This is where I'll be preaching
from tonight. Six or seven months ago, I read
this back in a study, and then a few months later, well, I remember
when I read it the first time, there were just a few of us,
back there, and I was tremendously blessed, and Rick was, and somebody
else that was there. And a few months later, Rick
read it again back in the study, and we were just as equally as
blessed by hearing it again. And then just the other day,
I heard my pastor do an exposition of this, and I was just blessed
again. So I thought, well, it's high
time that I preached on this, that we looked at this. So let's
read the whole thing. And Brother Henry is going to
come and lead us in prayer. Now, Paul had just finished talking
about the coming of Christ there in chapter 4. He said, The Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. And then he says
in verse 1, But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you
have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. And
when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction
cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they
shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You
are all children of light and the children of the day. We are
not of the night nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. day that sleep, sleep
in the night, and day that be drunken, are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in
helmet the hope of salvation. God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us. that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also you do. And we beseech
you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over
you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very
highly, and love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now, we exhort you, brethren,
warn them that are unruly. comfort the feeble-minded, support
the weak, and be patient toward all men. And see that none render
evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good,
both among yourselves and all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without
ceasing. In everything give thanks. is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit, despise
not prophesies, prove all things, hold fast that which is good,
abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit soul and
body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet
all the brethren with a holy kiss, and I charge you, I charge
you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. Amen. Thank you, Brother Henry. I like this prayer there. I've
got enough. He prayed these two things that
he would quicken us, help us according to his word. And I've
got that inside of my Bible. Order my steps in thy word, and
let not any iniquity have dominion over me. The Lord's been so good to me. How about you? How about you? The Lord Jesus Christ set me
free. How about you? How about you? The Lord's been good to me. Well, how about you? How about you? mercy this morning
I see. How about you? How about you? The price of my redemption
He paid. How about you? He'd do it for
you. On him all my sins were laid. How about you? How about you? The Lord's been good to
me. How about you? How about you? New mercies this morning I see. How about you? How about you? God's mercy, love, glory and
grace How about you? How about you? I've seen it all in Jesus' face
How about you? How about you? Lord's been good to me. Well, how about you? How about
you? Last few years this morning I
see. How about you? How about you? How about you? How about you? How about you? How about you? All right, turn back to 1 Thessalonians
5. I really enjoy verse-by-verse
studies through the Scripture for several reasons, and I'm convinced that this is
true preaching. that this is the way preaching
ought to be done, and I'm convinced of it. The scripture says, if
they speak not according to my word, because there's no light
in them, light being understanding, or Christ. Christ is not in them,
who is in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
But if they speak not according to my word, that means according
to God's word. not ours, not our thoughts upon
it, but according to his word. And I believe that means in context
of his word, not just a word, but his word in context. I really
believe that. Topical preaching, or that is
taking a topic or a subject and then one verse of scripture and
then going off into preaching that, it's fine at times. I believe it generally contains
a great deal more of our thoughts. I know from experience you grope
and you reach for more things to say and more points on your
outline and so forth. But it's generally full of a
lot of fleshly cleverness rather than a lot of God's Word. And
so in preaching verse by verse you receive everything God wrote,
the way he wrote it, and the order that he wrote it. And there's
no danger of leaving anything out. And there's no danger of
merely preaching one's favorite or pet doctrine. You have to
preach it as it comes, don't you? You have to take it as it
comes. And it's always very practical, spiritual, yes, but practical
as well. It always applies to body and
soul. Every passage you look at will apply to the spirit and
the flesh, faith and works. God's sovereignty and responsibility.
It's all the way through if you preach it in context, verse by
verse. And expositional preaching, that's
verse by verse, it prevents what my pastor always calls versitis. Versitis. People have their favorite
verses, you know. They quote one verse and tear
it off into some wild tirade. But if you preach verse by verse
by verse, you can't hide anything, no matter how you want to. You
can't hide it. You've got to read it. If you're
going to preach from Romans 8, you've got to read verse 29. You can't skip over it. Well,
and it's very profitable. You can't keep back anything
profitable. You have to preach it off. So
let's, I know there's a lot of verses here, but I'll talk fast. I generally do anyway. Now, let's
look at it here in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 1. He says,
"...of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that
I write unto you." Times and events, prophecies and speculations
aren't needful. He says you have no need to be
taken up with these things. What is needful? One thing is
needful. Study him. Study him. Study Christ. Christ is needful. For yourselves know, verse 2,
you know perfectly. Those that have had the truth
revealed to them know perfectly or full well that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall
say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them. Other words, when people aren't
looking for, at a time when you think not, Christ said. Do we
think that Christ is coming tonight? I mean, really. Really. Anybody
in here really, truly? It might be the time. It might
be. Then, sudden destruction. Nobody
knows what he's saying, so don't be taken up with it. Nobody knows. It's like travail upon a woman
with child, and they shall not escape. A woman, a woman can
be expecting. And she knows that in roughly
nine months she's going to have that child. But she doesn't know
when, really. I mean, it might be two weeks
early. Three months early. Two weeks late. Some people go
real late. If she knew, she'd prepare, right?
But there's no way you can prepare. When the pain hits, you weren't
prepared, were you ladies? You weren't ready for it. You
can't. You don't know. God gives birth when He decides. It's the same thing with the
coming of Christ. You don't know. Verse 4, but you, brethren, are
not in total darkness. You're not in darkness, that
is, ignorance, that the day should overtake you as a thief. You're
not in blind ambition for the world. You're not in religious
superstition and darkness like that. Verse 5, you're all children
of the light. You have seen the light. And
as I said a while ago, what is the light? Christ is the light. You've seen Him. You've seen
Him. Christ is the light. He said
in one place, He said, If thine eye be single, the whole body
is full of light. In other words, if you've seen
Christ, if you have the mind of Christ, you know all things. That's what He said there in
2 Corinthians. We have the mind of Christ. Now, you see the light,
but other people are in darkness, religious darkness and superstition
and so forth. And this is why there's so much
conflict in the world and with your family and so forth. They
are in worldly and religious superstition or darkness, full
of prejudice, totally steeped in tradition, rather than the
Word of God, the light. understanding according to His
Word, like you pray according to the Word, according to Christ. You see all things, Terry, you
see all things in the sunlight, don't you? The perfect, clear
sunlight. You've seen the glory of God,
you see the will of God, you see the mind of God, you see
the purpose of God, you see all of history, everything taking
place according to Jesus Christ. It's all in Him. You know Him. And it's like this, you can't
describe red to a blind man. I was talking to one of our ladies
on the phone yesterday, I believe it was, how she was trying to
explain that very thing to a relative of hers, how that Christ is all,
how that he is all in salvation and creation and everything.
But the man still insisted upon free will and so forth. Well,
you can't describe red to a blind man any more than you can describe
effectual redemption to a religiously blind man. He can't see it. Any more than you can describe
the sovereignty of God to a religiously blind man. He can't see it, can
he? He can't see it. But you're in
the light, sunlight. You see all things clearly. The
glory of God is seen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
all of history, you see it being centered in and around the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, verse 6, Therefore let
us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. The
more light we have, the more responsible we are, the more
active we should be, the more watchful we should be. Don't sleep, he says, literally,
spiritually, don't sleep, watch, be sober. Let us not sleep as
do others, lulled to sleep and thinking you're something when
you're nothing, and think you know something when you know
nothing yet as you ought to know, thinking you've arrived when
you've not yet arrived. Well, let us watch, watch and
be sober. Verse 7, the day that sleep,
sleep in the night. and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, that's
the day spring of Christ, be sober, putting on the breastplate
of faith and love. Sober there doesn't mean necessarily
quit your drinking, although it does mean that. But it means
more than anything to be serious. Let's be serious about what we're
doing here. And you know, you've been around the religious world,
ridiculously silly they can be at times. I mean, absolutely
foolish and silly. Praise the Lord, brother, hallelujah.
When they've got problems, you know. Well, no, they probably
don't have problems. But in a real world, real people
have real problems and they deal with reality. They don't try
to mask it, don't try to hide it. Don't be falsely pious or
superficially religious Don't fake it. Never. Don't ever fake
it. Ever. Be serious. Not morose,
though. Don't be sad and melancholy,
but serious about what we're doing here. We're going to hate
these bumper stickers and all this. All the trappings that
go with religion. I hate it. I despise it. It's a facade people put on. I hate it. I despise it. Be sober. And like I'm talking about these
bumper stickers and all, that's taking God's name in vain. Nothing
less. Taking his name in vain. Sid,
put on a breastplate of faith. Arm your heart. Arm your heart
and your soul with the gospel of your salvation. And don't
let this religious world pierce you through with all of their
tradition and nonsense and with their numbers and strength and
so forth. Don't let them pierce you through.
Remember, like Paul said, remember the word that's been faithfully
preached to you, the truth, the gospel of your salvation. Don't
let go of it. Don't look to anything else.
Trust in Christ and Christ alone. Remember the word which has been
faithfully, truly, consistently Remember how that Christ has
been so evidently set forth before you. You've seen the glory of
God in the gospel that we've heard here. Don't let go of it
so quickly. Love, he said, faith and love. Love those that spitefully use
you, though. Pray for them, because they're
in darkness. Don't get mad at them. They're just in darkness,
like we were at one time. Don't dote or don't brag on what
you know. above people, but pray for them
and pray that the Lord will reveal to them as he did to you. And
for a helmet, the hope of salvation. The world keeps hammering away
with all of their idiocy and all their religion, don't they?
Keep hammering away. I mean, you hear it time and time again,
they beat you over the head with it. We need the helmet of our
hope, the hope of salvation, a helmet, Christ our head. If
you're mine, if you're firmly persuaded, Knowing whom? Let
come what may. Let them say what they may. Let
take place what may. You're not going to be swooning.
You're not going to be carried about with this and that. You're not
going to be taken up with this and that and the other. No, you've got
a mindset on Christ and the truth. You'll not be swayed. You'll
be persuaded that he's able. He and he alone. And we can do
nothing without him, right? And what does that say? Without
me, you can do nothing. That's the first eight verses.
Now, he'd been talking in context here, he'd been talking about
the coming of Christ, the second coming of Christ. And a lot of
people are taken up with, I mean, totally enamored with the second
coming of Christ. Now, listen to these things.
The Lord is coming. No doubt about it. He is coming,
even so come. Lord Jesus, that's our prayer.
Come. He is coming. It is certain. He's coming the
second time as sure as he came the first. He is coming. But
no man knows when. There was even a scripture where
he said he didn't even know. He did that as an example. He
knows. He said that as our example.
As a man, he said, as a man, no man knows. But the Father,
which is in heaven, no man knows. So don't be overly concerned
with when. There's a lot of people taken
up with when Christ is coming that don't know the Christ who
is coming. Right? Be taken up with who is coming,
not when. Not when. Barnard, you've all heard the terms of
pre-post-nominalism. talking about the rapture of
the church, when it'll take place, thousand-year reign and so forth,
when God's going to remove the church, when Christ is going
to reign in relation to that rapture of the church. Barnard
said, I was right at one time, I held all three of them. But he said, I suppose now, he
said this later on, he says, I suppose now I'm a paying millennialist.
Somebody said, what do you mean paying millennialist? He said,
I just believe it's going to pan out all right. Paying out all right. Well, if
I'm a true disciple of Christ's coming, now listen to this, if
I'm a true disciple of Christ, His coming won't alter my everyday
life. I ought to be about His business
anyway, right? He's coming tomorrow or a hundred
years from now. It ought to be about his business.
It shouldn't alter my everyday way of life. I ought to be walking
with him. That's what I said before. True religion is a relationship. True religion is a relationship
and it's unaltered by days and traditions and superstitions
and seasons and so forth. True faith is, like Paul said,
in season or out of season. Whether he's popular or not,
you're walking with the Lord. That's true faith, walking with
him. And if I'm walking with Christ now, what does it matter
when he comes? Huh? I'll be like Enoch. Enoch
didn't know what was going to happen to him, did he? He just
walked with the Lord. And one day he just walked up on into
heaven. He said, what's going on here?
And all of a sudden he was looking at the face of God. Right? That's the way it ought to be.
I won't be overly affected by it. by anything else other than
I'll be more religious on Sunday than I am on Monday. You understand
that? If I'm walking with Christ, I
won't be more religious on Sunday than I am on Monday. Right? And I won't be any more taken
up with Christ right before he's supposed to come than I am now.
Right? Right. Paul said to live is what? Christ. For me, to live in this
world is to know Him and the power of His resurrection, to
win Christ, to forget those things that are behind and press toward
the mark for the pride of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus, to know Him, become well acquainted with Him. That's what
it is to live in this world, not to live for yourself, but
to take up your cross and follow Him, right? But he said, to die
is gain. To live is to get to know Him.
To die is to get to see Him. And if you know Christ, and that
should be our concern, you won't fret and worry about these things.
What did he say, Armageddon? Did you hear what Jimmy Swigert
said about... No, what did he say? He said that they were gathering
together over here and this group didn't... Good. Good. Let Jimmy worry about that. I'm
just... I want to know him. I need to
know about him, right? I don't nearly know him like
I want to know him. I'm not nearly so satisfied with
my relationship with him. And don't fret and worry about
these things. After all these things, the people of the world
seek after and are taken up with. But don't let it be among you,
brethren. Follow him, study him, walk with
him now. And you'll be ready at his coming.
You'll be ready, and you'll be unmoved by this and that and
the other, and just don't worry about it. Don't worry about it,
unless you don't know him. Then worry about it. Then worry
about it. Well, look at verse 9. Now, here's
what he said in the context there. He's talking about, now, don't
worry about second coming, because God hath not appointed, verse
9, he's not appointed us to wrath. Do you remember what he said
over in Romans 9 that some vessels are made under honor and some
under dishonor? In Jude, he talked about vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction. That's what he's talking about
here. Not talking about us being wrathful, but the wrath of God.
God hadn't appointed us as vessels of dishonor or vessels of wrath
fitted for destruction. Why? How do you know that? You
know the gospel. You've been shaking your head
at everything I've said thus far. It's a good sign that the Holy Spirit
has begun to work in you, and God hasn't appointed you. He'd
leave you alone if that were the case. He hasn't appointed
us to wrath, condemnation, and we need not fear his coming or
judgment. Oh, the Lord's coming. I better get—no. You know, if you know his first
coming, you'll not be alarmed at his second. You'll look forward
to it. You remember when Christ left
and the disciples were standing around out there, eyes wide open,
mouth open, looking up into heaven? What did the angels say? Now,
they knew Christ. They walked with him and talked
with him and knew him. He was their brother, companion. They knew he loved them and they
loved him. They knew this man, Christ Jesus.
And then they were just astounded as he went up into heaven. The
angels said as they were stood there, Brethren, why do you look up
into heaven? Why stand you gazing into heaven? This same Jesus
shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go. This same
one. You're going to be fearful of the same one? No, you know
him. You know he's going to be the same one that comes back,
carry and gather you in his arms if you're living. The same way
he's gathered you in his arms all these days. You're going
to come to him and speak to him. He spoke peace to you the first
time. You're going to come and speak to him in peace again.
Terry, let's go. It's time. It's time. So don't worry about it. He hasn't
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. Paul said over
in 2 Thessalonians 2, we're bound to give thanks, brethren, beloved
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you for salvation. Chose you. Loved you, saved you,
called you, justified you, glorified you, revealed the gospel to you,
convicted you, convinced you, adopted you. Man, not going to
let you go now. Not going to let you go now.
Ah boy, you're going to obtain it. You're going to obtain it.
You want so much, don't you? To obtain it, to have what you
hope for. You want this faith to give way
to sight, don't you? You want hope to give way to
reality, don't you? It will trust, trust the Lord,
trust his word. It's what it says here. This
is to you, believers. This is to you, Margaret. This
is to you. God hasn't appointed you to wrath,
condemnation, else you wouldn't have any use for this gospel.
You'd be out on the, wherever. But to obtain salvation, and
it's, where is it? Salvation found by our Lord Jesus
Christ at his hands. It's not up to you. Now that
wasn't up to you to save yourself in the first place, it's not
up to you to keep yourself. It's all in the hands of the Lord
Jesus Christ. As he is, I'm going to quote that every time I preach.
God will. As he is, so are we in this world. How is it? Accepted. Well pleasing
to God. Holy, righteous. Seated. We're seated in him. Oh, so many
things there. It's by Christ Jesus, our salvation,
who died for us, who died for us, that he that spared not his
own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? He that put his son
to such a bloody death, it pleased the Lord to bruise him," why?
that was set before him, he's going to see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied, John. If he died for you, he's going
to be satisfied that you're his, that you'll be saved eternally. That's the reason I hate this
universal redemption stuff for many reasons, but principally,
it makes God a monster. They talk about us making God
a monster by choosing some people and leaving
the rest. That universal redemption makes
God a monster. It makes God putting His Son
to a bloody, ignominious, heinous death. Absolutely, brutally treating
His Son to no avail? Not knowing if anybody's going
to be saved by this act? What a monster! What an ignorant
act. No purpose, no plan to it. Just
hope. I hope, I hope. Looking over
heaven, see who's going to believe on it. Sure hope somebody does.
Sure hope His blood wasn't in vain. That's blasphemy. He entered into the Holy Holies
with his own precious blood. What did he do? He obtained eternal
redemption for us. It's certain. Satisfied that
whatever drop shed was shed on purpose and effectually. I don't
know why people like that. That's my hope, Rick, isn't it,
Yuri? That's my hope. I don't know why people want
to fight that, except for the principle of it, just because
Mama didn't believe that way. Now a preacher of my denomination
doesn't believe that. Big deal. That's what God says. He says he died for us, that
whether we wake us. Who's us? Who's he talking about?
Verse 1, brethren. Brethren, brethren, brethren,
brethren, brethren. All the way through here, brethren.
Who'd he die for? Brethren. Brethren. Who died for us, that whether
we wake or sleep, we live together with him. Whether we're alive
or dead, it is coming. We're living with him, in him.
