1 Thessalonians 3, the title
of our lesson is Comfort and Affliction. Now, you remember
when we left off, Paul had told the Thessalonians that he wanted
to come visit them. He said, but Satan's hindered
me. Now, really, it was not God's will for him to come, or he would
have come. Satan couldn't have hindered
him if it was God's will for him to be there. But it was not
the Lord's will that he go back and visit them. But Paul did
want to know how they were doing. He wanted to hear from them.
He wanted to know what was going on with them. Because he knew
they had come under attack for the gospel's sake. He knew it.
Paul knew it, first of all, because he preached there. And while
he was preaching, you remember the Jews incited a riot and they
got that mob together and ran Paul out of town. And he was
sure, after they ran him out of town, that they would turn
their attack on these new believers. And he was worried. about how
they're faring under this attack. He wanted to know, under this
attack, are you standing or has your faith been staggered? And
secondly, Paul had good reason to think that they were under
attack and suffering affliction. Because when a person follows
Christ, they seek to honor Christ, they seek to worship Him, they
will come under attack. They'll suffer affliction because
this world hates Christ. And our Lord told us In this
world you will have tribulation. David said many are the afflictions
of the righteous. Now the Lord delivereth him out
of them all, but many are the afflictions of the righteous.
Look at Genesis chapter 47. This is the experience of believers. We read about those in Revelation
7 who are clothed in white robes. Whence came they? Out of great
tribulation. And this is just the experience
of believers. Look at Genesis 47, verse 7. And Joseph brought in Jacob,
his father, and set him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. I love that line. Jacob blessed
Pharaoh. The greater always blesses the
lesser, doesn't he? Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh
said unto Jacob, How old art thou? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh,
The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years. 130 years. And look what he says. Few and evil have been the days
of the years of my life. And I've not attained them to
the days of the years of the life of my fathers and the days
of their pilgrimage. These days, he said, have been
few and evil. Look at Job chapter 14. Job 14, verse 1. Man that is born of a woman is
a few days, and those days are full of trouble. And one more,
2 Timothy, chapter 3. I want you to see, this is the
experience of believers. And this is why Paul was confident
that they were suffering affliction. 2 Timothy 3, verse 10. But thou hast fully known my
doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my long-suffering,
charity, and patience, persecutions and afflictions. Timothy, you've
known these things, my persecutions and afflictions, which came unto
me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. What persecutions
I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me." Everywhere
Paul went, he suffered these persecutions and afflictions
because This is the life of a believer. This will be the experience of
a believer in this world. Now, that being said. Let's never
fall into the trap of constantly going around. Saying, woe is
me, just so sad and everything's bad is all these troubles and
trials and afflictions. That's true, but let's never
forget, no one has as much reason for joy and happiness as a believer. Nobody. We should be a happy,
joyful people. At the same time, we will have
trouble. We'll have affliction. We'll have tribulation. But still
yet, nobody has as much reason to be full of joy as a believer.
Brother Henry said so often, the happiest, most miserable
people in this world are believers. That's the life of a believer.
And this was Paul's experience too. Here he is in Athens. He's
all this way away. And he's thinking about these
Thessalonians constantly. And finally, he can't stand it
anymore. He can't go. It's not the Lord's
will that he go, so he's going to send somebody else so he can
find out how they're doing. Now, 1 Thessalonians 3, verse
1. Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we couldn't bear
it anymore, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone and
sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God and our fellow
laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort
you concerning your faith. I look at Philippians chapter
3. Paul decided he's going to send Timothy because he wants
to know how they're doing. And that's a good idea to send
Timothy. Paul had sent Timothy on this very same mission another
time. In Philippians 2 verse 19. By trusting the Lord Jesus to
send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort
when I know your state. For I have no man like minded
who will naturally care for your sake. All seek their own, not
the things which are Jesus Christ. But you know the proof of Timothy,
that as a son of the Father, he served with me in the gospel.
I don't have any man like-minded who'll come and he'll naturally,
this is just the nature that God's given, he's going to care
for your sake. So, Paul sent him on a mission like this another
time, and he sent him for this reason, to comfort these believers. He wanted to give them comfort
in a time of affliction. Now, how's he going to do that?
How's Timothy going to come and comfort them in their affliction?
