Just for a few minutes, I won't
keep you but a few minutes this afternoon. 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Furthermore
then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus,
that as you have received of us, how you ought to walk and
to please God, so you would abound more and more. We beseech you,
the word means we ask you, we desire of you, and we exhort
you, we earnestly encourage you to walk in a way that pleases
God and even increase more and more. When the Lord saves us,
Most of us, I think, can testify that we knew very little. Some
know more than others. God is pleased to teach some
more than others. But most of us can probably testify
that all we knew was God is God, Jesus Christ is the Savior, and
we were poor sinners. That's about all we knew when
the Lord saved us. And we'll never get over those
things. Paul said this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into this
world to save sinners. And what Brother Newton said
of himself as he got older, you and I say now of ourselves. Two
things that we learn more about as we live our Christian life.
One is, I'm a great sinner. And it seems like that's the
knowledge and burden of our heart. Oh, wretched man that I am. who
shall deliver me from the body of this death. But also that
Jesus Christ is a great Savior. And you know these two go together
that you can't know one without the other. And the more we come
to understand ourselves, the more we understand of Him what
a great Savior He is. And when the Lord saves us, then
we begin to learn from His Word and His Spirit how we ought to
walk and to please God. Externally, our walk is not what
it used to be. We have a different conversation
now. We walk differently now than we did before. Used to be,
we lived after the flesh. We were in nature. We lived in
excess. We walked according to the course
of this world just like everybody else. A course that ended in
death and eternal shame and ruin. But now, but now, it's different,
isn't it? Our walk is now different. Before, we yielded our members
as servants of sin. But now we yield our members
as servants of righteousness. We are to glorify God in our
body as well as our spirits. There's a negative aspect to
our walk, and that is to crucify this body of sin. Keep it in
check. And you know, in one sense of
the word, if we can do that, we've done well. To keep this
old man under control, keep him in check. Paul said, they that
are Christ have crucified the flesh with its affection and
its lust. In a positive sense, we yield
our members as instruments to serve our God. He said here in
verse 4 of this chapter that every one of you should know
how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. This vessel, this body, belongs
to the Lord. Our souls were purchased of Him,
and these bodies were purchased of Him, and He owns the one as
well as the other. And we should glorify Him in
our spirits as well as in our bodies. The believer has an inner
walk. He walks by faith and not by
sight. The life I now live, I live by
faith. I live by faith in the Son of
God. That's an inward walk. by faith
in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. We live
our inward life by daily looking to the Son of God, laying aside
the weights and sins and looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. And here's what John said about
our walk. He that saith he abideth in Him,
in Christ, ought himself also to walk, even as he walked And
how did Christ walk? He walked this way. Everything
He did, He pleased His Father. He always sought to please the
Father in His walk. But it was first and foremost
pleasing the Father in His heart. I come to do Thy will. Thy law
is within my heart. And the Father looked upon Him
and said, This is My Son, and Him I am well pleased. And John
said, Our walk should be as He walked. Whatsoever we ask, we receive
of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are
pleasing in His sight. And there is a walk that pleases
God. And you and I ought not only
to walk as it pleases Him, but Paul says you are to abound more
and more This walk is not only required in the spiritual life,
and it takes spiritual life to walk this walk. Can you imagine
a dead man walking? We cannot walk until we have
life. And we cannot walk this life
and this way to please God in our own strength. It's impossible. Without me, the Lord Jesus said,
you can do nothing. It's not in him that walketh
to direct our steps. It's impossible. The steps of
a good man are ordered of the Lord. Abiding in Christ is the
only way to walk and to please God. Have you ever tried to walk
in your own strength? We all have, haven't we? We all
have. I tell you, when we're newborn
babes, we're like a little newborn babe. If we grow up and try to
walk and they just fall, we get up and we fall. And it's the
same way with trying to walk and to please God. It's impossible
to walk in your own strength and to please Him. This is what
the Lord Jesus said, Abide in me, abide in my grace, abide
in my love, abide in my strength, And I in you, my life-giving
power in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine. And I am the vine, and you are
the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing." Nothing. It's impossible to walk well-pleasing
to God. in our own strength. Paul said,
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But without
Him, we can do nothing. It's not in man that walketh
to direct his steps. Only the wisdom and power of
Christ can guide us and uphold us as we walk well-pleasing to
God. I love these passages. Listen
to Ephesians 3.16. This is some of the most strengthening
passages to me in the Bible. Paul was praying for these Ephesians
and he said, I pray for you that God would grant you to be strengthened
with might by His Spirit where? In the inner man. In the inner
man. Now to Him that is able to do
exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask for thanks, according
to His power that worketh in us. How are we to walk well-pleasing
to God? There's only one way to do it,
abiding in Christ. It's His strength and His grace
and His power that is working in us to do it. He said, finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might. There is a Christian walk that
pleases God. We must walk as it pleases Him. But it's a walking in the Spirit
of grace and strength. It's being directed by Christ
through His Word. This I say then, walk in the
Spirit. Walk in the Spirit of Christ.
Walk in the strength of His power. Walk in Him. And then you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And I think it comes down to
this. When we talk about walking well-pleasing to God, It comes
down to this. Yielding ourselves. Yielding
ourselves. It doesn't require any strength
from us. I tell you a lot of times, it's
just laying self aside. Laying strength aside. And yielding
ourselves to Him. For Him to abide in us, and us
in Him. Yield yourselves unto God as
those who are alive from the dead. The only way to walk and
to please God is to yield ourselves to Him and His grace and His
strength according to the rule of His Word. And the Apostle
says here we ought to walk this way. And this word ought means
it's necessary. It's binding. It's not optional. To walk any other way shows a
sense of ingratitude on our part, doesn't it? Someone mentioned
the other day about those ten lepers that were healed, and
nine went on their way, and there was only one returned to praise
the Lord for healing them. You had nine people that was
filled with ingratitude and unthankfulness. And to walk any other way but
that which is well-pleasing to our God would show in gratitude
upon our part, and in gratitude to Him that called us out of
darkness into His marvelous light. And why does He do that? One
reason is to show forth His praises. And such a walk is said to adorn
the saints in their profession of God. It's to keep them from
bringing shame on themselves and discouraging others. And
it's proof of their calling and election. And it proves the genuineness
of their saving faith. James says, show me thy faith
without your works. Show me that you truly believe
God without a walk that's well-pleasing to Him. It's impossible to do
that, isn't it? And he said, I will show you
my faith by my works. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works. You'll walk and glorify
the Father which is in heaven. There's some important and encouraging
things about this. Let me give you two or three.
This is very encouraging when we think about our walk. As you
ought to walk and to please God, abound more and more. This walk
does not make us acceptable to God. Now that's wonderful. That's encouraging, isn't it?
It does not make us acceptable to God. If we get it in our head
that our acceptance with God is dependent upon this walk,
how discouraging we'll be. Because our walk is sometimes
crooked, isn't it? Someone said sometimes it's like
the old Mississippi River. I never knew quite what that
meant until one day I was flying west and we flew over the Mississippi
River. And it runs south for a while
and then it'll turn and come north. And then it'll run south
and it'll turn and run east or west. It's crooked. Our walk
at best is that way. Is it not? We see that in ourselves,
don't we? Staggering sometimes. Isn't it
encouraging to know that this walk, the Apostle Paul, our walk
doesn't make us accepted. We were accepted in the Beloved
by His merit and His worth and not according to our walk. This
walk does not gain God's love. It does not cause God to love
us. For we were loved long before we ever began to walk. We were
loved before the foundation of the world. This walk does not
make us pleasing to God. He's pleased to bless us by means
altogether different than our walk for the sake of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Even when you were dead in sins,
for His great love wherewith you loved us, He blessed us.
This walk does not make peace with God, for peace was already
secured for us through the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But this walk is a walk of faith
in Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. It's a walk from
a principle of love to Him. If you love me, then keep my
commandments. It's a walk only for God's glory. Whatsoever you do in word or
deed, do it all for the glory of God. I will not work. I will not walk my soul to save. That my Lord has done. But I'll
work like any slave for the sake of God's only Son. We don't walk
to be saved. We don't walk to stay saved.
We walk because we are saved. We walk because we seek His glory. We walk because we're loved.
We walk because we're blessed. This is the way blessed people
should walk, to seek to please Him who has called them out of
darkness into His marvelous light. And any less than this is ingratitude
on our part. And really it's unbecoming to
such a gracious and glorious Lord that we profess. That's the first thing. The second
thing is this, and I want you to turn to this Scripture. Here's
something that's very encouraging. Look over in Hebrews chapter
13. As you have received of us how
you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more
and more. And here's something encouraging
in Hebrews chapter 13, and look in verse 20 and verse 21. I've always thought these things
were a mystery, and they sound somewhat inconsistent with one
another. But they're not. They both go
together. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
20, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect, make you complete,
mature in every good work. to do His will, working in you
that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Isn't that wonderful? In one place we're told to be
careful and we're encouraged to walk in a way that's well-pleasing
to God. And now we come to this Scripture
and He says, as you walk well-pleasing to Him, you can be assured of
this, that He is the cause of it. He's the source of it. He's the
author of it. When you're at home and you're
in private worship, you're in private devotion, and I trust
you do that. I trust you get off and read
your Bible and meditate and pray to Him. And why do you do that? That's part of your walk, isn't
it? Part of walking well-pleasing to Him. And why do you do that? Why sometimes when you go to
Him in prayer do you have these sighs in your soul, these longings,
these desires, these needs that you pour out to Him before you
ever leave your house and go to your business or whatever
it is? And then when you go to public worship like we're gathered
here today, And we come here. And this is part of our walk,
isn't it? Why do we do that? Why do we
worship Him in private? Why do we worship Him in public?
Why do we follow Him as dear children? Why do we walk well-pleasing
to Him? You know what the source of that
is? It's Him working in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. I tell you, none of us ever did
a thing to please God until He works it in. No man can work
out anything but that which is being worked in by God. And you know, here's the thing
about not walking well-pleasing to Him. It opens the door to
all kinds of fear and doubt. And this is the cause of it.
If I'm not walking well-pleasing to Him and I'm not concerned
about it, here's why it leads to fear and doubt. Is He working
in me? Why am I not walking well-pleasing
to Him? Why am I not worshiping Him?
Why am I not serving Him? Why am I not seeking to please
Him and everything? And then we begin to think, is
He working in me to will and to do of His good pleasure? May
God bless this Word. Let's pray.