One of the reasons for me rejoicing
over this young person who contacted me was that for 10 years there's
been a constant argument from her about God's electing love. It's amazing isn't it? So 10 years, more than 10 years,
it's just one of those Great sort of signs that we just never
give up. We spent an hour talking about
electing, choosing, predestinating, sovereign God, and instead of
her arguing, maybe, maybe, she certainly listened, but maybe
she listens. It's a great reason for us. to
not give up hope. Let's just read this short but
delightful letter. I'll read it and if you can mark
the bits that cause you to rejoice, then your page will end up something
like mine, full of marks of rejoicing. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus,
under the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ, grace be unto you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of
God and our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your election
of God 4. Our gospel came not unto you
in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake. 5. And you became followers of
us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction,
with joy of the Holy Ghost. so that you are examples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place. Your faith to God would be spread
abroad, so that we need not to speak anything, for they themselves
show us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and
to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. For yourselves,
brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in
vain, that even after that we had suffered before and were
shamefully treated, as you know at Philippi. We were bold in
our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. For our exhortation is not of
deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed
of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak,
not as pleasing men, but God which tries our hearts. For neither
at any time use we flattering words as you know, nor a cloak
of covetousness. God is witness. Nor of men we
sought glory, neither of you nor yet of others, that we might
have been burdensome as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle
among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children. Being so affectionately
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not
the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were
dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our
labour and travail, our forlabouring night and day, because we would
not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the
gospel of God. You are witnesses in God also
of how holily 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 does his children.
that you would work worthy of God, who has called you into
His kingdom and glory. For this cause also we thank
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
works also in you that believe. For you, brethren, became followers
of the churches of God which are in Judea, and are in Christ
Jesus. For you also have suffered like
things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews,
who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have
persecuted us. and they please not God and are
contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that
they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the
wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. But we, brethren,
being taken from you for a short time in presence and not in heart,
endeavoured more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Wherefore we would have come
unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered
us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are
not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His
coming? For you are our glory and joy. Wherefore, when we could no longer
forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and
sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God and fellow labourer
in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you concerning
your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions.
For you yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For
verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should
suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. For
this cause, when I could no longer forebear, I sent to know your
faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and
our labour be in vain. Timotheus came from you unto
us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, your
faith and love. And you have good remembrance
of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see
you. Therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. For now we live if you stand
fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render
unto 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 and the Lord
make you to increase and abound in love toward one toward another
and toward all men even as we do toward you. To the end he
may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our
Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his
saints. Furthermore, then, we beseech
you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you
have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so
you would abound more and more. For you know what commandments
we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication,
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honour. not in the lust of concupiance,
even as the Gentiles which know not God, that no man go beyond
and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord
is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and
testified. For God has not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despises, despises
not man but God, who has given also unto us His Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love,
you need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. And indeed you do it toward all
the brethren which are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you,
brethren, that you increase more and more, and that you study
to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your
own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly towards
them that are without, that you may have lack of nothing. But
I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remaining unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent, go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with him in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore
comfort one another with these words. But of the times and the
seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for
you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes
as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace
and safety, sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren,
are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a
thief. You are all children of light, and the children of the
day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let
us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For
they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken,
are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a
helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live
together with Him. Therefore comfort yourselves
together. and edify one another, even also
as you do. And we beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord,
and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for
their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we
exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the
feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, See
that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow
that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice
evermore. Pray without ceasing, and everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Quench not the spirit, despise
not prophesying, Prove all things whole, fast to that which is
good. Abstain from all appearance of
evil, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray
God your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless
under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he
that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.
Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord
deep, Lord, that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. Amen. There you go. I hope as I read it you can found
the reason why Paul says to rejoice evermore. Two simple words that
are just wonderful, aren't they? And what an encouragement. God
commands rejoicing. If you read the book of Philippians
again and again, he commands rejoicing and he's commanding
to rejoice in the Lord. Our rejoicing is a rejoicing
in the Lord Jesus and our rejoicing is not a rejoicing in sin and it's not a rejoicing
like the happy, clappy people of this world. It's a rejoicing
in the Lord Jesus, it's a rejoicing in who He is, a rejoicing in
what He has done. We are to rejoice in hope, to
be patient in tribulation. We are to rejoice with them who
rejoice. We are still to weep with them
who weep. But undergirding, undergirding
all of Christian life is a God who is absolutely sovereign.
And Romans 8.28 is a verse that is used all the time and it can
be misused by believers in the wrong circumstances. But God
is working all things for the good of those. And Paul, again
and again, as you probably saw there, he rejoiced again and
again over what the Lord had done in the lives of these people.
That was his constant way of encouraging people. He encourages
them because he sees signs of grace. He sees signs of God at
work, at God living in them, at God making his Word effective
to them. And so, towards the end of this
letter, there are times when he's encouraging the leaders
in the church and the other people in the church. There are certain
times when the unruly need to be warned. There are times when
those who are feeble-minded, those who are, as I discovered
when I studied the Greek, little souls, when those who are struggling,
we are to comfort them, we are to support the weak, or to exercise
patience. So all of those things are normal
part of Christian life. But when it comes to rejoicing,
he says, rejoice evermore. Rejoice always. There's no if in the text. It's not qualified by a when. It's not qualified by anything. It's just simply rejoice. Rejoice now, rejoice evermore. And as I said earlier, it's not
a rejoicing in sin and it's not an ignoring of the circumstances. There are times when our hearts
break for our brothers and sisters in the trials that they are going
through. But our rejoicing is a rejoicing, as I said, it's
a rejoicing in the Lord, that out of that darkness, beyond
those dark clouds, shines our God. And what Paul is excited
about is that these people have been found faithful to the faith. They have been granted the grace
gift of God. The grace comes from God and
there is no peace There is no peace with God unless there is
grace, which is why Paul begins these letters again and again
by saying, Grace unto you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul loved these people as a
father loves his children, as a nursing mother loves her children. And Paul is rejoicing, not only
over what he sees happening in them as they stand firm in the
Gospel under the trials, but he's rejoicing, he's crown of
rejoicing. He's rejoicing, he's looking
forward to that day when the Lord Jesus will come back, when
it will just be them and Him. The Lord Jesus, before He died,
in that upper room discourse, He said, These things I have
spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that
your joy might be full. It might be fulfilled, it might
be consummated, it might be real joy. The joy of this world is
the joy that's taken away, isn't it? It's taken away by sickness,
it's taken away by people losing possessions and other things,
it's taken away, it's shallow. These people were suffering the
most extraordinary circumstances, weren't they? And yet Paul in
the midst of their trials and their troubles and their appointed
afflictions is actually rejoicing over them and encouraging them
to rejoice. Let's just think about some of
the things, let's think about four or five things that Christians
need to be rejoicing over. a judgment coming, isn't there? There is a judgment coming. Christians
are pardoned sinners. How does he describe them? They
are people pardoned sinners in verse 10 of chapter 1, they wait
for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. delivered
2,000 years ago delivered. What role did you play in that
2,000 years ago? What contribution? Our contribution
is our sins. Our gift is the grace of God
that He died for His people. When by Himself He purged our
sins, we are sanctified by the offering of the Body of Jesus
Christ once for all. We are made to be saints. accepted
in the Beloved, He's put away our sins. And while these people,
even the people that my friend is caught up with in America,
is saying peace, peace to people, when they are saying peace, peace
to people, destruction comes upon them suddenly and they will
not escape. He bore the sins of His people
in His own body on the tree. And if He's borne them, then
you can't bear them as well. If He's taken our judgment, then
judgment is finished. And we have, as I've said so
often, the trials and the troubles are continuing, and the trials
and the troubles will probably increase. But there is, in the
midst of all of this, for God's children a cause for rejoicing. It's remarkable, isn't it, that
the Scriptures point to the Lord Jesus and say, in Hebrews 12,
for the joy set before Him. What was the joy set before Him? The glory of God's holy name
being honoured, the attributes of God being revealed in the
Lord Jesus. and the attributes of God and
the glory of His salvation being revealed in the fruits of it,
the people that He saved. Paul brings that message, doesn't
he, of this great Redeemer and he sees the power of the Redeemer's
love and he sees the power of the Redeemer's putting away their
sins by the activities and the response as the Word of God came
to them with power. It came to them with power, it
came to them with assurance, and they heard a message from
a man, but they actually got a message from God, specifically
designed for them and their circumstances. Rejoice. Rejoice. There is a judgment coming. Rejoice.
There is the truth, and there is just one truth, and the way
is narrow, and the errors are just multitudinous, aren't they? that young lady I was speaking
to today. You think of the era, how they
are so enticing to young people. They are so much inclined to
use the zeal of young people and the desire of young people
to use their lives in some way for the glory of God. The zeal
of these young people and their naivety is the very means for
drawing them in and drawing them in to cultish activities. How has the Roman Catholic Church
kept a billion people under control for 1700 years? By lying to them. Lying to them
in the name of the Lord Jesus. to know the truth, to know the
gospel, the gospel of God. To have that come in truth and
power is a cause for rejoicing. And so over and beyond all the
trials of time and the trials, the physical trials, the emotional
trials and the spiritual trials, over and beyond all of those,
if God has brought the truth and God has really saved us,
then we can go to this book, as I did today with this friend
of mine and I went to passage after passage, and we find delight. We might weep Paul's tears when
we read Romans 9, but we find delight in a God who is absolutely
sovereign. We find delight in the character
of God revealed in the scriptures. We find delight, we find peace
in the fact that He who cannot lie says that judgment is finished. And what did He say? He's delivered
us, a finished, completed, God doesn't remember the sins of
his people anymore. He's put them behind his back.
A pardoned sinner rejoices. We have, I love the way Peter
describes it in chapter 3 verse 21 of 1 Peter, he says, we have
the answer of a good conscience. The answer of a good conscience. And it's not something that we
have done. But we have an answer to a conscience that accuses
us. We have, as Paul says in chapter
2 verse 4 of 1 Thessalonians, we have a God who tests our heart. But in chapter, in Peter, Peter
talks about this conscience that's settled. You're a conscience,
you're a conscience like mine. will accuse you. I don't doubt
it for one little bit. Satan will accuse you, other
people will accuse you. But what he says, he talks about
baptism, he talks about being likened to Noah and the ark,
and this like figure where unto even baptism does now also save
us. Not the putting away the filth
of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. And that good conscience, that
answer of that conscience, is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who
has gone into heaven, verse 22, and is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him. We
will be accused that our conscience Our conscience will be stilled
as we look to Him. If my conscience accuses me,
it is because I cannot find at that time in Christ's suffering
and His satisfaction and the finished work that He's done,
I cannot find that God is pleased with me in His Son. He's pleased with me because
He's pleased with His sons. This is the answer of that convicting
conscience. It's not what I've done, it's
the answer is what he has done. No man has perfect faith. We
all have doubts and fears. It's not a perfect conscience
that causes us to rejoice, but a perfect saviour who answers
that conscience. We don't find assurance in ourselves. I read an illustration of a very
tragic situation, and I'll just read it to you from the words
of this fellow called Austin Phelps, and he's telling the
story of a man called Charles IX of France. In his youth he had humane and
tender sensibilities. The fiend who tempted him was
the mother who had nursed him. when she first proposed to him
the massacre of the Huguenots. This was at the end of the 16th
century, 50 or 60 years after the Reformation and there was
just a huge movement of Calvinistic believers in France. Calvin was
a Frenchman and so there was a huge Protestant movement throughout
France and they were called Huguenots. And she proposed the massacre
of these Huguenots and he shrunk from it with horror. No, no madam,
they are my loving subjects. Then was the critical hour of
his life. Had he cherished that natural
sensitiveness to bloodshed, Saint Bartholomew's ease would never
have disgraced the history of his kingdom. It was a huge massacre
of Protestants, beginning in Paris and spreading throughout
much of France. You can look it up on the internet. He would never have disgraced
the history of his kingdom and he himself would have escaped
the fearful remorse that craved him on his deathbed. As he lay dying, he said in his
last hours, awake or asleep, I see the mangled forms of the
Huguenots passing before me. They drip with blood. They make
hideous faces at me. They point their open wounds
and mock me. Oh, that I had spared at least
the little infants at the breast. Then he broke out in agonising
cries and screams and bloody sweat oozed from the pores of
his skin. He was one of the very few cases
in history which confirms the possibility of the phenomenon
which attended our Lord's anguish in Gethsemane. That was the fruit
of resisting years before the recoil of his youthful conscience
from the extreme of guilt. God's children have the answer
of a conscience. What an extraordinary thing it
must be for the unsaved to have that conscience which they have
calloused through their lives, like the calluses on our hands,
hardened and hardened and more and more insensitive, to have
it fully awakened. and for them to be fully aware
of all of their sins before God and before man, and for them
never to be put away and for them always to be before them.
