Paul’s First Epistle to The Thessalonians (4)

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Dr. Lars Larson

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The message of the cross is that we are being saved.
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It is the power of God. It is not in word only, is it? It comes with power to enable us to believe it.
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And secondly, for the word of the gospel to come in power means that they regarded the word as incredibly important, critically essential to their eternal well -being.
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The power of God gives weight to the gospel. People can hear the gospel and they think little of it.
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They see no value in it, no importance of it, no relevance of it. They dismiss it. But not when the power of God accompanies that gospel.
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There is a weight added to His word which the elect hear and receive. It has influence upon them.
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They understand the word and they know its truthfulness. The word is regarded as important and absolutely true by the elect.
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And this spiritual knowledge is due to the power of God in the gospel. And then thirdly, we would say that God's power produces in the center love for His word.
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That's not natural, is it? People don't love God's word. Natural man does not love
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God's word. It confronts him and imposes God's law upon him that would restrain him and sinners don't like to be restrained.
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I want to be my own Lord, thank you. The word condemns fallen man who refuses to hear and submit to God's word.
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It brings a sense of God's condemnation upon the sinner. And so what does fallen man do? Well, he rejects it, casts it away from him, explains it away, modifies it, picks and chooses.
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The Lord has promised that he will have mercy upon the one who loves His word and has high regard for it.
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God said to Isaiah, on this one I will look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word.
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If you do not have a sense of trembling when you hear God's word or read God's word, that doesn't bode well for you.
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The natural man doesn't tremble at God's word, he hates it. He's not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can he be, according to Romans 8 verse 7.
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But when the word of the gospel comes to him with power, this former enmity against God and His word is removed.
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And in its place God implants a very real desire to know the word of God as well as an intense delight in the word of God.
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And so, you know, you can read say about David's expressions of the love of the word of God in the
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Psalms. Psalm 119, I find my delight in your commandments which I love. Oh how
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I love your law, it's my meditation all the day. Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, yes fine gold.
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My soul keeps your testimonies, I love them exceedingly. That didn't come forth from David's fallen heart, that came forth from David's regenerated heart due to the power of God.
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And love for the word of God is a very important evidence of salvation. It gives proof that the power of God is making the word of God effectual to the soul.
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I love it, I delight in it. But of those who do not love
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God's word, they are damned for they remain in their sin. They have no interest, no desire, no delight in the word of God.
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They just as soon hear something else rather than its claims and demands.
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Paul wrote of some who would be damned whom the Lord himself would condemn because they refused to love his word.
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The coming of the lawless one, a reference to the man of sin or antichrist. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power assigned, lying wonders, with all unrighteous deception among those who perish.
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Why? Because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. See love of the truth comes with salvation doesn't it?
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But these Christians in the church of Thessalonica had received the word in power and therefore
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Paul was convinced of their election. They loved the word. It impacted them.
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Well not only did the gospel come in word, and secondly not only did it come in power, but thirdly
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Paul wrote to them that the gospel had come to them in the Holy Spirit with full conviction.
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You see, the Holy Spirit makes the word of God effectual to the salvation of sinners.
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Otherwise it's a dead letter. Salvation from first to last is a work of the
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Holy Spirit, the blessed person of the Holy Trinity. Paul wrote of the Spirit's sole authority in this matter.
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Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus a curse, and no one can say that Jesus is
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Lord and truly mean it and live it except by the Holy Spirit. The risen
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Lord Jesus declared to his disciples they were in need of power, the power of the Holy Spirit in order to become effective witnesses in the world.
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And so he commissioned them, when he commissioned them to preach the gospel to the entire world, before they went forth he declared to them their need for the power of the
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Holy Spirit. He said to them, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and then you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and all
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Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth. The word goes forth with the power of the
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Holy Spirit, which results in conviction of sin by its hearers, and their desire for salvation through repentance from sin and faith in Christ.
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And so the Lord Jesus told his disciples the night he was betrayed, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper that is the
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Holy Spirit will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he comes, when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment, of sin because they do not believe in me, of righteousness because I go to my
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Father and you see me no more, and of judgment because the ruler of this world, that is the devil, is judged.
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And so if it were not for the word of God coming in the Holy Spirit, it would not have come to us with full conviction.
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It would have just been word only. We are in need of the
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Holy Spirit to empower the gospel, to enable it to be effectual in transforming sinners to saints.
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Unless that happens, people will not be converted. Well, secondly,
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Paul knew of their election by God because of the manifestation of the word of God proclaimed to them.
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It resulted in their changed lives. That power was effectual.
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In verse 6, Paul wrote, You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction and with the joy of the
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Holy Spirit. Now notice Paul says you became imitators of us. Probably a reference to Timothy and Silvanus up in verse 1.
