Team. >> Before I begin, I our chairman, Ron Legowski, has now said he's he doesn't want to preach and now he says he doesn't want to lead us in singing. So, I think he needs to pick one. So, you can talk to Ron about that later and convince him. Anyways, I digress. We today get into the meat of First Thessalonians, and I'm excited about that. So if you have your Bibles, go with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.
As you're turning there, I'll tell you a story about Will Rogers. Did you know that there are some people I don't know so much about today, but there was a time when there were people who didn't have a birth certificate and that Will Rogers was one of them. And so at one point, Will Rogers was applying for a passport and the clerk asked him to see his birth certificate. And so he didn't have one. And so she said, "Well, I I I need one in order to issue you a passport." And he asked why.
And she said, "Well, I need to have proof of your birth." To which Will Rogers said, "Voila. Is this not sufficient? Proof of life." Well, today in our text, we have proof of life. We have proof given here that these saints were truly in Christ. That it wasn't merely lip service that saying they're a Christian, but they gave evidence of the grace of God in their life. And so we'll see this.
We can see very quickly as we look at this text and and the whole now when I say the text, I mean the entire letter, actually the letters, first and second Thessalonians, that Paul loves this church. He loves them. He adores them. This is a group of people that he finds great joy in. And he we can see right off the top that he prays for them as he often does. And he prays though with thanksgiving with great joy. And it's a great encouragement to us. And so as we walk through, we're going to see here these evidences of God's grace in their lives.
And I trust that there'll be much here for us. So I'm going to pick it up for you in verse two of chapter 1. I'm going to read through the rest of the chapter and then we'll look at a few things together. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord. For you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Aaya. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Aaya, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you how you turned from pardon me, 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, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. What an incredible text.
Thessalonians is is wonderful. I want to give to you a little bit of backdrop, a little bit of context before we examine the meat of what we're going to look at here today. If you're a if you're a person who likes to fill in the blanks, the blanks are coming. But I I want to look at a little bit of the the backdrop, the context here. You're going to see even in just this passage, those three pillars, those three main themes that we saw Pastor Bryce articulate last week. You're going to see endurance in the midst of affliction. You're going to see in our text here today the evidence of the Christian life lived among them.
And you're going to see esquetology, these this understanding of the return of Christ. All of that's here in this chapter and we'll see it throughout the entirety of our of this letter here. The in fact when it comes to esquetology or the things of the end times the reason why we understand it to be one of the themes here in first and 2 Thessalonians is because in every single chapter of the book there's at least one verse that speaks of the return of the Lord at least one verse in every single chapter so obviously that is a theme now as we come to that let me just pause here this is As Trish Davis's husband Jim used to say, this is for free.
When we're talking about the end times, esquetology, I would I don't know how many of us are in the room here and how many are downstairs watching this right now. There's a lot of differing opinions on the finer points of how it's all going to work out based on what we understand scripture says. That's okay. This is what I would refer to as a important. It's not that it's unimportant, but it's a what we would call a third order issue. It's not a issue to break fellowship over.
What is it we need to understand that we must hold in common? The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins in accordance with scripture. That he was raised bodily from the grave. That he ascended and is seated at the right hand of the father. That one day he will return and he will bring to himself all those who are redeemed. He will judge the wicked. The redeemed of the Lord shall spend all eternity with him in the new heavens and the new earth.
If we can agree upon that, the finer points of how it all works out, we can disagree on that and still have fellowship together. Can I get an amen on that? Okay. And I say that because we're going to go for through first Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and then Revelation. So, we need to just understand that backdrop. It's very important for us that we get that. And even in our text, I'm going to articulate something to you when we get to verse 10 that I hold and you may not. That's okay. So, there's a teaser for what's coming in verse 10.
Anyways, notice the urgency of Paul's prayer here. He says, "We give thanks to God always for all of you constantly mentioning you in our prayers. You may have a footnote beside the word constantly that if you drop down it says without ceasing. That is the same word that shows up in chapter five where it says pray without ceasing. So in chapter 5 it's an imperative that the saints are called to pray without ceasing. Here Paul is saying I am praying for you without ceasing.
We'll we'll talk more about what it means to pray without ceasing when we get to chapter 5. But what we can see is Paul is praying for these people with regularity, with frequency. Is that not a great blessing? When someone comes to you and you know they mean it and they say, "I pray for you regularly." That is one of the greatest blessings a believer can have that there are saints who are praying for you. They're bringing you before the throne room of grace to call out to God on your behalf. What a blessing this must have been to to the saints here in in Thessalonica to hear that Paul is constantly praying for them.
