1 Thessalonians chapter 3, we'll read the whole of the chapter together. Our text for this evening is the first five verses of this chapter. Paul writes, 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 ye 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 ye 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, he stand fast in the Lord. For what things 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 toward one 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. Amen. That's why we read in God's holy and inspired word. Beloved covenant people of God, we return this afternoon to our series in 1 Thessalonians. You may remember somewhat of the history of this letter, the history of this congregation. You may remember that we looked at that from Acts, in Acts chapter 17. We read that God was the one who raised up this congregation of God's people in Thessalonica. He did so in the midst of all sorts of strife and turmoil and persecution, even in the establishing of that church. And since that time, the persecution and trials of this congregation hadn't eased. It had continued. And accordingly, Paul had written this letter to the Thessalonians. to seek to encourage them in their faith in the face of great trials and sorrows and especially after he received the report from Timothy who had visited them to inquire after them and to strengthen them. So far in this letter, if we could very briefly summarise, what Paul has done is he has commended the Thessalonian Christians for God's grace in them that resulted in faith and hope and love and thus their genuine faith arising out of the true gospel preached to them despite all the opposition that they had faced. Now, as we come to our text this afternoon, chapter three in the first five verses here, Paul begins to speak of the practical steps that he took to care for this Thessalonian congregation as he was considering the state that they were in, and before they sent Timothy. As he does so, God uses what Paul outlines here to teach his New Testament church, to teach us, including us, about tribulation and about persecution. First of all, what to expect. He teaches us with regards to that, but also how to see that in the light of the gospel. What blessings that we have in our Saviour. That's, of course, very relevant to us today. It's relevant to us today in Australia because increasingly there arises opposition and persecution to the true fervent Christian faith. It's obviously a lot more relevant in other countries where there is far more opposition and persecution of Christians, but it is increasingly relevant to us today. We will increasingly suffer opposition and trouble. It's very important truth therefore to be applied to us. Let's examine therefore what the Holy Spirit has to say to us this afternoon from these verses under the theme concern over tribulations. In that we'll look at three things. Let's look first of all at Paul's serious concern for these Thessalonian Christians. Secondly we look at God's sure provision for them and thirdly our confident faith. Concern over tribulations. Paul says something very important in these verses, which we do well to take to heart. Notice with me in verse 3, he says, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we were appointed thereunto. Very important words to consider and think about. The word afflictions, when he says that no man should be moved by these afflictions, it's a more general word. In fact, it's a word that means to apply pressure to, if you like, horrible, squeezing pressure that is being applied. So this word affliction, of course, can mean affliction, it can mean oppression, it can mean tribulation, it can mean persecution, it means any of those things which come upon us that tend to push us around and cause sorrow and pain and stress and anxiety. It includes all of these things. But then, notice Paul says, you know that we are appointed thereunto. to the affliction. We're appointed. He's saying, we've been appointed to this. This has been appointed to your lives. Who's appointed us to that? Well, God, of course. God's appointed that. And that's to be our thinking. This is to be our thinking. We know, or we should know, it should be very clearly there in our consciousness, that if we are Christians, If we have a true faith in Christ, if we are believers, if we are the Lord, then God, because he loves us, has appointed many pressures, many afflictions, many trials and difficulties for our life. Because he loves us. This is his good and perfect work, and he's working all of these things together for our good, right along with the blessings and the joys. Now, we don't have too much trouble, do we? When lovely blessings come and wonderful joys come in our life, we don't have too much trouble saying, God appointed that for me. And I'm thankful that he has appointed that for me. That is wonderful. I am so thankful to the Lord. But you see, it ought to be, if we know the truth that Paul speaks of here, we ought likewise to say, when God brings great trials and oppression and affliction and persecution upon us, that we likewise say, blessed be the Lord. He appointed this for me. He has done great things for me. And I am thankful that he is my God in all that he is doing in my life. But parallel with this, so that's the one truth that Paul is bringing home here. Parallel with this, Paul also says in verse 5, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you. And so here is, if you like, a parallel truth that goes along with that. Satan is constantly at work. Satan and all of his demons are constantly at work. It's a spiritual warfare and he is constantly looking at our life and he is constantly seeing all the pressures, these afflictions that God is sending. He looks at the troubles that