When I was a kid, it was like clockwork when the sermon came.
I'd wait till about 10 minutes before I thought it'd be the
end. And I'd get up and I'd go
straight to the bathroom, head down, no eye contact, straight
to the bathroom. I didn't actually have to go to
the bathroom. It was my creative way of trying
to endure a long sermon. And I'm not not trying to give
anyone ideas here, but I am shocked my parents never figured
out what I was doing. You know, Sunday after Sunday.
Somewhere along the way, my appetite changed.
I started listening to the sermon, hearing the preaching.
I started reading the Bible on my own outside of Sundays.
I started devouring more sermons on podcasts.
It's like I couldn't get enough of the Word, you know?
I was hungry for the Word, and I saw God's Word began changing my
heart. I wonder if you've experienced
that as a Christian. There are countless times I can
think of since then when God's Word has caught me off guard and
captivated me. One time I remember 2021, I was
sitting at the prayer meeting of Covenant Hope Church.
My friend John Pentecost was preaching and Pentecost, that's
a powerful preacher name. He was preaching from Proverbs 9
and that text says reprove a wise man and he will love you.
And I was sitting there. It felt like John had taken aim
at my heart, read my mail, and was convicting me with those
words. And I realized it clicked for
me. People who love me enough to
critique me are people I should love myself.
Sometimes the word does that work.
I remember 2016, sitting at University Baptist Church, first
time. I was sitting under the regular
diet of expositional preaching, where the main point of the
sermon is the main point of the passage.
And Brad Wheeler was preaching through First Samuel.
And I had heard many sermons in my Christian life about how you
look at a character in the Old Testament and you consider ways
to follow them and ways you shouldn't.
There's a place for that. I had heard few sermons that
consider a man like King David and say the King we long for,
Brad said, is Jesus Christ. And I remember hearing that good
news again and marvelling at my great Saviour Christ.
I remember also a year later, I was sitting in the West Hall,
Capitol Hill Baptist Church and Bobby Jameson sitting right over
there was service leading. He was service leading, which is
what Brian Miller did moments ago.
And he started with the gospel. He just shared the gospel.
And then he said, friends, that's the best news you're
going to hear all week. And something in my heart broke
that was so good to hear that the gospel, the best news you're
going to hear all week. Something in my heart flooded
with the love of Christ. I will never forget that day.
Here's the thing. I don't remember every sermon
I've heard. Sometimes I'm reading my Bible
and I lose my bookmark in my morning devotions and I realise
I've reread the passages that I read the day before.
And I forget sometimes, but over and over again, consistently,
week after week, as the words preach and as the Gospels
proclaimed, the Lord has changed my heart.
He's convicted me, strengthened me, transformed me by the
gospel. What about you, friend?
Have you graduated from hearing the gospel?
Or is that good news still sweet to your ears?
The gospel is good news. God made us to walk with him and
to please Him, but we walked away from him and we pleased
ourselves. The Bible calls that sin.
Most of you, most people know they're sinners, but most people
think their sin isn't a big problem.
Most people hope that in the end the good will outweigh the bad.
Friends. That is the biggest lie on the
planet, that at the end if you're try your best that God
will embrace you with open arms. Here's the truth, the depth of
our sin runs deeper than we can fathom and the cost of our
forgiveness was greater than we can comprehend.
What did it cost us? The only good man to walk this
earth, the only innocent man, perfect man, was the God, man
Jesus Christ sent from the Father, God's only Son.
And he came to die on the cross for sinners to bear the wrath
that they deserved. And he rose again.
And that message must be responded to.
You have to respond to that good news.
You don't respond by trusting in your own goodness along with
Christ's righteousness. You can't respond by marvelling
at Christ and thinking, well, I just need.
That's a great example for me to follow.
You must respond by forsaking all attempts at your own
goodness, forsaking your sin, and trusting that what He did on
the cross is sufficient. It's enough.
As He said, it is finished. You need to respond by trusting
in Christ and His finished work on the cross.
Friends, that is the best news you're going to hear all week.
That's the gospel. If you're not a Christian, I
pray that by the end of this sermon you believe that good
news that you see your life changed and transformed and
turned upside down by that very gospel.
And if you're a Christian, if you're a member of Trinity
Baptist Church, that same gospel that's at work in our church was
at work at that first church in Thessalonica.
If you have your Bible, open up to the book of First
Thessalonians. If you don't have a Bible, maybe
you didn't come on with one. Maybe you left at home.
Maybe you don't even own a Bible.
