1 Thess. 5:23-24

Introduction: Paul's Anxiety and Prayer for the Thessalonians

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, October 30, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I invite you to turn with me to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonian Church, 1 Thessalonians, and the last chapter, chapter 5. And I shall read in your hearing verses 23 and 24. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verses 23 and 24.

0:42 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calls you, who will also do it. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, that he would be our helper, that as he drew near to those disciples on the road to Emmaus, and caused their hearts to burn within them while he opened unto them the Scriptures, so Christ, by the Holy Spirit, will be our helper. So Christ, by the Holy Spirit, will be our helper. And the Spirit will be present, not only to inflame our hearts, as I trust he has for many of us, as we have praised him, sought his face, and heard his word read, but even more so now as his word is preached. Let us seek his face together.

1:54 Our Father, we thank you for your gracious presence promised to your gathered people. We thank you even more for that presence. We thank you for that presence experienced in our own hearts in this hour. And now we come to plead that we may know even greater measures of that presence in the ministry of your Holy Word.

2:24 May our Lord Jesus, by the Spirit, draw nigh to us, and by his own ministry, as our great prophet, so instruct us that our hearts will be, burn within us, while he opens unto us the Scriptures. Hear our cry and meet with us, we plead. Bind every influence of the enemy of our souls, so that your word may run and have free course and be glorified amongst us today. We plead through Christ our Lord.

3:05 Amen. Now according to the Spirit-inspired hymn, historical record, found in Acts chapter 17, verses 1 through 9, Paul and his companions arrived in the city of Thessalonica during the apostles' second missionary journey. And as Paul and his companions preached the gospel, God was pleased to attend their efforts with great power. A fact recorded in Acts 17 and verse 8, verse 4, but also attested by the apostle himself in the opening paragraphs of this letter to the church there at Thessalonica. For he could write, as he does in verse 4 of chapter 1, knowing, brethren, your election of God, how that our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. And the indications that the gospel had come not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,

4:27 did not rest upon some subjective ability of the apostle to discern that the gospel was coming in power, but by the fruits which that gospel produced in those to whom, it came in power. So he goes on to say of them, and you became, verse 6, you became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word. You became an example, verse 7, verse 8, from you has sounded forth the word of the Lord. And then that description of their conversion, and their conversion, and their conversion, has given in verses 9 and 10, to which reference was made in the previous hour. It was very evident then to Paul, that there were many there at Thessalonica, who were the true children of God, who, if they had sat through the recent lengthy series of sermons, under the heading, Are you for real? would have concluded, justly so, that they were indeed, for real. That the initial and continuing manifestations of the grace of God in their lives gave them every reason to conclude that they were indeed

5:57 the children of God. However, as is true of all who enter the narrow gate, and begin their journey upon the restricted, or that compressed way, these Christians at Thessalonica were struggling with such things as the discouraging influence of opposition from the unconverted, particularly the unconverted Jews. They were struggling with the polluting influence of a pagan society, with its low moral standards, so that Paul has to take more than half a chapter in his letter, to address the subject of sexual purity. They were afflicted with the confusing influence of pagan philosophy, seeping into their ideas of the place of the body in God's redemptive purposes. And it was Paul's awareness of these pressures and difficulties, and their potentially soul-damaging influence, that, so intensified in his own heart, that he had to do what he describes in chapter 3 of this letter. Verse 1, Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear,

7:23 we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone, and sent Timothy our brother and God's minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you concerning your faith, that no man be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that hereunto we were appointed. For verily when we were with you we told you beforehand that we are to suffer affliction, even as it came to pass, and you know. For this cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I might know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor should be in vain. You see, for Paul, the awareness of these pressures and dangers, even though he was confident that the word had come, not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost, these were not mock dangers to Paul. He recognized the very real possibility that all of his labors would come to naught if these Thessalonians succumbed to these pressures to the point where their faith was abandoned. And so anxious was he

8:50 over their spiritual state that he sends his true son in the faith, Timothy, to go and to search out the matter, and having done so, we read in verse 6, that when Timothy came even now unto us from you, and brought us glad tidings of your faith and love, and that you have good remembrance of us always longing to see us, even as we also to see you, for this cause, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our distress and affliction through your faith, for now we live if you stand fast in the Lord. And so his anxiety being, so great he sends Timothy, Timothy comes back and says, Paul, your anxiety can be laid to rest in spite of the discouraging influence of the opposition from the unconverted, the polluting influence of a pagan society, the confusing influence of pagan philosophy and other pressures, they are standing fast in their faith. And having received that news, Paul says, my heart was made glad. But you see, he didn't become complacent. No sooner does he record his gladness at the good report of Timothy, but that he says in verse 10,

10:17 he is now praying night and day that he might see their face and perfect that which is lacking in their faith. He longs to impart part more knowledge of the ways and of the truth of God, that they might be more firmly established in their faith as the children of God. And though his heart is comforted that they are pressing on, and though he is addressing concerns that he is aware of, he is a realist and knows that in that church of what we would call relatively good spiritual health, there is the full range of Christian experience. So that by the time he comes to chapter 5, verse 14, he says, and we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, assuming such were present. Encourage the faint-hearted, assuming such were also present. He goes on to say, not only to admonish the disorderly and encourage the faint-hearted, but support the weak. Be longsuffering to all.

