Welcome to the ministry of First Reformed Church of Aberdeen, South Dakota. Our worship services begin at 9 o'clock every Sunday morning. Now we join Pastor Hank Bowen as he brings God's Word. We turn our Bibles this morning to the book of 1 Thessalonians, the first chapter. We continue in our series here and we want to note this morning in particular a focus on a statement that Paul makes here that he knows the Thessalonians election. So in that context, let's read God's holy word together. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians in God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. In the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. for they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Beloved congregation of Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, speaking as Pastor Paul, expresses his profound thanks to God for the Christians in the Thessalonian church. The first way he did this was by praying for them. The second way he expressed his thanksgiving was by reflection upon the qualities of their faith, love, and hope demonstrated in their daily living. This was the immediate reason for Paul's expression of thanks to God. But there's a third reason for Paul's thankfulness that I only mentioned in passing when we looked at the verses two through four. This reason is found in verse 4, and it is the ultimate reason for Paul's offering of thanksgiving to God for the Thessalonian Christians. It is his knowledge that these believers are the elect of God, the chosen of God. Beloved, often we articulate what the doctrine of election is in a kind of scholarly, theological way that lacks any real vitality for the Christian life. But Paul is simply confessing election as a doctrine was a waste of time. Always he appeals to a sovereign God's election of a chosen people into salvation as the only basis for an assurance that one is truly saved. And so it becomes much more than just a kind of theological doctrine. Note here how it is not the doctrine of election that Paul is highlighting. It is the knowledge of the fact that these Thessalonians are elect. In telling them so, Paul's purpose is to build in them persevering assurance, an ability and a desire to continue on in knowing that they belong to God. Often we will say that we cannot know who the elect are. And there is a sense in which that is a true statement. We do not know the mind of God's secret will. We do not know all who he has chosen before the foundation of the world. But this text today challenges us to recognize that on another level we can recognize if someone is the elect of God. And to another note, that we should be able to see in ourselves that we are the elect of God. Consider Paul's declaration here. Does he have some special insight into God's eternal decree? God's eternal plan? Not at all. For what follows in the verses 5 through 10 should be taken as the explanation for Paul's statement in verse 4 of Paul's knowing that these Thessalonians are the elect of God. The evidence by which Paul identifies them as elect can be broken down into three characteristics. First is the word is received. Second is that the Christian example is mimicked. And then thirdly is that the elect become examples themselves. So first, the word is received. Look at verse 5. What we see there is an explanation that he begins regarding how he identifies them as being the elect of God, of being chosen, of being saved, of being Christians. What Paul establishes here as a basis for knowing whether you are elect is conformity to a pattern, not any pattern, the gospel pattern. What does he say? He says, for our gospel, the first mark of one's election, is embracing of the good news of God's salvation through his only begotten son. So that as the messengers of Christ's gospel, the gospel became their gospel as well. They heard it, they embraced it, and it became their message. Thus Paul says, for our gospel did not come to you in word only. By extension, then, the gospel of our Lord Jesus became the gospel of the apostles, and then of the preachers. And it has also become your gospel as one who believes in the word preached. So by extension, then, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ becomes the very basis upon which we live, how we make decisions, how we see the world, how we make choices and priorities. The gospel message is the good news of salvation through the forgiveness of your sins by Jesus dying for your sins in your place upon the cross. That's the gospel message. The gospel pattern starts when a Christian proclaims the gospel, which brought salvation to them, to another, and that other person becomes a Christian. The gospel we proclaim is not a general proclamation, but it is echoed in our Heidelberg Catechism in the words that, not only to others, but to me also, God has brought the power of new life in Christ. So the gospel pattern is an evangelistic pattern. There is not one of us here today that believes the gospel based upon our own discovery independent of anything else. What we believe for many of us, is what our parents believed, and their parents believed, and it goes back. It is the gospel that has been proclaimed over and over, generation after generation after generation. It is that same gospel, and thus it is an established pattern. So that when the world comes and tells the church that they have to change their message, that they have to conform to culture, What they're saying is you must break the gospel pattern and establish now a cultural pattern. And the church will always refuse to do that. But it is also far more. Paul's point is that what you receive was far more than a story, far more than the words he spoke. The evidence of the gospel pattern begins when these words take on a dynamic transforming power in the hearer's life. Look what it says. It says that the word did not come to you in three different ways. First, the gospel is preached. The power, which is the Greek word dunamis, it's the word where we kind of derive that idea of dynamite power, is an internal transformational sense. The word of God did not come to you in word only, but also in power. It also came in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who drives the Word into the soul and becomes the very source for our believing. And then thirdly, the Word did not come unto you in word only, but also in much assurance. For full confidence in the Gospel is the Word of God because of its ability to produce faith in the hearer. It is crucial that we continually confirm in our own minds that we believe, we embrace, we rest in that knowledge. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So that all who confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and repent of their sins and believe that God is raised in the third day will be saved. And we believe that. We believe that message. And we believe the hearing of that message is powerful. It doesn't come to us as just words. It comes to us as a powerful application by the Holy Spirit that gives to us a very firm faith and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the last phrase of verse 5, Paul then includes an addendum. The reason for the addendum is that there were always accusations against Paul and Silas and Timothy that they were false prophets. They were preaching a false gospel. So Paul points to the effectual working of the gospel in the Thessalonians as proof that what they preached to the Thessalonians was God's word. It was truth. that the evidence that their ministry was legitimate was the quality of the Thessalonians' transformed lives. Well, secondly, he goes on and he speaks of the Christian example is mimicked. The second evidence is seen in verse 6, where we read, and you became followers of us and of the Lord. You became followers. Having believed the word which the disciples preached to them, the Thessalonians embraced the gospel in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. And furthermore, they also recognized that believing or being saved was not the final goal or end of the word preached. The faith that is worked into the hearer by the Holy Spirit becomes the instrument that sets the Christian's life in motion. The word followers here is the root word for the English word mimics. The hearers in Thessalonica became mimickers of the Christian lifestyle. Not hearers only, but doers of the word, as James says. And who do you think that it was that they mimicked? Well, they mimicked their pastors. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 16, Paul says, therefore I urge you, imitate me. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1. He again says, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. And in mimicking Paul, they weren't simply trying to be followers of Paul. The goal there, and Paul's very explicit in the goal, is to follow me as I follow Christ. So that mimicking Paul was a way in which they were conforming to a mimicking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see that in Ephesians 5.1 where he says, therefore be imitators of God as dear children. In each of those examples, the word imitate is the word mimic. In what way did they mimic or imitate the pastors and the Lord? It was also in the way in which they received or held unto the gospel. They received it in much affliction, it says. Much suffering. Brings to mind 1 Peter chapter 4. where he says in verse one, therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you. and then dropping down to verse 13, but you rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy if you are reproached for the name of Christ. Blessed are you, for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified. Reminiscent of the end of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, isn't it? Blessed are you when they revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. And you kind of think, Pastor, really? I'm blessed? I'm blessed when people revile me and say evil things about me? It is if the reason is because they see Christ in you. The Thessalonian Christians understood that there would be suffering and sacrifice as they were keenly aware of the plight of the apostles in bringing the gospel to them. But even more, we all are keenly aware of the sufferings of Christ that he endured to obtain our redemption. With this consciously a part of their faith and experience, They persevered in that joy that comes with the working of faith into the believer by the Holy Spirit. And this was a direct evidence of the unwavering confidence that they had in God. This past week, a man who had been a missionary for a number of years in the Middle East was released. He was accused of all kinds of of evil doing. But really what the evil was that he did was he brought the gospel to a dark part of the world that was contrary to the recognized religion. And so they made up false accusations against him to seek to silence him. Consider for just a moment the suffering of Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16, beginning of verse 19, where they're in Philippi. And it says, but when her masters saw that their hope for profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. Now, remember the story there. There was a young lady that was possessed by a demon that could kind of foretell what was going to happen. And so these people that sort of had enslaved her were making money off of her to get her to tell people what was going to happen. Be a soothsayer, so to speak. And when Paul and Silas were walking along, she would follow behind and would call them servants of the Lord Jesus, servants of the Lord Jesus. Finally, Paul told her to shut up and be quiet for the demon to come out of her. And the demon came out of her, and guess what happened? She couldn't foretell anything anymore, so their means of income were gone, and now they're really mad at Paul and Silas. So they take and haul them before the authorities. It says, and they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city, i.e., they've taken away our money profit. And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks." Not good stuff. A lot of suffering, a lot of affliction. But read what it says. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. That's what you call a captive audience. Literally, a captive audience. Often when you might consider being partakers with Christ and his suffering, you must understand that you can only mimic his suffering in a limited way. Jesus alone came to suffer and to die on the cross to obtain the forgiveness of your sins. So you may be called upon to suffer for his namesake, but you will not first have to suffer the penalty for sins. Rather, according to Romans 8.29, Christ died that you may be conformed to his image. which is an image of righteousness and holiness, a love for God, and a willingness to lay down your own life for your brother's sake. You know, God calls us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then he calls upon us to love our neighbor as ourself. In fact, the Bible goes on even to say that we are to love our enemies and to love those who despitefully use us and do bad things to us. We're to pray for them and to show love to them. And that's a hard thing. You know, it's an easy thing when somebody's going through a hard time to say, I'll pray for you, I'll pray for you. It sounds really good, I'll pray for you. When what the person needs is someone to help fix their car so they can get to work. And they're asking you for financial help or time help or whatever your ability may be to help them fix their car. And now you say, oh, that's going too far. I love you, but I don't want to love you that far. And that's kind of what we saw in the example of Philippi. They were content with Paul and Silas preaching in the town all the way up to the point where they removed the demon out of this slave girl's life, and she lost that gift that she had. Well, as believers, the Thessalonians mimicked their pastors. Paul and Silas and Timothy were persecuted. Paul endured tremendous suffering. And they were willing to endure suffering because they saw that even as they had endured suffering to bring them the gospel, so the Thessalonian Christians said, well, that's part of my Christian witness is that I endure whatever I have to endure, that the gospel of Jesus Christ continues to go forth into the world. It's a mark that we really believe this. I mentioned the martyrs a while back, and I won't go into any depth today. But they were often called upon to deny the Lord Jesus Christ or be tortured. Some even put to death. All they had to say was that Caesar was Lord, rather than saying Jesus is Lord. And they could go free. And they would torture them and try to get them to reject Jesus, to confess Caesar as Lord. And they wouldn't do it. and endured tremendous suffering, and were glad to do it, because they had seen how Christ had suffered for us, and how the apostles suffered, that the gospel might go forward. And so on that we come to our third point, the elect become examples themselves. We see that in verse 7. As imitators of their pastors and of the Lord Jesus, the Thessalonians became a powerful testimony of what it is to receive the word of God in power as the elect of God. So amazing was the fruit of their conversion that they became the talk of the town. Soon their commitment and devotion to Christ spread so that, according to verse 8, their faith in God was heard of in half of the known world. Heard all over the place. So much so that while the apostles were now out in other cities, they were hearing people talking about that church in Thessalonica. How was this accomplished? Well, just a brief glimpse into how God used this moment in the history of the world as an appropriate time to introduce the spread of the gospel outside of the promised land. One of the things that made the Romans so powerful in their rule of the world was their development of roads and commerce. And one of the roads that they built was the Ignatian Highway that linked the east and the west so that goods were brought across land from the east to the Theramaic Gulf, where they were then transported by sea travel to all the major ports. And not only was this good for business, but it also facilitated the movement of news throughout the known world. Look at how much the gospel is being spread today because of the internet and media. Information of all types is pretty much at the fingertips of anyone around the world. Sermon audio allows people in Germany to listen to our service. It's an amazing, amazing thing. So Paul takes note of how important this pattern of hearing, following a good example, and becoming a good example are to the furtherance of the gospel and the building up of the church. And it is really important to consciously understand what Heibert question 86 emphasizes when it speaks of the reasons that we are to do good works. And the last being so that we may win others to Christ by our good works. These Thessalonians were making an impact on the known world by their good works, by how they lived. Notice also how Paul is very specific about what it is the world is noticing in verses 9 and 10. In the first part of verse 9, they turned from idols. Thessalonica was located at what was thought to be the foot of Mount Olympus, where the Greek god Zeus resided with all the other Greek gods. In other words, they cast off what was the norm for the world's thinking in their day. which was a thinking of multiplicity of gods all over the place. In the second half of verse 9, it says they turn to the true and living God. They cast off that which was false, but you can't stop there. Jesus talks about, you can't clean out the house and then just leave it. You've got to come back in and fill it with the right kinds of things, or else more demons will come in. He says, you cast out the one demon, more demons will come and be worse off than you were. You have to cast off that which was false, but you have to then bring in that which is true. And they cast off those false idols, and they brought in the true and living God. They began living for the God who is the creator of the heavens and the earth. And then it says in verse 10, and they lived looking forward with patient confidence, being ready for the return of Christ. Again, it's that word eschatological, eschatological. It means the last things, the last times. And what it means here in particular is that they lived their life eschatologically. They lived always looking for the coming of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. that there's that promise. There's a promise of a day of judgment. For us, the day of judgment is not a day of fear. For us, the day of judgment is a day of victory and jubilation, when God raises us up and our bodies are joined to our souls and we ever live with the Lord. It's that which we look forward to, that which is the ultimate realization of God's salvation restoration of us into relationship with him. So the question is, how clear is the evidence of God's election in your life? Have you ever thought about that? How clear is God's election in my life? Weird way of saying it, isn't it? But that's what Paul's talking about here. Do you know your election? Do you know God has chosen you? I've been saying for the last few months that I've been thinking about how often we think it's important that we know the Lord. And it is important that we know the Lord. But even more important than that we know the Lord is that the Lord knows us. And that's kind of what Paul's talking about here. If you know your elect, what you're saying is, I know God knows me, that God has chosen me. And he's showing you the signs that demonstrate that God knows you, because God works these things in your life as the sovereign God. A love for him, a love for others, a willingness to suffer and sacrifice, a willing to live God-centered in your life. What are others saying about us here at First Reformed Church? Is our church known? Are you assured of your salvation by evidence that God's word is transforming your life before God? Those are the challenges. What is it Paul's telling us here? He's telling us that we can know our salvation by certain things God works in our life. Not just that we hear the word, but the word transforms us, that it assures us that others see that in us. And what then are we supposed to do with this? Well, first of all, we have confidence in God. We look to God as a sovereign God for our power and strength and direction. Our assurance is not because, well, if I just work hard enough, I'm going to make it. Our assurance is God sent his Son into the world who died not just for others, but for me also. God's Son died for me. And God the Father and God the Son sent the Holy Spirit into my heart. So that, yes, there's the conviction for my sins, but also enabling me to repent, to turn from those sins, and to seek to walk in the way of God, in the way of salvation. Election for me is not a doctrine, a theological dissertation, but election for me is the hand of God, which holds me each and every day firmly in faith. And knowing that, I go forward into the world, a life transformed, a life filled with joy. Amen? Our Almighty God and our Heavenly Father, we do come and desire to hear your word. but to be more than just hearers of the word. We want to be those that the Holy Spirit imparts the power of that word into our lives, transforms our lives, brings assurance of our salvation into our lives, so that each and every day we walk, not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, walking in your steps and in your path to serve you with all that we are, all that you have made us to be. Father, hear us as we pray as you have taught us, saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.