We're going to read from God's Word.
We're turning to 1st Thessalonians chapter 3, and
we're going to read from verse 7 to the end.
First Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 7 to the end.
Let us hear God's Word. The Word will come up on screen
for those online. We're reading, of course, from
the King James Bible. First Thessalonians chapter 3
would read from verse 7. Therefore, brethren, we were
comfort over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. For now we live, if ye stand
fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to
God again for you? For all the joy wherewith we joy
for your sakes before God, night and day, praying exceedingly,
that we might see your fears and may perfect not which is lacking
in your faith. Now.
God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our
way unto you, and the Lord make you to increase and abound and
love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do
toward you to the end. He may establish your hearts
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His Saints.
Amen. We know God will stand to us
this short reading from the Holy Scriptures.
Amen. Now this morning I'm continuing
with our series of expository sermons in First Thessalonians,
and my text today is found in First Thessalonians chapter 3
and verse 8. It reads as follows.
For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
Now these 11 words, if I think of a theme, I've entitled it as
summons to stand fast in the Lord.
These 11 words in our English Bible are a summary of all that
is in the heart and mind of the Apostle Paul at the time of
writing. Now let's think again of the
context. The Apostle Paul is alone in
Athens. We read that in chapter 3, verse
one. The Apostle Paul there is in a
state of forbearing. What he means is when he could
stand it no longer, he was so worried and so anxious for this
infant church at Thessalonanka, these new believers, that he
sent Timothy to Thessalonanka to see how they were getting on.
And I have no doubt one of the things that he was worried and
anxious about was had they fallen away, that they were not
standing fast in the Lord. Remember what they faced.
They faced the trials and troubles of life.
And then also they faced bitter persecution, real tribulation.
Some of their family members were murdered, others were
imprisoned in front of them. And on top of all this, in the
back of all this comes the tempter.
And he urges them to quit the Christian life.
He urges them to turn back to a Pagan lifestyle, to a life of
Judaism. Now that is Paul's fear.
That is Paul's anxiety. And out of his deep love for the
Lord's people, we discover he was not only anxious for them,
but also affectionate toward them.
He is longing for them. He wants them to stand fast in
the Lord. And so when Timothy returns with
a good report about how they were doing spiritually, Paul is
greatly encouraged. As far as he's concerned, this
is a good news message. Therefore, Paul makes this
striking statement. And this striking statement is a
summary of all that's in his heart and mind for these new
converts. He says this for now.
We live if ye stand fast in the Lord.
Look at these 11 words in the King James Bible.
Think of them, pray as we study them.
Lord, speak to me today. I want you to think of a number
of things. One, let's think of the essence
of standing fast in the Lord. When Paul wrote these words,
stand fast in the Lord, what did he mean?
What did he mean in his mind? What does it mean to us to stand
fast? Well, I believe stand fast means
to be rigid, to be unmovable, to dig in your heels, to refuse to
budget, to be stubborn as a mule or a donkey, to have the mindset
not an inch or to use a mindset from our forefathers.
No surrender. And you see, this can be true
physically in many areas of life.
Someone is so confected about a thing that they are rigid and
unmovable. They refuse to budget.
Their mindset is not an inch. They're digging in their heels.
But it's also true spiritually for those who are true to the
Lord and true to the gospel. Now let me emphasise this is not
just about standing for the Lord and the gospel in a general way
that's included, but much more. This is a summons to stand fast
when you're under pressure to quit.
The enemy was at the gate. Remember these believers have
been pressurised by trials and troubles that have come into
their lives. World had fallen.
The partner thinking why has this happened to me?
Some of you have been there and they were pressurised by fierce
persecution and opposition. Family members have been
murdered, friends that they know have been put into prison, their
their possessions have been confiscated.
And then they were being pressurised thirdly by the
tempter and he come with these evil wicked suggestions turned
back from Christ. You can stop this punishment.
You, you can stop this persecution right now.
