1. HOLINESS
MORAL PURITY
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
MAY 4, 2014
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI
USA

2. MAY MEMORY VERSE:
Micah 6:8
8 He has shown you, O man,
what is good; And what does
the LORD require of you, But
to do justly, To love
mercy, And to walk humbly
with your God?

3. What’s the number one thing?
http://kingschapel.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/gloryHD-608x342.jpg

4. 1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you
eat or drink, or whatever
you do, do all to the glory
of God.

5. www.gotquestions.org

6. http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4529821671755722&w=282&h=366&c=7&rs=1&qlt=80&pid=1.7
John MacArthur, Jr.
Radio program:
Grace to You
(Born June 19, 1939)

7. Hebrew for Christians
Copyright @
John J. Parsons
www.hebrew4christians.com

8. http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4608071654639991&pid=1.7

9. http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4568854308325254&pid=1.7
God’s glory is the:
manifestation of the
combination of
all of His attributes!

10. Though all of the
attributes of God are
important and dependent
on one another, God’s
holiness seems to be the
one He wishes us to put
emphasis on the most.

11. http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Holiness_Final.jpg
God’s holiness pervades
His entire being and
shapes all His attributes.

12. His love is a holy love,
His mercy is holy mercy,
and even His anger and
wrath are holy anger and
holy wrath.

13. http://www.christianbanners.com/product_images/uploaded_images/Holy-Holy-Holy-is-the-Lord_md.jpg
This is the
only attribute
of God that is
repeated three
times in
Scripture.

14. http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLPq5HnmxR_GwXwFQKXWLcNy7sP4YSnUEMJE4H_SgSBs1SLqrccw

15. Revelation 4:8 NKJV
8 The four living creatures,
each having six wings,
were full of eyes around
and within. And they do
not rest day or night,
saying:

16. http://godspeaksilisten.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/the-holiness-of-god-best-scripture.jpg?w=500
Revelation 4:8 NKJV

17. http://thriceholy.net/JPGs/isaiah.jpg
Why the three-fold
repetition:
“Holy, Holy, Holy”?
(called the trihagion)

18. The repetition of a name
or an expression three
times was quite common
among the Jews in order
to convey intensity,
intensity, intensity!

19. Jeremiah 22:29 NKJV
29 O earth, earth, earth,
Hear the word of
the LORD!

20. Ezekiel 21:27 NKJV
27 Overthrown,
overthrown,
I will make it overthrown!

21. Therefore, when the angels
around the throne call or cry
to one another, “Holy, holy,
holy,” they are expressing
with force and passion the
truth of the supreme holiness
of God,

22. http://mrmom.amaonline.com/images/jpg/sun4b.jpg
that essential
characteristic which
expresses His awesome
and majestic nature.

23. In addition, the trihagion
expresses the triune
nature of God, the three
Persons of the Godhead,
each equal in holiness and
majesty.

24. http://truewayholinesschurch.com/vhf-backgrounds_0003_holy-holy-holy.jpg

25. Leviticus 19:2 NKJV
2 “Speak to all the
congregation of the
children of Israel, and say
to them: ‘You shall be
holy, for I the LORD your
God am holy.

26. http://graceologydotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/1jesus7.jpg
Jesus is the “Holy and Just
One” (Acts 3:14)

27. Acts 3:14 NKJV
14 But you denied the Holy
One and the Just, and
asked for a murderer to be
granted to you,

28. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hOiJxH5RssA/T8LcEUb-OvI/AAAAAAAAAIM/NiiAm1O4heQ/s1600/the-holy-spirit.jpg

29. The third Person of the
trinity—the Holy Spirit—
by His very name denotes
the importance of holiness
in the essence of the
Godhead.

30. http://theleadingedgeblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/mercy.jpg
God’s love won’t trump
His holiness and God will
not set aside His holiness
even for His mercy.

31. http://www.spirit21.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Holiness-1.jpg

32. Holy (Old English)
“hal” hallowed = whole or
undivided, (wholly)
“that must be preserved
whole or intact, that
cannot be transgressed or
violated”.

33. The Hebrew word for
holy is Qadash -
(pronounced kaDOSH)
and it means
to be wholly set apart
from the common,
to be hallowed.

34. As the Holy One
(hakadosh), the LORD of
Hosts is utterly unique,
distinct, sacred, and set
apart as the only One of
His kind.

