Chuck Swindoll tells of a man who is dying of thirst in a desert. He comes to a place where a hand pump is set up. There is a bottle of water with a note attached. The note says, “This water must be used to prime the pump or the seals will crack and the pump will not work. All of the water must be used to prime the pump. When you are done drinking all the water you want from the well, refill the bottle for the next person.” So what do you do? Do you ignore the note, drink the small amount of water and then see if the pump works. Or will you, against all your flesh’s desire, pour the water into the pump seals and hope that the writer of the note was telling the truth?
God’s Word is like this. It is like a note in the desert. And though what it tells us might seem to be against all our natural inclinations yet if we follow what it says we will have our longing thirst satisfied by streams of living water.
The key idea of this passage that Paul writes to us this morning is that if we receive the Word of God, it will perform its life transforming work in us. And though it may cause us to endure suffering for the Gospel’s sake, if one rejects the Word of God, God’s wrath will be poured out on them. In this passage, Paul gives two reasons for thanks to God for the Thessalonians. And along with them is a warning attached for those who will not respond to the message of salvation like the Thessalonians.
1. They Received the Word
Paul says that the first reason for giving thanks they had was that the Thessalonians received the Word. They received the Word of God. This is what Paul describes in verse 13. “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” I think that Paul describes two characteristics of their reception of the Word of God in this verse.
A. They recognized its authority
The first characteristic of the Thessalonians’ reception of the Word of God is that they recognized its authority. Paul says that when the Thessalonians heard the message of the forgiveness of their sins through the free gift that is in Jesus Christ they accepted as a word come from God. They didn’t doubt it. They didn’t see it as just Paul’s opinion but they saw it as the eternal truth of God. They understood that this was a message filled with divine authority. They saw that this was the culmination of God’s Word and that the Messiah who had been promised in the Old Testament Scripture by God had finally come.
There is a lot today that is being passed off as the Word of God that is simply the word of men. The sad part is that many people are being deceived to believe it as the Word of God. There are an untold number of people who claim to be speaking for God when they are merely speaking their own words or the tradition of men.
These Thessalonians recognized the authority of the Word of God because they accepted it. Paul uses two different words here to describe the process of their reception. First he says that they received the Word of God from Paul. This has to do with the transmission of the message from one person to another. Paul and his companions had disseminated the message. The important part of this was that the Thessalonians accepted it. This was the second word that Paul used. They welcomed it into their hearts. Because Paul had spoken the message didn’t mean that it necessarily would go any further than that. But the Thessalonians acted on that message. They accepted it. They put their trust in it. The same is true today. You may certainly hear this message from me. You may acknowledge its truthfulness. You may assent to it. But if you will not accept it, that is, welcome it into your heart it will not accomplish its work.
You must have an open heart to accept the message spoken. If you do not come here with the will to accept what is being spoken as the Word of God then you will go out from this place unchanged. You will leave as the same person that came in.
Let’s talk for a moment on this authority of the Word of God. Paul says that the Thessalonians accepted it not as man’s word but for what it really was, the Word of God. If this is simply man’s word then let us leave it here and not bother ourselves with it any longer. We are too busy to waste our time with fairy tales and other people’s advice. But if it is the Word of God, and it is, for God has shown it to be so then let us give it our full attention for without we cannot live.
As the Word of God, we cannot accept it piecemeal. We cannot say that we will accept one part of it but another part we will reject. It is an all or nothing deal. The reason is that if we decide what we will follow and what we will not then we become the judge over Scripture instead of allowing the Scripture to become our judge. It strips the Word of God of its authority for your life. And when we begin to not trust all of Scripture, then where will it stop? In Paul’s second letter to Timothy he says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for doctrine (teaching), reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness.” Paul didn’t say some but all. And if you will not accept it all, have you accepted it at all? We can’t accept the part of Scripture that speaks of Christ forgiving our sin but not count as authoritative the parts that discuss our sexual purity. We cannot believe the Scripture that speaks of God loving us but not recognize the authority of Scripture that says God also created us in six days.
This is why God has continually certified His Word throughout history. He has done this in at least three ways. He has certified His Word, first, through prophecy. Throughout the Bible God has made multiplied hundreds of predictions of events that would take place. And although there are still many predictions that remain to be fulfilled, hundreds have been fulfilled, not in hidden cryptic code but in clear plain language. God has predicted the destruction of cities in amazing detail. He has spoken of the coming of Christ hundreds of years before the event. God has certified His Word through prophecy.
God has also certified His Word through preservation. There is no book in the ancient world that has been preserved to the extent that the Bible has. God used two distinct means of preserving the Old and New Testaments. He preserved the Old Testament through Jews who revered the Word of God and wouldn’t allow a Bible book that they had copied to contain more than three errors. They would carefully compare the copy and if they found the mistakes they would destroy it. They had special rules for copying and would count the new copy, letter by letter; to make sure it was accurate. God preserved the New Testament through a multiplicity of manuscripts. We have over 5,500 copies of the Greek New Testament, some dating to the very century in which the New Testament was written. No other book of history has that kind of pedigree and yet other historical books are considered reliable if they have merely 10 or more existing manuscripts. So God has certified His Word through prophecy and preservation.
He has also certified His Word through precision. What is amazing about the Scripture is the time when it was written. Moses wrote his five books about 1400 BC. This was a time of great superstition and misinformation about scientific matters. Yet instead of the sun and moon being described as entities to be worshipped like all the other nations saw them, the Bible describes them as two objects simply created by God for the purpose of telling time. At the time the book of Genesis was written it was thought by the wise men of the day that the sky contained about 1000 stars. Yet in the Scripture God tells Abraham that his descendents will be uncountable like the stars in the sky. And God compared the number of stars not simply to large numbers but to the amount of sand on the seashore. Now astronomers estimate the number of stars to be about 100 octillion which is a 1 followed by 30 zeroes. I don’t know about you but that sounds innumerable to me. And that is merely an estimate. There was also much other scientific information in the Bible that was well beyond its time. There were things that God in His Word said that scientists and archeologists were not able to confirm until just recently. I’ll not go into this in detail but God has shown repeatedly that His Word is true and trustworthy. And if you are going to realize its benefits, you must receive this Word, for what it really is, the Word of God. He has certainly certified His Word through prophecy, preservation and precision.
B. They submitted to its transforming work
The second characteristic of the Thessalonians’ reception of the Word of God is that they submitted to its transforming work. Because they were able to accept it as the Word of God they begin to experience God transforming their lives through it. This is what Paul says at the end of verse 13 when he declares that the Word of God, “Also performs its work in you who believe.” So we must ask ourselves, how is the Word of God going to transform our lives?
This transformation takes place due to our acceptance of the Word of God. I think that it is interesting to note that James uses the same word, “accepted” in his letter also referring to the Word of God. It is found in James 1:21. Before we look at it, to avoid confusion I’ll tell you that in James’ letter it is translated “received” even though it is the same word Paul uses here translated, “accepted.” James says this, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive (or accept) the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
How is God’s Word going to change us? It is only going to change us if we first confess and repent of the sin that so strongly entangles us. And then, as James says, we are to implant the Word of God into our hearts and minds. As the Word begins to grow in our hearts then this change takes place in our lives. But if we refuse to repent and put out the sin in our lives there will be no place for the Word to take root. If the Word of God does not have the preeminence in our lives then God will not work there. Yes, the Word performs its work in you who believe but will you let it have its place.
The Word of God will not transform us if it merely sits on our bookshelf. It will not transform us if it simply collects dust as an ornament on our coffee table. It can only transform us when we implant it into our lives. Psalm 119:11 says, “Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.” How can we expect God to work in us if we do not give His words to us any priority in our lives? Jesus describes God’s Word as a seed. But if the seeds are not placed within our hearts then they will not germinate.
It must be the practice of our lives to spend time reading and memorizing and thinking upon God’s Word. It is our source of true living because the Scripture says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. And as we learned from the Scripture, several Sunday nights ago, that the spiritual battle that is mainly taking place in our lives is in our minds. Satan seeks to plant wrong thoughts in our minds and how much fertile acreage is available to him depends on how much Scripture is filling up the field. So my friends, by all means we must continue to allow God’s Word to penetrate our hearts and minds so as to continually change us into the image of Christ. We cannot grow into the image of Christ if we are not setting our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and we cannot be setting our minds on things above if we are not reading about them. O let the Word of God continue to perform its work in you who believe. Let us be like the person from Psalm 1, who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly but has his delight in the law of the Lord in which he meditates day and night. For then we shall be like the tree planted by the river of waters that brings forth its fruit in its season.
2. They Imitated Other Believers in Suffering
Paul says that the second reason for giving thanks they had was that the Thessalonians imitated other believers in suffering. Paul notes this in verse 14. “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews.” Paul and his companions were thankful to God that when they began to suffer persecution they did not turn away from the Good News of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Paul was not thankful that they were being harmed but in the fact that they joyfully endured suffering for the Gospel confirmed that their faith in Jesus Christ was genuine. It showed the Apostle Paul that they weren’t putting their hope in any false promise. There is no promise in Scripture that says everyone will like us if we become believers in Christ. As a matter of fact, the Scripture clearly says that those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Satan wants to distract us from God’s goal for our life. And one means he uses is persecution. He wants us to take our eyes off our Savior and become complacent with God’s goal for us. What is God’s goal for our life? It is to be like Jesus Christ. It is not self-fulfillment, reaching our potential, finding our inner child or any other psycho-babble but it is becoming like Jesus Christ. And though Satan wants us to suffer to take our eyes off the goal, God can use that same suffering in our lives to actually accomplish the goal of being Christ-like. (So much Christian counseling – self-pity)
Now Paul is describing the suffering that the Jewish believers had gone through at the hands of those Jewish leaders that had crucified Jesus. He says that, in this way, the Thessalonians were imitating the churches in Judea. As the Jewish believers in Judea were being persecuted so were they. So how did they suffer? Paul describes this suffering in vv. 15-16.
A. At the hands of their own people
First, he says that this suffering took place at the hands of their own people. It is not usually strangers that partake in the persecution of Christians. We must understand this. Most often persecution comes from the people closest to us. Paul says that their suffering took place at the hands of their own countrymen. Their friends, their neighbors and their co-workers brought about suffering in their lives. You too must expect this if you want to live for Jesus.
B. In persecution
Secondly, Paul says that their suffering took place in persecution. In verse 15 Paul says the Jewish leaders, “drove us out.” That idea fits from the context but the word from which it came could also generally be translated “persecuted.” The Jewish leaders persecuted Paul and his companions. The Scripture describes persecution as any kind of suffering that an individual endures because they are a follower of Christ. This may include ridicule, mocking, harassment, physical abuse, torture or even death. Satan uses unbelievers to persecute Christians so that they will focus on their suffering and fail to rejoice in the eternal life that God has given.
Yet, even though we may experience persecution for standing up for Jesus Christ we can count ourselves blessed. Jesus Himself said, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We shouldn’t back down in the face of persecution but should ask for God’s grace to endure it joyfully remembering the reward of our inheritance.
C. By being hindered from speaking the Gospel
Thirdly, Paul says that their suffering took place by being hindered from speaking the Gospel. Satan uses persecution by unbelievers to hinder the spread of the Gospel. In verse 16 Paul says that these unbelievers hindered “us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved.” Satan wants everyone to go to hell. He wants everyone to suffer along with him. And he will use those under his authority (unbelievers) to stop others from speaking the Gospel. What were some of the ways that the Scripture mentions that Paul was hindered from speaking the Gospel? First, some would contradict what Paul was saying. We see this taking place in Acts 13 where Paul was in the city of Antioch. In verse 45 the Scripture says that some became jealous at Paul’s message and began contradicting the things spoken by him. Satan loves to use the contradiction excuse to silence Christians. How many times have you heard from someone, “Oh, don’t you know, the Bible is full of contradictions?” Satan uses this to keep Christians silent because of their own pride. Some Christians falsely reason that if they can’t know the Bible well enough to defend all of the Bible they will just be quiet. They don’t want others to know that they don’t know everything. But any time we speak we show that. So what’s the problem? I say to that person who mentions the contradiction excuse to show me one. They will usually not be able to find one because they haven’t even looked in the Bible. And if they do have a question that you can’t answer that is a good opportunity to follow up with them later after you study it out.
Another way that Paul was hindered from speaking the Gospel was by having his character impugned. People would speak against Paul himself to discredit the message. And I have run into people while sharing the Gospel with them who have pointed out so called Christians (usually televangelists) who are living like hypocrites. My reply to them is that when you stand in judgment God is never going to ask you what they did with Christ but He is going to ask you what you did.
And though some may seek to ridicule us or try to pass us off as fanatics to minimize this good news message we must not be silent in speaking for Christ. As a matter of fact as we see persecution and these kinds of things taking place in our lives it should embolden us to speak even more emphatically about the sin cleansing power of the blood of Christ spilled on our behalf.
3. A Warning to Those Who Will Not Accept the Gospel
Finally, I want to express a warning this morning. It is a warning to those who will not accept the Gospel. Perhaps you are here today without Christ in your life. O you may say I have not rejected the Gospel. I am not one who goes around seeking to harm those who believe in Christ. You may say I have always believed in Christ or I believe in God. But is what you call belief merely in your mind? Is your belief in Christ more than an assent to a historical event? Or do you actually have a relationship with Christ? Has there been a time in your life when you have repented of your sin and turned to Christ to deliver you from your sins? Or has your “Christianity” been one of mere ritual rather then relationship. I had grown up knowing about Christ. I knew that he had died for the sins of the whole world. I knew that He is God but I never knew that I must personally admit my sin and call out to Christ to save me by the death he died on the cross. It wasn’t until I called out to Him to save me that I became a Christian. Though I had called myself a Christian before that God didn’t call me a Christian and I would have found myself in hell and not in heaven had I died at that time.
So let me quickly explain three characteristics of those who will not accept the Gospel, that is the good news that God forgives all our sin and gives us His own perfect righteousness through the death and resurrection of Christ.
A. You killed the Lord Jesus
Now in verses 15 & 16, the Apostle Paul is speaking specifically about the Jewish rulers who rejected Christ and put Him to death. But I believe that each of these characteristics can be applied to anyone who will reject the Gospel. Actually, they can be applied to everyone up until the time that they put their trust in Christ as their Savior.
So the first characteristic of the person who will not accept the Gospel is you killed the Lord Jesus. Paul says this at the beginning of verse 15. He says that they killed the Lord Jesus. But the truth is you killed Jesus, and don’t be saying, “If I was there I wouldn’t have killed Jesus.” For if you have not accepted the Gospel then you would have been driving the nails into His precious hands. And in fact, the Scripture says that each one of us put Christ on the cross by our own sin. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians that God nailed our sin to the cross. He put it on Christ. The Bible says that the payment for sin is eternal death. Jesus bore that penalty for your sin on the cross so that you might have eternal life. The Gospel of John says that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. Christ took your sins upon Himself so that if you would cry out to Him to save you He will grant you forgiveness and life through Himself. You put Christ on the cross by your own sin. But God has made this a way of life for us if we will but acknowledge our sin and receive His gift of eternal life.
B. You are not pleasing to God
The second characteristic of the person who will not accept the Gospel is that you are not pleasing to God. This is what Paul says at the end of verse 15. “They are not pleasing to God but hostile to all men.” Why is this? Why are you not pleasing to God? You might even say, “I want to please God. I am seeking to do right. I am hoping that I do more good things than bad things. I want God to accept me on the basis of my own good deeds because I have tried to live by the golden rule.” This is exactly why you are not pleasing to God. Because God says that the only you can be made right with Him is recognizing that your own attempts at righteousness are no good and that He is offering you His righteousness completely as a gift. But you reject the Gospel by trying to earn your own righteousness. God says in the book of Isaiah that our own good deeds are like filthy rags offered up before God. God offers us pure white righteousness and you want to substitute that for dirty filthy rags.
You will not be pleasing to God until you realize that Jesus paid it all. Not some, not part but all. And we can admit our guilt and cling to the cross and allow Him to save us completely. Paul says that the preaching of the cross alone is foolishness to people because they want to do it their own way. But until you realize that it is only by the cross that we have full and free pardon from God you will continue to be displeasing to God.
C. You will suffer God’s complete wrath
Finally, the third characteristic of the person who will not accept the Gospel is that you will suffer God’s complete wrath. This is how Paul ends verse 16. “But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.” Completely God’s wrath will be poured out upon those who will not trust in Christ alone for their salvation.
This warning has a purpose. It is not condemn but it is to bring life. A man who sees a burning building and calls out to the people inside the building to wake up because they are about to be burned is not condemning but he is seeking to see people saved from that fiery death. In like manner I am calling out to any of you who may be asleep and not aware of the coming wrath that God will pour out on you. This is not for condemnation but for life.
If you have been rejecting the Gospel must God’s wrath be poured out on you? It must be only if you continue to reject the Gospel. There was a man who for many years persecuted Christians. He would hunt them down find some reason to put them to death and approve of their execution. This was the very man who wrote this letter of which we are reading today. Paul, the apostle, was saved by God’s grace. Though he hotly pursued God’s people and sought to keep them from sharing the Gospel, he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and God radically changed his life. In another of his letters he wrote that God saved him so that it might be evident to all that no one is past God’s saving grace. He said, if God could save me, the chief of sinners, then God would save all who believed in Christ for eternal life.
Possibly today you are here, having rejected the Gospel for so long. Perhaps you were even like the Apostle Paul before he called out for Jesus to save him. Maybe you persecuted those who were believers in Christ. Perhaps you made fun of people who were followers of Christ and made it difficult for them to tell others about the great news of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. If you have never received Jesus Christ as your Savior let me encourage you today to not put it off any longer. If you recognize that you have offended a holy God by having not believed His promise of full forgiveness in Christ then today call out to Him to be your Savior and give you eternal life. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “The one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
And what about you believer? Are you willing to submit yourself completely to the Word of God, even those parts that do not seem to make worldly sense? Will you allow God to give you rivers of living water to refresh your soul? Obey His Word and see if God does not prove Himself great by performing His work in you who believe.