Alright, 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul says in verse 12, we beseech
you brethren, these words are not directed to everybody, but they are directed to believers. to those to whom the Lord hath
revealed his marvelous grace. So I'm calling this message a
sermon for the saints. A sermon for the saints. I beseech
you, brethren. If you look back at chapter 4,
verse 13, Paul says, I would not have you
to be ignorant, brethren. I'm talking to the brethren.
In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1, of the times and seasons, brethren,
you have no need, I write unto you. You yourselves know that
Christ will return. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5
verse 4, but you brethren, are not in darkness, that that day
should overtake you as a thief. So down here in verse 12, he's
talking to the brethren. It seems to me that these last
16 verses or 17 verses contain a threefold charge to the brethren,
a threefold charge. First of all, in verse 12 and
13, he's charging them in regard to their ministers, their preachers,
pastors, and elders. And he says in verse 12, I beseech
you, brethren, to know them which labor among you in the gospel. To know them. What does that
mean? These men are your spiritual
leaders. He said they labor among you, they're over you in the
Lord, and they admonish you. These are the pastors, and teachers,
and preachers of the gospel, and elders, and those who teach
the scriptures, and daily exhort us in the things of our Lord.
To know them means, first of all, to recognize them. to acknowledge
them, to show respect for what they are, the ministers of Christ,
the ministers of the word of God. Make yourself known to them,
and you respect them, and show and recognize them for their
labor in the Lord. And then in verse 13 he says,
and to esteem them, to esteem them very highly. in love and
gratitude to God for the gift of the word of God among you.
I thought when I looked at this, you brethren, I'm talking to
the 13th Street Baptist Church, to know them, to respect and
to acknowledge and esteem highly those who minister the word to
you. I thought how thankful we are and blessed we are here in
this place to have many ministers of the gospel. There are some
places in our country that have none. And you have six or seven
who truly and faithfully and powerfully preach unto you the
word of God. How blessed we are. how blessed
we are, esteem them very highly in love for the sake of their
ministry, and be at peace among yourselves in regard to the ministry
of the Word. Back here in 1 Corinthians 3,
the church at Corinth had several ministers, but they weren't at
peace in regard to these ministers of the Word. There was divisions
in 1 Corinthians 3. It says in verse 3 of 1 Corinthians
3, you're carnal, whereas there's among you in-beings and strife
and division. Are you not carnal and walk as
men? What was the division about? Well, it was about their ministers,
about those who preach the gospel. One saith, I'm of Paul. He's
my favorite preacher. And others say, well, I like
Paul, but I like Apollos better. Are you not carnal? Who then
is Paul? Who is Apollos? They're just
ministers, just servants of God by whom you believe. Even as
the Lord gave to every man, I plant, Apollos waters, God gives the
increase. There's no minister ever yet
convicted a person of sin. No minister ever yet revealed
Christ to a human heart. There's no minister ever yet
saved the soul. There's no minister ever yet
enabled a person to grow in grace. It's the spirit of God. It's
the power of God. So he said, now you're ministers,
and I'm not only counting these here, but you have ministers,
friends of yours who minister the gospel all over this nation. You have many ministers who minister
to you the word of God. And he said, brethren, acknowledge
them. Recognize them, esteem them highly
for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves in
regard to the ministry of the Word. Don't disagree. Don't let
this envying and strife and division ever, ever come in among you
in regard to your ministers. Don't find fault. Don't take
offense over trivial matters. Over here in Philippians, the
book from which Brother Dan was reading, Philippians chapter
1, Paul talked about brethren in the Lord, preachers. Paul
knew all the preachers, and all the preachers knew Paul. And
Paul talked about some of these preachers and some of their faults,
of which all of us have many. But he says in verse 14, and
many of the brethren, Philippians 1, 14, many of the brethren in
the Lord. These are brethren in the Lord,
the preachers of the gospel. Waxing confident by my bonds,
Paul was in prison and these fellows took encouragement by
his being in prison, one way or the other. But because of
my being in prison, these men are more bold to speak the word
of God without fear, and some indeed preach Christ even of
envy and strife. They preach Christ now. They
preach the gospel. A man's attitude doesn't always
indicate his message or his doctrine. He preaches Christ. He may preach
Christ and not realize that he has an envious spirit, that he
has a covetous spirit, that he has a spirit of strife, a warlike
spirit. But Paul said these people, some
of them, preach Christ, even of envious strife, some of goodwill,
some of goodwill, some have a good relationship with each other,
some are battling each other. One preaches Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing they had affliction to my bonds, he
said. They don't like me. But the other of love, knowing
that I'm set for the defense of the gospel. Now, how are you
going to handle this, Pop? How are you going to handle it? Are
you going to write these men off? Are you going to make the bold statement,
well, they're not preaching the gospel because they don't agree
with me. Are you going to Divide up and choose up sides and fight? What are you going to do? He
said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Listen. Notwithstanding
every way, whether in pretense or truth, whether in envy or
strife, whether in goodwill or contention, Christ is preached. And old Paul is going to say,
praise the Lord. That's pretty good, isn't it?
