Don't you love how the lives of the saints in the past echo our lives of God's people in this world? Also, you know, it's just, you can't help but feel for You feel as you read the depths of Paul's love for these people. In verse seven, he says, we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherishes her children. It's like a nursing mother who you're so gentle as a nursing mother. And then he says, he speaks as if he was a father to these people. You know, verse 11, how we exhorted and comforted you and charged every one of you as a father doth his children that you would work worthy of the Lord.

And they, like all of the churches of God and like the Lord Jesus Christ himself, suffered opposition from people who said, we will not hear from that man. What a blessing it is for God to speak, but what an infinite blessing it is for God to give hearing ears, that hear his word as the word of God. The gospel comes with much contention.

If you turn back, just to set some context in this, turn back to Acts chapter 16. And I spoke earlier about the sovereignty of God in bringing his servant all the way from America to us. And in the remarkable, in Acts chapter 16, we have the story of Paul in Philippi and what caused him then to go down to to Thessalonica, but I just love the fact that God in his absolute sovereignty, Paul was in what is now Western Turkey and he wanted to go up into what is now northwestern Turkey. So all of these parts of the world are very much in our thoughts these days. And I love the sovereignty of God. And up in one of those places, in verse 6, look at verse 6 with me in Acts 16.

Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, which is sort of in the middle of that part of Turkey, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. And after they were come to Mysia, they tried, they planned to go into Bithynia, but the spirit suffered them not. And they go across to Macedonia and they go to Philippi. They weren't allowed by the Holy Ghost to go to Bithynia. But who'd come from Bithynia all the way to Philippi?

Lydia. Lydia. And the Lord opened her heart. Verse 16. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us. She heard. She heard a word from God. She heard God's word spoken through a man and she heard it as a word of God. Listen to what happened. Whose heart the Lord opened and she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul and she was baptised and you know the rest of that story.

I trust that Paul and Silas were imprisoned for the stirring up that they caused in in Philippi and Philip and he departed out of that city and then they came down to Thessalonica And Paul was only in Thessalonica for three Sabbath days, which may have been just a little more than two weeks he was in Thessalonica. And here... Things got stirred up and the Jews stirred up things against him and he had to leave. They had to leave and go down to Berea and then to Athens and the Jews pursued him. The religious people pursued him.

Paul came and preached, and some believed, and some didn't believe. And that's why he writes to these people with such passion, because in that short time, the Lord not only opened hearts, but he gathered a church together, and Paul is so desirous of them.

He would love to share, and I just love the fact that God creates love. If you turn with me back to 1 Thessalonians, there are some remarkable verses in this. in this picture, but we hear so much of Paul's love for them and you hear so much of the way he conducted himself among them. And you keep thinking, you know, why this opposition to God's children, to God's servants, to God's word is so irrational. But listen to what he says in verse nine, but as touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Paul loved them. There was a church there that loved each other.

God is faithful and he will do it. Listen to what he concludes his letter to them with in chapter 5 verse 24. is he that calleth you who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. And what is he going to do? You read the verses prior to that, and you'll see what he's going to do. And Lord willing, we'll get to talk about some of that this morning.

I just wanted to look at that verse. and for us to have our hearts prepared as much as we possibly can that we might actually hear from God. I want God to speak. I want God to speak when Donny Bill comes. I want us to hear a man speaking in the voice of a Tennessee backwoodsman, but I want to hear God speak. and I want to hear about my saviour yet again. We're going to sing number two, I know whom I have believed. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Thessalonians, chapter 2. Our God speaks. Our God declares his Son to be the Word.

You know those famous words from the beginning of John's Gospel, don't you? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him without him. was not anything made that was made.

He came as the word. Our God speaks. Our God speaks. He speaks in creation. The heavens declare the glory of God. He speaks in conscience. He writes and has written his law. on the conscience of all men. His blood speaks. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks. The law speaks. The law of Moses given about Sinai speaks. That's what Paul says to the Galatians.

You who want to be under the law, haven't you heard the law? How precious it is to hear. Who has heard, when the glorious declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ is given in Isaiah chapter 53, it begins with those wonderful words, isn't it? Who has believed our report? Who has believed the record that God has given of his son? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? They're the ones that hear. If you go over the page, how special it is.

Ho, verse 55, ho, everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that has no money, come ye, buy, eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, without price. Don't come bartering to God, that's what that word means. Don't come to God bringing something of yours thinking that you're going to extract something from him. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfy not?

Hearken diligently. God throughout the Scriptures is saying, listen to me, hear me, hear me, hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me, here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." That includes the hearing ear. heart. God does it all in the sure mercies.

And so when we come back to our text in 1 Thessalonians, we'll see that there is In after our verse, there is just another one of the many, many solemn warnings about those who suppress the word of God, those religious people who suppress the word of God. You think of all of the contentions. Paul came and there were contentions and there were contentions. And there are many aspects to those contentions.

