Exhortation, Part 3: Don't Grow Weary

Good morning. I want to welcome you all to Calvary Chapel. Would you all stand with me, with us? And I want to welcome those of you who are online joining us. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we do thank you for this opportunity this morning to come and worship in song and to study your word. Oh, Lord, we just want to just look to you, Lord. Express from our hearts how worthy you are of our praise and worship.

We think of that word, worthy. You're worthy, Lord. Worth-ship. Worship, Lord. We thank you and ask that you would just bless our time together.

Suddenly, in front of his name, I'll stand strong. You're there too. What is true? If the cross brings transformation, I'll be crucified with you. Cause death is just the doorway into resurrection life. If I join you in your suffering, then I'll join you when you rise. And when you return, you'll stand magnified in me. Lord, that's our prayer, Lord, that you would be magnified in us.

Lord, that we would... So be willing to let our light so shine that people will see you. They will reflect you just as the moon reflects the sun, the stars, that reflection. May we reflect you in our lives, the way we live, Lord. We ask that in Jesus' name, Lord. You're so worthy of our praise. You're holy. Y'all may be seated if you wish. But we're just casting down our heavy duty.

Lord, may we worship you and just trust you, Lord. We know, Lord, that... Life has its hard times. We're very blessed as Americans, of course. But that doesn't mean we don't have hard times. We can be affected by spiritual things, the spiritual battles that go on, health things, emotional things, relational things, different things that go on in our lives that we must look to you and trust you to get us through

in those times that you use to build character in our lives to make us more like you. Trust you. Put our confidence in you, Lord. We give you praise and we thank you, Lord. Would you teach me desire to magnify you, Lord. Guys, that you are holy.

We recognize that, we recognize, Lord, that all of us who are weak can come to the fountain. We can come to you, Lord. You strengthen us and you look to give us the help we need when we need it. And your grace is sufficient for us, Lord. And we just want to praise you, Lord. Y'all stand.

The God who died for us. The God who is up at the right horse when Satan...

God, Jesus, may he receive my forgiveness.

Now, Father, as Pastor Ryan comes up to teach your word, would you give us eyes to really see clearly,

ears to take in, and more than just listen, also hear. Lord, I always remember my teacher saying, you listened, but you didn't. And oh, that we would hear, Lord. Take it in and teach us. And we thank you that greater are you who is in us than he who is in the world. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord, bless you. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning.

If you could, please begin to locate your seats. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad you joined us this morning.

A handful of things to take note of in your bulletins.

Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin, as I always like to point out, are the different studies that go on throughout the week. Please do take note of those and find yourself a spot to get plugged in. I'm gonna be able to see you in a few moments. We're gonna get to the middle section. We're gonna get to the middle section. Just a reminder that, hey, we're still reading through the Bible together.

Everybody doing good? Anybody keeping up with this? Yeah, I see some heads shaking out there. Very good. And in the positive direction, not the negative direction. Also, a reminder that the Grief Share group is starting up in May. So, or excuse me, February the 18th. It goes through May the 13th. So, see Holly if you have any questions for that. Also, fellows, we have a men's breakfast

coming up this Saturday. So come join us for that, 8 o'clock a.m. down at the other end of the hallway. Good time of eating some food together and fellowshipping together and hopefully just mutually encouraging each other. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 39.

Psalm 39. Looking at the New American Standard, so hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 39, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 39, for the choir director, for Jedithoon, a psalm of David. I said, I will guard my ways that I will not sin with my tongue. I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle while the wicked are in my presence. I was mute and silent. And I refrained even from good. And my sorrow grew worse.

My heart was hot within me while I was musing. The fire burned. And then I spoke with my tongue. Lord, make me to know my end. And what is the extent of my days? Let me know how transient I am. Behold, you have made my days as hand breaths. And my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely every man at his best is merely a breath. Selah. Selah. Surely every man walks about as a phantom.

Surely they make up an uproar for nothing. He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions. Make not the reproach of my foolishness. I got distracted on that. Did anybody else get distracted on that one? I got a little lost. Just a little bit. Yeah. I think we're in verse 9.

I have become mute. I do not open my mouth because it is you who have done it. Remove your plague from me because of the opposition of your hand. I'm perishing. And read verse 11 with me. With reproofs you chasten a man for iniquity. You consume as a moth what is precious to him. Surely every man is a mere breath. Selah. And see, I got so distracted, there's two verses left.

My cry. Do not be silent at my tears for I am a stranger with you. A sojourner like all my fathers. One more time with feeling. Turn your gaze away from me that I may smile again before I depart and am no more. And Father, we thank you that you're good to us even in the midst of distractions. And we do know that our days are very short even if there's a club up on stage.

And so, Lord, I just thank you for who you are. I thank you for the time that we get to spend in your word this morning. And Lord, I just pray that you would move through the message and through the services you see. Father, encourage us where we need to be encouraged. Comfort us where we need comforted. Father, convict us where our hearts have gone astray.

