Principles to Enforce This Teaching

The Theme of a Walk That Pleases God and the Foundation of Conversion

0:03 Chapter 4 marks a division in the letter, for it begins with the word, Finally then, brethren, or furthermore, brethren, and then introduces the subject matter of the concluding two chapters, which is basically this, furthermore, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, even as ye do walk, that ye abound more and more. The theme, then, of these two chapters is the walk that pleases God. And I would remind every listener that though we are dealing with the matters of practical conduct in many very practical areas,

0:47 the whole instruction of these two chapters is based upon the assumption that the people who receive this instruction are those described in chapter 1 in verse 9 who have turned to God from their idols to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. To serve the living and the true God and to wait for His Son from heaven. Romans 8 in verse 8 says, They that are in the flesh cannot please God. And though you could conform your life to every practical instruction of chapters 4 and 5, if you've not yet turned to God from your idols, if you've not been converted, if you have not been quickened to life by the Holy Spirit, you cannot please God.

1:29 Even your prayers, the scripture says, are anointing. The prayer of the wicked, the sacrifice of the wicked, is an abomination unto the Lord. If in any way you feel those prayers are the basis upon which God will accept you, if they are the prayers of a seeking penitent, such as a Cornelius, then such prayers come up as an alms before God. And so I don't want us to get lost in a mere moralizing as we continue through these two chapters, and I wish to periodically...

2:02 I want to periodically remind you that the only one who can please God by accepting this instruction is the one who is no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit, who has been brought out of darkness into light, who has turned to God from his idols. Well then, what pleases God? The announcement is made in verse 2 and 3, For ye know what charges or commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification. What pleases God in his children is a sanctified walk.

Sanctification and Abstinence from Fornication

2:37 Sanctification meaning primarily being set apart unto God, not to be viewed in terms of things the believer does not do, but attitudes which he has in his relationship to God, which may lead to abstaining from things, but sanctification is a positive relationship effected in the life of a man when he is taken out of darkness, into light, brought into union with Christ, and becomes the Lord's bondservant and a temple of the living God. That's the general way then that we please God, by abounding in sanctification, but then he moves from the general into a very specific area,

3:21 and he introduces it in verse 3, This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication. Would you abound in a life pleasing to God, Paul, says to the Thessalonians, then first of all you must learn to be sanctified in the area of your sexual relationships. And then he moves into this discourse on the subject of how to abstain from impurity. The answer of hedonism, the philosophy that has pervaded our own generation is, rub out all the lines so there is no longer any such thing as impurity, then everything will be alright.

4:02 That's not the answer of the scripture. The answer of asceticism is, take your sexuality, put your heel upon it, and grind it into the dirt, and try to forget it. Well, that's not the answer of the apostle either. He says, this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from uncleanness.

How to Avoid Impurity: Sanctified Marriage and Avoiding Lust

4:19 How? Verse 4, that each of you know how to acquire himself of his own vessel in sanctification and in honor. The way to avoid impurity is to accept your, sexuality as the gift of God in the light of creation, and as the possession of God in the light of redemption, and the general will of God is, that within the sanctity of Christian marriage, there might be the full and God-honoring expression of one's sexuality. This is the way to avoid fornication.

4:54 Not by asceticism, not by saying there is no such thing as fornication, but in this way, found in the parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 7, at which we have looked. Now, lest marriage become something akin to legalized lust, he says, this acquiring of the vessel of the husband or wife must not be out of a motive of unbridled lust, not in the passion of lust, verse 5, for that's the characteristic of Gentiles who know not God. Because they are ignorant of the knowledge of God, they are dominated, dominated by their passions. Therefore, marriage to them is just legalized lust.

5:36 And they enter marriage with no thought but what they can get from the marriage partner in the way of sexual gratification. Paul says it should not be so with you, though you recognize that within the confines of the sacredness of marriage, there is to be the full and joyful expression of sexual desire. You must never look upon the partner as a mere sex partner. That's the philosophy of our church.

