I was struck at the commencement
of these meetings last night that Mr. Norman Rowe, in praying,
prayed that we might hear the gospel, not in word only, but
also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. For I'm going to turn you to
the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians and chapter
one. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. In which we read from verse 1.
Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians
which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. We give thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 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. knowing brethren beloved your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among
you for your sake. and ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia. 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 would be spread abroad, so
that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait
for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance. When you stand on the brink of
death, when you stand on the brink death. Young or old there comes a day
when you will stand in that place and when you stand in that place
about to depart from this world and it's confusion, it's noise,
it's rebellion its cares, its worries, its sorrows, its heartaches,
its ambitions, its goals, its successes. When you are about
to leave this world of time to enter into eternity, leaving
behind you all that you've fought for, all that you've strived
for, all that you've achieved in this world of darkness and
sin, When all that you've debated and all that you've contended
and all the striving over this, that and the other has come to
an end and the hours of your life tick away and the minutes
tick away and you're about to stand before Almighty God, when
you come to that place you need something. Something more than
just words. Something more than a gospel
which you once heard in word only. A gospel more than that
which you embraced with the intellect. A gospel which is more than that
with which you can contend and argue with others and present
yourself as so theologically astute. so orthodox, so sound,
so free from error. You need more than just the words. You need a gospel which came
unto you, not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy
Ghost. and in much assurance. And if
you stand before God with that gospel, that truth, that salvation
in your heart, then all will be well with your soul. For you have Christ and his grace
and his everlasting life and the righteousness of God in Christ. And God will look upon you as
his bride and love you as his son has loved you. But if you
enter with just the words, you've nothing. You are as the
foolish virgins called to the marriage feast, with the others,
in the right place, having been at the right meetings, hearing
the right preachers, using the right words. But there's no life. There's no oil in the lamp. It's
wrought no change. But Paul could say of these,
at Thessalonica, that he gave thanks to God always for them
all, remembering without ceasing their work of faith, their labour
of love, their patience of hope, knowing, brethren beloved, their
election of God. He knew. He knew this was God's
chosen people because he knew they'd heard the gospel. He knew
it had entered into their hearts in power. He knew they had the
assurance. He'd seen the work of the Holy
Ghost and he'd seen the people who once bowed down to idols
turn to live and serve, to serve the living and true God. He'd seen the change and he knew
this is God's people. And they if they had heard not
just Paul's words but if they'd heard that gospel in power and
in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance they too could say
from their heart, we know our election of God. Once I was blind but now I see. There's no vain hope. There's
no perhaps and maybes. When a blind man sees he knows
he sees. He knows what it is to be blind
and dead. And he knows what it is to see. There are a lot of preachers
in our day, a lot of churches, a lot of speakers, saying many,
many things. We've heard of the false prophets.
We know there are many who deny the truth. We know there are
many who will mix works with the grace of God. But you can
hear the truth. The truth in but word. And you can embrace that in your
head. And you can convince yourself
you're gods and still be dead. And that's a sobering truth. I have met, corresponded, spoken
to, heard from, been criticised by many such men who know it all and can spot
out and point out and correct my every fault and mistake. They know it all, they've got
it summed up. But they don't know Christ. they have the words but not in power and not in assurance Paul's preaching came not in
word only but in power in power in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance. You have only ever heard the
Gospel unto salvation when it comes to you in power in the
Holy Ghost and with much assurance. Until then it's but words, information. But when you've heard the Gospel
By the voice of the Son of God on high. Sent forth by the Holy
Ghost down into this world. Spoken forth by those men whom
God has called and sent forth to preach. That gospel quickens. It brings life. And with it comes
assurance. Now Paul contrasts this gospel
with that which is in word only with these three descriptions
that it came in power, in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. Why three descriptions? Well we see that one is one person
in the Godhead, the Holy Ghost. But wherein is the power of the
gospel? And what brings the assurance? Is the power of the gospel in
the Holy Ghost? If it is, Paul wouldn't have
said in the Holy Ghost, he wouldn't have said also in power and in
the Holy Ghost. It's not simply that the Holy
Ghost takes the words and speaks them. The power is Christ. And any gospel which is not in
Christ spoken by Christ, preached and delivered by Christ, is a
gospel in word only. Because the gospel is not simply
a message that stands on paper alone. It encompasses the one
who wrote it, the one who preaches it, Christ himself. You've only truly heard the gospel
when Christ on a throne in glory speaks and his words come by
the Holy Ghost through the lips of a preacher into your soul. Christ is the power of the gospel. As Paul makes plain in a number
of passages, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it
is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel. The gospel because
it is spoken by Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 Preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are safe it
is the power of God. The Jews require a sign, the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. He is the power of the
gospel. He's the force behind it. He sits in glory and preaches. And only when that message comes
from Him does it come in power. I hear many in churches bemoan
the state of the land and bemoan the state of the churches and
say that we have faithful preachers, but oh, the power's gone. If Christ speaks through that
preacher, it will be in power. and in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance. Power, Christ, the Holy Ghost
and much assurance. There's a three-fold cord in
this passage. And a three-fold cord is not
easily broken, it's strong. And it's threefold because we
worship one God in three persons. The Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost. The powers in the Son. The Holy
Ghost delivers his words to quicken dead sinners unto life and he
sends that gospel forth to bring sinners as the bride of Christ
washed in his blood with Christ to the Father. Wherein is assurance
to be found? Is to be found by being led by
Christ in his gospel unto his Father. Here is my bride for
whom I suffered for whom I laid down my life. Here is my bride,
spotless and pure, washed in my blood. Here is my bride whom
I loved. I loved her and gave myself for
her. Father, here's my bride, my people. when you're brought by Christ
to his father. You know you're his. You know
you're washed. You know all is well with your
soul. He saved me with a mighty salvation. He found me in the depths of
sin. He sought me when I was afar
off. He found me a rebel at enmity
with God, raging at God, shutting my ears to the truth, blind,
dead, cursing and screaming and he took me and he broke me. He broke down my hard heart. He shattered my dreams of self-righteousness. He shattered my worldly ambitions. He broke me down and showed me
that I am nothing and I have nothing and I can do nothing
and I don't want to do anything for this God, that I am nothing
before Him. And He showed me my state as
a sinner. and that time is ticking away
the sands are passing through my fingers and there's a day
fast approaching when I will face in this state the wrath
to come he found me and he took me in such a state and he touched
my eyes and I opened them and saw And he touched my ears and
I heard the voice of the Son of God saying, arise, follow
me. And he took my corruption and
washed it away in his blood. And he led me to the Father. When you've been brought that
path, You know that you've heard the gospel, not in word only,
but in power. In the Holy Ghost and in much
assurance. It's a free-fall chord. Christ, the power of God. Christ, the Logos, the Word,
the Word of God as John describes Him. The Word made flesh. The Logos, the logic, the reason,
the purpose of God. All God's purposes met in Christ. He is the one of whom the Gospel
speaks. All the gospel concerns Christ. And Christ is only conveyed by
that gospel. You cannot know Christ outside
of that gospel. You cannot know Christ through
sacraments. You cannot know Christ through
the Roman Catholic Mass. He's not conveyed in any means
but his gospel. But if he's conveyed to you by
his gospel, he'll come to you in power, not just in words. That power is sent forth by the
Holy Ghost to seek and to find that which is lost, that it might
be brought to the Father. That power is conveyed through
the preaching, the preaching, the preaching of the gospel. God's means of saving sinners
is by the foolishness of preaching his gospel. I receive letters, emails, correspondence
comments, criticisms from different parties at different times and
there's always a faction that contends against the preaching
of the gospel a fellow wrote to me this week of these meetings
oh it's just a one man show Wasn't like that in the early
church, that was all about exhorting one another. I'm happy to go
there but I don't want to hear preachers. Now whatever the rights
or the wrongs of his arguments from scripture regarding the
priesthood of all believers or the exhortations of brethren
one to another The fact remains that God sends preachers to his
church. And not everyone in his church
is sent as a preacher. Though we are all called to testify
to all men of what Christ has done for us. But he has those
whom he sends, pastors, teachers, preachers. prepared and sent
of God by the Holy Spirit with his gospel. And you can make
your excuses to shut your ears to preach into your peril. But Christ is conveyed by his
gospel through preaching. Not by studying, not by debate,
not by arguing this and that out on the internet, not by reading
books, but by preaching. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, the Father,
which he had aforepromised by his prophets in the holy scriptures
concerning his Son Jesus Christ, the Son, our Lord which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. That's how Paul introduces
the book of Romans. He presents himself as a servant
sent of God, separated to preach this gospel. God the Father called
him and separated him to preach the gospel concerning the Son
of God, whom The Spirit of God testifies, was raised from the
dead in power. He was sent forth with a triune
gospel and what he preached came not in word only, but in power,
in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And any and every
preacher whom God raises up throughout history and sends forth to his
people, to his ecclesia, his called out church, are sent by
God with that same gospel and it will come forth in power and
you need to hear that gospel. If you're to stand before Almighty
God on the last day and be spared and delivered from the roft to
come. Don't ever pass by an opportunity
if you can make it to hear the gospel. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth my word, the Lord says, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. We need to hear the voice of
the Son of God. Words alone won't do us. Words alone won't save us. I don't care how right the theology
is. I've heard preachers who I could
sit down afterwards and say I couldn't really fault them but it's been
dead because God never sent them. And it's clear when you hear
them and it's clear when you see them. Because I've seen men
speak of precious truths, precious truths, who when they're done,
go out and go off to serve their idols, their idols. At the baseball game, at a football
match, at the rock concert, at the shopping centre, in the home
with the family, in their churches, in their religion. I don't care
what your idol is. This gospel is sent to turn sinners
to God from idols. that they might serve the living
and true God. And if your gospel is something
you can go in a room with Brethren or others and talk about like
it's a topic, like you're speaking about physics or chemistry and
then go off and bow down to all manner of idols, it's of nothing
worth. This gospel comes in power, it's
preached, it's not in courses, it's not in alpha courses, it's
not in Christianity explored courses. Whatever good there
may be in some of these courses that people create in order to
instruct people of the truth, it's preached. You can make proselytes, you
can make converts, you can add people to the churches easily. People fill certain churches,
they're full. They're not like here, they're
full. But they're full of dead corpses. But our gospel doesn't leave
you a corpse. Our gospel came not unto you
in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
is a free-fold work of God to deliver his gospel to sinners. In Genesis and chapter 24 we
read the account of Abraham sending forth his servant to find a bride
for Isaac. He takes his best servant and
he sends him forth on a mission to a far country and he goes
to find a woman whom he's sent to, he doesn't know who she is,
she's a far off. And when he finds her, he finds
Rebekah, he leads her back to the son, to Isaac. and to his
father. Now that's a wonderful picture
of the preaching of the gospel. The father Abraham sends his
servant, a picture of the Holy Ghost, to go into a far country,
a heathen country, to find a bride for his son. And you take out
any part of that and you've not got the Gospel. If it's not the
Father who sends the Holy Ghost, it's not the Gospel. If it's
not the Holy Ghost who attends the preaching, it's not the Gospel. If that preaching does not find
that bride in a far country, it's not the Gospel. If that
bride is not led to the Son, it's not the Gospel. Let's try
you. But that gospel found Rebecca
and it's been carrying on ever since. The father's been sending
his servants forth to find the bride wherever she may be. Has a servant come unto you with
the gospel of Christ? Have you been called to the Son? Have you been found lying in
your filth and in your corruption and your rebellion and your hard-heartedness? Has that been melted? Has it
been melted? Paul goes on, verse 6. He became followers of us and
of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction. with joy of the Holy Ghost. They received the word in much
affliction. Now any of you who know the power
of the gospel and who know the glory of Christ in salvation
and know the grace of God which bringeth salvation Any of you
who know what it is to be saved by this gospel, to be delivered
from your sins, to be brought to Christ, to be brought to see,
you'll know something of affliction. you'll know something of affliction
before you're brought to life you'll know something of affliction
when you're brought to life and you'll know plenty of affliction
after you're brought to life because this is a world of darkness
which does not receive the light and hates and despises the light
and hates and despises all those who walk in the light. Saying earlier to one or two. There's an adversary, one who
goes about in this world as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,
who does not want you here today. and does not want this gospel
to be preached today and will do everything he can to keep
God's children from hearing the gospel and to keep God's servants
from preaching the gospel. We walk through air which is
thick with evil spirits. If you could but see. The air,
the climate, the world in which we dwell is thick with evil. Not just what you hear and see. Not just what is done in the
world. Not just what is reported in
the media. But there's an evil which is
all around us. And there are spirits which will
do everything they can to destroy God's people if they could. But there's a power. greater
than all of them. And when God says, today you
will hear my word, you will hear his word. And when God says this
one is going to come and to hear my gospel in power, you will
hear in power. And the gates of hell will not
stop it. I will build my church and the
gates of Hades will not prevent it. I will preach and you will
hear and you will see even though you may hear in much affliction. You must hear in much affliction.
You're hard hearted, you're dead, you're wicked, you're evil by
nature and everything in you wars against the gospel. Then it's only going to come
if it breaks you. If God the Spirit goes forth
and prepares a way and breaks the ground up and makes you receptive
to heal, there must be affliction, there must be breaking. But when the soil is prepared
and when the seed is sown on good ground, it brings forth
fruit and that abundantly. having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost because when that word
takes root and when the scales of your eyes fall away and you
open and see the Lord Jesus crucified for you, broken for you, having
come into this world not just to save sinners, but to save
you in particular. And when you see his blood being
shed for you, and you know it was shed for you, and God makes
you aware that he suffered and bled for you, then joy floods
the heart. Once I was blind though I'd heard
the gospel in word many, many, many times. Once I was dead though I'd been
taken to meeting places by my parents many, many, many times. But there came a day when God
broke me and slew my old man and took me to the cross and
opened my eyes to see a sight I'd heard about many times but
never seen. And I wept tears of joy because
I knew this wasn't just for others. I knew my father believed and
I loved him for his belief but I wasn't part of it. And I could see the years coming
and going. And I could see that I might
become one of those old men I'd seen who were lost. And there's nothing I could do
about it. I tried. I'd read the scriptures,
I'd heard the messages, I'd been attentive, I'd prayed, I'd tried
to live right and everything I did ended up in tatters because
the evil that was in me made me do that which I hated. I wanted
to do good, but the good that I would, I could not do. O wretched
man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of sin? Praise God! There's a Saviour
who delivers. Praise God! He spoke to me in
power by His gospel and said, You are mine. The Saviour came and delivered
me. Delivered me from the wrath to
come and turned me from idols to serve the living and true
God. Have you come there? Have you
heard that? Have you been turned? Salvation! is not to leave us
where we are. I wonder at times how people can
speak of salvation. I heard religious people speak
of believing on Jesus the day I was saved and you look at them
and wonder what they've been saved from. Sin has its grip
around them. Now I know that we have the flesh
till our dying day and that flesh gets stronger and greater. And
I know the struggle of the believer. And I know that the good that
we would we cannot do and we grieve over our sin. And we can't
see any evidence of salvation by looking within. But God doesn't
save sinners to leave them in the gutter. He turns them from
idols under him. and that's power look at your heart consider your
idols not just the ones that other people might be able to
see but those you know are within those things that your heart
craves after those things you desire those ambitions, those
goals, that pride within, that love of self, that love of the
applause of men that which motivates you, you know you worship idols and you know that it takes a
power to deliver from them you can't turn yourself This world
has such an influence and such a power over every one of us. And there's so much in this day
and age which is designed to feed and to foster and to encourage
the flesh within us to go and to bow down to Babylon all around. It constantly says, worship worship,
worship but it never says worship the Lord Jesus Christ when the gospel comes in power you feel the deliverance you
don't turn in your own strength suddenly you hate those things
you loved suddenly you love the God you hated Suddenly you're
going another way. And it's irresistible. There's a force and there's a
power which is leading you. Because God is leading you. And the Holy Ghost is leading
you. And you know it's His work, not
yours. It's all of grace. It's all in
Christ. God's taken you. and picked you
up and turned you and he leads you forth. Do you know that? Do you know
that? Or are there idols you still
bow down to? Is your gospel but words in your
head a mere profession? Do you read the books, the books
of men? Good books, the best books. Do
you think you're going to get to God with your much spiritual
zeal and fervor and reading? When I was younger and I didn't
have children, I had more time for reading and I liked reading. I'm older, I have other responsibilities,
God-given responsibilities. Those things that I should strive
at, to be a good father to my children and it would be wrong
to neglect my children, to go in a corner by myself to selfishly
read a book, no matter how good a book. I don't have the same time, but
I sometimes meet those who do have time, single men, Couples
without children, those who have more time, who judge spirituality
based on how much of your time is spent talking or reading or
studying these things. And if you say to them, I'm sorry
but I've got to go and pick the children up from school, I've
got to go and do this, cares for the world brother. Really. Perhaps. But much words won't lead you
unto God. Much reading won't lead you unto
God. I don't decry it. Take time to
read, read the word of God. But know that you must hear God
speak in power. One word from his lips will do
more for your soul than a hundred thousand hours of studying the
very scriptures by your own strength. He must speak. What is the end of this? Delivered
from idols but verse 10, to wait for his son from heaven whom
he raised from the dead even Jesus which delivered us from
the wrath to come. There's the power. There's the
ground of the gospel. God sent his son into this world
to deliver his people from the wrath to come. Praise God he
came. Praise God he delivered them. He didn't make it possible. He
brought salvation. He accomplished the work. Thou
shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins and he saved them. When he laid down his life upon
the cross, when he bore their sins, when he drank the cup of
God's wrath, he saved them. Totally. He left nothing undone,
no stone unturned. He did not get to the end and
say, there you are then, just come and take it. He does not
come to the graves and say, salvation is there, over there, come out
and claim it. But he preaches to those in graves
with a manner that life enters into their souls and they come
out in the mighty power of God. His death wrought their life. It accomplished their salvation. It is finished. because his death was an effectual
substitutional death. He was thoroughly substituted
in their place to stand where they should stand, that they
should stand where he stands on the right hand of God his
Father. As he makes plain in 2 Corinthians,
He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. This verse has nothing
to say of anything we do. It's all in Christ. God made
Christ to be sin for us. Christ who was spotless, Christ
without blemish, Christ who knew no sin, came for sinners and
stood there on the block of execution. And God the Father took that
people and He crucified that people in His Son. They were so united with Him
in death that He became what they are. He was made sin that
God should judge them, destroy them and blot out what they are
in Adam in him completely. It was total. Now I know there's a war and
a controversy over these very words. and I know that if I say he have
made him to be sin that people put me in hell as a result. Well
take your argument up with God because God did this and God
says this and here's the gospel and therein lies the power and
you can alter that wording and you can stuff other words in
its place to your peril. But those are the words of God.
He took Christ and he took his people and he united them such
that Paul could say in 2nd Galatians, I am crucified
with Christ. We were one in death and God
slew me in him. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, I'm one with him, and if I'm one
with him he hath to take all that I am into the grave. Not just my sins what I've done
but the sin that I am, that sin which entered into man when Adam
sinned as Romans 5 tells us. What I am was nailed to the tree
and slain, I am crucified, I am no more. Yet in Christ I am risen
again, alive, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God. He's my life. He's my righteousness. I am the righteousness of God
in him. All that he is, I am. And God
looks upon me as him, as his bride, united, one flesh. I'm one with him because he loved
me and gave himself for me. We were crucified with him. It's
real. And when the gospel comes in
power, you know it, you know you were slain there, you know
your old man Adam, you know the body of sin, as Romans 6 tells
us, was slain with Christ upon the cross, such that it has no
more grip on you. You know that when you pass from
this world into the next, you will pass through without sin,
because sin has been destroyed. If your Saviour merely had your
sins, your deeds imputed to Him and paid the price for those
sins, then you would enter into glory with sin in you, a sinner
still. But Christ didn't only pay the
price of your sins, He took away your sin. It was laid in the
grave that you might rise up with Him in righteousness by
the faith of the Son of God. because it was his faith and
his act of faith which took him to the cross for sinners. and
which enabled him to trust and rest in his father's promise
that all that they had covenanted and promised for that people
from before the foundation of the world would be accomplished.
And though he laid down his life, he knew that he would rise again
in power. He knew it, he believed it, he
trusted it, and all that he trusted was wrought. The faith of Jesus
Christ. brought in for us the righteousness
of God. And if you know it, you'll feel
it, you'll feel the effects and the power, you'll feel the freedom
and deliverance from sin, you'll know the deliverance, the deliverance
from the wrath to come. Do you? And you'll know as a
consequence your election of God. Paul knew it of these, but
do they? Do you? Do you know your election? Do you know you've heard the
gospel in power? Has it come in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance? If it has, you know We know that
we have passed from death unto life because we love the Brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. We know. John constantly tells
us this in his letter. Hereby we do know that we know
him if we keep his commandments. Whoso keepeth his word in him
verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. And hereby we know that we are
of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. And he
that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him.
And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he
hath given us. We are of God. He that knoweth
God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him and in he in us because he have given us of his spirit. We know, we know, where is assurance
It's in the Gospel that comes, not in word only, but in power,
in the Holy Ghost, in much assurance, because that Gospel leads you
to the Father. And if you're led to the Father,
delivered from the wrath to come, you know. You know. And you wait. And if you don't
know, I implore you, wait. Wait for his son from heaven. Wait for him to come with his
gospel in power, who was raised from the dead, even Jesus, which
delivered us from the wrath to come. Wait, wait for his son
from heaven. Wait, wait, wait for he who comes
with a gospel, not in word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. Praise God. Amen.