2 Thessalonians chapter 1, we
have in the last verses, we have the promise of the Lord coming,
and it's really interesting, we spoke last week about what
it is for Him. to take vengeance on them that
know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
and they'll be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. But the coming of the Lord Jesus
in verse 10 is a coming to be glorified. It's almost as if
His judgment on the wicked is not the main theme of Him's coming
back. The main purpose of Him coming
back is Him to be glorified in His saints and to be admired
in all them that believe." And here's a great description of
saving faith, isn't it? Because our testimony among you
was believed in that day. And in verse 11, Wherefore, on
account of all this, Paul comes to pray. Also, we pray always
for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling and
fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work
of faith with power. And this is the end result of
it, isn't it? This is the aim, the aim of the preaching of the
Gospel, the great desire that we should have for each other,
isn't it? That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified
in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and our
Lord Jesus Christ. So I'd just like to spend a little
bit of time with you, as the Lord allows, just looking at
this prayer. It's amazing, isn't it, how the Holy Spirit has so
graciously given us so many examples of Paul's prayers. And it's a
really extraordinary thing, isn't it? Here we have again and again
Paul praying for those that he loves. Paul praying for those
that he sees standing firm, standing as one in the testimony. They believed, these Thessalonians
believed Paul's testimony. They believed Paul's testimony
about the Lord Jesus. They believed Paul's testimony
about the Scriptures. They believed Paul's testimony
about who they were in their father Adam. They believed Paul's
testimony about who they were in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what saving faith is, isn't it? It's believing a testimony. Believing a testimony of God. Believing the testimony of God
about His people. But so often in the scriptures
we have Paul, the Holy Spirit has given us examples of Paul's
prayers. Paul says that he prays always
for them. That doesn't mean that he prayed
24-7. What it means is that when he
thought of them, he prayed for them. When he had opportunity,
he prayed, and he prayed consistently. He prayed with constancy, and
he prayed purposefully. I don't talk much about my prayer
life and I don't expect others to talk very much about theirs.
Those who boast and talk much of their prayer life cause me
to greatly doubt whether they pray at all. It's like the man
who told me that he'd fasted for a whole 14 days once. He hadn't fasted at all. He'd
done something that allowed him to brag about it. If he'd really
fasted he wouldn't have said a word to anyone. Because so
much of our spiritual life is a life that's actually lived
between us and God. But James says, James says that
the prayers of a righteous man, the fervent effectual prayers
of a righteous man In James 5.16 he says, Confess
your faults to one another and pray for one another that you
may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. Prayers are precious, aren't
they? Prayers avail much according to God. And the righteous man,
of course, is not a man that's righteous in himself, but a man
that's righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul prays,
and the Holy Spirit has given us examples of Paul's prayers
that we might know the heart of this extraordinary man and
we might know what moves him, we might know what excites him. He says this is life for him,
that the Thessalonians believe, the Thessalonians stand firm,
stand together as one. And it's extraordinary, isn't
it, how much of the New Testament is taken up with the apostles
encouraging the saints of God in the midst of trials and tribulations
to stand firm in the faith. And here's this little church
like all the other churches in the New Testament. They're surrounded,
as it were, by opposition. Opposition from within and opposition
from without. And they are just these remarkable
trophies of the grace of God. The afflictions are appointed
for them. They are appointed by God that
His people might be seen to be trophies of grace. Man can grow
big churches, but God seems to grow little churches and cause
them to be afflicted. I love what Hebrews 10 says,
I'll just read these verses to you. The call to remembrance
of former days in which when you were illuminated you endured
a great fight of afflictions, Hebrews 10. partly while you
were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions,
and partly while you became companions of them that were so used. For you had compassion on me
in my bonds and joyfully took the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring
substance. Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For you have needed
patience that after you have done the will of God you might
receive the promise yet for a little while, and he that shall come
will come and will not tarry, and now the just shall live by
faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who
draw back. unto perdition, but of them who
believe to the saving of the soul." Afflicted churches. So therefore Paul prays. He's
praying for these people because he knows that the trials that
they are going through are real and they are personal and they
are persistent and they are being endured by these people, it says
in verse 4 of chapter 1. Endured by these people, by the
grace of God he causes them to endure. And what's his prayer? That you would be counted worthy,
you would be deemed worthy by God. not deemed worthy by man,
not deemed worthy by this society, not deemed worthy by ourselves,
but counted worthy by God. And what's the reason for this
worthiness? In verse 3, their faith grows
exceedingly. and their love for each other
abounds, and their patience and faith in all the persecutions
and trials that they endure. They endure them by the grace
of God. They are appointed to them by
the grace of God. This is the way God grows His
church and grows His people and grows His people in love for
each other. He provides opportunity in the
midst of these trials that we might be able to care for each
other and strengthen each other by the faithfulness that He works
in us. So this is the calling, isn't
it? I count you worthy, count you worthy of this calling. What a remarkable calling the
Thessalonians had, there in the darkness of European idolatry,
there with that darkness added to by the darkness of Jewish
religion without Christ. But in 1 Thessalonians he says,
faithful is he that calls you. He's faithful. He's faithful
in his calling of his people. Faithful in calling them to hear
the gospel. Faithful in calling them to suffer
