In the sermon 'Pray for Us' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on the closing verses of the letter to the Thessalonian Church, where Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy solicit prayers from the believers. The main requests are for the success of their preaching and deliverance from unreasonable and wicked men. The sermon emphasizes that these requests are straightforward and require no deep exegetical analysis. It highlights that even apostle Paul, despite his spiritual stature, consistently sought prayers, demonstrating the importance of intercession for all believers, regardless of their spiritual maturity. The sermon underscores the powerful and necessary role of prayer in overcoming obstacles to the Gospel's spread and emphasizes that being prayed for is not limited to novices in faith. Furthermore, it discusses the sovereignty of God in salvation, asserting that even with God's predetermined plans, prayer remains essential. The sermon concludes with applications urging believers to fervently pray for the swift and glorified spread of the Word and for the protection of pastors, missionaries, and leaders from opposition.

We're in our final 18 verses as we finish out in the Thessalonian Church and the letter Paul Silvanus and Timothy read to them Jason's gonna bring us the first two verses of the final chapter But I'm gonna give you the first five Here they are together. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the Word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you both that you do and will do the things we command you. Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

The title of the sermon this morning is Pray For Us. It's right out of the text. One of the many things I love about these verses is just how straightforward they are. There are no exegetical challenges to be found in these two verses. It is what it is and it means what it means.

Pray for us. What could it mean? We should go away and meditate on this and see if we can figure out what is in this text. No, it's all right there on the surface and so we can just get on with thinking about the implications of what is being said to us and applying it. Last week we saw in the last two verses of chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy pronounced a blessing on these young converts, these new converts in Thessalonica, and they express their desire of what God would do for them.

Verse 16 began this way, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ, and then they reel off the things that they would like for God to do for their spiritual children. Next week in verse 5 we are going to see it again. Verse 5 begins this way, Now may the Lord, and there is going to be more things that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy will be asking God to do for the believers in Thessalonica. So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are appealing to the great head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bless these new believers. But here in between those two appeals, they ask to be prayed for.

They actually solicit prayer. And so That's what we'll be studying this morning, the things that they ask to be prayed for. One other thing by way of introduction, our text today starts, finally brethren, and so we have a transition and Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are bringing the letter to a close. So we're entering the very last section of the letter. Before you know it, we're going to have to be picking another book because we're about done with this one.

So as we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Our God, You have everything we need. Everything we lack You have. God, I pray that you would make us a people that run to you in prayer, and run to you in prayer, and run to you in prayer. We never tire of it just as you never tire of hearing our prayers.

You always hear us. You always bid us to come, to ask, to seek, to knock, to seek Your face. God, we are humbled when we think of our prayerlessness. We're humiliated, Lord, as we think of our prayerlessness. So I pray that you would bring your word fully to bear to help us and make progress.

Make us a praying people, oh Lord, in Jesus' name, Amen. So Our authors asked that the Thessalonian believers would lift them up in prayer for two main things. One, the success of their preaching. And two, deliverance from their opponents. If you're taking notes on the handout, Those are the two main points.

One for each verse. But first, notice what's happening here in the text. The Apostle Paul and His companions are asking for prayer. Just let that sink in for a minute. Paul.

The Paul. He doesn't need a last name. Do you know his last name? I don't know his last name. The New Testament just puts him forward as Paul.

That Paul, the apostle and his companions are soliciting prayer. Actually, Paul does this a lot in his letters. As we work through, I'm going to be taking us to other places where Paul does the same thing. He's asking for prayer, and he's asking for prayer, and he's asking for prayer. He desires that the Lord's people would pray for him.

This is a pattern of life for Paul. This is not an isolated instance. In fact, we already saw it in 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 25 is a good one to memorize. Are you ready?

Brethren, pray for us. Now we've memorized it. And he doesn't get more specific than that in 1 Thessalonians. He says, brethren pray for us. So our authors have already been asking the same audience for the same thing that they would lift them up in prayer.

Here's what we learned just from the whole context here. Being prayed for by your brethren in Christ is not something for novices. Newbies. Those who are just entering into the faith. We pray for those ones, right?

Because they don't have their act together yet. No! The whole context argues against that. It has the Paul, no last name, asking for prayer. Prayer is not just for people who are new to the faith, so new that they really haven't gotten themselves together yet.

