Next Sunday night Barak will be preaching and so I trust he'll be here for that next Sunday night. I want to let you know that ahead of time and I'm looking forward to that myself. It's been good to have the boys home for Christmas. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and you have an outline in your bulletin. that will help you follow the message this morning. I trust that you will follow along there. And what we're looking at in chapter 4, verses 4 and 5 this morning, is a topic that is probably not much addressed today, but that's one of the things about expositional preaching. When you get to it, you preach it. You can't just say, boy, that's an uncomfortable topic. I think we'll skip that. I think we better pass over that. You noticed that a couple of weeks ago when we preached on verses 3, when we just preached on verse 3. And so we're going to look at this this morning. I'll try to be as discreet as possible with youngsters here, so I will use language that hopefully the adults will understand what I'm talking about. So, let's look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I'm going to read verses 1 through 5. We preached one message on verses 1 and 2, another message on verse 3, and this morning a message on verses 4 and 5. Verse 1 says this, Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence. even as the Gentiles, which know not God." This is a reminder that the Thessalonian epistles, both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, has as its theme practical Christian living in light of the soon return of Jesus Christ. Now, every new year that we get to, we often think about the fact that Jesus could return this year. And we think about that in January, it kind of dies out in February, it keeps getting lower and lower until by the summertime, when it's not so cold outside and you're enjoying yourself, you're not really looking forward to his coming again, as much as you were before. And we kind of lose sight of the fact that Jesus could come at any time. But every chapter of this book concludes with a reference to his return. So in light of his soon return, what kind of an impact is that having upon you? The fact that he can return today, how does that impact you? As a believer, it ought to do something for you. As an unbeliever, it ought to frighten you. 2 Peter 3, and I've quoted these verses almost every time we get to this introduction. The apostle Peter says this, looking for, or that is expecting, and then he says, and hasting, or being eager unto the coming of the day of God. Wherefore, beloved, now here's the impact, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. Pretty high standard, isn't it? Without spot and blameless. So I say this from that. Christians are not truly expecting nor being eager for the second coming of Christ. How do I know that or why do I say that? Because of the life that they're living. Because anybody who's living in light of the soon return of Jesus Christ will have their life impacted By that, I'm talking about your morals, I'm talking about your standards, I'm talking about the way you live, the things you do, your conduct and your behavior. That would change if you truly believed that he was coming. So we need to be reminded that Jesus Christ is coming. You get to the end of this chapter, chapter four, and that's the very well-known passage about, there's a trump's gonna sound, and we're all going to be taken up, those of us who know the Lord, but not before the dead of Christ. So we see in verses one through 12, this is the way I've outlined it, instructions concerning Christians who are awake. I'm talking about awake as opposed to asleep in Christ, that is those who are dead. Jesus is soon to return and will bring with him those who sleep in him. That should impact those of us who are awake in Jesus. Two things, as this coming gets nearer, number one, you should make progress in Christian living, verses one through eight. Secondly, you should make progress in Christian loving, verses nine through 12. But I want us to focus on what it says at the end of verse one. So he would abound more and more. That's the progress in Christian living. And verses one and two, you need to make progress in Christian living in your conduct generally. Notice what Paul says, how you ought to walk and to please God. That's a kind of a general statement. But then you get to verse three and he gets explicit. Now he's going to make some application. You know, the thing that preachers aren't supposed to do anymore. You're not supposed to make any application because people say, well, that's just the way you look at it. Well, you know what? You look at verse three and there's only one way to take it. This is the will of God. Literally the word will remember means this is the desire of God. One word. Sanctification, holiness, that's how you ought to walk and please God. Your position in Christ is that you are sanctified if you are indeed a Christian. Positionally you are sanctified, you are holy. Your practice in life should reflect your position. Every day you ought to be become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. That is your practice. Notice it says in verse three, even your sanctification. And that's followed by three infinitives translated with the word that. Verse three, that you should abstain. Verse four, that every one of you should know how to possess. No man go beyond and defraud. So being set apart to God, that sanctification is known explicitly by your conduct. Holiness instructs you. The believer and how he regards his bed, verse three. Bed is euphemism for the intimacy of marriage, Hebrews 13, four. specifically that you should abstain from fornication. That includes intimacy before marriage, outside of marriage, that includes homosexuality, that includes lesbianism, that includes all other forms of perverseness. Holiness instructs the believer in how he regards his bed. Secondly, his body, That's what we're gonna see this morning, verses four to five. And then I remind you that we're gonna get to verses six to eight and how he regards his brother. So I want us to look this morning at how holiness will instruct you in regards to your body. I'm gonna read again, verse four, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel and sanctification in honor. You say, I don't see where you see the word body there. You don't. But there's a word that refers to it. In fact, Paul uses that particular word on purpose. As you look at verse four, he uses the word vessel. To what does vessel refer? Well, whatever it is, it is his own. Because he says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel. So it's something that belongs to you. Some think it refers to a wife. And they will take you to 1 Peter 3, 7 as proof. Perhaps you should go there so that you see this. And so as I speak of this, you'll understand what I'm saying. In 1 Peter 3, 7, the Bible says, likewise ye husbands, dwell with them, that is your wife according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel. She is there called the weaker vessel. But Peter is referring to both the husband and wife as vessels. How do we know that? Because he says the wife is the weaker vessel. That should make the husband the stronger vessel. You're both vessels. So saying that just because 1 Peter 3, 7, in that instance, Peter is saying, talking about the wife as the weaker vessel, and therefore imposing that upon 1 Thessalonians 4, 4, and saying, well obviously Paul's talking about the wife, is not logical. So what is it speaking of here in verse Thessalonians chapter four, verse four, by the way, I am a vessel. My wife is a vessel. She is the weaker one. Just ask her, when we start getting in fistfights, I always win. I'm kidding. Anybody listening on the internet, I'm kidding. I'm giving some marriage counseling this week, so understand what I'm talking about there, okay? The weaker vessel, it's not having to do with why he's always beaten up on, that should never happen. But she is the weaker vessel. What Paul is talking about in verses four and five is the duty of every believer, not just the husband's. He's referring to the wife and her body as well. So he's referring to man or woman, married or unmarried, young or old. that you should know how to possess your vessel in sanctification in honor. So what is the vessel? The vessel refers to the human body. Go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and note verse 7. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7. Paul in writing to the church of Corinth says this, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power of may be of God and not of us." To what is the Apostle Paul referring there? He's referring to the body, this earthen vessel, this vessel of dust. So back to 1 Thessalonians 4 when he says his vessel, literally it's the vessel of himself. He is emphasizing your vessel, your very own vessel. Isn't it interesting that there is nothing that belongs to you more than your own body? As I was thinking about that that week, I thought, well, my boys belong to me, but you know what? There's another person who shares that belonging. It's my wife. But this is my very own body. Your body, you don't share with anybody. You can share, but I'm talking about the fact that you own it, it is your very own. Think about that, when Paul says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel. So what about your body, your own vessel? You are, and here's the way it literally translates, you are to have known how to possess. or literally be possessing it, present tense. According to a commentator by the name of Edmund Hebert, he says the verb possess probably has the meaning to gradually obtain the complete mastery of the body. And as I've studied this, I agree with him. What you truly possess, you can certainly control. It takes persistent effort. control your body and what you do with your body. Your body, you must know how to possess it or literally control it, master it. But what is your body for? If you were to ask the typical person in this world what their body is for, they may give you one answer. But if you were to watch their life, what do you think most people by their life would be communicating that their body is for? I'll tell you what they think it's for. It's for the very last word in verse 3. That's what it's for. That's what they live for. That's what life is all about, sexual perversion. That's why they live. But I want you to know Paul's argument. In 1 Corinthians 6, and this is going to be a few verses treat, so please go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, where we're going to see somewhat of the same language or the same argument that we see in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, notice what Paul says the body is, that your body as a believer is. 1 Corinthians 6.12, all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me. but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for, well, there you see it. That's what the world lives for, but Paul explicitly states the body is not for fornication. but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body, and God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of unharlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to unharlot is one body? For two saith he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto Fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body, whose body? Your very own body, your vessel, to whom does it belong? You say, well, it belongs to me. Wait a second, I was leading you on a few minutes ago when I said it belongs to you. Because here we have an explicit statement as to whom your body really belongs to. Believer, Christian, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore, in other words, as a result, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are, last word please out loud, it belongs to God. My body belongs to God. The very last thing in this world that I own and nobody else can, in the end, I don't own. It belongs to God. Your flesh. This is what I was having the first graders do when I was at the public school a few weeks ago, teaching them about Christmas. I said, okay, everybody, all you kids, come on. I was talking about Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, God in the flesh. Well, that just kind of goes right over the head, so I said, everybody, take your hands and go like this. Go ahead, everybody do it. Good, all right, yeah, see, that's your flesh. You know, take your hands and rub it. That's your flesh, your body. This is your body. God came and took upon Him the form I belong to you. Every one of you should know how to possess his own vessel. Every one of you. So according to 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, the purpose of your body is clear. It's to glorify God. As here in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 4. I'm gonna break down verses four and five this way. Verse four, I believe, has to do with possessing your body rightly. Verse five is very simple, possessing your body wrongly. Wow, what an astounding outline, huh? No, verse four, you need to possess your body rightly. And I want you to notice something, that every one of you Every one of you, yes, that applies to each person in the church. In other words, the same moral standard applies to everybody. This doesn't just apply to me. Well, that ought to apply to the pastor. Yeah, it should. Well, that ought to apply to the pastor's wife. Yeah, it should. And this is how you break it down. Well, pastor's kids. Yeah, it should. But he says every one of you. Every one of you, not just the deacons, every one of you. And it is something that each should know. He says that every one of you should know or should have known. It's the perfect tense. It's something where at one point in your life, you came to the point where you realized, my body is not my own. And from this day forward, I realize that my body belongs to God, that this vessel belongs to him. And Paul purposely uses the figurative term to refer to the body. vessel to communicate that your body is an instrument. It is a tool. In fact, that word is used that way in Acts 9.15. Remember when Saul was on the road to Damascus and he was struck down with blindness and he went to a place and then God called upon another man to go see him. His name was Ananias. And here's what the Bible says. He is a chosen vessel. Does anybody know the word used there? He's a chosen vessel. Same word that you find here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. He is a chosen vessel. He's a chosen instrument unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Folks, you as a child of God are a chosen vessel. That is a chosen instrument for God to use. How can he use you? in sanctification and honor. You know what, if you have a tool, you don't serve the tool, the tool serves you. So you need to know how to control that tool. You know, you can use a chainsaw and that chainsaw can possess you or you can possess it. Have you ever been using a chainsaw and it begins to own you? I have where it kicks back and almost hits you in the face or whatever. No, no, you are the vessel. The tool is what you control. Have you ever been in your body? And obviously you're in your body, but have you ever been in your body when your body seems to start controlling you? That's called being in the flesh. That's walking according to the flesh, not according to the spirit. It begins to control. Listen, folks, it's a tool. The tool does not control you. You control the tool. It is a vessel. It is an instrument that you should have under control. So the question is, do you know how to own your tools? Do you know how to use tools for what they are made? Have you ever used a screwdriver, gentlemen, as a chisel? That's not what they're made for. That's what my dad would tell me. You just grab the tool that's closest by and you start. That's my screwdriver. You just blunted the end. You destroyed that screwdriver for what it was made. Folks, what are you made for? To glorify God. Now, if you use your body in a way that is not glorifying to God, you have misused the vessel. You need to know how to possess your vessel. To control it, to master it. It should not master you. You are the master of it. But in the end, you're not even the master. It's whoever owns it. God. So you, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, use your body for His glory. Go with me. It's just a couple of pages forward in my Bible, 2 Timothy chapter 2, where Paul, again, uses the word vessel. 2 Timothy 2, verse 21. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified. Note the next few words, and meet for the master's use. That's where I get the title for this message, meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work. Meat for the master's use. That word meat means useful or profitable. Let's read it that way. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel of the honor sanctified and useful for the master's use. Who's the master? Jesus Christ is our master. Let me ask you something. Are you useful for his use? Can he use you? Is he using you? Are you a tool that he can use? In fact, in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy, look at verse 11. Paul says this about Mark, bring him with thee for he is profitable. That's the same word translated meat into 21. Mark is profitable. Let's use the word profitable then in 2 Timothy 2.21. He shall be a vessel unto others sanctified and profitable for the master's use. You know what, if you have a tool that sits around, in fact, gentlemen, we had this interesting Christmas elephant, white elephant gift exchange, remember this? Where you were supposed to find a tool in your house that you no longer use and get rid of it. Exchange it with somebody else. What happens to tools that you never use? I hoard them. I keep them. Because one day, one day, you know what tool I'm going to need? That very one that I just exchanged a month ago. I'm going to need that one. I think I traded Allen wrenches. Did you get my Allen Richards? Yeah, I got your level. Larry Hunger tried to steal the level. I got the level, and I have used that level. I hope it works right, because my walls depend upon it. But those were useless to me, because I already had some. But the level was useful to me. Folks, the question is, are you useful to God? Well, I hope so. No, that's where we get to the next part where he says, in sanctification and honor. How can your body be profitable? In sanctification and honor. In other words, the motive for abstaining from fornication, verse three, and the motive for rightly possessing and having control of your body is not so that you avoid STDs, or that you avoid AIDS, or that you avoid shame by your society, or that you avoid Losing your spouse. The motive for possessing your vessel is to make your body profitable to God. That's what it ought to be for. Set apart. That's the word sanctification. Set apart for service to him. To give your body true honor. To set it apart as a sacred instrument devoted for his service. That's how you give a tool honor. By using that tool, I'm using a screwdriver here, using the tool for that which it was made for. It is to be used as a screwdriver, not as a chisel. I am honoring that tool. You take your body and you use it for yourself. You have abused the tool of God. By the way, that can not only be, that doesn't only to gluttony, that can apply to weight issues, that can apply to all kinds of things. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. What an honor that your body can be His temple. What an honor. Well, now follows the opposite. The negative of possessing your equipment and holiness of honor is possessing it wrongly. in the lust of concupiscence. Even as the Gentiles which know not God. This is a wrong or negative use of your body as a Christian. This is the antithesis of possessing it in sanctification and honor. But notice what he says here, not in the lust. That word lust, whenever you read it in the Bible, is always wrong. It's always bad. That word lust is where we get a word pathos. times in the New Testament. It's used here. It's used in Colossians 3, 5, where it's translated inordinate affection. And it is also used in Romans chapter 1, verse 26. By the way, as you think about Romans chapter 1, what's one of the first things that comes to mind that Romans chapter 1 is addressing? It's talking about Yahweh. That's the chapter that the president of the United States says is vague, that is totally clear to everybody else. There it's called vile affections. It has to do, this word lust, with strong physical desires. In fact, it may best be translated passion, especially of a sexual nature. Well then why does he use the word concupiscence? And what is the word concupiscence? Concupiscence is a strong desire. But concupiscence, that word there, can be good or bad. In fact, that word concupiscence is used in chapter 2 and verse 17. You say, Pastor, I don't see the word concupiscence in verse 17. That's because it's translated with a different word. Follow along as I read 2.17. But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great It's that word desire there. With great concupiscence. So that word can be good or it can be bad according to the context. The adjective here, lust of concupiscence, makes it bad. In fact, it intensifies the word lust. It modifies it. It's literally a passion of desire. Concupiscence mastered by lust. It indicates the surrender of an individual to his passions so that he is overwhelmed