Just raise your hand. Somebody would be glad to bring
you a Bible right now so you can follow along.
Just raise your hand. First Thessalonians In the New
Testament, in First Thessalonians, Paul and his
missionary team brought the gospel to Thessalonica.
They planted the first church there.
But when the gospel comes to town, trouble comes to and Paul
and his missionary team were run out of town after just a few
weeks or few months of ministering there, meaning they
were forced to leave this month's old church plant.
They had to flee 250 miles of Berea, but the same people that
persecuted them in Thessalonica followed them to Berea.
They had to flee all the way, even onto Athens.
Yet even in their absence, in this new church plant in
Thessalonica, God's Word was at work.
So listen as I read 1st Thessalonians 213 to 16.
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive
the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as
the Word of men, but as what it really is, the Word of God which
is at work in you believers. For you brothers became
imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in
Judea. For you suffer the same things
from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed
both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out and
displease God, and oppose all mankind by hindering us from
speaking to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, so as
always to fill up the measure of their sins.
But wrath has come upon them at last.
Friends, did you notice the two fold pattern in the passage?
Look at what Paul thanks God for.
Verse 13, the Word at work within them.
Verses 14 to 16, the world at work against them.
What should we do with this passage?
Follow the pattern, receive the Word, then be rejected by the
world friends, we need to follow that pattern, receive the word,
then be rejected by the world. Two points to the sermon.
Here's the first one, the words reception.
The words reception verse 13. Look at verse 13.
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive
the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as
the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God which
is at work. And you believers, Paul thanks
God, he thanks God again, remember how the letter began,
chapter one, verse 2. We give thanks to God always for
all of you constantly mentioning you in our prayers.
Now Paul, Silas, and Timothy wrote this letter.
They likely wrote it from Corinth.
They're separated by 250 miles. But with Paul, it was not out of
sight, out of mind. He couldn't be present with
them, so he presented them to God in his prayers.
Every Monday at 1:00 PM, if you came by the church office, which
is currently located in the Haas's kind of basement, 1:00
PM, you'd see the staff reading the sermon passage and then
praying for a page of the membership directory.
Many of you pray for a page of the membership directory in your
morning quiet time. Picture Paul, Silas, Timothy
sitting around turning over the pages of their mental membership
directory of the Church of the Thessalonians, thanking God.
Lord, thank you for Jason, how he opened up his home to a bunch
of strangers. Lord, thank you for Alexander
and how he received the word in much affliction.
He turned from idols, his very livelihood, because he believed
the gospel. Lord, thank you for Chloe, for
her steadfastness of faith and her hope in Jesus Christ.
Lord, thank you for these Saints.
That's what Paul and Silas and Timothy were doing, and we can
always be discipled from Paul in our own prayer lives.
Paul constantly thanked God for God's grace in other people's
lives. In other words, when he looked
around the church heads up, he saw God's grace at work in the
lives of his brothers and sisters.
Do you? And if you do, do you say
something about it? Married couples in the church,
what do you want your marriage to feel like?
Like your spouse is always under the microscope?
Like they never measure up? Like there's always room for
improvement? Or that they're always being
refreshed by your private prayers for them and your public
encouragement of them? Will you be their biggest
cheerleader before the Lord and before your family?
Make it a habit to thank God privately for your spouse and to
tell them about it publicly. Let God know what you're
thankful for, what you see His work in their life.
Then tell your spouse. If you have kids, let your kids
eavesdrop on your encouragement to your spouse.
Maybe even do it on the drive home from church today.
Brothers and sisters, members of the church, let's not be a
church where Thanksgiving goes without saying.
Oh, they know I'm thankful. Surely let's be a church that
shares Thanksgiving to God, to one another.
Now, if that's something that's difficult for you, if you're
someone who can only see opportunities for growth and
areas to criticize, start by first praying and asking God for
a heart that is easily edified. Mature Christians are easily
edified. Pray for that.
There's times to critique, of course, but if God is at work at
all, then we should point it out for his praise and for one
another's encouragement. Members of Trinity Baptist
Church, I'm thankful to God for you.
I'm thankful to God that so many of you are studying God's Word
together throughout the week. I can't even keep track of how
many people are opening up the Scriptures together and reading
the Bible together. Praise God.
I'm thankful that after the service you stick around because
you love one another and you want a fellowship with one
another. And even that sometimes Bobby
and I stand back there by ourselves twiddling our thumbs
because you're here fellowshipping with one another.
