What Pleases God

Praise God, I appreciate that word. That is at the very heart of everything that God has called and has in mind for us. Because I'll tell you what we, well, he said without me, you can do nothing. And that's true. And that's, he didn't just say without my words, without a knowledge of my words, you can do nothing. That's important. But he's got to be in everything that's done, you know, for it there to be life in it. That's what the word says about Jesus. And he spoke, he said the words I speak, they are spirit and they're life. You know, there was a power, there was a life in what he said. And you know, Joel kind of mentioned that, you know, there's something that could kind of come up that some of us had a chance to talk about this week. And you know, I've just been thinking, praying about it, asking the Lord to help. And what the brother just said, I'm particularly mindful of this morning is we need your spirit to be here to help and to guide this because, you know, information alone, teaching is good. There's a place for information, but just dead information alone is not what's going to help people. It's got to be him ministering the faith and the conviction of the truth of what he says, because we live in a world with all kinds of opinions. And if it's just one opinion versus another, well, there's all kinds of confusion out there. But when you have a conviction that it's the word of God and that it's him speaking to us, then there's a power in that to help us. And I believe the Lord wants to help us this morning. So with his help, I'll just start here and just have to ask the Lord to guide this and help and have as he will. But I wanted to start with a scripture in Revelation. If we can just turn to Revelation 12, just to get as a kind of a starting point, you know, the passage here we've read it many times. It's about the battle that was in heaven and how the, you know, Michael and the angels

fought against the dragon and his angels, and he didn't prevail and he was cast out of heaven. And, you know, all of that, he was cast down to the earth. But I want to start in verse 13, it says, when the dragon saw that he had been hurled to earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. And in the context of what he's talking about here, he's basically talking about God's people, the church. You know, he wasn't able to defeat Christ. He thought he had, but of course the cross is where he lost everything and realized he had lost everything. And truly he was, he was cast out for good, but he, he turned his efforts to pursuing the woman that is God's people, the church says the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle eagle so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time out of the serpent's reach. You know, there was a period of time right at the start of the early church where there was an incredible unity that was going on. God wouldn't let even so much as a hint of hypocrisy get in there with what happened with Ananias and Sapphira. It was before the full scale persecution had broken out. There was just an unusual time where God was building up and protecting the church. But of course that way, it wasn't going to stay that way forever because God planned to take that out to the, to the whole world. But then it says in verse 15, then from his mouth, the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening his mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make, to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God's commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

So you see the enemy's approach after the frontal assault failed, he's the, well, I've got another tactic. I'm going to spew out of my mouth, all kinds of ideas, philosophies, ways of thought, worldviews. And you know, it says here, the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed that. And the earth certainly has swallowed a lot of what the devil has poured out. But the purpose for which he sent it out was not to deceive the world. It was to carry away the woman. Satan wants to send out a flood of contrary ideas, contrary to the word of God. What God, I mean, was that not his very first approach to humanity? Did God really say? I mean, it goes right back to that. That has always been his approach. And to take what God has said, what he has established, what he ordained, and to have different ideas, different opinions, different thoughts. And to, with that, to try to carry away us as his people, to get us enwrapped in that and to, to hinder us from being available to God through those things. So that was, you know, that was his tactic. And I was thinking about the scripture, and you don't have to turn there, it's one we know. But it's in Colossians 2, verse 8, where it says, see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ. You know, as natural human beings, that's what we tend to do. We tend to just adopt the standards of whatever's around us. What we see, what we're exposed to, what we see in friends, what we see on TV and the movies and used to be in magazines, not so much that now, but what you see on social media. You know, all those things, in the absence of a standard of the word of God, we're just going to adopt whatever we see in whatever culture we live in, and we'll just do whatever everybody else does.

That's a pretty normal thing. But the scripture, what he's saying is, don't, the result of that is being taken captive. If we just adopt. what the world thinks about things, do things the world's way, the end result is we end up as captives to that. So that's why God's got that warning to not let that happen. In fact, I found it interesting he was talking about the difference between Egypt and where they were going. There's a scripture in Leviticus 18 that I looked up where he's talking about, as I'm leading you now in this land, you must not follow the practices of the Egyptians, where I took you out of, and you must not follow the practices of the Canaanites, where I'm taking you to. He's like, you know, neither one of those is the way I want you to live. Instead, he says, you must be very careful to follow my commands. There's a difference. We're a people that's meant to be called out because we're not citizens of this world in the same way that other people are, that people that haven't been born again are. And so, you know, God doesn't want us to be taken captive with that. Instead, let's go to another scripture and turn to this one. We know this one well. It's in Romans 12. It's in verse 1 of Romans 12. He says, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. You know, we can come here on a Sunday and sing songs and lift our hands, play instruments, you know, shake hands, do all the things. But our true worship, that's only one little aspect of worship. Our real worship is how we live our lives. What are we living? What are we doing day by day? That's true worship, is to honor him with our lives. And so he says to that end, do not conform to the pattern of this world.

