For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God Sermons I. THE WORLD WAS FIRST IMPRESSED BY THE RAPID AND IMMEDIATE SUCCESS OF THE APOSTLES. "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you." The world seemed to appreciate the boldness, the sincerity, the uprightness of the preachers, as elements of their success; for there was no dexterous flattery, there was no spirit of self-seeking, there was no guileful strategy, in the proclamation of the gospel. II. THE WORLD WAS STILL MORE DEEPLY IMPRESSED BY THE BLESSED EFFECTS OF THE APOSTLES' PREACHING, "And how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." 1. It was a conversion from idolatry, Immediately and at once they received converting grace, under the influence of which they turned to the Lord from their dead and fictitious deities. (1) Idolatry is apostasy from God. These Thessalonians" had changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things" (Romans 1:23). They had been "joined to their idols" for ages (Hosea 4:17). They had been hitherto walking just like other Gentiles, in all moral blindness and carnality of heart (Ephesians 4:17, 18). (2) Their conversion was a repudiation of idolatry. It was not mere proselytism. It was the bursting asunder of ties which had an immense social as well as religious weight in pagan life. (3) It was a thorough consecration to the service of the living and true God. As their God was true God and living God, having life in himself and a true and faithful relation to his worshippers, they could give him the living service of faith, obedience, and dependence. 2. Another effect of the apostles preaching was their expectation of our Lord's coming. The doctrine of the advent occupies the foreground in the thoughts of the Thessalonians, as in the two Epistles addressed to them. As faith underlies the service of the true God, so hope underlies the expectation of the Lord's coming. "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to conic." (1) This implies the belief that Jesus is in heaven, to reign, to plead, to prepare a place for us. (2) It implies the belief that he will return from heaven. The Thessalonians may have believed that he would return in that age, but all Christians live in the "blessed hope" of his second coming. (3) This waiting attitude implied the recognition of a certain connection between Christ's resurrection and our deliverance from the wrath to come. They were not waiting for a dead man lying in a Jewish grave, but for One raised from the dead, and living in the power of an endless life. His resurrection implied the completion of his atoning work, as the work of atonement supplies the ground for our continuous deliverance from the wrath that is coming. There is a wrath coming upon disobedient sinners, but there is a way of deliverance provided in the Word of Jesus Christ ratified by his resurrection from the dead. - T.C.
So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia I. CHRISTIAN EXAMPLE.1. Christians are first followers, then leaders; first imitators and then imitated (cf. ver. 6). They first look to Him who is the Light of the world; they then shine with reflected lustre, becoming lights of the world themselves. This is implied in the original, which means the impress of a seal. Believers are stamped with Christ's likeness, and thus become a die for others.(1) This is the law of the communication of the truth. Each Christian becomes a living Epistle, a new Bible. Example brings home more powerfully than precept the lessons of faith (Acts 12:24).(2) In this the Thessalonians were most conspicuous. Other churches looked up to them as their model — (a) (b) (c) 2. This example is explained and defined by ver. 8. By this we are to understand —(1) Not the report of their conversion, or the influence of their example merely; but(2) Their missionary zeal. The figure of the trumpet, spreading as echo-like it repeated itself, is found nowhere else in Scripture, except in the silver trumpets of the Jews. It may suggest to us the watchman's voice or horn, which from some high watchtower amid surrounding midnight darkness swells forth over town and village and plain, or the pealing forth, from some humble church crowning the brow of an Alpine hill, of the melody of bells, floating on the undulating air over valley and mountain and lake, summoning to prayer. 3. But it is possible to see here an allusion to a special missionary service. They had received a call to this (ver. 4); and because theirs was a centre of commanding influence. We must remember that these were Paul's first Epistles. Converts from heathenism needed such teaching. They needed also some historical record of our Lord's life and death and resurrection. It is not unlikely therefore that Luke wrote his Gospel for their use. That evangelist was Paul's companion in Macedonia, and Thessalonica was, from its position and commercial connections, peculiarly suitable for the work of circulating that Gospel. In this "labour of love" the Thessalonian Church became widely known and honoured. The praise which Paul gave to Luke (2 Corinthians 8:18) was theirs. As the Waldensian peasants wandered over the plains of Lombardy and Italy, carrying secretly many copies of the Word, and offering them along with their merchandise wherever "an open door presented itself," so possibly these early Christian traders carried copies of St. Luke's Gospel with them from Thessalonica, and thus from thence sounded out the Word of the Lord. II. CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 1. Faith. This was conspicuous and widespread. It had extended over a broader area than even their direct exertions. Paul was now in Corinth, where varied streams of travellers met, and so had ample opportunity for knowing it. Aquila and Priscilla had just come from Rome (Acts 18:2), and to be known there was to be known everywhere, and they having heard it would naturally tell the apostle of it; so that any special mention of it was unnecessary. This is true fame, found when unsought, the natural reward of self-denying labour and abiding faith. These Christians in simply doing their duty "left their name, a light — a landmark on the cliffs of fame." 2. Conversion from idols. The heart of every man serves idols. Everything away from God in which he seeks his satisfaction is a phantom, an image, not reality. "Keep yourselves from idols" is what all need. 3. Serving God and waiting for Christ. One clause distinguishes the Thessalonians from the heathen, the other from the Jews; but more, they represent the universal Christian life in its two most prominent aspects, ceaseless action and patient waiting. The hope of Christ's coming gives strength for and perseverance in service, and faithful service justifies and consecrates hope. Service without its hope would merge into dry and formal routine; hope without its service would pass into indolent, sentimental, or restless excitement. (J. Hutchison, D. D.) (I. Barrow, D. D.) (I. Barrow, D. D.) (J. Scott.)The best teachers of humanity are the examples of great men. (C. H. Fowler.) (Phillips Brooks, D. D.) (Rowland Hill.)A young infidel was one night in bed, contemplating the character of his mother. "I see," he said, within himself, "two unquestionable facts. First, my mother is greatly afflicted in circumstances, body and mind; and I see that she cheerfully bears up under all by the support she derives from constantly retiring to her closet and her Bible. Secondly, that she has a secret spring of comfort of which I know nothing; while I who give an unbounded loose to my appetites, and seek pleasure by every means, seldom or never find it. If, however, there is any such secret in religion, why may not I attain to it as well as my mother? I will immediately seek it of God." Thus the influence of Christianity, exhibited in its beauty by a living example before him, led Richard Cecil to know Christ Himself, and to glorify Him by a most successful and devoted life. (F. Morse, M. A.)When native converts on the island of Madagascar used to present them selves for baptism, it was often asked of them, "What first led you to think of becoming Christians. Was it a particular sermon or address, or the reading of God's word?" The answer usually was, that the changed conduct of others who had become Christians was what first arrested their attention. "I knew this man to be a thief; that one was a drunkard; another was very cruel and unkind to his family. Now they are all changed. The thief is an honest man, the drunkard is sober and respectable, and the other is gentle and kind in his home. There must be something in a religion that can work such changes." (S. S. Times.) (H. Melvill, B. D.) (Dean Howson.) (Sir G. Grove, LL. D.) I. This metaphor suggests THE GREAT PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH. It is God's trumpet. His means of making His voice heard through all the uproar of the world. As the captain upon the deck in the gale will use his speaking trumpet, so God's voice needs your voice. The gospel needs to be passed through human lips in order that it may reach deaf ears. The Church is worse than "sounding brass," it is as silent brass and an untinkling cymbal, unless the individuals that belong to it recognize God's meaning in malting them His children, and do their best to fulfil it. "Ye are My witnesses," saith the Lord. You are put into the witness box, see that you speak out when you are there. II. Another point that this figure may suggest is THE SORT OF SOUND THAT SHOULD COME FROM THE TRUMPET. 1. A trumpet note is, first of all, clear. There should be no hesitation in our witness; nothing uncertain in the sound that we give. 2. The note should be penetrating. There is no instrument, I suppose, that carries further than the ringing clarion that is often heard on the field of battle, above all the strife. And so this little church at Thessalonica, a mere handful of people, just converted, in the very centre of a strong, compact, organized, self-confident, supercilious heathenism, insisted upon being heard, and got itself made audible, simply by the purity and the consistency of the lives of its members. A clear voice will fling words to a distance that a thick, mumbling one never can attain. One note will travel much farther than another. Do you see to it that your notes are of the penetrating sort. 3. And then, again, the note should be a musical one. There is nothing to be done for God by harshness; nothing to be done by discords and jangling; nothing to be done by scolding and rebuke. The ordered sequence of melodious sound will travel a great deal further than unmusical, plain speech. You can hear a song at a distance at which a saying would be inaudible. Which thing is an allegory, and this is its lesson. Music goes further than discord; and the witness that a Christian man bears will travel in direct proportion as it is harmonious and gracious and gentle and beautiful. 4. And then, again, the note should be rousing. You do not play on a trumpet when you want to send people to sleep; dulcimers and the like are the things for that purpose. The trumpet means strung up intensity, means a call to arms, or to rejoicing; means, at any rate, vigour, and is intended to rouse. Let your witness have for its inmost signification, "Awake! thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." III. Then, still further, take another thought that may be suggested from this metaphor, THE SILENCE OF THE LOUDEST NOTE. If you look at the context, you will see that all the ways in which the Word of the Lord is represented as sounding out from the Thessalonian Church were deeds, not words. The context supplies a number of them. Such as the following are specified in it: their work; their toil, which is more than work; their patience; their assurance; their reception of the Word, in much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost; their faith to Godward; their turning to God from idols, to serve and to wait. That is all. So far as the context goes there might not have been a man amongst them that ever opened His mouth for Jesus Christ. We know not, of course, how far they were a congregation of silent witnesses, but this we know, that what Paul meant when he said, "The whole world is ringing with the voice of the Word of God sounding from you," was not their going up and down the world shouting about their Christianity, but their quiet living like Jesus Christ. That is a louder voice than any other. I do not mean to say that Christian men and women are at liberty to lock their lips from verbal proclamation of the Saviour they have found, but I do mean to say that if there was less talk and more living the witness of God's Church would be louder and not lower; "and men would take knowledge of us, that we had been with Jesus"; and of Jesus, that He had made us like Himself. IV. And so, lastly, let me draw one other thought from this metaphor, which I hope you will not think fanciful playing with a figure; and THAT IS THE BREATH THAT MAKES THE MUSIC. If the Church is the trumpet, who blows it? God! It is by His Divine Spirit dwelling within us and breathing through us that the harsh discords of our natural lives become changed into melody of praise and the music of witness for Him. Keep near Christ, live in communion with God, let Him breathe through you, and when His Spirit passes through your spirits their silence will become harmonious speech; and from you "will sound out the Word of the Lord." (A. Maclaren, D. D.) 1. Paul did not despise the power of words; he was a master of them; but he contrasted words with power. Words — the air is stirred by them, as it is by raindrops, but they pass away, perhaps not forgotten, the memory lives forever, stinging like a serpent or ministering like an angel, blasting as the lightning or refreshing as the dew. "The words of the wise are as nails fastened." Paul did not despise the marvellous Greek language as a vehicle of thought and feeling, but he said there was something more. The word is the organism which contains the life, the body that holds the soul, the frame that surrounds the picture. Knowledge is power, and truth, and love. 2. We have the Word of God in power. Have we an infallible interpretation of it? Rome says she has, but we say that she has tampered with it, and reject her forgery. In order to the right understanding of the Word, we need —(1) A correct version.(2) The exercise of our own powers in its study. Christ demands not a blind credulity, but says, "Come and see."(3) The help of those who are able to throw light on it.(4) Prayer for the help of the Holy Spirit. II. THEY WHO RECEIVE THE WORD ARE TO SPREAD IT ABROAD. 1. Power always carries responsibility. The learned are to teach the ignorant, the strong to help the weak, the brave the timid. This may not be according to the law of "natural selection," by which the weak go to the wall, but it is according to the law of love, of Sinai, of Christ, which says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour," etc. God's disapproval of selfishness is seen in this, that it is only by using His gifts that we can retain and improve them. Hoarded wealth is useless; stored grain is mildewed; the buried talent is forfeited. We get by giving and learn by teaching. God speaks to us that we may speak to others. 2. The gospel had been in this case conveyed through the land and other lands. The same joyful sound has been heard in this country. All that is happy in the condition and noble in the character of our people is owing to this. Let England be true to her vocation, and pass the blessing on. III. HOW ARE WE TO SPREAD IT ABROAD? 1. Negatively.(1) Not by force. When the knights of Germany offered their swords to Luther, he replied, "No, the Word shall do it." You cannot destroy error or propagate spiritual truth by swords or Acts of Parliament. You may make rules of music, but you cannot impose them on the songsters of the wood. You may guide the little brook that comes chattering through the fields, but who can cut channels for the dew? Men's thoughts are as free; they cannot be prevented by violence.(2) Not by ceremonies. An attempt is being made to undo the Reformation, and send back the dial on English civilization and freedom. All forms are mischievous which come between us and Christ. As some foolish people covered grand pictures and frescoes on church walls with plaster, superstition has covered over the faith which is "placarded before our eyes" with Roman cement. It was the work of Luther and others to chip off the crust and reveal the work of the Divine Artist; and it is our work to protest against all that would bind the Word or hide the Saviour.(3) Not by sensational worship or teaching. A truly earnest man will be ready to welcome almost anything that will arouse the indifferent and win attention to the truth. Paul was ready to be all things to all men; but I do not think he included absurdities in the means he would employ. There are two dangers attending religious excitement: one, that while the surface of the nature is affected men will be satisfied with that; the other, that when the excitement is over there will be a hurtful reaction. The crowds that cried "Hosanna" also cried "Crucify." 2. Positively.(1) With a spontaneity that will be of itself a presage of success. "From you sounded forth," etc., as a natural effect of reception.(a) It is difficult to hide truth, for it naturally tends to show itself. When a scientific discovery has been made it is unnatural for the discoverer to keep it to himself, the strong conviction being that truth is not the property of an individual, society, nation, but of the race. It is as difficult to hide truth as to hide light; if there is a crevice anywhere it will dart forth. It may be buried like seed, and the storms of a long winter may pass over it until it is almost forgotten; but the elements go in search of the seed; the dew asks, "Where is it?" The rain says, "I will find it"; and the sun stretches forth his long fingers of light to feel it, and the seed is vitalized, and comes forth; so truth rises again, perhaps in a new form, but with multiplied power.(b) This is especially illustrated in the history of spiritual truth. When the truth has free course in a man's nature it will sound forth spontaneously as fragrance from a June rose, as heat from the fire, as lustre from a diamond, as music from an AEolian harp.(c) There are some who receive and never give. They are like a blank object that absorbs the light and never reflects it. They are not like that little spring upon the hill slope, that receives from the cloud, and then gives refreshment and beauty to moss and nodding fern, gives itself for the use of the world, singing as it gives. But they are like the stagnant pool, that receives the showers, and remains in the same place, to poison the atmosphere, until at length the hot summer sun dries it up. There are others who give, but never cheerfully, with a bad grace that spoils the gift. There are others again who give so readily that it is like breathing the balmy air of May to ask them for a contribution.(2) By a holy life. "Ye were ensamples." A holy life is the best transcript of the Word. Gibbon attributes the early success of Christianity to "the pure and austere morals of the Christians." And Christian life is the most powerful argument the Church can use today. It may be that of a friendless young man in London who, in the midst of temptations, dares to live a pure life; or that of a domestic servant who "sweeps under the mats" because she acknowledges a Master in heaven. To pray in the sanctuary and cheat on the Exchange is what the world regards with disgust.(3) By active effort. From the seaport of Thessalonica merchants and sailors would carry with them the good tidings. The news of their faith was so widespread that the apostle had no need to speak of it. What a commendation! There are some whose faith is so small that you are obliged to advertise it if you want it known. Our names too frequently, not our faith, are spread abroad. The message of the Church has often failed because there has been so little of living faith in it. The earnestness of our piety is the best answer to the worldliness and scepticism of the day. (James Owen.) (Bp. Alexander.) (Bp. Jewell.) (Bp. Jewell.) (John Harris.) (Charles Sumner.) (T. Chalmers, D. D.) 1. It affects the understanding. Men discover that the gospel is the very thing for which they have been waiting. 2. Then it works upon the conscience, that being the under standing exercised on moral truth. The man sees himself a sinner, and is thus made ready to receive Christ's pardoning grace. 3. Then the emotions are aroused — fear is awakened and hope excited. Repentance calls forth one after another of her sentinels. The proud man is broken down, the hard heart softened. 4. By and by the entrance is complete, for the truth carries the central castle of Mansoul, and captures the heart. He who once hated the gospel now loves it — at first he loves it hoping that it may be his, though fearing the reverse; then he ventures to grasp it, encouraged by the Word which bids him lay hold of eternal life. II. CONVERSION. "Ye turned." Conversion is the turning completely round of a man to hate what he loved and love what he hated. It is to turn to God distinctly by an act and deed of the mind and will. In some senses we are "turned," in others we "turn": not promise or resolve, Reformation is not enough, there must be a revolution: old thrones must fall, and a new king must reign. 1. They turned from idols. The streets of London are crammed with fetish worship.(1) Multitudes are worshipping, not calves of gold, but gold in a more portable shape. Small circular idols are much sought after. The epithet "almighty" is applied to an American form of these idols.(2) Many worship rank, name, pleasure, honour.(3) Most worship self, and there is no more degrading form of worship. No wooden image is more ugly.(4) Men worship Bacchus still. There is a temple to him at every street corner. Other trades are content with shops, this fiend must have a palace.(5) The gods of unchastity and vice are yet among us. If you love anything better than God you are idolaters. 2. Some turn from one idol to another. If a man turns from Bacchus and becomes a teetotaler, he may become covetous. When men quit covetousness they sometimes turn to profligacy. Nothing will serve but turning to the living and true God. III. SERVICE. 1. The object of this service is —(1) The living God. Many have a dead God still. They do not feel that He hears their prayers, nor take Him into their calculations. A living God demands a living service.(2) The true God, and therefore cannot be served with falsehood. Many evidently serve a false God, for they pray without their hearts. When men's lives are false and artificial, they are not fit service for the God of truth. A life is false when it is not the true outcome of the soul, when it is fashioned by custom, ruled by observation, restrained by selfish motives, and governed by a love of human esteem. 2. Notice the order. The entering in of the Word produces conversion, and conversion service. If you are converts without the Word you are unconverted; if professing to receive it you are not turned by it, you have not received it; if you claim to have been converted and are not serving God, you are not converted; and if you boast of serving God without being converted you are not serving Him. IV. WAITING. 1. Salvation is not a thing which only requires a few moments of faith and then all is over; it is the business of our lives. We receive salvation in an instant, but we work it out with fear and trembling all our days. 2. This waiting is also living in the future. The Christian looks for the second advent with calm hope; he does not know when it will be, but he keeps himself on the watch as a servant who waits for his Lord's return. He does not expect to be rewarded by men, or even by God in temporal things, but by Christ with heaven. (C. H. Spurgeon.) (C. H. Spurgeon.) (Jackson Wray.) I. THE SERVICE OWING TO THE LIVING GOD. 1. Religion, considered in this light, can be no other than natural religion. This was the original religion of man, but had been so corrupted and abused that there was hardly any sign of it when our Saviour appeared in the world. The preaching of the gospel revived the true ancient religion of nature, and prepared men for the reception of it; and has, by the additional supports of revelation, maintained it for many ages, and probably will maintain it to the end and consummation of all things. 2. These additional supports make the next great branch of Christian doctrine. These are revived upon the authority of revelation, and stand upon the evidence of external proofs: that we ought to turn from idols, and serve the living God; that we ought to serve Him in holiness and purity, in conforming ourselves to the example of His justice, equity, and goodness, are truths which every man may feel to be such who has any reason or natural feeling about him; but that we have been delivered from the wrath to come by Jesus the Son of God; that God raised Him from the dead, and hath appointed Him to be judge both of the dead and of the living, are articles which no man's reason can suggest; which, when suggested, reason cannot receive upon any internal evidence, but must take them upon an authority sufficiently confirmed upon external evidence. II. OUR FAITH IN CHRIST, AND OUR HOPE AND EXPECTATION GROUNDED ON THAT FAITH.1. The patience of faith. St. Paul teaches us to wait for God's Son from heaven. But this waiting implies not only the patience of faith, but well-doing, in expectation of the coming of our Saviour and Judge; which sense is completely expressed in the Epistle to the Philippians — "Be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example; for our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." 2. The expectation of Christ coming to judge the world is peculiar to Christians; and it is supported by the belief of the resurrection of Christ — that great and main point of faith, which the Apostles were commissioned to teach and establish in the Church of God. This designation of Christ to be judge of the world is no impeachment of the authority of God. The Son acts by the Father's commission, who hath given all judgment to Him; but this makes no change in the nature of the judgment itself. Did the article of the resurrection make any alterations in our notions of God or religion; did it bring any new burden upon us of any sort, it would be no wonder to see men very careful how they admitted it; but now that it requires nothing at our hands but what reason and nature require, what pretence for being scrupulous concerning it. Admit the article, and our hopes are much improved, while our duty is the same; reject the article, and our duty is the same, while our hopes are much less. (T. Sherlock, D. D.) (Earl of Chichester.) (Family Treasury.) (Canon Liddon.) II. HIS HUMANITY. "Whom He raised." Christ could not have been raised had He not died, and could not have died had He not been man. III. THE UNITY OF HIS PERSON. "Even Jesus." IV. HIS REDEMPTION. 1. Men are guilty, lost, or they could not have needed a deliverance by Jesus, the Saviour. 2. Christ died for men that He might deliver them. 3. His death was accepted by the Father, "Whom He raised." V. HIS RESURRECTION. We must not think of Christ as dead, or centre our faith wholly on the Cross. "He is not here; He is risen." VI. HIS ASCENSION. "From heaven." Hence He must have gone thither. 1. He has gone first as our forerunner, and secured for us the Spirit. 2. He remains in heaven. (1) (2) (3) 3. He is there with saving power — "Delivereth." He is at this moment delivering. VII. HIS SECOND COMING. 1. Certain and uncertain. He will come, but when we know not. 2. Sudden, as a thief in the night. 3. To deliver His people from the coming wrath. (C. H. Spurgeon.) 1. The time of the coming is an uncertainty. If you examine a few of the statements with reference to that uncertainty, you will find a statement in the New Testament as to that coming being a thing near. In the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, the fourth chapter, and the fifteenth verse, you read — "For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep." Whereas, in the second Epistle, the second chapter, and the third verse, you find the statement which implies that that coming was not immediate: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." You will find in the Epistle to the Hebrews the same apparently contradictory statements. Then you find in the seventh verse of the fourth chapter of the first Epistle of Peter — "The end of all things is at hand." Again, in the third chapter, the ninth verse, of the second Epistle of Peter, you find the apostle speaking of the Lord being "long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish." You have the same apparent conflict of statement in our blessed Lord's own words. Thus in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, and the thirty-fourth verse, He says — "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled;" which seems to intimate a near approach of the second coming. Then you find in the nineteenth verse of the twenty-fifth chapter, in the parable of the talents — "After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them." Again there is another class of statements which expressly and distinctly aver that the time of the second coming is left in uncertainty. Thus, you find in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, and the forty-second verse — "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." And you find a still more remarkable statement in the Gospel of St. Mark — "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, Hot the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father;" that is — the Lord Jesus in His human nature was not at that time acquainted with the day of His Second Advent. What, then, is the result which the Word of God seems intended to produce by this apparent conflict of statement? I believe the result which it intends to produce is this — that we should be always on the watch for the second coming of our blessed Lord. There is a tendency in some minds to anticipate that coming, to affirm and believe that that coming is immediately at hand. The Christians at Thesalonica were in danger of thus putting away temporal duties, and neglecting the present calls of life, in order that they might be ready for that which they immediately expected. There is a tendency in other minds to defer and put off that day, to think that it is sure not to take place soon; and thus to live an indolent, a listless and a comparatively indifferent life, as regards that grand object of our hope. Now, if we read the New Testament aright, and if we receive the impression which these various passages are intended to leave upon our minds, with reference to the certainty of the fact and the uncertainty of the coming, I believe that the effect produced will be to make us feel that the Lord's coming, though uncertain at any moment, is possible at any moment. It will produce that state of expectancy, and that state of preparedness and desire with reference to it, in which our Lord sees to be the fittest condition for the spirits of His people to live and be. 2. The grand object presented. I can hardly read without emotion of the anticipation of the first Advent, on the part of the pious Jews, who preceded that advent. But how much grander and more sublime is that which is the object of our hope — the Second Advent; the Lord Jesus coming, not in humiliation, but in glory; not in weakness, but in power; not to suffer, but to reign I And when we think of all the attendant circumstances which are predicted — the rapture of the saints, the descent of the Lord from heaven, the Judgment, the binding of Satan, the renewal of this earth, and all those grand scenes to be produced by His glory — who can look at this great object of our hope without feeling his spirit awed and solemnized, without feeling that we have presented to us in the Bible one of the sublimest and most glorious objects which it is possible for the mind of man to conceive, as that upon which our hope is to rest, as that to which our expectations are to tend? II. THE INFLUENCE WHICH THIS HOPE IS DESIGNED TO EXERCISE. 1. Holiness. "Every man that hath this hope purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Now, it is impossible for a person who is living in daily anticipation of the second coming of Jesus, impossible for a believer in Christ whose mind is constantly turning towards that glorious appearing, to do otherwise than endeavour to have his moral image conformed, as highly as it can be, to the moral image of Him whom he is expecting; and that it lies in the very essential nature of man, that if in love and hearty faith he is expecting the coming of the Lord, he must seek to purify himself even as his Lord is pure. 2. Gratitude and love. There is a very emphatic word at the close of our text, where the Apostle says that we are expecting Jesus "which delivered us from the wrath to come." Consider what that wrath is! Who it is that has delivered us! CONSIDER HOW He has delivered us — not by handing over some mercenary ransom, but by giving Himself to suffer and to die; and that it is through this purchase Christ has paid that He has accomplished this mighty deliverance; and then say whether the anticipation of meeting Him must not produce, in the mind of him who has this hope, an earnest feeling of gratitude and devoted love to Him, to whom he owes his salvation and his glory. 3. Unworldliness. If a man is living in anticipation of the advent of Christ, it is impossible for him to be so wholly immersed in the cares and pleasures and businesses of this world, as is the case with too many professing Christians. If we were certain that the coming of the Lord were nigh at hand, would any Christian be unduly en grossed with the things of the world? No. "Use the world, and not abuse it." (E. Bayley, M. A.) (E. P. Hood.) 1. Deserved. 2. Destructive. 3. Dreadful. 4. Unavoidable. 5. "To come." II. OUR DELIVERER, "Jesus." He stepped into the awful breach, took our place, was "bruised for our iniquities." His deliverance was therefore — 1. Honourable. 2. Costly. 3. Vicariously effected. 4. Great: (1) (2) 5. Complete in its nature. 6. Free in its bestowments. 7. Eternal in its duration. 8. Race-wide in its purposes. (T. Kelly.) II. OUR DELIVERANCE. Out of love to us Christ assumed our nature, placed Himself under our curse. By this He rescues us. III. THE PROOF THAT OUR FULL PURCHASE FROM WRATH IS PAID. His resurrection. IV. CHRIST'S FUTURE COMING. It is certain even if delayed — therefore we must not be impatient but wait for it. Conclusion: 1. Be thankful for your redemption. 2. Do not fret because you are not released from present evils. 3. Patiently discharge every present duty, and so wait for the coming of the Lord from heaven. (Dr. Belfrage.) (Prof. Jowett.) (H. W. Beecher.) (H. W. Beecher.) I. THE AWFUL DESTRUCTION REFERRED TO. 1. The actual infliction of the Divine displeasure (Psalm 11:6). Shut out — (1) (2) (3) (4) 2. This wrath will respect body and soul (Matthew 10:28). 3. This intense fierceness of wrath is to come (Romans 2:5). 4. This punishment will be eternal (Mark 9:44). II. A BLESSED LIBERATION DECLARED. 1. From the sentence of wrath (Romans 8:1). 2. From meetness to this wrath (Romans 6:14). 3. From the gloomy forebodings of wrath (1 John 4:18). 4. From the possibility of wrath (Colossians 3:3). III. THE GLORIOUS DELIVERER ANNOUNCED, EVEN JESUS. 1. Meritoriously by Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:14); 2. Instrumentally by His Word (John 8:32); 3. Efficiently by His Spirit (Romans 8:14); 4. God will deliver us personally and eternally (2 Timothy 4:8). (T. B. Baker.) (R. S. Barrett.) I. THE WRATH OF WHICH THE APOSTLE SPEAKS. 1. It is Divine wrath. Not the anger of a creature whose power is limited and whose duration is finite, but the displeasure of One who fills heaven and earth with His power, and eternity with His existence. 2. It is unmingled wrath; that is — judgment without mercy, justice without the least mixture of goodness. "They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation." 3. It is provoked wrath. It was not the original inheritance of man. He who made us, loves us; He visits us every hour with goodness, and sends us in His Gospel the freest and most gracious offers of reconciliation. But if we reject a salvation which cost Him the blood of His Son, we provoke Him to anger, and stir up His wrath. 4. It is accumulated wrath. Every repeated act of sin increases it, and will aggravate our misery in eternity. "After thy hardness and impenitent heart," says St. Paul, "thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." 5. It is future wrath. "Wrath to come," and when we have borne it millions of ages, it will still be "wrath to come," no nearer an end than it was at first, nor easier to be endured. It is eternal wrath, lasting as the holiness of Him who inflicts it, and the guilt of the sinner who bears it. II. THE WAY OF ESCAPE FROM THIS WRATH. The Apostle speaks of some who have actually escaped from it. 1. The deliverance from it is undeserved. It is true that they who have received it are a people who "have turned from idols to serve the living and true God;" but what led them to choose His service? No natural love. It was the power of the Word, accompanied by the Holy Ghost, which turned them. The deliverance, therefore, was not deserved by them, but was owing to the free and distinguishing grace of the very God whom they had long braved and hated. 2. Though undeserved, it is complete deliverance. "The wrath to come" can never touch those "whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." They are as perfectly delivered from wrath as though it had ceased to burn, or they had ceased to deserve it. 3. Hence the deliverance is an eternal deliverance. The salvation of all believers in Jesus is an eternal salvation, making a final separation between them and all possibility of condemnation. 4. The author of this deliverance. "Even Jesus." It is certain that man cannot be his own deliverer. "No man can redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him." Neither can the angels, though they" excel in strength," help him. The eternal Son, the sharer of the Father's own omnipotence, proposed Himself as the Mediator between heaven and earth, and arrested the sword of justice. "He bare our sins in His own body on the tree." And now, in consequence of His obedience unto death, "all that believe in Him are justified from all things;" their liability to punishment is done away, and done away forever; they have "passed from death unto life." So that when "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven," they will lift up their heads with joy, and shout — "Lo! this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation!" (C. Bradley, M. A.) People Paul, Silas, Silvanus, Thessalonians, Timotheus, TimothyPlaces Achaia, Macedonia, ThessalonicaTopics TRUE, Declare, Entering, Entrance, Ever-living, Idols, Images, Kind, Manner, News, Reception, Relate, Report, Serve, Shew, Speak, Themselves, Turn, Welcome, WorshipOutline 1. The Thessalonians are told both how mindful of them Paul was in thanksgiving, and prayer;5. and also how well he was persuaded of the truth and sincerity of their faith and conversion to God. Dictionary of Bible Themes 1 Thessalonians 1:9 1080 God, living 6627 conversion, nature of Library A Summary of Experience and a Body of DivinityIn those days there was a good deal of practical atheism abroad, and therefore the wonder was not so much that men left their idols, as that they turned unto the living God. It became a matter of talk all over the city, and the Jews in their violence helped to make the matter more notorious; for the mobs in the street and the attack upon the house of Jason all stirred the thousand tongues of rumour. Everybody spoke of the sudden appearance of three poor Jews, of their remarkable teaching in the synagogue, … Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 30: 1884 The Beginning of the New Testament The Christian Church Of Love to God Christ's Exaltation The Christian's Hope Man's Misery by the Fall Links 1 Thessalonians 1:9 NIV1 Thessalonians 1:9 NLT 1 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV 1 Thessalonians 1:9 NASB 1 Thessalonians 1:9 KJV 1 Thessalonians 1:9 Bible Apps 1 Thessalonians 1:9 Parallel 1 Thessalonians 1:9 Biblia Paralela 1 Thessalonians 1:9 Chinese Bible 1 Thessalonians 1:9 French Bible 1 Thessalonians 1:9 German Bible 1 Thessalonians 1:9 Commentaries Bible Hub |