Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Plea for Morality │ Msg 34 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Plea for Morality │ Msg 34 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I'm convinced that living with confidence is directly linked to
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Speaker 1: living without blame. Being blameless is better than knowing all
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Speaker 1: the answers on a test, having plenty of money, or
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Speaker 1: earning an advanced degree. When we are blameless, we can
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Speaker 1: take life's pressures and enjoy its pleasures, and then when
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Speaker 1: marriage comes along, we can enjoy the partnership of the
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Speaker 1: opposite sex, including all the joys of sexual delights. I'm
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Speaker 1: grateful that God talks straight when it comes to moral purity.
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Speaker 1: I'm grateful he doesn't stutter or shuffle about or shift
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Speaker 1: his position. And because God is clear, he leaves us
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Speaker 1: with a decision regarding our own personal holiness. Only one
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Speaker 1: decision pleases him, absolute obedience. And that's what the apostle
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Speaker 1: Paul urges us to remember as we read chapter four
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Speaker 1: of First Thessalonians. Listen very carefully as I read a
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Speaker 1: section from that fourth chapter, verses three through eight, from
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Speaker 1: the New Living Translation, God's will is for you to
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Speaker 1: be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then
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Speaker 1: each of you will control his own body and live
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Speaker 1: in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the
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Speaker 1: pagans who do not know God. And his ways. Never
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Speaker 1: harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by
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Speaker 1: violating his wife, For the Lord avenges all such sins,
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Speaker 1: As we have solemnly warned you before, God has called
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Speaker 1: us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone
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Speaker 1: who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying
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Speaker 1: human teaching, but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit to you. Every person hearing me at this moment
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Speaker 1: is married. Your companion will be with you for a life.
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Speaker 1: Every morning, as sure as the rising of the sun,
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Speaker 1: your partner will be there every evening, as sure as
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Speaker 1: the darkness of the sky. Your companion will be by
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Speaker 1: your side. This companion will never leave you because of
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Speaker 1: lack of support, and a divorce is impossible. You are
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Speaker 1: married for life to this companion. Like it or not,
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Speaker 1: You will be married till death do you part your partner,
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Speaker 1: your lifelong companion, is temptation. There is no escape, there
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Speaker 1: is no immunity, there is no exemption, and there is
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Speaker 1: no safe location. Even if you entered into the role
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Speaker 1: of the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church and lived
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Speaker 1: the rest of your life behind the walls of a monastery,
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Speaker 1: your battle would go on, your companion would be there,
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Speaker 1: and would haunt you almost on a daily basis. This
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Speaker 1: is nothing new because it feeds on our curiosity, it
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Speaker 1: continues to tell us what we don't have, and because
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Speaker 1: it depends upon comparison, it tempts us to believe that
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Speaker 1: the grass is always greener on the other side. As
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Speaker 1: one seasoned wag put it, not only is the grass
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Speaker 1: not greener, it's not even edible. But it's there, and
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Speaker 1: the temptation will always dangle the carrot, telling you it
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Speaker 1: is better than what you have, and it is worth
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Speaker 1: the risk yield, and you will find satisfaction. This is
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Speaker 1: nothing new. This is not a late twentieth century malady.
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Speaker 1: It has been with us since the first fall in
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Speaker 1: the garden. Travel back with me in the time tunnel
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Speaker 1: to three thousand years ago. The nation is Israel, the
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Speaker 1: city is Jerusalem. The season is spring. Time is evening,
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Speaker 1: and the hour is early, and the place is the
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Speaker 1: roof of the King's palace. It's a quiet evening, A
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Speaker 1: soft breeze blows across the city, and in a rare
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Speaker 1: moment of unaccountable privacy and relaxation, the king is walking
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Speaker 1: on the roof to find some solitude and some cool
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Speaker 1: evening breeze. Behind the palace lives a young married woman,
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Speaker 1: no children. Her husband is away in military service. She
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Speaker 1: is the daughter of Iliam. She's the wife of Uriah.
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Speaker 1: In all innocence, she's taking an evening bath. She is
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Speaker 1: not a sultry, scheming street walker. She is a faithful wife.
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Speaker 1: And the man who begins to watch her with increased
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Speaker 1: interest and excitement is about a forty year old respected monarch.
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Speaker 1: He is not a sex starved peeping tom. He has
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Speaker 1: at least seven wives, several unnamed concubines. He has fathered
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Speaker 1: by now seventeen children, so he is not some kind
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Speaker 1: of human animal on the prowl, as if in heat.
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Speaker 1: But he's attracted and he can't take his eyes off her.
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Speaker 1: Roberta Dore in her novel David and Bathsheba, portrays it vividly.
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Speaker 1: Bathsheba pulled off her shift and stepped into the alabaster
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Speaker 1: bowl her servant Sarah had filled with fresh water. She
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Speaker 1: stood naked in the bowl while her servant dipped water
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Speaker 1: with a gourd and poured it over her. Bathsheba stood
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Speaker 1: without embarrassment, even though she had nothing to cover her nakedness.
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Speaker 1: Unknown to her, a man's eyes had been observing, and
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Speaker 1: ordinarily he would have turned away, but it was also
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Speaker 1: unexpected and lovely that he continued to watch with growing admiration.
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Speaker 1: He studied her loveliness as only half seen through the
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Speaker 1: dried palm branches. Her hair clung in damp curls to
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Speaker 1: her full breasts, and her tiny waist accentuated the pleasing
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Speaker 1: roundness of her hips. As he watched, she stepped out
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Speaker 1: of the bowl and tossed her hair back, making the
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Speaker 1: curve of her back visible. He thought he had never
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Speaker 1: seen anything so beautiful and so graceful life. A quiet
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Speaker 1: knock at her door totally changed her plans for the
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Speaker 1: rest of that night and for the rest of her life.
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Speaker 1: Now understand, David and Bathsheba had never met. If he
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Speaker 1: had met her, she was just one of the many
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Speaker 1: in the streets, and he couldn't even remember her name.
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Speaker 1: But before that night was over, she would have his
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Speaker 1: child within her. She would be pregnant. Let's understand right
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Speaker 1: away that illicit sex is not novel or new. It's
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Speaker 1: not It is not something that has grown out of
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Speaker 1: our society. It has been with us throughout time. My
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Speaker 1: Bible is open to James, one that describes, in clear
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Speaker 1: and briefest terms, a downward cycle that is taken by
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Speaker 1: all who taste of this forbidden fruit. Let no man
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Speaker 1: say what he is tempted. I am tempted by God.
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Speaker 1: For God is not tempted by evil, neither tempts he
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Speaker 1: any man. But every man is tempted when he is
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Speaker 1: drawn away from his own lust. The New International version says,
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Speaker 1: dragged away. It's not bad. Every man is tempted when
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Speaker 1: he is dragged by his own lust and enticed, and lust,
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Speaker 1: when it has conceived, brings forth sin. And when the
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Speaker 1: process continues, when sin conceives, it brings forth an existence
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Speaker 1: that is like death, and if it continues, an addiction
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Speaker 1: that is worse than death. Rather easy to analyze a
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Speaker 1: sexual problem in a safe place like we find ourselves today,
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Speaker 1: Bible open in our laps, lights are bright, no soft music,
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Speaker 1: no sultry temptress in front of us. We're not alone
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Speaker 1: in a hotel room with the television that has available
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Speaker 1: X rated channels. We're not on the roof of our
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Speaker 1: own home as it were, looking down on some other
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Speaker 1: lovely lady. No, this is the place to analyze how
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Speaker 1: it all happens. How the secret smoldering fire can burst
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Speaker 1: into a destructive blaze and run a home and run
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Speaker 1: a reputation and ruin a career and ruin a life. Yes,
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Speaker 1: that bad. While thinking about this in these recent days,
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Speaker 1: I have come up with some simple terms that describe
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Speaker 1: why this kind of thing happens. First of all, and
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Speaker 1: I think there are several steps downward. There is an
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Speaker 1: innocent attraction, nothing wrong with that, almost without exception. It's spontaneous.
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Speaker 1: God has given us bodies, and some people have beautiful bodies,
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Speaker 1: wonderful shapes and figures, and keep themselves of well attired.
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Speaker 1: There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it is commendable.
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Speaker 1: And the enjoyment of the beauty of another individual is
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Speaker 1: not in its self sin, and it happens every day.
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Speaker 1: We even compliment others who are not our marriage partners
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Speaker 1: because we think they look nice, and it is meant
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Speaker 1: in sincerity, and it is taken in the same way.
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Speaker 1: There is an innocent attraction. If that doesn't stop, then
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Speaker 1: it leads to what we might call curiosity. Webster defines
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Speaker 1: it a desire to know interest, leading to inquiry. There
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Speaker 1: was a desire to know more about the person. At
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Speaker 1: this point, comparisons usually take place, and while getting to
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Speaker 1: know another individual, it is a great temptation to compare
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Speaker 1: that person to someone else, often the one we're married to,
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Speaker 1: and invariably we find things that aren't there in our partner.
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Speaker 1: As one woman has said, I'm expected today to be
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Speaker 1: mother Teresa, Betty Crocker, Chris Everett, and Cheryl Ladd all
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Speaker 1: wrapped up in one, and all I really am is
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Speaker 1: Betty Crocker. The comparison goes on, and we find the
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Speaker 1: things that individual has whom we do not know intimately,
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Speaker 1: and we compare those things with the one we do have,
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Speaker 1: and we see something lacking. Invariably something is lacking. The
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Speaker 1: curiosity then leads to temptation. I don't believe at that
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Speaker 1: point it's sin. Temptation happens all the time, and this
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Speaker 1: is where imagination plays a vital role. But between temptation
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Speaker 1: and the next step, sin has occurred. The next step
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Speaker 1: is fantasy. Fantasy is the free play of creative and
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Speaker 1: uninhibited imagination. Fantasy is mixing desires and wishes with dreams
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Speaker 1: that have often been held in restraint, and one plays
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Speaker 1: out in the mind the actual intimate act of intercourse
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Speaker 1: with the individual about whom he or she was once
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Speaker 1: simply attracted or curious. This leads to lust. Lust is
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Speaker 1: an overpowering desire to enter into the fulfillment of the fantasy.
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Speaker 1: The restraints are removed when lust takes charge. Let me
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Speaker 1: define and let me describe for you four restraints that
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Speaker 1: are blown to the winds at this point. First ignoring
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Speaker 1: a position, reputation, home life, personal commitments, moral standards. There's
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Speaker 1: then ignoring of all of those personal things, all those
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Speaker 1: things you're thinking about right now that will keep you pure.
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Speaker 1: Those are the things that lust canceled from your mind.
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Speaker 1: I had a man tell me who was in ministry
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Speaker 1: for many years, that when he began the affair with
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Speaker 1: this woman and was involved with her on numerous occasions,
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Speaker 1: that by and by it got to where he could
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Speaker 1: hardly name his own children. A man just told me
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Speaker 1: very recently it got to where he was so addicted
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Speaker 1: to the affair that when he was intimate with his wife,
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Speaker 1: he felt he was unfaithful to his mistress. That's how
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Speaker 1: blind did you get. Second point, blindness to the consequences
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Speaker 1: you don't think about tearing up your career. You don't
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Speaker 1: play back in your mind how some will find out
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Speaker 1: and how the will bring heartbreak to your children or grandchildren.
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Speaker 1: You cancel all that out, or lust does, whether you
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Speaker 1: do or not. You ignore position and reputation. You are
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Speaker 1: blinded to consequences. A Third, you are rationalizing the wrong.
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Speaker 1: You begin to tell yourselves false stories. And fourth, you
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Speaker 1: are burning with excitement to proceed. As so many will say,
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Speaker 1: at that point, you cannot stop. Had an interesting thing
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Speaker 1: happened late this past week. I was making a connecting
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Speaker 1: flight in another city I'll not name, to go to
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Speaker 1: yet another destination for a quick overnight speaking engagement to
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Speaker 1: come back just yesterday afternoon, and to my surprise, a
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Speaker 1: couple rendezvous on the plane that was my connection, and
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Speaker 1: they happened to have sat right behind me, and I
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Speaker 1: confessed to some eavesdropping. One was on the plane waiting
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Speaker 1: for the woman to join him, and when she walked by,
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Speaker 1: he reached out and took hold and pulled her in
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Speaker 1: the seat, and there began a conversation mixed with all
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Speaker 1: kinds of comments about what they had in front of them,
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Speaker 1: as they would enjoy ecstasy together for a couple of nights,
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Speaker 1: along with the tending the Super Bowl. It was arranged,
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Speaker 1: and they joked with each other about how each other's
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Speaker 1: mate knew nothing of it. And there was no mention made,
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Speaker 1: of course, of the loss of reputation, of the depression
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Speaker 1: that will follow, of the broken heartedness when the mate
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Speaker 1: not if but when the mate does find out. No
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Speaker 1: talk of that, of course, not only the delights of
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Speaker 1: time together. And they could not keep their hands off
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Speaker 1: each other. It was incredibly vivid. While I was working
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Speaker 1: on a message on sexual impurity, I had a living
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Speaker 1: illustration going on behind me, and I thought of Solomon's words,
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Speaker 1: stolen waters are sweet. Never doubt it. Don't think for
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Speaker 1: a moment. It isn't fun, at least for the moment.
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Speaker 1: And lust, when it runs its course, finally leads to
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Speaker 1: the exciting act, and there is adventure. There is ecstasy,
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Speaker 1: There is novelty, there is momentary delight, And not until
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Speaker 1: afterwards does the mind come clear and the fog lift,
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Speaker 1: and all the reality of Monday following the weekend falls
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Speaker 1: on you. It seldom stops with one encounter. Quite often
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Speaker 1: it begins a process of an addiction, a compulsion. As
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Speaker 1: one man confessed to me he was at a gathering end.
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Speaker 1: Within twenty minutes he was in the backseat of a
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Speaker 1: car with another man's wife while the man was still
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Speaker 1: at this at this entertaining evening, just incredible. So it
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Speaker 1: is flans it and all these things can be seen
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Speaker 1: and pulled out of like threads in a sweater from
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Speaker 1: the David Bathsheba affair. Now the common reaction is threefold,
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Speaker 1: protect yourself, blame others or circumstances, and three eliminate the evidence.
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Speaker 1: Just as there are a night before pills and morning
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Speaker 1: after pills, an abortion will be nothing more than the
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Speaker 1: swallowing of a pill and the death of a baby.
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Speaker 1: But in those days, when Bathsheba knocked and said I'm pregnant,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't that easy. It led to deception, It led
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Speaker 1: to hypocrisy, and then it led to murder and family
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Speaker 1: tragedy and finally the worst kind of divine judgment. Today
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Speaker 1: it's easier just kill the baby, which, by the way,
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Speaker 1: is one of these subtle tragedies of abortion. It's a
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Speaker 1: simple and quick birth control method if you don't mind
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Speaker 1: killing babies. It's all part of what is described in
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Speaker 1: this fifteenth verse as last word death, lust gives birth
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Speaker 1: to sin. When sin is accomplished, there is a strange
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Speaker 1: kind of stillborn ecstasy that leaves you with a twisted mind,
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Speaker 1: a broken relationship in the bond you have in your marriage,
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Speaker 1: and the beginning of the seeds dropped for an addiction
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Speaker 1: that you won't be able to stop if it gets
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Speaker 1: powerful enough. Turn from James to first Thessalonian chapter four.
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Speaker 1: We want to get scriptural insight from three passages from
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Speaker 1: the pen of Paul under the direction of the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit's inspiration. And we want with each of the insights
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Speaker 1: from these passages, we want to have a lingering warning
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Speaker 1: to take with us because we will not always be
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Speaker 1: together like this. The lights will not always be on.
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Speaker 1: There will come times of personal privacy. There will come
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Speaker 1: times of temptation when you are alone, when you are
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Speaker 1: in a place that you consider safe, which could be
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Speaker 1: the most dangerous place of your life. One Thessalonians four.
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Speaker 1: This is perhaps of all Paul's writings, the most explicit
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Speaker 1: statement regarding poor Naya from which we get pornography. It
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Speaker 1: is the word for section usual impurity, poor Nayah. This
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Speaker 1: passage isn't complicated, the explanation is not mysterious, and the
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Speaker 1: command listen to this is not impossible. You can do it,
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Speaker 1: or God mocks us giving us a command we can't fulfill.
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Speaker 1: You can do it. The first two verses seem to
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Speaker 1: be saying, in your walk, please God by excelling. Finally, brethren,
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Speaker 1: we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that
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Speaker 1: as you receive from us instruction as to how you
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Speaker 1: ought to walk and please God, just as you actually
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Speaker 1: do walk, that you excel still more. For you know
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Speaker 1: what commandments we gave you by the authority of the
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Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, God would have us go further and further
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Speaker 1: in our walk, which is called the doctrine of sanctification,
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Speaker 1: a big word for growing in Christ, maturing in the Lord.
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Speaker 1: And each day our goals are higher, our desires are
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Speaker 1: greater to please Him. He says, excel in that as
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Speaker 1: you walk, please God by excelling. Don't be satisfied with
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Speaker 1: just a mediocre lifestyle as a Christian, work on holiness.
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Speaker 1: Cultivate habits of discipline that are good for you and
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Speaker 1: honoring to God. And then he gets very specific, for
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Speaker 1: this is the will of God. Your sanctification, that is,
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Speaker 1: that you abstain from sexual immorality. Understand most of these
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Speaker 1: people were new in the faith, some of them not
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Speaker 1: more than weeks old in the Lord. Understand also that
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Speaker 1: there was never an age in all of history where
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Speaker 1: marriage was so disregarded and divorced so easy. You think
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Speaker 1: it's disregarded and easy now ancient Greece, it was the worst.
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Speaker 1: Demosthenes rights. We keep prostitutes for pleasure, We keep mistresses
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Speaker 1: for the day to day needs of the body. We
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Speaker 1: keep wives for the begetting of children, and for the
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Speaker 1: faithful guardianship of our homes. William Barkley adds, so long
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Speaker 1: as a man supported his wife and family, there was
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Speaker 1: no shame whatsoever in extra marital affairs. That's first century
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Speaker 1: living in Greece and Macedonia. And of all things, Paul
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Speaker 1: says to them, Secondly, in your morals, obey God by
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Speaker 1: abstaining Verse three, This is the will of God. You
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Speaker 1: don't even have to pricky about it. You don't have
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Speaker 1: to ask him what he feels about or how we
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Speaker 1: would have us live regarding sexual purity. Just read it,
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Speaker 1: For this is the will of God that you abstain
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Speaker 1: from sexual immorality. A peck ohmi is the word abstain.
