Price, Larry: Studies In 1 Thessalonians-2001-04

I thought, uh, Bobby's really gonna set his clock forward. He's gonna be speaking next Saturday. So you really get to jump on us there. I don't know how well attended the meeting will be, but, uh... He mentioned the golf course and his, uh, different attitude towards the stresses that are associated with that game, and, uh, I'm sure that part of the alleviation of that stress has to do with playing golf with me. If you ever need a few good laughs, just, uh, invite me to go out on the course with you, and as Bob would attest to what Bobby said, he can attest to that as well. But we had a great time going out. It was a lot of fun and, uh, nice to have that kind of experience together. Let's turn to First Thessalonians chapter four if we could. We're going through the book of First Thessalonians in the assembly on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Sunday and Wednesday night. And as I mentioned, on Tuesday night, we're going into the book of Second Thessalonians. Every chapter in First and Second Thessalonians has a reference to the return of the Lord Jesus, and we noted those when we were looking at the, at the book before. And so the prominent theme in these books, first and second Thessalonians, but particularly first Thessalonians, living in light of the Lord's return. And one of the facts that we find, and we'll see it again today, is that living in light of the Lord's return, that is living with a view to the coming of Christ, has a very practical effect on how we live our lives in this present world. As a matter of fact, if you go through the New Testament and look at all the references to the Lord's return, particularly those in the epistles, that is the letters that are written, uh, to individuals and to churches, you will find that wherever you have a reference to the return of the Lord Jesus, it is always coupled, or it is always in the context of some form of practical exhortation, some form of practical instruction that is given to us. And so, contrary to the opinion that prophecy and the subject of the Lord's return is just sort of some sort of armchair thing that really doesn't have anything to do with the reality of life, we find that it is one of the greatest motivating factors for our lives if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me, since we've already had in our reading First Thessalonians chapter four, just back up for a moment to chapter three and read there the last two verses of chapter three. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you, to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. We noticed in chapter two in our last message together, that chapter two brought out before us the character of true ministry. And it began by looking, first of all, at the minister's motives, and what were the servant's motives as he served the Lord and served the Lord's people. And then it looked at the minister's methods, or the servant's methods, in verses seven through twelve, and finally the minister or the servant's message in verses thirteen through twenty. And we saw in that section of the Word of God that Paul was bringing before the Thessalonians the reality of how it was that he had served the Lord in the context of serving them. And he brought before us in chapter two the answer to the charge that he wasn't really concerned about them, that he had left in a hurry and just sort of left them hanging, that he was only in it for the money, that his message was one that promoted, uh, unclean living, that he practiced guile and deceit and was just a huckster or a person who tricked them. He answered all of those charges in chapter two. And then in chapter three, he goes into this subject a bit more about the report that he had gotten from Timothy concerning the believers at Thessalonica. He says in verse one of chapter three, we could no longer forbear, it was almost beyond what we could stand. When we were left at Athens, we were concerned with you, and so we sent Timothy to establish you in the faith. And you'll notice in verse two, chapter three and verse two, Timothy came, and the goal of Timothy was to establish them in the faith, to comfort them concerning their faith, to encourage them, that is, to fit them for the battle. In verse five he says, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you and our labor be in vain. In verse eight he said, for now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. And Paul could literally say that this is the very thing that our life is for, to see you stand fast and established in the Lord. And then, in verse ten, night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith, or that which will bring you on to maturity. And so the goal that Paul had for those at Thessalonica, and the goal that the Word of God has for us, is that we might be established in our faith, that we might be built up in our faith. It is not a point in time, uh, thing that happens, rather it is a process of building and growing and, and going on in the things of the Lord. And that was the very thing that Paul said he had given his life for. These were the main objectives. Now, beginning in verse twelve, he says, of chapter three, the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. That is, that you might spend your life in the interest of others, and that the end result of this, in verse thirteen might be that he will establish your hearts in holiness, unblamable when the Lord returns. It has to do with the establishment of the inner man, unblamable in view of the Lord's return. Paul was encouraged concerning the report that he had received of the Thessalonians. And I wonder, what would the report of concerning us, what would it be like if there were a Paul, so to speak, and he were to send a Timothy here to Hollywood Bible Chapel and to examine our lives, to see how we were doing, to see if we were