Go with me, if you would, back
to 1 Thessalonians 3. Tonight's message goes hand in
hand with the Bible study that we had this morning on a beautiful
conversation in the midst of trials. The reason I say that
is because In this chapter, the Apostle Paul is dealing with
the fact that these trials and afflictions that we endure are
appointed to us. They are appointed to us. Just
like we saw this morning when David said concerning Shimei,
God said to him, curse David. I was appointed to this. So it goes hand in hand with
what we looked at there. With that being said, this message
goes hand in hand with the morning message on what happened in Athens. And the reason I say that is
because we started right here. Paul wrote every bit of this
from Athens. He was in Athens when he wrote
this letter to the Thessalonians. And we started the message this
morning by remembering all the turmoil that the preaching of
the gospel brought to Athens. All of that affliction. And Paul
had to very quickly leave them. And he was worried about them.
He had to very quickly leave them. And he was worried. And some of them believed what
he spoke. Some of them believed the truth.
He found some brethren there. And he knew that they would be
persecuted for believing the same truth that he believed and
preached. He knew they would be persecuted
just like he was. And he wondered if God had given
them true sustaining faith. Here he sits in Athens and he's
thinking about them. And I can tell you from experience
when the Lord brings a person to hear the truth and that person
starts to Grasp something of the gospel you think on them
you dwell on them you pray for them You wonder if you'll see
him again. I wonder what they're thinking
about. I wonder if the Lord is doing a work and That's what
he's thinking. I wonder if the Lord has truly
done a work in them they received it while I was there, but they
I are now suffering great persecution for it. And are they going to
continue in the faith? Are they going to wither away
from the pressure of all of this persecution? Verse 1 right here
says, Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, Paul, Silas,
and Timothy were dying to know. They were dying to know. stood
at all, they couldn't stand it any longer. I have to know. Do
they still believe? Has God truly done a work? Verse
1, Wherefore, when we could no longer forebear, we thought it
good to be left at Athens alone. And we sent Timotheus, our brother
and minister of God and fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ,
to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith. Paul
and Silas were there and they sent Timothy over to the Thessalonians. Verse 3, that no man should be
moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto. We are appointed to these afflictions. For verily, when we were with
you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation
even as it came to pass and you know we told you it would come
and it did and he said in verse 5 for this cause when i could
no longer forbear i sent to know your faith lest by some means
the tempter have tempted you in our labor be in vain that's
a legitimate fear for all of us. He said, I just had to know. I sent Timothy over to strengthen
your faith and I had to know. Do they really believe? I told
them persecutions are coming. And I wanted to know, do they
truly believe this or had they had the tempter come and stolen
these things away from them. And that's a legitimate fear
that we all ought to have for ourselves as hearers of the Word. Look with me at Mark chapter
4. Mark chapter 4. Verse 2 says, And our Lord taught
them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
Hearken, behold, there went out a sower to sow, and it came to
pass, as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls
of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony
ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang
up, because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up,
it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. Now what was he saying in that
parable? Look at verse 14. The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the wayside,
where the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan cometh
immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts."
What a terrible thing that is. As soon as that word comes in,
the adversary comes and just steals it right out of their
hearts. Verse 16, and these are they likewise, which are sown
on stony ground, who when they have heard the word, immediately
receive it with gladness, just immediately. They hear it, they
believe it, they latch hold of it, this is it, this has gotta
be it. I've heard the truth for the first time. Verse 17, and
they have no root in themselves, and so endure, but for a time,
afterward when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's
sake. immediately they are offended.
When it comes for the Word's sake, they're offended. The Apostle Paul told the Thessalonians
before it came that affliction would come. Our Lord told His
Apostles and He's told us that affliction will come. Look with
me at John 16. John chapter 16. Verse 1 says, These things have I spoken unto
you that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the
synagogues. They will kick you out of the
church. They will. You come here, this
truth, and then try to go tell everybody what you've heard,
thinking they're going to latch on to it like I have. They will
put you out of the church over this. And he went on to say,
yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he's
doing God service. And these things will they do
unto you because they have not known the Father nor me. But
these things have I told you that when the time shall come,
you may remember that I told you of them. I told you beforehand. These afflictions are appointed
to us. Now, I have four things that
will comfort us through the trials and the afflictions. I want to
give you three of them now, and then I'll give you one at the
end of the message. Four things that will comfort us through
these trials, and this honestly can be said of every child of
God. Whenever the Spirit moves on
a child of God, when the Spirit dwells in a child of God, Number
one, we trust the God who appoints them. They will come. These trials and afflictions
will come. And we trust the God who appoints
them. We know they are appointed to
us. We know they will come. But we trust the God who appoints
them, especially in the moment we never understand them. Rarely
ever do we understand, why am I going through this trial? We
naturally do not want trials. We do not want trials. If you look right here at John
16 verse 6, the Lord said, because I have said these things unto
you, sorrow hath filled your heart. And that's the truth.
Every time we hear trials and afflictions will come, sorrow
fills the heart. We don't want trials and afflictions,
but we trust the God who appoints them. We just do. They will come and we trust the
God who appoints them. The second thing is we trust
and we can trust for our comfort. We can trust that He knows our
frame. He knows us. He knows each one
of us. He knows exactly what we need. Usually, we get what we need
through trials. Usually, we learn and we grow. Faith is increased. Things are
increased through trials. And He knows each one of us individually. And He knows what we need. And He knows what we're able
to bear. He knows our frame. He knows what each one of us
is able to bear. Now, our threshold is usually
much lower in our mind than what He knows it to be. But He knows
what we're able to bear, and the trials are appointed accordingly. Number three, we can trust that
God will, that good will always be waiting at the end of it.
Nobody wants trials. But we trust the God that appoints
them. We trust that He knows our frame. And we trust that
good will always be waiting at the end of it. Always. Always. We forget it every single time. But every single time, good is
waiting at the end. So even if we don't find comfort
in the trials and the afflictions themselves, We do find comfort
in the appointment of them. They do not come randomly to
us. They do not just randomly happen. They are appointed. And we find
comfort in the fact that the one who controls everything is
controlling the trial. He's controlling the affliction. And that trial and that affliction
will not overtake his purpose. It will accomplish His will,
and that gives us comfort. That gives us comfort, comfort
every time. Now go back to 1 Thessalonians
3. With that being said, Paul being
just a man, loving these brethren dearly, he said, I was so worried
about you, so worried for you. I knew that the only way that
you could withstand that kind of persecution was if you were
being kept by the power of God. I knew that. It's the only way.
And I had to send Timothy to find out if God was keeping you.
In verse six, he said, now when Timotheus came from you unto
us and brought us good tidings of your faith and love, charity
means love. and that you have good remembrance
of us always, desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith." He said, I was so worried about you. I was sitting in Athens
and my spirit was stirred within me over so many things. I saw
all of that idolatry I was sitting in the middle of. I was thinking
about all the persecution that you were endearing and how fragile
you were, new believers. And I was just so concerned for
you and worried if the Lord had truly done a work in you and
was keeping you. And I sent Timothy and Timothy
came back and he brought such good news to us. Timothy came
back and he said, they are holding right down the line. They are
holding in the midst of all that persecution. It's scriptures
alone, grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, the glory of God
alone. You'd be so happy if you'd see
him, Paul. You'd just be so thrilled to go see that little group of
believers. And Paul said, I'm suffering my own affliction over
here. I'm in the middle of my own trial.
But just hearing how you are standing in yours, has comforted me in mine. It's
strengthening me in my trial. Verse 7, Therefore, brethren,
we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress
by your faith. For now we live if you stand
fast in the Lord. It's putting life in us. Seeing
how God is putting life in you, it's given us our second wind. We were depressed. We were moping
around. And I just knew that you were
going to say, this is not worth it. This is not worth it. All
my friends are leaving me. It's not worth it. But Timothy
came back and he said, they're fighting the good fight of faith.
And Paul said, it's just ignited us, encouraged us. Now, who gets
the glory for that? Who gets all the credit for that?
The credit for the message? The credit for the blessing of
the message? The faith that comes through the message? The keeping
grace? The quickening of the soul and
the spirit? Who gets all the credit and all the glory for
that? Verse 9 says, For what thanks can we render to God again
for you? For all the joy wherewith we
joy for your sakes. before our God. He said, we give
thanks to God. It's God which worketh in you
both to will and do of his good pleasure. And he said in verse
10, night and day, we've been praying exceedingly. We've been
calling on the Lord, asking him if he would be pleased to grant
us two things. Number one, that we might see
your face. That's love. Back up in verse
six, in the middle of verse six, he mentioned faith and love. You cannot separate those two.
You cannot do it. Where there is a common faith,
there is a common love, a true love. If a man loves God, he
will love his brother. He just will. He won't be able
to help it. He won't be able to not love
his brother. So he said, the first thing we're praying for
is that we might get to see your face again. And he said, the
second thing is that we might perfect that which is lacking
in your faith. We just want to minister the
gospel to you one more time. We just want to preach the gospel
one more time to you. Not for our glory, but for your
good. Not because we want you to hear
us again, but because we know that this is the means God has
chosen to use to strengthen faith more and more. The preaching
of the gospel. Verse 11, He said, Now God Himself
and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. If we come, then God is going
to have to be the one who directs our way to you. Nothing is going
to happen. Outside of his will and his purpose
even if what we want is a good thing Even if it is a good thing. He said we're still praying thy
will be done the reason that Paul came to the Thessalonians
or the way he came to them was Paul wanted to go preach in Asia
and And he wanted to go preach in Bithynia, but the spirit would
not suffer him to do it. The spirit would not allow him
to do it. He received a vision in a dream, and the Lord told
him, you're going to go preach in Macedonia. And then you're
going to go to Thessalonica, Philippi, and then Thessalonica. So Paul said, we're praying,
thy will be done. No matter what our desire is,
we pray, thy will be done. Verse 12, and the Lord make you
to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward
all men, even as we do toward you. To the end, he may establish
your hearts unblameable. in holiness before God, even
our father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his
saints. Now, this is the fourth reason
for comfort. The fact that God has established
his people made them to be unblameable in holiness before God. Unblameable in holiness before
God. Men and women who were conceived
in sin. Spent their whole lifetime committing
nothing but sin. Nothing but sin. Unworthy. In their flesh unwilling. But God who is rich in mercy. For his great love wherewith
he loved us. Even when we were dead in sins,
He quickened us together with Christ. And now with Him, we
stand unblameable. We stand unblameable. No matter
what happens in this life, no matter what happens in this life,
true believers have this comfort to fall back on. I stand unblameable. In holiness before God. Unblameable. Not through anything that I've done. Only
through everything that Christ has done. That's what makes a
sinner stand unblameable before God. No matter what trial happens
in this life. A sinner has this to fall back
on. A child of God has this to fall
back on. In Christ, I'm standing unblameable
before God. Turn back about two pages to
Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1 verse 21. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight, wholly unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. He made us unblameable by bearing
our blame in the body of his own flesh through death. I love
how whenever Joseph, whenever all of Joseph's brethren had
to come stand before him in Egypt, They sold him into slavery and
the Lord moved him up to the top of Egypt. And all of his
brethren had to come stand before him and beg for food. And Joseph told them, I want
you to go back and get your youngest brother, Benjamin, and bring
him here. So they went back to get him
and Jacob did not want to let him go. Jacob had already lost
Joseph, who was his youngest. Rachel had him and then now Rachel
had Benjamin and he didn't want to let him go. He didn't want
to lose him, too. So Judah said he made a promise
to his father. He said, I will be surety for
him. of my hand shalt thou require
him." I'll bring him back to you myself. He said, if I bring
him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear
the blame forever. I'll be a surety for him. And
if I don't bring him back safe and sound, then you let me bear
the blame forever. That's what Christ promised to
his Father for us. All that thou givest me, I will
keep. I will lose nothing. I will raise
all of them up at the last day, unblameable. Unreprovable. That means unconvictable. No conviction. No blame. And I'll do that by bearing all
their blame. No matter what trial or what
affliction may come on this earth, God has given to His people the
comfort of knowing that they can trust the One who appointed
the trial. We can trust the One who appoints
the trial. We can trust that He knows our
frame. We can trust that good will come
from it. And we can trust that in the
end, because of what God has done for us in Christ. We will stand in him unblameable
in holiness before God. That is the ultimate comfort
for a child of God. Last Friday afternoon, I was
reminded of what happened that led a man named Horatio Spafford
to write a song called It Is Well With My Soul. I heard somebody
tell the story. Most of us know that story. This man, he was an affluent
lawyer and landowner, businessman and landowner in Chicago in the
late 1800s. He had five children. He had
four daughters, and his youngest was a little boy. He and his
wife, Anna, lost their little boy to pneumonia the same year
of the great Chicago fires in 1871. In addition to all of their grieving
over losing their youngest, He lost all of his real estate
in the Great Fire. He owned a major portion of real
estate on whatever lake that is that Chicago's on. And it
was all gone. That man literally went from
wealth to poverty like that. Well, he thought it would be
a good idea Because his family was just. Almost like a modern day job
situation. And his family was just distraught
and just. Grieve, so he thought it would
be a good idea for his family to get away from everything.
And he he worked it out for them to go spend some time in Europe.
So he bought tickets for an ocean liner to cross the Atlantic,
one for him, his wife, his four daughters. And when it was time
to go, there was some dispute over his business and all of
these buildings and this fire and such on and so forth. And
he could, he had to take care of that. And he said, let me
finish this up. You all go ahead. And when I'm
done, I'll get a ticket and I'll meet you over there. Four days
into the journey over the Atlantic, the
ship that his family was on went down. And he lost all four of his daughters. And his wife was found as one
of the survivors. And when she made it over to
the other side, she sent him a telegram that said, saved alone. Only one. So he immediately boarded
a ship and started crossing the Atlantic to be with his wife.
And when they got to the spot where his family's ship went
down, the captain came to his cabin and said, I just want you
to know we are passing over the graves of your daughters. And
he grabbed a pen and a paper, and he wrote, when peace, like
a river, attends my way, when sorrow, like sea billows, roll,
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is
well with my soul. It's well with my soul. Everything
in this world may crumble in our hands. I mean this. Everything in this world might
crumble in our hands, but God's people have this comfort and
this hope to fall on. It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. In Christ,
we're unblameable in holiness before God. Even though Mr. Spafford was grieving over the
loss now of all five of his children, he could still write, in that
moment, he could still write, my sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole, was nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise
the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh, my soul.
I trust Him. I trust him. I trust the God
who appointed this. I trust that he knows my frame
and I trust that he knows my wife's frame. I trust that he
will allow good to be waiting at the end of this. And the reason I trust that is
because in Christ, it's well with my soul. He's caused me
to believe that in my Lord, he's made it well with my soul. That's
comfort. That's comfort. All right, let's
sing that. Let's all stand together.