we would this evening for a short time to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians, Paul's epistle to the church at Thessalonica, chapter 1 and verse 5 and 6. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy, O the Holy Ghost." And so on. The words that we have in 1 Thessalonians chapters 1 verses 5 and 6, As you know, we began to look at this epistle of Paul to Thessalonica, the first of his epistles. the only one in which he addresses himself simply as Paul. He's not Paul the apostle, he's not Paul a servant of God, he is simply Paul. We see how in common with all other epistles, other than the church at Galatia, he is thankful for them. He indicates his thankfulness. We give thanks to God always for you all. Paul, in every single epistle, begins by thanking God for the churches, with the exception of the church at Galatia, because Galatia, he begins immediately asking who has bewitched them. He doesn't thank God for them, but he asks who has bewitched them that they have turned to another gospel. So this evening we want to continue our study of chapter one of this epistle. And we are brought face to face with a doctrine that has been attacked so many times within the church. That is the doctrine of election. It has been attacked on many occasions. the doctrine of election. The view that we, of course, embrace is absolute and unconditional election. Absolute and unconditional election. And that is contrary to, for example, the Sassanians a way back many years ago, and whose doctrines are still with us to this day. And the Sassanians indicated that they believed that there was simply a condition of faith on the part of God. There is basically no sound doctrine of election. The Arminians, on the other hand, they say that there is a doctrine of election, but God looks forward in time and sees who's going to believe or who would be disposed to believe, and they have the power to believe, and God then elects them. So that election with both the Sassanians and the Armenians is based in time. And it is based on man's ability. Whereas the unconditional and absolute election is not based on time at all, it's based in eternity. God from eternity has elected unconditionally, not because he sees anything in them, but simply out of his mere good pleasure, he has chosen a people for himself. Some people you may hear saying that election is God's unrevealed, God's election is God's unrevealed will, whereby I will have all men to be saved is his revealed will, but that we must discount altogether. Election is fully revealed in scripture. Who the elect are is not revealed. That is what is not revealed. We do not know who God's people are. But does that mean to say that we are unable in any way or shape or form to discern who a Christian is? Well, Paul, he helps us with this because Paul begins to open this very subject up for us. If you look at verse four, knowing brethren, beloved your election of God. Now, just before this, he has spoken, he's given thanks for them. He's remembering without ceasing their work of faith, their labor of love, their patience of hope. We saw that last week. But he goes on to say, knowing this, brethren, beloved, your election of God and the word for follows on from that. He is now going to tell us how it is that he knows of their election. for our gospel came not unto you in word only," and so on. These two verses are indicating to us that election is able to be discerned. It's not only in this portion of Scripture that you find that, but when you go to, for example, 2 Peter and chapter One, you discover that Peter there says, and he encourages them, wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling an election sure. But if you do these things, you shall never fail. You shall never fall. So Paul here is encouraging them to make their calling an election sure. In the epistle to the Thessalonians, he is saying, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God, for, and he goes on to describe what it is and how it is that he knows of their election of God. So there are two things that may be discerned here. First of all, the individual is able to seek to make his election sure, to make it certain. And it is also true that the apostle Paul was able to be assured and see that they, and in his belief, they were elect of God. Now, what is it that he says here that begins to indicate this? Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God, for, because, that's what he's beginning to say, because, and the first thing he brings out before them is their calling. how they have been called by God's grace to Jesus Christ. Those who are God, God from all eternity, who has elected in his son Jesus Christ, it's not selection, it is election in Christ. They are elect in Christ. God has given them to his son before the very foundation of the world. And having given them to his son in love, he then brings them that they come to hear and be called by the gospel of his son, Jesus Christ. Take, for example, the thief on the cross. It's one that we often go to because there was a man that had a very dangerous occupation. He could have been killed long before he was ever taken to the cross. But in God's providence, it was decreed in God's providence that he would meet one day with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Lord Jesus Christ would bless that man even in the last hours of his life. such that Jesus could say to him, today, thou will be with me in paradise. What wonderful mercy and grace is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a great privilege it is that when we are brought under the sound of the gospel and we are called by his grace. Look at what he says, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, the word came to them in word. In other words, Paul had brought the word to them. He brought the word to them. When Paul, for example, writes to the church at Rome in that wonderful chapter, chapter eight, we know that all things work together for the good of them that love the Lord, to them who are the called, according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his son. Paul is saying there that to be a Christian is not an accident of history, but rather it is God's rich grace and mercy that reaches down and blesses the sinner. It didn't come to them in word only, but it did come to them in worth. It is through the preaching of the word that sinners are called by the outward