We'll continue tonight looking
at 1 Thessalonians. Tonight we've come to chapter
four. 1 Thessalonians chapter four. Furthermore then, we beseech
you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you
have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so
you would abound more and more. For you know what commandments
we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God,
even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication,
that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honor. not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles which know not God, that no man go beyond
and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord
is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and
testified. For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth,
despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy
Spirit. But as touching brotherly love,
you need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. And indeed you do it toward all
the brethren, which are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you,
brethren, that you increase more and more. and that you study
to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your
own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly toward
them that are without and that you may have lack of nothing. In preparing the notes for the
message this evening, I remembered something that I printed in my
Bible over 50 years ago, I assume. So I went over to the cabinet
and pulled out this Bible. It was the first good Bible that
I had after the Lord saved me, a wide margin, and we could write
in it. And I carried it with me to Mexico. Then I used a Spanish Bible,
of course. And then when we came back and
began the services here, which has been almost 50 years ago,
47 years, I believe, I bought a new Bible just like this one.
And since then I've used another Bible and now I have another
Bible. You know, it's hard to get rid
of a Bible, isn't it? What do you do with it? What
do you do with it? You throw it in the garbage?
You burn it, it's hard to get rid of a Bible. But I found what
I knew that I had written in this Bible many years ago, and
I wanted to begin with that tonight. It's a word from Robert Murray
McShaney, a Scottish preacher who was used of God in Scotland,
and the Lord took him at a very early age. I think he was 29
years old. when God called him home. But he wrote these words
to his brother, and I quote, it is a holy making gospel. Without holy fruit, all evidences
are vain. Dear friends, you have awakenings,
enlightenings, experiences, and many do signs. But if you lack
holiness, you will never see the Lord. A real desire after
complete holiness is the truest mark of being born again. Jesus
is a holy savior. He first covers the soul with
his white raiment, then makes the soul glorious within, restores
the lost image of God, and fills the soul with pure heavenly holiness. The Bible is clear that there
is no man who is perfectly holy in this world. And what do I
mean by that? I mean that there is none who
walks upon the face of God's earth that does not commit sin. In fact, the Apostle John wrote,
if we say that we have no sin, We deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. The writer of Ecclesiastes, Solomon,
he wrote, there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth
good and sinneth not. There are just men upon the earth. There are men who are justified
and do good, but there's none that sinneth not. The believer's
perfect holiness and sanctification is in Christ alone. He is our
sanctification. He is our holiness and every
child of God in him is without spot and blemish. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30,
the apostle said, but of him, that is of God, of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He is the believer's holiness. This chapter and these verses
that I just read and we want to look at tonight concern the
believer's walk. A believer is to walk after the
spirit. Now, after the spirit, I believe,
has reference to the new man, the spiritual part of man, where
to walk after the spirit, which after God is created, the new
man is created in righteousness and true holiness. And he which
is born of God sinneth not. The apostle John tells us that
new nature, that new creation does not sin, but we still have
that old nature, that old nature that has not been improved. It never will be improved as
long as we are in this world. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Born flesh, it'll die flesh.
But that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And these verses tonight concern
a believer's walk, his conduct, his manner of living as we sojourn
here in this world. So let's look at these verses
tonight. I point out Paul's usual method. Paul's usual method in verse
one, the first part of verse one. Furthermore then, we beseech
you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus. Now, if you
have references in your Bible, you see that the word beseech
could be request and the word exhort could be besiege. This is Paul's usual method in
appealing to believers concerning our conduct, our walk in this
world. Paul was an apostle, and as an
apostle, he could command, and he did so when occasion required
it, for instance, When he wrote the first epistle of Corinthians,
we know there was a man living in that, man in that church who
was living with his father's wife, not his mother, but his
father's wife. And Paul didn't say, now you,
you folks decide what you need to do. No, he, he said, this
is what you need to do. In other words, he gave a command.
He was an apostle. I couldn't write to another church
and tell another congregation that they needed to do this or
that or the other, because I'm pastor of this church. But an
apostle had that right. That was part of being an apostle.
And you know what he wrote to that church. He said, when you
come together and when my spirit is there with you, deliver such
and one to Satan. Deliver that person to Satan. But his usual method, that's
what I'm pointing out, his usual method in writing was not to
command, even though as an apostle he had that right. But his usual
method was to request, to beseech. You all are familiar with Romans,
the letter of Romans, and all of those great doctrines that
he deals with in the first 11 chapters. And then he comes to
what we would call his practical exhortations, beginning with
chapter 12. And he says, we beseech you,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, Didn't
command them. I beseech you by the mercies
of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God. And then he added these words,
which is your reasonable service. After what God has done for you,
this is your reasonable service. And that's the appeal that is
always made to believers. to live in such a way because
of what God has done for you. In other words, out of love.
Out of love, out of thanksgiving for what God has done. We don't
take the law of God and try to use it like a whip and whip God's
children into living in such a way. No, we appeal to men. The apostle did. We appeal to
man. This is your reasonable service. See what God's done for you?
How God gave his son for you? This is your reasonable service
that you give yourself unto him. Now the second part, Paul confirms,
I want you to notice, Paul confirms that they had been taught how
they should walk. Read the rest of verse one. that
as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please
God, so you would abound more and more, for you know what commandments
we gave you by the Lord Jesus. They had received the apostles'
teachings, not only the gospel that he brought to them in Thessalonica,
but also we see he taught them practical of practical things,
how they were to walk so as to please God. You know, it's said
of David, that which he did concerning Bathsheba and her husband Uriah,
that did not please God. He wasn't pleased with that conduct. And believers, as children of
God, our desire is to walk in this world, to live in this world
in such a way as to please God. Turn with me over just a few
pages to Titus, Titus chapter 2. In Titus chapter 2, beginning
with verse 10, now he's exhorted husbands and wives, and now he's
in the servants. Actually, let's begin with verse
nine. Now, exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters,
and to please them well in all things, not answering again,
not forlorning, but showing all good fidelity, all good faithfulness. Now notice that they may adorn
the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Yes, we believe. Glorious doctrine, don't we?
Glorious truths. We revel in the truth and the
glorious doctrines of the Word of God. But we are to adorn these
doctrines. We are to adorn them by the way
we live, by our conduct. Nothing could be worse than a
man who lives like the devil, but yet he can preach like Charles
Spurgeon. I mean, yeah, he can explain
the mysteries of God, but his life, his life, his witness,
his conduct doesn't measure up to what he preaches, what he
professes, what he believes and teaches. Very important that
our life be consistent as believers, as children of God. We as God's
children are to walk so as to please God. that they may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things. Now that particular word there,
if you look in the context, was to servants. And by servants,
slaves. He's talking to slaves. And they've been saved by the
grace of God. And how are they to act toward
their masters? Well, the scripture here says
they're to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them
well in all things. Not answering again, not porloining,
that is wasting your time when you're supposed to be working.
And we don't deal with slavery anymore, but this is very practical
for all of us as you work on a job, we're employees. not forlorn but showing all good
fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. For the grace of God, now some
people say that means the gospel here, for the grace of God that
bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. Not every solid,
not every single individual, that's not what he's saying,
but to all men, that is Jew and Gentile, the gospel has come.
The gospel is preached to all men, and what does it do? It teaches us. It teaches us. Denying ungodliness and worldly
lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world. looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people.
And I've said this before, but you know what makes these people
so peculiar, what makes God's people so peculiar? They are zealous of good works.
They just love to serve God. They just love to honor Him.
I was talking with a brother after the service this morning.
We were talking about those men. He brought this up that appeared
before the Lord and it's recorded in Matthew 25. And the Lord commends
them for feeding Him and visiting Him and clothing Him. And they're
so surprised. When did we do this to you? When? I don't remember that. And as
much as you have done it unto one of these least, you have
done it unto me. And God's people are peculiar.
They love one another. And they look out for one another.
They support one another. And they want to honor God in
the way that they live. A child of God is to serve Christ
by faith out of a principle of love for the glory of God. John
Gill made these comments on this verse. He said, these are the
things, prayer, were to please God. Prayer, number one. Number two, praise. There's a verse in one of the
Psalms that says, praise waited for thee. Praise waited for thee,
oh God. Have you ever thought about that?
Praise waited for thee. Evidently, the psalmist had a
need, and he asked the Lord to meet that need, and he tells
the Lord, praise is waiting. You fulfill that need, you answer
that prayer, and sure enough, praise is waiting for thee. In other words, he's determined
to praise God. I'm convicted myself, maybe you're
not, but sometimes I ask the Lord for something and he answers
the prayer, gives me what I've asked for, and I really don't
even thank him. I just go on. Has that ever happened
to you? We're to be thankful, aren't
we? We're to please God in prayer and praise. in, this is John
Gill, in acts of benevolence to the poor. And indeed, he said,
in every good work and holy action. And notice what Paul says here
in our text. Look here in First Thessalonians
chapter four, verse one. So you would abound more and
more. More and more. We're never gonna
sit down, settle down on our knees Well, I've done my part. I've served the Lord long enough.
It's time for someone else now. Let the younger generation take
over. Oh, no. You abound more and more. That's the exhortation, isn't
it? More and more. Now, here's my third and last
point. Paul comes to specifics now. He's dealing with a believer's
walk in this life. He comes to some specifics and
this is his usual method also. He deals first with negatives
and then with positives. And so we see two negatives here
and then there's four positives. Number one, do not be guilty
of fornication, verse three. Here's a negative. This is the
will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from
fornication. Here's the negative. Do not be
guilty of fornication. Now keep your place here, but
I want you to look back to Acts, Acts chapter 15. It was in this chapter that Many
of the believers, Paul, and Peter, and James, and they came together
in Jerusalem because some of the people had gone out teaching
except a man be circumcised, he cannot be saved. And so they
gathered together to discuss this issue, and they come to
the conclusion, I like the way the apostle Peter puts it here
in verse 11, But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we, we Jews, we who were born
under the law, that we shall be saved even as they, even as
the Gentiles who were not born under that Mosaic law. We believe
that Through the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And that's
the only way that anyone is ever saved, has ever been saved. What
does it say about Noah? Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Abraham found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Abel found grace in the eye. That's the only way anyone, David,
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Salvation did not begin
to be by grace after the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. It's always been by grace through
faith, always. There's only one way of salvation,
and Christ is that way. Those believers in the Old Testament,
in those days, they looked forward, didn't they? To the coming one.
And you and I, we look back to him who did come. But there's
only been one way of salvation, and it's always been by grace,
those who are saved, those who look. So they've come here to
Jerusalem, and they've come to the conclusion that we're not
going to write to them and tell them that As Gentile believers,
they need to be circumcised and come under the law of Moses.
We're not going to do that. We realize that's not so. That's
not right. But they did feel and did believe
it was necessary that they write some commandments. I want you
to see there's three things that they tell them here. In verse
19, this is James speaking. And he seems to have been the
pastor there in Jerusalem. Wherefore, my sentence is that
we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned
to God. We're not troubling them to tell
them that they've got to become Jews to be saved, no. But that we write unto them There's
three things here. We want you to abstain. We write unto them that they
abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication, and from things
strangled, and from blood. Those last two are the same.
Things strangled, that is meat that the blood had not been poured
out. The slaughter of the animal.
The animal had been strangled or slaughtered in some way that
the blood remained in the flesh. And that goes all the way back
before the Law of Moses even. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. So they felt it necessary because
they were Gentiles. The point I'm trying to make
and I want to make is this was so prevalent among Gentiles. and especially this matter of
fornication. It was so prevalent among Gentiles,
among pagans at that time, and they were being saved, and many
of them didn't see why there was anything wrong with what
is included in this word that's translated fornication. It begins
P-O-R, the Greek word that's written in English, and you can
see pornography. and it includes every illicit
sexual act. And most of the writers talk
about adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, all
of these things abstain from fornication. These things, these
practices, remember at Corinth they even had a temple to the
goddess Aphrodite, And they had temple prostitutes in their worship,
in the pagan religions. Many of them incorporated fornication
into their so-called worship services. Remember when Paul
wrote to the church at Corinth and he says, doesn't nature itself
teach you that it's wrong for a man to have long hair? Now,
why would he bring that in? Because of the temple prostitutes
there. Many of them were males, not
all females. But this was so prevalent among
Gentiles. They thought nothing of it. And Albert Barnes, he gives three
reasons why this is especially mentioned, this matter of fornication.
Number one, it was a vice that prevailed among the Gentiles.
It prevailed among the Gentiles. Number two, it was not deemed
disgraceful by the Gentiles, but practiced without shame or
remorse. And number three, it was in some
cases at least connected with pagan religion. So the first
negative we see here, Paul felt it necessary to write abstain
from fornication. As I said, something that was
so prevalent in that day. I want to say a word here, if
you turn back to 1 Thessalonians. I want to say a word about the
use of the word vessel. Verse four, that every one of
you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification
and honor. Now the apostle is using the
word vessel, of course, referring to the body, the body in which
the soul lives. And he's calling it a vessel.
And we know that the wife, the female, is sometimes in the scripture
referred to as the weaker vessel by the apostle Peter. And we
know that men who preach the gospel, we have this treasure
in an earthen vessel. So that has caused some people
to say, well, the apostle here is talking about a man's body.
And then others say, no, he's talking about a man's wife. Well,
I don't see any reason why he cannot be talking about both. Because my thought is when this
letter When this letter that Paul wrote, when it came to the
church at Thessalonica and the church gathered in somebody's
house, oh, we've got a letter from Paul. We've got a letter
from Paul. It wasn't just men who gathered
there. There were women who were saved.
There were women who were in the church. And this word was
to men and women. So even though in the context
here, it seems to be dealing with a man's body, his own body. I believe it may refer to both.
A man is to honor, a Christian man, well all men, but especially
Christians are to honor their wife. They're to love their wife
even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. To honor
their wife, honor the weaker vessel, the scripture calls her. And we won't get into that, what
that means. You know what it means, the weaker
vessel. Get into trouble dealing with
that message. Men should also know that their
body, It's a temple of the Holy Spirit. It's not for filthiness. Paul said in 2 Corinthians, dearly
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh,
the flesh, the body. Let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, the mind, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. So that's the first negative
we see here. Do not be guilty of fornication. And before I move on, I mentioned
you can see the word pornography in that word. Pornography is
a real problem. It's a real problem in our country. From what I read and from what
I hear, it is a real problem And it can get a hold of a person,
just like alcohol, a person become addicted to these things. And I just want to sound a warning
about these things. I don't like to talk about them,
especially in a mixed audience like this. But that's just so,
folks. It's a real problem. And I warn
you young people there. And with the computers, it's
even worse now than it used to be just a few years ago. You
can see anything and everything, I guess, that you shouldn't see
if you look for it. It's there. And I know it's ruined
marriages. And it's a real, real trial for
those who are addicted to it. But here's a second negative.
Do not be guilty of taking advantage of others. Verse six. That no
man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter. In any
matter. Do not be guilty of taking advantage
of others. As he said, in any matter. And
this would certainly include the matter of sexual purity because
that's the context here. But we believers are exhorted
to be honest in business and not to take advantage of others. There's a proverb which says
a man says, ah, you know, he's buying something from a worker
and he said, ah, nothing to it, nothing to it, not worth anything. And then when the poor man has
to sell his product, then the man goes away bragging about
how astute he was. and got something for just about
nothing. The scripture says here, we shouldn't
overreach in any matter. I noticed Henry Mahan in his
Bible class commentary, his comment here was, we believers are exhorted
to treat one another's marriages and partners as we want others
to deal with us. Now let's look at the positives.
Two negatives. Two negatives. Do not be guilty
of fornication. Do not overreach. Be guilty of
taking advantage of others. Now the positives. Number one,
we are to love one another. And notice how Paul says this
here in verses nine and 10. But as touching brotherly love,
You need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. You know, the Apostle John in
his first letter, he gives those marks of the new birth, and that's
one of the marks, isn't it? We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. And Paul says,
I don't need to write to you about this because you just know
this. You just know this. It's sort
of inherent in every child of God, you know. And our Lord also
said this is a mark of his disciples. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, that you have loved one for another. But, Paul says we're to increase
in this. We're bound, notice that in verse
10. And indeed you do it toward all
the brethren which are in all Macedonia, But we beseech you,
brethren, that you increase more and more. We increase in love. We grow
in love. All of the graces are capable
of increase. Faith, love, joy, the fruit of
the Spirit, these things They're all capable of increasing, and
that should be our desire, our goal, to increase day by day,
to grow, to be more like Christ, right? Here's a second positive. We're
to mind our own business. Verse 11, and that you study
to be quiet. Now, I've never thought of this
as being a real problem, but evidently it has been and can
be and maybe has been in some congregations. If people are
involved, they're trying to run somebody else's life. They're
busy in somebody else's business. Study, he said, study to live
a quiet life. Do your own business. Do your
own business. Don't be a busybody trying to
straighten everybody else out. We're to attend to that which
concerns us. And then the third positive is
we are to be useful in supporting ourselves. The last part of verse
11, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Now, there's a reason why Paul
included these positives. If you look in Chapter 3 of 2
Thessalonians, now he'd only been with them
a short while, but he had been with them long enough to see
some things, see some things that caused him to write what
he did. If you look in Chapter 3, beginning
in verse Verse 10, when he says, for even
when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would
not work, neither should eat. Evidently, there were some people
there would just allow somebody else to work and support them.
Now, there are people, we know this, there are people because
of providences crippled and limited in such a way that they deserve
support. But a person who can work, Paul
says, he should work. You know, when God created man,
before he ever sinned, he put him in the garden and gave him
work to do, to dress the garden. Most of us, I'm sure, grew up
hearing, idle hands are the devil's workshop. You ever hear that?
You know, there was a lot of sayings. They were not coming
right out of the scripture, but they were based on scriptural
truths that people used to repeat. And that was part of society.
It is not so much anymore, is it? But idle hands are the devil's
workshop. That was one of them. And Paul
says, for even when we were with you, this we commanded you that
if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear, we
hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working
not at all, but are busybodies. Now, them that are such, we command
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they
work and eat their own bread, pay their own way, earn their
own living. You know, idleness, this is what
he's warning against, is idleness. Idleness is not the same as resting. Our Lord called his disciples
apart one day that they might rest. The body needs rest. God made us where we need rest. But idleness, as one person said,
idleness was is doing nothing when we should be doing something.
Idleness, doing nothing, when we should be doing something.
That's what Paul is warning about. God made man to work and to earn
his own living. And if you say, well, I've got
everything I need. I don't need to work anymore.
Well, you can work to support other people that don't have
enough to give. Working with your own hands,
the apostle said, to give, to share. It's more blessed to give
than to receive, the Lord said. And here's the last positive. We are to maintain a good testimony
to the lost, in verse 12, that you may walk honestly toward
them that are without. In other words, those who are
not believers. We're to walk honestly. And then that last
statement when he says that ye may have lack of nothing. The way to have lack of nothing
is to practice the things which he had just mentioned. Not to
be a busybody, but to work with your own hands and earn your
living. I trust the Lord would bless
these words to all of us here this evening.