In a Bible study, we dealt with
two verses from this passage, and I told the people that I
would finish this up during the eleven o'clock hour. And I may repeat myself somewhat
here at first, but that's for the sake of everyone, those who
did not hear the morning study. As I have said so many times, I firmly, strongly believe in
expositional preaching, or what I mean by that, verse-by-verse
preaching, verse-by-verse, because verse-by-verse preaching
You preach, starting a book or a chapter, you preach verse by
verse. You receive everything just as
God put it down. Everything. Just in the order
that God wrote it. And there's no danger of leaving
anything out. If you preach verse by verse,
there's no danger of leaving anything out. And also, there's
no way that a man who preaches this way or a woman who teaches
our children this way, there's no danger that they will preach
their own little favorite things, you know, what you might call
pet doctrine at the exclusion of all things needful. And also, I say this, there's
no way that you can be accused of preaching at someone if you
preach expositionally, verse by verse. There's no way that
somebody can say, well, you are aiming that at me. No, because
it just came up. God is in charge of that. Incidentally,
let me repeat myself. Everything that's said from God's
Word has an application to everybody. everything said has an application
to everyone. And I do want everyone to take
it personally. As I said this morning, I do
want you to take it very personally, very personally, and not say,
do not go out here saying you stepped on my toe, because that's
not where I'm aiming. I'm aiming here, the heart. The scripture says if we will
judge ourselves we won't be judged. And that's what the preaching
does it judges us it's not. The preaching doesn't come in
order we might judge somebody else and say that see there he
he or she doesn't they don't stack up. OK I said don't judge
like that judge yourself preaching is designed to judge you and
me Whatever I say with any conviction, I say it because I feel it. That's
what one preacher said one time. He said the reason God sent men
to preach to other men, they're not angels. He could have sent
angels, but he sent men because men can enter into and feel the
needs of the people they preach to. Angels couldn't. They'd be
preaching like this, you know. And you'd never understand a
word they said. And they wouldn't know what you're feeling, what
you're needing. But the man who's a man like you does. Right? So verse by verse is the best
way. And don't apply this to the other
guy. Apply it to yourself. All right? Now, we could very
well preach on every single verse here. We could very well, a man
could very easily take each verse in these following verses and
preach on it by himself, because this is what you'd have to call
a collection of proverbs. These next several verses are
like collections of proverbs, and you could take each one and
deal with it by itself. There's 16 or 17 here, exhortation. There's something for everyone.
All right, now let's begin in verse 14. Verse fourteen. It says, We exhort
you, brethren. We exhort you, brethren. And
he's talking about Paul. The scripture here is speaking
of Paul, Silas, and Timothy. And the scripture says we're
at the mouth of two or three witnesses, the thing that is
established, right? has gotten together with faithful
and true pastors like himself and what he's saying here under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says, We, us together, beseech
you, brethren, under the inspiration of God. We exhort you. We earnestly
desire that you hear us. We beseech you. That's an earnest
and grave term. We beseech you. Not beg, but
we earnestly exhort you. Exhort you, brethren, and it's
directed at the church, at believers. And look what he says here. It's
a tough thing. He says, warn them that are unruly. Warn them that are unruly. In
my margin, if you have a marginal reference there, that word, you'll
see that word unruly also means disorderly. warn them that are unruly, or
the word warn is to caution or gently reprove the unruly. Now,
as I said in the morning hour, all of us by nature, all of us
by nature are unruly. This is not to any one individual,
this is to all of us. We're all by nature unruly, unruly. In other words, we don't want
to be ruled. Right. You know, it's. If you're told what to do, if
somebody tells us to do something, we'll fight to do the opposite.
