If you'll open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, I want to preach to you a message that has been laid upon my mind and heart this last week. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, we've already read the history of how this church came to be and how they received the Word of God under great difficulty, yet they received it with joy. A great work occurred as Paul came to preach about Jesus, and many, many believed, and there was an immediate persecution and suffering that began and that continued for as long as we know of their existence. So let me read to you from the last part of this book. I'm going to read verses 23 and 24. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 23 and 24. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you. who also will do it." Underlying this whole letter of Paul's is this great concern that he has and that they probably have as well. In fact, Paul was so burdened about this question. that he took his right-hand man, Timothy, whom he needed with him as he labored under great affliction, and he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to find out this one question. Are they still remaining faithful? Paul understood the pressures that the Thessalonians faced. He had been there in the very beginning. He had been there when these certain, I love what we read earlier, these certain lewd fellows of the baser sort. And you just put whatever in your mind you want for that description. Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort had been stirred up to wreak havoc among all those who had believed in the name of Jesus Christ. They weren't causing any trouble, they were just worshipping Jesus, but the trouble was caused by those who came to rid Thessalonica of this terrible, dreaded, awful, reality, and that is believers and followers of Jesus Christ, those who would call Jesus Christ King. So Paul had to leave, he was run out. And then, if you keep reading in Acts 17, These people in Thessalonica who hated the gospel, they were so intent on destroying the gospel that when they found out that Paul had moved 40 miles down the road to Berea, they left Thessalonica and traveled 40 miles. And that's not a 40-minute drive in your air-conditioned car. That's a long, tough journey in these days. And they go there to find him to make sure they could squash this out. These are people who claim that the Christians have turned the world upside down. And by the way, they're not wrong about that, are they? They're right about that. The world has never been the same since Jesus Christ appeared on the scene. So the question remains, will they remain faithful? Can they continue under this heavy trial? And the answer that we just read is that yes, they will remain faithful, not because of their inner grit, but they will remain faithful because faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it. I want to speak to you this morning on the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God to sanctify you wholly. The faithfulness of God to preserve your whole spirit and soul and body blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Young people, I believe that the one attribute of God that will grow most precious to you is the faithfulness of God as you continue to live life. Humanity will continually display the ugliness of unfaithfulness. Faithfulness, you'll find, is a divine attribute. And it's one that God gives to His people to allow them to display this divine attribute of faithfulness. When I say divine attribute, I mean faithfulness is so wonderful that it must be from God. Faithfulness is so unspeakable. Faithfulness is so out of our reach that it must come from God. So I want to do two things this morning, and I hope that God will just really train our minds into the glory of His faithfulness. I want to do two things this morning. I want to look at the theology of this passage. Just look at what are the truths that this passage is teaching us about God. And then I want to see this theology, this truth applied to the real life happenings of the people in Thessalonica to draw this closer to where you and I live. And so these two verses, verse 23-24, what is the theology, what are the truths of this passage, or what is this passage doing? This is a prayer And then a, what I'm calling a resounding assurance. So the prayer is in verse 23. This is Paul's prayer for these people that he loves. And the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a prayer. You can read through these prayers quickly. These are, they're similar prayers in many of the ends of the epistles. And you think, well, this is just Paul just saying these nice things before he, you know, signs off. But this is Paul's prayer. This is Paul's ardent prayer that he says, I cease not to pray for you and remember your faith and labor of love and your endurance of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's praying this prayer for them regularly and listen to this prayer. Paul's prayer is that they, that you might be wholly sanctified, completely sanctified, hallowed, as I have a Greek intonation here, hallowed through and through. I want all of you to be purified like Jesus is pure. I want your whole being to be set apart in this glorious display of God's grace and work and His great salvation in your life. Well, consider what Paul has already said to them. We just read it in chapter 1 as we read through this. You're very familiar with it. First, that's only chapter 1. We know that already The gospel has come to them in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. So the gospel has had a powerful, assuring, changing effect upon their whole existence. And Paul says, and I want more. We already know that they have become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and those who are teaching about Jesus. And Paul says, I want more. God wants more. We know that they've already received the word of God with joy under much affliction. And Paul says, and I am praying for more. We know that they are unceasing in their work of faith and labor of love. They're loving well, they're trusting in the Lord, and they are enduring in their hope in Jesus Christ. And Paul says, and I am praying for more. We know that they've already turned from idols. They have disavowed themselves of their former pursuits to turn towards the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul says, and I am praying for more. And we know that their whole life existence is that of waiting for Jesus Christ to return to establish His kingdom. They're looking, they're longing for, they're singing, they're hoping for something, for Jesus to break through the clouds and to appear. And Paul says, and I want more. I am praying, I am not content, I am not satisfied until every one of you, your whole Your spirit, your whole soul, your whole body, your whole being, your complete being is fully conformed and changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now friend, I'm not even sure you're praying that for yourself. Or I'm praying that for myself. Are you praying that for yourself? Is that your ardent desire? Or are we just satisfied to be sort of sanctified? To be sort of walking close to Jesus in some ways and other ways not possible. I want more. I am praying that your whole being be fully sanctified and that you will be, and that this is glorious because we heard this last Sunday in such a sobering display of the wrath of God. Here's what Paul is praying. Brothers, Zach read this passage last week. It's in the next letter to the Thessalonians and it's talking about when Jesus returns. And he says, here's what's going to happen. When Jesus returns in flaming fire, He will take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. And Paul says, when that happens, I am praying for you that you will be preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a prayer, isn't it? I want you to be wholly sanctified, and I want you to be completely preserved, blameless, when the fiery wrath of God comes down upon this creation. What a prayer! It sounds like a prayer that is just too much prayer. You know, you're asking a little bit too much of God. But the prayer is immediately followed by what we can see is a resounding assurance. This prayer will be answered. For everyone who knows the Lord Jesus Christ by faith that He has given to you, this prayer, Paul was praying, wanting far more, will be answered. Do you believe that? Well, why do you believe that? What is your basis of assurance that this prayer will be answered? And the basis of assurance is completely wrapped up in God. The next verse is the assurance. Faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it. Will do what? Will sanctify you wholly. will hallow you through and through, who will preserve your whole spirit and soul and body blameless. It's all bound up in God. Faithful is He who calleth you, who also will do it. We're talking about the faithfulness of God. Well, what is faithfulness? Faithfulness is steadfastness. It's remaining true. It's being unmovable, but remaining true. to one's word. That's faithfulness, isn't it? Just being steadfast, not turning, not changing, not backing up, but remaining true. Well, that's wonderful, but that can be wonderfully terrifying, can't it? Because if somebody's faithfulness is just, I mean, think about children like to engage in stare-out contests. Well, those are unnerving, aren't they? You stare into somebody's eyes until they crack. Well, what if somebody's stare or their fix or their unchangingness is that of wrath towards you? That's not very... So just remaining true is... good, that's steady, but that's not necessarily comforting. So faithfulness is more than that, isn't it? Faithfulness is, yes, it's remaining, it's steadfastness, but it's also, it's also, it's loyalty. It's commitment. It's being faithful to a word of promise, of love. That's what we're talking about with faithfulness of God. It's more than just Fixedness. There's a personal aspect of faithfulness. It's, I will be faithful to you. I've committed myself to you. Faithfulness. The faithfulness of God arises, and we don't have time to think about these for a long time, but just write them down and just meditate on them this week. Faithfulness comes or is possible because of God's perfections. So, for example, faithfulness is possible because God is eternal. Right? He's the same yesterday and today and forever. Our faithfulness is limited by our temporariness, isn't it? By our mortality. By our corruptibility. But God is eternal. And so God can be faithful because He's eternal. Faithfulness is possible because God is immutable. He's unchangeable. In other words, there's not someone who can come to God and say, God, have you considered this? Have you looked at it from this angle? If you saw it from my angle, you might change your mind. But God is immutable. He's perfect. He's all-wise. So He's already considered all the angles. And there's no wiser or more well-thought-out being that can come and advise God and give God a different angle. He's the same. Okay? Faithfulness is possible because God is infinite. He's not bound. by any greater power. He's not bound by any limitation that we are well acquainted with as humans. Time, space, and a whole memory. I forgot to call Sister Teresa this morning. I do it every single Sunday. And I didn't do it today. Sister Teresa, I'm glad you're here with us because of Jefferson's good phone. But we're bound, right? We're limited. God's not. He's infinite. And so because God is infinite, He is able to be faithful. And that's part of the perfections of God as to why He can be faithful, but those are all impersonal in a way, aren't they? Those are wonderful, they're powerful, you experience all of those, but they are not so personal. But faithfulness is also joined by God's perfections of His personal nature. So, in other words, faithfulness arises not only from God's power, but faithfulness arises from God's love. Praise the Lord for that. It's personal. His purity. He won't change. He won't decide to find a better person to fall in love with. But he's pure. He loves. He desires. He wants. It was his desire that chose you out of the race of Adam to be his own personal love objects and the object of his faithfulness. He wanted you. Can you believe that? God desires you. Not because of how good you are, but because out of His own purpose and grace, He desired you. So faithfulness comes because God's perfect in power, and He's infinite, and He's eternal, and faithfulness comes because God wants to remain committed to you. Isn't that wonderful? He loves you with an everlasting love. This is the truth of this passage. So our assurance comes because God is faithful. And then secondly, our assurance comes because God is faithful to His Word. God is faithful to His promise. So faithfulness is to something that one has said. Now what has God promised in relation to the Thessalonians? What has God promised in relation to His people? What has God promised to those who are trusting in Jesus? Well, we read about that in Hebrews chapter 8 and Hebrews chapter 10. Let me just tell you what they say. God says, I am going to bring a new covenant. And this new covenant is unlike the other covenant of old that depended upon both the obedience of the human and the continued love of God. This is different. It's not going to depend upon you and your continuance. It's going to depend upon Me. I'm going to make a new covenant and in this new covenant, you know it's already, I'm going to one, I'm going to write my law in your mind and I'm going to put my law upon your heart. What is that saying? God is saying what Paul is praying for, I'm going to purify you. Isn't that something? Your mind is going to be different. Your heart is going to be different. I'm going to write my law into your mind. I'm going to make you, I'm going to cause you to love my ways. Isn't that something? I'm going to purify you. The second thing is, and you're going to know me and I'm going to know you. I'm going to form a relationship with you. It's going to be one in which we walk together. We sing so many songs about walking with the Lord. I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to be with you. As Hebrews says, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you. As Isaiah 41 says, if you go through the fire, I'm going to be right there. If you go through the waters, I'm going to be right there. I will be a God to you. And you will be a God, a people to me. Isn't that amazing? And I'm going to be committed to this relationship. And then the third thing is, and your sins and your iniquities Will I remember no more? What is that? That's justification, isn't it? This is the prayer of Paul. I'm praying that you will be preserved blameless. So the new covenant is this promise of covenant faithfulness. I'm going to be faithful to this word of purification. I'm going to be faithful to this word of relationship. I'm going to be faithful to this word of justification. You will be preserved blameless. So God is faithful because God is God. God is faithful because He's true to His promise, and God is faithful through His actions. Because of this promise, you can trust that God's actions in existence will be faithful actions. And this is what Paul is praying here. Faithful. Here are the actions of God. Faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it. In other words, God will prove His faithfulness to you in this world. God will prove His faithfulness to you in your life. Well, how do we know that? Well, he says, faithful is he that calleth you. Faithful is he that calleth you. This word, this call here is a present tense word. He is calling you right now. God is calling you right now. You need to understand, friends, what is happening. Even right now, as you are sitting under the saddle, right now, I mean, this moment, as you are hearing 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 23 and 24 played out, right now you're either going to be distracted by something else, or you are going to experience the faithfulness of God right now through the Word of God. Right now, He's calling you right now out of His faithfulness, and His call right now arises out of what Paul describes earlier in the chapter. Let me read it to you. For this cause also thank we God, this is in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 13, without ceasing, because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God, which effectually worketh in you that believe. You are able to hear the call of God right now because God has effectually worked in your heart. The effectual call of the Lord Holy Spirit to bring you to life enables you to hear the Word of God today. You see, friends, God changing your heart is God's faithfulness to you. And God giving you the Word right now is God's faithfulness to you. And God stirring your heart through conviction is God's faithfulness to you. And God's chastising Word is God's faithfulness to you. And then he says, faithful is he that calleth you. So you will experience God's faithfulness through his calling and you will experience God's faithfulness through his doing. Faithful is he who is calling, who also will do it. As sure as he gives grace, God will give glory. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you, he said. So the doing is occurring right now through the experiences of your life right now. You, listen, right now, not in your better scenario, not in what you're praying for, but right now, wherever you are in life, whatever you're experiencing in life, right now, you are, listen, you right now are experiencing the faithfulness of God. Maybe it's through affliction. Maybe it's through a really heavy load. Maybe it's through chastisement. But right now, you are experiencing the faithfulness of God in order to this purpose to sanctify you through and through and to preserve you blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, brother and sister, how important it is for you to believe that. If you don't believe that, you will complain about every affliction. If you don't believe that, you will resist every nudge from God. But if you understand, listen, this stinks, this hurts, this is not fun, but I know this is through the faithfulness of God, there is great assurance, isn't there? And so that's the theology of this passage. That's what the passage is teaching us. Now let's see this passage on display in real time in the Thessalonians' life. We've already read Acts 17. We'll refer to it again. Let me just say this. The faithfulness of God is centered. You'll see it in many places. But the glory of the faithfulness of God is centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's centered in what Christ has done. God's faithfulness is most gloriously to seen. In fact, everything arises from His gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read Acts 17 kind of quickly, but let me just point to you the three people, three people groups who heard this word and received it. Okay. So there was, there was the Jews. Paul came to the synagogue in Thessalonica to preach. And then there were some, what's called devout Greeks. So these are just Greeks, Grecian people. That's what it's like in Greece, of course. Grecian people, and if you think for a few minutes about Greece, you've heard of Socrates, right? Plato and Aristotle. The Greeks were known for their reasonable and logical and philosophical approach to understanding the cosmos, understanding life, understanding existence and purpose and being and all these things. So they were known and took great pride in their ability to think and to reason and to discuss and to look for truth. But there were apparently some Greeks here who were intrigued by this Jewish teaching. And then it says there were some chief women. This is the one that just grabbed hold of me. So Thessalonica was a very wealthy city, a very wealthy Grecian city. It lay on the Ignatian Way that connected Rome, really, with Byzantium, Constantinople. And it ran through Greece about 860 kilometers. And it ran through Thessalonica. And so because it was a major trade route, and for other reasons, it was a very rich and wealthy city. So imagine this for a moment. Imagine that you are a rich, well-connected, well-educated, Grecian woman. You have slaves, servants who do your bidding, your life is easy, you enjoy leisure, and you're intellectual, you're well-educated, and you move around in the highest parts of Thessalonican society. But you're intrigued by, you don't have a lot of time in your hands, you have a lot of time in your hands and so you like to go to social events of the day and you've heard about this synagogue and they talk about this God of Abraham and so you're intrigued by that so you go to just hear somebody speak in the synagogue just to get your intellectual curiosities juices flowing. And you come one day, and there's this man who is speaking, his name is Paul, and here is his message, here's what he says, he says, well, there is one God, and there is a Messiah, and the Jews are all familiar with that, because this Messiah, this anointed of God, this chosen of God, has been prophesied of for years and anticipated for years and talked about it for all their generations. The Messiah is their focal point. He is their great hope. He's the one who's going to come and bring justice to the Jewish people. He's going to bring righteousness. He's going to bring a crown. He's going to reign. He's going to bring safety and protection and he's going to renew and bring about their their position and their standing and of course who would not long for that especially if you have been scattered through the centuries and have sort of almost even lost your identity and yet you long for this glorious hope that God, the God of your fathers, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, you know the stories of how God has miraculously worked and you know the story of the Passover and the freedom and redemption from Egypt, and the reign of David, and you've heard about the ruins of Solomon's temple, and you long to see the glory return, and your people thrive and prosper. And so everybody speaks up or listens up when Paul mentions the Messiah. He says, there is a Messiah. He's the anointed of God. And then Paul says this. Paul says, he opens and allege that the Messiah must suffer. Well, that's strange, isn't it? And as Paul continues to preach, as Paul's preaching is displayed in other places, here's why the Messiah must suffer, Paul says. The Messiah must suffer because the Messiah has bound Himself to His people's good. The Messiah has bound Himself to His people's prosperity. He is a God who's faithful. He's promised that He will reign in righteousness and peace will be their promised fruit. But the problem is that his people have gone astray. They have turned everyone into their own wicked pursuits. They have gone to serve the creature more than the Creator. They have turned themselves away from the most blessed God and living God. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They are all gone astray. They are all gone out of the way. Romans chapter 3. There is none that doeth good, no not one. This sin is in them and has made them unfit for the presence of God and has driven them away from the presence of God. This sin is all the way down to the very core of their being. As soon as they come into the world, they begin to speak lies. Every one of them. They're all going to stray. They're all going out of the way. Every single one. And because of this, it has made them to their very core guilty. It has made them to their very core condemned. And, note this, they are determined to continue to go their own way. Ok, that's their problem. Why must the Messiah suffer? Because the Messiah has bound himself to their good. The Messiah has bound himself to their salvation. The Messiah must suffer because the Messiah is faithful. to His promise. And there is no other way. There is no other way for the people of the Messiah to be saved, to be changed, to be turned, to be fit for the presence of God, unless their sins and their iniquities, which they are really and actually guilty for, are somehow vindicated and absolved and the only way that can happen is through blood sacrificing atonement and this will be the blood sacrifice atoning work of a substitute in which the perfect glorious Messiah will stand in their place and bear their guilt and take their shame and he himself will suffer and die. This is the message of Paul. And then Paul says this, he must needs have suffered and have risen again from the dead. He must rise from the dead because He is a successful Savior. He must rise from the dead because He is the King of the universe. He must rise from the dead because He must reign over all. He must rise because He is faithful to His promise to bring eternal life and newness of life. What a strange story Paul is telling. The Messiah must come from God. He must die. He must rise from the dead. And then Paul says this, and the Messiah has come, listen to this, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Now, we know the story of the gospel, but friends, put yourself in this scene. You are a well-connected, intellectual, well-read, educated person, and Paul's telling you that there is one God, and his anointed one is not going to come and just reign over all. Instead, he's going to die, but then somebody's going to rise from the dead. It's ridiculous, right? He's going to rise from the dead, and that, by the way, it's already happened, and his name is Jesus, and you know that Jesus was this man who was born under questionable circumstances and he was a carpenter's son? You're going to tell me that this carpenter's son? I grew up under the teachings of Socrates and Plato and this carpenter's son? from Nazareth is the Messiah, the anointed of God. He's been rejected already by his own people. He's been crucified by the Roman government, and you're telling me that he is the Messiah? But something that's going to get you a better judgment is doing battle, and that something is right here in the heart. Because when Paul was preaching about sin and how the Messiah must suffer, something was speaking to you and saying, oh my goodness, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. I'm probably condemned. I can't go back. There's no way for me to absolve, to cleanse myself. I'm not pure. My education is no good to me. My position is no good to me. I'm not pure. What do I do? Where can I be washed? Friends, God is faithful in the call. You go, well, this is, brother, I think you're just making this story up. No, I'm not. I don't know the details, but I know this. Many, many, many devout Greeks, and many Jews hearing this, and many chief women, chief women in high positions of great affluence, they believe this, and they consort with Paul, and they become followers of Jesus Christ, and they turn from their idols, and they begin to serve the living and true God. This happened, friends. They turned, imagine what their homes must have been like that night. I got to tell you something. There's one God. He sent His Messiah. His Messiah died and He came back to death and I love Him. I trust Him. I'm waiting for Him to return. I don't believe He's going to come back. He's going to carry me into this glorious kingdom. And right now, friends, husband, Caesar's not the king. Yes, he's reigning over Rome, but he's not reigning over my heart. I'm now pursuing love. I want to love my slaves as I've never loved them before. I want to do good from the heart. I've never done good from the heart before. These people begin to turn. This great multitude turns. In fact, it's such a big turning that the Word goes out throughout all the regions. I mean, this is big, big, big, big news. Did you hear what happened at Thessalonica? The world has been turned upside down. Why? Because God is faithful. Now listen friend, this is important to hear this next thing. God's faithfulness doesn't usually feel like faithfulness. If you're going to understand God's faithfulness, you have to have that at the core of your understanding. God's faithfulness doesn't usually feel like faithfulness. Do you believe that? Let me give you two reasons why this is true in this story. I'm going to do them out of chronology. But the first one is this. What is God's faithful promise? I am going to sanctify you wholly. Okay? That's the promise. The first thing that causes you and I to doubt God's faithfulness to do this is our own internal uncleanness, if you're honest. Right? In chapter 4, Paul comes to me and says, listen, he goes, I'm going to tell you, you must do this. This is the will of God. You must abstain from fornication. You must possess your body in sanctification and honor. You must not, you must stop going beyond and defrauding your brother in every matter. You're not going to live any longer in the lust of, this is just concupiscence, which is just lascivious sexual desire, even as the Gentiles which know not God. You know God. Since you know God, you must stop being ruled by your lust. Now, it's confusing, isn't it? If I've turned from my