Here's our subject today, A Work
of God in the Soul. A Work of God in the Soul. And here's our text, 1 Thessalonians
1, verse 5. Paul said, Knowing, brethren
beloved, your election of God. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. Now, my friends, I would say
that there are five words that just about sum up what we call
Bible theology. Now, that's a tall order, I know,
but now you listen to these five words. I would say that they're
five words that pretty well sum up Bible theology. If a man can
get a hold of what these five words are saying, he can call
himself a theologian. And here they are. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Moses
stood before the Red Sea. as the thundering host of Egyptians
descended upon the people of Israel, and he cried, Fear not,
stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. That was Moses'
song, that was his cry. You do not fear, you stand still,
and you'll see the salvation of the Lord. When David stood
before the Philistine giant and declared unto the people, The
Lord save The Lord saved it. He said salvation is not by sword
or spear, but by the power of God Almighty. And I believe this
was David's theme throughout all the Psalms. The Psalms are
called the hymn book of the church. But I believe all the way through
the Psalms, the theme is this, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord. Listen to just a few of the verses
from Psalms. Psalm 2a, salvation belongs to
the Lord. In Psalm 37, 39, the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. Psalm 62, 1, my soul waiteth
upon God, for from him cometh my salvation. Psalm 98, 2, the
Lord maketh known his salvation. In Psalm 51, restore unto me
the joy of thy salvation. Psalm 119, I have longed, O Lord,
for thy salvation. And when the old man Simeon stood
in the temple. He had been told by the Holy
Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's
Messiah, the Lord's Christ. And this old man, Simeon, waited
for the consolation of Israel when Mary came into that temple
and laid the Lord Jesus Christ in his infant state in the arms
of that old man. He lifted his eyes to heaven
and he said, Lord, now let us thy servant die in peace. Let me depart. for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation." I say that's a summary of Bible theology. I say that's what this book's
all about. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation. Well, what do
we mean by salvation is of the Lord? What do we mean by a work
of God in the soul? Well, several quotations have
come down through the years. I've collected several quotations
about salvation is of the Lord and the work of God in the soul.
And let me give you just a few of them. Here's one from an old-timer
many years ago. The whole of the work whereby
a lost sinner, a fallen son of Adam, is justified, sanctified,
pardoned, and redeemed is of the Lord and of him only. Watch
this one. Here's another one. The power
which begets life in a dead sinner, the power which translates a
child of darkness into the kingdom of light. The power which delivers
a servant of sin from slavery to the freedom of God's grace
and to the family of God's sons is of the Lord and of him only. I like that. That's what we're
preaching. Listen to this one. Here's another.
The royal bath in which black sinful souls are washed, made
white and clean. is drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and no blood of noble martyrs or noble confessors enters that
stream. There is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath
that flood lose all their guilty stains. Dear dying Lamb, thy
precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
Church of God be saved to sin no more." Listen to this one.
The banquet of mercy. is served by one host, the Lord
himself. The banquet of mercy is served
by one host, the Lord himself. Charles Spurgeon preached, I
suppose, the most powerful sermon he ever preached in his life.
It's been quoted and used and re-preached thousands and thousands
of times by many ministers entitled, Salvation is of the Lord. It
was taken from Jonah, chapter 2, verse 9, which says, Salvation
is of the Lord. And he had five points. He says
the Lord planned salvation. The Lord planned salvation in
eternity past. God purposed to save a people.
He purposed to have a people like Christ. He purposed to call
from sin's darkness to heaven's light a people by his grace and
by his glory. He planned it. He planned the
whole thing. He purposed the whole thing. He works it all
according to his eternal will. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. And not only that, but God executed salvation. For
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son. He sent
his Son into the world to save the Lord. God sent Christ. Christ
didn't come down here to get God in a good humor. Christ didn't
come down here to get God to love people. He came down here
because the Father loved sinners. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. God Almighty not only planned salvation, but he executed it.
The people who crucified Christ did what the Father's hand determined
before it could be done. And then point number three,
the Father applied salvation. He applies it. But he calls us
by his grace to faith in Christ Jesus. Paul said that in Galatians
1.15. He said, God who separated me from my mother's womb was
pleased to reveal his Son in me. God revealed him. God applied
salvation. We seek God because he sought
us. We call on God because he called
us. We love God because he loved
us. He's always first in any of the
efforts of grace. And then here's the fourth point.
Mr. Spurgeon says the Lord sustains
salvation. He keeps me safe. He's able to
keep me from falling. For every one of us are kept,
the scripture says, by the power of God. Not apart from faith,
but through faith. But we're kept by the power of
God. If one sheep of Christ could fall away, I would fall a thousand
times a day. But I'm not sustained by human
decision, not sustained by human strength, I'm not sustained even
by human faith. I'm sustained by the power of
God through faith. And then the last point, the
Lord will perfect salvation. How would you like to do what
needs to be done now for me? How would you like to have to
do for yourself what yet has to be done to complete your salvation? You know what yet has to be done?
You've got to be raised from the tomb. Your body's going to
have to be brought forth from weakness to strength, from shame
to glory, from mortality to immortality, from corruption to incorruption.
Who's going to do that? Who can do it? None but God.
None but God can do the helpless sinner good. So you see, this
is what I'm saying. I'm saying that Bible theology
is summed up in five words, whether in its planning, or execution,
or application, or sustaining power, or ultimate perfection.
Salvations of the Lord. Now Paul was convinced that this
work of grace, this salvation of the Lord, had been done, had
been completed in these beloved brethren from Thessalonica. He
said, I know, beloved brethren, your election of God. I know
that you have been elected of God unto salvation. I know that
God hath done a work of grace in your souls. I know that. And
I ask this question, Paul, how do you know that these people
have been elected of God? How do you know that these people
have applied to their souls the grace of God, the work of God
in the soul? Let me give you several answers.
You'll find it in the following verses. Now look at verse 5.
He said in verse 4, Knowing, brethren beloved, your election
of God. Now look at verse 5. For our
gospel came not unto you in word only. Now that's the way most
people hear the gospel. They just hear some words. That's
the way most people hear the gospel. They go and hear a preacher
and they just hear some words. Just like Mark Twain visited
the church one time and heard a preacher, and on the way out
he told the preacher, I've got a book at home that's got every
word of your sermon in it. And the preacher said, I'm sure
you're mistaken, Mr., was it Samuel Clements was his name,
I'm sure you're mistaken, that's an original sermon. No, no, he
said, no, I've got a book at home with every word of that
sermon in it, I'll send it to you tomorrow. And the next day,
the boy arrived with the book, and the preacher opened the package,
there it was, Webster's Dictionary. And inside it had written in
this man's handwriting, words, preacher, that's all, just words. And that's how most people hear
the gospel, but not these people. Paul says, you heard the gospel,
not in word only. Now, it's got to come that way.
I'm not discounting words. They're vehicles of thought.
How am I going to tell you what's on my heart without words? I've
either got to write them or speak them. And even the Lord Jesus
Christ is called the word of God, the expression of God, the
communication of God, but not word only. Man has to hear word,
but these people heard the gospel not in word only. How did they
hear it? Now, watch this. They heard the gospel in power.
in power, the power of God to convince them of sin, the power
of God upon the conscience to persuade them of their sins,
and the power of God upon the mind to reveal the sufficiency
of Christ and the righteousness of God in Christ, and the power
of God upon the heart to lead them to embrace Christ, and the
power of God upon the will to bring them to confess and follow
Christ. There was a power at work. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And the word power
there is dynamite. Dynamite, that's the word it
comes from. The gospel is the dynamite of God, the power of
God. It breaks down the walls of Jericho. It breaks down the stubborn will.
It breaks the hard heart. It subdues the rebellious spirit.
It's the power of God. And that's what no man can do.
And then notice this, he said, you heard the word of the gospel,
not in word only. We did hear it that way. But
we heard it in power, and then he said we heard it in the Holy
Ghost. Now, my friend, there are four things of which I'm
absolutely certain. There can be no saving blessings
or benefits apart from a union with Christ. Everything that
God gives us, he gives us in Christ. His love, his mercy,
his grace, everything's in Christ. That's where it is. God's vested
everything in Christ. In him dwelleth the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in him. That's where
everything God has for a sinner is vested in Christ. And everything
I have from God is in Christ. I'm a joint heir with Christ.
Now, know that. Number two, I know that there's
no way for me to be brought into a living union with Christ except
by faith, not by works, by faith, and faith alone. And I know there's
not going to be any faith without the gospel. He begat us of his
own will by the word of truth. The Holy Spirit is the agent
in regeneration, but the word of God is the seed or the instrument. And there's not going to be any
faith without the word of God being preached. A man can't call
on a Christ he doesn't know. He can't believe in a Christ
he doesn't know. He's got to be revealed. But
last of all, I know this. all the preaching in the world
will not effect saving faith or a living union with Christ
apart from God's Holy Spirit. God's Spirit reveals unto us
our sins. Christ said, when I go away,
I will send the Holy Spirit, and he will convince the world
of righteousness and of judgment and of peace. and of sin, of
righteousness and judgment. He'll take the things of mine
and show them to you. He shall glorify me." So he says,
you heard the gospel, not in just a lot of words, a pretty
flowery words, enticing words of man's wisdom, intellectual
words, words of theology, words that cover up the cross, but
you heard the gospel in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance, assurance of two things. Assurance, first of all, of the
truth of that gospel. This is the record. God has given
us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. And not only assurance
of the truth of that message, this is a faithful saying, but
assurance of my and your part in it. We've got to be assured
of that. We can't have any peace or hope
if we're not confident of our part in that gospel. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded, confident
he's able to keep that which I have committed to him. I've
given it over to Christ. Now, Paul said, I know, brethren,
beloved, that a work of God has taken place in your soul because
you heard the gospel in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in assurance.
Now, what's the next line? And you became followers, and
you became followers of us and of the Lord. Now, Paul was certain
that the Thessalonians had a genuine work of God in their souls because
they not only heard the word, but they walked in the path of
obedience. Our Lord gave, and Paul knew
the word, our Lord gave two marks of the believer. He says his
sheep are branded in two places. He said, My sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. They are branded on the ear and
on the foot. They hear my voice and they follow
me. Now we may try, and it will only
try, we won't be able to do it. We may try to include all of
present day religion and present day church members in the kingdom
of God. We may try to include all these people in the kingdom
of God, but it just won't fit God's teachings. Our Lord plainly
said, he that taketh not up his cross and followeth after me
is not fit for the kingdom of God. Our Lord said, he that cometh
to me must hate his mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife,
yea, his own life, or he cannot be my disciple. Our Lord said,
no man having put his hand to the plow and looks back is fit
for the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ will be Lord of
all or he won't be Lord at all. No man can serve two masters.
No man can serve God and mammon. That's what Christ said. And
Paul said, I know you've got a work of grace in your soul
because you heard the gospel in power and the Holy Ghost and
much assurance, and you became a follower, a follower, a disciple. the Lord you belong to him you
became his bond slave you became a follower like old cable Caleb
of old Caleb was one who followed the Lord that's the way they
identified this fella Caleb all the way through the battle he
was the fella that followed the Lord he was the fella that followed
the Lord and one place said he followed the Lord fully fully
now watch this verse 8 and you became witnesses and you became
witnesses It says here in verse 8, From you sounded out the word
of God, not only where you lived, but in every place. Let me visit
with you a moment. I'm going to say something here
that's a little different from what the average preacher says.
What is a good witness? What is a good testimony? When
are we giving a good witness? Paul says, I know you've had
a work of grace in your soul because you heard the gospel.
in power and the Holy Ghost in much assurance. And he became
a follower of us and the Lord. But he said you became a witness,
a good witness. All right, what is a good witness?
Well, the first thing I know about a witness is this, and
this is what the average person thinks of when he thinks of a
witness, and that is giving a testimony or telling in words what God
has done for you in Christ. And this is necessary. That's
a good witness, to tell your wife, or your husband, or your
children, or your neighbor, or your friends, or your family,
or your loved ones, or relatives, what God's done for you in Christ.
That's good witness. That's a good testimony. Standing
up and giving a testimony, standing up and giving God the glory,
standing up and praising God for his mercy and his grace,
telling another fellow how to be saved, pointing men to Christ,
that's a good witness. But, but, there are other ways
of being a good witness, even without words. And I'm saying
that these are the ways of giving a good witness are so important
that without these, your words are empty and fruitless and worthless. You may be the gabbiest church
member around and be the poorest witness in town. You may be the
gabbiest and the windiest, and the talkiness, church member
and soul winner in town, and you may be an enemy of the cross
of Jesus Christ. You may be a blatant enemy of
the Son of God. You may be doing more damage
to the kingdom of God than you're doing good, and it'd be better
if you'd shut your mouth. I can make good on that. Now,
a good witness is not only a good talker. Some of the best witnesses
are not talkers at all. But a good witness is a man who
has a good attitude toward other people. That's what scripture
says, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. A man who has
an unforgiving spirit, a man who has an unkind spirit, a man
who does not have a loving and gracious spirit and he tries
to tell about Christ, he does more damage than he does good.
For if you're not a person with a good spirit and a good attitude
toward others, don't say anything about the cause. because you'll
only bring reproach on the kingdom of God. Just shut up. And then
thirdly, a good witness will demonstrate the humility of Jesus
Christ. There's no such thing as a good,
proud witness. And I see a lot of proud preachers
and proud soul winners and proud evangelists and proud missionaries,
and I'd say the best thing they could do for the kingdom of God
is go out of business as soon as they can. I know people who've
got pride of face and pride of place and pride of race, but
the most obnoxious thing on earth is pride of grace. The Scripture
says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." The shameful, humiliating
death of the cross. Come on down, fella. come on
down. You can't witness to anybody
talking down to him. Actually, the best witness talks
up to people because he knows he's the chief of centers. So
I'm saying this, a good witness has a good spirit and he has
a spirit of humility and a spirit of grace and a spirit of forgiveness
and a spirit of mercy. I'll tell you something else.
A good witness deals in honesty and fairness with other people.
If you are a person that deals dishonestly in any way, in your
business, in your profession, in your dealings with people,
keep your mouth shut. Don't you say anything about
God or the Bible or the church or the preacher. I'd rather you
not call my name. I don't want anybody to know
I'm associated with you if you're dishonest in your dealings with
me. The scripture says, as you would that men should do unto
you, do ye even so unto them. This is the law and the prophet.
This is what the law and the prophet said. A good witness
is an honest man, and fair in his dealings with others. You
won't find him out disputing over a property line, or disputing
over a contract, or disputing over a bill. He pays what he
owes. He does what he says. His word's
as good as a syphe that signed it in duplicate or triplicate.
He doesn't have to sign his name. He can give you his word, and
you can rest on it and bank on it. And then a good witness is
a good husband. If you're not a good husband,
don't you try to witness to anybody. If you're not a good wife, a
submissive wife, a wife in subjection to your husband, keep your mouth
shut. Don't tell anybody you believe in Christ because really
you don't. And if you're not a good mother, and a good father,
and a good brother, and a good sister, and a good friend, I'm
telling you, my friends, sometimes what we are hollers so loud people
can't hear what we say. And that's a bad witness. Now,
I know that's not being said, but it just got said, and it
needs to be said again and again. I'll tell you something else.
A good witness has a good report, not only of people in the church,
but people outside the church. Don't try to talk to people about
Christ if you don't demonstrate the love of Christ and the grace
of Christ and the mercy of Christ in their presence. And if you
demonstrate it, chances are you won't have to say so much about
it. You won't have to wear a pin up here to let people know you're
a Christian. It'll leak out on you. You won't have to wear a
cross around your neck or up here on your lapel saying, I'm
a Christian, I'm a Christian, I'm a Christian. Somebody's going
to find it out before the day's over if you are a believer. They'll
watch you and listen to you and observe you, and they'll say,
God's done something for that person. I believe a good work
of grace has taken place in his soul. I don't wear any pins.
I hope my life and testimony and attitude toward others will
speak loud enough that I don't need any fancy pins. to tell
people I believe in Christ Jesus. Can you take that? Well, I hope
you can because that's the truth. You became witnesses. And then
watch this, verse 9. I know a good work of grace has
been performed in your soul because you turn from your idols. You
turn from your idols to serve the living God. Now, don't tell
me that people in America don't have idols. I know they do. Our
streets and our cities and our houses and our stores and our
churches are crammed full of idols. You say, make good on
that if you can. All right, I'll do my best. If
we do not worship a calf of gold, like Israel of old, maybe we
worship gold in another form, materialism. You know, the Bible
says a man's life consists if not in the things that he possesses.
A man's life consists, if not in the things he possesses. Doesn't
the Bible say, having food and clothing, let us therewith be
content and avoid covetousness, which is idolatry? Covetousness is idolatry. So really and truly, we do have
our idols, idolatry, covetousness. We're so discontent. We're murmurs
and complainers. We want more. We always want
bigger and more and greater and finer. We're not content having
full arraignment. We're not content. We've got
to have a little more. That's idolatry. And then if
we do not worship idols of clay, you say, I don't worship idols
of clay. Well, maybe you worship clay in another form. Our families,
our children, our parents, vessels of clay. Now, who's first in
your life? Whose part? Christ Jesus? Or
that little son or daughter or mother or father or husband or
wife? I had a friend of mine one time that made this statement.
Doesn't any church member have relatives who go to church? People
are always missing church. You say, where are they? Oh,
they got company today. They got kinfolks visiting. Idols
of clay. If we don't worship religious
relics in one form, perhaps we worship them in another. Tradition.
That's the way we've always done it. But it's not according to
the Word. But that's how we do it. Our custom, our denominational
traditions, our rituals and relics, we bow down before these traditions
just like they were the commandments of God. You turn from your idols,
you burn them, you lay them aside, and you follow the living God.