Is that right? If you're honest with yourself,
you'll admit that. But the Scriptures say, and we
read it in the morning hour in Romans 13, one, there's no powers
that be but but of God. Don't. Romans thirteen one says
that all powers are of ordained of God and rulers are not a terror
of good work. Not a terror to good work rules
rulers are not a terror to good work. So when we rebel against
authority and against rules. And are unruly and do not like
to be ruled is against God. All right. So all authority. All powers
that be are of God. But when God saves a man or a
woman or a young person, regenerates them, changes them, salvation
is a change, a radical change. When God does that, all things
become new. That person is no longer unruly. But that person becomes broken,
that person becomes humble, that person becomes submissive, that
person becomes childlike, that person becomes teachable. When God Almighty first reveals
himself to a person, they don't get on the... What happens to
them first and foremost is not that they go talking a great
deal, but they shut up. When you find out God's in the
heavens and we're on the earth, your words become few. These
are the reasons I've used the illustration. You ladies and
some men, different people who used to sing before vast throngs
and gospel singing, so to speak, and religious entertainment and
all, when the Lord saves and changes you, you're no longer
so ready to get up and open this vile mouth and show your flesh
off, you know. Matter of fact, you have to be
pretty much compelled to do so. Begged to do so. But a person changes when God
Almighty rules. The God's Holy Spirit dwells
in them, they're no longer a rebel. No longer a gainsayer or that
is everything is said they no longer question it but that person
receives it as a little child. Gainsayer that's what the term
gainsayer means in the scripture everything is saying we've got
something to say about it. Not so with God's little sheep
his children no longer unruly but they submit themselves to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake as under the law
that's first Peter two thirteen. Every ordinance, they submit
themselves, every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, as unto
the law, until he instructs them maybe otherwise. Now, folks,
listen to me. We talk about rules, and I dealt
with it in depth this morning. Is there anything in this book, and we talk about law. You want
to talk about the law? Is there one word in this book
that is a suggestion from God Almighty? Does God Almighty just give his
advice in this book? Isn't every single thing that's
put down in this book rule? Law? So be careful what you say about
the law of God Almighty. Everything God says is law. It's
a mandate. It's rule. He rules. Everything
he says is to be done. Right? Now, you'd need those
that have some understanding in the various different kinds
of laws to tell you what is and what is not. Paul said to young
Timothy, there's some who come desiring to be teachers of the
law, but don't have any faintest idea what they're talking about. There's no suggestions in this
book, is there? No suggestions. Everything is rules from God
Almighty and in order. And so Paul says to us here,
warn them that are unruly, that don't like to be ruled, all right? Now look at the next one. That's
a tough one. That was a tough thing there,
wasn't it? But it applies to all of us. Our nature just doesn't
like it. It just doesn't like it. Warn
them. Warn them. God doesn't make suggestions.
All right, he says, now warned them they're unruly, but I'm
sure thankful he wrote this. Comfort the feeble-minded. Comfort the feeble-minded. Encourage,
console, comfort the feeble-minded. I know it says that I don't understand
it, but I've got comfort for you. I don't understand it all
either. I don't understand it all either.
Comfort them with the message of comfort. You know there's
only one real message of comfort? Isaiah forty verse two says,
You comfort, comfort, verse 1 and 2, comfort you, comfort you,
my people. Speak ye comfortably unto them. Tell them this. You
speak comfortably to them. Tell them this. What? Warfare
is accomplished. War is over. In other words,
God's not angry any longer. He ought to be. He's broken his
law on every point, every jot and tittle. He ought to be angry.
He ought to cast us down into hell, shouldn't he? We've sinned
and come far short of the glory of God. God ought to cast us
into hell and judge us for it. He ought to still. We're still
unruly. We're still rebels against God's
will. We still want our way. All we like sheep still go our
own way, don't we? Tell them this for their comfort,
though. God's not angry with them anymore. The war is over. You know there was a war? There
is a war between the natural man and God Almighty who reigns.
It started with the first man in the garden. He says, I won't
have you reign over me like this. Who do you think you are to give
me a rule? And God warned him, didn't he?
If he was to be unruly, we're going to have a war. And I tell
you, there's only one of us going to be left standing, he said
that, didn't he? There's going to be a war, and one of us is
going to die. One of us is going to be God
around here, he said. Who died? And we've inherited
his unruly nature ever since. And we, by nature, still shake
our fists in God's face and say, we don't like this. I don't like
this. That's too strict. That's too strict. I just don't
like this. I'll do it my way. And God says, no, you won't.
War. And so what does God do to us? He kills us. puts us out of the way, crucifies
us with Christ. The warfare is accomplished.
It's over. He crucifies us with Christ. And he says, iniquities, pardon.
