Well, let us turn again to God's Word. In this portion of Scripture we were reading 1st Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. And I'll read again the opening 5 verses here. The opening 5 verses in Chapter 1 of 1st Thessalonians.

Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

Last week we were considering words in the previous epistle back to the Colossians here in Colossians chapter 3 I were preached in the evening from those words in verse 14 Remember the passage that we have there in Colossians 3 from verse 12 through 13 and 14, as Paul addresses that church, he says, Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Above all these, put on charity or love, which is the bond of perfectness.

And that was the text really that I concentrated on, those words in verse 14. Above all those other graces, as he's mentioned in the previous verses, he says above all these things, put on charity or love, The translators have used that word, I would say, it's the word agape. There are at least three words in the Greek, of course, that could be rendered love. And this is the best of all those words. And the translators, in order to distinguish it from the other words, I've used the English word charity, which is rather confusing in some ways, but it is that word Agapa, the purest of all the loves.

Above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. I said in the course of preaching then that what Paul is doing here is addressing the church of course he's addressing those who are in the church at Colossae and he designates just who they are he describes them in the opening part of that twelfth verse they are the elect of God they're holy and they're beloved that's how he would describe those who are true Christians. They're God's elect, they're a holy people, they're a people who are loved, they're loved of the Lord God Himself.

And in the course of mentioning that designation, I made some appeal, you may recall, to what he says here in the opening chapter of this first epistle to the Thessalonians and that fourth verse knowing brethren beloved your election of gods and I got somewhat confused really because I was trying to make a point by referring to the alternative reading that we have in the margin. The actual verse as it stands in the text is, knowing brethren beloved, your election of God. And I was trying to connect the idea of God's elect having also the name of the beloved. And as I refer to that verse, I said that the better rendering really of the the syntax, the order of the words, is that that we have in the margin. As I say, the actual wording in the verse says brethren beloved, knowing brethren beloved, your election of God, whereas the margin says knowing brethren beloved of God, your election. So in the margin, beloved is that that is the reason why God has chosen them. Quite plain, that's the actual order as the words appear in the original. And it made me think that maybe it would be profitable to try to look more closely at this verse and to look at it certainly in its context. Hence, That's why I've turned your attention to it again this morning.

And so what I want us to do really is to consider the passage from verse 3 through verses 4 and 5. And of course the subject matter that he's really dealing with in these three verses is that of God's eternal election and God's effectual calling, these great doctrines. these great truths of the sovereign grace of God's election and calling.

And so, to center your attention for a while on these three verses from verse 3. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."

Now the doctrine that we're considering then is high doctrine, no disputing that. Eternal election, effectual calling, And I think, therefore, of the 17th article in the 39 articles of the Church of England at the Reformation. Of course, the Church of England no longer would have much regard for such articles of religion. There, article 17 deals with the great truth of God's predestination. And interestingly, in that 17th article, it acknowledges that that doctrine is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons. That's what the Reformed Church of England says of high doctrine. Predestination, God's eternal purpose. God's purpose in election. And the consequence of that is efficacious grace in calling sinners to himself. These are truths well worth considering. They're full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort through godly persons.

And one of those godly persons, of course, would have been a man like Augustus Toplady, who was a minister in the Church of England, and one who wrote really in defense of those articles. He wrote extensively a book called The Historic Proof of the Calvinism of the Church of England. He defends its position as a reformed and Protestant church. He believed those doctrines, and they were a comfort to him. And in his diary he writes of them as being not dry or mere speculative points, but that they were brought into practical and heartfelt experience in his soul. They were the joy and they were the support of his soul. That's how Toplady would write of these great doctrines.

Well, I want this morning to deal with some three points as we consider these verses. First of all, to say something with regards to the eternal election, and then secondly to say something with regards to the effectual calling, and then by way of application to come to the effects of these things.

First of all then, eternal election. That that I got into some confusion with when I was trying to make a point last Lord's Day Eve in verse 4 Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of gods, as we have it in the text, there are two things that we observe here. First of all, we must observe the love of God, and that's why I like what we have as an alternative order of words in the margin. knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election. The reason why they're elect is because beforehand they're beloved of God. The love of God has the priority. That was the point I was wanting to make last time. The love of God has the priority.

