God's Perfect Will

Perfect Will, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we'll be looking today at verses 3 through 8.

And you might be thinking, well, hey, I thought we were in the Gospel of John, why are we now going to take this detour?

Well, some of you may have already heard about some comments that a really well -known public figure, a really kind of famous preacher and pastor, made recently.

The comments were actually made back in September, and it was on a podcast called

Truth for Life. It is a brother in Christ, a really faithful Gospel champion, a man that has been a really a gift

I perceive from the Lord in helping me to think through theological matters in my life as a

Christian. It is the pastor Alistair Begg, and the pastor

Alistair Begg gave some advice to someone that had asked him about whether you should attend gay weddings if you're a

Christian. And he said, yeah, you should not only attend, but that you should bring a gift to sort of,

I don't know, celebrate. And the context of those comments were really more of, hey, we want to show love to people.

And he said, he prefaced that comment with saying, you know, if you don't go, you know, they would think you're critical, you're hypocritical, you're judgmental, and he said, you know, you could catch them off guard by going and actually showing them love would surprise them and not affirm that you are critical or hypocritical or judgmental.

And so that was the advice that he gave, and since then, he has preached and kind of commented on that whole segment there.

The comments were made back in September, but just, I'd say probably last month, they kind of came to the surface, and so if you haven't heard those comments, if you listen to any

Christian podcast, you are going to be hearing now the fallout and this dividing line within Christendom about whether we should do that or whether we should not do that.

Now, if I'm going to, so I want to make it clear, I'm not saying that Alistair Begg is a false teacher or a heretic.

I do believe that the advice is sinful. I don't think it's bad advice. I think it's sinful advice. I want to try to help us think through this in light of what the

Scripture teaches us on this topic. So we're not going to go look up passages that really support what we should do based on cultural, political opinions.

I don't want us to be in the realm of what another person should do, what they should do. The Scripture speaks to us.

I want us to think about what God's will is for our lives, what the will of God is for you, not for those people that are attending or not attending that wedding.

Now, if I'm going to say that to Alistair Begg and his ministry at Parkside Church, then I would have to give the same kind of advice here in Laurel and Billings because I've heard the exact same thing.

It's not loving that we have to embrace, affirm.

And I want to show us what does God have to say? What is happening here in our culture?

Something is going on. Is it indeed unloving to not attend that wedding?

What does it mean to stand for truth? Well, I think the problem that we have is that we have allowed the world to redefine what love is, and we've allowed the world to redefine what truth is.

So we need to humble ourselves under the authoritative Word of God and listen to what the

Word of God, how it defines love, how it defines truth.

And I think that will help us to think correctly. Yeah, the same kind of advice has been given here in Laurel and Billings.

I've listened to many of the preaching pulpits here in town, some of the bigger churches, some of the smaller churches, same kind of advice, same exact advice.

That you're a Pharisee if you're not affirming of the

LGBTQ community, that the Pharisees in the scriptures are you as a

Christian if you're not willing to spend time in fellowship with the tax collectors. The tax collectors are the

LGBTQ of today, and you're a Pharisee if you don't affirm their lifestyle, because Jesus did.

He fellowshiped with them. Wait a minute here. Now, let's think about that statement.

I've heard that from all of the pulpits. I have an Excel spreadsheet with every church in Billings, and most of them in Laurel.

There's probably 30 to 50. I could probably count on one hand of the faithful exposition that I've heard since I've come to this town.

We are hearing this throughout this community, and so we need to think about this.

This has penetrated our congregation. How are we to rightly think about these matters at the same time being loving, desiring for every person to know the

Lord, not being judgmental, not being hypocritical, but being loving and sharing the truth with other people?

To help us think about this in terms of going beyond our community in the state of Montana, let me share with you some research polling.

I had actually shared some statistics with the congregation back in March when we were going through Philippians, and it was statistics that were done at the

University of Arizona in 2020, where we have a third to half of Christians who are affirming of same -sex marriage, who support abortion.

It goes beyond just issues of, you know, morality in terms of those specific categories, but even one of the topics was lying, that there was over a third of Christians that thought it was okay to lie in order to advance your career.

So, this particular area actually correlates to different areas for us, so it is important.

Now, I don't want to share, re -share those statistics. Actually, the statistics in the last couple of years, you could probably think, have they gone down or have they gone up?

Well, they haven't gone down. Those statistics are even higher now. But to see what's happening, let's look even further back.

So, first, let's go back even to 2007. In a Pew Research poll, pewresearch .org,

you can find this information, this is 2007, 44 % of Christians in the U .S.

said that homosexuality should be accepted rather than discouraged by society.

Like, wow, that's a high number. So let's just jump seven years. The same polling conducted also by Pew Research in 2014, the number had gone up 10%.

So the Pew Research poll in 2014 found that 54 % of Christians in the

U .S. said homosexuality should be accepted rather than discouraged by society.

So we're not even thinking that it's a sin issue, it should just be encouraged. Now there is a connection, not only to other sin, but specifically other kinds of immorality.

And this is important. So, now, the University of Arizona did the thing in 2020.

University of Texas sociologist Mark Regnerus interviewed about 16 ,000

Americans between the ages of 18 and 60. And out of that pool of people, there were church -going

Christians. So in the category of Christians who are regularly attending church, this is what this

University of Texas study found. And here's the correlation.

Church -going Christians who oppose same -sex marriage, only about 4 % said that viewing pornography was okay.

I wish that number was zero, but 4%. So they opposed it, only 4%. On the other hand, church -going

Christians who supported same -sex marriage, 33 % said it was okay to view pornography.

That's over a third. This is in 2014. Now there were some other categories.

Church -going Christians who oppose same -sex marriage, only about 11 % said that premarital sex is okay.

On the other hand, church -going Christians who supported same -sex marriage, the number jumped to 37 % said that premarital sex is okay.

Church -going Christians who oppose same -sex marriage, about 5 % said no strings -attached sex, meaning one -night stands, is okay.

And the opposite is true. So that is just a sad statistic, 5%, at least it's not double digits.

On the other hand, church -going Christians who support same -sex marriage, the number was 33 % that said having a one -night stand is okay.

This is Christian polling. These are church -going Christians. Church -going

Christians who supported same -sex marriage, 33 % said couples with kids should stay married.

I like that statistic. I think that's at least a third said that they should stay married.

But the church -going Christians who oppose same -sex marriage, it was 52%.

So the folks that were supporting this issue, over half said couples need to stay married, while only a third that were in support.

So it's just kind of letting us know there's other areas of life, and when we see a person supporting this, the other areas of life, those numbers, they just go down and it's not a pretty picture.

For example, church -going Christians who oppose same -sex marriage, only 1 % said that marital infidelity was okay.

So praise God, 1%. Again, why is that number even one? Shouldn't marital infidelity not be okay?

It should be a zero. Now the people that were supporting same -sex marriage, so church -going

Christians support same -sex marriage, the number was 8%. 8 % said that it was okay to cheat on your spouse.

Church -going Christians who oppose same -sex marriage, 1 % said it is okay for three or more adults to live together in a sexual relationship.

Only 1%. The folks that supported same -sex marriage, it jumped to 16%.

Church -going Christians who support same -sex marriage, 16 % said it is okay for three or more adults to live in a sexual relationship.

Church -going Christians who oppose same -sex marriage, 6 % said they supported abortion rights.

I would love to see that number at zero or a minus. Church -going Christians who supported same -sex marriage, 39 % support abortion.

And these are church -going Christians. These statistics from 2014 are disturbing.

And I would love to say that all those numbers are lesser now, but they're not. But I just wanted to keep it in the past.

I don't want to discourage you too much. Something is going on in Christian life.

Something is going on not just in Montana, not just in the United States, but globally in the universal church.

Something is happening to the minds of Christians that we are accepting in a broad way, immorality.

Immorality. And I would argue in some sense that they, that the statistics are the result of false teaching and false teachers.

We have this thing, it's called the Word of God, and it is authoritative over all of our lives.

It is inerrant. It is sufficient. It is inspired by God. But we have men in the pulpit who say, well,

I don't want to be unloving. I don't want to hurt your feelings. Where we don't now, as professing followers of Christ, we do not humble ourselves under the authoritative

Word of God, as we've been learning in the Gospel of John. Who is the Word of God?

Is it not Jesus Christ? How can you say you're a follower of Christ, but yet we don't live by His Word?

The powers of darkness that rule over this world temporarily are always on the attack against the truth.

What we are grappling with in this time of the earthly Christian kingdom is an attack on the truth and a redefining of biblical love.

So we can ask three questions. Is it unloving to tell the truth? Is it unloving to tell the truth?

More importantly, how do we define the truth? How do we define the truth? And lastly, how do we define love?

Well, the truth is that abortion is murder. The truth is marriage is between a man and a woman.

The truth is sexually immoral behavior is not acceptable in the sight of God. We are living in a dark time when

Satan has fooled Christians into thinking that an appeal to holiness is unloving.

An appeal to the truth is unloving. A wicked, demonic lie concocted by the devil.

And so we're going to spend time in this letter that Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica and think about God's will, sanctification, and love.

So let's now pause and read this passage together, and then we will return to some of these big themes.

Please stand with me for the reading of God's word. It's going to be 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. For the sake of context, we'll start back at verse 1.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4, starting in verse 1. Keep your eyes on three through eight. We'll read the first 12 verses.

Paul says, 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 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 brothers 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 toward outsiders and not be in any need.

You can be seated. This passage today is just as relevant as when the

Apostle Paul wrote these words 2 ,000 years ago. God's word calls his people to be holy.

The big idea or theme in chapter 4 verses 3 through 8 is sanctification. The Apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the

Thessalonians to exhort the Christians in Thessalonica to grow in sanctification, to walk in personal holiness, and to encourage them.

He encouraged their prayer lives so that they would be ready for Christ's imminent return.

Paul is exhorting believers to personal holiness by pointing out that sanctification is

God's will for their lives. This is Paul's big theme, sanctification.

If you had to say what the theme of really 1st and 2nd Thessalonians is, it would have to be sanctification.

Sanctification or in its verbal form, sanctify, literally means to set apart, to set apart for special use or purpose.

That is to make holy or to make sacred. The 20th century Scottish theologian

John Murray said this about sanctification. He said, indeed, the more sanctified the person is, the more conformed he is to the image of his

Savior. The more he must recoil against every lack of conformity to the holiness of God.

The deeper his apprehension of the majesty of God, the greater the intensity of his love to God.

The more persistent his yearning for the attainment of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the more conscious will he be of the gravity of the sin that remains and the more poignant will be his hatred of it.

Was this not the effect in all the people of God as they came to closer proximity to the revelation of God's holiness?

I thought that was a helpful note. We'll focus on this passage, but we will also look at a few passages from 2nd

Thessalonians. I want to trace out here Paul's logical flow of thought. Paul's big picture ideas, his logic, his reason and conclusion are critical to understand for us as we grapple with these questions about truth and love.

So that when we hear our favorite preacher, we hold our favorite preacher's words up to the authority of Scripture and that we have to humble ourselves under the

Word of God. I don't care who your favorite preacher is. If you hear something that doesn't sound right, check what you're being told against what the

Bible teaches. And so we just need to think about that. Now if we think about Thessalonians, really most of Paul's first letter, the apostle talks about the

Lord's return and living in a way that will be pleasing to Jesus when he arrives. So I think first off we need to remind ourselves, obviously he's talking to the

Thessalonians, but you know, who is Paul talking to? Look at chapter 1.

Go to chapter 1 starting in verse 2. Paul is talking to the perfect Thessalonians.

Chapter 1, starting in verse 2, he says, We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our

Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father, knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election.

For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance.

Just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake, you also became imitators of us and of the

Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.

Who is Paul talking to? The perfect Thessalonians. The Thessalonians got a perfect report card,

A plus as a congregation, A plus, yet Paul is still exhorting them to abstain from all forms of immorality.

He's exhorting them. We can ask it like this, who is Paul talking to? Well, he's talking to us, too.

He's talking to us. He's talking to you. He's talking to you this morning. Paul is exhorting you to abstain from all forms of immorality, all forms.

This has as much to do with you today as it did with the Thessalonians when they read this letter.

Maybe more. Maybe more. Jesus is coming back and Paul's letter is soaked with this reality.

It's soaked with this fact. Look at this reality. Follow along with me.

I'll name the verses. Let's think about this greater theme. Sanctification and love has to be thought about in this way.

The Lord is coming back and if we look at this letter, let's look at the big picture. Chapter 1, verse 10, and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead,

Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come. The Lord is coming back.

How about chapter 2? Go to chapter 2, verse 19. For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting?

Is it not even you before our Lord Jesus at his coming? The Lord is coming back.

How about chapter 3? Go to chapter 3, verse 13. So that he may strengthen your hearts blameless in holiness before our

God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. The Lord is coming back.

It's like, okay, well that's done. He's not going to bring it up again. How about chapter 4, verse 16? Oh, he sure is.

Chapter 4, verse 16. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.

The Lord is coming back. Be ready. And he's not done. Chapter 5, verse 2.

For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

The day of the Lord. The Lord is coming back. Be ready.

Paul is deeply concerned for the Thessalonians. He's deeply concerned that they understand this truth.

Jesus Christ is coming back. Jesus is returning. Paul's exhortation is for them to live a life of holiness in light of this fact.

The main point of this passage is that holiness is God's will for our lives. Paul gives some practical application and exhorts the people to abstain from immorality, from all sexual immorality.

In verses 3 and 6 of chapter 4, he points out that God desires personal holiness and gives examples of how to be holy.

How do you be holy? Abstain from immorality. And also, he points out that disobedience brings

God's wrath. In verse 7, Paul restates the message of the preceding verses.

God's call is for us to live pure lives, free from immorality. And Paul concludes his flow of thought in verse 8 by stating that a rejection of this teaching is a rejection of God, not man.

In verses 3 through 8, Paul gives you really three life -sustaining motives so that you may obey this exhortation.

Three motives for you to obey God's exhortation. Number one, God's will. God's will, verses 3 and 5.

Number two, God's vengeance, verse 6. And number three,

God's call, verses 7 and 8. The first motive for you to obey the exhortation, number one,

God's will. Look with me at chapter 4, verses 3 through 8. He says, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

This word will is not simply wishing. No, this is not, I wish for you to do this.

This is the idea of a strong desire. This is not a hope. This is not a wish.

This is a reckoned plan and best intention toward you that will be accomplished.

God's will or desire for your life is to be literally set apart from sin to holiness.

And specifically, when it comes to sexual depravity. The word sanctification is a setting apart from the world.

In other words, holiness, holiness. He intensely,

God intensely desires your continual setting apart from the world and from sin.

Now this is a completed act in salvation, but also God's continuing work of making you completely different from the world.

And this is the doctrine of sanctification in which we are permanently justified through faith in Jesus.

We have a new position in Christ, but there is also this continual progression, a continual progression into personal holiness as God conforms us into the image of his son.

He does that. God gives us an ever -increasing desire for righteousness through the power of the

Holy Spirit and through the power of his word. The doctrine of sanctification describes this upward trajectory of increased personal holiness in the life of a believer, as a child of God.

Turn over to 2 Thessalonians in chapter 2. So let's just kind of see some, let's trace

Paul's thinking here. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul comments that the Holy Spirit sanctifies through belief in the truth.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2, look at verse 13. It says, but we should always give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the

Lord, because God has chosen you as the first fruits for salvation, how?

Through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

This takes us back to the ministry of the Holy Spirit's illumination. God does this, the

Holy Spirit's ministry of illumination. He allows you to do this. He enables you to do this.

That there's an increasing understanding, that you grow in your understanding and knowledge of the word of God, and then listen, listen, an ever -increasing conviction that the word of God is the truth, is the truth.

Very important. Go ahead and flip back to chapter 4 of the first letter.

We're looking at verse 3. The word of God is the means in which a believer is sanctified by the

Holy Spirit. Jesus reiterates this monumental reality of sanctification in his high priestly prayer.

As we've been in the gospel of John, we can zoom forward a bit. John 17, the high priestly prayer.

These are the words of Jesus praying for his future disciples to God the

Father. This is what Jesus prayed to God the Father for about you. He says, make them holy by your truth.

Teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world,

I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them, so they can be made holy by your truth.

By your truth. Now if we look about this, this will that God is showing us here, this is the will of God, that you abstain.

The word for abstain in verse 3 is the idea of being far off from a position. To be far off from a position.

This is more than trying not to do something. This is avoiding contact at all costs.

No exceptions with zero compromise. I'm giving you the lexical definition here, if we go back to the original language.

That you are to be far off from what? Immorality. And the word here for sexual immorality in the

Greek, and try to hear the word in there, porneus. Porneus.

Immorality. Immorality. It is an important word. It is where we get the word pornography.

Porneus. It has an exhaustive meaning. No exceptions, zero compromise, you're not part of this.

Some early manuscripts have the word all in front of it. Your copy of God's word may. This is comprehensive.

This is comprehensive. This covers all of it. There's no sidelines here. No exceptions here.

This immorality may manifest in multiple ways. It could be in our speech, our actions, or our thoughts.

It has the idea of evil. This is evil, unlawful, strictly prohibited activities.

Strictly prohibited sexual activities. Deadly and dangerous acts that are the opposite of good.

This is evil. Abstain from evil. Sexual standards were extremely low in the

Roman Empire. And I think we can see in our current culture, they are really not any higher.

Our global culture today is really a reflection of what we would see in the Old Testament, even from the nation of Israel.

We could look to the book of Judges for this, Judges chapter 21. In those days,

Israel had no king. All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

I can't think of a more crystal clear picture of the human heart than that.

And certainly our culture is no different. What we are seeing today is the glorification of homosexuality, of same -sex marriage, pornography, and sexual promiscuity outside of marriage.

Outside of marriage. But here's where Satan twists it. All of these things are happening under what?

The guise of love. The guise of progress. The guise of equality. The guise of freedom. One could make the argument that we live in a society that has even lower standards than that of Thessalonica at the time that Paul wrote this letter.

And Paul continues. Look at verse 4. He says that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.

And the idea is to acquire or take control of one's body. To master your body.

To master your carnal desires in holiness with integrity and uprightness.

The word know is very important here. It's the idea of understanding or knowing how to take mastery over yourself.

It's not uncertainty. It is a disciplined self -knowledge. A disciplined self -awareness.

You have to pursue deeply and with intention the idea of mastering the art of living.

He says not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. We are not to be subdued in the passion or giving over to lust like the unbelievers.

Like the unbelieving world. That's the idea of sanctification. That you're set apart.

He says don't be like that. And this lustful passion is the idea of intense craving.

An intense craving. A giving over to those cravings without any self -control or restraint.

He says no, that's not how you were saved. It's not what we taught you. This lustful passion is an unbridled loss of composure.

Temptation to engage in exploits outside of marriage has always been powerful.

But sexual sins always hurt someone. Giving into this temptation or this immorality of really of any kind hurts the individuals involved.

It hurts families. It hurts businesses. And often, very, very often it hurts churches.

The unbelieving world does not care about the will of God. God's will is going to be accomplished despite what the world believes about it.

Because God is sovereign over the world. Despite the broad acceptance of sin,

God is exhorting his people to holiness. Not like the

Gentiles. You have been set apart. You are different. Sanctification.

I like this illustration when thinking about progressing in sanctification. The process of sanctification can be compared to an iceberg.

Think about an iceberg. And I don't know if you're like me, probably most of you went to the movie Titanic. The iceberg's up there and there's a big thing underneath.

But this is how we should kind of visualize this. About 90 % of the thing is underwater, right?

There's an iceberg, about almost 90 % is underwater. But as the sun shines on the iceberg, what happens?

The exposed part melts, moving the lower part upward. So what was unseen is now coming to the surface.

In the same way, we are usually aware of only a small part of our own sinfulness and need.

Which is all we can deal with one thing at a time. However, as the light of God works in our lives, changes us, those areas we know about, we become more aware of new areas, needing new work, needing new help from the

Spirit. This is a work of God. This is not external behavior modification and checking off the box so that we can say, oh,

I do this and I do that. No, this is about acknowledging the sin we have in our lives and counting on God to help us.

And He's pruning us, He's shaping us. What an encouragement to know that God's will is for us to be set apart in the world in holiness.

He will do it. Three life -sustaining motives so that you may obey the exhortation.

The number one is that it's God's will. What a blessing for us. God's will is your progress and good.

God's will is your progress and good. And number two, right out of verse six, is

God's vengeance. Let us not forget. He says He is the avenger in all these things.

Look at verse six. 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, we sin against other believers when we engage in this kind of defilement with them.

And more importantly, we sin against God. And here's the question at the end of verse six.

What does it mean that the Lord is the avenger? The Lord is the avenger? Let's look again at 2

Thessalonians. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter one. 2

Thessalonians chapter one, starting in verse five. What does it mean that the

Lord is the avenger? Well, look at this. He says in verse five of chapter one, second letter, this is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering, since it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give rest to you who are afflicted and to us as well at the revelation of the

Lord Jesus from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, executing vengeance on those who do not know

God and to those who do not, listen to this, who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

When he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed, for our witness to you was believed, to this end also we pray for you always that our

God will count you worthy of your calling and fulfill all your good pleasure for goodness and the work of faith with power so that the name of the

Lord Jesus, our Lord, will be glorified in you and you in him according to the grace of our

God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Go ahead and turn back to chapter four of the first letter. Now it's important to think about this.

The Lord is the avenger, but Paul says there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.

This is for the unbelieving world. So then as Christians, as followers, as those who have been redeemed, ought we to live in a way that glorifies

God with our lives, with our thinking? What are we supporting in this world? Are we for God or for God's creatures?

Yeah, verse six, he is the avenger in all these things. When a person has sex outside of marriage, they degrade themselves and the other person.

Sexual promiscuity is regarded as a matter of defrauding another of his or her rights.

Sex before marriage represents the robbing of the other of that virginity which should be brought to a marriage.

So we can't just focus on one group that are committing sin. No, God has called you to a life of holiness.

There's a standard that we are to live by, not so that we can check a religious box so that we can bring glory to God, to live our lives like a thank you letter in response to the gospel of our salvation.

But this reality that God is coming back is soaked through this letter. And if we think about verse six, that the

Lord is the avenger in all these things, we probably can think of even the two foundations, the two foundations parable in the gospel of Matthew.

At the end of the sermon on the mount, Jesus says, therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and yet it did not fall for it had been founded on the rock.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and slammed against that house and it fell and great was its fall.

Think about what a loving God we have. God lovingly warns us about his coming wrath, lovingly warns.

It is a serious thing to disregard God's vengeance in defending his holiness. We can even think back in the historical theology and the sort of ancestors that we have.

One group is the Puritans. The Puritan Matthew Henry said this on verses three through eight, just an excerpt from his commentary.

He said, the Lord calls none into his family to live unholy lives, but that they may be taught, they may be taught and enabled to walk before him in holiness.

Some make light of the precepts of holiness because they hear them from men, but they are

God's commands and to break them is to despise God. In this passage,

Paul gives you three life sustaining motives so that you may obey the exhortation.

The first is that God's will is your progress in good and the second is a sobering reminder that God's vengeance is a certainty.

God's vengeance is a certainty. And number three, God's call,

God's call. Paul says in verse seven, for God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification.

God has not called us to impure living and the word for at the beginning of the verse is used as an explanation of the preceding verse.

It clearly indicates the warning that Christ's judgment is justified. Christ's judgment is justified in view of what he has already done.

His lordship was established in his resurrection. His lordship is established.

And again, the word sanctification is a setting apart from the world. This is a, this is a work of God.

Paul spoke about this in his letter to the Philippians, a familiar passage for all of us, Philippians 1 -6, for I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you, that's it, positional sanctification.

You're saved. You're justified forever before God. You can't lose your salvation. He will perfect it.

Here's the progressive part. The one who began the work will perfect it until when?

The day of Christ Jesus, until Christ returns or God calls you home.

Sanctification is the work of God. That's an encouragement. We don't want to be

Pharisees and try to have some external demonstration of our holiness. It's in the heart.

It's in the heart. That's where the world would pull us. That's where the world is fighting for your affections.

No, this is about loving God in your inner being and living your life in response is gratefulness for what he's done in the gospel.

This is gospel living. He started it. He will finish it. What an amazing reality.

God is not done with you yet. No, it just he didn't just save you and it's all over with.

Now he's going to continue to prune and help you increase in you to have a genuine desire to pursue holiness.

Sanctification has the idea of personal dedication, personal dedication to the interests of God, holiness, a righteous standard of living.

God has called us to be pure and to be holy. It is of the utmost importance that immorality of any kind be avoided because it is inconsistent with God's gracious and undeserving call on our lives.

I mean, think of examples of God's extremely high standard of holiness. We can go back to the

Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter five, listen to Jesus. He says, you have heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.

But I say to you, here's the unpacking. That's what the Pharisees were doing.

He's saying now, but look at the heart. I say to you that everyone who's angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court.

Whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing shall be guilty before the Supreme Court.

Whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Amazing.

You have heard it said that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

God's standard for holiness is absolute. It's not man's standard. There is no in between here.

And we can think about this bigger picture topic and whether you're going to attend a same -sex marriage or not.

First Corinthians chapter six, Paul says this really amazing, really sobering, stark reality that we need to think about as we have a heart to pursue those that don't know

God. We should love those that are trapped in this sin, not be judgmental. First Corinthians six, he says, don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God?

He says, don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who worship idols or commit adultery or are male prostitutes or practice homosexuality or are thieves or greedy people or drunkards or are abusive or cheat people.

None of these will inherit the kingdom of God. But listen to what he says. Some of you were once like that.

Some of you were once like that, but you were cleansed. You were made holy.

You were made right with God. How? By calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our

God. That's important for us to understand. I mean, let's think about it like this.

You know, we have this advice out there as a Christian. I want you to go. So in this particular example, it was a grandmother with a grandson and her grandson was marrying a transvestite.

So it's two men. And he says, yeah, you should go and then bring a gift. We don't want to have a hobby horse here.

Think about it like this. You have a Christian friend or let's say they're not even Christian.

It could be either or. And they've been cheating on their spouse. So they're running around on their wife.

They leave their wife and then they tell you a few months later, hey, I'm going to get married to my mistress.

Would you come to the wedding? So think about it like that. Would you attend the wedding of an adulterer?

Your friend is cheating. You've known these people forever, right? This is familiar. It's her grandson. So somebody that you know that has been cheating on their spouse is going to go now marry the person they were cheating on and they're inviting you to participate.

Yeah, come and come to the wedding. Are you going to go to that wedding? I mean, in light of 1

Corinthians 6, that they will not inherit the kingdom of God. That should be the focus.

They don't know God. They're not going to heaven, attending the marriage of someone going to hell.

They're unrepentant. They're rejecting that marriage is between a male and a female.

It's almost like a declaration. I'm never going to repent of this. I want everyone to know I'm marrying this man.

I'm not repenting of this. They're not going to inherit the kingdom of heaven. You're going to go and, what, bring them bath towels?

Oh, I want to just celebrate with you. You're waiting in the line to shake their hand and you're going to give them a toaster?

Let's take pictures together. They're going to hell. The Word of God says they're going to hell.

You're going to, what, go to bed, bath, and beyond? Or I don't know what they call it here, bath and body works? Let me give you some shampoo or lotion.

It's absurd when you think about it in that way. He continues in verse 8.

He says, consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man, but the

God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. The person who rejects that the Lord has called us to purity and to abstain from sexual degeneracy of any kind rejects

God's authority, not man's teaching. You're rejecting God, not man's teaching.

God's Word is the ultimate authority. Sexual desires and activities need to be placed under Christ's control.

God created sex for procreation and pleasure. It must be limited to the marriage relationship to avoid hurting ourselves, to avoid hurting our relationship with others, and most importantly, our relationship with God.

How beautiful is it that, I mean, think about the fact that God generously supplies his

Holy Spirit to you, that we have a helper that can help recalibrate our minds, recalibrate our hearts.

You are not alone in this. God is with you. Remember, God's perfect will is your sanctification.

Do you think God is going to have this reckoned plan of intentional action and he's going to fail in some way?

You will be sanctified. So now, as we're being drawn away from the

Scripture and drawn away from God, and this satanic worldly philosophy is infiltrating your mind and it's drawing you away, now we must remember that it is

God's perfect will for your sanctification. It's time to get on board. It's going to happen no matter what.

We need to refocus our lives on what the Bible teaches, not the advice of our favorite preacher.

You know, thinking about this reality that God supplies his Holy Spirit, that we're not alone here, that God is with us.

We can look at another parable, the three loaves from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus tells this parable, it says, he said to them, suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him.

And from inside, he answers and says, do not bother me. The door has already been shut.

My children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. Jesus says, I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and he will give him as much as he needs.

So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

He says, now, suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

Or if he asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the

Holy Spirit to those who ask him? If you're having any kind of issue in these areas, ask

God for help and he will help you. He will help you.

God has already given you everything you need to be saved. He's given his spirit.

Today, God is giving you everything you need to conquer sin, his spirit.

For the rest of your life, God will give you everything you will ever need because he's given the

Holy Spirit. Today, he's giving you three life -sustaining motives so that you can obey the exhortation.

God's will is your progress and good. God's vengeance is a certainty. And number three,

God's call is holiness. God's call is holiness. The stark reality of the

Lord's vengeance is a sobering reminder of the deadly consequences of sin. Live like Jesus is coming back, whether you are a believer or not, especially if you are a believer, especially if you're a believer.

And we can think about the really awful and, I think, sinful advice that Alistair Begg gave and match it up to the

Scripture. So let's finish how we started. Is it unloving to tell the truth?

Is it unloving to tell the truth? Actually, this came up. I'll just segue real briefly. I need to make sure I'm good on time.

At this courageous churchman conference, the topic of a pastor reaching out and one

Christian reaching out to another and modishing them in sin. It's like, oh, well, we have this community of believers and we get into each other's lives and you're the pastor and you're coming to me.

You want me to be a member in the church and you're coming to me telling me how I should not sin or what I'm doing wrong.

Who are you to tell me how I should live? And Pastor Jerry said, because I love your soul.

Because I love your soul. Do we love each other enough to point out when things aren't?

When you're in sin, can you count on your brother or sister going to you and saying, brother, I think what you're doing is it's not right.

If people ignore the sinful actions that you have in your life, I'm not sure if they're your friend.

I'm just not sure. I'm not convinced. He said, because I love your soul. So we can think about this question.

Is it unloving to tell the truth? Let's just think about that in a broad way. Well, we'll again, listen to the apostle

Paul, Ephesians chapter four. Paul said this. He says, then we will no longer be immature like children.

He's referring to being built up as Christians that God gives pastors and teachers to the church, to the redeemed sinner saved by the grace of God, as he helps them to come to spiritual maturity that we all learn and grow from each other, that we're equipped for the work of the ministry.

He says, then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.

We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever, they sound like the truth.

He says, instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

Later in that same letter, Ephesians chapter five, he gives a stark warning, strong exhortation, imperative command.

He says in chapter five, take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness.

Take no part in the works of evil, the works of darkness. Instead, expose them, expose works of evil and darkness.

He says, it is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.

And then we can go back to the apostle John, second John chapter one. If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don't invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement.

Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work.

No, it is not unloving to tell the truth. Christians are commanded to tell the truth.

But in love, speak the truth in love. You don't speak the truth from condemnation or judgment or being a hypocrite.

No, Christians are commanded to tell the truth, to stand for the truth. And if that's true, then we need to ask the question, how do we define love?

Well, the best way to think about that is we don't. God defines love, rather truth.

How do we define the truth? Listen to Jesus Christ. We're back in the gospel of John, John 14, 6.

Jesus told him, I am the way, I am the truth and the life. No one can come to the father except through me.

He said something interesting. If you had really known me, you would know who my father is. And from now on, you do know him and have seen him.

Jesus said, I am the truth. You know, Paul says in Colossians that Jesus is the hidden treasures, the revealed hidden treasures, the full knowledge and wisdom of God.

Jesus is the truth. Capital T. All things that we perceive in nature and in the creation, everything in the revealed word of God is the truth because it is revealed through Christ, through the mind of Christ.

In our Bibles, we have the revealed mind of Christ. Again, the priestly prayer in John 17,

Jesus says, sanctify them by your truth. Teach them your word, which is truth.

So, how do we define the truth? It's Jesus Christ. It's the word of God. That's the truth.

Jesus is the truth. The word of God is the truth. And then lastly, how do we define love?

How do we define love? Again, the Bible does that. Not your favorite preacher, not anything else.

The word of God defines love because God is love. 1 Corinthians 13, love, listen carefully, love does not rejoice in unrighteousness.

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but love rejoices with the truth.

And John 14, if you love me, Jesus, if you love me, obey my commandments.

How then can we listen to this advice? Jesus is the living word of God.

Jesus as the word is the only one who may define biblical love and biblical truth.

Live like Jesus is coming back, whether you are a believer or not, and especially if you are not a believer.

If you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you need to understand what Paul is saying here in Thessalonians.

Jesus is coming back to judge the world in its unholiness, its depravity, its evil, rejection of the gospel, and its rejection of God, its rejection of him.

And you say, well, why doesn't he just come back right now? You may be thinking to yourself, if Jesus is

God, then why doesn't he return and judge evil and just set everything right, just set everything straight?

Well, in 2 Peter, the apostle Peter answers this question. 2 Peter chapter 3,

Peter says, this is my second letter to you, dear friends. And in both of them, I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory.

I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.

Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days, scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.

They will say, what happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.

They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command. And he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water.

Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire.

They are being kept for the day of judgment when ungodly people will be destroyed.

But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends. A day is like a thousand years to the

Lord and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think.

No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise.

And the very elements themselves will disappear in fire. And the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live.

Looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire and the elements will melt away in the flames.

But we are looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth. He has promised a world filled with God's righteousness.

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.

And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved.

This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him, speaking of these things in all of his letters.

Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of scripture.

And this will result in their destruction. It's important for us to remember that God's will is for sinners to repent.

God's will is for sinners to repent. As we think about this passage, God's perfect will, we can look at other places in scripture that helps us get the big picture.

In the gospel of John, the apostle John records this eyewitness testimony. And this is what

Jesus himself said about God's will, God's perfect will. John chapter six, for I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me not to do my own will.

And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.

For it is my father's will that all who see his son and believe in him should have eternal life.

I will raise them up at the last day. God has set his will to separate you from this world's demonic philosophies.

God has set his will to separate you from this world's redefining of love and truth.

Paul's writing here gives one practical example, a call to abstain from sexual immorality in all forms.

We know from our Lord Jesus that God's standard for holiness is absolute. Even indulging in lustful thoughts is considered adultery in the sight of God.

For men and women today, we are dealing with this temptation. We don't have a sin -free glorified body yet.

You know, one way this manifests is viewing things we shouldn't view, pornography. I mean, there may be some of you here today that are dealing secretly with this kind of sin and engaging in this kind of a sin.

Immorality may also manifest in our speech, our actions, our thoughts. You may be stuck in a cycle of sin and repentance, and your life is an up and down roller coaster.

You come to church on Sundays to worship the Lord, and then you violate his will throughout the week. Friends, today

Paul's purpose is that it is the Lord's will for you to live free from immorality of any kind.

The Lord has not left you out in the cold to struggle by yourself. The opposite, actually.

The Lord has abundantly supplied a means for you to conquer sin. His Word.

His Word. His Holy Spirit. He gives his Spirit freely. Are you depending on the

Holy Spirit of Jesus today to conquer your sin? Or are you relying on your own personal power and discipline?

Are you relying on God's will? Or are you relying on your own will? The Lord supplies his

Holy Spirit, and it is the will of God that you abstain from immorality.

And this is what Paul is saying here. I mean, imagine a construction worker trying to break open concrete, and he has a jackhammer, but it's not plugged in.

He's sitting there. This jackhammer's there. It's not plugged in. It's not working. He's bouncing it up and down on his own strength.

Nothing's happening to the concrete. The concrete will win every time. But when the man plugs in and turns on the jackhammer, now he can start to break apart the concrete.

Now the man has a chance. If you are trying to deal with the temptation of sexual sin through your own self -discipline, then you are like a man trying to break apart concrete with a jackhammer that's not plugged in.

Without the empowerment of the Word and the Holy Spirit, you don't stand a chance against sin.

None of us do. This is Paul's point in the passage. Paul is exhorting believers to personal holiness by pointing out that sanctification is

God's will for their lives. If we as Christians allow

Satan and the demonic earthly wisdom of this age to redefine biblical love and truth, we are doomed to worldliness and earthly thinking that is unwise and an affront to God.

And for that reason, I strongly recommend whoever your favorite pastor is that you avoid them, at least for the time being, if they are giving you advice that is counter to the

Scriptures. Any other pastor here in Laurel or Billings that promotes the kingdom of Satan by encouraging you to participate in the works of darkness surrounding same -sex marriage and the

LGBTQ ideology that's on the rise in this community?

We are to love those that don't know Christ as their Savior by calling them to repent and believe in the gospel, not by participating.

Not by participating in the things that God declares unholy in order to appease their feelings, to compromise the truth in order to attain worldly love, and it's not rooted in the holiness of God.

No, that's not love. That is actually cruel and unloving.

Let me close with a quote that helped me think through this concept of abstaining from immorality and pursuing holiness.

In his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, author Jerry Bridges says it like this.

He says, The Christian living in disobedience also lives devoid of joy and hope.

But when he begins to understand that Christ has delivered him from the reign of sin, when he begins to see that he is united to Him who has all power and authority, and that it is possible to walk in obedience, he begins to have hope.

And as he hopes in Christ, he begins to have joy. In the strength of this joy, he begins to overcome the sins that have so easily entangled him.

He then finds that the joy of a holy walk is infinitely more satisfying than the fleeting pleasures of sin.

But to experience this joy, we must make some choices. We must choose to forsake sin, not only because it is defeating to us, but because it grieves the heart of God.

Let us not forget these simple yet life -sustaining truths in the exhortation from Paul this morning.

God's will is for your progress and good. God's vengeance is a certainty.