1 Thessalonians chapter 2. I'm basically going to deal with
one verse, and that is verse 12 tonight. Now the sentence
starts in verse 10. Paul says, "...Ye are witnesses,
and God also, how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved
ourselves among you that believe, as you know how we exhorted and
comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his
children." And here's the charge, that you would walk worthy of
God. who hath called you unto His
kingdom and glory." I started working on this chapter, to finish
the chapter, and I couldn't get past that one verse. I thought, if I only have five
or ten minutes of something to say, it's got to be on this verse.
One time, Henry brought a message years ago And it was on the believers walk. And at the end of the service,
I went back to tell him what a blessing it was to me. It was.
I was instructed. I was instructed and lifted up
and encouraged. And I went back there and said,
Henry, that message was such a blessing. And he said to me,
he said, you know, he said, We have contended for the faith
here, the doctrines of grace. When they split up from Pollard,
you probably don't know that group, but when they went out
on their own preaching the gospel, and he said, I fear that we have
neglected these other things. And I'm going to be bold here. I think if there's anything that's
neglected I want to say gospel preacher,
I start to say Calvinist, but among gospel preachers, it's
this area on the believer's walk. I titled this message, A Walk
Worthy of God. That's what he's saying, a walk
worthy of God. walk in such a manner that God
is well pleased. Look over in chapter 4. This
is going to be basically part 1. Part 2 is going to happen
when we get to chapter 4. Look at chapter 4. 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. And then he goes on through this, but this is part two. That's going to be part two.
But here I want to talk tonight for a little while on a walk
worthy of God. Now Paul exhorts the Thessalonians
here, who are the children of God, and he's convinced, as we
saw in chapter one, that they are the children of God, they
are the elect of God. and he exhorts them to walk in
a manner worthy of God, worthy of their calling. They used to
walk after the flesh. They were a part of the great
Roman Empire, and not just in name only, but they carried the
same principles and conduct. that that empire carried, a lot
of immorality, just anything, like what we live in today. Anything
goes, just about. But that's what they lived like,
and they had no problems living like that. And all of a sudden,
the gospel comes into town. And God saved some of those Gentiles. And Paul was telling them now,
your walk is not the same anymore. It's different. When God saves
a sinner, that sinner's walk is different, that sinner's talk
is different, the conduct is different. And that's what He
means here when He's talking about that you walk, that's your
life. That's your life from beginning
to end as a believer. That's your life. Paul calls
it in another place, your conversation. That's your life. A walk is a
life. It denotes one thing, that you're
going somewhere. And you're active. You're active
on the way. And he's telling us here how
we are to walk. We're not the same persons anymore. We're not the same persons anymore.
Children of God. Think about that. Children of
God. I can say this with honesty. There was things I did not do
growing up because I did not want to embarrass my parents.
I mean, I did think that much of them. And there was things
I didn't do because I scared to death I'd get kicked through
the wall. My dad would have done that.
I mean, my father was strict. And then we gave you a whipping,
you knew you had a whipping. But there was things I didn't
do because I didn't want to embarrass them. Well, God's our Father. God's our Father. We don't want
to do anything that brings reproach on the name of our Father. We
are the children of God. We are the children of royalty.
We are children of the King, King Jesus. That being so, they at that time
and us now are called to a new walk in this life. And you've
been called, he said, to God's kingdom and glory. This means
that as believers, we are not of this world anymore. It doesn't matter what laws this
world passes. Same-sex marriage, whatever they
want to... Our principles don't change. Our principles do not
change. Our principles are of another
kingdom. Our principles are of a kingdom of righteousness, not
unrighteousness. And we don't change because the
kingdom of men change. Listen, what's right is right,
what's wrong is wrong, and they don't change. They do not change. Now let's look at this. Paul
says here in verse 12, "...that ye would walk worthy of God,
who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory." Now, I want
to say three negative things first before I get into the positives. First of all, our walk is not
after the flesh anymore. It's not after the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the mind, it's not after the pride of life,
it's not after those things no more. Paul says in Romans 8.4, and
I got a lot of Scripture here, we probably won't turn to a lot
of it because it'd take too long, but Paul says here in Romans
8.4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Our life
is not guided by the principles of this flesh, the impulses of
this flesh, the cravings of this flesh. It's not guided by that
no more. And then secondly, we do not
walk after the manner of men. It's written in 1 Corinthians
3.3, Paul says this, and he's casting a doubt on the Corinthians
because of the way they were conducting themselves. He says,
For you are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying...
We don't live in envy. I'm not going to say we never
envy, but we don't walk in envy. Where there's envying and strife
and division, are you not carnal and walk as men?" And what he's
telling them is that this is the way you used to walk, this
is the way the men of the world walk, but you don't walk in envy
no more, you don't walk in strife no more, you don't walk in division
no more. You're one in Christ. We're in harmony in Christ. We
are in harmony. You know, I was looking in Genesis
today, and boy, we're gonna see some envy and strife going on
between Rachel and Leah. You know, polygamy doesn't work.
I was reading that today, and boy, you talking about a fight
going on between those two. And it says that Rachel envied,
I believe it was Rachel envied her sister. Boy, from there,
it was all downhill. But we don't live like that.
That's not our walk. We don't walk envying our neighbors. We don't walk envying the rich. We don't walk envying anyone.
How can we envy anyone if we have Christ? What is above Jesus
Christ? Nothing. Nothing. There's not a person in this
world that owns anything of this world that has more than I have
in Jesus Christ. I have it all. All things are
yours in Christ. And then thirdly, in 2 Corinthians
4, 1 and 2, it says we're not walking in craftiness. He says
this, Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness. I looked that word craftiness
up. It means lack of straightforwardness. Paul is saying, we were straightforward
with you. We weren't watering it down. Paul watered nothing
down. If we water it down, we water
the gospel down, you don't have the gospel. That's like telling
the truth. If you put just a speck of lie
in it, you don't have the truth no more. It's a total lie. It's a lie. He said, we're not
walking in craftiness. We're not cunning. You know,
Satan is the master of craftiness. Never straightforward. Was he
straightforward with Eve? No. No. But let's look at the
positive aspect of this. First, it says here that it's
a walk. It's a walk. It has to do with
our conduct. And it means, in the Greek, it means to walk around.
It means you're moving around. It's your life. It's your life.
Well, the first thing about this walk, the believer's walk, is
this. It is a walk of faith. We walk
every day trusting God. We wake up in the morning trusting
our Lord. We trust Him to provide for us.
Give us, Lord, our daily bread. Now that may mean I need a job.
Whatever my need is, is my daily bread. We trust our Father to
provide our daily bread for us. We trust Him to guide and direct
us. We trust Him to bring us home
to glory. We trust Him. We trust Him for
the salvation of our souls. And here's what's interesting.
How in the world can I trust God with the salvation of my
soul and worry myself to death how I'm going to get along tomorrow
on this earth? The weightier matter has already
been taken care of. The weightier matter is the curse
of the law. How could I worry about tomorrow
and yet trust God for standing before Him in the last day. It's inconsistent with faith,
isn't it? No, we live by faith. It says in 2 Corinthians, if
you want to write these down, it says in 2 Corinthians 5.7,
For we walk by faith, not by sight. No man has seen God at
any time. But I tell you what, by faith
you have. God is real to you. God Almighty
is as real to you as you are to yourself. And you know that
by faith, the God-given faith, you know He's real. And you see
Him by faith. You see Him when the world sees
nothing. The world just goes along blindly. But you see His hand in everything,
don't you? You see His hand in your life.
You see His hand in the community. You see His hand in the nation.
You see His hand in the world. You see His hand in the universe.
You see God's hand in everything. And you trust Him. You trust
Him. You walk by faith. Like Enoch. It says that Enoch pleased God.
It said he had this testimony. God took him because he had this
testimony. He pleased God. And then right
after it says, without faith it's impossible to please God.
So when it talks about Enoch, it's talking about Enoch's faith.
He walked by faith. He got up. He went day by day trusting the
Lord. Trusting. We don't read of any
great exploits. We don't read of him building
an ark like Noah. But the one person that God took
in that early go, back in Genesis, he has this testimony. He believed
God. He believed God. Day by day,
he believed God. And then secondly, this walk
is a walk in love. It is a walk in love. We have
real affection for God. We have a real affection for
one another. Love denotes a relationship. It denotes a relationship. Ephesians
5.2 Paul writes, "...and walk in love." walk in love, as Christ
also hath loved us." Walk in love just like He did. He's our
example. "...and hath given Himself for
us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor."
I've got Ephesians chapter 5 to read, so we'll turn there. I wrote that down earlier before
I was able to copy it. Let's look and see what this
is. Now, Paul writes this in all
of his epistles. I've said this to someone not
too long ago. I said, you know, Ephesians is more than three
chapters. The first three chapters is doctrinal. The last three
are application. And I want to make sure that,
as Paul said, he declared the whole counsel of God that we
go from chapter 1 to the last chapter for the application. Listen in verse 2. Wait a minute,
let me get to Ephesians 5. Verse 1, Be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor, But fornication and uncleanness
or covetousness, let it not be what's named among you as becoming
saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking." You know, when
you start reading this, you start wanting to crawl on the table.
I'm telling you the truth. Foolish gesturing, talking. which are not convenient, but
rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no whoremonger,
nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath
any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no
man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore
partakers with them, for you were sometimes darkness, but
now are you light in the Lord. Walk, Walk as children of light. Walk as children of light. Christ
said, you're the light of the world. And Paul's saying here,
walk like it. Walk like you're the light of
the world. And then our walk here is in newness of life. It's
written in Romans 6, 4, Therefore, We are buried with Him by baptism
into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life." We should walk in newness of life. I want you to see what
was said before, what brought that on for Paul to write that
in Romans chapter 6. Turn over there. Let's use our
Bibles a little bit tonight. But look here why Paul wrote
this. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Now that we're not
under the curse of the law, now that we're not under the power
of the law, can we just go out and sin freely now and not have
to be concerned about it because the blood of Christ has put it
away, now we don't have to worry about it. The law is not going to condemn
us. No, he said. No, no. God forbid. God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer in it? Know ye not that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His
death? Therefore we are buried with
Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. We have a new life. We're not
the same no more. We have a new nature. There's
literally a new nature born of God, created of God, in righteousness
and true holiness in you. It's in you. And he says here, walk in newness
of life. We are not what we used to be. We're not what we used to be. Yeah, we're still sinners. We
still sin. We're not walking down that road anymore. We're
not walking down that road. We have a new life. Every believer
has a new life. It's the life of God in you.
He's given you eternal life. And then our walk is after the
Spirit. under the guide and influence
and control of the Holy Spirit. I read it to you earlier in Romans
8, verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
You're controlled and you walk and you're guided by the Holy
Spirit of God. You are sealed with the Spirit
of God. God's in you. That's beyond our
comprehension. But I'm telling you right now,
God's in you. If you're His, He has saved you. God dwells
in you. Think about that. God dwells
in you. It's not like He's off at a distance
looking at me. It's not like He's way out there
beyond space and looking at me, you know. No, He's in me. He's in me. By His Spirit, He's
in me. That's real. And then we walk
in honesty. It's written in Romans 13, 13.
Let us walk honestly. Henry said one time, honest people
don't go to hell. Because if they're honest, God
made them honest. If you're really an honest person,
God made you that way. Scripture says, let God be true
in every man, what? A liar. A liar. He said, "...let us walk honestly,
as in the day, and not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness, not in strife and envy." Walk in honesty. Paul says in Romans 12, 17, "...provide
all things honest in the sight of all men." Those Thessalonians weren't used
to that kind of teaching. You know, it's like in our day,
you can get away with it, you can get away with it. Really. We live in that
kind of day. They lived in that day. But he
says, you all don't do that. You don't do that. You provide
all things honest in the sight of all men. Because I can tell
you this, somebody's watching. Somebody's watching. God is.
God is. Look over there in chapter 4
of 1 Thessalonians. Look in verse 12. In verse 12, "...that you may walk
honestly toward them that are without." People, like I said,
somebody's watching you, "...and that you may have lack of nothing,
but you walk honestly before them that are without." We do
represent God. As His children, as ambassadors,
we represent our Heavenly Father. And then our walk here is in
wisdom. Wisdom. It says in Colossians
4, 5, "...walk in wisdom toward them that are without." Spiritual
wisdom. Redeeming the time. Redeeming the time. And then
we walk in truth. It's written in 2 John, John
wrote this, 2 John verse 4, I rejoice greatly that I found thy children
walking in truth. They had the gospel, they believed
the gospel, they had the gospel, and they walked in the gospel.
They walked in the truth of God's Word. Truth defined them. It was their life. They walked. Isn't that something? He said,
this so and so, I know one thing about that man, he walks in truth.
He's walking in truth. He walks in the gospel. He's
an honest man. He walks in truth. And John said,
I greatly rejoice. I greatly rejoice that I found
that I found of thy children walking in truth." And then it's
a walk in good works. It says in Ephesians 2.10, For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. That we should walk in them. Walking in good works. If someone needs you to go a
mile, go two. If you need help, you help. It's like our Lord said, I was
in prison, you visited me. I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. That's walking
in good works. Walking in good works, whether
we realize it or not, is helping one another, taking care of one
another, and helping and taking care of those in need that may
not even be in the fellowship. Because I can tell you one thing,
I have you as a brother or sister in Christ, or I have you one
in Adam. That's what Scott Richardson
said. One time he called a guy brother, and the person that
was with Scott, he said, why'd you call him brother? How do
you know he may not be a believer? Scott said, well, if I don't
get him in Christ, I'll get him in Adam. Love you, neighbor. Who's my
neighbor? I'll tell you who your neighbor
is. Anybody who needs help. That's your neighbor. And then we walk after His commandments.
We walk after His commandments. It says in 2 John there again
in verse 6, and this is love. This is love. This is the expression
of love. This is the evidence of love.
Here's the evidence of love. Now we walk after His commandments.
This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning,
you should walk in it. And our Lord said, this is my
commandment that you love one another. Now if you really love
one another, you don't need any more rules. Honestly, you don't
need no more rules. You don't need me to spell it
out. You don't need me to say, give me a list of things here
to do tomorrow. If you love one another, you'll know what to
do. I promise you, you'll know what to do. If you love your
family, you know, you have children, you love your family, you get
up and you go to work. Why? You know you got to take
care of them. You want to take care of them.
You know what to do. Love, I'm telling you, love knows
what to do. Love doesn't need a list of commandments
hanging on a wall. Christ said, If you love Me,
keep My commandments. Now this walk is a walk that's
worthy of the Lord. That's what He says in Colossians
1.10, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord. It's a walk that's
honoring to our Lord. It's a walk that does not bring
reproach on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a walk
worthy of the Gospel. He says in Philippians 1.27,
"...only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel
of Christ." You know, our conversation, our
lifestyle should be such that we could witness to anybody,
that I could witness to anyone. And there's been a few times
that I've shown myself, and I think it would have been hard to turn
around and witness to that person. It would have been tough. He said, let your life be such
that you can turn around a witness to anyone that knows you. And then it's a walk that's worthy
of the saints. It's worthy of being called a
child of God. That's what he says there in
Romans 6, 1 and 2. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall
we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? It's a walk
worthy of a sin. We don't want to walk and live
in sin. We don't want to live that kind
of lifestyle, riotous, drunkenness, and whoremonging. We don't want
to live that no more. There was a time we did. There
was a time we did. And it's a walk that's worthy
of our calling. He says in Ephesians 4.1, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called. It's a walk worthy of the calling
that God's called you with. What is that calling? Well, first
of all, it's a heavenly calling. It's a holy calling. He said walk in such a manner
that it's worthy of the calling that God's called you with. And what He's telling us here,
that in our walk, be imitators of God. Imitators of God. In 1 Peter 1.15-16, But as He
which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Let's
not just take that and throw it over here to the side and
say, well, you know, I know I'm such a sinner, God saved you. Has God saved
you? I tell you what, I know this
about a child of God. No matter how many times he or
she stumbles and falls, they are determined to get back up
and walk again. He says that you would walk worthy
of God who hath listened, who hath called you unto His kingdom
and glory." You know, in Colossians, He said, He has translated us
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear
Son. You know, it just didn't set in on me when I was younger,
even preaching as much as I did when I was younger. Just the
kingdom of God and belonging to that kingdom didn't set in
on me like it has now. I realize I live in another kingdom. I belong to another kingdom.
I mean, that stays with me. That's something that's real
to me. And it's now. It's not I'm going
to go to a kingdom. I'm in it now. I walk in that kingdom now. It says here, listen, You've
been called of God. It means He's chosen you to salvation
in Christ before the world began. I'd like to just put SELAH at
the end of that. Pause and think about that. God chose you. Before having
done any good or evil, God chose you. Chose you in Christ, set
His love on you, and He's called you by His grace and to His kingdom
and glory. Now the word called here is really
to be translated calling you. Calling you. It's not like God
called me 40 years ago. God's still calling me. That's
why I keep coming. He keeps calling. It really means
calling. It's a continual calling. It's
like being drawn every day toward God. He's calling you, calling
you. Every day when you get up out
of bed, He's calling you. Scriptures comes to your mind.
You think upon the Lord for a little bit. He's calling you. And He'll
keep calling you till one day He calls you home. like He did
Enoch. It's a continual calling. It never stops. It never stops. And we've been called to God's
kingdom and to God's glory. This has more to do with fellowship
than it does our state of being. He's called us to His kingdom,
to fellowship. Can you imagine that God desires
fellowship with me? I mean, there ain't that many
of you here that desires that. Not like God does. Not like God
does. I'm telling you. God desires fellowship with me and you. And He has to send us trouble.
Most of the time, He's going to send us troubles and trials
to get our attention and to bring us to Him. What an honor! What an honor!
Our Lord said this in John 17, This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. And God is continually calling
us to Himself. To Himself. He's called us to His Kingdom
and His glory. His glory, the glory of His person. You know, we are going to be
partakers of that glory. We say, oh, that will be glory
for me. When by His grace I look on His
face, we are being called to His glory.
You know, there are people in hell now that are in absolute
darkness. I mean, we're talking about darkness,
I believe, that can be felt. Remember how they said in Egypt
it was so dark it could almost be felt? It is absolute black
darkness. And we've been called to a kingdom
of glory. Now that being so, how in the
world can we get so wrapped up in the kingdom of men that in
just a little while it's going to be destroyed? Kingdom and glory. Alright, I'm
going to close by reading Psalm 1. I thought of this when Doug
was reading that chapter there. I wanted him to read it because
it's talking about walking. Let me close with reading Psalm
1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, in the word of God. And in his law does he meditate
day and night." That's what takes up his mind. I have learned this
after all these years, junk in, junk out. I've learned this. Usually what I put into my mind
during the day is what comes out, you know, some sooner or
later comes out, it leaks out. But in his law, in his word,
does he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall
prosper. The ungodly not so, but are like the chaff which
the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way
of the ungodly shall perish. But blessed is that man that
walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the
way of sinners." A walk that's worthy of God.