If you will, let's turn once again in our Bibles to 1 Thessalonians and tonight, chapter three. 1 Thessalonians chapter three. Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear We thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. But now, when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that you have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith. For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you? For all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God, night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might 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 in 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. In preparing the two messages which I brought from the second chapter, of this letter and now the message tonight from this chapter. The thing that stands out to me the most, the theme of these words, is the great love that the Apostle Paul had for the members of the church at Thessalonica. His great love, his great concern for these believers. You know, love, we maybe don't speak as much about love as we should, but the fruit of the spirit is love. That's the first thing that is mentioned by the apostle. And some believe that those other things that are mentioned there, joy and faith and temperance and kindness, those other things are all included in that first word, the word love. And we think of Paul as a, great man of the faith, and he certainly was a defender of the faith, but he also was a man of great love. And we see that that comes out to me so much in studying and preparing these messages. Almost the first comments of Matthew Henry on this chapter were those ministers do not duly value the establishment and welfare of their people, who cannot deny themselves in many things for that end. And we see that here, the Apostle Paul, how he denied himself for the good of others, for the good of the church at Thessalonica. You know, one of our members recently texted me this text. He's not here this evening, but he texted me this text. It comes from Jeremiah chapter three and verse 15. And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And I answered back in my text and I said something like this, that's the kind of pastor that I desire to be. And the next time I saw him, a couple of weeks later in the service here, I told him, you know that text that you sent to me, that text I use in prayer quite often when I pray for other churches who do not have a pastor, who do not have a pastor, that the Lord would give them a pastor according to his heart, God's heart. which would feed the sheep there with knowledge and understanding. You know, I think of the church in Danville, Kentucky, where Brother Don Fortner pastored for, I believe, almost 50 years. They're still without a pastor. And I think it's going on three years since he was taken from them. And they haven't been able to find a pastor. You know, it's never too early. I thought this, to tell you folks, it's never too early to start praying for God to send a pastor here when I'm gone. A pastor like this that is described in that text, a pastor after or according to God's heart, a pastor who will feed with knowledge and understanding. Well, let's go through some of the verses here in this chapter now. Verse one, wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone. Now, what was it? What was it that Paul said he could no longer forbear? Well, we've got to go back to chapter two in verse 17 to see what it was. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. Now he writes, wherefore, when we could no longer forebear, it was his longing, it was his longing desire to see them, and not just to see them, but to know of their welfare, how it was with them. and following Christ and believing in Christ. Gil, he commented on that verse of scripture and he said this word here that Paul uses, when we could no longer forbear. It's much like Jeremiah said, let me see if I can find this in Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse nine. When he made a statement, Jeremiah did, he said, I'm not going to preach in the word of God anymore. I'm closing shop. I'm giving up. He said, For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil, because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him. I'm not going to speak about God anymore. I'm through. He was suffering. Reproach, the verses before this speak of this. The reproach, he suffered for preaching the word of the Lord. I'm not, I'm not, I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name." Well, how'd that work out? How'd that work out, Mr. Jeremiah? You're not going to preach anymore? You're not going to speak anymore in the name of the Lord? Is that right? What'd he say? That was my determination to not speak anymore, but his word in my heart was as a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I was weary with forebearing, and I could not stay. I just couldn't do it. He was weary with forbearing, of not preaching, not speaking. And Mr. Gill said that's much the sentiment here that we see in the Apostle Paul, his concern for this church. He said, when we could no longer forbear, couldn't take it any longer, we could no longer forbear. His desire, his vehement desire, I might say, to know the welfare of the believers that he had left in Thessalonica. It produced sacrifice. It caused Paul to sacrifice. Now, what was his sacrifice? Well, look with me in Acts chapter 17 and verse 15. It caused him to sacrifice in sending Timothy. In Acts chapter 17 and verse 15. And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens, and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timothy, for to come to him with all speed, they departed. Remember Paul, when he left Thessalonica, he went to Berea, and then he was taken by night to Athens. And now, because of his great longing, he could forbear no more, he sacrifices in sending Timothy to find out, to bring him news concerning them. Back in our text, wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone. Think about this. Here's a man of God, and he's in the city of Athens. And when he sends Timothy to them, this is his sacrifice. When he sends Timothy to Thessalonica, he is left alone in Athens. There's one man, one man in this great city, and everyone were strangers to him. He didn't know anyone. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ sent out his disciples, the 70 at least, two by two. And Paul said, when I could forbear no longer, my desire to know about you caused me to send Timothy to you. And that meant I'm left alone here in this city. He was among total strangers. when Timothy left him. There he is in this large city without a friend as far as men are concerned. You know, when I mentioned the Lord sent his disciples out, the 70 at least, he sent them out two by two, I thought about the scripture in Ecclesiastes which says two is better than one. Two is better than one. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe, woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him. And number two, we know by reading in Acts chapter 17 that eventually Paul was brought to Mars Hill. He had the opportunity to preach. Here he is, alone, not another believer, I don't suppose, in the town, in the city, but him. And here are all these great learned people, philosophers, who spent all their time wanting to hear something new, something different, and he's given the opportunity to stand there and preach the gospel. Now, think about that, being alone. in that city. It was a sacrifice policy. We see his great sacrifice in sending Timothy away from him. I know there's been a few times when I've preached funerals of people that were not members of our church, and for one reason or the other, and some of the men here of our congregation, you were there, and what an encouragement that was to me. When I looked out and saw, hey, most of these people never heard what I believe, and they don't believe it when they hear it. But here are some, what an encouragement. Here's some brothers here in Christ, and they know exactly what I believe and preach, and they're with me. They're with me in this. This speaks to me. It may not mean much to you what I'm saying here tonight about Paul, but I can see him. I remember being out in Arizona one time preaching a funeral, and it was a young man's funeral, and here his daddy had been the Attorney General of Arizona at one time. Here's all their friends. I mean, he's a big, important people as far as the world is concerned. Here I am alone there to preach the gospel. I did have an uncle who was there. And what an encouragement he was to me. What an encouragement. And there's only one message, no matter who you're preaching to. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. And I mean, a lot of those people, they had those letters behind their name. I don't know what all of them meant. Many of them were lawyers, I believe, and people like that. But what an encouragement, if it's just one person with you, and Paul is here, and he's alone, and he makes this sacrifice. Does that come across to you? Do you understand what I'm saying here tonight? I mean, you can read this and you think, well, what was a big deal, Paul? It was a big deal. It really was. Notice verse two. Well, let me read verse one first, and then verse two. Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith. His burden, his burden for these believers at Thessalonica was so great that he made the sacrifice in sending Timothy away and leaving him, leaving himself alone. I want you to notice the three things that he says about Timothy here. First of all, and sent Timotheus, our brother, our brother. You know, when he wrote first and second, what we have is first and second Timothy, he addressed it to my son, my beloved son, those two letters, my son, Timothy, my beloved son. But here, And of course, Timothy was his son in the faith. But here he simply says, our brother. Notice that word, our. My brother and your brother. And what made them brothers? They had the same father. They had the same father, didn't they? God was their father. When a person is adopted into the family of God, when he's made, when he's translated into the kingdom of God's dear son, the son of God's love. Now we have a heavenly father, a heavenly father, our brother, but that's not all. Not only did he say our brother, but he also said a minister and minister of God. You know, only God can make a minister. And one of God's greatest blessings is to call men and send men out to preach. And one of the signs when God sometimes shows His disfavor with a place or with a country, He withholds calling men to preach. And I'm not a prophet, I'm a preacher. But I think I see that in our country today. Very, I mean there's a lot of people that take up preaching as a profession. You know, they've always been nice people and they wanna help people and they wanna be a preacher. Put in that place of doing good to others. But a minister of God. God is the only one who can make a minister. And that's such a blessing when he does call a man. Because the scripture says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they had not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear without a preacher? Timothy, our brother. a minister of God, a laborer, our fellow laborer in the gospel. And Timothy, you know, one of the things Paul said, if any man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work, work, a good work, not a good position, a good work. And Paul, would impress upon these at Thessalonica. Remember, they received this letter first, excuse me, they received this letter first. It came to their church, their group assembled wherever they assembled at that time, and someone stood up to read, and they heard this letter read to them. And Paul said, I didn't send just anybody. I didn't just send anybody. You see that? I sent Timothy. I sent Timothy, our brother, a minister of God, a fellow laborer in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's who I sent to you. That showed his concern, his love for them. Now, Timothy's ministry was to do two things, as Paul says here in the text. First of all, to establish them in their faith. Don't we see here how it is that believers are established in the faith? How is it that God establishes believers in the faith? It is with the word of God. It is through the minister of God preaching the word of God. Look back to Ephesians 4, Ephesians chapter 4, beginning with verse 8. Wherefore he saith, Ephesians four and verse eight, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto man. Now skip down to verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Timothy was one of those. He was a pastor. He was a teacher. To ordain a man to be a pastor, one of the qualifications is he must be apt to teach. And so there's not two offices here, there's one office, so pastor, teacher. But notice the purpose, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Now watch this, that we henceforth be no more children. You know, our Lord said, except you be converted and become as a little child, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. There are some things about children That must be true of every believer. But there's some things about small children that they need to grow. I mean, small children may be easily deceived. And young believers, they too. They need to be instructed. They need to grow that they not be deceived. That we henceforth be no more children. Now notice it's tossed to and fro. and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness. Now watch this last line, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Have you ever thought about that? That there's some men that they just, they live, they live to deceive believers. They lie in wait, they lie in wait to deceive. Oh, but speaking the truth in love, there's that word again, love. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Not only to establish them, Paul said he sent Timothy to them to establish them in their faith, but also to comfort them in their faith. To establish and to comfort them. Now let's read verses three and four. Now that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation, even as it came to pass, and you know. What is Paul saying here? Recognize, brothers in the church there, in our church here, recognize that your faith, your faith, yes, it allows for you to suffer afflictions and tribulation. It does not exempt you from trials, from troubles, from discouragements in this life. It doesn't do that. You know, that's a false gospel, isn't it? That is preached sometimes in our land where it's called the gospel of prosperity and health. It's always God's will for you to be healthy, always God's will for you to be wealthy. What a shame. But those are some of those men who lie and wait to deceive that preach that message. Because that's not true. That's just not true. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith? That's what James said, hasn't he? It's not God's will for all of his children to be rich. It's not God's will for all of his children to always be healthy. We know that. When God's promised to give the grace, whatever providence he puts us in, hasn't he? My grace is sufficient for thee. Now it's not clear to me if Paul is speaking of the afflictions that he was experiencing or if he's speaking of the afflictions of the Thessalonians. It makes no difference, really. Notice he says, for verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation. Is he speaking only of himself? Does he use that we and that plural pronoun to include others besides himself? He may well do that. Or is he just speaking of himself? Did we tell you that we're going to suffer persecution? Or did we tell you that we should all suffer tribulation even as it came to pass? And you know, you know what is true. As I said, it's not true to me, at least whether Paul is speaking about, he told them, he warned them of the afflictions they would experience or he told them of the afflictions that he himself would experience. But one thing is for certain. He did say, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Verse five. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith. lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. I thought about that verse, and I thought about our Lord's parable of the sower. And Paul, no doubt, he was familiar with that parable. Look with me in Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. You see, he said, for this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest, by some means, a tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. He was familiar, no doubt, with the parable our Lord told, as it's recorded here in Matthew chapter 13, and when he explained it, notice in verse 18, hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth not, then cometh the wicked and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed into stony places and came the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy received it. Now, no doubt that would probably apply to the Thessalonians. They heard the word, they received it with joy. But here's the thing, did they have root? Did they have root? Because some in this parable, yet hath he not root in himself, but doeth for a while, for a while. But now notice, for when tribulation or persecution, that's what Paul's talking about, isn't it? Tribulation. When tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by, he is offended. He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful. But he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word understandeth which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth some an hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. Were these good ground-hearers? Were these, that he's writing this letter to, were they good ground-hearers or had they been stony ground-hearers? Paul says, sent to find out. Look at that verse again, verse five in our text. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. Well, notice verse six. But now, Paul's got word now, but now, when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and love, and that you have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you." Now Paul could say, I know by the coming of Timothy and his report concerning you, You were not stony ground hearers. You were good ground hearers, and you have brought forth fruit. You've brought forth fruit. They were as concerned to see Paul. We've already seen how Paul's great concern to see them. Paul said when Timothy came and gave his report to us, we realized that you were as desirous of seeing us as we were of seeing you. Let me finish here with verses 7 and 8. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith. For now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. Now Paul was at Corinth when Timothy came to him. And some of the writers believe that when Paul left Athens, he was discouraged when he came from Athens to Corinth. Now, I don't know that. I don't see that myself. But I do know that it was at Corinth that the Lord appeared to Paul and told him, preach the word. I have much people in this city. I don't think the Lord ever did that to Paul anywhere else but at Corinth. But Paul says that when Timothy came, let's read that again. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith. When we heard of your faith, now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. The witness or the report that Timothy brought concerning these was like a shot of B-12, spiritual B-12. Isn't that the shot they give you to kind of get you moving? It was like life from the dead. When I heard, oh, how thrilled my soul when I heard of your faith, that you were desirous of, that you had love for us like we have for you. Let's look at that and I'll close. Look there in Acts 18. This is where we read about this. Timothy and Silas come into Paul. Notice it says in verse five, and when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, That's where Thessalonica was, that's where Philippi was. When they would come from Macedonia, Paul, now notice what happened. And why did this happen? Because of this report, Paul was pressed in the spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. If he was discouraged, he got over it. He got over it by the coming of Timothy and the report that he brought concerning the church at Thessalonica. He was pressed in the spirit. He had to testify. He had to preach that Jesus is the Christ. May the Lord bless these words to all of us here this evening.