflect. It’s not wrong to want to be important. It’s wrong to want your importance to be in yourself instead of the one you reflect. It’s not wrong to boast, but “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord!”

Concealed deep beneath our pride and our craving for esteem and our love of power and influence is a good thing that has been distorted, namely, the longing to be a mirror of God. To be a mirror of God is the highest honor to which a creature can aspire. And the most ludicrous sight in the world is a created mirror turning away from the light of God and then trying on its own to make a little spark to brighten the shadow it casts on the world.

We Mirror God Through Prayer 

Now you might have lost track of what this has to do with prayer, so let me try to retrace our steps. What I have been trying to show is that each of you, if not consciously, at least subconsciously wants to be a person of fervent and powerful prayer. That is, you want to have a significant place in the purposes of God. You want to be his instrument in accomplishing something worthwhile.

My argument for this has been that behind the universal desire to be God there is a distorted longing to be a mirror of God – to have the significance and the importance of reflecting the glory of God. But my unspoken assumption so far is that praying is the way we mirror God.

Surely that is easy to see. A mirror faces away from itself to its source of light so that it might have some use in the world, and prayer faces away from itself toward God so that it might be of some use in the world. A mirror is designed to receive light and channel it for the good of others, and prayer is designed to receive grace and channel it for the good of others.

The value of a mirror is not in itself, but in its potential to let something else be seen. And the value of prayer is not in itself, but in its potential to let the power and beauty of God be seen. A mirror is utterly dependent on the source of light from outside itself, and prayer is the posture of the childlike, utterly dependent on the resources and kindness of the heavenly Father.

So praying is the way we mirror God. And if I am right that each of you, in the image of God, has a deep desire to be a mirror of God, then it is also true that, even if you don’t feel like it now, there is buried somewhere in your subconscious the longing to be a man or a woman of fervent and effective prayer.

More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, ² and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1–2 (ESV)

Twice in 2 Thessalonians the Apostle Paul, Silas and Timothy offered prayers on behalf of the Thessalonian believers in Christ (1:3-4; 2:13-17). It is certainly appropriate for pastors and elders to pray for the congregation wherein they serve as overseers. Paul and his companions did so. So, should church leaders today.

At the church where I serve as an elder, we pray for the congregation individually collectively and regularly. We also observe an annual Elders’ Prayer Retreat the first, or second, weekend in June. For this extended time, we pray for all requests presented to us beforehand: individually and collectively.

However, how often do believers in Christ pray for their pastors and church elders? How much time and consideration are given by the membership to praying for those individuals who shepherd their local church? Perhaps someone may reply it is the elders’ and pastors’ job to pray for the church, not the other way around. This perspective is not only short sided, it is also unbiblical.

Today’s text supports the need for believers in Christ to pray for those who minister to them as church leaders. It matters little if those leaders are evangelists, missionaries, elders, or pastor/teachers. All leaders need prayer and all believers need to pray for their leaders.

Paul strikes a biblical balance between the sovereignty of God in salvation and the responsibility of believers in Christ to share the Gospel. Additionally, it is appropriate for believers to pray for the effectual ministry of the Gospel in the conversion of sinners.

“One of the most striking things about the Bible’s teaching on divine sovereignty and human responsibility is that while we might be inclined to set them in opposition, the biblical authors never do so. Commentators note that Paul’s request for prayer in 2 Thessalonians 3:1–2 is connected to his conviction of divine election in 2:13–17 through his use of the word “finally.” Paul saw the certainty of God’s electing grace as making it more necessary to pray for the gospel’s success, not less. While there is some mystery here, this connection is not wholly inexplicable. If we are confident that God has His people all over the world and that His gospel will certainly save them, then we are encouraged to pray because we know that all prayers for the salvation of His elect will be answered in the affirmative,” states Dr. R.C. Sproul.

In bringing his second letter to a conclusion with the phrase “Finally, brothers,” Paul said, “pray for us” (προσεύχεσθε περὶ ἡμῶν; proseuchesthe peri hemon). This phrase is a present, middle or personal, imperative, plural verb. Paul was not presenting a casual request. The apostle was commanding the church to pray for him, Silas and Timothy. These were strong words filled with apostolic authority. Why was Paul so adamant about the Thessalonians praying for him and his partners in ministry, and by implication, all believers praying for their church leaders?

The first reason Paul gave was “that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” Paul was not requesting prayer for any personal peace of affluence. Rather, his prayer request was for the advancement of the Gospel. The phrase may speed ahead (τρέχῃ; treche) was for the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to spread rapidly and to grow quickly. To be honored (δοξάζηται; doxazetai) refers to people respecting and glorifying the Gospel. By doing so, God is glorified.  