In him, he said, I'll never leave you. He talked about in Ephesians
3, 15, a family being in heaven and one on earth. Same family. And one day, they're going to
unite them all. Verse 12. Or verse 11. Wherefore,
comfort yourselves together. Comfort yourselves together. Every word is important. You
could preach a message on every word. Comfort yourself, what
is a comfort? Isaiah 40. Comfort ye my people. Say unto her their warfare is
accomplished. I just talked about your comfort.
What? The battle's over and you didn't
even raise a hand. It's been, the enemy's been vanquished. The foe's been fought and vanquished
and the battle's been won. It's over, it's finished. Well,
what? Your salvation. Well, I didn't
do any of that. Christ did it. He did it all.
He came. It all took place before you
were around. Comfort yourselves together. You see that word together?
Where is our comfort to be found? Is it the gospel? Your comfort? Isn't it? What first thrilled
your heart and your soul and gave you peace and joy? Hearing
the gospel? Didn't it? Oh, a chill up your
spine and a peace in your heart. Both a feeling and a assurance. What's going to continue to comfort
you? The gospel, the preaching of the gospel. Right now, what
we're doing here. And he says, comfort yourselves
together. That stands to reason that we're not to forsake the
assembly of ourselves together. Why? I pity. I feel sorry for folks that aren't
here tonight. I'm not blaming anybody for any
particular reason. There's legitimate reasons, I'm sure, but I feel
sorry for them. People miss out. They miss out. Especially if
the Holy Spirit's present and God blesses us with a word, with
a visit from Christ. Whew! Somebody missed out, didn't
they? And you can't describe it. Oh,
you should have been there. You should have heard that. Tape's not the same either, is
it? Not the same. I like tapes. Comfort yourselves
together. Meet together. Comfort yourselves
together around the gospel and edify one another. Edify, commune
with, help out, encourage, check up on one another, even as also
you do. And y'all do do it. We need work,
but we do do it. Verse 12, And we beseech you,
brethren, know them which labor among you. Paul had young pastors
in mind here. Timothy, he sent Timothy down
to Thessalonica after he left. He sent young Timothy, a young
man. And he had him in mind, and Silas went with him, I believe.
And he had him in mind when he was talking here. He said, I
beseech you to know them which labor among you, and that is
to recognize. Know, recognize, respect, appreciate,
submit to, provide for, pray for. And this applies to anybody
that labors in the Word, teachers. We have teachers here, my wife,
with Terry, Vicki, Deborah. And they put a lot of time and
effort into this, and they need our prayers and our support.
And they need our prayers and support. Know them. Respect them.
Love them. Pray for them. Appreciate them.
Help them out. Know them that labor among you,
and you'll know if they've been laboring or not. It'll be plain to you. If you
have any discernment at all, it'll be plain when a man been
lazy and when he's been laboring, when he's been laboring. He says,
know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord,
and admonish you. Now, there are bishops or pastors,
that's another word for pastor, bishop. It's called superintendent.
He's a watchman. And respect them. Submit yourself
to them. I don't care how old they are. You know some of you getting
so old now that anybody is going to be younger than you. You have
any pastor he's going to be younger and you've got to submit to him.
Especially Virgie. They couldn't find the pastor
living. Her age or older. But so she's got to submit to
a young man. That's the grace of God. If you
can't submit to a pastor, an under shepherd, I don't know
if you know the shepherd or not. But they admonish you. Scripture
says all things, all scriptures are profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, admonition, rebuke, admonition. You know, a false
prophet, you can count on this, a false prophet's never going
to admonish you. I recognize that men that get carried away
with this church discipline and all, they They really like this
church discipline. They really get carried away
with it. I don't care if they're doctrinally sound, they can get
real way out and off base with that. But to be sure, a false
prophet won't ever say anything to rock the boat. He won't ever
admonish anybody. He'll only tickle, tickle, scratch
backs and so forth. But a faithful and true prophet
will tell you what you need to hear, even if it hurts. If I
yet seek to please men, I am not a servant of Christ," Paul
said. Well, verse 13, "'Esteem them very highly in love for
their work's sake.'" Don't esteem any man too highly. Don't think of any man more highly
than you ought to think. Just a man, that's what you pray.
Just a man. I'm just a man with esteem for the work's sake, for
the gospel. If he's preaching the gospel
to you, then support him and esteem him highly and so forth
for the work's sake. and because of the gospel that
he preaches to you. Be at peace. Be at peace among
yourselves. In the context here, we're to
endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, especially in submitting
ourselves to a faithful watchman. In the context here, be at peace.
God hasn't called us to confusion, to be many masters, but to be
at peace, settled, submissive, and good listeners and so forth.
