The Model Life: Abstinence, Part 1

Take your Bible if you would and turn to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. We began this study several months ago, and we were entitled the book modeling the way In the first chapter we looked at the model church.

What does a model church look like? What are the qualities and characteristics of the model church? That was chapter 1 Chapter 2 and verses 1 to 12 dealt with the the model leader What does that leader look like and how does he live his life? From there was the model follower to conclude chapter 2 when you come to chapter 3. It's all about the model friend What is a model friend and how do they behave and what are their interests and what's important to them? When you come to chapter 4 and chapter 5 You come to what we call the model life the model life What does a model life look like How are you able to live the kind of life that?

Others could follow All of us model something sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's bad But we need to have a a life that models Christ that demonstrates to others the reality and the beauty of who Christ is and And so Paul is going to make sure that we understand what the model life looks like And we're going to show you six qualities Six characteristics in chapter 4 and chapter 5 that make up that model life The first one is in verses 1 to 8 Let me read this for you set in your minds and then we will look at it together first Thessalonians 4 Verse number 1 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 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 warned you For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity But in sanctification So he rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives us His Holy Spirit To you The greatest thing about preaching through the scriptures is That nobody can ever claim that I'm picking on somebody in the audience It just happens to be the next verse in the next chapter And so This is where we are and Paul says finally brethren, so he begins as in conclusion I've talked to you about the kind of church you need to be the kind of leader You need to have the kind of followers you need to be the kind of friends you need to be But I won't talk to you about your life So finally He says at the end of chapter 3 that God may establish your hearts without blame and holiness before our God and Father At the coming of our Lord Jesus with all the Saints Jesus is coming again and Because he's coming again.

I want you to be ready. I want you to be holy and I want you to be blameless So finally, let me address something that I've already talked to you about Previously and this is important because he said in verse number six just as we also told you before and Solemnly warns you So it's not that this is the first time he's talking to them about abstaining from sexual immorality He's already addressed it with them He's already warned them about it In fact, he says earlier.

He says verse 2 for you know What commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus? So we have already addressed this issue with you But I'm going to reiterate it. I'm going to reemphasize it because you need to understand the implications of this You need to realize that this is God's will for your life That you abstain from sexual immorality Not that you be careful about sexual immorality Not that you be discreet about sexual immorality But that you completely refrain from sexual immorality That's the emphasis this is the will of God for your life This is what God wants for you.

I've already warned you about it I've already talked to you about it, but just to make sure I drive it home even all the more Let me give you eight verses on it Just so you realize the importance of it.

Now Paul doesn't just do this with the Thessalonians He did it with Timothy He told Timothy over in first Timothy 4 verse number 12 He says this let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech conduct love faith and purity show yourself an example Timothy you're young Timothy presumably was around 35 years of age.

He says you need to set yourself up as a model as an Example you need to live a model life So be a model in your speech and your life your love your faith But be a model in your purity because if one thing will detract away from your speech and your life and your faith It's an impure lifestyle So make sure you live a pure and holy life and Then in chapter 5 he says in verse 22 Keep yourself free from sin and Then in second Thessalonians chapter 2 to reemphasize it to young Timothy.

He says verse 19 Nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his and everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain From wickedness abstain He goes on to say in verse 22 flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness faith love and peace With those who call on the Lord from a pure heart Peter would had the same emphasis For Peter would say in 1st Peter 2 verse 11 11. I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul Peter knew what Paul knew There are these fleshly lusts which wage war against man's Soul and so Paul in exhorting the Thessalonians Says I know that you are walking with the Lord I know that you are honoring to the Lord, but I want you to excel all the more So I'm gonna reemphasize something to you.

