One of the great writers of the
past, Arthur W. Pink, used to call his messages,
Studies in the Scriptures. And that's what I'm going to
try to do today, bring you a study in the Scriptures, taken from
the book of 1 Thessalonians. Would you open your Bibles to
the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 1. Now Paul is writing
to the church at Thessalonica, And he says that he's addressing
this letter to the church at Thessalonica, which is in God
the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. These people, believers,
are in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what
does this mean, in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, our Lord described it. He identified this relationship
in John 10. He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish. And
He says, I give them eternal life, they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand. They're in My hands. and they're
in the Father's hand. This church is in Christ and
in God the Father. And then in John 17, he describes
this relationship again. He's praying to the Father and
he said, The glory that you gave me, I have given them, that they
may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that
the world may know that you love them even as you love me." And
Paul describes the relationship in this way, Christ in you, the
hope of glory. So this church is in God the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the last
part of that first verse, Paul greets them with this salutation.
He says, grace be to you, grace be to you. and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, Paul often uses
that salutation in his epistles, grace and peace from God the
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes he adds the word mercy.
He said, grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. What is grace? What
is grace? Well, grace is the special goodwill
and favor of God. Grace is the special goodwill
and favor of God. The first time the word is used
in the Bible, over in Genesis chapter 6 verse 8, the scripture
says, God saw, this is the first time the word grace is used in
the scriptures, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man from the face of the earth.
But Noah, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Special
favor. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And in Ephesians 2, verse 8,
the Scripture says, "...for by grace," that same favor, "...of
the Lord are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God." When the angel came to Mary, the mother
of Jesus of Nazareth, he said to her, Fear not, Mary, you have
found favor with God, unmerited favor, undeserved mercy, special
goodwill, special grace. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father. Grace is the unmerited favor
of God, the special goodwill of God. What is peace of which
Paul writes here? Grace and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, three things. If
you'll listen to these three things, it'll help you understand
what this peace is that Paul's talking about. It is peace through
the blood of His cross. Colossians 1 verse 19 says, "...it
pleased the Father, that in Christ should all fullness dwell. And
having made peace through the blood of his cross, he reconciled
us to God by his blood." We're reconciled to God. The enmity
is gone. God is reconciled unto us. We were enemies, now we're friends
with God. So we have peace through the
blood of his cross. And then we're justified before
God's law and before God's justice. You see, by nature, we're under
the curse of the law. But when Jesus Christ was made
a curse for us, He redeemed us from the curse of the law. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, it's not only
peace through the blood of His cross, and peace before the law
and before justice. Reconcile to God. But it's peace
of conscience. Our sins are forgiven. Paul said
in Ephesians 1, 7, in Christ we have redemption. Through His
blood we have the forgiveness of sins. According to the riches
of His grace and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin. So that's the peace. writing
to the church at Thessalonica, who's in God, the Father, and
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Grace be unto you, the special
goodwill and favor of God. Grace be unto you, unmerited
favor. Someone said years ago, grace is God giving us what we
do not deserve, and mercy is God not giving us what we do
deserve. And we have peace with God. We're
reconciled to God through the blood of His Son. And we have
peace of conscience. Our sins are all forgiven. Grace
and peace, rest and assurance, which causes us to trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ and to say with Job, I know, I know my Redeemer
liveth. I know He lives. And to say with
the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded
he's able to keep that which I have committed to him against
that day." It's a rest. It's a peace of conscience. It's
a peace of heart. It's to trust the Lord. Christ
said, you come to me and I'll give you rest. And if you take
my yoke upon you and learn of me, you'll find rest continually
in me. Rest. All right, look at verse
2. Paul says to the church at Thessalonica, in God the Father,
in Christ Jesus the Lord, grace and peace be unto you. I give
thanks, I give thanks to God always for you, always for you,
making mention of you in my prayers. For I remember without ceasing,
I remember three things about you without ceasing. I remember
first your works of faith, I remember, secondly, your labor of love,
and I remember, thirdly, your patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ." Faith, love, and hope. Where have you heard those
three words before? Well, it's mentioned that way
frequently in the Word of God. They're the three chief graces.
He said, I remember these three chief graces I found in you. Works of faith, labor of love,
and patience of hope. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13,
now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three. But the greatest
of these is love. And notice this, he says, now
abideth, abideth faith, hope, and love. Every true believer,
in every true believer, there's faith in Christ, there's hope
of eternal life, and there's love for Christ and his people.
And these three chief graces abide in them. They're not occasional feelings.
They're not fancies or fads that come and go. This is the character
of God's people. These are the evidences of faith. These are the chief graces. Faith,
hope, and love. And they abide. Now abideth in
you faith, hope, and love. Well, let's see these evidences
of grace, these three chief graces. Paul says this, I remember your
work of faith, your work of faith. What is faith? Faith is to believe
God. That's right, to believe God.
We go back to Genesis again and read in Genesis 15, the first
mention of this imputed righteousness through faith. The Scripture
says that God took Abraham out under the stars and showed him
the stars and said, count them. Abraham couldn't count them.
God says, so shall you see me as the stars of the sky. And
the Scripture says Abraham believed God. He believed God. He didn't just believe in God,
and he didn't just believe there is a God, but he believed the
Word of God. God spoke to Abraham. gave him
a promise, and Abraham believed him. That's what faith is. It's to believe God. Not to believe there is a God.
The devil believes there is a God. It's to believe him. It's to
believe his word. Over in Romans 4, 21, it describes
this faith of Abraham. Abraham being fully persuaded,
absolutely confident that what God promised, what God said,
God was able to perform. Therefore, it was imputed to
him for righteousness. And that's what he said in Genesis
15, the first time when God called Abraham. He said, Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. He believed
him. How do we know Abraham believed God? What is faith? It's to believe God, to believe
the Word of God, that what God promised, he was able to perform.
How do we know Abraham believed God? His works prove his faith. His works are evidence of his
faith. God said to him, Abraham, Abraham
was 75 years old when God called him. He said, Abraham, get out
of your father's house and go to the land. I'll show thee.
And Abraham left, not knowing where he was going. God called
him. He believed God. God said, I'll
give you a land. He believed him. And he went
out, not knowing where he was going. God said to Abraham, you'll
have a son. Abraham was 100 years old. His
wife was 90. But he said, you'll have a son. You'll have a seed.
And through him, all the nations of the world will be blessed.
And Abraham believed God. He didn't know how, but he believed
God. He believed God was able to perform all that he said.
And then one day, God told him to take that son to Mount Moriah
and sacrifice him on an altar. as an offering for sin. And Abraham
believed God. He went to that mountain and
laid that boy upon that altar, believing God. And even so, this
is what Paul is saying to the church at Thessalonica. I know
your works of faith. Your faith is believing God.
And your faith is evidenced and proven by your works. James says
that over and over again. Faith without works is dead.
Faith that's in profession only and word only cannot save. You see, believers do not work
to be saved, but believers who are saved and who know God and
who believe God work because they're saved, because they know
God, because they believe God. They act on that faith. So that's
the reason Paul is saying to this church here, I know about
your works of faith. And then secondly, he said, I
remember your labor of love. There was an interesting encounter,
labor of love. There was an interesting encounter
between our Lord Jesus and Peter, the apostle of Christ. When our
Lord had risen from the grave and He appeared to the disciples
down by the seashore, and they came in, and our Lord had prepared
a meal, and they sat down, ate the meal, and the scripture says
in John 21, 15, when they had eaten when the meal was over.
Our Lord said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love
me more than these? And what was our Lord talking
about? Do you love me more than these? Was he talking about the
other disciples? Certainly not. Our Lord never pitted the love
and obedience and belief of these people against one another. He
didn't say, do you love me more than John or do you love me more
than James? He says, do you love me more than these? More than
what? More than these boats, more than
these nets, more than your profession, more than your way of life, more
than your way of making a living, more than your family, more than
your friends, more than all your earthly possessions and your
earthly pursuits. Do you love me more than these?
This is the question of questions. The question of questions, do
you love me? Peter, do you love me? You know,
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 16, if any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be accursed when the Lord comes. So do you
love me, Peter, more than these things, more than these things? And our love for our Lord is
to be greater than our love for anything on earth. or any one
on earth. Now the word more is important. When Christ said, Peter, do you
love me? He said, more than these. Do
you love me more? The word more is important. We
are to love our parents. We're to love them deeply. We're
to love our families. We're to love our friends. We're
to love our wives and children. But the scripture says, he that
loveth father, mother more than me. is not worthy of me. He that
loveth husband or wife more than me is not worthy of me. He that
loves these things of the world more than me, that's the key.
That's the key. Our Lord said, Peter, do you
love me more than these things? And Peter answered, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest I love thee. And this happened three times.
Our Lord said, Do you love me? Peter said, Yea, Lord, I love
thee. Christ said, Feed my lambs. He asked him again, Peter, do
you love me? He said, yea, Lord, I knowest I love thee, feed my
sheep. He asked him a third time, Peter,
do you love me? Peter said, he was grieved that
the Lord should ask him three times he loved him. He said,
Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. And Christ
said, feed my sheep. This is proof of your love for
me. That's what I'm saying. See,
works of faith, Abraham's works proved his faith. Abraham's works
were evidences of his faith. And Peter, being commanded by
the Lord to feed his sheep, to provide for his sheep, to care
for his sheep, to give his thoughts to the well-being of his sheep,
was saying to Peter, if you love me, you'll do this. And just
as Abraham's works were proof he believed God, our labor of
love is proof that we love Christ and love His people. And we're
interested in their welfare, interested in their well-being,
and it's proof of our love for Christ Jesus. Listen to these
scriptures. Ephesians 4, 32. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God, for Christ's sake, forgave you.
John 13. Christ said, this is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall
all men know you, my disciples, that if you love one another.
By this shall all men know. By this shall your love be proved. By this they'll see evidence
of your love for me, if you love one another. You see, John wrote
in 1 John 4, he that loveth not knoweth not God. He said if a
man say I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar and
the truth's not in him. So Paul says to this church at
Thessalonica, I remember constantly your works of faith. You believe
God. And the proof and evidence of
your faith in God is your faithfulness, your generosity, your willingness
to help others. And I remember your labor of
love. You love Christ. And because you love Christ,
you love one another. And you provide for one another
and help one another. Recently, a young man in our
church found out that both of his kidneys were diseased, and
he needed a kidney transplant, and he needed it very, very soon. And one of his beloved friends,
a brother in the church, volunteered to donate a kidney. And they went to the hospital
recently in Cincinnati. And they took both kidneys from
the young man with the diseased kidneys, took them out. And they
took a kidney from his friend and put it in him. And both of
them are doing fine. Now, why did this young man,
why did he make this monumental sacrifice? Why did he do this? To be saved? No. He knows and
loves Christ. Did he do it to gain God's favor,
God's mercy? No, he already had God's favor
and God's mercy. Did he do it to win eternal life?
No, he already had eternal life. He's a child of God. Both of
these men are children of God. Why did he make this awesome,
monumental sacrifice? I'll tell you one word, love.
It was a labor of love. It was a labor of love. He did
it for his friend. He told me, he said, my scripture
concerning this effort is Proverbs 17, 17, a friend. loveth at all times, and a brother
is born for adversity." Here's these three words, faith, love. Here's the third one, now, hope.
Paul said, I remember constantly your works of faith, evidence
of faith, your labor of love, evidence that you love God and
love one another. And the third word is hope, hope,
hope, your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. What is
hope? What is hope? Well, in II Thessalonians,
the Scripture talks about a good hope through grace. It talks
about a blessed hope. It talks about a living hope
because He lives, we live. It talks about a sure hope because
Christ died for our sins and then God's mercy is sure to us. Sure hope, a blessed hope, a
living hope, and a good hope. But our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
listen to this from 2 Thessalonians 2, 16. Our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself and God our Father who loved us has given to us everlasting
comfort and a good hope through grace. It's a good hope through
grace. And here are five things that
will help you to understand the hope. It's a hope in His person,
in His blood. in his righteousness. God hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. So our hope is in Christ,
in his blood, in his righteousness. Secondly, our hope is in Christ,
our great high priest. We have a high priest. He doesn't
offer sacrifices here on earth or go into a tabernacle made
with hands, but into heaven itself. And He doesn't offer animal blood,
His own precious blood on the mercy seat of glory to make atonement
for our sins. And He's our advocate. He's our
intercessor. He ever lives to make intercession
for us. So we have a mediator between
us and God. It's Christ. That's our hope.
Thirdly, it's hope in His return. Christ said, I go to prepare
a place for you. If I go and prepare a place,
I'll come again. and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also." Hope in his blood,
in our great high priest, in his intercession, our mediator,
and in his return, and in his promise. Look at Revelation. He said in Revelation 21, I'll
be their God, and they'll be my people, and I'll wipe away
all tears from their eyes, and there'll be no more sorrow, No
more pain, no more tears, no more crying. For the former things
are passed away, I make all things new. Our hope is in His promise. God has promised and God can't
lie. Fifth, our hope is being conformed
to His image. The scripture says, Beloved,
behold what manner of love God hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know this, when he shall appear, we shall see
him, and we'll be like him. And he that hath this hope purifies
himself, even as he is pure." So that hope, and what does it
produce? Now, faith produces works. Love
produces labor of love, providing for one another, helping one
another. What does hope produce? It produces patience. Patience. It's called the patience of hope.
Works of faith, labor of love, patience of hope. Noah believed
God and waited 120 years for God's promise to come to pass.
Abraham believed God. God promised him a land. He never
in his lifetime ever owned a foot of land. But he lived in tents
with Isaac and Jacob and wandered. But he looked for a city whose
builder and maker is God. And that hope was fulfilled when
God called him home. Job, you've heard of the patience
of Job? You know what Job said? He said,
though he slay me, I'll trust him. I'll trust him. Oh, he said,
I know my Redeemer lives and he'll stand on this earth. One
day I'll see him for myself in my flesh. And David said, listen,
David said, I would have fainted. I would have fainted unless I
had believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living. I say to you, wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. He'll strengthen
your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Let me tell you something. The
grace of God and the peace of God is ours through Christ. And
by His grace, He gives us faith to believe, He gives us love,
shed abroad in our hearts, and He gives us a blessed hope. And
this faith is not in word only. It has works of faith. And this
love, labor of love, and this hope, patience, waiting on His
return because He said He would come back and receive us. If
you want this message, it's called Evidences of Grace. And I'll
preach next week, the Lord willing, from this same chapter, I'm going
to pick up right where I left off, at verse 4, and preach again
on this subject, Evidences of Grace, number 2. This is Evidence
of Grace, number 1. And on the other side of the
tape, Evidence of Grace, number 2, from I Thessalonians, chapter
1. Well, until next week, may God
bless you, everyone.