6:01 That's the philosophy of our day. It's an indication that men know not God. But you are to regard that person in sanctification and in honor. That is, regard the total person as the gift of God, as the possession of God, and be motivated by love which is more concerned with what it can give to its object than lust which is concerned with what it can get.

Avoiding Transgression and Wronging a Brother in Sexual Matters

6:26 So Paul prohibits then the passion of lust, which is the mark of the Gentiles, and now that's our review. This brings us to our continued study this morning. Verse 6. We'll just touch on this briefly, that no man transgress and wrong his brother in the matter.

6:44 Two negatives. Don't possess your vessel, husband or wife, out of a motive of unbridled lust. That's the first negative. The second negative is, don't step outside the sacred ties of marriage and intrude into another's marriage.

7:00 That's the first negative. Don't transgress, overreach, step over the boundary of the God-given confines of marriage, and wrong your brother in the matter. In other words, what Paul is saying in a very discreet way is, keep the God-given expression of your sexuality within the confines of the God-given relationship of marriage. What someone says, is that really necessary to tell Christians that?

7:29 Do Christians ever overreach and wrong their brother in this matter? Yes, they do. The Bible, and the history of the church, and the history of many individual churches records the sad, sad story. David is a classic example of a man who overreached and wronged his brother in this matter.

7:48 He lusted after Uriah's wife, that noble soldier. And though David's sin was a terrible sin against God, and a terrible sin against Bathsheba, I never read the account but what I'm struck with, what a terrible, grievous sin he committed against noble Uriah. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 gives us the record of a man at the church at Corinth who overreached the boundaries of the proper relationship, even in the close family ties, and was guilty of incest. And living in the day in which we live, that is increasingly becoming just as pagan as the day in which these Thessalonians lived, when immorality was deified in the very worship of heathen gods.

8:32 We are moving to that, and in great measure already in it. We as believers will be more and more pressured by this philosophy, and it's of absolute necessity that we determine that we will never allow the close relationship that we have as a church to become the occasion of transgressing and overreaching the God-ordained boundaries, and using this close relationship of brother and sister in Christ, as an opportunity to feed the flesh. Therefore I say by way of practical exhortation in the light of this verse, seek to keep the holy veil in all our relationships

9:14 as men and women within the confines of the church of Christ. Let's not ever be guilty of that kind of joking banter that begins to act like moths upon wool, and eats away at that holy veil. May God grant, that all of us who are husbands, and all of our dealings with the other women in the church, there will be that consciousness that though in Christ there is neither male nor female, we are one in Him, and we love each other in the Lord, in this area there is a holy veil, and we dare not pass through that veil and intrude upon the rights of our brother. You women, in your relationship to all the men of the church, pray that God will give to them in your presence

9:59 the sense that you have a holy veil, a holy veil. Men who have any kind of sensitivity in this area can usually tell when a woman has a holy veil that she has raised about her a veil into which only her husband penetrates, and a man sensing that usually gets the message. But the converse is true, where a woman has torn away that holy veil, there is something about her very bearing that can be an occasion of stumbling unto men. And so I plead with you as God's people, lest this assembly should ever have the heartbreak of having to pass through the discipline that the church of Corinth had to pass through in dealing with immorality, lest we should ever have to experience

Practical Exhortations: Avoid Tempting Circumstances and Trusting the Flesh

10:42 what some of our sister churches have experienced, may God help us to heed the exhortation that no man transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Avoid those things which break down the holy veil, and the second exhortation I make in closing out this section is, avoid those circumstances which are tempting the Lord. Don't trust your flesh. The scripture says, Whoso trusteth in his own heart is a fool.

11:16 Don't put yourself in any circumstance, no matter how good the mode it may be, in which you lay the groundwork, in which you set the stage for an opportunity to overreach and transgress in this matter, and wrong the brother. Some of you wonder why I don't do much afternoon calling. It's for this very reason. I've never had any reason to question the morals of any of the women of the church.

11:44 None whatsoever. I trust none of you have ever had any occasion to question my morals. But I refuse to be found in the homes of the ladies of our church when no one else is around in the afternoon, unless there is something that really warrants it. Why?

12:02 Not because I question your motives, or I trust not because you question mine, but I don't trust my flesh, and I trust you don't trust yours. For whoso trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Oh, you say that's being evil-minded. No, it's being scripturally minded.

The Seriousness of Disregarding God's Standards for Sexual Purity

12:21 So there are the two negatives. He gives the positive instruction, avoid fornication by acquiring his own vessel, but not in the passion of lust within the marriage, not overreaching without the marriage. Now, some young person who's heard these studies says, well, that's all right and good, Pastor, but we've been taught at school that that's sort of outmoded. I mean, really.

12:42 I mean, that was all right. If you want to live like that, fine, but not for me. Does Paul have anything to say to the young person who's heard this series of messages and says, well, that's all right, but I mean, in our day, with our enlightenment, we know how to handle these things, and since we now know how to handle sex without the bad consequences of unwanted babies and illegitimate children and venereal disease and all the rest, we've grown up in our generation. What does Paul say to such?

13:09 What does he say to the parent who says, well, I don't care what Paul says, I still believe that sex is basically dirty and I'm going to kick it under the rug. I refuse to have my mind shaped and molded by Holy Scripture. What does Paul say to the person who regards lightly the instruction of these first six verses? What does he say?

13:29 May I suggest that he gives three basic principles by which to enforce the teaching that is preceded. Anyone who's heard this teaching and who regards it lightly, who looks upon it with indifference, Paul has a very sober warning. Any one of us who may today be embracing it, but further down the line, and you young people, this is going to be the temptation. Some of you, right now, have the kind of regard for this, and you say, boy, that makes sense, and that's scriptural, I'll buy that.

14:00 Later on down the line, when your own appetites and passions begin to cry out for gratification, you're going to begin to say, well, I don't know, really, is that the thing to do? You need to remember what we're going to deal with this morning. So that that scriptural standard will be enforced by these three scriptural motives and principles. What are they?

14:22 Notice the first one. For God, the Lord, is the avenger in all these things as we forewarned and testified. The latter part of verse six. What is this?

14:34 It's a reference to the judgment of God. Verse six. Verse seven. For God called us not for uncleanness, but in holiness.

14:42 A reference to the calling of God. And verse eight. Therefore he that despiseth, or rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth the Holy Spirit unto you. Will someone please go out and tell the children not to be looking in, because I'm losing the attention of some of you because of them.

15:00 Fine. Thank you, Paul. And this is so vital. I'm very conscious when I lose the eyes of just one or two of you, and I know that's distracting you, and I don't want us to miss this.

15:11 Here we have then in the third place the authority of God. Here are the three things then by which Paul enforces this direction to sexual purity. Got them? The judgment of God, the calling of God, and the authority of God.

15:28 Now before we look at them individually, will you notice the common denominator? When Paul wants to enforce the duty of sexual purity, he does so by referring basically to the creator-creature relationship. The common denominator in all three of these things is that God is the source of reference. God is the point of reference.

15:54 He said if you disregard this, the judgment of God is coming. If you live indifferent to it, the calling of God is affected. If you cast this aside as unworthy of obedience, the authority of God, is at stake. The judgment of God, the calling of God, the authority of God.

16:13 And it brings us right back to the principle I've been emphasizing in this whole study. You can't rightly accept your own sexuality or conduct yourself in a way pleasing to God in the sphere of your sexuality unless you do so constantly remembering the creator-creature relationship. He made me this way. He has a right to tell me how to conduct myself in this area and this area is beneath His eye and I shall stand before Him to give an account with what I have done.

16:48 And so I come back again to one of my hobbies because it is so vital. The foul, blasphemous doctrine of evolution has undercut the basis of morality. You can't, and I pity some of these poor teachers who see, well, the kids ought to live better and they say, be nice, be good. And the kids say, why?

17:12 Why for? Why should I? And if you can't say because God made you, God says it, you have no basis of morality and ethics. None whatsoever.

17:22 None whatsoever. And Paul reminds us of that when enforcing the duty of sexual purity according to this standard, he brings us smack head on again into the centrality of God and into the creator-creature relationship. All right, so much then for the general mood of them. Let's look at them as time permits one by one.

Principle 1: The Judgment of God and Christ as Avenger

17:43 First of all then, we have the judgment of God. What happens to the person who disregards these standards? Who treats them with indifference? Paul says, for the Lord is an avenger in all these things as also we forewarned you and testify.

18:03 He tells us in the first place in this matter of the judgment of God, who is the administrator of that judgment? He said, the Lord is an avenger. And this is a reference not to God the Father but to the Lord Jesus Christ. For according to John 5.22,

18:23 the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Acts 17.31 says, because God has appointed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained and given proof unto all men or assurance in that he raised him from the dead. You see, the Christ of Scripture is not the Christ who will forever stand with outstretched, pierced hands saying, Come, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

18:57 He will not be forever the Christ who says to harlots, Go, neither do I condemn thee. Sin no more. He is not the Christ who will forever say to immoral women as he did to the woman at the well, I am that living water. Drink of me.

19:18 There's coming a time when those who despise the overtures of his grace, who've turned their backs upon his call to himself, that same Lord who said to immoral women and who in the parable of the prodigal son indicates that men who've immersed themselves in every form of impurity for he spends his living with harlots, that same Christ will one day face those who've disregarded the precepts of God concerning sexual purity and that Lord will say to them, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire

20:00 prepared for the devil and his angels. So any disregarding whatsoever of the standard of God is to bring ourselves into that frightful, frightful sphere of the judgment of the Lord Jesus at the great day. Now not only does Paul give us a hint as who will be the administrator of this judgment, but notice the nature of this judgment. Because the Lord is an avenger in all these things.

20:35 That's a strange word to be found in Holy Scripture, isn't it? An avenger. What does it mean? Well it means one who executes a penalty that is due another.

20:48 The man who executes a penalty that is due is the one who is avenging that penalty. This brings us into the whole concept of retributive justice. That is, God has given a law. That law must be kept or any failure to keep it incurs the wrath of the lawgiver.

21:12 And this passage the Apostle Paul is saying that when the Lord Jesus assumes His role as the administrator of the justice of God, He will do so as an avenger. Men have broken His holy law. Men have treated His holy law with a high hand of indifference and now the punishment that is due will come. God allowed them to trade to the houses of harlots.

21:40 God allowed the young people to sport in their parked cars. God allowed them to immerse themselves in forms of impurity and uncleanness and adulterous relationships and they went on day after day, week after week. I ministered in a church recently where the pastor told me there's been someone, a member in good standing, seventeen years every weekend consorting with another man. No thunderbolts out of heaven, no lightning to strike her dead.

22:14 She apparently feels God really doesn't look down upon this thing. All those violations of the holy law of God, God's recording. And the day will come when the punishment due shall be avenged by the Son of God. Young people this will make a tremendous difference when the fires of passion begin to rage within your breast and you begin to play with God's standard to remember to do so is to make myself a candidate for the flames of hell.

22:41 Make all the difference in the world. Shall I feed the flames of passion with a few temporary sensuous delights and plunge myself into the agonies of the flames of an eternal hell? That's the issue. And may God bring it into focus in the hour of temptation.

22:59 The flames of passion, real. Their gratification for a moment, real. But the flames of hell, far more real and eternal. Now is this a little reference that Paul made once in a while just to sort of scare people?

23:15 No. It was one of the dominant themes of his preaching. For notice the next phrase. Will you notice?

23:20 Because the Lord is an avenger in all these things as also we forewarned you and testified it could be translated as it is in one of the modern translations as we told you before with all emphasis the Greek word is a compound word to testify through In other words, Paul said I rode herd on this thing. I made it clear to you. So when I left Thessalonica and someone said Hey, what did you learn from that little hook-nosed Jew? Oh, we learned lots of things.

24:02 We learned about Christ being Messiah. We learned this. The one thing we learned if we go on allowing our lives in the area of sexual conduct to be dictated by the philosophy of the heathen culture about us we're going to burn and God will track us down. That's what we learned.

24:21 He says I solemnly forewarned you. I solemnly forewarned you and testified with all earnestness. And so if I'm to be scriptural I must do this and solemnly testify and warn you that if you regard with indifference God's standards which are beautiful and reasonable and wholesome in order to gratify the unreasonable depraved corruptions of your own heart then the administrator of justice the Lord Jesus will one day be the avenger upon all who despise the holy law of God. This warning, Paul says,

25:04 formed an integral part of his preaching. Remember, he'd only been with them probably a couple of weeks. But he said this note came through very clearly. And this is the united testimony of all of scripture.

25:16 We could look at a passage like Galatians 5, 19 to 21 where he says the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness. And then he says at the end I tell you now as I told you before that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Ephesians 5, 5 and 6 Paul speaks of the same sins and he says for which things sake the wrath of God cometh upon the Gentiles. Colossians 3, 5 and 6 he says the same thing.

25:46 1 Corinthians 6, 9 Be not deceived the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God neither fornicators nor adulterers. Nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind. There he lists all of these aberrations from the holy law of God. So I say with all solemnity at any cost even to what our Lord says in this very context of speaking of adultery in Matthew 5 when he talks about the plucking out of the right eye and the cutting off of the right hand he says you better do so or you're going to burn.

26:21 It's better to enter into life having one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell. Better to enter into life having one hand than what gets men in trouble in this area the eye and the hand. What is seen what is touched. Oh may God bring near the day of judgment that when we contemplate turning aside from what is the clearly revealed will of God the fires of hell shall leap before us in all of their terror and if for no other reason no higher motivation we may flee the fires of lust in order to flee the fires of hell.

27:02 Never forget again and I'm trusting that what God is saying this morning may be a means of grace years down the road. Never forget. Never forget it any of you husbands or wives that begin to get discontent with each other and go through a period of dryness in your own relationship with each other and you begin to look to the grass that looks greener on the other side of the street. Never forget the Lord's the avenger of all such.

27:30 Never forget it. Never forget it. Though you may consort with another outside of the knowledge of husband or wife the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Never forget it that no man transgress and wrong his brother for the Lord is the avenger in all such.

Principle 2: The Calling of God to Holiness

27:53 May God solemnly inscribe it upon our hearts. Then we hurry on to the next factor. Here he confronts us moving from the thought of the judgment of God to the calling of God. For God called us not for uncleanness but in sanctification or holiness.

28:18 Now what does this word call mean? I should not have to give an extended study of it. I hope some of you can remember all the way back to the dark ages about two years ago. When I brought a series of messages on the sovereignty of God and one of the words we studied was calling.

28:36 And the word call in the Bible does not mean to summon. We say I called my kids to come home for supper. It may have been nothing but a summons that was duly unheeded until you went after them with a belt or something else. The call of God is more than a summons.

28:53 For ye see your calling brethren Paul said. Not many noble not many mighty archers are called. Well they are summoned but they are not called. He hath called us out of darkness into marvelous light.

29:06 He didn't just summon us. I was summoned for years. But blessed be God I got called in my eighteenth year. You see the whole concept of biblical calling is that work of God in which he seduces our rebel wills opens our eyes and brings us to freely embrace the Lord Jesus.

29:25 That's calling. So he says to these people for God hath not called us for uncleanness. Now the King James uses the word unto uncleanness I believe but unto holiness as though they were the two words same words but they aren't. They are two different prepositions used in the original and their significance here.

29:46 He is saying that the end of our calling was not for the purpose of uncleanness. Were we called to free and full forgiveness? Were we called to acceptance before God on the basis of the blood of Christ without works? Were we called into the full free message of the gospel so we could be scot free to feed our flesh with no fear of judgment?

30:10 That's what some would say. That's the accusation the Roman Catholic Church makes. That's why the Council of Trent condemns the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. They say why if we believe that we are saved by grace through faith alone that God accepts us on the basis of the righteousness of Christ Jesus without the works of the law then we would live like the devil.

30:32 And some people have given grounds to that accusation. Paul says no. Our calling is not for the purpose of loosing us from moral obligation so we can go scot free and live as we please in a life of uncleanness and when someone says hey fellow what are you doing? You say oh well you see we are not saved by works.

30:49 We are accepted in the beloved so since I am accepted before God in Christ what I do down here is of little account. There are the germs of that in this whole universe you see but since you are saved up there live like the devil down here you will just miss a few yo-yos in your bag when you get up there. Oh you still get there alright. See no relationship between here and there.

31:12 No no. Paul says our calling was not for the purpose of uncleanness but in the sphere and realm of sanctification and he uses a Greek word which has the idea our calling was in the very sphere of sanctification. Now what is he saying? He is saying every professing Christian disregards the teaching of the first five and a half first six and a half verses.

31:38 Fails to be sanctified in the area of sexual purity he is contradicting the very sphere into which God has called him by his grace. He has called us into the sphere of a holy life. He has called us into the sphere of being set apart unto God. Now when does a person get justified?

31:57 He is called into the sphere of a holy life. Well when he believes of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that what the Bible teaches? By him therefore all that believe are justified.

32:09 Acts 10.43 But when does a man believe? Well when he is quickened by the Holy Spirit when he is regenerated by the Spirit and his eyes are opened he repents and believes. Well you see the same Spirit that illuminates his mind and grants the gift of faith is the Spirit that unites him to Christ in communion with Christ.

32:32 He is in the realm of sanctification of being set apart. The Holy Spirit that opens his eyes and enables him to believe is the same Spirit that gave him a new heart and writes the law of God upon his heart so that the very end we might say the immediate end of God's saving work is our holiness the ultimate end the glory of God. 2 Timothy 1.9 For he hath saved us and called us with an holy calling the very calling is called here a holy calling why did he choose us in Christ Ephesians 1.4

33:08 He hath chosen us in him that we should be holy and without blemish when the Holy Spirit actually operates upon us in salvation what is the end in view 2 Thessalonians 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth it's not surprising is it that the name which became the nickname of Christians in the mouth and in the pen of the Apostle Paul is what? Saints and you know what the word saints means literally holy ones it's the same root word here that became the name for Christians

33:53 should we call them happy ones? suppose we send out we're going to starting January 1st 1969 so we're going to have a vote what should it be? and so we send out letters in all evangelical churches I imagine the one that would win out today would be happy ones successful ones something like that Paul said no the name that they ought to have is this holy ones holy ones holy ones so that's the name he gave them to the holy ones at Corinth to the saints at Philippi to the saints at Ephesus that word saints means the holy ones! he says if you disregard this teaching about the will of God

34:36 concerning your sexuality either with hedonism or with asceticism you're acting contrary to your calling you've been called into the sphere of holiness that is conformity to the will of God from the heart and out into the life oh how inconsistent he says with your very calling now of course the one who continually disregards the end of his call has no grounds to claim he's ever been called at all and that's a sober one and then the third thing he touches on and we'll just mention it briefly is he says if you disregard this teaching about sexual purity sanctification in this area

Principle 3: The Authority of God and the Indwelling Holy Spirit

35:21 there's not only the judgment of God to contend with you're contradicting of the call of God but he says in verse 8 you're resisting despising of the authority of God despiseth despiseth not man but God who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you what does the word despise mean well in its biblical setting it means to treat with indifference or contempt persons or things Esau despised his birthright he comes on in from his hunting trip and he's got the pains in his tummy and he says man I'm dying I gotta eat and so little heel snatching

36:06 brother says to him well how about that old birthright of yours ah birthright smirthright give me a bowl of soup man I'm hungry well what did he do with his birthright he regarded it lightly he regarded this thing with contempt not worth considering only one thing worth considering right now I gotta fill my belly with food that's all that matters I'm all excited again about this that that see treat it lightly what are you doing if you treat this lightly listen my friend you're resisting almighty God and his authority you're despising the authority of God now why did Paul

36:50 dare to say that he wasn't God he had given the instruction and yet he says if you despise this instruction you're despising God you're causing a front to his authority well because at that time the Lord Jesus had said to them the mouthpiece of God the Lord Jesus had said to them in Luke 10 16 when he sent out the 70 he that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me when the Lord Jesus was here and he spoke his words were the words of God to reject his words was to stiff arm God the Lord Jesus then commissioned apostles and he said

37:34 I will give you the book and when anyone rightly expounds and applies this book whether it's a father dealing with his children whether it's a brother in Christ dealing with another brother whether it's a teaching elder expounding the scriptures in the formal assembly of the saints you are dealing not with the word of your father your mother your brother or your teaching elder you're dealing with the authority of the living God himself now if we have rightly interpreted and applied this passage if this has been a consistent exposition of the concept of God concerning

38:19 our sexuality avoiding on the one hand hedonism and on the other asceticism anyone who this day is not found with this attitude oh God bend my every thought and every action to that standard you are resisting the authority of almighty God this is not the pastor's opinion this is not the position of the Trinity Church this is not a resurrection of puritan morality this is the word of the living God and so Paul indicates that to resist that authority is a serious thing for scripture tells us those who resist that authority will meet that authority in raw

39:04 naked judgment and according to Hebrews 10 31 it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God now let me show you how practical this is if this really grips us after the elders would have read this passage in the assembly and the people go home and there they feel the pressure of their heathen society and all the immorality and temptation comes the word that they heard read when that word came to light in the conscience disturbing them in the context of temptation the passion of lust calling this direction the word of God calling this direction Paul wanted them

39:49 to remember that in the whisperings of conscience based upon the light of scripture almighty God was speaking and they ought to be as responsive to that whisper of conscience as though in the moment of temptation the heavens were suddenly rent and thunder clapped above them and that was the standard of God that would shape you up good and proper wouldn't it can you imagine a couple of young people beginning to toy with their passions and all of a sudden in the middle of this there's a thunder clap and a voice speaks out of heaven and calls them by name and says John and Jim you're called to holiness not to uncleanness that can have

40:33 a pretty sobering effect don't you don't you don't you Paul says that's what I want you to remember and it's no less the voice of God because he speaks in the still small voice of a conscience enlightened by the scripture than if he were to speak in a thunder clap from heaven but you see what we do is we rationalize and we say oh that little voice that's just you know that's where my church taught me or that's just unreasonable or that and then we begin to argue remember when you resist and despise the voice of God coming through a conscience if he spoke directly from heaven

41:18 oh beloved when that grips us then we understand why Paul said herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense to God and toward man how can you knowingly willfully resist the authority of the God whom you say you love and whom you say has redeemed you and then he indicates and I can only mention I don't have time to expound it that we should regard that God as particularly as the God who has given the Holy Spirit to us notice this is how he describes him he rejects or resists not man but God what God the God who gives or gave

42:02 his Holy Spirit unto you this adds insult to injury to use our terms for in the original again it's emphatic he's saying God gave his Spirit his Holy Spirit unto you he has not only called me I say it reverently he's taken up his very abode in me to make me holy and when I disregard the standard of holiness I'm grieving and quenching the indwelling Spirit who's been given to make me holy what an insult it's like slapping the hand that feeds you spitting in the face of the one that would bring words of consolation and when Paul deals with this problem at the church at Corinth

42:46 and you can read it I hope sometime before the days out of Corinthians chapter 6 he deals with the problem at this very basis he says what don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit he seeks to show them the terribleness of these similar sins of the flesh by reminding them that in that sense whenever I as a child of God step out of the foundries that God has set in this area in that sense I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit

43:31 with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me I take the Holy Spirit with me give him up if the judgment of God won't put fear in him if the sense of the calling of God won't put a longing to live consistent with that calling and if the exposure of the authority of God won't bind him all in the whole context of redemption do you think there's any injustice for God

44:15 to do what he did in Romans 1 wherefore God gave him up may God grant that that shall happen to none of us this is the will of God even your sanctification that ye abstain from uncleanness how? these verses tell you what if I don't? these verses warn you of the judgment of God they remind you of the calling of God they set before you the authority of God may God grant that this passage will be a means of grace unto our sanctification and to God's glory let us pray