Amen. Let let us hear the word of God.
We're reading again chapter one of the first Epistle of Paul,
the Apostle to the Thessalonians.
We'll read the 10 verses. Trust that the Lord will bless
to us thus reading of His own precious and infallible Word.
First Thessalonians chapter one verse one.
Paul and Savannas and Timotheus unto the Church of the
Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you
in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of
faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
Knowing brethren, beloved, your election of God for our gospel
came not unto you in Word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what
manner of men we were among you for your sake, and ye became
followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost.
So that ye wear examples to all that believe in Macedonia and
Akaia. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Akaia, but also in
every place your faith to God were to spread abroad.
So that we need not to speak anything.
For they themselves show of us what mannering of entering in we
had unto you, and how you turn to God from idols to serve the
living and the true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven,
whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come. Amen Lord, and stamp with His
own approval and blessing this reading of His own precious and
infallible Word. Now this morning we are
continuing with our exposition of truths from the book of
Thessalonians. And my text today is taken from
First Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 9 and 10.
They read as follows. For they themselves show of us
what mannering of entering in we had unto you.
And now you turn to God from idols to serve the living and
the true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead. Even Jesus was delivered us from
the wrath to come. Now I want to deal with the
theme today, Godly characteristics of genuine
conversions. Constantly today in the news and
in the newspapers, we hear much of people being scammed out of
their money. One such scam involves people
calling at the door or they're on the phone and they're posing
as representatives of your electric board or your gas
supplier and they claim that you owe an overdue bill and that
they're threatening to shut you off your supply and they're
saying we're going to haul you to court unless you pay up and
pay up immediately. That's a big scam.
Here's another popular scam. A young man, and I don't say
this as a racist of African descent or Asian descent is
they're pretending to be in love with a 60 year old woman or
maybe a 70 year old woman, an 80 year old, even a 90 year old
woman and they wants to get engaged and they're planning to
get married. Oh, and we're just so in love.
Here's the next thing. Get a phone call or a telegram.
I'm in the hospital. Could you help with a medical
bill or, or I'm in prison and I need so much money for Biel to
get out of gaol. Or I've got a loved one who's
taken. I'll maybe a mother or a father
or some incident has happened and we need some money and we
need some help. You see that's a scam.
Here's another scam. You get a phone call or a letter
telling you that a billionaire wants to give you a gift of
money, say £1,000,000. Just ring this number.
You see all of that is a scam. And do you know that a good liar
can convince people that he's telling the truth?
Convince you that black is white?
Convince you that pigs can fly? Convince you that two and two is
not four, it's actually 5. And it's all under the guise of
scamming you and usually scamming you out of your hard
earned cash. Now, what is true in the
material world is also true in the spiritual world.
Young people, Satan is a liar. Young people, Satan is a
murderer from the beginning. Satan is a father of lies.
Listen to the word of God over there in John chapter 8 and in
the verse and 44. The Bible tells us John 8 and 44
ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
evil do He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in
the truth because there's no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a
liar and the father of it. Now Satan is not after your
silver young people, Satan is after your soul.
There's a popular song I I'll not attempt to sing it.
It was sung by a man called Johnny Cash.
I believe the devil went down to Georgia looking for a soul to
steal. And you see, if you, the devil,
can get you to believe his lies, then you'll not just lose your
silver, you lose your precious soul unless you see the light
and repent and be converted. And of course, today the devil
uses many different spiritual scammers to disport, distort the
truth spread about falsehood, tell out blatant lies.
He uses false religion, he uses the false cults, he uses many
false religious charlatans. And there's many false religious
charlatans leading false churches, churches that belong
to the so-called alphabet community churches that are
extreme health and wealth, gospel churches.
And many are being deceived. So I put it to you this morning
that it's vital, that it's important.
It's impossible that you understand that the devil could
get you to believe a lie. He could get you to be deceived.
And I want to say this morning that I believe 10s of thousands
of professing Christians, they're deceived about what a
genuine Christian is. You see, 10s of thousands of
people in the United Kingdom think they're Christians,
profess to be Christian, say that they are Christians.
And yet here's what the word of God says many will say to me in
that day, Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in
thy name of cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful
works. Verse 23 of Matthew 7 and then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me,
ye that work iniquity. Let me make it clear this
morning 10s of thousands of professing Christians the out
our United Kingdom who make a claim that they're savingly
joined to Christ. They're going to end up in hell
in a lost eternity. Here in First Thessalonians
chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, Paul introduces himself and his team,
Paul and Savannas and Timotheus. They're writing a letter unto
the Church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul uses a traditional
greeting. Grace be unto you always starts
with grace because grace is always 1st and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
He gives thanks to God for them all.