Because a true faithful pastor or preacher is one that watches
for your soul. Let's look at Hebrews 13 sometime. He mentions it twice. They watch
for your soul. Watch for your soul. And I venture
to say that a true and a faithful pastor is watching for your soul
better than you are. I know it's something. He's watching
for you and he probably sees some things you don't see. And
if he says, watch out, sister, you're getting ready to step
in a hole. Don't get mad at him. Paul said, am I becoming your
enemy because I tell you the truth? No, he's watching. Perhaps
you're not, you know, but he is. If he's faithful, if he's
true, he's watching. He's seeing things that are taking place
and so on. He's watching. Don't get mad
at him if he warns. And that's what he says in verse
14. We exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. unruly. The word rule, out from
under rule. They cannot be led unruly. Now this means, listen to this, a bad attitude, being moody, sulking, sullen,
poor mouth and belly aching all the time, insubmissive, unable
to be lead, your own boss and so forth, is detrimental to church,
is detrimental to worship. If you come in moody and sulking
and so forth and poor-mouthing and bad-mouthing your day and
this and that and the other, you're a hindrance to the church. You're
a hindrance to everybody else's worship. Just don't come. Warn
them that are unruly. Warn them that have a bad attitude.
Just don't come if you're going to come like that. Don't mess
it up for everybody else. Don't mess up the worship for
everybody else. Don't ever be the one... Wouldn't you hate
to be the one that hinders somebody from worshiping God? Somebody
comes in and really wants to worship God, and really wants
to hear from God, and sincerely is seeking to worship God, and
you come in just in a bad mood. You don't speak to them, and
they just think, what's wrong? What did I do? And they start
sitting there and start worrying about, is he mad at me? And they can't worship. Don't
do it. Don't do it. I'm warning you
right now from the scripture here. Don't do it. By moodiness
or not speaking or complaining and so forth. Unruly also means
disorderly in conduct, wicked living. I don't think anybody
in here is living in open sin and immorality, but warn them
if they do. Comfort the feeble-minded. That
means weak, weak-hearted, weak in faith, old or young. Weak
in understanding. Don't laugh at them or anything of that sort, but comfort
them, comfort, be patient with them. Comfort the feeble-minded,
support the weak, that is, those that are weak through troubles
and trials and so forth. Praying for them, thinking about
them, seeing to their needs. Be patient toward all men. Remember, if you remember God's
goodness to you, you can be patient toward others. Yes, you can.
Look at verse 15. See that none render evil for
evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good. Be passive. Don't be vengeful. God said vengeance
is mine. I'll repay. Be passive. Take it patiently. See that none
render evil for evil, but ever follow that which is good. Follow
good. What's good? Paul said, whatsoever things
are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue,
praise, what can you sum all that up in? The gospel, the things
of Christ, the things of God. Think on these things, Paul said. Think on these things. Think
on Christ and his gospel. That will put everything in perspective.
Think about God's mercy. That will put somebody's ill
treatment of you in perspective, won't it? Don't deserve to be thought well
of. No, don't. Forgiving and forbearing. Forgiving forgets. God forgives
us our sins. We shouldn't have any trouble
forgiving anybody else, should we? Oh, no. Somebody is our equal. Verse 16. Now, look at these. These are short Proverbs, like
Proverbs here in the New Testament. He says, Rejoice evermore. Rejoice evermore. Be happy. Be happy, rejoicing,
full of praise. Don't we have every reason to
be? Huh? How many times have you done
this? Go up to somebody, how are you today? A believer. I purposely didn't ask anybody
tonight how you were, because I was afraid somebody would do
that. And then they'd get the thinking that I was picking on
them. So you don't think I'm picking on you. Go up to somebody
and say, how are you? A believer now, one who's bought
and placed in Christ and has an inheritance that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven. How are you today? I haven't had a very good day. This is the day the Lord hath
made. Let's rejoice and be glad in
it. Know what it says? Huh? How are
you? Well, you got an hour? You know,
people, most hours, to be frank with
you, I'm just being polite when I ask you how you are. Don't
tell me if you're doing bad. Sometimes I really am interested,
but... Around worship, this is what
I'm talking about. Before we get here, right here, especially
around worship, don't go complaining. Don't do it. Don't murmur and
complain, because after it's over with, you've made him miserable. He came in all happy and everything.
How you doing? Before long, he's going, oh,
it's bad, isn't it? I got some problems, too. Hadn't
thought about it. You may be reminded of me. Oh boy, comfort one another.
That's what it's all about, especially around worship time. Now if I
call you up and say, how's your bunions? Then you can tell me. How's your back today? Then you
can tell me. There's one million reasons to
rejoice, right? Doesn't the scripture say, count
your blessings? Start counting blessings, we'll
forget all about these problems. We've got one or two problems.
It's like a child pampered and cajoled and waited on all day
long, and you let go against his will just for five minutes,
and it is, oh, the world's coming to an end. Right? But they've
been happy and just carefree all day long. Well, that's us.
Ninety-nine percent of our lives spent in relative pain-free and
happiness and so forth. Count your blessings. Like a
man, somebody came up to a man, a believer, a real believer,
on his deathbed, a deathbed, said, How are you? The man said,
Almost well. That's the way it ought to be.
Almost well. Be serious, be sober, don't joke
about eternal matters. That's what he's talking about
up there, being sober. But don't be mean and sulking and stuck
up and moody. That's not God's spirit. Rejoice
evermore. Rejoice, be happy, laugh. There's
a time to weep, a time to laugh. Now's the time to laugh. In light
of so great a salvation, it's time to laugh, time to rejoice. I've told you this before, but
I just delight in thinking about it. There's an old fellow down
in Sillicog, Alabama, a former pastor. where Danny Blair pastures.
He's still there, still living. Ever since I can remember, when
I was a boy, he'd come up to every single Bible conference
at 13th Street. 34 years, never missed a one.
He's in his 70s now. But I remember as a boy sitting in one of the
pews, and he'd be behind me, and a man would be preaching,
and all of a sudden I'd hear somebody behind me go, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha I remember thinking that. What's he laughing
about? I didn't hear anything funny. That's holy joy, holy
laughter. I'm getting a bad habit of doing
that. When I see something I like, I laugh about it. Well, that's
better than... We ought to laugh. We ought to
rejoice. Rejoice! Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? That's worth laughing about,
isn't it? Isn't it? Who? God's justified me. Who is he that condemneth? Well,
you've got a lot wrong with you. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died. What have I got to worry about? Verse 17. Let's hurry. Pray without ceasing. Pray without
ceasing. Now, prayer is not a form. I
don't see in the scriptures where it says to bow your head, to
close your eyes. I don't see it anywhere. I see
instances of people that did that, but I don't see where it
said, no, you've got to do this when you're praying. I don't see that. I see times when they raised
their hands, I see times when they wouldn't. Right? I hear
when Christ looked up towards heaven, spoke out loud, I see
times when they couldn't say anything. Silent. Hannah, or
Hannah, yeah. Mumbling. Prayer is not form, and we're
not heard from without much speaking. It's not how well you pray, it's
in whose name you pray, and in sincerity. Pray without ceasing.
Prayer is an attitude of the heart. That's how you can pray
without ceasing. You'd have to crawl around on
your knees all day if it was a form. With your eyes closed,
you couldn't work. Couldn't work a job, could you?
Pray without ceasing. That's ridiculous, isn't it?
He's talking about an attitude of the heart, a constant, the
mind and the affection constantly going up. Do you do that? Going
up, thank you, Lord. Dive down the road. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Beautiful day. Thank you for
this food. Like Barnard was, you know, somebody said he didn't
pray at the table. He said, well, how do you know
I didn't pray? No, you didn't close your eyes. Well, what's
that got to do with it? Pray it right now, as I take
this big bite of roast beef. Thank you, boy, this is good.
Thank you, Lord. That's what it is to pray without ceasing.
Don't be as a Pharisee's aunt, Christ said, who loved to be
seen and heard and so forth, when they pray, stand on the
street, get in the closet. Pray in silence. Pray without ceasing. Pray for
all. Husbands, pray for your wives.
Wives, pray for your husband. I'm convinced that'll help your
marriage. Pray for your children. Pray in front of your children.
Don't just pray for them. Pray in front of them. It might
convict them. It might impress them. But especially
the brotherhood, the church, the pastor, the people. Pray
for them. Pray. Pray without ceasing. God
forbid, for the same reason, God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord and cease Him to pray for my brethren. Verse 18. In everything give
thanks. Here you are. There it is. Everything
gives thanks. Everything. Bad as well as good. Everything gives thanks. You
know, prayer is mostly thanks. Mostly thanks. In everything
give faith. Why? Because this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. This is his will. Bow to
it. Submit to it. Thank God for it
all. All of it. It's his will. It's
his will. Verse 19, quench not the Spirit. Now, the Spirit is all-powerful.
When both were enlisted, you cannot tell the sound thereof.
He does what He wants. He's all-powerful. He's sovereign.
