Would you turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
1. 1 Thessalonians 1. In the fourth verse, of First Thessalonians, Paul
says to these people, knowing, brethren beloved, your election
of God. Now, Paul looks at these people
that he's writing to and he says, I know that you are of the number
of God's elect. How do you know? There's a book in heaven called
the Land's Book of Life. I'm sure you've read of it, which
has all the names of God's elect recorded in it. And only the
names of the elect are recorded in this book. Those who were
not chosen before time began, their names are not written in
this book. Let me show you this in the scripture.
Revelation chapter 13. Verse 8, And all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship Him, this false Christ, this One with
blasphemy in His name. And He spake blasphemies against
God. You can read about that in the
previous verses. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Look at Revelation
20, verse 11. And I saw a great white throne. and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there
was found no place for them, and I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books were opened. And another
book was opened, which is the book of life, that book we just
read about. And the dead Those who were dead
in sins were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them. And they were judged every man according
to their works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. Now we see that not everybody
has their name written in this book. But I know this, every
member of God's church has their name written in this book. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 12. Now this is the church role of
which I want my name. Now at this church, we don't
have what they call the church role. I don't see that in Scripture,
and therefore I don't see any point in having it. What does
it mean? What if your name's on it? What
if your name's not on it? I mean, it just doesn't make
much difference about having a church role. Somebody says,
well, how do you join the church? Well, do you believe the gospel?
You're a member. You don't believe? You're not a member. It really
is that simple. Look here in Hebrews 12, 23. To the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven. Now this is the role I want to
have my name on. This General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn which are written in heaven. Their names are in
this Lamb's Book of Life. Let me tell you what the Lord
said about this. Turn to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Verse 17, And the seventy, those that he
sent out to and to to preach the gospel, they returned again
with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us
through thy name. Now, would you feel pretty good
about yourself if the Lord used you in that way to where you
had devils subject to you? I imagine I would feel pretty
good about how the Lord is blessing me if that were the case. Now
look at our Lord's reply. And he said unto them, verse
18, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give
unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the
power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Notwithstanding, In this, rejoice not that the spirits are subject
unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven." Now, Paul the Apostle had no
access to the book of life. There is a book, a literal book,
I suppose. I don't know how to explain that,
but a book with all the names of God's elect in there. And
I thought before, if I had access to that book, I know whose name
I'd look up first. I'd look yours up second, but
I know whose I'd look up first. I'd look up my own name. And
you would too. But Paul had no access to this
book with all the names of God's elect. And yet he says to these
people, I know your election of God. Now what is the election
of God? It's God's choice of His people
before time began. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says,
But we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you. elected you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. Now, I don't have to convince
any believer of this. I just know it. You know, the
Lord said to his disciples, you have not chosen me, but I have
chosen Now, every one of the Lord's disciples, you just know
that's so. You know it's so because it says it in the Word. And you
know it's so because you know you're so sinful you'd never
choose Him. You know enough about yourself to know you'd never
come to Him. You'd never choose Him unless
He first chose you. You know that about yourself.
I don't have to convince a believer of this. It's the truth. And
Paul says to these people, I know you're one of God's elect. And
you know, I thought about him saying this to these people and
I thought, I know some people. I know a lot of people of whom
I can say, I know your election of God. It's kind of sad. Somebody was
telling me, a pastor, I won't mention who it was, it was a
pastor in a church in another place, and there was a member
that died, and he was saying, yeah, I don't know if they were
believers. They said they believed what
we preached, but you couldn't have told them about their lives.
You just couldn't tell it. I mean, they said they believed,
but there seemed to be such a lack of interest, such a lack of passion
to hear the gospel preached. They could miss it easily, and
worship just was not that important to them. And you hope they're
believers. You hope they are. You're not
going to say they're not. You know, they profess to be, but
you can't say regarding these people, I know their election
of God. But there's some you can say,
I know. your election of God. How? How? That's a big question, isn't
it? How can you know somebody's election of God? Now this epistle
to the Thessalonians was written just about three weeks after
Paul had first met them. Now what had taken place, you
can read about it in Acts chapter 17. He went there and preached
the gospel and he got ran out of town. There was a riot and
then he went to Berea and then he went to Athens and he was
waiting in Athens after preaching the gospel to these people, waiting
for a word from Timothy to see whether or not they seem to really
believe it. First, they seem to receive the
word even in the midst of this trouble and in the midst of this
riot that was going on, they received it in much affliction.
And he was waiting to hear from Timothy whether there was anything
to it. Turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter
three. He says in verse 1, Wherefore,
when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left
at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, 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. Now remember, they'd
only heard the gospel three weeks before this. And he wanted to
make sure that no man should be moved by these afflictions.
For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily,
when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer
tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. And 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. But now when Timotheus came from
you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity,
and that you have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly
to see us as we also to see you, therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. He says to these people, I know
your election of God. Now let's look back at chapter
one. This is Paul's letter to this
church. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus
under the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a good place to be, isn't
it? In the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, 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 labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father,
knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. Now, Paul, how
do you know their election of God? Well, he tells us in verse
five, four. Here's how I know your election
of God. Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in
power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance, as you know,
what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And you became
followers, imitators of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so
that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonian Achaian. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Chaia, but also
in every place. Your faith to Godward is spread
abroad so that we not need to speak anything. For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turn
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." Now that's
how I know your election of God. He says, our gospel came not
to you in word only. That's the first thing he says.
This is how I know you're one of God's elect. Our gospel, the
gospel we preach, the gospel of God, the gospel of His grace,
the saving gospel, the gospel of the scriptures, the gospel
of God. Our gospel, the gospel that saved us. I love the way
Paul calls the gospel, my gospel. This is my gospel. It's the gospel
that saved me. Our gospel came to you not in
word only. It did not come in emptiness. It came in its saving power. Now, what does it mean to hear
the gospel in word only? Now, if you hear the gospel in
word only, and he says, this is not how you heard it. Means
you hear the truth. You hear the truth. You don't
hear a false gospel. You hear the truth. You hear the truth of
the scriptures. But you don't hear it as a sinner. You hear the truth, but you really
don't hear it as a sinner. You see, the only way you can
hear the gospel is as a sinner. You can't hear it any other way.
If you're not hearing the gospel as a sinner, you're hearing it
in word only, and it's meaningless. You see, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is essentially and fundamentally a sinner's religion. It's a religion for sinners.
They're the only ones who have any appreciation of the gospel.
Now, that's the only way you can hear the gospel as a real
bona fide sinner. You know, we talk about the doctrine
of grace. If you really believe total depravity, if you really
believe you're totally depraved, I don't mean you just believe
in the doctrine of total depravity, but if you believe you're totally
depraved in and of yourself, you're nothing but sin. If you
really believe that, unconditional election is a necessity to you.
You can't be saved without that. Effectual redemption, Christ's
redemption for His elect, His successful redemption, why it's
necessary. Irresistible grace, that's the
only kind of grace that can save you. You must be preserved in
order to persevere. You see, you can only hear the
gospel as a sinner. When that's established, I'm
nothing but sin. Oh, you hear the gospel so differently. It's
so easy to trust Christ as your righteousness before God when
you have no righteousness. When you have none, it's easy
to trust Him. It's easy to believe grace. Sovereign
saving grace, when you in and of yourself are utterly powerless,
you only can hear the gospel as a sinner. When you hear in word only, you
don't hear it as the absolute word of God. You hear it as the
preacher's opinion. Well, that's Todd's opinion.
That's Todd's thought. That's what that church over there thinks.