for the truth of the gospel. He prays that you, in 1 Thessalonians
1.12, that you would work worthy of God. who has called you into
his kingdom and glory. He's called you into a kingdom. And He's called you into a kingdom,
and in the midst of this calling, trials and tribulations and persecutions
abound. But they receive the Word of
God. They receive the Word of God
which effectually works in you that believe. It's a call to
holiness. It's a call to suffer together,
it's a call at the beginning and it's a call with a purpose. It's the upward calling, it's
the heavenly calling of God, called into a kingdom, called
into believing the gospel of the king of that kingdom. And
that's what he goes on to say, doesn't he, in the next part
of this verse, that God would fulfil that God would supply
every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ
Jesus, that God would fulfil all the good pleasure of His
goodness. It's remarkable the way Paul
keeps referring again and again and refers us again and again
to the character of God. God has a purpose. No one prayed
about God's eternal covenantal purpose of grace to save his
people in the Lord Jesus. See, it pleased the Lord. It
pleased the Lord to bless Israel. It pleased the Lord to make you
His people. It pleased the Lord to bruise
His Son. It pleased the Lord to crush
His Son. Our God has pleasures. The good pleasure of the Lord
will provide, I learned it. Sovereign grace is his pleasure. It's his good pleasure. And now
we read, it's the good pleasure of his goodness. The good pleasure
of his goodness. He makes His believers worthy
in the Lord Jesus, and then what He makes in them, He sustains
in them, and what He begins, He completes. And when He brings
blessings, when He blesses His people in the Lord Jesus, He
blesses them forever. What a great description of our
God. I keep reminding people, and I think it's true of me more
than anyone else, is that we lose sight so quickly of the
goodness of God. See, Paul here talks about a
sovereign purpose. A sovereign purpose with a good
pleasure and a sovereign purpose with a good pleasure of His goodness. See, goodness is just the essence
of God, isn't it? All the goodness that we see
that the creatures of this world display is only a goodness that
comes from Him. He is good in His essence, isn't
He? You are good and you do good
He's good in his decrees, he's good in his creation. He's good
in His laws, He's good in His providences. The earth is full
of the goodness of the Lord. And even His judgment, which
we read about in those verses earlier, when He comes and these
people are punished, it's a reflection of His goodness. It's a reflection
of the goodness of His character. All that God does is good and
right. Those legalistic, judgmental
people who bring dishonor and cause the name of the Lord to
be blasphemed, they actually despise the riches in Romans
2, they despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance
and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads
to repentance and the hardness of heart of these people, these
religious people who opposed this little Thessalonian band. Their hardness brings judgment. And judgment on evil is goodness
displayed. It's good for God to judge evil. It's good for God to rid His
creation of the evil. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children
of men. And what's His work? What's His
work? What's His greatest work? His
greatest work is the work of faith with power, bringing people
like us who have no life, no spiritual life and are dead and
at enmity with God, bringing them to a place of trusting the
Lord Jesus, just looking to Him and trusting Him. See, true faith
works by love, Galatians 5, 6. See, it's the work of God, isn't
it? It's the work of God to bring
spiritual life. It's the work of God to bring
the Gospel. It's the work of God to bring life so that sinners
like us can look to Him and find ourselves at rest in the faithfulness
of the faithful one. I love what Romans chapter 1
says, it's from faith to faith. The righteousness of God is revealed
from the faithfulness of his faithful one to the faith that
he works. He's the author and the finisher. He's the author and the perfecter
of faith. And it's the work of faith with
power. It's the power of God to bring
his saints to believe the testimony power of God and this work of
faith. It's interesting how often Paul
talks about it as a work of faith, a work of God and then it's marked
by activities in the lives of his people. The Gospel came to
them. The Gospel came as a word with
power. 1 Thessalonians 1.5, the Gospel
came with power. and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance and in much affliction it came to them, the work of
faith with power, that we might find ourselves again and again
gazing upon He who is so supremely faithful. What is the greatness
of His power? Paul prays, doesn't he, in 1
Thessalonians, in the first chapter of Ephesians, he prays that the
eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, being enlightened
by God and it's a divine act that can never be undone. The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know
what is the hope of His calling, what is the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness
of His power to us-ward who believe. What's the exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe? According to the working of His
mighty power, where is it seen? In all of this universe, it's
not just in the magnificent creation, the greatest display, according
to Ephesians 1, of the power of God, the glory of God and
the power of God which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead. and set Him at His own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and
power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world but also in that which is to come. And
He has put all things, this is our sovereign God, all things
under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things. to His Church, which is His Body,
the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Last week we looked
briefly at what it was for the Lord Jesus to suffer, to suffer
that infinite wrath of God, to have sins, the sins of His people
made to be His sins. Him to be made sin, Him to be
made a curse, and Him to suffer all of that infinite wrath of
God, and we to suffer the infinite wrath of God. It fell on us and
we died with Him. And the rising, the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection of all of His people is the greatest
display of the power of God. All of the attributes of God
are on magnificent display in that activity, aren't they? The
extraordinary power of His holiness and His justice and His truth
and His faithfulness. the work of faith with power. And that power that's at work,
that same power from God is at work in the hearts of believers.
