Well, I had a message all ready
for today. And then last night I listened to First Thessalonians. And as I sat there and listening
to that book, I thought, I have to preach this. I have to preach
this first chapter. It's so wondrous and so wonderful
for the born-again blood-washed believer. So turn, if you would,
to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians. This church
was a church in the city of Thessalonica. And Paul had many pleasant memories
with these folks. He had went there and established
a church by the grace and mercy of God. It was an infant church.
And we see Paul will speak to them about some doctrines that
people say, well, you shouldn't talk to young believers about.
Paul does not shy away from the great gospel of our God's free
and sovereign grace and his electing grace. He doesn't shy away from
it. And no gospel preacher will do that. We will preach and proclaim
the truth of God's word. And he speaks to them throughout
this epistle of their faith and their hope and their love, which
their faith is spoken of abroad. Paul and them are going to places
and the Thessalonians have already been there and spoken about Christ.
And so their faith is being spoken of abroad. Their hope and their
love of Christ and of the gospel. And then their persecution. They're
very persecuted for their faith. Now we're gonna find out in chapter
one here that they turned from idols to serve the living true
God. And because of that, they faced
persecution from family, from friends. Some of them may have
been, we don't know, some of them may have been idol manufacturers,
we have no idea. And so the guilds that they were
attached to may have turned away from them too. We have no idea,
but they were facing heavy persecution for their faith. And Paul encourages
them in this newfound faith that they have in Christ Jesus our
Lord. And he closes this letter with
instructions regarding the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
God sent his son into this world,
and he came into this world, right, as a lamb, didn't he? But I'll tell you what, when
he's coming back again, he's coming back as a lion. The lion
of the tribe of Judah. My oh my. So let's read the scripture
here. 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul and Silvanus
and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is
in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks to God always for you all, 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. Knowing,
brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among
you for your sake. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost." So they were being persecuted for their
faith. Much affliction. so that you were examples to
all that believe in Macedonia and Archaea. For from you sounded
out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Archaea,
but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak to anything. They're proclaiming
Christ everywhere they go, of his saving power. For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we head unto you, and how
you turn 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, even Jesus, look at this, which delivered us from the wrath
to come. My oh my, he delivered us from
the wrath to come. And then look at chapter five,
verse nine. Paul again, still writing to
these Thessalonians, and he says, for God has not appointed us
to wrath. Why? We've been delivered from
the wrath of God, right? But to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, when did he do that? Go back to chapter one, no one
brother and beloved, verse four, your election of God. When did
he do that? In eternity, in Christ. Isn't it magnificent? It's wondrous,
absolutely wondrous. So Paul here, he's with Silvanus
and Timotheus, Timothy. And look, they write unto the
church of the Thessalonians. which is in God the Father. Notice
that first. In God the Father. We learned
in John 17 that we were the Father's first. And we were given to Christ,
weren't we? So we're not only in Christ,
we're in the Father too. My, it's a double grip, isn't
it? Remember our Lord said that no man can take you out of my
hand, nor the Father's? Isn't that wonderful? You talk
about security in Christ. Look at this. Which is in God
the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, again, as we looked
at in Sunday School, in Christ. Two very extremely important
words, right? If you're in Christ, you're saved
from all your sins. If you're outside of Christ,
then we're dead in trespasses and sins. So very important to
be in Christ. And it says here. And in the
Lord Jesus Christ, grace be unto you. Now notice what always precedes
peace. It says grace be unto you in
peace. Notice what always precedes peace, grace. See, we've been
given grace, beloved. We've been given grace by God
our Father, and as a result of that, we now have peace with
God. through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Talks about that in Romans. We now have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is our peace, isn't He?
He is our peace. He's Jehovah Shalom. He's our
peace, beloved. Oh, He's Jehovah Sikindu. He's
the Lord of Righteousness. And He's also Jehovah Shalom.
