Well, God has called upon us,
all of his children in this world, to be witnesses. And we can only
be witnesses to things that we have experienced. God doesn't
call upon us to bear witness to things that we haven't personally
experienced. Rolf Barnard, the great American
evangelist, was asked whether he believes everything in the
Bible, and of course he did believe the Bible, but he said, I haven't
experienced all of it yet. And so when God's people experience
things, then truth becomes something which is more than just an intellectual
exercise. I have a whole bunch of theology
books over there in my office, as you have seen. And the ones
that sort of trouble me most are the modern ones where they
write about God and they write about the Bible as if they were
writing about Chaucer or Shakespeare, as if it's an intellectual exercise
to be weighed up and scholarly debate to be had. As we do with other people, I
pray that God would actually take us away from those things,
and that for us, like these people in Thessalonica, the Word of
God, the Gospel of God, would be something that's a living
reality, rather than an intellectual something that we hold to. You
see, we are so often asked about assurance, We so often meet with
people who question assurance. And we are going to meet, and
we have met, and we will continually meet with people for whom the
things that we hold dear because they are clearly revealed in
the Word of God, but more importantly are clearly revealed to our experience. The things that we cherish about
the Word of God are often the things that we are in dispute
with people over. And the answer, of course, is
revealed to us in the Word of God again and again. You see,
at the heart of the matter, we are to bear witness to the truth
of God because it's been experienced in our lives and it's experienced
in our heart. And that's the assurance that
we are talking about in 1 Thessalonians. That's the assurance in verse
5 that came to these people. You see the work of God was to
take Paul from western Turkey where he wanted to be and he
twice in Acts 16 wanted to be in Western Turkey as it is today
and God the Holy Spirit would not let him stay there and would
not let him go where he went where he wanted to be but he
was actually sent by God across to Macedonia to Philippi where,
as we know, he was imprisoned, and then just for these three
Sabbaths he was in Thessalonica, and then had to leave Thessalonica
almost secretly because of the stirrings that had happened in
Philippi had come to him and others in Thessalonica. but the
Word of God is powerful. And we looked last week at the
fact that God's gospel comes with God's power. You see what
it's done in these people in Thessalonica, both Jews and Greeks,
both Jews and Gentiles. You see, we give thanks to God
always for you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing. This is what happens when the
gospel comes, when THE gospel comes. Your work of faith, your
labor of love, and as we saw last week, and patience of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ. in the sight of our God and Father. The word was received in much affliction and with joy of the Holy Spirit. I was going to talk about contending
for the faith tonight, but I've actually sort of moved my message
on to the fact that the great things that we talk about and
the great things that are absolutely essential to our faith are revealed
here in this passage in a really moving way and a very real way. See, the doctrines of the Bible
are personal for us. Robert Hawker says, the great
and leading doctrines of the gospel. in the everlasting love
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, more or less, are in every page. The person, glory, bloodshedding
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, with redemption
only in His blood, and regeneration only by God the Holy Spirit,
these are the bottom and foundation of all our mercies. To contend
for these, and with earnestness, is to contend for the very life
of our souls. Any indifference or coldness
to the open profession of these glorious truths in ourselves,
or to the denial of them in others, is wounding the Redeemer in the
house of His friends. It is high treason to the majesty
of God, It is traitorously admitting the enemy into our citadel. But our defense of these things
is just not an intellectual exercise of winning debates with people. At the end of the day, I'm not
much interested in winning debates with people. I'm not much interested
at all in people being five-point Calvinists or six-point Calvinists
or whatever. You can go to hell as a five-point
Calvinist as easily as you can go to hell as an Arminian. At the end of the day, the doctrines
that we hold dear are doctrines that say something always about
our Lord Jesus Christ. And they say something about
us, something that we have experienced. And that's what these Thessalonians
had done. See, when the Gospel comes, it
doesn't come just in words, but it comes in power, and it comes
in the Holy Spirit, and it comes in much assurance. We hold dear those truths, don't
we? That the Bible is the holy, inspired,
inerrant, infallible Word of God. But the reason we hold it dear
is not necessarily because of verses in the scripture that
proclaim that, like 1 Timothy 3.16.17. But see what happens
with these people? It came to them and it came with
power. When God's word comes to us in
power, We don't need to be told that it is the Word of God. We've
experienced it, the Word of God. And when we meet people who deny
that it's the inerrant Word of God, they're actually saying
something about us and what we've experienced, and they're saying
