1 Thessalonians chapter 4, I'm going to read the first eight verses actually. We read this, Finally then, brothers, We ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things. as we have told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God, who gave his Holy Spirit to you. Father, as we come to this word now, I ask for your help. Preach it plainly and clearly. And I pray for my brothers and sisters that we would be able to hear what you have to say to your people. And I pray God that you would help us all. We know, God, what is before us today is a text that is so relevant and so pervasive among us in the culture that we live. Would you please help us? We need your spirit, Lord, and we pray for that now. In Christ's name, amen. My brothers and sisters, today I'm planning to preach on sexual immorality and the power of God. And as we begin, I'd like to first lay down some foundational things for this particular sermon. First of all, I would just say this. There will be no use of improper language or statistics. I only want to preach and use biblical language and do so in propriety. Secondly, I have no intention of tickling anyone's ears today. Second Timothy 3.3 speaks of teachers who tickle the ears of their people. I don't know that I necessarily have a proclivity towards that, but today there'll be hard things that need to be said, but I want to do that graciously. Thirdly, I want you to know that I am not preaching this message reactively. but proactively. I hope you see that. In other words, this is not to combat something I've heard from you or about you. It's rather to be proactive in a day when immorality is so prevalent. I mean, if you think about it, if a roaring lion came in through those doors while we were gathered here, we wouldn't just sit by idly and do nothing. We would act accordingly. And brothers and sisters, there is a raging lion loose in our culture and in the church. And I'm tired of ignoring it. Fourth, we need to see the hope offered to us in Christ. So as we go through this, brethren, it doesn't matter where you are. Personally, it doesn't matter how bad our world is around us. There's always gospel hope. Right? And so while there's hard things to say, we need to know that there's gospel hope. And finally, I would just say my aim is to preach this in love. You know, I want to be gracious, but in the same sense, if I saw someone out here on the street You know, in the corner, with a hacksaw, working on his arm, whacking it off. My response would not be to ask him probing questions and draw him out and hear him out, would it? It would be, stop it! Look what you're doing! Look at what you're doing! And so, sometimes we need to have the same approach with this subject because it has such severe consequences that it requires a certain amount of earnestness in dealing with it. So, I just wanted to lay that before you, so that you understand something of where I'm coming from. You know, one reason I wanted so badly to, well, in one way, I wanted to preach this message, is to remind us that the passage before us is a passage that by God's grace we can live out. You and I can live in this world and abstain from sexual immorality. Amen? You with me on that? I want to be clear from the beginning, right? That God does not tantalize us with unattainable aspirations. He gives us the grace and the power through the Holy Spirit to enable us to live according to His Word. And so I recognize that even in dealing with this, this sin in particular, is so countercultural. And even in churches today, it is a sin that is so often avoided. Because if it was truthfully dealt with and taught, it would lead to massive upheaval in the church. And it's because of the prevalence of sexual immorality in our culture, and in our churches, and even among the leaders of the churches. But, brethren, if we're faithful pastors, we're going to have to deal with this. It can't be avoided. It's become so bad in our day that young men and women, that are young men and women, don't even know that it's possible to live free from sexual immorality. And most young women assume that they're going to marry someone who has been compromised Why is that? Isn't it because pastors, us, we're not saying what the Bible says. Namely, that sexual immorality is such a putrid sin. But as a born-again, Holy Spirit-filled person, you and I can live in holiness unto the Lord. And we need to say these things. Because it doesn't matter what the culture is like around you. You need to know that you are able to live according to God's Word. And so I want to plead with you not to buy the lie of our day that is ruining so many people and even finding a home in more and more young people in the church. And the lie is this, that you cannot live a life of purity. The lie is that you cannot avoid sexual immorality any more than you can avoid breathing the air around you. And that is a lie. It is a lie. And why is it so accepted today? It's because it originated with the father of lies, the devil. And he feeds it to everyone. And it's even snowballed and gained momentum and even been believed by many in the church. So, I just want to give you an idea