First Thessalonians, 4:1-8 The Process of Sanctification

All right, good. We got an exciting text before us today, and I think they gave me the tough part here to deal with. You know, Randy gets to talk all about this rapture stuff. As I was preparing this, you know, do we talk about fornication or rapture? I think I'd rather talk about rapture, actually. But nevertheless, today's topic is really fornication. It's about 80% of the text today. So get ready. Is everybody ready for this? All right. All right, we're now entering into a new kind of aspect of First Thessalonians.

Chapter 4 begins a two-part series that we're going to cover this week and next, although I think Randy's... Actually, I think we have three weeks here. Do we have two? Just two. Randy's going to have to deal with, actually, a tremendous amount of material next week. As we were talking, teachers were talking, Roger and Randy, Brad, to some extent, I'm not sure he was part of this initial conversation, but I mean, the text next week should really be a month.

I mean, we're going to really reduce the rapture and brotherly love and minding your own business into one week. It's really a challenge for him. In a sense, that makes my life easier. It's just a topic a little more difficult. Actually, just a clarification. Next week actually is just brotherly love. And the following week is the first part of it. I thought things had changed, but all right.

All right, so let's look at this process of sanctification. That's really what the Thessalonians 4 really represents. So the first is sexual continence, and you can ultimately define that however you want. If you think of continence in terms of bowel and bladder function, in a sense, continence explains itself here reasonably well.

The second component is brotherly love and that's what I guess Randy will be dealing with. Is he teaching next week? Well, I'm glad somebody knows what's going on around here. Because this guy does what it looks like, right? So brotherly love is the second aspect which will be covered by our dear brother Roger next week.

The third is kind of minding your own business. That sounds kind of colloquial, but in effect that's what the scriptures really deal with. And then the fourth is no sorrow for the dead or the living. The future for believers is bright. And that relates to the rapture. So these are kind of the components of sanctification, which is the topic that we're really bringing forth today.

So let's look at the first verse. In fact, let's read the first 12 verses, and then we'll go back and look at more detail of the first eight. So can I have a volunteer? Brad, how about reading those first eight verses? Absolutely. Finally then, brethren, We request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more, for you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. Not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. And that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things. Just as we also told you before and solemnly warn you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now, as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. For indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia, but we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and attend to your own business, and work with your hands, just as we commanded you. so that you will behave properly towards outsiders and not be an enemy. Now to set the stage better, to wrap up what Brad had taught last week, we need to turn back to three where in the last three verses it talks about God himself, one father, Lord Jesus Christ, direct your way and ultimately the bottom line is love. So we've got to be kind of positioned here in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember Love generated from within is worthless. We just don't have that capability. We always study the word of God from a positional perspective first, because unless we're comfortable and founded in our position, all these conditional things are meaningless. We're not under a legal system here. We're living a life that is of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's important in setting the stage for what we're going to be dealing with here today, particularly what we're dealing with here today.

All right, so let's look at this verse first. For the rest, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus Christ even as you have received from us how you ought to walk and please God even as you also do walk that you would abound still more." Now I'm using the Darby translation today for all of the verses and what I typically do when I try to pick the best translation is I go back to the interlinear Greek and I want to pick what I think best articulates what the ILG does. So bear with me today we're going to be using Darby. Alright so let's look at this in more detail.

The term beg We beg you and exhort you is from the Greek word erotema, which could be translated beseech, ask, desire. It can have a softer meaning or it can have a much more pronounced meaning. And those four verbs, beg, beseech, ask, and desire are kind of a little different in terms of the strength of the interpretation.

But the interesting thing, I think, is the next verb, exhort. We're talking about begging and exhorting. This is almost identical, so if you look at the words that could be utilized to translate this second verb form, it's really almost the same, except at times it tends to bring on an atmosphere of comfort. So, exhorting is kind of those warm and fuzzies a little bit, too. So, this is a command. This is really an imperative.

