{"id":22528,"date":"2023-06-03T14:56:57","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T19:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/sermon\/first-thessalonians-028-test-all-things-part-2\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T12:56:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T17:56:12","slug":"first-thessalonians-028-test-all-things-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/first-thessalonians-028-test-all-things-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"First Thessalonians 028 &#8211; Test All Things (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[97],"series_event":[546],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-22528","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-1-thessalonians","series_event-first-thessalonians","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"First Thessalonians 028 - Test All Things (Part 2)","sermon_date":"20230604","sermon_month":"06","sermon_year":"2023","sermon_notes":22526,"sermon_slides":22535,"sermon_mp3":22536,"sermon_id":"6223156277145","series_or_event":546,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":97,"chapter_and_verse":"5:21-22","sermon_transcript":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>First Thessalonians 028 \u2013 Test All Things (Part 2)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 - Dr. Andy Woods - June 4, 2023<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h4>PRAYER<\/h4>\r\nLet's go ahead and open with a word of prayer if we can and we'll get started.\u00a0 Father, we're grateful for today, the first Sunday in June.\u00a0 The year, believe it or not, it's hard for us to believe, is almost half over.\u00a0 And Lord, as we move into these summer months, we've got a lot of things ahead of us.\u00a0 Vacation Bible school is going to start a week from tomorrow.\u00a0 There's the youth Grand Canyon trip and just all kinds of things going on.\u00a0 So I just ask as we move into these summer months, You'd be with us here at Sugar Land Bible Church.\u00a0 You would move us into Your will.\u00a0 And I do ask Lord that as Your Word is shared both in Sunday School and the main service that follows that we would receive from You the truth that you would have for us through the ministry of illumination.\u00a0 I do pray for a special koinonia or fellowship as we partake of the Lord's table in the main service later on and also participate in the fellowship lunch, and I just pray that all things would be done in accordance with Your will today.\u00a0 And so in preparation for that illuminating ministry of the Spirit whereby we can understand the deeper things of God, we just pray for a minute personally and privately by way of confession of sins, not to restore position, but to restore broken fellowship if need be.\u00a0 And so we're going to do that now.\r\n\r\nWe remain thankful Lord for the provision You've made for us in 1 John 1:9,<a href=\"#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\">[1]<\/a> \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d \u00a0We do understand that we are eternally secure in You, but things sometimes we do in our natural selves can inhibit fellowship with You and when that happens, we really can't receive what You have for us on any given Sunday morning.\u00a0 And so it's in that vein that we confess our sins unto You in preparation for the illuminating ministry of the Spirit.\u00a0 I just pray that the Holy Spirit would take the things of God as we study them this morning in Your Word and apply them to the deepest needs of the human heart to all that are listening in the building, online, or archives after the fact.\u00a0 We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus' name and God's people said amen.\r\n<h4>REVIEW<\/h4>\r\nWell if you could open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5:21.\u00a0 Let's see if we can get from Verse 21 to Verse 24 today.\u00a0 Paul, you know, in this section after having defended his apostolic credentials, Chapters 1-3, beginning in Chapter 4 began to move into correction of the Thessalonians.\u00a0 He's dealt with them on a lot of different issues, immorality (4:1-8), laziness (4:9-12), eschatological misunderstandings (4:13\u20135:11), ministry imbalances (5:12-15), and then he sort of, beginning in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, and we started this section last time, he concludes this letter by making sure that they're continuing on in their trajectory of growth as Christians.\r\n\r\nSo this is something that we call progressive sanctification.\u00a0 It's different than justification.\u00a0 Justification is our birth.\u00a0 <strong>Progressive sanctification is our growth<\/strong>.\u00a0 And even in the natural world, you know, you have distinctions in doctors between those that are involved in the birthing process, and then, what are those called again?\u00a0 What kind of doctors are those?\u00a0 I forgot the name.\u00a0 Obstetrician.\u00a0 There we go.\u00a0 Obstetrician.\u00a0 And then there's a totally different science in the medical industry called pediatrician, which helps the child grow and develop correctly.\u00a0 And it is sort of interesting that those are two different disciplines entirely, because birth and growth are two different things.\r\n\r\nSo Paul was an evangelist.\u00a0 He helped with their birth, but then he wanted to make sure that they were growing correctly.\u00a0 So I understand that when you get to the end of a book and you see all this kind of stuff at the end, it's tempting to just sort of check out.\u00a0 Yeah, we're finished with the good stuff.\u00a0 The rapture stuff is behind us.\u00a0 I can just kind of zone out at this point.\u00a0 But we have to remember what Jesus said, \"...\u00a0 man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.\" (Matt 4:4).\r\n\r\nSo our doctrine of inspiration is such that we believe that every word that's in this book \u2013 and Paul has told us several times in 1 Thessalonians that he is writing under the authority of an apostle.\u00a0 So when he speaks, God is speaking.\u00a0 <strong>So every single word in this book, even if it's stuff at the end that we just zone out on or tune it out, is there by divine design.\u00a0 It's there to help us<\/strong>.\r\n<h4>PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION (1 Thess 5:16-28)<\/h4>\r\nAnd that includes this section here on practical sanctification.