to First Thessalonians chapter two. First Thessalonians chapter two. While you're turning there, welcome the Heizers with us today from Wyoming and Bryce from Texas. It's good to have you folks with us. They're looking forward to having Kylie coming in this evening. At least mom and dad are, so. I know Bryce is too. First Thessalonians chapter two. If you'll remember right, chapter one, the theme was the transforming impact of the gospel. Chapter two is the troublesome impartation of the gospel. Trouble, difficulty in the ministry or the impartation of the gospel. So here we are in chapter two, verses one through 12, you saw the difficulty for the ministers. of the gospel in verses 13 to 20, it's gonna be difficulty for the recipients of the gospel. So if you wanna outline it that way, I think that'll help you out. Verses one through 12, the trouble for the ministers, verses 13 to 20, the trouble for the recipients of the gospel. Last week, we looked at verse 13. Let me just read that verse again. The apostle Paul says this, for this cause also, thank we God without ceasing, Because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Notice that it is the word of God that does the effectual working. Remember that word is energizing. It is the word of God that does the energizing. So many people treat the words of men as if they were the words of God. Think about the most popular books written by preachers or seminary professors. And if you do much study, you're gonna find that the people are preferring books over the Bible. They prefer books about the Bible over the Bible itself. Let me challenge you. Take those other books that may be good and set them aside if you have not read your Bible. Get into God's Word. We need to receive this, not as the words of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. It is the Word of God that affectually worketh also in you that believe. It is not John MacArthur's book. It is not John Piper's book. It's not Stuart Custer's book. It's God's Word that affectually worketh also in you that believe. But when you receive the word of God, as the word of God, and not as something that men have written, there's gonna be a change in your life. It's going to effectually work in you that believe. And as a result, you're going to experience opposition, guaranteed. If God's Word is doing its work in your life as it ought to be, because you've received it as the Word of God and not as the Word of men, you will experience opposition. And that brings us into the following verses. Notice the first word of verse 14, it's the word for. In other words, that continues the thought from the previous verse. For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews. who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins all way, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. Receiving the ministry of the gospel is difficult because of the suffering it brings. Here we see the trouble for the recipients of the gospel. Here it's in the form of suffering. Three things about their suffering. Number one, you'll see in verse 14 that their suffering is related. Their suffering is related. It is not new. It is not unique. It is related to the sufferings that others have experienced. Here's the first thing I want you to see about their suffering being related. Number one, or letter A, their suffering and their brethren. Like I said, the word for continues the thought from the previous verse. The factual working of God's Word in their life, verse 13, is proved by their suffering for the Word of God. Now this is not suffering in general. This is suffering that comes as a result of God's word working through you. All of us suffer. You may suffer from heartburn. You may suffer from something else, but we're not talking about suffering that is due to the pizza you ate last night too late in the night. We're talking about the suffering because of God's word. We're not talking about the suffering that you experience due to reaping what you've sown. And a lot of our suffering is due to that. He is talking about suffering for the Word of God. It is striking proof of the energizing effect of God's Word in you if you suffer for it. If you suffer for the Word of God, it proves that you are not a superficial stony soil hearer of the word of God, since suffering for Christ causes such people to fall away. Matthew 13, verses 20 and 21. If you're suffering for the word of God, it is actually a good sign. It is evidence you're not a stony soil hearer. I'm glad the military makes candidates suffer. to weed out the wimps. I say that because I was talking to, and I'll probably have lots of illustrations from Benjamin, because when I think of the military and I think of what these guys experience, there is so much that can be translated into the Christian life. I mean, Jesus said endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, or we're not all soldiers. And he said, you know what, they make the guys quit. They try to make you quit. And I'm glad they do. When I asked him why, he said, because they want guys who are going to work as a team and guys who aren't going to pull others down. They want guys who are going to work as a team. He mentioned this last week, something that was kind of humorous, that there was a guy, they were making him go through something really horrible in the mud pit. I don't want to describe all of it, but there was one guy who just wasn't measuring up. And the cadres had this guy go up to the trees in the forest and start apologizing to the trees for taking their oxygen. So this guy's going up to the tree and saying, I apologize for taking your oxygen. And you go to every tree. While these guys are suffering what they're suffering. And then the cadre said, you missed one, so you have to go back to that tree. And then the guys who were doing well, they brought out of the mud pit, and this guy had to go up to each one and say, I'm sorry, I'm taking up your oxygen. I am sorry, I'm taking up your