Thessalonians, Part 8

I'd like today to complete our Bible study on second-best belongings. We have covered up chapter 2, and today I want to cover chapter 3, and then just give a general introduction to relations. The next study will be on the Book of Relations. The reason I'm following that sort of sequence is because that's in sequence that the books were actually written. And that's not the sequence they actually laid out in the Bible, but it's actually in sequence of Paul's journeys as they were written. So that kind of gives more of like a historical flow of events during that time. The first Thessalonians, as you remember, Paul went through the first trip. Let's just cover very briefly. The first trip he went to in the area of southern Turkey today, which is the relation area. And then the second trip he went through that area quickly, and then he went into Macedonia and Greece, where that is today. And while he was in Corinthians, he wrote the first book of Thessalonians to the Thessalonians' record, because he'd just been through that area. And then he adhered through Timothy. There were certain issues there that needed to be addressed, particularly related to the coming of Jesus Christ. And some issues of some people that were behaving in a way that was not, let's call it, just orderly. They were being visibly abused. They were thinking, well, because Christ is coming, we don't have to work, and therefore he addressed those two issues. That was in the first letter. Because he addressed certain things about the coming of Christ, that led to some misunderstandings. And that immediately then he heard that there was this misunderstanding. And then he wrote second Thessalonians to further enhance their understanding of the second coming of Christ. And therefore, in chapter 1 of second Thessalonians, he encourages them, and then he gets straight into the purpose of his letter, which is Jesus Christ's second return.

And he said, look, Christ is going to come, he's going to execute judgment, so he's going to punish the wicked. So he's got these two issues. One is kind of the cause. It's the people who have been busybodies and not wanting to work. But maybe the other one was the excuse of saying, well, Christ is coming, and therefore we really don't need to. It's like the justification behind it of that attitude.

And so he said, look, Christ is coming, yes, but he's going to execute judgment. He's going to execute judgment. He's going to punish the wicked. And therefore, he prays, and that's basically chapter 1 of second Thessalonians, he prays for them to remain faithful for the end. And then he goes into second chapter, where he covers about two key events that need to happen before Christ's return. And then he covers them based in first his apostasy, or let's call it the falling away, as you can see there in chapter 2, which is in verse 3.

And also he says that there would be a man of sin, as it says, that is to be revealed, the so-called the son of prediction. Elsewhere is called John in first John chapter 2 talks of him as the anti-Christ. Elsewhere talks about the false prophet, which Jesus Christ will destroy when he comes on the lack of fire.

So that's a being that will live right or will be prominent right before Christ's coming. But he does add also that this mystery of iniquity or mystery of localness in verse 7 is already at work. So even though that anti-Christ is still coming, there is a spirit of that or an attitude which is similar to that already infiltrating into the church. And obviously it exists today in Christian world. In other words, first John chapter 2 verse 18 puts it in another way, says anti-Christ have already come. Let's just look at that first John so that I'm not just referring to it. We can actually read it. First John chapter 2 verse 18 says, Little children, it is the lost hour, you know, in the time of the end, and as you have heard, that the anti-Christ is coming.

That is the man of perdition. That is the man of sin. That anti-Christ is coming. But even now, many anti-Christ have come. In other words, that spirit, that mystery of modernness is already around us and it exists amongst us by which we know that this is the lost hour. And so he's talking about that anti-Christ, that spirit is there. In fact, if you read there in 1 John 2 verse 22, and he says, He says, who is alive, that he who denies that Jesus is the Christ, is the anti-Christ. So it's an aptitude of denying of who Christ really is.

And then later on, he also says that he neither came into flesh and things like that. So deny who the two Christ is, the true Christ, denying Christ. And so continuing that into second Thessalonians, just as a review of things that we've covered, so to put it in context as we read, second Thessalonians, continuing in the second Thessalonians and the second chapter, he tells them about those two key events, apostasy and the anti-Christ. But he does say that this spirit is already there. It's already been manipulated.