35. He alone is worthy of true
worship and adoration,
since He alone is utterly
peerless, without rival,
and stands in relation to
the world as Creator and
LORD.

36. Only the LORD is
infinitely and eternally
Other –
known to Himself as
“I AM THAT I AM”
(Exodus 3:15).

37. http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.607999405949452383&pid=1.7
God is unlike any other
and His holiness is the
essence of that
“otherness.”

38. Isaiah 6:3 says “the whole
earth is full of His glory”
(kavod).
The handiwork of the
Lord reveals His Presence
and bears His signature.

39. In the case of man, the
image of God (Genesis
1:27) communicates this
sense of God’s holiness
and denotes that the
essence of man - his spirit
– is also to be set apart as

40. sacred and uncommon.
*No human being is
considered “common” or
ordinary in God’s world.
*Man was created to
reflect the truth about
Who God is.

41. But the Fall distorted the
image of God and
corrupted the ability of
man to reflect this truth –
the holiness of God and
the holiness of man.

42. When we confess Jesus as
our Lord and are born
again, the power of the
Holy Spirit begins to
conform us again to the
image of the Messiah
(Rom 8:29 & 2 Cor 3:18).

43. Romans 8:29 NKJV
29 For whom He foreknew,
He also predestined to be
conformed to the image of
His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many
brethren.

44. 2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
18 But we all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror
the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the
same image from glory to
glory, just as by the Spirit of
the Lord.

45. http://christrescuemission.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/The_Indwelling_Spirit.262210727_std.jpg

46. Like the Seraphim in
Isaiah’s vision, this
confession of the holiness
and glory of God
is worship – ascribing to
God the truth of His
infinite worth and glory.

47. Psalm 29:1-2 NIV
1 Ascribe to the LORD, you
heavenly beings,
ascribe to
the LORD glory and
strength.

48. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the
glory due His name;
worship the LORD in the
splendor of His holiness.
(ISV - worship the LORD
wearing His holy attire)
Psalm 29:1-2 NIV

49. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I80F5RQQO5w/T3L75l_EMtI/AAAAAAAABbM/3HCrGdfNAZY/s1600/Worship+the+Lord+.jpg

50. God’s holiness is what
separates Him from all
other beings, what makes
Him separate and distinct
from everything else.

51. God’s holiness embodies
the mystery of His
awesomeness and causes
us to gaze in wonder at
Him as we begin to
comprehend just a little of
His majesty.

52. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V4gcSxbKH2A/UK5x89GB_EI/AAAAAAAAAJg/Ms8PbEPgcRM/s1600/isaiah-seraphim-coal.jpg
Isaiah was a firsthand
witness of God’s holiness
in his vision described in
Isaiah 6.

53. Even though Isaiah was a
prophet of God and a
righteous man, his
reaction to the vision of
God’s holiness was to be
aware of his own
sinfulness. Isaiah 6:5

54. Isaiah 6:5 NKJV
5 So I said:
“Woe is me, for I am
undone!
Because I am a man of
unclean lips,

55. And I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean
lips;
For my eyes have seen the
King,
The LORD of hosts.”
Isaiah 6:5 NKJV

56. http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=HN.607999405949452383&pid=1.7
John’s vision of the throne
of God in Revelation 4
was similar to that of
Isaiah.

57. Again, there were living
creatures around the
throne crying, “Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God
Almighty” (Revelation
4:8) in reverence and awe
of the Holy One.

58. http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x289/Matureo/Heaven-2-.jpg
However, John’s reaction
to the vision of God in His
throne is different from
Isaiah’s.

59. There is no record of John
falling down in terror and
awareness of his own sinful
state, perhaps because John
had already encountered the
risen Christ at the beginning
of his vision (Revelation 1:17).

60. Christ had placed His
hand upon John and told
him not to be afraid.

61. In the same way, we can
approach the throne of
grace if we have the hand
of Christ upon us in the
form of His righteousness,
exchanged for our sin at
the cross (2 Cor 5:21).

62. Hebrews 4:16 NKJV
16 Let us therefore come
boldly to the throne of
grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to
help in time of need.

63. http://watchmangospelsigns.businessdatatech.net/images/JPEG%20files%20-
%20ready%20for%20website/Without%20holiness%20no%20one%20will%20see%20the%20Lord.jpg

64. http://imallbooked.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/beye-holy.jpg

65. 1 Peter 1:14-16 NKJV
14 as obedient children, not
conforming yourselves to
the former lusts, as in
your ignorance;

66. 15 but as He who called
you is holy, you also be
holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written,
“Be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:14-16 NKJV

67. Peter is quoting from
Leviticus 11:44 and
Leviticus 19:2 that God is
holy (perfect) and He is
calling for us to be holy
(perfect)!

68. http://www.bibleprophecyupdate.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/be_holy.jpg
What does it mean for us
to be holy (perfect)?

69. When God told Israel to
be holy in Leviticus 11
and 19, He was
instructing them to be
distinct from the other
nations.

70. As His chosen nation,
God had set them apart
from all other people
groups so that the world
would know that they
belonged to Him.

71. http://versaday.com/images/Months/1008/0813-1PE001016ENGKJV08000480ISP08664639000.jpg
When Peter repeats the
Lord's words in 1 Peter
1:16, he is talking
specifically to believers.

72. As believers, we need to
be "set apart" from the
world unto the Lord.
We need to be living by
God's standards, not the
world's.

73. God is calling us to be
distinct from the world.
First Peter 2:9 describes
believers as "a holy
nation."

74. 1 Peter 2:9-12 NKJV
9 But you are a chosen
generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation,
His own special people,
that you may proclaim the

75. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2sWjxcyFnRM/T0mPlTRwq1I/AAAAAAAAF4s/GtuBvHOXBgI/s400/marvelous+light.bmp
praises of Him Who called
you out of darkness into
His marvelous light;

76. 10 who once were not a
people but are now the
people of God, who had
not obtained mercy but
now have obtained mercy.

77. Living Before the World
11 Beloved, I beg you as
sojourners and pilgrims,
abstain from fleshly lusts
which war against the
soul,

78. 12 having your conduct
honorable among the Gentiles,
that when they speak against
you as evildoers, they may,
by your good works which
they observe, glorify God
in the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:9-12 NKJV

79. Since we are separated
from the world by
justification;
we need to live out that
reality in our day-to-day
lives through
sanctification.

80. http://foundationsforfreedom.net/References/NT/Pauline/Ephesians/Ephesians4/_res/Eph4_25jpg/Justification-
Sanctification-Glorification.jpg

81. http://www.whoisgodblog.com/uploads/5/4/3/6/5436479/_2441544.jpg
How then can we become
holy?

82. Holiness only results from
a right relationship with
God by believing in Jesus
Christ as Savior
(accepting His gift of
eternal life - justification).

83. If someone has not placed
their faith in God's Son
alone to save them from
their sins, then their
pursuit of holiness is in
vain.

84. When we truly are
believers, then we
recognize that our
position in Christ
automatically sets us
apart from the world
(1 Peter 2:9).

85. Then in obedience, we
daily live a set-apart life
(sanctification) of gratitude
to God, not trying to
"blend in" with the world,
but instead living
according to His Word.

86. *We only become holy in
relationship to Christ.
*It is an imputed holiness.
*Only in Christ do we
“become the
righteousness of God”
(2 Corinthians 5:21).

87. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV
21 For He made Him Who
knew no sin to be sin for
us, that we might become
the righteousness of God
in Him.

88. In Your Walk, Excel!
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 NKJV
A Plea for Purity
1 Finally then, brethren, we
urge and exhort in the Lord
Jesus

89. that you should abound
more and more, just as you
received from us how you
ought to walk and to please
God; 2 for you know what
commandments we gave you
through the Lord Jesus.

90. 3 For this is the will of God,
your sanctification: that you
should abstain from sexual
immorality; 4 that each of
you should know how to
possess his own vessel in
sanctification and honor,

91. 5 not in passion of lust, like the
Gentiles who do not know
God; 6 that no one should take
advantage of and defraud his
brother in this matter, because
the Lord is the avenger of all
such, as we also forewarned
you and testified.

92. 7 For God did not call us
to uncleanness, but in
holiness.
8 Therefore he who rejects
this does not reject man,
but God, Who has also
given us His Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 NKJV

93. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q3Vhzk2kcgg/TXMp9MmEhbI/AAAAAAAABXo/lBea9S1-E64/s1600/Justification-Sanctification-Glorification

94. http://feileadhmor.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/sanctification.gif?w=479

95. *We are being sanctified
and for that reason we
are to avoid sexual
immorality.
*The Greek word for
“sanctified” means
“purified, made holy”.

96. As Christians, we are to
live a purified life because
we have been made holy
by the exchange of our sin
for the righteousness of
Christ on the cross

97. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1EGRvBhN4qs/TT9echRC7uI/AAAAAAAAAmY/CI1ACg91HZw/s1600/image_of_new_creations.jpg
and have been made
completely new creations in
Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

98. Our old natures, with all
their impurities, sexual
and otherwise, have died
and now the life we live,
we live by faith in the One
Who died for us
(Galatians 2:20).

99. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iKinZqHYtMk/TpZG19htGaI/AAAAAAAAEOw/P23e2WVXZo4/s640/wolf.jpg
Cherokee proverb

100. Galatians 2:20a NKJV
20a I have been crucified
with Christ; it is no longer
I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God,

101. Romans 6:6-7 NKJV
6 our old man was
crucified with Him, that
the body of sin might be
done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves
of sin.

102. 7 For he who has died has
been freed from sin.
Romans 6:6-7 NKJV

103. Romans 6:12-14 NKJV
12 Therefore do not let sin
reign in your mortal body,
that you should obey it in
its lusts.

104. 13 And do not present your
members (bodies) as
instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, but
present yourselves to God as
being alive from the dead, and
your members as instruments
of righteousness to God

105. 14 For sin shall not have
dominion over you, for
you are not under law but
under grace.
Romans 6:12-14 NKJV

106. Romans 6:18-19 NKJV
18 And having been set
free from sin, you became
slaves of righteousness.

107. 19b For just as you presented
your members as slaves of
uncleanness, and of
lawlessness leading to more
lawlessness, so now present
your members as slaves of
righteousness for holiness.
Romans 6:18-19 NKJV

108. Romans 6:22 NKJV
22 But now having been set
free from sin, and having
become slaves of God,
you have your fruit to
holiness, and the end,
everlasting life.

109. Sanctification, the process
by which we become
more and more Christlike,
is an essential evidence of
the reality of our
salvation.

110. We also see in
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 the
necessity of controlling
our bodies.

111. When we give in to sexual
immorality, we give
evidence that the Holy
Spirit is not indwelling us
because we do not possess
that fruit of the Spirit—
self-control.

112. All believers display the
fruit of the Spirit
(Galatians 5:22-23) to a
greater or lesser degree
depending on the length
of time they have walked
with God.

113. http://ascofuatwork.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/works_of_the_flesh.jpg
Uncontrolled “passionate
lust” is a work of the flesh
(Galatians 5:19), not of
the Spirit.

114. So controlling our lusts
and living sexually pure
lives is essential to anyone
who professes to know
Christ.

115. http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/159/881/159881333_640.jpg
In doing so, we honor
God with our bodies
(1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

116. 1 Corinthians 6:13b-20 NKJV
13b Now the body is not for
sexual immorality but for the
Lord, and the Lord for the
body. 14 And God both raised
up the Lord and will also
raise us up by His power.

117. 15 Do you not know that
your bodies are members
of Christ? Shall I then take
the members of Christ
and make them members
of a harlot? Certainly not!

118. 16 Or do you not know
that he who is joined to a
harlot is one body with
her? For “the two,” He
says, “shall become one
flesh.”

119. 17 But he who is joined to the
Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality.
Every sin that a man does is
outside the body, but he who
commits sexual immorality
sins against his own body.

120. 19 Or do you not know
that your body is the
temple of the Holy
Spirit Who is in you,
Whom you have from
God and you are not your
own?

121. 20 For you were bought at
a price; therefore glorify
God in your body and in
your spirit, which are
God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:13b-20 NKJV

122. By keeping the marriage
bed pure (Hebrews 13:4),
we can experience
unreserved love for our
mates, which is surpassed
only by God’s enormous
love for us.

123. 1 Timothy 4:7b-8 NKJV
7b exercise yourself toward
godliness. 8 For bodily
exercise profits a little, but
godliness is profitable for all
things, having promise of the
life that now is and of that
which is to come.

124. 1 Timothy 4:12b NKJV
12b be an example to the
believers in word,
in conduct, in love,
in spirit, in faith, in purity.

125. http://www.jewishjournal.com/images/bloggers_auto/Holiness_image.jpg

126. 1 Thessalonians 4:1
Paul urged the
Thessalonian Christians
and all believers to excel
in Christian living more
and more, but only when
believers nurture the new

127. nature with its resolute
longing for God do they
attain the kind of spiritual
progress (sanctification)
the apostle had in mind.

128. There is always a danger
of Christians thinking
they have no further need
to progress in
sanctification; but this
side of eternity, no
believer has even come

129. http://sovjoy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/pressing-toward-prize.jpg
close to what God desires
for him spiritually
(Philippians 3:12-16).

130. Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV
12 Not that I have already
attained, or am already
perfected; but I press on,
that I may lay hold of that
for which Christ Jesus has
also laid hold of me.

131. 13 Brethren, I do not count
myself to have apprehended;
but one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are
behind and reaching forward
to those things which are
ahead,

132. 14 I press toward the goal
for the prize of the
upward call of God in
Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14 NKJV

133. Because it knew so much
truth, even a church as
strong as the one in
Thessalonica might have
been tempted to settle for
the spiritual status quo.

134. Thanks to Paul's solid
instruction when he was
with them, the saints were
living exemplary lives
and he had commended
them for that
(1 Thess 1:2-4,7; 2:13-14).

135. As a result, they might
have thought their
condition was ideal and in
no need of improvement.

136. But Paul knew they could
do better and encouraged
them accordingly.

137. From Thessalonians 4:1 to
the end of the body of the
letter (5:22), Paul's
primary purpose was to
exhort the church to strive
for spiritual excellence.

138. Paul was not browbeating
the Thessalonians but
lovingly, gently, and
kindly requesting that
they as his brethren
persevere in
sanctification.

139. Similarly, exhort
(parakaloumen) means
"to come alongside and
encourage."

140. The believers at
Thessalonica were already
living in a way that
pleased God so Paul’s
attitude was gracious and
considerate, with just
enough urgency that they

141. accept his exhortation not
to be content with their
spiritual growth but to
excel still more.

142. The word translated excel
(perisseuete) means "to
abound, to be abundantly
supplied, to overflow, to
exist in full quantity, to be
over and above and
around, to be advanced."

143. A closely related form of
the word can mean
"extraordinary," or
"surpassing."
Paul used perisseuete here
in a comparative way
(1 Cor 8:8) to tell the

144. Thessalonians he was
intent that they become
spiritually extraordinary,
that they excel to a higher
degree (1 Cor 14:12; Phil
1:9; 1 Thess 3:12; 4:10).

145. Paul's priority for
believers was spiritual
progress motivated by a
desire to know God — the
kind of strong desire the
psalmist described:

146. "As the deer pants for the
water brooks, so my soul
pants for You, O God"
(Ps 42:1; cf. 34:8; 63:1-2).

147. For all believers, the
pursuit of knowing God is
the basic component of
spiritual growth.

148. The objective of knowing
God should supersede
even the desire to know
His Word; that desire is
simply the means to
knowing the God of the
Word.

149. If gaining more
information about the
Bible and participating in
additional spiritual
activities — praying,
witnessing, and serving
— are not linked to

150. the desire to know God
better, they will not bring
spiritual growth to those
who profess faith in
Christ.

151. This is the sense of 1 John
2:12-14.
1 John 2:12-14
12I am writing to you, little
children, because your sins
have been forgiven you for
His name's sake.

152. 13 I am writing to you,
fathers, because you know
Him who has been from
the beginning. I am
writing to you, young
men, because you have
overcome the evil one.

153. I have written to you,
children, because you
know the Father. 14 I have
written to you, fathers,
because you know Him
who has been from the
beginning.

154. I have written to you,
young men, because you
are strong, and the word
of God abides in you, and
you have overcome the
evil one.

155. In that text, John identifies
three steps in a believer's
growth:
(1) "little children" who
know their sins are
forgiven,

156. (2) "young men" who
know doctrine and are
strong against Satan's
lies (unlike children,
Ephesians 4:14), and

157. (3) "fathers" who know
not just doctrine but
the eternal God.
That is the final goal of
every believer – to know
God.