Find in your copy of the Scriptures
the letter to the Thessalonians. Let's hear the word of the Lord
as we read the first chapter together today. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
to the Church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God
always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,
remembering before our God the Father your work of faith and
labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by
God, that He has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only
in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full
conviction. You know what kind of men we
prove to be among you for your sake. and you became imitators
of us and of our Lord, and you received the word in much affliction
with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example
to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For not only has
the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and
Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so
that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning
us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait
for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus,
who delivers us from the wrath to come. It is a good day to
begin this letter. It's a good day to begin any
letter in the New Testament. But most importantly, it's a
good day to begin this letter as we've come off of a season
of looking at the letter to the Philippians, and then taking
the last few weeks, a month or so, of just dealing with some
doctrinal things, some ecclesiastical things, teaching of the Scripture,
some theological things. And now we come to this letter.
We're going to go all the way through it, and we're going to
hit the second part, the second Thessalonians, after we're done.
So we'll be in the writing of Paul to the Thessalonians for
some time. But it's a good thing for us
because we're going to relate very well to this church, some
of us. If not this day, we will relate
to this church in history past. And for some of us, we may relate
to this church in the near future. We're led to this church in many
ways. First and foremost, that we are born of God. We are called
and redeemed through Jesus Christ, as were these people over 2,000
years ago, who by faith believed the gospel when they heard the
teaching of the gospel through the apostles. It is the same
gospel that brought you to salvation this day, this very moment, where
you sit. you are hearing the same gospel
that these Christians came to faith with and through. And so,
friends, that should be a very, very close kinship, if nothing
else, that when we see throughout history how God has redeemed
even the very first of sinners, so He redeems the very final
of sinners until the day He comes. He continues to do that through
His Gospel, and there is no other message, there is no other means,
there is no other motive except that the Gospel of God be preached
to the ears of the lost who are dead and unable to even hear,
that they may be brought to life by the Spirit through the Word,
and thus praise God for His glorious grace as they exist as His people. We also find kinship with the
Thessalonians in that they are immature. They are young. Some of us are young. Some of
us are not in comparison to one another. But in all things, in
relation to our faith, we are young in our faith. We are not
wise and seasoned. Because I do believe that even
Paul, toward the end of his days, and John, though they were wise
greatly with the Holy Spirit, they would not consider themselves
experts. They would not consider themselves
Masters of theology, but rather they've considered themselves
nothing. That through the nothings of this world, as Paul told the
Corinthians, God would bring to nothing the things that are.
And in the same manner that Christ came, who was exalted above all
things, who is the God of heaven, who is the Creator through the
Word, as He spoke, all things came into being. He lowered Himself
and became a slave, obedient unto death on a cross. So have
this mind among you, beloved, Paul would say. And as we relate
in that way, we relate knowing that we are strong in some things
and weak in others. We also relate to the Thessalonian
church in that we are often found alone. Are we not? We're often
found, in a sense, in our world, in our views, in our homes, in
our jobs, in our minds, that we feel like we're the only ones
experiencing that which we're experiencing. We feel like we're
the only ones suffering. We're the only ones that God
has left beside the road with a box that says, help, please,
I want to live. But he has not done that. He did not do that
with the Thessalonians, though they came, and it says they received
the gospel with much suffering, but had the joy of the Holy Spirit,
as we'll get to in a few weeks. Friends, it was this church,
it was this place where Paul and Silas, Silvanus, actually
were persecuted and had to leave very quickly in relation to most
of the churches that they planted. As we saw in their work in Philippi,
where they were put in prison and beaten, to try to not have
to deal with that here, as the Jews began to exercise or excite
riot against them, they escaped the city, leaving those Christians
of Thessalonica to suffer the wrath that was meant for them.
And they didn't run as cowards, but it was best, according to
the church, that they escaped that persecution at that time.
Some sense of God's grace, even when they were imprisoned and
beaten, it was a presence of God's grace. It was a gift of
God. So we can relate to these Thessalonian Christians in that
way. Because though we may not be persecuted to the measure
that they are persecuted, we don't have people coming to our
homes and taking our property, removing our children, and putting
us in prison, and burning us at the stake, and cutting off
our heads, and feeding us to lions as we saw throughout the
history of the early church. We are persecuted. We are looked
upon differently by our neighbors. We are gauged upon by our co-workers
and our bosses. We are even sometimes looked
with disdain by our spouses, by our friends, by our families,
by our closest cohorts. And they frown upon us because
they think of us as self-righteous people who think we are better
than others, when in turn we see ourselves as not worthy. but thankful that we have been
saved by the grace of God. These Thessalonian Christians
suffered in that same way. We also will relate to the Thessalonian
Christians in that there are some confusion about theological
things. Even though they were powerfully
living out the gospel in their lives, so much so, as we heard
in this first chapter already, they were powerfully living the
example of the gospel of Christ that people in the surrounding
areas of Macedonia were already saying, what's happening in Thessalonica?