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Speaker 1: Get this, It means to go away from, to depart,
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Speaker 1: to be distant, to keep hands off. I think that's
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Speaker 1: significant rarely in scripture, but when it is used, it
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Speaker 1: means that every time in one place, abstain from meats,
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Speaker 1: in another place abstained from fleshly lusts, and yet another
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Speaker 1: place one Thessalonians five, verse twenty two, there's the same word,
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Speaker 1: a peck omai abstain from every form of evil. In
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Speaker 1: the Christian Faith, unlike the Pagan faith, your sanctification is
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Speaker 1: significant in that you don't do what the Pagans do.
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Speaker 1: They run around, they play around, they keep mistresses, they
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Speaker 1: they live with little morals because it has nothing to
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Speaker 1: do with their idle worship. But in the Christian Faith
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Speaker 1: it has much to do with your worship. And the
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Speaker 1: answer is a total removal, hands off, no contact that
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Speaker 1: has in mind. Pornaya includes homosexuality, incestuous relationships, unnatural acts
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Speaker 1: with beasts and animals, pre marital relationships, extra marital sex.
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Speaker 1: You say, well, good night, Chuck, you sound like a celliban. No,
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Speaker 1: let me show you. Let me show you the answer.
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Speaker 1: Hebrews chapter thirteen. Hold here and will be right back.
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Speaker 1: From a quick look at Hebrews thirteen, I'll show you
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Speaker 1: the acceptable route for the expression of sexuality. There's a
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Speaker 1: series of commands. Let love of the brethren continue verse one.
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Speaker 1: Don't neglect to show hospitality to strangers. Verse two. Remember
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Speaker 1: the prisoners as though in prison verse three. And in
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Speaker 1: a series of commands, here's a fourth one. Let marriage
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Speaker 1: be held in honor among all. Let the marriage bed
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Speaker 1: be undefiled. Marriage is to be held in honor. And
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Speaker 1: the joys of marital sex are to be enjoyed and
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Speaker 1: delighted in, and cultivated with great creativity and with ecstatic passion.
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Speaker 1: But he adds fornicators and adulterers. God will judge. We're
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Speaker 1: going to read in a moment in Thessalonians. He is
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Speaker 1: the avenger of such strong word. Now, the answer, of
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Speaker 1: course is marriage. And if not marriage, hands off, If single,
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Speaker 1: hands off, If divorced, not married, hands off. Stay out
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Speaker 1: of bed with anybody else, same or opposite sex, stay
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Speaker 1: away from it. I'm just telling you what scripture teaches.
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Speaker 1: It's also the safest route. I saw a cartoon several
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Speaker 1: years ago where a grandson asks a grandfather gee, Granddad,
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Speaker 1: your generation didn't have all these social diseases. What did
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Speaker 1: you wear to have safe sex? Granddad says, A wedding ring.
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Speaker 1: A wedding ring, a monogamous relationship with a wife with
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Speaker 1: whom you stay faithful, or a husband the same you
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Speaker 1: got it made. Now. I've also described the most difficult
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Speaker 1: thing in the world to maintain, and that's a creative, delightful,
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Speaker 1: passionate romance with the same woman or man year after
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Speaker 1: year after year. Anybody can change partners and keep it ecstatic.
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Speaker 1: But to do it with the same person with ecstasy
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Speaker 1: and creativity and delight and romance and enjoyment. Ah, we're
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Speaker 1: talking tough assignment. Oh, the fulfillment and all the relief
28:48
Speaker 1: in one's spirit. I'm talking straight. These are words that
28:54
Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have been even used in pulpits of fifty
28:58
Speaker 1: years ago have to be used today. These are things
29:03
Speaker 1: that must be addressed. Go back to first Thessalonians four.
29:06
Speaker 1: We're just getting started that you abstain verse four. That
29:11
Speaker 1: each of you. I love the way he puts that
29:14
Speaker 1: there's an individualization here. There is an each one of you,
29:17
Speaker 1: and each one is different. Each one knows how to
29:21
Speaker 1: possess his own vessel. Scholars dance between whether the vessel
29:25
Speaker 1: has a reference to a wife or a reference to
29:28
Speaker 1: body that each one know how to control, or how
29:32
Speaker 1: to cultivate, or how to manage his wife or husband
29:37
Speaker 1: or body. Perhaps for the sake of illustration, will use body.
29:42
Speaker 1: That each of you know how to manage your body
29:45
Speaker 1: when passions take charge, and to do so in sanctification
29:51
Speaker 1: and honor. I love the way he puts it. Know
29:53
Speaker 1: how to do it. Verse five and six talk about
29:58
Speaker 1: those passions when we are alone. Verse seven talks about
30:04
Speaker 1: I should say. Verse five talks about when we are alone,
30:07
Speaker 1: and verse six addresses when we are with others. Verse
30:09
Speaker 1: five not in lustful passion, like gentiles who do not
30:14
Speaker 1: know God. Anything that stimulates the path toward pornaya hands off.
30:22
Speaker 1: Now I get specific films and pornographic literature that bring
30:28
Speaker 1: lurid pictures stimulating the base desires of the human anatomy,
30:34
Speaker 1: Conversations and discussions that arouse the same parties and pastimes,
30:41
Speaker 1: activities that seduce us and weaken our resistance. Certain friends
30:46
Speaker 1: that are bad for us and cause only the sensual
30:51
Speaker 1: to arise are mainly the sensual drugs, alcohol, literature, music,
30:57
Speaker 1: anything that externally stimulates a breakdown in convictions. Stay away
31:02
Speaker 1: from abstain. You can't handle cable television. Get rid of it.
31:10
Speaker 1: You're in a room where it's available and a hotel,
31:12
Speaker 1: don't turn it on. We're not talking about rocket science
31:19
Speaker 1: complication here. Here's an off button. Just push it, that's all.
31:28
Speaker 1: But it works against the nature. See and everything in
31:31
Speaker 1: society says, leave it on. I mean, don't be stupid.
31:37
Speaker 1: Well that's my line. Don't be stupid, leave it off.