preaching of the gospel. What a great privilege it is for our young people, for our children, our children's children, to be blessed, being under the preaching of the gospel from an early age. The Lord, we are told, has called preachers of the word. They are called to go out and to preach the gospel. Timothy, for example, when you read of Paul's epistle to Timothy, he speaks about Timothy being set apart to the preaching of the word. The Lord sets apart preachers of the gospel, whose duty it is to go out and to preach the word. Preaching itself, as the confession says, is a divine ordinance. a divine ordinance established by God, and a divine call to the preaching of the Word. But the preacher, the pastor, is there to bring the Word, to preach the Word in season and out of season. That is the great object of the preacher of the Word. It is to preach Christ crucified. Nowhere do you find in Paul's epistles Are we told that it is the job of the church to entertain, to be simply entertainers, to be comedians in the pulpit? Rather, the preacher of the gospel has been set apart to preach the word, to bring the word before poor sinners. This is a great provision that God has given. He says, for our gospel, that's not the apostles' gospel. The apostles' gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of Jesus Christ. It is Christ's gospel. But Paul brings it now as his own gospel, because he wants and desires to set before the church at Thessalonica, he had set before them the gospel, which was his gospel. He had tasted and seen that God was gracious. The Lord had blessed him, and he brought that gospel to the church at Thessalonica, and he preached it with word. But he says here simply the preaching of the word will not save you. Although he preached and he brought it by word, that word itself would not in and of itself save. He needed to come. He needed something else. The preacher of the gospel can preach the word in the midst of the congregation, but that's not the problem. The problem is the hardened, stony heart of unbelief. It needs to come in the power of the Holy Spirit. And Paul says, you know that our gospel came not unto you in word only, it came in word, but it also in the power and in the Holy Ghost. It came in power. That is what's needed in the preaching. The power of the Holy, the power of God. because it is only the power of God that is able to break the hard and stony heart of unbelief. The Arminian will say to you that God sees ahead or that man has the innate power within him to believe of himself. But that is not true. Man is dead in trespasses and in sins. He's dead. He cannot believe. But what he cannot do, the power of God is able to do. Do we recognize ourselves here this evening? The power that is to be availed in the preaching of the word. The preaching of Christ crucified can achieve what nothing else can achieve. The word preached from the pulpit is able to bring life where there is death, bring about a changed creature, to bring about the very image of God into the soul, so that when you come to God's house and you have a prayer meeting, should we not then be praying that God would not only have the preaching, but that God would bless that preaching in the midst of the congregation? that as sinners come in that door, God would bless them. We have had three new people come in the door in the last three weeks, off the streets, never having been in church or not going to church, they've come in the door. My friend, what can this church, what can this congregation do for people like that? Nothing really. except preach the word and pray that there is the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul was able to say, we know your election of God, because by God's grace, the gospel was preached here. And remember, Paul was the one who knew what it was when he would go up into Asia, his mouth was closed. He would have preached there, but we are told the Holy Spirit closed his mouth. Why did the Holy Spirit close the mouth of the apostle? Because there were none of God's people there. There was a call over to Macedonia, and what does he find? He comes to Philippi, and there's a woman down by the riverside whose heart the Lord opened. There was a prison and the soldier is gloriously converted. What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. When Paul wasn't able to preach the word going up into Asia, he was able to preach it at Philippi. When he came into Corinth later on, he wondered, Why? There didn't seem to be anything going on here. But the Lord said to Paul, you continue preaching because I have many people in this city. That's what kept him going. So my friend, for our gospel came not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. It's the power of God, the power of the Holy Ghost, which is poured out and which accompanies that preaching that brings about the blessing. Think then, he says, and in much assurance. What's the assurance there? There are two aspects to this. Some will say it's giving Paul the assurance that they are elect. Others say that it's giving them assurance. The assurance of salvation, I prefer the last one in fact, is giving them assurance of salvation. When Paul sees how assured they are in their salvation, how assured they are in their faith in Jesus Christ, he sees that, and that convinces him. of their election of God, that they are truly one of God's people. You see how what Paul is saying here is, here is the effect of election. Here is the outcome of what took place in eternity. Here is what took place in that transaction with his son before the very foundations of the world. The providence is that God brings the gospel there. He brings the word there, but it didn't only come in word only, but in the power and in the Holy Ghost. And they had much assurance of their faith in Jesus Christ. Now, how did that all come about? Well, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. What manner of men were they? Was the Apostle Paul a mighty orator? Not at all. Was he a mighty man of stature? Not at all. There was nothing outward between these three brethren, and the brethren at the beginning are Paul and Silvanus, that's Silas, and Timotheus. The three of them are there, Paul, Silas, and Timotheus. And when you see the three of them, you wouldn't say that they were anything of great, mighty men. He wouldn't say that they were anything. They weren't rich men. They weren't men that had great wealth and money or influence. They had nothing. And Paul says, you know what manner of men we were among you. Do you think that we are the ones that are able to do this? Do you think we are the ones simply by our own oratory that we are able to change lives the way the gospel is changing? He says, you know what manner of men we were among you. We were just like flesh as you are, the same manner of men as you are yourself. This is not man's worth. This is God's worth. See what he says when he comes to, when he writes to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians chapter two and verse one. And I was with you, he says, And I, verse two, and I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Paul is now writing to the church at Thessalonica and he's saying to them, you know what manner of men we were among you. We weren't ones who came in that were mighty, great orators or anything, lest you think it's by our own persuasion. Lest you think it's by our ability to persuade you. That's not how it's come about. It's come about because of the power of the Holy Ghost that has brought and the assurance that you have. is because of God's grace. I mean, is that not true of every single believer this evening? Is that not true of every one of us? Every single one of us do we say that, we'll say with the Apostle Paul elsewhere, I am what I am by God's grace and by God's grace alone. See how the Apostle Paul, so there's this, the calling, the calling of election. He knows that the election of God is there because, first and foremost, they are called, not just by the outward call of the gospel, but by that inward call, the inward call of God's Spirit, blessing the Word, blessing the preaching, and drawing sinners to himself. So that is the first and foremost evidence that they are the elect of God because they have been called by the gospel. And that calling of the gospel has changed their lives. So the second, the next thing is, not just that they have, that the gospel has been, that they've been called, but the second thing is that having been called, they become followers of the apostle. They become followers of them. Their section, you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. It's not just that they are called and that there is a mighty work of the power of God's grace in their lives. They now become followers of the apostles. they become followers of the Apostle Paul himself. Now, you might think to yourself, well, the Apostle Paul is somehow perhaps exalting himself. But look at what Paul says again when he writes to the church at Corinth. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Paul knows their election of God, not just because they're following him, but because he himself is following Christ. In other words, he's exhorting them because they have listened to the gospel that he has preached among them. They have listened to the gospel that he has experienced in his own life. He has tasted and seen that God is gracious. He is now someone whose own life has turned around. The Lord met with him on the road to Damascus. He knew the power of the gospel in his own life. And he was called, not as a minister, but as an apostle to the Gentiles. He is an apostle to the Gentiles. And now he goes out and he preaches the gospel that has been given to him by Jesus Christ. And they listened to him. And that preaching was so effective in their experience that it was spoken of throughout the world. Paul, when he went elsewhere, didn't need to go to other places and say, do you hear about the faith of those in Thessalonica? It was spread abroad so that other people already heard it. Paul didn't need to tell them. It was in a higher and every place your faith to God were to spread abroad. And what was it about that faith? They were following the apostle. They were following Timothy. They were following Silas. They were following the same gospel as the apostles. And my friend, is that not the second aspect of God's electing love? Not only that a sinner is called, by his grace. But that sinner is turned around and he begins to listen to what the apostles say, to what Paul is saying. That's why it is so important that we have an open Bible before us this evening. That is what is so important that we come to what Paul is saying in his epistles. Because God has spoken, holy men of old have spoken. as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And we have that word this evening. He says, ye became followers of us and of the Lord. One followed after the other. If one is elect and one is going to make their calling and election sure, And if one seeks to see whether by their fruits ye shall know them, what is the fruit? Ye follow the apostles. You follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just like all those in the, I think we mentioned, blind Bartimaeus. When the Lord, when blind Bartimaeus was calling out to the Lord, And the Lord called for him to come over. What would I have you to do that I might have my sight? So be it to you according to your faith. And he was able to see, and he followed the Lord. The Lord called him over to himself. He healed him, and now he followed the Lord. And that's what Paul is saying here. He says, you became followers of us and of the Lord. and of the Lord. And whatever the apostles had said, whatever the Lord Jesus had said, and the apostle is just repeating what the Lord Jesus already gave to the disciples and the apostles when he was in this world, they are now speaking the word of Christ. And how did they receive that word? They received it in much affliction. That's what he said, you receive that word in much affliction. Now you think of the troubles that there were for those in Thessalonica. You get it in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17. In the Acts of the Apostles, you see how the apostle came down into Thessalonica and he began to preach the word. And as he preached the word, there were those who believed. There were those who believed in verse five. But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of a base of sort, and gathered a company and set all the city in an uproar. Later on, Jason is going to be persecuted. But they received the word in much affliction. Now you might say to yourself, we don't have the same affliction here today. You don't have the same affliction. You don't have the same troubles that they had in Thessalonica. You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may not be put into prison. But we forget that the Christian is in a dark world, a world that is full of sin and iniquity, a world that basically When confronted with the truth of Jesus Christ, not the Jesus that they think they believe he is, but the truth as he is, the world reviles against Jesus Christ. I preached recently on Jesus being taken and being before Pilate, and then after Pilate, his own soldiers take them into the hall. And what do they do? They spit in his face. And that's what Paul in human nature does today. When confronted with Jesus Christ, they spit in his face. They had much affliction. We ourselves, if you stand for Jesus Christ, may have much affliction. Young people in school, if they are Christian, may have much affliction. may be reviled and rebuked because of their faith. But see how those in Thessalonica, they received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. They rejoiced to receive the word. Didn't matter what affliction was going to come their way. Jason may be passed into prison. may be cast into prison, but they receive the word with joy. You think of, we often go back to Paul and Silas himself, the two here, Paul and Silas in Philippi, the very first place they come to in Macedonian. What happens to them? Cast into prison. There's affliction. They're manacled to the very prison, the depth of the prison, what a place that would be. That would be a place that the prisons today would seem like a hotel compared to the prison that Paul and Silas were cast into. And what do you find? Much affliction, singing psalms in the very depths of the prison. I can't remember who it was. I think it was Rutherford that said that he knew the greatest joy of the Holy Ghost when he was in Aberdeen, when he was under affliction. There the Lord blessed him, even in affliction. And how many have found that to be the case? Being persecuted, yet blessed with the gospel. And that's the way the church in Thessalonica, you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. Who was there that received the word with much affliction and yet joy of the Holy Ghost? The Apostle Paul. He became followers of me, because I have known affliction, and yet I know the joy of the Holy Ghost." And he doesn't leave it there. He brings us to the true example, isn't it? The true one. He says, you became followers of us and of the Lord, because you received the word in affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. Is it not the Lord Jesus himself who had much affliction? He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He knew what it was to be afflicted. As our great high priest, he knows what it was to have been afflicted, but yet he also knew the joy of the Holy Ghost. More than because he was one who was filled with the Spirit without measure. He had the Spirit upon him without measure. In our nature, he was afflicted. Yet in our nature, he had the joy of the Holy Ghost. And that is what Paul is commending in the church at Thessalonica. You became followers. In other words, you're in the same footsteps as I am, of us, Paul, Silvanus, Silas, and Timotheus. You are followers. We are followers of the Lord Jesus, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. And it's that, that the Apostle Paul says, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. You have been called. You have been called by the power of the Holy Ghost. You knew that it wasn't us. You knew what manner of men we were among you. We didn't achieve this. But you became followers of us, became followers above all of the Lord Jesus, that you receive the word You received it in much affliction, but with joy of the Holy Ghost. And can we say that of ourselves today? Can we say that we receive the word of Christ? We receive it with joy. We receive the comfort that that word gives to us. We receive the comfort that Christ himself affords to us. When Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica, then he is writing to us as well. And he says, I'm thankful for who you are. And I'm thankful that you show the signs of the election of God. Elsewhere, Peter said, make your election, your calling. and your election, surely. What's it telling you? It's telling us that salvation is all of God's grace. It all flows out of the love of the Father in electing a people to himself in eternity, whom he called, whom he makes to be like unto his Son. the image of citizen, renewing them by the power, spirit of God. Let us join together in prayer. Let us pray. Most gracious and ever blessed Lord, we thank thee for the goodness of thy grace. We thank thee that we have nothing of ourselves, preacher, hearer. We have nothing but what we have already been given. We thank Thee for the encouragement that the gospel gives to us. We thank Thee that in the councils of eternity Thou hast a people, a people that Thou wilt call in time and Thou wilt bless in eternity. Who before us in the rest of this evening, we pray Thee, we pray that Thou would help us in all that we would seek to do. May it be that we would do it to Thy glory. thine honour and thy praise. Bless us, we pray thee, and bless the closing of the seminary tomorrow. Prepare us, we pray thee, in thy providence to come to the Lord's house on the Lord's day. We pray that thou would bless the preaching of the word, that sinners would be saved. Undertake for us now, part us in thy fear and with thy blessing, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Psalm 119 from verse 40. Psalm 119 from verse 40, and we'll sing four verses to the end of the verse, Mark 45. From 41 to 45. Psalm 119, 41 to 45. Let thy sweet mercies also come and visit me, O Lord, even thy benign salvation according to thy word. So shall I have wherewith I may give him an ancestor to spitefully reproach him. For in thy word I trust. Four verses. Let thy sweet mercies also come and visit me, O Lord. Let thy sweet mercies also come and visit me, O Lord. In thy benign salvation, adore him to thy word. So shall I now, wherewith I may, give him an answer just, ♪ Disciple thee in reproach and fear ♪ ♪ For in thy word I trust ♪ ♪ The word of truth I hold my God ♪ ♪ With love not utterly distressed ♪ So shall I be forevermore thy Lord. Service on the Lord's Day is at 11 and 6 p.m. These are all the information we'll conclude with the benediction. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest on and abide with you now and always. Amen.