All right, brethren, 1 Thessalonians
3. And God makes His people one,
surely makes us one. Paul had written to Ephesians,
and he said, there's one body, there's one spirit, even as you're
called in one hope of your calling, there's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all. And by the grace of God, Paul
had preached the gospel, and the Lord had made these brethren
at Thessalonica one with Paul, and Paul was one with them in
Christ. They were one. But due to that
persecution that came, Paul had been taken from them to Athens,
Greece, and so he wasn't with them in body, but his heart was
with them. He said back there in chapter 2, verse 17, we brethren,
being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart,
endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
And he tried again and again, but the devil hindered him. And he says now in verse one
of chapter three, wherefore when we could no longer forbear, couldn't
wait any longer, he said, we thought it good to be left at
Athens alone. Him and Silas. And he sent Timotheus, our brother
and minister of God and our fellow laborer 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 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 forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some
means the tempter have tempted you and our labor be in vain. Paul wanted greatly to see these
brethren at Thessalonica. And he waited as long as he could,
but he was willing, he wanted to know their welfare so much,
he was willing to be left alone at Athens and to send Timothy
to them. And this was the purpose, he
said there in verse three, to establish you and to comfort
you concerning your faith. To establish you and to comfort
you concerning your faith. It's through the preaching of
the gospel of Christ that the Lord establishes his people,
grounds us, settles us, plants us firmly on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's through the preaching
of Christ that he comforts us. Making us to know how that our
Lord Jesus Christ truly finished the work of redemption the Father
gave Him to do for all His chosen people. How that He really redeemed
us and how He's risen, how He's reigning over everything that
comes to pass in our lives. Constantly, continually reminding
us that we have been saved by our Redeemer. He has delivered
us and He's continuing to deliver us right now every day. And that's establishing. He establishes
us. He establishes us on the rock
Christ Jesus. And he comforts us, just as the
Lord said to his minister, comfort my people. Tell them their warfare
is accomplished. I've rewarded them double for
all their sin. And so Paul sent Timothy with
this message to declare this. And here's why he did it. I want
to look at three things here. It was first of all, he said,
It was to remind them that the Lord is faithful so that we should
not be moved. The Lord is faithful so that
we should not be moved no matter what we suffer. He said in verse
3 that no man should be moved by these afflictions. He said,
I sent Timothy to establish you and comfort you in the gospel
so that no man should be moved by these afflictions. Now, proudful
men, unregenerate men who are We all by nature were proud men,
and the proud man boasts that they'll never be moved. He said
in his heart, I shall not be moved for I shall never be in
adversity. But God's people have been made
to know We're sinners. We've been made to know we're
flesh and blood. We've been made to know we're
dust, we're weak. We've been made to know how we
need Christ to be our strength always. That's something the
Lord taught us in the first hour. Afflictions and trials and trouble
come and they trouble us. They do trouble us after all
the evil that Absalom had done to David, his father. David has
suffered all this trouble from Absalom. But when he heard Absalom
died, it moved David. Scripture says the king was much
moved and he went up to the chamber over the gate and he wept. He
went up there to this little room above the gate and he just
wept for his son. And this is what he said. He
went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom. Would God I had died for thee,
O Absalom, my son, my son. It moved him. Moved him. God's promised his people that
we shall not be moved. That's God's promise to them.
We shall not be moved. But unlike the proud man who's
trusting in his will and his works and trusting that he is
his own keeper, we know that we're not going to be moved,
but it's only going to be by our Lord. Psalm 16.8 is our Lord
Jesus speaking. And he said, I have set the Lord
always before me. Because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved. That was our Lord's faithfulness
when He walked this earth. He's before me, and because He's
at my right hand, I shall not be moved. That was our Lord's
meekness, the faith He had in trusting everything to the Lord
God. And He's taught us to have the
same heart toward Him, toward our Lord Jesus. He's taught us
that it's by Him alone that we shall not be moved. And so this
is what David said, the man concerning the Lord Jesus. He said of himself,
he said, the king trusteth in the Lord. And he said, through
the mercy of the Most High, he shall not be moved. He trusted
the mercy of the Most High. That's how David had some confidence
he would not be moved. It was not in himself, it was
in the Lord. It was in God. God promised his
church, he promised his holy city. In Psalm 46.4, he said,
there is a river. The streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the
Most High. God is in the midst of her. Here is our stability. Here's
how we're established. Here's how we're not moved. God
is in the midst of his church, in the midst of his people, in
the midst of his city. in the midst of us collectively
as his church and in the midst of each one individually. He's
in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall
help her, and that right early. And when affliction comes, we
can be shaken. We can be moved at first like
David was. We're shaken and we're moved
and hard at first, but we shall not be moved away from the hope
of the gospel. We shall not be moved away from
Christ. We shall not be moved away from
the preaching of His Word. We're going to be where Christ
has assembled His people and won't be moved away. We will
not apostatize from Christ. We're going to continue trusting
Christ. And the reason is, is because
our God has planted us in Christ our refuge. The reason's not
in us, it's Him. It's Him. We're in the refuge. We're in the cleft of the rock.
We're in the stronghold, Christ Jesus. That's why we won't be
moved to Lord Jesus Christ. We're in Him. He said in 1 Chronicles
17, 9, I will ordain a place for my people, Israel. That place
is Christ. That place is Christ. It's in
His holy city. in his church. I will plant them
and they shall dwell in their place and shall be moved no more. Neither shall the children of
wickedness waste them any more as at the beginning." That's
God's promise to his people. That's his spiritual promise
to his spiritual Israel, those that he's everlastingly loved,
elected, redeemed, called, and kept. That's his promise. That's
his promise. So Timothy goes there and the
first thing he's declaring to them to establish them and to
comfort them is, not because of us, but because of our Lord
and his sure promise to us in Christ, we shall not be moved.
We shall not be moved. He came there preaching this
so that no man should be moved by these afflictions. No man. Now get that settled in your
heart, believer. Get that settled. That's God's promise. There's
nothing about God's promises that you and I have fulfilled.
They're all fulfilled by God. Salvation's by promise. And that's
what God's promised us. That's his promise. Now secondly,
this is another thing that he establishes us with and causes
us to remember. Our afflictions are of our Lord. They are of our Lord. He said
there in verse 3, the second part, he says, for yourselves
know that we are appointed thereunto. I titled this Appointed Afflictions. We're appointed to these afflictions.
We're 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." Now, nothing is out
of order with our God. Absolutely nothing is out of
order with our God. All things are ordered by Him. All things are according to His
gracious purpose. They're brought to pass by His
will. And everything that comes to
pass comes to pass by His appointment, by the appointment of our God.
All are governed by His gracious hand. He created everything,
created the sun, the moon, the stars, all creation. He created
everything. Psalm 104 19 says, He appointed
the moon for seasons. The sun knoweth he's going down. He appointed the moon to make
the seasons so the seasons are appointed and the sun is appointed
and knows when to come up and when to go down. He did that.
It's by his appointment. Has it ever stopped? It's never
stopped. Never stopped since the beginning
because he appointed it. The birth of a man. your birth,
your life, what you accomplish in this world, and the day you
die. It's all appointed by God. Every bit of it. Job 14.5, His
days are determined, the number of His months are with thee.
Thou hast appointed His bounds that it cannot pass. That's so
of every man on this earth. Appointed by God. God appointed
the time when He would fulfill the prophecy that He wrote in
the scriptures by His Son. God appointed the time. He said
in Habakkuk 2, verse 3, the vision is yet for an appointed time.
That means God at His appointed time is going to fulfill everything
written, everything that He prophesied, everything He gave Habakkuk to
declare, God said He would perform it at the appointed time. But
at the end, it shall speak and not lie, though it tarry, wait
for it, because it will surely come and it will not tarry. And we saw Sunday The scripture
said, Galatians 4 verse 4 said, but when the fullness of the
time was come, the appointed time, God sent forth his son made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law that we should receive the adoption of sons. He came forth
at the appointed time. The prophecy would be fulfilled
at the appointed time. Christ came at the appointed
time. He didn't go to that cross one minute before he was supposed
to go to that cross. They tried to make him go to
the cross. They tried to take him, but his hour was not come.
But when the hour was come, he gave them permission. He said,
this is your hour. And he gave them permission.
He gave the devil permission to bruise his heel. But when
he suffered on that cross, he did not suffer one second more
than was needed to accomplish the redemption of his people.
Jesus, John 19, said when he knew all things were now accomplished,
that the scriptures might be fulfilled, he set out thirst.
And when he had finished the work, he cried, it's finished,
and he gave up the ghost. You know, just like God appointed
the time that every man on this earth is going to die, God appointed
that time when our Lord would completely satisfy justice, and
he then could give up the spirit to the Father. That time was
appointed. He did suffer one moment longer
than appointed, and satisfied justice for all his people. And
when it came time, we saw this Sunday too, He appointed the
time to send you the gospel, He appointed the time to send
you the Holy Spirit, where you'd be quickened and brought to faith
in Christ. Over in 1 Thessalonians 5, 9,
Paul said, God had not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. He appointed who He will save.