31:43
Speaker 1: You're in the newsstand looking for some sports magazine or
31:46
Speaker 1: some magazine of current events. You cannot help but stumble
31:50
Speaker 1: over many of the others. Don't gape at them. You've
31:52
Speaker 1: got to work through them to get to your magazine.
31:54
Speaker 1: Get to your magazine and buy it and get out.
31:57
Speaker 1: The longer you linger, the harder it will be, and
32:02
Speaker 1: before long you will yield. And it is assaulting. So
32:08
Speaker 1: he says, not in lustful passion. And look he goes
32:12
Speaker 1: further verse six, and that no one transgress and defraud
32:16
Speaker 1: his brother in the matter. Because the Lord is the avenger,
32:19
Speaker 1: I said, we would be reading about this. The Lord
32:21
Speaker 1: is the avenger in all these things, just as we
32:24
Speaker 1: told you before and solemnly warned you now. He has
32:28
Speaker 1: reference to deceiving someone else in the process and drawing
32:32
Speaker 1: them into the practice that we are engaged in, or
32:35
Speaker 1: falling into their seductive allures, biting the bait that is
32:41
Speaker 1: before us. This has reference to any kind of indecent
32:44
Speaker 1: practices that are carried on secretly and promiscuously with another
32:50
Speaker 1: man's wife or another woman's husband, with one's own child
32:54
Speaker 1: or stepchild, with one step mother or stepfather. In the
32:58
Speaker 1: blended families of our day, it is an increasing problem.
33:02
Speaker 1: Incest would not have even been used from a pulpit.
33:05
Speaker 1: Now it must be stated. And if you are engaged
33:10
Speaker 1: in it, it is a not only illicit act, it
33:12
Speaker 1: is a criminal act. And it is to be reported.
33:17
Speaker 1: It is to be stopped. And if you are a
33:20
Speaker 1: mother tolerating it with a daughter or a step daughter,
33:27
Speaker 1: it is to be stopped. It is to be reported,
33:31
Speaker 1: it is not to be tolerated. Verse seven puts the
33:39
Speaker 1: capstone on it. God has not called us for the
33:42
Speaker 1: purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. Wonderful God has called
33:48
Speaker 1: us to be people of holiness. And will you believe it?
33:57
Speaker 1: God has our good at heart. If this isn't judgment,
34:02
Speaker 1: this is assistance. This is great coaching. This is counsel
34:06
Speaker 1: on how to stay healthy. This is the best advice
34:10
Speaker 1: you could give your child, your teenager, the young adult
34:15
Speaker 1: who still lives in your home. This is straight talk
34:17
Speaker 1: from the book the lingering warning of this passage. Let
34:21
Speaker 1: me give it to you. In obedience to God's command
34:25
Speaker 1: against immorality. Resist, Yes, it is possible, in obedience to
34:32
Speaker 1: God's command against immorality. Resist. I counsel the pastors of
34:39
Speaker 1: our church not to take their secretaries to lunch. Don't
34:43
Speaker 1: still alone with them in a car, and take your
34:47
Speaker 1: wife along. I counsel businessmen the same way. Don't travel
34:51
Speaker 1: alone with the opposite sex in the business. Bring someone
34:56
Speaker 1: else along. Stay away from even the appearance of evil.
35:00
Speaker 1: Play it smart, don't give the devil an opportunity. Run
35:07
Speaker 1: from that resisted, abstain, and you know what, chances are
35:14
Speaker 1: good you won't fall because you played it smart and
35:20
Speaker 1: you played it safe, and you walked in obedience. Now
35:25
Speaker 1: back to First Corinthians, chapter six, same era, same writer,
35:33
Speaker 1: another town. But don't think because we've left Thesalonaika that
35:39
Speaker 1: we've come to prudish corinth You know what the other
35:46
Speaker 1: word for fornication was in the days of Paul Corinthian eyes.
35:51
Speaker 1: I don'ught to tell you something. If you had a
35:54
Speaker 1: wild night where if you had some kind of orgy,
35:57
Speaker 1: if you were engaged in some kind of drinking bash
36:00
Speaker 1: with a bunch of guys, and you had a bunch
36:01
Speaker 1: of women, and you corinthianized that night, that was the
36:05
Speaker 1: word used. We're talking people who gave themselves to that.
36:10
Speaker 1: Even in worship. The worship of pagan gods included cohabiting
36:15
Speaker 1: with priestesses who stayed at the temple for the services
36:21
Speaker 1: of men. Like I say, this was no puritanical society.
36:28
Speaker 1: The first century. First Corinthian six fifteen to twenty six
36:34
Speaker 1: times the same word as you see, if you can
36:36
Speaker 1: figure out which one it is verse fifteen. Do you
36:40
Speaker 1: not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall
36:44
Speaker 1: I then take away the members of Christ and make
36:46
Speaker 1: them members of a harlot? May it never be? Or
36:51
Speaker 1: do you not know that the one who joins himself
36:54
Speaker 1: to a harlot is one body with her? For he
36:57
Speaker 1: says the two will become one flesh. But one who
37:00
Speaker 1: joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him.
37:05
Speaker 1: Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is
37:09
Speaker 1: outside the body, But the immoral man sins against his
37:13
Speaker 1: own body. Or do you not know that your body
37:16
Speaker 1: is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you,
37:18
Speaker 1: whom you have from God, and that you are not
37:22
Speaker 1: your own for you have been bought with a prist. Therefore,
37:26
Speaker 1: glorify God in your body. Six times the word body
37:32
Speaker 1: or bodily appears. The apostles point here is directly related
37:38
Speaker 1: to one's physical body. The general context is the inappropriate
37:43
Speaker 1: connection of the body to that which is specifically described
37:48
Speaker 1: as poor Naya. Let me put it this way. I
37:52
Speaker 1: have never had this explain to me like I want
37:54
Speaker 1: to explain it to you, So this is sort of
37:56
Speaker 1: an original. When you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ,
37:59
Speaker 1: there is a bonding that takes place, like the meshing
38:02
Speaker 1: of gears with one another. You are linked together in
38:05
Speaker 1: a bond. You become members of one another somehow in
38:14
Speaker 1: the inappropriateness of sexual involvement outside the bonds of monogamy,
38:22
Speaker 1: there is a fracture in that bonding. This mystical union
38:29
Speaker 1: is violated. It is broken and you become a member
38:35
Speaker 1: with the partner in sex, and thereby break through the promiscuity,
38:41
Speaker 1: this mystical bond between you and the Lord, and it
38:45
Speaker 1: takes a devastating toll on your life. It opens the
38:52
Speaker 1: door to all kinds of violations, and sometimes they are
38:57
Speaker 1: I have to say it, irreparably damaged, jet damaging. Sometime
39:03
Speaker 1: there isn't recovery. I think this is what Paul has
39:09
Speaker 1: in mind when he writes of passion at the end
39:11
Speaker 1: of chapter nine of First Corinthians and says many of
39:15
Speaker 1: the same things. He says, I buffet my body and
39:17
Speaker 1: I keep under it. It's the word for beating myself
39:20
Speaker 1: black and blue. Lest when I preached to others, I
39:24
Speaker 1: myself should become adakimas the word means disqualified. When I
39:31
Speaker 1: am seen in that a fractured violation, I have forfeited
39:36
Speaker 1: the right to minister as I once ministered. This has
39:40
Speaker 1: led me to take what some call an extreme position.
