Ye Received The Word

Context and Introduction: The Essence of True Hearers

0:03 Let us turn again this morning to 1 Thessalonians as we continue our studies in the second chapter of this letter of Paul to the infant church at Thessalonica. The text which will be the focus of our attention this morning is verse 13 of the second chapter.

0:40 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. Now for a moment let's seek to set this verse in its immediate and its more remote context. You remember that we had stated week after week that chapter 1 is basically Paul's paragraph of praise to God for that which God in sovereign grace, had wrought amongst the Thessalonians in calling a people to himself and in forming them as a church which in its infancy had tremendous influence not only in its immediate environment, but wherever the apostle Paul went he'd open up his mouth and begin to tell people, you know, let me tell you what God did at Thessalonica. People say you don't need to tell us Paul, we've already heard. The report had gone out of the mighty work of God's grace there amongst these people. So if we would know what constitutes a true work of grace, we read the first chapter and we see those marks of the work of the Spirit of God in turning people to Christ and in forming them as a church.

1:58 And the cause of it all Paul traces back in verses 4 and 5 to the eternal purposes of God as the outworking of his eternal love to his people in the application of that word of power to their hearts as we find in verse 5. But then in chapter 2 he, as it were, turns the coin and gives us a look at the kind of people through which God accomplishes such mighty works. And in the first 12 verses then of the second chapter we study these under the general theme of the marks of a true minister and a true ministry. Though the fruits of a true ministry are attributed to God and to his sovereign purpose, the means which he uses are true men, true ministers. Now having concluded that section of the, letter verse 13 takes us back, as it were, into the first chapter in terms of thought. Well, you'll notice the first few words are for this cause also thank we God. He had said back in chapter 1 in verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing.

3:10 And then all the way through to the end of chapter 1, he enumerates the different things which caused him to give thanks to God when he remembered the people at Thessalonica. Then he digressed into the area of his own ministry and now he comes back to the thought of thanksgiving and says, not only do we thank God for the fruit of his working in you, the work of faith, the labor of love, and the patience of hope, not only do we thank God for the fruit of your saving response to the gospel, but he says in verse 13 of chapter 2, we thank you for the essence, the essence of that saving response. The fruit of that response, faith, hope, and love. But the essence of that response, he says in verse 13, was your wholehearted reception of the word of God as it is in truth, the word of the living God.

4:07 Now, setting this in its context of the second chapter, you see it's not only necessary that the church be blessed with true ministers, that a family be blessed with the true ministry, of a parent who is administering his responsibility as unto the Lord. But there must be true hearers. For unless a true ministry is joined to true hearers, there will not be the effect that we found in the church at Thessalonica. So Paul, turning from himself and his associates as true ministers, turns to the Thessalonians and thanks God that they were true hearers.

4:44 Cursed is the church that does not have a true ministry. But equally, only cursed is the church that has a true ministry but doesn't have true hearers. And so the Apostle Paul brings these two things together, and having vindicated a true ministry, he now describes the essence of a true hearer of a true ministry. And he does this in the context of praise.

The Nature of Paul's Praise: Continuous and Theocentric

5:06 Now, by way of introduction to the verse, notice first of all the nature of his praise. For this cause thank we God without ceasing. It was continuous praise. The word, for without ceasing, does not mean that from the moment he got up in the morning, he said like a string of Hail Marys all day long, thank you Lord for the Thessalonians, thank you Lord for the Thessalonians, thank you, no, no, it doesn't mean that at all.

5:28 It's the same word you'd use when you say of a person, he was coughing continually. Well, you don't mean that he just stood there all day long, but every few minutes the guy coughed, and then a few minutes later he coughs again. Well, that's the word he uses here. For this cause thank we God continually.

5:44 That is, we do not thank him every minute of every day, and every hour, of that day, but it is a continually recurring source of thanksgiving and praise to God. In other words, what Paul describes in verse 13, is such a marked evidence of the mighty work of God, that Paul can't forget it. And may I say, wherever I find, wherever you find, what's described in verse 13, it ought to be a source of continuous praise to God, because only God can bring this to pass. And in the second place, his praise was not only continual, but it was theocentric.

6:23 Just a big word for saying God-centered. For this cause thank we God without ceasing. In other words, he wants them to know that though he is describing what happened in them and to them when the word of God came, he wants them to know that he does not trace the cause of it to them. He says, now I'm going to commend you people for something that brought great delight to me.

