Let us turn now in our Bibles
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus
unto the Church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only,
but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
as you know, what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were in samples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad, so
that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned
to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait
for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even
Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. This morning and looking at this
chapter, my desire, my prayer is that we all may be reminded
and be impressed with the great power, the great demonstration
of the power of God. Paul, Silas, and Timothy came
to Thessalonica from Philippi. We all know the experience they
had there. When they were beaten and put
in the prison and at midnight God sent an earthquake and the
jailer cried out, men and brethren, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And they went immediately from
Philippi to Thessalonica. And look what God did. Look what our God did. It's amazing. It's so easy to
pass over this and not let it really sink in, but it is amazing
what the Lord our God did. You know, the men of Thessalonica,
and we read this in the beginning of the service in Acts 17, They
charged Paul and Silas as being men who had turned the world
upside down. Well, truly that's what happened
here in Thessalonica. It is as though the world for
many of these people had been turned upside down. They had preached the gospel
in word, as the gospel must be preached in word to those here
in Thessalonica, But that gospel, as we see here, was accompanied
with the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And we are told in that
passage in Acts what they preached. They preached that the Old Testament
taught that the promised Christ, the Messiah, that he must suffer
and rise from the dead. And I would just mention, they
preached the word of God. All they had, of course, was
the Old Testament. But they preached the Word of
God. And they showed in the Word of
God how the Messiah who had been promised from the very beginning,
in Genesis chapter three, when only Adam and Eve were here,
God had promised a deliverer. And they showed how in the scriptures,
in the Old Testament books, that this one who was promised to
come and deliver his people, that he would suffer and die
and rise again from the dead. And number two, they preach that
this Jesus, this Jesus, you've all heard that Jesus was crucified
at Jerusalem just several years ago, that this Jesus of Nazareth,
that he is the Christ. That's what they preached. And
number three, they preached, at least they were accused, and
I assume it was true. They are telling people here
that there's another king. That Caesar, we recognize he
is a king, but they are telling the people there's another king. And we know that they were preaching
Christ, who is the king of kings and the Lord of lords. that he
reigns over all of his creation. He is the supreme ruler. Now,
I would imagine they went through various types and pictures in
the Law of Moses, the various sacrifices, the feast days, and
no doubt they used Isaiah chapter 53 to show how the Christ must
suffer. That you can't read that chapter
and not say that this promised Messiah was going to suffer.
He was going to bear our iniquities. He was going to suffer as a substitute
and he was going to rise from the dead. Yes, because he would
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He would see his
seed. And if he were put to death,
and he would be, the only way he could see his seed after being
put to death, he would be risen from the dead. Yes, they preached
from the Old Testament, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
let's think about what the gospel of the grace of God preached
in the power, and that's what we need. That's what I need,
that's what we need when we come together. I cannot insist on
this too much, my friends. We can meet, we can sing a few
hymns, we can hear a sermon, and we can go back home, but
listen, if God the Holy Spirit doesn't meet with us and bless
His word and visit us, we're just going through the motions.
That's all. And that's what I want us to
see here. Paul and Silas were there for
three weeks. Three Sabbaths, the scriptures
tell us that Paul and Silas went into the synagogue and reasoned
out of the scriptures. They preached from the word of
God. And then because of the uproar of the people who didn't
agree, And the gospel, when the gospel is preached in power,
there's always going to be those who get glad and those who get
mad. And here, that happened. There were some who got glad,
weren't they? They were saved by the grace
of God. They were rejoicing in Christ
and salvation by grace. But there were others who got
mad. Why? Because they were zealous for
the law of Moses. I wanna read a couple of verses,
keep your places here, but I'm reading two verses from Psalm
62. God has spoken once. This is
Psalm 62, verse 11. God has spoken once, twice, Have
I heard this, that power belongeth unto God? Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth
mercy. He'd be a horrible God if he
was only a God of power. He is a God of power. His power
is demonstrated in creation, isn't it? When we think of how
he spoke the worlds into existence. But he's also a God of mercy.
And that's what we see that took place here in Thessalonica. By these two or these three men,
their visit, preaching the gospel and the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, we see both the power of God and the mercy of God. I have two parts to the message.
First, there was now a church of the Thessalonians. Notice
that in verse one. After three weeks there, and
then leaving, Paul writes back. This is the first inspired letter
the apostle Paul wrote, and he writes back, And he tells us
that there was now a church of the Thessalonians. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus
unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God. This church, I want to say a
few words about a church, but I don't want to miss this. This
church was in God, in God's purpose. before the foundation of the
world, before there ever was a star shining in the firmament,
God had purposed, had chosen a people who would live in Thessalonica
at this particular time and would hear the gospel and be saved
and he would raise up a church, a church. They were a church
of the Thessalonians in God. The Bible speaks of the church
as the body of Christ. Now, the Lord Jesus only has
one body. He only has one body. He said,
upon this rock I will build my church. And we refer to this
church as a universal church. And by universal, we mean that
there's one church in this world, and every one Throughout the
ages, all of God's elect have been part and are part of this
one universal church. I heard a preacher recently say,
well, the church isn't mentioned to the book of Acts. Well, I
wouldn't believe any of that dispensational stuff. If the
church, and we're part of the church, if it's not mentioned
to the book of Acts, then that means the four Narratives of
the gospel, they're not for us. And that's what some people teach.
Those are for the Jews. Now, the word of God, all the
law of God is for God's people. And God's elect from every generation
who he has saved have been members of this church. We talk of the
church triumphant, and we mean by that those who are already
in heaven. They've already run their race. And they're there this morning
with Christ, praising him. And then we've got the church
here upon this earth. We're still running our race,
the church militant. We're still on the battlefield.
Yes. In Hebrews 12, the apostle speaks of the church
under these names, Mount Zion. You're called to Mount Zion.
Now, when we think of the church as Mount Zion, a mountain speaks
of being solid, being firm, doesn't it? And how more firm could the
church be that's built upon this rock, upon Christ? It's not going to move. We have
a firm foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it is also spoken
of as a heavenly Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the city of peace
and peace of God that those of us who are part of this church
who've been saved by God's grace, the peace we have with God. Romans
8 in verse 1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, which walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. There was a time when we were
under condemnation, but there is now, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ. When we come to
believe in Christ, then we're delivered, we're saved. from
condemnation. It's also called the Church of
the Firstborn. We're talking about the universal
church, but we also know the scriptures teach, and we see
it here, that there are local churches. There's a church now,
Paul is writing back to a church in Thessalonica. There hadn't
been a church there. That city had been a pagan city. They were shrouded in darkness,
spiritual darkness. But now, by the coming of the
gospel and God's power in saving his people, there's a church,
a church, a local church. This is not the only place. Let
me read a few verses. In Acts chapter 9, I know you
are familiar with this truth that there are local churches,
but in Acts chapter 9 and verse 11, the apostle speaks
here, verse 31 rather, then had the churches, you see that church
is plural. Then had the churches rest throughout
all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. And another text to emphasize
this, Romans chapter 16 and verse 16. Salute one another with a holy
kiss. The churches of Christ salute
you. Now, what I wanted to mention
to us and remind us of, there is a church, the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and everyone who is alive today and saved
is a member of this church, no matter if they live in Africa
or Europe or South America, here in the United States of America,
we're all members of this one church. But then there are local
churches. And we have here a local church,
just like at Thessalonica, there was now a local church. What a privilege, what a privilege,
what a blessing it is to be a part of a local church. You know,
the psalmist in Psalm 27, he said, this one thing have I desired,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forever. to behold
the beauty of the Lord. Now, people use that verse to
speak of heaven, but heaven is not the house of the Lord. Heaven
is his father's house. Remember, he said, in my father's
house are many mansions. No, the house of the Lord is
the church that he built to behold the beauty of holiness. How beautiful
it is to come together as a church, like we are here this morning,
those who are members of this church. It's beautiful, isn't
it? It's beautiful as we look around
and we see others who we just imagined, not as sinful as we
were probably, but still they were lost. They were lost. They were on their way to hell.
And God in mercy saved them, rescued them, delivered them
from the power of darkness into the light of the gospel. Oh,
it's so beautiful to be with God's people. The beauty of the
Lord. We see it and we sing hymns of
praise to the Lord. It's just a beautiful time. It's
a highlight of the week. for God's people to gather together
and worship the Lord. As I thought about this, I thought
over the years of various people that were part of this church,
God has blessed me as a pastor in so many ways, but he's allowed
me to pastor some of the finest people. that you could have ever
met. And they were faithful. I just
know several of them I'm thinking of, they were faithful. Every
service, they were here to worship the Lord. And then either because
of age or sickness or their family moved them somewhere else, they
couldn't come to the worship services. And I would maybe meet
with them, visit with them. And how many times was I told,
Oh, I'd love to be able to come just one more time. Just one
more time, I'd love to be there in the worship service with God's
people. But they never got that opportunity.
And I thought to myself, I don't want to live in regret if I get
to that place when I'm no longer able to come here and worship
with you. But I have to regret, well, there
was times there were opportunities I could have been there, but
I just chose not to go. I was too lazy. It didn't mean that much to me.
It wasn't so beautiful like the psalmist said, this one thing
have I desired. That wasn't the case. I don't want to have those regrets.
Do you? If that day ever comes, I want to be able to look back
and know Not guess, but know that when I was able, I was with
God's people to worship him and the days that we had set apart
at times to worship him. Now, I want us to go on the second
part of my message. Look at several things that are
mentioned about these members of this church. The first thing we see is they
had a faith which worked. Verse three, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith. Now no one is saved and no one
should be a part, a member of a local church who doesn't have
faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But remember this, the
Bible speaks about a dead faith as well as a living faith. In
fact, the Apostle James tells us this about a dead faith. He
said, well, even the devils believe in God and they tremble. But their faith is not saving
faith. It's a dead faith. And there's
a living faith. And these believers here in Thessalonica
and this church, remembering without ceasing your work of
faith, living faith, As Paul said to the Galatians, it worketh
by love. That is, living faith manifests
itself in our life. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that faith, not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. And he goes on to say there that
We are ordained to walk in good works, or we are to walk created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. So these believers in the church
at Thessalonica, they believed and they manifested their faith. James said, show me your faith
without your works. And I'll show you my faith with
my works. Yeah, faith is an unseen grace,
but yet we can see the works that faith produces. And these people here in this
church, that's the first thing that Paul says about them. And the second thing is, they
had a laboring love, verse three. remembering without ceasing your
work of faith and labor of love. It's amazing what God's grace
and power has enabled his children, believers, to do and to suffer
in serving the Lord and people, God's people serve him because
they love him. This was brought out this morning
in our Bible study class. The love of Christ constraineth
us. It's not the law. It's not a
set of rules and regulations that you come under and you have
to be obedient to these things. No, you labor for Christ because
you love Christ. When you love someone, it's easy
to labor for them. He said, my yoke is easy. My
burden is light. Yes, when believers come to know
Christ, they love him for who he is, for who he is, and they
labor for him. Turn over a few pages into Hebrews
chapter 11. The apostle writes of what Faith
and salvation had enabled some people to do here in chapter
11, verse 36. He said, and others had trial
of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. Think of
what some of God's children have done, what the grace of God has
enabled, I should say, what the grace of God has enabled some
of God's children to do, to turn their back on everything in this
world and to serve Christ. They labored. I wish everyone in this building,
everyone who professes to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Savior, I wish it were possible that everyone could
read the Reformation of England by an author named D'Aubigny,
a French author. If every one of us could realize
our heritage And we're just about to lose the freedoms that we
enjoy in this country, whether we recognize it or not. If things,
if God doesn't intervene, you read what some of God's children
have suffered. To have the freedom, preachers
were put out of their churches. 1662, I forget how many preachers
in England, they were just put out of their churches. They lost
their livelihood. They were, if they preached within
a mile of the church building where they had pastored, they
were put in prison. But you know, they didn't stop
preaching. They didn't stop preaching. They met in barns and fields
and places like that to preach the gospel. There were churches,
churches of the firstborn, of the Lord Jesus Christ that labored
out of love, love for God, love for the truth, love for the souls
of other men and women. The darkness that was upon England
at that time, and one of the things that grieves me, I guess,
as much as anything, having read about the reformation of Europe,
to see that Europe is pretty much back in the same place again. And if God doesn't intervene, the darkness is going to cover
that continent, and it's going to come here, too, if God doesn't
intervene. God's people have paid the price
over the years. And God's honored that and blessed
that. And we enjoy the blessings. We
reap the benefits of many martyrs who were burned at the stake.
You go to London, my wife and I had the privilege of going
there several years ago, and we wanted to go to a place called
Smithfield, because I had read so many times about the martyrs
who were burned at Smithfield. And we found it, didn't we? There
was just a little marker there on the side of the road, just
a little marker pointing out that here was the place where
many Protestant martyrs had been burned at the stake. Yes, these people labored. God's people labored, not to
obtain a reward. Someone said, well, I want my
crown to be big. Christ is our crown, isn't he? Isn't he? He said, I am the exceeding
great reward. He's our reward. We're not serving
if we're serving and laboring if we're laboring to obtain a
more beautiful mansion or to live on a special street there
in glory. No, God's people labor because
they love him. Labor. The third thing we see
about these people, they had a good hope. And that good hope
gave them patience, patience in suffering, patience in knowing
something about the providence of God. How can we complain? How can
we confess one day that we know all things are of God, that he
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, and
then the next day complain about something? How can we do that? Because we're sinful still, aren't
we? We still have that old nature.
Yes, they were patient, patients of hope. They had a good hope.
I'm sure the apostles probably had told them the Lord Jesus
Christ promised his disciples the night before he was crucified,
if I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And so they were patient. waiting,
hoping, they had a good hope, and those even who died were
able to say that my flesh shall rest in hope. Yes, I'm going to die, my body's
going to be put in the ground, but like my savior, my flesh
is going to rest in hope because I know there's going to come
a day when the trumpet's going to sound And he's going to call
me out of that grave in a new body, a new body. And number five, they were examples
to others. They were examples to others
of how firmly they had held on and received the gospel and their
zeal in spreading the gospel. And you know, Thessalonica was
a seaport town. It was a wealthy town, too, but
it was a seaport town, and so ships would come and go, and
as they came and as they went, the gospel went out with them.
The gospel went out from this place. They were examples unto
others. They followed the apostle, and
in following him, they followed Christ. The sixth thing about these people,
they were ex-idolaters. Notice that in verse nine, ex
idolaters, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering
in we had unto you and how you turn to God from idols to serve
the living and true God. That's what conversion is. Conversion
is a turning, isn't it? You know, you need to know the
difference between regeneration and conversion. Regeneration
is when God gives us life. Conversion is when we repent
and turn from our sins and believe in Christ. Yes, they were ex
idolaters. You know, they used to say, give
me a child. until he's 14 years old, and
he will always continue in the same vein. Most idolaters learn
to worship idols at their mother's knees. And that's not easy to break
that. But God can. The power of God
can. The gospel can. And it did. No telling what idols these people
worshiped, Jupiter, any of those pagan gods, but when they heard
the true gospel, heard about the true and living God, they
turned from those dead gods, those dead idols, and they served
the living God. And the last thing we see about
them, they were waiting. They were now waiting for Christ's
return. Notice that in verse 10, and
to wait for his son from heaven. Now, this passage shows us how
we are to wait. We're not to get up on some high
mountain. Let's find the highest mountain
we can find and let's climb up there and let's look into the
skies. That's not the way we are to
wait for his return, is it? No, we're to be watching, watching
and waiting. What does it mean to watch? It
means to watch over ourselves, to watch over ourselves. We start
to kind of veer off or our heart begins to get cold and things
of God are not as important to us as they once were. We need
to watch, watch over ourselves. We have too many warnings in
the word of God people who sinned greatly and just brought disgrace
upon their profession of faith. You don't want to do that, do
you? I sure don't. Need to watch. Watch and wait. Well, again, I just hope that
we all are impressed. Isn't this impressive? Would
you stop and think about it? What God did three weeks, three
weeks, those preachers were there and what God did, what the power
of God did there and the mercy of God and raising up a church
of people like these described here in this chapter. Let's never,
let's never, Forget the gospel is still the power of God unto
salvation unto everyone that believe in it. God hasn't changed. And as long as a person is alive,
there's hope for that person. Never give up hope. You say,
I've been praying for so and so, and they just seem to get
worse. Never give up hope, my friends. When Jacob was wrestling with
the angel of the Lord, he said, I won't let you go. No, he wouldn't. And he got the
blessing, didn't he? As long as a person is in this
world, there's hope because we know that God's arm is not shortened,
that he cannot save. Look at what God's power has
done. Would to God that God would turn
this world upside down with us, with the gospel, right? What
a blessing that would be. We're going to sing 125, hymn
number 125.