Chapter II, in the first epistle of the Thessalonians. We began the study of this epistle, and may I say, encouraging me, for every one of them, may we recognize, and I'm sure we do, then in the first epistle, as one of the second epistles of this book, one great theme pervades all the way through it. It's the coming again of our Lord Jesus. But not only do we find the coming of the Lord Jesus so greatly manifested in the teaching of it, but the character and the wonderful ministry of the Apostles, Paul and his blessed companions who minister to the Thessalonians. Last week in chapter one. How great was the joy to see the blessing of the gospel. And may I lovingly say, and earnestly declare it, the wonderful power of the gospel in those early days was tremendous. Of that we may see tonight as we look into chapter two. But may I first of all remind you again before passing on to chapter two, the glorious truth in chapter one. the evidence of what the gospel of God did when Paul and his companions preached it to the Thessalonians, and the wide-reaching effect it had, not only upon the Thessalonians, but in Macedonia, a chaos, and even the testimony of the believers of those at early church. And may I say, my beloved, don't forget, they were very young believers. a matter of a number of weeks only and had passed. And yet they had a testimony that spread abroad to the glory of God and to the recognition of many others outside of Christ as they witnessed what God did with these early Thessalonians say. Now when we come into chapter two. There's nothing said about the external blessings of the gospel, but more regarding the internal workings of the gospel in the lives and in the character and in the conduct of the apostles, and then also the conduct and the behavior of the Thessalonians. Let me begin reading in chapter two, please, at verse one. For in chapter two and verse one, going down through verse twelve, we shall indeed cover the apostolic experience that the apostles and their companions enjoined. Now note it begin. Let me read from verse one through verse four only. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain. And what a testimony. Again may I be reminded with you of the blessed fact. As you read in the book of Acts, rather, chapter seventeen, Paul only spent three Sabbath days, a matter of not more than two weeks a little more while, teaching and preaching. And yet he says here, you know our entrances unto you is not in vain. But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were relying, allowed or permitted of God, or entrusted of God, to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which tryeth or testeth our hearts. My beloved, let me tell you again, this is the most important scripture regarding the character and the quality of the servants of God as they preached the gospel. It was in the midst of much contention, and may I be reminded with you, I could not help but think of it and read of it. You may have read it yourself. I wonder if you've ever known it very carefully. When you read the book of the Acts of Paul's conversion, and when Ananias God's servant came to heal him of his sight. God told him that Paul was a chosen vessel to go out to the Gentiles and preach the gospel. But in addition to stating that, also how many things he must suffer for the gospel. And may I emphasize, I've got to emphasize it, I feel convicted of my own failure. How little you and I suffer for the sake of the gospel. I think of a message that my son passed on to me this past week of a young Turkish believer, missionary, coming from Turkey to the place where he was speaking, where my son attends services. And the man poured out his heart regarding the difficulties and the work of the Lord in Turkey, so terrible in its experience. And then he said, Dad, he said, when he came from the platform, he stopped in the middle of the aisle, he was walking down, and he turned around with tears slowing down his cheeks. He said, My son of believers, you don't know what it is here to suffer like we do. And may I add, further than that, how little we know how Paul suffers. If you want to do it, read second Corinthians chapter eleven, when he is led to confess a list of the many things that he suffered for the sake of the gospel. So it was with much contention they spoke unto the Thessalonians the gospel of God. been noticed in verse three too that our exhortation was not a deceit we were not deceiving them nor was it of uncleanness nor was it in God the purity of the motive and my beloved me I say again I and I speak to myself more than I would to you for the servant of God the purity of his motive not to be speaking in deceit or in uncleanness or in guile but know what Paul adds in verse four wonderful words as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel and I say humbly and I say it to my heart and my soul more than I do to you what a wonderful responsibility and sacred to be trusted to preach the gospel. If you please know it, who does it? To be allowed of God. Oh my beloved one thing, as you have it right here, as Paul goes to verse four, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, Even so we speak. My beloved, I say very frankly, I pray, and I say it personally, of and to myself, whenever preaching the gospel, I may recognize that only by the permission is gone. Not man. Man is a scare. Oh, please note. As we follow in verse five particularly, now you know he refers to the dangers of doing it under other motives. For neither at any time use we flattering words as you know. My beloved, let me say this. When you preach the gospel of God, is it a flattering message? I think of the old preachers in my early days, and I noticed the principle that they came to follow. The first emphasis they made in preaching the gospel was the ruination of the human race, and that every man, woman, boy, and girl was a sinner. You know, that's not complimentary, isn't it? But it's the truth. And it's the truth of the gospel, all of sin. And they preached ruins. And then they give the story of how to be saved, the story of redemption. And then they emphasize the responsibility, the sinner must repent of his and her sins and trust the Savior. But notice the Apostle says, neither at any time use weak flattering words. Oh, my beloved, please, may I say, God ever forbids that a servant of God's could speak flattering words to his audience? The book of Job, I think it was Elihu in that book of Job, may mention of the danger of speaking flattering words. And as he knows, he goes on to say, as he knows, nor a cloak of covetousness. We had no ulterior motive. May I say lovingly and earnestly and truthfully, the testimony of the gospel has been disgraced by many a so-called servant of God preaching for money. And may I say, I have known men of ability to preach the word of God. not forgetting the monetary return. I'll give you one example. I know there's many worse than this one. Of a dear man, and he was worth hearing in his ministry. But he wrote to say, I can't come, and I won't come until you send me five hundred dollars. Okay. Where do you find that in the scriptures? When the Lord Jesus sent his disciples out two by two, he told them, don't carry any money in your purse. Not I mean two coats. And when they came back, he asked, did you get longer all right? Yes, Lord. My beloved, I say again, I think of the words of another Bible teacher with the word of God, I value his writing. in writing regarding this very text I believe he wrote saying what an example for the many money pleading preachers today an evangelist and you and I know very well some of the sad records of the televised evangelists in their methods of obtaining money. I recall stopping one in London, England, on the way home from Israel. And we had a layover in that airport. We were not permitted to leave the airport, but to wait for the next plane we had to take. And in the airport they had a very big library. So I thought, well, I'll just browse through the library while waiting for the plane to come with my friend. And I browse through that library. And all of a sudden as I was going book by book to see what's in the library, I saw a book that said the words in the title. Praise the Lord and pass the contribution. Well, I recognize. that was somewhat like a saying in World War I. When one of the British chaplains, the man of God, was assisting in artillery fire against the enemy, it said to the fellow soldiers, Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. Well, anyway, when I saw their title, Praise the Lord and pass the contribution, I bought the book. And I found it was the investigation of an Irish journalist recording his experience in the United States. He came here for a specific purpose to investigate all the Christian evangelists. in our country. And he gave the account of what he found. But the summary of it was this. The title of his book. They were great in praising the Lord, but they were also great in emphasizing past the contribution. For in every channel that he investigated, there was only one exception. I remember in that book, and it had to be that Billy Graham Crusade, that he accepted some accusing men of preaching for money, but not the rest of them. And he made a personal investigation just for his own curiosity and wrote the book. So I read it through and found out he was right in many cases, and you know it's happened again and again. Oh, but not in the days of Paul. No, no, know what he said in at the end of verse four. For neither in any time use we flattering words, and ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness. And God is out with us. Oh, my beloved, may I say, this is a snare. But know the next words in verse six, as we go on down through to verse twelve. Nor have men sought we glory. May I say again, it is possible and too undoubtedly probable today. There are many so-called terms of God, pleasing the pleased man, preaching the pleased man. Oh, my beloved again, I say again, of the early days of my Christian experience, and men have gone. They raised the problem of sin before they preached the remedy. And so Paul said, neither of men thought we glory. Neither of you, nor ye the fathers, when he said we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. In other words, Paul recognized this, and we should, especially with Paul and his beloved companions, they had apostolic authority. I don't. We don't have apostles today. The apostles, and their ministry is finished. And the early New Testament prophets, their ministry is finished. We have evangelists, we have Bible teachers, and we have shepherds, and we know we have Bible teachers to go on in the work of the Lord. But we do not have apostles. And Paul said, Even as apostles, we had authority if we wanted to burden you with our expense. We know verse seven, lovely expression, but we were gentle among you. Even as a nurse cherishes her children. Oh, thank God for the gentleness of the dear apostle Paul. And the gentleness, well, may I go further? Don't you have it in the example of Christ? I think of the words of Paul to Timothy, as you may read them in Second Timothy, where Paul tells him, Be gentle unto all men. Don't be striving against others, but be gentle to all men. Even as a nurse cherishes her children. and reading verse eight, nine to the end of verse twelve. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own soul, because he were dear unto us. My beloved, let me emphasize again, what affection for the unsaved Here were heathen men to whom they were preaching the gospel. But they cherished them as a nurse did their children. And also affectionately desirous of them. They were willing to have implored unto you. Not the gospel that's gone only, but also our own soul, because ye were dear unto us. Oh, my beloved, I think of a chorus somebody wrote, Lord crucifying, give me a heart like thine, teach me to love the dying souls around. Oh, make my heart, keep my heart in closest touch with thee, and give me love, pure Calvary love, to win the loss to thee. And that was the attitude and the conduct of the epistle. Now notice you read verse nine and go through verse twelve. For ye remember brethren, I'll labor and work among you night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto many of you, any of you. And thus we preached unto you the gospel of the school, why we work for our own living. My beloved, let me say this. It was no disgrace. As you may read and you have read it, I'm sure, in the book of the Acts, Paul was a tent maker by occupation, a trade that he had learned in the childhood of his Jewish ancestry. And he, together with Priscilla, together with Aquila and Priscilla, made tents together, to pave the way and to pave the way for the fellow believers. rather than be chargeable to the saints of God whom they were ministering to. And as you note in verse nine at the end, they'll add a part of it. We would not be chargeable unto any of you. So we preach unto you the gospel of God. And he said, Ye are witnesses, God also, how holy, justly, and unblameably, We behaved ourselves among you that believe. My beloved, here is the test, and may I say it humbly again, and to myself, what a responsibility is the servant of God's character to be in the ministry, the motive, and the method, and the conduct, wholly, justly, unblaming, behaving ourselves among you that believe. As ye know how, we exhorted, we encouraged and comforted and charged every one of you, and note the metaphor, as a father doth his children, that he would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory. My beloved, there's no question of God. I say it earnestly again. We need to follow the example of these dear servants of God of all. And then as you come to verse thirteen, going down to the end, you find particularly in verse thirteen through sixteen, Paul gives thanksgiving to God for these believers in Thessalonica. For this cause also, thank we God without ceasing, because when ye receive 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 it actually worketh also in you that are we. My beloved, what a joy to recognize and to realize that in this testimony of Thessalonica, these converts, when they heard the message of the gospel of God that Paul and his companions preached, they received it not as the word of men, deeper, greater, higher, but as the word of God. Oh, my beloved, I think of the words of Isaiah forty. I think it's verse eight. For the word of the Lord endures forever. And again of Isaiah fifty-five, ten, and eleven, when God said, My word shall not return unto me, boys. And oh, beloved, what a joy. And then it's Saturday. And when the gospel is preached, it should be received and not the word of men, but the word of God. My beloved, I say to my own soul, my own heart, my responsibility is not to preach the word of men, no matter what they say, no matter what you read in the paper. You don't matter what you may read in other books, but to preach the word of God. One of the best compliments I ever enjoyed, occasionally. But I think of one occasion, when after every night of ministry, one beloved brother who would very much deepen the Word of God himself at the close of my ministry would shake my hand, and make this comment, thank you for the Word, I knew what he meant. He was complimenting the fact that the Word of God was being taught, and he was receiving it. not as the word of man, but the word of God. Oh, my beloved, let me say again, even right here, in our portion tonight, are you and I receiving this portion as the word of God, which we have heard of us that fall? You received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. My beloved is the working of the Word of God. May I say lovingly, earnestly, for our little assembly, in its weakness that we feel, in its need that we realize. What do we need? We need the Word of God. There's no other source. A blessing. For reading verse fourteen, as you go on to verse sixteen, for ye brethren became what? Followers of the churches of God, which in Judea, are in Christ Jesus. What they have suffered to also are now suffering like things of your own countrymen, even as they have. My beloved, when Paul was preaching to the Jews back in Judea hated him. And the Jews back in Judea hated the gospel. The unbelieving Jews fought against the gospel in Judea and fought against the other. So listen, the suffering and the persecution of the Christians. Theory of it, as you know, in the book of the Acts and those all the chapters. And as Paul saw before he was saved how he persecuted the church of God, many were hailed in the prison. Some were put to death, the first martyr was Stephen, you may well know. Now, says Paul, you like our churches, the assemblies in Judea, they are stopping at the hands of their own countrymen, and lying you or two, and they in Judea, they killed the Lord Jesus, their own prophet, and now they've persecuted us, and they pleased not God, and are contrary to all men. forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. My beloved, let me say very frankly, an Orthodox Jew today, and some unorthodox ones, they have no use for Christianity. No use for the gospel. And it's very noticeable in the land of Israel. Politically, The nation doesn't recognize Christ. Let me give you an example. I know that in many places in Israel, when over there, when there was any notable place relative to biblical history, they were marked. And some of the history of those places went back to the Old Testament before Christ. But when they made their put up a sign after the historical reference to the Old Testament time. They never put it before Christ. You know what they had? Before the Christian era. Before the beginning. Before the Christian beginning. They know there's a Christian Testament so-called. But they don't acknowledge it as being Christ. And as you read here. You might read in this. Closing verse, verse sixteen, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be afraid to fill up their springs always, for the wrath has come upon them to the aftermath. My beloved, may I say again, the experience of God's earthly people, since the death, burial, resurrection, crucifixion, and rejection of Christ, has been remarkable for those earthly people in the way of persecution and wrath. And you read in Romans chapter eleven, until Paul, until God has taken the levers out of the Gentile nations, and it's going to go on until he gets the last one out of the nation, say by his grace, but I say again, The Jewish people as a political and ecclesiastical company, they are not sympathetic to the gospel God. But now we go to verse seventeen and read, But we, Reverend, being taken, tetra on you for a short time in presence, not in heart endeavour the more abundantly to see your faith with great desire. Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I, for once and again, but Satan hindered us. Again, let me repeat the great substance of this chapter. The first chapter we read of the external blessing that God gave in a remarkable way through the preaching of the gospel. Now in this chapter, I think we can recognize the suffering and cost that was paid to give it. But, oh, the dear Apostle Paul, long with desire to see these believers, wherefore we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us. And Paul recognized and acknowledged the hindrance of Satan. for the spreading of the Word of God. But then he closes with a blessed note at the end. For what is our hope? Our joy? Our crown of rejoicing? Ah, he says, what do we have? What do we expect to get out of it? Our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing. And he thinks, oh, not even ye. in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming for ye are our glory and our joy. My beloved, what Paul is inferring and revealing the joy that he expects when he meets them in glory at the coming of our Lord Jesus. Oh my beloved, let us see the example here. Here were the early believers. They were the early apostles and servants of God in the power of God preaching the gospel at great cost. Well, here is Paul saying, I'll get my reward in heaven. He'll be my great joy and rejoicing to see you as a recruit of this. And my beloved, may I say for you and for me, may God privilege you as well as myself. to have the joy of seeing and knowing and greeting someone in the glory of heaven when Jesus comes because we brought them to Christ. Oh, my beloved, as the Apostle says, ye are our crown of rejoicing. And what a joy it is to recognize the blessed reward when Jesus comes. Shall we pray? Our dearly beloved Father. Someone wrote a little poem. Saying so, so, so. You may not see it grow. Scatter seeds of precious truth everywhere you go. So, so, so. And God will fruit be stone. And it will keep your heart aglow. So. so, so, so. Oh, blessed Lord, did not the psalmist run. He that saweth good feet shall someday come rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Lord, we pray, honestly, please by thy grace and mercy enable us to be vessels of the need for the master's use. And follow the example of thy dear servants of whom we have read. We ask it, Lord, for thy honor and glory, commending ourselves to that blessing in our Savior's worthy and fearless name. Amen. Thank you for coming. I don't know whether we need a single come only faithful. But I tell you who's always here.