We hope to touch your heart. Seeking once more the Lord's
gracious help to guide me and direct my thoughts, I'd like
you to turn to the second chapter that we read together, 2 Thessalonians 1, and the text
you'll find in verse 3. We are bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, as it is meat, because that your faith groweth
exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all towards
each other aboundeth. The two chapters that we read together
I'm sure you noticed were very similar, especially at the beginning
as the apostle writes to this church at Thessalonica. The church
is a very young church and yet it is a church that has grown
very, very quickly in the faith. It is a church that we see that
they As soon as they believed, they entered into persecution. And it was something that happened
very, very quickly. And it was something that the
apostle warned them about, that as they believed in Christ, they
would undergo great opposition from those fellow people round
about them. But he encourages them. to continue
to persevere, that they had been called unto, that they were appointed
unto much affliction and that was the pathway of themselves
as apostles and also the pathway of the Lord Jesus Christ. He encourages them as they go
through the book, as he goes through the letter about their
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and so much so that it
seems in the second book that some of them gave up work altogether
and they were waiting for the imminent coming of the Lord Jesus. And so he writes to them in the
second epistle and tells them that it's not to be the case
that we do sit back and be idle waiting for the Lord Jesus but
we are to work and provide for our families and wait for the
coming of the Lord Jesus. It's like having one eye on the
things of the world and one eye looking up into heaven waiting
for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it's a very young
church and the apostle feels very greatly for them. And in
some ways I can understand how he feels. Having been involved
in planting a church and witnessing people coming to the truth and
then leaving them in a very vulnerable state, your heart naturally is
concerned for them. and the Apostle Paul had that
love for the churches that were planted and for the early believers
that came to the Lord Jesus Christ and so he writes to them and
in fact he even sent Timothy to them to find out how they
were doing because He was so worried about the amount of persecution
that was going on he sent Timothy there to find out if there was
still any believers left or not and yet he is so encouraged that
Timothy brought to him good tidings of their perseverance, of their
faith and charity. ultimately he is not only thankful
to them and pleased for himself that they have continued, he
gives thanks to God. In the first epistle, chapter
1 and verse 2, he says, we give thanks to God always for you,
making mention of you in our prayers. And then in the second,
chapter 1, he says, we are bound to give thanks, to thank God
always for you, brethren. It is meet or it is right. to
thank God. After all that they had gone
through and all they were going through, the Apostle Paul, he
doesn't speak and tell them, well done, you are doing really,
really wonderfully. Your strength is amazing. You're doing great. Pat yourselves
on the back. No, he gives all the glory to
God. I give thanks to God for you. He acknowledges that it is only
God and God's enabling grace and God's strengthening power
that is causing them to persevere under much trouble and difficulty. In the first epistle, chapter
one, he says in verse four, knowing brethren beloved, your election
of God. He acknowledges that God has
chosen them. They didn't choose themselves
to follow Christ but God chose them before the foundation of
the world and he thanks God in verse 5, for our gospel came
not unto you only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance knowing what manner of men we were among you
for your sakes. For you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction,
with joy of the Holy Ghost. so he sees that God chose them,
he sees that God worked his power in them by the power of his Holy
Spirit and then he sees that it is God who turns them from
their idols unto the living God. But he says it's you and how
ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true
God. Now we know that it's not them and them alone but all that
God had done by the power of his spirit that the word came
with much power and that power caused them to turn from idols
to serve the true and the living God but immediately they entered
into persecution. Now, naturally speaking, if you
were to choose yourself to go on a walk or to follow somebody,
and as soon as you set out, you ended into great hardship and
difficulty, you would begin to think, well, what on earth have
I done? Why have I chosen to take this
course? Why am I finding it so difficult? Sometimes if you don't have a
sat-nav and you're driving along and you come off one motorway
and you come onto the M25, you come down the slip road and straight
into a traffic jam. You think, well why didn't I
just turn around before? Now I'm stuck here. And you just
have to deal with the problems and you can be annoyed and frustrated
by what has happened. With these people, as soon as
they believed in Christ, as soon as they turned from their idols,
they entered into great opposition and persecution. Not just people
not being nice to them, but real persecution, beatings and death. But the apostle encourages them. Chapter 2 and verse 14. He says that this is also what
has happened to us. For ye, brethren, became followers
of the churches of God, which is in Judea, and are in Christ. For ye 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 pleased not God. and are contrary to
all men. And so he says because this has
taken place you are now together with us. We have also been persecuted. The Jews that have believed have
also been persecuted. Others have also been persecuted.