“Paul sets much store by the intercession of fellow-believers for himself and his fellow-workers (see on 1 Thess. 5:25; cf. Rom. 15:30–32; 2 Cor. 1:11; Phil. 1:19; Col. 4:2; Philem. 22). It is not improbable that here the present tense has continuative force: “Continue to pray for us,” or “Pray constantly for us.” Note, however, that the prayer is not so much for personal blessings as it is for the progress of the gospel by means of the work of the missionaries, though the latter does not exclude the former,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.

“Paul prays that the word of the Lord (called thus because it proceeds from him and refers to him, that is, to the Lord Jesus Christ) may run (or may run its race) without hindrance and constant interference from the side of the enemy. That this is the meaning is shown by the immediate context. The apostle adds: and be crowned with glory (or simply: “and be glorified”). The fact that he is here employing a figure is evident at once, for in the literal sense of the term “the word of the Lord” does not “run.”

“It is surely entirely in line with Pauline usage to suggest that, as in many other passages so also here, the apostle is borrowing a metaphor from the race-track (cf. Rom. 9:16; 1 Cor. 9:24–27; Gal. 2:2; 5:7; Phil. 2:16). The author of Hebrews makes use of the same figure (Heb. 12:1, 2). However, the verb “and be glorified” which can be somewhat freely translated “and be crowned with glory” also indicates that in his mind the reality emerges out from under the figure. The word of the Lord is glorified when it is accepted by true faith, so that it begins to adorn the lives of believers. Now this “word of the Lord” had been successful in Thessalonica.”^[1]

The second reason was “that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” To be delivered (ῥυσθῶμεν; rhysthomen) means to be rescued from danger. The danger was from wicked (ἀτόπων; atopon) and evil (πονηρῶν; pomeron) individuals. These were they who possessed respectively improper behavior and immoral natures. In other words, they were people without faith in Christ. They were the unconverted.

The meaning is: “Most people have and show in their conduct the very opposite of faith, namely, unbelief, vicious opposition to the truth.” Lack of faith explains the hostile attitude to Christ, his gospel, his ambassadors,” concludes Dr. Hendriksen.^[2]

May we not only pray for those who minister and lead our local churches, but also for the spread of the Gospel. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

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^[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of I-II Thessalonians, vol. 3, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 194.

^[2] Ibid.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (ESV)

A SERMON DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 1888.

There is only one more expression upon which I will say a sentence or so. God has given us “good hope through grace.” It is of grace, and therefore it is a gift, and He has given it to us through the operation of His grace upon our hearts. It is a hope, a good hope, a “good hope through grace.” We have a good hope that God’s love will never fail us, and that, when life dies out on earth, we shall enter into His rest forever, and behold His face with joy, we have a good hope that, when days and years are past, we shall meet in heaven, we have a good hope of dwelling throughout eternity with our God, “forever with the Lord.”

O Father, after You have done so much for us, and given so much to us, it is but little we ask of You now, when we pray You to comfort our hearts, and to stablish us in every good word and work! I cannot understand what those do who have no God, I cannot comprehend the condition of those who have no “good hope through grace.” What can they do?

They have to work very hard from Monday morning to Saturday night, on Sunday, they have no day of rest, no thought of a world to come, no rising to a purer atmosphere. They lie in bed, perhaps, in the morning, and then get up, and lounge about in their shirtsleeves, there is nothing for them to get but what is found beneath the moon, and very little of that. It is better to be a dog than a man if there is no hope of a hereafter. It is better not to live at all than to live such a dead, good-for-nothing life as that man lives those lives without God, and without hope. Surely, you who are without God and without Christ, have your sinking, your mourning, your dull times, have you not? What do you do then? Perhaps you try to drug yourself with strong drink. Alas, some do that, and this is mischievous indeed, to try to poison conscience, and silence the best friend you have within you!

Do not so, but think about God, and about “our Lord Jesus Christ.” This way lies hope, where stands that cross, and He pleads who received there those five wounds for sinners, this way lies your only hope. Oh, that you would think of it, and consider it! If God Himself comes down from heaven to save men, it must be worthwhile for man to look and understand what God did for him in that wondrous sacrifice. Look, for— “There is life for a look at the Crucified One;” look now, for— “There is life at this moment for thee.”

