Good morning. Last minute, we
have a piano player. This is Anne Schuller, who's
visiting with her husband, Tom, and she's willing to play piano.
So we're going to open with a hymn that's on the back of your bulletin,
a hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. And let's all
stand together. ? Glory to God on high ? Our peace
is made with Him ? The Son of God came down to die ? That sin
might be forgiven His precious blood was shed, His body bruised
for sin. Remember this in eating bread,
And that in drinking wine. ? Approach his royal board ?
And his rich garments clad ? Join every tongue to praise the Lord
? And every heart be glad ? Sinners the gift receive ? And each says
I am cheated Thou know'st, O Lord, I would believe. O help my unbelief. Please be seated. Thank you, Anne. Thank you, Tom.
Not many people you can grab that walk in the door for the
very first time and say, would you play the piano for us? I
met Anne and Tom about 25 years ago, I think, in Cherokee. A
lot of you may have known or listened to Tim James. Anne is
Tim's sister. And so we're happy you all are
here. Thank you. We're going to be
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, continuing our study in this
wonderful epistle. We'll ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together before we begin. Our merciful, gracious, glorious
Heavenly Father, we are thankful. Not as we ought to be, Lord,
we Pray with our brother David that you would forgive us of
our presumptuous sins. We presume upon thee so much. Lord, as we bow before thee,
we're reminded of what mercy and what grace you have had on
us to bring us to this place, to give us your word, to promise
your spirit, to give us, Lord, hope. forgiveness, salvation
in Christ. Lord, we are completely dependent
upon you to speak and to hear. Lord, we ask that you would enable
us to worship today. Worship thee and the power of
thy spirit and worship thee according to the revealed truth of thy
word. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. You have your Bibles open to
First Thessalonians chapter two, and we'll begin reading at verse
10. It's where we left off last Sunday when we considered the
gospel of God in the verses leading up to verse 10. The gospel of
God, it's God's gospel in election, it's the Father's gospel in election,
it's the Son's gospel in redemption, and it's the Holy Spirit's gospel
in revelation and in the new birth. And so, it's God's gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. If we're going to be saved, the
Lord has to do it all. from election to glorification. We're dependent upon him for
it all. And what a blessing it is when
he makes God's gospel our gospel. Verse 10, you are witnesses and
God also. How wholly and justly and unblameably
we behaved ourselves among you that believe. As you know, how
we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a
father doth his children, that you should walk worthy of God
who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. And for this
cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you received
the word of God which you heard of us, you 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." We're reminded again by these
words of how brief a visit the Apostle Paul had in Thessalonica
when he was sent there to preach the gospel. And he was forced
out of town and now he's writing back to them and reminding them
of the experience that they had together in those few weeks. Everywhere Paul went and preached
the gospel, the Lord sent the enemies of the gospel in behind
the Apostle Paul to prove and to try the work that had been
done. Scripture says that it is necessary
that heresies be among you, that those who are approved might
be made manifest. So every time the gospel is declared,
there is the enemies of the gospel that
will try to change it. always adding something to it,
giving man something to do in his salvation. And that's exactly
what happened in Thessalonica, it's still happening today. So,
Paul is encouraging them to believe him. Basically what he's saying is
follow me don't follow them follow me as I follow Christ and He
gives them in these verses that we just read three reasons why
they should follow him and And I've titled this message who
will you follow? Who will you follow we will follow
someone? who who leads us in the way that
the Apostle Paul led these people. And though our leadership, whether
it be an evangelist, as Paul was, or whether it be as a pastor,
or whether it be as a parent leading their children, or whatever
your role of of leadership might be, we know in all three of these
things that Paul identifies, we are imperfect. But I hope
that we can see that we are sheep following the good shepherd who
has perfected all of these things. And so there's no hesitation
in following him. He has perfected the things that
Paul is using to encourage these believers to follow him and not
follow those enemies of the gospel that have come in behind him. He reminds them in verse 10 that
his method was such He practiced what he preached.
He didn't try to lead them to do something that he wasn't willing
to make personal sacrifices to do himself. And so in verse 10
he says, you are witnesses and God also, how wholly and justly
and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe. And so My method was not manipulative. My method was personal and sacrificial. And you saw how I put into practice
myself, the very thing that I tried to preach to you. The second
reason he gives them is found in verse 11. As you know, how
we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a
father doth his children. And so the first point of this
message is the method of those who we follow. And the second
is the motive of those who we follow. He's saying to them in verse
11, my motive was love. It was for your good. I
did not have selfish motives in what I told you and what I
want you to follow me in. And if we know that whoever's
leading us has our best interest at heart and their motives are
right, then we'll follow. And thirdly, in verse 13, he
says to them that my message was nothing less than the very
word of God. So if I'm gonna follow a man,
I want his methods to be right, I want his motives to be right,
and I want his message to be right. And that's what Paul's saying. And though men fall short in
all those areas, we have a shepherd, a commander, as scripture refers
to our Lord as, that we follow. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. His methods were always perfect. He practiced what he preached. His motives were pure, undefiled. And his message, every time he
opened his mouth, was nothing less than the word of God. Why would we hesitate? Why would
we hesitate to follow such a man? Verse 10, you are witnesses,
we're gonna take these one at a time briefly. You are witnesses
in God also how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves
among you that believe. Our behavior was such that we
exemplified what we were preaching. It doesn't work to try to lead
someone by saying, do what I say, not what I do. Children can't
follow that kind of advice. They're going to end up doing
what they see, not what they hear. How critical it is that
if we're going to lead, that our example be consistent with
the message that we're preaching. And that's especially true for
pastors. This is a very humbling truth for me. Scripture says that 1 Timothy
chapter three, there's qualifications given to bishops and elders and
pastors. And scripture says that they
are to be blameless and vigilant and sober of good behavior and
not greedy and not brawlers and not giving them much wine. And
these are these are the necessary patterns of life that have to
associate the message. Otherwise, no one's going to
believe what you say. They won't trust you. In addition, he talks about a
man ruling his own house well and and having his children in
subjection. For how can a man rule the church
of God if he cannot rule his own house? And so these things,
this is what Paul's saying about the importance of backing up
our message with our example. And though we all, as I've said
already twice, fall short, parents, I know you do, I have, I've fallen
short as your pastor, to be the example I want to be. And yet we have one that we're
following unequivocally, explicitly. We never have to question his
motives. We never have to We never have
to doubt his methods. He is the holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners and higher than the heavens. And so when
the Lord says, follow me, we have one calling us to follow
him who practices perfectly, perfectly what he preaches. Why would we be hesitant? in
being still before him and hearing him and obeying him and following
him and everything he taught, he practiced
perfectly. He was kind, he was tenderhearted.
He was forgiving. He's humble and
considerate and faithful. And these are the character traits
he calls us to follow him after. Turn with me to 1 Peter 2. 1
Peter 2. We want to be as our Lord, we desire that. He's put it in our hearts to
look to him and say, that's the one I'm following. Look at verse
21 of 2 Peter chapter two. For even here unto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that we should follow his steps. 1 Peter 2, verse 22, who did
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. There's not another
man that we can follow. Our children can't say these
things of their parents, and we can't say these things of
our pastors, and we can't say these things of any man that
we follow. But there was no guile, no sin found in him. who, when
he was reviled, reviled not again, and when he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously."
So whatever trials and sufferings the Lord sends our way, we do
as Christ, commit ourselves to the Lord who does righteously. who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live
under righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Sin's been put away. Why would we believe something
that we cannot see? You look at your own life, you
don't see sin put away. You see it raging in your old
man and in your flesh and in your heart and the evil of it
as ever. Your sin is ever before you.
Why would we believe that it's gone? Why would we believe something
not only that we can't see, but that it's not consistent with
our experience? Why would we believe that? Usually,
generally, we believe what we can see and what we experience.
But we're believing something that we cannot see and we have
never experienced. The total complete absence of
sin. Why would we believe it? One
reason. One reason only. Because God
said so. Because God said so. That's the
only reason. Faith is not believing that God's
gave. If I just believe hard enough,
God will do something for me. That's gonna be faith. No, faith
is just believing God. That's all it is, just believing
God. God said, as he is, so are we
in this world. God said by the sacrifice of
himself, once and for all, he's put away our sins. He separated
them from us. He remembers them no more. He's
buried in the depths of the sea. There's our hope. And this is our hope in the day
of judgment, John tells us. Because as he is, so are we in
this world. This is our hope. Look at verse 25, for you were
as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. So here's the one we follow.
Paul is saying, follow me as I follow Christ. And he reminds
them of the method that he used the consistency, let me say that,
of his life to his message when he was there. And he's saying
to them, you watch these other men that are coming in behind
me and telling you lies and trying to divert you away from the gospel.
You look at them and you see if they're worth following. And here we have one. who is
our perfect example, perfect example. The second thing I want us to
see, and we've already looked at briefly in verse 11, as you
know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you
as a father doth his children. You will follow somebody that
you believe has your best interest at heart, won't you? Wives will
follow their husband's leadership if the husband loves his wife
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Children
will follow their parents' counsel and leadership if they know that
the parent loves them and has their best interest at heart.
We know We know what a salesman looks like. We know what politicians
are like. We know what those who are out
for their own benefit are like. We know what a lot of preachers
are like. Always got their hand out and
using people for their own advantage. Who wants to follow somebody
like that? Paul said, follow me because I love you. And I
loved you as a father does his children. You don't follow people that
are just looking to make a name for themselves. Knowing when and how and how
much to discipline our children requires a lot of wisdom. The Lord's given us some instructions
in his word on how to do that and he's He's warned us against
being too harsh, that we discourage them. Fathers, provoke not your
children to anger, lest they be discouraged. But he's also
told us that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and
that the rod of correction will drive it from them. And that
he that spares the rod hates the child, but he that loveth
the child chasteneth him. Quickly, quickly. How important
this is, parents to get a hold on that early in life. And if you're diligent, if you're
diligent, the first five years of a child's life, it'll be a
whole lot easier the rest of the rest of that time you have
with that child. And yet, when we discipline,
we Our discipline is imperfect,
isn't it? Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
12. I'm not interested in following
a man who is just trying to make a name for
himself or trying to get a following or there's so
much of that going on in religion. I want to hear the gospel from
someone who's concerned for my soul and how faithful our Lord
is in correcting his children. Look
at Hebrews chapter 12, we begin reading at verse 5. And you have
forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children,
my son, despise not the chasing of the Lord, nor faint when thou
rebuked of him. What a perfect father. You see,
Paul says, Paul says, when I, when I I came to you, I loved
you as a father of his children. He's already referred to himself
as a nurse to a baby, and now he's referring to himself as
a father to his children. He's expressing his affection
for them and that his motive was not self-serving. His motive
was for their profit and for their souls and for their benefit. And that truth is brought to
its perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ motive for his children. It's brought to perfection. Why
would we hesitate to follow him? Despise not the chastening of
the Lord, and faint not when you are rebuked of him. For whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. And what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement, where of all our partakers, then
you are bastards and not sons. You're illegitimate children.
If the Lord allows you to rebel against him without any chastening,
the worst thing God can do for any of us is leave us to ourselves.
Just leave us to ourselves. Just let us have our own way. Verse nine, furthermore, we had
fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits and live? You see, so
the Lord's comparing the correction of a loving father to his children
or a loving pastor to his congregation or a loving apostle here to these
believers and he's saying, how much more,
how much more your heavenly father has nothing but your best interest
at heart. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, the Lord said, thoughts of good and not of evil to bring
you to your expected end. He has nothing but good for his
children. and everything he does is for
their good. For they, our earthly fathers,
verse 10, verily for a few days chastened us after their own
pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of
his holiness. You know, fathers, we do what
we think's best at the moment and we fail and fall so far short
But he never does. He measures his discipline perfectly
in the right amount, at the right time, of the right things, the
right duration. It's perfect. Now, no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, even as it is for a child who's
being whipped for their disobedience, it's a grievous experience for
that child. Nevertheless, afterwards it yielded
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. So the whole purpose of our heavenly
father's correction is to exercise us to obedience. Father sometimes correct their
children out of anger, out of frustration. The Lord never does
that, ever. Always out of love. Everything
he does is out of perfect love for his children. He set aside
the riches of his glory when he was made in the fashion of
a man. In the likeness of sinful flesh,
born in this world, he left his rightful place in glory. Why
did he do that? Love for his people. That was
his motive. Pure, pure, perfect love. When he lived his life here in
this world, He said, I've loved them to the
end. Everything he did was love for
his children. Second Corinthians chapter eight,
verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor
that you through his poverty might be rich. So the Lord set
aside his glory and he set aside the riches of his glory and, and, and was suffered
the contradiction of sinful men. The scripture says he made himself
of no reputation, humbled himself and he humbled himself even unto
the cross. There we see the, Though herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and gave
his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Greater love hath
no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Why did the Lord, you see, we're talking about following Christ.
Why would you not follow someone who practiced perfectly everything
that he preached and who had nothing but love and good for
those that he calls to follow him. We're running, we'd be like
Matthew. If the Lord's pleased to show
us how gracious and loving and merciful and kind and good he
is, we'll be like Matthew when the Lord looked at Levi there
at the money changer's temple and he said, Matthew, follow
me. Immediately he got up and he started following Christ. How oftentimes we see our Lord
looking at the multitudes and he had compassion for them for
he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. That's how our Lord
sees us. Wandering, lost, vulnerable,
dirty, dumb sheep who need a shepherd. One time I was contrasting sheep
with goats and the scripture does that. Talks about the goats
being the unbeliever and the sheep being children of God and
how the goats will butt and the sheep won't. And what I meant
by that and what I mean by that right now is that when a goat
hears the truth of the gospel of who God is and what he's done
to accomplish the salvation of his people all by himself without
any assistance on our part, the goats will listen to that and
they'll say, yeah, but, yeah, but, and they'll add their objections
to the gospel. The sheep won't do that. And
anyway, Chris Weishi had some experience with sheep on a farm,
and he said, you know what, he said, he told me this afterwards,
he said, sheep butt too. And I thought, I don't know if
this is true, Chris, you can correct me later if you want,
but I thought, yeah, I bet sheep do butt each other, but I doubt
they butt the shepherd. The shepherd that feeds them
and cares for them and corrects them. And isn't that the way
it is in the church? Sheep will bud each other. And
we do, shamefully. We don't bud our shepherd. We bow to him. He's our life. So he's, He sees them as sheep
without a shepherd. As the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ stood over Jerusalem and he wept. Who do you follow? Paul is using this argument,
he's saying, My methods were right, my motives were right,
my message was right. And he's giving the church those
arguments for believing him and following him. And if I'm gonna follow a man,
those three things have to be, they have to be consistent, not
perfect. They're only perfected in one.
But they are, they're perfected in Christ. And here in verse,
go back with me to our text. We'll look at this last point
quickly. Verse 13, for this cause also
thank we God without ceasing because when you received the
word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. When
we spoke to you, we didn't come to you with enticing words of
the wisdom of men. We weren't trying to impress
you with our intellect or with our knowledge. We were just telling
you what God said. I don't want a man just to tell
me what God says. I don't want anybody to just
believe me because I said it. Search the scriptures and see
if these things are not true. If God said it, that's all I
want to know. And so Paul said, when we came
to you, we came to you with the word of God, a message of salvation. This isn't the word of man. If we don't have the word of
God, the only thing we have is my opinion and your opinion.
What's that worth? the philosophy of the world,
the reasoning of logic and science, so-called, and religion, and
what do we have if we don't have the word of God? Is this not
what men are doing, just following after talking heads and trying
to get some direction for life? We've got God's word. That's
what Paul's saying. He said, you followed me because
when I came to you, I brought to you the very word of God,
which is perfect. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. All scripture is profitable for
doctrine and for reproof and for correction and for instruction
in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished
unto all good works. Psalm 18, his testimonies are perfect and
pure. We don't say, well, yeah, but. We're not like that Old Testament
king. You remember the prophet or the
scribe brought the scroll to him and he started reading it
and the scripture says he took his pen knife out and he saw
a section he didn't like and he cut it out and threw it in
the fire. We don't do that. We don't take part of God's word
out. We don't discard any word of God. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke, every word he spoke was nothing less than the word
of God. Why would we not follow him? Not my place to try to convince
you the Bible's God's word. The Lord teaches you, you'll
believe it. Won't you? Won't you? You just can't not
believe it. You know, we're not interested
in moralisms and platitudes and nice stories. I just, thus saith
the Lord. What does God say? What does
God say? In John chapter six, the Lord
calls himself the bread that came down from heaven. And unless
a man eats of my body and drinks of my blood, there's no life
in him. And the crowd, which in this text is called disciples,
heard what he said and they said, this is a hard saying, who can
bear it? And many of them ceased to follow
him. They turned away. And the Lord Jesus said to the
disciples, he said, the words that I speak unto you are spirit and life. It is the spirit that quickeneth
The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit. They're spiritual. They can only
be heard by the power of the spirit of God and they're true
and they're life. This is God's, there's no life
outside of God's word. And many walked with him no more.
And when that happened, he looked at the disciples, the 12, and
he said to them, will you go also? Aren't you going to follow
them? What did Peter say? Peter said,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we know and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. You've shut
us up to you, Lord. We've got no place else to go. Who will you follow? You will
follow someone whose methods are consistent
with their message, whose motives are for your best interest, and
whose message is true. It's true. And so, the reason why we follow
Christ. No reservations, no hesitation.
No man ever spake like that man. We have no one that loves us
like he loves us. We have no one who speaks the
truth like he does. We have no one who practices
perfectly everything that he declares like he does. Follow
me. All right, let's take a break.