Forget about Christ, go back to paganism, go back to Judaism,
just just walk away from the Lord.
So Paul makes this summons, he issues this call, and it's a a
call or a summons to stand fast in the face of pressure to quit.
And this call, I believe, to stand fast as a particular theme
of the true minister of the gospel.
If we were to look at a few references, First Corinthians 16
and 13, watch ye stand fast in the faith.
That was one of Paul's calls. Galatians 5 and 1 stand fast in
the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.
Philippians 127 stand fast in one spirit, with one mind
striving together for the faith of the gospel.
Philippians 4 and 1 stand fast in the Lord.
My dearly beloved, here in first Thessalonians 3 verse 8, stand
fast in the Lord. And then Second Thessalonians
215, stand fast and hold the traditions what you have been
taught. See in each occasion and these
six references that I've just given you with the word stand
fast in these particular areas, it means exactly the same thing.
Stand fast when you're under pressure to quit.
Stand fast when you're being tempted to give up.
Stand fast when you're being tempted to turn away from
Christ. You think of an enemy coming to
a particular position. They're making an assault on it,
and the soldiers that are there, their their, their, their
mindset is we're not going to quit our post.
We're not going to run away in the face of the enemy.
Yes, we're terrified. Yes, we're trembling in our
spirit, but we're going to defend this ground to the last
drop of our blood. That's the mindset of standing
fast. Think of Shamdar in the Old
Testament, a true loyalist indeed, defending his own lentil
patch against the Philistines. You even think of the national
anthem of Scotland where it talks about his wee bit of hell
and glam. You see the main set would be
they would fight and die to defend it until the death with
dogged determination. So whether we're receiving a
call to stand fast in the faith, or stand fast in the liberty
where with Christ has made us free, or to stand fast in one's
spirit, or to stand fast in the Lord, or to stand fast and hold
the traditions, it all means the same.
We're to stand fast despite the pressure to give up and to quit.
So I'm asking this morning, here's the essence of standing
fast. Let me ask this question.
What are you standing fast for? I believe the Church of Jesus
Christ needs to rediscover and relearn the necessity that we're
to stand fast in this way in relation to the Lord and the
things of God. For we are under pressure to
quit and to give up the Christian life and to close the
doors of the church. That's what the enemy wants.
So the essence of standing fast, I've tried to explain what it
means. Secondly, the evidence of
standing fast in the Lord. You see, these words as I read
them from last Sunday, are very significant.
I believe that in the back of Paul's mind when he wrote these
words, he's thinking to himself. Here is proof that these
believers were genuinely and truly saved.
They're standing fast in the Lord is proof of the validity of
their faith. Here's evidence of the fact that
their spiritual life was real. It was healthy, it was strong,
it was sound as a pound as it was in Belfast.
It was vibrant. These people were truly going on
with the Lord despite the pressure to quit, that is they
were going on, they were going forward.
It was the mindset was be onwards and upwards.
I've already told you before and I shared this with some through
the week. If we summarise the Christian
life, young people, if you want a picture, it's in Christ for
Christ. Through Christ you go to be with
Christ, that one day will be like Christ.
That's a great summary of the Christian life in a few words.
The apostle Paul had such great love and affection for God's
people He longed to see. He wanted to hear that they were
standing fast in the Lord. Many reasons, but one of the
reasons, the chief reason was this.
It was evidence of their spiritual life in Christ.
See, let me explain. No true child of God, no true
gospel preacher, no true preacher of the word of God,
which is to see a believer falling away, which is to see a
believer falter, which is to see a believer feel in relation to
sin and in relation to backsliding.
It's very painful to see a a believer, A professing believer
overcome by sin and the world, the flesh and the devil.
It, it brings great pain to the heart of the preacher.
It brings great sadness in his heart and mind, but it also
impacts upon the church's family.
And remember what I'm saying to you is the context here.
Paul is anxious for them. He is worried for them.
He's thinking, what if they're not standing fast?
You see, he knows if they're not standing fast that it sends out
a negative message. And the ungodly think, well, the
Lord himself has failed. The ungodly think the gospel
doesn't work. And I've spoken to people in
different parts of Carrie Duffin, remember one particular
person, I'd not name him. And he said to me, I tried that
and it doesn't work. You see, it impacts upon the
Lord's work, it impacts upon the Lord's 'cause we live in a day
of apostasy, a day of religious declension, or if you want the
evidence of apostasy. And I'm not preaching in this
this morning, just looking through the door of the Church
of England. The Church of England has just
appointed a new Archbishop. It's not a man, it's a woman and
it's totally contrary to the word of God.
But those that made the appointment, they didn't care
about the word of God. They said that to the one side
and they went ahead and appointed one anyway.
And and the one that's been appointed doesn't even believe
in the 39 articles of the Church of England.
Just have to listen to the things that are being said.
We live in a day of woke ISM, a day of, we'll say, rampant
feminism, many other isms beside.
See, it sends out the message when a believer falls into sin
or a church goes against and contrary to the word of God, it
sends out the message in some way.
The grace of God has failed. The Lord is not able to keep his
people. The Lord is not able to bring
them in to heaven. That's a lie of the devil.
It's a lie of the ungodly. And whenever a believer falls
into sin, what are the ungodly do They laugh and they mock, and
it aids the ungodly to blasphemy the name of the Lord.
So that's why Paul is worried. He's aware of these
consequences. But Paul is full of joy.
He says for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord.
They were standing up for Christ.
They were standing for the great truths of the gospel.
They were standing up for the honour and glory of the Lord,
and their stand was evidence of their spiritual life in Christ.
Because of that, the apostle Paul was full of a deep joy.
The news that they were standing brought him great joy and
comfort in his heart. And surely we could say this
morning that the true gospel minister loves to see and hear
that God's people are standing fast, that they're going on with
the Lord, that they're walking in truth, that their mindset and
motto was holding us on to the Lord.
Remember, old John says first, it's actually third John verse
4. I have no greater joy than this
than to hear that my children walk in truth.
I pointed out last time in First Thessalonians chapter 3, the
verse 2 mentions your faith. The verse 5 mentions I sent to
know your faith. In verse 6 you've got the word
faith again and brought us good tidings of your faith.
And then we come to verse 7. He says by your faith, that's
how they were comforted in their affliction and distress.
And then it's mentioned again in verse 10.
Night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see
your face. A night perfect, that which is
lacking in your faith. I pointed out that 5 is the
number of grace these people had tasted the true grace of God.
Their faith was real and genuine.
They're standing fast in the Lord.
I'm trying to tell you was a demonstration and evidence of
the genuineness of their faith. The the word faith here can mean
objectively. There's a body of truth that we
believe in. Remember Jude, in Jude verse 3
we read these words. Jude 3 Beloved, when I give all
diligence to write unto youth the common salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you and exhort you.
You should earn us to contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the Saints. The faith was once delivered
unto the Saints, and that faith that was once delivered unto the
Saints must be contended for. In every generation there's a
body of truth to believe in. There's a body of divinity that
must be believed and hailed and maintained and stood for.
There's a battle going on today for the Bible.
There's a battle for the true deity of Jesus Christ, a battle
for the blood atonement, a battle for the resurrection, a
battle for the doctrine of justification by faith alone, a
battle for the necessity of the new birth, a battle for holiness
unto the Lord, even a battle for God.
You see, this faith which is objective stands for the entire
gospel. It stands for all that God has
revealed from the book of Genesis, chapter one verse one
to chapter 22 in the last verse in the Book of Revelation.
And the Bible says thy word is forever settled in heaven and it
must be contended for in our day and generation.
Let me illustrate the children of Israel whenever they were
coming up out of Egypt. This has long since after Joseph
had died. Ephraim, one of Joseph's sons,
had a responsibility for the bones of Joseph.