Faith is a miracle, isn't it? Trusting the Lord Jesus in the
midst of this world, in the midst of the sin that's in us, in the
midst of the sin that's around us, in the midst of the opposition,
it's a standing miracle. in this world, that people are
kept faithful to the testimony of the apostles regarding our
Lord Jesus. Now that's the end result, isn't
it? That is the next word there, that the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be glorified in you and you in Him. What a remarkable
sentence. What a remarkable sentence. I
don't have the time, nor the energy, nor the ability to piece
it all together for you tonight. But I pray that God would cause
you to go away and think about what that means. That all of
the glory of our great God is revealed in you and you in Him. I love what it says about the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So many people talk about Jesus
and talk about Jesus Christ and so many talk about the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then when you get to hear them describe Him, you
find that His name, which is His character, isn't it? See,
it's the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just the words.
It's not just those letters on a piece of paper. It's actually
His character, isn't it? It's all of His character. At
the end of that verse you'll see according to the grace of
our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He is described by Paul yet again
here as God over all. If you want to see what God's
like, you have seen Him in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. So
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to call Him God, to call Him
Absolute Sovereign who has purposes that we've just looked at and
who fulfills those purposes. A Sovereign. A Sovereign who
is love and He's loved His people with an everlasting love. They're
full of love and kindness. He draws them. He loves them
everlastingly. He loved them in eternity. He
loved them in his son. He loves them now and his love
for them doesn't change when they get to heaven because he
changes not. That's what it is for him to
be God, infinite, eternal glory. Holy Truth. He is Truth. He is Light and in Him there
is no darkness at all. He is the Way and all of His
ways are righteous and faithful. He is faithfulness itself. What does Paul say at the end
of 1 Thessalonians? He says, Faithfulness describes him, faithful
to his covenant, faithful to his promises, faithful to his
people, faithful to the glory of his name. It's wonderful,
isn't it, that God the Holy Spirit directs us again and again to
the very character of God. He takes the things of Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the fullness
of the deity in a body. He takes the things of the Lord
Jesus, His name, His character, and His work, and He reveals
Him to us. He reveals Him in us, that the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you." So
here they are, this little band of Thessalonian believers, persecuted
by their countrymen, persecuted by the Jews, suffering persecution
and tribulation. God's children are glorified,
the Lord is glorified in them as He sustains them in the midst
of the trials and tribulations they suffer as Christians. We
must be mindful that so many people suffer as non-Christians,
but God's children delight in the tribulations that they suffer
for the sake of the Gospel. It's worth suffering for the
sake of the glory of the name of our God. Having a good conscience,
says 1 Peter 3.16, that whereas they speak evil of you, what
evil was spoken of these Thessalonians? What did the Jews say about them
that they wouldn't keep the law of Moses and they wouldn't be
obedient and they wouldn't declare their God as King? What evil
did they speak of Paul? Whereas they speak evil of you
as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that they falsely accuse
your good conversation, your good way of life in Christ. For it is better, if the will
of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than for evildoing. He calls upon his people to adorn
the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. It's a blessing. A blessing that God guarantees
that He sustains His people by grace through faith. That the
name of our Lord Jesus might be glorified. Glorified in our
testimony about Him. Glorified in standing together. Glorified in loving each other
in the midst of all these trials and tribulations. Not glorifying,
in glorifying our good works and our good deeds and our powerful
evangelism and all of these other things. We actually don't have
to boast about anything. All of our boasting is in Him,
always in Him alone. And it grieved the Apostle as
we see in Romans and other places. It grieved the Apostle that the
name of the Lord Jesus was not held up as glorious by those
who claim to be his. It's a stark word, isn't it,
that Nathan brings, the Lord brings to David when he'd sinned
against Bathsheba. He says, by this deed, Thou hast
given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." May
God protect us from such things, but may God especially protect
us from what those Hebrews were warned about was letting down
the sails, as it were. They drew back and says, if any
man draw back, it means to let down your sails and to not sail
hard with the wind in the proclamation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. That's His hope, isn't it? His
hope and His joy and His crown of rejoicing at the coming of
the Lord Jesus is these people, these Thessalonian believers
in the presence of God at His coming, that He might be glorified,
glorified by grace. The grace that saves riches like
us. The grace that keeps us. The
grace that keeps them faithful. And you in Him, isn't it remarkable? You in Him. What are God's children
to the Lord Jesus? I keep reminding us that Summer
Solemn is just absolutely amazing, isn't it? The pictures. You are