11:30 See that none render unto anyone evil for evil. And then gives further exhortations with respect to pastoral concerns relative to the church there at Thessalonica. Now, after giving these several large doses of instruction on some of the major issues, and a host of small doses of instruction on a broad range of other issues, as he's about to conclude the letter, he writes the words that I've read in your hearing, verses 23 and 24. And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calls you who will also do it. And in these words we have what some have described as Paul's sanctified wish, his holy longing for the Thessalonians, but as could easily be demonstrated from parallel passages, one of them right here in this epistle, chapter 3, verses 11 and following,

12:59 what we really have is Paul's prayer on behalf of the Thessalonians. And the words that are here found in these two verses that express Paul's prayer on behalf of the Thessalonians were calculated to raise their vision, to stabilize their souls, to put, as it were, spiritual ballast in the deepest, the deepest bowels of the hull of their hearts, that as they continued to face affliction, continued to face the polluting influences of a pagan society, continued to interact with people in the church of various degrees of spiritual weakness, they would, by the grace of God, have fixed in their eye the truths contained in this parting prayer of the Apostle on their behalf. And God helping me, I want to open up these two verses to you this morning under these two very simple headings. First, the prayer recorded, verse 23, and the promise imparted, verse 24. First of all, then, the prayer recorded.

The Object of the Prayer: God Himself as the God of Peace

14:23 And I would have you note with me three things about this prayer. And the first is the object, of the prayer. Paul writes, and the God of peace Himself. The object of this prayer, in the original text, this becomes very clear, has two strands of emphasis.

14:49 The object is God Himself, and it is God particularly conceived of as the God of peace. The very first word in the prayer is the reflexive pronoun, Himself. The first words are not and the God of peace, but Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you wholly. Now why did the Apostle give this stroke of emphasis that would immediately direct all of the attention to God Himself? Well, I believe the answer is obvious. He has written an entire epistle in which there is commendation, words of encouragement, but primarily words of instruction, words of exhortation, words in which he has been directing relatively young Christians as to how they are to conduct themselves so as to live to the glory of God. Those instructions that we would call delineations of gospel duty are suffused with gospel motives.

16:09 They are not mere moralizings. They are indeed gospel duties. They are gospel instructions, but nonetheless, there are manifold responsibilities laid upon these Thessalonian believers. Take just the last paragraph before this prayer.

16:30 They are commanded to know them that labor among them and are over them in the Lord, to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake. They are commanded to be at peace among themselves. They are exhorted to admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak. They are exhorted not to render unto anyone evil for evil.

16:58 They are commanded, verse 16, to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God. They are commanded not to quench the spirit, not to despise prophesying, to put everything to the test, to hold fast that which is good, and then the culminating command, abstain from every single form of evil. My friends, that is quite a carload of duty in just the final paragraph. And he expects that every Thessalonian believer will lay those duties to heart and will bend his shoulder to the yoke of Christ, which yoke is easy and whose burden is light. But now in his concluding prayer, it's as though he has said, now my little children, for remember he regarded them as his spiritual children, and he tenderly describes how he manifested this while among them. In chapter 2, he says, I have laid upon you as your spiritual father many responsibilities I could do no less, for this is my solemn obligation before the Lord, who has saved me by His grace and commissioned me by His sovereign will and purpose. But now, my children, having laid before you this broad spectrum of duty, let me now direct your attention to that which has to do

18:26 solely with what God, what God is committed to do in you and for you. Without canceling anything that I have told you you are to do, and you are to do out of gospel motives and in dependence upon gospel provisions, I've still been telling you what you are to do. Now I conclude with a prayer that draws all of your attention to what I'm praying, praying God Himself and God alone will do. And so the object of the prayer is underscored first of all in terms of it being God Himself, but then God as the God of peace. Now this is a designation of God found five other times in the New Testament. It's found twice in Romans, Romans 15, 13 and 16, 33. It's found in 2 Corinthians 13, 11, Philippians 4, 9 and in Hebrews 13 and verse 20.

