Happy Lord’s Day! It is good to be face to face before the Lord together in worship this morning.

We are in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 again this morning, verses 13-16. And here we read about the second reason why Paul’s ministry wasn’t in vain – verses 1-12 showed us it wasn’t in vain because he aimed to please God The second reason Paul’s ministry among the Thessalonians wasn’t in vain is because it bore fruit among them. He preached the word faithfully and they received the word of God not as the word of men, but as it really is, the word of God.

Main idea: Receive the word of God not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God which is at work in you believers (v13).

OUTLINE

1. God’s Word Received (v13 cf. 1:4-5)

2. God’s Word At Work: Imitation (v14)

3. God’s Word Hindered (v15-16 cf. Acts 17)

4. God’s Word Saving (v13 cf. Acts 8-9; 26)

Would you stand with me in honor of reading God’s holy and perfect word…

1 Thessalonians 2:13-16 | 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

This is the word of the Lord…. May he carve its eternal truth on our hearts.

PRAYER ~ not the voice of a mere man, but your voice.

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God’s Word Preached

1 Thessalonians 2:13 | 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God,

Paul, Silas, and Timothy Preached the word of God faithfully and the Thessalonians accepted it not merely as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God. This is an astounding truth when it lands on you. The faithful preaching of God’s word is the word of God. Have you ever thought of that? We know the Bible is the Word of God, of course, but did you know that when it is

faithfully preached it ought to come to us with all the weight and force and authority of God himself speaking.1

If you’ve ever wondered: “Why Preaching?” You know, “Why when we gather together for worship do we give ourselves to listening to God’s word preached instead of an inspiring TED talk? Or Why preaching instead of a large group discussion? Or Why preaching instead of Drama or film?” Why is preaching at the center of worship? Why do we listen to preaching? because when God’s word is rightly preached, we hear not from a mere man, but from God himself. Because God’s word makes God’s people. God has always worked through his word. From creation in Genesis 1 – “and God said let there be… ” to the call of Abram in Genesis 12 – “Go to the land I will show you,” to the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 – “O dry bones hear the word of the Lord…” to John 1 where the coming of Jesus Christ is described as, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” to Romans 1 – “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe” to Romans 10 – “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” To 1 Corinthians 1 – “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…”2 Preaching God’s word makes God’s people. It is God’s word preached that saves his people. It is God’s word preached that strengthens his people because when God’s word is rightly preached, we hear not from a mere man, but from God himself.

Is that how you listen to preaching? Do you listen to sermons expecting God’s word to be exposed to you from this pulpit such that when you have heard it, you will have heard the voice not of a mere man, but of God? Do you prepare yourself Saturday night and Sunday morning to encounter God in his word when you gather with the saints?

You should. It will absolutely benefit you spiritually if you prepare for the Lord’s Day with eager anticipation, prayer, and preparation. Read the passage ahead of time. Think on it. Pray on it. Come ready to Receive the word of God not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God (v13). Make it your practice to ask your brothers and sisters after service and during the week: “How did God speak to you through his word on the Lord’s Day?”

Of course you won’t remember every word of every sermon, I don’t remember what I preached a month ago, but the word of God is making you what you are. It’s similar to eating. You don’t remember every meal, but the meals have sustained you and grown you. God’s word is sustaining you and growing you and it will benefit you to reflect on what God is saying to you through his word by his Spirit on the Lord’s day – like reflecting on a particularly good meal.

We should also note that God’s word is preached as God’s word not because of the personality or charisma of a particular preacher, but because God makes himself known when his word is faithfully taught. Ultimately, the authority of preaching rests on the authority of Scripture itself. In fact, preaching that isn’t rooted deeply in Scripture carries no authority at all! Not a few preachers seem to think that their authority flows from their great personality or knowledge, or even because they hold some church office. But none of that gives someone the right to speak with authority about

God; to claim otherwise requires more than a little hubris! Whatever authority a preacher has is not his own; he has authority only so far as he is truly explaining the Bible.3

Preaching is about God’s word, not about the preacher. the power doesn’t ever come from the preacher; it comes from the word faithfully taught. Preaching is at the fountainhead of good churches because God’s word makes God’s people. It is God’s word that saves God’s people. It is God’s word that strengthens God’s people. It is only God’s word that promises to not return void:

Isaiah 55:10-11 | 10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s word doesn’t return void. It goes down into the hearts of his people. He sends it for a purpose, and when we receive that word, and it soaks into us, we can be sure that it will accomplish God’s purpose in us.4

~It is so easy to be tempted to trust in anything and everything other than the word. But it must be the Lord who builds the house lest all our labor be in vain. And God builds through his word by His Spirit.5 FBC, let’s give ourselves to following the blueprint we found in chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians. Let’s commit to being a people who Preach Christ. Receive Christ. & Ring out with Christ. Or to state it differently, a church that Preaches the word. Receives the word. & Rings out with the Word.

