Well, may it please Almighty
God as we commence our meditation on the second epistle of Paul
to the Thessalonians that he will be with and bless us in
it. And this evening I thought we
would speak on the first four verses. That's the first four
verses of the first chapter of the second epistle of Paul to
the Thessalonians. I'll just read them. Paul and
Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians in
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to
thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet because that your
faith groweth exceedingly. and the charity of every one
of you all toward each other aboundeth, so that we ourselves
glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. The first two verses of this
second epistle are really almost identical to those first two
verses in the first epistle. And it's the same address when
he commences by saying, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto
the church of Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then the same desire that
he had previously, grace unto you, and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.' Well that is a good desire and may
it be our desire, one for another and indeed for the whole Church
of God, that they truly may be blessed with this wonderful blessing
of grace and peace. And so he says, grace unto you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a wonderful thing, isn't
it, to be blessed with these heavenly desires. And then he
goes on to speak about their faith and love. And it's encouraging
to read such a verse as this third verse, because he says
we are bound to thank God there was no doubt about it they had
this blessing and as he goes on to tell us what it was and
therefore he says we are bound to thank God and it's good in
our little lives when there are those things when we have to
say and the evidence is there that we are bound to thank God
always for you brethren for the Church of God for those that
we love in the faith, as it is meet, because your faith groweth
exceedingly. Again, his desire was previously
that they might indeed grow in faith, and surely that's true,
but here was this wonderful evidence, and the apostle was able to testify,
as he says, your faith groweth exceedingly. And we know that
the Apostle Paul was an honest man and therefore he would make
an honest statement. And it's a great blessing if
that is observable in the Church of God. It was with the Thessalonians
and it would be a great blessing if it is with all of us here.
that it's evident that our faith grows exceedingly. God-given faith, not something
that you and I have dreamt up ourselves, but it's that which
emanates from the power of God. What a mercy it is to have such
a blessing, to walk in the right way, the godly way. And indeed,
Solomon tells us in the Proverbs And in the fourth chapter, in
the 18th verse, he says this, but the path of the just, those
who are called by grace, those who are his children, the path
of the just, is as the shining light, it shines forth, that
shineth more and more, unto the perfect day. Well, these things
are important for us to consider, to look in our own hearts and
our own lives to see whether our light, that light which God
has given to us, shines forth. shows forth his praise shows
forth his mercy it's not something which is hidden but it's evident
what a mercy then that if that is so and so the apostle says
here uh he says we are bound to thank god always for you brethren
as it is me because of your faith growth exceedingly he doesn't
stop there he says and the charity or we might say and the love
of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth well surely
we have to say this was a healthy church this was a healthy church
bound together with living faith and love to the brethren what
a wonderful testimony it was that the apostle was able to
write to them and what a mercy if that is true of us here as
a little little church to realize that by God's grace our faith
grows exceedingly you know we do often pray don't we that we
may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ And of course, that's a good desire and a right desire.
And it's a great blessing if it really emanates from the Spirit's
work within. And we're able then to recognize
this great blessing of faith, gray seedingly, and the charity
or the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth. It doesn't say, well, there's
just a few here, one or two there, but it says here, that it aboundeth
toward each other. What a mercy that is and what
a favour that is. Now we remember that faith cometh
by hearing and this glorious faith is that which Moses was
blessed with. It's a wonderful example, isn't
it, as we ponder his life. We have of course in that 11th
chapter of Hebrews a list of those who were blessed with wonderful
faith, but we're told with regard to Moses, by faith he forsook
Egypt. Yes, he forsook the comfortable
life he had there. He forsook it, not fearing the
wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. A Christian's life is one of
enduring. We're not promised an easy life,
but we are promised enduring grace. What a mercy, therefore,
we can come to our God in that way. And so we have this statement
about growing in faith exceedingly and love everyone toward another. Again, the apostle picks this
same theme up when he writes to Philemon. It's only a short
letter but it's a very pithy letter and he says in the fifth
verse there, hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward
the Lord Jesus and toward all saints. See, faith and love are
two wonderful testimonies of the grace of God in the life
of his people. There is no faith and there is
no love. There's no real true picture of the grace of God being
set forth in the lives of a true believer. And so may we recognize
this. He says also when he wrote to
his son Timothy, and the first letter he wrote to him, he says,
and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant. with faith
and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Well, what a blessing
that was. He was able to write that with
regard to Timothy. And what a blessing if that's
true of each one of us here tonight, that our faith groweth exceedingly. We must not limit the power of
God. We must not think, well, I would
never come up to that. by the grace of God. As the Apostle
said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And how true that
is in all of our lives. It's not in ourselves, it's through
what Christ has done. And then he carries on in the
fourth verse, so that we ourselves glory in you, in the churches. What he's saying here is he was
able to declare to the churches as you went about the faith and
the love which the Thessalonians have been wonderfully blessed
with, with a gracious and glorious example." Well, we have the example
here now, written to us today, so that we ourselves, the Apostle
was talking about himself, glory in you, in the churches of God,
for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations
that ye endure. It's quite clear, wasn't it?
Therefore, they didn't have an easy life. It's quite clear today. The Church of God does not have
an easy life. But what a mercy it is, that
if in all the difficulties that we encounter, and we know we
will because the Lord Jesus tells us it's through much tribulation
that we shall enter the kingdom, but be of good joy I have overcome
the world. So here we have this statement. So that we ourselves glory in
you, in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in
all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. Well, we have
these words again, gracious words, words perhaps we read many times
and perhaps not really absorb the true meaning of them, but
may they come to us tonight and may they be a wonderful word
of encouragement and instruction to us as you and I journey on
through our little life on this earth.