That's what the anti-Christ will be ultimately, but that kind of vibe is already there. And then he says, and he describes how people are being deceived by this. It's because they don't believe the truth. They really don't believe the truth. You see that in verse 10 of chapter 2 of second Thessalonians. Chapter 2 of second Thessalonians verse 10. And he says, because they did not believe the love of the truth. So they received the knowledge of Christ, which is the truth. And particularly, where mostly a lot of the influence initially was to Jewish people, the Jewish people, we're very upset about having quote-unquote, and we'll cover a little bit later when we get into the elections.

But just to put it into a simple thing of what was happening in the society. You've got to think to understand, for instance, if we're to write a letter about things about people in churches today, we would need to understand the situation in the society today, to understand the context of how the letter was written. The situation in the society then is Paul was going to do some regards. He was talking to the Jews. They had been taught about circumcision, about the sacrificial law, about offering sacrifices and all those things. Now, in their minds, they were convinced that those things were requirements which are correct in the Old Covenant.

They were requirements, they were requirements for the usual acts. But they were convinced that those things would make them just, would make them right before God. And so, with Christ coming and saying, no, you're true, the way that you truly make right with God is not by being circumcised or by doing the sacrifices, but the way you make right with God is Christ's sacrifice and his blood. He died for us. That's what makes us right with God. Now, for those people, it was very difficult for them to, let's put it this way, absorb. Because they'd been taught from birth and they could go back to the Bible, say, you've got to be circumcised.

What do you mean that we don't have to be circumcised? You know, so it was kind of really difficult. But Paul was not saying to the Israelites that they did not need to circumcise their children. You're saying the Gentiles don't need to be circumcised. You see, the Israelites were still circumcised on eighth day, and they still are, and that Old Covenant still applies to them.

But to the Gentiles, it was not required. And that does not save them. That did not, quote unquote, justify them, make them just, which is part of the process of salvation. When I say that does not save them, I mean the whole process. That is not just one event. Salvation is a whole process. Repentance, accepting Christ, and practicing and living a Christian life. That's all part of the process of salvation. So when I say that did not save them, I mean the whole process.

I'm just understanding. But, so those Jews had a great difficulty in understanding this, and therefore caused a lot of friction with the early Christians. Because Paul was continuously going into this Jewish society that they were very immersed in the need of sacrifices and ceremonial law. And he was saying, you're actually not justified by the ceremonial law. In other words, you're not made just in front of God by the ceremonial law.

You're made just before God by the sacrifice of Christ. The ceremonial law only points to the real sacrifice, which is Christ, which we need. And that is the one that justifies us. So, because he would explain that, obviously far better than I do in that society at that time, but the people rejected it. They didn't want it. Why? Because it was, in a sense, we'll see a little later, it was envious. They were envious because a lot of people were switching from, quote-unquote, this my group to this other group.

And therefore they were envious. And that envy created a lot of friction and animosity and fighting amongst them. And what Paul is saying, they did not love the truth. What is the truth? The truth is that the truth sacrifice is Christ. Those sacrifices only pointed to Christ. And therefore, that spirit, they were denying Christ. They were denying the sacrifice, who Christ was.

That he had been a being like God in the form of God. That he gave it all up. He was a creator. He made all under the Father. The Father directed him and he made it under the guidance of the Father. But he did all the work. And then he died for us. And now, by that, he's saving us through his life. And now, he's in heaven as a high priest, interceding for us and being our advocate and defending us, defending our types so that we can be forgiven, etc.

So, so he is, as the Bible says, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Let's just look at some scriptures about that. Because that's what they were denying. They were denying that he was the Holy One of God that had come to earth. Some were denying that he had not come in the flesh. Some were denying that he was, he was just some other person, but he was not the Holy One of God. And therefore, they were denying the actual power of Christ.