oxygen. What are they doing? He's making these guys suffer. I am glad they do that to weed out the wimps. And you know what persecution does to the church? It weeds out the wimps. Notice what it says, ye brethren became followers. Literally, that word is imitators. In fact, we get our word imitators from that Greek word. But I want you to notice something. The church at Thessalonica did not seek to imitate the churches in Judea. I mean, would you try to seek someone if you knew suffering was going to be the result? I wouldn't seek it. So please note, they did not seek to imitate the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. They became imitators. Notice the word became. They became imitators. They did not seek to imitate them. That tells me this. Although West Side Baptist Church should not seek to imitate other churches, we will indeed become imitators of those who take the same stand. In chapter one and verse six, you see that they had become imitators in Christian living. Ye became followers of us. There's that same word, imitators. Ye became imitators of us. And there it is in, again, you became imitators of us. So they had become imitators in Christian living, now they're imitators in Christian suffering. Make an observation today. Paul, Silas, and Timothy suffered. The churches in Judea were suffering. Now those who imitated them are suffering. Here's the observation. People expect Christian leaders to speak up and suffer, but few followers will do the same thing. They expect the pastor to write articles in the paper, but few will follow up. and do the same because they know they're going to face opposition. By the way, thank you to those who wrote. And some of you wrote and it was not even published. But I just haven't made that observation. People will say, you know, where are the preachers talking? Well, where? You know what? There's fewer preachers than there are people in the pew. Where are the people in the pew? Why aren't they talking? So unlike this church, they became like their teachers, both in living and in suffering. Three things about the churches, the Thessalonian church imitated. Look at these three things. Number one, organizationally, they belonged to God. It says, the churches of God, which in Judea, the churches of God. These were not human organizations. We've got to understand that a local church is not a human institution. A local church that is in Christ Jesus is a church of God. Secondly, geographically, it was those in Judea. These local churches who are mentioned show that from the very beginning Christians were suffering for their faith. That's probably why he's mentioning the churches in Judea. Because where did the suffering start? right there in Judea. So Paul is making the point, you know what, you're suffering just like churches from the very beginning have suffered, the ones particularly in Judea. You're not alone. Thirdly, spiritually, They were in Christ Jesus. These churches of God in Judea are in Christ Jesus. Now why would he have to differentiate them as the churches of God in Judea and then have to say in Christ Jesus? Because would not a Jew claim the same thing? Would not a Jew say that our synagogue is an assembly of God? But a synagogue would not say in Christ Jesus. And so there Paul is differentiating them. Notice how fellow sufferers draw close together. Have you ever suffered something with somebody else? Just kind of a poll here. How many of you guys ever played high school football? You know what it's like when you play football. You draw, you make close friendships with those other guys. Why? Because you're getting killed all together. And it's like, man, these are my buds. If you've ever taken a speech class, whether it's high school or college, you know who you become close to in college? You know who you get to know real well? The other guys in the speech class, why? You suffered together. Because you got up and spoke while they sat in their pews, nervous because they realize I'm next. And you suffered together, so you become, I still to this day remember who's in my freshman class, speech class, more than I remember my roommates. Isn't that something? Guys in the military, same thing. because you suffer together. Folks, when churches, when Christians suffer together, it's like the apostle Paul says in this verse 14, you have suffered like things, like things. Those who suffer like things tend to like each other. So we see here their suffering and their brethren. Secondly, we see their suffering and their countrymen. Notice that the suffering which is brought upon the church at Thessalonica by their own energizing by the Word of God, that this suffering is not caused by some foreign people. That the suffering is not caused by those who are in Asia Minor somewhere or somebody who's over there in Syria. It's caused by other Thessalonians. unbelieving Thessalonians, their own compatriots. In fact, that's the word, countrymen. It's compatriots. Just like the believers in Judea suffered at the hands of their own people, the Jews, these people, suffer at the hands of their own countrymen. You would hope that your own countrymen understand. You would think that those who were closest to you would understand. But you know who makes you suffer as a believer? Those who formerly may have been closest to you, they most often cause the most suffering. The Judean church has suffered by the hand of the Jews. Can you think of any instances where they suffered? Well, I remember that they suffered due to a man by the name of Saul. Remember this? who was arrested on the road to Damascus, but before he was arrested, he himself later gives this testimony, I persecuted the way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. That was Saul, who is now the apostle Paul, writing them and saying, these churches in Judea which have suffered, and in the back of his mind he's probably saying, and I was the cause for a lot of it. He's the one who witnessed the stoning of Stephen, holding the coats of those who were stoning him there in Judea. Herod slew James, intending to do the same thing to Peter in Acts chapter 12. Now Paul, later after he even writes the book of 1 Thessalonians, He would be in danger of a Jewish mob. And in fact, 40 Jewish men vowed not to eat until they killed him. That's how things were going in Judea. So the churches in Judea are suffering for the word of God. Their suffering is related. That which the Thessalonian church is experiencing is related to what the churches in Judea are suffering as well. Then in verses 15 and 16, their suffering is reviewed. Now Paul uses a series of five participles to describe suffering from the Jews. Two participles describe the past, three participles describe the present. Let's look in the past when their opposition was manifested, the first part of verse 15. In the past, their opposition manifested. Notice the word that is used here, who both killed the Lord Jesus. literally, who having killed the Lord Jesus. This is being written about 20 years after the crucifixion of Jesus and Paul is placing the guilt for his death squarely upon the Jews. These Jews were just as responsible for killing Jesus as men today are responsible for rejecting Jesus. You say, who's responsible for the fact that Jesus was crucified? I thought God had predetermined this before the world even began. So God is responsible, not these Jews. And then we go to something like Revelation 13, 8, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, or Acts 2, 23, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. In fact, go with me to Acts chapter 3, verse 18. Let's note some of these verses that seem to relinquish responsibility from men for what they've done. Acts 3, 18. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled." This was prophesied, so the men aren't responsible, you would say. Chapter 4, verses 27 and 28 of Acts. In their prayer for boldness, the apostles pray this, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. So who's responsible? Well, according to Paul here in 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 15, The Jews killed him. Did God plan it? Yes, he did. And this can be even brought into the area of salvation. You're saved because of what? God's grace, God's sovereignty, but you're still responsible. The free will of man. You reject him and you stand before the Lord one day and you say, it's not my fault, you predetermined this. You chose to reject me. Having killed the Lord Jesus. Secondly, having killed their own prophets. Having killed their own prophets. Folks, the fact that they killed Jesus is a logical result of killing his prophets. They didn't like the message the prophets had. In fact, Jesus makes the same accusation. Go with me to Matthew chapter 23. Notice verses 31 and 37, Matthew 23, 31. Jesus said, Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. They killed the prophets. Killing Jesus is the logical result of killing His prophets. So here we see that the Apostle Paul is reviewing their suffering in the past. Their opposition is manifested. Having killed the Lord Jesus. Now, having persecuted us. Look at that again in verse 15. Having persecuted us. I've got to get back there myself. You have persecuted us. The word persecute means to drive out, to expel. Although crucified by the Romans, Christ was crucified by the Romans, who's responsible? The Jews are responsible. They used Pilate as a tool. Similarly, the Jews of Thessalonica used the Gentile hoodlums, the thugs of Thessalonica to expel Paul and his team as we read in Acts chapter 17 weeks ago. When you are driven out, when you suffer for the cause of Christ, you're in good company because Jesus said this, if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. John 15 verse 20. I want to make this note. If a man can pastor a church with wrong doctrine and not be expelled, that says something about that man. Their suffering is reviewed in the past, then their suffering is reviewed in the present. And here their opposition is evaluated. Note the last part of verse 15, and they please not God. They are displeasing God. Now, no doubt they thought their actions were pleasing to God. No doubt they thought by what we're doing we are pleasing God. Do you know of anybody in the New Testament who by his actions against the church thought he was pleasing God? Don't say it out loud but I want you to think about it. I'm giving you a moment to think. Was there somebody in the New Testament who by his actions, by persecuting the church of God, thought he was doing the right thing and thought that he was pleasing God? In fact, this very person said, I verily or truly thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Who was that? Saul, that was Paul. He knows about what it means to be displeasing God even while you think you're pleasing Him. Is it possible for any of you to be displeasing to God even while you think you're pleasing Him? Is it possible for people today, even as Christians, to think they're pleasing God, even while they are displeasing Him? Folks, that's very possible. And that ought to be a very sobering thing to us, that you know what? I may be displeasing to God, even while I think I'm pleasing Him. Well, how do you know whether you're pleasing Him or not? You receive the Word of God as from God. You don't receive the words from men. I'll tell you why many men think they're pleasing God while they're displeasing him. It's because again, they are taking the words of men as if the words of men are the words of God. Don't seek to please men. Chapter two, verse four. Remember what Paul said here? Even so we speak not as pleasing men. So in the present, Paul evaluates their opposition as displeasing God. Secondly, as opposing all men. Look at the last part of verse 15. And are contrary to all men. Not naturally contrary to all men, but by way of what is said next. And here's the third participle. Forbidding us to speak. forbidding us to speak. That word forbidding explains how they are contrary to all men. I want you to take another word for the word forbidding. It may help you understand what they were actually doing. It's the word hindering, placing an obstacle, hindering us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. In other words, these Jews, these people who are causing the church at Thessalonica or these churches in Judea to suffer, not only reject the gospel themselves, they seek to prevent the speaking to the Gentiles about the gospel in order that they might not be saved. I want to make some application here. You be very careful. because you may unintentionally hinder the speaking of God's word so that hearers might be saved. I need to say that again. You may unintentionally hinder the speaking or the preaching of God's word so that people might be saved. Now let me illustrate that. Take your bulletin. Because here's how we try to help you. Go to the back of your bulletin. Left column. Please silence all cell phones before services. Thank you. You see that? Does a cell phone ringing in the middle of a service hinder the speaking of the Word of God, so that somebody might be saying, folks, I have preached before when a cell phone has gone off. Now, make sure your cell phones are off this morning, because you're going to become a bad illustration here. But I have been preaching when a cell phone has gone off right in the middle of a crucial point of my preaching. And you know what? I lost everybody. Some of you remember the guy who answered his phone right in the service. and start talking. Saying, I can't talk to you right now, you know. Hindering, hindering the speaking of God's Word. What if somebody was unsaved here that day? I've got another illustration. It's children who disrupt services. All of a sudden, everybody's mind is totally gone. Getting up and walking out during a, you know, my dad would never, ever, ever let us get up during a service. He said, go to the bathroom before the service, get your drink before the service, don't walk out of the service. And I mean, he was steadfast on that. Until one day, My little sister said, Dad, I've got to go. Right during the sermon, I'm sitting beside my sister. Dad, I've got to go. Nope. And then when it started running down the pew, he let her go. But I've noticed when people get up and walk out, heads turn, I've lost everybody. Folks, take into account how that you can be a hindrance. Now, if you got a sneeze, you got a cough, then that becomes more of a hindrance. That's understandable. I'm just saying, be careful, plan ahead. I'm using that as an illustration. There's other ways that the hindering of the speaking of the gospel is taking place today. Our government is hindering the speaking of the gospel. Did you know that in California, you can't expose the deviant lifestyle of a sodomite in order to help him see his need of salvation if you're a counselor? I charge every congressperson in California with hindering the speaking of the gospel and being accountable for it before God one day. For hindering the helping of people who are caught up in that sinful lifestyle from helping them and rescuing them from their wickedness. And Paul says this, hindering us to speak to the Gentiles so that what? So that they might what? Folks, listen. So that they might be saved. That's the object of Paul's preaching. That's the object of Paul's ministry. It's so that people might be saved. Not just imparting knowledge. He doesn't say hindering us from speaking so that we might impart some knowledge to people. Not hindering us from speaking so that we might make society better. The social gospel. No, they hinder us from speaking so that people might be saved. I want you to seriously consider ways that you may be hindering the speaking of the gospel so that people might be saved. To these Jews there in Judea, it was outright opposition. It was chasing down Paul, it was making a vow by 40, man, we're gonna kill this guy so he can't speak anymore, that's outright opposition. But I'm telling you, opposition has taken place in many other forms, many of them very subtle. And the serious outcome of personal unbelief is not just the damnation of the believer, the unbeliever himself, it is the effect of hindering salvation in the life of somebody else. You see, rejection of Jesus Christ for salvation is not just a personal thing. That's what people seem to think. Well, that's my choice. I'll make that decision. You need to consider something if you are unsaved here this morning. You need to listen and consider this. Your decision is affecting somebody else and could be hindering somebody else in coming to salvation. Your ambivalence to your need of salvation affects not only you, it affects others. And no wonder that brings us to the third and last point. It's their suffering will be reversed because of their hindering the gospel speaking to other people and the suffering they're causing them. Look at the suffering. These opposers will one day endure. Verse 16, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. You see, the suffering of these Thessalonian believers is nothing compared to what these persecutors will suffer. As the persecutor rejects Christ and influences others, he is filling up his sins always. It's like a cup. First, that cup may be empty, but with each fresh act of rejection, he is adding a little more to this cup of guilt, and steadily this cup is filling up. Sin piled upon sin as he rejects Christ, as he hinders others from receiving Christ. And if you think that the judgment of an ungodly person seems to be postponed, think of it this way. His cup simply isn't full yet. Read it again. To fill up their sins always, for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. You know, the long suffering of God is amazing. 2 Peter 3, 9, listen to that verse. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. You see, they would look at the world in that day and say, you know what? Sin is just raging everywhere. Jesus promised to come back. That's the context of 2 Peter 3. Where's the promise of his coming? And so Peter says right there, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, Long-suffering-to-us word, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I tell you, the long-suffering of God is amazing. But then judgment falls. One day the cup's full. And judgment falls. Yeah, he gets up that morning and the sun is still shining. And the birds are chirping. And the mountains are still there as beautiful as they always are. And everything seems great. I'm getting by. But what he has forgotten is that his cup has become full that day. And the judgment of God falls. It's like what God told Abraham. He said, one day you're gonna have the land that the Amorites possess. You're gonna take their land, the Canaanites. Abraham, your descendants are gonna, you're not gonna see this, but your descendants to the fourth generation. He said, you're not gonna get it now, listen, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. But when the children of Israel were in Egypt and God brought them out through the Red Sea, you know what the Amorites were thinking? Sun came up again today. Birds are chirping. We're still eating. Meanwhile, God's dealing with his people in the wilderness for 40 years. Huh, we're getting by. Nothing's gonna happen to us. Meanwhile, they come up. And they get to the place where they're opposite the city of Jericho across the Jordan River. Hey, the sun keeps coming up every day. The birds are still chirping. We're still eating great things out of our gardens. We're successful. Then the children of Israel cross the Jordan River miraculously. Then they defeat Jericho. Then they defeat Bethel and Ai. And one day, They slaughter in God's judgment the Amorites because their cup was full. You see, to fill up their sins always for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. Now think about this. The Jewish people as a whole have rejected Jesus Christ. This does not mean there are not individual Jews who have accepted him. But as a whole, they have rejected him. It's put this way by the apostle John, he came into his own and his own received him not. And so as a whole, they face impending catastrophe. And at the time Paul writes this, do you remember what year this is about that Paul is writing this? Around 50 AD, 20 years after the crucifixion of Christ, but 20 years before what happens in 70 AD? Jerusalem is destroyed and from that point on until even today, until 1948, the Jews have been dispersed. God's wrath fell. and would fall in 20 short years from the time that Paul writes this. Now, think about that when you read this again. To fill up their sins all way for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. Worldwide dispersion. The wrath of God to the uttermost. And yet it still hasn't come the way it's going to come during the tribulation. Folks, the ministry of the gospel is difficult due to suffering. But you need to ask yourself, am I, by my obstinate refusal to accept Christ myself, am I guilty of hindering somebody else? When the gospel is spoken to them, that they might be saved. Have you ever considered that you may be the cause of suffering to someone else? You may not have directly killed Christ and his prophets, but you're just as responsible for having rejected Christ and his preachers. You cannot please God. You cannot please God. When you're guilty of hindering the preaching of God's word, you essentially are opposing all men and the suffering you cause others will be reversed when your cup of sin is full. Are you a helper to the gospel ministry or are you a hinderer? If you're not a helper, you're most likely a hinderer, forbidding, forbidding us to speak that they might be saved. Even as a Christian, you may be the cause of hindrance in the life of somebody. Let's bow our heads. Lord, I pray that it would not be true of any of us that we would ever hinder. We know that in this passage it's the unbelievers, it's the unsaved. And there may be some unbeliever, under the sound of my voice this morning, who has never accepted Christ as Savior, who not only is rejecting himself, but is causing others to reject him. Oh, Lord, the sins are piling up upon the sins. but there may be a believer here who even unintentionally, by their carelessness, is hindering the speaking of the gospel by not helping it. Lord, may we consider your word this morning. With your heads bowed and with your eyes closed, please, no one looking around, I ask you this morning, are you a helper to the ministry of the gospel or are you a hinderer First of all, let me ask it this way. If you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, understand something. This is not just a personal decision. It is, but you also may be responsible for the hindering of someone else being saved. You say, I've never thought of it that way. I'm an unbeliever, but I've never thought of it that way. God is speaking to my heart about that. Here's my hand. Pray for me, please. Anyone like that? Assuming all here to be saved then, let me ask this. You as a believer, as a Christian, are you perhaps unintentionally being used to hinder the speaking of the word of God so that someone might be saved? And God put his finger on something in your life and you say, God is speaking to me right now about that. Please pray for me, pastor. Anyone like that? Would you raise your hand, anyone? Amen. Others. Yes. This is sobering. Lord, by not being obedient to you, we're hindering. I thank you for these who have raised their hands and pray, Lord, that you would do a work in their heart. A continued work. Thank you for the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that they recognize this. I pray that that which is hindering would be confessed and taken away. and that they might move on to serve you with all their heart, with all their soul. Bless now during this time of invitation, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.