39:44
Speaker 1: I think it makes sense. I think when there is
39:46
Speaker 1: this kind of sexual failure among ministers, they should relinquish
39:50
Speaker 1: the responsibility of high profile public leadership. They can minister
39:54
Speaker 1: when there is recovery, and when there is repentance. They
39:57
Speaker 1: certainly can, and I find nothing wrong with serving alongside
40:02
Speaker 1: them in various kinds of ministry. I have great reservations
40:06
Speaker 1: about an individual who falls, and certainly those who fall
40:10
Speaker 1: in on multiple occasions showing a breakdown in their character
40:14
Speaker 1: as still being qualified to preach as they once preached.
40:18
Speaker 1: I think forfeits the right, there is a violation. There
40:22
Speaker 1: is a break of the mystical bond. There is a
40:24
Speaker 1: psychical change, and it isn't just a quick overnight change back.
40:33
Speaker 1: For some it can't be reversed, and there are tragedies
40:39
Speaker 1: that follow this failure. You see what he says in
40:44
Speaker 1: verse eighteen, This is terribly important. Every other sin that
40:49
Speaker 1: a man commits is outside the body. Now look closely,
40:53
Speaker 1: but that's a negative particle showing a contrast with what
40:57
Speaker 1: he just said. But the immoral man sins against his
41:04
Speaker 1: own body. Listen closely. In this case, and only in
41:10
Speaker 1: this case, the body is the instrument of sin and
41:13
Speaker 1: becomes the subject of the damage wrought, says at Robertson.
41:19
Speaker 1: The body is the instrument of sin and becomes the
41:22
Speaker 1: subject of the damage wrought. And gluttony food is taken
41:26
Speaker 1: in the body and the sin is gluttony from without
41:30
Speaker 1: outside the body. In armed robbery, a crime committed against society,
41:35
Speaker 1: the body, of course holds the pistol or whatever may
41:38
Speaker 1: be the weapon. But the body isn't the instrument of
41:41
Speaker 1: the sin. Only in sexual immorality is it the instrument
41:46
Speaker 1: of sin, and thereby creates a damage in the psyche,
41:51
Speaker 1: in the soulish, mystical part of one's being. And I
41:56
Speaker 1: can't describe any further than that. I can only tell
41:58
Speaker 1: you what it says. And there is a uniqueness to
42:02
Speaker 1: this kind of sin that is like none other. And
42:05
Speaker 1: I warn you it is from the scriptures that I speak.
42:12
Speaker 1: We're seeing in our day a growing difficulty with aids
42:17
Speaker 1: directly linked in most cases with illicit sex. The lingering
42:26
Speaker 1: warning is, and get this for the sake of bodily
42:30
Speaker 1: health and our bonding to Christ. Run, he says it.
42:37
Speaker 1: Flee immorality, just get away from it. Run strong words,
42:50
Speaker 1: I realize, but not impossible to do. You can do it.
42:58
Speaker 1: God can give you that kind of power and grace.
43:00
Speaker 1: That's why you have a savior. Tewod Corinthians Chapter twelve
43:04
Speaker 1: is the last passage I want us to look at.
43:07
Speaker 1: This is again the same writer and the same era,
43:10
Speaker 1: only a few months later, and it's written to the
43:16
Speaker 1: same people in the same church, the same subject. Paul
43:21
Speaker 1: is thinking about returning to them for a visit, and
43:23
Speaker 1: he says at the end of the twelfth chapter He's afraid.
43:26
Speaker 1: In fact, the last two verses begin reading that way.
43:29
Speaker 1: I am afraid. I am afraid. It's the last verse
43:33
Speaker 1: that is of major interest to me, but I'll read
43:35
Speaker 1: the last two. I'm afraid that perhaps when I come,
43:38
Speaker 1: I may find you to be not what I wish,
43:40
Speaker 1: and may be found by you to be not what
43:43
Speaker 1: you wish. This is what I'm really afraid of, That
43:45
Speaker 1: perhaps there may be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, dispute, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances.
43:51
Speaker 1: I'm afraid of finding the same old sism, and I
43:54
Speaker 1: want you to get it cleaned up. But he goes further.
43:59
Speaker 1: In verse twenty one, he digs deeper. He says, I
44:03
Speaker 1: am also afraid that when I come again, my God
44:06
Speaker 1: may humiliate me before you, and I'm going to feel ashamed,
44:12
Speaker 1: I fear, and I may mourn over many of you,
44:17
Speaker 1: of those who have sinned in the past, and not
44:21
Speaker 1: repented of Here's the clincher, the impurity, immorality, and sensuality
44:29
Speaker 1: which they have practiced. Now, I want to be a
44:34
Speaker 1: man of the word. I want the Bible to guide us.
44:37
Speaker 1: I don't want to give you just good psychological techniques
44:41
Speaker 1: or nice, helpful practical ways to solve the problem. I
44:45
Speaker 1: want you to see from scripture what God has said
44:48
Speaker 1: about the problem. There's nothing like God's word to open
44:53
Speaker 1: wounds and to bring healing. These three words are used
44:57
Speaker 1: by the apostle, and they are distinct words. Three sinful
45:02
Speaker 1: disgraceful practices. The first one translated impurity a catharsia. We
45:12
Speaker 1: get the word kathartic from it. It's the general term
45:15
Speaker 1: for uncleanness. It would include covetousness, greed, wrong motive, even idolatry,
45:25
Speaker 1: and sex sins a catharsia. I am afraid that when
45:30
Speaker 1: I come, I will find some of you still engaged
45:34
Speaker 1: in an unrepented lifestyle of a catharsia. There's a second
45:39
Speaker 1: that concerns him. I'm afraid I'll find a pornaya still there.
45:43
Speaker 1: I wrote of it earlier. We read of it in
45:45
Speaker 1: First Corinthian six. I'm afraid when I come, I will
45:49
Speaker 1: still see that there are sexual acts going on that
45:52
Speaker 1: are impure sex outside of monogamous relationships, and I will
45:57
Speaker 1: be humiliated. I will be ashamed. Third, I may find sensuality.
46:02
Speaker 1: Now this is the tough one asilgaia, and there's no
46:06
Speaker 1: translatable English word for it, so we must amplify. It
46:11
Speaker 1: means a wanton defiance of public decency, one scholar writes,
46:15
Speaker 1: here is an untranslatable word, untranslatable word. It does not
46:20
Speaker 1: solely mean sexual uncleanness. It is sheer, wanton insolence, as
46:26
Speaker 1: Basel defined it. It is that attitude of the soul
46:29
Speaker 1: which has never borne the pain of discipline. It is
46:34
Speaker 1: the wanton insolence that knows no restraint. We're describing an addiction.
46:40
Speaker 1: I've added that that knows no restraint, that has no
46:44
Speaker 1: sense of the decencies of things, that will dare anything
46:47
Speaker 1: that wanton caprice demands, which is careless of public opinion
46:52
Speaker 1: and its own good name, so long as it gets
46:54
Speaker 1: what it wants. Josephas ascribed this as olgaia. By the way,
47:00
Speaker 1: Jezebel it was her lifestyle. It is an addiction to
47:05
Speaker 1: sexual indecency. Do you see the downward trend akatharsia, pornaya asilgaya,
47:15
Speaker 1: a wanton defiance, and no longer even a feeling of
47:20
Speaker 1: a blushing or shame. The lingering warning in this passage
47:26
Speaker 1: to be free from the bondage of sexual misconduct, repent.
47:34
Speaker 1: To be free from the bondage of sexual misconduct. Repent.
47:41
Speaker 1: Now I'm talking about more than confession. Repentance is more
47:46
Speaker 1: than confession. To confess is to admit, to agree with
47:52
Speaker 1: God that it is wrong. Repentance is a deliberate turning
47:56
Speaker 1: away from it, changing one's mind, removed all traces, relinquishing
48:02
Speaker 1: all connections, so that the bond is no longer broken,
48:07
Speaker 1: and Christ reigns supreme as he longs to and as
48:11
Speaker 1: he demands to. I suggest even the burning of literature,
48:18
Speaker 1: not just the discarding of it, but the burning of it.
48:22
Speaker 1: The removal of friendships that hurt your relationship and attract
48:26
Speaker 1: the sensual part of your life. Getting rid of those friendships.
48:30
Speaker 1: Those aren't friendships, those are destructive relationships. You're living with
48:36
Speaker 1: one outside of wedlock. Move out. It's sin, it is wrong,
48:43
Speaker 1: and it will bear terrible consequences. Perhaps the worst of
48:47
Speaker 1: all is addiction. For you and your partner. There is
48:51
Speaker 1: a cycle of sensuality that doesn't get better, it gets worse,
48:56
Speaker 1: and by and by it will destroy your life. God
49:03
Speaker 1: is the avenger. Now when I talk about removing those
49:08
Speaker 1: things that stimulate and the burning of literature and the
49:11
Speaker 1: breaking of contacts, I have to ask you. Have you
49:14
Speaker 1: done that well? Are you willing to do that? Have
49:22
Speaker 1: you come to a place where you're willing to be
49:24
Speaker 1: accountable to a small group where hard questions can be
49:28
Speaker 1: asked regarding your relationship with the opposite sex or if
49:32
Speaker 1: it is your temptation with the same sex, are you
49:36
Speaker 1: willing to confront or have it confronted in your life?
49:40
Speaker 1: So the close associates alongside you have the freedom to
49:43
Speaker 1: look you in the eye and ask you is this
49:46
Speaker 1: going on? Is this weakening your walk with God? Are
49:53
Speaker 1: you living a lie? Are you practicing indecent things in private?
50:05
Speaker 1: Paul says, I care so much about this that I'm
50:07
Speaker 1: afraid when I come God will humiliate me. Maybe I
50:14
Speaker 1: can help with sort of an ABCD plan. These are
50:20
Speaker 1: pieces of counsel I have given to others, and I
50:23
Speaker 1: think in some cases it may take time with a
50:25
Speaker 1: counselor be all very honest about it. It may take
50:28
Speaker 1: someone who will help you walk through it and break
50:30
Speaker 1: the bond that you have established with a lifestyle that's
50:34
Speaker 1: hurting you. A acknowledge, acknowledge the impurity. The benefit of
50:40
Speaker 1: this is that it will heal the distance between you
50:42
Speaker 1: and your lord. Acknowledge the bondage, Acknowledge the involvement. Say it.
50:49
Speaker 1: Say it to somebody who can help you now just
50:52
Speaker 1: to yourself. Say it to someone you respect. Acknowledge it. Second.
50:57
Speaker 1: I repeat what I said earlier. Break all connect The
51:02
Speaker 1: benefit is that it stops the cycle. Unless connections are broken,
51:06
Speaker 1: the cycle won't be stopped. The flesh dies hard. Get
51:11
Speaker 1: rid of the stacks of Playboy, get away from the pornography.
51:16
Speaker 1: If you have long standing connections at places where you travel,
51:19
Speaker 1: get rid of them. Get rid of the black book.