Let's look at Hebrews chapter 2. Let's get this very clear that we understand what they were denying. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 8 through 10. Look how we see that in Hebrews chapter 2, I mean, even if we start, Hebrews chapter 1, sorry, Hebrews chapter 1, we start, even if we start in verse 1 and 2, it says, God with various sons and various wives spoke in time, passed to the fathers by a prophet, who as in his last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed here, of all things, through whom he made the walls.

God the Father made the walls through whom? Through the Son, through Jesus Christ, through the being that became the Son. And look in verse 8, Hebrews 1 verse 8 says, But to the Son, he says, now who is speaking as the Father? The Father says to the Son, he says to the Christ, Your throne, O God. To the Son, God the Father says, Your throne, O God. God the Father is talking to Jesus Christ and saying, Your throne, O God, is for every member, a scepter of righteousness, is a scepter of your kingdom, you have enough righteousness and you have hated the Lordness.

Therefore, God, that's Jesus Christ. Your God, that's the Father, has anointed you. Now, this is the Father talking, and it's right here. Now, a lot of people today are finding it difficult to accept that.

When finding it difficult to accept that Jesus Christ is in the form of God, is the Son of God now, is the Son of God, but before He wasn't, before He was in the form of God now, there is that hierarchy because He was born, is the first begotten, therefore, is now the Son of God.

But people are denying that, and they look at it. In verse 10, And you, Lord, you know, it's you, Jesus Christ, in the beginning lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

This is the God of the Father talking to the Son, and He says, You, Lord, Jesus Christ, in the beginning lay the foundation of the earth.

So, it is very clear that Jesus Christ is the Creator. Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament, and He became flesh. So, He was eternal. He became flesh in the night, and now He's back eternal.

And look how He describes that in Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1.

I'm going to be listening to detail because, one of these days, some people will ask you, and will try and create doubts in your mind, and you need to be able to defend these things.

Look in Revelation chapter 1, verse 8. It says, This is Christ talking. If you have a red letter Bible, you can see it's Christ talking.

And it says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

What do you mean the beginning? He's the beginning. He's the Creator. And He's going to end the creation.

You really know the Scriptures where, for instance, He talks about Haggai and Zechariah, and he talks about building the temple, and he says, He will lay the foundation, He will complete it, which is referring to Christ.

He's the one that has laid the foundation, and you'll complete it.

So, you'll complete this creation of spirit beings that He's busy in you and I doing.

Look also in verse 11, or first Revelation 1, verse 11, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.

It's talking about Christ, Christ is. And look at in verse 17. A gangne says, And when I saw Him, I felt that His feet were there, but He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. And then look in Revelation 22, right at the end, right at the end of the book. Revelation 22. Look in verse 12 and 13. Revelation 22, verse 12 and 13. And behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to His Word. He's talking about Christ coming quickly, His second coming, and bringing the reward with Him. And He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He created everything. He's the beginning and the end. And those people were denying Christ, denying either who He was, or they had come to earth, that He was the eternal, that He always lived. He died, and He's now ever living again. So, they were denying. And so that's the spirit of Antichrist, that is around, that He's going to come again, denying Christ. So, let's go back to the second Thessalonians, where we live. We're just reviewing what we completed there. Second Thessalonians. So, He's saying, in verse 10, They did not believe the truth. They did not believe this, the truth. And therefore, they followed different lies, different deceptions, and they made many lies and intersections around that.

They did not believe that Christ is indeed our Savior. I mean, if you don't believe these sort of things, how can you really fully take the Passover? That's the question that we have, because the Passover represents Christ dying for us, being our Savior, and His life is big enough to pay for all our lives.

