So as I said earlier, this letter
was a very, very early letter. It was written soon after the
first one. It seems, if you turn down to
chapter 2, verse 2, it seems as if Paul was writing in response
to possibly a letter he'd received, or a word that he'd received
from the Thessalonian believers, and it says there, that you not
soon be shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor
by word, nor by a letter as from us. Someone had sent them a letter
signed by the Apostle Paul, which had troubled and disturbed these
people about the Lord Jesus Christ, as if the Day of Christ is at
hand, as if it was all about to happen. And so these Thessalonian
believers were not only troubled from inside but they were troubled
from people outside who were wanting to move them away from
the faith. It is extraordinary, isn't it,
how much of the time of professing believers, genuine believers
and obviously a lot of deluded people have been taken up with
things regarding the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
there could be no simpler doctrine in all of the scriptures, isn't
it? The Lord plainly says, despite what men have been doing for
the last 2,000 years, He plainly told them, no one knows the hour
or the time. So everyone who comes along and
speaks about somehow knowing and somehow predicting the signs,
they're doing it today, aren't they? Ever since Nation Israel
has been created over there in the Middle East, people have
been saying here's another sign, here's another sign, Russia's
another sign, Bin Laden's another sign, signs everywhere. He says
no one will know. We're not to look to signs, we're
to look to Him. And it's just amazing how how
easily people are captivated by things. And the simple thing
that I think Paul is trying to continue to remind believers
again and again, and I think he begins this letter doing the
same thing, If you hold on to the Gospel and have your eyes
fixed on the Lord Jesus, then all of those other things have
a perspective. But if you focus on those things, it's amazing
how the people that I have dealt with over the years who have
had some extraordinary fascination with the timing of the Lord Jesus
and all the events to do with it and a thousand years and everything,
they become captivated by it. If you've ever had anything to
do with the Seventh Day Adventists, they are experts in Daniel and
Revelation and Zechariah and a few books like that. They completely
take them out of context. They haven't got a clue about
the Gospel and Jesus Christ being crucified and they're experts
on all this other stuff. I think Paul is wanting them
and I think that's why he begins this letter in this extraordinary
way. He wants them to have the main thing as the main thing
all the time. If we have our eyes fixed on
the Lord Jesus and Him crucified, then all of those other things
will have their place. And so not only were these people
troubled, but in that troubling they had people who had stopped
working. They thought that if the Lord Jesus is coming back
tomorrow, why worry about doing anything tonight? Don't go home
and work tonight, Norm. If he's coming back tomorrow,
let's get ready, isn't it? And people had stopped working.
They'd given up their work. But also amongst them there were
people, according to chapter 3 verse 6, there were also people
who were behaving disorderly, they were walking disorderly,
and Paul goes on to say, and not after the tradition which
he received from us, they had no longer, they were amongst
the people and they were claiming to be part of the church, but
they were no longer walking in the light of the gospel. And
Paul has a simple instruction for them, doesn't he? Not only
are they persecuted on the outside, but when there's persecution
on the inside, and people moving away from the Gospel and walking
disorderly, as he says there, he says, just withdraw yourselves. Don't go into battle and don't
go into debate, just withdraw yourselves. If they have left
the Gospel, leave them in the hands of the God of the Gospel. And wait, wait patiently, wait
patiently for the Lord Jesus to come. But it begins this letter,
and it's so easy for us, isn't it, to sort of skip over the
top of these greetings at the beginnings, and I'd just like
us to spend a little bit of time looking at it. Because they are
foundations, aren't they? He lays a foundation at the beginning
of the letter, and he describes the Church, doesn't he, in Chapter
1. He describes the position of the Church, and the security
of the Church, and the safety of the Church, and the assurance
of the Church. Where is the Church? under the
Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father. The Church has
always been in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Church is always in perfect union with Him. And because of that
union and that belonging and that being a part of God in that
extraordinary way by sovereign divine grace. He says in verse
2, he says, these are the blessings of the church, aren't they? The
blessings of being in the church and being in God the Father is
that grace, grace, that's how you get there, grace unto you
and peace, grace and peace. So they are the great blessings.