all fair, my love. He continually speaks as if he's
absolutely overwhelmed by she who calls herself black. but
he's beautiful. And he takes her into his banqueting
house and he's banner over her is love. You're all fair my love,
there is no spot in you. We are, brethren, his jewels. We are, Psalm 16 says, we are
all his delight. You're all fair, my love, my
dove, my undefiled. We are the treasured possession
of him. We are the vehicle, the means
through which he gets the most extraordinary glory. What glory
does the Lord get in saving people who have nothing in themselves,
are nothing but sin in their Father Adam, enemies of God,
trophies of grace, all beautiful within, because He is the One. He's the one who gets all the
glory, doesn't he? He gets all the glory for keeping
them faithful, for keeping them in love, for preserving them
in the midst of persecution. What great glory he gets as he
surrounds them with enemies and he raises up and allows enemies
to be raised up in their midst and yet he keeps them faithful. Faithful in tribulations, faithful
in suffering, Faithful in love, faithful in hope, manifest tokens
of the righteous judgement of God, worthy of the Kingdom of
God for which you suffer, according to the grace, according Isn't it amazing, isn't it? That's
the measure, isn't it? Counted worthy, glorified in
us, and us in Him according to His grace. That's the measure
of it. I read again this afternoon, John 17, and it's just amazing
how often the word glory is there. Why don't we just look at a few
of them, and then we'll close. He begins this prayer. Here is
this high priest about to go into the holiest of holies in
heaven with his own blood. About to make all of his bride
perfectly holy, manifestly before the Lord of God. Father, the
hour has come. glorify your son. And why does he wish to be glorified?
That your son may also glorify thee. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as Thou
hast given him. And this is eternal life, that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. And then in verse 4 he says,
I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work. which thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto
the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, they were given as a gift, they were given as a gift because
they belonged to the Father. Thine they were and thou gavest
them me and they have kept What a remarkable statement, brothers
and sisters in Christ. Kept the word of God. Isn't that
remarkable? That's his prayer. Do you think
the prayer was answered? I think this prayer was delightfully
answered and wonderfully answered. That's what the resurrection
is all about. They have kept thy word. Now they have known
that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me." The testimony that Paul's talking
about, the testimony that's believed. They have received them, which
is exactly what he describes the Thessalonians having done. They received the word, the word
that came through a beaten and battered man who looked weak
and pathetic in the midst of all the famous oratory of that
day. They received it not as the word of men, but they received
it as the word of God. And they have received him, and
have surely known that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world. His
prayer is purposeful for a particular group of people. But for them
which thou hast given me, for they are Thine, and all Mine
are Thine." Isn't it wonderful? All that the Father gave Him
are His, and He declares that they are His. All Mine are Thine, and Thine
are Mine, and I am glorified in Them. Isn't it remarkable? that is glorified in them, what
was going to happen in the next few hours? What was going to
happen to them all? Peter, James and John, all of
them boasting, just in the previous chapters, boasting about how
they were going to stand with him. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I have come to thee, Holy Father. Keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. Again and again. You can read
it at your leisure when you go home. He sanctifies himself, he prays
in verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may
be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be one. in us, that the world may believe
that Thou hast sent me, and the glory which Thou gavest me I
have given them. that they may be one. That's
what Paul's delighting in with these Thessalonians, is now I
live, because you stand fast together. You stand fast together
in faith, you stand fast together in the faithfulness of the testimony
of the Gospel, you stand fast together in the trials and tribulations. You stand together, for Paul
that is life, because he sees the promises of God being fulfilled,
the testimony believed. I in them, and Thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved me."
Loved, brethren. Loved by God the Father, exactly
the same as His love for His Son, because we are one with
Him. Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. What's happening in heaven? They're beholding the glory of
God, and what's their song? Thou art worthy. They are made
worthy and what do they proclaim? They proclaim his worthiness. A righteous father the world
has not known thee. That's exactly how these Thessalonians
lived isn't it? In a world that didn't know God
and didn't understand and didn't know them. The world has not
known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that
Thou hast sent me, and I have declared unto them Thy name."
You see, he has revealed the character of God to them. He's revealed the character of
God to us. And we'll declare it, that the
love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them and I. I don't know about you, I am
just continually, continually amazed at the amazing grace of
God in our dear and precious Saviour. May He cause us to walk
worthy. Let's pray.