Let's open this morning service
with hymn number 21 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book.
Number 21, 21 from the Spiral hymn book. Let's all stand. The Father, and the Son, and
the Spirit, three in one, in eternal ages past, made a covenant
sure and fast. God my Father chose His own in
the person of His Son, and ordained that I should be one with Him
eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ in love so willingly,
Stood as my great surety, For my price He offered blood, To
appease the wrath of sin. God the Spirit, heav'nly dove,
promised to come down in love, bringing life and peace and grace
to the chosen Church's grace. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and He brings us to the Lamb. ? By His mighty sovereign
call ? God's elect are gathered all ? This poor sinner is secure
? For God's covenant will endure It is sealed by God's own word,
by His Spirit and His blood. Blessed Holy Covenant God, I
am yours by ties of blood, ties of grace and ties of love. Please be seated. Good morning. Not a wonderful him. I'm just
so very thankful that the Lord has given us the ability to sing
it with some understanding. Elected by the father, redeemed
by the son, regenerated and kept by the Holy Spirit through God's
word. That's the gospel. I'm so, so
thankful. Thankful for you and thankful
to be here this morning. Pray the Lord will be pleased
to meet with us. We're going to be in First Thessalonians
chapter three this first hour. First Thessalonians chapter three. Mary Hernandez, Zobey's mom,
has been in and out of the hospital this week with blood pressure
and blood sugar issues, and they had to call 9-1-1 again this
morning at one o'clock, and she's in the hospital now in Kissimmee
on a ventilator, and I want us to pray for Mary this morning. And also, Michael Etheridge's
mom, has been taken off of dialysis and they're waiting for the Lord
to take her home. So pray for Michael and for Joyce
and the family. Let's pray together. Our merciful,
gracious, glorious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the hope that
you give to us by your spirit, in your word, the hope of salvation,
the hope of eternal life, the revelation that you've given
us of thy dear son and his accomplished work of redemption, for the faith
that you give to believe you. Lord, we pray that you would
forgive us for our unbelief And we ask, Lord, that you would
cause your word to be effectual this morning. We pray that you
would increase our faith. We pray that you would give us
more light, more truth, and, Lord, that you would increase
our love and, Lord, that we would be comforted. comforted by your
spirit, comforted through your word, comforted by the fellowship
that you give us one with another as we share our hope and our
faith in Christ to each other. Lord, we pray for Mary. We ask that you would give her
a special measure of grace in this hour, Lord, that you would
Encourage her heart and strengthen her body. Give the doctors wisdom
to know how to minister to her. Lord, for Zobey and the family,
comfort them and encourage them. Lord, we pray for Michael's family
and for Joyce, and thank you for the hope of salvation that
you've given. And Lord, we pray for your grace
and for your mercy. that you would receive her into
glory. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. What a blessing it's been to
look at this epistle that Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica
over the last couple of months. And we're reminded again this
morning You remember the account of Paul in Thessalonica is given
to us in the book of Acts chapter 16 and he was only there for
three weeks before a riot broke out, one of the men in the church,
one of the local men by the name of Jason was arrested and beaten
and Paul was run out of town. And that's especially important
to remember in light of chapter 3 because Paul is expressing
his love for those brethren that he had only been with for a few
weeks. And it's a testimony of God's grace that the Lord would
knit their hearts together so warmly and so firmly in such
a short period of time. These weren't believers that
he had spent years with and grown up with and gotten to know like
many of us have with one another. These were brand new believers
that he had only been with for a short period of time, but the
gospel was so real to them that their hearts were knit together
in love and in faith. And that's the title of this
message. faith and charity. Paul uses that phrase in verse 6 if you look down there
with me. But now when Timotheus came from
you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity. and that you have good remembrance
of us always desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you. So Paul sends Timothy back to
Thessalonica to check on them knowing that they were babes
in Christ at best and that he had not had sufficient time to
really establish them in the gospel. And now he's in Athens
and concerned for their souls and sends Timothy back to check
on them. And Timothy comes back with a
glowing report of God's grace. And Paul is so encouraged in
all the tribulation that he had experienced. He found great comfort
in the testimony of grace that God had given to these believers. Is there anything that thrills
the heart of a child of God more than to hear of the testimony
of God's grace given in faith to someone else? Is there anything
that thrills you more? If the Lord is at work and He's
He's showing his grace and mercy toward others. We're so very
thankful for that. And that's our prayer. And that
was Paul's prayer. Michael, in the study this morning
before we came in here, read from Romans chapter 10 where
Paul is expressing his prayer for his brethren according to
the flesh, the Jews. And in chapter 9 of Romans, Paul,
well turn with me there. Paul says something in Romans
chapter 9 that I, only one other person in scripture made such
a statement and that was Moses. And I have to confess that I
can't relate to what these two men said. They said it. And Paul calls on God as his
witness of his sincerity in saying it. And we have in the New Testament,
the apostle Paul, and in the Old Testament, Moses, given by God to the church with
this special measure of grace that the Lord had given these
men, willing to set aside their own salvation for the salvation
of their brethren. Moses said, Lord, blot me out
of your book. Lord, if you would Because the
Lord threatened Moses to destroy all of Israel in the wilderness
when they were being so rebellious. And Moses went before the Lord
and interceded on behalf of the children of Israel and said,
Lord, don't destroy them. Blot me out. Look here in chapter
9 of Romans. of verse one, and I say the truth
in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bear me witness in the Holy
Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart,
and I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. And when he says
I could wish, what he's saying is if it were possible, I would
be willing to forego my own salvation, eternal damnation. for the salvation
of my brethren. Like I said, I don't know anything
about that by experience, but the Lord gave these two men that
heart. And the important thing to remember
in chapter three of 1 Thessalonians, so we'll go back to our text,
is that the persecution that came against the Apostle Paul
and against the church came by the very people that
the Apostle Paul now says that he would be willing to lay down
his own salvation for. So not only does he express his
love for the church in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, and rejoices in the
love that God had given them for one another, but he's also
expressing his love for his enemies. And what a testimony of faith. See, faith always comes with
love, doesn't it? John said it like this in 1st
John chapter 4 verse 7, he said, Beloved, let us love one another.
For love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. And he that loveth not knoweth
not God. For God is love. And now he's
talking about their faith and charity. The evidence of their
faith is their charity. It is their love. And their love is not just for
one another, their love is for those who want to kill them. I desire their salvation. There's
an evidence of faith that those without faith know nothing about.
There's two things that come with saving faith. It's love
and it's persecution. We don't know a whole lot about
the second, but these believers knew exactly what the enemies
of the gospel wanted to do to them and were trying to do desperately
to them. I like the way the apostle, the
Lord by his spirit, I should say, leads Paul to open this
chapter because it's evident in what he's saying that he's
not looking for persecution. He wants to do everything he
can to mitigate it, to lessen it, particularly the persecution
that would come against the church because of him. Paul had a target
on his back. He had been a member of the Sanhedrin
more than likely. He came from Jewish leadership
and aristocracy and And now he's a preacher of the gospel. And
we're reminded of what the Lord told Ananias. You remember when
the Lord saved the apostle Paul? Saul of Tarsus on the road to
Damascus and sent him to Damascus, the scripture says, to a street
called Straight. And there he was left blind as
a result of that encounter that he had with the Lord. And God
went to a man by the name of Ananias and spoke to Ananias
and said, go and lay your hands on Saul, for he's praying. And Ananias resisted the Lord.
He said, Lord, I've heard of this man. He's come here to arrest
us. He's having believers arrested
and murdered. And the Lord told Ananias, he
said, he's one of mine. And I'm gonna show him what great
things he must suffer for my namesake. And the entire rest
of Paul's life, was a life of suffering and persecution as
a result of him standing for the gospel. And here he says in chapter three
at verse one, wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we
thought it good to be left at Athens alone. He's writing this
epistle back to these believers and saying to them, we couldn't
stand it any longer. I wanted to come myself. and
I would have come myself, but I was afraid that my presence
there would have the same effect that it had the first time I
was there. And it would stir up more persecution against you
and cause more problems for the believers. And so I'm gonna send
Timothy instead. Paul wasn't, wasn't interested
in trying to create conflict. He wanted to do everything he
could to avoid it. The Lord tells us to be at peace with all men
whenever possible. We don't try to stir up trouble
with men. Nevertheless, if we take a stand
for the gospel, it won't be possible to be at peace with those who
hate the gospel. They're going to be You know, they're resistant to
what we believe and who we believe. And so in verse two, he says,
therefore, I sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God and
our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and
to comfort you concerning your faith. Oh, Timothy's now gonna spend
some time with these believers establish them, give them a firmer
foundation in the gospel of God's free grace in Christ, and confirm
their faith. You know, this is still so true,
a faith that is not tried is not proven. Let me say that again,
a faith that's not tried is not proven. And the Lord's gonna
prove the faith of his people. And the means by which he does
that is trying their faith. Let me show you that. Turn with
me over just a few pages to the book of James. James is writing to the Jews
that were violently forced out of Israel because of their faith
in Christ. And he calls them the 12 tribes
scattered abroad. He's writing to the same group
of believers that Peter was writing to. If you've been with us on
Wednesday night, Peter's writing to these scattered saints that
were forced out because of the gospel. And so James addresses
them, he says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus
Christ to the 12 tribes, which are scattered abroad, greeting,
my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations,
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience,
but let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect
and entire, wanting nothing. The Lord's gonna send these trials
and troubles and tribulations and persecutions in order to
make us dependent upon him. And only as we become dependent
upon him are we made perfect. As long as we're dependent upon
the arm of the flesh, as long as we're at ease in Zion, and we're not looking in faith
to Christ alone, then the Lord's gonna try the faith of his people
in order to prove it. And what is he proving it to
be? He's proving it to be in Christ. He's proving it to be
reliant upon God's grace and God's mercy. Turn with me over
just a couple of pages to the book of 1st Peter. 1st Peter. Peter's writing to the same group.
These are Jews that have been born again. They've come to faith
in Christ by God's grace and they're scattered about and they're
being chased and persecuted And Peter calls them the elect in
verse two of chapter, he said, you know, these are strangers
scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
have begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Here's what the Jews did not
believe, that God had raised up Christ from the dead. And
the resurrection was the divider between those who believed God
and those who didn't. What did he, This lively hope
that we have by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
his resurrection is the evidence that God has given to his people
that the work that he accomplished on Calvary's cross was sufficient
to satisfy the demands of God's justice and put away all the
sins of God's people. That's what the resurrection
is about. A wicked and perverse generation seeketh after a sign,
but God giveth this generation no other sign other than the
sign of Jonah, who spent three days and three nights on the
belly of the whale and brought him forth to life. And there
we have Christ in the grave, being brought forth. There's
the sign. There's the only evidence that we need to know that Christ
is all and in all and that he has done all. Everything necessary
for the salvation of God's people. That's why God said, I could
not allow my holy one to see corruption. I could not allow
him to remain in the grave. There is a sense, and I don't
want to be irreverent by saying this, but there was a sense in
which God was obligated to raise his son from the dead because
he was satisfied. He was satisfied. Not that he
did it out of obligation, he did it because he was satisfied.
But you see what I'm saying. And what is that resurrection? Well,
look at verse 4. To an inheritance, and this inheritance
is incorruptible, it is undefiled, it fadeth not away, it is reserved
in heaven for you. Oh, I love the way the Lord defines
our future home, our hope. He says it's undefiled, nothing
there but righteousness. It fadeth not away. It cannot
be corrupted. It's incorruptible. It's perfect. And the Lord has set our affections
on things above. And in the meantime, look at
verse five. We are kept by the power of God, true faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein you
greatly rejoice. Faith rejoices in the hope of
eternal life. Faith rejoices in knowing that
we shall see him as he is and be made like him. Faith rejoices
that with all the imperfections In my love, there's going to
come a day when I'm going to know nothing but perfect love.
Perfect love. No more selfishness. No more weakness. Greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be. And God knows when it needs to
be. Does he not? He knows exactly when and how
much to measure to each one of his children to make them perfectly
dependent upon him. And that's true in your life, it's
true in my life. Our Heavenly Father. knows every hair in our
head, he knows every thought before we think it, he knows
he's ordained and purposed everything in our lives to do what? To bring us home to glory, dependent
upon Christ for all of our righteousness and all of our salvation before
God. These believers, they knew that. If need be, you are in heaviness
through manifold temptations. For what reason that the trial
of your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. What the Lord's using here, and
you know this, you've heard this before, I've used this illustration
before, he's using the example of a jeweler who is taking gold
that's mixed with impurities and putting it into his little
crucible and putting it over the fire and melting that ore
And what happens? The heavier gold sinks to the
bottom. And the jeweler very carefully,
what does he do? He very carefully scrapes the
dross off the top of the gold. And when is he finished? And
how does he know when he's finished? His reflection is not distorted
by the dross that's floating on top of the gold. And as long
as you and I are here in this world, you see the jeweler has
to know exactly how much heat to put on that lest he destroy
the properties of the gold itself. And he has to be very careful
in how he takes the dross off of that gold. And his whole objective
is to purify the gold until he can see his reflection undistorted
in the gold. And as long as you and I are
here in this world, that's exactly what God's going to be doing
for me and you. He's going to be putting us under the heat
of trial and tribulation and trouble. Separating the dross
from the gold. And that process will not be
complete until we see him in the fullness of his glory and
our reflection will be his face, will be made like him. In the
meantime, brethren, just like these believers in Thessalonica,
their faith was being tried. and the evidence that that trial
was proving their faith to be genuine was their love for the
brethren and their perseverance, their perseverance. You see,
you know, over the years we've seen people come and hear the
gospel and respond to it in an outward expression of faith and
even follow the Lord in believer's baptism. And the first trial
that comes, what is the first trial usually? Persecution. It's the animosity, the anger,
the resistance of their loved ones and of their family members
who hate what they say they believe. and are able to turn them away
from the gospel, which means that they never believed the
gospel anyway. You see, what I'm saying is that
faith must be tried in order to be proven. And if it's not
proven to be genuine, then it's not of God. And he's gonna try
it. That's what he's doing here. Go back with me to our text and
let's read these verses together. Verse 3, that no man should be
moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed
thereunto. You know, I am thankful for the
freedoms that we have in this country. I'm thankful for the
prosperity that we enjoy in this country. But I'm not sure it's altogether
a blessing. Especially when I have an opportunity
to talk to and fellowship with believers in other parts of the
world who know nothing of the prosperity that we enjoy, and
they know nothing of the freedoms that we enjoy, and their hearts
are so bound together in love and faith with one another. That's
all they have. All they have is one another.
And I'm jealous sometimes thinking, you know, wouldn't it be wonderful
if that's all we had? All we had was Christ, and all
we had was one another, and everything else in the world was against
us. That's what these believers experienced, and there's believers
today. So let's be thankful for what we have, but let's be careful
also. Let us be careful that we don't
find ourselves at ease, as the scripture says in Zion, indifferent
and comfortable. and not having the love and the
perseverance that we would have if things were harder for us. Verse four, 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, He's reminding them of
what happened when the Jews stirred up so much trouble and arrested
Jason and beat him and threatened the Apostle Paul and how he had
to be snuck out of town in order to save his life. And 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."
You know, you could just see Paul and Athens, you know, we
were only there three weeks, and, you know, maybe they didn't
really hear, and maybe this persecution is going to turn them all away
from the gospel. And oh, how encouraged he is.
His heart is overwhelmed with thanksgiving when he hears back
from Timothy. But now, when Timothy came from
you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity,
and that you have a good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly
to see us as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you and all our afflictions and distresses by
your faith. What we heard about the testimony
of God's grace, giving you faith and perseverance in your tribulation
and love for one another has enabled us to persevere. And to continue, we comfort one
another. Therefore, brethren, verse seven,
we were comforted over you in all our afflictions and distresses
by your faith, for now we live. And what he's saying there is,
you know, we're relieved and we can enjoy and rejoice now. We don't have to live in fear
of whether or not you were overwhelmed by the tempter in the persecutions
and troubles that came. For now we live. As long as you
stand fast in the Lord, we're good. We're good. Verse nine, 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 God himself and our father
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. Paul's praying,
he's saying, now we're so, we pray that the Lord will enable
us to come back and visit and be there. In the meantime, the Lord make
you to increase and to abound in love one toward another and
toward all men, even your enemies. As I said, Paul, Paul's praying
for his enemy. Paul was praying for and expressed
his love for those who wanted to kill him. May God give us
that grace, not just to love one another, but to love those
who would persecute us. Even as we do toward you, to
the end, that 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, all his saints. This is every believer's
experience and this is every believer's hope. Let's pray. Our heavenly father,
bless your word by your spirit. Cause us to Think on these things,
to believe these things, and give us the grace to manifest
the love of Christ in our lives toward all men. For we ask it
in Christ's name, amen. Okay.