It's only because His life is the one that made us. And that's why. That's how the Passover is possible. So, they did not believe the love of the truth. And from there, there's many other doctrines and beliefs and things that can't prove. So, that's what Paul is saying there in the second Thessalonians. Listen, certain things are going to happen before Christ comes. There's going to be an apostasy falling away, and the man of sin has got to be revealed. And the man of sin has to be revealed is that false prophet, they will live right down at the time of Christ coming. So, that has to happen first, before all the other things that need to happen. And then he concludes that chapter by saying, we thank you, or thank God for all of you. You are the called out ones. And it tells them again to remain faithful to the end and to hold on to the traditions that were taught by the apostles. This is verse 15, chapter 2, second Thessalonians 2, verse 15. Hold on to the traditions which were taught by the apostles. Now, this part of the tradition is very important because it gets back into the point that he's going to talk in chapter 3. He's going to talk in chapter 3. In chapter 3, he's going to talk about people being, let's call it, unruly. Let's call it disorderly. Let's call it unreasonable in their thinking. And basically, people have been busybodies and they were not working. And he is getting down to the actual cracks of the problem and he's saying, hey, follow the traditions of the apostles because, and we'll see it, that we came there and we worked. We went lazy. We went taking advantage of your types in Thessalonica. We worked. We're why we're in Thessalonica.

We're working. We didn't even live out of your types because of this problem. He said an example and that is the point that is so yeah, in verse 15, in a sense, beginning to introduce chapter 3. So let's start then on chapter 3 after we've done that review. And it says, finally brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as he is with you. And indeed, all ministers need these prayers so that the truth may be preached and glorified. So God's word may be preached and glorified. We need prayers so that we can keep doing the work.

As we heard at the beginning of the financial year, for instance, as an example, Mr. Dean may have mentioned or you heard through maybe some of the reports, when we made a part of it, there is certain financial tightness in the Church.

We're trying to do the work, but putting a little bit of faith in doing the work without coming back. And we need to be praying that God will bless because selecting the work can be done. It is part of what we need to be praying that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified. And then in verse 2, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. And now he's starting to bring that point that he wants to get into that the ministers may be delivered from unreasonable men. People that were disorderly, they were maybe, let's call it unmanageable, persons out of a big place, let's call it that way, and not under a proper discipline, disregardedness of certain principles of ethics, of law, of restraint, acting in impulses of their mind.

I looked in Barnes' commentary, and Barnes' commentary puts it this way. Let me just read it. It's men who acted amiss or improperly, men who were not found in the right place or who had not the right views of things. And probably does not refer so much to their being positively wicked or malicious as to their putting things out of a proper place. They gave an undue prominence to certain things and less importance to others than they deserved.

They had a distorted vision of the value of objects and an intonatious adherence to their own views, and prosecuting their own objects to the exclusion of all others. They presented a constant obstruction to the true gospel. In which people with slightly different wrong perspective on certain things, and because of that, they were continuously being just like a thorn in the flesh, you couldn't just move forward. They were these continuously distorted views, things out of their proper place, and misunderstandings. And you find time and time again, people have sometimes little views that are a little different, and those little views become points of discord, and it actually hampers the work to move forward, makes things just drag.

And that's what he's saying, that we may deliver from those unreasonable and wicked men. It's not necessarily that they were sinners, but they had this thing, this distorted view, and that was causing a problem. And the thing says, continually, for not all their faith. In some versions, it could be stated as well, for not all are faithful.

And that goes well with the following verse, because it says, but the Lord is faithful. In other words, they were not all, let's call it, trustworthy or of faith. They didn't have the right approach of the faith. They were not fully trustworthy, and therefore we just couldn't confide on them. We couldn't really trust them. It's like putting your weight on a foot that is out of joint, like there is a problem that talks about that.

When your foot is out of joint, you can't put weight on it. It's just boom. And it's just that possibility there. So it's not just they were not of the faith, but for not all their faith, and tying it with the next verse, it could very well be that they were not all trustworthy, not all faithful.

