Let us turn again to the Word
of God and the words to which I would call your attention this
morning are found in the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians
in chapter 1 and the first part of verse 5. In Paul's first epistle to the
Thessalonians, chapter 1 and the first part of verse 5, for
our gospel came not unto you in word only. For our Gospel
came not unto you in word only. And the whole verse reads, For
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. For our Gospel
came not unto you in word only, Well, the opening word of this
fifth verse, it ties it together with the previous passage, doesn't
it? And in the fourth verse, Paul
has been speaking about his confidence concerning these Thessalonian
Christians that he is writing to. And he says of them, knowing
brethren beloved, your election of God. How did he know their election?
How did he know that they were of the elect? Well, he's already
spoken in verse three about their work of faith and their labour
of love and their patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And certainly that was one way in which he had this hope of
their election and their salvation. But surely this fifth verse also
is part of the grounds on which he knew their election. How did
he know they were elect? He knew it because His gospel,
the gospel that Paul preached, the gospel that he took to them
there in Thessalonica, it came not unto them in word only. He
knew that they were of the elect because of the way in which the
gospel had come to them. He knew they were of the elect
because of the effect that the gospel had had upon them. And
that is still a good test today. Election is to be known by calling.
That is the only way to know election. We can't climb up into
heaven and have a look through the book of life and see if our
name is there. The only grounds on which we
can be confident that we are of the elect is if God is calling
us, if God has called us, if his gospel has come unto us in
the same way that it came to these Thessalonians. Our gospel
came not unto you in word only. Well, you can read about Paul's
time in Thessalonica in the 17th chapter of the Book of Acts,
and you find, if you turn there, that he didn't spend very long
in Thessalonica. He had passed through many other
places, and he'd just come away from Philippi, and we read about
the way that he was treated in Philippi, how he was imprisoned
for preaching the Gospel. And you remember the earthquake
that came and how the doors of the prison were opened and everyone's
bands were loosed. And we have the account of the
Philippian jailer and how he came trembling. Sirs, he says,
what must I do to be saved? And Paul and Silas said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.
And then they are thrust out of Philippi and they pass through
Amphipolis and Apollonia and then they come to Thessalonica.
where was a synagogue of the Jews. And it seems that Paul
spent about three weeks there in Thessalonica. We read about
those three Sabbath days on which he went into the synagogue and
reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you, said, Paul, is Christ. But then you can read about how
the Jews which believed not, they gathered a company and set
the city on an uproar and they eventually, Paul is sent away. They send Paul and Silas by night
away unto Berea. He didn't spend long in Thessalonica.
What did he spend his time doing while he was there? Well, we
read about him labouring with his hands night and day. But
why did he do that? It was in order that he might
preach the Gospel. He preached Jesus unto them,
just the same as he did wherever he went. He preached the Gospel. What is the Gospel? Well, the
word Gospel, as you know, it means good news. He came to Thessalonica
with good news. And it tells us something in
that 17th chapter of Acts, doesn't it? It tells us something about
that Gospel. It tells us something about the message that Paul preached. It tells us four things about
it. First of all, it tells us that Paul reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures. He reasoned with them out of
the Scriptures. That was the starting point for his message.
He didn't come with his own ideas. He didn't come saying, this is
what I have discovered by my own intelligence, by my study.
His starting point was the scriptures. Three Sabbath days he reasoned
with them out of the scriptures. And what did he speak about?
Well, he spoke about Christ, didn't he? Look at the summary
of his gospel there in the third verse of that seventeenth chapter.
He opened and he alleged that Christ must needs have suffered.
