and turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 4. If you need a Bible, raise your hand, and our ushers will get you a copy of God's Word. There are also some notes there for the children as well. We come to 1 Thessalonians 4 in our regular series, and we've not been here for a few weeks. I would simply note that the first word here is, finally. And you know the old joke that when the pastor says, finally, you know that it means absolutely nothing. You look at Paul, you say, he's still got two chapters to go here. Is he just sort of your typical preacher? And the answer is no. What he means here is that having gone through all of his sort of introductory material, recounting what God had done for them, anticipating his desire to come see them, the way that they had embraced the gospel and all of these greetings. Now, finally, he's getting around to the material that he really wanted to talk to them about. And he talks in these coming verses about three things in particular. We won't look at all of these today, but in chapters four and five, the three primary subjects would be sex, work, and death. And these things were all very much on the minds of people there in the church in Thessalonica. And in some ways you could look at this and you could say, wow, there are people who have loved ones dying or they've just died. And why doesn't he cover that topic first? Well, I don't know, but he puts sexual purity at the top of the list here. And that's the section that we will be looking at, especially today here in these first eight verses. But the first two verses really introduce the whole section, the body of what it is that he will be instructing us in as we go forward. So let's ask for the Lord's blessing as we read these first eight verses. Lord, this is your word. It is good. and we need it. And how we thank you, Lord, that you know our very needs down to our very depth. And Lord, you know that this is a word not only that the saints in Thessalonica need, but it is a word that we need as well here today in Indianapolis. So Lord, we thank you that these Thessalonians, when they received the word of God, they received it for what it really was, the word of God. And we thank you, Lord, that the same God who is at work in them is at work in us, to give us grace to respond in the same way. And we pray that we will now, in Jesus' name, amen. 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse one. This is God's word. Finally then brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you receive from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us to impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Thus ends this reading of God's Word. We pray that he would write it on our hearts today and forever. When I was in India, I had the privilege of meeting with many people. And on one particular day there was a young man in the congregation there who asked if we could get some time together to go on a walk and have breakfast together. And so we did. And they're really working to green up Bangalore. There are new green spaces being put in place. And so we went and we walked through some of the parks and it was really beautiful. talked with me about the things that the Lord is doing in his life, things that are happening in his job and in ministry with people. And then we went and we stopped for breakfast in a little restaurant, continued our discussion. We went on and we had coffee together and we watched the barista froth this stuff. It's just a fascinating show. They do things with food so beautifully. there and we continued our discussion. And then as we began our walk home, the question came up that I knew was bound to come up sooner or later. And that was his concern for his prospects of marriage and just what the Lord would do in answering his prayers to bring a woman into his life. And this is something that's very much on his heart. And I thought to myself, there's nothing different halfway around the world. People have the same concerns on their hearts, and these are the deep things of our hearts. How it is that the Lord would have us to relate to the ones we love. Is the Lord going to bring me someone for marriage? All of the concerns associated with marriage and these kinds of things. And the Lord knows that these kinds of concerns weren't just true in Thessalonica. They're not just true in India, but they're here for us as well. And the Lord knows our needs and he addresses these in a very straightforward way. As we look at this passage, you see that Paul is writing and he's asking, he's urging, as he says in the Lord Jesus, that as these people are living and pleasing God, that they would continue to do so more and more. And with regard to this topic of sexual purity, he says very directly the desire of God for his people. Look at verse three, for this is the will of God. your sanctification. What are we called to as the people of God? Those who are in Jesus Christ. We are called in Christ to pursue sexual purity at whatever stage of life we may be as individuals. And this is something that is of utmost importance to us, and to us as individuals, and to us as a congregation. You know it is in your own lives. And so we turn to the Lord for our instruction. We're called here as the people of God to be those who are walking. Our progress may not always on our walk be rapid, but it is sure. And it is with a certain sense of direction. St. Augustine said this, without truth, what is life but a wandering? We're called to walk here, but the Lord doesn't tell us just to wander around in circles wondering what to do. He's given us a sense of direction. He has revealed His will to us, and it is our sanctification. So how is it then that we, as the people of God, are going to do this? we're going to pursue this kind of purity in communion with the triune God. And as we look at this passage, we see the work of the triune God who gives us this grace to seek this kind of purity, this kind of sanctification, and this kind of life that is pleasing to God. It is not only something that we are called to do, it is not something that is merely possible, but it is God's will for us and the triune God will achieve this in our lives. So how is it that communion with the triune God gives us grace to pursue sexual purity? Well, I want you to see here, first of all, that we are to hear our Father in heaven who himself instructs us in these matters. It's our Father in heaven who loves us, who gives us these instructions. Look again here, if you will, at verse 2. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus, Paul is saying. Paul had been there for about three weeks. He had given them these instructions. And verse three goes on to say, for this is the will of God. This is what it means for you to please your father in heaven, is to pursue your sanctification. I want you to let your eyes jump down and see in verse five as well, that the opposite of this is the Gentiles who don't know God. They live in the passion of lust. Why is it that they do that? It is because they do not know God the Father. We can't expect those who don't have God as their Father to be pursuing this kind of purity. But we're in a different category as the people of God. We're given grace to see the Lord Jesus Christ reign in our hearts. And this is a word that God the Father has given to us. And then look at verse seven, where this is reiterated again. That God, again, speaking of the Father here, God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man, but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. your heavenly father, as he looks down upon you, he knows the struggles and the temptations that you face with regard to the seventh commandment and with regard to sexual purity. We know that these are the kinds of sins that take every person captive. And Paul was writing to people here in Thessalonica, which was a very pagan city, a very heathen place, and it was not far behind a place like Corinth. They had their gods and their goddesses on the mount, and the priests of these would come down as prostitutes into the city. The expectation that people had there in that city, even the philosophers of the day would write that what was just commonly expected is that a man would have a woman, a wife, to bear children for him who would be legitimate offspring, and to care for the household. But on top of that, he would have mistresses. who might care for his other needs for companionship and go alongside him. He would have concubines. He would have slaves that he would be able to take advantage of. And again, commentators, poets like Cicero, philosophers, they themselves believed that these kinds of things were wholly appropriate and to be expected. It was just the way of life. And so when Paul comes into this city, one of the things that is really fascinating that he does is he addresses these topics within the first three weeks that he's there. And there are a couple of things about the dynamic that are really fascinating. We know that Paul would go into a community, he would minister to the Jews, and then he would start ministering to the Gentiles. And the church in Thessalonica was a higher percentage Gentile than it was Jew by this point. Paul reminds them constantly here, as you look at the text, that he had instructed them in these things previously. He had already given them these words of warning from the Lord. When did he do that? Well, we know that he was only there for about three weeks. So in that three week period of time, Paul had seen these Gentiles come to faith in Jesus Christ, And then notice that later, as we've already read, he says, you shouldn't live like the Gentiles. There's an identity change that has occurred already as he is speaking these words as their father here on earth, but he's speaking the words of the heavenly father to them. He's addressing them as his children. And he's pointing out that their identity has already changed. And they needed to come and see that within those first three weeks that they were in Christ. This is what is true for people who belong to the Heavenly Father. We recognize that we have been saved by the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ. We have been converted. We have been born again according to a living hope. And immediately, the matter of ethics becomes prominent. He doesn't say, well, you know, the main thing is that you believe Jesus and you're born again and nothing else really matters. We'll get to some of that other stuff later. No, the evidence is here. Purity matters for babes in Christ. And it matters because they're not viewed as, well, sort of almost there. They're viewed as those who once were Gentiles. They once were aliens to the promises. But now because they've believed, they're in a different category. They belong to a different family. And if you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, This is true of you as well. You have a new father. Your father is no longer Satan, but you have a father in heaven who loves you and who cares for you so much that he would care about the things that you think, he would care about the things that you say, and he would care about the things that you do regarding your sexual purity. And this father that you have in Jesus Christ is one who loves you. Look at verse one again. Paul writing, he says, we ask and we urge you in the Lord Jesus. Here's a petition, but also an urging. There's a certain warmth that he has, but also a firmness in giving these instructions. He points out, he doesn't beat these people up, but he points out that they are already living to please God. Now, why is he writing about this subject? Well, it's obviously because people were struggling in this area. There are people in this body who are here today who struggle with these things. But notice, first of all, that Paul takes note to observe the progress that they are making. And it's not simply Paul who observes this progress, but look again at verse one. They were to live and to please God as they were already doing, and so simply to do it more and more. When we belong to God, even our efforts at obedience are pleasing to Him. We often think, first of all, of the things that we're still doing wrong. And those are serious, and the Lord addresses those. But the Lord looks down with fatherly affection, and He takes delight in the ways in which you are walking and seeking to please Him. God the Father is pleased with His Son, Jesus Christ. And when we are in Him, He is pleased with us. And He is pleased with the progress that His people God is not a father who is hard to please. He has saved us from our sins, and he delights in the ways in which we advance still from strength to strength, even when we are not yet perfectly pure, because he ultimately sees us in Jesus Christ. You know how much we all long to be pleasing in the eyes of others. We want to have people like us. We want to be valued and to know that we're loved and that we're pleasing. And God is pleased with you as his people. And this motivates us then. When we know that these instructions are from our Heavenly Father, it motivates us to please Him. When I was in India, there was a time when I made some comment. I probably shouldn't have made it, but some comment that I like beef. And, you know, given being in a Hindu nation, there's not a lot of beef to be had. But my friend Nani, who's in the congregation, heard this, and he heard my hankering for beef, and as we prepared to gather for a meal one evening, he wanted to please me by supplying us with some beef. And so he wasn't even able to join us for the meal that night, the group of us who were getting together, because he had to work. But he so wanted to please us that he told me, you meet me there at the corner of Bank Avenue and Bobapalooza Road, and I'll drop it off so that you can take it down to the Rouse House and you can eat. And I'm standing there thinking as I'm waiting, this is a little crazy, it seems. It's just maybe a little over the top. And here comes Nani, he pulls up on his motorbike, and he had his helmet on, and through his visor I could see him beaming as he delivered this beef. And as I received it, his head gave the Indian wobble, and you could simply see what a joy and a delight it was to please me with that treat. And you know, that was some of the most succulent beef I have ever had in my life. And as I carried it that extra quarter mile to get to our gathering spot, I knew that even the dogs would love that, and that I was going to have to keep it safe. And there is no doubt, but that I delighted. And our God is the same way. He loves it when His people want to please Him. And He takes delight in their ways. I just want to encourage you with this. Often, our battle against sexual sin in the highly sexualized culture in which we live brings about a sense of guilt, and we feel beaten down. But your Father here, through the Apostle Paul, He encourages you that you are pleasing Him in the efforts you're making. He wants you to know that. He wants you to know that all of those truths that we remember there from the Ten Commandments are true. That the preface of the Ten Commandments, which is that I am the Lord your God who's brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, that that God is the one who is our God and Redeemer. And it's because He has already redeemed us from our bondage that therefore we're bound to keep all of His commandments. The reason for our desire for sexual purity and our passion in it, in pursuing it, is not because God just gives us a list of rules, but it's because He's entered into a loving relationship with us so that ultimately He can delight in us. So this is the role that the Father plays. He has called us in holiness, and our Father in heaven encourages us, and he has called us to purity. We'll see a bit more of that later. There is an urgency in this, but I want you to see, first of all, that these are commands from your Father, who takes delight in you, and He wants to see your progress. The second thing that we see here is that we live in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in the Lord Jesus that we experience this kind of progress. Look again here at verse two. I'm sorry, verse one. We ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the one to whom we are united by faith. We are in him. It's the most common identification we have in the New Testament as the people of God. And we're called then to walk in him. Jesus has come in the flesh. There's no temptation that's common to man. Our Lord Jesus does not know because he came and he walked among us. And now we are united to him and so we walk with him and he is the one through whom these instructions have come as well as we see here in verse 2. And so the Lord Jesus is going to give us strength as we're united to him to be sanctified in two ways in particular. Look at the call of God here. It is our sanctification, that is our gradual progress in holiness. What does it look like? That we abstain from sexual immorality. that we abstain from sexual immorality. There is a hard stop here. We know that sanctification is a gradual process, but the call is that we would simply abstain from sexual immorality. When we were in India and we heard testimony from this one woman who's converted out of Hinduism, and she shared what the Lord had done to radically change her heart, she brought up the subject near the end of our time of her idols. and all of these silver idols that she's had in her house. And these are things of great value, of course. I wondered, how is she going to think about these? How is she going to address these? And the thing that was clear is that she had to deal with these idols, but they had absolutely no place. She didn't say, I've got a plan where I'm going to wean myself off of these one by one over coming months. These were all going to be thrown away. Her only concern was that someone else might get a hold of them and use them for their intended purpose, which she didn't want. So then the question became, well, can we get a fire hot enough to melt them? Or should we just throw them in a lake? But these things are filthy enough that we wouldn't want to throw them in one of our clean lakes. Let's at least make sure we throw them in one of our already polluted lakes if we're going to throw them in one of the lakes. That's a beautiful thing, right? It's a culture that's foreign to my own. But what was not foreign is the fact that when a person comes to saving faith in the Lord Jesus, it's recognized there's no place for sin. Boom. We abstain from it. And this is our call when it comes to sexual immorality as well. We cease. It is a great battle, of course. There's a temptation for idolaters always to go back to their idolatry and their old ways because there are old habits of life that are tied up in these things, regardless of our kind of adultery. It's not simply a matter of throwing away silver. but it's a matter of seeing the old man put off and the new man put on. But in the Lord Jesus, this is what we do. We, first of all, abstain from sexual immorality. Secondly, here in Christ, we each one know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. This is our calling, again, is to recognize that God has created sexual intimacy as a good thing, but he has called us to control our own bodies. We are not simply machines that are out of control, that are driven by our lusts. But because we know our God and Redeemer, who has already delivered us from bondage, we can walk in this kind of personal relationship with our living Savior, Jesus Christ, and so see sin put to death in the flesh. And this is true in marriage. As John Stott says, marriage is not simply a form of legalized lust. We're not simply given marriage so that we can satisfy all the desires of our heart. Because the idolatry is still present there if our own selfishness is still what drives us. And the Lord expects the same kind of purity of those who are single as well. And I think words from John Stott, who as a biblical commentator and preacher, one who was himself single, are especially helpful to those who are single. He says, what about us? We too must accept the apostolic teaching, however hard it may seem, as God's good purpose for us and for society. We shall not become a bundle of frustrations and inhibitions if we embrace God's standard, but only if we rebel against it. Christ's yoke is easy, provided that we submit to it. It is possible for human sexual energy to be redirected both into affectionate friendships with friends of both sexes and into the loving service of others. Multitudes of Christian singles, both men and women, can testify to this. Alongside a natural loneliness accompanied sometimes with acute pain, we can find joyful self-fulfillment in the self-giving service of God and other people. The Lord promises to be with us. Often our concern, especially for those who are single, maybe those who are divorced, or those who have lost a spouse is, am I pleasing to others? Well, you can know you will never be more pleasing to anyone than your Father in heaven. Whether you're single or married, that your delight, your satisfaction, your fulfillment will be found in Him. This is God's promise to you, brothers and sisters. And it is your motivation as you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness in the area of sexual purity. Notice here then that as we walk in the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 6 says that we are not to transgress and wrong our brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these things. We always wrong our brothers and our sisters when we sin in this area. You see this in the news, all over our media today. People who've been in positions of power, they take advantage of others. This is not what the Lord Jesus Christ does. He has already walked this path for us. He has given himself to us. He has not taken from us. And whenever we fall into sexual sin, there are not only consequences for us, but there are ways in which others are hurt. Whenever sexual sin enters the body in a public way, there are always divisions within the body. People taking sides as problems try to be sorted out. There is a great price, and so the Lord gives us stern warnings in these matters. The Lord Jesus Christ walks with us, not simply so that we would be pure individually, but because His body is at stake. And our Lord Jesus Christ is not simply in a relationship with we as individuals, but with we as a body of Jesus Christ. And so we need to be encouraging one another, spurring each other on all the more as we see the day approaching, as we lovingly encourage one another toward sexual purity within the body of Christ. The last thing I want you to see here is that we win the victory in this struggle in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Look at the last verse here. God, verse 7, actually, first of all. God the Father has united you to Jesus Christ. Jesus is ascended on high and he lives as your Lord today. He subdued you to himself. He's restraining and conquering all his and your enemies. And the Father and the Son have given you the Holy Spirit as the agent to work in your hearts in all of life, but especially in this battle. And when we fall into sexual sin, We're not simply rejecting the words of God, but there's a sense in which we are rejecting and disregarding not merely man, but God himself, who has given his Holy Spirit to us. What a grievous thing that is. God has given us his Holy Spirit to empower us. He's given his Holy Spirit to comfort us, to cause our eyes to be lifted to Jesus. to motivate us, to live with us, to cause us that we are not alone, but that God has given us His Son, Emmanuel, to be with us. But the Lord hasn't only given the Holy Spirit to us for all of these positive things. The Lord has given us the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment as well. So here's the urging as we think about the Holy Spirit is that you not try to receive part of the Holy Spirit, but the whole Holy Spirit. Now, it would be impossible, of course, to receive part of the Holy Spirit. But when Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, receive the Holy Spirit, He wasn't simply giving them the Holy Spirit who would comfort them, who would encourage them, who would make them feel good about themselves and have strength to do the right thing. It's true, the Holy Spirit does do those things for us. But this is a Holy Spirit that through God's grace, warns us, instructs us, pricks our conscience, and says when we're about to stumble into sin or we're thinking about it, he says, would you lift your eyes to Jesus? Would you see what he's already done? The Holy Spirit is in that moment as active and as much at work in your life as he is any other time. And you need to receive the Holy Spirit with all of the benefits that He provides to His people. Because He's the one who keeps our thinking on track, keeps our eyes fixed on Jesus, who causes us to remember the instructions that we've received, who causes us to remember that we walk with Jesus, who causes us to remember that we're united to a body of people who are also united to Jesus. And it is not simply our purity that matters, but it is their purity as well. because God himself is pure. Do not quench the work of the Holy Spirit in this aspect of your life. Embrace his work and love him for it, because as you do, you'll remember, as Galatians chapter 5 tells us, that we are called to walk in the Spirit. And that's exactly what verses one and two call us to hear as well. Paul says, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to live and please God just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. These things are straightforward, friends. God's will for you is your sanctification and your purity. because He is pure. And the Triune God has given you everything you need to grow today and this week. So let's listen to the word that our Father has given us. and know that these instructions are from Him, and that He is delighted in His people, that He has secondly given us the Lord Jesus Christ, who has already walked this path Himself, and to whom we are united. And let us remember on a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, and second-by-second basis that God has given His Holy Spirit to us, and let us respond to His work in our lives. so that we might fulfill God's will for us, our sanctification. Let's pray. Lord, we love you. We love your word, and we need it. And you know the specific challenges that each person faces here, and they are different, Lord. Different ages, different stages of life. But the triune God ministers to each one. So Lord, we pray that we would be those who hear your word and who receive it for what it really is today, the word of the living God. We pray all this in Jesus name.