He states that he makes mention of them in his prayers.
In verses 3. He remembers the reality of the
godly lifestyle of their New Testament Christianity, their
work of faith, their labour of love, their patience of hope.
In verse four he states, knowing brethren, beloved, your election
of God. Now the doctrine of election,
that's a sermon all by itself and I'm not going to preach that
this morning. How did he know they were elect
of God? Did he get a divine revelation
concerning them? Was he taken up to heaven?
And get a preview inside the Lamb's book of Life?
Oh look there, so and so's name. Oh look, so and so's name's
there. Could you just check of so and
so's name's in there too? Was there some kind of spiritual
intuition where Paul just knew? The answer's no.
Look at verse 5. For our gospel came not unto you
in Word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance, as you know what mannering of men we were among
you for your sake. See, here's a definite statement
of fact, the word for means, because here's how he knew,
because Paul agreed assurance that the gospel that came into
Thessalonica came not unto them only in the word that is the
word preached, but also in the power of the Holy Ghost.
He's making an affirmation here. He knows that they were
genuinely converted. Listen to what he says.
And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word and much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so
that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and
IKEA. Four, We could translate that
because from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in
Macedonia and IKEA, but also in every place.
Your faith to God were to spread abroad so that we need not to
speak anything. You see, here's the effect of
the gospel in their lives. Those who experienced genuine
conversion became genuine evangelist in helping to spread
the gospel in Macedonia and Ikaya and it's as if to say if
you want further proof here it is verse 9.
For they themselves show of us what entering what manner of
entering in we had unto you, and how you turn to God from idols
to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for a son from
heaven whom he raised from the dead.
Even Jesus was delivered us from the wrath to come.
You see, true, genuine Christians not only receive the
gospel and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, but
they also turn to God from idols.
They gladly serve him and wait expectantly for a Son from
heaven. And these three things
correspond to the same three things that reveal the godly
characteristics of a New Testament church.
You see, turning to the living and true God from idols displays
a work of faith, serving Him, submitting oneself to Him shows
a labour of love and waiting for him, waiting for a son from
heaven reveals their passion of hope.
Now these new converts at Thessalonica, this was a 11
month old church when Paul wrote to it and they welcomed the
gospel. They witnessed the gospel and
proclaiming it to others. They discovered this, that the
gospel works, that the gospel's the power of God unto salvation.
And I want to say again this morning, the gospel is the
answer to Ulster's problems because the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth of First
Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 9 and 10.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon called it the biography of a Christian.
I have called it the godly characteristics of genuine
conversion. Let's look at them one there's a
genuine receiving of the gospel. Look at verse 9 for they
themselves show of us what mannering of entering in we had
unto you. Now we'll pause there.
I want you to think of an evangelist.
He comes into your time. He's here in carried off and he
knocks on your door and the moment he auctioned your door,
you open the door. You're glad to see him.
You're welcoming in and into that open home.
There's an open heart and an open mind and this man is waited
upon in the knowledge that this man is a servant of the Most
High God. That's the picture here, for
they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had
unto you. The word entering has to do with
reception, opening your door with an open mind and an open
heart, welcoming and waiting upon the man of God who's
bringing to you the word of God. The apostle Paul could say this
in Acts chapter 14 and in the verse 27.
And when they were come, they had gathered the church together
and rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had
opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
In chapter 16 and in the verse 14 we read, and a certain woman
named Lydia, seller of purple of the city of Thyra Tyra was
worshipped. God heard us whose heart the
Lord opened when she attended unto the things which were
spoken of Paul and over there in first Corinthians chapter 16 and
in the verse 9. The apostle Paul says this for a
great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are
many adversaries, he adds in Second Corinthians chapter 2 and
verse 12. Furthermore, when I came to
through as to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened
unto me of the Lord, and we should pray that there would be
an open door for the gospel here and carried off.
We should pray that God would open doors and open minds and
open hearts and open eyes so that there'd be a welcoming of
the gospel. The apostle Paul knew that God
had opened the door into Macedonia and Akaia.
The apostle Paul knew that God had in sovereign grace not only
open doors, but open hearts and minds to the gospel.
Remember, this is the second church, the second New Testament
church in Europe. Philippi was the 1st.
And then of course, they come 100 miles to Thessalonica.
You see, the gospel, young people, is not merely a message,
simply that the Lord Jesus can help you, it can help you, but
the heart of the gospel is not a self help scheme.
