Why Should A Believer Be Sexually Moral PT-1 (1 Thess. 4:6b)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/11/2014 9:41 AM

My Worship Time                                Focus:  Why Should A Believer Be Sexually Moral PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  1 Thessalonians 4:6b-8

            Message of the verses:  “because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

            As we begin this SD we are moving into a new main section in the outline that John MacArthur has in his commentary, and the question that was probably on the minds of those in Thessalonica was “Why should we be sexual moral?”  This is a good question for them to ask, and a good question for us to ask and over the next three days we will try and answer this question.  Now as far as the Thessalonian believer they grew up under a sinful way of thinking about sexual morality for that is all they knew, and then along comes Paul and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit give them the Gospel and tells them about their need for salvation, and many of them are saved.  Paul stays as long as he can and then leaves because of persecution, and now he is concerned about these very new and very young believers and so he writes to them this letter.  He wants to make sure that their culture is not going to be used by the enemy to cause them to sin and then stunt their growth in the Lord.  Paul is grateful to the Lord that this did not happen, but he wants to encourage them to continue to excel still more in the Lord.

            As for today in our country, a country that was built on the principles of the Bible, we should know better than to fall into sexual immorality, but because of the sexual revelation that began in the 1960”s and because of the bombardment of evolution our culture is fast falling into the kind of culture that Paul saw in his travels giving out the gospel.  (See SD on Why the lie of evolution has encouraged sexual immorality.)

            John MacArthur gives three reasons why we should be sexual moral and we will begin with the first reason that is on this list:  “because of God’s vengeance; because of God’s purpose, and because of God’s Holy Spirit.”    

Because of God’s Vengeance:  (1 Thess. 4:6b):  “because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.”

            I want to give a quote from Warren Wiersbe as we begin this section:  “God is no respecter of persons; He must deal with His children when they sin (Col. 3:23-25).  A church member criticized her pastor because he was preaching against sin in the lives of Christians ‘After all,’ She said ‘sin in the life of a believer is different from sin in the lives of unsaved people.’  ‘Yes,’ replied the pastor, ‘it is worse.’

            “To despise God’s commandments is to invite the judgment of God and also to grieve the Spirit of God.”

            I realize that in my life when I see things happen, especially in our government at this time, and also in our country at this time that I want to extract judgment upon them, but that is not what I am to do for Paul writes in Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.”  God is the only one to extract judgment upon people and on a nation.  Even when I see God judging a person or a nation I am not to shout for joy.  There is a verse in Proverbs (I think) that tells us not to be too happy when someone is being judged by the Lord or He will stop judging them.  This is something to keep in mind.

            One of the reasons that God gives out judgment is the violation of this:  “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”  This has happened far too often by believers in the church in this country in our day and God will judge those who do this, for as the pastor said in Dr. Wiersbe’s quote “Sin is worse in the life of a believer.”

            One of the things that I pray for is that God, through His Holy Spirit will give me the wisdom to understand when I am being disciplined by Him, for there are times when a sickness will come upon me and I wonder if this is just a natural illness, is God trying to teach me something or am I being disciplined by the Lord.  I have to quote the following verses:  “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).”  There is an old gospel song that goes along with this subject: 

“Sin will take you farther than you wanna go
Slowly but wholly taking control
Sin will leave you longer than you wanna stay
Sin will cost you far more than you wanna pay”

            Paul writes that sexual sin is a sin that is done in the body, and therefore if a person continues in this sin and does not repent then he surely will be disciplined by the Lord, and perhaps even have his marriage destroyed or weakened.  He may also loose rewards that he would have received from the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ. 

            I have read a book on sexual morality written by a couple of men who were sinning in this way and because of the grace of God were able to stop this sin and thus got together and wrote a book about it.  The book is entitled “Every Man’s Battle” Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time.”  I wish to quote a couple of paragraphs from the book, but first let me say that the quotes will be from a section that talks about believers making a decision to become sexually pure in mind and body.  The section is entitled “All You Need.”

            “As the basis for your victory, did you know that God has provided you with everything you need for a life of purity?  And it’s better than a state-of-the-art GPS navigational system.

            “At Calvary, He purchased for you the freedom and authority to live in purity.  That freedom and that authority are His gift to you through the presence of His Spirit, who took up residence within you when you gave your life to Christ.  The freedom and authority are wrapped up in our new inner connection to His divine nature, which is the link that give us His power and the fulfillment of His promises:

            “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through the you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4) (NIV)

            “It’s like the situation facing Joshua and the people of Israel as they prepared to cross the Jordan River and possess the Promised Land.  What did God say to Joshua?

            “Have I not command you?  Be strong and courageous!  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with your wherever you go.  (Joshua 1:9).He’d given the Israelites all they needed.  They merely had to cross the river.

            “Regarding sexual purity, God knows the provision He’s made for us.  We aren’t short on power or authority, but what we lack is urgency.  We must choose to be strong and courageous to walk into purity.  In the millisecond it takes to make that choice, the Holy Spirit will start guiding you and walking through the struggle with you.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I wish to remember the consequences of sexual sin in the life of a believer, and remember the promises that God has given to me as a believer to keep me away from sexual sins.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Proverbs 3:5-6.

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 2:5-9

5 Have this attitude in yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross.  9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “That Joseph would bury Jacob in the Promised Land.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts?’”

Answer in our next SD.

6/11/2014 10:54 AM