All right, thank you for coming to the first session of our series on the pornographic age and victory in Christ. Simeon Western, a pastor in Australia, Adelaide, Australia, Northside Baptist Church, he said, I believe last year, he said, you've heard of a pandemic. What we have in our churches that is even more dangerous is a porn-demic. I don't enjoy having to tackle this problem, he said. I wish I didn't have to talk about it. It makes me faint to look at it because it's like 10 Goliaths facing us all at once. But I have come to a realization in my experience today that this pandemic is not going to go away. And whether we like it or not, as parents, as pastors, we're going to have to face this battle. And you've got to be awake to it. You've got to be alert to it because it is destroying families. It's destroying churches, marriages, lives. Wantonness has taken over the people of God. He's talking about the people of God, not the world. It's killing the spiritual lives of so many Christian men. And I've been praying, Lord, what? What do I do about it as a pastor? How can I tackle this more effectively? And I think maybe this is of the Lord, but the thought that came to mind is that we need to go on the offense. It means that you as a parent need to be involved in this, because if you're not careful, your 10-year-old could get hooked on your unprotected device. The amount of young people I've counseled would have shocked you. And guess where they got hooked on porn? He's talking about young men in the churches. Where did they get hooked on porn? In their homeschool bedrooms on unprotected devices with parents led into their home and did not think carefully and wisely about what they were doing. Parents. not being careful in the homes, in their homeschool bedrooms on unprotected devices. There is forgiveness and restoration and such, and I'm not going to smash you down if you've made mistakes as parents, but you had better get on your knees and say, God, forgive me for being unwatchful. Forgive me for not being alert. And now my son or daughter is practically an addict And I'm going to have to fast and pray and get my hands dirty to lift them out of the pit to which I, to a degree, allowed them to get into. And I want to add that there is no guarantee that once your kids get into a pit, or you yourself get into a pit, that you will actually get out. So this is a new course, The Pornographic Age and Victory in Christ, a new course for the Way of Life Bible College. It consists of the textbook, video classes, which we are actually videoing right now this week, and then the review questions and the test. The video classes together this week, we're going to hit just the highlights of this course. And so it's going to be up to the student who wants to take this seriously to go back through the whole textbook and prepare for the review questions and then the test to really get the course like it's designed. Design. It's a very practical course. It's not just for people who have become addicted to pornography. There are many of those in churches. It's not only for them. And in fact, the best way to deal with this issue is to deal with the young people and children, and keep them from this kind of wickedness. And we can do that, and that's what we want to do. And the victory is not one or two things, or a few things even. The victory is not a program. although there are some good programs on pornographic addiction, but that's not it. The victory is the full Christian life, the whole Christian life that we see in the Bible, described in the Bible. God has everything that we need, but we need everything that he describes in the Bible. And so this is a course for all of God's people. Pornographic Age and Victory in Christ. And so we come to Lesson 1 tonight as we start. And we deal with some fundamental introductory things. Pornography, the definition. Pornography, an omnipresent problem. Victory is available. Victory is God's will. Victory is a whole life business, and the three major aspects of that victory are the main things we want to look at as we get started, beginning with pornography, the definition. What is pornography? And I so wish the men of the church were here tonight. And so, what is pornography? It is defined typically in a dictionary, printed or visual material containing explicit descriptions or displays intended to stimulate sexual excitement. And they will add other things to that definition that we don't need to talk about. But really, to find the right definition, the biblical definition, we let Christ define that for us in Matthew 5, 28. because biblically speaking, pornography is a much, much broader thing than what society thinks of today. He said, but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. So, the sexual look, that is the sin. And so, sin is the issue, not how the world defines it. That is a sin, to look. That adultery, and Christ calls this adultery, is a sin of the mind and the heart. A certain kind of looking. A certain kind of looking. A sin of a certain kind of thinking. And so you can have a pornographic mind, whether you have access to the internet or not. So biblically, that's the issue. The first pornography I encountered as a boy was Sgt. Roebuck's catalog, which no longer exists. But the women in their underwear, as little young teenagers, that's the first pornography I encountered. And so by the Bible standard, society is just filled with pornography. Pornography, the definition, pornography, an omnipresent problem, And we give two reasons why it is an omnipresent