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The Effects of the Word (1 Thessalonians 2:13-16) - Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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  Let us take our Bibles now and open up to 1st
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  Thessalonians. 1st Thessalonians, we're going
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  to be in chapter 2, looking at verses 13 through
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  16. This is our summer series through this wonderful
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  book. We've seen some great things so far. Today,
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  we're really going to focus upon the Word of
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  God. That's what the passage is really talking
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  about. The Word of God, not the Word of men.
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  This, friends, is what we need. We need God's
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  Word. And so, would you pay close attention to
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  the reading of God's holy and inspired, inerrant,
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  and infallible Word? And we also thank God constantly
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  for this. that when you receive the Word of God,
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  which you heard from us, you accepted it not
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  as the Word of men, but as what it really is,
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  the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.
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  For you brothers became imitators of the churches
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  of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For
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  you suffered the same things from your own countrymen,
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  they did from the Jews who killed both the Lord
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  Jesus and the prophets and drove us out and displeased
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  God and opposed all mankind by hindering us from
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  speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved
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  so as always to fill up the measure of their
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  sins but wrath has come upon them at last faith
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  comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ
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  Let us pray. Father we praise you and we thank
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  you for your word and I ask now that as we look
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  at this that you would hide this word in our
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  hearts and help the truth of it to sink down
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  into our souls and that we would really wholeheartedly
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  trust your word that is true in everything it
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  teaches. But Lord we need your help. We need
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  the help of the Holy Spirit. Grant us understanding
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  through Him. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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  If I told you that God speaks to me, how would
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  you feel about that? That God talks to me? You'd
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  say, that's not very Presbyterian of you, right?
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  But God does. God does speak to me, and He does
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  speak to you. He speaks through His perfect Word.
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  He speaks through the 66 books that make up the
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  Bible. This Word is truth. God's Word is sufficient.
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  God is no wordless idol. His Word is just as
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  active as He is. Perhaps you know the text from
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  Hebrews 412 that says, is living and active,
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  sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing to
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  the division of soul and of spirit, of joints
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  and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and
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  intentions of the heart. God's word is authoritative
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  because it comes from him, and this authoritative
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  word preached to us, taught to us here, it demands
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  a response, and within our text today, we see
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  two drastically different responses. We see reception
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  of the word, and we see rejection of the word.
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  Friends, because the word of God is the word
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  of God, we must receive it in faith. Last Sunday,
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  we looked at gospel characteristics of Paul and
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  Silas and Timothy. We looked at their boldness,
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  we looked at their gentleness, we looked at their
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  diligence, but I have one more characteristic
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  to add. Paul was a thankful man. Paul was a thankful
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  man. Look at it here in verse 13. Paul thanks
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  God about the Thessalonians. And notice I said,
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  Paul thanks God about the Thessalonians. Here
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  in the text he doesn't thank God for the Thessalonians.
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  He thanks God for the work that he is doing in
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  the midst of the Thessalonians. Paul does this
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  a lot though. You can see this kind of thing
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  in Philippians. You can see it in Colossians.
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  He is thanking God for the Thessalonian positive
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  response of the gospel message. And he does so
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  with two synonymous terms there in verse 13.
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  He talks about receiving the word and he talks
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  about accepting the word. When he talks about
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  the word receiving, this is a verb stressing
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  the hearing, the reception of the word preached
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  by Paul and preached by others. He's saying the
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  Thessalonians listened to him when he preached.
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  They didn't plug up their ears. They took it
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  in. And again, these are synonymous terms, the
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  receiving and the accepting. And so when it says
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  accepting there, this is that they absorb the
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  word. This is that they believed the Word of
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  God taught to them by Paul. And so because these
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  are synonymous terms, the contrast that we need
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  to look at is not between those words, but it's
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  between what comes next further into the verse,
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  the source of the Word. Is it the Word of God
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  or is it the Word of men? What's the source?
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  Now, it's clear here. the sources from God, but
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  yet God does work through human writers. He works
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  through Paul. He works through Peter. He works
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  through Moses. He works through David, but the
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  ultimate author of scripture is the Holy Spirit.
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  He's the one who divinely inspires the words
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  from the biblical writers. And so that's how
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  the Bible comes to us, from the Holy Spirit through
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  these men. who are inspired with what they write.
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  It's not that the Bible just comes down, you
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  know this, the Bible doesn't just come down from
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  heaven in your favorite English translation with
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  your favorite fake leather cover. No, the Word
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  comes from the Holy Father and His Spirit through
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  the Gospel writers. And so because the Holy Spirit
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  does this, because the Holy Spirit breathes out
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  Scripture, we can say there's no difference between
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  Paul's word in Scripture and God's word. The
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  gospel proclaimed is not merely human word. It's
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  the divine word. And so for this reason, Paul
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  gives thanks. His point is that the Thessalonians
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  not only accepted the gospel at their conversion,
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  the Thessalonians continued to accept the gospel.
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  We don't just believe in this once. We believe
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  in it every single day. Again. The word is living
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  and active. And you can see within towards the
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  end of that verse, the word at work in you believers.
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  And that's an important point. It's an important
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  point for the word to work in a positive way
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  in our lives. We have to believe it. We have
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  to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
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  so it's at work in their lives. Now, Paul doesn't
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  spell out here how the word is at work. But we've
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  already seen it. We've already seen the Thessalonians
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  and their work of faith, their labor of love,
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  and their steadfastness of hope, not to mention
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  other things that we'll see later in this letter.
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  And so I want you to understand this today, that
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  the Word works. The Word works as you are being
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  sanctified in the truth. The Word works as you
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  seek to follow after Jesus. The Word works as
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  you share it with other people. The Word will
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  not return void. And so the question I have for
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  you is, have you believed this message? Have
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  you believed in the gospel? Children, have you
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  believed in Jesus? Do you know that he is called
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  the Word in John chapter 1? You might say, well,
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  I'm not sure. How do I accept the word? You might
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  remember Augustine. Augustine in the 300s was
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  brought up by a mother who loved him, and Augustine's
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  mother prayed for him all the time, and it took
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  a while. But one day, Augustine was in a courtyard,
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  and he heard some children singing and playing,
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  and they had this This phrase that they were
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  singing over and over and over again, the children
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  were singing tolle legge, tolle legge, which
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  is Latin for take up and read. And so what did
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  Augustine do? He took the Bible up and he read
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  it. And he was converted because the word works.
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  Friends, as you look at this text, you could
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  see. There's really two types of people in the
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  text, aren't there? There are people who believe
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  the gospel, who receive it and accept it, and
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  there are people who do not. But regardless,
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  the word has dramatic effect on these groups
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  here. I want to show you this from Acts chapter
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  17. I've referenced this several times within
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  the sermon series, but I don't think we've read
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  the text yet. So Acts chapter 17, one through
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  nine. Acts 17, one through nine, reads, now,
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  when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
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  they came to Thessalonica, where there was a
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  synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was
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  his custom. And on three Sabbath days, he reasoned
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  with them from the scriptures, explaining and
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  proving that it was necessary for the Christ
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  to suffer. and to rise from the dead and saying,
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  this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.
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  And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul
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  and Silas as did a great many of the devout Greeks
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  and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews
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  were jealous and taking some wicked men of the
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  rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an
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  uproar and attacked the house of Jason. Seeking
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  to bring them out to the crowd and when they
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  could not find them They dragged Jason and some
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  of the brothers before the city authorities shouting
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  these men who have turned the world upside down
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  have come here also in Jason has received them
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  and They're all acting against the decrees of
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  Caesar saying that there is another King Jesus
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  and The people in the city authorities were disturbed
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  when they heard these things And when they had
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  taken money as security from Jason and the rest,
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  they let them go. It's a dramatic effect. The
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  reception of the word or the rejection of the
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  word. Some of the Jews in the city believed.
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  Some did not. A great many of the Gentiles believed.
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  Some did not. The Jews were jealous. and they
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  set the city in an uproar and look at the accusation
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  against the leaders of the city, the accusation
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  against Paul and Silas and Timothy. The text
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  says that they were saying that the Christians
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  have turned the world upside down. They're talking
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  about the previous cities that Paul had been
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  in and the reception and the rejection in those
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  cities. But this is an ironic statement, isn't
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  it? Because while Paul and his crew, are accused
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  of disturbing the peace in Thessalonica, what
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  do the non -believing Thessalonians do? They're
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  the ones who form the mob. They're the ones who
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  set the city in an uproar. They're the ones who
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  attack Jason's house. The Christians in the city
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  suffer because others reject the gospel. Friends,
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  the gospel is the dividing line. Luke 12 51 through
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  52 listen to these words from Jesus Do you think
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  that I have come to give peace on earth No No,
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  I tell you but rather division from now on in
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  one house there will be five divided three against
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  two two against three They will be divided father
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  against son, son against father, mother against
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  daughter, and daughter against mother, mother
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  -in -law against her daughter -in -law, and daughter
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  -in -law against mother -in -law. Friends, if
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  anything is true in this world that's free for
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  observation, this is it. Because the gospel is
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  what divides. People have fought over this, and
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  they continue to do so. We fight, though, for
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  the truth, the truth of the gospel. And it's
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  this, that Christ died for your sins according
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  to the Scriptures. But the gospel in this city,
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  you can see what it did. People believed and
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  people rejected. The gospel is the river. The
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  gospel is the boundary. When it comes to the
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  Word, nobody is neutral with it. And with this
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  persecution, the Thessalonians, even as they're
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  being persecuted, they're imitating the churches
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  of God and Christ Jesus that were in Judea. In
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  Judea, people who were Christians were persecuted,
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  and Paul is saying that's happening to you too
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  here by your own countrymen. The Jews in Thessalonica
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  stir up the non -believing Gentiles to prevent
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  the message of salvation from going out. Again,
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  the gospel has tremendous effect It has a tremendous
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  effect because it's affected you, hasn't it?
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  At one point, the playing field was completely
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  level because Romans 3 .23 says that all have
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  sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We
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  were all dead in our trespasses, in our sin,
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  in our disobedience. We reject the Word of God.
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  The dividing line there is the righteousness
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  of God. And there was a time when we were on
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  the wrong side of righteousness, when we didn't
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  have it. but because of the mercy of God he has
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  sent Christ to us and Christ lived for us and
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  he died for us and then he sent his spirit who
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  changes the affections of our hearts to care
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  about God and to love him and to love others.
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  The gospel makes a way for us back to God. That's
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  what the gospel does. It saves us. It saves us
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  because of the sacrifice of Christ. Look in verse
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  15. They killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets.
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  Friends, when it says the prophets here, I believe
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  this is referring to the prophets of the Old
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  Testament. It's talking about those who paved
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  the way, if you will, for Jesus to come. And
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  Jesus did and he fulfilled scripture and he died
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  for our salvation. And this text points out that
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  there is wrath for those who don't believe this
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  message. Commentators look at this passage and
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  they're kind of divided here on whether this
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  is talking about a historical event, this wrath.
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  Is this talking about something that people actually
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  went through for their disobedience? or is this
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  looking ahead to the final judgment? Is this
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  looking ahead to the final wrath? To be honest
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  with you, I'm not sure. But we do know that there's
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  a final judgment. We do know that there is wrath
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  to come. As James Grant says, a commentator,
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  when you reject grace, the only thing that is
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  left is wrath. Friends, the only cover for the
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  wrath The only cover for the judgment of God
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  is in Christ, Christ who suffered the penalty
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  for our sin, Christ who laid his life down so
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  you would have the gospel and life everlasting,
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  but you need to receive it in faith. Friends,
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  you have received the word. You've heard it.
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  You've not stopped up your ears. Now accept it
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  in faith, not as the word of men, but of God.
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  And ultimately, of the Holy Spirit who illumines
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  truth for us. Let us thank God for Christ who
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  saves us and for the Holy Spirit who breathes
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  out scripture and opens our hearts and our minds
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  to accept.