What are New Covenant commands? How do they differ from the Old Covenant Law? What is sanctification?

This is the Will of God, My Sanctification

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)

Please turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8. As you are turning there, I want us to remember the Alamo. It is not hard for us to remember the Alamo. After all, it is just down the road; and it isn't very hard to find. The Alamo rests snugly in Alamo Plaza, down between Alamo street North and Alamo street South. But actually, I am more specifically wanting us to think about the man who is known for originating those famous words:

"Remember the Alamo!"

It was the battle cry of the Texas revolution to defeat Santa Ana's army. The man, who came up with the phrase, was Sam Houston. Sam Houston was the first elected president of the newly formed Republic of Texas. Later He became a United States Senator. Still later, he became the Governor of Texas. What a lot of folks don't know is that Sam Houston had been the governor of Tennessee before he came to the Texas territory. He was also a drunkard; and he had a foul mouth. He was unsaved; separated from God in His sins. While Sam Houston was the governor of Tennessee, his wife divorced from him. Because of this, he resigned as governor in shame. He experienced intense heartache, and despair over the following years. He tried to escape his problems by running off and living among the Cherokee people, where he lived in the woods as an alcoholic. They nicknamed him, The Old Drunk. Cherokee people would find Sam Houston sprawled out on trails in the forest in an inebriated stupor. When they would come upon him, he was so drunk, that they had to move him out of the way so that they could get by. When Sam Houston finally traveled to the Texas territory, he was still spiritually lost, and His life was still a wreck. One day, a Baptist Pastor shared the gospel with Sam Houston. Sam Houston received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. The old Sam Houston died that day, and the new one was born. He was reborn as a child of God. God had set him apart from the domain of darkness, and miraculously transferred him into the Kingdom of His dear Son. It is the spiritual sanctification of God, where God changes us forever when we receive Jesus Christ by His grace through faith. It is the sanctification that occurs when God puts His Spirit in us as living temples that are vessels of honor. But, even though he was sanctified in Christ by the Spirit, in salvation, Sam Houston still had some of his old ways. Most of us can relate to what that means. We look at our salvation, and we know we have been changed spiritually, but at times we also see that we manifest sin. It is the foul odor of the old way, and when it comes out, it stinks. One day as Houston was riding his horse along a trail, the horse stumbled. Houston spontaneously barked out some vulgar language, reverting to his old habit of cursing. Immediately he was convicted of his sin. The foul odor of the old way affected him so much that he got off his horse, he knelt down on the trail, and he cried out to God in Holy Spirit led repentance and personal sanctification. Sam Houston had already been saved, but the Holy Spirit, through God's word, was teaching him to excel still more in those things that are pleasing to God. When we think about this story, we realize something of what happens in all of us. We realize that God saves us. We also realize that God convicts us in our Christian walk to continuously turn from the ways of the world that we once were enslaved to. Paul is writing to the Thessalonians, and Paul realizes that they have been sanctified (set apart) in Christ in spiritual salvation. Now that they have been set apart from the world spiritually, Paul is concerned with various aspects of their Christian walk. It is the aspect where you personally set yourself apart from sin in your thoughts and actions daily. Sam Houston did this. We want to do this too. It is from sanctification to sanctification. Please read with me, starting in 4:1,

"1 Finally then, brothers, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no man transgress and defraud [wrong ESV, take advantage of NET, NIV] his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you." 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Please prepare your heart to learn with me from the preaching of God's word, in this sermon titled,

This is the Will of God, My Sanctification
[pray]

Let's look at verse 1 again where Paul says,

"1 Finally then, brothers, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more." 1 Thessalonians 4:1

In Paul's finalizing comments, he makes a strong declaration. It is the kind of declaration that practically demands special attention. Paul says that he requests and exhorts you, which means he is making a very strong urging to action. The urging is so important that it can not be taken lightly. The urging involves something that you must do. It also involves some things that we must not do. Paul is talking about pushing us strongly (in the Lord) to walk as we ought to walk and please God. This morning I want us to glean six things that are key for the pleasing God walk in excelling still more.

/1/
The first thing that is key for the pleasing God walk in excelling still more is that your walk be in the Lord Jesus, verse 1. To achieve the godly walk, true union in Christ must be our starting point. It is senseless to urge someone, who is not in Christ, to live a life that is pleasing to God as if they are in Christ. It is only because we are in Christ, Who is our Lord, that we can do, or even should do, what Paul says to do in the first place. So, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then don't even try to please God. You are just spinning your religious wheels trying to please God with your works, but your works don't work. You are broken in sin. Your heart is broken. You are separated from God in your sins, and you need to be saved. The only way to please God is to receive Jesus Christ as your Living Lord and Sovereign Savior. He did the work, that works, of dying on the cross for your sins, and raising from the dead, to change you by giving you a new heart that is clean and pure and set apart. So the first thing needed for the pleasing God walk, is that you be in the Lord Jesus.

/2/
The second thing that is key for the pleasing God walk in excelling still more, is that your walk be Biblical. We must receive the instruction (as Paul says) on how to walk and please God first, before we can actually do it, and before we can be expected to do it. It is called discipleship. If someone claims to be a Christian and they do not want to learn the doctrines and precepts of the faith, or they think that they don't need to, then they are essentially saying that they do not need to know God's standards for the godly walk, and so they are in sin. Also, without discipleship, you can not know that there are specific teaching mandates for the godly walk in the first place. Christianity is not some nebulous mystical system where you wake up in the morning and say to yourself,

"Holy Spirit, just tell me what to know that is right for the godly walk,"

and then think God is going to supernaturally inject His word into your mind aside from discipleship in His preserved revelation, called the Bible. It is not the relationship that God designed, where you go about each day and think,

"I was raised in the church, and I believe in God, and I think I am doing okay because I am a pretty good person sometimes, and I make mistakes at other times, and so, you know, live and let live, ..."

and you are content with what you think is okay aside from really knowing what God thinks is okay from discipleship in His word to you from the Scriptures. God has told us, already, in the same word that we should be discipled in, that what we think is His revelation to us should be based solidly in God's already pre-revealed word in the Bible. God says that we need to grow by the milk of the word. We need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds to the word. We must be continuously conforming our mind to the mind of Christ through discipleship in His word. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable to adequately equip the man of God for life. This is why Jesus told His students to go out and make more students. In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit gives you the understanding, but you must learn the data first. The main point is that your doctrine will drive your actions. This is what happened with the Thessalonians. Paul and Silvanus only had a short time of discipleship with the Thessalonians before leaving the city. Evidently, the apostles already covered a lot of important things. Paul had taught them foundational doctrines in how they ought to walk, and they were already walking that way. The Greek word ought is a word that is also translated as must. Paul says,

"... we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to [how you must] walk and please God"

@1 As Christians, God has given us instructions in the Bible as to how we ought to walk and ____________ Him. (1 Thess. 4:1)

These things are things that we must do, because in doing them we please God. This means that it is not optional. It is not something that you decide doesn't matter, or is not relevant for you, and so you don't think about it, or you don't do it. We are the righteousness of God in Christ, but it is necessary that we excel in expressing the fruits of the Holy Spirit out from our lives. When you do so, you express the righteousness of Christ, by expressing Christ. This is why this is so necessary.

Let me tell you about one area that the problem of not doing this can be seen. There are false doctrines out there that claim that the Lordship of Christ is optional. But according to God's word, Christ is both Lord, and Savior. As Lord, He is the ruler who saves. As Savior, He is the Savior who rules. Instead of the biblical doctrine that states that Christ is both Lord and Savior, the Lord part gets diminished by these people, and the Savior part is showcased. But Christ is both. It is His state of being, and it is His state of being for each of us in His body. The Holy Spirit both saves you by sanctifying you in Christ, and the Holy Spirit also convicts you, empowers you, and motivates you to follow Christ as your Master, (which is what the word Lord means). If those people had been properly discipled in God's word, then they would have known this already. The big point is that we must have the Scriptures that are given to us by our Lord. We must be schooled in them, because it is our Lord's instruction. We must learn them. It is through the word of God, by the Spirit that you already have, that you can even know what God's will is. So the second thing is that doctrine drives our actions, and Paul's urging is according to the Spirit's doctrinal instruction.