He cannot be resisted in His thing of salvation. But for a
believer, this is talking to believers here, you can quench
the Spirit. You can't so remove the Spirit
forever by anything you do. Christ said, I'll never leave
you. Didn't He? I'll never leave you. Didn't
He? I'll never leave you. Didn't He say that? OK. You can't
scare God the Spirit off. He came to you when you're at
your worst. Right? It's when He came to you. So
what makes you think He's going to leave you? But you can quench
Him. Ignore Him. The Spirit's leading. Now you know, everybody in here
knows the leadership of the Spirit. When the Word comes to your heart,
to your mind, comes to your heart, you know, the law is written
on your heart. You can ignore it, you can ignore God's Word,
your conscience, you can refuse the means of grace, but everybody
in here knows that you need to read the Bible, right? You know it's the food, it's
where you get your nourishment from, you know you need to be
here to listen. You can quench the Spirit by ignoring these
things. Prayer, everybody knows that
you need to pour out your heart and pray what has to be said.
You know, a child is always a child because the parent gave birth
to it. A child didn't give birth to
itself. And because of the parent's love, you just cannot, I don't
care what that girl ever grows up to be or do to me, she's not
going to quench my love. No way. You know what? You know what I'm talking about,
don't you? Yeah, you do. But never, like that prodigal
son, never, never. But disobedience by the child
will render that child miserable, will bring chastening, and that
child will be full of trouble. And that's us. That's us, disobedient. Verse 20, despise not prophesying. That's preaching. And that means
prophecy of Old Testament Scripture, too, but remember the testimony
of Jesus is spirit prophecy, right? But principally, don't
despise preaching. In spite of all the false preachers
and ridiculous stuff that's going on today, don't despise preaching,
because God still has chosen by the foolishness of preaching
to save, that is, keep saved, to help comfort, nurture people
that believe. Verse 21, prove all things, try
the spirits, try things that differ, try them all by the word.
How do you prove things? Remember Bob Coffey's illustration
one time about how you know if something is true? How do you
know the size of something? You get a ruler out. How do you
know if something is true? Right here. Search the scriptures,
see if these things be so. Prove all things, try them. Don't
listen with a critical spirit, though. Don't be listening to
me say, uh, empty, he said, didn't say, shibboleth, the way he ought
to say it. He said, breeches, trousers. Don't be like that, but the truth. Hold fast what he says next.
Hold fast that which is good. What's good? Good doctrine. Paul
said, I bring you good doctrine. Good doctrine, good news, the
gospel, your only hope, the truth. Godly things, too. Godly things. People, godly people, godly virtues,
godly habits, godly endeavors. I like that word. It's got God's
name in it. I like it. There's nothing wrong
with it. There is it. Godly. I want to
be godly. It means like God. I want to
be like God. Don't you? He said be like me. I'm holy. You be holy. Be like
Christ. He predestinated us to be conformed
to Christ, who is God, to be godly. Christ was godly. Holy. Hold fast. Hold fast to the gospel. Don't let go of your only hope.
Christ. Christ. 22. Abstain from all
appearance of evil. All things are lawful for you,
believer. That's what the scripture says. All things are lawful. All things. But some things are
not expedient. Some things don't edify. Some
things don't help you. And he says here, to abstain
from all appearance of evil, that is, to avoid offense in
word, deed, every hint of evil. Paul said in one place, give
him no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed. So
as not to bring reproach on. If you don't have to do it, don't
do it. If there's any doubt about it, don't do it in front of somebody.
Isn't that good advice? Don't do it. Don't do it. abstain from every appearance
of evil, verse 23, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray, God, that your whole
spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless, blameless under the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, a whole man. I want the whole
man set apart. Henry, I want to be sanctified
as well as justified, and we are in Christ. We are. But there's an imparted righteousness
as well as imputed. Oh yes, we're being conformed
to the image of Christ now, and we've got some good works. They're
not ours, they're Christ's in us. Nevertheless, we've been
ordained under good works, the scripture says, that we should
walk therein. There's an imparted, you mean made like Christ, there
is an imparted righteousness. Yes, there is. Sanctified wholly,
body and soul. God's going to bring his body
out of the grave. There wouldn't be anything wrong with his body if it wasn't for
sin, right? The old man, that's where sin is. Faithful, I like
this verse, and this is what I entitled the message. He that
calls you, he'll do it. Faithful is he that calleth you,
he'll also do it. He'll do it. He's the author
and the finisher. What he starts, he finishes. Like us, he never leaves a job
half done. What he starts, he'll finish. What he starts, he'll
finish. He'll do it. Brethren, pray for
us. There he is again. Pray for us.
We do need one another's prayers. I especially feel the need. Greet
all the brethren with a holy kiss. Come on now. You've got better
sense than those. Well, greet all the brethren
with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that
this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. Read this. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. Amen. All right. I hope that's been some help
to you. A lot of verses there, a lot
of territory to cover, but that's a good one.