Today we're going to be looking
at Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica. So if
you want to, be turning there in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. And as you turn, I want to introduce
today's message by referring to a familiar verse, one that's
familiar, I know, to many of you from 2 Peter chapter 1. There in verse 10, brethren,
our fellow believers, are exhorted to give diligence to make their
calling and election sure. Now if you'll think about it,
the exhortation itself there presupposes the truth of election,
a truth that is undeniable if one believes the Bible is true.
The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that God has elected or
chosen a people from all eternity, chosen or elected them to be
saved in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, if any doubt
that who hear this message, get a concordance when you go home
or when you have time and look up the words elect or election
or chose or chosen. And if you go through that exercise
and if you're honest with yourself, you either will concede to the
truth of God's election, or else you'll have to admit that you
just don't believe those particular passages in the Bible to be true. And I will operate under the
assumption that those listening today do believe this to be truth,
God's truth, the Word of God. And today what I want to do is
I want to begin a two-part study here from 1 Thessalonians verses
four through ten, and in today's segment we'll concentrate on
just three verses, verses four through six, and then we'll look
at the remainder of the passage next week. But in all of these
verses that we'll cover this week and next, what we see here
are the evidences whereby we might heed the command that I
just mentioned from 2 Peter to make our calling and election
sure. Now, today's text I said began
in verse 4, but as you'll see, verse 4 is actually the beginning
of a sentence. So look with me back up, and we'll start our
reading in verse 2. Paul writes, We give thanks to
God always for you all. And then he continues, and he
says, Making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of
hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
And as you see, as we get to our text, verse 4, we're still
in the middle of the sentence. We have here the closing of this
sentence that began back in verse 2. And if we took the parenthesis
out, it would read like this. From verse 2, we give thanks
to God always for you all, the same thought then continuing
into verse 4, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. And it's from that phrase that
I've derived the title for these two messages knowing your election
and today's segment being part one of two. And as you look there
at verse four if your Bible has a cross-reference like mine you'll
note that the literal reading of that verse would be knowing
brethren beloved of God or beloved by God knowing your election. I think many would probably prefer
not to be confronted with that little bit of information, you
see, for I think it's natural for fallen man to look at the
sentence arrangement there by the King James translators and
just choose to interpret it to mean your election of God. In other words, your choosing
of him rather than the other way around. Well, as I've already
mentioned, if you'll go through the exercise and look up the
passages on election, you'll see that would be totally contradictory.
to all of God's Word, because it makes it very clear that the
choosing is God's choosing, the election of a people unto salvation
in Christ. In fact, just to quickly set
aside that argument, we could go so many places, but turn back
just a few pages to Ephesians chapter 1. Here in the letter
to the church at Ephesus, Paul writes, concerning God's choosing
of a people. In verse 3 he says, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he, that is God
the Father, hath chosen us in him, God the Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the that we should be holy
and without blame before him. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to your free will choice, no, it says according to the good
pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace
wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom we have redemption. through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace." We could go many
other places, but you can see from this one passage it's clear
that God the Father chose a people in Jesus Christ, God the Son,
to be redeemed. He chose them to be saved eternally. Now, to begin with, let's be
clear that any consideration of God's election of a particular
would be meaningless apart from the consideration of what they're
chosen for or to. If I come up to you and I say,
hey, I've been chosen, well, it begs the question, for what
or to what? It would carry no meaning without
that. And so what we see here clearly
is that we must consider election unto salvation, that it is a
choosing unto salvation in and by the redemptive work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. As we read in Ephesians, in whom
we have redemption, not just an attempt made, but a price
paid by his shed blood. Well, look with me in verse 5
of 1 Thessalonians. Our passage continues and he
says, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also
in power and in the Holy Ghost. and in much assurance, as ye
know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." Now,
notice how verse 5 begins. It begins with that word, for,
and that means because. So Paul is saying, we know you
to be beloved of God. We know your election because,
and he proceeds from here, this point, through verse 10, giving
the evidences whereby He is able to say he knows their election,
and that's what we're going to focus on in these two messages.