Especially is their life for you who came in here troubled, downcast, almost wishing you were not alive at all, but fearing that, when life came to an end, it might be worse for you than ever, for you have “the dread of something after death.” Oh, that you were reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ! That being done, He would comfort your hearts, and you would be led into every good word and work through gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, and His grace would save you, and preserve you to the end. May this be the very moment when you shall seek and find the Lord! “If thou seek him, he will be found of thee.” God grant it, for His dear son’s sake! Amen.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (ESV)

A SERMON DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 1888.

The third point, with which I close, is this. WHAT DOES PAUL MENTION IN HIS PRAYER AS PLEAS? He mentioned several facts for the strengthening of the faith of those for whom he prayed, and gave arguments which they should use while pleading with God for others. Let us speak of these arguments very briefly, there are six of them.

First, Paul says that Jesus is ours. He is asking for comfort and establishment, and he begins his prayer, “Now, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.” Do, if you can, get the sweetness of this expression, “Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Why did not Paul say, “The Lord Jesus Christ”? Why did he not say, “My Lord Jesus Christ”? No, here is a plural possessive pronoun, “Our Lord Jesus Christ.” Is it so, then, that God has given us the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to be ours? Can we not only call His blood ours, and His resurrection ours, and His kingdom ours, but is He Himself ours? Oh, can we get a grip of Him as “My Beloved”? Is He my Husband, my Covenant Head, my Jesus, and my all?

Come, then, beloved, I was going to say that you hardly need pray for comfort, because you have it already, you have it in Jesus. Here is a solid mass of the pure gold of comfort in the fact that Jesus Christ Himself is yours. You are Christ’s, but Christ is also yours. As the husband belongs to the wife, and the wife belongs to the husband, so there is a mutual possession between Christ and you who are believers in Him. Are you poor, then? What! And yet Christ is yours? Do you say that you are helpless and friendless? How is that when you can say, “Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself”? No, here is a well opened in the desert for you, come and say to it, “Spring up, O well!” Sing ye unto it, drink of its living water, and fill your earthen vessels to the full. There is comfort enough for all saints in “Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.”

The second plea in Paul’s prayer is that God is our Father, “Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father.” I have already shown you what a mine and mountain of delightful consolation lies in the fact that the God who made the heavens and the earth, the omnipotent and unchangeable JEHOVAH, is “our Father.”

Do not think that this is a mere metaphor, that God is only set forth to us under the image of a father. There is no doubt that He is our Father, it is a matter of fact, if we are trusting His Son. “Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.” We have been begotten again by God, our new birth is from His power and His divine energy, we belong to His family, and shall never be cast out of it. Dear friends, what a plea this is in prayer! “My Father, wilt thou not comfort my heart? My Father, wilt thou let thy child despond? My Father, wilt thou not relieve me in the hour of my distress? Jesus Christ, my Lord Jesus Christ, do this for me, and great God, my Father, fail not to cheer my heart.”

Then the apostle goes on to remind us that God has loved us. Kindly look at the text, and remember it, “God, even our Father, which hath loved us.” You do not expect me to preach from those words, do you? “Which hath loved us.” I cannot comprehend this truth, I can very well understand God pitying us, as we pity a beggar in the streets, but God’s loving us always deprives me of the power to explain it. There was nothing in us to love, there was everything in us loathsome, and nothing lovable, yet the Lord loved us ere the world began, He has loved us without bound, so as to give His only-begotten Son to die for us. Is not that a powerful plea in prayer? “Lord, comfort my heart; stablish me in every good word and work, for thou hast loved me, therefore go on to love me. If You have given me Your love, surely You will not deny me the comforts of Your face, and the consolations of Your word.”

Then Paul adds, “Who hath loved us, and hath given us.” God has given us much, and all His past gifts are pleas for more gifts. Men do not plead so. The beggar in the street cannot say, “Give me a penny today because you gave me one yesterday,” else we might reply, “That is the reason why I should not give you anymore.”

But when dealing with God, this is a good plea. “O flowing Fountain, thou hast long been flowing, flow on still! O blessed Sun, thou didst shine yesterday, shine still today!” God loves us to make His past mercies arguments for obtaining future blessings, so the apostle says, “God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us.” But what has God given us? God has given us “everlasting consolation.”

Catch at that expression, for it reminds us of everlasting love, the everlasting covenant, the everlasting promises, everlasting redemption, and the everlasting heaven. Men nowadays clip this word “everlasting” round the edges, we do not, we take it as we find it. That which is everlasting lasts forever, be you assured of that. And God has given us consolation which will last us in life, and last us in death, and last us throughout eternity. Well, if He has given us “everlasting consolation,” we may well plead that He would graciously enable us to lay hold upon it, that our hearts may be comforted and cheered, and that we may be established in every good word and work.