And Lord, where we need to know which direction to go, I pray that your Holy Spirit would guide and direct us. And we just pray these things, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. three. Well, today we come to the end of the book of 2 Thessalonians, not just the end of this

particular series in chapter three, but the end of the book in general. And we had said when we first started out that the book laid out three ways. Chapter one, he was going to encourage the Thessalonian believers. Chapter two, he was going to instruct the Thessalonian believers. And in chapter three, he was going to exhort them. And he has done those things. We said there were three

exhortations he would give to us in chapter three. Number one, he would tell us to pray hard. He said we need prayer, prayer that the word will continue to go out, that God would deliver us from evil men. So pray hard. And then last week we saw that he told us to work hard, that our work ethic is a part of our witness, and that if a man is not willing to work, then a man should not be

willing to eat, because that is an important thing for us to do, because work is something that is God-ordained. And as we come to this last section, in chapter three, he's going to give one final exhortation. Don't grow weary. And so we pick up in verse 13 of chapter three, and it says this. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our

instruction in this letter, take special note of that person, and do not associate with him so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is a distinguishing mark in every letter. This is the way I write. The grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ be with you all. And so in this last exhortation, it really does break down three ways. He's going to give us the exhortation. He's going to say a quick prayer, and then he's going to give the final benediction. We're going to camp out mostly on this exhortation that he gives to us. He says, but as for you, brethren. Now he sort of sets this apart as those who are very different from the

ones who wouldn't work. Those who are very different from the ones who were leading an idle or disorderly life, because he had already given them a command. He told them that they needed to work with their own hands, to eat their own bread, and to stay busy, to not be busy bodies, but to be busy about work. But now he speaks to those who are the faithful, those who've been putting in the work, those who have been living day in and day out, those who have been continuing to do what God has called for them to do. And so he says, but as for you, brethren,

don't grow weary of doing good. Don't grow weary of doing good. That word weary means to be exhausted, to lose heart, or to become faint-hearted. I have found that as we've built to this last little section, it's been interesting what all has happened in the world, because man, it just seems like a lot of people can become faint-hearted. Like there's just lots going on always right now, it feels like. It feels like

every time I get up to speak, there's been one more national tragedy that's taken place. There's been one more instant issue that's taken place. There's more battles to be fought. There's just a lot that is going on in the lives of people, whether it's the people in the church, whether it's more of us battling the medley of coughs going throughout the place, or whether it be just the difficulties of life. It just seems like we face a lot of things in the world that we live in, and

it seems like it's really easy to become faint-hearted. And so I found that coming to this particular section was a really important section to separate out, because he tells us, don't grow weary, don't become faint-hearted in the midst of the good work that you are doing. And so I want to spend just a little bit of time talking about that. Let's talk about this. In its direct context, in this particular chapter, he's telling those who

have continued to work hard in a church that had become a little bit lazy to not grow weary in doing good. You see all of the people around you that don't want to work. You see all of the people around you that just want to live up on a mountaintop somewhere and wait for Jesus to come back. And I tell you, don't grow weary in doing good. You're watching the lazy people around you

seem to continue to prosper, even though that's not what they're doing. And so I want you to think about what's supposed to happen. So don't grow weary of doing good. Kind of an apropos word for the world we live in today. Can we all be honest about that? Don't grow weary. Continue to work hard. But in its kind of indirect context, putting it in all of 2 Thessalonians, he's speaking

to the Thessalonian believers who, remember, the entire reason that Paul wrote this letter is because they were dealing with persecution and affliction. Persecution and affliction that was so intense that they were going to go to hell. They were going to go to hell. They were going to go to hell. They were going to go to hell. They were going to go to hell. They were going to go to hell. They were going to go to hell.

They were willing to believe someone when they told them, this is God's righteous judgment being poured out on the earth. Now, can you imagine living at a time so intense that everybody around you is going, we clearly missed a rapture, and we're living in the midst of what the Old Testament calls the day of the Lord, a time when God's wrath is being poured out upon the earth. To that church, Paul is saying, don't grow weary in doing good. You may not face the same persecution that the Thessalonian church faced, but we do understand a little bit about affliction. We do understand a little bit about what it's like to be hard-pressed,

to deal with difficult things, to live life with difficulties going on around us, or perhaps difficulties that have come upon us. And he says, you who are facing hardship, affliction, and persecution, don't become faint-hearted in continuing to do good. But in an even broader general biblical context, we know that what he tells us is that don't grow weary in any good work that God has called for you to do. Because we all know that being who God has called for us to be can sometimes cause us to grow weary. And we should be willing to become

weary in the work, but we should not become weary of the work. Well, as I was thinking about this this week and kind of mulling it over, in my brain, you know, I always like to ask myself questions. And one of the questions that I ask myself is, why do we tend to lose heart? Why do we tend to become faint-hearted? Why is it so easy for us to become weary in the good work? And so I wrote down four things. There's a handful of

other things that came into my mind, but I felt like these four things, one, two, three, four, yeah, these four things, sorry, I had originally written down five or six, and I couldn't remember how many I included, I think are some of the reasons why we become faint-hearted. And I think I even had them put up in my mind, and I think I even had them put up in my mind, and I think I put them up there. Did I have you put them up there? Yeah. Number one, because it's not exciting

anymore, right? Like, anytime we start something new, especially in faith, it starts off exciting, right? Because usually the entire reason why you set out to do that good work is because God somehow ministered to you. God spoke to you, right? You had this moment where God was like, this is what I want you to do. And you're like, man, that's so exciting. God spoke to me. I have

direction. I know what I'm supposed to do. And then you get really excited. And man, the first few months, maybe the first few years, they're great. And you're like, you're rolling with it, and everything's exciting. But pretty soon, the excitement starts to wane a little bit, right? It's like my old boss used to say when I worked construction. Anytime a project started, he'd say,

remember, everybody gets excited when the circus comes to town, but eventually, people get tired of elephant poop, right? And that's how we are. Like, we get really excited in the beginning, but eventually, there's just some garbage you got to deal with. And pretty soon, it's no longer the emotions. It's the commitment, right? Like, we're almost, let's see, today's February the 9th. We're

almost the middle of February, right? Now, maybe you set out to achieve some sort of a goal this year. I've noticed that when I show up at the gym now, it's a little emptier than it was three weeks ago, right? Like, man, I remember the couple days right after the new year, I was like, well, here we are, right? Like, everybody just got themselves a membership. And now, no matter what time of day

you go to the gym, like, 17 people are using the machine wrong, right? And so, and all of a sudden, now, it's starting to clear out a little bit. Why? Because the excitement's gone, and now, it's just commitment. And we grow weary because the excitement wanes. And at that point in time, you have to decide, I will not grow weary of the work, even though I'm a little bit

weary in the work. So, number one, it's not exciting anymore. Number two, it's not popular, right? Like, when you start doing the work that God has called for you to do, it's not always going to be a popular thing. It's not always going to be something that everybody's like, yeah, you continue doing that thing. Matter of fact, there's going to be some people who are like,

why do you care? Why is this a big deal to you? Why are you doing this? Don't you understand, like, you've chosen a hard path for yourself. And it's not always a real popular thing to do. Standing for the Lord and standing for what's right is not always going to be real popular. Listen, it's not even going to be real popular in your own life. Like, yes, today I'm excited

about it, but tomorrow, I'm not the most popular guy in my world because I don't even like the decision that I made. And we have to understand that sometimes we grow weary because it's not a very popular thing to do. I think one of the things that we've noticed in the world the last couple of weeks is that everybody gets excited to see change until the change affects you, right? And then everybody gets a little bit upset about the change. Wait, I thought you were going to reform everyone else's

life, not mine, right? And it's not always very popular. And so because it's not popular and you not only fight the battle against your flesh, but you fight the battle against everybody else, we tend to become a little bit more excited about it. And that's why I think it's important to let God know you're doing this. But those are some of the things to think about as you deal with God's presence.

Then the outer feelings, the inner feelings, the inner feelings. So each of us is curious and frustrated, and so we think, well... It's all about benefit, right? We're sitting here with tons and tons of troubles. And, you know, while we're talking, today we're hanging near traffic. MARKλλ I agree. MARKλλ I am not guilty of the fact that I'm not strong. I'm strong in love with something.

MARKŁ Come on. MARKuten. today, right? Like, you don't always get to see what God's doing today. Like, some of those results are going to come 20 years from now, and we don't live in a world that's okay with that. We live in a world that if you don't produce results, like, in the next few minutes, then what you're doing doesn't work. That's why every year at this time of year, football teams hire new coaches, right?

Because they haven't made the Super Bowl yet, and it's like, well, that guy's had nine months to do his job, and he didn't do it well enough, and so you're just going to fire the guy? Maybe you should give him just a little bit more time than that, but we need immediate results, and we do that with our faith. I bet if you started reading the Bible in January, you're like, I don't know it all yet, right? Still doesn't make sense to me. I'm just going to give up.

Like, well, those things take time. It takes time to see those kinds of results. As a matter of fact, when you're really doing God's work, and He calls you to be faithful, you may never see the results. I would give to you the prophet Jeremiah. I've shared this with you before, that when God called Jeremiah, He called him to do a very hard work. He said, I want you to go to people that aren't

going to listen to you. I want you to go to people that are very stiff-necked, and they're not going to follow you, but I want you to do it anyway. He pretty well told him that up front. I've given you a heart like flint so that you will continue. At one point in time, Jeremiah's like, I'm done. I'm giving it up. I am not going to speak for the Lord anymore, and it said the word burned in his heart

so strongly that he had to give up. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up. I had to get it out. And you know, Jeremiah never saw any convert. Only there was one really important individual that was affected by the work of Jeremiah. You know what his name was? His name was Daniel. And we're told in the book of Daniel that Daniel was reading in the

works of Jeremiah that the time for the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon was almost finished, and it sparked Daniel to pray. You see, you may never see the result, and yet we grow go, I don't see it right now, so I'm just going to give up. And sometimes we get faint-hearted because we don't see results. And then number four, and I think this is really the big one, it all comes down to this, because it's hard. Because it's hard. We become faint-hearted

because the work is hard. Because following Jesus is hard. And I would love to tell you, if you come to Jesus, everything will be perfect. And unfortunately, the Western culture has sold that gospel for a real long time. If you just come to Jesus, everything in your life will be complete and happy, and you will be fulfilled in everything that you do. And what they forget to tell you is that it's going to be hard. Because walking with Jesus

is a hard thing to do. It's the most worthwhile thing you'll do in all of eternity. But it's hard. But because it's hard, and we're living in a generation where we are told over and over and over again that if it's hard, it must not be right. That if it's hard, you must have made the wrong decision. And so when it's hard, just give up. When it's hard, just call it quits. When it's hard, just go do something else now. Because it's hard.

And what we have to understand is, Jesus told us the work was hard. Do you remember the really popular statement he made to his disciples? If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, an instrument of death, and follow me. Because anyone who loves this life will lose it. But anyone who hates this life for my sake will gain it. Now, does that all paint a

picture for you of something that's going to be super easy? And that was Jesus. Jesus told his disciples that. You would think if anybody was going to put out an easy gospel, they would put Jesus so that he could gain some followers for himself. But because it gets hard, we become fainthearted. And listen, I want us all to know something. It doesn't make you a freak if it's

hard, and it doesn't make you a freak if it's making you fainthearted. If you find yourself weary right now, welcome to the gang. That's why we're here. Because you know what else Jesus told his disciples? He said, all who are weary, come to me, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. Be gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. In the midst of the hard,

Jesus always brings the rest. But we become fainthearted because of these things. And so, I did a little bit of looking. When I looked up this word in the Greek, the Strong's thing gave me several different places in Scripture where it talks about it. And so, what time is it? We've got all kinds of time. I want you to turn to some of these places with me. Go to Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18, verse 1. It says this. Oh, I still hear pages. I'll give you a second.

Luke 18, 1. Jesus is telling kingdom parables, and he says this. Now, he was telling them a parable to show them that at all times, they ought to pray and not lose heart. He'll go on to tell them the parable of the persistent widow who just kept going after the judge and saying, please act on my behalf. And finally, he did because she was so persistent. But I love that

verse, that everyone ought to pray and not lose heart. Because where do we lose heart a lot of times? We lose heart in our prayer life. Why? Because we don't see results. We say, Lord, I don't see any results. I prayed about this for three whole minutes, and I haven't seen you do anything yet. Lord, I prayed about this for three whole days, and you haven't done anything yet.

Brothers and sisters, I have talked to people who prayed for year upon year upon year. And finally, at the end of their life, they saw results. You don't know what your prayers are doing because you don't know the battle that's being fought. And it's so easy for us to lose heart in the midst of prayer. And he says, I'm going to tell you this parable so that everyone will pray and

not lose heart. I'm always reminded of another story about Daniel. Because remember, Daniel, after he had received a vision from the Lord, prayed that he would understand the vision. And as he prayed, he had to wait weeks until he could receive the answer. And do you know what the angel told him when he appeared to him to give him the answer? He said, I took off to speak to you as soon

as you prayed. But there was a spiritual battle that you didn't see. And I had to even call on Michael the archangel to come help me so that I could be here to deliver this to you. You see, you don't know what's going on in the spiritual realm right now, but you're growing weary in your prayers. Meanwhile, you are right on the edge of a breakthrough. You are right on the edge of God finally giving you that answer because the

spiritual battle is about to be won. Don't give up on the prayer that you should pray and not become fainthearted. That you should pray and not grow weary. Second place I want you to go to is 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And I want you to look down at verse 16. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16.

It says this. This is Paul again speaking. It says, Therefore, we do not lose heart. Same Greek word. Though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day. We don't lose heart even in the midst of our deepest physical problems. Because even though our outward man is decaying, you can continue to do good and even though the outward man is decaying, the inward man is being renewed day by day. The inward

man is being renewed continually over and over and over again because that's the work that God's doing. You see, in the midst of the most difficult physical problems, and I know people are dealing with physical problems. I know some of y'all are dealing with pain that is chronic and you can't get past. I know that some of you are dealing with diagnosis that you know that the end is not good.

