Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Thessalonians 2. 1 Thessalonians 2. And let's read verse 13. This will
be our text this morning. 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 effectually
worketh also in you that believe. When God calls a sinner to himself,
when God calls a sinner to his gospel, the gospel of substitution,
when God opens a sinner's eyes to what they are currently under,
the lies of religion, the works of religion, when God calls a
sinner to the substitution of Christ. His work, not ours. This great revelation, this great
calling. When God does that, it is honestly
amazing to me. It's amazing to me. Every time
that God lays hold of a sinner and brings that sinner to himself
and brings that sinner to his gospel and brings that sinner
to his people, that is amazing to me. I don't know why I sometimes
feel shocked by it. I believe it's because I have
first-hand experience on how much this flesh does not want
for that to happen. The natural flesh of every man
and woman is so uninterested in the things of God. So uninterested
in the worship of God. God alone. We gather here to
bow the knee before God alone. We're not here for any other
reason. We're not here for a program. We're not here for anything but
to gather and worship God alone. And the flesh is so uninterested
in that. So, when any person is drawn
to the gospel and desires it, not just feels like they need
to go because you need to go. Everybody knows you need to go.
You don't want to go stand before God, do you? No? Well, I better
go to church. Not for that reason, but because
they want it. I mean, they want it. Well, I
have to go. Now I want to go. When God produces that, it is
so amazing. When a person needs the gospel,
it's so amazing. That is a miracle of divine power. Absolute divine power. It's something
that I really rejoice in and thank God for. I can't remember
who it was for certain who said this. I believe it was John Newton.
Some of you may know. But one of the elders in the
church came up to him and said, did you hear that God saved this
person who was completely uninterested in the gospel, just a wicked,
sinful, wretched man? He said, did you hear God saved
that man? John Newton said, did he really? Isn't that something? That's
wonderful. That elder said, I will never despair of anybody since
God saved him. John Newton said, dear brother,
I'll never despair of anybody since God saved me. Never. Never. I am honestly amazed and
I rejoice in, I'm so thankful to the Lord for overruling my
flesh. I'm so thankful for that. So
glad he did that. I am so glad he called me to
himself, called me to this gospel, gave me a need for it. I mean a need for him for his
word, for his people, for his worship. I thank God for that.
And I thank God for doing the same thing for you. I thank him
for doing the exact same thing for you. Paul said in verse 13,
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 effectually worketh also in you that believe." The
word received is in that verse two times. They are not the same
original Greek word. The first one means, when it
came to you. When you heard with the ears.
The second one means you laid hold of it. You took it. Verse 13 says, For this cause
also thank we God without ceasing, because when you heard with the
ear the Word of God which you heard of us, you laid hold of
it. You took it. Not as the Word
of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. which effectually
worketh also in you that believe." It's a great blessing when God
reveals this to sinners. And they lay hold of this right
here. Look with me if you would at 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter 1 verse 20 says, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Not one verse
of scripture came from the heart of a man. Not one verse of scripture. Verse 21 says, For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God,
those who were set apart, those men were sanctified for holy
use. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. Every word in this book has come
directly from the heart and the mind and the mouth of our Almighty
God. Every single word. The calling
of a true preacher. the desire of a true preacher,
the goal. This is the goal. One man said,
when you preach, preach for a verdict. The Apostle Paul said, I'm not
as one that beats the air. I'm not shadow boxing. And the goal of every true sent
preacher is to do nothing more than repeat His Word. in a clear way where people can
understand what he's saying. Here's the goal of the message.
We're going to read the verse, and we are going to, by God's
grace and spirit, rightly divide it, as the scripture says, and
understand the meaning of the verse, and hear what God has
to say. We are here right now to declare. We're just here to announce.
We're here to repeat. Set forth His Word. This is my greatest desire in
preaching. I have in a minute, I'll tell
you my greatest fear. This is my greatest desire. My greatest
desire is that the Lord will remove me from the equation. This is my This is my goal. It's His glory, and His honor, and His praise,
that everybody would just be standing here, gazing up into
heaven. As He ascended up, and those
two angels said, why are you standing here gazing up into
heaven? That's the whole goal. If God would completely remove
me, this flesh can be such a hindrance. This is what I beg for every
time before I stand up. I do not want to come in between
you and the Word of God. If come the end of a message,
we all can say that we heard Him, as long as He is in everybody's
minds. Everybody just thinking on Him.
glorying in Him, rejoicing in Him and rejoicing in His Word,
rejoicing in His mercy, rejoicing in His grace that He would just
show kindness to sinners like us. If we are rejoicing in what
He has written in this Word, whatever it is, I give thanks
for it. I give complete thanks for it.
It's all I want. Go with me if you would back
to our text. 1 Thessalonians 2. 1 Thessalonians 2. Verse 13 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
effectually worketh also in you that believe. When you receive
the Word of God which you heard. You heard. It came into your
ear and you heard. You heard it with the heart. Is this not our greatest desire?
This is my greatest desire for you. This is my greatest desire
for myself. Is that God might cause us to
hear his word with the heart. You know, you know this experience,
you know it well. We're here because we want to
be here. We're here because we glory in
our Lord, and we thank our Lord, and we bow to our Lord. We're
here to praise Him, and honor Him, and worship Him. And we
sit down, and we get ready, and the words start coming in, and
they're going in, and all of a sudden it's kind of doing this,
and nothing's happening, and nothing, and we're going, yep,
I agree with that. I agree with that. I agree with that. And
then all of a sudden God goes, thank God. Paul said, this is why I give
thanks. Not because you were willing to stay there in the
pew and not be a distraction and hear the Word. He said, because
you heard it. You heard it. Oh, you heard it
with the heart. Just like that woman Lydia. She
sat there by the riverside listening to Paul preach the Word of God. He just said, this is what God
says. Preaching it to all the women
standing there, but God says, the Lord opened her heart. Oh,
he opened her heart, and she heard it with the heart. Lord,
let this be our prayer today, and every time we meet, but especially
today, we might not have tomorrow. April the 16th may not come.
Right now, in just a minute, and tonight, let us hear with
the heart. Let us hear with the heart. Lord,
please open our hearts. All right. Now this is one of
the greatest fears that I have in preaching. I fear this for
myself. I fear it for anyone else. It's
a repeat of what I just said. It's that any of us would only
hear this message with the ear. I don't want to go meet God that
way. Oh, I don't want to go meet God that way. Hearing the word
of a man. Listening to the teaching and
the instruction of a man. You hear it? Well, that's what
this man says. Well, that's what that man says.
You agree with some of it. You disagree with some of it.
May God cause us to hear and receive this word. Not as the
word of men. but as it is in truth, the Word
of God. This is why it's so important
that we, as much as possible, declare the Word of God. See
it with our own two eyes, quote it, and may God cause us to hear
it with the heart. May He speak to us through the
man. We need the man. It's His means that He has chosen
to use to speak to His people through the preaching. But may
God cause us to only hear it through the man and hear Him,
hear His Word. Look with me if you would at
Acts chapter 3. The heading at the top of my
page says, Peter and John heal a lame man. This lame man was
sitting at the gate of the temple, begging for money. Verse six
says, then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such
as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received
strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God." Now that's the very thing that Paul
is rejoicing over in our text. That lame man did not leap up
and run off to go do all the things that he'd been dreaming
of for all those years. I got a lot of things on my bucket
list and I got to start scratching them off. He leaped up and he
entered straight into the temple walking and leaping and praising
God. Now watch verse 9. And all the
people saw him walking and praising God And they knew that it was
he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple.
And they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had
happened unto him. And as the lame man which was
healed hailed Peter and John." He was so thankful for those
two men, so glad for the message that came out of their mouth.
He was hugging on them. Verse 11 says, "...as he which
was healed hailed Peter and John, all the people ran together unto
them." in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he answered
unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why
look ye so earnestly on us? As though by our own power or
holiness we had made this man to walk." A man cannot do these
things. This did not take place through
the word of a man. God did this. Peter said, why
are you looking on us? God did this. That's how it is
in the preaching of the gospel. If a sinner is going to truly
hear, if they're ever going to hear the word of God and lay
hold of it with the heart, then God himself is going to have
to effectually work on the heart of that sinner. How can I say
these things in such a way that convinces people of it? How can
I say these things clearly enough in such a way that absolutely
convinces people of it? I can't. I cannot. No man can. No man can. God can take a man who is so
eloquent and open no one's eyes through him. God can take a man
who can't hardly put a sentence together and slay everybody if
he wants to. It is God. My calling is not
to convince people of the Word of God. My calling is to declare
the Word of God. All the convincing is in His
hands. All of it. Paul said, that's
why I rejoice so much every time I see it. And I say the same
thing. That's why I rejoice so much. I never know. Paul never knew. No man ever
knows when God is going to convince. Or who God is going to convince. Usually it's not the person you
think it is. Usually it's not. Surely not
Him. That's usually who God calls. We just keep preaching His Word.
We just keep preaching His Word. Keep preaching His Word. And
then after that, we stand back. Get out of the way. Just let
me get out of the way and watch the salvation of the Lord. Go with me, if you would, to
Philippians 2. Philippians 2 verse 13 says, For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. When God effectually
works, when God moves on the center, When a sinner hears with
the heart the word of God, the voice of God, when God speaks,
it produces a result. It produces a result. Sinners
both will, all of a sudden there's a will in there that was not
there before. Sinners will and sinners do His
good pleasure. What is His good pleasure? What's His will? This is my beloved
Son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear Him. Hear Him. Not as the Word of man, as the
Word of God Almighty. Read the words of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth and hear God Almighty. Bow to Him. Believe on Him. Paul said, I rejoice every time
I see it happen. Every time. I give thanks to
God without ceasing. Every time I see it. And go with
me back to 1 Thessalonians 1. This time look at chapter 1.
Almost finished. Verse 2, he said, We give thanks
to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,
remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love
and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of
God and our Father. 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,
as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so
that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia. He
said, we rejoice because you heard the word, you received
it by the power of the Holy Ghost, and you became believers and
hearers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. You came to
Him. You came to Him. Not Him plus
this book that so-and-so wrote. That's important. Paul said, I rejoice without
ceasing every time I see man throw away his books and cling
to Christ. I rejoice every time. Not him,
plus the old doctrines that I've carried over from my tradition
and my religion. Him alone. His Word alone. And let me show you one more
thing in our text, alright? Chapter 2, verse 13. There are two words in this verse
that are italicized. The word IT and the word AS. Those were added by the translators.
They are good additions. If we take them out for just
one second, we'll see another meaning in this verse. Verse
13 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 not the Word of Man. As soon as you heard the Word
of God, as soon as you truly heard the Word of God, that was
it. That's it. The Word of Man meant nothing
to you after that. Nothing. Our Lord said, My sheep
hear My voice, for they know My voice. And a stranger will
they not follow. They will not do it. Every single
one of them. He'll call every single one of
them. They'll hear his voice and his voice only. And a stranger
they will not follow. Not only will God's people not
just receive the words as the word of men but the word of God.
They won't receive the words of men. The only way that they'll
say that man is telling me the truth is if he is quoting God,
quoting Christ. That's the only way. As soon
as he veers from that, I don't know. I don't know. Give us the
Word of God alone. Let God be true. And every man
a liar. Every man. Man says there are
many ways to salvation. Everybody believes that. I heard
something yesterday. Everybody believes that. God
says there's one. There's one. I am the way. Come unto me. I'll give you rest.
Man says this flesh needs to be cleaned up. God says it has
to die. The wages of sin is death. I'll
by no means clear the guilty. Man says by works are you saved. God says by blood are you saved. Without the shedding of blood
there's no remission for sin. Who do we believe? Who do we
receive as truth? Has God made his word effectual
in us? That's the question. Paul said,
I thank God without ceasing because he's caused you to say God is
true. Everything else is a lie. I need
him. I need his truth. I need his blood. I need his
word. I need his people. I need his worship. His apostles,
I'm not gonna turn there, we were gonna close by, I was gonna
show you this verse, I'll tell it to you. He asked his apostles,
from that time, many of his disciples walked away and followed him
no more. They listened to him and they
listened to him and then they said, I don't know. And he turned
to his apostles and he said, will you also go away? And Peter
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of life. And
we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ. And that's where we leave it.
All right. You're dismissed.