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In the little clock, Yeah, thank you. 46 in the appendix of the little floss.
The deadline is all whistling.
By my heart and day.
Princess, I swear it's been flawed and circuitously by Constantine.
LOTC.
20.
7.
Of my heart.
A gratitude, brother.
And.
When you serve your life on me.
In my.
Spirited.
Fry's.
My Savior.
Have been pretty.
Long and long.
And pray for the.
Dead right and there.
Soon.
And my heart.
I love to be.
The.
Head and let them all from.
Thee to heart.
40.
Undestructed.
And wait for everything.
So we're in first, uh, Colonians 5, and I'm going to get Lupus to read from verse 19 to the end, please.
Where's the colonial 519? But it's not the spirit, but it's not prophet. Science prove all things hold fast that which is good.
Abstain from all appearance of evil, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your Holy Spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Rather pray for us. Reap all the bread, and with the holy gifts I charge you by the Lord that says the pistol be wrath unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord says Christ be with you.
00:05:22
I mean, let's notice a verse in Ephesians chapter 4 in connection with this expression quenching up the Spirit.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby.
Ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. So just these two expressions. Quench not the spirit and grieve not the spirit. They're slightly different.
Now in these next few verses we have in our chapter, I would say that the general context of it is the collective side of things more than the individual, but I believe we can apply it also.
Individually as well, because we can quench the Holy Spirit in a collective setting, and I believe we can quench the Holy Spirit in a our interactions with one another outside.
What we call assembly meetings. Now if I can put these two verses in perspective in this way, to grieve the Holy Spirit in Ephesians is to hinder the work of God in US. And it's sin in our lives that grieves the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can't work in our lives if they're sin. Sin hinders the work of the Spirit of God. So the.
To grieve the Spirit is to hinder the work of God in US.
To quench the Holy Spirit is to hinder the work of God through us.
Now let's apply it in its real context here collectively. First of all, this morning when we were together to remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread, we waited on the Spirit of God to guide and direct in the worship and the praise and the Thanksgiving. So we didn't have a preset list of hymns up at the room. We didn't appoint different ones to pray or read certain scriptures. There wasn't a brother who was pre appointed to give thanks for the loaf in the cup. We came and.
I trust we waited on the Spirit of God.
But brother, brothers, if you sat in the meeting this morning and the Spirit of God pressed something on your mind to give out or to say, and you didn't do it, you quenched the Holy Spirit of God. If you had a hymn on your heart and it just kept coming to your mind, and because it's through the mind that the Spirit works, and if that him kept coming to your mind and you didn't give it out, then perhaps you quenched the Spirit of God. I'm not saying every hymn that comes to your mind is of the Spirit of God either, so.
We, we, we, we wanna temper our remarks.
If you gave out a hymn that wasn't of the Spirit just because it was your favorite hymn, or you read a scripture that was your favorite scripture, but it wasn't of the Spirit of God, you quench the Holy Spirit as well. If the you seemed pressed to stand up and say a little word of Thanksgiving and you didn't do it, you perhaps quenched the Holy Spirit. You were hindering the work of God through you, and not just on Lord's Day morning, but in any assembly meeting.
But I believe you can also do that by in in our interactions with one another. Maybe the Lord has really laid on your heart by the Spirit of God to go and speak to a young brother or young sister. Now this is something for brothers and sisters alike. Maybe young sisters, you know of some real need and the Lord lays on your heart a scripture or something to bring before another sister and you don't do it. Perhaps you're punching the spirit of the Spirit of God. And so.
Again, just in a general way, to grieve the Spirit of God is to allow sin in our lives that hinders the work of God in us so that He can't minister Christ from the Word to us the way he he should or or wants to. And to quench the Spirit of God is to hinder the work of God through us in blessing to others.
00:10:05
Good question. So how do we unregulated?
Very good question, Kevin. How do we, I, I like your word ungrieved the Holy Spirit. That's that's about as good as I've I've heard it. Thank you. Well, let's let's go to first, John.
First John chapter one and.
Let's just read a few verses here and there, verse three, first, John 1/3 that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. So it's through the Spirit of God. We are linked by the Spirit of God to the Lord Jesus, and it is through the Spirit of God that we have fellowship with the Father, with the Son.
And as a result with one another.
But Kevin's question is, what happens when sin comes in and that fellowship or that communion is broken so that the Spirit of God can't minister to us, the person and work of Christ, the fellowship that we have with the Father and with the Son? Well, He gives us the answer here. Let's read verse nine. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now I'm going to give you a little illustration from the Old Testament that helped me to understand this verse I've just read.