As another warning, this is for God's people because this is our natural tendency. So he says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his perfect, good and pleasing will. You know, that's the only way for us to really see God and know what he wants is to have our mind renewed. This natural mind, by nature, is the enemy of God. In fact, one place in the scripture, it says the natural man doesn't understand the things of God. Neither can he even know them because they're foolishness unto him. Apart from not even understanding it, we don't even want to understand it because it makes no sense to the natural mind. But God's got a different way of doing things, and that's what he wants to show us. And, you know, earlier this week, like I said, some of us had a chance to talk about some things that God has brought to light. And, you know, we need his help to try to address something that's particularly affected the young people right now. But this, you know, affects us all in one way or another. And certainly we've all been there at some point. But it's an area where some right now are compromising, have been compromised by the world's standards on this issue. And specifically on the issue of engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage, outside of how God designed that to be. And, you know, certainly that is a standard that does not exist in the world. It did at one time, at least at a cultural level. And Satan has been very diligent over the past few decades to chisel that away to the point where there is virtually no standard in that regard anymore in a lot of places. But God's standard has never changed. You know, his word is still the same. And, you know, in one way, this is not a unique battle. This is nothing new. Every generation of young people has to deal with this, right? As they begin to age up to the point that they start to leave childhood and enter adulthood, you know, as that process happens, you gain more and more adult privileges. But you also become more and more responsible for things, too, right? Like at a certain point, you learn how to drive, right? You start driving. Well, before that, you were always riding with mom and dad or a sibling or something like that. There was always somebody there.

They were taking you where you were supposed to be. Nothing could really go too wrong about that because you were just a passenger. What happens now when I can drive? Well, now if I'm supposed to go from point A to B, guess what? I can stop off at point C in between, can't I? You know, there's a greater responsibility now for what do I do with this increased freedom, this increased, you know, privilege? What about when you start working and start making money? Now I can do things I never could do before. I've got money. I can buy something. I can join this, do that. Or, you know, you get to a point where you get to a legal age where you can do things you legally couldn't do. You know, I can sign contracts and get a car and get a credit card and, you know, all the other things. Eventually, I can buy alcohol and all these things. As you age, you get more and more of these privileges, but there's more and more responsibility for then what you do with that freedom. You know, and there gets to be more and more consequences with that. And so when that time comes, when that time of life comes, it's where it starts getting put to the test. Okay, I know what mom and dad believe. What do you believe? You know, because they're not standing there over your shoulder day in, day out, every moment saying, do this, doing this, keeping you on the rails. It starts to more and more and more be about what do you believe is true? What do you want? What do you want to live for? And this is where these things start getting put to the test. And, you know, some things recently that God has brought, I believe God brought it to light because that's, you know, he's merciful. He does that. In fact, you know, we told our kids things over the years that things that maybe. You've intended to keep hidden that God has brought to light. Well, you know what? That's a good sign.

It's a sign that God loves you. He's not letting things just go on and on in the dark, but he's bringing to light so that he can, you know, deliver so that he can help and teach and grow. And, you know, through some things that have been hinted at, things that have been spoken openly or things people have seen and heard, you know, I certainly don't know all the details of every situation and don't need to. I'm responsible for what God has revealed and brings to light. And then we move in faith as best we can with his help. But, you know, part of the reason God doesn't deal with something always immediately either is he's not just interested in enforcing behaviors, right? God's not just interested in getting you to do what he wants you to do, quote unquote. He's interested in the heart. He's trying to change us into his image. And if all he said was, don't do this and I'm going to punish you and slap you down if you do. And we say, well, I'm scared of that. So I just won't. That doesn't do anything about the heart. What he wants to do is build something from the inside out where there's a desire to honor him because we understand why he says the things that he says. That's what he wants to build. And so there are times when situations may be going on that God lets persist for a while. And somebody might interpret that as, hey, I'm getting away with it. Nothing's happening. Well, there's a space for conviction. There's a space for repentance. But oftentimes there are consequences down the road for the things when we don't walk in his truth. And that's what with God's help, we just want to kind of look into this word just a little bit this morning. You know, there's a ton of truth and you could read a million scriptures and I don't want to do that.

But I ask God to help us to guide us in this this morning. And the thing is, it's not even just about people that are directly involved. It's because we have people looking on. Right. There are other young people that hear about these things. I did when I was young, when we were the young people, we knew what was going on with certain people. We hear about it. You know it. There are people looking on, there's their siblings looking on, their friends looking on, going, well, is this a big deal? Does this even matter? Does it not? Does God care? Is this some old thing that mattered a hundred years ago and now nobody cares today? You know, what's the deal? And there's people looking on that aren't even a part here. You know, there's people from the outside that hear about things. They see things and look on and say, well, you know, do they care? Does it does it matter? Do they hold up the standard of the word of God? Or is this just a, we won't address the elephant in the room and let things just go on. You know, that, that happened in the Corinthian church, right? That the God had, or Paul had to take him to task for, there's a situation going on that's, you know, really having to do with the issue of sex and a sexual relationship that's not proper. And everybody knows about it and nobody's doing anything about it. You haven't addressed it at all. That's not a good thing. He said, you're not, you're not doing good. And the wonderful thing is, if you read over in 2 Corinthians, by addressing that, there's a good evidence that the person involved in that came to repentance. You know, they, they came to a conviction and a repentance and God was able to, to deliver in that situation. And that's what we want. You know, we want to see God be able to deliver and bless and the best, his best for, you know, for all of us. So it's important, you know, that was a,

that's important that God wants to make sure that when, when the enemy tries to make a move, we have to hold up the standard of the word of God, not hold up my opinion, because my opinion doesn't matter. Phil's opinion doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what we think. I'm not here to tell you my philosophy all night. I just want to say what the word of God says, what he ordained and why, you know, look at that, not just what he said, but why he said what he said and understand the reason behind it. Because that, you know, that's what we need. Not opinion, not human opinion. We need the word of God, but we want to lift up, you know, his standard. And you know, especially for some of us that God has put in the position. Well, he said, first of all, take heed to yourself. That's first and foremost, what every one of us needs to be doing every day is take heed to ourself, but also take heed to the flock of which the Holy ghost has made you an overseer. And there's a scripture in Ezekiel 33 where he talks about people who had been appointed as watchmen. Now, of course, it was literal in their time, like literally watching for enemy soldiers, you know, coming up on your city. And he said, you know, if you see an enemy approaching, you don't say anything about it. You don't do anything about it. And that enemy attacks and kills somebody. That blood is on your head. You know, you failed as a watchman because you didn't do anything. You didn't sound the alarm specifically. That's what he said. You didn't sound the alarm. Now, if you sound the alarm and people ignore the alarm and somebody dies, well, that's going to be on their head. But with God's help and by his grace, let's just look at some things in the word and try to see, not like I said,

not just what God ordained, but why to try to help and give a foundation to stand on and to build on here. So let's look, um, you know, well, I guess I wanted to say this too about the why, why God said what he said. You know, I think a lot of people have the idea that God's moral laws, when he says, do this, don't do that, that it's just this arbitrary thing where God decided, well, I like this. I don't like that. And since I'm bigger than you and can make you do what I say, you have to not do that. Cause I've just, that's what I just decided. I just don't like that. And it's kind of like, it almost gets into a thing of, well, it's like an opinion. Well, I don't mind this. I don't think this is a big deal. Oh, but God, he's, he's forcing his opinion on me. Cause he thinks it's a big deal for some reason. That's not how God's moral law works. The way it works is when he tells us do this, or he says, don't do this. What he's describing to us is how he made the universe. He's saying, I made this creation. I made your body. I know how it works. I made your mind. I know how it works. I had an intent and a plan in all of this that I made. You know, I had a purpose in it. So when I tell you this, I'm not saying,

I just randomly decided I don't like this. I'm saying, I didn't make it to work that way. So if you do that, it's not going to work well. You know, you may be able to, I mean, you could take your car and try to drive it into the ocean. Right? Say it's, it's a boat. No, it's not. It's a car. But I want to be like James Bond, a submarine car. That's cool. Well, you can try it, but I'm telling you, it ain't made for that. And you might actually do it for a little bit. You can drive through a little bit of the surf and you can, you know, mess around a little bit, but sooner or later, that's going to go real bad. And the reason is not because somebody arbitrarily, the ocean arbitrarily decided it doesn't like cars. It's because the car wasn't made for that. And it's not going to work well. That's what, when, when God gives us truth in his word, it's not him trying to keep something good from us. You know, that was, that was Satan's appeal to Eve, right? God's keeping something from you. He knows if you, you know, step outside of what he said, there's good stuff out there that he's just keeping you down and keeping from you. But boy, if you just reach out and take it, you're going to be wise and you can decide all these things

for yourself. I mean, that was his appeal. The idea that God's keeping something good from me and I could have it if only I just go take it. Well, that's not how it is. God's word is given to us because there are reasons for what he said because of how he made things to work. So let's just go to, I guess, a good place to start, not to go all sound of music on you, but let's start at the beginning, a very good place to start at Genesis chapter two. And we can start in, in verse 20 there, he says, so the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam, no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God calls the man to fall into a deep sleep. And while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man and he brought her to the man. The man said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman for she was taken out of man. That is why a man leaves his mother and father and is united to his wife and they become one flesh. Adam and his wife were both naked and they felt no shame. See, God instituted from the very beginning, the idea of male and female. He instituted the idea of them coming together physically to the point that they're like one body.

That's God's institution. And they didn't feel any shame about it because there was nothing shameful about it. What God created, there's nothing bad, inherently wrong with sex. God created it and his design in it, he intended for them, well, think about this. It was before sin came in the world. He made before sin ever came in the world. He made male and female. He told her to be fruitful and multiply. They were brought together. He told them there was gonna be a oneness in body that they shared. There was a sex drive. All of these things were there before sin ever came in the world. There's nothing sinful about any of that when it's in according to God's design. But God even created pleasure. There's all kinds of things God did that are not just functional, but he wanted us to enjoy. What about eating food? God could have chosen to make sustenance, just make some generic food substance that grew out of the ground that had no taste and no texture and we just eat it and that sustains us and that's it. But he didn't do that.

He made eating an enjoyable experience, a pleasurable experience, right? All kind of tastes and combinations of things we can do and all kinds of amazing things. Well, even in reproduction, he didn't make that to be solely utilitarian. There's emotional pleasure in that. There's physical pleasure in that. And all of that God created is nothing shameful. He didn't create, nothing's wrong. In fact, at that point, he looked on everything he had made and he said, behold, it is very good. Everything he had made was very good. So what he meant when he said, and this is what Adam's talking about, becoming one flesh, what God meant for that is, look up what he said before. You see God's purpose. The reason we go back to the beginning is we see God's intent and his purpose in what he created and why he created things the way he did. He meant for that oneness in body, that becoming one flesh, he meant for that to happen only when there was a relationship. Like what Adam described earlier, we said, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.

In other words, we're not two separate people. We're one people. We're as a unit. We have become joined together such that there's no me going off and doing my thing, them going off and doing their thing, and every now and then we'll come together. No, he saw that as this is part of me now. That's the marriage relationship. That's what God designed, is for two people to come together and be made one, as though they're, in some sense, as one person. Now, obviously, we're still independent. We don't become clones or some codependent where we can't get five feet from each other, anything like that, but there is a oneness to where it's like, this person is part of me. They're part of my life. I don't exist as an identity apart from this person now because we're together. Well, when that is present, that fulfills what God designed, and the oneness in body that follows is very natural outflowing of that, but when that's not there, when that commitment, that kind of commitment has not been made, that's something else that God did not design. He did not intend,

and there's a bunch of reasons. I mean, some reasons are pretty obvious to see why God didn't want this kind of physical relationship without that commitment being present. One of the most obvious ones probably is when illegitimate children happen, unplanned pregnancies. How many lives have been affected? How many people have had the course of their life changed with an unplanned pregnancy? You know, it affects things. God intended for children to be brought forth in a home where there was already that commitment and that establishment so that then there's a foundation to help raise those children because as any, and you know, people are single parents for all kind of reasons and sometimes through no fault of their own, but anybody who's a single parent will tell you that's hard. You know, anybody who's a parent with a husband, mother, and father will tell you that's hard. Raising children is not an easy job, but God meant that to be shared, and he meant ideally, and of course we don't live in an ideal world. It's a fallen world.

All kind of things happen for all kind of reasons, but his ideal was that those children would be brought into the world in a unified home where he was the center of, where they were honoring him, honoring his word, and he was the center of. That provides the foundation for then being able to raise children who can be, you know, the next generation for him. So that's one important reason. You know, there's another one, of course, that we know about, sexually transmitted diseases. People learn about that in schools. Even the world recognizes these issues as being potential issues. You know, even in schools, they educate about these things because it's important. There are things that happen. There are consequences for not doing things the way God designed. They don't work well. There are problems, and people will say, well, there's ways to avoid pregnancy. There's ways to avoid disease. Yeah, but guess what? First of all, they're not 100% effective.

I don't care what you do. The only 100% effective way to avoid disease is abstinence before marriage, monogamous marriage thereafter. That's the pattern God designed. That works 100% effectively. Other methods, you're playing with fire. You're taking risks because it's not what God made. It's not what he designed. And he wants us to, you know, he wants us to experience the fullness of what he has for us, not to settle for less, not to let these other things creep in that take stuff away from us. You know, when you're intimate with someone, there's a vulnerability there, right? I mean, that's the point where you're at your most vulnerable. It's literally, there's nothing to hide. There's not just clothes. It's everything. You're your most vulnerable self when you're with somebody in an intimate setting. Well, when that's with someone who you trust, who you've built a relationship with, who you have a connection to, you've got this commitment that now we're one unit. I don't have to worry about that person going out

and stabbing me in the back later or somehow, you know, turning things around against me later. We're one. There's an openness there. There's a, just like the same thing about not having to worry about sexually transmitted diseases. There's an openness. There's a freedom there that we don't have to, you know, be in this intimate moment and yet somehow still be guarded because I'm worried about this. I'm worried about that. I'm scared of this. I'm scared of getting caught. All these things that we have to have when it's not done the way God meant for it to be done. And that's one of the things that happens. And in these, you know, in these vulnerable scenarios, you give those pieces of yourself away, pieces that were meant to be only for, you know, a lifelong partner. And then, because that commitment wasn't there, then later we go our separate ways. Happens all the time in this world, right? I mean, half the dating culture now, that's all it's for. People aren't even looking for relationships. That's all they're looking for.

But you give that part of yourself away and then that's something you can't get back again in the same way, you know? And then what happens when God does bring someone down the line? Maybe you make that commitment too. Well, now there's a barrier there potentially. Now that's not to say that God can't redeem. In fact, we'll talk about that a little more later. This is not to condemn because Christ doesn't ever share his truth to condemn. There's no point in that because the world's condemned already. His point is to rescue, to deliver, to bring out of that and to set free. So God can deliver, but why would we set ourselves up for failure? when we can set ourselves up for success. Why add barriers instead of remove them? You know, and if there's something where you've got a history with someone else that wasn't in the bonds of marriage, God brings you to that later. I think people that have been in that situation could attest there's a barrier to overcome there. Not that God can't overcome it, he can. But there's a battle there that you wouldn't have had to have if things had gone the way that God designed them to go. So you see, there's like some just basic,

practical reasons that God gives us these truths. It's not just some arbitrary decision he made. So I hope that's clear, and I hope God can help us to see that he is, again, he's not trying to keep something good from us. He's trying to show us the path to the best we could ever have. His best for us is the best we could have. That's what he wants to lead us into, not keep good stuff from us. So, you know, but let's look at one other thing. When we talk about God's design, let's go over to Ephesians 5. There's another scripture I want to look at here. It's in Ephesians 5, in verse 25. Of course, he's talking about marriage itself, and I'm not going to focus so much on the specifics or mechanics of marriage itself, but something that he says here is important. In verse 25, he says, "'Husbands, love your wives, "'just as Christ loved the church "'and gave himself for her to make her holy, "'cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, "'and to present her to himself as a radiant church "'without stain or wrinkle or other blemish, "'but holy and blameless. "'In the same way, "'husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.'" You see, going right back to that picture in Genesis,

this is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Loving my wife is like loving myself because we're one now. That's the commitment that comes in marriage that sanctifies the physical part of the relationship. So he says, yeah, "'He who loves his wife loves himself. "'After all, no one ever hated their own body, "'but they feed and care for their body "'just as Christ does the church, "'for we are members of his body.'" And then he quotes back from Genesis where we read, "'For this reason, "'a man will leave his mother and father "'and be united to his wife, "'and the two will become one flesh.'" And then he says this, "'This is a profound mystery, "'but I am talking about Christ and the church.'" See, he's drawing a parallel between the oneness in body that a husband and wife have in marriage and the relationship between Christ and his church. There's a picture there of the intimacy, the connection, the connectedness of Christ with his people. And there's a picture in that that he was reflected in the marriage relationship. They come together and they become one. That's what Christ wants to be for us. He wants to be intimately connected to our lives, for us to know him,

and he wants to fellowship with us in that way. And so this is part of what God intended in marriage was this was to be a picture or a symbol of God's connectedness and relationship with us. So now what happens when we take that and we use it in a different context, we're corrupting that image of what he meant that to be. When it's with some person I don't even know because I want to feel good, there's a corruption of the purpose of which God created that. It's not serving its purpose. It's not reflecting in the same way that a lot of quote-unquote marriages that take place in the world today don't reflect the intent of what God intended in a marriage. We see all kinds of things that people call marriage in all kinds of situations, and that doesn't reflect what God intended, and yet that happens. So I just want to look over at, look at, oh yeah, well, I was just gonna say this, I guess. We see what God intended, but we know we don't live in that world, right? That's not how things work. What happened was after sin came in, of course you know what happened after sin came in, the first thing they felt was shame, right? Where there had been none before.

Because now what God had intended, it's not being used that way, and there's a shame that comes with that, and they wanted to cover. They wanted to hide from that. And that's the world we live in today. People have said, I don't care what God intended. I don't care what he meant. I want what I want. I'm gonna do what I want, because I want to take all of these gifts that God gave and use them for me the way I think they ought to be used. That's the world that we live in, and that's why God's word is full of warnings about not adopting those standards and what happens in those cases. So let's look at another one. Let's go over to, or actually not another scripture, but go up in the, or back. If you're on a phone, it's up. If you're in the Bible, it's back. It's Ephesians three, back up in verse three of Ephesians five there. He's touching on something related here. It's speaking about, you know, God's people. He says, but among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity or of greed because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk,

or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For this you can be sure, no immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a person as an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom. of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. That sounds a lot like beware lest anyone take you captive through hollow philosophy, vain deceit. Sounds a lot like that, doesn't it? Let no one deceive you with empty words. I could say today, let no one in no part of this culture tell you that this doesn't matter and this is old-fashioned stuff that don't matter anymore. Let no one take you captive with those empty words and those empty philosophies. God's Word has not changed. He said, no one deceive you with empty words for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partners with them. Of course, a lot of people think of God's wrath as, you made me mad and now I'm gonna get you. A lot of times, God's judgment, his wrath, if you will, his judgment, is to simply step back and let you have what you want. Let remove restraint, step back and say, okay, that's what you're gonna pursue. You can have what you want and then as the things naturally begin to unfold that come out of that, don't ask God to come save you from the consequences of the things that you've stepped into. That's a lot of times his judgment is just to step back, remove his protection and let things unfold the way they're gonna unfold. And we've seen it in this specific area. All of us have seen it, somebody at one time or another. We know how this goes. But he says this, for you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. So live as children of light

for the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. You know, the one attitude that says I don't care what God said or meant or what pleases him. I want to do what pleases me. This is the contrast. Find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them for it is shameful to even mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. So this is the thing. When there's a marriage relationship, when we have done things God's way, of course everybody knows that's part of a marriage relationship is the physical side of it. But there's nothing that has to be hidden, right? That can be brought into the light. That can be an open thing and there's no shame and there's no reproach because that's the way God meant it. But when we step outside of that, there's this feeling I need to hide this. I need to cover it. I hope this doesn't come out. You know, there's all these things that come with it that God says it's not what I meant. It doesn't have to be that way. We're children of the light. We're meant to be the light. And that light is also to be a light to others. Well, how are we going to let that light shine to others when there's something there that's interfering to the point that we've got to hide? And it's a drain on our testimony, our ability to be Christ to others. So that's one thing that God doesn't want for us. And I want to read another one, another passage over in 1 Thessalonians. I feel like this is,

I feel like it's good to point this out. 1 Thessalonians and chapter 4 and verse 3. He says, it is God's will that you should be sanctified. Well, that word sanctified means set apart, right? So you can say it's God's will that you not be like everybody else, that you not just follow the pattern that everybody else does. It is his desire for you to be set apart for him. And directly connects that to that you should avoid sexual immorality. That each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable and not in passionate lust like the pagans who do not know God. You know, people who don't have God, they just follow their natural instincts. It's the course of the world. But God has something more for us than that. And he wants to be able to help us with that. He says, yeah, that you do not know God. And that in this matter, no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all who commit such sins as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being, but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit. So, you know, when God tells us these things, and we've all been guilty at one time or another with things in God's word where he confronts us, and we find a way to set it aside, skirt around it. I want what I want, and I'm going to pursue it. Maybe not openly, but I'll sort of somehow try to slide around it. Well, this is God's instruction for his people. And I don't care what the world tells you or friends. I don't care what another church goer says. If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend from it, it

goes to church. Well, if they don't have this conviction, then they're compromised too, and they need the same grace of God to help them in this area that every one of us needs. This is not, you know, there are issues in the word that, you know, we have different convictions on, right? There are things where everybody here doesn't think exactly the same about everything. There's all kind of instruction in the word about us getting along with each other, despite the fact that we're not going to see everything exactly the same. There are some conviction issues we just have to pray and ask God and leave in his hands. But I believe we can say on the authority of the word of of God, this is not one of those issues. This is not one of those issues that's always like, oh, I just see it different. I have a different view. Well, I'm sorry that on the authority of the word, your view is incorrect and it's not my view. If you're rejecting this, you're not rejecting my philosophy for how to have a better life. You don't need my philosophy for how to have a better life, but you need the word of God. And if this isn't important, if you find, maybe somebody finds that in their heart, as you know, somebody could hear this and say, well, you know, that's kind of how I feel. I don't really care. I'm just gonna do what I want. I want what I want. Well, maybe ask why that is.

