I want to remind you that the theme of the two epistles is practical Christian living in light of the soon return of Jesus Christ. Every chapter concludes with a reference to the fact that Jesus is coming back and that it could happen at any time. So in light of his soon return, what kind of an impact should that be having upon you? 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3 says this, we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. So the impact ought to be holy living. Similarly, in 2 Peter 3, verses 12 and 14, it says this, looking for. That is the idea of expectation, looking for and hasting. That is the idea of being eager. So expecting and being eager unto the coming of the day of God. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. Jesus is soon to return. What kind of an impact should that be having upon us? Have we no responsibility at all? Is it just that we should just go on living the way we ought to, pleasing ourselves? Well, according to Peter, he said, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot. and blameless, and I say that that ought to be the goal of every believer, that we are anticipating and being eager for his soon return. But there's a problem. Christians today aren't expecting the return of Christ. You say, oh, I am. And Christians talk about the fact that I believe that the rapture could take place at any time, and they say that they're expecting it. But I would say, you know, I'm not real sure. that many Christians are. Surely they're not being eager. And you may ask, well, how do you know that? Well, I would say that because of the life that they're living. Because if it is going to transform my Christian living and my living is not transformed, what does that say about my expectation and being eager for the return of Christ? It may be something I mouth, but it's not something that I truly believe in my heart. Remember where Thessalonica is located and situated in this classical world? Remember where it was? It's on a seaport. A main highway runs right through this city. It's almost like the situation you would find in Corinth. And do you remember what Corinth was like? Do you remember some of the things that Paul had to write to the Corinthian church? Very carnal church. But here's a new church. This is a band of new believers. What kind of moral climate are they living under? What is the world like around them right there in Thessalonica? With sailors and people traveling on this road. It is well known that it was not a good moral climate. It is well known that this was a place of much sin. Now think about that when you think about the message that Paul is writing to these newly saved people and telling them that they need to live a holy life. Now think about that. Think about their environment and what he is having to write them. It's not easy to live a holy life when you're surrounded by temptation and when that temptation is constant. It kind of reminds you of the situation we find ourselves in today. what is on television, what is around us on billboards and what is said and what... you go anywhere and the morality or I might say the immorality is pervasive and the acceptance of it. Paul is writing to these new believers. Of course we've seen chapters 1, 2, and 3. Let's just look at the end of chapter 3 because Paul uses a word in chapter 4 verse 1 that refers us back to chapter 3. So let's just go back to chapter 3. Look at verse 13. Paul's desire was that God would establish their hearts unblameable in holiness before God. Then he says in chapter 4 verse 1, Then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus." We see here Paul's instructions concerning Christians, and I'm going to use this term, who are awake. You say, well, we're all awake this morning, Pastor. Well, right now you are, but you should see the scene from up here in about 15 minutes. Paul's instructions concerning Christians who are awake. I use the term awake in the sense that it's being used in this chapter. Christians who are still alive. Now with that in mind, how many of you are awake? You're alive, you're here, so this applies to you. But you get to verse 13, and here's what Paul, Paul changes the terminology. He says in verse 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are those who are asleep. So I am using the term awake in contrast with what you will see later on in the chapter. So in verses 13 to 18, Paul talks about the dead in Christ. But in verses 1 to 12, he talks about those who are still alive, the living in Christ. So what Paul instructs about the rapture and the dead in Christ in that well-known portion of this chapter, verses 13 to 18, in other words, those who are asleep, before he gets to that, he precedes that with two admonitions. And here's the two admonitions. First of all, we're going to see in verses 1 through 8, Paul says, I want you to make progress in your Christian living. Make progress in your Christian living. Please note what it says at the last part of verse two. So, or excuse me, at the last part of verse one. So he would abound more and more. That expresses progress. So that's what Paul is desiring to see in these new believers. Now let me just stop here. If he wants to see this in new believers, should this also be true with old believers? Definitely so. So verses 1-8, make progress in Christian living. Then verses 9-12, this is all before we get to the passage on the rapture. Verses 9-12, make progress in Christian loving. Make progress in Christian loving. Notice what he says in verse nine, is touching brotherly love, you need not that I write unto you, and so forth. Then you get to the last part of verse 10, he says that ye increase more and more. So here we see that terminology again, where he's talking about you need to be making progress. Come on, more and more. You see, Jesus is soon to return. and He will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. Verses 13 to 18. That should impact those who are awake in Jesus. Those of us sitting here today, this should have an impact upon us. As His coming gets nearer and nearer, you should, and here's the first point that you've already been told, you should be making progress in Christian living. Now having just said that much, challenge yourselves with that statement, or let me ask it to you. Are you making progress in Christian living? Because it says, so ye would abound more and more. And of course, we're going to look at verses 1 and 2 this morning. We're not going to get to verses 3 to 8 yet. But the first thing that we see is in verses 1 and 2, and he's saying, make progress in Christian living in your conduct generally. In your conduct generally. Because when we get to verses 3 to 8, we're gonna see that we should be making progress in our Christian living in our conduct explicitly. But in general now, Paul is using these terms in verses 1 and 2, and so in verse 1, Make progress in your Christian living, in your conduct generally, by obeying what had been received. By obeying what had been received. And so I say it this way, Paul is addressing what they have been doing. What have they been doing? Now I know that's a long introduction to get us to this, what I wanna get to right now. But if you look at verse 1, he says, as ye have received of us. They've already heard him say this. Apparently when he was there in Thessalonica, he was teaching these new believers something that he's going to remind them of in verse 1. So he uses that phrase furthermore. In other words, what Paul is saying in verse 1 provides a transition for other important matters he wants to address to these believers. And then he uses the word then. Furthermore, then, that's the word therefore. So that connects us to what has just been prayed for in chapter 3 and verse 13. And what did he pray for? Holy living, that their hearts would be established unblameable in holiness before God at the coming of Jesus Christ. So he is now following up on what he said in verse 13. Furthermore, then. Furthermore, therefore. And then he says, we beseech you. We are asking you. And then he says, exhorts you. What is an exhortation? I used to get exhorted all the time when I was a kid. It's an urging. I still get exhorted. You still have someone urging you. You should be urged from this pulpit and I hope that you pick up on that. Urging you to do what is biblical. So what Paul had prayed for in 3.13, listen, he is now urging them to do. Oh, wait a second. If somebody's gonna pray for me, the responsibility is off of me. Thank you for praying for me. Thank you for praying that I will get better because of this health issue I've had. Thank you for praying. And then I go out and do the very thing that goes against what the doctor has told me to do. That's how we typically live. Somebody will pray for us and we say, well, the responsibility is off of me. God's going to do that. What Paul is doing here is saying, now you need to live your life in holiness, unblameable for God. And now he urges them to do it. I am praying that God would have you do this now. I am requesting and I am urging you to do what? as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God. And he calls them brethren. In other words, there's this common bond in Christ. There's common interests, common concerns. Let me just use the illustration of my brothers and I. If you watch us long enough, you're gonna say, you guys must be brothers, even if we don't look alike. Because of common interests, common concerns. What ought to be said about brothers in Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ? What ought to be said? That there's common interests, common concerns. But I want to make this point as well. This applies only to believers. Unbelievers are not capable of being able to walk and to please God. You can't do it. So if you're an unbeliever here this morning, if you are here without Jesus Christ, I urge you to listen. But I want you to know something up front. You can't do it. You can't do it. There's no way you can please him. You mean a believer can? What do you think about that question? Can a believer walk in a way that pleases God? You know what a lot of people say today? Can't be done. Let me ask you something. Why is Paul beseeching and urging the very thing you claim can't be done? Why is he asking and exhorting that Christians do what so many Christians today are saying cannot be done? I want you to think about that. But I want you to understand up front, no unbeliever is capable of even being able to walk and to please God. And then he says, as ye have received of us. What he asks and what he urges is nothing new. He is repeating something he has already told them. But I want you to look at that word receive. There's a couple of words in the original language for that word received. And this one has the idea of receiving something favorably. I can give you something. I can hand something to you and you can receive it. But there's another way you might want to receive it. You may want to receive it, but in a way that you are accepting it. Is there a difference between somebody actually receiving something and maybe somebody accepting something? There is. Because I can receive something and not even like what I'm receiving, chafing at it, rebelling at it, but I still take it. The word used here means I receive it favorably. I accept this. Yes, I'll take that." Think about that. That's how they receive Paul's request and his urging. They're not chafing at it. They're not rebelling at it as some people do when they hear a message on something like this very thing. Let's read on in verse 1. Let's just start at the beginning again. Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us, how ye ought. Let's stop right there. How do you respond when somebody advises you? You know what you ought to do? Really, what is your, kind of your first response? When you're doing something and they're watching, You know what you ought to do? What? You know. That's how we typically receive what somebody says when they say you ought to do something. It literally means it is necessary. Let's read it that way. that as ye have received of us, how it is necessary to walk and to please. Paul is reminding them because this is an obligation, this is a duty, this is a responsibility, this is not an option, this must be obeyed. And the wording actually indicates that they had already been practicing what Paul taught them, now he's simply reminding them. What is it that they had been doing that is necessary, that they ought to do? to walk and please God. Now this is the crux of this message this morning. You ought to walk and to please God. And it's in the present tense, which indicates this is continuing action. This isn't just today, this is tomorrow, and this is for the rest of your life. You ought to walk and to please God. And then he says, so ye would abound more and more. Because some would say, well, I'm already doing that. Well, then intensify. Do it even more. Well, I'm doing more than I was last year. Then do more this year. Keep intensifying. Be what God wants you to be is a full-time, daily, year-round spiritual exercise. Let's look at that first biblical expression, to walk. We have an expression when we have little toddlers or they're not even toddlers yet in our home. Somebody who's maybe eight or nine months old, maybe 10, 11, 12 months old, we say something like this, has he, she learned how to walk? Now if somebody has to learn how to walk, that indicates that something has to be taught. How many of you gave lessons to your kids on how to walk? Let me ask that again. How many of you gave lessons to your kids on how to walk? That's what I thought. Nobody did. And we don't. We don't. You may have held them up and supported them, but they learned how to walk how? They watched you. That's why they have your gate. That's why they have your idiosyncrasies. I sometimes watch my boys walk to see how I walk. What did I teach them? Because they walk like I do. My wife and I were talking about how fun it is to watch people, especially in airports. And one of the things I like to watch is a father and a son or a mother and a daughter and watch how the son has learned to walk like the dad. It's something that they learn. Walk is where we get our word, and you probably have never used this word, peripatetic. Para means around. Pateo means to walk, so it means literally to walk. to walk around or to go about. So it's more than just how you walk, it's how you walk around. It refers to your lifestyle. This is referring to your Christian conduct. This is referring to your behavior. This is referring to how you act when Paul says, how you ought to walk. We've already seen the same word in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 12. Go back there, that ye would walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. Folks, as a boy walks like his father, so also a child of God ought to walk like, go back to chapter 3 and look at verse 11, our father. We ought to walk as our father walks. Well, the next question is, well, what does a Christian walk look like? I'm glad you asked. Because for the next few minutes, I want to go through the Bible. And I want you to turn here, because some of you are already falling asleep in Jesus. So I want you to go, first of all, to 1 John 2 and look at verse 6. Actually, you're not falling asleep in him. You're falling asleep in the flesh. 1 John 2, verse 6. What does a Christian walk look like? And I've listed all these references on your outline so please follow along. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. There it is. How should you walk? even as Jesus Christ walked. That's how you ought to walk. That's 1 John 2.6. Go to the previous chapter, 1 John 1. Look at verses 6 and 7. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If I am walking in darkness, I am not walking like God is. Because He always walks in the light because He is the light. So you cannot walk in darkness and say that you have fellowship with Him. It is impossible. That's why an unbeliever cannot do what these verses say. Now, go back to Romans chapter 6 and verse 4. A passage that we use when we have a baptismal service. Romans 6, 4, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should, next word please, walk, how? In newness of life. My walk has changed. Now I walk as a new creature. Romans 13, 13 and 14, let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. You see what walk has to do with here? It has to do with your lifestyle because Paul says, let's walk honestly and then he gives the converse. He says, not in rioting, not in drunkenness. By the way, you know how to never get drunk? Never drink. Never drink alcoholic beverages and you'll never get drunk. And I believe that ought to be the standard for a Christian. Not in chambering and wantonness. Not in strife and envying. Listen, if there is strife in your family, if there is strife with in-laws, something's not right. If there's strife in the church, you're not walking as God would walk. What's the solution, verse 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. Now, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. I simply went through my Greek lexicon and looked up every word peripateo and chose these verses because there's many more than this. These communicate something this morning. Ephesians 2, 1 and 2, and you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye, what's that word? You used to do, here, this used to be your lifestyle, this used to be your behavior. Ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Folks, a new Christian has to learn how to walk as a Christian because he used to learn how to walk as an unbeliever. You need to walk as a believer. Ephesians chapter four, verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds." So there's a right way to walk, there is a wrong way to walk. There is a right way to live, a wrong way to live. There is right behavior, there is wrong behavior. This seems to make so much sense to us, but I have to say this because there are those who are saying that your behavior doesn't matter. and they claim to be Christians. Ephesians 5.8, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Ephesians 5.15, See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, That it but is wise. Now that word circumspectly is a very interesting word. I love doing word studies, if you haven't noticed. Circumspectly is an adverb. One of you children tell me if we get an English word from this Greek word that I'm gonna pronounce right now. Acrobose. Acro. Acrobat. It's where we get the word acrobat. Think about it in that light. See then that ye walk like an acrobat. Now, how does an acrobat walk? When I say an acrobat on a wire, he's just playing around. He's not taking in mind what's taking, you know, he's just jumping. Really? How does an acrobat walk? Very carefully. That's the idea. You know what, Christian? You should be walking very carefully, not as fools. Now, I could see an acrobat on a wire doing something really stupid, where he's not walking like an acrobat ought to, and he's doing so foolishly. Paul says, listen, believers, see then that you walk like an acrobat, not as a fool, but as wise. Then we're in 1 Thessalonians. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians 3. 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 6, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." I've got a question for you. So you're trying to walk carefully. You're trying to walk circumspectly. You're trying to walk in the light, not in darkness. You are trying to be careful about your conduct. You are trying to maintain a testimony before God in this world that you are living the Christian life, but you've got this brother in Christ who is walking disorderly. What should be your response to him? According to 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 6. Withdraw yourself. You see, that's kind of a hard thing to do. But he's my brother in Christ. Yes, but he's a disobedient brother. What happens if you hang around somebody who's walking disorderly or disobediently? Does that ever have any influence on you? All of you answer in the affirmative. And thus it is so. If I walk with somebody who's disorderly, pretty soon I'm gonna become just like they are. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. I believe it's Proverbs 13, 20. Psalm 119, I am a companion of all them that fear thee, of all them that keep thy precepts. I'll tell you why children act the way they do when they're disobedient, because they're walking with kids like that. And the best thing to do is get them away from that influence. Some believers walk, the way they walk is due to their association with disobedient brothers or disorderly brothers. So there is the biblical expression to walk. But then back to 1 Thessalonians chapter four and verse one, how you ought to walk and, what's the next thing, and to please God. So the second biblical expression is to please. If to walk is rightly practiced, it results in this, I will please God. If I walk rightly, I will please God. But notice something, it is not just doing God's will. It is possible to obey Him and not please Him. Jonah obeyed him, but what was his attitude in pleasing God? Now we're gonna see some other verses that have to do with pleasing God. Romans 8.8. Romans 8.8. And again, these are marked on your outline. You may revisit these at another time. Romans 8.8 says, so then, They that are in the flesh, read it out loud please, can't please God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. I go back to what I said earlier in this message. If you are an unbeliever here this morning, you cannot please God. You're walking in the flesh. It is even possible for a believer to backslide and walk in the flesh and when he does so, you cannot please God. Romans 15, 1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Not to please ourselves. Who am I supposed to please? Well, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1. Learn how you ought to walk and to please God. Now, jump all the way to 2 Timothy 2. If you're in 1 Thessalonians, if you still have your finger there in 1 Thessalonians, just a few books past that. 1 and 2 Thessalonians, then comes 1 Timothy, and then 2 Timothy 2. Note verse 4. entangled himself with the affairs of this life that he may next word please him who have chosen him to be a soldier look up here for just a minute if you are a believer here this morning did you know that you are a soldier you are involved in a war It's not with flesh and blood, but with principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You're involved in a war. And the Bible says, what Paul is writing Timothy there in 2 Timothy 2.4 is, no man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. A few weeks ago, we were talking to Benjamin. He's in special force. He's in selection right now. We don't know what's happening with him right now. But one of his cadres was watching him doing one of the things they were requiring of him one day. And the cadre called him over and said, hey, Unruh, you got a girl? He said, no, sir. He said, good. That's going to help you make it through this. And he's talked to many guys who have said, you know, if they had a girlfriend, which is okay, but if they have a girlfriend, it is so hard to make it because they're entangled. They've got this response. They're always wanting to ride her. And, of course, when you're in selection and you can't ride anybody, you can't even call mom and dad, and the girl gets upset, you don't love me, you know, and so forth and so on. You know, it's this entanglement, and it's a distraction. And they find that a lot of the guys who have relationships they don't make it. You know what? No man that warth entangleth himself with affairs of this life so that he might do what? Please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. John 8 29 says and he that sent me is with me this is Jesus speaking the father have not left me alone for I do always those things that please him. There's only one person who could actually say that without fail. Jesus Christ could say I do always those things that please him. We can't say always but that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for it folks. First John 3.22 says, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. I want to please God. Ken Collier, who's with the Wilds in North Carolina, it's a Christian youth camp, once had this saying, and I think this is a great saying, he says, only two choices lie on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self. In everything you do, you're either pleasing God or you're pleasing yourself. Only two choices lie on the shelf. You're either pleasing God or pleasing self. Everybody lives to please somebody. Everybody. If it's not God, then whoever else you are trying to please is simply an end run to eventually please yourself. So here's what we see that they have been doing, and Paul commends them for it. You have received this of us. But now, the last phrase of verse one. Here's what they must keep doing. Here's what you must keep doing. So ye would abound more and more. Don't just keep doing it, but even to a greater degree. abounding to a greater degree, I believe, corrects two wrong schools of thought. Here's the first one that I've already mentioned. There are those who say you cannot please God, even as a Christian. So why even try? Just do what pleases yourself. But I ask again, then why would Paul even write this? And here's another school of thought. There are those who think that they can attain perfectionism, that they have arrived. That they do always those things that please God. Only one could say that, that was Jesus Christ. No man or woman alive can say that. And so they say, since I can't attain that, I give up. Wrong answer. It's like the apostle Paul. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I have not yet attained, but I keep striving. I keep pushing more and more. But you can't attain perfectionism. There's always room for more and more abounding. You must never be satisfied with what has been achieved. There can be no finality in practical holiness in this life for the believer, so says Edmund D. Hebert in his commentary. You must excel even more. Now this flies in the face of what so many people are saying today. No Christian has ever arrived But that doesn't mean I don't keep trying. By God's grace and with the help of His Holy Spirit, I cannot do this by myself. I repeat, that's why no believer could ever even try to please God. Notice, folks, the whole point of verses 1 through 8 is to make progress. Christian living. It is something that I must strive for. You find the man who lives the greatest Christian life, the man you look up to the most, the woman you look up to the most, and I'm telling you something, she or he has not yet attained. It is a lifelong point of obedience. and your conduct generally by obeying what had been received." And now in verse 2, just very briefly, by obeying what had been given. Paul says in verse 2, for ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. That word commandments is a charge. It's an announcement of what must be done. It's a semi-military term and carries a tone of authority. It's like somebody in the military saying, here's your orders. And that's what Paul is saying. You know what orders we gave you, but notice who the authority is. He's not just saying, hey, this is what we want you to do. He is saying, we gave these orders to you by the Lord Jesus. He is the authority. So upon the authority of God's word, who is Jesus Christ, listen. You know how you ought to walk and to please God and to excel even in a greater degree. For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. What these Thessalonian believers had favorably received were orders that had been given by Paul's team by the Lord Jesus. Let me ask you something. Are you walking as you ought to walk so that you are pleasing God? Or are you pleasing self? Only two choices lie on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self.