And surely we see that in what Paul goes on to say when he writes again to the Thessalonians. We have two epistles addressed to this church and I'm sure you've read them and they're such tender epistles. I think in these two epistles we really see the pastoral heart of Paul. how tender, how feeling he is as he addresses them and in the second epistle in chapter 2 and verse 13 and there in the middle of that verse he writes brethren beloved of the Lord God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation and you see the order there brethren beloved of the Lord the love of God as the priority. Why are they chosen to salvation? Because God has first loved them, just as we have it here with the marginal reading, knowing brethren, be loved of God, your election.

And I think I did remark on this last time, last week, we see it of course when we take up the way in which God deals with the children of Israel in the Old Testament. The church is there in the Old Testament, and of course, Israel, in a sense, is a type of the church. But not only that, there's a church in Israel. We know they're not all of Israel, but there's always a church there. Stephen, in his great defense in the Acts, speaks of the church in the wilderness. In the midst of the nation of Israel, there's that remnant. Except the Lord had left unto us a very small remnant, says Isaiah the prophet. There's always that very small remnant, the true spiritual people of God. They're in the Old Testament. And why are they the people of God? Because God had set his sovereign love upon them.

And we see that, don't we, in the language that we have in the 7th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and the words of verses 7 and 8 the Lord says Moses the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people for you were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers after the Lord brought you out with the mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt here is the reason it's the love of God, the love of God must always have that priority

It's true with individuals. It was true in the case of a prophet like Jeremiah. Why was Jeremiah raised up? Why was he a man who was chosen to be the servant of the Lord? Because the Lord loved him. He says himself there in Jeremiah 31.3, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. God's love for his servant was from everlasting before ever time began God himself is from everlasting to everlasting and of course we see it so strikingly in that golden chain of Romans chapter 8 concerning our God as a people from eternity to eternity Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. It finishes up with their glorification. Heaven itself. Where does it begin? He foreknows them. And that foreknowledge is more than an awareness of them. It's the intimacy of knowledge. He has set His love upon them, they are His own. And it's because He loves them that He's predestinated them. And because He has predestinated them, He will call them. And He'll justify them, and He'll sanctify them. He'll do all that is necessary. And ultimately, all will end with their glorification.

Oh, but the basis of all God's election is His love. He loves His people. And John tells us, doesn't he, there in 1 John 4, 19, we love Him. Why do we love Him? Because He first loved us. Oh, He would love us. Oh, Samuel Rutherford says that. Oh, He would love me. He was determined to love them. What a wonder it is when God sets His love upon the people and deals so graciously with that people.

Here then we see the love of God and that's why I read with the margin, knowing brethren, be loved of God, your election. brethren beloved but then also here besides the love of God we do see the love of the brethren there is the love of the brethren and that is really an evidence of a person's election where there is the love of the brethren

Who is Paul addressing here? He's addressing the brethren, knowing brethren. That's the name he gives them. We were speaking of those designations last time, that we have there in Colossians 3.12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, God's people, they're elect. They are a holy people, a sanctified people. They are a beloved people. And they are those who are also brethren.

And what does John say? How we can deduce that we are of the election of Christ God? Maybe sometimes we torment ourselves, we wonder. Am I really of the election of Christ? We have doubts and fears in that area. We wonder. What does John say? We know. We know that we have passed from death unto life. How do we know that we have passed from death unto life? Well, John says, because we love the brethren.

Do you love the brethren? Do we love the brethren? Do I love the brethren? It's not always easy to love the brethren. Maybe the brethren irritate us, annoy us, upset us. Or do we love the brethren? This is how we can deduce that we've got the grace of God in our souls, that we're those who are the saved of the Lord, that the Lord has loved us. because we can't help loving the brethren.

And it's not just, is it a matter of loving living brethren. We can sometimes feel a great affection to some of the brethren who have gone to glory if we read their writings, read their books, read their sermons sometimes. Now they minister to us and we feel We feel a real attachment to them. We feel that they seem to know us, that they read us when we read their books. What they're saying reads our soul and that causes us to love them and we long for that day when we'll meet with them in heaven.

Do we love the brethren? Not easy. Again, Remember what John says, that first epistle of John, he has so much to say about the love of the brethren. And there at the end of chapter 4 in 1 John. And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God, love his brother also.

And so you see, eternal election is really full of sweet, pleasant, unspeakable comfort to godly persons. Let us go on to look in the second place at what he says in verse 5 with regards to effectual calling. Effectual calling really is another proof of eternal election. As I said just now, love of the brethren is a proof. We know that we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren.

But look at what it says here in verse 5. We have election in verse 4, and then he says, for our gospel. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God for and the word as the strength of because, because our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance.

The way they received the gospel, the effect the gospel had upon them, is the proof. How does it come to them? How did it come to them? Well, we can notice a number of things. It comes with power, doesn't it? Our gospel came not unto you in word only. It comes with power. It's not easy to believe, is it? It's not easy to believe. We've said this before, I mean, I suppose today there is a great deal of easy believism. You just do the alpha course. And there's very little said there about sin. You just go through the course and you complete the course and you're a Christian. That's easy believism.

Or could I but believe, says dear John Newton, then all would easy be I would but can not Lord relieve my help must come from thee I would believe I can't believe that's what Newton's saying I want to believe how can I believe the gospel has to come with power because the sinner is dead dead in trespasses and sins but here you see Paul uses a very strong word It's the word Dunamis. Suppose we get the word dynamo from this word really. It came in power to these Thessalonians. It was a mighty word. He uses the same word when he writes to the Romans, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation. Not just any power, the power of God. unto salvation. And it's the promise that's given to the Lord Jesus in the Psalms, isn't it? That great 110th Psalm, a Messianic Psalm, speaking of Christ. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. It's the promise of God.

Or what do we read later in this first chapter? Verse 8, he says to them, from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, speaking of the different regions of Greece, but also in every place your faith to God will be spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and have ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. The Gospel had such an effect upon them. It came with such power to them. And it was evident, wherever they went, their reputation, something had happened to these people.

But it didn't just come with power. This is typical Pauline, he just, he says so much really. He just brings the words together. He says, in power and in the Holy Ghost. And in the Holy Ghost. What does that mean? Well, it speaks to us surely of the necessity of a spiritual birth. If one is dead in trespasses and sins, there's no spiritual life, there's no life without birth. The Lord Jesus in John 3 says to Nicodemus, you must be born again, born of the Holy Ghost. And that's a sovereign work of God. Remember what the Lord goes on to say, "...the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, and canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth." So is everyone that is born of the Spirit, or the mysterious windings of the wind spoken of in Ecclesiastes. The mysterious work of the Spirit, the sovereign work of the Spirit of God,

And how does the Spirit work? Well, the Lord tells us something of the workings of the Spirit, doesn't He? He brings life where there was previously nothing but death. But what happens when He brings life? Well, He comes with reproofs and with convictions.

When the Lord is speaking of the coming of the Spirit in those chapters in John's Gospel, do you remember how he speaks of the coming of the Comforter in chapters 14 and 15 and 16? When he is calm, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, says Christ. Of sin, because they believe not in them, on them. of righteousness because I go to the Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.

Or he convinces of sin, he convinces of the sin of unbelief. That's what the Spirit does. Or could I not believe? It's the Spirit's work, you see, to make us feel something of the impossibility of faith. Wanting to believe, unable to believe. not something we can just work up in our own soul it's not something that we just do with our heads real faith has that measure of trust in it it's a spirit work, he'll make us see we have to come to the end of ourselves as Moses says in Psalm 90 they turn us men to destruction and say us return you children of men we have to come to the end of self No salvation there. Only salvation in Christ. We have to trust in Him, in Him alone.

He convinces of sin, He convinces of righteousness. Oh, we have a righteousness in Christ. And that's what Banyan wanted, wasn't it? He was troubled in his soul, tormented in his soul. Did he really have a righteousness before God? And then he came to him so sweetly one day, he looked into the heavens and he realized where Christ was. Christ had risen, Christ had ascended. His righteousness was there in heaven before the very throne of God. And Satan is judged. He's a defeated foe. This is what the Spirit does. He reproves. He convinces of these things.

But not only that, he brings a blessed revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and those comforts of the Gospel. He will guide you into all truth, says Christ. For he shall not speak of himself, he shall glorify me. For he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. He shall testify of me, says the Lord Jesus Christ. all the consolations that He brings when He shows us the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the work of the Spirit.

Our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. And the Gospel also comes in much assurance, in much assurance. As you know, what manner of men we were among you for your sakes. It wasn't just the preaching of Paul and Silvanus in Timotheus. It was the way they were conducting themselves, you see. What a testimony these men themselves were bearing to these Thessalonians.