You know, if you, if you, if you feel that, if that's what rises up, be honest enough with yourself to admit it and then say, why do I feel that way? And maybe there's a place to be just a little bit scared for why we don't have any respect for the word of God, why there's no fear and I can do this and there's no consequence. Because I tell you what, that can be a starting point. God doesn't rule through fear. He's not gonna just crush us and say, I'm gonna get you if you don't do what I say. That's not how he draws us to himself. He draws us with love. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, not his anger. It's not the looming threat of judgment that leads us to repentance. It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. But sometimes in that natural man, it takes something to get his attention. And sometimes that can be that fear, a conviction of why doesn't this matter more to me? Why is this something I can do and be okay with? Just ask that question between you and God. He will meet you. If you wanna reach out to him, he will reach back to you. I promise you that. But I was just thinking about the fact I said earlier, this is nothing new.

This is something God's people go through in every generation as we become adults. Well, I was thinking about the Corinthian church. There was plenty of examples of stuff that Paul had to deal with there with them. And I don't know how many of you have known this or have ever studied it, but in Corinth, one of the things it was well known for is it had a temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, the Roman goddess of love. It was one of the, I guess, archeological things it was known for. And part of their worship involved temple prostitution. In other words, they had, I read in one place, I don't know how accurate it is, they said at one time at its peak, they had over a thousand prostitutes that served at that temple. And it was part of their worship system to worship the goddess of love. Well, you can imagine God going into a pagan culture like that, calling out certain people that grew up in that, and all of a sudden, the difference, and Paul's having to deal with that. People who have been used to this, and they don't even see anything wrong with it. They don't even see what it's a big deal for. And he's trying to help them and understand that God has a different plan. He has a different purpose.

So in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 6, he's quoting them as though you're saying this, but then he's given them the truth. So he says, well, you're saying, I have the right to do anything, you say, but not everything is beneficial. Well, I have the right to do anything. And Paul says, but I will not be mastered by anything. You say food for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will destroy them both. The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality, but the Lord and the Lord for the body. What they're saying is some of the people are trying to equate this to eating food and saying, well, you teach that, you know, meet the sacrifice to idols. It doesn't really matter one way or another because I'm not engaging in it with my spirit. It's just a physical thing I'm eating. So isn't it the same way with sex? Isn't this the same thing? It's just something I'm doing with my body. It's not my spirit. Isn't there a division there? And Paul said, no, it is not the same thing. Eating food is not like having sex. However much this culture wants to trivialize the idea to where it's no big deal, it's not the same. It's something different God made for a different purpose and a different expression.

And he's saying right here that that's not the same thing. The body was not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. Yeah, that's the word of God. That's his word to help us. And, you know, there's a, just go down a little bit into chapter seven. There's a few things that he talks about there. I just want to take a quick look at. Like I said, I don't think this needs to be belabored because this is a pretty consistent principle through his word. But there's a couple more thoughts I do want to get to. And then, you know, hopefully the Lord will share with others because we need him. We need his spirit, exactly what was said this morning. We need this to be him because information alone is not going to help anybody. We need his spirit to convict and to build this truth into our hearts. So in first Corinthians seven, starting up in the first verse, he says, now for the matters you wrote about, it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. He's talking about this issue. And part of this in this chapter, Paul's laying out the case for, you know, if you're not married, you're freer to serve the Lord. But obviously God makes provision for that

because not everybody is called to that and can handle that calling. I'd say probably more can't than can. But that's what he's talking about here. But Paul says this in verse two, but since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife and each woman with her own husband. So that's what God prepared. So you see his contrast, he said, okay, so there's a need, there's a desire. You know, the mere fact that we feel attracted to someone, sexually attracted. to someone, that in itself is not a sin, because that's a normal part of our nature. But what he's saying here is, if that's the case, then the answer is marriage. You see how this is an either or? What about Hebrews, where he says, I think it's Hebrews 4, where he says, marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept pure, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. The marriage bed is pure, not corrupt, but that's because it's the marriage bed. The only reason it's pure is because we've honored the institution of marriage. And you see how there's never a middle ground. There's either we're dealing with this issue and God's helping us deal with it, or we get married. There's no middle ground where we play with it and we sort of stay in between, you know, and have a foot in each camp. That's not God's answer. That's what Paul's saying here. Well, in fact, go down to verse 8 here, where he says, to the unmarried and the widows, I say, it is good for them to stay unmarried as I do.

Again, he's promoting that idea about freedom to serve Christ. But he says this, but if they cannot control themselves, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. You see the contrast? Burn with passion. That's one side. The other side is get married. And God sanctifies that. There's no middle ground. There's no middle position. You know, if you are in a relationship with someone and you find that, you know, it's a natural thing. As you get close to somebody and get to know them and you begin to share intimately and communicate, you know, and you get to know them personally in a way that you don't know other people, a deeper way, it's very natural that you want to take that to the next level. And the next level, the natural outflow of that is that there's a physical expression of it. If you get to that point in a relationship and you feel like, look, we can't keep our hands off each other, well, okay, then you need to get married. That's God's answer. It's not, he's made provision, but that's his provision. And if you say then, well, wait a minute, now we're not ready to get married, this, that, and the other, if you're not ready for marriage, you're not ready for a sexual relationship. That's his provision. In fact, he's going to say that, now let's go down to, I think it's in 25, let me go down because I want to go down because he, yeah, yeah, he says, yeah, so about virgins or the unmarried, I have no, you know, command from the Lord as in a, you know, thus saith the Lord word for word, but I give a judgment as one who by the

Lord's mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present crisis, I think it's good for a man to remain as he is. Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from commitment? Do not look for a wife, but here, here's the verse, but if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned, but those who marry will face many troubles in this life. And I want to spare you this. So just in case you think that, ah, I get married and that solves all the problems, right? No, no. You see what, in fact, I'll tell you this, your married life is the physical side of your relationship. It's important. It's not unimportant by any means, it's important, but it's only one percentage, a relatively small percentage of your life together. There's a whole lot of life that has nothing to do with that, that you need the Lord for. And in regards to that scripture, you know, oh, it's better to marry than to burn. Well, we should just get married. Well, maybe if God has you both prepared, because I'll tell you this, it may be better to marry than to burn. It's better to burn than to marry the wrong person. It's better to deal with that and have to lean on God's grace and learn how to harness his grace to deal with that than it is to get in a relationship he didn't ordain at a time he didn't prepare because you are setting yourself up for what he's talking about here, many kinds of trouble. And in ideal circumstances, you'll have trouble because there's trouble in the world.

And then once you are one unit, you're going to face that trouble together. What affects one will affect the other. There's going to be things. However, that's still God's provision. And so it's what he's saying here. It's not a sin to get to a point in a relationship where you feel sexually attracted to your partner. That's normal. That's part of what draws people together and produces families. God's not against that. But when it gets to that point, that's God's answer, marriage. And if that's not there, you're not ready for that. You're not able to do that. Then you're not ready for the other either. You don't need to try to have a foot in both camps. I want to have it both ways. I want all the privileges of marriage, but none of the responsibilities. Well, that's how people are. We want that about a lot of things. It's not how life works. We don't get the privileges without the responsibilities and the commitments there. So, you know, I guess what I want to say is this. How do you deal with this? If you're in a relationship then and you're not ready for marriage, then what do you do to deal with this? Well, just at a purely practical level, here's the number one simplest thing that will keep the vast majority of trouble off of you in this area. Don't be alone together. That solves 95% of your problem right there. If you are not off alone together. But when you are and you have time you don't have to account for, that's when problems happen. Because in nature, human nature is ever present.

You know, there's a covering and a protection when you can be together with others. Be at your boyfriend or girlfriend's house with their parents. Be with friends. Be with church functions. Be with things where you can be together in an environment. where there's covering, there's safety, and there's protection because you get off alone where you have time you don't have to account for. This is the inevitable, well, I won't say inevitable result, but it's it's a likely result. You know, it's an awfully likely result because the other thing that helps, another thing that helps with this is be with someone who has the same conviction that you do. You know, I, you know, my wife and I had this conviction when we were dating, but first of all, you've got your own nature and your own body that is working against you in this area, number one, especially when you're younger and your hormones are at some of their peak levels. You got your body working against you, you got the devil working against you that wants to flood your mind with these thoughts, things from the culture. If on top of that, those you've got your other person, your partner working against you too, boy, it is hard to stand. I won't say it's impossible because I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, but it's hard to stand if the other person is working on you too. And even when you both have the same conviction, you're going to find it difficult. You know, you'll find it difficult to honor the Lord. There will be, no matter how much you try to stay around other people riding from here to there, sooner or later, something's going to happen. You'll be alone together. You have to be, and you have to learn how to handle that. As part of this, you know, parents, we have to learn how to balance all that, but it being with somebody that has the same conviction as you. And if they don't, they need the same Christ, the same word, the same conviction we're talking about here this morning. They need to have that. And God help us as parents, you know, as part of it, us as parents to know how to help our kids. Because a lot of times these situations involve people who are still living at home. Sometimes it's not. And you know, when people leave home, well, they truly are in the Lord's hands and we have to put them there. But while they're still at home, there is a measure of responsibility we as parents have for what we allow in our home or what we facilitate. And we need the grace of God to know how to stand for him, how to lift up his standard, his word, to, you know, be gracious. But we have to stand for

truth. And if there are things going on that are not right that we know about, well, we're responsible for that. You know, again, what we told our boys growing up many times, it's like, look, I don't, we don't expect you guys, especially as you get older, to live lives that are identical to ours. You're your own people. You have to find your own path and things. And you're at a different stage in life. So I don't expect you to live a life identical to ours, but you do as long as you're here, you do have to live a life that's compatible with ours. We can't have something completely contrary going on. And again, not lift up the standard of truth and God's word in that. So God help us as parents in that too. But the thing is, in all this, God's aim is never to condemn. It's to restore. It's to heal and to restore. Because he understands why we're getting the places we get. That's what he came for. He came to be our savior. When he, when he talks about looking at the crowds that were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, he didn't look on them with contempt. He looked on them with compassion. He didn't say, what's wrong with you? How did you get in this shape? Why did you let this devil into your life? Why do you have to? He didn't say that. He looked on them with compassion because he wanted to deliver. He wanted to heal and restore. And that's what God wants this morning. You know, you look at the, look at how he treated the woman at the well, right? You know, that was, her sin was, was of a sexual nature. Did he condemn for that? No, she felt, she felt hope. She felt reached out to, to a, by a person that even, even people in her own culture wouldn't reach out to her. Nevermind the Jews looking down on the Samaritans, even the other Samaritans looked down on her. And yet she felt somebody reaching out with truth and said, if you would ask me, I'll give you living water. That's what God's telling us today. If you'll ask me, I'll give you living water. I'll give you what you need. And that's the, he wants to heal and restore. What does he say in first John? If we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's what repentance is, where there's genuine repentance, which involves turning away from it. Not just, I'm sorry, not just, I'm sorry I got caught, but God, I want to be on your side. I've not been, and I see that, but I want to be on your side. I want to move forward. And whatever consequences may be, whatever the carryovers may be, if there are, you'll help me with that, but I want to be on your side. Well, at that point, he's faithful to number one, forgive us, but then to cleanse us from that unrighteousness and help us move forward. It is, there's never a time we can't turn to him wherever we're at and say, Lord, rescue me,

take me higher, take me further. God can do that for us. And the scripture in Proverbs, it's in Proverbs 28, he says, he says, he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Praise God, there is mercy in confessing and renouncing. See, that's the two keys. It can't just be one or the other. You can't just be confessing and it can't even be renouncing. It can't even be you saying, okay, I'm just going to do better now. I'll get stronger now and I'll start doing better. No, you won't. Not without the grace of God, but with a confession, there's his grace available to help us. And this is the, I want to close with this. It's a scripture from Hebrews in Hebrews 12. Let's see. I thought I had it pulled up, but maybe I don't. Just starting in verse 1, starting at the very beginning of the Hebrews. He says, Therefore, he's just talked about in the previous chapter, about all the heroes of faith and examples that we have in the word of people who honor God. He says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. So consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. Is it hard to honor God and do the right thing when you're dating? Yeah, but you haven't had to resist it to the point of bleeding, right? We haven't gone through what Christ did, and he went through that for us so that he can now help us in the things that we go through. But he says this, And you have completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son.

It says, My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you. See, that's what the Lord wants this morning. Number one, don't make light of this and say this doesn't matter. No big deal. Culture says otherwise. Things have changed. Times are different. Blah, blah, blah. Don't make light of the Lord's discipline. At the same time, if you find you struggle with this, if you have struggled in the past with this, if you're trapped in this right now, don't lose heart because he's treating you like he does his children. Do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines the one that he loves, not the one he hates. He disciplines the one he loves and chastens everyone he accepts as a son. Endure this hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you're not disciplined and everyone undergoes it, then you're not legitimate true sons and daughters at all. But we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live? They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in his holiness.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful. It's not what we want to hear, right? We don't want to be told no or given something different. It's not pleasant. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, so here's God's word to us today, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet. If the enemy has gotten you in a trap in this area where your footing is unsteady, you're on treacherous ground, make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled but rather healed. That's what God wants to do this morning. If you feel lame in this area, you feel compromised, God wants to heal you. He wants to restore that this morning. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God. See, that's the key. It's the grace of God. It's available this morning. Don't fall short of his grace that will enable you to walk in this. Same thing for me. I don't want to fall short of his grace that enables me to walk in his word where I'm weak and face battles day in, day out. He wants to shed his grace in my heart to enable me to do that.

So don't fall short of the grace of God. And no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Things like this that happen, that go on, that people hear about, they're not dealt with, it can be a root that starts defiling others. It starts corrupting. God wants to cut that, raise up his standard and say, don't let us walk in things that defile others. See to it that no one is sexually immoral. He mentions that specifically. But it's interesting what he connects it to. This is what drew me to this passage. Or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. And afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. You know the story where he had renounced, because he was hungry. He came in from hunting. He was hungry. Oh, well, who cares about this birthright that's years down the road? I'm hungry right now. I want something to eat right now. You can have all that. He traded that entire future, that destiny, because I'm hungry for a bowl of beans right now. Do all of us who are married and were once young and dating, do we know what it's like to be in the moment?

And you want that physical relationship right now? Yeah. Yeah, we all know what that's like. But don't trade away the destiny God has for you, for a bowl of beans in a moment. I'm going to fill my belly right now, and I'll be hungry again tomorrow. But I just want that right now. There's a destiny God has. Don't trade it for that. It is worth waiting on God. It is worth it to wait on him in your life. He will bless you beyond what you could ever imagine or what you feel like you ever deserve. He's done that for me, and I don't deserve anything. But he's done it because he's merciful. him with your life, honor him with your body, honor him in this area. And by the grace of God and whatever you find there, the struggles, the battles, whatever may be going on right now, if you turn to him, he will hear you. He'll deliver. If you want to confess and forsake, he will deliver. So I just I just put this in his hands. I just am thankful that he is merciful. And at the heart of all of this is love and his desire to heal and restore. That's I tell you what, we are a blessed people to have a father who loves us enough to discipline us and yet tell us be encouraged when I do, because I'm treating you like my children, because that's what you are. And I have so much more for you. Let's not let anything compromise our testimony. Take the gifts that God would give us, the way he would use us for others and have that be compromised.

Because we've got this area of life where we've settled, compromised with something, and it's this constant source of of struggle or in impacting our testimony in the eyes of others. Let's honor him. And I believe he will honor his word. Praise God. Thank you, Lord. Praise God. Are you thankful for that? You know, it says, you know, I'll be very brief here. It talks about two or three speaking and the others evaluate what it said. And that Benjamin alluded back to that devotion. We heard of the very first of it. The need for the Holy Spirit is just that. And when you're teaching, you know, this this is a gift of teaching. You don't have to try to muster up a reaction from anybody. It resonates because, you know, it's the Lord and it comes directly through the word of God and the word of God is active. It's powerful. It's always a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And it says everything is laid bare underneath it. And so even when we're doing things that maybe others don't see, God sees it. And the word of God exposes it for what it is. That's why we need the Holy Spirit. I just want to say thank the Lord for being here. That was the Lord. Just that simple. Thank God for his faithfulness. Amen.