1 Thess. 4:3; Rom. 1:18-32, Vile Passions

We plan to take several days to consider in detail the issues found in 1 Thess. 4:3-8.  These issues relate to such things as internet pornography, living together before marriage, sex before marriage, “recreational sex,” homosexuality and sexual abuse.  These are all matters that our world speaks about and participates in.  We need to know that God’s will is sanctification and that our sanctification includes how we live in the sexual areas of life.


We also should be reminded that where our world is today in these matters is the result of previous decisions (Rom. 1:18-32).  First, knowing God, people have refused to treat God as God, being unwilling to glorify Him and give Him thanks.  Thus their minds became empty and the light went out in their hearts.  People profess to be wise about human relationships; but in fact they are fools.  They become enraged when women are abused sexually; yet they promote “sex without marriage” and the right of a woman to control her body (i.e. to have abortions at will) and the right of a woman to wear immodest clothing as she chooses.  All these things actually invite sexual abuse; they demean women rather than setting them apart.


The result of this is that God, the Creator of all humanity, has given humanity over to the very things they have so foolishly chosen.  God has let society experience the results of choosing to follow their lustful hearts, thus dishonoring their bodies.  They have no “soul satisfaction” but instead are in a race to invent new and harmful ways to treat their bodies, following their own vile passions.  They are so inclined to this path that they will befriend those who adopt their vile ways while pouring out sarcasm, wrath, ridicule and contempt on any who seek to disagree with them.  Men have made choices; God has given them over to the natural end of those choices.


We are to abstain from sexual immorality.  Let us be diligent to understand what the Bible means by sexual immorality.  One NT term is “adultery” which refers to a person married to someone else or by a person married to someone else.  The other term is “fornication” (which is the word in 1 Th. 4:3) that refers to sexual sin of any kind.  The specific relationships that are involved in sexual immorality are generally found in the OT where the distinctions were spelled out.  (Significant NT passages are Matt. 5:32; 15:19; 1 Cor. 5:9-11; 6:12-20; 7:2; Gal. 5:19).


One place to find distinctions is in the Mosaic Law.  Note that God Himself made it clear what was immoral.  He told the people of Israel they were not to get their ideas either from Egypt where they had been or from the Canaanites where they were headed, nor shall you walk in their ordinances (Lev. 18:3).  This is important for us today.  Our standards in the matter of sexual purity are not the laws of the United States or any other country.  For those who follow Christ we know the standard is from the LORD Himself.  God, Who loves us and always is good, will satisfy our souls.  That is a simple but critical place to begin in abstaining from sexual immorality.