How Ye Ought to Walk

Review of 1 Thessalonians Chapters 1-3 and Introduction to Chapter 4

0:02 Let us turn now to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, as this morning we begin our exposition and study of the fourth chapter, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4. I trust you are seeking to keep in mind the main threads of teaching in each chapter. The first chapter is basically Paul's paragraph of praise to God for what has transpired at Thessalonica, indicating the essential spiritual truth that when sinners are converted and forged together into virile churches, it's because God has been pleased to work. He's been pleased to work consistent with his own eternal purpose and in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the main thrust. Of that first chapter, the main thrust of chapter 2 indicates that though God works sovereignly, he uses workmen fitted for the task.

1:16 And so chapter 2 confronts us with the marks of a true minister and the marks of a true ministry, the kind of people through which God is pleased to work sovereignly and in keeping with his eternal plan. Chapter 3 brings us, as it were, into a. Of the yearning of the heart of the true servant of Christ for the people of God and the particular doctrine that runs through the warp and woof of the third chapter is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Paul is anxious to know if these people are persevering.

1:54 And so the great spiritual principle there is that what God begins in power through suited workmen, he carries on amidst any difficulty. And the fact that the work is carried on is proof that God began it in the first place. And so that truth stands before us in the third chapter with its conclusion being a record of Paul's prayer for these people, then an expression of his wishes for them. And that brings us right into the fourth chapter, beginning with the words, finally, then my brethren or better.

2:36 Furthermore, brethren, or for the rest, then we can expect a transition of thought whenever we find the apostle using this phrase, finally, then or furthermore, it's used in second Corinthians 13, 11 in the Ephesians 6, 10 and Philippians 4, 8. And in each case, you find the apostle, as it were, rounding out what he has said and then bringing a cluster. Now, in second Corinthians 13, it only lasts for a few verses in Philippians 4, it only lasts for a few verses, but here the apostles finally or in conclusion goes on for quite a time. So the next time a preacher says an in conclusion and 20 minutes later, he's still going, he may have some apostolic precedent for what he is doing for the apostle, having said, finally, gives us. As far as the amount of content, almost as much as what has preceded in the bulk of the letter. So we have an indication in chapter four that we are moving from the train of thought previous into a series of exhortations and admonitions.

The Theme of the Christian's Walk and Its Connection to Prayer and Desire

3:56 Now what is the theme of this first part of chapter four and in a very real sense of both chapter four and chapter five? Well, notice finally, then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, even as you do walk, that you abound more and more. He indicates that the theme of his final exhortations will focus upon this particular subject, the walk that is well-planned. Finally, then, brethren, as you received of us how to walk, so now we exhort you to abound in it. The focal point of his exhortation is the practical walk of the people of God. Now, so much for the general theme. Will you notice in the next place the connection between chapter four, verses one and two particularly, and what precedes?

5:06 In verses nine and ten of chapter three, Paul tells us what he prayed for, as he thought of the Thessalonians. And you will remember in our study of this prayer, we saw that it focused upon his desire to see them, that he might perfect what was lacking in their faith. He longed to see growth and development, and he wanted to be the means that God would use in that growth and development. Because that was his prayer, we saw in our study of verses 11 to 13, true prayer gives birth to holy longings and holy desires.

5:48 So he says, now may our God direct us to you, and in the meantime, may God establish you in holiness. Do I pray that he will bring me to you, that I might be an instrument to perfect your faith? Then not only do I pray that, I long that he will bring me, and that in the meantime, he will establish you in the faith. And then he comes to chapter 4 and says, as I exhorted you how to walk and please God, so now I'm going to give you more of the same.

6:22 So you have this trilogy, you have these three things tied together. Prayer, holy desire, and sanctified activity. Consistent with the desire and with the prayer. What he prayed for in verses 9 and 10, he desires in verses 11 to 13.

6:46 And in chapter 4, he sets out to accomplish. And in seeing those three things together, we have a tremendous principle of the Christian life. For in reality, whenever those three things are found, are not found. When those three things are found together, there's something terribly defective.

The Inseparable Link Between Prayer, Desire, and Effort

7:10 A man who can pray for something, and then when he's done with his praying, can forget about it, and have no carryover into his life of longing for it. He really didn't want it when he prayed for it.

7:25 If you can pray for the salvation of a loved one, and then after you've prayed, just forget about it, so that when your hands are in the sink, or you're driving to work, or sitting on the bus, or you're there at the machine in the shop, and your mind never turns in its free moments, to think about that loved one, so that you can say, as Paul does in other places, I have you in my heart, as he says in Philippians, then your prayer was really just a perfunctory kind of religious exercise. It really wasn't true prayer. For true prayer will always be linked to desire. Now, if a man says, oh yes, I plead with God for a given thing, and I really long for it.

8:06 If that prayer and desire does not give birth, to activity which in the providence of God he is able to perform, to accomplish the desire, and to answer the prayer, he's fooling himself.

8:22 So Paul says, I not only prayed that you might be perfected in the faith, I not only longed that you might be established in holiness, he said, now I'm going to write you and tell you how you go about it. And so you have prayer, desire, and effort joined together, in this inseparable way. Conversely, the man who says, oh yes, I'm really putting forth effort for this holy end, if he's not found praying for it, and his heart is not found bound up with longing for it, then he's guilty of fleshly activity upon which the curse of God rests. For God says, curse be he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. And I can't move from this. I can't move from this introductory principle without bringing some specific application.

Application: Parental Responsibility for Children's Salvation and Development

9:16 I thought of our role as parents in this regard. If I were to ask every converted parent here today, do you desire the salvation of your children? You'd all say, why of course, do you think I'm a heathen? I don't want them to go to hell.

9:32 I don't want them to live like pagans and dishonor God by a life of rebellion. Of course I long for the salvation of my children. Do you really?

9:42 Here's the proof.

9:44 Does it drive you to cry to God for their salvation? Do you know what it is to spend even five minutes pleading with God with deep earnestness that God would break in and turn their rebel hearts to Him? If not, your so-called desire is a lot of wishful thinking. It's self-deception.

10:09 You don't long for their salvation. If it doesn't drive you to pray, oh, you say, yes, I do pray. Oh, I do. And I long.

10:17 Ah. But is your prayer and your longing being coupled with the proper means that God has ordained for their salvation?

10:28 And the greatest of those means, you know what it is? In the context of a professing Christian home, you know what the greatest means is?

10:40 Your blameless life demonstrating the power of the gospel 24 hours a day. So that if you really desire their salvation, if your prayer for their salvation is genuine, you will set yourself by the grace of God to so walk before them that they cannot deny the power of salvation as they see it lived in your life.

11:19 And if you're not setting yourself at any cost to live blamelessly before them, your prayers and your desires are a mockery. They're insincere. Sincere and ingenue.

11:34 Carried over into the realm of another area of parental responsibility. And I guess this is most heavy upon my heart because of the floods of counseling situations that have been coming to me in past months. For I see that 95% of the things with which I must wrestle and grapple and sweat and weep could have all been taken care of if parents had only done their job. Do you desire that your children, become mature young men and women, ready to take their place in society as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers?

12:12 Do you really desire that? Do you want them to come to adulthood warped and stunted in their emotional development, in their ability to be a good father, a good mother, a good housekeeper? Oh, you say, of course not. I want my child to be mature, well-developed, well-rounded.

12:32 And that's what I pray for. My friend, listen, if your prayers and desires are genuine, then you're going to scour the scriptures and say, Oh God, what means have you ordained to bring this about?

12:46 And you'll search out the principles of discipline taught in Holy Scripture, which is one of the main channels through which God will bring that life to maturity. Consistent, biblically oriented discipline. You as a mother will give yourself, to the training of your daughters, so that they know how to cook, and how to sew, and how to act when a grumpy husband comes home, because they've seen you take it on the chin graciously. And you fathers will give yourselves to your sons, so that they go up knowing, if I ever father a child, this is going to involve my whole life.

13:29 My own son or daughter. And my heart grieves, and I could weep,

13:37 when I see this irresponsibility amongst Christian parents who won't give themselves to the total development of their children.

13:49 And then they wear the wrong thin coming to my study. Warped and twisted. Now faced with the responsibilities of motherhood and fatherhood themselves, and unable to cope with it, because their own parents were too busy. Too busy.

14:06 Making money for new work. Rugged. Making money for new TV.

14:16 Doing that. Oh, beloved, I plead with you today. If God has entrusted you with the holy responsibility of parenthood, pray that He'll put blinders on your eyes to everything else but the discharge of that responsibility. And though I would long to see every one of us marked in our neighborhood as one who talked about the Lord Jesus, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, I would say, every opportunity, busy in the work of the church, I say, with that as the background, if you did nothing else in life but give yourself to those two, three, four children God gave you and poured into them spiritually and in terms of total life development, all that God has entrusted to you, you will not have lived in vain.

15:11 You will turn out into society someone ready to be a Christian. A father, a mother,

15:19 a Sunday school teacher, a missionary, a servant of Christ.

15:24 May God grant that we see the principle here and its very clear application to us. The Apostle Paul would not be found guilty of this self-delusion, this kind of spiritual LSD trip that says, oh, how long did my children have a happy marriage? What are you doing to secure it? There's a mother and a father to teach them by example and precept.

15:53 What goes into a happy marriage? Happy marriages just don't happen. It's the fruit of long hours and years of training and discipline.

16:05 Oh, I want my children to be good parents. They will be essentially the kind of parent you are.

16:13 Why would you tell them what you are?

Application: Church's Desire for God's Blessing and Spiritual Growth

16:18 You see it in relationship to the church? If I ask all the members of the Trinity Church, do you long for the blessing of the outpoured Spirit upon the Trinity Church? Why, of course. Do you long to see the Spirit of God move upon us and cause us by His grace to grow in quality and in quantity?

16:40 Do you long to see our prayer meetings full of life? Do you long to see our Lord's Day services marked by spiritual unction and power in the sense of the presence of God? You say, of course I do. Do you really?

16:57 Is that what you're praying for?

17:01 Is that why you order your schedule so that unless providentially hindered you're going to be there Wednesday night when people gather for that express purpose to plead with God to send the Holy Ghost for the services on the Lord's Day? To plead with God to save our young people? We don't have a multiplicity of activities and yet there are some of you who deliberately, willfully and irresponsibly absent yourselves consistently from the prayer meetings yet you say you want the blessing of God? Do we really?

17:35 Do we really? Do we really? Others say, well, that doesn't get me. I'm there at prayer meetings.

17:41 I really desire it and I'm praying for it. Ah, but are you using every legitimate, biblically directed effort to see that the work of God is extended? Are you in your circle of influence bearing testimony to Christ being willing to be marked as a religiously religious nut because you pass out those little white pieces of paper?

18:03 Because you give out tracts? Because you talk about Christ? And because you have an uncanny way of turning the conversation around to spiritual things?

The Substance of the Directive: Assuming Spiritual Life and Paul's Earnestness

18:13 Oh, as we come to this fourth chapter, let's not get so lost in the details that we fail to see the principle that is here in the connection of this fourth chapter with what precedes. Well, so much then for these introductory things. Thoughts, the theme, the connection. Now let's look at the substance particularly of the first two verses.

18:36 I don't know how far we'll get this morning. First, Thessalonians 4, verses 1 and 2. Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God even as ye do walk that ye abound more and more for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. His theme being the walk of the Christian that pleases God.

19:08 How does he set out to give them directives? Well, you notice in the first place he sets out to give them directives assuming the presence of spiritual life. Finally then, brethren, or as the King James has it, furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, he makes it very clear that what he is saying has an exclusive application. It is only for those who've been brought into the family of God by spiritual birth.