Well, praise the Lord. Thank God. Christ is praised. So that's what he's talking about
over here in verse 12 and 13. Brethren, I want you to know
them that labor among you. Whether they're passing through
or whether they live here. Whether they preach one time
or two times or ten times. They're messengers of God. They're
servants of God and your pastor wouldn't ask them to preach if
they didn't love God. At the same time, you don't agree
with everybody's personality or everybody's characteristics or everybody's
approach, but I agree with the message when they preach Christ,
the gospel of God's grace. So be at peace among yourselves.
Esteem them there highly. Not because of the reverend,
but because of their work. Esteem them for what to preach.
Esteem them highly for what to preach. That's what he said.
And be at peace among yourselves. Don't disagree. Don't find fault.
Don't take offense over trivial matters. If a man denies the
redemption of Christ, we'll take offense. If he denies God's sovereign
grace, we'll take offense. If he denies the perseverance
of the saints, any of the cardinal doctrines, well, God will deal
with them. God will remove the candlestick.
But if one thing we want to always be careful, when God sends us
faithful ministers of the gospel, recognize them, receive them,
receive the message, esteem them highly, thank God for them, and
be at peace among yourself. You see, turn to Revelation 1.
Revelation chapter 1. John saw the Lord Jesus on the
Isle of Patmos, and he said, you need to turn and read this
with me. Revelation 1, 12. I turned to see the voice that
spake with me, and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks,
and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like the Son
of Man. This is the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed with the garment
down to the foot, girded about the pouch for the golden girdle.
His head and his hairs were white like wool. He is the Eternal
and the Ancient of Days, as white as snow. And his eyes were as
a flame of fire, and his feet like a fine brass, as if it burned
in a furnace. And his voice is the voice and
sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand
seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword.
and his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." Where was he?
Standing in the midst of seven golden candlesticks. Had in his
hand seven stars. This is the Son of God. Who are
the candlesticks and who are the stars? Look down at verse
20. The mystery of the seven stars,
which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks.
The seven stars are the angels. Notice that's not capitalized,
that's a small letter. What are the angels? Ministers. Ministers. An angel is a messenger. An angel is a minister. Ministering
spirits. Ministering servants. Those seven stars are the angels
of the seven churches, pastors of the seven churches. And the
seven candlesticks, which you saw, are the seven churches. Oh, how important. How important. How greatly important. The ministry of the Word. When
he deals with these three charges here, back in 1 Thessalonians
5, he starts with the ministry of the Word. That's the most
important matter in the church. Everything's done from the pulpit.
Feeding the sheep, disciplining the sheep, teaching the sheep.
Pulpit. Thank God for it, rejoice and
receive it, guard and protect it. And by all means, with great
concern and prayer, guard and protect your attitude toward
the preaching of the gospel. Be careful. If it's God's gospel,
you can't do anything against it, but you can do a whole lot
for it, that's right, by holding it up before Him in prayer and
supporting it. All right, the second charge
has to do with the family fellowship of believers, verse 14 and 15. I exhort you brethren, you see
verse 12 started with the ministry, I beseech you brethren, got some
things to say about the preaching of the gospel. Now he said, I've
got some things to say about the church fellowship. You know,
John said, our fellowship, I preach these things to you that you
might have fellowship with us, and our fellowship with the Father.
So this is the fellowship of believers. This is the church.
And he's exhorting the brethren. He's not talking to the preachers
here now. He's talking to the brethren. He's addressing all the members
of the church, and he's giving them some orders. He says, first of
all, warn them that are unruly, warn them that are unruly, those
who are out of line in doctrine, out of line in spirit and attitude,
out of line in conduct. They are to be warned, they are
to be admonished. By whom? By the brethren. take
one another aside and say, now you're headed the wrong way,
brother. You got the wrong spirit, you got the wrong attitude, and
you've got to do something about it. That's not the elder's place
or the pastor's place, that's the brethren's place. It's your
fellowship, and you want to protect it, so you warn them that are
unruly. And then secondly, you comfort
the feeble-minded. Now that's, we don't use that
word in reference to what the apostle is talking about here.
That was a word used back in 16 whenever the King James translation
was translated. It's the only time the word is
in the Bible, feebleminded. The only time it's in the King
James Bible. And it does not mean the way we use it. When
we say somebody is feebleminded, we mean he's got problems, you
know, he's got mental problems, don't we? Isn't that what we,
feebleminded? Well, that's not what Paul is saying. The word
here is comfort the timid, comfort the feeble, comfort the weak. John Gill said this, he said
now comfort those who are not able to bear the loss of loved
ones with the strength you have. We, we, our loved ones, our loved
ones die. God's pleased to take them. And
some among the fellowship have much strong grace and can bear
this blow better than others. When I don't, the person that's
weaker or more feeble in this, in this area, comfort him. Don't
fall out with him now, but comfort him. That's what he said. Comfort
the people. And comfort those who stagger
under the reproaches of the world. Some of you, it's like my article
on the back of the bulletin, some of you have such strong
grace beliefs that if somebody challenges you, you're ready
to face off with them. You know, you don't run. You run at them. But now some
people, they can't take reproach. They can't take persecution over
the world. It just tears them all to pieces.
So you comfort them. You see, the weaker brethren,
comforting those who stagger under the reproach of their families
and friends who hate the gospel of grace. They're shy, they're
timid, and it hurts them. Well, comfort them. Comfort the
weak who struggle under temptations. Comfort those who are discouraged
with the sins of their own hearts. Comfort those who desire to grow
in grace and don't seem to be able to make much progress. That's
all of us at times, isn't it? All of these. So that's what
he's saying. Warn the unruly. Comfort the people. Comfort the
weak. Comfort the timid. Support the
weak. Who is this? Those who are weak
in faith, encourage them. Those who are weak in body, pray
for them. Those who are weak materially, share with them. Those who are weak in faith,
teach them. And then it says, be patient
toward all men. Be patient. Warn the unruly,
comfort the weak, the timid, the shy, the feeble, support
the weak, be patient with all men. Oh, what an important area. It's all how we need to learn
this, to be patient with people. And I'll tell you, I think the
best way to cultivate this spirit of patience is think of the long-suffering
and patience of our Lord with us. It's only by God's grace that
we believe the gospel and walk in His light. Wait on the Lord,
David wrote. Give good strength. Give good
courage. Give strength in your heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. And this patience is to extend
not just to the church and believers, but it's to all men. All men. Brethren, warn those
that are unruly. That's in the church. Comfort
the feeble. and timid, support the weak,
be patient, but be patient toward even those on the outside as
well as those on the inside. And see that none render evil
for evil unto any person. See that getting even, retaliating,
seeking revenge is not for a believer. Give place to wrath and leave
vengeance to whom it belongs, the Lord God. And be ever, but
ever follow that which is good both among yourselves and to
all men. Now there's the second charge.
He charges us in regard to our ministers and the preaching of
the gospel. He charges the brethren in regard
to the church fellowship. Protect it. Enjoy it. Cultivate that fellowship. Endeavor
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the faith. Do all that you
can to protect what God's given you. Peace. How blessed it is
when brethren dwell together in peace and unity. How precious
it is. All right, now here's the third
charge to us personally. See, if I can handle this for
a little while. He gives us Seven instructions here. And then adds
two more and then closes with one more. I didn't say ten, but
there's seven. But then you'll notice what I
said about these others. I'll be brief and go through
these. But this will be a blessing, I pray. Number one, he said,
Rejoice evermore. That's brethren talking to you
and me. Rejoice. This is an inward spiritual
joy and rejoicing in Christ. That's what this is. In the book
of Philippians, Paul uses this word about ten times, and almost
every time it's associated with rejoicing in the Lord, rejoicing
in his person. Turn to Song of Solomon. When
I think of rejoicing in the Lord, I think of this passage in the
Song of Solomon. I want to read it with you. Song of Solomon, chapter 5. Rejoice
in his person. Rejoice in his love for us. Rejoice
in his redemption. Rejoice in his return. Song of
Solomon, chapter 5, verse 9. They asked the bride, verse 9,
what is your beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest
among women! What is your beloved more than
another beloved that you so charge us?" And then she talks. She
says, My beloved is holy, white, and ruddy, strong. He's the cheapest
among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine
gold. He wears a crown. He's a king.
His locks are bushy and black as a raven. He's eternally young.
You know a while ago we read he had hair white as snow, and
here as black as a raven? He's bold. He's the ancient one,
and he's ever young. His eyes are as the eyes of a
dove, tender, a dove of the rivers of water, washed with milk and
fitly set, so sincere, fitly set, tender and sincere. His cheeks are as bare as spices,
soft as sweet flowers. His lips are like lilies dropping
sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set
with pearls. He's so generous. His belly is
of the bright ivory overlaid with gold. He's moved with compassion
for us. His legs, foundation as pillars
of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is
as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth, his words,
promises are most sweet. He's just altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my
friend. O ye daughters of Jerusalem. You can rejoice in him, rejoice
evermore. And this rejoicing is not an
outward emotional enthusiasm. That's not what we're talking
about. This rejoicing is not just when I'm in a preaching
service, motivated and spurred onward by some cheerleader or
singers. This rejoicing is not just some
of the time in good times when I'm happy. when I'm healthy,
when I'm without pain, this is at all times, I rejoice in Him. And Habakkuk, find the little
book of Habakkuk, and let me read you what old Habakkuk said
here. This is one of my favorite passages
of scripture. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice evermore. Not in just the good times, but all times. Habakkuk 3, you have
it, verse 17. Now although the fig tree shall
not blossom, no fruit in the vines, no figs on the trees and no grapes
on the vines, and the labor of the olive tree, they made their
oil from the olives, it fails. And the fields have no corn or
wheat or barley, no meat. And the flocks cut off from the
foal, there's no sheep. And there's no herd in the stalls.
This is bad times, isn't it? Yet, I'll rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and he'll make my feet like hinds feet. like the feet of a digger,
and he'll make me to walk upon the high places to the chief
singers on my stringed instruments." That's what we're talking about.
Rejoice evermore. Evermore. Pray without ceasing. Here's the second advice for
us, a counsel for us, a charge. Pray without ceasing. You know,
What does this mean? Well, let me see if I can help
us. A believer can't always be on
his knees. He can't always be vocally calling
on God. He's got to go to work. He's
got to do his chores. But the meaning here is to pray
daily, pray often, pray about all matters, and live in an attitude
of communion with God, live in an attitude of communion
with God that we're always in his presence, and pray without
quitting, and pray without giving up, and pray without ceasing. Over here in 1 Samuel, Chapter
12. Was that Eli that said this in
1 Samuel chapter 12? Or Samuel? Yeah, Samuel. This is Samuel. In 1 Samuel chapter
12, verse 22 and 23, listen to this. This is praying without
ceasing. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great namesake, because it pleased the Lord to
make you his people. Moreover, ask for me, God forbid,
that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Pray without ceasing. I'll teach you the good and right
way. And pray about everything. And pray about the matter at
hand. This is the thing that I've tried to teach myself about
prayer. Pray about the matter at hand. In 1 Kings chapter 18, this was
perhaps one of the greatest challenges that Elijah had in his whole
ministry, perhaps the greatest single hour of Elijah's ministry. He was faced with 350 false prophets
of Baal plus 300 or 400 more. He was the only man standing
for God among all of these rebellious Jews and their leaders. And there
was a challenge thrown out. Elijah said, now you call on
your God, and I'll call on the living God. And the God that
answers by fire, he'll be God. Now that's laying out the gauntlet,
isn't it? That's laying it out. That's
a man of confidence. So these fellas began praying,
and they prayed all day. They cut themselves, they did
all kind of shenanigans, and yelling and screaming, and they're
screaming so loud, Elijah said, well, holler a little louder,
maybe your God's asleep, you know, maybe gone on a vacation,
but they just kept on. And finally came time for the
evening sacrifice. Their God, of course, their God
didn't answer. Pagan gods have eyes but they can't see, and
ears but they can't hear, and tongues but they can't speak.
The evening sacrifice, and Elijah built an altar and put the sacrifice
on it, and he said, now get some water, get barrels of water and
pour on that sacrifice. They poured water on it. He said,
dig a trench around it. They did. Pour some more on it.
Pour it three or four times. Just keep on soaking in water
until everything, the wood, the sacrifice, everything was soaked
with water and it was in a ditch around the thing. And Elijah
prayed. And he only prayed 63 words.
They've been praying for 24 hours. 63 words. The greatest challenge
of his career, of his ministry. He's facing the enemies almost
without number. He lifted his eyes to God Almighty
and said 63 words. Listen. 1 Kings 18.36, He came
to Paris at the time of the evening, opening the evening sacrifice.
And Elijah the prophet drew near and he said, Lord, God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you're God
in Israel. That's the issue, wasn't it?
Who God is. Let it be known that I'm your
servant. I've done all these things at your word. Now hear
me, Lord, hear me, that these people may know that you're the
Lord God, and you've turned their heart back again. Amen. Isn't
that so? Fire fell. And then the fire
of the Lord So this business of prayer is not who can out
scream the other. We're not heard for our much
speaking. We're not heard for our eloquent saying. We're not
heard. Here's a man who prayed 63 words at the most critical
time of his life. But it's being in communion with
Almighty God constantly. He's God. I'm His servant. Let
it be known. Let's look at something else
yet. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 3, he said, In everything give
thanks. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. As a companion verse, if you
don't want to turn to it, I'll turn to it and read it to you.
Ephesians 5. a companion verse. Verse 19, speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, making melody
in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things. Giving thanks always for all
things. All things unto God and the Father in the name of our
Lord Jesus. Giving thanks in everything. Everything. Giving thanks for the obedient
son and for the wayward son. Giving thanks for the day of
health and the day of sickness. Giving thanks for the day of
birth and the day of death. Giving thanks for the success
and the failure. Friend and the enemy. That's
what it says in everything. Give thanks. And there are two
reasons. Number one, because in the wisdom
and purpose of God, all things, all things are working together
for your good and His glory. Isn't that right? We know that
all things work together for good, the eternal good, not present
good. Not present good. I've had cancer
and some of you have had it and it hurts. And the treatments
hurt. And they leave you hurting. But
they're for my good. I've got to remember that now. You've had death, I've had death.
It's for our good. You've got to remember that.
In His eternal wisdom and purpose, it's for my good. and His glory. That's right.
And the second reason, give thanks for all things, because all these
things, while not according to my will at all, and not according
to my choosing, I would not choose this way. No way would I choose
this way. I wouldn't do it. But it's according
to His eternal will, and that will is concerned not only with
me, but with every life I touch, and with his kingdom, and the
accomplishment of his purpose. What God brings to pass in my
life is not just for me, but it's to fulfill his will and
purpose for all of those in our day. For example, Abraham, get
out of your father's house. Abraham would have never had
that land and that kingdom had he not gotten out. Joseph, how
he suffered when God took him to Egypt. But if he hadn't gone
through these trials and troubles, he would never have been in Egypt.