of where this message comes from, and then an idea of where we're going to go. This has become a burden in my heart, not in the past weeks or months, but over years as I've interacted with so many people who have found themselves in one way or another entangled in sexual sin. And too often, when we approach this, it seems as though what comes out is a sadness over sin, rather than a sorrow over it. And too often it's disappointment that I hear rather than brokenness, right? Sometimes we hear regret rather than repentance and maybe even renewed resolve to do better. I think that's a travesty because we have done a disservice, especially to our young people, in that we have not always given them the clear teaching of God's Word on the subject. And maybe even just as importantly, is we've not always given them a good example of what it is to live a life of purity unto the Lord. And so we need to tell our people, especially the young people, that the Spirit of God within us is not weak and cowering in the corner of our lives, unable to help us out of this particular sin. That's not the case. We need people. And brethren, I encourage you, we need you, you who know the power of God in your life, to overcome sin. We need you to stand up and to say, this is the grace of God that I can live. Free from this. And you can too. We need to hear that. But too often I fear that we avoid this topic because it's so messy and so prevalent and it's hard to talk about. Right? It's hard to talk about. Or maybe it's because we hope against hope. That all of us are living in purity. And so we quietly expect our young people to live in holiness and purity, but we don't necessarily give them the tools or the foundation for living it out. And then, God forbid, perhaps we find that some of them are caught in some type of immorality, and we still don't know how to handle it. And I know that sometimes it's easy to even then say, well, surely it can't be that bad. Right? And so because of my own experience in dealing with various people, and because of the nature and prevalence and strength of sexual immorality, I just have decided to take this message and to deal with it from Scripture. And again, I would say that it is a matter of such importance that every church must address this issue. We cannot hide behind excuses for not dealing with it when Scripture calls forth sexual immorality as a grievous sin with damaging results that we don't even know. Proverbs 7.26 is so true. In speaking of the adulterous woman, we read, Do not stray into her paths, for many a victim she has laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. She has slain many. So I am not, well, one of the things that I've thought about is it must be avoided by many pastors and churches because if we were truthful, if we were truthful about the repulsive nature of sexual immorality and its lasting effects, then we cannot, we cannot compromise with it. But I wonder if it's not dealt with enough, because even leaders in the Church cannot escape its clutches, and therefore they cannot preach about it with love and power and clarity and conviction. And so we want to be faithful pastors, my brothers and I, and so we want to put this forth. So where are we going? Well, First of all, we want to see what Scripture says about immorality. We must face it and know what God says. But I would be out of place, as I said earlier, if I would preach to you a message that lays down the law of God, but just leaves out the grace of God. And so I hope to be clear and uncompromising in declaring to you what the Scripture says, but I also want to give you gospel hope by pointing you to the cross, because that's what we're singing about, right? It's Christ who can break the chains of sin. It's Christ who has swallowed up our hell and given us the power to break the bondage of sin. So we're going to look at a definition of sexual immorality, the prohibition of it, and then I want to give some practical help and talk about the power of God in the life of a believer. So first of all, I want to give you a definition for sexual immorality. Now, brethren, definitions are always important. but never more important than they are with this topic. Because what happens so often with people is that we want so bad to justify ourselves that we'll define immorality, you know, just below where we're living. Right? So, you ask most people if they're living in purity, and they would say yes, even if they're not biblically pure. Man so wants to justify himself that it's easy to redefine the word. So I want to give you a clear picture of what is being spoken of here. The word is porneia. Sexual immorality. Abstain from sexual immorality. Abstain from porneia. Now that word means It covers every sexual immorality of all kinds and flavors outside of the bonds of biblical marriage. Every sexual perversion is included, right? Matthew Henry says this about the Word. He says, "...by this we are to understand that all uncleanness whatsoever, whether married or unmarried, All that is contrary to chastity of heart, speech, and behavior. All of it is included here. Now the reason I think this is so critical is because it just takes away the excuse that we have for categorizing sexual sin, right? Now if you have eyes to see, this is where we go wrong so often. By justifying ourselves in creating a non-biblical category. Right? It is so easy for someone to say, immorality? Are you kidding? No, I'm not immoral. I mean, all I do is look at a few things once in a while. You see what's happening there? Categorizing sexual sin. But Jesus said this, to even look upon a woman with lust. is sin. And so when we recognize the definition of sexual immorality, it immediately takes away our crutch of putting this into a more acceptable category. And so the first thing we need to do for ourselves and for others is to see that sexual sin, all of it, all of it, is in the class of sexual immorality. It is all sin. We cannot, nor can we allow other people to justify certain things because it's not as bad as something else. You see that? You see the language. Abstain from sexual immorality. And you know what Paul doesn't do? He doesn't go on there and clarify it, or qualify it. Why? Because it's so clear! It's all of it! Abstain from everything. It doesn't need any kind of clarification. Paul says, you know what the will of God is? Here it is. Be free from all sexual immorality. That's God's will for you. Right? So, why would I give such attention to defining this? Brethren, it's because of this. There are only two categories. And you find this in Psalms 1, right? What do you find in Psalms 1? You find the righteous, and you find the wicked. And in this, we find that there's no middle ground. There is purity and impurity. And I want us to see that there's not a middle ground for us to hide in. And I want us to be convinced that it is not weakness, or a bad habit, or anything of the sort, it is sin. So that's the definition. Let's go to the prohibition of sexual immorality. You'll notice right away that God's will is that we abstain from sexual immorality. That's God's will for you. And it's important for us to know that we can see God's will as perfect and righteous, and we read of this being God's will, we must not think of it as being some kind of a far-out, unattainable goal. And brethren, I think this is a real battleground for us today, because even if people accept that immorality, you know, by definition includes every expression of immorality outside of, you know, biblical marriage, then they would say, well, that's just not possible in our day. It's just not possible. And that is the lie of our day. And I'm pleading with you not to buy that lie. We have to take our instructions from the Word. Your expectations and your experience don't really matter as it relates to whether or not you can live by God's will. His Word was given 2,000 years ago, and it's not less It's not like, you know, sexual immorality is more pervasive, more acceptable, more addictive, and all of these things, and so God's law doesn't apply to us. No! God's law stands the test of time, and His power has not waned over the years to keep His people in the path of holiness. And so I plead with you not to buy the lie that says no one can live a life of purity and devotion to God. Because you know what? That lie is being sold to you by someone who has something to hide or something to sell. Right? I want you to know that the Christian, by biblical terms, is no longer under the dominion of sin. He is no longer a slave to his own nature, his old nature. He's free in Christ to be done with sin, and he's able to live in purity. Amen? That's the truth of Scripture. So, how do we respond, brothers and sisters, when someone comes to us and opens the Word and says, you know what? God has a standard for you. God has a standard of purity. And not only does He have a standard, He actually gives us the power to live by that. He gives us the Holy Spirit to live within us. How do we respond? Some people would say, well, I see the standard, I know it, I can see it, I can't avoid it, but I'm not able to live up to it, and I don't think anybody else can either. Because we all know how pervasive it is. And so sometimes the default position is just fatalism. I'm just going to keep living as I am and be thankful that God is full of grace. And I would pray that none of you are in that camp this morning, but if you are, I must tell you in love that you are deceived. Because in Ephesians 5, after speaking of a number of sins, including sexual sin, Paul writes this, Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Continuation in sexual sin leads to the wrath of God being poured out upon you. And the reason it comes upon people is because they're deceived. Don't be deceived by empty words, friends. Don't buy that. How many people today are deceived by this sin, especially sexual sin? I mean, people come along all the time, and they offer their sorry opinion about, oh, you know, it doesn't hurt anyone, or they have all these justifications. You know, I'm just looking at certain things. I'm by myself. I'm not hurting. Right here, Paul says, it's all empty deceptions. It's empty words. And there are so many people who are willing to give you empty words of comfort when they should be giving you weighty words