problem. Pornography is, I believe for sure, a problem in every church in the world, no matter where you are. We live in Nepal. Pornography is a major problem in Nepal. We are in Belize this afternoon. Pornography is a major problem in Belize. It doesn't matter where you are. There is no place on earth today Pornography is not a problem. I received this from a pastor recently. He said, I've been approached by men in our church looking for help overcoming porn. We have other men in our church who are struggling with this as well. I see a need to do something, he said, here for the men of the church. On one hand, I believe that I am doing something by preaching and teaching God's word, absolutely. But I would like to do more to help. As a pastor, this is definitely something that I need to address and help the men of the church, whether it be for prevention, that's the best, or for discontinuation. I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts or suggestions concerning any of those. And that was really the thing that impelled me to do this course. There are other courses. I felt like I could make a course that's all-encompassing for the Christian life, and especially emphasizes the New Testament church, which is God's program of spiritual victory. There's no doubt that the church that is not dealing aggressively with this issue is a church that will probably be leavened with sexual sin and ruined. It's that important. And the reason is twofold. First, this is a problem at every church because of the times in which we live. The times in which we live. The pastor I quoted from Australia, pornemic time. Indeed, pornemic because of the Internet. But pornography, sexualization of society has existed Ever since man fell Cain's son one of his sons was the first polygamous What was there? Well, he looked at two women desired two women. Not just one wasn't satisfied. He was an adulterer But ancient times the times in which the Bible was written the Roman times Was highly sexualized, but we could go back before that we can go back to ancient Israel They got into terrible trouble with God because of the sexualization of the ancient Israel society. We read about the prophets, described it, Jeremiah 5, 7, and 8. They then committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlot's houses. These are God's people, the Jews. They were as fed horses in the morning, every one neighing after his neighbor's wife. supposed to have desires toward your neighbor's wife, but they weren't. They were like a bunch of wild horses. That was God's people. Ezekiel 22, 9-11 describes that. In the midst of these they committed lewdness. In thee have they discovered their father's nakedness. In thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution. And one hath committed abomination with his neighbor's wife. And another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. That was Israel in the time of Ezekiel. Sounds like the Canaanites. Exactly. They had not separated from the Canaanites, and they had begun to live like the Canaanites. Amos described it, Amos 2.7, a man and his father will go in unto the same maid to profane my holy name. God said, my holy name, you bear my holy name. They were bringing disgrace to the name of God by the way they were living, the Jews, as are professing Christians today. No difference at all in the way most Christians live and how the world lives. Hosea described it, all the prophets. They are all adulterous as an oven heated by the baker who ceases from rising after he hath kneaded the dough until it be leavened. They were just sexually heated up all the time, God's people. The pagan Roman world was a highly sexualized world. They didn't have internet. They didn't have digital photos. but they had pornographic writings, images of these goddesses, these filthy goddesses, all over the Roman Empire, temple prostitution, bacchus orgies, filthy talking, which Paul learned about in Ephesians, filthy talking, which was prevalent in Ephesus, All those Roman cities were highly sexualized. They had houses of prostitution, all of them. The very name of the city at Corinth meant fornication. It's what the name became to mean. Corinth became a word for prostitution. Corinth was so famous for filthiness. Ephesus was world famous for wicked sexuality. The Olympic Games were performed in the naked. They were naked. They're almost naked today, but they were totally naked. Highly sexualized society that the people to whom the New Testament is written. Pompeii, they was destroyed. It was a resort city. Wealthy Romans would go there and own their getaway homes and and such. But the Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered them, and they weren't even able to escape. But then, now in modern times, they have dug up and uncovered their houses, found their bodies, but their houses were full of filthy images, very filthy images. And so there, the shame of that sexualized society exists today in a museum. Pompeii Pornography, but today it's it's a plague is never before in history and that's because of the Internet We live in chloroform steroids. We live in Solomon's Day we read about the Sexualization of society and in the book of Proverbs Such as Proverbs chapter 7. She's called the strange woman but then The strange woman had to lurk around in the dark, and young men that were seeking her favors had to be sneaking around. That's not how it is now. YouTube, social media, the strange woman. The strange woman is the major theme of Proverbs, the first nine chapters. And the strange woman, she's all over