And so they really need for God to do something for them. The Apostle Paul, who has achieved to spiritual heights that we are not going to see in this lifetime, nobody in this room is, I am confident in saying this, I am not, you are probably not either, is eager to be prayed for by his brothers and sisters in Christ. Because we're in Christ, we're His. Christ is where all the authority is, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. And so when we have our list of all the things that are completely out of our control, we can't do for ourselves, we go to the one to whom has been given all power and authority.

Here's the truth, God is sovereign. We do have a long list of things that we have absolutely no control over, and we can't deliver to ourselves. And so, there's only one who can. And so we should be asking Him. And we should be asking our brothers and sisters to pray for us, to plead alongside us for the things that we need but can't do for ourselves.

Here's a main takeaway I think from the text, and we haven't even gotten to the text yet, but a main takeaway is if Paul and Silvanus and Timothy covet the prayers of their brethren, how much more you and I? They're doing it in all their letters. They write letters and they include this, pray for us, pray for this, pray for that. If they covet the prayers of their brethren, I'm not going to covet Your prayers? You're not going to covet my prayers?

We've got to act so together that we don't need the prayers of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Absurd. Unthinkable. Our first point. Pray for the success of our preaching.

If you're taking notes on the handout, that's what you have there. I should have put it in quotes. Pray for the success of our preaching. Here's what they say, pray for us, pray for us, pray for us, we're people, you pray for people, that the Word of God may run swiftly and be glorified. So they're praying for the success of the Word, but not for the success of the Word in general.

Just like, let the Gospel run out there in the world. It's pray for us that the Word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified. So praying for people here, because the people are the channel for the Word of the Lord. If it is going to run swiftly, it is going to run swiftly through these people who are taking it out there, to Thessalonica, and Philippi, and Athens, and Corinth, and, and, and. Pray for us.

Flesh and blood people are going to be channels for the Word of the Lord. So it's not just success for the Word in general, although of course they want the Word to run swiftly through other people as well and to go to places that they will never go. Of course they want that, but that is not what they are asking prayer for. They are asking prayer for themselves as channels of the Word of the Lord. They ask for two things relative to their preaching of the Word of the Lord.

First, that it would run swiftly. The Greek means to run of persons in haste. So the idea is the guy who is late for work, he is running to get there in time. He is in haste. That is the idea behind the Greek word.

To run of persons in haste. So if you have a Bible that does this, that italicizes words, you'll see that Swiftly is in italics there. That means that the translators added that word in. It's not there in the Greek, but they think that it's necessary to properly render the meaning from the Greek. So they've added it there, but you can take out all the italicized words and end up with more word for word as to what the Greek is.

So it's that the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified. So it sort of personifies the Word of the Lord. It's out there as the guy late for work running to work. The Word of the Lord is in haste to go to the ends of the earth. That is the sense here.

Listen to Psalm 147, 15. Psalm 147, 15. It's speaking of God. He sends out His command to the earth. His word runs very swiftly.

What we find in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 is that Paul is drawing very closely on the language from Psalm 147 verse 15. Listen to it again, speaking of God. He sends out His command to the earth. It is God sending out His command to the earth. His Word runs very swiftly.

So it's God behind the commands, it's His commands, and His Word is running very swiftly in Psalm 147 verse 15. I think what we have here, when you just put the two side by side, Psalm 147 and 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, is that behind every ambassador is the king who sent them with words. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy say, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly. They're not saying that our words may run swiftly, it's that the words of the Lord may run swiftly. We are ambassadors who have been given words by the king, and it's his commands going out to the earth, like Psalm 147 says.

His word runs very swiftly. So we have our ambassadors asking that the words of the king would run, like the man late for work. The Word of the Lord has many enemies. How far do you have to go to find an enemy of the Word of the Lord? The world, the flesh, and the devil conspire against the running swiftly of the word of the Lord.

The world, the flesh, and the devil throw out every obstacle to slow down or stop The spreading of the Word of the Lord. Well, what do we do with that information? We pray. And we ask for prayer. Because many things are conspiring against the Word of the Lord running.

And so we should pray that God would intervene against those obstacles so the Word of the Lord would run around or through or over those obstacles that are put out by the world of flesh and the devil. Please turn to 1 Thessalonians 1. We'll stay in Thessalonians, but just flip back a couple of pages to 1 Thessalonians 1. I'm so glad this is familiar territory to us now. We're in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.

I'd like to read verses 5 and 6. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit." This is what it looks like when the Word of the Lord runs swiftly. It doesn't just come in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. They say here, and what I just read, having received the word in much affliction.

