1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 - Appeal For Continuing Sanctification
1 Moreover, brethren, as you learnt from our lips the lives which you ought to live, and do live, so as to please God, we beg and exhort you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live them more and more truly. 2 For you know the commands which we laid upon you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is God's will--your purity of life, that you abstain from fornication; 4 that each man among you shall know how to procure a wife who shall be his own in purity and honour; 5 that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings, like the Gentiles who have no knowledge of God; 6 and that in this matter there be no encroaching on the rights of a brother Christian and no overreaching him. For the Lord is an avenger in all such cases, as we have already taught you and solemnly warned you. 7 God has not called us to an unclean life, but to one of purity. 8 Therefore a defiant spirit in such a case provokes not man but God, who puts His Holy Spirit into your hearts.