Before I do that, I'll just say that running water in Scripture, a fountain of spring, a brook, or a well is most often a type of the Spirit of God. The reason I say that is the Lord said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, and this he spake concerning the Spirit. That's the key to understanding.
Many scriptures in connection with running water. Now you remember when Moses first struck the rock in Exodus chapter.
17 As a result, the water flowed out, and that water was a refreshing stream for the children of Israel all through the wilderness. Christ is the rock is a picture of Christ. The rod striking the rock is a picture of the Lord Jesus coming under the rod of God's judgment. I'm the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath if the Lord Jesus bearing our sins on the cross.
And what's the result? Then the water flows out. It's a picture of the Spirit of God sent down after the Lord Jesus died on the cross, rose again, and went back to heaven. But when you go to Numbers Chapter 11, you'll find that the water dried up.
The water is a picture of the Spirit of God. And what was Moses to do?
He was to go and speak to the Roth. The sin of Moses was that he struck the wrath and he struck it twice, but he was to go and speak to the rock. And when we have grieved the Holy Spirit of God through sin, and it's the the Spirit of God is not flowing out for our blessing, what are we to do? We're to go and speak to the rock. We're just going to speak to the Lord Jesus. We're to confess our sins and.
This verse in first John is a believer. This is not confessing.
For salvation, this is confessing for restoration. And so if the Spirit of God has been grieved by some sin in your life.
Go and confess it. Of course we need to forsake it as well. We don't want to confess in sin and sin and confess and so on. That's, that's not going to cause the, uh, the, the water from the rock, so to speak, to flow out as it should. But when, when we go and speak to the Lord Jesus, then the Spirit of God can again work and minister to us according to what our need. Is that helpful, Kevin? Yeah.
You know, I guess I'm not gonna say one other thing. There's a verse, I think it's in James's, uh, confessors intellectually another, I think your fault to one another, one or two.
Pray for each other that you might be healed. Umm, I guess it was the other day we're talking about addictions, you know, those can be sent that we can't get rid of very easily, you know, and we definitely gotta get it right between God, you know? But they could also be helpful in scriptural to confide in maybe a close friend that you're being able to talk about, like what? And get prayer support, you know, as well. Get support of another believer, those sort of things.
00:15:11
Very ties into this. Yeah, that's good. We can be a help to one another in that way. And it's good to have a close friend who, uh, you can turn to with the spiritual matter or a like you say, even in cases like addiction and different, different difficulties. Yes, it's very helpful.
So then going along with what we said about quench not the Spirit in the collective side of things, he then says despise not prophesying or prophecies. Now the word prophecy here is not so much in the context of prophetic events like we usually think of prophecy. When we think of prophecy, we think of the Book of Revelation and other parts of the Word of God that bring before us future events.
But there's also another context in which we have in the New Testament prophets and prophecy, and that is when Paul wrote to the Corinthian assembly, he said let the prophet speak two or three and let the other judge. We read to that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Prophecy in that sense is simply conveying the mind of the Lord.
A prophet in the New Testament sense is not necessarily someone whose.
Predicting future events. In fact, there's nothing to predict apart from what we've been given in the word of God. There's no fresh revelation. But we do have prophets today. And so when we have, when we come together for ministry, maybe in a reading meeting, it may be in a an address, it may be in what we call an open meeting. There are things said by those I believe that are we could label as prophets.
A profit in its simplest form, whether it's Old Testament or New Testament, is one.
Who has a message from God for a specific people at a specific time concerning a specific situation?
So.
There were different ones that came to Israel. They had a specific message at the time concerning a specific situation in Israel and God has those in the church today, in the assembly today that.
Maybe sometimes they don't say a lot, but every once in a while they'll speak up and they'll have a message that's right on. And we're not to despise that. You know, we might not like always like what they say. The prophets in the Old Testament, the people didn't always like what they say. In fact, they threw Jeremiah in prison because he prophesied faithfully and they didn't like the message he had for them, but he had a message from God.
And so sometimes things are said in a meeting like this.
In the assembly meetings that maybe that really hit hard, but it says don't despise that. Take it as a message from the Lord at at the time. Now let's broaden the application here again because perhaps someone speaks to you, maybe an older brother, an older sister speaks to you about something. Maybe they see something in your life that you're going on with that they feel is going to be a detriment to you.
In following the Lord or lead into a bad path, and they come and they speak faithfully to you.
Don't despise that. If they have a message for the time, for the specific situation, then take it as from the Lord. Maybe you say, but I don't like that person, or that person hasn't treated me very well, or how can that person say what they say when they're going on with something? Look beyond the messenger and weigh what they say in the presence of the Lord.
We can read in Ephesians 4.
Connect you to two thoughts together.
Just 411 was mentioned, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers in verse 12, especially for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry.
And 435 of the body of Christ.
Especially at the last part of the verse when we talk about wrenching off the Spirit as well as by not prophesying is that what God has for us and and wanna use each 145 oil price. So when when we hold back there is a loss for each one of us of the Spirit wanna use but also there is a loss.
00:20:28
For a body of Christ.
And I think there is.
Many, many reasons why we we would want or perhaps would want would hold back that I, I think of one, maybe just, you know, I'm not the best person to talk about it or to talk to that person. And so and so, but I think it's important to to be aware of what the spirit is slating in your heart about it. One other aspect. Maybe it's a large meeting and.
Why? I'm gonna stand up here and talk.
But we are all priests or holy priesthood before the Lord and uh, the Spirit can use each one. This, this perhaps an exercise. Often there is a award to to different ones coming from smaller meetings. But I think this is one area where a smaller meeting provides a better exercise to to hear of what the the Spirit is.
In leading and not not hold back.
So there are two extremes. We can be like the Corinthians, when they came together, it was confusion because everyone had a Psalm, everyone had a doctrine and it seemed like they were tripping over one another to get out of him or a thought or a prayer or whatever. And that was that was one extreme. But I think mostly today we have the other extreme where we sit in the breaking of bread or any other assembly meeting.
And sometimes 10 or 15 minutes can go by without somebody saying saying anything. So both extremes are are wrong.
So I'm going to ask the question how do we prove all things?
Verse 21.
Let's hear some thought about how we prove all things. We're talking about prophecy and what we're prophesying and what we hear in ministry in the assembly. How do we then prove all things?
Reading scriptures.
Right, spending time with with the Lord.
I would say, yeah, that's that's very good.
Improve here I think also doesn't relate to to experiment all things that sometimes the word proof is used, but to examine or judge all things.
I think this is a SPE was a special needed word to the Thessalonian assembly based on their reaction in Acts 17. Let's go back to Acts 17 and see what happened there when the Apostle Paul visited them.
I'll start from verse 10 of Acts 17.
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea. They'd been in Thessalonica, now they've sent them to Berea.
Who coming thither, went to the into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were solved. Now when Paul was visiting the assembly in Thessalonica, they listened to what the apostle Paul ministered, and that was good, and they received the truth in that way.
But we find that and they were noble.
But the Bereans were more noble. Wasn't that the Thessaloniki weren't noble? They were. But there were those who were more noble. Why? Because they went a step further than those in Thessalonica. They searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so, what things, the things that the Apostle Paul was ministering to them. Now, of course, they didn't have the New Testament like we do.
00:25:14
But they listen. They came and listened to the apostle Paul minister, and then they went home and they got out whatever manuscripts or scrolls, whatever part of the word of God they would have had available. And they wanted to make sure what the apostle Paul was telling them coincided with the scriptures that they already had. That's proving all things. They didn't do that at Tesla Nica, but in Berea they did. And I believe that's why Paul gives this special exhortation.
To the assembly at Thessalonica. He wanted them not just to be noble, but to be more noble. Now what have we learned from this?
We learned that it's great to come to meetings for ministry of the Word. It's great to come to camp and to conferences and to listen to the word minister. But young people, I hope everyone of you will go home with your Bibles and the notes you have taken and make sure what you've heard this weekend is according to the truth of God that's proving all things. And then walk in it as you say. Take what you've learned and and seen us the truth.
And use it experimentally in your life and you'll be more noble than those of Thessalonica. You'll be like the Bereans. So as we said in one of the previous meetings, we need to search the scriptures. Not just casually read the scripture, but search the scriptures and go home from every meeting you hear you're at and search out what you've heard to make sure it coincides with the truth of God.
I think the opposite. We have in the chapter we write Ephesians 4.
Season 4.
What is the the opposite effect verse 14?
That that we as far be no more children.
Thoughts to and fro, and carry it about with every wind of doctrine on the slave of man, in the cunning craftiness whereby they lying wage deceived.
If if we don't have a standard to to go by and to prove all things about the word.
Will be carrying a toxic to or from from every wing of doctrine. And, uh, it's important to, to, to remember that some of those suite of documents may come proportionally from, from different ones, including some together. So that's why it's important individually as, as an exercise before the Lord to, to prove all things.
And then when we proved all things to hold fast thought which is good, if it's not according to the word of God, let it go.
But if it is, if you see that it is based on Scripture, then hold fast to it. And so often we are exhorted in Scripture to hold fast. What does it mean to hold fast? It means to grip something firmly and not let it go. And that's what we need to do with the truth of God, what we prove from Scripture to be the truth. We need to hold back to it, not let it go. A lot of letting go today, a lot of compromising, and it isn't letting go all at once.
It's just letting go a little here and a little there. Compromise is letting the barrier down slowly, just taking a brick off the wall now and again. Doesn't seem like very much.
But you do it often enough. The barrier, the wall is gone. That's what compromise is. And so we prove all things. We set aside that which is not according to truth, the Word of God, and we're to hold faster, cling to that which is good.
First thing you talk about talks about abstaining from all appearance of evil. Other versions says every form of wickedness.
Would this relate to some things that maybe not evil on themselves but.
Brings up the appearance to others as we're talking about collectively.
Well, we can take this verse at face value in the King James, and it's certainly true. We shouldn't. And there are other scriptures that teach us that we shouldn't be in a compromising position.
00:30:02
But I I suggest that's not really the thought in the context here, because he's talking again about not despising, prophesying. When we hear the truth of God, minister, and we're to hold fast what is good, we're to set aside what is evil and to stay aloof, as you say, which is Mr. Darby's translation from every form of wickedness. That is, we are to have no association with that which is not the truth of God.
It may be doctrinal evil, it may be moral evil, it may be an ecclesiastical connection that is not according to the Word of God, Some religious system that holds doctrine contrary to the person and work of Christ, like we spoke last night in the question and answer period about those who bring doctrine that's blasphemous in connection with the Lord Jesus and so on. So we're to hold aloof. We're to completely keep away.
From that which is unholy, from that which is wicked. I believe in every aspect of our life. However, I don't want to take away from what it says at face value in our King James Bible because it, it's certainly true. I, I think in a setting like this, I can be very, very blunt.
A a man and a woman living under the same roof who are not married, even though there may be.
Nothing unseemly about their relationship as far as they know. Yet it has the appearance of evil to the neighbors. And so we want to abstain from all appearance of evil. We don't want to do anything to mar our our testimony. But I think it's really a a a.
It's really a more, it's a harder state statement here. It's it's really getting to the very heart of the matter.
Anything that is not of the truth of God, we are to keep completely away from.
It might be helpful to read, uh, this whole section from verse 20 down to there in the Darby translation, because it's all kind of one connected thought.
It says, do not lightly esteem prophecies, but prove all things hold fast the right, hold aloof from every form of wickedness.
Yes, that's that's helpful. It's all part of the same paragraph.
So yes, it's all all connected and and really in its context, that's why I say abstain from all appearance of evil. It doesn't. It's not really practical things that he's talking about.
Well then he goes on in conclusion of the chapter to speak of how God's desire is to preserve you and me in the three parts of our being because we're a tripart being. We're three. There's three parts to our being. There's the spirit, that's the God consciousness and that's what sets us apart. That's what sets humanity apart from the lower creation.
We have a God consciousness. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life.
And man became a living soul or a living spirit. He you don't read of him doing that with with the animal Kingdom. And so we have a God conscious part to our being. Then the soul is the seat of the emotions and affections. Animals in that sense have a soul because animals have personality. They have affections. Some of you I saw hugging up a cat here and that cat was snuggling in and that cat had affections. And that cat in its own way appreciated the attention that it that it had. And any of us who had pets know that every pet has a distinct personality.
And so the lower creation have a soul as well. It's the seed of the emotions and affections.
And so there's the spirit soul, and then there's the body that's the physical. And the desire and prayer of the apostle was that the Thessalonians believers would be preserved in the three parts of their being. So he didn't want them to be taken up with false teaching. He didn't want them to fall into moral evil because he's taken that up in the 4th chapter, connection with fornication and and moral evil.
And and so on didn't want their emotions to run rampant and so on and to follow, just to follow the desires and appetites of the northeast of, uh, their emotions. No, everything was to be brought into check so that they would be preserved, spirit, soul and body. Now he speaks here not of the peace of God, but the God of peace because it's a person. Christianity is a person.
00:35:23
Christianity brings us into relationship with God and with the Lord Jesus, and it's not just the peace of God, but it's the God of peace, and it's the God of peace that's going to preserve us in the three parts of our being. And how long does did he desire that they be preserved, blameless, under the coming of the Lord of our Lord Jesus Christ? He sums this up because that's the subject of the whole book, really. It's the coming of Christ. And Paul's desire for the breath the brethren at Thessalonica was.
That they would be preserved in their their spirit, their soul and body for their own blessing and their own and their testimony to those around until the Lord Jesus comes. But you say, how can it be? Jim, you don't understand what I go through at school and how evil it is at work and in the world today. Well, perhaps I don't. But faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
If we fail in our lives, if we're not preserved, spirit, soul and body, it's not God's fault because He's faithful. And if we're not faithful, He abides faithfully, cannot deny Himself. And if you and I are looking to the Lord and drawing on the resources that we have in our God and in the Lord Jesus every day, we can be preserved, not because of our faithfulness or anything in ourselves.
But because of his faithfulness, faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. He will do it.
But he if, if we fail, it's not his fault, it's our fault. He will do it. But we have to take heed. We have to hold fast the good. We have to hold aloof from evil. There are these practical exhortations. There has to be prayer and not quenching the Spirit and and so on. All these things, if they're carried out in our day-to-day life, then God will and can preserve us.
And remember this young people, they'll never be a day so dark.
Morally and spiritually, that you and I can't be preserved and live for the Lord's glory here in this world.
If it ever gets that bad, then the Lord will take us out. But as long as we're here, every resource is given to us to be preserved, spirit, soul and body.
Well, we're never above the need of the prayers of our brethren, are we? Here was the Apostle Paul, this great apostle raised up at the beginning of the churches history and given all this wonderful truth and what does he say in verse 25? Brethren, pray for us. He and his fellow laborers needed the prayers of their brethren and none of us are above the prayer needing the prayers of one another and.
I believe young people, if we would pray for one another more, it would be a preserving factor. You know, so often we pray for someone after they're in trouble. Maybe they aren't coming to meeting, they're getting cold in their soul, they're going on with something they failed. Some sinners come into their lives and then we pray for them. But if we would pray for one another as a preventative measure before we get into trouble.
I think it would preserve us from many things. So Paul, as he went about and had his fellow laborers with him, he said we need your prayers so we can pray as to our own needs, but we need to pray for one another as well.
I guess I'll just say again, you know, we don't, you don't know that I'm struggling unless I tell you about it, you know, So I encourage you guys to talk to your friends and, and share what you're struggling with, you know, so that doesn't get to that point. You can be prayed for ahead of time.
Well, our time is gone, but I just say at the end of the chapter we find that he asks that or charges that the epistle be read to all the brethren because they all needed it. This wasn't just exhortations for certain ones, but this was for all the brethren. And so when we open the word of God and we read it for ourselves or we hear it ministered in the meeting, don't be like a brother. I heard one, one time I heard of a brother one time. He said, well, certain shots I let go over my shoulder.
00:40:23
He doesn't think those certain things that were said were for him or that he needed them. But the apostle Paul said, what I've written to you is good for everybody. Make sure everybody hears, uh, what, what I said. And then as he, as he's so customary, he closes with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ because grace is what preserves us in the path of faith. It's what meets our present need.
He says in another place, my grace is sufficient. The Lord said to Paul, My grace is sufficient.
For thee do you need more grace? It says in James. He giveth more grace.
Is it just for a certain class of brother? No, of all we received of His fullness and grace upon grace. So it's one of those great supplies that we have so that we can be preserved. If you draw on the grace of God every day, then you'll be preserved, spirit, soul and body.
Now I'm going to make a suggestion for the next 10 or 15 minutes we have, we received word that there's been a car accident. The ruins were in a car accident. Their car was totaled. Abel was driving. They're OK. They went to the hospital as routine. Umm, their brother is coming for them from Dorothy. They're about 9 hours from home and umm.
So they're waiting for that. They spun out of control. No one else was involved in the accident, but the car is totaled as far as they know. I think what would be nice for the next few minutes is if we just quietly get down on our knees and we have a.
New #23.
Will pray.
For all.
The time.
And.
Trust him over all.
That should come.