Beloved congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the things the Apostle Paul is doing here is giving instructions to a young church in how they are to progress in the glory of Christ and conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is something that always needs to go on in the life of the church. Paul, in instructing Timothy in 1 Timothy 3, said that he was going to give him instructions so that he would understand how he is to live in the household of faith. How he is to conduct himself in the family of God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The church of Jesus Christ. So, as we are brought into the household of faith, we are brought in to be a people then that are in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ as He has revealed Himself to us through His Word. And Paul is wanting to instruct the church in this manner, as I said, because it was a young congregation. But instruction needs to go on continually. There is always problems in the life of the church that needs to be addressed. needs to be instructed, needs to be taught. There's a primacy that goes on in the preaching of God's Word in the life of the congregation to instruct the people of God to then how to live for the glory of Jesus Christ. And this is a difficulty because as Paul commented in 1 Corinthians 11, he speaks about the struggle that he had in the life of the church, even in instructing the people of God. We find to be instructed again and again and again, and oftentimes it's not appropriated, it's not applied in the life. And it can bring easy discouragement in the life of the teacher, the preacher, the pastor of the congregation. And so Paul is gonna give instructions about how to address that in the life of the church. So one of the things that we see here with always the struggle that goes on in the life of the church is that there is some things he says that need to happen because of certain categories that people are in in the church. And beloved, you are either in one or the other. At all times in your Christian walk, you are in either one or the other of these categories. Notice the categories that he gives in verse 14, He says one is unruly. There is another category that he speaks of, of the faint hearted. And one other category of the weak. Now, if you recognize something, when Paul exhorts, he is exhorting the church, as he did previously, about how you are to address the office bearers within the church. He said that you are urged to recognize those who labor among you. Not, hey, I know him by face, but to be involved in the lives of those who rule in the church of God. He also says they are those that labor among you and they are over you spiritually in the Lord. And that authority, that realm, that sphere is spiritual and it's with the teaching of God's Word. And you are to esteem them very highly and lovesake because of the work that they do in the midst of the congregation. That becomes a difficult thing when parents want to roast the pastor and the elders. Because that's what the kids learn. No respect for the office bearers that God has gifted and called and raised up in the congregation to serve with the authority of Christ. To serve. Not to lord it over you. Not to be masters over you. But to be those that feed, that nourish, that guide, that direct, that protect, that help, that encourage you in your Christian walk. And yes, warn you when you are unruly. But if you notice something that Paul is saying that he exhorts, he says, you brethren, he is speaking not to the office bearers as if this is solely our responsibility in the body of Christ to warn those who are unruly, to comfort the faith-hearted, to uphold the weak. It is not just the pastor and the elders' responsibility. It is a responsibility, but it's not only our responsibility. It's the responsibility of the whole of the congregation to minister to one another, to uphold, to encourage, to help, to warn, to strengthen. This is Christians loving Christians, caring for Christians. Now, when the apostle deals with this, you can see this easily when you realize that the body of Christ is just that. It's a body. many members, and there are many gifts, but yet there is one body, there is one head. And the head is instructing the body to minister to each other. You think about this, when your hearing goes, your ears can't hear as they did, something with your other senses becomes more highlighted. It becomes that which is better, more equipped. Maybe you're seeing, maybe you're smelling. But it's compensating for that particular weakness in that area. If you were to stub your toe, it's not your toes that rub your toes, it's your hands that rub your toes. And so there is an immediacy of pain within the body, of the body reaching to itself and caring for itself. When you have knee pain, you take your hands and you sit down on your rear end, and so you rub your knees and you provide comfort for the knee. That is the body caring for the body. Now in Romans chapter 12, 1 Corinthians 12, this is what the Apostle Paul calls the church. One body with many members and many gifts, and all the members don't have the same gifts. So we have eyes and ears and hands and feet and nose and mouth. You have all of these things that go on in the life of the congregation, and it's to care for itself with the gifts by which God supplies. Now, comparing Scripture with Scripture, we go to Ephesians chapter 4, and you know in the Apostle Paul, verses 11 through 16, he gives the responsibility of the pastor to preach and to teach, and equip the people to do the work of ministry. Beloved, for too long, the church has only seen the pastor as the ministry worker. And that is not what the Scripture calls us to. We are all to be ministering in the body of Christ with the gifts that God has given to us. You have a responsibility. I have a responsibility. And then Paul says there is gifts that are given. And when you exercise your gift, you stir up and you promote growth in the body of Jesus Christ. So to the degree that members of the congregation are not exercising gifts in the midst of the congregation, in the midst of the body, to that degree the church is then crippled. Because we are not doing what we are called to do. So Paul, in this particular text, is addressing all of us. Not simply me as the pastor or the elders of the congregation, but all of us as the members of the body of Christ with a responsibility within the body of Christ to do these particular things. Now notice our text this morning, verse 14. Paul says, we exhort you, brethren, to warn those who are unruly. The first thing he says is we exhort you. The Greek term parakaleo means to call alongside. Paul is calling them alongside to speak the truth of God's word to them, to impart something to them. And it's a present tense, which means that Paul was continually doing this. Exhorting them, calling alongside of them, encouraging, instructing them to do particular work in the body of Christ. He says, we exhort you, so this is the apostles. These are, as you turn back to 1 Thessalonians 1, and you find out the apostle Paul, he comes with others that are there as well. Epaphras was one who was with him. So it's not the apostle Paul solely, it is Epaphras with him. But other than that, it is the word of God. God is exhorting us in this way to behave a certain way in the life of the church. Now let me ask you before we even get into this, that your understanding of the church of Jesus Christ, that you have a responsibility. Because the old adage is true. About 20% of the body does 80% of the work. And that's why the church seems crippled in our day. We are, as a congregation, as a people of God, we are to be those that go out into the world with the cross of Jesus Christ. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus going on before... I don't see that. Maybe it's just me. But I see a timid people. A fearful people. I see a hesitant people. I see a people with their mouth closed, even though we have the jewel by which God regenerates souls, the gospel of Jesus Christ. I see a fearful people. And the only remedy is right here. It's the ministry of God's Word. It isn't the psychology of the day. It isn't the cycle babble. It isn't the ideologies of the world. It isn't falling into the things that the world wants to bring forward as a way to heal people that can never bring healing. It is only the life-changing Word applied by the Spirit that brings change within individuals. And this is what we need to apply to our lives and the lives of others in the body of Jesus Christ. And beloved, it is your responsibility as well as mine to minister these truths to one another. We've seen before. You remember the list I read for you about the one and others that are in Scripture? To love one another, forgive one another, to be kind to one another, to instruct one another, teach one another. It goes on, it's reciprocal. One another, back and forth, back and forth. That's what's to go on in a vibrant congregation, and that's what Paul is telling them. If we are going to be a vibrant people of God, that you come and you gather to hear the instruction that the Lord gives in His Word, and then depart from here, and then minister to others, even outside of the gathering of the people of God. That is what you are called to do. You are called to disperse and to go in the sphere that God has given you, has brought you into, and you are to minister to the Word of God to others. To other believers, you are to be involved in their lives. Paul said that he was glad to impart the gospel to the Thessalonians. But he said, it was not only the gospel that I imparted, but my life also. That he was involved in the lives of other people of God, other saints, because we are one body. So Paul is exhorting you, and you, and you, and you, and me. This is an us walk. This is a together walk. Notice in the crossing of the Red Sea with the Israelites. It wasn't like a race where they all sat at the starting line, and Moses said, go! And that one guy ran across to the other side, and the next guy. They moved across as a people, as a body. That's how we function. So Paul exhorts, and he exhorts them to warn. Notice, first thing he says is the brethren. Adolphos. The brethren are those that are in the body of Christ, the redeemed, the people of God. Now, we have a saying today that blood is thicker than water. I'm going to tell you something. Some of you might not like it, but here's the truth of God's Word. That the spiritual is thicker than the physical. What does that mean? That means that some of you, well, most of you that are in here that are true believers, that you and I are united together for all eternity. And I have relatives, physically blood relatives, who I will never see throughout all eternity. The spiritual binding that the Holy Spirit places us into the body of Christ is stronger than any physical familial bond. Now I didn't say that the family is unimportant. I'm just saying that spiritually speaking, that is a bond that is everlasting where the physical is not. Jesus, when he was teaching, and they came to him and said, your mother and your brothers and your sisters are standing outside, wanting to speak to you. What did Jesus say? Who are my mother and my brothers and my sisters? And he looked around at the disciples that were sitting at his feet, hearing the Word of God. He said, these are my mother, my brother, and my sisters. Those who do the will of my Father in heaven. These are my mother, brothers, and sisters. It's a spiritual union that we have in Jesus Christ. And so Paul says then, brethren, warn those who are