the Internet. She has billions and billions of images of her right there on the Internet. The society, the times in which we live, everything is sexualized. The toys are sexualized. The movie industry is sexualized. The pop music is sexualized. It's all about sex. Taylor Swift, she's made over 1.5 billion dollars by selling sexualization. That's what she sells. and pictures and words and tunes and images. That's how she's made her money. The music industry glorifies fornication. Pop music sings about love, but it's lust. It's not love at all, according to the Bible. Public education system is sexualized, starting in the elementary school. I think it's absolutely crazy to put a child in a public school. Crazy. Unless you just literally do want them to be ruins, spiritually and morally. Then that would be a good thing to do. If you want your children to be destroyed, spiritually and morally, put them in the public school. Because evil communications corrupt good manners. The education system. Elementary school. Elementary school. What are those children's minds filled with? You say, well, I protect my child at home. He goes to public school, but I protect him at home. Really? What are the minds of those students? His or her fellow students filled with in the school, filled with filth, absolute filth, shocking filth, that little, little bitty kids. Josh McDowell, he was the author of Evidence that Demands a Verdict. And he's traveled, since 1964, he's traveled all over the world, teaching to huge numbers of young people, primarily. It's been his focus. Help young people believe the Bible. But he said in about 2010, so since 1964 he's been doing this, but in 2010 he saw a dramatic change in the attitude of young people in his meetings, 2010. He said, I began to sense something very seriously wrong. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Whatever it was, it was negatively affecting the receptivity of young people to the biblical faith and that parents and churches so desperately want to pass on. So he started seeing a change in the attitude of the young people toward his preachings and apologetics. After a lot of questions and investigation, I concluded that young people are being overwhelmed by internet pornography. He said, that's what happened. 2010. That the internet pornography that they are watching is affecting their attitude toward the preaching of the Word of God. The easy access our kids have to pornography is distorting their views of morality and the Christian faith. So he began to see that in 2010, and that was just three years after the introduction of the iPhone. 2010, 20... So already it had a massive influence on the hearts and minds of young people attending his meetings. And he's helped sponsor a research project by Barna. And in 2015, they published the porn phenomenon. They did research, 2015. And they had the shocking statistics that over 50% of young pastors said they had at least one teen approach them in the past year seeking help with porn and many other things. And so McDowell said that, from his perspective, in most churches, the men are broken. Now, this is his experience. In most churches, the men are broken, and the children are not healthy. Now, those are evangelical churches. But I wonder, you know, no research is done on fundamentalist type churches, but I wonder if there is a major difference. I don't know. I'm not sure. But that's shocking. Those are shocking statements about the times in which we live. That was 2015. Things are a lot worse. That was 10 years ago. Things are a lot worse today. We must understand. And so the Internet age. And this thing has reached way down to young kids, Jesse Weinberger, She's not saved, she doesn't claim to be saved, but she warns, she travels and warns about these things to parents. She speaks to lots of people. And she wrote a book called, The Boogeyman Exists, and He's in Your Child's Back Pocket. The Boogeyman Exists, and He's in Your Child's Back Pocket. And she surveyed 70,000 children and found, 70,000 surveyed, and found that on average, this is 2014, she found that on average, pornography consumption began when children turned eight, eight years old. They're beginning to watch filthy things. And a pornography addiction began around age 11. By the way, these things are in the textbook. That's what the textbook is for. She said pornography is everywhere now. It's an addiction worse than drug addiction. So we're saying that there is not a church on earth. I don't think there's a church on earth that doesn't need this kind of thing. And need it seriously. And the men have to be the leaders. They have to be the leaders. The men should have taken off work and they should be here. Period. And if they're in our church, they would. To be a member of our church, you have to attend all the conferences. You have to find a way. And we give them plenty of time to make plans. And the reason is, God has commanded us as the leaders of churches to warn every man and teach every man. in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, Colossians 128. So that is my responsibility as a church leader, as a preacher, as a pastor. I must do that to be acceptable to God, warning every man. So warning is mentioned first and teaching every man. So every single church member is to be targeted in all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ Jesus. So, preparing for the judgment seat of Christ, preparing God's people for the judgment seat of Christ, that's what this is all about. Well, if they're not there, if they're not present, I can't possibly do what I'm told to do. So, it is a matter of compulsion. These things, very serious. New Testament Christianity, New Testament Church, exceedingly serious. When God saves us, We are translated into the kingdom of Christ. We're a part of a spiritual kingdom. We are still citizens here of some country, but we are more than that, citizens now of Christ's kingdom, of heaven. And that needs to be our absolute focus. I must put Christ first and put the Word of God first, no matter what. If I lose my job, then God will give me another job, no matter what. I've lived that for 52 years. I'm not just talking. God seek you first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But I've got to work. Yeah, you've got to work, but you've got to work in God's will. Never outside of God's will. And when God's business is going on, then I need to forget my business, whatever it is, and God will take care of me. It's the lost man that doesn't believe that. We have a lot of lost parents. A lot of our young people have lost parents. They're Hindus. And of course, they don't understand any of these spiritual things because they're lost. And they put a lot of pressure on our young people to disobey God. to put jobs and education and things before the will of Christ, these lost parents. But a lot of supposedly Christian parents, their thinking is not much different. Sexualization of society. But secondly, this is necessary for all churches today because of man's fallen nature. Man in particular has a big problem with the sexualization issue. It's often been said that there's no force on earth more powerful than the sex drive. So when man sinned, that's when the problem came. Adam, before he sinned, did not have any wrong thoughts. And he would not have. And had the world been filled with beautiful women like Eve, Had he not sinned, he would not have had any wrong thoughts in regard to that. Because God didn't make man to sin. He was pure in his thinking. But when he sinned, his heart became corrupt, and particularly the man has an issue with the eyes. But his heart became corrupt. Jeremiah 17, 9, one of the first verses I've memorized as a young Christian, even before I was saved, that led me to Christ taught me this. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And that's my heart, that's your heart. And Jesus described that in Mark 7, 21 and 22. For from within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, out of the heart adulteries, Fornications, wickedness, lasciviousness, an evil eye, those are all elements of sexuality. Out of the heart of man. The man, the Bible tells us, is especially affected by his eyes, what he sees. As we saw in Matthew 7, 28, Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, looking, the look. Job 31, 1, I have made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I look upon a maid? Job understood the power of looking. Proverbs 4.25, let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Proverbs 6.25, lust not after her beauty in thine heart. Her beauty, the eyes. That's why women today dress in a certain way. We were in a restaurant the other day when I was with my sisters, and we were waiting to be served. And there was a woman there that was, I don't know how her dress could have been any tighter. It would have been hard to figure out. But I asked my sister, I said, why does she dress like that? She said, oh, to draw attention from the men, of course. The attire of a harlot, Proverbs 6. 2 Samuel 11, 2, then it came to pass at an eventide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon. We know what happened to him. And it started with the look, the wrong look for the wrong reasons. The woman, on the other hand, is enticed by mostly, for the most part, other kinds of things we call romantic things. But she can be corrupted. And that's what's happening everywhere. Everything is being corrupted because of the wickedness of the times in which we live and where men's minds are going and women. And so it's not natural for a man to desire a man, but that's common now. It's not natural for a man to desire a child, but that's common now. It's not natural for a woman to be addicted to pornography by looking, but it's very common now. Very common. According to Barna Research, women viewing porn rose from 39% to 44% between 2015 and 2024. So the number of women that are addicted to pornography, which is not a natural thing, is increasing dramatically all the time. The corruption of society. We see this in Romans 1, this process. In Romans 1, beginning in verse 26, God gave them up into vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. That which is against nature. Yes, against nature. Even the women did that. And they were corrupted by the mind dwelling on wicked things. And so we're dealing with introductory things. We want to know Next, that victory is available. Yes, sir, that is very wonderful. And so, in 2016, the man I mentioned before, who is very famous in his writings and research, Joshua McDowell. He was warning about the pornography use among church members, and he said this, I'll tell you right now, there's not one church, one Christian leader, one pastor, including myself, that has an answer for it. No traditional message or solution will work. Well, that's absolutely not true. That is absolutely not true. God's Word is very clear. He says He has no answer, but God's Word has the answer. In 2 Peter 1, 3, Peter said, we have the answers, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto the life of godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue. Glory