TR – It is God’s word that makes God’s people. And so we aim to be a people like the Thessalonians who Receive the word of God not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God…and who have the word at work in us. Look at verse 14…

God’s Word At Work: Imitation (v14)

1 Thessalonians 2:14 | 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews.

Paul picks up that thread of imitation again from 1:7, this time we learn that the Thessalonians have not only become imitators of Paul, Silas, Timothy, and the Lord Jesus, but also of the Judean Churches. Why does Paul make this comparison? Because the Thessalonians are being persecuted by their fellow countrymen, fellow citizens, just like the Judean churches.

Paul hasn’t left his argument from chapter 1 behind. He wants the Thessalonians to know, verse4, that they are loved and chosen by God because they have believed the word and it has born fruit in their lives. The persecution ought not to discourage them but to remind them of how they received the very word of God and how the word of God is at work in them enabling them to endure

persecution and growing them in, verse 3 the work of faith, the labor of love, and the hope of the Lord Jesus Christ.

TR – Paul’s ministry is not in vain because it pleased God and because God’s word was received by the Thessalonians. He is aiming to encourage them to build them up. He is giving thanks for them and how they have received the word. And now he encourages them with justice: Those who persecute the church are under and will experience the wrath of God. Paul says this, as we will see, not because he is antisemitic – he is a Jewish man who believes in a Jewish savior – he says what he says not because he is antisemitic, but because he is anti-sin.6 Look at verse 15…

God’s Word Hindered (v15-16 cf. Acts 17)

1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 | 14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God (cf. 2:4) and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

When the Thessalonians received the word of God, that was proof that they were the children of

God. But the same principle works in reverse. The thing that unified these enemies of God is that they were opposed to the preaching of God’s Word. Paul says, they killed Jesus. They killed the prophets. They drove us out. They displease God and they oppose all mankind {tell us how you really feel}.7

The persecution that has broken out against the Judean churches and against the Thessalonians and against Paul, Silas, and Timothy has broken out against them because of the message of Christ Crucified. The word is preached and the world hates it. The world hates the word and seeks to hinder it. Those who oppose the gospel do so because they hate God. They want to silence him and his followers. Jesus told us it would be so…

John 15.18-20 | 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

The hindering of God’s word has hatred of Christ as its source. And, unexpectedly, those who hate God and seek to hinder the preaching of his word – thinking they are doing a service to themselves and others – actually prove themselves haters of all mankind. By working to stop the preaching of God’s word they are opposing the salvation of all mankind. Only Christ can save. To stop the good news that Jesus died so all who believe can be forgiven of their sins and that Jesus rose so that all who trust in him can be free from death is to condemn people to the eternal torment of Hell. To hinder the preaching of God’s holy word is demonic. That’s what verse 15-16 says. oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—

TR – The world hates Christ, hinders the preaching of his word, and in so doing sets itself against the good of all mankind…And at the same time, we who have the word must ask ourselves how we may be hindering the preaching and receiving of God’s word in our own lives, homes, church, and community.

Christian, do you hinder the work of the word in your life by refusing to submit to it? Do you hinder the preaching of God’s word to yourself by plugging your ears on Sunday mornings or giving yourself to other things? Is it possible you have hindered your own family from hearing and receiving the word of God which saves and strengthens God’s people because you give other things priority over the worship of the Lord Jesus on Sundays? … OR, let’s flip it a little bit, if our fellow citizens wanted to hinder the preaching of God’s word, would they need to persecute you or FBC Waynesboro?

If hindering the preaching of God’s word is to oppose all mankind, then the refusal to preach the good news to others must also be hatred and opposition to all mankind. Love for fellow man means preaching the gospel to our fellow man so that they might be saved. It is love, for God and man, that motivates Paul to preach boldly in the midst of conflict.

It is love for God and man that drives Christ’s people to give financially, pray steadfastly, and go consistently to the nations. We send missionaries into dangerous places because Christ is worth it; because the people who have not heard of Christ are worth it. Those who have not the word have not hope. And so out of love, we work in faith, we labor in love, and we live with a steadfastness of hope to get the gospel to all mankind. We are not oppose to mankind, we are for man. Therefore, we preach the word in our pulpit. We preach the word in our personal lives. We work to make sure the word is preached in other places. Because we love God and we want to see his people redeemed we preach Christ Crucified and raised. We call all men and women to repent of their sins and trust in Christ so that they might die to sin and live eternally.

TR – And the world works to hinder the faithful preaching of the word. But God will not allow this hinderance go on forever, nor will he allow it to go unpunished. Look at the second part of verse 16 again…

1 Thessalonians 2:16 | 16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

The phrase – fill up the measure of their sins – brings to mind God’s words to Abraham in Genesis 15:16…

Genesis 15:16 | 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete [has not reached its full measure].”

The key concept Paul is getting at is this: There is a limit to how much sin God will allow to take place before responding with wrath both in this life and in the life to come. There is a fixed amount of sins to be committed before punishment is carried out. This is a great comfort to God’s people.8

This is a truth that we often ignore because of the great ease we enjoy in our country in our era. We are often squeamish when considering God’s wrath and justice carried out against the wicked. We clutch our pearls when we read psalms of imprecation. We ignore the fact that Paul is rejoicing at the wrath of God coming upon those who oppose Christ. Our comfort allows us this sort of luxury belief that God’s wrath and justice against evil aren’t really necessary. However, we need to shape our hearts with Scripture. Yes, we pray for and long for the conversion of the lost. Yes, we preach Christ because we love mankind and want to see men saved. AND Yes, we ought to long for justice. Yes, we ought to look forward to the destruction of the wicked. It is right for us to see the horrors of evil and to cry out, “How long O’ Lord!” and to pray Psalms like Psalm 58…

Psalm 58:6-11 | 6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord! 7 Let them vanish like water that runs away; when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted. 8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime, like the stillborn child who never sees the sun. 9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away! 10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

We who love God should not shrink from both praying for the conversion of the world and for God’s justice to come to the world. The Bible calls us to do both at once. If you want a right now example of how this works, you need only look to the actions of Hamas in Israel – the atrocities have piled up in recent days. You see videos of innocent men and women tortured; of babies beheaded and you see evil. And so the Christian response is two-fold, to pray that God would save those he has concealed among the wicked. That he would rescue the wicked by way of conversion. And that he would utterly destroy Hamas. Sometimes Jesus defeats the violent by converting them, sometimes by destroying them. Either way, we should be asking him to do it.9 Love opposes evil.

Here's the point: God’s judgment both present and to come gives hope to God’s suffering people. Evil will not endure forever. There is a God who judges justly on the earth and the righteous will rejoice as he establishes his kingdom. The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet (cf. Romans 16:20)

~Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians by underscoring the reality that God has revealed his wrath against those who oppose him and will bring wrath upon those who oppose him. The phrase at the end of 16, but wrath has come upon them at last – is a little tricky. Some argue the wrath of God will come against those who oppose the preaching of God’s word in the future and others argue that it had already come upon them.

For my part, I think it is both already and not yet, much like the salvation of those who trust in Christ. One commentator writes: “Salvation is not merely a future event to be experienced when Christ comes again but also a present reality that believers already enjoy. Similarly, the wrath of God is not only a future judgment from which believers have been rescued and are predestined to escape, but also it is already been revealed and experienced in the present [ a la Romans 1, God giving them over to the destruction wrought by their own sins]”10

TR – The bottom line is clear, God opposes those who oppose the preaching of Christ. Those who oppose Jesus will find themselves on the wrong end of his holy sword. This truth gives hope to the faithful and it summons those who hate Christ to repent and find mercy. Paul himself is an example…

God’s Word Saving (v13 cf. Acts 8-9; 26)

Let’s not forget that Paul had himself worked to persecute Christ and the church, displeased God, and opposed all mankind. Who could forget him holding the coats of the crowd so they could stone Stephen to death for preaching Christ? What does the Scripture say?

Acts 8:1-3 | Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Paul testifies to his own wickedness in opposing the message of Christ before King Agrippa in Acts 26…

Acts 26:8-18 | Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? 9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities. 12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”

Paul is rescued by Christ because Christ loves him and chose to save him. Jesus knocked Paul from his horse and called him to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. Paul who opposed all mankind by hindering the preaching of the gospel was made into the great preacher of the gospel. He famously writes of himself in 1 Timothy…

1 Timothy 1:15-16 | 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

If Jesus can save Paul, he can save anybody. And so we pray both that God would bring justice to the wicked AND that he would save them. He is mighty to save. And when the word is faithfully preached God calls men and women to himself and to greater holiness.

Non-Christian, God is displeased with you. You are in rebellion against him. You can know him as Father rather than as Judge if you will repent of your sins and submit yourself to King Jesus. Jesus died on the cross as a substitute for his people. He died so that all who trust in him can be saved from the wrath of God. And he rose from the dead so that all who trust in him can be saved from death and enjoy eternal life together with him. Life can be yours this morning. Repent and Follow Jesus.

Church, let us give thanks that First Baptist Church is a church where God’s word is preached, received, and at work. Let us give thanks that when God’s word is faithfully preached we hear not the voice of a mere man, but the voice of God himself. Let us give thanks that God has loved us, chosen us, and caused his word to bear fruit in us. Let us give thanks for the life we have in Christ.