Good evening everyone. Tonight's
message is called A Good Report. Tonight we'll continue our study
in the book of 1 Thessalonians. We'll be in chapter 3 again tonight.
We'll look at Timothy's encouraging report to Paul of the state of
the Thessalonian believers. Let's read the whole chapter.
Chapter 3 of 1 Thessalonians verses 1 to 13. And we'll read
this to get the context of the verses which we will look at
tonight. Wherefore, when we could no longer
forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and
sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow
labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort
you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these
afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer
tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. For this
cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your
faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and
our labor be in vain." Now verses 6 to 10, which we're continuing
here, in which our text will be, we'll see Timothy's encouraging
report to Paul about the faith and love of the brethren at Thessalonica.
1 Thessalonians 3 verse 6 But now, when Timothy came from you
unto us, and bought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and
that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly
to see us, as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we
were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by
your faith. For now we live, if ye stand
fast in the Lord. For what Thanks can we render
to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for
your sakes before our God, night and day, praying exceedingly
that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking
in your faith. Now we see Paul praying for the
Thessalonian believers in the next three verses, in verses
11 to 13. Now we're gonna look at those
verses next week, but we'll read them here to get the context
again of our text. Now God Himself, and our Father,
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And O Lord,
make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and
toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end He may
establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness, before God, even
our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all
His saints. Now last week we looked at verses
4 and 5, and we saw that Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica
because he could no longer bear not knowing how the Thessalonian
believers were faring. He wanted to hear how his dear
brethren were doing in Thessalonica. Let's read verses four and five
again of 1 Thessalonians 3. For verily, when we were with
you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation,
even as it came to pass. And you know, For this cause,
when I could no longer forbear, that in the Greek is he couldn't
stand it any longer. He had to know how they were
doing, how they were faring. When I could no longer forbear,
I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have
tempted you and our labor be in vain. Now Paul's concern for
the brethren was not born of fear, but the knowledge of the
power and influence of the tempter, Satan, the accuser of the brethren.
All the tempter has to do to set us reeling is to whisper
in our minds, you are not what you say you are. He knows how
we tick. He studied mankind for 6,000
years. He knows how we tick. He knows
more about us than we know about ourselves. So the Lord Jesus
Christ sends his preachers to remind us of what Christ has
done for us and who we are and where we stand in Christ. So
if you hear such an accusation, know that it did not come from
the Savior. No, no, not at all. No, he keeps
his people and he loves his people. Now tonight we will see that
Paul's thoughts along those lines proved groundless. He was concerned
that maybe the tempter had come in and shaken them from their
faith. Maybe they were stony ground
hearers. And when Timothy returned, as we see, Timothy has nothing
but good news about their faith and love and how fond they were
of the lasting memories of the ones who initially bought the
gospel to them, which was Paul. They had fond memories of Paul
and they longed to see Paul again, just as he desired to see them.
And here we also see three marks of election, three marks of God-given
faith. Their desire for fellowship with
the brethren, adherence to the faith, trusting only in Christ
and Christ alone, looking to him and him alone, and unframed
love for the brethren, sincere love for the brethren. We see
this bought forth in chapter one. Turn if you would there,
and we'll read verses one to four. We'll see it bought forth
here. Paul and Savannas and Timothy
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. So without love for the brethren,
one's profession is merely empty and worthless. empty and worthless
profession, because love, love for our great God, love for the
Lord Jesus Christ, love for the gospel, love for fellowship with
believers, love for the brethren, is one of the fruits of the Holy
Spirit of God, which the Holy Spirit creates in every born-again,
blood-washed believer. That love, that love for God,
that love for the Savior, that love for the gospel, that love
for fellowship with other believers, that love for the brethren, It
cannot be manufactured by man. It cannot be made up. If it's
fake, it'll be found out. It'll be found out. And these
two graces, faith and love, they are always found together. It
is impossible to separate them. Those who believe, love. Those
who have been granted faith, love, they love. Again, it's
a fruit of the spirit. It's not a fruit of our doing.
It's a fruit of the Holy Spirit of God. So in our past studies,
we looked at how Paul sent Timothy to establish and comfort the
saints, the brethren at Thessalonica. How? By the preaching of the
gospel. And we saw in our study on verse two of this chapter,
just how that came to pass. Paul sent Timothy there to establish
them in their faith. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
18. Acts chapter 18, and look at this. We'll look at these
verses right here. Tonight, we're gonna look at
verses six to 10, but we're gonna look at these verses over here
in Acts, and we'll see that Timothy has returned to Paul, but they're
no longer in Athens. They're in Corinth. And we know
that from Acts chapter 18. Let's turn there and we'll see
when Timothy returns to Paul. Acts chapter 18, verses one to
six. After these things, Paul departed
from Athens. He left Athens. Remember, he
sent Timothy from Athens to go to Thessalonica. And where did
Paul go? He came to Corinth and found
a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy. with his wife Priscilla, because
that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome, and
came unto them. And because he was of the same
craft, Paul was a tentmaker, and this couple, they were both
tentmakers. Well, Paul abode with them, and
wrought by their occupation, they were tentmakers. And he
reasoned, what did Paul do? What did Paul do? Look what he
did, look what he did. And he reasoned in the synagogue
every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when
Silas and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in
the spirit. Paul was troubled at that time
and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Do you see
what he did? Do you see what Paul did when he reasoned in
the synagogue? He testified to the Jews that
Jesus was the Christ, that Jesus was the Messiah. And that's why
we must preach the gospel. That's why we must, we must testify
that Jesus was the Christ, that he is the Messiah, the only hope
for sinners. And it says, and when they posed
themselves in blasphemy, he shook his raiment and said unto them,
your blood be upon your own heads, I am clean. henceforth I will
go unto the Gentiles." My oh my what a chilling verse. He
said to them, your blood be upon your own heads I am clean from
henceforth I will go to the Gentiles. And he was sent to the Gentiles
by our sovereign great God. We see in verse 5 there in Acts
chapter 18 that Paul seems to have gotten a little discouraged.
But when Timothy and Silas finally arrived at Corinth, Timothy from
Thessalonica and Silas from another place, Paul is greatly encouraged
by their coming to see him. And of course, they would be
greatly encouraged by the report that Timothy bought back about
the brethren at Thessalonica. They would be so joyful over
this. And this wonderful news seems to have given Paul a boost
he needed. And the fact is, we all need
other people. Pastors need one another's encouragement
and believers need one another's encouragement. We all need each
other's encouragement. We should always seek to strengthen
one another's arms in the service of Christ, not discourage one
another, and may God give us grace and strength in this little
body here in Elmont, Michigan, to seek to edify one another
here at this local body in Elmont. May God give us grace and strength
to seek to encourage one another, to strengthen one another, to
edify one another, and not to discourage one another. And therefore,
in spite of all the trials and pressures of his own ministry,
which were occurring at that time in Corinth, Paul was comforted
by the faith of the Thessalonian believers, which we see in verse
seven of this chapter. Let's turn to 1 Thessalonians
chapter three again, and we'll read verses six and seven together. But now when Timothy came from
you unto us, and that's all again by the grace and mercy and the
sovereign will and purpose of God, and bought us good tidings
of your faith and charity, charity there being love, so of their
faith in Christ Jesus and of their love. Unfrained love, sincere
love, that's what unfrained means, sincere love. And that ye have
good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us as
we also to see you. And then verse seven, therefore
brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and
distress by your faith. So Timothy brought back a good
report of the Thessalonian believers. Paul calls them his brethren
in verse 7. It's always a great joy to preachers
and all believers to know that the people of God in any location
continue in the faith and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
John brought this forth John bought this truth forth by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God in 3 John verses 3 and 4 when he
wrote this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. For I
rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth
that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have
no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. So
we see Paul doing the same here. Now John He said, he rejoiced
greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that
is in thee. And in here we see in our text here, 1 Thessalonians
3, verse 7, therefore brethren, his brothers in Christ, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. And it brought them great joy.
So Paul does the same here in these two verses. Timothy brought
back a good report of faith and love of the Thessalonian brethren.
How they loved the Savior. How they trusted and rested in
Him alone for the salvation of their souls. How they had been
turned from idols to serve the one true living God by the power
of God, the Holy Spirit. They were born again now. They
were washed clean in that precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And they rejoiced and they spoke
of Him. And good news, good news always
causes the heart to rejoice. the word gospel means good news
and truly the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is good news to
poor needy bankrupt sinners. The true gospel of salvation
in Christ alone of a salvation and atonement that is absolutely
complete that man has nothing to do with it but we are but
receivers of the mercy and grace of God in Christ that a man can
be saved just by looking to Christ without moving a muscle. The
true gospel is good news to a sinner, but only to those who are being
convicted by God the Holy Spirit. We will see that we're nothing
when we're convicted by the Holy Spirit. We'll see that we're
nothing but undeserving, hell-deserving sinners. We do not deserve the
mercy and the grace that God gives us. Pastor Henry Mahan
once said, a sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Spirit has made
him so. He's showing him his sinfulness, he's showing her
that saint of God, be it male or female, he's showing, the
Holy Spirit shows us our sinfulness. And therefore the hymn writer
penned that, a sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Spirit has made
him so. And a report that Timothy brought
back was good tidings of their faith and love. Again, those
two go together. Faith and love go together. And
persecution had not turned them back. If anything, persecution
had made them stronger in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The law of Moses was not their rule of life. No, faith which
works by love was Galatians chapter five, verse six. And Timothy
also had this in his report. They hadn't forgotten him. Not
only do they have fond memories of Paul and those in his company,
their desire is to see him, and their desire to see him is just
as great as his desire to see them. Even in the midst of their
sufferings and all their afflictions and the distress which had come
upon them, Paul and Silas were comforted, and Timothy as well,
in knowing that their labor in preaching the gospel and ministering
to the saints at Thessalonica had not been in vain and these
tidings from Timothy oh they were good tidings indeed just
like the gospel is a good tidings to a poor needy bankrupt sinner
and Paul rejoiced over the good tidings of their faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ that amidst the sufferings and the trials
and the afflictions that they were going through at the hands
of their own countrymen, we saw in our study through this book,
that they rejoiced in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they held
fast. to their faith in Christ, that
they looked to Him and Christ in Him alone. They were trusting
in Christ alone. And Paul rejoiced in their God-given
faith. He knew that this faith was given
to them. He knows that God only gives
true faith. He rejoiced in their God-given
faith. And he was edified to hear of
their steadfastness and the soundness of their faith, as he knew that
this was all a work of God. And the fact that they abounded
in the grace of God that their faith was genuine, growing, and
lively. This all testified to God Almighty
having done a work of grace in them. And Paul rejoiced in the
fact of their love for one another, which again was a fruit of the
Spirit. Their faith was manifested by
their love for Christ and their love for one another. Their faith
worked by love. Again, faith and love are always
found together. Christian love must be without
concealment, in deed and in truth. And this love is a fervent and
constant love that God's people have for one another, and more
so have for our Savior. And this love for the brethren
was also manifest in their constant and kindly remembrance of the
apostle. He says, you have a good remembrance
of us always. They thought much of their spiritual
teachers. They thought of them with gratitude
and respect as it was their sovereign God and our sovereign God who
had sent these preachers to them. And they no doubt remembered
them in their prayers. They desired, the saints at Thessalonica,
desired to have their memories refreshed by a personal visit
from Paul. And think upon this, if they
had begun to fall away, They would not have been so anxious
to see him. No, they would not have desired his fellowship.
No, they would not have desired to see him at all if they had
started to fall away. But we see here that there is
a tender attachment on both sides. Paul has a dear love for them,
and they have a dear love for Paul. For there was a longing
on both sides for further fellowship. And again, this was a result
of the love of God spread abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit
of God. Timothy has reported that they
stand strong in the faith and love and that they have nothing
but fond memories of Paul's time with them. And this would warm
Paul's heart and encourage him greatly because wherever Paul
went, he preached the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ. He says, I preach Christ in him
crucified. Oh, and God had done a great
work. God had done a great work. He had regenerated those saints
to whom Paul was writing to, those who are born-again believers.
God had done a great work. And Paul's concern for them is
not about their eternal standing with God, as we know that he
knew already that they are the elect of God. This is bought
forth in verse four of chapter one, where Paul writes, knowing
brethren beloved, your election of God. Well, his concern for
them was, is that of a loving father that knows his children
are faced with hardship and trial. And this concern comes out as
a pastor who desires to be with his people, to stand with them.
helped them in a time of need to teach and ground them in the
doctrine of Christ, which again comes about from a constant diet
of the word of God through the preaching of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So their faithfulness and allegiance
to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his gospel, their love and
care for one another in the midst of trials and tribulations and
cares of this world were of a great comfort to the Apostle Paul as
he declares in Verse seven, he was comforted by the faith of
the believers at Thessalonica. Look at verse seven, 1 Thessalonians
3, verse seven. Therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. So Paul's comforted by this report
from Timothy. It comforts his heart, comforts
his soul. Now let's read verse eight of
1 Thessalonians 3. It says, for now we live if you
stand fast in the Lord. Paul, having received the good
tidings about the brethren and Thessalonica from Timothy, brings
forth that his heart is revived by this wonderful news. Look
at this, for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. These
glad tidings have revived all three of them. And although Paul
was going through persecution for preaching the gospel at Corinth
and everywhere he went, even though he had been anxious about
their welfare when he sent Timothy, to see them, to comfort them,
to establish them in the faith by the preaching of the gospel,
we see now that his heart is revived. And also Silas's, and
Timothy as well, to hear of God's sovereign power at work in the
lives of the brethren who are our loved ones. And this occurs
even in our lives, as during the week, our lives can be cluttered
and filled with the difficulties and the problems that this world
brings up before us and upon us. We should never let these
things discourage us. But that's easier said than done,
isn't it? That's easier said than done, to not let these things
that occur in the world discourage us. That's easier said than done.