51:23
Speaker 1: Stop that nonsense. It's going to destroy you if it
51:27
Speaker 1: hasn't already. Break all connections. See communicate your need. The
51:34
Speaker 1: benefit is it will make you accountable if you've never
51:36
Speaker 1: been before. I suggest you make every effort to get
51:40
Speaker 1: up close with a small group of people same sex
51:43
Speaker 1: where you can talk openly about the battle, the problem,
51:46
Speaker 1: the difficulties, certainly in one of our adult fellowships or
51:50
Speaker 1: accountability groups, and there are many available in our church
51:55
Speaker 1: and in many churches. Fourth determined to abstain. You may
52:00
Speaker 1: have a past that's littered with incredible things that you
52:05
Speaker 1: would find embarrassing to admit even to a close friend.
52:08
Speaker 1: Stop it today. The benefit is that it will free
52:11
Speaker 1: you to be all God meant you to be. And
52:16
Speaker 1: in case you need a reminder that God is indeed
52:18
Speaker 1: the avenger. I close with a true story. I'll call
52:22
Speaker 1: the people in question, Chester and Clara fictitious names, but
52:29
Speaker 1: the story is true. They were a couple whose twenty
52:34
Speaker 1: five year marriage was a good one, not the most idyllic,
52:36
Speaker 1: but good. They now had three grown children who loved
52:40
Speaker 1: them dearly. They were also blessed with sufficient financial security
52:45
Speaker 1: to allow them room to dream about a retirement home.
52:48
Speaker 1: So they began looking for one. A widower we'll call Ben,
52:53
Speaker 1: another fictitious name, was selling his place. They liked it
52:57
Speaker 1: a lot, and they returned home to talking to make
53:01
Speaker 1: their plans. Months passed between Chester and Clara. Last fall,
53:07
Speaker 1: she told him she wanted a divorce. He went numb.
53:12
Speaker 1: After all these years, why how could she deceive him?
53:16
Speaker 1: How could she have been nursing such a scheme while
53:19
Speaker 1: they were looking at a retirement home. She said she
53:22
Speaker 1: hadn't been, not for that long. Actually, this was a
53:26
Speaker 1: recent decision now that she had found another man who
53:30
Speaker 1: Clara admitted it was Ben, the owner of the home,
53:35
Speaker 1: the house they were looking at, whom she inadvertently ran
53:38
Speaker 1: into several weeks after they had discussed the sale. Remember
53:40
Speaker 1: what I said to you about getting alan with people
53:43
Speaker 1: of the opposite sex in private places, It works against you.
53:47
Speaker 1: They had begun seeing each other privately. Since they were
53:50
Speaker 1: now quote in love. There was no turning back. Not
53:54
Speaker 1: even the kids, who hated the idea, could dissuade their mother.
54:00
Speaker 1: On the day she was to leave, Chester walked through
54:03
Speaker 1: the kitchen toward the garage, realizing she would be gone
54:06
Speaker 1: when he returned. He hesitated, well, hon, I guess this
54:11
Speaker 1: is the last time, and his voice dissolved as he
54:15
Speaker 1: broke into sobs. She felt uneasy and hurriedly got her
54:18
Speaker 1: things together, drove north to meet Ben. Less than two
54:23
Speaker 1: weeks after she moved in with him, her new lover,
54:26
Speaker 1: Ben was seized with a heart attack lingered a few hours.
54:29
Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, Ben died. I have said for years that
54:37
Speaker 1: if God moved that swiftly in every case, most folks
54:42
Speaker 1: I know would think again before they started an affair.
54:47
Speaker 1: If God moved now like he did in the days
54:49
Speaker 1: of Anonyas and Sapharah, I wonder if you'd have to
54:52
Speaker 1: build a morgue in the basement of every church. He
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Speaker 1: is the avenger words. He's serious, and I must be serious.
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Speaker 1: And I say this only because of the grace of God.
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Speaker 1: The only reason I can speak with passion before you
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Speaker 1: is because I am clean sexually, and I have been
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Speaker 1: all my life. I say that again only to add
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Speaker 1: credence to the fact that it can be done. Let's
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Speaker 1: do it, and God will honor it. And if you
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Speaker 1: haven't a passed like that, I'm not talking about thoughts
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Speaker 1: of lust. Everyone is guilty of that. But if you
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Speaker 1: haven't a past that's clear of acts of lust, today's
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Speaker 1: the day to deal with it. Now. Now let's bow together.
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Speaker 1: Please close your eyes, Please sit quietly for just a
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Speaker 1: few moments. I will not play on your emotions, but
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Speaker 1: I must give you a time to decide to act.
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Speaker 1: Don't let a number of days pass where you just
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Speaker 1: sort of casually think back over what you've heard deal
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Speaker 1: with this today. It may be that you're not even
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Speaker 1: a Christian, and suddenly it dawns on you that that's
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Speaker 1: the reason you have in power to say no, to
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Speaker 1: push the off button, to walk away from the sensual
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Speaker 1: lures that will continue to be there all your life.
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Speaker 1: Jesus said, I will give you power. When the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit comes upon you, you will not be addicted victims.
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Speaker 1: You will be witnesses. You will be objects I will
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Speaker 1: use for my honor. So if it's the need for
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Speaker 1: turning your life over to Christ, you may make the
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Speaker 1: decision right where your sitting Jesus, Christ come into my life.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you have a homework, some homework to do around
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Speaker 1: the house, or in your briefcase or in the secret
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Speaker 1: file at your office. Or you may need to break
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Speaker 1: ties that only you know about. Because I warn you,
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Speaker 1: God is the Avenger and he deals severely with his
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Speaker 1: children who deliberately and wantonly compromise with sexual impurity. Today's
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Speaker 1: the day, our father, I pray that you will take
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Speaker 1: this brief word from your book and cause it to
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Speaker 1: bear rich fruit in all our lives. And rather than
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Speaker 1: leading to further hypocrisy and continued playfulness with a subject
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Speaker 1: that is like a raging fire. May we treat it
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Speaker 1: with serious attention, and may we see it as an
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Speaker 1: urgent matter to be dealt with. Now. May your name
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Speaker 1: be glorified, and may your spirit be in control as
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Speaker 1: these decisions are made from your people and from those
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Speaker 1: who seek to know your son, Jesus Christ. In his
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Speaker 1: strong name, We pray amen. The preceding message, A Plea
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Speaker 1: for Morality, was copyrighted in nineteen ninety, two thousand, twenty eleven,
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Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording
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Speaker 1: was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated.
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Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited