Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians, chapter
1. Today I'd like us to look at
this first chapter in the book of Thessalonians. We'll look
at the first four verses this morning, and then we'll look
at verses 5 to 10 tonight in the PM service. There's a lot
packed into this first chapter, and I pray that it'll be a blessing
to God's people. To you who are the Lord's people,
you who are saved sinners. Just like I am. Just like I am. And I also hope and pray that
God will use this message to show lost sinners their desperate
need for Christ. Their desperate need for Christ.
Now Thessalonica was a very large, populous and flourishing city
in the ancient world. Thessalonica was located in the
intersection of two major Roman roads, one leading from Italy
eastward, called the Ignatia Way, and the other from Danby
to the Aegean Sea. And Thessalonica's location made
it very useful as a port. And it's a very prominent city
during biblical times. 168 BC it became the capital
of the second district of Macedonia and later it was made the capital
and a major port of the whole Roman province of Macedonia.
So it was a very key city. In 42 BC after the battle at
Philippi Thessalonica was made a free city and today the modern
city of Thessalonica is the second most important city of Greece
and home to a million inhabitants. And here the apostle Paul came
after he had been at Philippi and he stayed about three weeks
in Thessalonica and preached every Sabbath day in the chief
synagogue, the city synagogue. which again was the chief synagogue
of the region, actually. And he was here for just three
weeks, at least three weeks, and his ministry was blessed
to the conversion of some Jews, a multitude of Greeks, many of
the chief women of the place, and this laid the foundation,
beloved, for a gospel church. This laid the foundation for
a gospel church. And this is to whom the apostle
writes this epistle to. When Paul faced great persecution
at the hands of the mob, he fled to Berea. But Thessalonians eventually
forced him to leave there also. And this letter is written to
them, sent back to them by Paul with Timothy to establish and
comfort the young converts there. Because remember, it's a young
church. It's a young church. And Timothy comes back to Paul,
he returns to Paul with the good news of their faith and charity
to the apostle Corinth, and then he sends them this epistle. Then
he sends them this epistle. While we're reading this epistle,
let us keep in mind that it's written to encourage the brethren
at Thessalonica. It's written to encourage the
Thessalonians. They're going through affliction,
trials and persecution for their faith in Christ. So this letter
is written to encourage them in their faith in Christ as they
were under afflictions and suffering for their faith in Christ. And
it's also written to exhort them to stand in the Lord. To stand
in the Lord. To abide by His truths. His ordinances
to live a holy life in conversation. There's much instruction in this
book. He instructs them in the doctrine of Christ and speaks
to them concerning the resurrection of the dead later on in this
epistle. And also about the coming of
Christ. All of which are very great and
important doctrines for the believer. Important concerns for the believer. And again, this is written to
comfort them, to exhort them and comfort them. This epistle,
the writing of this epistle is placed around A.D. 51 in the
11th year of the reign of Claudius Caesar. Let's look at verse 1
here. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,
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. Now notice in the very
first verse here in this introduction to the Thessalonian saints, Paul
mentions Silvanus, Timothy, in this opening verse. And take
note how Paul puts no titles to his name. He puts no titles to his name.
He doesn't say, this is the honored apostle Paul writing you, does
he? He doesn't say that, does he? He adds no titles to his
name. or before the names of Silas
and Timothy either. These three men were faithful
ministers of the gospel of God's free grace. He does not refer to himself
or his treasured friends who were his co-workers in the ministry
as Dr. So-and-so, does he? Or Reverend
So-and-so. There's none of that. There's
none of that. He doesn't say, well, I'm Bishop
Paul. No, beloved. They are servants of the Most
High. They are servants of the one
and only potentate, the only reverend one, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's who they're servants of.
They've been called to preach the gospel, a very great honor
and blessing. But notice, they consider it to be the greatest
honor that they're servants of the Most High. Servants of the
Most High. The greatest honor that he could
place upon any sinner by the grace of God is to be a minister
of his gospel, and they are thankful that they're able to preach and
proclaim his gospel. But they do not put themselves
above the saints in Thessalonians. Not at all. You know why? Because they know all the glory
goes to Christ. All the glory goes to Christ. They know that.
All the glory goes to the Lord, not to them. Don't ever lift
preachers up. We don't want you to do that.
Now we love you, just as you love us, but don't vault preachers
up. Don't do it. They'll tell you,
the first thing they'll tell you is don't do it. Look to Christ.