of truth. Yes, it hurts, but it's true. And truth is the only thing that's going to help. Truth is the only thing that will set you free from buying this cheap lie of our days that leaves you powerless against this sin and deceived about God. It's such a popular lie because we've begun to look around us for the standard rather than looking at God's Word. And brethren, we have to face this. Why are we giving people a pass on this? It's almost a given that most men, biblically, are in the category of sinning sexually. You know, we're putting our young women through such pain. And it's not just a problem for men. And I think there are so many people who are trying to comfort one another. You know, we seem to try to ease one another's conscience by saying how hard it is and how prevalent it is. And one of the reasons that I know that it's not from God is because God never comforts anyone in their sin. Right? We read that God is light, and that light shines into the darkness of our hearts and exposes sin, that we might confess it and be free from it, to repent and turn away. He's not comforting us and sending us to hell in our sin. He's exposing it, that we might be free from it. And so I want you to hear me, that the regenerate person who has been given a new heart, with new affections, new desires, he has the Holy Spirit residing within them, he is not powerless against this sin. That deception of their day comes not from a biblical account, but from a culture that is saturated in sexual perversion. And that culture is not willing to have anyone stand against it. They come at you with all the forces of hell, if you are standing against it. And so they portray it as the inevitable sin. May we never buy that. We don't want that to be the case among us. Because it leads to a life of misery, idolatry, perversion, defeat, powerlessness, emptiness, and being disqualified for ministry and things like that. It just leads to a path of misery. Brother, I wanted to ask you this. Have you ever heard anyone argue the same way over other sins? As in, well, you know, it's so prevalent, it's just so much, we're saturated in it, so you just kind of understand that's where it is. You ever hear people argue that about stealing? Oh, you know, the young people of today. You know, stealing is so common, and so be it if they're thieves. I mean, what are we going to do? Or murder? Oh, you know, the young people. The young people that go around and murder each other. And it's just not right. It's not good. I wish we could do something about it. But murder is so prevalent, you know, they're killing people here and there. What are we to do? You ever hear such a foolish argument? It's just so ridiculous that we lower the teaching of scripture because of what we are living in. And I have prayers that we would fear this sin and pray for God's help to overcome it. Because it is so dangerous. I mean, brother, you know this. There are chemicals and poisons. If you just had a pin drop, it would kill you instantly. I want us to fear this sin that bad. And the Bible says, what does it say? Flee sexual immorality. It doesn't say engage it or pray about it or try to deal with it some way. It says flee, don't stay and fight, don't try to engage it. Flee from it because your life is at stake. How easily we would be deceived unless we are grounded in the word of God. It's the lie of the devil, the lie of our culture, and the lie that many so-called Christians have bought into. They believe that the sexually immoral can inherit the kingdom of God. 2 Corinthians 6, 9 says, do not be deceived, the sexually immoral, and many others it lists, will not inherit the kingdom of God. It will not happen. That, by way of clarification, is people who are characterized and continuing in that. The Kingdom of God is going to be full of former sexual, immoral people. Thanks be to God, because He has saved us from our sin. Now, I want to give some practical help for a life of purity. You know, I don't want to preach today just against sexual immorality without giving any help. Just like a hammer beating on your head with nothing else to go on. I don't want to be like the doctor who says, yeah, you're sick. Hopefully you can find a way out of this. It's bad. Have a nice day. You know, I don't want to come out like that. But Scripture does speak truth to us, and it also gives us the help that we need to overcome sin. So I want to go through this text that is before us, specifically the verses 3 through 8, and look at some practical help to win the war on sexual immorality. Some of them are just basic reminders, and some is... Well, you know, hopefully it'll just all be a help to us. So some practical help. One is this. We've got to know that it is God's will, it is God's will that we be pure. Sometimes we strain and agonize over finding God's will for us. But here it is in plain language, what His will for all of us is. This is the will of God, Church. Your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. Friends, you know, if it's God's will for us, then that should be a help to us. That we can take courage in that, because we know God's on our side. He's fighting not against us, He's fighting for us. And don't we find that God enables us to do that which He commands us to do? And we know that purity is His will. Secondly, we're told to abstain. Now, do you know what the Bible says to believers who are sexually immoral or tempted to be such? And because it says something quite different than what we find today. You know, today we hear, well, you know, we want to sympathize with one another. And so we hear things like, well, you know, it's difficult. It's hard. We all have to deal with this struggle. We know it's so pervasive. Or we hear things like, you know, God understands. God is gracious. And He knows we can't be perfect. And you know, all of those things are true to some degree. The Bible, in this case, says something that is just too plain not to say. It's just too plain. It's right there. You know what the Bible says about sexual immorality? Stop it. Abstain from it. The word means to hold back, keep away, or keep off, stay away. Now, this is to the Christian. And how can God come to the Christian and just say something that basic? Stop it! Abstain from sexual immorality. How can he just come and give that basic and directive instruction to us? Brethren, it's what I've been saying. If you are a believer, if you have the Spirit of God within you, then guess what? You can stop it! You can resist temptation! Praise be to God! You can do this and stop blaming God for continuing in sin. Because He's enabled you to, brethren. What do we read there in 1 Corinthians 10? He says, God's given us promises! He's given us power! He's given us the ability so that He can come to us and just say, Christian, stop it. Abstain from sexual immorality. So third, let's look at this. Self-control. Look at what verse 4 says. It says that each of you may know how to control his body in holiness and honor. Part of the reason that young people especially are so seemingly helpless against this sin is because they have never learned discipline, self-control. When they want food, they eat it. When they want entertainment, they watch it. When they want social interaction, they have it. It's all this immediate gratification. And when they want to fulfill their lustful desires, they just indulge. because they're used to having at their fingertips all that they want. And so that has slowly deteriorated our self-control and self-discipline. But here we see God's will for us is that we know how to control our bodies in holiness and honor. Now I don't know how hard it is for you to see the connection here, maybe for young people especially, to connect discipline with sexual purity, but it's quite obvious, right? When you never teach your body that it can't have what it wants, you are so much more prone to just indulging. Brethren, God made—I wanted to say this earlier—but God made our sexuality. He gave us these desires, but He's also given us the parameters for how that is to be expressed. Just like God gave us our physical appetites, right? But He gave us parameters for that. We're not to be gluttons. We're to train our bodies. We're to teach our bodies to be subject to us, so that we're not a slave to our sinful desires. So fasting from food, or technology, or any of these things, why exercising self-control is a help to us in our fight for purity. It's a help to us. Because then in a moment of temptation, we're reminded, hey, I don't have to give in. Because I fasted for a couple days, I know what it's like to deny my body. I can do that now too, by God's grace. We need to maintain and increase our self-control. Fourthly, we see that sexual immorality is not congruent with our nature. If you notice there, Paul's distinction that he makes in verse 5, he says, So this sin in particular is so characteristic of the unbeliever. The unbeliever is one who indulges in every lust of the flesh. He just runs into every imaginable lustful desire, every longing, wicked longing of his heart. He has no moral constraint upon him. He's just like a slave to whatever his desires come up with. And that's why we see perversion is never satisfied. It goes from one degree of perversion to the next. And I'm telling you, we don't even know what's coming. So it is so descriptive of the old man. But not so for the Christian. Your entire nature as a Christian is so opposite from this that it would be more fitting for you to go home and eat from your pig's trough than it would be to take part in sexual immorality. That's what we read in 2 Corinthians 5.17, right? The old's gone! The new's come! You're a new creation! And so you're not ruled anymore by the lust of the flesh. So it's not congruent with your new nature. Fifthly, sexual immorality hurts people. Verse six says this, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Another translation says, let no man oppress or defraud his brother in any matter. Now what is it that we hear so often about pornography in particular? We hear things like, well, it's an addiction and it's not good. Nobody's saying, leave me alone. They're saying, yeah, I mean, it's not good, but it's not hurting anyone. That's what we hear. I'm telling you, there could not be a more foolish and false thing to say. I'm not getting into specifics today. But this sin has such massive effects upon humanity. If I were to scratch the surface of what has become of this sin, we would be here weeping for hours. It is so horrific. It is so horrific what sexual sin does to humanity. It hurts people. It kills people. Worse than that, it ruins people. It is not harmless because you have a screen in front of you and the doors close and the lights off. It's one of the most massively destructive sins in the world. And the Bible says, don't transgress your brothers and sisters. Don't do this. It hurts people. Sixthly, we read that the Lord is the avenger. Verse six says, don't do this. Don't do it. Why? Because the Lord is an avenger in all of these things. And the word avenger means to exact a penalty. The Lord is He who exacts a penalty for these things. Friends, our eyes deceive us every day. We see men and women who live according to all the day desire, the lust of the flesh. They're just pulled around like a dog on a leash. They just go wherever they are told to go by the controlling lust of their flesh. And we see them, and it seems like they have no repercussions, no penalty, no sorrow. They just live it up, and our eyes deceive us. Because we think there's no penalty. But we cannot judge them by our eyes, can we? We must judge them by the truth of Scripture. And what we read in Scripture is that Christ is not indifferent towards this sin. We read that He exacts a penalty from those who deny His Word and live according to their own sinful desires. If you want something to do, you can go look up all the texts that talk about Christ's coming as the ultimate avenger. It's terrifying for those who are outside of Christ. But He is the Avenger. Seventh, God has called you to holiness. Verse 3 and verse 7, there's a verse 4 and verse 7, you know, it says God's called us, not for impurity, but in holiness. That word there in the Greek is the same as in verse 4. It's sanctification. He's called you to holiness. He's called you to be like Him, to grow in holiness. And Paul circles back around and he says, you know friends, God's calling you to this for your life. Here's one aspect of His calling that you don't ever have to wonder about. He doesn't call us and regenerate us and fill us with the Holy Spirit only to have us go and live exactly as we did before with no change. He doesn't do that. We're called to grow in holiness and sanctification. And so we should be able to see progress in our life, brethren. We should be able to see progress. We should be able to see progress. And then, eighth, we see that God is not to be disregarded. Paul wraps this section up by reminding us of the serious implications of ignoring this firm but clear teaching. He says, therefore, whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God, who gives the Holy Spirit to you. In other words, he says, I have given you the instruction. Now you know what God's will is. You know his expectations. You know how the Christian is to handle the sexual sin. Abstain from it! Now you know that you must not reject this. Because in rejecting this, you reject God. Another translation says that he who despises these things, despises not man but God. Brethren, you can see the implications of rejecting this teaching. But you can disagree with me all you want. You can disagree with how I've delivered this. You can disagree with what I've said and how. But you can't disagree with what God's teaching is. You can't disagree that God has a clear standard. And He says sexual immorality is something we're to abstain from. And we don't want to turn a blind eye to what is being said. Because If we think all is well with our soul, it's just because we fit it in around us. That's dangerous, you know. If we fear God, if we love God, if we desire to serve Him and please Him, then we're going to take this Word to heart, and by His grace, live it out. So it's a reminder. Don't disregard His teaching on this. Now, with the time that I have left, fourthly, I want to look at the power of God in the life of the Christian. And I want to make it so clear that if you are a Christian, from this day forward, I don't care about the past. Because I know so many people have a past. that is stained by sexual sin. But I want us to know that from this day forward, by the grace of God and the power of the Living God within you, you can go forward in a life of purity, regardless of where your past is, regardless of your experience. Today can be a new day where you walk in the light as He is in the light. So, if you're going to do that, there's a few things that you need to believe. The first thing you need to believe, and I'm going to labor on this one more time, you need to believe that purity is possible. I am so tired of Christians capitulating to the culture and throwing their hands up, like as if it's just inevitable. Inevitable that we're all going to follow. They don't say it in words, but by their actions and refusal to address what the Bible says. They deny that it's possible for anyone to live a life of purity. But scripture says this, "...the sexually immoral and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper in the saints." You see, that's how the Bible speaks. And that's just... I mean, it's plain as the nose on your face. God teaches us that it's not even to be named among us. That is normal Christianity. It's so basic! That sexual immorality is not to be named among us, let alone accepted as normal and inevitable. And that's why we want to be people who stand up and say, there's real, tangible power in the gospel. Amen? There's power. Not just theoretical justification, but real, practical sanctification. There's real power for the real Christian to overcome sin and temptation, because we have a living God residing within us. Isn't that... the Spirit of God is with us. Do you believe that? And so it's easy to talk about, especially young people. We hear all this talk about seeing the power of God in our lives. We want to see great things. And I'm there with you. I want to see great things. But one of the greatest evidences of the power of God in your life is that you are no longer under the dominion of sin. That is one of the greatest evidences of the power of God in your life. God's power is not often manifested, unfortunately. It's just a fact. God's power is not often manifested in the miraculous or anything, you know, signs or anything like that. That's not... You know, God can do miracles. I'm not denying that. But God's power is most often displayed in the lives of His people by simple obedience to His Word, His commands. That's the power of God in your life. And I want to remind you that with genuine Christianity comes genuine power. Power to overcome sin, overcome temptation, power to live a sincere life of pure devotion to God. That's the power that is ours through Christ. And I don't want us to dishonor God. I don't want us to dishonor God by saying or even thinking that He can't help us on this issue. And that's why in our call to worship, like, we need to see who God is. Sometimes we have such a small view of God that we limit Him in our own minds from helping us. But then we read in Colossians 1.11, we said, well, we're being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might. Well, that's not limited. All power. And so it's time that we stand up and say publicly, from the pulpit and privately in counseling, that you and I, by the grace of God, can break free from sexual immorality and actually live a life of purity. Brethren, this is not just for those who have been able to withstand and they want to continue. This is for people who have fallen into sexual sin and they know what that's like, but there's still power to break free from it. Yes, it's easier to live a life of continuation and purity, but it is also possible to stumble into sin and to recognize its addictions and its power and still to be free from it. It's not inevitable that you continue in it just because you've fallen into it. And so, I see Paul, in this section, is not just throwing out things like, you know, it's not really possible to live. It doesn't have the flavor of hyperbole. Like, as if, you know, here are some nice things to think about, but, you know, these are some suggestions. No! This is God's will. This is His plan. And so you need to believe it's possible. Secondly, you need to believe that God's way is best. God's way is best. I wanted to make another point abundantly clear this morning, that God's way is best for His people. He's not withholding something from His people. He's not withholding a good thing, seeking to suppress us. He knows what is best, and His prescription for a life of joy is is not abstain from all and every sexual expression entirely, but rather to give it to us in the most precious context of marriage, that it might be all it was intended to be. God is so good, and His way is best. Why is it that sexuality has been an area that has been most distorted and perverted by the devil? Maybe because it is one of God's most precious gifts to his people. God created our sexuality and he knows what it's best. And while it is distorted by the fall, God does redeem our sexuality and even protects it when he gives us parameters for its proper place. And so you must believe God's way is best. Thirdly, you must believe, no, you must be willing to walk the narrow path. I understand that in a group like this, there are probably a number of us who feel the weight and burden of this. And while I think it's appropriate to feel the burden of sin and the weight of what God says in regarding to this particular sin, I don't want anyone despairing and think it is impossible or hopeless. And while the sexually immoral person should be full of terror and fear of facing God and judgment, there is also a path forward. There is always victory to be gained. There is always grace and forgiveness offered to you. There's always mercy. There's always healing. There's always hope. There's always redemption. There's always restoration. And it can begin today. It can begin today. And the gate of this narrow path swings open to anyone on the hinges of repentance and faith. We repent and we believe. I recognize the path forward is simple. It's very simple, friends. But it is so arduous. It doesn't matter what your