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Last week I wanted to lay down
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some foundations for sexual sin
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from the standpoint that,
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basically, if you're justified,
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the faith that justifies,
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the faith that saves
from the wrath of God,
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must be a faith
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that breaks the dominion
of sin in your life.
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The faith that saves us
from the wrath of God
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must be a faith that saves us
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from sexual immorality.
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And if that faith doesn't save
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from the power of sexual
temptation and lust,
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then it will not save you
from the wrath of God.
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Now as I said, obviously we're
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never talking perfection;
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but we are talking about
a faith that puts you
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into all out battle
against sexual temptation.
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You know, we had a big
group with us last week;
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a bunch of visitors from
Alabama and Georgia.
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And I didn't know where
they were coming from,
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I didn't know what kind
of churches they had,
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so I wanted to hit this thing
from that standpoint.
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But the purpose of this series all along
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has been to equip the believer.
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It isn't so much that I want to come along
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and try to convince people
in this series that they're lost.
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I want to give the Christian
tools to fight the battle.
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Peter says in 1 Peter 2:11,
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"To abstain from these passions
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that wage war against the soul."
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And I'll tell you, one of the
passions that wages war,
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especially with men, is sexual lust.
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It's sexual temptation.
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I mean, it is a sin that takes out
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its thousands and its tens of thousands.
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So how do we abstain?
Here's the commandment;
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here's the imperative we are given
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by the Lord through the apostle:
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"Abstain from these passions."
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How do I do it?
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Okay, we know they're there.
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Look, men, by and large, it may be
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sexual desire may be stronger.
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I mean it is, typically.
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Not in every case, but typically.
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That's just the reality.
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But it's not only a problem in men,
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obviously it's a problem in women as well.
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And as my wife fills me in,
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that you know, men are visually driven,
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their desires are visually stirred.
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My wife tells me with ladies
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there's emotional satisfactions
in wanting to have a man,
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wanting to be loved;
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and a willingness to put
that body out there
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in an attempt to get the love,
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to get that kind of attention.
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Look, the passion that drives a man
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may be a little bit different
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than the passion that drives a woman.
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In other words, a man may be seeking
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purely sexual gratification,
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while a woman may not be seeking that
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so much as emotional gratification.
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And yet, she's willing to
take the same course
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to try to come to that end.
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You have two people that
maybe their ends are different,
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but they're willing to
go about it the same way.
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And so, basically, what we have are
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these things are fighting
against the soul.
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How do we abstain?
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Where does the battle rage?
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How do we fight it?
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Now look, I know, increasingly,
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it's so obvious to me,
and I hope it is to you.
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I want it to be to you.
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Somebody read Romans 12:2.
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"I urge you therefore, brethren,
based upon the mercies of God,
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to present your bodies
as a living sacrifice,
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holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.
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And do not be conformed to this world,
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but be transformed by
the renewal of your mind,
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that you may know what the good,
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perfect and pleasing will of God is."
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Look, you've got your body.
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You know what's amazing to me,
especially after I studied?
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Here you have Peter,
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saying that these passions wage war
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against the soul.
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And I think so often we think that way:
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Spirit, soul, that's where the battle is.
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Sometimes we kind of relegate the body.
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We don't see it to be near as important
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as what it seems like in the Scripture.
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Especially in Romans, as I studied it,
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it was interesting that if
you're living in the flesh,
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you're going to die.
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But if, by the Spirit, you
put to death - not just sin,
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but it's interesting - deeds of the body.
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It's saying, "Offer your body."
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We're to be these living sacrifices.
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And here's the way,
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we need to be geared
towards the will of God.
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And that comes about through
a renewing of the mind;
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which he also says in Ephesians,
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"We need to be renewed
in the spirit of our minds,
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putting on the new man that's created
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after the likeness of God."
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It's really the mind.
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Mindsets are where this battle is fought.
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Now you just tell me this.
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Look, I'm not talking
right now about the lost.
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You were lost. Everybody
in this room was lost.
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You know how you dealt
with sexual temptation.
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You know why you gave place to it.
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And I suppose that the reasons
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that a lost person would give place to it,
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we can probably drag that
over into the Christian realm.
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But I want you to tell me this:
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Christians fall into sexual sin.
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Why?
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In other words, what's
going on in the mind?
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Look, there's never a vacuum up
here when people fall into sin.
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Certain thoughts, certain reasonings,
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certain deductions, certain logic.
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There's thoughts that fill the mind.
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Now a person may try not to
think about certain things,
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but he's definitely
thinking about something,
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or she is thinking about something.
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I want to ask you this:
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What mindset controls a man or a woman,
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a Christian man or a woman,
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who gives place with the
eyeball and looks with lust;
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gives place to something like
Internet pornography or masturbation;
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or actually falls into the actual sin
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with the person of the opposite sex?
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And far be it from me to say
that it's not possible for a Christian
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to fall into sex with
somebody of the same sex.
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I mean, we obviously have
examples in the Scripture.
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We know that it can happen.
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We see Christians that
were involved in it
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being strongly rebuked.
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We see Paul, the way he
spoke to the Corinthians.
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Obviously some things were
going on in that church
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that he was dealing very hard with.
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We have some examples of sexual sin
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being a problem in the New Testament.
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Obviously we have, at least,
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one or two notable cases
in the Old Testament.
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What goes on in the mind?
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What's happening?
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[Audience] They're not viewing the
glory of Christ at that moment.
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[Tim] They're not viewing the
glory of Christ at that moment.
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Let's think about that.
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When Peter saw Jesus manipulate the fish
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and fill the net, what did he do?
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He worshiped.
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In fact, he told Him,
"Lord, depart from me."
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What did Isaiah do when he saw the Lord
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high and lifted up in the Temple?
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He fell down on his face, "Woe is me!"
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You know, when God has been seen,
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when the glories of Christ came through;
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what did Peter do when that voice
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spoke out on the mount of transfiguration?
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I'll tell you, he was utterly terrified.
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Can I tell you this,
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I mean, this is a thought that hits
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right on what Jonathan just said.
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Highly unlikely.
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Now I'm not saying this in jest.
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I'm saying this in dead seriousness.
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Isaiah is not going to watch
Internet pornography and masturbate,
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when he's on his face
in the presence of Christ;
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when he has an awareness of Christ
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high, lifted up, full of glory.
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He's already struck.
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"I'm a man of unclean lips;
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I dwell in the midst of a
people with unclean lips."
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I'll tell you this, you watch your step.
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Do you remember when
Nadab and Abihu were consumed?
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Aaron did not find fault with God.
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The Scripture says he held his peace.
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You can bet he did.
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Remember, a certain man
puts his hand out,
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touches the ark, he's dead.
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David did not go home that day,
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and have Bathsheba come to
his house, and sleep with her.
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That's huge.
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He did it another day,
but he didn't do it that day.
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Why not? He was terrified.
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The presence and reality
of God and God's glory.
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God was fearful to him.
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He didn't run off and do that that day.
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Brethren, I'll tell you what,
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when you have a sense
of Christ and His glory,
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it's very difficult to run off into sin.
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One of the reasons that we
so cheaply do things like this
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is because we lose a
sense of the glory of God.
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And that takes place in the mind.
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In the mind is where we fear.
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In the mind is where we believe.
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In the mind is where we
contemplate what God is like.
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I mean, Job already told us
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that he had made a covenant with his eyes.
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Do you think when
the Lord appeared to him
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out of the storm, out
of the tornado there,
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that all of a sudden he was going to
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break the covenant right on that day?
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He says, "I repent in dust and ashes."
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I guarantee you, Moses, that
day up there on the mount,
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when the Lord revealed
His hind quarters to him,
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He could not see His face.
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He couldn't see the whole deal.
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His face shone.
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Can you imagine the glory that he saw,
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so much so that the people were terrified
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by the glow that came off of his face?
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Moses could come down off the mountain,
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and find the people
engaged in sexual immorality.
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But I guarantee you, after
having experiences like that
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up on the mountain with the Lord,
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he didn't walk down and go dive into it.
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Why? He had just seen the Lord.
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You know what? When your devotional time,
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just like I was talking about Sunday,
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when you guys go to the Scriptures,
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you need to behold glory.
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You need to gaze upon glory.
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This comes right out of 2 Corinth. 3:18.
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Look, if you're not finding glory -
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the glory of Christ,
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the glory of the Father,
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the glory of the Spirit,
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in the Scriptures when you go to read,
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that's a bad place to be.
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Because you're not being sanctified,
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you're not being transformed,
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unless you're seeing the glory.
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Very difficult. Very difficult.
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When you come up off your knees,
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or come out of your closet
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after you've been looking
at the Word of God,
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and you've been staggered
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by the holiness, by the awesomeness,
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by the bigness, by the mighty hand of God;
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when you begin to see God,
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when you tremble at who He is,
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when you fear Him -
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He talks about the man
who trembles at His Word -
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when you come away
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and you feel that kind of trembling,
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have you ever read Habakkuk?
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Full of trembling.
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Brethren I'll tell you, you don't
find a person in the Scriptures,
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I mean, can you imagine the Apostle John?
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He fell down on his face
just looking at angels twice.
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He fell down as dead when it was Christ.
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When you begin to get a view of Christ,
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when you begin to see His glory;
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very hard, very hard.
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So what mindset leads to sexual sin?
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The mindset that Christ isn't glorious;
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that Christ isn't big;
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that God the Father is Santa Claus,
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the big man upstairs.
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Diminished views.
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Just small views of God.
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Little God.
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Not very terrifying.
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Just far off. Not very near.
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I'll tell you another one.
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And it's very closely attached to this.
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Do you know why, when you're like Job,
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and you just beheld God
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appearing to you in the whirlwind,
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why you don't break the covenant
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with your eyeballs and
go look upon a maid?
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Because there is a terrifying
fear of offending the Lord.
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You've seen who He is.
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Brethren, what mindsets
lead to sexual sin?
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When offending God no longer terrifies us.
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Now listen to me.
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2 Samuel 12.
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You guys can turn there if you
have your Bible. 2 Samuel 12:1.
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You know this, but I want you to see it.
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I want you to feel this.
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You see, this is where
the battle is fought.
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Renewed in the spirit of your mind.
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When the temptation comes,
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you've got to think the right way.
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You've got to have high thoughts of God;
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high thoughts of Christ;
high thoughts of the Spirit.
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You need to see Him for what He is.
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The reason that Isaiah
wouldn't have gone out
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into that sin right at that moment
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is because he saw the Lord.
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He saw Him for what He was.
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Even there, he didn't see
the full deal. Moses didn't.
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We can't see the full
deal because God is infinite.
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But it's when you have
views of at least part of Him.
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You have revelations of Him.
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Isn't that what Paul was
praying for for the Ephesians?
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Isn't that what he prayed for?
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that they might have wisdom,
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revelation of the knowledge of Him.
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I'll tell you this, why?
Why pray that for people?
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Because when people
have a revelation of God,
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it drives sin away.
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When people have a revelation of God,
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and of His glory, sin isn't easy.
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When they see God in His
awesome glory, His splendor;
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when that's revealed, it is a sin-killer.
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Now listen to this, 2 Samuel 12:1,
you know the account.
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David has been with Bathsheba.
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"And the LORD sent Nathan to David.
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He came to him and said to him,
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'There were two men in a certain city,
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the one rich and the other poor.
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The rich man had very
many flocks and herds,
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but the poor man had nothing
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but one little ewe lamb,
which he had bought.
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And he brought it up,
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and it grew up with him
and with his children.
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It used to eat of his morsel
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and drink from his cup
and lie in his arms,
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and it was like a daughter to him.
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Now there came a traveler to the rich man,
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and he was unwilling to take
one of his own flock or herd
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to prepare for the guest
who had come to him,
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but he took the poor man's lamb
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and prepared it for the
man who had come to him.'
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Then David's anger was greatly
kindled against the man,
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and he said to Nathan,
'As the LORD lives,
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the man who has done this deserves to die,
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and he shall restore the lamb fourfold,
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because he did this thing,
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and because he had no pity.'"
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Now watch this.
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"Nathan said to David, 'You are the man!'
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Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
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'I anointed you king over Israel,
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and I delivered you out
of the hand of Saul.
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And I gave you your master's house
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and your master's wives into your arms
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and gave you the house
of Israel and of Judah.
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And if this were too little,
I would add to you as much more.
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Why - listen to this.
Here's what I want you to see -
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Why have you despised
the word of the LORD,
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to do what is evil in His sight?
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Now therefore the sword shall
never depart from your house,
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because you have despised Me
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and have taken the wife of
Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.'"
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And then in verse 13,
"David said to Nathan,
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'I have sinned against the LORD.'
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And Nathan said to David,
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'The LORD also has put away
your sin; you shall not die.
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Nevertheless, - look at this -
because by this deed
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you have utterly scorned the LORD,
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the child who is
born to you shall die.'"
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In verse 9, he says, "You
despised the word of the LORD."
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In verse 10, he says,
"You've despised Me."
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And in verse 14, he says,
"You have utterly scorned the LORD."
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Let me tell you something.
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You let this fill your mindset.
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When you look at a
woman to lust after her;
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ladies, you lust after a man;
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you view pornography;
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you give place to sexual immorality;
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you notice, God doesn't
come right to David, and say,
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"David, I can't believe it. You blew it.
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You dishonored the marriage covenant,
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and you had such little
honor for marriage."
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Or, "You had such little
honor for human life.
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I can't believe it, David,
how could you kill somebody?"
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He said, "David, your sin is against Me."
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Remember how David said it
when he confessed that sin?
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What did he say?
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"Against You, and You
only, have I sinned."
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Let me tell you this.
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Sometimes we can think,
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"Well, God is not really
affected by this."
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Oh, you don't believe that.
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You view pornography on the Internet,
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you know what He is saying to you
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right through these words?
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"You are scorning Me."
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Remember what we read last week?
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It comes right out of
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8,
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"For God has not called us
for impurity, but in holiness."
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This is where he's dealing
with sexual immorality.
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"Therefore whoever disregards this,
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disregards not man but God."
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You scorn God. You disregard God.
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You dishonor, you despise Him.
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Don't ever forget that.
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When you give place to sexual
immorality, you despise Him.
-
He takes it as a personal
affront against His Person.
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You remember that.
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Let that ring in your ears,
especially you young guys.
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Let that ring in your ears.
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You're walking before
the Lord, you scorn Him.
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You disregard Him. You dishonor Him.
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How was it that Joseph said,
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remember when Potiphar's
wife wanted him?
-
He doesn't say, "How can I do
this and sin against Potiphar?"
-
He says, "How can I do this
and sin against the LORD?"
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You see, that's the issue.
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Here's two mindsets.
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One mindset: God is small.
That'll lead you into it.
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One mindset is, when offending
God no longer terrifies you.
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Another mindset, think with me here:
-
When you think God is against you.
-
You say, "What do you mean?"
-
What I mean is this:
-
As a Christian, especially single,
-
you can come to points in your life
-
where you feel God has forgotten you.
-
You want to be married.
-
You don't like being single.
-
You've asked the Lord for a spouse.
-
And you feel like, you see other people
around you getting married,
-
"Lord, what's happened?
-
I want a spouse just as much as they do.
-
You didn't give me the gift of singleness
-
any more than You gave it to them."
-
And you can get to feeling sorry
for yourself, and self-pity.
-
And remember, the devil is a slanderer.
-
And will he not come in right
there and say, "Look at you.
-
Look at these folks over here.
-
God's given them girlfriend, boyfriend.
-
They're courting. They're doing this.
-
God's got it out for you.
-
You're probably not even one of His.
-
He probably doesn't want
anything to look at you.
-
He just mocks you.
-
He's forgotten you.
-
What are you serving Him for?
-
Look at how much everybody else has.
-
And you don't have anything."
-
And you know what you can do
-
right at that point with that mindset?
-
Justify sin.
-
You can justify it.
-
Listen. Does God say He's against you?
-
Listen to what He says.
-
I'll just fly through these.
-
Romans 8:31, "What shall
we say to these things?
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If God is for us, who can be against us?"
-
Look, just because God
hasn't given you a spouse yet,
-
does not mean that He's against you.
-
Look, all of us have trials to bear.
-
That may be yours today.
-
You can look over at the married guy
-
and you can think, "Look at him.
I don't have what he has."
-
No, but he doesn't also
have what you have.
-
Until you've walked in
somebody else's shoes,
-
don't always think that
God is showing favorites.
-
God does show favorites,
but to all of His children.
-
They're His favorites.
-
And He's guaranteed us all
-
that we have to go through
affliction to get to the end.
-
And just because your
affliction isn't like that guy,
-
as in one of the
afflictions you have to bear
-
happens to be in the
realm of singleness,
-
I guarantee he's bearing them, too.
-
So before you think that you're getting
-
the major raw end of the deal,
stand in his shoes first.
-
Because, I guarantee you,
there's a whole lot of people
-
that are married that wish they weren't.
-
Romans 8:32. Now think with me here.
-
"He who did not spare His own
Son but gave Him up for us all,
-
how will He not also with Him
graciously give us all things?"
-
Look, if He has given you His Son,
-
then He is going to give you everything
-
that's for your good, for your best.
-
And He knows what's for your best.
-
He really does.
-
How about this: Romans 8:35,
-
"Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?"
-
Listen, singleness doesn't separate
you from the love of Christ.
-
Jesus was single.
-
God is just keeping you just
like Him for a season.
-
Paul was single. He is keeping
you like that for a season.
-
Come on, you're no more
cursed than they were.
-
Psalm 118:6, "The LORD is on
my side; I will not fear."
-
I'll tell you, when your mindset is:
-
"I know the Lord knows
all about my situation.
-
And I know He's on my side.
-
And I know He is for me,
He's not against me.
-
And I know He gave His Son for me.
-
And if He has, He's going
to graciously give me
-
everything that's good and
profitable for my life,
-
and it's all going to
work out for my good.
-
I love God. I know He hasn't forgotten me.
-
There is a promise there that He
will never leave me nor forsake me.
-
I know that."
-
Psalm 56:9, "This I know,
that God is for me."
-
When you have that mindset, brethren,
-
it goes a long ways to help deliver you.
-
Matthew 7:11, " If you
then, who are evil,
-
know how to give good
gifts to your children,
-
how much more will your
Father who is in Heaven
-
give good things to those who ask Him!"
-
And I'll guarantee you this,
He gives good things to His children.
-
And if He looks at you, and He says,
-
"I know, in My infinite wisdom,
-
that the best thing for that
person right now is singleness."
-
Listen, I never wanted to
get married in my life,
-
until God saved me.
-
And then I wanted to get married,
I wanted to have a family.
-
He left me single for three years.
-
That was not an enjoyable
three years for me.
-
That was tough.
-
But I know full well this:
During those three years,
-
He knew it was best for
me to be in that place.
-
And I was able to take that time,
-
and invest it in studying the Word of God
-
in a way that I would
have never been able to
-
had He given me a wife immediately.
-
I was able for the better
part of three years
-
to saturate myself with the
Word of God and with prayer.
-
Come home from work everyday
and just listen to sermons,
-
and get in the Word, and go out and pray.
-
Day after day after day.
-
And get involved in various ministries,
and just absorb my life in that,
-
which I would have never been able to do.
-
Craig and Rod, the two that I was
hanging with tightly at that time,
-
they were married.
-
They had kids. They couldn't
do the things that I did.
-
They couldn't study the
Scriptures like I could.
-
So the thing is: Remember, when
you're in a place of singleness,
-
God is actually giving you
opportunity to do things
-
that that married guy over there can't do.
-
He's giving you opportunity,
very possibly, to be more fruitful
-
than that other person may be able to be.
-
Don't despise that.
Don't let self-pity ruin it.
-
Give yourself to striving
to excel at that point.
-
How about this, Psalm 84:11,
-
"For the LORD God is a sun and a shield;
-
the LORD bestows favor and honor.
-
No good thing does He withhold
from those who walk uprightly."
-
No good thing.
-
You walk uprightly,
He doesn't withhold it.
-
And if He looks at you and He says,
-
"A good thing is a wife,"
you're getting it.
-
If He says, "A good thing is
singleness," you're getting it.
-
And He is wise.
-
Or this, Psalm 37:4,
"Delight yourself in the LORD,
-
and He will give you
the desires of your heart."
-
Listen, there's a place to take that,
-
if you know, "I do delight in the Lord.
-
I love the Lord. I'm striving
to serve the Lord,"
-
go to Him and ask Him.
-
"Lord, would you give me
the desire of my heart?
-
I really would like to be married."
-
How about Matthew 6:17-18?
It talks there about fasting:
-
"When you fast, anoint your
head and wash your face,
-
that your fasting may
not be seen by others
-
but by your Father who is in secret.
-
And your Father who sees in
secret will reward you."
-
Fast. Seek the Lord diligently.
-
Don't just ask Him flippantly.
-
You want something from Him,
show Him you mean it. Fast for it.
-
He says that He gives openly those things
-
that you seek Him for in secret.
-
Or remember this,
Genesis 2:18, "The LORD God said,
-
'It is not good that
the man should be alone.
-
I will make him a helper fit for him.'"
-
Listen, take that text to Him.
-
"Lord, you say it's not good for a
man to be alone, and I'm alone."
-
I mean, plead with Him. Pray to Him.
-
Proverbs 19:14 says,
"A prudent wife is from the LORD."
-
I'll guarantee you this, you get a wife,
-
you get a husband, it's from God.
-
Like He's got everything to do with it.
-
Look, is that important?
That's hugely important.
-
If you're just basically a
lost person out in the world,
-
and you go, and all you do is
camp in front of the TV all the time,
-
you see these movie stars
and all these beautiful people,
-
and you go and look in the mirror,
-
and you're like, "I'm not as
handsome. I'm not as beautiful.
-
I'm not as this; I'm not as that.
-
I'm not as suave and
debonair as these guys.
-
I don't have any chance to get this."
-
Listen, what are you saying?
God is sovereign.
-
I mean, is it like any Christian
is in some kind of position
-
where God isn't quite able
to give that person a mate?
-
I mean, you're basically
coming to a conclusion,
-
"Well, I don't have what
other people have."
-
Listen, my Bible says a prudent
wife is from the LORD.
-
By the way, a prudent husband
would be from the same place.
-
If your desire is to have this,
you're delighting in the Lord -
-
it's not good for a man to be alone,
-
which must mean that it must not be
-
very good for women to be alone either.
-
Ask. Expect.
-
If you believe God is
against you, it can give place.
-
And I've heard this before.
I've heard Christians reason,
-
"Well, I'm not married.
And I have these desires.
-
And I need to knock the edge off.
-
I need to do this. God understands."
-
No. Listen, you fall into sexual sin,
-
and you reasoning in it
-
because well, you want to be married,
-
but God just hasn't brought you a wife.
-
You see what that's doing?
-
You're basically blaming God for your sin.
-
"Well, He's not for me.
-
He's not there like with other people."
-
You don't want to get into that mindset.
-
I'll tell you, another mindset
that lead Christians into sin
-
is the mindset that basically makes
-
God's threatenings and
warnings of no effect.
-
You know what I mean by that?
-
Where you just
basically say as a Christian,
-
"Well, I'm a Christian.
-
I can't lose my salvation.
-
So warnings about hell
to sexually immoral,
-
there's no condemnation to me.
-
I'm in Christ."
-
You see what I'm saying?
That mindset is deadly.
-
That mindset will land people
-
right in the lap of sexual immorality.
-
Because what you basically do
is you come to this conclusion:
-
"I'm saved,
-
and the Bible teaches that saved
people can't lose their salvation.
-
Therefore no amount of sexual immorality
-
can make me lose my salvation.
-
Therefore the warnings about
sexually immoral people
-
suffering under the wrath of God,
-
and not inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven,
-
can't apply to me."
-
But what presupposition in
all that was dead faulty?
-
That first assumption that "I'm saved,
-
and that I can go and jump
into all this sexual immorality,
-
and it'll be okay."
-
Listen, this is why Paul is saying,
he's like shaking people,
-
"No! No! No! No! Don't think that way.
-
Because if you get involved
in sexual immorality,
-
let me tell you, do not be deceived.
-
The sexually immoral do not
inherit the Kingdom of Heaven."
-
In other words, it doesn't
matter what you think.
-
It doesn't matter what you
say about your Christianity.
-
It doesn't matter what
assurance you have.
-
It doesn't matter what
experience you have.
-
It doesn't matter how long
you think you were saved.
-
If you can all of a sudden
depart from that,
-
and go into that sexual immorality,
-
and you can just blow
off the warnings of Scripture;
-
people like that, Paul
comes along and says,
-
"Their condemnation is just."
-
People who give place to
licentiousness and sin,
-
because they basically presume upon God.
-
Brethren, dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.
-
Jesus says if you're not
amputating these things,
-
you have an eye that looks at a woman,
-
He says, "You better pluck that
thing out or you're going to hell."
-
You say, "He says that?"
You better believe He says that.
-
If you have such a theology that you're
able to toy with sexual immorality,
-
and convince yourself
that no matter how much
-
you do that it's going to be okay,
-
because there's no condemnation,
after all you're saved;
-
you're walking on very
scary ground. Very scary.
-
Be very careful.
-
That kind of mindset will
land people in trouble.
-
And then, I can tell you this,
-
especially guys, girls
too but especially guys:
-
A mindset that what I
look at doesn't matter.
-
Listen, the apostle Paul gave
a stern warning to the Romans.
-
He said, "Make no
provision for the flesh."
-
The flesh is that unredeemed part of us.
-
We're to crucify it. We're
to take the life out of it.
-
We're to buffet it and
beat it. We're to starve it.
-
The flesh is like a living animal.
-
It's like an animal that has the ability,
-
if it's fed, to regain strength.
-
It's almost like a creature that
you can crucify life out of it,
-
so that it becomes weaker and weaker.
-
But then, you can also feed it
-
so that, like an animal, it suddenly
-
becomes incredibly strong and vicious.
-
Job said, Job 31:1, he made a
covenant with his eyes not to look
-
(or "Why then shall I look").
-
He would not look. He made
a covenant with his eyes.
-
Guys, you drive around this city,
-
you know where the billboards are.
-
Don't look at them.
-
You know if you walk into a mall,
-
and you walk by Victoria's Secret;
-
for one, don't go there;
-
two, don't even go to the malls.
-
What do you need there?
-
Guys what do you need at a mall?
-
Buy it online. I'm serious.
-
There is practically no reason
-
that any guy needs to go into a mall.
-
[Audience] Walmart.
-
[Tim] Right. Walmart.
-
And even there, watch
yourself at the racks.
-
H-E-B, watch yourself at the racks.
-
You know it, don't look.
-
Keep your eyes to the ground.
-
I mean, I go to the gym. To the Y.
-
Ruby and I go there.
-
I mean, there are women working out.
-
There's obvious places not to look.
-
Watch your eyes.
-
Believe me, your eyes are a
channel to feed the flesh.
-
And if you feed that animal,
you're going to go down.
-
You feed it enough, and it's going
to take you by the throat,
-
and you're going to go down.
-
And I'll tell you, you tempt God,
-
and He's going to draw His hand back.
-
And you may fall farther than you
ever thought you were going to fall.
-
And if He takes His hand back;
-
when a Christian presumes
upon God, be very careful.
-
Listen, movies, TV, computer,
you need to stay away from places.
-
There are places you
know you should not go.
-
Don't go there. Don't feed it.
-
Guys, there is no reason and
no legitimate excuse
-
for you to be in circumstances
-
that are putting things before
your eyes that are inappropriate.
-
Don't tell me, "Well, I have to.
-
Well, I need to do this thing over here,
-
and this just happens."
-
Or, "This is part and parcel of that."
-
That's not true.
-
The Scripture says, "Flee
fornication. Run from it."
-
You need to get away
from it. Don't entice it.
-
What we look at matters.
-
Another mindset, it's
when we forget, (this is huge,)
-
when we forget that a vacuum never works.
-
In other words, if I'm struggling
with sexual thoughts, illicit ones,
-
or I had dreams that weren't right,
-
or something just got stuck in my face.
-
Brother Andy says over there in China,
-
you know, he's on his computer,
-
and all of a sudden, it just appears,
-
full pornography right in his face.
-
He didn't look for it,
he didn't ask for it,
-
he didn't entice it,
just bang! It's right there.
-
I mean, once in a while something
happens where you have images,
-
you have images in your mind
from when you were lost.
-
But listen, one of the
things that often happens is -
-
I can remember one time when
I was working as an engineer,
-
my boss was in there,
-
and there was this guy that worked
over in the other cubicle across from me.
-
And this guy would come late.
-
He wasn't a really good worker,
and he would miss a lot of work
-
because he was having these
cluster headaches and everything.
-
And the guy drank all sorts
of coffee and smoked like crazy.
-
Every break he was going out to smoke.
-
And I came in one day, and I said,
-
"Scott, I saw, down in the lunchroom,
-
they had a medical fact sheet
on cluster headaches."
-
And I said, "They're caused by
excessive caffeine and nicotine."
-
This guy would have to
get this machine on him
-
that would shock him,
while he was at work.
-
And Scott would be over
there looking at my boss,
-
and all of a sudden he'll just jump,
-
because he'd get this great big shock.
-
And I could tell it really made Scott mad.
-
So I came back from the lunchroom
that day, and Scott is in his office.
-
I said, "Hey Scott, I saw this thing
about cluster headaches down there."
-
And he's just going, "La la la la la la."
-
Like he didn't want to hear.
-
Can I tell you something?
-
That does not work with sexual sin.
-
You just put your hands over your ears,
-
that kind of thing where,
-
"No! I don't want to think about it."
-
Listen, in 2 Timothy 2:22,
"Flee youthful passions."
-
But that's not all.
-
You see, that's the negative.
-
That's what you want to clear out;
-
you want to get away from.
-
But if that's all it was,
it wouldn't be Christianity.
-
It would just be some kind of morality.
-
It would be some kind
of stop doing the bad.
-
But with Christianity, it's always what?
-
There's always an opposite side to it.
-
It's always "Christ came,
-
not only to deliver His
people from the evil,
-
He came to make them
zealous of good works.
-
We replace one thing with another.
-
We have to replace the bad with the good.
-
And what does it say
there? 2 Timothy 2:22,
-
"Flee youthful passions, and pursue" -
-
you run from one thing,
and you chase after another.
-
What is it? What do we pursue?
-
"Faith, love, peace, along with those
-
who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
-
You know what? Start loving people.
-
Start doing things that are
going to increase your faith.
-
Start thinking about
ways you can give more
-
and see how faithful God is.
-
Start thinking about missionaries
-
you can put together care
package for, and show love.
-
Start thinking about people
that you can serve.
-
Get involved in things.
-
I'll tell you, when
you're not sitting alone
-
in front of your computer,
-
but you're rather out helping
somebody, serving somebody,
-
it's a whole lot different.
-
You're not likely going
to look at pornography
-
when you're out mowing the
widow's lawn in your church.
-
It's just the reality.
-
Brethren, another mindset is when
we forget the power of prayer.
-
And what I mean by that is,
look, when you start your day
-
and you really believe that
there is power in prayer,
-
and that God can deliver
from temptation, you pray it.
-
Just like Jesus taught us -
-
"Keep us from temptation.
Deliver us from evil."
-
You'll pray that way because you believe,
-
"I really believe God can
keep me from this.
-
Lord, keep me from it.
-
I'm going to school,
Lord help me, help me.
-
Give me the ability to
keep my eyes focused."
-
I mean, you're surrounded
by 50% of these maidens
-
that Job wouldn't look at.
-
And there you are, out in the campus;
-
and they're walking around,
and summer is coming on,
-
and they're wearing things
they should not be wearing.
-
And sometimes you're in class,
-
and it's just right there in your face.
-
"God help us," you can pray
brethren. You can pray.
-
If we're to be salt and light
in the midst of this world,
-
just the reality is we're going to
be around things that are improper.
-
And we need God's help
and grace and mercy
-
to be able to cope with these things.
-
Remember, there is power in prayer.
-
He would not have taught us, Luke 22:40,
-
Jesus says, "When He came
to the place, He said to them,
-
"Pray that you may not
enter into temptation."
-
That's because we can pray and
God will keep us from temptation.
-
How about this: When you
believe you are justified
-
in relieving your affliction through sin.
-
Now what do I mean by that one?
-
I mean, your sexual
appetite is just screaming.
-
That's affliction.
Let's call it what it is.
-
When a man or a woman has sexual desires
-
that are incredibly strong,
-
and there is no immediate,
viable, righteous outlet
-
for that desire, that's tough.
-
That's hard. That's a trial.
That's affliction.
-
But brethren, when you have a mindset
-
that you're justified in avoiding
affliction by way of sin,
-
when you have that mindset,
-
you've got the groundwork for a fall.
-
You see, God says, 1 Corinthians 10:13,
-
"No temptation has overtaken you
-
that is not common
to man. God is faithful."
-
Listen right there, God is faithful.
-
When you feel like you're at that
point where you're ready to break,
-
the best thing to do is clear out,
-
hit the closet, and go to your knees:
-
"Lord, I need help.
-
Lord, I don't know if I can
keep going. I need help."
-
"He will not let you be
tempted beyond your ability."
-
He promises there will
be sufficient grace
-
for you to get through this thing
-
without taking the outlet of sin.
-
"But with the temptation He will
also provide the way of escape,
-
that you may be able to endure it."
-
Or 2 Peter 2:9, "The Lord knows
how to rescue the godly from trials."
-
He knows. He knows how to rescue you.
-
You need to believe that.
-
You see, a lot of times when
you're in the midst of it,
-
you think you've got to deal with it.
-
You think you've got to
give yourself a way out.
-
It says, "God knows how to
give you a way out."
-
Run to Him. Believe that.
-
When it's fierce, the battle
is hot, believe it.
-
Believe it, brethren, believe it.
-
He is able to rescue
the godly from trials.
-
He knows how to rescue you. He knows.
-
Brethren, so often with the Lord,
-
"You don't have because what?
You haven't asked."
-
Listen, if you've got that mindset,
-
"The Lord knows how to deliver
me from this," you run to Him,
-
"Lord, deliver me. Show me a way out."
-
Or how about this:
You do fall into sexual sin.
-
Can I tell you what? Listen, you
not only have these passions,
-
you have the devil.
-
He comes along, and he's
whispering to you,
-
"Certainly God is going to understand.
-
Certainly he doesn't expect
you to endure this.
-
Look at the affliction you're in.
-
He's forgotten you.
He doesn't care about you."
-
He's going to come along
and slander God to you.
-
And then, you fall into the sin.
-
And then, he suddenly changes his tone.
-
Now he slanders you to you.
-
Before he slandered God to you.
-
Now you fall, "Look at you.
Look at how pathetic you are.
-
Are you going to think, even think,
-
Christ wants anything to do with
you after what you just did?
-
You might as well just go do it again.
-
You're so defiled. You're so wretched.
-
Just go do it again.
-
I mean, why even fight anymore?
-
You've already fallen,
look how pathetic you are.
-
You might as well just
blow it even worse."
-
You get that mindset, just the
devil trying to convince you,
-
"It's no use now, you
might as well just indulge."
-
Brethren, this is where Scripture comes
along and it says things like this,
-
think there with Romans 8:
-
"Who shall bring any
charge against God's elect?"
-
You remember who you are.
-
Listen, even on your worst day,
there is no condemnation.
-
Even on your worst day,
who shall bring any charge?
-
That doesn't mean that
nobody brings charges.
-
When it says, "Who shall bring
a charge against God's elect?"
-
it doesn't mean that there
aren't those who do bring charges.
-
It means there's nobody that
can bring one that sticks.
-
I'll tell you this, as a young Christian
-
I would fall into all sorts of sins.
-
The battle was on.
-
I mean, for the first time in
my life, I wanted righteousness.
-
I hungered for it. I mean,
it was all out battle.
-
There was no perfect day.
-
But I can tell you, even on my worst day,
-
I was so overwhelmed by the fact that
-
Jesus Christ came and rescued me
-
when I was totally dead in my trespasses.
-
Now that I'm justified,
and I happen to have one fall;
-
I mean, when he came and rescued
me when I was like that,
-
is He going to now abandon
me when I'm like this?
-
I mean, how much more now that I'm His,
-
and now that I'm justified,
-
how much more is He going
to come and be a help to me?
-
When the devil would come
in at those times and says,
-
"He doesn't want anything to do with you."
-
I would say, "Well, that's interesting.
-
When I was like ten thousand times
worse before I was regenerated,
-
He wanted everything to do with me."
-
I mean, the basic logic of it was foolish.
-
I'd say, "Devil, your logic is
not working with me."
-
Who can lay anything to the
charge against God's elect?
-
It's God Who justifies! (Amen).
-
I mean, look, "Oh, is that right, devil?
-
I'm pretty bad? Yeah. That's right.
-
You're right, I did sin, and I am bad.
-
But I read somewhere in my Bible
-
that I have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
-
I don't think I'm going to
buy into that thinking."
-
Or how about this?
-
Brethren, you've got the reality of the
fear of the Lord, like we talked about.
-
When offending God no longer terrifies us.
-
But how about just this:
-
How about just from love end?
-
from the closeness end?
-
from the intimacy end?
-
When we forget just how much
-
this kind of thing damages
communion with the Lord.
-
Listen, can I tell you this,
David sinned with Bathsheba.
-
Nine months later, the child was born.
-
And that child died.
-
So most people estimate that David
-
was unrepentant of the sexual immorality
-
for somewhere in the neighborhood
-
of nine months approximately.
-
It's a good guess.
-
We know it was within the time
frame of this child being born.
-
And so this judgment is
basically handed down
-
that the child is going to die.
-
She gave birth.
-
It seems in the flow of 2 Samuel
-
that it happened fairly immediately.
-
There's not record of other
things happening there.
-
So it may very well be right that
about nine months went by.
-
Listen, to those of you that
have found Christ precious,
-
and you love intimacy with Him,
-
David lost those nine months.
-
What do I mean by that?
-
I mean nine months that he did not grow
-
in communion with the Lord.
-
Nine months where he did not grow
-
in intimacy with [the Lord].
-
They were wasted.
-
You say, "How do you know?"
-
Because he tells us. Listen to this.
-
In Psalm 51, where he's responding
after the sin with Bathsheba,
-
"Let me hear joy and gladness;
-
let the bones that you
have broken rejoice."
-
He describes that
period of unrepentance
-
as having broken bones.
-
In Psalm 32:3, "When I kept silent -
in other words, sinned,
-
haven't confessed it,
haven't come to the Lord -
-
when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
-
through my groaning all day long."
-
Mark 4:19, "The desires of other
things enter in and choke the word,
-
and it proves unfruitful."
-
You know what happens when you
have desires for other things,
-
like for a woman, or for a man,
-
and you become consumed with
those in an illegitimate way?
-
They choke. They choke the Word.
-
They choke communion with God.
-
They cause the bones to break.
-
They cause this kind of
bones wasting away, groaning.
-
Look, if you don't value
intimacy with Christ,
-
just run out into a bunch of sexual sin;
-
just view pornography.
-
If you think you're going to have
some of the sweetest times
-
that you've ever experienced
in prayer after you do that,
-
you're crazy. It's not going to happen.
-
Can I tell you who takes flight
up to the mountain of God?
-
Anybody know your Bibles?
-
Anybody know Psalm 15
or Psalm 24? Who is it?
-
He that has clean hands and a pure heart.
-
You spend your time defiling yourself,
-
you will not walk in those
high places with the Lord.
-
You will not be given access.
-
I'm talking experientially.
-
I'm talking manifestly experiencing
-
the reality of God's presence;
-
knowing what it is to walk with Him
-
and talk with Him and delight in Him.
-
You will groan, and your bones will break,
-
before He'll let you
mount that holy mountain.
-
You won't go there. You won't walk there.
-
And one last one:
When you forget, brethren,
-
when you forget the agonies
of Christ for sexual sin.
-
Listen guys, you ever
tempted by the computer?
-
As you're thinking about it,
begin to picture in your mind.
-
I read somewhere in my
Bible something like this:
-
Titus 2:13, "Our great God
and Savior Jesus Christ,
-
who gave Himself for us to
redeem us from all lawlessness
-
and to purify for Himself a
people for His own possession."
-
To purify.
-
To take that smut, and
that dirt, out of your life.
-
Scripture says, "He gave Himself."
-
Listen, can you see Christ hanging there?
-
Darkness is upon the land.
-
Everyone has forsaken Him.
-
God has forsaken Him.
-
The sun has forsaken Him.
-
It's dark.
-
Can you imagine the groans
and the sighs of the Man of sorrows
-
as He hangs upon that cross,
specifically to purify you?
-
What are you gonna do?
-
You're gonna tread on that blood?
-
You're gonna tread on that pain?
-
You're gonna tread on that affliction?
-
You're gonna say, "Well, it doesn't
really matter. It's a small thing.
-
It's a light thing I'm about to do.
-
I'm gonna just cheaply sin,
because Christ has paid for it?"
-
You're just gonna trample that blood?
-
You can imagine in your
mind Christ hanging there
-
between Heaven and Earth, groaning?
-
You see, when the Christian
ventures into the realm of sexual sin,
-
his or her thinking has totally
gone wrong. Totally gone wrong.
-
This is where our minds need to be.
-
You know, it's hard when you
think, you're walking along,
-
It's a disregard. It's a despising.
-
Just remember this: "You despised Me."
-
Remember God saying that through
Nathan to David? "You despised Me.
-
You disregarded Me,"
so says 1 Thessalonians 4.
-
"You disregarded Me. You despised Me.
-
You despised My Word.
-
You have utterly scorned the LORD."
-
Is that what you want to do, Christian?
-
You that love the Lord,
-
do you want to scorn the Lord?
-
Do you want to trample
the blood of Christ?
-
He who hung on the
cross to make you pure,
-
do you want to do that?
-
Do you want to just wreck your
communion with the Lord?
-
Brethren, these are things
we need to think about.
-
It's a mind battle.
-
It's bringing your thoughts
in subjection to the Word.
-
Arm yourself. Think on these things.
-
Well, there you have it for tonight.
-
[Audience] You just made
a reference to 1 Peter,
-
where you said, "Those of you
who count Him as precious."
-
Is it possible to be saved and
not count Him as precious?
-
[Tim] No. Now, obviously,
our affection for Him
-
can increase and diminish.
-
But I would just say this:
-
The given New Covenant promise, just huge,
-
is that He is going to put
His Spirit within us.
-
The Spirit comes and works the
fruit of the Spirit in His people.
-
The first description
of that fruit is love.
-
The highest love is for God. For Christ.
-
The Spirit of God works
that in His people.
-
I mean, you get the
reality of the parable
-
that I brought up last week
-
of the treasure hidden in the field.
-
I mean, basically, the
reality of Christianity
-
is discovering a treasure
that is so precious to us,
-
we're willing to go
sell everything to have it.
-
Now, that doesn't mean that as
we progress through our Christian life,
-
that from time to time, idols
don't encroach and challenge that.
-
But Jesus says that He disciplines,
-
He chastens those whom He loves.
-
The promise in the New Covenant is this:
-
That He is going to
cleanse us from our idols.
-
In other words, He is jealous
for our love, for our affection.
-
And when anything enters
in that challenges it,
-
He's knocking it out of there.
-
I mean, He is jealous for our love,
-
and He's determined to have it.
-
And His Spirit is working that within us.
-
So, I would say it can
ebb and it can flow.
-
The very characteristic of a
Christian given in Romans 8:28,
-
is not only those that are called,
but those that love God.
-
I mean, that is a
description of the Christian.
-
So no, that's impossible.
-
You come across somebody that
doesn't find Christ precious,
-
you've just come across an unbeliever.
-
Now they may believe a
lot of things about Christ,
-
but they're not a true believer.
-
I mean, that's just the reality.
-
That's one thing that, to the
saved person, Christ is precious.
-
I mean, if anything is
true about the Christian,
-
Christ is altogether everything;
-
altogether lovely, altogether
worthy of being followed,
-
of our total commitment.
-
One of the triggers that really
spirals the Christian downward
-
is when their prayer life takes a hit.
-
And, I've heard other men
say this, and I feel it myself,
-
that even more so than maybe
not reading as much of the Word.
-
But when the prayer life slackens,
even more so than Bible reading,
-
your spiritual life takes a major hit.
-
And I have found that to be true.