They're begging and exhorting. And what is being begged and exhorted? Well, that All of this happens in the Lord Jesus. So let's take a look at that a little bit more. Do you think the importance of prepositions is something we can't ignore in the Lord Jesus? Are Paul and Timothy here exhorting the body in the Lord Jesus? Meaning as I walk in the new life, am I exhorting you in the new life?

Or alternatively, is it that the Thessalonian Church is to respond in the Lord Jesus? Well, how about both? Does that fit? What do you think? Are Paul and Timothy exhorting in the new man? Or is the church responding in the new man? And I think we should conclude that it's both, right?

We're not talking about appealing. Paul and Timothy are not appealing through the flesh. And they're not really appealing to the Thessalonican church in their flesh. I think we're talking about the life. The life is the appeal, the life is the receipt of the truth of the word of God.

Okay, so I think that's a better translation. You get back to the ILG, you'll find that both are included in there. So we're talking about the way we should walk, and by the way you're already kinda walking in that way. So that's a bit of an encouragement, isn't it, to the body of believers here. What does it mean to walk? Nancy? It's the steps of your life.

I think that was the way the Hebrews would say, the Jews. Greeks and Hebrews had different ways of looking at it, and I think it was the Hebrews who said, walking, ordering your steps. Okay, other thoughts? Good. Manner of your life. Manner, alright. Other thoughts?

You know, if you go back and look at the Greek, I love slash prefer the alternative definition of prapatia, or to occupy. I mean, in a sense that's kind of what you were saying, Nancy. I mean, it's kind of the way you carry yourself, being occupied by the nature of Lord Jesus Christ, by that life in us, is a walk. And I always think of Christianity as a life, not anything other than that. It's a life. It's not a religion. It's not just simply a faith. It's a faith that we have a life that's being lived out in us.

I think when you translate walk as occupy, it really reflects that truth. By the way, that's sound in the Greek. In the New Testament, when you look at how this verb is translated, it's almost never translated as occupy. But in Thayer's, for instance, Occupy is equally as acceptable as a translation. So I think that really relates to the life we have in Christ.

To please God? Huh? How are you doing here? How are you doing pleasing God these days? So what's this all about? How do we please God? By obedience. Okay, and what's that obedience? What's that? Beholding. Beholding, okay. Just believing, too. It's just believing what is... Believing the truth. Yeah, the truth. Let me try this on. How about obedience to the faith? Does that fit? It's not obedience to this list on the refrigerator, right? Things we gotta do or not do.

Romans 8.8. So then there that in the flesh cannot please God. So this isn't a list we're kind of subserving and ultimately doing better at. You know, to please God is ultimately to live by the positional truth and the faith in that risen Lord Jesus Christ and all that's been accomplished on his behalf. That's pleasing God. So what really pleased God?

Well, Romans 15.3, for even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell on me. That's what pleased God. Ultimately, God is ultimately pleased in what his son accomplished. And that's where we enter in to our step of faith to please God.

What did the Lord Jesus himself say about our responsibility? If somebody, if some non-believer this afternoon came across your path and he or she asked you, Bonnie, what would God want me to do? What would be your response to them? Well, that's an initial step. Let's say then they do that. So what now do I do to pay God back? Anybody paying God back in here? I love John 6, 28 and 29. Then said they unto him, Watch how we do, that we might work the works of God.

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him who he hath sent. I think that goes beyond simply salvation. It's a life, right? That life is believing on Him. That's the works of doing the works of God, is believing on Him.

Romans 6, 3, 4, Know ye not that as many were baptized into Christ, were baptized into His death? Therefore were buried with Him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we walk, or are occupied in newness of life.

Nice. That you would abound still more, and I think this simply says they must have been abounding some already. I mean, if we think of all the churches to which the epistles have been written, ultimately Thessalonica kind of raises up towards the top in terms of their behavior and ultimately what truths that they've been incorporating into their daily lives. But there are issues. I mean, Paul, what we're going to deal with today must have been an issue here as it was in many other churches.

The second verse, for ye know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus. Know here is factual. Know can be translated kind of experiential or super experiential or can be a factual statement. We're talking about here knowing the charges that we gave you through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is something they would have learned by reading, hearing, and does not really relate to any experience.

And the charges or commandments are like a mandate. And this is something they commanded that ultimately the church was to respond to. In 1st Timothy it says, now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. kind of just summarizes what a commandment, or in kind of a global sense, what the commandment really relates to. It relates to the expression of love in the life of the believer.

And notice, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and I think it's a good thing to always remind ourselves it's not what we do, it's who we are. And as I said so many times to my children, I gotta look back, how much impact did this statement have on them? It's not what you do, it's who you are. And once you know who you are, what you do is evidence of who you are. That's a whole different thing than many people are hearing in churches around today. It's who you are, it's not what you do.

And when that faith is lived out to experience who we are, then what we do is evidence. And by the way, we're not putting yardsticks into our own example to see how we're doing here. This is my opinion, this is my opinion only, but I think it's supported by scripture. What the life looks like lived out through the believer is not something he or she's counting to their value. I mean, the life lives out. we don't pay attention to how we're doing. It's the life that's lived through us.

Okay, this is important to kind of set the stage for where we're going here. Now we're getting into the meat of today's passage. Now that the stage has been set about this other life, right, and how that gets lived out in us. I've got some challenging things for you here today. We'll see how the Spirit leads. Hopefully it'll be the Spirit, not me.

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. So what's the will of God? Sanctification. And somebody tell me what sanctification is and briefly best be interpreted set apart or set aside. Yes. The process of becoming more like Jesus. More like. More holy. more pure in the spirit. So is this a gradual process, process of sanctification? Other thoughts? Thank you. Roger.

Bob, you know in scripture there's, as with me, there's positional sanctification and then there's conditional sanctification. So one of the questions you have to ask here, and now that you ask, is this positional or conditional? What are your thoughts? Positional or conditional?

This is the will of God, even your sanctification should abstain from fornication. We're already sanctified, though, positionally. So it couldn't be, this is the will of God. It couldn't be talking about position, because we're already, as soon as we believe, we're sanctified.

So this has to be a conditional statement. Our walk. Everybody agree with that? Yeah, I think that's correct. So, being sanctified, set apart, now as we live the Christian life, being set apart doesn't mean we're necessarily prudish, it doesn't necessarily mean that we're obnoxious or ultimately pharisean in the way we carry ourselves. I'll see you after class. And hopefully not more than I want. Love ya.

If we think of sanctification, often people are looking for the will of God in their life. What's the will of God in our life? People are praying for God's will. What's God's will? Is it a black Ford versus a white Chevy? God knows all the details. There's no question about this. But is someone who's working as a retail salesperson any different than somebody who's digging trenches in terms of what God's will is for their life? I don't think so. For whom he did foreknow, he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. That's the will. The will for the believer's life is to be conformed to the image of his son.

And Galatians 2.20 tells us as we become conformed, this process of sanctification, ultimately it's not the life I live, but that that's lived through me by the faith of the Son of God, the good old Galatians 2.20 pillow for our tired heads, right? Crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, not I, but Christ that lives in me. So sanctification really, let's get back to the text now, sanctification is the road map to abstaining from fornication. All right, let's drill down here a little bit.

Abstaining, interestingly, and when I was preparing for today, I was really amazed. The more I looked into abstaining, the verb is really, it means to have or to receive. Doesn't that sound like the antithesis of abstaining? To have or to receive or to be? I mean, if you think about identification truths, to be living that new life puts you in a position of sanctification and abstaining, right?

I mean, I think that's profound. Maybe nobody else does. I think it's kind of neat to think about abstaining as literally to be or to have or to receive. Yes, Roy? There's two parts to sanctification that you focus on. That's what this brings out, doesn't it? It really does. Right. Now keep in mind, everybody, we're positionally sanctified already.

God sees us in His Son. There is nothing we can do to disappoint God. We disappoint ourselves, but when we disappoint ourselves, what Newell says is we trusted ourselves, right? Keep in mind that the Lord sees you in Christ. He does not see our sin, nor will he get back up on the cross to penalize us for our sin. But we live above that sin because we've been sanctified, we've been set apart in God positionally. Now the job is this conditional sanctification that really is this battlegrounds between the spirit and the flesh.

Is there a different way that you could phrase this abstaining from fornication using this to be, have, or receive. I understand what abstaining from fornication means, but that difference... Let's play it out a little bit. That's a very good question, because we're going to start getting down to the nitty-gritty here in a second, because I think often we kind of hand wave this topic, but the Lord in his text says a lot about fornication, but it's a topic we don't get comfortable discussing. Because it's such a delicate topic. But this entire text today is on fornication. And there are many other passages on it.

So we've got to drill down and really see what we're talking about here. In Christ, we've got the power, strength, and freedom to hold oneself from, as Vine puts it. So in a sense, there's that kind of receiving the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ that puts us in a position conditionally to abstain from fornication. or as Vine puts it, hold oneself from because of what we've received. So in a sense that kind of plays out what you wanted me to address Nancy, not completely maybe, but it gives us a perspective. Now we're going to come back again to some more details here in a second.

So what's fornication? Well it says illicit sexual intercourse. Let's just leave it at that. Yes, please. You've got some good insights here. In a spiritual sense, like Hosea and such, could fornication also be going after idols, loving a false god? It's a nice point. It's really based in idolatry, isn't it? If we look at the New Testament times in terms of Ephesus, Corinth and many other cities. They are bathed in idolatry and sexual sin was just so pronounced. So evident at the time.

Is it any different today? It's different in some ways but in many ways maybe it's not. So illicit sexual intercourse reminds me of our former president. So the question is, I didn't have sex with that woman. Well, maybe not in terms of this definition. Anyway, keep in mind that the heathen nations and to your point, what's your name? Becky. Becky, to your point Becky is the fact that the heathen never considered sin in fornication. This was just an accepted way of life.

The temples, Diana, etc. Let's look at a couple of verses that really hit home, I think, and we're going to be able to prompt some further discussion. So let's turn to Matthew 5, 27 and 28. So Doris, could you take that? And Lindy, could you get the James passage 1, 14 and 15?

We have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Oh, that's just Sermon on the Mount stuff, right? No, it's Jimmy Carter. Martin, you have to be a little more quiet up here. Let me do the James Passage. But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire, as conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is overthrown, gives birth to death. Alright, how do we reconcile these two passages?

I mean, is Matthew just for the Kingdom Age? I mean, is this whole Sermon on the Mount, even though we claim that it's not for the believer? If you think about it, it's really the exchange life lived out in the nation of Israel, isn't it? I mean, are the principles of what Christ said on the Sermon really devoid of importance?

No, I think what he's saying is that this is what you're going to be like one day. There's not going to be any lust in your heart anymore. You're not going to look at a woman in a way that lust is motivating your desire. But then in James, You know, are we going to draw a line as to when these temptations, you know, become sin? Reconcile this for me. Yeah, Brett. Isn't any action or attitude outside of us abiding in Christ's sin?

It was, you know, in Romans 14.23 it says, anything that is not of faith is sin, right? So what do we do with these passages then to try to reconcile them? you know the James passage gives you a little room to go so far and then if you give in to that, what's giving in to it? I mean are we gonna put some sort of legal threshold on this? Nobody's answering. Let's keep that in mind as we move forward.

I mean 1st Corinthians 6, 15, 18 says, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot's one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. There's this receiving, isn't it?

Free, flee sexual immorality. And I connect that to what it said just before, but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. So that puts us in a position of fleeing sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. This is really relevant in terms of the consequences.

Is fornication any different before the Lord than vanity and pride? Is this act of sin or absence of faith? How many people are confessing their vanity and pride on a daily basis? So what's the difference here? What's the difference between fornication and pride? Yeah, thank you Margaret. Let's turn to Proverbs 6, 27 and 33. Wayne, could you read that for us please? Wayne, give us a chance to get there with you. You may have thought I set him up to do this. Speak up. coals, and his feet not be burned?

But he that goeth into his neighbor's wife, whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. Men do not despise a thief. If he steal to satisfy his soul, then he is hungry. But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold, he shall give all the substance of his house. But whoso commiteth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding, and he that doeth it, destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped out.

Pretty real time, isn't it? The consequences of fornication are substantial. But before God, the sin is no different than any other sin. We've got to keep that in mind. Remember, God seizes in Christ. So should we continue in sin that God may forgive? That grace may abound? No, God forbid, right?

So the issue is, and we're going to again drill down a little bit more, this whole area is really, really relevant. And I think the issue is the consequences. The consequences are substantial. And Proverbs speaks to that. Although Proverbs is Old Testament stuff, that truth still plays out today, doesn't it? It's really reality testing. How many marriages and lives have been damaged permanently despite the fact that these are saved people? But consequences are substantial. Let's go on.

That each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passionate desire, even as the nations who know not God. Now, no, again, here is factual. Possess relates to his own vessel. Now, this is important, I think, for interpretation. His own vessel, you typically think of your own physical body. And you can look in 2 Corinthians or in 2 Timothy and defend that as our own body is our own vessel. But I think here, it probably refers to the wife as your own vessel.

Because in context, we're talking about fornication here. We're not talking about, you know, things that go beyond fornication. 1 Corinthians 7-2, nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, or his own vessel, and let each woman have her own husband. So that's partially because of this issue. Not impassioned desire even to the nations who know not God. So the world system, Remember that fornication is considered no sin among the Gentiles.

How many young people, in fact Margaret and I have been exposed to about three or four people we know reasonably well whose daughter or son are living with somebody now. And it's just accepted. It's no longer an issue. This is the commonplace method of testing one another out before you get married or maybe you don't get married. And we're really becoming a nation that is bathed in the same kind of fornication that existed at the time of the New Testament.

Romans 1.24, therefore God also gave them up. I mean, in a sense, God's allowed this to prevail in their uncleanness and the lust of their heart to dishonor their own bodies among them. Of course, it goes even further than simply illicit sexual intercourse. It's dealing with homosexuality, too, that follows that passage.

You know, as I was studying this and kind of reflecting on it, God doesn't say anything about women here. Any thoughts about that? Perhaps it's not relevant. Is it not relevant? Or is it, ladies? I don't see anything in scripture that deals with women with these issues.

It's all dealing with the man. It seems like men take the lead in this area. Keep going, Roger. In scripture, it focuses on the man being responsible in a sense. In a relationship, the man should be responsible from the beginning. To treat his wife, to be proper, and so on. If you look at behavioral psychology, what it says is men are more drawn to physical appearance, which allows these lusts to prevail.

And you know, all you guys in this room, I mean, how many times you look at an attractive woman and man, you know, Matthew 5, 20, 29 plays out. You confess it, you move on, but it happens. Happens all the time. And is that sin before God? No, I'm in Christ before God. And that's just the flesh. And the more I try to work on the flesh to deal with this, the worse it gets. I mean, the issue is, this comes up all the time. Admit it. But you give it to the Lord and you move on. You confess. You don't dwell there. And that's what that life is all about in Christ. We try to separate ourselves from that. Again, behavioral psychology 101 would say women are more drawn to relationships before the sexual influence starts to become a pronounced thing. Is that true or not true? Yes? Well, in the Romans passage, yes. In terms of the believer, all of these commands related to fornication are directed to men only. I've seen no place where it really directs it to women. Thoughts, more thoughts on that. Everybody's quiet.

Roger. Yeah, Bud, go ahead. You're married to a woman. That woman is part of that, and you are a vessel of speaking about her. Doesn't that sort of imply the same thing? Good. Just back to the fact that in scripture, it's focused to the man, his responsibility. Speaking of believers...

He's the spiritual leader of the home, and he's really... He'll set the tone. If he's elicited and involved in elicited activities, most likely that will flow down to the woman. If he's not, Well, Ephesians 5 truth, right, in terms of the relationship to the husband, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and ultimately the wife to the husband. I mean, there's kind of this chain of command, using that term loosely, in terms of Christian behavior in a marriage, right? So the guy carries the leadership role, and so the woman, I think your point is well made, kind of depends on her husband, really, to set the tone.

Other thoughts? Down here in verse 4. Okay, so you think that encompasses the female gender also. All right, good, let's continue. So, verse four, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. So, we can interpret that possessing his own body in sanctification and honor, or in fact his wife. in sanctification of honor. And that's by faith. And in sanctification of honor relates to, I think, the dignity and the esteem that ultimately is important in a healthy marriage before God. And this is both positional and conditional. God sees it as sanctification, the marriage relationship. And ultimately the conditional aspects is the way that's played out in your homes day in and day out. It's by faith. This is an act of faith. You work at it to the extent that we want our faith to be active, seeing our self-position in Christ in terms of the marriage relationship. Gail?

I'm just thinking, you said that the sanctification of honor is positional and conditional truth, but you also said something about it referring to the body as well, as the wife. And I was thinking, when a person participates in fornication, it seems like a lack of dignity and esteem towards one's own self, one's body. Because you put yourself at risk and all the other consequences will go along with it. So I think there's a lack of respect and concern for one's own self as well as all the other stuff you've said. Right, and that goes back to the first Corinthians 6, 15 to 18 passage in terms of knowing that our bodies are members of Christ. Right, and the Proverbs 1 like to clarify that you do damage to yourself.

Absolutely. And that sin is equally forgiven. I mean, even the most heinous of sins has been already taken care of. Christ is not going to get back on the cross to die for these additional sins that we're all part of. But the issue is, again, the consequences of this type of sin can be profound.

Yes, sir. of where it is abstaining from quantification when we translate it. possess his vessel in sanctification. It's in this condition. Well, it's that condition, but it starts with our position, right? Oh yeah, but I'm looking at a parallel that looks like it. Okay, that's a good point. Alright, let's go on to verse 6 then.

Not overstepping the rights of and wronging his brother in the matter. Notice I've underlined the matter, because I think we can interpret this out of context. The matter is fornication. The matter isn't other things that we might be doing to our brother, it's fornication.

Because the Lord is the avenger of all these things even as we also told you before and have fully testified. Relates to the brothers, brothers in the Lord. I presume it's brothers in the Lord. I guess it could be just an earthly brethren too. The sin is the sin either way. I think he's talking to the body and my interpretation would be this is a brother in the Lord. I guess you could more broadly interpret this if you want. Just because your neighbor is not a believer, his wife is equally as problematic as your believer's wife. I asked the question and I'm really not sure if I know the answer.

Not overstepping, going beyond their rights, transgressing is kind of this whole issue of not overstepping or wronging of the brother. What are the brother's rights? Does anybody have a thought about that? I don't have a very good one. wronging his brother in a matter of overstepping the rights of his brother.

Yeah? Doesn't a husband have sole sexual rights to his wife and the wife to the husband? So by being in that relationship you're... That fits. You think that's what this means? Brother's rights is to his own wife? Is that the way we're going to interpret it?

That's okay. I'm alright with that. I thought maybe there was something more profound here that I was missing. I'm fine. consequences to the other brother. Yeah. So whether he was involved or not, he's going to live with the consequences. There's no question about it. OK. All right. Thank you. Good. Another thought. I have written in here. I scratched out Go Beyond and I don't know why I scratched it out.

Somebody said once to give a pain and sorrow. So in our relationships with one another, we do these things. We cause pain and sorrow. to the person that we were involved with or their spouse or just even if we are involved with someone outside the church illicitly. We cause pain and sorrow within the body.

No question about that. Okay. It's a good interpretation. Good. Thanks everybody. Or wronging or defrauding. And I think the idea of wronging or defrauding brings into this concept of covetousness and gain. In a relationship of fornication, you're covening somebody else's spouse. Let's put women in this position to covening somebody else's husband, perhaps, even though, again, the scripture is mostly not entirely directed for men. Roy, your point, well accepted. The gain implied, of course, is the sexual pleasure that's gained from this relationship. Anyway, I think in context, that's what we're talking about, not financial gain. In fact, if you think about it, there may be financial loss here in terms of the consequences that relate to this type of behavior.

Again, bringing your attention back to the matter, does this relate to sexual sin only here? If so, what about because the Lord is the avenger of all these things? Are all these things just wrapped up into fornication and things that relate to it, or are there things that go beyond this? People's thoughts about this. I think fornication is the topic and all these things relate to all these potential consequences that relate to fornication.

I'm going to try to interpret this in a more narrow sense. Notice the Lord, the avenger, there's no verb here. It's not the Lord is the Avenger. There's going to be something that he's about to do or going to do because of his actions. There's no verb.

The Lord the Avenger is going to deal with this. In other words, I think that helps you in terms of because the Lord the Avenger of all these things. If you think about it, the truth of the Word of God is every sin for all time has already been taken care of. So the Lord the Avenger has already taken care of this. The question is, do we believe, or do we not believe that he has? Yes, one day judgment will occur, and the verses I think I've listed here relate to that judgment that will follow.

Romans 1.18, Romans 12.19, we won't take time to look at that this morning, but these verses relate to his judgment on such sin that has occurred to some extent, but clearly will occur in the future. The last phrase of this verse indicates that this is a reiteration of truth that has already been provided to the church at Thessalonica. This isn't the first time they've heard this. They've heard it probably several times before and this is a reminder.

And by the way, I think that that is very important in relationship to this sin in today's world too. You know, how much instruction does the word give us about fornication? There's a lot in the word of God that deals with this topic. We just don't deal with it very often. But since I got assigned today, I'm the guy who has to take this on.

Verse 7, for God has not called us to uncleanness but sanctification. Uncleanness, you can look at this in a series of verses, it almost always is linked with sexual lust and sin. Uncleanness, lasciviousness, fornication. If you look at these verses, you almost always find sexual sin as part of it.

I'm quoting here Robertson's New Testament word picture and in that commentary it says, God has called us all for a decent sex life, consonant with his aims and purposes. It was necessary for Paul to place this lofty ideal before the Thessalonican Christians living in a pagan world. It is equally important now. I don't think any of us would disagree with that.

And look how accessible pornography is. It's unbelievable how accessible it is. And you trip across it at times, you're not even looking for it, right? I mean, it just shows up. And it's really the world we live in. And it takes, really, a life to remove yourself from those temptations.

It's a life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And because this kind of immorality and various kinds of it, they are of the world, us being different, or Christians and Jews, were that their life of purity, sexual purity, was so distinctly different. That was the part of the witness of who the Lord is.

Well, Nancy, but keep in mind too, Paul's writing to the church at Thessalonica and calling them even to a greater sanctification. There must have still been problems here. Absolutely, as there are today. Oh, there really are. This is a tremendous area of concern for us. And by the way, maybe I'll speak to some of you, if not all of you, but this idea of working on this, this is something you work on. It's clearly a life that shows up.

If you're in a position to be tempted and put in a position of lust, you can say, gee, don't do that. It just doesn't work. You've got to flee that. The life flees this kind of stuff. It doesn't sit there and dwell and pray for God to show up and help you out in this situation. It's really a life that lives out to free yourself from these sexual lusts and sin. It's really a challenging time we live in.

1 Peter 1.14 says, Obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts. Nancy, your point played out nicely in this verse. Former lusts. This is the world system.

And by the way, you know, We've dealt with this a little bit with some circumstances in our lives fairly recently. If you turn the newspaper, you see women garbed in underwear all the time. You see billboards all the time with sexual intonations. Ultimately, we're drawn into a sexual mindset. but yet some churches won't let their women wear slacks.

The idea that it's not what the world presents to you, it's what you are inside. The lust comes from the heart, it doesn't come from the outside. Yes, we're going to be surrounded by things that draw us in sexually, but the lust begins in here. It doesn't occur on the outside. Satan will use the outside to draw us in, but the lust is conceived in the heart.

So this idea of wear long skirts ladies and only certain types of shoes with hose and of course lipstick. I mean the whole issue of putting a legal system on the way you look is really missing the boat. Sin is conceived in the heart. We were saying to a young lady recently, if a guy wants to look at you with lust in his heart, probably doesn't make any difference what you wear. I mean sure she needs to dress somewhat modestly. We're not talking about wearing a bikini to school.

The issue is she can't control his lust. She can dress modestly and not draw attention to herself sexually, but yet lust is conceived in the heart of the man. Any guy in here can lust after any woman no matter how she's garbed, if that lust is generated. So this is really, really an important area and I think we probably don't deal with it enough in our body. It's a tough topic because it's so sensitive but yet it's something we need to continue to look at, the scripture does.

And it goes beyond sex, doesn't it, in terms of this sanctification. Second Timothy says, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. And we'll skip over that. Last verse, he therefore that in this disregards his brother, disregards not man, but God, wow, who's given the spirit to us.

This is important. Disregards the present act of participle, you're doing it kind of all the time. And notice, this is rejecting, putting a knot, disannulling, and sin against a brother or sister is not only about the offended, but about God, isn't it? I mean, that's where the true guilt comes from. And for the believer, God's great gift, the grace for living the Christ life, the Holy Spirit in you is quenched when we follow through on this type of lust and behavior.

You as the personal pronoun really speaks to us in 2 Peter 1.4 said it well, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be the partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that's in the world. through lust. So it's that nature, it's that life that separates us, sanctifies us from the temptation of the world around us. This is not accomplished by any legal system.

Let's turn to Romans 8.3 just in closing here. And whoever gets it, read it out please. For what the law could not be, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. Notice for what the law could not do because it was weak. Weak, by the way, is impotent. That means no strength. The law is not going to create a holier life in terms of sexual sin. It's just not going to do it.

But Christ himself will give us a new pair of glasses to look through. The bottom line is 1 John 3.24.

Now he who keeps his commandments, meaning the commandment of that life, abides in him and he in him. And by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he's given us. And it's the Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth. We're born again, created new in Christ Jesus. Now the Spirit leads. And we can quench the Spirit by our flesh. But what God calls us to, particularly in this text, is being sanctified in that life that is the Lord Jesus Christ. is keep looking down. Remember, we're positioned above, and as we focus in on the positional truth of who we are in Christ, ultimately our condition as we live by faith is transformed into that position.

It's tough at times, and I think in the area of sexual sin it's particularly difficult for many. But what I want to do is make sure you understand before God, vanity and pride are equally sinful. It's just that the consequences in this area are so much more substantial. But working on this is not the answer.

It's active faith and what God has sanctified us to and that's His Son. Let's close in prayer. Father, a tough topic today and this is one that we so often kick under the carpet. We know what Scripture says, we kind of accept it and realize that this is an area that's often difficult. So I pray that the sanctification process, which has been accomplished positionally, now may increasingly be part of our condition as we live by faith. to see the Lord Jesus Christ and how He in us brings glory to you. Thank you for this discussion today. May we all again to further our steps to your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.