The great blessings that can come to any of Adam's children
is to be the recipients of grace. And he goes on then to talk about
the source of that grace. This grace and this peace is
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I love reading
again and again the definitions of grace. I love reading the
definitions of grace that are in the scriptures and I love
reading faithful men that have put it together in simple words. It's a good thing, isn't it,
to contemplate grace. in this world where grace has
become a common thing. And if it's common grace, it's
meaningless grace and useless grace and fruitless grace. But
this is grace that's actually come from God the Father. So something that comes from
God the Father and something that comes from the Lord Jesus
is a powerful thing and it's an important thing, it's a significant
thing. It is the thing that unites God's
people to Himself, it's His grace. See grace, and I'll just read
through some of these things and we can contemplate them as
we go along and I'll give you something to read to take home
and rejoice in. Grace is only exercised toward
the elect. It is only for God's people. Only God's children are the recipient
of grace. And it's the sole source from
which flows the love, all of the goodwill and the salvation
of God to His chosen people. See, grace is the sovereign and
saving favour of God. They're blessings, aren't they?
As I said, they're blessings bestowed upon those This is a
great description of us, isn't it? Bestowed upon those who have
no merit in them and from which no compensation is demanded. They are the recipients of grace. To be a recipient of grace you
have to be thoroughly ill-deserving and hell-deserving. Grace comes
to people who have no positive merits in them whatsoever. It's not given. Grace is not
given in response to any goodness in us. It comes from God the
Father. It's completely unmerited. It's completely unsought and
it's altogether attracted. unattracted. It's altogether
unattracted by anything in, or from, or by the objects upon
which it is bestowed. Grace can neither be bought,
nor earned, nor won by the creature. Sometimes you wonder why Paul
took these people and was taken by God into situations as he
was with the Thessalonians where he comes there bruised and battered
and abused and he is there and no sooner is the Gospel proclaimed
than the enmity in the heart of men is stirred up and as we
see from 2 Thessalonians it continued on. They were even prepared to
falsify a letter as if it came from Paul. And you see that opposition,
that hostility rising up to the Gospel. And one of the reasons
I think for it is to show the saints of God what they really
are in their Adam nature. It's to reveal to us what we
are, what we really are. Grace is unmerited, it's unsought,
and it's altogether unattracted by anything in or from or by
the objects upon which it's bestowed. It can't be bought, it can't
be earned and it can't be won by the creature. The recipient
has no claim upon it and it's in no way due to him. It comes to him as pure charity. And it comes to someone who doesn't
ask it and doesn't desire it. Therefore it is directly in opposition
to works or worthiness of any sort. Paul wrote so much, didn't
he, about the grace of God because he was a remarkable example of
the recipient of grace. Paul marching on that proud way
to Damascus with those letters in his hand that recommended
him from the religious people that he could go and persecute
others. What a great recipient. He says in 2 Timothy that he's
a pattern. He's a pattern. for all that
believe." Which is why he keeps saying, doesn't he, when he's
talking about grace, he doesn't really need, it's a tautology,
isn't it, to actually say this is grace and therefore it's not
of works. But again and again he says it's grace and not works. He just wants people to understand
that like him, God's children are recipients of grace. And
as Romans 11, 16 says, and if by grace, then it is no more
of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. So anyone who
talks about grace and talks about any human works and worthiness
and merits whatsoever is no longer talking about grace according
to this book. It comes as pure charity. So the grace of God, like God
in His other attributes, the grace of God is eternal. His grace was planned. When did He love these Thessalonian
believers? When did God begin to love them?
In eternity. It was planned before it was
exercised. It was purposed before it was
imparted. I do love that verse in 2 Timothy
1 verse 9. who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began." God's grace is eternal grace. God's grace is free. Romans 3, 24, we are justified,
justified freely by His grace. And grace is sovereign. Grace reigns. I love how Romans chapter 5 speaks
of the grace of God. In verse 17 he says, for if by
one man's offence death reign by one, much more they which
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. 19 For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. verse 21 he says, where the sin
has reigned unto death, so even might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace reigns, that's
why it's called in Hebrews a throne of grace. And the grace of God
is entirely wrapped up and it's entirely revealed in and by and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. The law was given by Moses, says
John, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace reigns. It's the gift of grace which
is by one man. And the grace of God is proclaimed
in the Gospel. It's the Gospel of the grace
of God. And God understands when bringing
that gospel, it's a stumbling block to the Jews and it's foolishness
to the Gentiles. And the reason is that there
is absolutely nothing in it to gratify the pride of man. You see, the grace of God leaves
all sinners at the same. It leaves the most righteous,
moral man, the most religious, upright, moral man is in exactly
the same place as the most wicked of people. We've earned nothing. And God the Holy Spirit communicates
grace. That's why Zechariah 12.10 calls
Him the Spirit of Grace. So God the Father, as we saw,
is the source of grace. He's the fountain of all grace. And it's purposed in the everlasting
covenant of redemption. And God the Son is the channel
of grace. The gospel we proclaim is a proclamation
of the grace of God. And the Holy Spirit, who Paul
here is acknowledging as the one who has come amongst these
Thessalonians and created in them the most remarkable communion
and fellowship. The Holy Spirit bestows and applies
the Gospel. And so those who have peace with
God, the only people in this world who have peace with God
are those who are the recipients of grace. There is no peace,
the Lord says, for the wicked. And outside of the grace of God,
men are left in their wickedness. Peace. What a remarkable word,
isn't it? Peace. under this shepherd's
care. It's really good to read the
great description Ezekiel gives of the good shepherd. We don't
have time to read it all, but I'll just read you some of the
things that the good shepherd promises to do. When you have
time, go and read Ezekiel 34 and underline the promises of
God there. He says that I will search. I
will search for my sheep and I will seek them out. And then
he says, having sought them, he will deliver them. And then
He'll bring them out from the people and He'll gather them
from the countries and He'll feed them. He'll bring them to
a land of His own and He'll feed them. He'll feed them upon the
mountain. And I will feed them in a good
pasture, Ezekiel 34, 14. And upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be, and they shall lie in a good fold. Verse 15, I will feed my flock
and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God. And over in verse 25 he says,
having spoken about the Lord Jesus, he'll put this prince
among them and this shepherd over them and feed them and care
for them. And then in 25 he says, and I will make with them a covenant
of peace and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land
and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the
woods. As I've probably told you before,
Australian woods are quite benign places. If you watch out for
the spiders and the snakes, you can sleep in the Australian woods.
The woods that he was talking about were full of lions and
tigers and bears and all sorts of things. Not pleasant places,
but you'll sleep. You'll sleep in the woods. And
I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing
and I will cause the shower to come down any season and there
shall be showers And he goes on to say, And they shall know
that I, the Lord their God, am with them. This is what the Shepherd,
the Prince of Peace, brings to his people. I am with them, and
they, even the house of Israel, are my people, and you are my
flock. The flock of my pasture are men,
and I Am your God, says the Buddha. That's the shepherd. That's the shepherd exercising
grace. That's the shepherd bringing
peace. Peace with God. It implies, of
course, doesn't it, that there is, to have peace, there must
have been, there must be a state of enmity, of broken peace. And if there was broken peace,
then there was a state of peace originally. And the Gospel is
a proclamation, isn't it? It's a proclamation that God
and man are reconciled. The God who is of too pure eyes
to look on sin can call these people, these sinners, my flock,
and call himself their God. It's reconciling. It's a restoration
to that original state, but a restoration in a way that the Lord gives
all the glory and He's seen to be faithful, He's seen to be
glorious in His dear and precious Son, exercising all those covenant
arrangements, taking the sins of His people as if they are
His own. and bearing them away, so there
is no barrier between God and His people. I will be their God,
that's why He says He will feed them and He will make them lie
down and they will rest, they will rest in Him. So people think
that you just get into heaven by the skin of your teeth, that
God's people only just scrape in. I love what he says down
in verse 5, just at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. He says, counted worthy. What a great word. God's children
are worthy. The peace has been made by the
blood of the cross. God's children are worthy. They don't just scrape into heaven,
they go there as trophies of grace, of emblems of the success
of the Lord Jesus, gloriously accepted in the blood. He says
that they are all His delight, Psalm 16, His jewels, His treasured
possession. They are a royal priesthood,
a holy nation. They are worthy. Grace reminds us that the sole
source of peace is God. God must do something. There is nothing in or by or
from the sinner that played any part. Sinners are unconscious
of any need of peace. See, man has in his heart, he's
had it in his heart from the garden, hasn't he? He's had these
two idols that he's clinged to all the time. He has the idol
of himself and the idol of his notions of God. We carry around
and we live in those two lies until the grace of God comes
along. Man is totally incapable of doing
anything. But when grace comes, what does
Psalm 110.3 say? Thy people shall be willing. They will be volunteers in the
day of thy power. You have been made alive, you
have been quickened who were dead. The Gospel of 1 Thessalonians
reminds us it came in power and in the Holy Spirit and there
is now peace, peace between God and man. You see it's easy isn't
it just to read over those words and not to think about them.