And the people of God would never have been blessed in Egypt. Naomi,
Naomi lost her husband and both her sons and gained Ruth. She would have never had Ruth,
and we would have never had Ruth. And Ruth would have never been
in the lineage of Christ, and not Naomi, gone to Moab. And everybody was against that.
And she came back pretty upset herself over it. She said, don't
you call me sweet thing. That was her name. Naomi was
sweet and pleasant. You call me bitter. You call
me Marla. God's dealt bitterly with me.
God dealt wonderfully with her. Wonderfully. He used her. He
used Naomi. In the life of Ruth. And blessed
the whole world. And that's the reason in everything
we give thanks. Because we just don't have the
final picture. All we got is where we are right
now. And sometimes it's sorrow and suffering and sometimes it's
happiness and sometimes it's unhappiness, but he's doing it. And he's doing it for his glory,
to accomplish his purpose, to bring somebody to know him. And some of you may be sitting
right beside somebody right now that came into your life through
great tragedy. a great heartache, a great sorrow. But God sends the sorrow and
he sends the happiness. It's all from him. Isn't that
right? And he can give thanks for everything when we realize
that. He said, quench not the spirit.
That's the fourth thing, but no man can suppress the Holy
Ghost or prevent the Holy Ghost or hinder the Holy Ghost. The
wind blows where it lifts it. He divided several in every manner
as he will. But I tell you what we can do,
we can suppress the fruit of the Spirit in our own lives.
We can suppress the graces of the Holy Spirit in our conduct.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, meekness,
patience, humility. And these things need to be...
Paul said, stir up the gift within you. of the Holy Ghost. Don't
suppress it. Stir it up. That's how you quench
the Holy Spirit. You suppress the gift. You've
got gifts. You've got gifts. God gave them to you. Don't suppress
them. Don't quench the Spirit. Witness. Rejoice. Teach. Show forth praises
of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Don't suppress. Quench the Spirit. That's right.
And despise not preaching. I know there's a lot of sorry
preaching today. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I see so
much out on TV, I want to shoot the TV screen. But there's good preaching too.
There's good preaching. Don't despise preaching. And
prove all things. What's this mean here, prove
all things? It means prove the preaching
by the Word of God. Prove the spirits by the Word
of God. Some people are critical of everything
and some people embrace anything, but the wise people weigh all
things. Let me say that again, that's
pretty good. Some people are critical of everything,
some people embrace anything that says, Jesus, wise people
prove all things are the Word of God. You sit there and listen,
you've got that Bible in your hand, you're watching me, and
you should. And anybody else who preaches,
prove it by the Word of God. The Bereans did. They searched
the Scripture to see if these things are so. Who was the preacher?
Paul. They went home. Think about these
people. They heard the Apostle Paul and
went home and checked the Word of God to see if he was telling
the truth. I wish everybody would do that, don't you? Check old
Paul out. That's right. Abstain from all
appearance of evil. There might be some things that
are not wrong at all, but they're wrong to some people. They're
wrong to some people. So let conscience be your guide,
not yours, his. Conscience be your guide. In
regard to things indifferent, let conscience be your guide.
Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, let conscience be your
guide, but not yours, but what somebody's going to think about
it. appearance of evil. May not be evil, but may give
the appearance. What's that? All right, that's the end of
it. The very God of peace, sanctify you wholly, I pray God, your
whole spirit, soul and body be preserved, blamed unto the coming
of our Lord. Faithful is he that called you, who will also do
it. Two other things. Brethren, pray for us. Pray for
us. Secondly, greet the brethren
with a holy kiss. That is a a sincere salutation
of love and affection. And the last charge to the church.
I charge you, verse 27, by the Lord, that this epistle be read
unto all the holy brethren. Let's read the word of God. Let's
read. Make much of it. All right. May the Lord bless that.