Why Did Paul Say Satan Hindered His Return to Thessalonica?

Okay, it's good to see everybody in again, and we always have to be so thankful for you folks that put forth an effort to come in and be a part of this. And after all, you'd be surprised how many people call and say that as they're clicking through the channels, it's you folks that they usually see, or the blackboard. I'm the last one that gets their attention. And of course, that's good, I appreciate that. But anyway, we're just always so thankful that you come in and be a part of all this. Now for you in television land, again, we always remember, we're just an informal Bible study, we're not associated with any group, we're totally independent, and that way I do not have to give an account to anybody but the Lord Himself about what I say, think and do. And we just appreciate so much your letters, your help. But as one individual said, cut the announcement short, because that 28 minutes goes so fast. All right, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, and we're going to drop down to verse 15. That's where we left off in our last program, and we're going to get as much out of this today as we possibly can. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 15, and I guess I should always remind folks that Paul is writing to a group of believers now with whom he had only spent somewhere between three and four weeks. He calls it three Sabbaths, which could be 21 days or on up to 26 or 27. But nevertheless, it was a very short period of time that Paul had with the Thessalonian believers, and always remembering too that they came out of abject paganism, with absolutely no knowledge of the Scriptures. I mean, he's not dealing here with Jews who had been steeped in the Old Testament. These are pagan Gentiles. And so always keep that in mind, how he must have by the power of the Holy Spirit unloaded so much on these people, and that they retained it. Because when we get to chapter 2, he's going to say, Now you know that I told you these things. Well, that was not a superfluous statement. He knew that these people understood all the basics. And so always keep that in mind. So now then, as we come out of the ending of our last program, we'll pick right up in verse 15, where he's speaking of the Jews there in verse 14, who had been opposing him, of course, every step of the way. And now he makes reference to the Jews as the ones who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us. In other words, we know that all the way up through Israel's history, that even though they were the covenant people, they were God's favored people, yet they were just as rebellious as any other race of people. I've always said, I think the reason for that is, that even though they had that exalted position among the nations, yet when it came down to the person, they had the same old Adam that we Gentiles have. And so what it really proves from Scripture then, that no matter who you are, Jew or Gentile, we're all sons of Adam, and have that rebellious sin nature. But here, of course, it's epitomized by the Jew, because Paul himself was one. And oh, let me just, for a minute, now if Monty was here, he'd say, here we go again. I start out, and before we even get through half a verse, I'm going to take you back. But come back a moment to Romans, a thought just comes to mind, so evidently I'm supposed to use it. And he speaks in Romans, in chapter 9, and I want you to always remember these things, that he never lost his love for his kinsmen, according to the flesh, the Jewish people. And so even when he makes statements like this in Thessalonians, that they were the ones who rejected and killed the Lord Jesus, they were the ones who opposed Him, it wasn't that he had any hatred for them, he had a deeper love for the Jew than any other human being could have had, short of the Lord Himself. In chapter 9 of Romans, starting in verse 1, look how the Apostle pours out his heart. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have a great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Now greater love than that a man couldn't have. There's only one other person in all of Scripture who made that same kind of statement concerning his own people, and who was it? Moses. Moses said if only God could spare Israel, he would ask that his own name would be blotted out from the Book of Life. But you see, Israel, and again I think it's because Satan knows that if he can destroy Israel, then he's got the battle won. And so consequently, remember too, that the Jewish people are under a constant satanic attack because of their position in the world. All right, back to 1 Thessalonians, I had to do that so that people don't say, Well, Paul hated the Jews. No, he did not. He had a love for the Jewish people like no one else. So back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. So he's making reference to his kinsmen, according to the flesh, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, which of course we know they did all the way up through the Old Testament. I've always used the little cliche, you know, they were typical. If you don't like the message, you kill the messenger. And so many times they didn't like the message of the prophets, and so they would. They would kill them. In fact, Jeremiah, at the time of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem, and they besieged the city. And where did the Babylonians find Jeremiah? Down in some deep, dank dungeon, because Israel didn't like Jeremiah's message. All right, now reading on. And they please not God, well of course not, and are contrary to all men. Verse 16, "...forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." Now, let's go back to the book of Acts, and we'll see that right from the onset, from the onset of Paul's ministry to the Gentiles, this is what he was against. Acts 13, and oh, I think honey, we can drop right down to verse 4. Acts chapter 13, and let's just drop into verse 4, so that you get the background of how Paul had constant opposition from the Jewish people. Acts chapter 13, dropping in at verse 4. Now you remember in the earlier verses of the chapter, they were commissioned from Antioch to go on their missionary journeys, but here in verse 4 we'll pick it up. So they being set forth by the Holy Spirit, departed unto Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, the city in Cyprus, they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews, and they had also John to their minister. Now here it comes, "...and when they had gone through the isle, that is of Cyprus, to the western end, the city of Paphos, which is still there, and when they had come to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the deputy, or the governor, of the country, Sergius Paulus, who was no doubt a Roman, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God." Here we have a Gentile now who is getting exercised by the Holy Spirit to hear the Word of God. Now look what happens in verse 8, "...but Elimas the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith." Now this is at the very onset of Paul's ministry to Gentiles, and it's just an indication of what he's going to experience from here until he's finally martyred. And so what happens? Then verse 9, "...Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, and he said, O fool of all subtlety, and of all mischief, thou child of the devil." Now remember he was a Jew, but he was a magician, he was a sorcerer, and he was drawing his magical arts from the satanic powers. And that's why Paul refers to him then as a child of the devil, "...thou enemy of all righteousness. Will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" And now here again is where Paul exercises some of his early apostolic powers, which later on of course he no longer makes reference to. But now he uses that power, and he says, "...behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be physically blind, not seeing the sun, but not for the rest of his days, but for a season." For a limited period of time. Now this of course is also prophecy, because it is telling us that this is a sample of the Jewish people all through the period of the Church Age, this 1900 and some years now, but their blindness is not permanent. Their spiritual blindness is going to end one day, and they are yet going to see the coming Christ in all of His glory. Their spiritual eyes will be opened, and as the Old Testament says, "...a nation shall be born in a day." But until then they are blinded, as again Paul says in Romans 11, that they are blinded to these things, and so consequently they are the chief opposition to the Gospel going out to the Gentile world. Now then if you will come back to I Thessalonians chapter 2, and moving on into verse 17. I Thessalonians 2, verse 17 Paul writes, "...we being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart." Now he's only been with them physically for three or four weeks, and now of course I think he's writing from down at Corinth in southern Greece, and he has such a heart for all these new believers. Whether it was back in Asia Minor, or whether it was Ephesus, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, it made no difference. Paul had such a love. Well Iris and I are beginning to get a little glimpse of that, that wherever we go. Now of course from this particular taping date, now I know these programs can go out at any time of the year, but as of today we were just down in Florida the week before last, and my goodness the fellowship that we enjoyed with those folks. It's just unbelievable. Well next week we're going out to Denver, and then on to Albuquerque, and it'll be the same way. Everywhere we go believers who have such a love, that we can understand how Paul felt for these folks that he had brought out of darkness, and into the light of his Gospel. So now that's what he's talking about. How that he was only able to stay there for just three or four weeks. Maybe we should also see why. Why did Paul move out of Thessalonica so quickly when he had such a response? Again come back to the Book of Acts, and let's see the account of Thessalonica would be here. It would be in chapter 17 I think it is, 16, 16 I'm sure. It better be or I'm in trouble. 17, Acts chapter 17 honey, and oh you can drop down to oh verse 5, verse 5, no we better look at verse 1, so that you're sure that we're talking on the right ground. Acts chapter 17, verse 1, and then we'll skip down to verse 5. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis, which was up there between Philippi and Thessalonica, and when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Now let's just drop down to verse 5. Acts chapter 17, verse 5, But the Jews who believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These who have turned the world upside down are come hither also. Making reference of course to what Paul had accomplished in his previous places. Then verse 7, For whom Jason hath received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. Boy now they're subtle aren't they? See the Romans probably would not have had much concern about this new sect of Christianity, but when the Romans got wind that it was proclaiming a coming king, and a kingdom, that got under their skin. And so consequently they just persecuted it unmercifully. And so that's what the Jews brought to their attention. See they're proclaiming another king, who would be in total opposition to the Caesars. So verse 8, For whom Jason hath received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying Boy now they're subtle aren't they? See the Romans probably would not have had much concern about this new sect of Christianity, And so consequently they just persecuted it unmercifully. And so they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things, and when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. Now then you come down to verse 10, So the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas by night to Berea, and then from whence he went on finally to Athens, and then on down to Corinth. But now drop down to verse 13, because it is all is what Paul is making reference to now in his letter to the Thessalonians. Verse 13 When the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came there also, and stirred up the people, and immediately the believers or the brethren had to send Paul away again. So this was constant in his ministry, that wherever he had some converts, and wherever he began a small little congregation of believers, the Jews would come in and either infiltrate them with false teaching, or just literally physically persecute them. And that on top of course, is what the Roman government themselves brought in. Now then if you'll come back to I Thessalonians chapter 2 again for a moment, and hopefully we can stay here now at least until the end of the half hour. Now verse 18 Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once again, O how he longed to go back, even after just a few weeks or months, and renew the love and the fellowship with these Thessalonian believers. And so he said, O how we would have come again unto you, even I Paul, once again, but Satan hinders. Now we always have to realize that the Satanic powers are in constant opposition, using whatever vehicles Satan can use. So here again we find the true culprit is the Satanic powers that hinder him. Verse 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? You know what Paul is making reference to? When the Lord comes and we trust we're getting closer and closer, and we have that great meeting in the air as the old quartet song that I remember quartet singing years ago. The first thing Paul recognizes is that he's going to see these believers that he had probably never again seen in the flesh, as soon as he comes into the presence of the Lord at His coming. Which is another scriptural truth that we're going to see and know our loved ones when we get to glory. Immediately we're going to be reunited before we even get back to glory itself. But as we are brought into that company at that meeting in the air, the presence of His coming, and then Paul says in verse 24, You are our glory and joy. Now remember in the original letter there was no chapter heading, so we can go right on into chapter 3, which would actually be the next paragraph of his letter. And what's the first word? Wherefore. See? Wherefore. Because of all this relationship that he had now built in those few days that he was with these Thessalonian believers, he said, Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and instead of taking the chances of going back into probably physical harm, he stayed in Athens, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you. Now you see, this is what new believers always need. So many times new believers may come in and have a profession of faith, and then no one sticks around to teach them. And what happens? Oh, they just fall away. Now if they were genuinely saved, I don't believe they're going to lose their salvation, but they lose their impact in their community unless they are stable in the Word. And that's where teaching comes in, and that's where I have faulted Christendom as a whole. That people are not taught the deep things of Scripture. They're just fed fluff. And Paul makes it so plain then, that Timothy would be sent back to these little congregations to establish them in the faith, to teach them these basic truths, and to comfort you concerning your faith. Faith is at the root of all of our Christian experience. But that faith has to be fed. In fact, I'm going to take you to an appropriate verse that even Peter wrote in his little epistle, a perfect parallel. First Peter, chapter 2, a verse that many of you know, but it's good to exercise your fingers and your pages and stay awake. I don't want anybody going to sleep when I teach, because if we can keep you busy enough, maybe you won't. First Peter, chapter 2, verse 2, and this just says a truckload. As newborn babes, and that's what all these believers in Paul's day were, they were just fresh out of paganism. Just as fresh to Christianity as a newborn babe that's just been born of its mother. As a newborn babe, desire the sincere milk of the Word. But are you supposed to stay on milk? No. Then he says in Hebrews that the problem was, too many believers never get off the baby bottle. They never get to the place where they can take in the meat and potatoes of Scripture. And hopefully that's what I try to do, is get people into the deeper things, and not be content with the milk. Back to I Thessalonians once again, chapter 3, and verse 3. I Thessalonians 3 No man should be moved by these afflictions, for ye yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. Now we in America know nothing of persecution. We may have some snide remarks, we may have a few people sort of stay aloof from us, but we don't have any real persecution. But that has not been the norm throughout Christianity. From day one, the moment you took a stand for Christ, you also invited persecution. And if you doubt me, you just look at some books like Fox's Martyrs, and others, how that millions upon millions of believers went through horrible torture, and never relinquished their faith. And so for these pagans, and this is what Iris and I have often talked about so often, isn't it amazing that these folks had just been won out of paganism with all of its application and appetites of the flesh, and with all of its pagan worship, and they came out of that to face persecution. And then to be able to be so strong that even in the face of death and torture and suffering, they never relinquished their faith. I wonder how many American believers could do that today, if all of a sudden we would be faced with torture, just because we're Christians. And so we have to realize that we have been so blessed for these last couple hundred years, because most of Christendom has had to suffer for their faith, and Paul makes it even plainer in Galatians chapter 4, that this is evident, that when you become a child of God, you become then the object of hate and persecution by the world around us. Back to the text in I Thessalonians once again, and verse 4. I Thessalonians 4 "...for verily, when we were with you, we told you..." See now he didn't promise them peace and prosperity, he didn't promise them wealth, he didn't promise them now if you'll just become a believer, everything will just go your way. No, quite the opposite, as soon as he brought them into a knowledge of salvation, he says "...we told you that we should suffer tribulation." The word tribulation is a meaning far beyond what we would just normally think of as problems and trouble. Tribulation was for those people, abject persecution, even to the losing of their life. So it came to pass, as you know, in other words whatever few months had transpired after he left Thessalonica until he writes this letter, they had evidently already come under intense persecution, because that's what he says, as you already know. Now then verse 5, "...for this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith." Can you imagine what was going through the apostle's mind as he's down there a couple hundred miles south of Thessalonica down in Corinth, and no communications in those days like we've got, and he would have to wait for maybe a letter or a messenger or something. And don't you know he was just commiserating in his mind with these people, knowing that they were under terrible persecution. Are they standing, or are they all slipping back into their old pagan ways? That's what's on his heart, and again those of us living today, we have no idea how it must have just burdened him. Are they holding fast? Oh, is some means that the tempter has tempted you, reading on in verse 5, and then how does he end this verse? "...and our labor be what? In vain." Don't you know it just plagued the apostle? Have we gone through all the whippings? Now you want to remember that just a few weeks before he got to Thessalonica, he had along with Barnabas been whipped unmercifully, thrown into the dungeon, and under normal circumstances probably would have lost their lives. But all this he had done for the sake of the Gospel, and for the sake of these Thessalonian believers. Now he says, did we go through all that suffering in vain? Or are you folks holding fast? Are you staying true to the faith that brought you out of that wicked background of paganism? And so this is what's on the apostle's heart as he writes, are you standing fast? Are you staying true to the faith that brought you out of that wicked background of paganism? Are you staying true to the faith that brought you out of that wicked background of paganism?