19:40 And while it would be a fascinating digression to trace out all of the possible things underscored by and connected with this particular designation of God, it would be detrimental to the purpose of our meditation. So I'm not going to take even what would be a holy digression and thankfully we had part of the digression in the previous hour. And Dr. Bob laid before us from Peter's sermon before Cornelius and his household that the gospel is a gospel of peace.

20:17 And as Paul says in Ephesians 2, he came and preached peace to you that are far off and peace to those who are nigh. That first announcement on the night of his birth, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of God's good pleasure. Suffice it to say that it's clear from the various usages of this designation that it highlights God's gracious redemptive work in the Lord Jesus Christ in which His own righteous enmity to us is resolved and in which our unrighteous wicked enmity to Him is overcome. And this designation of God as the God of peace is a designation if I may say it reverently reminding us He's the gospel God. He's the God of gospel grace. He is the God of redemptive mercy.

21:27 And as the apostle expresses this final capstone prayer for the Thessalonians, the object of his prayer uniquely focused in his own mind is not God as God of wisdom, though He is that, God of power, though He is that, God of holiness, though He is that, but He says Himself the God of peace. And it is the concerns that flow out of His designation as the God of peace that are brought into unique focus in the prayer as it unfolds. So then the sole object of Paul's prayer is God, God Himself, but God especially viewed as the God of peace, the God who has taken the initiative to deal with all of the disruption and alienation brought between God and the creature on account of sin. And let me say by way of a brief application of that principle, we must learn as did Paul,

22:53 to shape our prayers, and to focus our faith in prayer upon those particular aspects of God's multifaceted being, His ways and works, which most peculiarly meet the need which is in focus when we pray. For example, when the Psalmist says, For thou, Lord, art good, and ready, to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all that call upon Him, obviously the thing in focus as he prays is a felt sense of his own sin. And when you have a felt sense of your own sin, the attribute of God that you bring into focus is not primarily His burning holiness. It is not His inflexible justice. But His kindness and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ.

24:03 And that's precisely what Paul is doing here. He's been a realist about the spiritual state of the Thessalonians. He's convinced they are for real, that the Gospel had come initially not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost. He had witnessed its transforming effect upon their lives.

24:26 And now that he's away from them, having sent Timothy to see whether all of the buffeting and all of the pressures and all of the tumult coming from without and within had shattered their faith, he's received the good news. No. They continue to stand firm in faith. They continue to express their passionate attachment to the Apostle in love.

24:49 For Paul recognized that great principle that when people grow cold to Christ, they grow cold to the primary instruments that have brought Christ to them. Never forget that, members of Trinity. Paul put those two things together when he says, Oh, Timothy's come back with a good report, told us of your faith and of your love, that you have good remembrance of us. He didn't say of the Lord, he said of us.

25:17 But he was again the realist that knew when people draw back from Christ, they draw back from the instruments that have brought Christ to them. And if their attachment to Christ remains firm, their appreciation of the servant of Christ who brought the word of Christ to them remains firm and intense. But in spite of that, he's a realist. He knows there are some faint-hearted, there are some disorderly ones.

25:44 He's written large blocks of instructions seeking to deal with areas of thinking that are not right about the state of the bodies of believers. He's had to write a large block of instruction about moral and ethical purity. He's had to give this whole shopping list of exhortations in the concluding paragraph. And lest they all be overwhelmed, lest he be overwhelmed, what does he do as he now turns to pray for them?

26:13 He fixes the gaze of his soul upon God himself in all the plenitude of his power and glory as God, but particularly, God as the God of peace, the God of gospel grace who has set out in his free, sovereign love and mercy to rectify every single thing that has caused a disruption between the living God and man the sinner, committed to overturn all that the world the serpent has done in order to steal away man's heart for himself. And so as we look at the prayer recorded, we notice first the object of the prayer, God himself. God is the God of peace. But then, the second thing we notice about the prayer recorded is the specific concern of the prayer.

The Specific Concern of the Prayer: Entire Sanctification

27:22 The specific concern of the prayer. A mere cursory reading of the words in any English version make it evident that the great and dominant concern of the prayer is the entire sanctification of the Thessalonians. Look at the language. And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly or entirely.

27:54 And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Surely the focal burden of his prayer is patent. Unless we are three quarters asleep as it's read in our hearing, anyone should be able to nudge us and say, what's the burden of Paul's prayer there? And we ought to be able to answer whatever it means.

28:23 It has to do with a sanctifying work in the Thessalonians that is pervasive, extensive. It has to do with their entire sanctification. Now let's spend a few minutes to unpack the significant words. The specific concern of his prayer, yes, is the entire sanctification of the Thessalonians.