And at the appointed time, He revealed Christ in us, just like
He did these Thessalonians right here. at the appointed time. Everything in God's order is
ordered and sure, it's all by Him. He told us beforehand, the
Lord did. The Lord told us when He walked
this earth, He told His apostles, we've seen this in John, He told
them, in the world you shall suffer tribulation. But be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world. And He sent Paul telling
his brethren beforehand that it's appointed, we're going to
suffer affliction. And then he brought it to pass
right at the appointed time. So when affliction comes, that
is a comfort to us. That's a comfort to us. When
affliction comes, know it's appointed by God. It's appointed by God. Let that be a comfort to you,
child of God. Listen to this. Let's look at
it. Isaiah 44, verse 6. Isaiah 44 verse 6, Isaiah 44
verse 6, Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, This is our Lord Jesus speaking.
His Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, I am the first and I am the last
and beside me there is no God. And who as I shall call and shall
declare it and set it in order for me since I appointed the
ancient people. He appointed His people from
before the foundation of the world. He set it in order. He called. He declared it. Everything
is brought to pass by His appointment. And the things that are coming
and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither
be afraid. Have not I told thee from that
time, and have declared it? You are even my witnesses. Is
there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God, I know
not any." This is all of our God's appointment. Our salvation
is by God's appointment. And you know what the end of
our salvation will be? It will be God's appointment.
Our Lord Jesus said, I appoint unto you a kingdom as my Father
appointed unto me. That's his, it's all by appointment,
beginning to end. Everything in his creation, everything
in his providence, everything in salvation is by the appointment
of our sovereign God. So our afflictions and our trials
and our troubles are appointed by God. He said there in verse
3, yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. Now how
did Paul know this? Go to Acts 9. I'll show you how
Paul knew this. When our Lord saved him, gave
him an understanding, this is what
the message that was sent to him. Isaiah 9, 16. The Lord said, Let's read verse 15. He said,
The Lord said unto Ananias, He said, Go thy way, for Paul is
a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles,
and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how
great things he must suffer for my namesake. That's how Paul
knew. The Lord showed him things he
must suffer for the Lord's name's sake. Things he must suffer. Affliction from men is due to
the enmity of men's hearts against Christ and against his people.
There's no doubt about that. Affliction that comes from men,
there's all kinds of affliction, but affliction from men is from
the enmity of natural man's heart. That's not the only reason. That's
not the only reason. Afflictions for men, like every
sort of affliction, are by the appointment of God. They're by
the appointment of God. God's everlasting covenant, that
covenant He entered into, God the Father and God the Son entered
into before the foundation of the world. Scripture says it
is ordered and it is sure in all things. He left nothing undone. He ordered all of it. He appointed
the Son to do all things to save His people and left nothing out.
The Spirit of God will do the work in our hearts. Christ did
the work for us at Calvary. He's risen, reigning everything
now. God the Father ordered it all, and it's sure in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so is God's providence for
you and me. So is everything God works in
His providence for you and me. It's ordered and it's sure in
all things. The afflictions for men, like
every affliction, is by the appointment of God. Job 5, 6 said, Affliction
cometh not forth out of the dust. It's not by chance. Nothing is
by chance. Paul knew that. I want you to
look at Acts 20. He knew that. He's going up to
Jerusalem, and as he's leaving to go to Jerusalem, he knew,
he didn't know what exactly it was going to be, but he knew
there was going to be some affliction. Acts 20 verse 22, listen to what
he said. Acts 20, 22. He said, And now,
behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the
things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth
in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But
none of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify
the gospel of the grace of God." And where did he end up? The
Lord arrested him, used men and arrested him, and put him in
a hired house in Rome. And the Lord used him to preach
the gospel the whole way. And the Lord saved his people
the whole way. Even to the point that Paul, when he wrote to Rome,
he said, tell them in Caesar's house. I said, hello. The Lord
saved some in Caesar's house. What a comfort to know our Lord
appointed his child to every affliction. He appointed us to
the precise affliction. Now get this. Our Lord appointed
His child to the affliction. And He appointed the precise
affliction just for His child. He's appointed you to be afflicted
in this world. And He's chosen and appointed
the affliction that will be just what you and me need at the time
we need it. Where we see disorder, that's
what we see. We see disorder. We see these
unbelieving Jews coming to Thessalonica and just causing all kind of
trouble and turmoil and we just see disorder everywhere. But
it wasn't out of order at all. not in God's hand. It was all
according to his appointment, it was all in perfect order,
and God was working all things together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
That's what he's always doing for you and me, brethren. Always.
Now, the devil's aim, the devil's aim is to make us forget this.
The devil's aim is to make us forget that. And that was Paul's
great fear for these new brethren. That was his great fear for all
his brethren. That was his fear for the Corinthian
brethren. Our minds be corrupted from the
singleness of Christ, from looking to Christ only. And he said there
in verse 5, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the
tempter have tempted you and our labor be in vain. Paul wasn't
saying that he would preach and somehow the gospel would be void. He was just saying if they could
be turned away, they just proved they weren't his to begin with.
The affliction happened to these brethren immediately. And we
can be sure that caused them some trouble at first. They're
just sinners saved by grace like we are. And you know that caused
him some trouble to see all this turmoil, the whole city turned
on its ear by these unbelieving Jews. But that happened before. You remember the Lord made his
presence known to Jacob. He showed Jacob, I'm with you
Jacob, you're in the house of God. He showed him that. And
just immediately, immediately Jacob became fearful that he
and his family are going to die at the hand of his brother Esau.
It was like he'd never even heard God say, I'm with you, Jacob.
My presence is going forth with you. These fears are not only
due to our old man and our sinful fleshly unbelief. They are, that's
plenty with us, but they're also by the power and craftiness of
the devil, the tempter. Satan appeals to our discontented
sin nature. That's what he appeals to. He
appeals to our self-pity. He appeals to our rebellious
will when the suffering comes. He appeals to our fleshly love
of ease and our distaste for suffering. He appeals to that.
He works on our carnal mind to make us start minding the things
of the flesh. This is all just fleshly. This
is all just from all these causes around me and I've got to fix
these causes around me. That's where he wants you to
have your mind set. But here's the comfort. Look
to Christ. I mean look to Christ when He
walked this earth. Immediately after He was baptized. Listen
to this word. From Matthew 4.1, Then was Jesus
led up of the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. The Spirit of the Lord led Him
into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The Spirit of the
Lord Let him. Spirit of the Lord, let him.
The tempter said to our Lord, if thou be the Son of God, if he said that to our Lord,
he's going to say that to you and me. You've heard him say
it. You and me know it's not an audible
voice, but you know it's loud. But if you know the Lord Jesus
was led of the Spirit of God, and face the tempter by the Spirit
of God, know this, when you face him, you're being led by the
Spirit of God, just like the Lord was. The Lord defeated the
devil. He defeated the devil. He conquered
sin, death, and hell for his people. That's what he did. And
our sovereign Savior is only using the devil to show you and
me that he did. He's only using the devil to
show you and me that he has conquered the devil. He has bruised his
head. He has put away the sin of his people. He is our righteousness
and our redemption. He is providing for us and keeping
us and leading us. That's what he's using the devil
to show. The devil don't have free reign. He's showing us that He's our
King and He's our salvation. That's what He's using Him for.
So here's the last thing I want you to get. The end purpose in
our affliction, the end purpose of our God is always for our
good. Always. Always. Paul's writing this after
the fact, and he's looking back on the affliction, he's looking
back on God's deliverance with adoration and with gratitude.
And when it was going on, and that whole time when Paul didn't
know what had happened to him, he was troubled and they were
troubled. But now Timothy's come and talked to him and told him
and he's writing this to them and he's full of joy and thankfulness. Look at verse 6, but now when
Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings
of your faith and charity. and that you have good remembrance
of us always, desiring greatly to see us as we do 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 to God again for
you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before
our God? Paul had suffered a lot of affliction.
And through that whole time, when he's waiting on Timothy
to go there, that took some time. And he suffered at Athens. But their faith strengthened
his faith in the Lord. When he heard about them, their
faith and their love and their remembrance of him and their
desire to see him as much as he desired to see them, it strengthened
his faith in the Lord. It strengthened him in the Lord.
All this affliction was for that purpose. It strengthened them
and it strengthened him. That was the purpose. Was that
a good purpose? Was that a good end? That wasn't
what the unbelieving Jews wanted to work. They wanted to work
just the opposite. That ain't what the devil wanted to work. He
wanted to work just the opposite. He wanted them not to believe
the Lord. The Lord did all that and increased the faith of all
His people involved. If any believer is suffering
affliction, I want you to remember this. When the Lord first afflicted
us by making us hear what the law said about us, to declare
us guilty. That was by God's appointment.
That was by God's appointment, just like afflictions are. And
we were looking at our person, and we were looking at our works,
and we thought, boy, I'm so good and so righteous that God just,
he just bound to open up heaven and let us in. And God made you
hear that law reach to the thoughts and intents of your heart. And
all that pretended virtue that you thought would grant you entrance
into heaven suddenly made you see your sin. It was all sin
and you did deserve nothing but to be damned in hell. That was
affliction. That was affliction. The plumb line of the law made
us see how out of line we were. We've come short of the glory
of God. But what did the Lord work in you through that affliction?
