Sanctification VS Immorality: part 2
Living with Eternity in Mind: 1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Augustine, born in 354, before his conversion, famously prayed: “Lord, make me pure—but not yet.” He lived in sexual sin and bondage until the grace of God broke through his depravity and darkness. Later, he reflected on that transformation, saying, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Augustine’s testimony illustrates Paul’s point—those who do not know God are enslaved to passions, but those in Christ are set free to walk in holiness.
Recap:
Recap:
v. 3) God’s will: Sanctification
v. 3) God’s will: Sanctification
Paul began with clarity, God’s will is for our sanctification. To be sanctified means to be set apart, separated from sin, and devoted to God. Specifically, Paul told the Thessalonians to abstain from sexual immorality—total avoidance of sin in thought, desire, and deed. The Christian’s body belongs to Christ, not self, and must be used to honor Him.
Danger of porn and smut
vv. 4–6) Honorable conduct
vv. 4–6) Honorable conduct
v. 4) #1 The body should not control the believer
v. 4) #1 The body should not control the believer
Last week we saw Paul’s first principle for maintaining purity. Every believer must know how to control their body in sanctification and honor. Self-control is possible through the Spirit and the Word of God. We are not to ask how close we can get to sin, but how far we can stay from it in order to glorify God.
#2. The believer should not act like the unbeliever (v.5)
#2. The believer should not act like the unbeliever (v.5)
“Not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
The second principle Paul gives this church concerning how to maintain sexual purity and abstain from immorality was that they were not to behave like their pagan neighbors or relatives, who did not know God—that is, were not transformed by the divine work of salvation. Scripture often designates those outside salvation in this way:
10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
6 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You,
And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.
3 “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies.
They are not valiant for the truth on the earth.
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me,” says the Lord.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.
The uncontrolled desire for sexual gratification, which is typical of unregenerate people, was not to be true of the Thessalonians or any other true believer.
Passion means uncontrollable desires, compelling feelings, overpowering urges and has a negative connotation here.
Lust refers to an out-of-control craving, usually for that which is unrighteous or illegitimate, although it can refer to legitimate desires and longings. The words used together forcefully characterize the immorality of those who do not know God.
For us though, we cannot any longer live in the same unwholesome patterns of sin which the godless people do.
Paul instructed the Galatians:
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Unsaved people practice, as a way of life, all sorts of sexual immorality, like
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
But God has delivered the regenerate from such habitual sinning:
9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
Believers can cultivate immoral thoughts and commit immoral acts—so we need this instruction. As Christians we must not lower ourselves to this pagan level of sexual behavior, merely by unthinking passions and uncontrolled fleshly urges.
Because of our intimate relationship with a holy God, we must not subject ourselves to an ungodly society’s vast array of sexually immoral temptations.
22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
Overexposure to such temptations will only lower our resistance and diminish our outrage towards sin, while weakening our spiritual resolve and virtue.
Scripture warns God’s children to stay far away from, even to flee, all immorality:
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
lustful thoughts and feelings can lead believers to actions which are completely incongruent with our position as sons and daughters of Christ.
15 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! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
#3. The believer should not take advantage of others (v.6a)
#3. The believer should not take advantage of others (v.6a)
“That no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter”
Our final principle emerges from Paul’s admonition to this church. They should never sexually take advantage of other believers.
The word transgress means “to sin against,” which includes the concept of stepping over the line and exceeding the lawful limits.
Paul warns, a believer should not take advantage described so as to defraud his brother in the matter. Defraud means to selfishly, greedily take something for personal gain and pleasure at someone else’s expense.
As with transgress, the definition of defraud includes the notion of taking advantage of someone, and in this context it inferring sexual sin.
Whenever believers seek to satisfy their physical desires and gain sexual pleasure at the expense of another believer, they have violated this command.
God considers this subject of sinfully taking advantage of another believer so serious Jesus warned:
6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!
Those Christians who cause other Christians, or little ones,” to stumble (sin) would be better off drowned.
What this teaches us is that, no one is surprised when the world offends Christians and sometimes causes them to fall into sin, but believers should never be stumbling blocks for fellow believers.
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.
The seriousness of Christ’s command to all believers in Matthew 18:6 has no equal in all His teaching.
Jesus is saying, A believer who defrauds another believer deserves to be killed.
So Christian, you must take heed to your holiness, and avoid all ungodly influences, and never use other people, especially believers, to achieve sinful gratification.
Why should a Christian be sexually moral?
Why should a Christian be sexually moral?
The short answer is found in verses 6b–8.
“because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, anticipated his readers and us today, asking why should we keep his command concerning sexual morality. And he offers three reasons the church and all Christians should abstain from sexual immorality:
because of God’s vengeance,
because of God’s purpose,
and because of God’s Holy Spirit.
#1) God’s Vengeance (v.6b)
#1) God’s Vengeance (v.6b)
“Because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.”
Our first compelling motive Paul gave this church for obeying his command to abstain from sexual immorality is because of the Lord is the avenger in all these things. Only God has the right to exact vengeance for the sins people commit.
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’
God is the one who metes out judgment, and sexual sin is one of the specific reasons He does so:
4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
If a Christian engages in sexual immorality, God is avenger may judge all these things by allowing one or more consequences to affect the believer’s life. For example, the outcome could be a severely damaged marriage, accompanied by loss of family love and respect; this sin could lead to divorce:
32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.
9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
God may chasten the person by allowing them to be afflicted with a venereal disease or some other physical affliction; or the sin could result in the absence of blessing, the presence of a greater than average number of trials and troubles, or even an untimely death:
8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell;
Sexual sin by a Christian will certainly result in some degree in the loss of eternal reward:
18 The wicked man does deceptive work,
But he who sows righteousness will have a sure reward.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
8 Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.
You can choose your actions, but not your consequences.
The concept of God’s judgment against sexual immorality was not new to the Thessalonians. Paul reminded them he also told them about it before and solemnly warned them. Because he solemnly warned them about these matters shows the apostle taught them:
27 For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
He had done a thorough job of evangelizing this church, imparting to them not only a complete understanding of the gospel, but also what it means to observe all the commands of Christ:
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
#2) God’s purpose (v.7)
#2) God’s purpose (v.7)
“For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.”
Christians should strive to be sexually moral is, in fact, in complete accord with God’s general plan for their lives. Therefore, a second reason Paul gave for abstaining from sexual immorality was because this command fit God’s purpose for the Thessalonians. For the third time in this passage, Paul used a form of the word sanctification, which again, emphasized to them that God effectually called them to salvation, He also called them to holiness. A life of impurity is inconsistent with a believer’s high calling:
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
The phrase in sanctification, emphasizes the believer’s position of holiness is the direct result of God’s effectual call. God’s purpose in salvation was to produce a holy people who would walk worthy of the divine call into His kingdom and glory.
12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
The call to salvation is inseparable from the call to holy and pure living.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Paul was intent on presenting the church at Thessalonica and the church everywhere as a bride:
27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
However, as one set apart and pure before God, sexual sin is utterly inconsistent with God’s present and ultimate purpose for believers.
#3) God’s Holy Spirit (v.8)
#3) God’s Holy Spirit (v.8)
“Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”
The final reason for this church to obey Paul’s admonition was that their disobeying it would mean they were rejecting God’s Holy Spirit. Any believer who rejects (nullifies, makes void, cancels, disregards, despises) the command to abstain from sexual immorality is not rejecting man but God who gives His Holy Spirit.
This means if the Thessalonians disobeyed Paul’s words, they would not merely be rejecting him, the church elders, or some faction in the church, but the Spirit of God.
The standard of sexual morality is God’s, and He gave Christians the Holy Spirit to enable us to stay pure:
27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
I found this to be so insightful, the Greek verb for give denotes timelessness. Paul is telling this church that God gives believers the timeless gift of His Holy Spirit:
21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”
22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
14 That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
God has given this wonderful gift to us so that we might live pure and holy lives:
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
If they understood precise identification of God’s Spirit, it should have been unthinkable for the Thessalonians to enter into sexual sin and thereby reject the Lord who gave them the Spirit.
The practice of sexual sin violates the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It spurns the Lord’s will, disregards His purposes, defies His commands, rejects His love, and abuses His grace.
Perhaps most frightening and sobering of all, those who engage in sexual immorality discount the reality of God’s righteous judgement against sin. Thus the apostle’s exhortation to the Thessalonians ought to prompt all believers to faithfully heed these words and diligently uses the means God has given them to abstain from all forms of sexual sin.
13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
Closing:
Closing:
Family, Paul’s words are unmistakeable—God’s will is your sanctification. He calls us to purity because sexual sin distorts His purpose, dishonors His Spirit, and invites His discipline. To reject this call is not to reject man, but to reject God Himself.
Application:
Guard your heart and mind. What you let in will shape what comes out.
Walk by the Spirit and let His Word saturate your life.
Pursue holiness in every relationship, never using others for your gratification.
Remember: purity is not about repression, but true lasting freedom—freedom to live as God intended, in joy and holiness.
Family, this week, today, examine your hearts honestly before the Lord. Are there habits, thoughts, or influences pulling you toward impurity? Cut them off. Flee youthful lusts and run toward righteousness. Remember, the same Spirit who raise Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He not only calls you to holiness; He empowers you to walk in it too.
