Kept By Our Faithful God

Chapter 5, beginning in verse 23, to the end of the letter. Children, here are your questions for this evening. First, what is the only way sinners can come to be at peace with God? Two, how can believers have confidence that all will be well for them when Jesus returns? Three, Paul’s letter was written a long time ago. How is it that we can benefit from what we read in it today? 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 23. This is the word of God.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

There ends the reading of God’s word. Let’s pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you have preserved exactly what we need in your scriptures to understand faith and life. Lord, we pray now as we consider this passage. At the end of this letter that you’ve given to us, we ask that you administer to us through your word and through the preaching of your word. So please send your Holy Spirit, help us to hear, help us to receive, help us to respond appropriately to what you’ll have us receive tonight. In Jesus name, amen.

Well, if you receive a precious letter from someone who loves you, who cares for you, you’re going to take it all in you will definitely read it closely and you might read it once or twice and you might pull it out every now and then to read it again.

The church of Thessalonica received such a letter from the apostle Paul. Not only did he have, excuse me, authority as an apostle, but he had an affectionate love for the people there. He cared deeply for this church. They, on the other hand, I’m sure understood that what they had in the letter that he sent was of immense value. As immense value, they received it as instruction from the Lord, just as we can receive it as instruction from the Lord. We understand that, excuse me, the Bible is the inerrant, infallible word of God, inerrant in its original languages, infallible in its content. Through preservation, through transmission and through translation, we have this word and we have this letter that God by design preserved for us in his scriptures.

It’s fair to say that even though he uses human instruments, and here he uses the personality of Paul in this letter, we can say that we actually have the God-breathed word as Paul himself described scripture in 2 Timothy 3.15. We can say that we have the word in keeping with what this letter is, we can say we actually have a letter from God through the apostle Paul. As we go through the letter, this inspired word of God, we recognize that Paul has been giving encouragement and assurance to the church.

Just to kind of review rather briefly, he thanks God for what he’s done in the church. He thanks God that they received the word of the gospel as the word of God, which it truly is. He encourages them that their ministry is a ministry that pleases God.

He exhorts them to stand firm in affliction. He instructs them to walk well in the Lord. He gives the most encouraging message about the return of Christ and life after death. He reminds them that they need to be spiritually alert, awake, and sober. And he gives some marks of a healthy church towards the end here. Now, in closing of the letter, we have a prayer, we have a benediction, and then some final instructions.

It’s a powerful theme right here at the end that gives us hope in the Lord, in our Lord. He is the God of peace. He is our faithful God. He gives us hope for the future and he gives us strength for today. So we think about what Paul writes here. He mentions the God of peace. It is true that for the people of God through Christ, there is peace with God. Very often in doxologies or in benedictions, there’s the blessing of may the peace of God be with you. Here, it’s speaking of the source of that peace, God himself, God himself.

He’s the one who’s made a way for peace for us. You have to remember that all of us by nature are sinners. All of us by nature were at war with God, at enmity with God, and it’s God who came to sinners like us and made peace with us, and he did so by sending his son, Jesus. Paul writes in Romans, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only that, God provides inner peace for us. For those who belong to the Lord, he gives inner peace.

Jesus says, I give my peace to you. It’s a peace that the world cannot give. He says that, To the disciples as he’s leaving he’s going to send the Holy Spirit my peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you? Let not your hearts be troubled Neither let them be afraid Paul writes in Philippians, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And so he makes peace. where we could never make peace with him. He provides peace and one day everything that causes trouble, everything that’s against peace will be destroyed. He is the God of peace.

We can take great delight that in Christ he’s our faithful God. He’s the one that Paul reminds us is the one who is faithful. Again, he’s the one who established us in Christ. He’s the one who provided the way. He’s the one who saved us, and God is not going to take salvation away for someone who believes in him. Because we’re safely in his care, he will not abandon us. He will never leave us or forsake us. And so our salvation in Christ is secure, but it’ll also bring us through all kinds of trials and tribulations if we face them.

I’m not a poetry reader, but I would like to read at least part of a hymn, How Firm a Foundation, and it’s a take on Isaiah 41. Bear with me as I read just some of the promises that God is faithful and he will be with us. How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he has said?

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. Fear not, for I am with you. Oh, be not dismayed, for I am your God and will still give you aid. I’ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand, upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. When through the deep waters I call you to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow. For I will be with you, your troubles to bless, and sanctify to you your deepest distress. When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie, my grace all sufficient will be your supply. The flame shall not hurt you, I only design your dross to consume. and your gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”

What a great comfort, reflection on God’s word, his promise to his people. He is our God. He will keep us. He’s our hope for the future. You notice that Paul says he is faithful. He will do it. And what I think he’s doing there is he’s saying to the Christians, put your fears to rest. You might be weak, you might struggle, you might stammer and stumble in your faith, but God is the one who is going to keep you. Don’t slack off in your pursuit of life in Christ, but don’t live in fear. He’s not going to drop you somewhere along the line. In fact, he will bring you to completion.

Paul’s prayer for that is a confident prayer that you in body, in spirit and soul and body, your whole you will be kept. going through this process of sanctification. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, in one sense, we’ve been sanctified. We’ve been made holy, set aside for God, but we’re being changed. We’re being sanctified as willing subjects, teaching, being taught to embrace what God loves and despise what He hates. We’re being made like Christ. That’s what we want, isn’t it? We pray that, but what a difficult thing it is to be that humble. We just had our confession of Christ tonight. What a humbling thing that is to think that the refining that has to take place in us to be made like Christ, it frankly is kind of a frightening prayer. Jesus, God, make me like your son, Jesus. We understand at the same time that we will never be really like Jesus, the Son of God, human flesh, now reigning in eternity. But we do know that one day we will be made perfect. Won’t happen in this life.

I think about the holiness movement. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the holiness movement, but this pocket of Christians that believes that they can attain holiness in this life. I thought that was a dead theology, but recently I’ve heard two preachers, so-called preachers or false prophets, false teachers, say that they don’t sin. And I would want to ask anyone in the holiness movement or those two so-called preachers, have you ever looked in the mirror and can you honestly say to yourself that you’re without sin?

It’s not going to be complete in this life, but one day it will be complete. And not only will all of our sorrows and our fears be gone, our tears washed away, but people, our sins will be gone. You ever pause to think about that? What would I be like without my sin? It’s hard to fathom, but it’s true. Save to sin no more. Save to sin no more. When we step into His presence, we’ll be with Him forever.

Do you remember back when we were getting comforted In the day of the Lord, when the people were wondering about their loved ones who died in the Lord, and what would it be like? There’s one little phrase that we really want to hold on to, because again, it’s the word of God and it’s true. He talks about those who will be caught up with the others. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. we will always be with the Lord.

What will that be like? What will that be like? Think of both stages of the glorious mystery of the afterlife, when our day comes and we step into heaven. And then in that great resurrection day, what will that be like as we enter into a timeless eternity, always with the Lord?

Perpetual peaceful existence in the presence of the Lord. Timeless existence. You can only begin to go there when you think about how much real presence of the glory of God we would even be able to stand as glorified saints. The unfolding glory of God before us always.

And then seeing the face of Jesus. who was crucified for us and then ascended into heaven, who right now is behind a very thin veil. Understand that when Jesus ascended into heaven, he went up into the clouds, but there’s a very thin veil, as thin as the clouds, between us and the real presence of Jesus. And then in that day will begin at least in that unfolding knowledge to more fully understand the person of the Holy Spirit and his work and how he works now and where he’ll work in our lives in eternity. It’s almost too much to take, but remember, we will be with him forever.

That is our hope for the future. That’s what Paul prays May you be kept lameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s our hope for the future. But it’s our strength for today also. We’re in the here and now. The first readers of this letter were in the here and now. They needed to have encouragement. And the things that Paul wrote were to give them and to give us encouragement.

We’re constantly in his presence. This God, the one God, our God is with us always. And we need to simply trust him when he says, I will never leave you or forsake you. And God is present among his people. God is known among his people as the Psalm says. He is here with us whenever we’re gathered together, even when we’re alone, he is with us.

But you’ll note in Paul’s letters and in this letter, and throughout the history of the church, that there is a church. And so Paul also touches on the issue of the church in a fellowship. Scripture knows nothing of isolated Christians. There are always qualifiers, there are always situations where people can’t be with the church, but being together is assumed. that we are in this family together, we’re in this household together, we’re in this nation together, we’re in this community together.

And so Paul gives them instructions. Paul loves the church. Paul loves the church because God loves the church. And he is always working on building fellowship among the believers. How does that look? Well, again, being in fellowship with one another, being in prayer, we’re to be a praying body, Paul says, pray for us. He has been praying for the Church of Thessalonica. But Paul, mighty apostle as he is, knows his weakness and he knows that he needs prayer. And so he asked them to pray for him and he asked them to pray for his companions. And then the church is to be in a context of love.

I want you to note the greeting. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. Paul is sending, as it were, a holy kiss. You know how we say, say hi to such and such, give my love to such and such. And people ask us to do it and then we forget anyway, but we ask people to pass on our affections to other people. And Paul is saying, pass on my affections to the other people, send them my holy kiss. But he also, he also instructs the church to greet one another with a holy kiss. He does so in Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Is it a commandment? Not really. But understand Paul’s point. Understand Paul’s point. Take it to heart.

Greet one another with love and affection. It looks different in different cultures. Sometimes there is a kiss. In many places in Europe, there’s a kiss on each cheek. There’s hugs, there’s handshakes. Some cultures you bow. Some cultures you put your palms together and bow. All signs of respect, also to be signs of love. Some churches, like ours, resort to fist pumps and elbow pumps when illness is going around.

I think most of us are relieved that we don’t have to greet one another with a holy kiss. But the point is that we’re to be affectionately, not infectionately, because that’s why we do fist pumps, affectionately inclined towards one another. It comes from the heart.

Someone in our church, a couple from our church called me one day and they said, there’s a pastor here from Kenya. It’s almost like he came in from nowhere and he wants to meet you. Can you come over? I’m like, okay, I’ll go over and meet this pastor from Kenya.

So I walk in their house and we looked at each other, never have seen each other before, did not know each other. And immediately we were affectionately disposed towards one another and we gave each other a big hug and an embrace. I found out later to the amusement of the host couple. Because they’re like, how do these people just automatically hug each other when they don’t even know each other? But sometimes there’s that deep connection, and it really is a beautiful thing.

But the point that Paul is making is when you see a brother or sister, greet them with heartfelt affection. Don’t fake it. Make sure it’s real. And the way you do this is to remember who you are and who they are in Christ. You have a common father. You have a bond that is thicker than the blood of family. You have a bond in the blood of Jesus. You have a bond in the blood of Jesus.

We have his word. We have God’s word. Paul writes, I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. He wants to make sure that they hear it. The word of God is for everyone. It’s not to be hidden from anyone. Make sure that everybody reads this word. Make sure that everybody understands, that they can understand the language, that they can understand the concept. Have this read to everyone. Within this word, we have God’s word, that He is faithful, but we also have so much in this Word to assure us, to guide us, to direct us, to bless us, to convict us. That’s what we have in God’s word.

And so Paul says, pass this on. I think Paul had a sense. I don’t know how this works. I don’t think at that time he had a sense that this would be included in the canon of scripture that would come down for ages to ages, 2000 plus years later to be read and enjoyed in covenant church.

But he knew that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write what he wrote, and God in his wisdom preserved this letter for us. And we have it. And we can learn from it and be encouraged by it. If you were to go back and read through this again, you will appreciate even more the fact that God has given us this letter. If I were to go back and preach this again, I would surely preach in a lot more depth than I did this summer. And I would certainly see more things myself, things that I missed, things that come to light.

But as we close this letter, I hope you’ve been encouraged by what God has given us through the Apostle Paul. I hope you’ve been encouraged. I hope you’ve been blessed. I even hope you’ve been convicted because if you’ve been convicted, understand it’s out of love. But I hope that you’ve cherished this word and that the Lord used my words to help you. As far as this word at the end is a benediction, this last section before the final instructions, I love what Matthew Henry has to say.

We need no more to make us happy than to know that grace which our Lord Jesus Christ has manifested. Be interested in that grace which he has purchased and partake of that grace which dwells in him as the head of the church. This is an ever flowing and overflowing fountain of grace to supply all our wants. See if it stands true as I close with the words of the benediction, the blessing, the prayer. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who calls you as faithful. He will surely do it. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Let’s pray.

Lord, our God, once again, we thank you for your word. Lord, we know that you have revealed yourself in creation. We know that deep down inside, every human knows that there is a God, but because of our sinful blindness, we cannot see and we cannot know you.

But in your love, you’ve given us your word and you’ve given us your spirit so that we might receive and believe in your word. Your word is good because it is your word. You have given us your word. We thank you for the wonderful promises of assurance of your persevering with us of your bringing us to completion. And we ask that we would always hold your word for what it is, the very words of you, our God. Tonight, we’re thankful for all that you are and all that you’ve said. Help us to be both hearers and doers of your word, to your glory for the good of our souls and for those around us as well. We come to you in the name of our Savior Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit.