Invite you to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter seven, we're not going to do the usual and stand to read the passage because I'm going to be kind of preaching through the chapter as we as we move along. So we won't stand and read this morning. But while you're finding Proverbs chapter seven, I also just wanted to add my word of Gratitude to Bob Turner for his ministry here at our church and particularly his ministry to me as the incoming new pastor, because these eight months have been overwhelming enough with with us moving to a new state, a new church affiliation, a new church body. a new position and and all the things that come with that and getting to know people and getting to know the church and. And trying to prepare sermons and and all of that, Bob has taken off of my plate so much of administration and little details and day to day running of the office and things like that that would have required my attention. And his his value to me has been immeasurable for these first eight months of my ministry here. So I praise the Lord for his service to the Lord. All right, Proverb Proverbs, Chapter seven, as I said, we're going to work through this together, so keep your Bibles open to Proverbs, Chapter seven. The title for the message this morning is Pornography Kills. Pornography kills. If you think this sermon is not for you because you have never viewed pornography and have no desire or intention to do so. If you think this sermon is not for you because of your age or your current moral record. If you think this sermon is not for you because your occasional glance at pornographic or questionable material is really not an addiction or a big deal. If you fall into any of those categories and any of those ways of thinking, you of all people really should hear this message today. The scripture says, take heed when you stand, lest you fall. Our age of technology, advancement and information has opened many doors for the gospel. This is an exciting day to be a believer. Never before have we had so many means to spread the gospel, to encourage and equip the saints. However, every door opened for good by technology and social media has also been an opening for corruption and the advancement of all kinds of evil. The Internet is now a channel to introduce a channel at our fingertips. To introduce, to invite and to arrange all kinds of unthinkable, unspeakable evils. What used to be kind of out of our reach is now readily available and accessible. An estimated 40 million people a day in the U.S. alone log on to some 4.2 million pornographic websites, 40 million people each day. Pornography through the means of the Internet has become, without a doubt, an epidemic. Even the secular media calls this an epidemic. But it's not only an epidemic in secular society, it is in the church as well. One survey said that 50 percent of all Christian men, that is all men who would call themselves Christian, however, they may define that 50 percent of all Christian men and 20 percent of all Christian women. are addicted to pornography, not occasional users, but are saying they are addicted. They are viewing pornography daily. One of the startling statistics in studying this is to find that the use of pornography by women is on the rise. No question about it, the church needs to address pornography and we all as believers have to fight by grace through faith. Whether you have been enslaved to this, are enslaved to this, or this has never touched your life, we must be on the offensive by grace, through faith, fighting this to protect ourselves, to protect our home, our spouses, our children, ourselves. So here's how we're going to get after this subject today, this issue. First, we're going to walk through Proverbs 7 together. And we're going to make connections between the sin of adultery, which is what Proverbs 7 is about, and the sin of pornography, because they are separate trees, they are separate sins, adultery and pornography, but they're grown in the same soil. They're grown, they have the same root, sexual immorality, sexual perversion. Distortion, corruption, twisting of God's gift and God's goodness to us and pornography twist the goodness and gifts of God into God, denying God, defying sin. That's what sexual sin is, by the way. It is a God denying God, defying act. It is idolatry through self-centered sexual perversion. First Thessalonians, chapter four, verses seven and eight in addressing sexual immorality, says this, for God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this. Disregards not man, but God. I want you to think about that now you might want to write that reference down. First Thessalonians 4 8. He who disregards this disregards not man, but God. Pornography is a God defying God denying sin. So we'll walk through Proverbs 7 together. illustrating the danger of pornography, then secondly, I'm going to just list 13 ways that pornography will kill you. That's why the title of the message is Pornography Kills. And then finally, we're going to see how to fight this killer with faith, how to fight this killer with faith. So first of all, let's look, let's make some observations. These will be just quick. We'll read a few verses of scripture, make some observations, read a few more, make some observations, walk through the text together. So versus one through five. Proverbs seven, my son, keep my words and treasure my commandments with you. Keep my commandments and live. Keep my teaching as the apple of your eye, bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart, say to wisdom, you are my sister and call inside your intimate friend to keep you. From the forbidden woman. From the adulterous with her smooth words. The first line of defense against the sin of pornography is belief driven obedience to God's Word. Belief driven obedience to God's Word. I want you to see how it begins with believing you've got to really believe God's promises and God's truths found in Scripture. Look what he says in verse one, treasure up my commandments, embrace my commandments, love my commandments, prize my commandments. That's a matter of the heart. That's a matter of belief, of faith. He also says in verse three, write these on the tablet of your heart. This is an issue of the heart well before it's an issue of the eyes. It's an issue of the heart. Beginning with what we believe, do we believe what the Scripture says about sin, what the Scripture says about Christ and in verse two, he says, keep my commandments and live. Treasure these in your heart, write these on the tablet of your heart and therefore from your belief, let your belief drive your obedience. Keep these commandments and live. Because you they will keep you from the adulterous woman, the forbidden woman, the will keep you from pornography. The implication is if you keep these and live. If you do not keep these, you will die. You will die. Verses six through nine. For at the window of my house, I have looked out through my lattice and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths a young man lacking sense passing along the street near her corner. Taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. Three points from those verses, number one, sin never makes sense. Sin never makes sense because it always results in harmful consequences. Sin is sin always destroys. Sin seeks to kill, steal and destroy. Sin never makes sense. And it has the it captivates us and captures us and convinces us to be just as senseless. To live our lives and in our thinking and in our acting, to be just as senseless, to pursue things that we know are dangerous, that we know are destructive, but to pursue them anyway. That's the first observation. To say things, to do things, to go places, to be involved in things that you would never dream of being involved in if you were thinking clearly. But sin clouds our judgments, sin distorts our reasons, sin manipulates our feelings and our emotions, and it takes us places we do not want to go. But we go or would not want to go. Second observation, the young man in Proverbs seven, notice how he willingly and intentionally placed himself in a dangerous place in dangerous circumstances. Look at verse eight, passing along the street near her corner. Taking the road to her house, if you put yourself in the environment of temptation, he will be bombarded with temptation and you will fall prey to temptation. Remove the environment and you remove the temptation. Give yourself the environment and you give yourself temptation, that's too much for you to overcome. It will have you quit telling yourself that you are stronger than the enemy. You are not. That's why you keep falling. The third observation, the he does this in the time of night and darkness, if it has to be done in secrecy, if it has to be done in the cover of darkness, if it has to be done while you're alone and no one's watching, it is then. Plain and simple. Versus 10 through 15. And behold, the woman meets him, so he's putting himself in the environment. There she is. Behold, the woman meets him dressed as a prostitute, Wally of heart. She is loud and wayward. Her feet do not stay at home. Now in the street, now in the market, now at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face, she says to him, I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows. So now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. Three things from these verses. Open and bold advertisements, sin is bold and open. And Satan is an absolute master at marketing his material. Open and bold advertisement drives many to fall prey to the charm of evil, the advertising is charming. Secondly, opportunity abounds. is on every side to become entrapped and enslaved. Did you see what it says in verse 12? Now in the street, now in the market and at every corner she lies in wait everywhere you look, especially today in our age of technology, computers, smartphones, tablets, wireless TVs, go on and on and on chat, social media, Facebook, Twitter, whatever the case may be, just go on and on and in every corner. Everywhere, every time you turn around, the opportunity is there, the opportunity abounds, the advertisement is there, the enticement is there. And third, pornography presents itself as exactly what you are looking for. Exactly what you need, exactly what will fill your need and your craving, exactly what will satisfy you. See, she comes out, this woman comes out to meet this young man lacking sense. And she says, I have come out to meet you. I have been eagerly seeking you. I have found you. I am what you're looking for. Verses 16 through 18. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen, I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our feel of love till morning. Pornography presents itself as delightful. As good as fulfilling as enjoyable, it appeals to our desires, it appeals, it entices, it allures and then it entraps. It entices first, then it enslaves. It allures, it charms and then it destroys and kills. Verses 19 and 20. For my husband is not at home. He has gone on a long journey. He took a bag of money with him at full moon. He will come home. Pornography convinces that it is safe, it is justifiable, you have reason for this, you have good reason, good excuse for this. It is OK. You will get away with it. No one knows. No one is looking. Just one time will not hurt. Satisfy your curiosity. Go ahead. There are no consequences. You'll get away with this. We'll get by with this. Everyone else is doing it. It's OK. It's satisfying, it's fulfilling, it's making you feel better, go ahead, it is a lie. Pornography is a lie. Verse 21. With much seductive speech, she persuades him and her with her smooth talk, she compels him. Ephesians six calls us to put on the whole armor of God in order that we may stand firm against, it says, the schemes against the schemes of the devil. The devil is cunning and crafty and constantly scheming, constantly planting bombs, constantly deceiving, constantly planting lies and deception, constantly looking for weakness, constantly looking for a loophole, constantly looking for an opening, constantly presenting an alluring. The devil is scheming. And he's scheming, especially in this area of pornography, he doesn't present he doesn't scheme and allure by presenting the end of pornography at first. He doesn't show how pornography opens the door to child abuse, to incest, to prostitution. To rape, molestation, murder, sex trade, sex slavery, all forms of unspeakable evil and pornography is at root of all of them. He doesn't even entice you with pornography itself, the the adultery, the twisting and corruption of sexuality, sexual immorality. No, he's much too cunning for that. He's scheming. He puts all kind of alluring advertisements before you. He puts all kinds of of commercials before you. He puts all kinds of tricks and links and and shows and and all things in front of your eyes. He grabs the tries to grab your eye, to get your attention, to raise your curiosity, to put suggestive images in front of you, suggestive language, to put words and thoughts in your head, to stir your emotion, to raise your passions. And then all of a sudden you find yourself clicking on that ad. All of a sudden you find yourself Googling that word. All of a sudden you find yourself surfing through that page. You didn't start there. It started with an image. It started with a thought from somewhere else. But now you're here and you're trapped and you're enslaved and you're viewing image after image. So the second observation is you start fighting at the very first instance of a suggestive image or thought, you start fighting at the very first commercial. You fight that thought and that temptation. As Matt prayed, you're watching TV with your family and all of a sudden there's a Carl's Jr. commercial that is ridiculous. Carl's Jr. is not has nothing to do with the appetite of your stomach, has everything to do with the appetite of your flesh. So where do you start? You start fighting right there. You start fighting at the very first suggestive image or thought or word or conversation. You start fighting at that point. You don't start fighting in the dark. You don't start fighting when you're by yourself with your laptop. You don't start fighting when you're in the bedroom. You don't start fighting when you're flirting with the woman next to you at your workplace. It's too late then. You start fighting at the first thing you see here in verse twenty one with much seductive speech, she persuades him he's got to start fighting way before that. Way before the seductive speech. Now, he shouldn't been here, he should not have been here in the first place, right, is the environment that he willingly, intentionally put himself in, but what if it comes looking for you? What if you don't put yourself in that environment, but it comes looking for you, you have to fight at the very first instance. He should have been fighting long before verse 21. Way before verse 21. He's trapped now. So look what happens in verses 22 and 23. All at once, he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver. As a bird rushes into a snare, listen to these words, he does not know that it will cost him his life. It's just one evening. It's just one hour of pleasure. I'm going to get by with it. No one's watching. Husband's gone. I have needs. Here we are. Everything will be OK. And he does not know it will cost him his life. Now, the reason why I am preaching this message today is to tell everyone within the sound of my voice that pornography will take your life. It will cost you. Your life. Verses 24 and 27 through 27, and now, oh, sons, listen to me and be attentive to the words of my mouth, let not your heart turn aside to our ways. You see, it starts with the heart. Your eyes will not direct your heart. But your heart. Can direct your eyes. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low. Forty million people in the US. Today will be laid low by her. Forty million, some of you are sitting in a chair right now listening to me. And she's laying you low. And all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to show going down to the chambers of death. First Peter, chapter five, verse eight says, be sober minded, be watchful your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. The enemy is not prowling around, roaming around, looking for someone to make happy. He's not prowling around looking for someone to help satisfy their sexual needs. and be a provision for them. He is roaming around, roaring around, seeking whom he may devour. In pornography, one of Satan's most common and most popular devices is devouring today, right now, users and victims and innocent loved ones by the untold million. Pornography is a sexual graveyard. You go there to die. You go there is dead. It is death. The answer to withstand it, the answer to fight it is a matter of the heart, he says, let not your heart turn aside to her ways. If your heart does not go there, your feet will not either. Let not your heart. Turn aside to her ways, it's a fight of faith, that's going to be our third point, here's our second point, pornography kills in many ways, I'm going to list 13 ways that pornography kills. Pornography kills the proper, godly, God honoring view of a woman. Pornography kills the proper, godly, God honoring view of a woman as one to be admired, to be appreciated, to be prized, to be protected, to be treated as special. God created Eve from Adam to be his helpmate, to be his companion. To be one that he would provide for, protect. Love, admire, appreciate. Pornography portrays the beauty of a woman as that to be used, abused, discarded, to be subjected to selfish gratification. Nothing more than a McDonald's Happy Meal. You buy it, you eat the burger, you get the toy and you throw the rest away. Our precious grandmothers were given to us for a reason. Our loving mothers were given to us for a reason, our adorable wives were given to us for a reason, our darling daughters were given to us for a reason much, much, much higher than that portrayed and promoted through pornography. Men, the next time you attempted to abuse a female through the means of pornography, remind yourself that you are looking at someone's daughter. That's someone's daughter. Would you want your girl to be manipulated by that industry and viewed by hundreds of men as nothing more than an object of lust? Secondly, pornography kills a woman's God given desire for nurture, love and security. Through involvement, whether the woman is involved in pornography or married to someone who is or who has been influenced by it, pornography kills a woman's God given desire for nurture and love and security and how that is to be fulfilled within the marriage covenant. Pornography kills third, pornography kills a God centered view of other related areas such as our bodies and our marriage bed. Pornography kills a God centered view of other related areas such as our bodies and our marriage bed. I don't think scripture is informing our fascination with plastic surgery. I don't think Scripture is informing our insatiable quest to validate violent, unnatural activity in our marriage bed. I don't think Scripture is informing us on those issues. I think pornography is. First Corinthians 613 says the body is for the Lord. In fact, it says the body is not for immorality, the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Fourth, pornography kills God's design for happiness found in proper gender role and function. Pornography cuts right against God's design for happiness found in proper gender role and function. Next, pornography kills the honorable use of our God given sexual impulses were given those by God. And we're given that sexual drive for pleasure and fulfillment and procreation found within the marriage covenant and pornography kills the honorable use of our sexual drive and twist our passions on on their head to nothing more than self-centered, selfish, godless, pleasure seeking. So that when we become enslaved to pornography, we begin abusing others and we even abuse our own bodies for our own ends. Pornography turns us entirely in on ourselves. Sin always says you will be happier if you take, take, take, take. God always says you will be happier if you give, give, give, give. And pornography turns us right, our sexual passions right up into ourselves to where it's not what God designed for our sexual relationship to be prized and kept and adored in the marriage relationship where we give and in giving find fulfillment, not in taking. Next, pornography kills the intimacy and joy God designed for the marriage relationship because it reduces sex to a meaningless, self-fulfilling act rather than an intimate, lovemaking, self-giving expression of the two becoming one. It kills the intimacy and joy God designed for the marriage relationship. Pornography kills your spouse because it robs her of what she should be given emotionally, physically, relationally. Single men, every time you view that image, you rob your future wife. Married men, you do the same. Pornography will kill your children if they ever discover your dark secret. Pornography kills God's design for our sexuality to be holy, happy and fulfilling. It turns violent. It turns completely to self. It always craves more. It keeps going deeper and deeper into depravity and perversion and corruption because sin is never satisfied. Sin never gets full. Sin is always hungry for more. And it just keeps you going down a path of darkness and increasing and increasing darkness. Pornography will kill your marriage. There was, in fact, a Newsweek Newsweek in the December issue this past December had the front cover was dedicated to sexual addictions, and the article was clear that pornography is at the root of all of these people who are trapped in sexual addictions. And the cover story had the had the silhouette of a woman who was 30 years old who said, I lost two marriages, I lost my job. I became homeless, I lost everything. And she was talking about it all began with pornography. Pornography will kill your marriage. Pornography kills your life. It is addictive. Scientifically, a chemical is released in the brain that causes stimulation, but also causes numbness. In other words, there's a buzz, there's a certain feeling that and you keep going back to pornography so that you can escape. It's an escape hat. You you want to escape your world. You want to escape your relationships. So you keep going back to it. It is an addiction. So it robs you of precious time. And you devote hours and hours and hours and hours and all night long to image after image after image of horrible perversion. It robs you of time, it robs you of precious resources. The advertisements and the and the websites and the links are not there, nothing is free, it wants to trap you because it wants your money. It will rob you of your resources and you will take that in which God has given you for the for his glory and the good and you will sell it all. It will rob you of your resources, it will rob you of clear thinking, it will numb your senses, it will desensitize you, you will not be able to think clear at work, you will not be able to think clear in communication, you will not be able to clearly think about anything because your brain is always hungry and seeking and thinking And looking for and waiting for and planning. That next episode. It robs you of relationships because you begin to shut people off and push people back to keep them from finding out and to have more time for yourself and your addiction. If a man allows himself to view women as objects of lust and if a woman allows herself to be viewed or used that way, something else is going on besides sexual fulfillment. Something else is happening and it's a spiritual issue. It's an emotional issue and pornography will never, ever satisfy it. Pornography will never bring satisfaction to the emotional issues, the spiritual issues that are taking place that cause you to allow yourself to be enslaved. Thinking that that's what you need, I need these images, I need this rendezvous, I need whatever it is, but it never satisfies. You just keep getting sucked in further and further and further and more dissatisfaction and more addiction. Pornography kills your future. Any addiction leads to senseless behavior, which then leads to lifelong regrets. Pornography will kill your future, pornography kills your spiritual thirst. The believer will become absolutely spiritually numb and dry and wasted and depressed. The unbeliever becomes even more and more spiritually unaware and ignorant, pornography is a cloak of darkness that shrouds the soul to keep the light out, to keep you away from the light, to keep you in darkness, to keep you blinded, to keep you from looking at Christ. It cloaks the soul. It strangles your spiritual life. While ever more growing, ever more darkened within to keep fighting off the light. The last point. Most devastating of all, most devastating of all. Pornography may kill your soul. Pornography may kill. Your. Soul. That's what pornography is after, by the way, all of these other 12 points that I've listed, things that pornography will kill, that's going to happen, but that's not what it's after. Pornography is going to kill your marriage, but that's not what it's after. Pornography is going to kill your future, but that's not what it's after. It's after your soul. It's after your eternal life and it just may kill it. Unless by grace, through faith, you withstand it. Addictive, life controlling pornography will shield the unbeliever from ever seeing Christ. Addictive, life controlling pornography will shield the unbeliever from ever seeing Christ, because that's the answer. To see Christ, that the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ might shine on the heart. And if you see Christ, he will expose the darkness. But unless God's grace occurs, pornography will keep you from ever seeing Christ. You'll go through an entire study of Colossians and the end result be, I don't get it. I don't see that. I don't understand that. I don't know what you're talking about. What's the big deal? Now, if you profess to be a believer, if you profess to be a