Amen. Turn with me, please in your
Bible to 1st Thessalonians chapter 3.
We're going to read from verse 9 to the end.
First Thessalonians chapter 3, verse 9 to the end.
For those online, the words will come up on the screen as we
often emphasise we're reading from the King James Bible, the
most faithful and reliable translation.
First Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 9.
Let's hear the word of God. For what thanks can we render to
God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your
sakes before our God night and day, praying exceedingly that we
might see your fears and make perfect that 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 stamp with His own approval and blessing this
reading of His own precious and infallible Word.
Amen. Now my text today is taken from
First Thessalonians and chapter 3, and we're reading from the
verse 12, First Thessalonians chapter 3, and in the verse 12.
And it says, and the Lord make you to increase and abound and
love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do
toward you. Now, if entitled Today's
Message, a prayer about loving One another, the apostle Paul,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote 14 out of the
27 books that make up the New Testament.
In many of them, he included a very personal, practical prayer
for the church to whom he was writing, and the Church of
Thessalonica is no exception. Many commentators cite First
Thessalonians 3, verses 9 to 13 that I've read in your hearing
as Paul's prayer for the church at Thessalonica.
Now here, according to the context, Paul's prayer reveals A
longing and a yearning to see the face of these believers
again in Thessalonica, even after they were driven out by
the angry mob. The language here reveals the
prayerful longing of a broken and a burdened pastor.
Paul is praying about getting back to Thessalonanka, to this
infant church that he founded under God.
Now we do know that God did answer Paul's prayer, but not
immediately, certainly not the day that he fled from
Thessalonanka. Remember, he was asked for his
own safety by the congregation to withdraw, fearing for his
life. And when he left Veselnanka, he
went to Berea and then on to Athens.
Remember, he's left alone at Athens.
Timothy and Silas come back to Thessalonica to see how things
were going. Paul moved on to Corinth, and it
was from Corinth in the back of Timothy's great report that he
wrote this first letter known as First Thessalonians.
And then some years later he did return to Macedonia as part of
his third missionary journey. And we read in Acts chapter 19
and verse 21. After these things were ended,
Paul proposed in spirit, and he had passed through Macedonia and
Akaya to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there,
I must also see Rome. Now what we can say was
certainty is this, that although Paul desired to go back to
Thessalonica, he definitely did not go immediately after he fled
the city. Notice what he says in 1st
Thessalonians 3 verse 11. Now God Himself and our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you.
What a blessed truth The God of the Bible is not just the true
and the living God, not just your Creator and Maker,
sustainer and Provider, Redeemer, the righteous Lawgiver
and final judge. He is also your Father.
Who are we? That's a good question.
Who are we spiritually? We are His adopted children,
adopted in the basis of free grace.
Remember what we read there in Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 5, having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. And as His adopted children, we
have access to Him in prayer. We can approach Him, but we can
address Him as heavenly Father. In fact, He goes on to say in
Ephesians 1 and verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, where they have made us accepted in the Beloved.
And over there in Ephesians chapter 2 and in the verse 18,
this is what's written. Ephesians 2 And he obtained, for
through him we both have access by 1 Spirit unto the Father.
What a unique privilege. We are the children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ. And it's only because of the
Lord Jesus Christ we have access to the Father.
Let me illustrate. Think of King charts.
And I want to encourage you to pray for King charts.
I'll be writing to him now. I can't go and meet him.
That would not happen under normal circumstances.
But suppose I personally know Prince William.
Suppose Prince William and I are good friends, I'm his friend and
he is my friend. Then I would like to suppose
that on the basis of that friendship, on the basis of
Maine knowing the King's son, then through the son I could get
access to the king on the throne room.
Notice the word direct. What does that mean?
It means to guide. It means to lead in a right way.
And here he looks to the Lord for permission.
He's asking for a right way to be made back to Thessalonanka.
He's looking for divine guidance and help.
He's not presuming upon God. He prays to the Lord here for
the opening up of the way back to Thessalonanka in his
Providence. And then what follows is a
specific prayer for the church to increase and abound in love
one toward another. This is a prayer about the
church growing and developing in love one toward another.
Three things this morning. Quickly one, the production of
true love toward one another. Notice the words in the text,
verse 12. And the Lord make you to
increase and abide. Underline the word Lord.
Think of the origin here of this production.
Who makes you? And then the answer is the Lord.
Now how does he do it? Romans 5 and five gives the
answer, because the love of God is shed to broaden our hearts by
the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.
Here's the answer. This spiritual love is provided
in our hearts, produced in our lives by the new birth.
John three and seven, marvel not that I say unto thee, you must
be born again. It is produced in the soul of an
individual born again of the Holy Spirit.
