[0:00] Okay, so I'm going to teach tonight on man is the glory of God. Man is the glory of God. And I could also title this freedom from sexual immorality. But there's a reason we don't use that as the leading thing.
[0:16] That is a lot of what this is about. But there's a reason sexual immorality is treated with the severity of the Bible. Treats it. And it's because it's in light of something.
[0:28] Sexual immorality is singled out in the Bible and treated in a more pronounced way in light of the impact it has.
[0:44] In 1 Corinthians 11, 7, this is where we get this phrase, man was created for man is the glory of God. That says, for a man ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God.
[0:56] But woman is the glory of man. For man was not made for woman, but woman for man. In other words, man created for woman, but woman for man. So there's a lot in that, but we pull something out of there. It is that man is the glory of God.
[1:09] Which seems kind of weird. Okay? But we're going to talk about how that is meaningful. Genesis 1, 26-28 says, Then God said, So, you have here, it's man and woman.
[1:51] It's God created man, and he created them, so he created woman. Alright? But 1 Corinthians 11, 7 here says something unique about man.
[2:02] Okay? So they're both created in the image of God, but man is created in the image and glory of God. And woman is the glory of man. And there is a mystery here. But it has to do with the unique creative purpose that a man has.
[2:17] Distinct from that of the woman. They both image God, but the man is particularly the glory of God. Okay? And we have a responsibility. Man was created first.
[2:29] There's agency. And this has to do with unique characteristics of God as the one who rules. He has power. He has glory. He has agency. And we're called to that.
[2:40] Psalm 8, verse 4-6 says, What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and have crowned him with glory and honor.
[2:55] You have given him dominion over the works of your hands, and you have put all things under his feet. The word glory is the Greek word doxa.
[3:06] I think that's how you pronounce it. It means splendor, brightness, dignity, majesty, honor. Other ways of translating are radiance.
[3:19] You know, the glory of God. Every time someone was in the presence of God, there's just this glory that comes forth, and they always fall down. You know? It just happens every time. Any one time someone sees God, they fall down, and they say things like, Woe is me, or I fell down like a dead man, like John in Revelation.
[3:36] There's a glory that is inherent to God's nature that just strikes awe in them. It also means a most glorious condition, a most exalted state.
[3:49] So, it seems weird because we see men, and that doesn't happen to us. I've never seen a dude, very impressive men. I've seen some impressive guys.
[3:59] I've never been tempted to fall down on my face and feel like I'm a dead man. Okay? Part of this is because, you know, we're creating an image of God. We're imaging something.
[4:11] It's not the full Monty. The other part of it is we've fallen. Okay? There was a state of created glory that was part of God's original purpose, and we fall short of it.
[4:27] Things aren't like they're supposed to be. It also has to do with rulership. This majesty, this glory of God, this agency that he has is reflected in the masculine aspect of the Dominion Mandate.
[4:46] Okay? This is why men are desirous of honor. Okay? There's a reason little boys are, Dad, look at this awesome thing I did.
[4:58] And we want men to respect us. And if we feel disrespected, it's like, we're going to go fight about it. Okay? That's not a particularly feminine trait, and there's a reason for that.
[5:10] It's because this is baked into the hard code. Glory. Honor. It's not just sinful ego that we have a desire for those things.
[5:20] It's actually reflective of our created purpose. God did create us in a glorious state, and he did it to image something about himself that is unique. And part of that is being a ruler, not being ruled.
[5:35] It says that, like back to that psalm, the verse in Psalms 8, 4 through 6, the very end, it says, You've given him dominion over the works of your hands, and you've put all things under his feet.
[5:49] That's the calling. Well, that's part of our created purpose. But, like I said, that's not where we're at right now. In Romans 1, verse 21 through 28, it says, It says,
[6:59] Romans 3, verse 21 through 28, it says, For all have sinned and fallen short of what? That applies to men and women.
[7:09] But this is hitting the stuff about the men right now. This is the language he's using when he's referencing our fall.
[7:21] Is it just all men have sinned and aren't acting righteously in the line? The reference point is the glory of God. For all have sinned and fallen short of what?
[7:33] The glory of God. That was the reference point. We were created good. We were created not just asexually good, okay, but masculinely good.
[7:47] Demonstrating and communicating something with our being that has to do with the eternal adverts of God.
[7:57] Okay? And that part is the glory of God. The radiance of God. So, anyway, the point is we've fallen short of the glory of God.
[8:08] We've exchanged the glory of God for a worship of creation, which you can still see this play out now. I mean, what are the things that guys are into? Money. Stuff God made. Okay?
[8:19] Stuff. Things. Toys. Things. Um. God made it. Is it good? Yeah, he said the whole thing's good. He created the heavens and the earth, and he said it's very good.
[8:32] Nothing wrong with any of these things. What's wrong? They worship the creature rather than the creator. What was the consequence? God handed them over to something. And there is, there's sin that's just an offense against God, but there's actually sin that the Bible calls out as a judgment from God.
[8:49] What's unique about this passage, he actually hands them over to a thing. The sin that they're now ruled by, sexual immorality, is a debasement of their created purpose.
[9:02] Okay? And it's interesting that it's sexual immorality. You know? The consequence of this exchange of glory taking something, the glory of God, it says they exchanged it.