believer, it could ultimately pornography could ultimately prove that you are not a believer. by the consistent, unbroken pattern of never preferring Christ. Listen to me. And if you are saying right now, I'm clinging to that sin, but how dare you tell me I'm not a believer, I'm a member of this church, I know I've prayed the prayers right, I know I've done this and done that and I've got this sin, I know, but you can't tell me I'm not a believer. You're exactly where the enemy wants you to be. You cannot cling to sin and cling to Christ. It doesn't matter what you say, it doesn't matter what you profess, it matters if your life evidence is one who has seen the glories of Christ and is in love with his savior. That doesn't mean you won't fall at times. That doesn't mean you might not be guilty of viewing pornography. What it means is if you cling to Christ, there is no room to cling to anything else. And a lifelong, unbroken, consistent pattern of never preferring Christ will prove you an unbeliever on the day you stand before the great judge of all the living. Now listen to this verse, 1 Peter 2.11. This is where I'm getting this, by the way, first Peter to eleven beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. They wage war against your soul. Yes, they will have your marriage, but they're after your soul. Fight. Resist. But you got to do it by faith, if you don't fight by faith, you'll never win this battle. You'll never win this battle, so that's where we're going right now. Number three, the fight of faith against. Pornography. The fight against pornography is a fight of faith. Pornography is a lie. And to fight it, you have to believe the truth and you have to believe some really grand, glorious, eternal, wonderful, big truth. The glory of Christ is far, far bigger than the lie of pornography. Here's some things you have to believe, you have to believe that God's design for the body, for sex, for marriage is the best and it is the only good and satisfying path for your life. You have to really, really believe that. You have to believe the message of Colossians. This is why we went through Colossians first. You have to believe in all things Christ supreme. Christ is better than immoral sexual practice. Christ is more satisfying. You have to believe Psalm 1611 is true in your presence. There is fullness of joy at your right hand. There are pleasures for evermore. You have to believe that to fight pornography. You have to believe some 34, a taste and see that the Lord, he is good. That's exactly what pornography says. I am good. Taste me. See, I am good. And it's lying. God is telling the truth. I am good. Taste me and see. You have to believe that an hour spent with God in His Word, in meditation, in memorization, in prayer, in worship, in song, in communion, an hour spent with God is far more joyful and pleasing and satisfying and fulfilling than hours upon hours upon hours cowered over somewhere, hunkered over your laptop, viewing image after image after image after image after image. Of God denying, God defying sin. You have to believe that pornography is a killer. And that Jesus is life. That Jesus is abundant life, that Jesus is eternal life, that Jesus is satisfying life. You have to continually expose your life to the word instead of your soul to evil. Continually expose your life to the word. It's not too late to read through the Bible this year. Pick up one of the plans in the lobby. Expose your life continually to the word. Secondly, you have to affirm the word. That is, you have to preach to yourself. When that commercial catches you unaware and the evil thought begins to develop in your mind, affirm to yourself, the Lord, he is good. This is evil. The Lord is good. Christ is better. Affirm the word, pray for faith to believe the word, pray for God to increase your faith, to give you faith, to build your faith, ask God to make Christ big in your life. Christ is all glorious. Christ is all lovely. Christ is all together supreme. That's why we will never get bored in heaven forevermore, because he is all lovely. So we pray, God, make Christ big in my life. If you feast upon Christ, if you dine with Christ, you will not dine with the devil. So it's a fight of faith, it's about what you believe, it's about how to to build, to nurture that faith in your life, to believe what God says over against what the world says over against what your flesh is telling you. And then then here's the next thing, so it's a matter of the heart, a matter of faith, a matter of what you believe, then having trusted God's revelation to us concerning Christ. and life and satisfaction and joy and fulfillment and godly sex and the marriage covenant, then by faith, when you believe that, then by faith you can cut pornography off. Sever it, get rid of it, remove it, flee from it, resist it, then you can do that if you are doing those things by faith. By grace, through faith, that's how you fight it. Then you can put the deeds of the flesh to death. Then you can read your life and your heart and your home from the evil of pornography after you believe, then you can use the tools and resources available to cut it off. To sever it, to get rid of it. To cleanse your life from it, but faith comes first. We're going to be passing out these tools. These are tools and resources put together by the elders and pastors of this church. We're going to pass one of these out to every family unit before the service is over. But your faith is not in these tools and resources. Your faith is in Christ. You cannot leave here, and if you've been subjected to pornography or have been tempted or you you are addicted, even right now, you cannot leave this place and say, OK, from now on, I'm never going to look at it. You're right. I shouldn't be doing that. And I'm not going to do it. You cannot win that way. You cannot fight flesh with flesh and win. You have to fight the flesh with faith. You have to fight the flesh by believing in God, believing in his word, believing in Christ, believing in the gospel. Do not believe in these. You don't believe in these. You don't trust in these. You trust Christ and you put your faith to practice with these. You use these. You don't believe them. You believe Christ. And you use these. To express your faith, you put your faith into action by implementing tools and resources to cut pornography out of your life and your heart. Jesus said, if your right hand offends you, cut it off. These are going to help you do that. Here's a question I thought someone may ask, how do you fight for someone else who is addicted? Now, I'm not talking about the cloak question where you're really addicted and you say, hey, I've got this friend. But maybe someone in your home, maybe your spouse, maybe someone you're related to who is truly addicted. How do you fight for them? You pray for them. You pray for yourself that you will not approach them in a judgmental, condemning tone, and then you speak the truth to them in love and you flip on the light. You flip the light switch of the gospel on their lives, you turn the light on on their dark, horrible sin, you expose it. You expose it, you allow them to see it. They can't see it. They're under the shroud of darkness. They're blinded. They're keeping the light out. We come with the gospel of Christ and we flip the light on. But we don't flip the light on just on their sin. We flip the light on Christ. Remember, Colossians, if you could just see Christ, that in itself would dismantle the dangerous distractions. It's got to be gospel centered. Do not go to your loved one with just a message of moral reform that does no good whatsoever in the fight against the flesh. You've got to go to them with Christ. Come to them with Christ and salvation and forgiveness, expose the evil, give them Christ, give them the gospel. He's their only hope. Shine the light, it's not going to be comfortable. They're not going to like you invading their lives. But it's not about being their friend, is it? It's about passions of the flesh that are at war with their soul, and we're far more concerned about their soul than their friendship. Speak the truth in love and give them Christ. The gospel. Here's another question you might have, how do you fight if you stumble upon it? Now, in our age of deception and the enemy scheming all the time and the plethora of avenues and links and opportunities for you to be exposed to it, it is bound to happen. What do you do if you stumble upon it? What do you do if you have been involved in it? And either way, accidental or intentional, those images are seared in your mind. God's made us that way. Those images get stamped in your brain and they stay there, what do you do with that? Here's what you do. Well, first of all, if you stumble upon it, you learn from your mistake, you learn the craftiness and the scheming of the enemy and you know what path that he present. He put the pitfall in front of you and how he covered it up with sticks and leaves and you do what you have to do. You build the barriers that you have to build around your life to keep from falling into that same pitfall again. Immediately start at first, don't wait, don't wait till verse twenty one, start at first. How about the images? What do you do with those? You keep giving it to God. You keep giving it to God every time it comes in your mind, you give it to God every time it comes to your mind, you preach the word to yourself, Christ is better. This is taking me into destruction. This is a lie. This will not satisfy. Only Christ can satisfy. Get away from me, evil one. Resist him. Resist him and he will flee from you. You keep giving it to God. You keep bringing the gospel into your life. You keep adoring Christ and communing with Christ. You keep preferring Christ. This is for my destruction. Christ is for my life. Get away from me. God, cleanse my mind, cleanse my heart. And if you keep resisting, it will fade. It may never go completely away. It may on occasion once, once ever so often, once ever so many years because of a conversation or because of something that you see or something that someone says, it may pop back into your mind. But if you keep resisting and bringing the gospel to that temptation, it will fade and it will continue to fade if you continue to confront it with the gospel. Parents, how are you preparing your preteens and teens to handle this epidemic? You cannot cloak them from the world. You protect your home. That is your responsibility, you protect your home, you monitor every device in your home. Here are the tools to do it. You say, well, I don't know if I can do that now, that would be an invasion of privacy. Get straight what parental authority means. You better invade something in the lives of your children, because I can guarantee you the enemy invades them every day. He invades their privacy every single day. And I'd rather upset a teenager a thousand times over than give him over to the enemy. Protect your home, monitor your devices, but you speak openly and honestly about the dangers. In our day, somewhere along the way, somehow they're going to be confronted with it. You can't shield your children from ever being tempted by the enemy, but you can build their faith so that they resist it when they are tempted. And always keep it gospel centered. Always keep your discussions with your children gospel centered, always take them back to Christ, take them back to the gospel, take them back to what's best and most satisfying. Speak openly and honest about the dangers at the appropriate time. You know your children better than anyone else at the appropriate time. You deal openly and honestly with this issue and with the hundreds of others. We'll do our best to equip you. You won't help you come to us. We'll do our best to equip you. All of our pastors and elders and shepherds will help as often and as much as we can. Conclusion, you fight pornography with faith, you keep going to Christ, you keep going to Christ in your mind, you keep going to Christ with what you're doing with the devices in your home, with your computers, you keep going to Christ. When the temptation comes, you keep going to Christ. Christ is not just for our justification. He is for our sanctification. So you keep going to Christ, you do this by faith, you believe the word and then believing the word, you put the tools and resources into practice, putting your faith into practice. I'm going to ask our ushers now our ushers have these booklets and they're going to come they're going to come through the sanctuary now passing out one of these booklets to every family unit, every family unit. If you're single, take one. Every immediate family unit, we've got plenty. Now in here, there are all kinds of helps and resources, there's a letter from me to help us in the fight, and then we have this is these were brought together by our elders and pastors. We have Internet filters and services, some of them are free. We have studies that you can be involved in. We have websites you can go to. We have online studies that you can take part in. We have further resources for you to go to. We have books listed that will be helpful. We have steps to take in the fight against this. And then we have a list of verses of scripture specifically targeting our passions and lust and using our bodies for the glory of God. So before before I announced to our elders a few months ago that before I preached this message on pornography that I wanted every one of our elders and every one of our pastors to have in place on their personal computer some type of filter or accountability to fight this. We're not just teaching you. We're leading by example. And I can say that every single one of our elders contacted me and told me exactly what they were doing to protect themselves from falling prey to this. We are serious about fighting this sin, we are serious about helping you fight this sin. So there's a place to start. Secondly, for all of our men, here's why I ask you to hang on to that connection card. One of our men here at the church is offering to lead a small group accountability group for men, men, you can never have we can never have too much accountability in this area. And signing up for this group, you're not saying I'm guilty of pornography, you're saying I don't want to fall prey to pornography and I'm going to do everything I can not to. So if you would be willing to be involved in a accountability group for men and in that you guys will go through studies, will go through scriptures, will pray, will hold each other accountable, will ask each other the hard questions. Harlan Elric is going to lead that group. So if you would be interested in that, if you would like to be a part of that, maybe father and son could be involved in that together. Just sign on the connection card accountability or accountability group, something like that, and we'll get back in touch with you. Make sure you have your phone number or email or some way for us on that connection card to get back in touch with you. All right, we did the looks like we did the same as first service. Even starting early, that gave me a few more minutes to go a little bit later. Good. I want to pray for us and then we'll continue in song and we'll receive our offering, and at that time you can put those connection cards in the offering baskets when they're passed. So let's pray together. Father in heaven. This evil is an epidemic around us. Is an epidemic within us. And the answer is Christ. The answer is always Christ. And I pray, Father, that you would make Christ big in our lives and in our hearts, that we, as your people, call to be holy. And by your grace and through faith in Christ, resist, fight, and put to death, Christ, the killer. you