I want you to open your Bibles
with me now to the book of Acts for just a moment. Acts 17. Acts 17. Paul left Philippi and came down
to Thessalonica to preach. It says in verse 1 And when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there
was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days, for three weeks,
he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, out of the Old
Testament Scriptures. Paul in his early life was a
Pharisee, a student of the Old Testament Scriptures. And he
reasoned with these Jews in the synagogue out of the Old Testament
Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ, the Christ promised
in the Old Testament, must needs have suffered and risen again
from the dead. That's what the Old Testament
teaches, he said, that's what he reasoned with them for three
weeks. And that this Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom the Jews nailed to a tree, and whom I preach unto you, he
is Christ, he is the Christ promised in the Old Testament. The Christ
of the Old Testament, he says it, it's revealed in the Old
Testament, he must suffer, he must die. He must rise again. And this Jesus is the fulfillment
of all those scriptures. He is that Christ. Now then. And some of them believed down
there in Thessalonica. And they consorted with Paul
and Silas. And of the devout Greeks, a great
multitude believed. And of the cheap women, not a
few, but a lot of them. And a church was established
there. through this, these three weeks of ministering the Word.
And then if you turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, you'll read about
Paul's great confidence in these people. God raised up a church
and Paul preached to them, Timothy preached to them, Silas preached
to them, others preached to them. And Paul writes in this first
epistle to the church of Thessalonica, verse 1 of 1 Thessalonians 1,
Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, Paul, Silas and Timothy unto
the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you all. making mention of you in our
prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your
labor of love, your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God, for our gospel." Well, he was down there preaching,
back there. Not only came to you in word
only, he didn't come to you in word only, but in power and the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. As you know what matter of men
we were among you for your sake and you became followers of us
and the Lord. Having received the word in much
affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost." So Paul preached, God
blessed the word, made it effectual, people believed, raised up a
church. And then later he wrote this
epistle and expressed his confidence in them and praised them for
their work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.
And then in chapter 2, he expressed his deep, deep affection for
this church. Paul had a special love for God's
people everywhere, but somehow, seemingly, this church at Thessalonica
was just very, very special to him. I want you to listen to
what he says in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 17. 1 Thessalonians
2, verse 17. He says, but we brethren being
taken from you for a short time in presence. He had to leave
there. The unbelieving Jews in Thessalonica,
they rose up against him fiercely, fiercely, drove him out. And he said, I'm taken from you
for a short time in presence, but not in heart, not in heart. My heart's down there with you.
I endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
I wanted to come back. Wherefore we would come unto
you, even I, Paul, once and again. But Satan hindered us. Satan
hindered us. How did Satan hinder him? Satan,
the great enemy of the gospel. Well, turn back to Acts 17. Keep that place there. We're
coming back there to Acts 17, verse 13 of Acts 17. When the Jews of Thessalonica,
Paul left there and went to Berea and preached. And then when the
Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached
to Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the people.
And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go, as it were,
to the sea. But Silas and Timothy abode there
still. Paul had to leave again. The
way that Satan hindered him from coming back to Thessalonica and
go to other places is he stirred up opposition. He stirred up
contention against Paul. And Paul, they just drove him
out, just literally drove him out. And that's what he says
there, I want to come back to Thessalonica, but Satan stirred
up opposition and contention against me. Verse 19, back to
1 Thessalonians 2. I'm showing you his great affection
for these people. Confidence in these people, great
affection. Verse 19, what is our hope? What is my joy? What is my crown
of rejoicing or my victor's wreath? You know when a victor, they
put those crowns on the old Greek runners and the Olympics. things around their head, crown,
victor's crown they call it. He said, what's my hope, what's
my joy, what's my victor's crown? Listen to this, are not even
you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? I'll tell
you, I'll paraphrase a little bit. Paul says, what is my hope,
what is my joy, what is my victor's grief of triumph when I stand
in the presence of the Lord at his second coming? What will
it be? It will be to see you there also
in his presence. That will give me indescribable
joy and happiness, to see you in the presence of the Lord,
the fruit of our ministry. For he says in verse 20, you
are our glory and our joy and our holding glory in me. You know better than that. His
glory is the mercy and grace of God. were the fruit of his labors,
the fruit of his ministry. They just had a special place
in his heart. He ministered the gospel of them,
and so God redeemed them and gave them love for Christ. And
he said, When I stand in Christ's presence, my joy and my glory
and my victories will be to see you there too. And I think that
anyone who labors in the gospel will understand what he's saying. But now in chapter 5, which Brother
Coffee read to us, chapter 5, Paul closes this epistle. And what I wanted to show you
tonight, as Paul closes this first epistle to this church
of believers, God's elect. The church that God used him
to establish, the church that was so dear to him. The church
from whom he was separated at this time, but not in heart,
but in presence only. He leaves them with some godly
counsel about a believer's character and a believer's duty. And there's seven things here
that I want to look at. And I'll show you something about
these seven things. Seven things mentioned here,
and they have a personal application. A personal application. Back
here in verse 11, he has these duties and responsibilities relative
to others. For example, verse 11, comfort
yourself together as you and others. Edify one another. Even as you do. We beseech you,
brethren, to know them that labor among you. Respect your pastors
and elders. Listen to them. Verse 13, esteem
them highly in love. For their work's sake, be at
peace among yourselves. Verse 14, exhort your brethren,
warn them that are disorderly. Unruly. Warn them. Warn them.
See, that's together. Comfort the feeble-minded. Support
the weak. Be patient toward all men. See
that you, that none of you render evil for evil. But follow that
which is good both among yourselves and all men. You see how that
that counsel has to do with our relationship with others. These seven things are more personal. They're more personal. They have
to do with our own personal spirit and attitude heart and relationship
with God. And here are the seven, I'm going
to show them to you and then I'll go back and talk about them a
little bit. Verse 16, number one is rejoice
evermore. Number two is pray without ceasing.
He's a person of it. This is where I live and you
live. Verse 18, in everything give
thanks. Number three. Number four, quench
not the spirit. Number five, despise not preaching. Number six, prove all things. And when you've proved all things,
get a hold of that which is good. Don't let it go. Don't let it
go fast. And seventh, abstain from all
appearance of evil. This is good. This is good for
us. We need to camp here for a little
while. I do, you do. All right, let's go back to the
first one. Rejoice evermore. Now this is, this is not an outward
emotionalism. You can't turn on the TV and
hear one of these preachers where they carry on so much venom and
emotional emotionalism and outwards shows that they don't run down
churches that are quiet and worshipful. They've got something to say
about dead churches. They're always dead. But this
rejoice evermore is not an outward emotionalism. It's an inward
heart rejoicing. And a rejoicing not in ourselves
and not in our feelings, but in our Redeemer. Now let's go
back to this. Scripture Brother John used this
morning, Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. Then we'll
look at chapter 4. Philippians 3 verse 3. Here are
the three marks of true believers. We are the circumcision. We are
true Israel. Number one, we worship God in
spirit, not in form or ceremony or tradition or processionals
and outward signs, we worship God in spirit. The woman at the
well talked about worshiping in the mountain, worshiping in
the body, Christ said you worship in heart. Secondly, we rejoice
in Jesus Christ. He is our rejoicer. He's our
rejoicer. What does it mean to rejoice
in Christ? Well, we rejoice in the glory of his person. The
whole world for the past week has been rejoicing in the Kennedy
family. I understand the sympathy and
the care and rejoicing in this young man and saying all the
good things about him, remembering his father and all. But there
is nothing compared to our Lord. How we can laud him and praise
him and talk about him and rejoice in the glory of his person, his
person. And we rejoice not only in His
glory in His person, but in His love for us. Infinite love, everlasting
love, unchangeable love. He loves us. And we rejoice in
His blood, His precious blood. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. No blood like that precious blood. Cleansing, sanctifying, redeeming
in His perfect righteousness, in His holiness. imputed us,
given to us. Father, rejoice in him. Rejoice in his return. He says,
I'm coming back. I go to prepare a place for you.