19:47 So we cannot expect in this section primarily a discourse on how to enter life but how to conduct ourselves in life. Not how to enter life but how to conduct ourselves in life. How to conduct ourselves having entered life by the grace of God. And so there are those among us this morning and I'm confident in a group this size there would be and you have not been born of the Spirit.

20:15 You are a stranger to conversion, repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus. Then this will be intensely boring to you. I tell you right at the outset and I'll not be terribly disturbed if you indicate that by nodding. Or by your lack of enthusiastic response to what we consider.

20:37 For this is a family meal. This has exclusive reference to those who have spiritual life. So the directive comes assuming spiritual life. In the next place it comes in the form of a beseeching and an exhortation.

20:57 Furthermore then we beseech you and we beseech you. And we beseech you. And we beseech you. And we exhort you.

21:03 This word beseech means to ask or to request or sometimes to beg. It's the word translated in John 17, 9 as pray. I pray, Father. Jesus is praying and he says I beseech thee, Father.

21:19 I ask. In Acts 3, 3 it speaks of the beggar who was by the gate asking alms. The idea of beseeching, entreating, pleading, so the Apostle Paul would give to these Thessalonians the idea that as he lays out these directives for a holy walk he's not just discharging his task as an Apostle. No, his heart is involved.

21:49 I beseech you, brethren. I long that you take heed to what I say.

21:57 I'll desist from the temptation to apply this except to say I hope that you will take heed to what that conveys in my exposition. I'm not preaching on this chapter simply because that's the only chapter in the Bible to preach and it comes next and I want to save face and get through Thessalonians. No, I'm convinced that what is here is as relevant to us in our need as anything could be. As I prayed and thought over what to do this fall knowing that we had just about completed chapter 3 and then left off Thessalonians for the summer as I looked over the content of these chapters I don't think I could have found two more relevant chapters to preach on if I were viewing our needs and trying to find a section that would suit them.

22:42 And so I would beseech you, brethren plead with you and beg of you to heed the exhortation. Then it comes in the form of an exhortation as well as a beseeching and that word exhortation is a broad word sometimes primarily means instruction other times comfort instruction encouragement here it would seem to be limited to the idea of encouragement and charging for we read in verse 10 of the same chapter and indeed we do it toward all the brethren which are in Macedonia but we beseech you, brethren that you increase more and more and the word beseech there is the word exhort we exhort you, brethren we charge you we seek to stir you up so this exhortation or this instruction about a holy walk comes assuming that spiritual life is present it comes in the form of a beseeching a pleading an exhortation a charging and notice it comes in the authority of Christ we beseech and exhort you by the Lord Jesus better translated we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus and then we have the word exhortation Paul says I speak to you as one who is joined to Jesus Christ as one who has been given peculiar authority

24:10 from Christ as an apostle so that as you Thessalonians hear my words as one of your elders reads them when this letter came as you people at the Trinity Church hear the words of 1 Thessalonians 4 expounded and applied you are dealing with the word of God personally with the word of Jesus Christ his authority confronts you in the word and Paul wants them to be reminded of that so he not only says I beseech you and exhort you I do it but I do it in the Lord Jesus reminding them of his union with Christ and his special authority from Christ oh how vital to keep this before us as we move through this section and we will see the kingship of Christ is coming to expression in the words of the apostle and your submission to the kingship of Christ is no more expensive than your reaction to these words will indicate I just wish somehow I could crawl into the skin of people when they hear preaching and then think as they think and I wonder how many of us when we hear the words of the apostle expounded are consciously seeing beyond

25:39 the page of scripture seeing beyond the preacher hearing beyond his words and are conscious that we are seated before King Jesus oh what would happen if when we came for the exposition of scripture we consciously said this was a conscious activity of the mind Lord Jesus I sit before thy sepulcher this morning what wilt thou say to me that's what Paul wants them to realize as he begins this instruction and then there's another principle here that the exercise of God given authority can be done graciously though he speaks in the Lord Jesus he beseeches them he could say I command you he'll do that later on but he says I beseech you beautiful picture the fact that authority does not negate graciousness but in the exercise of our authority whether it is ministerial whether it is parental whether it is governmental how becoming children of the God of infinite love that we should indicate something of the graciousness and the love of God well so much then for how the directives for godliness come will you notice with me in the next place

Key Words: 'Ought' and 'Walk' – Obligation and the Totality of Life

27:08 and I'm confident now we'll only get started what are the key words in this directive for Christian life and conduct and one thing that verse by verse exposition of the scriptures will do to any man who comes at it dead in earnest it'll convince him more and more of the verbal inspiration of the holy scriptures how that every word is pregnant with meaning and rich in its implications for life and for doctrine will you notice the key words now we've looked how the directives will come assuming spiritual life as a beseeching and exhortation in the authority of Christ now what words are the key words in this exhortation the first key word that I want you to look at is the word ought O-U-G-H-T first word furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk now we use the word ought in about three different ways sometimes we use it in terms of something being desirable you might say to a friend of yours if you have a sufficient friendship to warrant it now Sally Henry Pete

28:37 Mike Mary John John you ought to lose some weight now what we mean is it would be desirable for you to lose some weight we are not taking the place of an authoritative pope saying you must or of a doctor who says look you lose X number of pounds or else but we say you ought to it's desirable sometimes we use it as a word of possibility you call your wife and say well I'm going to be home late she said well what time do you expect to be home well I ought to be home by 7.30 you use the word ought as a word of possibility a word of desirability possibility but there's a third way that we use it and this is the way it's used here it's the word of obligation I ought to pay my bills when they come due now that's obligation that's not just desirable that's obligation now when Paul says we instructed you how you ought to walk he's not just he was indicating that the detailed instructions as to the path of godliness did not come as moral advice as moral suggestion or as something that would be desirable but they come with moral obligation rooted in divine will

30:05 and divine appointment why ought we to so walk because God has told us and if God has spoken then desirability and possibility do not enter there is now pure unadulterated obligation obligation based basically upon God's creative rights and God's redemptive claims over his people for remember he is writing to those in the family of God and as those in the family of God we delight to acknowledge that we are creatures in fact that's what we do in terms of the worship pattern of Psalm 100 we enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves you see all men have the creator creature relationship by virtue of the fact that their life is derived from him he has himself imparted it in him they live and move and have their being but they don't want to acknowledge it they want to make themselves little independent gods the Christian is the only man who really revels in the fact he's a creature and as a creature he acknowledges I have been made to be governed by God God never made me

31:33 to run myself I ought to obey him because that's what creatures were made to do and a true child of God revels in him and then the second aspect of his obligation of course is that he's not only not only does he have this right of creation but the right of redemption he bought me at such infinite price for what purpose we read about it in Peter unto obedience and what is obedience but the discharge of what I ought to do now , there is in our day in evangelical circles this terrible heretical idea that the sense of obligation is inconsistent with love they're saying if you tell Christians you ought to do it that's legalism is it legalistic for a bird to conduct itself like a bird can fly in the free expanse of heaven is that crimping the style of a bird for it to act consistently with its bird-like nature is it cramping the style of a fish to let it ply its way through the seven seas of course not well you see then if man was made

33:02 to obey God when he recognizes that and puts himself at the feet of his creator and says I ought to do his will that's not cramping he's finding his true humanity he's finding his true identity and though the thing that motivates him may be gratitude and love it never cancels out the fact I ought to obey him redemption merely intensifies this all men regardless of their relationship to God in salvation ought to obey him because he's their creator but the children of God have a double obligation for he has bought them at infinite price so whatever Paul is going to tell these people as to their walk in which he wants them to abound it isn't suggested may I say to you dear people again what we consider from these chapters is not suggestion anything less than full-hearted endeavor to walk in the light of these instructions of 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 is high-handed anarchy it's rebellion and a lot I trust God will help us to see it as such then the next key word is walk ye have received of us how ye ought to

34:30 walk and to please God and the best manuscripts have the added little phrase even as ye do walk twice then in verse 1 he uses the word walk this section is concerned with the believers walk walk walk that is the framing of the entire life in its attitudes and actions and this word walk of course is used again again in scripture walk worthily of the Lord if we walk in the light walk in newness of life walk in the spirit I quote from Matthew Henry as he comments on this phrase the design of the gospel is to teach men not only what they should believe but also how they ought to walk not so much to fill men's minds with notions as to regulate their temper and behavior the apostle taught them how to walk not how to talk to talk without living will never bring us to heaven for the character of those who are in Christ Jesus is this they walk not after the flesh but after the spirit end of quote now since a man's walk which is a word describing the entire life in its attitudes

Key Word: 'How' – Specific Directions and the Breadth of Scripture

35:59 and actions since it involves many relationships and many circumstances any instruction about the Christian's walk will be a broad scope of instruction there will not be one little simple secret to the Christian's walk he says I've instructed you how to walk well if walking involves the totality of life then the instructions will touch the whole spectrum of life what you think what you say how you act to God to yourself to others in the home in the shop and he's going to touch all of those relationships so we're concerned then about the believers walk then the next word and this will be the last one we'll have a chance to focus on this morning is the word how h-o-w he says you received of us oh ye ought to walk and to please God notice he did not say you received of us that ye ought to walk so as to please God and then leave them up to themselves to figure out what that means no no he said you received of us how now the word how is a word of direction a word of explanation I had someone come to me one time and say pastor in this given area you're telling us what to do but you're not telling us how what they meant was they wanted more direction

37:28 as to the manner in which it was to be worked out now will you take seriously what Paul is saying part of his preaching when he was with them and remember he was only with them at least three weeks maybe a longer time but the scripture says he was with them by the space of three sabbaths part of his preaching after some of them came to repentance and faith was to give them a detailed directory of Christian conduct ye received past tense you received of us when we were with you how ye ought to walk and to please God showing that Paul recognized the necessity for specific directions for Christian conduct he was not content to simply say well just love the Lord and do what your heart tells you he said we told you how to walk so as to please God now what do we learn then what are the implications from the use of this word how may I suggest several that are basic to the entire Christian life and experience number one there is no simple secret to a God pleasing walk there is no simple secret to a God pleasing walk for Paul says I told you how to walk so as to please God

38:57 and now I'm writing that you might abound more and more and then he gives the more house to please God in more areas that he didn't touch before in greater detail beware of any teaching on the Christian life that has the core of its teaching all stopped in one chapter we talked about this with some folk last week as we were trying to analyze a given movement and in preparation this struck me so clearly if you can say of a certain church or a certain movement well the main thrust of their movement is X chapter you can mark it off they are imbalanced they are not biblical in their orientation Paul says I taught you how to walk many instructions that couldn't be comprised in one little secret or one little chapter if I say certain names immediately I think of certain chapters that have been epitomized those movements if I say Keswick deeper life I think of Romans 6 7 and 8 if I say a charismatic movement I think of 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 and a couple of chapters in Acts if I say

40:25 and I could use other things we can say well that's their chapter well that's their chapter you know see something is defective if the Trinity Church ever became known because of its teaching preaching ministry to be a church that had one chapter may God have mercy on us may God have mercy on us this is why I stick and discipline myself to stick to verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book exposition because it's all and if anybody says well if you just get my one chapter there you've got it you tell them I'm sorry God gave me more chapters in my Bible than that now if you can help me understand that chapter and how it fits into the whole wonderful but if you tell me it is the whole I'll be just as angry if my wife gives me the appetizer and says that's the meal that's part of the meal but I want the whole meal and besides she doesn't give me appetizers anyway so the illustration breaks down in experience you see the principle I'm driving at now this will do two things for you if you believe it number one it'll deliver you from the itch to find the mystery chapter that's going to solve all your problems or if I can just find that one chapter huh I can just

41:55 find that one chapter if I just find it well just forget it you're not going to find that one chapter you're not going to find it Paul says you received of us how you ought to walk lots of chapters and here comes some more chapters and if you're going to please God you've got to face all of them bit by bit as you're able to absorb them bit by bit as you're able to work them out but if you're going to please God you're going to be a 66 I don't know how many chapters I've got to say one time I saw them totaled up I forgot how many chapters in the New Testament but we can't even exclude the old because the old is given as well for instruction and doctrine but you get the principle the second thing it'll do is deliver you from discouragement you ever get discouraged when you think look at all the directions in the Bible about conduct how in the world can I even know what's there let alone work it all out I get discouraged sometimes because I find when I'm getting really feel begin to make a little progress with some of the directions of maybe Ephesians 4 or 5 lo and behold I'm driving in my car I mentioned this to my wife the other day with my tape recorder on with the New Testament and lo and behold some passage that I had memorized years before I had completely forgotten that touched a very practical area of my life boy it smacked me right between my eyes oh I had forgotten that and I had to shore up my life in

43:25 that area well you see you can get discouraged unless you recognize this principle that Paul commends these people he says you're walking in the light of the

43:41 golden he said now I'm just going to give you more instructions that you might grow never forget dear believers that God remembers our frame that we are but dust and part of that dusty frame is a rusty mental apparatus right and just from the standpoint of retaining all the directions we can't retain all of them at once now God knows that doesn't he doesn't he well that gives me comfort but now when he speaks about a given area and truth then comes and sheds light upon that pathway and then we balk then God will discipline us just as a parent I do not give to my children the directives that will be commensurate with adult behavior or 15 year old behavior I'll have to sweat over that when I come to it I don't have teenagers yet so I don't give directives for teenagers I give directives for 7 year olds and 4 year olds and 3 year olds and I expect nothing more as a parent but that they take those directives seriously and walk in the light of them now God is condescended to use the figure of the father son relationship and so if we recognize that there is no simple formula simple secret to a God pleasing walk but the whole spectrum of divine directive it will keep us in the one hand from the itch to find

45:10 the key chapter that's going to solve all our problems it will keep us from discouragement we'll recognize that the element of time is involved in the purpose of God and will accept it and live accordingly and then the next practical implication of this is that we realize there is no substitute for continuous systematic exposure to the entirety of scripture if 2nd Timothy 316 is true that all scripture is given by inspiration of God with profit for doctrine reproof correction instruction and righteousness then we must try to establish some reasonable working plan in our own personal bible study and in the instruction of the church that there is should be over a period of time a continuous systematic exposure to the entire breadth of scripture teaching that's why we read through in a cycle the letters of the new testament if some of you wonder why we do this this is why I know I'll never preach through the new testament I wonder if I'll ever get through Thessalonians at the rate we move but there are things that we need to know in Peter and in John and in Romans and so when we're done going through Peter and John and Jude we're going to start right back with Romans and go right through for the third time in the six years I've been here why because of this principle these things need to

46:40 be brought to remembrance now in your own devotional habits don't use the Bible in the way where you just dip in once in a while for a little devotional snippet no have some plan even though it extends over a five year period where you're reading through the entirety of Holy Scripture for the whole book of God was given to teach us how to walk so as to please God well we only got about halfway through these key words the ones we'll study next week God willing are

47:15 and that ye should abound more and more now that's very convenient that's three words so we'll have three points to our sermon next Lord's Day but as we close this morning I do trust in all seriousness that we will meditate upon the principle found in the connection of chapter four to chapter three that prayer holy desire and sanctified effort must be joined together and as proof one of the other and that as we come to these exhortations we'll recognize that they come to us in the authority of Christ and that these key words will ever be before us God's concerned about our walk the framing of the entirety of life just as concerned with what you are when you step out of this place and go to your home as what you were here for this hour and twenty minutes and when these directives come they come as obligation we ought to walk and they come as part of the total spectrum of divine directive so let's not be looking for the key chapter that's going to solve our problems let's be encouraged that the Lord knows our frame and not be discouraged that we seem to perhaps be making so little progress the Lord knows our frame and let's thank him that he's a compassionate tender loving

48:44 heavenly father let us pray