In his sermon "Loved By God," Jason Dohm discusses the profound and eternal love God has for His people, highlighting that this love is foundational to all aspects of Christian life. He emphasizes the importance of having confidence in being loved by God and the subsequent responsibility to give thanks. The sermon revisits texts from 2 Thessalonians, explaining the call for believers to stand fast and hold onto the traditions taught by the apostles, distinguishing these from less authoritative traditions. Dohm underscores the need for believers to remain firm in their faith amidst false teachings and persecution. The sermon also explores the gifts of God's grace, including His perpetual love, everlasting consolation, and good hope, which are freely given and not earned. Practical applications include a call to soak in these divine gifts and live out one's faith through good words and works, ensuring these are done for God's glory and rooted in a heart of faith. Dohm concludes with a prayer for divine assistance in living a life that honors Christ.

The title of the sermon this morning is Loved by God. There's a lot in the text, a lot to pick from in terms of the title. But I do think that the text rotates around this thought that the Lord's people are loved by him and everything else flows from God's eternal love for his people. You don't get anything else if you're in the Lord Jesus. Know this today from our text.

Have confidence that you are loved by God. Last week we really began this subsection in verses 13 and 14 and it's just a soaring text. It's a text of beauty and majesty. We're coming out of a contemplation of the man of lawlessness and these dark things are going to happen in the end time. But we've just come out of the clouds into these texts that are cool water to our souls.

And in verses 13 and 14 last week, it was about being chosen by God for salvation. And then That, being chosen by God, making us partakers of the glory that Jesus actually deserves. Meaning, Jesus is worthy of all honor and glory. And If you're in Christ, if you're joined to Christ because of His work and by faith and belief in His work, and you get to participate in something you didn't earn at all, Jesus deserves, is worthy of that glory, but you enter into it because of your union with Jesus Christ. That's why I say last week's text was a soaring text.

Your heart should soar if you're in Christ and you hear these things. And then How that imposes a debt on us to be thankful. Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy say, we are bound to give thanks always for you. We owe a debt of thanksgiving because of the overwhelming goodness and kindness of God. We really don't have a choice.

We just have to gush thanksgiving. That's the thought in the text. We should be gushing thanksgiving for the goodness of God and Him choosing us from the beginning for salvation. This week, more of the same. In verse 15, we are given what they should do as a consequence, what these Thessalonians believers should do as a result of what we studied in last week's text.

In verses 16 and 17, we have the expressed desire of what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy want God to do for the Thessalonians. So they're essentially pronouncing a blessing, they're expressing a desire, God please do this in the hearts and lives of these new believers. As we go to the text, let's go to the text of prayer. Our God and Father, we thank you for your everlasting love. Those in Christ were objects of your love before the world was ever even made.

And will be the objects of your love throughout all eternity. That is enough to contemplate today. That is enough to satisfy our hearts for ten thousand days. God, I pray that you would help us to be a people who stand fast and hold to the things that we don't get. I Pray that you would bless us if we were in Jesus' name.

So I'd like to begin by our reading and then considering verse 15. So hopefully you have your Bibles in your laps. Open to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 15. Follow along. Open to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 15.

Follow along. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Quite simply, in verse 15, we have an exhortation to stand fast. If you're taking notes on the handout, You're filling in blanks. Fast.

Stand. Fast. The verse begins with the word, therefore. So because of verses thirteen and fourteen, because God from the beginning chose them for salvation before they ever breathed a breath, before they ever said a word, or thought a thought, or did a deed. God had marked them out to be saved because of that and because they had been adopted into his family made brethren beloved by the Lord.

That phrase in verse 13. Therefore they should do two things. They should Stand fast and they should hold the traditions. So I'd like to look at those two things carefully. The first is stand fast.

Now remember verse 2. This is all in the context of how the chapter started. Look back at chapter 2 verse 2. This is where we began. Not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

False teaching had come into the church that the day of Jesus Christ had come and gone and it wasn't true. It wasn't real apostolic teaching. It was false teaching that had entered into the church and disquieted everybody in the church, or a lot in the church. Significant disruption in the church. And so, they're not to be soon Shaken, meaning not moved off of their convictions about the truth.

Not to be soon shaken or troubled by any of these means that might deceive them or move them. So this is, stand fast is the counterpoint to that. It's the exact opposite side of the coin. Rather than being soon shaken in mind or troubled, they are to stand fast. It is a response to the circumstances that they find themselves in in the church.