I'm coming back for you, that where I am there you may be.
We've got so much to rejoice in him, him. And thirdly, we
have no confidence in our flesh. That's the marks of a believer.
We worship God in spirit, in heart, We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We
don't have any confidence in this flesh. Now look at chapter
4. Chapter 4, and the word rejoice is in Philistines ten times.
Ten times, and almost every time it's what? Verse 4, listen. Rejoice in the Lord, always,
always. And again I say, rejoice. I rejoice
in the Lord greatly, greatly. Rejoice in him. And that's not
an outward hoop to do, it's a grace. It's a grace. Grace of the Spirit,
like love and peace and joy. Joy. And another thing about
this rejoicing, back to my text, rejoice evermore, it's not in
material things, and that was brought out so effectively this
morning. We're thankful for material things.
Many times when my wife and I are having breakfast and our meal,
we pray and we thank God for the food. We thank God for our
comforts of our home. We thank God for his mercies
to us materially. We're just blessed above all
people on the earth. I'm thankful. But this rejoicing
is not over. material things primarily, it's
rejoicing in heavenly blessings. Our Lord said to his disciples,
Rejoice! Your names are written in heaven.
Rejoice! Your names are written in the
book of life. They're written in heaven. Rejoice!
Rejoice! And I'll tell you another thing.
He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly. I
rejoice that my name's written in heaven. And I rejoice that
Romans 8.28 applies to me, don't you? All things work together for
good to them who love God. I'm glad of that. I'm so glad
of that. All things in heaven and earth,
all things, what we call good or bad, all
things, happy or unhappy, work together for my good. And I rejoice
in my inheritance. You don't know it, but I'm a
rich man. Everybody thinks TV pictures are all rich. A lot
of them are. But over here in 1 Peter, I'll
tell you about my inheritance. I want to tell you about my inheritance. You see, my redeemer, my brother,
died and left me a great inheritance, a great inheritance. And he ever
lives to enforce it. He says in verse 3 of 1 Peter
1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fate is not a
way reserved in heaven for you, for you, for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith under salvation, ready to be
revealed. I'm rich, rich in grace, rich
in all things. I rejoice And this rejoicing
is not only in good times, it's in all times. Look at the text
again. He says rejoice evermore. Evermore. Evermore. In times of trouble, in times
of trial, in good times, in not so good times, rejoice. Rejoice. Let people and circumstances
and conditions and days be what they are. We rejoice because our Lord is
unchanging. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. His love for us is everlasting. His covenant mercy is assured.
And what he sends our way is for our good and his glory. And
Habakkuk. Turn to the little book of Habakkuk.
And don't give up. You're hurting it. It's about
the third book from the end of the Old Testament. But I want
you to see this and mark it in your Bible. I think, I go back
and read this quite a bit. And sometimes I'll write to people
who have written to me and talk about the troubles they're having.
And I'll tell them to read this scripture. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, no fruit in the vines. That means the grapes and the
figs didn't come out that year. The labor of the olive tree,
they don't have any oil. Fields yield no meat, no crops.
The flock cut off from the foe, no sheep. No herd in the stables,
no milking cows, and no meat. Yet, I rejoice in the Lord. I joy in the God of my salvation,
because he's my strength. He'll make my feet like deer
feet, like the little deer. We were over there in Virginia. We were watching the deer. We saw about 25 one night, just
riding around looking at the deer. And one of them was standing
by a fence. I thought of this scripture when I saw him. He
was standing by a fence, a fence as high as he was. And we got
closer to him, and he leaped over that fence. He didn't take
a running start. He just jumped straight up over
that fence, I thought. He'll make my feet like hind
feet, like a deer's feet, leap. He'll make me to walk upon high
places, to the chief singer on my stringed estimates. So, rejoice
evermore, evermore. All right, here's the second,
second godly counsel, Corsendon. Pray without ceasing. Now, I
can't be always on my knees. You men, one of the men just
tell me about working eight midnights in a row. You could expect him
to be on his knees all the time working eight midnights. You've
got to work and then sleep the rest of the time. You can't be
vocally always calling on God, pray without ceasing. That's
not what he's talking about. Let me show you what he's talking
about. The meaning is this, that believers pray daily, pray often. and pray about all matters. And
believers live in such a fellowship with Christ that permits communion
under any circumstance, anywhere, at all times, about any matter. Just walking in an attitude of
prayer. It says he didn't walk with God. He walked with God
because he believed God. He didn't believe God only when
he was in church, he believed God all the time. That's how
he walked with God, he believed God. So that's what that means. Live in a spirit and attitude
and communion with God that we can pray at all times under any
circumstances about all things. And then it means this. Pray
without ceasing. It means don't cease to pray,
don't quit. Pray without ceasing to pray.
Pray without quitting. Pray without stopping. Bunyan
said, Sooner expect a natural man to live without breathing,
as to expect a believer to live without prayer. Sooner expect
a natural man to live without breathing, as to expect a believer
to live without communion with his Lord, with his beloved. Gil said he believed this too. Pray without ceasing. is opposed
to the practice of some who never pray at all. And these words are opposed to
those who only pray in trouble, who only pray in distress. That
we're to pray without quitting, without stopping, without ceasing. We're to pray, and not only in
trouble and distress, but at all times about all the affairs
of life and all the affairs of our hearts. Like our Lord said,
keep on asking. You know that scripture where
he said, ask and you shall receive, that's keep on asking. Knock
and it shall be opened, keep on knocking. Seek and you shall
find, keep on. That's what it means. Pray without
ceasing. And then in verse 18, the third
godly counsel is, in everything give thanks. In everything give thanks. The
companion verse is found, if you'll turn to Ephesians 5, the
companion verse in Ephesians 5 verse 20, here it is here,
giving thanks always. Now watch it, giving thanks always
for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Giving thanks always for everything. Paul said even afflictions. That's
typical. Even for infirmities. Even for
disappointments. We'll see some reasons in a minute.
giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in everything give
thanks. Well, as I said a while ago,
we're the most favored people in the world. Wouldn't you say
that? We're redeemed. We're forgiven. Our name's in
the book of life. We're sons of God. We can die
in peace, in hope, in joy. We're the best fed people on
earth and the best clothed and the most comfortable in living
conditions. Our families, our free country,
our children. There's some countries where
if your father's a ditch digger, that's what you're going to be.
But in this country, you can be what you want to be. Whatever
you're willing to sacrifice and work hard and accomplish. We
have freedom to worship. We have faithful ministers, elders. We have church, church family. We have prosperity. We have health. We have happiness. We have everything
that the heart could want, don't we? How do you keep remembering
to give thanks? How do you really keep from growing
indifferent? How do you keep from I'm having
a tendency to take these things for granted. Let me give you
four ways. See if you can look at these
four things. Preacher, what can you say to
combat indifference and a tendency to take the blessings of God
for granted? All right, I'll give you four
things. and maybe it'll be a blessing to you. Number one, always remembering
that everything I have comes from God. Everything. I'm not talking about
some things. I'm talking about the Lord gives
it and the Lord takes it away. I'm talking about what do you
have you didn't receive. I'm talking about a man can receive
absolutely nothing. nothing except it be given him
from above. That every single gift which
is good and perfect comes from God Almighty. Now that's right. That's right. All right, secondly,
by that in mind, it's the gift of God. Secondly, realizing the
eternal value of this mercy and grace that he gives us, realizing
the eternal value. What shall it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What shall a
man give in exchange for his soul? Turn with me to Psalm 65
verse 4. Here's the blessed man, here's
the blessed woman in Psalm 65 verse 4. Blessed is the man Here's the blessed man whom thou
