Well, last week, having considered the resurrection or resurrection day, we come back today to 1 Thessalonians in our study through 1 Thessalonians. I've been reading so far each week, the first chapter, it's 10 verses. And really it gives us a synopsis of the first three chapters and really the whole book of 1 Thessalonians. So I'm going to do that again. Hear the word of God and as you hear it, be reminded, it is the word of God. Also be reminded that those names and people in the church here that we are reading of, these are souls saved and changed by the grace of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hear the word of God. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. to the Church of the Thessalonians and God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Well, one of the ways that we could outline the book of 1 Thessalonians is this, really two parts. First, Paul remembers the church in Thessalonica. And then secondly, Paul instructs the church in Thessalonica. He remembers them in chapters one through three, and he instructs them in chapters four through six. Did I say six? It should say five. If you have a chapter six, let me know. Chapters four and five. And so in the first three chapters in our Bibles, he is remembering them. He's remembering God's work among them, how they received the gospel. We see this in chapter one, verse three, where he says he's constantly bearing in mind your work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope." He's remembering them. And in verse 5, he remembers how the gospel came to them, not in word only, but in power, in the Holy Spirit with full conviction. In chapter 2, verse 1, he says, you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. So he's remembering something of the past, how they came to them, proclaimed the gospel to them. In chapter 2, verse 9, he says, for you recall, as he's bringing these things to his mind, he's calling them to remembrance as well. And then in chapter 2, verse 13, he says, you receive the word of God. He's remembering how they received it. So again, just to understand the structure of this book, this letter from Paul to the church here. He remembers certain things, he's bringing it to mind. But then in chapter four, he begins to instruct them. And so it says in verse one, finally, then brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction, as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more. And so he goes on then to give them instruction how they can please God, how they can walk with Him in a manner that honors His name. And so he gives them instruction about how they are to live and please God in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2. He gives them instruction about sexual purity in chapter 4, verses 3 to 8. He instructs them about love of the brethren in chapter 4 verses 9 and 10. Then how to labor faithfully and live in an unbelieving world in verses 11 and 12. And then he gives them instruction about the coming of the Lord in verses 13 to 18. And then what he calls the day of the Lord in chapter 5, verses 1-11, and how they are to live in light of the day of the Lord. He gives them instruction about their relationship to their pastors in chapter 5, verses 12-13. And then he gives various exhortations, pithy, short exhortations in chapter five, verses 14 to 28. And so chapters four and five is primarily instruction. Now, as the apostle Paul remembers them, how the gospel came to them, how they received and believed the gospel, how the gospel had changed them, and how they received the ministry of the Apostle Paul among them. He does so in a way that encourages them and commends them. But lest they become prideful, he reminds them that their salvation and the change brought about by the gospel was not their doing. Their salvation was due to God's sovereign choice and God's sovereign grace. And so last time we looked at verse four of chapter one. knowing brethren beloved by God, His choice of you. Their salvation was ultimately because of God's choice, not theirs. God's will, not theirs. God's grace, not anything in them. So in my messages so far in chapter one, we have considered how their lives were changed by the gospel. We looked at verse three, labor of love, this work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope. And we saw here lives changed by the gospel. We considered how their relationships were changed by the gospel. In verse four, in the word brethren, now they are related to one another because they're in Christ in a unique way, a familial relationship, a family relationship. And so we've seen how relationships are changed by the gospel. And all of this change is by God's grace. They were changed because they were chosen, verse four. They were changed by the gospel because they were chosen by God before the foundation of the world. So the Apostle Paul is looking back and he's remembering. But what I wanna point out just by way of introduction is, He's looking back and remembering through theological and doctrinal eyes, so to speak. He's remembering events, how the gospel came to Thessalonica, how they received the gospel, what fruit of the gospel he saw. And he's understanding these things, these events, through various trudes. One of those trudes is the doctrine of election. And therefore, last time in 1 Thessalonians, we focus on verse 4, which says, knowing, brethren, beloved by God, His choice of you. So the Apostle Paul is, he's always thinking truth, doctrine, about God, about salvation, about Christ, and he's looking at, now he's recalling certain things that happened in the church at Thessalonica, and he's recalling it in light of truth, Doctrine, theological truths. And we'll see in a moment, we should be doing that as well. And here the primary, I guess you would say doctrine through which he's looking, the lens through which he's looking is the doctrine of election in verse four. His choice of you. And so last time in First Thessalonians, we considered election explained. I took some time to explain the doctrine of election. We saw election's relationship, that is to the preaching of the gospel, and then we began to consider election's evidence, that is the fruit of election, that will be seen when the elect of God come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me just remind you of election's relationship, that is relationship to the gospel preached, the general call of the gospel. I just wanna point out again, Verse 4, we have the doctrine of election. His choice of you. But in verse 5, the gospel came to them. He's remembering how God in His sovereignty brought the gospel to them. And in verse 6, they received what they heard. So all three of those are necessary. There's the doctrine of election. But then the gospel came to them and they received the word that was preached to them. Don't ever divorce these three necessary things. God chose to save sinners before the foundation of the world, certain and specific sinners. But also remember, God sovereignly chose for the gospel to come to those whom he has chosen. And those who have been chosen receive and believe the message of the gospel at God's appointed time. All are necessary. The doctrine of election. We don't neglect that. We don't ignore that. That is the root, the spring of all these things. But then the gospel must come to the elect. And therefore we are to preach the gospel to all people, not knowing who the elect are. And then the elect must receive and believe the word. So don't leave out sovereign grace. Don't leave out the necessity of hearing the gospel. That is the gospel coming to those who have been chosen of God. And don't leave out the necessity of faith in those who hear. God choosing to save is a fact. And it's necessary. If anyone was going to be saved, God had to choose them before the foundation of the world. No one is saved if they're not chosen of God. But that's not all that is necessary. The gospel must be proclaimed. But the gospel coming is not all that is necessary. Those who've been chosen of God and to whom the gospel comes must receive and believe the gospel. And so all of these are necessary for salvation. Now, remember my illustration of the Grand Canyon. Sometimes we're standing on the edge, on the ridge, and we're looking out. Sometimes we hike down and we want to see the details. Right now we want to step back and look at the big picture of God's work of redemption. as we look at this passage. There's a lot more I could speak about this, but let me just give you these three brief headings. This isn't my main outline, but these are just the stepping back and looking out over our salvation. Three headings, redemption arranged, redemption accomplished, and redemption applied. Again, what we're trying to do is to understand all these things like the Apostle Paul was. He's remembering events that happened, but he's remembering them in theological doctrinal terms, in a theological framework. And we want to do so as well. There's redemption arranged. I used arranged so we had three A's, accomplished and applied, but probably better would be redemption determined or decreed. And that's seen in verse 4, His choice of you, the doctrine of unconditional election. God determined, God decreed before the foundation of the world to save certain and specific individual sinners. So the Bible speaks of God the Father choosing, when? Before the foundation of the world, in eternity past, Ephesians 1 verse 4. But how are the elect saved? Now the answer to this question has to do with God the Son. The second person of the Trinity, they are saved by the person and work of Jesus Christ, God's son, whom he sent into the world to do what? Accomplish redemption. So that's redemption accomplished. He accomplished redemption for his people. Where do we see that in this passage? Well, he refers to it in verse 10, when he speaks of his son from heaven. whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, and notice this phrase, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Now he's not speaking in detail about what Jesus did, but one of the things he did and he came to do is to rescue us from the wrath to come. He accomplished our redemption. But then that redemption must be applied to the sinner. It was determined and decreed before the foundation of the world by the Father. It was accomplished in time by the Son. But then the Holy Spirit is at work in the application of redemption. Now, the Holy Spirit is at work in other aspects of our redemption, but I'm just talking in general and broad terms right now. So how is the work of redemption applied? It was decreed, it was accomplished, but how is it applied to the sinner? Well, the gospel must be preached. It must be heard. It must be received. It must be believed. This is how those who are chosen by God unto salvation are saved. The Holy Spirit attends to the proclamation of the gospel, convicts the sinner of his sin, draws the sinner of the Christ, opens his blind eyes, makes the sinner alive in Christ so as to secure the response of faith. which is itself a gift from God granted to the sinner. And as a result, the sinner is justified, declared righteous. His sin is imputed to Christ's account and Christ's righteousness imputed to the sinner's account. And then there's the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification, making the justified sinner more like Christ. We see all of this in chapter one. Redemption arranged or determined or decreed in verse four. His choice of you. Verse 10 touches on redemption accomplished. Jesus who rescues from the wrath to come. And