and virtue. So when we're saved, we're called, not just called to heaven, That's the glory, that's the kingly splendor, the wealth of Christ's kingdom. If you're saved, a lot of people in independent Baptist churches are not, I believe. But if you're saved, that is what you're called to, glory. But not only glory, but virtue, which is now, this present life. Virtue is godliness and righteousness and holiness. It's everything I did not like before I was saved and you did not like before you're saved. Righteousness and holiness and godliness. But He's given us all things for all of that. Through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. He's given us all things. We have all things. We have everything we need. But he begins right there in that context in 2 Peter 1 with this process of growing, putting on. Add to your faith virtue and the virtue knowledge and this passionate pursuit. God has given us everything we need, but there is nothing easy about The victory in Christ. Victory over the wickedness of this age that we live in. Nothing easy. Lukewarm won't do it. People say, well, I'm not cold. I even go to a good church for good preaching. Yeah, but are you hot? Are you on fire for Christ? If you're not, then you're lukewarm, and Christ hates it. He hates it. There's no victory in lukewarm. Look at lukewarm people. There's no victory there. Yes, we have everything we need. God has given us promises. And then I want to say by way of introduction that victory is God's will. God wants us to have victory. If you're saved, you are a child of God. You're an adopted son. And that's God's business. Salvation is 100% God's business. And if you're saved, God wants you to have victory. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. The Father wants you to have victory. The Son willingly came. willingly suffered and shed His blood on the cross that we might have victory and rose from the dead. The Holy Spirit came on Pentecost that we might have victory. And so God is for victory. God's resources are available. God wants us to have victory over sin more than we can possibly understand. We have everything we need. And I want to say by way of introduction this afternoon, that victory is a whole life business. That's why we don't deal with pornography in an isolated way. It's got to be a whole life business. It has to be dealt with, any sin has to be dealt with, any spiritual need and sin has to be dealt with in the broad context of the entire biblical Christian life. So it's not some addiction program. It's a certain kind of life that is the victory. It's building the right kind of Christian life that will enable you to say no to sin. And you can, if you say, build such a life, which will enable you and put desires within you to say no to sin. But only that kind of Christian life will give that victory. Nothing else will. No psychology program, yoga, religion, nothing else has that power. And so we find the victory in all of the New Testament epistles. The whole New Testament is the victory. That's where the Christian life, the victorious Christian life, God's will is described. The whole thing. The biblical Christian life. The whole counsel of God, as Paul described it in Acts 20, 27. Jesus said, we have to be taught to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, Matthew 28, 20. I have commanded you all things. Victory over pornography. You've got to be saved. It requires effectual membership in a New Testament church. Zealous membership. Not just coming to services. Proper relationship with church authority. Obey them that have the rule over you. Submit yourselves. And they watch for your souls. Immersion in the Scripture. Immersion in the Scripture. not just reading the Bible once in a while, but immersion in the scriptures, perfecting holiness, prayer, powerful prayer life, godly fellowship, separation, Discipleship, discipline, wise counsel, abiding in Christ, walking in the Spirit, Christian service, exercising spiritual gifts, evangelism, building godly homes, engaging in sacred music, very powerful, contending for the faith, the whole full-blown New Testament Christian life. That's where the victory is. So if I'm not having victory, according to the Bible, if I am not having Spiritual victory. If I'm backslidden and defeated by sin, then I'm not living the full Christian life as God intends it. Something's missing. It's that simple. We make a lot of excuses, but something's missing. Victory. And then finally, in this introductory, victory, there's three major aspects. in summary, and that is in 2 Timothy 2.22. Three major aspects to the victory that are summarized according to this verse, 2 Timothy 2.22, flee also youthful lust. Paul said to Timothy, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And so, the things that are mentioned there, that are emphasized, are fleeing. Fleeing whatever is dangerous. Fleeing the internet, fleeing social media, whatever. Fleeing and following righteousness. Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace. And so pursuing those things in my Christian life, and then fellowship with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Fleeing, following, and fellowship. Spending time with the right people. You must have godly fellowship. You must. You must have good examples. You must have exhortation of the brethren. You must have accountability which comes from the right fellowship. You must. And so these are the things that are absolutely necessary for victory in Christ. We're going to stop there for this introductory session.