1 Thessalonians (Quality: Average)

[0:00] By the help of God, I would direct you to the first epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 5, and verses 23 to 25.

[0:27] And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.

[0:38] I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:55] Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.

[1:08] What a deplorable condition are those in the world that are appointed to wrath.

[1:36] The apostle says, therefore, we are not appointed unto wrath, but appointed to obtain salvation.

[1:56] It's a covenant appointment. And everything concerning the eternal blessedness of his people are certain as the covenant is.

[2:23] And these epistles are written to the Lord's people.

[2:33] It does begin with those that are unbelievers. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child.

[2:55] And they shall not escape. But ye brethren. All these buts.

[3:06] Heavens in them. And the Lord Jesus is in that heart too, who is appointed to obtain salvation.

[3:25] heaven, not because they are any better in their nature than the worst. They are not.

[3:37] You and are left. I have felt that, well, perish the thought that the holy just judge would deal more leniently with his people than with a reprobate, he doesn't.

[4:08] One's born in sin and all are born in sin.

[4:21] And the Lord looked down to heaven to see if he could find one that was righteous. There's not one. All must come from heaven.

[4:38] From the covenant decrees and purposes of the covenant of grace. And is it a concern as to how we stand for eternity?

[4:58] For the Ephesians said, Be strong in the Lord, that he may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all, to stand.

[5:25] And you know the conclusion of the Ecclesiastes. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

[5:46] Fear God and keep his commandments. For we've got to give an account of him, of what we've done in the body, whether it be good or bad.

[6:03] Isn't that a dreadful word? Do you ever tremble? I do. Oh, my friends.

[6:16] But he says of his people that their sins will not be mentioned to them. Well, in this chapter, there are many exhortations.

[6:41] And he is speaking of his people as children of light. When the wicked say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.

[7:00] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. We are all the children of light and the children of the day.

[7:16] We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.

[7:30] When you come to consider these things throughout the word of God.

[7:41] And look at your own experience through the whole of your life. Oh, how we do feel to need a savior, a mediator.

[7:55] For God hath not appointed us to rot, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.

[8:14] That whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Well, then he comes to encourage his people in the midst of tribulations, afflictions and sorrows.

[8:39] Rejoice evermore. And that is without any condition.

[8:54] It isn't rejoice in every condition that is congenial. But rejoice evermore.

[9:12] And if we are one of these favored people, there is not a condition in which we have no ground to rejoice.

[9:25] If we lost all we've got. If we were lying upon a bed of pain and suffering. Because the rejoicing here is in the Lord.

[9:46] In the 68th Psalm, it distinctly says this. And let them rejoice in the Lord.

[9:58] There's everything in him to rejoice in. What he is covers it all.

[10:09] That he is infinite. That he is unchangeable. And that he knows the end from the beginning.

[10:26] And that there is a foundation which stands sure. The Lord knoweth them that are his. Rejoice evermore.

[10:39] And at all times. You might say to me, do you? No, I don't. There are times.

[10:51] When we feel. That what with our sin. And the opposition without. And the workings within.

[11:05] How can we rejoice? That's our weakness. Our unbelief really.

[11:19] I will repeat what I often say. Look from the border of the pit. To his recovering grace. See him.

[11:32] You see him who fills heaven and earth. See him. And you see him. Who has destroyed all the works of the devil.

[11:44] As to their effect upon his people. Rejoice in him. Because his gospel is greater than the law.

[12:02] Rejoice evermore. Ah. Ah. Pray without ceasing. That's another test.

[12:16] Pray without ceasing. Oh, the blessedness. The sweetness. The sweetness. It's wings. Spiritual wings.

[12:29] And you rise and break through everything. When prayer. The prayer of the spirit is poured into your heart. And you rise and break through everything.

[12:40] And you rise and break through everything. You rise and break through everything. And you rise and break through everything. In the flesh. If we have the treasure at all. It is in an earthen vessel. Sinful vessel.

[12:53] In our nature. In everything.

[13:04] Give thanks. Not the best of things only. Not what your nature loves only. But in all things.

[13:20] Give thanks. I don't want to speak rashly. But how can that be? Well, my friends.

