This “passion of lust” is how “those who do not know God” live. We see this in pornography where lust, not love, is on display. We see this in our past when we lived to please ourselves, not caring that we were rebelling against God, nor who we used and hurt in the process, nor who used us.
But when we come to know God at the cross, our lives change. 1 Thessalonians 4:5 tells us that those who don’t know God live in passionate lust, whereas knowing God, experiencing His love firsthand, enables us to live differently than those who don’t know Him.
At the cross, our “old self” dies with Jesus, and we are raised with Christ as a new creation so that the old is gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). God gives us a new heart and a new spirit, so we begin to have new loves and new passions. As we come to know the Lord more and experience the power of His grace, we repent of living in the passion of lust. Instead, we earnestly desire to live in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us (Ephesians 5:2 NIV).
1 Thessalonians 4:6 ESV …that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.
Sexual immorality always hurts our brothers and sisters in the Lord. If married, we defile our spouse; if single, we defile ourselves and our future spouse, or whoever we have that illicit relationship with. We wrong others as well, but we are especially hurting the Lord. Yes, the Lord who bought us because of His love for us! We are abusing Him Who shed His blood, who broke His own heart on the cross, who died in anguish for us! We are wronging Him who righted us! We should turn from this!
1 Thessalonians 4:7 ESV For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.
God Who calls us is holy. His Word is holy. His Son is holy. His Spirit is the fountain of all holiness. And therefore, we, His people should be holy. As we walk by the Spirit, we don’t gratify our flesh.
1 Thessalonians 4:8 ESV Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Question 6. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:8, if we reject the Bible’s teaching on holy living, what are we doing?
Yes, if we reject the Bible’s teaching on holy living, we are disregarding God Himself Who gives us the Holy Spirit.
Dear friend, we can see from today’s passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 that God calls us to a holy life. It is quite clear that His will for us is our sanctification, the living of a life set apart to Him in holiness. God called you from a “Gentile life,” that of living in the passions of lust, to a godly life, that of avoiding all sexual immorality.
So, let the power of the cross and the energy of the Holy Spirit be your motivating force. Let them be the trampoline that bounces you up higher than you could ever jump on your own, enabling you to “stuff the basketball”; that is, to live a holy life pleasing to the Lord.
For additional encouragement, please watch this video: