Let's turn in our Bibles today,
if you will, to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul
and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians
in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet. because that your faith groweth
exceedingly and the charity or love of every one of you all
toward each other aboundeth, so that we ourselves glory in
you in the churches of God for your patience and faith and all
your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is a manifest
token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted
worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. Seeing
it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest
with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with
his mighty angels and flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power,
when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired
of all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed
in that day. Wherefore also we pray always
for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and
fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work
of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
may be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace
of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. In reading this short
letter, that is the letter of 2 Thessalonians, We see three
objects that the Apostle Paul had in mind as he wrote it. Number one, to encourage this
young church in the midst of persecutions for the gospel's
sake. Number two, and this is the way
it's divided into three chapters. Number two, to correct a mistake
about the Lord's second coming. which it appears they had by
misunderstanding something that Paul wrote in the first letter. And then number three, these
are the three objects that we see that Paul had in mind to
exhort them to take notice of those among their number who
were idle and busy bodies. But I want to speak to us this
morning from the words in verse seven And to you who are troubled,
rest with us. To you who are troubled, rest
with us. First, are these words, to you
who are troubled, addressed to Christians? That's the first
thing I want us to think about. Are these words addressed to
Christians, to you who are troubled? Well, the Apostle Paul acknowledged
them as Christians and thanked God for them. You see that in
verse three, we're bound to thank God always for you brethren,
as it is meet. We know from the first letter
of Thessalonians, first chapter, we know that Paul was persuaded
of their election of God because the gospel came to them, not
in word only, but in power and demonstration of the spirit of
God. Now, that question, are these
words to you who are troubled addressed to Christians? I know
that for us here today the question seems useless, seems absolutely
useless, because we know that without a doubt Christians do
have trouble. They do have troubles in this
life. Yet at the same time we know
that there are those who often speak as if Christians would
never have any trouble at all if they just had faith. That
God's children would never know any trouble in this world if
you only had faith, if you only believed God. There are many
who teach that and preach that, and we know that that's not true.
That these words were addressed to these believers, to these
of whom Paul had the highest estimation of as believers, to
you who are troubled. Now, it would be impossible for
me or any other preacher to name and to list all of the troubles
that God's children may experience in this world. But I'm going
to mention four this morning. Four. Number one, there is one
trouble that every true child of God will always have. There's one trouble that every
true child of God will always have. In fact, it is a trouble
that comes with being made a child of God. What trouble is this? It is sin. Sin. You see, a person who is dead
in trespasses and sins, and that's the condition of all men when
we come into this world, estranged from God, dead in trespasses
and sins. A person dead in trespasses and
sins has no trouble about sin, just because he is spiritually
dead. This has often been illustrated
by thinking about a corpse, the body of someone who has left
You can lay bricks or any other material, heavy material, upon
that corpse and it doesn't feel anything. Why? Because it's dead. Those who have never been quickened
and made alive by the Spirit of God have no trouble about
sin. But a person who is born again,
born of the Spirit of God, receives a new life, and that life is
Christ, and he receives a new principle of holiness, and at
the same time, he still has, rather, that old nature, that
old nature which is corrupt, that old nature which is many
times referred to as the old man. If you look back to Romans
chapter 7, just a moment. So I'm speaking to us, to you
that are troubled. And there's one trouble that
every believer, every child of God has, and that trouble is
sin. If you're not troubled over sin,
it's obvious that you're not a child of God. That you've never
been made alive. That you're dead in trespasses
and sins. Romans chapter 7 and verse 24,
the Apostle Paul says, O wretched man that I am. Now a wretched
man is a troubled man, wouldn't you say? Wouldn't you say that
any man who is troubled is a wretched man? The Apostle Paul confessed
to be a wretched man, a troubled man. And have you ever thought
about the fact that Paul, when he gives these personal testimonies,
like in this verse, he always speaks in the present tense.
He doesn't say, oh wretched man that I was. Oh wretched man I
was before the Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself unto me on the
road to Damascus. When he says in 2nd Timothy,
the last letter that he wrote, we believe, the last inspired
letter that he wrote, he said, this is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He didn't say I was. You know, there's a teaching
that some people embrace called progressive sanctification. But
if Christ is our sanctification, and He is, 1 Corinthians chapter
1, the scripture tells us that He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And if you take that word sanctification
to mean holiness, Christ is our holiness. And the Apostle Peter
said, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And I'm telling
you here this morning that that thief who was saved in the very
last hours of his life, he immediately went to be with the Lord in paradise. Progressive sanctification. If
Christ is my sanctification, it ain't gonna get any better. Isn't that true? It's not going
to get any better saying that He is the Holy One of God and
His holiness is our holiness. His righteousness is our righteousness. Paul said, oh wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Now why did Paul call himself
a wretched man? He was an apostle. He had been
saved by the grace of God. He's inspired to write this letter. Why would he still refer to himself
as a wretched man? Well, look above that. In verse
21, he said, I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. when I would do good. And yes,
that new man, that new principle, actually called the divine nature,
were made partakers of the divine nature. That new life, that new
principle of grace that is in every believer would only do
good would always do good, would never sin, would always do that
which is holy and righteous. But at the same time, that old
nature, the flesh, loves sin and would do nothing but sin. And so there's this ongoing conflict,
tension, in every child of God. And it's a trouble. It's a trouble. to you who are troubled." So
that's the first trouble I would mention. Sin remains, the flesh
remains, but notice this, it no longer reigns. The angel told Joseph, thou shalt
call Mary's son Jesus, for he shall save his people from their
sins. And he saves us from the guilt
of our sins, and he saves us also from the power of sin. But
at the same time, we have that old nature. And so there's that
warfare that goes on in a believer. And so we are exhorted to walk
in the spirit so that we do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walk in the spirit. Enoch walked
with God. And we saw just recently in a
message on Wednesday evening what it means to walk with God. It means to walk in expectation
of when we leave this world, we go to be with the Lord. And it means to walk in the light
as he is in the light. And we have fellowship one with
another, that is, with God Almighty. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, cleanseth us from all sins. And it means to walk in
the spirit. Enoch walked with God. Walk in the spirit. That's one trouble. Every child
of God has that trouble. To you who are troubled, you're
troubled over your sin, troubled because you would always, always
do good. How many times, believer, let
me ask you, how many times have you said to yourself, I'm going
to begin And I'm never going to do that, whatever it is, I'm
never going to do that again. And how many times have you failed? You know what I'm talking about,
don't you? Amen, amen. Now, the second trouble. There's
another trouble that some of God's children have. What is
it? Look with me in Matthew chapter
10. Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 and beginning
our reading in verse 34. These are the words of our Lord.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to
send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he
that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy
of me. Some of God's children have trouble
because of unsaved family members. Here's a believing woman married
to a lost man, or a believing man married to a lost woman,
and usually that produces trouble, trouble. One of the Old Testament
prophets, Amos by name, he asked this question, can two walk together
except they be agreed? What trouble have some brought
upon themselves by not using wisdom in choosing a wife or
husband? Let me say to you who are here
this morning unmarried, If you know Christ, you should never,
you should never consider a lost person to be your life partner. If you do, you're just asking
for trouble. To you who are troubled, you
may be here like that this morning. I trust it's not so, but it would
not be unusual. And to marry an unbeliever, the
Apostle Paul forbade that. Marriage is honorable. And the
marriage bed undefiled, the scripture tells us. But he told believers
to marry only in the Lord. A third trouble, there's another
trouble that God's children have from time to time. What is this
trouble? Well, it's this old body, this
old physical body that's subject to sickness, it's subject to
old age and death. I think it was President Adams, John Adams,
who said one time that he was doing well except he had that
incurable disease of old age. And yes, many times, the body,
because of sickness, brings trouble. I was speaking with someone yesterday
who has been sick, and I said, you know, it's difficult to feel
spiritual when you're physically sick. When you're aching, And
in pain, it's difficult to feel spiritual. I've always thought
it so foolish of people who think, well, I'm going to wait to the
end of my life and just before I go out into eternity, I'm going
to then seek the Lord and call upon the Lord. Most people, when
they come to that place, are not able to call upon the Lord.
If they're even conscious, all they're thinking about is relief
from the pain and from the suffering. So, that's a trouble. It troubles all of God's children
from time to time. Thank God we are to receive a
new body in the resurrection. But in the present time, we all
live in a tent. That's what the Apostle Paul
uses to speak of this body in which we now dwell. It's like
a tent. It may easily be taken down. But thank God in the resurrection,
we're going to receive a body like unto the Lord's glorious
body. And there's another trouble,
a fourth trouble I want to mention. that God's children have. And
this trouble I'm going to call hard providences. Hard providences. And I'm calling them hard because
many times they're hard to accept. And many times, if not always,
they're hard to understand. The Lord takes a loved one. The Lord takes a child. The Lord
takes a spouse. The Lord takes a parent. Hard
providences. And there's many others as well.
And being a pastor for a number of years now, I have watched
and I have seen members of this congregation go through what
I would have to call hard providences. Difficult burdens. I read recently this year the
book entitled The Three Wives of Adoniram Judson. Adoniram
Judson was the first Baptist missionary, foreign missionary
from the United States. He left America as a Congregationalist
missionary. You say, what's a Congregationalist?
Well, they're pretty much Presbyterian. In fact, they combined eventually.
But he left on the way to go to Burma as a missionary and
his wife, and on the way, on the ship, he was convinced that
immersion is the true baptism, that sprinkling is not baptism. And so when they docked in India,
He had fellowship with William Carey and the mission there in
India, a Baptist missionary from England who's called the father
of modern missionaries. And he was baptized, he and his
wife. And then they made their way
to Burma, very primitive place, very pagan, idolatrous place. You had to learn the language,
of course. If you're going to be a missionary, you've got to
be able to communicate. And he and his wife, I think
his first wife was named Ann. And just when she and he had
come to the place where they could really communicate and
preach and seemed like the Lord was blessing their ministry,
God took her away. God called her home. And the
thing about it in this book, there was a number of other missionary
families there. And how many of those young men
and women did the Lord take in the prime of their life? I mean,
when they'd left this country and gone and just learned to
be useful, you might say, in the ministry there, the Lord
would call one home. Three Wives of Adoniram Judson. When we read and see things like
that, I'm always reminded of that passage in Isaiah where
God tells us, my ways are not your ways, and your thoughts
are not my thoughts. How different. These hard providences
They're hard to understand. Remember David Brainerd, he was
a missionary here in our country to the American Indians. And
he was such a zealous, such a zealous man, sold out. I mean, he was
sold out to reach the Indians and many of the Indians, Delaware
Indians, I believe, the tribe he worked with the most, were
converted under his ministry there. But did you know, He died
at 29 years of age. God called him home. Hard providences. He died in the home of Jonathan
Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was the president
of Princeton. And his daughter, he was engaged. David Brainerd and one of Jonathan
Edwards' daughters were to be married. But it wasn't God's
will. To you who are troubled, that's
what I'm talking about. That's what the Apostle Paul
writes here, to you who are troubled. And as I said, there's no way
I could or any other man could name all the many troubles, but
here are some of them, these four. Sin, this old body, and
the hard providences and all of the troubles that God's children
have sometimes by having lost or unsaved loved ones. I know this, in Job chapter five
and verse seven, the scripture said, yet man is born unto trouble
as sparks fly upward. You start a fire and the sparks,
they go up, don't they? Man that's born of woman is born
to trouble. And all of this, remember this,
all of these things that I mention and you think that come to your
mind now, all of these things are here because of sin. Sin. Sin brought all of these
things into the world. How thankful we are. for the
Savior who came to save sinners. Here's the second part of my
message. What are those who are troubled
to do? What does Paul say? He said,
rest with us. Rest with us. You who are troubled,
rest with us. Now there's two things the apostle
in this passage encourages believers to do, believers who are in trouble. There are two things that he
encourages believers to do. Number one, rest with us. In
one of Isaiah's prophecies concerning the Messiah, we are told, and
his rest shall be glorious. Isaiah 11 and verse 10. His rest shall be glorious. I want you to look with me at
these words of the Lord in Matthew chapter 11. What are those who
are troubled to do? Well, first of all, we are to
rest. In Matthew chapter 11, These words of the Lord Jesus,
beginning in verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent. and has
revealed them unto babes. Even so, father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but the father, neither
knoweth any man the father save the son, and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and
you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light. Do you see that the Lord Jesus
Christ here speaks of to rest? He speaks of to rest. When we
come to Christ, when we look to Christ, when we believe in
Christ, He gives us rest from the burden of our sin. But notice,
we are to take his yoke upon us and learn of him, and he promises
that when we do so, we shall find rest. Paul, as I said earlier,
was a believer, a child of God who experienced trouble, but
he admonishes these Christians here in our text this morning,
to you that are troubled, rest with us. Rest with us. Now, our Lord says, we take his
yoke upon us and learn of him that we will find rest. What am I saying? I'm saying
it is learning of Christ that it is by learning of Christ that
we are enabled to rest even in trouble, even in trouble. It is by learning of Christ that
we are able to rest. I want you to look at what he
said, Paul said in Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four and
verse 11. He said, not that I speak in
respect of want, for I have learned. Now notice that, I've learned. I've learned. Learn of me, the
Lord Jesus Christ said. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me and you shall find rest. I have learned in whatsoever
state I am. Well, one of those states may
be trouble. Trouble. May be prosperity. May be adversity. May be whatever. But Paul said, I have learned
that whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, to rest. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. Now notice this, I can do all
things through Christ. How is it that Paul could be
content abounding? How is it that he could be content
in need, in trouble? I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me. He learned to be content in whatever
state. That's the effect. That's the
effect of learning. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me. He learned of Christ. When we
read the life of Christ in the Gospels, we see him zealous always. The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. We see him always zealous in
doing his father's will. Peter said he went about doing
good. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
never hurried nor worried. Why? He trusted fully in his
Father's sovereign rule over all things. How many millions
of birds do you think are in the world at any given time?
Would you like to make a guess this morning? How many sparrows
are in the world? And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
said, are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? Five of these
birds worth a penny or two at the most. And not one of them
is forgotten before God. The very hairs of your head are
all numbered. The Lord Jesus Christ was able
to sleep that night in the ship as they were crossing the sea,
and here these fishermen who were experienced sailors knew
that the ship was going to go down, and they were going to
go down with it. Master, carest thou not that
we perish? Yet he was asleep. He was resting. He was resting. resting in the
power and the providence and the purpose and the love of his
father. Remember, he stood and he said,
Why are you faithful, fearful? Why are you fearful? Why are
you fearful? And so in the midst of any of
these troubles, rest in the Lord. Why are you fearful? God's in
control. He has this worked out. One of
these days, these things that trouble you will be in the rear
view mirror. They'll all be behind you. Rest in the Lord. I pray that
God might bless this word to us here this morning. Teach us. I remember singing a chorus years
ago, learning to lean, L-E-A-N, learning to lean. Learning to
lean upon Christ. Learning to rest. That'd be a
good chorus, wouldn't it? Learning to rest in the midst
of trouble. learning to rest in the God of
purpose and providence. Scripture in one place said,
He did all things well. And don't
you look forward to that day when we, on heaven's shore, will
be able to look back and be able to know and to say, He did all
things well. Whatever the trouble was, it
was needful for me. We're going to sing this hymn
number 258 and be dismissed. Now, don't forget to come back
tonight. You say, well, preacher, you
sound sick to me. Well, I am. But I'm going to,
Lord willing, be back here this evening, and I hope to see you
too. We'll have a good time. worship and fellowship after
the service. Number 258. Let's stand as we
sing. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, A wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock,