God Never Leaves a Job Half Done — 1 Thessalonians 5:24
September 25th, 2016 at the First Presbyterian Church of Tucker
1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.[1]English Standard Version
There are no greater promises in the Bible regarding our salvation than a verse like this. That He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
I like the New Living Translation which says God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.
The Amplified Bible reads Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].
And Wuest translates this verse Faithful is He who gives you the divine summons [into salvation], who also will do it.
- Who called you into the Christian life explained in this Epistle? God did.
- Who got you on the road of faith? On the path of light? God did.
- Who called you into a Divine relationship with God? God called you to God.
- Who called you to a holy life? God did.
- Who is going to walk you through this world into the next? God.
- Who is going to make sure you get to Heaven? God.
God called you out of darkness into the light of His revelation and glory. God redeemed you. God pulled you up out of the pit of destruction and placed your feet on the solid rock the Lord Jesus and lifted your eyes toward Heaven.
God isn’t going to abandon His investment. God isn’t going to let you slip out of His hands back into utter darkness.
He didn’t bring us this far to leave us, He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown, He didn’t build His home in us to move away, He didn’t lift us up to let us down. Say AMEN!
This is a promise, a confirmation, an assurance of Divine grace from an Apostle of Jesus Christ that His will for our sanctification will be handled personally by God and it will be completed according to His faithfulness.
We don’t hang the our assurance of our salvation on our faithfulness, but on God’s faithfulness. Say AMEN!
Once the Lord God adopts you as a child of His grace, we may expect that his grace will continue to be poured out for our growth in godliness. God does not offer to be our Father for a day. God adopts us as His child and He becomes our Father forevermore – Hallelujah!
Our calling to God is the evidence of our inclusion in His plans for redeeming a people for Himself. Our calling is an evidence of everlasting grace being upon us for our good and His glory.
Psalm 138:8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
The Apostle Paul is talking to people like you in the congregation this morning who confess faith in Jesus. That faith is the evidence of God’s grace already in your life which will not fail to bring you across the threshold of glory into Heaven itself.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
How do you know you are on a path to Heaven? Because God has worked in your life to bring you to a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That’s the evidence. Your faith is the substance, what we can inspect and affirm, which proves that unseen spiritual forces are at work in your heart and soul.
Philippians 1:6-7 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace.
The Lord’s Supper offers a visual reminder that we are all partakers of the spiritual grace of salvation when we eat the bread and drink the cup of our Lord for we do proclaim His death until Jesus comes.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our calling to God is the effectual call of salvation unto holiness. God never calls us to salvation without also calling us to godly living. If we are to be in Christ Jesus, which means we are saved, and if Jesus is holy, and He is, then we too must live holy in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
We are always called to holiness for God is Holy. 1 Timothy 1:9 God saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
You might not be able to imagine what a godly life looks like, but God can. God knows what sort of life He wants us to live. And God’s faithfulness will lead us into a godly life.
I have to share how God is leading me to holiness. I have a habit of reading the news. I read the news like some people read sports. I always want to know the latest twist on the national stories. I read all categories of the news: politics, lifestyle, culture, religion, science and others.
Every day I check certain news sites and read the top stories. Between now and the elections I will check for polling updates multiple times a day.
And the Holy Spirit convicted me this week that I should be as connected to God as I am connected to the news. I am constantly checking. Always connected. Thinking about the latest events and reading, reading, reading.
I have a couple Bibles on my phone too. Maybe I can use those copies of scripture to stay connected to the Lord. Constantly checking, reading, reading, reading. Staying connected to God through the Words of God.
So I am doing that. I have to. If I don’t read the Bible and pray my conscience won’t let me rest. I feel convicted. Guilty of staying quiet when God wants to chat. Of giving God the silent treatment.
How did I become so Heavenly minded? LOL, God is doing it. It wasn’t my doing. It wasn’t a spark of will power from my faithfulness. My holy nature didn’t turn over a new commitment to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ.
It was a spark of spiritual desire in my heart to be connected to God, from God, who is calling all of us to Himself. Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
God say, O.K. Tony, alright Tommy, listen up Dwight, it’s time to get you further down this path of my righteousness. Time to take another step toward rightly reflecting my glory to the world.
So what does God allow to come into our life? 1 Peter 5:10-11 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Last night we had our neighborhood dinner club at our house and one of the couples was telling us of their experience with their son. He was living in a car, homeless, on alcohol, cocaine and marijuana, which he thought was manageable.
When he started smoking methamphetamines he hit his lowest.
He would call his mom, my neighbor, asking her if she could help him find food. He would go three or four days without eating any food before he would get desperate enough to call.
They would drive to where ever he was parking his car at the time and bring a can of chunky Campbell soup, a plastic spoon and bottled water. He would open the can and eat it cold while they waited.
And my neighbor, with tears falling down her checks ask the group at our kitchen table if they could imagine their child calling them, starving, life crippled by drugs, hoping they would be willing to bring a cold can of soup for them to eat?
1 Peter 5:10-11 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
And as she told this story, you could see in her eyes and heart a new softness, a submission and faith in the will and wisdom of God.
The last six months her son has been staying at a Christian rehab called No Longer Bound where he is getting help. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
That suffering is sanctifying the son, and the mom and dad who are all learning to trust the Lord in dark, dark times.
God is calling us to Himself. Don’t forget the confidence of the Apostle in 1 Thessalonians 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you.
It is God who calls us into His kingdom in 1 Thessalonians 2:12. It is God who calls us to a holy life in 1 Thessalonians 4:7.
God is now reminding us again as this Epistle closes that this spiritual journey to God will come to pass according to the faithfulness and power of God almighty.
The path our troubles take our life will end us in the tender arms of God the Father. Romans 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
God won’t be done with His activity of your salvation until you stand blameless with the saints before His throne of glory. I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
The first word in the original language is this most important word, FAITHFUL. It’s like the Apostle is preaching, sounding out the character of God that calms our fears and bids our sorrows cease. God’s faithful.
God has called us to Himself. He has called us His children. God wrote His name upon our soul. He claimed us for His glory. God cannot deny Himself.
He didn’t bring us this far to leave us, He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown, He didn’t build His home in us to move away, He didn’t lift us up to let us down. Say AMEN!
1 Corinthians 1:8 God will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This world is full of temptations, but 2 Thessalonians 3:3 the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.
King David said Psalm 89:1-2 I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
God is building up steadfast love in Heaven that will last forever. Don’t loose hope in God’s good plans for you. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Who had the bright idea to pull us out of our sin and misery? God. And who sent Jesus to die on a cross to suffer the consequences for our sins? God. And who called us to holiness? God. So who is going to ensure our life ends up at rest in His righteousness in Heaven? God. Thanks be to God.
[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
