Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 21 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns
hymn book. Let's all stand together. Familiar
hymn. God the Father and the Son and
the Spirit, three in one, in eternal ages past, made a covenant
sure and fast. God my Father chose His own in
the person of His Son, and ordained that I should be one with Him
eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law
and retrieve me from the fall. Christ in love so willingly Stood
as my great surety For my price he offered blood To appease the
wrath of God God the Spirit, heavenly dove Promised to come
down in love Bringing life and peace and grace to the chosen,
purchased race. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and he brings us to the Lamb. By his mighty sovereign
call, God's elect are gathered all. This poor sinner is secure,
for God's covenant will endure. It is sealed by God's own word,
by His Spirit and His blood. Blessed Holy Covenant God, I
am yours by ties of blood, ties of grace and ties of love. Hold me to my God above. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to continue our study
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And we want to give a warm, warm
welcome to James Edward Weishi's first time in church. What a blessing. New addition
to our family. Thank you for your prayers this
week. First time I went down to Mexico was 20 years ago, and
I've had the opportunity to go back several times. This trip
was, I thought, the most profitable trip that we've ever made. Your
brethren down there, The national people were afraid that with
Cody's passing that we would forget about them. And we're
the first ones, Todd and I were the first ones to go back. Reinaldo
went with us and translated. They were so very encouraged.
Merida is the capital of Yucatan. It's as large as Orlando. And
there's a church that Cody pastored in Merida. And then there are
other smaller churches out in the Pueblos that are anywhere
from 45 minutes to an hour and a half outside of Merida. The
people in the Pueblos are all Mayan Indians, extremely poor. They left their jobs early on
Wednesday and Thursday, paid probably half of what they made
that day to rent a bus. and come into Merida so they
could be with us on Wednesday night and Thursday night. We
had services, the auditorium was packed both nights and it
was just so good to see them. and uh... when is leaving tomorrow
to go back to houston and so uh... it was her uh... farewell visit as well with the
brethren she got to see a lot of folks on wednesday and thursday
night we talked all the preachers come into merida on mondays and
this week they did on tuesday because we didn't we didn't get
there till monday uh... and so we had a preacher school
that todd and i taught on monday and all the pastors were there
i have pictures of that will print off this week and put on
the bulletin board in the hallway so that you can see those but
they were so grateful for you uh... to send us down there and
uh... it was just such a such a blessing
to us uh... to see their continued growth
and grace, their love for one another, their love for the gospel.
And their desire is that the Lord would raise up a local pastor
for the church in Merida. And so please pray for the church
in Merida that they They have, right now, the pastors from out
in the Pueblos are rotating on Sunday mornings and coming in
to the city to preach for them on Sundays, and Walter's really
not able to preach and don't know what Walter and Betty are
going to do. Right now they're committed to stay. Cody's sister, Lisa, has just
recently retired and she was there this week and is leaving
with Winna tomorrow to go back to Texas, but in six weeks she's
going back and is going to stay with Walter and Betty as long
as she needs to. Her husband passed away about a few months
before Cody did. So she's a widow and she's going
to go and help take care of her parents. So that's the status
down there. I know you haven't met them. Most of them you knew Cody and
Winna, but you'd love I've had, you know, every conversation
I've had with any of them has been through a translator, and
that makes it very difficult, but the love of Christ and the
love for His gospel is so clear in the fellowship that you're
able to have with each other that I know you would be very
blessed to meet them, and one day you will. One day you will
so Pray for the church in Merida. They they need a pastor. It's
a large church. It's the auditorium seats about
a hundred and it's full And matter of fact, they've baptized six
people since the Lord took Cody home back in November so So the
Lord is continuing to bless the work there and There's a man
by the name of Joel that preaches, that's a member of the church
that's preaching on Wednesday night. And perhaps the Lord would,
would call him and enable him to be their pastor. But that's
really the only, the only thing that looks possible from what
we can see right now. So, all right, let's, let's pray
together. Our heavenly father, We come before. Thy throne of
grace. In the name of thy dear son.
And we're so very thankful. For the promise that you've given
us of knowing that we have acceptance in him before the. Lord, we. Thank you that you've promised
to meet with us. Know how we, we hope that we
can experience the fulfillment of that promise this morning.
We pray that you would speak to our hearts. We pray that you
would reveal to us more of the glory of Christ. We pray for those among us, Lord,
that remain strangers to your grace. And we ask that you would
open the eyes of their understanding. We pray that you would give them
faith. Pray for our children and for our grandchildren and
Lord for the stranger that is within our gates. And we ask
that she would add to your church, saving your lost sheep. We pray
it in Christ's name. Amen. All right, you have your
Bibles open to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We looked at the first
four or five verses last Sunday and mostly considered the subject
of sanctification, what it is to be sanctified. And the work
of sanctification is the setting apart that God does when He saves
one of His lost sheep. He sanctifies them. He that sanctifyeth
and they that are sanctified are all as one. It's the holiness
that we have in our new nature before God making us not only
accepted in His sight, but pleasing in His sight and lovable in His
sight. This work of sanctification is
an absolute. It's not something that we grow
in. It's not something we monitor
one another over. It's a work of grace that the
Lord does at salvation. Now, that having been said, because
we are sanctified, The Lord encourages us to abstain. Abstain. This word means to hold
yourself back. To not follow the passions of
your flesh. We've all got them. Every one
of us. And He uses the word abstain. This is a matter of restraining. He uses it in other places when
he says, abstain from idols, abstain from all appearances
of evil, abstain from those fleshly lusts that war against your soul. Oh, you know the there. You know the fleshly lusts are
there. They're in your heart. They're in your mind. They're
in your thoughts. The Lord says, don't act upon those things that
would war against your soul. The spirit wars against the flesh
and the flesh against the spirit. This matter of this flesh is
the old man. And he says, abstain from fornication. all forms of sexual activity
outside of marriage. Abstain from it. I know you have
the flesh of lust for it. It's natural. It's part of what
we are. Abstain from fulfilling those
lusts. Don't defraud your brother in
any matter. Be honest and sincere and fair
in your dealings with one another. Verse 5, not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles, which know not God. They don't have the
Holy Spirit. They don't have the Lord in them,
causing them to will and to do of His good pleasure. They are
slaves to their flesh. That's the only nature they have.
And so the Lord says, don't give in to these fleshly desires. That's all the word concupiscence
means. that the Lord would restrain
those passions. That no man go beyond and defraud
his brother in any matter, verse six, because that the Lord is
the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and
testified. For God has not called us to
uncleanliness, but unto holiness. He has separated us. And so the
Lord is reminding us of who we are, what He's done, and encouraging
us to remember that in the way in which we live. verse eight
he therefore that despises or rejected fees these are not these
are not uh... rules and regulations that are
given to us by men this is the admonition of the lord this is
god's instructions for his children and he's saying if you despise
these things if you reject these things as true you're not rejecting
the words of men our religion is full of of do's and don'ts
and regulations that are made up by men. You know, the Lord
says, you know, touch not, taste not, handle not. And every form
of man-made religion has some sort of rule and regulation that
you have to follow in order to adhere to that particular flavor
of religion. But the Lord says here, These
principles, which are very basic, are given to us by God. They're
not man-made rules and regulations. It doesn't have anything to do
with what you eat, or what you drink, or what you wear, or how
you wear your hair, or whatever. Those things are man-made. He therefore that despiseth,
despises not man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
So if we reject these things as coming from the Lord, then
what we'll do is quench the Spirit of God. And He's given us His
Spirit to lead us. Now, as touching
brotherly love, you need, I love this, as touching brotherly love,
you need not that I write unto you, for yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. It's just natural. It's natural. If you're a believer, it's natural
to love other believers. You say, well, you know, sometimes
we don't act very loving towards one another. I know that. I know
that. I remember years ago I heard
someone say, you know, to live above with the saints I love,
that certainly will be glory, but to live below with the saints
I know, now that's quite another story. We do. But you love your wife,
you love your husband, you get aggravated with one another,
don't you? But what do you do? You forgive. And the more you
grow in grace and the more you love one another, the quicker
you forgive each other. You do. You just... We've noticed
that in our relationship. You know, you used to harbor
resentment, you know, for days and try to punish one another
with, you know... And now it's just like, you know, immediately. You just... Why? Because you
grow in that love. How do I know if I love somebody?
Well, the Scripture says that love covers a multitude of sin. You love somebody, you overlook
their faults. And when you don't love somebody,
everything they do aggravates you. Isn't that true? Isn't that true? you you see it in in marriages
and in divorces and you know and and uh... the falling out
uh... that that take place you know
where's things were tolerated before now nothing's tolerated
and uh... and you see it in all sorts of
relationships uh... this is uh... or so i don't need
i don't need tell you love one another because you do If you
love Christ, you love His people. John dealt with that, didn't
he, in 1 John. He said, don't say that you love God and you
don't love your brother. That's not possible. That's not possible. And I'm so very thankful for
the affection that God has put in your heart for me and me for
you and for one another. It's real. It's unfeigned. We're not pretending. It's not
like we did in religion where, you know, we just kind of dressed
up the outside and made it look like we love one another. This
is a love that God puts in our hearts for Christ and for His
people. And the Lord said, I don't have
to tell you to love one another. You already do. It's just the
natural thing. And you forgive each other when
you rub each other the wrong way. And so in the next verse
he says, and indeed you do it toward all the brethren which
are in all Macedonia. You do it. You love people. You
love brethren. You haven't met yet. I just took
a few minutes to tell you about your brethren in Mexico, most
of which you've never met. You love them, don't you? You
just do. And if you met them, you would
have an immediate affection for them. And so the Lord says, you
know, you love those, all the brethren that are Macedonia,
but we beseech you, brethren, here's the encouragement. We
beseech you that you increase more and more. Love each other
more than you do. Now all that simply means is
be quicker to forgive than you have been in the past. That'll
be evidence of your love. Be quicker to show concern for
your brethren. Pray for one another. Love each
other more. How am I going to love each other
more? Lord, you're going to have to put the love of Christ in
my heart. Here again, Lord, grow me in your grace. This is not
sanctification. We are sanctified. This is growing
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
become more gracious towards one another, and we become more
dependent upon His grace toward us. We see more and more of our
own sin, which makes us more and more tolerant toward other
people's sins. Isn't that what it is? Look at this next phrase. Study to be quiet. To be quiet means to hold your
tongue. Some people are more quiet than
other people naturally. Some people are very quiet. And
people that are by nature quiet generally get in a whole lot
less trouble than those of us that talk a lot, don't they?
And the Lord says, study to show yourself quiet. What is he talking
about studying? Well, study the scriptures. Study
the life of Christ. Study your brethren. Those are
more quiet than you. Those that don't gossip. Those
that don't stir up dissension among the brethren. Take notice
of all that and follow that example. Do your own business. You've got enough responsibilities
and troubles in your own life to take care of without worrying
about other people's. Let me say this, you all know my feelings
about look at me. I'm talking about Facebook. I'm
not on it, don't want to be on it. but i have been grieved over
the years of some of the stuff that believers have put on face
book and generally it's young believers young people who have
written stuff and put out there uh... it gets back to me somebody
say did you read not i've read it though they'll tell me about
all no they didn't say that yeah they did yeah they did you put
something out there make sure you mind in your own business
And my recommendation to you would be write it down on a piece
of paper and sleep on it and pray about it and you'll find
the next day it won't be near as important as it was to you
when you first thought of it. And you probably won't say it. That's what the Lord's talking
about here. Study to be quiet and mind your own business. Because
all this other stuff just creates dissension among the brethren.
And God hates it. And it breaks down the love that
the Lord has put in our hearts for one another. so restrain
yourself abstain from putting stuff out there uh... that's
going to be hurtful and uh... that's going to be divisive that's
what the lord's instruction is we've always been that way we
just have we just have it at our fingertips more now where
we can you know before we might say it to one person and now
we can put it down and boy it goes out to the whole world Uh,
so it's, it's, it's more power. Your words are more powerful
now than they were when you were just talking to one person. And
so take heed to the power of your words and be careful what
you say. Work with your own hands as we
commanded you. Be responsible, work hard, take
care of your own business. Don't be lazy. That you may walk
honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have
lack of nothing. Those that are lazy are always
poor, aren't they? I just, I just, the Lord's saying,
you know, it's a, How are you going to be a testimony
to those without if these things are not true in your life? Now, the rest of this chapter
and the first part of the next chapter is going to talk about
the second coming of Christ. Oh, what a glorious subject. God's people not only love one
another, they love Christ, they love the gospel, they long for
that day when the eastern sky splits, the trump of God sounds,
and those who are dead in Christ be raised, and those of us which
are alive be caught up together with them in the air. So shall
we ever be with the Lord. Comfort, comfort ye one another
with these words." There are times in the midst of trouble
that we just want to go home to be delivered from our troubles,
isn't there? And then there's those sweet
times when the Lord just puts it on our hearts to want to see
Him and be made like Him. but verse 13, I would not have
you to be ignorant brethren concerning them, which are asleep. Now the scriptures are written
on two levels. They're written on the level
of time and the written on the level of eternity. So when the
scripture, when the Lord Jesus Christ said to the thief on the
cross this day, you shall be with me in paradise. When the
scripture says, absent from the body is to be present with the
Lord. He's talking about the eternal. When you depart from
this body, you leave time and you step into eternity. And in
eternity, there's no past, present, and future. It's just eternity. We can't understand it, but we know that that's what
the Lord meant when He's talking about being with Him. So now, when he's speaking of
those who are asleep and their resurrection and the coming of
Christ, he's talking about time, talking about those of us that
are here in time are waiting for the coming of Christ. And
these believers were wondering, well, what about those who have
fallen asleep? Don't you love the way the Lord speaks of death
for His children? You believe on me, you shall
never die. He'd never die. We didn't speak to the brethren
down there about Cody dying. Cody went to be with the Lord. so he says those which are asleep
they were afraid know that the last thing the lord told us when
when he uh... departed was that we were to
be his witnesses go back into jerusalem the holy spirit will
come upon you and uh... uh... you to make disciples of
all nations baptizing them in the name of the father son the
holy spirit teaching them to observe all things what Whatsoever
I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always. And he
ascended from Mount of Olives into heaven. And the disciples
are standing there looking up. And what did the Lord do? He
sent angels. And the angels said, Men of Israel,
why stand ye here gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus that
just departed from you, He is coming again in like manner. He is coming again. And boy,
every day, every day, these believers thought, well, it's, you know,
he's, maybe today, maybe, you know, they thought the next day,
the next day, and aren't we the same? Aren't we the same? Lord, make us anxious for thy
coming. And the Lord has, people ask
you, and I'm sure they ask me, about prophecy. You know, what
about the end times? I was talking to somebody recently
and I said, well, why are you concerned about that? He said,
well, maybe I can prolong it. Maybe I can put it off a little
longer. I said, no, you're not going to do that. You know, the
Lord's ordained a specific time, but He's revealed the coming
of Christ in such a way that every generation of believers
are able to anticipate His coming in their lifetime. And that's the right thing to
do. Now, the unbeliever will say, well, they've been talking
about that for 2,000 years. And Peter deals with that. Now, where is this coming? But
the child of God, anxious to see the Lord, anxious to be made
like Him, anxious to shed this old body, they're watching and
waiting. And so these believers were watching
and waiting, but as they're watching and waiting, they notice other
believers are passing away. And they're burying them. And
he said, well, they're just asleep. Don't worry about it. I would
not have to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. We just spent several days grieving
with Cody's mom and dad and Cody's wife and Cody's brethren in Mexico
over his loss. We were grieving for ourselves. Not that our grief was uncontrollable,
it wasn't. But it was very real, just being
with those people and the strangeness of not having Cody there. We
grieved for ourselves. No believer ever grieves for
Cody. No, he's with the Lord. His reward has been experienced
in its fullness. Verse 15, for this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. In other words, the believers
were thinking, well they've passed away, we put their body in the
ground, the Lord might come tomorrow And when he comes, he's going
to come for all of us which are here. What about them that have
already passed away? And so the Lord is giving them
this revelation in time to encourage them. For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel
and the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise. Then
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord. To meet the Lord. That's the. That's what we long
for to meet the Lord. This doesn't have, this is not,
what about, you know, how the body's going to come back to
alive and how's the, what's the angels going to sound like? No.
It's to meet the Lord, to meet Him, to see Him in the fullness
of His glory, to be made like Him. in the air, and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. Wherefore, wherefore, comfort,
exhort, encourage. Are you comforted to think about
today might be the day? The only way you can be comforted
with that is to have assurance of your salvation. If you have
trepidation, about the Lord coming, then I would encourage you, come
to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rest your mortal soul in His person and in His glorious work,
because He is coming. He is coming. And it's going
to be sooner than later. What a glorious day that'll be
for those who are ready for him to come. All right, let's take
a break.