I'd like for you to open your
Bible with me today to the book of I Thessalonians. I Thessalonians
chapter 2. I'm going to read two verses,
verse 13 and 14. Now, here's the title of this
message, We Thank God, or Five Reasons to Thank God. Listen
to Paul in I Thessalonians, the second chapter, verse 13. He
says, For this cause, for this cause, We thank God. We thank God without ceasing,
because when you receive 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. Now, I must confess, that when
I began work on this message, began to prepare for this particular
telecast, and read this verse of scripture, I must confess
that the first words which caught and held my attention when I
read the text were these, we thank God. We thank God. The air today is so heavy with
criticism, murmuring, and complaints. that it's so pleasant and so
joyful and so refreshing to hear someone say, thank God. You know, the wrath and judgment
of God upon Israel in the wilderness, and his judgment and wrath came
upon them several times, but perhaps the fiercest judgment
was when he sent fiery serpents among the people. They bit the
people. The people were dying. You remember the story of the
brazen serpent lifted up. Well, what brought this judgment?
What brought the wrath of God upon these people? Do you know
what brought God's judgment upon them? Murmuring. The people murmured
against Moses, they murmured against God, they murmured about
the distance they'd walk, they murmured about the bread they
were eating, they murmured about all these things, and God sent
judgment into the camp. I wonder what kind of judgment
that we would be under right today. if God sent judgment upon
us every time we complained and criticized and found fault with
his providence and murmured against the state in which he's been
pleased to put us. Listen to the Word of God. Paul
was a man who praised and thanked God. He said, we thank God. We thank God. He says in 1 Thessalonians
5.18, this would be a good motto. This would be a good motto for
all of us. He says, in everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. Listen
to Colossians 3.15. Be ye thankful. Be ye thankful. And listen to Ephesians 5.20.
Giving thanks always for all things. And David in that great
hundredth psalm says, come into his presence with thanksgiving. come into his presence with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise." I'll tell you another word that
caught my attention when I read this 13th verse of I Thessalonians
2. For this cause thank we God without
ceasing. Every day for Paul, Silas, and
Timothy, every day was Thanksgiving Day. It was Thanksgiving Day
all the time. Without ceasing, we thank God. Paul said on another occasion,
I have learned, and I don't suppose this lesson's easy to learn.
I wish I could learn it. I believe you do, too. I have
learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Be content with what you have
and avoid covetousness. So here he says, without ceasing,
we thank God. We thank God without ceasing.
We praise God without ceasing. Paul rejoiced in the Lord. He said, rejoice in the Lord
always. And again I say, always rejoice
in the Lord. He gave thanks unto God for all
things. But on this occasion, we're talking
about right here in I Thessalonians 2, he lists five reasons for
thanking God. Now here's the message. We thank
God. We thank God. And there are five
reasons He gives us for this ceaseless praise, for this ceaseless
attitude and spirit of thanksgiving. Will you follow along in your
Bible while I point out these five things, five reasons for
which we thank God? The first one is this. He says,
I thank God because you receive the Word of God. You receive
the Word of God. I thank God. that you receive
the Word of God. That which rejoices the heart
of God's true servant the most. What would you say it is? I'll
tell you what it is with Paul. That which rejoices the heart
of God's true servant. I'm not talking about paid preachers
and entertainers that call themselves preachers and promoters and this
sort of thing. I'm talking about the true servant
of God. What rejoices his heart the most? The number of people
he has? Paul never mentions that. The
number of additions or converts? Paul never mentions that. The
amount of money that flows into the storehouse? Paul never mentions
that. He never uses how many or how
much. Never. He says, I thank God without
ceasing that you receive the Word of God. That which rejoices
the heart of God's true servant the most is for his congregation
to receive the Word of God. to receive the Word of God. I
thank God without ceasing, because you receive the Word of God."
You say, why is he so happy about that? Men by nature do not receive
the Word of God. Men by nature reject the Word
of God. That's what Christ said in John
5, 43. He said, I have come in my Father's
name, and you receive me not. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. You received me not." So Paul
says, I thank God you received the Word of God. In receiving
the Word, you receive Christ. Christ is the Word. In John 1.11,
he came unto his own, and his own received him not. He was
in the world, and the world knew him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. 1
Corinthians 2.14, the natural man receiveth not the things
of God. That's the reason Paul rejoicing. That's the reason
his heart is glad and lifted up. He says, I thank God because
you received the Word of God. But I'll tell you this, whether
men receive the Word or not, whether they believe it or refuse
it, whether they receive it or reject it, we're going to preach
it, the Word of God as it is. to men as they are. Our message
must not, it cannot be determined by what men want to hear or by
what men will hear. They say, they just won't hear
that today. Preach it anyway. But men don't want that kind
of message. Preach it anyway. We're not preaching what men
want to hear or what they will hear. We're preaching, thus saith
the Lord. Paul said, if I please men, I'm
not the servant of Christ anyway. And then, my friend, it made
Paul's heart glad that these people had received the Word
of God, for he knew that when people who receive the Word of
God, people who receive the Word of God, do not argue with God's
Word. Did you know that? Let me give
you four or five things that I believe are true. I'm just
sure the Lord has revealed this to my heart through his Word.
People who receive the Word of God do not question it. They
do not dispute with it. They do not argue it. But as
newborn babes, they desire the sincere milk of the Word that
they may grow thereby. They do. They don't argue with
the minister. They don't argue with God's Word.
They don't dispute. They don't say, I just don't
believe that. I believe this, but I don't believe that. Those
who receive the Word receive all the Word without argument,
without resistance. And then those who receive the
Word welcome it. They delighted it. The Bereans
searched the Scriptures to see if these things are so. They
fed upon the Word. They rejoiced in the Word. They
embraced the Word. They received it readily. They
welcomed the Word. Thy Word, David said, have I
hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. He said
again in Psalm 119, I will delight myself in the Word of the Lord. That's right. Men who receive
the Word of God receive it without argument. They receive it willingly. They welcome it. They embrace
it. They hunger and thirst for it.
And they never grow tired of it. They never grow tired. Because the Word is their foundation
of faith. And the more they hear the Word,
the stronger their foundation of faith. Christ is the living
foundation. But the Word is the foundation
of faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
They're never weary of it, because it's their bread and drink. The
Word of God is the children's bread. That's what it is. When our Lord told Peter to feed
the sheep, what's he talking about? Feed them the Word of
God. He makes me to lie down by green pastures. That's the
Word of God. He leaves me beside the still
waters. That's the Word of God. The Word
of God is the believer's comfort. It's his confidence. It's His
consolation. He never grows tired of it. So
that's the reason Paul said this, I thank God that you receive
the Word. A sincere love, listen to this,
a sincere love for the Word of God is a good evidence of spiritual
life. A man who really loves God's
Word, who never wearies of it, who embraces it, who yearns for
it, who welcomes it, who receives it willingly, without resistance
or argument, that's a good evidence of spiritual life. But, my friend,
a lack of interest in the Word of God, an indifference toward
the Word of God, is a good evidence of spiritual darkness. I guarantee
you that's so. Now, that's just so. A man who
has a hunger and a thirst for the Word, who loves the Word,
who feeds upon it, who rejoices in it, who finds his comfort
and rest and hope in what God has said. Abraham believed God.
He believed God was able to do all that he promised. He rejoiced
in the Word of God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness.
But a lack of interest, an indifference, a carelessness where the Word
of God is concerned, it's a sure evidence of spiritual darkness
that amends in the gall of bitterness. That's so, because the Word is
the children's bread. And then Paul said, secondly,
I thank God. I thank God. You receive the
Word of God. Now watch this. Not as the Word
of men, not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word
of God. My friend, your faith must not
stand in the words of men, either written or spoken. Your faith
must not stand in the logic and argument of men. It must stand
in the power of God. He said, I rejoice. I thank God
you received the Word. But you didn't receive it as
the words of Paul or the words of Silas or the words of Timothy.
You received it as it is, the Word of God. My friend, man at
his best state is altogether vanity. And at best, those who
preach to you, yea, preach the Word of God, are still just men.
That's all they are. That's all they are. They're
not infallible. God's Word's infallible. But
the preacher's not. No preacher is. No preachers,
they're just vessels of clay. We lay no claim to infallibility
or perfection, but I claim infallibility for His Word and perfection for
His Word." And Paul said, you didn't receive this Word as the
Word of men, as the logic and argument of men, as the doctrines
of men. You received it as it is, the
Word of God. You remember the story of the
Samaritan woman, how she met Christ at the well, And then
she ran down into the town of Samaria and told them about Christ. And then the men came and heard
her. Now listen to what they said to her. John 4, 41, 42, And many believed, and many believed
because of his own words. And they said to the woman, Now
we believe, not because of your words, and I think When I read
this of all the soul winners and fast talkers and decisionists
out there who are wrecking the souls of men, going out with
a little three or four word recipe for redemption and talking people
into professions of faith and talking them into, you believe
this, you believe that, you believe that, shake my hand, you're saved,
now you're going to heaven. You're resting in the words of
men, in the arguments and logic of men. in all of these recipes
that men put out. And these men said to that woman,
We believe not because of what you said, not because of what
you said, but because we have heard Him for ourselves, and
we know that this is indeed the Christ. I've heard His Word."
A lot of difference, a lot of difference. in going down to
the front of the church and letting some preacher talk you into a
profession of faith. There's a lot of difference in
that. And hearing Him speak, who speaks through His Word,
hearing Him speak, who speaks in power, hearing Him speak,
who speaks in quickening power, in awakening power, in regenerating
power, in begetting power, in life-giving power, who convinces
and converts you by His Word, by His power, it's an inward
work. It's a work of regeneration.
What God doeth, it shall be forever. Now, Abraham, this is true of
Abraham. It says in Romans 4, he believed
God. He believed God. He didn't believe a man, he believed
God. And it was imputed to him for righteousness. I believe
God. Not because the Baptists said it or the Catholics or the
Methodists or the Presbyterians or anybody else. I believe God. I believe God told us about man's
fall. God told us about the consequences
and results of that fall and the condemnation of that fall.
God told us about His judgment against sin, about man's inability
to find a righteousness or to work one out. God told us about
His love and mercy and grace in Christ. He told us how that
He sent His Son into this world to be our Savior, and He died
on that cross, was buried and rose again as our sacrifice,
as our atonement, and He ascended to heaven where He is Right now,
seated at the right hand of God, our great high priest, and because
we have such a high priest, we can come boldly before God's
throne of grace and find mercy and grace to help in time of
need. I believe God. And no man convinced me of that
or argued me into that profession or that decision. If a man can
talk you into religion, another man can talk you out of it. If
a man can talk you into a decision or a profession of faith, another
man can come along and talk you into another one and another
one into another one, and finally another one can talk you into
throwing the whole thing overboard. Paul said in I Corinthians 15,
I've delivered unto you the gospel, by which you are saved, wherein
you stand, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures, that he was buried and rose again according to the
scriptures. I delivered unto you that gospel."
But my friend, it's God that makes the gospel effectual to
the heart. And then listen to this. That
brings me to the next point. Paul said, I thank God. I thank
God you received the Word. And it wasn't just Paul's words
you received. It wasn't Paul's arguments or
logic. I didn't come along and present
a little better scheme than the other fellow. You received it
as it is, the Word of God, in truth, the Word of God. And that
word, look at the next line, has worked effectually in you. It's worked effectually in you. What's effectual mean? It means
to get the job done. It got the job done. That's what
effectual means. It worked effectually, sufficiently. It got the job done. Now, many
people claim to believe the Bible. This is a common statement. I believe the Bible. I believe
the Bible. But let me shock you just a moment.
Will you listen a moment? A man really doesn't believe
anything, believe it, spiritually, until he experiences it. Now
that's so. If you believed the Bible, you'd
be saved. I say that because if you really believed it, it's
because you experienced it. You don't believe anything. You
don't actually believe anything spiritually until you experience
it. This is what Paul is saying when he says, I thank God that
the Word of God came to you, 1 Thessalonians 1, not in word
only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. That's how God's Word came to
you, not just in word only. It came as an effectual force,
and an effectual power, and an effectual operation in your heart
and soul. This was his own experience.
He said when the law came, I just didn't look at the law and say,
well, that's so. He said, I died. I died. I experienced the power of the
law. I experienced the stripping power of the law. I experienced
the killing effect of the law. I believed it. I felt it. I died. He said, when God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, was pleased to call me by His grace,
He revealed His Son, not to me, in me. Christ was revealed in
me. And he prayed for the church
at Galatia. He said, I prevail till Christ be formed in you. My friends, the presence of sin
is not a fact. It's an experience to those who
believe. That's right. The sovereignty
of God is not a doctrine. I hear people say, I believe
in the doctrine of God's sovereignty. I don't. No, I don't. It's not
a doctrine. It's an experience. I believe
in a God who is sovereign. When you experience it, you enjoy
the comfort of it. You enjoy the rest of it. You
enjoy the peace of it. And if you don't enjoy the rest
and peace and comfort of God's power and sovereignty, you don't
believe He's sovereign. You can say it till you're blue
in the face. But you've got to experience it. The sufficiency
of Christ is not a creed. We've got that written in our
creeds and catechisms and confessions of faith, the sufficiency of
Christ. It's just a statement if you
haven't experienced it. Now, that's the difference. He
says, I thank God you received the Word. worth a word of men,
but as it is in truth, the Word of God, the life-giving, heart-changing,
converting Word of God, and it has worked effectually in you,
in power, in the Holy Ghost. To the legalist, God's a rule.
Don't do this, you'll go to hell. Don't do that, God will jump
on you. Don't do that, God won't bless
you. That's what God's a law to the legalist. To the ceremonialist,
God's a form or a ritual. just like ten toy soldiers marching
along at a given beat. To the emotionless, God's a whoopee
feeling. To the theologian, God's a doctrine.
To the sectarian, God's a creed. To the believer, Christ is his
life. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me." Have you heard God speak
through His Word effectually? Have you experienced the depths
of sin? Have you experienced the inability
of man's Merit, have you experienced the grace of God? Have you experienced
the presence of God's Spirit? Have you experienced the power
of God's Word? Have you experienced the assurance
of God's sovereignty? Have you experienced the rest
and comfort of God's providence? Have you experienced it, entered
into it? If not, you've missed it. I don't
care what you profess. You don't believe anything until
you experience it. That's absolutely so. And the
more forcefully you experience it, the more you believe it.
That's exactly right. If my voice is the only voice
you hear, then nothing of any eternal value or good will be
accomplished. You've got to hear Him speak,
who speaks effectually. And when He speaks, the dead,
dry bones live. When He speaks, the Spirit breathes
upon them, and they live when He speaks. The prophet Ezekiel
would talk all day, but when God speaks, men live. All right,
Paul, fourthly, I thank you, I thank God, I thank God, brethren,
that you became followers of the churches of God in Jesus
Christ. You can't separate faith and
conduct. You became followers. As a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he. Out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh. Men who believe and receive Christ
follow Christ. Well, that's just so. Paul said,
I thank God you received the Word of God. You received it
as the Word of God. You received it effectually in
your heart, and that Word had an effect upon you. You began
following the Lord. That's exactly... My sheep, Christ
said, hear my voice, and they follow me. It's clear indication
that if you cry, the building's on fire, and a fellow keeps sitting
there, he didn't hear you. He didn't hear you. Or if a man's
walking toward a cliff, and you're back several paces, and you holler,
hey, you're gonna fall over, and he goes on off, he didn't
hear you. My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. Find a true
believer. I don't care in what country,
I don't care what denomination. A true believer will demonstrate
the same characteristics and the same fruit wherever you find
them. They're a tribe of people. They're a family. They all look
like the Father. That's right. They all look like
the Father. They all bear the image of the Heavenly Father.
They love Christ. They love one another. It doesn't
matter how they spell their name. It doesn't matter what accent
or with what accent they speak. It doesn't matter how old or
young. It doesn't matter. They love Christ and they love
one another. They mourn over sin. They long
to be holy. They love God's Word and they
believe it. They enjoy peace with God in
their hearts. They trust in Christ and Christ
alone for salvation. They walk in honesty and truth.
They're generous. They're kind. They're thankful.
They long for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. They follow.
He said, I thank God that when the Word of God worked effectually
in you, that you became followers, followers of the churches of
God and Christ Jesus. You became like those folks,
those other folks that know Christ. You became like those folks over
there in Mexico, or Canada, or over there in England, or Ireland,
or Spain, or France, or Germany, or America, or wherever they're
found. They're all just alike. Oh, some are babies in Christ,
and some are mature, and some are young men, but they all bear
the same characteristic. They all bear the image of the
Heavenly Father. And then last of all, Paul said,
I thank God. Now, this is strange here. But
he gave thanks for four things, and he brought this last one.
He says, I thank God that you suffered. That you suffered. You suffered like things of your
own countrymen. What Paul is saying here, now,
he rejoiced in afflictions. He thanked God that he was counted
worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. That's right. He gave thanks
for his afflictions. He gave thanks for persecution.
And he also rejoiced that these people were suffering the same
afflictions and the same persecution. Well, why should he be thankful
for this? Well, let me give you two or three reasons. First of
all, it was clear proof that they were preaching the gospel.
Now, I'm telling you, if you preach the truth of God's Word,
Christ said, if they hated me, they'll hate you. If they despise
me, they despise you. If they hear my word, they'll
hear your word. If they don't hear my word, they won't hear your
word. So this was clear proof. When word came to Paul that those
people were being persecuted, he said, well, they're preaching
the truth. Not only that, but they believe in it. And not only
that, but God said himself, all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. I thank God, even for the afflictions. David said, it's good for me
that I've been afflicted. Thereby I learned his statutes. Now I have two messages on this
one tape. This is one cassette tape. Cassette. Not reel and not 8-track. Cassette tape. The two messages.
The one I preached last week on the revelations of the gospel.
And this message on I thank God. If you want it, write to me.
Send two dollars. That's what it cost us to produce
it and send it. And we'll mail it your way. Until
next Sunday, God bless you.