No, He's our peace. Oh, He's our peace. Look at this. From God, our Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ. See, salvation's a gift. Salvation's
a gift from God. It's not something we can obtain
on our own. It's a gift. It comes from God, the Father,
in and through the conduit of the Lord Jesus Christ. For by
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We're
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
then, what do we do as a result of this wondrous grace and mercy
that's being bestowed upon us in Christ? Well, we give thanks,
don't we? We give thanks. We praise our great and glorious
God for the wondrous things that he's done for us. So we've seen
already, just in two verses here, we've seen already that we're
in God, that we're in Christ, and that it's all because of
God the Father and God the Son's mercy and grace to us. And we
know that's from eternity. We're gonna find that out in
verse four. But that's from eternity. And we give thanks, we're grateful.
And then look at this, making mention of you in our prayers. You ever find yourself praying
for folks now? Folks who maybe wronged you? Lord, just put them on your heart
and you start praying for them? Praying the Lord to show them
mercy and grace? Remember, before we were saved,
I'm going to get you. Right? Let's be honest. Now we
pray for our enemies. Now we pray for those who despitefully
use us, the scripture says. And this is also praying for
the saints, too. We pray for one another. We lift each other
up. We bear each other's burdens,
don't we? And who do we lift each other up to? To Christ. to the only mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for
all. And then look at this. Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith and labor of love. Work of faith. The only reason
we desire to do things and serve the Lord is because of what God's
done in us. Right? Now we desire to serve
the Lord. And Paul's remembering this.
He's remembering their work of faith. He's remembering their
labor of love. And it says there, patience of
hope. You know what that is in the
Greek? That's cheerful endurance. Cheerful endurance. They're cheerfully
enduring the persecutions that they're going through. Knowing
it's but light afflictions, as Paul says. It doesn't seem like
light afflictions to us, does it? But they're cheerfully enduring
that. That's what that patience means
in the Greek. Cheerfully enduring it. My oh my. And then patience of what? Hope. Hope. They're anticipating the
return of Christ. They're looking to Christ. He
is their only hope. We're gonna find out they once
served idols. dead idols who they prayed to
and nothing happened. But now they serve the one true
living God. Now they have a living hope.
See, they had a dead hope before. Now they have a living hope.
And they're cheerfully enduring with hope, anticipation of the
Lord's return. And we do the same thing, don't
we? We endure times of tribulations and trials in this earth, awaiting
for our Lord's return. Now, He's either going to come
back when He comes back to finish it all up, or He comes at our
death and takes us home. Either way, we're cheerfully,
patiently enduring that, aren't we? My, oh my. And who's our hope? In our Lord
Jesus Christ. And look at that, in the sight
of God and our Father. And then he brings out this,
knowing brethren beloved, and that knowing there is idol, it's
just to know in the Greek. Knowing brethren beloved, now
notice that. The ungodly ones, we talked about
this in Sunday school, the ungodly ones we will see later on are
called holy brethren. Now here we're called beloved
brethren. Why? Because we've been adopted.
We've been adopted by God. Now we cry, Abba Father. Now
we're beloved brethren. We always were in God's eyes,
but now God's let us in on it now, hasn't he? He's let us in on his great plan. As we saw in Ephesians, now we
know the will of God. And it's to save his people from
their sins. People say, I want to know what
the will of God is. Well, God sent Christ here on this earth
to save his people from their sins. That's the will of God.
Right? That's the mystery of his will.