And the point is, when you're the object of God's eternal love, you've been called out to better things than that. Okay, than false teaching and disruption and being disquieted by things that aren't true. When you're the object of God's eternal love, you've been set apart to other things and to better things. So Stand fast. Plant your feet immovably on truth and stand there and ride out the waves of false doctrine that roll through the church from time to time.

The absolutely immovable in the truth that you've been marked out to. God's before, from the beginning, before the foundations of the earth has marked you out to stand in the truth. So do it is the thought. The second thing that they're to do as a consequence of these wonderful things that we saw in last week's text is hold the traditions. The Greek word that is rendered traditions means something given over from one to another.

I have something and I give it over to you. That's the thought. So it's that content that has been handed off to you that is in view. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy had taught certain things when they were with these now believers in Thessalonica. They had been preaching and teaching in Thessalonica.

And now they're writing letters. We're on letter number two, right? First Thessalonians and second Thessalonians. So they had preaching and teaching in person while they were there. Hold to that.

And we've been writing you letters with additional truth, confirming truth. Hold to that. This is part of standing fast, right? These two things, stand fast and hold to traditions, go hand in hand. They are holding to, or they are standing fast in the things that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy handed off to them in person and then through these letters.

So traditions are great, right? Well not always. Listen to Mark chapter 7. I'll be reading Mark chapter 7 verses 5 through 8. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands." So back to our text for a minute.

We're supposed to hold to the traditions, right? Well, here they're coming to Jesus and saying, Jesus, why don't You hold to the traditions that the elders have handed off to us. Jesus answered and said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing, pitchers, and cups, and many other such things you do.

And then Jesus begins to talk to them about this practice where the elders had said, if you are planning to give these resources to your parents as a form of honor to them in their older years, you can take that and give it to the temple instead in place of honoring your parents. Jesus says, you just overthrew the word of God for the sake of your traditions and he rebukes them for holding to these traditions. So it's clear from New Testament teaching that not all traditions are created equal. Some should be embraced and loved and held to, clung to, and some should be rejected and pushed far from you. Now how do you know which is which?

You have authoritative religious figures all saying, these are the traditions, these are the good things that we're handing off to you. Follow these, hold to these. How do you know which is which? I think Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. So turn there.

Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. This is our Lord's Supper chapter. And it definitely has a bearing on it. Look at what Paul teaches about the traditions that he's handing off as an apostle in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I'm going to read verses 1 and 2 and then I'm going to skip to 23 and read 23.

So follow along. 1 Corinthians 11, verses one and two. Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Now I praise you brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. Now skipping to verse 23.

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the same night in which he was betrayed took bread." Now, We use these words from verse one. I imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. But we can't say them in exactly the same way that Paul says them. Jesus Christ appeared and directly imparted things to Paul in a way that he never did and is never going to do for me. It's legitimate for me to say, imitate me as I imitate Christ, meaning to the extent that I'm following Christ, follow after the good patterns, the godly patterns in my life.

But that's not exactly what Paul is saying here. He's going way beyond that to say, as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, as one to whom the Lord Jesus Christ has appeared and directly communicated doctrine to be given to the people of God imitated. So the patterns in my life aren't authoritative in the way that the patterns in Paul's life are authoritative. And in verse 2, he commends them for remembering Paul and keeping the traditions just as he delivered them to you. And then 23 drives it home, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you.

Why are we doing the Lord's Supper every week? And why do we say the words that we say during that time? It's apostolic tradition. He received it directly from the Lord Jesus Christ and then delivered it to the Lord's people through 1 Corinthians 11. That's why we do what we do.

And we do it on good authority. We do it on apostolic traditions. The apostolic traditions, the traditions of the apostles were received directly from the Lord. Now turn to Ephesians chapter 2. I think This helps us to separate the wheat from the chaff in terms of thinking about the traditions and the sources of traditions.

That's what we learned from Jesus in Mark chapter 7 is some traditions are wheat and Paul's traditions are wheat And some traditions are chaff. Those traditions that were being handed down from Jewish generation to Jewish generation that overthrew the law were not authoritative tradition. They were not received directly from God, they should not be followed by the people of God. This is Ephesians chapter 2, I'll be reading 19 through 22. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19, Paul writes, Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, you Gentiles, you Ephesians, no longer strangers or foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

It's very much like the language of 1st Peter 2 if you remember. Holy temple being built up. We're living stones. We receive our life from Jesus Christ and He's the chief cornerstone. It says it directly here in Ephesians chapter 2.

