1 Thessalonians, chapter 3. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 3. It's always exciting when someone accepts the Lord as their Savior and you have a young babe in Christ, a new convert. When you see somebody who is new like that, and we have some new converts here, you want the best for them. But let me ask you this, what is it that you should desire for a new believer? What is it you should wish for them? In other words, how should one pray for a new believer? With that in mind, follow as I read verse Thessalonians 3, and I'm gonna start with verse 10, although we're actually going to be considering verses 11 to 13 this morning. Verse 10 says, night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love, one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. As you consider what you might pray for a new believer, I'd like you to consider what Paul would pray for these new believers in this church at Thessalonica. Verse 13 shows us the end or the goal of Paul's prayer request. What that God may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness. That God would establish the hearts of these new believers unblameable in holiness. Now, that is a necessary prayer request for new believers. Why? Go back to chapter one and look at verse nine. Out of what were these people saved? For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. They were saved out of idolatry. They were saved out of paganism. Again, what is Paul's request? That God may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before him. Now, if that is a prayer request for new believers, Shouldn't that already be true of old believers? If this is something we're gonna pray for new believers, then those of you who are, and I use these, put the word old in quotes because I'm talking about somebody who's been saved for some time, shouldn't it already be true that your hearts have been established unblameable in holiness? What is it that we pray for for people today? Holiness is somehow something that people are avoiding in preaching. Holiness is somehow something that people look at as legalism. And yet that is what Paul is praying or wishing for these new believers. And that's what I want to challenge you about this morning. This that should already be true of all believers is what he is praying for these new believers. That's his prayer request. Our prayer requests tend to focus on physical health and finances and family and so forth, and that's good and fine. But how often do we pray for the spiritual welfare of one another? How often do you pray for the spiritual well-being of your fellow members here at West Side Baptist Church? How often do we pray for the spiritual well-being of those in our family? That's the request that the Apostle Paul has. That's the one request that encompasses all those others I've mentioned, physical health, financial health, and family. So this morning I want us to look at these verses, but just to back up on the outline, and you should have an outline in your bulletin, we saw in verses 1 to 5 that Paul had a concern for the faithfulness of these folks in affliction. And number two, which encompasses verse 6-13, we see the confirmation of faithfulness and affliction because Timothy had gone to them, Paul sent Timothy to confirm their faith or to report back to him. And Paul's response to Timothy's glad tidings that you see in verses 1-5, those are the glad tidings that we see in verses 6 and following, that was an encouragement to the Apostle Paul. He says, we were comforted. Verse six, in other words, we were encouraged by your spiritual condition, by your personal attitude, and by your stable position. Remember what he said there in verse eight? For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. And now he's going to emphasize that when he gets to verses 11 to 13. We see the elation, that's his response. In verse nine, the joy that he has upon hearing Timothy's report. And then we see in verses 10 to 13 his entreating, or his praying exceedingly. Verse 10 that we've already looked at, we see Paul's prayer request for the writers. That's Paul, Silas, and Timothy, those who are writing this epistle, Paul in particular. Paul's request for himself and his other fellow missionaries was that we might see your face and perfect your faith. Paul wants to see them face to face to put in order that which is deficient or lacking in their faith. And then secondly, under his entreating, we see Paul's request for the readers. That's what we're gonna look at this morning, verses 11 to 13. Note how God is identified in verse 11. Let's just read that again. Now God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. God himself. If Paul's petition is to be granted, it must be God himself doing it. And he says, and our Father. That refers to the same person as God himself. not only the father of Jesus Christ his son but of us because notice he uses the word our father and then he says and our Lord Jesus Christ our Lord the Lord of us is the Jesus who walked this earth but I want you to notice something here God is our Father and God is our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is addressing one person here. I want us to read this again because I want you to get this. God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ is one. How do we know that? Because of the grammy here, because of the way it's expressed here, at least from this verse, if you have not yet had it settled in your heart that Jesus Christ is God, then you need to get that settled. This is speaking of the deity of Jesus Christ. To make Christ one with the Father, in the prerogative of hearing and answering prayer is to bracket him with the Father as equal in power and glory, so says D. Edmund Hebert in his commentary." You see, folks, Paul's prayer is addressed to one person. But it's not addressed directly to God, but here it's expressed as a prayer request or as a prayer wish. There's three verbs that are in what they call the optative mood. I'm not trying to teach you Greek, but I just have to say this so I can go on a little bit. Look at these three verbs. You're gonna see this verse in verse 11. It's the verb direct. In verse 12, there's two other verses in this mode or this mood. It's increase and abound. It's a mode that expresses wish. We might express a wish this way. Oh, that such and such might happen. Or may God be with you. That's how we would express a wish. So let's express it that way as we read this. Verse 11, may God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you. And may the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another. So this is the Apostle Paul's wish for these people. And he has two main requests here. Number one, may God direct us. Do you see that in verse 11? May God direct us. And there's something else I need to point out about that word direct. It is a verb. And you would think that that verb would be in the plural. Now I want you to get this. I know you're not coming here for a grammar lesson. But we've got to understand how the Bible is written. And this is going to make a very poignant point. If that verb is in the singular, if the verb direct is singular, then there ought to be a singular subject, correct? Because subject and verb ought to agree. In other words, let's use an example of a subject and verb that does not agree. Can you think of a way to have a plural subject and a singular verb and make it sound right? You can't do that unless you're used to using poor grammar. Look at this. You know what you have here? You've got God himself, you've got our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. You've got what we would consider plural here. There's more, people would say there's more than one person listed here. But you know what the verb is, the verb direct? It's singular. Why is Paul using a singular verb? Tell you why. Because the subject is singular. The subject is God, who is our Father, who is our Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, this is a verse that you can use when you talk to somebody who does not believe in the deity of Christ. You can say, listen, you go to 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 11, and the deity of Christ is clearly expressed by the Apostle Paul. Jesus Christ is one with the Father, and the Apostle Paul clearly accepts this truth. He accepts what Jesus said when Jesus said, I and my Father are one. That verb direct is singular, but I also want you to notice that verb direct is used only two other times in the New Testament. So here it is used the third time, and all three times it has the sense of divine providence controlling human action. In other words, Paul, if he's going to see these Thessalonians because he is expressing this desire, oh may God Himself, our Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. Why can't Paul see them? Because you go back to chapter two, you look at verse 18, and somebody's hindering him. Remember who it is? Satan is hindering him. If we're going to see him, with Satan hindering us, it's in God's hands. May he direct our way unto you. Now this is why I state this as a request for the readers. You would think, well this is a request for the writers, and it is. but this is for the benefit of the readers. It would benefit the readers more if Paul and Silas and Timothy could actually go and see them face-to-face. Here again we see this face-to-face aspect of the fellowship that we have one with another. You cannot truly fellowship through Facebook. You cannot truly fellowship even with Skype. As good as it is to see somebody on Skype, I want to see them face to face. I tell you, it's very, it's a blessing to have the technology today where we can Skype our son, Benjamin. He can Skype us from his barracks there at Fort Bragg. But you know what? That just doesn't mean as much as when I'm able to see him and put my arms around him or my sons, Jesse and Beric. It's just not the same to Skype somebody. And folks, it is not the same unless you can see someone face to face. and truly fellowship with them. That's how this would benefit these readers. Here's why it would benefit them. Because they would actually see the life of Paul. They would see the life of Sidus. They would see the life of Timothy. And they would be able to see by their example the holiness that the Apostle Paul is exhorting them to have in verse 13. It is that iron sharpening iron that believers have with one another that we must have. So here's this request. May God direct us. Here's the second request. May God develop you. May God direct us, but may He develop you. Verses 12 and 13. I want you to see first of all the process of their development that you'll see in verse 12. The process is first of all seen in the trainer or the teacher. and the Lord make you to increase. Who's the trainer here? Who's the one who should make them increase? It is the Lord. Who is the Lord? He is the one mentioned in verse 11. God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. May He Himself make you to increase. So whether or not the Apostle Paul is able to see these people face to face, because he's being hindered by Satan, At least he has this prayer request. Even if we can't make it to see you, may the Lord increase, make you to increase and to abound. This is something the Lord must do, folks. That's why I say he's the trainer in the process. He who must direct the writers is the same who must develop the readers. And he says to increase and abound. Why doesn't he just say to increase? Or why doesn't he just say to abound? It seems like he's repeating himself. Two synonyms. And in a sense he is. But the first, the word increase, is the cause of the second. That you might increase to the point of abounding in your love. So when the increasing takes place, the result is the abounding. But I've got a question. What is it that should be developing? As it is said here, what is it that should be increasing to abounding? That brings us to number two, the tool for the process. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love. Now, I've got to admit, I struggle with this all week. I told my wife I spent half a day on this one word, this one phrase, in love. In love. In the original language, there is no preposition there. But the word love is in the dative case. In other words, it could be in love, by love, through love. You have to provide the preposition because it's in such a case. The King James writers have rightfully put the word in there. Make you to increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. So what about this love? Is that the tool for the process of making them to increase and to abound? Yes, I believe it is. I don't believe Paul is wishing for them to increase. Paul is wishing for them to increase and abound. Not for their love to increase and to abound. You've got to really pay attention to get this. Paul is not wishing for them to increase and abound, that their love would do that, but that they themselves would do that. The love is the tool whereby this is going to take place. Let's go on so that you can understand what this is saying. We get to the third part, the target of the process. By the instrument of love, he is wishing that they would increase and abound toward one another. By the instrument of love, that they would increase and abound toward all men. By the instrument of love, that they would increase and abound even as we do toward you. So it brings us back to the question, what is it that should be increasing to abounding? Some would say, well, it's love. I believe it's what you find in verse 13 that should be increasing and abounding. So to answer what should be developing or increasing to the point of abounding, it's not love. That's part of the process. It is in love or by love that the product, and that's our second point here in verse 13, the product of the development, that's how that takes place. You see, let me explain it this way. Sometimes we believe that the end of everything is love. Oh, if everybody would just love everybody more. But what's the end here? I mean, it very plainly says in verse 13, to the end that. What's the end? What is the goal? The goal is that He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness. You see, people will spend all day on verse 12, and we should, but folks, he is leading up to verse 13. What is it that to be true of every believer? That by means of love, you are becoming more and more holy. That's why I'm saying that the love is a tool. It is not the end. It is the tool by which we increase and abound toward one another, toward all men, even as we do toward you. In other words, what is it that they should see in our lives? Jesus talks very much about how there should be love in our lives and that men should see that. But if there is holiness in your life, they will see the love. The product of their development, that is the end or the goal of verses 11 to 13. This is the purpose of the Lord making you to increase and abound in love toward one another. This is the evidence of love toward each other and toward all men. It's holiness. It's holiness. That's the desired product. That is the product of their development. What's Paul's wish? Hearts that are established. That word established means firm, unchanging. Last week I preached on Luke chapter 16, on hell. And remember, as I was preaching that message, we came to a verse, it's Luke 16, verse 26, where the rich man in hell is pleading for someone to come and bring a drop of water and put it on his tongue. And Abraham has this reply, can't happen because between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed. That's the same word established here. In other words, can't change it. It's firm. Don't even ask me about that anymore, rich man, because there is a great gulf that is fixed. That's Paul's desire for these believers. To the end, he may establish hearts that are fixed, unchanging. The term heart is a scriptural term for the inner life, for your thoughts, for your feelings, for your will. Somebody tells how among the students at a well-known college, there was a young man who had to get about on crutches. And he had an unusual talent for friendliness and optimism. And he won the respect, the deep respect of his classmates. One day, one of the students asked him what had caused his deformity. And he said, well, infantile paralysis. And the other student replied, man, what a misfortune. that that would happen to you. How is it that you can face the world the way you do with such positiveness? And the young man replied, the disease never touched my heart. You see, folks, it is the heart that affects what's on the outside. And so when you see somebody who's not living a holy life, Does that tell you a little bit about what's on the inside? Something is lacking on the inside. If there is true holiness, that's why Paul is saying to the enemy, establish your hearts unblameable in holiness. You see, it is possible for you to put on the act of being holy. And it never come from the heart. And so today, people wrongfully say, well, don't focus on your actions and so forth. No, I think actions need to be taught, but they need to be taught as coming from the heart. You need to deal with the heart. That's why when you deal with children and discipline, you still deal with them about the action. But you still deal with them on the fact that something's wrong with your heart here, and we need to deal with the heart. I want you to see the reference of the established hearts. It's holiness. In what does Paul desire them to be established? Holiness. That's purity of life. It's the quality being set apart to God. It's our inward standing in Christ that is revealed by our outward state. And I want to repeat that our inward standing is revealed by our outward state. This holiness, he says, is unblameable. How in the world do you have unblameable holiness? Please understand, it does not say sinless. That is impossible. As Hebert said, it must ever be their aspiration and aim to so live that no fault may be found in them, that nothing in their conduct can be censured as evil. You say, that's impossible, but that should be our goal. That ought to be what we strive for, is that kind of holiness. Folks, this is not simply outward conformity to rules. Many people have changed their positions. Why? Because the inner man had never been established. The heart had never been fixed in holiness. Let me use this person as an example. You've heard of Hillary Clinton. I read this meme this week. The last time Clinton took the stage for a presidential debate, this is before this last one, she opposed same-sex marriage. Did you know that? She supported the Second Amendment, came right out and said it. She stood behind her Iraq war vote. And she opposed driver's license to illegals. That's then. Today, everything's changed. Totally different. Somebody said, Hillary's one core belief is that it's important to change one's core belief if the latest polling requires it. And we laugh about that. And I use this political illustration for a reason because, folks, this is where a lot of Christians are. Eight, ten years ago they stood for something. They said, we've got a conviction about this. Today they're saying, well that was just a preference. At the time they said it was a conviction. Conviction is something we will die for. And now they're changing. Their convictions are literally evolving. I'm telling you that's what the Apostle Paul does not want to see in these Christians. He says that God may fix your hearts unblameable in holiness, unchanging Those who were once firm in conviction in matters of holiness now look back and say well that was just a preference. You know why? Because their hearts or their inner life was never established. The inside is not and was not firm so what's on the outside isn't either. Isn't it something? Isn't it bothersome to meet people you don't know where they stand because they said one thing today and they're going to change their mind again? You read in the Bible, how often does God, when does he change? I am the Lord and I change not. You always know where God stands. And folks, that ought to be true of every believer. But I'm telling you, one of the discouraging things today is to look around even in fundamentalism and see how people are changing. Why are they changing? Because the student enrollment's down. We've got to attract more students. Our church isn't full. We've got to attract more people. And so our convictions change. So the reference of the established hearts is holiness. Then we see the realm of the established hearts. Notice what it says there in verse 13. To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness. It doesn't stop there. It's before somebody. And the word before means literally in the presence of. That this would be done in the presence of. And I want you to say this out loud. Please read it again. Follow with me. To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness in the presence of God. In other words, the realm of this unblameable holiness is in the presence of God, not in the presence of men. But let me ask you something. If you, as a believer, if these Thessalonian believers, if their hearts are established unblameable in holiness before God, how are they going to appear before men? In the same way. Because God knows their heart. You can fool men, but you cannot fool God. And we must always be concerned about God's evaluation, not men's. That's why you can be such and such on the outside and you can have this holy appearance on the outside and be somebody totally different on the inside. That's what the Pharisees were. That is totally possible, folks. So the outward behavior and your outward state that ought to be a certain way as a matter of testimony, make sure it's coming from the heart and make sure it's not coming, well that's just what the church believes, that's what they believe, that's what my mom and dad believe. No, it's got to come from your heart. And it's got to be something that is fixed in your heart. Not because it's the conviction of somebody else. If their hearts are unblameable in holiness before God, you can rest assured it's going to be that way before men. When will we be in the presence of God, even our Father? When is that going to take place? Well, as with every other chapter of this letter, this book of 1 Thessalonians, it closes with a reference to something. Go back to chapter 1. Verse 10, we're waiting for His Son from heaven, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. Look at the last part of chapter 2. For what is our hope or joy, our crown of rejoicing, are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? The first two chapters close with a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ, and chapter 3 is no different. How does it close? To the end, He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, when? At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. You say, well, I'll wait until He comes. Here's the whole point. You don't know when He's coming. So when should you be established in your hearts unblameable before Him in holiness? Right now, because He could come today. And that's the point. The imminent return of Christ ought to keep us and drive us to a holy life before Him. You see, it can't just be an outward thing before Him. It's gotta be from the heart. Before Him, even at His coming. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says, with all His saints. We had this discussion in our adult Bible class some time ago. Who are the saints that He's coming with? We know Jesus Christ is coming back with the angels. You'll read that in Matthew chapter 25. But every time Paul uses this expression, if he says, if Paul is talking about the angels, he'll use the word angels. In fact, I think it's found in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, yes, verse 7, 2 Thessalonians 1, 7, you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. So Paul will typically say angels if he's talking about angels. So back to 1 Thessalonians 3.13, when he says, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints, I wonder who the saints are. He is not here referring to the angels, folks. Saints literally means the holy ones. The holy ones, wait, you're to be established, unblameable in what? In holiness. Because Jesus Christ is coming back from heaven and he's coming with his holy ones. To be among the holy ones, one must be holy. The saints here are those that Paul will talk about in chapter four who have died in Christ and are brought with him at his coming. to catch away his church. Folks, Jesus Christ is coming. Paul closes every chapter with it. By the instrument of love, may the Lord make you to increase and abound so that your hearts are unblameable in holiness before God toward one another and toward all men at his coming. May what Paul desires for this church be true of everyone here, for the new believers, the new believers, but as well for the old ones. What's the expressed wish here? That you might be holy, set apart from this world to God. Consider your life. Consider the things that you're involved in, the things that you do. Is it holy? Think about right down to everything that you do. Is this holy? Is this something that displeases God? Think about your language. Think about your thoughts. Think about your dress. Think about your music. Every area of your life, has it been set apart from this world to God? I with Paul express this wish. May God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before him because Jesus is coming and he's coming with all the holy ones. Father, I pray that this would be true