1 Thessalonians 2:18

1 Thessalonians 2:18

I. There is a hinderer. Not only are there hindrances, there is a personal hinderer. He is not visible, he is not persuadable, he must be resisted.

II. This hinderer assails the most eminent workers in the Church. He assailed the Saviour Himself. In this case he hindered Paul. We are apt to think that the greatest men in the Church escape temptations which fall to the lot of others. The greater the man, the greater the temptation. (1) Our temptations show our unity as members of a common race. (2) Our temptations should awaken our sympathies as partakers of a common suffering.

III. The hinderer seeks to foil the aggressive intentions of the Christian. In being a hinderer the enemy has a decided advantage. (1) It is easy to hinder, that is, to do mischief, to suggest difficulties, to magnify obstacles, etc. (2) It is easier to hinder than to counteract.

Application: Satan comes to us sometimes through the medium of bad men; (2) sometimes through the gratification of apparently harmless wishes; (3) sometimes through friendly but incapable advisers men who are so far below our level as utterly to miscalculate and misunderstand us.

Parker, City Temple,vol. ii., p. 23.

References: 1 Thessalonians 2:18. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xi., No. 657; Ibid., Evening by Evening,p. 221; Parker, Hidden Springs,p. 203.