And I want you to know the first thing from verse five is there
is that the gospel comes to the elect of God. He says, For our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and so
forth. But it comes to the elect of God. All of God's elect And
each and every generation are providentially brought to hear
God's gospel. And Paul calls it our gospel. He says our gospel comes unto
you. Well, hold your spot there and
let's go back to Acts 17 and look at the record of when Paul
first delivered the gospel to the Thessalonians in his visit
there. Acts 17. Paul and Silas and Timothy had
just left Philippi, and we read in verse 1, Now when they had
passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where was the synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner
was, he went in unto them. And as his manner was, three
Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. And as
his manner was, opening and alleging alleging that the Christ now
there's a definite article in the in the Greek the Christ in
other words he's saying the Christ I'm preaching to you not the
Messiah that you Jews who the ones he's speaking to were expecting
to set up an earthly kingdom but the Christ must needs have
suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus
whom I preach unto you is the Christ, again, the definite article.
You see, the gospel sets forth, the gospel that shows one to
be one of God's elect, that comes unto God's elect, it sets forth
more than just the mere historical fact that Christ died and rose
again. As we see here, it sets forth
the necessity of it, how he must need have died and risen again.
He came to die, see, to save a people, the elect of God, and
he had to rise again. He had to come out of that grave
because God the Father is just. And justice was satisfied by
what he accomplished in his life and death. Righteousness. Perfect
satisfaction before the justice of God. Satisfaction in precept,
you see, for he obeyed. He walked on this earth without
sin. He obeyed the law perfectly. And yet he needed no righteousness
for himself. He came for a people, a people
that he he is recorded elsewhere in scripture. He says, Father,
those that you gave me out of the world, the elect. And he
came for them, but they were fallen humanity. They were, as
we all were. sinners, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. They were anything but righteous
before God, and so justice had to be satisfied in that the penalty
had to be paid before the bar of God's justice, of sin against
an infinitely holy God, and it took the infinitely valuable
blood of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is the
gospel, our gospel, Paul calls it, that comes to each and every
one of God's in each and every generation, and we see that it's
that very specific message that comes. But listen, we also see
here to God's elect, it doesn't just come to the physical ear.
Here in verse 5, he says, We know your election now, for our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. You see, God's elect are given
spiritual ears. In Matthew 13, there's a discourse
there between our Lord and the disciples where they said, why
do you speak in parables? And he said, because it's given
to some not to know the mysteries of the kingdom. That is this
reign of grace that's established by Christ's righteousness at
the cross. As we heard in the ten o'clock
hour, Christ said, You don't believe on me because you're
not my sheep. It's not given. In other words,
he's saying some are not chosen to be saved unto salvation. In verse 13, he finished that
by saying he spoke to them in parables because they seeing,
meaning with a physical eye, they seeing see not and hearing
with the physical ear and hearing they hear not. Neither do they
understand, but he goes on in verse 16 of there, in Matthew
13, he says, but blessed are your eyes. We must have eyes
that are blessed. In other words, we must be given
spiritual eyes. He says, blessed are your eyes
for they see, and your ears for they hear. You see, there's a
miraculous giving of spiritual life, a new birth, whereby God's
people gain the faculties of life. of spiritual life, spiritual
eyes and spiritual ears, so that the gospel then comes to them
not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. So let's consider those three
things this morning. The gospel comes to God's elect
in power. As you hear me often quote, as
Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans 1, 16 and 17, the gospel, this
Specific message Paul the gospel. He says our gospel that comes
to God's elect It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believe it and he says in verse 17 for or because Therein
is the righteousness of God revealed So the gospel you see when made
effectual to a center is life-giving the scripture calls it a quickening
word and It's the word of regeneration and it comes in power then to
God's elect. And in that power there's a revelation.