But verse 3, it says, but God is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. But God is faithful. God will keep us away from the tricks of Satan, the evil one, the tricks of Satan. We know in what we call the model pray, the God's pray, it says, deliver us from evil, from the evil one. As it should be, deliver us from the evil one. So we are faithful that God will guard you, will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

Just before the feast, I gave a sermon, if you may recall, about some of the wilds of Satan. And we went into four characteristics, there are many others. Just as a matter of chocking our memory, we had one of them was being a rebellious, angry type of spirit. Another one was proud and unwilling to forgive type of spirit, because proud, lack of humility. Another attitude could be a discouraged, depressed, unsatisfied type of attitude. And also a spirit that compromises himself. So those are some four points that we covered in that sermon, just a matter of a reminder. So we do not need to fear Satan.

That's an important point, because we have God on our side. Obviously, if we obey and please God, if, as it says in 1 John 3, verse 22, whatever we pray, we receive from him, because we obey him and we do those things that are pleasing in his sight. So it's not just obeying, but doing the things that are pleasing in God's sight. So we do not need to fear, because God will guard us from the evil one, if we're doing the things that are pleasing in his sight.

Not just obeying, but also doing the things that are pleasing in his sight. Now look at it in verse 4. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you. Now, this is interesting. It doesn't say we have confidence in you.

We have confidence in the Lord concerning you. That's a very subtle twist. You know, it's not saying, well, I have confidence in you that you will speak to it. He says, we have confidence in Christ that through him, through the Holy Spirit, and provided you want to stay with Christ, that he will work with you to go the right way.

That is a very, very significant way of putting it. So we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you will do, that you do, and will do. You see, he's getting down to the point that he wants to get to. Both that you do and will do the things we command you. So he said, we trust that God, that Christ, through his Holy Spirit, will work with you, so that you do the things and will do the things that we are commanding you.

Now, whose command is this? The apostles. It's a apostles command. It's an apostolic command. It's a law of apostolic law. Things that we command you.

And we're going to read a little bit more about that, because what we're saying here is, God's Spirit will motivate you to do what I want you to do, what I'm giving you an instruction to do. And you'll see, just to be a little bit tell you what it is exciting. My command is that you people work. Don't be busybodies.

This is the command I'm giving you. Don't be busybodies. Don't be interfering in other people's lives. Don't be disorderly. But work, because if you don't work, don't eat. And this I told you before, and I've instructed you, I've warned you before, and I'm telling you again, and I'm saying, if you are not doing that, don't kind of mingle with those people. There are not a very endless command, and this is an apostolic command. And I know we're going to go through this, we're going to go through it and see that this is what it's basically saying.

So I'm just kind of giving you a summary up front, so you can see where I'm going through this, as we're going to read, and I'm going to prove it as we're going to read. Now, verse 5. Now, may the Lord direct your heart into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. May God direct your heart, your motivation of your heart, into the love of God. What is God's love? God's love is doing what is best for others. It's doing what's best for others is it's always concerned for the best of others.

Now, they could say, well, if people don't work, we just got to give them money. No, I mean, that's not the best for others, you see. Now, obviously, there are situations where people are trying, and they can't get work. That's different. That's different. But what we're talking about here is people that had the capabilities could work, and they didn't want to work. And they were just being disorderly and busy-bodied and going around and causing what can cause trouble.

And he was giving them a command that says, that's not the way you can be. And don't give me the excuse, well, because Christ's coming soon, therefore we don't have to do that. Can you see how he's bringing... I'm trying to put it in a way that we see the letter in the context of the society and the problem they have in that environment. All right, so now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

And the love of God is that motivation to obey God from the heart. And God alone, through his own, his Holy Spirit, can direct us into that true love, which is do what's best for others. And enduring patiently, like Christ said, and even though certain things, there are things that are not going right and whatever it is, but enduring patiently, that patience, enduring like Christ said, that is needed.

And may the Lord direct you in that part. And so let's go on in verse 6. It says, But we command you. Again, that's the word command. We command you. We give you an instruction, basically a directive, an apostolic order, apostolic command, ready. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we give you this order, and we know that we've got a backing of Christ in what we're telling you. We've got... That's what he wants us to tell you.