And sometimes we come to church on Sunday morning, not always
in the best spirit, having had a week in the world, and sometimes
a bad week in the world. And if the opening hymn just
happens to revive us again, the first verse will lift our spirit.
We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love, for Jesus who
died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, Thine the glory.
Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory,
revive us again. And any good hymn will do the
same. It sets our hearts and our minds
to worship our great God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And even though we are already spiritually alive, we who are
the people of God, before we're through singing two or three
verses of an uplifting hymn, we really feel like we've been
revived, don't we? and that we're really living
in the presence of our risen, exalted King, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then we hear the preaching
of the gospel, and we hear what Christ has done for us. We hear
of an accomplished salvation, an atonement that is perfect,
a Savior who's a sinless, spotless Lamb of God, who cried, it is
finished, a victorious conqueror over all our sins. And we find
out that we are accepted in Christ Jesus, our Lord. By God, the
Father, our great and holy God. And we are only accepted before
him in Christ, in Christ alone. And it's his precious, precious
blood, which has purchased our eternal souls. And we sing hallelujah,
Lord. Hallelujah, what a great God
and savior. You are the one true and living
God. Hallelujah. And by God's grace
and His Spirit working on us, we know we're standing fast in
the Lord as we go out into this world for another week. The born-again,
blood-washed believer is really alive in Christ. And through
the preaching of the gospel, our hearts are revived in having
these wonderful truths brought forth before us. And because
Christ lives, we live also. We live also. So stand fast,
beloved. in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made you free. Keep looking to Him and Him alone. And may the preaching of the
gospel revive your hearts as only it can do. And may you stand
steadfast in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's read verse nine. It
says, For what thanks can we render to God again for you?
For all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our
God. Paul and Silas had already given
thanks to God for the saints at Thessalonica. What he's saying
here in this ninth verse of chapter three seems to indicate that
he isn't sure where to begin in giving thanks again for them.
Oh, great joy has filled their hearts over this wonderful report
that Timothy has brought back about the saints at Thessalonica.
And these true ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel
were filled with great joy before God. After Timothy gave them
his report, oh, they're filled with great joy for what God has
done and for what God alone has done for these saints and in
these saints at Thessalonica. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verses
13 and 14, Paul was inspired to write these words to this
very same church. He writes, But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh my, God had chosen them
from the beginning to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth, belief of the gospel, they had
been given God-given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he called them He called them by the preaching of the
gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we can understand
then how Paul wasn't sure where to begin in giving praise to
our great God. As he understood that it wasn't
just God's power that accompanied the preaching of the gospel,
but the salvation of all of God's elect is according to God's own
purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. this would leave Paul in awe
and this would fill Paul with joy. In the closing verses of
this third chapter continue to manifest the love that was in
the heart of Paul for the brethren he was writing to. Love for one
another moves us to pray for one another and these verses
record Paul's prayer for those he loved so dearly in Thessalonica. Now we'll look at verse 10 briefly
here tonight, we'll close with this verse, and then we'll finish
off this chapter, Lord willing, next Wednesday. Look at verse
10, night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see your face and
might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. The reason verse
10 ends with a question mark is because this is a continuation
of what Paul expressed in verse 9, when he said, For what thanks
can we render to God again for you? Which is a question. Paul
and Silas and Timothy did spend a lot of time in prayer for the
saints of God, and once again we see, Paul expresses their
sincere desire to see those dear saints at Thessalonica. This
was their earnest prayer to God, that he might be pleased to allow
that to happen. But Paul also prayed if they
were allowed to visit those saints again, the Lord might use them
to further instruct these saints in spiritual matters. Pastor
Henry Mahan commented this on this verse, verse 10 of 1 Thessalonians
chapter 3 in his Bible class commentary. He said that he might
minister the word to them and more perfectly instruct them
in the knowledge of divine things. The ministry of the word is the
means of planting faith, increasing faith, and perfecting it. This
is again why we must preach the gospel. Now there's not one believer
living in this world who does not need the continual preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. in the continual teaching
and reading of the Word of God. Why? That he might grow or she
might grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
may God the Holy Spirit illuminate the scriptures for we who are
his people as we study his Word and as we read his Word. May
he be pleased to illuminate the scriptures that we might grow
and learn more of the wonderful things of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great God and our Savior. To God be the glory. Amen and
Amen.