Count yourselves as one of us. And then in chapter three he
says 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 beforehand that we would suffer tribulation,
even as it came to pass, and ye know. Then he says, for I
could no longer forbear, I sent Timothy to you. And so these
people were warned. This is what is happening to
us. We are believers in Christ, we're the apostles of the Lord
Jesus Christ and everywhere we go we are being beaten, we are
being thrown in jail, we're being persecuted. And yet they preach
the gospel to them and the Holy Spirit works within the Word,
powerfully works upon the hearts of these people. And they know
the warnings. They've had the warnings that
if you follow Christ you're going to be persecuted. Yet such is
that power within. They have no option. They can't
refuse the call. They must follow the Lord Jesus
Christ and they follow Christ and they follow the apostles
and they enter into hardship and difficulty. At Paul he knits
himself together with them. He doesn't elevate himself as
an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ but he brings himself
down to their level as we saw on the Lord's Day. The Lord Jesus
Christ humbling himself, washing the feet of the apostles, surprising
them by his humility. And we see the apostle Paul bringing
himself into unity with the church. He calls them brethren. He puts
himself on a level playing field with them. Although he is an
apostle, yet he is the apostle who suffered for the church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who was bound in chains. a prisoner of the Lord, yet he
was a brother to all those who are in Christ Jesus. And what
he saw and what he heard back from Timothy caused him to rejoice. We are bound to thank God for
you brethren as it is right because that your faith grows exceedingly. What he heard back from Timothy
caused him to thank God that they were continuing to not only
to exist as Christians but to grow as Christians in great trouble
and persecution and opposition. That their faith was not weak
or weakened by the pathway that they were walking through but
it actually grew. It was producing more and more evidences
of the spirit working in them. their faith had been tested to
the extreme. And as Paul listens to what Timothy
tells him, it causes him to rejoice and to thank God for this church,
a young church, Not a church that had been established for
years with believers who have been grounded in the truth from
children. No, this was a young church that
had come out of idol worship and Paul was seeking to nurture
them on in the faith. And yet as he looked at them,
he thinks, well, I don't have to nurture them. God is doing
great things in this church and I give him thanks that their
faith is growing. And as he looked at them he saw
that their faith was being tested by God. It was a young faith
yet it was a strong faith. enabling them to weather even
the mightiest storm. You think of little children as they begin
to walk. They're very easily knocked over. They totter around the house
and it doesn't take much for them to bash into something and
they are over. And so normally with young faith
we could say that they're easily knocked and those who have been
born again are childlike in their faith and they need to be protected
and God deals often very kindly with them. And as we grow and
as we walk on the pathway to heaven trials often come that
are bigger than we had experienced when we were younger in the faith.
But with the early church, they believed and then they entered
into a storm enough to shake any even mature Christian. But these brethren encouraged Paul because as he
saw them battling these storms, he saw the evidences of the Spirit
of God in them. that their faith was being tested
to the maximum enabling them to weather even the hardest and
most difficult storm. My mind went to the book of Daniel
with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and how just young men as they
were commanded to bow down to, in chapter 3, they were commanded
to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's image of God. And yet they refused
to bow down. And they were taken then before
Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar spoke unto them in a rage. Verse
13. Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and
fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and they
brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and
said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, do ye not
serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set
up? Now if you be ready, that at what time you hear the sound
of the cornet, flute, harp, sakhba, psaltery and dholsima, and all
kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I
have made. Well, But if you worship not,
you shall be cast at the same hour into the midst of the burning
fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands? There is the test that is put
to them. Will your faith hold up to this
test? Bow down and worship me. Or going to be thrown into the burning
fiery furnace.' Shayjak Meshach and Abednego answered and said
to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer
thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and
he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be
it known unto thee, O king, we will not serve thy gods nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up.' And so these men as
we know were thrown into the burning fiery furnace and the
Lord appeared for them and helped them and brought them out of
that burning fiery furnace and there was not even a smell of
smoke upon their clothes. And so they They were put to the test by
God. Will you, in the midst of this
burning fiery furnace, forsake me? With the threat of this burning
fiery furnace, forsake me and bow down and worship this image
of God. Their faith laid hold of who
God is. He says, they say, we know We
know our God and that he is able to deliver us if he wants to
do so. But if he doesn't want to do
so then he won't and yet we will not bow down to any of your gods
or any other image which you have set up. That's faith. Laying hold of
who God is. and believe in God more than
what you are being able to see, laying hold of the truth of who
God is that he is able to deliver, laying hold of his perfect character
that we'll have no other gods before him and we would rather
die and worship any other god as revealed to us in his word,
we know we will be accountable on that great and terrible day. And so it was a living faith
that they had, a faith that could be put to the test and that it
would pass that test. The same with the Thessalonians,
those from Thessalonica, they were a young church, they were
young believers, Yet such was the work of the Spirit in them, such
was the teaching that Paul had given to them. They were grounded
in the truth. They had a great knowledge of
God and they were able to persevere unto the uttermost, some even
dying. And Paul even being concerned
for them, worried about them. Yet he is thankful that they
were growing under the midst of great opposition and persecution. The scripture tells us that faith must be living, must be active. It is not a inactive part of
the Christian life. You can say it's almost the motor
which drives us. James tells us in chapter two,
in verse 14. What does it profit,
my brethren? Though a man say he has faith
and not works, can faith save him? If a brother or sister be
naked or destitute of daily food, and one say unto them, Depart
in peace and be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give
them not those things which are needful to the body, what does
it profit? Even so faith, if it has not
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest
that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he offered up Isaac, his son, upon the altar? Seest
thou how faith wrought with his works, or working with his works,
and by works his faith was, perfected and the scripture was fulfilled
which says Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness and he was called the friend of God. And so true
living faith, the faith of Abraham is an active part of the Christian
and it cannot remain inactive. as faith if it does not have
works or it does not produce a fruit or produce any movement
then it's dead, it doesn't exist, it's a false faith. If it does
not produce any of the works or the characteristics of a Christian
then it can be a false faith. The scripture tells us in Matthew,
the Lord Jesus tells us in his parable of the sower, as the
word of God is sown, it goes into the heart of a person and
it falls on various different types of hearts. But one of the
hearts in Matthew 13 verse 21, or verse 20. But he that receiveth
the seed in stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receives it. Yet hath he not root in himself
that endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. And so he says that there is
where faith is tested. Someone may show evidences of
life, may spring up with joy, they may continue for a little
while, but then when times of tribulation come, times of difficulty,
times of hardship, times of persecution. It is then that you begin to
see the true workings of the grace of God in the heart. True
faith. True faith enabled these Thessalonians
to persevere in the midst of great hardship. True faith enabled
the Apostle Paul and the other apostles to persevere even unto
death in some cases. And Jesus says it endures for
a little while but then it's gone. It comes up and then it's
gone away because of the hardship of the pathway. Jesus tells us
it is through much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom
of God. And as Paul looked at this young
church and he saw opposition and persecution coming from this
way and that way, he saw them being chased as he saw them being
beaten, he saw them being killed, he saw them being put in jail,
yet he thanked God that he could see that what has been implanted
in them was a true work of God himself. And it was indeed that
the word came with much power and with much joy. And that even
in their persecution, the word of God sounded out all over the
country. And so Paul rejoiced that they
were growing in the midst of great opposition. How then can
faith grow? Faith, we know, is not a natural
thing. Faith in Christ is not a natural
thing. As I've said with those in Thessalonica,
the gospel came to them. Paul, on his second missionary
journey, took the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to them and
he preached the word. And as he preached the word,
the Holy Spirit worked through the preaching of the gospel and
changed people's hearts. Those people began to believe
the things that were spoken by Paul. They began to lay hold
of the teachings of the scriptures and they began to be established
and rooted in the truth. And so much so, that they sounded
out the word of the Lord in every place. They proclaimed the gospel
and they turned away from their sin and they believed in the
true and in the living God. And so that is the beginning
of faith, a belief in Christ. It is a gift, the scriptures
tell us. Ephesians 2 and verse 8 down. And so Grace and faith are gifts of
God, they do not come naturally to a person, they must be implanted
there by God to enable the mind to be enlightened, to enable
the faith to lay hold of the Lord Jesus Christ and to believe
in the holy word of God and the promises that are written there. Romans tells us That faith, it
comes by hearing. Romans 10. So then faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God or hearing the word
of God. Faith comes by hearing. It came to the Thessalonians
as the gospel was preached, they heard the gospel. It entered
into their minds, entered into their hearts and they were changed.
But faith is also spoken of in Ephesians as a shield in the
armour of God, Ephesians 6. And verse 16, above all things,
taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all
of the fiery darts of the wicked. And so faith as a gift of God
is given to the believer. The Holy Spirit works in their
heart, breaks open their hard hearts and gives them that ability
to believe and trust in Christ and to lay hold of Christ. That
is the first step of faith that is taken to believe and trust
in the Lord Jesus. And saving grace is granted,
sins are forgiven. But it doesn't stop there. Faith is exercised day by day. Faith must be walked out. Faith must lay hold of the promises
of God's Word and as the exterior circumstances change, Faith remains
fixed upon the Word of God. As those from Thessalonians knew
and experienced, Christ was the same. His promises didn't alter. Although the opposition came
and the difficulties came, they exercised faith and laid hold
of what Paul had taught them. and they will encourage themselves
in the Lord, as we can say. And so the believer needs faith. It says, Paul says, that because your faith groweth
exceedingly. Their faith had grown in the
midst of opposition and that opposition is like wicked fiery
darts being fired at the believer. We know that Paul takes his illustration
from a Roman shield in which they were to hide behind that
shield the bigger your shield the less likely you are to be
hit and so if we can imagine that faith grows as knowledge increases that the
shield becomes bigger And it enabled that believer to resist
greater opposition, greater persecution, greater temptation, greater fiery
darts which are flung at them by the wicked. And these young
believers, Paul says, you've grown so quickly. Your shield
of faith has become enormous to enable you to resist the great
opposition that you are passing through. The Apostle Peter tells
us at the end of 2 Peter 3 in verse 18, But grow in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To
him be glory both now and forever. grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so there is a growing in
faith, there is a growing in grace, and there is a growing
in knowledge. And we can say that all of these
things are inseparably linked together. You cannot grow in
grace and in knowledge without growing in faith. You cannot
grow in faith without growing in grace and without growing
in knowledge. And I would say that knowledge
and faith are linked together very, very tightly. The knowledge
of God enables faith to lay hold of the greatness of God and to
be enabled to persevere in much opposition and difficulty. And the believer, he gains knowledge
both naturally but also experimentally. That he gains knowledge naturally
by reading and sitting under the ministry of the word of God
but also he gains knowledge by personal experience. The pathway
in which God leads him or her increases his knowledge, increases
his faith in God. Faith, you see, has to lay hold
of something. It's not blind faith. We're not
blind believers walking around with sticks just swinging them
this way and that way not knowing where we are going. I don't know
if you've ever seen a hose pipe. with a spray end on the end of
it and you turn on the water and it fires this way and that
way and it goes all over the place, no direction. Well that
is not an example of faith. Faith must lay hold of something
secure. When someone comes and gets hold
of the hose pipe and aims it in the right direction, faith
lays hold of something and it's God's word. Hebrews 11 tells us, verse one. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The scripture
tells us that later on without faith it's impossible Verse 6,
for without faith it's impossible to please him, that is God, for
he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek him. So without faith it's impossible
to please God and he who comes to God must believe that he is.
So you've got to have heard of God to come to God which is knowledge
and the coming to God is the exercise of faith. Now faith
is this substance of things hoped for. This word substance, an
easier word may be foundation. Faith is the foundation of things
hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith digs down
to the rock. You see when you're digging the
foundations of a house The person building digs down to a suitable
ground. They find somewhere that is hard.
Then they pour the concrete. Then they build off that. And
so faith is the foundation. It is that which is dug down. And what does it rest on? Faith
rests on the rock, which is Christ Jesus. Faith is the... Christ is the anchor of our faith. Or the rock in which our faith
anchors on. You have the hymn, don't you?
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life? He's the anchor
of our soul. If you think of a ship as it
lets down its anchor, and if they're all underneath, if it's
all sandy, that ship will drift. But until it hits a rock, then
it will be anchored, unmovable. And so our faith must dig down
and lay hold of Christ as our foundation stone, our anchor. And from Him we can add to Him
knowledge and understanding and our faith then can grow. As the
builder pours in the concrete, he then adds bricks to build
the house. And so as we are founded on Christ,
our Christianity doesn't stay there. We must grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith must
grow from being a weak faith to a strong faith. As Jesus said,
I've never seen such great faith. No, not in all Israel. And so
as we dig down and lay hold of Christ and as we learn of him
our faith is increased as our knowledge of him increases and
as our knowledge of the scripture increases. In the Westminster
Confession of Faith it says that faith is grown by three things. By sitting under the preaching
of the Word of God and every believer I believe can testify
that. You can come into a place of
worship and be at wit's end. You can be in desperate need.
Faith has almost disappeared and you sit under the preaching
of the word of God and you are revived. And you go out, you
go on your way rejoicing. And so you've grown in faith.
And that encourages you to persevere and to press on in times of difficulty. And so sitting under the word
of God preached enables the believer to grow in faith. But also in
the confession it says that sitting around the Lord's table, taking
of the sacraments is a means of grace, a means of edification
and a means of strengthening faith. As we view the symbols
of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and we are reminded then
of our rock. Our rock the Lord Jesus Christ
on which our hope is founded. we sit around the Lord's table
we are growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are growing in faith by reading from the Word of God.
We know that man does not live by bread alone but every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God As Bible reading is neglected,
you find yourself drifting off in prayer life, in Christian
conversation, becoming lukewarm and becoming weak in faith. As
we bring ourselves to the reading of the Word of God, we are feeding
and becoming strengthened by the Word itself. need to eat don't we day by day
we have to eat and so we have to eat from the word of God as
well to strengthen our faith and by prayer as we fellowship
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit we are growing
in grace, we are growing in faith. He that comes to God must believe
that he is and he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek
him. What is prayer? It's coming to God, it's believing
that he is able to help, it's an act of faith and he's a rewarder
of such. Those people who come to him,
he rewards them and they grow exceedingly in the faith. But also I think experience really
encourages believers. Listening to other people's testimonies,
listening to the way the Lord has worked in a person's life
is really faith building and confirming. The other day, I'm
sure Edwin won't mind me saying, that they bought some bunk beds. and I'm not sure where they bought
them from but Edwin had to drive to Brighton to pick up these
bunk beds. As he was loading them into the
car the man said, oh God bless you and so Edwin said, oh are
you a Christian and he said yes and so they had some good conversation
Edwin said and Edwin was encouraged that he'd met a believer in Brighton
and as Edwin drove off the man messaged him and said, as you
were reversing out of your place, the Lord prompted me to refund
your money. And he did so. And that's an
encouragement to the Lord's people that the Lord still works. The
Lord still prompts people to do things. and Edwin and his
family were able to have the money back which they would have
spent on the bunk beds and they've seen the Lord's hand in that
and not only does that encourage them but encouraged me and no
doubt it encourages you and our faith is strengthened. that the
Lord is able to intervene and help his people. But also great
faith then is active. As the apostle says, I don't
think we have time, because your faith grows exceedingly and the
charity of one of you all toward each other aboundeth. So even
in their persecution, their faith was growing and their love to
one another was also growing. Their charity, the working out
or the love in action as it is. So what he expected to see he
didn't see but he saw growth and love. Often isn't it in times
of great stress we're not very loving to each other even in
family life when things become stressful people become snappy
and argumentative with each other but when there's the unity of
the spirit all that we hope goes away and there is that real love
and that real concern one for another as it was in the days
of Paul and the early church. So may we be enabled if we haven't
got true faith to seek for true faith and if we have got living
faith then to exercise that faith and to ask the Lord to enable
us to grow in faith and in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ and to use the means that he has granted to us, not
to neglect the house of God, the place of worship, sitting
under the ministry, not to neglect the Bible reading, not to neglect
prayer and Christian fellowship, but to use those means and the
Lord's Supper as a means of edification and building up to enable us
to be like this church, that your faith grows exceedingly. May it be that Jesus could say
of each of us, I have not seen such great faith. No, not in
all Israel or the church. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Our closing hymn for this service
is hymn number 123 from Hymns of Worship. I know not why God's
wondrous grace to me has been made known, nor why unworthy
as I am he claimed me for his own. Hymn number 123 from Hymns
of Worship. ? Was wondrous grace to me ? ?
As it may glint ? ? Nor why unworthy as I am ? ? He claims me for
his own ? ? But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded ? that
he is able to keep that which I promulgated unto him against
that This saving faith to me He did
impart All have believing in His Word All peace within my
heart But I know Him, I have believed Him And I'm persuaded
that He is able To keep that which I've committed Unto Him
against that day. Revealing Jesus through the world,
creating faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed. Unto him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
May ne'er resound for me. Of weary days, O golden days,
Before his face I see. But I know him, I have believed
him, And I'm persuaded that he is able To keep that which I've
committed, and to Him against the day. I know not where my Lord may
come, I know not how nor where. If I shall pass the vale of death,
omit him in the end. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed
unto him against that day. Almighty God, we would pray like
the disciples, Lord, increase our faith. We pray that we may
be helped day by day to live out and to walk worthy of our
calling and of the Lord Jesus Christ to help us to be faithful
witnesses of him. We pray, Lord, that Thou be with
us now as we depart from each other. Do help us to continue
to meditate upon Thy Word, that it may bear fruit for Thy honour
and for Thy glory. We ask that Thou be with us upon
Thy day. Do grant us, do bring us here
in peace and in safety. Now may the love of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, Do abide with us now
and for evermore. Amen.