And we as believers are in awe of that. that he did that. But
Tom and I were talking, and I love what you said, you're like the
faithful centurion, you just believe what God says. But he has the,
I was talking to Vicki about it too, he has the authority
to say, you're gonna go. And Christ goes. Because he's
agreed to it, right? But he's also put himself in
a role of submission to the Father. And so he goes. And he accomplishes
the work that God sent him to do. The sinless one lives the
perfect life for us, then he dies for us in our ruined place,
and then he rises from the grave, and now he's seated at the right
hand of the Father. And so if God says, that's one of mine,
then guess what? That's one of his. Look at this,
it says, knowing brother and beloved, your election of God. Now, again, some people say,
well, you shouldn't teach these deep doctrines to young believers. Paul did. This is a very young church. And he's bringing forth before
them God's electing grace. Now, some people will shy away
from this and say, well, I don't believe that. Well, basically,
then you're saying you don't believe the Bible. Because this
is in the scripture. It says right here. And you know
what that word election means? Look at this. That word election
there, knowing, beloved brethren, your election of God, that means
selection. abstractly or concretely, so
in figure or in real, to select. Now marvel at that. And then
it means chosen election in the Greek. Chosen. So he's saying here to these
Thessalonians, these young believers, knowing beloved brethren, your
choosing of God, God chose you. God chose you. Isn't that wonderful? And we know from Ephesians 1.4
that we're chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world,
right? So he's bringing this truth. And what comfort this
would bring these believers. What comfort going through all
this persecution and all this to know that they were chosen
by God to be receivers of his grace and mercy. And someone
says, well, that's not fair. I don't want fair, do you? Fair
would be every one of us in hell. That's what fair would be. I
do not want fair. I praise God for his mercy and
grace. And again, this is a people that no man can number. This is a number that no man
can number, that are saved, that are chosen by God. We don't know
who they are, so we preach the gospel to everyone. No one more than beloved, your
election of who? God. Who did the choosing? God did
the choosing. See, religion says, well, now
you choose God. Well, the Bible says God chose us. How do we know that? Through
the preaching of the gospel. and by the regenerating power
of God the Holy Spirit. See, we're dead in trespasses
and sins, and we hear the gospel preached, and God the Holy Spirit
makes it effectual, and we're regenerated by his almighty power,
born again, given faith to believe, and what do we do? We run to
Christ, don't we? Because we're chosen by God. And I'll tell you what, this
choice is not because of anything in us, because all we are is
dead dog sinners. This is the pure mercy and grace
of God on full display. And we as God's people say, hallelujah,
what a blessing. What a blessing. Because if God
hadn't chosen me, I'd never chosen him. I never would. You know how I know that? Because
Christ said, without me you can do nothing. And the scripture also says in
Romans chapter 3, there's none that seek it after God. Well,
that means I would never have sought God if he didn't seek
me. And just like that, remember
that lost sheep and Christ goes out and finds that one lost sheep,
picks it up, puts it on his neck, carries it home, says, rejoice,
I found the sheep that was lost. That sheep didn't even know he
was lost. That's us, right? That's us. Oh my, it's amazing. So know him, beloved brethren,
your election of God. Now look at this. For our gospel,
our gospel, that's the good news, right? The gospel is good news.
It's good news for sinners because it proclaims salvation in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ alone, plus absolutely nothing.
It's all based upon his work. It's all based upon his work.
It's all based upon what he'd done in his perfect life and
in his perfect death, dying as our substitute. Our sins were
imputed to Christ and his righteousness is imputed to us. And he paid
everything that God demanded for our sins to the fullest. So that now we who are the ungodly
are called the holy brethren. We're called the Holy Brethren.
Oh my. Holy Brethren, that's what we're
called. I gotta find it here. We'll look
at it later on. But we're called Holy Brethren
at the end of this epistle. Holy Brethren. The ungodly are
made holy. Why? All because God chose us
in eternity. And because Christ redeemed us
at Calvary's Cross with the shedding of his precious, precious blood.
And the Holy Spirit regenerated us and gave us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we give him all the glory,
don't we? We say, Lord, it's all you. We're gonna just praise
your name. We're gonna give you all the
glory, all the honor, and all the praise for our salvation.
Because as the scripture declares, salvation's on the Lord, isn't
it? It's all of him. So look at this. For our gospel,
the good news, Christ died for sinners, come not unto you in
word only. So they didn't just receive it
as Paul's words. Now, this is why we preachers
pray that the Holy Spirit go before us. Because if my words
are the only words you hear, you're not going to profit nothing.
But if the Holy Spirit gets a hold of these words, the preacher
of the gospel, and makes them effectual to you, you're going
to get a blessing from him. So Paul says that my words didn't
just come to you in word only, but in power. Who has all power? The Lord Jesus Christ has all
power, right? The Father, John 17, verse 2,
the Father has given Him all power. All power. All dominion. My, and we know
this is also talking about the power of the Holy Spirit of God,
because look at this. It came not only in word only, but also
in power. In power. That there, in the
Greek, means force. Miraculous power. Miraculous
power. Unlike any power in this world.
And we call this irresistible grace. The old timers used to call it
irresistible grace. We also call it invincible grace.
You can't resist it. Christ will get every single
one for whom he died for. And the Holy Spirit will regenerate
them all by a miraculous power. And the implication in the Greek
is a miracle. It's a miracle we're saved, beloved.
We're saved by a miracle of God, aren't we? Could we save ourselves? Because none of us is good. People
like to tell everybody, we always pat people on the back. Oh, he's
a good fellow, that fellow. Well, it becomes a figure of
speech for us, doesn't it? It becomes something we say all
the time. But the scripture really tells
us there's nothing good, no, not one. And I know what people
mean when they're saying, well, he's a good fellow. I know they're.
But what really are we deep down inside? We're not good fellows,
are we? We're sinners. Even after we're
saved, we're still sinners, but praise God. Now we're called
the holy brethren. Oh my. All because we're in Christ. All because of what he's done.
All because of this miraculous power of God. We know in Colossians
that God the Holy Spirit's done an operation in us. We're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. He's done an operation in us.
And how's that done? By the same thing, by this miraculous
power of God, the Holy Spirit. Because it says here, for our
gospel came not only to you in word only, but also in power
and in the Holy Ghost. And in much assurance, much assurance. My oh my, that Greek word there
for assurance, you know what it means? Entire confidence. So these folks, they are being
persecuted for their faith. They are in the furnace of affliction. And they're joyfully enduring
this with entire confidence. Now who, which one of us could
do that? None of us by our own strength,
right? Neither could they by their own strength. But we could
do that by the grace and mercy of God. And we do do it by the
grace and mercy of God, don't we? We endure affliction, we
endure trials, we endure temptations. And I overcame him by the blood
of the lamb and by the word of his testimony. Oh my, there's power in the blood
of Christ, isn't there? Power, power, power, wonder-working
power. in the precious blood of Christ.
My, so we see here much assurance, entire confidence, oh Lord give
me that, I pray. We're like this sometimes, aren't
we? But remember, he's the constant,
right? He's the constant no matter what. Oh my, let us just cast
ourselves upon Christ. Let us just cast ourselves upon
it and may God give us grace and mercy to do so. And it says,
and as you know, what manner of men we were among you for
your sake. And he became followers of us and of the Lord, having
received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. That word affliction there is
pressure in the Greek, much pressure. You ever been under pressure?
You ever felt the stress of it in your body? Sometimes it's
self-inflicted. Sometimes it's from circumstances
beyond our control. And sometimes it's just from
circumstances in life, right? Pressure. Pressure of things. And much pressure, but then it
says, Then it says here, with joy. So they're under much pressure. They're being persecuted for
their faith. They've heard the Word of God with power by the
Holy Spirit of God. They've heard the Word of God
with power. They're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. They
have faith to believe. And they're under pressure. They're
under severe affliction. And the word joy there means
cheerfulness. Now I'll tell you what, only the grace and mercy
of God can make us cheerful under pressure. Right? Only the grace and mercy of God.
You ever been cheerful when you're under so much pressure you feel
like you're going to break? They're cheerful. That's the
grace of God at work. Because I know personally, and
I think it's the same with you, when we're under pressure I'm
usually miserable. So for you? But see, then again, I have to
do what these Thessalonians were doing, right? This is again why
Paul tells us all through the scriptures, and the scriptures
tell us to set our minds on Christ. Because if we get our minds set
on things in this world, we can become under pressure really
quick. Really quick. We can become overwhelmed. But
let us keep our eyes on Christ. He's sovereign. He's the ruler
over all things. There's nothing in this world
happening right this second without him seeing it. You want to know what the will
of God was for this world? Look at the news from yesterday.
That was yesterday's will of God. My, oh my. And we see this death and destruction. All God's got to do is leave
man alone. And that's what happens. But I'll tell you what, praise
God for His restraining grace, because if He wasn't restraining
things, it'd be even worse. It'd be even worse, beloved.
So thank God for His restraining grace and His restraining mercy. So let us learn from these Thessalonians
here. They're going through They're
going through trials and conflicts, and they're under much pressure.
But by God's grace, they're doing it cheerfully. Isn't that wonderful?
Oh, my. And then look at this. They become
examples. You know, before I got here, I heard about this church. I did. Before I got here, Jean-Claude,
Donny Bell, Many other preachers told me about how loving this
congregation is. I've experienced it now after
eight years. But I was told that before I even came here. Your faith was talked about abroad.
And I'm not telling you that to puff you all up, but that's
truth. I had heard about you all before
I even got here. And that's after I got the phone
call to come and preach Because then I called around,
asked a few of my friends, and they said, oh man, they're the
sweetest people. Donnie Bell, when he was up here,
he said, I've never had so much freedom to preach as when I've
been up there at your place. Norm loves coming here. Drew
loves coming here. All the preachers love coming
here. Because our faith is spoken of
abroad, beloved. Isn't that amazing? We, just
sinners saved by the grace of God, My. And so these folks here,
they were examples to all those in Macedonia and Archaea. For
from you sounded out the word of the Lord. Now they went out
and talked about Christ, didn't they? They heard about Christ
and they talked about Christ. And I know, I pray that the Lord
open doors for us to speak to our loved ones or our friends
about Christ. And I know that, I know we don't go out and bust
doors down. I used to do that in religion and it don't get
you nowhere. But pray that God will give you
an opening with someone. That he'd open up a door of utterance.
Allow you to speak to maybe a family member or a friend about Christ.
It's wonderful. And so these folks, everywhere
they went, they were talking about Christ. And Paul says so
much so that they didn't even need to speak about Him when
they went to other places in Macedonia and Archaea. Look at
this, verse 9. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Now here
it is. They were turned by God. They were made willin' in the
days of God's power, right? So they're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. They're made willin' in the day of God's power.
What do they do? They turn from idols. They run
to Christ to serve the livin' and true God. There's only one
God, Jehovah. Jehovah the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, and the three are one. There's only one
true livin' God. Times have not changed. Times
have not changed. Back then, society was made up
of worshiping multiple gods. Multiple gods. So only the Jews
at that time believed in the one true living God. And it's so true today, only
the Church of God, only the born-again, blood-washed believers believe
in the one true God. Everyone else is steeped in idolism. Catholicism, Mary worship. Buddhism, Buddha. Muslims, they
worship Mohammed. You just go down on the line.
Idol worship. And then some folks who say,
well, I don't believe in God at all. Well, they basically
worship self. And even those folks who say
they don't believe in God, that's a religion all in itself. Atheism
is a religion all in itself. Scripture says the fool in his
heart has said, no, God. So if you hear someone say that,
you're looking at a fool. My, oh, my. Look at this. They turned. They turned from
idols. Now these folks were raised.
They were Gentile believers. Remember that too? The church
at Thessalonica was a Gentile church. So they were raised in
idol worship. And there were so many different
gods. The Romans had all these different
gods. The Greek had all these different gods. And then each
place had all different gods. Bethesda and Lyca was in the
Greek area, Macedonia and all that, so they either worshipped
the gods of the Greeks or the gods of the Romans, either one.
But they were nothing but idols. Nothing but idols. You know,
when they moved, you know what they had to do to their little
idol? They had to wrap it up. The idol didn't walk, right?
Didn't follow them to their new house, did it? Didn't go before
them to their new house, did it? They have to wrap up that
idol. And the scripture says that that
idol become a burden to whatever animal was hauling it away. It
became a burden for them. It can't talk, the scripture
says. It has no eyes. It has no eyes that it can see. It has no ears that it can speak. It's nothing but a dead idol. My mom used to have statues of
Mary all over the place. Nothing but a dead idol. Nothing. That's all it was. Just a dead idol. Just a piece
of stone. So these folks, now think of
this too. We're going to use a tree for an example. They go
out and they chop down a tree. Isaiah tells us they went out
and they chopped down a tree. Tom, you got some nice trees
on your property, so does Neil. So they went out and they chopped
down one of them trees. And they choose a section that they're
gonna cook their food with. That's my food cooking wood.
Then they see, oh, this wood here, this is real nice. I'm
gonna make me an idol out of that. But I can't make it, I'm
gonna take it to the idol guy down the road. And I'm gonna
give him some gold and silver to put on there make him to whatever,
well I think I'll make him to Fortuna, the Roman god of fortune
or whatever, false god. So he takes that piece of wood,
and he's still got this, I'm going to store this other piece
of wood for winter time. So he takes this wood, and he
takes it over to the idle guy, And he says, OK, I want you to
make this idol. And he says, OK, well, I'm going
to charge you x amount of money. So not only he's taking his piece
of wood and taking his silver and go, now he's got to pay someone
to carve it into an idol. Is there something wrong with
this picture? Right? And then he's going to go home,
and he's going to cook his meal with that other wood there and
eat and all that. Then a couple days later, the word comes to
him that the idol guy's finished, so he goes and gets the idol.
He brings it home, and he puts it on his counter, and it just sits there. And he
prays to it. It doesn't speak. It can't hear. It might have some eyes, but
it can't even see. It's a piece of wood. It has no power. So these Thessalonians,
they were bound down to wood and stone. And the one true living
God, the one true living God had had
that word, that gospel. Paul, now remember nothing happens
by chance, Paul comes into Thessalonica. And he starts preaching Christ
and him crucified. And we know that from Corinthians,
that all he did was preach Christ, right? He didn't get caught up
in all this other stuff. So he comes into Thessalonica
and he starts preaching Christ as the only savior of sinners.
Oh, there's no other way. There's power in the precious
blood of Christ that can redeem you from all your sins. And that
word goes out. And it doesn't just go out as
his words. It goes out with power. And the Holy Spirit takes those
words and he applies it to the hearts of some of the hearers.
And they go, praise be to God, I believe. I believe that Christ
is the Messiah. I believe that he died for my
sins. And they turn from those dead idols that couldn't mean
nothing to the one true living God. And what do they do? Well, they
go out and tell folks about it, don't they? Scott Richardson
used to say, I love what Scott used to say, he said, when the
Lord saves you, you can't keep quiet, it'll leak out. I love
that. It's true, isn't it? It'll leak
out, won't it? And so here they go. They're
out telling folks about the Lord. But look at this. Isn't this
wonderful? They turned from idols. They turned from dead pieces
of wood and stone and turned by God's grace and mercy, right?
To serve the one true living God. And that's all. Why? Back to verse four. No one,
brother and beloved, your election of God. That's why they turned. Because it was the power of God. Because God had chose them in
eternity in Christ. Not because of anything in them.
