of Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins, redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's so wonderful to be able to sing about the cross and praise Lord for the forgiveness that we have for our sins because of Christ's work on the cross. Such an understanding of such a wonderful gift of God and the power of God to forgive us our sins when we truly understand it really should change the way that we live and that's really what we're looking at here in 1 Thessalonians. If you want to open your Bibles up to 1 Thessalonians. We're really looking here at the signs of genuine faith. Last week we referred to these verses here as showing us the praiseworthy aspects of a praiseworthy church. Tonight I'm going to refer to them as the qualities of genuine fruit of true conversion. The qualities of genuine fruit of true conversion. We've been talking about Paul and Silas and Timothy. They are the ones that are responsible for the writing of this letter. They are three men on a mission. They are on a mission to take the gospel to unreached peoples. We have people that do that today, don't we? They want to take the gospel to unreached peoples, to areas where the gospel has never been heard. Of course, in the first century, after Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and resurrected, almost every area was an unreached area. No one had heard of the gospel. And so the men are out taking the gospel. They're agents of Christ, used by Christ to further the kingdom of God here on earth through the building of the church. Through the building of the church, we are actually furthering the kingdom of God here on earth. Not the physical kingdom of God, but the spiritual kingdom of God. There are those two aspects to the kingdom of God. There's the spiritual aspect and there's the physical aspect. Kingdom of God just refers to the power of God. And through the church, we make known the power of God here on this earth. We make it known in a spiritual sense. And that's what we're here for. We're here to make God known. We're here to make known the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers, authorities, and heavenly realms. We're here to be a pillar and a support of the truth. And the only way that we can accomplish those goals is if God is actually transforming our lives. And that's what we see in these three verses. We see God transforming the lives of the believers there at the church in Thessalonica, the called out ones, the ones who've been called out of the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. the ones who have a solidary union with God the Father, and a solidary union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul and his two companions, Silas and Timothy, after they had shared the gospel, and after they saw that church, God give birth to the church there, and the church start to grow, they had to leave. And they know that wherever they have planted churches, persecution is coming in, and persecution is attacking the work. And we saw this in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, didn't we? That there will always be enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. There will always be enmity between those who are of the devil and those who are of God. And so we just know that whenever God's work is growing, whenever it is being fruitful, whenever it is producing more Christ-like individuals, that it's going to be attacked. And the Apostle Paul is very concerned that the attack on the church of Thessalonica was just about ready to diminish the church and to destroy the church. So he sent Timothy to check and see how they were doing. He's come back. He's got a glaring report. This church is doing good. This church is growing. This church is thriving. This church is not going back on the gospel. This church, unlike the churches in southern Galatia, are remaining true to the gospel. Remember the church in southern Galatia, they were compromising on the gospel and they were being deceived into believing that you had to add works to faith. But the church there in Thessalonica is standing strong. And that's where the Apostle Paul is writing. And he's so excited to hear how this church is doing. And he begins by giving these qualities of a church that has truly been converted He begins by giving these qualities that are praiseworthy of a praiseworthy church. But let's pray, and then we'll continue to study 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, and 3. Let's pray. Almighty God, we give you all the praise and all the glory. and all the honor for absolutely every single thing that you would accomplish through us. Lord, anything that we do that brings glory and honor to you is only because of the work that you are doing within us. Father, apart from you, we are worthless when it comes to living lives that are honoring and glorifying to you. Apart from you, we don't have any abilities. whatsoever. We are worthless, we are hopeless, we are in desperate need of your grace to enable us to even begin to understand truth. We need your grace to be able to incorporate truth into our spiritual DNA to such an extent that we become Christ-like. We need this grace constantly, a constant outpouring of your grace. And Father, that's why the Apostle Paul begins all of his letters with a divine wish that those who receive the letters would be growing in grace, in the grace and the knowledge of who you are, that they would be growing in their sense of peace. And Almighty God, we know that the means by which you dispense grace is through the preaching of your Word. through the Word of God. That's how you dispense grace. It is only through the special revelation of Your Word that