What does Paul say? He says, our gospel. Oh, it's our gospel. It's interesting because he goes on in chapter 2 and verses 8 and 9 to refer to it as the gospel of God. Twice he calls it the gospel of God. Verse 8 he says, So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God." It's God's gospel. But it's our gospel. What a wondrous thing. Paul could say that. Our gospel.

the good news of salvation and how it became Paul's gospel when he defends himself when he writes to the Galatians remember what he says there in Galatians the church bedeviled by Judaizers, legalists who wanted to bring these Christian believers under the law and Paul has to write strongly against the Judaizers and so he begins by speaking of the gospel and how it came to him and he says doesn't he there Galatians 1.11 I certify you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man For I never received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." It's my gospel. God gave it me. That's what Paul's saying.

He goes on, doesn't he, later? Verse 15, When he pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me it's that personal, it's the work of the Lord and it brings real assurance, it brings assurance into the soul of this man I hope Paul time and again will speak of this gospel, he does it he does it in the opening verses of his epistle to the Romans. It's the Gospel he's defining right at the beginning. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated onto the Gospel of God, which had promised to fall by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And then, what is the Gospel? concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, the Son of David, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.

He does it in 1 Corinthians 15. He speaks also of the way in which He preached his gospel. He reminds the Corinthians. He reminds the Corinthians of the manner, really, of his preaching. There in 1 Corinthians 2. I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, say Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. It had nothing to do with the scores of rhetoric and all that nonsense. in all weakness he would minister the word of God oh it came then with such assurance from the lips of this man effectual calling our gospel came not unto you in word only it came in power in the Holy Ghost in much assurance and what was the effect? what was the effect? what was the outcome of all of this? God's eternal election, the efficacious grace of God in the preaching of the gospel.

Well, he tells us, doesn't he, going back to verse 3? He gives thanks for these people. He makes mention of them in his prayers. Why? Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and in the sight of God. Observers would close three things really with regards to the effects. There was the work of faith. Faith is spoken of, isn't it? What does he say concerning their faith? Your work of faith. To the Galatians he speaks of faith which worketh by love to the Romans he speaks about the obedience of faith to the Ephesians by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship in Christ Jesus and what are we to do work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as he says to the Philippians.

One of the old Puritans says nothing is more industrious than saving faith. John Gill says that faith has a deal of work to do. It has its hands full. It is employed about many things. It's faith at work. And James shows us, doesn't he, time and again, that we're to show our faith by our works. There are those good works that follow faith. By their fruits ye shall know them.

And as there is the work of faith, so there is also the labour of love. Christ himself says in the Gospel, if you love me, keep my commandments. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have bestowed on the saints. God takes notice of these things, the work and labor of love. This commandment hath we from him that he who loveth God loveth his brother also.

And as there is the work of faith, the labor of love, so also there is the patience of hope. Or the word really has the idea of endurance, the endurance, the endurance of hope. He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. Perseverance.

in chapter 2 and verse 14 for ye brethren became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen even as they also as they have of the Jews there'll be opposition, there'll be persecution there must be endurance in and perseverance

Again in chapter 3, verse 3, No man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass. And as you know, such things cannot then be avoided. And Paul is continually speaking of these things he does so in the following second epistle there in verse 4 of chapter 1 so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience or endurance and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure or the patience of hope

And faith, of course, it's not just a working grace, it's also a fighting grace. You have to fight the good fight of faith, you have to lay hold of eternal life. And all these are evidences that we are those who are the election of grace, give diligence, says Peter, to make your calling and election sure.

If election is the secret purpose of God, and effectual calling is what God does in time when he calls the people to himself, and we're to give diligence to these things. How do we do so? Well, when we seek to discern something of these blessed effects, the work of faith, the labor of love, the patience of hope.

Oh, the Lord then be pleased to bless these truths to us, that we might find some true comforts, even in doctrines that are high doctrines, and many would therefore say, How difficult these doctrines are, they seem to cut us off. Not so, not so, says that 17th article of the Protestant and Reformed Church of England, but these truths, God's great purpose of predestination, full of sweet, pleasant and unspeakable comforts to godly persons. Almighty be so for us.

The Lord bless then this word to us. Amen. We're going to sing us our concluding praise, the hymn number 76 and the tune is Saxby 409.

There is a period known to God when all his sheep, redeemed by blood, shall leave the hateful ways of sin, turn to the fold and enter in.

Hymn number 76, tune 409.