And the apostles are foundation stones as well. So this building is built on a solid foundation. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. He bears the weight of this building and His apostles, His hand chosen messengers also formed the foundation because they received doctrine directly from him. It's Jesus' doctrine.

Okay, it's not Paul's doctrine. It's Jesus' doctrine that He handed directly to Paul and Peter and so forth, so forth, through the apostles. And they formed the foundation and the building is being built up And what was given to and through Jesus and His apostles bears the weight of the whole building and you don't need to go back. There's no need for any more foundation. It bears the weight of the building.

It was laid fast then. Listen to Revelation chapter 21 verse 14. I think it drives the point home. Revelation chapter 21 verse 14. The New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven is being described.

Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven and John is seeing this vision and the wall of the city has 12 foundations and on the foundations there are names and they are the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So there is a fixed number of apostles through whom this foundation consists. And they're already gone and they're no longer alive. So, the new traditions, any new traditions from popes or anyone else, they are not authoritative traditions for the people of God.

They are not. They are not. They are not. So when we read in Acts chapter 2, 42, this is the day of Pentecost and the church goes from 120 to 3120 with the outpouring of the Spirit, It says, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine. Nothing could be more appropriate than that because it wasn't the Apostles' doctrine.

It was Jesus' doctrine that had been directly handed to these men. We can and should do the same. These are the traditions that have been handed to the people of God. Apostolic traditions, the traditions of the apostles that are authoritative because they have been directly delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ from themselves and He's done. You've got it.

You've got it on your lap. It doesn't need one single addition and when people want to add to it you say away from me with that. Listen to Jude 3, Jude is just a single chapter so it's just Jude verse 3. Jude verse 3, listen Jude 3, listen to this verse. Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." Listen to the second half of that verse again.

I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Meaning that even at the time of Jude, there was a once for all faith that had been past tense delivered. At the time of Jude, the time when he wrote this one chapter letter, There was a once for all faith. Once. That had been, past tense, delivered.

And Jude exhorts his readers to contend for it, and Paul and Silvanus and Timothy exhort their readers to stand fast and to hold on to it. They're saying the same thing. Now back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now let's move to verse 16. 2 Thessalonians 2, 16.

Now they are Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace. I'm going to stop there in the middle of the sentence. It's an awkward place to stop. I just want to look at verse 16. In this verse we have, what God has done and will perpetually do.

So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks. It has done perpetually. What God has done and will perpetually do, what God will unceasingly do, He'll do continually without ceasing throughout all eternity. These two verses, verses sixteen and seventeen, serve as a blessing pronounced by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy and an expression of their desire for the Thessalonian believers. But verse 16 is a modifying clause which describes what two members of the Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father, have done and perpetually do for all the people of God.

So they're going to get around to pronouncing the blessing, but this isn't the blessing. This is a modifying clause to establish who God is, to describe Him in His dealings with His people. And it's going to be the foundation for their expressed desire for the Thessalonians, or the blessing they're pronouncing. So he's building footings that he's going to then stand on and pronounce his blessing in verse 17. He is establishing who God is, has been and is and always will be in his dealing with his people.

And it's wonderful stuff. Some have debated about whether the singular is used, has loved, one has loved, versus multiple have loved. So what I'm saying is we're seeing the singular used here. About whether that's so because of the Trinity, they're being free in one, and so you can say Jesus and the Father but then use the singular tense because of the Trinity or whether these things are just to be attributed to God the Father and that explains the use of the singular. So that I would say that's made meaningless by John 10 verse 30 which says, I am my Father or one.

It doesn't matter which track you go down, it's the Trinity and so Jesus and the Father are said but they're still considered one so they use the singular tense in the verb. Okay, fine. I am my Father or one, John 10.34. We attribute it only to the Father but the Father is one with Jesus so if the Father loved then Jesus loved. If the Father gave consolation, then Jesus gave consolation.

It doesn't matter which track you go down, you end up at the same spot. I'd like to begin by saying that these are gifts of grace. So we are going to have a list of things. There are three things in verse 16 that God has done and will perpetually do for His people. But let's start here with the last two words of verse 16.

