1Th 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to PLEASE GOD, so ye would abound more and more.
1Th 4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
1Th 4:3 For this is the WILL OF GOD, even your SANCTIFICATION, that ye should abstain from FORNICATION...
Webster's Definition--
'Fornication
FORNICA'TION, n. [L. fornicatio.]
1. The incontinence or lewdness of unmarried persons, male or female; also, the criminal conversation of a married man with an unmarried woman.
2. Adultery. Mat 5.
3. Incest. 1 Cor 5.
4. Idolatry; a forsaking of the true God, and worshipping of idols. 2 Chr 21. Rev 19.'
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5 Not in the lust of CONSUPISCENCE, even as the Gentiles which know not God
CONSUPISCENCE-
'For Christians, concupiscence refers to what they understand as the orientation, inclination or innate tendency of human beings to long for fleshly appetites, often associated with a desire to do things which are proscribed.'
Pasted from
*
ABSTAIN- meaning do NOT do.
FORNICATION'S various meanings…
Do NOT have sexual contact if you're not married.
Do NOT have sexual contact if married with someone unmarried.
Do NOT have sexual contact with someone who is married, unless you are married to them.
Do NOT have sexual contact with your relatives.
Do NOT commit idolatry.
Do NOT forsake GOD.
Do NOT worship idols- false gods.
What does sexual contact represent? The PHYSICAL, self-serving, self-pleasure seeking desires, lusts that are very real for people. These physical desires can seem overwhelming, right? Most people have experienced them, most adults know what it means to have sexual desires.
We are told by Paul -
1Co 7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1Co 7:3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
1Co 7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
1Co 7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
1Co 7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
1Co 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Co 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
To avoid fornication we are to marry. To avoid getting caught up in that self-serving, self-pleasure seeking we are to marry.
Why is it wrong to indulge in sexual activity outside of marriage?
Marriage is a symbol of God and His Church- the Bride and the Bridegroom.
When man was made he was created alone without a counterpart, but then God realized it wasn't good for man to be alone. God wasn't a flesh creature and he wanted the creatures that we were to know a oneness that would truly symbolize the joy in being one with God. Man lost that ability to understand the oneness of God when sin entered the world and self became more important than God, than others. The oneness they now could experience could be pleasurable but nothing on the scale of sinless oneness. The oneness would be perverted into self-serving, self-pleasing.
God created mankind for a reason, we are HIS, we are to WORSHIP Him, we are HIS, we belong to HIM. Without God we are not whole, we were made only to be whole in GOD. The Bridegroom and the Bride- two becoming one.
God created man and woman symbolic of God and mankind.
This amazing symbolic oneness is so seldom seen for what it truly is, and is mostly, almost exclusively known for self-gratification- even self-gratification in being able to give pleasure to another making you feel proud of yourself for that ability. Sex became self-serving. When a person truly comprehends the sanctity of sexual contact then and only then can they begin to comprehend why succumbing to the desire for sexual contact outside of an established union made under a covenant before God is so abhorrent to God.
The oneness it symbolizes- the Bridegroom and the Bride- God and His church(His people)- is so incredibly important we can hardly understand.
When we fornicate it symbolically represents our choosing self over God. We are choosing to separate ourselves from God when we fornicate. But how many people actually realize this? How many people even care as long as their quest for pleasure is being satisfied? So what if it's a symbol, that's all nonsense isn't it? That's all fairy tales and crazy thinking, right? It's become that because Satan doesn't want us to think there is anything more to sex than the pleasure it brings- to give and to get. And he doesn't want us to deny ourselves any pleasure, right?
Why aren't we to fornicate? Because fornicating is truly separating ourselves from God and His love.
Yes, we feel physical desires and in their proper context, in their proper union, in their proper commitment, before God, those desires are good things.
When we are drawn away of our own LUST and that LUST is conceived, the act committed to fully, we sin- we separate ourselves from God. If we do NOT repent and find forgiveness in our Savior who alone can bridge the gap of that separation, we will only find in the end eternal death.
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
*
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5 Not in the lust of CONSUPISCENCE, even as the Gentiles which know not God
We need to know how to possess ourselves in sanctification and honor- living towards the holiness of God as God has revealed to us over and over.
We must not live in the lust of trying to fulfill our flesh desires, and many, many do, day after day they live only to please themselves and their desires in the many, many forms they take. Those who do NOT worship God, those who do not care to worship God, those who choose to live to self, those who choose to live to false gods will be caught up in the lusts of the flesh. Don't let people confuse you either- many will seem godly when inside they are rotten to the core- God knows, God knows it all.
The men who were supposed to be the godly men of Jesus' day were told this by Jesus--
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
They were like whited sepulchres - beautiful on the outside!
But inside they were FULL of dead men's bones!
People will often appear to be godly, but they aren't. We can't judge them though, we just have to realize that God is the judge and know that we have only ourselves to deal with and our own actions before God. The reason I even bring the fact up that there are those who appear godly but aren't is because even those who are supposedly celibate- having no sexual contact with others- could be caught up in something else deadly. It's keeping ourselves from any and all things that would take us from God, that would separate us from God no matter what it is!
Please Lord help us to comprehend, help us to understand all we need to understand. Please Lord let the Holy Spirit guide us into full knowledge of Your truths and lead us Lord, lead us in YOUR way everlasting. Keep us from our selfishness in ALL its forms! Help us to be more and more like You, all through the grace and LOVE of Your Son Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR!
