1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 1, Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us, how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles, which know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despises, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren, which are in all Macedonia, but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more. and that you study to be quiet, and do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing. You may be seated tonight. been dealing with the will of God as far as the series on the will of God and, and we, we know that Paul's desire for the, the Hebrew saints, at least those that profess to be saved in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 21, he said, May, may the Lord in essence make you perfect, complete in every good work to do his will. The word do means to pursue a course of action, the Greek means to pursue a course of action, to do what God would have you to do. And that's what we need to understand and what we need to do. Now where do you start finding the will of God? Where do you find the will of God? Everybody, if you really be honest, you have problems with some things knowing the will of God, correct? I mean, sometimes you come up and you say, well, I don't know whether I need to do this or I need to do that. Well, the best place to start finding the will of God is to find the written will. Now, God has an unwritten will for your life, okay? But you'll never know the unwritten will of God for your life unless you begin to try to strive written will for your life. So the Bible lays down some things about the will of God, and the first thing we said a couple of weeks ago, or three weeks ago I guess it was, the first thing, the will of God for every person is that they be saved. The Bible said in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but his long suffering. Uh-oh, there's that word come up again tonight, many times already. But His longsuffering to us were not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God never made hell for man. He made hell for the devil and his angels. He provided on the cross of Calvary the ransom price that was capable of saving every man, but you've got to come God's way. Now, the Bible said God has enlarged hell because man's rejected the light God's given. He's rejected the grace God's given to every man, Titus 2 11 said. When men reject that, then God has no choice but to enlarge hell to receive you into that place. And God didn't intend for that to be that way, didn't want it that way, He's not willing that any should perish, but is long-suffering. He suffers long, even though we're enemies of God. And that's what Romans 5 said, we're enemies of God. Sinners means we're actively engaged in sin by choice against the Holy God. Yes, we're sinners by nature, but we choose to sin against the Holy God, and yet God loved us and sent his son to die for us, and he's not willing that any should perish. And we've studied how that gets God's will, that you might be saved. That's the first thing. That's the most important thing, is the will of God that is that you be saved. Then we said secondly, as we talked about this two or three weeks ago, we need to give thanks. Amen? First Thessalonians 5.18, he said, Give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. It didn't say just be thankful even though you need to be thankful, but you need to give thanks. It means, in other words, open your mouth and speak to the Lord. You don't have to do it in the congregation. You can. And, in fact, he talked about giving thanks in the great congregation, but, hey, walk out at night, as David said in Psalm 8, look at the stars and look at the moon. It's declaring the glory of God and give thanks, amen, give thanks for, hey, we got a little rain. Hallelujah for some rain. We need to pray for more. We're dry, amen, and we don't realize how dry we are until we really get dry and recognize the need. Hey, God's been good to us, whether we realize it or not. Now we're getting a little bit of dew of a morning. Boy, last summer, there wasn't much dew, even to help the crop out a little, anything. Thank God for what He's done. We need to give thanks for what He's done and what He's doing. It may not be complete, but you need to give thanks for light that God's given you, for awakening you, for stirring you, for bringing you to a place where you can hear truth, and giving you ears where you can hear truth. So give thanks. That's the will of God, the Bible said, for you to give thanks. Now, if we're not willing to give thanks, then we'll never really know the unwritten will of God for our life. if we're not willing to move in God's direction. Now, another thing we said is the will of God was to labor, labor spiritually and to labor physically, amen. And boy, I tell you that our people in this society today need a good old-fashioned dose of that laboring physically because a lot of them don't want to get out and work and make a living, don't want to provide. And the Bible said if you won't provide for your own house, you're worse than an infidel. So you need to labor. That's God's will for you both to pursue a course of action, to labor. Sweat of your what? Brow. Is it brow or face? That's all right. But we've said it all those years, brow. But the Bible actually says face, but that's part of you. The brow is part of that face, isn't it? I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. Amen. But I get mixed up sometimes, don't know where I'm going. But the sweat of your face, in other words, sweat a little bit, it'll help you. But also to strive spiritually to do what God would have you to do. And if you'll move in the written, written will then God will begin to unfold the unwritten will of God for your life. Then we said last week we talked about I think this one we said another thing the will of God says was to be subject to the higher power. Now you talked about being subject to our kings and governors and presidents of course it would apply but yet and still when it gets down to the bottom line, Peter, you remember him in Acts chapter number 5, wasn't it? I mean, he was arrested, put in jail, and they said, why did you do this? Why did you preach in that name? They wouldn't even call Jesus' name. They'd forbid him to do it, and yet he did that, and he said, it's better to obey God than it is man. You know who's the higher power? It's not our president, we ought to follow the rules of our land if it doesn't, as long as they coincide with the Bible. But when they go against the Bible, we obey the higher power. That's God, amen. We need to stay with that. And Peter went on and said it's better to obey God than man. Now that doesn't mean you rebel just because you don't like something that's there. because if something coincides with the Bible, or at least don't go contradictive to the Bible, then we're supposed to try to abide by that. If you get caught breaking the speed limit, then you just pay your fine and go on with it, amen? It's about what it amounts to, because they've got that right. Obey them. They're really supposed to execute vengeance on them that do evil and promote that which is good, and today our government as a whole are doing right the reverse. A lot of times, right? Lot, all right, the reverse. But still, God said obey the higher power. He's the higher power. Obey Him. That's the will of God. Then we said also last week that the will of God is to suffer sometimes. He said, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. He said we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. We're not going to get by lightly. America's had a silver spoon in their mouth, and a lot of people think we're going to get by, but I tell you, who are we to go in without any problems? Listen, folks, people in Russia and other countries Even right now in India, if you stand up for what's Christ, they're being persecuted every day. I get pictures from India, I don't know how much of it's correct or not, but they're beaten just because they named the name of Christ. They're ostracized and placed in bad shape, and their families, and even killed in many places. And it's gonna come in America before it's over with, amen? Just mark it down. I'm not a prophet of doom, I'm just trying to say, God said it's the will of God to suffer sometimes, and He said it's better for you to suffer for well-doing than it is evil-doing. Now sometimes you suffer because you do evil, amen, and that's the wrong way, kind of suffering. He said it's the will of God for you to suffer sometimes for doing good, in other words. Well, as we think about Well, 1 Peter 3, 17 said, for it's better if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Now, tonight, I wanna go a little further and find out about the written will of God. Those are those six or five things we've dealt with already in the last two or three weeks. And now let's look what the Bible says and what we read tonight in the text verse of these 12 verses in 1 Thessalonians chapter number four. And you say, well, what's the will of God that you're dealing with tonight? the will of God, and by the way, you've got to look at who it's written to, and he's writing here in essence to the church, and that's the saints of God in Thessalonica. That's those that profess to be saved. Now, some of them may not have been saved. We know that. We know all down through the ages it's always been people who professed that wasn't saved. Some of them were stoned to the ground years. But he's writing to the church, which are baptized believers. That's who they're supposed to be. He's talking about local, visible body. And he said, this is the will of God to do what? To live clean. Boy, that's not heard of much today, is it? But did you know it's the will of God? Look at verse number 3 in our text verse, the verse part, for he said, this is the will of God, even your sanctification. And then he lists some things. Now I'll get into those things he listed. He also said in the book of chapter 4 in our text verse, verse number 7, he said, for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. In other words, he said, we're to live clean. Now there's two words in verse 3, sanctification in verse 3 and holiness in verse 7 is the same Greek word. In other words, it really means a state of purity. The Bible says in Hebrews, without holiness, no man's going to see God. So it's God's will for us to live clean, in other words, and that's separation. Now, I know we're living in a day when you've got a lot of people who don't do this and don't do that, but what do they do, you know? This legalistic crowd, and I grew up in that, I understand that, but they only cleaned the outside. What did Jesus say in the book of the Sermon on the Mount? In essence, he told, well, in Matthew 23, 23, or not 23, 23. But 23, he talked to the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, and he said, cleanse first that which is inside, that the outside may be clean also. The Pharisees were clean outside, but they wasn't clean on the inside. Now you can't cleanse yourself. You can't save yourself. In fact, your salvation is not dependent upon you, it's on the Lord. But if you'll move on light, God will bring you to a place that you can be safe and have the inside cleansed first. Now you've got another group that says, well, it's what's inside that counts, and they're living like the devil, loosest can be. Nope, God's will is to live clean. You'll never know the unwritten will of God for your life till you begin to move toward the written will, and written will is to live clean. Your sanctification, holiness. Now, that's not a bad word. I mean, a lot of people have problems with that word holiness just because some groups take it and use it and go off and teach false doctrine and call themselves holiness. Doesn't mean that they're holy. The Lord said, be ye holy as I'm holy. And it means, in essence, to be clean. It means to be separated, but it's not only just separated from some things, it's separated unto the Lord. separated unto him is what it amounts to. So you see, clean on the outside, but yet clean also on the inside as well. In other words, it means, well, it means what 1 Peter chapter one, verse number two, where he's writing to the elect. Don't get excited about that. That doesn't mean any manny manny mo, you to heaven and you to hell. It just means God in foreknowledge knew how you were gonna respond to his wheel, and he's the master potter, and he knows what to do with the clay, and therefore he knows all about you. And he calls you the elect, but it's for the saints of God is what he's saying. That's all it means, being saved. But he said elect according to the foreknowledge of God through the sanctification of the Spirit. That's the setting apart work of the Spirit in what we call Holy Ghost conviction. godless sorrow or the work of reproval and he brings you out of that bondage of sin and as we talked about the other day in Ephesians as he redeems you, he goes into the slave market and looses you, lays down the ransom price, brings you out of the slave market and sets you free. But the freedom you have is liberty in Christ. It's not liberty to do as you want. It's liberty only to do as the Lord would have you to do in that sense and his will is to live clean, in other words. Now, that sanctification of the Spirit that he talked about there and also in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13 when he talked about we're chosen by sanctification of the Spirit, that means not only the activity of the Holy Spirit to set men apart unto salvation, but it's enabling him to be holy even as God's holy. You see, he's not writing to lust here, as far as the condition. I understand if you're not saved, you say, what's good to me to even read that? Listen, that God can whet your appetite. He can cause you to drool over desiring these things in your life. And he said, if you get thirsty, I'll pour water on the thirsty. So it's good, profitable. for doctrine, but you see he's writing to the saints of God who've already been saved, or at least they profess to be, now he's saying you need to be sanctified, you need to be set apart by the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and be holy even as God's holy. That's the will of God. You see it's not only the transfer of the Spirit of God working in your life is not only the transfer of a sinner into the ranks of the redeemed, but the change in the character of the redeemed saint to be holy even as God's holy. And I think that's best stated in Colossians chapter 1 verse number 13 when he said this, talking about the Lord Jesus who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. Thank God he brought us out, but he brought us out to bring us in because he said, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. In other words, it's what really sanctification, you know we've talked about sanctification before, and sanctification is the man who moves toward a goal. He doesn't let circumstances or trials stop him from moving toward that goal. And when God saves you, He's saving you daily from the power of sin. Now, when you got saved, you were saved from the penalty of sin. That's justification. But sanctification is the walk of progression toward perfection. that will be gained at the first resurrection and therefore he said he's going to conform us to the image of his dear son. If you're saved, God's going to make you like his son. That's what he said. He's going to do it. Amen? And therefore it's his will that you live clean and grow in grace and in that time God works all things together for good. To them who love God, who are the called according to His purpose. Amen. And in everything, what do you do? Give thanks. Does that mean you thank God for everything? Well, I tell you what, you get your arm cut off in the car wreck, you can thank God that He's brought you through it alive if you're still alive. But you don't thank God you got your arm cut off. That's foolishness. Amen. In that, thank God He's still in control. He protected me. All I lost was an arm. I could have lost my neck. And if you're not saved, you'd be in hell. You see, God's in control. And so as a result, in those sayings, give thanks. And so we're talking about living clean is the will of God. He said that plainly there, did he not? That's the will of God. That's not Edgar Pascal's will for you to live clean. That's the will of God. God said that. That's in the New Testament. That's not in the Old Testament. That's in the New Testament, that He said, this is the will of God, and if you're not willing to move down that path toward living clean, then you'll never know the unwritten will of God for your life, and your life's going to be a total wreck, one day after another, after another, after another. Amen? You need to move toward, I don't mean you'll always do the will of God, but it says that's the will of God. Be saved, give thanks. In other words, to labor, be subject to the higher power, to suffer when the time come, but living clean. Who? Saints of God. He said that's the will of God. Now Paul said you need to live as you've received of us. In fact, he said in Philippians, another place, he said those things you've seen and heard and me, do. pursue a course of action, in other words. But here, look what he said in verse number one. Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. In other words, Paul said, you need to live as you received of us. Have you ever heard somebody say, this is what you need to do. Don't do as I do, do as I say. Folks, I'm gonna tell you, your action speaks a lot more louder than your words do. And if you're not living such a way in front of your children, you may tell your children not to do this, not to do that, but if you're doing it, I'll tell you what, their chances of them doing it is going to be even greater. Amen? Just be the grace of God if they don't. But see, Paul said, what you've seen in me and heard in Philippians and what you've received from us, do. In other words, you ought to walk. That word walk, if you think about it, means to live according to. It means to conduct oneself. In other words, what had they received of Paul? Look at what he said in verse number 2. He said, For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. And of course Paul, as your right says, he's talking about those that's with him at his time, but Paul's the primary one, but Sylvanius and Timotheus was with him when they went to Thessalonica. And so, but yet he says we, but he's talking about what I told you. What did he give them? He gave them commandments. We're living in a time when people want to do away with commandments. Say, hey, we're not under the law, we're under grace, but there's still commandments. Paul said, I'll give you commandments to do that, and you need to walk them. Now, you see, he had, in other words, there are commandments that he had passed on to these in Thessalonica from the Lord Jesus, he said. In other words, things that the Lord said do and not to do. It's not what Paul said to do and not to do. It's not what the preacher says. It's what the Lord said, and Paul's just the voice to pass it on. And he says, in other words, what you need to do and what you need not do. In other words, you see, there's commandments that says thou shalt, and then there's commandments that says thou shalt not. In other words, and anytime you break those commandments and you say that's Old Testament, don't matter, there's still, you read throughout the new ones, commands that's from the Lord Jesus. In other words, and there's some things He said for you to do and there's some things He said for you not to do. Now, if you omit to do what you're supposed to do, we call that a sin of omission. And it needs to be confessed. If you're saved, you need to confess it, repent of it. But if you commit that, that you're not supposed to, he said, don't do, then that's called the sin of commission. You ever heard sin of omission, sin of commission? So there's commands that's negative and positive. A car don't run without negative and positive, does it? Car won't crank, gotta have both of them on the battery, amen. One of them's messed up on Miss Ada's car right now, it won't crank. There's a negative or a positive messed up somewhere. But you gotta have a negative and you gotta have a positive, and God said some things in the Old Testament time, but he said some things that Paul's passing on to the church at Thessalonica, and it's profitable for us today. He said it's to us. This Bible may not be written to us at Thessalonica, but it's written for us, and he said the will of God is to live clean. In other words, he said, this is what you need to do. And what did he pass on? In other words, how you received of us, what was it? The commandments. In other words, things the Lord said do and not do that he's just passing on. Then verse number six, look what else Paul, what he said about that, more or less what they'd received of him. Verse six, he said that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified. Paul said that, this is not the first time I've been over there. I was over there one time and I forewarned you and I testified about some things before this letter was ever written, probably when the church was established. We don't know exactly when it was, but a message had come from Paul, some things he had forewarned them about. And that word forewarned means to stay He said, in essence, I said already, I've said some things already to you. I warned you about some things. Folks, we need to heed the warnings that God gives us. If the man of God is preaching the truth from the word and warns you to watch this, watch that, and be careful here and be careful there, you need to do that, amen, because that's the will of God. And he said, also testified, and that means attesting to the facts and truth. It means to bear witness to. Paul said, I told you some truths. I gave you some commands. I forewarned you before. In other words, now he said what you need to do is to do these basic things. Paul gives a list here of some things in these 12 verses, and like I say, I probably won't get all these done, but this is what it means to live clean, and he just gives a representative list because you see everywhere, Paul couldn't list all 726 sins. Now, I don't know whether it's 726 or not, that's what some theologian said, and I'm not going to try to count them. I haven't got that much time, okay? I've got other things more important to do right now in one way, You see, every time you see a list in the Bible, anywhere Paul mentions sins or a list of sins, it's a representative list. Because you see, if he's writing to the saints, they had the Spirit of God living inside. And did not John 16, 13, Jesus said when he's come, he'll not only reprove you of sin, righteousness, and judgment, but he'll teach you all things. He'll guide you into all truth. In other words, he's saying, so when Paul mentions about seven or eight things, what happens then, it doesn't matter whether there's 717 more or whatever it is, it doesn't matter how many is left, the Holy Spirit moves over there. I can be preaching on one thing and the Holy Spirit move on you about something else that's totally different from what I'm dealing with, but it's representative. And so he said, I forewarned you. I testified, I bear witness to truth, and I told you some things already before. Now I'm telling you again, it's God's will for you to live clean. It's God's will that you be sanctified. That work that happened, that setting apart work that brought you out of the bondage of sin and placed you in a just position before God, He moves on you and guides you into all truth and continues to grow you day by day. So you need to walk that way. Now what are some of these things? What are some of these? Well, let me give you another verse about the Holy Spirit. I just mentioned John 16, 13, the first John chapter number Chapter 2, verse number 27, he said, But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man teach you, but the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie. And even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Now, some people say, well, and I know we pray because we've heard Brother Ray pray or somebody else pray anoint us, anoint us. Did you know the anointing comes one time? And I know we're used to that, and we say that, and I hear it a lot because I try not to say it myself, but sometimes old tradition just slips out. Lord anoints, no, empowers. The anointing, it means the reception of the Spirit. When you receive the Spirit, you receive Him one time. He doesn't leave you, He stays with you. Now, I know David said, Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from me in the book of Psalm 51, but now you go back and study in the Old Testament time, the Holy Spirit did not indwell in a believer. He only came upon a person for a ministry, and Paul had been run all over the hill, or David had been run all over the hills by King Saul because the spirit had left King Saul as king, left him, and God took the spirit from him. Now, David said, I don't want the spirit taken from me because of my sin with Bathsheba and her husband who had murder and adultery. Please don't take the spirit from me. I've still got a ministry to do. Wasn't had nothing to do with salvation. He said, restore unto me the what? The joy. of thy salvation. He knew that he was still saved, amen. He wasn't lost after he was saved, but the thing about it, on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came, he indwelt every believer at that time that was alive, and the moment you're saved, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside, that's the anointing that you receive, and he's writing to the saints of God and said, you have an anointing. You have the reception of the Spirit, and you need not that any man should teach you. Now, that doesn't mean you don't need pastors, and teachers, because you see, you've got to take the whole Bible in correctness. What he's saying is that he will guide you into all truth. I got a missionary letter today, and sometimes it's so disturbing, as they talked about their son is hoping that they wouldn't get caught up and get moved out in school because he's away from daddy, that he wouldn't get messed up by some false doctrine. I want to tell you what, if you're saved, you've got the anointing. You won't get messed up by false doctrine. And anyone who gets messed up by false doctrine and goes in error never has been saved, never had the anointing. Now, didn't say you can't dibble and dabble and mess up a little bit, but God's gonna straighten you out and get you back on key. Amen. Now, I'm not trying to be mean, but this is all part of God's will to live clean. And we're in a mess today because everybody's idea, well, I just hope that that school don't mess them up. Well, don't go to that school. If they're not teaching the stuff over there, we call them, instead of seminaries, we call them cemeteries. Amen? That's about what most of them are. And somebody said, I hope they don't mess up these preachers that go over there from our church. I've heard that years ago. I want to tell you what, if they've had the anointing, if they've received the Spirit, if they've been saved, they will not get messed up. They may be shaken. They might waver a little bit, but they're going to zero in later and come forth straight as a gun barrel. Amen, Brother Dusty? They're going to do it. Now, Matthew 24, 24 says in the end time when the Antichrist is ruling and reigning, he's going to do many exploits and even cause people to think that he's the Christ is what it amounts to. He said he'll do things that will deceive the very elect. That's not Israel. That's the saints of God. That's true Israel. That's us, all right? if it were possible. You know what that verse is saying? It's not possible to have somebody go in error. It's not possible. If they've ever had the anointing, if they've ever been saved, you say, but I know so and so that went off to this and went off to this doctrine and that, and I know they're pretty good people. Listen, none of us are good. No, not one. Amen. You may be good by the world's standard, but I don't care how good you are. You could never commit adultery. I'm talking about in the actual act, you could never steal, you could never do any of the Ten Commandments to your thinking, but you still got to be saved by the grace of God. Amen. The rich young ruler went up and Jesus said to him, he said, what must I do to be saved? And the man walked, he said, keep the law. He thought he had, but Jesus didn't even rebuke him. He hadn't kept the law. He hadn't done that. He thought he had. He really thought he had. But Jesus said, you've got another God before you. Go sell that you've got and give to the poor. Get rid of your God. I know it doesn't say that in the scripture, but that's what it amounts to. You see, he only dealt first with the laws that dealt with man and his responsibility. He knew what that man was going to say. And yet when he walked away and he said he had too much, he had another God before him and he wasn't willing to pay the price and he died and he went to hell. And many people are doing that today. But if you've been saved by the grace of God, you've got the anointing. The Spirit of God lives inside you and he will teach you and guide you into all truth. And we need him to do that. We've got to have him to do that. Because our nature, I know our nature is crucified, the old man's crucified, but folks, this old flesh ain't dead. But he said, it's the will of God that you live clean, so we need help day by day to guide us. So as we deal with this representative list, we're just talking about the fact that this is what Paul said some things, and he said, you just take anything else that the Holy Spirit puts his finger on on you. Are you doing this? Are you heeding this? Are you failing to do this? He said, if you are, he said, you're not in the will of God, and you're not gonna know what the unwritten will of God is for your life. Am I too mean tonight? No, I'm not mean. I'm just saying this is what God said. It's not what Edgar Paschal says. He said, the will of God is to live clean. Now listen to some of the things he said. He stated here, okay, we'll deal with a few of them and then we'll quit somewhere along the way. But here he says, he said in verse number three, now he said, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. Now you'll notice there, there's a comma, but he said, and the first thing he mentioned is that you abstain from fornication. And that word abstain means refrain, to hold oneself off. 2 Timothy 2.22 when Paul wrote to young Timothy he said, flee youthful lust. They say, well, when do you get over that? I don't know. I'm 63 and I haven't got over it yet. Okay? I'm being honest with you. I mean, Brother Coker, he was telling me the other day, he said he has trouble eating sometimes. He said he walks by something and it says, it says, hate me or whatever you said. I forgot what you said, but you want me to eat that. Well, I understand that. I know we're joking, but we all desire those things. And hey, it's in every area of our life. This flesh wants to do what flesh wants to do. And so therefore, he said, resist that, refrain from that. 1 Corinthians 6, 18, Paul said, flee fornication. Flee fornication. Now fornication, it really refers to the illicit sexual activity outside of the holy bonds of marriage. Any kind of sexual activity outside of the holy bond of matrimony is fornication. That's an all-inclusive word. That includes adultery, it includes homosexuality, it includes bestiality, it includes one of those words, I don't even know how to pronounce it. Talk about sex with a corpse. You talking about low life. I mean, that's hard for us to even comprehend, isn't it, huh? But it's hard for me to comprehend homosexuality if you don't know the truth about it, amen? But it's there. But the thing about it, it includes all that. In every form, did you know it also not only includes physical, yoking up with those things outside of the will of God, but it also includes spiritual. Idolatry is fornication. He said, flee it. Abstain from that. Now, you see Paul's writing to people who were in the Gentile area, who were very much and had worshipped idol gods. And they, their own nature. I'm going to tell you, tradition's hard to get away from. You catch yourself. I mean, tradition wraps us back up. And I've got to stop a lot of times and say, hey, that's just tradition. And so he said, abstain from it, refrain from it, live clean in other words is what he wanted you to do. And by the way, this thing of fornication includes pornography and shacking up and boy, just keep going, amen. It's a so-called dating situation we've got today in this world. It includes that. Amen. The Bible says it's not good to touch a woman. And I understand what it's saying there. It says, nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife. God, you see, the marriage bed's undefiled, but whoremongers God will judge. But here He's saying to the souls, it's per se, and abstain from any kind of activity that's not right. This is the will of God that let Him, the Holy Spirit, guide you and walk toward that goal that He's put in your life. So He said you need to do that. And by the way, did you know that involves looking to lust? Fornication involves looking to lust. Did the Bible not say Jesus made this statement in Matthew chapter 5 verse 27 through 28? Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say unto you that whoso looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Looking to lust. Now, folks, temptation is not sin. You've got to be tempted, and I'm telling you we're living in a time today, everywhere you look, it's, did you know we're in a sex crazy world? Everything in this world is geared to get your mind conquered. Amen? You go into a place of business, and I want to tell you what, it's almost embarrassing to see some of the secretaries and how they dress. Even if they're covered, it's, what they've got's too tight, shows ever curve and ever figure. Listen, no wonder there's so much immorality. No wonder there's so much rape out there. And they say, well, we didn't cause it. Well, you might have dressed perfectly right, but I'll tell you, that old lust, that demon of lust gets fed everywhere they go. And after a while, the first one that comes along is the one they're going to take it out on. Amen? I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to tell you. We're in a mess today. People call themselves Christian and call themselves Baptist and I can talk about them. They call themselves Baptist and I'm gonna tell you what, they're not living clean. They're not in the will of God and they wonder why their life's in a mess and it's gonna get worse. Gonna get in a bigger mess because they're not even trying to find the written will of God for their life, amen? We're in a mess. Well, you see, did you know this thing? Jesus said to look with lust, in other words, commit adultery. Did you know something? That also involves being the cause of adultery. and committed by improper dress. When you expose yourself out in this world, ladies and men, and by the way, I know they say that men are turned on by look and women by touch, but I've got news for you. We're in a perverted society. A lot of women are turned on by looks today, amen. they're looking and lusting and everything else just like the men do. Amen? And when you dress and don't cover up yourself, you're committing adultery. In that sense, you're committing fornication because adultery comes under that word and you're guilty of that. And for if you've named the name of Christ, you need to cover up yourself, live clean. In other words, it's what he said. That's why he said in 1 Timothy 2, 9, this is in the New Testament. This is not in the Old Testament. He said in a like manner. In other words, he just got through talking about the men, how that they need to lift up holy hands. In other words, without wrath and doubting. In other words, separated to have the sanctifying work in their life. And then he comes to the women. He said, in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broaded hair or gold apparel or costly array. Now it doesn't mean you can't wear jewelry. It just simply means don't let that be what draws it to you, everything to you. It don't mean to be gaudy or haughty and all that pain. and make up and all that stuff in this world, but hey, he said it ought to be with shamefacedness. That means that there ought to be something inside of you. If you've been saved, you've had the anointing of the Spirit, there ought to be something inside of you that would cause you to blush when you wear some things that's immodest. And yet, people go out, you can preach on it all you want to, and they just say, well, that's your fault, because they grew up that way, huh? That's your thought. Well, I want to tell you, you've got to realize God wants us to get to that place where he said that we live clean. That's the will of God. If you're saved by the grace of God, you need to live clean. You need to live clean. In other words, abstain from fornication. In other words, I remember back some time ago, and I've seen it since, but I can't remember exactly where it was at, but I do remember one time people standing up in a church, in a certain church, and the dress come above the pew. They call it a dress, so-called dress, short dress. Folks, that's not right, not right, not right. I'm just thinking, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. One of the old preachers said one time that somebody come up on the front seat and sat down, crossed their legs with a short dress on, and he said, I was bothered about it. He said, I just went down there and put my coat over her legs, come back and said, now that the gates of hell are closed, we'll go on preaching. And you say, preacher, that's pretty plain. Well, I'll tell you what, you listen to what you're listening to. And even in public school today, even in Christian schools today, they talk too much and they say too much. Amen? Lord help, I'll dig a hole, I'll throw the shovel. I'm trying to help us. I'm not pushing at you. I'm just saying, listen, we've got to get to the will. You want to know what God's will is for your life? To be saved. But if you're not willing to walk in the written will, you'll never know the unwritten will of your life. There's an unwritten will. But you'll never know if you're not willing to move that way. I'm not saying you're going to be perfect and all that. I'm not saying your thoughts are always going to be right. But at least you can say, hey, the Spirit of God is grieving. I've got to confess it and I've got to come back. But remember, temptation is not sin. Not sin. Well, in any way, sometimes it's embarrassing. Amen? It's embarrassing. And I'll tell you, any girl or any wife that would wear such as that, that says something about their daddy or their granddaddy, if their case would have been. I think this is what it was. You see, even the husband, if you let your wife wear such a dress, you say, I ain't got any control over it. You need to have. Amen? She's for you. She's to dress and undress for you and not for the world. Amen? I mean, that's not the way it ought to be. God didn't make it that way, you see. And if you wear such, and then they wear such out there and then wonder why it is they get raped. Well, if you're going to advertise, why not put out a red light? That's about what some of them need to do. Abstain from fornication. Live clean, for that's the will of God. Live clean, in other words. Well, I better move on. I'll get another one, okay? Paul said, what I've commanded you. In verse number four, look what else he said. This is what we're talking about. Some of the basic things he's talking about. It's the will of God to live clean. It's number four, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel and sanctification and honor. Now, as we look at that, that word know means to perceive with the mind and understand. The word possessed means to gain and maintain control over. The word vessel speaks of this body. In other words, where the Spirit of God dwells in, the vessel. It's the temple of God if you're saved. The Bible said in 1 Corinthians 6, 19, what? Know you not that your body is the temple of God, of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God and you're not your own? For you're bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You see, if you're saved, you're the temple of God. In other words, your body is where God dwells. It's speaking of the saved being God's servant, and we as a vessel are carrying light, if you please, to a lost world. We're carrying forth to a lost world light and truth by our actions, by our life, and by our lip. 2 Timothy 2, verse 20 and 21, Paul told Timothy, He said, but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and earth, some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. You want to be a vessel that God wants to use? Then you're going to have to find his will, and his will is to live clean and move in that direction, if you see. And then he goes even further in verse number five and instructs how not to do, in essence. He said in verse five, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles, which know not God. That phrase in lust of concupiscence refers to evil desires and passions, both as a condition of the soul and active operation. That means your thoughts and your actions. In other words, it's talking about a diseased condition of the soul. It's also that unbridled desire. You've got a horse, you turn him loose, you know he's going to run away. I mean, I don't care if he's the best horse he is, you turn him loose, he's still liable to hurt you somewhere along the way. Unbridled desire. You can't turn it loose. You see, it'll manifest itself in outward actions. Paul said, even himself, I have to buffet my body, which means I've got to literally beat my body into subjection. I think the thorn that he had was a problem that kept being bombarded by fiery darts. It wasn't no, it's not a problem. It was a messenger of Satan to buffet him. And I believe he, I believe he not being married like he was, I believe he had a problem of desiring the opposite sex. Hey, God put that desire there. Nothing wrong with that. You just got to keep it. What does he do? Keep your vessel. What did he say? In other words, know how to possess your vessel. And Paul said, I've got to buffet it. I've got to put some blinders on. We need some of Brother Gary's mules, bridles, him and them blinders, and walk around, you know. We do. Amen? You've got to force yourself to look away. You've got to turn the other way. You've got to pray. You say, well, I don't have no problem with that. You're lying. or you're dead, one or the other. Can I hear some amen from you men, your wives? I mean, that's the way you're made. God made you that way. And there's nothing wrong with the appetite he gives you, he just wants you to funnel it in the bonds of holy matrimony. But the will of God is to live clean. Well, at any rate, Paul said that's what the Gentiles do there. They lived in the lust of concupiscence. In other words, they turned themselves loose. That's what the Gentiles lost. Gentiles was talking about lost people in those days. In other words, they do They don't know God, and they do those things, but saints ought not be that way. Why? Because the Holy Spirit lives inside, and His fruit is a ninefold fruit. One of them is temperance, which means self-control by aid of the Holy Spirit. In other words, live clean. That's the will of God for your lives. The world can't hear what we're saying for seeing what we're doing. And they're looking today at people who call themselves saints and seeing churches and drive by the front door and people walking in, dress like the world, act like the world, smells like the world. What are you going to say? It's a world. I've been a while since I've used that other one, haven't I? I see a duck coming in, waddles like a duck, looks like a duck, quacks like a duck. I'm going to conclude that's a duck. Amen? And he said, the idea is to live clean. I know this is not popular. But folks, if we don't get in the will of God, we're not going to find the will of God to be saved. People are not going to get saved if we don't begin to move toward the will of God as far as the church is concerned. Amen? I want that more than anything else. I want to know the power of His resurrection. I want to experience Him, even if it means to suffer sometimes. I've come to that place, and I don't mean I'll always act right when it does come, but this is God's will that we live clean. I'm not talking about no self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had. I'm not talking about that old attitude, you know, bless God this and bless God that. I'm just talking about doing it because God wants you to do those things. In other words, in other words, doing those things. In other words, you see the people, this world is looking for someone real, if you please. for someone real, and they're not finding. Did you know God said the work of reproval, the way that the word means to convince. How are you gonna be convinced about anything? It means, in essence, it's part of the work of Holy Ghost conviction is that somebody's life caused you to desire what they had. And more than that, who they had. somebody real, and you watched them day in and day out. Sometimes you punched them, you gouged them, you see what you could get to come out, amen? Might have been a wife, might have been her husband or somebody around. Hey, we all got the capability of doing all those things, but you can't live with it and get by with it and continue if you're His, amen? God's gonna whip you, God's gonna chase you, He's gonna bring you to that place to where you that others can, and the Lord's Spirit, Holy Spirit can say, look, look at them, how they handle that situation. Look at him. I'm talking about displaying light and truth. People looking for somebody real. Lord help me, Lord help me. Paul said, what you've seen in me do. He said, listen to what I told you. Paul understood. He set where they set. He was human, amen. He wasn't no supernatural person any more than you are, amen. He just had the spirit of God living in him, amen. And it guided him into all truth and he knew the will of God was to live clean. Do you want to find your will of God? Have you ever said, Lord, show me thy will? Hey, he just showed you the will tonight. And if you're not willing to abide with it now after you've seen it, you're never going to find the unwritten will of God for your life. You're going to wander around in this life and be like a termite in a yo-yo, more confused than you know what to do. Go here, go, you know what, a lot of preachers go here about 18 months, they'll be under about 18 months. and let anything go on and do this and do that. I even heard a year while back about a, I can't remember, I know who it was now, I don't know them, but a youth director in a church that's supposed to stand for truth and said it's all right to take a drink every once in a while. That's not in this, but it's in there. You understand? I'm gonna tell you what, it ain't all right to take a drink every once in a while. It ain't even all right if you're lost. You don't need to do that. I mean, God said don't even look upon it. If he said don't look upon it, he sure didn't want you to take it, amen? But I'm just saying, that's what's with teaching those young people. Can you imagine what else went along with it? We're the mess. Lord, help us. I'm not trying to fuss at you. Our Lord knows I just want to find the middle of the road and walk in it. I want us to see the will of God be operating in our life, and the will of God is that you be saved. And if we're not willing to move in these other areas, give thanks. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Amen. Giving thanks to Him who is long-suffering. Amen? Don't say, I'm not talking about to make a show, but just do it out there on your own. Do it in the congregation, wherever. But when suffering comes, say, God, you said, I want to, Paul had said, I want to know you and the power of your resurrection and the fellowship of your suffering, and you'll get to that place. You realize we will suffer sometime, but that's the will of God. And in those things, give thanks because he's working all things together for good. And that really boils down to the fact he wants to save somebody. Live clean. Live clean. Be your holy as I'm holy. I'm not talking about holier-than-thou attitude. That's not what it's talking about. It just simply means, you say, preacher, you always do what you ought to do. No, I don't. I'd have to confess, I don't. But I want to tell you what, you can't get by with it. God will bring you back around. You'll spend some sleepless nights. You'll spend some sleepless hours. I mean, there'll be some grieving of the Holy Spirit, and you can't get by with it. But may the Lord help us, amen. May the Lord help us. I'll stop right there and sort of cut it off. But this is what Paul said, I've warned you, I've testified, I've commanded you. And he said, do, in essence, walk like I have. And this is just a couple of the things we've dealt with, I think. There's some more in this that he talks about living clean. That's the will of God. He said, well, I don't know whether I want to be saved or not, but I've got to live that way. Well, that's all part of it. May God whet you. And you say, I'm not willing. In the day of his power. you'll be made with. Oh, we need a reproval of judgment upon sinners and let them not just see hell, but see the fact is that they deserve hell, but oh, we need the convincing of the righteousness of God, and that's the only thing that's gonna matter when you get to heaven. Richard said the verse, he that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Live clean, live clean. That's the will of God. That's the written will of God. New Testament written will of God. For us today, claim the name of Jesus. He said, live clean. Live clean, because that lets somebody else see. And if you ever heard somebody say, I don't want to go over there because so and so goes over there and they do this and they do that. Well, I'll tell you what, the church is full of lost people. We know that. Amen. We know that. Don't look at them. You go over there, you go to church somewhere and go because Jesus wants you to and because he comes. And if you find anything wrong with him, I'll quit. Amen? I'll quit. But I guarantee you ain't gonna find nothing wrong with him. He'll never let you down. I'm just trying to pass on like Paul did. He said, this is the will of God. Do it. Pursue a course of action to do it. That's his desire for the saints and Hebrew saints. That's God's desire for us. Pursue a course of action to begin to abide by it. the will of God, and we'll find the unwritten will of God for our lives. Father, I plead the blood just asking that your will might be done. Help us to be sensitive to you. Help us to take heed to what you've warned us and forewarned us about. Lord, thank you for the truth of the scripture. Make it real to us. Make it, and Lord, let people go home and look at the sun and the moon and the stars tonight, whatever's out there. that they can see, just see the glory of God and the flowers and creation, but all that's just there to show them the Lord Jesus Christ. But yet, lives of people is supposed to show the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way we're ever gonna sense the love of God really is through people. Help us to love people. And I'm not talking about loving their sin, but love people where they are and stay with them by the grace of God until they come through. Lord, help us to find the will of God for our lives. The unwritten will, we need that. If we're not willing to abide by the written will, we'll never find the unwritten will of God for our lives. Help us tonight. Let no one quench your spirit. We'll praise you. But we ask it in Jesus' name. For his sake, we do pray. Heads bowed, eyes closed, altars opened. Will you bind the Lord tonight as she plays?