By grace, the list of things flow out of the grace of God. Meaning They're free. You don't buy these things from God. You buy things that are attractive about you or work that you do. And here's the hint.

There's not enough attractive things in you to merit these anyway. You should be glad. They are freely given. They are unearned. Not only have you not earned them, you couldn't earn them.

They are too good and you are too bad. That is what the Bible teaches. The gifts of God are too good for you to earn them. And you're too bad to earn them. You're too defiled in too many ways.

And so it has to be the free gift of God. That's what's being said of this list of things. They're just lavished by you because God is good. He's a giving God. That's the whole point here.

By grace. There's a list of wonderful things that are lavished on you just because God is a giving God by grace. First, God has loved us and perpetually loves us. Last week we had this great phrase in verse 13, Brethren, the love by the Lord. And as I was speaking of that last week, I quoted Jeremiah 31 verse 3, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.

That is the nature of God's love for His people. Jeremiah 31 verse 3, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is the nature of God's love for His people. Jeremiah 31 verse 3, yes I have loved you with an everlasting love. It precedes your life.

It precedes the making of the world, as we saw last week. And it continues through all eternity. So there's no beginning point for God's love for His people. And there is no end point to it. It is an everlasting love.

So He has loved us, but you can't think about the love of God simply in the past tense. It won't do to just say God has loved His people. Okay, so we sent Christ a few thousand years ago. He did something really nice for His people. He reconciled us with a holy God and all that in the past.

Yes, as wonderful as that is, it's so incomplete. It's not enough just to say that. It's not enough just to hold that because God wants us to know it preceded Jesus on the cross by eternity and it succeeds Jesus on the cross and our living now throughout all eternity. It's much more wonderful than just thinking of it in the past tense. Secondly, God has given us consolation and does so perpetually.

It's called everlasting consolation in our text. So he has given us consolation, but again, it's not enough to say that that is that in the past tense. He does so perpetually. It is an everlasting consolation, Consolation being comfort in a time of affliction. That's a good definition for it I think.

Comfort in a time of affliction. God has done that for you but He does so perpetually. It is an everlasting consolation. Now listen to this. This is from Luke chapter 2 verse 25.

So you know Luke chapter 2. This is Jesus being born, Jesus being brought to the temple for circumcision, and someone's been waiting. Simeon's been waiting. He's an old man. He's been waiting a long time.

And God has told him that he's not going to die until he sees who? Who? The Messiah, but what's he called? The Consolation of Israel. Not a consolation for Israel.

Israel is going to be comforted in their affliction. That is true, but that again is way insufficient. The, the capital C consolation of Israel. In other words, Jesus is given a title. He and only He bears the name, the consolation of Israel.

And not just national Israel, right? How few of national Israel in Jesus' lifetime and beyond were consoled by the work of Jesus Christ. So many of them considered the life of Jesus Christ and his teachings to be blasphemy. They were not comforted in their affliction at all by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Israel of God.

This is spiritual Israel and Jesus Christ is the consolation of Israel. There are many manifestations of the consolation of God and Jesus towards His people. Meaning, You can point to things in your life and say, God comforted my heart then in a time of affliction. And then, and then, if you think back in time, God sent this person to encourage me. God overturned these circumstances, and I was comforted.

I was in affliction and God brought me out into sunshine. So you can look back in your life if you're in Christ and look back at many manifestations of the consolation of God and of Jesus in your life. But I want to argue that those are just manifestations that Jesus is the fountainhead and the source of all of it. That the kind intentions of God's will are ultimately expressed to us in and through Jesus. What He's done.

They come out of His work. All those times that you can point to in your life, this and this and this and this, God came and comforted me in my afflictions, they flow out of Jesus and His work on our behalf. Think of your greatest afflictions. Now today, let's just assume you haven't been consoled yet. You're in the middle of the affliction, and you don't have the comfort yet.

Which of those have not been ultimately resolved by the work of Jesus Christ. Meaning, in the end, if you're in Christ, you see where this thing is headed, and those afflictions, as much as they might be oppressing on you today, they are resolved in the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on your behalf. You know those afflictions aren't going to last forever. You know that the ultimate end of that affliction is deliverance by God, even if it's in your Death. Everlasting consolation.