and carried away with them. He no longer masters them. In other words, it's fornication. So either you this morning possess your body in sanctification and honor, or you possess it in the lust of concupiscence, the passion of desire. And verse five, folks, does not characterize a Christian. It characterizes another crowd. What's that crowd called in verse five? The Gentiles. Literally, the nations. But anytime that word is used up against the believer, normally Gentiles is contrasted with the Jews as the people of God. Here it's contrasted with Christians as the people of God. So these are otherwise known as heathens. You mean to tell me that if somebody is giving in to the lust of his passions, he is just like the heathens? Yeah, you may as well go find yourself somebody down in some jungle of South America or down in Africa, somebody who lives like a beast, and that's what you are when you give in. those emotions. But the Gentiles sink into this vice due to ignorance. Notice what it says. They know not God. They don't know God. Therefore, folks, those who do know God, what should be known of them? That they do not practice ornication. They do not give in to the lust of concupiscence. They live in sanctification and in honor. those living in adultery, those having intimate relations outside of marriage, people who live together without being married, homosexuals, lesbians, you know what this says of them? They don't know God. They don't know God. It's possible for a Christian to backslide and to be in this, but not for long without being convicted by it. With that in mind, I want you to go with me to Romans chapter 1. I made reference to this, where that word lust is used. Romans 1.26, for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections. The vile affections there in Romans 1.26, that's referring to the lusts. that we see in 1 Thessalonians 4, 4, for even their women did change the natural use, see how they're using their bodies, into that which is against nature. And likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another. Men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was meat. Folks, this is not vague. This is not vague. And what is it that is said about these people Here in chapter one, verse 28, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. In other words, you look at 1 Thessalonians 4, 5, these Gentiles don't know God. In Romans one, he's saying they don't want to retain God in their knowledge. Even if somebody tries to tell them what they're doing is wrong, they don't want to hear it. Well, that describes that crowd today, doesn't it? Folks, I'm not just talking about the homosexuals, I'm talking about those living in adultery. I'm talking about those people who are living together, not being married. I'm talking about people who are involved in premarital relations, as well as homosexuals and lesbians. In Romans chapter one, their God is what they make him to be, a reflection of themselves. That's why you have these metropolitan churches. You ever see the word metropolitan in the name of a church in the United States? And it's typically a church of sodomites. Go with me to Psalm 115. Very clear that their God is what they make Him to be, a reflection of themselves. Look at Psalm 115. Verse four, their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes they have, or have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. Not per se, they that make them are like them, like unto them. So is everyone that trusted in them. They make gods the way they want their god to be. So their lack of knowledge, 1 Thessalonians 4, 5, their lacking the knowledge of God causes unrestrained sexual lust in a person so that he or she defiles his or her body, using it as a vessel or a tool for his or her own pleasure alone. By the way, the last part of verse five, is key for a Christian overcoming sexual temptation. You see, the fact that Gentiles know not God is one thing, but as a Christian, you do know Him. This makes all the difference. You do know Him. It's not that the heathens don't know about God, they don't know God personally. And the only way to God, as you and I well know, is through Jesus Christ. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Knowing him changes the way you live. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5.17. Folks, you here at Westside, If you desire to walk in to please God, verse 1, if you desire to want to do the will of God, verse 3, realize it is a life of holiness. It's a life of sanctification. Explicitly, verse 4, keeping yourself from fornication. Explicitly, verses 4 and 5, knowing how to control or master your own body in sanctification and honor. That identifies you as one who knows God. Why anyone would want to lower their standards to that of the world and confuse, as a believer, and confuse who they are in Christ with somebody in this world does not make biblical sense. And yet that's what's happening. This is from the Bible. This is not my opinion. Folks, here's the desire of God at your holiness, that you specifically, explicitly abstain from fornication, that you know how to possess or control your body, it's a vessel, it's a tool, in holiness and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence as the Gentiles which know not God. Now, have you heard the word of God this morning? What do you need to do about it? Would you bow your heads?