28:48 When he says, the God of peace himself sanctify you, to the apostles mind, what did the word, the verb sanctify mean? Well, fundamentally and basically it means to be separated from sin unto God and his service. And if we are to pack into that word the full range of biblical teaching on the sanctification that God is committed to effect in his people, it results in nothing less than that work of God in which he not only separates us from the dominion of sin, from the fundamental practice and devotion to a life of sin, and by degrees purifies us from the polluting influence of sin, but it means to utterly, totally remove from us all that can be called sin. To remove us from the sin and the sin from us and removing us from the sin and the sin from us that we might be utterly and totally devoted unto God and to his service. So that all of the faculties of the mind and of the soul are wholly and without rival engaged

30:17 in the service of God the very purpose for which God created us in the first place. Now, with respect to this sanctification in its entirety we have both what I am calling an abbreviated statement and then an expanded statement. Look at them. The God of peace himself here is the abbreviated statement sanctify you holy.

30:47 Now this word holy w-h-o-l-l-y not h-o-l-y is found only here in the New Testament. It is a compound word made up of two Greek words holos for whole and telos which means end termination or fully. So as one has rendered it the God of peace sanctify you quite completely or as Hendrickson renders it through and through or in the whole of each of you that is the abbreviated statement of the central burden of Paul's prayer. Now think of the letter. He has been writing about this area of necessary sanctification. He has commended them for this area in which their sanctification is manifesting growth and progress and development.

31:53 He has had to admonish them with respect for the sanctification of the body in this present life in terms of abstaining from fornication for he had said this is the will of God even your sanctification for three that you abstain from sexual impurity. He has had to address the subject in chapter four the latter part of it he speaks of the ultimate life and the effect of this on the human being. Something more glorious than any one of the parts or combination of the parts fills his vision and he says and may God himself God the God of peace the God of gospel design and purpose and redemptive power and grace may May the whole of each of you, in every part of you, be sanctified. That's the abbreviated statement. But then you have the expanded statement. And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame.

33:20 This is an expanded statement of the abbreviated word, sanctify you wholly. That is, this is what I mean by my prayer. That God himself, peculiarly and particularly conceived of as God of peace, would himself sanctify you wholly. By that I mean that your spirit, soul, and body be preserved.

33:50 Preserved entire and without blame. The best thing I believe I can do for your edification in just commenting briefly upon this expanded statement is to read several paragraphs of B.B. Warfield's marvelous exposition of these verses in the book, Faith in Life.

34:12 He entitles the sermon, Entire Sanctification. You see, Warfield lived at a time when the higher life movement was just cresting. In many parts of Christendom. And Warfield wrote a large tome exposing the errors of the higher life movement in his classic work entitled Perfectionism.

34:33 And he's constantly interacting with that error as he opens up these verses. But I will read only the part that is positive in its exposition. He writes, Not content with this succinct, this summarizing statement, he adds, By way of explanation, and may your spirit and your soul and your body be preserved entire, perfect, and not that merely, but blamelessly entire, perfect, blamelessly, that is, in a manner which is incapable of being accused of not coming up to its divine ideal. Observe further the distribution of the personality, which is to be perfected into its component parts, of each of which, in turn, perfection is desired. Not only are we to be sanctified wholly, but every part of us, our spirit, our soul, our body itself, is to be kept blamelessly perfect. The apostle is not content, in other words, with the general, but descends into the specific elements of our being, and for each of these elements, in turn, he seeks a blameless perfection, that the sum of them all, the we at large,

36:00 may indeed be complete and entire, lacking nothing. Now this enumeration of the parts, when he says body, soul, and spirit, is rhetorical and not scientific. Paul is not teaching man is a tripartite being, body, soul, and spirit. There are some who have taught this throughout, the history of the church.

36:22 It simply will not stand up to the scrutiny of careful exegesis. If we're going to say that because Paul says body, soul, and spirit, we have three parts to us, then what do we do when Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. Now we're quatrapartite, or whatever we call it. No, this is not a scientific description of the various departments of our humanity.

36:49 It's a rhetorical device, to say when I tell you that my prayer for you is that God himself, the God of peace, would sanctify you wholly, this is what I mean. May the entirety of your redeemed humanity, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved entire without blame. His meaning is that there is no department of our being into which he would not have this perfection penetrate, where, where he would not have it reign, and through which he would not have it operate to the perfecting of the whole. A perfect perfection for a perfect man.

37:32 An entire sanctification for the entire man. Surely here is a perfection worth longing for.

