resemblance to one another, fitting
the pattern of others who believe. As we read here, it says, even
to all that believe. So I believe the sense here is
that all of God's elect, when possessed with God-given faith,
are in samples with these identifying characteristics. And as such,
unless and until we possess these identifying characteristics,
We really have no warrant to presume or to consider ourselves
among the beloved of God chosen to be saved in Christ. You see,
it's only by these evidences that we might rightly so judge. You know, many of you are familiar
with the words of Christ. in his Sermon on the Mount. He
began the sermon there with what is commonly called the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they which mourn.
He's speaking of those who are eternally blessed. And right
at the end of that passage, he makes these statements. He says,
Ye that are eternally blessed now are the salt of the earth. And then he says, Ye are the
light of the world. And as we've studied that before,
we saw that Those were not encouragement for believers to strive to be
salt or to strive to be light, but rather they were statements
of fact that they are. As redeemed, born-again sinners,
see, they've been translated out of darkness, the darkness
we all began in, into the marvelous light of his kingdom, and we
know The Scripture tells us, and we know by experience as
well, that there are degrees of growth in grace and in knowledge. We know that as sinners, until
we leave this earth, we might remain afflicted with the presence
of sin, as Paul said in Romans, wretched man that I am. And nevertheless,
these redeemed, born-again sinners, you see, are light. and they
are salt and they are in samples to use the word in our text today.
They possess these characteristics. Now in verse 8 he continues there
and he says, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord. Let's
just stop right there for a second. That is they sounded out the
specific gospel message that had come to them in power. And
this too, I believe, is an identifying characteristic of believers.
Let me explain. You see, if you truly care about
someone and you know of certainty that they're in imminent danger,
your automatic reaction will be to sound a word of warning
to them. If your loved one's in a burning
house in a far bedroom and a fire's raging above them, You don't
have to stop and think. You're going to warn them that
the house is about to collapse around them. You're compelled
to care, at least for the folks you care about, you're compelled
to warn them. You don't have to stop and think
about it if, for you, the danger is sure and the danger is real
if you've been so convinced. It can be likened to what Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 5-11 when he said, Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Now, with that, Scripture
also does tell us, when it comes to this issue of founding out
the word of the Lord, to use wisdom. We're instructed to not,
for example, cast our pearls before swine. That is, the things
that we value and treasure, this gospel message, that reveals
to us Christ and his righteousness. We don't we don't. We're not
to cast that to those we know at that particular time would
treat it as worthless like a like pearls thrown into a pig sty.
We're told to be ready also in scriptures to give an answer
to to for the hope that's within us. But we have that caveat to
everyone that asketh. So we know that believers are
not to force their gospel upon anyone. But the issue is here,
I think, is that believers do possess a desire that others
hear it. You see, for we know that's God's
means. It was God's means whereby he
drew us to himself. It's the word of regeneration. The scripture calls it a quickening
word. That specific gospel message,
we know that when heard and believed upon, and made a factual by God's
spirit. It's the flavor of life unto
life. So I say all that, because I'm
not mentioning this to try to get you busy or try to set up
some standard that would prompt you to measure the degree by
which you or I are faithful witnesses to the gospel, though we should
be. But rather, the perspective here is it's cited as an evidence
of the faith that God gives to his elect, much as we heard in
the 10 o'clock hour when Bill talked about what we do with
those talents, God's gifts and graces. It's what it says about
us, not what it means in terms of what we might earn. So we
should ask ourselves, do we desire that others hear this message
that we claim or profess to be so vital to our own souls? Do we truly recognize the danger
in continuing down the road that we want to travel the religious
road we want to travel the one Christ called the broad road
that leads to destruction. Do we support efforts to spread
the good news of the gospel at least in whatever capacity or
however we might be gifted look if the truth of the has indeed
been received as vital to your eternal destiny, then I think
it is indeed an automatic response, much like the house on fire.
You will pray for, you will be supportive of the spread of the
gospel and you'll choose to be identified with that message,
even if you're not in a position to take a more active role. You
see, we all can do some things. We all can pray and we should
pray that God would deliver his gospel, not only to those we
care about, but seeing that his purpose in everything is his
glory to each and every one of his elect wherever they might
be. And he will. So this isn't intended
to get you to do something, but I think we can see in this passage
here that it is a good observation. that she calls us to ask ourselves,
does that evidence exist in me, at least in some degree, in some
way, this desire for the gospel, the news that I say is vital
to my soul, to be heard and believed upon by others? If you have identified
not just in name but in your heart with the Eager Avenue Grace
Church and the ministry of this church, You see, then that evidence
exists in you. When I think about how the gospel
goes out from this little small group in Albany, Georgia, it
is a huge encouragement to me, and I'm sure it is to many of
you. And I'm thankful for the efforts that make that a reality
and for our church's determination to support the spread of God's
gospel. I'm thankful it could accurately,
I think, be said of Eagle Avenue Grace Church, that from you has
sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Albany, Georgia and
its surrounding area, but akin to what we'll read here in a
moment, in every place your faith to God's word is spread abroad. So this ministry, too, see, might
possess the identifying characteristics of East Thessalonian as a true
gospel ministry. Now, we see that these characteristics,
see, are evident by our passage wherever their faith is known
unto God or unto others. Excuse me. God gave them the
faith. He certainly knows it. Note that
verse 7 reads that they were in samples to all that believe
in Mathadonia and Achaia. Now Thessalonica, as well as
Philippi and Berea and Athens, these were all cities located
in what is most likely present-day Greece. I think they all are,
but I'm not 100 percent sure of that. But it was a region
or province that was known in that day as Macedonia. And in
Acts 17, it's recorded that after Paul had taken the gospel to
Thessalonica, he left there and he went to Berea, and then he
went a good deal further south into Macedonia to Athens. Acts
eighteen we see that he left Athens and he traveled just a
short distance further south into the city of Corinth which
happened to be located in the adjoining province of Achaia
and in fact it was from Corinth that Paul wrote this letter in
second Thessalonians as well as well as the book of Romans
but the point here is that Paul, when he makes mention of believers
in Macedonia and Achaia, I think he's still speaking of those
in the same general region. He's making note of the fact
that they resembled the pattern of believers. They were in samples
and were so identified with the gospel, first, where they were,
right there in their local area, Macedonia and Achaia. Now, we
see as we proceed on into verse 8, The pattern we see that this
pattern is made known not only in their local area for he adds
for from you found about the word of the Lord not only in
Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith to
God word is spread abroad. That is you fit the recognizable
pattern of believers everywhere your faith toward God is known. It was recognizable first, because
it was the word of the Lord. That is the specific gospel message
that Paul had delivered to them. It was that message that was
sounded out and that word sounded out as a word that actually means
resounded or echoed. That is, they knew their election
by the gospel they preached and that they promoted. in their
area and outside of their area. It being the one and the same,
it was echoed, it was resounded, the one and the same that they
had delivered unto them. The gospel, which he said in
verse 5, came not in word only, but in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. The gospel that came to them
in power, and as we noted last week, it is the power of God
and the salvation for what? Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. So it's the gospel, you see,
that sets forth that righteousness. That is, the perfect satisfaction
to God's law and justice that Jesus Christ met. The very merit
of that being freely imputed to each and every one of God's
elect in time. His perfect obedience unto death,
satisfying the laws, not only its precept in obedience, but
in his obedience unto death, he was doing so not for himself,
but for people. A people, he said, he prayed
to the Father this way, those that you gave me out of the world
is elect. And they were fallen sinners,
fallen in Adam, void of any righteousness whatsoever that would commend
themselves to God. And therefore, he died on a cross
to pay the sin debt that they owed, that all owe, but that
none can pay. as their sins were imputed are
put to his account. So Paul isn't here, I think,
simply saying, we know of your election because something found
it out. You were missionary minded. No,
it's true that all believers do possess some desire for that
which is vital to them to certainly be made known to those who are
in light danger. That desire exists, but it's
not just any word, it's that vital word. It's that specific
word of the gospel that came to him in power and in the Holy
Ghost and in much assurance. The one that is founded or re-founded,
whereby Paul could say, we know your election. You see how much
of this could be summarized as just the identity with the one
way of salvation, God's gospel, of sovereign grace to the exclusion
of any pretenders that might even remotely resemble it, but
still promote that in some way, to some degree, there's a mixture
of works, something done by in or through the center. I think
here in verse eight, we also see another distinguishing characteristic
of believers. Note that the faith which identifies
God's elect of which they are in samples. It's called here
a Godward faith, that is, it's a faith toward God. And here
we can see a contrast with the false faith that is natural to
all of us, the false faith that unfortunately many adhere to,
most adhere to even in our day that call themselves Christians.
Christians, they call themselves who profess as I once did to
have a faith toward God, but the reality is altogether different. You see, their gospel, what they
think is the good news of how God saves sinners, could be more
accurately described as a manward faith. And that can be said of
all of us initially, because the Scripture is clear. We come
into this world as dead sinners. Spiritually dead you happy quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin we come into this world in
darkness. We're born in darkness now so
Certainly that false faith that man would say would characterize
each and every one of us before God is pleased to put us under
the sound of his gospel and apply it to our hearts by his spirit
Whether your faith is a Godward faith or a manward faith is exposed
by an honest analysis of what you presume makes the ultimate
difference in your salvation. We all start out in concert with
that popular religious notion wherein we imagine and we're
depending upon something we do, something done in us, something
done by us, the man. It's a manward faith. And so
our attention is focused on that. what man does. In pulpits across
our land today, men are standing up and they may speak much about
God and his son Jesus and even his death on the cross, but their
message is all converging to get you, the sinner, to do something. Whatever that particular denomination
or religion prescribes is the condition whereby they may say
Jesus has done 99%, but now won't you just open the door, for example,
to your heart, cut your end of the deal to distinguish yourself
from others. Paul said in Romans 11, that's
works, and works and grace will not mix. The paraphrase of that
passage would say if there's any element of works whatsoever
to be found, it's no longer grace. As long as that is our persuasion,
then God's gospel, that one that Paul called our gospel that had
come to them, it has not come in power in the Holy Spirit.
For the Holy Spirit has not done his work of convincing us of
the folly of such imaginations, not just the folly, the evil,
and thinking that salvation is still based at least in some
small way on that which I do or is done in me. looking to
my own faith, my reformation, my determination to do good,
to attend church, to give money, to pray, some combination of
those things, my sincere interest in religion, wanting to be found
in heaven for all eternity. Whatever it is, the evil is manifested
because we dared to place the work of our own hand in rivalry
with what it actually took. It took the precious blood, the
obedience unto death of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
such a false faith can be aptly called a manward faith. And that's
not grace, but the religion of works. Our pastor many years
ago, I suspect some of you will remember this, He brought a message
that always stuck with me, where he discussed the varying degrees
to which this religion of works might be disguised. So as to
deceive us into believing that our faith is toward God, when
in reality, it's still the religion of works. works he he described
it like this he said first there's a blatant form of work religion
practiced by those whose gospel gospel could probably be summarized
as a work of man for God. Secondly there was a somewhat
more subtle form of work religion manward faith practiced by those
whose gospel could probably be summarized as a still a work
of man but with God. You see, they're giving God some
credit for that which they imagine he's enabled them, the sinner,
to do to save themselves. And then thirdly, he mentioned
perhaps the most subtle form of works religion, a manward
faith, practiced by those whose gospel could be summarized as
a work of God, not a work of man, but a work of God, but with
man. Notice there you have a greater
emphasis upon God's involvement in the description by which men
are deceived. And here's the point that many
mistakenly imagine that they are really they really do believe
the gospel of grace. They make much to do about Christ
and what he did for them. Yet they stopped short of seeing
that he actually accomplished their redemption, that he paid
for their sins in full, that he bought them with his bloody
sacrifice. And so they cling to that notion
that Christ has made it all possible. And in imagining he did it for
everyone that ever lived, but still knowing that multitudes
perish, they expose that he's done it all but, and you just
fill in the blanks, whatever it is. And that's probably one
of the most subtle forms of works religion that exists today, a
works of God with man. None of those descriptions of
the religions of work, of a manward faith, could be applied to the
God-given faith of which God's elect are in samples here, a
Godward faith. Paul says their faith is Godward,
and as such, it might more aptly be described, it's a work of
God, not with man, for man. It's a Godward faith with no
contribution whatsoever from man, and therefore there is no
basis whatsoever upon which a man can boast. God's not going to
share his glory. You see, a faith toward God is
one that's concerned with his glory. How he, a holy God, could
be just to justify me, a sinner. It's under the gospel in which
this same gospel that Paul brought to the Thessalonians, as we saw
last week, where they don't hear just of the of Christ's death,
burial and resurrection, but of the very necessity of it.
You see, for they discover he's got to be that way to be God,
to be a just God and a Savior. And under the preaching of the
gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit making it effectual to
us, their focus is turned toward God. And how not will you accept
Christ, but how could God accept me, a sinner? That's Godward
thinking rather than manward thinking. See, the answer to
how God could accept me is only found in that gospel of grace
that sets forth every condition, every requirement being met for
the elect by Christ at the cross of Calvary. Our focus is no longer
turned to man, consumed with the issue of whether or not you,
the sinner, have done your part. Have you accepted Jesus? Have
you accepted Christ as your Savior? The focus is turned toward God,
consumed with the truth of how can a holy God accept me, an
otherwise ungodly sinner? And if your focus is turned there,
the answer is provided. It is by, only by the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, what he merited, that righteousness
being imputed to me, the sinner. Here at the end of verse 8 and
the beginning of verse 9, Paul adds, so that we need not to
speak anything, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you. I think Paul is continuing here
to just explain his confidence in counting them as brethren
and the beloved of God, knowing their election. The fact that
they received what Paul called our gospel, that specific message
was reaffirmed to them as Paul heard from these others, how
they had truly identified with them in like-minded faith and
repentance. And so where their Godward faith
had been made known to others, Paul's saying, I have no need
to add anything to it. It expressed the same specific
gospel doctrine concerning how God saves sinners by Christ through
the righteousness. he established in his life and
death on the cross. You see, it's that identity with
the gospel. We see that again here. But consider the rest of
verse 9. As it reads there, it says, For
they themselves, those fellow believers, to whom your faith
toward God has been spread abroad, 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. Paul is saying that we know of
your like-minded, God-given faith, which evidences that you too
are beloved of God, elect, are chosen unto salvation in Christ.
Because you see, first of all, such faith only comes to those
from whom Christ procured it. Their life, His righteousness
demanded their life, both their spiritual life as well as life
eternal, and he merited that on the cross. And we know that
because as a result of God having effectually applied then the
word of the gospel to these believers, as he does in every generation,
they exhibited this evidence of genuine God-given faith, listen,
which is always accompanied with the inseparable gift of repentance
from idolatry. You know, few in our day will
admit to ever having been an idolater. And listen, it's no
wonder. None of us will naturally recognize,
not apart from a work of God's Spirit, that we all begin our
religious walks as idolaters. Graciously, God reveals this
to his elect under the sound of the gospel, and so they repent. No one knowingly will continue
to worship an idol, for that would be to trust in something
that is false, an idol. You wouldn't do that if you knew
that to be the case. And none of us know apart from
a new birth, see, in the accompanying faculties of spiritual life whereby
we perceive the reality of our former idolatry. Think about
this. is a radical change of heart
and mind. It's turning, it's going in one
direction and making a 180 degree U-turn. It's to be going in a
completely different way. And this must and does take place
in the hearts and minds of God's elect in every generation when
the gospel comes to them in power and the Holy Ghost and in much
assurance. The scripture is clear that the way that seemeth right
to a man is the way that ends in death. That's all of us. Proverbs
16, 25. So clearly, if the way that seems
right is the way that's a road toward hell, then I need to take
a turn off of that road. There needs to be repentance,
a reversal. As we read last week in Acts
17, as Paul had gone on down to Athens and then was preaching
his sermon on Mars Hill, at the end of that message he said,
God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed
a day in which He's going to judge the world in righteousness.
And He goes on to say whose righteousness it is. Christ. We must possess,
we must be as perfect, as holy, as righteous as Christ. You see,
we've got to have a righteousness that we cannot produce for ourselves. In Luke 13, In verses three and
five, our Lord says, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish. True God-given faith and repentance
from former idolatry are not evidences, listen, that may or
may not be manifested in God's elect. They are identifying characteristics
that if absent, they give evidence of one who is perishing, or at
least currently on the broad road that leads to destruction. I think many imagine, as I once
did, that someone who worships an idol certainly needs to repent
of their idolatry, but that characterization surely couldn't be applied to
me. I never bowed down before some graven image carved out
of stone or wood, and yet the Bible is clear that spiritual
warfare involves the casting down of imagination. That takes
place up here, 2 Corinthians 10, and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, that is, God as he truly
is, and bringing into captivity every thought so that you would
be obedient, no, bringing all our thoughts captive to the obedience
of Christ. I've got to have his obedience
unto death made mine. Others, and I think Winston often
uses this definition of idolatry, and it's a good one, say that
it consists of ascribing unto God qualities of character that
do not belong unto him and are failing to ascribe to God qualities
of character that do belong unto him. And listen, we all begin
our religious journey. imagining that a holy God is
going to save me, a sinner, in ways that deny, at least in part,
every attribute of God's character. But in our blind, in our lost
state of darkness, we don't recognize that. If you talk with some who,
unlike most of us, had the good fortune of actually being raised
under the sound of this blessed message, the gospel of grace,
you'll find that even they It's a little foggier for them. How
could they have been an idolater? Well, here's where it shows up.
They hear the message with the physical ear. And then if God,
in the day of His power, that message comes to them in power
and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance, and He starts
to draw them, they get a little interested. And they start listening
a little more. And they go, well, you know,
I want to go to heaven. And what's the first thing they
ask themselves when they want to decide? They go, so what do
I have to do? Even if you've been brought under
a message, it says you can't do a thing to save yourself.
You see, it's just natural to all of us. That's the idol of
our imaginations. Listen, we don't, I remember
when the gospel was presented to me and I was having having
conversations with our former pastor. And. We I just didn't consider I remember
when he talked to me about the necessity that God be true to
who he is, just God, when he saves centers and that what I
had formerly believed just totally contradicted that my excuse was,
well, I didn't I just didn't think surely I'm not accountable.
I just didn't think of it like that. I didn't think of it that
way. And he reminded me, that's what it is to have no fear of
God before your eyes. You see, that's to have a manward
face. It's not to even be concerned with how God could be who he
is and accept me a sinner. How he could be just and still
show mercy. Instead, we majored on figuring
out what we had to do to get ourselves saved. And sadly, many
today still describe the nut of the issue, so to speak. is
whether or not you, the sinner, will accept him. We imagine that
salvation naturally, we imagine that it is a product, not of
the blood-bought sacrifice of Christ. That played a part. That may have made it possible,
but it's a product of man's free will decision. His election,
not God's election to be delivered by the blood-bought redemption
in his son at the cross of Calvary. Faith is accurately described
as a revelation of God, whereby the sinner does what? He turns
to God. And if we turn to something which
beforehand we did not have that gift of faith, something that
had not been revealed to us yet, then by necessity it means we're
turning away from something else. If I'm heading this way, to turn
back over here I have to turn away from something. that broad
road that leads to destruction, see, as we blindly therein worshiped
an idol of our imagination. You know, you can learn something
about the idol that we turned away from when we consider the
description here of what God's elect are brought to turn to
there in verse 9. It says believers now are identified
as like knowing your election by virtue of their having turned
to God for models to serve what the living and true God. You see for your God to be true.
He must possess the qualities of character that are true of
essential deity. He must be holy. That is infinitely
perfect in every one of his attributes. He must be just. He must be all
love, all powerful, all knowing. So you've got to be infinitely
great in every attribute of character. He's not God. You see, if he
could be anything less than that, then he could get better or he
could get worse, and that would make him mutable like a creature,
not the Creator. And so many like myself in years
past Though I presume to ascribe to God all those character attributes,
I dare say if you went in most churches around here today, you'd
find very little disagreement that God is just, God is love,
God's all-powerful, God's all-knowing, He's holy. At least that's what
we thought we believed. In other words, here's the issue. We realize that we've been walking
in ignorance, ignorant of the reality and the necessity of
his righteousness, that perfect satisfaction which Christ alone
made at Calvary, the righteousness that's revealed now when the
gospel comes to you in power and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. You see, until then we expose
that our God, as we perceive him to be, if If we indeed imagine
that we ascribe to him those accurate attributes of characters,
then he doesn't act or live accordingly. He would be a contradiction exposed
by how we imagine he saves sinners. It's to assume God will save
sinners in ways that actually deny the very attributes that
we seem to agree constitute the one true God. For example, I
would have said he was just. But I believe Jesus Christ came
and died for all men. He died for their sins, I thought.
God punished their sins by extracting as payment for the penalty the
precious, infinitely valuable blood of the God-man. And yet,
I knew the Scripture was clear that multitudes of those whom
I thought he had paid that penalty for perished in hell. What an
unjust monster. Christ's payment didn't get the
job done, I suppose. Well, I just didn't think about
it that way. Now, it takes a revelation under
the gospel, see? None of us will think about it
that way. We said he was love, but if he was all-powerful man
and able to save to the uttermost, as the scripture says, and he's
love, he didn't engage all that power to save the objects of
his love. What kind of love is that? Said
he was all-powerful. Well, if he really loved me,
how could he be all-powerful? He wasn't able to save me. Not
unless I would acquiesce and provide that finishing touch,
that work of faith or belief or perseverance or good works
or whatever, fill in the blank. Said he was all-knowing, but
if he's all-powerful, if he's loving all that, maybe he really
couldn't foresee all the obstacles to my coming to him. Maybe you
just couldn't see what an obstinate center this one or that one would
be. You see what contradictions are held therein. If we've yet
to repent, any who have not repented of their false gospel, see, in
imagining that God saves sinners based upon some requirement or
condition that they meet, if they clean Now, to this seemingly
accurate understanding of what God's like, that He is just and
holy and omnipotent, omniscient and so forth, then they expose
that the God they worship is not the living God, because He's
a contradiction. He can't exist. He does not act
in accord with what they presume to be true about Him. You say
being ignorant of or not submitting to the righteousness of God,
as Paul described his fellow kinsmen in Romans 10, 1 through
4, they are by default going about to establish a righteousness
of their own. And in that ignorance, they worship
a God who cannot save. That's God's description of the
idols in Isaiah chapter 45. They worship a God who cannot
save. You see, the one true and living
God, he could not save a sinner apart from the righteousness
that Christ alone established in satisfaction to God's law
and justice, the righteousness that was revealed in the gospel
when it comes to one in power. For it is the power of God and
the salvation, you see. God, he could not, he's a God
that can't save. He doesn't act in accordance
with what I presume him to be. The living and true God is one
who first is true to the infinite qualities of character that only
belong to God. And secondly, as a living God,
he exercises those qualities of character on behalf of all
the objects of his everlasting love. His love really is perfect.
And when Almighty God will engage all that he is to ensure the
eternal salvation of those he loves. And as such, they're brought
under the gospel and it's applied to their hearts and their minds
and affect their affections and wills so that they behold something
of God that's only revealed. Second Corinthians four, six
in the face, the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
they see his redemptive character, see how he can be both a just
God and a savior and all his character attributes work in
harmony. not in contradiction to one another, not dispensing
with justice in order to show mercy. So they turn from idols
to serve the living and true God. In verse ten, he further
describes how these other believers who've heard now or observed
these evidences in the Thessalonian believers, whereby he can know
of their election. They've related how these Thessalonians
in samples had in faith and repentance They turn to God from idols,
and he adds in verse 10, "...and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come." You see, those to whom God's grace
has effectually come, as it does to each one of these elect now,
like Paul, as he said in 2 Timothy 4, they can wait expectantly,
that is, in anticipation to his coming. He described it in 2
Timothy 4, he says, and those who like me can love his appearing. Now, how can you love his appearing
when we just heard that he's going to judge the world in righteousness
by Christ? That perfection I must have.
Well, you only can do so, you can only love the one who's going
to come in strict justice if you've seen how Christ perfectly
satisfied justice for the elect of God as their substitute. For
if you see that, if you must have that, if you embrace that,
it is only because it is a fruit and effect of what Christ purchased
for all those, he said, that you've given me out of the world
the elect of God. And then he adds to this description,
he says, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus. And I don't
think that's merely to say, now, I'm here tonight, evidence of
their election. They they wait for Jesus, and
I want to make sure you know the one that really died over
here and rose again the third day, not just the historical
fact. You see, it's to see his resurrection
that attest to us that the full assurance of faith to which God's
elect come to is fully justified. Righteousness demands life and
his resurrection testifies. It got the job done. And then
the last phrase, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath
to come. He came out of the grave. Who?
Jesus. The word means God, our Savior, Jehovah, who says he
lives. And that's sure and certain evidence
that each and every one for whom he lived and died shall live
delivered from the wrath to come. The wrath that all of us deserve
is fallen sinners. See, God's wrath against sin
must be poured out for God to be the true and living God, and
it ultimately shall be poured out at the judgment upon all
the objects of his wrath. It's going to be poured out on
everyone except the objects of God's everlasting love, his elect. Why? Because his wrath against
their sins was poured out upon Christ, that is, the elect sinner's
surety and substitute. There at the cross, with all
the merit of all the sins of God's elect being charged to
him, Christ endured the punishment that they deserved, but which
he willingly bore away for them. He died for sins he had no part
in producing, that they might possess the righteousness they
had no part in producing. And that's mercy and grace. And
we only know the living and true God by the person and work of
the God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sorry I ran a little
late. My prayer for everyone that's
listening to this message today is that they too might know their
election as objects of God's everlasting love. But we only
know that by the evidences of salvation, the fruit and effects
that he purchased for the elect. And where there is much assurance. Are you an example possessing
these characteristics of all who receive the gospel in power
and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance? Have you turned
from your idols, even the idol of your imagination, to serve
the living and true God? Do you wait expectantly for one
who truly saved this Jesus, God who saves, who delivered you
from the wrath to come? Well, we can see from our passage
today that true God-given faith of those who look to Jesus as
the author and the finisher of the faith is always accompanied
by repentance from former idolatry. So can you say of yourself, as
was said of these Thessalonian believers, And I believe ultimately
can be said by all of God's elect and every generation. Once God
effectively brings the gospel their way that I have turned
to God from my idol to serve the living and true God. And
now I wait with expectation for his son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered me from the wrath
to come. Well, I pray you can. These are
the evidences whereby we can know our salvation and I pray
God will so richly bless you.