1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and we're going to read from
verse 19. Verse 19. 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
and soul and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you. who also will do it. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. As the Apostle Paul comes to
the end of this little Christ-honouring epistle, He sets down a number
of instructions to strengthen and help the new believers as
they grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth of the Lord Jesus. This was a young church, yet
it is comforting for all the Lord's people to note and realise how confidently the
Apostle anticipates the enduring spiritual well-being of the Thessalonians. It's not that he was worried
or concerned whether they were going to last the next three
months or the next year or the next decade. There was a confidence
in the apostles' writing and it is good for us to notice this
because he doesn't credit their enduring in the faith to their
own innate abilities. but rather to the faithfulness
of God who having first called them to salvation will most surely
preserve his elect and cause them to blossom in their faith
and in their love or to put it another way as the
apostle writes to the church at Philippi being confident of
this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And that is
certainly the sentiment, if it isn't word for word, as to what
the apostle says here. The very God of peace sanctify
you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a great comfort for weak
believers. Nor our initial salvation, nor
our present standing, nor our final perseverance is down to
our strength. None of it is. It is all to do
with the Lord's faithfulness. And I, you know, I look around
this little group and I wonder if any of us worry about our
old age. I wonder if we worry about becoming
infirm or we worry about becoming senile. We worry about losing
our power to reason or to manage our affairs. But remember this,
remember this, even as undoubtedly it will be the case that some
of us will slip into that state of incapacity, remember this
as we slip into it, mentally or physically or whatever, it
is not you who holds onto the Lord. It is the Lord who holds
on to you. He has said, I will never leave
thee nor forsake thee. And as we begin this short study,
remember this, remember this fact that he which has begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. This is Paul's teaching. Yes,
he is going to give some advice and instruction concerning spiritual
wisdom and spiritual growth and spiritual experience and particularly
the means that God uses to accomplish and perform this preserving of
us. But believers are essentially
God's workmanship and it is he who is at work in us. So Paul
gives us in this little passage here, four or five admonitions
listed individually. They're just little verses in
clear, concise statements to the end that we might enjoy God's
spiritual blessings in our lives. And let us not forget that the
Apostle Paul was writing to real people. That's something we should
remember in these epistles when we read them. Let's not read
them all in our head. Let's try and read them with
our heart as well and enter into some of the, as hard as it might
be, into some of the experiences of these people. These were real
people with real concerns, with real anxieties, with real problems. And Paul goes on to say, as we've
read together, that their spirit, soul, and body And we may be
sure in this world we all shall have spiritual warfare. We will have wars in our spirits. We will have soul trouble. We will have bodily weakness. but we'll also have spiritual
victories. We will also have soul support
and we will have physical strengthening. And as believers in Christ, we
ought to expect a growth and a deepening and a maturing in
our experience of Christ day by day during our lives here
on earth. The Lord's people are not cold,
unfeeling repositories of doctrine, or reciters of theology, or quoters
of Bible verses. We are living souls. We are passionate
followers of our friend and saviour, Jesus Christ. We are lovers of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound up in his body. We commune with his spirit. We
are born anew in Christ. And just as young children grow
and mature and deepen in their knowledge, so our relationship
with Him whom we love and follow also deepens and matures. We should have an expectation
that there will be a vitality and energy and liveliness about
our spiritual relationship with the Lord. We should look for
that. And we should constantly look for opportunities to experience
more and more of the Saviour's love and grace and mercy. And to expect that that deepening
experience will be our portion. In the realm of nature, we constantly
are saying to one another how fast the children are growing
up. And in matters of faith and our Christian life, we ought
to expect spiritual parallels and seek similar progress in
our own spiritual relationship with the Lord. So when the apostle
here says in this verse 19, quench not the spirit, He's not suggesting
that we have the power to thwart or obstruct God the Holy Spirit
from doing his sovereign will. We should no more think that
than imagine that we can save ourselves. Rather, the Apostle
is suggesting we do what we can to boost the gifts and the comforts
and the promptings and the leadings of the Spirit. God's Holy Spirit
speaks to our hearts in the Gospel. Gospel preaching. He feeds our
minds by our reading. He comforts our emotions when
we get together in Christian fellowship. He directs and he
convicts our conscience by inwardly warning us and outwardly hedging
up our way. Now these are all blessings and
they ought to be cultivated actively. by the Lord's people. We ought
to have an eagerness to hear the Gospel preached because we
know that's where the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We ought to take
care about the things that we read because we know that's how
the Holy Spirit will direct us. We ought to be careful about
our time management so that we will be available for the fellowship
of the Lord's people. And we ought to apply the things
that we see and hear and learn. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts
and the Holy Spirit produces fruit in believers and these
are all to be valued and stirred up and exercised so that they
might grow more and they might be enlarged and they might increase. And this is what the Apostle
means when he says quench not the Spirit. This verse does not
validate those who teach charismatic experiences and then turn round
and accuse us of denying the work and witness of the Holy
Spirit. We do deny the continuation of
some special apostolic gifts and that there is a need for
them. but we seek even greater anointing
of God's spirit as he reveals Christ to us and comforts us
by growing our faith and increasing our dependence on him. And Paul goes on to say, don't
despise prophesying. And we don't despise prophesying,
but again, we don't interpret that in a charismatic way. or
a Pentecostal way. We interpret these prophecies
principally as the Old and New Testament prophecies, which are
infallible and which point to the Lord Jesus Christ and which
teach us about what Christ is doing and is going to do. These
are ever dependable and trustworthy. And we also value preaching,
which is a form of prophesying. And though it is not infallible,
except insofar as it is consistent with scripture, We listen to
those who have been called of the Lord to minister and preach
amongst us. We give them our attention. We
give them our respect and our support. We test what they say
against scripture. We prove what is good. We hold
fast by believing and applying those gospel truths for our soul
comfort and for our spiritual growth. And when the apostle
says, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, he's
not suggesting that we have to go and listen to everybody. Don't
go and listen to nonsense. But what we do here is to be
tested by the word of God and we are to reject that which is
false and we are to hold firm that which is good. The Christ
honouring and profitable preaching of the gospel. And then the apostle
goes on to say in verse 22, abstain from all appearance of evil. Over the years people have used
this verse to condemn and to ban just about anything that
you can think about. And they'll end up saying, so
Christians shouldn't do that. You'll all have heard it at one
time or another. But this is not what this is
about. What the Apostle is directing
here in the context of these things that he has been saying
is abstain from all false doctrine. Separate yourselves from false
teachers. Have nothing to do with error
being brought into the churches, being brought into the gospel
pulpit, or compromised churches, or compromised ministers. And
certainly we are to be careful of temptation and let us be sensitive
to sin as we live and walk in the world as the people of God
because the devil will try to snare us and entrap us. But we
cannot suppress our weak flesh by isolation and we cannot protect
ourselves by not doing stuff in the world. And those who imagine
that they can simply swap one sin for another. They strain
at a gnat and they swallow a camel. Rather, Paul is directing us
to exercise ourselves using the means set at our disposal by
the Lord. Again, hearing the gospel, reading
good books, reading the scriptures, praying, fellowshipping together
with the Lord's people. These are the things that are
conducive to our growth in grace and knowledge of the truth. Seeking
to deepen the wisdom and understanding and truth. And what does Paul
say about that? When we're engaged in that, when
we're desiring that and pursuing that, he says, God will perform
his work. That's a promise. He says in
verse 23, the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray
God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God will keep us. God will keep us. Body, soul, and spirit. We have physical bodies, we are
living souls, and we are created, quickened spirits. And our Lord
Jesus Christ has a possessive interest in every part of us. He's not going to lose anything.
Our spirits are already pure and whole and sinless. Our bodies
and souls wrestle with this world and struggle with sin and fall
into temptation. Nevertheless, the God of peace
will finish the work that He has begun. And being at peace
with us Through Christ's blood, he will never lose his blood-bought
people. He has set us apart as his own
property. We are his flock, we are his
jewels, we are his joy. And brothers and sisters, rest
assured, we shall be preserved blameless until the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. we're justified. Christ will
either come for us personally in death or collectively on the
resurrection morning. But we all who trust in him are
now and at his coming shall ever be blameless in Christ by his
own preserving grace and power. Amen.