But one of them, One of the fundamental ones is people do not hear from God. They can hear words of men and they can be as religious as Saul of Tarsus was. And God's came and he spoke to him and all of a sudden Paul realised who he was and who God was.

They killed, listen to what these people, verse 15, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophet, and have persecuted us, and they pleased not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. To fill up their sins all way, for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. They fill up their sins in rebellion against God. And what did they want to do to the Lord Jesus? They wanted to stop his voice. They wanted to stop a voice that not only brought the very Word of God to them, but brought in that very Word of God conviction of who they were. and what they were.

And what did they do with the apostles? Immediately, the first charge against them was, stop speaking in this name. Do not speak any more about that God. How many times have you encountered that with people that you love and you care for? Don't talk to me any more about the Lord Jesus Christ.

No wonder Paul, let's go back to our verse in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, no wonder Paul rejoices when there are people who hear. And people who hear and hear, listen to this verse, for this cause, and we know what the cause is if we go back a word in our that he wants these people to walk worthy of God, who hath called you into his kingdom and glory. That's the calling of God. A king calls and says, come unto me, and God's children come, but he wants these people to walk worthy of God. And for this cause, For this cause also we thank God without ceasing, because when you received 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.

I long to hear from God. My friends are coming a long way to preach to us. But I wanted God to speak. I wanted to hear from God. and he wants to hear from God. And before I come preaching, I pray that God would speak to me. I pray that God would give me words from his words, that he would speak to the hearts of his people for their good and for their glory.

There's only one thing we want to hear. We want to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to hear about the Word of God. We want to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We want to be like Saul, Paul, who determined with the Corinthians to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. and I want you to hear. I want all of us to hear. I want everyone that we invite to come along. I want all of us to hear.

And I'm aware of the fact that God says the hearing eye and the seeing ear, both of these are from the Lord. Proverbs 20. And we know that faith cometh by hearing. And the wonderful thing about hearing is in hearing, we are passive. We don't move a muscle, and God does the work, a muscle that we're aware of. Throughout the scriptures, God keeps saying, if you have ears to hear, hear what God says. If you have ears to hear. So let's go back to our verse, because I just love so much that's in this verse. For this cause, the cause is walking worthy. I love how David began his public ministry with Goliath.

He went down there and he was mocked by those people. He was God's anointed and his first encounter with his family, with the people of Israel gathered as one, was him being mocked. What are you doing down here, just a little shepherd boy? And he said, is there not a cause? Before he went out to fight Goliath, he'd heard the blasphemy of Goliath against God Almighty. And there's a cause. The name of God, the glory of God is a cause. So listen to him. What's the cause? That you were worthy of God who called you into his kingdom and His glory called you. When he calls, he's calling you into his kingdom and his glory. And listen to what Paul says, we thank God without ceasing.

How wonderful it is to be in the presence of people who are thankful. How miserable it is to be in the presence of people who are not thankful. How sweet is the fellowship when thankfulness is experienced? What are you thankful for? Paul was thankful and he thanked God. He was thankful because the word of God was heard. The word of God was received. The word of God, he gives thanks. What are we thankful for?

We have so much in this world and I'm thankful to God for his material blessings. I really am. I'm thankful he allows me to enjoy it. I'm thankful he allows me to think and to know that this is not my home and I can't rest in it and I can't trust in it and I can't find any security in it. I'm thankful for the fact that I know God. I'm thankful that God has come to me And I'm thankful for a salvation in which he gets all the glory and I get to rest. I get to rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who did the calling? In modern religion, it's us calling upon God. It's God who does the calling. Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. We give thanks because of him. We give thanks because he has a kingdom. We give thanks because he's a glorious God. He's thankful for God's work in his people.

If you go back to the beginning of this letter, in verse two he says, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. this is what he's giving thanks, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father. He's thankful for their election. Read on with me, verse 4. Knowing brethren beloved He's thankful for the infinite, eternal love of God, which is spread abroad in the hearts of his people and is manifested in our love for one another. Brethren, beloved, your election of God. That's what he's thankful for.

He's thankful for election. Four, and this is the reason, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. That's not assurance of your salvation, that's assurance that this is the word of God you're hearing. When Silas there in Philippi, Silas and Paul were in Philippi, they were singing hymns and that Philippian jailer came in and they preached unto him, having sung to him, they preached unto him the word of God. They spoke unto him the word of God.

And he said, What must I do to be saved? He was taken to a place of desperation. He was about to commit suicide, this crusty old Roman soldier. What must I do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Salvation came to that house. Salvation comes to the house where God speaks.

He sends it, doesn't he? and much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you, and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost." You wouldn't think those two things would go together. But the afflictions that come upon the children of God, the false accusations that come upon them, cause us to cling to our Saviour, cause us to have no confidence in the flesh.

