Our scripture reading this evening is found in 1 Thessalonians. Look at 1 Thessalonians. We're going to read 1 Thessalonians 5. And the text tonight will be verses 23 and 24. 1 Thessalonians 5. We'll read the entire chapter. This is the Word of God. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You're all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation, For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. That's why we read God's Word. As I said, the text is verses 23 and 24. The very God of peace sanctify you wholly. I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. In the year 2020, so many things changed and so many things happened that we could not at all have anticipated that the year would have gone as it did a year ago. This will be a year that we never forget, probably for many different reasons. Either because it's a year that was so different from others, or because it's a year when everything changed, and our lives have drastically changed from this time on. There are some things that we remember about this past year. First of all, how quickly our lives changed. Going back to March, when everything was changing. And it happened almost in a day or two. There was an email, I remember, from one of the school principals saying, I've talked to so-and-so and we'll be on for school. And later that night, the email came, no school tomorrow. Sporting events canceled. In-person school was canceled. Worship services were canceled and then were held but not in person for a while. Weddings were changed. Funerals were different. Some of us had the virus. Others didn't get the virus but we were exposed and we were quarantined. There's some who got the virus and they died. We learn new terminology. Quarantine, social distancing, pandemic, Rona, and coronavirus, and COVID-19, and so many other things as well. But it's not just that that's happened in this past year. It's not just all about COVID, and maybe some of us are tired of hearing about it. but it's part of our lives under the sovereign direction of God. But there have been so many other things. You think back about this past year and the word tension. World Magazine, Christian News Magazine looks back at the past year and gave that as one of the headlines of the past year. Tension. maybe not strong enough for the riots and protests and the Black Lives Matter movement and all the rest, but it's not just out there, but tensions here and all the things that have happened here in our churches as well. And the question is, with all of these things and so many other things that have happened over the past year, how do we look at these things? As we look back, and that's what we do tonight, that's why we're here, to look back for a few moments. How do we look back at all of those things? You may be familiar with Time Magazine and the headline that was found in one of its recent issues, 2020, the worst year ever. It's almost laughable from many perspectives because if you're going to start comparing 2020 with years in the past, there are much more difficult years in this world and in the history of the world. But maybe for many of us, we've not had a year like this, but I don't want to get into that debate. The point is, when we look back, are we going to start comparing? Well, 2020 with 2019 with 2017 and so on and so forth. We don't get into that comparison game. Because the world looks at this past year from a very selfish perspective. All the bad things that happened to us. All the bad things that happened to me. And they show their self-centeredness. They show their very humanistic Perspective. The world in which we live takes God out of the picture and only looks at things from a man-centered and self-centered perspective. And when you take that perspective, then you're saying, well, good riddance to 2020, and here's hoping that 2021 is much better because a vaccine has come out, and now things are going to get back to normal. That must not be our perspective. Looking back, seeing an awful year, good riddance, now let's get back to normal. Instead, what we do is we look back, is we see the purposes of God. We look at it from a theological perspective. We look at it from the perspective of who God is and what He does. So that this question comes up. What was God doing in the year 2020? What was God doing? Now there's much that we might not understand or know about that, but yet at the same time, we see and understand that there are many answers to that in the Word of God. I want to look at just one of those in the sermon tonight. What was God doing in this past year through all of those things that I listed before and in many others? We see and understand from the passage that we are in this life pilgrims and strangers who stand between Christ's cross and our heavenly home. And we live in a world of great sin, and you and I are struggling with sin, and one of the purposes of God in these things that have happened is our sanctification and our preservation, and God does this because He is faithful. That's the overview of the passage that we look at here in 1 Thessalonians 5. And so it's a passage about God. It's a passage about theology. It's a passage about who He is and what He does. So our theme tonight is this, between the already and the not yet. between the already and the not yet. We notice first, God's placement. His placement of us in that, between the already and the not yet. Secondly, we look at God's work. What is He doing as we are found there? And then finally, God's faithfulness. Why does He do what He does for us? The already. What's that? Well, the already refers to what God has already done for our salvation. The text speaks of that in its context as well. We notice that the text identifies God as the God of peace. that name there points us to what God has already done so that we know Him as a God of peace. God has accomplished the redemption of His people, and He has done that according to His eternal counsel. And that takes us back even further. That takes us back to the counsel of God, the plan of God, especially in this, that He has chosen His people from all eternity. The epistle begins that way. Paul identifies the church in Thessalonica in