will turn with me to 2 Thessalonians,
Paul's second epistle, his second letter to the Thessalonians. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus
unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace unto you, and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, as it is me, because that your faith groweth
exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each
other aboundeth, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches
of God for your patience and faith in your persecutions and
tribulations that you endure, which is a manifest token of
the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy
of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer. Seeing it is
a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them
that trouble you. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of his power." What in the world is he talking about? Do you think about these
things when you read? What is the glory of this power
that they're going to be separated from? The gospel. The gospel. Any blessing of God. When he shall come to be glorified
in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe, because
our testimony among you was believed in that day. Wherefore also we
pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of
this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness
and the work of faith with power. That the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the
grace of our God. and the Lord Jesus Christ. May
the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. I invite you to turn again with
me to Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians chapter 1. My text and my title both are
taken from verse 10 where he talks about the saints And he
says that Christ will be admired in that day when heaven is filled with His
glory. An innumerable company of angels
that we read about will be seen. And He comes in His glory. He's
going to fold this old earth up. Time will be no more. And as he comes, and as these
things are coming to pass, he will be admired in all that believe. I have four things I want to show
you this morning as we work our way up to my text. I want to
talk a little bit about those to whom he's writing. He's saying
some things. Who's he saying it to? Who's
he talking to? And then I want to show you that
their status. He gives the status of these
people he's talking to. And then I want us to see his
encouraging exhortation. And then finally, the heart of
saving faith. So let's begin with verse 1,
and let me point out some things concerning the apostle's introduction. To whom is he writing? Look at
verse 1. Unto the church of the Thessalonians. Now this has always been a touchy
subject, but it's one that we dare not brush aside simply because
it's touchy. A lot of things in the gospel
are touchy. Predestination's touchy, isn't it? You don't want
to go to a family reunion and start talking about predestination. Boy, you'll start a fistfight. You know, you go out, your company
has a Christmas dinner and you go out there and there's your
boss and all the employees and you start talking about election.
That touches. That touches. It's always been
a touching subject. But it's one that we dare not
brush aside simply because it touches. And although the Church
of the Living God consists of people from all ages, Don't make
any mistake here. When he talks about his church,
he's talking about every man that ever lived, he has a people
chosen out of them from the beginning of time to the end of time. And all his elect are called
his church. His church. It is the church
of the living God. The great assembly, he calls
it. And it consists of people from all ages, all nations, all
races of men, from the Garden of Eden to the end of time, a
vast and unnumberless multitude chosen in Christ. John said,
I was carried by the Spirit up into glory, and he began to view
things in this revelation of Christ, and here's the way things
really are. He said, I saw a people that
you couldn't number. vast multitude of people. All of them standing before God,
redeemed in Christ, called by His gospel to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the church, now listen
to it, as it appears in glory. I'm going to show you something
here. But at any given time in the earth, it appears as a A
microcosm, but we're going to have another English lesson.
A macrocosm is talking about the whole. A microcosm is talking
about a little example of the whole. And at any given time in the
earth, it appears as a microcosm of the whole. And God's people
in this world are addressed as assemblies. He calls them churches.
a small body of believers, which he calls a church. He don't write
to them as they appear in the whole. He writes to them, Paul
does, as that microcosm, as a small sample in this world of that
great assembly in glory. And He's not writing to them
as they appear in glory, but He's writing to them as they
appear in time and place. God's church, as it appears in
the whole, is described as a perfect church. A perfect church. One delivered out of great tribulation,
who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They're
dressed in white linen. They're white and glistering
as they appear there on the Mount of Transfiguration. The local
churches, and you can read it for yourself, Revelations 2 and
3, read both chapters. He addresses all the churches.
They appear as they are, yet in the flesh, yet in the Word, and every one
of them having problems. and needing help. You see the
difference? God has a church. He chose these
people in Christ. Christ redeemed them. They're
all represented in Him. Their standing or falling is
all in Him. Whatever happens to Him is going
to happen to them. And God raised Him from the dead. He put away their sin. God raised
Him from the dead, justifying all His church. And we assembled
representatively, we ascended with Him up into glory and were
crowned with Him and are seated with Him in heavenly places. But not here. You see what I'm
saying? There's a difference. There's
a difference. Paul's writing to the church
of the Thessalonians, Gentiles, heathens, idol worshipers. An
assembly of men and women, Jews and Greeks, old and young, who've
heard the gospel, profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
the revelation of Jesus Christ, which he's dealing with his people
and dealing with the world in which they live and how things
really are, he begins by telling us that he walks among the candlesticks. Is Jesus Christ doing something
in this world? What's he doing? He's walking among the candlesticks. That's where he's at. Where's
he moving? Is he moving on cities? He's
walking among the candlesticks. Let that sink in. Where are you going to find him?
Where two or more are gathered together in his mass. You ain't
going to find him out on the lake. He ain't out on the lake.
He's walking among the candlesticks. So if you can see him there,
what else do you see? In his hand, he's got these stars. These stars. What in the world
is he talking about? The Lord walking around with stars in
his hand. That's the pastors of those churches. He tells you that, plain and
simple. Here's what the stars are. They're his stars, they're in
his hand. He can do with them what he will. He can set one
down, he can exalt one. He can do whatever he wants to
do, they're in his hand. But I tell you this, here's where
he intends to use them in the candlesticks. That's what we're
going to do. This is our Lord. I'm trying
to get you to see the difference between The church as it is in
a whole, glorified in Christ, saved forever, and what this
church, how it appears in this world. Now, if you can see that, then
you know what's going on here, if this is his church. Paul's
writing to a people that he examined with believing eyes, and he said,
this is God's church. He's writing to the church of
the Thessalonians. And He's addressing them in their
problems. He's addressing them in their
trials. He's addressing them in faith. Everything He has to say by His
Spirit, from that point on in the book of Revelations, He said,
you need to hear. what the Spirit saith to his
churches. There's nothing else out there.
God speaks, he's gonna speak to his church. Now that's just
something. I know people, that's a touchy
subject, isn't it? Huh? They call us a cult, did you
know that? Yeah, that cult over there in Louisville. God thinks
he's the only one in the country that knows the Lord. I don't think I'm the only one
in the country, but I think I'm one in the country. Huh? There's a difference, isn't
there? Everything he has to say from
that point on, he says to his churches, He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Revelation
3, 6, 13, 22, Revelation 2, 7, 11, 17, and verse 29. It says it over and over and
over. And when Christ speaks to men
and women, He speaks through His churches. And one of the
greatest blessings that the Lord could give to a community is
to establish assembly of believers. Let them gather in His name in
that place. Because there's places, and if
you look, there's like a giant vacuum that runs right up through
the center of this country, and as far as I can tell, there's
no churches there anywhere. Now with our means of communication
through the internet and all these things, surely if there
was some elect out there, as much of this gospel as being
preached, we'd know about it. Somebody'd say, I believe that. I believe that. We have a little group here.
Sure would like for you to come. Like to meet you. Oh, you're
having a Bible conference? Maybe we'll come. Huh? I don't hear anything. I've been
preaching for 18 years here. I don't hear anything. The whole
center of this country is like a giant vacuum. Nothing out there. One of the
greatest blessings that can be bestowed on any community is
a local church, and those churches are the pillar, not pillow, pillar. You know what a pillar is? That's what holds up the roof.
A big pillar. You see, go down to the courthouse.
Great big stone columns there. They're holding that up. His
church is the pillar and guide of the truth. Well, they hold
the truth. I said all that to say this,
we are the church at Louisville. His church. I have every reason
in the Word of God to believe that this is a real church. And believing that, I believe
he was. Huh? Think about it. If we're a church, if we're one
of his, established in this Word, he walked among the churches. God's people are called in a
certain place. He calls several of them. He unites them with others of
like precious faith. And they're formed into an assembly. And God sends them a pastor.
A pastor. Why are pastors called stars? Stars stay where they're put. Huh? How many thousands of years
ago did sailors on a ship navigate by the stars? You can still look
at the same stars and navigate. Huh? How come? Because the stars
didn't move. They stayed where God put them.
Let me tell you what he says about a false prophet. They're
like shooting stars. They fall from where they're
put. That's serious business, ain't it? We're come to Mount Zion, he
said, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and innumerable company of angels. Now listen to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven. We come
here this morning to worship, but we're not just this little
group that you see. We just appear that way in the
earth. There's an assembly that you can't number. And there's
an assembly of angels that's numberless, and they got their
wings folded listening because they desire to look into these
things which God has blessed us to know. Oh, how that ought to thrill
your heart. We come in here to express and say and learn things
that the angels don't know about. They might know it in these ears,
but they don't know it by experience, and we do. We do. Oh, people trade off the hearing
of the gospel, the worshiping of God, like it's worth two cents.
Huh? Flip a coin. Do I go to church
today or stay on? Don't do that. Don't do that. And it may not seem that way
in this earth. That's what I'm saying. Here's a church as it
appears in this world. That church up there don't know
corruption. That church up there is spotless.
They're perfect. They see Him as He is. They're
like Him. But down here, down here, We
have things around us that draw our minds. I told her this morning,
some guy come bullies him down that little county road behind
me this morning. Looked like Mr. Spock when they
go to light speed, you know. Right up on my tail and he rode
me all the way to the end of 57 until I turned left and he
went right. I thank God he went that way. But every Sunday at
some point, Something, isn't it? You know it, didn't you see
it? Something happens. Anything to take your mind off
what you're getting ready to do. We come here to worship. And what a blessing it is that
any man, any woman, any boy or girl should be saved from themselves. Saved from this present evil
world and saved from that old crouching lion seeking whom he
may devour. It's a miracle. It's a blessing
of God. And we need to think about it
every time we get dressed on Sunday to come over here. Need
to think about it. Tune out all these other things.
And how grateful we are to be a part of it in any way. How grateful we ought to be for
what we are and how we are. We're bound by the grace and
mercy of God to be grateful for it. And this is what Paul is
telling this church. Where as people assemble together,
though it be but two or three, the Lord promised to be in their
midst. Is this assembly an assembly
of God? Then my friend, take advantage
of it. Take advantage of it. Do what
you can to promote it. Do what you can to support it
and to be a part of it. I just can't imagine. See, we
have such a low vision of God in this place. It's just hard
to imagine the glory that's been bestowed on us to even suffer
a trial or suffer a persecution, but let alone the blessing of
being able to assemble and be willing to come here in anxiety.
I'm telling you it's a blessing. The church, he said, of the Thessalonians. He's talking about any of his
churches who gather in this world. Alright, the next thing Paul
talks about is their status. He gives us three things in verses
3 and 4 concerning the status of this assembly in that place. First of all, he tells us about
their faith. He tells us in verse 3 that he
observed a strong growth in their faith. Your faith growing exceedingly. I'm going to tell you something.
I can't talk about you, but I can talk about me. When I first come to the Lord,
I was so ignorant I'm so eager. I was saying things that was
just so far out it's ridiculous. But
I didn't think they were ridiculous at the time because everybody
I knew said those things. I grew up in it. I used to accuse
Henry Mahan of hiding outside the building and listening to
us because he was quoting us word for word. I didn't know at the time, it's
always the same. Huh? It's always the same. Oh, hey, hey, boy, when I first
heard something about the sovereignty of God, it jumped off, just right
off the page at me in the Word of God. I couldn't get past it.
I started looking. I never heard those things. I
grew up in religion. My father was a preacher, Sunday
school teacher. He read the Bible cover to cover
20 times. Read it through once on his knees.
That's all self-righteousness, by the way. But I was so ignorant of it. I never heard the word sovereign
to use. God's sovereign over everything. Even the heart of the king, just
like the rivers of water, he turns it withersoever he will. It tells us in verse 3, he observed
a strong growth in their faith. The apostle John, he directs
his ministry to those he calls fathers and young men. and little children. Oh, I tell
you, I was a little child when I was driving. I was a baby. Peter says, listen to this, as
newborn babies, he said, desire the sincere milk of the Lord.
You know that much, don't you? You know where the milk comes
from? Well, go there and drink. Huh? Believers are not spiritually
dead, they pass from death unto life, but they were not born
as full grown adults, spiritually. They're babies. And then they
develop into young men, young women, and then into full grown
adults. Faith is the gift of God, and
by way of this faith, our growth is measured. How is faith measured? Several ways. First of all, it's
measured by what it perceives concerning Christ. Concerning Christ. Ephesians
4.13 talks about the unity of the faith, a oneness of that
faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, and we perceive in
that a perfect man. And we grow up in Him, and we're
established in Him, and we're not blown about like little children
tossed to and fro. In 2 Corinthians 11.3, he fears
lest they be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ,
or that oneness of Christ alone. Talking about Christ's sufficiency.
Faith is given to perceive Christ alone. And He's the measure,
the stature, the fullness of Christ. That's how He measures
us. And everything in Christ, promised by Christ, accomplished
by Him and His power, His present authority, and the work being
done even now. We perceive those things. How
is faith measured? By what it perceives concerning
Christ. And then secondly, by how the
faithful walk in this present world according to what they
know. Faith without works is dead.
It ain't faith. That's what he's telling you.
It's just a profession. In verse 2, Paul talks about
their charity. Active love, affection, care
for one another, their willingness to help. Somebody needs help,
they help. I needed to care. Everybody in
here contributed to care. Huh? They're willing. They love
one another, and it's active. They're willing to help anybody
of need. And Paul said to the Corinthians, though I have the
gift of prophecy, what a gift that is, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not
charity, listen, I'm nothing. That's what I am. I'm an intellectual
nothing. I know something right now. Intellectual
nothing. They got an answer for everything
and a solution for nothing. Faith worketh, listen, by love. Faith without works is dead.
How does it work? By love. By love. And it's measured the same way.
Christ didn't ask Peter if he believed on him. He said, Peter,
do you love me? You don't have to ask if you
believe if you love, because love comes with the gift of faith. Do you love me? Peter said, you know all them,
you know I love you. Then feed my sheep. Put your
fishing pole down and go feed my sheep. Do you love me, Peter? Oh, how that
must have hurt when the Lord asked him a second time. And
then he asked him a third time. And he said, feed my lambs. Feed
my babies. And then here's another thing
by which faith is measured. Seeing their charity, he says,
so that we ourselves, glory in you in the churches. Huh? Somebody sent my wife a, I don't
know what you call it, a thing on the internet, wanted her to
listen to this sermon that Paul Mayhem preached. She listened
to it and come got me and told me all about it. So when I got
time, I listened to it. Wonderful message. That's what
he's talking about. We glory in you. We don't glory
in our work in you. We glory in you. We glory in
what God's done for you. And we do that in all the churches. They're all aware of it. They're
all encouraged by it. That's how faith is measured.
Faith don't just sit still like a baby and kick around and slobber
and mess its britches. They grow. They grow. And that growth is an encouragement,
it's an evidence. Though they had faith, their
faith was growing and active, and their faith bore the fruit
of charity, kindness, and obedience, the fruit of the Spirit. And
they endured the trial, said of God, with patience and trust. And this status is the status
of all true believers, every church of God in this world.
And then thirdly, having observed these things, Paul gives them
a loving exhortation. The word exhortation means to
encourage somebody to do something. That's what it means. He gave
them a loving encouragement. All right, so what does the apostle
encourage these people? Their faith is growing, they
love one another, they're doing all this. What you gonna say
to them? Rest with us. Rest with us. Look down at verse
8. And to you who are troubled,
going through these trials, being tempted, rest with us. Now watch this. When the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.
Now, I don't know if you've ever thought about it. If you haven't,
you need to. What a glorious event he's talking
about. The sky is a big area. Heaven's
a big place. And he's going to be revealed
from heaven. And what an awful, and at the
same time, what a fearful thing it'll be. We're talking about
the end of time. How many times have I told somebody,
especially my wife. I'll deal with it tomorrow. Might not be tomorrow, Larry.
One of these days, our Lord is going to rise up from His throne
and all the glory of heaven, all the inhabitants of heaven
is coming with Him. An innumerable company of angels
and every eye is going to see Him. And those who pierced Him
are going to see Him. Everybody's going to see Him.
He's going to come. What a glory. The end of time. The end of mercy. No more mercy. The end of grace. The end of
kindness in this world. No more. No churches in hell. Raw and unchangeable eternity. That's what we're talking about.
Everlasting glory, everlasting torment. Pure and untainted perfection,
everlasting darkness. Oh, this is a frightening thing.
I read this in the book of Revelations. Let him that is righteous be
righteous still. Let him that is filthy be filthy
still. Rest with us when the Lord Jesus
shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angel. What does
he mean, rest with us? What's he talking about? He means
to rest from the fear and guilt and punishment due our sins.
We're guilty sinners. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. No ifs, ands, or buts. Every
sin is sin of God, judged of God, condemned of God. Every
transgression, every disobedience shall receive a just recompense
of reward. God doesn't overlook sin. He
doesn't wink at sin or simply forgive sin. Sin has to be paid
for. And that payment to the full
satisfaction of infinite justice. That's why hell is forever. Concerning the believer. Our
Lord tells us that our substitute bore our sin in His own body
on the tree. That's why I can rest. I have a substitute. One that
bore my sin in His own body on the tree. He made Him. God made
Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. He died the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. Rest with us from the fear and
torment of the wrath of God against all sin. Secondly, he means to
rest with all who truly believe concerning the righteousness
demanded of God. Our Lord said that they thought
if any man was ever saved, it would be a Pharisee. If there was any righteousness
accepted of God, it has to be the righteousness of the Pharisees.
Now hear what our Lord said, except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Oh, Paul said that I might win
Christ and be found in him. Now listen, I'm not having my
own righteousness. You got something that you're
hanging on to that you want to show God? You're going to trade
Him for all your sins that you've committed? You're going to expect
full cooperation from God by this thing, whatever it is that
you've done? You got anything? Paul said that
I might win Christ, be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of faith. Abraham believed God. He counted
to him for righteousness. Of God are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us righteousness. And then thirdly, he said, rest
with us. From what? From the fear of death.
Oh, I tell you, you're going to see death like you never seen
it before in that day. We're talking about the second
death. We're talking about the reality of those that we bury
in the ground who believe not. Rest with us from fear of death. When Christ shall come again,
it'll be to gather his elect and escort them personally into
glory. Think about it. The dead in Christ So rise first,
and they which are alive and remain should be caught up together
unto Him. And then we rest in this. We
rest not only from the fear of death, from the righteousness
demanded, and from the fear of the wrath of God because of our
sins, but we rest also in His full sufficiency. He alone is
everything we need. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. We're complete in Him. We don't
need anything else. And then we rest in our adoption
as children and our Father's provision for us. This second
coming is not a death penalty. This second coming is a graduation. That prodigal son come home.
Boy, he was just hoping that his father would have enough
mercy on him to let him live there live out his days as a
servant. He'd just stay in the bunkhouse. But that ain't how it was. Ain't
how it was. Oh, when Christ comes again.
These people hated by men, gonna be honored by God. They gonna be honored by God. rest with us in our adoption
as children and our Father's provision for us. His covenant
is ordered in all things and sure, and it's sure because He
appointed His Son the surety of it. And we can rest from the
worry of a work in us being not sufficient. Isn't that where
most of our worry comes from? Those born of God are given power,
He said, to become sons of God. and to believe on his name. Paul prayed for the saints at
Ephesus that they might know the exceeding greatness of his
power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty
power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. But not on them who know not
God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. with
us, he said, whatever encouraging exhortation that is. And then
lastly he says this, when he shall come to be glorified in
his saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because
our testimony was believed. Now I've been preaching to some
of you for 17 years, and I'm just going to ask you flat out,
did you believe the testimony that I've given you? You still got a question mark
on what I'm talking about? Or do you believe what I see?
Paul said, you come rest with us. And I'll tell you why. Because
you believed our testimony. All of them that believed because
our testimony was believed in that day, that day of trial, And listen to this, admired in
all them that believe. Now I want you to notice that
word is in the present tense, not in the past. He didn't say
he used to be admired. A lot of folks have to go back
20 years, that profession of faith they made. I believed.
Well, what about now? What about that big vacuum of
space in between? He's going to be admired in that
day. He's not said in that day to
be admired by all them that believed, but all them that believe. Faith is the gift from the Father
of lights with whom is no wearableness. God's not an Indian giver. Gifts
are never taken away, nor does He change His mind concerning
them that He gives the gifts to. He gives the gift. He makes it effectual. He preserves it, or as Paul wrote,
performs it. Don't you ever wonder, Come, I believe these things,
and this one I've known all my life, don't. Because he performs the works. He that began a good work in
you will perform it. He'll keep writing. If you ever
believed, you believe right now, and you're going to keep on believing. And by way of the gift of faith,
we're enabled to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
and we can't help but admire him. You know, even Opontius
Pilate admired Christ, didn't he? There's nothing in him not
to admire. He said, I find no fault in this
just man. But believers see much more than
natural men see. They see the glory of divine
love, divine mercy, and divine grace. the glory of His holiness,
the harmony of His character, the greatness of His power, the
glory of His condescension, the faithfulness of His work, the
thoroughness of His offices, and the success of His work.
We see it all. And when a poor sinner sees himself
redeemed in Christ and made an heir in Him, there is an admiration
formed that only grows in time. He experiences his intercession
every day of his life and his provision and love and this admiration
never ceases to be. He loves Christ. He glorified
and admired in his saints. Looked upon in that day of triumph
in wonder and astonishment. It may be the best definition
of faith I've ever heard. He's admired in them that believe. They love him. And he that loveth
not, loveth not God. Huh? What about you? Let me tell you
what I'm saying to you this morning. Come and rest. Rest with us. This is where I rest. I rest
in his person. I rest in him. I got nothing
else. nothing else. I rest in Him.
And regardless of what I do, I rest in Him. I rest in Him. I repent of myself and all that
I do and say and think, but I rest in Him.