Thank you. Turn with me if you
would to First Thessalonians chapter five. First Thessalonians chapter five,
last Sunday morning, We began the Bible study by pointing out
that the Apostle Paul ended this chapter, which is the end of
the first letter. He ended the first letter to
the Thessalonians with a list of exhortations. He gave a list
of exhortations. Each one of these could be considered
by itself. We could have a message on each
one of them, but we're looking at them as a whole. We're looking
at them collectively, in connection with one another,
and in the context of what it is to be a grounded, mature congregation
of believers. That's what we are Seeing in
all of these exhortations as a whole. He's speaking to a congregation
He's speaking to them and he's speaking to us Concerning our
attitude and our actions in the congregation and toward the congregation
Now I'm going to repeat what I said last week I'm going to
open this the same way we opened it last week because before we
get into this it needs to be declared This must be told concerning
the exhortation of things that we should do and not do. Anytime you get into the things
that we should do and not do, never are those exhortations
given as a requirement for us to be saved. Never are they given
as a requirement for the salvation of our souls. People say and
people believe the Bible says you have to be this way if you
want to go to heaven. That's not why the Bible says
that. Now it is true we have to be
as good as God. The man who stands in his presence
must be as good as God. But this scripture was given
to us. God wrote it to us to show us
how contrary to God we are by nature. Wednesday night we were
in Romans 3 reading how By the deeds of the law shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. People try to do this and do
this, and I want to be saved, I got to do this, I better be
better at this. By the deeds of the law, I would encourage
all of us, and I'm about to, let's do these things. Do these
things. Is the law sin? God forbid. I
love thy law. But by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. The law was given to expose
our sin. Just looking at the verses we're
about to consider, verse 16 says, rejoice evermore. That does not describe our sinful
nature. That does not sound like us naturally
in the flesh, our weak, doubtful, rebellious nature. Verse 17 says, pray without ceasing. That convicts us of how little
we pray. Every time I read that verse
of scripture, every time I read that verse of scripture, I think,
I need to start praying more. Every time I read it. Verse 18 says, in everything,
emphasize everything, give thanks. That immediately reminds us of
how ungrateful we are. Just so ungrateful. So let's
all find comfort in this. Seriously, let's all find comfort
in this. No exhortation is given to show
us what God requires of us. in order to be saved. Thank God,
verse 9 says, God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. There it is. That's how salvation comes. It
comes by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether
we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. all of the
wrong that this word exposes about us. Christ died to make
it right and His death made it right. In Him, it is right. As a matter of fact, every exhortation
in this scripture declares to us what Christ provided for us
before God. Every exhortation Shows us what
Christ gave to us provided for us as our substitute. He truly
did rejoice evermore for us he did He actually did pray without
ceasing for us always in communion with his father In Everything
he gave thanks Everything he endured the cross for the joy
set before him. I So never do we strive to do these
things to be safe. We strive to do these things. We strive to do these things
because we love Christ. That's why we love Christ. We thank him for the salvation
he accomplished for us. And we're so taken with him.
We're so in love with him. One day we just want to be like
him. We want to be just like him. And how is he? He's like this. He's like he
describes himself to be in his word. So for Christ's sake, because
of what he accomplished, these are the exhortations. Now we
already covered nine of them. I'll read them to you, beginning
in verse 12. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which
labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish
you. and to esteem them very highly
in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren,
warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the
weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for
evil unto any man. But ever follow that which is
good, both among yourselves and to all men. Now we pick up with
verse 16. It says, rejoice evermore. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice means
express happiness. That's what it means, express
happiness. Evermore means from here on out. from here on out. Would we like
to be a mature, grounded congregation? Let's express happiness from
here on out. Let's express happiness. We could
easily spend the rest of our time declaring the reason for
a believer's happiness, the reason for a believer's joy, FULL DELIVERANCE
FROM SIN IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. THAT DECLARATION GOES OUT. FULL
DELIVERANCE FROM SIN IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. THAT DECLARATION SOUNDS
TO THE SINFUL SOUL TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE. YOU MEAN THAT'S IT?