I know that some of you are dealing with the chronic pain that you can't get past. I know that there's a chronic issue of just illness in your life and you're dealing with these things. And sometimes you want to grow weary because your outward man is decaying. You can feel it. And I'm here to tell you right now, don't grow weary in doing good because even though your outward man

is decaying, even though you're dealing with the physical issues of this life, your inward man, because of what's going on, is actually being renewed day by day. It is actually becoming more like Christ. You are becoming who God wants you to be in the midst of those things. So please, do not grow weary. Grow weary in doing good. Third place I want you to go is over to Galatians chapter 6.

Right after 2 Corinthians, Galatians chapter 6 verse 9. Galatians chapter 6 verse 9, again Paul speaking and it says this, let us not lose heart in doing good. Same word. For in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. There's the one that deals with the results. In due time you will reap if you don't grow weary. In God's perfect time the results will happen. In God's perfect time God will

do what he has set out to do through what he has called for you to be in the process of doing. And so you can trust God for the results. Listen, my job is never results. My job is faithfulness. Your job is faithfulness. Faithful to what God has called for you to do and let him handle everything else. One plants, one waters, but God is faithful to what he has called for you to do. And so you

can trust God for what he has called for you to do. And so you can trust God for what he has called for you to do. And so you can trust God for what he has called for you to do. And so we trust him for those results. One last one, Ephesians chapter 3 verse 13. Basically like one page over. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 13. Paul says, therefore I ask you to not lose heart at my tribulations on your

behalf, for they are for your glory. You see, ultimately the tribulations that we face in the world bring glory to God and good for others. The tribulations that we face bring glory to God and good for others. How? Don't turn there, but in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 it says that if we are afflicted, it is for your good. Because the comfort that God gives us in the midst of our

affliction, he uses to bring comfort to you in the midst of your affliction. So as you look at these tribulations, these things that we go through in our lives, God is using them. To ultimately bring about his glory and the good of you and everyone else around you. So don't lose heart in the midst of the tribulations, in the midst of the trouble, in the midst of the testing of this world. And so brothers and sisters, whether it's because it's

not exciting anymore, it's not popular, you're not seeing results, or it's just plain heart, don't lose heart. Because God is at work in the midst. But if there's still someone here who's going, but Ryan, you don't understand. You don't know what I'm saying. You don't know what I'm going through. You don't know what I'm experiencing. And you don't know how close I am to giving up

right now. What do you have to say to me? What do you do when you hit the place where you have grown weary in doing good? Go with me one more place in scripture. Go back to the Psalms. Go to Psalm 61. I want you to look at verses 1 through 3. This is the psalmist David. In Psalm 61, crying out to the Lord. He says, Hear my cry, O God, and give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you. When my

heart is faint, then lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever. Let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah. I think it's the New King James, or maybe the Old King James translation, where it says, Because isn't that kind of what happens to us when we grow weary? Our heart becomes overwhelmed.

And what does he say to do? Lord, when my heart is overwhelmed, hear my cry and lead me to the rock that is so much higher than I. Lead me to you. Bring me back to you. What do you do when you have grown weary in doing good? Or you're in that process. Or you're ready to give up. You're ready to quit. Go back to Jesus. He's the one who gave you the hope to begin with. He's the one who gave

you the calling to begin with. He's the one who gave you the hope to begin with. He's the one who put the passion in your heart to begin with. So go back to him and be really honest and say, I'm ready to give up. It's hard. I don't see any results. I keep doing what you tell me to do, but nothing's happening. What am I supposed to do now? What am I supposed to do, God? Because

right now my heart is faint. I'm overwhelmed and I'm ready to quit. I'm ready to tell you right now, when you do that, he will always lead you to himself. And he will become for you a shelter from the enemy. He will become your greatest refuge that you will ever have in your life. And that's not because I read it from David. That's because I know it in my life. Because I've had to go to God before and say,

I can't do it anymore. I just, I can't take it. This is too much for me. And he always says, I got you in this. And he becomes a shelter for us. And some of y'all need to do that in your lives. You need to take it to the Lord and say, I'm weary and I'm ready to give up. I'm ready to give up on my marriage. I'm ready to give up on my job. I'm ready to give up on my

walk. I'm just ready to quit. And you need to take that to Jesus and be bluntly honest with him. Let him do what only he can do in your life. Paul says, brethren, don't grow weary in doing good. Well, he continues on with the exhortation back to 2 Thessalonians. He continues on in the exhortation. He says, verse 14, If anyone does not obey our instruction, particularly about working hard. I added

that part just for emphasis and clarity. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note of that person. Don't associate with that person so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. He said, hey, listen, if there's still a problem and somebody still won't do what they're supposed to be doing,

they're still living this lazy lifestyle. They will not obey what we have called, them to do in this epistle as we have made this correction, as we have given this exhortation. They still won't work hard. Then you need to do two things. Number one, you need to take note of them. Pay attention. Take note of what's going on. Number two, don't associate with them.