/3/
The third thing that Paul mentions that is key for the pleasing God walk is that we actually walk in what we have learned. In other words, book knowledge does not matter a hill of beans if you don't do something with it. Paul says,

"just as you actually do walk" (already).

For the apostles and the early Christians, (which is our pattern), there was only one reason to learn doctrine. That's right--only one reason;

That reason was to walk in it.

Walking in it meant, living it, recording it, preaching it, and preserving it. So, when Paul urges this, he expects that the Thessalonians are already walking in a manner that is pleasing to God. God also expects this from you and me in accordance with what we have already learned. In a nutshell: it is to live what you learn.

/4/
The fourth thing that is key for the pleasing God walk is that even though we are walking in the Lord in such a manner as to please God, there is always room for more. Paul says that we must have as our ambition to excel still more. Paul calls it the much more obedience, in Philippians. In Philippians, Paul makes the same kind of just as you actually do walk comment where he says,

"So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, ..."

[It is like what he says to the Thessalonians isn't it? Then Paul goes on to urging toward excelling still more. He says,]

"... not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,"

[There it is! God wants much more out of you and me. It is the "much more" of excelling more. Paul finishes the point with]

"... cultivate your salvation [which is the salvation that you already have] with awe and reverence; 13 because it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Philippians 2:12

@2 God is at work in all Christians for His _____________ pleasure. (Philippians 2:12)

Paul is talking about constant, ongoing, non stopping, progress, and continual growth. This means that we should never, ever, think we have arrived, my dear friends. When we see this kind of request, we clearly know that the Spirit is telling us to do something beyond where we are now. This is in contrast to the false doctrine of let go and let God. The let go and let God theory is that you just think of yourself as being saved, and you reckon yourself dead to sin, and alive to God as a matter of faith appropriation, (which there is nothing wrong with that part), but then it goes on to claim that God will mystically make you holy in your daily expression of your salvation without you considering your own decisions, conviction, and obedience to the word of God, as part of the action. The problem with letting go and letting God theory is that people let go of the full counsel of God in passages like we are studying this morning, which is God's word, which is what God has given by the power of His Holy Spirit Who empowers you to have your conviction, and to act on your decisions to be obedient. The main point is that the much more of excelling much more means that reckoning also requires repenting, and you and I are the ones who repent, and we do it according to thinking that we need to do it because God thinks we need to do it. Faith appropriation requires word appropriation according to sound doctrinal precepts, and there is always room for more.

/5/
This leads to the fifth thing we need to recognize as being key for us to apply to our lives for this pleasing God walk:

"2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification [which means separation from something]; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality [That is the something]; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification [in separation from sexual immorality and lustful passion] and honor," 1 Thessalonians 4:1

The fifth thing is that we recognize that the commandments that the apostles give, are given by the authority of the Lord Jesus, and in fact, are the Lord's commands as the will of God. Whenever we see commands in the New Testament, we must understand that they are not the same thing as the Old Covenant Law of Moses. New Testament Scriptures are not like the Old Covenant. There may be some similarities in a few areas. In fact, the New Testament writers will even quote some aspects of the Old Covenant Law to make a point, but the differences are what matter the most. The New Covenant is found in Christ, and Christ replaces the Old Covenant Law of Moses spiritually in His self as the New and Better Covenant. Christ was appointed by God as the covenant to the people, according to Isaiah 42:6, and 49:8. The covenant is in Christ's blood, as we see in Luke 22:20, John 6:53-56, 1 Corinthians 11:24-25. In Ezekial 36, God says of the New Covenant; that in it, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and puts His Spirit within us and causes us to walk in His statutes and observe His ordinances. Sin is no longer our master that we obey. We now obey the Holy Spirit Who causes us to obey. In Jeremiah 31, God says that He will write His law on our hearts. It is there, written by the Spirit. Christ our covenant is also the King of His kingdom. Christ the King has His law with its statutes and ordinances. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 that He is no longer under the Old Covenant Law, but is now "in-law (Gk. ennomos) of Christ," [see Acts 19:39 for other usage of ennomos in NT]. The Law of Christ is to believe Him, which is to love God, and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we find it stated all throughout 1 John. When we bear one another's burdens by helping each other, we fulfill this law in its outworking according to Galatians 6:2. So, what we find is that we are in Christ, and He lives in us as the righteous fulfillment for us in our union with Him. We also find that we are also "in-law of Christ," which is to be in-law "of" loving God and loving one another as Christ loves us, and we "fulfill" this from the causal Spirit in our hearts outwardly in our actions. So, then, this leaves us wondering about the commands, like we see here in our passage. Remember, the commandments that the apostles give are given by the authority of the Lord Jesus, and in fact, are the Lord's commands as the will of God. Essentially, what this means is that whenever we see imperative commands that tell us what we are supposed to do in the New Testament, what we are seeing is an urging to manifest Christ in us who fulfills His own Law spiritually, and further, we are seeing urgings that instruct us about certain actions that are actions that manifest the proper way for loving God, and loving others. All commands in the New Testament are really just extensions of those. So, when we understand this, what we realize is that the commands of the New Testament operate as explanations, instructions, and doctrines, for daily living out our spiritual life right now in our union with Christ. They are God's way of helping us to flesh out Christ in us who is our hope of glory by fleshing out love in proper ways. The take home point for all of us is that the New Testament commandments are instructions for loving and living properly as Christians. People have a hard time understanding this, and so they will say things like,

"Yea, but Paul says that by the works of the Law no one will be made righteous."

Of course, they are right, but they are confusing issues. It is Christ who makes us righteous, and pleasing to God, in our position in Him. But we are not trying to be made righteous by following either Old Covenant commands, nor, New Testament commands. We are simply trying to live righteously by following God's New Testament word, where He explains to us how to do it. It is not that we are trying to make ourselves pleasing to God so that he will accept us. He already does that in His grace. Rather, it is by the commandments of the New Covenant Scriptures (which are also given in grace) that we know how to walk and please God, (as Paul says in verse 1), where we manifest what we always are positionally in Christ. It is simple:

When we are sinning, we are not being pleasing to God, though we remain justified in Christ.

When we are not sinning, we are being pleasing, yet we are still being justified in, through, and by, Christ alone.

So, it is important for us to understand that New Testament commandments are instructions, but they are not to be confused with the Old Covenant Law, nor are they considered to be mere suggestions either. They are very strong imperatives that God wants you to obey. In Paul's 1 Timothy epistle, we find the goal spelled out in simple terms. Paul says that,

"5 ... the goal of our commandment ..."

This is the same Greek word--commandment. Paul completes the thought,

"... the goal of our commandment is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5

Notice the goal. It is love; a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Love it the key.

@3 The goal of God's commandment is _____________, and a good conscience, and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

A few verses later, Paul uses the same word again where he commands Timothy to fight the good fight according to the prophecies concerning him, saying,

"This command [same Greek word again] I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight," 1 Timothy 1:18

The point is that the commandments that the apostles give are given by the authority of the Lord Jesus, and in fact are the Lord's commands as the will of God for you and me. This is why Paul said earlier,

"... thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." 1 Thessalonians 2:13

Praise God for His living, abiding, word, and the sanctification it performs!

/6/
This brings us to the last thing, (which is the sixth thing) we need to recognize as being key for us to apply to our lives for this pleasing God walk. It is Paul's primary concern in the command: It is your personal sanctification, meaning, setting yourself apart from something. Paul calls our active sanctification the will of God. What is it?

Contextually, Paul's primary concern is that you and I separate from, meaning abstain from, sexual immorality.

The word that Paul uses for immorality is the Greek word, porneia, which is usually translated fornication. Generally, this Greek word is used for the sin of sexual relationships of all kinds that occur outside of the marriage bond of the husband and wife. Contextually, we surmise that Paul is using the broader reference of porneia, and so adultery, which usually has another Greek word, is also included. The big point is that the nonnegotiable commandment that all Christians must heed is that we abstain from all kinds of sexual sin. It could be fantasizing about someone in pornographic daydreaming, where Jesus says for a man to even look upon a women to lust after her is to commit adultery in your heart. The same goes for women lusting after men this way. It could be entertaining pornographic thoughts of any kind. It could be homosexual activity. It could be bestiality. It could be any sexual encounter outside of marriage, including foreplay and oral sex. It is all lasciviousness. Paul says that the will of God is that we separate from these things as the body of Christ. But what we need to recognize about this is that even though the Thessalonians were already walking the pleasing walk according in their discipleship, the Spirit still thinks these things must be commanded as the will of God later on for excelling still more. Now think about this: After the miracle of salvation, and after the discipleship, and after all the persecution, and all the standing firm in their famous faith, that the Thessalonians are known for, the danger of not being controlled in this important area is still very real.

Don't be deceived. It is very real for you too.

Culturally, it was not considered unusual to take part in immoral activity in Thessalonica. Our culture has already regressed back to that exact same norm. In fact, the word immoral would not naturally be applied by the typical Thessalonian to any of the sexual activities God calls immorality. That culture, much like ours, was entrenched in the futility of the Gentile mind. But unlike ours, though, they did not have a previous Christians presence. Our culture has tasted of the heavenly gift, and yet has turned its back on it in hot empty pursuit of the same futility of the Gentile mind. In Thessalonica, it was considered normal to carry out sexual intercourse with different partners on a regular basis. It was not considered unusual to have extramarital affairs. It was not unusual to be involved in multiple sexual relationships as an unmarried person.

How can we seriously say that our culture is much different?

We can't.

The common practice of the Thessalonian society was that a man had a wife to take care of the home and children. He would have another woman for sexual and intellectual pleasure, and he would have prostitutes for further sexual activity. This was considered normal. A newly formed church, in such a setting, would be encompassed with temptation. It is the same for the church today. The lost world culture is seductive. It is easy to be tempted to the pleasures of the flesh that the world tries to sell as something good. It is in practically every so-called innocent movie coming out of Hollywood. It is considered okay to live with someone in a sexual relationship, instead of getting married. It is considered okay to try someone out first. It is considered okay for young boys and young girls to engage in sexual practices of any kind, and especially, as long as they have birth control in place. Homosexuality is being treated as a legitimate, alternate lifestyle, therefor it is considered good. Recently, the front page of The Washington Post openly promoted homosexuality to teens. Yes, on the front page. A 15-year-old boy was celebrated as "coming out" to embrace his "gay identity." The Post included a video about the boy, who now considers himself to be "transgender." The washington Post declared boldly that the boy was "Owning His Gay Identity--at 15 Years Old," and implied that the boy was born that way--which is a lie. Nobody is born a homosexual as if there is some mythical gay gene. Everyone is born in sin, and sin is manifested in many ways. Homosexuality is just one of many. The article goes on to endorse what is the trend of the lost culture around us; that anyone who suggests that being gay is not normal, and good, is a candidate for what they call, a reeducation session in one of the "diversity and tolerance" clinics that are being set up all around the country. The whole article treated homosexuality as something good, natural, and wholesome. If you disagree, then you are considered ungood, unnatural, and unwholesome. You are the candidate for reeducation in diversity and tolerance, which is code language for indoctrination in how to love sin. But, we already know how to love sin. What we need is to love God, His will, and His way. Pornography, and fantasizing is considered normal, and healthy, stuff that is prescribed by secular psychologists, and counselors, as therapy. All these things are being shoved down the throats of Christians every single day. The point is that no matter what our level of spirituality is, God thinks that there is still the constant need to be reminded to abstain from the sexual immorality that the world is in bondage to, so that we will excel still more in the will of God. In the midst of all of this, our command is sure: Sanctify yourself. Abstain from sexual immorality.

Paul says that we must know how to possess our own vessel. In being empowered by the Holy Spirit, there is an element of self control that follows the enablement. We are the ones that must know how to possess our own vessel in separation from sexual immorality and lustful passion, in honor. Paul is the one who gives this commandment to know how to control yourself. As a side note, some have said that what Paul means is that the vessel is a man's wife. But this does not follow the flow of thought, where Paul goes on to clarify the contrast of lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. Some have said that the vessel is a reference to the sexual organs. Some have said that the vessel is the body generally that involves your eyes, arms, sexual organs, your mind, and everything. I take the last view. Paul is talking about your body, which he is referring to as a "vessel" in much the same way that he does in 2 Timothy 2:21-22. In 2 Timothy 2, the parallel is amazingly illuminating to what God is telling us,

"21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, ..." 2 Timothy 2:21-22

The point is that we are urged, by way of commandment, to exercise control over our own bodies by drawing upon the power of the Holy Spirit. We are to be set apart to God for His purposes. When we are immoral, we dishonor the vessel that is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We no longer are treating the body as a vessel that belongs to God.

"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16

@4 When I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I become a temple of God, and His ____who_________ lives inside me. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

And again,

"16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "The two shall become one flesh." 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:16-20

Our command is to be a vessel of honor in a dishonorable world. The proper way is

"5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;" 1 Thessalonians 4:5

Lustful means an intense craving, and continuous want. Passion emphasizes the feelings that control a person. Your passions are the desires that dominate you, and control you, leading to satisfy your lusts. God says that each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust; Then when lust has conceived like an impregnation, it gives birth to sin. When sin is born, it brings the end of the life cycle, which is badness paramount to death, James 1:14-15. The problem is that non-Christians are trying to set the agenda for all of us, based upon their lost, dead, sensually impure nature. If we fellowship with non-Christians; If we are entertained by non-Christians and the immoral futility of their darkened minds; If we go to non-Christians for wisdom and direction in this world, we will be bringing our own minds in conformity with the minds that do not know God. A mind that does not know God is enticed by its own lust, and conceives the sin that is born in immorality. This is why separation (sanctification) is so important. Non-Christians can not control their lustful passions for obedience to the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can, and so we should; and we should also be careful,

"6 and that no man transgress and defraud [wrong ESV, take advantage of NET, NIV] his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you." 1 Thessalonians 4:6

When you and I consider the Lord commanding us to be set apart from sexual immorality, we recognize that the command has to do with the law of Christ as love for God. But there is another part of the law of Christ, which is to love our brothers and sisters. To be immoral with another person is not merely about you alone, where the immoral man sins against his own body, 1 Corinthians 6:18. To be immoral with another person is to wrong, and take advantage of that other person, 1 Thessalonians 4:6. This is what Paul means by telling us not to transgress and defraud your Christian sibling in this matter. The phrase literally means to go beyond what is proper. When this is done, the commandment is broken to love others as Christ loved us. What this means is that other people get injured by sexual immorality, and so sexual immorality is a lack of love for others. Whenever a person is immoral, the person causes whomever they are immoral with to participate in their immorality. The person sins against that other individual by involving them with sin that God commands against. The person is not demonstrating love toward that other individual. The person is demonstrating lust. If that other individual is married, then the person has caused that other individual to commit adultery, which means that the person has caused the other individual to sin against their spouse, which means that both have sinned against the spouse. If the person is also married, they have sinned against their own spouse, then the other individual has also sinned against the spouse too. The way God has ordained things to be, is that the sexual jurisdiction of our bodies belongs to the one God intends us to marry. To experience sexual union with one's spouse is actually a pure act of sanctification itself. This is why the writer of Hebrews says that marriage is to be held in honor, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled (Hebrews 13:4)--because it is undefiled in the first place, and is a picture of Christ and the church becoming one in Spirit, whereas the husband and wife become one in flesh. These issues of immorality are issues of being under the law of Christ. Someone might say,

"Big deal, I am covered by grace."

All who are truly saved are covered by grace, and we do not lose our eternal spiritual salvation because of an act of immorality, but, in the immediate life that we live, when we transgress and defraud a brother in the matter of sexual immorality, then it is not right to think that there is no consequence because it seems like no one cares to avenge what has happened in transgressing the law of love. You might be wondering;

How can Pastor Kerry say that with such surety?

The reason is because the Lord is the avenger in all these things as the word clearly states.

Paul and the apostles have already laid these doctrines out beforehand to the Thessalonians. In Paul's warning, he says, just as we told you before and solemnly warned you. To solemnly warn, means to do so in a firm, serious, and somber manner. People may think that they can sneak off and do these types of things that do not demonstrate love for God, or our neighbors, but they forget that what they are doing is always in the full view of God Himself. God sees it, and He sees it as a personal purposeful transgression of the royal law. Paul wraps it all up with,

"7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification [being set apart from lostness and spiritual deadness in salvation]. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you." 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

@5 God has _________ called us out of the world, in setting us apart from it, for the purpose of impurity and sin. (1 Thessalonians 4:7)

Paul takes us back to the foundation of what we were designed for in the miracle of our regeneration where we are recreated in Christ. God called you and me out of the world and miraculously changed us by His Holy Spirit--putting His Spirit in us as living temples. Therefor, we were called out of the world in being set apart spiritually. God transferred us out of the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His Son in sanctification. We were once slaves of sin. Now we are not. We no longer have to obey sin. This is what Paul is referring to. Non-Christians are under the slavery of sin; while Christians are in control of their own bodies, because of the grace of God. The point is that we are called in sanctification, so let's live for what we are designed to live; as children of God in Christ. Let's live sanctified, set apart, Spirit filled lives that excel even more. If we sin, then let's turn from our sin, meaning let's repent from it, and go forward to excel still more in our Christian walk. God has grace, and forgives us of all our sin.

People who reject this, are people who reject the same God Who gives His Holy Spirit to us Christians in the body of Christ. Paul is not saying that Christians can reject this. Paul makes a pronoun shift by saying "he" for the non-Christian, and then "you" for us, the spiritually saved people of the body of Christ. Paul says,

"8 So, he [The non Christian] who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you [The Christian]." 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

Non Christians reject God and His revelation as a matter of their natures. We need to make sure that we do not become influenced by the mind that rejects God's will in respect to sexual matters. God has given His Holy Spirit to you. Paul's point is that God has set us free from the bondage of sin as master, in saving sanctification, and in doing so, God has empowered you, and enabled you, to live the sanctified life in your walk. You are not perfect in all you think and act, but God forgives you, and convicts you toward sanctification that He assures you can be accomplished. Conviction is from the Spirit, condemnation is from the devil. With the conviction, there is no temptation that will come to you that God will not provide a way of escape. Folks, God's word to us today is, Sanctify yourself. Let us thank God for sanctifying us in His Son. Let us pray for one another to continue to be sanctified in our daily walk. [share gospel call]



@1 As Christians, God has given us instructions in the Bible as to how we ought to walk and ____________ Him. (1 Thessalonians 4:1)

@2 God is at work in all Christians for His _____________ pleasure. (Philippians 2:12)

@3 The goal of God's commandments is _____________, and a good conscience, and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

@4 When I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I become a temple of God, and His _____________ lives inside me. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

@5 God has _________ called us out of the world, in setting us apart from it, for the purpose of impurity and sin. (1 Thessalonians 4:7)