First Thessalonians 2, our text
will be the first two verses of this chapter. And the Apostle Paul right here
is reminiscing to the Thessalonians how glorious it was that God
would bring the gospel to them. And that's glorious, isn't it?
That God would bring the gospel. And how God brought the gospel
to them. It is glorious every time God
brings the gospel to a sinner. It's amazing. It's glorious. And he said in verse two, but
even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated,
as you know, at Philippi, he said, we brought the same message
to Philippi that we brought to you. And we were shamefully treated
for preaching that message. He went on to say in verse two,
but we were bold in our God. To speak unto you the gospel
of God with much contention, he said we were shamefully treated
in Philippi. And in Thessalonica, we were
treated with much contention just for preaching the gospel,
just for preaching the gospel to you. But he said, we preached
the gospel anyway. We preached it anyway. And look
what he said at the end of verse one. He said, it was not in vain. We were shamefully treated. In
the Bible study, we read this morning how he was shamefully
treated. Much contention. But he said
that that didn't stop us. We kept on preaching it. And
it was not in vain. Verse one says, for yourselves,
brethren, know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain. The title of this is the message
that is not in vain. Every message on this earth,
and there's thousands of them. If there's 10,000 different messages
out there, 9,999 of them are in vain. Empty, worthless, vanity,
nothing. There is one message that is
not in vain. And this is the message. It is
truly amazing. He said, if you look back in
chapter one, verse nine, he said, they themselves show of us what
manner of entering in we had unto you. and how you turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God. It is so
amazing to me to see when the Lord crosses the path of somebody
with the gospel. It happens all the time. You
know people and come to find out they heard a message on Sermon
Audio. They saw a message on the TV. You invited them. They came one time. And then
you get so hopeful for them. Don't you? Oh, I hope God will
do something. But I don't know, they're just
so steeped in that religion. They're just so, I don't know.
Or they don't want to have anything to do with it at all. It is amazing
to me how the true gospel, just preaching the true gospel, actually
turns men and women. Preaching, declaring what God
has actually written in the Word. turns men and women from the
idol of their religion, from the idol of their own self. They
worship gods that cannot save, whether it's in religion or whether
it's right inside their own self. Worshipping, praising, glorifying,
gratifying self. It is so amazing how the Lord
takes the message of the gospel and in power The power of His
Holy Ghost. This message is completely reliant
on the Holy Ghost. It's reliant to come in the first
place. It's reliant to be spoken in
power and blessed to the heart. But when God does that, it turns
men and women from all their idols to the true and living
God. Our Lord said, not one word of
mine shall return void, either to salvation or to condemnation. One of the two, it will accomplish
the purpose for which I sent it. Every time this is such an
encouragement to me. This is what allows me to to
stand up and declare it with everything that I have in me
at that moment in time. The gospel is never preached
in Bain. We may think it is at that moment
in time. You know that centers in the
hands of an angry God. You know that message that they
used to study in school that was preached twice. The first time, the story is
told, everybody there was asleep. Didn't mean anything. Same exact
message was preached again, and everybody was literally slayed
in the pews, crying, what shall we do? It takes the power of
the Holy Spirit, and it is never preached in vain. Never. Never. That is glorious. Well back in chapter 2 at the
top of my page for this chapter the heading or the summary for
the page it says in what manner Paul preached the gospel in what
manner and we're going to look at that at another time we'll
go down through these verses Lord willing next time and we'll
see what it has to say but I do want to point this out in spite
of how they were shamefully treated And in spite of the contention
that they received, in verse seven he said, but we were gentle
among you, even as a nurse cherishes 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. That's how I want to preach the
gospel. If the Lord will allow me to, if the Lord will enable
me to, that is how I would like to preach the gospel. Paul said
to the Thessalonians, I brought the gospel both to you and to
Philippi in gentle affection. Gentle affection. And what I
want us to see tonight is that. I want us to see that. I want
us to see what he's talking about in these first two verses. His
entrance with the gospel to the Philippians, to the Thessalonians,
that gentle affection of the message that is never in vain.
All right, this is what I want us to look at for just a second.
I want us to look at what the message is and what the message
produces. And we see it in the Thessalonians
and we see it in the Philippians. All right, turn with me over
to Acts 17. First, we're going to see the
actual message that Paul brought to them. It was the same message, he brought
the same message to the Thessalonians and the Philippians. Paul only
had one message. He only had one message. This is it. Acts 17 verse 1. Now when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was
a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ's must
needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that
this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Now, number one. Number one. He reasoned with them out of
the scriptures. He only had one message. Everywhere
he went, one message. He reasoned with him out of the
scriptures. That's what is missing in preaching
today. That's what's missing. Where
is God's word? Men have their own words and
they have the words of other men. But where is God's word? Where is God's word? About 50
years ago or so, there was a dear man named Eddie Ballard. And
that man was sitting in a false church, listening to a false
message being preached by a false preacher. And when God pulled
him out of that, when God called him away from all that, this
was the statement he made. He said, I don't know what I'm
not hearing, but I know I'm not hearing it. That's what he said. I can't put my finger on what
I'm not hearing, but I know I'm not hearing it. What he was saying
was, something's missing. That's what he was saying. Something
is missing. If you ever find yourself listening
to a message saying, something's missing, I'll tell you what it
is. It's the Word of God. That's the answer. That's what
it is. If a man is saying what can be
found in and clearly understood in the Word of God, we'll have
no problem with it. None whatsoever. If a man preaches
the Word, then we'll rejoice in it. A true God-called preacher
who has a true God-given message will bring you to the Word. That's
what he'll do. He'll preach the Word in the
Word. The word is a person and he'll
preach Christ in the word. He will say, forget all of my
words. Forget everybody else's words.
Only God is true. Everything else is a lie out
of a great burden. To only declare the truth to
men and women, He'll bring God's Word to them. This is safe. Paul
said, I'm fine with only preaching this to you. It's safe. It is
safe. He'll only preach what God has
to say in His Word. Well, what does God have to say
in His Word? What is the message of Scripture
that is never in vain? Here is the answer. Christ had
to die. That's the answer. That's what
the Word says. Start to finish. That's what God is telling us
in His Word. Christ had to die. Look at Acts 17, verse 2. Paul, as his manner was, went
in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of
the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered. Christ had to suffer. That was his message. Now here's
an example of a message that God has not said. All right,
this is a false message. A message that is not from God's
word. A message that is not God given. Coming from a man that is not
God called. Here's the example. Good people
go to heaven. Bad people go to hell. That is not what God said. That is not God's message. I
know that makes sense to the natural mind, but it is not what
God said. God said. There is none good. No, not one. God said they are
all turned aside. all gone out of the way. They
have all become unprofitable. He said every man is only evil
continually. Paul said, that's the message
that got me shamefully treated. That's the message that brought
contention. To spend our time preaching that all we have to
do is be good and we'll go to heaven. That is a waste of time.
That is a waste of breath. That is not what God said. Not
what God said. I don't know why men feel a need
to stand in the pulpit and tell people, you know, all you have
to do is be good. They tell people that they are
not what God says they are, which is sinners. They spend all their
time standing up telling people you're not what God says you
are. And then they go on and continue
the lie by saying you are what God says you're not, righteous
and good. God said there's none righteous. He said, all of our righteousnesses
are filthy rags. That's what God said. Everybody
falls into the bad and ruined and condemned category. Therefore,
Christ had to die. Christ had to die. The only hope
for man was that Christ would die for him. Take that sin, stand
before his father, Be judged, be condemned, and die. Put it away. Verse 3 says, opening
and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen
again from the dead. Not only did he have to die bearing
that sin, he had to rise again. He had to. Confirming that the
payment was made. That's what his resurrection
confirms. The dead is paid. The punishment
is complete. It's all satisfied. Verse 3,
opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and
risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach
unto you is Christ. That means God. He is God. God the Father has declared him
to be Lord and Christ. The throne belongs to him. He is the king. He is the ruler
of all. That's what God said. That's
what Paul preached. That was his one message he took
everywhere. Some were moved with envy and
anger, but verse 4 says, some of them believed. Some believed. Some believed the message. Some
laid hold of that message. Some saw life in that message. And the same thing is true about
Philippi. All right, now we just saw what the message was in Thessalonica. Now here's what the message produces
in Philippi. This is what happens in every
child of God. When the message of the gospel
is not in vain, when his spirit brings this message, applies
it to the heart, this is what happens. Turn back a page to
Acts 16. The first person who heard the
gospel in Philippi was a woman, originally from Thyatira, currently
though she was in Philippi on purpose, named Lydia. in Philippi on purpose. Everybody
there was in Philippi on purpose. Be a good title for a message.
Verse 14, they came into Philippi and a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped
God, heard us. I mean heard us. Wouldn't you love to hear the
gospel? Don't you love it when that happens?
Is that not your favorite thing on earth? When this right here
happens, this woman heard us, whose heart the Lord opened. You know that moment when God
in mercy, for it could be a split second, It could be 60 seconds. It could be an hour. But there
are those moments when the Lord opens our heart. Our hearts have
been permanently opened for all eternity. But that moment, this
woman heard us. This woman heard Christ in the
gospel. Heard the voice of her Lord.
And God opened her heart And it goes on to say, she attended
unto the things which were spoken of Paul. When the gospel is not
in vain, it goes all the way into the heart. It does not stop
at the mind. It goes all the way into the
heart. And when the gospel is not in vain, The heart is opened
and the whole being becomes attentive to the Word of God. It receives
gladly every single word from God, no matter what it is. As
condemning as it is, or as freeing as it is, it receives every word
from God. And when that takes place, the
Scripture says, it's a violent thing. When that happens, it
is a shaking thing, an arresting, consuming thing. And we see that
in one of the next men who heard the gospel in Philippi, a jailer. Lydia's house heard the truth,
and what happened was they were staying with Lydia. She said,
if you've counted me faithful, if you count me to be a sister
in Christ, a believer, you're gonna stay at my house. I'm gonna
feed you and Silas and Timothy, and I'm gonna take care of you.
And they were going to worship to this place where prayer was
wont to be made. And as they went, there was a
girl who had a evil spirit in her, and she was a soothsayer.
And Paul finally cast her out. Her owners that were making money
on her got mad. Brought them to the magistrates
and said, I want to put in prison. This was all from him traveling
from Lydia's house him because he was preaching the gospel.
So he comes now to this jailer in verse 23 says when they had
laid many stripes upon them. And that's what Paul was talking
about in the Bible study this morning. All those stripes. They
cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,
who having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison
and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight, Paul
and Silas prayed and sang praises to God." It could be that they
prayed and sang praises at midnight, because the jailer and his men
didn't stop beating them until midnight. They might have had
to wait until midnight. They just kept going and kept
going, whipping them, beating them with rods, beating their
heads, breaking their bones. And when it was all over at midnight,
they started praying. I wonder what they prayed for. John Gill said, apparently, the
jailer. That's what John Gill said. Lord,
would you show mercy to that man? That's what the gospel cries. When the gospel comes and it's
not in vain, in the power of God's Holy Spirit, it cries,
have mercy on that man. He's arrested me, would you arrest
him? Almighty love, arrest that man. Paul prayed, Lord, would you
do for him what you've done for us? Lord, I was just like him. I beat, I bruised, I killed your
people. But you shook my world, and you
knocked me down to my knees, and you thundered into my soul.
I am." Would you do that for him? Verse 25, And at midnight Paul
and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. They sang the Psalms. That's what they used to sing
back then. The Psalms. They sang, I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have
I done this evil in thy sight. But if you purge me with hyssop,
I'll be clean. If you wash me, I'll be whiter
than snow." They started preaching and praying and singing the gospel. The end of verse 25 says, and
the prisoners heard them. It was not in vain. He was not
in vain, heard with the heart, truly deep in the heart. Verse
26 says, And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the
foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the
doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. That's the
result. That's the effect of the message
that is not in vain. Everyone's bands are loosed. Every band is loosed. The band of the law, the band
of tradition, the band of doctrine, the band of denomination. You
know how we all have baggage, religious baggage? Well, he's
come out of this and he's, you know, strong on that, you know,
and he's this. It's all right. If he belongs
to God, God's going to bring him, sit him down, preach the
gospel to him, and in time break every band, every one of them. Verse 27, in the keeper of the
prison, awaking out of his sleep, that's where the true gospel
finds every sinner, sleeping the sleep of death, dead in sin,
dead in doctrine, lost in a sleep. All of a sudden, life comes. The light and the light of Christ
and His word comes. And verse 27 says, the keeper
of the prison, awaking out of his sleep, And seeing the prison
doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself,
supposing that the prisoners had been fled. And that's what
somebody who's been under the law all their life, the first
time they hear this, they think, how can, I don't understand this. Paul cried with a loud voice
saying, do thyself no harm. We're all here. The law hasn't
been broken. How can a sinner just be set
free and the law not be broken? He said, the law has not been
broken. The message that sets prisoners free does not break
one law. The Lord said, I came to set
prisoners free. I came to open all the prison doors. That does
not break one law. In Christ, we are both free from
the law and kept in the law. Here they sit in their cells,
doors wide open. Free from the law and kept in the law. The key to the whole thing is
Christ. The good news of the gospel is through the death that
Christ had to die. He satisfied the law against
every sinner in him, paid their debt in full, set him free. I love the poem that says, run,
run, the law demands. Keep running, keep running. Run,
run, the law demands. But gives me neither feet nor
hands. The gospel bids me sweeter things. bids me fly and gives me wings."
Paul said, we're all here. That's the cry of the gospel
too. All kept, none lost. We're all here. Verse 29, then
he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell
down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, sirs,
what must I do to be saved? And they said, stop looking to
yourself and start looking to a person. And that's the answer. Stop looking to yourself and
start looking to Christ. That's what every sinner will
do when he receives the gospel not in vain. And verse 31 says,
they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved and thy house. When the message of truth comes
in power, All of a sudden, the gospel is no longer a doctrine.
People go around at first saying, you believe the doctrines of
grace? You believe the doctrines of grace? That's fine. But when
the truth comes in power to the heart, they'll start saying,
you believe in Christ? Do you believe on Christ? It's
no longer a doctrine. They stop believing it, and they
start believing Him. And that is the result to every
single child of God. And if we're clinging to a person,
we're not clinging in vain. If we're clinging to a person,
we're not clinging. If we're clinging to a doctrine,
we're clinging in vain. But if we're clinging to a person,
as long as we're clinging to Christ, we will never cling in
vain. That is the message of the Gospel.
That's the message that Paul preached at Philippi. That's
the message that came to Thessalonica. And now, by God's grace, it's
come to Kingsport. The Lord asked Martha this question,
Believest thou this? Do you believe this? Believe
the things concerning Christ. If so, then it means the gospel
has not come in vain. It's not in vain. It's wonderful.
Something to rejoice over. Goodness and kindness. Alright,
let's all stand together.