In other words, there's a withdrawal of fellowship. It doesn't mean that you kick them out of the church. It doesn't mean they're not saved. It means that the benefit of that fellowship is just gone. And as we talked about last week, a lot of times that happens pretty naturally, you know. A lot of times when that begins to take place, there's kind of a natural pulling away,

both of you and them, because you're seeing what's going on. But the idea behind it, we need to know this, there's a purpose behind the withdrawal of association. There's a purpose behind that lack of fellowship. And the purpose is that, notice what it says in verse 14, so that he would be put to shame. Why? Why do we want him to feel so? Well, I want him to feel bad. I think he's a pretty lazy guy. No, that's not the idea of the

shame that he wants us to feel. That's not the idea of the shame that he wants us to feel. That's not the idea of the shame that he wants us to feel. That's not the idea of the shame that he wants that person to feel. It's a shame that will lead to repentance. Because that's what we're always looking for in the lives of people, right? That's what we're always looking for in any aspect of

confronting sin in other people, is we are not looking to prove that they are wrong and we are right. We're not looking to put them to shame so that they will never want to be a part of our fellowship again. The shame is so that it will bring about repentance in the life of the believer. The idea being, man, I feel like I've lost everyone. Maybe it's me. Maybe I need to figure out what's

going on and see if there's something that needs corrected in my life. That's the idea behind it. Why do I think that? Because I want you to notice what it continues to say. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. I think this is one of the most important lessons that we've got to get back to learning in the church, is that when we see

someone that needs correction, when we see someone going a direction that their life should not be going or their theology should not be going, we should not be going. We should not be going. We should not regard them as an enemy. Because that's what we tend to do in the church. When we see someone living in sin and we begin to perhaps maybe go about the right thing, sometimes we do it

the wrong way, and now we have so shunned them that they feel like an enemy and they can never come back. Right? The goal is brotherhood. The goal is fellowship. The goal is bringing them back in. But in the church today, what we've done is we see someone walking in sin and we begin to treat them like they are the enemy. It's kind of like when someone walks in and they're like, oh, I'm

somebody leaves the church to go to another church. And it's almost like we treat them like a gang member that just left and went to another gang. And you're like, no, they just went to a different church. That's okay. I want you to go wherever. I mean, there's some churches that would be like, oh, that's a bad idea. But for the most part, I'm like, that's just another church. It's

okay. Like, I still love you. We're still friends. I have no issue with that. But sometimes we treat them as enemies. And especially when we see them walking in sin. And all of a sudden, now we're talking about them behind their back. We're gossiping about them. We're doing all these kinds of things. And listen, that's not what he tells us to do. He tells us to take note.

If need be, don't associate. But the purpose is repentance. And once we start to see that repentance, we go running at them with open arms and welcome them back. Because they are brothers in the faith. Because we are family. And as family, even though sometimes we have to deal with family and you still welcome back anybody. You still love on anybody who has a repentant heart. Listen,

not a perfect heart, but a repentant heart. Right? He says, take note of them. Disassociate if need be. But don't treat them as an enemy. Admonish them as a brother. Admonish him as a brother. In other words, speak to him as if he is someone that you love and want to see corrected. I had somebody come to me. Recently, it was right before Christmas. That's really not that recently. Not long ago. And they

said, someone, we see an issue in their life. Is it okay to tell them about it? Or do we just let it go and hope for the best? I said, well, if you see it and you feel like the Lord's put it on your heart, you probably need to address them. I said, well, how do you do it correctly? I said, it all has to do with the heart behind what you do. Because the heart behind what you should do is

always restoration. That's the point of correction. Correction is to bring restoration. So if I'm going to admonish you in something that you're doing wrong, I do it in such a way that I will draw you back in so that you will do what's right. In other words, if I come to you and I say, hey, I've seen this issue arise in your life. And I want you to understand this is what the Bible says about this issue. And

this is the damage I see from this issue. But let me help you walk through it. I want to be by your side as you walk through it. Because I want to help you. Because Jesus wants to see repentance in your life. That's how you go about it. That's how you admonish someone as a brother. Hey, I've noticed that I haven't seen you work in a really long time. And that you're tending to ask everybody else to help you with

things. And I understand what's going on. Let's see if we can walk you through how we don't do that anymore. Let's see if we can come alongside you and help you with that particular issue. And so that's what he says. Admonish him as a brother. Don't regard him as an enemy. And so he gives this exhortation about not growing weary and doing good. And then as Paul is so often doing, especially in this epistle, I think this is the

third or fourth time he does this. He almost just shoots up a little arrow prayer to the Lord in verse 16. He says,