Your sins, you know all that rebellion you had against God,
that you still have against God? God doesn't think about it. He
put it away. He said, there are sins and there
are iniquities I'll remember no more. The sins you thought
this morning, God says, I don't remember. already forgotten,
you know what you're thinking right now. I was going to forget
this is their fault. He doesn't even think about it.
And Nick with his partner. Why? Why? Why should he? Why
should he? The blood, the blood on the altar. The Lord Jesus, the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. So comfort the
feeble minded, the feeble minded. That is those who are faint hearted.
Ready to halt. Scripture talks about in a place,
I'm ready to halt. David said that, I believe. Ready
to quit. I'm just ready to quit. I'm ready
to quit. Comfort them. Don't quit. It's
almost over. The weary war is over, but your
life's almost over, and Christ is coming. Everything's going
to be OK. Don't quit. I'll hold you up. Comfort them,
the fainthearted, the weak in the faith. Tell them, those weak,
feeble-minded, you tell them, Well, I just don't have much
faith. Tell him it's not your faith. I just don't understand. Tell him it's not your understanding.
It's not your faith. It's Christ's faithfulness. Comfort
him that way. Comfort him. Tell him you don't
have to keep your... I'm afraid I'll just fall in.
You're not keeping yourself anyway. Comfort him that way. Tell him
you're not keeping yourself. You're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed. You know,
somebody's got your name on his breastplate, and he's seated
at the right hand of God ever living to make intercession for
that person. All those who come to God by Christ, comfort them
that way. I don't know if I'm going to
make it or not. Is there a man at the right hand of God who
intercedes for sinners? Yeah. Comfort them. Tell them. Tell them. And he says here,
support, support the weak. Support them, lend a helping
hand, somebody who, be somebody that somebody can lean on. For
the strengthless, the feeble, sick and the helpless, him that
is weak, principally him that is weak in the faith, Paul said,
you which are spiritual, restore such a one. Receive him. Him
that is weak in the faith, receive you, not to doubtful disputations. A man is weak or ignorant or
a woman who's weak or ignorant or doesn't seem to quite understand. They do things differently or
whatever. Receive them, but not to doubtful disputations. And
that is not to deride them and admonish them and say, you ignoramus.
You sit around a little while and you'll be like me. No, no,
not like that. Support the weak. Support the
weak. And he says, be patient. Look
at this, be patient. Toward all men, be patient. How can you best be patient with
people? Huh? How can you best be patient with
somebody that, well, trespasses against you or somebody that's
ignorant or whatever? How can you be patient toward
all men, all men, no matter who they are or what they've done?
How? Remember the pit from which you were done. Right? You remember
the mercy and grace of God, do you? You remember how ignorant
you were? Deborah, or whoever, do you remember
years ago when the Lord first revealed the gospel to you and
you went out talking about it and you said some things? Oh,
my. One of the ladies was talking
to me about this the other day. She said when the Lord first
revealed the gospel to her, you know, she started talking about
it as God's people do. And I want to tell others about
it, but they only make so many errors. And this preacher said
to her, oh, yeah, I remember some of the things you said is
all wrong. But. Boy, don't, you know, receive
them and the way you can be patient with them is to remember the
pit from which you were dug. Remember how ignorant you are.
Not were, are. That's the best way you can be
patient to all men. As much as possible, live peaceably
with all men. How can you do that? Remember
yourself. Remember yourself. Verse fifteen.
See that none render evil for evil. Not be any man. Now this is good, y'all. Hitch up
your gausses, would you? Hang with me. This is good. This
is right. These are the Proverbs in 1 Thessalonians
5. Don't render evil for evil to
any man. Any man. If you're reviled, don't
revile again. Is that God's way? Is that Christ's
way? That's what Christ did, didn't
He? Consider Him who endured such
contradiction of sinners against Himself. Lest you be weary. When he was reviled, he didn't
revile again. He could have, couldn't he? He
could have turned around. You have no right to condemn
me of that. You have no right to accuse me
of that. He'd have been the only one that had been just in doing
so, wouldn't he? But like Spurgeon said one time,
another one of my oft-repeated illustrations, he said, if somebody
says something about you, just be glad they didn't tell the
whole truth. Right? Oh, you may be falsely accused
at times. Everybody will. Every one of
God's people will be. But don't revile back again.
It won't do. The Lord said, the battle's not
yours. Vengeance is mine. Say, I'll
repay. But just, Lord, you're not repaying
soon enough. I want him to know now that I'm
right. Who is right? Let God be true
and every man wrong. If reviled, don't revile back
again. If smitten, he hit me. Or smitten with words. Did you hear
what he, what does it say? Turn the other cheek. If your brother trespassed against
thee, old Peter, you know, one time said, Lord, how long am
I going to put up with old Billy Bob over there? What are you
saying and doing? How long am I going to put up
with this guy? Seven times? Already done that
seven times? The Lord said, Peter, keep adding,
buddy. Keep multiplying. Seventy times
seven. He just used that to mean an
infinite number of times. In other words, you can't just
say, well, seven times seven is four hundred and ninety. Four
hundred and eighty-nine. One more, buddy, and you've had
it. No, the Lord means that you keep on. No hundred and forty four thousand
that's what that means in the scripture that doesn't mean there's
exact number one hundred forty four thousand they don't want
to be in on the special privileges of the Lord he just uses. Thousands
ten thousands and thousands of these things. A number which
no one knows. And if your brother says something
against thee, there is a scripture that says, tell him. If he's
a brother, you tell him. You go to him and you tell him.
If he won't hear you, Christ said, you take somebody else
with you and you tell him. If he won't hear them, tell it
to the church. If he won't hear them, let him
be a heathen and a publican, you know. Brother Tim James said,
what do you do to heathen and publicans? You preach the gospel
to them. Don't kick them out. He preached
the gospel to them. But you don't treat them like
a brother. I mean, you don't. Well, you know what I'm saying.
You don't let him let him know that they're hurting. That's according to the scriptures,
but nevertheless, forgive him. Forgive him. Forgive him 490
times. Overcome evil with good, Paul
said. Soft answer turneth away wrath,
Solomon said. It works, people. You feed an
old curry dog, and he'll befriend you. Just feed him. Be kind to him, and he won't
bite you. Bite you. All right, follow that which
is good. Look at this. Follow that which is good, both
among yourselves and to all men. Follow that which is godly. What's
good? Where are you going to follow
that's good? There you go. One of the women
said it. Follow that which is good. What's
good? You remember the rich young ruler came to Christ and said,
Do a good master. He said, I'll hold it right there.
Now hold on a second now. There's nothing good but God,
is there? Why do you call me good? There's only one that's
any good, Christ. What are you going to follow
then? Anything that's Christ-like. Everything that's Christ-like.
Godly, right, Christ-like. And he'd do it in the church,
both among yourselves, verse 15, and to all men. In front
of everybody. Be Christ-like in front of everybody. Don't let your guard down just
because another brother's not there and he can't see what you're
doing. Right? Follow that which is good before
all men. To all men. Verse 16. Boy, I like that. Are you with
me? Those that are are going to rejoice. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice evermore. Turn with me
to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians 4. You know what
it means to rejoice? I looked that word up. And it
means to be cheerful. It means be cheerful. Be happy. Be happy. Full of praise. Rejoice. Where do you rejoice?
Rejoicing in someone is what you do. I remember old brother Jack Shanks
one time making this statement, that old, slow Texas drawl of
his. He said, you know, he said, we
don't have to believe in the sovereignty of God. We don't have to believe in it. If we just half believe in the
sovereignty of God, we wouldn't have any reason whatsoever to
complain or murmur or ever be down and out. Just half. Just half. Half believe in a
God who works all things together. You believe that? Oh, I believe
Romans 8, 28. Then you stomp your toes. Oh, wow, wow, wow. How you doing? Oh, damn. You said you believed Romans
8, 28 last week. Now here you are being tried
for it. We just have to believe that
all things work together, all things work together for good,
good to them that love God, His people. But you say my health
is bad. Well, who gives bad health? Come
on now. The Lord said, I won't. I heal.
If he wanted you to be healed, he'd have you healed. There must
be a good reason, mustn't there? Oh, people, I need this. I'm
not preaching at you. I need this. Yeah, but you say my finances
are poor. You say, who makes rich and who
makes poor? Every penny you have, you've
received. You didn't deserve what you've got. My job is to preach. Who gave you the job? Be glad
you're not on skid row and don't have a job. I've got problems. Behold and see if there's any
sorrow like unto his sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, Christ
saith. Nobody's a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief like Christ was from the cradle to the grave.
Nobody's been sorrowful. Our lives, ninety-nine percent
of our lives have been spent in prosperity and happiness.
One percent of the time comes along. in heartache and problem,
and we start moaning and complaining. Right? It's just like a little
child. You do, do, do, do for them.
Happy, happy, happy all the time, you know. And then one little
problem comes along, and it's the world's coming to an end.
Dad or mom deals with that child one time in sternness and rebuke
and chastise. They don't love me. What'd they
do the rest of the time? What have they been doing for
you the rest of the time? You forget that? And no affliction,
no trial for the moment is pleasant, but grievous. But nevertheless,
it works a far more exceeding weight of eternal glory to them
that are exercised thereby, the Scriptures say. Philippians 4,
4. The only way you're going to
be able to rejoice in all these things is rejoice in somebody.
Verse four, rejoice in the Lord. Now, there's no way you can rejoice
in the trial. Understand me here, this is good.
There's no way you can rejoice and say, my body is hurting.
Oh, I'm so glad. You don't do that, do you? That's
foolish. You're pain, you're wracked with
pain. You hurt him, you're sorrowful, you don't rejoice in that, it
hurts. But you can rejoice in the Lord who sent it. Oh, I'm
hurting, but this is from God. And even though it hurts, He's
my God. You remember when David down
at Ziklag, when he came back to Ziklag, and he found that
his home and All his possessions had been burned up, and his wife
and his children had been taken captive. Do you remember that
story? Do you remember what David did?
What did David do? Huh? What did David do? Did he moan and groan? Well,
everybody cried. Everybody was sorrowful and moaning
and complaining. But it says David comforted himself. Comforted himself in his Lord,
in his God. God did this. It hurts, but God
did it. I need to find out why. I need
to find out why. And rejoice, rejoice, rejoice
in the Lord always. He said it a couple of times.
Rejoice, I say. Rejoice. If you didn't hear it
the first time. Rejoice here means be calmly
happy. Oh, any of that? Patience, under
trial, calmly happy. What am I going to do now? To rejoice means to be calmly
happy. In other words, calmly consider
in the face of every trial and reflection, it's the Lord. That's what Eli did. You remember
that? Samuel came. Was it Samuel? No, some messengers came to Eli
and telling them that both of his sons had died. Can you imagine? Who in here has two sons? Well,
several of you do. Can you imagine? Not one. Both
of them. What did he do? Oh, woe is me. Cast himself down on the ground. What he said was he calmly considered
in his mind and his heart Why did this take place? Who's responsible for this? See,
if the devil was responsible, you'd get real mad, wouldn't
you? If man was responsible, you'd
get angry, you'd take vengeance. But he thought, no, God did it. And he said, it's the Lord. Let
Him do what He sees good. There's no way you can handle
it otherwise, is there? I don't see how people handle
the things that they do who do not know the Lord. We don't sorrow
as those who have no hope. Hope what? Hope thou in God,
the Scripture says. God! People, I'm telling you,
rejoice in the Lord. There's no other way to handle
anything but to rejoice in the Lord. It's the Lord. Let Him
do, and He will. Let Him have me understand that
He will do what He will. Everything that He does. for
my good, for his Lord. It's the Lord. He knows, Father
knows best. And the Holy Spirit comes and
gives you that seal, that bears witness with your spirit. Father
knows best. He's my Daddy. Daddy wouldn't
hurt me unless he had a reason. You know what? My Daddy wouldn't
hurt me. He's too good. Right? Rejoice evermore in the Lord.
Rejoice. Be calmly happy. It's the Lord.
And look on. Keep going on. Rejoice in the
Lord. You say, but I have a hard time
rejoicing. I don't understand. I can't understand.
I've tried. This thing has come about. I've
tried to rejoice. And I just don't understand it.
I can't put one and one, two and two together. I can't understand. I can't reconcile these things
that are happening to me with God's sovereignty, his word and
all of that. I don't understand why. There's nothing wrong with asking
why. If you read the Bible sometime,
you'll find that every one of God's people ask why at some
point in time. There's nothing wrong with that,
as long as you eventually come up with an answer. the Lord.
But at first, you know, sometimes you're just so perplexed and
come up. Why? And this is what he says next.
In wisdom, he says, pray without ceasing. Pray about it. Worry about it. Don't cry about
it. Pray about it. Pray about it. I got told one of our ladies. I said, dry up. Dry up, straighten up, and shut
up. And consider, calmly consider,
what this is all about. There's a reason. There's a reason. Pray without ceasing. Ask the
Lord. Ask and you shall receive, he said. Doesn't he? Seek and
you'll find an answer. Or at least he'll make you content
with the knowledge that he's the Lord and he doesn't belong
to you. Right? Pray without ceasing. You know
that praise, though, just gave it away. Pray. Pray. Prayer is more praise than anything. It's not asking. Although you
can, you may, you're permitted to ask, you're told to ask. Prayer
is more thanksgiving and praise than asking. Now think about this. This doesn't
make sense. If you're thanking God more often
for what you have, what he's done, if you're thanking him
more often, you'll do a lot less complaining, won't you? Huh?
Sure you will. When you realize that what you
have that you have not received, you'll say, well, I haven't got
anything else coming to me anyway. Mercy is not getting what you
deserve. Grace is getting a whole lot
more than you did deserve. Be careful for nothing, Paul
said Philippians 4, 6, but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving. Don't go keep asking and asking
and asking unless you're first thanking and thanking and thanking
for what you already have. Why should he give you anything
else if you haven't thanked him for what he's given you? Let
your request be made known to God. Take your burden. Here's
a good rule and this man gave it in the form of a song. Take
your burden to the Lord. In everything, give thanks. Everything,
my prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto
God. Take your burden to the Lord.
He says, cast your care upon him. About everything? Yeah, everything. He's a father
and he'll hear you. Your father will hear everything
you say, won't he? Take everything to the Lord.
But what does the song go on to say? Take your burden to the
Lord and do what? Leave it there. You couldn't
do anything about it in the first place. Why not leave it with
Him who can, who will, who sent it? Come away, take your burden
to the Lord and come away thanking Him, trusting His name. You remember
that message we did on trusting in the name of the Lord? They
that know His name will trust Him. What's His name? Anybody
know what the name Jehovah-Jireh means? That's the Lord's name. You know what that means? That
means the Lord will see to it. The Lord will see to it. He'll
see to it. Trust his name. Call on his name. Trust his name. He's the Lord.
He said he'd see to it. That's his very name. I'll leave
it there. Verse 18. In everything. Read it with me. In everything
give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. In everything. Everything? Yes. Everything. This is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now, there's a key word
there you all need to understand. It's two letters. Two letters,
you catch it in. In Christ Jesus. If you're not
in Christ Jesus by faith, you're out of the saving will and purpose
and covenant of God Almighty. To be in Christ. Is to be in
his love, be in his favor, in his good pleasure, in his will,
in his purpose, In his care in salvation begin Christ Jesus
the believer person who knows and follows Christ when I say
that person everything. Even the so-called bad. Even
a problem suffering sicknesses trial affliction persecution.
Persecution is all in this sovereign eternal changeable will and purpose
of God all that everything. Oh, somebody preach this to me.
God Almighty ordained everything in the lives of His people before
the foundation of the world. You believe that, Ellen Fralin?
Do you? Everything. Everything is according to God's
infinite wisdom and goodness and love toward His elect in
Christ Jesus, and nothing will come about in the life of His
people. Did you hear that, Sherry? If you have to be operated on
again, God's going to see to it that it happens. A doctor
won't decide, God will. You hear that? Everything. If we could believe that. I tell
you, if we had mustard seed faith, we'd overcome mountainous problems.