1Th 4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
1Th 4:3 For this is the WILL OF GOD, even your SANCTIFICATION, that ye should abstain from FORNICATION...
Webster's Definition--
'Fornication
FORNICA'TION, n. [L. fornicatio.]
1. The incontinence or lewdness of unmarried persons, male or female; also, the criminal conversation of a married man with an unmarried woman.
2. Adultery. Mat 5.
3. Incest. 1 Cor 5.
4. Idolatry; a forsaking of the true God, and worshipping of idols. 2 Chr 21. Rev 19.'
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5 Not in the lust of CONSUPISCENCE, even as the Gentiles which know not God
CONSUPISCENCE-
'For Christians, concupiscence refers to what they understand as the orientation, inclination or innate tendency of human beings to long for fleshly appetites, often associated with a desire to do things which are proscribed.'
Pasted from
*
ABSTAIN- meaning do NOT do.
FORNICATION'S various meanings…
Do NOT have sexual contact if you're not married.
Do NOT have sexual contact if married with someone unmarried.
Do NOT have sexual contact with someone who is married, unless you are married to them.
Do NOT have sexual contact with your relatives.
Do NOT commit idolatry.
Do NOT forsake GOD.
Do NOT worship idols- false gods.
What does sexual contact represent? The PHYSICAL, self-serving, self-pleasure seeking desires, lusts that are very real for people. These physical desires can seem overwhelming, right? Most people have experienced them, most adults know what it means to have sexual desires.
We are told by Paul -
1Co 7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1Co 7:3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
1Co 7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
1Co 7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
1Co 7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
1Co 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Co 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
To avoid fornication we are to marry. To avoid getting caught up in that self-serving, self-pleasure seeking we are to marry.
Why is it wrong to indulge in sexual activity outside of marriage?
Marriage is a symbol of God and His Church- the Bride and the Bridegroom.
When man was made he was created alone without a counterpart, but then God realized it wasn't good for man to be alone. God wasn't a flesh creature and he wanted the creatures that we were to know a oneness that would truly symbolize the joy in being one with God. Man lost that ability to understand the oneness of God when sin entered the world and self became more important than God, than others. The oneness they now could experience could be pleasurable but nothing on the scale of sinless oneness. The oneness would be perverted into self-serving, self-pleasing.
God created mankind for a reason, we are HIS, we are to WORSHIP Him, we are HIS, we belong to HIM. Without God we are not whole, we were made only to be whole in GOD. The Bridegroom and the Bride- two becoming one.
God created man and woman symbolic of God and mankind.
This amazing symbolic oneness is so seldom seen for what it truly is, and is mostly, almost exclusively known for self-gratification- even self-gratification in being able to give pleasure to another making you feel proud of yourself for that ability. Sex became self-serving. When a person truly comprehends the sanctity of sexual contact then and only then can they begin to comprehend why succumbing to the desire for sexual contact outside of an established union made under a covenant before God is so abhorrent to God.
The oneness it symbolizes- the Bridegroom and the Bride- God and His church(His people)- is so incredibly important we can hardly understand.
When we fornicate it symbolically represents our choosing self over God. We are choosing to separate ourselves from God when we fornicate. But how many people actually realize this? How many people even care as long as their quest for pleasure is being satisfied? So what if it's a symbol, that's all nonsense isn't it? That's all fairy tales and crazy thinking, right? It's become that because Satan doesn't want us to think there is anything more to sex than the pleasure it brings- to give and to get. And he doesn't want us to deny ourselves any pleasure, right?
Why aren't we to fornicate? Because fornicating is truly separating ourselves from God and His love.
Yes, we feel physical desires and in their proper context, in their proper union, in their proper commitment, before God, those desires are good things.
When we are drawn away of our own LUST and that LUST is conceived, the act committed to fully, we sin- we separate ourselves from God. If we do NOT repent and find forgiveness in our Savior who alone can bridge the gap of that separation, we will only find in the end eternal death.
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
*
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5 Not in the lust of CONSUPISCENCE, even as the Gentiles which know not God
We need to know how to possess ourselves in sanctification and honor- living towards the holiness of God as God has revealed to us over and over.
We must not live in the lust of trying to fulfill our flesh desires, and many, many do, day after day they live only to please themselves and their desires in the many, many forms they take. Those who do NOT worship God, those who do not care to worship God, those who choose to live to self, those who choose to live to false gods will be caught up in the lusts of the flesh. Don't let people confuse you either- many will seem godly when inside they are rotten to the core- God knows, God knows it all.
The men who were supposed to be the godly men of Jesus' day were told this by Jesus--
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
They were like whited sepulchres - beautiful on the outside!
But inside they were FULL of dead men's bones!
People will often appear to be godly, but they aren't. We can't judge them though, we just have to realize that God is the judge and know that we have only ourselves to deal with and our own actions before God. The reason I even bring the fact up that there are those who appear godly but aren't is because even those who are supposedly celibate- having no sexual contact with others- could be caught up in something else deadly. It's keeping ourselves from any and all things that would take us from God, that would separate us from God no matter what it is!
Please Lord help us to comprehend, help us to understand all we need to understand. Please Lord let the Holy Spirit guide us into full knowledge of Your truths and lead us Lord, lead us in YOUR way everlasting. Keep us from our selfishness in ALL its forms! Help us to be more and more like You, all through the grace and LOVE of Your Son Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR!
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