Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: Have you ever tried to silence your conscience? We all have. And it’s tempting to do it because we live in a world that hands out earplugs so we can silence the quiet whisper of God. Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll concludes a message he calls Straight Talk about Moral Purity.

In this study of 1 Thessalonians, we’ll be reminded that every day presents a choice. Should we speed past the obvious warning signs? Or when danger appears, should we hit the brakes and proceed with caution? It’s a choice between life and death.

Chuck Swindoll: When I see in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 straight talk about moral purity, I am grateful that God talks that way about it. I’m grateful He doesn’t stutter. I’m even more grateful that He doesn’t laugh. He tells me straight what to do about it, and He leaves me with a choice because actually, if you boil holiness down to its basic sense, you come to obedience, don’t you?

As the 19th-century Scottish theologian John Brown said, "Holiness does not consist in mystic speculations, enthusiastic fervors, or uncommanded austerities; it consists in thinking as God thinks and willing as God wills." That’s what the Apostle is asking of the reader in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians.

He got his foot in the door by that last part of chapter 3 when he gave us some guidelines on how to really live. Remember that last time? Remember those comments he gave us, and it just thrilled us, especially as he got to the end and he said, verse 13, "that God may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness." What a great way to live, unblameable in holiness. Confidence is being unblameable.

So Paul knew the Thessalonians lived in a city that had its temptations. And so he said, "Finally, brethren, we request and we exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more." Paul says to the reader, "Just as we have written you and just as we told you when we were with you to really walk, get with it! Make something happen in your life. Don't just drift along in the fog of mediocrity. Excel. Go the second mile. Go beyond the expected."

The reason I'm landing on it and massaging it in a little bit is that the passage that follows is a direct outworking of that excelling lifestyle. You know the commandments we gave you with the authority of the Lord Jesus; excel in that. Now in verses 3 to 6, in the realm of morality, abstain from immorality. Verse 3: "This is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality."

This is the will of God. Very seldom will you find such straight talk in Scripture. You don't even have to pray about it. You know His will. This is the will of God, that you abstain from *porneia*. We get our word pornography or pornographic from it. Abstain means abstain. Outside marriage, have nothing to do with sexual involvements with others. That’s what it means.

Now, he doesn’t leave us with simply a stark command. He follows it up with some counsel, verse 4: "that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor." This is the will of God, that you know how to do that. So you must become a student of yourself in order to know how to handle yourself, right?

We are to know how to possess our own drive, how to gain mastery over it, how to sustain ourselves in a life of purity. Not in lustful passion. And there are certain activities that stimulate certain parties, certain places, certain seductive pastimes that weaken us, and we are fools to play with it.

Verse 6. Some would get around it by saying, "Well, what we could do is just keep this within the family," but he corners us here and says "that no one transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things." I’ll deal with that in a moment.

This would have reference not only to in general the family of God, but family members, the indecent practices of relating to one’s daughter-in-law, son-in-law, mother, stepmother, stepfather, and on and on in the whole realm of incest. That defrauds. The defrauding not only occurs with the person that one takes advantage of, even if it’s done voluntarily, but the defrauding occurs since it’s secret and there are many who know nothing of it, and when they find out, they are damaged as well.

While I was early married, in 1955, I finished my schooling and decided that I needed to deal with my military deferment. In those days, the military was an obligation that was to be fulfilled, and I chose an outfit not known for purity. I chose the Marine Corps. And I wound up 8,000 miles from home and suddenly faced with temptation that I had never known before. Now, I have a little fun with that story, but the fun stops right now.

Before I ever dropped the sea bag off my shoulder, I was faced with a decision. I was going to live in a barracks that was full of godless lifestyle. And I realized since I had known the joys of marriage that temptation would be incredibly strong. Like I have never known it since. Surrounded by men who couldn’t have cared less about the things of God. Away from my home and wife and my family and all of my accountability. I was just a nameless face on the streets of Okinawa.

By the grace of God, the decision that I made allowed me to speak today with confidence. Had I not been by the grace of God preserved from unfaithfulness, I would have to pass rather hurriedly and embarrassingly over this passage of Scripture. But I want you to know, it works. It works.

But I had to be tough. I had to be tough on myself. I had to make some tough decisions. Unpopular decisions. Not to preach to everyone else, but to preach to myself. God showed me it wasn’t my job to clean up the goldfish bowl, it was my job to fish. It was my job to live clean whether anybody else did, or whether no one else did. I was to live clean. I was not to put my hands on someone who wasn’t my wife. I wasn’t even to talk about it.

And this was in an atmosphere where there was a constant barrage. I would say 18 of the 24 hours in which the subject was usually that which had to do with life below the belt. From men who could describe it and traffic in it to the point of even embarrassing other men. It was unbelievable. And God made it clear to me that if I would abstain from sexual immorality, He would honor that. And His Spirit came to my rescue time and again. And I praise Him for it.

I had no corner on strength. I was as red-blooded an American boy as anyone hearing these words right now. Very strong drive. And very lonely days away from home for almost 18 months. I involved myself in things that were wholesome, things that paid off, things that were good. I cultivated my music. I became much more proficient in several instruments. I was involved in an aggressive athletic program. I ran with men that were good for me. I stayed away from the village. I didn’t even get a Coke in the places. I couldn’t handle it.

Some could. I could not even handle it. I looked straight ahead when I got off the bus that was to make its way to the meeting I was going to. That little island had over 5,000 places of prostitution. And the women were knockouts. I never handled them, but I sure did see them. And I’ll tell you, they were appealing. And I knew once I broke, once I stepped into that world, I would not stop.

I knew myself well enough. I knew the vessel that was inside me couldn't handle it because I had yielded. And I probably would not have even wanted to. It's like breaking with a diet. Once you do, it's just, who cares? Once you've eaten a big piece of chocolate cake, whether that night you finish it off with half a pie. You know, once you're in, you're in.

And I spent time with friends that strengthened my walk and understood it and, praise God. You say, "Oh, that just mocks me because my lifestyle isn’t there." It can be there. It can be there. It’s your telling yourself it won’t be there that keeps you from it. Stop living like that.

This is for the child of God. The passage is addressed to brethren. See verse 1? "Finally then, brethren." This is for the child of God. No one else has the power. It's beyond me how an unsaved person can stay out of someone else's life. It's beyond me. And only by the power of the living Christ, only by the spirit of God, verse 8, who has been given to us, can this kind of life be carried out.

I knew myself well enough. I wasn't old but I was old enough to know the kind of stuff I couldn't handle. The kind of magazines I couldn't stick under my mattress. The kind of films I couldn't look at. I knew that. And I know it to this day. And I knew that certain conversations would lead in the other direction and I knew if I got them started, it would be too satisfying to stop them. So I wouldn’t get them started. At times I was even rude to the opposite sex. But that’s a price I paid. It’s worth it.

Because when I got home, I was not at all rude to my wife. I was very warm and very affectionate and to this day, it’s absolutely delightful. You know yourself well enough to know when it’s going too far. I can’t clean up my world. I can model the life. I do my best at that. I don’t always succeed. I work at that, but I don’t always succeed. But I can talk to this family called our church. And it grieves me that some of you live sexually impure. Stop it. Stop it.

You’re part of the reason we can’t get through to some of the lost because they watch your lifestyle and they say, "You telling me that’s what I need? I already live like that. You telling me that’s how Christ changes a life? Don’t waste your time."

Some of you young husbands are forming habits regarding your home. How careful are you with holiness? How careful, how tough are you on yourself? You’re not going to have the standard come out of the office; your standard is the one that’s going to keep you pure. Why do you play with it?

Some of you single parents, some of you young career women, attractive and capable people, begun to compromise your life because it’s so pleasurable and you’re so lonely and it’s so accessible and it’s so secret. It isn’t secret. See what it says in verse 6? It’s not often that the Lord calls Himself this, but He does in this case. He calls Himself an Avenger. You’re not going to like this. The meaning is one who satisfies justice by punishing or disciplining the wrongdoer. Not all of that avenging will wait until the judgment day. Some of it happens now.

By the way, 1 Corinthians 6:18 is a pretty significant verse. It says all other sins are outside the body; this one is a sin against the body. Now you work on that one for a while. You know what I think it means? The other sins can pretty well be managed objectively. This one comes in on you. It’s an inside job. No one ever said it better than Billy Graham.

"In every area of our social life, we see operating the inevitable law of diminishing returns in our obsession with sex. Many do something for a thrill, only to find the next time they must increase the dose to produce the same thrill. As the kick wears off, they are driven to look for new means, for different experiences to produce a comparable kick.

The sex glutton is tormented by feelings of guilt and remorse. His mode of living is saturated with intense strain, unnatural emotions and inner conflicts. His personality is thwarted in its search for development. His passions are out of control and the end result is frustration. In his defiance of God’s law, he puts a death-dealing tension on his soul. His search for new thrills, new kicks, exciting experiences keeps him in the grip of fear, insecurity, doubt and futility.

The weakened physical, emotional and spiritual condition of the sex glutton occasionally makes him unable of resisting the accompanying pressures, and he eventually cracks under their weight. He often ends by becoming a psychoneurotic or a suicide." That’s the truth. That’s part of the avenging.

You sow a thought, you reap an act. You sow an act, you reap a habit. You sow your habit, you reap a character. You sow your character, you reap a destiny. Learned that from my daddy when I was only 11 years old. What great counsel.

I keep waiting to get too old for the problem. It hasn't happened yet. I heard of a man who interviewed a missionary that was in her 80s and he said, "Tell me, when did you get beyond the problem with lust?" She said, "It hasn't happened yet." You will not outgrow it.

In all of your reasoning, reason with verses 7 and 8. God hasn’t called us for the purpose of impurity, but in the sphere of sanctification. He's used that now for the third time. It has reference to the spiritual progress from earth to heaven, the growth pattern. God has called us to be in a spiritual growth pattern. Yes, sometimes up, yes, sometimes down, yes, sometimes more victorious than other times, but the progress is a movement forward and higher.

