So this evening, we are gonna continue on with a series in First Thessalonians that we've been doing for a few weeks now. So if you have a Bible with you, please do turn up First Thessalonians. Just before we start, I'm conscious there's gonna be one or two faces of folks I don't know, so I'm sorry, I don't, I'm Ben, a member here at the church, and it's good to be with you this evening and to share this opportunity to share this study with you. So this evening, I hope you've been able to pick up a sheet. It's quite simple. There are no questions, but we can speak a bit about that at the end. So for just now, we'll just look at the verses. It's just a couple of verses that we've got before us tonight in detail, but it's very much forms the ending to or part of the whole of 1 Thessalonians chapter three, and the little bit before that in chapter two, which Dominic spoke on last week. So this evening, I would like us to read from 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 17, and we'll read to the end of chapter three, because it's kind of one big block of thought. We can pick up the details and the particulars of our verses, but it forms one big block of thought, and we have to watch we don't lose that block of thought. So I know last week this was all covered, but it's helpful just to refresh our minds. So let's read together 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 17. right the way to the end of chapter two, through to the end of chapter three. But brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time, in person, not in thought, out of our intense longing, we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you. Certainly I, Paul, did, again and again. But Satan stopped us. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. So chapter three, when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless. But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution, we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live since you are standing firm in the Lord. How we can thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you. Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. Chapter three, verse 11. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. Okay, so what we'll do this evening, just for a few moments then, is we will have a look at chapter three, verses 11 to 13 a bit more closely. And I would like to do that under the heading, as you can maybe see on your sheet there, the heading of love and holiness in the gospel life. But before we do that, we'll do a bit of a recap, and then we'll come to the three points that are on your sheet there. So, Paul is writing this letter for Thessalonians, he's writing to the Thessalonians, and one great theme of the book that we've seen a little bit so far, and we'll see as Paul still writes, is about Jesus' second coming, the fact that Jesus is coming again. And Paul is writing to them generally to encourage them about how things are in the church, we saw that there in chapter 3. and he's writing to give thanks and telling them that he's giving thanks to God for their faith that is firmly planted. But there's obviously issues that he's addressing here in this letter. And one main issue that seems to be coming through is that people in his church have died. And the Christians, these Christians and Thessalonians, I suppose have only been Christians for five minutes, if you like, a very young church, they're obviously a bit unsure about salvation, about how it all works after we die. So Paul writes to encourage them, to reassure them that they are solid, that they are sound in Christ, they are safe in Christ. and to teach them. He writes to reassure them their salvation is secure in Jesus. And he also to teach them about the Lord's coming again. So that's one great kind of theme, overarching theme of this book. So Paul writes to encourage them, encourage them in their faith. And you could even see from the few verses there, he writes and he just tells them how fond he is of them. And he's encouraging them to keep living godly lives. This letter It's very pastoral, isn't it? Very pastoral. It clearly, we see Paul's pastoral heart for this church. He really bears his heart here, and he clearly loves them, and we see that in our verses tonight. And we see that the gospel's taken root in Thessalonica here in this church, and Paul's writing to encourage them, to give thanks for them, and to teach them as well. So let's just remind ourselves of what's happened here. Let's have a look at some of the verses. If we have a little look back, we can see in chapter two, verse two, I know we didn't read it, but let's just have a look and see what's happened. Here's what Paul says. We had previously suffered and been insulted at Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God, we dare to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. So you can see that they've brought the gospel. They've come to the Thessalonians in the face of persecution, and they've brought the gospel. And if you have a little look further on, into chapter two, verse 13, what happened when they took the gospel? It says, and chapter two, verse 13, and we also thank God continually because when you received the word of God, so they've received the gospel, the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the words of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you. who believe. So we see here that Paul has taken the gospel into Thessalonica, we can read about it in Acts chapter 17. They've received the gospel, it's taken root there, and he's writing to say, yes, you've received the gospel, keep going. And he's writing to correct, or not to correct so much, sorry, but to teach them about things. They're young Christians, to teach them about things, to help them keep going in their faith. So the gospel has taken root in their lives. Now, as we come on to chapter three here, we really do see Paul's pastoral heart. We see his pastor's heart. He hears of the good news of their faith and love. We see that they were torn away from them. We read about that in chapter two, verse 17. But brothers, when we were torn away from you in a short time, in person, not in thought, out of our intense longings, we made every effort to see you. So Paul's planted the church, they've been torn away, but what's happened? He sent Timothy, he sent Timothy. And Timothy's brought back this wonderful report that their faith is strong. So if we look in chapter three, verse six and seven, verse six, chapter three, but Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that You always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us just as we long to see you. So very pastoral letter. He's longing to be with them. He's heard good news about their faith and he's feeling very encouraged. So Paul is encouraged and strengthened when he sees their faith and that's such good news. So as we come to our verses this evening, these verses in chapter 3 verses 11 to 13, these just come at the end of a section where Paul has written to them, he's told them, reminded them that the gospel's been brought, they've accepted it, he's encouraged And in this section here, from chapter one, verse one, and to our verses tonight, it's kind of one big chunk, one big block of the text, and our verses probably end as a bit of a conclusion to that. So from chapter one, verse one, to three, verse 13, is one big block, and Paul's saying the gospel is rooted, and I'm really encouraged and thankful. I'm anxious for you, and we'll come to that in a minute, he's anxious for them, but he's encouraged and he's thankful, and our verses tonight, our conclusion to this opening section. So tonight we'll just really focus in on chapter three, verses 11 to 13. And we see that these verses, as we come to them, now really are a prayer, and we need to keep that in our mind as we look through them. They open, chapter three, verse 11. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus. So as Paul concludes this opening section from chapter one, verse one to the end of chapter three, as he concludes this opening section, he's coming to before God in a prayer. And he's writing this prayer down, this prayer that he has in his heart for the church in Thessalonica. So as we look at these verses tonight, I'd like us to look at them under the heading of holiness and love in the gospel life. Holiness and love in the gospel life. And you've got three headings there on your sheet. Paul's love for the Thessalonians, love in the gospel, the second point there, and holy, sorry, second one, love in the gospel life, and the third one, holiness in the gospel life. So before we come to the first point, and we've just obviously read the whole of chapter three there, we've looked at a few points, let me just read our verses again as we focus in on them now. So chapter three, verse 11, 12, and 13. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when the Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. So holiness and love in the gospel life. So first of all, let's consider Paul's love for the Thessalonians. So the first part of Paul's prayer here, the first part of this prayer, I think is very clear and simple, isn't it? It's very clear and simple in verse 11. He's praying to God. He's saying, may God, our God and father himself and our Lord Jesus Christ clear the way for us to come to you. Very simple. Paul wants to be back in Thessalonica with the Thessalonian church. He wants to be with them, very clear. And this is repeated. We've already read of this earlier on, haven't we? This is just a very small part here, but we've seen this previously. In fact, we've already read the verses tonight. The other verses that we can see this desire are chapter two, verse 17. But brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time, in person, not in thought, so they've been torn away, Out of our intense longing, we made every effort to see you. So he's already told them this. He wants to be with them. He wants to be back with them. He repeats it in chapter three, verse six. Again, we've already read it, but Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news. So he wants to be with them. He wants to see them. In fact, we even see this before verse six of chapter three. If you go back to chapter three, verse five, In fact, keep going before that, chapter three, verse four. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you all know. For this reason, for this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. He was worried that the tempter might have come and tempted them away. So you can see that he's got this intense longing, this intense desire to be with them. And this time, in chapter three, verse 11, in verse 11, he repeats that desire. He prays to God and he asks that the Lord Jesus would clear the way for him to come back to them. So to put it, we see a very simple request here. And this very simple request in verse 11 just shows us Paul's heart, his pastor's heart. He was involved in bringing the gospel there, we've seen. And we know that from the verses we've just looked at. But since he's left them in person, we've read here again that they're still very much in his mind. So why is Paul so keen to see them? I suppose we need to think about that question. Why not just plant the church? The gospel's taken roots. Timothy's brought a report. Why not just go on? Why not just leave it there? Well, again, we've seen in these verses, already tonight, that he's concerned about them. He's a little bit concerned about them. If you go back to chapter two, verse five, if you go back to chapter two, verse five, you can read a little bit there. Chapter two, verse five, you know we never use flattery or put a mask on to cover up, cover up, Greed, God is our witness, we were not looking for praise from men, not from anyone else. So he's worried that the gospel's been taken from them and people have come in with other words, they've used other words. So he's anxious about their faith, he's concerned, Paul's worried about them. So he wants to be with them, he wants to return to them, to teach them. He's worried they might have been tempted away from the gospel. He's worried that Satan is coming and taking the gospel. from them. So he wants to go back to teach them and to make sure that the gospel is really rooted. So he's got an earnest desire to be with them. He wants to be with them to teach them and to encourage them. He wants to go back to shepherd them and encourage them in their young faith. He wants to make sure that when they're seeing and hearing Paul and Timothy and Silas, if they've been persecuted in Philippi or in other places, when they've heard these reports, he wants to make sure that the Thessalonians haven't heard these reports and somehow then fallen away or turned away from the faith. He wants to teach them, shepherd them, help them establish their young faith. He wants to encourage them to keep going. When they've heard of Paul's hardship and persecution coming his way, he wants them to keep going. So very simply, chapter three, verse 11, Paul asks that he would be back to them. He prays that he would be with them again to teach them and to encourage them. So for us, I suppose the question would be, well, what lessons perhaps can we draw from that? What lessons can we draw from Paul's longing and his desire, his repeated desire to be back with the church in Thessalonica? What can we draw from that? Well, we're obviously not Paul and we're not an apostle, so he had a very specific ministry. However, I think there is a kind of general point that we can draw from this. And I suppose that general point is made if we take into consideration the last verse here as well. We have to watch that we don't lose the detail. Chapter three, verse 13. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with his holy ones, when our Lord Jesus comes with his holy ones. You see, Paul's writing this, he's writing about the fact he wants to see them with Jesus coming again on the horizon, with it on the view that Jesus is coming again. So Paul writes this, he writes this in view of Jesus coming back. So with Paul's longing to be with them, with his longing to teach them, with his longing to encourage them and help them establish their faith, What can we draw from that? Well, I think we can draw from it this, that it's all our responsibility to help people to eternal glory. That it's all our responsibility to help people to eternal glory. Now by that, of course I don't believe that that would negate our beliefs in God's sovereignty in election and God's sovereignty in salvation. But while we're here on this earth, people will suffer affliction, people will suffer hardship, we will hear stories of things that other Christians might be going through, we will experience things ourselves as a result of our faith that can unsteady us, that can unsteady us. And what Paul is saying to them before these verses is he's saying that that he's been worried that they've seen the persecution that Paul's under, and he's anxious that the tempter's come and taken that away, that he's taken their faith away. So he's wanting to come to them, to teach them and to encourage them. So for ourselves then, I think we can draw that point out, that it's all our responsibility to help people to eternal glory. God is sovereign in salvation, God is sovereign in election, but he puts us here to journey with people through life and to help them journey through till, as he writes here, till the Lord Jesus comes again or he takes us to be with him. But I think Paul's longing here is an encouragement to us to help see people supported and cared for in their walk with God. I think Paul's pastoral heart here can teach us that we should be looking to be an encouragement to people to help see them supported and cared for in their walk with God before they reach glory, before Jesus comes again or we're taken to be with him. I suppose for me these verses hit home a little bit and something that somebody said to me when I was away to finish up university and I think it was a speaker one night at the Christian Union, hopefully this might make what I'm saying kind of clear. And he stood up and he was speaking, and I actually can't remember what he was speaking about, but the gentleman that was speaking said, you know, take a look around the room, you know, and there was, what, I don't know, 120, 50 people there, I don't know. And he said, in 10 years time, and then I think he'd maybe produced a statistic or something, but he said, in 10 years' time, not everybody in this room would stand up or speak to you and tell you that they profess their faith in Jesus Christ, even though they're sitting next to you tonight, singing the hymns, listening to God's word. Now, without me telling, you know, going into people I know that perhaps that is the case for, I think that struck me as, perhaps I was naive, but it's like, no, how can that be? But I think what we see from these verses here is that in all of our walks in this world, before we get to heaven, in all of our walks in our faith, we need people to do this for us and for other people. We can be responsible to try and help, support, pastor, encourage them in their faith. Because all people will suffer affliction and hardship. And it's so important that we can try and be alongside them in those times, helping them on, helping them on in their faith, helping them on in their journey to glory. So this first verse here, verse 11, I think just to sum it up really, I think the point from it is that it's all our responsibility to help people to eternal glory. It's our responsibility. It's something we should want to do, to walk with people on this side of heaven while we're here on earth and see that they arrive there holy and blameless, as Paul writes here, homely and blameless in the presence of our Lord and Father. All right, so Paul writes on then in his prayer, he's praying for them, he's telling them he wants to be with them, he reiterates that. Verse 11, now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. What does he go on to pray next? He says, may the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else just as our does for you. So that brings us to our second point then, love in the gospel life, love in the gospel life. So Paul wants to see them, he's longing to see them, he's praying, he's asking God that he can be back there in Thessalonica with them. And then the next thing he prays is that their love would abound, that their love would increase and overflow. And he prays that it would kind of happen, I suppose, in two areas, and then there's a kind of third point there as well. He prays that it would happen in two areas, and there's a kind of third point there as well. So he says, may the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other. So that's the first thing that he prays for. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other. The second thing there, he goes on to say for each other and for everyone else. So that's the kind of second sphere that our love's to be in. So it's for each other and for everyone else. And I suppose the gauge of that, if you like, is then he's saying, just as Ars does for you. So then he's reiterating, again, a very pastoral comment. He's saying, I'd like your love to increase and overflow for each other. for everyone just as ours does for you. So again, what an encouragement to them to hear that, that Paul still loves them. And again, that is shown in his desire to be with them, isn't it? He wants to be with them and he loves them. What an encouragement that would be for the church. So let's just look at these kind of two areas here for a little moment. So, as he prays, for this love to grow for each other here. We'll just take a minute to think about that. I think he's praying that their love would increase and abound. Those are two things to look at and to take note of. And I think what we can see here and what's very true we can see throughout scripture is that love is a real hallmark of the Christian church. And Paul asks that it would increase and abound so that in time he would see their love grow. Now clearly the church here in Thessalonica are already loving each other. They're already loving each other because he doesn't write, you need to start doing this or this isn't happening. They're obviously already loving each other. So he prays that there would be more of it. He prays there would be more of it. Their love would increase and abound. So there would be so much more of it. And I suppose the question would be, as we think about it, is, well, what does that look like? What does the love in the church, that they're to show each other, if we think about the love for each other, what does that actually look like? Well, Paul writes another letter, doesn't he? He writes a letter to the church in Corinth, and he writes about the type of love that they should be showing to each other. So if you look up 1 Corinthians 13, then in that letter, these words are obviously very familiar, I suppose, quite famous, popular for weddings, They're applicable for weddings, for marriages. However, they were written to a church for how people within a church, Christians within a church, should be loving one another. So when he's saying, may your love increase and abound, what did that practically look like? When I was looking at these verses, I'm thinking, well, what does that practically look like? On the ground, for me today, for me tomorrow, for me next week, next year, what does that actually look like? 1 Corinthians 13. We'll just read the little bit before, and now I will show you the most excellent way If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. And we'll just stop there for time. So practically, on the ground, when he's writing to these Christians, and he's saying, let your love increase and abound, I would suggest this evening that this is the sort of thing that he's wanting them to do. He's saying, Let your patience then abound, because that's showing your love in terms of patience. Show more kindness, let your kindness abound. Let's not envy, let's not boast, let's have more of that, let's not be proud. We need to make sure we're not rude, we're not self-seeking. Show the love that's not easily angered, show the love that keeps no record of wrongs and keep doing that, let's see that increase. And I think some of the things here in 1 Corinthians 13 can just give us a wonderful practical example or very pragmatic ways in which love can increase and abound. And I think these would have been some of the things that Paul had in mind when he's writing to the church in Thessalonica and saying, let your love increase and abound. Let's see more of that. He prays that their love would grow and multiply. Let's flick back. Something to be cautious of here, I suppose, as well, because we don't want to lose the overall theme, but if we're thinking about love growing and multiplying, in these verses that Paul writes here in 1 Thessalonians and in 1 Corinthians, he doesn't mention love being defined as a doormat, or people just being doormats, where you're loving others, you just accept everything. You know, I think probably commonly in our culture now, more and more in the media, you