This is a great truth. Now, another important thing to see in the book of Thessalonians to use a golfing term is four. Four is important. Let me just tell you what I mean by that. I'm not going to get all of them because they're everywhere in this in this book. Verse four, for we know brothers. Verse 8, for not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth, chapter 2, verse one, for you yourselves know, brothers.
Verse three of chapter 2, for our appeal does not spring from error. Verse 5, for we never came with words of flattery. Are you getting the point? Verse 9, for you remember, brothers. Verse 11, for you know how. Verse 14, for you brothers became imitators. Chapter no 2:1 19 for what is our hope or joy or crown. Verse 20 for you are our glory. Verse three start or chapter 3 starts with therefore.
Then verse four of chapter 3 for when we were with you. Verse 8 of chapter 3. For now we live. Verse 9. For what thanksgiving. Are you getting the point? The entire book four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four why because it's one logical discussion the whole book is layering upon itself a logical flow of thought it's not detached material Paul is giving them a cogent argument here and a discussion that is all linked together a teaching because it's didactic that means teaching it's he's teaching them something that everything links together.
So, it's important that we understand there's a there's a flow of thought to the entire book of Thessal First Thessalonians. Notice in verse 5, he says, "Because our gospel came to you." Notice the word our gospel. He Why does he say that? Because there were a lot of other gospels being taught. If you go back to the Makabian period, there were all kinds of messiahs that were showing up.
False messiahs they would prove themselves to be. But there was all kinds of teachings as to what is the truth. What? This is the truth. No, no, this is the truth. No, no, this is the truth. Here's the gospel. No, no, here's the gospel. And he says, we came to you with our gospel. What is the gospel that Paul taught? That the that there is the Messiah is Jesus Christ, the one who died and rose from the dead, the resurrected Christ. This is the gospel. And so he says, "You didn't believe any gospel. You believed our gospel. The one we taught you as from the Lord, about the Lord, about his resurrected nature."
This is the gospel we hold to here at Gateway Bible Church. We hold to the gospel of Jesus Christ that he is the son of God who came to pay the penalty for our sins. That he died in the place of sinners. That all who repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ are saved and saved for eternity. Because the Lord Jesus will not lose one of those to whom he has called to himself. And he is risen from the dead. He is alive today and he's coming back to claim the church.
This is the gospel and it's what we hold to here. That's important for us to understand. Now I would be remiss if I did not talk about in the Greek construction of chapter 1 here the hinge of the whole chapter. If you look at the original language there is a hinge upon which the entire chapter swings and we need to understand it and it is in verse four. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you. That phrase there, he has chosen you, is the key Greek phrase that everything turns on in this chapter.
And notice the word because follows right after that. For we know, brothers, loved by God that he has chosen you because. So, it's building on that phrase. So, what does that mean? Well, let's look at a few other places in the New Testament where that Greek word is used. I'm going to take you just a few. There's a lot we could go to, but I'll just take you to a few. Acts 9:15, it says this. This is speaking of Paul and his conversion. But the Lord said to him, "Go for he is a chosen instrument of mine."
That little phrase there, chosen is the same word that we find here in 1 Thessalonians where it also says chosen in Romans chap 11 in verse 5. It says this, "So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." In second Peter chapter 1 and verse 10, it says this, "Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election."
Same word chosen election. That's what this word is referring to. So what is what are what are we talking about here? Well, it's clearly articulated when we understand the word and we understand it not just the word itself in a in a separate word study but within all the context of the New Testament and really the whole Bible. It is to say this according to Ephesians 1, we have been called from eternity past and God calls to himself those whom he is pleased to save. And we might say, well that's I struggle with that understandably.
I used to struggle with that as well. But it really if we understand the doctrine of election as taught in scripture and particularly in Romans 9, it is a doctrine of mercy. It is all everything is about his mercy. Because if if if God were fair, not a person here would be going to heaven. Not one. The wages of sin, that is to say, what we earn, what we deserve, what's fair, is death, eternal death.
That's the that's the proper price. And all have sinned, and all have fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous, no, not one. All have turned aside, everyone to his own way. That's the teaching of scripture. And God in his divine mercy chose to save some out of hell. And so my mind often goes to why would he save me and not that guy? I have no idea.