Because if we can find the answer to that, whatever comforted these
Thessalonians in their time of affliction will comfort believers
today. So, what's Timothy going to do
to comfort them? Well, first of all, God's people
are comforted by preaching. Paul didn't send Timothy there
to spy on the people. and bring back a secret report
to Paul, like, you know, he's reporting everything they're
doing right or wrong to Paul. That's not why he's coming. Paul
sent Timothy there to preach. He sent him there to comfort
and to establish them. And that is done by preaching. And the only way we're going
to be established, the only way our hearts are going to be comforted
is by preaching. And I'm talking specifically
to preaching of Christ. Not just a religious service
where a man stands up in a suit behind the podium and says some
things from the Bible. I'm talking about preaching Christ.
That comforts the hearts of God's people. Christ is our comfort
and he's our comforter. Look in John chapter 16. A man one time was talking to me
about preaching, he said, you preach Christ every time? I said,
every time. Every time? What about other
things? Every time. Every time. God's people need
comforted. We preach Christ. The lost need
saved. We preach Christ. We need to
learn how to grow in grace. We preach Christ. He's the message. Look here at John 16, verse 33. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world, you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Where's our peace? Where's our
comfort? In me, in Christ. And Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonica
to comfort them concerning their faith, he says. Now, faith in
Christ will grow when we hear Christ preached. Timothy's coming
to preach Christ. He's the object of our faith.
He's the ground of our faith. The only reason we have for faith
He's Christ. He's the ground of our faith.
And the more we hear of him, the more we'll rely on him. Now,
he sent Timothy there to comfort them concerning their faith.
Now, comfort, this word he uses here has two meanings. First,
it means to call to one side. Timothy's not going to go there
and tell them, now, y'all do this, this, this and this and
you'll be comforted. Timothy's going to go there.
He's going to call them to his side, right up there with him
and tell him, We're in this together. We're fellows in the same ship.
We can comfort one another wherewith the comfort that God's comforted
us in times past. He's calling them to his side
to comfort them. But it also means to strengthen
by consolation. And the only way a believer is
going to be strengthened, the only way that a believer's heart
will be consoled is by hearing Christ preached. This is the
gospel that you've heard preached. Now, see if this doesn't comfort
your heart. Before time began, God Almighty chose you. Out of
the fallen lump of humanity, God chose you. At that time,
before the world began, Christ agreed to be your surety. He
agreed to come and be your substitute, to be your savior. And in the
fullness of time, Christ came incarnate. He became a man. And you know why He became a
man? To produce a perfect righteousness for you. He came to do for you
what you can't do for yourself. He came to produce a righteousness
that He'd impute to you. And then after His earthly ministry
is fulfilled, He willingly went to the cross for you. He didn't go there hoping maybe
He'd accomplish something. Maybe He'd see how many people
might accept Him. He went there on purpose for
you, for every one of His people. And at Calvary, He bore your
sin. He didn't just bear sin hoping
somebody, He bore your sin. He shed His blood to pay for
your sin. And He died for you. He lay in the tomb three days
and He rose again for your justification. It wasn't just on accident. It was for you. And then He ascended
back on high. where at this very moment, he
sits enthroned on the throne of glory, making intercession
for you. For you. Now, after working out
God's eternal purpose concerning you, do you suppose for a moment
that this time of trial, this affliction, has that come upon
you because God's forsaken you? Not for a moment. Don't think
that for a moment. God did this for you. And He's
working out His eternal purpose for you. Now, when you hear that,
if you're a believer, your heart's consoled. You're strengthened
to endure. God's people are going to be
hurting. In this world, God's people are
going to hurt. That's why God told His preacher,
Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. Because they're going to be hurting.
Well, how are you going to do that? How are you going to comfort
God's people? Tell them their warfare's over.
Tell them their iniquity's pardoned. Tell them they've received of
the Lord's hand double for all their iniquity. You tell them
that, and that's comfort concerning your faith. So we're comforted
by preaching, the preaching of Christ. Second, we're comforted
by knowing this. These trials are appointed of
God. Look at verse 3. That no man should be moved by
these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto. For verily, when we are with
you, we told you before, now we told you this before, that
we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and
you know." Now this is comfort for God's people. These trials
are not bad luck. You just need to take that phrase,
bad luck, out of your vocabulary. There's no such thing. These
trials are appointed. Their scent of God. Why was Joseph
down there in Egypt? Did he go down there in Egypt
because his brothers got their way? Did he wind up there in
prison and end up staying there all those extra years because
he just had bad luck? It was bad luck. The baker and
the whoever, the cupbearer, the butler forgot him. Was that just
bad luck? No. He was there on purpose. God sent him there. For what?
Why? That he could save many people alive. That was God's
purpose. Paul didn't wind up a prisoner
of Rome because he ran out of bad luck. He came around the
corner and there was a centurion and they arrested him. No. Paul
never even did say he's a prisoner of Rome. He would never give
Rome that satisfaction. He said, because I'm not their
prisoner. I'm the prisoner of Jesus Christ. A friend of mine recently told
me this story that impressed me greatly. His wife had been
very, very seriously injured. There was a time we didn't know
if she was going to live or die. And it became apparent after
a number of days, she wasn't going to die. But they were facing
a long, tough road ahead. It was going to be brutal. She
was facing at least six or seven surgeries. And after that, months
of physical therapy. And she'd never be the same again.
She was going to be in pain the rest of her life. Best case scenario. She's going to be in some level
of pain the rest of her life and she'll never be the same.
That's the best case scenario. And they sat in her hospital
room. And they had a conversation about this. They talked about
this specifically. And they told each other, we
believe God. Now all this time of our life,
we've believed God. All the good that God's given
us, we've believed Him. In this time, we're going to
believe Him too. We're going to believe them just
the same as we ever did. And they told each other this. We
believe God's word. We believe every word of God's
word. We believe all things work together
for good. To them that love God, to them
that are called according to his purpose. We believe that
every word of that. We believe all things, he said,
work together for good. Not just the things that are
pleasant, but all things. This is working together for
good. And he said, we've decided we're going to have a good attitude
about it. And they have. Haven't they, Janet? They've
had a good attitude. Their comfort in time of trial
has been, God's appointed this for my good and His glory, and
I'm going to have a good attitude. That comforts the heart of a
believer. God appoints every trial. He appoints the time it'll start.
He appoints the heat of it. He appoints the duration of it.
And he appoints the comfort of it. And if we understand that,
that will enable us to patiently endure it and submit to it. But
you know the only way we'll know that is if somebody tells us. Somebody's got to tell us. Oh, maybe I shouldn't use this
illustration, but I will. I remember when my dad fell sick. I knew he would never recover.
I knew he was going to die. Mom and Dad were up in Canada,
and I remember walking down the halls of that hospital thinking,
I'm thankful. Henry told me this was going
to happen. I'm so thankful. I'm not shaken by it. He told
me this was going to happen. Forewarned is forearmed. And
that's what Paul says. I told you this was going to
happen. I told you the truth. They didn't sugarcoat it and
say, well, life of a believer is a bed of roses. No, it's not.
If it's a bed of roses, those roses have got a lot of thorns
in them. That's the life of a believer. Forewarned is forearmed. If you
look in John chapter 16, this is what our Lord told his disciples. You know, if you care about people,
you're going to tell them the truth. Our Lord told his disciples
the truth. John 16. Verse 1. These things have I
spoken unto you that you should not be offended. They're going
to put you out of the synagogue. The day of the time cometh that
whosoever killeth you will think he is doing God a service. And
these things will he do unto you, because they have not known
the Father, nor me. But these things have I told
you, that when the time shall come you may remember that I
told you of them. And these things I said not unto
you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go
my way to him that sent me." Now I'm not going to be personally
with you, so I'm telling you. So when it happens, when the
time comes, you remember my word. And you know, when those times
come, you know what will comfort you? Remembering God's word,
remembering the preaching of Christ. God will bring those
things to your mind. And our Lord told them how he's going
to comfort them. He's going to comfort them by sending them
the comforter. Look back at chapter 15, verse
26. But when the comforters come, whom I'll send unto you from
the Father, Even the spirit of truth which proceeded from the
Father, he shall testify of me." Now the comforter himself comforts
God's people by testifying of Christ. Doesn't that tell you
that's the way we comfort God's people? By testifying of Christ. Look at 1 Peter chapter 4. Now
we've been told these things before they happen so that we're
not shocked when they do happen. 1 Peter chapter 4. Verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened to you. I've got a note here in my Bible
from 2002. Henry made this statement. Think it strange when people
do something good to you. If they do something nice to
you, think that strange. But don't think it strange when
some fiery trial happens to you, but rejoice inasmuch as you are
partakers of Christ's suffering. that when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached
for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken
of, but on your part he is glorified. But now let none of you suffer
as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody
in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian,
let him not be ashamed. to let him glorify God on his
behalf. Now, don't bring this thing on
yourself. That's what Peter's saying. Don't bring it on yourself
and then say, oh, I've got this glory. I'm suffering for Christ's
sake. That's a horse of another color. But what he's talking
about here is these trials. Don't think it's strange when
they happen. Don't be shocked when they happen
because you've been warned before. Now, the church at Thessalonica,
Paul knows that they're under affliction. Paul's over there
in Athens. And now he's alone. He sent Timothy
down there to him. He's alone. Besides all his other
troubles and trials that he's suffering there, he's worried
about his friends in Thessalonica. You can just see him sitting
there. Are they true believers? Are they pretenders? Did God
really do a work of grace in their heart? Or was this just
something they heard that sounded good? Are they a shallow ground
here? Maybe they sprung up. The sun
came out. The heat got turned up. Did they
wither away? Were they staggered and withered
away? He's worrying about that. And here's what Paul's telling
them. Don't let these trials move you away from the gospel.
Don't let these trials move you away from God's Word. Don't let
them move you away from Christ. If they do, you're not a believer. A true believer, when trials
come upon them, those trials will drive that man or woman
to Christ. When trials come, They drive God's people to the
Word. They drive us to the Gospel.
Trials are sent to strengthen our faith. Look at Hebrews chapter
10. And Paul is praying for them that in this time of trial, in
this time of affliction, that true faith has been revealed.
Hebrews 10 verse 32. The culture remembers the former
days. in which after you were illuminated you endured a great
plight of afflictions, partly whilst you were made a gazing-stock
both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst you became
companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion
on me and my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your
goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better
and enduring substance. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence. which hath great recompense or
reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will
of God ye might receive the promise for yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and he will not tarry. Now the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul." Paul says, don't draw back. And if you don't draw back
and you continue to believe, that's the evidence of a true
believer. Now, verse 5, back in our text. Paul says, for this
cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your
faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and
our labor be in vain. I mean, you see Paul wondering,
did I labor in vain? Or did God give you genuine faith? And then Paul receives some comfort
in his affliction. Look at verse 6. But now in Timotheus
came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith
and charity, your faith and love, and that you have good remembrance
of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see
you. Therefore, brethren, we are comforted
over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith."
Now Paul was comforted, first of all, by the steadfastness
of their faith. He said, I'm so comforted to
know this. You really do believe God. That
comforts me. In my time of trouble and trial,
it comforts me to know God's given you genuine faith. And
if you have faith in Christ, I really don't have to worry
about you. You'll suffer affliction, but you'll be just fine because
God delivered them out of them all, all the righteous. You'll
be just fine. Second, he's comforted by the
warmth of their love. He was comforted in his time
of trial to hear of their genuine love for Christ and their love
for him. Now, there's no denying this. We're comforted by being together. And if we can't be together,
just knowing that we want to be together, just knowing somebody
really cares about you, wants to be with you, even that's a
comfort. Knowing that your brethren really love you. I mean, it comforts
you even when we can't be together. But boy, when you can be together,
it just strengthens you and helps you. And that's important. The world hates believers. The
world hates your Lord, hates your Savior, hates everything
that you believe. The world has got a different
nature than believers. Well, then don't we really need
to love one another? The world hates you. I need to love you. See what I mean by that? And
Paul was comforted by that love. Third, he's comforted in that
they took a stand for the gospel and they continue to stand fast
in the Lord. Look at verse 8. For now we live. If you stand fast in the Lord,
if you stand fast in the Lord, now we live. Hearing that you
stood fast gave me so much comfort. Paul says it gave me life. And
I'll tell you what he means by that. You know how it is, we
hear bad news. And I do this, I don't know if
you say this, but I say, oh, that just kills me. Well, that doesn't
mean it takes my physical life, but when we say that, oh, that
just kills me. It means it kills my spirit. It pains me, just
causes me to lose my vigor. Well, this is just the opposite.
When Paul heard the good news of their faith and their love,
he said, it gave me life. It invigorated him to keep up
his work in the ministry. It invigorated him to keep enduring
his trials and his afflictions and continue to submit to them.
Verse 9, he says, for what thanks can we render to God again for
you? For all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before
our God. It gave Paul such joy to see
what God had done for these people. He saw their faith and their
love. And just like earlier in the beginning of this epistle,
I showed you this, Paul gave thanks to them. But mostly he's
giving thanks to God for them. And that's what he's doing here.
He's giving thanks to God that God gave them that faith and
that love. God must have done a work for
them and in them if they can take this stand and continue
in faith and love. And you know how he knows that?
Because their shelter is enduring the storm. Any shelter that's
built in the storm will never last. Because as soon as it stops
raining and the sun comes out, you're going to abandon that
shelter that was built in a time of storm. But a shelter that's
built in the sunshine will endure when the storm comes. And the
perfect example, I thought of that, is Noah. Noah built the
ark in sunshine. Now, I've seen previews of this
movie, Noah and the Ark of Salvation, and it shows all this rain falling
on Noah. Never happened. Not one drop
of rain ever fell on Noah. Not one. Because that rain is
a picture of God's judgment. That judgment never fell on Noah. Just like that judgment never
falls on God's people. It fell on Christ, our substitute.
And we're safe in Him, just like Noah was safe in that ark. Noah
built the ark in sunshine. And it endured the storm. It
carried him over the storm. And that's what Paul's saying,
I'm filled with joy to see that you're in Christ. You must be,
because you're enduring the storm. And every parent here knows exactly
what he's saying. If you hear a story about your
children, they're away from you, and you weren't there to influence
them, but they're out there on their own, and you hear of a
situation, they acted in honesty and kindness and compassion.
They did the right thing. And you hear that story, you
just got to saw all your buttons back off. I mean, he's just so
happy and so thankful. That's the way Paul felt. Look
in 3 John. The Apostle John felt the same
way. 3 John, verse 3. Robert rejoiced
greatly. when the brethren came and testified
of the truth that's in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth,
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in
the truth." That helped the Apostle John and it helped the Apostle
Paul too. Now verse 10, here's the fourth way God comforts His
people. It's prayer. Night and day praying exceedingly
that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking
in your Now you know if you want to be comforted, try praying. Just try praying. And in that
prayer, try giving thanks. Just try it. Giving thanks just
puts everything in perspective. It just helps you giving thanks. And don't just give thanks for
what God's done for you. If you really want to be comforted,
try giving thanks for God's blessing somebody else. You'd be surprised.
It'll comfort your heart. Now, Paul's comforted concerning
their faith, isn't he? But yet he still says, I still
desire to come preach to you. I still desire to come teach
you to perfect, mature that which is lacking in your faith. Why
does Paul say that? He's comforted concerning their
faith. What's lacking? Something's always lacking. We
always need to be taught. We always need to grow in grace. Dale, you've been around a long
time. You study God's Word. You teach and preach. Still need
to be taught. No matter how much, how long
the Lord leads us here, how much he teaches us, we still need
to grow in grace and grow in knowledge. But if Paul can't
come to him, he knows this. God's the one giving the increase
anyway. God's going to send you somebody. He's going to send
you one of his servants because he never leaves himself without
a witness. Look at verse 11. Now, God himself. And our Father,
and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. And the Lord
make ye increase, and abound in love one toward another, and
toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end he may
establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness before God, even
our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all
his saints." Now Paul has received a good report, but he doesn't
want to see that stop now. He says, I see God has given
you faith. I hope to establish it. I pray he will establish
it and make it stronger. I see God's given you love. I pray that he'll make it abound,
that he'll make it continue to grow. Timothy's come giving me
a good report of you. He's given me a good report of
your faith, of your love, of your kindness, of your generosity.
But don't stop now. That's what he's saying. Don't
cast it away now. Don't cast away your hope now.
And I can say that about you all. I give thanks for you. I
do. I thank God for you every day.
Now, I could go somewhere and I can give a good report of your
faith and your love and your kindness and your generosity.
But don't quit. Don't cast it away now. And it's
my prayer that the Lord will establish us, that through the
preaching of his word, he'll establish us, make us unmovable
so that we won't stagger until that time he comes for us. That's
a good prayer. All right. I hope the Lord will
bless that too.