verses five through nine, we see primarily redemption applied. The coming of the gospel. The reception of the gospel. And then it's fruit as the Holy Spirit is at work. And we see this throughout the whole letter to the Thessalonians. So the Apostle Paul is remembering all these things in the lives of these believers. And he's remembering these things through a theological doctrinal lens. And it brought him great joy. It brought him great joy. And being reminded of these things would bring the church at Thessalonica great joy as well. Now let me ask you some questions. Doesn't it cause you to glory in God, to boast in Christ, and to give thanks for your salvation when you remember and recall what God has done for you and what He is doing in you? And doesn't it cause you to rejoice and doesn't it strengthen you when you look back and understand God's work of salvation more and more? When God saved me as a teenager, I knew my sins were forgiven and that the gospel had changed my life. But if you had said to me as a 17-year-old, newly saved, did you know you were among the elect of God? I would have said, what do you even mean by that? I don't even know where that is in the Bible. I wouldn't understand the terminology. But through all these years, over 40 years, I've grown deeper in my understanding of what the Bible says about God's work in my salvation. The electing love of the Father. The redeeming work of the Son for me. The regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. And all these things strengthen my faith and cause me to rejoice in glory in my gracious God and Savior more and more. I didn't understand these things as I do now. And I don't really think I understand it now to the depth that I will in the years to come if God wills that I live for years to come. So how often do you bring to your remembrance your salvation? How often do you remember and rejoice in the origin of your salvation, God's sovereign grace, His electing love for you, an undeserved sinner? How often do you bring to your remembrance how the gospel came to you, however that was? It may have come to you through your parents, or the preaching of the gospel here or some other place, or through you opening your Bible and your eyes were open as you were reading the scriptures. How often do you bring to remembrance how you've been changed by God? The power of God. And when you bring these things to mind, see, here's the practical application of this. It anchors your soul. And it anchors your soul in tribulation. And that's part of, if you read through 1 Thessalonians, by the way, discipleship group, What we're going to be talking about today in Practical Principles for Bible Study, one of the things is getting overviews of books of the Bible. And so our homework is going to be to read through 1 Thessalonians several times between our meetings. And as you just read through it, you see how the Apostle Paul is remembering these things through a theological lens, and he's recounting certain events through doctrinal truths so that it would strengthen this church. For they were being persecuted for their faith in Christ, but this would strengthen them. How often do you remember what God has done in saving you, that it might anchor you in various trials and tribulations? Has the Lord's Day become a burden for you? When you bring these things to remembrance, and I'm speaking of here, the Lord's Day will not be a burden for you. Has hearing and reading the Word become a burden to you? Not if you bring to mind the work of God in your salvation, as we've been reading and seeing here in 1 Thessalonians, and you consider that in your own life. No, now hearing the Word's not a burden. It was the Word. that came in power and in the Holy Spirit that saved you and the Holy Spirit using it. Has growing in holiness and sanctification been a burden for you? Do you somehow think His commandments are burdensome? You need to go back and remember your salvation, the work of God, and understand that you're beloved by God, you're chosen by Him, and that He sovereignly brought the Gospel to you. and opened your eyes, and made you alive, and brought you to faith, and gave you a new heart, and changed you. You see, we need to remember His mercy toward us in Christ, how the gospel came to us, how we believed, how we were changed by the gospel, that it might stir us up so we wouldn't get sluggish in the Christian life, apathetic and lethargic. And so let us learn something about the order of things in this God-inspired letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Thessalonica. He remembers these things in chapters one to three, so that then the instruction is certainly not a burden, but a joy to them. The remembrance of your salvation, the work of the triune God to save you will lead you to want to be changed even more. Now, is that true of you? Or have you forgotten your former purification of sins, as Peter writes in 2 Peter 1? Remember it. Dwell on it. And that's what the Apostle Paul is doing here. Now, as the Apostle Paul remembers these believers, he's confident that they are among those chosen by God. Do you have that confidence? Now, he saw evidence of their election. And so this morning, that will be our focus. Elections, evidence, elections, fruit. What evidence of their election, being chosen by God for salvation, do you see? Well, that's really how we're gonna go through the rest of chapter one, not all this morning, but under these headings. I'm gonna put them all in light of the gospel. Elections evidence, and I'll explain them as we go through them, will be seen under these headings. First, Gospel Proclamation. Gospel Reception. Gospel Discipleship. Gospel Perseverance. Gospel Joy. I'll repeat them in a minute. Gospel Examples. Gospel Repentance. and gospel anticipation. So, here's some evidences that we see in these believers' lives in the church at Thessalonica that they indeed were chosen by God. gospel proclamation, gospel reception, gospel discipleship, gospel perseverance, gospel joy, gospel examples, gospel repentance, and gospel anticipation. Now, that outline will become clear not only this week, but in the weeks to come. But let's begin with gospel proclamation. Now, I touched on this last time in 1 Thessalonians, And that's in verse five. He says, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but the gospel came to you also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. The gospel came to them. It was proclaimed to them. The God who had chosen them for salvation by his grace had also sovereignly decreed that the gospel would come to them. God sent missionaries to them. Who were they? Paul, Silas, or Silvanus, and Timothy. Now, do you remember the historical context of this? Remember the so-called Macedonian call? In Acts chapter 16, verses nine and 10, how a vision appeared to Paul in the night, and a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And it says, when he had seen the vision immediately, he sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So here we have this extraordinary, in fact, supernatural event of a vision appearing to Paul, the Macedonian call, that then changed his course. So he set sail from Troas to eventually Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and beyond, this region of Macedonia. And so there is this gospel proclamation. This is all the sovereign work of God in bringing the gospel to his elect. For how will they call upon him in whom they've not believed? And how will they believe in him in whom they've not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? The apostle Paul asked those questions in Romans 10. verses 14 and 15. Paul was confident that they were elect because God had sent them to preach to them. These men, sent by God to proclaim the gospel, preached in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. And the gospel did its powerful work in them. Listen, we are called to go and preach the gospel to all the nations. It is necessary for us to do that, that all the elect will hear the gospel. So it came to them. Verse five, that's gospel proclamation. And they received the preached word in verse six. Look at verse six. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord. Notice the phrase, having received the word, in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Here we see gospel reception. Gospel reception. And not only was proclaimed to them, but he was confident that they were chosen of God because, not just because they heard it, but it came and it was received. The word received in verse six means to accept, to approve, to welcome, and to believe. The word was received by them like a treasured friend. The door was open, wide open, when they heard the gospel. Now, this word is used in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, when it says this, a natural man does not accept or receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. Now that is man in his depraved, fallen state. He will not receive. He will not accept. He will not welcome the Word. And yet, that is what is necessary for salvation. James 1 verse 21, "...in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." But spiritually dead and spiritually depraved sinners can't receive the gospel. They can't believe the gospel unless God regenerates them, makes them alive in Christ. And God had done this work of grace in them. And that was evidence of their election. At the appointed time, the elect will respond. They will believe the gospel. And this is another reason he was confident of God's choice in them. They had received the word in verse six. Now, it's important here to understand that they not only received the word preached to them, but they also received the messengers who were proclaiming the message to them. When God calls and sends preachers, Those who are elect of God not only hear the message, but they receive those sent of God. So where is that in scripture? One example of it is in Matthew 10, verse 14, when Jesus said to the disciples, whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house and that city, shake the dust off your feet. And then he says in Matthew 10, verse 40, he who receives you receives me. So when God sends those who proclaim the gospel, in this case when He sent Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to them, they not only receive the message, they receive the messengers. Look at chapter 2 verse 13, 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received, now that word received there is not the same Greek word translated received in verse six of chapter one. It's a different word that just means they received it, they heard it. When you receive from us the word of God's message, you accepted it. Now there's the word, it's just translated differently. That's translated receive in verse six of chapter one. Here, you accepted it. Not as a word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God. So they came and they proclaimed it, and they said, this is the word of God, you're the messenger, we're receiving it, we're accepting it, not as just your word, but the word of God ultimately. But God uses messengers. Now go back to chapter one, verse five. I skipped over that last phrase in verse 5. Just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. Now, why did Paul say this? It seems somewhat out of place. He's talking about the gospel coming to them in power and the Holy Spirit with full conviction. And then he says, just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. Here's why Paul said it. He was under attack. The apostle Paul was under attack. His character was being attacked by those who opposed the gospel in Thessalonica. You remember back in Acts chapter 17, Verses one through nine, where we have the historical accounting of them going to Thessalonica and preaching the gospel. When they heard and believed, it says in Acts 17 verse five, but the Jews becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason. They were seeking to bring them out to the people, meaning Paul, Silvanus and Timothy. They wanted to persecute these messengers So then Paul escaped and went on to Berea. But that didn't stop them. When they heard they were in Berea in Acts 17 verse 13, they sent agitators to stir up the crowds in Berea. They were following Paul around to defame his character, to slander him so that people would not believe his message. And so that's why Paul defends his character and his ministry, as we'll see in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. He defends it and he brings to their remembrance how they were men of integrity. Now, to persecute those called and sent by God to proclaim the gospel is a form of persecuting the church, which in turn is a form of persecuting Christ himself. Remember when Paul himself, then named Saul, was persecuting and ravaging the church, it tells us in Acts 9 verse 4, when The Lord Jesus opened his eyes, saved him. He asked him, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So we can't so easily separate and say, oh, I believe the message, but the messenger, I don't know about him. No, if you attack the messenger who's preaching the gospel, a man of integrity, a godly man with godly motives as Paul was, then you're really attacking the church and you're ultimately attacking Christ. And this is what was happening. They received the message, but they also received Paul. Now, again, I'm gonna explain this, because understanding what's going on in chapters one through three is kind of hinges on this and understanding why Paul is so defending his ministry, but not only that and recounting it, but he's also relieved that they have not turned on him. Because to turn on him would mean to turn on the message that he preached. For you can't separate in this sense, the messenger from the message. So what must the church do in the face of such attacks? This is what happens, isn't it? Attack the messengers. We've seen it happen here through the years, right? Attack the messengers because the message is not liked. And that's what the world does in persecuting the church. Often, let's attack the messengers. So what is needed? Well, the church needs men of conviction and godly character who are above reproach so that there's no accurate accusation against their character. So he says, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. Now he knew something about them. He was confident of God's choice of them, verse four, and they were confident of something about him. His character, what kind of man he was and what kind of men they were. Speaking here of the manner of men or the sort of men, they were godly men of integrity. Here's what the church needs. The church needs men who preach the right message, the true gospel, men of proven character, and men with godly motives. And that's what Paul is saying he did. They preached the correct message. He said, our gospel did not come to you in word only, but it came in power and the Holy Spirit with full conviction. This is our gospel. Not meaning, well, this is something we made up, but we have been entrusted with this treasure, and we are proclaiming what has been given to us, this treasure of the gospel. And they were men of proven character. He says, just as you know what kind of men, we prove to be among you. They observed his character as he lived among them. That's what we need. You need, that's why elders must be those of proven character. This is that two men of above reproach, the qualifications of a pastor, an overseer, an elder in 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1. Proven character, you observe them, you see their lives. And he says, you saw my life. And he says, what we proved to be among you for your sake. Their motives were godly. It's for your sake. He wasn't doing this for his own name or fame. One of the qualifications of a pastor, 1 Timothy 3.8, Titus 1.7, is not fond of sordid gain or selfish gain. And so the apostle Paul is saying, we did all these things for your sake. We were willing to be persecuted, beaten in Philippi, persecuted, slandered for your sake. And that's what the church needs. No accurate accusation can be made against them. They were above reproach. This is what the church needs today. See, this too gave Paul confidence concerning their election. They rightly discerned the messenger sent from God. That's very important. They rightly discerned the messengers sent from God. Now they did it based on the message, observing their character, and in observing their character, seeing that their motives were godly motives. And they not only received the message, but the messengers as well. How you receive those sent by God to preach the gospel demonstrates something about your soul. You just need to let that soak in a minute. How you receive those sent by God to preach the gospel demonstrates something about the state of your soul. Sometimes people say, I believe the gospel, and then they reject men of godly character, proven character, who are preaching the gospel. And that's often a precursor to them beginning to go after false teachers who are teaching a false gospel. When I hear people say, I'm a believer, and you say, who are you listening to? I was talking to a guy some months ago, that I met, and I don't remember how it came up, but first spiritual things came up, and so we were talking about that. He had told him I was a believer in Jesus Christ, and then eventually, you