We make triumph and glory, all
for us to do. May you trust in holy, find in
holy truth. Laid out from Jehovah, hearts
of holy men. Thank you. That's scriptural
also. Isaiah 26, a passage that many
of you love dearly. Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed, riveted, planted on thee. because he trusted in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, for he is the rock
of ages." I believe that's where that song came from too, Isaiah
26. All right, back to 1 Thessalonians
1. 1 Thessalonians 1, this portion
of Scripture is very appropriate tonight. You'll find out a little
while later why it is so appropriate. And it's very relevant to the
church. It's a letter to the church.
And we've been looking at the letters to the churches in the
Revelation, haven't we? And you'll see some similarities
here. And you may recall how the Lord
commended every one of the churches there in the revelation for their
works, didn't he? He commended them. And so the
apostle, the apostle Paul, who wrote this letter, he commends
the Thessalonians for their work of faith and labor of love. Now,
this epistle is full of comfort and encouragement. And so you should get a blessing
if you came just a little bit hungry and thirsty. All right, let's look at it.
Verse 1, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, Paul, Silas, and Timothy,
they were constant companions, preaching companions, went all
over, traveled all over, and Paul with The gracious spirit
that he has includes Timothy and Silas in on the letters that
he wrote, though Paul's letters alone were inspired by God, him
being an apostle. But he includes his brethren.
And we're all of the same mind, aren't we? What Paul said, what
I have to say, Timothy and Silas, they just amen it to. Paul, Silas,
and Timothy unto the church of the Thessalonians, or at the
city of Thessalonica. The church is who he's writing
to, believers. And whatever he writes to one
church applies to all churches. It doesn't just, is it just particularly
for the Thessalonians, but it's for the Centralians too, for
all believers. God doesn't write one thing for
one set of believers and something else for another, does he? He
says the same thing to all believers. So, this is to us too. All right,
to the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father. And in the Lord Jesus Christ, being in the church—that is,
you know, this building is not the church. This is the church
house. This is wood, hay, and stubble
is what this is. But, and this is just where the
church meets. The meeting house is what they
used to call it years ago. That's more appropriate, the
meeting house. Really, the church house is Christ. The tabernacle where the church
dwells is Christ. He's our tabernacle. This is
going to fall down someday. But to be in the church, to be
a member of Christ's body is to be in, he says here, in God
the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means
to be in the church, to be in God and Christ in their purpose
in their purpose of saving, saving purpose, which God purposed before
the world began. If you're in the church, you
were in God's purpose before he purposed to build this planet. In God's purpose in his heart
in his mind, in his hands. And you are now in his hands,
never to depart. You see, we believe. And go tell
the world that we believe once in Christ, always in Christ. Don't we? Huh? The world hates
that. You believe once in grace, always
in grace. Well, If you're talking about
sovereign, purposing, calling, electing, saving, keeping grace,
yes, yes. And what's in that grace, always
in that grace. All right, the church in God
and in Christ. Now, why? Why are we in God and
in Christ? Verse 1 continues, because grace
is under you. and peace, because God has been
gracious to choose you, and Christ has been gracious to make peace
for you by the blood of his cross. Grace and peace through the church.
Paul closed this chapter in verse 10 with, Christ delivered us
from the wrath to come. Very few people know John 3,
17 and 18. Most people know John 3, 16.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. But
John 3, 18 says that he that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already. Already under the condemnation
of God. All unbelievers are under the
condemnation of God. But Christ, God in grace and
mercy, has chosen a people. Christ in grace and mercy came
down and made peace for them by the blood of his cross and
delivered us from the wrath to come. Now we have peace with
God, peace with God. God's satisfied. He's at peace
with us. He's reconciled. And I'm satisfied. I'm at peace. Because of Christ. Not because of me. Because of
Christ. Because of all that He did. Alright, verse 2. So, grace
and peace to you. That's why you're in the church.
That's why you're in God, in Christ. Grace and peace from
God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 2, Paul says, We
give thanks to God always for you all. making mention of you
in our prayers. We give thanks. Now, he's not
only talking about Silas and Timothy here, but all the apostles. I'm sure Peter and James and
John said, you go on to Thessalonica, tell them I said hello. Tell
them we think about them all the time. We give thanks to God
for you. And so it is. with all, every
church. This church is in the heart and
the prayers and the thoughts of other churches I love. All the men that I talk to, the
people I talk to on the phone, they always say, how's brother
so-and-so? How's sister so-and-so? How's
the church doing? Tell them I say hello. I don't
always remember to tell you that. But the people are giving thanks
for you. They know you. Paul's going to
say that about the Thessalonians, and the same applies here. You're
loved. You know that? You're loved,
and you're prayed for. And thanks is given to God, like
Paul. He said in his second letter
to the Thessalonians, he said, we're bound to give thanks to
God, the Blessed and Beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you for salvation. The same thing
he says here, but he continually gives thanks to God for you.
God's preachers don't thank men for anything. That is, they're
not thanking men for choosing Jesus or accepting Him or coming
to church and all that man-honoring, man-glorifying stuff. Not at
all. They give all the thanks to God.
You and I wouldn't be here if God hadn't sovereignly ordained
that we be here. You and I wouldn't give a flip
to the gospel if God hadn't made us willing and gave us power.
You and I wouldn't even give God a thought if God hadn't showed
us sovereign grace. We'd be hanging out somewhere
right now, wouldn't we? So we're bound to give thanks
to God for you. That's what, that's who Paul
gives the thanks to. All right, verse 3. He says, now we, I remember without
ceasing your work of faith and labor of love. And, and work,
a true work that is worth commending. Now, the works that Christ commends,
his church, must be in faith. Right? Whatsoever is not of faith
is sin. That's what the Scripture says.
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Do you know what that means?
That means whatever is done, if it's not done by a believer
who gives all the glory and honor to Christ and Christ alone, And God absolutely rejects it,
calls it sin. He even calls the plowing of
the wicked evil. The plowing. There's somebody
out right now putting up hay. Say, that's a good, honest work.
God calls it evil. Why? God's people are worshiping
right now. They're thanking God for the
hay. You thank God first for the hay before you put it up.
Otherwise, it's considered evil on the side of the Lord. Anything
man does without an eye to Christ, without faith in Christ, without
thanks to God for all of it, without saying, by the grace
of God, I am what I am, I have what I have, I know what I have,
is evil on the side of the Lord. That's right. So he says, I remember your work
of faith. He doesn't just say, y'all do
some good work. Work of faith. And labor of love. Labor of love. Love to God. Believers do what they do, not
because of mercenary means, but what they can get out of God.
Right? Believers do what they do out
of love to God, out of love for the gospel, out of love for the
brethren. Faith, Paul said in another place, worketh by love. All right? We don't. So he says,
we remember without ceasing, your work of faith and labor
of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Patience
in trial. patiently waiting on God's purposes
in your life. Something happens, something
trying happens, you don't know why, but you give God the glory
for it. And you just wait. You don't bellyache, you wait.
And Paul says, we know that. We see that. We hear that of
you. Patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ. What is this hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ that all things work together for good? Because
of Christ. That nothing takes place that's
not absolutely for our good because of our hope in Christ. patience
of hope. It's a good hope. Paul says it's
a good hope through grace. A good hope in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Read on. And in the sight of God and our
Father. He says, we remember your work of faith, labor of
love, patience of hope. It's all in the sight of God.
God sees us. We're in his sight. This is a
good, a blessed thought. We're in God's sight. Was it
the psalmist that said, Thou, Lord, seest me? Stop and think about that. It
doesn't mean that like we do, I see you. It means, I mean,
he's looking on us in love and affection, not like a father
or a mother always has their eye on that young child. Never lets that child out of
their sight. And every time they look at it, It's with affection,
and all the purposes and the thoughts and the plans and stuff
that run through their mind for that child. They want nothing
but the bed. God says, I see you. Thou, Lord, seeest me. We're
in his sight. Christ is in his sight. The blood's
in his sight. So we're in his sight. Listen
to this. Though no man has seen God at
any time. Our God sees us all the time. Though we don't see Him, rest
assured, He's looking at us all the time, all the time, in the
sight of God, His omniscient, omnipresent eye for His children. Verse 4, Knowing, brethren, beloved,
your election of God. Knowing, beloved of God, your
election, I could read. Knowing your election. How? How do you know you're elect?