\u00a0 So what he does here is he gives <strong>three positive commands, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18<\/strong>.\u00a0 Here's three things you ought to be doing to grow as a Christian.\u00a0 Because how do you really know if you're growing as a Christian?\u00a0 Well you're doing these, regularly, these three positive commands.\r\n\r\nAnd then <strong>1 Thessalonians 5:19-22<\/strong>, he gives <strong>three negative commands<\/strong>.\u00a0 Here's three things to not do.\u00a0 Stay away from.\u00a0 And then you finish verse 22 and you say, \"Well this is a hard saying.\u00a0 Who can obey this?\" And then he says, \"Oh by the way, you're not doing it on your own.\u00a0 You're drawing upon the strength that the Holy Spirit provides,\"\u00a0 Verses 23-24.\u00a0 So it becomes a wonderful section on the growth of the Christian.\r\n\r\nSo how do you know you're growing as a Christian?\r\n<h4>Three Positive Commands (1 Thess 5:16-18)<\/h4>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Well you're rejoicing always, Verse 16<\/li>\r\n \t<li>You're praying without ceasing, Verse 17<\/li>\r\n \t<li>You're giving thanks in some things when things are going well in your life. Oh, it doesn't say that, sorry.\u00a0 You're giving thanks in all things, Verse 18.\u00a0 Covered all that last time.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h4>Three Negative Commands (1 Thess 5:19-22)<\/h4>\r\nAnd then there are three things you're not doing.\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>You're not quenching the Spirit, Verse 19<\/li>\r\n \t<li>You are not despising prophetic utterances, Verses 20-21.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAnd we talked about what that means last time.\u00a0 Basically, this was written during a time period before the canon of the Scripture was closed, and so there were prophetic utterances being given in the early church.\u00a0 As you probably know, as a Christian, the body of Christ is divided right down the middle on this subject.\u00a0 A lot of the body of Christ call themselves continuationists, meaning these prophecies are continuing.\u00a0 You continue to have prophets in the church that give modern oracles from God.\r\n\r\nSugar Land Bible Church is not of that persuasion.\u00a0 We're of the persuasion that those things ceased when the canon of Scripture was completed at the end of the first century, making those partial gifts no longer needed.\u00a0 And there are people that will adamantly disagree with us on that, and that's okay.\u00a0 We can be brothers and sisters in Christ, right?\u00a0 And agree to disagree agreeably.\r\n\r\nBut I just want you to know, and I speak frequently sometimes at churches that believe in these ongoing prophetic gifts.\u00a0 I know a lot of pastors, friends of mine, get along just great.\u00a0 But you should know where Sugar Land Bible Church is coming from.\u00a0 <strong>We believe that a prophetic utterance today is a proclamation from God's revealed Word.<\/strong>\u00a0 And no, my tie doesn't...\u00a0 You can't have my tie with that.\u00a0 Just in the Bible.\r\n<h4>Can we still despise prophetic utterances?<\/h4>\r\nWith that being said, can we still, given our belief system, despise prophetic utterances?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 <strong>Every time we ignore or are too busy to sit under Biblical teaching that's accurate, we're basically despising prophetic utterances<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nSo the way Dr. Pentecost, my professor in seminary, sort of explained this is, yes, there were prophets in the early church, but <strong>when the canon of Scripture was shut, that gift of prophecy gave way to the gift of proclamation<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nSo although we don't think that there are modern prophetic utterances today, somebody having a direct pipeline from God giving an utterance that's on equal par with the Scripture, although we believe that the canon of Scripture is shut, we still believe that there is a gift of prophecy today.\u00a0 It just gave way to preaching.\u00a0 Preachers are modern day prophets assuming that they're preaching under the authority of the Holy Spirit and are accurate with God's Word.\r\n\r\nSo you run into a lot of people, and they'll say, \"You know, God is speaking in our church.\u00a0 God speaks to us all the time.\"\u00a0 Well, we believe that too.\u00a0 We believe every time we open this book and study it together, God is speaking.\r\n\r\nSo, how do you know if you're growing as a Christian, you're not quenching the Spirit?\u00a0 How do you quench the Spirit?\u00a0 You're relegating proclamation and teaching to some sort of unimportant role in the church.\r\n\r\nDo you know, very, very sadly, what's taken the place of preaching and teaching in the church?\u00a0 And there's a wonderful book on this.\u00a0 I read it really when I was contemplating considering entering ministry.\u00a0 It's by Martin Lloyd-Jones.\u00a0 It's called \"<em>Preaching and Preachers<\/em>.\"\u00a0 Martin Lloyd-Jones is about as reformed and Calvinistic as the day is long.\u00a0 So I'm not promoting him for that reformed Calvinistic perspective.\u00a0 But in that book, he's not really dealing with his reformed theology.\u00a0 He's dealing with the role of preaching and teaching in the church.\u00a0 And how the role of preaching and teaching in the church has given way to psychology, self-esteem type talks.\r\n\r\nI remember the late Dave Hunt talking about the late Jay Vernon McGee, how Jay Vernon McGee was kind of lamenting, kind of moaning and groaning about the fact that his, in one very prominent radio network, his time-honored spot at noon, the noon hour, was taken away and what was replaced was kind of a talk show done by two psychologists.\u00a0 And Dave Hunt was talking about how Jay Vernon McGee was sort of lamenting that at the end of his life.\u00a0 It was the kind of thing that Martin Lloyd-Jones is talking about in his book \"<em>Preaching and Preachers<\/em>.\"\r\n\r\nHow if you go back to early America, for example, and even the Protestant Reformation in Europe, and you look at the basic architecture of a church, the pulpit was always right in the middle.\u00a0 I mean, the preacher was something someone everyone could see.\u00a0 He was sort of elevated, not to elevate him, but to elevate his role.\u00a0 You had to climb a staircase to get up into the pulpit.\u00a0 The pulpit was visible.\u00a0 And Martin Lloyd-Jones is talking about how that architecture started to change, and the pulpit kind of got pushed off to the side.\u00a0 And you really don't have a pulpit anymore.\u00a0 You have a stage.\u00a0 And what's the stage for?\u00a0 It is for skits and entertainment.\u00a0 Not that there's no place for that at all in Christianity.\u00a0 It's just a question of importance.\r\n\r\nHow the worship service, which once revolved around the proclamation of God's Word, how the preacher gets like 20, in modern Christianity, 20 to 25 minutes at best.\u00a0 I shared with you the story that when I graduated from Dallas, there was a church in the Dallas area that was interested in me being the pastor.\u00a0 The pastor at that church preached 20 minutes.\u00a0 And I said, well, can it be expanded to 30 minutes?\u00a0 And you guys should laugh because we're way beyond 30 minutes, praise God, and the leadership of the church has acted like that was just some crazy request.\u00a0 Like, nobody's going to sit under the Word of God for 30 minutes.\u00a0 What are you even talking about?\u00a0 And what are we going to have to push off the stage to get you on the stage for an additional 10 minutes?\u00a0 We're going to have to get rid of this skit or this group or whatever.\r\n\r\nSo Martin Lloyd-Jones in this book, \"Preaching and Preachers,\" is talking about this.\u00a0 He's talking about the decline of the ministry of proclamation in modern day Christianity, how the pulpit has been replaced with somebody that's sort of a discussion facilitator, something like that, a conversationalist, somebody that's sort of a counselor from the pulpit, somebody that's spends some time, what little time he has, talking about anything and everything other than what God's Word says.\r\n\r\nSo that's the kind of thing I think about when I see this command here, do not despise prophetic utterances.\u00a0 The proclamation of the Word of God is very, very important to God.\u00a0 And a church needs to be organized around the proclamation of God's Word.\u00a0 Sugar Land Bible Church, praise the Lord, is organized around the preaching and teaching of God's Word.\r\n\r\nNow, what about all these other ministries that we have here?\u00a0 Oh, they're very important, but they are what we would call ancillary ministries.\u00a0 They are what we would call auxiliary ministries.\u00a0 They are ministries that come in and support the preaching and teaching of the Word.\u00a0 Because the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.\u00a0 And what's the main thing in the life of the church?\u00a0 It's not to despise prophetic utterances, but it is to give a place for the preaching and teaching of God's Word.\u00a0 And any other ministry that you see in the church is auxiliary or ancillary or supportive of the main ministry.\r\n\r\nBecause we believe this is how the Holy Spirit has designed the church.\u00a0 This is how the Holy Spirit wants the church to work.\u00a0 I mean, if you don't have the proclamation of the Word of God as part of a ministry, it doesn't matter how nice your bulletins are, how nice your brochures are, how slick your marketing campaign is, how wonderful your VBS is.\u00a0 And we're going to have a wonderful VBS here, by the way, a week from tomorrow.\u00a0 All of that doesn't matter because God has said those ministries are supportive.\u00a0 If you don't have the main ministry going, then all those other ministries sort of lose their vitality after a while.\r\n\r\nSo if you're interested in this subject, I do recommend that book, \"<em>Preaching and Preachers<\/em>\" by the late Martin Lloyd-Jones, who was a medical doctor.\u00a0 He took over the church in Europe.\u00a0 I think the pastor before him was G. Campbell Morgan.\u00a0 You might recognize that name.\u00a0 And Martin Lloyd-Jones, you can watch videos of him still on YouTube.\u00a0 You can track those down.\u00a0 Basically what he does is he reads a verse, and he comments on it.\u00a0 He reads a verse, and he comments on it.\u00a0 He reads a verse, and he comments on it.\u00a0 That was his preaching style.\u00a0 And he was heralded as one of the greatest preachers in the 20th century.\r\n\r\nI don't think we need books that are a thousand pages long today telling preachers how to preach because that's what's happening.\u00a0 I read a book on preaching today and it's about a thousand pages.\u00a0 And you look for a scriptural index.\u00a0 A lot of them don't even have one.\u00a0 Because it's front-loaded with all this sort of psychological theory, what people's attention spans allegedly are, and all of these kinds of things.\r\n\r\nI asked Dr. Pentecost, \"How do you preach?\" \u00a0I mean Dr. Pentecost probably had more influence over me than any other human being.\u00a0 Obviously, the Holy Spirit would be number one, but as far as a human teacher, Dr. Pentecost probably had more influence over me than anybody else.\u00a0 So I wanted to know how to preach and teach.\u00a0 He was a professor.\u00a0 He had been a pastor.\u00a0 I expected this sort of drawn out, long-winded talk, you know.\u00a0 He said, well, it's in Ezra 7:10.\u00a0 He said Ezra read the Scriptures.\u00a0 Ezra interpreted the Scriptures.\u00a0 Ezra applied the Scriptures.\u00a0 And then he said to me, go thou and do likewise.\r\n\r\nSo preaching is really just four things.\u00a0 If I'm understanding him correctly, you read the Scripture.\u00a0 We have one of our elders, Ed Jones usually does it, but when he's absent, others step in.\u00a0 When the Scripture is read, we stand.\u00a0 Why do you stand?\u00a0 You're honoring the Word of God.\u00a0 You see Ezra 7 and Nehemiah 8, the same thing happening.\u00a0 Nehemiah 8 and Nehemiah 9.\u00a0 And so the Scriptures are read.\u00a0 Then when I get up, or whoever the particular preacher is of the morning, it's usually me, not always me, but usually me, I'll still read what Scripture it is we're going to cover.\u00a0 Then I try to teach it or explain it to people.\u00a0 And then I try to apply it to their lives.\r\n\r\nThat's right out of the Dwight Pentecost book of preaching, which wouldn't be much of a book because it would only be like a sentence.\u00a0 It's really out of the Nehemiah 8, Ezra 7 sort of model.