The Model Life: Abstinence, Part 6

This morning we're going to look one last time at that first paragraph in 1 Thessalonians 4, those first eight verses.

But before we do that, I want to take you back to the Old Testament and talk to you about the greatest man on the planet. So turn with me to the book of Job if you would for a moment.

He's going to serve as an introduction to our time together in 1 Thessalonians 4 verses 1-8 this morning. The book of Job, the first chapter, I want you to look at the first five verses with me if you would.

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys and very many servants. And that man was the greatest of all the men of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day. And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. There was a man, he was not an ordinary man. He was an extraordinary man because there was no one in the east like him. That would be the east of Jordan. He was from the land of Uz. That's a place that's adjacent to Midian, a place where Moses was for 40 years after he fled Egypt.

And Job is the oldest book in the Bible. And Job was a very unique man. He would face some of the most difficulties ever. In fact, you could take all of our lives and add them together and all the pain and all the turmoil and all the hardship that you and I will face in our entire lifetimes, put them all together and they would not match one boil on his body. That's how difficult his life was when you look at the suffering of Job.

But before you get there, the Bible introduces him to us as the greatest man in the east. He was one who would stand alone. Literally, he would stand alone. He would thus stand apart from everybody else. Thus, he would stand above everyone else. There was no one in the Bible quite like Job. He is my greatest Old Testament hero. There's something unique about the man. And his character is summed up very simply. When it says he was blameless, he was upright, he was God-fearing and turning away from evil.

The Bible says that he was blameless, not sinless, but blameless. In other words, there was no disqualifying character flaw within him or without him that would cause there to be a problem. In fact, the word blameless is used several times in the book of Job because it's a theme in the book. But not only was he blameless, he was upright. He was righteous. In other words, he was in right relationship with the living God. Some believe that Job would have been a contemporary of Abraham. Maybe that's the case.

No one really knows. Because he would offer up burnt offerings on behalf of his children. He had a very patriarchal ministry. The question would come, well, how would he learn that? Well, he would learn it from Noah and from Abraham because they would offer up burnt offerings to the Lord. But Job, he was a unique person, not just because he was blameless and upright, but he was God-fearing. And we know that the Bible tells us in Psalm 130, verse number 4, There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.

So we know that he had received the forgiveness of sins because he feared the true and living God. Romans 1 tells us that the unbeliever has no fear of God before his eyes, but Job did. He was a God-fearing man. That last phrase sums it all up. Turning away from evil. Turning away from evil. In fact, the Bible says in the 28th chapter of Job, these words, verse 28, And to man, he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

The 31st chapter tells us that he made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully upon a woman. Why do we use Job as an opening illustration? We use Job as an opening illustration today because Job lived at a time where there was no law that was given, yet he still feared the Lord and turned away from evil. Job lived at a time where there was no synagogue, there was no temple, there was no tabernacle. Job is not an Israelite. Job is a demonstration of how the grace of God transcends one nation.

And yet Job completely stood alone. Job couldn't go to church. There were no churches. No synagogues, no tabernacle, no temple, no law, no Bible. He couldn't gather together with different men from an assembly and have a men's study. Job had literally no friends. He was all alone. His wife wasn't even his friend. After he lost everything, she wanted him to curse God and die. But no one came along and held Job's hand. Nobody walked Job through his difficulty. Nobody stood beside Job and gave him words of encouragement.

Oh, he had those miserable counselors that came along by his side, but they were miserable. They weren't really companions and friends. Job had nobody. He didn't even have a wife to sit beside him and caress him and love him. Through all of his difficulty, he had no one but God. That's all he had. And the Bible says in verse number 8 of chapter 1, The Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?

For there is no one like him on the earth. So when you read in verse number 3 that he is the greatest man in the east, the Lord's testimony of Job is that he was the greatest man on the planet. I wonder what God's testimony would be about you. If Satan had come to present himself before the throne of God, what would God say? Let me tell you something about Sue or Joe or Lance or Bill or any of us.

Have you considered my servant who is blameless, upright, God-fearing and turning away from evil? That was God's testimony about Job. In fact, he says it twice to Satan. He says it again in chapter 2. So how does Job get to where he is without a Bible study, a church, a men's group, no accountability partner, no wife to support him? How does Job get to where he is? That's very important. Because you see, Job becomes the primary example of biblical leadership in the home. Without any marriage seminars, without any books to read on marriage and family, without any pastor to talk to him about perspective on parenting.

He had nothing except his relationship with the living God. And the Bible says by God's testimony that he was blameless, upright, God-fearing and turning away from evil.

And he was so concerned about his family that he would offer up burnt offerings. He would wholly dedicate them to the Lord for perhaps they might have sinned and he was concerned about his family. But where did he learn that? Who taught him that? Where did all that come from? It came because he would listen intently to what was told him about his God. He would fully serve his God. And this man is the prime example of character. The prime example of leadership in the home with nobody coming alongside of him except his relationship with the living God.

I say that to you because we have a Bible that we can read. Job did not. We have a church that we can attend, people that we can fellowship with. We have men's studies and women's studies. We have books on leadership and books on family. We have all kinds of resources. And yet where do we find the men who were blameless, upright, God-fearing, and turning away from evil? With all that we have, we have a very difficult time finding men like Job when Job had none of what you and I have today. We have to ask ourselves the question, what are we doing?

What is wrong with us? So Paul comes along in 1 Thessalonians 4 and says, you're walking with God, I want you to excel all the more, but I need you to know how to master your own body. You need to know how to control your own urges. You need to know how to turn away from evil. You need to be a God-fearing kind of man, a blameless kind of man, an upright kind of man so that you can turn away from evil. You need to be able to do that because Job comes along and provides for us a great example of character, a man who would live for his God and serve his God.

And even all of the turmoil that he faced, he still was a blameless, upright, God-fearing man turning away from evil. And God offered him up to Satan. Have you considered my servant Job? Check him out. Go after him. And God allowed Satan to do whatever he wanted to do with Job. He just couldn't touch his life. Then when Job did not turn his back on the Lord, the Lord said, you can do anything you want, but you just can't kill him. So Satan unleashed a flurry of turmoil upon the man. And yet, he remained blameless, upright, God-fearing, and turning away from evil.

With absolutely nobody by his side. All alone. Because your relationship with the living God is enough. It is enough. And Job proves that. But on top of that, we have so many opportunities to grow in our walk with the Lord. So many avenues by which we can study the Bible. Job didn't know God like you and I know God. With all the information that we have, Job didn't have all that. But what he knew, he fully followed. And fully feared his God. Very unique man. Having said that, about a man who can turn away from evil, it makes us ask ourselves the question, are we turning away from evil?

For this is the will of God, Paul says, even your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. This is God's will for your life. That's the injunction. And then all around that injunction, he gives the instructions about how to do that. We spent the last five weeks looking at that. Today we'll look at the implications.

So if you've got your Bible, turn back with me, if you would, to 1 Thessalonians 4. And Paul says these words. He says, In sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. 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 who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. He says the implications are far-reaching. Why? Well, number one, because of the retribution of God.

Since we've already told you about this, we've warned you about this, that God is the avenger of those who violate his will. We read that, and we don't think that that's true necessarily. And yet the Bible says, very simply, that Hebrews 13 verse number 4, that marriage is honorable, and the marriage bed is undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

That's what it says. Deuteronomy 32, 35 says that vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And the psalmist says in Psalm 94 verse number 12, Blessed is the man whom you chasten, O Lord. That's the blessed man. We forget about God's chastening upon those who disobey the word of the Lord. The writer of Hebrews says it well, in Hebrews 12, verse number 4, he says, You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them.

Shall we not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but he that is God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. The writer of Hebrews knows about the discipline of the Lord. If you are not disciplined, you are not sons, you are illegitimate children.

But if you are disciplined, you prove yourself to be a son of God, because God chastens those, he disciplines those, he scourges every son that's his, because he loves us so. He wants us to partake in his holiness, he wants us to have the fruit of righteousness coming forth from our lives. And if God is the avenger of such things, how does that manifest itself? What are the implications of God's retribution on those who violate his law? Well, it could be a sexually transmitted disease that could very easily take place, but it goes way beyond that.

It goes about the brokenness of relationships and the devastation of homes, the divorce that takes place among so many marriages, because of fornication, immorality, and unconfessed sin. There are always difficulties that come. There's even sometimes the death of a child, like it was for David and Bathsheba. They had violated the marriage bed and she became pregnant and lost her son. The repercussions of fornicators and adulterers God will judge. It happens. The destruction of the family unit seems to characterize our nation more so than anything else, because of immoral behavior that takes place in families.

If you go back with me, if you would, to Psalm 51, you see the effects upon David's life because of his sin. God is not mocked, and Paul says, Do not be deceived about this. Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. Listen to David's very own words. He says in Psalm 51, verse number one, Be gracious to me, O God, according to your lovingkindness, according to the greatness of your compassion.

Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from his sin. For I know that my transgression and my sin is ever before me against you. You only I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. That's David's words. David is testifying to the fact that, Lord, when you judge me because of my sin, you are blameless in doing so, you are righteous in doing so, because you are a holy God. But notice what he says, My sin is ever before me.

How was David's sin ever before him? Well, during the nine months of pregnancy, Bathsheba would show the child. And the sin was ever before him in her pregnancy. He would look into the eyes of Bathsheba and know that he had violated her. There would be the ghost of Uriah, her husband. That would haunt him daily. There would be the scorn and the sneers of the soldiers and the servants who knew what he had done. There would be the critical eye of Joab, the leader of his commanding army, who knew all about the plan to put Uriah on the front lines so that he would be massacred.

And David says, My sin is ever before me. Everywhere I look, every person I talk to, every relationship I encounter, I'm reminded of my sin. And Lord, you judge, and you are right in doing so. And so he says, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the inmost being, and in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom. He knew that he had lied. He had lied to Bathsheba. He had lied to Uriah. He had lied to Joab. He had lied to his servants.

He had lied to his family. He knew that. He knew also that God was a God of truth, and that God wanted truth in his inmost being. So he says, Purify me with hyssop. I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Why? Because all his joy was gone. Look what he says. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blood out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. He had lost what? All credibility. He had lost all joy, and he had lost all intimacy with his God. Do not take your spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. In other words, he says, I am miserable. My bones don't rejoice. Nothing about me rejoices. This is the true heart of a repentant sinner who is looking for God, and God alone to wash him, and to cleanse him, and to set him anew, that he might have a restored spirit, that he might live for God.

And then he says this, if this happens, verse 13, then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will be converted to you. You see, because he had lost all credibility, because he had lost all joy, and lost all intimacy, he had lost all believability. Who would believe what he said? But Lord, if you forgive me, if you cleanse me, you turn me around, restore to me the joy of my salvation, I can then begin to teach transgressors the way, the right way, and they can then hear and follow you.

He knew that an unrepentant spirit, unconfessed sin, only hindered his kingship, his ministry as a father, as a leader of Israel. In verse 14 he says, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation, then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. He was not singing. There was no joy in his heart. He could not praise his God, because his sin was ever before him. So, he says, O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it.

You're not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. O God, you will not despise this. You just want a broken man, a repentant man, a penitent man. That's what you're looking for. You're not looking for anything external. You're looking for everything internal, a heart that's shattered. And God did that for David. David was characterized as a man after God's own heart, simply because he lived a life of true repentance because of his sin.

And yet the consequences, the consequences were never negated. His son did die. God gave him another son, Solomon. But the child that he conceived of Bathsheba did die, as was prophesied. The sword never departed from his home. His family life was a shipwreck at best. His sons rebelled against his authority. He lost all credibility at home simply because of one glance that led to a sin. How sad, how tragic. And Paul says, we warned you about this. That God is the avenger of these things. God will deal with you someway, somehow.

Because that's what God does. He loves you enough to keep you from continuing going down the wrong path. He will discipline you. And then he says this in 1 Thessalonians 4. He says, look. He says, For God has not called you, or called us for the purpose of impurity, but sanctification. He's called you to separate you. He's called you out from the world. He's called you to be His. He has separated you from the world unto Himself for His purposes, for His glory. And then he says this. So he rejects, this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

In other words, if you reject this, it's not me you're rejecting. It's the Spirit of God that He has given to you freely. He's given you His Spirit. Your body now is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Right? And you don't want to reject that Holy Spirit. He talks about, Paul, in Galatians 5, about lusting after the Spirit. And then he talks about, later on in 1 Thessalonians 5, quenching the Spirit. In Ephesians 4 he talks about grieving the Spirit. We can grieve Him when we live in disobedience. We can quench Him.

We can throw water on His energy in our lives when we sin against Him because we're rejecting all that He is for us. That we might be the people He wants us to be. When you reject the Holy Spirit, you disregard the Spirit, you unknow the Spirit. It's so important to realize this point. We are saved by grace. Right? We stand, Romans 5, 1, in grace. Titus 2, we're sanctified by grace. 2 Timothy 2, we serve by grace. Everything that we do in life is by grace. And we receive the Spirit of God by grace.

And the Spirit of God resides within us to indwell us. In fact, Christ is full of grace and truth. And in Christ, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells. And Christ is in you. And He now becomes your hope of glory. So the fullness of God's grace dwells within us that we might live according to the Word of God and serve God. Paul says, I am concerned that you walk and please God. I am so concerned that because I've already warned you, I'm going to warn you one more time because I want you to understand that this is the will of God.

This is your separation. This is your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality. And don't defraud your brother. Learn how to possess your own body. How to master your own thoughts. How to master your own flesh. Why? Because God is the avenger of such things. And if you reject this, you're rejecting the Spirit of God that He Himself has given to you. Let me close this way.

We began with looking at the greatest man on the planet. Let me close with looking with you at the strongest man on the planet.

Turn back with me if you would to the book of Judges. The strongest man on the planet. His name is Samson. Remember him? I'm sure you've read many stories about Samson. You might have been with us a number of years ago when we did our study in the book of Judges on Samson. He was not the last judge of Israel. He was the last judge in the book of Judges but not the last judge of Israel. That was Samuel. But there are only two verses. Listen carefully. There are only two verses that are really good verses about Samson.

And they're in Judges chapter 13. The entire biblical record of Samson and his activities revolve around and result in three unholy women. If you take those three women out of his life you virtually take the biblical record of Samson's life out of the scriptures. Because his whole life is summed up by a woman in Timnah, a harlot in Gaza and of course Delilah in the Valley of Sorok. And everything resulting from those relationships is all about the world's weakest strong man. His name means bright.

His name means sunny. Israel had been under the Philistine oppression for 40 years when Samson comes on the scene. He was announced to Manoah and his wife by the coming of the pre-incarnate Christ. A Christophany. And Samson, when Manoah said, what is your name? And the angel of the Lord would say, why do you ask my name? It is wonderful. He announces the birth of Samson. And Samson would take a Nazarite vow. A Nazarite vow consisted of two primary things. A vow of self-denial to life's pleasures and submission to the Lord's precepts.

He would not have any wine touch his lips or any strong drink touch his lips. And he would never bring a razor to his head. And most believe that Samson's strength was in his hair. It was not. We think it was. But his hair just symbolized his devotion to God. His commitment to obey the commands of God. His commitment to taking a Nazarite vow, a vow of consecration to God. But Samson's life was marred by the romance he had with unholy women. Yes, he was used by God on many occasions. But by the time you come to Judges chapter 16 and he's in this scenario with Delilah where she's trying to figure out where his strength lies and he keeps playing this cat and mouse game with her.

He finally lets her know that his strength is in his hair. That no razor should come upon his head. He sleeps on her lap and someone comes in and cuts off his hair and she says, Arise, Samson, for the Philistines are among you. And that leads to the saddest verse in the Bible. Here it is. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. Judges 16 verse number 20. You see, long before the Lord abandoned Samson, Samson had abandoned the Lord. He turned his back on what God had told him not to do.

But he did it anyway. But the story ends remarkably. For the Bible says in the book of Judges the 28th chapter, excuse me, 16th verse, the 28th chapter, 16th chapter, 28th verse, sorry.

Then Samson called to the Lord and said, O Lord God, please remember me. After the Philistines came in and grabbed him, after shaving his head, gorging at his eyes, and made him blind and grind, the Philistines began to praise their God, Dagon, for having conquered their enemy. But yet they were the enemy against God. And Samson, after he had been blinded and had done his share of grinding, was brought before the Philistines for their amusement. But while he was in that dungeon, he realized where his strength really lied.

It was in his relationship to the Lord. That's why he says, remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged at the Philistines for my two eyes. Lord, remember me. And God did. God gave him strength. God restored his strength. Not because his hair grew, but because he repented of his sin. He asked the lad that was with him to put his hands on the pillars. And you know the story. He pushed the pillars apart. The whole facility came crashing down. He killed 300 Philistines in one day.

Sorry, 3,000 Philistines in one day. 3,000 men. He killed more in his death than he ever did in his life. And Hebrews 11 has him in the hall of faith. Hard to believe. There he is. In the hall of faith. Why? Because he was called by God, set apart by God, to be used by God for the glory of his name. Did he sin? Yeah, he did. Did he compromise his vow? Yes, he did. At the end, he turned to the Lord. And God strengthened him. And God used him in a mighty way. I say that simply because there's no one in the room that's too far gone.

No one. There's no one in the room that's beyond repentance. That's beyond forgiveness. That's beyond restoration. None. If God can do it with Samson, he can do it with you, he can do it with me. And all you have to do is cry out to the Lord, remember me. Restore my life. Confess your sins to him. And God will give you the strength, the energy, the power to accomplish his purposes for the rest of your life. Have you given him that chance? Have you given him that opportunity? I love what the songwriter said, Francis Haverhill, when he recorded these words, Take my life and let it be consecrated to the Lord to thee.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet, let them be swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice, let me sing always only for my king.

Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for thee. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Take my love, my God, I pour at thy feet its treasure store. Take myself, and I will be ever only all for thee. That's the consecrated heart. That should be the cry of every one of us. Take my lips, take my life, take my voice, take my hands, take my feet, take myself, just take me, and may I be wholly consecrated, Lord, to thee. When that's true, there is no end as to how God will use you for his purposes and for his glory.

Let's pray together. In a moment of silence, look to the Lord and ask him to remember you and to restore your relationship with him. Ask him, the king, the ruler of the universe, to govern every aspect of your life. Lord, you are a great God. Every one of us in this room needs you. We need your spirit. We need your presence. We need your power. We need your fellowship. We need you, Lord. Our prayer, Lord, is that you would go before us this day. Let no one in the room think that they are beyond repair, beyond repentance, beyond forgiveness.

Let them know that there is only one who forgives, and that's you. You are gracious and kind. You are long-suffering and patient. And all you ask, all you demand, is that we come to you in humble submission and say, Lord, remember me. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.