Okay, go back with me to 1 Thessalonians
5. All this week in Ashland, the
Lord willing, we're going to be studying this book, 1 Thessalonians,
and I enjoyed it so much, I thought you might. And we just may pick
it up when I come home this week, if I come home. We already looked at chapter
1 not too long ago, knowing your election, so we might pick up
Chapter 2. But chapter 5 now, in the last
part of chapter 5, about the last half, verses 14 to the end,
are what I have called vital exhortations. Needful, vital exhortations. There are about 17 things here
that The Lord, through the Apostle, exhorts us to. In verse 14, he says, Now we
exhort you, brethren. You remember what exhort means,
don't you? It means to beseech or call near. Come on now. That's what exhort
means. Come on now, listen up. Listen
and learn. That's what exhort means. Listen
and learn. Give me your ears. friends, Americans, and countrymen. Lend
me your ears, okay? Come on. Everything else can
wait. This is life. Exhort. We exhort you, brethren, warn
them that are unruly. He begins there for a reason.
The first thing he says, for a reason that just struck me,
that that's the first thing he said. It may be that because
God is called the God of peace, and he just said in verse 13,
be at peace among yourselves, be a peacemaker. So therefore,
he says, let no one be a source of contention. or a problem,
a sower of discord. You know what God says about
a sower of discord in Proverbs 6. Now, he says this to everyone,
doesn't he? He says, brethren, I warn you,
my pastor taught me recently, he told me this. And I'm sure
he won't mind me sharing this with you. I'm going to do it
nationally, and I sure hope he's going to be there. I'll find
that one. But he told me, he said, you
know, for years, I, as a pastor for years, I handled problems
with people, things that could be serious problems in a church
by myself, he said. And he said, nobody understood
what I was doing. People got mad at me. They thought I did
things wrong and unfairly and so forth. He said, don't do that
anymore. Don't do that what I did. He said, you share it with somebody.
The men of the church, you tell them what could be or who could
be a problem. That's just good wisdom. We all
have something at stake here. You know what? Sammy, you've
got a baby that's going to be born in this church. It's going
to grow up in this church. You need this place, don't you?
That child needs this place. You've got a real stake in seeing
that nothing and nobody tears this place down. Don't you? Just as much as I did. Right? Everybody. And you know, it can happen to
anybody. Anybody can become unruly, but we're all concerned in this.
And let us not be a source of contention or a problem with
no one, but if it appears to be so, it would all be wise to
address it with them. If a person's not gathering,
they're scattering. If a person's not building up, Right? And so we're all concerned
in that. Brethren. And he goes on. Now, he says, comfort the feeble-minded. Comfort the feeble-minded. Feeble-minded means weak in the mind, weak in reasoning,
or just overly emotional. This happens quite often through
age. Older, much older people get
this, or infirmity, or various reasons, or some people are just
a little more dim-witted than others. God giveth, you know,
as he will. But he says, comfort them. Take that into account. Comfort
them. Don't be too hard on them. Read
on. Support the weak. Over in Romans
15, he says, the infirmities of the weak. Support means to
hold them up, bear them up. It means to carry them on your
shoulder. That's what bear means in the
Scripture. The Scripture says he bore our sins. That means
God laid on him the iniquity of us all, and he bore them away
on his big shoulder. He bore his arm. He carried But he says here,
you support the weak. You support. Consider the troubles
and the problems of others. Consider the troubles and problems
of the weak, the weak believers. And help them. Help them through
their troubles. Bear with them. Bear with them. I'm so ashamed of so much I did. as a member of the church up
in Ashland, and so much I didn't do. I'm not ashamed. Oh, but there were some people
that just bore with me. Oh, there were some precious
believers, a lot of them, that just put up with me, bore with
me, bear with and bear up. Bear up means to the Lord. Bear
him up in prayer. Don't beat him down. Bear him
up. Support the weak. Read on. Be
patient toward all. Be patient toward all. Do you need anybody to be patient
with you? If we're going to get any, we're
going to have to show something. Our God is patient with us our whole
life. Our Lord one time said, How long
shall I bear with you? Peter, I know what Peter and
the boys were thinking. Lord, you're going to have to bear
with us all our lives. And that's exactly what he does. Bears with
and bears up. Forgives, forgives, forgives,
forgives, forgives, forgives seventy times. No, seven hundred
times. Seven times. Forgives, forgives.
Be patient. Let us be patient with others
and let, as scripture says, patience ever perfect work. God's going
to do the work, we're not. We're not going to straighten
them out. We can't straighten ourselves out. Verse 15, he says,
See that none render evil for evil unto any. See that none
render evil for evil unto any." Go back over to 1 Peter 3. Don't return evil for evil. Someone does evil to you, don't
do it back. Now, this is what our Lord said.
Our Lord is the first one to say that. And the apostles are
building on that. The Lord said, if a man smites
you, Don't return it. Don't return evil for evil. Peter
builds on this even more. Chapter 3, verse 8, Peter says,
Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. This is what Paul just said. Love as brethren, be pitiful,
that is, full of pity. Be courteous, not rendering evil
for evil, or railing for railing. What does railing on someone
produce? Yelling at someone. You just
get it right back. It never. But our Lord said a
soft answer does what? Turns away wrath. Our Lord said
that. He can't lie. A soft answer disarms, turns
away wrath. So he says, go on, he says, but
contrary wise, so that is the opposite, blessing for evil.
Knowing that you're called there until you're called, you should
inherit a blessing. He that will love light and see good days,
let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak
no guile. The old James sure says a lot
about this tongue, doesn't he? About half our, no, more than
that. About 90% of our troubles would
go away if we knew how to take care of it. That's what James
said. So he said, don't, bite your
tongue, bite your tongue. Just bite your tongue. Best thing.
Go back to our text. He said, don't render evil for
evil. Verse 15, follow that which is good, both among yourselves
and all. Follow that which is good, that
is, follow the right course. That's what he's saying, take
the right course. That which is good, that which
is right, that which is the right way. Follow good, the kind thing,
the scriptural thing. As we said this morning, the
Lord's way is not a way. It's not a good way, what the
Lord says. It's not just a... It's the only
way. It's the only way. I wish we really believed that. Follow that which is good. It's
the way. It's the only way. Thy way. There's
a way that seems right to us. That's always wrong. Our way
is always wrong. But His way is always right.
Always. In every situation. Read on. Verse 16. He says, Rejoice
evermore. Rejoice evermore. Now, there's
some people who would make us think that it's spiritual to
walk around You know, sad, melancholy all the time. That's religious, you know. Well, it's not. It's not at all. Scripture says rejoice evermore.
It's unbelief. It's ingratitude. It's self-pity
to walk around morose. and melancholy and sad all the
time. It's self-pity. That's all it is. It's unbelief.
It means you don't believe that God said everything's for good. You don't believe that God said
you're blessed. Blessed means happy. If you don't
believe, you're ungrateful. It's ingratitude. It means you're
sad about what you don't have or what's happening to you and
you wish it were different. It's ingratitude. Now, there
is a time. Ecclesiastes says there is a
time to weep. A man, a religious man who's
smiling all the time, he's a liar too. Somebody's smiling. You've seen them, haven't you?
You've seen those religious people that all they do is, you know,
dare not laugh at a joke or anything. That's not spiritual, and that's
not religious, and you've seen them on the other hand, too,
haven't you? Oh, everything's just so wonderful. It's not all
wonderful every day, day in, day out. You're a liar. You're a liar. It's a time to
weep. It's a time to laugh, the Scriptures
say. Yeah. But now, the believer has more
reason to laugh than weep. That's right. The believer has
more reason to rejoice than to complain or be sad. Don't we? Now, our Lord was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. Scripture says that. But I guarantee
you, he didn't appear that way. I guarantee you. He said himself, he said, when
you fast or whatever you're doing, don't appear unto men to fast. Wash your face, comb your hair,
act like nothing's wrong. Fasting was always over a burden
for something or a need or whatever. He said, don't act like, don't
let people know you're fasting. We're going to see that in light
of verse 19 in a moment. But a believer has more reason
to laugh than cry, more reason to be happy than sad. Our Lord
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief because the Lord laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He was holy without sin, and
the thought of being separated from God from his youth filled
him with grief. Just the very thought of having
sin permeate his being filled him with sadness. As Creator,
walking this planet and seeing the effects and consequences
of sin filled him with grief and sorrow. But yet true blessedness and
happiness is knowing that God's on the throne and that all things
work together according to His purpose and that nothing can
harm us, nothing moves and nothing harms us, and it's all for our
good and whatever befalls us. God sent it and it's going to
be alright and it's all got a real good end. Our Lord was a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief because he bore the sorrows and the grief
that we would have borne had we been left in our sin. Do you
understand? The Lord was a man of grief and
sorrow because he bore our sin so we won't have to, the punishment,
the consequences of our sin. It says, surely he hath borne,
that means carried, our sorrows and our grief. So what should
that do to us? If he's got them. Are you following me? If he's
got my griefs and sorrows, what should that make me? If he took
my sins, I'm without them. The whole rejoice evermore, the
Scripture says. Rejoice, the Paul said, and again
I say rejoice. Why? Your sins are gone. This is the chief grief, and
all our lives are full of grief and sadness and sorrow because
of this thing of sin. But bless God, through Christ,
He said, They're gone. I've put them away. Rejoice. Number one, your sins aren't
going to damn you. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice. in the Lord, and again I say,
rejoice. Let me tell you something to
rejoice over, okay? Rejoice evermore. You can rejoice in that God reigns. I'll give you several things
to rejoice in, several ways to make us rejoice. Your God reigns. If you're a true believer, a
child of God, a Jew, your God's reigning. The world's God is
not. He does what they let him do,
you know. And things sure are in bad shape, aren't they? Because
their God's on the sidelines, and he can't do anything unless
men cooperate. And boy, I tell you, things are
looking real bleak. But not my God. I can sit on the couch. I only
like to watch the news. It's always the same. If something
real bad happens, I'll find out about it. And it is, it's always
going to, it always has, it always will. It has ever, from the beginning
it's happened. Bombs drop, this and that thing,
it's going to happen. In this world you'll have tribulation.
Why should I have to sit around and worry about it? And read
about it? My God reigns. What gives peace
and comfort and hope? Your God reigns. Your God reigns. Say unto Zion, by God reigneth. He's in control of what? Well then, I'm going to bed. Israel, thy God neither slumbereth
nor sleepeth. Go to bed. Don't watch eleven
o'clock. Thy God reigneth. And everything,
as I said, works together for good. Everything? Everything. No, you don't, do you? You're
not omniscient. You can't see everything. God
does. And he said all things. Your sins are gone. I already
told you that. Christ is coming soon. Yes, sir. He said, I've
prepared a place for you. If it weren't so, I would have
told you. But I go, prepare a place for you. And if I go, I'll come
again and receive you to myself. And over in chapter 4 of this
same book, he says, Brethren, don't be ignorant concerning
those that went to sleep. They're standing with him right
now. And he's coming tomorrow. I mean,
he's tomorrow, in the moment of the twinkling of an eye. And
they're coming with him. And we're going to meet him in the air.
And comfort one another with his work. Rejoice! Again, I say,
rejoice. Thy redemption doth come. Boy, if I don't see a smile on
her face this morning, I've failed miserably. I'm smiling, so. Here are some ways to make you
rejoice. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. You'll find, everybody in here
will find, they far exceed our troubles. Count them, I mean
count them, one by one. Just stop and think. Everything's working. Now that's
amazing. This body, it's the most amazing
thing God ever created. No automobile can you put zillions
of miles on it. And the oil pump, The fuel pump
runs 24 hours a day for 70 or 80 years. Huh? You're living 40 years and
not laid up 50, 60. Boy, isn't God merciful. Count your blessings. Just keep
going. Food. Have you ever liked food? Have
you ever liked anything? Well, that's a stupid question.
Look around. What have you lacked? Our Lord
said, what lack you yet? What do you have? I mean, what
don't you have that you need? Or want? He even gives us all
things above that we ask. Here is another way to make you
rejoice. Remember where you came from. Don't ever lose sight of that. Remember where you came from.
Where did the Lord find you? What pit? Remember the pit from
which you were digged, the scripture says. Where were you when the
Lord found you? Consider where you are now. That'll
make you rejoice. Look how far down you got. I told you my story, didn't I? Everybody's heard of me. I bet
you got one similar. How low could a person go? Well,
how much higher can I get? How much better can it get? I was preaching one time down
in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, in a meeting. There was an old
fellow there. Oh, bless his heart. Brother Hubert Davis. He's in a nursing home right
now. He's bent over like this. Bent over like this. He can't
straighten up. Preacher. Beloved, blessed preacher. When
I met him, we hit it off like that. Ah, blessed man. He went in the nursing home voluntarily. You know that? Voluntarily. So his wife wouldn't have to
take care of him and his daughter. He just checked himself in when
he was still in pretty good health. And now he's been overdone. I
went to see him. My dad and I went to see him.
How long ago was it? His wife's an unbeliever, hates
the gospel, hates him, treats him like dirt. But anyway, went to see him and
walked in his room and he was, had his back to me, all doubled
over, killed me. I said, Brother Hubert, how are
you doing? He said, no, I said, Brother
Hubert, are you all alone? He said, no, brother, the Lord's with
me. I never, he didn't quit smiling
the whole time I was there. I thought, what can I say to
help this old bent over old fellas about to die sitting in a miserable
place? What can I do to help? Shoot,
he helped me. I went out of there rejoicing. Consider where you are now, what
you have. Where are you going? Consider
where you're going. Just stop a minute and think
where you're going. This is not much to go through.
Consider where we're going. That's ways to make you rejoice.
Rejoice evermore. Pray, next thing, exhortation,
pray without ceasing. We've been on this a lot lately,
haven't we? Well, we need it. This pray without ceasing doesn't
mean every five minutes drop to your knee. Close your eyes. That's not what it means. Our
Lord plainly said, when you're out in public, don't do it. In Matthew 6, he said, don't
do it. Don't be like the Pharisees who
do that to be seen so that people know they're good Christians.
Don't you do it, he said. You're not doing it to be seen?
You're not doing it for anybody to know you're a Christian? You
pray to God for one reason, to talk to God, to be heard of God,
not to be seen of men. He said you take heed that you
don't do your alms before men to be seen of them. He said when
you pray, do it in secret. But now we can pray without ceasing.
Meaning, you know, everybody's in an uproar, we ought to have
prayer in the schools. Who's stopping it? Are they keeping my kid from
praying? That's impossible. It's impossible. You can't keep
somebody from praying. Where does prayer come from?
The heart! Pray from the heart. Live daily. What he says here,
pray without ceasing, means to live daily in an attitude of
prayer. Whatever you're doing, thank
you, Lord. Thank you for that. Thank you for this. Teach me.
Lead me. Guide me. Mold me. Make me. Preserve me. Keep me. Make me quit. Make me do this. Lord, help. Make sure you. Lord, help so
and so. Lord, help so and so. Lord, help her. Help him. Teach them. Keep them. Save them. Preserve them. That's 24 hours. I mean, well,
however long you're awake. Pray without ceasing. Prayer
is, we saw this recently, worship. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Worship. Thanksgiving, praise,
requests, give us this day our daily bread. Daily bread. Remember, man didn't
live by bread long. Need wisdom. Need a morsel of
bread in the morning. Give us this day repentance.
Forgive us our sins. Lord, forgive us yesterday's,
forgive them now, and forgive what I'm going to do today. Please. That's our biggest need. It's
repentance. Prayer is asking for wisdom and
guidance. Lead me, Lord, lead me. If I
take one step, it's going to be wrong. If you don't lead me.
Lead me, Lord. Put the bit in my mouth, the
bridle on my head, and lead me! Don't let me walk ahead. Lead
me. Lead us not into its intercession. Forgive us as we forgive others.
God helps those who help others. Not themselves. Others. That's
right. Pray without ceasing. Next thing,
he says, in everything, give thanks. This is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you. If you're in Christ, if you're a true believer in
Christ. It's not working for your good.
It's keeping judgment on judgment. But if you're in Christ, give
thanks. This is the will of God. This
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Give thanks.
In everything, give thanks. This is the will of God. Will
you turn very quickly to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians 4. And then we're going to turn
to Acts 16. Real quickly. Would you hurry? Philippians 4. I want to be within
the time limit this morning. Philippians 4. Now, God, through
Paul, said, in everything, give thanks. This is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you. Philippians 4, verse 6 and 7. He says, be careful. That is,
don't be overly anxious or troubled, full of care for anything. But
in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your request be made known unto God in the peace of God,
which passes all understanding." People won't understand how you
can have peace like that. It passes all understanding.
You won't understand it. So keep your hearts and your
mind. Well, keep your mind from going
crazy. Keep your heart from going astray. Keep your heart from
just breaking, completely breaking through Christ Jesus. Now, when
did Paul write this? He was in jail. Let me show you
over in Acts 16. All right. Now, he said to us,
listen, you're going We're going to jump a pew here. Don't, no, no, really, don't
do that. Well, if you feel like it, go
ahead. Acts 16, Acts chapter 16. Paul
wrote that in prison. He said, in everything, give
thanks. This is the will of God concerning you. And over there
in Philippians, he said, give thanks and the peace of God will
keep you, your mind, your heart through Christ. And rejoice,
and that's the same chapter, he said, rejoice. And again I
say, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. Well, here in Acts 16, Paul and
Silas were in prison. Put in prison, they were beaten.
I don't mean just quack, quack. Beaten. Many stripes. Verse 23, when they'd laid on
them many stripes upon them, they'd cast them into prison.
Didn't just open it, they threw them in a jail cell, roughly.
Charged the jailer, you keep them, you watch them. And he
received the trust over them, verse 24, made their feet fast
in stocks. Now, picture this. They're wounded
and bruised, and they put those manacles on there, and they throw
them in jail and up against a cold wall, and maybe some bread to
eat. And what are they going to do? Silas? This is the will of God
concerning us, my brother. Don't be too down. I tell you
what, let's sing something. Look at it, verse 23, at midnight,
midnight, Paul and Silas prayed. They were calling on God. They
were in trouble and sang praises unto God. You know what happened. You know the rest of the story,
don't you? This is the will of God concerning you, Paul and
Silas. Don't see how it is, but let's just pray to God that he'll
show us how it is. And let's just give thanks that
his will is being done, and that we're in it, and everything's
going to be all right. This must be good, Silas. This
must be good. I just know it's good. And that
jailer out there, listen to him sing it. Amazing Grace, or whatever
they sing it. Listen to it. And that jailer,
what's wrong with these guys? I'm out here eating steak. They
don't even have—I'm free. Maybe I'm not. Who's free and who's bound? I'm
happy and I'm not happy. What do I got? Door. What's wrong with you guys?
Come on in here, Mr. Jailer. Let me tell you, I want
to tell you a story. When it was all over, the jailer,
Now, all rejoicing. He set them free, they went home
with the jailer, and God saved his whole house! Saved his whole
house! His children, his wife, his grandchildren,
whoever was in the house, the Lord saved them. Now, wasn't
that good of the Lord to put Paul and Silas in jail? Sure did work out for good. In
everything. Now, our troubles have never
been that. bleak, had they? So in everything, give thanks.
Somehow, some way, and we're going to see it. We might live
to see it. We will see it, either now or later. Here or there,
we will see. Oh, that was so good. So good. In everything, give
thanks. This is the will of God. Everything
is working together According to his will, God worketh all
things according to the counsel of his will, doesn't he? Oh,
I rejoice in that. It's not up to my will or man's.
I'm so thankful. God's will will be done. Lord,
give me the heart and the mind to know that and believe it and
rest there. Verse 19 of our text, go back
there. 1 Thessalonians 5, 19, quench
not the spirit. Quench not the spirit. He told
the Ephesians, I forgot when I started now. Old Brother Lee, he'd like to
be here right now, he said, don't look at your watch. Well, got to. Spurgeon used to
say, whatever you preach about, preach about 45 minutes. Quench not the spirit. Paul told
the Ephesians, grieve not the spirit. Here he says, quench
not the spirit. This is talking to believers. Talking to believers. A whole
letter is written to believers, to God's people. Not talking
to unbelievers. Talking to believers. Grieve
not. Like a father. Can you grieve your father? Sure
you can. Can you not listen to him? You
sure can. Now, he's talking to believers
here. The unbeliever doesn't listen
at all. He doesn't even have ears to hear. He's got to be given life. He's
got to be made a son, born from above. Do you understand that?
No. But he says, Quench not the Spirit. Over in chapter 4, I
was going to have you turn, don't turn, out of Ephesians. But it
tells us that, he says, strive together for the unity of the
Spirit. That's what chapter 4 of Ephesians
said, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond
of peace. There's one body, one Spirit. All right, the Holy Spirit,
the presence of the Holy Spirit brings unity. Love for Christ,
love for one another, unity of mind, they're all of one mind. One accord. Yes, sir. All of
them believe the same way. One Lord, one faith. That's what
the Holy Spirit does. Points them all to one person.
Christ. The Holy Spirit makes us, bonds
us together, binds us together. One body, one spirit. United
in faith, love, and purpose. What's the purpose? God's glory. Edify the body. That's what the
members are for. His finger serves my whole body,
not itself. That's what our purpose is. Edify
the body, encourage one another. Alright, are you with me? You
understand? That's what the Holy Spirit does.
Unity, love, purpose. What's the purpose? God's glory,
the good of the others. Alright, here comes somebody
in. How are you? Alright. Or doesn't speak at all. rushes
in, rushes out, no word of greeting, no word of encouragement, filled
him by it, no word of thanks for the message. He's trying to quench the Spirit.
He's throwing water all over a fire. That's what he's saying,
exactly. Here's a person just, you know,
God's Holy Spirit of God giving them a real joy and a love for
the gospel and anxiousness to hear it and made them thankful
and united and looking forward to the day of worship and glad
in this glad hour. It's supposed to be a glad hour.
It's supposed to leave our troubles behind. Come in here glad and
that person ain't so happy. Just grieves that person, quenches
that person's That's quenching the spirit.
That's being salt without any savor. Salt without savor. You know, we can stay at home
and be miserable, can't we? Yeah, we can, without making
everybody else miserable. We can stay at home and be miserable. And I highly advise everyone
to do that who intends to come here miserable. Just stay at
home. And be miserable by yourself.
And let's hope God's people rejoice. Don't you quench it. This is
one place where we need to leave me and my at home, because this
is all about him, thee and thou, and them. That's what this is
about. And God blesses that. You know,
if you follow verses 16 through 18, you won't quench the Spirit.
If you start in verse 16, you won't quench the Spirit. If you
do what we were talking about a while ago, consider where you've
been, and where you are now, and the pit from which you were
digged, and count your blessings, and on and on. You want to quench
the Spirit. You come in here happy. Just real thankful to
be here. Real thankful. And be an encouragement
to others. This quenching the Spirit also
means resist the Spirit. We have a conscience. Believers
have been given a conscience. God said, I've made a new covenant. I've put my law on their hearts.
I've written it on the table of their heart. My people, they're
led by the Spirit. You can resist. You can. It's given us a conscience
to follow. We know. We know. The Word just
keeps coming to our mind. Yeah, it does. Better listen. Better listen. All right, verse
20, he says, despise not prophesying. The spy is not prophesying. That
means, you know, all preaching is prophesying. All through scriptures,
you'll see it. First Corinthians 14, the whole
chapter talks about prophesying better than languages. And it
means preaching, because Paul said, I'd rather you preach than
just speak in another language. All preaching is prophesying
in this sense, foretelling of future events. We're telling
the certainty of Christ's return. We're always telling that, foretelling
that. Certainty of it. Destruction
of the world. That's all the prophets did. Didn't they? That's all they did. Destruction
of the world. Salvation of God's people. The certain salvation
of God's people. I prophesy. I prophesy this morning. It's not new. It's old. that God has a people and they're
going to be saved and the Lord's coming to get them right soon.
That's a prophecy. I guarantee it's coming to pass.
That's not new, is it? Same thing. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It's a prophecy. So all preaching is a prophecy
in that sense. So he says, do not lightly esteem,
do not set it Hebrews says, don't let it slip. The people back
then heard Isaiah so much that they just weren't listening
anymore. They heard Jeremiah so much that
they, like a train, you know, you live by a house right beside
the train track, and the first time it comes through, whew,
oh man, you're up. You know, well, if a week later
he's sound asleep, it doesn't even bother you. Ah, boy, don't
let that happen. Don't lightly esteem, don't let
it slip. Don't be like the people were concerning Ezekiel. They
said of Ezekiel, the people come, the Lord said, the people come,
they sit, they hear your words, they won't do them. With their
mouth they show much love. Thank you, preacher. But their
heart goeth after their covenants. He said, Lo, you're telling them
a very lovely song, one that has a pleasant voice, you play
well on an instrument. I'm reading a word. They hear
your words, but they don't do them. And when this comes to
pass, when it happens, what you've been telling them, and it will
come, they're going to know a prophetness among them. Too late. Despise not prophesying. Do you understand that now? Prove all things, verse 21, prove
all things. That means test these prophets,
so-called prophets. Test them. Try them. Prove them. How? John said, try the spirits,
whether they are of God. How? By the Word. Be like the
noble Bereans. I insist, and every true preacher
I know, just absolutely insist on people getting their Bibles
and opening them up and reading every verse and going home and
reading them again and see if these things be so. Don't trust
me. Don't trust me. Go home. Don't
ask anybody else, but go home and look in the scriptures and
search them and see if these things be so. Ask God to show
you. Are these things so? Is he telling
me the truth? Prove all things. Hold fast to
that which is good. All right? If you do hear the
good news, here's the context. If you do hear the good news,
you've tried this. It's been proved to you. This
is the gospel. This is the good news. Only hold
on it. Hold fast means, have you ever
held something fast? That means you've latched on
to it and you're not letting it go for anybody or anything.
Is this good to you? Is this good news to you? Is
this God's good word? Is this salvation to you? Is this good for you? Daily? Everything? And don't let anybody
or anything take it away from you. Hold fast. That's what that means. Hold fast that which is good. But now, verse 22, abstain from
all appearance of evil. You see the context. You can't
take this out of context. God's word is not disjointed. It's together, joined together. This is in the context here.
You found what's good. I was going to have you turn.
And a bunch of scriptures. Proverbs, Deuteronomy says, I
give you good doctrine. It's Brother Tim Jane, one of
his favorite scriptures. Deuteronomy 32. Yours too. He
says, my doctrine, I give you good doctrine. It's going to
drop like rain. Like rain on parched ground.
Good doctrine. Good. Give it to me. Oh, got
it. Abstain from all appearance of
evil. In the context here, it means
avoid, stay away from everything that appears evil to you. Believer,
in the context of preaching a good doctrine, avoid all religion
that seems suspicious to you. Why does it seem suspicious?
Because it is. All right, let me give you an
example. If you go someplace and it seems like a carnival,
if it gives the appearance of a carnival, it is! If it gives the appearance of
nothing but entertainment, it is. If it gives the appearance
of a poor man's country club, that's what it is. If it gives
the appearance of they're trying to make money, it is. Lord's acre sale. If it looks
like a flea market, that's what it is. Go to a Christian concert. Well, it looks like rock and
roll to me. It is! If it gives the appearance, that's
what it is. Now, people, I'm telling you
the truth. You can go in the church where the Gospels preach,
where the truth is proclaimed, and it will be just exactly like
it was 2,000 years ago. They'll be doing the exact same
thing. What? Singing, reading, Praying,
preaching, that's it. If we steer away from that, if
it gives the appearance of anything else, it is. It's evil. Anything other than
what God has set forth. It's something suspicious here.
Christ doesn't seem to be being preached here. It seems like
he's not. A person with a musical ear can
tell if something's out of tune. They can tell. Well, the gay guy, Jeanette,
Cherry, others, can tell if something's out of tune. Their ear has been
tuned. What does the piano tune to? Middle C. What's that tuning for? Middle C. Tune that whole piano. God has taught his people in
the middle seat, Jesus Christ. That it's all Christ. That all
the worship, all the messages, everything truly must point to
Christ. He gets all the glory. It's all
about worshiping Christ, knowing Christ, being found in Christ,
being conformed to his image, hearing Christ, being taught
by him. It's all about Christ. If it gives the appearance that
it's anything else, it is. Now you know this means avoid,
you know this in a practical sense, you know that means avoid
places where you shouldn't be, people you shouldn't be seen
with, things you shouldn't be doing. You know it means that.
That goes without saying. If you're talking, unless you're
witnessing to that drug addict, you better not be standing there
with him. You understand? Unless you've
gone into that bar to witness to everybody there, You better
get out. Avoid every appearance of evil.
Because if it appears that way, it is. It's not good. It's not
good. So, he said, go on. And the very
God of peace sanctify you. Here's the whole thing. Sanctify
you. Holy. Make you like Christ. I pray
God, he says, your spirit, soul, and body be preserved. So much
is said about our bodies in the scriptures. It does matter. It
sure does. Oh, he says, I pray that you
might be preserved, kept from this evil world, blameless under
the covenant, like a chaste virgin. Lord, make me like a chaste virgin
waiting on my Christ, my husband. Don't let me commit spiritual
fornication or adultery. Save me mind, body, and soul
for Christ. Oh, aren't you glad this next
verse is written? Faithful to see that calleth
you. He'll do it. Aren't you glad that's written?
Huh? Oh, God's called me. Oh, he that
hath begun a good work in you, he'll do it. He'll finish it.
Till the day of Christ. He'll do it. I'm so thankful.
Brethren, pray for us. Pray for me. I keep asking you
to do that. And you'll be blessed. Yeah, you will. You'll be blessed.
You pray for me that the Lord will bless the preaching. You'll
be blessed. Your children will be blessed. Uh-huh. Pray for us. There's a lot at stake here. Our children are going to get
most good things when they come and sit and listen to me. They're
not going to get it in school. get what they need to hear right
here. You know? There's a lot at stake here. Pray for me. Pray for us. Greet
all the brethren with a holy kiss. You all are getting good about
that. Greet all the brethren with a
holy kiss. That means let one another know that you're glad
to see them. If you weren't with your, if you weren't If you didn't
see your wife or children for a week, would you hug them? Kiss
them? Maul them? Greet all the brethren with a
holy kiss? Let me remind you of that statement.
If somebody hugs you, if somebody hugs you, I mean, they come up
to you and they're so glad to see you that they give you a
big old hug, you'd be the last to let go. I charge you by the Lord that
this epistle, this letter, be read unto all the holy brethren.
Read it. It's good to read this, people.
It's not just good to hear it read to you. It's good to look
at it with your own eyes. Go home and open it up and read
it. Read it out loud. Something goes on between the
ear and the voice and the ear and the eye. It all goes together. Read it, read it, and read it,
and read it, and read it. Oh, I remember that. No, you
won't. I won't. Somebody asked me Wednesday
night what I preached on Sunday morning. Well, I don't know. If I forget. I know you do. Read it. Go back and reread it. Oh, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Be with you. God give us. God
grant it. Grace. Grace. We need all this grace, don't
we? To do all these things that we're
exhorted to do. All these Bible exhortations.
What's it going to take to get me to pray without sin? Grace.
What's it going to take to make me rejoice? Grace. What's it
going to take? Grace. Great grace. Will He give
us? say amen to that. All right for
the gay, commonly displayed.