[9:19] Or, images resembling moral man, birds, animals, people, things. Consequence, sexual immorality. You're now ruled by something.
[9:31] The original purpose was, rule, take the knee. Now you, it's all flipped. Now you're ruled. Okay? So that's the problem. That's the situation we're in right now.
[9:42] This is why you don't fall down on a dude walks in. Okay? Sexual immorality. I want to talk about this a little bit. This is an exhaustively colored topic in the Bible.
[9:54] There's really no way to cover all the verses in the New Testament, much less all the verses in the New Testament, the Old Testament, about this topic. But I want to give it at least an overview.
[10:05] Sexual immorality. What are we talking about here? The Bible defines sexual immorality as any sexual activity outside of a marriage covenant between one man and one woman. Okay? I mean, full stop.
[10:17] That's it. Well, there's a lot outside that. Okay? And the Bible's very specific. And it actually goes into a lot of detail. Actually, like, uncomfortable levels of detail. The Bible's very, very specific about the breadth of what is not this one God-sanctioned category.
[10:36] That's pornography and lust. Matthew 5, 27 through 30. Fornication, which is sex outside of marriage. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 2 talks about that. Adultery. Deuteronomy 5, 18. And this is part of the 10 Commandments.
[10:46] Hey, what's up, Charlie? 10 Commandments. You know? Don't covet your neighbor's wife. Don't commit adultery. They're both in there. Lust and adultery. Homosexuality. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9.
[10:58] Bestiality. Leviticus 18, 23. Incest. 1 Corinthians 5, 1. And it goes on. Okay? What's the consequence? Bad life?
[11:10] You know? The Bible has very severe language when it talks about sexual immorality, what the consequences of sexual immorality are. I'm just going to read through a number of verses here, starting with what Jesus says in Matthew 5, 27 through 30.
[11:28] You have heard it said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
[11:41] For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body going to hell.
[11:58] Okay? That's Jesus. That's Jesus. Galatians 5, verse 19 through 21 says, Now the works of the flesh are evident Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, pits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God About half that list is in some way related to this, sexual immorality Discovered heart, impurity, lust, actually acting in it, sexual immorality, orgies, these are all works of the flesh It says, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God We can't put it any blunder than that It's very straightforward If you do these things, some translations say, make a practice of doing these things Is this your lifestyle?
[12:53] I'm sorry, you're not inheriting the kingdom of God Ephesians 5, verse 5-6 This is not a unique passage, by the way Ephesians 5, verse 5-6 It says something similar For you may be sure of this That everyone who is sexually immoral or impure Or who is covetous, that is an idolater Has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God Let no one deceive you with empty words For because of these things, the wrath of God Comes upon the sons of disobedience Both of these passages are written to churches, to professing believers And they're at the end of the letter that he's writing to this church He talks about a whole bunch of other stuff He talks about the gospel, he talks about the way of salvation And he puts a caveat in the end Listen, don't be deceived If the fruit of your life is this pattern And you're going on living this way Don't be deceived, you will not inherit the kingdom of God 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God
[13:57] Do not be deceived Again, don't be deceived Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers Nor men who practice homosexuality Nor thieves, nor degreed, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers Will inherit the kingdom of God Again, do not be deceived, nor enrich Written to Christians Professing believers 1 Corinthians 5, verse 9-13 I wrote to you in my letter Not to associate with sexually immoral people Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world Or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters Since then, you would need to go out of the world Because this is the universal problem Okay But now I am writing to you Not to associate with anyone Who bears the name of brother I mean, like a professing believer Someone in your church If he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed Or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler Not even to eat with such a one For what have I to do with judging outsiders?
[14:58] Is it not those inside the church Whom you are to judge? God judges those outside Purge the evil person From among you Okay Ongoing unrepentant sexual immorality Is cause for church discipline In churches that obey What he is talking about here Remember the The example of Church discipline That he is exhorting him to In the context Is a guy sleeping with his His mother-in-law Okay Incest And he is rebuking him Saying, hey, no, no, no, no, no Like, you have to put away Even professing believers Who by the fruit of their life Are showing That they are not Perfitting from this stuff Oh, that's a lot of heavy stuff There is There is good news But I'm going to continue Working through the bad news Because it's very important 1 Corinthians 6 Verse 12-20 All things are lawful for me But not all things are helpful All things are lawful for me But I will not be dominated
[15:58] By anything Again, back to the creation language What was man created for? To rule Part of his glory It's the attribute of God That is particularly masculine But I will not be dominated by anything Food is meant for the stomach And the stomach for food And God will destroy Both one and the other The body is not meant For sexual immorality But for the Lord And the Lord For the body You see, they're being dominated By sexual immorality They're not in charge It's ruling them And God He goes on And God raised the Lord Beating Christ from the grave And will also raise us up By his power Do you not know That your bodies Are members of Christ?
[16:40] Shall I then take The members of Christ And make them members Of a prostitute? Never Or do you not know That he who is joined To a prostitute Becomes one body with her? For it is written The two will become one flesh But he who is joined to the Lord Meaning someone who's savingly believed in Jesus Becomes one spirit with him Flee from sexual immorality Every other sin a person commits Is outside the body But the sexually immoral person Sins against his own body So there Paul is pulling this out And he's treating it different Okay Why?
[17:21] Why is he treating this different? People I've heard this said Like you know All sins say It's all the same Well there's a sense in which That's true Because it all proceeds From our fallen nature Okay When we sin in Adam We all have this Indwelling sin That all the particular Manifestations You know Are fruits up The fruits on the tree I got a sin tree I bear You know Different looking sin fruit So in that sense Yes it's true But the consequence And severity Of these sins Do bear And the Bible Does treat them differently And sexual sin Is treated very uniquely And it's the only one Against your body So he goes on To say here Do you not know That your body Is a temple Of the Holy Spirit Within you Whom you have from God You are not your own For you Were bought with a price So Glorify God In your body This sin Defaces The glory of God In our body Because our body Is a temple
[18:21] Of the Holy Spirit Okay You see all throughout The Old Testament When the Israelites Would go astray Idols would come Into the temple And God would get Passionately angry About it You see Jesus The only time He's in A state of Almost like rage He's clearing out The temple Why?
[18:41] Because they were Defiling his father's temple He's zealous For the purity Of his temple Well Jesus died And was buried And was resurrected And in his resurrection Our bodies are now The temple of God God He sent his Holy Spirit To live inside of us And That change It's a whole Different ballgame It changes How seriously The Lord Looks at this stuff Especially for believers So Anyway Point being Sexual immorality Is a sin Against the created Purpose of our body As a temple Of the Holy Spirit Okay So we call this man Is the glory of God Because we need to Think about Why am I What's my purpose It's not just to Glorify God Which is The purpose of men And women It's that I am Okay Whether I like it or not I'm saying something About God By being Me Okay
[19:42] And this Attacks it It attacks it It attacks the character Of God And therefore God He singles it out And he treats it With much more severity Second point is If we didn't get it From just reading These passages Don't be deceived It will send you to hell It will send you to hell If you continue it He says it over and over again And there's a lot Other passages That we can include here We can spend all night Just reading every passage In the Bible That talks about this This is not my opinion If you believe What the word of God says This is just what it says If you continue in this You will go to hell Okay So That is the bad news You were created for a purpose A glorious purpose You've fallen short of that purpose As a consequence You've been handed over Sexual immorality Not only do you put statistics You guys are the statistics Okay I'm the statistic
[20:42] Which is true If you're honest I know it's true That's the bad news The good news is that God has not left us alone He sent His Son Jesus Okay Christ has come To restore The glory of God In man I'm going to read a few passages In Hebrews 1-3 It says The Son In Jesus Is the radiance Of God's glory In the exact representation Of His being Sustaining all things By His powerful word After He had provided A purification for sins He sat down At the right hand Of the majesty In heaven So you see here The Son Is the radiance Of God's glory One of the definitions Of that word Doxa Is radiance
[21:43] When they get into God's presence You know There's prophets Here and there And then John In the book Revelation When they See God's glory There's a radiance It's always radiance It's always super bright You know That's what the Son is He's the radiance Of God's glory In the exact Representation Of His being Jesus is a man He's God In man The Bible calls Him the second Paddle He's not falling Short at all John 1 14 Says something Very similar The word became Flesh And dwelt among us And we have seen His glory Glory As of the only Son from the Father Full of grace And truth So the point Here is Jesus Is Walking in He created A purpose For man The Bible Calls him The second Adam There's a lot Of implications With that But one of them Is He's not Falling short He's
[22:44] Fulfilling The Intended Purpose For which God created Man As the Glory of God Hebrews 10 Verse 9 Through 14 This speaks Of Jesus' Mission Okay Then he added Behold I have come To do your Will That's meaning That's Jesus The first person And by that Will We Have been Sanctified Through the Offering of The body Of Jesus Christ Once for All Every priest Stands daily In his service Offering repeatedly The same Sacrifices Which can never Take away sins And speaking Of the old Covenant here Speaking of The sacrifices That the Jews Offered to try To pay for sins He's basically Saying is It didn't work Okay He couldn't Cleanse you Couldn't make you Restored To your Creative purpose But when Christ Had offered For all time A single Sacrifice For sins He sat down At the right Hand of God Waiting from That time Until his Enemies
[23:44] Should be Made a Footstool For his Feet To provide A single Offering He has Perfected For all Time Those Who are Being Sanctified So No one Was Obeying The call To return To your Created Purpose So God Did He sent His son And Jesus Did it He says Behold I have Come To do Your Will What is That will To Sanctify His People Hebrews 2 Verse 5 Through 10 Says For it Is Not Angels That God Subjected The World To Come Of Which We Are Speaking It Has Been Testified Somewhere What is Man That you Are Mindful Of Or The Son Of Man That you Care For Him Sound Familiar Psalm 8 Speaking Of The Created Purpose Of Man You Made Him For A Little While Lower Than The Angels You Have Crowned Him With Glory And Honor Putting Everything In Subjection Under His Feet Speaking Of Man Now In Putting Everything In Subjection To Him He Left Nothing
[24:45] Outside His Control We Are Created To Be In Dominion Over Everything But At Present We Do Not Yet See Everything In Subjection We See A Bunch Of Guys Who Are Created In The Image Of God With A Created Purpose To Be The Glory Of God To Rule But I Don't See It They Are Ruled Okay So We Don't See Man Generally Fulfilling This Created Purpose It Goes On But We Do See Him Meaning Christ Who For A Little While Was Made Lower Than The Angels Namely Jesus Crowned With Glory And Honor Because Of The Suffering Of Death So That By The Grace Of God He Might Taste Death For Everyone For It Was Fitting That He For Whom And By Whom All Things Exist In Bringing Many Sons To Glory Should Make The
[25:45] Founder Their Salvation Perfect Through Suffering So We Don't See Men Walking In Their Created Purpose We See Men Rule Specifically By Sexual Immorality Universally Okay But We See Jesus We See Another Man Come And We See Him Bringing Many Sons To Glory Through His Sacrifice 2nd Corinthians 5 Verse 14 17 And Verse 21 For The Love Of Christ Controls Us Because We Concluded This That One Has Died For All And Therefore All Died And He Died For All That Those Who Live Might No Longer Live For Themselves But For Him Who For Their Sake Died And Was Raised Continuing
[26:47] On Here Says From Now On Therefore We Even Though We Once Regarded Christ According To The Flesh We Regard Thus No Longer Therefore If Anyone Is In Christ He Is A New Creation The Old Has Passed Away Behold The New Has Come For Our Sake He Made Him To Be Sin Who Do No Sin So That In Him We Might Become The Righteousness Of God So Remember We Started With The Glorious Creative Pur For Worship Of Creation For A Lie As A Constance We Been Handed Over Sexual Immorality Well God Comes And He Makes Another Exchange What's The Exchange He Made Him To Be Sin And We Know Sin He Took Our Sin And Our Position Of Being Under The Wrath Of God And Our Position Of Being Lawfully Handed Over To Be
[27:48] Ruled On Himself And Then He So That In Him We Might Become Righteous Of God He Puts His Righteousness On Us Okay This Is Why It Says If Anyone Is In Christ He Is New Creation Okay How Could This Happen Well The First One Has To Die The First Guy Who Fell And Was Handed Over Can't Work Himself Back Into That State Of Grace Okay You Can't Do It By The Works Of The Law No Flesh Will Be Justified You Can't Take A Self Improvement Class To Work Yourself Out Of Romans Three Situation All Having Sinned And Falling Short Of The Word Of God Being Handed Over To Depravity That Guy Was So Hopelessly Lost He Had To Be To Death And That That Is What Jesus Did On The Cross
[28:48] He Died Him He Traded Places We Deserve That But He Took It For Us Okay In Exchange What Do We Get His Position He Hasn't Falling Short Okay We Just Read A Little Bit About Some Of His Attributes He Is The Radiance Of God's Glory In The Exact Representation Of His Being That's What He Gives Us That's The Exchange We Exchange The Glory Of God For Debauchery God Takes Our Debauchery On Himself And Gives Us The Glory Of God Christ Has Come To Restore Man To The Glory Of God Colossians 1 27 Such A Precious Promise Says How Great Among The Gentiles Are The Riches Of The Glory Of This Mystery Which Is Christ In
[29:48] You The Hope Of Glory Now The Hope Of Glory It's Not In Your Performance It's Not On How Well You Can Digest All This Stuff And Try To Figure Out A Being Planned Working Yourself Out Of The Backlog Of Sexual!
[30:02] Morality That Is Ruling You It's That Another Person Into Your Life In The Dominion That He Has He Already Has It He Doesn't Have To Earn It He Doesn't Have To Work For It He Has It Everything Is Under His Feet It's Not Under Your Feet But It's Under Christ's Feet So How Does God Bring Your Passions Under Your Tip Of The Iceberg But One Of The Big Ones And One Of The Ones That Usually For Guys Is At The Top Of The List Of Things That Are Keeping Them In A Cycle Of Bondage And Condemnation Is Sexual Morality You Should Go Figure Okay Create An Image Of God God Baked His Sex!
[31:01] Drive Into The Hard Coat And He Said It Was Good It Was Good For A Particulate Reason And There Is Anyway I Want to Talk About A Little Bit About What Jesus Did On The Cross For Us That Gives Us Confidence This Can Be True In Our Life Romans 6 Verses 3 14 Do You Not Know That All Of Us Usually We Think Of The Sacrifice Of Jesus We Think Of The Blood Of The Deals With Every Aspect Of Our Fallen State And There Is Aspect That Has To Do With The Power Of Sin In Our Life And That Is What I Want To Read Right Now Romans 6 Verse 3 14 Do You Not Know That All Of Us Who Have Been Baptized Into Christ Jesus Were Baptized Into His Death We Are Buried Therefore With By Baptism Into Death In Order That Just As Christ Was Raised From The Dead By The Glory Of The Father We Too
[32:01] Might Walk In Newness Of Life For If We Have Been United With Him In A Death Like His We Shall Certainly Be United With Him In A Resurrection Like His We Know That Our Old Self Was Crucified With Him In Order That The Body Of Sin Might Be Brought To Nothing So That We Will Be No Longer Enslaved To Sin The Old Man Is Unreformable This Guy Who Is In Bonded To Sin Handed Over By God Unreformable There Is No 12 Step Program That Fix That Situation I Mentioned This Earlier That Is Why He Had To Death So Why So We Would No Longer Be Enslaved To Sin For One Who Has Died And Set Free From Sin Now If We Have Died With Christ We Believe That We Will Also Live With Him We Know That Christ Being Raised From The Dead Will Never Die Again Death No Longer Has Delenion Over Him For The Death He Died To Sin Once For All But The Life He
[33:01] Lends He Lives To God So You Also Must Consider Yourselves Dead To Sin Counting Term So This Is A Synonym Of Faith What We're Doing Is Looking Backwards 2000 Years Ago A Man Died On The Cross And The Bible Says That This Happened When He Got On The Cross That My Body Of Sin Was Brought To Nothing On The Cross Question Is Do I Believe That Your Faith Be It Up To You That Is What He Means By Reckon Consider Consider Yourselves Dead To Sin And Alive To God In Christ Jesus Let Not Sin Therefore In Light Of This Truth That My Man Of Sin Was Crucified
[34:01] With Jesus Don't Let Sin Reign In Your Mortal Body To Make You Obey Its Passions Do Not Present Your To God Is Right Is Instruments For Righteousness And Here's A Promise It's One Of Glorious Promises I Think In New Testament For Sin Will Have No Dominion Over You Since You Are Not Under The Law But Under Grace The Law Says Be Righteous And It Doesn't Help You Do It Just Shows You Your Sin That God's Commandments Okay God's Commandments Are Sufficient To Show Us What We're Not Doing Grace Is Different Grace Is God Doing For Me What I Can't Do For Myself It's God Doing Sin Is
[35:02] The Promise Sin Will Have No Dominion Over You For You Are Not Under Law But Under Grace This Is Again Christ In You Hope Accord This Is God Coming In And Doing Something Through His Spirit That You Can't Do For Yourself Promise First Corinthians Nine Or Six Verse Nine Through Eleven Do You Not Know That The Unrighteous Will Not Inherit The Kingdom Of God Don't Be Deceived There's Another Don't Be Deceivers Don't Be Deceived Neither The Sexuality In World Or Idolaters Nor Adulterers Nor Men Who Practice Homosexuality Nor Thieves Nor But You Were Washed You Were Sanctified You Were Justified In The Name Of The Lord Jesus Christ And By The Spirit Of God Okay If Any Man Is
[36:02] In Christ He Is A New Creation It Says It Right Here Galatians 5 Verse 16 Through 18 But I Say Walk By The Spirit And You Will Not Gratify The Desires Of The Flesh For The Desires Of The Flesh Are Against The Spirit And The Desires Of The Flesh These Are Opposed To Each Other To Keep You From Doing The Things You Want To Do I Think We Probably All Resonate With That Tension You Know What You Supposed To Do And You Want To Do Something Different Part Of You Wants To Do The Thing That's Right The Other Part Of You Wants To Do The Thing Wrong And It It's A Battle Okay And Before The Holy Spirit Comes And Jesus Sent The Holy Spirit Says I Will Send The Holy Spirit Okay And The Holy Spirit Is The Game Changer The Holy Spirit If You're Led By The Spirit Says You're Not Under The Law If You Walk
[37:02] By The Spirit There's A Promise You Won't This Is Dependence Okay Like Just To Disambiguize This This Is Not Some Weird The Holy Spirit And The Promises He Is Actually The One Who's Going To Keep Me From Saying Yes To Desire To The Flesh I Know My Track Record I Depend On My Own Effort I Can Muscle By For A Little While Get Some Covenant Eyes Get Some Accountability But I Always Find A Way Around It Okay Because Wherever I Go There I Am And There I There That's The Game Changer Is That The Power Of The Holy Spirit Gives Life To My Body And Helps Me Say No Okay Galatians 5
[38:04] Verse 22 Through 25 By the Way This Is Right After He Shares The Long List Of The Deeds Of The Flesh That If You Do These Things You Won't Inher The King Of God But Then He Has But Galatians 5 22 25 But The Fruit The Spirit Is Love Joy Peace Patience Kindness Goodness Faithfulness Gentleman Self Control Against Such Things There Is No Law And Those Who Belong To Christ Jesus Have Crucified The Flesh With Its Passions And Desires If We Live By The Spirit That Is Also Keep In Step By The Spirit This Is The Double Whammy Against The Power Sin He Crucified The Power Sin The Old Man Has Lost Its Power And Authority In My Life Because Of What Jesus Did On The Cross If I Believe It It Is Mine And He Put His Holy Spirit In Me To Produce His Fruit So Christ Will Dwell In Your Hearts Through The Holy Spirit It Is Actually Jesus Through His Spirit Establishing His Deme In My Life And Bringing Everything Under His
[39:04] Feet For Me First Thessalonians 4 Verses 3 Through 5 Says This Is The Will Of God Do I Know What God's Will Is For Your Life Here It Is Okay This Is The Will Of God Your Sanctification What do you mean by Sanctification That is Specifically That You Abstain From Sexual Morality Okay That Each Of You Know How To Possess His Own Vessel In Sanctification In Honor Not In Lustful Passion Like Do Not Know God Again Vessel The Symmetry Of We're A Temple We're A Place Where God Lives In And We Ought To All Know How To Possess Our Body In Light Of That Glorious Truth Okay So Then Brothers Romans 8 Verse 12 Through 17 Just Got A Few More To So Then Brothers We Are Debtors Not To The Flesh To Live According The
[40:06] Deeds Of The Body You Will Live For All Who Are Led By The Spirit Of God Are Sons Of God For You Did Not Receive The Spirit Of Slavery To Fall Back Into Fear But You Received The Spirit Of Adoption As Sons By Whom We Cry Abba Father The Spirit Himself Hears Witness With Our Spirit That We Are Children Of God And Children And Heirs Heirs Of God And Fellow Heirs Of Christ Provided We Subtle With Him In Order That We May Be Also Glorified With Him Again What's The Eternal Glory Of God And The Spirit Activity In Our Life Is Conforming Us To That 2nd Corinthians 3 Verse 17 Through 18 Says The Lord Is The Spirit And Where The Spirit The Lord Is There Is Freedom And We All With Unveiled Face Beholding The Glory Of The Lord Being Transformed Into The
[41:06] Same Image From One Degree Of Glory To Another For This Comes From The Lord Who Is Not Only Justifies Us The Blood Of Jesus Not Only Pays For Our Sins It Also Sanctifies Us It Was A Death Blow To The Power Of Sin To Grow My Life Okay It's Package Deal It Goes Together Okay They're Both A Free Gift But They Go Together Okay And That Includes Freedom For Sexual Sins So Anyway It Went A Little Bit Longer But I Have Some Exhortations And We'll Walk Through Here Number One Think About Practicals The Bible Has Got A Lot Of Practicals Okay This Isn't Going To Be Like Get Some Self Help Get Some Covenant Eyes This Is What The Bible Says Are Practical Steps Okay See We're Convicted Say Our Experience Is Like This I'm Ruled I'm Not Ruling I'm Being Ruled Here's What To Do Number One Walk
[42:07] In Light Which Is In Other Words Be Honest Okay First John One Verse Five Through Ten Says This Is The Message We've Heard From Him And Proclaimed To You That God Is Light And In Him Is No Darkness At All If We Say We Have Fellowship With Him When We Walk In Darkness We Lie And Do Not Practice The Truth If You're Hiding Sin No You're Conceive Ourselves And The Truth Is Not In Us But If We Confess Our Sins He Is Faithful And Just To Forgive Us Our Sins And To Cleanse Us From All Unrighteousness We Say We Have Not Sinned We Make Him A Liar And His Word Is Not In Us So Dishonesty Not Just Admitting The Truth About What Your Actual Experience Is Is Walking!
[43:06] God Is Light And No Darkness At All So What's The First Step Be Honest Confess Your Sins Look At The Promise Behind This We Confess Our Sins He Is Faithful And Just To Forgive Us Our Sins And Cleanse Us From Unrighteousness You Want to Get Clean First Step Confess Your Sins Number Two Repent Which I Think It's Important When We Think About Repentance We Not Talking About Feeling Sorry This Is Taking Responsibility Don't Blame Others James 1 Verse 13 To 15 Says Let No One Say When He Is Tempted I Am Being Tempted By God God May Be Do It He May Be This Way No For God Cannot Be Tempted With Evil He Himself Temps No One But Each Person Is Tempted When He Is Lured And Enticed By His Own Desire Then Desire When Is Conceived Gives Birth To Sin And Sin When Is Fully Grown Brings For Death You Are Responsible Your Life's Not Responsible Your Sex Drive Isn't Responsible The Temptations You See
[44:06] Around Your Life It's Not Their Fault You Know What God Says It's You Buddy It's You And That's The First Step To True Repentance Is Just Taking Responsibility And You Know What I Have Anyone Else To Blame I Am The Problem Okay Acts 3 Verse 19 20 Says Repent Therefore And Turn Back It's Basically Saying The Same Thing Twice Repentance Is You Going One Direction And You Turn Around And Go The Other Direction Repent Therefore And Turn Back That Your Sins May Be Blotted Out That Times Of Refreshing May Come From The Presence Of The
[45:14] We Got Own It And We Got To Turn Around Okay But What Do We Do What If I Repent And Then I Go Back Into It It's One Of Biggest Hindrances To Repentance Is I Know This Cycle I You Know I Have Made Decisions You Know Mustered Myself Up Like I I Making A Resolve Now I Repent I Get In The Light I Just I It's payment.
[46:12] All have fallen short of the glory of God and are justified, that means made right with God, freely, by what Jesus did for us on the cross.
[46:23] That's a free gift. We can receive that by faith. Romans 5, verses 6-10 said, For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
[46:34] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
[46:45] Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.
[46:57] Much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. The blood of Jesus reconciles the relationship with the living God.
[47:08] It puts us right with God. And then he, by the power of his life, saved us from the power of sin. It's his work.
[47:19] I can't get victory over sin until I'm forgiven for my sin. Okay? This is why the very first step here after repenting and turning around is, I need to trust Jesus to forgive all my sins as a free gift.
[47:31] There's no amount of works I can do to pay off the massive debt of sin I owe God. But God says, his Son did it. And I can receive that payment that was made on my behalf by simple faith.
[47:47] I receive it as mine. And then I'm restored to fellowship with God. And then he, by the power of his own life, saves me. Okay? From the power of sin.
