1 Thessalonians chapter 1. What a blessed book of the Bible
this is. The Apostle Paul is writing to
a local church. Notice he says to the church
of the Thessalonians. It's a local assembly just like
this one. And of course written by divine
inspiration it is applicable to every local assembly of the
Lord's people throughout time and all generations, all countries
of the world. And it's also applicable to the
universal church, the body of Christ as a whole. So we find the origin of this
specific assembly back in the 17th chapter of Acts. You'll
have to go read that, the Apostle Paul's Second missionary journey
goes to Thessalonica. And this city of Thessalonica,
it is the capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia. You remember earlier, Paul was
on the other side and he had this, the Lord forbid him to
go to these certain places and he had this vision and a dream. saying, come over into Macedonia
and help us. So we crossed over to Philippi,
Thessalonica, to Corinth, established these churches in these places.
But now, this church at Thessalonica, this city being the capital city
of the Roman province, was very important, had special privileges
that all cities didn't have. It was very prosperous. And of
course, with prosperity, what comes? Immorality abounding,
and religiously idolatry abounding. And so as Paul and his companions
went there and preached, they met with some success. The Lord
opened the hearts of some to receive the gospel, but they
also met with much opposition, as is usually the case. But just
to look at this thing of the location here in verse one. First,
it's said to be the church of the Thessalonians. It's in the
city of Thessalonica. That was for location only. We
call this assembly here where we're met this morning, East
Hendersonville Baptist Church. But guess what? There's bushels
and bushels. There's probably no better or
no worse than we are that have their name, but on the basis
of location, but you know, that's really not saying a lot. Here's the real beauty and the
real blessing is not that this church was in the city of Thessalonica,
but we read on, which is in God, the father. Wow. This church is in the mind and
purpose of God from eternity. God who changes not. And in the Lord Jesus Christ. This church is in Christ as those
for whom he died. And so we can say of our assembly
this morning, oh, it's not a matter that we're just a mile or two
out of town here, and we're on the east side, and oh, we're
so wonderful. We're East Hendersonville Baptist
Church. No, no. We're better than so-and-so
church. We do this good thing that most
of them don't do. We don't do this bad thing that
most of them do. Oh, we're so superior. No, no,
no. That's not it. Hey, here's the
beauty. Here is the blessing of this
assembly and has been for 52 years, established in 1970, this
church. For 52 years, ups and downs,
hell raging and cuss fights. coming and going, trying to crucify the pastor,
trying to crucify one another. The beauty and the blessing is
that this church is in God, the Father, and in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And all hell can't do anything
about it. And I promise you all hell has
tried. Huh? I'm telling you, that's enough
to His old brother said, that's enough to make a Presbyterian
shout. That's enough to make you kick the tail out of your
choir robe, he said. This is good news. That this
is not just a bunch of us decided to get together and be religious.
Oh no. We'd kill one another for sundown,
I guess. But this is God's business. and
how glorious that is. Well, I'm telling you, it's a
good thing I culled those notes because I'm telling you I'm not
going to get to first base this morning. Now, look at the blessed
greeting that he gives to this local assembly. And Paul does
this in most of his epistles in similar words, grace be unto
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
in case you didn't know this, He never does this to the unbelieving
world. He never says anything that nice.
I mean, when they called Paul on the carpet, throwed him in
prison, beat him, threatened him. He never says to that crowd,
grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh no, he's talking to the Lord's
people. That's beautiful. That's beautiful.
And then he says in verse two, he thanks God for him. There's a little session of thanksgiving
here. And he says, we thank God for
you always, for you always, for you all making mention of you
in our prayers. We pray for you. And in our prayers,
we remember some things about you, your testimony. Not how
good looking you are. Not how talented you are. Not what a big crowd you've got. Not how legalistic and pharisaical
you are. Not how you boast about what
you don't put up with in your church. No, no, no. He said,
I remember this about you. And I thank God for you in my
prayers. for these things, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith. He's not talking about
a bunch of religious ideology, things to do, what we can do,
what new little gimmick or fad we can come up with to trick
people into coming. Oh no, oh no. He's talking about
the steadfastness of your faith. of just following God and leaving
the results with Him. And he goes on, and your labor
of love, not labor for profit. All some people thinks about
is what am I going to get out of this? And I've talked to people through
the years that's quit church. And they'd say, well, I went
to such and such church and I used to do this and I did that and
I did the other. And nobody ever even, you know,
they, they never even acknowledged all I did for them. No, no. Labor of love. What we do for the Lord. And we use that term. It's not
that he needs anything. But in our commitment to the
Lord, what we do and what we do for one another is not supposed
to be for gain, for profit, but for love. The fact that God loved
you and He saved a rascal like you, just like He did me, and
He's put us together to love one another and encourage one
another. A labor of love. And then he says, and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Not hoping in the quality of
your performance. Not hope that I've made the grade. You haven't. Not hope that my good will outweigh
my bad. It won't. The Lord sees a little more about
you than the rest of us do. He sees it all. And the patience of our hope
is not in ourselves. Oh, that God would help me to
quit on myself and hope in Him. The patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's where our hope lies. Now, verse four, knowing brethren,
beloved, your election of God. Uh-oh. Uh-oh, there's that word,
election. I know a lot of preachers. As
a matter of fact, most preachers I've ever known are as scared
to death of that word as they are a rattlesnake. election. It's in the Bible 27 times. Elect,
elected, election. 27 times. 23 of them are in the
New Testament. The New Covenant. Referring to
God's people. Believers in Jesus Christ made
up of Jew and Gentile. These guys want to put this thing
of election just into the Old Testament Israel, talking about
the Jews, they're God's chosen people. No, no, no. Peter said
that we who are in Christ are God's chosen people. Huh? Election. Election. What does it mean? What does
it mean? It means that before God hung
the stars, He chose in His infinite wisdom He chose out of a race
of people that would fall, that would shake their fist in God's
face and rebel against Him. He chose to change the hearts
of a specific number of that crowd, choose them in His grace
and love and mercy, redeem them by the death of His Son, Conform
them to the image of his son, claiming them as his children
forever. He made this decision. He made
this choice. He made this election out of
a fallen race that was not yet even created, let alone fallen. Don't fall out with God for not
saving everybody when he wasn't obligated to save anybody. Huh? Dear old brother Rolf Barnard,
Grace preacher through these mountains 75 years ago. That
was cussed and discussed an awful lot. He used to have this little saying. If Christ really died. And paid
for the sins of all men. then all men are saved. Nobody's
going to hell. Because that's all God had against
us was our sins. And then he'd say, if Christ
died for some of the sins of all men, nobody's saved. Because we can't do anything
about those sins he didn't die for. If he died for all of the sins
of some, then that some are saved. Certain as we're breathing this
morning, it was settled from eternity in the mind and purpose
of God. It was paid for at Calvary. And Ephesians 1, 6 says that
we are made accepted in the blood that's in Christ. Not made acceptable
so you could add your two cents worth. No, you don't have two
cents worth to add, but made accepted in the blood in Christ. So that's what election is. Now, the reason people hate it,
the reason mostly preachers hate this is because it takes salvation
out of their hands and puts it totally in God's hands, which
is where it's been all along. It's nothing but foolish, sinful,
religious pride that hates this beautiful and blessed doctrine
of election. Dear old preacher, D.J. Ward, a black preacher from Lexington,
Kentucky, passed away in 2010. You can still find some of his
stuff online. D.J. Ward, Elder D.J. Ward. Had God not chosen some, heaven
would have none. How about that? Nobody ever sought
the Lord until the Lord sought them. You say, well, I sought the Lord,
not until he sought you. It was not in your nature. Here's
what every last one of us did by nature. The very same thing
that Adam did. Make you some fig leaf aprons
and say, well, you know, this is good enough for me. It ought
to be good enough for God. And then run and hide. That's
us. That's us. But God, but God,
he came interrupted, invaded. penetrated our foolish, sinful,
rebellious hearts and made a change that we could not make, had no
desire to make. And I bless his name for that.
When he did something like that for such a rascal as me, why
should I be ashamed of it? Huh? Oh, no. Knowing, breathing, beloved,
your election of God. Now, let me hurry on here just
for a few more minutes and ask this question. How did Paul know this about this church, about this
people? He didn't say, I think maybe. He didn't say, you know, I've
got a hunch. He said, knowing. Here's something that I know.
You're my brethren. You're beloved of the Lord. And I know you're part of God's
elect. How did he know it? What he goes
on to tell us first thing in verse five, the effect that the
gospel of Jesus Christ had upon your hearts. There's multitudes that have
heard the same message you've heard all these years, and it
goes in one ear and out the other. It runs off just like, as my
daddy used to say, like water off a duck's back. Don't bother
him at all. Why is it that the gospel had effect in
you? Found a lodging place in your
heart? That what Christ did on the cross means anything to you? Who did that? Were you smart
enough to figure out, well, now this is really important. I may
be able to get in on this. Oh, no, no, no, no. God got you
in on it. Paul said in Galatians 1.15,
he didn't say when I decided to turn over a new leaf. And
he didn't say like a lot of people have told me, when I decided
to get my life straightened out. No, no, no, no. Here's what he
said. When it pleased God to reveal His Son in me. That's the difference. That's
the only difference. the lord said to the israelites
way back in the old testament he said this about them the egyptians
he said that you may know that the lord doth put a difference
between thee and the egyptians i want to tell you something
this morning that's the only difference there is is the difference
the lord puts the only difference in you And the lowdownest rascal
there is in Hendersonville this morning is the difference the
Lord doesn't put. Because ever how lowdown and
ever how sorry and ever how filthy the good are therein, but for
the grace of God you'd be right there with them. This is what grace is about. You think we ought to apologize
for For this, no way, no way. Now he says, here's what happened.
Our gospel came not unto you in word only. It wasn't just something that
you heard with your ears. And we all said, Oh, preacher,
that was such a great sermon. I'm just so sick of hearing that. Came not in word only, but also
in power. and in the Holy Ghost. This is
reference both to the preacher being filled and moved and illuminated
and unctionized by the power of the Spirit of God and also
it works on both ends. It's the Spirit of God working
in the heart of the hearers so that you don't just hear with
the ears, you hear with the heart. That's where the effect is. And in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. Assurance. The effect that it
had. Paul said, that's one way that
I know that you belong to God. Is by the effect that the gospel
has had in your hearts. The fact that you love him and
you live to honor him. Now, Paul wouldn't have said
this about a crowd, said, well, I just don't, you know, I go
when I feel like it, but you know, I've got so much other
stuff I need to do. I mean, I'm just so busy. Yeah,
you're busy. All right. Busy going to hell. And that's what that's about. You say, well, I don't appreciate
your language. I'm not here for you to appreciate my language.
I'm here to tell you what God said. And this is the kind of
people that belong to the Lord. is people whose hearts have been
changed. And they're going to stand up
and they're going to do right in the face of this God-hating
world. Surely you wouldn't argue with me that we're in a God-hating
world. We are. And then he said, you became followers of us That
don't mean they were preacher followers, but it means that
followers of us and of the Lord. Followers of us as we followed
the Lord. Having received the word, that
is the word of the gospel. Now, notice it don't say accepted. So and so accepted the Lord.
That's not in the New Testament. Received is the word the Bible
uses. You might not accept your power
bill when the mailman leaves it, but you'll sure receive it. It wasn't based on your opinion
concerning it or your willingness to have it. You're going to get
it. And the Lord changed my heart
when I wasn't ready for it to be changed. I wasn't interested
in it being changed. I was having too much fun as
a teenager raising hell and carrying on as were many of you. But the Lord made the difference. Huh? You receive, receive, receive. John 1, he came unto his own,
and his own received him not. It didn't say they accepted him
not, they received him not. But as many as received him,
that is those to whom he made himself known, revealed himself,
worked in their hearts, He gave the power, the authority to become
the sons of God. And he said, you receive this
truth in much affliction. There's a lot of people saying,
oh, there ain't nothing to that. Religion's a crutch. It's for
old women and sick people and little children. And there's people saying, you
don't need that. You don't have time for that.
You're too intelligent for that. And there was persecution at
this time. But Paul says, I know you're
God's children because this word has taken a hold in your heart.
Right in the midst of much affliction. and with joy of the Holy Ghost. Why is it you get excited? Why
is it you enjoy the blessed truth of God's Word? And you love hearing
the songs of Zion and the Gospel in song and in truth preached. Why is it you love God's Word?
Why is that? It's not a joy that you create
yourself. It's the joy of the Holy Ghost.
It's the Spirit of God doing these things for us and in us.
Now Paul says something else here that I really take note
of. The example that you've been. So that you were in samples,
that word is example, to all that believe in Macedonia and
Achaia. You set a good example. I want to say to you that still
work in the workplace or public job, you may think nobody's watching. They're watching. They're watching. And they don't want to talk about
what's in your heart. Until they're in so much trouble,
they need somebody to try to get a hold of God. And then they'll
come to you. Would you pray for me? Would you pray for my family?
My wife, my husband, my children? They're watching. They're listening. They know. You say, well, I know somebody
got saved and it didn't seem to make any difference in there.
No, you know, somebody that made a profession, you know, you,
you know, somebody that listened to some con artist preacher that
twisted their arm to come down the aisle and said, you believe
in Jesus? Oh yeah, I believe in Jesus.
Well, you're saved. No, you're not saved. We're talking
about the difference that the Lord makes. in the heart. Examples. Well, the next thing is a missionary
spirit. Paul said, I know this about
you. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only
in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith
to God is spread abroad so that we need not speak anything. We
know it. It's very clear that you have
a heart for other people. You financially support sending
the gospel other places. Isn't that a blessing? Now, I've
known people that don't believe in that. I've known people that were so
staunch on this doctrine of election, of course, they were wrong about
it. They said, well, you know, God knows who he's going to save
and he'll get to them. regardless of you, without you.
No, no, no. God uses means and he uses his
people as means. We don't do what we do in the
matter of giving or anything else. We don't do anything to
try and change God's mind. We do what we do in obedience
to his word to try to cooperate with him in whatever he's doing. Prayer, giving, all of our things
are not to change God's mind, it's to change our mind, to try
to cooperate with Him. He's going to have His way. We don't spend a lot of time
around here whining, oh, let the Lord have His way. No, this
book said that He worketh all things. That's the counsel of
His own will. Psalm 115, 3. Our Lord is in
the heavens, yet done whatsoever He is pleased. Isaiah said, who's going to reach
out and grab his hand and pull it back and say, you can't do
that? Uh-uh. He does it. He does it. So here's this giving spirit,
this missionary spirit to want to see God work in the lives
of others. And then he said, here's some
more about the effect this gospel had on you. Verse nine, you turn
to God from idols. Now I want you to note the order
that that is stated. It didn't say you turn from idols
to God. I've had a lot of people tell
me, well, you know, I got, I got to get some things straightened
out and then I'm going to make a change and then I'm going to
come to church. I've got to get a few things
taken care of. I've got to get my life straightened
out. I reckon they're still working on it. It's been a long, long
time since people told me that. You don't do that. That's not
the order. You don't try to quit all your
hellishness and then say, here I am God, I think I'm qualified
now. You don't do that. You don't turn from idols to
God. You do it like this said, you
turn to God and he'll take care of you turning
from idols. See, this is the order. This is the order to serve
the living God, not false gods. And one other thing, Paul said,
I see this in you folks. You live with anticipation. and wait for God's son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivered us from
the wrath to come. This doesn't mean anticipation
in a spirit of apathy, just sitting and waiting for him to come. Oh no, oh no. But we live our
lives to honor Him. And we pray and ask, Lord, what
would you have me do? How may I be in your service
today? What could I do for your honor
and glory to help somebody, to minister to somebody, to testify
to somebody? And by the way, this testify
to somebody. What the religious world calls
it is witnessing. That's what they call it. We're never called upon to go
out here to folks and say, well, we ought to come over to our
church. We have a wonderful time. We
have a good group of people. We have the friendliest people. and the music. And our preacher, I believe you'd
like it. If God hadn't changed their heart,
they ain't gonna like it. He didn't tell us to go out and
plead with people to come to church so we can fill up the
pews, and I wish we could. I wish some of you'd work on
it. But that's not the way we go about it. We testify of what the Lord has
done for us. You remember that demoniac in
Mark chapter 5? He lived in the graveyard among
the tombs there on the rocky cliffs and the caves of the seashore.
And the people in town, they didn't trust him. They were scared
of him. And rightfully so. But when the Lord came there
and changed his heart, which is why he came. The testimony of the Lord is
that he was found then sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
instead of running naked, and in his right mind instead of
being crazy. And he wanted to go with the
Lord. Remember what the Lord told him? He said, no. You stay here and
invite people to church and try to make something up." No, he
didn't say that. He said, you go tell folks what
great things the Lord has done for you. Is that the reason you never
tell anybody? Has He done anything for you? I'm talking to you about
who God's elect No wonder religion hates this doctrine. It's about
who God's people are.