Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / What a Way to Say Good-bye! │ Msg 1212 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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What a Way to Say Good-bye! │ Msg 1212 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The ticket is in hand and the flight attendant has
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Speaker 1: made the final boarding call. The dreaded moment is here.
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Speaker 1: It's it's time to say goodbye. A son or a
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Speaker 1: daughter may be going off to college, a visiting sweetheart
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Speaker 1: may be returning home, or a grandparent moving away. We've
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Speaker 1: we've all experienced these, these kinds of goodbyes. First there's
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Speaker 1: that awkward small talk looks like good weather for the
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Speaker 1: trip or right soon, Yeah, I promise, And then one
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Speaker 1: last lengthy embrace, and then the tears come on, You're
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Speaker 1: gonna You're gonna miss your flight. I love you. More
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Speaker 1: tears that walk through the tunnel, and then a final
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Speaker 1: turn and a wave goodbye. How we dislay like saying goodbye?
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Speaker 1: You know, we don't even like the word. We'd rather
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Speaker 1: say see you later, or keep in touch or talk
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Speaker 1: to you soon. Because goodbye can sound so final but
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Speaker 1: wrenching as it is, saying goodbye can be an opportunity
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Speaker 1: to turn our attention to the Lord and focus on
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Speaker 1: the security that he alone provides. If said well, a
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Speaker 1: goodbye can ignite a hopeful flame of God's presence in
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Speaker 1: the hearts of the ones leaving, and even in the
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Speaker 1: ones who are staying behind. Paul concludes his wonderful letter
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Speaker 1: to the Thessalonians with such a farewell, instead of ending
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Speaker 1: with a breezy now, just keep smiling yours truly, Paul,
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Speaker 1: he takes a while to say goodbye. He takes to
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Speaker 1: us six verses to graciously affirm his readers with a
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Speaker 1: benediction that is the emotional capstone of his entire letter.
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Speaker 1: Because of the emotions Paul had for the Thessalonians, I
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Speaker 1: want to read his goodbye to them from the amplified,
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Speaker 1: and I want you just to sit there and listen.
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Speaker 1: Listen to the way Paul said goodbye. Now, also we
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Speaker 1: beseech you, brethren, get to know those who labor among you,
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Speaker 1: recognize them for what they are, acknowledge and appreciate and
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Speaker 1: respect them all your leaders who are over you in
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Speaker 1: the Lord, and those who warn and kindly reprove and
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Speaker 1: exhort you, and hold them in very high and most
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Speaker 1: affectionate esteem, in intelligent and sympathetic appreciation of their work.
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Speaker 1: Me at peace among yourselves, And we earnestly beseech you, brethren, admonish,
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Speaker 1: warn and seriously advise those who are out of line
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Speaker 1: that is the loafers, the disorderly, and the unruly. Encourage
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Speaker 1: the timid and faint hearted. Help and give your support
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Speaker 1: to the weak souls, and be very patient with everybody,
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Speaker 1: always keeping your temper. See that none of you repays
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Speaker 1: another with evil for evil, but always aim to show
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Speaker 1: kindness and seek to do good to one another and
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Speaker 1: to everybody. Be happy in your faith, and rejoice and
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Speaker 1: be glad hearted continually. Always be unceasing in prayer, praying
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Speaker 1: perseveringly thank God in everything, no matter what the circumstances
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Speaker 1: may be. Be thankful and give thanks for this is
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Speaker 1: the will of God for you who are in Christ, Jesus,
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Speaker 1: the revealer and mediator of that will. Do not quench,
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Speaker 1: press or subdue the Holy Spirit. Do not spurn the
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Speaker 1: gifts and utterances of the prophets. Do not depreciate prophetic revelations,
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Speaker 1: nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning. But test
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Speaker 1: and prove all things until you can recognize what is good.
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Speaker 1: To that hold fast, abstain from evil, shrink from it,
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Speaker 1: and keep aloof from it, in whatever form or whatever
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Speaker 1: kind it may be. And may the God of Peace
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Speaker 1: himself sanctify you through and through separate you from profane things,
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Speaker 1: make you pure and holy, consecrated to God. And may
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Speaker 1: your spirit and soul and body be preserved, sound and
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Speaker 1: complete and found blameless in the coming of our Lord
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Speaker 1: jes Is Christ the Messiah. Faithful is he who is
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Speaker 1: calling you to himself and utterly trustworthy, And he will
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Speaker 1: also do it. That is, fulfill his call. By hallowing
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Speaker 1: and keeping you brethren, pray for us, greet all the
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Speaker 1: brethren with a sacred kiss. I solemnly charge you, in
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Speaker 1: the name of the Lord, to have this letter read
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Speaker 1: before all the brethren. The grace, the unmerited favor and
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Speaker 1: blessings of our Lord, Jesus Christ the Messiah be with you,
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Speaker 1: all amen.
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Speaker 2: So be it.
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Speaker 3: Saying hello is easy. In fact, it's fun. It's saying
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Speaker 3: goodbye that's hard. I think Neil Diamond's popular piece Hello
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Speaker 3: Again Hello tells us what a lilt there is connected
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Speaker 3: with saying hello. Well, not always, there are some exceptions.
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Speaker 3: There are times when saying hello is a difficult thing.
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Speaker 3: There's a young man in our church, for example, who,
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Speaker 3: though he's now a young adult and very happy in
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Speaker 3: the home into which he has been adopted, he decided
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Speaker 3: this past year that he would trace his original roots,
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Speaker 3: and so, through a rather arduous plan, he went to
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Speaker 3: the other country where he was in fact born. As
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Speaker 3: a matter of fact, he was adopted by a mother
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Speaker 3: and dad while the father was in the military serving
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Speaker 3: in Europe, and so the man's real mother not only
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Speaker 3: lives in another country, but she doesn't even speak the language.
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Speaker 2: Which added to the difficulty of the pursuit.
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Speaker 3: Nevertheless, he pressed on, and I wish I could have
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Speaker 3: him here to tell you his remark arkable story. It's
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Speaker 3: full of emotion. He found the town, he found the street,
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Speaker 3: he in fact found the house, and then he sat
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Speaker 3: down out front and thought, now, how do I walk
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Speaker 3: up and say hi, I'm your son. Well, I'll leave
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Speaker 3: that for another time you might want to.
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Speaker 2: Saying hello is.
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Speaker 3: Not always easy, but it's usually a lot easier than
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Speaker 3: saying goodbye. As a matter of fact, I thought recently
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Speaker 3: of the number of places where I have seen people
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Speaker 3: wrenched trying to get the words goodbye out.
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Speaker 2: Of their mouth.
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Speaker 3: I have been in airports, and I have been in
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Speaker 3: train stations and bus depots where those words could hardly
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Speaker 3: be said. I have been in courtrooms where they were said.
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Speaker 3: I have seen it happen in hospital corridors and in
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Speaker 3: prisons and on college campuses. I've been at holmes where
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Speaker 3: there was the need to say goodbye to a family member,
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Speaker 3: and it was always with an enormous amount of emotion.
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Speaker 3: Saying goodbye is not an easy thing. In fact, it's tough.
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Speaker 3: A former neighbor of ours told me some time ago
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Speaker 3: that her husband's company, a large corporation, has moved them
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Speaker 3: three times in the past seven years, and she says,
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Speaker 3: we have learned as a family.
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Speaker 2: Just to lighten the.
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Speaker 3: Pain of saying goodbye. We just no longer bother to
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Speaker 3: say hello. They have, by the way, moved again four
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Speaker 3: times in eight years. It is painful to say goodbye.
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Speaker 3: Stop and think. We don't even like to use the words.
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Speaker 3: We say see you later, or talk to you tomorrow,
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Speaker 3: or give me a call later on. We say have
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Speaker 3: a nice day. We've even learned how to say it differently.
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Speaker 3: On Monday nights, turn out the lights, the party is over.
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Speaker 2: We don't say goodbye.
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Speaker 3: I checked my correspondence and I found that in my
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Speaker 3: correspondence I have never once written goodbye and signed my name.
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Speaker 3: I've said gratefully, lovingly, affectionately, warmly, cheerfully, encouraged, relieved, affirmed, strengthened.
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Speaker 3: Never once have I said goodbye. And people who write
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Speaker 3: me often feel the need to sign in a religious way,
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Speaker 3: so they will sign with love in the Lord in Christ,
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Speaker 3: because of Him, yours and his one signed recently, I'll
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Speaker 3: see you here there or in the air's a new one.
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Speaker 3: And I even have letters signed without wax by an individual.
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Speaker 3: Starting to sound like Andy Rue right now talking about
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Speaker 3: this subject.
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Speaker 2: But we don't like to say goodbye? Why?
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Speaker 3: Why is it so hard simply to say goodbye? There's
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Speaker 3: finality in it. You can hear the lock snap, you
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Speaker 3: can hear the door shut. And the deeper we feel
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Speaker 3: about people, the longer it takes us to say goodbye,
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Speaker 3: if in fact we ever say it, we like to
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Speaker 3: lengthen our talk when it comes time to close off
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Speaker 3: the conversation.
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Speaker 2: You know that's biblical. You may be relieved to know that.
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Speaker 3: Never once in scripture is there a letter signed goodbye
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Speaker 3: at the end. Sometime the writer closes with a couple
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Speaker 3: of verses. Sometime he will give as much as an
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Speaker 3: entire chapter to saying it. But there's never simply a
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Speaker 3: curt goodbye. That's true in the Thessalonian letter. As a
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Speaker 3: matter of fact, you may have already forgotten that this
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Speaker 3: is the very first recorded letter Paul wrote. May not
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Speaker 3: be the first letter he wrote, but it's the first
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Speaker 3: one chronologically that has found its way into the New
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Speaker 3: Testament canon of scripture, which we call today a part
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Speaker 3: of God's Word. This letter and Paul felt deeply about them.
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Speaker 3: These are among his first born. Now, I'm a father,
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Speaker 3: I'm not a mother, but I think I know enough
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Speaker 3: mothers to know that there's something about the firstborn that
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Speaker 3: makes them.
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Speaker 2: Sort of special.
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Speaker 3: I've always said that mothers feel affectionately about the firstborn,
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Speaker 3: and fathers really owe the first born in apology.
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Speaker 2: I think most.
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Speaker 3: Dads ought to look at their oldest and say I'm sorry,
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Speaker 3: look I learned on you, and then go on to
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Speaker 3: the bigger and better things.
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Speaker 2: But mothers have a sense of.
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Speaker 3: Oneness with the first one that came from their womb,
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Speaker 3: or the first one that they've adopted. There's something special
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Speaker 3: about the first For example, this letter to that little
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Speaker 3: church in Thesalonaika. Let's kind of review it. Chapter one,
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Speaker 3: he says, I give thanks for you, says that in
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Speaker 3: verse two. In chapter two, he says, I love you dearly,
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Speaker 3: says that in verse eight, having thus a fond affection
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Speaker 3: for you, you'd become very dear to us.
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Speaker 2: I love you dearly.
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Speaker 3: Chapter three, he says, I'm concerned about you, in fact,
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Speaker 3: so concerned I sent Timothy to see how things were
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Speaker 3: verse five. For this reason, when I could endure it
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Speaker 3: no longer, I sent to find out about your faith.
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Speaker 3: Chapter three is a letter written kind of like a
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Speaker 3: mother or father would write someone who's been away to
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Speaker 3: college quite some time, and the only time they've written
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Speaker 3: home is to get money. But there's not really been
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Speaker 3: any contact. There's not really been any meaningful talk. There's
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Speaker 3: not even been much phone conversation, and you get concerned
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Speaker 3: in their absence. Chapter three is a I'm concerned for you.
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Speaker 3: Chapter four is I exhort you. Now, don't let this
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Speaker 3: pass too quickly. I give thanks for you. Chapter one,
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Speaker 3: I love you dearly. Chapter two, I'm concerned for you.
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Speaker 3: Chapter three, I exhort you, And there's a kind of
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Speaker 3: an exclamation point after that. In fact, the first eight
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Speaker 3: verses of chapter four form some of the most frontal
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Speaker 3: council on moral purity in all the Bible.
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Speaker 2: Do you know that right here? I exhort you to
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Speaker 2: be pure.
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Speaker 3: I exhort you to stay sexually clean. I exhort you friends,
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Speaker 3: I love you too much to let you play in
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Speaker 3: the traffic.
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Speaker 2: I exhort you. I guess Chapter five.
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Speaker 3: He's encouraging them. In fact, verse eleven says, therefore, encourage
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Speaker 3: one another. And that's exactly what he does. And he
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Speaker 3: gives them a grocery list. I call it a long list,
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Speaker 3: over a dozen count them over a dozen things between
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Speaker 3: verses twelve and twenty two that they're to do, and
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Speaker 3: he is encouraging them to do it. I encourage you.
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Speaker 3: So when it comes time to say goodbye, how can
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Speaker 3: he say goodbye to people like that? Oh?
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Speaker 2: What a way to say goodbye? He does it beautifully.
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Speaker 3: George Cohan used to give the council to fellow entertainers
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Speaker 3: in the world of showbiz. Always leave him laughing when
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Speaker 3: you say goodbye. That's not God's counsel. A good laugh
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Speaker 3: is good, but that's not God's counsel. Always leave them
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Speaker 3: laughing is not the way to say goodbye. If you're
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Speaker 3: spiritually minded, if you really walk with God, if you
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Speaker 3: really want your life to have an impact on someone else.
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Speaker 3: Always turn their attention back to God when you walk away,
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Speaker 3: when it's all over, when you say goodbye, when you
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Speaker 3: in the time with them, always be sure they love
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Speaker 3: the Lord more than when you started. That's good counsel,
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Speaker 3: and that's what Paul does. There's a profound farewell in
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Speaker 3: this letter, and I am really falling in love with it.
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Speaker 3: I'm confident he never dreamed it would be analyzed by
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Speaker 3: preachers for centuries to come. God bless him. I think
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Speaker 3: he just wrote an affectionate goodbye in the only way
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Speaker 3: that he was led.
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Speaker 4: To do it.
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Speaker 3: In fact, if you look at these verses twenty three
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Speaker 3: through twenty eight in chapter five, you see that they
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Speaker 3: really have to do with three things God himself verses
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Speaker 3: twenty three and twenty four, and then the little church,
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Speaker 3: the people there twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven. Three
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Speaker 3: times he uses the word brethren. That's a signal brethren,
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Speaker 3: pray for us, greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.
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Speaker 3: I know you're anxious to know about that one.
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Speaker 2: We'll get to it. Just relax, and then.
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Speaker 3: I adjure you I hold you under oath to have
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Speaker 3: this letter read to everyone, brethren, all the brethren. So
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Speaker 3: Verses twenty five, six and seven have to do with
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Speaker 3: the little church in Thessalonika. And last he closes with
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Speaker 3: his favorite expression, grace to you, Grace of our Lord
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Speaker 3: Jesus Christ be with you. He's packed a lot into
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Speaker 3: this farewell. He starts by talking about the Father, and
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Speaker 3: actually the way the verse reads verse twenty three, it's
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Speaker 3: like a benediction, which is what I call a prayer
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Speaker 3: with your eyes open.
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Speaker 2: It's a prayer wish, may God do this.
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Speaker 3: It's not that may we bow and then I pray,
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Speaker 3: but I could look at you with my eyes open
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Speaker 3: and say, may God do this, and may the Lord
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Speaker 3: cause that to happen, and may He bless that.
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Speaker 2: It's a what F. F.
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Speaker 3: Bruce calls a prayer, wish, a prayer wish. Now look
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Speaker 3: at how he does it verse twenty three. Now may
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Speaker 3: the God of peace himself. You read it in the English.
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Speaker 3: If you could read it in the Greek, you would
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Speaker 3: read now himself.
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Speaker 2: May the God of peace.
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Speaker 3: Why do I say himself like that, because in the
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Speaker 3: Greek sentence, when something appears early on out of place,
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Speaker 3: it's emphasis.
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Speaker 2: It's an emphatic part of the sentence.
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Speaker 3: It's like we would say her majesty, the Queen, his majesty,
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Speaker 3: the King himself God.
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Speaker 2: That's what it reads.
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Speaker 3: In other words, God is not going to provide these
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Speaker 3: things through some delegation. He's not going to bring along
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Speaker 3: a band of angels and make it happen. He himself
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Speaker 3: will be there. He himself promises to deliver these goods.
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Speaker 2: And now himself, his.
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Speaker 3: Majesty whom, God of peace. That's a great title, great word.
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Speaker 3: You know, it's an old word.
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Speaker 2: The oldest term is shalom. You know what it means.
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Speaker 2: It means to be whole, whol e, to be whole.
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Speaker 3: It often carries a wholesome or wholeness idea. In the
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Speaker 3: New Testament, the term has in mind harmony, friendship as
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Speaker 3: opposed to alienation, contentment, as opposed to chaos.
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Speaker 2: Just think about peace.
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Speaker 1: For a minute.
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Speaker 3: In fact, I remember one wag says that we really
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Speaker 3: believe in peace as a nation. We build a peace
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Speaker 3: statue after every war, and we have one all across
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Speaker 3: our country.
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Speaker 2: But this is real peace.
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Speaker 3: This is peace that is opposed to disorder, conflict, confusion.
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Speaker 3: This is peace that is without irritability, anxiety, or impatience.
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Speaker 3: This is peace, that is in contrast to restlessness and impulsiveness.
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Speaker 2: Hurry, doesn't that sound inviting? Makes me think of.
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Speaker 3: The words of Francis Havergal, written back in the latter
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Speaker 3: part of the nineteen century. We now have the words
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Speaker 3: put to music, and we love to sing them as
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Speaker 3: a church like a river. Glorious is God's perfect peace.
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Speaker 3: Remember the second stanza, Hidden in the hollow of his
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Speaker 3: blessed hand, Never foe can follow, never traitor stand, Not
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Speaker 3: a surge of worry, not a shade of care, not
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Speaker 3: a blast of hurry. Touch the spirit there where in
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Speaker 3: the hollow of the hand of the God of peace.
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Speaker 3: How unlike the gods of idolatry.
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Speaker 2: How many idols do you know.
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Speaker 3: That smile? They're all frowning. Look how many of them
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Speaker 3: have all of their demands satisfied and simply ask for
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Speaker 3: the worship of their followers. Not one they are demanding.
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Speaker 3: They are aggravated, they are peeved, they are irritable. They
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Speaker 3: have frowns, they have fire and smoke and eyes that
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Speaker 3: glare because they're not satisfied. Our God is satisfied. You
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Speaker 3: know why the cross, It's that wonderful my sin, Oh,
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Speaker 3: the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part.
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Speaker 2: But the hole is nailed to the cross, and I
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Speaker 2: bear it no more. Praise the Lord, oh my soul.
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Speaker 3: When they drove the nails in his hands, and when
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Speaker 3: they put the spike in his feet, and when they
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Speaker 3: hung him, and he bled and died for me and
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Speaker 3: for you, He cleansed us from sin, and he furthermore
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Speaker 3: satisfied all of the righteous demands of the Father. Theologians
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Speaker 3: would write, the Father became proficiated, satisfied, and at that
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Speaker 3: great ethical moment, God smiled, and he's been smiling ever since.
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Speaker 3: And all that he asks of his worshipers is that
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Speaker 3: they come through the cross to him. That's all.
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Speaker 2: You don't have to pay for your sins. You don't
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Speaker 2: even have to work hard to give them up. You
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Speaker 2: don't have to wash your hands three times a day.
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Speaker 2: You don't have to come to church every day of
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Speaker 2: the week. You don't have to pay a gob of
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Speaker 2: money to earn your way in or to keep him satisfied.
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Speaker 3: The blood has satisfied him. All he asks is that
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Speaker 3: you come by faith through Jesus Christ. Because he's a
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Speaker 3: God of peace. All the wrath against sin has been
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Speaker 3: poured out on his son. That's why the Savior screamed,
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Speaker 3: my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's
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Speaker 3: when he took all of the awfulness of our sin
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Speaker 3: unto himself. And now God is satisfied, he's at peace.
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Speaker 2: Well, so much for his name. Well, at this rate,
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Speaker 2: we'll be here two hours. Let's move right on. What
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Speaker 2: does God do? I find three things right here in
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Speaker 2: the text.
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Speaker 3: They don't rhyme, they don't all start with the same letter,
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Speaker 3: they don't have a cute little ring to them, but
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Speaker 3: they're all in the text. Number One, May He sanctify
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Speaker 3: you completely or entirely, that's the way it reads. May
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Speaker 3: the God of Peace sanctify you entirely.
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Speaker 2: That's number one.
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Speaker 3: Number two, May He preserve you completely, it's right there.
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Speaker 3: May he may your spirit and soul and body be
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Speaker 3: preserved complete. And third, may He receive you blamelessly. There
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Speaker 3: isn't that a great outline? And I can't even claim
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Speaker 3: that it's mine. It's his. He gave it to us.
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Speaker 3: May He set you apart entirely. Sanctification is a theological buzzword.
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Speaker 3: Preachers love to use it and then kind of roll
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Speaker 3: their eyes and then go right on. And people think
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Speaker 3: when they hear sanctification that they need to move to
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Speaker 3: a monastery or maybe dress in plane wrap or look.
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Speaker 2: Kind of holy because it sounds awesome. Well, it is
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Speaker 2: an awesome thing.
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Speaker 3: But it's none of those religious has none of those
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Speaker 3: religious trappings. Sanctify simply means to set apart, to set
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Speaker 3: something apart.
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Speaker 2: Now in a Christian sense or.
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Speaker 3: Theologically, it means the separation of the believer from evil.
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Speaker 2: Things and evil way.
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Speaker 3: May the God of Peace set you apart from evil
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Speaker 3: things and from evil ways. Has nothing to do with geography.
25:15
Speaker 3: You may or may not live in a monastery and
25:17
Speaker 3: be set apart. You may or may not be in
25:22
Speaker 3: up to date clothes and still be set apart. Has
25:25
Speaker 3: nothing to do with externals.
25:27
Speaker 2: Nothing.
25:28
Speaker 3: You can even be an extrovert and be sanctified. You
25:34
Speaker 3: can be loud, you don't have to be quiet. You
25:37
Speaker 3: don't have to fold your hands and say religious things
25:41
Speaker 3: a lot. You can laugh and have fun in life.
25:45
Speaker 3: You can weep and be sad and still be set apart. See,
25:50
Speaker 3: it has nothing to do with temperament. We have religion
25:53
Speaker 3: to thank for making a lot of these words carry
25:58
Speaker 3: that connotation. You cannot tell by looking at someone if
26:03
Speaker 3: they're sanctified. Okay, so let's stop doing that, just a
26:10
Speaker 3: little aside. There no extra charge for that. You can't
26:13
Speaker 3: tell by the externals. If I am set apart, I
26:16
Speaker 3: may look I may look extremely quote sanctified, but I
26:20
Speaker 3: may be terribly carnal at the time. Now he's saying, here,
26:26
Speaker 3: may the God himself set you apart entirely free from contamination, confusion,
26:31
Speaker 3: and wickedness, all that poison removed. Second, may he preserve
26:38
Speaker 3: you completely. I've all the word preserve.
26:42
Speaker 2: For a moment. Okay.
26:44
Speaker 3: Preserve it means to watch over, to guard, to keep.
26:50
Speaker 3: One old lexicographer named Thayer wrote this term expresses watchful care,
26:56
Speaker 3: It indicates safe custody, and often implies assault from without
27:04
Speaker 3: assault of what contamination. Think of the word preserves. Okay,
27:12
Speaker 3: I remember as a little boy helping my folks. Can
27:15
Speaker 3: they let me help them? One time we canned tubs
27:20
Speaker 3: of peaches. My mom got a run on peaches at
27:23
Speaker 3: the what do you call farmer's market, and she came
27:28
Speaker 3: home with bushels of those things, and so well, we
27:31
Speaker 3: were boiling them up and we had curd jars, and
27:34
Speaker 3: we had seal them tight. And I got tired and
27:37
Speaker 3: had a bad attitude, and my dad told me, you're
27:40
Speaker 3: gonna finish if it's the last thing you do. I
27:42
Speaker 3: was convinced it would be the last thing I would do.
27:45
Speaker 3: And I just got to where I just kind of
27:46
Speaker 3: screwed them up nice quickly. And you could tell in
27:50
Speaker 3: a few months which jars I had preserved and which
27:53
Speaker 3: jars my folks had preserved. There were little fuzzy things
27:56
Speaker 3: inside mine, inside theirs. It was clear, you know why,
28:00
Speaker 3: because poison had come in and I hadn't sealed it tightly.
28:05
Speaker 3: May the God of Peace seal you tightly so that
28:08
Speaker 3: no poison gets in, because poison always wants to get in.
28:17
Speaker 3: That's what Thayer is saying. It implies assault. May he
28:23
Speaker 3: do that regarding every part of your body. May you
28:27
Speaker 3: be completely preserved. I've said for years that the need
28:34
Speaker 3: in our life is not to be isolated, but to
28:37
Speaker 3: be insulated. We don't all need to move behind a tall,
28:43
Speaker 3: thick wall away from the world. We need to be
28:46
Speaker 3: very much involved in our world. Rubbing shoulders with the
28:52
Speaker 3: the crooked perverse generation, which is a part of our times.
28:56
Speaker 3: That's why salt and light have such an effect, and
28:59
Speaker 3: that's the only place where it has an effect. But
29:03
Speaker 3: as Jesus prayed, Father, I ask you not to take
29:05
Speaker 3: them out of the world, but to keep them from it,
29:09
Speaker 3: meaning guard them through it, preserve them. Now, some of
29:17
Speaker 3: you are just hanging on what I'm going to say
29:20
Speaker 3: about spirit and soul and body.
29:22
Speaker 2: Am I a.
29:27
Speaker 3: Trichotomist or a dichotomist who cares? You know, when you
29:32
Speaker 3: get before the Lord in the final day, he's not
29:35
Speaker 3: going to say you're a trichotomist. All you've got to
29:38
Speaker 3: do is say I'm preserved and you can come right
29:41
Speaker 3: on the end.
29:42
Speaker 2: That's all it takes. I don't know.
29:46
Speaker 3: I leave a lot of that stuff for those people
29:48
Speaker 3: that are into that. I think if I were to
29:51
Speaker 3: take five or ten minutes on that, you wouldn't be
29:53
Speaker 3: any better off.
29:56
Speaker 2: Than if I didn't.
29:57
Speaker 3: So let's just leave it your whole it's part, it's
30:00
Speaker 3: your whole person. May your spirit, soul and body be
30:04
Speaker 3: preserved complete. And now he brings us to that great
30:08
Speaker 3: day in the future without blame. At the coming of
30:13
Speaker 3: our Lord, Jesus Christ so suddenly jumps from this time
30:16
Speaker 3: to that magnificent moment in glory, and we stand before
30:20
Speaker 3: our Lord and we are what blameless?
30:23
Speaker 2: Is that good news? Blameless? How many people do you
30:28
Speaker 2: stand before blameless?
30:31
Speaker 3: Not many? The root term means to find fault, to rebuke, condemn,
30:39
Speaker 3: find guilty. When you put a little prefix, the letter
30:42
Speaker 3: A in front of that Greek term, it negates all
30:45
Speaker 3: of that. In other words, to find no fault, to
30:48
Speaker 3: have no rebuke, no condemnation, no.
30:52
Speaker 2: Guilt, no guilt.
30:59
Speaker 3: It just seems amazing, no guilt. You know why it's
31:03
Speaker 3: amazing because you don't know of another soul that'll free
31:06
Speaker 3: you from guilt. Other people put guilt on you. If
31:11
Speaker 3: you don't have some, they'll manufacture it and lay it
31:13
Speaker 3: on you, and they'll keep you under it. But when
31:17
Speaker 3: you stand before your Savior, child of God, and he
31:21
Speaker 3: examines you, he sees you in Christ, free of guilt,
31:25
Speaker 3: without blame. Stay here, or keep your finger here and
31:33
Speaker 3: go over to Jude.
31:35
Speaker 2: Chapter.
31:36
Speaker 3: Well, if it's got more than one chapter, you're in
31:38
Speaker 3: the wrong spot, So locate verse twenty four.
31:43
Speaker 2: Of Jude.
31:46
Speaker 3: Jude twenty four. It's another one of these prayers with
31:49
Speaker 3: his eyes open, another one of these Benedictions. And this
31:52
Speaker 3: is a great statement speaking again of the Lord God.
31:57
Speaker 3: Now to him who is able to keep you from stump,
32:03
Speaker 3: that's preservation, and to make you stand in the presence
32:07
Speaker 3: of His glory. There it is again, blameless with great joy.
32:13
Speaker 3: To the Only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
32:18
Speaker 3: be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and
32:23
Speaker 3: now and forever. Amen, look at that closing of verse
32:28
Speaker 3: twenty four. To him who is able to make you
32:32
Speaker 3: stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy,
32:39
Speaker 3: Child of God, do not fear death, do not fear
32:45
Speaker 3: stepping into the Lord's presence. You will be blameless.
32:52
Speaker 2: Say well, I don't feel blameless.
32:56
Speaker 3: You've forgotten already first Thessalonians five twenty four.
33:01
Speaker 2: Look at it again.
33:02
Speaker 3: Faithful is he who calls you, and he also will
33:07
Speaker 3: bring it to pass. You don't have to do it.
33:13
Speaker 3: All you have to do is be in the Savior,
33:18
Speaker 3: and God does it. I fly a little bit, some
33:25
Speaker 3: of you fly more. You know what I'm talking about.
33:28
Speaker 3: You and I don't go sit down in the airplane.
33:32
Speaker 3: And when they warm the engines up, we start flapping
33:34
Speaker 3: our arms like a buzzard back there keeping this thing
33:38
Speaker 3: in the air. I've got to get this thing off
33:41
Speaker 3: the runway that they have places where they put people
33:45
Speaker 3: like that that you sit down, you buckle up, and
33:49
Speaker 3: you check it to them.
33:51
Speaker 2: That thing's going to take off.
33:53
Speaker 3: There's an amazing law that you just rely on and
33:56
Speaker 3: it does it for you.
33:58
Speaker 2: You don't fly, you sit in something that flies for you.
34:05
Speaker 2: That's what this stuff is all about. In Jesus Christ,
34:11
Speaker 2: I am complete.
34:13
Speaker 3: I have all that I will ever need forgiveness, hope, relief, cleanliness,
34:21
Speaker 3: freedom from blame, absence of guilt. And I am just
34:26
Speaker 3: waiting for him to take me. And they're great to
34:33
Speaker 3: have a heart like that. He gets all the credit
34:37
Speaker 3: because my old heart would condemn me and it would
34:42
Speaker 3: deserve hell. Let me share this story with you. It
34:49
Speaker 3: makes it so clear. Doctor Christian Bernard tells of one
34:53
Speaker 3: of his early heart transplant patients asking to see the
34:57
Speaker 3: removed organ. Obligingly, the doctor brought from the laboratory the
35:03
Speaker 3: large bottle where the old heart had been placed. As
35:09
Speaker 3: the man looked at the big muscle which once pumped
35:12
Speaker 3: life through his body, the famed surgeon suddenly realized this
35:18
Speaker 3: was the first time in human existence that a person
35:20
Speaker 3: had ever seen his own heart. It was indeed an
35:26
Speaker 3: historic moment but the patient. But for the patient, the
35:31
Speaker 3: sensation must have been even more moving, for the old
35:33
Speaker 3: heart was worn out it had not been replaced. Had
35:39
Speaker 3: it not been replaced, life would soon have been extinct.
35:43
Speaker 3: And after a long pause, the grateful man up and said,
35:48
Speaker 3: I'm glad I don't have that old heart anymore. I've
35:53
Speaker 3: thought about that a lot. I'm glad I don't have
35:57
Speaker 3: that old heart I used to have. I'm glad I'm
36:02
Speaker 3: not riveted to the poison of my world. I'm glad
36:06
Speaker 3: there's freedom, there's life beyond it. I'm glad that He
36:12
Speaker 3: is faithful when I am not. I'm glad that he
36:15
Speaker 3: will bring it to pass because I cannot. I'm glad
36:19
Speaker 3: he's got it all put together, signs sealed, and just
36:23
Speaker 3: about delivered. Now, so much for what God does. Look
36:31
Speaker 3: at our part, or look at the brethren as you
36:33
Speaker 3: get back to this passage. First of all, I want
36:37
Speaker 3: you to remember that this section twenty five, six and
36:41
Speaker 3: seven will introduce to you three things that characterize loyal friends.
36:50
Speaker 3: You can see the first one in verse twenty five.
36:53
Speaker 3: They pray for one another.
36:55
Speaker 2: If you have one who says he is truly.
36:58
Speaker 3: Your friend, that person prays for you and you should
37:02
Speaker 3: give thanks for that person. I've said for years Christians
37:06
Speaker 3: should always carry a list, and it should be a
37:08
Speaker 3: list of names, and the name should be people for
37:12
Speaker 3: whom they pray. Man called me this last Wednesday and
37:16
Speaker 3: he said, I just want you to know that the
37:19
Speaker 3: year is just underway and I'm promising every day this
37:25
Speaker 3: year to pray for you. Wow, you have someone you
37:30
Speaker 3: could name that you would pray for every day. I
37:34
Speaker 3: have a friend that gave me a good idea, and
37:36
Speaker 3: I do it.
37:36
Speaker 2: He said.
37:37
Speaker 3: You know when I go through my list when I
37:38
Speaker 3: shower every morning, he said, I just make it a
37:42
Speaker 3: part of my morning. I get in a shower, start
37:45
Speaker 3: scrubbing down, start praying for those people that are on
37:48
Speaker 3: my list, and connecting with the shower. Of course, you
37:51
Speaker 3: got a shower every day that that's preferred, and when
37:57
Speaker 3: you shower, you pray.
37:58
Speaker 2: And just make it. Connect it to something you do
38:01
Speaker 2: every day and it'll come naturally to you.
38:03
Speaker 3: You want to make it a big deal, It'll just
38:05
Speaker 3: be a part of the process. And he says, you
38:08
Speaker 3: pray for us. In case you wonder if everybody needs prayer,
38:11
Speaker 3: Certainly one man I would think that wouldn't need.
38:13
Speaker 2: Much would be Paul.
38:15
Speaker 3: He was young, had energy, well educated, he had the
38:18
Speaker 3: miracle gifts. He was an apostle. No man was more
38:21
Speaker 3: well respected, more mature, had a greater mind for truth.
38:26
Speaker 3: But he says, pray for us, pray for us. Isn't
38:30
Speaker 3: a person who's ever lived that couldn't say the same thing.
38:35
Speaker 3: And another little thought, when a person keeps coming to
38:38
Speaker 3: your mind, that's the spirit's way of saying, pray for
38:42
Speaker 3: that person. Ever said to a friend of yours, I
38:45
Speaker 3: can't get her, I can't get him off my mind.
38:48
Speaker 3: That's God saying they need your prayers. That's part of
38:52
Speaker 3: that undercurrent of God's spirit as he's nudging you, saying,
38:57
Speaker 3: keep that person in prayer. So loyal friends, pray for
39:02
Speaker 3: one another. Verse twenty six, Well we made it greet
39:07
Speaker 3: all the brethren with.
39:08
Speaker 2: A holy kiss. He would have to say holy, wouldn't he.
39:12
Speaker 3: Any number of things have been said about this verse,
39:15
Speaker 3: as you can imagine. Some have made a fetish out
39:18
Speaker 3: of it, Some have turned it into a liturgy, some
39:21
Speaker 3: have connected it with the communion table, the Lord's table.
39:27
Speaker 3: Clearly it's a reference to being demonstrative in our affirmation.
39:32
Speaker 3: My point here, of course, is true friends are affectionate
39:36
Speaker 3: with one another. Leon Morris wrote these words very helpful.
39:44
Speaker 3: I quote in the ancient world one kissed the hand, breast, knee,
39:48
Speaker 3: or foot of a superior and the cheek of a friend.
39:52
Speaker 3: Herodotus mentions kissing the lips as a custom of the Persians,
39:57
Speaker 3: possibly from them it came to the Jews. Not a
40:01
Speaker 3: great deal is known of kissing in the early Church,
40:03
Speaker 3: but it is usually held that men kissed men and
40:06
Speaker 3: women kissed women, and that the kiss was on the cheek.
40:10
Speaker 3: There does not seem to be any connection with liturgical practices,
40:14
Speaker 3: but the kiss would naturally be exchanged on the Lord's
40:17
Speaker 3: Day when they came together for worship. In time, it
40:20
Speaker 3: became the custom for the kiss to be exchanged between
40:23
Speaker 3: men and women, and Clement of Alexandria objected to quote
40:29
Speaker 3: resounding kisses in church, which made suspicious and evil reports
40:33
Speaker 3: among the heathen. Never fails, abuses of this kind led
40:39
Speaker 3: to its restriction, and there are several regulations dealing with it.
40:44
Speaker 3: In the early church, councils W. E. Vine adds this council,
40:50
Speaker 3: there was to be an absence of formality and hypocrisy,
40:55
Speaker 3: a freedom from prejudice arising from social distinctions, from discrimination
41:00
Speaker 3: against the poor, from partiality towards the well to do.
41:04
Speaker 3: In the churches, masters and servants would thus salute one
41:08
Speaker 3: another with a kiss without any attitude of condescension or disrespect.
41:15
Speaker 3: The kiss took place most often between persons of the
41:18
Speaker 3: same sex, well as you can see from just those
41:23
Speaker 3: couple of quotes, and there could have been many. There
41:25
Speaker 3: there's a lot of feeling about this, A lot of
41:29
Speaker 3: things have been written about it.
41:31
Speaker 2: Let me urge you to be discreet. Uh.
41:35
Speaker 3: The answer is not that you look at the stranger
41:37
Speaker 3: sitting next to you and you know, plant one on him.
41:41
Speaker 3: That that's that's not the that's not discreet. That's not
41:45
Speaker 3: the plan.
41:48
Speaker 2: Uh.
41:49
Speaker 3: There are times that the most that the most wonderful way,
41:52
Speaker 3: you can't keep your hands off of person you really
41:55
Speaker 3: are affectionate toward and and a friend with, and it's
41:58
Speaker 3: appropriate that there be an brace or even a kiss
42:01
Speaker 3: on the cheek. Don't kiss him on the mouth, you know,
42:05
Speaker 3: that's tacky. I had a lady in a former church
42:10
Speaker 3: that used to kiss me on the mouth, and I
42:12
Speaker 3: used to wonder which exit can I.
42:15
Speaker 2: Get out fast and get away from that?
42:21
Speaker 3: And while I'm at it, brides and grooms, we are
42:25
Speaker 3: in the day of the marathon kiss for brides and grooms.
42:29
Speaker 3: I mean, the guy looks like Henry the Eight munching
42:32
Speaker 3: on a lamb chot when he so why don't we
42:36
Speaker 3: just have a basic little deal that you just peck
42:38
Speaker 3: her and you've got the rest of your life to
42:43
Speaker 3: to kiss her. You know, I have a line where
42:47
Speaker 3: I say you may kiss the bride, and I have said,
42:50
Speaker 3: on occasion, you may stop kissing the bride.
42:57
Speaker 2: I mean, what are we trying to prove?
43:00
Speaker 3: So greet all the brethren with the holy kiss, and
43:04
Speaker 3: it's a show of affection.
43:06
Speaker 2: Some people don't want to be kissed, so don't force
43:08
Speaker 2: them to kiss.
43:09
Speaker 3: Yet they just aren't kissing types. Some got married and
43:14
Speaker 3: that's the last kiss they got.
43:15
Speaker 2: That's just it. They don't kiss.
43:18
Speaker 3: That's fine. It's a dumb idea, but it's that's if
43:22
Speaker 3: you want to go that way. When you are with
43:25
Speaker 3: Christians and you are doing the things that are affectionate,
43:28
Speaker 3: use a little sense. That's what he that's what I'm suggesting.
43:32
Speaker 3: And a kiss is appropriate on occasion, and when it's appropriate,
43:35
Speaker 3: then it's not to be ill thought of. When it's not,
43:39
Speaker 3: it's foolish to do it.
43:42
Speaker 2: That's it.
43:43
Speaker 3: And loyal friends care enough to pray and they demonstrate
43:48
Speaker 3: their affection.
43:49
Speaker 2: There are some.
43:50
Speaker 3: People I can hardly be with without an embrace, and
43:53
Speaker 3: there are other people that a handshake is sufficient, but
43:59
Speaker 3: it's appropriate, and when it is have edit verse twenty seven.
44:04
Speaker 3: Now he levels them with an oath. Ah, this is strong.
44:08
Speaker 3: And we're on the subject of loyal friends. They pray
44:11
Speaker 3: for one another, they show affection on one another. Look
44:14
Speaker 3: at twenty seven. I adjure you by the Lord to
44:19
Speaker 3: have this letter read to all the brethren. He doesn't
44:21
Speaker 3: have any kind of half hearted feeling about it. He's
44:24
Speaker 3: got his finger pointing, punching into their chest. You guys,
44:28
Speaker 3: read this when you get together. Loyal friends listen to
44:34
Speaker 3: the same body of truth. If you have a person
44:40
Speaker 3: that you say is a real friend, but that person
44:43
Speaker 3: diminishes your love for and interest in and obedience to
44:47
Speaker 3: the scriptures, he's not a loyal friend. It's not a
44:51
Speaker 3: good friend to hang around tightly with. Good friends keep
44:56
Speaker 3: putting us back.
44:57
Speaker 2: In the book what is it? The scriptures say, well,
45:00
Speaker 2: what is it? That letter said that Paul wrote to
45:02
Speaker 2: the Thessalonians? Where was that?
45:05
Speaker 3: Or I really hear what you're wrestling with, and man,
45:08
Speaker 3: I care about that? Seems to me over in Timothy,
45:13
Speaker 3: or I read in the Psalms the other day they
45:18
Speaker 3: listened to the same book. You have friends like that,
45:21
Speaker 3: give God thanks for them. Friends are to get us
45:27
Speaker 3: back into the text, back into the page of the scriptures.
45:30
Speaker 3: That's part of being good brothers and sisters. We listen
45:33
Speaker 3: to the same truth. And kids, when your mom and dad,
45:37
Speaker 3: they didn't ask me to tell you this.
45:39
Speaker 2: When your mom and dad say what is it?
45:42
Speaker 3: The scripture says, they're giving you the finest counsel you'll
45:47
Speaker 3: ever receive. Okay, When they are saying to you, let's
45:54
Speaker 3: find out what God says about this. Then go on
45:56
Speaker 3: a search with them. You're going to discover some wisdom.
46:01
Speaker 3: They're your loyal friends and rare, are such friends?
46:06
Speaker 2: Rare? And then he closes by.
46:09
Speaker 3: That great word, grace be to you. Isn't that a
46:15
Speaker 3: wonderful way to conclude it? What a way to say goodbye?
46:20
Speaker 3: He doesn't say, may you go in fear and trembling,
46:23
Speaker 3: or may you rest in peace, or.
46:26
Speaker 2: May the force be with you, or may the wind
46:29
Speaker 2: always be in your back.
46:31
Speaker 3: It's not any of that. It's may grace, grace be
46:36
Speaker 3: with you. He started like that. You remember chapter one,
46:40
Speaker 3: verse one, Grace to you and peace. Chapter five, verse
46:45
Speaker 3: twenty eight, Grace.
46:47
Speaker 2: Be with you.
46:48
Speaker 3: You say, I've heard of grace all my life. You know,
46:53
Speaker 3: we've heard it so much we don't hear it anymore.
46:57
Speaker 3: I like the book that was written. Grace is not
46:59
Speaker 3: a blue eyed blonde. Grace is a truth that needs
47:06
Speaker 3: to be uncovered and again discovered. It is it's been lost,
47:14
Speaker 3: It's been forgotten.
47:16
Speaker 2: This great truth.
47:18
Speaker 3: Because of that, I've done some real study in it.
47:23
Speaker 3: The root term is char car We get the word charisma, charismatic,
47:33
Speaker 3: Charizomi meant to show favor, Charisma meant gift.
47:40
Speaker 1: Charis means grace.
47:43
Speaker 3: The root term indicates things which produce well being, and
47:52
Speaker 3: all that it represents would include favor, beauty, thanksgiving, delight, kindness, benefit.
48:03
Speaker 3: It even includes charm and joy. It is always that
48:09
Speaker 3: which is undeserved.
48:11
Speaker 2: It's this where it gets good.
48:13
Speaker 3: It is always without measure. It is never earned, and
48:21
Speaker 3: it can never be repaid. Theologically, it's favor that is lovingly, lavishly,
48:33
Speaker 3: endlessly bestowed on people who deserve the opposite. Because Christ
48:45
Speaker 3: took our judgment at the cross, it is unmerited favor.
48:54
Speaker 3: When he says, go and grace, it meant something. Go
49:02
Speaker 3: and live in the light of this truth. You will
49:06
Speaker 3: not hear it outside these walls, but you will hear
49:12
Speaker 3: it in this book. You will not get it from
49:16
Speaker 3: men and women. You will get it from God. He
49:22
Speaker 3: provides it in abundance. What a way to say goodbye?
49:30
Speaker 2: Final thought for you?
49:33
Speaker 3: Aren't you glad you have another book to call a friend.
49:40
Speaker 3: It's called Thessalonians. It's a little five chapter letter that
49:45
Speaker 3: some critics say, you know, it's another part of that
49:51
Speaker 3: mysterious book some people want to follow. Can you imagine
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Speaker 3: where you'd be without this book? I'll tell you where
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Speaker 3: you'd be lost lost.
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Speaker 2: This book's a map. This book is hope. This book
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Speaker 2: is an anchor.
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Speaker 3: This book will help you fly when everyone else is
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Speaker 3: riveted to earth.
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Speaker 2: This book will keep you.
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Speaker 3: Stable when everyone else is giving up the ship. This
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Speaker 3: book will keep you clean when everyone else around just contaminated.
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Speaker 3: This book will make you laugh and give you joy
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Speaker 3: when all around you with sadness and depression and discouragement,
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Speaker 3: aren't you glad you have another friend?
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Speaker 2: Grace be with you.
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Speaker 3: Let's a bow together. There ever been a time in
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Speaker 3: your life when you just gave up the fight, stop
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Speaker 3: trying to do it a way. Maybe this is the
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Speaker 3: first time you've ever sat still long enough to hear
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Speaker 3: about the grace of God. Well, I've just opened a
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Speaker 3: tiny little part of the light. There are volumes that
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Speaker 3: could be set about it. You're going to have to
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Speaker 3: say goodbye someday. I've stood by too many caskets to
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Speaker 3: know that anything else is the truth. You're going to
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Speaker 3: somedays say goodbye to this earth and hello to God.
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Speaker 3: You're ready to do that. You can get ready. You
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Speaker 3: can be preserved, set apart and blameless by taking Christ.
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Speaker 3: Grace says you don't have to work hard to do it.
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Speaker 3: Christ took the payment for your sin, and all you
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Speaker 3: got to do is believe He died for you. It's
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Speaker 3: call taking a gift. Would you do that today? If
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Speaker 3: you've never trusted the Savior, this is your time.
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Speaker 1: This is your moment, and so our Father. As we
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Speaker 1: come to the end of this magnificent Letter to the Thessalonians,
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Speaker 1: it is as though you have written to us a
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Speaker 1: love letter. You have reproved us, you've exhorted us, you
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Speaker 1: have encouraged us, and you have often reminded us of
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Speaker 1: truth to live by as well as grace. To demonstrate.
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Speaker 1: Remind us, our Father, that accepting others is basic to
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Speaker 1: the whole subject of grace. Allow us to do that,
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Speaker 1: Show us how to do that, and to keep from
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Speaker 1: dictating to others what they should do and how they
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Speaker 1: should live their lives. Give us a contagion in our faith,
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Speaker 1: so that our walk draws others like a magnet to
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Speaker 1: your son. Jesus, Free us, our Father, from trying to
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Speaker 1: take charge and direct other people's lives and the way
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Speaker 1: we feel they should go. May we never assume a
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Speaker 1: position that we're not qualified to fill, And by learning
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Speaker 1: that lesson and demonstrating it, we will again draw others
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Speaker 1: to your son. And may we know our Father, your
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Speaker 1: love for us in greater measure because of our time
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Speaker 1: spent in the Letter to the Thessalonians, show us often
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Speaker 1: and remind us often of the importance of living out
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Speaker 1: these great truths until your son returns yearns. And what
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Speaker 1: a magnificent reminder we have had in this study of
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Speaker 1: that fact. Most of us who hear this message today
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Speaker 1: will never meet each other face to face until we
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Speaker 1: are caught up together with him and one another in
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Speaker 1: the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And
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Speaker 1: when that occurs, Our Father, may we know a joy
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Speaker 1: that we have never known on this earth. Fulfill us,
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Speaker 1: Fill us, our Father, with encouragement, as we anticipate that
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Speaker 1: hour when your son will return. Now, Lord, seal to
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Speaker 1: our hearts the things we have learned in this study together,
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Speaker 1: so that we are different people than we were when
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Speaker 1: we first started the journey together. And as we adapt
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Speaker 1: our life to your will, be honored, be magnified, be glorified. Father.
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Speaker 1: We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ Savior,
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Speaker 1: Our Lord. Amen.
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Speaker 4: The preceding message, What a Way to Say Goodbye, was
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Speaker 4: copyrighted in nineteen eighty five, nineteen ninety three, two thousand
55:12
Speaker 4: and three, and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording
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Speaker 4: was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated.
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Speaker 4: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 4: commercial use is strictly prohibited.