We point you to Christ. We love you, and that's why we
point you to Christ. because he's the one who we love
and he's the one you love, right? That's right. So we see clearly then they're
not seeking the praises of men, are they? They're not seeking the praises
of men. They're servants of the Most High, just like every one,
every single blood-washed saint of God is a servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're not seeking the praises
of men. And note, they're not seeking, they're not in the ministry
for monetary gain either. No. They are seeking the Lord's
lost sheep by preaching the gospel. By preaching the gospel. And
they preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for the glory
of God. For the glory of God. He gets
all the glory, He gets all the honor, and He gets all the praise.
And for the good of God's people. Because it's good for us to hear
the gospel, isn't it? It's really good for us to hear the gospel.
That's why it's important for us to be in attendance where
the gospel is preached and proclaimed. It's a blessing. There are not
many places anymore where the gospel is being preached and
proclaimed. There's a lot of places that are telling you what
to do. and lying on God, but oh, what a blessing it is that
we can gather together and hear the word preached and proclaimed.
As Brother Tim said, we're here for the furtherance of the gospel.
That's wonderful, isn't it? The gospel goes forth from here
and the Lord uses it. It goes all over the world through
sermon audio and the Lord uses it for his glory and it's magnificent,
isn't it? It's absolutely magnificent. So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,
they're not in the ministry for money. They're seeking the Lord's
lost sheep. They're preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And again, for the good of his people. And note the epistle
is addressed to the church of the Thessalonians. Look at that. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy
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. It's written to God's
people. It's written to the ecclesia
in the Greek. The church is not a building,
although we have a wonderful building to meet in, don't we?
But the church isn't the building. The church is the people. Again,
in scripture, called an ecclesia, which means a called out assembly.
Called out by God from this world. Set apart by God. Set apart by
God. And this is who Paul's writing
to. He's writing to the born again, blood-washed believers,
who by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, have been called
out of darkness into the marvelous light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
by God's sovereign will, by God's sovereign decree, and by God's
almighty sovereign power. Praise His mighty name. That's
who Paul's writing to. That's who Paul's writing to.
Those who have been called to the darkness and to the marvelous
light of Christ under the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we know from the book of
Acts that that the church members consisted of Jews and Gentiles.
Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. We know
from the book of Acts that the church members consisted of Jews
and Gentiles. Men and women from all works
of life. From all standing of life. Sinners, just like us. Saved by the grace of God in
Christ. That's what they were. That's
what we are, we who are the people of God, aren't we? Sinners saved
by grace. And again, the church consisted
of Jews and Gentiles, men and women from all walks of life.
Some were wealthy, but most were very poor. Some were well-educated,
but many were illiterate. Some held honorable, worldly
positions, and others were not even known by those who were
recognized as the elite. Some were very moral in their
unregenerate state, and some had no morals at all. Some lived
as harlots, thieves, and robbers. But they're all saved by the
same grace of God in Christ, by the same shed precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're born again of the
same Spirit, beloved. And they're new creatures in
Christ. Look at Acts 17, verses 1-4. Now when they had passed through
Ampolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a
synagogue of the Jews. as his manner was, went in unto
them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them." Out of the
Scriptures, three weeks. Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Now notice,
he just preached Christ to them. Isn't that wonderful? He didn't
get into all this other stuff. Just preach Christ to them. It's
so clear there. Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And remember,
the scriptures there is the Old Testament, the New Testament
hasn't been written yet. He's preaching Christ from the Old
Testament. And some of them believe, doesn't
say all of them, but some of them praise be to God. Some of
them believe. How do they believe? where they
were born again by the Holy Spirit of God and granted faith to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at that. What a miracle
grace right there before us. And some of them believed and
consorted with Paul and Silas. And of the devout Greek, a multitude. A great number. And of the cheap
women, not a few. So the saints of God, beloved,
who were born again by the Holy Spirit of God were reconciled
to God the same way as we are. The same way as we are. They
came through the one and only door of salvation, didn't they?
The one and only door of salvation. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He came through that door. The only Savior of sinners. And
remember, remember the words of our Master. He said this,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way. Singular. There is no other way. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me, he said. That's the Master's words. There's
only one way of salvation. Only one way for sinners to be
saved, and that is in the very one God-man The Lord Jesus Christ
who proclaimed those words himself, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man or woman cometh unto the Father but by me. That's the words of the Master.