37:44 Now, at this point, some are wondering, did Pastor Martin's few days away turn him into a heretic? He's talking about sinless, sinless perfection. And you're right, I am. And the reason I am is because the text is.

The Anticipated Occasion of Complete Sanctification: Christ's Coming

38:01 I'm only going where the text takes me. And as the apostle concludes his letter to the Thessalonians, his prayer for them is this, may God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you wholly, through and through, by that I, that every part of you, through body, soul, and spirit, may be preserved entire and without blame. This is a prayer addressed to God, a prayer the focus concern of which is the entire sanctification of the Thessalonians. But now the third thing we need to note about the prayer, in your fears that I've become a heretic during five days of vacation, I hope will be laid to rest, notice the anticipated occasion of the complete answer to this prayer. The anticipated occasion of the complete answer to this prayer. Look at the text. May God himself, the God of peace himself, sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved entire, without blame, and the parousia,

39:30 of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the apostle anticipates the answer to this prayer in its fullest realization in conjunction with the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has already referred to that coming with this terminology in chapter 2 and verse 19. What is our hope or joy or crown of glorying are not you before our Lord Jesus at his coming, where there he assumes that they with him anticipate that the parousia is the period when their redemptive work, the redemptive work of Christ will be consummated and his servants receive their reward for their labors. He referred to it again in chapter 3 and verse 13. He is here again praying that they would increase and abound in love one to another to the end, that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. And then in the well-known passage chapter 4 verses 13 and following,

40:57 and verse 15, he uses this terminology, they that are left unto the coming of the Lord. So there is no mistake in the minds of the Thessalonians or in the mind of the Apostle as to the precise occasion when this prayer will have its complete and literal fulfilment. It will be in conjunction with the day of the Lord. In conjunction with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

41:33 And we know that this prayer cannot have a complete fulfilment regardless of the claims of some until that day because notice it includes the body. He says, may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire without blame. And according to the universal teaching of scripture, no one receives a glorified body free of those infirmities and passions and lusts which are the groaning burden of the child of God until the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when preferential treatment will be given to the bodies of those who have gone before us and passed through the door of death for Paul had taught them in chapter 4. We who are alive and remain unto his coming will not go before and have preferential treatment over those who have died in Christ. But just the opposite is true. The dead in Christ shall rise first then we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with them.

43:00 And according to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 then and only then does this mortal make an exchange for immortality. The body sown in dishonor is raised in honor and it is then and only then when these bodies in the language of Philippians chapter 3 these bodies of our humiliation shall be fashioned like unto his own glorious body. And so the anticipated occasion of the complete answer to this prayer is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well in summary surely we can say what a glorious state of the Thessalonians fills the vision of the apostle as he prays for them. Here he's been anxious about them. Have their pressures. Have their temptations.

43:57 Have their trials caused them to abandon their faith. And Timothy comes back and says no Paul. Their faith is strong. Their love for you is strong.

44:06 But he also gave information that there were among them some who were faint hearted. Some who were disorderly. Some who were weak. Some who still had the grave cause of their previous pagan moral practices clinging to them.

44:23 And as Paul is sought to correct and admonish and instruct it's as though his own heart can find no peace in its pastoral passion until he sees the Thessalonian church beyond its present state. Real Christians, yes. The gospels come in power, yes. Turn to God from their idols, yes.

44:46 They're continuing in the faith, yes. But they're afflicted by their enemies. They're caused to stumble by their own sins. The influences from without and within render them so much less than what Jesus died to have them.

45:06 And so in his closing prayer he wings as it were his way in his own mind to that moment when the Lord Jesus will come again and he sees the Thessalonians utterly without blame. Totally through and through holy sanctified. Body, soul and spirit at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder he had courage to go on when he got his eyes upward to what the Thessalonians would be when the God of peace had accomplished all the designs of his saving mercy towards them. Well that's the prayer recorded. Now much more briefly, notice verse 24, the promise imparted. The promise imparted.

The Promise Imparted: God's Infallible Certainty and Trustworthiness

46:03 Faithful is he that calls you who will also do it, more literally rendered, who will also do. No it is there in the original. And what do we say about this promise imparted by the apostle? Well again, three things.

46:27 Number one, note it focuses on the infallible certainty of the performance of God. The promise focuses upon the infallible certainty of the performance of God. Faithful is he that calls you who also will do. Who also will do.

46:52 The God of peace is the God who will do. Well who will do what? Nothing less. Nothing less than that for which Paul prayed.

47:07 Nothing less than that to which he directs their hopes and longings. That is, their entire sanctification. Body, soul, and spirit. The whole of their redeemed humanity actually, truly, completely, irrevocably made entire and placed in sanctification.

47:31 We often say talk is cheap. Put up or shut up. Paul says God can put up with what I pray that he'd do in you. This God is the one who also will do.

47:50 My prayer does not exceed not only his ability but his purpose and his power for the entire sanctification of the Thessalonian believers. The promise then focuses on the infallible certainty of the performance of God but then secondly it rests upon the unchanging trustworthiness of the character of God. It rests upon the unchanging trustworthiness of the character of God. Look at the text.

48:29 Faithful is he that calls you. God is not only a doing God. He is a being God. Faithful, pistous, trustworthy is the one who will do it.

48:48 Now why does he introduce this aspect of the character of God as trustworthy? Well think with me for a minute. According to Romans chapter 8 when God marked out his people those who were discovered at Thessalonica when the gospel came in power knowing brethren your election of God how that our gospel came to you in power what was God's purpose when he marked out a people and gave them to his son before the worlds had any being? According to Romans 8.29 it was this whom he did foreknow those upon whom he set his love beforehand with a purpose to save them those whom he foreknew he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. He foreordained them to entire sanctification that when he was done with them as surely as sin had soaked into every pore and cell of their humanity body, soul and spirit when God is done with them

50:08 sin will be utterly totally removed into every atom of their being and all that they are will perfectly reflect the moral likeness of Jesus Christ from the inside out. Whom he foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Well if that's what he purposed is he a God faithful to fulfill his purpose? When Jesus died what was the purpose of his death?

50:43 Well that question could be answered in a whole series of sermons but in terms of our text this morning remember Ephesians 5.25 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it that he might cleanse it having washed it with the water of the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be what? Holy and without blemish before him. God when he marked us out said when I'm done with them I want them to be perfect replicas of my son.

51:25 And when the son went to the cross and there absorbed in the totality of his humanity all of the unleashed fury of the wrath of God against human sin the sins of his people what was the intent of his dying love that one day he'd have a bride? Some of the parts of her made up of these Thessalonians in whom his eye of omniscience could not find one little speck not one little wrinkle but a bride presented to him perfect, confirmed in holiness has not the spirit explicitly promised in the word 1 John 3, 3 beloved does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is the father marks us out for total conformity to his son Christ died that we might be presented a spotless, unwrinkled bride before him and the Holy Spirit who has come to indwell us and has by his presence sealed us unto the day of redemption himself has spoken

52:53 through the apostolic writings and said this is what you are marked out for well all of that would just be pie in the sky by and by if that's all it would be and you know I actually read some commentators I had to resist the temptation to tear the pages out of the book I read Ellicott on these verses and on parallel passages I'd read one or two other classic Arminian commentators on these passages and I could hardly believe that they'd have the temerity to write what they wrote they said faithful is he who calls you who will also do it if we let him God have mercy on the salvation that rests ultimately on whether or not I'll let God effect it it was his thought in eternity it was his purpose in eternity it was his grace in time that sent his son it was his grace and power in time that laid hold of us and brought us within the orbit of his grace and this promise is a promise that focuses on the infallible certainty

The Promise Validated by God's Experienced Saving Activity

54:20 of God's performance who will also do and that God is a God of unchanging trustworthiness in his character the third thing about the promise imparted is this it not only focuses on the infallible certainty of the performance of God rests upon the unchanging trustworthiness of the character of God but notice it is validated by the already experienced saving activity of God it's validated by the already experienced saving activity of God you say pastor where do you find that look at the text faithful is he that calls you now we would think that he would have written faithful is he who called past tense and there are verses where God's people are described as those who have been called 1 Corinthians 1 9 1 Corinthians 1 9 God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son but here you have a present participle faithful is the one calling you well do we have an overturning of the whole concept that calling is that work of God done on the threshold when God says it's time to get that sinner

55:48 for whom my son died I've had him in my heart for all eternity my son had him in his heart when he became incarnate lived and died has him in his heart at the right hand of the father for he prays father I pray not only for those who are already mine but for those who shall believe on me through their word and God says well it's now time to let the sinner know what I've known from all eternity with the son and with the spirit what the son had upon his heart and has upon his heart and in various ways as we were reminded in the previous hour God goes forth on that charger of gospel grace and triumph and with the sword in his mouth not a sword to slay in judgment but a sword by which to bring sinners unto himself a sword to conquer them in grace he calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light that once for all work of God with all that complex of biblical terminology of regeneration the bible terminology of giving a new heart taking out the heart of stone conversion repentance and faith all of that comes within the complex of calling and it is a once for all act of God on the threshold by which we are brought

57:16 out of the state of condemnation in nature and into a state of acceptance and grace why does Paul say faithful is he who is calling you well the Greek students would call this a timeless present participle by which he is seeking to point us not so much to the act of calling but to God as the caller of his people he is the caller God whenever you think of God think of him as the God who calls and the moment the Thessalonians would stop and think of that what would happen what were we when you read Acts 17 what were we when you read 1 Thessalonians 1 9 and 10 we were bending our knees to objects that we made with our own hands and we were praying prayers to these things and we called them God and in the name of those gods we were consorting with temple prostitutes as acts of worship and for those gods we would sacrifice our sons and our daughters and our substance what were we when Paul and his companions came we were idol worshippers ignorant of and indifferent to the claims of the living and the true God

58:46 and what happened why when Paul and Silas and Paul and Silas and Timothy began to preach the word of God what happened? what happened to us? as we listened to their words we were conscious that something was going on in us that had no explanation in terms of human philosophy human opinions human eloquence the influence of one human over another by means of words we were conscious of a divine intrusion of power our eyes were opened we saw ourselves as under the wrath of the living and the true God our dead idols whom we could make and discharge and discard and burn and trample on at will the true God was no God to be manipulated by us we stood exposed liable to his wrath and judgment that God so loved the world of sinners as to give his only begotten son and our eyes were opened to behold the glory of God in the face of Christ and we actually joyfully abandoned the very things to which we were selling our souls we repented we believed what did that? it was God's call he's the God who's the caller of his people that pointed them to their own present felt acknowledged experience

60:13 of the saving activity of God now look at the promise in the light of that faithful is he that calls you now if he brought you in to the orbit of the first installments of his saving work and if he has purposed that bringing you in he will take you safely all along the way no matter how restricted how difficult how buffeted and oppressed you may be in it in order that at last he might present you without blame sanctified holy body soul spirit the God who is the calling God of his people the only God whose mighty power explained the existence of a church at Thessalonica you Thessalonians does my prayer for you seem to be beyond reach the thought that one day you would actually be utterly totally and forever free of every last stain and influence of sin in body soul and spirit does it seem too far off the grass then can you grasp the fact that you're sitting there in a Christian church listening to my letter Paul says how did that come about

61:42 well God called me what did he do to call you well he opened my blind eyes he unstopped my deaf ears he took out my heart of stone he gave me a heart of flesh well dear Thessalonians that God is trustworthy that God is trustworthy and having called you go back to Romans 8 29 and 30 if he calls Paul says moreover whom he predestinated them he also called and whom he called he justified and whom he justified without losing a one between calling justification them he also what glorified once God is committed to save the sinner his commitment is for the total accomplishment of the totality of the salvation purposed and purchased in the blood of Christ and so this promise then is validated by the already experienced saving activity of God he says to the Thessalonians are you living examples of the first dimensions of the call the very experiences of your struggles and concerns are they not the result of being called out of darkness into light you never had these concerns when you were blind and spiritually dead well be assured

Comfort and Consolation for Struggling Saints

63:11 that God who is the caller will perfect everything to which he's called you well that's the promise that the apostle imparts now in closing may I give first of all a word of comfort and consolation to the struggling warring groaning and oft times weary saints of God am I describing you maybe I was just describing the preacher when I wrote the words struggling warring groaning and oft times weary writing those very words in the early hours of this morning when I wait often for my final application to the early hours of Sunday morning my dullness the result of physical and mental weariness or is it a cold heart Lord how can I separate the actings of my heart from my head full of mucus from allergies and itching eyes and Lord I can't separate them should I be confessing a cold heart or should I be longing for a resurrection body I still didn't sort it out so I figured out how to separate the actings of the

64:40 resurrection body we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burned that's normal Christian experience and when the apostle says we do not wrestle we do not agonize we do not struggle against flesh and blood every true Christian is a struggling saint he's a groaning saint and his own remaining corruption and there are times he becomes weary you just go through that preceding paragraph and it's enough to make you throw up your hands and say oh God I can't even do what Paul gives us his closing words in everything you thank rejoice always don't despise the word of God well child of God look at this verse look at this verse sweetness out of it the God of peace himself is committed to sanctify me holy and a moment in time is coming when my spirit soul and body will be found preserved entire without

66:09 blame even at the coming of Jesus and I will not let you marry anyone but one brother of yours whom you support you in whatever resource you may have at any expense I can't get to any home set our hope perfectly on the grace that is yet to be brought to us, grace that will bring with it entire sanctification. Listen to the language of the hymn we often sing most frequently at a prayer meeting, two stanzas of 481. Sure I must fight if I would reign, increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by thy word. Thy saints

67:22 in all this glorious war shall conquer, though they die, they view the triumph from afar and seize it with their eye. Isn't that beautiful imagery? How can your eyes seize anything?

67:41 When the eye of the soul is the avenue or conduit of the faith of the heart, you've seized what you're going to be, and you have it in the pledge and promise of God. You've set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought at the coming of the Lord Jesus. Child of God, when you're tired and weary and you say, God, you know, if only I had more strength, I'd pray for an hour, and you say from your heart, Lord, you know. I'm not fooling myself, but this body. And other times when you've got enough strength to go out and build a house single-handedly in half a day, and you've got such a dullness you couldn't pray for ten minutes if you had a gun at your head, and you say, oh Lord, this horrible, wretched, indwelling sin that dulls me, to communion and fellowship with you, this soul and spirit that become a haunted house of unclean thoughts. Unloving thoughts, jealous thoughts. Oh Lord, thank you for the day coming when I will be sanctified wholly, body, soul, and spirit preserved blameless. That's seizing it with

Instruction and Exhortation for Confident Saints

69:00 your eye, and I trust that every warring, struggling, groaning, and oft-times weary saint will find encouragement from Paul's prayer and from the promise attached. And then the word of instruction and exhortation to the well-instructed, well-insured, confident saints of God. And I believe we have some of you. Well-instructed, well-assured, confident saints of God. Dr. Bob touched on this principle in the previous hour. If Paul is so confident that God will perfect the sanctification of the Thessalonians, why does he pray for it? And why has he spent the whole epistle laboring for it? And why does he lose sleep anxious over their spiritual state? I mean, why didn't he just roll over to sleep and say, Lord, if they're your elect, you're going to perfect them.

69:56 Amen. Hallelujah. Go to sleep. He said, I got so restless and so concerned. I had no peace of heart. I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to send Timothy. Well, because Paul wasn't a hyper-Calvinist. That's why. He believed that what God was committed to do and what God had promised to do, God would bring to pass by the means he has ordained. And one of those means was genuine pastoral concern and the prayers of the people of God. And so for you who are confident that, yes, I am the real thing, and by the grace of God, I shall endure in that restricted way, I shall know the blessing of complete and entire sanctification. My dear, well-instructed, well-assured, confident saint, follow the pattern of Paul. Earnestly pray for

Interrogation and Self-Examination for the Indifferent

70:50 and pray. Passionately strive after the very thing you know God is going to accomplish in you. And isn't that what the scripture says will be the experience of everyone who has this hope brought in him? Every man that hath this hope in him goes on purifying himself even as he is pure. And finally, a word of interrogation and self-examination. Some of you sat here this morning and you've looked at your watch a dozen times and said, when in God's name is this fool going to be done? Getting all excited about being. Entirely sanctified body, soul, and spirit. I could care less. My friend, listen. Boy or girl, man or woman, teenager, listen. If what I've preached this morning has been boring to your soul, there'll come a day when you will yearn. You will yearn that you have been excited at the prospect of being entirely sanctified. Because my Bible says concerning heaven, nothing unclean shall enter it.

71:55 Out are the dogs and the whoremongers and the liars and the fornicators and the fearful and the unbelieving. If sitting here this morning your heart is not leaked within you at the prospect of being entirely sanctified, I sincerely question whether you have a gram of saving grace in your soul. I didn't say excited at the way I preached it. I preached it poorly. Words can't begin to do justice. I preached it poorly. Words can't begin to do justice. I preached it poorly. Words can't begin to do justice to the glory of it. Surely if there's any grace, your heart has burned within you and said, oh Lord Jesus, come and finish the work. If that's not your yearning, my friend, you better give yourself no rest and give God no rest until it is. Because if you don't, you're going to a place where they rest not day or night and where the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and forever.

73:00 And the one thing you'll wish in hell that you had on earth that you never had will not be a Cadillac or a Mercedes-Benz or a Lexus. It will be the sanctifying grace of God. Seek it. Seek it now.

73:20 Seek it at the only place where it can be found. And that is at the feet of a pierced, immolated, crucified, buried, risen, exalted, almighty Savior. Through whom the God of peace conveys all of his saving grace to sinners. Go to that Savior and go to him now. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank you for this precious portion of your word. Thank you that you move the apostle to write those words to the Thessalonians, that they come down to us over the very centuries as your word to us in our need. May the Holy Spirit seal them to our prophet, to sinner and saint alike. And oh Lord Jesus, hasten the day of your appearing when we shall know in our experience what we can now only seize with our eye to be perfected, body, soul, and spirit, blameless in your sight. Oh Lord Jesus, keep us, preserve us,

74:44 hasten the day of your appearing and make others ready for that day we plead. Amen.