If you would turn with me to
1 Thessalonians 2, right after the book of Colossians,
1 Thessalonians 2. I'm sure that I've mentioned
to you before that this is a verse that I read often before I study
or preach. In verse four, it reminds me
of the privilege and the honor of studying and preaching God's
word, and it is that. It's a privilege and an honor.
And it says in verse four, but as we were allowed of God to
be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing
men, but God, which trieth our hearts. You see, I've been allowed
by God to preach. God has put his gospel in my
trust. That's what Paul's saying here.
And he said, because of that, I speak, I preach, I'm gonna
tell the truth best I can, proclaim this gospel as it is in God's
word, not as pleasing men, but God. It says, which trieth or
test our hearts. That simply means that the gospel,
whether preaching it or hearing it, discerns and it, examines
and it proves and tries our hearts. Paul goes on to say in verse
five that we do not use flattering words. We don't praise the flesh. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We don't preach to receive affection
and support of men. We avoid covetousness. We don't
preach as a cloak or a covering of a covetous or a greedy motive. Our design's not to enrich ourselves,
not God's true preachers. Not to enrich ourselves through
preaching, making merchandise of men's souls, Peter said. Look at verse six, nor of men
sought we glory. We don't seek the glory, the
praise and the honor, worship of those to whom we preach. He
said, neither of you nor yet of others, when we might have
been burdensome as the apostles, or the preachers of Christ. And
Paul is saying here that he avoided ambition. He didn't covet men's
praise. He didn't desire to be called
rabbi, just as I don't desire to be called reverend. Nothing
reverend about me, other than my standing in Christ. Paul simply
sought the honor which comes from God. Lord, enable me to
do that. Verse seven, but we were gentle
among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. So being affectionately
desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not
the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were
dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our
labor and travail for laboring night and day, because we would
not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the
gospel of God. And ye are our witnesses in God
also, how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves
among you that believe. As you know how we exhorted and
comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children,
that you should walk worthy of God who has called you into his
kingdom and glory. Now, I hope you see after reading
these verses why I feel the need to read them before studying
and preaching. It's a real responsibility to
stand up here. And I'll just be honest with
you, many times feeling much like a hypocrite because I struggle
with the same things that you struggle with. We all struggle
with sin. We all struggle with unbelief.
God's preachers need to constantly remind themselves of these things
because of that. They're just men. Just sinners
like you, gospel preachers, struggle with the flesh the same as every
believer does. And that's what Paul is saying
in verse 12. His desire was to encourage them
and at the same time encourage himself. I need the same encouragement
from God's Word. Whether I'm preaching it or hearing
it. So how do we walk worthy of the Lord? I've been thinking
a lot about that. Have you ever thought about it?
What is it to walk worthy of God? How do we walk worthy of
the one who has called us, Paul said, into his kingdom and glory?
I want to walk worthy of God, don't you? I do. But how do we
do that? Paul gives us a few things in
the next couple of verses concerning what it is to walk worthy of
God's kingdom and of God's glory. Look at verse 13. He says, for
this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when
you received the word of God, which you heard of us, you received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of
God, which affectionately worketh also in you that believe. So the first thing we see here
to glorify God in our walk is we thank God. We thank Him for
what He's done for us. Look back, you may not have to
turn the page, but look back at 1 Thessalonians chapter five,
or four, I should say. Verse 18, Paul here says, and
everything give thanks. Everything? Yes, everything give
thanks. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you." It's God's will for His people
who are in Christ Jesus to give thanks in everything. Why? He sends everything. Paul
said, in everything, give thanks. In Colossians 3, Paul wrote,
be ye thankful. In Ephesians 5, verse 20, Paul
said, giving thanks always for all things. David wrote, let
us come before His presence with what? Thanksgiving. And make
a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. Enter into His gates
with thanksgiving and to His courts with praise and be thankful
unto Him. God help me to be thankful. The
believer's walk is a thankful walk. And in our text, Paul says,
for this cause, thank we God without ceasing. For the child
of God, every day is Thanksgiving day. Every day for the child
of God is Thanksgiving day. For we are without ceasing to
thank God. You know, that's, as we talked
about in the first hour, that's just an attitude. Lord, I sure
am thankful. That don't mean you have to write
a list down every day and tell God what you're thankful for.