Praise God. I'm thankful when you pray in
the evening service, so many of your prayers are saturated with
Scripture. Praise God, I'm thankful to God
for you, the church. Father Augustine comments on
verse 13. He says why does he give thanks
to God here? Agustin says certainly it would
be vain and meaningless if the person to whom he gives thanks
to is not the person who did it, who is at work in our church.
It's God's work. So give thanks to God that will
keep our hearts humble and encouraged.
He deserves all the credit. He's the one doing all the work.
Look back at verse 13. What does Paul thank God for?
Specifically for how they received the word of God?
The Thessalonians heard the word from men, from Paul, from Silas,
Timothy, but they accepted it as what it really was, the word of
God, and that word was at work in them.
Now from this one verse, verse 13, we learn what the Word is,
what we do with the Word, and what the Word does to us.
So what is the Word specifically the word of God?
Here Paul speaks of is the gospel.
He says in chapter 1 verse 5 our gospel came to you.
Chapter 2 verse two, he says we had boldness in our God to
declare to you the gospel. Chapter 2, verse 9, right before
our passage, Paul says we proclaim to you the gospel.
Paul was commissioned by God to preach the gospel to the
Gentiles. The Thessalonians received the
gospel directly from an apostle. And today we receive the same
gospel through God's Word, through the Scriptures.
Now the very first attack against God's people back in the
Garden of Eden was first an attack on God's Word.
Eve. Did God really say first attack?
And so from the Garden, we need to be ready for God's Word to be
attacked. One way to get ready is to just
prepare yourself. Here's 2 important theological
terms briefly. Both start with I.
This will help you defend your faith.
One inspiration, God's Word, all of Scripture, Old and New
Testaments, written by men who are divinely inspired by God.
In other words, Scripture is breathed out by God himself.
It's not the word of man, it's truly the word of God.
It's inspiration. Also, second inerrancy.
So inspiration, inerrancy. Inerrancy simply means without
error, as our statement of faith says, which we just read.
It's truth without any mixture or of error in its contents.
Meaning the scriptures can never be proven wrong.
The scriptures can never falter. They can never err, just as God
himself can never err. So anyone who denies inerrancy
places some other judge over scripture.
They become the judge, not God. If you're ever at a church, or
if you ever hear a pastor deny one of these doctrines,
inspiration, inerrancy, do not be surprised if they deny the
gospel next. Inerrancy goes, inspiration
goes, the gospel soon follows. And sadly, many churches in our
very area have followed that trajectory.
God's words always under attack, but God's word can defend
itself. Here's a few snapshots of the
word. This is what the word says about
the word. It's sharper than any 2 edged
sword. It cuts deeper than the
surgeon's scalpel. That's the picture.
Hebrews 412. It's a hammer.
Jeremiah 2329. A hammer that breaks rocky
hearts to pieces. It is a fire.
That consumes everything and even positively Psalm 1910.
The word is more precious than the finest gold, sweeter than
honey. The word is the most powerful
force in the universe, effectual.
It never returns void Frank. If you're a Christian, you can
have confidence in God's Word. We heard about this a little bit
in our Sunday school class, if you missed that.
But during the Reformation, again, the world clashed with
the Word. Martin Luther was sitting at his
trial in the Diet of Worms 1521. He's on trial for attacking
things that he says are not in the Word, like penance,
purgatory, papal supremacy. At the trial sat the Cardinals
judging him, and even Charles the 5th, the Holy Roman Emperor,
the man who held Luther's life in his hands, who could put him
to death. And his accuser, Johann von Eck,
asked him. Luther, will you recant?
And we heard this in Sunday school.
It's worth repeating, Luther responded.
Unless I'm convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or
by clear reason, for I do not trust in the Pope or the
Council's alone, since it is well known that they often err
and contradict each other. I am bound to the Scriptures,
and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.
I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand.
May God help me. Brothers and sisters, you can
stand on God's Word. It doesn't matter if a smart
professor or a pastor or a podcast picks apart Scripture,
puts it on trial. You can trust the Word, come
what may, you can stand on it. Take confidence in it.
What should we do with the Word? Look at verse 13.
The Word was preached and received, preached and received.
I was at a pastor's conference once in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
and I heard one of the pastor's share his bright idea for how he
had done away with sermon preparation and the sermon
entirely. Seriously, he said.
You know, we all have the Spirit and you know, people really
don't learn by monologues anymore.
People learn by dialogues. So at our church, we've cut the
sermon out and we sit in a circle and we have a Bible
discussion. That's the sermon.
Can you imagine if you showed up hungry for the Word and that's
what you got? Not only is that a bad idea,
it's actually against what the Word says.
In our gathering today, if you've noticed, the Word is
central. Our service began today with
God's Word calling us to worship Psalm 23.
Then the Word dwelled richly among us as we sang Scripture,
saturated songs together to God and to one another.
Colossians 316. We devoted ourselves First
Timothy 413 to the public reading of Scripture as Brian
read Psalm 81. We even exhorted one another
about the nature of the Word as we read to one another from
Isaiah 40. And that was all before the Word
now is being preached. And that is not Bobby and I's
idea. We didn't come up with that.
The elder board didn't come up with that.
That is because God tells us to do that in His Word.
We submit all our cleverness to God's Word, and so every church
across all time should do the very things that we do in our
gathering today, which is read the Scriptures, sing the
Scriptures, hear the Scriptures, preach, see the Word, come alive
at the ordinances of baptism in the Lord's Supper.
Every church, Paul charged Timothy, in the presence of God
and of Christ Jesus, preach the Word.
Second Timothy, 41 to 2. The preacher's job is serious,
but it's very simple. A preacher is like a mailman.
What does your mailman do? He just delivers you the mail,
other people's mail. He doesn't write you his own
letters. That would be weird.
He just brings you mail. That's the preacher's job, The
preacher's herald. The herald doesn't write the
message. That's the King's job.
The herald just preaches the message.
They proclaim it. That's the preacher's job.
And when the preacher does that faithfully, when they unpack
God's Word and the main point of their message is the main point
of that passage, you're hearing from God.
We should preach the Word. We also need to receive the
Word. Here's a few quick tips for
receiving the Word. 1 Listen carefully.
Any spouse can tell you, especially husbands.
Sorry husbands, that you can be present and not listening.
Anyone ever been guilty of that? God lamented in Psalm 81.
Oh, that my people would listen to me.
Now elders have been entrusted by God to teach God's Word to
the congregation. We try to make our sermons clear
and substantial. We want a hefty meal.
Ji Packer, one faithful brother, he used to preach 17 point
sermons. 17 I just have two today, 17 points.
You've got to work hard to hear God's Word.
You need to search the scriptures.
That's why we encourage you to bring a Bible, to take a Bible,
to open your Bible. That's why we say things like
look at verse 17, open the Bible.
We want you to confirm that what we're saying to you is actually
what God is saying. You need to listen carefully.
Also, come hungry. Hearing the word is not like
going to a fancy dinner where you, you know, choose not to eat
to kind of save up your appetite for that feast.
I'm afraid many Christians are on spiritual calorie deficit
diets. They need more of the word.
Prepare to feast on the Word. How do you prepare?
You could read the sermon passage during your family
devotions. You could listen to it while you
wash the dishes or while you go on a walk.
Whatever you do, just marinate in the Scriptures all week.
Prepare your heart to hear. Listen for yourself.
Not much on this, but we've all sat in a sermon and while it's
being preached thought, man, I really hope so and so is
listening right now. Or nudged somebody, Hey, did you
hear that? Listen for yourself.
Come ready to be confronted. Sometimes the Bible bites and it
stings. If you're never convicted
listening to the word, either the words not being preached or
you're not listening. Sometimes the word sneaks up on
us, like the prophet Nathan to King David where he tells him
this little parable about a little lamb that was slain and
David. So it's giving him advice about
what to do. And the prophet Nathan's like,
I'm talking to you, you're the man.
Sometimes that happens as you're sitting there hearing the word.
Come ready to be confronted here, then do good.
Soil hears the word and then it bears fruit.
Friends, don't waste your sermons.
Steward them well. Put them to good work.
Pray for your preacher. The Puritan Thomas Watson says
this may be one reason why the word preach does not profit more
because people do not pray more. Perhaps you complain the tool is
dull, the minister is dead and cold.
Thomas Watson says you should have wedded and sharpened him by
your prayer. Pray for Bobby as he preaches.
Pray for me. Pray for anyone who's preaching
the word to you. Finally, let the sermon shape
your conversations after the service.
Picture the Word going forth, reverberating through this very
gym after the service as you ask one another, how did God speak
to you through His Word today? That's what the Word.
That's what we should do with the Word.
What does the Word do to us? Verse 13?
It works in US. God is a gardener.
He plants His Word in our hearts, and yes, he needs to
pluck out some weeds and that's painful, but he's intending to
build a masterpiece as His Word takes root in our lives.
Listen, how important this is. Verse 13, the word at work in
US. Paul had to leave.
