1 Thessalonians 5:19-28 (Part B)

Long after many will say to me, in that day as time goes on, so those who come along and cherry pick, well this gift I'm still working with, this one isn't, I don't get it. They are those cessationists. They believe the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. Many of them are intelligent men.

But because a person is intelligent doesn't mean they're always right. This is cross-reference radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. To hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Now here's Pastor Rick with today's edition of cross-reference radio in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Yes, there is such a thing as predicting the future because God has revealed it.

We'll get to that in a minute. The context will spot for us the operation of which facet of prophecy is in operation. When Nathan the prophet stood before David and told him the story of the man who had a dear lamb and that lamb was taken and eaten by a rich man who had a huge flock just to satisfy his pleasures. And David said, who did this?

He will die for this. And Nathan said, you're the man David. That's a parable of what you did to Uriah and Bathsheba.

You are the man. That is called direct prophecy. That is thundering the truth of God at the right moment to the right person. That is applying God's word appropriately. When Peter said, Ananias, who has filled your heart that you should lie to the Holy Spirit.

And he dropped dead. That was direct prophecy with judgment, both under the umbrella of prophecy. But then in scripture, there is also those who are singing or proclaiming God's word or exalting through God's word or through God's teachings and edifying one another. That also is called prophecy. So we go first to 1 Chronicles chapter 25 verse 1.

1 Chronicles 25 verse 1. Moreover, David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, Haman and of Juduathan who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments and symbols. And so there you see that those who were ministering to the flock in song were said to be prophesying. They were not predicting the future.

They weren't singing about the future. They were singing praises to the Lord. And then in Acts chapter 21, we read of Philip the evangelist, the gift of evangelist that man had. He would preach and people would get saved. The church has those who their strong point is not in bringing people to Christ but is teaching people who have already come to Christ.

The gift of teaching is an operation in that regard. Well, here he had four maiden daughters, four righteous virgin daughters. And it says here in verse 9 of Acts 21, now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

They weren't telling the future. They were encouraging the flock. They were preaching the word.

They may have been singing. But what we're establishing here is that biblical prophecy according to the scripture, when it uses the word, it is not limiting it to predicting the future. And this comes out further in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. This is why we could link it very easily to the events in Acts chapter 21. What the New Testament church also thought of prophecy. Chapter 14, 1 Corinthians verse 3. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. So when you see someone say, Thus saith the Lord, a fire will come out of the sky, burn off all your hair and strip you of your clothing and you'll be embarrassed by everyone. I mean, it's probably not prophecy. Not very edifying. And so, who would say such a thing, right? Well, you might be surprised.

Well, there's more. And so that covers this point that there is direct prophecy, there's prophecy, what is meant by it, song, proclamation of the word, exaltation, edification. Whenever you preach the word to someone at work or give a word in season to a believer, these are all under spiritual activity according to God's word, according to God. Now, it does not stand to reason again that these believers were predicting events, but that they were also praising the Lord. We see the predictive prophecy and the singing of songs labeled as prophecy in the Old Testament in the life of Saul.

Now, we mentioned him earlier, one of the great apostates of Scripture. Samuel, you might remember, was told by God the future concerning Saul. First Samuel chapter 9 verse 15, now the Lord, that's Jehovah, had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came saying, tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin.

You shall anoint him commander over my people. And he continues to develop the prophecy and that is exactly what happened. And so that is predictive prophecy. God has given the word to Samuel. Samuel now knows the future concerning these events. And then in chapter 10, we see the prophecy coming to pass, but we also see other usage of the word. He says in verse 5 of 1 Samuel 10, after that, you shall come to a hill. Now, this is Samuel telling Saul the future because God has told Samuel. You shall come to a hill of God where the Philistine garrison is and it will happen when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with stringed instruments, a tambourine, a flute and a harp before them and they will be prophesying.

They'll be singing to the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. So what we are hopefully establishing here is the usage of the word prophecy to teach us what does the Bible mean when it speaks of prophecy.

Well, it's not limited. So when Paul says don't despise prophecies, he's not only talking about the office of a prophet, he's talking about the various ministries of prophecy. We come to the next two which bear warning with them, the ministry of the word.

The ministry of the word is also considered prophecy. And we find this in Revelation chapter 19 verse 10. John writes, I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, see that you do not do that. Now this is John. He's in heaven and there's an angel with him explaining to him much of what he is being shown by Jesus Christ. And John is overwhelmed and he starts to bow down to the angel.

He says, ah, that's going to cost you 10 yards. You do not do that here. He doesn't say it that way. I kind of add it because it wasn't me.

If it was me, I'd be telling the story. And he said, oh, Rick, come on, you're smarter than that. But anyway, that you do not do that. I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. So you see, when you are ministering the gospel, when you are sharing the faith, it is under the authority of prophecy. And then there is predictive prophecy. Jesus said, you see this building, not one stone will remain upon itself. And of course, that happened just as the Lord said it. It was predictive and the temple was destroyed by Titus in 70 AD. So sometimes this predictive prophecy is immediate, as with Samuel. And sometimes it is delayed, as with the Lord's prophecy or as with Paul's prophecy of the rapture. Harpazo in the Greek, you will be by force taken away by the Lord. Are there imposters, counterfeits, frauds?

Oh my, absolutely. Let's not forget charlatans. Matthew's gospel, chapter 7, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? That means they were singing, they were talking about Jesus. Again, don't think in the sense of always predictive prophecy. Cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Because they quenched the Spirit, the lampstand was removed, its future. Jesus is talking about after, long after, many will say to me in that day, as time goes on, so those who come along and cherry pick, well this gift I'm still working with, this one isn't, I don't get it. They are those cessationists.

They believe the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. Many of them are intelligent men. But because a person is intelligent doesn't mean they're always right. It's not intelligence, it's anointing.

That's what matters most. Now, much of this happened in American theology or Western theology because of the Azusa revivals that were taking place in California in the turn of the last century. They were abusing the Holy Spirit. Some of them were right on, but a great many of them were abusing the Spirit. And the intellectual community of Christianity then hardened themselves against the Spirit in retaliation. And they interpreted 1 Corinthians 13, 8, which says, Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

And so they said, well see, these things have vanished away. But the writer Paul says, when Christ comes, he's talking about his return. And so this is a bias that has crept into the church because of abuses within the church.

So you have guilt on two sides. You have the established intellectual side of Christianity, resisting the gifts of the Spirit. Then you have the less established, more grassroots part of Christianity, abusing the Holy Spirit. And hopefully you have churches like the Church of Philadelphia and Smyrna in Revelation chapter 3, who are abiding with the Spirit, and they are neither turning to the left or to the right.

They have found the balance. Just because, again, a man is intelligent doesn't mean you cannot be wrong. Einstein was intelligent, more intelligent than all of us put together, and he was wrong about God.

And that cost him everything. Nowhere in Scripture do I find that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. And if it were something as important as the gifts, do you not think the Holy Spirit would point it out? If they would stop, you know, the teaching is, well, when the last apostles died, the gifts died. It's not a gift then. Not to the church.

It was a gift to the apostles. If that's the teaching, it's not the case. Love never fails. That's ongoing. But whether they are prophecies, what kind? Well, we just covered them. They will fail. Yes, when Christ comes, we won't need to predict anymore. These things will all be changed into something else greater, far more wonderful. It will be the fulfillment of the gifts of the church as Jesus was the fulfillment of the law. And whether there are tongues, they will cease. Yes, but not yet. Like them or not, it's part of the church. Abused?

Absolutely. You know, there are many people that have been born again through the millennium and will be born again who have been illiterate. And they have not been great readers of the Word.

God has allowed them forms of expression that are superlative and tongues would be one of them. Not everyone can be a theologian and a scholar. And so where he says they will cease or whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. Is anyone prepared to say that the gift of knowledge has vanished from the church? Because the minute you say yes, the minute you've loaded your church with a bunch of dummies. Because there's no knowledge.

They're ignorant by definition, by default. So 1 Corinthians 13, 10, the verse that they confuse. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away with.

Yes, when Christ comes, these things will be all changed, just as it was with the law. And so again, there are many great Bible teachers, otherwise Bible teachers, who when you read their writings or preachings on the Gospels or in the Old Testament, they're wonderful, but when they come to 1 Corinthians, they fall flat on their face. Anytime someone comes up to a pastor and says, that message blessed me, he has to say in his heart, it's a gift, God gave it to me. It's not me, it's all the Lord's, everything.

It's something he felt was that vital to the church that he gave it to the church at Pentecost, and it won't stop until the church is gone. So there, I've covered it. But I know how Christians think, not all of them, but enough of them. Once they've locked on to a pet doctrine, right or wrong, proof, scripture or not, a great majority of them don't want to hear it. They've made up their mind, they like it this way. And you can show them all the verse and proof you want. It's not a point worth arguing. It is what it is.

C'est la vie. Well, we've covered that with some vigor. And now we come to verse 21. Test all things, hold fast what is good. Test everything because everything will test you. Bluntly put, don't be a fool. Gullibility brings no glory to God, but it may bring harm to you. 1 John 4, he writes, Beloved, do not believe every spirit. Now, why does he have to even say that?

Because Christians tend to do this. Just put Jesus' name on it, they'll take it. I'll drink from it, sure, you put it in the Jesus mug, it's got to be good. And he said, no, no, don't do that, consider the source. What if you got a package in the mail, a UPS guy delivers it, and you hear it ticking, and you look at the return address, and it's somewhere like Saudi Arabia.

I wouldn't open it. So you consider the source. And listen, I know the guy, oh, this is from Louie, he's, you know, undercover there. But, you know, you get the point. The source is everything. Our source documents, where our scripture comes from, it matters everything. We say to our children when they do something we don't approve of, where'd you get that from? Did somebody in church teach you that, the kids' ministry? All right, that's it, you're not going back to that church anymore, you're excommunicating them. Parents don't overreact.

Sometimes you've got to teach your children to stand where they are, like a lily among thorns. Anyway, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone into the world. We don't test with a spirit of suspicion, you know, until God sets it right, it's wrong.

That's how I approach things. But once God sets it right, then it's time to be loyal, and supportive, and edify, and build up, and do something with this. But some never lose that critical spirit. They remain judgmental and self-righteous their entire sourpuss Christian life. As Tozier said, they've been baptized in vinegar.

Mine said lemon juice, I think I upgraded it to vinegar, but it's a free upgrade. Anyway, hold fast what is good. That's old school. Hold on to what is good.

He does all things good. This is what Jeremiah said, Thus says Jehovah, stand in the ways and see, ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it. Then you're not old school. Our old school goes back to eternity past.

That's how far it goes. Paul again, are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh? Can you imagine the day they read that letter in the Galatian churches and they get to that line?

Are you that foolish? I think there was a lot of hearts repenting at that moment. We hold fast to what is good because there are forces that move against us to force us off the path, to the right or to the left, just to get us off the straight and narrow. In Joshua chapter 1 verse 7, God says to this mighty man of God, He says, only be strong and very courageous. That's what God is saying to Joshua and to us, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

What Christian does not want that? And then verse 22, he says abstain from every form of evil. The older King James translation has abstained from all appearances of evil. Which one is right?

They both are. That word there for every form in the new King James and appearances in the old King James, the Greek word means a look or an appearance. Listen to what the Greek scholar A.T. Robinson says, quoting another Greek scholar and agreeing with him. He says, if so taken, it is not semblance as opposed to reality. In other words, don't touch this stuff. Don't have any evil. It's toxic.

It's nuclear. It radiates evil. Stay away from it. Avoid contact. Avoid appearance.

Don't even inhale it. You say, well, Satan uses sin against us. Absolutely. The Bible teaches that very clearly. That's the name. Satan is a title. It means he's the enemy.

That's what it means. Or you think of a prosecuting, if you're the innocent guy on trial, the prosecutor is trying to take away your freedom or your life. That is the prosecutor. Now, that's acceptable when justice is being administered. But Satan, Satan is the cause of it all.

It's because of him he's accusing us. He stands before God at night and says, this one did this and this one did that. And God says, yeah, you're the one that did it.

So I'd love to see that happen. So we read Revelation 12, 10, the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God, day and night, has been cast down. That time will come.

It's not here yet. All he needs to do to prosecute us, every single one of us, is tell the truth about us. The whole truth. And even when he's telling the truth, he's lying.

Because again, he's withholding all the information that he is the catalyst. But listen to what scripture says. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

It is the prerogative of God to deal with sinners the way he sees fit and he's told us how he deals with them and he has invited us to partake of what he's made available. We need a deliverer. And there is only one. There is only one to whom we can go for deliverance from our guilt.

There is no other. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18. All Christians know this verse.

Come now, let us reason together, says Jehovah. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

I'm going to make you look like a little white lamb. That stain, that blood-soaked stain all over your wool because of what sin has done, I'm going to wash it clean. The New Testament picks it up. Acts chapter 4, verse 12. The message of the New Testament church to which we belong.

Nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Romans chapter 4, verse 3. What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

That's what God was looking for. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Abraham believed him. I believe him when he says, The Son, Jesus Christ, if he says you are clean, you are clean indeed. I believe it. I accept it by faith. And there's nothing hell can do against it because it's written in heaven. It's been said by a saint now with the Lord, Jesus does not parole us, he pardons us. Thank God. There is no purgatory.

There's no go to step B. It's either you're right with Christ or you're not. And that's what Jesus said. He who is not with me scatters abroad.

You're either with me or you are not. And his work is finished work. It is complete work. John, his gospel, chapter 1, verse 12. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name.

It's a gift. Ephesians chapter 2. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And listen to what he goes on to say. And that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God. You can't save yourself. You're too messed up.

I am too. We cannot save ourselves. But there's one who does.

There's one who will. His name is Jesus Christ and we accept that by faith. And if you do not like it and you reject it, you go beyond quenching the spirit. You go into blasphemy. And so, again, you may say it is too good to be true.

That's a lie from hell. God says it is too good to reject. That's the gospel. Verse 23, Paul continues. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Completely. There's no, oh, you're almost there.

I've already made the point. You either are washed in the blood or are not. God is the only one. The God of the Bible. The Lord of the New Testament. He's the only one that can completely sanctify us to separate us from all the filth of sin and its condemnation unto himself.

We call it heaven. Now, he makes another point that's doctrinal, though. But he says your whole spirit, soul, and body. Man is an inferior trinity.

There are three things that really make us tick. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of 1 Thessalonians. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app as well. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of 1 Thessalonians right here on Cross Reference Radio.