I'm gonna drive this point home Because of all the points that need to be driven this one needs to be driven home now For those of you who are around my age in the 60s We have what was called the the sexual revolution remember that of course if you're younger than I am You probably don't remember that at all. But anyway, it was a sexual revolution so we can call the 20th century the sexual revolution century We come down to the 21st century Now we're in the sexual explosion Generation But before there was a sexual revolution Before there was a sexual explosion There was a sexual immersion and That happened in the first century the early church See we think that everything around us is so bad and it is I Mean not only is everything easily Accessible It is readily available Unlike at any other time that we know That which was once shameful is now acceptable in our society But The problem is not society The problem is in the church and sometimes we think it's outside the church But it is not Remember this past summer we did a series on the church and we told you that the church was the playground of the enemy of God And there are some of you who gave pushback on that But it really is the playground of the enemy of God Satan wants to destroy the testimony of the church The best way he does that is through sexual sin It's rampant not just in the pew But in the pulpit You can barely go a week without hearing about a preacher a Christian educator a Christian leader a youth pastor a Children's worker who's not engaged in some kind of sexual deviant behavior It's weekly It happens all the time Because sexual sin is rampant Yes, even in the church That's why Paul addresses the Thessalonians He knows about the culture He knows about the emphasis in people's lives He knows how Sexual sin has immersed the culture That there are seven different Greek words that the Greeks used to describe Sexual sin Because it was so prevalent it was everywhere So the first century There was a sexual immersion it immersed everything and everyone and We look at the world we think wow things are so bad Let me tell you something back in Genesis 7 things were bad because the Lord destroyed the world, right?

He destroyed everybody on it with a flood He hasn't done that yet again, he will again once but he hasn't done it yet so it must not be as bad as we think it is or God would have came back and there'd be a new heavens. There'd be a new earth and and God's kingdom would be forevermore But things are still happening all around us But at the most important aspect is How is it affecting you and me? In the church our families in the church Paul would say in 1st Corinthians 6 and you know these verses 1st Corinthians 6 he said in verse number 9 or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor Homosexuals nor thieves nor the covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers so inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you but You were washed But you were sanctified But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God Paul knew That there are many in the Corinthian church that were saved out of that lifestyle It was a prevalent lifestyle There were fornicators.

There were adulterers. There were prostitutes There was all kind of sexual sin that was happening in Corinth and and there were people in the church of Corinth that were saved out of that lifestyle because they've been Washed in the blood of the lamb. They've been cleansed from their sin I find it interesting that that in 1959 A.W. Tozer wrote a book called born after midnight This is what he said About the church in 1959 He said the period in which we now live we or may well go down in history as the erotic age Sex love has been elevated into a cult Eros has more worshipers among civilized men today than any other god For millions the erotic has completely displaced the spiritual Now if this god would let us christians alone I for one would let his cult alone The whole spongy fetid mess will sink someday under its own weight And become excellent fuel for the fires of hell a just recompense Which is meat And it becomes us to feel compassion for those who have been caught in its tragic collapse Tears and silence might be better than words if things were slightly otherwise than they are But the cult of eros is seriously affecting the church the pure religion of christ That flows like a crystal river From the heart of god is being polluted by the unclean waters that trickle from behind altars of abomination That appear on every high hill and under every green tree from new york to los angeles That was 1959.

That's how he saw the age of the erotic Infiltrating the church, you know the ability to obtain any kind of sexual material is as is as common as as Hot dogs apple pies skycrapers skyscrapers and and and charging machines for your car by this They're common everywhere Through the internet through social media Through all kinds of avenues It's so easily accessible that people find themselves entangled in a fetid mesh of sin And therefore Paul knows that That's how relevant the scriptures are They speak to today as much as they spoke to the first century church 25 years after Tozer wrote born after midnight Dr.

John white wrote his book called flirting with the world He says this The sexual behavior of christians has reached the point of being indistinguishable From that of non-christians In our sexual behavior We as a christian community Are back in the world And therefore of the world James said That pure religion and undefiled before the father is this that one Keep himself unspotted unstained from the things of the world That's true religion That's pure religion That's the religion that that saves a man It keeps himself unspotted from the world And yet paul knew when he writes of those in thessalonica The prevalence of this sin in the church He also knew when he wrote to the church of corinth Turn with me in your bible to first corinthians chapter one And let me show you what paul says to the church at corinth Just so that we can set it in your mind as to the kind of church the church of corinth was paul addresses them In chapter one verse number four when he says I thank my god always concerning you for the grace of god Which was given you in christ?

jesus That in everything you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge Even as a testimony concerning christ was confirmed in you So you are not lacking in any gift awaiting eagerly the revelation of our lord. Jesus christ Who will also confirm you to the end blameless in the day of our lord. Jesus christ God is faithful through whom You were called into fellowship With his son jesus christ our lord. What a commendation A great commendation on the church of corinth You've received the grace of our lord.

Jesus christ You've been confirmed and called by god There's coming the revelation of christ in which you will be presented holy and blameless before him So he knows of their salvation. He knows of their spiritual experience. He knows what's happened in their lives And yet when you come to chapter five Listen to what he says verse one It is actually reported that there is immorality among you what? How can there be immorality among the church have been called by god confirmed by god experienced the grace of god eagerly awaiting the revelation of christ?

How can that be? immorality An immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the gentiles That someone has his father's wife What in the church Yes Somebody and someone someone said well, it's it's either a stepmother or his mother Well because it's not even named among the gentiles. I don't think it's a stepmother. I think it is his mother Some young man Is having sexual relations with his own mother And they're in the church And paul says there's something being named among you That's not even named among the gentiles the pagans so he says You have become Arrogant what you become boastful How does a church Become boastful About sexual sin You know how They would claim we are loving We are tender We are grace We are forgiving We are kind And paul says You're boasting about that He says you should be mourning instead But instead of mourning you're going about boasting about how kind and gracious and loving and merciful you are So listen what paul says he says He says you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst For I on the part though abstinent body But president spirit have already judged him Who has so committed this as though I were present we say well we're a church we don't judge paul says I do I judge him you might not but I did and he's the apostle So he says In the name of our lord.

Jesus when you are assembled And I with you in spirit With the power of our lord. Jesus I decided to deliver such a one to satan for the destruction of his flesh So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the lord. Jesus Paul says i've judged him to the extent That when you assemble together You are to deliver such a one to satan for the destruction of his flesh So that the lord would do a work in his life and save him in the day of christ Paul says you want to know why next verse Your boasting is not good.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Don't you understand what solomon said way back in ecclesiastes 9 18 one sinner destroys much good You allowing him to stay in your church unchecked undisciplined While you claim to be loving kind merciful gentle and patient is destroying your church It's destroying your lives in the church because one little leaven one person sinning unchecked Undisciplined in this manner is only going to bring destruction upon your church Wow That's just powerful And so you go into chapter 6 he talks about how your body's a the the temple of the spirit of god And in chapter 6 he says these words in verse number 15 He says do you not know that your bodies are the members of christ?

Shall I then take away the members of christ and make them members of a prostitute he's talking to the church He's not talking to the unbeliever outside the church. He's not talking to the unbeliever in the church He's talking to the church at corinth Are you going to allow your members your body your life to be joined together with a prostitute? Why because it was the age of sexual immersion it was everywhere And he was trying to spare them not just the shame But the tragedy that would come upon them not only individually, but as a church so he says Shall I then take the members of christ and make them members of a prostitute may it never be 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 But the one who joins himself to the lord is one spirit with him Flee immorality every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body You can't take a prostitute and join them to your body because now you're joining that prostitute with christ who is Living in your body Don't you understand that every sin that a man commits?

Affects him externally, but there's one sin that affects him internally And that's immorality Now in those days Right, they didn't have the the medical technology that we have So when someone encountered a sexually transmitted disease it would wreak havoc on their bodies internally We because of all the antibiotics that we have and all the medical technology that we have can give people medication to help them through those difficult times They didn't have that But it doesn't just affect you internally physically It affects you internally emotionally Spiritually and mentally In fact The reason sexual sin is so bad is because it affects everything about you On the inside It destroys a person on the inside Now in in the throes of the moment you don't think about that You're just kind of doing what you do And not even thinking about the effects it will have on your mind on your soul On your life Paul says 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 For you've been bought with the price therefore glorify god in your body.

He's talking to the church He's reminding them of something similar that he reminds those in tesla like about Your body's a temple of the holy spirit Christ lives in you glorify god in your body This is why we live The exhortation just keeps coming and coming and coming. So now you move from chapter 6 to chapter 10. Remember this is the same letter And he comes back and revisits it and revisits it and revisits it again and then revisits it again in the second letter Why remember this is the age of sexual immersion It's everywhere And so in chapter 10 He says this verse 1 For I do not want you to be unaware brethren That our fathers were all under the cloud And all passed through the sea and were all baptized into moses in the cloud and in the sea And all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink And they were drinking from the spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was christ Nevertheless with most of them god was not pleased well pleased For they were laid low In the wilderness they died in the wilderness So he takes him back.

I don't want you to be unaware brother. I don't want you to be ignorant brethren of your father's israel And what took place in their lives? Because they all were led out by the spirit of god They all follow the same cloud same rock They were they all drank from the same rock God was doing great work, but yet god was not pleased with them And then he begins to go on and list different sins of israel And then he particularly says this in verse 8 Nor let us act immorally as some of them did And 23 000 fell in one day God was so not pleased He decided to kill 23 000 israelites Because of immorality He's saying so so pay close attention church Church at corinth play very close attention to what god did to your fathers in the wilderness Because you serve the same god And the same god is concerned about the same thing He's always been concerned about the purity and the holiness of his people that they live separate holy lives unto god So he warns them again.

So he says In verse 11 now these things happen to them as an example They were written for our instruction Upon whom the ends of the ages have come These were all written down. You can read about it in the old testament. Why was it written down for our instruction? So we would learn from israel's mistakes So we would not follow in their footsteps and make the same mistake And then we would actually model a different way than they modeled to us and then he says Therefore Let him who thinks he stands take heed That he doesn't fall in other words.

I know some of you are saying out there. Well That was them. That's not me. I'll take heed Watch out for those of you who think you're immune For those who think this will not happen to you For those who think that you're above all this take heed Lest you too fall Then he says No temptation has overtaken you But such as the common demand But god is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able But what the temptation will provide the way of escape also So you will be able to endure it Note this The temptation you experience here in the church of corinth Is as common as common can be it's as common as the next guy It's as common in this generation as it was the previous generation and the previous generation before that and the previous generation before that It's all common But god is faithful and will always provide a way of escape There is an escape route for you problem is we just Don't look for it Or when we see it We choose not to take it We're like augustine when he said deliver me from a lust lord, but not yet We want to be delivered but Not today, maybe tomorrow Or next month or next year, but but not yet But paul says there's a way of escape There's a way to escape all this If you just follow the escape route so paul Would write another letter called second corinthians At the end of second corinthians, let's know what he says i'm afraid verse 22 chapter 12 That when I come again, my god may humiliate me before you And I may mourn over many of those who have sinned And not repented of the impurity and morality and sensuality which they have practiced Again, see that He's talking to the church In the first century And he's saying you know what i'm afraid of i'm afraid that when I come to you i'm gonna find some of you still Engaged in sexual sin in sensuality in things that are forbidden by god Why because he knows how prevalent sexual sin And its temptation reigns in the heart of man So important for us to realize That what we experience today in this generation Is not unlike what the corinthian church experienced or the thessalonian church experienced or any new testament church experienced It was absolutely Everywhere Just like it is today And so the admonition comes over and over and over again Through paul to the corinthians through paul to the church of thessalonian.

That's like a From paul to timothy the pastor of the church of ephesus through peter to those those christians who were scattered abroad Stain From fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul So when you come to chapter four first thessalonians Paul says I want you to do god's will in your life You know, i've i've been a ministry for 40 years and everybody always asks.

I just don't know what god's will is for my life Yeah, you do Yeah, you do But what is it This is the will of god even your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality. That's the will of god for your life That's what god wants for you First timothy 2 verse number 4 god desires god wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth He wants you to be saved He wants to be sexually pure.

He wants your spirit filled first thessalonians 5. Uh, excuse me ephesians chapter 5 when the lord said Be not unwise But understanding what the will of the lord is what That you be filled with the spirit of god As be controlled and dominated by the spirit of god Listen god's will is not hard to find If you follow the revelation of god You'll always find the direction of god always If you don't follow the revelation of god Then you'll have a hard time finding the direction of god God wants you To live a life of sacrifice romans 12 1 and 2 that you may prove what is acceptable and perfect will of god Psalm 103 verse number 21.

This is the will of god that you serve him doing his will Let you be involved in the service of the king. This is the will of god And paul makes it very clear this is and later on in first thessalonians 5 16 you'll say or 5 18 This is the will of god That you give thanks Continuously give thanks to god praise him For who he is and what he's done So paul makes it very clear.

This is the will of god for your life And I want you And I want me All of us to follow the will of the lord. I want our church to be a pure and holy church Where people live lives of purity and holiness Peter would talk about that in first peter chapter one, right be holy for the lord.