I'm not God. I cannot I cannot come to God and say you need to operate the way I would operate. Psalm 50:20 says we often try to make God like us. He's not like us. His ways, Isaiah 55 says, are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And so, while we don't understand it, it is the teaching of scripture cover to cover. So, the question here is here, how do we know who the elect are? Well, mercifully, when we're standing in front of crowd of people, you know, we're preaching to the the gospel to the lost, mercifully, we don't have a hot clue who the elect are. Praise the Lord for that.
We just take the seed of the word of the of the Lord and we spread it everywhere with urgency. Faith comes from hearing and hearing to the word of Christ, Romans tells us. So we take the gospel, we spread it absolutely everywhere and the Lord will save whom he will. But we go with the urgency of the gospel because the they need to hear. And so we must preach the gospel to all the lost. But what about those who claim to be saved who who say with their mouth, "Yes, I have received Christ. I am a believer." Or is there a way for us to know whether or not that's actually true?
Yes, there is a way to know. And this text lays it out for us. There is a way for us to understand if someone is truly in the Lord. DA Carson puts it this way. Paul's thanksgiving for the Thessalonians is ultimately grounded not in their human achievement, but in God's divine work in their lives. And so, it's remarkable grace here. Remember, Pastor Bryce walked through Acts 17 last week, and we saw the inception of this church. He was with them for about three weeks, give or take a day or two.
And in 3 weeks, he gave them the basics of the gospel, but in much affliction, as we're going to see in the text here, they had all kinds of trial and hardship. And yet, in God's amazing mercy, they have stayed steadfast. They've remained. They've endured. That means like on paper, that makes no sense. That means it's all of God. God has done a work in their midst. And so, let's examine what we read here. How can we know whether someone is truly saved? One of the key indicators is endurance in affliction.
Notice here when he's praying for them in verse three, he says, "Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith, your labor of love." And then he says this, "And steadfastness of hope." Some of your translations may have a different word there, but but I want to take you to a few places in the in the scriptures that's that use the same Greek word. And in Revelation 2, verse two. Here's what we read. It's the same. It's the same word. I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance.
That's the same word. Patient endurance. Steadfastness has in mind endurance. And in fact, Romans 5:3 says the same thing. Endurance. Endurance implies trial, does it not? How many of you have to endure sitting on a beach in Hawaii? You don't have to endure that. Typically, that's enjoyable. You wish it could go longer. Endurance implies there's trial there. There's a steadfastness that they have in this hope that they have in the Lord.
And notice what also it says in verse 6. You became imitators of us and of the Lord. For you received the word in much affliction. No doubt. Let me in case you weren't here last week, let me just take you back to Acts 17 just to read to you verses four and five. This is when they first received the word. By the way, they received the word. Notice that Paul received the gospel from the Lord Jesus himself on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. He was taught. He was discipled by the disciples themselves.
And then he just takes he's merely a steward taking what he's received from the Lord and giving it to them. And they're now receiving the word of the Lord. It must be received. So they've received from Paul the gospel in much affliction. Ro Acts 17 verse4. Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous.
And taking some of the wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out of the crowd. And in fact, verse six, and when they could not find him, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." And Jason received them. This was a violent time. And then as Pastor Bryce walked us through, Paul and Silas go on to Berea.
And what are the these Thessalonian this this rabble is what did you call the men of >> LWD fellows of the bas? >> Yeah. LWD men of the baser sort. They follow them at their own cost, at their own expense to drive them out of Berea. This is a wicked group. They hate the Lord. They hate the gospel. And so logically, if the Thessalonian believers, and I'm sure they were smart people, they must have understood. If this is what they're doing to Paul and Silas and Jason, who just gave them a warm reception, that's all he did.
He just received them. If this is what they're doing to them, it follows that we who are following the teachings of the Apostle Paul about the gospel will probably incur the same wrath. And yet they carried on. They endured with steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus. It wasn't merely inward either. It wasn't just inwardly we believe. Outwardly we're just not going to say anything as we're going to see in the text. No, it was evident to everyone. They endured.
They had every reason to pull back, to pull their punches and not say anything. But like Hebrews 10:39 says, they were not of those who shrank back. They endured even in the midst of hardship, trial, difficulty. The believer here in Thessalonica was one who endured. They persevered. There was a woman named Wilma. She did not get much of a head start in life and at a very early age she contracted polio and her foot was twisted inward.
So much so that she had to wear leg braces for the first seven years of her life. After much excruciatingly difficult and painful therapy, she was able to lose the leg braces and begin to walk on her own. By age 12, Wilma tried out for the girls basketball team. She didn't make it though, but she was determined. And so she practiced with three other friends. Two of them are boys. And she was like, "Okay, I want you to push me. I want to become a basketball player." And so finally the next year she made the team.
The college track coach saw her and he said, "You know, can could I train you to be a runner? A runner of all things." And so he did that. And by age 14, she was the fastest sprinter in the United States. In thei and so in 1956 Wilma made the US Olympic team went to the Olympics but had a terribly poor showing. It was very disappointing for her. So what did that disappointment do? Did it set her back? Did she just give up? No.
She pressed on. She persevered. She endured. And four years later in 1960 at the Olympics in Rome, Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals. At that time the most a woman had ever won in a single games. Endurance, perseverance. Now, for the believer, our endurance, our perseverance is comes from the strength that God supplies. It's not, you know, if you think, well, I on my own strength, I'm just going to pull myself up by the bootstraps and I'm going to carry on. Good luck to you.
No, we do it in the strength that the Lord supplies. By his spirit, by his enabling through his word, surrounded by the precious saints in fellowship, in the strength that God supplies, we endure. And so when we see someone enduring steadfastly in the hope of the Lord Jesus Christ, pressing on in the midst of crushing blow after crushing blow after crushing blow, and yet they are clinging to the Lord, they are giving evidence that they are redeemed. This is one who's truly saved. It's not merely lip service. It's not eye pleasing. They This is true of them.
The spirit of God abides in that one. But not only that, there's also evidence here of Christian living. He remembers back to verse three, he remembers them for their work of faith or as the NIV words that their work produced by faith and their labor of love or their labor prompted by love. So their faith and their love in the Lord produced this fruit, work, labor, a fruit that came from their convictions. Look at verse five.
So we we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. So we understand that there's probably some remember this this is by the way Thessalonians there's a debate which book is the earliest book written in the New Testament Thessalonians or Galatians. Galatians is probably written 48 to 50 AD.
Thessal first Thessalonians is written somewhere between 50 to 52. So these are the two earliest books written in the entire New Testament earlier even than the gospels. And so here we have in this early stage this important matter of this conviction they have even though this is just a less than 20 years after the Lord had resurrected and ascended but they're living with conviction. They're this is the early church. So in the establishing of the early church in the book of acts, we see some things that were not normative for the churches for all time but were specific to that time period as God was making it clear this was not another yet another spiritual movement. No, this is of God.
And so when we see the the miracles that show up in the book of Acts, that was God confirming that this is truly of him. And so this when it says here that it came the that our gospel came in power and in the Holy Spirit. There's probably some of the miracles that are involved in that but also in conviction. There was a conviction that this is true. And what did it lead to? Well, I'm glad you asked. So look at the end of verse 5. You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. So Paul and Silas were there.
They were giving them the gospel for those few weeks. You know what we looked? You know how our faith looked like. And so what did the Thessalon Thessalonian believers do? Verse six, you became imitators of us and of the Lord. You saw how we lived life for the glory of God. And so convinced were you of this gospel that we preached to you. So settled were you in it, filled with the Holy Spirit, that you decided to live the same way. And what effect did it have?
Well, look at verse seven. So much so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Aaya. Isn't that an amazing testimony? The an example. So they had an example from Paul and Silas. And so they lived in an exemplary way so that they could be now an example to other believers as to how to live the Christian life in this world. And it's sounded forth through the entire region. Can you imagine if there were believers in Erdri who said, "We've seen how the believers in Diamond Valley live and it's fortifying our faith and we're going to do the same."
Wouldn't that be a great testimony? This is what's happening through this whole region and it's beyond the region. Look at it carries on. Verse eight, for not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Aaya, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves, that little phrase, they themselves, it's an interesting little phrase there. It could mean the believers, or it could mean everyone, including even the unsaved Greeks. They themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.
It may be that even the unsaved people could see they were idol worshippers and now they serve this God. Everyone could see it. This was the way they were living their life and it was an evidence that they were of the Lord. We know, brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you because we know that you're chosen. We know that you're redeemed. We know that you're saved. How? Because look how you live your life. This is a teaching throughout the entire New Testament.
Lest you think that this is only here, it's everywhere in the New Testament. Let me take you to just a handful of examples. In Matthew chapter 3, Jesus here is speaking and he says to the Pharisees and to the Sadducees, "Bear fruit." In verse 8, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." You claim to have repented. Where's the fruit? Lest you think that's just for the Pharisees and for the Sadducees. No. No. Acts chapter 26. Paul is there and he's before Agrippa and he says this in verse 19.
Therefore, oh king of Grippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and also to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. You see that there? Live your life as one who is truly in Christ. Give evidence of it.
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Romans chapter 6 verse 9 and on. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey his passions. Turn from sin.
Turn to Christ. Live as those who are in Christ. In Galatians chapter 5, we have that entire section leading up to the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And it talks about putting to death those worldly spiritual manners of living that you used to walk in and now putting on, if you will, to use the Colossian language, those things that glorify the Lord and exalt him in accordance with the Holy Spirit. So, how do we know if someone's truly saved?
Over the long haul, look at their life. You should be able to look at my life and see that I'm saved by the manner in which I live my life. Anyone can say with their lips they're Christian. There's there's a reason for the adage. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Right? Someone Pastor Bryce knows this all too well. My daughter Taylor is sitting right over there. And one time a few years ago, she made a cookie, but it was actually for our dog, but it looked like a regular cookie. Remember that? It was great.
So, I brought it in and and we thought this will be a fun prank on Pastor Bryce. So, we brought it in and we said, "Pastor," because Taylor is a great baker, by the way. I'm just going to pump up her tires a little bit. She's a great baker. And he's had her baking before and loved it. We brought in this cookie, gave it to Pastor Bryce. He was sitting in his office. It was the most I should have videoed it. It was greatly entertaining. And he's like, "It's from Taylor. Awesome." Chomp big bite and just about threw up. It looked like a cookie. It gave every evidence to be it claimed to be a cookie made for humans but the proof of it was in the eating that it was not the proof of one's life is in their living the proof of their Christianity is going to be examined because here's the reality friends what does Romans 8 tell us if you are in Christ the spirit of God abides in you that's the Romans 8 9-11 right so understand this then If the spirit of God abides in me, is the spirit of God going to be content to allow me to just continue in my normal rhythms of life that I was that I was living in pre?
No. He is the holy spirit. He is holy. And the proof that someone's got the spirit of God abiding in them is their sanctification. Now, everyone's going to be at a different level. Some will rock it like the Apostle Paul. The next person's a slow incremental up and down journey. We get that. But there's fruitfulness in the life of the believer. John MacArthur once rightly said, "We are not saved by our works, but we are condemned by them."
You might say, "Well, I don't agree with that." The problem you're going to run into here is the Bible. We are not saved by works. That is 100% true. How are we saved? We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in the work of Christ alone to the glory of God alone as revealed in the scriptures alone. That is how we are saved not of works. But then how do I know I'm saved? What is the evidence of my salvation that gives me assurance of my salvation?
The way I live, my works. We often will quote Romans 8 or pardon me Ephesians 2:8-9. For by grace you are saved through faith and this not of yourselves. It is the gift of God lest anyone lest no one should boast. What's the next verse? The very next verse. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which he prepared beforehand for us. Turn with me if you will to Romans chapter 2 verse 6. Look at what it says here.
He will render to each one according to his works. Go with me to Revelation 20. As we get to the end, we get to the judgment of God. Listen, we read here in Revelation 20 verse 12. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what? What they had done. They're not saved by works, but your works will give evidence whether you're truly saved. And the one who claims to be saved, but is doing the works of evil, they're revealing they've never been saved. It was lip service. It was eye pleasing. It was manpleasing. But it was not of God. Because the one who is saved of God will be sanctified because the spirit of God abides in them. The redeemed of the Lord will live in a manner increasingly.
Even though there's ups and downs, they will live increasingly in a manner that seeks to please the Lord. The unredeemed will try to look for loopholes so they can live for themselves. And so here in Thessalonians, he is saying to them,"I saw your works and it gave evidence that you're of the Lord. I know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you in power and conviction and your example was seen throughout the entire region, even among the Greeks potentially.
Everyone can see that you turned from an idolatrous polytheistic lifestyle and you turned to God. Praise him for that. What an amazing testimony. Now, one other one other evidence that someone one other one other proof that they are in the Lord and that is that they live with an esqueological hope. Look at verse 10. Escatological. If you want to if you want a tongue workout, say that one five times. Essological. Essological. It's a tricky one, but you can get there. Anyways, I digress.
This is a source of strength for them. They were waiting for his son from heaven. That should if you if you know your Bible, that should draw your attention back to Acts 1. Let's just go there. They're waiting for the son from heaven. Look at chapter one of Acts verses 9-11. This is Jesus standing. He's about to ascend. And we read this. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, no doubt, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven. He's going to come again." But the implication here is while you're waiting, get busy doing his work. Don't stand here looking and waiting. Do his work and he'll come again.
And that's the Thessalonians are clearly taking that to heart. But they're waiting. They're longing for the son to return. And remember, this is like I said 18, 17, 18, maybe 19 years after he's ascended. And they're at this point, they're waiting for his return. From the very beginning, they assumed po the the Lord Jesus was going to return any day. And here we are 2,000 years later. And all of us here would say it's got to be any day now. It might be. And we should prepare and live as if it's going to be today, but it could be another 2,000 years. We don't know.
Work for the Lord and wait for his return eagerly. This is what they're doing. They're awaiting from the son from heaven whom he raised from the dead. What's he what who's the he here? The father. Acts 2:32 we read there that the father raised the son from the dead. Whom he raised from the dead. And who is this? It is Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Jesus is the one who was raised from the dead. And he is going to come and deliver them from the wrath to come. What does that mean?
Well, certainly I trust if you're in Christ here, you understand that that means he that none of us are going to face eternal wrath. When we look at those who are thrown into the lake of fire to experience eternal conscious punishment, by the way, our next podcast episode is on that very subject. Kirk Cameron would say that we're just annihilated. But no, the scripture says it's eternal conscious punishment for those who don't hold Jesus, who don't believe upon him, who don't repent.
Where was I going with this? I got distracted with that. Oh, yeah. We know those who are in Christ will not experience that. They will be kept from the eternal wrath of God that rightly rests upon the sinner. The unrepentant sinner rightly deserves that wrath. So do I. But I am covered by the blood of the lamb such that now I live and I am kept from that wrath by Jesus who was raised from the dead who is coming back again.
Is that the only thing that's meant by kept from the wrath of God? Here's where you may differ with me, and that's okay. I'm going to contend based on what I understand scripture to say, but this also means it's that they're going to be kept from the wrath of the tribulation that's coming. You might say, I don't think you're out to lunch. Maybe I am, but I really hope I'm right. I got to tell you. But in Revelation 3:10, it says this. He's speaking to the church in Philadelphia there and and he says, "Because you have kept my word about patient endurance."
There's that phrase again, patient endurance. I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who will dwell who pardon me who dwell on the earth. Seems that there was a promise given that the believers will not have to endure the hour of trial that is coming to the earth. So I would say I think this means that Jesus is going to deliver us from the wrath to come, eternal wrath, but also even that wrath. Could I be wrong? Yes. Whatever we hold this to mean. There is no doubt.
Hear this. There is zero doubt that the Lord Jesus is coming back. And will he find you and I faithful? Here's the thing. It is only those who have an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ that are longing for his return. You want an evidence that someone's saved, they can't wait for the Lord's return. The unredeemed do not want him to return. There's no longing for that. It is only the redeemed of the Lord who can't wait.
During the the COVID time period and the all that went into that, the brokenness that we all felt in different ways. I can't tell you how many conversations I had and my own heart, Carla and I talked with this. We were just like, Lord, would you please come? Just come. And I'm sure many of you felt that way, too. We want the Lord to return. It's a proof of life. You know, when someone is taken hostage and they deliver a ransom notice and the hostage negotiators are working with those who are the captors, they will often pretty much always say to the captor, "We need to see a proof of life before we give you any money.
Show us that this person's alive." And here's the reality, friends. Our endurance and affliction, our evidence of Christian living, our esqueological hope that we live with. These are proofs of life amongst us. So, you might say, "Okay, so what?" P Ron when he leads our men's study, he often says, "Okay, what's the so what of the passage?" I trust that you've seen already as we've gone through it some so whats. Let me just give you a few extra applications here at the end.
