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All right, good morning. In his work, Spiritual Councils,
Thomas Charles wrote the following, man's whole nature as corrupted
is wholly bent on seeking happiness for and in himself, separate
from God. He knows not how to deny his
own will or discard his own wisdom and his own strength or purpose
or oppose his worldly lusts, which wholly lead him from God. Besides, the way which God has
provided for his happiness and salvation in Christ is so extremely
humiliating that nothing but a total renunciation of himself
in every view can ever enable him to embrace it. How can the
pride an independent spirit of man stooped to this. Grace and peace to you in the
name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thanks for being here
today to worship and study and learn and fellowship. It is the
best day of the week. It always is. Sunday's just my
favorite. And our study of the text this
morning will continue in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. But before we turn
there to read, we're going to do a warp speed recap. So Timothy rejoins Paul at Corinth
during Paul's second missionary journey. And Timothy gives him
the report on the new church at Thessalonica. And Paul is
so moved that he writes this letter. He wrote it. kind of
hastily, well I don't know about the hastily part, but he wrote
it because he was run out of town before he was ready to leave.
And as we will read here in a bit, although Satan hindered Paul's
return to Thessalonica, God uses that hindrance for good and to
provide more than just a letter of encouragement. So the letter
is meant to encourage and comfort the church. It is meant to defend
Paul's ministry to express joy of the church's faith, to remind
of the importance of moral purity, to exhort them to be hard workers,
to correct prophetic timelines, to diffuse tension within the
church, and then as we'll focus on today, to exhort them in the
basics of Christian living. In this epistle, we're given
examples of Paul as a preacher, as a pastor, as a tender and
loving mother, and as a responsible father. And so far we've seen
how persecution of the church is a good thing for the church
in that it causes our roots to go down deeper into Christ, drives
us to our knees in prayer, purifies and sanctifies us, insists the
church, and strengthens our fellowship with and love for one another.
The converse of persecution being good for the church is that it's
absolutely terrible for man to persecute the church. And the
cost for persecuting the church and hindering the spread of the
gospel, keeping God from men and men from God, is eternal
hell. We've also learned what good
preaching is and is not. We're given some how-to-be's,
some exhortations towards Christian living. And we discussed at length
what it is to be imitators of Christ. And we briefly explored
the tie between humility, love, and obedience as a product of
our imitation, which leads us to be able to walk in a manner
worthy, as per chapter 2 verse 12. And as a reminder, every
chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with reference to the second
coming of Christ. But the central theme of the letter is God's
plan for His church. So with that in mind, please
take your Bibles and turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. We're
gonna read verses one through 12 together. Finally then, brothers, we ask
and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us as
to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually
do walk, that you excel still more. For you know what commandments
we gave you through the Lord Jesus For this is the will of
God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,
that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification
and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not
know God. And that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the
matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things,
just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For
God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification. Consequently,
he who sets this aside is not setting aside man, but the God
who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Now, concerning the love
of the brothers, you have no need for anyone to write to you,
for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, for
indeed you do practice it toward all the believers who are in
all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to
excel still more. and to make it your ambition
to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work
with your hands just as we commanded you so that you will walk properly
towards outsiders and not be in any need. Let's pray. Oh God, help us now. Soften hearts
and open our ears to your word. Help us to study well, to be
attentive, to remember, and to apply your word to our lives
so that you would be glorified. Amen. All right, let's look at the
text. Let's look at verse one. Finally then, brothers. So here
he's talking to, seems to be wrapping it up with the finally
then. It's Paul though, so he's not exactly, this isn't exactly
his final paragraph. But the brothers does indicate
here that he is addressing specifically Christians and specifically this
church. But as we talked about before,
we are included in that audience. So he is addressing this church
there. And then, so finally then, brothers,
we ask. Some translations may have a
we request. And the tone here is a gentler
approach than that of a direct command. It's a bit more of a
humble suggestion. So finally then, brothers, we
ask and exhort. And the ESV has urge, but the
word here means to bring alongside, as if to say, imitate me. And we talked about that, being
imitators of Paul and being imitators of Christ at some length previously. We ask and exhort you in the
Lord Jesus, So, ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus. So this
is a two-fold present active admonition. And I totally stole
that because English and grammar is not my wheelhouse. But, a
two-fold present active indicative shows that the action happens
in the present time, so these things are currently happening,
that the subject carries out the action, the people he's talking
to, carrying out the action, and that it's a true statement.
And then the, in the Lord Jesus, conveys by whose authority these
admonitions are coming. Right? So finally then brothers,
we ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you've received
from us, and then this is where the NASB I feel is helpful because
the NASB includes instruction. That you receive from us instruction.
So he's repeating what they had already been taught. Excuse me.
So they had already received this instruction, and they know
what's expected. And then the question you might
be asking yourself when you're reading this and studying it
is, OK, what was the instruction that they received as to how
you ought to walk? And you can take that as to how
you ought to. You can take that, and you can
put it in front of the next the next admonition, and as to
how you ought to please God. So you know how you're supposed
to walk, and you know how you're supposed to please God. So they
were taught how to live to the glory of God. Just as you actually do walk.
Oh, currently doing that. All right, good job, guys. But,
and then he throws in this, right? That you excel still more. So they're doing very well, but
they needed to be doing very well more often. and more frequently,
and to a greater extent. So excel still more. Excel more
in living for God's glory. It's Paul telling them to keep
going, strive to be more holy. The idea here is a progression. It's an upward trajectory of
their lives as they progress in sanctification and in their
lives of faith. And it is that pursuit, the pursuit
of knowing God, that is the most basic component of spiritual
growth. And the power to excel still
more comes from the power of the indwelling Christ via the
Holy Spirit. Without the indwelling Holy Spirit,
the person's not a true believer. So let's look at that real quick.
Flip over to Romans 8. Romans 8, 9, and then we're also
gonna read Romans 8, 11. Romans 8, 9, however, you are
not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit
of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the
spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. If you skip ahead to 11, but
if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in
you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.
So without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, a person is
not a true believer. You all know how I like lists.
So I've provided on the handout a short list of key passages
discussing the spirits indwelling. For the sake of time this morning,
we're not going to Bible drill and look all of these up. But
you have the list, and I'll give you the rundown here. We already
talked about Romans 8, 9, and 8, 11. We also got 1 Corinthians
3, 16, and 6, 19. Galatians 2, 20 tells us that
Christ lives in us. Ephesians 2, 22. Ephesians 3,
17 through 19, when Christ indwells a believer's heart, they are
filled up to all the fullness of God. That is extremely encouraging. Colossians 1.27, it's a mystery
and a hope of glory, the indwelling. Then we got 2 Timothy 1.14 and
Jude 19. And taken in context, most of
these refer to believers as individuals. Ephesians 2.22, however, seems
to speak of the indwelling both in an individual sense and in
a collective sense. referring to the body of Christ,
the church. God dwelt in a physical temple
in Old Testament Jerusalem. The spirit of God dwells individually
in each member of the New Testament body, as well as collectively
in them altogether. And then also on your handout
are the major characteristics of indwelling in the New Testament.
There's a list of five of those there. The first one is that
it's always at salvation. It's inclusive of all believers
individually. It's permanent. It's cohesive in the collective
sense of the universal church. And then most relevant to us
here this morning, it is an empowerment for holy living and fruitful
service. Verse two. Verse two, for you know what
commandments we gave you through or by the authority of the Lord
Jesus. So they had been taught well,
they knew God's will. Christians who seek to know God
better, to do his will, to love him more and to obey him more
thoroughly and more frequently must live according to the commandments
of scripture. So then I had a question for you guys. What is the first
command of obedience? Anyone? What's the first command
of obedience? Before that. How are you able
to do that? It's belief. Believe. That you would believe. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Belief is
a command. Belief is obedience to the commands of scripture.
And what happens at belief? A true profession of belief,
a repentant belief? The indwelling. An indwelling
leads us to what? An empowerment for holy living.