and not to be reminded. It's good to be reminded, isn't
it? I like to be reminded of what the Lord Jesus has done,
how complete it is. I like to be reminded. Like the
hymn writer said, nothing either great or small, nothing, sin
and know. Jesus did it, did it all, long,
long ago. It is finished, yes indeed, finished
every jot. Sinner, this is all you need,
tell me, is it not? When he from his lofty throne
stooped to do and die, everything was fully done, hearken to his
cry. Weary working, burdened one,
wherefore toil you so? Cease your doing, all was done
long, long ago. Till to Jesus' work you cling
by a simple faith, doing is a deadly thing, doing ends in death. Cast your deadly doing down,
down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, gloriously. Nothing needs to be added. A child of God is perfectly fit
to enter Heaven's glories all the days of his reborn life. And that's why Paul, in verse
3, that's why Paul is constrained, isn't it? There's a recipient
of grace who's someone who, in the midst of all of these trials
and these persecutions that he's suffering, has peace with God. Paul's constrained. He must necessarily
He's bound, he says, he's bound to thank God always for you,
brethren. It's right, he says, it's meat,
it's right. The Gospel came to this group
of Thessalonian believers. It's interesting, isn't it, that
out of this Thessalonian synagogue that Paul preached in, there
was this mixed multitude. The Thessalonians weren't like
those noble Bereans down the road who searched the Scriptures
out daily to see whether those things were so. But from among
this Thessalonian, this ragtag bunch of Thessalonians, God raised
up a church, a church of Jew and Gentiles, a testimony to
grace, a living witness to the faithfulness of our God, a living
witness to the glorious victory of the Lord Jesus, who added
to his church daily, such as should be said. See, where the
Gospel comes with power from Almighty God, these things follow,
don't they? When grace comes and peace with
God comes, these other things flow. Just look at the beautiful
way Paul outlines the workings of grace amongst these people.
See, grace came And it's right for Paul to be thanking God when
he sees God's work of grace begun. Because at verse 3, because that
your faith, that faith grows exceedingly. Faith again is a
noun. It's a description of what they
believe and what that belief has done in their lives. And
what does faith that grows exceedingly bring? grows exceedingly, and
the charity, and the love, every one of you all toward each other."
You see, faith, grace brings faith, brings love, and then
it brings fellowship. It abounds, doesn't it? Your
love towards one another bounds. See, real love cries out for
expression, and real love cries out for love in return. And real people, real believers who
have these things, they are brought to a place where they've come
to know who God is. They've come to see that He is
faithful and He will do it. And they have patience. Verse 4. They have patience and
faith. It starts with faith, doesn't
it? Their faith grows exceedingly,
then love, and then fellowship in that love, and then a patient
waiting for God to continue to fulfil His promises, and then
faith again. Their patience and faith, and
it's a faith that perseveres. It's perseverance in all that
you endure. Persecutions and tribulations. That word persecution means to
pursue, they will pursue, they will harass these believers. And tribulation is to crush,
to squash. So there they were in this situation,
surrounded in a sense with enemies on the outside and enemies on
the inside. We read that verse in chapter
3 verse 6, that their faith worked in them to bring both a consecration,
a gathering together and a separation and a fellowship. a separation
from those who didn't walk according to the Gospel, and a consecration
and a gathering together. The good seed, the good seed
of the Word of God falls on the good soil and it produces a crop,
a crop of bounty. Virgin says you recognise the
root, recognise the real gospel and then look for the flower. Those that cherish the seed shall
rejoice in the plant. Faith, says our brother Paul,
works, worketh, works and works and works. It works through love. So Paul boasts, doesn't he? He
boasts. He boasts before God in these
people and he boasts about them before the other Christian believers. He glories in you, in verse 4,
in the churches of God. He's seen grace at work. He's seen grace and faith and
love and patience persevering. So he rejoices, Paul rejoices
in seeing the Lord at work. He rejoices in seeing his prayers
answered. He says in 1 Thessalonians, he
thanks God without ceasing, 2 verse 13. He thanks God without ceasing,
because they'd actually received, they'd believed the Word of God. They received it as it is in
truth. the Word of God. And then he knows that this real
Word of God, this Gospel has power. He says, which works,
effectually works in you that believe. He prays, doesn't he? In chapter 3 verse 12 he says,
in 1 Thessalonians he says, The Lord make you increase and abound
in love toward one another. That's his prayer, but down in
4, verse 9, he realises that the source of it, the encouragement
of it is that they're taught of God. You yourselves are taught
of God, 1 Thessalonians 4, 9, taught of God to love one another. Paul knew that this Gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. It's the power of God at the
beginning, it's the power of God, and it's the power of God
until the end. As he finishes the first letter
he says, the God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless until
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is that going to
happen? The next verse says, faithful is he that calleth you,
who also will do it. He trusted that the Lord, he
prayed, he saw his prayer answered, he was encouraged because that
was what God had promised to do amongst them and then he looks
to God to be more and more faithful. So it's a wonderful way of encouraging
people, isn't it? He encourages them for what he
sees. God doing in his life. So he
thanks God and they are caused in what they see happening around
them to look to God rather than look to themselves. It's a great
way, isn't it? It's a great model for encouraging. May the Lord give us something
of Paul's mind to encourage others for signs of grace. And what a place, what a church.
We don't know very much about them, do we? But what a place
of divine blessing. The Holy Spirit raises up before
us this little church and He looks to the fact that
in their perseverance, in the midst of all of the trials and
troubles, being pursued and being crushed, He's encouraged, He
wants the others to be encouraged because of their faith and their
love and their patience in the persecutions and tribulations. They were caused by grace. I
think it's one of the other things that grace working in the lives
of people does. Because it causes us, we are
caused by the work of the Holy Spirit to know what we are in
ourselves. I can't see other men's hearts
and I don't pretend to know what they're like, but I know enough
of my own to look out on others and esteem others better than
myself." It's just being honest. Self-righteousness is dishonest,
isn't it? And grace. Being the recipient
of grace and having peace with God, it causes God's children
to look beyond the imperfections of the flesh and look for signs
of grace at work. Find ways to encourage it, as
Paul did. He thanks God for signs of grace
abounding. It wasn't a perfect church. They
had misunderstandings about the doctrine of the Second Coming.
They had persecutions from outside and inside. They had all the
frailties that we have. But they had the grace of God,
knowing, brethren, your election of God. Why? Because they believed. That's why Paul's bound to give
thanks. gives thanks for their faithfulness. He wants to encourage them by
bragging about them amongst the other churches. What a remarkable
thing, isn't it? This little church is bragged
about amongst churches in America and England. We want to brag
about them as well, don't we? I spoke to my friend Drew Deets
yesterday on the phone and we had the loveliest conversation.
And he's going through with a little church out there in the middle
of Missouri. He says you can call the state
misery. I don't know what Missouri is
like, I've never been there. But it's just lovely to talk
to him and find that his trials, his trials are exactly the same
as our trials and there they are. a little group that God
has taken through extraordinary difficult trials and He's kept
them faithful. It's really, really encouraging
for me. Here we have a great challenge,
don't we? A great challenge and a great
encouragement. So where does all this come from?
This is what it is to be recipients of the grace of God. How does
God grow their grace? How does He grow their faith? He grows it through trials and
persecutions and He causes it to be exercised
personally in the lives of his people. I do read that verse
often and Drew and I spoke about it yesterday but in Romans 4
we have that great example of the Father of Faith. I love how
Abraham is described here. Abraham describes the character
of God in such amazing ways. The God who makes things out
of nothing. The God who speaks and reality
comes into existence. And he talks about this promise.
For the promise, verse 13, for the promise that he should be
heir of the world was not to Abraham or his seed, through
the law. The law hadn't even been given,
but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which of the law
be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise of none effect.
No faith and no promise. because the law works wrath and
where the law is there is no transgression. Therefore, therefore
it is of faith that it might be by grace. You see the promise is the promise
of receiving the Spirit, Galatians 3 says. Therefore it is of faith
that it might be by grace to the end The promise might be
sure. I want sure promises. Sure promises come to God's people
through grace, holding on to faith to the end that the promise
might be sure to all the seed, all of the seed of Abraham. I
like sure promises. But Abraham is described in verse
20, he said, he staggered not, at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." How did
he grow in grace and faith? We have that verse laboured upon
us, don't we? Grow in the grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus. To grow in grace is to grow deeper
and deeper in what I described as the grace of God earlier.
He was strong in faith and giving
glory to God. being fully persuaded that what
he had promised he was also able to perform. He just simply believed
God. Grace brings people just simply
to believe God. Therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness. Faith is God's to give, and faith
is God's to grow. It might seem like a muster seed, But if it's in the planting of
the Lord, it grows. It grows under His care and direction. And who would think that you
can grow it by crushing it and squashing it and causing these
people to be pursued? See, how does he encourage these
people? How, if we want to grow in faith
and grow in grace, what's in these verses for us? Faith, again,
as I said, is a noun. It means to believe, it means
to trust. To trust. I love how Paul says
it, doesn't he, in 2 Timothy, I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded, I'm convinced that he is able, he is able to keep
all that I've committed to him, commit everything to him, he
can keep it, he's able. This faith works in love, you
see it's expressed in fellowship. What's Paul rejoicing? that these
people are exercising faith and they're recipients of grace and
it's outworking in their lives and they're hanging in there
together. It's expressed, this love is
expressed in fellowship, fellowship with one another and fellowship
with the apostles, fellowship around the Gospel, fellowship
around the declaration of who the Lord Jesus is and what He
did, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And faith exercised by the grace
of God in love is patient, patient with one another, esteeming others
better than ourselves, and it's waiting, it's hoping, isn't it? It's waiting for the promises
to be fulfilled. It has seen them fulfilled in
the Lord Jesus. What does Romans 8 say? Won't
He also along with Him give you all things? The children of God
have all things. It's theirs. All things cared
for. All things ordered and secure. And so that's why When we're
talking about grace and Paul in these verses and in these
letters, he continues to describe the character of God before us
in his outworking, isn't it? God's people trust because they
know the character of God. They believe what God says about
himself in his word. And they are consecrated, aren't
they? They are committed to him. They're committed to Him, they're
committed to His people and they're committed to His Word. As we
go through these letters we'll see that's what Paul is encouraging
them to do, that's what he's excited about, that's what he's
bound to thank God for, that's what he glories in them. that
this faith has come by grace. And this faith is a tested faith. And in the testing it has grown
stronger and stronger. The trial of your faith which
is greater worth than gold. See, tested faith has been tested
in the fire. How did Job describe himself?
When I am tested and when I'm tried by the fire, I'll come
forth as gold. God brings trials to deepen and
to grow our faith and to remove the dross. And it's a secure faith. It's
a sure faith. It's a faith that has stood the
test, a faith that rests not in what man does, but it's a
faith that rests in God, His character, His purposes, and
His dear and precious Son. Let's pray.