6:47 When you received the word, you received it not as the word of men, but as the word of God. But lest you go pat yourself on the back, I want you people to know, when I think of this, I don't praise you, I praise God. For what happened in you was an evidence of the working of God. And by inference, Paul is saying, your praise ought to be directed where mine is directed.

7:06 So if you Thessalonians ever begin to think, well boy, we received the word, we sure made the apostle glad. Well wait a minute, he says for this cause thank we God. Maybe we missed it. Maybe we ought to be doing what he's doing.

7:17 And so as we work, our way through this text, seeking to consider what constitutes a right hearing and reception of the word, if you find that this is true of you, then my friend, your praise ought to be directed in the same direction as was the apostle Paul's, namely to the living God himself. Alright, now so much for that introductory thought on the nature of Paul's thanksgiving. Now look at the substance of his thanksgiving. For what does he give thanks to God without ceasing?

The Substance of Thanksgiving: Initial Reception of the Word

7:48 Well, in the first place, he gives thanks to God for the initial reception of the word by these Thessalonians. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye receive the word of God, assuming that they did receive it. Now this word receive is a rather strong word. It means to take to one's side.

8:14 It's the word used when it says in Matthew that after the angel visited Joseph, he, he took unto him Mary his wife. Same word. He took her to his side. He took her to live with her in his home.

8:26 Though of course he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn, but they were living together under the same roof. It's a word that speaks of this kind of close identity. It's the word our Lord used in John 14.3, that tremendous promise that has brought much comfort to the people of God through the centuries.

8:44 If I go, I will come again and, here it is, receive, you to myself. I will take you to be with me. Now Paul thanks God that when the message came, these people took it alongside of themselves. In other words, they were interested in considering, in confronting, in facing the message of God.

9:07 Now whose word was brought to them? Notice, because when ye received the word of God. Well, what was that word of God? Well, if you read, in Acts 17, the account of the evangelization of Thessalonica by the Apostle Paul and his associates, you will find that he is identifying the word of God with the Old Testament Scriptures.

9:31 For in Acts 17.2 and 3 we read, And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs himself, suffered and risen from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preached unto you, is Christ. So the Apostle Paul identifies the Scriptures of the Old Testament as the word, the message of the living God. And he thanks God that when he brought that message and inscripturated revelation, not spewing out his own insights and his own ideas, but taking people to the Scriptures, reasoning from the Scriptures, opening and alleging from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ, he thanks God that they called that word alongside of them. They received that word. But notice, he says, it did not come directly, but it's the word of God which he heard of us. That word, the Old Testament Scriptures, the word of the living God, came through human instruments.

10:41 Now let me ask you a question.

10:44 Do you believe there were people in that day, as in our day, that had definite likes and dislikes, as to what they think is their kind of preacher? Well, I'm sure. Did Paul have a distinct and definite personality? Sure he did.

10:56 In fact, a very strong personality. You can't read his letters without realizing this man had a very distinct and strong personality. He felt things deeply. At times he spoke almost with vehemence in certain areas of his epistles.

11:10 Well, what was true, what is true now was true then. I'm sure that there were people who naturally didn't jive, didn't get along well with Paul as a personality, who felt, you know, he's just not my kind of preacher. And I'm sure there were people there in the synagogue when Paul began to open up the Scriptures who said, well, you know, this fellow talks altogether too fast. And there are probably others who said, well, you know, he just talks too loud.

11:31 That grates on me. And there are probably others who said, well, you know, he's just too logical. He makes me think and I just can't stand a preacher that makes you think. I like a preacher who uses lots of illustrations.

11:42 And I'm sure there were others who said when Paul would use an illustration, oh, well, he's just, he's just stooping to the desires of people's flesh. He ought to say, I'm going to stick with the pure Scriptures, this business of illustrating. And you see, all of those things that you hear at any given time when the Word of God is preached in our day, I'm sure those same things were present back then. I'm sure they were present.

12:02 But notice what these people did. Though the Word of God came through a human instrument, and though there were probably things about the human instrument to which they did not naturally gravitate, he said you didn't reject the Word because you didn't like the instrument. As so many, perhaps even here, this morning are doing. I've heard people say, well, you know, I can't stand that guy Martin.

12:23 He just preaches too loud. Or he talks like a know-it-all. Or I can't stand so-and-so. He just uses too many illustrations.

12:29 Or I can't stand... Oh, what a smokescreen.

12:31 What a smokescreen. For rejecting the Word of God. For Paul says, we thank God that when you receive the Word of God, which he heard of us, it came through the human vessel, but you saw beyond the vessel and you called that Word alongside of yourself. And you gave it a hearing.

12:52 And that's the first factor in being a true hearer. When the Word of God is proclaimed, when there is a faithful opening up of the Scriptures, regardless of the personality or the manner, the instrument through which it comes, you are a true hearer only so far as you receive that Word. You call it alongside of you to give it a serious consideration. That's the first step.

The Rejection of the Word: Examples from Acts

13:19 In being a true hearer of the Word. Wherever this is absent, the Word will never have a saving effect upon the heart and upon the life. Notice several instances in the book of Acts where people did not do this with the Word. We read in the seventh chapter of Acts as Stephen is the mouthpiece of the Word of God to these Jews.

13:42 That the Word begins to cut and wound them. They begin to feel its pressure upon their own hearts. And in Acts chapter 2, chapter 7, in verse 54 and following, we read,

13:56 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. Now, the minute the Word came close and searching, they had to do one of two things. They had to call it alongside of themselves. They had to receive it or they had to reject it and cast it from them.

14:12 And it says, they did the form of the latter. They gnashed on him with their teeth, but he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, etc. And now notice verse 57. Then they cried out with a loud voice and they stopped their ears.

14:28 Think of it. They actually put their fingers in their ears and said, we will hear no more. What this Word tells us about ourselves is too devastating. It's too undoing.

14:39 It's too humbling. It's too crushing. Too wounding. They stopped their ears.

14:43 Now, at least I admire their honesty. They did with their fingers externally what they were doing in their hearts internally. I wonder, I wonder how many of us would have calisthenics at different points Sunday after Sunday if we were as honest as these Jews, huh? When the Word begins to come close and searching and God begins to touch us at our sore points, I wonder how many of us in our hearts have stopped our ears.

15:10 We just don't have the boldness to be as honest as these people. You see, if at any point you stop your ears to the Word of God, regardless of who the instrument is, who is conveying that Word, you are not a right hearer of the Word. A right hearing of the Word, that for which Paul thanks God as evidence to the Thessalonians involves in the first place that initial reception of the Word. Notice in Acts 13, a similar instance with some of these Jews in the area where Paul was preaching.

15:43 In Acts chapter 13,

15:47 in verse 46,

15:50 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing ye put it from you, stronger translation should be seeing ye thrust it from you, seeing you push it away instead of receiving it to yourself, you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. These people, instead of receiving that Word, they thrust it from them because it exposed them. It found them out and they could not stand that exposure.

16:28 You will see other instances in the 17th of Acts, but in the interest of time, we will not look at it. You can check that on your own. Now, do you see the principle that speaks to each one of us this morning? Some of us, many of us, have been exposed to a true ministry, either in this place or in other places.

16:47 A ministry like the Apostle Paul's that he said was not according to error, but according to truth. It is rooted. It is rooted in the Word of God, this inscripturated revelation.

16:58 And yet that Word has come to us with its unpalatable doctrines, telling us that our hearts are a veritable cesspool of iniquity. Telling us that we, as creatures of Adam, fallen sons of Adam's race, are capable of every foul iniquity that's ever been committed. It's come with its humbling doctrine that we are not only wounded and crippled, but in such a state that we can, we can't even get to God's remedy unless He, by His grace, enables us to. That has been offensive to our human pride.

17:31 And inwardly, we have thrust the Word of God away from us. Or perhaps as believers, the Spirit of God has spoken to us in these past days as we've been very pointed in certain areas of domestic responsibility as we focus this matter of the true ministry in the home. Perhaps the Spirit of God has come and touched us at a very sensitive point. And what have we done?

Hearty Acceptance of Divine Authority

17:52 We have thrust the Word of God from us. We are not true hearers and we will never know its saving, sanctifying power until, by the grace of God, prejudice in our love of sin is swept aside and we are enabled to receive the Word. But, Paul not only thanks God for that initial reception, but you'll notice in the next place, he thanks God for their hearty acceptance of the Word as of divine authority. It is one thing to initially receive the Word, but it is one thing to call it alongside of you to give it a serious hearing and a serious consideration.

18:29 Many go this far, but they stop short of the next thing. Notice, for this cause also thank we God that when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, initial reception, ye received it. King James translates the word the same way, but it's a different word in the original. The word received in the first part of the verse, not as strong as this next word.

18:51 This next word means ye accepted it with a hearty welcome. It's the word used in Matthew 10, verse 14, where the Lord told his apostles that when they would go out and they'd come to a certain house, Matthew 10, and verse 14, whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words when you depart out of that house, shake off the dust of your feet. How did you receive an apostle? You opened your door.

19:19 You welcomed him in. This is the word used in Acts 3, verse 21, where it says of our Lord Jesus after he was ascended that the heavens must receive him, take him up and retain him until the time of the restoration of all things. And it's the word used consistently throughout the book of Acts whenever they are reporting that the word of God had success in a certain area, they would report it in terms of so and so received the word of the Lord. It speaks of the Gentiles receiving the word in Acts 11, 8.

19:53 It speaks of the Samaritans in Acts 8, 14. It speaks of the Bereans in Acts 17, 11 of receiving the word with this disposition of readiness and meekness. James 1, 21 receive with meekness. It's the word used throughout the scriptures for that welcoming reception into the heart and into the life.

20:14 Now notice, Paul says he's thankful that there was this welcoming reception of the word as in the Bible. It is in truth the word of God. He said when you welcomed it, you didn't welcome it as the word of men. If they did, how would they have welcomed it?

20:33 Well, the word of men, the word of one man that comes to you, another man, comes on the basis of equal authority. Therefore, it's debatable. Your opinion, just as valid as mine. If you have a little more experience in the area we're debating, then your opinion is worth a little more than mine.

20:49 But the word of a man that comes to another man, is debatable. The word of a man that comes to another man, is alterable. If you think you can make it a little more accurate, you can change a phrase here, change a word there. If it's the word of a man coming to another man, then it's your right to accept it or reject it.

21:11 Now Paul says, when we brought the word of God to you, you people welcomed it, not as a word of man that was debatable, changeable, refusable, but he says you welcomed it as it is in truth, the word of the living God. In other words, he said you welcomed this word as a word of divine origin. It didn't have its beginning in the head of the apostle Paul, but in the heart and mind of God. Though it came through the apostle's head, though it came through the apostle's mouth, you saw beyond the apostle's head and mouth, and you saw the mind and mouth of God.

21:49 You received it as a message of divine origin, constantly, consequently, you received it as a message that came with divine authority. Paul said when we gave you the word of God, you not only called it alongside to consider it, but you then welcomed it into your lives with all that authority that it ought to come to men who realize God the Creator is speaking, God the Preserver, God the Redeemer, God the Judge, and when God speaks, let the earth be silent, let all my objections, and all my prejudices sink beneath the authority of the word of God. Let all my so-called insights, and all my so-called observations, and all my so-called objections, let them all be sunk beneath the authority of the word of God. God has spoken. Let man be silent. That's the attitude Paul describes amongst these people.

22:45 You received it not as the word of man, up for grabs, open to debate, but you received it as the word of God. You received it as the word of God. You received it with reverence. God is speaking.

22:58 Let the earth be silent. You received it with humility. God who knows all is speaking. I'm a creature.

23:04 Not only am I limited in my knowledge, but sin has stained my mind. I know nothing as I ought to know. They received it with humility. God has spoken.

23:14 The God who cannot lie, therefore that word was received with confidence. God has spoken. The God before whom I'll stand in judgment, therefore that word was received with holy fear and implicit trust. There's a beautiful description in Isaiah 66 of what happens when people receive the word of God as it is indeed and in truth the word of God.

Trembling at God's Word: The Work of the Spirit

23:41 Isaiah chapter 66.

23:51 Thus saith the Lord, the first two verses, the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto me and where is the place, the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word.

24:20 See what God is saying? He says, what I speak, I speak as the God creator of heaven and earth. The heaven is my throne and your little earth is just my hassock. I rest my feet.

24:30 Now you people think because you've got a pretty temple you've got me. Look how stupid you are. He says, you Jews, you think because you've got a pretty temple you've got me. Wait a minute.

24:40 You've forgotten who I am. Who I am? I'm the mighty God, creator of heaven and earth. I don't look down and assure my presence because you've got an ornate temple and a priesthood and a sanctuary.

24:51 No, no. He said there's one place where my presence is manifested where there's a man of a poor and a contrite spirit. Who's that? A man who recognizes, I'm a sinner.

25:01 I'm a sinful creature. God is the great infinite creator, preserver and redeemer. And then when that God speaks, this man receives his word not as the word of men but as the word of God. He receives it with trembling.

25:18 What's that mean? It's the trembling of reverence, of humility, the trembling of holy fear and of confidence and of awe that this God should speak to me. Now the apostle Paul thanks God that when the word of God came to the Thessalonians they received that word initially then they heartily accepted it as the word of the living God. Now why does he thank God for this?

25:47 Well, for the simple reason that only God will bring a man to this place. For this same word is used in 1 Corinthians 2.14 where it says the natural man receiveth not that's the same word he welcometh not with a hearty welcome the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them. When Paul saw these people taking that word which he was giving from the Old Testament Scriptures and receiving it in reverence sinking all the prejudice of years beneath its statements vowing in humility before its claims receiving with holy trust its promises Paul said I know there's only one reason for that God the Holy Ghost has done a work of grace for the natural man does not receive same word does not receive the things of the Spirit of God they are foolishness unto him. The thing I experience when week after week I look out into the faces of some of you and speak of the judgment of God and the promises of mercy and if though my words are just the words of an idle fool why? Because you're natural men you've never been born of the Spirit you can't take these things in as the word of God but my hope is that the same God who has written these things in His word by His Spirit will open your eyes and open your heart as it says of Lydia whose heart the Lord opened so that she what? She attended to the things that were spoken not only with the outward ear but with the inner ear

Fruitful Assimilation: Effectual Working in Believers

27:16 she not only called it alongside to hear it but she reached out and embraced it to herself why? Whose heart the Lord opened whose heart the Lord opened so Paul thanks God that these people thus received the word with its great themes of sin and judgment, atonement, the necessity of regeneration by the Spirit, justification by faith, all of these things that will be words and names and meaningless symbols. When God is pleased to open the inner ear, there will be that reception of the Word. But, in the third place, Paul not only thanks God for initial reception, secondly, hearty acceptance as of divine authority, but notice, he closes with this phrase, which effectually worketh in you that believe. He thanks God, in the third place, for a fruitful assimilation of the Word of God. This word, effectually worketh, is the word from which we get our word energy. You see, the Word of God became operative.

28:19 It was working, it was producing effects in the lives of these people. What effects? Well, we'll study that next week, the Lord willing. But let's just look at it.

28:29 He says in verse 14, For ye, brethren, became followers of the church which in Judea are in Christ Jesus, for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen as they of the Jews. He says, I know that this word was not only called alongside for consideration, warmly embraced in a hearty welcome as the Spirit of God worked in you, but it was fruitfully assimilated into your life. And the reason I know this, that it's at work in you, is this. Obedience to that word, faith in that word, faith in that word led you straight into the crucible of suffering.

29:07 Now, no man in his right mind embraces a word that's going to lead him into hardship and suffering.

29:14 But Paul says that's exactly what happened. Everything was all right with you people at Thessalonica. Business was going on as usual. The bills were paid.

29:20 The neighbors were smiling. Everybody was having a good time. But when I came, and you received that word which I brought as the Word of God, it effectually worked in you in that, though it led you out of a life of normalcy, and contentment, and ease right into the fires of persecution and suffering. You clung to that word.

29:39 Why? Because you knew it was the Word of God, and suffering, and hardship, and opposition will never cause a man to relinquish what he knows to be the Word of God. And, beloved, that's why God has always tested the profession of His church with suffering. We went over that ground two years ago in our study of Matthew 13.

29:58 The stony ground here receives the Word with joy. He said, Wonderful! Peace! Eternal life!

30:03 Forgiveness! Hallelujah! Glorious! But what does the Lord say?

30:08 When tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word, He falls away. Well, if God knew that the tribulation and persecution was going to cause it to wither, why did He bring it to pass? For that very purpose. To separate some of the wheat from the chaff, the precious from the vile.

30:28 To let a man know if his profession is genuine or not. And so Paul thanked God. That these people were true hearers. For they not only called the Word alongside to consider it, welcomed it into their hearts, but it was assimilated into the life.

30:44 And though it led into paths of suffering, they maintained a stability in the midst of it. Because it was the Word of God. And God's Word is not relinquished simply because the pinch is felt. I'll amplify that, Lord willing, next week.

The Cause of True Hearing: Faith and God's Efficacious Work

31:01 I'll resist the temptation to do so this morning. Now, what is the cause of all this? What made these people true hearers? Well, from the human side, Paul says, it effectually works in you that believe.

31:14 This is what faith does. Faith makes you a true hearer. What was the cause of these three things? Calling the Word alongside, receiving it initially, welcoming it, and then assimilating it.

31:27 He says, this was the effect of faith. It effectually worked it in you that believe. What does faith do? Well, faith, first of all, turns in the direction of the Word of God.

31:39 Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the what? By the Word of God. But it not only turns in the direction of the Word of God to consider it. Once considering it, faith embraces it.

31:50 And having embraced it, faith clings to it, even unto death. That's why the Scripture says, Be thou faithful unto death, and I shall give thee the crown of life. If we deny Him, He will deny us. Why?

32:04 Because a true believer doesn't deny his Lord as the deep-seated attitude of his heart. In a moment of weakness, he may fail to confess Him, as Peter did. But he will not deny in the sense that he repudiates Christ. Why?

32:17 Because faith, being the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, grasps eternal truths as expressed in the words of God, and clings to them, no matter what the cost. Now, do you believe the Word of God? Oh, yes, sir, I believe the Word of God. Well, prove it.

32:36 If you believe the Word of God, then wherever that Word is spoken, through whatever instrument, even though you may have some personality clashes and all the rest, you've got sense enough to see that's just a smokescreen. And you look right through that, and you say, wait, that's God's Word. I must call that alongside to consider it. And then you cry to God for grace, to welcome it into your heart and life, and then tenaciously cling to it, no matter what the cost.

33:01 I think that may help open up Hebrews 11 to you. That's the chapter on faith. Well, what do you find again and again? You find men, women, going through difficulty, obstacles, hardship.

33:11 You read, he says, Time will fail to tell me of Samson and Barak, and then some of the more recent heroes of faith who were sawn asunder, lived in caves, dwelt as strangers in the earth. What was the cause of all this? Faith! And what is faith?

33:26 Reception of the Word of God, assimilation of the Word of God, tenacious clinging to that Word, no matter what the cost. That's faith. That's faith. And from the human side, the Apostle Paul says, That's the reason you people were good hearers, because you were faithful hearers.

33:44 The contrast, of course, is in Hebrews chapter 4, where it says, The Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith. Now let me get very personal and practical. When you hear the Word of God in this place, or wherever you hear it week after week, is this what you do to that Word? Welcome it alongside?

34:04 Then enfold it into your heart and life? And then cry to God to assimilate it? You may be unable to assimilate it, and then follow its course, no matter what hardship it means? If so, you see, the Word of God then becomes that powerful, sanctifying, transforming instrument in the life of the church.

34:24 But simply going the first step is not enough. It's not enough for you to just come and expose yourself to it week after week. If that exposure doesn't lead to the enveloping and the assimilating, then you're not good. You're not really believing the Word of God.

34:39 Paul attributes this threefold response as the activity of faith from the human side. Now, looking at it from the divine side, what's the cause of this? Why, the mighty, efficacious work of God. For he says, We thank God that these three things were true.

34:57 It is the living God who brings this to pass. For he had said back in chapters 1, verses 4 and 5, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Why? Because our gospel came to you not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost.

God's Method of Saving Men and Avoiding Errors

35:15 Here he traces it from the divine perspective. The reason for true hearers being found at Thessalonica is that Almighty God was operative in the hearts of this people. Well, in closing this morning, may I bring several what I think are very vital lessons and applications out of this text. First of all, we have a beautiful description of God's method of saving men.

35:39 How does God save men? Well, the same way he saved them at Thessalonica. He saved them by the word, coming through a human instrument, operating in the minds and hearts of men under the influence of the Spirit, so that they considered that word, then they welcomed that word, then they assimilated that word. Some of you unsaved people here this morning, mark my words, you're never going to get saved until you get serious about the word of God.

36:07 Not enough for you to just rub shoulders with it week by week. You've got to be seriously reflecting upon that word, seriously attending to its pronouncements about your sinfulness and the necessity of regeneration and the way of repentance and faith and all of those basic themes of Scripture. If you are content to simply come and sit in the Sunday school class and hear a preacher expound the Scripture and there's no serious reflection from that point on until you come next week, mark it off. You have no grounds to believe you're in the way of salvation.

36:39 No grounds whatever. The command of Scripture is, search the Scriptures. We read in 2 Timothy that the Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation, but not magically or ceremonially, but as they operate in the mind and heart as they did amongst the Thessalonians. And so God's method of saving men is the word through the human instrument, received, welcomed, and then by the grace of God, assimilated and worked out in the life.

37:10 And the second principle that I feel is tremendously important, especially in our day, this text will keep us from two tremendously devastating errors that are in the church today. One of them is the error that theologically is called neo-orthodoxy. Neo means new and this is supposed to be the new orthodoxy. Basically, neo-orthodoxy as a system starts on a wrong premise.

37:35 They would not equate the written word of God with the word of God. To simplify, maybe oversimplify, a man would say, well, I can't point my finger at any page of the Bible and say that's the word of God, but if in reading it, that becomes meaningful to me and gives me some inner experience, then that part becomes the word of God to me. But notice what Paul said. When we brought to you the word of God, it was the word of God whether you received it or not.

38:01 Even if you only regarded it as the word of men, it still would have been the objective word of God. When you received the word of God which ye heard of us, it was God's word. Before you received it, even if you rejected it, it was still the word of God. Now, if we just take note of what that text teaches, it will keep us from the error of neo-orthodoxy, but on the other side, and here's our danger, it will keep us from the curse of a dead orthodoxy.

38:24 People say, oh, well, the Bible is the word of God. Fine. There it is. It's the word of God.

38:29 I point to it. I acknowledge it. I subscribe to it. Wonderful.

38:33 Paul would say, no, it isn't wonderful. Go to hell pointing your finger and saying that's the word of God. My question is this. Have you received this that is the objective word of God as the word of your Creator so that it's come to your heart with power, with authority, bending your will to its pronouncements, bringing your mind into the shape and mold of Scripture so that your thoughts are brought captive to the word of God, so that your life is brought subject to the word of God?

39:03 Just as surely as neo-orthodoxy is a damning delusion, so dead orthodoxy is a damning delusion where people are content to merely subscribe to the objective word but who have never felt and experienced its subjective power in their own lives. Paul said, we didn't thank God that you simply subscribed to it as the word of God, but you welcomed it as the word of God. You assimilated it as the word of God. You clung to it no matter what the price.

39:25 So, my friend, it's not enough. And I speak to you that it's not enough. It's not enough. It's not enough.

39:31 It's not enough. It's not enough. It's not enough. It's not enough.

39:35 And I speak to some of you young people brought up in this church and others where you've been taught to subscribe to this as the objective word of God and good. You ought to. But until it has become the word of God to you in this sense that Paul describes here where you have welcomed it with reverence, bowed to its authority, trembled before it in holy fear, then you have no grounds to claim you are a Christian. And then the third thing I see in this text is a powerful exhortation to say, to every one of us to cry to God for the power of the Spirit upon every ministry of the word.

Exhortation for Spirit-Empowered Ministry and Hearing

40:14 The word of God is the word of God whether a man ministers it in the power of the Spirit or not. And it's possible to minister the word of God without the power of the Spirit. Paul himself assumes that when he says in 1 Thessalonians 1 he said, our gospel came not in word only it could have but it came in power. He says the same in 1 Corinthians 2 he said, each of my preaching was not with enticing words of men's wisdom it could have been but it was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

40:43 And we ought to receive the word of God whoever preaches it expounds it whether there's no sense of the unction or anointing of God upon them there ought to be that anointing upon our own hearts to receive it as the word of God. But, oh how much easier it is for the child of God and I say it reverently from the human side even for sinners to embrace it as the word of God when it comes with the authority and power of the anointing of the Spirit. There are times when I've heard men preach when for the life of me I had to screw up every bit of remaining reverence for the word of God to listen with attention. What they gave was so lifeless and heartless it was as though it came from somebody's books into this guy's head and out his mouth and never once filtered down here. But it was the word of God and as a Christian I must respect it and receive it. Oh, when a servant of God ministers in the power and unction of the Holy Ghost, how much easier it is to embrace that word as the word of God. When as it's preached I not only know that it's the objective word of God but I'm in a context where I sense and experience the powers of the world to come.

41:54 Some of you may not understand what I'm saying. Others of you I'm sure do. But oh how we should cry to God that this may be our portion. You young men preparing for the ministry with all thy learning get unction.

42:05 With all thy learning get unction. Get thy learning. Be able to go to the original languages. Know what God has said in His objective word.

42:15 But then seek to spend if not an equal amount of time certainly with equal zeal. Be found at the throne of grace pleading for the oil of the Spirit to be poured out. Pleading with God that He would graciously grant the entombment of His Spirit's power upon the ministry of that word. That you and I would be able to say my gospel came not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance.

Warning Against Trusting the Instrument

42:44 And then there's a word for you as hearers as well. This is a true story. A certain woman went to a church where they were having a inter-church gathering. A communion service.

42:55 And a few churches were coming together for this communion service. And this woman not knowing who was going to be the preacher came expecting the Lord to minister to her heart. And she was greatly blessed. And the preacher at that time was a man by the name of Ebenezer Erskine.

43:09 Obviously of a bygone day. You don't find a name like that floating around today very often. And as Ebenezer Erskine preached the Spirit of God ministered to this woman's heart and she was just blessed well nigh to pieces. Well she figured if I'm so blessed under this man's ministry I'm going to find out where his church is and I'm going to go there next week.

43:27 So she did. And she came to Mr. Erskine's church and she heard him preach but she was terribly disappointed. So she went to Mr. Erskine afterwards.

43:34 She said, Mr. Erskine, here's my problem. I heard you preach last week in such and such a place told the circumstances and my, the Spirit of God ministered to me with such freshness and power but having come to hear you today nothing happened. After Mr. Erskine heard her out he said, Madam, the reason for your problem is this. Last Sabbath you went to hear Jesus Christ but today you've come to hear Ebenezer Erskine. See the difference? Not knowing who he was or who the instrument was going to be she came hungry to hear the Word of God.

44:09 She came with expectation God is going to speak who the human instrument is I know not I care not I want to hear the voice of God. She became so enamored with the instrument she went to hear the instrument and she never heard the voice of God. Oh, beloved, what an exhortation to us. There's only one reason why these people receive the Word as the Word of God the Spirit of God was offered to them for every ministry to you.

44:38 I believe you should try before every Lord's Day should never enter these doors but what you've spent at least some time with God praying, Oh, Lord may I receive Thy Word as the Word of the Living God Lord, enable me not only to call it alongside of me but even when it bites and stings and wounds to welcome it within and then, Lord, by Your grace to assimilate and work it out. And as you come dependent upon the Spirit of God God will never disappoint But oh, if you begin to have some subtle confidence in the human instrument, whether it's this pastor or anyone else, maybe your testimony is going to be like that woman. I heard the voice of God last week, but no blessing today. Don't ever get your expectation on the instrument.

45:19 You see, what God will be forced to do is to strip away your confidence in the instrument, and that may be at a terrible price to the instrument.

45:28 Follow me? It may be at a terrible price to the instrument. Never place your confidence or expectation in the instrument. What God has said, Cursed be he that trusteth in man, even good men, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

45:42 Don't force God. I say it reverently, but I want to say it in such a way it will stick. Don't force God to strip away your confidence in the instrument by allowing circumstances to happen in the life of the instrument that ought to shatter your confidence.

Call to Be True Hearers for a True Ministry

46:01 Oh, by the grace of God, may we be found reminding ourselves of this principle week after week, so that our expectation, our expectation is from the Lord. Do you want a true ministry in this assembly in the years to come if the Lord tarries? The kind of ministry described in chapter 2, 1 to 12? Do you?

46:18 You've got no right to expect it or pray for it unless by the grace of God you are a true hearer, described in verse 13. May God make us such so that in that blessed combination of a true ministry and true hearers, the word of God will triumph and the glory of Christ be manifested in this assembly in the years to come. And the report of his manifestation go out in ever-widening circles that we might have a ministry of grace and mercy and salvation to the ends of the earth. Let us pray.