kind of see it, it's kind of, what is love? Oh, you just accept that it's okay. Yeah, everything's great. And that's loving, you've got to accept it, that's love. But that's not what this is here. That's not what's said here. I suppose, again, it's just common, kind of, again, in society, perhaps more broadly, love is just viewed as an emotion, and you basically just let people do what they want. And if you don't let people do it, people brand you as unloving. but we know that that's just not true from what is defined here. I suppose for Christians in this time, and I think probably more so, we need to make sure if we think about being loving, we make sure we take our definition from the Bible. We take our definition from God himself of what love actually is and not let it be defined to us by the society around us. We have to be very, very clear on that. So Paul's praying that their love as a congregation, as a fellowship, as a Thessalonian church, that it would abound and increase. So again, that prayer, or what Paul's writing here, again, that greatly applies to us. In 2024 or 2034, or I suppose even the 5th of November 2015, if the Lord hasn't come again, a prayer for ourselves would be that as a fellowship, our love for each other would increase. increase, not just increase, but abound, overflow, be more and more. And indeed it would be ever increasing, ever increasing, ever increasing, until Jesus comes again. I would suggest as well as we look at these verses that the love that we show each other as a church family here, but the church generally I suppose, is so immensely important as part of our witness and as the gospel going out. This is a young church. The gospel's just come here. They're wanting to be, they've planted this church. Church is planting churches. So as the gospel's going out here, I think this act of loving each other as a fellowship is just a really, really powerful apologetic. It's a really important part of our witness. And I suppose for us as Christians here in Aberdeen, when people are not yet Christians, spend time with us in the fellowship, perhaps coming in on Saturday night or a Sunday morning, whenever it is, then I just think the love that we can show them and the love, the way that we act and, interact with each other can be a wonderful witness, and it can be a gripping apologetic. And I think the love that we have for each other as a fellowship here, and again, fellowships around, it should be really standing out, being markedly different from the love shown by people in the world. And I suppose what I mean by that, about our love being distinct within a fellowship, is that ultimately, if we're in Christ, then Jesus lives in us, and we would want to be loving each other in a distinct way that comes from God and that points to God. But I suppose, you know, we're thinking about love here. Ultimately, how do we know what love is? Well, if we, 1 John gives us just wonderful verses about that. How do we know what love is? Well, it tells us that God is love and love is from God. And we know that what love is because God gave his son to lay down his life for us while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And in Jesus coming to this earth, that was the most majestic example of love. So as we spend some time praying after this, perhaps we could be praying that our love as a fellowship, as Gilkimson Church or any other churches we might be part of or know of, indeed would be standing out, would be markedly different because it comes from God. So Paul's writing to them and he's praying, he's praying that their love for each other as a fellowship, as a church, would increase and abound. But he goes on, the kind of second sub-point there, he goes on in verse 11, may the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else and for everyone else. So it's not just that they're to love each other as a church, as a church family, as a congregation of believers, but actually they should be loving for everyone. It should be overflowing and increasing for everyone. Love is to increase for the church. Their love is to increase for the church and for those who are not part of the church. And I suppose as we think of what it is to love the world, again, may I suggest just one thing. I think as we think about our love for those people in our families, our flats, or whoever that don't yet know and love Jesus, what is the biggest act of love we can show them? surely it's taking the gospel to them in the way that we act and in the words that we speak. Aberdeen's biggest need and the biggest act of love that we can show Aberdeen tonight or in the morning in our workplaces or in our staff rooms, the biggest act of love that we can show is taking the gospel to people who don't yet have it. That is our most treasured possession. That is the thing that we have In Christ, Jesus is what we have. He's our most treasured possession. That is the thing that our city most needs. Now, of course, we need to love our city practically, love people practically. If their car is broken down, offer them a lift to work. if the oven's broken, take some food round, whatever it looks like, of course we need to do that. But when Paul's writing to them, love each other, it's taking the gospel out. It's the biggest act of love that we can show in our city. The biggest act of love, I suppose, is telling people and our families and our friends and whoever it is that don't yet know and love Jesus that they are sinners Yes, in a broken world, but they need a saviour and we know the saviour that they need. We have that treasure in Jesus and to tell them about Jesus. So as we live with Jesus' second coming on the horizon, therefore I think we love with Jesus' second coming on the horizon. We love in our evangelism. So, again, Paul is encouraging them to love each other as a fellowship, love their city, love the people in their city. And he reminds them at the end there of verse 12 that he loves them. And again, just a glimpse of his pastor's heart, that he loves them. So love in the gospel life is so, so important. And I suppose our prayer, my prayer for ourselves here and our prayer for all of us should be that God would, in our lives, make our love abound and increase for everyone. So we've thought a bit about Paul's love for them, and also that love in the gospel life, what that might look like, that it works out practically, and loving each other as a fellowship, but also loving those around us who don't yet know Jesus. So the last thing we'll think about here is holiness in the gospel life. So let's just read in, I think, from the start, so we don't, you know, go into the detail too much, we lose the flow. So verse 11, may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with his Holy One. So he prays that their love would flow out and then in verse 13 he prays that Jesus would strengthen their hearts so that they will be blameless and holy in the presence of God when Jesus comes. We'll just say that again. So he prays that their love would increase and overflow. Then he prays that their hearts would be strengthened, and their hearts would be strengthened so that they would be blameless and holy before God the Father when Jesus comes again. So the love that they're to show and the strengthening of their hearts, which is the roots of their faith going even deeper, the roots of their faith going even deeper, those things are to act as, if you like, as a path, I would suggest, towards the day when Jesus comes again so that we might be holy and blameless before him. Now I think there's a really important thing just to clarify for us here, because these verses perhaps are a little bit challenging. Because when it says, may he strengthen your hearts so that you're blameless and holy, then I suppose we can sort of think, well, is that almost like a condition of us being holy and blameless? Like, is that something else we kind of need to do? Now, obviously, that's not the case. It doesn't suggest that we're not quite there yet. We know that that's not true. The Bible clearly teaches us that we're saved by grace through faith, which is a gift from God. And that right now, if you're a Christian, if you believe the gospel, the true, the simple gospel that's taught in the Bible through the apostles down through the generations, if we believe that, that we are right now with God the Father in Jesus. We're justified before him. that because of Jesus' bloodshed on the cross, we are right before God, and that we can come before a holy God in Jesus' royal robes. And that's one of the basic truths and glorious and joyous truths about Christianity. I don't know if any of you follow any of these things on Facebook or wherever, that's where I pick up my knowledge, but I think the other day was Reformation Day. All right, just a couple of days ago. And what was the great thing the reformers were teaching? Luther, Calvin, Knox, et cetera. What were they telling people of? What was the basic thing? The gospel, that they are saved by Jesus, they're saved in Christ alone, by faith alone, and it's a gift of grace. That it's in Jesus we're saved. So we know that we are right before God just now in Jesus, and that's wonderful. But what Paul's praying here, that they might be strengthened so that they will be blameless, I think that hints towards the act of sanctification. I think that hints towards the act of sanctification. And we know that in the Christian life there is that process of change and being made more like Jesus of what we call sanctification. And I think this verse here in verse 13 is kind of hinting at that sanctification. And we know that because what does Paul go on to speak about next? Because again, we have to watch that we don't get so lost in the detail here, we kind of lose track that this was just all one letter. The chapters are just kind of added by people later. So if we go to chapter four, we'll just read on a little bit and that shows, I think, where the sanctification thing's coming on. Because he's saying, may they love, that's what he says, strengthen your heart so that you're blameless. So what does he say in chapter four, verse one? Finally, brothers, we instruct you how to live in order to please God. as in fact you're actually living, so they're already doing it. But with the love thing, we just want to see it abound and grow. Let's keep going. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more, for you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God's will that you should be sanctified. And then he goes on to say how, that you should avoid sexual immorality, and he goes on like that. The list there, I won't keep going. That'll be for another week. So these verses here, and we're thinking of holiness in the Christian life, just tell us and affirm to us that yes, we are absolutely safe now and we are right with God and Jesus, but there is a process of sanctification that is taking place in our lives, that we, that kind of, I suppose, that path, those two truths stand together and they merge on the day where Jesus returns or we are called home. So these two truths, they sit perfectly together. We are made righteous in Christ that we can stand just before the Father, justified before the Father perfectly, and we are assured of that. But also the Spirit, God's Spirit, is doing a sanctifying work in us by showing love, by having our hearts strengthened, that we might be holy and blameless when Jesus returns. And we know that that's something that Jesus, by his Spirit, is doing in us. God is doing that sanctifying work, but it's something that we're also to partake in, aren't we? We know from Romans 