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But also of the Lord. That's interesting. You became imitators of us and of the Lord. Paul had been transformed by the gospel, being made over from a
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Christ rejector and persecutor of his people to a disciple of Jesus Christ who was a founder and builder of churches.
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The word of God was powerfully working in him. And these Christians at Thessalonica imitated him.
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They too became promoters of Christ and the word. They followed Paul as Paul followed
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Christ. They desired and sought to live before God in a manner that pleased God. Their desires had changed.
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Paul saw this. He knew this. Their values had changed. Their motivations had changed.
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Their purpose for living had changed. All things had become new to them. Not only did these
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Christians become imitators of Paul, but they were also imitators of the Lord Jesus. They became imitators of Christ.
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They had become imitators of both Paul and the Lord. The Lord Jesus modeled for us what kind of reactions and responses we should have towards circumstances to which we are subjected.
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We read in 1 Peter 2, verse 21, For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
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The Christians at Thessalonica did that. They followed Paul's steps.
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They followed the Lord's steps. And not only did they become imitators of Paul and the
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Lord, but secondly, they received the Word in much affliction. Paul wrote in the next chapter the manner in which they had received the
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Word of God. And we'll consider it in detail when we arrive there. But Paul described what it was like when he first came among them with the gospel.
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You yourselves know, brethren, our coming to you was not in vain. But even after we suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our
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God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. I'm anticipating a little bit of conflict in India when we arrive there.
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I wouldn't be surprised. Pastor Prem talks about it. I don't talk much about it.
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My wife might not let me go. But that comes with the gospel, doesn't it?
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If the gospel is at work, there will be conflict. I was certainly in conflict when
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I heard the gospel. I didn't want any part of it. Farther down we read in 1
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Thessalonians 2, For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen that they, the
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Jewish believers, did from the Judeans. And often this happens. Christians in India are only about 1 -2 % of the population, and they suffer greatly.
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The Indian government is Hindu, and devout
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Hindu. And so all the children of India are given money for education, but not
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Christian children. They're on their own. When those who profess to believe on the
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Lord Jesus Christ do so in the face of opposition or persecution, it's evidence that they're numbered among the elect of God.
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They cost them something. They're willing to suffer rather than deny Christ. And so this is evidence that the gospel has been at work at them effectually through the power of the
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Holy Spirit. They received it even though it was going to cost them something.
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Difficulty, hardship, persecution. And thirdly, we see they received the word with the joy of the
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Holy Spirit. Even while coming to faith in the face of difficulty and experiencing affliction, nevertheless they were filled with joy.
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The joy that the Christian can experience is not contingent upon outward circumstances. Thankfully.
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That is, if he's thinking rightly and filled with the Holy Spirit. Believers in Christ are to be a people known for their joy in the
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Lord. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in the
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Lord's mercy shall surround him, be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shall for joy all you upright in heart.
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And that should be how we are. New life in Christ is to be characterized by joy as the psalmist
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In your presence is wholeness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
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And God has promised that those who receive salvation shall go out with joy. For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace.
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The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
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And this is not dependent on how life is going for you, but rather it's born out of your relationship with God.
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Our Lord Jesus told his disciples that their own salvation should be the basis of their joy.
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On one occasion the disciples were rejoicing because demons were subject to them through the name of Jesus, and the
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Lord Jesus corrected them. Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy.
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Nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you.
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But rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Basically, the
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Lord Jesus rejoiced because you're numbered among the elect, is what he would say. And later on another occasion, the night our
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Lord Jesus was betrayed and arrested, he spoke to his disciples of the temporary sorrow that they would experience because of his suffering and death.
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But then he declared that your sorrow will be turned to joy. I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice in your joy.
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Joy no one will take from you. There ought to be a joy that characterizes the people of God that no one and nothing can take away from in this world.
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We are to be rejoicing people. And when people see us and they reflect upon us, we should so live before them that they perceive, hey, there is a joy -filled people.
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And that's in spite of what they're going through, not because of it. Now when we speak of joy, we're not speaking of that which may be generally characteristic, say, of a cheerful or optimistic personality.
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There are many non -Christians who may be of that nature. But rather we're speaking of a deep, settled, and abiding joy that may belong to the true
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Christian only. And so the joy of the Christian is a deep, settled sense of well -being, satisfaction, confidence and delight, and knowing his
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God, and knowing that he is in a right relationship with Him. It settles him and causes him to be at peace and encouraged, regardless of what may be occurring.
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And so joy should be characteristic of us if we're not as little faith that we were talking about in the
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Sunday school hour in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, who could only focus in on that which he lost in this life rather than upon the blessing that God had promised in Christ that lay out for him in the future.