Something's revealed that they otherwise would be totally blind
to. When it comes to him in power
and what is it that's revealed the righteousness of God. Now
the gospel comes to God's elect then in power. But it says that
also the gospel comes to God's elect in the Holy Ghost or Holy
Spirit. I think that conjures up in most
natural minds the idea of, well, do I really feel the Spirit,
a mystical thing, an emotional thing? And we know that religions
all over this world of all sorts, sizes and shapes, all have some
element of that sense of something going on within them. But we
do not have to rely on mysticism. You see, our Lord talked about
what it means for the gospel to come in the Holy Ghost or
Holy Spirit when he described for us the work of the Spirit. In John 16, when he's talking
to his disciples, he says, I'm going to go away. I must go away.
And so I'll send the Comforter. He's referring to the Holy Spirit.
And I believe there he's speaking to the world of God's elect. He's telling his disciples that
this spirit would come and it's going to reprove. The word reprove
means convict or convince the world. And I think he's saying
not just now, not just you Jewish disciples here, but as is taught
elsewhere, spiritual Israel, just as National Israel was chosen
as a nation to be delivered in order to bring the Messiah through
them for that specific time under the Old Covenant. He's saying,
I'm speaking of spiritual Israel, a chosen people out of every
nation. And that's what I think he means
when he says he's sending the Spirit to reprove the world.
And here's what he says in verse 8. He says, And when he, speaking
of the Holy Spirit, is come, he will reprove, that is, convince
or convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Now, if it takes the miraculous
work of God's Spirit to convince me of sin, then it has to be
speaking of a sin that otherwise is foreign to me, that I'm totally
unaware of. You know, as you think of a little
toddler with his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar,
if he's been told to not go there, and that look on his face or
her face like, I've been caught, you know right away that we're
born with a conscience. We know right and wrong. So we're not talking here of
sins of immorality. We're not talking about stealing
and killing and murder. You see, those are things that
we're born with a conscience. We know those things to be seen,
but this is a thing that requires a miraculous work. It requires
God's spirit, the Holy Spirit. To convince us up, and I believe
there it's talking about what the scripture calls the deceivableness
of unrighteousness. That is, our imagining that something
other than or in addition to the one righteousness unrighteousness. Would find me favored by a God
or remove his wrath, something that I imagine is done by me
or in me or through me. He says he'll convince the world.
Now, if the gospel comes to you in the Holy Ghost, then here's
the work of the Holy Ghost. He'll convince you of righteousness,
that very satisfaction that Christ made, where we see why and how
he must needs have suffered and died and risen again. the perfect
satisfaction that our Lord may. And of judgment. He will convince
his people that. Fans were fully judged there
at the cross of Calvary that Satan and saying he was totally
victorious over them and that this righteousness is the standard
of judgment. And I'm convinced they have the
plan of having been ignorant, ignorant of it and not submitted
to that righteousness, but looking for something other than that
unrighteousness. You see how all those fit together. So if the gospel comes to you
in the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Ghost, as it does
to each and every one of God's elect in God's time, then the
Spirit will have convinced you of sin and righteousness and
judgment. Now, back in verse 5, we see here that the gospel,
it comes to God's elect. It comes to them not only in
power and in the Holy Ghost, but in much assurance. You see,
if your gospel, now when I, we know there's only one true gospel,
but the Bible speaks of many false gospels. Your gospel gospel
means good news so what you presume to be good news concerning how
God saves sinners that's your gospel that my gospel. If it's not one in which you
have every reason to be fully assured. Then we can deduct or
deduce from this past passage here that we have no warrant
not at this time to consider ourselves to be one of God's
sheep that is one of his chosen ones, the elect, because the
gospel comes to God's elect in full assurance. You say that
to truly trust in Christ is to trust in one who cannot fail. It's that he's the God man and
he did not fail. You remember the angel of the
Lord told Joseph concerning his wife, Mary, said she'll bring
forth a son of conceived Not by you, Joseph, but by the Holy
Spirit. It'll be a God-man. And he said,
Joseph, you're to call His name Jesus. That means God who saves. Jehovah, our Savior. He said, you're to call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people. Those that he prayed
to the God, the father and said, those you've given me out of
the world, the elect, he shall save them from their sins. Matthew
1 21. You know, over the ages, I think
countless religious folks have expressed this fault. They'll
say, well, it's not Christ that I doubt, but it's me. It's my faith or my faithfulness
that I worry about. Well, listen, if you worried
whether your faith or your faithfulness will measure up. Then hear me,
the problem isn't really with the degree of your faith or the
quality of your faith, but the object of your faith. You're
not looking to Christ alone, and you really do have a lot
to worry about if those are your sentiments. You see, such sentiments
are held by those who have yet to turn to Christ for all of
their salvation and repent of the sin that deceives us all,
of having imagined that salvation is in some way, to some degree,
conditioned on something that precedes, for me, a sinner. And
when such thoughts persist, then they give evidence of one of
two things, that either one, God's gospel The one wherein
his righteousness is revealed, you see, because it comes in
power. God's gospel has just not come your way yet, perhaps. Or, secondly, if it has, it has
not come in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. You see, focusing on our own
failings is not trusting in Christ alone, because he cannot fail.