choosest. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. That's the blessed
man, that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied
with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple." And
over here Peter said in 1 Peter, chapter 1 verse, when I read
that to you, the inheritance God's given us, the value, God's
blessed us with all spiritual blessings that came from Him,
and these are valuable blessings. The things of this world are
temporary, and they fade away, and if I, I gained all of them,
I don't have anything. I don't have anything. A property
man can gain the whole world and lose his soul. and eternal
inheritance. That's the valuable part. Thirdly,
thirdly, keep me from taking these blessings for granted, is first of all taking notice
they come from God. Secondly, the eternal value of
these blessings, mercy and grace. Thirdly, a sense of my unworthiness
and his goodness. I'm not worthy of the, I'm not,
as one of the prophets in the Old Testament says, we're not
worthy of the least of his papers. When they brought over Mephibosheth
before David, went down to the house of Lodibard and brought
him up to David's palace and he's sitting there in front of
David in his rags and in his wretchedness and David talks
about him being a son of his, and sitting at the king's table,
he said, who am I? Who am I that you should show
such mercy to such a dead dog? Brother John talked about this
more, and we're nothing. We're nothing. Well, Philosopher
took it one step further. He said, we're something. We're
dead dogs. Who am I? Who am I? My, if we could just
run that over in our minds. All these mercies from God, heavenly
mercies, eternal mercies, to dead dogs, and then fourthly,
a confidence, a confidence that in all that our Father brings
to pass in our lives, is by His design, will, and purpose. Not only for us, but for others. You know, sometimes we quote
this scripture, and we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose. And we're prone to think only of ourselves. He's working all this for my
good. No, no. I'm a part of a family. I'm a
part of a church, I'm a part of a kingdom, I'm a part of a
covenant people. And what takes place in my life
that God sends is not just for my personal good, it's for the
good of his family. He may bring something in my
life that's unhappy and disagreeable, but it will result in the salvation
of one of his sheep. And that's for good. Work together
for our good. That's right. Not just for my
personal good, but for his kingdom. Turn to Ephesians 4. Let's look
at something here. Ephesians chapter 4. This is
a point we need to labor a little bit, we need to look at. Verse 4, Ephesians 4, let's look
at this. There is one body and one spirit,
as you are called of one hope of your calling. There is one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, all
believers, who is above all, through all, and in you all.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he said, when he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.
Now he, that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended
first into the lower parts of the earth, into the mother's
womb. And he that descended is the same also that ascended up
far above all heavens, that he might fulfill all things. Listen. And he gave some apostles and
prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
not for the perfecting of one man, for the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, every one, till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect
man, unto a measure of the stature of Christ. What God does with
any of us is not just But I don't push no good. You say, I don't
understand why God did this. What's he teaching me? He ain't
teaching you nothing, baby. He's doing that for somebody
else's benefit. You see what I'm saying? You're
supposed to have already learned that he does what he will. You've
already learned that. We don't need an explanation.
He doesn't give any account to his people. He doesn't give account
of his matters. He does it for the good of his
family. That's right. And that's what, when we're talking
about, and we know that all things work together for good to them
who love God, don't measure it by this body right here. This
flesh, even by this local family. It may hurt this family deeply.
This person, it may just devastate them. But God's doing it for
over yonder, over yonder, over there, over here. That's right. For His family. He's doing it
for his kingdom, for his church. And so that's something we need
to, when we give thanks for everything, everything, give thanks, in everything
give thanks. Look at this. This is the will
of God in Christ concerning you. This is the will of God in Christ
concerning you, concerning you, concerning your ministry, concerning
your family, concerning your church. concerning all of you,
the body of Christ. So that way you can give thanks. That way you can. If you remember
that he's got a vastly greater goal than just giving you an
easy walk. He's got a vastly greater goal
and purpose than to give you a comfortable bed. That's right. And that's the
reason Walter Gruber stayed in Mexico for 35 years. It's because
what God's doing to him and through him and with him is for the good
of his kingdom. That's the reason I asked him
when I was yet happy in Mexico. He said that's got nothing to
do with it. Happiness. I'm here where God put me and
that's where I plan to stay. And we're going to have to learn
that, that it's not just my good and my... I'm not happy. I wish that nobody ever say that
again to me. I'm not happy. You can be happy and on your
way to anyhow. That's right. And not being blessed of God.
But I'm where God wants me. Doing what God called me to do.
For the good of His church. his body. So if we can remember,
in everything give thanks, it comes from God. It comes from
God. And secondly, it's a heavenly
blessing. It has nothing to do with material
things. He may use them, he may not. And thirdly, it's realizing that
I'm unworthy of the least of his favors. Who am I that you should show
such mercy to such a dead dog? Who am I that you should even
use me at all? And then he's doing it for his glory and his
kingdom. And he's doing it for his people.
For the whole family. Now I got one, two, three, four,
four, quench not the spirit. We might understand, would you
be patient, let me go through these, we might understand what
this means by first declaring what it doesn't mean. We do not, we can't, we can't
hinder the Holy Spirit. We don't have that kind of power.
We can't obstruct the Holy Spirit of God. He'll do what he will. Turn to John 3, let me show you,
I'll just use one proof text here, John 3. He'll do what he will. Our Lord
said in John 3 verse 8, the wind blows where it pleases. You hear the sound thereof. You
can't tell whence it cometh. You don't know where it goeth.
So is everyone born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves where he
will, when he will, upon whom he will. You're not going to
hinder the Holy Spirit. Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar said,
he reigns in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? What kind of God do we
have that a mortal can stop him, hinder him, obstruct his purpose? No way. What does this mean? All right, I'll show you. Turn
to Ephesians 4. We can grieve. the Holy Spirit. We can offend the Holy Spirit by our attitude and by our spirit. Ephesians 4, look at this, Ephesians
4 verse 29. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearless.
and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. How do you grieve the
Holy Spirit of God? Filthy talk grieves the Holy
Spirit. When you don't minister grace
to the hearers, you grieve the Holy Spirit, whereby we are sealed
to the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger, clamor, evil speaking, that's how you grieve the Holy
Spirit. Put that away from you with all malice. That's how we
grieve the Holy Spirit, hatred, grudges. Be kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake
has forgiven you. That's how we grieve the Holy
Spirit, by our spirit and attitude. All right, here's a second way.
Turn to Psalm 51. We stand in danger, the Holy
Spirit not taking away salvation, but the Holy Spirit leaving us.
David thought about that because of sin, because of our sins,
our violating the word of God and the commandments of God and
the law of God. David was worried here in this
experience he had with Bathsheba. having her husband killed and
all that. He said in Psalm 51 verse 10,
verse 9, hide thy face from my sins, blot out my iniquities,
create in me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit, cast me
not away from your presence. Don't take your Holy Spirit away
from me. Don't take your Holy Spirit away
from me. He took the Holy Spirit away
from Saul. I'm not going to say Saul, King
Saul was a lost man. I can't say that. King Saul had
the Spirit of God. The Scripture said the Spirit
of God came upon Saul. And then when he violated God's
Word, when he offered a sacrifice instead of waiting on the priest,
when he violated the atonement, the Scripture says the Spirit
of God left him Spirit of God left him. And so, I tell you,
we can grieve the Holy Spirit, we can offend the Holy Spirit.
We stand in danger of God taking away the joy of our salvation
and the Spirit's blessings and the Spirit's leadership. And
then the third thing that I think he's referring to here also,
we can suppress and neglect and not use the gifts of the Holy
Spirit which God has given us for his glory. Now let me show
you that Romans 12. In Romans 12, everybody, every
believer is a member of the body of Christ. The body of Christ
has many members and every member doesn't have the same gifts.
Every member doesn't have the same has the same grace, saving
grace, but not the same gifts and talents and ministry and
the place. Like John said this morning,
be content with your place in the body, with your service,
with your duties, with your responsibilities. Be content doing what God gave
you to do and enabled you to do and supplied you with the
ability to do. Look at Romans 12, verse 4. Now let's look at this, as far
as we have many members in one body, and all members have not
the same office. So we being many are one body
in Christ, and everyone members one of another, but we all don't
have the same office. Now listen, having then gifts,
differing according to the grace that's given to us, whether preaching,
let us preach according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry,
whatever that ministry is, let's wait on our ministry. Or teaching,
on teaching. Or he that exhorteth, encourages
people, exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
liberally, with simplicity. He that ruleth, with diligence. He that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. You see, ever, we have different
gifts. Now, we can quench the Holy Spirit
or suppress and neglect by forsaking our place, leaving our place,
not doing what God called us to do and using the gifts He
gave us. We're not like the Dead Sea.
You know why they call it the Dead Sea? Everything comes in,
nothing goes out. Everything comes in, nothing
goes out. It's not a blessing to anybody. And we're not a dead
sea. And God doesn't send gifts and
opportunities and blessings our way only for our comfort and
our enjoyment and our pleasure. We're stewards in the kingdom
of God with channels of blessing. He's allowed for channels of
blessing. John Howsam recently, it was
anybody that was handicapped. He couldn't walk, he couldn't
go anywhere without somebody taking him. Couldn't come to
church without somebody bringing him. Couldn't eat a meal without
somebody fixing it. But somehow he had a ministry
that was a blessing to a lot of people. Using the gifts God
gave him and not grumbling over it. I tell you, if you ever hit on
something that's a blessing, you better do it. Because if
you quit it, you'll be a failure the rest of your life. In the
spirit, I tell you. And I've known preachers always
looking for another, what they call, opportunity. And if you're
somewhere in God's blessing, you better not leave it. You
better not leave it. Don't you shut a door unless
he owns another one. Don't ever do, don't ever shut
a door, unless God opens another. The only reason for going anywhere
is because the door is open. Don't you slam this door, you'll
be standing right out there and know where they are. Because
God's not obligated to open any other door if you shut the one
he had open. Isn't that right, Sister? And let me give you this, I haven't
preached this long. After Tom Harding, after talking
to the preachers one day, I said, now fellas, Spurgeon said, I
don't care what you preach about, just preach about 40 minutes.
And I said, y'all remember that. The very next service I preached
62 minutes. And I was back there shaking
hands and here came Tom. Looked that eye and I knew what
he had on his mind. He said, 62 minutes! Well, there are times when that's
not too long. Times when two minutes is too
long. Alright, here's one I want you to look at. The spy is not
prophesying. The spy is not prophesying. Now
what does the word despise mean? Despise means to set it not,
to neglect, to esteem lightly. Despise means least esteemed
of all. Set it not, least esteemed, and
neglect. What's prophesying? Preaching.
And the Old Testament is preaching, prophesying. Prophets, the prophets
were preachers. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter 1 verse 21. 2 Peter 1 verse 21. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of men, but holy men of God's faith that
preached. as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Solomon called himself the preacher.
I, the preacher, was king. Preacher, preaching, preaching
Christ. In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians
14, it's preaching. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 3, he
that prophesied What's that? 1 Corinthians 14.3,
that he that prophesieth, he speaketh unto men to edification,
exhortation, and comfort. Preaching. Now, listen carefully. In spite of all the error being
preached today, and all of the nonsense in the name of religion
and the name of God, and all the compromises coming from the
average pulpit, don't give up on preaching. Don't neglect preaching. Don't set it not preaching. God
has ordained that we go into all the world and preach the
gospel. God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe in preaching. There's a young man named Steve
Gunderson. He used to come to church here
years ago, and he moved to England, preached over there a while,
and pastored the church where Bill Clark and Professor Andrews,
our elders, and he came to the decision that preaching was out
of date. I read a letter that he wrote
to Brother Bill Clark that preaching like Mahan and others are doing,
they're the last of a breed. That is no more. That we don't
need to do it, that we need to share. We need to sit around
a table and share things. back and forth, ideas expressed. Now listen to me, don't turn
to these. Acts chapter 8 verse 4, they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.
Acts 15, 35, Paul and Barnabas continued in Antioch preaching
the word of the Lord. Romans 16, 25, now to him who
is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.21, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. He
said, Timothy, preach the word. The instant, in season, out of
season, through the youth, exhort with all longsuffering, and the
God of peace bless you. And then he said here in Titus
1, listen, Paul, a servant of God, and apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging
of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which
God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began, but hath
in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed to me, according
to the commandment of God my Savior." Another young man I
know, a preacher. And I wish he'd let me talk to
him. You're talking about being on the church and not putting
a pulpit. But keeping everything on the same level, the preacher
and the people so they can communicate. But don't lift the preacher up.
Listen. We're not lifting the preacher up, we're lifting the
Word up here. This is what we're lifting up. That's what we're
lifting up, the Word of God. The message is lifted up above
the people. The message. Our Lord. Went up into the mountain, and
when he sat down, he preached it on. They were down here. But
he gave... Isaiah said, get up in the high
place, and preach it! Shout it! The Lord read it! Our
Lord, when he talked to that multitude, he got in a ship and
pushed it off from land. He didn't walk up and down the
aisle a moment. He pushed it off from land, and preached where
they could hear him. The glories of God's kingdom.
Brethren, don't ever, don't ever, in this place, in this place
ever, this whole church, ministry is built on one thing, preaching
Christ. God's blessed it. And you'll
stop blessing it, and I'll tell the young fellas, going to put
the, lower it, you're out of business already. Our business
is to preach. preach the gospel. We share everything, God's gift
we share, but the Word is to be preached. Let me hurry. He says he'll prove all things.
This is talking about preaching. Prove all things, and when you
prove it, hold fast to that which is good. Here's what he's saying.
And I understand this, many people today are disappointed and disgusted
and offended by what goes on in the name of preaching, in
most places, for good reason. Most pulpit oratory is worthless,
offensive to God, and offensive to men of good taste. We are
in desperate trouble in this day, as far as preaching is concerned. Therefore, we must prove everything
we hear. Prove it how? By the word of
God. John, so over here in 1 John, believe not every spirit, try
the spirits. Try the spirits, whether they
be of God. A lot of false prophets have gone out into the world.
So prove it by the word of God, and when you prove it by the
word of God, and hear the truth, hold on to it. Don't let it go. Don't let it go. Don't let it
get away. Don't let it slip through your
fingers. Don't try it by pleasing people and doing what folks want
to do and doing what the neighbor is doing. Don't let it slip away.
All right, the last seventh, abstain from all appearance of
evil. Some writers want to make this a part of the preceding
verse. Prove all things. Gill said we
should not only shun open error and idolatry and heresy, but
also avoid that which is doubtful, suspicious, which may lead to
error by association, keep to the old paths. That may be true.
But others apply it, and I apply it, to the conduct and behavior
of a believer which may not be evil, which may not be sinful,
which may be all right for him. But it might give to someone
else the appearance of evil. You see what I'm saying? Now
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Listen to this. Verse 23. There is a certain thing as a liberty
we have in Christ that has to be guarded carefully, that is
not misinterpreted by someone else. In 1 Corinthians 10 verse
23, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but all things do not edify other people. Let no man seek his own,
his own what? Comfort, welfare, well-being,
but every man another man's. The word welfare is another man's
happiness and welfare. And then down here in verse 28,
if a man say unto you, this is offered in sacrifice to idols,
don't eat it for his sake, but show it to you, for conscience
sake. For the earth is the Lord's and
the fullness I have, conscience I say, not your own. Somebody
say, let your conscience be your guide. Well, not all the time. Let the other fellow's conscience
be your guide. Conscience I say, not your own, but the other man's.
But why is my liberty judged in another man's conscience?
For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I even spoken of for that
which I give thanks? So whether, therefore, you eat
or drink or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God and
don't give a thing.