0:01 Welcome once again to Words of Life. In our study through the Bible, we have now come to the first letter to the Thessalonians. Paul wrote a number of letters. But the order in which we find them in 0:24 the Bible is not the order in which he wrote them. Just like the Old Testament books are not in the order in which they were written. We are not exactly sure the order of 0:45 which Paul wrote. But considering various things that we find in the letters and in the Acts of the Apostles and from what we have read in church history, we can get a rough idea which is 1:10 probably accurate in the order in which Paul wrote. If Paul was converted perhaps four or five years after Christ ascended to heaven, he wrote these letters about 15 years 1:35 after his conversion. One and two Thessalonians he wrote first. And then two or three years later he wrote Galatians, one and two Corinthians, 1:57 and then Romans. And then after 4 or 5 years, he wrote four letters from prison. Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians. 2:14 And then towards the end of his life, he wrote 1 Timothy, Titus, and then 2 Timothy was his last letter. Which is probably written about 33 years after his conversion. He probably died when he was around 65 2:39 or 67. So, when we keep that in mind, in 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, the main subject is the second coming of Christ. And he speaks about suffering 3:01 persecution. He speaks a lot about being holy before the second coming of Christ. See for example, 1 Thessalonians 3:13. That you may be established unblamable 3:24 in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of Christ. It's very interesting to see that the very first letter that Paul wrote 3:43 inspired scripture was about the second coming of Christ. So, that is a truth that we must keep in mind always. And Paul says but he taught about the 4:08 second coming of Christ to these Thessalonians when he was still there with them. You read that in 2 Thessalonians 2:5. Now, Paul had come to Thessalonica as we read in Acts of the Apostles after 4:26 he had been persecuted in Philippi. He had been beaten and jailed in Philippi. And then he escaped from there and came 4:43 to Thessalonica we read in Acts 17. These Thessalonians heard about his persecution there in Philippi. And things became so bad in Thessalonica 5:03 that we read in Acts 17 that Paul and Silas had to escape by night from there. So, we must keep those verses in Acts 17 at the back of our mind as we read this letter. These Thessalonians had seen Paul 5:26 suffering, persecuted, beaten for the gospel's sake. So, let's turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. He speaks here about how the gospel, verse 5, 5:44 did not come to you only in word in power. The word of the Lord It's possible to preach the gospel with just words. You understand something in your mind 6:05 and you preach that to other people. That goes to their mind. Or you can preach it in the power of the Holy Spirit. It says in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, in power 6:24 and the Holy Spirit with full conviction. That's how we must preach it. We're absolutely convinced about what we are saying. And in verse five, it must be backed up 6:42 with the type of life that we live that other people see in us. And we encourage others in verse six not just to listen to our message, but to become imitators of us and of Christ. We don't just preach saying, "Don't 7:06 follow me." Just listen to my message. No apostle preached like that. But today's preachers preach like that. Cuz their lives don't match up to what they preach. That's because Christianity has drifted so far from the truth of the apostles. 7:27 The apostles lived and said, "Follow us." Our words and our life match with each other. And he speaks about how much they received how they received God's word in verse six. they received God's word in 7:46 verse six with much tribulation with joy in the Holy Spirit. And they became an example to the believers in other places verse seven. They became an example Then in verse nine we have a description of what true conversion is. 8:07 Here is repentance. Repentance is a turning towards God away from idols. To serve the living and true God. And to wait for the return of his son verse seven from verse 10 from heaven. That is one of the finest definitions of 8:30 repentance in the Bible. Turning from idols. Some of the biggest idols found in the lives of Christians are the money and pleasure and the honor of men. If we don't turn from these things we 8:53 are worshipping idols. Anything that takes the place of the true God in your mind and in your heart. That is an idol. So if you don't turn 9:10 from those things you can't come to God. Please remember that. Just look at people who worship physical idols and say I don't do that. There are worse idols when you love love of money is a worse idol than any of 9:29 those idols. Because that fellow worships that that 10 minutes in the morning and then goes off for his for his work. You can pursue money the whole day and worship idols the whole day. How many believers are doing that? 9:51 They haven't turned from idols. They look down on these other people who worship idols for 10 minutes. Turn from idols. That is repentance. Then he says how you know how weak it was when we came to you, chapter 2, verse 1. 10:13 We were suffering and we had been mistreated in Philippi. And yet we have a bold to speak to you the gospel with all that opposition. And then he says about the way of life. He says there's no error in our 10:32 teaching. There's no impurity in our life. There's no deceit. We are not trying to say something to get something from you. But we have been approved by God. We have been We have been We have been 10:52 entrusted with the gospel. We don't seek to please men in our preaching. We only seek to please God who is always examining our hearts. We don't use any flattery when we preach to you. We don't preach in order to get money 11:14 out of you. God is a witness to that. And we did not seek any glory from men, verse 6, in our preaching. And even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority, we did not do it. But we were gentle like a nursing mother 11:38 cares for her little baby. And we did not just give you the gospel, verse eight, we poured out our life. Because you became dear to us. My brothers, you saw how we preached to 11:58 you. We worked hard day and night so that we will not be a financial burden to any of you. You saw our life. How holy, upright, blameless we behaved 12:17 towards We encouraged you, exhorted you just like a father would encourage his children. We didn't want anything from you. We wanted you to walk in a manner worthy of the God who has called you. If you are a preacher of God's word, 12:43 I would encourage you to read chapter two, verse three to 12 and say, "Lord, make me like this." And meditate on it again and again and again if you want to be a true servant of God. And therefore, when they preach like 13:07 that, because God backed them up, it says here, "You accepted this, verse 13, not just as a word from men, but as a word from God." And even though you suffered, you endured it. And then he further on he says 13:31 after he left Thessalonica You know, we had to run away at night because they were persecuting him there. He says, "I wanted to come to you again and again." Verse 18. Because what is my great crown? 13:49 What is the crown that I'm expecting in heaven? Verse 19 says, "You are my crown." You are our glory. You are our joy. Verse 20. Paul loved these people. That is why God blessed his ministry. You want God to bless your ministry, you 14:12 must have God's word in your heart and God's people in your heart. Now, we see another thing here. In verse 18 that Satan hindered Paul. He says, "I wanted to come more than 14:31 once to you, but Satan hindered me." We know that Satan was defeated on the cross. How can he hinder a mighty apostle like Paul? God allows Satan to tempt us, he even to tempt Jesus. He allowed Satan to send a messenger to 14:56 trouble Paul like a thorn in the flesh. It's probably some sickness. It was a messenger of Satan. God didn't give it, Satan gave it. But and he prayed three times and God didn't remove it. Three times Paul 15:15 prayed and God didn't remove it. And so we see that sometimes God allows certain things of Satan to remain. With the purpose that something better will be accomplished. Because of this sickness that Satan gave to Paul, Paul remained a very humble 15:35 person. So, he always got grace from God. Otherwise, he would have become proud and he would have lost grace. So, what a blessing that thorn in the flesh was. It was painful, but he kept getting 15:53 grace. That's an example of how God uses Satan. You know, Satan sends his smaller demons after junior servants of God. But he himself goes after the most 16:14 useful servant of God on earth. If you are the most useful servant of God on earth today, then Satan will come after you personally. He will send junior demons after the others. He himself went after Paul. 16:38 That's a great honor for Satan himself to come after you. And it looks as if he succeeded. He stopped Paul from going to Thessalonica. And Satan rejoices, "I stopped Paul from 16:56 going to Thessalonica." But see how God turns the tables on Satan. See this. "When I could not stay, come, I sent Timothy." Verse two. Chapter three, verse two. 17:17 And that was God's will. It was God's will was this young Timothy also must get some experience in the ministry. Paul is not going to be here forever. This man also must be prepared for the ministry. If all the time Paul goes and 17:33 preaches, how will this man be prepared? So sometimes God may make a senior servant of God sick. From the devil. And the devil thinks he has won something. 17:53 I made that man sick. He can't go for those meetings. But that's God's will. That the junior servant of God goes and gets developed in his ministry. You cannot fool God. 18:11 You cannot do something that hinders God's purpose. So we need not be afraid. Even if Satan has hindered somewhere, God will accomplish something better through it. Another thing I want you to notice here. Chapter three. 18:30 Verse 12 and 13. He says, "I pray that you will abound in love for all men." And that is how God can establish you, verse 13, unblameable in holiness. I don't know whether you got the force 18:51 of those words. Listen again. You must increase and abound in love. That is how you are established in holiness. So how do you know you're becoming more holy? Is it by your wearing simple clothes? 19:15 And having a simple house? No, it's not by these external things. It is by your abounding in love for all people. If you're not growing in love for your fellow believers and for all men, you 19:34 are not getting holier. And then according to verse 13, you're not ready for the coming of Christ. Please remember that. 19:51 Love is the mark of true holiness. Then in chapter 4, verses 1 to 8, he speaks about sexual purity. This holiness is seen, first of all, in 20:08 love for all men. But then also in sexual purity. The sexual area is a great area where we are tested in holiness. Chapter 4, verse 3, abstain from all 20:29 sexual immorality. Verse 4. It speaks about possessing our own vessel in sanctification and honor. The word vessel can 20:46 can apply to two things. It could be our body. It could be a wife. So, first of all, our body. I must know how to keep my body in sanctification and purity. And not like all the Gentiles, verse in 21:08 the body. That is the proof that they don't know God. That's a clear proof somebody doesn't know God if he keeps on indulging in the lust in his body. Keep your body in purity. 21:30 The other is the other meaning of this verse is You must know how to get a wife in purity. And not in lustful passion. But nowadays a lot of boys and girls are 21:49 going together and indulging in a lot of lust and that's how they get a wife. They fool around with so many girls. That's not God's way. That's the way of 22:10 people who don't know God. And the other thing he says in verse 6 is nobody should cheat his brother. That means don't fool around with some other person's wife. Don't try and become friendly with 22:28 somebody else's wife. Because God is an avenger of all those who do such things. And then he speaks about how people will be raised from the dead when Christ comes again. Chapter 4 22:49 First of all, he talks about earning your own living in verse 11. Because there were some people those days saying the coming of the Lord is so near, why we should should we work? Don't do such foolish things. Work hard. 23:08 Earn your living. And he says, "I'll tell you what will happen when Christ comes." First of all, the dead in Christ will rise. And we who are alive will be caught up to meet him in the air. And the Lord will descend with the 23:25 trumpet. The angels will the shout of the archangel. And when we compare this with Matthew 24, we know that this is something that is going to happen after the tribulation. If you compare this passage with Matthew 23:46 24:29-31, immediately after the tribulation, there we read, Christ will come in the clouds. Voice of the archangel. Trumpet of God. 24:05 The elect will be gathered. So, the church has to go through many years of tribulation, always before the great tribulation before Christ comes. What he says in 1 Thessalonians 5:2, it's not going to surprise us like a 24:24 thief in the night. Because we are not in darkness, verse 4. Other people, it will be like a thief in the night. But for us, we are alert. We are we are always ready. Spiritually, we are not asleep at any time. 24:43 So, when it says in verse 6, "Let's not sleep," it means spiritually, don't go to sleep. We are of the day. So, we are ready for the coming of Christ. So, closing exhortations. Appreciate verse 12 those who diligently 25:03 labor among you. Great exhortation. Value those who are serving God in your midst. Encourage the fainthearted verse 14, help the weak. Always rejoice verse 16. 25:24 Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. Don't quench the spirit. Value prophetic gifts. Don't swallow everything, examine everything verse 21. And may God sanctify you verse 23 25:41 spirit, soul, and body. Man has three parts, soul, and body. God wants to make you totally holy. He will do it. That's how he prepares us for Christ's coming. 25:59 God bless you. Welcome once again to Words of Life. In our study through the Bible, we have now come to the second letter to the Thessalonians. In both these letters, the subject is 26:22 the coming of Christ. And uh we saw in our last study how we are to be prepared for that by living a holy life. He speaks here also about avoiding being 26:44 careful that we are not deceived. If there are two things that should prepare us for the coming of Christ. Christ will make you Living holiness. Particularly loving all people. 27:02 And sexual purity. And avoiding being careful that we are not deceived. That is one of the themes of 2 Thessalonians. In the first letter to Thessalonians, he 27:22 didn't speak about deception. He speaks about purity in order to be ready for the coming of Christ. That's very important. 1 Thessalonians 5:23, that God will 27:38 sanctify you spirit, soul, and body. When he speaks about the valuing the gifts of the spirit in 1 Thessalonians 5:20. The gifts of the spirit are meant to 27:59 prepare us to live a holy life. So much of what is called prophecy today in Christian circles is not the prophecy that Paul is speaking about. In so many groups today, 28:21 people just close their eyes and in a funny voice they say a few sentences, whatever comes into their mind. Imagine that they are prophesying to people. And because God's people are simple 28:39 people like sheep, they are deceived. The exhortation that all such people need when they hear a prophecy. if we take it if we take it fully 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Examine everything carefully. 28:59 And hold fast to only which that which you are convinced is good and from God. If you don't obey that exhortation, you can be deceived by a lot of things which are called prophecies. Beware of a person who is collecting 29:19 money for his prophecies. You can be sure that man is definitely a false prophet. A true prophet of God will not be interested in your money. 2 Thessalonians 29:37 He speaks about correcting certain wrong understanding they had. If the first letter was for comfort, this letter is for correction. First of all, he speaks about being 30:00 faithful in tribulation. Again, Paul begins by saying, "I thank God for you." Verse 3 Your faith is greatly enlarged. The love of each of you is growing. Have you noticed in so many of Paul's 30:20 letters is the thing that makes him happy is when people have faith and love. These are the two most important things. 1 Corinthians 13 says, "Faith, hope, and love abide. The greatest of these is 30:39 love." And Hebrews 11 says without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith and love is what Paul looked for everywhere. And if he saw faith and love he was 30:58 delighted. It didn't matter whether they had small hearts or big houses makes no difference. Whether rich or poor made no difference. Paul never preached the gospel of material prosperity or physical health. Many people like Timothy lived with 31:21 stomach problems all their life. Paul was sick with a thorn in the flesh all his life. Some of his co-workers like Trophimus, no matter how much he prayed he could not heal them. They were sick. You read these things in the letters to 31:42 Timothy. But one thing he believed they must grow in faith and grow in love. And they must endure in tribulation. And so he says in verse four, 32:01 "We speak proudly of you because of your perseverance in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions." And the way you face persecution and endure proves verse five that you are worthy of 32:20 the kingdom of God for which you are suffering. And one day God will punish or six all those who are afflicting you. The whole Bible teaches one thing. 32:39 The whole Bible teaches one God comes down very hard on anybody who hurts his children. He may allow his children to suffer. But the way he will deal with those who 32:58 trouble them will be very severe. See how God dealt with Cain when he killed Abel? It's true God allowed Abel to be killed. But he dealt with Cain so severely that 33:19 Cain said, "Oh God, my punishment is too much for me to bear." You go to the next book of the Bible. And see how the Egyptians troubled the Israelites for many years. Hundreds of years. 33:40 God allowed it. But when he punished the Egyptians, boy, what a punishment it was. And the same thing all through the Bible. He allowed the Babylonians to trouble Israel. But then he punished the Babylonians. 34:02 He allowed the Pharisees to crucify Jesus Christ. But boy, what a punishment they got years later when God judged that whole nation. And through the years, 2,000 years, many people have persecuted Christians. God has allowed it. 34:24 But when he comes down in judgment on those people, it's very severe. And it says here in It says here in six, this is absolutely righteous for God to afflict those who afflict you. It's not just those who first 34:45 non-Christians who persecute Christians. What about believers who harass and gossip and dis- speak evil and hurt other believers? Don't do it. 35:05 By all means expose false doctrine, that is necessary. Expose false prophets. Don't try to attack God's people. Don't take advantage of God's people. 35:25 You preachers who try to take money from poor people of the people of God with all your stories and your reports and when God judges you for all that, it'll be very severe. Think of that day. 35:46 And fear now. Be careful. Leave God's children alone. Leave his servants alone. Very important. God will repay with a with affliction those who afflict his children. May not be immediate. 36:06 You have to wait for the coming of Christ. It says when Jesus is revealed with his mighty angels, maybe it's only then that he'll give relief to you. But when he punishes them, it'll be with eternal destruction, verse nine. 36:24 And in that day, he will be glorified in his verse 10. So, he says, "My prayer for you is verse 11 that God will count you worthy of your calling." Then he says in chapter two, he says, "I want to give you some 36:43 correction. After my first letter, First Thessalonians, I heard that some people have been writing another letter, verse two, as if it is from me. That means people were writing their own 37:02 letters and signing Paul. Or sending a message saying, "Paul said this." See, in those days it was not so easy to verify from Paul, "Did you actually write this letter or did you send this message?" There was no telephone, no email, 37:23 nothing. There was no even postal service. How would you find out from Paul whether he actually wrote this letter? Cuz Paul very often wrote through other people. He would sign at the end. 37:42 And many people were trying to fool people by writing something themselves and saying Paul wrote this. So, some people were disturbed. So, he says, "Don't be disturbed by by spirit or message as if a letter has come from us." 38:04 And then some people were saying, "Thus said the Lord." "The spirit is saying He says, "Don't be disturbed by all these things." He's saying the day of the Lord has come. No, he says, "It has not come." I'm telling you, 38:20 verse one in connection with our gathering together to Christ. So clear. He's talking about our being taken up to be meeting with the Lord. He says that day will not come verse 38:36 three before the Antichrist is revealed. So what does he say? Christ will not come before we see the Antichrist. This person, this Antichrist verse four who opposes himself and sits in the temple as if he's God. The last 150 years of Paul's teaching 39:03 has been going around that Christ will come secretly and take away his church before the tribulation, before the Antichrist. Even though 95% of believers believe it, it's a false teaching. It's not found anywhere in scripture. 39:24 I have studied this book for 47 years. I have not found a single verse that teaches that Christ will come before the tribulation. This teaching was not taught by the apostles. It was not taught for 1800 years of Christian church history. 39:45 And it never came, this doctrine never came from church places where the church was persecuted. This doctrine originated in England and America in the last 150 years where they lived in comfort as Christians. Here is what Paul says. 40:09 In connection with our gathering together to him verse one. Let me tell you. That will not will not happen till first verse three, the man of sin is revealed. And he says verse five, "Don't you 40:27 remember even when I was with you, I was telling you these things?" So, it is so clear. The Antichrist will be revealed when Christians are on the earth and then only Christ will come. And there will be a period of suffering 40:46 called the great tribulation. So, what does that mean? Does that mean that we are waiting for the great tribulation or we are to we are waiting for the coming of Christ? Jesus described the period of tribulation as the 41:05 beginning of birth pangs of a mother, you know, mother about to give birth to a baby. That's how he described it when he spoke about it in the gospels. So, if you ask a pregnant woman, 41:26 "What are you looking forward to?" No woman will say, "I'm looking forward to the birth pains." Everyone will say, "I'm looking forward to the birth of a baby." But every woman knows that before the baby is born, there's going to be a 41:43 period of birth pains. And Jesus also said very clearly in the gospels that the period of tribulation is like the birth pangs of a woman who is about to lay give birth. 42:01 birth. So, the period of tribulation will come before the coming of Christ, but we don't look forward to the tribulation. Just like a woman doesn't look forward to the birth pain. So, we also look forward to the coming 42:20 of Christ. But like the woman, we know there'll be a period of pain before that. That will be a time of persecution. But more than that, it'll be a time of tremendous deception. What is the thing that is going to prepare the world and Christendom for 42:40 the coming of the Antichrist? It says here in verse 9. Now, first of all, it says he's a lawless person, verse 8. And just like there's a mystery of godliness here, we read in verse 7 about 42:58 a mystery of lawlessness. And that means Christians will not be interested in a holy life. Preaching will not be a preaching on holiness. Preaching will be on material prosperity and physical health. Preaching will be on getting better 43:21 houses, better jobs, better cars. That is how the Christendom is going to be prepared for the coming of the Antichrist. The second way in which Christendom is going to be prepared is with false, verse 9, false signs and 43:45 wonders. That means there'll be all types of deception. In the name of Jesus. All types of magic psychology hypnos- hypnotizing people And in the name of Jesus. 44:07 People are to be deceived. And these preachers who do this will collect a lot of money and live in grand style. That will be the clearest proof that they are not servants of God. Jesus did greater miracles than all the 44:25 people today. But he never took a collection in his healing meetings. Have you ever seen a preacher who holds public meetings today for healing who does not take a collection? I've never seen one. 44:49 Jesus and the apostles were like that. To me that is the clearest proof that these people are not following Jesus. If they were following Jesus and the apostles, they wouldn't take a collection. Imagine taking collections from 45:07 unbelievers. And they say they preach the gospel to them. Do you hear that? People have to pay to hear the gospel? What an evil satanic thing that is. And yet nobody objects to it. 45:28 Multitudes of believers just blindly follow it. You can see how they have been deceived. Why are they deceived? God has allowed them to be deceived. The reason is verse 10. They did not receive the love of the 45:45 truth so as to be saved. If you don't love the truth the truth in God's word when God shows you the truth about yourself you don't love it 46:01 in order to be saved from sin yourself God will send a deceiving influence to deceive you. Imagine the devil's deceiving you. Your lust is deceiving you. 46:19 And on top of that God will deceive you. Because you don't love the truth. You don't love what you read in God's word. You don't want to see the truth about Jesus and the apostles how they conducted meetings. You don't love the truth. 46:36 You say, "Oh, it's different today. We need to do things differently." Then you can be sure God will allow you to be deceived. He'll allow you to believe what is false, verse 11. He'll allow you to believe that you're doing the right thing when you're doing 46:52 the wrong thing. He'll allow you to believe that taking a collection from unbelievers is right. Totally wrong thing. He'll allow you to believe that lie. Because you don't love the truth. 47:12 You want to be saved from deception? Love the truth. Further, it says here that the gospel he has called us in verse 14 is not to gain money, but to gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 14, 47:36 what are we supposed to gain through the gospel? Not better houses and lands, the glory of Christ, becoming more like him. Then in chapter 3, he says, "Brethren, pray for us 47:51 the word of the Lord may spread rapidly, this truth that we are preaching. It will spread. You need to pray for us, too. That this truth we are preaching to expose the lie of the devil will spread. Because there are evil men who oppose 48:15 us, verse two. But the Lord will protect us not only from them, but also from the evil one in verse three. Then he could give some practical advice about working to earn our own living. See, there were some people who were 48:37 saying, "Oh, Christ is coming soon, so why should we work? Let's just spend our life preaching." They don't work. And how do they live? They go around taking collection from other believers. So, other people have to work. 48:57 But they themselves don't work because they say we are getting ready for the coming of the Lord. He says that in verse 11, we hear that some there are undisciplined, living undisciplined life, doing no work, but acting like busybodies. 49:15 We have an exhortation for such people. Work. Eat your own supper. And remember what we told you when we were with you, verse 10. It's an order we gave. The man does not work, he should not eat. He says, "What about us? We are 49:36 apostles." And we could have taken money from you. We didn't do it. Even when verse eight, when you gave us food to eat, we paid for it. Where did Paul get the He says in verse 8, "We worked 50:00 night and day and paid for the food you gave us." Paul stayed in Thessalonica for some time. He was not saying that once he was invited for dinner somewhere and he paid for the dinner. But he was staying somewhere and some 50:23 people were supplying him food regularly. He didn't want to take advantage of those believers. He paid for it. hard Why? "We have a right to receive money from you." He says in verse 9. "We wanted to be an example." 50:45 Where are the preachers today like Paul? No wonder so many are being deceived. So he says, "Brothers, if somebody doesn't listen to this instruction, verse 14, make a note of that man. And don't have anything to do with him. 51:04 Don't fellowship with such people. He's not an enemy, but exhort him as a brother, verse And he says, "Don't be deceived by people some letter they say Paul wrote." "At the end of every letter, verse 17, I'll write this greeting." 51:25 What a lot of deception there was in those days. Look how much more it is today. Love the truth. Earn your own living. Beware of those who take money from you. Never be deceived. 51:43 May you have ears to hear that. God God bless you.
