1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and the first 12 verses Paul Silas and Timothy have gone to Thessalonica they spent three or four weeks there they have preached the gospel in the synagogues on the Sabbath and no doubt they have preached the gospel amongst the pagans and Jews in the week in the days that have been there and what have they seen? confronting Judaism confronting paganism what with Christ the gospel they have seen Jews and pagans converted out of their Judaism out of their paganism into Jesus Christ and Paul has left an infant assembly a gathering of believers newly converted joined together as a church and he's left them and been torn from them anxious for them he has sent Timothy back why is he anxious? he knows that Satan is attacking them as always he knows that the cultures from which these people have come Judaism and Paganism are hostile cultures and hate this infant church and Paul, anxious to see whether or not these believers have succumbed to the hatred and the hostility and Satan's temptation, he sends Timothy back. The report has come, no, they're growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. Paul is delighted, he is relieved, he is most encouraged but he has more to say to them and hence to our passage today. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and the first 12 verses is a brief thought what does he want from them? well notice the phrase more and more more and more this seems to be the leading idea I want more for you he says more what? more spirituality more godliness more holiness more Christ-likeness sanctification that's what he says verse 3 it's God's will that you should be sanctified the opening verse. Tremendous phrase. Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God. Living in order to please God. I could have chosen several titles for this discourse. I call it the New Covenant Assembly Part 3 because it is part and parcel of the other discourses. But I could have used the title, How to Live in Order to Please God. the will of God our sanctification more and more you see you could use all these kind of titles this is what he wants sanctification godliness you've got to reveal to the Jews you've got to reveal to the pagans what Christ has done for you as he says in verse 12 all this will win the respect of outsiders outsiders you see today we've changed all that insiders and outsiders are just one and the same thing but Paul says I want your daily life to win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody now as I've said throughout these discourses these principles here could not be more relevant to today we're going against all these principles we join the cultures for a start there's another point there you see respect of the outsiders verse 12 In those days, the assembly, the believers, were separate from the world. They treated the world as outsiders. The pagans and the Jews treated the believers as outsiders. That's why there was this hatred. Hatred on the part of the pagans and the Jews. Love on the part of the believers. Anyway, let's come to the point here. How do we get to desanctification? How do these Thessalonians have to get there? Jesus. It's God's will and so on. So we have apostolic instruction. He will also say in verse 9 that you have been taught by God. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. You may wonder actually why the Holy Spirit does not get much of a mention in these verses. Not only here but throughout the letter. He is mentioned in verse 8 who gives you his Holy Spirit. you might say well I wonder why the Holy Spirit doesn't get mentioned well it's quite clear Jesus said he won't speak of himself he won't draw attention to himself as he said in Nicodemus it's a secret work but he's at work and what does he do? he takes the things of Christ as Jesus and he will take the things that belong to me he said and make them known to you all believers were in the new covenant and what's one of the leading terms of the new covenant John 6 Hebrews 8 Hebrews 10 is that they are taught by the Scriptures. We get this in verse 1, we get it in verse 2, and so on. And as we shall meet later on in this letter, there are elders and teachers who are instructing us in the Scriptures. And what are they instructing us for? That our doctrinal knowledge? Well, yes, of course. But it is in order to live to and urge you in the Lord Jesus. Notice the authority here. It's the Lord Jesus. Verse 2. By the authority of the Lord Jesus. The Lord, the Lord. It's the Lord Jesus. By the way, this sanctification. Today we are told that we must get the sanctification by going to the law of Moses. Where's the law of Moses here? I'll wait for you to tell me. Where's the law of Moses here? What do I see? I see the law of Christ. The Gospel. the inward teaching of the Spirit, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit. The law won't justify me. The law won't sanctify me. The law won't glorify me. The law won't give me liberty and joy and assurance. It's Christ who does that in his law, in his gospel, by his Spirit. Well, now what's the areas he's speaking of here? the general instructions in the first paragraph, live in order to please God. The next paragraph is to do with sexual immorality. I wonder why he picks on that, because it's ever with us. Like the poor, sexual immorality is ever with us. It's ever a temptation open, certainly to paganism. The Greeks were masters at it, but we're pagans today too, and we're masters at it. If you want to sell a book, you know what to put in it. If you want to sell a TV program, you know what to put in it. If you want to sell a film, you know what to put in it. You know what to put on the cover, don't you? If you want to sell a newspaper, you know what to put in there. It's the god of the age, isn't it? Sexual immorality. The pagans are always at it. What about the Jews? It's one of their besetting sins. Look at them at Moab. Balaam and all the rest. verse 3 it's God's will to the believers that you should be sanctified and in particular I mean avoid sexual immorality verse 4 there's some difficulty