Let's turn back to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. At the beginning of this week,
I was studying for tonight, and I have had a busy week, like
we all do. You have it every week, don't
you? And I really needed something restful. I needed to just settle
down for a minute. Just rest. And I needed something
relaxing. Sometimes we look into deep things,
and sometimes it's nice to just have something relaxing. And
the Lord caused this to come across my mind, and He blessed
this to my heart, and I just rested in this. And I hope He'll
let us do that tonight. Verse 16 says, Rejoice evermore. Simple as that. Rejoice evermore. Be happy evermore. Be glad. This is the day that
the Lord hath made. I will rejoice and be glad in
it. By God's grace. It's easy to
do that in the good times. We're in the good times. We are
in so many ways. We're in the good times. It's
easy to do that in the good times. May God give us the grace to
do it at all times. All times. Evermore. Because we know that everything
that happens, happens on purpose. Everything. Because we know that
our God is ordering and controlling and ruling and doing everything,
let's rejoice evermore. Evermore. Turn with me over to
Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 verse 9 says,
Let love be without dissimilation. And that means hypocrisy. It
means let it be sincere. Let love be sincere. Abhor or
hate that which is evil. What is evil? It's everything
outside of Jesus Christ. It's evil. And it doesn't just
mean the bar. It's not just talking about the
water and hoe. It's talking about the church building that does
not have the true Christ, outside of Christ, where the Christ of
Scripture is not preached. Abhor that which is evil, cleave
to that which is good. What is good? There is none good
but God. Cleave to Christ. Cleave to Christ. Be kindly affectioned
one to another with brotherly love. In honor, preferring one
another. I can say by God's grace, I prefer
you. I really do. I really do. Verse 11 says, Not slothful in
business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in
hope. We have this hope. We talk about
these things and we hope for these things. Let's rejoice in
them. Patient in tribulation, continuing
instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of the saints,
given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you,
bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward
another, Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low
estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as
lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it
is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give
him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good. Now turn with me to Luke chapter
10. Rejoice evermore, it said. Luke
chapter 10. Verse 1 says, After these things
the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two
before His face into every city and place, whither He Himself
would come. Verse 17 says, And the seventy
returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject
unto us through Thy name. And He said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power
of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding,
in this, rejoice not. Rejoice not that the spirits
are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are
written in heaven. Rejoice because your names are
written in heaven. Rejoice over that. Rejoice evermore. We were just standing there singing,
He's all my righteousness. I stand complete in Him. There's nothing lacking. I'm
not missing anything. I am ready for glory. Rejoice over that. Rejoice evermore. Christ died for you. He paid off all your sin with
His blood. He's prepared a place for you. So come what may, rejoice evermore. Rejoice evermore. Brother Scott
Richardson used to say, I have not heard one ounce of bad news
since I heard the good news. Come what may, when things happen
to our family, it hurts. It hurts. It hurts. We hurt for
them. But we know that God is in control. God is allowing this. God is
doing this. It's for a purpose. It's for
the Gospel's sake. It's for the furtherance of the
Gospel. And it's for every believer's good. So whatever it is, rejoice. Rejoice evermore. Now hold your
place there and go back to our text. Hold your place in Luke
and go to 1 Thessalonians 5. Verse 17 says, Pray without ceasing. Call on God always for all things. There's an article that I have
put in our bulletin twice. And I can't find it. I looked
in the book. For some reason, both bulletins
not in there. It's an article by Spurgeon and
somebody will remind me of it. But he was talking about calling
on God for everything, no matter how small it is. He said, Remember
to God, everything is little. I don't care how big it seems
to us. Oh, this is so big. Not to God. It's little. Call
on Him. Communicate to Him in all things. Pray without ceasing. Now go
back to Luke, this time chapter 18. Luke chapter 18. Verse 1 says, And He spake a
parable unto them to this end. that men ought always to pray
and not to faint, saying, There was in a city a judge which feared
not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that
city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while.
But afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God,
nor regard man, Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge
her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said,
Hear what the unjust judge saith. And what he means by that is,
I'm just. I'll do right. Shall not the
judge of the earth do right? In verse 6, the Lord said, Hear
what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge His
own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear
long with them? I tell you that He will avenge
them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" The answer is
no. No. Not in man, not of man, not
by man. No. That faith to call on God
and trust Him and rejoice in His will and His purpose in all
things, it must be given. It must be given. But He's saying,
listen to this, He's saying, if I give it, use it. That's what he's saying. If I
give it, use it. Call. Pray without ceasing. He knows what things we have
need of before we ever ask. But he said pray without ceasing.
Call. Ask. Back over to our text in
1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Verse 18 says, In everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you." What do we have to be thankful
for? The end of November, Thanksgiving
is coming. And so I thought, well, the Wednesday
before Thanksgiving, we're going to have a message on thanks.
And we probably will. But I was reading this and I
thought, what do we have to be thankful for? I tell you, the
first thing I'm thankful for, and I'm as honest as I can be,
I'm thankful that my God has not killed me yet and put me
in hell where I deserve to be. I'm really thankful for that. I am sincerely thankful for that.
I know the things I've done. I know the things I've thought. I know the things I've felt.
I know the things I've said. And I shouldn't be here. I really
shouldn't. I'm thankful for the fact that
I have not received what I deserve. You know what that's called?
Mercy. That's what it's called. Not
receiving what you deserve. I am so thankful for mercy. I really am. I'm so thankful that my God is
long-suffering. He hasn't killed me yet. He's
patient with me. I'll tell you the second thing
I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for the fact that my God has
given me infinitely more than I deserve. You ask somebody, how you doing?
And they're going to say, oh, better than I deserve. You have no idea. You have no
idea. I deserve to be in hell. That's what I deserve. Anything
this side of hell is immeasurably better than I deserve. You know what that's called?
Grace. Getting what you don't deserve
is grace. I'm so thankful for God's grace. Grace is a gift. You know what He gave me and
you that is infinitely more than we deserve? His own blood. His very own blood. One of these days, I'll enter
into that. I preach it every time. Every time. Can you imagine
preaching the gospel without preaching on the blood of Christ
in some way, shape or form? One of these days, I'm going
to enter into that. I'm going to enter into that,
that He gave me His blood. He gave me His own life. He lived it perfectly and then
He gave it away. And what did He get in return?
He gave me His own love. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." Friend. I'm so thankful for God's love
and for His affection. I'll tell you the third thing
I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for each of you. I really am. I am thankful for each of you.
I'm thankful for all of my brethren. We need each other. You know
that we need each other. You get out into the world long
enough and the world will eat you alive. The world will bring
you down. The world will depress you. Everything
other than the grace of God, the mercy of God, the love of
God only found in Christ is going to depress you. It'll bring you
down. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to know about it.
I'm so thankful that I have you. I'm so thankful to have an understanding
of the true Christ with you and worship him with you. We're all so, so thankful for
our families, aren't we? Thankful. Aren't you thankful
for that little baby you haven't even met yet? And the Lord is
good. So good to us. We're thankful
for our houses. I'm so thankful to have a roof
over my head. Do you know how many people are on the street?
Homeless, homeless, whole countries. We're so thankful for our jobs.
The Lord has given us good jobs. Every one of us in here, I got
the best job of everybody. The Lord has given us good jobs. He's provided for us. We are
so thankful for our food, aren't we? We take it for granted. God's
people are thankful people. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19 says,
Quench not the spirit. How do you do that? How do you
quench not the spirit? My margin right there says go
to Ephesians 4. So let's go over to Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28
says, Let him that stole steal no more,
but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which
is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. That's
why we work. Does anybody ever wonder, why
am I doing this? Why do I wake up every day and I go back to
the same old job? I just wish Christ would come
and we'd just be done with this. Oh, I do too. But until He does,
this is why we go to work. Working with His hands, the thing
which is good that He may have, to give to him that needeth.
It's better to give than to receive. It really is. It is a great,
great blessing to give. Verse 29 says, let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth. I want to learn that
so badly. I've heard a lot of men say this,
and I don't know who said it first, but if it's not kind,
if it's not true, and if it's not necessary, don't say it. Don't say it. If it's not kind,
if it's not true, and not necessary, don't say it. Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is
good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto
the hearers." Edifying. That means build up. How do you
quench not the Spirit? Edify one another. Build each
other up. Quench not the Spirit. Verse
30 says, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are
sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you." My goodness! If God for Christ's sake has
forgiven me, why on this earth can I not forgive somebody else?
