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2 Thessalonians 2:15-17, So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. [16] Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, [17] comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.
Paul couldn’t have given a more encouraging word to these Thessalonian believers. They were all upset because of false teaching about the day of the Lord. Someone was teaching them they were already in the Day of the Lord and they were shaken and disturbed. So Paul wrote to assure them they were not in the Day of the Lord, since the Apostasy and the Antichrist had not come. Then he encouraged them with the great doctrines of God’s choosing them, calling them, and assuring them they would gain the glory of Christ.
Now Paul closes this section with a fantastic array of spiritual blessings and encouragements. He speaks of the “crown jewels” of the Christian’s calling: love, eternal comfort, good hope, grace, comfort, and strength – each with eternity in it. Paul wants them to know that if God be for them, who can be against them. This is one of the great themes of the Bible. In John 15:5 Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” But in Philippians 4:13 Paul adds, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” There isn’t a thing you can do in your own puny strength, but in the sufficiency of Christ’s strength you can do everything God wants us to do. Ephesians 3:20 says Christ is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works within us. And Christ promises in 2 Corinthians 12:9, His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in our weakness. This sufficiency of God’s strength is God’s promise to His people throughout the Bible. Before looking at our text in 2 Thessalonians, let’s look at a couple of Old Testament examples of the sufficiency of God’s strength.
THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S
When the children of Israel were backed up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian army pressing down on them and they were filled with fear, God has Moses stand up with his supernatural staff and what does he say?
Exodus 14:13-14,30, But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.” 30 Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Another great story of God’s power displayed for His people is in 2 Chronicles 20. A multitude of enemies was closing in on King Jehoshaphat and God’s people. King Jehoshaphat stood in the house of the Lord and cried out to the Lord for help.
2 Chronicles 20:6, and he said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.
2 Chronicles 20:12, O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
All the people were there with their infants and wives and children standing before the Lord (vs. 13). What a beautiful scene. Suddenly the Spirit of God came upon Jahaziel, who jumped up and assured them, “Don’t fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but the Lord’s!”
2 Chronicles 20:17, You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you.”
What happened? They worshipped God, got up early the next day, and Jehoshaphat stood and said to all Judah, “Put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.” They headed out to the battle singing, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His loving-kindness is everlasting.” As they began singing and praising the Lord, He gave them a great victory. They looked out over the battlefield and “behold, there were corpses lying on the ground, and no one escaped” (vs. 24). God’s strength was sufficient for their battle.
The battle is the Lord’s. The enduring truth for us is this – in ourselves we are nothing, but in Christ we are more than conquerors. His grace is sufficient for us to battle the world, the flesh, and the devil. When God says, “You can,” that means you can in the strength which God supplies. By God’s sufficient grace and strength you can conquer your lusts, greed, fear and anxiety, anger, bitterness, and selfishness. We dare not say, “I can’t” when God says you can. God’s strength is sufficient for you to handle the trials and pressures you’re experiencing. This is what Paul is saying to the Thessalonians. God had chosen them, called them in verses 13-14, and now he charges them to act on the grace that God is providing. Just as Jehoshaphat prayed and they went out there singing and praising to fight the Lord’s battle, so do we. We need to act on the sufficiency of God’s strength for our spiritual battles. First, Paul says, “Hold your ground.”
HOLD YOUR GROUND
2 Thessalonians 2:15, So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
Stand firm. God says you need to stand firm. Don’t be pushed around, hold your position, be a spiritual Stonewall Jackson who stood in battle like a stone wall. Stand firm and hold your ground doctrinally, hold your ground morally, hold your ground to lovingly serve others. Stand firm under the world’s pressure to cave in, fall down, give up, to flee, quit, or compromise. Stand firm. Paul tells us this frequently because we’re tempted to cave in morally and doctrinally. How many professing Christians do you know that fell down in the spiritual fight?
- Galatians 5:1, Stand firm in Christ’s freedom and don’t go back to legalism.
- 1 Corinthians 16:13, Stand firm in the faith and act like men.
- Philippians 4:1, Stand firm in the Lord – don’t retreat.
Hold tight. The word “hold” means to seize with strength, grasp, embrace, clutch, clamp, clench. Get your heart clamped onto the teaching God has given you and don’t let go. Have you ever played tug of war with a dog and a sock? That dog will clamp onto the sock and when you try to take it from him, “grrr, grrr, grrr,” he’s not letting go. Sometimes you can even lift him off the ground with the sock. That’s you clamping your heart onto the Word of God. Grrr, grrr, grrr.
So what should we hold tightly? The traditions from Paul either in word or in letter (vs. 15). This word “traditions” is used for three things in the New Testament, and two are wrong. Jesus condemned the religious leaders for holding to the traditions of the elders and rabbinical teachings rather than the Word of God (Mark 7). They invalidated the Word of God with their traditions. In Colossians 2:8 Paul described human philosophies as the traditions of men, useless and even dangerous for Christians.
Paul uses “tradition” to describe God’s truth that has been handed down or delivered over to them and to us. This is why we hold firmly to sola Scriptura. Christ rules His church through the Scriptures! Second Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training us in righteousness.” If it isn’t in the Bible it has no authority over our lives.
Rome holds to three sources of authority: Scripture, tradition handed down orally by the church, and the Magisterium or the official teaching authority of the church (the church interprets the Bible for you). Cults have their false traditions. Christian Science (which, like Grape-Nuts, is neither Christian nor science) has Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Jehovah’s Witness have the Watchtower publications which are considered authoritative for teaching and conduct. Mormons have Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price as foundational scriptures.
All of these false teachings and more are why the Reformers fought vigorously for Sola Scriptura. And this is what Paul is speaking of. Stand firm and hold fast to his teaching and his writing. When someone brings a strange or new teaching to you, always ask, “Got chapter and verse for that?”
So Paul exhorts these believers to hold their ground, to stand firm in the faith, and hold tightly the very truths of God’s Word which you were taught. This is the basis for the expository ministry of God’s Word in the local church. Expository preaching gives us what we need in order to learn, grow, grasp, and get a grip on what the Word of God teaches. How it all fits together, being able to think your way through entire books of the Bible. If you were taken prisoner, could you produce a prison edition of the Bible?
So, believer in Christ, hold your ground. Get a firm, dog-like grip on the Word if you’re going to hold your ground in this godless, antichrist culture. I’m reminded of Eleazar the son of Dodo! He was one of three of David’s mighty men as they fought the Philistines.
2 Samuel 23:10, He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword, and the LORD brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.
That’s us clinging to God’s Word. Our fingers would have to be pried off to take it away. So here we have two great exhortations for God’s people to stand firm and not cave under the pressures of the world or your own sinful desires.
GOD IS YOUR SUFFICIENCY TO STAND FIRM FOR HIM
2 Thessalonians 2:16, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, [17] comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.
These two verses shine with the spiritual crown jewels of God’s goodness and grace. “Himself” is emphatic in verse 16. Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, and God our Father. Paul presents the Son as equal with the Father here. But Paul wants to be sure to honor our Lord and Savior and remind us of Him. Calvin on this verse says, “We cannot obtain anything from God Himself unless we seek it in Christ Himself.”
Notice, “has loved us and given us” are past tenses. God loved you in the past, before the foundation of the world, and will never quit loving you. This isn’t God’s general love but His Fatherly love for His elect. He loved us – He determined our best. He has given us exactly what we need. Loving and giving go together. Ephesians 5:2, “Christ loved you and gave Himself for you.” Ephesians 5:25, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her.”
Don’t take His love for granted. He chose to love you, to bless your life with His goodness, His forgiveness, His eternal fellowship. Why did He love you? Why did He love Israel? Deuteronomy 7:7-8 says the Lord loved Israel because He loved Israel. Israel didn’t merit His love. He chose to love Israel, and He chose to love you and bring into your life eternal blessing and good. Why? Because He did! What did His love give you? Here are two of God’s precious gifts for His people, eternal comfort and good hope by grace.
He loved us and gave us eternal comfort. Never ending sweet fellowship with God who loves us infinitely! Here’s a good description of God’s comfort; though He’s pledging this comfort to His people Israel, we can apply it to ourselves.
Micah 7:18, Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. [19] He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.
He loved us and gave us good hope. This isn’t the hope of the fisherman. “Gonna catch anything?” “Hope so.” God’s kind of hope is absolute certainty about future good. Paul adds good to hope. It is absolute certainty of all that is beneficial, flawless, agreeable in its experience. We have a confident, certain, no-doubt-about-it expectation of eternal good and eternal pleasure at His right hand! And your good hope is wrapped up in Christ, the anchor of our soul.
Hebrews 6:19-20 says, This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, [20] where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
Eternal comfort, and good hope by grace. God gave us all this in pure, sovereign grace – undeserved favor or kindness. Paul never gets off the grace trail! Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of your own, it is the gift of God.” At the first church council in Acts 15:11 the issue was whether the believing Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved. Peter declared, “We believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they also are.” Your salvation cost you nothing. It’s a free gift. You’re saved by grace alone. But it isn’t cheap grace. It cost God His own beloved Son. It cost Jesus His agony on the cross for us. His love flowing to us demanded the highest cost – that substitutionary, redeeming, reconciling, propitiating death of Jesus Christ our Lord.
GOD’S SUFFICIENCY PROVIDES FOR EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE
2 Thessalonians 2:17, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.
Every day God provides comfort for your heart. What does this mean? The opposite of fear, depression and anxiety. It’s God’s inner peace and joy for the very core of your being, your heart. How comforting to unload your guilt to your Father, and like David said in Psalm 32:1, “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” How comforting to know, “Fear not, for I am with you, don’t anxiously look about you, I am your God. I will strengthen, help, and uphold you! ” (Isaiah 41:10).
Every day God provides strength for your heart. Again, without Me? Nothing! But I can do all things, every good work and word, living to please God, through Him who strengthens me. The Psalms refers to God’s strength for His people over and over, around 60 times. Here’s just one.
Psalm 18:1, “I love you, O Lord, my strength.”
SO WHAT?
Let me summarize with two truths.
You can’t do anything of spiritual value in your own strength.
But God will give you all the strength you need to please Him with every good work and word.
Nothing without Him. Everything with Him. When you need encouragement, when you need hope, when you need strength to overcome sin in your life, meditate on these brief promises from the God who loved you and has given you all you need. God’s strength is sufficient for you.