If you would, take your Bibles and open up to
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. You can also find
a few Bibles there in front of you. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, as we continue our sermon series through
this letter from Paul to the Christians there
in Thessalonica, our bulletin has us going through
verse 12, but after Much prayer this week. I
think it would be appropriate for us to stop
at verse 8 today and save those remaining verses,
Lord willing, for a future date. So, 1 Thessalonians
4, 1 through 8. Would you please give attention
to the reading of God's Word? Finally, then,
brothers, We ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus
that as you received from us How you ought to
walk and to please God just as you are doing
that you do so more and more For you know what
instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus
For this is the will of God your sanctification
that you abstain from sexual immorality that
each one of you know how to control his own body
in holiness and honor, not in the passion of
lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that
no one transgress and wrong his brother in this
matter because the Lord is an avenger in all
these things. As we told you beforehand and solemnly
warned you, for God has not called us for impurity.
but in holiness therefore whoever disregards
this disregards not man but God who gives his
Holy Spirit to you this is God's failing word
let's pray father we thank you for your word
we thank you for a word that speaks truth to
us I ask Lord that you would help us to search
our hearts and know if there is any way about
us that is not pleasing to you and that you would
write our course and Help us to follow more closely
after Jesus and that you will continue the work
of sanctification in our lives Give us understanding
now. We pray in Christ's name. Amen Within our
worship service this morning, we have already
touched on sanctification. We have read the Shorter
Catechism. What is sanctification? Sanctification
may not be a word that you use on a daily basis.
It could be, and it should be, perhaps. But there
is a way in which we use the word sanctification
that I think is fairly common, and it's the root
of the word. It's sanctity. And often when we
talk about sanctity, we talk about sanctity of
marriage, right? We talk about keeping holy the
union between man and woman, united in matrimony.
We recognize that marriage is a pre -fall gift
from God. And so we want to keep it holy, right?
Sadly though, the common view today in culture
is not that marriage needs to be sanctified.
The common view in culture today is that personal
choice and pleasure be kept holy and sanctified.
People view marriage not in the way that God
does. Instead, what people want to uphold is
not marriage, but immorality. But friends, our
text tells us we are to please God. That is our
goal. This is why we were made we are to please
God according to the text in holiness and as
Christians we as we are set apart for holiness
and we show it impurity So today if you are saved
by Christ, you are not only saved to heaven which
you are But you are also saved to holiness. Let
me say that again You are not only saved to heaven
but you are saved to holiness. And this, according
to the text, is the will of God. Oftentimes,
we ask ourselves or we ask others, what is the
will of God for my life? And usually, when we
ask that question, we mean something like, where
am I going to go to college? Who am I going to
marry? What kind of career should I have? How
many children? What's the will of God for my
life and my retirement? Where should I retire
and how much money do I need? But friends, these
are fine questions. But the real answer to the
will of God is your holiness. The will of God
is your holiness. Look at verse 1. You can see
that this section kicks off with kind of a transition
word there. The ESV has the word finally there.
So we would expect something new or something
to be, this to be the very end of the letter.
But what Paul is doing here is he's kicking off
a very practical applicable section. And we like
that. We like the practicality of the Bible,
don't we? Because oftentimes we look at the ancient
text and we say, what does this 2 ,000 or more
year old text have to do with me? Anybody ever
ask that? I do. How is this helpful to me in
2025? So we have a practical section, but be
careful what you wish for. Because if you are
struggling with the sins of this passage, this
hits hard. Because Paul has his finger on the
pulse of a common problem. Paul has his finger
on the pulse of a problem that has existed really
ever since the fall, sexual immorality. Today,
we lament the decline of society, don't we? It
seems that each new decade presents a new level
of moral decay. But think about the Thessalonians.
The Thessalonians, they were not living in a
Christian society. And so they were not seeing
new levels of decay. The Thessalonians were already
in the cesspool. What was life like in Thessalonica?
Well, like in many places in the Greco -Roman
world, tolerance of misconduct, encouragement
towards misconduct, particularly relationships
of an intimate nature outside of marriage. And
you might say, well, that's the same in our day,
and that is very true. We're dealing with the
same things today. This is why this is so applicable.
However, there's something else that was going
on. in these Greco -Roman cities related to marriage.
And it's that marriages were often arranged.
Marriages were often arranged. Now, as a father
of two beautiful, sweet, cute little girls, I'm
thinking, yes, Lord, that seems like a great
idea. You're telling me I get to choose who they
marry? Sadly, that's not really the way it went
in Thessalonica. Listen to this quote from a
philosopher from Athens in 300 BC, so hundreds
of years before Christ and before this letter.
This philosopher said, are women are seething
right now. What could change such a despicable
ethic? What about the gospel? What about a biblical
sexual ethic? And so here comes Paul with his
talk of Jesus, talk of holiness, talk of sanctification,
saying it's the will of God that you refrain
from this behavior. and that you would be able
to control your own bodies. It's very much what
Paul has to say to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians
6, 18. And Paul had a lot to say to the Corinthians,
but he says, flee from sexual immorality. What
Paul, Silas, and Timothy have to share with the
Christians there in Thessalonica would have been
revolutionary. Paul is saying, get rid of the
concubines. Get rid of the mistresses and be
committed to holiness. Friends, it's no wonder
that Acts 17 records the people driving Paul
out of the city, right? It's no wonder that they
were accused of turning the world upside down,
because they were telling people to give up this
sin. And in doing so, Paul and the Christians
there, they're really destroying society. And
I think that they were doing this in two different
ways. The first way in which they were bringing
on the destruction of that heinous society would
have been in business. In saying, put away the
concubines and the mistresses and be committed
to your wives, they are destroying business in
this city. For we know this, that prostitution
was big business in Thessalonica. It was. Thessalonica
was a big city. It was on the water. A lot of
people coming into port and out of port, right,
pursuing all kinds of heinous things. And so
you tell them to stop this practice. This is
hitting people in the wallet. And now you're
really making them mad, but also in terms of
religious practice. If Paul had said to the people
there, Hey believe in Jesus, but don't change
your lifestyle whatsoever The Thessalonians would
have said hey, no problem here. Let's just add
Jesus to our list of gods Collect them all but
that's not what Paul said and pagan worship was
connected with Immorality consider this quote
The many references in 1st Thessalonians to suffering
being experienced by the church are best understood
as referring not primarily to physical persecution,
but to social harassment for Christians' refusal
to take part in their former cultic activities.
And so the Christians are saying no to this way
of life because there's somebody different. They
are in Christ, a new creation. And the non -believers
in the city, they don't like this whatsoever.
And so you see what Paul is doing. Paul is relating
our sanctification to abstaining from immorality.
Now you might say, well, how do I do that? How
can I grow in godliness in such a culture as
ours? How can I be committed to holiness? when
there is immorality all around, when it's ubiquitous.
Friends, we need to turn off the TV. There is
such grime on television. You need to be careful
with what you watch. We need to be careful with
what we watch. We need to be careful with what
we view on the internet. There is so much on
there that we should never see. so much honor
that our children should never see, and so we
must protect our children from it. I commend
those of you who carry around what's called a
dumb phone so that you cannot access videos on
your phone. Why? Well, because I think Jesus
says it best for Matthew 5, 27 through 28. This
is within the Sermon on the Mount. which should
show us something. You have heard that it was
said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say
to you that everyone who looks at a woman with
lustful intent has already committed adultery
with her in his heart. I know I've shared this
illustration before, and so my apologies for
a recycled illustration. but I think it's been
long enough. When I was living in Poland, I remember
in Warsaw how night clubs would advertise their
establishment by having little cards printed
with inappropriate pictures and putting them
on the windshields of vehicles. So you would
go into a parking lot and it's just filled with
these cards and sometimes they would blow off
and they'd be on the streets, littering is bad
too. And this isn't unique to Warsaw or Poland
or any of that but what was interesting is one
day I saw a Polish priest walking to his car
and so he enters into the parking lot he sees
what's on the windshields and he covers his eyes
like this as he walked he covered his eyes meaning
that he bumped into nearly every Volkswagen in
the parking lot but he would not allow himself
to even gaze on such sin And at the time, I can
remember thinking as a young man, being like,
aren't you mature enough that you don't have
to do that? Can't you just keep walking? No,
he wasn't even going to allow Satan to have a
foothold. He knew how dangerous that was. And
so as he got to his car, he brushed that card
off the windshield and he got into his car and
he left the parking lot. Friends, we need to
be like that. We need to turn away from sin before
it's ever a problem. And it's not just in terms
of pictures or videos or television, books even.
There are some writers who write with such a
flair that they can depict something even better
than a video. Friends, be careful what you read.
Take the book back to the library, sell it, throw
it in the garbage if you need to. Be careful
with what you read. Also be careful with how
you dress. We need to be people of modesty. The
text is going to tell us that there's a relationship
between who we are as we pursue holiness and
looking out for others. And so we need to dress
with modesty. We also need to be careful with
how we talk. We need to be careful with the language
that we use. And we need to be careful with how
we talk about our spouses. Friends, when you
talk about your husband or your wife, do you...
build them up in the eyes of other people? That
will show how we feel about marriage. That is
a gift from God. And so for all these ways, be
careful. Additionally, in terms of sanctification,
we realize something else. That we need to replace
the sinful things with good things. Because that's
what God does with us, right? We're a new creation
in Christ. And so we need to take that which
is wrong for us and cast it off. But we need
to replace it with good things. And the good
things I have in mind are called the means of
grace. Friends talked about how there are some
very bad books. There's also a very good book.
We should read this. We should read this privately.
We should read this with our families. We should
read this here at church. So go to the WIC meetings,
women. Men. Men of the Covenant, Sunday School,
Table Talk, be committed to these things, and
most importantly, be committed to the very Word
of God. Also be committed to prayer. You want
help in standing against the wiles of the devil?
Be committed to prayer. Ask for God's help if
this is a struggle of yours. Also we need one
another, don't we? In order to stand against
that which is evil, we need one another. We need
the church. We need accountability, and so again,
if this is a struggle, have people in your corner.
You've got elders in this church who want to
help. You've got wise Christians who have been
walking this road for such a long time enlist
the help of others. Look at verse 6, as we also
recognize that sexual sin hurts not just us,
but it hurts others. You remember the seventh
commandment, do not commit adultery. Do you also
remember how the tenth commandment relates to
the seventh? Because there God says, do not covet
your neighbor's wife. Friends, sexual sin hurts
others. Think about how much heartache would
be saved if people would follow the Bible's teaching
on saving the gift of sex until marriage, and
that marriage would be exclusively between married
man and married woman. Sexual sin hurts other
people. But also look in verse eight and let
me read this. Therefore, whoever disregards this
disregards not man, but God, who gives his Holy
Spirit to you. Primarily our sin is against God.
That alone right there should be enough for a
Christian to say no to this. Because God calls
us to not to impurity but to holiness if you
disregard this you ultimately disregard God Who
is the giver of the Holy Spirit right there at
the end of verse 8 now? Why does Paul include
that there the giver of the Holy Spirit to you?
Why does he put that there? There's a writer
named Andrew Malone who sees a connection between
this statement and the giving of the Holy Spirit
or the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit
in Ezekiel chapter 36. I'm going to read just
a little bit of Ezekiel 36 for us from about
25 through 29. Listen to these words. Again,
the promise of the Holy Spirit. Listen for the
connection to our text. I will sprinkle clean
water on you. and you shall be clean from all
your uncleannesses and from all your idols I
will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart
and a new spirit I will put within you and I
will remove the heart of stone from your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh and I will put
my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
The emphasis there, as in our text, is on the
walking and the cleansing and the receiving of
the Holy Spirit. This is a clear picture. You
who have the Spirit are to walk according to
the Spirit. You who are a Christian are to follow
after Christ. And so let's think about this for
a second. Who are you trying to please? Are you
trying to please yourself? Or are you trying
to please God? This is a very common way for
Paul to speak. But you might say, well, yeah,
I'm trying to please God, but it's difficult.
We're in the middle of a cultural war. You know,
Christianity gets criticized very often by progressives
for our sexual ethic. They say, why can't everyone
just love whomever they want to? Why not? Well,
Among other places because of Romans chapter
12 1 through 2 I appeal to you therefore brothers
by the mercies of God to present yourselves your
bodies as a living sacrifice Holy and acceptable
to God, which is your spiritual worship Do not
be conformed to this world but be transformed
by the renewal of your mind That by testing you
may discern. What is the will of God? What is
good? and what is acceptable and what is perfect.
Friends, you are a living sacrifice. That is
your purpose in Christ. And so it's incompatible
for you to live for the flesh and to live for
God. And these sins of the flesh are not pleasing
to God in any way. And so we need to be committed
to holiness. I'm so thankful that there are people
who are not just committed to personal holiness,
but there are people who are committed to helping
other people be committed to holiness. There
are a number of great organizations and people
who are doing wonderful work to help others be
freed from the trappings of sexual sin and the
trappings of the lust of others. When I was living
in Eastern Europe, I was fairly close to a group
of women who were going about and helping those
who were entrapped in these ways. Friends, there
are a number of good people doing this and we
should be committed to praying for those who
would risk their lives to uphold a biblical sexual
ethic. Christians who are on the front lines
just like Paul was. We need to be committed to
this ourselves and we need to be committed to
helping others who are committed to these things.
But you might say, well, why would you go to
such trouble? Why would you go to such danger
to stand up for marriage and purity and holiness?
Why? It's in verse five. Because we know God.
The reason to be committed to these things is
because we know God. The people who act in these
sinful ways, they do not know God. And God calls
us, according to verse 7, to holiness. And actually,
as you look at the text, there is a Trinitarian
reason here, a Trinitarian reason to be committed
to a biblical sexual ethic and to be committed
to holiness. And it's because of the past call
of God in verse 7, the present gift of the Holy
Spirit in verse 8, and the future judgment of
Christ in verse 6. Friends, sanctification is
a product of our knowing God through Christ by
the power of the Holy Spirit. Christians are
set apart from the world. We live in this world,
but we do not belong to this world. We are to
live following after Christ. Christ is your goal.
And Christ tells us to seek first the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. Friends, these
sins, and I'm trying not to be explicit. I'm
trying to be mindful of young ears. These sins
are so common. Teenagers are struggling with
this. Adults of all ages are struggling with
this. Friends, I want to give you good news.
If this is your struggle, please know this. There
is forgiveness for sexual sin. There is forgiveness
for this sin. in Christ alone. It should not
be lost on us, especially those of us who have
studied the life of David recently, that he really
struggled in these areas, didn't he? And yet
he was called a man after God's own heart. And
you can read his Psalm of repentance in Psalm
51. It's a must read. Friends, Jesus has come
for the forgiveness of sin for the Christian.
He has nailed these sins to the cross. So if
this is an area of struggle to you, for you,
take it to Jesus. Jesus, who not only saves us,
but Jesus who cleanses us. I want to leave you
with two scriptures. Before we conclude. First,
John one nine. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then
1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. No temptation
has overtaken you that is not common to man.
God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted
beyond your ability, but with the temptation,
he will also provide the way of escape that you
may be able. to endure it. Friends, Christ is
faithful to provide the way of escape and Christ
is faithful to forgive those who call upon him
in faith. As 1st Thessalonians 4 .1 says then,
let us seek to please God more and more. For
this friends, this is the will of God. Let's
pray.