If you will, let's turn once
again in our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians and tonight, chapter three. 1 Thessalonians chapter three. Wherefore, when we could no longer
forbear We thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and
sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow
laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort
you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these
afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that
we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and
you know. For this cause, when I could
no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some
means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. But now, when Timotheus came
from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith
and charity, and that you have good remembrance of us always,
desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you. Therefore,
brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and
distress by your faith. For now we live, if you stand
fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render
to God again for you? For all the joy wherewith we
joy for your sakes before our God, night and day praying exceedingly
that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking
in your faith. Now God himself and our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you, and the Lord
make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and
toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end, he may
establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even
our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all
his saints. In preparing the two messages
which I brought from the second chapter, of this letter and now
the message tonight from this chapter. The thing that stands
out to me the most, the theme of these words, is the great
love that the Apostle Paul had for the members of the church
at Thessalonica. His great love, his great concern
for these believers. You know, love, we maybe don't
speak as much about love as we should, but the fruit of the
spirit is love. That's the first thing that is
mentioned by the apostle. And some believe that those other
things that are mentioned there, joy and faith and temperance
and kindness, those other things are all included in that first
word, the word love. And we think of Paul as a, great
man of the faith, and he certainly was a defender of the faith,
but he also was a man of great love. And we see that that comes
out to me so much in studying and preparing these messages.
Almost the first comments of Matthew Henry on this chapter
were those ministers do not duly value the establishment and welfare
of their people, who cannot deny themselves in many things for
that end. And we see that here, the Apostle
Paul, how he denied himself for the good of others, for the good
of the church at Thessalonica. You know, one of our members
recently texted me this text. He's not here this evening, but
he texted me this text. It comes from Jeremiah chapter
three and verse 15. And I will give you pastors according
to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And I answered back in my text
and I said something like this, that's the kind of pastor that
I desire to be. And the next time I saw him,
a couple of weeks later in the service here, I told him, you
know that text that you sent to me, that text I use in prayer
quite often when I pray for other churches who do not have a pastor,
who do not have a pastor, that the Lord would give them a pastor
according to his heart, God's heart. which would feed the sheep
there with knowledge and understanding. You know, I think of the church
in Danville, Kentucky, where Brother Don Fortner pastored
for, I believe, almost 50 years. They're still without a pastor. And I think it's going on three
years since he was taken from them. And they haven't been able
to find a pastor. You know, it's never too early. I thought this, to tell you folks,
it's never too early to start praying for God to send a pastor
here when I'm gone. A pastor like this that is described
in that text, a pastor after or according to God's heart,
a pastor who will feed with knowledge and understanding. Well, let's
go through some of the verses here in this chapter now. Verse
one, wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought
it good to be left at Athens alone. Now, what was it? What was it that Paul said he
could no longer forbear? Well, we've got to go back to
chapter two in verse 17 to see what it was. But we, brethren,
being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart,
endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Now he writes, wherefore, when
we could no longer forebear, it was his longing, it was his
longing desire to see them, and not just to see them, but to
know of their welfare, how it was with them. and following
Christ and believing in Christ. Gil, he commented on that verse
of scripture and he said this word here that Paul uses, when
we could no longer forbear. It's much like Jeremiah said,
let me see if I can find this in Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse
nine. When he made a statement, Jeremiah
did, he said, I'm not going to preach in the word of God anymore.
I'm closing shop. I'm giving up. He said, For since I spake, I
cried out, I cried violence and spoil, because the word of the
Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make
mention of him. I'm not going to speak about
God anymore. I'm through. He was suffering. Reproach, the verses before this
speak of this. The reproach, he suffered for
preaching the word of the Lord. I'm not, I'm not, I will not
make mention of him nor speak any more in his name." Well,
how'd that work out? How'd that work out, Mr. Jeremiah?