\u00a0 By the way, Ezra and Nehemiah caused through this method a huge awakening in the post-exilic community that was coming out of the Babylonian captivity, and they were getting ready to rebuild the temple and they were discouraged.\u00a0 So God raised up men like Ezra, and basically what you'll see is Ezra the scribe following this model.\u00a0 You read the Scripture.\u00a0 You explain the Scripture.\r\n\r\nNow with Ezra, there was a linguistic barrier because there was an Aramaic issue going on there and he had to put it in a way that people could understand it.\u00a0 Hebrew versus Aramaic issue.\u00a0 But still, the calling of the preacher is to make the Scripture understandable to the people.\u00a0 I mean, if you can't understand it, then what value is it to you?\u00a0 It's like going to the Roman Catholic Mass during the Dark Ages and they did the whole service in Latin.\u00a0 Yeah, but Latin's a dead language.\u00a0 I don't speak Latin.\u00a0 Well, too bad.\u00a0 So you're sitting there not understanding anything that's going on.\u00a0 So the Scripture has really no value to you unless you can understand it.\r\n\r\nSo <strong>the Scripture has to be read<\/strong>.\u00a0 <strong>The Scripture has to be taught or explained<\/strong>.\u00a0 But then comes step number three is what does it mean to me in the 21st century?\u00a0 <strong>The Scripture has to be applied<\/strong>.\u00a0 So it seems pretty simple, doesn't it?\r\n\r\nThe world of religion has made this, like most things, extremely complicated.\u00a0 But it really is not very complicated.\u00a0 You know, governing a church is pretty simple and you just stick to what God says.\u00a0 Now, if you don't want to stick to what God says and you want to develop your own model, then yeah, you need to write about a thousand-page book on that.\u00a0 But if you're just sticking with the Scripture, you don't even need a book.\u00a0 All you've got to do is follow what Nehemiah 8, Nehemiah 9, and Ezra 7 says.\r\n\r\nThe reason I'm bringing all of this up is when the church doesn't do that, it's despising prophetic utterances.\u00a0 If we're despising prophetic utterances, how in the world am I supposed to grow in the middle tense of my salvation?\u00a0 I can't grow.\u00a0 I can't develop unless I'm in an environment that honors this.\r\n<h4>\u201cBut examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;\u201d (1 Thess 5:21)<\/h4>\r\nSo do not quench the Spirit.\u00a0 Do not despise prophetic utterances.\u00a0 And there's something else very interesting when you look at 1 Thessalonians 5:21.\u00a0 Notice the balance here.\u00a0 Verse 20, \"do not despise prophetic utterances.\"\u00a0 Verse 21, \u201cBut examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;\u201d\r\n\r\nSo yeah, we're not to despise proclamations and prophetic utterances, but at the same time, you don't just sit there as a Christian and put your brain on hold and just accept everything that comes across the airwaves or the sound waves or the internet or everything that comes across the pulpit.\u00a0 I mean, if you're just blindly sitting there and accepting everything without first putting it through a critical lens, then you can't grow as a Christian.\r\n\r\nBecause yeah, don't despise prophetic utterances, but at the same time, it says, \u201cBut examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;\u201d\r\n\r\nSo when it says, \"Examine everything carefully,\" where does that idea come from?\u00a0 You might want to switch in your Bible over to Deuteronomy 13:1-5.\u00a0 God through Moses is instructing the nation of Israel as they're about ready to enter Canaan.\u00a0 And He says, \u201c\u201cIf a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, \u2018Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,\u2019 [whoops] \u00a0\u00a0you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. \u201cYou shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. \u201cBut that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, [wow, sounds like God is serious about this] because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo, look, you're going to go into the land.\u00a0 In the land, you're going to start seeing prophets that are going to be very impressive because they're actually going to perform a sign or a wonder.\u00a0 And the sign or wonder will happen.\u00a0 But simultaneously, that prophet will say, \"Let us follow other gods, little g,\" which would be a violation of the first two commandments, right, and the Ten Commandments.\u00a0 No graven images, Exodus 20.\u00a0 No graven images, no other gods before Me.\r\n\r\nSo the prophet will have very impressive credentials.\u00a0 The prophet will actually have the ability to work miracles, but at the same time, the prophet will contradict what God has already said in the Ten Commandments.\u00a0 And the moment the prophet, alleged prophet, does this, you are to reject the message of that prophet.\u00a0 In fact, you're to reject him.\u00a0 You're to purge the evil from the community.\u00a0 You are to test the prophet.\r\n\r\n<strong>What do you test the prophet by<\/strong>?\u00a0 <strong>You test the prophet by what God said earlier<\/strong>.\u00a0 Because God can't say one thing on Monday and totally contradict Himself on Tuesday.\u00a0 So it's not what God already said that's on trial.\u00a0 The prophet is on trial.\u00a0 And you're to always listen to what he (the prophet) is saying, and you are to see if his message lines up with God's prior revelation.\u00a0 The moment it doesn't is the moment you're dealing with a false prophet.\r\n\r\nSo you'll notice here that the Israelis, the Hebrews, were told not to just sit there and accept everything that you hear in the name of spirituality, but you're to test the prophets.\r\n\r\nBy the way, <strong>how is it that a prophet that's operating outside of God has the ability to announce a sign or wonder that comes true?\u00a0 <\/strong>I mean, isn't God giving them the ability to perform that miracle?\u00a0 Not necessarily.\u00a0 Does God perform miracles?\u00a0 Absolutely.\u00a0 But there is another reservoir of miracle-working power in the universe.\u00a0 And that is the devil and his fallen angels.\u00a0 They perform miracles too.\r\n\r\nI don't think as a created being, he has the same power that God has.\u00a0 But from the human perspective, he's an angel, right?\u00a0 And we're created a little under the angels.\u00a0 He has tremendous power as far as we look at things to perform miracles.\u00a0 So that's why as a Christian, you really should not be impressed with a miracle or a sign or wonder.\u00a0 Because we think that a sign or wonder happens, it must be from God, not necessarily.\u00a0 You could have a satanically energized prophet performing miracles under Satan's power.\r\n\r\n<strong>Well, how do I know?\u00a0 Because your mind is not turned off.\u00a0 You're testing the message with God's prior revelation<\/strong>.\u00a0 And the moment the prophet is contradicting God's prior revelation is the moment you say, well, that's not a prophet of God.\u00a0 And whatever miracle that he or she has performed is not from God, it must be coming from Satan.\u00a0 Yeah, but this prophet is awesome.\u00a0 They're able to pack out churches, and their books are at the top of the Amazon bestseller list.\u00a0 And they're interviewed on Oprah, the Oprah Winfrey Network.\u00a0 And they're so impressive.\u00a0 Well, as a Christian, you're not to be impressed by stuff like this, because Satan can create all of that.\r\n\r\n<strong>What should always impress you is does the message harmonize with what God has already said?<\/strong>\u00a0 So there is probably in the scripture the first exhortation I can find related to the child of God's responsibility to test the prophets.\u00a0 When you go back to 1 Thessalonians 5:21, that's what it's speaking of.\u00a0 You're under the ministry of proclamation, but, Verse 21, \u201cBut examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;\u201d\r\n\r\nBy the way, this chart here<a href=\"#_edn2\" name=\"_ednref2\">[2]<\/a>, I use this all the time when I was teaching at the local Bible college because I had many, many Pentecostal, charismatic, continuationist students who were so impressed with miracles.\u00a0 And this slide here, it's every example in the Bible I could find.\u00a0 I wish we had time to go through every single verse.\u00a0 But it's every miracle I could find in the Bible where a miracle is occurring, and God has nothing to do with it.\r\n\r\nNow, we all know the different verses where a miracle happens and God is behind it, but have you ever looked at all of the verses that deal with miracles happening in the Bible and they're not coming from God?\u00a0 One of them is right here, number two, in Deuteronomy 13:1-3.\u00a0 The first one is the magicians in Egypt who could imitate Moses and Aaron's miracles to a point, Exodus 7 and 8, and you go right on down the list here.\u00a0 And there are many, many examples in the Bible where miracles are happening, and God has nothing to do with it.\r\n\r\nSee, we're living in a culture that has now a flawed epistemology.\u00a0 That's our big word for the day.\u00a0 Can you say that with me?\u00a0 Epistemology.\u00a0 Very good.\u00a0 <strong>Epistemology is how we know what we know<\/strong>.\u00a0 I mean, it's really interesting.\u00a0 It's a whole academic discipline.\u00a0 How do we know what we know?\u00a0 In other words, how do you know what's true?\u00a0 The culture says it's true if there's an experience.\u00a0 A lot of Christendom says, I know it's true if there's an experience.\u00a0 But that is a flawed epistemology because Scripture tells us that there's another source of experiences in the universe that is not benevolent like God is.\u00a0 It's malevolent, Satan and his minions.\u00a0 They can give you experiences too.\r\n\r\nI mean, when a fellow Christian comes up to you and tells you about their dream or their vision or their experience or their liver quiver or whatever it is they had or the goose bumps or all these kinds of things, you should say, well, that's interesting, but that's not the definitive issue.\u00a0 The definitive issue is not the experience because the devil can give experiences.\u00a0 <strong>The definitive issue is the message consistent with God's prior revelation<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nSo because we're living in this culture that has a flawed epistemology, we are now number nine (Rev. 13:3, 13, 15; 16:13-14), sitting ducks for the Antichrist and the false prophet, who in the tribulation period will give the world tremendous experiences.\u00a0 I mean, not the least of which is the false prophet is going to bring down fire from heaven, just like Elijah did.\u00a0 Yeah, but God did that with Elijah.\u00a0 Yes, He did.\u00a0 But with the false prophet, Satan is doing it.\r\n\r\n<strong>Well, are you saying that Satan has as much power as God has?\u00a0 No, I'm not.\u00a0 What I'm saying is he has power that seems God-like from our limited human perspective.<\/strong>\u00a0 And if your epistemology is flawed, you're going to follow the Antichrist in the tribulation period.\r\n<h4>Test All Things<\/h4>\r\nSo what you'll discover as you move through the Scripture is this command to test all things all over the Bible.\u00a0 Probably one of the most obvious examples is the Bereans in Acts 17:11.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow these [that's the Bereans] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, ...\"\u00a0 The group that Paul is writing to here.\u00a0 The Bereans and the Thessalonians were all saved, but the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians.\u00a0 Well, why is that?\u00a0 \"... for they received the word with great eagerness, ... \"\u00a0 You see that?\u00a0 They weren't unteachable, these Bereans.\u00a0 A lot of people are just unteachable.\u00a0 No one likes their file drawers rearranged.\u00a0 No one likes to hear a presupposition that they've had for years challenged in church.\r\n\r\nA lot of people will leave Sugar Land Bible Church because the preacher challenged their presupposition.\u00a0 We've had a lot of people leave because of that.\u00a0 In other words, I've learned it a certain way and I don't want my file drawers rearranged.\u00a0 <strong>So anything you tell me that contradicts my existing presupposition, even though my existing presupposition may be errant, I don't want to listen to it.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nYou'll notice that the Bereans were not that way.\u00a0 They were eager to learn.\u00a0 They were eager to have faulty assumptions challenged.\u00a0 \u201cNow these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word of God ...\"\r\n\r\nNot just with eagerness, but with great eagerness.\u00a0 So they were fulfilling 1 Thessalonians 5:20, \"Do not despise prophetic utterances.\"\u00a0 But they were also fulfilling Verse 21, which says, \"Test all things, hold fast to that which is good.\"\u00a0 Because as you look at that last clause there, what does it say?\r\n\r\nThey were examining the Scriptures on a monthly basis.\u00a0 Whoops.\u00a0 Doesn't say that.\u00a0 Every single day they heard something, and they said, \"You know, is this true?\u00a0 <strong>This is great, but is it true?\"<\/strong> <strong>And what were they screening teaching through?\u00a0 Through God's prior revelation<\/strong>, which in this case would be the Old Testament, what we call Old Testament, Hebrew Bible.\u00a0 They wanted to see if the things that the Apostle Paul was saying was consistent with what they already knew in Hebrew Bible.\r\n\r\nThey were \"... examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.\" (Acts 17:11)\u00a0 Paul, we love you.\u00a0 We love to sit under your teaching.\u00a0 But at the same time, Paul, I've got to make sure that what I'm hearing from you is really right, so I'm running you and your teaching through the grid of what God has already said in Hebrew Bible.\r\n\r\nThat's how you fulfill 1 Thessalonians 5:21.\u00a0 You don't despise prophetic utterances, but Verse 21, \u201cBut examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;\u201d\r\n\r\nIn other words, you don't believe something just because someone in a place of authority said it was true.\u00a0 Now, I don't think Paul's really a lightweight, do you?\u00a0 I mean, he's <strong>the<\/strong> Apostle Paul.\u00a0 He's the guy that wrote a third of our New Testament epistles.\u00a0 And they did that with Paul.\u00a0 If they did that with Paul, and they're commended for it, they're more noble-minded.\u00a0 The Thessalonians weren't doing this.\u00a0 If they did it with Paul, how much more do you do it with a modern-day radio program?\u00a0 Or a modern-day television set?\u00a0 Or a local church pastor?\r\n\r\n<strong>I mean, I hope everything that you're hearing from this pulpit you're screening. <\/strong>\u00a0You know, you're not being contentious.\u00a0 You're not being argumentative.\u00a0 But is this really true?\u00a0 I mean, this is good stuff, but is it really accurate?\u00a0 And the only way you can figure that out is not by the size of the church.\u00a0 You can't figure it out based on the size of an online following.\u00a0 Because Satan can create big churches too, and create big followings online.\u00a0 The only way you can do it is if you're running everything through the grid of what you already know in the Scripture.\r\n\r\nMeaning that, I think, <strong>you've got to start learning what's in here<\/strong> [the Bible].\u00a0 This is your instruction manual.\r\n<h4>What does the Bible stand for?\u00a0 Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.<\/h4>\r\nRight?\u00a0 Is that right?\u00a0 B-I-B-L-E.\u00a0 B-I-B-L-E.\u00a0 That's the book for me.\u00a0 Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.\u00a0 This is your instruction manual.\u00a0 You start to read it.\u00a0 Now, if you're not reading your Bible on your own, how do you screen anybody about anything?\u00a0 You have no knowledge base to do that.\r\n\r\nSo the Bereans apparently knew Hebrew Bible well enough to say, \"Paul, we think your teaching is wonderful, but let me just run it through my personal grid first to make sure it's accurate.\"\r\n\r\n1 Corinthians 14:29 says the same thing about prophesying in the early church.\u00a0 Paul says, \"Let two or three prophets speak, ...\"\u00a0 Now, this was during a time where there were direct revelations from God going on.\u00a0 So the prophets are not to talk over each other.\u00a0 You're not to have dueling prophets.\u00a0 He says, \"Let two or three speak, and let the others...\"\u00a0 Now, who would the others be?\u00a0 The listeners.\u00a0 \"...let the others pass judgment.\"\r\n\r\nSo they're listening to these prophecies and they're saying does it align with what God has already revealed in His Word?\u00a0 Not, \"Did I learn it that way from my former church?\" Not, \"Did the guy who led me to Christ teach it this way?\" <strong>You run it through the grid of what the Scripture actually says, and if it aligns, you embrace it, and you praise the Lord<\/strong>.\u00a0 If it doesn't align, then you reject the message of that particular prophet who is not a prophet, but a false teacher, because they're contradicting God's Word.\r\n\r\n1 John 4:1 \"Beloved, [obviously written to Christians] do not believe every spirit, but [what?] test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because [just a couple of false prophets \u2013 doesn't say that] many false prophets have gone out into the world.\u201d\r\n\r\nFalse prophets are a dime a dozen.\u00a0 They're everywhere.\u00a0 They're in the church and they're outside the church.\r\n\r\nTherefore, you do not believe everyone that claims to speak for God, but you test the spirits, Acts 17:11, Deuteronomy 13:1-5, 1 Corinthians 14:29, you test the spirits to see whether they are from God.\u00a0 <strong>The only way you can tell is, does their message align with God's prior revelation or the Bible:\u00a0 Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth<\/strong>?\r\n\r\nIn fact, we had somebody here, and she went up to one of our ladies talking about her vision that she just saw.\u00a0 She saw all these things kind of happening in the sanctuary.\u00a0 I saw this vision.\u00a0 I saw this angel.\u00a0 I saw this.\u00a0 I saw that.\u00a0 And one of our Bible study leaders said, \"Well, did you test the spirits?\" And the person immediately got so angry they left the church.\u00a0 As if testing the spirits is somehow a quenching of the Spirit.\r\n\r\nThe testing of the spirits is not the quenching of the Spirit.\u00a0 <strong>The testing of the spirits is a biblical command for all Christians<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you're just blindly accepting everything you see and everything you're told, you're falling short of God's standard for your life, and you cannot grow in the middle tense of your salvation.\r\n\r\nI've used this example before of a child that's crawling.\u00a0 Everything they see they put in their mouth.\u00a0 That's what a new Christian is like.\u00a0 Oh, did you hear what they said in this seminar?\u00a0 Oh, did you hear about this book that just came out?\u00a0 Oh, did you hear this guy on TV?\u00a0 He was talking about a fresh revelation from God.\u00a0 And so the new Christian is just absorbing every single thing that they're hearing.\r\n\r\nBut if a child is crawling on the ground at age 16 and everything they see on the ground, they put in their mouth, it loses its cuteness.\u00a0 You have a developmental problem.\u00a0 And so as you mature as a Christian, you start to become an adult and you start to realize, well, not everything lying on the ground is good for me to put in my mouth.\u00a0 In fact, if it's lying on the ground, you might not even consider putting it in your mouth at all.\u00a0 Unless it's, what do they call it, the two second rule?\u00a0 And it's a really tasty piece of candy.\u00a0 That might be okay.\u00a0 But other than that, anything lying on the ground you shouldn't put in your mouth.\r\n\r\n<strong>So this is basically how you mature as a Christian \u2013 you test all things<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nWhat did Jesus say to the church at Ephesus?\u00a0 Before He rebuked the church at Ephesus, He said a lot of nice things about them.\u00a0 And one of the things He said about them is in Revelation 2:2.\u00a0 He says, \u201c\u2018I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, [Jesus is commending them here] and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and <strong>you put to the test<\/strong> [that's exactly what John said elsewhere in his little epistle] you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;\u201d\r\n\r\nThe versions say you have found them to be liars.\u00a0 So there were people, apparently, coming into the church at Ephesus at the close of the first century, saying, \"I'm a prophet.\u00a0 I'm an apostle.\u00a0 Listen to me.\"\u00a0 And the church at Ephesus said, okay.\u00a0 And as they were listening to these alleged apostles, they were starting to figure out, well, wait a minute, these apostles are contradicting what God has said in His written Word.\u00a0 What God has revealed earlier.\u00a0 What God has revealed elsewhere.\u00a0 And since God can't lie, these apostles must be false.\r\n\r\nSo you don't throw out the Bible, right?\u00a0 You throw out the message of the apostles.\u00a0 Now, sometimes your interpretation or our interpretation of the Bible might be wrong.\u00a0 So it can be challenged in that respect.\u00a0 But if someone is saying something that flatly contradicts what the Lord and the real apostles actually said, then you are to reject the message of the false teacher.\r\n\r\n<strong>So this is the mental process of testing, mental alertness<\/strong>.\u00a0 You're not putting your brain on hold just 'cause you're in a church.\u00a0 <strong>It's an active process<\/strong>.\u00a0 And if a person can't do that, then they, sadly, can't grow in the middle tense of their salvation.\r\n\r\nAnd the basic premise of this is <strong>God can't contradict Himself<\/strong>.\u00a0 And the philosophers all get into, \"Oh, are there some things God can't do?\" And if God can't do something, is He really God?\r\n\r\nYes, there are some things God can't do.\u00a0 Well, can God make a rock so big that He can't lift it?\u00a0 No, He can't do that.\u00a0 And He won't do it because God is always sovereign over His creation.\u00a0 He can't make a rock so big He can't move it.\r\n\r\nCan God lie?\u00a0 No, He can't lie.\u00a0 Because if He were to tell a lie, He would contradict His nature, which is 100% truth.\r\n\r\nThat, by the way, is the exhortation for us to be people of truth, because God is about truth.\u00a0 And if God is not into lying, because it's impossible for God to lie, maybe we as Christians shouldn't do that either, because we're supposed to imitate His character at the end of the day.\u00a0 So God can't say one thing on Monday and say something different on Tuesday.\r\n\r\nJesus can't say no one knows when the Lord is returning.\u00a0 Not even the Son of Man or the angels, and then turn around through Herald Camping and give a specific date for the Lord's return.\u00a0 I remember early 1990's there was some group saying Jesus is coming back in 1992, and they had all of these kind of signs and bands, you know, with these logos and things on it.\r\n\r\nAnd I remember saying to myself, well, I can either believe what the Bible says, or I can believe what these folks are saying.\u00a0 Yeah, but these folks are really popular, doesn't matter.\u00a0 These folks are pulling off a lot of adherents who are following them, doesn't matter.\r\n\r\n<strong>It only matters what the Bible says because God can't contradict Himself<\/strong>.\u00a0 You know, we have several pilots in our church.\u00a0 A pilot that's worth their salt, in fact, if a pilot doesn't do this, I don't know if I want to get on the airplane with them.\u00a0 A pilot always looks at the compass [attitude indicator \/ artificial horizon], always.\u00a0 They don't fly based on their feelings or their emotions because their feelings or their emotions many times will say the plane is upside down.\u00a0 You need to put it right side up.\u00a0 But if you're looking at the compass [artificial horizon], which is objectively true, and can't lie to you, it doesn't really matter what your feelings say, it doesn't matter what your emotions say.\u00a0 You fly by what is accurate.\r\n\r\nThis book [the Bible] is 100% accurate.\u00a0 Anything you hear, you're screening it through the grid of this Book.\u00a0 Which means you have to have a basic understanding of what this Book says about different things to do this.\u00a0 Otherwise, what are you at the end of the day?\u00a0 You're a Christian that really is not progressing in the middle tense of their salvation.\u00a0 It's what Ephesians 4:14 \u00a0says, \u201cAs a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;\u201d\r\n\r\nYou're just like being tossed about like waves on the ocean.\u00a0 And being tossed around all of the time, you can't grow.\u00a0 People write to me a lot and they say, \"Well, what do you think about what this guy says?\" \u00a0\"What do you think about this guy over here?\u00a0 What do you think about what they're saying?\" And my response is, \"What does the Bible say?\" <strong>Why do you care what I think anyway about what someone says?\u00a0 You've got your own Bible and you can screen what they're saying through the Word of God.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAnd if I hear something that kind of sounds off, I'll say, \"Well, why don't you examine this scripture over here and screen what you hear from them through the Word of God and see if what they're saying is true?\" Because, as John says, many false teachers have gone out into the world.\u00a0 So God can't lie.\u00a0 That's my point.\r\n\r\nNumbers 23:19, \"God is not a man, that he should lie, ....\"\u00a0 He can't say something in this book and say something contradictory through a preacher, prophet, alleged apostle, etc.\r\n\r\nTitus 1:2 says, \"... God, who cannot lie, ....\"\r\n\r\nHebrews 6:18 says, \" ... it is impossible ....\"\u00a0 Not that it's hard or difficult.\u00a0 \"... it is impossible for God to lie, ....\"\r\n\r\n<strong>So how do I know if I'm growing in the middle tense of my salvation?<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>I'm not quenching the spirit.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>I'm not despising prophetic utterances.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>But at the same time, I'm examining all things to see if these things are true.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Abstain From Evil<\/h4>\r\nAnd then one other fast thing that we should stay away from, we should abstain from evil.\u00a0 1 Thessalonians 5:22, \"abstain from every form of evil.\"\u00a0 Some of your translations will say, like the King James Bible, \"abstain from all appearance of evil.\"\u00a0 And quoting here Dr. Constable in his online notes, he says, \"This verse does not subject Christians to abstain from every interpretation of evil as given by others.\u00a0 Rather it is calling believers to abstain from what is actually evil.\"\u00a0 Because people will come up with these views that, \"Oh, you went to that graduation ceremony last night, and there was dancing on the floor?\u00a0 Now I know you weren't dancing because you got to hurt knee, but I saw your wife dancing, and that's evil.\"\u00a0 Well, that's not evil.\u00a0 That's someone's misinterpretation of what evil is.\r\n\r\n<strong>So you're not called as a Christian to abstain from ridiculous, legalistic interpretations of other people<\/strong>.\u00a0 I've seen this verse very sadly used that way.\u00a0 I don't know what it is with our nature, we want to control everybody.\u00a0 We want to control people.\u00a0 And if you get under inaccurate biblical interpretation, it can be a very powerful source of legalism and controlling others.\r\n\r\nThis verse is not saying that you submit to every single legalistic interpretation of what evil is.\u00a0 <strong>What it's talking about is you're abstaining from what actually is evil<\/strong>, and that's important to understand.\r\n\r\n<strong>So three positive commands<\/strong>.\u00a0 What are those real quick?\u00a0 Anybody remember?\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Rejoice always.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pray without ceasing.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Give thanks in all things.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nHow are we doing with those?\u00a0 Those are hard, aren't they?\r\n\r\n<strong>Three negative commands<\/strong>.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Do not quench the Spirit.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Do not despise prophetic utterances, although examine everything, to see if these things be so.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Abstain from evil.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nNow, at this point we're saying, well, these are hard sayings.\u00a0 Who can obey these?\u00a0 How do you do this?\u00a0 I mean, goodness gracious.\u00a0 Well, look at the balance in the Bible.\u00a0 Paul says there's divine help, divine enablement, the power of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Someone has said, well, the Christian life is difficult.\u00a0 The Christian life is not difficult.\u00a0 The Christian life is impossible.\r\n\r\nIf you're trying to live the Christian life through your own power, it is an impossible, frustrating task.\u00a0 That's why so many people are burnt out in Christianity because they're trying to do something that's impossible to do.\r\n\r\nIt becomes possible, though, when you dial into the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which is inside of us as we speak.\u00a0 Paul, in the book of Galatians 5:16, says, \u201cBut I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.\u201d\r\n\r\nWalk means dependence.\u00a0 Walking moment by moment under the influence of the Spirit.\u00a0 That enables us to say no to the flesh.\u00a0 And so we'll study that divine enablement next time.\r\n\r\nLet's pray.\u00a0 Father, we're grateful for today, grateful for Your truth in Your word, grateful for the fact that You haven't just caused us to be blinded by the Spirit.\u00a0 You've not just caused us to be born, but You've given us the tools to grow.\u00a0 And we pray that we will put these things into practice this week.\u00a0 We ask all of these things in Jesus' name, and God's people said amen.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\">[1]<\/a> \"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\" (1 John 1:9)\u00a0 All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, unless otherwise noted.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"#_ednref2\" name=\"_edn2\">[2]<\/a> See Chart at minute mark 00:32:43.\r\n\r\nSatanic\/Demonic Miracles\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>7\u20138<\/li>\r\n \t<li>13:1-3<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Job 1:12-19; 2:7-8<\/li>\r\n \t<li>1 Sam. 28?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>7:21-23; 24:24<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Acts 8:9; 16:16<\/li>\r\n \t<li>1:6-9<\/li>\r\n \t<li>2 Thess. 2:9<\/li>\r\n \t<li>13:3, 13, 15; 16:13-14<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/first-thessalonians-028-test-all-things-part-2\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.10\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sugar Land Bible Church - Bringing the Bible to Life\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Thessalonians 028 \u2013 Test All Things (Part 2) - 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