Sit, Walk, Stand
- Details
- Sunday Morning Service
- Pastor James Richards
- Copalis Community Church
- 10 August 2025
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
And he had already given some information concerning the man of lawlessness who would come and bring tribulation on the Church and explained that many would fall away because of a strong delusion, they would be deceived. But in verse 13, and it's one that we should hold on to, it says, but I love that word. Yeah, things are bad, but. But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by spoken word or by our letter. Let's pray. Father, we thank youk for your word, God, that not only warns us the things we're going to face in this life, but God gives us assurance that yout're with us, that yout're working our lives, that we can be overcomers through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. I thank you for this passage and I just pray you'd open our hearts to be able to listen and to understand what you're saying here and to be encouragement to each one of us, especially as we go through trials and tribulations. And again, thank you, Father.
That is through the Word that we come to salvation and put our faith in Jesus Christ and we give you praise for that, Lord. We lift up the prayer request and we pray for this young man that's having the open heart surgeries and God just sustain him, protect him, pray that they'd be able to correct whatever damage there is in his heart and that he would have a normal life, that he would have energy to be able to do the things that he needs to do and that he'll give you the glory, Father. He'll realize that this is a gift from you, the gift of life that he can use for your sake and of course for Joni's daughters and others that need prayer. And so many of us have relatives, Father, that don't know Christ and God. Without Christ, there's no hope, just an expectation of hell in front of them.
And we just pray for their salvation. We pray for those facing sicknesses, Cheryl and Les and others, and oh God, that should be gracious to them, that you would bring healing, that you would restore them to health, that you would extend their life, that they'd be able to use their life to glorify you. And we ask that you would do that in Jesus name and pray in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated.
I heard there was a birthday today, so we better acknowledge that birthday. And I think it's Danielle. So let's sing Happy Birthday to Danielle. Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday, dear Danielle Happy birthday to you and Mini Worm, huh?
Hey.
The one and only.
All right. As I was studying for this passage, I came across a quote by Watchman Nee. If you don't know who Watchman Nee was, he was a famous Christian in the 1900s in China and had an amazing impact on the country of China. But when the Communists came in, he was arrested along with a lot of other Christians. Many were killed, some were arrested, and they gave him the opportunity to get out of prison.
You're an old man. You know we're going to let you go. And he said, no, my people are in this prison. I'm going to be in this prison. And he died in prison.
But I came across this quote, and I want to share it because I really believe that it kind of gives us a picture of the Christian life. So he said, no Christian can hope to enter the warfare of the ages. And we've been talking about that. The last days, the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness. No Christian can hope to enter the warfare of the ages without first learning to rest in Christ and what he has done, and then through the strength of the Holy Spirit, to follow him in a practical, holy life here on earth.
And so he said, it is with these two lessons well and truly learned, that he comes to appreciate the third principle of the Christian life now summed up in the word stand. And so, nice statement could be summed up like this. The Christian life consists of setting. You're all sitting this morning. That's good.
Walking and standing. Sit, walk, stand. I'll explain a little more what that means later in the message. But if we are going to be able to take our stand as Christians in this world, we're going to have to learn sit, walk and stand. And we'll look at that some more.
Well, we've been looking at the man of lawlessness. In Second Thessalonians, chapter two, Jesus called him the abomination that causes desolation. Daniel did, too. Jesus warned us, and because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold. The love of many will grow cold.
Jesus warns us, at the end of the age, many are going to be led astray. But he says, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. And so the real issue for the Christian, when they face trials, when they face tribulation, will they endure in the midst of that? At the end of the age, there are going to be many who consider themselves to be Christians. They'll be in our churches, they'll sing our songs, they'll repeat our creeds.
And yet when the Antichrist comes, they're going to fall away. And the Bible says that the great apostasy because they believed that they had a relationship with Jesus Christ, but it was not real. That's why Jesus tells us, see that no one leads you astray. That's the danger that we be led astray. Paul tells us, let no one deceive you in any way.
Now I know all of us here have been deceived at one time or another. Anybody hasn't been deceived. We just love deception, right? And usually we thought, not me, I won't get deceived. And someone came along and they did it.
And it's no fun. But we usually learn from that. I'm getting calls all the time on the phone and I'm learning to just. Thank you. No, thank you.
Once you get talking, boy, they have a way of sucking you in. Well, before we know how we can protect ourselves from deception, I want us to point out two things. We're going to look at how we can protect ourselves, but two things. First of all, who are Jesus and Paul warning about this deception? Who are they warning?
The church, you and I, believers. And we need to be able to recognize deception so we'll not fall about it. And second, in Matthew 24, Jesus warns his disciples, well, that includes you and I. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. Here in second Thessalonians, Paul's warning the church, that includes you and I.
And if we're going to be. I have to bring this up. If you hold to the pre Trib rapture, what is the purpose of these warnings? Why would he be warning us, the church, if we're not going to be here? So just be open that we may face this kind of tribulation.
An Antichrist, a man of lawlessness and. And we need to be able to identify him so that we do not follow him. Otherwise there would be no purpose in these warnings for the Church. It wouldn't make any sense. Second, if we're going to face the Antichrist or the man of lawlessness, and I believe the end time Church will, that may or may not be us and his deception which leads many astray, we need to pay careful attention to the warnings.
That Jesus has given us and Paul gives us in the Word. And that's how you recognize deception. You see the signs. Wait a second, this doesn't add up. Something is wrong here.
I need to be careful and remember deception, it's hard to see they have all day long to work this out and try to figure out how to deceive you. So with these two things in mind, let's see how we can become deception proofed, in other words, not fall into deception. So I'm going to read verse 13:15 again. But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this you were called through our gospel, so you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions or the teachings that you are taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. And so, first of all, I want you to notice that word but. But is a contrast word, isn't it? This is true. But that's true for me and to me.
It's one of the wonderful words in the Bible because it denotes a difference in people's lives. That may be true of you, but it's not true of me. We see a wonderful example of that over in Ephesians 2, if you want to turn over there, verse 1 to 7. And Paul is talking about what we were before Christ. He says, and you were dead.
And in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that now is at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Everyone born in this world was in that category, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But verse four says, but God. But God. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved.
And it's true. Yes, we were all sinners, destined for destruction, for hell. But if Christ is in your life, you can say, but God. That was true of me. But God.
Now this is true that I'm a child of the King. When my first wife got cancer, she got bad news after bad news after bad news. And it was like there was no good news. And that's hard to go through. But she kept saying, but God.
But God. So he lived 16 years. Pretty good. 16 years. God was at work in our life.
And in the same way, we constantly face insurmountable odds in our walk with Jesus Christ. But God. And as we look at what he's done in our life, we can give him the praise. But God is at work in my life. So why does Paul make this contrast?
Well, he tells us, but we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord. Think of that. If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you are beloved by the God of the universe. He loves you. He's working in your life.
I remember reading about a Bible seminary professor who was retiring after 40 years of teaching people to become pastors. And at his retirement ceremony, they said, pastor, Pastor, tell us what you've learned in these 40 years. And he's saying, jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so.
There's nothing greater that you can learn in this life if you're a Christian, that Jesus loves you. Despite your faults, your problems, your failures, all the things that go wrong. He loves you and is working in your life. Now, here's where most people would say, yeah, I know Jesus loves me. Jesus loves the world.
For God so loved the world he gave his son. But are you really his beloved? We see the word because here, beloved by the Lord. Because there's two reasons here that he loves us. First of all, it says, because God chose you as the first fruits or the beginning to be saved.
If you're a Christian, it's because God chose you. He wanted a relationship with you. He wanted you to spend eternity with him, to see his glory, to be with him forever. And the Bible tells us that he chose us before the beginning of the foundation of the world, before he created anything. And so when God created this universe, he had you and I in mind.