You're not going to preach anymore? You're not going to speak anymore
in the name of the Lord? Is that right? What'd he say? That was my determination to
not speak anymore, but his word in my heart was as a burning
fire shut up in my bones. And I was weary with forebearing,
and I could not stay. I just couldn't do it. He was
weary with forbearing, of not preaching, not speaking. And
Mr. Gill said that's much the sentiment
here that we see in the Apostle Paul, his concern for this church. He said, when we could no longer
forbear, couldn't take it any longer, we could no longer forbear. His desire, his vehement desire,
I might say, to know the welfare of the believers that he had
left in Thessalonica. It produced sacrifice. It caused Paul to sacrifice. Now, what was his sacrifice? Well, look with me in Acts chapter
17 and verse 15. It caused him to sacrifice in
sending Timothy. In Acts chapter 17 and verse
15. And they that conducted Paul
brought him unto Athens, and receiving a commandment unto
Silas and Timothy, for to come to him with all speed, they departed. Remember Paul, when he left Thessalonica,
he went to Berea, and then he was taken by night to Athens. And now, because of his great
longing, he could forbear no more, he sacrifices in sending
Timothy to find out, to bring him news concerning them. Back in our text, wherefore when
we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at
Athens alone. Think about this. Here's a man
of God, and he's in the city of Athens. And when he sends
Timothy to them, this is his sacrifice. When he sends Timothy
to Thessalonica, he is left alone in Athens. There's one man, one
man in this great city, and everyone were strangers to him. He didn't
know anyone. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
sent out his disciples, the 70 at least, two by two. And Paul
said, when I could forbear no longer, my desire to know about
you caused me to send Timothy to you. And that meant I'm left
alone here in this city. He was among total strangers. when Timothy left him. There
he is in this large city without a friend as far as men are concerned. You know, when I mentioned the
Lord sent his disciples out, the 70 at least, he sent them
out two by two, I thought about the scripture in Ecclesiastes
which says two is better than one. Two is better than one. For if they fall, the one will
lift up his fellow. But woe, woe to him that is alone
when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him. And
number two, we know by reading in Acts chapter 17 that eventually
Paul was brought to Mars Hill. He had the opportunity to preach. Here he is, alone, not another
believer, I don't suppose, in the town, in the city, but him. And here are all these great
learned people, philosophers, who spent all their time wanting
to hear something new, something different, and he's given the
opportunity to stand there and preach the gospel. Now, think
about that, being alone. in that city. It was a sacrifice
policy. We see his great sacrifice in
sending Timothy away from him. I know there's been a few times
when I've preached funerals of people that were not members
of our church, and for one reason or the other, and some of the
men here of our congregation, you were there, and what an encouragement
that was to me. When I looked out and saw, hey,
most of these people never heard what I believe, and they don't
believe it when they hear it. But here are some, what an encouragement. Here's some brothers here in
Christ, and they know exactly what I believe and preach, and
they're with me. They're with me in this. This
speaks to me. It may not mean much to you what
I'm saying here tonight about Paul, but I can see him. I remember
being out in Arizona one time preaching a funeral, and it was
a young man's funeral, and here his daddy had been the Attorney
General of Arizona at one time. Here's all their friends. I mean,
he's a big, important people as far as the world is concerned.
Here I am alone there to preach the gospel. I did have an uncle
who was there. And what an encouragement he
was to me. What an encouragement. And there's
only one message, no matter who you're preaching to. I am the
way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And I mean, a lot of those people,
they had those letters behind their name. I don't know what
all of them meant. Many of them were lawyers, I
believe, and people like that. But what an encouragement, if
it's just one person with you, and Paul is here, and he's alone,
and he makes this sacrifice. Does that come across to you?
Do you understand what I'm saying here tonight? I mean, you can
read this and you think, well, what was a big deal, Paul? It
was a big deal. It really was. Notice verse two. Well, let me
read verse one first, and then verse two. Wherefore, when we
could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens
alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God
and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish
you and to comfort you concerning your faith. His burden, his burden
for these believers at Thessalonica was so great that he made the
sacrifice in sending Timothy away and leaving him, leaving
himself alone. I want you to notice the three
things that he says about Timothy here. First of all, and sent
Timotheus, our brother, our brother. You know, when he wrote first
and second, what we have is first and second Timothy, he addressed
it to my son, my beloved son, those two letters, my son, Timothy,
my beloved son. But here, And of course, Timothy
was his son in the faith. But here he simply says, our
brother. Notice that word, our. My brother
and your brother. And what made them brothers?
They had the same father. They had the same father, didn't
they? God was their father. When a person is adopted into
the family of God, when he's made, when he's translated into
the kingdom of God's dear son, the son of God's love. Now we
have a heavenly father, a heavenly father, our brother, but that's
not all. Not only did he say our brother,
but he also said a minister and minister of God. You know, only
God can make a minister. And one of God's greatest blessings
is to call men and send men out to preach. And one of the signs
when God sometimes shows His disfavor with a place or with
a country, He withholds calling men to preach. And I'm not a
prophet, I'm a preacher. But I think I see that in our
country today. Very, I mean there's a lot of
people that take up preaching as a profession. You know, they've
always been nice people and they wanna help people and they wanna
be a preacher. Put in that place of doing good
to others. But a minister of God. God is
the only one who can make a minister. And that's such a blessing when
he does call a man. Because the scripture says, for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they had not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they hear without a
preacher? Timothy, our brother. a minister
of God, a laborer, our fellow laborer in the gospel. And Timothy, you know, one of
the things Paul said, if any man desire the office of a bishop,
he desires a good work, work, a good work, not a good position,
a good work. And Paul, would impress upon
these at Thessalonica. Remember, they received this
letter first, excuse me, they received this letter first. It
came to their church, their group assembled wherever they assembled
at that time, and someone stood up to read, and they heard this
letter read to them. And Paul said, I didn't send
just anybody. I didn't just send anybody. You
see that? I sent Timothy. I sent Timothy,
our brother, a minister of God, a fellow laborer in the gospel
of Jesus Christ. That's who I sent to you. That
showed his concern, his love for them. Now, Timothy's ministry
was to do two things, as Paul says here in the text. First
of all, to establish them in their faith. Don't we see here how it is that
believers are established in the faith? How is it that God
establishes believers in the faith? It is with the word of
God. It is through the minister of
God preaching the word of God. Look back to Ephesians 4, Ephesians chapter 4, beginning with verse 8. Wherefore he saith, Ephesians
four and verse eight, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto man. Now
skip down to verse 11. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
Timothy was one of those. He was a pastor. He was a teacher. To ordain a man to be a pastor,
one of the qualifications is he must be apt to teach. And
so there's not two offices here, there's one office, so pastor,
teacher. But notice the purpose, for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ, till we
all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ." Now watch this, that we henceforth
be no more children. You know, our Lord said, except
you be converted and become as a little child, you shall in
no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. There are some things
about children That must be true of every believer. But there's
some things about small children that they need to grow. I mean,
small children may be easily deceived. And young believers,
they too. They need to be instructed. They
need to grow that they not be deceived. That we henceforth
be no more children. Now notice it's tossed to and
fro. and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight
of men and cunning craftiness. Now watch this last line, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive. Have you ever thought about that?
That there's some men that they just, they live, they live to
deceive believers. They lie in wait, they lie in
wait to deceive. Oh, but speaking the truth in
love, there's that word again, love. Speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Not only to establish them, Paul
said he sent Timothy to them to establish them in their faith,
but also to comfort them in their faith. To establish and to comfort
them. Now let's read verses three and
four. Now that no man should be moved by these afflictions,
for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily,
when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer
tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. What is
Paul saying here? Recognize, brothers in the church
there, in our church here, recognize that your faith, your faith,
yes, it allows for you to suffer afflictions and tribulation.
It does not exempt you from trials, from troubles, from discouragements
in this life. It doesn't do that. You know,
that's a false gospel, isn't it? That is preached sometimes
in our land where it's called the gospel of prosperity and
health. It's always God's will for you
to be healthy, always God's will for you to be wealthy. What a
shame. But those are some of those men
who lie and wait to deceive that preach that message. Because
that's not true. That's just not true. Hath not
God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith? That's what James
said, hasn't he? It's not God's will for all of
his children to be rich. It's not God's will for all of
his children to always be healthy. We know that. When God's promised
to give the grace, whatever providence he puts us in, hasn't he? My
grace is sufficient for thee. Now it's not clear to me if Paul
is speaking of the afflictions that he was experiencing or if
he's speaking of the afflictions of the Thessalonians. It makes
no difference, really. Notice he says, for verily, when
we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer
tribulation. Is he speaking only of himself?
Does he use that we and that plural pronoun to include others
besides himself? He may well do that. Or is he
just speaking of himself? Did we tell you that we're going
to suffer persecution? Or did we tell you that we should
all suffer tribulation even as it came to pass? And you know,
you know what is true. As I said, it's
not true to me, at least whether Paul is speaking about, he told
them, he warned them of the afflictions they would experience or he told
them of the afflictions that he himself would experience. But one thing is for certain.
He did say, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution. Verse five. For this cause, when
I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith. lest by some
means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. I thought about that verse, and
I thought about our Lord's parable of the sower. And Paul, no doubt,
he was familiar with that parable. Look with me in Matthew chapter
13. Matthew chapter 13. You see, he said, for this cause,
when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest,
by some means, a tempter have tempted you, and our labor be
in vain. He was familiar, no doubt, with
the parable our Lord told, as it's recorded here in Matthew
chapter 13, and when he explained it, notice in verse 18, hear
you therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth
the word of the kingdom and understandeth not, then cometh the wicked and
catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he
which received seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed
into stony places and came the same as he that heareth the word
and anon with joy received it. Now, no doubt that would probably
apply to the Thessalonians. They heard the word, they received
it with joy. But here's the thing, did they
have root? Did they have root? Because some
in this parable, yet hath he not root in himself, but doeth
for a while, for a while. But now notice, for when tribulation
or persecution, that's what Paul's talking about, isn't it? Tribulation. When tribulation or persecution
arises because of the word, by and by, he is offended. He also that receives seed among
the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he
becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into
the good ground is he that heareth the word understandeth which
also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold, some
sixty, and some thirty. Were these good ground-hearers? Were these, that he's writing
this letter to, were they good ground-hearers or had they been
stony ground-hearers? Paul says, sent to find out. Look at that verse again, verse
five in our text. For this cause, when I could
no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some
means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. Well, notice verse six. But now, Paul's got word now,
but now, when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought
us good tidings of your faith and love, and that you have good
remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us as we also
to see you." Now Paul could say, I know by the coming of Timothy
and his report concerning you, You were not stony ground hearers.
You were good ground hearers, and you have brought forth fruit.
You've brought forth fruit. They were as concerned to see
Paul. We've already seen how Paul's
great concern to see them. Paul said when Timothy came and
gave his report to us, we realized that you were as desirous of
seeing us as we were of seeing you. Let me finish here with verses
7 and 8. Therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. For now we live if you stand
fast in the Lord. Now Paul was at Corinth when
Timothy came to him. And some of the writers believe
that when Paul left Athens, he was discouraged when he came
from Athens to Corinth. Now, I don't know that. I don't
see that myself. But I do know that it was at
Corinth that the Lord appeared to Paul and told him, preach
the word. I have much people in this city.
I don't think the Lord ever did that to Paul anywhere else but
at Corinth. But Paul says that when Timothy
came, let's read that again. Therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. When we heard of your faith,
now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. The witness or the report that
Timothy brought concerning these was like a shot of B-12, spiritual
B-12. Isn't that the shot they give
you to kind of get you moving? It was like life from the dead.
When I heard, oh, how thrilled my soul when I heard of your
faith, that you were desirous of, that you had love for us
like we have for you. Let's look at that and I'll close.
Look there in Acts 18. This is where we read about this.
Timothy and Silas come into Paul. Notice it says in verse five,
and when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, That's
where Thessalonica was, that's where Philippi was. When they
would come from Macedonia, Paul, now notice what happened. And
why did this happen? Because of this report, Paul
was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus
was Christ. If he was discouraged, he got
over it. He got over it by the coming
of Timothy and the report that he brought concerning the church
at Thessalonica. He was pressed in the spirit.
He had to testify. He had to preach that Jesus is
the Christ. May the Lord bless these words
to all of us here this evening.