And He hasn’t called us for the purpose of impurity even though we live in a fog. Consequently, he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. Second thing to remember is if you reject it, you're rejecting God's will. It's no secret.

Now, now we have a choice. We always have that choice. You can choose to live your life horizontally, and it will look hardly different from the unsaved. You can choose to live like that. You open up a door of misery for yourself. Or second, you can choose to live vertically. Every day you awake and you make that choice. Through the hours of that day, you make that choice.

Now, let’s say you choose horizontal. Couple of things I want to tell you. Number one, you will drift in a fog of moral uncertainty. You will drift in a fog of moral uncertainty. You'll play at God, you'll play at church, you'll play at this book. You'll toss around a few religious words, you'll be in a fog. Your lifestyle will match the smog around you. You'll no longer tear up, your conscience will no longer sting, your heart won't beat faster, for long you'll even stop blushing.

Second, your disobedience will result in increasing guilt and grief. The Avenger will go to work. God doesn't let His children play in the traffic without getting hurt. Your disobedience will result in increasing guilt and grief.

But how much better, vertical. I think you want the vertical. I think if you've sat through this this long you're, it's your way of saying, "I want what's right." Then first, you will honor the God of moral absolutes. And your obedience will result in greater confidence and habits of holiness. It'll begin to come supernaturally. You'll find yourself stronger and saying, "No, thanks." Or you don't even have to add "thanks." No.

You know, God's built us with all the right lights on our dashboard, hasn't He? He's given us just the right lights. I don't know of anybody that as soon as they buy a new car with all of the lights on the dashboard also buys a little hammer. And as he's driving along the light starts flashing red, he says to his friend, "Hand me that little hammer in the glove compartment. Okay? Good, thanks." There, now we got rid of that light. The smoke is coming out of the hood. Why? How foolish.

But you see, you can find people who will hand out hammers and they will say, "Oh, that's needless guilt. That's necessary guilt." God help you when you don't have it. It’s the conscience that bites into you and stings like an adder when you flirt with somebody outside a marriage. Supposed to hurt. It's supposed to be miserable. That's the light flashing.

Jonathan Edwards, one of the great preachers of early American history, used to make resolutions. This was one of them: "Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life." May we bow together.

You have available to you the power that's necessary to solve the problem. He is Jesus Christ. And if you have the Savior, He is the Holy Spirit. He has come alongside not to mock, but to help. Not simply to cry with you over how strong the temptation is, but to empower you. You can do all things through Him who keeps on pouring His power into you, even if you have never done it in your life. You can begin today a life of power.

There's no checklist, there's no probation period, there's no long list of responsibilities that you must fulfill before God will give you the power. If you know Christ, you've got the power. Live in it. If you have defrauded, deal with it. If you have compromised, face it. Call it what it is. God is honored when we deal directly with sin. Call it sin. If it has hurt another and you need to deal with that, deal with it. Tell the truth. Start today.

If you've never met the Savior, holiness begins at the cross. Take Him now. Thank You, Father, for the incisive way that You cut through the fog. Thank You for penetrating our world. Show us again that Your standard does not change. That Your expectations remain for us full of hope and love and power and encouragement.

Thank You for giving to those who struggle intensely with this the willingness to hear and now the strength to do what must be done. For some, it will be a long journey back, and I pray for You to give them perseverance. For some, it will be honesty for the first time in years. I pray for You to give them integrity, moral courage. And I pray as a result Your church will again be holy even as You are. For the sake of the Savior, amen.

Bill Meyer: Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll has presented what he calls Straight Talk about Moral Purity. It’s just one of 12 messages in our in-depth study of 1 Thessalonians.

By the way, Insight for Living has an interactive Bible study workbook for this series. It’s called Contagious Christianity. You’re invited to purchase the Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by calling us at 800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org/offer.

If you prefer to listen rather than read, you’ll find the complete collection of 12 CDs and MP3s available at insight.org/offer. These recordings contain Chuck’s entire message, from the introduction to his closing prayer. Or you can listen to Chuck’s sermons on our convenient Insight mobile app.

Also today, I’m excited to tell you that Insight for Living has pulled together a collection of Chuck’s favorite stories, anecdotes, and illustrations. Each one designed to make you laugh. This collection of 3 CDs is just called Laughter. You’ve heard Chuck laugh on this program before; it’s definitely contagious.

Chuck refers to laughter as an essential ingredient for a great attitude and the prescription for joy. When you listen to this unique set of recordings, you’ll find yourself laughing out loud. Whether you’re commuting in the car or out on your walk, you may just catch the contagious joy bug from Chuck. You’ll certainly identify with his winsome wisdom and laugh right along with him. To purchase the 3-CD collection, call 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/offer.

Chuck’s Bible teaching is made available on the radio, our mobile app, and on the internet because faithful friends like you give voluntary donations. To send a contribution in the mail, you can write to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas 75034. You can also call 800-772-8888 or visit insight.org/donate.

I’m Bill Meyer, inviting you to join us when Chuck Swindoll continues his practical series called Contagious Christianity Friday on Insight for Living.