with the manuscript but that's not the difficulty in this paragraph the difficulty is in what Paul says what's the mark of a believer? by the spirit he is taught under the authority of the Lord Jesus he is taught in the scriptures he is taught what? self-control and it shows no defrauding, no cheating in this matter of sexual immorality don't take any advantage because he says the Lord will punish for all such sins as we've already told you and warned you by the way evangelicals are very good at telling unbelievers about the judgment to come and I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm doing it myself either but the truth is Jesus says more about the judgment of believers than he does about the judgment of unbelievers. Unbeliever, I warn you, judgment is on the road. It is appointed unto men, that's you, men and women, all men, once to die, and after this the judgment. God will hold us to account for our sins, supremely, for rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3. God will hold you, my friend, accountable, answerable, and unless you're in Christ, you will fail the judgment, I assure you. but believer the main thought here is judgment begins at the house of God it begins with us God did not call us for a sudden to be impure but to live a holy life and if we reject this instruction as many do not a few do oh we can live as we want carnal Christian all that kind of stuff you're not rejecting my words my friend you're not even rejecting Paul's words you're rejecting not man but God and he gives you his Holy Spirit if you genuinely are in Christ if you already are in the new covenant you have the Holy Spirit and he tells you this is wrong sexual immorality is wrong your body is for the Lord so what are you reading what are you watching what are you looking at what's the internet for you my friend and all the rest of it I speak to myself if we reject this instruction about self-control living a sanctified life to be a Christian. If we reject this, we are rejecting not man's teaching, but God's teaching, in his word and by his Spirit in the Lord Jesus. Next paragraph, verse 9-10, it's about brotherly love and affection, practical brotherly love. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, in the warmth, in the love, in the unity you have among yourself. You've been taught by God, you see. God's Spirit has taught you to do this. Each of you is in the same position. You've all been taken out of your sin, out of your cultures, into Christ, forgiven. You're on the road to heaven. You're all brothers in Christ Jesus. and in fact you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia you remember I think it was yesterday I spoke in a discourse about the love overflowing for everybody and I made the point that that's love for the ungodly yes to see them in Christ yes but mainly it's love for the other brothers and you see it here you love all the brothers throughout Macedonia yet we urge you brothers to do so more and more here we come again more and more we get it in verse 1 we get it in verse 10, I could have used that as a title as I say, more and more we're not sanctified yet enough, we're not like Christ yet enough, we want to be more like him grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and then verse 11 and 12 living self-sufficient, if you like. Not in the wrong sense, but not dependent on anybody. This was a besetting sin for some that Thessalonica, as we shall see again, they would tend to be lazy and let others do the work. No, no, no. We must each be workish, we mind our own business, we live quiet lives, and our daily life, our family life, our home life, our assembly life, the daily self-controlled, Christ-likeness will win the respect of the outsiders. I say again, today the outsider and the insider are all mixed up together. It's absolutely wrong. The church is separate from the world, coming from among them. That's not the unclean thing. But we show to the Patons the quietness, the confidence, the contentment we have in Christ. I wouldn't change my state for Judaism, Islam, Paganism. Paganism seems to be free. No, it's in bondage and slavery to sin and lust and corruption. Paul says it here. that the pagans are like the heathen, verse 5, not in passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God. Unbeliever, you don't know God. I don't envy you. Oh, come into Christ and know God and have all this warmth of fellowship besides, in addition to, beyond even the forgiveness of your own personal sins. So how do we show to the pagans and the Jews and others by this practical, the gospel, we show it by this practical Christ I don't envy paganism. I don't envy Islam. Do I want the cruelty of Islam? The bondage of Islam? Not at all. Do I want the legal bondage of Judaism? How they pour over the Torah? What can I do? What does the law say? What do the rabbis say? Do I want the madness? The license? The immorality? The corruption? The terror? The fear that's in paganism? I don't want that. the beauty, the simplicity, the holiness, the contentment, the joy in Christ. What will heaven be like, my friend? May it be heaven on earth for us now. This is the new covenant assembly. Sadly, sadly, unbeliever, there's too little of it about. You have to go back to the New Testament and these apostolic writings to see what I'm talking about very often. Oh, that we could have this translated this self-control, this spirituality, all because we are in Christ. Not to be saved, but because we are saved in Christ Jesus. Because we have the Spirit, because we are washed from our sins. Don't forget the first chapter. You come out of Judaism, you come out of paganism, through Christ, into Christ. All this follows on top of that. Don't try to copy this pagan. You can't have this without Christ. You can't have this without being in Christ. Well, this is the new covenant by the Scriptures, under the law of Christ, in Christ, what joys and pleasures abound here. May we see it, believer, more and more. As he says it twice, I re-urge you, brothers, to do so more and more, that our daily life may win the respect of