The following message, The Marks of a Famous Faith, was based on 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 7 through 9. This message was delivered on Sunday morning, September 21, 2014, to Emmanuel Reformed Baptist Church of Sea-Tac, Washington, by Pastor Robert Martin. Please open with me in the scriptures this morning to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, Churches gain reputations among God's people. Some churches are famous for their errors. Others gain a reputation for orthodoxy and truth. Some churches sadly are known for their spiritual deadness. and yet others are known for the lively faith of their members. As Paul writes this letter to the Thessalonians, he is at Corinth still on his second missionary journey. And when he writes to Thessalonica, Less than two years have transpired since he founded the church. And yet, from many quarters, he has heard of the reputation that the church in Thessalonica has gained. No doubt amongst the enemies of the gospel, the church at Thessalonica everywhere was spoken against. That was the common lot of God's true people. And yet among the people of God, in a very short time, the Thessalonians had become famous for their genuine and lively faith. And as Paul opens this letter, he speaks of these things. Beginning our reading in verse 1 of chapter 1, I'll read through to the end of the chapter. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father. Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols. to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come." The congregation at Thessalonica had gained a reputation for genuine, vigorous faith. And from the way Paul speaks in this letter, it is evident that he is persuaded that this reputation is deserved. What he hears being reported by brethren in other places, accords with what he knows about these Thessalonians by first-hand experience. He remembers, he says, their work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. He remembers these fruits of the gospel in their lives. He speaks of how the gospel had come to them in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much conviction, transforming them in their thinking, in their perspectives, and in their affections. He mentions that they have become imitators of those who have believed the Gospel before them and of the Lord Himself. He says, having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. And he speaks of how in this, how they have received the Word, They have become examples to all who believe in Macedonia and Achaia. And now they're witness as a congregation. Their reputation have spread far beyond the western shores of the Aegean. Not only Paul says in Macedonia and in Achaia, but also in every place, Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything, for they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you." The common report among God's people. is that the preaching of the gospel attended by the powerful working of God's Spirit has produced genuine, lively faith in the Thessalonians. But what was it that in such a brief time, hardly the compass of two years, What was it that had made their faith famous? What were the marks of this work of the Spirit of which Paul speaks? Well, there are a number of things in the text and continuing farther on in the letter that we could speak of, but I want to direct your attention to verses 9 and 10 of the opening chapter. Paul tells us two things. He tells us that they had experienced a radical and a thorough conversion. And he tells us that they possessed a deep personal attachment to Jesus Christ. Look again at the text. For they themselves declare concerning us What manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come." Well, the first thing that he mentions in these verses The first indication of a powerful work of the Spirit, the first thing that had made their faith famous throughout the world, was that they had experienced indeed radical and thorough conversion. Again, verse 9, they themselves declare how you turned to God from idols. to serve the living and the true God. Today, you can visit the ruins of the Acropolis in Athens, or of the Forum in Romans, or in Rome, rather. And you can see there the remains of magnificent buildings. And if you go into the museums that are set off against these places. You'll find magnificent statues, some of them representing great heroes in these nations, others representing the gods that they worshipped. And it is tempting when you see these things to think of the magnificence of what these locations must have had in the days before they became ruins, in the days before the columns were cast down and the statues removed. But we need to remember that these splendid buildings with their beautifully sculpted statues of the gods were symbols of a system of religion that was enslaving, a system of religion that was degrading, a system of religion that is thoroughly condemned in the Bible. And for the most part, the Thessalonian converts had been idle worshippers and the whole of their lives had been degraded by their servitude to the Greek pantheon. Not knowing the true and living God, they were in bondage to those who by nature are no gods. The city of Thessalonica, at that time about 200,000 souls, sat astride one of the main roads of the Roman Empire, the Ignatian Way. It stood also at the head of the Thermaeic Gulf. Thessalonica literally was at the crossroads of the empire. And the people of the city were devoted to the worship of the gods of Mount Olympus. From here, we can see Mount