Let us turn tonight to 1 Thessalonians
chapter one. 1 Thessalonians chapter one. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus,
under the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be 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 you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy in the Holy Ghost, so that ye 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 God were to 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. I hope God willing to bring several
messages to us from this letter. It was the first, we believe
it was the first of the inspired letters that the Apostle Paul
wrote, and that would have been in about A.D. 51 or 52, so we're
talking about about 20 years, maybe after the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see how the gospel spread,
how that as our Lord told his disciples that they would become
witnesses unto him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of the earth. How that God the Holy Spirit
blessed these apostles, disciples of our Lord as they went forth
preaching the gospel. And we believe that he wrote
this letter from Corinth. And he addresses it, if you notice
back in verse one, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does that mean? The
church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. What does that mean? I want you
to keep your places here, but if you will, look over with me
to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20. The church in God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in 1 John 5 and verse 20,
the apostle wrote, and we know that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding that we might know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true, and in His Son, Jesus
Christ. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. Or this is the true God and eternal
life. What does it mean when he addresses
them as the Church of the Thessalonians in God, the Father, and the Lord
Jesus? Well, it would, I believe, as
a very minimum, mean in the purpose of God. The Church of the Thessalonians
in God, the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, in
the purpose of God. God purposed. This church was
not an accident. God purposed from before the
foundation of the world that there would be a church in Thessalonica. And his purpose, as all his purposes,
came to pass. I want you to turn back to Acts
chapter 17 and let's look for just a few minutes at the beginning
of this church, the beginning of the gospel coming to Thessalonica. And I encourage you, most of
all of us, we have Bibles that have maps in the back. And I
heard a preacher one time say those are the most unused pages
in the Bible. But I encourage you to look at
the map sometimes, and there'll always be one that has the missionary
journeys of the Apostle Paul. And you follow him traveling
as he went on what is termed the three missionary journeys. Here, Paul and Silas had gone
out from Antioch. They'd gone out from Antioch
to visit the brethren in the churches where he and Barnabas,
now let me say this, Paul and Barnabas first went out from
Antioch. his first missionary journey. And it's interesting that at
Antioch, at Antioch, the church at Antioch, that's where believers
were first called Christians, at Antioch. And that's where
we have an account of the first missionaries going out when God
The Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the
work whereunto I have called them. So the church at Antioch
was the mother church, we might say, for the missionary work
that went on in that first century. And then they came back, of course,
to Antioch and reported to the church what the Lord had done.
And the Lord had done great things. The Lord had done great things.
Remember at Lystra, when they came there and that man was crippled
and Paul, seeing that he had faith to believe, spoke to him
and God healed him. And he jumped up and started
walking and praising God and these pagans, these Gentile pagans,
had no understanding, worshiped false deities, immediately they
wanted to sacrifice, a sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. And you
see how fickle people are, how human beings are. At one time,
they wanted to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas, thinking the gods
have come down, the gods have come down and are in our midst. And then when They realized,
Paul and Barnabas, what they were going to do. They stopped
them, and then the people turned against them. And they stoned
Paul, and the only reason they didn't kill him is because they
thought he was dead. And they stopped stoning him.
But that's what happened on that first missionary journey. And,
of course, then we have Acts chapter 15. where they had that meeting in
Jerusalem to decide the issue that had come up because on that
first missionary journey in the area of Galatia, the churches
of Galatia were established. And then these false teachers
came in and said, well, that's fine, but you've got to keep
the law. We've got to teach the law of Moses. And you've got
to submit to the law. And, you know, you might think,
well, no one would do that today. Oh, yes, they would. Oh, yes,
they would. In fact, some people even teach,
you know, Moses, the law, brings us to Calvary, to the cross,
to Christ, to be saved. And then Christ sends us back
to the law to be sanctified. That's not true. But they were
teaching something there that if a man is not circumcised,
and that stood for keeping the whole law, if a man is not circumcised,
then he cannot be saved. And you know the issue they discussed
there in Jerusalem, that's all recorded there in Acts chapter
15. And I liked what Peter said, you know, when he said, we believe
that we shall be saved even as they. In other words, we Jews,
we're going to be saved in the same way that they, the Gentiles,
are saved. And how is that? By grace. By
grace. That's the only way anyone has
ever been saved. By grace through faith. Well,
of course, there was a dissension between Paul and Barnabas over
John Mark. after that conference, and they'd
come back to Antioch. The conference in Jerusalem,
they'd come back to Antioch, and Paul said, let's go and visit
the churches where we preached and encouraged the brethren.
And Barnabas said, well, let's take John Mark with us. And Paul
said, no, no. He deserted us on that first
trip. And so Barnabas and John Mark,
they sailed in a different direction. And Silas, who had been sent
as a messenger from Jerusalem down to Antioch, Paul and Silas,
they leave on their trip, the second missionary trip, and they
visit the churches where they had preached the gospel before.
And then we know that in Acts chapter 16, Paul had a vision. God gave Paul a vision in the
night and he saw a man of Macedonia. And remember what the man said,
come over and help us. Come over and help us. And so
they assayed that immediately to go into Macedonia. And of
course, Philippi, they went to Philippi. And all of us are very
familiar with what happened at Philippi after they had beaten
Paul. Silas and put him in the stocks
and in the jail that God sent an earthquake and God opened
the jail and and The jailer asked that all-important question What
must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and the house
and we know that many of his house did believe and And they
were baptized. And so the church at Philippi
was begun on this trip. And the authorities, the magistrates
there at Philippi, they did something they should not have done. They
beat two Roman citizens, uncondemned, which was strictly against the
Roman law. They beat Paul and Silas and
put them in the prison. And so the next day, remember,
when they realized what they had done, it was told them, you've
broken the law. You've broken Caesar's law. You've
beaten men who were not condemned and they're citizens, Roman citizens. And so Paul insisted that the
magistrates come down to the prison and ask them to leave,
ask them to leave. And so they make their way to
Thessalonica. That's what we see here in chapter
17. Now, when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was
a synagogue of the Jews. I want us to notice these towns,
these two towns that are named here, Amphipolis and Amphipolia
and Thessalonica, each one is about 30 miles distance from
the other one. And that's why it's so interesting
if you look at the map when they left Philippi and traveled to
these two towns and made their way on to Thessalonica. But listen,
you don't read to the church of these other towns in God the
Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. They pass through those
towns. We have no record if they even
preach the gospel there. But the point I want to make
is God did not raise up a church there. in those two places, but
they came to Thessalonica, and God did raise up a church here.
God's purpose is being accomplished. Our church tonight, we didn't just accidentally come
into being. God purposed this church, and
he purposed it from before the foundation of the world. We know
how we got started. but it was all according to God's
purpose, His sovereign will, His sovereign grace. The same
was true of the church at Thessalonica. Verse two and three here, and
Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath
days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging
that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead,
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Now this was Paul's custom, even
though in Acts chapter 13, you remember he said it in Antioch
of Pisidia, we're turning to the Gentiles. If you judge yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life, we're going to the Gentiles.
But we see that Paul continued to work the same way. When he
went into a town, if there was a synagogue in that town, that's
where he went. And they had a custom evidently
of allowing a visitor to speak. if he wanted to speak. Someone
that was from another place, visited in their synagogue, they
would give him an opportunity or that person an opportunity
to speak. And Paul reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures. Now, remember, we're talking
about the Old Testament. When we talk about the Scriptures
here, we're talking about the Old Testament. And so he took
the Old Testament, and I have just a few suggestions as how
He may have reasoned with them that Jesus is the Christ, that
it was needful that he suffer. You see, the Israelites, they
had no problem believing that there's a Messiah promised, there's
a Messiah coming, but he's coming as a king. He's coming to reign,
to rule, and to save Israel. They had no idea of a suffering
Savior. A reigning Savior, yes, a reigning
Messiah, absolutely, that would save the nation of Israel. But
Paul reasons with them out of the Scriptures, and I marked
down a few things. First of all, no doubt he may
have taken them to Micah, chapter five and verse two, that speaks
about the birthplace, where it was promised that the Messiah
would be born, in Bethlehem of Judah. Now he could say, that's
where Jesus, the Jesus I'm preaching to you, Jesus of Nazareth, that's
where he was born. And the amazing way in God's
providence that God arranged things so that Mary and Joseph
would have to go to Bethlehem at the time of his delivery,
of his birth. Accident? No, it was all in God's
purpose. And I'm sure he mentioned that
to him. And no doubt he probably took him back to Genesis and
Jacob going through his 12 sons and blessing them and prophesying
concerning them. And he comes to his fourth son,
Judah. And he reveals that from Judah,
Shiloh, the peacemaker, Shiloh will come, the Messiah will come.
And I like the way he said it there, and to him shall the gathering
of the people be. You know the Lord in John chapter
12, he said, and I, if I be lifted up, shall draw all unto me. To him shall the gathering of
the people be. What people? God's elect. God's
chosen people will be gathered unto Shiloh, to Christ the Messiah. And then a third thing that he
may have mentioned, he's going to be a descendant of Jesse.
No doubt he would have taken them to the scroll, Isaiah chapter
11, that speaks of him being the root of Jesse. This is the
Jesus I'm preaching unto you. And then, maybe Daniel. It'd
go to Daniel. And the time that Daniel had
predicted, had prophesied, 70 weeks for the coming of the Messiah. This is when he came. This is
the right time. And no doubt, I have no doubt,
he took them to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 and began to show them
how the promised Messiah would live and how he would suffer
and how he would die. He would be led as a lamb to
the slaughter. as a sheep before his shears
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. We did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, a man of sorrows. Let me go back there to Isaiah
53 just a moment. Who hath believed our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The religious leaders
of the nation of Israel, they didn't believe the report. They
didn't believe it. They cried, crucify the Lord.
Who hath believed our report? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath
no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no
beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows. A man of sorrows. I read Thomas Manton speaking
about this verse of scripture, said that the Lord Jesus Christ
came There's nothing lower that he could have been. Remember
in Psalm 22, he said, I'm a worm. I'm a worm and no man. And all
that was predicted. No doubt Paul spoke to the Jews
and explained them in the synagogue there how that Christ Jesus had
fulfilled all these prophecies. How they all spoke of him. And
you know, it says here that he went in three Sabbath days. It's easy to read that and just
assume, well, that means he stayed in Thessalonica three weeks.
That's not what it says. It says he went into the synagogue
on three Sabbath days. I believe he stayed there longer
than three weeks. And I believe that for several
reasons. I won't go into that right now,
but I believe he was there for some time. But this begs the
question, why was it necessary that the Messiah die? Why was
it necessary that Jesus die? How would you answer that? Why
was it necessary that Jesus had to die? He said the Son of Man
must be lifted up. Well, let me give you four things
that come to mind. First of all, the holiness of
God. The holiness of God. God had
to be pacified. And that's the word propitiation. That's a word in Romans 3, where
we read about Christ as the propitiation for our sins. In 1 John 2 also,
He's the propitiation, and that means He placated God. You see, God is not indifferent
to sin. He's holy, and He's the thrice
holy God. We can't even imagine He's compared
to a fire, a fire. burns and consumed because of
his holiness. And that holiness, sin, had to
be propitiated, the holiness of God. He was outraged by the
sins of men. A second thing, the law of God.
The law of God demanded, and the law of God had a sentence,
didn't it? It had a penalty, and that penalty
was death. No exceptions. The soul that
sinneth, it shall die. Eat of that tree, Adam, and you
shall die. The law of God demanded satisfaction. Christ had to die. The Messiah
had to die to save sinners. His holiness had to be propitiated. His law had to be satisfied.
And number three, his covenant. God is a covenant God, isn't
he? We see that as we read through the scriptures, the covenants
that he has made in that one eternal covenant, the everlasting
covenant. That covenant had to be ratified. That's the way they would ratify
a covenant in the Old Testament. They would cut an animal in two
and then the two parties would walk between the animal. to ratify
the covenant. But here, this covenant was a
covenant made with us in our representative in Christ between
God and our surety. And that covenant had to be ratified. Remember, he said, this is my
blood in the new covenant. When we observed the Lord's table,
which we did last Sunday evening, That's what we think of, isn't
it? The blood that represents His blood, that ratified that
covenant, that everlasting covenant in which God promises to be our
God and us to be His people. God promises to remember our
iniquities and sins no more. God promises to write His law
in our hearts, that is to give us a new nature, a new heart
to serve Him. God promises in that covenant
that He will not forsake us and we will not forsake Him. That
covenant had to be ratified. And then a fourth reason, the
state of men, the lost state of men. He said, for the son
of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And
I mentioned this in the message this morning, but there are two
words that describe what it means to be lost. Helpless and hopeless. Helpless and hopeless. Lost. I can't save myself. I'm helpless. I can't satisfy God. I'm helpless
to save myself, and I'm hopeless. The only way he could be satisfied
is the way he is satisfied, and who would have thought he would
give his son? Who would have ever imagined
that God Almighty, to save someone like you and me, rebels by nature,
Sinners by choice and practice that he would give his only begotten
son. But he did. He did. Hopeless, helpless, apart from
the Messiah coming and dying to satisfy God's righteous indignation
to be a propitiation for our sins. and to keep his holy law
as our substitute. Well, here in Acts chapter 17,
let me read another verse here. But he reasoned with them out
of the scriptures. That's what we do when we come
to worship, isn't it? We look at the scriptures, we
study the scriptures, we preach the scriptures. We don't get
our messages out of the Reader's Digest or, like I said this morning,
out of movies. No, we preach the Word of God.
Why? Because God has chosen His Word. He uses His Word in saving His
people, calling His people, building up His people. But we read here,
some of them, verse 4, and some of them believe. Not all of them,
of course. Not all of those in the synagogue
believed, but some did believe, and they consorted with Paul
and Silas, and he divides up these who believed. He says,
some of them, which would have been some of
the Jews, some of the Jews believed, and of the devout Greeks, these
were proselytes. They were Gentiles who had been
proselyted to Judaism, They believed in one God, only one God, because
the Gentiles, pagans, for the most part, all believed in a
number of gods. But no, these were proselytes
of the gate, as they're called. And then in that first chapter
of Thessalonians, we read of some who turned from their idols. So in this church, they wouldn't
have been in the synagogue. if they'd been idol worshipers.
So this church is made up of Jews, of Gentiles, and some who
had been idolaters. God brought together. Now if
you will, look back to 1 Thessalonians. I think Brother Schrader mentioned
this morning in his Bible study class how wonderful and how marvelous
it is the making of a church, the building of a church. Only God can do it. Only God
can do it. I'm talking about a real church.
I'm not talking about a make-believe church. Verse two, he said, we give thanks
to God always for you all, making mention of you. in our prayers. Well, let me go back to verse
one. I want to mention grace be unto you and peace. We all know what grace means,
don't we? Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. And peace. Someone said peace
is a reflection of God's smile in the soul, upon the soul. God's
peace. Peace. Peace with God. Peace in our conscience and peace
with our neighbors. Peace. Peace is a wonderful thing. Wonderful thing. Grace and peace
be multiplied from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
give thanks. We give thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Someone said,
Paul must have stayed on his knees 24 hours a day. You read
his epistles, he's always praying for people. You don't have to
be on your knees to pray. You know that. And no doubt he
did pray for these who had believed. He prayed for them and he thanked
God for them. You know, they were Paul's spiritual
children. In two other letters, Paul speaks
of those whom God had saved under his ministry as being begotten. To the church at Corinth, he
wrote, I have begotten you through the gospel. I have begotten you
through the gospel. And then to Philemon, in that
letter to Philemon, he said this about Onesimus, whom I have begotten
in my bonds. To Timothy, He wrote, my dearly
beloved son. Now these were not his natural
signs. They were his spiritual signs.
And when he speaks about having begotten them through the gospel,
he just simply means that he was an instrument that God used. Remember there in John chapter
one, we read that no one is born. No one is begotten of blood.
by the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God. So when he speaks about these
being his children, his spiritual children, and them being begotten
by him through the gospel, he just simply means that God used
him as an instrument. And what greater blessing could any
man or woman want? than being used of God to share
the gospel with someone, and God saved that person. My, that's
gonna make heaven even more heaven, isn't it? Yeah. Well, let me
close with this, and he was there long enough, if you notice in
verse three, I said I believe he was there longer than three
weeks, even though he only was allowed in the synagogue three
Sabbath days, But I think he stayed longer. And by the way,
that man, Jason, that was kinfolk. He was kin to Paul that he mentions
there in Acts chapter 17 that he stayed with, Jason. And he's
mentioned in Romans chapter 16. But anyway, he was there long
enough to remember that they demonstrated the fruit of the
Spirit, that is, faith, love, and hope. that was produced in
them by the Spirit of God living in them, faith, hope, and love. We usually say that love or faith,
hope, and love, but Paul put it here, faith, love, and hope.
And in 1 Corinthians 13, remember, he named these three, and he
said, the greatest of these, what is it? Love, love. Would to God that God would give
us, give me, and I pray for all of us, more love. More love for
Christ, more love for each other, more love for the gospel. That's
so, so very important, isn't it? Love, love. We'll sing a
verse or two of a hymn and we'll be dismissed.