And Jesus Christ is right there at the fountainhead and the source of it. He is the consolation of the truth. Third, God has given us and perpetually gives us good hope. Yes, He has given it to us in the past. And He perpetually gives it to us.

Unceasingly gives us good hope. Let me give you two snippets of verses, meaning partial verses, that make it plain why this hope is so good. The first is Hebrews 6, 19a, the first part of verse 19. Hebrews 6, verse 19a. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.

That's good hope. That's good hope. It's an anchor of the soul. It will keep your soul from drifting and being swept away. That's what you use an anchor for.

Your soul, there are so many pressures in life, there are so many circumstances of life, there are so many people of life that want to carry you downstream, away from the things that we should stand steadfastly on, and the hope, the good hope that we are given is an anchor of the soul. Knowing what Jesus has done for us and what that means for our eternity anchors our soul, doesn't it? When false teaching comes, when persecution comes, when circumstances are pressing in on you from every side, when you can see where this thing is headed because you're joined to Christ, and those who are in Christ are going to partake of His glory, you're anchored. You don't have to drift, you'll be swept away. This hope we have is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.

Here's the second verse, 1 Peter 1 verse 3. Verse Peter 1 verse 3 says this, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What does that mean? That means because the tomb is empty. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we have a living hope in Christ.

According to His abundant mercy, He has begotten us again to a living hope because the tomb is empty. We've been born again, not to a dead hope, but to a living hope, an active hope, and a live hope that is a good hope. It is right for Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to call God the giver of a good hope. Many people hope in many things, But the hope of the Christian is a good hope. Those other hopes are going to fail.

Those other hopes are going to disappoint. Those other hopes, the best they can do is deliver for a little while. God's hope is sure. It is an anchor for the soul. It is steadfast.

It is a living hope that will sustain you. It will sustain you. Friends, God has already done these things. He has already loved us. He has already comforted us in our afflictions.

He has already given us a good hope and He is doing those things. He is loving us. He is comforting us in our afflictions. He is giving us a good hope. And He will do these things.

He will love us through all eternity. He will be our everlasting consolation. He will give us a good hope, never failing, Always renewed day by day. This hope is never diminished by the passing of time. Never.

It's a good hope. It's a sure hope. Now verse 17. Second Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 17. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. This verse is what Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy desire for God to do. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks. Desire God.

What Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy desire for God to do. The flow of thought is this. Because God can be rightly described in this way, He has loved us, He has given us consolation, He has given us a good hope, you can expect to receive these things. That's the flow of thought. That's why he's described God to be this.

If this is your God, then you can expect this in your life. That's what they're doing. Now may Jesus and God our Father comfort your hearts. That is their express desire. That's the blessing that's being pronounced.

Now may Jesus and God our Father comfort your hearts. These are people who needed present comfort for their hearts. They've just abandoned everything they knew about God, about false gods. They rejected the idols of Thessalonica. You could pile one on top of another and have a tall heap, right?

This is a pagan city. This is at the crossroads of Greek and Roman cultures and everybody brought their gods. All the merging cultures brought their gods and there's a heap of them. And these Thessalonians have forsaken all of that and said, God is our God. The God of the Bible is our God.

And that meant that they were given health and wealth and comfort. That didn't mean any of that. What did they get for forsaking their idols to cling to the God of the Bible, the true and living God? What did they get for their troubles? They got troubles for their troubles.

They got persecution. They probably got economic hardship. When you don't play nice with the gods of the culture, this usually hits your pocketbook sooner or later. And we know from 1 Thessalonians that they were experiencing the same persecution from their countrymen that the Judeans were experiencing from their countrymen. Now we know about the church in Jerusalem.

Was that a little persecution or a lot of persecution? There were martyrs in Jerusalem. We don't know if there were martyrs in Thessalonica, but I wouldn't bet a penny against it. We know that Jason was ripped out of his house and drugged before the authorities because they had welcomed these men who were turning the world upside down. They were getting persecution for their troubles.

These were people who needed present comfort for their hearts. These men who have brought the gospel with them, where are they now? They run out of town by the authorities and we get a letter once in a while from them. The discipleship is not complete. These were people who needed the God of comfort to come and comfort their hearts.