Number five on the list. I'm just setting the table here. Remember John 13 and 14 from
our series in service? What did Jesus exemplify and
say and teach over and over again? If you love me, you will keep
my commands. Since you know these things,
the things he told the disciples, since you know these things,
you are blessed if you do them. He who has my commandments and
keeps them is the one who loves me. And if you love me, you'll
be loved by the Father. And then in regard to him and
the Father, we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Him and the Spirit, sorry. I may have left that one off
the list on your handout. That's John 14, 23. So verse
three, and this is where we're going to park the car for a little
bit here. Verse three, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. It's not a period there. Bible
doesn't have punctuation. There is a semicolon there, but
for right now we're going to stop there. For this is the will
of God, your sanctification. And that's it. Living in sanctification,
living a sanctified life is God's will for you. That's God's will
for us. It's God's will for me. That's
what it is. The will of God literally is a thing willed by God. on His will being best ascertained
in His word. And His word is the only place
that gives His will in absolute terms. And the phrase, the will of God,
has two significations in scripture. One is the determination of God,
that's His decree. Those are all the things that
are gonna happen. The other signification of this is his desire. And that's the things in which
he delights. That is a will, however, which may be frustrated
by the perversity of his creatures. And it's in this latter sense
that the word here is employed. Real quick question. And I put these on the sheet.
It's on your handout. Don't write it down. But there
are some other things that are explicitly God's will. Jesus and the Holy Spirit's intercession
for us is explicitly God's will. Romans 12.2 tells us that that
which is good and acceptable and perfect is God's will. Us being grieved by our sin to
the point of repentance is God's will. Being thankful for everything
in every circumstance. We'll get to that next time we
talk. Well, maybe not next time, but in 1 Thessalonians 5. doing the right things to silence
the foolish, not living for the lust of the flesh, that sinners
may be alive in the Spirit, and maybe the one that's the
hardest to swallow is the suffering. Suffering is the will of God
sometimes. But Here, in our context, living
the sanctification, living a holy life, is God's will. And it's
one of the commandments that Paul is reminding them of. And
here in this morning's text, specifically, doing that by abstaining from
sexual immorality. Paul is giving the believers
in Thessalonica the commandments of God regarding personal purity. Verse 3b, that you abstain from
sexual immorality. Abstain just means to restrain
oneself from doing or enjoying something. From sexual immorality. There's a special warning in
this passage against sins of impurity. In Paul's day, immorality
was so common among the heathen that even Christians were apt
to look on it with a measure of indifference or even complacency. And I ask you, What does that
sound like? Is that really much different
than what we're dealing with today? Just idolatry of a different
form. J.C. Ryle said, sin never announces itself to
us with its full intentions. It never says, I am your deadly
enemy and I want to ruin you forever in hell. It shows its
pleasure but hides its pain. It shows its sparkle, but hides
its death. Greek cities like Thessalonica
were wide open to all kinds of sexual looseness, including immorality
associated with their pagan idol worship. And pagan religions
did not demand sexual purity of their devotees and their so-called
gods. And goddesses were themselves
grossly immoral. So these so-called gods were half-human, half-god,
and as immoral as the hearts of the vain imaginings of the
men who hatched them. And then told them to go act
and do whatever, and gave them license to act according to their
lewd desires. And their consciences became
dull and hardened, and the law of the conscience had little
effect. And that's made clear in the
Book of Romans. There were even priestesses,
they were basically religious prostitutes in the pagan temples
who were to help the men who came to worship the immoral idols. In fact, it's a bit ironic that
there were a thousand priestesses, a thousand priestess prostitutes
at the Temple of Aphrodite in Corinth, which is the very city
from where Paul is writing this letter. A letter about walking
in holiness. Roman culture had few sexual
boundaries and the Greek religion considered prostitution a priestly
prerogative. The sanctity of marriage was
so distorted that extramarital sex was actually considered to
be an act of worship. Paul is saying in this section that for
believers, the will of God is holiness and that such a lifestyle
excludes sexual immorality. No appeal to Christian liberty
or freedom ever justifies fornication. And the connection between sexual
immorality and idolatry is best understood in the context of
1 Corinthians 6.18, which says, flee from sexual immorality.
All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he
who sins sexually sins against his own body. And since the bodies
of believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians
6.19-20, when we use our physical bodies for moral purposes, We
are imitating pagan worship by profaning God's holy temple with
acts he calls the testable. In the New Testament, the word
most often translated sexual immorality is pornea. The word
is also translated as whoredom. fornication, and idolatry. It means a surrendering of sexual
purity or illicit sexual activity. And it is primarily used of premarital
or extramarital sexual relations. It is a general inclusive word
for any kind of sexual immorality and occurs about 25 times in
the New Testament. From this Greek word, we get
the English word pornography. stemming from the concept of
selling off. Sexual immorality is the selling
off of sexual purity and involves any type of sexual expression
outside the boundaries of a biblically defined marriage relationship. The NASB consistently translates
it as fornication and the NIV translates it sexual immorality
or on a few occasions simply immorality. It's often included,
the word is often included in lists with other sinful activities,
but without any further definition or explanation. Which tells you just how well
we know what this sin is. The word itself does not specify
which kinds of sexual activity are immoral. However, since the
rest of scripture defines any sexual activity outside of marriage
as off-limits, it would all be considered porneia. Even though
pornography as we know it is not mentioned in the New Testament,
it is reasonable to include it in the category of porneia. as
it is essentially sexual in nature and focuses sexual energy and
desire on someone other than one's spouse. Jesus did call
lust adultery and adultery is a type of porneia. When sexual
lust is gratified, porneia is the sin that results. The New
Testament consistently warns against porneia. First Corinthians
6.13, the body is not meant for porneia, but for the Lord. 1
Corinthians 6.18 that I just read you tells you to flee from
pornea, run away from. Ephesians 5.3, but among you
there must not be even a hint of pornea or any kind of impurity
or of greed. There's an interesting inclusion
on that and we'll get to that in verse 6. But these are improper
for God's holy people. Pornea on the part of a spouse
is noted by Jesus as a legitimate reason for divorce. Figuratively, porneia can refer
to spiritual unfaithfulness or spiritual adultery. In Revelation,
Babylon the Great is pictured as a prostitute committing spiritual
adultery. In Revelation 14.8, a second
angel followed and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great,
which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her porneia. Revelation 17.2, with her the
kings of the earth committed pornea and the inhabitants of
the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her sexual immorality.
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, was glittering with
gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her
hand filled with abominable things and the filth of her sexual immorality. 17.4. And then in 18.3. For all the nations have drunk
of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality. The kings
of the earth committed pornea with her, and the merchants of
the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries." Paul reminded these believers
that sexual immorality does not please God. There are many areas where we
do not know the explicit will of God, but sexual behavior is
not one of them. We have very clear instruction
of how to live in this matter. To please God is to do his will
and his will is us continually becoming holy in the area of
sexual morality and purity. Christians daily have a choice
to yield themselves to God's sovereign will or assert their
own independent will. Even if what you are engaged
in can only be described as an inappropriate relationship, that
is sexual immorality. Anytime you go outside the boundaries,
God is set. Anytime you give even a fraction
of your heart to someone other than your spouse, pornia. Don't
attempt to live the Christian life without reading and knowing
your Bible, because if you do, you're far more likely to seek
your own sinful will than his perfect will. we should be grateful that God
has given believers his absolutes in this vital area of conduct
so that we can make clear, decisive decisions that are pleasing to
our Father. I don't need to give you helpful
tips on how to avoid it. The Bible tells us in plain,
clear words what to do. You run from it. You run away.
You see it coming. You feel its pull, the temptation.
You run. You run. You run, you run and
you pray, and you ask God to help you kill that sin. Biblical prohibitions against
sexual immorality are often coupled with warnings against impurity.
Romans, Galatians, Ephesians. And that word, impurity, In the Greek is akatharsia, which
means defiled, foul, or ceremonially unfit. And that connotes actions
that render a person unfit to enter God's presence. So those who persist in unrepentant
immorality and impurity cannot come into the presence of God.
It is impossible to maintain a healthy intimacy with God when
our bodies and souls are given over to impurities of any kind. God created sex and he has the
authority to govern its use. The Bible is clear that sex was
created to be enjoyed between one man and one woman who are
in covenant marriage until one of them dies. Sexuality is God's sacred wedding
gift to humans. And any expression of it outside
of those parameters constitutes an abuse of God's gift. I'm going to repeat that. Sexuality
is his sacred wedding gift to humans. And any expression of
it outside of those parameters constitutes an abuse of God's
gift. God created sex for both The
continuance of the race, and for the pleasure of the marriage
partners, Hebrews 13, 4, marriage is to be held in honor among
all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled. For the sexually
immoral and adulterers, God will judge. Adultery, premarital sex,
pornography, and homosexual relations are all contrary to God's design,
and that makes those things sinful. God's commandments concerning
sex are not for the purpose of robbing people of joy, but rather
of protecting them that they might not lose their joy. Thou
shalt not commit adultery builds a wall around marriage that makes
the relationship not a prison, but a beautiful garden that's
safe. We never have to seek to know
the will of God in this matter. He's told us clearly. Abstain
from it. Abstain from fornication. It's his command. That's it.
No amount of liberal theology or modern philosophy can alter
that. You want to make excuses for
it, that's sin. That's porneia. Throughout the Bible, God warns
against sexual sin, and these warnings must be heeded. It is
throughout the Bible. God's will is our sanctification.
God's will is our sanctification. That we might live set apart
from the world in purity of mind and body. J.C. Ryle. It's a great
J.C. Ryle quote. Be very sure of this. People
never reject the Bible because they cannot understand it. They
reject it. They understand it too well. They understand that
it condemns their own behavior. They understand that it witnesses
against their own sins and summons them to judgment. They try to
believe it's false and useless because they don't like to believe
it's true. There's no excuse, right? We
studied that in Romans. We have no excuse. We've never
had an excuse. We've never had an excuse all
the way back to Genesis. All right, back to the text. For this is the will of God,
your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,
that each of you know how to possess his own vessel. Okay,
so here's a command, and this is just slightly tricky here.
Apparently there are two good ways to interpret this verse,
and quite frankly, a couple hours a night over the course of this
week, the last couple weeks really, did not prepare me to solve this
sufficiently. So I'm going to present both
of these and kind of merge them into one, and I think it fits.
And then if anyone has heartburn about that, let's have a better
conversation. The word translated here as how to possess is katomai,
and it's translated everywhere else as acquire, get, gain, or
obtain. If you look it up in Thayer,
Strong's, or Mount's Bible dictionaries, that's what you'll find. Some
scholars say this is also a way to express the idea of control.
So, you can either say possess equals get or obtain, or you
can say it's control. Vessel is translated one of two
ways, body or wife. So he's either telling them to
know how to possess themselves to be able to control their bodies
in such a way. And he tells us sanctification
and honor later. So he's either telling them how
to control themselves or to acquire a body or to acquire a wife. All right, flip over to 1 Corinthians
7. 1 Corinthians 7, verses two, we're gonna read two and nine. Verse two, but because of sexual
immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman
is to have her own husband. But if they do not have self-control,
let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
All right. Now flip over to, we're going
to go in the Wayback Machine, Old Testament, 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel 21. I lost my bookmark, so this might
take me a second. 1 Samuel 21.5. David answered the priest and
said that surely women have been kept from us as previously when
I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy though
it was an ordinary journey how much more than today will their
vessels be holy so the point is this is the will of God your
sanctification and As is relevant to this text, that sanctification,
that conformance to the will of God is specific to two things.
That you abstain from sexual immorality and either control
your body or, since this is specifically addressed to but not only applicable
to the brothers, get a wife. Maybe both. Probably both. Control your body
and sanctification and honor. get a wife, and possess her in
sanctification and honor. Both of those interpretations
are consistent with the command toward living a holy life and
avoiding porneia, and living out God's will for our lives. So how does verse 4 make verse
5 understandable? Well, if you know how to possess
your own vessel, If you know what the right answers are in
that regard, then here, reading and understanding Paul's negative
instruction is pretty easy. It's not in lustful passion.
Verse 5, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not
know God. It's just a simple contrast. Lustful passion is
what the pagan idolaters do. That's the opposite of the how-to-be's,
the command he just gave us in 3 and 4. verse 6, and that, and, this
is where the greed comment comes in, and that no man transgress
and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the
avenger in all these things just as we also told you before and
solemnly warned you. Okay, so, avoid sexual immorality,
control your body, get your own wife, don't Don't defraud your brother
by engaging in sexual immorality with his wife. Don't steal his
wife. Ladies, don't steal your sister's husband. Don't skip over that the Lord
is the Avenger in all these things. They're in 6 either. We saw that
in the Hebrews verse as well. The Lord is the Avenger in all
these things. Charles Spurgeon said, Morality
may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Jesus to
keep you out of hell. Verse seven, for God did not
call us to impurity, so don't live an impure life. This is
classic Paul, right? This is classic Paul. This is
classic repetition, repetition. He's just telling them over and
over again. He's reminding them. He wrote
this letter to remind them of the things he already told them. It's great. I'm thankful that
we have the Bible because you forget how to live. Don't live an impure life. We
are not saved so that we can live in sin. We are saved from
sin so that we can live holy lives. For God did not call us to impurity,
but in sanctification. Don't do this. Do do this. So
do live in holiness. For God called us to sanctification. That's another way to read verse
7. Verse 8 has a little bit of weight
to it. Eternal impacts in verse 8. Consequently,
he who sets this aside is not setting aside man. but the God
who gives his Holy Spirit to you. So if you reject living
a sanctified life, you're not rejecting man. If you reject
living a sanctified life, you're rejecting God. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Let's flip there real quick. 1 Corinthians
6, 9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous
will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither
the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Such
are some of you. Don't be that way anymore. But you were washed. Flip over
to Galatians. Galatians 5. Galatians 5, 19.
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident. The deeds of the flesh are evident.
The deeds of the flesh, which are sexual immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness,
carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you, just
as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things
will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you reject living
a sanctified life, you are rejecting God. John Flable, in his Keeping the
Heart, when looking at Proverbs 15, 3 and Jeremiah 23, 23 and
24, said, the secrecy with which you may commit sin is made use
of to induce compliance with the temptation. The tempter insinuates
that this indulgence will never disgrace you among men, for no
one will ever know it. But recall this yourself. Does
not God see you? Is not the divine presence everywhere?
What if you might hide your sin from the eyes of the world? You
cannot hide it from God. Back to the text. Let's look
at our last section, verses 9 through 12. Verses 9-12, I'm just going to
read it all and then we'll go back and pull it apart a little
bit. Now, concerning the love of the brothers, you have no
need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught
by God to love one another. For indeed, you do practice it
towards all the brothers who are in Macedonia. But we urge
you, brothers, to excel still more. Make it your ambition to
lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work
with your hands just as we commended you so that you will walk properly
towards outsiders and not be in any need. So as a whole, the
Thessalonian brothers were loving one another, having been taught
by God, and they were loving the Macedonian believers. But
they needed to excel still more in loving the brethren because verse 11 tells us that some people,
excuse me, some people were idle and lazy and a bunch of busy
bodies. And so the sluggards among them
needed an attitude adjustment and an exhortation to get to
work. They needed to be reminded to mind their own business, work
hard and love their brethren in the church. so as to be a
witness for Christ. So by working hard and minding
our own business, we serve as good witnesses to those outside
the church and avoid becoming a burden to those in the church. So as you work with your hands
this week, Providence, do as William Bridge says, labor to mortify your affections,
and to get your will melted into the will of God. As the winds
are to the sea, so are the affections to the soul of man. So long as
the sea is hurried with the wind, it hath no rest or quiet. And
what is the reason that our hearts are no more calmed and quieted
but because we have not yet resigned up our wills to the will of God? done a little bit early, so let's
pray. Father, thank you. Thank you
for Jesus. Thank you for your word. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for washing us. Thank you for your Holy Spirit,
who is our helper. We pray that you would help us to despise
our sins, help us to grow in that holy malice that makes us
want to be killing sin. Help us to learn to run from
it. Help us to learn to run to you. Help us in our need and desire
for dependence on you and your grace. Pray that you help our
work. Help us to work hard. Remind
us that we work heartily as unto you. Control our tongues. We may not be gossips or busybodies. May we increase and abound in
love for one another, for your church and for all people to
the extent that we get to share the gospel with those you put
in our paths. Pray that you save our coworkers and our friends
and our family and our neighbors. so that one day when we see them,
we can rejoice, and we give you glory for the fruits of the labor.
Help us to be a church who, when separated from each other, longs
for the Lord's day, longs to be in faithful fellowship. Worship's not just fellowship
with each other. It's not at all. Worship is fellowship with
you. Prepare our hearts as we head
into the next hour. Help us to be good students, to be attentive.
That's for our good and for your glory. Amen.
Study through 1 Thessalonians - Part Four
Series PBC Bible School
| Sermon ID | 10724145265495 |
| Duration | 46:45 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday School |
| Bible Text | 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 |
| Language | English |
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