In the event that you did not
see the program last week, I brought a message from 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1 on evidences of grace. But I'm going to turn in the
Bible to that same chapter today. I want you to get your Bible
and open it to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. And I'm going to begin
speaking at verse 4 on the subject evidences of grace. And this
is part two of that message. And we'll begin with verse four.
Now read verse four. Paul said, Knowing, brethren
beloved, your election of God. Brethren beloved. Paul calls
all believers, my beloved brethren. This is a fellowship of believers. This is a fellowship and a relationship
of believers called the family of God. They're all in the family
of God, and they're all in the kingdom of His dear Son, and
they all love one another. Brethren, beloved, Peter says
this about them in 1 Peter 2. You are a chosen generation. He says you are royal priesthood. He says you're a holy nation.
You're peculiar. That is, a separated and a purchased
people. He said, you're the people of
God. And they're in many lands and many kindreds and many nations,
but they're one family and they're one people, the people of God.
And then Ephesians chapter 4, Paul says this about them. Listen
to this. This is that fellowship of believers,
brethren beloved. It's that relationship of a family. Paul says in Ephesians 4, there's
one body. the church, the body of Christ. There are many churches, but
there's one true church made up of all believers, no matter
where they are or who they are. If they are believers in Christ,
they're in the body, in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he's the head of that body. One body, one spirit, a spirit
of unity, the bond of peace and unity. is the Holy Spirit of
God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer. If any man
has not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. We're all baptized
by the Spirit into the body of Christ. Then he says there's
one hope, one hope of your calling. What is that one hope? To be
like Christ. We'll see Him and be like Him,
and that's the one hope of every believer. to be absent from the
body, to be present with the Lord, to be conformed to His
image. Paul says there's one Lord and
one Savior, one faith in Christ alone. There's one God and Father
who is above all sovereign, who is through all and who's in all,
and one family of believers in all nations and tribes and tongues
and people, whether it's neither Jew nor Gentile. male nor female,
bond nor free. And these people, like Noah of
old, have found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and they know
it. They've passed from death unto life, and they know it,
and other people know it. And Paul says here in verse 4,
I know, I know you, brethren beloved, I know you, and I love
you, my brethren beloved, And I know that you're among the
elect of God. I know you are. Now, what are
the evidences? Well, if you look at verse 5.
In verse 4, Paul says, Brethren, beloved, I know your election
of God. And here's the first evidence
in verse 5. It has to do with hearing. It
has to do with believing the gospel of Christ. It has to do
with the gospel of Christ coming to us in the power of the Spirit. He said, our gospel, listen to
this, I know you're among the elect, my brethren and beloved,
because our gospel came not to you in word only, but it came
to you in the power of the Holy Ghost and in the assurance of
the Holy Ghost. You know, it's one thing to hear
the gospel with these ears. You can hear the gospel with
the natural ear and and it'll activate the mind, and it'll
set to work something in the mind, thoughts about what you're
hearing. But when you hear the gospel with the heart, that's
when it comes in power, when you hear it with the heart. The
Scripture said, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus
to be Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So when the gospel comes
in word only, it accomplishes Nothing. But when the gospel
comes in the power of the Holy Spirit, it comes not just to
the mind, not just to the ear, it comes to the heart in power. What is this power? Well, first
of all, there's the power of conviction. When our Lord talked
about the minister of the Holy Spirit, He said when He has come,
the Spirit of truth, He'll convict the world of sin. because they
believe not on me, of righteousness, because I go to my Father to
give to them a perfect righteousness, and of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. So when the gospel comes to a
person in power, it comes not just to this ear, but to the
heart, and it comes in power of conviction. It convinces a
man of his sin against God, of his lack of righteousness, and
of his bondage and captivity to Satan. That's right. Sin,
righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit will convince
men. That's power. Secondly, it comes
in the power of revelation. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son. Neither knoweth any man the Son,
but the Father, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. The
gospel has to be revealed. So the Spirit of Christ comes
in power with this gospel of Christ and reveals to us who
He is. He's very God of very God. He's
the Son of God, but He's the Son of man. It reveals to us
what He did. He took our sins in His body
on the tree and paid for them. He worked out for us a perfect
righteousness. Why did He do this? That God
may be just and justify. Where is He now? At the right
hand of God interceding for us. So there's the power of revelation. I know you're God's elect, Paul
said. Because our gospel didn't come to you in word only, it
came to you in power, the power of conviction, the power of revelation
so that you know who Christ is. And then there's the power of
conversion, in whom you believed after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation. When did you believe? When you
heard the gospel of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And
then there's a power of new creation, the new birth, born of the Spirit,
born of the Word. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. And then there's a power of sealing.
He said, after you heard and whom you trusted, you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. So Paul said to this church at
Thessalonica, I know, I know you're God's elect because our
gospel It didn't come to you just in word, just in creed,
just in catechisms and doctrines. It came to you in power, in the
power of God's Spirit, God's Holy Spirit, the power of conviction,
the power of revelation, revealing Christ, the power of conversion,
a new creature in Christ, and the power of creation. Regeneration
is recreation. a new creature in Christ and
the power of sealing. And then the gospel came to you
in assurance. Now listen to me and listen carefully. The power of assurance. These
things are written to you that believe on the name of the Son
of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that
you may keep on believing on the name of the Son of God. You
mean, pastor, that a person who's saved knows he's saved? A person
that believes Christ knows he believes Christ? A person who
loves Christ knows he loves Christ, knows that he's passed from death
unto life? I certainly do. I have no doubt.
Now listen to me. I have no doubt that a person
who loves Christ knows he loves him. He asked Peter, he said,
do you love me? Peter said, Lord, you know I
love you. You know I love you. There's
no doubt about that. You know everything. You know
I love you. Let me tell you something. I
know I love my wife. And I know I love my children.
And I know I love my brothers in Christ. I know that. If you
were to ask me, do you love your wife? And I say, I just don't
know whether I do or not. Well, you say you're either a
fool or you don't love her. If you did love her, you'd know
it. Well, I tell you the same thing. Do you love Christ? Well,
I don't know whether I love Him or not. You're either a fool
or you don't love Him. Because a person who does love
Christ just like he loves his wife and children, he loves the
Son of God and he knows it. Our gospel, I know you're God's
elect because our gospel came to you not in word only. It came
in power, conviction, revelation, conversion, sealing. That's right. And it came in
assurance. I know whom I have believed. I have no doubt that
a person who loves Christ knows he loves him, and I have no doubt
that a person knows whether he believes the gospel. The gospel
is the good news of God's grace. Abraham believed God, and he
knew it. He knew it. When God told him
to leave home, he left, because he believed God. David knew he
believed God. He said, I believe, therefore
I speak. The Lord is my shepherd. I know
He's my shepherd. I shall not walk. He maketh me
lie down in green pastures. He leads me by still waters.
He restores my soul. I know. Surely goodness and mercy will
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever." Job knew his Lord. He said, I know
my Redeemer lives. Paul knew Him. He said, I know
whom I have believed. The gospel came to you in power. You heard it with your heart.
It broke your heart. It brought you to faith. It brought
you to love Christ. It brought you to believe Christ.
And that's the evidence that you're a child of God. It's the
evidence of grace. Here's the second thing. Listen
to this. He said in verse 6, And I know your election of God,
because you became followers of us. Followers of us. Who's us? The apostles. and the
prophets, the men who wrote the scriptures. That's right, the
men who wrote the scriptures. God used men, holy men of old
spake as they were inspired of God to write the scriptures.
And the prophets, God spoke to our fathers with the prophets.
He hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, who gave the
word to the apostles who wrote the New Testament. So he said,
I know, I know you're God's elect because you follow the word.
You follow the Scriptures. You became hearers, and not only
hearers, but doers of the Word of God. That's right. You heard with the heart. You
heard it in power, in much assurance, and then you acted on the Scriptures. There is but one way that God
speaks to people, and that is by His Spirit through His Word.
Now, you can write that down. That's right. He speaks to people
by His Spirit through His Word. Listen to these scriptures. All
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God might be mature. The scriptures, Genesis
to Revelation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word. that you may grow thereby. Isaiah
said in chapter 8, if preachers do not speak according to the
word of God, it's because there's no truth in them. So this is
a sure evidence of a work of grace in a man's heart. If the
gospel of Christ Jesus, the gospel of his precious blood, the gospel
of his perfect life, the gospel of his saving grace, The gospel
comes to that man in power and in assurance, and he becomes
a follower of the Word of God. He believes the Word of God.
The Word of God to that man becomes precious, precious promises. The Word of God to that man becomes
more than just words on paper, but words of life. The gospel
to that man, the Word of God, becomes the source of comfort,
the foundation of faith, the means of growth, the means of
patience, and the means of a blessed hope. And our watchword is, ìThus
saith the Lord.î You know, feelings come and feelings go, and feelings
are deceiving. I trust the unchanging Word of
God. Nothing, nothing else is worth
believing. So, all right. I know, brethren,
beloved, your election of God, because our gospel came to you,
not in word only. It came to you in power of God's
Spirit, power of revelation, conversion. And it came to you
in assurance. You know that God spoke to your
heart. And then you heard the Word of
God, and you believed that Word, and you began to walk in that
Word, not just a hearer, but a doer of the Word of God. You
became a follower. of the prophets. You believe
Moses. You believe Abraham. You believe
David. You believe Paul, James, and Peter, and John, the apostle.
You'll believe them. You believe the Word. Now, thirdly,
in obeying the Word of God, in loving the Word of God, in reading
the Word of God, you became an example. You became an example,
not only to those in your home, but to those in surrounding areas. You became examples to those
in Macedonia where you lived, in Archaea, and to other places.
You became examples. Examples. In other words, power
of the Word of God did something for you, made you a better husband,
better wife, a better worker, a better son or daughter, a better
employer, a better employee. That's right. Listen to Colossians
1. Colossians chapter 3, it is. Chapter 3, verse 18. Listen to
how Paul speaks to the believers, to people of God. Wives, submit
yourselves to your own husbands as it's fit in the Lord. Obey
your husband. Be a good homemaker. Live in
peace. Submit yourself. Be a good wife. Husbands, Love your wives. Don't
be contrary. Don't be bitter. Don't be difficult
to live with. Be a loving, kind leader in the
home. Be an example in your home. Be
an example of godliness and truth and peace. Children, verse 20,
children, obey your parents. Love your parents. Honor your
parents. and obey your parents in all
things." Listen, this is well-pleasing to God. These are evidences of
faith. Wives, husbands, children, not
just religious folks carrying their religion down to the church
and kissing it goodbye when they walk out, but carrying it all
through their lives, in every area of their lives. Children,
obey your parents. Obedience to authority, not only
in the home but in the school. Fathers, listen to this, fathers,
mothers, parents, provoke not your children to anger. Don't
agitate your children. They're still just children,
prone to foolishness, prone to immaturity. Learn to love them. Be patient with them. Remember
the sins of your youth. Be patient and concerned. Have a concern for the happiness
of your home. and the peace and joy of your
home, and the spirituality of your home. Now look at verse
22. Servants? Servants? You know who's servants?
Everybody listening to me is a servant to somebody. I'm a
servant. The Scripture says that when
Paul talked about preaching the gospel, he said, I preach the
gospel for the glory of God, but I'm your servant for His
sake. And everybody who works for somebody is a servant. So
let's just say employees. Now listen to this Scripture.
Employees, whether you work in a steel mill or a grocery store
or in a clothing store or whether you work in plumbing or electrician
or on the railroad, servants, employees, obey your employers. Obey them in all things in the
flesh. Be an obedient, diligent worker. Give it your best, your best
shot every day. You know, the Scripture condemns
pride, but here's one pride it does not condemn. And that's
pride of workmanship, pride of accomplishment, pride of production. Not as a man-pleaser, but as
unto the Lord. That's what that Scripture says.
You're working, but if you're a believer, you're not working
for that man. You're working for God Almighty.
And you're to do a good job in a full day's work. Servants,
be obedient to your masters. Not as man-pleasers, apple-polishers,
but as unto the Lord. Masters, whoa, listen. Masters,
you people who work other people. So you got people working for
you, and about everybody listening to me has somebody working for
them. You employ people once in a while. You employ them temporarily
or full-time. But here's what it says. Give
your servants, give those who work for you that which is just
and equal. What does that mean, equal? Here's
what it means, proper for food, clothing, and shelter. They have
to live just like you do. That's right, they have families
just like you have. They have expenses just like
you have. So, listen, you people who work other folks, you don't
need labor unions if people are saved, if they know God, because
they'll treat others like they want to be treated. They'll do
unto others as they would have them do unto them. And a man
who works somebody, he'll give him a good, livable, just, equal
wage if he loves Christ. That's right. And here's what
the apostle says, "...Masters, give your servants that which
is just, and right, and equal." Knowing you have a master in
heaven. You have a master in heaven.
And what judgment you judge, you shall be judged on the basis
you'll be judged with the way you treat others. And with what
measure you meet, what measure you give out to others, God will
measure it to you. Boy, boy, boy. The evidence of
grace is grace manifested. The evidences of faith are works
of faith. The evidence of love is loving
kindness. Now listen to me. It's interesting
how the apostle states these changes in believers who find
grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's amazing how he states this. First he says in verse 5, the
gospel came to you. You didn't come to it. It came
to you. God called you. You called on
Him, but He called you first. You love Him, but He loved you
first. You believe Him, but He sought you first. That's right.
The gospel came to you. Dead men don't rise out of their
graves. That's right. Thy people are
made willing in the day of thy power. The Spirit of God came
to you with the gospel in power and much assurance in the Holy
Ghost. It came to you. Now, secondly,
and you became something. You see it there, verse 6. Verse
5 says the gospel came to you. And then you became something
as a result of that gospel coming to you. You became followers. You became what you were not.
You weren't a follower of God. You were a follower of sin and
evil in your own way. And you became a follower of
God. But the gospel came to you and made you a new creature.
And you became an example. You became by His grace a new
person, a new creature, trees of righteousness. That's right. Watch verse 7 now. And so you
were examples. Gospel came to you, and you became
a follower, and being a follower of the Word of God, you became
an example. He did not say you ought to be
an example. He said, and you were an example.
He didn't say, you should be an example. He said, you are
an example. That's right. He didn't say,
you can be an example if you try hard enough. He said, and
you were examples. This is the way, this is the
truth, and this is the life of those who are born of God. The
gospel comes to them in power. They hear it with the heart.
And they become followers of the Word. Can't get enough of
it. And when the Word works in their hearts, in their souls,
they are examples. That's right. Eternal life and
redemption. This is what Paul is saying.
It's not just a creed. It's not just a profession of
religion. It's not just an affiliation
with a church or an organization. Eternal life is to know God.
Our Lord said, Thou hast given me power over all flesh, that
I should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given me.
And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." Eternal life
is to know God, is to be born of God. He that believeth on
the Son is born of God. He that loveth is born of God.
He that overcometh is born of God. That's what took place.
The new birth is not something you do for yourself, it's something
God does for you. Being born from above, You didn't
have anything to do with your first birth. That's between your
mother and father. And you didn't have anything
to do with your second birth. Spirit of God gave you life. You were
born of God. Eternal life is to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are possible to them
that believe. And the centurion gave a good reply to that, didn't
he? Lord, I believe. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. The disciples said, Lord, increase
my faith. is to believe Christ, and then
eternal life is to be a new person in Christ. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Eternal life is to pass from
death to life. Eternal life is to turn from
your idols to the living God. Eternal life, verse 10, is to
wait for his son from heaven. Is Christ coming back? He said
he would. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you, and I'll come again and receive you unto myself.
The angel said he would. They said to the disciples who
stood looking into heaven as Christ ascended, and the angel
said, This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven
shall so come in like manner as you see Him go. Christ said
He was coming. The angel said He's coming. And
John wrote, Behold, when the Lord comes, we'll see Him, and
we'll be just like Him. Preacher, what do you believe
about the return of Christ? It's the return of Christ. I'm
not nearly so much interested in premillennialism or postmillennialism
or amillennialism or the events and advents that will take place
when He comes. I'm interested in Him coming,
seeing Him, forever dwelling with Him and being made like
Him. Christ is coming back and we're
waiting for His Son. Now here's the message, evidences
of grace in two parts. part one, part two on the same
tape. Send two dollars, we'll mail it to you. Here's the address.
Till next week, God bless you.