Now let's open our Bibles again
to the book of 1 Thessalonians. Now last Sunday night we were
in Philippians. I preached a message from Philippians. It so happens that Paul left
Philippi and went down into Thessalonica where we will be tonight. From
Philippi, he went to Thessalonica and he stayed there about three
weeks. And during that time, his ministry was blessed of God
to the conversion of many people. And the Lord called out a church
in Thessalonica. It is said that this is Paul's
first epistle. The epistles of Paul in the New
Testament are not necessarily in the order in which he wrote
them. It is said that this is his first epistle. He loved these people. The Jews
gave him a hard time in Thessalonica, but many of the Greeks and some
of the Jews believed the message, the gospel of Christ which he
preached. If you'll open your Bibles to the first chapter of
1 Thessalonians, I'll show you how he felt about these people
in Thessalonica. He was only there a short time,
and endeavored to go back, but I don't remember whether he ever
got back or not. But he did send Timothy down
there. A church was established, and he sent Timothy down there
to preach to them. But in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse
2, talking about this church at Thessalonica, Verse 2, Paul
said, 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. Faith, hope,
love. Faith that works, love that labors,
and hope that's patient. in our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God and our Father. Now look at verse 4. Knowing,
brethren, beloved, your election of God. I know that you're God's
elect. Because he says in verse 5, our
gospel. He went down there and preached
to them. And his gospel came not unto them in word only, but
also in power, in the Holy Ghost, in much assurance, as you know
what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And listen
to what he says about them. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were examples, examples to
all that believe in Macedonia, Archaea, And far from you sounded
out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Archaia,
but also in every place. Your faith to God's Word is spread
abroad so that we need not to speak anything. I don't need
to talk about you. Other people are talking about
you and your faith. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned
to God from your idols to serve the living and true God. and
to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead,
even Jesus our Lord, which delivered us from the wrath to come." As
I said, Paul only stayed there about three weeks, and the Jews
ran him out. They ran him out of Thessalonica. That's in Acts 17, if you want
to look at that over. Verse 10, he had to slip away
at night and the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night
unto Berea who coming thither went into the synagogue of the
Jews and preached in Berea. But Paul sent Timothy back down
to Thessalonica to comfort these people and establish them in
the faith. And then he wrote this epistle.
And I want you to see what he says in 1 Thessalonians 2, chapter
2 now. We looked at chapter 1. I want
you more of his deep affection for them and high regard for
them, much like I have for you and many brethren have for you
here in this church. He says in 1 Thessalonians 2,
beginning with verse 17, but we brethren, being taken from
you for a short time in presence, in presence, I'm not there in
the flesh, taken from you in presence, not in heart, I'm there
with you in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your
face with great desire. Wherefore, we would have come
unto you, I would have visited you again, even our Paul, once
and again, but Satan hindered us." Now watch this verse here,
listen. For what is my hope? Our hope. Speaking of himself and Silas,
his brethren. What is our hope? Our joy, our
crown of rejoicing. Are not even you, in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. You, listen to this,
you are my hope, my joy, my crown of rejoicing. And what does he
mean? Believers never glory in men,
much less the Apostle Paul. Believers glory in the mercy
and grace of God in Christ toward men. And that's exactly what
Paul is saying here. This is what he's saying. To
see you, to see you in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ at His
coming is my hope. That's exact. To see you in the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes, that's my hope. Your conversion, your redemption,
your conformity to His image is my joy. To behold you made
in the likeness of Christ at His coming is my crown. My hope,
my joy, and my crown. I read it again. What is my hope? What is my joy? What is my crown
of rejoicing? Are not even you? You are in
the presence, where? In the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at His coming. When He comes to see you, in
His presence, to see you in His likeness, to see you conform
to His image. That's my hope. That's my joy. And that's my motivation. And
that's my objective. And that's my goal. And that's
the crown of rejoicing. And the last verse said, you
are our glory and our joy. Paul said, my epistles are written
in the heart. Not just on paper. Tonight, when
Brother Chuck was reading, he got to verse 16 and slowed down
and said, let's look at this. So that's where I want to go
for our text. I want us to look at these closing
instructions. Now you have some idea of Paul's
affection and feeling and regard for these people down there. He wasn't with them very long,
but he learned to love them. And God must have performed a
mighty, mighty work there, a mighty revival and refreshing, because
in the short time he was there, so many people came to knowledge
of Christ and continued in Christ. So here in these last few verses,
he gives them some final instructions. Here's the first one. He says
in verse 16, Let's look at these carefully.
I know you've read them and thought about them. Verse 16, rejoice
evermore. This is the theme of the book
of Philippians, rejoice. Mike sang about it tonight, rejoice. But this is not an outward demonstration
of emotion. This is a spiritual, inward,
heart rejoicing. And that not in ourselves and
not in our condition, but in our Redeemer. That's what this
is. Rejoice in Christ. Rejoice in the glory of His person. Rejoice in His love for us. As Chuck said in his prayer,
we are the most blessed of all people. Rejoice in His precious
blood. Rejoice in His perfect righteousness. Rejoice that we've heard the
gospel. Rejoice that we've been given faith to believe. Rejoice
in his presence with the Father as our advocate and intercessor. Rejoice in the Lord. Now this rejoicing is not in
material things because they're so temporal. They're so brief
and fleeting. But this rejoicing is in the
heavenly blessings that we have in Christ Jesus. Our Lord said
He chose us in Christ and blessed us with all spiritual blessing
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. And that's what we rejoice in,
spiritual blessing. One day the disciples came to
our Lord after being out preaching and they said, Lord, even the
devils are subject unto us. What did He say? He said, don't
rejoice that the demons are subject unto you. I'll tell you What's
you to rejoice in? Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. Rejoice. Rejoice in this, that
all things work together for good to them who love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. Rejoice in your
inheritance. Listen to 1 Peter over here,
chapter 1. He says this about our inheritance,
that He hath begotten us unto a living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you
who are kept by the power of God." Rejoice that your names
are written in heaven. Rejoice that all things work
together for your good. Rejoice in your inheritance.
Rejoice. And you know, Look at another
word, rejoice, the word evermore. Evermore. This rejoicing is not
only in good times. It's easy to rejoice in good
times. But this rejoicing is not only
in good times, it's rejoice evermore. Rejoice in days of prosperity
and rejoice in days of poverty. Rejoice in days of success and
rejoice in days of failure. Rejoice in days of youth, rejoice
in days of old age. Let people, now listen, let people
and circumstances and conditions be what they will. It takes in a lot, doesn't it? and circumstances and conditions
be what they will, God is unchangeable. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not. His love for us is unchangeable, everlasting. His covenant is
secure and certain, ordered in all things and sure. Rejoice
evermore. That's what that's saying. It's
not easy. I want you to turn to a little
book of Habakkuk. But who said it would be easy?
But he gives us the grace. He'll give us the grace that
we need to rejoice. Let people, let circumstance,
let conditions be what they will. He's unchangeable. His love is
unchangeable. His covenant is unchangeable.
It's secure and certain. Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17. Circle it. Read it often. I do. He says, although the fig
tree shall not blossom, Those people depended on the
fig trees. Neither shall fruit be in the
vines, no grapes. The labor of the olives shall
fail, no oil. The fields shall yield no meat,
no corn, no barley, no wheat. The flocks shall be cut off from
the foals, no sheep, and no herd in the stalls, no milk. I'll rejoice in the Lord. You
can't rejoice in those other things. They're not there. You
could when they were there, but they're not there now. I'll rejoice
in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. For the Lord God is my strength.
You'll make my feet like hinds feet. You'll make me to walk
upon my high places. That's what we're talking about.
Rejoice evermore. Always. Alright, the second instruction
is verse 17. Pray without ceasing. You've
read it. You've heard it. You've quoted
it. You've heard other men talk about
it. Let's see what it means. Pray without ceasing. I can't
always be on my knees. I can't always be vocally calling
on God. This is not required. Even believers
must have time for food, for drink, for sleep, and for rest. Believers must have time for
work, eight hours on their job and two or three hours at home,
family duties, family responsibilities, household responsibilities, As
much as we might like to be engaged in prayer and rejoicing and worship
always, it can't be done. Even if we had the time, we couldn't
do it. The flesh is weak and we couldn't
bear it. That's right. The meaning here
is this. That believers will pray daily. They will pray often. And they'll
pray about everything. All matters. We'll never cease
to pray. Pray without ceasing to pray. We'll never cease to pray. We'll
never quit praying. We'll never abandon the closet.
We'll never leave all calling upon God. Pray without quitting. Pray without ceasing to pray. John Bunyan said, sooner expect
a natural man to live without breathing as a child of God to
live without praying. You wouldn't expect a natural
man to live without breathing, would you? Well, a believer couldn't
live without praying. John Gill said, these words pray
without ceasing. does not mean that a believer
spends 24 hours a day praying, but these words are opposed to
the practice of those who do not pray at all, or else they
pray only in time of trouble and distress. These words are opposed to the
practice of some who do not pray at all. And some who only pray
in distress and trouble. We pray without ceasing to pray. You understand what I'm saying?
And there's several kinds of prayer. There's public prayer,
in which we were joined a few moments ago, led by our brother. There's private prayer, in which
you're engaged throughout the day. There's mental prayer. Yes, there is. There's that mental
prayer in which a man or woman can be engaged while they're
taking care of the affairs of life. That's right. So pray without ceasing. Don't
quit. Don't cease to pray. Sometimes
the heavens seem to be brash, don't they? And no answer comes
immediately. But pray without ceasing. All right, the next instruction,
verse 18. In everything give thanks. That's
not easy either, is it? In everything give thanks. There's a companion text over
in, you'll want to mark this, Ephesians 4. There's a companion
text. Turn to Ephesians 4.20. Ephesians 4, verse 20. Ephesians 5, 20. I'm sorry. Ephesians
5, 20. Alright, this is the companion
verse. Listen. Giving thanks always
for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That takes care of it, doesn't
it? There's the three things. Giving thanks always, up or down,
sad or glad, for all things, to the Father, the giver of every
perfect gift, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom these gifts are given. Alright, back to the text. In
everything give thanks for who I am, for what I am, for where I am. That's what he did just a few
moments ago. He gave thanks for where we are,
who we are. I am what I am by the grace of
God. For food, Give thanks always for all things, for food, for
clothing, for family, for friends, for houses, shelter, for strength,
for health, for the ability to work, for a good mind, for electing
grace, for redeeming mercy, for covenant mercy, for our Lord
Jesus Christ, His blood, His righteousness, For the call of
grace, for the hope of eternal life, I've got so many things
for which to give thanks. I can pray without ceasing, can't
I? And never touch the same thing
twice. I hear people say, well, I just
don't have the words to pray. Thank you, Lord, I can stand
upright. Thank you, Lord, I can't hear well, but I can hear. Thank
you, Lord, I can see. Thank you, Lord, for my family
here, my friends, the old partner there. Thank you. Brethren, you
can pray the rest of the night. In everything, give thanks. Take
a little time to do it. Give thanks. I just wish we spent
as much time giving thanks as we do grumbling, don't you? Ought
to. Look at the next line. This is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now here's a
two-fold meaning. One fellow said, it's the will
of God that you give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you that you give thanks for everything. Secondly, and I think the emphasis
here is that everything that appears in a believer's life
is the will of God for him in Christ Jesus. It's the purpose
of God. I don't know how he's going to
be pleased to use it and work it out, but it is his will. It
is his will. It's the will of God. His purpose and his good providence. Paul said he'd give thanks for
afflictions. Give thanks for being enabled
and permitted to bear the scars of Christ. That's what he's saying,
in everything give thanks. For this is the will of God concerning
you in Christ Jesus. This is the will of God concerning
you who are in Christ Jesus. He knows more about our needs
than we do, doesn't he? Alright, the next instruction,
verse 19, and he says, quench not the spirit. Boy, folks have
worked that over. Quenching the spirit. I heard
a fellow say one time that he had a big meet and he started
giving his invitation and the baby started crying After the
service, he said, well, baby, kill the spirit. That's a powerful baby isn't
it? Kill the spirit. Kill the spirit. I mean killed
him. No. You know, whatever this means,
it doesn't mean that. I think you can arrive at what
this means by first declaring what it doesn't mean. There's
nobody on this earth who can hinder the Holy Spirit from doing
what God sent Him to do. Now you can write that down.