He spoke about the sufferings of Christ. He spoke about the death of Christ. And no doubt he spoke about the
truth of substitution. He spoke of the death of Christ
as an atoning death, not just as a tragedy that fell upon him
unexpectedly. not just something that came
because of the evil hands of the Jews that delivered him up
to the Romans, but something that was foreordained, something
that was always meant to be. They were still wicked hands
that took him and crucified him, but it was by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. He spoke about the sufferings
of Christ, the death of Christ, and it's the same gospel that
is to be preached today. If there is no message concerning
the suffering of Christ, if there is no message concerning the
death of Christ, then there is no gospel. It's very easy, isn't
it, to come and to think that surely we all know about these
things. Very easy to go to a place to preach and to think, well,
of course, everybody knows about these truths. Everyone knows
about the sufferings of Christ. Everybody knows the reason for
which he came. Well, it's very dangerous to
make that assumption. It's this gospel that is to be
preached, the sufferings of Christ, the death of Christ, the substitutionary
death, one who came to die in the place of others. Because
without this, there is no gospel. There's no good news without
the death of Christ. And if your religion doesn't
centre in the death of Christ, if the death of Christ doesn't
mean anything in your religion, then it's not Christianity. And
there's no hope, no good news without the death of Christ.
Christ must needs have suffered. But then he didn't just speak
about his sufferings, did he? He spoke about his resurrection,
all out of the scriptures. Christ must needs have suffered
and risen again, and risen again. Just like the sufferings of Christ
and the death of Christ, they are an essential part of that
gospel. There is no good news without
it, even so it is with his resurrection. There is no gospel without the
resurrection, because what does the resurrection tell us? It
tells us that his offering was an acceptable offering. It tells
us that not only he died, but he also conquered death, that
last enemy, the enemy of us all, not something that we can escape
from. But the Gospel comes and it tells
us of one who not only died, but who conquered death, risen
again from the dead. An acceptable sacrifice. An atonement that was effective.
Very different to all those offerings that were offered up under the
Old Testament. You can read through the Old Testament and you can
read through all those offerings that Moses was directed to put
into place. The offerings of bulls and of
goats. And you remember what Paul says later on in one of
his other epistles. He says it's impossible. It is
not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins. That's not what those offerings were for. In those offerings there is a
remembrance again of sin. It was to remind the people about
sin, the effect of sin. When the Jew came with his offering
and he brought it before the altar and he laid his hand upon
its head, what was he doing in effect? He was saying that the
death that this animal was about to suffer was the death that
he himself deserved. And all those offerings, they
were intended to point them forwards to the one that Paul is talking
about here in Thessalonica. They were never intended to stop
at those offerings. It was never the intent that
they would just offer them up and then say to themselves, well,
we've done it now, and then go home and think no more about
it. No, the intent was to point them forwards to the one that
was to come. They were signs, they were shadows, they were
things to point them forwards. He spoke about the resurrection.
And he spoke about Christ. This Jesus, he said, whom I preach
unto you is Christ. He's talking to the Jews, isn't
he? He was talking to those who would
have been familiar with all the prophecies of the Old Testament. He's talking to those who ought
to have been looking forward to the coming of Christ, who
ought to have understood the purpose for which he would come. And yet they failed to do so,
didn't they? They knew all about the signs, They were very familiar
with the Old Testament, patterns and shadows and signs that the
Old Testament put before them. But when the real thing came,
they were not interested in it. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. This Jesus said, Paul, whom I
preach unto you is Christ, the one that you have been expecting
for so long. The one that is spoken of from
Genesis right through to the end of the Old Testament. The
one who fulfils the law. The one who came to make an offering
which was an effective offering, an acceptable atonement. He suffered,
he died, he rose again. This is the Messiah, he said.
This is the one that you have been waiting for. This was the
good news that Paul preached. A substitutionary death. an acceptable
sacrifice, the coming of Christ into this world. He preached these things out
of the scriptures and he quickly discovered, didn't he, that there
were two kinds of hearers in Thessalonica, two sorts of people
that he preached to, two sorts of people that heard his message.
And we have them described, don't we, in that fourth verse of that
17th chapter in the Acts? It says, some of them believed.
Some of them believed. And then in verse 5, we read
about the Jews which believed not. These were the two kinds
of hearers that Paul came across. These were the two effects that
his preaching had. It had an effect upon everyone.