More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

Our current weekly study from Scripture concerns the subject of holiness. This week’s essay continues to examine the holiness of God from Isaiah 6:1-7.

“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:1-5)

“The holiness of God is traumatic to unholy people.” – Dr. R. C. Sproul

The result of the Seraphim’s antiphonal praise of the LORD was “the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.” Inanimate objects possessed the sense to quake at the sound of this worship and in the presence of the God who is holy, holy, holy. The scene within the temple also symbolized the wrath and judgment of God upon sinners (cf. Ex. 19:16–20; Rev. 15:8).

What hope does any sinner have before the awesome holiness of God? There is no hope in ourselves. The LORD is holy, holy, holy. He remains sacred, set apart, consecrated, uncommon and uniquely different from sinful humanity. Sinners, on the other hand, are secular, profane, and all to commonly acquainted with all manner of sin. This applies to sinners like you, me and the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah’s response to what he witnessed was profound. “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

Isaiah may have been one of the most righteous individuals the nation of Judah had in the 8^th century B.C. He was a prophet par excellence. He was the quintessential spokesperson for God. The priest of God spoke to the LORD on behalf of the people of God. The prophet of God spoke to the people of God on behalf of the LORD.

The prophet’s primary message was called the oracle. An oracle is an authoritative and wise declaration from God through a spokesperson. It is a divine announcement prefaced by the phrase, “Thus says the LORD.”

The Old Testament oracle existed in two forms. There was an oracle from the LORD of joy, approval and blessing upon the people. This oracle was often prefaced by the word “blessed” (Psalm 1:1; Matt. 5:1-12). There was also an oracle from the LORD of judgment, wrath and condemnation upon the people because of their sin (Psalm 1:4-5). This oracle of judgment was accompanied by the word “woe” (Matt. 23:13-36).

Upon seeing the glory of God, and witnessing the resounding praise from the Seraphim, Isaiah cries out ““Woe is me!” Isaiah pronounced judgment upon himself. He became a broken man. For the first time Isaiah saw God for who He truly was and is: holy. Concurrently, for the first time Isaiah saw himself for who he truly was: unholy. In light of this startling recognition, Isaiah pronounced judgment: not upon the kingdoms of Israel or Judah, but rather upon himself.  

Why did Isaiah respond in this manner? Why did he acknowledge he was a broken man, lost or undone before God? It was because he understood, perhaps for the first time, he was a man with a heart filled with sin, and God was holy. Isaiah particularly identified his speech.

Dr. John MacArthur writes, “If the lips are unclean, so is the heart. This vision of God’s holiness vividly reminded the prophet of his own unworthiness which deserved judgment. Job (Job 42:1-6) and Peter (Luke 5:1-8) came to the same realization about themselves when confronted with the presence of the LORD (Ezekiel 1:28:2:7; Revelation 1:1-7).”

Jesus said in Mark 7:14-23. “And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus, he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The Prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9). The prophet was not only speaking of the individual, but also of the entire nation of Judah. See Jeremiah 17:1-8.

Dr. R. C. Sproul explains, “Isaiah is astonished by the glory of God; like Peter, he becomes afraid (Luke 5:1-8). He pronounces an oracular curse upon himself. His conviction of sin is specific: he has unclean lips. The fact that others around him suffer from the same condition compounds his sin rather than alleviating it.”

“… for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Often when we consider the holiness of God, and by consequence our sin, we tend to evaluate ourselves either by ourselves or by others. We dismiss our sin by saying it is not so bad. Or we look to others and favorably compare ourselves by saying we are not as bad as they are.

Isaiah would have none of this. He compared himself to the thrice holy God and became a broken man; a man “lost” or “undone.” Isaiah was no longer a man who had it altogether, but rather a man who was falling apart.

To truly know God is to recognize and understand He is holy, holy, holy, and we are not. He is set apart from sin, while we belong and revel in sin. He is uncommon sacred and we are all to secular and worldly. He is holy and we are profane.

How then can sinful creatures ever hope to eternally be in the presence of this God who is holy, holy, holy? Our only hope or confidence is in the gracious redemption of the LORD. We need the LORD to touch us in order to purge away our sin so we can become holy as He is holy (Lev. 11:44; I Peter 1:16). This is what Isaiah needed. It is what unconverted sinners need. It is also what believers in Christ continually need.

May the LORD’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day.

Soli deo Gloria!

