2 Thessalonians 3, let's read
verses 6 through 18. We just dealt with the first
five verses last Sunday, I believe it is. Verse 5, the Lord direct
your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting
for Christ. Now, we command you, brethren,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves
from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the
tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye
ought to follow us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among
you. Neither did we eat any man's
bread for nothing, but wrought or worked with labor and travail
night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.
Not because we have not power or the authority to forego working,
but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow. For even
when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would
not work, neither should he eat. But we hear, we hear that there's
some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busy
about it. Now them that are such, we command,
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they
work and eat their own bread. Ye brethren, speaking to the
orderly, ye brethren, do not weary in well doing. If any man obey not our word
by this epistle, according to this epistle, this letter, note
that man and have no company with him that he may be Yet,
count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now,
the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. The
salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token
in every epistle, so I write. of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
you all. Amen. The subject here is a command,
a closing command, and a brief prayer at the end of it. The
Gospel gives us commands. The word precept is command. Look at verse 6. We command you,
brethren. Verse 10. When we were with you,
this we commanded you. Verse 12. Now, them that are
such, we command. The gospel gives us commands
and precepts to God's people. The gospel orders our steps. I remember reading as a very young believer
Psalm 119 and certain verses in that really blessed me and
one was Psalm 119 verse 133. Which says, order my steps according
to thy word and let no iniquity have dominion over me. I remember reading that and I
thought that's what I want. And I remembered it, memorized
it, and still to this day that is my prayer. Order me. I want
to be ordered. I want to be told by the Lord
what to do. Don't you? Not to be saved, but
to keep me from falling, and for his glory and honor. Now,
the law says this, do and live, doesn't it? The gospel says live. First thing,
live. Now do. There's a big difference. The law says, this is required
of you, this is what you must do. The gospel says, look what
Christ has done for you, all that's required of you. Now,
love says, now what can I do for Him since He's done everything
that's required of me? Big difference there. The Lord in the Gospel gives
commands, not requests. The Lord never gave requests,
and the Lord never gave advice, did He? His commands, Christ
said, are not grievous. Not grievous at all. And we say,
and there are certain Psalms that you and I love, Psalm 25,
37, 27, just, well, 1 through 150. We love them all. But Psalms
that say things like this, make me, teach me, lead me, guide
me, uphold me. Don't make me. Lord, if you don't
make me, if you don't teach me, I won't be taught. If you don't
lead me, I'll go astray. If you don't keep me, that's
every sheep of God knows they're prone to wander. What kind of parent would not
teach their children, direct their children, order their children,
command their children? We tell them how to act, how
to walk, how to think, how to talk, how to conduct themselves,
how to dress. We teach them. That's a good
parent. How much more? How much more? So I hope no one in this room, despises that word, command. If so, I believe that person
is a rebel. All right, in chapter 2, verse
15, he spoke of the traditions which have been taught by word
or our epistle. See that? And in verse 6, he
said, we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh
disorderly, or is out of order, not after the tradition which
he received of us." Anyone not walking or following according to the tradition in
the church, alright? Now the Lord taught the apostles. The Lord taught the apostles
and gave them commandments, didn't He? He gave them instructions.
Everything our Lord said and did was not written. John said
if it was, the world couldn't contain the books, all right?
But he walked and talked with the disciples for three and a
half years. And every waking hour of his,
them with him, every word out of his mouth was instructions,
was it? Leading, guiding, teaching, instructing,
wasn't it? Every word out of his mouth,
there were no idle words out of his mouth. I doubt if he ever just talked
about the weather or the politics. We're full of idleness, idle
words, mostly. Not him. Not one idle word. It was always profitable, it
was always edified. Everything he said was a revelation
to them. And they couldn't take it all
in at first. No way. Like a little child,
you're telling your children things that they don't understand.
But you're telling them anyway. Well, later on, as these disciples,
as the Holy Spirit began to bring back to remembrance things the
Lord's... And they'd start writing down.
Paul wrote an epistle. John, Peter, Jude wrote epistles,
didn't they? Things the Lord taught them.
So they impart to us. and instruct us the things that
are not written in the gospel. Tradition. Tradition is something
handed down, something to be kept, something to be followed,
something to be continued from age to age. And here's the main. Here it is in the main. Traditional
worship is what they're talking about. Traditional behavior in
the church. Yes, behavior. I'm going to show
you that in a moment. Ordered worship. Worship that's
ordered in all things. And the lives of God's people,
ordered. Some may think that it's a virtue
to be, you know, wild and carefree and out of order and not care
about things. Do you think God's like that? Do you think God's
out of order concerning anything? Do you think Christ's life was
not ordered in everything and every aspect? Do you think He
lived in any way slovenly, carelessly, lazily? No way. Does it matter? Certainly it does. Little things
really matter. Well, the Lord gave apostles
orders, and then they gave them to us. Look at 1 Timothy. You
see, the next two books, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, are orders to
a young preacher. Every preacher needs to read
1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, the next three books. Need to
read them constantly. As soon as you get through reading
them, read them again. Because these are orders, commands,
instructions to preachers, pastors, teachers. Young Timothy was the
first pastor at Ephesus. Titus, the pastor. Alright, he
gave order. Now look at 1 Timothy 3, verse
15. He says, chapter 3, verse 15.
And if you'll read it for yourself, you'll see how that he orders
the way things are to be in the church. Starting with those who
lead it. Starting with the man who leads
it. That he himself is to lead by example in every way. In word,
in faith, in conduct. It says he's been an example
to the believers in word, conversation, charity, spirit, faith, purity. Anybody want that job? Well,
I didn't either, but that's an order. It's not a request. It's
not good advice. That's an order. You know, the
church is called an army. Anybody in the army? Sure. John and John Jr. and several
Henry and others. There's others in here. Well,
did the sergeant give you requests? Fellas, if you'd like to get
up, it's time to get up. If you don't mind, we got...
Why did they do that? Why did they give orders? Can
you imagine an army out of order? Is anybody going to charge into
the face of danger in battle if they don't trust the man in
charge? Don't listen to what he says.
And if that man doesn't have absolute authority to say, charge,
they're not going to follow him. It's going to be confusion and
chaos and total defeat and destruction. It's going to be a unified, ordered
army. Army, not an army of one. Try
to get people to join up today My brother volunteered for the
draft in Vietnam. Not that he might be an Army
of one, but he wanted to join the Army for the cause. And they've got to bribe people now.
Get rich, go to college, be an Army, you'll be somebody. In
the Army, you're not somebody. You're one of many, one of a
great big body. That's the church. Well, 1 Timothy
3, verse 15 says, says, If I tarry long, these things, verse 14,
I write unto you, If I tarry long, these things I write, that
thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God. Which is what? What's the house
of God about? What's it supposed to be doing?
It's the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of
the truth. It's a place where one thing is to be done, preaching
the truth. That's it. Nothing else. Now, back in our text, he says,
we hear, verse 11, some walk among you disorderly. Here he
says in verse 6, if a brother walks disorderly. Now, I don't
need to tell you how that modern religion runs wild. You see it
everywhere, don't you? You see it everywhere. Anything and everything goes
in modern religion. It's how they get people in.
Sports, entertainment, drama, concerts, fashion shows. Should
I bring this up? Somebody needs to know. Money, money, anything goes. Come as you are, no rules, no
order, contemporary worship. That sounds good then. What's
contemporary worship? Like the modern world. The worse this world gets, the
more we need to ask and seek the old paths where it is the
good way and walk therein. The more worldly religion becomes,
the more we need to ask and seek and find out what does God's
Word say about this. Contemporary worship, there's
no such thing. Contemporary convenient worship,
there's no such thing. Informal worship, there ain't
no such thing. Worship is an orderly thing.
The heart in order. The mind in order. There's preparation
involved from everything, from your person, the way you dress,
the way you think, the way you walk, the way you talk. You come
in with fear, with reverence, with respect, realizing whose
presence we're in. The man up here should conduct
himself so. From the songs we sing to everything
we do should be in an orderly, reverent, respectful, fearful
fashion. No worldliness. It's not fun
and games. Oh, it is enjoyable to God's
people. I couldn't understand how this
could be enjoyable at first, in the beginning. I couldn't
understand that. It's an unbeliever, but I do
now. You know, the church, so-called
today, it has Ichabod written over it, the glorious department.
But the church, the true church, the people of God are God-fearing
people. They used to say that of people
years ago. You never hear that nowadays.
Well, it's still true. It's still true. God's people
are God-fearing people. And that's what orders everything
they do. in the way they worship, the
way they come into the house of God. Everything about them. God is still to be worshipped
in spirit and truth, not the flesh. God's not worshipped with
men's hands. You see religion today doing
all this. That's an abomination to God. They're trying to drum
up like a ball game, trying to drum up some feeling, trying
to work up some excitement, acquire the fire. The apostles heard the Lord preach
and they said, they received fire alright. They said, our
hearts burn. Did not our hearts burn within
us? You think they were hollering
and shouting? You can't hear what's being said,
hollering and shouting. That man, the Gadarene demoniac,
kind of like a Pentecostal, so-called Pentecostal Christian, you know,
he was at first. jumping and shouting and tearing
and screaming and hollering. When the Lord took the demon
out of him, he was sitting clothed and in his right mind. What was
he doing? Listening to the Lord Jesus Christ. Quiet. And here, this epistle and the
previous one, it says, be quiet. Study to be quiet. Like Brother
Shank said, take every opportunity to shut up. This is the most
talkative, Generation in the history of the world. Well, order. Order. He says, withdraw yourself
from every brother that walketh disorderly. Not after the tradition.
Verse 14, have no company with that person. Chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians. He said, if any brother is called
a fornicator and a drunkard and so forth, he says, Don't have
any fellowship with Him. Don't even eat with Him. God
saves His people from their sins, not leave them in it. He saves
them to be a witness and a testimony, not only what they say, but what
they do, how they act. Paul, look at verse 7. He says, you know how you ought
to follow us. We behave not ourselves disorderly
among you. There was a preacher friend of
mine whose son went to a gathering after a Bible conference place. His son went to this gathering
and the young people were there and they were literally getting
drunk and carrying on. And that young man was shocked,
and he went home and told his father, preacher and pastor you
know well, he said, Dad, I don't understand. His dad said, I'm
glad you told me. You have no part in that. That's
not of God. That's not to be permitted, is
it? I said, we're not going to tolerate
that. I don't teach that. Our children don't learn that
here. You have not so learned Christ. That's what Paul said
to the Colossians, was it? That gives the enemies of the
gospel a great cause to blaspheme, doesn't it? A reproach. Well, he says, now here's a tradition
handed down. The Lord in Ephesians 4 said
that when He ascended on high, He gave, now first He gave prophets,
He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors
and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, edifying of the body of Christ. In chapter 5
of the previous letter, He says, know them which labor among you
and are over you in the Lord." Does the church have any leaders,
any rulers? There was a man who used to attend
here who one time said to me, here's the only rule in the Bible
is that there are no rules. I said, hang on a minute, buddy. You're out of order here. Sure
there are rules. Well, it says in Hebrews 13,
you know these verses, remember them to have the rule over you. Obey them to have the rule over
you. And the Lord sternly directs those men saying,
not as being lords over his heritage. You don't be a lord. You're not
their lord. I've made you an overseer. I've
made you a watchman. to have this oversight over it,
but you're not their Lord and don't act like it. They know
that. The one time that Moses, Moses
was the meekest man on earth, and every time somebody confronted
him and challenged his leadership, and it happened all the time,
all the time, the sons of Korah especially, they said, we've
got something to say. Moses said, I don't think I'm
anything. Moses said, I didn't ask for
this job. Necessities are laid upon me. But the one time that
Moses got angry with the people, and they provoked him. They provoked
the Lord constantly. But Moses acted like they'd done
this to him. And so he got angry. And remember,
he smote the rock the second time. And God got angry with
him, and he said, you're not going anywhere now. And he learned a lesson there.