IT'S JUST FULL DELIVERANCE FROM SIN IN THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. THAT'S
IT. THAT IS IT. THAT BRINGS GREAT
JOY JUST FOR THAT REASON ALONE. That reason alone, from here
on out, let's express joy to God and to each other in the
congregation, just for being included in His blood. There
are two different attitudes that we can express to each other.
When we come into the presence of our God, into the house of
worship, gathered together, there are two attitudes we can express
to each other. One of them is a ho-hum, poor
pitiful me. I got aches and pains, problems
all around, which we all have. That's one attitude, and that
is a very contagious attitude. The other one is joy. That also is a very contagious
attitude. Very contagious. Somebody will
ask, how are you doing today, brother? We've all heard the
response, better than I deserve. That's a true statement. That
is a true statement. We sometimes we get so taken
with, you know, ourselves and our condition and our this and
our that. But if you honestly think better than I deserve,
so much better than I deserve. Here is the reality of life as
we know it. All right, here's the reality
of life as we know it. I'm broke. I'm tired. And I'm guilty. Seems like the whole world is
against me. This is the reality of life as God has revealed it
to us in his word. I'm rich. I'm rich in Christ. Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. I inherit all things in him.
I am alive for ever more abundant life. And I am free from all charges
of sin. It's like all of heaven is for
me. In Christ, God himself is for
me. Would we like to be a grounded,
mature congregation of believers? Let's rejoice from here on out.
Let's just rejoice. That is easier said than done,
isn't it? Easier said than done. The next
exhortation will help us with that. Verse 17 says, pray without
ceasing. Pray without ceasing. Now, this
right here is the reason why our peace is often forfeited. This is the reason why we are
constantly bearing needless pain, constantly bearing pain we don't
need to bear. It's all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer. Everything. Take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. Cast all your care upon him in
the blood of Jesus Christ. He careth for you These cares
they pull us down. They weigh us down so much But
a grounded settled peaceful congregation of believers is a praying church
Congregation of believers and I don't just mean lip service.
There are some churches that I've heard of and they just so
proud of themselves They've had 24 hour around the click care
around the clock prayer You know for the last 80 years I'm not
talking about that. I'm talking about true heart
prayer before God pouring out your soul before God As Things arise in the congregation
and Let's make it our habit to go to God first. Go to God first. This is a needful exhortation.
Things will arise always. Let's make it our habit to go
to God first. No matter what it is, a problem,
a decision of some kind, a need, whatever it is, a mature congregation
of believers will go to God about it first. Take it to him first.
Lord, don't let us take any matter into our own hands. Don't let
us take a step unless you tell us to do so. And by your grace,
we'll wait. We'll wait on you. So rejoice
evermore, pray without ceasing. Verse 18 says, in everything,
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. In everything, give thanks. This
is the will of God concerning you. Our God is absolutely sovereign. I mean, he is absolutely sovereign
over all things. That is something that we cannot
retain. Soon as we hear it, our hearts
say, that's right. And then it leaves us. But our
God is sovereign over all things, and all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. All things work together for
good. And a grounded congregation of
believers knows that, is constantly reminded of that, that is constantly
coming back to the front of their mind. They can be settled in
that. They can trust it. They can honestly
say, if this is your will, then I'm thankful. If this is
your will, then I'm thankful. Rarely, rarely do things fall in the
favor of the flesh of a believer. Rarely and that's because things
are falling in the favor of the spirit for a believer Rarely
do things go the way the flesh wants it to go rarely But we
know that everything that is happening is going The direction
of the spirit it may appear awful for the flesh. We may see it
and think well, that's terrible for the flesh But it's good for
the spirit And in that, we can be thankful. In that, we can
truly be thankful. It may be painful. We may not
understand it. But knowing our God, we know
who our God is. And knowing that His perfect
will is going to be done according to His unchangeable purpose,
whatever it is, we can be thankful in it. Verse 19, he exhorted,
quench not the spirit. If we are going to grow and mature
individually, and as a congregation of believers, we need to take
this one to heart. May the Lord, I thought about
this a lot while I was preparing this, may the Lord send his spirit
right now into this room, into every heart, And may he help
us if we get anything out of this. May he help us to understand
this. May he help us to get a hold
of this. Quench not the spirit. Quench means extinguish. Pour water on. The spirit in the scripture is
likened unto a fire. God's Spirit is like a fire. And the exhortation is don't
pour water on that fire. Don't pour water on it. Now the
fire of God's Spirit cannot be extinguished or hindered in any
way concerning the work of salvation calling out his people. Our Lord
said in John 3 Like the wind, the spirit blows where it listeth.
You don't know where it's coming from. You don't know where it's
going to. No man can hinder the work of the spirit. No man. Our Lord said in Isaiah 43, I
will work and who shall let it? Who's going to stop me? Who is
going to hinder my work? No one. No one. No man can hinder the work of
the spirit. But this is what he means by that. Our Lord said in Revelation 3
Either be hot or cold But don't be lukewarm Either be hot or cold But don't
be lukewarm first less quench not the spirit in ourselves One of the best and most powerful
illustrations of this, I believe this is a powerful illustration,
is that story of the man in the congregation, you know, years
and years ago, who stopped coming, stopped fellowship, started falling
away from worship. That's what he was doing. And
the brethren started seeing less and less of him. So the pastor
went to visit him one day, got to his house, and the man is
sitting in front of his fireplace, just sitting there. So the pastor
sits down next to him and they're both just sitting there watching
the coals, big old pile of red hot coals. The pastor gets a shovel and
he scoops up one of those red hot glowing coals and he pulls
it out and sets it on the hearth by himself. And that red hot
coal just started to go dim. Started to go out. Picked it
up, pushed it back into the pile. Started glowing red hot again. Let's guard against, I mean fight,
fight, fight. I fought the good fight. Our
adversary wants one thing. He wants to pull the wool over
the ministry of the gospel. He wants to soothe the sleep
of death. Fight, fight, don't let the spirit
become quenched. How do we do that? Pray without
ceasing. Don't let the spirit become quenched
in this heart right here. Attend the worship, attend, let
me tell you what the adversary's gonna say to you. Now there's
some things you could be doing right now. Now you got some other responsibilities
over here. I mean, good night to have four
a week. You really need all those? I'm telling you. We're not wrestling
with flesh and blood. We're wrestling with principalities
and powers. We're wrestling with things that
we are no match for. Don't ever let that fork in the
road come to you. What am I going to do? Don't
ever get to that place. Joshua said as for me in my house
will serve the Lord We're gonna serve the Lord. I don't say this
for my sake. I don't say this for any other
sake then all of our sake your sake don't don't don't Let anything
come between you and worshiping the Lord nothing Read this word. This is so contrary to the flesh.
The flesh does not want to open the covers of this book. I read
this word call on him in prayer rejoice evermore in everything
give thanks not only will the opposite of all that quench the
spirit it'll start to quench the spirit in ourselves but it'll
also quench the spirit in our brethren it will discourage the
brethren. It'll quench them just watching
us become quenched. There's nothing more discouraging
than watching a brother you love or a sister you love become quenched. Let's consider in everything
that we do, how is it going to affect me? How is it going to
affect my family? And how is it going to affect
my brethren in whatever we do? Let's quench not the spirit in
ourselves, quench not the spirit in each other, and let's quench
not the spirit in our worship. Guard, guard against it. Let's
not bring anything in to the time of worship that could quench
the spirit or hinder our complete attention from being on Christ.
Anything. If we have a bad attitude about
something, If we're at odds with a brother about something, this
is what our Lord said. He said, leave the altar and
go make it right with your brother first, and then come back to
the altar. Lord, help us. Help us. Lord, help us to take it to heart
for the sake of ourselves, the sake of our brethren, the sake
of our worship. Verse 20 says, Despise not prophesying. Despise means ignore. Consider not worthy of esteem. Disregard. Don't ignore. Don't disregard. Don't consider
it not worthy of esteem. Don't be indifferent to the word
of God. Don't be indifferent. Let's not ever be indifferent
to the word of God. If we want to be a mature, grounded
congregation, We need to receive this word fervently, fervently. We need to take it seriously.
We are not just biding time. Sometimes we develop the attitude
of, well, you know, we're just killing time, waiting on our
Lord to come back. We'll just keep, we are not biding time. This is life and death. This is our children's life or
death, life or death. Number one priority. Lord, let
it be the number one priority. Ignore not, don't be indifferent
to the preaching of the gospel. And then he said in verse 21,
prove all things. We prove all things by this word. Prove all things. A grounded
congregation of believers will prove all things by the word
of God. I love commentary writers. I
love men from the past that the Lord has given the message to.
I love all those men. But let everything be judged
on the Word of God. Every message, every preacher,
every decision that needs to be made, only on the Word of
God. What does this Word say? That's the question. And that's
the answer. What does this Word say? If it's
in agreement with this Word, okay. If not, It doesn't matter
who said it. If it's not in agreement with
the Word, it's not so. Verse 21 says, Hold fast that
which is good. What is good? There is none good but God. Who
is God? Jesus Christ. Hold fast to Christ. A mature, grounded, settled congregation
will cling to Christ. They will cling to Christ. They
will hold to Christ, not one work. They'll hold to Christ. This will be the glue that holds
that congregation together. Here's the message they preach.
This is the common spirit among them. And if I could express
three words to every person here. to get a hold of, and hold to,
and cling to, and believe, and say, if anybody asks you a question,
here's the answer, three words, Christ is all. Christ is all. That's what holds
a grounded congregation together. Christ is all. Well, what about
this? Christ is all. What about this
ordinance or this commandment? Christ is all. Christ is all. All right, last
one, verse 22. Abstain from all appearance of
evil. First, he's talking about doctrinal
evil. If something's being preached
in the pulpit that is not in agreement with the word, get
away from it. Get away from it. Abstain from
all appearances. Quite often, you'll hear people
say, Well, you know, yeah, he's got most of it, right? Some of
the stuff he preaches is not totally in agreement with the
word, but that's okay. I can throw that out. I'll take the
good parts and throw that out. No, sir. Get away from it. Get away from it. Abstain from
all appearances of evil doctrinally. Abstain from all appearance of
evil in how we conduct our worship. If any part of what we're doing
seems to be glorifying the flesh, taking any of the focus off of
Christ, then we need to stop doing it. We need to abstain
from doing it. I believe a good question to
ask is, could we see our Lord worshiping in this way? Different
people and congregations conduct worship in different way. Could
we see our Lord worshiping in this way? If any part of it is,
no, I don't believe so, then we need to abstain from it. Abstain
from all appearance of evil doctrinally, abstain from all appearance of
evil in our worship, and let's abstain from all appearance of
evil in our conduct and in our person. If there is something
that we're wanting to do, should I do that? Should I do that,
yes or no? If there's something that we're
wanting to do, if there's a way we're wanting to be, We need
to ask ourselves this question. Could we see our Lord doing that? Could we see our Lord being that
way? Sometimes we get it in our minds,
I'm free from the law. I'm free from the law. I have
liberty in Christ. I can do whatever I want to.
I can act like I want to. I can say what I want to. Not
according to God's word. He said, abstain from all appearance
of evil. The thing may not even technically
be evil or wrong according to the word of God, but one man
pointed out it may be the thing that quenches the spirit of a
younger brother in the faith who's watching you do it and
does not understand it. It may crush his spirit. So even if it's just the appearance
of evil to anybody, let's abstain from it. May the Lord truly give
us some wisdom on these things. May he give us some maturity
in these things. May he start to conform us to
his image as individuals, as a congregation. Lord, help us,
help us to grow. All right, you're dismissed.