[47:59] The blood of Jesus saves me from the penalty of sin. Justifies me. The life of Jesus. The power of Jesus, which is executed through the Holy Spirit.
[48:09] Okay? That's what saves you from the power of sin. That's a promise. That brings me to my fourth point. Believe the whole gospel. Grace frees us from the power of sin.
[48:20] We've already shared a number of these verses, but I'm going to share one from Titus. Chapter 2, verses 11 through 14. The grace of God has appeared to offer salvation to all people. We believe that we're saved by grace through faith.
[48:32] Grace is God doing for me something I can't do for myself. Okay? So what's that grace do? It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. To live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age.
[48:44] While we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness. And to purify for himself a people that are his very own.
[48:56] He here to do what is good. The true grace of God makes us clean and sets us free. It's both. It's a package deal. Justification.
[49:06] Sanctification. Finished work that Christ accomplished on the cross. I receive it by faith. And the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, is what makes it effectual in my life.
[49:17] He's the one who brings sin under his feet. Okay? So what you can tell the difference between false grace and real grace, the true grace of God teaches you to say no.
[49:30] Okay? Okay. Number five. Cut your hand off. Okay? This comes from Matthew chapter 5, verses 29 through 30. We read this earlier. This is Jesus.
[49:40] He says, Okay. So like, if I lust with my eyes at a woman, it's just like, you know, like one and done.
[50:00] Like I've got to, like, literally gouge my eyes out. You know? If I do something ungodly with my hand, I'm supposed to cut it off. All right? Is that what he means? Colossians 3, verses 1 through 8, I think gives a little light on this.
[50:14] It says, So what Jesus is saying is, Listen, if there's things in your life that lead you into sexual immorality, put it to death.
[50:51] Okay? And you can do it because the power of that old man to rule my life under the dominion of sin has been crucified 2,000 years ago on the cross.
[51:02] And if I believe it, it's mine. He can't tell me what to do anymore. And in light of that eternal truth, I can put to death the deeds of the flesh from a standpoint of victory.
[51:16] Okay? I can't climb a ladder of successive victory until I feel good about myself.
[51:28] God put me in a position of victory in his son. And that sin that has ruled my life has been destroyed. It actually took the son of God himself from me dying to destroy it.
[51:39] That's how powerful it was. And if I believe what the Bible has written about this, it's mine. Okay? Maybe you've never even had an experience of ever being victorious in this.
[51:53] So my question for you is, do you believe what the Bible has said? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. If God said it, you can take it to the bank. Who cares what your experience is?
[52:04] This is what it says. And in light of that, we can put to death the deeds of the body. This is what Jesus means when he says, yeah, cut your hand off. And make no mistake, he says, the consequence is hell.
[52:18] So I hear, you know, I've talked to guys, I've done this before. You have maybe, it has a particular application. You know what you're doing that leads you into temptation.
[52:29] Okay? Guarantee you do. Maybe it's Instagram. Maybe it's just doom scrolling on your phone. Maybe it's getting on the internet late at night and playing games.
[52:41] You're like, you're setting out, you're not setting out to go look at porn. But you're doing something that's on a computer late at night by yourself. And that's bad.
[52:54] And you don't really want to tell anybody that you think that's probably the pattern. Because if you do, you kind of know that you probably just need to get rid of your computer. Or your Instagram account. Or whatever it is.
[53:06] And you've got this justification built up. It's like, well, I need that. No, I need that. That's fine. You need. Well, how bad do you need your hand? Or your eye?
[53:17] Yes. You're going to lose convenience. You're going to lose things that you actually aren't beyond convenience. They're things that you actually depend on. I feel like I really need both of my hands.
[53:30] And both of my eyes. You only get 2D with one eye. You know? But he says it's better. It's better.
[53:42] Better be maimed. Than enter whole into hell. Okay? So this is what Jesus calls counting costs. When we realize the consequence of our sin.
[53:57] And we believe the truth that when Jesus died, I died. I lost all my rights. Zero. He died for all that. All who live would no longer live for themselves but for him.
[54:11] Nothing's off the table. Okay? And I'm willing to do whatever it takes. Now I'm not going to depend on cutting off temptation as the ground of my ability to say no and walk in victory.
[54:23] But I'm going to obey the Holy Spirit. Because it says if you walk by the Spirit, what? You will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. And it's the Holy Spirit who's convicting you and saying, you know what?
[54:35] Maybe you should throw your computer away. Or cancel. You know, if you're saying Instagram. It's because I've heard so many guys look at porn through Instagram. Okay? It's just normal. You're making opportunity for the flesh.
[54:47] That's what it says in Romans 6 there. In light of this fact that you were crucified with Christ, don't present your members anymore to sin. Stop presenting your body to opportunities for temptation.
[55:00] Put it to death. Cut it off. Turn around and say, Lord, far from you, I have no hope. But I believe in you. I believe the power of the resurrection of Jesus.
[55:11] And I believe that you're going to set me free from this. Keep me from temptation. I trust in you. And then you know what? When temptation comes your way, you're going to find out something. The power of Jesus will help you say no.
[55:23] It's called grace. It teaches you to say no. But if you're going and you are living in rebellion to the Holy Spirit, and you're giving all kinds of opportunity in your life for sin, it says God is not mine.
[55:36] Okay? Number six. I'm sorry. I'm going over time here. But I think these are important. You can get through them. Number six. You need to have right expectations. Temptation isn't going away, and it's not a sin.
[55:49] Okay? Yes, you need to cut off temptation. You need to cut off obvious temptation. But my boys and I were just talking about this in the car. Temptation's here, man. It's easy to say. As long as there's sin in this world, there's temptation.
[56:01] And guess what? Jesus was tempted. Hebrews 4 says, He's been tempted in every respect, just as we are, yet without sin.
[56:12] If temptation was a sin, then Jesus was a sinner. But it's not. Saying yes to temptation is a sin. There's a big difference. This is an important distinction because the devil likes to condemn us just for being tempted.
[56:26] If you really walk with God, you wouldn't even want to look at that woman's boobs. Well, I'm sorry. That's not true. It's called temptation. And you have grace to say no.
[56:39] Okay? And it says, in light of that fact, the fact that Jesus became a man and was tempted in every way, just like we are, it says, Let us then with confidence draw near the throne of grace that we will receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
[56:55] And right before that, actually, I remember the part before. It says, we do not yet have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but who in every respect has been tempted as we are now without sin.
[57:05] That's how we can come boldly to God in our time of need. It just says, now there's another verse that says mercy and grace. But we need two things.
[57:17] We need mercy for our sin and we need grace to say no. And I know that Jesus knows exactly what it feels like. He sympathizes with my weakness. He's not some lofty, distant God.
[57:28] He came down and he suffered the same pressure of temptation to sexual sin that I do. And he's victorious. You know what I need?
[57:40] I need his victory in my moment of temptation. And you know what? He sympathizes with me. He says, come to the throne of grace. I'm going to help you. Come with me. Another promise in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 8-13 on this topic.
[57:55] It says, therefore, let anyone who thinks he stands take heed. Lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken that is not common to man. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.
[58:07] But will with the temptation also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure. It is a lie that you have faced temptation that is too much.
[58:18] So be happy again. Not true. Not true. It's good to tackle that head on and say that's just not a category. Okay? Okay? Because that's a lie to get, that's a lie from Satan to get us into like a victim mentality.
[58:34] It's like, I can't, you know, what am I to do? You know? God really wanted me to walk into here and he wouldn't give me this like raging sex drive. Right? And all these hotties walking around. You know? Like, who can say no?
[58:48] Not true. Not true. You don't believe what God says. With the temptation, he'll provide a way of escape. Okay? Number seven.
[58:58] Join a church that takes purity and accountability seriously as if your life depends on it because it does. Okay? Galatians 6 verse 1 through 3 says, Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
[59:11] Keep watch on yourself whilst you keep tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he's nothing, he just sees himself. You can't do it alone.
[59:22] God made it that way. Okay? He made you to be in church where people can hear your confession and pray for you and walk with you. That's just how you made it. Okay? Practically, number eight, you need to seek a wife.
[59:35] If you're not married, you need a wife. Okay? You need a wife. The Bible is very practical about this. In 1 Corinthians 7 it says, Now concerning the matters about which he wrote, it's good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.
[59:46] But because of the temptation to sexual morality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. And I've heard guys talk about like, you know, singleness and kind of glorifying singleness. And, you know, maybe I'm calling him singleness.
[59:58] I just asked him, maybe you're looked at porn. Like, I've never met a guy who said no. So guess what? It's not you, buddy. It's not you.
[60:11] You're in a pattern, especially if you're in a pattern of sexual temptation, sexual morality. It's not your kid. Guess what? God is very practical. He made a woman. All the way back from the beginning, he said it's not good for a man to be alone.
[60:22] All right. But she needs a wife. Okay? That's not like, that's not a cop-out. That's part of God's created design. Number nine, that's not the end-all.
[60:33] Your wife is not just your lawful sexual outlet, even though that is that outlet. Okay? Number nine is you need to raise godly children and realize this is part of the eternal purpose of marriage and sex.
[60:45] This goes back to the glory of God as a father. This is part of why marriage exists in the first place. He says in Malachi chapter two, he's talking about the husband and the wife.
[60:57] He says, did he not make them one with a portion of the spirit and communion? And what was the one God was seeking? Godly offspring.
[61:08] So guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your need. The purpose of marriage is a lot bigger than just Hollywood romance and a genuine outlet for this powerful drive God's put in you.
[61:22] Well, what is that? Praise God, we get all that. But it's a lot bigger. He wants godly offspring. It's a picture that's a lot bigger than ourselves.
[61:34] Okay? It has to do with the glory of God. So we need to have our minds renewed about the eternal purpose, even of sex and marriage. Why do I have a drive that's so powerful? Do you think about that?
[61:46] Well, it has to do with something that's way bigger than me. It has to do with the character of God as a father. Okay? The last one is get a vision for your created purpose, which is the glory of God, and depend on Christ to fulfill it.
[62:01] Romans 8, verse 29 through 30 says, For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be performed in the image of the Son, and ordered that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
[62:12] All us who trust in Jesus, that's us. For those whom he predestined, he also called. For those whom he called, he also justified. For those whom he justified, he also glorified.
[62:26] It's God's job. Okay? When we respond.