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The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. And may the
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Lord enable us to be characterized by that joy. Thirdly, similarly, there's a third reason that Paul was convinced of their election.
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We've got to pick up speed here. Paul knew of their election by God because they became examples of how believers...
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So that he became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. Notice they first became imitators of Paul and the
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Lord, and then they became examples to others. And that's what happens when you become an imitator of the
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Lord, isn't it? You become an example for others. And that's what these Christians were.
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They were an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Macedonia was a region, of course, in the northern part of Greece.
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Achaia was a southern region. And everyone throughout those two regions heard of the church at Thessalonica.
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The other churches saw this church contains model Christians. Every church seemed to desire to be like the church at Thessalonica.
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This church was conforming their faith and practice to the Holy Scriptures. Paul told
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Timothy on one occasion, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
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But here was an entire church that fit that description. Paul would write this church in his second epistle, that he ordered his own life that he might be an example before them, demonstrating how a
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Christian should live. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor, toil, and night, that we might be an example of how you should follow us.
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I would hope the Lord would enable every one of us to become so committed and devout as Christians that other churches in our
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New England region would view our church as an example that they would like to follow.
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Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing? A fourth reason Paul was convinced of their election.
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Paul knew of their election of God because they proclaimed the word of God to others, seeking to evangelize the world in which
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God had placed them. In verse 8, Paul wrote, For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere.
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We need not say anything. And so the Christians in this church not only eagerly and readily received the word of the
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Lord, they became eager and ready to proclaim the word of God to others. They were mission -minded.
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And this is good evidence of ones who are numbered among God's elect. They benefited from the word of God, and they want others to benefit from the word of God.
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They're like those lepers. You recall, they came out of Jerusalem and found the camp was at the Assyrians, abandoned.
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And the lepers sat down. They were feeding themselves and hoarding things. And they said, how can we sit here and do this when our people back in Jerusalem are starving?
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And they went back and told them the news. They went out, and everybody was relieved from the siege that was taking place.
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And so it is with Christians. They've been so benefited by the mercy and grace of God, they want others to benefit from the same.
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The message of the gospel became important to them. They sense an obligation. Paul said, you know, he was a debtor to the
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Jews and to the Greeks. And we're debtors. We owe them an obligation, as well as we have an opportunity to spread the word of God widely.
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From our church, as theirs did, into the region in which they were situated, they were excited to have a part in disseminating the seed of the word of God, even as they anticipated a great harvest of souls who would come to salvation through their word.
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They did not put their light under a bushel basket, but on a lampstand, so that it gives light to all who are in the house, as we read earlier in the
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Sermon on the Mount. The fifth reason Paul was convinced of their election, because of their repentance from sin to serve the true
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God. And so in verse 9 Paul wrote, For they themselves report concerning the kind reception we had among you, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
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God. And so faith in the Lord, produced by the gospel, results in true believers abandoning their former ways of life that were contrary to the word of God, even as they begin to conform their thinking and practices to the word of God.
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And this is what repentance is, according to the scriptures. The initial act of faith on the part of the guilty sinner, is a sinner calling out to God for free forgiveness and promise of life that is in Jesus Christ.
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But in that initial act of faith, the sinner becoming a believer, that initial act of faith contains in its very nature, a faith that leads a sinner to turn from his sin.
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One of my favorite stories in the Bible is little Zacchaeus, a wretched little tax collector. Luke 19,
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Jesus entered Pasujerico. Behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
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The Lord in the previous chapter said, Hey, a rich man is as hard as a camel going through the eye of a needle.
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For a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, disciples who then can be saved? With what's impossible to man is possible with God.
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And then here we have an example of a rich man coming into the kingdom, due to the power of God.
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He was of little short stature, so he ran ahead, climbed up into a sycamore tree to see
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Him. I can never forget J. Vernon McGee's title of his sermon of this passage,
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The Fruit of the Sycamore Tree. For Jesus was going to pass that way.
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And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, saw Him, said to Him, Zacchaeus, make haste, come down, for today
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I must stay at your house. So he made haste and came down and received
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Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all complained, saying, He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.
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And then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor.
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If I've taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.
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And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because he is also a son of Abraham, for the
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Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Take note of this.
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It is not the act of turning from sin that resulted in the forgiveness of sins by God, and God's declaration that Zacchaeus is no longer guilty but righteous in his sight.
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Nor is it in the sinner's resolve to turn from sin. Zacchaeus was a sinner who became justified before God because he believed on Jesus.
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And that same faith that believed on Jesus led him to turn away from his sin. You follow that?
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It wasn't his turning away from sin that resulted in his forgiveness.
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It was his forgiveness that resulted in him turning away from sin. Forgiveness is pronounced freely to the one who embraces
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Christ. But that same faith that embraces Christ moves that sinner who is now a believer to turn away from sin.
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And so repentance always comes forth from faith. Faith and repentance go together.
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Repentance is the fruit of faith. And so the faith that pleads and clings to Christ alone is the same faith that leads the sinner to repudiate sin and turn from serving sin in his life.
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And so we go out and we proclaim the gospel. And that gospel essentially is repent of God, put your faith in Christ.
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God calls people to repentance toward God and implies turning from sin. But again, it's not our turning from sin, but it's our faith in Christ that results in our justification.
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And of course, when we speak about repentance, we're not talking about penance. Two entirely different things.
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Penance is a man -made doctrine of Rome and Greek Orthodoxy, which teaches that a man must confess his sin to a priest, perform some self -abasing action, confess so many
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Hail Marys or whatever, do some deed in order to compensate for his sin, in order to gain the declaration your sins are forgiven you.
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The Bible does not teach penance. There's nothing you can do to gain
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God's forgiveness. You're supposed to believe the gospel. Repentance is simply turning away oneself from serving sin to submitting to God and his will in the
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Lord Jesus. We don't have time, but I listed 10 aspects of true repentance that I think are so important.
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It warrants another message, but we've done it in the past. There is a sixth and last reason, last page of your notes, that Paul was convinced of their election by God because they were joyfully anticipating the second coming of Christ.
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1 Thessalonians 1 .10 Paul wrote, And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
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True Christians look forward to the return of Christ, as they did. And this helped convince
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Paul, I know you're of the elect because you're looking for Christ. You anticipate his coming.
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You desire his coming. You must be chosen of God. Let's conclude.
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Now we've seen in this chapter, it contains a rather extensive list of qualities and behaviors that convinced the apostle that these
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Christians in this church were among the elect of God. Ones chosen by God the Father in eternity to be the objects of his saving purposes and power in Jesus Christ.
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All of these qualities were operative in these people. And it convinced
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Paul. Now I hope, as we've gone through these, you've been assessing yourself.
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And perhaps in assessing yourself, you've determined, Hey, not much here is characteristic of me.
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Does that mean I'm not one of the elect? It doesn't mean that at all. It just means you can't know it necessarily with great assurance.
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You may not even be converted, and yet you're one of God's elect. You will be converted in God's good time.
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He will convert you. That doesn't take away your responsibility. You're to repent and believe the gospel. But maybe your life, my life, doesn't seem to match up with everything that we've just considered here today.
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Should that cause me to doubt my salvation? No, it's just removing one basis of assurance.
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How do we deal with it then? Well, we could go back to 1 Peter 1, and there we find instruction on how to deal with it.
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There we read what the Lord would have us do. Peter wrote, He's basically giving instruction.
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This is how you can be diligent to make your calling and election sure. You add to yourself these things by God's grace.
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You become concerned about the way you're living. Become concerned about your feelings and what your thoughts are.
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Your value of the word of God. Your concern for righteousness. Am I really settled in this world, or do
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I really long for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? Allow the Lord to examine you in this, and if you don't measure up, then acknowledge it.
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And ask God to produce these works of grace in your soul. For he says, again within this context,
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If you do these things, as Peter says, you can make sure your calling and election of God.
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And then he went on to say, I'm not telling you anything you don't know, he says.
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Yes, I think it's right as long as I'm in this tent or this body to stir you up in reminding you. Knowing that shortly
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I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I'll be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.
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And indeed, 2 Peter 1 is that, isn't it? Peter's reminder. I'm going to make sure you remember this after I'm gone too.
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It's something that we should always give ourselves over to. If your life, if your heart, if your thinking, if your attitudes, do not coincide with this description of these
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Christians at Thessalonica, examine yourself and ask the Lord to do a work of grace in you.
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Our Lord, I've been neglectful of your word. I haven't been in it like I should.
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I've only been relying on what I get on Sunday morning, and I know that's not enough.
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And begin to purpose and resolve, as God enables you by His grace, to seek the Lord, and to be in His word, and to pray that the word would be accompanied with power, the power of the
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Holy Spirit, to produce in you all of these evidences of God's saving grace.
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And the result of that is that you'll be able to be assured you're numbered among the elect. And that's a place of blessing, isn't it?
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Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word, for the clarity of expression we find here in 1
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Thessalonians 1. And we pray that you would be merciful and gracious to each of us, our
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God, that others, Lord, can look upon us and be as the
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Apostle Paul was of these Christians, be confident of our election by you, and therefore they thank you, our
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God, for your work of grace in our lives. For we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.