Why You Need God’s Protection in a World Gone Nuts 2 Thessalonians 3:1–3
God’s protection is not a vague hope—it’s a solid, covenant promise rooted in His unwavering faithfulness. In this week’s Light on Life podcast, we explore Paul’s declaration that the Lord will “establish you and guard you against the evil one,” and what that means in a world that feels increasingly chaotic. Whether facing spiritual pressure, relational challenges, or cultural instability, God’s guarding hand remains steady and true. Today, you’ll discover why your trust belongs in the Mighty One—not in human strength, self-reliance, or false security—and how to walk confidently under His protective care. Why You Need God’s Protection in a World Gone Nuts, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.
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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.
Accept the Challenge
Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.This week’s call is:
You can experience His faithfulness. But, it all starts with the Word. Accept His Word and you will experience His manner and ways.
Join the Conversation
Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.This week’s question is:
Question: Share a testimony about how the Lord God protected you from the plans of the enemy. Share your story in the comments section below.
About Emery
Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 47 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 42 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.
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Podcast Notes:
Prayer
Let’s pray.
Father God, thank you for your Word and your protective hand. It’s so good to know that the Name of the Lord is a strong tower that we can run to and be safe. Thank you for your faithfulness in keeping us and guarding us against the evil one, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
God’s Protection: Review
2 Thessalonians 3:1–3 (ESV) — 1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
In a previous podcast, we looked at the subject of growing in faith.
We introduced a concept that’s clearly evident in the Word of God, levels of faith.
In certain cases, there are adjectives in the Bible in front of the word faith.
You know an adjective describes the noun.
Jesus pointed out on several occasions to his disciples that they were operating with ‘little’ faith.
‘Little’ is an adjective that modify’s the noun letting us know that levels of faith exist.
On the other end of the spectrum, there were individuals like the woman with the issue of blood, and the Centurion who came to Jesus because his servant was sick unto death who were described as having “great’ faith.
‘Great’ is an adjective that modify’s the noun letting us know that levels of faith exist.
There are other such cases of adjectives in connection with the word faith.
Paul commended the Thessalonians in his first letter to them because they had ‘exceedingly growing’ faith.
Again, you get the idea, ‘exceedingly growing’ is adjective describing a level of faith.
In most of the afore mentioned podcast, we spent time focusing on what having ‘little faith’ looks like.
That specific podcast, Season 10 Episode 52, aimed to help us identify what elements characterized ‘little’ faith.
We went in that direction so that Jesus followers can home in on the traits that make faith small and eliminate them.
The Lord desires that you get untracked.
That you grow in God, getting closer to Jesus, and know Him better.
Getting untracked means greater levels of answered prayer.
Mark 11:24 (ESV) — 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Believe that you receive it — that’s faith and without faith, it’s impossible to please God.
That’s a cinch.
We know that from Hebrew 11:6.
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) — 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Pleasing God is everything your heart desires.
Now unfortunately, there are those on Planet Earth who have a negative adjective in front of the word faith that describes them — ‘zero’ faith.
The scripture puts it as ‘no faith.’
This total absence of faith, according to the Bible, dwells in wicked, evil people.
So, you want to be on a postive faith growth track.
You want to be working to believe God more and more.
Now, I know this ’no faith’ descriptor is difficult for some people to hear.
But if you do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord, this adjective describes you.
You may say, “But, I’m a good person. I try to do right and treat people kindly.’
A good person, by definition, is someone who has trusted God for salvation via His Son Jesus Christ.
John 8:44 (ESV) 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Jesus told these religious leaders, who thought that they were ‘good people’, that they were full the devil.
There’s more to making heaven than right conduct.
If we could get to heaven on our supposed goodness, God would not have had to send Jesus to die for us.
No, the absence of faith in the salvation God supplies is the separator between a good person and an evil one. — Between a person going up to heaven and person going down to hell.
Good people trust God, period.
They know that of themselves they can do nothing.
Evil people don’t look God’s way.
They are full of themselves and believe they are wiser for it.
If you desire to make heaven though, Jesus told us how.
You must be born again.
John 3:5–7 (ESV) — 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
Sinply put, no one can do enough good to earn their way into heaven.
It is impossible to do.
The reason its impossible is that a persons goodness is not the issue.
The sin nature is the issue.
That sin nature was transferred to you from your parents when you were born.
Psalm 51:5 (ESV) — 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
The Hebrew word ‘brought forth’ means to be created.
All men were created in iniquity not righteousness.