No, because it pleased Him to do so. And it happened all according
to His will, didn't it? And then look at this. Now they
turned from idols Notice that idols pearled to serve the living
and true God, one God. They turned from serving multiple
gods. See they had, like I said, they had Mercury in Rome, they
had Mercury who was the god of war, and then they had Fortuna
who was the god of fortune, and they had all these other gods
too that they'd make. So whatever one pleased them,
the flavor of the day, or whatever they needed, they would offer
up prayers to these dead idols. Now, by the grace and mercy of
God in Christ Jesus, they are praying to the one true living
God. And look at this, and to wait
for his son. Are you waiting for a son? Are
you waiting for a son, beloved? And that in the Greek just means
to await. We're waiting for his return, aren't we? We're either
going to meet God at our death or we're going to meet him when
he comes back again. And I'll tell you what, if anybody says
they know the hour of the day or even the season, turn if you would. It's chapter
5. Chapter 5. Look at this. And he's talking about the return
of Christ. See, we just eagerly await our
return of our King, don't we? Look at this. But of the times and seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. We don't have
any need to know the times and the seasons of Christ's return.
We don't. Occupy till I come, right? Just wait for him. Look at that. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night will
come when no one expects it. For when they shall say, peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren,
are not in darkness. See, we were once in darkness,
weren't we? We were once in darkness. That that day should overtake
you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children
of the day. We are not of the night, nor
of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, are drunken
in the night. But let us, who have the day, be sober, putting
on the breastplate of faith. Do you know all the armor of
God is Christ? Scripture says in Ephesians chapter
6, it's the breastplate of righteousness. Who's our righteousness? Christ. Oh, my. Put on the breastplate
of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. Who's
our salvation? Christ. He's the helmet of our
salvation. Isn't it amazing? We're gonna
look at that sometime. The whole armor of God all points to Christ. It's
all him. It's all him. The belt of truth, he's the way,
the truth, and the life. The gospel of peace, it's all
about Christ. Feet shod with the gospel of
peace, oh my, it's just amazing. And then look at this. For God
hath not appointed us to wrath. He not appointed us to wrath. Look at that. Verse nine. That word appointed. For God has not appointed us
to wrath. I went to the wrong chapter,
I'm sorry. That word appointed there. In the Greek. means to place. We've not been placed where wrath
is. We're in Christ. We're in Christ. We're not going to face the wrath
of God because Christ already did it for us. He already endured
the wrath and justice of God in our room and place, beloved,
so that not a drop of God's wrath will fall on any of his people.
My, that's good news, isn't it, brother? That's good news. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Who died for us, that whether
we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore,
comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also
you do. And we beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord
and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for
their work's sake and be at peace among yourself. Now we exhort
you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, Comfort the feeble-minded,
support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none
render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which
is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore,
pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit, despise
not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good,
abstain from all appearance of evil. and the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, faithful, faithful as he that calleth you,
who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet
all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord
that this epistle, look at this, look at this, verse 27. Remember
how I said earlier that we're ungodly? And I said in Sunday
school we're going to see that we're called the holy brethren.
The ungodly are called the holy brethren. Look at this. Oh my,
1 Thessalonians 5, verse 27. I charge you by the Lord that
this epistle be read unto all the what? Holy brethren. What? We're a bunch of sinners. But
in God's eyes, we're holy in Christ. He didn't just make you
shout on it. Oh, that's what the scripture
says. That's not our opinion, is it?
That's what the scripture says. And we're only holy in Christ.
We're only holy in Him because of His perfect work, both living
the perfect life for us and dying the perfect death for us, and
satisfying all of God's justice. And then it says, the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. My. So let we who are the redeemed
await the sure coming of our Savior. The sure coming. He's
coming again. He's coming again. We don't know
when. We don't have to inquire into the times or the seasons.
Paul just told us we don't even need to know that. A friend of
mine said, occupy it till he comes. Stand fast. Just stand fast and wait for
his sure return. He will either come at our death,
or he will come when he comes to gather everything up and finish
it all up. And we can say, glory be to God.
Glory be to our great and glorious God. My, oh my, what a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ
our Lord. Brother Neil, can you close us
in prayer?