Isn't that what Christ said? Faith in what? Faith in your
faith, faith in your church, faith in God, the Lord, rejoicing
in the Lord. It's the Lord. If we had that
much in the face of whatever, it's the Lord. And this mountain
of trouble would be made a molehill. That wasn't so bad. That wasn't
so big. I thought it was going to come
over me. Look at here. Everything you know what the
purpose of everything is in the life of God's people. If you
ever read Ephesians 1, you do. It says that God bless be a God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessing. They don't stand that. That whatever
comes about in your life may not be for your temporal good
at that moment, but you can guarantee it's bring about spiritual good
and purpose. Bless be God. According as he
has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame before him in love. He predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. And whoever he did predestinate
he called. Whomever he predestinated he
called. Whom he called he justified. He justified. And whom he justified
he glorified. And he did all of this. That
he might conform us to the image of his son. Image of his son. Everything
is to conform us to Christ. I told you about that old whittler,
you know, whittling that hound dog. And a man came by and said,
I don't see how you do that. How do you take a raw chunk of
wood and make it into a hound dog like that? And the fellow
said, well, I just cut everything off and it doesn't look like
a hound dog. It's easy. And God Almighty, the purpose
and the will and the pleasure of God Almighty for His people
who are raw chunks of clay, when He gets ahold of them dead in
trespass, to say, It's cut off everything that doesn't look
like Jesus Christ. Everything. That hurt. I've got to cut it
off. But why? You don't look like
Christ yet. And after He's done with you,
When he's good and ready, then he takes you home, and then you
perfectly bear the resemblance of Christ. Come in here, my son. You look just like my well-beloved
son. He won't have you until then.
Will he? Conformity to Christ. David said,
I won't be satisfied until I awake like that. And whatever the Lord
chooses to do to make me like Christ, that's what I want. Can
you say that? If you're a Christian, you can.
That's what it means to be a Christian. You love Christ. You follow Christ.
You look to Christ. You depend upon Christ. You believe
Christ. You trust Christ for everything, for your salvation,
for your life. He's Lord, isn't He? I want to
be Lord. Let Lord God make this man rule
over me. And Lord God make me just like
him. I want to walk in his step. Like those people in Pilgrim's
Park or Holy War, you know, when Emmanuel came walking down the
street. People in that town got along behind him, but their footsteps
in his footsteps. They liked the way he walked.
How's he doing that? Let's say that. They mimicked
him. They patterned themselves after
him. I like that. I want to do that. You're not
a Christian if you don't feel that way. A hypocrite. Now, we've come far short of
that glory, but the principle is there. Do you feel that desire?
All that is required is that you feel your need of him and
your love for him. Peter, do you love me? Oh, Lord,
you know, I just now denied you three times. How could you ask
me that question? He did it anyway, didn't he? Peter, you worthless, no good,
rebellious hypocrite. You denied me three times, I
ought to kick you into a burning hell, Peter. Simon, Simon, that's
what he called him, Simon. Son of Jonas, do you love me? Oh, Lord. I don't ever look like
I do, but you know I do. You know I do. Man, straighten up, buddy. Feed
my land, feed my sheep, and follow me." Now, they're going to take
you, Peter, and this is what's going to happen to you. They're
going to take you and bury you off to a place you don't want
to go, and you're going to be crucified and whatever, and then
that old man came up again, didn't he? Well, what, what, what, what?
Peter, that's none of your business. I'm dealing with you, buddy. I'll be satisfied. Are you satisfied
with yourself? Man after God's own heart won't
be satisfied that he awakes with a perfect likeness of Jesus Christ.
That's just all there are to it. Verse 19, and I'll hurry. Don't
despise prophesying. Verse 19, I'm sorry. Quench not
the Spirit. Quench not the Spirit. Now, I've
got to hurry. When God saves a man, I don't see a face in here that
I haven't preached to before. But I'll repeat myself. When
God Almighty saves somebody, if he's determined to save them,
if they're his elect, his chosen, his people that he has set his
love and affection upon there in the covenant of grace for
the foundation of the world, God's going to save them. He's
going to have them. Everyone. And he sends his Holy
Spirit, he sent his son down here to die to pay the price,
redeem him, justify him. He sends his Holy Spirit to get
him, round him up, cull him out of the herd. You know, there's
a sheep, there's a goat, there's a sheep, get him. Wrap him, draw
him. Right, John? Lasso him. Towards
of love. God, bring him, draw him in here.
Irresistible force. You cannot, if you're one of,
this gives me comfort as a preacher. If you're really one of God's,
he'll have you. He'll have irresistible. And once a child. Once alive unto God. So you can't
you can't. Ignore or reject the Holy Spirit
if God sets his love and affection on you in terms to have you can
do. I like that. I like that. But once a child
of God, alive unto God, the Holy Spirit, his leadership and his
teachings and his guidings can be rejected, can be ignored. And they are. You've got a heavenly Father.
And He reigns and rules and He chastens, He disciplines, He
commands, He teaches, He instructs, He leads and guides His children
just like you do. Can you grieve him? You better
believe you can. You better believe you can. You
can quench. You can quench the Holy Spirit. And he says here,
don't ignore, despise, or put off the Holy Spirit's leadership
and dealing. Don't grieve him. Verse 20 says,
don't despise prophesying. Don't despise it. Don't dismiss
the wisdom and warning of spiritual or scriptural prophecy. nor of
his preachers, God's preachers. Prophesying here, I believe,
speaks principally of preaching. And as I said this morning, in
spite of all the false prophets and preachers that are going
around, God has not left himself without a witness. He still has
some true preachers. And they can be heeded, they
can be followed faithfully. And those who proclaim thus saith
the Lord. Verse 21. Prove all things. Prove all things. Try the spirits. See whether they're not there
of God. Prove all that is said and done
by the word of God. And he also said prove yourself.
Prove all things. Prove yourselves. Prove the sincerity
of your love. The book of James, the whole
book of James seems to be saying, you say you're a believer? You
call yourself a sovereign grace? You call yourself a believer?
James seems to be saying in the whole book, prove it. Doesn't
he? The book of Romans says, the
book of Romans in the first several chapters says, prove what you
say you believe, or prove The profession of your faith. Let's
hear the Book of Romans. Let's hear what you say. What
do you say to these things, Paul said? Let me hear it. Twice he
said that, Romans 8 and 9. Let's hear what your confession
of faith is. Let's hear it. That's what the
Book of Romans seems to be saying. The Book of James seems to be
saying, let's see what you're professing. Prove all things. And he says,
hold fast that which is good. Hold fast to Christ. Lay hold
on eternal life. Hold fast the form of sound words
which you've heard of me, Paul said, and faith and love. Verse
22, abstain from all appearance of evil. He said all things are
lawful, but everything is not helpful, not expedient. All things
are lawful. Some things don't edify. Some
places, Brother Scott said, you remember that article? He said
there's some sermons that don't need to be preached. There's
some things that, there's some comments that don't need to be
made. There's some places that don't need to be gone to. There's
some shows that don't need to be watched. There's some this,
some that. All things are lawful, but all things don't matter.
And he says, abstain from all appearance of evil. Let the ministry
be not blank. The ministry be not blank. And
verse twenty three in the very God of peace sanctify you holy. Holy I pray God he says your
whole spirit and soul and body. Body. Be preserved. You know God uses means of grace
that are like preservatives you put in your jam keep it from
spoiling means of great preservative preserve your whole you see that
spirit soul and body that's not just concerned with your spirit.
He wouldn't be much of a father, would he? He's concerned with
everything about you. And he instructs accordingly.
Faithful is he. I tell you what, people, you
who are troubled, rest in this thought. Faithful is he. He called
you. He'll do it. See, I feel like
I've come short of all this. He's faithful. He called you.
He'll do it. confident that he would have
begun a good work or do it. Verse 25. Brethren, pray for
me. Pray for us. Please do. This thing's too big
for me. This thing is there's too much
responsibility involved. There's too much wisdom that
needs to be had. There's too much prudence, too much understanding,
patience, love, long suffering, too much forbearance, too much
faithfulness required of me. I can't do it. Would you please
ask God to do it for me? Pray for us, brethren. Verse
26 and through 28. greet all the brethren with a
holy kiss. I don't understand that. If you don't, then kiss
them. Right? But what it does mean
is just show your affection toward one another. That's what it means,
basically. Show your affection. If you love somebody, poof it.
Show it. You glad to see them, show them. What does kiss mean? Well, just
kiss them. If you've got some problems with it, it says kiss,
kiss. Brother Tony Bell does it to
me all the time, and I wish he'd shave more often. But I appreciate it. I appreciate
it. I charge you by the Lord that
this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. Read this. Read it. And may the great grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. You say amen to all that, amen. Amen means I agree with everything
you said. Everything said.