Some of them believed. and they consorted with Paul
and Silas, and they followed him, and some believed not. And look at the effect that it
had upon them. They moved with envy, and they took unto them
certain lewd fellows of the base of sort, and gathered a company,
and set all the city on an uproar, and Paul and Silas have to be
sent away. It has an effect upon both of
them, but it's a very different effect, isn't it? Some believed, some believed
not. But we have to notice this, don't
we, just in passing, that he preached the Gospel to all of
them. Paul didn't come to Thessalonica and gather the people together
and say, right, who are the elect here? Which of you are the chosen
people? Which of you are convicted of
sin? He didn't come to make that distinction and then gather together
all those who were of the elect and then preach the Gospel to
them only. That's the criticism that sometimes is laid at our
door, isn't it? Those of us that hold to the
doctrines of grace. People say, well, you don't preach
the gospel to everyone. Well, that's quite false. The
gospel is to be preached to everyone. It's not to be preached to the
elect only. Paul didn't come to Thessalonica and just preach
the gospel to some people. He preached it to both those
that believed and to those that believed not. Not only to the elect, not only
to those who had been convicted of sin, but to everybody. The Gospel is to be preached
among all nations. You remember the parable of the
sower? It was the same seed that fell on all four types of ground. Some of them believed, some of
them believed not. Well, what made the difference?
Why was it that only some of them believed? Why was it that
many of them believed not? Well, it wasn't because some
of them were more intelligent than the others. It wasn't that some of them had
a higher IQ. It wasn't that some of them were
more educated. It wasn't that some of them were
better people, were kinder people, that were more receptive to this
message. No, the difference is in the
way the Gospel came to them. The difference is in what Paul
speaks about here when he writes to them. Our Gospel, he says,
came not unto you in word only. The Gospel came in a different
way to these different people. The Gospel came in a different
way to them. It wasn't that they chose to
receive it in a different way. It wasn't that they heard it
in a different way. It was the way that it came, it's something
from outside. Our Gospel came not unto you in word only. Now
in one sense, in one sense we might say that the Gospel came
the same to all of them. When Paul says our Gospel came
not unto you in word only, the implication is that the Gospel
did come in word, didn't it? The Gospel did come in word to
these Thessalonian believers. When I say if something didn't
only happen, what I mean is it did happen, but something else
happened. Our Gospel came not unto you
in word only, but it did come in word, and it must come in
word. What is it for the Gospel to come in word? Well, it's really
the outward preaching of the Gospel. It's what we were just
saying about Paul and his message in Thessalonica. It was the things
that he spoke of, the things that he preached to them. That
was the Gospel coming in word. when he came and spoke of the
person of Christ, when he came and spoke of the coming of Christ
into the world, of his virgin birth, of his life, of his sufferings,
of his death, of his resurrection. That is the gospel coming in
word. This is the word of the gospel. And there must be a coming of
the gospel in word. That's why we have this pulpit, isn't it?
That's why we have this central thing in this chapel, in this
building. We don't have an altar here. When you go to many Church
of England churches, what do you see? Well, you often see
that in the middle of the church, in the prominent place, is an
altar or a table on which they remember the Lord's Supper. And
you look around and the pulpit is stuck away in the corner somewhere.
Not very prominent. We went to a church not long
ago, and it was around December the 25th, and the vicar of this
church, he was speaking, and he said, someone wanted to take
a photo during the service, and he said, well, you can go up
in the pulpit. Nobody's been up there in years. It's a tragedy,
isn't it, if there is a church where the pulpit is not used.
The pulpit is here not because The ministry is to be lifted
up, it's because the Word is to be lifted up and the message
from the Word is to be lifted up. That is the preaching of
the Gospel in Word. Our Gospel came not unto you
in Word only, but it did come in Word. The seed was sown in
an outward way. This is what Jesus was talking
about when he spoke in the 22nd chapter of Matthew. You remember
the parable that he spoke concerning that certain king which made
a marriage for his son? And he sent forth his servants
to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would
not come. What does that represent? It represents the coming of the
Gospel in word, what we might describe as the outward call.
As he says in that passage, in that context, he says, many are
called, but few are chosen. Many are called, In what sense
are many called? Many are called because they
hear the outward call of the Gospel, the coming of the Gospel
in word only. Many are called but few are chosen
in the context of that passage. Paul is really talking about
the Jews primarily, isn't he? When that certain king made that
marriage for his son and sent forth his servants to call them
that were bidden to the wedding, he's talking about the Jews.
It was the Jews that were bidden to the wedding, to the gospel
feast as it were. Very strong language that Isaiah
uses concerning that outward call. So strong it might even
surprise us. What does he say concerning that
call? It's no wonder we call Isaiah
the evangelical prophet when he comes with words like this. In chapter 65 of Isaiah's prophecy,
the Lord speaks through Isaiah in this way. He says, I am sought
of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not
called by my name. And then he says this, I have
spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which
walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts.
I have spread out my hands unto them, he says. He's talking about
the Jews and Paul, when he writes to the Romans, he tells us that
that verse is about the Jews. I have spread out my hands unto
them, says God. How did he spread out his hands
unto them? Well, it was through the preaching of Christ in the
Old Testament. It was through all those signs
and sacrifices and offerings that we were just speaking about. This was the way in which God
sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the
wedding. And they would not come, it says. They would not come.
They had no desire to come. Oh, they liked all the sacrifices
and the offerings, and they liked that kind of outward religion. But the reality, the real thing,
the things that all those signs pointed to, they were not interested
in it. They wouldn't come. Many are called. Many are called. The outward call is a real thing,
a scriptural thing. And that was the way that Paul
went to Thessalonica. He came with that preaching of
the Gospel in word. And you know, whenever and wherever
Christ is preached, wherever there is the preaching of the
Gospel, many are called. The call comes to all that hear
it. There is an outward call. Our Gospel came not unto you
in word only, but it did come in word. And they both heard
it, both of those sets of people, didn't they, that I talked about.
Those who believed and those who didn't believe. They both
heard what we might call the same message. They both heard
the same truth. They both heard about the same
Christ, the same sacrifice, the same resurrection, the same Messiah. Many are called, our Gospel came
not unto you in word only. Well, the Gospel comes in word
every time this book is opened and spoken from. Where there
is a right preaching, the Gospel comes in word. And it comes with
a call. And we might spend a long time
thinking about what that call is too. But there is a call of
the Gospel, an outward call. And remember, that outward call,
it can sometimes have a great effect. Remember the parable of the sower.
The very instructive parable, isn't it? The very simple parable. It's a parable that we can all
understand, even the youngest child can understand that parable
in a sense. Here is the sower going forth
to sow, and he's casting out his seed to one side and the
other, and it's falling in different places. And you remember what Christ
said concerning the stony ground. When he spoke about the wayside
hearers, really in those people the seed didn't do anything,
did it? It didn't really have a chance to do anything. He says, when any heareth the
word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received seed by the wayside. Think of the illustration. You go out into your garden and
you throw out some seed and some of it falls onto the hard concrete
path. What will happen to it? Well,
the birds will come and eat it, won't they? It certainly won't
take root there. In those people the word really
has no effect. But you look at those who are
represented by the stony ground here. The Word has an effect
in them, doesn't it? What does it say? He that received
the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the Word,
and anon with joy receiveth it. Immediately with joy he receives
it. It's not that the Word has no
effect upon them. He receives it with joy. There seems to be
some bearing of fruit there almost. But what do we read? Yet hath
he not root in himself? that seed that fell on the stony
ground, because there wasn't much earth. It sprung up quickly,
but it didn't last. Forthwith they sprung up because
they had no deepness of earth, and when the sun was up, they
were scorched. When the sun was up, they were scorched. He has
no root in himself, says Christ, and his religion lasts for a
while. But when tribulation or persecution arises because of
the word, by and by he is offended. He receives it with joy. He thinks,
this is good news. This is a way to escape from
the punishment of my sin. But when tribulation or persecution
arises, he's offended. He says, this is not what I expected.
I thought this was supposed to be good news. I thought this
was supposed to be a good way. And now all this difficulty has
come. and he gives it all over as something hopeless. Perhaps
you know people like that who have received the word immediately
with joy, and it's had a great effect upon them. And you look
at them and you think, well, they seem so much more zealous
than I do. And yet not many months or years
later, it all seems to have blown over, and they've moved on to
the next thing. But the point is this, that that
outward preaching of the Word, this outward call, it can have
an effect. It's not that it doesn't do anything. It can even produce
something that is described as joy. And none with joy. Immediately
with joy they received it. But it's not the joy that's spoken
about here, not the joy of the Holy Ghost. It doesn't last.
Our Gospel came not unto you in Word only, but it did come
in Word. Well, the Gospel has come to all of us in Word. There's
not one of us that can say that we haven't heard it. But what kind of effect has it
had upon us? What kind of effect has it had upon you personally? Just because we've heard it doesn't
mean we are safe, does it? Just because we have heard of
Christ, we may even be able to repeat the doctrines of the Gospel
and answer difficult questions concerning it. But it doesn't mean we're safe.
It doesn't mean we're amongst those that are described here,
the elect of God. We mustn't rest there. We mustn't
say, well, I've heard it so many times and I know all about the
Lord Jesus Christ and I can tell you about his birth and his life
and his sufferings and his death and his resurrection and ascension.
I know all about these things. Those Jews that believe not,
They knew all about these things, didn't they? They'd heard of
the things that Paul had said. They knew about the Christ that
he preached. And it had an effect upon them. But they weren't those who are
described in this verse here. The gospel came unto them in
word only. That was the only way it came. That was the only
way that they received it. Our gospel came not unto you
in word only. Well, how did it come? This is the root of the
difference between those who believed and those who believed
not. Again, it wasn't because they were better. It wasn't because
they were more intelligent. It wasn't because they listened
more carefully. No, the difference was here.
Our Gospel came not unto you in word only. They received it
in a way that those others didn't. And it's a mystery, isn't it?
It's a great mystery how two people can hear the same words,
literally the same words, the same message. They can hear the
same doctrines, the same truths. They can hear about the same
Christ, the same virgin birth, the same stable, the same manger,
the same Bethlehem, the same life, the same sufferings, the
same death, the same resurrection. Exactly the same message and
exactly the same words and yet it's not the same message, is
it? It's the same message and yet it's not the same message. A man can hear it thousands of
times. And yet there comes a time when
he hears it differently. When it's not the same message and
yet it is the same message. What has changed? What makes
the difference? Well again you think of that parable of the
sower. What does it teach us? What made
the difference in that case? Where was it that the seed bore
fruit? Well, it was in the good ground. What was it that made
the good ground good? Well, obviously it wasn't that
the ground chose to be good. It's not that the farmer went
to the ground and said, you stony ground, you must make yourself
better so that you're ready to receive this seed. He wouldn't
have made much of a living as a farmer if he did that, would
he? Though he has to work on the ground, doesn't he? He has
to do something to it to prepare it to receive the seed. And when
you go out into the countryside, what do you see? Well, you see
tractors and they plough. They have to turn the soil over,
don't they? They have to break up the hard
stone. They have to take out the weeds. And only when that's
been done does the farmer come with his seed. That was what had happened to
these Thessalonians. That was the origin of the difference
in the way that they received this message. It was because
their hearts had been prepared to receive it. Prepared by God,
not prepared by themselves, and certainly not prepared by Paul.
It wasn't Paul that made their hearts ready. He just came and preached the
Gospel. He preached it to all of them. It wasn't Paul that
came and said, well, I have a gospel to tell you, but first of all,
let me try and prepare you to receive it. That work had already
been done. They believed either because,
either before or as they were hearing it, God had done something
to them. God had changed something about
them. They were born again. You remember what Jesus said
to Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God. He cannot receive this Gospel
unless there is a new birth, unless there is a great change. And because of that change, the
Gospel came in a different way to them. It came in power. It
came in the Holy Ghost. It came in much assurance. What
does God do to his people? in order for the gospel to come
in this way? Well, it gives them a thirst. It's the living that thirst,
isn't it? A dead man doesn't thirst. A dead man has no appetite. But where there is life, there
is thirst. That's one of the signs of life, isn't it? That's
what you look for in a newborn baby. You want it to thirst.
If you have a newborn baby and it doesn't seem to want to drink
or or feed, then it's cause for concern, isn't it? You take it
to the doctor, you say, it's not feeding, it's not putting
on weight. But where there is life, where there is health,
then there is a thirst, there is a hunger. God gives his people a thirst,
a thirst for Christ, a thirst for salvation. And because they've
been given that thirst, so it is that when they see Christ
in the Gospel, and when they hear him, crying in the temple on that
last day of the feast, saying, if any man thirsts, let him come
unto me and drink. Because they have a thirst, they
hear that message in a very different way to the man who has no thirst. That's true in a literal way,
isn't it? If you go out into the street
and you hold up a bottle of water and you say, look, I've got some
drink here. Who wants some? Who is it that will come? It
will be those who are thirsty. Those who are not thirsty, they
will look and they will hear the same words, but it will be
coming in a very different way to them, won't it? It will be
coming in word, but it won't come in power. Where this thirst
is, they hear the same gospel, they hear the same words of Christ,
the same gracious invitations, but it comes in a very different
way. It comes not in word only, but
in power. It has a power, it has an attractive power, doesn't
it? Just as when you're thirsty and you see some water, what
happens? You're attracted to it. You want
to go to it. You want to partake of it. There is a power in that
water. It draws you. But it only draws
you because you've got a thirst. Well, if you know anything of
attraction to Christ, if when you see Him standing and crying,
if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. If there is
something attractive in that, then there must have been a thirst
given. He gives them a thirst and then the Gospel comes in
power. Again, you think of another illustration.
He makes them labour, doesn't he? This is what happens to a
man when he is born again very often. Inevitably, there is a
labouring. He sees suddenly his sin. He
sees something about the law that he had never seen before.
And he begins to labour under it. He begins to be heavy-laden
by it. His sins no longer are something
that he can be careless about. He doesn't say, well, yes, I
am a sinner, but isn't everyone? Though his own sins begin to
be a burden to him. His sins begin to be his greatest
difficulty. That was what happened to Paul,
wasn't it? You remember how he spoke about
himself when he wrote to the Romans and he called himself
a wretched man? That wasn't because he was suffering
difficulties in this life. He did. He was beaten. He was treated very badly by
the Jews and those around him. But what was it that made him
call himself a wretched man? It was his own sin. He was labouring
under his sin. Where there is a labouring like
that, you think of what it will mean when that man sees Jesus
in the Gospel saying, come unto me all ye that labour and are
heavy laden and I will give you rest. There will be an attraction,
inevitably, The man who is not labouring,
the man who is not heavy laden, the man whose sins are something
that he can look at and say, well, not so bad as other people,
or they don't really matter, or everybody sins, or there must
be a way that I can make them better. Where there's not that
real labouring, they may hear the same words coming from the
mouth of the same Christ, but it will only come in word. Come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, says Christ,
and I will give you rest. And where there is a labouring,
then there is a power in that. There is an attractive power
in that, just like that water for the thirsty man. And so there
is a drawing. Our Gospel came not unto you
in word only, but in power. There is an effect of it. It
changes them. It moves them. Again, you think of another illustration. You think of the words of Isaiah.
Again, we call him the evangelical prophet. You look at what the
Lord says through him when he says, Look unto me and
be ye saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there
is none else. Look unto me and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth. What kind of person will be attracted
to that message? To what kind of person will there
be a power in that message to the person who feels to be at
the ends of the earth? to the person who's in the same kind
of place as the psalmist was in when he wrote that 61st Psalm. And he says, hear my cry, O God,
attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed, when my heart
is overwhelmed, it's not unusual to see David in that kind of
place, is it? You read through the Psalms. On many occasions
he speaks of himself being overwhelmed, his heart being overwhelmed.
He comes to the ends of the earth. Well, you think of what it would
have been for David to have heard those words of Isaiah. There
would have been an attraction in them, wouldn't there? Look unto me and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth. Oh, David would have said, I'm
at the ends of the earth. I want to come there. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the
rock that is higher than I, the place of refuge, the place of
escape. This is what God does to his people so that this Gospel
comes more than just in word. That's why it is that two people
can hear the same message and it have a very different effect
upon them. That was why there was two kinds of hearers in Thessalonica. That's why there's two kinds
of hearers whenever the Gospel is preached. There are those
who hear it and they may hear it patiently. They may even enjoy
hearing it in a sense. but it's something academic,
something distant from them. They hear about Christ as the
saviour of sinners, but they don't really care about salvation
from sin. There's no attraction there. They hear about Christ's death
as the atoning death, but they're not concerned about their sin,
so they don't need an atonement. So there's no attraction there.
They may find it interesting in an academic way. They may
like to compare scripture with scripture. But there's not that power, there's
not that attraction, there's not that moving. And this is not just something
that we need once, is it? This coming of the Gospel in
power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance, we need it
for a first time, but we don't only need it for a first time.
That's why we sung that first hymn. You remember what the hymn
writer said? And he was obviously a converted
man. He had known something of what
it was to have his soul lifted up out of the dust. Isaac Watts knew what it was
to have life divine given to him. But what did he soon learn? He soon learned that he needed
it more than once. My soul lies cleaving to the
dust, he says. And he speaks about the slowness
of his spirits. And what does he pray for? Give
me life divine, give it again. Give me the coming of the Gospel
in power again, that same power that I have experienced before.
Not just a once in a lifetime experience, but something that
if you have seen it once, you will want it again. The coming
of the Gospel, not in word only, but in power. Has it come in power to you?
How will you know? How do you know whether something
is powerful or not? Well, power is seen, isn't it? If something
doesn't do anything, there's no power there. If something doesn't have an
effect, there's no power there. Where the Gospel comes in power,
there will be an effect, it will change. Look at what it did for
these Thessalonians. Paul gives us a very wonderful,
a very short summary of what it is to be a Christian, doesn't
he, at the end of this first chapter. What did the Gospel
do for them? He says, ye turned to God. The
Gospel turns a man. Ye turned to God from idols to
serve the living and true God. They turned, they served, and
to wait for his Son from heaven, they waited. It wasn't just that they had
heard about the second coming of Christ and said, well, that's very interesting,
though they were waiting for it. That doesn't mean they were
passive. There was activity in their waiting. They were looking
forward to it. They were expecting it. They were longing for it. To wait for his son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead. It did something to them. It
had an effect upon them. The Gospel comes in power. And
then it's like that good news that is spoken
of in the Book of Proverbs. What did Solomon say concerning
the gospel? There's no doubt he was talking
about the gospel, but he says this, as cold waters to a thirsty
soul, so is good news from a far country. That's what the gospel
is. It's good news from a far country. It comes from heaven. It wasn't built upon earth. It
comes from heaven. It's good news from a far country.
And what does Solomon say about it? It's like cold waters to
a thirsty soul. To the thirsty soul it comes
with power. You know what it's like when
you're thirsty. Perhaps you've been out all day and you've not
had a drink and you come home and what do you do? You just
drink glass after glass of cold water and there's nothing like
it, is there? Nothing so refreshing as cold water when you're thirsty.
Well, says Solomon, the Gospel is like that. It comes like cold
water to a thirsty soul. It has an effect upon them. There
is an attraction, there is a drinking of it, there is a refreshment,
there is a nourishing, there is a strengthening. Our Gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. Well, perhaps you're ready to
say, well, this Gospel doesn't seem to have very much of an
effect upon me. Perhaps you can look back upon the many times
that you've heard it, and sometimes you think it seems to go in one
ear and out the other. Well, we have to be patient,
don't we? There is a need for patience. The new birth is instant. It's
instantaneous. It's something that happens to
a man at a moment in time. The moment before he's dead in
trespasses and sins, the moment after he is alive. And that's
when he will start to thirst and to labour and to desire and
to have an appetite. But this is a process, what Paul
is talking about here. It's something that happens over
time. It may be very quick, it may be very slow. Again, think
of the parable of the sower. Here is the farmer with his seed
and he throws it. He's prepared the ground and
he's cast the seed into the ground. Well, you would think he was
a foolish farmer, wouldn't you, if he went back the next day and
said, well, there's nothing here yet. What's the use of all that seed?
There must have been something wrong with it. No, he has to
be patient, doesn't he? It's no good going back the next
day and expecting to be able to harvest the crop. The seed is sown, and it may
be good seed, and it's sown into good ground, but the harvest doesn't come
immediately. Well, it's the same with the
coming of this gospel in power. There is a need for patience. Sometimes the seed falls into
the good ground and it may be covered over and perhaps there's
nothing visible. But there is something going
on there, isn't there? If the seed has fallen into good ground
and it's good seed, if it's to bear a fruit, then there is something
going on even before the fruit is visible, even before the leaves
start to push up through the soil. There are the roots going
down, there is nourishment being drawn up, There is growth, there
is development, but it's invisible. Well, have you found this sometimes?
Perhaps sometimes you've heard the gospel and it seems to have
been covered over, and then perhaps sometime later you come into
trouble and you remember it, and you remember what you heard,
and it feeds you. It's not something that happens
instantaneously always. But equally, don't go to the
other extreme. Don't say to yourself, well I've
heard the Gospel hundreds of times but it doesn't seem to
have done anything, but never mind. Perhaps it will. You must just
be patient. Think of the farmer again. If
he went back the next day and looked for the harvest, you'd
think he was a foolish farmer. But if he went back six months
later and there was nothing, well, it wouldn't be right for
him to say, well, I must just be patient. If he went back two years later
and there was still nothing, it wouldn't be right for him
to say, well, I must just be patient. He would be a foolish farmer
just to be fatalistic about it, wouldn't he? You just have to start asking
the question, well, perhaps the seed wasn't as good as I thought,
or perhaps the ground wasn't ready for it. If we can hear the Gospel year
after year, for 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, if it doesn't
do anything to us, then we have to start asking the question,
is the seed good? Is the ground good? Has it been
prepared? There's no room for a fatalistic
spirit. There's no room for a passive spirit. If we don't care whether the
seed bears fruit, well, there's something wrong. If we're not
looking for the seed to bear fruit, there's something wrong. If we don't know that same spirit
that we sang about in the second hymn, again, the hymn writer
wasn't fatalistic about it, John Newton. He says, put forth thy spirit
with the word. He wants the gospel to come not
in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much
assurance. He wants to see fruit. He wants to see signs following. He wasn't complacent. He wouldn't
have just heard the gospel and then shrugged his shoulders and
said, well, I wonder if that will bear any fruit. No, he wants
it to. He prays for it to. Well, is that what you pray for? Do you recognise the desires
of John Newton when he prays, put forth thy spirit with the
word and cause the dead to hear? When he prays, to thee we look,
to thee we bow, to thee for help we call, our life and resurrection
thou our joy, our hope, our all. He wants the gospel to come not
in word only but also in power. And only he can do this. It's
no good looking to the preacher to do it. It's no good saying,
well, if only the preacher would preach better, perhaps there
would be more fruit. There is sometimes truth in that.
Don't misunderstand me. The preacher is not to be above
criticism. But for the Word to come in power,
it's not a matter of eloquence. It's not a matter of a well-organised
sermon. Sometimes the preacher comes and all he can say is just
a few, what we might call confused and scattered statements. But perhaps you can look back
to times in your experience when you've got more out of those
confused and scattered statements than you have out of the most
eloquent sermon from another man. It's not in the hands of
the preacher. It's in the hands of God. We're
going to sing about it in our closing hymn in a few moments.
This is why that hymn writer came in the way that he did.
Saviour, follow with thy blessing, he said, truths delivered in
thy name. Thus the word, thy power possessing, not the power
of the preacher, not the power of eloquence. Thus the word, thy power possessing,
shall declare from whence it came. Mighty let thy gospel be. set the burdened sinner free. It's in the hands of the Lord.
It's in the hands of Christ. That's why the prayer must be
to Him. For our Gospel came not unto
you in word only. It's a great thing for it to
come in word. It's a tremendous privilege for it to come in word.
There are some who never hear the Gospel. But where there is
a hearing of it, there will be an effect. If it comes in word only, There
will still be an effect. It had an effect in those unbelieving
Jews. They heard the same message and
they hated it. They heard the same message and there was no
attraction in it. They heard the same message and no doubt
they could not wait for it to be over. But where there is an attraction,
though it may be the same message, it's almost a different message.
Our Gospel came not unto you in word only. May this be what
we look for when we come together under the Word, for it to come
in power, to do something for us, to come in the Holy Ghost,
to come in much assurance, so that there might be an effect,
an attractive effect, something that draws us, so that we might, like these
Thessalonians, turn from idols to God, 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 our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also
in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. May God bless His word to us.
Amen.