Your god is holy Be pure be separate be be consecrated into god Be separate from sin abstain from anything any form of wickedness any form of idolatry and immorality anything that will cause you to compromise your purity abstain from that Run from it and as paul would Exhort the churches Through his epistles So too he exhorts us This is a life we need to live May we never think It doesn't affect us or our church It does and it has Over the 30 years that we've been together. It has affected us tremendously in ways that the majority of you will never ever know But it's affected us Tremendously because the church is the playground of the enemy of god You need to always be aware of those things And constantly reminded of what god's word says it was charles spurgeon Who over 150 years ago said these words He says holiness is always present in those who are loyal guests of the great king For the bible says without holiness no man shall see the lord Too many professors pacified themselves with the idea that They possess imputed righteousness While they are indifferent to the sanctifying work of the spirit They refuse to put on the garment of obedience They reject the white linen, which is the righteousness of the saints They thus reveal their self-will their enmity to god And their non-submission to his son Such men may talk what they will about justification by faith and salvation by grace But they are rebels at heart They have not put on the wedding dress Any more than the self-righteous The fact is If we wish for the blessing of grace We must in our hearts submit to the rules of grace without picking And choosing He's right There are a lot of people Who proclaim that they've been justified by faith There will be many people who claim they have been saved by grace But refuse to live in obedience To the word of the lord Spurgeon calls them out in his day 150 years ago In fact, he would say this he said christ Jesus did not come in order that you might continue In sin and escape the penalty of it.

He did not come to prevent the disease being mortal but to take the disease itself away Many people think that when we preach salvation we mean salvation from going to hell We do not mean only that but we mean a great deal more We preach salvation from sin We say that christ is able to save a man And we mean by that that he is able to save him from sin And to make him holy to make him a new man No person has any right to say I am saved While he continues in sin as he did before How can you be saved from sin?

While you are living in sin A man that is drowning cannot say he is saved from the water While he is sinking in the water A man that is frostbitten cannot say with any truth that he is saved from the cold While he is stiffened in the wintery blast No He says christ did not come to save thee in thy sins but to save thee from thy sins Not to make The disease so that it should not kill thee But to let it remain In itself mortal and nevertheless to remove it from thee And thee from it Christ jesus came then to heal us from the plague of sin to touch us with his hand and say I will be thou clean That's such an important statement Not come to save you in your sin it came to save you from your sin That's salvation That's what god does That's the miracle work of a transformed life see Well paul knows that But he also knows the temptation of of man and how man is is drawn away by his own lust and enticed james Talks about that in james chapter 1 And so there's there's always this this caution that comes this warning that comes This is the will of god Even the sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality This is god's will for your life I implore you I beg you I entreat you those of you who are dating you're involved in a relationship.

Is it pure? Is it holy is it pleasing to god Are you the kind of person that abstains from sexual immorality Are you the kind of person that engages sexual immorality Those of you are married Don't think that you're immune from this That if you're here today and and you're thinking about Having an affair you're you're thinking about someone else other than your wife Christ says you've already committed adultery in your heart.

Matthew chapter 5 We all need to be on the alert We all need to be careful We all need to understand the importance of the truth of the living god And so paul comes back and he says look i've already told you this i've already warned you about it But guess what just before I close the letter i'm gonna warn you about it again. You gotta know It's so important Because every other sin is committed outside the body But there's only one sin that affects inside the body And it infects it in such a way That it's it's so hard to turn from And yet through the blood of jesus christ those things can be conquered He is the only way that happens if you confess your sins He's faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness The only hope is in jesus christ our lord That's it There is no one else.

There is nothing else There is no accountability partner that's going to help you through this Sorry to say that it ain't gonna happen Because you can lie to your accountability partner, right? Can't lie to god This is the spirit of god working in the sons of god that they might truly be sanctified by god For the glory of his name And I want to encourage you. I really do To pray for one another Constantly to pray for the purity of our church The holiness of our church That we might live for the glory and honor of god.

This is just so important So paul addresses it It reminds them And tells them of the consequences You got to know how to possess your own vessel in sanctification and in honor How do you do that? That's next week So let's pray Father we thank you lord for today And I do pray for all of us in the room To him he thinks he stands take heed lest he falls And pray father that you do a mighty work in us And that lord you would cause your spirit To convict us And we start to go the wrong direction But the convicting work of the spirit of god would drive us back to the word of god Thy word i've treasured in my heart that I might not sin against thee How can a young man keep his way?

clean and pure But by taking heed to the word of god Lord I pray for all of us That lord you do a mighty work in everyone here today Drawing us closer and closer to you For the closer we come to you the the cleaner we will ever be We thank you for your saving grace we thank you lord that no matter what we've done in the past Lord you can change Us today for the future And I pray for everyone in the room today No matter what happened last night last week last month or last year It can all be forgiven By the blood of christ And we can move this day forward In the service of our king for the glory of his name We pray this in jesus name Amen