Well, this evening, as God may
help us, we'll meditate on the three verses, verses 11, 12,
and 13. And we'll just read these three
verses in the first of Thessalonians chapter five, verses 11, 12,
and 13. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together and edify one another, even as also ye do And we beseech
you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over
you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very
highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Well, the Apostle really is addressing
the Church of God and telling us that wherefore means it refers
to those things which have already gone in this chapter and he says
comfort or margin tells us this can be also exhort wherefore
comfort or exhort yourselves together and edify one another
as also ye do and of course the apostle is directing us therefore
to things which have gone before And the things which have gone
before are really to alert us and to warn us and to direct
us to the fact that the things of this world will not last forever. Indeed they will come suddenly
to an end. And yet he encourages us, as
the Church of God, to realise that if we are truly born again,
then you see we have a good hope and a blessed hope. And so the
Apostle tells us, you yourselves know perfectly day of the Lord
so cometh as a thief in the night but when they shall say peace
and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travel upon
a woman with child and they shall not escape well we don't know
of course when that time will come when the Lord will return
in all his glory but it would seem that probably there will
be a very difficult period and then perhaps there may be what
appears to be peace the reality is then the Lord will return
in all his glory. And to think that every eye shall
see him. And at that time, time will cease. There will be no more time. Time
exists now. When eternity commences, there
is no time. And so he tells us that we should
know perfectly. And when they shall say peace
and safety, then sudden destruction, cometh upon them, as travel upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. No one, none
of us, no one who has ever been born or ever will be born can
escape this great and solemn day. But what we know is that
it will come. And the important thing is for
all of us, therefore, to be ready, to be spiritually ready, not
to be relying on our own righteousness, but to have the wonderful evidence
that we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And
if that is so, then as the Apostle goes on to say, But ye, brethren,
are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a
thief. Ye are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. And what a wonderful blessing
and favour that is. to realise that the light of
God through the Lord Jesus Christ the knowledge of Him has shone
into our hearts that glorious light which will never go out
once that light has shone into our hearts it will never go out
it may sometimes become dim but it will still be there it will
never go out and that's why the Apostle is able to say ye are
all the children of light and the children of the day. We are
not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, because of that wonderful
gracious truth, let us not sleep as to others, but let us watch
and be sober. How many times we are commanded
to watch in the word of God. Therefore, let us not sleep as
to others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken
in the night. But let us, the true church of God, and what
a blessing if each one of us is part of this us. But let us
who are of the day be sober. And then he goes through one
or two items. Putting on the breastplate of
faith and love, and from the helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. What a grand and glorious statement
that is. To think that we are not appointed
to wrath if the light of the glorious gospel has shone into
our hearts. We are not appointed to wrath,
but indeed to obtain salvation, the saving of our souls, by none
other than our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And then the apostle
expands that and says, who died for us, wonderful truth to think. The second person in the Trinity,
the creator of all things, humbled himself, came obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross, and graciously and gloriously
condescended therefore to die for us, that we might possess
the gift of eternal life, who died for us, that whether we
wake or sleep, whether we are awake when the Lord comes or
asleep when he comes, we should live together with him, and that
eternally. You see, we have days and weeks
and years and months, don't we, on this earth, but when we pass
out of time, We are in eternity. Eternity. Whether we wake or
sleep, we should live together with him, eternally. No turning back, no looking back,
but forever with the Lord. And therefore he says, again,
wherefore, comfort, exhort one another with these truths. These
truths are not morbid. To the church of God, they're
very real. To the church of God, wonderful to the Church of God,
they're very precious. And so may we indeed take note
of what the Apostle writes here to the Thessalonians and desire
truly that we may exhort and comfort one another together
and by these things to edify one another, to strengthen one
another in the things of God. And then he goes on to instruct
the Thessalonians. He says, and we beseech you,
brethren. And when the word beseech is
used, it really means it is very intense. And he really wants
the church of Thessalonica to notice what he's saying and to
do what he desires. And we beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord
and admonish you. this can be of course through
the preaching of the gospel and we are to always recognize that
for the preaching of the gospel it's not really the word of man
because the man is just an instrument the man is just the mouthpiece
of almighty God and rightly considered we should realize it's not the
man but it's God that is directing us And God is speaking to us,
to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord
and admonish you. We should never reject when we're
told perhaps we're going the wrong way, perhaps we're doing
the wrong things, perhaps we're thinking the wrong way. And to
esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. That's
a grand statement, isn't it? Very highly in love. their work
stake. You do all things amiss unless
we do all things in love. It's a great and wonderful favour,
the love of the brethren, love one to another, love to God's
servants and to desire that continued unity of the peace in the bond
of love and be at peace among yourselves. As if we walk in
the light, as the Lord is in the light, it brings peace, it
brings harmony, it brings unity and we should therefore rejoice
in the graciousness of our God. And so here we have these simple
words tonight, how relevant they are, wherefore comfort or exhort
yourselves together and edify one another even as also ye do
whenever opportunity presents itself to speak well of him and
we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and
are over you in the lord and admonish you and to esteem them
very highly in love for their work's sake and be at peace among
yourselves. Well may God apply these words
to our souls for his honour and for his