They had an apostle plant their church, but he had to go.
He couldn't stay with them, but the Word remained.
You don't need me to preach to you.
You don't need Bobby to preach to you.
You need the Word. And the Word always works
because it's God's Word. The grass Withers, the flower
fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.
Have you received the Word? Then be ready for the world's
rejection .2 The world's rejection.
I want you to notice this. Receiving the word and being
rejected by the world are tied together in the text.
Look at verse 14. Paul says the reason he knows
the word was at work. Verse 14 For you brothers became
imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in
Judea. For you suffered the same things
from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews.
That's Paul's proof. It's their imitation.
Chapter one, verse 6, Paul said they imitated Paul and the Lord.
Here he says they imitate the churches in Judea.
Now, it's not that the church in Thessalonica consciously pattern
themselves after the churches in Judea.
It's more that he's saying they resembled those churches.
They looked alike. I have two sisters, one of
them's in this room. Wonder if you could spot her.
If we're together, it does not take long for people to know
that we're family. They see the resemblance, facial
features, mannerisms. We look alike because we're
family. Paul's saying the Thessalonian
church bore the family resemblance.
How could you tell? Verse 14 They're suffering.
They suffered the same things from the Gentiles as the
churches in Judea suffered from the Jews.
These churches were separated by over 1000 miles.
They shared the same Father. They had many cultural
differences. They worship the same Saviour.
They both received the word and suffered for it, Paul later
wrote Timothy. All who desire to live a godly
life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
Persecutions are, John Calvin says, seals of adoption to the
children of God. Now how is endurance through
persecution a mark of a Christian?
How does that work? Jesus actually gave us a parable
to understand this mark chapter 4.
For some, the word is sown on rocky ground.
Jesus said these are the ones who hear the word and
immediately receive it with joy. It seems like they've become a
Christian. They're convicted by a sermon,
they walk an aisle, they join a church.
They endure for a while. Then Jesus says when persecution
arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.
They immediately receive the Word with joy.
They immediately fall away in trials.
How can you tell a true believer from a false professor?
A true Christian not only receives the word at some time,
but they continue when the world turns against them.
How can you tell a true church from a false church?
A true church begins preaching the gospel and continues even
when cultural pressures come, come what may.
That was the Thessalonian church.
They proved to be a true church because they began with the
gospel and persevered despite the persecution.
And Paul draws their attention to a pattern that they're
following that's woven into the very fabric of Christian
history. Look at verse 15.
He says it's a pattern not only seen in the churches of Judea
who suffer the same things from the Jews, but verse 15, the Jews
who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us
out and displeased God and oppose all mankind by hindering
us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved.
This is a pattern that culminates in the Saviour in
Jesus Christ himself, but then it matches all God's people
before him and God's people after him.
Trials, troubles, tribulations for following Jesus.
Some wonder because of Paul's strong language here, you know,
the Jews did this, they killed Jesus, the prophets drove us
out. They've wondered, is Paul being
anti-Semitic here? Is he?
Is this hate speech? But here's the thing.
Paul was a Jew. Paul longed for the salvation of
the Jews. Paul even said that if he could,
he wished that he wouldn't be saved so that they could be
saved. Paul loved the Jews.
He does not indict all the Jews across all time.
He's indicting the ones who killed Jesus, the ones who
killed the prophets, the ones who drove him out of
Thessalonica, the ones who displease God and are opposed to
the gospel getting to the Gentiles.
That's who Paul's talking about. And that actually was Paul.
Paul himself was one of those Jews.
In Acts a three, Paul ravaged the church, dragging out
Christians from their home, throwing them into prison.
He reflects in Acts 26 on his own persecution.
He says, I not only locked up many of the Saints in prison,
but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
That was Paul. Paul was one of those who
opposed all mankind, displeased God, rejected Christ, and drove
out Christians from their home. But his world was turned upside
down by the living God when he met the living Christ on the
road to Damascus. Friend, if you're a Christian,
do you remember when the Word met you when you became a
Christian? When Christ met you, when the
Word bore fruit in your heart, When you realize that gaining
Christ was actually worth losing everything.
Do you also remember when you first felt the cost?
The cost of following Christ? One of the brothers I respect
the most in ministry pastors a church in northern India.
I was texting yesterday, checking up on him, seeing how
he's doing in in the church I used to work at in Dubai.
Most of our interns that we had came from his church in northern
India. They come with us for 10 months
for training and then we'd send them back to him.