This little prayer is kind of interesting. Because again, remember the situation that they're in. Persecution and affliction. And when you're in the midst of persecution and affliction, what don't you have a lot of in your life? You don't have a lot of peace in your life, right? It feels like there's actually a lot of turmoil and conflict. And so Paul kind of throws

up this little prayer for them. He starts off by saying, Now I love this because it indicates, that peace is who God is. The word Lord literally means he to whom it belongs, right? And so basically he's saying, the one to whom peace belongs. Because peace comes directly from God because he is the God of all peace. And I started thinking about this too. And I started thinking

about peace as it's used throughout scripture. First of all, that word peace really at its just base level just means tranquility, right? And I don't know about you, when I think about the word tranquility, I think about the word peace as it's used throughout scripture. I think of like, just a really gentle flowing stream that I'm standing next to with like, like on a perfect 78 degree day, gentle breeze blowing, right? Nothing like it's going to be

like this week. Nothing like the weather's going to be like. But it sure sounds good, doesn't it? That's what I think of when I think of tranquility. And that's who God is for us. He is, he is that for us. It takes me all the way back to Psalm 23. Remember in Psalm 23, it says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. What does he make me to do? He makes me to lie down beside still waters, right? Because I have

fed and green pastures. I think that's why I think of that thought of tranquility. So I started thinking about how peace is used in scripture. And from what I can tell, there's about three ways that the word peace is used in scripture, okay? Number one is that we see that we are able to have peace with God. We're able to have peace with God. The aspect of peace with God comes

from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because as sinners, before we come to know Jesus, we are at war with God. The reason why we're at war with God is because of sin in our life. That sin is an offense to God. He can't be in the presence of sin. He hates sin. And sin is not just part of who we are. It is who we are. We are covered in our sins. Therefore, we are at war with God.

Now, God set about to make peace with us. And how did he make peace with us? Well, we're told through the blood of his son. And so when Jesus came, he signed a peace treaty. And the peace treaty that he signed was signed in his blood as he stretched out his arms on the cross and he cried out, paid in full. He made this peace treaty with us. And when you and I come to God,

and we say, I want to accept the terms of peace, which are that you have paid for my sin. I just simply have to believe that you have done the work, and I have signed this peace treaty with you. Now I have peace with God. No longer am I at war with God because all of the things that caused me to be at war with God, all of that sin, it's all been dealt with at the cross. That's why, first of

all, he is the Lord of peace because he is the one who makes peace with the blood of his son. That's peace with God. The second thing that we see about peace in scripture is that we can experience the peace of God. We can experience the peace of God. Listen, you can have peace with God and still fail to experience the peace of God because the peace of God comes through resting in the truth, resting

in who I am in Christ, and resting in his sovereignty in my life. Too many of us fail to experience the peace of God for two reasons. One, because we still deal with the shame of our past sins. Two, we fail to rest in the sovereignty of who God is. And we think, oh no, how is this situation going to get taken care of? Probably the same sovereign God that knit together and

led the entire story of redemption for 4,000 years that required an immense amount of planning, and he got everything nailed down to the exact right time and the exact right place with the exact right Savior. Pretty sure that God can handle whatever situation you're dealing with. But we don't see it that way. We're like, no, I've got to figure it out. I've got to solve it.

No, no, you don't. You have to rest in a sovereign God. Well, how do you learn to rest and have the peace of God? I will give you one simple statement. You have to cast all of your anxieties upon him. We're told that throughout Scripture, different words, different phrases, but the general idea always is to cast your anxieties upon the Lord. And then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your

mind in Christ Jesus. That's the peace of God. Now, there's a third aspect of peace that we can have in Christ Jesus. The peace of God is the peace of God at the table. And that's the peace of God at the table. in our lives and that is peace with other people this is where things get hairy sometimes right I have peace with God because he dealt with my sin at the

cross I have the peace of God because I am resting in his forgiveness and his sovereignty in my life but I don't know about peace with other people because you don't know how much they've hurt me where does peace with others come from well it still comes from the Lord because it comes from restored relationships through the gospel you know why you hold other things against other people because you can't believe you're forgiven yourself because once you understand that you're forgiven yourself it's impossible to hold other people's sins against them Jesus told parable after parable about this exact thing that you cannot hold other people's sins against them while also realizing that you have been forgiven of incredible amounts of sin in your life

because you have to restore those relationships because that's what God wants you to do and that's what God wants you to do and that's what God continually calls us to do is to restore those relationships with other people by either forgiving them or accepting forgiveness from them through confessing of my own sins because sometimes I got to go to somebody and say you know what I done messed up hey Ron right I messed up on that one and I'm really sorry and accept the forgiveness that they're willing to give to you and you can have those restored relationships so you can have peace with others but it still comes through Jesus it still comes through his work in our lives so may the Lord of peace the one who gave you peace with God the one

who gives you the peace of God and the one who makes peace with each other now may the Lord of peace himself notice what he says grants you peace in every circumstance continually it is a continual process in your life he says may every circumstance that you're going through in your life be a continual granting of peace from God over and over again from God with your life by means This is the end of our sermon. god may he continually give you that tranquility in your life no matter what is happening in your life no matter what persecution you're facing no matter what affliction you're facing no matter how weary you feel and doing good may you experience the peace of god in every aspect of your life

continually why does he pray that for them because they are struggling to experience the peace of god continually in every aspect of their life so it's something you should pray for yourself it's something you should pray for the other people around you because the lord of all peace wants to give you his peace and how does he want to do it notice what his last prayer is the lord be with you all the lord be with you all that word with means in the midst of it's a great word right in the midst of it's fascinating i'm reading through exodus us right now with our Bible reading. And just this year, I've really taken note of all of the times where God said He would dwell in the midst of them or that He would meet with them. Because

as He's giving these instructions for the tabernacle, you are reminded that the entire reason why God gave them the tabernacle is because He wanted to dwell in the midst of them, that He wanted to be among them, because the Lord was with them. Well, that's even more true for us to an even greater degree, because if you remember in Matthew chapter 28, Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Well, how does He do that? Well, in John chapter 14, He said, hey, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm not going to leave you all by your

onesies, okay? I'm going to send the Holy Spirit who will dwell with you because He will dwell with you. And I'm going to send the Holy Spirit who will dwell with you because He will dwell with you because He will dwell with you because He will dwell with you. will be in you and the Holy Spirit dwells in you and so the Lord is with you continually you carry his presence with you with you everywhere you go and you can rest in that and that's where that peace comes from because you realize that I'm not facing this alone I'm not dealing with this alone because I always have the presence of God with me and that knowledge of that presence of God brings so much peace into your life right there's that great Kerry

Job song let us experience the glory of his presence and become aware of his presence I messed up the words but that's the general idea of the lyrics of the song because we need to continually be aware of God's presence in our lives because it brings about a great deal of peace in our lives because the Lord of peace wants to give you peace in every circumstance continually because he because he is with you always amen and then Paul closes out this letter notice what he says verse 17 I Paul write this greeting with my own hand and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter this is the way I write the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all it's almost universally accepted that

Paul dictated most of his letters now why did he dictate those letters well most people say it's because he had some sort of a vision problem that was maybe even the thorn in the flesh that he had it was just much easier for him to dictate those letters for somebody else to write it down and then him to put some sort of a marking on it so the people would know I think that that's probably a really good reason why I think part of it is that Paul didn't sit still very well I mean if you know anything about reading about him I don't think he's that still very well I always picture him kind of pacing around while he's dictating these letters and getting a little too excited and every now and then kind of sitting down and then jumping right back up.

I think it's because I'm a Nichols, and that's the way most of us communicate, and that's kind of the way that I picture it, but on a comedic side, I did think maybe it's because he had the worst handwriting known to man, because did you notice how he, I've never noticed this in any other letter where he says, this is my greeting, this is the way I write. I've never noticed that in any letter before, because I'm like, I can appreciate that, because if I were to sign a letter at the end, I would be like, this is how I write, and everyone's like, thank God, thank God he did not write that letter, right, because we would have screwed the entire thing up, all the theology would be totally screwed up, but he says,

this is how I write, and of course, he did that because anybody could have said anything, and in this particular letter, it was important that they knew it was from him, because a false letter is what prompted him to write this one. He said this. This is how I write, and they were like, oh, okay, well, that's why. Yeah, that's, no, that other guy wrote way too nice for that, and then he closes like he does all of his letters.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, because if you're going to deal with the persecutions and the afflictions of life, because if we are going to hold on until the second coming of Christ, because if we are to keep our heads about us when sometimes the craziest ideas about eschatology come about, and we don't want to follow every wind of doctrine that comes along, if we want to pray hard, if we want to work hard, if we want to not grow weary, then we need the grace of God at work in our lives, because the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, and it teaches us, and as the old hymn writer said, his grace has brought me safe thus far, and it's his grace that will lead me home. Amen?

Let's all stand, and if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come before you, and Lord, I thank you for what your word has to say. Lord, as always, I just thank you that it's a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths, and Father, I want to lift up everyone in here this morning, Lord, that just feels kind of weary in the work. Lord, they're lacking that peace of God. Maybe even they're lacking peace with God.

And Lord, I just want to pray that your Holy Spirit would be at work in their hearts. Father, I want to pray for those who are dealing with physical things that have just got them discouraged, and Lord, I just pray that you would bring peace to their lives. Father, I pray for those that are dealing with the fact that it's just hard. We've lost our excitement, and now it's just a commitment.

Lord, would you keep them close to you and help them not to be weary? And Lord, I lift up all of you. I lift up all those who just simply want to keep walking with you day by day, and Lord, would you bless us with your peace? Would you bless us with your strength? In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed. I may have said this one time before, but John Quincy Adams, you know, said, we do

our due diligence, and we leave the results to the Lord. Amen? Yeah. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Help us, Lord. Give us the strength to do due diligence and leave the results to you. You're in control. It's all in your timing.

You're working. We just have the privilege of being your instruments.

Lord Jesus, and just bless now. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord bless you. Have a great week.