chapter 1 verse 4 as the elect of God. the elect of God. And redemption then comes for those whom God has chosen. For these elect, God sent His Son to deliver them from the wrath to come. In the fullness of time, the Son of God became flesh. And we just remember that in this season of the year. but we remember the purpose of His becoming flesh. He came to bear the wrath that we deserve for all of our sins when He hung upon the cross, and that redemption is accomplished. When our Savior hung upon that cross, He said, it is finished. He has redeemed us, both body and soul. And because of that redemption, we have peace with God. We have peace with God in this life, and we have peace with God forever, even into the life to come. And in fact, we're going to experience that blessed peace with God forever. This is our future hope, and this is certain for us. But the already has to do with that redemption that has been accomplished. But there's more to that already. That already includes the fact that we are called of God. Verse 24 speaks of that. We are called of God. We are called of God as those who are regenerated. We are members of Christ's church, and as members of His church, we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has come and implanted into our hearts the very life of Jesus Christ. And we've been given a spiritual heart transplant, which we need because our hearts of themselves are hard and they are stony. But God has given to us by the work of His Spirit a soft and a fleshy heart. And having this gift, we have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Remember what that calling includes. It includes an external work of God and an internal work. The external is the preaching of the gospel. The internal work is the work of the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit works by that means of the preaching of the gospel so that we come to the knowledge of our salvation. That's part of the already. By the saving call of Jesus Christ, we have come to know our salvation so that we know ourselves to be sons and daughters of the living God. That's the already. You're ready of what God has accomplished. But there's also a not yet. The not yet is not referring at all to the basis or foundation of our salvation. The idea here is not that something has to yet be done as the basis and foundation of my salvation. The idea is not that Jesus Christ somehow must continue His sacrifice to make payment for the sins that I continue to commit in my own life. That's the dreadful error of the Roman Catholic Church and the Mass. No, the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross was once accomplished for all of our sins. Also when we talk about the not yet, we're not talking about this idea that God's done His part and now we have to do our part. That's not the idea either. But tonight we want to see that there is an ongoing work of God. which is a completion and the fullness of the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. What is the not yet? It's what Paul has been talking to the church in Thessalonica about. It's a perfect life in a perfect world. That's the not yet. A perfect life in a perfect world. It's the heavenly life of seeing Jesus, our Savior, face to face. It's a life without sin. It's a life without tension. It's a life without division. It's a life without sorrow. It's a life without tears. It's a life without any fears. It's a life without enemies. But that's all negative. It's a life with God. Perfect peace with God. Perfect fellowship with God in Jesus Christ. Where there's walking with Him and talking with Him and praising Him forever without sin and without any of the effects of this sin. It sounds so good, doesn't it? It's so sweet. And that's the not yet of what is ours in Jesus Christ. In this life which is to come, we will have changed bodies, and we will live in a different world than we now live in. the inner and the outer man will be perfect and adapted for life in heaven. Body and soul will be perfect, raised and changed, and we will dwell in a world without all of the effects of sin. That's the not yet. You and I live our lives between the already, what Christ has accomplished, and the not yet. We're right smack dab in the middle of these two realities. And that's what it means when we say that we are pilgrims and strangers here on this earth. And that tells us then that our salvation from this perspective is not yet complete. There's a battle that rages in our lives. Our hearts and our lives are the battleground for that day by day. We are not yet near being perfect or being blameless and perfect life before God. We know what the Heidelberg Catechism says about us. And everyone knows it to be true, no matter where we are at in our lives, we only have a small beginning of disobedience. It's teeny tiny. So that probably from where you're at, you can't tell if my fingers are together or they're a little bit apart. That's where we all are. We're all there. Only a small beginning. And in so many ways, we're still a mess in the way that we live our lives. We say things we shouldn't say. We do things we shouldn't do. We look at things we shouldn't look at. We look at things in a way that we shouldn't look at them because sin distorts everything. We still have within us wrong thoughts, wrong desires. We behave in ways that expose the idols that are found in our hearts. We try to find security and stability in things that cannot possibly give to us security and stability. That's where we are. And God, He uses His Word And He uses the things that are going on in the world around us to expose that to us. That's part of what God was doing in the things that have happened in this past year. in our lives and in your lives. He's exposed things you haven't seen before. You've seen things about yourself. The idols of your hearts, no doubt. And that's part of the way in which we look back at the year 2020. Yes, we see suffering, we see weaknesses, but through these things, God has shown us things about ourselves. We're pilgrims and strangers. We're living here between the not yet, or between the already and the not yet. We long more for our heavenly home. And that ought to be our longing and desire. Let things go back to pre-March 2020. No, we long for something better than that. The not yet of perfect life with God. But as pilgrims and strangers, there are so many struggles for us yet in this life. This is what it means to be between the already and the not yet. But what is God doing? What is God doing? Well, that's the emphasis of the passage. The end of it says, And the idea is, who also will complete it? What is God doing? What is God completing? What is this work of God? Well, it's identified in verse 23. It's identified as Paul is praying for the church in Thessalonica at the very end of this epistle. He's telling them what it is that he prays for them. In verse 23, "...and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The work of God that is identified, that He is doing, is sanctification and preservation. What beautiful work of God. This is the work of God that He completes. In this prayer of Paul, we have revealed the zealous goal of our God and our Savior. The goal of God is that we are fully delivered from all of our sins, so that all that is broken by sin is destroyed. God is satisfied with Christ's work. He is satisfied with His perfect righteousness and He views us in that perfect righteousness. But God is not satisfied with our continuing to live in sin and struggle with sin. So that God, as He is working, He's delivering us from that sin and changing us. That's what we want to see and understand about God tonight, and this is part of the great goodness of God that we see. God's not satisfied with something half done. You and I might be satisfied with things half done. Your kids and your homework might be satisfied with last minute sloppy work, just getting it in. And sometimes with things we do around the house or maybe in our work too, we're satisfied sometimes with less than we ought to be satisfied with. But God's never satisfied in that way. He sees and understands what the end of it all is. And the idea here is He is working to accomplish that. He who has begun a good work will complete it. And that's something we see about God. He's not irritated that it takes so long. He never wishes that he hadn't begun this work in us. He's never in a rush to complete it. He will not be satisfied until the last enemy is under his feet and the final kingdom has come. It reminds me of what Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. That all the powers of darkness would be destroyed even as we're struggling, I'm struggling with that kingdom of darkness in my old man of sin. God is delivering us from that. And that's God's work in sanctification. That's what comes out in this petition of the Apostle Paul. This tells us that God's work of sanctification is not yet completed. We have within us the principle of holiness. The holiness of Jesus Christ is worked in us so that rightfully we are called saints, the holy ones. In fact, that noun, that name saints arises out of the verb for sanctification, to make holy. We are those who are holy in Jesus Christ, all of that rooted in the cross. Because 2 Corinthians 5, 14, and 15 teaches us that Christ died and rose again so that we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again. But we're not perfect yet. We're not even close to perfect yet. Remember, only a beginning of obedience in us. So this work of sanctification is God's ongoing work of making us holy. It's God's ongoing work of exposing sins to us, exposing our blind spots to us. It's the work of the Holy Spirit causing us to grow in holiness so that we love Christ more and more. And we desire to live in gratitude more and more. It's that work of the Holy Spirit so that we desire to do what is God's pleasure. He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. God is working in us to conform us to the image of His Son. That takes us back to Romans 8 verse 28. the good that God is doing in us through all the things that He is doing in our lives. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. That good identified in the next verse is that we're conformed to the image of His Son. One of the great purposes of God is that more and more we're conformed to the image of His Son. We're Christ-like. He's molding us and shaping us. He's polishing us and at times chiseling us. And sometimes that's what it feels like. Chiseling. To make us more Christ-like. You love what that means as we look back at 2020 as we can see that this is one of the purposes of God in the things that He is doing. He's sovereign over it all. He rules. And what is God doing in that? He's conforming us to the image of His Son. He's working out this purpose of His in sanctification, preparing us for that life which is to come. And along with that sanctification, God preserves us. In this past year, God has preserved us. How beautiful is that preservation? Think about all the things that have happened. But also think about what has happened in some of the church world today. And there are churches right in our area that are struggling. They can't get people to come back. And there's many reasons for that. But when you think about it and you look back, and you see faith that was strengthened, And you see idols that were exposed. Certain things were taken away from us that we loved to do and had a hard time maybe giving up. And through that, God has preserved us so that we weren't shaking our fists at Him, we weren't turning our backs on Him, but we humbled ourselves and we looked to Him. And we see what God is doing in that. It's because God is preserving us. He's preserving us in faith. He's preserving us in godliness as well. So that when we're tempted and even when we fell into sin, God did not allow us to continue in that. That's the great goodness of God. He doesn't allow us to continue in sin. But He brings us to repentance for that sin. He picks us up and He turns us around. And that's the preserving work of God. As we look back at everything that's happened, we see His sovereignty. We also see His great goodness in preserving us through this past year. He's given us His Word. He's given us His Spirit. He's given us one another. He's given us so many rich gifts because He is a God who is good. But along with that, hear what God says about that. God says to us in this passage through the words of Paul, the very end of verse 22, who also will do it. Who also will do it. The text explains the certainty of this. The idea is this. People of God, don't be afraid. God will do it. This is plain and simple for our assurance. God will sanctify and He will preserve until the coming of Jesus Christ. He's not going to get tired. He's not going to give up. He's not discouraged. He's not distracted. He never wonders if it's worth it to do it with us. How beautiful that is. With all of our sins. We've stumbled and we've faltered in so many ways. And yet God comes to us here at the end of this year and he says, this is what I will do. I will preserve you and I will sanctify you and I will bring you to that heavenly home. He will do it. And that's the encouragement that we need as we end one year, but also as we begin another. So looking back always points us ahead because if he's done it this past year, he's going to do it. in this coming year. So we are encouraged that this is what God is doing in our lives. He will do it. But that also means for us then that we must not be satisfied with where we are at in our lives. So often that can be true for us. We're satisfied simply with where we are at, with just a little. A little theology, a little holiness, a little growth, a little of God, a little of Jesus Christ. So easily we're satisfied with a little. But that does not align with the purposes of God. as He is working through the Word and through this life so that more and more, that's the more and more of the Catechism, speaks of that often, there's more and more, more and more of putting off sin, more and more of living unto God and for His glory. This is what God will do. Why? He does it because He is faithful. Because He is faithful. God's goal is that day of Jesus Christ and the fullness of life with Him. And the reason that He will bring that to us and the reason that He will work these things, sanctification and preservation, is because He is faithful. If there's anything that in the power of the Holy Spirit sinks down in our souls tonight, may it be that. God is faithful. He is. What does that mean? That God is faithful means He will do what He promises to do. He's a covenant-keeping God. He's a God who always keeps His promises. He does what He says He will do. He's faithful in doing that. We can be shaken in that, and we can know it conceptually, but then at the same time look at a situation, say there's no hope. God is faithful. It's throughout the scriptures that God is faithful. He doesn't waver ever in what He says He will do. He's faithful to His covenant promises. Think of those promises. I will never leave you nor forsake you. When you go through the water, when you go through the fire, I will be with you. I rule. I love you. I forgive you. I will give you heaven. I sent my Son to pay for your sins. You see all of the promises of the Old Testament fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And that's what we need to see. God is ever faithful. So as we end the year 2020, may we be assured of God's faithfulness. He's unchanging in His mercy and grace and love. That's Lamentations 3. Great is Thy faithfulness. His faithfulness. That's 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13. With all the temptations we face in life, but God is faithful. And that's the word to us here too. Faithful. Faithful is He that calleth you. He will complete the work that He has begun. That certainly is the word that we need to hear because of all that changes around us. Life has changed drastically in this past year. So many things have changed for us. But there's this rock that changes not. And that rock who changes not is our great God. He doesn't change. His mercy, His love, His faithfulness, what He's doing, it does not change. And so because He is faithful, He will do it. He's preserved you in this past year. He will preserve you in this new year as well. So may we remember that. May we hold on to that Word of God. This is what God will do between the already and the not yet. He's bringing us to the not yet, that heavenly life. And along the way, He's sanctifying and He's preserving us. And He will do this because He is ever faithful. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we are thankful for Thy faithfulness. We're thankful for it because we don't deserve it. And yet Thou art a God who changes not in Thy mercy and grace and love. And we praise Thee and thank Thee for it then in our worship tonight and as we leave this place. So easily, Father, we're focused on the things we see around us, things taken away, things that haven't gone as we wanted them to go. But turn our focus unto Thee, that we would see Thee and Thy majesty and greatness as a God who never lets us go, because Thou art faithful. So bless this word. Bless us, Father, as we think about this year gone by, and return us for worship in the morning, that we may begin the new year hearing Thy word, meditating on Thee and Thy promises, and praising Thee, the God of our salvation. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We turn our psalters to number 32. We're going to sing just stanzas 2 and 4. Stanzas two and four. In stanza two, steadfast courage I design, no wrong to speak or do, thy path of life I choose for mine and walk with purpose true. For help, O God, I cry to thee, assured that thou wilt answer me. And then, so there's the pilgrim's desire between the already and the not yet. But then in stanza four we sing of the not yet. When I in righteousness at last thy glorious face shall see. Let's sing stanzas two and four of 32. I desire no law to speak or do. I've hath applied my shoes for mine, and walked with purpose true. I in righteousness at last thy glorious face shall see. When all the weary night is passed and I awake And then I shall be satisfied. ♪ In God we'll see the morn ♪ ♪ Join to sound Jehovah's praises ♪ ♪ Tell the glory of the Lord ♪ ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ ♪ Then give high Jehovah's praise ♪ Praise the living God, your Maker, all that we disgrace, no matter. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.