There's nobody on this earth that can quench Him, defeat Him,
or hinder Him, or keep the Spirit of God from performing His office
and His work in His time. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
Christ said. You hear the sound, you cannot
tell whence it cometh, even so are they that are born of the
Spirit. And the Holy Spirit gives to every man severally as He
will. Well, this says quench not the
Spirit. It's like putting a fire out. That's what I think of when
I read the word quench. Put the fire out. Even when you quench your thirst,
your throat is so dry and thirsty and you drink water and quench
it puts the fire out. But I'll tell you what it means.
That we can neglect and suppress and not put into motion the graces
and gifts of the Spirit which He's given to us. Now let me
show you some verses on that. Turn to Ephesians 4. In other
words, I have, God has given me the ability the gifts to preach
the gospel. I must not quench the Spirit,
quench those gifts. I must be about my Father's business. Whether I feel like it or whether
I feel like my load is heavier than somebody else's, I must
be about my Father's business. You have gifts and graces and
talents which the Spirit of God has given you. Don't suppress
them. Use what God has given you. Listen.
Here in verse 30 of Ephesians 4, Grieve not the Holy Spirit.
How can you grieve the Holy Spirit? Whereby you are sealed unto the
day of redemption. This is believers. I'll tell
you how you grieve the Holy Spirit. Bitterness. And wrath. And anger. Put that stuff away,
clamor, evil speaking. Let it be put away from you.
Put away all malice. And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. That's what he's saying. That
grieves the Spirit. You see, when people act ugly
and are not kind and forgiving and merciful and gracious to
one another, that's quenching the Spirit. Because the gifts
of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering. So that's how you grieve the
Holy Spirit. That's how you quench the Holy
Spirit. Let me show you another verse. Turn to Galatians 6. Galatians 6. Listen to this.
Galatians 6, verse 9. Let us not be weary in well-doing. Well, folks aren't grateful.
Well, that's human nature. Well, you know, they don't appreciate
what I do. Well, that's human nature. Well,
I just don't get any recognition. Well, you will someday. See,
all these reasons not to... Don't get weary in well-doing.
Keep doing it. Listen. For in due season, we'll
reap if we faint not, if we don't quit. As we therefore have therefore
opportunity, let's do good unto all men, especially unto them
who are of the household of faith." That's when you quench the Spirit.
We neglect and suppress and do not put to use the graces He
gives us. and the truth of the Spirit,
and we neglect to use the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us.
I read this last Sunday somewhere, Proverbs 3. I don't remember
when, but look at Proverbs 3. Proverbs chapter 3. You see,
the Holy Spirit works in the lives of God's people, not only
in their conversion, but all through their lives. We pray
for the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the leadership of the Holy
Spirit, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 3.27, withhold not good from them to
whom it's due. When it's in your power, the
power of your hand to do it. See, if I have the power and
the gift, what do you say to preach? And I'm asked to preach,
and I say, I'm tired of it. I'm just not going to do it.
That's quenching the spirit. And the same thing for you. When
your gifts and your ability to do something for someone or help...
Verse 28, don't say to your neighbor, well, I'm tired, I'm weary. Go
and come again tomorrow and I'll give it to you. Next week, next
year, I'll... No! No. When you have it by you,
do it now. Now that's what that's saying.
You're not going to hinder the Holy Spirit from His saving work,
from His accomplishing the will of God and the purpose of God,
applying the blood of Christ. He's invincible. He's irresistible. But I tell you, in the life I've
seen, I've seen this happen. I've seen preachers get taken
up with money with employments and with hobbies and with a lot
of other things and neglect the gift. I sure have. You have too. And I've seen other
people get enamored with a lot of things and just neglect spiritual
matters. That's quenching the spirit.
That's what he's talking about there. Neglect. Become so taken up with
this world and materialism and the deceitfulness of riches And
all these things, and you just crowd out. It's your first love. Your first love. He just crowds
it out. And that's what our Lord said
to that church in Revelation. I've got something against you.
You've left your first love. You've left your first love.
Gone after something else. Alright, let's move on. Verse
20, here's another instruction. He says, despise not prophesying. I believe two things are applicable
here. Two things. Despise not prophesying. Despise not prophesying. First of all, that's Old Testament
prophecies. God spake to our fathers by the
prophets. Isn't that right? God spake to
our fathers by the prophets. Enoch was a prophet. Moses. God spake to our fathers
by these prophets. What did He spake? Our Lord went
back, beginning at Moses, and taught the disciples the things
concerning Himself. In other words, these prophets
spoke concerning the coming of Christ, the person of Christ,
the office of Christ, the work of Christ, the sufferings of
Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the
exaltation of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15 said He died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, according to the
prophecies. Moses said, God will raise up
unto you a prophet like me. He prophesied. Isaiah said, Behold,
the Lord will give you a sign, a virgin shall be with child.
That's prophecies. Unto us a child is born, a son
is given, the government is on his shoulders, named wonderful.
Prophecies. Don't despise that. Don't make
light of it. Don't belittle it. Study the
Old Testament Scriptures. Don't despise these prophecies.
See what he's talking about? That's first. Despise not the
prophecy. I know a lot of people, I see
a lot of churches have a sign out front, New Testament Baptist
Church. There's something wrong with that. This is not a New
Testament Baptist Church. It's a Bible Baptist Church.
It's a whole Bible. Despise not prophesying. You
know, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The
New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. It's Christ all the
way through. Don't make light of it. Actually, there was a
fellow in Australia when I preached on Ruth one night. This was the
first time I was there in 1980. I went back in 1990 and I preached
in a church and he was there. And he came up to me and he said,
you don't remember me. But he said, ten years ago you
were here and preached from the book of Ruth. And that's the
first time I'd ever in my life seen Jesus Christ in the Old
Testament. He said, people where I come from in these parts don't
pay any attention to the Old Testament. They preach from the
New Testament. And he said, it opened up the
Scriptures for me. I see Christ all the way through
now. Despise, not prophesy. And then secondly, do not despise,
neglect, or ignore the preaching of the Word right now. Prophesying
is preaching. Preaching. Don't despise the
explanation, the proclamation, the exhortation of Scripture
by men gifted of God to preach. Gifted of God to preach. It's
so important. Turn to Hebrews 13. And I know there's A lot of poor preaching now,
but there is some good preaching too. It says Hebrews 13, 17,
listen. Obey them that have the rule
over you. You know, you read while ago,
esteem them highly who labor in the Word. Well, this obeying
them is not jump in at their commands. That's not it. It's
listen to them and believe their message and do what the message
says. That's what it is. Do what the
message says, what Scripture says. Obey them that have the
rule over you and submit yourselves. For they watch for your souls,
as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief. This is unprofitable for you
if they have to give A report with grief? Well, I preached
to him, but he wouldn't hear me. I warned him, but he wouldn't
hear me. Well, I won't require his blood
at your hands. Despise not prophesying. Alright,
let's look at that one more here. He says in verse 21, Prove all
things, hold fast that which is good. Now, this comes right
along with despise not preaching. Despise not the prophecies of
the Old Testament. And despise not the proclamation
of the Word now. Take it to heart. But prove it. Now listen to me. There are many
people in our day, and I feel sorry for them, But there are
many people in our day who are really, they're disgusted. I
understand. They're offended at the very
mention of the word preaching. Preaching. Preaching. You mention
preaching today. You mention preachers or preaching. And a lot of people are disgusted,
offended, and for good reason. Most preaching today is nothing
in the world but the babbling of foolish, ignorant people who
are delivering worthless sermons from pulpits. That's just fact. Now, you turn your television
on. Most of the preaching is the
babbling of foolish, ignorant persons giving out worthless
sermons, and our situation is desperate. There's not one preacher
in a 500 that are doing what we do here in this church verse
by verse, teaching for the glory of Christ the Word of God. You
all know. You young people have gone to
other churches. And therefore, when we hear preaching,
when you hear me preaching or anyone else, prove it by the
Word of God. Prove all things. Try the spirits
whether they're of God. And when you do prove it with
the Word of God, listen, hold fast that which is good. Now, don't despise prophesying. Don't despise preaching. Though
I tell you, a lot of people give you good cause to despise it.