So this is not the Word of the Lord running swiftly without obstacles. Do you see that here? It's not without obstacles. He's saying, you received the Word in much affliction. Plenty of obstacles there to the Gospel in pagan Thessalonica.

So it's not without obstacles. It's in spite of obstacles. I don't think there's anything wrong at all with praying that the Lord would give us a path for the Word of the Lord that is obstacle free. That's good to pray for. Let's pray for that.

But God may be pleased not to answer that prayer in that way. Like in Thessalonica. Plenty of obstacles. But the word of the Lord was running through the Obstacles. Much affliction, no problem.

It wasn't word only. It was in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. So the obstacles didn't matter and there are converts and they become fruitful converts. That is what it looks like when the Word of the Lord runs swiftly and is glorified. And then of course, chapter 2 verse 13.

So we're still in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. Do you remember this verse? We've been quoting it week after week. For this reason, We also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. Which also effectively works in you who believe.

So again, Paul and Sylvainus and Timothy are reflecting back on the Word of the Lord running swiftly in Thessalonica and they said, we thank God because when you heard our preaching you were able to recognize that this isn't the Word of Man, that it's the Word of God. Thank you God, you did that. You made our preaching recognizable as your Word, so that the hearers didn't think it was just another opinion of a guy. That it really was truth. It really was the Word of God.

So first, that it would run swiftly. Second, that it would Be glorified. The Greek word here is doxatso. Why is that significant? Why do I bother with saying the Greek word?

That's where we get doxology from. So it's that the word of the Lord would be Doxologized. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, right? That's the doxology. We're seeing it over and over again.

So the Word of God would be praised and recognized as a blessing from God. Word of God would be doxologized. The ESV and the NIV render it honored. The Word of God would be glorified or The Word of God would be doxologized. The ESV and the NIV render it honored.

The Word of God would be glorified, or the Word of God would be honored. The Word of God would be doxologized. Here's an example. Paul in Barnabas at Antioch. Please turn to Acts chapter 13.

Acts chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas are in Antioch and they are preaching to a mixed multitude, meaning they are preaching to both Jews and Gentiles. And they are preaching about the grafting in of the Gentiles. In other words, the Gentiles are now fully included in God's plan to save people in the way that they have not been for millennia. This is Acts chapter 13 verses 48 and 49. Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.

As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. The Word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. So here again we see the joining together of the Word of the Lord running swiftly and the glorifying of the Word of the Lord. That's exactly what we see in our text. The two are side by side and joined together.

We see that again here. The Gentiles heard that they are now included in God's plan of salvation and they are hearing and receiving the gospel. What are they? They are glad. What else are they?

They are those who are glorifying the Word of the Lord. Because of the utter goodness of the Good News. That's why they're being made happy by the good news. They are glad and they glorified the word of the Lord. They were blown away by the goodness of the good news.

This should happen to us from time to time. We sort of soak in these juices, meaning we're hearing the Gospel a lot. I hope we're hearing the Gospel many times per week. It can sort of become routine, and you can find yourself, this is going over my head, like this is not really even registering because it's the same words said in many of the same ways. We cannot lose the wonder of the Gospel.

The utter goodness of the Good News every once in a while should rock us back on our heels at how good it is. This is what it means for the word of the Lord to be glorified. It's to be honored in our hearts for being utterly good. For thousands of years by and large God passed over the Gentiles. I'm a Gentile.

I live in a time where the Gospel is open and free, and it's running swiftly among the Gentiles. That should knock me back on my heels from time to time. And the Word of the Lord should be glorified. It should be honored. It should be doxologized in my heart.

My heart should sing because of the goodness of the good news from time to time. We can't let our consistent exposure to the Gospel numb us to that. You can't be numb to the goodness of the good news. The Word of the Lord is always honorable, and it's always glorious, but is it always honored and is it always glorified? Not hardly.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 1.23. Don't turn there because I'm going to be moving too fast. 1 Corinthians 1.23, But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness? Not honored. Not glorified.

What is it to the Jews? A stumbling block. This gospel you are preaching is a stumbling block to me, I cannot get over it. What is it to the Greeks? Foolishness.

Like Paul at Athens, right? They want to hear it and they say, you are saying strange things. This is foolishness to the wise of the world. Not honored. But now, what is the very next verse?

That was 1 Corinthians 1.23. To the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. Now listen to the very next verse, 1 Corinthians 1.24. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Honored, Glorified, doxologized.

And what's the difference? These Jews and these Greeks are called. God shows up by the power of His Spirit and convicts them that this is truth, not just another story from another guy. This is the Word of God, this is truth. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ.

I'm made glad and I glorify the Word of the Lord. So Jews in their natural state say, that's a stumbling block. And Greeks in their natural state say, that's foolishness. But then some are called because God is good and he's full of mercy. And he delights in reaching down into that view of the Gospel and changing your heart.

So that all of a sudden it's the power of God and the wisdom of God. There was a stumble of black and foolishness, but now it's the power of God and the wisdom of God. It's honored where it had been dishonored yesterday in your heart. Finally, they describe what they mean. First, that it would run swiftly.

Second, that it would be glorified. What do you mean? What does this look like? Just as it is with you, Thessalonians. If you wanted to know what it looked like, just think back on your short history in the Gospel.

Just as it is with you. That it would run swiftly. Just as it is with you. That it would be glorified. Just as it is with you.

What transpired in Thessalonica is exactly what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have in mind. Here's the point. If you've experienced it, pray for the exponential duplication of it. That's the whole point. You've experienced the utter goodness of the good news?

Okay, well then pray for the exponential duplication of it. Now I'm using math terms now. If you have sum and you want a little more on top of the sum, what is that? That's addition. Okay.

Now if you have sum and you want a lot more of it, What is that? That's multiplication. If you have some and you want it to erupt, explode, what is that in math? That's exponential. Exponential growth is where it's the hockey stick on the curve.

It just goes from a little to the stratosphere. So if you've experienced the utter goodness of the good news, You should be praying for the exponential duplication of it to see what happened in your heart happen over and over and over and over again exponentially. Why? Because God is glorified by that. Because Jesus Christ receives honor from that.

That's why we should want people to be saved. Not just because people who aren't saved are miserable. I mean that's a good reason to want people to be saved. They're miserable. I want good for them.

So I pray for them to be saved. Okay, I buy that. But beyond that, the one who saved you is glorified and loved when salvation comes to another sinner. Here's what Matthew Poole says. Matthew Poole says, Those that have felt the power of the gospel themselves, to their conversion and salvation, should pray that others may partake of it with them.

Their own experience might teach them what God was able to do for others. If you are born again, your own experience in the Gospel might teach you what God is able to do for others. And that launches you into praying for that. That's the idea. I'd like to close this point with two examples of Paul soliciting prayer for similar things.

So please turn to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6 is the last chapter of the book of Ephesians, so it's sort of like what we're encountering in 2 Thessalonians. The letter is winding down. And what does Paul do?

He asks for prayer. He does the same thing in his letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 6 verses 18 through 20. Now This is right on the heels of the whole armor of God being spoken of. So really, it's a follow on to what starts in verse 13, where he says, take up the whole armor of God, and then in verse 18 he says, praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me. Okay, so here's where we are so far. Pray for all the saints and for me. That utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." One of the reasons I'm bringing us two examples is to drive home two points. First of all, Paul asked for prayer, and Paul asked for prayer, and Paul asked for prayer.

This is his pattern. He wants his brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for him. And secondly, that he's asking for basically the same things. When we encounter him asking for prayer, often he's asking for the same things over and over again. These are the things that are close to his heart and he really desires that his brothers and sisters in Christ would be lifting up to God.

These are the things he wants to see. He asks them to pray for utterance. In other words, he would be able to effectively communicate the goodness of the Good News. Effectively communicate the Gospel. That's what it means when he asks that they would pray for utterance.

Not that his vocal cords would work, but that he would be effective. That he would have the right words with which to communicate the Gospel. And then he asks them to pray for boldness. That I may open my mouth boldly, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. So not only that he would be effective, but that he would be bold, not hanging back with the Gospel, but pushing forward.

We sort of have the echoes of running swiftly here again. Asking for boldness. Now, turn to Colossians 4. So it's Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, turn to Colossians 4. It really is just more of the same, but I want to prove, Paul keeps asking for prayer and keeps asking for prayer, and he's asking for the same types of things.

This is Colossians chapter 4 verses 2 through 4. Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving. Meanwhile, praying also for us that God would open to us a door for the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak." So here again, he's soliciting prayer and he's asking that God would open a door to us for the Word. It's the same thing. And he's asking that God would give him the ability to make it manifest.

In other words, to put it right out there on the surface so that it is plain. He would be able to speak it plainly and make it obvious. That was the first main point. Pray for the success of our preaching, says Paul in Silvanus and Timothy. Here is the second main point.

Pray for our deliverance from opponents, says Paul in Sylvainus and Timothy. Pray that we would be delivered from opponents. You can see how these are related. Success of the preaching is in part dependent on the deliverance of the preachers. Without preachers there is no preaching.

These things are very related. This is not a separate category from the Word of the Lord running swiftly. It's the same category. Coming at it from different angles. These opponents to the Word of the Lord running swiftly are described in two ways.

First, they are unreasonable. The Greek is literally out of place, not befitting, improper. So the idea is out of step with the truth. That's where the rendering unreasonable comes from. It's improper, it's not fitting.

The NASB actually renders it perverse for that reason. It's twisted. So the thought is these opponents are warped and twisted so they can't be reasoned with. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy in their roaming these pagan lands with the gospel, are coming nose to nose with men and women who are unreasonable. Now we might think, if I just say the right things, they will drop their opposition.

If I am just nice to them, they will drop their opposition. If I just make my motives plain to them, they will drop their opposition. If I am just careful not to offend, they will drop their opposition. What that thinking doesn't account for is a need to reject the Gospel. Did you know that there is a need out there to reject the Gospel?

What do I mean by that? I mean Romans 1, suppressing the truth and unrighteousness. That's what Romans 1 says is characterizes the natural man, meaning people in their natural state before they repent and believe in Christ savingly. If you're in that state, haven't believed savingly on the Lord Jesus Christ, then what the Bible says of you is that you suppress the truth in unrighteousness. In other words, there are all these indications of truth.

The truth is completely reasonable, but you want nothing to do with the truth because you love your sin in unrighteousness. Suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. I love my sin. I will not be parted from my sin. So You are not reasoning with me today.

Because I have a need to reject the Gospel. I don't care that the Gospel is reasonable. And I don't care how unreasonable I have to be to reject it. Because I love my sin and I'm protecting that. I'll abandon reason.

Because I love my sin. Once that has been done, Once the sin has become the sacred thing that is going to be protected, there is no reasoning with that person, because there is a need to reject the Gospel. So first, they are unreasonable. Second, they are wicked. The Greek literally means bad, of a bad nature or condition.

In our modern vernacular we would say rotten to the core. Of a bad nature, rotten all the way down to the core. Are these opponents inside the church or outside? Are these opponents Jews or Gentiles? What's the answer?

Yes. Yes. They're inside the church. Just go to Acts 20 and see Paul pleading with the Ephesian elders that Savage wolves are going to come in among them. Even from among themselves, even from the eldership in Ephesus, there are going to be men who are saying perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Are there going to be opponents inside? Absolutely. Are there going to be opponents outside? Absolutely. Are there going to be opponents who are Jews?

Absolutely. Are there going to be opponents outside? Absolutely. Are there going to be opponents who are Jews? Absolutely.

Are there going to be opponents that are Gentiles? Absolutely. That's why they don't specify here. They could be any of that, all of that. Finally, the reason that these opponents can be described this way is given.

For not all have faith. Why are there unreasonable men who oppose the Gospel and the spread of the Gospel? Because not all have faith. Why are there wicked men who oppose the Gospel and the spread of the Gospel? Because not all have faith.

This is not the only time Paul solicits prayer to be delivered from men like this. Listen to Romans 15. I'm going to go fast on this one too, so it probably doesn't make sense to turn there. Romans 15 verses 30 and the first part of 31. Now I beg you brethren through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe." So in Romans 15, he's writing to the Christians in Rome, and he's saying, here I am in Judea, and I'm nose to nose with those who don't believe and please strive together with me in prayers to God for me.

That I will be delivered from them. We learn something here of the hardening effect of sin. Not all have faith. So now I'm reversing it. We started with, pray that I be delivered from Unreasonable and wicked men for not all have faith.

Now I'm going to turn it around. Not all have faith. What's the result of that? To put it in terms that we've already seen in 2 Thessalonians, what's the long term result of not obeying the Gospel, of refusing to obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It makes you unreasonable.

It increases your wickedness. It makes you rot into the core. As if human beings didn't already have a nature bent against God, a persistent rejection of the gospel makes you more and more unreasonable and makes you more and more Wicked that is true sin is hardening It hardens you You cannot stay on the fence forever. Your mind won't let you do it. Here's what I mean.