Just, Lord, I'm thankful. Thankful first and foremost that
you are mindful of me, that you save me by your grace. Lord,
we're just thankful. Aren't you thankful? And it's
here in our text that we see the first thing that Paul thanks
God for. He says, we thank God without
ceasing because you received the Word of God. I'm thankful
for that. To receive the Word of God is
to receive Christ. For Christ is the Word. In the
beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. That which brings joy and rejoicing
to the heart of God's servant the most is not how big a church
they have. You know, it never fails, the
first thing people ask me when they find out that I pastor a
church is always, how big a church do you pastor? How many members
do you have? Paul never mentions how many
people that he preached to or how many converts that he had.
You just don't find it in his epistles or anywhere else. You
see, the rejoicing in heart by God's servant is not the amount
of money and offerings that come in. During this whole pandemic,
I've heard preachers begging for money, and then I've heard
other preachers bragging that they haven't had to. But that's
not the issue. We never find Paul thanking God
for how many or how much. He never mentions it. Paul said,
I thank God without ceasing that you receive the word of God.
That's the most important thing that we'll ever be faced with
in this life. Do we believe God or not? I thank
God you receive the word of God. I thank God for that too. Many
of you to whom I preach receive the word I preach. It's just
obvious. See it in your face. You rejoice
in it. Why was Paul so happy about folks
receiving the word of God? Because he knew that it was God's
doing. Men by nature don't believe God's word. Matter of fact, they
reject it. The apostle John explains that
very well. In John chapter one, beginning
in verse 10, I won't turn you there, but speaking of the Lord
Jesus, John writes, he was in the world and the world was made
by him. Did you know that Jesus Christ
made the world? That's what it says. He was in the world and
the world was made by him and the world knew him not. Our Lord
made this world in which we live, but the world He made wasn't
interested in Him. The world knew Him not. He came
into His own, the Jewish nation, and His own, the Jews, received
Him not. But it does say this, but as
many as received Him. Do you receive His word? Listen
to this, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name, which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. You see, if a sinner receives
Christ, believes on His name, it was God that caused it. That's
what we talked about earlier. It wasn't a matter of, Heredity,
it wasn't a matter of parental bloodlines, it wasn't because
they exercised their will to make it so, it was of God. And I'm thankful for that. And
I'm thankful that you received this gospel. Paul's thankful
that God in sovereign mercy, grace, and love chose a people
and called a people and saved a people and caused them to believe
who were dead in trespasses and sin. That's something you and
I can't do. We can't give a dead man life,
but God can. And that's exactly what he did
when he saved you, Adab. He gave you life. And I'm thankful. I bet you are too, aren't you?
Paul is thankful that God gave them life. That's something to
be thankful for. You know why? Because the natural
man received not the things of the Spirit of God. And that's
the reason that Paul's rejoicing here. That's why he said, I thank
God without ceasing because you received the Word of God. And
the reason Paul's rejoicing and thankful to God is he knows that
only God can give a dead sinner life. I'll tell you something
else. He didn't have to. He wasn't
obligated to. He's no less God if he'd have
passed me by and sent me to hell. He's no less just. He's no less
righteous. He's no less right. That's what
I earned. It's exactly what I earned. That's
exactly what I deserved. He didn't give me what I deserved.
And for that, I'm thankful. Only God can cause a man or woman
to receive this. People that believe God's Word
don't question it. They don't dispute it. They don't
argue over it. You know what they do? They bow
and submit to it. They say, Lord, not my will,
but thine be done. They take sides with God's Word
against themselves. We say that all the time, but
isn't it true? It's not right to give the children's bread
to a dog. And that woman said, yeah, Lord,
that's true. I'm gonna take your side in that matter. But even
dogs get the crumbs from the table. And for that, I'm thankful. Those who receive God's word
delight in it. I just delight in God's word.
I delight in his salvation. David wrote, thy word have I
hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. David said,
I'll delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. He
said, thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors,
and I'll delight myself in the commandments, which I have loved.