unruly. Warn. This is, oftentimes it's translated admonish. It's a Greek term, anutotheo. And that term means to put something to mind, to bring a remembrance to an individual. The unruly are to be spoken to by other members in the body of Christ. You are to remind them of what the Word of God teaches with regards to their responsibility in the body of Christ to be in submission to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords as He reveals this through His Word. It's not only my responsibility, it is an aspect of the work that I have as a pastor, but not only me. So in other words, you're talking to somebody, a fellow member of the congregation, and they're talking about, they went to a graduation party, they went to a wedding reception, and you know, they had one too many and put on and had a good drunk going on. You ought to warn them. That's unruliness. You ought to warn those who blow off the Lord's day. You have responsibility. I have responsibility. We have responsibility. Now, I'm not talking about when you're sick or when you're providentially hindered. I'm not speaking about that at all. I'm speaking about you going fishing, or going hunting, or going to see the ball game. and you blow off worship of your sovereign God who has redeemed you from all of your sin and misery, to do all of your good pleasure. Warn each other. Admonish. Put to mind, we have a responsibility to remember the Sabbath day, to remember the Lord's day, the Christian Sabbath of our gathering together on the first day of the week, to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, to rejoice in His holy name, to extol His name, to exalt it. This is our covenantal duty and a privilege that has been granted to us by the Lord who has redeemed us from all of our sin and misery. Warn those who are unruly. There are those that are unruly that blow off the Lord's day. There are those that are unruly they don't give. There are those that are unruly that don't forgive when one comes and asks for forgiveness. We need to be reminded of what God teaches us in his word. So Paul says, first and foremost, warn the unruly. The unruly, it's a military term, and it has the idea of insubordination in the ranks. The insubordinate one is the one who will not walk in step with his responsibility. There is a hierarchy that goes on in the military. And those of lesser rank are under authority to those that are over them with a greater rank. I saw a movie once where a colonel told a sergeant to go ahead and call the president and we are going to give in our position here to the Cubans. And the man that walked in, as he was called in, he was told this by the colonel. The colonel gave him this news, and the sergeant says, yes, sir, an attorney. He didn't even ask. He didn't dispute with that. He didn't say, are you crazy? What are you doing? What are you talking about? You're out of your mind. You're not thinking right. He didn't say that. He understood his position and his rank. To be one who was unruly and subordinate would have been one to then accost that colonel with all kinds of words to say that he's out of his mind, he doesn't know what he's thinking. That's an unruly individual. And there are those that go on in the church, and they criticize, and they backbite, and they slander, and they complain, and they're constantly stirring up strife within the life of the church. What do you do? Warn them. Warn them. Speaking to a woman last week, and she got it, she knew what I was talking about. Strong-willed women need a husband that says, you know what, I love you, sit down and shut up. It's okay that a woman can be strong-willed, but it needs to be under control. And so it needs to be warned. That needs to go on. All right. So that's the first thing. Let me ask you this. Are you in the camp of the unruly? I've been 22 years as pastor. I've seen a lot of unruly people. How is that seen? Well, they refuse to give. They refuse to exercise their gifts. They refuse to serve. They refuse to give, they refuse to talk, they refuse to work things out. They refuse to be in submission to the office bearers of the church. If they be found delinquent in doctrine or life, to heed the instruction and correction, they refuse that. That fourth vow, when they become a member, and what they say is they will vow to that and be under authority of the church, they throw that right out the window, because they are unruly. And they are to be warned, that's not the behavior of Christians. You need to repent of that. Is that you, beloved? Is that one of you? Because unruliness can be in all of us. You need to confess that. Lord, keep me from being unruly. Keep me to walk in humility. He says the next thing is that we are to comfort then the faint-hearted. To comfort the faint-hearted is to speak calm and encouragement to them. During COVID, people got fainthearted. They got fearful, didn't know what direction to go in, didn't know how to handle this. And so what needs to be spoken to is that they were to be comforted, and you're comforted with the word of truth. When David was running from Saul, He was faint-hearted because he was tired of being chased by Saul. And he blurted out to Jonathan, he says, surely I am going to die at the hands of your father Saul. Jonathan comforted David as he was faint-hearted. To be faint-hearted is to be one who is not long-souled. You can't deal with a lot of things. A lot of pressure and struggles that come upon you. You can't stand very firm in those things. You're faintful. People see blood and they faint. They're not able to be in those conditions. So Jonathan said, you're the anointed. Samuel anointed you. You're going to be the next king of Israel. Jonathan comforted David with the truth of the Word. Here's another one. The ten spies went out, right? Twelve went out, but the ten that went out were fainthearted, and they came back and they began to impose that upon the rest of Israel, to be fainthearted. We can't go into the promised land. We're like grasshoppers next to these giants. And then Caleb and Joshua, they were of a different spirit. They comforted the people, especially with Moses telling, look, God has given us this land. Let's go get it. It's been given to us by allotment. The Lord has allotted this to us. We're His people. Let's go in, for the Lord goes with us. That's what it means to comfort those that are faint-hearted. And there's a lot of them in our day. It's to be those that need to be upheld. Are you one? Beloved, the only remedy for all of these conditions is the Word. This is how the Spirit builds us up and He strengthens us. He rebukes the unruly. He comforts the faint-hearted with the truth. The faint-hearted are afraid. They're afraid. Will I lose my salvation? Nothing will ever snatch you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. What about my sin when I fall short? There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Comfort one another. The afflictions that come upon us in this world are many and they are diverse. But the Lord delivers us out of them all. Psalm 34. Blessed are you when you fall into various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let it have its perfect work, that you become perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all richly, and without reproach it will be given to him. God imparts wisdom to us. Don't be faint-hearted, beloved. Next thing he says is to hold up the weak. There are those that are immature in the congregation. The weak, the fearful, those that can't step out, they won't step out. There are those in Corinth that were afraid to eat meat. Paul had to instruct them, eating meat or eating just vegetables, that's nothing. It's not what it's all about. We have liberty in Christ. If you want to eat just vegetables, eat it. But do it to the glory of God. If you want to eat meat, do it. And do it to the glory of God. An idol is nothing. One of the things that Paul would say of buying meat on the backside of the butcher shop after an idol has been worshipped. So the meat was offered to idols. Paul says, there is no God but One. It's a false god that they're worshiping. It doesn't matter if you want to eat that meat that comes out of the backside of the butcher shop. Don't be so weak that you can't eat that because there is one God. There's a lot of that that goes on today in the name of Christianity. A lot of weakness. A lot of weakness because people don't know their liberties in Jesus Christ. So Paul's saying then we've got to uphold then the weak. Now, notice something here with the warning, the comforting, and the upholding. These are all present tense imperative mood, which means that these are continual actions in the life of the church and God commands it. These are not options, these are commands. So we uphold the weak. Here's an example of upholding the weak. When the children of Israel were out in war, and they had enemies all around them, all the Enies and the Ites were constantly coming against them, and Moses had his hands held high, and as he had his hands held high, the Israelites were winning in the battle. What would happen? How long can you hold your hands up? You grow tired, don't you? You grow weak. You grow weary. So what happened? Aaron and Hur. They put rocks underneath the arms of Moses and they held up his arms. Uphold, support the weak. This is a responsibility each one of us has when one another gets weak. James speaks about the weak, and he says, let him call for the officers, the elders of the church, when weakness, exhaustion. So the responsibility, beloved, is to uphold, is to comfort, is to warn. And then Paul says, be patient with all. Why? To be patient is to be long-souled. Why? Because we run out of patience when you're instructing somebody again and again and again. We say things like this, I've told you a thousand times. It's a use of hyperbole. But you get the point. It means you get exasperated. I've told you guys how many thousands of times to be in the word of God. to keep on reading, to keep on cultivating. This is the sphere that the Holy Spirit works within the soul to conform us to the image of Christ. Be in the Word. And then we do visits. And I ask, how are you doing in your Bible reading? Not very good. What are you reading? Well, currently I'm not reading anything. It can be exasperating. And here it is, the Apostle Paul says, be patient. Be long-souled. Bear with people as you're going through this difficult time. Persevere with them. Peter said to Jesus, how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Long-souled, beloved. I don't tell you up to seven times, but 70 times seven. My life is to be an expression of forgiving those who sin against me again and again and again when they come and they confess. And what do you say? That's the third time you did that! That's a tendency. So here it is. Be patient. He uses the word all, panto, that's referring to all the time, and he's referring to everybody. We are to be that which models patience. We're not very good at it, are we? We want patience, but we want it now. We don't wanna go through the struggles and the difficulty that produces patience. That's what Paul speaks about in Romans 5. Tribulation produces character and hope and endurance. I mean, who wants to endure that? Who wants to go through that? I wanna be patient when I'm in a condition, a situation that is less than peaceful or harmonious. I wanna be patient. And that's where I struggle. But that's what the Lord uses to cause that patience to grow, so that I'd be long-souled. I'd be able to bear. Now, I don't think any of you in here could testify that when I asked you, are you reading the Word of God, you said, no, that I jumped across the table and jumped on top of you and started pummeling you. Because I just didn't have the patience for you anymore. Nobody in here could accuse me of that. You might accuse me, but it'd be a lie. I just simply, I said, what can I do to help you? And you say, well, I struggle at this time. Okay, let's work on the timeframe. Let's work on the duration of what we're reading or where we're reading. Because if you're in a book of numbers, it's not going to take you long before you fizzle out. But if you're in the book of Joshua or you're in the Psalms, well, okay, so let's redirect. Let me help you with this. And the Lord has taught me a lot to be patient. And I haven't arrived. That's my wife. But I'm growing in this patience with the people. And so this is what Paul tells us to be patient with all. And then clearly, you can see what follows is that there would be a tendency to render evil towards evil. So that when people do evil towards you, you do the same. What do we do? Somebody slanders you, what do you want to do? What is the tendency that sin that still clings to us, what's the tendency is to slander them. And so Paul says, see that no one, no one, at no time do you render or return the evil for the evil, but good. And who's the example? It's Jesus Christ. Of all the evil that was cast upon him, that was done to him, there was no guile within his mouth. He was the spotless Lamb of God. He never returned evil for evil. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay. This is what Paul teaches in Romans chapter 12. God will repay. It's not my responsibility. It is not my activity to get vengeance. And you know what? I struggle with that. Because sometimes I want to. Somebody cuts you off on the interstate, what do you do? And I'm raising my hand. Praise the Lord. Singing a praise song. That agitates me. And it's hard to just simply, okay, slow down, maybe get off at the next exit. So I'm not tempted to get in front of them and pass, because normally what they do is they get in front of them and they slow down, don't they? Not rendering evil for evil to anyone. Somebody mistreats you. Somebody says evil about you. Somebody does an act of ill will towards you. What's the tendency? Now, please, throw away your hyper piety. Because that sin is in all of us, beloved. Let's confess it. Let's get it out there and realize the tendency. All we like sheep have gone astray. It's pretty hard to deal with things when you deny that you even have that tendency. Again, I read this again, this quote, Robert Murray McShane. It's a godly man. If you ever read any of his writings, he died when he was 29 years old. And this is what he says, that the seed of sin known to all of mankind resides in my soul. That's a man who knew himself. That was a man who was prepared. That was a man who wasn't fooling himself with self-deception. He knew what was in his heart, and he protected, he guarded against it. He took that to the Lord in prayer. It's a tendency to be short-souled on things, impatient. Lord, help me. Don't let me wander. Because prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. So here's my heart, Lord. take and seal it. Because apart from the Lord sealing that heart, what would happen to me? One who was a pig that was washed from the mud would return right to it. As a dog that has walked away from the vomit would return right to the vomit. That is us throwing off the old lifestyle, the old manner, and then walking in newness of life. And if left to ourselves, we would return right back to the vomit of the world. Don't fool yourself, beloved. We stand by faith. It's Christ who sustains us. So, the responsibility is not to do evil to others. But, on the contrary, so I don't do this, but I do this. This is the Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, put off, put on. This is what I do. I always, at all times, pursue. That Greek word means to run after. I'm running after what is good. This is what Paul says in Philippians chapter 4, that we are to meditate upon the things that are good, and right, and holy, and just, and praiseworthy, things that have good report. Think on these things. Meditate on these things. Because that changes the disposition of the mind, doesn't it? This is what Paul wrote in Romans 12, 1 and 2. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Minds aren't renewed, minds aren't transformed, if minds aren't cultivating the Word of Truth. by which the spirit does his work conforming us to Christ. Pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all. Beloved, the word in your life is always good. Prayer, coming to the Lord, confessing our sins, crying out for mercy and strength, exalting in his person, in his work, in his glory, in his attributes, that's always good. Bringing the gospel to the unbelieving, that's always good. Caring for the needy, the sick. Caring for those who can't care for themselves. Being involved in one another's lives, that is always good. And it's for the glory of the Lord. And this is what Paul is saying, keep on doing it. Beloved, in this way, this is how we come up into maturity. As we are involved in one another's lives with these particular virtues, Getting rid of the revenge and putting on tender mercies, good works. This is how we really build up and strengthen the body of Christ. And this is what Paul is concerned with. Jesus speaks about foot washing in John 13. And he says that the love that you manifest for one another in this way, All men will know that you are my disciples by the love that you have for one another. Beloved, love exhorts, love warns, love comforts. Love is that which upholds. Love is that which does good to a neighbor. Let's keep on doing these things. Christ is exalted. And we are edified as the body functions as the body is defunct. Amen. Shall we pray?