That you will throw from every brother who works disorderly and not according to the tradition. Remember the other word, tradition, that we saw in the previous chapter in verse 15, where he says, Stand fast and all to the traditions, and we talk. And he says, disorderly and not according to the tradition which you received from us.

It was from our example. The way we behave, the way we do things, they're not following our example. So we throw from every brother, and what does it mean? We throw from those that are disorderly, that are not behaving the way we behaved by our example, as we taught you.

So the word, the disorderly, it's interesting, because this word in Greek, doesn't matter what the Greek word is, I can tell you what it is, is... like a tactus. It doesn't matter what the word is, I mean, I'm not young, I have to give you a Greek point, but it's just showing that in other places it's translated something else, but it's got the same Greek word. I'm going to bring that to you in a moment. You're going to see this same record, but translate it as something else.

And if you tie in that it's the same word and it's talking about the same thing, you'll understand a little bit better what it's talking about. So I'm going to show you that in a little bit. So that's why I mention what the Greek word is.

Not to actually have a Greek lesson, because that's not important, but just to see how it's tying together. So it says here, but we'll throw from every brother, walks disorderly. In other words, in this, let's put it this way, in this way that is unruly, that is idle, unruly. It's elsewhere translated as unruly, sometimes disorderly. So that's why I'm tying it together. It's the same word. So, watch disorderly, and not according to the tradition which you receive from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us.

You see, you ought to follow our example. That's the tradition you receive from us. In other words, that's how we practice, that's how we live amongst you, and you ought to follow our example. And I'm telling you to those people that are not doing like we do. We gave you an example. For we were not disorderly amongst you. In other words, we were not just the same word, attacked us, or whatever you say it correctly, but there's the same word. And now it gets angry. Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge.

In other words, we were we could have taken the money from the types, the first type, and we could have lived out of that. But they lived, they worked. There was a tent maker in that area, and he was working and still preaching. And other times, we can see in other examples, that they did not work. They received the types, and Paul received the types, and therefore lived all the times of the bread.

But in very specific instance, because of the problem, they, he was not doing that, to give them an example. He's not doing that, to give them something. But it worked, you know, we worked with labor and toil night and night, then we might not be a burden to any of you.

So we wouldn't be a burden to you, brethren in Thessalonians. Not because we do not have authority.

Yes, we have authority to take the first start and use the first start, so that we could do the work, etc. But that's still labor. But to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. That's the tradition that he laid out for them. That's the exaltment laid out for them. For even when we were with you, we commanded the elders. Can you see a word? Again, the word, we commanded you this. When we were with you, we commanded you this.

Now, we just want to now go back one or two pages to see when we commanded that to them.

In the first look, because he says, when we were with you, we commanded. So he had been in Thessalonica. He commanded them verbally. Then he wrote to them in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 11.

Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 11.

See, that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you.

You see, there was a problem there. They were busybodies. They were not minding their own business. They got interfering in other people's lives, and they were not working.

As we commanded you, you know, it was when he had been there, he had commanded them about that. In 1 Thessalonians, he reminded them of that, and says, hey, we commanded you that.

So do that. Verse 12, that you may walk properly towards those who are outside, and that you lack nothing. So very same. We have commanded you. And then look in the same book, 1 Thessalonians, where you now. But in chapter 5, this was the previous letter, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, and look in verse 11.

Now, verse 14. Chapter 5 verse 14. Now we absorb you brethren, warn those who are unruly.

The word unruly there is a factors. That's why I mentioned that word, a factors. It's the same word. Disorderly. Those that if you have a little margin day, in my Bible, it says he's subordinate or idle. In other words, warn those who are idle, who are disorderly or unruly. He's talking about the same thing. He had commanded them when he visited them. In 1 Thessalonians, he wrote to them, he says, I have commanded you and I warned you. Now I'm telling you, warning. And now in the second letter, he's saying, listen, I have commanded you, I have warned you. Now I'm telling you, you know, and look at it in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 4. He says, we are concordacing the Lord concerning you that you do and will do the things we command you. You see, he said, hey, we have cognizance that you will listen to this and you're going to do what we are commanding you, or I'm commanding you not to be lazy, whatever, you know, not to sit around and be busy-bodied, but to be proactive people, as we heard in the sermon, had to be actually doing things, to be going out and doing. So, and then continue then in verse 10, 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10, for even when we were with you, we commanded you this.

If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. You can see, that's what he's talking about. He says, you know, don't be busy-bodies, work. We commanded you when we were there in Thessalonians. If anybody doesn't work, don't eat. So, it was kind of like a recurring problem, a recurring problem, and he's addressing that problem, that issue that you can see there.

So, don't be lazy. That's why. Now, verse 11, for we hear, there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner. Again, that same word attacked us in that disorderly, being idle, being disobedient, being one, having their own mind, their own spirit, doing their own thing, having their own ideas. As we mentioned there, things are not quite in the proper place. Have a distorted vision of certain things, you know, or they have an idea to be of use, and they're going in the own little direction and causing problems. So, for we hear, there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but opposite bodies.

And they're not working at all, they're opposite bodies. I mean, it's clear what he's talking about, you know, that that is the issue. Now, those who are such, we command. Now, this is their apostolic command. This is their apostolic instruction of referring. This is a command, an exhort, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that they work. That is a command. Work!

There's no beautiful law. I mean, isn't that part of the 10 commandments?

Yes, it is. This is the 7th command. Six days shall you work. And the 7th, you rest, right? That's part of, so it's no new commandment. It's part of God's law to you to work. And if you don't work, in a sense, you break into 7. Think about it.

Because the 7th command says, six days you shall work. So, if you're not working, in a sense, you break into the 7th command. But anyway, so it says, now, verse 12, those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ, that they work in quietness and eat. They are unbreak. And that's what we need to do. But as for you brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And so, Yahya sang this, given the apostolic command, and he said, but to the rest of you, the rest of you that are not like those, don't stop doing good. Don't stop doing good. As we heard in the sermon, be amongst the ones that are of the path of being. You know, with being proactive, being talent driven, being character driven, and have that approach of saying, that's what we're going to do. Not using excuse. Whatever excuse, well, it's because of the way I was brought up, or this, and the excuse, Yahya was, well, the process is coming soon, then we don't need to work, you know? Whatever. So don't use any other excuse to be reactive in that way. But be proactive, be hardworking. And therefore, he says, but to the rest of you, do not grow weary in doing so, in doing good. Now verse 14, and he still gets back to that same point. And if anyone does not obey our word, this is apostolic command, this word, our word, in this epistle, in this letter, what is our word in this letter? That you work. Don't be lazy.

So if anybody does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company within, then you might be ashamed. Yet, do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

So Yahya is the point that he says, note that person, but don't treat him as an enemy. He's still a brother. So he's a fallacy. You know, I mean, don't fellowship in the same way there is a dukkah say, you know, so why? Because you need to say, hey, you know, I don't do this with you because you're not working, and I care for you, you as a brother, but you need to work. So don't, don't keep company with things in the same way that even you're ashamed. Why? So they may repent. So maybe come to be ashamed. So they may see his wrongdoing and come to repent us. But don't treat him as an enemy. Don't treat him as an enemy. He's still a brother. See, there's still that love in there. It's a very balanced way of, of his putting, of this instruction, a very balanced way. So there, let's just see if I can just say anything about India. So it's talking about a way that is very simple and encouraging in a positive way to media the people to repent. And then in verse 16 through 18, it concludes the letter, but saying, now, may the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you always. The sanitation of all of my own hand, which is a sign in every pistol, so I write the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. So he concludes us writing the final section, maybe just with his own hand, because he had a problem with his eyesight.

And we can see how he completed the letter. And I hope that you can see now, this alone is in a slightly different light than understanding.