Gooding, David: Eternal Encouragement and Good Hope

Let's encourage ourselves tonight, shall we, by reading an encouragement that Paul wrote to our fellow believers a long time ago in Thessalonica. Two Thessalonians chapter two verses thirteen to seventeen. The dear Thessalonians are now in glory and beyond the need of any encouragement. They won't mind if we steal some of the encouragement that was originally written to them. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks to God all the way for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, for that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation, in sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you through our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand fast. Hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by epistle of ours. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, which loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. Comfort and encourage your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Marvelous words of encouragement, and if you look at them carefully, you will see they are formed of three special parts. First of all, Paul thanks God for the Thessalonians, for what God has done for them in the past. What God has done. Verses thirteen, fourteen, uh, uh, uh, of what God has done. Two verses. One verse then of exaltation, verse fifteen: so then, brethren, stand fast. Verses of thanksgiving for what God has done, one verse about what we are to do, and finally two more verses of prayer for what God shall yet do for us. That sounds to me a very sensible proportion, isn't it? Exhortation, you know, is comparatively easy and always, I suppose, necessary. But what a genius Paul was, and what a marvelous master the Lord is. One verse of exhortation, two verses of encouragement as to what God has done, and two verses about what God will do. I like the proportion myself. Pray, bear it in mind when you feel led to exhort me. Start off with the encouragement of what the Lord has done. And then Paul starts to give thanks for them. We're bound to give thanks for you, he says. That's a good way to start if you're going to exhort folks, you know, to do a bit more. Thanks first for what they are and what they've done. He doesn't talk much about what they have done. As he thinks of them, he says he's bound to give thanks to God for them, for what God has done. Well, what has God done for them and for us? Oh, what a lovely list in these two verses. First and foremost, brethren, he says, you are beloved of God. The word is in the perfect tense. Not you are merely loved now, but God has loved you. Or if you like, God has set his love upon you. And it remains is the force of the tense of the verb he uses. God the Almighty has set his love upon you. Think, my brothers, what the Almighty can do if with his love he befriends you. Oh, I give thanks in my heart for you, my brothers and sisters, when I think of this glorious thing that God has loved you and loves you still. God loves you, and then he says that God chose you from the beginning. God chose you. You'll not believe us by accident, you know. You didn't have to pester God to take you in, and he, uh, uh, regretfully or reluctantly accepted you. No, God positively chose you. God has chosen you. Here the manuscripts go apart, don't they? Some of them say God chose you from the beginning, and that, of course, is true. Ephesians tells us he's chosen you in Christ before the foundation of the world. Therefore, his choice is not affected by the ups and downs and the changing circumstances of life. His choice doesn't depend on that. He chose us before the foundation of the world. And what is true about our salvation is true of us as servants of the Lord, isn't it? Paul says to Timothy, second Timothy one, God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which has given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal. So pull out your socks, Timothy, says Paul, and, uh, stir up the gift that's in you and get on with the job, because God chose you from the very beginning before times eternal, not only for salvation, but for the work you do. What a marvelous thing it is to come to the Sunday school class or the toddlers group or whatever it is you come to, with the knowledge behind you that God from eternity chose you for this task. Come to it with all the counsels of eternity behind you. Oh, my brother, don't lose heart when you meet in solemn deliberation on a Tuesday night and consider the welfare of the saints and whether they're doing well or badly, and you come to me and are tempted to despair. Ah, pray remember this, that behind your work from these elements, the part you're given to do in it, are the eternal counsels of God. He chose me before the foundation of the world. And very peaceful. But other manuscripts at this point read, not he chose us from the beginning, but he chose us as first fruits. And that is probably the original thing that Paul wrote at this juncture. You say, what does that mean? Well, it means simply this, that when God saved the Thessalonians, he didn't have them in mind only. When he saved them, he meant to save other people through them. Mm. And so he saved them as the first fruits of a bigger harvest that was going to be. That's a lovely thought, isn't it? When God chose Abram, he didn't choose him for Abram alone. And when God chose the Israelites, he didn't choose them for themselves alone. He chose them that in them all the nations of the earth should be blessed. And my brother, my sister, when God decided to save you, he didn't do it just for your sake. He did it for your sake, of course, but he chose you as a first fruits. Through you, others might be reached in an ever extending and widening circle, chose you as first fruits of a coming harvest. Ah, the harvest will come. If God has chosen you and you are the first fruits, then the harvest shall come. And then it says he did this, uh, unto salvation and sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Who could stop thanking God, uh, i- i- i- if he thought of what God has done for you, my brothers, my sisters. The great work of sanctification. God saved you, chose you, saved you, called you. Not only so, but he was determined to sanctify you and gave you his spirit. That Holy Spirit who brought you to conviction and to faith. That Holy Spirit that has poured out the love of God in your hearts and given you eternal security. That lovely Holy Spirit that does all the research into the deep things of God, so that then he can teach us. And you'll say, lovely that, isn't he? To One Corinthians chapter two says that, uh, the Spirit searcheth all things. He's the great researcher, isn't he? You ask me how I study scripture. Well, you'll say it's not only that God has spoken, and he's spoken in his Son and had it written in the Word by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but God saw it quite plainly that if he let me to understand it, I should make a complete bunch of it. It's not only necessary for God to reveal himself and to have it written in his word, it was necessary that somebody should do the research about the deep things of God. And so the Holy Spirit was given the task. He searches all things, the deep things of God, so that he might reveal them to us. I have a little interest in astronomy and physics. When I was in Japan, I had an extraordinary opportunity, because there was there a real live physicist who worked on atoms and things, and I was able to put my questions to him, you'll see, because he'd done the research on it. Trouble with me, I'm interested in these things, but not having, uh, learned them properly or done any research, I don't even know what sensible questions to ask. And he gently corrected me when I asked, you know, what is energy? Well, he he very politely said, don't be so silly. That's a silly question to ask. Well, I didn't know it was a silly question to ask. So I sort of asked him, well, what question should I ask? And then he told me what question to ask. He's done all the research about it. And what a marvelous thing it is. Who wouldn't give thanks for it? God has not only given us his revelation in Christ, but given us his Holy Spirit, who searches the deep things of God and is within us to make them known. Ah, that's the secret of knowing God and his word, the Holy Spirit. And he not only searches the deep things of God, but he searches our hearts. And he intercedes for us, according to Romans. And God, who searches the hearts, knows the mind of the spirit. Oh, if it were left for my prayers to bring me home to glory, I shouldn't get very far, should I? My ambitions are so tiny, my desires are so weak. Oh, thank God for the Holy Spirit within, who yearns and desires. Old English says he lusts, but meaning he desires strongly and intercedes and groans over me, and God listens to his prayers and answers them for my and for yours sake. Yeah. So God has loved us, and he has chosen us, and he's brought us to salvation. He's in process of sanctifying us, and then God is going to do something. He called you to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what marvelous things to give thanks for. Oh, and I, I give thanks for it already, but one day I shall see you, you know, when the Lord comes, I shall say, is that Mrs. Knoxville? Just look at her now, you will see. Well, I can see what she was originally, uh, but now look at her now. Oh, what a queen she will be. What a royal princess for eternity. Called to obtain the glory. And notice what that word called means. It doesn't say he will call us one day. He has called us. And as the theologians say, the call was effective. Saved, aren't you? Ah. You heard the voice of Jesus, but you did more than that. It was a call you obeyed, and as the theologians say, it was the effective call of God, and that call, being effective, guarantees one day you will share the very glory of Christ when he comes. Oh, what a triumph of grace the seventy or ninety believers in Ashley represent, don't they? Ha. Yes, so this is what God has done. He chose us because he set his love on us. He has called us. He has saved us. He has given us his spirit to sanctify us. And one day, when the Lord comes, he's going to glorify us. He did. And what have we got to do in the light of all that? Well, says Paul, you'll see verse fifteen, stand fast, my brothers. Stand fast. Nature is we lose our stickability, we yield ground, and we go backwards and downhill. Stand fast and hold the tradition. There is an always is an insistent pressure to cause people to give up the traditions taught in God's holy word. Stand fast. Hold fast the traditions. The vast pressure in the world outside that attacks the sacred foundational principles of the gospel. We must learn to stand fast. Within Christendom itself, all sorts of modern theories and pressures to abandon the traditions of God's holy word. Paul pleads with us to stand fast and hold fast the tradition. Reasonable, isn't it? In the light of what God has done and what God is going to do. And finally, what God has done, what will he yet do? Paul prays in the last two verses. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, which loved us and gave us eternal comfort, encouragement, and good hope through grace, comfort, encourage your hearts, and establish them in every good work and work. Two things he prays for, that God would encourage our hearts, not just comfort them in the sense of helping us to lick our wounds and console us, but encourage us as a general would encourage his troops. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, as somebody said in Shakespeare, and fill the gap up with our English dead. A good, uh, employment for Englishmen, I heard. Anyway, once more to the breach. Did you ever feel like that of a Sunday afternoon? With the kids again? So quickly does it come round. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more I didn't needly fill it up with our Irish dead. Encouragement and establishing our hearts. You know, sometimes, however firm we look outside, if you could read our hearts, they're more than a little bit wobbly. They can be up and down, can't they? One day enthusiastic and the next day down in the dumps. Ah. What it is to have a heart that's established. You'll need it in the Lord's work, in every good word and work. An interior that nobody's can see, perhaps. While we put on a good front. And what about our hearts? To establish our hearts so that they don't constantly wobbling up and down. How shall it be done? Now the Lord Jesus himself. Great apostle as Paul was, given to encourage the Lord's people in their work and word. He pleads that the Lord will pay personal attention to his people. My brothers, my sisters, I don't know what your need is this very night. But may the Lord himself, not some archangel even, not even Michael or Gabriel, nor even some great learned apostle like Paul, but the Lord Jesus himself, draw near to you and encourage and stabilize Is your your... heart. that inner strength, that determination that we need to be effectual and persistent in the work and the word to which God has called us. May the Lord himself do these. And that is a delightful thing, isn't it, that he, when on earth, not only preached to crowds, but drew near and comforted his disciples by name and person. Does it still, according as he sees we need. Comfort your hearts and establish them, our Lord Jesus Christ himself. And God the Father, once more, has set his love on us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope. And that's the Bible, isn't it? God do that we should very often need encouragement. And as his angel did to Paul, when Paul was standing in a ship that had been tossed about by the waves for a whole fortnight, and in any moment seemed as if it was going down, the angel of the Lord stood by him in his particular distress that night. But you know, not only does God do that from time to time, he has gone and built in encouragement into his scheme of salvation. He has given us, he gave us, not he will give us, he has given us eternal encouragement, always like that. And he has, hasn't he? When you come in weary from your work and discouraged and your heart is low, oh, think, my brother, what God has done, he's gone and built in eternal encouragement. All those believers that you work with, ah, they shall be like Christ one day. The encouragement's built in, isn't it? Oh ha. The word will not return to him void. His promise is given. The encouragement is built in. Goodness me, the, the mansions are nearly ready now, aren't they? What ho? Our Lord went away to make a place for us, and he's coming back, and when we see him, we shall be like him. The encouragement is built in. The very scheme of salvation that he has given us, so that when we get tired in our work for the Lord, we can rest, lick our wounds, and consider the glorious gospel that he's given us to preach. Don't let get so overwhelmed with the work that we lose the very joy of the salvation of the gospel. And he's given us not only eternal cu- encouragement, but good hope. Strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine and ten his signs. Bright hope, what is ever true is better on before. So did Paul write to believers that had been sorely troubled and persecuted when they got saved, and more recently had been nearly knocked off their pedestal by the events that were happening around them, and they erroneously thought that the day of the Lord had come. Confused in belief, confused in emotions, so did he write to establish them in the faith. And by God's grace, his words come to us tonight, what God has done for us, what God expects us to do, and what God will yet do for us through his eternal encouragement and good hope. The Lord bless us all.