I saw a first hand this brother's influence on a
generation of men aspiring to pastor churches in some of the
hardest places on the planet. And that does not come without a
cost. In the last couple of years,
persecutions increase significantly in northern India.
Over this past year, his church has been kicked out of meeting
place after meeting place. This month, they cannot gather
as a church. No one will rent them.
They're praying that next month, somebody will rent them space to
meet as a church. If that was you, if you were in
that situation, what would be your prayer request?
Here's my friend's prayer request in order.
Perseverance in the face of all adversity.
It's #1 joy in the Lord, always Willingness to pay any price, to
sacrifice everything #4 protection from the Lord.
I think I would have put that number one.
I think that's many of our postures.
He cares more about perseverance than protection.
It's not that he doesn't care about protection, but
perseverance first. The last request he sent was
fearlessness to never compromise.
Brothers and sisters, pray for persecuted Christians,
persecuted churches like that, and follow Paul's prayers.
Notice Paul in this passage doesn't pray first for their
protection. He first thanks God.
He thanks God that they're suffering well for the sake of
Christ. Pray for your own participation
in the sufferings of Christ. It is love for Christ and love
for Christ's name that puts us into positions where persecution
is possible. Who would choose that?
Those who love Christ and want to see the gospel go to places
It's never gone. If you're faithfully following
Jesus Christ, do not be surprised when the world rejects
you. They will.
Suffering for Christ is our family history, and it's good to
suffer for Christ. It's better to have Christ than
to keep your immediate family. He is worth your own family
disowning you. It's better to have Christ than
to keep your closest friends. He's worth your own friends
rejecting you. It's better to have Christ than
to keep your dream job. He's worth more than every
possession then all the kingdoms of this earth.
It's better to have Christ than to gain the whole world.
Christ the Word made flesh. They mocked him, mistreated him,
misquoted him, spat on him, slapped him, scourged him, beat
him, bruised him, betrayed him, crucified him, killed him.
They crowned him with thorns. They will not crown us with
roses. Friend, if you're a Christian,
that's who you are. You're those who've received the
Word and been rejected by the world.
But what happens to those who've rejected the Word and been
received by the world? Verse 16 Paul says, verse 16 All
who reject God and his people are in a sense, filling up the
measure of their sins. Throughout Scripture, God's
enemies, those who oppose God, have a due date.
In Genesis 1516, the same language is used to describe the
Amorites. Paul tells Abraham, Your
descendants won't get into the land for four generations until
the sin of the Amorite has filled up until it's complete in
Daniel 823 to 25. Judgement will come at the end
of the age when sins have reached their limit.
Paul encourages these persecuted Christians of God's wrath that's
coming at the end. He says verse 16, wrath has come
upon them at last. In other words, Paul's saying
that those who keep rejecting God's Word and God's people,
they're like those who keep ignoring the past due reminders
on their bills. You can ignore them for so long,
keep spending however you want. You think everything's fine,
just delete the emails. But eventually there's no more
notices. It's collection time.
They're taking everything. There's only two responses to
God's Word. 1 you receive it, the other you reject it.
Right now, in this sermon that is happening in your hearts,
you're either receiving God's word or rejecting it.
No middle ground. It demands a response.
And all those who reject God's word will find that on the last
day, they themselves are rejected by God.
And instead of the beauty of the gospel, where Christ himself
bears the wrath that sinners deserve, they'll find that they
have to bear God's wrath in full measure, full measure, full
strength. Think about the flood.
Not even the flood was God's wrath poured out in full measure
when he wiped out all humanity except a man and his family.
Not even the flood, but hell will be God's wrath in full
measure. Hell is a place of conscious
torment. You'll be able to feel fully and
think clearly, but you won't be able to escape.
Hell is a place of eternal punishment, George Whitfield
once said. Consider the torment of burning
like a livid coal, not for an instant or a day, but for
millions and millions of ages. And when that's over, you'll
realize you're no closer to the end than you were when you
began. Friend, flee the wrath that is
to come. Turn to Christ.
Let him bear God's wrath in your place before it's too late.
Brothers and sisters, hell is what we deserve, but it's what
we'll never receive. Because God has not destined us
for wrath, but for eternal life. Because if you've embraced the
Gospel, if you've received the Word, though you suffer now, one
day soon the world's rejection will end and Christ will return
in wrath and he will vindicate you forever.
Friends, until that day, follow the pattern.
The pattern for the churches of Judea, the pattern for that
months old Church of Thessalonica.
The pattern of the apostles and the prophets before them to
receive the Word and be rejected by the world.
And as you do so, watch the word work.