idols, I know they're false. I know they're not real. I know God is worthy. Then why in the world do I still struggle? Why in the world do I still have lustful thoughts? Or why in the world do I still get angry with my brother? Why in the world do I still get so frustrated and hold grudges? Why do I do this? Well, I must not be changed. God must not be faithful. There must not really be the great turn that He promised. I must not have new affections. Isn't that true? Isn't it true that our own internal uncleanness causes us to wonder about God's faithfulness? I believe it's true, but I'm not sure it's true of me. I know God saves people, but I don't know if He's saving me or not. I am so wicked. I am so undone, so unworthy. It's a challenge, isn't it? Here's the other one. The internal is their own uncleanness. The external is, well, what happened as soon as they turned to follow God. As soon, the very moment they began to follow God. Remember, this is the promise, He's the King of everything. He is coming to give you eternal life. There is righteousness and peace. In fact, it says, now the God of peace sanctify you wholly. But what was their experience? The first moment they believed, peace left the city. Peace left the home. Peace left their existence. If you were a chief woman enjoying these wonderful blessings, and all of a sudden you began to believe in Jesus Christ, the very next moment, your peace was gone. We don't have time to read it, but Paul says, I know what you're experiencing. You are experiencing persecution at the hands of your own countrymen. Imagine that. The people that you eat dinner with every Friday night. Now you're experiencing persecution. The people that know you and know you're not a bad person. You're experiencing persecution. So affliction begins to attend them from the very moment they had received the gospel, the most intense suffering they had ever experienced. And it didn't just happen on one day. It continued their life with a life of affliction. In fact, Paul was, as I said before, Paul was so worried about them that he sends Timothy to go check on them to see are they still believing or not. Have you ever had a thought like this, Lord, look what I'm doing for you, where are you? Look how, I've been faithful, I've been faithful in my marriage and yet it seems like we're just, we don't, we just don't, we can't get anywhere. Lord, I've been doing all these things, what have you done, Lord? All I have is affliction, all I have is suffering. Lord, You told me to wait for Your Son from heaven. Where is He? We've been waiting a long time. Where is He? It seems like, on the surface, that what happened is Jesus came swooping in and said, I'm the King. And when the trouble hit, He tucked tail and ran. Right? He left the scene. And the authorities took control and they were the real King. Where is He? Friends, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 is not an apology for God, is it? Instead, it is a resounding shout, Great is thy faithfulness! Where is God's faithfulness? What is God's faithfulness? Well, let's close our thoughts out with these two thoughts. Again, we're going to turn right back to what we looked at earlier. God is faithful, friends. You can see. Okay, let me say it this way. We know God is faithful is a truth, but God's faithfulness can be seen. And it's very important. Listen, don't leave me now. Got some sleepy eyes this morning. Don't leave me now. God's faithfulness. It's very important that if you're going to actively and really trust God's faithfulness, that you understand how it is seen. Okay? If you don't, you're going to say, well, God's not faithful. Because our definition of faithfulness is far different than His, right? Our definition is God take away the trouble, take away the suffering, take away the chastisement, take away the hurt. And if you don't do that, then where are you? It's very important to understand where God's faithfulness is seen. Well, let's see where it's seen. We've already said it, but we'll say it again. God is faithful. Faithful is He that, write this down, calleth you. God's faithfulness is seen in His calling. I'm going to give you three ways here that God is calling the Thessalonians. By the way, this faithful is he that calleth you in the Greek, this is a present participle, it's a present happening, something that's happening right now. Yes, it started when God called you in eternity past, it continued when God called you by His Spirit to grace, but it's happening right now. God is calling you right now, and God's faithfulness is seen in His calling. Well, how do we experience this calling? What is calling? Calling is just a word, right? It's somebody speaking to you and encouraging you to faithfulness. Well, where is this faithfulness seen? First of all, there's three things. You're being called into a family. When God calls you, He's calling you into a family. And I wish we could go through this whole book. You should go read this book. And what I want you to look for as you read this book is this. Look for the expressions and the examples of family. Look how Paul longs for these people. Look how he is burdened constantly for their welfare. Look how he sends Timothy to go check them. Let me just read to you a sample from chapter 3. I really couldn't pick all the spots. I got real frustrated because I know I have time to do this, but there's so many examples. Listen to this. Again, Paul is a guy who shows up at a synagogue. These people listen to him. He gets run out of town, and now he feels this connection to these people that won't be broken. You understand that? This is not like they grew up together, and they played in the sand together all their life. No, he met them in a very short time, and yet he was connected to them by the heart in this amazing way. Listen to this. Verse 5, For this cause when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labor be in vain. But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you, therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distressed by your faith." Paul, by the way, is also suffering. And Paul's like, you know what? All my affliction and all my stress vanished when I found out that you were still trusting God. What a connection! For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. Paul's like, I can wake up tomorrow morning and eat my breakfast and be totally content if you stand fast in the Lord. But if I know that you are wavering, I'm not sure I can live. For what thanks can we render to God again for you? For all the joy, wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God, night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you, and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end, for this purpose, that He may establish your hearts. Let me just read that again. Paul says, I want the Lord to help me get to you again for this purpose, to the end, He may establish your hearts, unblameable, in holiness, before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. What did Paul just say? Paul said that me getting to you, if God will, will help to establish you and make you unblameable in holiness before God when Jesus Christ turns back. That's his prayer, right? His prayer is their holiness. His prayer is their being preserved blameless. And what does he know that God uses to do that? God uses fellowship. God uses relationships. God uses real Christian connection where people are praying for each other and they're encouraging one another and they're calling each other to continue. This is what God is doing. He's calling you right now. Look around you. You and your interaction is God's faithfulness to preserve you. Praise the Lord for the church. Imperfect people seeking to love one another is God's faithfulness for your sanctification. Amazing, isn't it? Secondly, it's the calling of the Word. It's the preaching. Paul's preaching. Paul's intending to preach. He's calling them to look to Jesus. Remember that Jesus was meant to suffer for your good. Remember that He is the King. And remember, remember the word says, we preach the gospel. We preach the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the return of Christ. That's the gospel. Jesus died, Jesus raised, Jesus returning. We are preaching this in some form or fashion over and over and over and over again. And in this preaching, God is calling you to believe and to trust and continue. and to fight your idols, and to turn from fornication, and to be preserved. Friends, young people, listen to me, listen to me. The Word of God is God's faithfulness to you. This, this Word, this is God's faithfulness. You need, everybody, we need God's Word. We need the Gospel. We need truth. This is God calling us by his faithfulness, don't despise the word of God. And then the third one, God's calling, and again, we don't have time to look at this whole book, but in chapter four, verse eight, when Paul is saying, remember, you must stay away from fornication, he says, remember this, God has given us his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's ministry, his whole ministry, since Christ has returned to heaven, his whole ministry is to call you. to call you to believe, to call you to trust, to call you to remind you of Jesus Christ. He's the real power of this. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. As Paul would say earlier, don't quench the Holy Spirit. You need the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit. Don't quench the Holy Spirit. Don't despise prophesying. Pray without ceasing. We need the Holy Spirit. Faithful is he that calleth you. So God is faithful in the calling. Where's the calling? The Word, fellowship, the Church, and the Holy Spirit. Friends, the times when we have these song services where we sing the exact same songs we sang last Sunday, but somehow are different, that's the Holy Spirit, right? It's the Holy Spirit. And it's the Holy Spirit's work to change you. Okay, so God's faithful in the calling. Now let's close this way. God is faithful, Halas. He's faithful here to call with you who also will do it. God is faithful in the doing. This is not new to you. Here's the message. Here's what Paul says. Let's turn to the third chapter, verse two. Listen to this. and sent Timotheus, listen to this, our brother and minister of God and fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith. So what does Timothy's two goals? Establish, keep them steady, and then to comfort them, comfort their, to calm their minds and hearts. Now what's the message that will establish and comfort? Listen to this. That no man, kind of like buckle up, buddy, Listen to this, that no man should be moved. Again, let's go back to reality. Here's some lady in her home. Her husband now hates her because she won't participate in what he formerly enjoyed. She treats the slaves as equals. I mean, or whatever happened. You know homes were turned upside down. The whole city was. And Paul's saying to her, let me comfort you with this. Stop being so moved by these afflictions. Stop your whining. Well, what do you mean, jerk? Listen to the next thing. For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. What is he saying? He's saying these afflictions, I'm sorry, he's saying God's faithfulness is not in spite of, but God's faithfulness is through these afflictions. God has selected you for this affliction. God has appointed you for this very trial to purge that junk out of you because God's goal for you is more. It's more than you ever would have asked for yourself. It's more than you would ever work for yourself. I want you to be sanctified wholly. Body, soul, spirit, holy, sanctified, and preserved. Well, friends, we know that's the theology of that. We know that's true, but it's really hard to get comfort from that, isn't it? It's hard to get excited about it. It's impossible to look somebody in the eye in the moment of affliction and say, listen, I know exactly how God's being faithful to this. That's trite and not helpful at all. But there is something very comforting, very strengthening, knowing that in this very doing right now, God's faithfulness is not on the sidelines. God's faithfulness is on the front burner. This is the whole meal is God's faithfulness. This whole meal of affliction is God's faithfulness. Do you hear that? Now, again, in the moment, hard to see, it helps sometimes to step back and see this in the big picture. So I'm going to close right now this way, very quickly. To step back and see God's faithfulness to this Thessalonian church. It starts right here. It starts in the 2nd century BC. when the Roman government wanted a way to bring goods from Constantinople all the way to Rome, or Byzantium, all the way to Rome. So they build on the backs of slaves, they build an 860 kilometer road that runs through Macedonia, through Greece, from Italy to Byzantium, and it just happens that Thessalonica finds its way on this map. So weird things, godless people, building a road to build their own profit, will end up eventually working for a Thessalonian's good. It continues in the nearer past in this way. In Jerusalem, in Acts chapter 7, I think it was, in Jerusalem, a deacon, a man named Stephen, was called to the carpet for his faith in Jesus Christ. And Stephen preaches this great sermon, which is the same sermon really that Paul preached. He opens and alleges that Christ must, needs, have suffered. He goes back through the history of the Jews and shows how Christ must suffer. And Stephen then, instead of being received as Paul was received, Stephen was stoned to death for this sermon. He was stoned to death. And a man named Saul of Tarsus was directly connected. He held the coats of those who were stoning Stephen. Now, why does that matter? Because the Bible says that when this stoning happened, it immediately set off this unbelievable torrent of persecution around Jerusalem. Not just Stephen died, but a lot of people died on these days following Stephen's death. People were died, and so people ran, literally ran with their families for the hills. They left Jerusalem seeking to preserve their own lives. This is bad stuff. This is affliction, right? As they run for their lives, they're scattered all over the place, including a place called Antioch. And they come to these places scattered, and instead of, you know, when somebody says, well, what are y'all doing here? Y'all from Jerusalem, y'all have a different accent. They go, well, let me tell you what we're doing here. We're here because Jesus is Messiah. They're not quiet about it. that they continue to talk about Jesus having been run out. Can you imagine? Can you imagine being run out of your home? And yet the story that you had to share when you get to the new place is not, I lost my home. The story is, Jesus is king. And people believe in Antioch. And eventually, This man named Saul of Tarsus is making his way to kill some more people, and on the road to Damascus, he is struck down off his horse, and the Lord Jesus Christ opens Paul's eyes to see that King Jesus is King Jesus. But Paul has nowhere to go. He's blinded. God convinces a man named Ananias, who knows the reputation of Saul, to look past the very real risk of persecution by taking Saul into his home. He says, Lord, are you sure? I've heard stories about him. He's a bad dude. He's bad. He's killed people. He's slayed people. Are you sure? And God says, take him into your house. And Ananias says, you know what? I may suffer affliction, but I'm going to do what God has bidden me. And he takes Saul into his house, and Saul becomes Paul, the apostle, willing to suffer for God. And eventually, Paul, who is mentored by Ananias in his very infant stage as a Christian, he makes his way to Antioch. And in Antioch, they say, you know what, Paul? You need to go preach the gospel wherever it's named. So Paul leaves to preach the gospel, and in every single place Paul experiences great affliction and trouble and one night he is sleeping and he's dreaming and in this dream this person who they are from Macedonia calls us come and help us and Paul wakes up and he heaves the dream and so he makes his way to Philippi where the dream has come true and as he's in Philippi He's preaching, and people believe, and he casts out demons, and then he's arrested, and he's beaten with many stripes, and then he's freed by an earthquake, and then that's not enough. He's kicked out of the city, and on this day, as he kicked out of the city, for no known reason, he turns west instead of east. And to the west was Thessalonica, and there was a synagogue there. And on this day, who knows why? Well, we do know why. On this day, there are some devout Greeks there, and there are some chief women there, and there are a bunch of Jews there. And on this day, God works on their hearts, and they hear the gospel with the Holy Ghost attended, and with assurance, and they turn to follow Jesus Christ. Is God faithful in the doing? We can go back a long way back in history, farther than that, and see God being faithful to the doing, but God is faithful to these individuals, this imaginary but real lady, chief woman, whose house is now really uncomfortable, but she can see, looking back, God is so faithful in the doing. And so He will remain faithful. Faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it. He is faithful because He is fixed on His covenant promise and because He greatly loves you. Friends, God's goal for you is bigger than you can even imagine. Trust God's faithfulness. May God bless you.