Think of it. When Joseph died, someone took
care for Joseph's bones. The responsibility was Ephraim,
which means fruitfulness. That was one of Joseph's sons.
And then after Ephraim died, it was handed on and it was handed
on down to generations. And when that someone else died,
it was the responsibility was passed on to someone else.
Your responsibility is to look after Joseph's bones.
And whenever we go into the land of Canaan, you carry those bones
with you from one generation to the next.
Joseph's bones were being looked after.
It was the responsibility of the next generation.
And I call on the young people in the Free Presbyterian Church,
I call on the young women in the Free Presbyterian Church to
earnestly contend for the faith. The faith must be contended for,
and you have a duty and responsibility to contend for
the faith. And I can't go into it all this
morning and not just think of 1 area.
I mentioned a battle for the Bible.
I believe there's a battle for the Bible in our day and
generation. Let me prove that to you.
For the past 100 years and more, we've had a rash of new versions
have come into the marketplace purporting to be English Bibles.
They're based, let me tell you, in corrupted Greek manuscripts.
Let me tell you, they leave out vital verses, passages, vital
words. Let me give you one example, 3
examples to be exact. Mark chapter 16, verses 9 to 20.
Rash of new versions will say the two best, most reliable
manuscripts don't contain these verses.
Read it for yourself. John 753 through to John 8 verse
11 is completely eliminated on the same grounds.
First John 5:00 and 7:00. And yet the reality is that
there's 6000 manuscripts with these passage of scriptures in
them. There's two manuscripts.
Leave them out. Kodaks, Alexandrus.
Kodaks, Vaticanus. 2 of the most corrupted manuscripts that were
known. That's why they were not used.
And yet that becomes the basis for these new rash of versions.
And the Bible warns us three times, Deuteronomy, Proverbs,
and Revelation, not to add to or take away from the word of God.
Matthew 4 and four says man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
I believe in verbal and plenary inspiration.
I believe that every word is pure and precious and every word
is powerful. And we we heard yesterday from
Craig Dennison that even the Bible translation societies have
now got ardent Roman Catholics on their board of translators
helping to translate out of the nationals edition of the Greek
tax, but not the tax to Receptus.
We need to call the Church to repentance or repentance over
many areas. Certainly their attitude to
COVID, the closure of churches, but we need to also call them to
repentance to to put away these rash of new versions and return
to a Bible that's a faithful and reliable translation out of the
textus receptors. And that's what William Tyndale
stood for. And I told you last week, 90% of
our Bible is from the pen of William Tyndale 500 years ago.
This word faith, it can't stand for that body of truth that's to
be believed. But also the word faith here in
the strictest context, First Thessalonians 3 has to do with
the act of believing. This is a reference to the
Sinner coming into a saving relationship to Jesus Christ,
receiving Christ as Lord and Redeemer, resting on Him alone
for salvation, relying totally on Him for salvation.
Can you say this morning I am in Christ?
Can you say this morning I'm saved?
Can you, can you say and rejoice that you're in a saving
relationship, that I'm in a real living union with him?
Because that's what in the Lord means.
Stand fast in the Lord. In the Lord means you were
brought into him and you received him as your Lord and
Saviour, and you're relying on Him and you're resting on him.
But as many as received him to them give you power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name.
It was old Habakkuk the prophet that said in chapter 2, verse 4,
the just shall live by faith. And here's something else we
need to rediscover. We're not just saved by faith.
That's important. Ephesians 28 and 9 for big
grace. You see it through faith and
not, not of yourselves the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. But we're to live by faith.
And this is something that we'll be emphasising when we have the
Reformation rally up in Saintfield Orange Hall in the
last Sunday afternoon of this month.
We invite you to come along. We're not just saved by faith,
but we live by faith. Our spiritual life here and now
is by faith. The abundant life in Christ is
by faith. The eternal life that we possess
and we'll possess fully in heaven is by faith in Christ.
But but the life that we live now, life to the full, it's by
faith and your faith determined and demonstrates if your
spiritual life is real and genuine.
We live in a day when we're forgotten.
The thousands of martyrs who were burnt at the stake
unjustly, tried, imprisoned, give an opportunity to recount.
Some of them, of course, were thrown to the lions.
Others were beheaded. Some were burnt at the stake.
Maybe they were asking who's next.
Wouldn't be easy in that day. Could you imagine if the
security forces were coming to arrest us in our homes, coming
to close down our churches? Your life would be on the line.
Your your life's in jeopardy. Your life could soon be gone.
You'll be taken away from all that your whole dear you see,
here's the test. Does your faith endure on their
trials, even if it meant martyrdom and death?
Would you be faithful unto death like William Taylor?
That's the context. How do I know that's the
context? Listen to these words.
Verse 3 of chapter 1, Remembering without ceasing your
work of faith. We'll pause there.
Your your work of faith. You see, faith works.
Faith is active, faith operates. It's not a dead dormant faith.
It's not something invisible and unseen.
True faith is public. It makes a public profession.
True faith will make itself known.
And there's loads of examples I've attained this morning and
I'm not going to do it. But the life of Abraham, the
life of Rahab, two people mentioned in the book of James,
the argument is, but they were justified by works.
The liberals and the modernists point to that construction in
the Bible justified by works and then say, well, there you are.
You can't be justified by faith alone.
You have to be justified by works.
And of course they, they, they, they, they make it into an
untruth. They make trait of the teaching
of the Bible. You see, the reality is that
Abraham and Rahab was not justified by 4 God on the ground
of their works. They didn't receive a full and
free and forever justification because of their good works.
No, this is a a declarative justification.
This is a an evidential justification.
Their justification was evidenced by their good works as
the fruit of faith because it was the faith that endured on
their great trials. Abraham was tested with Isaac,
Rahab was tested with the spies in the fall of Jericho.
That that's what James chapter 222 and 25 is all about.
Both people came through great trials.
Both demonstrated their faith in the midst of their trials as in
this again, which something that Paul emphasised in the book of
Philippians in Philippians chapter 1.
He says this in verse 27. Listen to the word of God only.
Let your conversation be be as it becometh the gospel of
Christ. The word conversation means your
manner of living only. Let your conversation be as
becometh the gospel of Christ. The word becometh means to have
a glowing testimony, that whether I come and see you, or
else be absent, I may hear of your affairs.
That what you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving
together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified
by your advocacy. There's the endurance of trials,
which is to them and evident token of perdition, but to you
of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given on
behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to
suffer for His sake, real, genuine faith, even when that
faith is weak and you're timid and you're scared, being
prepared, even if necessary, to be faithful unto death, that you
might stand fast in the Lord. We're not called upon to die a
martyr's death at this point. That may come and could come,
but let's stand fast nevertheless.
The ordinary trials of life. Let's stand fast despite the
opposition and the persecution to quit the Christian life.
Let's stand fast when we're tempted to sin.
Young people, say no to the drink culture, Say no to the
dance culture. Be like the godly man.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the
ungodly understandeth in the way of sinners.
We live on a day of backsliding. We'll admit that a day of great
falling away and there's a call for the Christian to stand fast
and that standing fast is evidence of new life in Christ
very quickly and this we finish the experience of standing fast
in the Lord. You see, it has a positive
impact. It had a positive impact in
Paul, for he says for now we live.
If ye stand fast. You see, once Paul got Timothy's
report, it encouraged him. It was like reviving his spirit.
He was anxious, he was affectionate for the people of
God. And then once he got the report,
he accepted it and he made this announcement.
For now we live. What has he said previously?
Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you and all our
affliction and distress by your faith.
For now we live. Do you see the connection?
Paul was a man of true feelings, a man of flesh and blood, and at
times he needed good news, he needed encouragement.
And I understand that as a pastor there's times you need
encouragement and help. When when Paul and Silas came,
by this time Paul was in Corinth.
Acts 18 verse 5, it says in Corinth he was pressed in a
spirit and then he testified to the Jews that Jesus was the
Christ. In Romans 14, verse 7, we read
that no man liveth or dieth unto himself.
It's vital that we understand we're not to live or to die to
himself. You think of families.
There's problems in a family, and when there's problems coming
into a family, the whole of the family is affected.
The whole of the family's annoyed, but what is true in our
physical families is true in the Lord's family.
The work of God is impacted. The work of God is affected.
When problems arise, young people, it's possible to
backslide, it's possible to make shipwreck.
It's possible to abandon the great truths of the gospel.
The Bible says he to think of thee standard, take heed lest he
fall. And we need discernment.
Let me just illustrate very quickly.
I think of a pastor who fell away from the Lord, walked out
the door of the church, never to come back, denounced everything
he ever stood for. Why?
Because someone in his family had taken seriously ill,
stricken with a terminal disease, and he couldn't get
over it. Why did God allow this to happen
in my family? Why did God do this to me?
That's true, by the way. He became very bitter, but his
bitterness was toward God. He was angry with God.
He walked away from Christ and all that he professed to stand
for. I think of another brother who
was an elder in a church in America who struck up a
relationship with a another woman, walked out the door from
his wife and his family, his children crying after him.
In fact, one of the child was clinging to the father's leg and
playing with the daddy. Please, Daddy, don't go.
But the daddy dragged him on out into the yard and out through
the gate and out to the car and pulled the wee fellow off his
leg and, and threw him to the ground and get in the car and
drove off. And the wee fellow never seen
his father again. Father never come back, never
repented or returned neither to the church or to Christ.
See, these things can happen and what happens in those cases, the
church family has to come and rally round and help that family
and help those families to recover and and help them to go
on and stand fast in the Lord. It has a professed impact very
quickly. The professed impact is that
there's a vibrant witness for Christ.
There's a a life of serving the Lord, a life of sanctification.
Bible encourages us to let your light shine before men, shine in
a dark place like a candle. You shine in your home, your
workplace, your school, your university, your country.
It also has a practical impact. As I've said, it affects the
family of God, affected Paul's preaching ministry.
It impacted on his pastoral ministry.
It impacted on his praying ministry.
It impacts on his personal ministry.
See, Paul says we live now we live if you stand fast in the
Lord. And what is the opposite of
that? If you don't stand fast, we
suffer, we will die, we'll be discouraged, we'll be
distressed. We, we, we'll be impacted.
Now let me wrap this up in Matthew chapter 2412.
It tells us they are something that's very, very sad in
relation to our day and generation, and it's connected
to the times in which we live. And it says this.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of the many
shall wax cold. And is that not true today?
The spiritual slide is on. Religious declension has come in
and it impacts the Sabbath day. It impacts people's attitude to
the Scriptures. It impacts their attitude to a
life of holiness and and sanctification.
Young people, where does backsliding begin?
It begins when you stop reading your Bible.
We're in a battle against sin, the world, the flesh of the
devil. And to protect yourself, you
need to fill your heart and mind with a word from God every day.
Something said, I think it was maybe yesterday that Craig
Denison said the most Protestant thing that you could do is read
your Bible every day because the Bible's the religion of the
Protestant. That's the acid test in relation
to protection against backsliding.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4 and verse four, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of
the mouth of God. Can you say this morning that
you're standing fast in the Lord?
You understand the essence of what it means.
You've got the evidence because it's a declaration, a
demonstration of your new life in Christ.
And it's experienced in such a way that other people have have
a positive impact because you stand fast and then they make a
professed impact. They, along with you, declare
testimony to the saving and keeping power of Christ.
And it has such a practical impact.
It encourages others. I live a life unto the Lord that
that's what this means. And if when you scratch the
surface, I would love to have more time to spend with this
portion, but I leave that with you and I trust and pray the
Lord will bless you this morning.