That's the words of God incarnate in the flesh, beloved. Now people
get mad when you say that. Well, because they hate God in
their natural state. But it's truth, doesn't change
it whether people believe it or not, does it? Doesn't change
it at all. And for us, for we who believe,
we say praise be to God. So they all came by God given
faith, beloved. Just like we who believe came
by God given faith, didn't we? By God given faith. They were
sinners. in desperate need of God's mercy
just as we are sinners in desperate need of God's mercy. And just
like every lost sinner out there is in desperate need of God's
mercy. And think of this too. They all
came by God's sovereign, irresistible, drawing power. Every one of them. Every one of them. They were
dead. They were dead in trespasses
and sins. I talked to somebody this week and they claimed to
tell me that Christ died for everybody. And I said, what? I said, you're telling me then
that God died for the people who are in hell right now. Well, they started to change
the tune a little bit there. They rejected Christ. I said,
everyone rejects Christ. In our natural state, we all
reject Christ. Now, we need to let that sink
in, don't we? I know we've heard it time and time and time again,
but that's our natural state. I told this man, I said, not
one for whom Christ died will ever be lost, because the Lord,
the Master, and I said, I told him flat out, I said, you do
not believe the scriptures you came to believe, and you make
God a liar. Because the master himself said,
all that the father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. I told him his supposed savior
is an unsuccessful savior, and that's what he is. He couldn't
save everybody. He's a god of his imagination.
He's another Jesus, the scripture says. And sometimes we have to
be blunt with folks with this stuff, because that's another
gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ who saved
my soul, and if you're a believer who saved your soul, he's successful,
isn't he? Oh, praise be to God, he saved
my soul. My, what a savior, beloved. He will, every single one of
the sheep that he shed his blood for on Calvary's cross, he will
bring home to glory. Because he purchased us with
his precious blood. And that blood is precious. When
someone says God died for everybody, it makes the blood of Christ,
it's meaningless. But we know how precious the
blood of Christ is, don't we? We know he gave his life for
me, the believer says. It's precious. Oh, what love. That melts our heart, doesn't
it? If we have a stony heart, oh,
that melts it, doesn't it? He willingly came here and died
for me. The believer says, for my sins. Oh, what a savior. And they were
saved by the same grace and mercy as we are, the saints of Bethlehem. They came just like we come,
confessing that they had nothing to glory in except the Lord Jesus
Christ. in his perfect work of redemption. They received the words that
they heard, and they received it with power, and it's the power
of the Holy Spirit of God, and that's how we received it. Born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. And dead in the scripture means
dead. We're born dead in trespasses and sins. That man and I looked
it up and I said, this means lifeless. You can't get life
from a dead person, can you? and the dead person can't even
produce life. That was our state, beloved. That was the state that
the Holy Spirit came to us in. We were dead, we were lifeless
spiritually, walking corpses. He made us alive. Born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And he did that for the brothers
and sisters Thessalonica, the same thing. My. And they all, they all gave
glory to God for what he'd done, just like we do. And they esteemed
others better than themselves, just like we do. They embraced
their brothers and sisters in Christ because the love of God is shed
abroad in their hearts. And we know as we look through
the scriptures in 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, that love for
the brethren is a fruit of the Spirit. Love. Love. And they loved one another. I ask you, is this not true of
the church of God in all ages, in any generation, and in any
location? Do we not love the gospel? Do
we not love the Christ of the gospel? Is he not the object
of our hope? Yes. It doesn't matter who we are,
where we are, or what we are. We all have nothing to offer
God, do we? Nothing to offer God and ourselves,
nothing. We are bought to an end of ourselves. And that's
what had happened to these believers too. They had been bought to
an end of themselves through the preaching of the gospel. And the only one that made them
to differ from their family members and their friends is God. Who's
the only one who's made us to differ, beloved? God. He's the only one. He's the only one who's made
us to differ from our family members who aren't saved, from
our friends who aren't saved, from our co-workers who aren't
saved. The only one who's made us to differ is God. So we don't
have anything to boast in, do we? But Christ. We boast in Him. Look at the wondrous things He's
done. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. He took us out
of that pit that we were in. We couldn't get out. He took
us out of that. The dunghill were like worms. He took us out
