Welcome to the Cary Baptist Church, Thy Word Has Settled in Heaven radio broadcast. I'm Pastor Ben Donohue. Today we continue in our series on the book of 1 Thessalonians, perhaps the first epistle that the Apostle Paul ever wrote. Today we're in chapter 4, having covered chapter 1, 2, and 3 previously. The epistle was written by Paul, Silas, and Timothy. That's verse 1. And Paul begins by saying, grace and peace to you. That's verse 1 of chapter 1. And then he commended the church for their work of faith, their labor of love, their patience of hope. That's how we begin the epistle. But now we're turning our attention to chapter 4. It's got more things to say to the church. And we'll pick up reading in verse 1. and we'll read down to about verse 12. So 12 verses out of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Furthermore then, we beseech you brethren, exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lust, even as the Gentiles, which know not God, that no man go beyond and default his brother in any manner, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but to holiness. He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed, ye do it towards all the brethren which are in Macedonia. But we beseech your brethren that you increase more and more. that you study to be quiet, that you do your own business and work with your own hands as we have commanded you, that you walk honestly towards them that are without, that you may have lack of nothing. Brother, we're going to stop reading there. First 12 verses of the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians. We mentioned already it was written by Paul, Silas, and Timothy to the church. There they were a Gentile people. They had given up on their idolatry and false religion. We read that back in chapter 2. how that they turn from idols to serve the living God, and he's been commending them up to this point in chapter 4, and now he says that he beseeches them. This is the Apostle Paul who wrote 13 epistles, and he's saying, we beseech you, we ask you, we beg you, you brethren, we exhort you, we encourage you, that how you have received of us, how to walk in Christ Jesus, you should abound in that. Your Christianity should increase and abound. You should become proficient, so to speak, at being good example Christians. For he says, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. That's an important statement. Let's review that. If you go back and read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, those four gospels, if you take a yellow highlighter, start in the first verse in Matthew, go all the way through the last verse in the book of John, these are the words of Jesus, and you highlight with a yellow highlighter every commandment or warning or encouragement that Jesus gave to his people, some way of indicating this is a course of action we should take or prohibiting some other action. If you took a yellow highlighter and highlighted all those commandments, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you would find about 100, not exactly 100, Many of them would be repetitious, of course, but if you took them all together, not counting repetitions, you'd find about a hundred different commandments or warnings or prophecies that would indicate a course of action that a Christian should take. We'll just call them commandments. Paul says in verse two, for you know the commandments that we gave by Jesus Christ. When he says by Jesus Christ, he means those commandments that Jesus gave his disciples and apostles, and they were to be repeated to the church. Well, Paul and Silas and Timothy had already given them the commandments of Jesus Christ that we have in the first four gospels. He'd given that to the church. And he's saying, you know these commandments. And it's the duty of a pastor, a teacher, to teach the people the commandments of Jesus Christ. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, the Lord Jesus says. And so it's so important that we preach to our congregations the very commandments that Jesus gave us. You can't do it in one sermon because there's about a hundred different commandments. Paul said we did that. Let's just read it again. For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus Christ. Those commandments given by the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul passed them on to this church. They had each and every one of the commandments. He says, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. God's will is our sanctification means setting apart unto God, being set apart from one thing to another. set apart from the world in sin, set apart from unbelief to faith in Christ, to service for God, purity of life, set apart unto God. This is the will of God. Now we have several will of God statements in the Bible. This is one of many. This is one of the many statements. What is the will of God for Christians? Their sanctification, their purity of life, Be ye holy, for I, the Lord your God, are holy, is what God gave the people in Leviticus. Same truth is being communicated here. This is the will of God, even your sanctification. As Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were pure in that foreign land of Babylon, displaced from their homeland, from their home synagogues, yet they were pure in the foreign land. Wherever you are, God's will for you and I is sanctification. He says that you should abstain from fornication, verse 3, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. There's that word sanctification again. Set apart away from the world, away from sin, away from unbelief and apathy towards God and the honor of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not in the lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God. The Gentiles without God go about to fulfill all their appetites, lusts, ambitions. Life is about fulfilling and satisfying those lusts, ambitions, and appetites. That's not the will of God for men. He goes on to say in verse 6 that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any manner. You have to live unto your brother if you're going to please God. You have to be careful not to offend him or defraud him or put an obstacle in his path. Let no man go beyond and defraud his brother, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, defrauding others, deceiving others. God is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified." Now, this was preached from the pulpit when Paul was there on previous occasions. He let it be known. that you cannot defraud another person. You cannot deceive him. You cannot misuse him. You have to love him. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is the royal law given by the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul is quite plain. We warned you ahead of time. We testified from the pulpit and in the home meetings where we were that you're not to defraud one another. What's God's will for his people? To be sanctified, to be set apart from the world, and not to defraud others. Verse seven, for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Now this is the third time, because sanctification leads to holiness. So again, he presses home the point that we are not to be as Gentiles in their uncleanness, trying to satisfy every appetite, inclination, ambition they have. But we're to live unto holiness, as God is holy. As the apostle is rather straightforward, he says, we've given you the commandments, you're to obey these commandments, you're to be sanctified, you're not to defraud another. God has called you to holiness of life. And brethren, that's what we have in our churches. The pastors, the teachers, the missionaries, the traveling and visiting evangelists are to call the people to holiness in the church. A call to holiness is what the duty is of the pastor. Call men to holiness because when they go in the world, the world's calling them to impurity of life. And Paul's got some stern words for those who won't heed this instruction. He says, therefore, he that despises, that is, despises this teaching, despises not man but God. When you despise the preacher for calling you to holiness of life, purity of life, never defrauding another person, treating them honestly the way you would be treated, When you talk against that preaching, you're talking against God. Therefore thou that despise us, you don't despise man, but you despise God, verse 8, who hath also given us his Holy Spirit. Paul is preaching these things because he has been moved and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Paul would say elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 1-21, holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So whatever instructions and commandments and admonitions Paul gave to the church from the pulpit or from this epistle was originated in the Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love, verse nine, you have no need that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. They had been fulfilling this, most of them, to love one another as Christ has loved you. Now verse 10, and indeed you do it towards all the brethren which are in Macedonia. So we're getting the implication that Macedonia as a region had received the gospel. Many in Macedonia had become Christians. There were believers in all parts of this place. We would say Asia Minor, that's where Macedonia is, and there were many believers there, and Paul is saying you're a good example there, how you treat the other believers in Macedonia. But we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more. Keep growing. Keep growing in your pursuit of holiness. That is a lifelong pursuit. Now, he's going to get very practical. He's going to get down-to-earth practical. Verse 11, that ye study to be quiet, number one. That you do your own business, number two. And that you work with your own hands, number three. In effect, he's saying, I don't want you to be busybodies interfering in other people's business, being in other people's business that you have no business being in. He says, study to be quiet. I take that to mean don't be a busybody. He says, do your own business. Make sure you take care of yourself and your family so that you don't owe anybody anything. Be a good worker. Be an honest worker. work so that you provide for your family. Elsewhere, Paul would put it just as severely when he says, if a man will not work, he shouldn't eat. And so here Paul is just reiterating the principle that we ought to mind our own business, that we ought to do our own work to supply our own needs and our families. And if we have a surplus, and many do, we help those that need help. And he says also to work with your own hands, as we have commanded you, that you may walk honestly towards them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing. Christians need to set a good example. Walk honestly. Again, that's the repeating theme. God wills your sanctification. Man should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification. God has called us to holiness. That's verse 2, verse 4, and verse 7. And now he says we're to walk honestly. That's going to make the proper, necessary, and good impression upon the unbelievers in Macedonia. We need Christians to be a good example of honesty, sanctification, purity of life. That's what he says here. Brethren, we're reading chapter four of 1 Thessalonians. He begins by saying, brethren, you ought to please God. We've given you the commandments of Jesus Christ. God's will is your sanctification. Don't behave as the Gentiles behave. We have forewarned you and testified that you're not to defraud another person. That which we've given to you is of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you despise our teaching, you're despising God. But your love towards the other brethren in Macedonia is a good example for others. And be about the business of meeting your own needs by working honestly and not being busybodies. Brethren, that's what we have in the first 12 verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And if you didn't get to hear chapter one, two, or three, you might want to go back and listen to those, because those are all precursors to chapter four. Brother, we are about out of time. We better close it up here. I'll remind you, you've been listening to the Thy Word to Settle in Heaven broadcast, brought to you by Cary Baptist Church in Athens, Alabama. I'm Pastor Benjamin Donohue. Let me thank you for listening. We do hope you join us again next time. And until then, we'll say goodbye.