It is true to say the Lord is my helper and he can help you with
all sorts of things, but that's not the whole message of the
gospel. That's a part.
The message of the gospel is a message of salvation, how the
Lord Jesus can save you and deliver you not only from the
power of sin, but from wrath to come, deliver you from hell
itself. Do you remember the Bible
teaches that we're all sinners separated from a holy God, but
your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
you sins have hid his face from you so that he will not hear as
I have 59 and two we are familiar with Romans 3 and 23
for all of sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 6 and 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And the Bible teaches that we in and of ourselves as sinners by
nature and practise, we don't and cannot obtain merit for any
good deeds that we can do. We we cannot obtain merit that
pays for our own sins. The gospel is this.
For God so loved the world that He gave us only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. He that believeth on Him I am
believing, I have believed, I will keep on believing in Him
will never perish. So I ask this question, have you
received the gospel? If you go back to Thessalonians
there and read again in verse 5, remember how they received the
gospel in Thessalonica. He tells them, For our gospel
came not unto you in Word only, but also in power, in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance. Has the gospel come to you in
Word, in the power of the Holy Ghost, in much assurance.
See, when the gospel comes like that, you'll be convicted of
your sin, you'll be concerned and troubled about your soul,
You'll be convinced of the need of a saviour.
I need the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be converted in
salvation. You'll be changed to serve the
living and the true God. Was there a day in your life
when you testified I was out of Christ without the Saviour?
But now by the power of the gospel and the ground of the
blood have been brought nigh unto God, and now in a right
relationship with the Lord, one day without Him, and then in a
moment brought into Him and made a new creature.
Is that true of you? You see, there's a genuine
receiving of the gospel. If any man be in Christ is a new
creature. All things have passed away, and
all things have become new, and all things are of God.
The second characteristic is this.
There's a genuine turning to the true God.
Look at our text and it says. And how ye turn to God from
idols. You see, this was a deliberate
turning. This was a a decisive turning.
We could even say this was a delightful turning.
Before the gospel came, the people of Thessalonica were
pagans to the core. They loved their idols.
They hoped and believed in their idols.
They believed that their idols would placate God's wrath.
They believed their idols would give them help in their journey.
They believed that their idols would save their souls in the
world to come. Idol worshippers.
And then they discovered the gospel, and by the preaching of
the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ by Paul, Savannas and
Timotheas, they discovered this. That was all a big lie, a big
fat lie. And once they heard the gospel,
this is what they did. They threw their idols away.
They disregarded their idols, and they turned to God.
You see, the word turned there. It speaks of a genuine work of
God's sovereign grace in the heart.
It literally means converted when it says how ye turn to God.
It means converted to God from idols.
It's the same word. Repent ye and be converted in
the book of Acts. It's the very same word in the
Greek. Here's the genuine response to
the gospel. Let's think of the Apostle Paul.
He's called unto salvation, He's converted unto salvation in the
Damascus Rd. He's then commissioned to preach
Christ in the gospel. All in the Damascus Rd.
Over there in the book of Acts and Acts chapter 26, we read in
verse 18. This is His Commission to open
their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and inheritance among them, which are sanctified by faith.
That is in me, it says in verse 20, but showed first unto them
of Damascus and of Jerusalem, and throughout all the coach of
Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn
to God and do works meet for repentance.
That's how Paul sums it up. He's telling the Gentiles to
repent, to be sorry, to quit their sin, to turn to God, to
bring forth deeds appropriate for repentance.
See, turn to God. There's a positive there, isn't
there? From idols.
That's a negative. Let's think of a physical
turning. Imagine I'm on the road out of
Belfast on the M2. So one of my boys says to me in
the car, where are we going, Dad?
And I'm saying driving along, we're going to Enniskillen,
boys. But Dad, this is not the road to
Enniskillen. Dad, you're in the M2.
If we keep going, we're going to end up in Port Rush.
Do you want to go to Port Rush or Enniskillen, boys?
We're going to Enniskillen. Well, Dad, you're driving north.
Dad, you must turn around. You must go in the opposite
direction. You have to drive South.
To go to Enniskillen, you need to do AU turn.
That's the picture. And true saving faith and
genuine repentance involves AU turn from sin unto God.
And you cannot turn to God without also turning from your
idols. You see, in a spiritual sense,
as I've emphasised, we're born sinners.
We're sinners by nature and practise.
We're born with our backs to God.
We have No Fear of God, no love for God, no thought of God.
That's exactly what Paul says in Romans chapter 3 and the verse
18. Listen to the word of God.
There is No Fear of God before their eyes.