making progress in the things of God. Would he be able to report back? I'd like to give you a good report. Yes, there are some areas that need growth, but they are pursuing holiness. They are, uh, being perfected in their faith. They are striving together, and they are increasing and abounding in love, one toward another. Increasing and abounding. And so, that our hearts might be established unblamable in holiness. And that introduces us to the subject that he's going to bring up in chapter four, the subject of, of holiness. And if I could title the message today, I would simply title it A Pure Walk Pleases the Father. A Pure Walk Pleases the Father. He begins by addressing those that are brethren. That is, this is a message primarily to believers. He's writing to those who are believers in the Lord Jesus. And he says, we beseech you and we exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. Now, Kenny had asked me, is this a message that's going to be good for my class? And I said, not only is it a message that's going to be good for your class, your class absolutely needs to be here this morning for this message. This is a message not just for those who are my age. This is a message that young people today need to hear from God's word. I would encourage those of you who are parents, not because it's me that's speaking, but because of the subject matter that we're going to be dealing with today, that you get these things thoroughly fixed in your mind if you don't have them already. These are things that are good to go over with your young people, particularly those that are preteen or teenagers. It's a very important message, and it's one that we, we need to come to grips with in God's word. We're talking about in First Thessalonians chapter four, a pure walk pleases the Father. He says, we beseech you, we exhort you. That is, we beseech you, we plead with you, and we exhort you. The word exhort means to encourage, to pursue a particular path, to encourage you along a particular path. It's as if you see someone going down a good path and you want to encourage them, you're headed down the right road, or you want to steer them onto that path that is going to be the best road for their development or the the best road for their their proper growth. We encourage you to pursue this path. We encourage you and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us, how you ought to walk. Now, you should note the word walk in your Bible. The word walk, as I'm sure you might be familiar with, means to regulate your conduct. It means to order your behavior. And I want to back up to the book of Ephesians in chapter four and look at that word as it's found there. Ephesians in chapter four and verse one. Ephesians four and verse one, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling or the vocation wherewith you are called. Order your behavior, live your life, regulate your conduct in a way that is worthy of the thing that you have been called to as a believer in Christ. It's interesting that that word worthy is a word that means to have the weight of. The kind of life that you live should be a reflection of what you have been called to in Christ. Your heavenly calling in Christ, your life on the world, the two should be consistent. They should have the same weight. That's what he's saying. Order your behavior in a worthy way that reflects that which you have been called to if you are a believer in Christ. Look in verse seventeen. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk, not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, that is, in the emptiness of their way of thinking. And you will see in verse eighteen and in verse nineteen that their understanding is darkened. They're alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, and they have given themselves over to loose living. Basically, we find that because people have rejected God's truth, verse eighteen, they have been affected mentally, verse eighteen, they have been affected spiritually, and verse nineteen, it has an effect morally. The world that knows not God, their mind has been affected, their spirit has been affected, and it produces an immorality in living and way of thinking. Sometimes we express shock when we see certain things, and and that shock is right if it is shock in the sense that we have been sensitized to to the Lord and to his truth, and we are shocked to see something that is so contrary to it. But it shouldn't surprise us what the world does. You look sometimes, you think, how in the world can they, can they promote such a thing or propagate such a thing? It's because their mind has been affected. It's because their spirit has been darkened. It is because they morally are not connected with God. And so what we find in the world is not that which is to regulate our behavior. The world will come along and say, it's okay to do this particular thing. It's okay to live like this. It's okay to pursue this par- particular sin, whatever it may be. That's not what God's word says. And the reason they think it's okay is because they have been affected by their sin. We are not to order our lifestyles in that way. Chapter five and verse two tells us to walk in love. Ephesians five two. Chapter five and verse eight says we are to walk in the light as children of the light. Chapter five and verse fifteen says we are to walk in wisdom, circumspectly, as it says. So our walk, the way that we order our behavior. Now, back in First Thessalonians, remember that Thessalonica, or as it's known today, Salonika, the Greek city, was a naval port. It was also at sort of the, a major crossroad of the world of that day, so it got a lot of traffic. It was on a major highway that went to the east, and it got a lot of traffic. So it was a place that was exposed to all sorts of wickedness, all sorts of sinfulness, all sorts of immorality, all sorts of pagan superstitions. The environment at Thessalonica was less than favorable and less than conducive to promoting holiness according to the standard of God. I want to say that because it's important that we, that we realize what kind of environment those at Thessalonica were in and had been raised in and would have to continue in. There would be many things that would be contrary to what the Lord said would please him. Second, their background. Remember that these at Thessalonica had turned to God from idols. Now we think again of, of i- idolatry as just bowing down to a statue, but that's only part of it. It was a whole way of life. There was a pagan lifestyle that went along with that idolatry, and a big part of that idolatry had to do with... with, uh, immorality and sexual sin that was immersed in that culture. The Thessalonians, that was their background. God had saved them, delivered them out of that. And he wanted them now to live a different life. They would now live a different life because the very motive of their life was going to be different. Look in chapter four and verse one. You've received of us how you ought to walk and to please God. How you ought to walk and to please God. The motive of their life was now changed. The motive of their life was to please God. Remember that. That ought to be the motive of every one of us who are believers in Christ. The very driving force of our life. How can I please God? Does the way that I live please God? Do the things that I do please God? How can I live in such a way that my life is pleasing unto him in a very practical manner? That is, in the very things that we do in this world. That's the motive of our life, to please God. Not only that, he says the second reason that their behavior was to be different was that it was an obligation. It wasn't an option. He says in verse one, you have received of us how you ought to walk. And that word ought means obligation. It is not an option. It's not that some Christians ought to walk like this and others not. It's not that some Christians ought to have their life characterized by these things and, and not others. It is an obligation for every believer in Christ. This is how you are to live your life. This is what God would have of you. And third, different behavior because of obedience to the Lord Jesus. You notice in chapter four and verse one he uses the term the Lord Jesus. And in verse two he says, you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. He's emphasizing and stressing the fact that if you claim that Jesus is your Lord, that he is your master. Your life is not your own. You're seeking to please him and to do the things that, that, that he would have you to do. And then the fourth reason why their behavior was to be different is that they were to honor God and to glorify him. It says in verse four that every one of us know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and in honor, and we'll go over that in just a moment. Their former, former behavior, the Thessalonians' former behavior was a witness to where they stood in the world, and their lives were, were a witness to the fact that they were separated from God. Now, their lives and their behavior should witness to the fact of their standing in God and their separation to the world. Big difference. Verse three, This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. Now we need to look at those two words, those two big words that are found in that, that particular verse. The word sanctification means to be set apart or dedicated unto something or someone. It's the same word that we get our word holiness from. And the word fornication is a word that means any kind of sexual relationships outside of the boundaries that God had established. And for the sake of all that are here, but particularly the young people that are here, let's remember the bounds that God has established. God has established boundaries that sexual relationships occur between a man and a woman within the boundaries of marriage, period. It doesn't matter what your teacher might tell you, it doesn't matter what your school might say, it doesn't matter what you see on television, what you read in some book, this is what the word of God says, and anything other than that is outside the boundaries that God has established. It's very important for us to understand that. And so, uh, we'll, we see that the will of God concerning our sanctification is that we should abstain from any kind of sexual relationships that are outside the boundaries that God has established. This is the will of God, the will of God. Now, I'm going to try to move slow because I start, well, I don't get as fast as Glenn gets, but, uh, I get rolling pretty good, and, uh, I want to back up to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter two. Glenn is a high energy guy. Ephesians chapter two. Concerning the will of God. Formally, that is before you're saved. Ephesians chapter two and verse three, It says, among whom also we all had our lifestyle in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Formally, our will was just given over to doing whatever we wanted to do, whatever pleased us. That was the only rule we had. Is it something that pleases me? Is it something that I want to do? Is it something that my mind can conceive? Is it something that, uh, the lust of my flesh would enjoy? And that was what I would give myself over to. That's what characterizes a person who is outside of Christ. But now, we read something has taken place. Titus chapter three, for those who are believers in Christ. Titus and chapter three. Titus chapter three and verse three, We ourselves also were at one time foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers or various kinds of lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Regeneration, it's the act of God whereby he imparts to us eternal life. And it talks here about the washing of regeneration, the cleansing of the former manner of life, the work that is necessary for you now to not have a will that's just given over to doing whatever you want, but a will that now wants to please God. It's the new nature. It is the new birth, and it puts within us a desire to, to, to want to please God. Look over in chapter two, same book, verse eleven, the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men, and it teaches us something. Teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust. It teaches us how to say no. Remember the big program the world had? Just say no. Problem was, there was no power given to you to be able to really say no, except whatever you could drum up within yourself to say no. But God's grace through Jesus Christ comes in, and God puts within you a new nature. He puts within you, he creates within you a, a new man, and that new person within you now wants to please God, wants to serve God, and finds that there is a source of power that enables you to please God, and enables you to live the kind of life, and enables you to say no to the things that are contrary to God's word and God's will. You now have a will that's given over to doing God's will and to pleasing him. And so that new birth is necessary. We must become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, or we won't have the ability or the desire to do that which is pleasing to God. Now, in First Thessalonians again, it says we ought to, uh, rather, this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication. Let me just say a word about sanctification. As you're probably aware, that word sanctify or sanctification, it wasn't just used among Christians. It would have been a word that the Thessalonians were familiar with, because anything that was dedicated over to the use of the gods was sanctified or set apart for the use of that particular thing. And further than that, you see these Thessalonians coming out of their pagan background, uh, this old life they lived, well, that old life tended to take the urges of the flesh and the urges of the physical and exalt them to the place of being some sort of God, so that you really had no choice if you had some sort of physical urge within yourself, well, that was the God moving you. And so you, you gave yourself over to do to that because to not do so would have been to deny the very God that was working in you. That was the way their thinking was. And to give yourself over to worship in the pagan temple meant being involved in all sorts of sexual perversion and sin. And now Paul writes them and says that the will of God is your sanctification, dedicated wholly unto him, and that you abstain from sexual sin and sexual immorality. That was a new thing for the Thes- for the Thessalonians. And yet, again, what an evidence that this new life was so contrary to the old life that they had. Sexual sin was rampant then, just like it is now. The other thing about that society was that sexual sin was lightly, if any, condemned by the society, just like it is in the society in which we live now. But it's especially displeasing to the Lord. Sometimes we want to say, well, all sin's sin. Sin doesn't matter. Sin is sin. One sin's just as bad as another in the sight of God. Well, I know what you mean by that, but it's not necessarily accurate according to God's word. Even under the Old Testament law, different sins received different punishment. God didn't just lump it all together and say it's sin. There were different categories of sin, and some sins required one punishment and another a different punishment. And when you come to the New Testament, turn with me to that passage that's found in First Corinthians chapter six. Sexual sin is especially displeasing to the Lord and something that believers in Christ are particularly warned against. First Corinthians chapter six and verse fifteen, 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 a harlot? God forbid. What, know you not that he which is joined to a harlot is one body? For two saith he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man do- does is without the body, outside the body, but he that committeth fornication sins against his own body. What, know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? You are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Flee fornication. Stay away from it, he says. Beware of it, because it is a sin that is against the body, and you cannot take the members of Christ and join them to the, to the members of a prostitute. It's a particular sin that brings the judgment of God, and you're bought with a price. Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. Remember that flee fornication that's found there. Stay away from it. God says it's wrong, and God says there are consequences, and you will go against God's word at your own peril. Now, turn with me to Ephesians chapter five again, in verse three. This is another important verse. We had a, one of the young people last night, by the way, we had a great time last night. I suppose we had about twenty out at the young people's meeting last night, and it, uh, it was a very interesting time, wasn't it, Tim? We had a great time, though. It, you trust the Lord in these things, and I remember coming up struggling, what am I going to speak on? And I decided on two little words that were found in the New Testament, and and the Lord just opened the door from there on. And we had about a, an hour time of just interchange with these young people, questions and looking into God's word and see what it had to say. One of the questions came up, well, what who's, where's, where do we see in the Bible it's wrong to use, uh, profanity or obscene language? And we turn to Ephesians chapter five and verse three that says, fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become of saints, nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. Now, those words there, filthiness means obscenity, that which is crude, that which is foul, that which is filthy. Foolish talking is coarse jesting, uh, uh, that's that which is on the edge, that which is vulgar. So it doesn't have to be out and out profanity, it can be right on the edge, suggestiveness, but rather the giving of thanks. And one of the young persons said, well, how do you know what's profanity? Who makes the standard? And I said, well, you know, even the world out there of unsaved people tell you what profanity is. They know what's wrong in language. So it's not hard to figure out, is it? But it doesn't have to be even that which the world says is profane, that which is vulgar, that which is coarse, that which is on the edge. And, and chapter five says, don't let it once even be named among you as becometh saints. Avoid it. Stay away from it. First Thessalonians four four says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. That is to gain control and mastery. Rather than our bodies and our urges, the urges of our bodies controlling us, the physical controlling us, we need to learn how to gain mastery through the power of God's spirit over our bodies. First Corinthians chapter nine, Paul says, I beat my body, literally, he was using language of a boxer. I gain mastery over my body. I don't let it rule me. Because if you let it, it will. But what do we do? How do we gain mastery? How do we gain control so that we can, uh, possess our vessel, as it says, in sanctification and honor? We live in a sex saturated and a sexually saturated, uh, bombarding us all the time with that type of stuff, and I'll tell you what happens, it gradually begins to desensitize you towards sin, if you give yourself to it. I remember, uh, you- you- you've heard the story of- of a frog. How to boil a frog. I'm sure you've heard that little illustration. You have to take a frog and throw him in boiling water, he'll jump out of it if he can. But if you take a frog and you put him in the pot of cold water, and then you gradually keep turning up the heat, you'll boil him to death because he'll acclimate to that temperature. And that's the way we can be as Christians. We can become desensitized to sin. I remember Dick Van Dyke years ago talking about how standards had changed. Some of you remember the old Dick Van Dyke show. And he said back then censorship was such that if there were ever a scene with a, this was just with a husband and a wife, and the two of them were seen in a bedroom, there had to be twin beds. He had to have pajamas with the top button buttoned. Now that we've come a long way, unfortunately, it's been a long way downhill. Now, major network television, forget cable, we won't even go there, major network television. How many programs are listed in major network television right now, not just with sexual sin between unmarried people, but where homosexuality is flaunted as an acceptable lifestyle on major network television. And the language, you know, I used to listen to a particular sports station in, in, in my area. I don't even listen to it anymore. It's a sports station, and yet they spend more time talking about sexual subjects and perversion, almost more time than they do about sports. I can't even hardly listen to the thing anymore to get a ball game or, you know, the, uh, scores or anything. Well, we live in a sex saturated and a society, and and the problem with believers is we gradually become desensitized to things. We begin watching things, listening to things, and taking things in that one ti- at one time we never would have. Internet. There's another subject that, uh, has the potential to be absolutely disastrous. And it's difficult in one sense to live a holy life with a mind that is filled with garbage. Garbage in, garbage out. It's very difficult. And young people are allowed to indiscriminately soak up the system, the world around us, to soak up their values, their standards, and and all that the world promotes. I was listening just the other day on the radio, talking about now introducing at the elementary school age level, first grade, second grade, third grade, a a pro-gay, as they call it, agenda to students in the public school system. It'll probably pass in California. So that they begin to teach that as an acceptable lifestyle to people who are in the first, kids that are in the first and second and third grades. They got it, they, and they say the reason they're doing that, we, we need to train them, we need to sensitize them while they're young to accept these things. That which God says is an abomination. An abomination, remember, is something God hates. We laugh at it. God says he hates it. And so we have to be careful of our own attitudes, the attitude we convey to our young people in the society in which we live. And they're allowed to just indiscriminately soak up the system's values. Remember this, when the Oscars are awarded, whenever that is, it's coming up, I think I saw the advertisement for it, they're going to be awarding trophies to people who live lives and promote lives that are either an abomination to God or in direct opposition to what God's word teaches and says. Those same people would get in your face and laugh at you for having such an old-fashioned standard as the Bible. Well, the Bible is an old-fashioned standard, but you see, God's standards have never changed. God's standard of holiness has never changed, so we don't have to look around us in society and wonder what's right today, because what's right has always been right, and it's always been found in God's word, and it gives us a guideline that we can go by. Well, it is difficult. The Gentile gods of that day were a personification of those people's own lust and ambitions, and remember, they were a cultured and refined people. Look at the Roman culture, look at the Greek culture of that day. These were not pagan people in the sense that they were running around, you know, with loincloths or something through the woods. These were a cultured, artistic, refined people, but they were corrupt because they had given themselves over to things that were contrary to the Lord. There are three reasons that follow why we should listen to what God says about this. First is found in verse six, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such. That is, violation brings God's judgment. You don't get away with things. You don't get away with things. The Lord is the avenger of all such, particularly when we speak of believers. I tell you, how many believers do we know, men and women alike, servants of the Lord or not servants of the Lord in a, what we call a full-time capacity, who have been taken down by sexual sin? It's a disaster. It's almost epidemic in many quarters. But the Lord is the avenger of such. If you violate these principles, you'll bring God's judgment, whether believer or not. You'll bring and invite God's judgment upon you. I don't have time to go into the story today, but my mind went to that Old Testament, Second Samuel chapter twelve. Remember what happened with David? And David sinned, and he committed adultery, and he had Uriah the Hittite killed. And finally, Nathan the prophet comes to him, and he tells him that little parable, and David's righteous character, oh, he becomes indignant. Where is the man that had done this thing? He will repay fourfold times. And Nathan looks at him and said, it's you, buddy. You are the man. And how David's words would come back to haunt him. That man will repay fourfold times. And David learned to reap that fourfold. You remember what happened? First of all, the baby died. That's found in chapter, uh, twelve and verse fifteen. Then after that, his daughter was raped, chapter thirteen. Then after that, that son that had raped her, that stepson that had raped her, he was killed in chapter thirteen. That was number three. And there was a long interval of time after that, but finally he, he finds himself weeping in chapter eighteen for Absalom, as Absalom was killed as well. The man that had done that shall pay fourfold. And it came back, those words, I'm sure, to haunt David. The Lord is the avenger of such. You don't get away with things. Galatians six says, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The second thing is, it's out of harmony with God's will. Verse seven, God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but he's called us unto holiness. Holiness is in harmony with God's will, uncleanness is not. And finally, verse eight, the third reason to reject this is to reject what God says. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. David said when he confessed his sin before the Lord, against thee and thee only have I sinned. That means not that he didn't do anything that affected others, but that primarily this sin was against God. Remember the life of Joseph, when tempted in sexual sin, who said, how can I do this and sin against God? He recognized the one that was really the one that he had to deal with and be concerned with. And so, salvation affects, affects our lives and in a very practical way, and we need to heed this warning today. No matter what the world bombards us with, no matter what the world tells us is right, no matter what the world says we can do and can't do, we need to go to the unchanging authority of God's word and realize that what God has established is a boundary, and outside of that boundary, it's an absolute disaster. Boundaries are not restrictive to our bad, they are restrictive to our good. You know what happens when a river overflows its boundaries? Well, you've got a flood, don't you, and a disaster. That's why you've got boundaries, and God has established it. Young people, beware. This is a sin that can not only mess up your life with serious consequences, but it can do serious damage to your, your relationship with the Lord. God will give you the ability to keep yourself pure and maintain your purity and holiness before him. And the Lord is the only one that can ultimately give you that ability and assurance that you don't have to live like the world does, but you can live in such a way that's pleasing to the Lord. We stop for there, and we look to the Lord in a word of prayer. Now, our Father, we, we thank you for your word. We thank you that it's practical. We thank you that it touches on areas of our lives that, that we need to know about, and, and it shows us how we are to live in the midst of this world, a world that doesn't know God. For the young people that are here, some things may have been over their heads, but I'm sure there are some things that can anchor home in their hearts and lives. Help them to remember that the world is not the one to instruct them how to live. That your word has instructions, and no matter what anybody else thinks, he that rejects this rejects God. And so we don't want to be rejecters of you or your word. We want to be followers. Help us to learn what it means. Help us to learn what it means to live a life of holiness in a wicked world that doesn't love God and doesn't love his son. And our Father, we pray that if there are any here who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, that they might realize that the only way they can have a will that desires to please God and to do his will is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and have their life changed by the power of the Spirit of God. Father, if there are others here who are struggling in this particular area, we pray that they might realize that you can grant them deliverance, complete and full and free, and enable them to learn how to possess their vessel in honor and in holiness and in sanctification, to gain the mastery, if you will. We just commit the- this time into your hand and, and the message to our hearts. We give you thanks in our Lord Jesus' name.