AUSTRALIAN BIBLE CHURCH September 12, 2010

A Presbyterian Church following the Bible without Qualification

and the Lord Jesus Christ without Compromise

by Faith
 

Spiritual Holiness and Hygiene

from I Thessalonians 5:9-24

 I

           The Divine Appointment   I Th. 5:9-11
 

Here is one appointment if a Christian, you CANNOT MISS!

for "He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

The appointment is not for wrath but to obtain salvation,

and it is all set down and covered in His appointment book (Ephesians 1:4),

made up before time first dawned, or light caressed this earth.

Christ has covered us in His death, all who believe and receive Him,

so that dying, we are alive in Him,

or remaining, it is the same.

This is a perpetual cover (Ephesians 1:11).

When your time comes (if it does before HE comes)

then this is the appointment He keeps (cf. Philippians 1:19-23)!

If He comes while you are still alive, the terrestrial becomes the celestial in

one act (I Corinthians 15:57ff.).

II

Four Aspects of

      The Field of Spiritual Labour    5:12-17
 

It is IN

i) Vigilant Peace   5:12-13

Esteem fellow heirs

but do NOT admire false apostles and their kind - II  Cor. 11.

Recognise order, regard supervisory work.

ii) Vigorous Strengthening  5:14 

DO Warn the Unruly, Comfort the Afflicted ... Uphold what lacks...

Be Patient in spirit.

iii) Virtuous Self-Control   5:15-17

Avoid payback.

Seek overall good.

Rejoice as a quality of life.

Pray as a way of life.

iv) Vital Linkage   5:18-22

The Alert Eye of the Horse to his Rider  

           and Spiritual Zest    
 

Maintain thankfulness in all circumstances.

Be sensitive to the Spirit - do not 'quench' it.

Let the vital linkage not be repressed, but expressed,

while the waters of the spring of life well up, and flow on (John 4:14, 7:37).

Be awake to biblical exposition and application,

keep your mind a keen instrument, your spirit a lively one.

Be watchful not in being testy, but in making tests,

so avoiding evil in timely fashion

whatever its form, function or format .

IV  

The Source of Spiritual Sanctity: God and His Word

      Till Christ, this Same Jesus, 

        Comes Again  5:23-24

Realise the source of Spiritual Sanctity:

God, the God of peace,  and His Word, the Christ of salvation,

till this same Jesus is here again.

Relish His memory, Expect His Return.

Have a Total Aim in Sanctity

Focus on a Blameless Life till the Return of Christ completes all:

a Gracious Gift at the last, in His appearance,

as at the first, in His salvation

and

Study God's word.

 Remember this: the place of grace,

through Christ's name and the Spirit of God's action,
is in you. So rejoice with relish, pray with conviction,
by faith be vital in spirit, sound in mind, apt for instruction,
exemplary in conduct,
the whole spirit, soul and body in the spiritual place where grace is.

Christ is the Wisdom and the Power of God (I Corinthians 1:24),

so heed the wisdom of God as in Proverbs 8:34-36:

"Blessed is the one who listens to Me,

Watching daily at My gates,

Waiting at the posts of My doors.

For whoever finds Me finds life,

And obtains favour from the Lord.

But the one who sins against Me wrongs his own soul.

All those who hate Me love death."

Disdaining then a funereal courtship with a coffin,

continue as one of His (John 10:9), but faith,

knowing that THIS Shepherd,

KNOWS His sheep, and they KNOW His voice,

and He GIVES them eternal life (John 10:27-28),

concerning which young John

was so thrilled (I John 1:1-4),

delighting it is a dower for all time (I John 5:11ff.)

Praise God for His words, and for His Word,

More reliable than life, and its source.