He was thankful. In Psalm 19, seven different
times, David mentions his delight in the commandments and the word
of God. Believers who receive the Word
of God do so without argument. They willingly receive it. They
welcome it. They embrace it. They never grow
tired of it. I never grow tired of hearing
it. How does faith come? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. God's Word is our bread. God's Word is our drink. Some
of the last words our Lord said to Peter was, feed my sheep.
Peter, do you love me? If you do, feed my sheep, feed
my lands. What's the Lord talking about
there? He's talking about feeding them the word of God. Now listen,
a lack of interest in the word of God is good evidence of spiritual
darkness. But a man or woman that has a
hunger and a thirst for righteousness for the word of God is one who
loves it and feeds upon it and rejoices in it. Finds comfort
in it. Finds rest and hope. That's where
my hope is. It's in what God says. It's because
God has given the saved sinner life and repentance. And that's
why they've changed. They now have life. And they
have it abundantly. Abraham believed God. What did
Abraham believe? He believed that God was able
to do what He said He would do. What He promised to do. Do we
believe that? God help us. God help us to believe
it. He believed what God promised.
He rejoiced in it. He received it. He trusted it. He hoped and he rested in what
God said. God accounted his believing unto
him for righteousness. And God will do the same for
you. How do we become righteous before God? By receiving and
believing His Word. By resting and trusting in Christ
who is the Word. rejoicing in what He's done for
us. So we see that to walk worthy of God, to be worthy of His kingdom,
worthy of God's glory is found in being in Christ who is the
Word. And Paul said, we thank God without
ceasing that we receive His Word. But that's not all we do. We
receive the Word of God, Paul says here, not as the Word of
men. but as it is in truth, the word
of God." Our faith can't stand in the words of men, but as it
is in truth, the word of God. What Paul is saying here is the
word we preach is not our word, but it's God's word. It's what
God said. And for that reason, we're commanded
to believe it. Man, talk about invitations.
I don't think there's any such thing. I really don't. God says,
repent and be baptized. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. Not just if you feel like it
or if you want to, if you don't, you'll perish. To truly and effectually
receive the word of God, you've got to receive it as from the
mouth of God himself. That's why preachers need to
try to get out of the way when they preach. True faith never
stands in the logic of man, the logic of this world, but in the
power of God. This group of believers here
in Thessalonica didn't receive the gospel as the word of Paul.
The church in Corinth did. One said, I'm a Paul. And the
other said, I'm of Apollos. And others said, I'm a Peter.
And even some said, I'm of Jesus himself. I like how this says
that I was thinking the other day when I was in high school
and in an attempt to be cool, and I'm going to tell them my
age here, but someone would ask what was going on, and us self-proclaimed
hipsters would often say, it is what it is, man. Well, now I know that I'm no
hipster, but God's word is what it is. It is in truth, he said,
the word of God. Jesus Christ said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. And no man cometh to the Father
but by me. It is as it is. The truth, the
word of God. It's not the word of men, but
the word of God. But we must always remember who
and what man is. Man at his best state is what?
Altogether, vanity. That word vanity means empty. Man in his best state is just
empty. The word means unsatisfactory.
Man, at his best, unsatisfactory to God. That's what we are, empty
and unsatisfactory in the eyes of God. And at best, God's preachers
are just empty and unsatisfactory men that God has given the message. Preachers aren't infallible.
But the Word of God they preach is, in case you didn't know,
the Pope is not infallible. The Word of God is infallible.
It's never failing. That's what the word means. It
means incapable of being wrong. And it's hard for me to believe
that people would think that any son and daughter of Adam
is infallible. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's none righteous. No, not
one. We're all in the same boat here. We've all come short of
God's glory. All of us are just vessels of
clay, and a child of God lays no claim to perfection, but we
claim the Word of God we preach to be. We claim our Savior to
be. Friends, Jesus Christ is perfect
and holy and righteous and just. And the wonderful news of the
gospel is, is that if I'm in Him, so am I, and so are you. And I'm thankful for that. Paul was thankful, I'm thankful,
and I know you're thankful. We should all be thankful that
there's a remnant according to the election of grace. There
are some that receive this glorious gospel as it is in truth, the
Word of God. That Samaritan woman that the
Lord met at the well, man, she went into the city and she told
everyone she came across about the Lord Jesus. She said, He
told me all that I ever did. You know, only God can do that.
She saw He was God. And I don't ever remember paying
much attention to that text or these words found in that account
there in John chapter four, but in verse 41 of John four, we
read this, and many more believed because of His word, Christ's
word. And those that believe said unto
the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we've
heard him ourselves. And we know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Savior of the world. You don't believe because
someone else believes, you believe because you've heard him yourself.
There are many in our day that are resting in the words of men.
Sadly, they're letting men talk them into a profession of faith
But understand that salvation is a work of power by God in
the heart. It's an awakening power. It's
a quickening power. It's a life-giving power. The
Lord uses what the world calls the foolishness of preaching
to bring that power to a sinner's heart. Through the preaching
of God's gospel, it's an inward work. It's a work of sovereign
grace. It's an eternal work. It's an
everlasting work. Whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever. Abraham believed God, not men. And it was imputed unto him for
righteousness. Now that word imputed means charged. It was charged to him, but it
means more than that. Matter of fact, it means to be
weaved. You ladies, I know know something
about weaving, intertwined. God's righteousness was weaved
into Abraham so much that it was his. Not just stuck on. It was weaved into him. It became
a part of him. It became his righteousness.
God's righteousness was his righteousness. God's righteousness is not just
pasted on us any more than our sin was just pasted on him. Christ
was made sin. the sin of his people, he was
made sin and it was God who made him so. The believer is made
righteous, the very righteousness of God. And it was God who made
them so. Now, if I can make you righteous
and I can't, but I don't have the power to do it and don't
have the power to keep you in righteousness, but God does. Now look at our text one more
time. Verse 13, Paul said, for this cause, for this reason,
also think we God without ceasing, because when you received the
word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which,
now watch this, affectually worketh also in you that believe. So thirdly, we see that the word
of God that we preach, that word that the child of God hears and
receives and believes is as the very word of God is effectually
working. It's effective. What does effectual
mean? Brother Mahan said it means it
gets the job done. That's a pretty good, easy way
of saying it, true. It gets the job done. I'm becoming
more convinced that we really don't believe anything, spiritually
speaking, until we've experienced it. You know, that's what Paul's
thankful for. He's thankful that the Word of
God came to the chosen people of God in power. Look back in
chapter 1, verse 4 here. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse
4. Paul says, knowing brethren,
beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance." You see, God's Word doesn't come in word
only. It comes in power. It's something that you experience. Two men hear the same message,
the same preaching, the same sermon, and one says, what a
message. And the other one says, what
a Savior. One heard the word of man, the other one heard the
word of God. And it was God that made the difference. This was
something that Paul experienced. Paul said when the law came,
he didn't just look at the law and say, well, I guess that's
right. No, Paul experienced the law and he felt what it demanded. And you know what he said? He
said, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, when I saw what the law was saying, he said, I died. Paul experienced the power of
the law. It stripped him of his self-righteousness. He experienced and felt the power
and the killing effect of the law. He said, I died. And he
believed it, he felt it, and he died. He saw himself as dead. The knowledge, the presence,
the certainty of sin is not just a fact that we acknowledge. It's
an experience that we're made to feel. Just the same as the
sovereignty of God's is not just a doctrine. You know, I hear
people say all the time that, oh, I just love the doctrine
of God's sovereignty. I believe in the doctrine of
God's sovereignty. Well, if you haven't experienced
it, you don't. Do you know when you believe in a God that is
sovereign, you'll rest in a God that is sovereign. You sure will. You'll find true comfort in a
God that is sovereign. When you're able to fully find
comfort, peace, and rest in everything, Everything that God does in His
sovereign providence. When you experience real peace,
knowing that God does all things well and for your good, then
you can talk about believing in God's sovereignty, but not
until. That's when you believe that He's sovereign. Salvation
is not just a knowledge of facts. Salvation's in a person, and
that person is Christ. But until you experience what
it is to be in Christ, until you see that only in and by and
through Him that you have no sin, you see what I'm saying?
That you have the very righteousness, the perfect righteousness of
God in Him, then you've experienced salvation. And that's when you'll
truly understand the salvations of the Lord and what exactly
that means. God's sovereignty and salvation
doesn't mean that God has the power to save you only when you
lend Him your will. To believe in sovereign grace
is to experience sovereign grace. It's to know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that you were dead in trespasses and sin, that there
was no way you could be saved in and apart from God having
mercy on you and giving you life. You could do nothing for yourself.
Being dead, you didn't have any ability. Being dead, you had
no will. To experience sovereign grace
is to know that God with no reason apart from His own mercy and
grace, no reason apart from His own will and purpose, determined
to make you one of His before you were ever born. For that
I am thankful. I really am. Before you had done
any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth. Have you
experienced that? And again, I say that salvation
is not an experience. You're not saved because you
had an experience. That's not what I'm saying. But
your experience of God's power in making you able and willing
to come to Christ proves that you're saved. A saved sinner
has experienced their inability. A saved sinner has experienced
their unwillingness. Regretfully, I say that I experience
both every day. Unwillingness to believe, unwillingness
to trust. The God's people have experienced
God's sovereign work of grace and mercy in their heart. And
they remember before that their heart was deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked. They've experienced that the
thoughts and intents of their heart were only evil and only
evil continually. But now, they've experienced
God's sovereign mercy and grace in Christ. You've experienced
God giving you a new heart, making you a new creature. You've experienced
a new birth, being born again into a new life. Have you experienced
the effectual power of God's Word? Have you experienced the
assurance of God's sovereignty? Have you experienced that rest
and that comfort of God's providence? Let me just quickly give you
two more things I promise not to be long. We're talking about
what it is to believe God. We're talking about what it is
to walk worthy of God, who's called you into His kingdom and
His glory. Look at verse 14. 1 Thessalonians 2. For ye, brethren, became followers
of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. So the fourth thing that proves
us to be worthy is that we became followers of Christ. In other words, we follow Him. When a sinner receives the Word
of God, they'll follow Christ. Did our Lord not say, my sheep
hear my voice, and they what? Follow me. They become like all
the others that know Christ. Our Lord said in John 12, verse
26, He said, if any man serve me, let him follow me. And where
I am, there also shall my servant be. To one, our Lord said, follow
me. And that fellow said, Lord, I'll
follow you, but suffer me to go first and bury my father.
Another said to the Lord, Lord, I'll follow thee, but let me
first go bid them farewell while you're at my home, at my house. It's sheep that follow, and it's
goats that butt. Now, that's just so. And then
lastly, in verse 14, Paul says, I thank God that you suffered
like things of your own countrymen. Now, isn't that an amazing thing
to say? Most people look at you and say, you rejoice that I suffered? I do if that suffering brings
you to Christ. The believer will rejoice in
their afflictions. Paul thanked God that he and
those to whom he preached were worthy to suffer for Christ's
sake. If you preach or believe the
truth of God's Word, I'm telling you, you're going to suffer some
persecution. Our Lord said, if they hated me, they'll hate you.
If they despise me, they'll despise you. And that's clear proof. When Paul heard that these folks
were being persecuted, well, he knew they were preaching the
truth. Child of God, thank Him for your afflictions and your
persecutions. You remember what David said?
He said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn something about God's statutes. That word statutes means necessary
appointments. Suffering and persecution teaches
us something of these necessary appointments that God has for
us. And we're gonna learn that in
the suffering and persecutions, we have nowhere to turn but to
Him. Child of God, thank God that
you thank God. Thank God that you gladly received
the word of God. Thank God that you received His
word, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word
of God." Oh, thank Him for that. Thank God that His Word is effectual. It never returns unto Him void,
but it accomplishes that which God sends it to do. And I am
so thankful for that. Thank God that He enabled and
caused you to follow Him. And thank God for your sufferings,
for your trials, your tribulations, your trouble. For it's by them
that you learn something of God's sovereign appointments, which
calls us to trust and depend upon Him alone. May God enable
us to walk worthy of these things and be thankful for them. Amen.