That’s why your being born needs a do over.
With all that being said, ‘evil men do not have faith’ and Paul in verse three of chapter three in Thessalonians tells us that God has a part in protecting you from these kinds of people.
Here’s the statement.
God’s Protection: Definitions
3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
Now, there are three words that we want to define in the original language in verse three.
And, with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
I guess we could say Definition(s) of the Day.
The three words are ‘faithful, establish, and, guard,’
Faithful
The word ‘faithful’ pertains to being worthy of belief or trust.[2. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 820.]
It describes a state of being someone in whom complete confidence can be placed.[3. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 376.]
Establish
The Greek word ‘establish’ means to cause to be inwardly firm or committed, confirm, or strengthen.[6. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 945.
The word means to cause someone to become stronger in the sense of more firm and unchanging in attitude or belief.
Guard
The Greek word ‘guard’ means to protect by taking careful measures.[7. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1068.]
It means to hold someone in close custody—‘to guard closely.’[ 8. Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 486.] Let’s
Let’s take these words up in order and then at the end combine the thoughts that these words yield to see what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate to us.
God’s Protection: God Is Faithful
The Greek word ‘faithful’ as we said pertains to being worthy of belief or trust.
Firm, devoted, and unchanging attachment to a person, cause, or idea; long and undeviating loyalty worthy of another’s confidence. The Bible teaches that faithfulness is the outworking of faith in God; it is an action that goes hand in hand with belief.[9. Discipleship Journal, Issue 116 (March/April 2000) (NavPress, 2000).]
What this word communicates to us about God is that He is trustworthy, dependable and/or reliable.
When you think about the Lord, is this your perception of Him?
If it isn’t, then this is an area you should study in the Bible.
Find verses that speak of God’s faithfulness and meditate on them until they become real to you.
You can experience His faithfulness.
It’s real, and available.
But, it all starts with the Word.
Accept His Word and you will experience His manner and ways.
Once you do, it will inspire you to faith and confidence.
2 Timothy 2:11–13 (ESV) — 11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
God is faithful no matter where you are in your walk.
Struggling to turn certain parts of your life over to the Lord? — He remains faithful.
Wrestling with the manifestation of a certain Bible promises? — He remains reliable.
Grappling with casting your care on the Lord? —He remains trustworthy.
Not believing in His faithfulness doesn’t change anything nor does it alter who He is.
If you are faithless, He remains who He is — faithful.
Romans 3:3–4 (ESV) — 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”
Deep down, you want to trust Him.
The thought of that plays well in your heart.
You know how He is and you know who He is.
God’s Protection: A Strong Comparison
Listen to these words a second time.
that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful.
Look at the word faith and the word faithful.
They’re four words in between those two words
That’s how the English reads but the Greek text doesn’t read that way.
If you look at it, it’s startling.
In the Greek text, the word faith and the word faithful sit right next to each other.[4. Gordon Fee, NICNT]
for not all faith faithful but is the Lord [is how the text flows]
Gordon Fee, a Pentecostal New Testament scholar, is the one to credit for sharing this wonderful piece in his commentary.
Now when I read that this was the case, I grabbed a Greek New Testament and proved it out.
I like to do that — I do not just take someone’s word for it.
And wouldn’t you know it — pistis [faith as a noun] is indeed right next to pistos [faithful or faith as an adjective].
The two words sit side by side — no break and no punctuation[5. ibid]
So, what you have here is a striking comparison.
You have a literal word picture of evil men without faith sitting right next to a faithful God.
What a great gulf exists in reality between these two!
One is totally faithless — the other is faithful right to the end.
One has no faith, — the other full of faith.
Why would one lean left and trust evil people, when you can lean right and trust a faithful God.
Psalm 55:22 (ESV) — 22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you…
The psalmist declares that He will never permit the righteous to be moved.
You can’t cast your burden on an evil man and be sustained — the whole thing will collapse.
Choas and confusion follow evil men.
No, a person who has no faith and a God who is faithful are light years apart.
That great gulf is what you should see by knowing that these two words are besides each other in the Greek text.
I mean those words should leap off the page and just slap you silly — if you understand expression.
All men do not have faith — faithful is the Lord.
Is that amazing?
Now let’s look at the second of the three words we want to define, the word establish.
God’s Protection: He Will Establish You
The Greek word ‘establish,’ as we said, means to cause to be inwardly firm or committed, confirm, or strengthen.[6. William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 945.
The word means to cause someone to become stronger in the sense of more firm and unchanging in attitude or belief.
This is something that the Lord will do.
When evil men come against you because of the gospel, they may think they’re tearing you down, but God in fact is building you up and causing you to be inwardly firm and strengthened.
Acts 14:21–22 (ESV) — When they had preached the gospel to that city [Derbe, an ancient city located in the south-central region of modern Turkey.] and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Now, put this verse together with the following one.
Mark 16:20 (ESV) — 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.
So, the Lord is working with the preaching of the gospel to the city of Derby the result of which is people being strengthened and, becoming inwardly firm.
I don’t know about you but that’s exciting!
My heart is just doing flips!
As a child of God you win when people are for you and all is well and also when people are against you.
The marvelous thing that God is going to do His part; you can bet on that!
Now, get your shouting clothes out of the closet and put them on.
Look at the following verses with me.
It will give you a more pronounced taste of what this word ’establish’ means.
We are going to look at some of the verses where translators used synonyms for this word ‘establish’.
Luke 9:51 (ESV) — 51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
Jesus set his face — this is the same word established to make strong, to be inwardly firm.
When you read this passage the sense that you get from it is that Jesus was absolutely determined to go to Jerusalem but what you need to know is that resolve came from inside His spirit.
Now, look in Romans.
Romans 16:25 (ESV) — 25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages
The word strengthen’ is the same Greek word ‘establish.’
What is this verse saying to us?
It shows us that the source of the strength we operate in comes from the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.
So, when opposition arises, we know what to do — get into the Word!! — Get into the gospel — listen to the preaching of Jesus.
There our 14 versus altogether in the New Testament that had this word ‘establish’ is found in.
We do not have time to look at all of them.
Here’s the last one that we will look at.
Revelation 3:1–2 (ESV) — 1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Here we have the church of Sardis who is not operating in the inward strength of God.
They are asleep and they are weak.
Jesus speaking to this church warns them in love to wake up and strengthen what remains.
The value of this establishing of inward strength and conviction cannot be overstated.
It’s must for your life.
We must flow in this area — it should be the source of all that we are and do.
Inward strength — when evil men come against you and try to tear you down, know that the Holy Spirit of God will establish you strengthen you inwardly make you firm and strong as you navigate God’s Word.
Let’s go to the last word, guard.
God’s Protection: He Will Guard You
We’ve already said that the Greek word ‘guard’ means to protect by taking careful measures.
God watches over you to protect you and he does so with careful measures.
Isn’t that comforting?
Now, this word ‘guard’ is in the New Testament 31 times.
Luke 11:28 (ESV) — 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”
The words ‘keep it’ is one word in the Greek.
Hear what Jesus it’s saying today.
You will receive a blessing in your life if you take careful measures to protect the Word in your heart.
Now, that’s nothing but the Parable of the Sower in a concise sentence.
We did several podcasts, on the parable of the Sower.
I think we did eight of them.
The links will be in the show notes for you if you choose to encourage and build yourself up with these.
The Parable of the Sower is the Big Daddy of all the Parables.
Guard with careful measure the Word.
Here is Jesus in protect mode.
John 17:12 (ESV) — 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Jesus protected the 12 disciples during His earthly mission.
He is protecting all his disciples during his Heavenly mission.
Hebrews 7:25 (ESV) — 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
The Lord is on guard duty where your life is concerned.
He is taking careful measures to see that you are protected.
His will is that not one person that the Father has given him be lost.
You are in that number.
So, rejoice and be glad.
God’s Protection: Conclusion
So, we have taken a look at the idea of needing God’s protection against evil men who have no faith.
We now know that God is a faithful God — that He is firmly committed to you.
And, because of that, He is worthy of belief and trust — your belief, your trust.
The Word, by the Holy Spirit, has educated us today that we don’t need to worry, God will establish us inwardly with a firm, ‘set your face’ conviction.
He will protect and guard with careful, diligent, measures all that the Father has given to Him.
That’s you in the nutshell.
Did get anything out of this podcast today?
Now, Father God in heaven, holy is your Name. Your Kingdom, come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We give you the praise for helping us to stand. We give you the glory for the inward conviction that we have and that we will aspire to. You’re so wonderful to us. Thank you for all you have done and are yet doing in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Why You Need God’s Protection in a World Gone Nuts.
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.
🎧 Suggested Episode
If you found this teaching on spiritual warfare and kingdom authority helpful, check out “How to Put On and Step Out With the Whole Armor of God” — it builds on today’s lesson.
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