That's what that denomination stands for. You hear the Scripture
as opinion rather than the absolute Word of God. Look in 1 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. Verse 13, For this cause also
thank we God without ceasing, because when you received the
Word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the
Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. which effectually worketh also
in you that believe." You see, when you hear the gospel in power,
you know it's God's gospel. It's God's word. It's not man's
word. It's not man's opinion. It's God's gospel. Paul said,
the gospel that was preached to me is not after man. It was not derived from any human
source. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now, when you hear the gospel
in power, Not in word only. You hear it as the absolute truth
of God. And when you hear the gospel
in word only, you don't hear it as gospel. You are seeing
if you agree. You're judging. You're critiquing
to see if you agree with what's being said. See whether it's
right, whether it's not. That's not hearing the word of
God in power. When you hear the word in power,
you hear it as good news. This is the best news I've ever
heard that salvation is all by grace. This is exactly what I
need. Now, that's what it is to hear
the gospel, not in word only, but in power. You see, the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. You were saved. Now, I was saved. Listen to me real carefully.
I don't know how to explain this other than just say it. I was
saved before time began in the mind and purpose of God and the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's how long
I've been saved. However old God is, that's how
old I am. I was saved that long. I was
saved when Christ died. When he died and was raised from
the dead, I was justified in God's sight. I was saved when
I heard the gospel. when I believed the gospel."
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. All three of
those are true. Now, can you make logical sense
of that? No, but I'm not worried about
that. I just believe what the Bible says. I was saved in hearing
the gospel. You were saved when the gospel
came to you in power, and look what he says next. For our gospel
came not into you in word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost. The only way you can hear the
gospel in power is by the Holy Spirit. Now you know that, don't
you? Only the Spirit of God can enable you to hear the gospel
in power. You can't do it on your own. You've tried before.
The only way you can hear in power is if God the Holy Spirit
enables you to. You see, worship, we are the
circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. in power, and
then next he says, in the joy of the Holy Ghost. The Kingdom
of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness. It's
peace. It's joy in the Holy Ghost. Does
it give you joy, real joy, to know that salvation is all of
grace? It gives me joy. Does it give you joy to know
that when Christ said it is finished, sin was put away. You see, you
can't really hear the gospel in just a unmoved way. Faith is not a feeling, but it
sure has feelings, doesn't it? Feelings of joy, feelings of
peace, feelings of exalting in the Lord and rejoicing in Him.
In joy of the Holy Ghost. Look what he says next. And in
much assurance. You've heard the gospel in much
assurance. Now, what does that mean? Does
that mean you haven't really believed unless you have full
assurance of your salvation and have no doubts whatsoever about
your salvation? Now, let me say some things about
assurance. I have assurance. And as soon
as I say, I have full assurance, I start wondering, you know,
what if you're wrong? I mean, it happens every time. I've got
full assurance. Do you really? I mean, I have
all kinds of questions coming at me. Now listen to me. Full assurance is what Christ
did enough to save you. Is anything else needed? Now
you answer that question. is what Christ did is who He
is and what He did enough to save you. You say, yes, I believe,
I believe that. Then you have full assurance,
you're fully assured that He's able to save you. You're fully
assured that He is salvation. You're fully assured that He
did it all. That's what full assurance is.
And when I lack assurance is because I'm looking in here.
I'm looking for something in me to make me think I'm a Christian.
As soon as I start looking within to find assurance, I'm not going
to have any, and I don't deserve any. That's not where assurance
is found. Assurance is found in Him. But when He's talking
about full assurance, He's not even referring to that kind of
assurance. What He's talking about is assurance that this
is the gospel. You're fully assured that this
is the truth of God. This is God's gospel. You know it is the truth. Now
when you hear in power, you know this is God's word. This is not
man's word. I'm sure that this is God's word. And then next
he says, you know what manner of men we were among you for
your sake. In verse five, you hear the gospel with the
assurance. It's God's word. And when you see, receive the
word of God, you receive it from a man. And you know that that
man's a servant of God. Now, You're listening to me preach. You had other things you could
have done, but you drove out here, sit down, and you're listening
to a guy preach. You believe that I'm a God-sent
preacher. You believe that. You wouldn't
be here if you didn't. You believe that God has sent me to preach
the gospel, to tell the truth. And that's what people do. They
believe that. Now, verse 6, look what it says next. This is how
I know your election of God. Let's read verse 5 again. For
our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power,
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what
manner of men we were among you for your sakes. And you became
followers of us and of the Lord. You became followers, imitators
of us and the Lord. Now, if I can't follow a man,
I can't follow the Lord Jesus. Somebody says, I will not follow
any man. Well, you won't follow Christ
then. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. And if I have
to say, do as I say, but don't do as I do, I have no business
preaching. You know that. I better be able to say, you
follow me as I follow Christ. And if I can't say that, I have
absolutely no business preaching. Look what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 4. Would you turn back there for a moment? He says to the Corinthians in
verse 16, 1 Corinthians chapter 4, Wherefore I beseech you, be
ye followers of me. Now he wasn't saying that with
arrogance, he wasn't a cult leader, but he said, I beseech you, be
ye followers of me. Look what he said in verse 9
that led him to say that. For I think that God has set
us, the apostles, last, as it were appointed to death. For
we're made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to
men. We're fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ.
We're weak, he's speaking facetiously, but you're strong. You're honorable,
but we're despised. Even into this present hour,
we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted, and
we have no certain dwelling place. You know, Paul didn't have a
home to go to the way you and I do tonight. He slept wherever he
could find a place where anybody put him up. And we labor, working
with our own hands, being reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we
suffer it, being defamed, we entreat, we're made as the filth
of the world and are the offspring of all things unto this day.
I write not these things to shame you, but my beloved sons, I warn
you, for though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ,
yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the
gospel. Wherefore, I beseech you, be
ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto
you Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord,
who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ,
as I teach everywhere in every church." Now, Paul said, you
be followers of me as I am also of Christ. And they did this.
Go back to our text in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Verse 6, you became followers
of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction
with joy of the Holy Ghost. Now this is why I know you're
elect of God, you received the word. In much affliction, even
though there was affliction around the word being preached, people
who didn't believe. I love what the Lord said in John chapter
8, He said, he that's of God, heareth God's words. That's what
God's elect do. They receive the Word. You receive
the Word in much affliction and in joy of the Holy Ghost, verse
7, so that you are examples to all that believe in Macedonian. Now the Word is literally, you
are a mold, you are a pattern, you are a form. You fit the form.
Now, I'm looking at a bunch of unique individuals. You guys
aren't alike. You got your own personality,
I got my own personality. There's nobody like me. I'm the
only me there is. Good thing, isn't it? You're
the only you there is. We're unique individuals. But I also
know this, being unique individuals, every single one of God's people
were saved the same way. They meet that form, they fit
into that mold. Just like Paul on the road to
Damascus. The salvation begins with a great light. The light
of the gospel, the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. They fall
down to the earth. They're knocked off their high
horse. They hear the voice of Christ.
God sends him a preacher, Ananias. He says the God of our fathers
had chosen thee that you should know his will. See that just
one. Know his will of redemption.
Everybody he died for must be saved. See that just one. How
he can be just and justify the ungodly. Hear the voice of his
mouth for thou shalt be his witness. You know, Paul said he was a
pattern to them that should have after belief. Everybody's saved
the same way Paul was. We have the same experience. Saved by
the same Gospel. Now, we're all unique, I realize
that, and there's different details, but we have the same experience.
We believe the same Gospel. We have the same teacher. He
said, you became examples. You fit into the mold to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded
out, thundered out, literally, the Word of the Lord. You weren't
ashamed of the Gospel, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but
also in every place. Your faith to God were to spread
abroad so that we may not need to speak anything. We don't need
to try to convince people you're believers. It's obvious. Verse
nine, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had into you, how you turn to God from idols. to serve the living and true
God. Now notice the order. He didn't
say you turn from idols to get to God. You all of a sudden saw
the vanity of your idols and saw how wrong they were. And
then you knew, I need to turn to God. No, you saw who God was. God revealed himself to you.
And when you saw who God was, you turned from your idols. to
serve the living and true God. You saw that your former religion
was idolatry and nothing more. There was nothing to it. You
turned to God from those idols to serve the living and the true
God. And verse 10 says, to wait for
His Son from heaven. Now, what does it mean to wait
for the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, we read throughout
the Scriptures, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. And we want
to wait on the Lord, don't we? We don't want to go before Him.
We want to wait on Him. I don't want to make a move without
Him. But what does it mean, truly, to wait on the Lord? Now, we
have an example in the Old Testament of what it means to not wait
on the Lord. And through seeing what it means
to not wait on the Lord, we can see what it means to wait on
the Lord. I want to wait on the Lord, don't you? Now, I'm one
of God's elect. I'm going to be somebody who
waits on the Lord. Would you turn with me to 1 Samuel
chapter 13? 1 Samuel 13. Verse 5. This is about Saul. And the Philistines
gathered themselves together to fight with Israel 30,000 chariots
and 6,000 horsemen and people as the sand, which is on the
seashore in multitude. And they came up and pitched
in Mick mash eastward from Bethlehem. And when the men of Israel saw
that they were in a straight, I mean, they were in trouble
for the people were distressed. Then the people did hide themselves
in caves and in thickets and in rocks and in high places and
in pitch, they couldn't defeat this army. And some of the Hebrews
went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul,
he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling.
And he tarried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had
appointed. Samuel said, I'll be there in seven days. But Samuel,
God's priest, came not to Gilgal, and the people were scattered
from him. And Saul said, bring hither a burnt offering to me
and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. Now, only the priest is allowed
to offer the burnt offering. Now, Saul was in a straight.
Samuel didn't show up, so he thought, well, we got to do it.
So he went ahead and offered this offering. Verse 10, and
it came to pass that as soon as he'd made an end of the offering,
the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet
him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, what hast thou
done? And Saul said, because I saw the people were scattered
from him, that thou camest not within the days appointed, and
that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Mikmash.
Therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to
Gilgal. And I've not made supplication unto the Lord. I forced myself
therefore and offered a burnt offering. He didn't wait on Samuel. He didn't wait on the priest.
He forced himself to do it. He thought, this is expedient.
I've got to do it. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou
hast done foolishly. Thou has not kept the commandment
of the Lord, thy God, which he commanded thee. For now with
the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.
But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought
him a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him
to be captain over his people because thou has not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee. Now, what did Saul do? He didn't
wait for the priest to offer up the offering. Now here's what
a believer does. I don't make a move to God. I
wait on Christ to make my move for me. I wait on Christ to present
my name before the Father. I don't come on my own. I wait
on the Lord. I don't come waltzing into his
presence apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. I wait on the Lord. I can't offer up an offering.
I can't offer up something that he can accept. It's got to be
the Lord Jesus Christ doing it for me. That's what it means
to wait on the Lord. You come into His presence only
through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And no other way. Now back to our text. Let me
close up. Paul said, I know your election of God. How do you know,
Paul? He says, because you wait for
His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus,
which delivered us from the wrath to come. Now there is a wrath to come. And in the book of Revelation,
we even read of the wrath of the lamb. There is a wrath to
come, but we're waiting on him who delivered us. He didn't make
deliverance possible. If we do something, He delivered
us. We're waiting on that one who
has delivered. And that's what our Lord did
on Calvary's tree. He completely delivered all of
His people. He's the deliverer. And He's
the one we're waiting on. Now, that's how I know your election
of God. He had no access to the Lamb's
Book of Life, but he could say to these people, I know your
election of God. And he is, why knows? And I can, I'm looking at some
people right now and I can say, I know your election of God. But you know what? This is also
interesting. I was thinking about this. If I think you're a Christian,
does that make you one? No. If I don't think you're a
Christian, does that mean you're not one? No. What I think doesn't even matter.
The only one who can give us true assurance that we're His
is the Lord Himself. And when He gives us assurance,
we're assured. Let's pray.