I put it to you, it's the work of the Holy Ghost to produce and
create a spirit of love in our hearts, Love toward God and love
toward man. It is not man made, it is not
something we can produce by ourselves.
It is not something that self manufacturers the love for God
we are called upon to show and display as created by God's Holy
Spirit. Remember the call in Matthew.
Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment, and the second is like unto it.
Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law, and all the
prophets. See twice in the Bible we read
these words. God is love.
Now let me ask the question, Who can fully Plumb the depths of
that statement of truth? Who could scale the heights of
such a declaration? God is love.
Surely if a truth, it is too deep, too profound, too
wonderful to fully grasp and comprehend.
Anything that we love peels into insignificance.
It is not really comparable. And yet God is love is a
wonderful truth according to second Peter one and four for
those in Christ and are born again.
We are made partakers of the divine nature.
What does that mean? It doesn't mean we become mini
gods or become gods. The essence of Deity is not to
be participated in by the creature, literally our takers
of the divine. Nature then means in the
likeness of being enabled to possess such spiritual qualities
and graces. You see, we by grace are made
like God. God is love.
Therefore, in God we become love, because whosoever loves
has been born of God. God is truth, and we believe the
truth. We buy the truth and sell it
not. We love what is true because God
is truth. God is good, and He makes us
good by his grace. And you see the goodness that
even sinful man display as a tribute to God's common grace.
Even though we're sinful creatures, we can still do good
things. The licorice sweets teach us
that. I haven't time to go into it
this morning. That's a subject all by itself.
God is pure and holy. So in Christ he makes us pure
and holy. God is faithful.
And because we're in God by the new birth, we will display
faithfulness and fidelity toward our God and in relationship to
others. See the Bible says if any man be
in Christ, he's a new creature. All things have passed away and
all things have become new, and all things are of God over there
in the book of Titus, in Titus chapter 3, we read this in verse
3, Titus 3, and verse 3. For we ourselves also were
sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers loss
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one
another. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Saviour toward men appeared, not by works of
righteousness we have done, but according to His mercy.
He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the
Holy Ghost, which He shed in US abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour. Here's what we once were.
This is how we were lived before we were converted, Titus says.
Now in Christ, because the love of God has appeared, we are
changed. We have been transformed by the
grace of God and the love of God has been placed in our souls.
God has done a very gracious, wonderful work in our hearts.
This love has been produced by the Holy Ghost.
Therefore in Christ we love the Saviour.
We can sing Oh how I love Jesus. In Christ we love the scriptures
of truth. We can say, Oh how I love thy
law. In Christ we love the Sabbath
day, the one day and seven set aside for worship.
In Christ we love the sanctuary, the meeting place of God's
people. In Christ we have a love for the
Saints of God and the souls of man.
In Christ we love our sovereign God.
So I asked the question this morning, Are you born again of
the Holy Spirit? Do you know and love God?
Has God's love been shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit
in the production of this true love towards one another?
Don't only just think of the origin here, but think of the
operation. Notice the words go back to the
text verse Thessalonians 3 and 12.
And the Lord make you to what? To increase and abound in love.
We'll pause there. What does that mean?
Increasing abounding love? It means to grow and overflow.
It means to exceed and excel. And I believe that Paul's prayer
was answered over there in First Second Thessalonians chapter 1
and verse 3 second letter he wrote.
He says We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as
it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and
the charity of everyone of you all toward each other aboundeth.
The word charity is agape, which means love.
You see, the principle of love produced in the soul by the Holy
Spirit will, by the same spirit and grace, grow and overflow in
the life. That's true of the individual
Christian. That should be true of the
individual local church. Then that should be true of the
Church of God universal on earth.
Here's the proof. Here's the acid test of true
spirituality. Our love for God, our love for
the things of God. And that love is growing, and
that love is overflowing. Literally, it spills over.
Remember, every believer born of the Spirit has the fruit of the
Spirit, not fruits, the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such which there is no law. And every believer has to some
degree all nine parts of the fruit of the Spirit.
We could better say all nine graces.
He has all the fruit of the Spirit.
And yet amazingly, out of all of these 9 graces that's produced
by the Spirit, that's called the fruit of the Spirit.
One of the most that's mentioned, especially in regard
to prayer, is love, because that's what we need the most,
and that love is to increase and abound.
The word for love here is agape, the same word that's used when
it's translated. God is love.
I'm well aware, and you are too, that faith without works is
dead. I'm well aware that faith
worketh by love. What does that mean?
It means that your true faith is evidenced by the works like
Abraham's was, like Rahab's was. It's not the ground of our
salvation. It is the evidence.
And this true faith that's a gift of God that's planted in
the soul. This true faith is real and
genuine, and the reality and genuineness of our faith is
shown by your spirit of spiritual love.
The principle of love is active. It is not static.
This principle of love produced in the soul grows and overflows.
It has the capacity to increase and abound.
Let me ask the question, in what way is it increase and abound?
I want you to think secondly, the power of true love.
Look at the text increasing abound and love one toward
another. So there's a love for the
Saints. True Christians all over the
world will love one another. John 1334 says a new commandment
I give unto you. I get it exactly right.
John chapter 13 And in the verse 34, I read here a new
commandment. I give unto you that you love
one another, as I have loved you, that you should also love
one another. By this shall all men know
you're my disciples. If you have loved one to
another, notice the repetition one to another.
This love is manufactured by the Holy Spirit.
This love is multiplied by the power of the Spirit.
This love is manifested by the power of the Spirit.
It's seen there's loads of one another's statements in the
Bible. We're taught to encourage one
another. We're taught to pray one for
another. But we're taught to serve one
another, bear one another's burdens.
We're taught to restore one another in a spurt of meekness.
We're taught to consider one another, to forgive one another.
Well, here's another one. We're to love one another.
There's a story told about Samuel Rutherford ate one night.
There was a caller came to the bounce over there in Anwarth and
Samuel Rutherford was out his Mrs Mrs Rutherford answered the
door and it was a man like an old trump.
And he asked for a bed for the night and he asked for some
food. We'll see.
Out of sympathy brought him in, put him at the table, gave him
some bread and, and, and some soup and talked to the man.
And she thought, well, you know, who is this fella?
She said to him, Sir, how many commandments are there?
And he had to wet the soup laughing.
Oh, he's a real stupid dunderhead.
Everybody knows there's 10, even the children 11.
Oh, it must be a real heathen. So she put him in the spare room
and off the bed. Sammy Rutherford got up early
the next morning, about four or 5:00, and whenever he get up,
there was already a stirring in the guest room.
He could hear a noise, but he didn't go in.
He sat at his breakfast and as he sitting at the breakfast the
door opened and then come none other than Archbishop Usher from
Armagh and they sat at the table and they talked.
They had breakfast and they would off to have their
religious service in Anwarth. There's Mrs Rutherford sitting
in the front row. She didn't know what had
happened in the morning time. She didn't disturb her husband.
Whenever she was sitting in the front row of the church, she
looked up in the pulpit. And who was sitting up in the
pulpit but the stranger that she had met the night before.
And he got up and he said, my text today is John 13, verse 34.
A new commandment I give unto you, Mrs Rutherford.
This is the 11th commandment. And of course everybody
tethered. And they, they laughed.
Why do we love one another very quickly?
Because all true believers are bought with the same blood
sacrifice, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Husbands, love your wives. How?
Even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.
You see, He loves us all, regardless of your size or shape
or your background to your station.
He loves us all the same, equally.
He loves us everlastingly, freely, sacrificially,
unconditionally, personally. Why He chose to and why do we
love one another? Because all believers are bought
with the blood sacrifice of Christ.
All true believers are born of the same Spirit.
All true believers are seen by the same Saviour.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone and Christ alone as revealed in the Bible
alone. All true believers are the
children of God. We've been adopted into God's
family over there again in John's Gospel and John chapter
1, and in the verse 12, we read these words, but as many as
received Him. That's Christ.
Do them give you power. That's the right, the authority
to become the sons of God, even to them would believe in His
name which were born. Notice the connection not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God born from above, born of God's Spirit.
And all true believers belong to the same body, the body of
Christ. And we're all in union with
Jesus Christ by the new birth. We're all indwelt by the same
Spirit. Our bodies are not our own
because they've been bought with a price.
We're to glorify God with our bodies.
Why do we love one another? Here's a fivefold answer.
Because of the blood sacrifice of Christ, because we're born of
the same spirit, the same Saviour who had adopted into the
same family, we've been placed in the same body.
We are family, we are brothers and sisters.
And there has to be a love for the Saints.
Very quickly. There's also a love for the
souls of men. Notice again the text.
And towards all men. You see, that's a love for the
lost, a love for the unconverted.
And this love will extend to a lost, sinful world.
There'll be the manifestation of a soul winner's love.
We should have a burden for the lost souls of men, you see.
Think of the love of Andrew for his brother Peter, John 141 and
42. Think of the love of Philip for
his friend Nathaniel John 1 and 45.
Think of the love of a woman for her time, the woman of Samaria,
John 439 and many believe because of the testimony of that
woman. Now here's a question, do we
have a real love for souls? Remember the Bible says where
there's no vision the people perish.
Do we have a love for the souls of men and women that make up
the carried off community and beyond?
You see if we have no love and if we have no desire to see soul
saved and no love for the lost to reach them with the Christ,
then there has to be a question mark if really the true love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts.
It was Paul that said funny enough was saying this to a wee
woman in Saintfield just the other day when I was out doing
some shopping. The love of Christ constrainteth
me, Paul said. You see, here's why Paul was
doing it. Here was his mindset.
Here was the manifestation of his love for the lost and his
attempt to reach them with the gospel.
He was constrained by the love of Christ.
We all have homes. We have family members and
friends. We could all share a word of
testimony. We can all give out a little
tract. You can make a phone call to
somebody who's in need or somebody who's sick.
You could send them a card. You could give a personal visit.
And you could do it under the guise of being constrained by
the love of Christ, a desire that they'll know God and that
they love our Lord Jesus Christ and that they've come to worship
him and that they will serve him.
See one day we will die and our life will be over and the chief
question for all is where will the soul be?
Job 14 and 10 man dieth and wasteth away and giveth up the
ghost. And then he asked the question,
where is he? Let's remember to pray for our
family, our friends, our neighbourhood, our workplace,
our school, our university, our country and we need to be busy.
We need to make an attempt to reach out and pray that the Lord
gives you an opportunity to speak to 1's soul this incoming
week. There's also very quickly a love
for the servants of Christ. If you look again at the text
that says even as we do toward you, you see this is a reference
to Paul labouring and working in the gospel.
Paul's labour was a labour of service and sacrifice, and this
labour of Paul's, this love that he had, was deeply committed to
Christ and to Christ's cause. And the love of God in our
hearts is deeply dedicated to the good of Christ's church and
earth. It's deeply committed to
spiritual growth and maturity. This love is deeply sacrificial.
This love is seen especially in times of suffering and days of
need and days of trials and troubles.
Whenever individuals are in the furnace of affliction, then the
love of the Saints is manifest. A love for souls is manifest, a
love for the service of Christ. Why are you doing this?
I'm doing it unto the Lord. See, this love is a display and
proof of true spirituality. This love is deep and white.
It's this love that grows deeper and stronger.
Think of the little chorus. My cup's full and running over.
What's it full and running over with?
It's running over with love because love is the greatest
gift. The ocean of your heart is
filling up with love. It's running over.
This true, pure, holy love overflows.
This is the love that Paul's praying about.
This is the love that we must pray about.
And the greatest need is a prayer that we'll increase and
abound in this love. This love is holy and hate sin.
This love loves the truth. Let me ask the question.
I've challenged my own heart. Is there a love for the St in my
heart? A love for the Sinner, A love
for service of Christ, a love for the scriptures of truth.
You see many churches today, and I, I mean this many churches
today, manifest no love for souls.
And it's seen in that those churches are opposed to a truly
evangelistic ministry. They, they are opposed to the
presentation clearly of the gospel.
I want to say this, this kind of love in the service of Christ
will make us patient with others, Be patient with me.
This kind of love will make us less boastful.
This kind of love will make us less arrogant and less cutting.
You know, people can cut other people off.
They can make snide remarks, but this kind of love makes us less
arrogant and culling makes us less full of pride, less self
seeking, less argumentative of how God's people love to argue
one with another, less easily annoyed, less angry.
We all can get angry, can't we? We can sin even in our anger.
This kind of love will make us more prayerful.
This kind of love will make us more Christ like.
Will you ask this week that the Lord will help you to grow and
abound in your love? A love for the Saints, the
souls, and the service of Christ.
Did you do everything in your power for the advancement of
Christchurch? One other thing and I'm
finishing the possession of true love towards one another.
Look at verse 13. We'll preach in this and then
we'll just do 2 sermons in chapter 4 and then we'll go into
chapter 5, First Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse 13.
Look at this to the end. He may establish your hearts
unblameable in holiness. In other words, here's the goal
of it all. Here's why He prays that their
love would grow in a bound. True love belongs to the subject
of true holiness and sanctification.
I never seen that before. I never seen it to the other
day. When does holiness and
sanctification begin? It begins in the new birth.
Because once we're born again, the love of God is shed of
brotherhood. The love of God is produced, the
love of God is powerfully displayed, the love of God is
possessed. And here's the fullest and the
deepest demonstration of true love, that we're a godly people,
that we're a holy people. Our motto was holding us on to
the Lord, that we hate sin and love righteousness.
See, the love of God motivates us to holiness.
And how many people in Northern Ireland connected to the Church
of the first born and tell us, oh, I love Jesus.
And yet they have no desire or motivation to live a holy life
unto God. There's something wrong.
The goal of it all. The reason why he prayed was to
the end. He may establish our hearts
unblameable in holies. That's the possession of true
love. Here's a prayer, loving one
another, and I pray that the Lord will take these few
thoughts, stumbling and rambling as they are, and the Lord will
bless them to your hearts today. Thank you for coming, and I want
to thank you most of all for listening.
Let's all, including myself, pray for me that I'll apply the
Word of God to my heart.