The gospel is offered. It makes sense to you. You can see some of the beauty of it. And you don't want to spend eternity in hell. But you love your sin and you are not sure you can do all that.

You are not sure you can forsake it. You know, repent, turn around, go the other direction. I want it all. I want my sin and I don't want to go to hell. So I'm straddling.

I'm on the fence. But let me just say your brain is not going to let you do that forever. Your mind for the sake of consistency is going to force you off the fence. Humans just aren't built to stay there long term. So you're either going to be hardened against your sin so that you can repent, you can turn, You can turn your back on it and walk away from it.

Or you're going to be hardened against the Gospel and its appeals. Long term. The ESV study Bible has this note. The Gospel is not always embraced with faith. Indeed, it frequently provokes violent hostility.

Sometimes people hear the Gospel and shrug. That happens. Often, it's either hot or cold. It's either a recognition that I must have this in order to be saved and I'll sell all with joy over it to buy that field to use Jesus' parable about the treasure in a field. For joy, it's nothing to you to sell everything to have it.

But many times exactly the opposite has. It is hatred for the Gospel. We're back to the needs to reject the Gospel. Because I'm protecting this. This is what I love, and you can't have it.

God, you can't have it. Let alone the preacher. Sin is hardening. I just want to give a warning today. You are in a very dangerous place.

You are in a place where we try to preach Christ crucified for sinners every single week. Jesus bled and died to offer terms of peace to sinners. So that men and women and children who are at war with God, can be at peace with God, can be reconciled to God, can stop being enemies and become sons and daughters, and all that happens through the work of Jesus. We try to say that every single week, don't we, in one form or another? Sometimes many times a week.

Don't think, I'll push that off till next week. It's hardening. You're not built to stay on the fence forever. You won't. You're either going to be hardened against your sins so that you can forsake it or you're going to be hardened against the gospel and you will forsake it.

As Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 2, today is the day of salvation. Or Michael was preaching at the nursing home on Tuesday night out of Psalm 32. And it talked about the godly pray to God when he can be found. You think, oh I'll just find God next week as if sin isn't hardening, as if sin won't harden you this week against God. If he can be found this week You better pray to him this week.

That's what the godly do. It's a blessing to be in constant contact with the gospel, but there's a danger in it too. I'd like to close this point by showing what Paul was up against in Corinth where this letter was almost certainly written from Corinth to Thessalonica. So he is asking that they would pray that he would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, and he is writing from Corinth. I just want us to look at what he was up against in Corinth.

Turn to Acts chapter 18. I think this is our last stop. This is our last stop. Acts chapter eighteen. And I want to orient you where we are in the book of Acts.

Here's where we are in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 17 was Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy in Thessalonica. Now of course we are studying his letters back to the believers in Thessalonica. Then they went to Berea, and there were converts in Berea. Then they went to Athens.

Then in chapter 18 they come to Corinth. Then in chapter 18 verse 5 it says, when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. So now they are in Corinth. In chapter 18 verse 5 they are reunited in Corinth. Now I want to read Acts chapter 18 verses 11 through 17.

As I read I want you to keep in mind their soliciting prayer from the Thessalonians that they would pray for deliverance from unreasonable and wicked men. Acts chapter 18 verse 11. And he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. When Galio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuades the men to worship God contrary to the law. So backing up in 18, he starts out in Corinth in the synagogue and he's preaching.

Some of the Jews are believing and some of the Jews are not believing. And now he's laboring there for a year and a half. And in that year and a half, many of the Jews have become hardened to the Gospel, and now they've had enough. That's where we are. Verse 14.

And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Galio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I do not want to be a judge of such matters." And he drove them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat, but Galio took no notice of these things. So I don't know whether it is legitimate to connect these dots.

The scripture doesn't make the connection. All I am saying is, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, writing from Corinth, say, pray that we would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. And in the Acts account we see, They encounter unreasonable and wicked men and they're delivered. They're brought before. These stories in Acts don't always end this way.

When the righteous are brought before the Roman governors, it doesn't always end well. But here, they're brought and they accuse and he says this has nothing to do with me, go away, and they beat the leader of the synagogue right there in front of the judgment seat and Galio just is not even taking notice. They're delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. And when you read the book of Acts, you see Paul nose to nose with unreasonable and wicked men over and over and over again. He has good reason to solicit those prayers.