Do you remember our assistant pastor's message on that? He quoted the verse that says,
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. All right?
How do you know you're elect? Which comes first? Well, to God,
election comes first. God chose a people before there
was any people, were any people. Right? Before there was anything. All right? That comes first to
God. But for us, the call comes first. So we were exhorted to give diligence
to make our calling sure. You can be sure of your call,
you can be sure of your election. All right? That's what Paul says
here. The very same thing that Peter said. It's the same gospel,
same salvation, isn't it? All right, Paul says, now, knowing
your election of God, brethren, beloved of the Lord, for our
gospel came. That's how you know that you're
elect, if our gospel Paul said, our gospel, Timothy and Silas,
our gospel, not that fellow's gospel, that fellow's gospel,
all this is other gospel. And remember, Paul said, if any
man preach any other gospel than we have preached and what you've
heard after it, let him be anathema. Remember that? And he said, in
case you didn't hear it the first time, I'll say it again, if any
man, though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
than that we have preached, than what you have received, that
you've heard, that you've received, let them go to hell. And they
will, those who preach it, another gospel, a false gospel, and those
who believe it. That's what's going to happen
to them, anathema, when the Lord comes. The Paul says, our gospel. All right, what is our gospel?
How does it differ from their gospel, another gospel? If you were given, if you were
asked to give one verse of Scripture, maybe a bad question, but two
or three verses of Scripture, you were going to say 2 Corinthians
5.21, but I think 2 Timothy, turn over 2 Timothy chapter 1. If you're trying to use, if you
wanted to use one verse of scripture to speak to somebody concerning
our gospel, how it differs from their gospel, from another gospel,
the true gospel, there's only one gospel. I know people say,
this is gospel, gospel this, gospel that, gospel that. No,
there's one faith. All right? Well, here it is.
I think in 2 Timothy 1, this pretty much sums it all up, right
here. This is, when we talk about the
gospel, we talk about the good news of salvation, the good news,
how that God hath saved us. All right? Verse 9, or verse
8, the last line says, it's the gospel according to the power
of God. See that? It's the gospel according
to the power of God. Not God wanting to and can't. God trying and failing. Jesus
making a down payment and you do the... No, it's the gospel
of the power of God. I mean absolute saving power. Apart from man. Complete saving
power. The gospel according to the power
of God who has saved us. Not tried to. Not tried to. Hath saved us. We don't. And called us. All right? Who
did the saving? 2 Timothy 1, 9 says, God does the
saving. All of it? Don't we do any part
of it? Don't we cooperate? Man must
cooperate. Dead men don't cooperate. You
hath he quickened who were dead and trespassed the sea. God does
the saving, who does the calling? Well, say, I decided for Jesus.
Well, maybe you did. That doesn't mean you're saved. But when God calls you, when
God calls you, you don't call on God until He calls you. Isn't
that right? Would you have ever called on
God? The only time you'd ever used God's name was in, in vain,
wouldn't it, Teresa? Until he called you by our gospel. Huh? He called you. You weren't even thinking about
God. Wasn't interested in God. Well, bless God, here's salvation. God was interested in you. For
a new you. Beloved. That's what beloved
means. Loved before. All right? "...who hath called
us with a holy calling." This calling is to be predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son, to be holy like Christ. Not according to our words. Isn't
this a good verse? Would this be good to describe
our gospel as opposed to what's being preached today? Well, there's
old John. He cleaned up his life. He quit
his leanness. He quit his running around. He
quit this and quit that. Now, he's worth saving. Now,
I think I'll nod according to our work. No, God doesn't save. the best of men, he saved the
most of men. God saves the chief of sinners.
That way, God gets all the glory. God saves people that aren't
looking for Him. That way, He gets the glory,
he said. God does a calling first. That way, He gets the glory,
right? God, Christ, it's all Christ's
work, that way he gets all the glory. You see? Not according
to our work. Well, why did he do it then?
Why did he save anybody? Well, it's according to his own
purpose. God has a purpose. Everything
he does is on purpose. That's why he's God. He wouldn't
be God if he wasn't on purpose. Right? If he's just standing
back idly, watching things happen, hoping, wishing, he's not God.
But if everything's happening according to his sovereign, immutable
purpose, then he's God. According to his purpose and
grace, and grace, that's eternal grace. All right? When was this purpose and when
was this grace decided? in Christ before the world began.
Before the world began. All right, that's our gospel.
Our gospel, how Christ came and did what he did for a people
that God chose, and all that the Father had given him, Christ
came and lived for them and died for them and now ever lives to
make intercession for them. And every one of them are saved. All right, back to the text.
Our gospel came, our gospel, the gospel that gives God all
the glory. This gospel came. How does a gospel come? What
does Romans 10 say? No faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. But how are they going to hear
without a preacher, they said? How are they going to believe
in him who is not heard? And how are they going to hear without
a preacher? The gospel, and this is what God is pleased to use,
the foolishness, what this world is getting further and further
away from, calls it foolishness, to sit and listen to a man stand
up and preach at. Don't preach to me. Don't preach
to me. Believers say, please preach
to me. Preaching. If people won't have
preaching, they won't get the gospel. That's how it comes. All right? Our gospel came. But
it's not in word only, not just in word only, not in doctrine,
not in creed, and for For believers, it's not just
in the doctrines of grace only, system of beliefs only. No, it
comes in power. It comes in power. It comes in
eye-opening power. Ear-opening power. Eyes that
were once shut, closed to see any glory in God, any beauty
in this Word, any need of Christ, any badness in yourself, any
sin in yourself. Eyes that are closed to that.
Ears that are shut to the Word. Ears that are absolutely closed
to preaching. This gospel comes and it opens
your eyes. It opens the ear. Ear opening. Heart piercing. The heart that
was once hard is a stone, you know. He said, I'll give you
a hard flesh. And the Word comes and it touches your heart. It
touches your heart. Whereas before, now, it touches
your heart. The gospel means something to
you. It's heart-piercing, life-giving. That's what it is, life-giving
power, quickening power. The Word of God is quick. Power. See, life-giving power, quick
and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. You feel it when God sends
it, but not until. All right? And he said, and in
the Holy Ghost. Now, preachers, the Apostle Paul, The apostles were—they were inspired
by God. These men were gifted unlike
any men before or since. And that's because the Word wasn't
completed yet. But they could preach, and they
could see. They could see immediately. And
it almost seems like from the scriptures that the apostles
were able to actually confer that water by the Holy Spirit,
confer it, receive the holy gift. Now, that's something, isn't
it? But you know, a man who's called a watchman, just any true
preacher is called a watchman. He'd be a pretty poor watchman
if he didn't see something going on. in the faces, in the countenances,
in the speech, in the conducts, in the response to the gospel. It's funny how people think they
can hide in a crowd. I see people literally try to
sit behind a person and do this. Well, you know right there, that
person's not interested in the gospel, don't you? No. And you're preaching the gospel.
You preach time and time and time and time and time again,
and there is a person who remains unmoved, unmoved, even just in
a daze to the preaching. You say, well, that person's
not been touched by the gospel. That's easy to say. You'd be
a mighty poor watchman if you couldn't tell. When you see somebody
that was that way once and then later on as time goes by, their
eyes start literally getting bigger and creeping forward in their
seat and turning to every scripture you tell them to turn to. And
their speech begins to betray them. Smiles come across their
face. Their countenance starts to shine. You can see the Gospels come
in power, in the Holy Ghost. You can see it. You didn't compare
it, but you can see somebody's moving, somebody's working. Oh,
it's not infallible, but it's sure obvious when it's not. And
it's pretty obvious when it is. All right? A Gospel comes in
power and in the Holy Ghost. What's the Holy Ghost of? What
does the Holy Ghost do? Well, you know, Christ said when
he comes, he'll convince, convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. When the Holy Ghost comes to
the preaching of the gospel, he doesn't make a person talk
like a babbling idiot in what they call tongues today. That's
absolute nonsense. The Scriptures don't teach any
such thing. As a matter of fact, Christ,
when he comes and saves a babbling idiot, they start talking right
talk in their right mind. And I'll tell you what they talk
about. They talk about sin. Yeah, they do. Sin. They talk about righteousness,
the need of it, their need of it, desperate need of it, how
Christ is ours, is it. They talk about judgment. They
talk about scriptural things. They talk about truth. They talk
a lot about gospel, gospel, gospel. He comes, the Holy Spirit, and
He makes a man in his right mind
and in his right speech, and He grants repentance. The goodness
of God and the person of the Godhead who gives repentance
is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and grants
repentance. Repentance toward God, the Holy
God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it causes fruit to
grow. Love, joy, peace, gentleness,
goodness, meekness, longsuffering, and so on. Fruit to grow. And you see the evidence when
the Holy Spirit is present. Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
much assurance, when our gospel comes in power by the Holy He
assures you, he puts in your heart and your mind, beyond a
shadow of a doubt, that this is the gospel. This is the much
assurance. It's not assurance in yourself.
You see, when the gospel comes, you don't feel worthy to come
to God. You don't feel, you think, well
I'm not worthy to come, I'm not even worthy to be here and receive
this gospel. Buddy, I believe it. It's much
assurance when the gospel comes, our gospel. The Holy Spirit gives
you much assurance that this is indeed the only gospel there
is. And you say, and that's my gospel.
It's our gospel, my gospel, don't you? He called it my gospel. That's what Paul called it in
another place, my gospel. Much assurance. And he does give
you assurance of your interest in Christ. Yeah, you do. Don't you ever, do you get much
assurance when you hear the gospel? If you don't, I'm preaching it
wrong, or you're hearing it wrong, because the gospel is designed
to give much assurance to the chief of sinners. If the gospel is being preached
simply, clearly, and Christ, Him and Him alone, believers,
sinners ought to be rejoicing. with smiles on it, gave much
assurance. This is a faithful saying. It's
worthy of all acceptation. I mean the worst. Christ came
into the world to save sinners. If Mary Magdalene has much assurance,
we ought to, too. The thief on the cross, the Lord
gave him much assurance. How? How? Just a word. Just a word. He just went on
a word, a promise. And that's what we get. I'm not
too sure. We don't. All right? And he adds
this to that. But this is important, verse
5. And you know what manner of men we were among you for your
sake. See, when our gospel comes, when
the gospel comes, it's through certain manner of men. Look at the next page, just turn
over one page, chapter 2. The gospel doesn't come through
idiots. It doesn't come through vainglory seeking, money seeking,
name seeking, building, big building seeking men. deceitful, men of guile,
trickery, cunning, crap, men. It doesn't come through people
like that. The gospel comes through the best of men. Think of them. Think of the men that we know
that preach the gospel, Tom Harding, Charles Pennington, Henry Mahan,
Maurice Montgomery. You think of them. Salt of the
earth, I wish one of them was President of the United States. You know what manner of man they
are. Look at it. Paul said that in chapter 2,
verse 3. And finally, he said, our exhortation
was not a deceit. A true preacher of the gospel
doesn't have any ulterior motive. He's not apt to get anything
except that you believe the gospel, that God get the glory. Not a
deceit, not of uncleanness. He's not a womanizing. Leading silly women captive?
No, sir. Uncleanness or guile? Read on,
verse 4. But as we were allowed of God
to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not pleasing
men. He's not a men pleaser. He doesn't
care if the bank president walks in. He's going to tell him he's
a sinner just like the street sweeper. Matter of fact, he's
going to tell him he's worse. How hardly shall I have you have
riches in the kingdom of heaven. Not a man pleaser? We don't.
But God is who He's trying to please, which trieth our heart.
Neither at any time use we flattering words. See that? Flattering words. When have you ever heard flattering
words from one of those fellows I mentioned? Flattering words. As you know, no, a clerk will
covet the stuff. That's the only reason you'd use flattering words
is what you can get out of somebody. Right? God is witness. God is
witness. Isn't that right? So Paul says,
if our gospel comes, if the gospel comes, it's not going to be through
a Balaam. It's not going to be through a Judas.
It's not going to be through a false prophet, because they
won't prophet this people at all. It's going to be through a man
who's experienced the gospel himself. And the gospel experience makes
you... Well, we don't. All right, verse
6 in chapter 1. He said, You know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers
of us. Wait a minute. Wait a minute
now. We're not supposed to follow
a man. Let me tell you something right now. I want to be just
like the Apostle Paul. Don't you? I'd like to be just
like the beloved John, wouldn't you? And now that Peter's been converted,
I'd like to be just like Peter, wouldn't you? Don't you? And
I'll go a step further. I'd like to be just like Tom
Hardy. You can follow the man who's
following Christ safely. Yes, you can. Whoever's in line,
pressing toward the mark for the pies of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus, get in line behind me. Where are you
going? I have a desire. I have one.
I'm looking to Him. I'm forgetting those things and
pressing. Now, I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm behind you all the way. Aaron and her held up Moses'
hand. All right, and the Lord, you
know, that's the man who follows the Lord. And verse 6, all right,
our gospel came. Our gospel came, and you became
followers of us. And people, my, my, well, God won't ever allow his preachers
to become puffed up. Don't worry about that. Don't
worry about that. That's what my pastor, one fellow
said to him one time. I don't want to brag. I don't
want to say anything good about the message, don't you? I don't
want you to be puffed up. You don't have to worry about
that. Encourage him. Say something good about it.
It's your responsibility. You better. How will he know
if you're getting anything out of it? You better. You leave
the touching up and the humbling to God. He sure enough does it. Well, verse 6, You became followers
of us in the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost. Having received the word When
the gospel comes, somebody receives it in power, they receive the
word. All of it. All of it. Every word of God. Whereas before,
they were cavilling and carping and back-talking, you know, game-saying,
and, ah, but, but, but, but, but. Now when the gospel comes,
when God sends the gospel in power and the Holy Ghost and
much assure, they receive the word. Every word. And they bow
to it. And not only that, they love
it. They love every word. Well, before, when they hear
election, they say, I don't like that. When the gospel comes,
they say, would you say that again? A little louder. I like the sound of that now.
They say they receive the word. All right, when you receive the
word, what you do in turn is go, you spread it. That's what
he said down in verse eight, whereupon he sounded out the
word of God, of the Lord, in every place. Well, if you do
that, verse six, you'll experience much affliction. When you receive
the word, when you believe the word, and you in turn tell it,
you'll suffer affliction. You see, the believer receives
the Word, and he's so excited about it, he goes to work, or
he goes to his family and tells them all about it, and he expects
them to, listen to me, what I hear, this is wonderful, isn't it?
And they start, the veins start popping out, and their teeth
start gritting, and they're, I don't like that. And they start persecuting you for what you
believe, and you can't, you can't believe it. Why, why don't you
like this? Because Christ said that's what
would happen. Because he said, my sheep hear my voice and goats
don't and they're going to bite. Sheep are going to love it, goats
are not. And they're going to hate you. They hated me, he said,
they'll hate you. If they didn't receive my word,
they won't receive your word. The disciple is not above his
master. And they're going to receive it in much affliction.
But wait a minute, this is a paradox really, that
if you're hated for the truth's sake, rejoice. That's what he
says, rejoice in the Holy Spirit. Christ said, woe is unto you
if men speak well of you. But rejoice, he said, when they
say all manner of evil falsely against you for my name's sake."
Explain that. Well, you know, don't you? You know the joy of the Holy
Spirit. Christ makes himself really known
to you after you suffer persecution for his truth. He comes right
back after you've been maligned and ridiculed and mocked by someone
and made to feel... He comes just very shortly after
and just absolutely convinces you and blesses your heart with
the truth, doesn't He, huh? Tell me about it. joy in the
Holy Ghost. You say, well, they just don't
see, do they? They just don't see. Bless God,
thank God I do. I do. Maybe he'll make them see
like he made me see. Joy in the Holy Ghost. Read on.
And he says, your examples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia, young believers especially, they've become so zealous for
the truth. And their examples in zeal, enthusiasm,
love to the gospel. Young believers are examples
in that. Come early and stay late. I love that. And mature believers, though,
are examples in knowledge, wisdom, patience, maturity, freedom.
And from you sounded out the word, and not only in Macedonia
and Achaia, but every place. Your faith to God works. It's
faith to God works. That's where faith is. It's spread
abroad. We don't need to speak anything.
Everybody knows you, he's saying. Everybody knows you. They do,
and I don't need to brag on you, but I do. All right, verse 9,
it says, For they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve
the living and true God. Every man that leaves this place
after I've gone someplace to preach calls me up, and I don't know of anywhere I've
met a prince in there. They themselves show me what
manner of entering in the gospel is had in this place. And I say,
well, I'm glad, but you have to ski that all. I'm staying.
You go home, I'm going. No. They love their people, too. And every other place is the
same way. Every church is the same way. And he says, you turn
to God from idols. I wish we had another Iowa. This
verse right here deserves it, doesn't it? When our gospel comes, when the
gospel comes, you turn to God, the true and living God. God
who's God, not who just wants to be. God who's God, whether
men want Him to be or not. The Lord who's Lord, not because
men make Him so, but because God made Him so, before there
were even men around to even think about it. The Lord who's
Lord, Christ who's Christ, blood that saves. The rest of that's
idol. An idol is something you worship
that you have made up. That's what an idol is. And we
don't worship a God of our imagination, the way we think God ought to
be. We worship the God of the Bible,
who is God, Christ who is Christ. We believe the gospel that saves. Our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. And I mean
righteousness that makes you righteous, and blood that puts
away sin. Actually, the rest of everything
else is an item, made up, man-made religion. And verse 10, you wait
for his son from heaven. You wait for his son from heaven.
That's what believers do. We're just passing our time here,
sojourning. That's what that pilgrim does,
is sojourn, passing his time, because he's just passing through,
and he's waiting on the son from heaven. You don't believe that,
do you? Really, a second coming of Christ? Yes, we do. And we're waiting. Well, it's two thousand and about,
and Y2K's coming, isn't he? He didn't tell you or anybody
when he was coming. And we're waiting, and he's going
to come. Waiting here for his son, whom he raised from the
dead. Right there's the key. How do we know he's coming again?
Because God raised him again from the dead the first time. Paul preached this everywhere
he went, so that men would know that, hey, that Jesus of Nazareth,
he's more than a man. Because he walked out of the
grave, and we saw him walk right on into heaven. And he said he's
coming again in like manner. He's not just a man. We don't
just believe in Jesus. We believe in the One who's seated
at the right hand of the Majesty on high right now, the Lord,
who's coming again. Yes, He is. He said so, and He
didn't tell anybody when. All right? And bless God, the
last thing He says, and He delivered us from the wrath to come. The true Christ, the true and
living God, the true Lord Jesus Christ, is coming in wrath. Not
gentle Jesus, sweet, meek, and mild. He's coming with bloody garments,
as Scripture says. But we have no need for fear. He's delivered us from the wrath
of God. We're wearing bloody garments,
too. Tonight, Brother Dan Ogle comes,
confessing faith and faith by the believers. And I'll leave
it up to him whether he wants to say anything a minute or not,
but while he's coming and getting ready ♪ And the empty and vast ♪ ♪ Where
for the lost and dear past ♪ ♪ Now we find the freedom of our worries
♪ ♪ And with every break the breeze ♪ I am the remnant of freedom,
freedom, freedom We are going down to Calvary,
where we will wait patiently. I never thought it would be better,
no better than it ever is. Oh, I'll be waiting there. Oh, I hope I'm not in heaven's
gallery. Sadly, there's a great, great country far, far away. where the land of the free and
the home of the brave. I'd just like to thank the Most
High God for leading me to this church and to the true gospel.
And I just want to say I appreciate my church family. And thanks
for supporting me and for being with me and my wife and my family. Thank you. and obedience to the divine command
of Christ Jesus our Lord, and upon your profession of faith
in him, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. I have a flesh-and-blood brother
named Dan, and I could not be happier. I could not be happier if it
were him. No way. I've been wanting to
call him brother for a long time. It's like we were saying in the
message tonight. You can see his eyes and ears,
and you can see that God's doing the work. He's out of earshot now, but
this man has already done a great deal to establish himself in
this congregation. He really has. And all who rejoice
in his confession tonight say, Amen. Amen. All right. All right,
let's stand. And, Brother Henry, would you
dismiss everyone in prayer for a moment?