there and saved us by his grace, beloved. My, what a Savior. What a Savior. And we who believe
we've received the mercy and grace of God, we've obtained
mercy. Not because we deserved it. What
do we deserve? We deserve hell, don't we? We
deserve the wrath of God to fall upon us. But we don't get that. You know why? Because it fell
upon Christ in our place. My, what a savior. And we are reconciled to God
by him. And again, we don't have anything to glory in, so we glory
in the one who's done it all, don't we? We glory in Christ. We glory
in Him. Let's read verse 1 again. It
says, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy's 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. Now take note of these words, speaking of the blood-washed
saints of God, unto the Church of the Thessalonians, which is
in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, we were loved by the
Father in eternity. In eternity, we know that from
studying scripture. And this love was manifested
This love was manifested in the Father's eternal purpose in the
salvation of His people. It was manifested in the eternal
purpose of the salvation of His elect. Because we were given
to Christ in eternity. We were promised to Christ. God gave Christ a particular
people, didn't He? And that's who His elect are. And when God chose Israel of
all the nations, He didn't choose them for any merit in them, did
He? No, not at all. He chose them
because it pleased Him to do so. What a picture of the church. No merit in us, is there? But
in eternity, He chose us. In the Father's eternal love,
He penned our names in the Lamb's Book of Life. You ever think
of that? He penned our names in eternity in the Lamb's Book
of Life. And this love, this eternal love that God has for
His people is manifested in the Father's covenant plan when He
predestinated us into the adoption of sons. It's manifested. And He gave us to Christ in love,
knowing that Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. and knowing that Christ would
meet all the conditions of the eternal covenant of grace for
us in our place. And you know, we were entrusted
to Christ. You ever think of that? I was
putting this together, that blew my mind away. We were entrusted
to Christ in eternity. Me? Me? given to Christ, entrusted to
Him. We were entrusted to Christ. And then what did God do? He
sent His Son to do that which He had willed and purposed in
eternity. And what was that? To save His people from their
sins. Christ was entrusted with working
out the salvation of His people. What did he cry on the cross? It's finished. It's done. He rose again the third day,
now he's seated at the right hand of the Father. What a glorious
Savior. The great love that God had for
his people in Christ is manifested in the Father's full pardon of
all our sin. All our sin. And this is granted
to all who were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
His blood shed is the blood of the everlasting covenant. And it's the Father's will that
He died in our place. And when He, by His sovereign
power, The same power that was used
to raise Christ from the grave is the same power that's used
to raise us from our spiritual grave that we were in. Dead in
trespasses and sins. We are raised to newness of life,
aren't we? Born again by the Word of Truth. And think of the Father's comforting
concern for His born again saints, when he shows unto the heirs
a promise, the immutability of his counsel. He doesn't change. Doesn't change. When he gives
us this understanding that he cannot lie and he does not lie
and that he does not break his promise to his people or to his
son, that gives us strong comfort, doesn't it? Strong comfort. Strong comfort to those who have
fled to Christ is the only refuge of our soul is our only hope.
And remember, he's entered into heaven already. Scripture says we're seated with
him in heavenly places. My oh my. God's eyes, it's all
done. It's playing out in time for
us. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows it backward,
doesn't he? My. And our great King has entered
into heaven itself there to appear in the presence of God for us.
Right now. Right now. And our text says
that the Church of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we've
been looking in several of our recent messages You must be in
Christ to be saved. You must be born again. It's God who has made it so.
Because salvation's of the Lord. It's of the Lord. Christ alone is what? He's the
author. Right? The beginner. Everything in between. and the finisher of our salvation. That's who our Savior is. He
is the author and He is the finisher of our salvation. And it is Christ and Christ alone
who perfectly obeyed the Father, fully, fully obeying the Father's
will. and established a perfect righteousness
for us. Perfect. Spotless. Perfect. For all He represented. Do you see the error when people
say that Christ died for everybody? Unbelievers, those in hell, are
not clothed in the righteousness of Christ. They're clothed in
their own righteousness. And there was a time when we
were clothed in our own self-righteousness, right? And when we ran to the Father,
we ran to Christ, what did the Father say? Bring forth the best
robe. My prodigal sons, come home.
You know what that best robe represented? The righteousness
of Christ. Singular, the best robe. And
who put it on? Father put it on his son. Oh my. Oh my. Salvation is of the Lord. And
the Lord Jesus Christ established the perfect righteousness for
all his people, for all he represented on Calvary's cross. And when
He shed His blood for the remission of our sins, it was for all the
sins of all the elect of all the ages, beloved. And He endured the wrath of God. He did that for all His promised
children, beloved. Every one of us. All that the
Father had given. And he fully satisfied the wrath
and justice, or the wrath of God was extinguished in Christ,
but he fully satisfied the law and justice of God. And by doing
so, he extinguished the wrath of God that was against us, because
it fully fell upon him, the sinless one, dying for sins. That's why he cried, it's finished.
Justice is satisfied. The law of God is satisfied.
And I'll tell you this. The law of God will either be
satisfied in the sinner or in the substitute. It will be. It will either be satisfied in
the sinner or in the substitute. And all who are in Christ say,
praise God, praise God that it was satisfied in Christ for me. Note the last part of verse 1,
it says, Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that the order is right
here before us, as grace always precedes peace. Always. And if God does not bestow His
sovereign grace on hell-deserving sinners, they cannot and will not ever
be saved. Any true peace from God in our
souls comes from Christ. We as believers,
we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And God's grace is sovereign
grace. If it's not sovereign grace, then it's not God's grace.
Plain and simple. If grace is not sovereign grace,
if salvation is of the Lord, then it's not grace and it's
not salvation. If there's a pinprick of man's
works in it, it's not saving grace. That's made very evident in Scripture,
isn't it? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us. Men just don't believe that. We believe that, though, who
have been born again. We didn't believe it before, but now we
do. It's marvelous. It's wondrous. So God's grace is sovereign grace.
You know that there's not even a stitch of man's doing in the
perfect robe of Christ's righteousness? Think of that. There's not even
a stitch of our doing in the perfect spotless robe of righteousness
of Christ. It's all His doing. It's all
what he's done. Turns you would to Romans chapter
11. Romans chapter 11. Look at this. It's made clear here. Romans
chapter 11. Romans 11 verses 5 and 6. Look
at this. Even so then at this present
time also there's a remnant according to the election of grace. God
always has a remnant. Always. Always. Don't despair. God always has
a remnant. Always in this world. Look at this. And if by grace
and it is no more of works, So if we're saved by grace, it
has nothing to do with our works. And it's not by our works. Otherwise,
grace is what? No more grace. It's plainly set
there before us, isn't it? But if we have works, then it
is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Very, very plainly set forth
in the scriptures that salvation is all of grace. All of grace. Let's read verse two now in First
Thessalonians chapter one. Look at this. Well, because salvation
is all of grace, look at this. We give thanks to God always
for you all making mention of you in our prayers. So we clearly
see in this verse that it is a good thing to give thanks to
our God. It's a good thing to give thanks to our God. especially
for his unspeakable gift of eternal life in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul and Silas and Timothy were instruments
who were used of God to preach the gospel, the true gospel of
God's amazing grace to these Thessalonian saints. They're
just instruments in God's hands. That's what a preacher is, he's
an instrument in the hand of God. I'm a saved sinner just
like everyone else. I've been called to preach the
gospel, which is, as I mentioned earlier, one of the greatest
honors. But God's preachers were just instruments, just like all
of us are instruments in the hands of God. All of us. And we as believers are to give
thanks to God, because it's God the Father who is the one who
has chose us in Christ, and chose the saints at Thessalonica in
Christ. And he chose us to what? To be
recipients of his grace. That's all we are. We are receivers
of the grace of God. We didn't earn it. We didn't
merit it. We didn't even want it. Because
the scripture plainly says there's none that seek after God. That's
our natural state. There's none that understand
it. And there's none righteous, no not one. And then it says
again that we're dead in trespasses and sins, which means lifeless
spiritually. Dead man can't walk. Can't walk
an aisle, can he? Can a dead man pray a prayer? Can a dead man make a decision? You ever seen a dead person make
a decision? No, none of us have, everybody. But according to religion,
dead people make decisions. That's not what the scripture
says, is it? It says we're saved by the mercy and grace of God.
It's he it's he who has translated us from darkness to light. That's
why, beloved, we give him all the glory. That's why we're so
thankful. Think we were dead. That was
our state. And he made us alive in Christ. Because it pleased him to do
so. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. And then we live a life from
the time we're saved, well the Lord's watching over us even
before we're saved, but then by faith we live a life, just
trusting and resting in the crucified one, don't we? And then one day,
our faith will become sight. It'll become sight, we'll see
him face to face. Face to face. It'll be marvelous. It'll be wondrous. So we're to give thanks to our
great God, aren't we? Listen to these words. Actually,
turn over to one more book, the 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. And let's read verses 13 and
14 of chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, look at this.