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (ESV)

A SERMON DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 1888.

As I look at my text, a second question comes to my mind. WHY DOES THE APOSTLE SO SPECIALLY ADDRESS THIS PRAYER? Notice to whom he addresses it, “Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father…comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.” Why is this?

It seems to me that, in the first place, in this prayer the whole Trinity is supplicated. When the apostle is desiring comfort to be given, he does not mention the Comforter, for that is needless, it would occur to every Christian mind that the Holy Spirit was necessary, since in comforting and quickening He is only exercising His special office, but the apostle does mention “Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father,” so that, to the mind of the thoughtful reader, the prayer for comfort and establishment is directed to the ever-blessed Three-in-One.

Oh, that we oftener remembered the distinction of the Divine Persons without dividing the divine substance! It becomes instructed believers to remember that one blessing comes from the Father, another blessing from the Son, and a third blessing through the Holy Spirit. There are times when it would seem as if the one blessing must come through the three Divine Persons, that there must be a manifestation of the whole Trinity to produce the result. I cannot help noticing that truth, and reminding you how the Savior is especially placed here side by side with “God, even our Father,” that we may see that equal reverence is to be paid to Him with the Father, and equal prayer to be offered to Him with that presented to the great Father of spirits.

But then, I think next, that mention is here made of “Our Lord Jesus Christ himself” because, as the prayer is for consolation, He is “the consolation of Israel.” The Holy Spirit is the Comforter, but Christ Himself is the comfort, the Holy Spirit gives the consolation, but Jesus Christ is the consolation. Beloved, we are never so comforted as when we turn to our blessed Lord Himself. His humanity, His sympathy with us, His griefs, His bearing our infirmities, His putting away of our sins, His pleading for us at the right hand of God, His everlasting union with His people—all this makes us turn our eye to Him. He is the Sun that makes our day, from Him flows that “river of the water of life” which quenches our thirst.

So you see why the “Lord Jesus Christ himself” is mentioned in this prayer for comfort, since He is the every essence of the believer’s consolation. But then we are reminded of “God, even our Father,” and is not this expression brought to our mind that we may derive comfort from the relation which God bears to His people? O ye children of God, does not the recollection that He is your Father comfort you? Children of the heavenly King, is not the fact of your relationship to Him a well of unceasing consolation? What more do you require to lift your spirits out of the dust, than to know that this manner of love has been bestowed upon you, that you should be called the children of God, “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ”?

I do believe that, if the Holy Spirit only lays home to the heart the fact of our new birth, and our adoption into the family of God, we have enough comfort to make us swim through seas of trouble without fear, and also enough motive for the most constant, diligent service, when we know that it is for our Father who is in heaven that we are spending the strength that He Himself gives us.

Do you not see, therefore, why the apostle thus addresses His prayer to “God, even our Father,” and to “our Lord Jesus Christ himself”? And is not this another reason why Paul thus prayed, because he would remind us that it requires the direct action of the Godhead upon our hearts to produce comfort and constancy? This is especially evident at certain times.

Very frequently, when I have to comfort mourners, cases will occur in which a young husband has been taken away, leaving a large family of little children unprovided for, or else, two persons have been together for many years, till their lives have grown into one, and on a sudden, the wife or the husband has been taken away, I have said, and I cannot help saying it often, “My dear friend,  I cannot comfort you as I should like to, I have never been exactly in your circumstances, and therefore I cannot enter into your peculiar grief, but I would remind you that one Person of the Divine Trinity has undertaken the office of Comforter, and He can do what nobody else can.”

You must sometimes have felt the power of a single text of Scripture laid upon a wound in your heart, it will staunch the bleeding, and heal by a sort of heavenly magic. Have you not at times felt in a flutter of distress, so that you could not rest? Christian friends have spoken kindly to you, but they only seemed to mock you, then, in a moment, a soft, calming influence has stolen over your spirit, and you have felt that you could bear ten times the weight which had almost crushed you an hour before?

God can comfort to purpose, hence the apostle did not say, “I hope you will enjoy the comfort I have given you, or that, peradventure, your minister next Lord’s-day may give you,” but this was his prayer at this particular juncture, “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, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.”

It is grand in your prayers to fall back upon your God, and upon a God whom you know as your Lord Jesus Christ, and your Father, and to feel, “The case is beyond me, but it is not beyond my God. The trial overwhelms me even in my sympathy with the tried one, how much more does it overwhelm the actual bearer of it, but I put you and your sorrow into hands quite equal to the emergency, and leave you there.”

More to come. May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!