experience is. It doesn't matter what your past is. It is simple and yet so difficult. But if you confess your sin, if you walk in the light as He is in the light, if you repent and turn from your sin, ask for forgiveness from the One who has promised it, and walk by faith, trusting that God will give you the help that you need. He will keep you from evil. I'm telling you, God can and will enable his people to live free from the chains of sexual immorality. There's always a path forward. And then finally, you must recognize the eternal implications of continuing in sexual sin. The Bible is very clear about those who are characterized by sexual sin. 1 Corinthians 6, 9, 10 says, don't be deceived. There it is again. Deceived. Deceived about what the future is. Deceived about your identity. Deceived about the pervasiveness and the effects of sexual immorality. Don't be deceived. The Bible says, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Those who are defined by these things are not Christian. In Jude 7 we read this, Listen, served as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. They serve as a warning sign to every believer, warning anyone who is deceived by thinking they can live in sexual immorality and it's not a big deal. Why? Because these people are an example to us, and they're serving their sentence in hell. We need to be reminded of the eternal implications of continuing in sexual sin. The other day I was working somewhere nearby, a four-way stop sign. And the township brought out a black police car, totally darked out, tinted, you can't see anything. And he parked it there and got in with his buddy and left. The car was there to remind people that they needed to obey the law. And it's funny to watch, isn't it? They think, oh, did I stop? They slow down, whatever. There's nobody there, nobody home. They could blow through that stop sign, no consequences at all. You know what I thought of? Too many Christians think there's no cop in the car. Think that there's no God in heaven. There's no judgment to come. There's no penalty to be exacted for sin. And that is a lie. Scripture is replete with examples of that. And so I just want to remind you of what is being said this morning is run from this sin! Leave from it! Like as if your life depends upon it, because it does. Look at Sodom and Gomorrah and learn. So, I'm at the end. I want to end with a warning and a promise, and we're through. I want to end with this because I think one final warning is necessary because this sin is so pervasive. It latches on to people like nothing ever latches on to anyone. It has such clutches that it is so hard to wake us up to how real this is. So here's the warning. To reject God's word and be enticed by the seductive speech and advertisements and culture of our day is to be led directly to slaughter. If you reject God's word and you're enticed by all the seductions of our day, you are being led to slaughter. Proverbs 7.22 says, with much seductive speech, she persuades him. She, as in all the perversions of our day. With her smooth talk, she compels him. All at once, he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or a stag caught fast. He does not know that it will cost him his life. There are so many people, men and women, young and old, who are seduced and they walk right into the chopping block where they're slaughtered. Their lives, their character, their family, their future, and sometimes their soul, unless they repent. It's all exchanged for a fleeting pleasure. And so I give this warning to you so you might be armed against every temptation and seduction, that you might be like Paul said to the Ephesians after having done all to stand, to stand. Now the promise. Brethren, we need promises. We need promises. And I remind you of one that comes from the lips of our Lord Himself when He was preaching the Sermon on the Mount. There in Matthew 5, 9, He said, blessed are the pure in heart. You want to be blessed? You want to experience that happiness of knowing the blessing of God? the promise is that they will see God. Blessed are the pure in heart because they will see God. We're not purposeless in this fight. We have promises to help us and we can stand by God's grace and by the help of his spirit. Amen. I'm gonna pray and we'll sing and I recognize the severity of this message and I just pray that it can be a help and just know that all of us as pastors, we want to be a help. So, I trust that the lord will help us as we move forward. Father, you've given us this word and I pray that whatever I said would have been clear and even in accordance God, I pray for your people. I pray that you would enable us to continue standing against this sin, that we might be those who are pure in heart and see God. And I pray for those who have been ensnared by this. Would you please rescue them, Lord? By whatever means possible, rescue them. Save them from this most dangerous of sin. for your glory, that we might be able to proclaim again your faithfulness and your grace. By the cross of Christ, you have redeemed your people. And not only that, you hold us fast. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.