These people were idol worshipers. Now something's transforming
their life so that they are actually being seen as lights in darkness. We could relate to that, because
sometimes even though we may be persecuted and hated for our
righteousness that comes in Christ, sometimes in those seasons of
life, those very people that hated us then will come to us.
It is how the Lord sort of responds sometimes in the darkness. of
persecution when people hate you and talk about you and do
their best to smear you and to destroy your ministry, destroy
the teaching that you try to do, destroy the living that you
try to do. And what they're hoping that
we would do when that happens is that we would get angry and
thus prove them correct that we really are not righteous people,
but rather just worldly people with a mask of ministry. But when we stand fast in Christ
and He is our hope, and they are unable to bring accusation
except for lies against us. It comes then that some who are
among them come back to us one day and say, would you pray for
me? Can I talk to you about the gospel? Would you show me the
Word of God? And they will. We can relate
to them in that. And we can relate to them in
having fear. They feared death. The Thessalonian Christians feared
death. Many of them were dying way before
the natural sense of their bodies were taking them from this world.
They were dying by the hand of the sword. They were dying from
starvation. They were dying, and there was
nothing that they could do about it, and they were fearful. And
some people hoping to just take them off of their foundation
would tell them, you have missed the resurrection. You are not
going to see Christ. Those who have died have lost
everything they thought they were living for. Paul corrects
that in this text. And so we can relate to that.
We can relate sometimes when we sit and we look at the world
and everything it has to offer. And we look at the wisdom of
those around us who give us worldly wisdom that in some sense makes
right in our conscience. But we know that it contradicts
the very weird, impossible, frustrating, illogical, irrational wisdom
that Christ is. And so we know that it is contradictory
to the gospel, but yet we listen to it anyway, and it causes us
to doubt, which is fear, which is temptation. It's a temptation
of the devil for us to doubt. And the reason that it works
is because our flesh wants to doubt. It wants to sit and ponder,
what must I do to see the work of God in my life, like they
say in John 6. How may I see God work against my own temptation? How am I ever going to overcome
these circumstances? How will I ever survive this
depression? How will I ever make it through
this trial? I can't do it. Which is absolutely
right. But Christ can do that which
is impossible in us. So we can relate to the Thessalonians
in that way. And as we go through this letter,
you will see that there are a lot of other ways in which we relate.
I say these things to us this morning because I want you to
understand that we're not just teaching this that we may become
well-versed in 1 Thessalonians. That's not the point. There's
no academic pursuit of studying God's Word through preaching
so that we can give it to others as a lecture that they might
understand 1 Thessalonians. That's not the point. The point
is that we see Christ in the fullness of His glory through
the pages of this text that naturally sits before us in our common
tongue, but supernaturally rests before us, active in the power
of God through the Holy Spirit, that when we see that which is
normative in our language, it becomes supernaturally effectual
in our lives. And that is what God's Word does.