know, I was a pastor, so he begins to tell me, oh, I'm a Christian, too, and he starts telling me things, and telling me things about what he believed, and he said, my pastor is Joseph Prince. I don't know if you know who Joseph Prince is. He said, I know he's on television, but he's my pastor. Immediately, I knew something about the man's spiritual state, immediately. Because how you receive those sent from God to preach the gospel demonstrates something about the state of your soul. And when you receive those who are not preaching the right message of the gospel, the true gospel, then that tells you something about the state of their soul. So Paul was confident about their election because their gospel reception, not just of the message, but also the messengers, gave him that confidence. But there was even more that gave him confidence of their election. There was gospel discipleship. Gospel discipleship. Look at verse six. He says, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord. And so having heard the word and received and believed the word, They then became imitators of the messengers who preached it to them and met imitators of the Lord Jesus. Now the word imitator in Greek is mimitates. We get the word mimic from this word. It means to imitate or to follow after. It means to follow the example of another, to consider the actions, ways, and character of another in order to follow them. And he says, this is why I am confident of his choice of you. The gospel came to you. God in his sovereignty brought it to you, but that's not enough. You received it and you received the messengers who preached it. But then he says, not only that, but having believed it, now you became imitators of the messengers and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are imitators. We're imitators. You find this throughout the scriptures. Ephesians five, verse one, be imitators of God as beloved children. The apostle Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 4 verse 16, I exhort you be imitators of me. And in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1, be imitators of me just as I also am of Christ. And there's then the imitating of the faith of those who lead us in the church. Hebrews 13, verse seven says, remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Believers are imitators. We're imitators of God and he has given us examples in the church. to follow their leadership and their example as well. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 14. Look in chapter two, verse 14. He says, for you brethren became imitators, there it is again, of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen. So they're even imitating other churches who are going through difficulties. persecution because of the gospel. See, believers are imitators. There are no solo, lone Christians. You can't just go out there and do it on your own. When someone says, oh, I'm out here, I don't need the church. I don't need to be with the people of God. I don't need examples. I don't need church leaders. I doubt their election. Now it could be they're just straying for a little bit, that happens. But it's not an indication. of a good thing regarding their spiritual state. But when you see someone, the gospel has come in power and the Holy Spirit with full conviction through messengers who preach the right message and are preaching from right motives and they believe and receive it and they begin to imitate the faith of their pastors or those who preach to them and other believers and other churches and ultimately of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, you say, now I have some confidence. They indeed have been saved by the grace of God and are among the elect of God. This is what discipleship is. This is why I call it gospel discipleship. This is an evidence of election. Those who profess faith in Christ, there should be discipleship. Isn't this what Jesus told us to do? That we're to make disciples of all the nations? baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. This is discipleship. Make disciples. The word disciple is mon, excuse me, just skip me, mathetes, mathetes. A disciple is a follower. One who is a student of another. And it was often used of one who was a student, a disciple in a trade or a skill. They watch you. They're those who have certain skills in trades and you teach others. They become a learner, a disciple, and you show them how to do it and they watch you and they learn that skill in that trade. Well, this isn't about a job. This is about how you live. A disciple is closely bound to the one he's learning from. We're to be closely bound to Christ. We're his disciples. But how do we become his disciples? Through teachers, through examples. We make disciples as we teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. This is what Paul was doing. He was saying, here's how you walk with him. Here's how you glorify, here's how you're sanctified. This is the instruction he's gonna continue to give them in chapters four through six. And they were becoming imitators of him. And imitators ultimately of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were bearing the fruit of discipleship. Discipleship. And this gave him confidence. Confidence that they were indeed the elect of God. Look for a moment in chapter four, verse one. Chapter four, verse one. When he gets to the instruction, he says, finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God. That's Paul teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded. But then notice he says this, just as you actually do walk, So they were being imitators of the Lord Jesus. They were walking according to that instruction, but he says that you excel still more. You don't say, I'm finished with discipleship. In chapter four, verses nine and 10, when he's instructing them about love of the brethren. He says, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. Verse 10, for indeed, you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more. See, this is discipleship. He's saying, look, you're an imitator of us, of the Lord Jesus. But now continue to excel in this discipleship and pleasing God. You never stop growing. We can never rightly say, this is important, you can never rightly say, I don't need instruction in this area of the Christian life any longer. You can say it, but you can't rightly say it. And here it is in the lives of Thessalonians. They were imitators of the apostle Paul, Timothy, Silvanus. They were imitators of the Lord Jesus and they were bearing the fruit of salvation. But he says you need to excel even more. Even more. You should be concerned about someone who says they don't need instruction any longer in any area of the Christian life. or that they don't need to grow any longer in a particular area of the Christian life. That's a concerning thing. But these believers were not like that. They were imitators of Paul and the Lord Jesus. They were disciples and they were growing disciples. Because you know what? You grow in every area of the Christian life until you see Christ face to face. And so we've seen, indeed, that Paul had confidence in their election because of gospel proclamation. The God who sovereignly chose them sent them, those who would proclaim the gospel. And gospel reception, they received it, they welcomed it, and they believed it. And they received the messengers And that's seen because they imitated their faith. Show me how to walk with Christ. And they imitated the Lord Jesus. There was gospel discipleship. And they were growing more and more. And Paul exhorts them, excel still more and more. Do you see that in your own life? Now, not too long ago, I taught on the assurance of salvation during our Sunday school hour. And we talked about objective assurance, that we look to what Christ has done, what he has accomplished for us. That's redemption accomplished. There is no assurance unless we know what he accomplished for us and are sure that he secured our redemption by his life and by his death. But then there is this aspect of needing to examine ourselves. to see if we're in the faith. How do we know and have confidence of His choice of us, that we are beloved by God because the gospel came to us? Do you know how often in my mind I go back to that in my own life? How often I go back to how God, I was in the darkness and did not know the gospel, but how God in His sovereignty brought A fellow high school student to share the gospel with me and to invite me to a Bible study and how I began to read it and the gospel came in power and the Holy Spirit. And how it was received and believed and how then immediately, having been born again and then granted a gift of faith and repentance, I was now following Christ. What does he want me to be? What am I, how am I to live to please this one who died for me? And it was immediately on a track of, I want to know how I can walk with him and please him. And I look back on that, that now continues these 40 plus years of discipleship. And therefore I say, I praise God. I praise God because I know his choice of me. Do you see the evidence of election before the foundation of the world? Because it will bear fruit. You'll hear the gospel, you'll believe the gospel, and you will follow Christ in discipleship if you indeed have been chosen of Him by His grace. Let's bow our heads together in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that there is fruit of your work of salvation. And I pray for those who are here today that they might consider this example in the church at Thessalonica. The evidence of election and how the apostle Paul could be confident knowing brethren beloved by God, his choice of you. You could have such confidence as he remembered the proclamation of the gospel, how they were sent to them, and how they preached, and how it came in power, and then the Holy Spirit with full conviction, and how they received it, and believed it, and how they received the messengers sent by you, and how they became imitators. Paul and Timothy and Silvanus and of the Lord. Father, I pray that we might examine our own lives to see if we see the fruit, the evidence of election. And Father, we thank you. We praise you for your mercy, your grace, that you would save any of us. Help us as we grow in our understanding of your work of salvation to look back at what you are doing, have done in our lives, and understand it and give thanks and praise to you. And Lord, may it give us confidence and strength and an anchor for our souls now in the present. And as we look to the future, the things that we don't know about, Lord, uncertain to us, but yet things that are yet certain because of your work because of your choice of us, that you will complete the work you began. So Lord, I pray that these things might strengthen our souls as believers. And I pray for some among us who maybe these things are not true in their lives right now. Some of them, because they've gone astray, I pray they would repent of those things. Maybe they've gotten their eyes off of Christ And on other things, may they fix their eyes on Christ. But for some who may be professed to know you, but they don't even know the gospel itself. And they haven't believed it. And they, therefore, are not imitators of you. No discipleship. Father, I pray Open their eyes to show them their deception, lest they continue to be deceived. And have confidence that they are among the elect or among those who are saved when they are not. Father, we pray you would do these things for your glory and for your namesake. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.