Protection From the Evil One

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 ESV

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”

If we are followers of Jesus Christ, and if we are spreading the truth of the gospel of Christ to the people living on this earth, even to those professing faith in Jesus Christ, and if we are following our Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will, and if we are walking in holiness and righteousness, but not necessarily in sinless perfection, the Evil One is going to be against us and he will be out to attack us in any which way he can.

But the Lord is our protector from the Evil One and from wicked and evil human beings. But that protection doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t be hated and persecuted and have all sorts of evil spoken against us. We will. Jesus said that we will. For not all people who profess faith in Jesus Christ have genuine walks of faith in our Lord. For there are many professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are still engaged in deliberate and habitual sin.

And so some or many of them are going to oppose us, and they may even do evil against us to try to hurt us or to try to stop us from sharing the gospel of Christ with the people. So, if God allows this, which he does, how does that protect us from evil? He protects us by giving us his strength and endurance and wisdom in these situations so that we don’t succumb to the evil, and so that we don’t let it take us out to where we then back down.

So, in your trials, let the Lord strengthen and help you. Let him teach you what you need to learn, and then grow in him, and persevere even in times of great difficulty or severe opposition. And keep on walking the walk and sharing Jesus and his gospel. And then forgive those who are treating you badly, and love them, and do good to them in return for the evil that they are doing against you, and in that way you overcome the Evil One.

Protection from the Evil One

Video Talk

October 9, 2022

https://youtu.be/lpMTFfgG43A