Let's turn again this morning
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now just briefly, to put in its
proper setting the text that we will consider in our consecutive
study of the letter of Paul to the church at Thessalonica, Let
me remind you first of all of the larger context of the verse
that we will be considering this morning, verse 10 of chapter
2. The larger context is the contrast of chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 is Paul's paragraph
of praise in which he attributes all of the success of the ministry
that he and his associates had at Thessalonica to the sovereign
grace of God and to the mighty work of the Holy Spirit. He does
not in any way trace the blessing back to man, but traces it back
to God, and in tracing it back to God, he traces it back even
to the eternal purposes of God when he says in verse 4, Knowing,
brethren beloved, your election of God. And then the gospel came
in power and the work of grace was wrought in the Thessalonians. And so the great lesson we learn
is that the gospel has success only so far as God is pleased
to give it success. And that shuts us up to Him for
all expectation of success. But now chapter 2, We have the
Apostle vindicating the character of his ministry and his associates,
and we have some very practical matters set before us as to the
kind of ministry by which God accomplishes his eternal purposes,
so that in chapter 2 you have the marks of a God-owned ministry. And it's in that larger context
that we must study each verse in chapter 2, for the minute
you begin to wrench the truth of chapter 2 away from the truth
of chapter 1, you will end up with a wrong concept of how the
gospel succeeds. And you will feel, well, if only
I can be the kind of person I ought to be, and if only we have the
kind of ministry we ought to have, then we will automatically
have success. No, this is not so. We must always
remember that no matter how faithful or pure or zealous or devoted
the servant of God is, all blessing must come from the living God,
so that when he works, all the praise and the honor is brought
back to him. But if you simply hold Chapter
1 without Chapter 2, you'll be lopsided. And without much concern
as to whether or not your life and your ministry as a father,
a mother, as a neighbor, as a work companion, as a student, whatever
your ministry is and the circle of that ministry is, if you don't
come to grips with Chapter 2, you will be making the truth
of Chapter 1 a hammock in which to rest. and to draw content
from your lack of fruitfulness, to draw a spirit of contentment
where there ought to be disturbance. Though chapter 1 is true, chapter
2 is equally true. Now setting verse 10 in the more
limited context of those marks of a God-owned ministry, Up until
last week, we considered what we might call the masculine marks
of a God-owned ministry. Boldness, no fear of man, no
flattery. No drawing the ministry from
any other source but truth. No fear of the face of man. And
then last week we saw those very tender feminine characteristics
mentioned in verses 7 and 8 where Paul says, we were gentle among
you as a nurse cherishing her children. And then he says, we
were affectionately desirous of you, willing to impart not
only the gospel but our very own lives because you were dear
unto us. Now this morning we come to verse
10, in which the Apostle declares, Ye are witnesses, and God also,
how wholly, and justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you
that believe. What is the next mark of a true
minister and a true ministry? We could summarize verse 10 under
this very simple general heading, it is the mark of genuine holiness
of life. Genuine holiness of life is the
mark of a true minister and of a true ministry. As we seek to
understand now what that means, may we once again pause in a
moment of prayer and ask God by the Holy Spirit to instruct
us out of his word. O Lord, we confess to Thee that
left to ourselves we neither understand what true holiness
is, nor will we ever be able to attain it. But we believe
by the grace of Thy Spirit we may not only understand what
true holiness is, but we may become holy men and women, fellows
and girls, to the praise of Thy glory and to the commendation
of the gospel that we seek to communicate to others. Lord instruct
us now as we open up thy word through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Now may I ask you a very simple
question. Are you a true minister? Are you a true minister? As a parent, are you a true minister? Are you ministering your parental
duties in a biblical way? As a neighbor seeking to bear
witness to your neighbors, are you a true minister? You fellows
and girls in school, are you a true minister to your classmates?
Well, if you would ask that question of the Apostle Paul, he might
then ask another question and say, What constitutes a true ministry?
And if you understood his first letter to the church at Thessalonica,
you should be able to say, well, according to your own words,
Paul, one of the marks of a true minister is genuine holiness
of life. Notice what he says. Ye are witnesses,
and God also, how holy and justly, better translated, righteously
and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe. You say,
Pastor, why do you use the term genuine holiness? Well, because
Paul hints in this verse that there is such a thing as a genuine
holiness and by inference that there is such a thing as a spurious
holiness. That Paul's holiness of life
was genuine is indicated by these first two phrases. He are witnesses
and God also. How is true holiness to be identified? Very simply, Paul would tell
us by this mark. It can be verified both horizontally
and vertically. Ye, you people amongst whom I
walked and talked and lived for a period of time, who saw me
at my best and at my worst, who saw me in all the different circumstances
of life, you people with whom I was identified with this tender
love of a nursing mother to her own child, you people of whom
I was affectionately desirous, for whom I labored and toiled
in the cause of the gospel, You people will remember and will
bear witness to the fact that my life was a holy life. But
not only, he says, do you bear witness, for you can only see
my actions. But the one who knows my motives,
the one who knew my thought life, the one who knew what I did when
I was out of your sight, that one, even the living God, he
is a witness. that I walked amongst you as
a holy man." So the essence then of genuine holiness is that conduct
conformed to the will and law of God in the presence of men
and in the sight of God. You see, there are many, as there
were in Paul's day, so in our day, who claim to love God. They
claim to have inner heart devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
speaks about them in Titus when he says, they profess that they
know God. Oh yes, they profess to have
a heart acquaintance and a heart love for him, but he said, in
their works they deny him. You see, holiness does not consist
in fits of feeling and wisps of emotion. and in inner attitudes
and dispositions that never break out into the conduct of the life. Some regard godliness as a mere
state of mind, a fit of feeling, and some wisp of emotion. Whereas
the scripture teaches that true holiness is a thing that can
always be seen. Our Lord said in the 7th of Matthew,
by their fruits ye shall know them. Well the only thing I can
see as a human being is the conduct of my fellow men. I cannot read
the heart. It's only God who can say, I
the Lord search the heart, I try the race. The scripture says
man looketh on the outward appearance and it's right that he should.
And so our Lord says, looking on the outward appearance, by
their fruits ye shall know them. He repeated that in the twelfth
of Matthew. And so Paul could say of his
outward conduct and decorum amongst these people, you are witnesses
to the fact that my godliness was not a mere mirage, it was
not a mere thought that resided in my mind or a feeling in my
heart. You watched me in all the circumstances
of the intimate relationship that I had with you for that
period of time, and you people are witnesses of my holy life
and of my holy conduct. But, he says, not only are you
witnesses, God also, indicating that true holiness has not only
a horizontal relationship, but a vertical relationship. It touches
not only what men can observe, but that which only the living
God can observe. And I mentioned earlier what
those things are. Man could watch Paul's actions. But God alone knew the main spring
that produced those actions, namely the motivation of the
heart. Many times a righteous deed,
as we view it, is an abomination in the sight of God because of
the motivation which prompts it. That's why the scripture
says that the plowing of the wicked is sin. God's commanded
a man to work and to plow his field. But because the thing
that motivates him is not the glory of God, but his own selfish
ends, God says a right deed is an abomination because the motive
is wrong. That's the whole truth of the
first 19 verses of Matthew 6. Sure, the Pharisees pray, and
they give, and they fast. God commands all of that. But
because their motivation is wrong to be seen of men, it makes an
abomination out of their religious practices. But the Apostle Paul
is able to say with an unblushing conscience, God also is witness
that not only were my deeds holy, but my motives, my thoughts,
my actions in secret, my actions in all places. Oh, to be able
to say fully conscious of the truth of the 139th Psalm that
one of the men made reference to in his prayer this morning.
Thou knowest my down-sitting, my up-rising. Thou understandest
my thought afar off. There is not one word in my tongue,
but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset
me behind, and before laid Thine hand upon me. If I ascend up
into heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, Thou
art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall
Thy hand hold me. Thy right hand shall lead me,
if I say, surely the darkness shall cover me. The darkness
and the light are both alike to thee." When a man has something
of the sense of the omniscience and the omnipresence of God,
searching out all his thoughts and his actions in secret as
well as in public, and can say, this God is witness how holily,
righteously, and unblameably we behaved ourselves. That's
biblical holiness. that has reference not only to
man, but to the living God. Now, just as there are people
who think, well, holiness consists in just a feeling in the heart,
I say in my heart I believe in Christ and love Him and serve
Him, no matter how shoddy my life, that's all that matters.
So there are some who are very meticulous to make sure their
lives are above reproach. You read the 23rd of Matthew.
Jesus said of the Pharisees, ye indeed appear what? Beautiful. unto men. But within, what man cannot see,
what only God could see, within, He said, you are full of dead
men's bones and all uncleanness. Now we must understand, dear
people, that true holiness, the mark of a true ministry, Whether
as a parent, a friend, a classmate, no matter where we stand as believers,
we stand as ministers of Christ and of his truth. There must
be this inseparable relationship, always found in true holiness,
where not only do men bear witness to our conduct, but the living
God can bear witness to the purity of our motives and our thoughts. Notice how the Apostle Paul draws
those two together in Acts 24-16 when he says, Herein do I exercise
myself to have what? A conscience void of offense
towards God and towards man. The two relationships. He said,
I put myself under rigorous spiritual discipline to have at all times
a conscience void of offense vertically, horizontally. And just as I shun any act or
deed that will cause my brother to stumble or bring reproach
to the name of Christ, so I am just as earnest to keep the temple
of my mind free from the stain of any impurity of thought, impurity
of motive. I am just as zealous to have
the temple of my mind and my thoughts and my motives unblameable
before my God. as I am, that the walk of my
feet and the conduct of my hands be blameless before the eye of
my fellow men." He ties those two things together in 2 Corinthians
4, where he says, as we have received this ministry, we faint
not, but we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.
Notice, the hidden things of dishonesty. The things that are
out of sight of men. not walking in craftiness nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the
truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the
sight of God. See? He said, you want to see
whether my gospel's true or not? Look at me. See what it's done
for me. I commend my gospel to you as
you people. See the power of it in my life.
That's what he could say. And he said, I do that in the
sight of God. In other words, I'm conscious
not only that my deeds are such as bring glory to God, but the
motives that prompt them and the thoughts that attend them. Has your conscience been at work
as I've just sought to lay out the principle in those first
two phrases? Ye are witnesses, and God also
I fear that some of us are not true ministers, because we cannot
say to those to whom we're ministers, you are witnesses of my holy
life. How can you say that to your
children, parents, when you profane the Sabbath? When you leave this
place having lifted up your voice in praise to God, and when someone
is led in prayer thanking God for this holy day? you go back
and in your home spend this day like any other day of the week
with no serious attempt to sanctify the Sabbath profaning this holy
day when you know and your children know that you're continually
cheating the Lord and failing to give him his due portion the
tenth that is his by right when there is no jealous guarding
of your TV You allow things to come over into the minds and
hearts of your children that are utterly cancelling and nullifying
everything that the Sunday school teachers sought to place in that
mind in the 45 minutes that they have them and in the brief time
that I have them here. And you are cooperating with
the devil to just purge from the mind every thought of God
and of holiness and of truth. Dear parent, unless you can say
to your children, gather them around the table and say, you
children are witnesses of the genuineness of my holy life,
you're not a true minister as a parent. You're not a true minister
as a parent. For that's the mark, the indispensable
mark of a true ministry, a holy life. When they hear the arguments
and the dissension between you as a husband and wife, They hear the unbridled burst
of temper to them that are never rectified by apology, never rectified
by gathering the family together and crying out to God for corporate
cleansing and forgiveness. One of the most searching passages
in all of the pilgrim's progress is that one where he's in the
house, beautiful, and he's questioned as to the state of his family. They asked him if he has children
and a wife, and he said, yes. And they say, why have they not
come on pilgrimage with you? And he said, well, I pled with
them, but they wouldn't come. Now notice what they said to
him then. But what could they say for themselves
why they came not? Christian, why my wife was afraid
of losing this world, and my children were given to the foolish
delights of youth, so by one thing and by what another they
left me to wander in this manner alone." Now notice the question
she asks him. Charity, ask this question. Get
it. But did you not with your vain life dampen all that you
by words used by way of persuasion to bring them with you? What
a question. She's saying, Christian, Sure, you pled with them. Sure,
you earnestly entreated them. But could it be that your life
cancelled the full effect of your words?" And now notice Christian's
answer. It's beautiful. Indeed, I cannot
commend my life, for I am conscious to myself of many failings therein. I know also that a man by his
life may soon overthrow what by argument or persuasion he
doth labor to fasten upon others for their good. Yet this I can
say. Some of us will go the first
part and will say, oh yes, I agree with that. I've had lots of failures
and I can't commend my life. But he doesn't stop there. Notice
what he says. Yet this I can say. I was very wary of giving
them occasion by any unseemly action to make them averse to
going on pilgrimage. Yea, for this very thing they
would tell me I was too precise, and that I denied myself of things
for their sakes in which they saw no evil. Nay, I think I may
say that if what they saw in me did hinder them, it was my
great tenderness in sinning against God, or of doing any wrong to
my neighbor. That's it. That's it. Why were his family offended? Not because of inconsistency,
but because of the strictness of his life, because of his self-denial. They said, we don't want that
kind of a life. And there's all the difference
in the world between my children saying, I don't want daddy's
God. It makes him too precise. It makes him too tender to sin.
It makes him too careful how he walks. It makes him too meticulous
to be honest in the shop with his neighbors in the home. It
makes him too sensitive to sin. He's always asking mommy to forgive
him when he's been irritable. He's always asking us children,
I don't want that kind of life. I want to be able to sin, lose
my temper, be irritable, and go on my way. I don't want that
kind of life. If your loved ones and relatives
are rejecting the way of salvation because of that, then beloved,
take heart. But if they are rejected because
they see such inconsistency, claiming to love God and not
obeying the simplest commands, remember the Sabbath to keep
it holy. And you desecrate the Sabbath
in their very presence. Honor the Lord with thy substance
and the firstfruits of all thine increase. And you don't. Week
after week goes by. You don't give the Lord his portion.
Your children don't. Your relatives don't. You're not honest and upright
in your business dealings. Oh no man, anything! Shade to
love one another. You're not quick to ask forgiveness
when you've wronged neighbors, loved ones, children. Or if you
have been wronged and they ask forgiveness of you, you're not
quick to grant forgiveness! Beloved, these are the flies
that stink in the apothecary's ointment spoken of in Ecclesiastes
10. As a few flies in the ointment
of the pharmacist maketh it to stink, so a little folly among
him that is reputed to be in wisdom. Beloved, I preach these things
and have to. with my own family sitting before
me week after week, and woe be unto me. But at least in some
small measure, it isn't true. You get the point that the Apostle's
driving? We are witnesses. Why are your relatives not too
interested in your God? Is it because it makes you too
strict? Too tender of conscience? Too careful to please God? If
so, then hallelujah, that's the reproach of Christ. Don't be
discouraged with that. Rejoice! But if it's for other
reasons, some of us ought to be found on our faces crying
to God for mercy. Crying to God for mercy. On the
other side of the coin, there are some who may be failing in
the second area. We're careful to keep everything
in ship shape on the outside, even before our closest associates.
But we can't call God to witness upon the genuineness of our holiness.
For though we can call men to witness perhaps to our purity
of life in external conduct, we cannot call God to witness
to our striving after purity of thought. Can you call God
to witness this morning that you're just as careful to keep
your thought-life pure as you are to keep your external life
free from scandalous sin? Can you call God to witness that
you're just as careful to cry to Him to root out the first
strivings of anger and retaliation as you are to screw the lid on
any outward burst of temper and ill will? Can you call God to
witness that you're just as careful to cry to Him to cultivate within
you the grace of true humility as you are careful to take upon
you the language of humility in the presence of others? Beloved,
some of us are weighed in the balances and found wanting because
we lack either one or two or both, but the Apostle could declare
to the glory of God, ye are witnesses and God also. Well, I hurry on
now to answer the question, what constitutes true holiness? Having
asked, and I trust sufficiently answered the question, why use
the word true holiness? The answer being, you've got
both perspectives, the horizontal, the vertical. Now the next question
is, what constitutes true holiness? And the apostle tells us, notice,
how wholly and righteously and unblameably we behaved ourselves
among you that believe. Now the word holily, the best
I can discern, speaks primarily of piety with reference to the
living God. We might say it speaks of the
discharge of the first table of the law. As the little introduction
to the Shorter Catechism says, What do the first four commandments
teach? The answer is our duty to God. What do the last six
commandments teach? Our duty to our fellow man. And when Paul says, how holy,
this word seems to refer primarily to the discharge of the first
table of the law. He said, when I walked amongst
you people, You are witnesses, and so is God, that I walked
as a man who was seeking to love the Lord my God with all my heart,
mind, soul, and strength. I walked as a man to whom God,
His claims, His person, His law, His glory, was the supreme pattern
of my life. Do your children see that you're
holy? Not that you go around with your eyes in the sky all
the time, but do they see in all the press and pressure and
responsibilities, is it getting through to them, beloved, that
to you only one thing matters, the will of God, the glory of
God, the honor of God? How wholly we behaved ourselves
among you, secondly, how righteously That would seem to refer more
to the second table of the law. What is righteous living? It's
living conformed to the revealed will of God. Paul said, you not
only saw me as a man seeking to love the Lord my God with
my whole heart, but you observed me and my companions as men seeking
to love you, our neighbors, as ourselves. Righteous living is
living conformed to the revealed will of God in all its breadth
and length, but summarized so beautifully In the words of our
Lord Jesus, the second commandment is like unto it, thou should
love thy neighbor as thyself. As Paul had already indicated,
he said, when we stood amongst you, you people knew we just
weren't out to discharge some so-called duty and give you a
little gospel and run on. He said we were among you not
only giving you gospel, but giving our very life's blood. We gave
ourselves to you. You were become dear to us. We
got involved with the involvement of love. He says, you people
saw it, you knew it, we walked amongst you righteously. Notice
how these two things are joined as the very purpose for which
God will save a people through the Lord Jesus in the prophecy
of Luke chapter 1. These two words are brought together
and joined here as they are in Thessalonians Luke chapter 1.
Zacharias is speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
and he says in Luke 1, 74 and 75 that he would grant unto us
that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might
serve him without fear, how? In holiness and righteousness
before him all the days of our life. You claim to be a Christian
saved by Christ This is what he saves his people for. That
they might live before him in holiness and in righteousness. That we might be able to say
to our wives, our husbands, our children, our work associates,
our neighbors, ye are witnesses. God also, how wholly and how
righteously we behaved ourselves among you. And then what's the
result of that? In the next word, and unblameably. When a man is
walking in holiness and righteousness, then he walks in an unblameable
path. The word unblameable means no
just cause for censure, no just cause for reproach. Sinless perfection
is nowhere taught in the scripture, and anyone who tries to find
it there has got to put it there first. But beloved, this attitude, that
since we cannot be perfect, we shall be content with a shoddy
life, is nowhere taught in Scripture. And you've got to put it there
first before you ever find it. For the Scripture that teaches
any man who says he's without sin is a liar, says in Luke 1,
6, of two holy people living under the Old Testament, they
were blameless, walking in all the ordinance and commandments
of the Lord. The Apostle Paul says even in
his unconverted state, Philippians 3.6, as touching the righteousness
of the law, blameless. He said my outward conduct was
conformed to the law so you could find no point, no place where
you could point your finger. Now if you touch my heart and
my motives, he says in Romans 7, he had a lot to be blamed.
He said his heart was full of covetousness and he never knew
it until the Holy Spirit shined into his heart. But he says his
life was blameless. And in Philippians 2.15, The
scripture calls every Christian to a blameless life, that ye
may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Unblameable. Doesn't mean sinless. But it
means that when it's obvious that I've not acted righteously,
I not only confess it to my God, but to those who've seen my unrighteous
conduct, so that though I must stand amongst my children as
a sinner, confessing my sins of impatience, I stand among
them blameless, if my confession has been genuine and honest to
the Lord and to them. See? That's what it means. But when I've been irritated
with my boss, and he knows my profession, even though he's
had 25 pounds of irritation to me, day after day, and I've just
shown a little ounce to him, I go to him and I say, Mr. Bossman,
I sinned. You know my profession as a Christian.
I want to ask you to forgive me. I'm blameless. I can open my mouth and witness
to it, and he can't point his finger. That's what it means
to be blameless. in the home, in the neighborhood.
That's the mark of a true ministry. Now notice this little phrase
he puts in there. I want to touch it before I leave and come to
another area of truth in the verse. He said, among you that
believe. Now why did he put that there?
He said earlier that he was among them as a gentle nurse, cherishing
her children. And he was willing to impart
not only the gospel, but his very own soul. You see, verses
7 and 8 refer primarily to the initial contact that Paul had
in communicating the gospel as he came in and his associates
as the shock troops, so to speak, and the gospel was preached.
The dominant note of what we call initial contact of the gospel
is the involvement of love. But then when God saves some
people and you begin to live close together, and you get close
enough to see each other's warts and molds, and crooked ears and
crooked noses, then you see, beloved, the ministry will stand
or fall on the basis of how real the truth you're communicating
is demonstrated in your own life. So he says, we were this among
you that believed. The involvement of love, the
initial necessity for the initial thrust of the gospel And here,
the blameless holy life for the continued success of the ministry
of the gospel. What a testimony to have, as
Paul did here, that he had a threefold witness to his holy life. Man,
his own conscience, and his God. What a witness. What a witness. Now, some of you are asking,
say, well, that standard's so high. It's out there. It's beyond
us. Unattainable. Wait a minute.
Paul was not an angel. He was a fallen son of Adam,
redeemed by grace. Oh, but you say he was an apostle.
But all the way through, notice he doesn't use the first person.
He doesn't say, I. He said, we. He had some associates
and he was talking about them. A man like Timothy, naturally
timid, fearful, needed some encouragement to have some courage. and his
conduct was too blameless. But what's the source of true
holiness? And you'd never get it in the English rendition,
but in the Greek there's a little hint of what the source is. If
I were translating this literally, I would translate it this way.
For ye are witnesses in God also, how wholly and righteously and
blamably we were made among you. There's a passive verb here.
Not we became, but we were made. Well, made by whom? Paul, how
were you made that way? Well, he would tell us. I am
what I am by the what? By the grace of God. You see, what Paul is talking
about in verse 10 is the fruit. which can only grow when there
is the root of vital union with Jesus Christ. You'll never be
able to say with Paul, ye are witnesses in God also how holily
and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves, till you can
say with Paul, I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me in the life which I now
live in the flesh. I live! by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The only source
of this kind of a holy life that is more than the pharisaical
externalism that looks good but lacks purity of motive and thought
and intent, a holiness that touches the intents and motivations of
the heart and reaches out into the life, is the fruit of union
with Jesus Christ, as we read in Philippians 1. where Paul
prays for the church at Philippi that they may be filled with
the fruits of what? Of righteousness which are by
Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. You see, most
of us have a concept of Christianity that never makes us despair that
the standard is just playing too high until God performs a
miracle. You don't need a miracle to pack
a few facts in your head about a man on a cross and about a
few bad things you've done to say, well, I'm all fixed up.
God has juggled up the record books and I'll live a pretty
nice. Listen, there are lots of unsafe people who live as
good as many of us do. They don't cheat at work. They're
very honest. They don't curse. They don't
swear, come to church. They're not holy people. They
can't call God to witness that their motives are the glory of
God? That they're just as jealous
to guard their thoughts as they are their deeds? You see, this
is the kind of life that only a miracle man or woman can live.
One who's been joined to Christ, and by virtue of union with Him,
His death is our death. His life is our life. And these fruits, grow only on
the root of vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. As I seek
to bring this to a practical conclusion this morning, may
I set before you one or two very searching, and they have been
to me, I believe valid principles that are here in the text. Will
you listen carefully now? As a general rule, the power
of truth will be in direct proportion to the purity of the vessel communicating
it. You just let that sink down in.
As a general rule, the power of the truth, the truth that
you're ministering to your children, to your neighbors, that's being
ministered in this church from this pulpit, the power of the
truth will be in direct proportion to the purity of the vessel communicating
it. Some of you will perhaps remember
when I was preaching in the first chapter, there was one phrase
I didn't expound. I sneaked over it. I didn't understand
it then, but I think I do now. Will you look back to chapter
1 and verse 5? To me, Paul was shifting gears
in the middle of the stream, just like the phone must have
rung toward the end of the verse, and he lost his train of thought,
and when he picked up his pen, he started off in right field
somewhere. But now I think I understand what he's saying. Notice. For
our gospel, that's the message, came not unto you in word only,
but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
as ye know what manner of men we were among you. See it? The
gospel came in power, as you know what manner of men we were. He joins them. indicating that
the measure of power was commensurate with the holiness of the life
that brought it. Some of you are praying for your
unsaved children. Why are they still unsaved from the human
standpoint? Don't you run and hide behind the sovereignty of
God? Could it be that the gospel that
they hear has not come in power because you and I cannot say
to them as you know what manner of man, woman we were among you. You see what that does to me
as a preacher? If it weren't for the sense of the call of
God, I'd quit. Because I see that some of you have been able
to withstand what I believe is a pure gospel Week in and week
out, year in and year out. You can't say the preacher talks
over our head. The preacher talks off to the
corner of the building. I look you in the eye. I seek
to pour my heart through my eyes and my mouth. And yet I can't say that the
gospel's come to you in power. It's just been tons of verbiage. Oh, you say, don't browbeat yourself.
Beloved, I've got to. When I face a text like this,
I've got to do something. And I've got to ask God to show
me where the inconsistencies may lie that keep the Word from
coming with power. That's the general rule, dear
ones. So you want power? We're all praying for power?
We want to see God manifest His power? He's going to do it through
holy lives. And holy living means in those
circles of everyday experience. being able to say, I walked wholly,
justly, and unblameably before those who sought. We read this
morning in 2 Timothy chapter 2, that in a certain house there
are vessels of honor and dishonor, and then Paul says to Timothy
in verse 21, if a man therefore purge himself from these, the
vessels of dishonor, He shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,
and what's the next phrase? Meet, fit, equipped, prepared
for the master's use. When the master comes into the
house and he wants to pour out his choicest wine to a guest,
what kind of vessel does he use? Does he go to the kitchen cabinet
and find that old plastic glass that the kids chewed on, like
some of the ones we have? Beth just loves to chew on the
glasses. the plastic was, that is, and it's all sort of scalloped
along the edges and beat out and cracks in it. Is that what
he goes to pour out his choiceless wine to his friend? Oh, no. He
says to his wife, dear, we've got special company today. I
want you to reach back in that china closet. She pulls back
the nice glass. And she takes out one of those
fine pieces of crystalware, and she takes a nice soft linen cloth
and she polishes it until it sparkles. And then she draws
forth the choicest beverage to set before the guest in the choicest
vessel. Now that's what Paul says to
Timothy. You want God to take the wine, the gospel of life,
and set it before men. You've got to be a vessel neat,
fit for the Master's use. He's not going to take that besmirched
vessel. He's going to take the pure vessel. To quote some of the most famous
words of Robert Murray McShane, some of you perhaps have heard
them before. They're quoted in many places, and the reason they
are is they're worth quoting, and so I make no apology for
quoting them this morning. Listen as I read. Quote, how
diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp. Every stain he rubs off with
the greatest care. Remember, you are God's sword,
his instrument. I trust the chosen vessel unto
him to bear his name. In great measure, according to
the purity and perfectness of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents, God
blesses, so much as likeness to Jesus. That's it, likeness
to Jesus. That's why the first requirement
for a teaching elder is what? The bishop must be, what's the
first word? Blameless. Blameless. Blameless. With all my heart I seek to walk
before you people blameless. Not faultless. not sinless, but
blameless. And I know some of you think
I'm too straight. I don't mind that censure. I know some of
you feel I'm a bit old-fashioned. I don't mind that. And I know
some of you think I'm a bit too unbending and inflexible on certain
principles, and I don't mind that. But beloved, if there's
conduct in my life that is not befitting the Word of God, you
have an obligation to come to me and speak to me. And I want
you to come. Because I want this message to
be a powerful message. I want the gospel I preach to
be a powerful gospel. And it cannot be, unless the
light through which it comes is blameless. In a few short weeks, we'll be
considering who we're going to set over us as God-appointed
church officers. The requirement for every elder
is that he be blameless. Blameless. No just cause of censure. Of every deacon, that he be blameless.
God put that requirement there. I didn't. Why? Well you see why, because these
are the ones through whom the truth is in a peculiar way mediated
to us, and that truth will not come in power unless it comes
through a pure vessel. But the requirement, though intensified
for elders and deacons, is not exclusively for them. For God
says to every believer that ye may be blameless and harmless. You students, you just let the
other kids know that you've got the same standards they've got
for your social life. You just let them know that you'll
snicker at the same jokes they snicker at. You might as well
shut your mouth about ever talking to them about the Savior. They
don't want to hear it. They expect something different from you. at work, with our neighbors,
the truth will have no power unless it comes through the Holy
Light. We mentioned Elmer last week, the instrument in Ernie's
life. Remember when Ernie spoke on the faithful witness taking
the principles from Elmer's life? Remember what was at the top
of the list when he went up to the mountain that day and tried
to find out what did Elmer have that I need? Remember what the
first one was? The power of what? Of a Holy
Light. This man Elmer, there on that
construction crew with the fellas cursing and telling their dirty
jokes and taunting him day in and day out, and the thing that
frustrated them, they could find no chink in his armor, they could
find no crack in the vessel! It shone brilliantly! Holy, just, unblameable. And it convinced all of those
men, not that they wanted to be Christians, but that the Christian
light transforming experience, and if they ever had what Elmer
had, they'd sure be a world different from what they were. That's the
conviction that my children ought to have, and yours. My neighbors,
if I ever become what he is, I'll be radically transformed.
It's the testimony I've borne to my own dear mother for years.
I knew if I ever got the real thing, it sure would make a powerful
difference in me, and it'd make me something like my mother. Your kids say that about you?
Can they pray, oh God, may Daddy's God be my God. May I know God
the way Daddy does. Not may I learn to talk about
Him the way Daddy does, or talk about Him the way Mommy does,
but God may I know You so that I'll live like Daddy lives. That
I'll pray like Daddy prays. That I'll be careful to live
a holy life like Daddy. That's the mark of a true ministry,
beloved, if we don't have that packed up shop. No, no reason
for the Trinity Church to even pray that God will bless its
outreach. The passion of God's heart is
to have a holy people. And I trust that this day shall
find us crying to Him that He will make us that. Ye are witnesses,
and God also, how wholly, justly, and unblameably we behaved ourselves That's the mark of a true minister,
and of a true minister. May God grant that we should
be stamped with that mark. Let us pray. Lord, we confess that the world
is too much with us. We have imbibed its insensitivity
of conscience, its carelessness regarding thy holy law, And we
pray that thy word will so be attended with the power of the
Holy Ghost. We'd be given no rest by thy
spirit until we too can say by the grace of God, ye are witnesses
in God also of the genuineness of the Holy Light. Hear us, Lord,
lest all our preaching and teaching be nullified by our shoddy living. Hear us in our cry. Lift up the
light of thy countenance upon us. Where thy word has smitten,
there is true acknowledgment of sin and need. May that same
word encourage by fixing the eye of the smitten soul upon
Christ and Christ alone. Hear us in our prayer and dismiss
us with your blessing and bring us back together tonight to feast
upon thee to gather about thy Son, from whom we may draw afresh
grace and strength to live to thy praise and to his glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.