Stay in the word. You notice that they received the word in much affliction in verse six. What is it that helps steady them? The received word. If you are and I are not daily in the word of God, we are susceptible to being led astray. We are susceptible to throwing in the towel when times get hard. We must be in the word of God. Many of you probably are doing a a Bible reading plan.
Some of you perhaps started at Genesis and you're going to read through the Bible in a year. That's great. You're coming to Leviticus, though a lot of people go, "Well, that was nice." Don't do that. Press on in the word of God. Carry on. The word of God is a strength for our soul. God has given it to us for our edification. Read the word. If you don't have a Bible reading plan, come and talk to any of us as elders. We would happily get you a Bible reading plan.
Be in the word of God. Secondly, I would say this. Find a godly person, a godly example to imitate. Here we read in verse six that they became imitators of Paul and Silas. They imitated them. Now, we might say, well, but aren't aren't we only supposed to imitate Jesus? Yes, in the truest sense, yes, we're to be like Christ, right? We're to be like him. But in God's economy, he has made, and because we're going to see this over and over, actually, in Thessalonians, and it's all through the New Testament, God has made it such that we need to have godly examples in this world that we can see and observe and look at so that we can go, how do I live for God in a world gone mad?
Ah, they're showing me a path for how to live for God. Paul said to the Corinthian believers, "Follow me as I follow Christ." So, in so far as someone is following Christ, well, we should examine them. We don't want to be imitators of them necessarily. We want to be imitators of Christ. But as they're showing us how to live for Christ, there's an example to follow there. That's a good thing. The Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 is one big example of how to follow the Lord. Find a good and godly and Christ centered example to follow.
Recognizing they're not perfect. They're going to make mistakes. There's a lot of their life you're not going to follow. But in so far as they're following Christ, they give you a path to follow to to follow the Lord yourself in this world. So kids, if you have Christian parents, what a blessing that he has given you a builtin example to follow. It's a great blessing. Examine the idols in your life. Notice here in verse 9 that they turned from idols that to serve the living God. That is a really polite way to put it.
They were ruthlessly killing their idols. Remember Jesus his instruction. If your eye causes you to sin, cut it out. Better to go to heaven with one eye than with two eyes to go to hell. If your hand causes you causes you to sin, cut it off. Better to go into heaven with one hand than with two hands to go to hell. You get the point? Ruthlessness about your idols. What are your idols? We all have them. For you to say, you know what?
I don't have any idols in my life. You're lying to yourself. The heart, as John Calvin once said, the heart is an perpetual idol factory. He's not wrong. What are those idols? You have to think clearly and ruthlessly about this. Is it money? Is it power? Is it pornography? Is it social media followers? What are the idols in your life? It's so easy for us to want to justify sinful patterns and justify habits and say, "Well, that's it's I this thing Jesus is fine with this."
No, he's not. As we're going to come to in chapter 4, the will of God is your sanctification. So ask the Lord for courage to not only turn from the idol, but turn in the right way. That is to say, destroy them and turn to Christ. Understand what it means to live for his glory, for his honor alone, for him, not for self. And that ties into the last thing I want to say. Make decisions with eternity in view. That's what they did.
They were waiting for the sun from heaven. It was the focal point, the fixation of their heart. We can't wait for the Lord's return. And you can imagine them making their decisions based on that. What job should I have? Where should I move to? What about the passions and and the things that interest me? How can I use those things? What are the conversations I'm having with my neighbor, my coworker, my family member, etc., etc., etc. When we have heaven in view, it changes all of those things. And so I would urge you to live with the glory of eternity in view.
May it be that we seek to please the Lord and be found faithful upon his return. If the Lord returns today, will he find you faithful? Will he find me faithful? There is after all one gospel upon which we stand. Let us not turn to any other gospel, but seek him and seek him only and live for his glory now and look forward to the day when we'll be in his presence for all eternity. So God, I pray that you would give us such a heart that we would live in this manner to please you, to exalt you, that we would not swerve to the left or to the right, but that we would keep our eyes fixed on the author and finisher of our faith.
We pray, Father, that you grant to us endurance in the midst of affliction and trial, that we would not shrink back when the hard times come. We pray that you would continue to sanctify us such that our Christian living glorifies you and exalts you, not about pleasing man or looking a certain way before others, but rather because it pleases you. And so by your spirit, enable us to live a sanctified life. And Father, we pray that we would keep living with eternity in view. That we would seek to be found faithful when you come. And so, Father, minister to us in this way. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Let's stand and sing
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