And false teachings running through the church, disquieting everyone, Moving them off of their first convictions of truth. These were people who needed present comfort for their hearts. Brothers and sisters, we can and should look to God for comfort. It is our birthright to look to God expectantly that He would comfort our hearts. Why?

Because He is the God of everlasting consolation. He has loved us with an eternal love and He is the giver of everlasting consolation and a good hope and it's your birthright to look to God expectantly for comfort for your hearts. And that is not presuming on God. That is knowing who God is. That is knowing your God.

You have a right to expect Him to come for your hearts because He is that. Now may Jesus Christ and God our Father establish you in every good word and work. That's the second part of their expressed desire, the blessing that they're pronouncing. Now may Jesus Christ and our God and Father establish you in every good word and word. To establish is to be placed firmly, set fast.

That's what the Greek word rendered established means. There to be placed firmly and set fast into Every good word and word. I can't think of a better explanation of this than Colossians chapter 3, 17. So turn, it's just one verse, but you should look at it. Because I think it gives completely the sense of what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are communicating.

Colossians chapter 3, just back a couple of pages. Colossians chapter 3 verse 17. And whatever you do in word or deed, okay, so you immediately see the connection. Every good word and work is from our text in 2nd Thessalonians. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

There's your exposition. There's Paul's exposition of Paul's Ladder through the Thessalonians. Just an expansion of it. Whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. We need grace to live for the Lord Jesus.

You're bound to thank Him. Aren't you bound to thank Him for this grace? If God has really been this good to us, and this kind to us through the work of Jesus Christ, don't we have a debt to thank Him and praise Him for doing that? And part of that is just living so he would be honored. We need grace for that.

We need God to establish us in that. We need God to place us firmly and set us fast in that. We know our weaknesses. We know our inability to do this to the extent that we know God is worthy of. We need Him to help us to live for Christ.

Listen to our confession. This is chapter 16 of Good Works, paragraph 7. And I think paragraph 7 is the last paragraph of the whole chapter. They've just positively, the framers of the confession have just positively defined good works carefully through six paragraphs. Now this is paragraph seven.

And they're showing you the other side. They talk about what's not good works. And I actually want to come here in order to define good words and works by looking at what disqualifies a word or a work from being good. Works done by unregenerate men." Unbelievers, not in Christ. Although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and others.

So far they're saying the unregenerate do things that seem good, they're according to what God commands, what God requires of mankind. And they are useful to mankind. They might relieve suffering or they might be helpful to another person. Yet, because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith, nor are done in a right manner according to the Word, nor to a right end the glory of God, they are therefore sinful and cannot please God, nor make a man fit to receive grace from God." Ok, so The confession is looking at the thing done by an unregenerate person that their neighbor says, good work. This is a good work.

Because it's something that God requires of mankind and there's a good end to it that we can see. It relieves suffering or it helps somebody. So that's a good work. And the confession says, not so fast. This is a work that proceeds not from a heart purified by faith, a stained, a sin stained heart.

Okay, this is a work that comes from a sin stained heart. Nothing's been done with the defilements in that heart, and it is the source of this work. Not a good work. And it hasn't been done to the right end. In other words, our goal for doing the things that God requires of us must be, should be, that God receives the glory of it, that God has lifted up and exalted for it.

Unregenerate people don't do it for that reason. They do it for the praise of men, or they do it for what they might get in return, or they do it because it makes them feel righteous. Not a good work. And this is the standard for good words and good words. Yes, they must be according to the Word of God, But they must proceed from a heart purified by faith.

In other words, the heart that is behind that word, or that word, has to be a heart where the defilements have been dealt with in Christ Jesus. If they haven't, then the source of it is hopelessly stained. It can't be a good word. It can't be a good word. And it must be done for the glory of God.

The intent must be that God would receive the praise, not me, for what I'm saying or what I'm doing. This is what Paul means in Colossians 3.17 when he says, In the name of the Lord Jesus. Right back to that verse. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, from a heart of faith in Christ, for the glory of God. This is what it means to be established, to be placed firmly, to be set fast in good words and works.

May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father multiply these words and works among us. Let us with good works proceeding from the heart of faith in Christ for his glory that he would receive the honor and not us for the things that we're saying and doing. The more we say and do out in this community, the more it needs to be true of us. Three applications. Number one, we have the full canon.

Stand fast and hold to it. Here it is. Here it is. In your lap. There's never going to be a word added to it from God.

That's it. Revelation chapter 22 verse what? I don't know, it doesn't matter. Verse whatever it is. Period.

That's it. The canon is closed. God's not adding any more words to that canon. You've got it. In some ways, I envy the Thessalonians.

There they were. And Paul was preaching, or Silvanus was preaching, or Timothy was preaching or teaching in a house, and they get to hear it right from the horse's mouth. They just want to be there, to hear it right from Paul. I want to hear Paul preach. In many ways they should envy us.

That's why they should envy us. How much of that preaching today even remember? How much of this are you going to remember next week? I don't blame you, I'm the same way. I listened to a bunch of live preaching yesterday.

If you asked me about it, I could probably give you a couple of paragraphs. That's how it works. Praise God, the circumstances required these letters to be written and now we've got it. And when we forget it we can go back and read it again. We can meditate on it.

We can study it. In many ways they should envy us. We have the whole canon. Stand fast and hold on to it. Our daily schedules must include reading it, meditating on it, memorizing it, praying through it.

This is the application. Your daily schedule and mind must include lavish time for the Word of God. That's what it means to stand fast. You cannot stand fast on what you do not know. That is obvious.

Nothing controversial there. Okay, so we've gotta read it and meditate on it and memorize it and pray through it. We've got a clear time to do it. I am not doing nearly enough of any of those things I listed. You're probably not either.

We've got a clear time. We've got to stop doing things we are doing. We've got to deprive ourselves of sleep. Something more. To do this is what it means to stand fast and to hold on to it.

A portion every day adds up. Okay, so you don't have to read the Bible through every day. Good thing. Okay. A portion every day compounds and adds up, but tomorrow is the devil's day.

I'm going to quote J.C. Wright. Tomorrow is the devil's day. You know when the devil wants you to meditate on God's Word? Tomorrow.

You know when he wants you to read God's Word? Tomorrow. You know when he wants you to memorize God's Word? Tomorrow. You know when he wants you to pray through God's Word?

Tomorrow. Number two. By the way, I'm reading a biography of J.C. Ryall and it's fantastic. That was random, but you should get it.

Number two. If you are in Christ, soak in what has been lavished on his people. Perpetual love. Perpetual, unceasing love. Past, present, future love.

Eternity past, eternity future, it's yours. You've got to soak in that. Perpetual consolation. All the same thing. Eternity, past, eternity, future, now.

It's your birthright. It's a privilege purchased to you because Jesus shed His blood. You're going to set that off to the side and neglect that? What, are we crazy? Good hope.

An anchor for the soul. Sure, steadfast. Living hope. Soak it in. This is what Ephesians 3, 17 calls being rooted and grounded in love.

You send your roots down into these things that Christ has bought for us. You soak in it. This is the way to have compelling lives. This is the way to have lives that are compelling to the children that have been put in our homes. You're not soaking in the things that Christ has bought for you.

What your children are witnessing probably isn't compelling. It's probably not going to be enough for them. When they become of age, they're probably going to say, no thanks. This is the reality. Like, if you live long enough in the church and you watch, this is what you see.

This doesn't overthrow the doctrine of election. I'm not trying to say that. I'm just saying our children are watching. They know when we're playing. And they know when there's something real there and compelling because we've been soaking in the things that God has purchased for us.

These are 3.17, being rooted and grounded in love. Thirdly, finally, then Live for Him in very practical ways. Living for Christ isn't the life of a monk. It comes out in words and works. It comes out in the everyday things of a minute in life.

And you're saying things and doing things. That's when you live for Christ, and not when you go away in the monastery and put on sackcloth. We live for Christ when we're talking. Now think back on the words that have come out of your mouth in the last 24 hours. Are they worthy of Christ?

Think back on the deeds of the last 24 hours. You've been living these minutes and there have been words and works. Are they worthy of Christ? It's a withering test. I don't like the question either.

I failed the test too. We need to grow. We need to be firmly established. We need to be established in every good word and work. Why?

Because Jesus is worthy of good words and good words. God, I pray that you would come among us by your Spirit to help us. It is a withering test to think about our words from the last 24 hours and our deeds from the last 24 hours and to think what we have said and done and what you are worthy of. Just to see how brutally large the gap is in God. Please forgive us and please help us to grow in grace.

Help us to grow in Jesus name. Amen.