1 Thessalonians 3. I want to read verses 1-5. 1 Thessalonians 3. Verse 1. Wherefore, when we could
no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens
alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God,
and our fellow laborer, in the gospel of Christ to establish
you and to comfort you, encourage you concerning your faith, 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 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 love, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring
greatly to see us, and we also to see you, therefore, brethren,
we were confident over you in all our afflictions and distresses
by your faith." You will remember if you read the book of Acts
concerning this church, the Apostle Paul had come among them and
preached the gospel to them. We have this recorded in chapter
1 of 1 Thessalonians. And they heard the gospel. They believed it. It went home
to their hearts, the scripture says, in power and in much assurance
of the Holy Ghost. And it turned them from their
idols. It had a wonderful effect upon them. To God, to worship
the true and living God, and to wait, he tells us there in
chapter 1 in verse 10, for his Son from heaven. What a wonderful
conversion that takes place. But then we're told here in chapter
2 and verse 14 that they begin to suffer opposition. He says,
For ye, brethren, become followers of the church of God, which in
Judea are in Christ Jesus. For you also have suffered like
things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews. And he mentions a lot about their
sufferings in chapter One of 2 Thessalonians he writes about
men troubling them. And it may seem strange that
a child of God, of all people, could suffer affliction. These Christians had become faithful,
we are told in 1 Thessalonians, that first chapter in verse 3.
We are told of their work of faith, their labor of love, their
patience of hope. in the Lord Jesus Christ and
in the sight of God. And here Paul writes to him and
says, you're in affliction. You're suffering. It seems strange,
doesn't it? When a person seeks to honor
God and seeks to show forth the praises of Him and lives for
His glory, trusts Him, hopes in Him, that a person like that
would suffer in this world. You'd think things would go easy,
but things seldom do. The Lord Jesus said the world
shall laugh. The world's going to rejoice.
The world's going to be happy. They're going to be so restful
and peaceful. And you're going to weep. Tears are going to run
down your eyes. Your heart's going to break.
That's the difference. Solomon talked about fools going
to the house of myrrh, the house of laughter to party, and the
poor lambs of God going to the house of mourning. But the Lord
Jesus says many are the afflictions of the righteous, and in this
world you shall have tribulation, and they that will live godly
shall suffer persecution. Every believer knows something
about joy. I said that this morning. We
all know something about rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
know something about His peace. If we're always in turmoil, we've
never experienced the peace of Christ in our hearts, we know
nothing of joy, then something is wrong in our experience. Every
Christian knows something about these things. But every Christian
knows something about persecution. Every Christian knows something
about affliction, water in their faces with their tears, conflict
in the family, sometimes conflict in the neighborhood, conflict
on your job, and surely conflict in here, in the heart. The sense of sin, the struggle
with unbelief, with darkness, we know something about affliction. And that's what Paul is writing
to these Thessalonians about, their affliction. We must, through
much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of heaven. And yet,
when afflictions come, we're surprised, aren't we? We are
surprised at it. We earnestly believe that we
should not suffer afflictions in this world, and it catches
us off guard. Why does affliction come to a
child of God? I remember Jacob making this
statement when everything seemingly had gone against that dear man.
He said, All these things are against me, for evil. Everything he said that's happening
in my life is against me. Every step I take, he said, I'm
suffering opposition. Everything is against me for
evil. Joseph introduced him to Pharaoh,
and Pharaoh said, Jacob, how old a man are you? You look real
old. You've aged above your years. And he said, I'm 130. That wasn't
old for men of those days, not too old. But he said, all the
days of my pilgrimage, it's been 130, and they have been full
of evil. They have been full of evil.
Well, we probably shouldn't moan and groan to lost people, but
sometimes you can't help it. Sometimes you face such opposition
within and without, I tell you, it just surprises you and overwhelms
you. Afflictions. Why do afflictions
come? We were told here in my text,
in chapter 3 and verse 3, that no man should be moved by these
afflictions, for yourselves know that they, that we, are thereunto
appointed. They are appointed. I tell you,
it wouldn't be much comfort to me, and I'm sure you either,
if you believed afflictions just come out of thin air. If you
believed your afflictions were just accidental, or incidental,
or bad luck, what comfort could that be to a child of God? When
we consider the second causes, there's many second causes involved
in our afflictions. But here is the first cause.
They are appointed of God. This word appointed means to
fix beforehand, to determine, to allot out according to purpose. They are allotted out. All things
work together for good to them that love God. Even our afflictions. Even our afflictions. You remember
the story about Joseph, and I love to tell about it. This young
man, probably a young teenager if that, he had a dream that
he was going to be made a governor of a great land, and people were
going to come and bow down to him and do him reverence. And he got somewhat lifted up
about it because he began to tell everybody. He told his brother,
he said, do you know someday you're going to come and bow
down before me? Even dad and mom is going to bow down. That's
why they said, you're such a proud, arrogant little fella. But you
know, it wasn't long that he began to suffer some trouble.
His brother was jealous of him. They hated him. He went to visit
them one day while they were feeding the sheep. They caught
him, put him down in a well, pulled him up and sold him as
a slave down into Egypt. The first thing somebody did
to him was accuse him of attempted rape. They put him in jail in
the stocks. For years he laid there and his
wrists swollen, his ankles were so raw that they bled. He was
in a strange land that didn't speak their language. The Scripture
says he cried. He missed his father. He missed
his mother. He missed his family. Finally, he had an opportunity
to get out. But through a human error, he
was kept in there two more years in that prison. And finally,
finally, the Lord delivered him. made him second in command there
in Egypt. If you got any corn, you went
to Joseph. Everything that Pharaoh had,
he gave into the hands of Joseph. He exalted that man. All over
the world, people came to him to buy the corn, to save their
lives. And finally, you know the story,
that his brethren came and he made himself known to them. As they talked about all that
had happened and why it had happened, he made this statement to his
brother, I know that you meant it for evil. I know that, he
said. I know why Potiphar's wife accused
me of attempted rape. She meant it for evil. She wanted
me to go to prison. I know all of those second causes. But he said, here is the first
cause of me being here. But God meant it for good. God would deal with all the second
causes. He corrected Joseph's brother,
and he judged Potiphar's wife in time. But Joseph said over
and above all of that. God meant it for good. Look here with me in Genesis
chapter 45 in verses 4 and 5. Genesis chapter 45. Here's the
conclusion basically of this story of Joseph. Look in Genesis chapter 45 and
look in verse 4 and 5. This is where his brethren had
found out that he was indeed their brother, and they were
scared to death of what he might do to them. And it says in Genesis
chapter 45 and verse 4, ìAnd Joseph said to his brother, Come
near to me, I pray you. And they came near, and he said,
I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me
hither, for God did send me before you to preserve life." God did
send me. I thought they sold him into
slavery. They did. But God sent him. Some people cannot understand
this canon. They think that this involves
God in sin. I know this is a mystery. How
can Joseph's brethren hate him and sell him into slavery and
God bring good out of him? How can God send him there without
involving himself into their sin? We know that God infuses
sin into nobody. We know that God cannot and will
not tempt men to sin. But we can't help but see here,
in some sovereign and mysterious way, God worked with the evil
of Joseph's brethren to bring about his purpose, to set Joseph
upon this throne. That's a mystery to me. I don't
know how God does that. But I know what Joseph said.
God sent me before you. Now, Joseph, what about that
accusation against you? What about you spending all these
years in prison? What about the heartaches and
all of this? What about all of that? Doesn't
that offend you? Doesn't that make you angry?
Don't you want to get revenge? Don't you want to get even? No.
Why not? Because God sent me here. Now, if I had to think that this
was a mistake and this happened to me, I'd be very disappointed,
wouldn't you? If I happened to think that my
brethren was involved in all of it and there was nothing else
behind it, I'd be offended. And I tell you, I deal with them
myself. But when he said, God appointed this, God sent me here. All that takes the offense out
of it then. Takes the edge off of it. I don't understand all
these scriptures I want to quote to you, but it tells us this
very thing. Listen to Proverbs 16, verse
9. A man's heart deviseth his way. And don't we do that? Our hearts devise our ways. We plan so many things. We have
so many counsels and purposes that we're going to do. We devise
our way. But listen, but the Lord directeth
His steps. And how many times does the Lord
direct in our steps, cross the devises that's in our heart?
Listen to Proverbs 16, verse 33. The lot is cast into the
lamp. The lot is cast into the lamp. But the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. The lot is cast into our lamps. And we try our best to sort it
all out, to figure out what to do in these circumstances and
best circumstances. But listen, who is it that ultimately
disposes of everything? It's the Lord, isn't it? Listen
to this passage in Proverbs 16 on. The preparations of the heart
in man is from the Lord. Now, isn't that amazing? I tell
you what we should do as we come here, before we come here. I
often ask you to do this. Before the Lord's Day, prepare
your heart. Seek the Lord and prepare your
heart. Especially when we take up the
communion service, prepare your hearts. Humble ourselves before
the Lord and prepare our hearts to come here and listen and to
worship. What does this verse tell us? Ultimately, the preparations
in the heart of a man is from the Lord. If we prepare our hearts,
it's because He is working with us in that preparation. Listen to Proverbs 19.21. There are many devices in a man's
heart. Many devices. And you know some
of them are good. Some of them are good. Did you
ever purpose to do something that you wanted to bring glory
to the Lord's name? You really wanted to honor Him.
But it just didn't turn out worth anything. You failed in your
purpose. Your devices did not come to
pass. There's many devices in a man's
heart. Most of them are burned before
our eyes, aren't they not? But listen to this. Nevertheless,
The counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. And listen to Proverbs
chapter 20 and verse 24. Man's goings are of the Lord. How can a man then understand
his own ways? Listen to Psalms 37 and 23. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. And he delighteth in his ways.
Steps being ordered, that word means appointed, of the Lord.
And the last one is Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 23. I think
Jeremiah lived after all of these verses had been written down,
and he'd been reading them. He'd been reading them. And he
had experienced that he had all these devices in his heart, but
the Lord had to direct his ways. And he made this request to the
Lord. He said, O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in
himself. It is not in man that walketh
to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but in judgment,
in mercy, lest you bring me to nothing. Now, I have no trouble,
brothers and sisters, believing that God directs a man's steps.
He does it sovereignly, he does it secretly, and a lot of times
we don't even recognize it until he makes us to know it. But Joseph
knew it, didn't he? My brother in selling me into
slavery, me spending all those years in prison under false accusation,
these scars, these calluses on my wrist and on my ankles where
I spent all those times in the stock? And yet God directed my
steps. He sent me here. What amazing! How amazing! Do you and I know then that these
afflictions are appointed of God? It's a mystery. And I have no idea how he does
it, how he marks out our ways. And I tell you, and I'll be honest
with you, I don't always want to know. I don't want to know
what God has appointed for me to mark. Do you? If you could
see it, it may scare you to death. Job got this idea in his head,
God has appointed me to some afflictions. That's what he kept
thinking. Oh, God's going to appoint me
to these afflictions. And finally the afflictions came. And you know what he said? That
which I feared has come upon me. I'll leave it in His hands. You'll leave it in His hands.
But aren't you glad that it is in His hands? That these afflictions
don't come by accident. They're not just incidences that
take place in our life. God has appointed them. Do we
know that? Paul said, I've written them
to you. knowing, you know, that these afflictions are appointed.
And here's the comfort in this, brothers and sisters. The same
Heavenly Father who appoints these afflictions, He regulates
these afflictions. He tells when they come and how
severe they are and how long that they last. And when you
and I can live upon the faith of this, it will comfort us. Paul says to these Thessalonians,
he said, I'm sending Timothy to establish you and comfort
you concerning your faith. And how is he going to do this?
He's going to tell them, you know that these afflictions are
appointed. Now, it doesn't matter if you
don't know it or not. I mean, it doesn't matter if
you even believe it or not. If you're a child of God, I tell you this, afflictions
are coming. They're coming. But if you believe that God has
appointed them, it's going to comfort you when they do come.
It's going to help you in dealing with afflictions that you face. It will keep you from being offended
at second causes. I know you meant it for evil,
but God meant it for good. So you and I should know These
afflictions are appointed of God. For yourselves know, yourselves
know, these afflictions are appointed of God. Do we know that, brothers
and sisters? Do we know it? Do we live in the memory of that,
the awareness of it, that these afflictions are appointed? There
are no accidents. It's not out of control. It's
appointed right down to the minutest detail. The hairs of your head
are all marked out of God. Not a one of them falls to the
ground without Him. Do we know that all these afflictions
are appointed? You see, we like to pick and
choose, don't we? There are some afflictions that we can see the
good behind. David said it was good for me
that I was afflicted. You and I see some of our afflictions,
and we didn't like it too well when we were going through it,
but when we got through it, we look back and say, my, that was so
good for me. I wouldn't mind to go through
another like that. But what about the bad ones?
What about those that break your heart? What about those that
make you water your pillow with your tears? What about those
afflictions? What about David's afflictions
that brought him down to that horrible pit in the Mariclay? What about when Shimei was cursing
him and throwing rocks at him and calling him a bloody man?
Was that a point of God? It's easy to see the good afflictions
that we call them. But I tell you, it's not easy
to see the hard ones. But has God appointed the easy
afflictions that we can see and figure out how to help us, and
He's not appointed the tough ones? All affliction. All these afflictions. Listen to this. This is amazing
to me, and I don't really know how to understand this. When Shimei was cursing David, One of David's soldiers came
up to him and said, David, let me go over there and take off
that dog's head. Who does he think he is, cussing
you, the king? And here's what David said to him. Let him curse. For God has said unto him, curse
David. Now, how can we understand that? Does God tell a man to curse?
Does He force him to curse? Listen to this in Psalm 105,
25. God turned their hearts to hate His people. We know that God infuses sin
into nobody, and He cannot tempt any man to sin. But I'll tell
you what He does. He gives men the liberty and
the leave to do what they wanted to do to start with. And then
He amazingly guides that evil and appoints that evil for the
good of his people. One of the best examples of this
that I can give you, and you can read this for yourself sometime
in Acts chapter 2, when Peter was preaching to those wicked
Jews that had crucified Christ, he said, You have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. Well,
what other kind of hands could it be but wicked hands? I mean,
the lips that said crucify Him, that's wicked to say crucify
Him, crucify Him. Those soldiers that whipped Him,
those who nailed His hands and feet to the cross, wicked hands
that had any part in the death of the Son of God was wicked
hands. And yet He said this, He was
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. God delivered him up. God spared
not his own son. Which is true. Was Christ crucified
by the hands of wicked men, or did God deliver him up? Both
of those are true, aren't they? But notice this. It was at the
appointment of God. It was at God's appointment that
it happened. Job sat in the midst of his afflictions. Oh, can you imagine how that
poor man was afflicted? He sat in those ashes, scratching
his balls with an old broken posture, and he lit on to something
that helped him. He got a ray of light and hope
and comfort. And this is what he said, The
Lord knows the way that I take. How could he know that? How could
he know that? We know it. We know God appointed
the way that Job was to take. Because we read the first and
second chapter of the book of Job. We know what took place
in heaven. But Job didn't know that. He
never saw the devil plotting against him. He never saw God
marking it out and telling the devil, afflict him, afflict him,
despair his life. You can do this to him and you
can do that to him, but spare his life. But you know something?
Job believed that. And he said, he knows the way
that I take because he appointed the way that I take. The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And I tell you, brothers
and sisters, that's confident when you find yourself on an
ash heap and your body full of sores. There's nothing but a
posture to scratch them with. And you've lost your children,
and your wife's even turned on you. You say, I'm cursed all
the time. I find some comfort in that, knowing God has appointed
me to be right where I'm at. If you and I find ourselves in
the hospital in the morning with pipes in our throat, air being
forced into our lungs so we can believe, so we can live, you'll
find some comfort in this truth. God has appointed your way. God
has appointed your way. These things don't relieve us
of our responsibility or our obligation. When I say that God
has appointed the way that we take, we're yet to repent, we're
yet to believe, we're yet to endear, we're yet to pray.