we can receive saving grace. And Lord, we are in desperate need of saving grace that will sanctify us. Lord, maybe even someone is sitting here tonight and they are not Your child yet. They need the saving grace that will cause them to be initially set apart unto you that would cause them to initially be taken out of the domain of darkness and transferred into the beloved kingdom of your Son. They need that grace that would enable them to put saving faith in Jesus Christ, justifying faith in Jesus Christ, faith in Jesus Christ that would enable them to know that they are right with you. Oh, Father, it is such a privilege, such a comfort, such a, Lord, a source of strength to know that we are right with You. And this church that we have the privilege to study about tonight, they know that they are right with You. And it has changed them. And they are living changed lives. I pray, Father, that as we study these three distinct signs of a changed, transformed life, I pray, Lord, that we would see those same signs in our own lives, and that we would walk out of here knowing we too have been transformed by the grace of God. We too are living praiseworthy lives. We too are producing the fruit, you through us, are producing the fruit of genuine conversion. Oh God, help us to walk out of here with that confidence tonight, I pray. In Christ's name, Amen. Let me read for you the first three verses, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 1 through 3. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians and God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. So in verses 2 and 3, which are the focal point of our study tonight, Paul is actually telling the church how he prays for them. This is how the Apostle prays for those who attend the churches there in Thessalonica. And I always like to encourage us whenever we look at Paul's prayer for other people, especially a prayer of such great thanksgiving and such commendation of the people, I always like to put the question out there, could anybody be praying these same things about you? Hopefully, those who really know you could be praying these same things about you. In this prayer here, Paul says that he gives thanks to God always for all of you. Every time he thinks of all of them, he gives thanksgiving. When someone thinks of you in prayer, would they always give thanksgiving to God? Do you have a life that is lived in such a way that when someone thinks of you in prayer, they thank God for what He's doing in your life? And what's really even more interesting about this prayer is the context in which Paul prays it. The last phrase there in verse 3 actually is modifying how he gives thanks. It's modifying and it's giving us an expanded view of his prayer of thanksgiving. This prayer of thanksgiving is done in the presence of his God and Father. In the presence of God Almighty, in the presence of the Father Himself, as He stands before God, He gives thanks. So this is not a hypocritical thanks. It's not a wishful thanks. It's not a thanks that is just meant to puff the people up. It's not a thanks that doesn't have basis to it. As He stands before God, in the presence of God, He looks at what he knows to be true about these people and he's giving thanks to God for what's going on in their lives. And there are three things that are going on in their lives. They have a faith that acts, a faith that produces works. And we talked about this this morning in our morning message when we were expanding our view of grace. And one of the concepts that you must link to grace is that grace always results in a transformed life. Always. Grace will always result in a transformed life. And in the life of Noah, we know that it resulted in a transformed life because he began to do exactly what God told him to do. Grace will always produce a person who longs to be obedient to the Word of God. Grace will always produce a faith that is demonstrated by the way the person acts. The acts add nothing to the faith. The acts have nothing to do with helping a person be right with God. The only way to be right with God is through faith. So the works that the faith produce do not add to your being made right with God. We talked about that this morning. How when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, when you put genuine faith in Jesus Christ and God clothes you with the righteousness of Christ, you are as right with God at that moment as you will ever be. There is no amount of good deeds that you could ever do to make yourself more right with God at that moment. You can't be any more right with God than Jesus Christ was. He was absolutely perfect. And that's what happens when God declares your faith to be righteous, when He credits righteousness to your account because of your faith. He puts the righteousness of Christ on you and you are as perfect with God as you will ever be. But the knowledge of that, The joy of that creates within us a desire to be obedient, not that we might be more right with God, but just that we might demonstrate our love to Him. We are so grateful and we are so thankful and we are so in love with God that we want to live lives that are indicative of one who is truly saved by faith. And that's why a true sign of one who has truly been converted is a faith that works. It's a faith that produces works. I know I'm reviewing what we talked about last week, but I think it's very important to realize that when Jesus Christ is looking to see who has a faith that's producing works. He's not looking for reasons to doubt. He doesn't look for reasons to doubt. We as Christians, when we judge others who claim faith, the first thing we start doing is looking for a reason to doubt. How can I be sure? I know there's so many people out there that have a faith that's not genuine. We begin to look for reasons to doubt. Jesus doesn't do that. He doesn't snuff out the smoldering wick. He looks for just the tiniest sign that there's a flame there, and then he builds on that flame. I used the example last week how we have candles in the house, and as we continue to use those candles, the wax will become liquefied, and the liquid gets deeper and deeper and deeper, almost to the point where the wick would no longer burn. And when it gets to that point, that flame is just barely flickering. It is just almost going out as the wax builds up. But it's there. It's there. God is looking for just the tiniest sign that there is faith, and then He'll build on that. He'll protect that, and He'll build on that, and He'll do whatever it takes to cause that flame to really burn bright and burn hot, a flame that can transform darkness into light. So when we're talking about a faith that works, I don't want us to get to thinking, oh, I do so many things wrong. I fail so much of the time. I'm so worthless. Jesus doesn't look at you that way. He's looking for the tiniest sign. The tiniest sign. That's our loving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So that's the first quality of genuine fruit. That's the first praiseworthy aspect of a praiseworthy church. It's a faith that acts. A true genuine faith will also produce a love that strives, a love that strives. And we see this here in the second part of verse three. He's constantly bearing in mind, and this is why he's giving thanks, whenever he thinks about them, he constantly bears in mind the work of faith, the faith that acts in the labor of love, the labor of love. The word there, labor, is not so much talking about the consequences of the love, but the striving, the striving. striving to love. When Paul hears from Timothy what is going on in this church, he realizes that this church is really striving to show their love. And it's not so much that he's talking about the external fruit of that love, he's talking about the striving. In their hearts, they are striving to love. And when it comes to the love of a Christian, there are two focal points. And they're summarized in the way that Jesus summarizes the law. Let's look at that in Matthew chapter 22. Look with me in Matthew chapter 22 verse 34. Matthew chapter 22 verse number 34. But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. So this question that this lawyer is asking is not meant to garner more information. He's not looking for instruction. He's not looking for understanding. He's just trying to set Jesus up. He's trying to set Jesus up for failure. He thinks he's going to ask a question that's going to stump Jesus and make Jesus look like a fool in front of everybody and try to undermine the ministry, the work, and the words of Jesus. So he asks Jesus this question, verse 36, Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus responded to him and he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and all your soul. And then he goes on and he says, the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. on these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. Now oftentimes we see where to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind is a summation of the first part of the Ten Commandments. And to love your neighbor as yourself is a summation of the second part of the Ten Commandments. So we see these two foremost commandments as being a summation of the Ten Commandments. But I really believe they're also a summation of the whole Mosaic Law. Not just the moral code of the law, which is exemplified in the Ten Commandments, but also the civil code. All those civil laws that the people were supposed to follow in order to show their care and their concern to one another. And not just the civil laws, but also all the ceremonial laws. The ceremonial laws that demonstrated how you come to God and worship Him and how you worship Him when you come to Him. These two commandments are the summation of the entire Mosaic Law. And again, they're summarized by a love of God. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You know, for anyone who truly thinks that they can live a sinless life, all they need to do is just consider that first and foremost commandment. There is no one on the face of the earth who has ever loved the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their mind, and all their soul. That is literally impossible for any human being to do except for Jesus Christ. Nobody can love God with all their heart, all their mind, in all their soul. But that is to be the character of a child of God. The character of a child of God is their endeavoring to love God in that way. And I always think it's interesting, the way that Jesus says here, the second is like it. The second is like it. You should love your neighbor as yourself. And I know you've heard me mention this before, but if I'm loving God with all my heart, and all my mind, and all my soul, Where is there any heart, mind and soul left to love my neighbor? I love God fully. That key phrase there, the second is like it. The second is a manifestation of the first. You have not fully fulfilled the first commandment. If you are not demonstrating your love for God, with all heart, mind, and soul by the manner in which you love others. The manner in which you love others is the true indicator as to whether you really love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. It's pretty easy for us to say, we love God. But the way it works itself out is how that love for God causes you to treat others. And we see this very clearly in the epistles. We saw this when we studied Galatians. Turn there with me in Galatians 5, verse 14. Galatians chapter 5 verse 14. Paul writes here, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You know, when Paul says the whole law is fulfilled in one word and one statement, I would assume he's going to say love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and all your soul. I would assume he'd go to the first and foremost commandment. But he doesn't go to that. He goes to the second. Why? Because until you are loving your neighbor as yourself, you are not loving the Lord your God with all your heart. all your mind and all your soul. And the Apostle Paul repeats the same concept in the book of Romans. Look with me in Romans chapter 13 verse 8. Romans chapter 13 verse 8. Oh nothing to anyone except to love one another for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. And I like the way Paul elaborates on this concept in verse 8. that were to owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. That's my debt to humanity. My debt to humanity is to show my love for one another. Why? Because in doing that, I fulfill the law. In doing that, it is the final, it's like the cherry on top of the sundae, the ice cream sundae. It's the crown jewel of my love for God. The crown jewel of my love for God is the way that I love others. But I have to love God first. So if we're going to talk about demonstrating in our lives this love, this type of love, we need to really understand how does this love begin growing in us. And to do that, I would like us to turn to 1 John. 1 John. I'm sure Ron Warren almost knows exactly where I'm going. He's taught through 1 John so many different times. But let's go to 1 John 4, verse 19. 1 John 4, verse 19. We love because He first loved us. We love because He first loved us. So this love that we want to be able to demonstrate, it begins with understanding how much God loves us. And that takes us right back to this morning's message. Right back to truly understanding the grace of God. Right back to understanding the grace of God that operates in our lives when we are worthless. The grace of God that operates in our lives when we are hopeless. The grace of God that produces anything within us that's praiseworthy. The grace of God that produces within us righteousness. The grace of God that produces integrity. The grace of God that enables us to walk with God. The grace of God that helps us to stop sinning against the holiness of God. The grace of God that causes us to quit presuming upon the long-suffering of God. The grace of God that helps us to avoid the wrath of God. The grace of God which avails us to the faithfulness of God. the grace of God, which avails us to God's only provision to avoid the wrath upon sinners, which is Jesus Christ, the grace of God that transforms us. The more and more we grow about that grace, the more and more we understand God's love for us, and then, finally then, we can begin to love. We can begin to love God because we begin to understand His love for us. And that's why you can never go over the Gospel enough. That's why you can never study God enough. How can you know God's love for you unless you really understand Him? How can you know God's love for you unless you really understand the gospel? See, we can never study the gospel enough. We can never study God enough because every time we learn more about God, it expands our understanding of the gospel, and we grow in our understanding of His love for us, which is going to enable us to love others. Now, also look with me in 1 John 4, verse 21. We'll look at verse 20. If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should also love his brother, should love his brother also. Chapter five, verse one. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And whoever loves the father, loves the child born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. How do we know that we are born of God? By the way that we love others. Why do we love others? Because we love God. How do we know that we love God? Because we love others. How do we know that we love God? Because we obey His commandments. It's like a big snowball effect. It all rolls in together. If you're born again, you're going to love God. And if you're going to love God, you're going to love others. And if you love others, you love God. And if you love God, you're going to love His commandments. It's all rolled into one. You can't take any of that aspect out. You can't say, well, you know, you just study doctrine too much and you just worry so much about the knowledge of God. What you really need to worry about is loving others. You should really focus on loving others more. You should really be calling upon people to love others and quit focusing so much on doctrine and theology. We actually had someone tell us that when we were in Illinois. They went to this verse and they just saw the verse where it says that the love of God is demonstrated by loving the children of God. And they totally ignored the part where the love of God is also demonstrated by following His commandments and loving Him. So to love God is to love others. You can't love God unless He loves you. Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 1 helps us to understand again this whole scenario of this love. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 1 says this, Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. Okay, we're supposed to imitate God. And then he says, walk in love. Okay, I'm supposed to imitate God, and I'm supposed to walk in love. We understand that, we're talking about that. But then he goes on, he gives an example. This is an example of how we are to imitate God. And look who he uses for example. I know you're not looking at it, but Ephesians chapter five, verse two, and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God is a fragrant aroma. That is the epitome of a love for God. Jesus Christ was demonstrating his love for God when he offered himself up. Paul says here, as a sacrifice, as a fragrant aroma to God, he gave himself up for us. That is a demonstration of what it means to love God, to offer your life up as a sacrifice and aroma that's pleasing to God, to do this in a way that's pleasing to God for others. For others. That's how we know we're demonstrating the love of God. when we love God the way that Christ loved God. How did Christ show his love for God? He offered himself up as a sacrifice, a pleasing aroma to God for others. He did it for others. This, of course, is the agape love, the unconditional love. One's agape love for another is ultimately traceable to the will of the one determined to love. Now, I can't remember where I got this concept from. It wasn't mine, but I got it from someone else. So, just to make that clear. Agape love for another is ultimately, listen, ultimately traceable to the will of the one determined to love. Your agape love, your ability to love the unlovable, is traceable to your determination to love. The one determined to love so strongly desires to love that it matters not the condition of the one to be loved. You see, my determination to love another, my will to love another is so strong That it doesn't matter at all what the other person is like. I'm going to love them, not because of who they are, but because of this determination. Where does the determination come from? It comes from, solely from, my love for God. Where did the determination come for Jesus Christ to go on the cross and offer up his life as a sacrifice of fragrant aroma pleasing to God for others? Where did that determination come from? It wasn't primarily from his love for us. It was primarily from his love for God, for his Father. So we must grow in our understanding of what it means to love God. And I am convinced that if we focus on that, the other will take place. Now, when we studied the fruit of the Spirit, the first aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is love. And when we studied love, we went over these nine signs of one who loves God. And these nine signs of one who loves God actually came from a study that we did in Romans, in the men's study, a long, long time ago. It might be eight years ago now, from Romans 8.28. God causes all things to work together. for the good of those who love God. So it was very key to understand the love of God. And so I'm trying to remember where I came up with these nine things, and going back over that finally helped me to remember. This comes from John MacArthur. If you want to understand these points in greater detail, I'm just going to go over them real briefly. Look at John MacArthur's commentary on Romans chapter 8 verse 28. He talks about these nine different aspects of what a love for God looks like. And this is so critical. If we are going to be a church, if we are going to be individuals that demonstrate genuine faith by our love, we must understand these nine characteristics of a true love for God. A true love for God is a desire to have a personal relationship with God. You can't love God unless you have a desire to have a personal relationship with Him. Now a lot of these points are going to come from the Psalms. And who wrote the majority of the Psalms? David. How do we qualify David? A man after God's own heart. David was a man who loved God. If you want to know what it means to love God, study the Psalms that David wrote. Listen to what he writes in Psalm 42, verse 1. As a deer pants for the water brook, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? You see the longing that he has to have a relationship with God. If we don't long to have a relationship with God, If we don't have a sense of loneliness and a sense of despair and a sense of despondency when life has crowded in on us and kept us from really spending time alone with God, if that doesn't create within us an emptiness and a longing, then we have to question, do we really love God? See, I know life. Life happens. And life can happen and it can choke out. those times when you seek God. And that's difficult. But it should create within us a longing to get back to those times when we can strive in furthering our relationship with God. The love of God is also demonstrated in a trust in the power of God. Those who love God trust His power. Psalm 31 verse 23. O love of God, O love the Lord, all you His godly ones, the Lord preserves the faithful and fully recompenses the proud doer. The ones who love God, His godly ones, understand that the Lord preserves the faithful." Are you trusting in God's power to protect you, to take care of you? The love of God is desired by will to do God's will. Jesus Christ, who is our perfect example of what it means to love God, certainly wanted to do His will, no matter what. Matthew 26, verse 39, He went a little beyond them and fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will. No one was considering more not following the will of God than Jesus Christ, when the will of God meant that He went to the cross and bore the wrath of our sins and would be separated from his father. He would go through that separation, that spiritual death. But he would do it anyways, because there's no other way to do it. And he's going to do the will of God. It doesn't matter. His love for his father is demonstrated in his willingness to do the will of God no matter what. A love for God is demonstrated by an obedience to God. 1 John chapter 14 verse 21, we read this before. He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. A love for God is demonstrated by a peculiar sense of peace. Psalm 119 verse 165. Those who love your law have great peace and nothing causes them to stubble. Those who love God's law are the ones who love him. And those who love God's law also have a great sense of peace and nothing causes them to stumble. Nothing causes them to have anxiety. Nothing causes them to worry. Now we all know that we fail at that. But the reason we fail at that is because we're diminishing in our love for God. Our love for God, a true love for God produces within us a peace. A peace that enables us to go through the difficulties of life. Spurgeon says, No tongue can tell the depth of the calm which comes over the soul which has received the peace that surpasses all understanding. No tongue can tell the depth of the calm that comes over the soul that has experienced the peace that surpasses all understanding. As we grow in our love for God, and we don't allow the world to diminish that love for God, we're going to grow. and a concept of peace that surpasses all understanding. And it will give you a calmness in the midst of any trial, any tribulation. The love of God is also demonstrated by a love for the things of God. Psalm 119 verse 97. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. You see, the reason we obey the law is because we love the law. Why do we love the law? Because it is God's law. We love the things that God loves. Listen to what we read in 1 Chronicles 29, verse 3. Moreover, in my delight in the house of my God, the treasure of gold and silver, I give to the house of my God above all others, all that have been provided to the holy temple. He shows his delight for the Lord in the manner in which he loves the house of God. The demonstration of God's love is also seen in the love for the people of God. 1 John 3, verse 14, we know that we have passed out of death into life. because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in God." Here we're already beginning to see how a love for God will automatically translate into a love for the people of God. If you don't love the people of God, it's very difficult for you to say that you've been born again. It's very difficult to say that you've been transferred out of death and that you have life in Christ if you don't have this love for the people of God. A love for God has a hatred for the things God hates. I think this is something that we as Christians today in the 21st century really need to think about. A love for God has a hatred for the things that God hates. Psalm 97 verse 10, hate evil you who love the Lord, who preserves the souls of his godly ones. He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 101 verse 3, I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not fasten its grip on me. We are to hate evil if we love the Lord. We will set no worthless thing before our eyes. We won't even watch anything that God hates. We won't listen to anything that God hates. We will have a consternation within us. Whenever something comes on a video screen or on a TV screen or any screen at all that God hates, it'll cause an anxiety within us. We'll struggle with it. We don't want to look at it. We don't want to have it set before us. We will struggle listening to music that exemplifies things that God hates. Those who really love God hate the things that God hates. One more, their love for God is marked by a longing for the return of Christ. Revelation 22 verse 20. He who testifies to these things, which is John, the disciple whom God Jesus loved, he who testifies to these things says, yes, I'm coming quickly, amen, come Lord Jesus. When Jesus says to John, I'm coming quickly, what does John say, the disciple whom Jesus loved, what does he say? Yes, Lord, come quickly, come quickly. So if we're marked by a love for Jesus Christ, we have a longing for the return of Christ. And there again, I would think that most of us, if we really were to look at our lives, we have so much we want to see accomplished in our lives here on this earth. We have so much that we want to see our children accomplished and our grandchildren. There's so much of life that we love. And God has given us these wonderful things. But it's very difficult to allow all those wonderful things not to interfere with our longing for Jesus Christ to return. to really, truly say, I really want Jesus to return. I'm looking for his return. And to really want that, that is a demonstration of one who loves God. What are the advantages of loving God? 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 3. But if anyone loves God, he's known by Him. If you're growing at all in these areas of love, and I know, I just read through nine things that maybe all of them you're really struggling with. And you're having a real hard time with it. Let's go back to what Jesus is looking for. He's just looking for a flicker of a flame. If you have any flicker of a flame, of a love for God, you are known by Him. He knows you. He doesn't know you in just some generic sense. He has intimate knowledge with you. He has a special knowledge of you. Psalm 145 verse 20, The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked he will destroy." The Lord is keeping you. He's keeping you. One of the most encouraging verses of all, Romans chapter 8 verse 28, if you love God, if there's any flicker of a flame of a love for God, you can be absolutely assured that God's causing all things to work together for your good. Everything you're going through, every failure, even your failures, even your sins, all of your shortcomings, all of your heartache, all your anxiety, all those things. God's in control of it all, and He's working it all together for your good. And we know what that good is, is to conform you into Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ can be the preeminent one, not just in your life, but the preeminent one in the church. John chapter 14 verse 21, And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love Him and will disclose Myself to Him." If you love Jesus Christ, you'll be loved by His Father. And Jesus Christ is going to continue to make Himself known to you. He will continue to reveal Himself to you in a way that you can continue to grow in that love. One of the passages that I really like when it comes to the benefits of loving God is found in 1 Corinthians. If you want to turn there with me, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Actually, it's chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 6. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor the rulers of this age, who are passing away. But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory, the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Paul here is talking about the wisdom of God that he speaks. a wisdom of God that has been a mystery and has been hidden for ages, and yet He speaks it and He understands the rulers of this world have nothing to do with it. They don't understand it. Well, who's understanding this wisdom? Why is He speaking it if nobody understands it? Because somebody does understand it. Listen to who understands it in verse 9. But just as it is written, things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of men, All that God has prepared for those who love Him. All of this knowledge that the world can't understand. the mysteries of God that have been hidden for ages. It's all meant for those who love God. It's knowledge that God has given to those who love Him. And to those who love Him and are growing in their love for Him, He will continue to reveal more and more and more about this knowledge. Now if you go back with me to Philippians, or 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, The next mark here of genuine fruit really is the result of this knowledge that God is revealing to those who love Him. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3. Here's the third sign of genuine, true saving faith. Here's the third characteristic of a praiseworthy church. They have a steadfast hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. They have a hope that survives. Steadfastness there is the translation of a word that's often times translated as endure. And it's a word that refers to remaining under a burden. There is a hope here. that we have that enables us to remain under a burden. When life is a burden, we are able to maintain ourselves under that burden because of this hope. This is a hope that survives. It survives any obstacle in life. It survives any hopeless situation in life. This is a hope that cannot be taken away from you. This is a hope that the circumstances of the world will not diminish. It continues to survive. So this is a hope that those who are genuinely saved, who have a genuine faith in Jesus Christ, who are really transformed by the Holy Spirit, who the grace of God has really worked in their lives, they have this hope. Paul talks about this hope in the book of Titus. Look with me there in the book of Titus, Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 verse 11, For the grace of God has appeared The grace of God there, I think, is a metaphoric reference to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of the grace of God. For the grace of God has appeared. Jesus Christ has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Grace of God has appeared. Jesus Christ has appeared. He's bringing salvation to all men. And it's instructing men. How is it instructing men? Verse 12, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ who brings us into salvation, He instructs us to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly lusts and desires, but to live sensibly, righteously, and godly. And as we're living sensibly, righteously, and godly, we're looking for the blessed hope. We're looking for the blessed hope of the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus. That's where our eyes are fixed. Our eyes are fixed on the appearing of Jesus Christ. That's the hope that enables us to endure all the difficulties of life. There is no difficulty that you will ever face in this life that's going to stop Jesus Christ from returning. He is going to return. And that is our hope. And Peter, he refers to that as a living hope. Look with me in 1 Peter 1, verse 3. He says, Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We are born again to a living hope. One of the goals of being born again is to have a living hope. And Peter says a living hope that comes through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What hope could we have in Christ's return if He had not resurrected from the dead? Our living hope in the return of Christ begins with our understanding that God demonstrated His power when He raised Christ up out of the dead. And He ascended on high. And before He ascended on high, He told His followers, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again so that you can be with me where I am. The absolute assurance that Jesus Christ is returning. And Peter continues to talk about that hope in verse 13. 1 Peter 1 verse 13. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit and fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The concept there of preparing our minds for action is literally gird up your minds for action. gird up your minds for action. Our minds are the source of our thoughts. And our thoughts are going to constantly try to bring us down. Our thoughts are going to constantly try to diminish this hope that we have in the return of Jesus Christ. But we have to gird up our minds. We have to picture putting a belt around our minds and girding in all those thoughts and not letting those thoughts keep us from having a diminished hope in the return of Jesus Christ. Let nothing diminish your hope in the return of Jesus Christ. You gird up your minds, and then he says, keep a sober spirit. Fix your hope completely. My hope is completely. I'm hoping in nothing else. My hope is completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's where my hope is. My hope is on the grace that's going to be brought to me at the revelation of Jesus Christ, the revealing of Jesus Christ, the return of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ returns, there's a grace that's going to be brought to me. What is that grace? Paul talks about that grace in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Look there with me in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3 verse 20, Paul says this, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's eagerly. waiting for His Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Jesus Christ has the power to subject all things to Himself and He's going to take that power and He's going to use that power to transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. What's He talking about? Jesus Christ is going to return and he's going to use his power that has over everything to transform our bodies into the glory of Christ to give us a glorified body. And this is the Apostle Paul's hope. The Apostle Paul is not done hoping. knowing that he's made right with God. The Apostle Paul is not done hoping, knowing that he's justified before God. The Apostle Paul will not finish hoping until he receives that glorified body. That is his focus. That is his goal. That is his longing in life to receive that glorified body. Nothing pleases him more than that, to receive that glorified body. And those who have truly been transformed by the grace of God, those who have truly put genuine saving faith in Jesus Christ, have some level, and again, it may just be a flickering light, it may just be a flickering flame, but there's some level of the desire to have that glorified body. Why do we desire this glorified body? Why isn't it enough just to have our earthly bodies and to be worshiping the Lord? Because our earthly bodies still sin. Paul even today does not yet have his glorified body. Why do we know that Paul does not yet have his glorified body? Because Christ hasn't returned yet. Even Paul himself in heaven does not receive his glorified body until Christ returns. There's an essence in which the completeness of Paul's salvation still has not yet been made known. I don't know how much longing he has in heaven. He's in heaven. There's probably not a whole lot of longing in heaven. But there is a sense when even those that have gone before us are in heaven, they have not yet reached the pinnacle of their salvation. The pinnacle of our salvation is to receive a glorified body. And in that glorified body, to glorify and honor God. Why do we need glorified bodies to glorify and honor God? You'll have to ask God. That's how God receives the most glory. I know some people would say, well, what's so different about having a body in glorified God or having a redeemed soul in glorifying God? Well, God's design, God's design for the beginning is to have human beings, physical human beings made in His image glorifying Him. So God's ultimate end for all things is to once again have a humanity of glorified individuals created perfectly in His image without any sin and in those glorified bodies glorifying Him. See, we have to at least have a flicker of a flame of that hope. I hope all of you, there's at least a flicker of that flame. I hope all of you just hearing about it causes you to think within your heart, yeah, I would like that too. I would like to live for that too." And then we pray that once that flicker just starts to burn just a little bit, that the Holy Spirit would continue to take the teaching of the Word of God and cause it to burn brightly. Because when you have that hope, you'll have a peace that surpasses all understanding. As that hope grows in you, you'll have a peace that surpasses all understanding. You'll have a calmness of a depth that no one can talk about. And it begins with having a transformed life with a faith that acts out, and where there's a fervent love for God that produces a love for others. As you grow in your love for God, you're going to grow in this longing for the return of Christ, and He's going to reveal to you marvelous truths about the return of Christ. And you just become more and more at peace, and you become stronger and stronger and stronger on the inside, even though outwardly you feel like you're wasting away. even though outwardly you feel like the whole world is coming down upon you, inwardly you're renewed, day by day, because of the surpassing greatness and the surpassing glory of Jesus Christ that surpasses all of the temporal issues in this life. That's the joy of our salvation. That's the joy that we are meant to have now. That's the eternal life. That is the quality of eternal life, to know God and to know His Son. That is the benefit of salvation in this life today. Let me pray. Almighty God, we thank You for Your Word. Father, we truly thank You for Your Word. Give us a greater love for Your Word. Father, by Your grace, Help us to grow in our faith in Your Word. We pray these things in Christ's name, Amen.