Let us turn once more to God's
Word and I want this evening to direct your attention for
a while to words that we find in the opening part of the second
chapter in the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians.
The first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians chapter 2 and
reading verses 1 to 4 For yourselves, brethren, know
our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. But even
after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated,
as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak
unto you the gospel of God with much contention. For our exhortation
was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile, But as we were
allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak,
not as pleasing men, but gods which trieth our hearts." Paul is referring of course to
those things that we read as they were recorded there at the
beginning of Acts chapter 17. Paul's entrance, as it were.
Or more particularly, we might say, that the subject matter
that is dealt with in these verses is that of the entrance of the
gospel at Thessalonica. Because Paul was there as the
servant of Christ, as a true minister of the gospel of the
grace of God. And so, here he reminds us of
how he came amongst them, the entrance of the Gospel there
at Thessalonica, and how emphatic the opening words of the chapter
are for yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you. In fact, the personal pronoun
is really repeated there at the beginning of the verse. It says, for ye yourselves, no. Ye yourselves, no. Just as at
the end of the first chapter, verse 9, for they themselves. show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you. And now you turn to God from
idols to serve the living and true God. You see how there's
a certain emphasis with the pronoun there at the beginning of that
ninth verse. They themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you. And now He says to the Thessalonians,
ye yourselves brethren know our entrance in unto you. those in
Macedonia and Achaia, that country that we would now know as Greece,
had clearly heard of the faith of the Thessalonians, what had
been the result and the consequence of Paul and Silas coming amongst
them and preaching, as he says in verse 7 of chapter 1, so that
ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia,
for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in
Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to
God would 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 so forth. as the gospel had come, as there
had been, that faithful ministry exercised by these men, Paul
and Silas. So there were those amongst the
Thessalonians who had come to a true knowledge of the Lord
Jesus. There were those who now had
an experimental knowledge of the gospel. And this surely is
the vital things. Ye yourselves, brethren, know Or they knew how the Word had
come. It had not come in thine. It had not come amongst them
to no purpose at all. He goes on to say in verse 13,
For this cause also shall we thank God without ceasing, because
when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the
Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
How that Word came by the Spirit of God. Our Gospel came not unto
you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance, he says, in chapter 1 verse 5. There had been a mighty visitation
from on high. It wasn't just that Paul and
Silas had come amongst them, but God had come by His Spirit
in the Gospel. Well, I want, with the Lord's
help, to consider something of the content of what we have in
these opening four verses of this second chapter. First of
all, to say something with regards to Paul's entrance amongst us. And there was nothing, humanly
speaking, very grand or distinguishing about this man when he writes
to the The church at Corinth, that church that had been infiltrated
by false teachers, false apostles, that set themselves against the
faithful preaching of Paul. And remember how time and again
in the Corinthian epistles we find Paul having to defend himself
and the manner of his preaching and the authority of his apostleship.
But he has to acknowledge there in 2 Corinthians 10 and verse
10 that his bodily presence was indeed weak and his speech was
contemptible. That's his own language. He wasn't
one who came to project himself or his own ego. No, he feels
himself to have nothing very grand or distinguishing with
regards to his own person. Here he reminds them of the things
that had taken place previous to his coming amongst them. In
verse 2 he says, even after we had suffered before and were
shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi, And we read
something of the account of these things as it's recorded for us
in that historic chapter in the 16th of the Acts. Verse 22, and the multitudes
had risen up against them, that is against the apostles and the
magistrates, rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And
when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into
prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Who having
received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and
made their feet fast in the stocks. And there God had come and God
had delivered them in a quite miraculous fashion. And then The magistrates at the
end of that chapter send the sergeants. And Paul reminds them
of what they were guilty of. These men were Roman citizens
that they treated so shamefully. and he will not just have the
sergeants come and tell them, the magistrates themselves must
come and they came and we sought them and brought them out and
desired that they depart out of their city. And then when
we come into chapter 17 of course we see their journey through
Amphipolis and Apollonia and then coming to Thessalonica and
as his manner was, Paul goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and begins to reason with the Jews concerning Jesus of
Nazareth. This was the manner then of his
entrance. It was that that was in many
ways mean, we might say, about his own person. And yet His coming,
He says here, was not in vain. Our entrance in unto you, that
it was not in vain. The word literally means empty. He didn't come empty-handed.
Although he has nothing of himself, he comes in all the fullness
of the gospel of the grace of God. As he says there at the
end of verse 2, They were bold in our God to speak unto you
the gospel of God. Well, this is what he comes with.
This is the mark, time and again, of the ministry of the apostle. This is the only thing he was
concerned to convey to sinners. writing there in the opening
verses of 1 Corinthians 2, I brethren, he says, 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, save 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 the power. Oh, this was the great thing.
It was not Paul. He was but an earthen vessel. The glory was that that belonged
unto Christ and unto His Gospel as we have already mentioned
there in verse 5 of chapter 1. Our Gospel came not unto you,
that is unto you Thessalonians, 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. Paul tamed him. His entrance was such that he
comes not as one who wants to gain something or get something.
His great intention is only to give to them. Look at how he
speaks here at verse 8 in this second chapter, being affectionately
desirous of you. We were willing, he says, to
have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also
our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember,
brethren, our labour and travail, for labouring night and day,
because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached
unto you the gospel of God." There was no gain in this. He
was no hireling. He was truly the servant of Christ. was the Lord himself who says
it is more blessed to give than to receive. And now this was
exemplified in Paul's ministry and certainly in the manner in
which he conducted himself amongst the Thessalonians. We have also
of course the second letter to the Thessalonians. And there
in the last chapter He says at verse 7, Yourselves know how
ye ought to follow us, for we behave not ourselves disorderly
among you, neither did we eat any man's bread for naught, but
wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might
not be chargeable to any of you. He is not interested in himself,
he's not concerned for his own comforts. No, he comes with the
gospel of the grace of God. He has a full gospel to proclaim. He will make known all of the
riches of the Lord Jesus Christ and this to those who were poor
and needy sinners. Here is the manner then of his
entrance in his own person, nothing very striking nothing very grand
or distinguishing about this man, all but the message that
he is seeking to convey. For yourselves, brethren, know
our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. But even after that we had suffered
before and were shamefully entreated, as you know at Philippi, We were
bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much
contention." Well, having said something with regards to the
person of the Apostle, as it were, I want, in the second place,
to observe the manner of his preaching and to look at it negatively
and positively, because this is how Paul speaks of his ministry. We have three negatives here
in the third verse. He says, Our exhortation was
not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. Our exhortation,
that is, He's exhorting of them, He's preaching to them. these
three negatives. First of all, he says it was
not of deceit. Now what does he mean by using
such an expression? Well, the word deceit has the
basic meaning of wandering or going astray. Paul did not in
any way in his preaching seek to mislead them or to trick them. He spoke plainly to them. and
he spoke to them faithfully of sin and of salvation. That was the manner of his ministry.
He was desirous to be a true servant of God and so he must
tell the truth as it had been revealed to him. He was, of course,
a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was well-schooled in the Jewish
religion as well as in the traditions of the fathers. But he would
have had an understanding of the law of God. But now we have
come to understand the true spiritual significance of that law of God.
And as we read through his epistles, it is so apparent how this man
preached the law, and he preached the law for the conviction of
sin. He understood that it is by the
law that the knowledge of sin comes. The law he sees to be
that ministration of condemnation and death, that is the lawful
use of it. It doesn't show the way of salvation, but it reveals
to man, to woman, what their condition is before God, and
he was faithful. in the way in which he preached
this message amongst the Thessalonians. He spoke to them of sin, but
he also spoke to them of salvation. He says here in verse 4, we were
allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel. Even so we speak
not as pleasing men, but God's which trieth our hearts. He can
appeal to God as his witness with regards to this preaching. He was allowed, or the word has
the idea, of approved. He was approved of God. He'd been taught by God himself. He had been sent out by God himself. Remember how when he writes to
the Church of the Galatians, or the churches of the Galatians,
he reminds them quite carefully from whence he had received his
authority, from whom he had received the Gospel. There in Galatians
1.11 he says, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which
was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it
of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Oh, he was aware of some who
were deceivers. He has to expose false teachers
time and again in his epistles. at the end of the epistle to
the Romans. He makes mention of certain deceivers. There in that final chapter of
the epistle, in verse 17, he writes, Now I beseech you, brethren,
mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the
doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. for they that
are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and
by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple."
These are the false teachers. They go about deceiving. Or they
can speak fine words and fair speeches, and they steal the
hearts of the people. This was not the manner of Paul's
ministry. We see it also in the Old Testament
how Jeremiah is warned about the false prophets. God himself
says of those false teachers how they heal the hurt of the
daughter of his people slightly saying peace, peace when there
is no peace. This was not the way of Jeremiah
in the Old Testament. This was not the way of Paul
in the New Testament. and we see Jeremiah as one who
in some ways has a ministry that has a certain negative emphasis. As he is reminded at the beginning
there in Jeremiah 1.10 God says see I have this day sent thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull
down and to destroy, to throw down, to build up and to plant.
Oh there's much to be destroyed, much to be put to naught in this
ministry, the rooting out, the putting down, the destroying,
the throwing down. There's much false teaching.
How necessary it is to expose the false teachings. Four negatives
we have there in that 10th verse, and then just two positives,
Jeremiah is to build and to plant. But that is the mark of the faithful
servant of God in the Old Testament and as I said it was also true
with regards to the ministry of Paul here in the New Testament. He in no way would lead the people
astray. He would not mislead them. He
would not deceive them. He would tell them the truth
concerning themselves. This is why his ministry was
so offensive to men But not only does he say our exhortation was
not of deceit, he goes on and says, nor of uncleanness. Another
negative, nor of uncleanness. Again here, the word has the
idea of impurity. There was nothing impure about
his ministry. Again, he's not seeking anything
for himself. He can say to the Corinthians,
I seek not yours, but you. He's not engaging in this ministry
for the sake of filthy lucre. He's not out to make a profit.
He's no charlatan. Look at what he says when he
writes to Titus in that first chapter. of that particular pastoral
epistle. There in Titus chapter 1 verse 10 he says, There are many
unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision,
whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert all houses, teaching
things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. for filthy lucre's sake, for
profit, to feather their own nests. They want to make gain
of the people. This was never the case with
the Apostle. There was nothing unclean or
impure. His motivation was only the glory of God and the good
of souls. Our exhortation was not of deceit,
he says, nor of uncleanness, nor in Guile. He was guileless. Think of what
the Lord said concerning Nathanael, whom He said was an Israelite
indeed, in whom there was no guile. All God's children are
to be guileless. The word of course here has this
idea of craftiness, laying a bait, That wasn't Paul. No, he was
moved by the Spirit of God. He was a man then who was sincere
in exercising his ministry. Look at the language that we
find him using in the opening part of 2 Corinthians 4. Therefore,
he says, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we fain not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God
deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our
gospel be hid, it is said to them that are lost, in whom the
God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants, for
Jesus' sake." Oh, Paul was sincere in the way in which he conducted
himself, the manner of his ministry and his preaching as we've already
seen was plied not with enticing words and man's wisdom. So he
says there in 1 Corinthians 2.4 he didn't use the tricks of the
sophists and the schools of rhetoric that he would have been familiar
with. He didn't use any of that. He simply looked to the Lord,
he depended on the Lord to own him and to own his plain dealings
with the people. We have then these negatives,
what his ministry was not spoken of in verse 3, but then also
we do have the positive. We have it there in verse 2, as he speaks of His ministry,
as he comes immediately from Philippi, we were bold, he says.
We were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel with much
contention. There are two positives here.
First of all, there is this boldness. Here is a man who speaks, and
speaks with some conviction. a conviction that he is born
of his confidence in God and his confidence in that message
that he has received from God. It's interesting what he says
there at verse 5 in chapter 1 that the gospel had come, he says,
in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. What are
we to make by that, that much assurance. Well, the assurance
there has to do with the ministry of Paul. Paul was sure, he had
no doubt with regards to the veracity of the gospel that he
was preaching. He believed that that gospel
was the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed. He himself was favoured with
such a faith in the truth of the Word of God. And that was
evidently conveyed in the way in which he preached the Gospel. He didn't shilly-shally. He faithfully
declared that truth concerning the person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He asserted that Jesus of Nazareth
was indeed the promised Messiah and he faithfully sets before
us in his various epistles the truth concerning the person of
the Lord Jesus and he proclaims the great truth of the deity
of Christ that He is God. Remember how he writes to the
Philippians that great Christological passage that we find there in the second chapter of
the Philippian epistle he's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and
you know the passage who being in the form of God thought it
not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
Oh, he speaks of Christ in the form of God. Equality with God
was not something that he needed to grasp after. This was His,
He is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, He is God of
God. And yet He makes Himself of no
reputation. He takes upon Him the form of
a servant. He comes into this world as the
servant of the Father, that that He had undertaken in the Eternal
Covenant. These are the things that Paul
preached. He preached Christ in his person as God's manifest
in the flesh, that one who comes as the mediator of the new covenant,
who comes not to do his own will, but the will of the Father who
has sent him. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbles
himself and becomes obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. But he's not in vain. God also
have highly exalted him, he says, and given him a name which is
above every name." How Paul had been shown these things. John
knew these things. But John, of course, was one
of those who was a disciple of the Lord during the days of his
tabernacling here upon the earth, his presence amongst men. And
when John writes there in the opening part of his first general
epistle, we see how that John is well assured concerning Jesus
of Nazareth, that which was from the beginning, he says, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life.
for the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and
truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ And these things write we unto you, that your joy may
be full." How these apostles, you see, they speak with such
conviction. Now Paul was not one of those
who was the Lord's disciple during the days of his earthly ministry.
But he'd had such a revelation of the truth concerning Jesus
of Nazareth that he was as persuaded as ever John or Peter or any
of the apostles were. And so it was with boldness that
he preached this blessed message. We were bold in our God to speak
unto you the gospel of God, he says, with much contention. Here's the other positive, with
much contention. You know, the word that we have
here has the literal meaning of a contest or a struggle, a
contending, And this is what Paul had to do. There was a great
deal of opposition at Thessalonica. There were those Jews who were
unbelieving. Paul, as we read, followed his
normal pattern of ministry. Three Sabbath days he went into
the synagogue and reasoned with them, with the Jews and with
the proselytes out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ
must need to have suffered and risen again from the dead and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some of them believed, it
says. But then he goes on, but the
Jews which believe not Mood with envy took them certain lewd fellows
of the base assault. You see, what happens where there
is that preaching of the gospel, there is a struggle. There's a contention. There's
opposition from some. There's opposition, we might
say, from a great multitude. And yet, on the other hand, there
are those who embrace the truth, who believe the truth. Is this
ever the way with the Gospel? Doesn't the Gospel divide? The Lord Himself came to send
a sword, He says in the Gospel. Evil sets the father against
the son, and the mother against the daughter, and the mother-in-law
against her daughter. We read several times in John's
Gospel concerning the ministry of the Lord Jesus there was a
division. among the people because of Him, it says. Or on another
occasion it says there was a division because of these sayings. It's
what He says as well as who He is. His person, His work is an
offense unto me. This is the Gospel. It does make
a difference, it makes a division. It causes contention. And it's
the same apostle, of course, who writes there at the end of
the second chapter in that second epistle to the Corinthians. He says, We are unto God a sweet
saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death, to the other the saver of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many
which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Paul acknowledges, you see, that
the message that he preaches will be that that causes division,
to some the savour of life, to others the savour of death. Now
that God's eternal decree is worked out in the preaching of
the Gospel, there are vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
as well as vessels of honour prepared for glory. There is
the solemnity then of that double predestination worked out in
the preaching of the Gospel. And Paul acknowledges the same
with regards to his own ministry. We were bold in our God to speak
unto you the Gospel of God, he says, with much contention. the manner then of his ministry,
the manner of his preaching the gospel amongst them. There are those negatives and
then there are these two positives. And then finally this evening
to say something with regards to what it was that motivated
the man. Paul's motivation was altogether Godward. This was the great burden of
his ministry, the honour of God. the glory of God. In verse 4
he says, But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with
the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but gods
which trieth our hearts. Or today, as you're aware, I'm
sure there's a great deal of concern about the results of
the gospel. How do you judge a man's ministry? Well, what are the results? What is the fruit with regards
to conversions? There's much emphasis upon success,
but it appears that there's very little emphasis upon the purity
of the gospel. there's more concern about the
blessing of man than there is about the glory of God. And yet, in that great gospel
epistle, the epistle to the Romans, it's this apostle Paul who reminds
us at the end of chapter 11 concerning God that of him and through him
and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Great concern surely is
to be the glory of God, and if we seek the glory of God first
and foremost, then there will truly be that that is blessing
to the souls of men. To have that right emphasis were
to be concerned for the pure word of God. That's what we want
to see. It's not what men say is necessary
in the way of preaching in terms of persuasion and evangelistic
argument, you know the sort of jargon they choose with regards
to what proper preaching is. Our chief concern is to be God.
faithfulness to his word the promise is to the good and the
faithful servant of God the Lord Jesus there in Matthew 25 says
well done good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord for thou has been faithful in a few things it's faithfulness
faithfulness to God well these believers of Thessalonica could
bear their testimony to the manner of the ministry of the Apostle. For ye yourselves, brethren,
know our entrancing unto you, that it was not in vain, it was
not empty. Though he came in all the fullness
of the Gospel, but he came also in all the fullness of the blessed
Spirit of God. Again, when he writes to the
Corinthians, that church that was so gifted in so many ways,
so favoured of God, and yet, a church in which there were
great abuses, and wherein many false teachers had arisen. And when Paul writes to them,
he reminds them that the real test of the man or any man's
ministry is the power. The power that
comes by the Spirit of God. There in the end of that fourth
chapter in 1 Corinthians Paul says, I will come to you shortly
if the Lord will and will know not the speech of them which
are puffed up but the power for the kingdom of God is not in
words but in power or that we might know something then of
that power of God in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ even
that that was so demonstrated by Paul as he sought to exercise
his ministry he received that call to go over into Macedonia. He was faithful as the Lord called
him, as the Lord guided and directed him, and so he finds himself
eventually there at Thessalonica, and there he preaches the Gospel. After suffering so much at Philippi,
our exhortation, he says, was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness,
nor in guile, Oh, we were bold in our God to speak unto you
the gospel of God with much contention. Why, we were allowed of God to
be put in trust with the gospel. Even so, he says, we speak, not
as pleasing men, but God's, which trieth our hearts. The Lord be
pleased and to bless his word to us, for his name's sake.