Applications. I have two. These verses are applications. Do we need to do applications? These verses are applications.

Number one, we should all be consistently and fervently praying that the word of the Lord would run swiftly and be glorified. We should all be consistently and fervently praying that the word of the Lord would run swiftly and be glorified. Here's the words I picked. We should all, without exception, every single one of us. Why do I say that?

Well, Paul needed prayer from his brothers and sisters. So, I'm going to assume none of us are better than him. We should all be given a warrant by the fact that Paul needs to be prayed for. Be consistently, meaning over and over and over again. So we're not done with this tomorrow or next week or next month or next year.

Consistently and fervently, meaning we bring it when we pray. We bring intensity to our prayers. We are earnest in our prayers. We are not playing in our prayers. God is there and He is sovereign and He has what we need.

And we are praying. What are we praying for? Exactly what they are praying for here in our text. The word of the Lord would run swiftly and be glorified. Monday night, a man will be at the nursing home preaching to unbelievers and believers the word of the Lord at Franklin Manor.

How dare we be prayerless about that? How dare we be prayerless about that? You think he doesn't need to be prayed for? You think the hearers don't need to be prayed for? A Tuesday night, another man, and another nursing home.

And there will be unbelievers there and there will be believers there who need to be encouraged and we should be praying, even if you're not going to be there, especially if you're not going to be there, We should be praying for that man that the Word of the Lord would run swiftly and be glorified. Saturday mornings, I was at the abortion clinic, yesterday morning, preaching to people who are coming to kill their babies. Does God need to show up when a man is preaching to women who have come to murder their babies and their boyfriend brought her there? Her boyfriend brought her there. We know what's going to happen behind those doors if God doesn't show up.

We should be praying. Now here's a comment on this one. It's not a separate application, It's just a comment on this one. It's not a separate application. It's just a comment on this one.

We've been studying the doctrine of election, the calling, the saving calling of God. It happens before the foundation of the world. Now, here's the question. Who understands it better? You or Paul?

The Doctrine of Election? Who's got the better grasp on the Doctrine of Election? It's just an absurd question. There's no sense blaming the doctrines of grace on poor John Calvin. John Calvin never said anything as controversial as Jesus Christ in the gospel.

Just go re-read the red letters in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and just look for the sovereignty of God and salvation. And it's scandalous the things that Jesus says compared to anything John Calvin ever said. And the same with Paul. So Jesus is the worst, and Paul is really bad behind him, and then John Calvin is somewhere over here talking about the doctrines of grace. So Paul gets it.

He's right behind Jesus, I think, in understanding these things. And yet, he's soliciting prayer for him and his companions that the word of the Lord would run swiftly and be glorified. So whatever it does mean, whatever the doctrine of election does mean, it doesn't mean that there's no need to pray. How do we know that? Because Paul understands it better for you and he asks for prayer.

Yes, God is sovereign in salvation. Yes, He's determined who's going to be saved before He ever made a person. So that means we don't need to pray. No. That's not what that means.

If that's what it meant, then Paul wouldn't be asking for prayer. Number two. We should all be praying consistently and fervently for pastors and missionaries and leaders among the Lord's people. We should all be praying consistently and fervently for pastors and missionaries and leaders. Hey, all Christians have a target on their back.

We all do. Okay, if you bear the name of Jesus Christ, you're a target. But how much more so pastors and missionaries and leaders. And there's not a shortage of unreasonable and wicked men in this world. There's not.

Not inside the church, not outside the church, not Jews, not Gentiles. The world is overrun with unreasonable and wicked men. Not all have faith. We should pray that our pastors and our missionaries and our leaders among the Lord's people would be delivered from those kinds of men. Because when we're praying for them, we are ultimately praying for the success of the Gospel.

Father, I thank you for the plainer texts of Scripture where As soon as we've read it, we understand exactly what is meant and said. So we can immediately begin to think about the implications of these things and to apply it. God, I pray that we would be a people who aren't just hearers, but that we're doers of the Word. That we wouldn't just hear sermons about prayer, but that we would pray. We would be a praying people.

God, we know we have a track record of hearing sermons and doing a little bit for a little while, and then lapsing back into the old patterns, oh please send your Spirit among us to change us, God. We know we need your help. We are praying that you would make us a people of prayer. We would all engage and that we would be consistent in it and that we would be fervent in our prayers, knowing that You are God in heaven. You rule.

Thank You for this in Jesus' name. Amen.