Good evening. Tonight's message
is called Appearance of Evil. Turn if you would to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 and we'll continue our study in this wonderful book.
Let's read the context of our text tonight. We'll be reading
1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 12 to 24. 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, be patient toward all men.
See that none render evil for evil unto any men, but ever follow
that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice
evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything
give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning
you. Quench not the spirit, despise
not prophesying, 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 your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Faithful is he that called you, who also will do it. We also saw that we are not to
despise prophesizing, which when we studied that, we saw was the
preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the complete,
finished, sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, by Him,
with nothing added. And God's born-again, blood-washed
saints love the preaching of that gospel. They do not care
who's preaching it, as they know it's not the man, it's the message,
which matters the most. So ask yourself, when you hear
a man preach, who gets the glory? Does God get all the glory? Or
does man get all the glory? If a man is sent of God to preach
Christ and Him crucified, then God will get all the glory in
the message that He proclaims. And He will proclaim the complete
sin-atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only,
the only Savior of sinners. Then we also saw we are to prove
all things, which is we're to be like the Bereans who heard
the Apostle Paul preach and heard others preach and searched the
scriptures, the Old Testament, to see if those things were so.
And we are to prove all things. We're not just to take man's
word for it. We're to prove all things that someone preaches. And I can tell you, we Grace
Preachers, we want you to do that. We want you to be students
of the Word of God, as our message comes from between the covers
of this wonderful book called the Holy Bible, the Word of God.
So tonight, we'll be looking at verse 22. Now let's read that
verse in context with verses 19 to 22. Quench not the spirit,
despise not prophesying, prove all things hold fast that which
is good, abstain from all appearance of evil. We see here two results
of proving all things in light of the gospel which Paul is writing
about in these verses. In verses 21 and 22 we see the
result of proving all things which will be we will hold fast
to that which is good and we abstain from all appearance of
evil. So then we see that these verses
are not teaching us to abstain from even the appearance of that,
what some folks call sinful, although that is very sound.
We should not do that. That is very sound and good advice.
We should abstain from sin. And may our great God continue
to restrain us from sin, from ruining ourselves with our own
sin, because that's what would happen if the Lord didn't restrain
us, we'd ruin ourself with our own sin. So let's keep the context
in mind in verse 22 which proclaims abstain from all appearance of
evil. I was looking at John Gill on this and John Gill brings
forth that this is doctrinal evil. The context of what the
verse is speaking of which is preaching the gospel. Now in
our studies of the context of this verse last week we saw again
that this was concerning the preaching of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So keeping in context our verse
tonight with the surrounding verses, then we can clearly see
that to abstain from all appearance of evil is referring to avoiding
any false doctrine, any false teaching that is contrary to
the inspired word of God. Now this verse is often most
used as a warning against association with that which is visibly and
obviously evil, and we should avoid those things. But in the
context of this verse, that's not what it's bringing forth.
This passage is not ill used as a warning of the effects and
consequences of taking part in that which is evil in the deeds
of the flesh, which are clearly set forth in scripture as evil,
and they are to be abstained from and they are to be avoided.
Remember, it was said of our Lord that this man eats with
publicans and sinners. So the fact is that our Lord's
friends were sinners. They were labeled as the offcasts
of society and praise be to God that that's true. Praise be to
God that our Lord came to save sinners such as we. He didn't
come to save the righteous. He came to save sinners. So,
this verse can be used to tell people to abstain from evil,
which again is a good thing, but that's not what the context
of this verse is talking about. The context of this verse shows
us that this passage has a spiritual application which primarily applies
to spiritual evil and that within the church. This epistle is written
to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are going through
affliction and trials for their faith in Christ Jesus our Lord,
and they are common people who the Lord has saved. They're working
and living in the city of Thessalonica. They're not leading a life in
a monastery. They have people around them.
They have people around them and they're mingling every day
with sinners and they're but safe sinners. If we had to avoid
all bad people, we'd have to avoid everybody, including ourselves,
because we're all a bunch of sinners. So we see here that
this final exhortation is actually the capstone of the entire chapter,
maybe even the entire epistle. Brother Tim James brings forth
that the understanding of this text is all others are subject
to the context in which it's found. The tense voice and mood
of the verb abstain is personal. It is in the present tense to
be done now. middle voice to do oneself and
in the imperative mood coming as a command. So each believer
in Christ Jesus is to take this as a personal exhortation from
our great God who is the true author of this epistle. The word
appearance comes from the root word meaning perception or being
perceived in a certain way. This exhortation is to be taken
personally by we who believe. And this is kind of an exclamation
point on all the previous exhortations which we read in verses 12 to
22. So the evil addressed here, when
we look at the context of this verse, is primarily doctrinal
evil. The general theme of the first
letter to the Thessalonians is that they have received the word
of God and power in much assurance, as it was the word of God. and
not the word of man. Look over in chapter one. We'll
read verses four and five. Knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only,
but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance,
as you know what manner of man we were among you for your sake. So we see here that the gospel
came to them in power and not being in the power of the Holy
Spirit of God, and it gave them much assurance. Then look at
next chapter over, chapter 2, and we see in verse 13, Paul
pens these words, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing,
because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of
us, ye received it not as the word of man, but as it is in
truth. the Word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe." So there's a fact here that the
gospel came to them in power. And again, that power is in the
power of the Holy Spirit of God. And it resulted in them being
known for their election, for their faith, for their repentance,
and expectation of the Lord's return. Go back to chapter 1.
And let's read again, verses 4 all the way to the end of the
chapter. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And ye, as a result of being
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, as a result of that word
coming to them in power, in the power of the Holy Spirit of God,
ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. And remember,
in our studies, we saw that they were being persecuted by their
own countrymen. And look what happens though.
So verse 7, so that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith to God's word is spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything. So word had gotten
around about these Thessalonian believers and how they just held
to the truth, held to sound doctrine. held to the fact that Christ
crucified is the message that must be proclaimed. Look at verse
9, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in
we head unto you. And look at this, and how you
turn from idols to serve the living and true God. God had
turned these people these Thessalonian saints, like he does to all his
people, and we're either worshiping self, the idol of self, or there's
always something we're worshiping, or we even have a God of our
own imagination, the God of who we think God is, but he ain't
that way at all. The Bible, it clearly tells us
how he's a sovereign, majestic God who works his will out according
to his will and power, and all things happen according to his
decree. He's absolutely sovereign. But these folks were turned.
They were turned. from idols, dumb idols, statues. And that happens today. People
still worshiping idols. They're bowing before a cross
or they're bowing before a statue of Mary or of some other idol,
praying to a piece of stone. And look at this. And I know
I was turned from that religion. I know what that's like. The
Lord turned me from worshiping idols, looking at the cross and
looking at these statues of Mary and looking at all these other
things, these saints that they all have, they have all kinds
of gimmicks to make money. Oh, the Lord turns you from that,
turns you from serving idols to serve the true and living
God. And God does that by his almighty power, beloved. And
then what do we do? Well, verse 10 says, and to wait
for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead with
the same power that he regenerated us, beloved, whom he raised from
the dead, even Jesus. which delivered us from the wrath
to come. Oh, He delivered us from the
wrath that was due us, beloved. What a great Savior. So we see
then that the Thessalonian believers are exhorted to walk worthy of
their calling, and as those who have no stake in the things of
this world. Beloved, we have no stake in the things of this
world, and we're to avoid false doctrine, and we're to avoid
false preaching, and we're to prove all things. We're to come
away from camps of false religionists, and have no fellowship with those
unfruitful works of darkness. If people see us going into a
church building where a false gospel is being preached, then
we're giving the appearance that we agree with the lies that are
being preached from their pulpits. I was warned many years ago by
an older preacher. He said, be careful, Wayne, where
you go. Be careful where you go and preach. because you're
giving them your stamp of approval. You go in there and preach. Oh,
we'd be good for us as believers to heed that warning. And we
know that none of these things will affect our standing in Christ,
because absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But we might cause some
babes in Christ to stumble by that appearance. And why would
we want to go somewhere where they're lying on God? We don't
want to make anyone stumble. And so we're admonished by the
word of God here to abstain from all appearance of evil, abstain
from false preaching, stay away from it. We see here in chapter
5 that the context of our text is again about false teaching
and abstaining from those who would teach a false peace. when
no peace existed. Look at verse 3. Look, for when
they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh
upon them as a travail upon a woman with child and they shall not
escape. Well when we study that verse we saw that it spoke of
those who were in false religion who say after someone prays a
prayer walks now and I've heard these false preachers say this.
They say well now you're in the kingdom of God. What? Just because
they prayed a prayer? Where's the Holy Spirit regeneration?
Where's what the Lord Jesus Christ said when he said, you must be
born again. He didn't say, you must repeat
someone's prayer. No, he said, you must be born
again. And then you have others that promote false gospels who
say, well, baptism saves. No, it doesn't. Only Christ saves.
Anybody who adds anything to the finished work of Christ,
they're saying peace and safety to those who are not eternally
safe. And sudden destruction will come
upon them as it prevailed upon a woman with child, and they
shall not escape. They will not escape the wrath
of God. The only reason we escape the
wrath of God is God's people is because Christ bore that wrath
for us. It fell upon Him, beloved, in
our place. and we will never know the damage
that decisional regeneration which is that bow your head and
repeat this prayer and oh now you're saved they exclaim that's
called decisional regeneration beloved or walk this aisle walk
this aisle now you're saved that's decisional regeneration that's
not holy spirit regeneration we will never know how much damage
that those false doctrines have done this side of eternity now
we know our lord's coming back don't we and we know only the
father knows when that will occur And yet today we have many false
teachers who teach through a system of charts and supposed enumeration
of times and tides and all these crazy things that are happening
and they have concluded in their own minds all that some things
still have to happen before the Lord comes back. Or, not everyone
understands when Christ is coming back, only we do. Well that's
just, just stay away from those kind of people. We see in verses
1 to 3 of this chapter that Paul makes it clear that they who
teach such things there be surprised when Christ comes again. And
it could be at any moment. We don't know. No man knows the
hour or day except the Father in Heaven. So somebody even speculating
or guessing, I don't have nothing of it. I know my King's coming
back. I know He is. I don't know the
time of day. I don't know when that will be,
but he's told us as believers that he's coming back. And the
angel said, this same man who you see rising up, he's coming
back again. Well, that's what the Word of
God says. That's enough for me. Is it enough for you? Quit our
speculation about all that stuff. Look what it says in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 verses 1 to 3. But of the time and the seasons,
brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. Why? 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, oh, we're fine, then sudden destruction cometh upon
them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not
escape. But then Paul brings forth that
the believer in Christ is not in darkness. They're not to be
surprised that the Lord's coming. We see that in verses four to
six. Because we're children of light and we watch for the return
of Christ. Look at, but ye brethren are
not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day.
We are not of the night nor the darkness. And in verse six says,
therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and
be sober. God's preachers do not toy with
the souls of men. No, we warn men and women of
the sure coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that this whole
thing could be over in a blink of an eye. We see that in this
chapter that believers are admonished to be viligant and sober because
they're children of light. And we don't live as those who
live in the darkness of a false hope, no. Again, John Gale brings
forth this verse tonight in the context it is found brings forth
that it's speaking of doctrinal evil. Not only open error and
heresy are to be avoided, but what has any show of it, or looks
like it, or maybe something we could be led into. We are to
hold fast against false doctrine. We are to hold fast to those
things which are good. And beloved, only Christ is good. Anything that would add to the
perfect, accomplished, finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
must be avoided and marked for what it is. It is evil. So we
see then that tonight's exhortation before us in this verse and the
ones before it, primarily have to do with preaching, hearing,
honoring, and worshiping of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are
to abstain from the appearance of evil, which has to do with
lying up with, or making use of, or adopting any doctrine
that gives man a false sense of peace. And the believer is
told to rejoice evermore, and this rejoicing again is inward,
in the heart. It's a product and work of God
the Holy Spirit. It's a product of a work of grace
done in us by the power and might of God the Holy Spirit. Hence
our Lord Jesus Christ said, you must be born again. And then
we're to pray without ceasing. We know we can do it anytime.
This is not speaking of praying in a certain posture. No, this
is speaking of approaching the throne of grace in Christ Jesus
our Lord, in continual contact with Christ, in adoration, confession,
praise, and supplication with thanksgiving. We're told in this
chapter also not to quench the Spirit. Again, this has nothing
to do with what men think they are religiously capable of, because
no one can stop or withhold the Holy Spirit of God. No. He's
sovereign, beloved. He's sovereign just as God the
Father is and just as God the Son is. And God the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, they do as they please. with all things
and all people. This word quench has to do with
putting out the fire, losing our joy, having our love for
the brethren in Christ wane away, not listening to the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, getting caught up in
the world. Beloved, don't quench the fire of the Gospel in you,
by allowing that which is false to enter in. Prove all things
which you hear. Hold fast to Christ Jesus our
Lord, and abstain from any doctrinal evil, which would add man's works
or contribution to the finished, perfect, sinatonic work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when Christ died on that
cross, that was a perfect work. That's why He cried, It's finished,
Beloved. And the only way for a sinner to be saved is through
Christ Jesus and Him alone. His shed blood is the only thing
that God will accept for the remission of our sins. So we're
to abstain from all false doctrine because, you know why? Because
it's pure, unadulterated poison to your soul, beloved. So concerning
the gospel, what is evil? From what are we to abstain from?
Well, we're to abstain from fixing our minds or our hearts upon
anything other than Christ Jesus and Him crucified. Evil is a
rejection of the gospel, beloved. Adding man's works to salvation
is evil. Evil is looking for, the evil
spoken of here, that we're to abstain for, is looking for anything
or anyone other than Christ to save you. Legalism is evil. It's
the works of the flesh, isn't it? Unbelief is evil. That's
why we cry, Lord, help my unbelief, along with Peter. Works based
by salvation is evil. So we're to abstain from all
appearance of evil in our text. We're to keep ourselves from
taking part or giving credence to anything that does not honor
the singular principle doctrine of Christ and Him crucified.
So be not deceived, beloved, quench not the spirit, despise
not the preaching of the gospel, prove all things that you hear,
prove all things be like the Bereans, and hold fast to that
which is good, and we know Christ is the only one who's good, and
abstain from all false doctrine which attacks the complete finished,
perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything which adds to
the finished work of Christ, again, is evil. Therefore, let
us abstain from that. May God give us grace that it
would be so. Amen and Amen.