Well, don't you know what they did to me? Yeah, I sure do. But don't you know what I did
to Him? Man, pray the Lord will help
me with that. Back to our text in 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 20 says, despise not prophesying. That means remember
that God uses His preached Word as His means of salvation. That's what it means. Remember
that God uses His preached word as His means of salvation. Don't neglect the hearing of
it for anything. As it comes out of my mouth,
it's going right back into my ear with everybody else. Don't
neglect the hearing of it for anything. There's no substitute
for the declared Word. There is no substitute. It's
how the Spirit blesses the hearts of His people. Revere it. Revere it. Cherish it. And I'm not talking about me.
Everybody in here knows good and well I am not talking about
me. I'm talking about God's chosen means. That's what I'm talking
about. Let's cause our lives to revolve around the preached
word. Let's cause if the Lord will
enable us to do that. Let's cause our lives to revolve
around the preached word. And let's not allow the preached
word to revolve around our lives. Now, let me say this. There are
times that you have to work. You have to you get called out. You got to go. You will lose
your job. And if you lose your job, then you won't have to give
to him that hath need. Right. You got to go. There are
times we all like to take a vacation. We need to. It's OK. There's
nothing wrong with it. We don't make a law out of anything. As soon as we make a law out
of it, we've now ruined it. We've ruined the blessing of
it. We've ruined it. But for those who love the Lord
Jesus Christ, it is no law at all. It is no law. Hearing His good news preached
is life. It's life. We don't despise it
at all, do we? Verse 21 in 1 Thessalonians 5
says, Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. How
do you do that? With Scripture. With Scripture. Whatever it is, whatever is said,
whoever says it, prove it with scripture. Prove it with scripture.
Prove it with scripture. We're men and women and we're
fleshly and we're weak and we think we know it all, but we
don't. And we're going to continually say, oh, I was wrong. I'm going
to, for the rest of my life, read it and say, I was wrong.
I'm wrong. That's what I am. Prove it with
Scripture. Beloved, try the spirits, whether
they are of God. Verse 22 says, abstain from all
appearance of evil. If something about it doesn't
seem right, stay away from it. If something about it doesn't
seem right, stay away from it. If it appears to be evil, it
is. And again, I'm not just talking
about the gutter. I'm not talking about the bar. Talking about
religion, the church, whatever it is. If something about it
doesn't seem right, stay away from it. Stay away from it. Abstain
from all appearances of evil. I have a margin right there that
says to go to chapter 4 verse 12. So 1 Thessalonians 4 verse
12 says that you may walk honestly toward them that are without.
That means without Christ. and that you may have lack of
nothing, that you may walk honestly. Let's conduct ourselves as followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If He'll teach us how and enable
us to, let's do that. Verse 23 in our text says, And
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray, God,
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is that possible? Here's the answer. Christ has
got to preserve me. I can't preserve myself. Verse
23 says, The very God of peace sanctify you wholly. He must
do the work. All the work. Verse 24 says,
Faithful is He that calleth you who will also do it. The work
is His. He's got to do it. Except the
Lord build the house, they labor in vain. They just labor in vain. Verse 25 says, Brethren, pray
for us. Pray for us. Pray for us who
minister the Word. Pray for each other. But pray
for me. Honest plea, this is just me
to you. Pray for me, as you drive down
the road, pray for me. Pray that my flesh won't creep
into this. I mean, really, really, I'm the
teacher. I say that all the time. Pray
that my flesh won't creep into this. We don't need that. We
don't need me to take part in this. Turn over a page to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 1 says,
Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may
have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you, and that
we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. For all men have
not faith, but the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and keep
you from evil. Pray for us. Back to our text,
verse 26 says, greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. That's
a affectionate, loving greeting. Verse 27 says, I charge you by
the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. A sinner whom God has done something
for is going to say, oh, I'm not holy. I am not holy. Oh, yes, you are. If you're in
Christ, yes, you are. Whether it's easy to admit or
not. I charge you by the Lord that
this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren, holy in Christ. Verse 28 says the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. All right, let's stand
together.