Would you turn back to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1? Look at verse four once again. Paul says to these people that
he's writing to. Knowing. Brethren beloved. Your election. Of God. Now Paul says to these
people. I know. that you are of the number
of God's elect. Now how can that be? Before time began, God chose
who would be saved. Our Lord said to his disciples,
you've not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained according
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him." I could go
on and on quoting so many scriptures regarding this glorious truth
concerning God's electing mercy. He chose a vast number of Adam's
race to be saved. He elected them. They will be
saved. He gave them to his son. They
will be saved. Look in Romans chapter 11, just
for a moment. I thought of this passage of
scripture while I was considering this. Paul says in verse 1, I say then,
had God cast away his people, God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. What ye not
that the scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
and dig down thy altars, and I am left alone, and they seek
my life? But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved
to myself seven thousand men which have not bowed the knee
to the image of Baal. Even so, in like manner then,
at this present time, there is also a remnant A small number
according to what? The election of grace. And it by grace. It was by grace. Election. God's gracious choice
of His people. Unconditional election. God's choice of His people before
time began. There is a book of life with
all the names of the elect written in them. You read about that
in Revelation. Now, Paul looks at these people
and he didn't know this by intuition. He didn't know this because he
had some kind of access into looking into the Lamb's book
of life. What if you had access to look into the Lamb's book
of life? Whose name would you look for
first? I know the answer to that. It
wouldn't be you. I hope you're, I look for my
name first, but Paul didn't have access to that. Yet he could
look at these people and say, I know your election of God. And the word here in the original
is, I see it. I see it with fullness of perception. I see it. I see clearly that
you are the elect of God. Now, like I said, he had no access
to the Lamb's book of life. And he didn't know this by intuition,
yet he could say, I know you're elect. Now, what I want us to
do is see what it was that Paul saw that made him make this bold
statement regarding these people. I know your election of God.
And in considering this, I can find out if I'm one of the elect. I want to know, don't you? I
want to know if God chose me before time began. You know,
we're told in the scriptures to make our calling and election.
Sure, aren't we? You can know your election. And what a glorious thing it
is when I know I've chosen of God. He's graciously chosen me. What encouragement and blessing
there is in that and what humility, what all the blessings that come
out of that. Lord, why me? Why would you do
this for me? Oh, that we might know our election of God. Now, let's look back up in verse
one. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus,
under the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how can you know they're
in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's where
salvation is. Salvation is in Christ. It's not in you, it's not in
your works, it's not in what you do, it's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, he says regarding these
people, I know you're in God the Father, I know you're in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, how do you know? Well,
let's go on reading. 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. And I was so thankful,
Joe, who read this passage of scripture. Remember what it said
in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 13, now abideth faith, hope, charity. These three, the greatest of
these is charity. This is what abides. All these
gifts that he'd been talking about, they'll pass away. And
when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall
be done away with. But here's what does abide. Faith. Hope. And charity. Faith. Believing God. Believing his word. Taking him at his word and believing
it. Believing what he says. Hope, that confident expectation
regarding the future. I have a hope that when my name
is called on Judgment Day, Christ will represent me in saying,
here. I have a hope that all my sins
are put away. I have a hope that I have perfect
righteousness before God. What a blessed thing hope is.
And charity, love. Love to God, love to Him as He's
revealed in His Word, love to Him in all of His attributes,
love to His people, love to men. Now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three. Now, look what Paul says when
he says, I know your election of God. I know that you're in
God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse
three, remembering without ceasing your work of faith. and your
labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ
in the sight of God in our Father. He mentions those three things.
I know your work of faith. I know your labor of love, and
I know your patience of hope. Now, I claim to have faith. I claim to have a hope. I claim
to have love. But you know, you can't really
see those things. I say I have them. But all you can see is
the work of faith, and the labor of love, and the patience of
hope. You see, where there is faith,
there will be works that prove the reality of that faith. Faith
without works is what? Dead. Being alone. Where there's love, There will
be a labor of love, and that word labor means toil and trouble. If you love somebody, you'll
go through toil and trouble for that person. You really will,
if you love them. Now, if you don't love them,
you won't mess with it. But if you love them, you're willing
to go through toil and trouble for that person. And then he
speaks of the patience of hope. What's the proof that I have
hope, that I patiently wait, what I'm hoping for? I'm waiting. I believe it's coming. I have
a hope. I have a hope that all things are working together for
good. I don't see how they are, but I'm willing to wait and find
out how they are. There's a patience of hope. We're
called upon to run with patience, the race that's set before us.
Now, this is how he knew these people were God's elect. He talked
about their work of faith. He talked about their labor of
love and their patience of hope. Now, abide it. Hope, charity,
these three are the greatest of these is charity. And the
reason it's the greatest is faith is going to be turned into sight. I won't need it anymore. Hope
will be turned into experience. I won't need it anymore. But
here's what abides. Charity. And this is what he
says about these people. He says, I know your work of
faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope. In our
Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God, our Father. I love that
in the sight of God. Now, false religion needs an
audience. What did our Lord say of the
Pharisees? All their works they do to be seen of men. False religion needs an audience. True religion needs an audience,
too, but it's not men. What we're concerned about is
God's sight. What he sees. He speaks of this work of faith
and labor of love and patience of hope in God's sight. What
is the first thing the Lord said to the seven different churches
in Revelation? Anybody remember? I know thy
works. I know thy works. Now, because of this, he says
in verse 4, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God,
because of what I've seen, your work of faith, your labor of
love, your patience of hope, I know your election of God.
You see, God's elect, every single one of them, God's elect believe
the gospel, as many as were ordained to eternal life. What? Belief. The reason they believe is because
God chose them to that. They don't believe it's an act
of their free will. They believe because God caused them to believe.
They're one of the elect. All of God's elect have hope,
the blessed hope in Christ. All of God's elect love God. Every single one of them, they
love his people. Every one of them. And so he says to these
people, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. Now look what he says next. Verse
5, 4. Now he goes on to give some more
reasons why he knows they're elect. He says in verse 5, 4,
our gospel. I love that phrase, our gospel.
Yes, it's Paul's gospel, but it's mine, too. It's the gospel
that saved me. It's the gospel that I find good
news indeed, our gospel. Isn't it wonderful to be able
to say, our gospel? He says, our gospel came not
unto you in word only. And this is how come I know your
election of God. This is how I know that God chose
you before time began to be saved. Here's why. Our gospel came not
to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance. Now, our gospel didn't come to
you in word only. Your hearing of the gospel didn't
come in just a way where you heard and that's it. You heard
the words audibly, but it didn't do anything for you. You heard
the words audibly, but it didn't come in saving power. Now, what does it mean? What
happens when you hear the gospel in word only? Well, I thought
two or three things. First of all, you hear the gospel
in word only when you don't hear it as a sinner. You know, one
of the glorious things about the gospel, I remember reading
this statement once, and it's one of the best things I've ever
read. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is a sinner's religion. It's a sinner's religion. The
only person who can rejoice in the gospel is a sinner. If you're
not a sinner, you can't hear the gospel. There's no good news
there. But if you're a sinner, hearing of the salvation from
sin that Christ accomplished, that's good news. You hear it
is gospel. Oh, when you hear it is good.
This is what I need. This suits my needs perfectly. The sinner saves sinners who
are helpless by sovereign grace. That's just what I need. You hear in word only. when you
hear it as man's word, or man's opinion, rather than God's word.
Now, if you listen to me preach and you say, well, that's Todd's
opinion. That's Todd's thought. That's their church. That's what
they believe there. You're hearing in word only. If that's all you
hear, if the only voice you hear is my voice, you're hearing in
word only. Look in 1 Thessalonians 2, 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. Now, when you hear the gospel
in word only, it's Todd's opinion. It's that church's opinion. It's
that denomination's belief. But when you hear it in the power
of the Holy Spirit, you hear it as the very Word of God. Paul said, I certify you, brethren,
that the Gospel preached to me was not after man. It was not
derived from any human source. This is the Gospel of God. Now,
when you hear the Gospel as the Word of God, you're hearing it
in the power of the Holy Spirit. Notice what he says back to our
text in 1 Thessalonians 1. Verse 5, For our gospel came
not to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance. You hear, the gospel is the power
of God. This is the power of God unto
salvation. You hear, in the Holy Ghost. Now, what does it mean
to hear, in the Holy Ghost? Well, I think that scripture
in Philippians chapter 3, verse 3, it says, We are the circumcision
which worship God in the Spirit. Now the only way that you and
I can hear the gospel in a saving, powerful way is if God, the Holy
Spirit, causes us to and enables us to. That's the only way. We're
helpless without the Holy Spirit. Only if I have the Spirit can
I worship God. And I've said this so many times,
I don't say, Come worship with us, to people. You know, come
worship with us. Come on, come worship with us. I said, come hear the
gospel. But you can only worship if God, the Holy Spirit, enables
you to worship. You can't worship, I can't worship,
without the Spirit of God. When you hear the gospel in power,
that means you hear the gospel in the Holy Spirit. And look
what he says next, in verse 5. And in much assurance, much assurance. When you hear
the gospel, you hear the gospel in much assurance. Now, what
does that mean? Now, this is not a reference
to assurance of personal salvation. Now, every believer ought to
have full assurance. Because we ought to be fully
assured that what Christ did is all we need, and we don't
need anything else. And the only thing that prevents me from having
full assurance is looking to myself in some way. And I do
that plenty, don't you? I do that. I wish I didn't. I
have full assurance, and as soon as I start thinking about having
full assurance, I start thinking, do I really have it? What if
I'm fooled? What if it's not real? I mean,
you know, when I'm looking to Christ, I have full assurance.
When I'm hearing the gospel, I have full assurance. When I
look to myself, I lose it. You do too. Now, when he's talking
about full assurance, he's not talking about full assurance
of personal salvation. Now, one time over in John chapter
six, our Lord preached a message. You do well to read it. And at
the end of this message, people were offended and they left. They said, these are hard sayings.
We don't like these sayings. And the Lord said, did this offend
you? Are you offended me? He watched them all leave. Five
thousand leave. And one of the things that's
interesting about it, he never asked one of them to return.
When they left, he didn't say, let me rephrase that. Let me
say it differently. Maybe you just didn't hear right.
No, he watched them leave. And he looked at the twelve.
And he said, will you also go away? There's the door if you want
to go. Will you also go away? And Peter acted as the spokesman
for every believer. And he said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Where? Thou hast the words of
eternal life. These words that these people
are offended by. We find them to be words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that we're saved. I didn't
quote that right. I didn't quote that right. He
said, We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. You believe that? Do you believe
he's God's Christ? God's prophet? God's priest? God's king? Do you believe he's
God the Son, the Son of the living God? That's called faith. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, I, listen
to me. I'm sure that the Bible is the
inspired word of God. And I believe everything in it. Do you ever question that? Yeah. Yeah. You see, I've got what's
called the flesh. And the flesh never believes. And the spirit, the new man,
the new nature, always believes. And that's where that unbelief...
Yeah, I've got the flesh. I mean, I believe that the gospel
I preach is the only gospel, the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace. I believe that with all my heart.
I believe that when Christ said, it is finished, my salvation
was accomplished. I'm sure of that. I'm sure that
I believe that's the gospel. I believe the gospel. I'm sure. I'm sure this is the gospel.
I'm sure anything contrary to this is not the gospel. I'm sure
the gospel. I'm sure God's way of salvation
is by Christ only. I'm sure that the righteousness
of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness there is. It's the only righteousness
I dare believe before God. I'm sure that salvation is all
of grace. I'm sure of all those things.
I mean, I'm sure we believe and are sure that thou art the cross,
the son of the living God. Now, I'm so sure that I preach
the gospel that I'm not disposed to get in an argument with anybody
about it. You know, you don't need to buttress
the truth. If you have to argue about what you believe, it's
because you really don't have any confidence in it. Now understand that the
gospel is not about arguing. This is God's word. I believe. I believe. I'm not going to argue about
it. You know, the truth doesn't need your arguments to back it
up. You know, the truth recommends
itself, doesn't it? It recommends itself. When I'm hearing the
truth, I know I'm hearing the truth. And when I'm hearing something
that's not the truth, I know it too. You know, when Paul says
abstain from all appearance of evil, he's not talking about
staying out of bars and stuff like that. He's talking about
when something feels bad, when something smells bad, when it
doesn't seem right, stay away from it. And you can hear something
and it doesn't smell right. You know, it doesn't seem to
be giving glory to God. You pull away from it. A believer
has the ability to hear the truth, and we're sure of that. To hear the gospel in full assurance
is to know that it's God's message. Do you know that what I'm saying
right now is the truth of God? I'm not asking you to answer
me, but I'm asking you to think about it. Do you know that what I'm
saying right now is the truth of God? If you do, you're hearing
the gospel in much assurance. You say, well, I'm not sure about
that. Well, you're hearing in word
only. You're hearing in word only. But he said, our gospel
came not to you in word only, but also in power and the Holy
Ghost and much assurance, as you know what manner of men we
were among you for your sakes. You knew we were God's messenger
bringing God's message. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. You know, you know, well, this
is this is God bringing a message this way. That's called reading
verse six. He said, and you became now remember,
this is how he knew they were elect. This is how I knew. He said, you became followers
of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction.
And with the joy of the Holy Ghost, you became imitators of
us is the word. And this is a good kind of imitation.
Someone says, I won't follow any man and you won't follow
Christ then. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. And beloved, if I'm following
Christ, you better be following me. If I'm following Christ.
You know, the Lord said, he that receiveth you, receiveth me.
He that despiseth you despiseth me, he that despiseth me despiseth
him that sent me. Now this is what it is if a guy
who claims to be a preacher can't say follow me as I follow Christ,
don't have anything to do with it. If he has to say do as I
say but not as I do and all that kind of stuff, no, that's not
the man I want to hear. Follow me as I follow Christ.
And he said to these people, I know you're elect of God because
you became imitators, followers of us and of the Lord, having
received the word. Here's what God's elect. Do they
receive the word? They embrace it. It comes as
good news. Having received the word in much
affliction. Now, whenever the truth is preached,
a natural man is going to hate it. You receive it anyway. In much affliction, you're willing.
You're willing, by the grace of God, to follow Christ alone
if this is his truth. If everybody else rejects it,
if I believe this is the truth, I will follow Christ alone. Now, I'd rather follow him with
you, but if I have to, I'll follow him alone. You receive the word
in much affliction, but not only much affliction, I love this,
with the joy of the Holy Ghost. Now, what's this thing of joy
about? Well, Romans chapter 14, verse 17, says the kingdom of
God is not meat and drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
not rules and regulations. It's righteousness. Righteousness. This is the most important word
in all the Word of God in this. Righteousness. Makes a sinner
righteous. The righteousness of Christ is
my righteousness before God. That's my hope. That's the way
I come into God's presence in the righteousness and merits
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one righteousness.
The kingdom of God is righteousness. And what comes as a result of
righteousness? Peace. Does it give you peace? Do you
feel peace in knowing that Jesus Christ is your righteousness
before God? If you tell me it has anything
to do with me, my peace leaves completely. But if I hear that
His righteousness is my righteousness, I have peace. And what comes
out of that peace? Joy. The joy of the Holy Ghost. He said in verse 7, Here's how
I know that you are elect of God, so that you became examples
to all that believe, In Macedonia, in Decai, you became examples
in all these things that I'm talking about, receiving the
word and power and the Holy Ghost and much assurance, becoming
followers of us and of the Lord, having the work of faith and
labor of love and patience of hope. He's talking about all
those things. He said you became examples to those who believe. And then he says in verse eight,
here's how I know that you're the elect of God, for from you
sounded out the Word of the Lord, literally thundered. You weren't
ashamed of the Gospel. This is the message you wanted
to identify yourself with. From you sounded out the Word
of the Lord. You didn't try to water it down.
You didn't try to hide it. You didn't try to make it more
palatable to the flesh. You believed it's God's Word,
and you've proven by sounding it out, identifying with the
message of the Gospel. From you sounded out. The word of the Lord. Not only
in Macedonia and the K.I., but also in every place your faith
to God were to spread abroad, so that we don't need to speak
anything of you. We don't have to tell people
what kind of people you are. Your own works prove it. You
know, I was thinking about this. If I have to try to convince
you that I'm faithful to the word, if I have to try to convince
you of it, I'm not. I'm not. It'll be obvious if I'm being
faithful. That's the point he's making. From you sounded out, we don't
need to speak anything of you. Look at verse 9. Here's how we
know you're about to elect. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had to you, how that you turn
to God from idols to serve the living and true God. You turn to God from idols. When
you saw the true and the living God, when you heard the gospel,
you saw your former religion was nothing more than idolatry. And you turn to God away from
that. Now, when people want to maintain
that they were saved before they believed grace, That's a dead
giveaway. The gospel that you believe is
the gospel that you believe you were saved by. Now do you hear
that? The gospel that you believe is
the gospel you believe that you were saved by. Now, if you were
saved by a works message, that's the gospel you believe. Salvation
by works. It really is that simple. But
he says to these people, it came out so clear. He says, I know
your election of God because you turned to God from idols
or false ideas and false views of God in his gospel to serve
the living and the true God. That's how I know you're elect. And here's what you do. Verse
10. and to wait for his son from heaven. Now, the word wait carries
with it the idea of a confident expectation. I'm waiting on the
Lord. You know, how many times have
we read in the Scriptures, wait on the Lord, be of good cheer, he'll
strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Now,
there's so much that that means. But here's what comes to my mind
more than anything else when I think of waiting on the Lord. When my name is called on Judgment Day, you
know what I'm going to do? I'm going to wait for Him to
answer for me. I'm not saying a word. I'm going
to wait for Him to answer for me. I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait. I'm
afraid to do anything else. I'm not going to say anything. I'm
just going to wait. Wait, waiting on Him. Now, look what he says. And to
wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath
Now, here's why I'm waiting on Him. Here's why I have this confidence
in waiting on Him. He says, to wait for His Son
from heaven, whom He raised from the dead. Now, the first question
that comes to my mind when I think about that is, why did He die?
Jesus Christ died. They took down a dead corpse
from off that cross and put Him in a tomb. He died. Why did He
die? What's the one reason for death?
Sin. That's the only reason. My sin
became His. He was guilty, and God killed
Him. That's why He died. What does
this passage of Scripture say? Even His Son, Jesus, whom He
raised from the dead. Now, why was He raised from the
dead? He died because of sin. He was
raised because he satisfied the claims of God's offended justice. All my sins were paid for and
now I don't have any sin. It's all gone. It's been put
away. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. That means I am without sin. Now this is the one I'm waiting
on. I'm waiting on that one who died. Put away my sin and was
raised because of my justification. When he was raised from the dead,
every single one of his elect were too. And this is what God's
elect do. They wait on his son from heaven,
the one who died and the one who was raised from the dead.
And look at this last phrase in verse 10. Even Jesus, which
delivered us. From the wrath to come. Now I
want you to notice the language very carefully. He didn't say
we wait for his son who will deliver us from the wrath to
come, although he will. But that's not what he says.
He doesn't say he will deliver us from the wrath to come. And
there is such a thing as the wrath to come. And I shudder
to even think about it. But this passage of Scripture
tells us not that He will deliver us from the wrath to come, but
that He's already done it. He's already done it. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation. I've been delivered from the
wrath to come. Already been delivered. When
were you delivered? When He said, It is finished. You know, I've had people ask
me on numerous occasions, when were you saved? I can't give you time and date. One time a preacher said to me,
if you can't give a time and date, you're not saved. He said, you know, if you break
your leg, you know when it happened. What's that got to do with salvation?
What that got to do is that I don't remember when I was born, do
you? I really cannot remember when I, that first day of life,
I can't remember the first several years actually, I don't remember
any of it. Does that mean I wasn't alive? No, no. But I can tell you when I was
saved, real specifically. I was saved when Jesus Christ
agreed to be my surety, before time began. And everything God
requires of me, He looked to Him for. I was saved when He
said, It is finished, and all my sins were put away. I was
saved when He was raised from the dead for my justification. I was saved when He ascended
back to the Father, and I ascended back with Him in the person of
my Federal head, representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
saved as he represents me even now. And I'll be saved. When I stand
before God, perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, here's
the blessed truth. I've already been delivered. This is true of every believer.
They've already been delivered from the wrath to come. Now,
here's what God's elect do. Everything in this chapter. Everything in this chapter. They
wait on the Lord Jesus. who's delivered us from the wrath
to come. Him who was raised from the dead.
We hear the gospel not in word only, but in power and the Holy
Ghost and much assurance. Everything in this chapter. Paul
looked at these people, these things he saw, and he said, I
know your election of God. And listen to this. I think this
is interesting. I know I'm one of the elect.
And as soon as I say that, are you sure? What if you're not? Well, I know God's on the throne. And I know my salvation's in
his hands. And as long as I'm looking to him, I do have full
assurance. And as soon as I quit looking to him and start looking
at myself and my evidences and how well I'm doing, I lose it.
But right now to hear it. I am yours. Let's pray.