What did work in you through that affliction? He turned you
to seek Christ and revealed Christ in your heart, and you beheld
how the Lord Jesus Christ, by laying down His life, redeemed
you from the curse of the law. You beheld how the Lord Jesus
Christ is your righteous acceptance with God. You beheld how He is
the holiness of perfection for you, and it's Christ in you is
the only way that you now believe and cast your care on Him. That
filled you with great joy, the very first affliction you ever
suffered. was the Lord showing you your
sin, and that He's your salvation, and it ended in you being rejoiced,
full of joy, and thanking God for what He did for you. Every
one of them do the same thing. They show us our sin, they show
us He's our Savior, and they make us rejoice and thank God
that He's our Savior. Every one of them. For his saints
our Redeemer lovingly sends the appointed affliction to keep
this good news in our hearts, to keep us rejoicing in him alone. Now you take a dog, if you try
to correct a dog with a stick or something, the dog's going
to turn around and try to bite the stick. The world will blame,
the unregenerate will blame second causes and they'll look at the
second causes and they'll try to deliver themselves by second
causes. The Lord's going to make His child look to the master
who's holding the rod. He's going to make us look to
the first cause, to our Lord, and see our sin and our need
and our weakness for Him. And in doing so, He's going to
make us know all over again, we're not saved by our strength.
There ain't one step we're taken by our strength. He makes you look beyond these
things below. He makes you stop minding the
things of the flesh, just like He did in the first hour. He
turns you to mind the things beyond the clouds of heaven. He turns you to see Christ seated
at the right hand of God, ruling and reigning everything, and
He's the one who worked this in you and is right there with
you, present, working it in you to turn you to Him from yourself.
That's what He's showing you every time. Every time. Israel was afflicted in Egypt,
but the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they grew, the
more they multiplied. And that's what's going to happen
to God's child. The more we're afflicted, the more He's going
to grow His child in faith, showing us our Redeemer is ruling it
all to keep us knowing He's our sovereign Savior. He draws us
to lean upon His mighty arm, to lean upon His loving breast,
to know we're safe in the arms of His unchangeable, eternal
love and grace. That's what He's keeping you
knowing. And He keeps you knowing that
the wildest storm that you ever encounter is ruled by your all-wise,
all-sufficient, all-knowing, all-powerful God and Savior. And He sent it just for you. And that's when we thank Him
with joy and with adoration. Here's what we say. We're going
to come to this in Psalm 119. This is what we say. Psalm 119,
71. Lord, it is good for me that
I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Verse 75
says, I know, O Lord, that thou judgments are right
and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me. You did it
in faithfulness. Psalm 34, 18 says, The Lord is
nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saith with such as
be of a contrite spirit, Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He appointed them. Of course He's going to deliver
him out of them. He appointed them. He appointed them so that
He can deliver you out of them and show you He's your deliverer. in your only deliverer. Child
of God, in every affliction, and I mean this, I mean every
affliction, every affliction, big or small, try to remember
every work of providence that our Redeemer is bringing to pass
in our life is just for you, to teach you, He's your deliverer. To teach you, He's your salvation.
Every single thing. That's what it's for. That's
what it's for. Zephaniah 3.17 said, The Lord
thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He is. The Lord, He's the Lord thy God,
for one, and He's in the midst of you. He's in His church, He's
in the hearts of His people, and He's mighty. He's mighty,
none mightier. He conquered all our foes. He's
conquered all our sins and our sorrows. He conquers our fears
and our foes. He's the only one that can do
it. He's the only one that can do it. And He said, He will save and
He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love.
He will rejoice over thee with singing. And that's where the
Lord brings us. Look here now in our text at
verse 9. Our Lord brought glory to His
name and He brought the brethren to rejoice in the Lord, and he
brought Paul to rejoice in the Lord. He brought glory to his
name through this. Verse 9, for what thanks can
we render to God again for you, for all the joy, where we rejoice
for your sakes before our God. That's what the Hebrew writer
said, means when he says, chastened for the moment's not pleasant,
But afterwards, it yields peaceful fruit of righteousness. There
it is. We give God all the glory. We see Him as He is. We thank
Him. We praise Him. And we rejoice
for one another for what God's worked in us. That's offering the calves of
your lips to Him. That pleases Him more than a
bull or a goat or any other sacrifice you can make. Right there. Praising and glorifying Him for
what He's done for you. Amen.