But prove All things. Listen to it. Prove them by the
Scriptures. The noble Bereans, they heard Paul. And they searched
the Scriptures to see if these things be so. I tell you this,
with all my heart, I wish everybody here would go home tonight and
read this book again based on what I've said. Read it. See
if that's not what it says. That tickled me today. Some people are critical of everything.
Some people embrace anything. The wise prove all things. Be wise. Some people are critical
of everything. They are just critical. Some
people embrace anything. Just say Jesus. Amen. That's
good. Hallelujah. Heaven. Amen. That's wonderful. But the wise
listen. They listen. Not critically,
but objectively. They listen. And then they go
to the Scripture. They see if that guy is telling
the truth. And if he is, and in closing, abstain from all
appearance of evil, bless his heart, old Dr. John Gill says,
that's a void abstain from all appearance of doctrinal evil."
And he's got a lot of facts there. Not only should we shun open
error, but listen, I'm keen on what he's talking about here,
now listen. He says, not only should believers shun open error
and open heresy, but they need to shun that which is questionable
and that which is doubtful. and that which is suspicious,
and that which may lead to error. He said, you'll be saved if you
keep to the old paths. Beware, he said, of new words, new translations, new ways, new
revelations, new anything. Keep to the old paths. Keep to
the landmarks. And you'll be safe. And avoid
any appearance questionable. See what he's saying? But this
applies to conduct too, behavior, action. While it may not be wrong
for us, it may give the appearance of being wrong. And one verse
I want you to look at along this line. In 1 Corinthians 10, this
is very important. It's something you say, well,
I don't see a thing in the world wrong with that. You're probably
right. But the fellow that's watching
you, he might. He might. So Paul said in 1 Corinthians
10, listen, verse 23, all things are lawful unto me, but all things
are not expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but all things edify not. So let no man seek his own, but
every man another's..." Now that's not... See that? Wealth is in
italics. That's welfare. And what he's
saying here is that there are certain things that are not wrong.
It's not what I put in my mouth that defiles me. It's what comes
out of my heart. There's no evil in a box or a
bottle or a game, like any game. Whether it's playing cards or
shooting pool. There's no evil in a game. The
evil is in here. That's what our Lord is saying. It's not what I put in my mouth
that defies what comes out of my heart. But something may appear. Companions or a place where I
am or something I'm doing. And here's a weaker brother and
to him it's offensive. To him he's brought up saying
that's wrong. So what I've got to do is I say,
that's not wrong for me, that's lawful for me, but don't seek
my own, seek His welfare, His well-being. And look at verse
28. If any man says to you, this
is offered in sacrifice to idols, in other words, they're eating
meat, and he's saying, that meat came off the market, it was sacrificed
to an idol. Well, don't eat it. For His sake
they showed it to you, for conscience sake. For the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. Conscience, I say, not yours,
but His. You see that?