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Colin Smith: It is God's will that you should be sanctified. Well, if these sexually scarred Christians could be sanctified, so can you. Our battles are not so different from the battles faced by other Christians. So let's get rid of the self-pity.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, we began last time to look at the subject of purity. And there may be some listening today who would say I wish I could say I was pure. I'm not. I've got a messed up background. And it sounds like we're going to be looking at some Christians in the New Testament that our listeners might be able to identify with today.

Colin Smith: Yeah, for sure. And you know, I think one of the big mistakes that we make is that we get the idea that to be messed up, and particularly to be messed up sexually, is kind of unique to our modern times. That's absolutely not the case. I mean, you go back to the times of the New Testament and you discover there are people who were converted out of a background of all kinds of abusive experience that had left them sexually scarred. And it's to folks like that that the letters of the New Testament are are written.

This is what you wear, but you're not that now. You you are you are a new creation in Jesus Christ. So the Bible shines the light of hope into all kinds of wounding, all kinds of effects of sin in our lives. And it's that hope that we're going to be looking at together today.

Steve Hiller: Well, we're going to look at that from 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. So join us there as we continue this message, the urgency of personal purity. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: It is God's will that you should be sanctified. Now I want to approach this really from three angles. And we're going to look first at your calling to purity, second your battle for purity, and thirdly our hope of purity. First then our calling. And I want us to look at verse seven. Really the section runs from verse three through to verse seven. And Paul summarizes all that he's been saying in these verses in these words. Verse seven. God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Speaking to Christian believers and he says God when God laid hold of you in Christ, when Christ died on the cross for you, when your sins were forgiven, when you came to be a new person in Christ, it wasn't so that you would just carry on being impure or so that you would drift into being impure.

It was so that you would live a holy life. Now what specifically does that mean? Well, two things Paul identifies. The first negative and then the second positive. The negative is in verse three. It is God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality. There's the negative that you avoid sexual immorality. Here's the positive, verse four. It is God's will, verse four, that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable. Now what does this mean? Well, it could be that Paul is making a general statement about the importance of self-control.

But it seems to me, the more I've looked at this and read commentators on this passage, it seems to me much more likely that Paul is speaking specifically to Christian believers who are married and that he is speaking about the intimate relationship of a Christian husband and a Christian wife. What we're learning here is that the purpose of God includes the transforming power of the gospel, touching even the most intimate areas of private life that the change that the gospel and bringing God brings in the life of a Christian husband or a Christian wife is actually going to extend even into the private world of your bedroom.

Wow. Now what is Paul saying specifically here? Just this. That sanctification involves putting an end to sexual selfishness in marriage. Either the sexual selfishness that expresses itself in imposing or the sexual selfishness that expresses itself in withholding. What Paul is saying is that every Christian husband should learn to relate to his wife in a way that is holy and honorable. Do you see these two words in verse four? These are the key words. Holy and honorable. And that every wife should learn to relate to her husband in a way that is holy and honorable. And that this is part of living to please God.

This is part of God's will for you in Christ Jesus. This is part of growth in the Christian life. It is not outside of God's purpose for you. It is very much a part of it. Now having established what Paul teaches here and the weight of it, I want us to see secondly not just our calling to purity, but secondly our battle for purity. And I want to make a very simple point here and that is that purity of course is always a battle and that these issues of pursuing holiness and all the dimensions of what that means will be a struggle for us throughout the entire course of our lives.

Now let me suggest to you that one of the dangers for us today is that we become self-pitying about how difficult it all is in our culture. Obviously we face some temptations and pressures that are different from other generations. We have particular temptations that come through the internet and through the television and the cable and and all the rest of it that are different from other generations and more casual sexual standards at work and the way people speak at the school and and so forth and so on. Sometimes we begin to feel sorry for ourselves and say well it's so so difficult for us being raised in this culture and this generation.

Boy, no one's ever faced the pressures that we faced like this. Well, not so fast. I found it helpful to learn a little more about the background and culture of these first believers in Thessalonica. And again I want to quote to you this morning from John Stott in his commentary to the Thessalonians. This is what he said on the Thessalonians. This is what he says. Paul was writing from Corinth to Thessalonica. And both cities were famed for their immorality. It was widely accepted that men could not or would not limit themselves to their wife as their only sexual partner.

He then quotes FF Bruce, who is really a world expert on New Testament background and culture and so forth. And Bruce says this referring to the culture in Thessalonica. A man there might have a mistress who could provide him also with intellectual companionship. The institution of slavery made it easy for him to have a concubine while casual gratification was readily available from a harlot. The function of the wife, think about this, in Thessalonica, in the culture, the function of the wife was to manage his household and to be the mother of his legitimate children and heirs.

Now that's the culture of these folks in Thessalonica to whom Paul is writing. And I want you just to think about that description. Think about the effect of living and being raised in that culture. Think about the effects on the men. And now think about the effects on the women. This is the background from which these new Christians had come. Not one of them had been raised in a nice Christian home. They'd been raised in this culture that Bruce has just described for us. And most of them, we know from chapter one, had turned to God from idols, not from a Jewish background, but from an idolatrous background with all of the paganism and all of the rest that went with that.

So it's very clear that in this town in Thessalonica, when Paul was writing to a congregation not so different from ours today, that he was writing this letter to a congregation that must have included many, many, many Christians who were sexually scarred and brought all kinds of baggage from their past years in paganism into the world of the church with them. And they had to find a way of dealing with it. And here's the wonderful thing that Paul writes to these folks living in that environment. And he says it is God's will that you should be sanctified.

Well, if these sexually scarred Christians could be sanctified, so can you. So can you.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called the Urgency of Personal Purity. And unfortunately we have to pause here for just a moment, but I want to let you know that if you ever miss a program, you can always listen online. Come to our website, openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen on the go if you have the Open the Bible app, which you'll find for free at your app store, or again visit our website at openthebible.org. Let's get back to the message.

Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Our battles are not so different from the battles faced by other Christians. So let's get rid of the self-pity, the feels that we are somehow unique. The forms perhaps change with technology, but the world never changes. Human nature never changes. Now knowing that this is a battle and just getting honest about that will help to to set the right expectations. The battle will be hard. The battle for purity. In any battle, you will know your defeats as well as your victories. You will not meet with unbroken success. You'll get discouraged sometimes. You'll think am I ever going to finally prevail?

There'll be times when you make progress and these will be the times when surprise attacks come. That's what happens in battle and you just wonder where did that come from? How did I fail there? Your holiness will never be complete in this life, but it will progress by the grace of God and by the power of the spirit. Now expect this battle to be intense and expect it to be ongoing. Don't think that you're going to be able to set a date when it will disappear. That date will be the day when you go into the presence of the Lord.

Listen to the language of the New Testament setting expectations for the Christian life. Here's what you and I should expect as we follow this path, pursue this path of purity. Here's what it's like. Fight the good fight of faith. Endure hardship like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the devil's schemes. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Jesus speaking. Don't suppose that I've come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

What's he saying? My coming will launch you into a fight. And here's what the fight looks like. Paul says we're wrestling not against flesh and blood. We're not fighting people, but we're up against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. There are dark and demonic powers that want to ruin your life. So be on your guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong. Fight the good fight. Hold on to the faith and a good conscience. Again Bishop Ryle I think is so helpful on this subject. He says there are two ways that you know a Christian.

The first is that he has peace of conscience. The second, he has a battle going on inside him. And Ryle says a true Christian may be known by his warfare as much as by his peace. So if we're talking all the time about how wonderful it is to have peace with God, justification, that's great. But if you have no awareness of an ongoing battle, sanctification, you've missed the heart of what the Christian life is all about. In fact, if you really don't know what I'm talking about in describing the battle of the Christian life to pursue purity, then I have to say to you you are almost certainly not a Christian.

I assume therefore that the vast majority of us in this congregation do know what I'm talking about here, right? It's a battle. You don't look so sure. Don't you know this battle? And isn't it important that we recognize that this is precisely what we're to expect and precisely what the Bible tells us the nature of the Christian life is about. If you are experiencing this conflict, be encouraged because the fact that you're experiencing the conflict is in itself a mark that you are a true believer, not that you are somehow less than a true believer.

This is what the normal Christian life is like in this world. This is what sanctification looks like. So we've looked at the calling to purity. We've looked at the battle for purity. If you don't know this battle, if you know experience of what it is to struggle to pursue holiness, you're not yet a Christian, just find out what a Christian is, but don't think that you are one if you don't know what this is about. And here's the last thing. Your hope of purity. Now I want to end on this note of hope because some of us have known so many defeats and we've become so discouraged and we wonder if we're making any progress and the battle is so hard and so long and so difficult and so often we feel like is it really worth it and and so forth and so on.

Well, let's come back to a great encouragement that I don't want us to miss and it right here in verse three. It is God's will that you should be sanctified. This is fantastic. It is God's will that you should be sanctified. This is fantastic because this is more than a command. It is a promise. It is a commitment of almighty God to your sanctification. And praise God that the gospel is more than forgiveness. You see forgiveness, what a precious gift from God that deals with the effects of your sin in heaven. But forgiveness doesn't deal with the effects of sin in your own life.

You may say I've been forgiven for what I have done, for what I have pursued and for the for the sins that I have committed. The condemnation has been lifted, but listen, what about the power of habit that was formed as a result in your life over the years? What about the memories you carry? What about the way in which it has distorted the way that you look at men or women? What about the effects of sin in your own heart, your own mind? Um forgiveness doesn't change that. James Denney, I've quoted a number of times before, describes the effects of sexual indulgence, I think more incisively than any other writer I've read.

And I want us to think about what he says here, not only in relation to immorality, but in in relation to pornography, which seems to be so endemic in our culture. One of the worst effects of pornography in this life is that it shrivels a man's capacity to love. That's what it does. And let me read Denney. He's writing 100 years ago, but boy, he's right on the mark. Sensual indulgence extinguishes the capacity for feeling. The profligate man, that is the man who indulges himself in these ways, he would like to love, but he cannot.

All that is inspiring and elevating and redeeming in the passions is lost to him and all that remains is a dull sense of incalculable loss. This inward deadening, Denney says, is one of the most terrible consequences of immorality. It is so unexpected, so unlike the anticipations of youthful passion, so stealthy in its approach, so inevitable, so irreparable. And forgiveness doesn't address that. But sanctification does. I want to say to sexually scarred Christians today. It is God's will that you should be sanctified. That is a marvelous statement of hope. The creator God recreating capacities that have been shriveled by the indulgence of lust, recreating them by the power of his holy spirit, sanctification.

When Paul says it's God's will that you should be sanctified, what that means is that God is on your side when it comes to assaulting the strongholds of sin in your life and pulling them down, think of your sanctification as being like a tug of war. And here's this rope with a flag in the middle. And you think about all that's pulling against you in this great struggle or battle. There's the power of memory, there's the power of habit, there's the power of the flesh, there is the power of Satan, there is the power of temptation, all lined up on this side of the line.

And here's you on the other side of the rope and you say what chance have I got of winning this tug of war against all that lot? Here's the answer. Almighty God stands and pulls on this end of the rope with you. That's what Paul is saying. It is God's will that you should be sanctified. He's committed to this. He is pulling with you in this matter. And as you know it and as you believe it, you will be refreshed and renewed and you will be strengthened and encouraged in the ongoing struggle. That's why Paul ends in verse eight by saying God who gives you his spirit, greater is he who is in you and with you than he who is in the world of God before us, who can be against it?

Listen, Christ shed his blood for you, but he also offers his hand to you. And in offering his hand, he puts strength and victory within your reach. And so there is in God's great mercy, forgiveness for yesterday. And there is strength for today. And there is hope for tomorrow. There is no sin that you cannot overcome in the strength of God's spirit. And that is the promise of the gospel. And so whatever your failure in the past, I invite you today to put your trust in Jesus Christ and to commit yourself anew and afresh to the pursuit of holiness.

Steve Hiller: What a line to remember. There is no sin that you cannot overcome with the strength of God's spirit. That is the promise of the gospel. You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called the Urgency of Personal Purity. It's part of a series called Living Like There's No Tomorrow based on the book of 1st Thessalonians. And if you'd like to get a copy of this series for yourself, ask about that when you call us at 1 877 Open 365. That's 1 877 673 6365 or you'll find ordering information at openthebible.org.

Open the Bible is a listener supported program. It's your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching each day. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to send you a copy of Tim Keller's book called What Is Wrong With the World? And Colin tell us about this book.

Colin Smith: Well, I think everybody's heard the phrase that a picture is worth a thousand words. And the Bible answers the question what is wrong with the world with the age old answer, the unchanging answer that it is sin that's got into the human bloodstream. But you see what God has done so wonderfully is he speaks to us in language that we can understand. He uses pictures. And what Tim Keller has done so wonderfully here is he's drawn out the pictures that God has used in scripture to explain what's wrong with the world, to tell us what sin is and what it's like.

So for example, it's like a predator, like an animal in the story of Cain and Abel. God says sin is crouching at the door as if it was ready to attack and to destroy. Or it's like leprosy which we have in the story of Naaman. This goes through and it gets at the question what is it that's wrong with the world? That's a question that any thinking person really needs to grapple with. And it enables us to grapple with it in a way that we are able to understand. It's beautifully written. It's an easy read and it answers one of the most important questions we can ever face.

Steve Hiller: Well, we would love to send you a copy of this book. Again it's called What Is Wrong With the World? As our thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at openthebible.org or when you call 1 877 Open 365. That's 1 877 673 6365 or openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Who in your life needs to know the God of the Bible and might be willing to open the Bible with you if you ask them? Most people can think of someone and many are finding that someone in their life is open to this invitation. Would you be interested in opening the Bible with me? Fly Through the Bible is a short, simple and sharable book that will help you open the Bible with a friend, a neighbor or a loved one who needs to know Jesus. It's also freely available online. Fly Through the Bible has 15 short sections, each with five discussable questions that will open conversations around the word of God.

For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That's openthebible.org/fly.