Faith Turns From Sin to God

Transcript

GR 1117
1/13/1985
Faith Turns From Sin to God
1 Thessalonians 1:8-10
Gil Rugh

I Thessalonians chapter 1 in your Bibles. It I would like to read the first chapter with you as we begin our study this evening. It has been a little while since we've been in this chapter. We have been taking it somewhat piecemeal so let me read it for you as you follow a Long in your Bibles.

In chapter 1 Paul has been sharing the impact of the gospel on the Thessalonians and in verse 3 he said he was constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and Labor of Love and steadfastness of hope They were a faithful body even though Paul’s time there had been limited. The impact of the gospel and the truth of the word of God had been felt by them. They had really believed and their Lives had been transformed. Paul was confident about God's work in their Lives.
In verse 4 he says knowing, brethren be Loved by God, His choice of you. That word choice as we considered it together is the word election. His election of you. I know that He has chosen you for Himself and there was evidence of God’s electing work in their Lives. Evidence that God had indeed chosen them to salvation in Christ.

Verse 5 he talks about the evidence of that election, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction when Paul was there with Silvanus and Timothy preaching the gospel they realized that God was working in His supernatural way among the Thessalonians and drawing many of them to salvation in Christ. The result of that ministry was in verse 6 you also became imitators of us -so that verse 7 you became an example to all believers. So they had the gospel preached to them and the spirit of God took the gospel and used it in their Lives to bring about salvation and so they became believers in Christ and patterned their lives after the apostles after Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy who had ministered the word to them. And the result of that then their lives became a pattern for others to follow and that is the plan and pattern that God uses. He uses us to share the gospel with others, then He uses our lives to be a pattern for that these new believers so as they are starting their life and relationship to God they have a pattern or example to follow. That pattern or example is to be found in the one who has been instruments in bringing them to Christ. What more logical pattern or example then the one who is bringing you to Christ. His life becomes the pattern that' I follow as I become established in my relationship with Jesus
Christ and that is the process of maturing. I become more mature my life in and of itself is to be more and more of a pattern and an example for other to follow and pattern their Lives after. That is not exalting the individual because the patterns and examples being set down are the work of God the Holy Spirit in our Lives in conforming us to and shaping us to be Like Christ. And if that is going on there is nothing wrong with people pattering their Life after me, after you. We all have our weaknesses, we all have our fragilities, and our shortcomings, but nonetheless we are to be a people maturing in Christ and thus a people who are a good example for others to pattern their Lives after as well.

Not only is their choice by God evidenced in the ministry that Paul and others had in Thessalonica and the power of the Holy Spirit was demonstrated there, the transformation of Life that was seen, was also seen in the testimony now that these Thessalonians are bearing before others.

So in verse 8 he says For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you. See how the process goes, the gospel was brought to them, and they hear it and believe it, and begin to pattern their lives after mature believers so that they become an example for other to follow and now the word of God is going forth from the Thessalonians having its impact on others and the process will continue. Those who are impacted by the proclamation of the Thessalonians, and believe the gospel will experience the salvation of God, the result being they will pattern their Lives after the Thessalonians and as they mature then they will become an example for others and they will proclaim the gospel so that the word of God moves out touching more people and more and more lives. Interesting how it is put here the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you. The word of the Lord here means the word from the Lord, the word, the source of which is the Lord. It is the Lord's word that is being proclaimed. It is used often throughout the book of Acts, as a synonym for the gospel. The word of the Lord and the gospel is the same thing and its this fact a message that the message of the gospel is a message from God which gives it it's power and life. It is true, it is a message about the Lord, it is a message about God, but more than that it is a message from God and that gives it power and Life and dynamitic so that Paul could write to the Romans and say, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation, because it is the message from God which is used of God to bring about transformation in the Life when it is believed. Now Paul says the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you. That word, sounded forth denotes a resounding reverberation. Like from a horn that is trumpted forth. The picture here is that sound keeps to reverberating, keeps echoing on and on and the tense here refers something that happened in the past and the result is continuing on in the present. Perfect tense. So the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you.

This is what happened in the Thessalonian situation, and it continues on, that word, the gospel, continues to echo forth, reverberate forth, from the Thessalonians not only in Macedonia and in Achaia but in every place. Macedonia and Achaia being the two providences of Greece. But the impact of the gospel reverberating from the Thessalonians has gone on even beyond the regions of Greece so it has moved out into other places in the world. Now Thessalonica was a strategically located city, along the main Roman thoroughfare, a major seaport, so there was much commerce, much traffics through Thessalonica so you come to appreciate that the Thessalonians, remember, received the word
of God in the midst of persecution and opposition, but they believed it, it took hold of their Lives, and you see something now here you have this commercial city, and the ' - traffic, the people trafficking through this city are being impacted by the Lives of the Thessalonians, and the picture here is that the lives a of the Thessalonians are
as being transformed so that now people come in contact with them they see transformed lives and are hearing the message that brought about that transformation. And that is the combination that gives impact to the testimony of the gospel, A transformed life, as evidence of a message that is being proclaimed. That is why it is no good for me to want to share the gospel, but tell people not to look at my life. My life is to be the evidence of reality of the gospel that I am sharing and that was true of the Thessalonians. Their lives stood out in this commercial city. That is a tremendous testimony, so that people coming through here felt the impact of the Lives of the Thessalonians and their testimony regarding: the gospel was being felt in other places in the world.

Amazing how God works, how God uses various Lives. So Paul says, we don’t have any need to say anything. I don't have to tell people about you Thessalonians, they know first hand, others share about what has happened to the 1hessaLonians and what a difference has been brought about in these people. What a change is evident there. And that is what Paul wants to talk about. In verses 9 and 10. The change that has come about in the Lives of the Thessalonians, and the change in their Lives is what has made the gospel message effective in Macedonia, Achaia, and other regions of the world.

He says in verse 9, For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you, in other words, those who passes through Thessalonica, commercial people, people that were there for business, they share in other parts of the kingdom, the Roman Empire. You know these men came in and preached about Jesus, His death and resurrection and it put the city in an uproar and many of the Thessalonians believed that message and their Lives have been revolutionized. They stand out as a different people now. That is a testimony that there is something real and genuine about the message. We don't have to tell people what kind of reception we had from you. Others are telling that, and here is what happened, how you turned to God from idols to serve a Living and true God. You turned to God from idols, that is describing their conversion that summarizes a conversion experience of the Thessalonians, The verb to turn is a common word for conversion in the New Testament. You turned to God, you were converted to God from idols.

Look through the book of Acts, I want to run through several passages, because I think it is important to understand the use of this word and it's significance because it indicates something does happen in a transformation of a person when he comes to Christ. There is a turn, or a conversion, a change is brought about. Without that change there is no salvation that has occurred. Let's go back to the books of Acts and begin with chapter 3.

Acts and the third chapter Peter is preaching and in verse 19 he says, "Repent therefore and return, and there our word turn, translated here return., repent and turn, the same word we have in I Thessalonians, repent and be converted I believe the King James has it, that your sins may be wiped away, change your mind and turn, turn from your sins, turn to God, is the idea.

Look in chapter 9:35 again Peter is ministering communities of Lydda and Sharon, and all who Live at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. There is our word again. There is a turning to the Lord, a turning from something, to the Lord. They turned from what had been their practice, what had been the object of their faith, and now turned to the Lord.

Look in chapter 14 perhaps the most similar to all these passages to what we have in I Thessalonians is in Acts chapter 14, verse 15. Look in Acts l4i 14 for the context, But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out and saying, ’’Men why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, the issue here is that the also people wanted to worship Paul and Barnabus, We are men of the same nature as you and preach the gospel to you, note the purpose in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them. You note.
Paul said we preached the gospel to you, that you might turn from empty things to the Living God. That is the process of conversion. When a person comes to believe in Jesus Christ there is a turning of his Life, a turning from the empty things that had formerly been trusted and relied upon and a turning to trust in Jesus Christ. That turning is evidenced in a transformed Life, because the focal point of my Life and the basis of my life is no longer what it used to be. Empty, bain, worthless things.

Look over in Acts chapter 26:18, Paul is relating his conversion experience here before Agrippa, Herod Agrippa, and in v. 16 he relates that the Lord told him to arise, and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness vl7 delivering you from Jews and from-the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, v 18, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and in inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” You see, you turn from the former things, you turn from the old things, you turn from the things you have formerly trusted, you turn from darkness to light, you turn from the dominion of Satan to God, and in that you receive forgiveness of sins. Down in verse 20 but kept declaring - both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. So valid presentation of the gospel messages, repent and turn to God. What does that demand? It demands that a person change their mind and as a result of their change of mind about God and their sin and salvation, they turn from what they had been trusting and they turn to the living God. There is a turning or a conversion that takes place. Acts 28:27 Paul preaching from Isaiah verse 26, We’ll just pick up in verse 2, FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES: LEST THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND TURN AGAIN, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM." And that word turn again is the word we have in I Thessalonians. If they would turn they would be healed. They will not turn, and they will not be healed.

One other passage just so you can see it is used outside of Acts, I Corinthians 3:16 Paul is talking about here that in unbelief, the heart if veiled from seeing and understanding the truth concerning Christ as revealed in the word of God. So the unbeliever, particularly the unbelieving Jew reads the 0ld Testament with a veil over his heart. He did not see Christ revealed there, but Look at verse 16. BUT WHENEVER A MAN TURNS TO THE LORD, THE VEIL IS TAKEN AWAY See there, a picture of someone turning to the Lord, they turn from what they have been trusting they are turning to the Lord, and that brings about a conversion experience.

Come back to I Thessalonians 1. The point that I want to stress then is that in genuine biblical conversion there is a change or a turn in the Life. There is a discussion going on about some of these issues now, and I want to make my position clear on this. That I believe in a genuine conversion there must be a change or a turning in the life. That is what conversion is, that is what salvation is. It is a turning from something to something. It is a turning from idols,' from empty things, from what has been the focal point of my life, the object of my faith to the Living God, to His Son Jesus Christ. So I take it there is a break that comes about when genuine conversion occurs, Paul offers that here how you turned to God from idols. No question here that they would come to Christ and trust idols, there had to be a turning, in their salvation, they had to come and recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior, and direct their faith now to Kim and Him alone. That involved a turning in what they had been trusting. That brings about a revolution of a Life. The focal point of that life is totally changed.

Leon Morris had a statement that I find myself in agreement with. Let me quote it to you. "Becoming a Christian involves a very definite break with non Christian habits. Whatever our previous background has been there must be a turning from our idols. The act of conversion involves a change of the direction of the will. There is a decisive happening, a reorientation of the whole of Life.” I think that is what happens in salvation. That is what wa3 so dramatic about the Thessalonians. That is what had made such an impact; that these people were different, they had been transformed. You note what he goes on to say here. ”Two things accomplished in this burning, they turned to God from idols, first to serve a Living and true God. In that turning is a turn to become the slave. The word serve means to serve as a slave. Indicates there has been a complete surrender or submission to God. You turn to serve, in effect you turn to become a slave of the Living God. As I would understand the Old and New Testament alike that is involved in our conversion and salvation experience, when a person come to believe in Jesus Christ that he has turned from what he has been trusting to the Living God to become the slave of the Living God, to serve the Living God. Present tense here indicates it is a Life of continuous, complete, service. There has been a yielding , if you will to God. My understanding is that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. Discussion goes on around Lordship salvation.
My understanding is Jesus Christ must be LORD to be Savior, because involved in salvation is a turning to serve the living God. To become the slave of the Living God, and apart from that there is no salvation. Now the full outworking of that and recognition of that and Living out of that i3 the process of our maturing in Christ, but there is the turning to serve.

John Calvin wrote, only the man who has learned to put himself holy in subjection to God is truly converted to Him would want to be careful about the theology of that statement, but I believe the thrust of it agrees with what I am saying. That there is a complete subjection when there is a saving faith. I have come to rely upon God a Lone, in doing that I have submitted myself completely to His salvation thus I have turned to serve Him, a living and true God. Stress here on the Living and true God emphasizes the fact that He is the only one who is worthy to be the Lord, who is worthy to be served, the Living God, in contrast to the lifeless, empty idols. God has called over in Acts 14:15 vain things, empty worth less things. They turned from idols to God. What are idols? They are empty, worthless things? whatever the idols of our Life may be, whatever has been the focal point of our Lives, whatever we have been trusting and re Lying upon, empty, and worth Less, but He is the Living God, He is the true God, true in the sense of genuine, He is not counterfeit, He is genuine, so He is the God that we should and do serve. That is what happened to the Thessalonians. They turned from idols to serve the Living God. To become slaves of the Living God, and secondly to wait for His Son. So salvation has occurred, their life has turned now they are the slaves of God, and His Son Jesus Christ and they are anticipating waiting the coming of His Son Jesus Christ, to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

The second coming of Christ is the theme pervades both the first and second epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians. The idea here to wait for His Son, one Lexicon commentator gave the definition to await, to expect, to wait up for I like that last one, to wait up for, gives the idea that we are aware of that, you're waiting up for someone, like when your children are out late. You are waiting up for them. There is an expectancy and anticipation about His coming. So here are the Thessalonians, not only have they turned to serve God, but as they turned and became servants of God it is also with the expectation and anticipation that Jesus Christ is coming from heaven and they are eagerly, and anxiously anticipating His coming. They are waiting, denoting their continual, attitude and that goes along with their serving. So we don't just sit back and prop up our feet now and wait for Christ to come because we have turned to serve Him. If I am all wrapped up in serving and lose sight of the fact that I am expecting Him to come, so they balance one another. I am to be occupied in serving Him as I wait for Christ to come from heaven. That is the pLan of God. That is what is involved when He saved me. He brought about my conversion, if you will that I might become His servant as I waited for His Son to return from heaven.

Paul here identifies Christ as the one whom He raised from the dead, It is interesting that the resurrection of Christ is placed in the middle here, to wait for His Son from heaven, and His Son is the one who delivers us from the wrath to come, but that is all contingent, upon the fact He was raised from the dead. That is the heart of the matter Now it is the heart of the matter, not because I am saved by the resurrection of Christ because the penalty for sin death, but it is the resurrection that gives validity to the death of Christ, and shows that did His death indeed accomplish our redemption, that my expectation and hope in His second coming is just not some pie in the sky ideal. How do I know that there is substance and reality to the hope that I have that Jesus Christ is coming again. Very simply. He has raised from the dead. There is no question about the fact that He is coming again. He is the one that was raised from the dead. This is the thrust and the point of Paul in I Corinthians 15. You might turn there quickly.

I Corinthians 15 where Paul says in verse 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins. You see if Christ hasn’t 'been raised from the dead, His death was not able to accomplish redemption and so my faith in Him would be of no value, verse 20, But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are .asleep. So*’ you see His resurrection is my guarantee and assurance that I too shall experience resurrection. So it is very logical that Paul when he says that when we have turned to God to wait for His son from heaven this is the one whom God ha3 raised from the dead and that is His assurance to me that I will experience that resurrection and transformation. So the resurrection becomes very crucial when I talk about waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Now back to 1 Thessalonians 1:10. It's the one whom He raised from the dead, but Paul can't stop there, he has to further identify Him that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Jesus is the rescuer,, that word deliver means to deliver or to rescue and He is the one who will deliver us, rescue us, from the wrath to come It seems to me in the context here and the context of I and II Thessalonians the wrath to come is particularly focusing on the wrath of the tribulation, that will precede the second coming of Christ to earth. We will see that as we study the prophetic portions of I and II Thessalonians that the wrath of God is revealed it's fullness during that period of time. Turn over to chapter 5 of Thessalonians. verse 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has been talking here about the day of the Lord, and the destruction that comes in that day. We as believers are promised deliverance from that wrath. Look over in Revelation, the sixth chapter.

Revelation 6: 16 as the kings and the great men, and the commanders and the strong and so on the earth v. 16 in the tribulation period said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great dowy of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” So that period of time, is the period of the wrath of God and we are promised deliverance from that, so we are awaiting His Son from heaven, the one who is raised from the dead, Jesus the one who will rescue us from coming wrath. Now it is also true of course that Christ will rescue us from the coming wrath of God in coming judgment as we look at the judgment seats that will take place in Scripture. So we can say the focal point of what Paul is talking about in the context of the Thessalonians has to do with the tribulation. It naturally, also involves the fact we are those who will be spared the wrath of God in the tribulation, but we are also spared the wrath that will come upon the unbeliever in the climaxing judgments of that tribulation as well.


Romans 1: l8 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness, ungodliness. Over in Romans 2:5 he speaks to the same subject but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. So there are those who are storing up the wrath of God on them in judgment. We as believers are delivered from that. In the gospel of John 3:36 We are told, He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. “So there are only two alternatives, to have life in Christ, or to be one who will be from God the recipient of the wrath of God. You either have Life or you have wrath from God. Now Jesus Christ is the one who rescues us from the wrath of God by paying the penalty for our sin. By taking our place, dying on the cross, bearing our sins in His body there are on the cross, so that God might justly offer to us that free gift of eternal life. That free gift is received when one recognizes his sinfulness, turns from his sin, turns to the Living God, places his trust in Christ alone, as the one who loved him and died for him, then he is as3urred that he is delivered from the wrath to come. That Jesus Christ indeed will be the one to rescue him from that coming wrath.

So very dear section on the salvation, to see the impact of the Thessalonians life, that their turning from God to idols has been a radical transformation of their Life. This is consistent with the rest of the teaching of the New Testament. As John writes in his first epistle in the third chapter I John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; the children of devil practice sin, the children of God holiness and righteousness. The character of God is seen in His children. That radical change that is brought about evidences itself in my Life and the way that my life is lived. That I am one who is turned to serve, to become the slave of the living God. Now from being a slave to sin and Satan, to slave of righteousness do you not think there would be a radical measure difference in my Life? Is it any wonder that the impact of the Thessalonians Life was felt in a dramatic way in the town of Thessalonica. Felt by those who passed through that city, as those who served the living God, as they awaited His Son from heaven, that gave them confidence, that gives them assurance, you know they are serving God as always happens for a people who manifest a transformed life they stand out, and that grates upon sinful people. That antagonize and creates tension which results in persecution and hardship. So important for the Thessalonians as they faithfully serve as the slaves of God to keep their attention on the hope that is theirs waiting the coming of Jesus Christ. Being reminded that He will deliver them from the wrath of God which is going to come. That should be an encouraging and reinforcing thing for them and in their service for Him in Thessalonica.

That ought to be the pattern in our lives too in this particular city. Are we making that kind of impact? I wonder if the people who come to visit this city in a convention, or whatever reason, go away saying the believers in that city are something else. Know, there are people there whose lives have been transformed; they are radically different. The way they live, the commitment of their lives, evidences the fact that something dramatic has happened to them and they attribute it all to having placed their faith in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and later raised from the dead. Can you believe that? I wonder if that is the kind of impact our lives are making on people who come to this city. On people who live here, that is what happened to Thessalonica. Are our Lives so different that the impact of the gospel as we proclaim it is reinforced by the transformed Life. You know the danger of our society? We are lost somewhere in the swirl of what is going on here. We fail to see that we are those who have been converted, who have been turned, from the vain, empty things, to become the slaves of the Living and true God. So we have Lives that are different, that could be nothing else but different, not to be strange to be strange, we are a people whose lives are now lived as slaves of God, Righteousness and holiness, His character characterize us, we are a people waiting His Son from heaven, as we serve Him. If that is the character of our Lives then we will find that the impact of the gospel as we proclaim felt in a dramatic way by the people because it is the transformed Life supporting the proclamation of the truth of the gospel that is used of the Spirit to bring about dramatic impact. I trust that will be true of us as a body of believers. That our testimony will be felt not only in this city but all over as we are privileged to make know Christ as our Savior.

Let’s pray together.