12, chapter one. You don't need to look up, I'll read it. Romans 12, chapter one. In view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. So we know that that sanctification is something that God is doing in us, but we are also to partner with that, looking to Jesus and giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, as a proper act of worship. So this prayer here, Paul's praying, saying, I want to be with you, I want to see your love increase, and I want you to be found holy and blameless on the day that Jesus comes again. And he assures them that that will happen. And this prayer is actually repeated at the end of the book, So if you go to, the reason we're doing this is to see the parallel and assurance. If you go to chapter five, verse 23, and this is the end of another section, Paul repeats very similar prayer. Chapter five, verse 23, may God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So very similar words to what we've read. But the verse 24 is a bit different, but it's wonderful. It's wonderful. What does he say? The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. the one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. So if we take the letter as a whole, and the Thessalonian Christians would have heard the whole thing, they have the assurance that God is at work, that they are right with Christ now, but God is at work sanctifying them, and he is faithful, they will be sanctified. So what a wonderful joy and assurance that we are sanctified, that we are, sorry, just before God the Father now, and that there's a work of sanctification going on that will go on every day of our lives until we meet Jesus. So we see holiness in the gospel life is totally assured in Christ. Holiness in the gospel life is totally ensured in Christ. We are right before the Father now, But Jesus is working in us, and we partner with him in that, in changing every day to be more like Jesus, and his Spirit helps us with that. But he is faithful, and the day that we meet Jesus, that work will be complete. But until Jesus returns or calls us home, we are to give ourselves to that work of sanctification as well. So let's just wrap this up then and conclude. These are very few short verses but I think we've seen hopefully some encouraging and quite profound things. We've seen firstly that Paul longs to see them, he wants to be with them. He sees pastoral heart, he wants to be with them, to encourage them, to help them to keep on in their faith. He's praying that they will abound in love, that their love will increase. And he's praying that they will be found blameless in Christ and he knows that they will be because God is faithful. He knows that they can have absolute assurance in Jesus about their salvation, which is a wonderful, wonderful and joyous thing. And the wonderful thing about this prayer, the wonderful thing about this prayer is we know that it's answered. So if we look to 2 Thessalonians, let's just open it up. 2 Thessalonians, verse three. So written after this letter, after this prayer, after this encouragement, 2 Thessalonians, verse three. We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God's churches, we boast about your perseverance and faith In all the persecutions and trials you're enduring. But verse three there, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. What a wonderful encouragement. What a wonderful encouragement. Their love did increase. This prayer was answered. God answers Paul's prayer. He works in the lives of the Thessalonians. He answers the prayer. God's at work answering prayer. increasing their love and helping them on that road, that journey of sanctification until Jesus comes again. Okay, let's pray together then as we close. Lord, we close with the words of a hymn. Very helpful. No guilt in life, no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand. till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ, I'll stand. Lord, we thank you for these words that we've read this evening. We thank you for Paul's pastoral heart for this church. We thank you that he was so concerned for them and loving and encouraging to them. He wants them to keep on loving you in the face of difficulties. Lord, we know trials and confusions and real hurts will come in our life, times where we feel deep in a valley. And Lord, I pray that for each one of us, you would put people around us in those times to encourage us, to help us on when things are tough. And that you would help us, Lord, to keep our eyes fixed on you in the midst of these confusions. Father, we pray as well, as Paul prayed here, that our love for each other in this fellowship, this church here in Gilchriston Church, would abound and increase. We pray that, Lord, as we look back, say, if you've not come again, 5th of November, 2015, we would look back on the year and we'd see that the love that we're showing one another has increased and abounded. And Lord, we thank you that we know that we, our righteousness comes from Christ alone, that we are saved by your blood, Lord Jesus. But Father, we pray you would help us to look to your son, to his example, that by your spirit we would be sanctified, being made more like Jesus, that our lives would be unapologetic, our words would stand out in this world, and that we would take the gospel into our city, the greatest act of love that we can show as we point them to you, Lord Jesus. And you are love, you have the greatest act of love in history coming to die for our sins. So Father, we pray that you would teach us from your word, take anything from us that I've said that's not of you, and Lord, clarify these thoughts in our minds that we would come to love you more. Father, I pray that you would, at the end of this evening, take us safely home and watch over us in the rest of this week, we ask as well. Amen.