And so that as we leave here today and we look at these first
two verses, three, we'll pick up verse three today too. And
we realize when Paul says to the church of Thessalonians,
in God the Father, in the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and
peace, we ought to break dance in our soul with the reality
of that truth. to the church of the Thessalonians,
to the church of Grace Truth, to the church of Evans County,
to the church of Bullock, to the church of Tattnall, to the
church of Effingham, to the church of Chatham, and all the surrounding
counties, to the church who is in God, in Jesus Christ, the
Lord, grace and peace to you. It is power. An exposition is to
take that and not go, yada, yada. We wrote the letter, here we
go. Thankful, praying, you're doing a good job. Now, chapter
2. That's how most people preach
chapter 1. 40 minutes. What is it? 11 verses, it's over. And everybody goes, well, I'm
so glad to know what Thessalonians is all about. You know what Thessalonians
is all about? your eyes being opened to see
the beauty of the ineffable glory of God in the face of Christ,
that you may be full to the point of numbness, and worship, and
glory, and power, that when you get out of your car and it goes... that Christ is at work. When
your kid spills a chocolate milk in the back seat, Christ is at
work. How have y'all had that happen? When you argue over where
you're going to eat, Christ is at work. And this is just Sunday. This is right after church. So,
heavens to Betsy, what's going to happen Monday morning, or
Friday, or Sunday morning, before you get here? Christ is at work. The Gospel is at work. Christ
is alive and with us in His Word and through His Word. So we preach
and we labor to preach that we all may have the fullness of
our joy. Because if we can't handle a dead battery and a stained
carpet and a frustrating conversation, how are we going to deal with
death? How are we going to deal with divorce? How are we going
to deal with damaged bodies? Depressed minds? delirious attitudes, delusional realities. How are
we going to deal with a downtrodden heart? How are we going to deal
with it? We're going to deal with it through
the grace of God that brings peace through Christ Jesus our
Lord. For there is nothing else that
matters in life. That's how we deal with it. and
hearing the Word of the Lord as God gave it through the apostles
to the Christians of Thessalonica will be just as effective in
our life today as it was then. Let's pray. Lord, we are overwhelmed. We are unable to speak sometimes
when we think about these things. And Father, many of us in this
presence right now are dealing with things in life. We're dealing with this world
and this flesh and this depravity and temptations and trials and
suffering that are not even related to our living for the gospel.
Lord, oh how in this world are we going to survive if we do
not trust fully in your Son, Jesus Christ. Father, as many of the brethren
sit in many fellowships around this area who are hearing preaching
of some kind, Lord, by Your Spirit, would You command the voice of
these men that they would not preach their intention, but they
would preach Your Word, and that people would sit blown backwards
in their seats in all of the glory that came from the mouth
of a mortal man, For it is coming from the word that you have given
before the foundations of the cosmos. Would people come to faith and
revival break out? Not because who sits in the Oval
Office, but Lord, the nothings that stand in the corners of
the small assemblies of these cities and proclaim peace, peace
through Jesus Christ. Father, would You give that to
us? Please, that Your name would be great among us. That we would
no longer be a mundane people doing silly religion. but that we would be a mighty
people proclaiming salvation and power. Help us to see that
in this text this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. To the church of Thessalonians,
in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, These are simple,
simple introductions. Who is this text written to?
And then prior to that you see three names. Who wrote this letter? Or from whom is this letter being
sent? Now, I don't believe, and the
reason I don't believe this just wasn't common, I don't believe
that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy sat down each with a pad and
said, let's talk about this, let's talk about that, let's
talk about this. But I understand, just as it is this day in our
era, as the elders of the church of Jesus Christ continually communicate,
pray, watch, govern, teach, etc., we are in tune with those needs
among us. that when we talk and collaborate,
we come to conclusions. And if I write a letter, I can,
with good conscience, say, the elders. We. You often hear me say we. When we planted this church,
we said we. Who's we? We, some of the we
that you will never see, who were way back on the West Coast,
who sent us out here to do the work we do. But there's still
a we. Friends, there's always a plurality
of people because the whole purpose of the reason that Paul and the
apostles took the word Ecclesia and applied it to the church
is that it was a gathering of the people of God. Plural. There is no such thing as church
at home in front of a screen. It's not church. You're not gathered
with anybody. We're gathered when we're together.
Just as there is no singular eldership of a local congregation,
there is always plurality of elders. Always. Just so you know. Any church that sits with a singular
elder is unbiblical. Let me just say it that way.
And an unbiblical church is a church that does not honor God. Well, that's a harsh statement.
Well, friends, you want to see what trouble looks like? Show
yourself a man who is the king of a church. And he will show
you trouble shortly. You want to sow how? Question
one thing that he does. Well, that's your polity. No,
it's not my polity. That's the polity of the New
Testament. We've done it wrong for ages. For 80 years, we've
done it wrong in this country. And after the Industrial Revolution,
and after World War II, and all of these things, and big business
started, people created a corporate structure for the body of Christ
that was anti-biblical. And that's what you end up with.
You've got boards of trustees, boards of deacons. How do you
have a board of servants? What do they do? Oh, it's semantics. Not semantics. It's perception.
How we see. But the Scripture teaches. Paul
was never by himself. You notice that in this letter,
unlike others, he was not actually defending his apostleship. Did
you see that? He doesn't say, Paul, an apostle
by the Lord Jesus Christ, which we see often. Because the people
of Thessalonica never questioned Paul's authoritative teaching.
And I'm willing to bet you that the reason Silvanus and Timothy's
name are there is, number one, Silvanus is the Latin transliteration
of the Aramaic word Silas, the Hebrew name Saul. So Paul and
Silas and Timothy, that's who this is. And so here's Paul and
Silas who suffered greatly. Timothy who was found by Paul
at a very young age, who he then circumcised so that he would
not offend the Jews, if you will, who he was trying to reach. And
these three men were actively involved in the planting of the
church at Thessalonica, so then in that same way, Paul felt it
necessary to say, look, we're still here. We're still concerned
for you. We, as the men who helped bring
the gospel to you, we are in unison in these things. I mean, think about it. You get
a letter in the mail from a family member and it's some sixth cousin
you've never really met. You're like, who is this? But what if it was someone else,
an aunt that you really loved, that you knew and remembered,
whose name was also there? It would have a different fondness.
So I believe that's why Paul likes to do that. Well, first
of all, he shows the plurality of oversight. Secondly, he places
these men on the same level of authority as he. Now, some people
would argue Silas was apostolic in his authority. Timothy, we
don't ever see that. But we do see that even the elders,
the presbyteros, the overseers of the church held an authority,
listen, as the apostles through their writing and teaching governed.
Does that make sense? People would say, well, there
are no apostles today. They're absolutely right. They're in
the Bible. We don't need apostles, because the apostles were those
who saw the risen Savior. That's why Paul's apostleship
was so challenged. You never walked with Christ.
I never saw Him. But Jesus showed Himself to Saul
on the road to Damascus so that he could then be appointed an
apostle. But Paul never took his apostleship
as something that he had of his own. Because the apostles then
in Damascus received him, and Peter and John and others and
James actually embraced Paul and approved him and then what?
Disseminated his writings. So the very apostles that were
original then affirmed Paul's apostleship. But this is not
an argument, it's a question here in Thessalonica. So here
are these men who are concerned about the church of Thessalonica,
and they are writing to them to give them the courage, to
give them the grace, to give them the peace. Wait a minute,
you just said give them the grace. Yes, they give them the grace
of God through the written letter. Paul tells Timothy to be strengthened
through the grace which is yours in Christ Jesus. How is Christ
given to the people? How did you find Him? If it wasn't through the Word
of God, you didn't find Him. You found another Jesus. Maybe
you found an altar called Jesus. Maybe you found a sinner's prayer
Jesus. Maybe you found a Jesus that
came through a method. Maybe you found the evangelistic
Jesus or the evangelical Jesus. Did you find the true Jesus,
the Son of the living God? The Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and the End, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
Elohim. Did you find the true Christ, who is the Holy and the
Anointed One of God? Did you find Him? No. Did He find you? If Christ found you, He found
you by giving you His Word. And if you didn't find that Christ
through His Word, then He hasn't found you. And Paul reminds this
church right here that that's the point of who they are. They are the church of The Thessalonians. Now imagine how many congregations.
This wasn't a mega church, y'all. This was probably a church about
four times the size of our assembly and about 20 times over. Church here, church here, church
here. Fellowships and congregations
all over. Why do you think there was so
much need to appoint more and more elders in Ephesus? Why? Because the church was growing.
And the intention of the growth of the church is not to let it
grow beyond the ability of oversight, care, and intimacy. We don't
grow like that. Oh, you just don't know. Listen,
I've been on staff of large churches. Blow your mind. Blow your mind. I don't ever want to do it again. Because the church becomes the
work, not the people. Not the intimacy. It's not a
family anymore. It's just a fun town. You have to be careful. What's too big when you can no
longer handle it? Spread out. Add more elders. Be intimate with each other.
The teaching of the Word of God. This can work if there are 20,000
of us sitting out here. You can all hear my voice with
the power of magnification or amplification. Not magnified.
I don't want to get any bigger to you. But amplification. But then if we're not able to
fellowship together with some oversight toward each other,
how are we ever going to grow intimately? So we've got to do
that in such a way. And it's already started. We
already see prayer groups and Bible studies and small groups
and things like that that are popping up. We're going to start
another study very soon on the Gospel of John once a month.
And we're going to have just great opportunities. You find
an opportunity that fits for you. And if it doesn't, then
we'll get one started. It only takes two families. And some
of us, we can put one family together and we're big enough
to have a church. They all turned around and looked
at the mic. But it's the church of the Thessalonians. You are the assembled ones. So
it's every congregation, every small assembly for the whole
city. The body of Christ. Friends,
let me just make a point here at this. Does that even sound
natural? Could I write a letter to the
church of Evans County and it be received? We've tried that. And in a meeting with one of
the local associations, they stood up and they received, there
were four or five letters that were written to address some
sin and some things that were done improperly, according against
the Word of God. And one of the letters was stood
up and read before the assembly, And the assembly, which was representative
of about 15, 20 churches, someone passed a motion on the floor
or moved. They moved on the floor. I saw
a move. We strike the receipt of that letter. To which then they called for
a vote and they voted unanimously, not unanimously, but a majority
to have not received the letter. So they wouldn't have to action
it. Here's the letter. I'll move. We just say we didn't
get it. And the author is sitting in the room. You can't do that today, can
you? Friends, it's come time where we start to find local
congregations who are actually willing to fellowship together
and be associated. And we have them, but we're not
formalized yet. Be in prayer about that. It's
important. Why is it important, friends? We're the body of Christ.
And if we can't find fellowship with other congregations, then
they or us are wrong. The church of the Thessalonians.
But what is this church? Who is this church? Look what
it says. In God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is
this church who is in God the Father. Think about it for a
second. This isn't just a man-made, mama-called-daddy-sent church. Oh, my little Johnny's going
to be a preacher. Hallelujah. That's what mama always said.
Little Johnny's going to be a preacher. He's going to be a little preacher.
And then when he gets 18, daddy's like, go preach, get out of my
house. That's mama-called-daddy-sent, you know. That's how that works.
And that's where a majority of congregations come up. Or better,
I don't like what they're doing over here at the red-carpet Baptist
church. Let's do the blue-carpet Baptist church down the street.
Or the music here is way too loud and the pianist can never
hit the right key. I want to go to the Virtuoso
Baptist Church down the street, but they don't get us a different
pianist. Y'all think that's funny. These are actual circumstances
that have split churches to my knowledge. People that I know,
not ones I've been a part of. I've seen church split, but not
for those reasons. Red Door Baptist Church, Blue Door Baptist Church, I passed a resolution in California
one day that we would separate business from prayer meeting. The toilet's not working, we've
got to get it fixed. So we developed a team of people
who love to do that kind of stuff, who would just do that kind of
stuff. Because in our monthly administration meeting with all
the staff, we would spend a two hour meeting, 90 minutes of it
talking about doors and windows. And so I put on the top of that,
no doors, no windows. We need to talk about it. I don't
care. As long as I can get out of the
building and come in the building, I don't care what it looks like.
As long as it's within the budget we've got, I don't care. I don't
want to hear about it. Well, you're the pastor. Exactly.
I just want to show up. and not be locked out. I mean,
you know, and if we are, that's fine. We'll just do it outside.
I don't want to hear it. I'm not being, but I mean, that's
the nature. That's what we do. Oh, but the music stand's a little
wobbly. We need to have a meeting. No. You want a new music stand?
Then let's just ask the person who's responsible for that to
get a new music stand or to fix this one. Let's don't waste our
time with it. So no more of this. We're not Grace, Truth, Congregation. We're not the church of this
area. In the things that we do, we're in God the Father. We are
protected. We are redeemed. We are purchased.
That which God made, He owns. He owns us because He bought
us. He owns us because He created us. And in depravity, He's justified
in His wrath against us, but in mercy, He saved us in Christ
Jesus. So the church is in God the Father. This reminds us of the fatherliness
of God. Of the instrument of God's affection
toward us who are unworthy to be loved, as you'll see in a
minute. How is that possible that God could be a Father to
a group of individuals who are human? Through and through. Because
not only are you in God the Father, but you are in the Lord Jesus
Christ." Now, there's very few places that you see Paul use
all of that, Lord Jesus Christ, consistently. He uses it, uses
it, the Lord Christ, Jesus Christ, God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
You see all those different things. Here, specifically, he says,
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't gloss over these things.
Yeah, he's the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what's his name? His name
is Jesus. Hebrew name is Joshua or Yeshua,
which means Yahweh saves. That's His name. But look at what else is around
it. Christ is not His last name. Christ is His office. Christ is the title of where
He sits. It's who He is in the context
of His nature. He is the Lord. That is His title because of
His authority, because of His supremacy, because of His sovereignty. He is Lord over all things. And you and I, beloved, are in
Him. So therefore, we have a king
that is above the Oval Office. We have a king that is above
the state of Georgia. We have a king that is above
the Southeast. We have a king that is above the United States,
North America, and the world. And every government established
by God, even in tyranny, is a government that God will use to show not
only the nature of His rule, but the failure of the rule and
the supremacy of man in contrast. and that there is no nation that
will ever stand, there is no political entity or regional
or geographical location on this globe that holds the title of
God's people in the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is no such people except the church who is not of this world. God doesn't put presidents and
kings and governments in place to bring judgment upon His people. Well, He did to the nation of
Israel. Because they begged for a king. And then they never saw the light
of day again. Because the government of man
is an enslavement. Jesus Christ is the Lord over
all of those. And do you know what the nations
are at the end of days when the day of the Lord comes? There
is the nation of Christ and His kingdom, and then there is the
nation of Babylon, which includes everyone who is not a believer.
That's the imagery that we see. And the smoke of her torment
goes up forever and ever and ever. Beloved, we have no fear. If God were to condemn the church
of Jesus Christ because of what happens nationally, He's a liar. Is God a liar? No. So we're wrong. There's no condemnation for those
in Christ Jesus. But friends, every government will soon in
history hate the church of Jesus. Because Jesus Christ is Lord
over them. And Jesus Christ is Lord over
the governments. You give a man responsibility,
you call him a servant, next thing you know, he's sovereign. Jesus is sovereign. So He's the
Lord Jesus, the Christ. His office is that of the Holy,
Anointed One of God. That's what Christos means. Holy,
anointed One of God. He is the One that came from
the Father, that reflects fully the nature of God. In Him the
fullness of deity was pleased to dwell. Jesus is not just the
Lord in authority. He is holy, righteous God. So therefore, if you look at
the reality of oversight, the reality of sovereignty, and though
there are men and women throughout history who hold sovereignty
over nations, like monarchs, and sovereigns, and governors,
and lords, Caesar took the title Lord and Savior. Did you know
that? Which is why Romans chapter 9 is very important, and 10,
to understand the context of that, that Caesar took the name
Lord and Savior. It's his. Any title that encroached
upon his sovereignty, he took for himself. No different here
in Thessalonica. Jesus is the Lord and he is the
Christ. And though there may be men or
women who have sovereignly ruled, it is always temporal, it always
ends, it never stands. But Christ's sovereignty is eternal. His holiness and His rule is
absolute. And the difference in a governor
or a king or a president giving absolution on a guilty party
is that it's done And it's done in such a way that is not even
biblical. If I give evidence against someone
else's crime and I get away from mine, that's not good, that's
wrong. Because in the government's eyes or in the king's eyes, that
the crime that they wanted to get this man for was worse than
mine. That's not the way it is in God's
economy. That's not the way it is for the Holy Anointed One
of God. Jesus Christ is the Lord of lords and the King of kings,
the sovereign ruler of all things. Listen very carefully. There
is no way possible that God the Father could forgive one small
doubt, much less lying, stealing, thieving, selfishness, murder,
adultery, sexual immorality, greed, covetousness. God cannot forgive that without
someone paying for it. So Jesus is not just the Lord
and not just the Christ, He is the Lamb. And His sacrifice and His life
made His death worthy, listen, to pay for our sins, so that
the Father could forgive and be just. Romans 3. that God is
the just and the justifier for all who believe on Christ. God
put forth Christ as propitiation, He says in verse 21 of Romans
3. So that what? So that He could
be just in forgiving us of our sins. So even when the world's
leaders forgive, they're doing it and it doesn't count. but that which God forgives through
Jesus Christ, His Son, counts. And it doesn't back up. And he says these words then,
you are the church who are... Do you hear 1 Peter here in this
text? And I think maybe it's because
Jesse preached out of it a couple of weeks ago, but we are guarded
in God the Father. We are kept by God. We are the
church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same essence. But how
are we gathered and kept and guarded as the redeemed by God
the Father in Christ Jesus? How are we like that? What has
God done on our behalf? That's what Paul's saying in
the very opening breath of this sentence. Grace to you and peace. Grace to you. Friends, that's
not the name of a ministry, though it is. Why do you think He calls
it that, if you don't know whose ministry that is? Because it's
an emphatic expression of the work of God in Christ Jesus.
Grace to you. Grace given you. Grace be yours. And the sailor's dollar says,
the very last text of this letter says, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you. Grace to you. Here is the grace
of God through the writing of His Word. Grace be with you as
you hold it in your heart today. So what does it mean, grace to
you? Well, there's a lot of things
that you could think of. Grace to you. There's several
thoughts that should come to mind about grace. Grace, of course,
is a reflection of who Jesus Christ is. He's gracious. It's His nature. 2 Corinthians
8 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that
by His poverty you might become rich. It's the nature of Jesus
to be gracious. So we talk about grace. So is
this what he's talking about? God's grace to you. Jesus is
so gracious. No. That's not the point. Well, maybe it's that it's talking
about Jesus securing our salvation, that it's the place we stand,
like in Ephesians 4, 7, that grace was given to each of us
according to the measure of Christ's gift. These are all true, but
that's not the point. What has grace given you? Well, maybe people look at it
in the context we see throughout Scripture, that grace is like
graciousness, is sort of like gratitude, thanksgiving and praise. Praise be given to you. It's
in your mouth, it's in your heart, it's in your tongue, it's in
your mind. You're praising God, but that's
not the point either. The point here is what we see in Ephesians
2, verse 8. For by grace you have been saved,
and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God. This is
the grace. This is the grace that's given
to you. And you know that Paul didn't
say the grace has been given to you and peace has been with
you. Paul is saying effectually that
what I am sending you is grace. Think about it. We don't ever
think about it. I'm sending you grace. I'm giving you grace. It's not mine to give. It's the
Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, remember last
week. And this is not of our own. We have this treasure in
jars of clay that it may be shown that the unsurpassing power belongs
to us and not to us but to God. This is the gift of God given
to you. And I'm continuing to give it
to you. God has given it to you as a father through Jesus Christ
the Lord. This grace is given to you. This is an unmerited favor. You don't deserve it. Thessalonians,
remember, you were worshiping idols. You were just like the Ephesians.
You were separated. You were dead in your trespasses
and sins. You were unable to see God. You
were unable to hear and understand. You were unable to believe. You
were unable. You were dead and worthy of condemnation. Justly
so. But Jesus Christ, the Lord, has
been given you through God the Father. And you have the grace
of God, which is yours in Christ. This is yours and it is yours
forever. This unmerited forgiveness, this
unmerited redemption, this unmerited purchasing. Who goes to buy something
of value and buys garbage? I did something that I've never
done in my entire life this week. I was scanning through the radio
as I was driving to Glenville. And I saw an XM station of a
heretic. The whole station. It's his station. I won't mention his name. Starts with an O, ends with an
E. And he's talking, and a lot of
people say, you remind me of him. And I'm like, I'm going
to cut my head off. In what way? We're white with
dark hair? I don't know. I've got to calm down a minute.
Hold on. Oh, and I'm like, let me just listen. Let me listen.
I'm curious. And I'm listening and I hear
him say, and I quote roughly, don't ever think of yourself
non-valuable. Because when God, this is a quote,
I'm going to put that in there, every four words. When God made
you, He was not pleased with anything that He'd ever made
until He made you. And that's a quote from a heretic.
And people cheered. So never think bad about yourself.
Don't ever think you're not worthy of God's attention because you
are the most prized possession You as a human being are the
most prized possession of God. How do you take your most prized
possession and cast it into hell? Friends, we are the most prized
possession of God because we are in Christ Jesus. But when
we are not in Christ Jesus, He will joyfully and willfully and
purposefully and righteously condemn us for all eternity. The grace given to you is unmerited. We don't deserve it, but we get
it anyway. And we don't meet God where He
is. And God doesn't come halfway down. And we go halfway up. And
we don't find our senses. Somebody argued with me in the
last few weeks that the prodigal son in Luke 15, see, he came
to his senses and decided to go to the Father. I said, he
was a son before he left, you moron. And that was sinful. But
he laughed. I wasn't being funny. He was
a son. I wasn't talking about a lost
person. He's a son. And the whole point of that is
the nation of Israel. Not me and not you, but it does
give us the eternal, immutable nature of God the Father, doesn't
it? God reaches down into nothing. Who goes to a store to buy something
of value and buys that which is dead? who goes to the pet
store to give their precious child that they would die for,
a new puppy. And there's a lot of cute little
cuddly puppies. And just happy, funny, smelly,
licky, cute puppies. And dad goes, no, baby, that
one's too alive. No, that one's too alive. There's
one, it's not moving. Oh, it's just sleeping. What's
that smell? What's that stench? Pet shop
owner. Oh, we had a little puppy die
this morning. He's already starting to turn. Let me see it. You bring it out
and the gnats are on it. I'll buy that one. You take it
home and you give it a place to live. That's what Jesus did. Jesus looked down and saw carcasses.
of rotting, worthless sinners. And He laid Himself willfully
on the cross and subjected Himself to the fury of the winepress
of the judgment of God. And He bought you. Grace to you. Don't ever look over that ever
again. And then He put flesh in you. and He gave you a heart, and
He gave you a mind, and you stood to your feet whole. And you and
I, beloved, because of the grace given to us through Jesus Christ,
are the righteousness of God. Mr. O needs to learn that lest
he stand in judgment. And the grace of God given then
brings peace. Peace. beyond all comprehension. And this peace of God is peace
with God. This peace is something that
you cannot find apart from the crazy, wild, insane truth of
Jesus and His gospel. People accuse the disciples of
being out of their minds. Paul would say, if I'm out of
my mind, it's only because I'm out of my mind in Christ. But
I'm not out of my mind, I'm sound in my mind. Christ is my truth.
He's my wisdom. He's my righteousness. And what
else shall I preach but Christ and Him crucified? Pray tell,
what should it be? In seasons of ministry when people
say, you need to tone it down a little bit. How do you tone
down that which is the greatest thing you've ever seen? How do
you tone down being saved by the absolute affection of God
who deserves not to save us? We don't need that kind of love.
God isn't required to give it, but He did, beloved. You have
been saved and you are at peace with God. And there is nothing
more that you can do except be found in Christ by faith that
would make God love you any more. He can't. The Scripture teaches that God
loves the Son without measure. And if God loved the Son without
measure, and gave that which He loves without measure to suffer
the penalty of sin that He did not owe, to save and redeem a
people that did not deserve it, then what does that say about
the love of God towards you? It's ineffable. What's that mean? You can't describe it. You can't describe the love of
God towards you. Friends, the love of God is so
much more than just God loves you. So come on, so He can love
you some more. God finds sinners. He saves them
through His Word. He secures them through His Spirit.
He has bought them through His Son. And there's nothing else that
will get us peace with God. What about holiness? Pastor Jesse
did a good job of preaching on that three weeks ago. Be holy,
for I am holy. That which God has done in us
is reflected through our righteousness, even though it's imperfect. Let's take a peek at that over
the next four minutes. Look at verse 2. And we'll pick
up in this next week. Paul says, we give thanks to
God always for you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,
remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and
labor of love and the steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see what he's saying there? Grace has been given to you.
Peace is with you. It's been given to you through
Jesus the Christ who is Lord and God who is Father. You are
in Him because of His effectual and eternal work. He's done this. He's bought you. He's sealed
you. He secures you. He loves you, church. And because
you are His, the product of His work in you has spread far and
wide. And we thank God. Look at that. He did not say,
I am so proud of you for standing in the right way, for not getting
out that box of idols, for not getting upset when people persecute
you, for not running. He did not say, you're doing
great. the strength that you've got,
I wish you could teach some others to have it. He says, we give
thanks to God constantly for all of you. As we are mentioning
you in our prayers, that means that Paul's not just praying,
Lord, be with the body. The beauty pageant answer, he's
saying, oh God, Father, Savior Jesus, the Lord, the Christ,
We thank You for Your work in those Christians in Thessalonica.
The work of God's grace through Christ produces a people that
are just, I don't know, infected with affection. That results
in prayer and praise and thanksgiving. And Paul and the apostles with
much to do, much to think about, many places to go, are praying
for these Christians by name. And they're thanking God for
them. Remembering before our God and
Father in prayer three things. Your work of faith. Your labor
of love. and your steadfastness of hope, all in the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, that is my prayer for
you, is that not only would you be able to give thanks to God
for this community of faith, for this family, as we stand
and see the work of God in our faith and our love and our steadfastness
of hope, but I pray that you would see it in your own life. And I pray that it would overflow
in such a way that as we touched base last week, that you would
begin to share this reality of hope with the world around you. Explicitly, that Jesus Christ
gave me grace and peace. And if you find yourself not
there in Christ this day, I pray that God would grant you repentance
and belief, that you would see and savor the beauty of Christ,
who is the living God. Let's pray. God, save Your people. Lord, keep us close and focused. Help us to be full, but at the
same time with an intense, eternal hunger for You and Your Word,
and the fellowship of these brothers and sisters in Christ. God, we thank You that Your Word
always does what You intend it to do. Lord, would You work it
first and foremost in me and in each of us as we begin to
share it with others. That we would speak not just
as a mouth house for You, but Lord, that we would speak as
a testimony and a witness of You. And Father, I pray that These
children among us would hear and heed the reality of Your
Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.