I turn back to 1 Thessalonians
2. 1 Thessalonians 2. I want to pick up in verse 13. The title of the message, Receiving
the Gospel as the Word of God. receiving the Gospel as the Word
of God. When the Gospel came to the Thessalonians,
it came not in word only, as Paul tells us in the first chapter,
but it came in power and in the Holy Spirit. But it did come
in word. It did come in word. God sent
His Word, the Gospel. When we speak of the Word of
God, when we speak of the Gospel, they're one and the same. They're
one and the same here. And I never really thought about
it until today, when Paul says, you received the Word of God,
not as the Word of men, but as the Word of God you received.
They didn't have the Bible. They didn't have this. The Gentiles
didn't have any of this. What they received was the report. Isn't that what Isaiah says in
Isaiah 53? Who hath believed our report? Our message. And when Paul went
there, and for three Sabbath days he preached in the synagogue,
And there's no doubt He preached in maybe some of these other
houses, the Greeks, and some of these different places. And
when they heard Him preach, they took what He said, the report,
the message, as the Word of God, as coming from God. Not all of
them, but many of them. They listened to Him as they
were listening to God speak. That's how they received the
message. They didn't receive it like the Word of men. They
had Plato. They had these philosophers.
They didn't look at Paul as a man standing there in the pulpit
like Plato giving out some wise saying, some philosophical saying. When they listened to Paul, they
listened to him as God speaking. God speaking. that'll make a
great difference in the service if you came to hear me or if
you came to hear the Lord speak. I believe it was Ebenezer Erskine. A woman heard he was going to
preach one time. He was going to preach on the
Lord's table. That was the message. And she wanted to hear about
it. She wanted to hear about it. And when she heard about
it, and she came and she heard him preach about the Lord's table,
She was so moved and so impressed that she wanted to come back
the next time. And so the next time he preached, she came back
and she was let down. She said, I just didn't feel
what I felt the first time. And so she asked him, she said,
Mr. Erskine, how is it the first time I came I was so impressed
and I felt it was so powerful? But this time, she goes, it's
just not that way. He said, well, the first time
you came to hear God, the second time you came to hear me. He
said, that's the difference. That's the difference. You came
to hear about the Lord's table, you wanted to hear about it.
But the second time, you were so impressed, you came to hear
me. So if you came to hear me, you'll probably leave unimpressed.
But now, if you came to hear God, if He just gives you one
word out of this message, it'll carry you for a long time. It
will carry you for a long time. The Gospel, when it comes, it
comes in power, but it also comes in Word. It's God's Word. It's God's Gospel. Now, not everyone
who hears the Gospel receives it as the Word of God. Not everyone. Most receive it
as the Word of men. They just hear a man preaching.
and they just take what He says and says, okay, okay, and they
receive it, and mentally, intellectually, they'll receive it. They hear
a man preach, and they just agree with it. But when it's received
as the Word of God, it results in salvation. It results in the
salvation of your soul, and you will not ever be the same again.
you will not be the same again. You will not see this world the
same again. You'll not see anything that
you have to deal with in life the same way you used to look
at it. Not again. It's different. Now, Paul gives
here another reason for their thanksgiving to God. And he says this, "...for this
cause also." You see, back in chapter 1, he gave thanks. to
God for them, and he said, now here's another reason, I thank
God for you without ceasing. Continually. I pray for you continually. Boy, I tell you, there can be
no greater blessing than for me and for you to pray for each
other continually, without ceasing. or that I could get that across
to us, that we could do this without ceasing, to take each
other before the throne of grace without ceasing. Sometimes, I have to say, sometimes
when I pray, I'm overwhelmed about it. I'm thinking, I could
just keep on going. People with so much trouble and
so much spiritual trouble and lost people, and I think, Where do you stop? You don't. But he said, "...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, in reality." The Word of God, which effectually,
this Word, this Gospel, it effectually works. It says, "...worketh."
That means it continues to work. Once a sinner is awakened and
given life and the Word of God being the seed, it works effectually
till they leave this world. It works and it works and it
works. It worketh, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe. Now, Paul, we know, attributes
their receiving the Word of God as the Word of God to the work
of God. God gives the hearing ear. God gives the seeing eye. It's God who grants faith and
repentance. It's God who gives these things.
And we know that, don't we? We acknowledge that. And we are
thankful to God for it. We thank Him for this. Now, when
they heard Paul preach the gospel, they received it as it is in
truth, the Word of God. Paul preached. And they believed
the report. They believed it. Now if a person
receives the gospel in word only, it produces no saving interest
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It produces no obedience in faith. It produces no repentance if
it comes in word only. It produces nothing. But if it
comes in power, if God sends His Word in power, it will produce
a disciple It will produce a learner, a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It will produce one who sits
at the feet of Christ and learns of Him. You will be a follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He will be your life. There's a real difference between
a man's word and God's word when it comes in power. If we receive
the Gospel as the Word of men only, when trouble comes, we
find no rest, we find no refuge, we see things as hopeless. But
boy, if that Word is in you, you know what you do? You lay
hold of the promises of God. When trouble comes, Lord, you
said, call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver
you, and you shall glorify me. Lord, you said that. That's your
Word. If the Word comes to you in power,
you will take God at His Word, and you will hang everything
on the promises of God. But if it doesn't come that way,
when trouble comes, you'll be offended. you'll be offended,
you'll be upset, you'll be perplexed, but you won't find any rest.
You won't find any rest or any hope at all. Only when we receive
the Word of God as the Word of God can we fully find confidence
and say, all things are working together for my good. Now, if
I have truly received the Word of God as the Word of God, whatever
comes our way, we can with confidence know and say, this is for my
good. It doesn't feel good. It may not feel good, but that
doesn't mean it's not good. All things are working together
for my good." Now, for the person to whom the Word of God did not
come in power, they don't see anything working for their good.
It's like, man, this is destroying me. This is destroying me. But I tell you what, you're like
Job. You can lose everything you have, and you can say, I
know my Redeemer lives. Yeah, I know He lives. I know it. I was trying to think
of that scripture over here in Habakkuk. It says, though there
be no cattle in the stall. But I can't think of it. I don't
want to go try to turn into it too. But anyway, when we receive
the Gospel as the Word of God, we receive it with the deepest
reverence. No sinner, saved by the grace
of God, ever received the Gospel flippantly. You receive it with the deepest
reverence because of its divine origin. God. It's of God. And God sent it to me. He had
me in mine. He designed me for it. He designed
it to come to me. To think that someone like Almighty
God, in all His greatness, would think upon me. David said, I
am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Have you ever
been there? Have you really ever been poor
and needy, in your own estimation, and to think that God Almighty
actually thinks upon you? Wow, that takes the work of God
for that to happen. When the Word of God came to
them, they didn't question it, they received it. They didn't
dispute with it, they received it. If someone starts to question
it and they start to dispute with it, they are in unbelief,
they've never received it. They've never received it, they've
never bowed to it. Never have. Now here's what happened. Let me go back to this first
verse here. 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. Now, the word received is used
twice, but it has two meanings. There's two different meanings
in these words. The first one means this. You listened to us,
you willingly sat down and you listened to us. Paul came in
to preach and their attitude was like, okay, tell us what
you have to say, Paul. They willingly listened to what
Paul had to say. The second received means this,
you embraced it. See, first time he was willing,
and then you embraced it. The second time, you know what
happened? You laid hold of eternal life. There's a difference between
willing to come here and just sit and listen to me preach.
And there's a real difference in coming here and embracing
the message. Because to embrace the message
is to embrace Jesus Christ. He is the message. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. He's the teacher and He's the
lesson. And so that's what they did.
They embraced it. That was their second reception. They grabbed
hold of it. They grabbed hold of it, and
they would not let it go. And by their actions, they were
saying, Paul, give us more. Give us more of the gospel. That's
what you say when you come here week after week after week. You're
saying, give us more. Give us more. There's a real
hunger for the bread of life. You know, Christ is sheep food. Christ is sheep food. You have
a real hunger and a thirst for Christ. You have a real hunger
for the bread of life, the manna from heaven, the true manna from
heaven. You have a real hunger for it.
God's given it to you. His Word in the hands of the
Holy Spirit has created that in you. You know, in one place He said,
My Word is like fire, and in another place He said, It's like
a hammer. It's like a hammer, and you feel the effects of it.
You feel the effects of it. It's either a burning conviction
or it's warm. It's warm, and it makes you feel
comfortable. When a sinner receives the gospel
as the gospel of God, that sinner believes the truth. And listen,
when the gospel comes to you in power, and you receive it
as it is in truth the Word of God, you become dogmatic about
it. I'm not going to walk side by
side with those who do not preach and love
the gospel. I'm not going to do it. Except two agree, how
can they walk together? You know, it's just not like
we all just get together here in this community and we all
just have a communal worship. No, we're not. It can't happen. There's only one God. The Scripture
says there's one faith, there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of us all. And the Word of God tells us
who He is. He's revealed Himself in this
book. Now if somebody's going to follow a Jesus that wants
to save everybody, I'm not going down that road. Now when it comes
to faith and it comes to worship, He and I are not walking together.
Now that's just all there is to it. That's just all there
is to it. Because light and truth can't
walk together. Light and darkness can't walk together. They can't
do it. You can't walk it. It's like
you take a magnet and you take two magnets and you turn them
a certain way and they just repel each other. No, when a sinner whom God saves
receives the gospel and the power of God, he's dogmatic in the
faith. He's not like the waves of the
sea tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. I know the gospel. I know Christ
is the gospel, I know the doctrines of grace, I know how God saves
sinners, I know God chose me, gave me to Christ, Christ redeemed
me, Holy Spirit regenerated me, I know that. I'm not wishy-washy
on how God saves sinners. I'm not wishy-washy on how God
could be a just God and a Savior. And you're not either. You're
not either. There's no mixing of truth and
a lie and it turns out to be the gospel. It can't be. Salvation is either all of grace
or all of works. It's either all His righteousness
or all mine. There's no mixing. And he says this, and when the
gospel came, you received it in much assurance. That is, when
the gospel is received as the Word of God, it is received with
much assurance. This is why, listen, this is
why you're so dogmatic about the gospel. This is why you're
so dogmatic on how God saves sinners. Because of the assurance
you have that this is it. This is the way. The Lord said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the
Father but by Me. I am the door if any man enter
in. There's no other door, there's
no other way, except Jesus Christ. It's what Paul was saying over
in chapter 1, verse 5. There's complete confidence. Paul said, I know this, you have
complete confidence that this is the Word of God. This is the Word of God. I was
talking to Bruce today and he was asking me how everybody was
doing here and asked me how I felt about being here and stuff. And
he says, one thing is that I can tell you about the people there.
He said, they believe the sovereign grace of God. That testimony has gone out about
this congregation. I know they believe the sovereign
grace and mercy of God in Christ. I know that. And Paul says here, the Word
of God, it works in you, it worketh, that is, continually, in you
that believe. When the gospel comes in power,
it works powerfully You know, the Scripture speaks
of the Gospels being the dynamite, the dunamis, the dynamite of
God. That's power. It works powerfully in you who
believe. It quickens. It quickens the dead. You were
once dead in trespasses and sins. That's what it says in Ephesians
2. You who were once dead and trespasses
and sins. God has quickened you, and He's
done it with His Word. It produces good effects inwardly.
It produces faith and repentance. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
how? By the Word of God. It produces faith and repentance
through the power of the Holy Spirit now. When the Word comes,
it gives light. It gives light to those who once
sat in darkness, and ignorance, and death. It says in Psalm 119,
9, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? You know
what the answer is? By taking heed thereunto according
to thy word. By taking heed to the Word of
God. As I said, it's the seed used
in the new birth. No one has ever been born again
apart from the Word of God. Of His own will beget He us with
the Word of Truth. That's what it says, I believe
it's James 1.18. I know it's in the book of James.
I believe it's James 1.18. And then when the Word comes,
and regenerates and God saves a person or a people. It produces
a family likeness in all of God's children. It produces a family
likeness. He says in verse 14, For ye,
brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in
Judea are in Christ Jesus, For ye also have suffered like things
of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews. You
became just like all the other local churches which are in Christ,
even though you don't even know them." Never met him. Never met
him, never seen him. He said, you're just like them.
And you suffer the same things. You're suffering the same things
from your own countrymen as the Jews from theirs, those who believed
among the Jews. We have a common salvation, as
is written in Jude 1.3. We have a common love. We have a common faith. We have
the same Father, those whom the Lord saves in Mexico. Walter
wrote me a letter, wrote us a letter. I got to put it on the board.
I got it this week. And he was talking about some of the churches
down there and the preachers and the preacher school. They're
our brothers. We have brothers and sisters
in Mexico. And that's real. That's real. I've got two brothers
and four sisters back in West Virginia. I grew up with them. But someday that relationship
will be cut off. But our relationship as brothers
and sisters in Christ, it's every bit as real, and it'll never
be cut off. This is the true family of God. This is it. This is the true
family of God. We have a common love, a common
faith, the same Father, saved by the same gospel. Listen to
what Paul says in Acts 15.11. This is when they were talking
about this matter, I think, of circumcision, and it was kind
of going back and forth. And Paul says this, but we believe,
I believe it was Paul, we believe that through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. Us Jews,
He's saying, that we will be saved even as they, the Gentiles. Same way, saved by the same Father,
saved by the same grace, saved by the same blood, saved by the
same righteousness. It's the same. It's the same. I tell you what,
when the grace of God truly, truly comes to a person in power,
that person does not believe they are above anybody. You cannot taste of the grace
of God and turn around and think you're better than somebody else. The grace of God doesn't allow
that. Not if you've really been brought
to Christ and made to see who and what you really are. There
is nobody that I'm above. Nobody. Paul said, you suffer the same
troubles your brothers and sisters are suffering. For ye also have suffered like
things of your own countrymen. You're not suffering. I've never
suffered anything that's just unique or peculiar. Nobody else has ever suffered
this before. Whatever I'm suffering or whatever I ever shall suffer
or ever have suffered, it's been suffered many, many times by
other brothers and sisters. And look here in verse 15. Well, let's go back to verse
14. For you, brethren, became followers of the church, you
became imitators of them, even though you didn't know them.
of God which is in Judea or in Christ Jesus. And this is where
the church really is. Now, we speak of the church in
Mexico, church in Spring Lake, church in Lexington, churches
throughout the world. But really, the church is gathered
together right now in Jesus Christ. She's gathered in Christ. She
is in Christ. For you also have suffered like
things of your own countrymen, even as they of the Jews, who
both killed the Lord Jesus. Someone said this, The bigotry
of the Jews took away their humanity." I thought that was a good statement
that follows a lot of people. But they killed, he said, the
Lord Jesus, the very one that they were looking for, the Messiah
they were looking for. They were expecting the Messiah
to come. And when He came, they killed
Him. What a charge! What a powerful charge! They
killed the Lord Jesus. And listen, who put Him to death? Well, the Roman soldiers did.
But they were behind it. And He's not letting them off
the hook. He's saying those who brought the Lord and accused
Him and had Him to be crucified are just as guilty. They're the
guilty ones. As well as those soldiers who
drove those nails. Who both killed the Lord Jesus
and their own prophets. Now they're persecuting us. And
they please not God. And this is why he's saying this.
They think they are pleasing God. They believe they're doing
God a service. When they put the Lord Jesus
Christ to death, they believed they were doing God a service.
And he's saying here, they please not God, and are contrary to
all men. You know what? Those people over
there, you look over to that Middle East, they're still contrary
to all men. Still. Ishmaelites. He said,
every man's hand will be against him and his hand will be against
everybody. It is. And it still is. It still is. Forbidding us to speak to the
Gentiles that they might be saved. They don't want you saved. Now,
what does that reveal about a person? What does that reveal? I don't want so-and-so to be
saved. I can't stand him. I don't want
him to be saved. Do you realize how evil a heart
that has to be to be that way? They didn't want us to be saved.
It's like letting the dogs in the house. Some people hate having
a dog in the house. My dad, he did not let a dog
in the house. Dog didn't come in the house.
And that's the attitude the Jews had toward us Gentiles. They
called us dogs. They call us dogs. It's like you're letting
the dogs in the house. That's their attitude. "...forbidding
us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill
up their sins always." You know God will give a man enough rope
to hang himself. He will. He'll let their sins
become so evident that when His judgment falls, they deserved
it. They deserved it. but we brethren,
being taken from you for a short time, in present, not in heart,
we're with you in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your
face with great desire, wherefore we would have come unto you but
I, Paul, once again, but Satan hindered us." God allows that. God allows that. God allows Satan
to hinder. Why? To prove faith. to prove
faith. What is our hope? Our joy? And he's talking about him as
an apostle, those who preach. What is our hope? Our crown,
that is referred here to the victor's crown. You know, when
they would have those games back then, the winner would wear the
wreath on their head. You know what he's saying? You
are the wreath on my head. You're the victory of my ministry. You're the victory of my ministry.
A crown of rejoicing. Are not even you in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming, at His presence? I looked at that from a standpoint
of being your pastor. Because you know one day we're
all going to stand there with Him. We're all going to stand there
with Him. And I have the greatest responsibility, standing there,
of this ministry. And Paul says to them, and I
was thinking about being here in this situation,
he says, you are my rejoicing and joy in the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ. For you are our glory. You're our glory. You're our
rejoicing. and our joy. Well, I tell you
what, it's great when the congregation is a real joy, is a real joy. I've never had, you know, I didn't
have the experience like Henry or like Rupert had here of coming
out of a mess. You know, I didn't have that. And when I went to 13th Street,
it was already stable. And when I came here, stable,
I didn't have that to deal with. And the Lord just didn't bring
me down that direction. But what a joy it is to be able
to gather with the people and rejoice together in the Lord
Jesus Christ. There's just no greater joy than
that. Not if we're spiritually healthy. Not if we're spiritually
healthy. All right.