1 Thessalonians 4:1,3-8 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“1Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us…”

“3For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; 4each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. 8Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.”

The Morally Unclean

The picture the Lord is giving me of this today is with regard to those who profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips but who, in reality, are the sexually immoral, morally unclean, malicious, deceivers, manipulators, liars, self-indulgent, selfish, prideful, and those who fake their Christianity while they live the opposite of that. They give off the impression that they are Christians, and that they are good people, but it is a charade – a pretense, a performance in order to convince others that they are good and not evil.

And what the Lord reminded me of this morning is the handwriting on the wall in Daniel 5, verse 27, where it says: “You have been weighed on the scales and found deficient” (or wanting or lacking). And this is about God, in His judgments of human beings, weighing their actions which turn out to be sinful and contrary to the Word and to the will of God. And that is what today’s passage teaches, too, that the Lord will avenge the one who does such things and then who lies about it to try to cover it up to look better.

Sometimes those who are guilty of such willful and habitual sins as are mentioned here will pass the blame onto someone else who is innocent. They may lie about the ones they are sinning against, giving them a bad reputation, while they lie about themselves, giving themselves a good reputation. These types of people are usually charmers who other people are naturally attracted to who hide their sins so that no one will suspect them of evil. They are so convincing that people will easily believe their lies as truth.

God’s Will

But it is the will of God that we who profess faith in Jesus Christ must be those who have died with Christ to sin and who are now walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands as a matter of life practice, in His power. We who profess His name are to live in a way which is pleasing to God, not pleasing to our sinful flesh. For it is God’s will that we should be holy, and to be holy is to be different, unlike the world, because we are being molded by God into His likeness, and it is to put sin to death and to live for our Lord.

For Jesus Christ did not give His life up for us on that cross to forgive us our sins and then to give us permission to keep on in our sins without guilt or consequence. He put our sins to death with Him so that, by God-gifted faith in Him we will now deny self, die to sin, and walk (in conduct) in obedience to our Lord and to His commands. Forgiveness of sins teaches “go and sin no more.” It is not carte blanche (free reign) to continue in sin. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

Regardless of what is so popular today in being taught as “the gospel,” so much of what is being taught are lies created in the minds of humans who want to be able to continue in their sin without consequence. And so they teach that all we have to do is to make a profession of faith in Jesus and now all our sins are forgiven and heaven is what awaits us. But the Scriptures teach the opposite of that. They teach we must abstain from such sins as are mentioned here because the Lord will avenge such sinful acts.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Putting on a Performance
An Original Work / September 18, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Your Heart

An Original Work / October 24, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Tenderly He speaks, softly so.
Gently He calls – His will to know.
Won’t you invite Him in your heart?
Humbly accept Him now.
Bow before Him with contrite heart.
May you obey His will.
Seek Him with all your heart and soul,
And your heart, His Spirit fill.

Jesus died to free you from sin,
Giving you new life to begin,
Walking with Him ev’ry hour,
Obeying His commands.
Won’t you trust Him to be your Lord?
His grace you can’t afford.
Freely He gives you peace within,
When you turn from all your sin.

Live for Him ev’ry passing day.
Meet with Him; read His word and pray.
Serve Him in the way He leads you,
Doing all that He says.
Do unto others as you would
Have them do unto you.
Love them with Jesus love within you.
Your hearts to God be true.