come piling into your life and he is going to be very active. He is the ultimate tempter. That's why that Paul actually says to him, he gives him a name and calls him The Tempter. That word tempt, it means to put to the test. It means to come along and, as it were, apply some sort of pressure to test. And in this case, because it's The Tempter, what he's doing is he's pushing on it trying to make it fail. It's a bit like you've got a post in the ground and you think, hmm, I want to try and push that thing over. I wonder if it will fall. And so you push on it like anything, expecting that hopefully you will make a crack and fall and be broken. And that's the idea of Satan. Satan sees all of these things and he's at work. He attempts to take everything that's happening in a Christian life and then try to insert all sorts of wrong thinking and wrong attitudes about those things, to tempt the Christian towards failing, to tempt the Christian towards sinning and not trusting God, to tempt them to become weaker and weaker in their faith rather than becoming stronger and stronger through the trials. So Paul is not, as he also tells us in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11, Paul is not ignorant of Satan's devices. He's not ignorant of what Satan gets up to. He's not ignorant of the way in which Satan gets into his life and he knows other people's lives, including us. And because of that, he has a great concern for the Thessalonians. How are they doing? How are they doing under all of these pressures, under these afflictions, which he knew that they would suffer? And even now they're undergoing. What is happening as the tempter, as it were, plies them with his devices? What's happening? Are they in fact full of anxiety? Are they full of stress? Are they feeling the pressure to give up and despair? Or are they resting quietly in the Lord? Are they confident in Him? Are they at peace in mind and heart, strong in the faith, gladly walking forward, being a blessing to others, even while the pressures and afflictions and troubles are still pouring upon them? Well, because Paul has such a love, such a concern for them, there is a response from him. What is that response? As Paul knows all of these things. Well, first, his response really goes right back to the beginning of when the church was established. And you see that and he reminds them of that. He says to them that he forewarned the Thessalonians right at the establishment of the church. That's verse four. When he and Silas and Timothy had been with them, they had warned them. In fact, literally, Paul says, for even when we were with you, We were telling you beforehand that we were about to be oppressed. That's what he says, that we were about to be oppressed, as it were. He's saying to the Thessalonian congregation, here's the truth. God's gathered you together. God, through his gospel, has saved you. And here's the warning, people of God. You're about to receive affliction and oppression. It's about to come upon you. He knew that all who walk godly in Christ Jesus would suffer persecution, and brethren, we're to know that too. Do we understand that truth? And I've told you this before, and I won't hesitate to tell it to you again and again. Why? We forget it. We kind of think and we kind of expect, even though we shouldn't do, that, hey, I'm a Christian, God should be blessing me, and I should feel happy, and everything should be lovely. Why does everything have to be so hard all the time? Why do all these things happen to me again and again, and I keep having all these troubles? Well, God said to you, affliction is about to happen. It will come upon you. And God tells us that again and again and again in his words, so that we're not to make any mistakes. God is the one. who appoints and who sends all the troubles, all the difficulties, the afflictions, the oppositions, the persecutions into our life. And this is his purpose, being a loving and a wise heavenly father, he knows exactly what we need in our life. And that's what he sends. Because he loves us. Because he's wise. because he knows exactly what we need in our individual lives to rescue us out of our own foolishness and sin and to bring us to him, to make us cast ourselves upon him and to know how much we need him and to walk with him. You know, Satan knows that too. Satan knows that God is sending the trials, the tribulations, the afflictions and the persecutions into your life. because God would have you cast yourself upon him and know of a fullness of grace and peace and strength. And Satan doesn't want you to have that. He's the great tempter. And so he's going to be right there to try and turn our thinking in a different direction, turn our heart in a different direction. He wants to have us despair or to think that somehow God is punishing us or to think that somehow things are out of control. It's all chaos. Nothing's as it ought to be. He wants us to think like that. rather than saying, God is in heaven and all is well with everything that he is doing. And he is perfectly bringing the circumstances of my life to bring me to him, to have me cast myself upon him. So Paul then does even more. That's his first response was what he already did. He formed them. Affliction is about to come upon you. Opposition, persecution. But notice that Paul doesn't say, oh, well, that's enough. You know, I told them. I told them right back at the beginning they were going to suffer affliction, so they'll be fine. And neither, notice, he doesn't send Timothy off to them just to give them a message and say, hey, I told you so, you know, I told you. There it is, just like I said. He doesn't do that either, does he? Paul urgently knows that just like himself, and just like all of us, we're prone to fall, we're prone to fail, we're prone to lack faith, to not believe the truth and promises of God. So, verse one, he knows that he must do more. And even though Timothy, remember they're about mission work, they're in Athens at the present time and there's so much ungodliness there, and there's tons of work for himself and Silas and Timothy to be about, and Timothy was of much value to them in that mission work, they decide that the urgency of the situation in Thessalonica was such that they would send Timothy back in order to, verse 5, know their faith. He wants to know Is their labor that they had expended in Thessalonica in preparing them for these hard afflictions and persecution, has it borne fruit? And are the Thessalonians flourishing and are they doing well? Or has the tempter got in? Has the evil one managed to cause them to fall into despair and into trouble? So Paul's response then is to send Timothy back. You know, in all of this, What we are really seeing is God at work. What we see here is God's sure provision. We ought to take a step back and see that what is happening here is what God is doing in the life of his people. We have the advantage of that because, in fact, we know the letter, we know the history, we know all that God was doing, and we get to have the bird's eye view, as it were, of this. God marvelously has given to these Thessalonian Christians everything that they need. God does this, not Paul, not the missionaries, but it's God who provided for them. How did God provide for them? Well, what he did for them especially was to give them the preaching of the word. Initially, that was what God did in the calling of them through the preaching of the gospel, that these missionaries came and they preached the beautiful truth of the gospel that called them out of darkness, that set before them the only saviour, that Savior who would be the payment for their sins as they trusted in him and to give them his righteousness and make them right with God to reconcile them to God and have eternal life. But as well as that, Paul would have preached much more than that as that gospel. Because Paul, even as a missionary, notice that Paul is a missionary here, he's not a pastor in a settled congregation. But as he says elsewhere in Acts 20 verse 27, he did not fail to preach all the counsel of God. So right there in Thessalonica, Paul, even in the brief time that he was there, would have been preaching all the truth that's found in all of the scripture, which is centered in Jesus Christ. And as a consequence, they received a rich and full of preaching, including that's the reason why Paul was actually preaching to them. You are about to suffer persecution. That's the truth of what happens in the Christian church. It's happened all through the ages and will continue until Jesus comes again. So they were prepared. They were strengthened by the preaching of the word that God was providing to them right from the beginning. But it wasn't just that God made his provision through the preaching initially, we see God's ongoing provision. Through Paul's love and care for them as a pastor, Timothy is sent back to them in the midst of their troubles. And I want us to take notice once again of the wording that is here. Timothy is sent, verse two, as the minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to and establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith. So the emphasis that is placed here is not, oh, I've sent Timothy to sit down with you and weep with you. I've sent Timothy to sit down with you and commiserate with you and say, oh, this is so sad, this is so hard, this is terrible. No doubt Timothy would have done that. If Timothy had a feeling heart, he would have sat down and wept with those that weep. But that's not the main emphasis. What's the main emphasis upon God's provision here through Timothy? It's that he would come as a preacher of the gospel, and in this way, notice, establish and comfort them in their faith. Here is what is so necessary in all of our afflictions. It's the solid preaching of the word. that constantly rescues us from all of our wrong thinking and our wrong acting under the pressures of life and what it does is it draws us back, draws our souls and our minds and our hearts back to Jesus Christ, back to our King, back to our Saviour, back to our Redeemer. What He is doing for us and in our lives, so that right there, right there, wherever we are, perhaps in the midst of your marriage and family troubles, or perhaps it's in the middle of your financial and work stresses, or perhaps it's in the afflictions of health, perhaps it's in the persecution of the world against you, perhaps it's in all sorts of horrible troubles in the midst of your church. Whatever it may be, The Word of God comes powerfully to bless you. That's why they sent Timothy back. That Word comes to us and reminds us, in the midst of our suffering, why we are suffering. Why are you suffering? Because your Savior loves you. It's for the purpose of turning you from your sin and foolishness to walk with him in truth and peace. Brethren, we can see it so clearly, can't we, for the Thessalonians. Here they are in all those struggles. And here comes Timothy being sent from Paul to come back and as a minister of the word, as someone who labors, a fellow laborer in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that gospel is brought in God's provision, preached into the midst of them to encourage their hearts, to strengthen them in their faith, to say, ah, that's what we needed to remind us of these wonderful truths and center us on the Lord Jesus again. We can see it for them and we see it for us too. Can we see it for us too? Can you and I say, I'm applying that gospel truth in my life, right now, in my trials, in my difficulties, that I am trusting that my God, my covenant God, has appointed every trial and every difficulty and every affliction for my blessing and it's part of Him saving me. It's part of his purposes in my life and for all those that are around about him. He is in perfect control. And he knows what he's doing. And I am to love him and to thank him for his wondrous saving work even in and through the trials and afflictions I face. What a wonderful provision is that word of truth So that what happens into the darkness and confusion and the anxiety of all the things that we face, that wonderful word shines light and truth as well as comfort and solid truth upon which we can place our feet. It's the rock who is Jesus Christ. But there's more here in God's provision. There's more here. because God not only provides for us in the preach word applied by the Spirit, but in a very real way, he provides for us through fellow believers. There is here a genuine love, a warm love, a heartfelt concern of working for the good of the Thessalonians, evident in Paul, as well as in Silas and Timothy. This is not just a determination on their part, as it were, to say, oh, we've got to get the truth to them. And that's it. That's so important. The preaching of the word, because that's what God uses. That's what the spirit uses. But there's a warm fellowship, there's a gracious walking with their fellow believers, there's a heart for them. And as Paul has said at the end of chapter two, he said, speaking of the Thessalonians, he says, for you are our glory and our joy. And so he he sorrows with them in all their failings and their troubles, but he rejoices as they walk forward in the strength of grace and salvation. You are our glory and joy. Hence, he cannot help but feel for them. have a heartfelt concern for them, a care for them, and he will do all that he can, both to inquire about how they're doing and to assist them, hence in the sending of Timothy. We're called to do the same. We're called to do the same. Our Lord Jesus Christ has not saved us, brought us into his kingdom, so that we can sit smugly in his kingdom and say well that's great you know I'm saved and you know like we were talking about I got all my theology right that's great good all done no we've been saved so that we can show forth his praises that that's the word of God we've been saved to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. We're to show forth the praises. Certainly we show forth those praises, first of all, directly in our worship, in our thankfulness, in our glorifying Him every day. But He calls us to show forth His praises in this, to love our fellow saints, even as they are going through all sorts of trials, afflictions and persecutions, because we all have them appointed into our lives. and where to have a loving concern for all of our fellow saints. This love and care and concern for our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ is part of God's provision to his church for each other. And it manifests itself in truly knowing one another, walking with one another. It will be to ensure that all the comfort and strengthening of the truth of the Scriptures that's able to heal and help and strengthen and encourage and admonish, it's going to be known by us and applied by us. So, as we receive the Word of God and it helps us and encourages us, then we are to take that and apply that to others also. and we'll all be receiving different parts of the Word of God. Even in the preaching, different ones of us receive different things, and we can encourage one another, speak to one another about that. But we're all reading different things and different parts of the Word of God, and God is speaking by His Spirit into our hearts. And the way to share that with one another, encourage one another. As we face different trials and God speaks to us and helps us, Then we speak to others and you say, you know, God really comforted me in this and he spoke to me in this and I really want to encourage you in this as well. We can only do that if we're truly involved with one another. In a similar way to which our God and Savior is involved in our life. God is not a God who's far off in some distant universe who's far off and aloof and so forth. Our God is a God who is right beside us. Our God is a God who, in Jesus Christ and by His Spirit, He dwells within us, in our very heart and in our mind. Jesus Christ is the Savior who is touched with the feelings of our infinities. So it is that we, very imperfectly, but we too are to have that kind of living with one another and God wonderfully uses us very imperfect broken instruments but he uses us in that provision of his care to us which brings us to our confident faith This is the wonderful confidence that we can have as we stand in awe of the salvation which God is working in Jesus Christ for us. We can have a confidence in the truth that he tells us. First of all, the word of God makes plain that we will suffer persecution and afflictions and trials and sorrows. God himself has appointed these things for our life. We will know that and therefore we can expect as you go into the day tomorrow, you can expect that further afflictions will arise. They will come upon you and sometimes they seem to pile one on top of another really, really quickly and yet we can know God appointed that. Things aren't out of control. They're proceeding exactly as God had always planned it from before the foundation of the world for my life. As we are the Lords, you see, God has removed the curse of sin in Jesus Christ. It's gone. It's taken away. And not only that, but God has already punished Jesus Christ for all of my sins. There is no punishment that God will apply to me anymore. The curse, punishment, gone in Christ Jesus. But our Heavenly Father, He will chastise me because he chastises every single son and daughter that he has because he loves them, just as a godly parent will lovingly discipline and train and chastise their child. God is proving our faith. He puts us to the test. Not like Satan does, who wants to break us, but he puts us to the test because he wants to strengthen our spiritual muscles He wants to increase our faith. We're so weak, and yet he carefully applies things to us. He's saving us in that way, and we're to be so thankful. So this means that as those things arise, as they come tomorrow, as I can tell you, just like Paul said, okay, brethren, you're about to be afflicted. We can know that. It might be small, it might be big tomorrow, but brethren, tomorrow, we're going to be afflicted. But rather than then, because we have a faith that's confident in Him, rather than getting all stirred up in anxiety or frustration or unrighteous anger or despair, we can humbly say to the Lord, thank you, my Lord, you are bringing me what I need. We can acknowledge the truth of 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13, God is faithful. who will not suffer me, if I can paraphrase it, who will not suffer me to be tempted above what I'm able, but will, with the temptation, with the trial, he will also make a way of escape and I may be able to bear it. And that way of escape that's mentioned there, that's Jesus. That's our Savior. His perfect grace, His wisdom, His strength, so that I can not only bear up under the affliction, that God will enable me to truly flourish in His grace in the midst of that affliction. That's the attitude of faith, a confident faith in God and in our Saviour. We put our hand out to the Lord and He reaches down in fatherly love and He gives what is good into our hands. It doesn't mean it's always something that is joyful. It may be hard, it may be painful, but He gives what is truly good for us. Our faith then can be made even stronger as we trust Him. And then you see, as we are trusting, as we are walking close to our Saviour, Satan has no foothold. He can't get a hold of us to make us get distracted into all sorts of anxieties as we're having a confident faith. Brethren, let's heed what Paul says to us here concerning Satan the tempter. because here's where we need to have a confident faith especially. The devil is a defeated foe. That's part of the confidence of God's people. He especially was dealt the death blow, his head was crushed at the cross where Jesus Christ made the full payment for his people and Jesus rose again from the dead on account of our justification. Satan's head was crushed, and he's a defeated foe. But we ought to recognize, that doesn't mean that he's toothless, that he's got no power, there's nothing Satan can do, not at all. We need to be so very wary. He's cunning, he's exceedingly angry, especially the Word of God makes that plain in the New Testament times, that he's been frustrated in all of his purpose, and his hatred for Jesus and the church means he's just like a roaring lion. We'd be fools not to see him as a formidable adversary. And we know his devices, including this one here. He will try to get in and twist your heart in the midst of trials, afflictions, pressures, persecutions that come upon you and cast you adrift on a sea of worry and hopelessness away from your mighty shepherd and redeemer. But a confident faith knows that. It knows this is what faces me. And I can be confident in my king. I can be. Satan can't win the war because it's not ready. And as I walk tightly with my king, trusting in him and knowing he's sending all these things and it's for my good, once again, Satan cannot get a hold upon you as you're walking in faith and thankfulness. We can never be confident in ourselves, can we? Every time if we start to become confident in ourselves and say, I've got this, you're going to fall. I can guarantee it. We by ourselves are weak as water, changeable as the wind, And so easily, just remember like the Apostle Peter, if he got out of the boat and started to walk on the water, what did he do? He looked at the wind and the waves and sunk down quick as anything. And we will do the same. But, confident in the Saviour, remember while Peter was looking at the Lord, he could walk on the water. Not because of his own strength, not because of anything that was in him, but because of the strength of the Lord and His truth. And when we sink, which we do, then we can cry out just like Peter and say, Lord, I perish. Help me. And he will, with his hand, lift us up. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner, and he will hear your cries. Send his word. both in the preaching and our own reading. And he will send the church, the body of Christ, the provision of God's people around about us to encourage us and to turn us back and to remember the Savior and to remember his truth, to encourage and admonish one another. Everything that's encapsulated here about what Paul was doing in his care of the believers in Thessalonica. Let's be encouraged, therefore, by this portion of God's word, which speaks to our real needs each day. in the way in which God truly meets those needs in our Lord. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Lord willing, we sing shortly. Amen. Let's stand to pray. Our dear heavenly Father, oh Lord, we thank you for your care of your church And even as we read these things, which are so practically relevant to our lives, faced by the saints 2,000 years ago, and yet, Lord, we face the same things in our lives, we thank you for this encouragement. Strengthen us in this truth. May we have a confident faith in our God, and that you may keep us from the tempter. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.