Rainier. In Thessalonica, you can see, similarly, Mount Olympus. One writer has said that the idolatry of the age was frightfully immoral. At a wealthy commercial center, a military center like Thessalonica, would have displayed the worst fruits of a frightfully immoral society. The inhabitants were distinguished, we learn from the remains, even from secular writers. The inhabitants of Thessalonica were distinguished by the coarseness of their manners. And Lucian, the Greek satirist, remarked in particular about the immodesty of the Thessalonican women. But one of the saddest features of Greek paganism, one of the saddest features of Greek religion, was the hopelessness that gripped the people. One writer has said, this is indeed the most striking ethical phenomenon of the age. the sense in some of its noblest spirits of the burden of life, the utter emptiness of existence, and the impenetrable darkness of the future. And so before the coming of the gospel to Thessalonica, the people truly were without God and without hope in the world. But the common report now is that these Thessalonican believers, that they have turned decisively from dead idols to serve the living and true God. And the language that Paul chooses here is that descriptive of a thorough and radical conversion. The radical nature of their conversion is highlighted by the particular term that he chooses to describe it. The verb epistrepho denotes not just a change of mind, but it stresses the fact that a new relation is established and that life is made to move in a different direction. It's description not just of a minor course alteration, but a dramatic reorienting of life. The focus of their lives after the coming of the gospel had changed dramatically and radically. And the thorough nature of their conversion is to be found in another verb that Paul uses here, the verb douleo, from which the Greek term for slave is derived. And so when he says that they turn to serve the living and true God, the service envisioned is total. It means to yield oneself up totally to the service of another. And so Paul says that the report that is being spread abroad is that you have radically turned to God from idols. And you now serve, you have enslaved yourself. to the living and true God. Paul is describing a circumstance in which the Thessalonians had made no attempt to fit the gospel into the existing framework of life. Now that's what people often try to do. They come to Christ bringing their worldview and bringing their philosophy And they find a niche for it, for the gospel in some corner of their life. But that is not what happened to the Thessalonians. They made no attempt simply to fit the gospel into the existing framework of life. For them, embracing the gospel in faith, embracing Christ in faith, meant a radical and thorough reorientation and reframing of life in every area. There was a thorough renovation in their thinking. a whole new worldview, a whole new system of beliefs. There was a radical reorientation in their affections. There was a radical reorientation in the choices of their will, in their conduct, in their ethics. And there was a radical reorientation when it came to the matter of hope, previously hopeless. and without God in the world. They are now waiting for His Son from heaven with that hope which embraces all that is promised to us in the Gospel. These Thessalonians have experienced a radical and a thorough conversion. Jehovah was not just another God to be placed beside the present objects of their worship. But he is now embraced as the only living and true God beside whom their gods are nothing. And as at Lystra, so at Thessalonica, Paul had insisted in the language of Acts 14 that they must turn from these vain things unto a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. And the Spirit of God had worked this conviction in their hearts. He had given them grace and this is what they had done. All of life had been reoriented. Now, It is everywhere spoken of. Their conversion has been radical. It has been thorough. It has indeed been remarkable. But more is reported about them. Paul also speaks of their deep personal attachment to Jesus Christ. Verse 10 he says, and you have turned from God to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. So here is the report that is going about. The report is not that they have turned from being polytheists, that is, worshippers of many gods, into being monotheists. It's not that they have turned from being polytheists to monotheists, like the Jews, worshippers of the true God. There's an element of truth in that, but that's not the whole of what's reported. For they have not simply gone from being polytheists to monotheists, but they have turned from being polytheists to Christians. Their lives have become not just God-centered, their lives have become Christ-centered. And the report that is circulating is that they manifest a deep personal attachment to Jesus Christ. An attachment that is expressed in terms of their awaiting for His return from heaven. The word in verse 10 translated to wait or to await is a very unusual word. It means not just to await someone's expected arrival. We might say that we're awaiting the mailman to come with a delivery. That's not the whole idea. The idea in this word is to wait for something or to wait for someone with patience and with trust. And what Paul is conveying by this language is that the Thessalonians believed, indeed, that Jesus was who he was declared to be. That he was the Son of God, he was the Christ, he was the great prophet who was to come, he was the great priest who was to come, he was the great king who was to appear, and that in the giving of his life, in the sacrifice of himself, he had atoned for the sins of his people and secured for them the heavenly inheritance that had been promised. That is, they believed that Jesus was who the gospel said he was, and that he had done in his death and resurrection and ascension and present place at the right hand of God all that the gospel said that he did and that he was coming again in power and glory as he promised. But their thinking, their focus was thoroughly Christ-centered. They were deeply attached, by faith, to Jesus Christ. And nowhere was this more evident than in the patient and trustful way they awaited His return. Becoming Christians, in their case, as in every case, was costly. The Thessalonians endured persecution. They suffered significant loss in some cases in terms of their goods, in other cases in terms of relationships, in some cases even in terms of freedoms. Becoming a Christian had been costly. The temptation in those circumstances is to flee from the discomfort and to flee from the cost, to turn away. With these Thessalonians in the face of all that had come upon them in the two years that had passed since the coming of the gospel to Thessalonica, those Christians are found waiting patiently, trustfully for the return of Christ from heaven. Now Paul here further describes Jesus as the one who delivers or powerfully rescues us from the wrath to come. Now undoubtedly the deep personal attachment of the Thessalonians to Christ to a large degree is traced to this very fact. It is Christ who will save them, deliver them, powerfully rescue them from the wrath to come. They had understood and embraced the Bible's teaching about God's wrath against sin. The same Apostle Paul who had planted the church in Thessalonica would write to the Romans speaking of the present reality of God's wrath being poured out He says to the Romans, for the wrath of God is revealed, that is present tense, from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And the scriptures had also spoken, the apostles had also spoken of the appearing of God's anger at the coming of Christ. when it will be fully poured out upon sinners. If you turn across to the opening chapter of 2 Thessalonians, I'll begin reading in verse 3. Here Paul again says, We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting. because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you all abounds towards each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure." Paul is still speaking of their reputation. Still speaking of the manifestations of their thorough conversion. But he speaks of these persecutions and tribulations that they endure, he says, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. He reminds them that their suffering is indeed in the cause of God and in the cause of Christ and in the cause of the kingdom. Since verse 6, it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. There will be a day of justice. and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Paul elsewhere speaks of the day of judgment, the day of wrath, as the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And in the book of the Revelation, the coming wrath is likened to a great wine press. in which sinners will be trodden down, it's likened to a cup that is full of God's anger unmixed with mercy." Now, the Festival of Nikons had embraced the truth that judgment was coming. that whatever manifestations there are of the wrath of God now in this world, and there are many, yet there is coming a day when the full cup of His wrath, unmixed with mercy, will be poured out. They had embraced that. They were certain of it, and they acted accordingly. They had no thought for the idea that the threatening coming of God's wrath was something that God in the end may not do. That in the end God may change His mind. No, they believed that the coming of this great wave of wrath was inevitable. And Paul speaks of it here even as coming now. He speaks of the wrath of God as a wave already swelling, already moving inexorably toward the shore. But he also says that even as God's wrath is now coming, so Christ also now delivers his people. He speaks of a present deliverance, of a present reality, not just of something future. And so Paul here focuses on Christ's present activity as the deliverer of his people. Again, going back to our text, note how this fits in with what Paul is saying. He speaks of their thorough and radical conversion. There is one very clear mark of God's gracious dealings with them. But He also speaks of their waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, not who will deliver us, but who delivers us, not from the wrath that will come, but for the wrath that is coming. Even as God's wrath is now coming, so Christ now delivers His people. And this present deliverance, this salvation which can be had now as a present reality, this present deliverance from God's wrath will indeed, like the wrath itself, be manifested in its fullness at Christ's second coming. Now we have often in this place turned to Hebrews chapter 9. In this past week, my own study has brought me again to this passage. And I want to direct your attention once more to verses 27 and 28. Here are principles that the Thessalonians had embraced. Principles that were operative in a total reorientation of their lives. He says, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Two certain appointments with death and with judgment. But the writer doesn't stop there. He says, and as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, that is not as a sin offering, but unto salvation, to deliver His people from the judgment. Did you notice that in the midst of verse 10, Paul refers, going back to our text, Paul refers to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he does this in order to assure the Thessalonians. To assure them on the one hand of the coming judgment, and to assure them on the other hand of Christ's power to deliver them. In other places, Paul refers to Christ's resurrection to establish both these points. In Acts 17, for example, we find the words that Paul speaks on the occasion of his preaching the gospel in Athens, a circumstance not so terribly different from the preaching of the gospel in Thessalonica. And we find in Acts 17 and verse 31 Paul says to the Athenians, he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained, speaking of Christ. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the vindication of all of His claims. It validates the truth of all that He said. And among His claims, very prominently to be found in the Gospel of John, is that He will come to judge the world in righteousness. But His resurrection also declares Him to be, in the language of Romans 1-4, the Son of God with power to save. And so Jesus' resurrection is the guarantee to God's people that we will be saved from the wrath to come. On the one hand, it is a guarantee that that wrath is coming. On the other hand, it is a guarantee that He will save His people from the wrath to come. And so with these perspectives, Paul can speak of these things to the Thessalonians as part and parcel of their attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Thessalonians' deep personal attachment to Christ is seen in that they patiently and trustfully awaited their resurrected Deliverer who rescues them from the wrath to come. What then were the marks? of a powerful working of the Spirit in Thessalonica? What were the marks that made their faith famous? It was on the one hand that they had experienced radical and thorough conversion, on the other hand, that they possessed a deep and personal attachment to Jesus Christ. Now what is the reputation of this church? What is our reputation amongst our brethren? Doubtless there are places and people who speak evil of us. But what is our reputation amongst discerning Christians? I suggest to you that the reputation of this church amongst our sister churches is a good one. Those who view you from a distance speak well of you. Those who come among you briefly carry good reports of what they observe of your worship. and of what they experience in their interaction with you. And that's a wonderful thing. It would be a matter of serious concern if it were otherwise. It is possible, however, to assume things at a distance. And visitors, no matter how discerning, ordinarily gain only surface impressions. Ordinarily, they see truthfully only what we allow them to see. For many years now, you have been publicly identified in this community with biblical and reformed Christianity. And for good or for ill, we have made an impression on those who see us day by day. Now my question is this. Is it indeed a matter of common report among discerning folk who know us that the members of this church bear the marks of a radical and thorough conversion and a deep personal attachment to Jesus Christ? It's good that we are known for our doctrinal orthodoxy and for the sobriety of our worship. But here in the example of the Thessalonians is the very heart of true Christianity, apart from which all the rest is but paint and veneer. I ask you to search your heart as an individual with Judgment Day honesty, asking two simple questions. First, have I been radically and thoroughly converted? Go before the mirror and pose the question to yourself. Have I been the object of a powerful converting work of the Holy Spirit? Now, the answer to that question can be known. For where there is true conversion, there will always be an abandoning of whatever has occupied the place in the heart that rightfully belongs to God. There will always be a turning from idols. But it isn't enough just to turn from idols. That isn't conversion. Calvin says the end of true conversion is the living God. And so, no man is truly converted who does not yield himself up to serve the living and the true God. There are many things that fall short of conversion. One may change one's opinions about various things. and perhaps adopt orthodox ideas and orthodox doctrines and come to believe at some level, some notional level, that the things of Christianity are true. But that is not conversion. In the language of some of the old writers, one may reform his manners. the drunkard can clean himself up and sober himself up and for all sorts of reasons may stay sober. So that what has happened to him may indeed appear in the eyes of others to be truly miraculous. And there may even be in his motives something of a religious flavor. But in the end of the day, it's possible that the reasons for his reformation are not religious at all, not fundamentally, merely pragmatic. A loose woman may abandon her fornications for all sorts of reasons. And there may be in the setting in which what appears to be a miraculous transformation taking place, there may be that some Christian has come alongside and spoken of the things of Christ so that in her mind, in her mind indeed, there is some thought, well, I've been converted. And all the while the real reasons may have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. It's possible to reform a thief or a liar for all sorts of reasons. But that's not conversion. For you see, conversion radical and thorough conversion. Yes, it will involve a reformation of manners. It will involve a changing of one's notions, a changing of one's worldview. But at its heart, it's going to be a matter of the heart. And there's going to be a transformation in the affections. Radical and thorough conversion is still the most needful thing. And unless our conversion has been thorough, unless it has produced a change of heart, and unless it has produced a yielding of ourselves up to God as His servants, it has never been radical. It's never been a true turning away from idolatry. Especially the idolatry of self. Now here's my question. Have you been radically and thoroughly converted? Do you indeed serve God or something else? If it is something else, You're still an idolater and not a Christian. But here's my second question. Am I deeply and personally attached to Jesus Christ? It's not enough to become a devoted Orthodox monotheist. A deep personal attachment to Christ is the mark of true conversion and it is the mark of true Christianity. And so I ask, who is Christ to you? Is he merely a figure on a page? Is Christ to you just an idea or a doctrine like justification or election? Do you just have a doctrine of Christ? Or is He a real person to you, to whom you are deeply attached by bonds of love and faith and obedience and hope? Can it be said that you are waiting for God's Son from heaven? If the Christ you know is just an abstract concept, you are not a Christian. The Bible tells us that we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ upon His person, trust in Him upon His person to be saved. And if He is the object of your faith, if He is the object of your love, even as He Himself said, your greatest joy will be to please Him by keeping His commandments. And if He is your hope, you will be found eagerly waiting for Him who delivers you from the wrath to come. I want to speak just a brief word to the unconverted. Some of you may be present here this morning and there is no delusion in your hearts and in your minds as to whether you're converted. You would acknowledge that you are not. My question for you is, do you think God cares about your sin? Do you think He cares enough to act? The Bible says that He does. And that if you leave this world unreconciled to God, you will drink to the full the cup of His anger unmixed with mercy. And you will be trodden down in the winepress of His wrath. The great wave of God's wrath is already building and moving. My friend, you are completely unprepared for the day when it will break over your head in a terrible display of his righteous anger mixed with infinite power. Dear unbeliever, how often do you think of the wrath to come? Does this ever occupy your mind? Do you not try to push death and judgment far away out of sight and out of mind? But the truth is, you know. You know in your heart, you know in your conscience that your appointment with death and judgment is certain. I ask you, what will you do then? Are you unprepared to meet Him? The Bible likens God's wrath to a consuming fire. But where is there safety from a terrible fire? The answer is where the fire has already burned. And so it is. Where can you find safety from God's wrath? The answer is where that wrath has already been poured out on Christ at Calvary. And I counsel you, go to Him and you will find Him a willing Savior who will deliver you from the wrath to come. Those of you who are members, your membership in this church I believe was a statement that you wanted to see the whole counsel of God worked out in your life together as Christians. Your membership, I hope, represents the burning conviction that biblical Christianity is serious business. And you have taken your stand. for what historically is known as experimental religion, which is just an old Puritan way of saying heart religion. And I want to counsel you, especially in view of the events of coming months, I want to counsel you never forget why you did what you did. You separated yourselves from shallow evangelicalism and you turned to the old paths. Your commitment, however, was more than doctrinal. Christianity had become for you more than a doctrinal system no matter how orthodox. It was above all a life to be lived in earnest in which the principles of the faith were to be worked out in terms of vital godliness. And my question is, does the old fire still burn in you? Are you still committed to the same truth and to the same kind of Christian living? To seeing men and women radically, thoroughly converted and deeply, personally attached to Jesus Christ? Is it still your conviction that this is the kind of Christianity and the kind of Christian life that you want for yourself and for your children. If not, you will not know God's blessing in the years to come. And one of my prayers for this congregation, as I near the end of my tenure with you, is that God will be pleased by His Spirit to keep you near to your first love. May His blessing continue to rest on this congregation. Let us pray. Our Father, we ask, Lord, for your mercies and for your blessing, and that the things which have been said this day would not fall upon deaf ears and upon hardened hearts, but rather into good ground, from which a harvest shall be taken to your glory and to our good. We ask Your mercies upon us and upon our children. For it is in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.