Paul was thankful for them. He was thankful to God. We give thanks to God. And his thankfulness to God caused him to pray for these people that he loved. He's thankful to a God who works all things for his glory and the spiritual good of all of his people. He's thankful for a faithful God. He's thankful for a saviour who comes to us where we are. a saviour who speaks with the voice of a shepherd, and he says, come unto me. He says, come unto me. And all the sheep hear the shepherd's voice, and all the sheep come.

And we don't know when they come, we don't know the circumstances necessarily of their coming. What we know is that he's made a promise, that if his word is spoken and his shepherd, the shepherd speaks, Listen to what he does. And when he put forth his own sheep, he put forth Paul in Thessalonica. He wasn't allowed to go into those other places in Western Turkey. He put his own sheep by name. He goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know.

I don't want to hear the voice of any other shepherd. I don't want to hear the voice of all the false shepherds that plague this land and plague the life of Paul. We want to hear the voice of a shepherd. This is who we want to hear, don't we? We want to hear a saviour preaching to us.

We want to hear a saviour who really saved and really keeps saved, a salvation that is of the Lord 100%. We want to hear in such a way that we like Paul can be thankful to these Thessalonians. You know that verse in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. 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 through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. We want to hear about a saviour who is the truth, a saviour who is God, a saviour who saves by his grace and his truth, a saviour who is a husband and loves his bride everlastingly, a saviour who creates fellowship in this life.

He creates and he nourishes and he preserves this fellowship that Paul is thankful for. A fellowship with him and a fellowship in his church across this world of time, and place and a fellowship which spans all creation. We're called into that fellowship. We're called into the fellowship of God, his kingdom and his glory.

We need to hear. I want to hear this saviour speaking to me. I want to hear about his blood one more time. I want to hear about that blood, that precious blood about all of those called into his kingdom and glory. I want to hear about the fact that they are rightful, just recipients of entering his kingdom and his glory because that blood was shed. I don't want to hear. I don't want to hear from anyone that says that God loves everyone and Jesus died for everyone and that there are people in hell for whom he shed his blood for.

That Jesus, according to the Bible, is a cursed Jesus. And our Lord Jesus Christ was cursed on the cross of Calvary. And he, in that cursing, Redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He saved everyone he came for. He saved all of his sheep. He saved all of his bride. He saved all of his body. And his body is a perfect body. His body is a holy body. His body is a body that he, the head, nourishes and feeds and cares for. Thankfulness, because you heard 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. Our God speaks, speak Lord.

Don't you love what Samuel said? And Samuel wasn't sure who was speaking to him and he kept going back in and thinking that Eli was speaking to him. And I love what it says. Eli says, when he comes again, you say to him, here I am. And the Lord came, verse 10 of 1 Samuel chapter three. And the Lord came. Don't you love the fact that the Lord comes? And when he comes, he speaks. The Lord came and stood. Who do you think that was that came and stood? It was the Lord Jesus Christ came to Samuel in the room where he was sleeping, and he called, as at other times, and he called, Samuel, Samuel. That's how strongly he calls, Samuel, Samuel. And then Samuel answered, speak, for thy servant heareth. As it is in truth, the word of God, the Word of God, to go back to 1 Thessalonians again, and I want to close this part of our service, and we'll come back and look at some more of this after the break, because it's so special.

But in chapter 2, verse 9, he says, he wants you to remember, after my friend and our friend Donny Bell has come in love, I want us to remember, brethren, our labour and travail, for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you.

This comes freely. We preached unto you the gospel of God. The gospel, whose origin is in God Almighty. The gospel of God, and listen to what he says in our verse, to go back to verse 13. They heard it and they received it as the word, not as the word of men, but as it in truth, the word of God. They heard the gospel of God as the word of God. And listen to what it does, this word of God that comes. which effectually worketh also in you that believe. The gospel that God's servants bring, the gospel that God's servants preach is a gospel that worketh.

That's where we get our word energy from. It means to put forth power. It means to be mighty. We have a word from God. We are entrusted as a church with a word from God. And it's a powerful word. It's a powerful word. It's the word by which they are saved.

You know those verses in 1 Peter, but I just love thinking about them. Listen to what this word obey. Peter says something very similar in 1 Peter 1, verse 22, seeing you have purified your souls. Don't you love that? God's people who hear, with hearing ears and hear this Gospel, the Gospel of God, have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. This is the powerful working of this Gospel. See that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

For all flesh is as grass. What do you say to them, Isaiah? What are you going to call them? All flesh is grass, all flesh is grass. And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.

And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And only by the gospel is the word preached unto you. There is no word preached where there is no gospel, the gospel of God. must be preached if we're going to hear from God. The gospel of God must be preached if we're going to believe. The gospel of God must be preached if our souls are going to be purified. The gospel of God must be preached if we're going to have unfeigned love of the brethren. I want to have a pure heart. I want to have a soul that God declares is cleansed. And it is only in the finished work and the glorious death and resurrection and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's have a break.