That's the problem in Northern Ireland at this present time
with the majority of our citizens.
And when the Lord Jesus died in the cross, He just didn't die to
save us from hell and they lost eternity.
He died to save us from sins, power, penalty, pleasure, and
one day from His presence. He died to bring us to God, the
just for the unjust. He died to bring us into our
right relationship with God. He died to bring us to God by
turning us from idolatry. Now I know what some of you are
thinking. You're maybe thinking, but wait
a minute, I'm not an idolater. I don't worship idols of stone
and silver and gold. I'm not bowing down to a literal
statue to say a prayer or bring a gift to.
Let me ask you a question. What about the idol in your
heart and in your mind? You see, our hearts are idol
factories IDOL. And in our hearts and minds we
manufacture many idols and one of the greatest idols is the
idol of self. And how many professing
Christians are full of self? Have a love of self.
It's my ambition, it's my plans, it's my way, it's my views.
And when a person starts talking about my plans and my views and
my way, what you discover is that the idol of self is on the
throne of their heart. And at the root of all idolatry
is the God of self. And the God of self is not the
living and the true God. What is an idol?
An idol is anything that takes the place of God.
Exodus 20, verse 3 Thou shall have no other gods before me.
And many profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and yet leave
the God of self and the throne of their heart and life.
And they use Jesus Christ to get what they want.
I want health and happiness. I want wealth and plenty of
other things. I want loads of stuff.
I want to fulfil my lusts. So what do they do?
They leave self enthroned, and they use the Lord Jesus Christ
as a new idol to get what self wants.
But to do that is not turning to God from idols.
There must be a clear break from the old life.
True conversion is the turning of a man completely around to
hate what he loved and to love what he hated.
Turning from idols involves a decisive initial turning.
It involves an ongoing process. There's a battle, there's a
struggle. Think of the hymn writer, King
of my life, I crown thee now thine shall the glory be.
And you see, if the word of God, when it comes in power, when it
comes by the power of the Holy Spirit, it exposes the idol.
And what we love the most is the telling thing.
What do you love the most? The Bible teaches that the love
of money is the root of all evil.
And how many love silver more than their soul and love gold
more than God And, and, and they're they're they're they're
building a a bank balance here on earth where more than rushed
does corrupt and decay and and they're not laying up for
themselves. Treasure in heaven.
See, there has to be a genuine turning to the true God.
Thirdly, and quickly, there has to be a genuine serving of the
living and the true God. If you go back to Thessalonians
there look again at our text. It says there in Thessalonians
chapter 1 and in the verse 9 to serve the living and the true
God. Here's the third genuine
characteristic, not only a receiving of the gospel, not
only a turning to the true God from idols, but serving the
living and the true God. You see the word serve here.
It means to serve as a slave, a willing bond slave, a slave
owned by a master. You see, a slave is not free to
do as the slave pleases. A slave has no will but the will
of his master. A slave has no plans but the
plan of his master. A slave doesn't say to the
master. Here, I'll tell you what.
Get their own breakfast there. I'm off to the beach for today.
Or get their own food. I'm off until Friday.
An employee could do that to an employer.
But we're not talking about employee and employer.
We're talking about a slave and a master.
A slave would never say to the master.
Get your own dinner. Because all that the slave is
and has belongs to the master. The master bought him, The
master bought him with a price, and he is bought to live, to do
as masters will. And you see, we are not our own.
We have been bought, we have been redeemed by the precious
blood. We have been rescued.
Remember what Paul says in First Corinthians chapter 6.
He says, what know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost, which is in you, what you have of God, and you're
not your own. Why?
For you're bought with a price. The word for can mean because
because you're bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirits, which
are gods. We are the possession of our
Master. All are doing all are saying all
are living is identified by the will of the Master.
See, Jesus Christ demands a full and total surrender.
And we're not serving him out of a sense of duty.
We're not serving Him grudgingly with a a, a, a, a bare
obligation. We're not doing it with gritted
teeth and an unwilling heart. We're doing it out of love.
We're doing it out of gratitude. You see, thankfully our Master
loves us. Our Master has given his life to
save us from sins, penalty, power and pleasure.
And one thing he he died to save us from hell and eternal
foundation. Our Master has our best interest
at heart, serving him as a delight.
It's not a duty, it's not a burdensome thing.
It's a blessed thing. I love my Master.
That's the mindset. Who do we serve?
The living and the true God. The living and the true God like
the doctrine of election is another sermon all on itself.
Who is God? What is God like?
You see, in contrast to idols, idols are dead false gods.
That's true of all false religion, true of the false
cults, true of the false preachers and prophets, false
charlatans. I say this, many set up a
literal idol. They worship idols, they pray to
idols, they bring gifts to idols to brocate the idol, and often a
demonic spirit is behind the idol.
Demons are real. Evil spiritual beings are real.
They're not of God. There's only one true in living
God. God is creator and maker,
sustainer, provider, Redeemer and judge.
He created all that exists in this world by his power.
And if you're a genuine Christian, one of the evidences
is not only the way you receive the gospel, not only that you
turn to that God from idols, but that you serve the living and
the true God. Could I just add this?
Not a few hours in the week, not spending the rest of your time
for yourself watching the television or playing your video
games or on a particular hobby. How many pour their time into
things that they love, things that they want to do, things
that they bring satisfaction and joy?
And I'm not taking away from that, but the living in the true
God to serve Him properly is a 24/7 thing.
It has to do with a mindset for you yield yourself to God.
And when it comes to the prayer meeting, you're at the prayer
meeting. When it comes to the Bible
study, you have a love for that word.
When it comes down to practical things, we appreciate it.
The carpark duties of the boys or taking out the rubbish or
cleaning the toilets, somebody has to do that in the House of
God. Maybe when it comes to helping
out with evangelistic duties, the children's ministry, we
should be praying everyday. Lord, use me, Lord, I'll serve
you in the service of my church. You see, if this is your church,
then you should say, Lord, I'll serve you as in my service for
the church. Didn't he forget the church?
All your service, physical, practical, spiritual, should be
done in a way of ministering the love of Christ to others.
We see we serve God by loving others but making people feel
welcome. We we serve God at home, husband
and wife. We serve God at work.
We serve God in the university, in the school.
You see, you serve him because you're his.
Who are you? I'm a servant of Christ.
I'm happy to embrace that identity.
What does my master want? That's the mindset.
There's a genuine serving of the living and the true God.
And lastly with us we finish. There's a genuine waiting for
God's Son and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised
from the dead. Even Jesus, there's the
certainty of the second coming Acts one verse 11.
The same Jesus which he's seen go up into heaven shall so come
again in like manner as you have seen him go up into heaven.
When you read the New Testament, Matthew to Revelation, you know
what you discover every 13 verses mentions or references
the second coming of Christ. See, this is not a minor
doctrine. This is a major doctrine.
What's the theme of First Thessalonians, Second
Thessalonians living in light of Christ's return?
And I asked you, are you living in light of Christ's return?
We're all agreed that Christ is coming, but we must fill our
minds with the certainty of that, and we must live in light
of His return. Here's the clarity of Christ's
coming. Why mention it in the New
Testament so many times? Not that we can fill out some
sort of prophetic chart, but that we'll clean up our lives,
that we will live in light of His return, that we will hate
sin, and that we will love righteousness.
And we will aspire and persevere to be as holy as as possible for
a safe Sinner to be, because a sea of Sinner will always hate
sin and love righteousness. He'll want to be like Christ,
and that's what Christ was like. He hated sin and love
righteousness. I could go on and open up this
this morning, but in this particular book, we'll have to
come back and we will come back to this theme.
His coming is a bodily one in the same body in which he was
crucified. He will return, we're taught
there in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 7, and it says this,
Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and
they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall
wield because of him. Even so, Amen.
And as the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, sitting now at the
right hand of God, he will come from heaven and he will come
bodily and he will come in the clouds and, and you'll, you'll
see him as he is. He's not only eternal God, but
he's truly human, and when he comes, he will deliver us from
wrath to come. I I say this as we finished this
morning. Do you know him?
Do you long to see him? Do you long to be with him?
Do you long to be like him? Is your focus on the world to
come? Orissa's Bonner went to bed
every night and thought perhaps tonight, Lord, he got up in the
morning and he pulled the curtains back and he his thought
was perhaps you'll come today, Lord, you see what's he doing?
He's waiting for his son. And I want to ask to view the
same mindset and the same attitude to Christ.
There's a genuine waiting for God's Son, the godly
characteristics of a genuine Christian, the characteristic of
receiving the true gospel, the characteristic of turning to God
from idols, the characteristic of serving God as a willing
servant, the characteristic of waiting for his Son.
These are the godly characteristics of a true
convert. This is how we can measure if
we're truly born of God or not. May the Lord take His word and
apply it to our hearts. Thank you for coming.
Thank you for being so patient and listening.
We're going to sing in closing 311.
Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory. Divine.