And that suggests that there's yet to be a convincing by God's
Spirit of that thing that we're all deceived by imagining that
salvation's condition on us. The religion of works, at least
in some small way, we will say, you know, on our faith or my
faithfulness, my perseverance, whatever it is. That's not the
faith of God's elect that we see here from the passage in
First Thessalonians. You see, the trust in Christ.
And having been convinced of his righteousness as my only
hope as the only ground of my salvation, a righteousness that
I cannot merit and one that has to be freely put upon me, imputed
to me as a scriptural word. It has to be laid to my account
in the same way that my sins were laid to Christ's account.
He died for sins he had no part whatsoever in producing. He died
for the demerit of all my sins, past, present and future. The
great exchange that takes place is I end up having a righteousness. I had no part in producing. You
say that I have the very merit of what he accomplished put to
me. You see, that's what it is to
truly trust in Christ is to be banking on that and nothing else
whatsoever is to put all our confidence in him. The scripture
uses the phrase and have no confidence in the flesh, it means the the
work of our own hand. We can have full assurance that
he could not fail, and he did not fail to do what he came to
do. Remember on the Sermon on the Mount he said, I came to
fulfill the law perfectly, every jot and tittle, dotting every
I, crossing every T. The scripture tells us he came,
as we read in Ephesians 1, to redeem a people, the elect of
God, to save his people from their sins. and the God-man cannot
and did not fail." As we've already seen, the record of Paul's first
visit to Thessalonica was recorded there in Acts 17. And in that
chapter, we learn that when he left Thessalonica, he went on
to Berea, and from Berea, he went on to Athens. And there
in Athens, he preached his famous sermon on Mars Hill. And at the
end of the chapter, Acts 17, in verses 30 and 31, as we heard
again even this Paul concluded by saying that
God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, whose
righteousness? By that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he raised
him from the dead. You know, if the fact of the
resurrection were tried in a court of law, It would be proven without
fail in a civil court. There were hundreds who witnessed
Christ after his resurrection. And so here we have the testimony
before all men. He lived. You see, righteousness
demands life. Romans 521. Just as sin reigns
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life. Whose righteousness? By Jesus
Christ our Lord. It got the job done. He's given
assurance thereby to all men. That's the standard by which
you're going to be judged. Christ didn't live and die and
rise again for himself, but he did it for a people, the elect
of God. And so they shall likewise live. It cannot fail. And when it pleases
God, then in each successive generation, they are granted
not only eternal life, but spiritual life. And they come to Him in
full assurance of faith. Now notice there, back in 1 Thessalonians,
at the end of verse 5, chapter 1, Paul adds this little phrase. He says, As ye know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake. It's true that Paul and Silas
and Timothy, they conducted themselves honorably when they were at Bethel
and Michael. We see something of that. If the letter continues
in the chapter two, if you look down at verse ten, we read here
are witnesses and God also. How holy that means holy like
and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that
believe. And so we know that sense of
that is true, but as you look at the context of chapter one
and in particular verse five. I think that what we have being
expressed in this phrase when he says you know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake is an expansion upon
the evidence of how these believers did not receive the gospel in
word only. as if it were merely the words
of men. I think Paul is conveying as he did to the Corinthians
in 1st Corinthians 2 when he said, And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Look in chapter
2, as I mentioned already, and look at verse 2 as he continues
in the letter here, and he says, after that we had suffered before
and were shamefully entreated as you know it fell apart they've
been thrown in jail now paul and solace and philip and i moved
on just before going to the philharmonic up and he said we were bowed
in our god to speak on the youth in the philharmonic of the gospel
of god with much contention for our exhortation was not of the
fate nor of uncleanness nor gal but as we were allowed of god
to be put in trust with the gospel Even so we speak, not as pleasing
men, but God, which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time
use we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness, for nor of men
sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others." And he goes
on, and then look down at verse 13. He says, "...for this cause
also thank ye God without ceasing, because When you receive the
word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe." The message of
God's truth, the gospel, that was delivered to these elect
believers in Thessalonica, it was not diluted. It was not camouflaged
in order to make it more palatable. to our natural, our fallen natures. You see, naturally we desire
some dignity to remain with man, at least in some small way. We
desire that there be a basis upon which we as sinners might
boast of having playing a part in our own salvation. Now, many
who hear that say, well, I never thought that before. I didn't
think that I sincerely was approaching God looking for something that
I could brag about. I didn't say that you did brag
or boast. I said we like to know there's
a basis upon which we could. You know, in Ephesians 2, 8,
9, he says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any man should boast. That is, unless there
be a basis whatsoever upon which you would have grounds to boast.
And listen, if your decision to accept Jesus, you're inviting
him into your heart or life. If that makes the difference
on whether you go to heaven or not, Whether you brag about it
or not, you have every reason to boast, for that's the crowning
event in your mind of how you can save yourself. And all that
you may credit Christ with doing is nothing more than some sort
of prerequisite that just makes it possible for you to cut the
bargain, for you to do the deal to make yourself saved. And God
won't have it. You see, the offense of the cross
is not removed from the message whereby God's sheep are brought
to see their desperate need for mercy. To see their hopelessness
outside of the mercy and grace and having the merit of what
Christ accomplished, His righteousness, put to my account. And listen,
so their being so persuaded was not the product of man's eloquence. Our power of persuasion. Paul
said, you know, we persuade men, knowing the terror of the Lord,
But when the gospel comes to God's elect in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance, it's not the product of man's
persuasion. It's the product of what God's Spirit can and
does effectually work in the center, as he ultimately does
to each one of the objects of God's everlasting love, his elect.
We'll look at verse 6. He continues and he says, "...and
ye became followers of us." and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost."
In 1 Corinthians 11, 1, Paul said, Be ye followers of me,
even as I also am of Christ. And I think he's speaking to
them in a like kind here of their oneness and their like-mindedness
in Christ. He's noting how the Thessalonians
were drawn to follow them and the Lord, as you see there. for
they've embraced the same gospel message. Now, there in verse
six, we read how they received the word in much affliction.
That means in tribulation, trouble. I want you to consider the conditions.
We'll look just for a moment that these believers in Thessalonica
received the gospel message. We won't go there in the interest
of time, but had we continued our reading in Act 17, we see
that these believers had consorted, it said. That means they identified
with Paul and Silas and Timothy and their message. And then it
says that there were these unbelieving Jews who were moved with Enzi.
And they went and they gathered together a mob and they set the
city in an uproar. And they said, these that have
come here have turned the world upside down, accusing them inciting
civil disorder and on to accuse them of sedition, talking about
how falsely accusing them of calling Jesus a king that would
rival Caesar to take over his throne. Now, we see at the end
of that, the passage says, and the people were very troubled.
They identified with this gospel. They received the word in much
affliction, and yet they were being falsely accused If they're
identifying with these guys, these guys, I mean, they were
they were close to being hanged, probably, or however they were
going to kill him back then because they were being accused of being
trying to undermine the throne of Caesar. Well, I think, as
you can see already from the tenor of my message, I believe
this is relevant. To us today, this passage, as
it is in every day, And so, I think it's intended to be instructed
and portray the evidences whereby the elect of God in each and
every generation may be identified. Now, I'm going to cover this
fact more next week, but just if you look down real quickly
at verse 7 and 8, you see there the word in samples. He said,
you were in samples. That means you're a dye, a stamp,
a pattern. In other words, you possess the
identifying characteristics of all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia. And that's just one of the reasons,
I believe, that all of these descriptions are relevant to
us today, including the one we're looking here in verse 6. We don't
receive the word in much affliction in exactly the same way the Thessalonians
did. But there's a sense, you know,
we're all true believers. All those for whom Christ merited
that work of faith for them, they receive it in much affliction. Just, you know, they accuse Paul
and Silas of turning their world upside down, but the reality
is that's what happens. And that's why God, that happens
in the heart of the believer. And that's why God calls on men
everywhere to repent, as I referenced a moment ago. The gospel, when
received, requires of us. It is totally polar opposite,
180 degrees different from what we imagine. We discover that
God and how he saves sinners, his gospel, you say, is totally
a reversal of the way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof is death, Proverbs 16, 25. Now, concluding that you've
been so tragically mistaken, Having revealed unto you that
the living and true God and his way of salvation is altogether
different than you had imagined is an upheaval. And the ramifications
are unsettling. They're troubling. You know,
the scripture calls our gospel a bitter, sweet gospel. And the
bitter aspect of it is such that We know that none of us would
have anything to do with it if God didn't bring us the gospel
in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance if it wasn't
a work of God. We discover, see, not only that
we're in error, but we discover the evil of having presumed that
a thrice holy God would accept me, a sinner, based upon something
that proceeds from me, a sinner. When, listen, it took the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. Now, that's evil. And that's what God's elect are
brought to repent of. And in that process, we discover
that our like-minded fellow religionists, our friends, our family, that
they are likewise deceived. And we can relate the gospel
to them, but we can't do the work of God's Spirit. And it
saddens us. Consider what Christ said in
Matthew 10. I used to read these words, but
before I really heard the gospel, you know, I think they rang pretty
hollow. He said, think not that I am come to send peace on earth. He said, I cannot send peace,
but a sword. He said, for I come to set a
man at variance against his father and the daughter against her
mother. And the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own
household. And he that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than
me is not worthy of me." You see, God's elect do receive the
Word in much affliction. But look at the end of verse
6. They also receive it with joy of the Holy Ghost. You know,
when you think about verses 5 and 6 together, I'm reminded of what
Paul said in Romans 14. There, God, through the apostle,
says the kingdom of God, this reign of grace, is righteousness,
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. You see, to be translated out
of darkness into the marvelous light of His kingdom is to have
that righteousness revealed to us under the preaching of the
gospel. The kingdom of God is righteousness. And thereby, we
discover the only way that reconciliation can be made between a holy God
and a sinner, how peace on earth indeed is made. The kingdom of
God is peace. And in that peace, we have much
assurance, you see. We're brought to rejoice in great
joy. It is a bitter gospel, but it's
a sweet gospel. Think of how wonderful it is
for one to discover that they have a terminal disease. that
there have a hopeless condition. But to also discover that when
it comes to the gospel, using that analogy, that that news
is never, ever delivered apart from knowing that a wonderful
cure has been provided. You discover a reality of how
hopeless you were. And at the same time, you discover
that a cure has been provided for you that you didn't desire,
that you didn't seek, that you were simply chosen unto, that
was bought for you by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, that's good news. That's joy and great cause for
rejoicing. Well, I'll begin today noting
how believers are exhorted to give diligence, to make their
calling and election sure. And there in that passage it
says, brethren, it's talking about believers. But what about
those who just aren't sure yet about this message who've yet
to embrace it? You know, as you hear this for
the first time, like most of us, I suspect. People hear it
and they hear what they think is to be an unfair premise to
them. They're confronted, see, with
the clear scriptural assertions that the elect, those chosen
by God and they alone, for whom Christ lived and died, they shall
be saved. And I know from my own experience
that when God and his providence caused me to start seeing in
the scripture that, hmm, I can't deny this. Perhaps this is true. And I actually begin to see the
undeniable fact that the Bible teaches that God chose a particular
people to be saved. I ask the same question I think
most ask. If it is true, as I was beginning
to be persuaded it was, how do I know if I'm one of His elect,
one of the chosen ones? And you know, there's no problem
with that question unless it's asked in a vacuum. That is, we
must remember that election is unto something, unto salvation
in and by Christ, based solely on the work He accomplished in
His life and death. And we see in Scripture, see,
that the gospel message is always accompanied with God's command
to believe it. We're told to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. But the scriptures also reveal
to us that as sinners we will not do so unless the Holy Spirit
gives us life, faith, and repentance. Listen, evidences that manifest
themselves without fail at some point in each elect sinner's
heart. Now how can I say that without
fail? Because it's been purchased for them by the God-man. at the
cross of Calvary. He established a righteousness
for people, and it demands their life. And so thereby, by that
spiritual life, we see and embrace a desperate need for that which
he alone accomplished in satisfaction to justice as a substitute for
the elect. The command is not to believe
you're one of the elect. You know, if that command, at
least if it's given in isolation, might prompt one to seek to determine
some means, whether or not they're chosen, which usually causes
us to focus on my worthy. Apart from the gospel evidence
is of repentance and faith. Belief in the truth of God's
gospel. Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer, just prior
to going on to Thessalonica, he said, what must I do to be
saved? He said, their answer in essence
said, there's nothing you can do. You've got to believe on
another. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. The gospel message itself excludes any notion that it is
your believing that does the saving. Listen, the gospel of
grace necessitates the truth of election. If God didn't choose
a people of his own sovereign pleasure and will, then what's
left? Well, there's got to be something found in me, discovered
about me, or done by me, and that's not grace. That's works.
I read recently where grace excludes any notion of worthiness in the
sinner, and I like that. Anyway, the gospel we're commanded
to believe, it reveals the righteousness of another. the impeccable righteousness
of Christ. I'll close with this illustration.
One old writer was illustrating the wrong reasoning of so many
when they first give consideration to the doctrine of election,
and he described it like this. He said, A man is starving for
food. He's going to die if he doesn't eat. And providentially,
someone places a plate of food there in front of him. Now, does
this man who's dying of hunger now, does he halt and say, Well,
I just don't think I'll eat it because I'm not sure if it was
intended for me." Well, if he didn't eat it, most of us would
say, you fool. Someone was kind enough to bring
the food your way, and though you're starving to death, you
wouldn't have it. Now, you see, he would eat unless he had lost
his mind. And why would he eat? Because
he's starving. He's hungry. He wants to live. Now, listen, that brings us to
the real issue. Are you hungry for this food,
the bread of life, Christ's person and redemptive work as it's set
forth in the gospel? Do you see as the Thessalonians
were able to see the necessity of Christ's life and death on
the cross? As Paul had taught them, he said he must needs die
and be raised again. Must you have it? Will anything
else suffice for you? Listen, it won't, not if you've
been convinced of sin and of righteousness and judgment. Has
God turned your world upside down, showing you your desperate
need for this righteousness, one you can't produce, one you
can't even do anything to acquire or procure? You need real mercy.
And if so, if God has been so pleased to do that, then eat.
Thank God for bringing you, drawing you in the day of His power to
the table. You see, for only the elect sit
at that table and partake of the bread of life. Christ put
it this way in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, Blessed,
eternally blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. So the question is, are you hungry
for the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel? The satisfaction
Christ alone rendered at the cross of Calvary for each and
every one of the objects of God's everlasting love. Now, if so,
if you're hungry for that, sit down and eat. Eat at the table
of God's elect, for thereby you can know your election.