I didn't touch it, so thank you. Okay, almost a miracle. All right, you can see on the screen, returning to 1 Thessalonians chapter three. You can see all of you this morning. Whenever these situations arise, and I'll tell you what the situation is, it seems like they always leave it to me to do this. We're behind one lesson. You know what that means? Double header. The problem is I don't get double the time to do it. And so we're going to try to get through two lessons today and get everything caught up. You know a little known fact you'd like to tell things that nobody really knows and It's a holdover I guess from my younger days. I still carry a phone I Just I just can't part with I Should have saved that one for the bulletin All right first Islam is chapter 3 and And the lesson, this particular lesson, is called Appointed to Affliction. Now, nobody likes to suffer, nobody wants to suffer, but the Bible clearly states that those who live a godly, separated life will experience persecution. 2 Timothy 3, 12, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. There's no escape clause there. The Greek word that is translated persecution literally means to pursue. So to be persecuted, it's sort of like somebody chasing you. that intends to do you harm. You may have heard me say this, if you see me running, you better run too because something bad is chasing me. I just, I don't run anymore. But that's the idea of persecution. And the word persecution certainly lends itself to a broad spectrum of application. It might be anywhere, anything from somebody smirking at you for your testimony, all the way up to being tortured and killed because of your stand for Christ. That extreme, I mean, we see plenty of examples of that in both biblical and secular history. If you read Hebrews 11, we'll not turn to it, but you know the heroes of faith. And it talks about all the great things that were done by these men and women, and the great victories and triumphs that they experienced. And it goes on like that, and then it gets down to verse 36. It says, and others. And others. Yeah, you got this group of heroes that accomplished great things and had great victories. over their persecutors and the persecution that they were enduring. But then there were others, it says. They were stoned, they were sawn in half, they were slain with a sword. I mean, secular history tells us all about the Dark Ages. When I say secular history, I mean it's history other than what we find in the Bible. Well, during the Dark Ages, there were many atrocities committed on those who refused to recant their faith in Christ, those that refused to align themselves with the Pope. And by the way, most, if not all, of that persecution came from the religious community. It wasn't from atheists, it wasn't from It was from those who supposedly were Christians, and I use that word loosely. Well, we should not be surprised when we face opposition. Now, we haven't seen much. I mean, you can see it warming up. You can see it coming. They're trying all the time to cut a corner here and limit us there as to what we can or can't do, what we can or can't say. And don't be surprised if in some of our lifetimes we see government officials with government authority walk in the doors of our church building and say, all right, you can't say this and you can't say that. And that's hate speech and all that. So let's see what this passage has to say concerning affliction, persecution. So we're searching the text now. First of all, there's the concern in verses one through three. Paul said, wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone. When we could no longer forbear, Paul is saying, and this is in the KJV, this is the kennel jazzed up version, okay? That's KJV. Paul said, I couldn't stand it anymore. I just couldn't wait any longer. When we could no longer forbear, we thought it good, maybe not good in the sense of this is better than my former situation, but he said it's acceptable to be left alone in Athens. Paul very rarely, traveled alone by himself. Paul had, as far as I know, and I believe that Paul's thorn in the flesh was his eyesight. We don't believe that he ever recovered completely from the Damascus Road experience where he saw a bright light and was blinded. And so we believe Paul had, I believe, I shouldn't say we, maybe you got a different idea entirely, but I believe that Paul had bad eyesight. There were other indications about that. And so he was not often alone. He always had someone helping him. Timothy was his protege, his son in the flesh, but he said, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to know. There was, you know, no Facebook, no internet, not even any reliable mail in those days. So he wanted to know something about, Paul wanted to know about the church at Thessalonica, and so he had to send somebody to get a firsthand report and bring it back to him. So in verse two, he says, I sent Timotheus, that's Timothy, Timothy is our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith. Notice the three things that he says about Timothy. He says he's our brother, Then he says he's a minister of God, and then he was our fellow laborer. So Paul thought a lot of Timothy, and Timothy went on to do some great things, and he was personally discipled and mentored by the apostle Paul. He wasn't the only one, but he was perhaps the most notable of all of Paul's protégés. So he said, I sent Timothy to, last part of the verse, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith, to establish you, to ground you further in the truth and in your faith. The Great Commission Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20. The great commission is not to win souls. The Great Commission is to make disciples. Now that includes winning souls, but it has an awful lot more that is involved in that. One great failing that I observe in churches today, and I'm not necessarily saying our church here, but a great failing is a lack of follow-up, a lack of discipling the new believers. We're told three things in the Great Commission. Number one, we are to win the laws to Christ. Number two, we are to baptize them. And then thirdly, we whatsoever that Christ has commanded. And Paul practiced that. He practiced that when he was establishing churches. He would go and he didn't just fly in and get some converse together and organize the church and then take off. There were times he stayed maybe three years. at one location, and even more perhaps at some of them. So, Paul, he practiced discipleship, and as we can see here, he followed up even after the fact, after he was gone. He was concerned about the church there and sent Timothy to practice some continuing discipleship. Did I read verse three? That no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. And there's where we're getting the name for the title for the lesson today. We are appointed to afflictions. It's an appointment that we have. And you say, well, I don't like that. I don't want that. Well, if you're going to be a follower of God, a disciple of Christ, there's no way around that. Now, God has promised that he will provide us with the necessary fortitude, the necessary resources, the necessary way of escape. if that's what it comes to, to be able to deal with those things. And that's where our faith has to come in. You say, well, as you're starting out in the Christian life, and you say, I just don't know if I can handle all of that. It's like the fellow that asked the preacher one time, he says, preacher, he said, I'm really concerned. He says, I don't feel like I have dying grace. The preacher said, well, are you dying? He said, well, no, not that I know of. He said, well, you don't need dying grace. You need living grace, and when it comes time to die, God will give dying grace. So God gives us the grace we need for whatever situation at the time that it comes. We are appointed unto these afflictions. All right, we get down to point number two, and that is the caution in verse four. for verily when we were with you we told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass and you know he said i told you it was going to happen and it happened And you know it happened, and you knew it was coming before it happened. So Paul had cautioned them. The Christian life should not be construed to be a bed of roses. Our problems don't go away when we become a child of God. And in some ways, they're just beginning. And so we need not, I just put it bluntly, we shouldn't lie to a new convert and say, well, your life's going to be, I mean, yes, there is joy. Yes, there is happiness, but there is also a struggle. And when we're saved, we become an irritant. to other people, and that's why we have to go through afflictions. It's a natural result of our living godly lives, and we'll talk more about that in a minute. So that's the caution that he gave to them. Then there's the check. Paul wanted to check up on the church at Thessalonica. Verse five, for this cause, And here he says again, when I could no longer forbear, I couldn't stand it anymore, I couldn't wait any longer, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you and our labor be in vain. Paul, Not only was worried that I mean, Paul had a care for these people in another place. It says that Paul said, I have the care of all the churches. Now you think what our pastor goes through having to put up with us. You know, that's a tough job. And I'm not saying he begrudges us that, but mastering is a job, it's work. And think about Paul as an apostle, we don't have that office anymore, but Paul as an apostle, he said, I have the care of all of the churches. And so he was, if not, you know, responsible in a designated way, in a way from his heart, he cared about all of the churches. Thessalonica was one. And he cared about them enough that he wanted to send somebody over there to see about their faith. He says, lest by some means, the tempter hath tempted you, and our labor be in vain. He didn't want to see all of his work go down the drain, and so he sent Timothy to check on the church at Thessalonica. Next we have the comfort in verses six through 10. Verse six, but now when Timotheus came from you unto us, in other words, Timothy went, checked things out, ministered among them, and then he returned to Paul. And when Timothy 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 see you, this is the report that Timothy brought back. He said he brought good news of your faith and your charity, that's love. And it says, you remember me. Now, remember Paul said, be followers of me as I also follow Christ. Paul was their spiritual father, and they had a responsibility, as far as Paul was concerned, to follow what he had taught them. You say, well, aren't we supposed to follow Christ? Yes, yes, of course. Christ is our ultimate example. It's He that we are to follow. But Christ is not here in person. And so it is good to find other Christians that we see are living the example of Christ and to emulate them. Now, unfortunately, when people do this sometimes, and this has just popped into my head, what they want to do is they want to use the flaws. of those that they look up to and model their lives in that manner. You got a Christian who is a faithful church attender and witnesses for the Lord and reads his Bible and prays and encourages the saints, but yet he's got some, he or she has some little irregularity in life. And we wanna focus on that. We want to say, well, so-and-so, they're my spiritual hero. They do this, and so therefore, it must be okay for me as well. I've known men that focused on Charles Spurgeon. You all know Charles Spurgeon. Anybody that never heard of Spurgeon? great, great preacher of the 19th century, and perhaps he was called the prince of preachers. And he wrote all kinds of books, had a school for preachers, and pastored the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Thousands and thousands came to hear him preach every Sunday. But what some people focus on when they think about Charles Spurgeon is they say, well, you know, Spurgeon smoked a pipe. That's all they get out of Charles Spurgeon. Now, should he have smoked a pipe? Probably not. It's not good for him. And yet, I'm just using this as an example of how people fixate. others as they follow Christ. And here in verse 6, he says that Timothy brought good tidings of your faith and charity. In 3 John verse 4, John said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. And I think there he's talking about those that he had led to the Lord, those that he had won to Christ and discipled them. He says, there's no greater joy to know than to hear that my children are walking in truth. Verse seven, therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith." I think Paul is saying here that everything he suffered was worthwhile when he knew of the continuing faith of his converts. Verse 8, for now we live. He said, I can go on living if you stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God again for you? For all the joy, wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God. Verse 10, night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. See, Paul's burning desire was not only to win souls, but to perfect them or to mature them in their faith. He wasn't content to say, well, I want you to the Lord, go out and do the best you can. He had a desire to disciple these converts. Now we move on, gotta hustle. Number five, the confirming. Verse 11, 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 toward one another. are toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. So first of all, we see that Paul dearly wanted to come and visit them, which apparently he was able to do about a year after Timothy's visit. But in verse 12, he said, I want you to love others as much as I love you. He said, my heart is with you, my love is with you, and I want you to express that love toward others. He said, toward another and toward all men. Some people are easy to love. Some, you've got to work at it a little bit. You know, I love people that I don't really like. I'm just being honest now, and you are, you know, that's your situation too. But we aren't called to just love the ones that we get along with real well. We're called to love all men, it says. And even, he says, as we do toward you. And then in verse 13, To the end, he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness. before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with His saints. In 1 John 2, 28, we see this, now when the children abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Paul's saying basically the same thing. He said, I want God to work in your hearts so that you might be unblameable in the Lord when the Lord comes again. 1 Timothy 2 talks about the qualifications of a pastor, and it says the pastor must be blameless. Now, it doesn't say sinless, but it says blameless. Now, should we, church members, think that, well, that's okay for the pastor, but I don't have to be. Should we be content with being any less godly than our pastor? I don't think so. We need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. So as we set the application, throughout history, persecution, that's what this chapter is all about, persecution has served to strengthen Christianity and the proclaiming of the gospel message. In Acts 8, 4, therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. So persecution, much as we don't like it, it furthers the work of the Lord. All right, are we ready to go into chapter 4? chapter 4 and the the title here is confidence in the coming of Jesus now I'm excited about this chapter because it's a chapter that I have read and used hundreds maybe thousands of of times in various settings. I've preached on it. Invariably, when I've done funerals, I have used this particular passage at the gravesite to encourage God's people. But we don't get to that until we get down to verse 13. So let's jump right into these points here. First of all, in verses one through seven, a life that is pleasing. Verse one, furthermore then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. So the godly life, and we're gonna talk about sanctification in a second, but the godly life is not an instantaneous So God doesn't just zap you on the back of the head and all of a sudden, you know, you're a mature Christian and you have conquered all the sins and temptations that come into life. No, it's not an instantaneous process or instantaneous occurrence. It is a process. And we're talking about sanctifications. Now, he doesn't use that word here in this verse, but it's the concept that we see. The word sanctification means to set apart. Not, and by the way, not every time you see the word sanctify or sanctification is it referring to the doctrine of sanctification, but this reference here does. Well, I got ahead of myself. In verse two, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication." So, we believe in what is called progressive sanctification. That means that, as I said, it's not an instantaneous work. We are in the process of being set apart by the Holy Spirit and by our obedience to the commands of Christ. We are being set apart in a gradual way. And you've heard, I'm sure, if you've been around Baptist churches very much, you've heard about the three tenses of salvation, past, present, future. Let's go through those. The past tense is justification. That is instantaneous. That is a moment in time when you are declared righteous before God. We have been freed from the penalty of sin. Then there is the present tense, and that is sanctification. We are being freed. from the power of sin, sin's power over us. And then there is the future tense, and that is glorification. We will be freed from the presence of sin. You may have heard that preached on as a good three-point outline, a good way to remember the three tenses of salvation, justification, sanctification, and glorification. All right, moving on now to verse five. Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles, which know not God. That word concupiscence, you're probably, some of you are sitting there saying, what in the world does that mean? Concupiscence simply means a lust for that which is forbidden. It is an uncontrolled desire towards something that is not godly, something that is forbidden by our relationship with God. And so he said concupiscence is a trait, a characteristic of the Gentiles. And Paul did this often. He would say, now, you don't want to be like those Gentiles, do you? Because the Jews, they didn't like Gentiles. The Jews, and they had to be re-educated on this thing as time went on, but the Jews thought that they were just the greatest thing since sliced bread because they were God's chosen people. And everybody else was just a second-class citizen. And that was the attitude of the Jews. And Paul sort of turned this to his advantage in using references like this, you know, that's what the Gentiles do. The Gentiles are marked by concupiscence. That's not what you want to be known for. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter Because the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have to reward you and testify The lust of concupiscence the desire for that which is forbidden is not limited to sexual matters Here reveals itself in committing fraud for personal gain verse 7 but unto holiness. God's call to salvation, which we find in 1 Corinthians 1 24, it's not limited to saving you from hell. That's one of the great benefits of being saved. But we are called unto holiness. We were saved in our uncleanness, but not to remain there. We are called unto holiness. That's point number one, a life that is pleasing. Now we go on to number two, and that is a love that is prominent. Look at verse eight. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who has also given unto us His Holy Spirit. The word despise, now we use it to, I use it like to describe my feelings about, oh, liver and onions, for example. I despise that stuff. My mom made, I ain't got time to tell this, but my mom made me eat liver when I was a kid. And if there's one thing, that she went to her grave that I had not forgiven. It was her making me eat liver. And I hope she has forgiven me by now. But the word despised means to look down on or to undervalue, to count as unworthy. The way Strong puts it is to disesteem. Here he speaks of despising a godly life. Say, well, it's not all that important. I can live the way I want to. Despising a godly life, looking down on God's will and his command to be holy. Verse nine, but as touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Now, brotherly love, you may know, is the word Philadelphia. That's why Philadelphia is called the city of brotherly love. That's what the word means. And it comes from the Greek word phileo, which means an affection. But then he talks about that we are supposed to love one another. And that term for love is agape. So he says, you can have brotherly love. You don't need me to tell you about that. But it needs to go further than that. You need to agape love one another. Verse 10, and indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in Macedonia, but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more. Don't ever be satisfied with how much you love others. He says you need to increase more and more. Then in verse 11, I love this verse, and that ye study to be quiet. Yeah, preachers study in order that we can speak, right? He says here, study to be quiet. And the word study literally means be diligent about. And so he says, be diligent to be quiet. And I mean, Proverbs, we went through that not too long ago, has a lot to say about the danger of talking too much. And there's danger in the multitude of words. But he says, study to be quiet, and it says, to do your own business. I wish that I and everybody else would learn to practice this concept. You don't get anything else out of this message today. Mind your own business. They got a more vernacular way to say it these days. Stay in your lane. There's things that we can control, there's things that we don't need to be involved in. And we need to take care of ourselves, get the beam out of our own eye before we try to catch the moat out of somebody else's eye. All right, so there is a life that is pleasing, a love that is prominent, and then we get down to the great part of this chapter, a lesson with God. promise, a lesson with promise concerning the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, there is a rethinking. Look at verse 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. I don't want you to be ignorant. That word ignorant is not a bad word. It's it. It's just a word that describes not knowing something. He says you need to rethink this thing. The Thessalonians were confused about death, about the return of Christ, and about the fate of their loved ones who had already passed. And he says, do not sorrow. Sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. Notice this, he does not say don't sorrow. That would be ridiculous for one of our loved ones to pass on into eternity, and we just, you know, hey, time for a party now, let's just laugh and have a big time. No, there's a time of grieving, a time of sorrowing, but he says, don't sorrow like those who have no hope. What hope do we have? Well, we have the hope, as we'll see as we finish the chapter, that we will be reunited with saved loved ones. The dead in Christ are gonna rise and we're gonna be caught up with them. And guess what? Our relationship with our loved ones is gonna be even better in heaven than it was here on earth. We're not gonna have sibling rivalries. We're not gonna have parents mistreating their children or anything like that. That's not the kind of relationship that we will have. We're gonna be reunited in a perfect relationship But then someone might ask the question, hey, what about when we come to the funeral of one of our loved ones who has died and we're pretty sure they're not saved? That's a different story. And it's a different dynamic. And it's not a happy occasion at all. My mom died, my dad died, and go back to my grandparents passing away. I can remember that at their funerals. Yes, I was sad. Yes, there was sorrow. But it was an occasion also of joy because I knew that they were in a better place, in a different environment, free from the pain, free from the sinful ravages that had come upon them. But what about when you know or are pretty well sure that the departed loved one is not safe? Well, we do have hope even in that situation. Don't ever say, well, that's hopeless. Is this all done? No, we have hope. We have the hope that we will not grieve for eternity over lost loved ones that are not with us in heaven. Revelation 21.4, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. So if you have that occasion to go to the funeral of someone that you love, and yet you're pretty sure that that person never trusted Christ as their Savior, just know there is hope. There is hope that one day God is going to wipe away the tears from our eyes. All right, so now I know there's a rethinking. I've really got to hurry now. There's a return. Verse 14 says, For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also would sleep in Jesus. Will God bring with him? 1 Corinthians 15 says that Jesus died, rose again, became the first fruits of the ones that slept. So there's no soul sleeping. The bodies are in the graves, but it says that Jesus is gonna bring the departed saints with him. So that means that the spirit is separated present with the Lord the bodies in the grave the Spirit is in heaven and when Jesus comes again, he's going to bring the Saints with him to be Reunited with The body and we don't have to say more in just a minute in verse 15 For this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Notice he says, we which are alive and remain. I think Paul expected Jesus to return in his lifetime. And I also think that saints of every age, every generation, have had the reason to look for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as we do today. We which are alive and remain under the coming Lord shall not prevent. Now here's a place where the King James language has changed over the years. King James uses the word prevent. That word literally means to precede. So just read that in there. Those of us that are alive and remain shall not precede them which are asleep. And it goes on to explain in the next verse in verse 16, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. They're going to get first dibs on the resurrection. The Lord himself, I like that. He's not sending a shuttle bus for us. He's not delegating one of his angels to go pick us up. No, the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout. Acts 111, the angel said, this same Jesus as you've seen depart, he is coming back in like manner. Now, we also see that this is gonna be a noisy event. Because it says there's going to be the he's going to descend from heaven with a shout So what is that shout someone has conjectured that each one of us will hear our name call? I think there's no scripture really to prove that but I do remember that when when Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave He said Lazarus Come forth. Maybe we're all going to hear our own name. Not only the shout and then the Trump of God or a trumpet will sound so it's going to be noisy and I think we're probably going to be startled at this event if we are alive to to welcome the Lord back in person and I don't know if everybody on earth is going to hear this or not there's some debate about that Some say, well, everybody's going to hear and see and all that. Others, and I'm included, it seems to me that only God's people are going to be aware of what is happening. And I'm not dogmatic about that. Then there's the resurrection. The last part of verse 16, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Jesus brings the sleeping saints with him to reunite them with glorified bodies. 1 Corinthians 15, 52, In a moment twinkle the night, the last trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, but not as they went in the ground, the dead shall be raised incorruptible. So there's a resurrection. Then there's the reunion, verse 17. Then we which are alive and remain, as I said, Paul, I think, expected to see the Lord's return in his lifetime. We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds and to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Caught up together. We call this the rapture. The rapture is not found in the Bible, but it's a term that we have come to use to talk about the catching up. We're going to be caught up together. And when we are caught up, it says that we are going to go through the same transformation as those that were in the graves. This verse again, I need to reemphasize it. It says, the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. We're not going to heaven like we are, thankfully. I mean, I'm looking forward to being changed, not only to get a new physical body, but to receive a glorified mind as well, or I don't get distracted by things that I shouldn't be thinking about. We're gonna be caught up together with them, there's the reunion, to meet the Lord in the air, and it says, so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's the last, I mean, when we're caught up to meet the Lord, We're gonna be with him for eternity. There's some things to go through, the battle of Armageddon and all that, but we're gonna be with him during all of that. And then verse 18, the reassurance. Now over time, we've got, I used to read this, it says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. That's why I use this, the pastor uses it, and I guess most preachers that preach funerals, they use this at the grave site. to emphasize that there is comfort to be found in the word of God, even in the most sorrowful of times. Father, bless your word to us. We've covered it quickly. I trust that it has been an encouragement and a help to those of us who have listened. Now we pray that you'll bless in the following service, our baptism, and then the preaching of your word. In Jesus' name, amen. I don't care if I turn the air on, do you? I don't care. Good job. th How's it going, Dominic? Looking good today.