But this is the tradition handed down, that God has pastors over
his church, and they give orders, not suggestions. And they insist
on order in the church. And people follow them. Sheep
follow them. Pastor and shepherd. Bishop,
he told young Timothy, if any desire the office of a bishop,
he desires a good work. It's a good work. It's a good
thing. Church needs pastors, bishops, although they're not
to wear that title, bishop. But we need them, don't we? The Lord
is a great shepherd whom they answer to. But he's put these
men in charge, and I'm glad. Paul said, we led by example.
Who's he talking about? The commands given by him and
Silas and Timothy. Silas and Timothy weren't apostles,
were they? Timothy wasn't an apostle. He
didn't have an apostolic authority, did he? No. He said to young
Timothy throughout his letter, he said, let no man despise you. Reprove, rebuke, correct, instruct,
and so forth. If any man speak, let him speak
as the orators of God. Speak with authority. Let no
man despise you. God put you there. Lead. And where to lead? By example? Paul did. Paul did. I am so thankful I had a man
lead me. that the Lord sent a man, a man
of respect, a man of authority, a man with a charge, a man in
charge, a man we could follow. Right, Tammy? Aren't you glad?
A man with a charge to preach God's Word with no apology, and
a man in charge. You can follow a man like that.
You can follow. A man taught us, this man taught
us fear, respect, protocol, decorum, appropriate behavior, dress,
conduct, in every aspect, especially worship. And by God's grace,
I've tried to emulate that man and do everything the way he's
done it. It says in verse 8, neither did
we eat any man's bread for naught, but wrought with labor and travail
night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.
Hard working. No profit. Every single prophet
and apostle in the scripture, when the Lord called them, they
were working men. They were hard-working men. Most
of them were shepherds. That's a good training to be
a pastor, to be a shepherd. They were all sheep before they
were shepherds. You can't be a good shepherd
if you're not first sheep, if you don't know how to follow.
But they were all hard-working men. who took the mantle of Elijah,
was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen. Would you show me a man in here
who knows how? 24 oxen. Another Kelley's a pretty
good horseman, and I venture to say that he would say, I can't
do that. What a man. I've known some preachers over
the years who wanted to be so-called preachers, wanted to be pastors
and so forth, want to be preachers. who felt like since they couldn't
do anything else, that they were failures at everything else,
and then they were meant to be a preacher. The opposite is true.
The opposite is true. God doesn't call men who are
failures. Well, they were hard-working
men, and they lead by example. Paul was a tentmaker, and he
dwelt with Priscilla and Aquila, who were tentmakers. Now Paul
said, preaches the gospel should live by the gospel. In other
words, we should partake of the gifts and support of those who
work so that they can give themselves to prayer and study and so forth.
That's the tradition handed down. But Paul was a pioneer and to
keep anybody from thinking he was doing it for money, he said,
I didn't take anything. I worked. Keep anybody from saying
I was in it for the money, right? And I think you'll find every
single true God-called preacher is a hard-working man and nobody
who knows him could ever accuse him of being a greedy man or
doing it for the money. Brother Tom Hardy
was such a servant of the church. He was a custodian at the church
for years, wasn't he? There was never a better janitor
ever, and never will be, than Tom Harden. And the Lord made
him a pastor. He was faithful in a few things,
and the Lord made him ruler over many. But Tom would do anything
for his pastor and for the church without being asked to do it.
He saw things that needed to be done, and he did them. A hardworking
man. Well, that carried over into
his being a pastor now, and he would do anything and everything.
He was the hardest working man in that church. One woman said
of Brother Tom Hardy one time, she said, he'll fix your toilet
on Saturday, and he'll preach the gospel to you on Sunday. Yeah, that's right. Because he
considers that that's his job. He's a minister. He's not one
to be served, but who serves others? That's what he does,
and that's what Paul did. Now, verse 9, verse 10. Now, this we command. If any
would not work, neither should he eat. We hear some walking
among you, working, not at all, busy bodied, idle, so forth. Just walking around, sitting,
talking, doing nothing. Now, he's talking about those
who lived off of were takers of the grace, goodness, and grace
of the church. People were working and earning
money and all that, and there were people who were just takers,
takers, takers, takers, takers, and did nothing for anybody,
ever. Now, there are legitimate... I'm thankful for the welfare
system in this country. Aren't you? I'm very thankful.
There are those who cannot work, with disabilities and so forth.
old age, social security. It's wonderful in it. Aren't
you glad? That's what my parents live on
now. Are they worthy of it? Oh, yeah. I know that plenty
of people are not worthy. Freeloaders, moochers. And retirement. I'm grateful for retirement.
If I was still working on the railroad, Brother Stephen, I
would have been there 43 years. It's time to retire. Boy, I'd
want to be out of there. And then I'd be receiving a pension.
But anyway, but that doesn't mean a person from there don't
do nothing. Oh, no. Especially in the church. A person retired, so hell, it'd
be the hardest working person in the church. You understand? You've got nothing better to
do. And let me give you an example. There was a man who moved here
with his wife and eight children. Anybody remember? You remember. They were the recipients of such
charity and grace as I've never known. Our people, you people,
gave and gave and gave. Hardworking people gave and gave. Clothing, food. They lived in
two different members' homes for over a year. Why? Because that man was a worthless,
lazy, slovenly, sluggard, no good, Big talking religious fellow. He and his wife are now divorced.
But all he wanted to do is sit around and talk doctrine, talk
Bible. He talked good, he prayed. I
never called on him to pray because I saw through him. You would have been very impressed
with his prayer. I went to his home and he prayed
and it sounded real good. This is all talk. We'd come over
here, we came over here and we were working on this addition
back here. Another man in the church and
I were working hard. We were sanding those shelves
my books are on now. We built them and we were sanding
on them, getting ready to paint while he sat in the chair and
didn't lift a finger. He lived in our home for two
weeks. And we waited on him hand and foot. I went out in the yard
and I had to dig a ditch for something. He sat there in the
yard while I dug that ditch. Your dad, Janay, was visiting
me one time and we sprung a leak in our water pipe outside. I just told my wife, I'd rather
dig a ditch than paint. She wanted me to paint, so I
said, I'd rather dig a ditch. It wasn't 30 minutes later until
the water utility department was knocking on my door and said,
you've got a leak. You've used 19,000 gallons of
water this month. Oh, Bill was there, Bill Clark. I went out in the yard and started
digging, looking for that leak. Well, Brother Bill didn't bring
any boots, and I didn't have any to fit him, and so he had
his black dress shoes on. He said, I'm getting down in
that ditch with you. I'm not going to stand here and watch
you. It's got mud all over it. You see the point? Now we exhort
you, verse 12, we command you, exhort you by the Lord Jesus
Christ, with quietness and word. Just go on about your business.
It's always the big talkers that do nothing, isn't it? Those that
talk the most, do the least. But those that do the most, talk
the least. They say, wow, they're too busy working. In verse 13, so he says, Brethren,
don't be weary in well-doing. Whatever needs to be done, a
job needs to be done, a job needs to be well done, well-doing. If any man obey not our word
by this epistle, note that man, have no company with him, anybody
disorderly, speaks critically of the pastor and won't follow
his leadership. I don't like things like that.
Well, then go somewhere else. Right? You can't be a sheep and
be a member of the flock and not follow the shepherd, can
you? No. But, you know, don't treat
him like an enemy, verse 14, but have no company with it.
Verse 15, admonish him, brother, sister, we've got a wonderful thing here
and we need this. We need this. Let's not act like
that. Verse 16 and closing is a wonderful
closing prayer. Now the Lord of peace. Our God
has ordered peace, hasn't He? Our Lord Jesus Christ has made
peace. The Lord of peace, give you peace. Give you peace of heart and mind
and make you peaceful. Blessed are the peacemaker. By
all means, always, all the time, by all means, be peacemakers. Pursue it. Ensue it. The Lord
be with you all. Oh, we need Him, Lord, to be
with us. If He leaves us alone for a minute,
we're going to cause trouble. We're going to get in trouble,
and we're going to cause trouble. We're going to cause trouble
for ourselves and everybody around us. Oh, Lord, take not Thy Holy
Spirit from me. Lead me, guide me, direct me
in all my ways. Order my steps. Now he says,
this is the salutation of Paul with my own hand as a token in
every epistle, so I write. The grace, verse 18, of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all. We need it, don't we? What do
you say to this then? Amen. Okay. Oh.