[13:33] If the Lord has put you into the fire. How can that be applied? Well, to be thankful.

[13:44] It is in the oven. In Malachi. The closing chapters. In the first place. There is a fire.

[13:56] To purge. The sons of Levi. To purge out all. That is. In opposition to God.

[14:07] And all sin. But in the last chapter. There is an oven. And that will burn up. Root and branch.

[14:17] No hope. Whatever. Therefore. If any of you are in a fire. Be thankful. It is in the furnace. Be thankful too.

[14:29] If it is a rod. A fatherly rod. A rod. Of correction. And not a sword. To thrust you through. But we must come to the text.

[14:43] But these things are. Are really. In the text. Because. And the very God of peace. Sanctify you wholly.

[14:57] He's spoken of much. But here. He. He. He. He. He. Gathers. The whole. In this verse.

[15:08] And the very God of peace. Sanctify you. Sanctify you wholly. And I pray. God. Your whole. Spirit.

[15:19] Soul. Body. Be preserved. Blameless. Unto the coming of our Lord. Jesus Christ. takes it all up in one.

[15:31] In one. In one. In one. In one. In one. In one. In one. Beautiful hymn. You know. Twenty-seventh. His line.

[15:44] To cleanse the heart. To sanctify the soul. To pour fresh life on every part. And.

[15:59] But you know the hymn. But that's the thing. Pour fresh life on every part. Now may thou Lord help us to say.

[16:21] That which will be profitable to us. And the first thing is. And the very God. Of peace.

[16:34] There are God's many. And there are. False peace. When they shall say. Peace and safety.

[16:45] Then. Sudden destruction coming. But look at these two things. The very God.

[16:57] Of peace. Or. And the very. Peace. Of God.

[17:07] Of God. Is the same peace. That. The Lord Jesus. Left with his disciples. Peace. I leave with you.

[17:20] And then he qualified it. My peace. As this. And the very. God of peace. My peace.

[17:31] I give unto you. Let not. Let not your heart. Be troubled. Neither. Let it be afraid. And yet.

[17:44] Look at us. My friends. But the Lord has compassion. Yes. He does. God of peace. He does. He does. He does.

[17:55] He does. He does. He does. He does. He does. He does. He does. He does. He does. And the very. God of peace. And it is a peace. Which was made by.

[18:07] The Lord Jesus. He bought the peace. There would be no peace.

[18:20] If it were not for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. There would be no spiritual life. There would be no church.

[18:33] There would be no work of the Holy Spirit. There would be no gathering together. There would be no prayer.

[18:44] There would be no knowledge of God. Oh, what a blank. God. Worse than a blank.

[18:59] I like this very here very much. It could be said. And the God of peace sanctify you wholly.

[19:10] But the very God. In the 42nd Psalm.

[19:21] David emphasizes this. My soul thirsteth for God. For the living God.

[19:34] Lives forever. And he came. To communicate his life.

[19:45] His life. In his people. It's not a kind of a spiritual life. That he gives them.

[19:58] Holy. But it's himself. It's his own life. Through contact with him. Union to him.

[20:08] And partaking of him by the Holy Ghost. It's his life. I am come that they might have life.

[20:20] And that they might have it more abundantly. And that the very God of peace.

[20:34] And that the very God of peace. Sanctify you wholly. To be sanctified. To be sanctified. To be sanctified.

[20:44] To be set apart. For holy things. And. And. And. Jude. Put it in good order.

[20:57] And that explains. This here. Sanctify you wholly. sanctified. Sanctified by God the Father.

[21:13] Sanctified by God the Father. Sanctified by God the Father. And preserved in Jesus Christ.

[21:27] And called. Sanctified by God the Father. Oh. The favor of it. Look at the words. Sanctified by God the Father.

[21:41] In election. Sanctified by God the Father. Preserved in his dear son Jesus Christ. And they would never be preserved.

[21:52] Unless he had come. Become incarnate. And suffered what they ought to suffer. And would. He came.

[22:04] And he preserved his people. By suffering. To the extent. That they deserved in hell.

[22:18] And if he had suffered less. His work wouldn't be perfect. I cannot.

[22:30] I have no words. Neither is anybody else. Words to express. The glory. Of the perfection. Of the person.

[22:42] Of God. The Father. The Son. The Holy Ghost. And it pleased. The Trinity. That in the Lord Jesus.

[22:55] All the fullness. Should dwell. And that he should be sent. To preserve. Preserve his people.

[23:06] To preserve his people. That makes death look different. From looking at it.

[23:17] Without any hope. As we have been singing. In that precious hymn. Of top lady. We must need.

[23:27] To die. And. Be as water spilled. Upon the ground. Which cannot be gathered up again. But he has devised means.

[23:43] Whereby. His. Is. Hmm. I can't remember it. But. Adam and Eve.

[23:55] They. Were. Turned out. Of Eden. But. Ah. This is it. Banished. Then. They.

[24:06] Fly to thee. O. Garden. Of. Gethsemane. And.

[24:21] The very. God of peace. Sanctify you. Holy. As is in every part.

[24:35] O. Take this heart. This worthless heart. And. Make it. Holy. Thine. Did you feel.

[24:48] To need it. It means. That you feel. That you need. Christ. Holy. The whole of him.

[25:00] Is there anything. In him. In his. Blessed word. In his gospel. That you can do. Without. That you can say.

[25:12] I really don't need that. I believe. I felt it. In my very heart. And said to him. In secret.

[25:23] Lord. I want all of this. All of this. He's done nothing. In vain. Nothing. That we do not need. And want. And must have.

[25:34] God. The very God of peace. Peace.

[25:44] By his cross. Peace. By his father. For saving him. That was one of the.

[25:56] Most bitter. Anguishes. The Lord had. Dad, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[26:10] And this is the reason, my friends, of everything that he suffered and did. It was for his people.

[26:20] And if his father had never forsaken him, you would never know what the presence of Christ is. You would never have it.

[26:33] That was the price he paid for the presence that you enjoy. His father forsook him. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.

[26:55] And he said, so, the complete man. And I pray, God, your whole spirit, soul, and body.

[27:09] That's complete. There's nothing left out. That makes a complete human being. And he prays that this very peace of God might sanctify them wholly in spirit and soul and body.

[27:36] And yet, how short we come. You would think that our sins daily now, and having the light of the gospel, it aggravates the guilt of sin.

[28:03] That it would cancel this. I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.

[28:14] What can we make of it, my friends? Blameless?

[28:25] Why, just what we've read just now. Preserved in Jesus Christ.

[28:40] Preserved in Jesus when my feet went fast to hell. And there had I been, but thou dost all things well.

[28:54] And I pray, God, oh, what a mercy it is to pray for the church.

[29:11] For those you know personally and for the church as a whole. It's not a small thing to pray for one another, my friends.

[29:27] I often have this little congregation in my heart. Think of times past. I'm thankful for our loyal deacons that they have been able to supply us with some good ministers.

[29:53] I'm thankful and I've profited by it. But at the same time, you know, there is a sadness when you've been with the people many years.

[30:09] And then you feel you're just breaking up and are ready to launch into eternity.

[30:23] But these things are written prayer instruction. And if it wasn't for this very, it wouldn't have any force. There's something, there's strength in almost every word of the text.

[30:40] And you'll feel it when you feel sinking, when you know what a sinner you've been, when you felt your sinking with a white of lead upon you, of guilt.

[30:52] And then to read, and the very God of peace sanctify you, Holy Spirit, soul, and body.

[31:08] that is possible. Oh, if there is one as such, tried sinner here, if the Lord was but speak there, how you would follow after him.

[31:24] You would come down to this other word in the text, faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

[31:35] Do what? What you can't do. Wish you could. You can't preserve yourself blameless.

[31:45] We can't go out for a walk. We can't look through our eyes. We cannot speak with our tongues without sin.

[31:56] And yet here is spoken of as being blameless. We have the same thing in Jude. Now, unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence, not of people, not of ministers or anybody, present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

[32:35] To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.

[32:46] Amen. This very God, this very God of peace. Do you feel anything, friend?

[32:59] Is it in your heart at this moment, a goal out to him? When will they come unto me? In the precious hymn that we have sung.

[33:16] Ah. There will be some here that will join that song in heaven. I pray, God, your whole spirit, soul, and body.

[33:42] And your soul is yourself. Your heart, your thoughts, is you.

[33:55] Yes, it is you. And you. You. And you. Are your own soul.

[34:08] And we shall have to give an account of our soul. And body.

[34:20] Things that we've done in that body, whether they could be good or bad. But here, he prays that these Thessalonians might be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[34:47] He's coming again. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

[35:06] But not to the children of light. But he's coming again. And in his first coming, he came with sin.

[35:21] Not at home. But in the likeness of sinful flesh, that's how he came. He came under the law.

[35:32] And the law judged him. And demanded of him that perfection that is as perfect as God himself.

[35:53] His dear people that he takes to heaven are as holy as the Lord Jesus himself. they partake of him.

[36:05] They eat his flesh and drink his blood. Oh, you're free. This is not a cunningly devised fable.

[36:23] It's the word of God and every word of it will come to pass both to the wicked and to the righteous. I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body may preserve blameless liberty to you.

[36:53] And you will see him doing it in one of the Psalms. And you have to be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.

[37:11] And that you there takes in these three things. Spirit, soul, and body is you. And those three things are either under the power of the law and are appointed to wrath or they are appointed to obtain salvation.

[37:39] be preserved blameless.

[37:52] Blameless. Knowing yourself doesn't it seem impossible that you could ever be blameless?

[38:03] and that before the majesty of a holy God. See the beauty, the majesty, the mercy, the love of the Lord Jesus to his people.

[38:24] It brought him down. Love was in it. Love would have been drowned in his suffering.

[38:36] But he couldn't be quenched. He couldn't be killed. Because all that he is and all that he has and all that he has done is unchanging.

[38:58] And it will be the same in his people's experience until at last it issues in eternal glory.

[39:15] Blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here come the second time without sin unto salvation and they that look for him.

[39:40] There are those that are looking for him. There are plenty of people that are looking for money, houses, lands, everything.

[39:54] But when you see the glory of Christ it obliterates all that. It looks a poor affair.

[40:05] I can quite understand Moses. Pharaoh's court was a wonderful court. But he saw heaven.

[40:18] He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. And that's heaven. and when he saw heaven and the glory of the Lord there, he despised this palace and chose rather to suffer here with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

[40:48] the dear apostle Paul, you know, he thought he was blameless.

[40:58] He said he was. He says, touching the law, blameless, instead of which, as one of the greatest sins that he committed.

[41:12] he was a greater sin than his adultery. Self-righteousness, blameless, nothing wrong with me, no need of salvation, no need of Christ, no knowledge of him, don't want him.

[41:39] look at the difference. I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[42:02] Oh, you come without sin unto salvation. He's done away with his people's sin. so far as they're concerned in the law they've got none, and they'll have none when they come to the end.

[42:20] He was all imputed to the Lord Jesus, and he suffered, and he was made perfect through suffering, because he completed it to the satisfaction of the law, the satisfaction of his father.

[42:38] all to be complete in him. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

[42:54] You know, in fact, you could remember saying the same thing you read, that 23rd verse, and you know that the Lord must do everything that's there, and everything else in the word of God, which is spiritual, who also will do it.

[43:17] You bowed before him and said, do it, Lord, do it. brethren, pray for us.

[43:31] I know you do kindly for me, but it doesn't only mean pray for the minister or the man, it means pray for us, that the gospel might have precourse and be glorified.

[43:45] it's not a prayer exclusively for a minister, it includes him, but you see what there is between the exalted redeemer in heaven, the prince of peace, and his people and his church here below, and he sends ministers so that you see the connection between his finished work, and he carried it up to heaven, in all the merit of it, and sends it down to his people, one means by the ministry.

[44:36] Well, it's a fallible, feeble word of mind, that this is not feeble, a text isn't feeble, my friends. Oh, may the Lord make it a blessing to any poor, troubled soul.

[44:56] Go to him. If you really, if you really know the text in the negative, go to him, that he might make up your negatives, and make them positives through your prayer, faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

[45:23] Do it, Lord, for Christ's sake. Amen. God go God will you will Can be and theño