Isn't that amazing?
How much more love could a God who needed nothing and could do anything, how much more love could he show you and I? He chose you from the beginning to be saved. And again before the very creation of the world. How do you know if you've been chosen? Well, two reasons are here.
First of all, it says, through sanctification by the Spirit. Sanctification is that word, set apart. You're set apart for God. And if someone has been chosen by God, you will see the Holy Spirit working in your life, setting you apart for God. You'll be growing in Christ, you'll be loving the Lord more.
You'll be more and more available to do whatever God wants you to do. And what that means is he's changing you from glory to glory. If you're not changing as a Christian, then you need to stop and ask the question, what's going on here, Lord? Am I really yours? Am I not doing something right?
Help me to change. And so you and others should be seeing a difference in your life. If the Holy Spirit is working in you, if you've been chosen to be saved. I wish that we could just take time to put a screen up there about our life. And most of us know I don't want to do that, okay?
But to see the changes that God has made. I used to be angry, but now I'm filled with peace. I used to be sad, but I have joy. I used to just care about myself, but now I care about others. And we go on and on.
The changes that the Holy Spirit is making in our life, and that's evidence that God chose you, that he's working in your life by the Holy Spirit. The second thing, evidence, it says, through belief in the truth, if God is working in your life, your belief in God's Word should be growing. Your faith should be growing. You should love the this Word because it reveals who God is. It reveals what he's doing in your life, and it reveals what he wants you to do for Him.
And if you have no desire to learn and love God's Word, you should be concerned, because that's one of the works of the Holy Spirit, is to give you a desire to know God better. God's people should be people of the Word. I've often had people ask me when they're going to be moving somewhere else or going vacation, and how do I know if it's the right church to go to? And one of the very first things I say is, did people bring their Bibles? Are they people of the Word?
Otherwise, that guy up there, that girl now, could be saying almost anything. And how you know if it's true or not if you don't build, if you can't compare it with what the Scriptures say, God's people are people of the Word, and so we have been chosen by God. Second, it says through belief in the truth. No, the second reason we know that we're beloved by the Lord is because we are living for his glory. In verse 14 to this, he calls you through our gospel so that you may attain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ or live for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There should be some desire in you, if you know the Almighty God and how great and glorious he is, that God I want to glorify you, not myself. Only you are worthy of that glory. And there should be a hunger and a desire for Jesus to show his glory. And the more we mature in Christ, I think the more our lives will reflect the glory of God. And people should see that.
If we're living for the glory of God, I believe we'll recognize that most are not. Most everyone in this world is living for their own glory. What's in it for me? How can I get what I want, what I need? All on and on and on, not thinking about the glory of Jesus Christ.
They may think they're glorifying God, but usually they're not. We see the goal of being chosen and called in verse 15. And he says there, so then, as a result of the fact that God chose you, that he called you. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions or the teachings that you were taught by us, either by spoken word or by our letter. And that goes back to what he's been saying about this man of lawlessness.
He's going to come in and try to change everything. And we need to understand the truth. And wait a second, that doesn't match up with the word of God. You can't be from God, and I'm not going to follow you. And so that's the goal.
Follow Jesus, be changed by the Spirit. And then it says, we will be able to stand against the powers, the authorities of this dark world because we know the truth. And that'll be God working in us, giving us wisdom and strength that we all need to be able to live for Jesus Christ in these last days. And I think the beauty of that is the devil will not be able to deceive you, no matter how many miracles, how many false signs, how persuasive he is in trying to explain things in the scripture that are not what God said. He will not be able to dissuade you because we'll know who the real Christ is and we won't fall for a phony.
Before I close, I want to go back to Watchman Nee's statement about sit, walk, stand and sit means that you have to sit at the feet of Jesus.
You have to take the time to listen to him. You have to learn his ways. None of us came into this Christian life mature. We came in as babies, and we have to learn how to walk with Jesus Christ and It means we sit at his feet when we walk. That means we live it out.
I'm taking the things that I've learned from Jesus and now I'm applying them to my life. And we don't learn just to learn. We learn to apply it to our life. And that's what we call wisdom. Then and only then, we'll be able to stand, no matter what the enemy throws at us.
I think one of the reasons that so many Christians are not able to stand in the day of battle is because they did not sit at the feet of Jesus and really learn who he is and what he's done for us and what he's calling us to do. They think they're ready. I'm a Christian, I'm filled with the spirit. Let's go get my sword out. Let's attack the enemy.
And they come back bloody and bruised because they really have not learned Christ's ways. Jesus illustrated this truth back in Luke chapter. I got. I forgot to put the chapter down. So I'm just going to tell the story.
Remember Martha and Mary and Jesus had come to their house for dinner and Martha was in the kitchen getting everything ready, preparing everything, and frazzled, tired, frustrated and angry at her sister because her sister Mary was out in the living room sitting at Jesus feet, listening to what Jesus had to say. And she accused Jesus, don't you care that I'm working my tail off in there, in the kitchen? And of course, Jesus said, mary has chosen the better thing. Doesn't mean there won't be work. There will be work.
Somebody has to do the work. But let's make sure we've set at the feet of Jesus first and that he'll be working in our lives. I don't know about you, but when you meet people who have learned to sit, walk and stand with Jesus, it is a wonderful thing. A wonderful thing. We had the opportunity to visit Les Smith this last Friday in the hospital up in Olympia, and she has declined to take any more treatment.
So she is essentially waiting around to die death sentence and a nice visit with her. We prayed for her and I shouldn't be surprised, but to our surprise, she prayed. A weak voice. He wasn't very strong. And in her prayer she said, first of all, Jesus, I'm not afraid.
I'm not afraid. I can't tell you how many people I've sat with over the years who had walked with Jesus. And I'm Starting to think 45 years, there's been a lot of people that have died, you know, that were in a church that I was pastoring, that I had an opportunity to minister to and to those that really knew their God. I can almost say without hesitation, they all felt that way. Ann Berger Ring said, I'm not afraid.
Vivian Ward said, I'm not afraid because they know their God. They know what he's prepared for them. But then she continued her prayer and we were struggling to listen and. And she said, jesus, I'm so thankful that you chose me to be your daughter.
What an amazing thing to say at the end of life. Not fearful, looking ahead to spending eternity with their Savior, seeing him face to face. And I share that because that should be the experience of everyone who has an intimate relationship with God, who has learned to sit at his feet and hear his word. And I praise God you're here this morning. It's sunny out there.
We could be doing a lot of things. And yet you've chosen to sit and to listen to the word of God. I praise God for those who get up 15 minutes early in the morning on the way to work and take some time to read a chapter or two in their Bible, to hear from God, to sit at his feet and then after hearing that word, to ask God to help them to walk it out, help me to be more like Christ. Make the changes that you need to make for your own glory. And then to see them able to stand against the enemy and be victorious.
It's a great thing. And all because of. But. But God.
But Jesus, what he's done for you. And I close with Paul's prayer at the end of chapter two. He says, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father. And we see them equated here. Jesus is God, just like God the Father is, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace.
Comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. And that's our prayer. Let's pray.
Father, we're aware of what we were like before Christ. And we might have been nice people and trying hard, but we didn't live for Christ. We live for ourselves. And there was no hope. We thank you through Christ that we have hope that lasts beyond this world.
We have hope that's powerful in this world and that we can trust you. Whatever we're going through. We pray that you would increase our faith. We pray that you would increase our knowledge of our Savior and that we trust him completely. And then, Lord, when the day of evil comes, that you would help us to stand.
And having done all, to stand in Jesus name. Amen.