Lesson 24 A Prayer For Their Sanctification And Preservation (Series: Lessons On 1 Thess.) Series

The body is the house in which the soul and spirit live. And when the individual believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up His abode in our heart; the heart is the seat of life, and therefore the Holy Spirit abides in our body, and our body becomes the temple or tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. What do you think about that? “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). [To teach that the soul, spirit, and body are one and the same is gross ignorance.]

Notice the last words in verse 23: “. . . be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Please note that Paul did not say “sinless,” but “blameless.” According to the Word of God, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). This does not give believers a license to sin; but when the best of us have done our best, we still fall far short of the glory of God. Many believers need to learn the definition of sin. If they fully understand what sin is, they will never boast again that they are sinless. Paul says, “But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). James says, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17). “The schemes of folly are sin, and people detest a mocker” (Prov. 24:9).

Since we are, as believers, to do all we do to the glory of God, it stands to reason that if we do anything that is not to the glory of God, we have sinned. But we can live blamelessly, we can be examples to the unbelievers?in the words of Paul, “to those who are without.”

(5:24) The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Often in this epistle, Paul appeals to the faithfulness of God. God has pledged faithfulness; and because He is God He must be faithful. God will keep every promise He has made in His Word (1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Tim. 2:13). The only guarantee that any believer will have a worthy report at the final judgment is God’s faithfulness. His calling carries with it the successful completion of His purposes (Rom. 8:30; Phil. 1:6). God is faithful to bring to completion the work He has begun in believers. God does not save a person by grace and then leave him alone to work out his Christian growth by works (Gal. 3:3). As God calls and Justifies by grace, He sanctifies by grace too. The believers in Thessalonica were keenly conscious that God had called them to a consecrated, separated, sanctified life (1 Thess. 2:12). For believers to live the kind of life God wants them to live requires the full surrender of every power?soul, spirit, and body. We must commit our members to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, or we can not live as God would have us live.

God calls the unbeliever to salvation through the Holy Spirit and His Word. No man can come to God except the Father draw him, and God draws through the power of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-11). The Spirit applies the Word, and faith results when the believer hears the Word (Rom. 10:17). Then, when the unbeliever exercises faith in God, that unbeliever will call on God for salvation (Rom 10:13-17). The God who calls us will also do (in us and for us) everything He has promised?if we are willing. God wants to give unto us His best. “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless” (Psalm 84:11); but, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Prov. 28:13).