We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved
of the Lord. God's people are beloved of the
Lord. How long have we been loved by the Lord? From eternity. Isn't
that wonderful? Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. How? Through sanctification of
the Spirit, born again, set apart, to be made holy. And what? And belief of the truth. What
truth? Well, the Gospel, the Scriptures.
How do we believe the Scriptures? Because we're granted faith to
believe, right? It says very clearly right there. Through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto
He called you by our gospel, same gospel, grace preachers,
we all preach the same gospel, gospel of God's free grace in
Christ, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look what's brought forth here though. God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. How? Through sanctification of
the spirit, born again, set apart, made holy, and belief of the
truth. We believe on Christ. We believe
what the scriptures say. We believe what God's wrote.
There was a time when we did not believe it. And now, by the
grace and mercy of God, we believe it. Some people can pin the exact
date when that happened, and a lot can't though. We just know
now we believe. Now we believe. We're born again.
We believe it. By the Holy Spirit of God. We believe it. And these words, those words
there apply to every member of the body of Christ. And how thankful
we should be that our sovereign God, our great God, translated
us from the power of darkness into the eternal kingdom of God's
darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, we give thanks always
to God for you. And this has reference to all
the saints at Thessalonica. But this also has reference to
all of God's saints in all the ages. We give thanks for one
another. We give thanks for one another. And Paul said they make mention
of them in their prayers. Not just Paul's, but Silas and
Timothy do too. And Paul here admonishes us to
pray for one, pray, pray, give thanks. Give thanks for your
brothers and sisters in Christ. Give thanks for them. Give thanks
for their wondrous, merciful Savior. Give thanks that God's
given you ears to hear the gospel and eyes to see Christ. Give
thanks that you're born again to the Holy Spirit of God. Give
thanks that you're clothed in the perfect, spotless righteousness
of Christ. Give thanks. We should pray for our unsaved
loved ones. We should pray for the work here too, eh? Our unsaved
loved ones, the work, the people we rub shoulders with every day.
Just lift them up in prayer. And then pray for grace to keep
us from offending others. Pray for that grace too. That
God would give us grace to keep us from offending others. And
pray for those who have offended you. Lift them up. But know that we should never
think that our prayers can change what God has purposed, because
they can't, right? But we still pray to our God,
don't we? Because he commands us to. And He gives us what we
need according to His will. He doesn't always give us what
we want. I mentioned that in Sunday school. A lot of times
He doesn't give us what we want. And later on, we can look back
on situations and go, praise God, He didn't give us what we
wanted. But He always gives us what we
need. Always gives us what we need.
If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. But
oftentimes we ask amiss. We ask amiss. Paul wrote this,
God who searches the hearts and knoweth what is the mind of the
spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God, Romans 8, 27. Let's read verse three now. It
says, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor
of love and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and
in the sight of God and our Father. I want us to focus on this wonderful
statement in this verse here, in the patience of hope in the
Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father. By the
work of the Holy Spirit of God in our hearts, we know, we know that they had the love
of Christ shed abroad in our hearts just like we have the
love of God shed abroad in our hearts. And they received his
gospel. And they loved those he had saved.
And we see in this verse that they have a hope. They have a
hope. Who is that hope in, beloved? Marvel that these ones had no
hope. The ones who had no hope in God before they heard the
gospel now have a hope. A hope in the Lord Jesus Christ
by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And they have a hope
in Christ in the sight of God in our Father. And they manifest
the patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of
God and our Father. Our God is all-powerful, all-knowing,
and none can stay His hand. None. None at all. And the saints of God again manifested
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of
God and our Father. These saints had a good hope.
They had a good hope. They had a solid hope. And that
was given to them through grace, just like our hope is given to
us through grace, beloved. And it's founded in Christ, isn't
it? Just as their hope was founded in Christ, in His person, in
His blood, in His righteousness. And He was the anchor and the
sure foundation of their faith. He alone was their hope, which
is true for every believer, every one of us. And this hope that
the saints had in Christ, had as Christ, He's the object of
their hope. He's the object of their hope.
And this hope, this hope is a saving hope. Because it's Christ who
saved them. They have a saving interest in
Him. By the grace and mercy of God. Always remember that, by
the grace and mercy of God. And they had a hope of forever
being with Him, after they breathed their last breath, of forever
being with Christ. Right now, they're in the presence
of our Lord. That hope has become sight. And they had a hope of His glorious
appearance, just like we do. Of eternal life and happiness
through Him and with Him. And this was attended with patience.
They patiently waited. They patiently waited. Bearing
the reproaches of affliction and persecutions, which they
were going through for the sake of Christ. And if the love of
God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the life-giving power
of God, the Holy Spirit, we'll love the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we will manifest our love for Him by our love for His Gospel,
and by our love for His chosen blood-bought children. We lay these words to heart,
seeing you have purified your souls and you're being the truth
through the spirit unto unfrained love of the brethren. See that
you love one another with a pure heart fervently. It's not a mask that we put on.
We actually love the brethren. We actually love them. And then let's look at verse
four. Before we read it, I'd like to say this, that the elect
or election is found 23 times in the New Testament. The word
elect or election is found 23 times in the New Testament alone.
And you cannot be honest with the word of God and deny the
doctrine of election. Look what it says here in verse
4. Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. So one
may ask the question, does the Bible teach election? Well, it's
plainly right there before us, isn't it? It's plainly right
before. We see here that this verse answers
with a resounding yes. Now a bigger question to consider,
what does election mean? Well, the word elect means to
choose out, to pick or select in the Greek. I've heard people
say that election is, oh, it's too hard to understand. I don't
believe that at all. I don't believe that at all.
It may be hard to receive for some folks, but it's not hard
to understand. When God chose Israel, where
all the sacrifices for all the nations around Israel Were they
for the Egyptians or the Hittites or the Syrians or were they just
for Israel? All those sacrifices were only
for Israel and God had chosen Israel to be the ones that offered those
sacrifices, to be the ones who received his law. That's a picture
of election and limited atonement at the same time. election because
God had chosen the Israelites of all the other nations and
limited atonement because those sacrifices were only offered
for the for the nation of Israel not for any of those other nations
all around them That's a picture of the church beloved Clear Clear and remember remember
these are young saints that Paul's writing to and and look what
he writes and He clearly is writing to them about election. Knowing,
brethren and beloved, your election of God. Very clear. And this truth is brought forth
very clearly. In Ephesians 1 when it says verse
4, according as He has chosen us in Him, that's Christ, before
the foundation of the world. So there's no getting away from
election. In the Scriptures you cannot deal honestly with the
Scriptures if you deny election. It's clear. It's very clear. God literally
chose those who would be saved before time began. And this, is this not God's prerogative
to do that? He's God, right? He's God. He can do whatever
He pleases. He's God. Scripture says none can stay
His hand. He does what He wills in the heavens and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. You know what the problem is?
The problem is people don't believe that. They don't believe what the scriptures
say. But God's people do, don't we? We receive it, we don't always
understand it, but we receive what God's word says, and we
rest in Him. We rest in Him. And this doctrine
is actually a wonderful doctrine. It's a wonderful doctrine. God's
pleased to do whatever he wants. And it's brought forth, and I'll
read a couple scriptures here if you want to pen down the addresses
you can. Romans 9-11, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, same Greek word, might
stand not of works, but of him that calleth. That's Jacob and
Esau. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Second Thessalonians 2.13, we
looked over there. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Chosen you
to salvation. Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief in the truth. 2 Timothy 1.9. Who has saved us, being God,
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, there
goes man's works, right, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began,
2 Timothy 2.9, or 1.9. And in Ephesians 4, I quoted
earlier, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. So it's all through the scriptures, beloved. There's
no denying it. And do you know that the same
Greek word, now turn if you would to John, turn if you would to
John 15. Do you know that the same Greek word that we see there
for chosen in Ephesians 1.4, where it says, according as He
has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Do
you know that that same Greek word is used by John in the Gospel
of John? When our Master said these words
here, look at this in John 15.16, the same Greek word for chosen
is used in Ephesians 1.4, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Now look at this. Same Greek
word. Look at John 15, 16, the words
of our master. For ye have not chosen me, but
I have chosen you. Now, so folks who are arguing
against the doctrine of election, they're actually arguing against
the word of God And they're actually arguing against what the master
says himself. It's clear there, isn't it? For
you have not chosen me. But I've chosen you. They are arguing with the word
of God and they're arguing with God incarnate in the flesh. I ain't gonna believe God over
men, eh? Right? Yeah. Every single time, aren't
we? We're gonna believe God over
men. So the question's asked again, who chose who? Well, we've
seen from the scripture that, and we just saw there, that we
didn't choose him. Christ chose us. And if you are
a believer, it's not because you chose God that you're saved,
but because God chose you. Because God chose you. For I
have chosen, for ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you. Let that sink in your soul this week. God chose you. If you're a believer, born again
believer, God chose you. Remember when we used to be kids
in any kind of baseball game or something? Right? You get everybody, we'd
pick a couple captains, right? And then, you know, they'd always
pick, they'd always pick, always pick the athlete right off the
bat, right? I'm going to get him on the team, I'm going to
win. I was in the bad part there. I just wanted to play and have
fun. I didn't care. I just wanted, so I wasn't chosen. I was usually chosen near the
last, but it didn't matter to me because I still got to play,
right? It was fun. But God chose you
and I if we're believers. He chose us in Christ, not based
upon anything in us. We're just sinners. But he chose us because he loved
us. My. In the words of the master, you
have not chosen me. but I have chosen you. Those words are for every born-again,
blood-washed believer, for all the elect of all the ages. I
know he's spoken to the apostles, but that's truth for every believer. That's truth for every believer.
And then we come to the question of when. When was this choice
made? Well, many try to sidestep the truth of election of God
or by saying God chose us when we chose him. Well, that goes
against the word of God, doesn't it? Obviously, Ephesians 1.4
is not in the Bible. Or they just don't understand
it and they've never read it. Or they've read it and they have
no understanding. No, he's chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. And I don't say those
things flippantly because I was there. I used to think that I made a
decision. I was as lost as a white goose
in a snowstorm, beloved. I did not know Christ at all.
But praise be to God, by his mercy and grace, just like you
who believe, he revealed his grace and his mercy to anyone. And I proclaim now that salvation's
of the Lord. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And the biblical doctrine of
election clearly states that God's choice preceded ours. He
made the choice before the foundation of the world. Let that be honey
to your soul this week. You may go through trials and
tribulations, but let that be honey for your soul this week.
Let that give you grace and strength. God chose me in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Praise His mighty name. And why did he choose us? Well,
again, many say that he chose us because he foresaw that God,
that he foresaw that we would trust God. That's nowhere in
scripture. If anybody ever tells you that, that is the furthest
thing from scripture. It's not even in the Bible. It's
some doctrine somebody made up. He didn't look down through time
and see who would choose him. No, I remember reading an old
timer when I first came here. This old time preacher, he said,
God looked down through time, he saw everybody dead in trespasses
and sins. And he chose, I'll save you,
and I'll save you, and I'll save you. Through all the generations,
we're a chosen generation, we're chosen in our generation. Out
of the whole generation around the world, we are chosen generation. Peter wrote it. He had mercy on us, beloved.
Remember, he knows the end from the beginning. Oh, my. We're saved because he
willed us to be saved. Because it was according to his
sovereign purpose and will. Not because of any foreseen faith
or good works in us, because the scripture plainly declares
again, I'll say it again, there's none righteous, there's none
that seeketh after God, there's none that understandeth. That's
our natural state. And then listen to this, for
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good,
that the purpose of election of God, the purpose of God according
to election might stand. God chose us in Christ. And how
did God choose us? He chose us in Christ. An election
is God's sovereign choice of His people in Christ. In Christ. Before the foundation of the
world. He chose us to be saved in Christ. An election in Christ. Election
in Christ cannot be understood apart from Him. Because our election
is in Him. In Him. The elect were not chosen
arbitrarily, but in the Beloved. We were chosen in Christ. In Christ. In Christ. The elect of God were redeemed
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And all who were given to Him
by the Father shall come to Him. Let not one be lost. So pray
for your loved ones, pray for your co-workers, pray for your
friends. We do not have a clue who God's
people are. But we lift them up to God, don't
we? Pray God will have mercy on them. Sometimes we beg God
with tears, don't we? God be merciful to them, just
like you've been merciful to me. Remember these words of our Savior.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that
come to me I will no wise cast out. Never. He never cast away
his people. Never. And what do we say? Praise his mighty name.