God's children are saved from the wrath to come, rejoicing
sinners, rejoicing in the Lord Jesus. He answers a guilty conscience. We are not to look inside, we
are to look outside, we are to look away to Him, and that's
where we find peace. He who in that boat can speak
to that storm and say, peace be still, can speak peace to
the hearts of his people. And it's a real peace because
it's grounded in his true character as he's revealed in the scriptures,
not in some made up God. Reason to rejoice because we
have that answer of a good conscience. We have reason to rejoice because
we've been delivered from the wrath to come. We have reason
to rejoice because we have one who is willing and able to bear
my burdens. He'll bear them. He has borne
them and He is bearing them now. Cast your burden upon the Lord. He is able and willing to sustain
you. Why? says 1 Peter 5. Because He cares for you. What care had he shown to these
Thessalonians? There in the midst of idolatry,
there in the midst of Jewish idolatry, he'd come with a gospel
and he'd taken his people, as he plucked them out of Egypt,
he'd taken his people out of that world. and he'd left them
there surrounded by thorns and surrounded by other things and
he protected them as a lily among the thorns and his eye was on
them. His eyes are always on the righteous
and his ear is open to their cry. God hears his people. God listens to his people. We should be people who have
moments of great rejoicing, great rejoicing in Him who has made
us to be sons. It's the Church of God in God
the Father and in the Lord Jesus. As many as are led by Him, led
by Him like these Thessalonians to hear the truth, to have the
Gospel sent with power and much assurance. As many as are led
by Him are the sons of God, led by Him to see your need of Christ,
led by Him to believe on Christ, led by Him to suffer for His
name's sake, led by Him What does Galatians 4 say? It says,
Because you are sons, in electing love and in adopting love, because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
heart, crying, Abba, Father. We can call God our Father. And this sonship comes, he says
in John's Gospel, as many as received him, he gave the power,
he gave the authority, he gave the ability. As many as received
him as Christ, this Jesus, Some of them believed in Acts 17. They received him. They received
him as a prophet, priest and king. They received him as a
substitute. They received him as he set forth
in the scriptures. They received him as he set forth
in the preaching of the Gospel. And that word had come to them
in power, hadn't it? And they'd received it not as
the word of men, but as the word of God. They received Him, they
believed on Him. All of that is the work of God. Delivered from wrath, someone
who carries our burdens, someone who makes us sons, adopts us. Someone who brings us to a place
where we have access to God. We have not just access, but
we come boldly to the throne of grace. what can take away
ultimately the rejoicing? If we have access to God, He
who is the source of all things, He who is the source of rejoicing,
if He's commanding rejoicing, then He's going to give reason
for rejoicing. He is the treasure and in Him
we have access. And I love what John says at
the beginning in those amazing verses at the beginning of his
Gospel. We have received from Him, He who is full of grace,
and of His fullness, verse 16 of chapter 1, from of His fullness
have we all received. Grace for grace, a fountain of
grace, overflowing, abounding grace, superabounding grace. A grace that is sufficient for
the circumstances. Is there anything that comes
into your life, anything that ever will come into your life,
for which God has not already made provision? for which God
not only has made provision, but He's made not only for that
to be for your good, but to rebound to His glory. Things that are
hard, things that are tough. In Matthew 6, He says when you're
praying, He knows what you need before you ask. And if we give
good things to our children, how much more is He going to
give good things to His? It's choosing, electing, sovereign,
redeeming grace. And what about the future? What
happens to believers? We've looked at it in Chapter
4 and Chapter 5, haven't we? What happens to those who have
gone before us? They're in this remarkable place,
aren't they, of communion and union and fellowship with Him. That's what's going to happen
to us, isn't it? When he comes back again, this is what Paul
is rejoicing over. He's rejoicing over the fact
that when the Lord Jesus comes, they are going to be his crown
of rejoicing. If death, if the worst that this
world can bring upon us is death, and that death just ushers us
into the presence of God and all of his saints. With it comes
resurrection and a new creation. If the biggest thing is dealt
with by God, then all the little things have a perspective, don't
they? If He's dealt with all of our sins, if He has made His
people holy, We have reason to be rejoicing evermore. And he goes on to say in verse
17 of chapter 5, pray without ceasing in everything give thanks
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In verse 23 he says, And the
very God of peace sanctify you, make you a saint, make you a
holy one, and do it properly, finished, perfectly, complete,
sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit,
soul and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calls you. who also will do it. I love the fact that when He
commands, He creates. When He commands, He creates
and He ensures the fulfilment of those blessings in the lives
of His people. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You again We thank you again for the revelation of the truth.
Your Son is the truth. We thank you again, our Father,
that you have made Him unto us to be wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Heavenly Father, we thank you
that the lives of your children are hidden with Him, hidden in
Him. Our Father, we thank you. We
thank you that on that cross, your dear and precious Son bore
all of the wrath until holy justice cried out, enough. And our dear
and blessed Saviour said, it is finished. We praise You, Our
Father, for a finished and complete and full salvation. Help us to
look to Him to find causes for rejoicing in the midst of the
trials and the troubles of this world, Heavenly Father. We thank
You that You are a God who rejoices over Your children who are singing
and You call upon us to rejoice. We pray, Heavenly Father, that
You would create in us what You have promised. We commit ourselves
into Your hands with thankfulness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.