something about the Lord Jesus and who He is and who He says
He is. So the Word of God came with
power to these people. because they received, if you
go down to 2.13, we thank God without ceasing because when
you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you
welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the
word of God. And then what does that word
of God do when it comes with power to people? It works effectively
in you. This is the work that's happened
in these people's lives, isn't it? Your work of faith, your
labour of love, your patience in the hope, and the assurance
that we have as our spirit bears testimony with God's spirit that
wrote the word, that these are the words of God that we are
talking about, not the words of men. We proclaim that God
is absolutely sovereign. He's either absolutely sovereign
of absolutely everything in this universe, or we have to find
another name for Him. Because where He's not absolutely
sovereign, He is not God, and so something else is sovereign. You see, The sovereignty of God
for the Thessalonians is not just a doctrine, it's something
that they've experienced. You read, look at chapter 2 verse
12. That you work worthy of God who
calls you into his own kingdom and glory. As you see, the sovereignty
of God is something that we've experienced. As we look back
on our lives, we see God's sovereign hand in the things that we've
done. We know from the scriptures that
man is totally dead. But you see, the deadness for
the Thessalonians is something they've experienced. You see
it came with power from the Holy Spirit and much assurance because
they now wait, in verse 10 of chapter 1, for His Son from heaven
whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from
the wrath to come. They have, in a sense, in their
conversion, experienced the judgment of God. They've experienced,
in a sense, the wrath of God. They have met Jesus, and they
have met themselves. We contend for the great doctrine
of election. Either God has chosen some people
to salvation, or there is no salvation at all. See, knowing,
beloved brethren, verse 4, What do they know? The election is
not something that's just an intellectual exercise again. I suppose what I'm trying to
get, the point I'm trying to make, is that we're actually
talking about an experience that we've had. And so when we're
discussing things with other people, we bear witness. God has called us to bear witness
to what we have experienced. That's what the apostles were
sent out to do, to bear witness. Knowing, beloved brethren, your
election of God. Election is something that Christians
know, because they've experienced it. It's not a doctrine to be
debated. For these people, it's a truth
that they've experienced, and it comes to them bringing much
assurance. And we stand, as we so often
talk about in the scriptures, we see it everywhere in the scriptures,
that the Lord Jesus came and redeemed all of his people. He did not come to this earth
as God in human flesh to try and do something. Do you see
what verse 10 says? They wait. That's their experience. They wait for His Son from heaven,
whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from
the wrath to come. You see, in chapter 5, if you
have your Bibles there, chapter 5, verse 9, it says, For God did not appoint
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Next verse. He died for us. He died for his people. And he's coming back to get all
his people. In verse 14 they're described
as people who sleep in Jesus. They don't go from this earth
to nothingness. They go to glory, resting in
the Lord Jesus. And when God comes, as he did
to these Thessalonians, and he has, I pray, in the lives of
our brothers and sisters here, we are regenerated and made alive
by the irresistible call of God the Holy Spirit. But again, it's
something that these people experienced. you're called by God into his
own kingdom and glory because the gospel that we proclaim is
a gospel that God says is powerful it is his power under salvation
for our gospel did not come verse 5 come to you in word only but
also in in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. God's children are going to be
called in such a way that they are delivered from the bondage
of the law. The wrath to come is the wrath
of a holy God whose holy law has been transgressed, and from
whose holy law not one jot or tittle can be removed. So God's
holy law will stand and be the basis of wrath, because God's
law is holy, God's law is good. You see, God's children have
been delivered from that. and God's children are saved
effectively so God delivers us He doesn't try and deliver His
people it comes in power and in much assurance and it effectively
works amongst us in verse 13 You see, it continues its effective
work. It begins its work, and it continues
its work. And its work is continually to
point us to the Lord Jesus. And those people will persevere
to the end. So they're the great doctrines,
some of the great doctrines of the scriptures. that we contend
for, but we contend for them on the basis of experience. We
contend for them on the basis of God's Word, and we contend
for them in a way which causes us continually to point people
to the Lord Jesus. We want, if God would allow us,
to put nothing in the way of people coming to hear the gospel. You see in Galatians 4 there's
a contrast, in Galatians 6 there's a contrast in verse 4 of Galatians
6. It says, But let each man examine
his own work. Then he will have rejoicing in
himself alone and not in another. The people in Galatia who came with
legalism, as many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh. These would compel you to be
circumcised. The same thing happened in Thessalonica.
You see, verse 3, our exhordation did not come from error or uncleanness,
nor was it in deceit. They were not pleasing men, but
God who tests our heart. Neither at any time did we use
flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness. God is witness. Nor did we seek
glory from men, either from you or from others. A multitude came to the Lord,
both Jews and Gentiles. God says that Judaism without
Christ is idolatry. Verse 9, how you turn to God
from idols to serve the living and true God. You see, the big question is,
isn't it, in terms of assurance, is am I saved by the God who
is described, who describes himself in this word? And am I saved
by that God in the way he describes his salvation in this word? See, Paul is so confident of
God's work in the lives of these people. He says in verse 8, We
do not need to say anything. So confident is he that God's
work has been done that he describes salvation. He describes their
salvation and he describes their Savior to them and their experience
says Amen to that. That's the assurance of faith. They repented, verse 9, they
turned. They had faith, verse 10, they
waited. And then, in response, their
labour is a labour of love. You see, it's not a labour of
compulsion. God's people are not paid to
be servants. They do it out of love. Whatever
is done because another man has made you, coerced you in any
way at all to do it, that's just law and legalism. It's not grace. When he talks about these people
who want to make a good showing of the flesh in verse 12 of chapter 6 of Galatians, they
compel you to be circumcised, but under that circumcision we
can talk about anything of the Old Testament law because it
was just the entrance into the Old Testament law. If someone
is compelling you or coercing you to do something under the
Old Testament law or in the church, or they are bringing you into
a situation where you're comparing yourselves with others and minding
other people's business. If there's an attempt to constrain,
to compel, to coerce others, it's just a show of the flesh. Look what I have got them to
do is what the Judaizers in Thessalonica were wanting people to do, and
the Judaizers in Galatia. Am I saved by the God who is
described in this Word? Am I saved in the way God has
described His salvation in this Word? Am I living with the assurance
that God has described for his people in this word. Then if we are, we have hope,
don't we, like these people? And we have rejoicing. If you
go home and read the letter, you'll find that rejoicing, like
in Philippians, is just all through it. These people are rejoicing
in what God has done. We're looking outside of ourselves.
for assurance and for comfort. We're told to make sure, make
our calling and election sure. We're told to examine ourselves,
but we examine ourselves not by looking inside of ourselves,
we examine ourselves by looking at what God has said about himself
and what God has said about his people. you see God says our Lord Jesus
says my sheep hear my voice and what do they do they follow me
God's sheep in this place heard the voice of God through Paul
and they They followed Jesus. They followed the Apostles in
their faith, in their calling. And we see, when we see that
the experience that the Apostles had and the experience that the
Thessalonians had is the experience that we've had, our hearts rejoice. because we see what God says
in his word is true, not in an intellectual way, but because
we've experienced it. See, when God calls and God comes,
he doesn't give us a choice, and he doesn't rely on our free
will. He takes up residence inside
us, and he makes himself so attractive that we experience Him and we
find Him irresistible and we find His presence and His hand
upon our lives both before and after our conversion just a delight. We're delighted to see Him coming. We're delighted in the way He
saves people like us. And so when my experience and
God's word are in joyful union, we rejoice. So we make our calling
and election sure and examine our own work because we look
at what God says. We look at what God says about
the way God says he saves people. We look at what God says about
the way God then works in the lives of his people. And even
though we don't see it consistently in our lives, we see that what
God says is true. There is power in this gospel
that just declares the deity of the Lord Jesus. See, I want
my salvation to be exactly as God describes it. I want my God
to save me and keep saving me exactly as He describes He's
going to do it. I want God to turn my darkness
into rejoicing exactly the way He says He's going to do it,
and at the time He says He's going to do it. And He gets the
glory and I get the rejoicing, whereas others who are compelling
and constraining and coercing people actually want glory from
men. They want to receive some glory
from men. They come along to you with flattering
words and they come along to you saying these are the things
that Christians must look like, must do. This is how Christians
must look like. You see, they have, according
to verse 5, a cloak for covetousness. God's people Don't want anything
from other people other than for them to rejoice in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus. Their glory, our glory comes
in God's time. You see what Paul says, we have
a Bible with you there. What is our hope, verse 19 of
chapter 2? What is our hope? What is our
joy or crown of rejoicing? What is your hope? What is your
joy? What is your crown of rejoicing?
Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? It's not what Paul's done. It's
what God has done. and in our fellowship we want
to be known as people who brag about the Lord Jesus we want
to be famous for talking an awful lot about the Lord Jesus and
we want verse 12 and 13 of chapter 3 chapter 3 to be real in our
lives, don't we? And real in the lives of people
that we invite along. And may the Lord make you increase
and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you
so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness
before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ with all his saints. You see, how's that going to
happen? Is it going to happen by someone compelling people
to love one another and be nice to one another? Verse 9 tells
you how it's going to happen. But concerning brotherly love,
you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves
are The God's children are taught by God to love one another. Turn over to chapter 5. So let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the best plate of faith and love, and
as a helmet the hope of salvation. And then he finishes this amazing
letter. Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you. How much sanctification do you
need to have to get into heaven? How good do you have to be to
get into heaven? You have to be as good as God. You have to be sanctified completely. Who does the sanctifying? Now
may the God of peace himself sanctify you and may your whole spirit soul and body
be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the God of peace comes with
the gospel of peace to his people and he brings that gospel of
peace with power And so we are, according to the scriptures,
to contend for the faith. And we do as Paul did. We preach
it openly. We preach Christ boldly. And
if God allows, we preach Christ faithfully. And we bear a testimony
that's the witness in our own hearts of what God has done. We don't have to bear witness
to things that we haven't experienced. And we pray. We pray always. Rejoice always,
verse 16 of chapter 5. We've got so much to rejoice
in. We pray without ceasing. And then this gospel constrains
and compels us in love. And may God raise up His witness
amongst us again and again that we will continue to experience
the things He's promised. That the Gospel might go forth
from our church as it did in Thessalonica. with power, and
with the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance, and may we be
people who wait in patience, patience for God to do what he's
promised to do. And when it comes to issues of
contending for the gospel, We want to direct people back to
the personal experience of God's Saints in all of the Scriptures,
from Abel through to the Saints in Revelation. They all experience
the same thing. They don't have to enter into
debates about issues of doctrine. At the end of the day, we have
a Lord to proclaim, and we have an experience which is written
down here for us, which is ours to defend. That's contending
for the faith. And if God causes us to be a
people who grow in love and nurturing of each other and causes us to
be a fellowship where we are characterized by love for each
other like these Thessalonians were and a passion for the Lord
Jesus like they were and God will get much glory and we'll
have much reason to rejoice regardless of how many come along may God
give us the grace to proclaim him boldly and to wait patiently. Let's pray.