Man, take your Bibles and turn with us, let's see. First of all, look in 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter three. We started last week a study on the church, the church which, And the Bible speaks of the body of Christ, the church which is his body, Ephesians, amen, made up of all born again believers. And then the church is also described as this local assembly, amen, the church which is in a building of people that gather together, amen, or the church which is his bride, amen. And we begin to look at the difference between the local church and the Body of Christ, or the Church of the Lamb. I guess you could put it like that, local church, Church of the Lamb, the Body of Christ, the building, a place where people gather, a group of people that gather in the place to worship. But the word church by definition is a called out, amen, called out, whether it's called out to be a group of people like this gathered together or the called out assembly of all the redeemed, born again children of God. It means to be isolated and separated from the world system. God's called us out and isolated us and separated us from the world. And what we said we was going to do is the next several weeks is to look at some called out assemblies in the Word of God and what the devil used to attack those assemblies that we might learn a little bit of the ways of the devil that we wouldn't be ignorant of his devices and how he will attack a local assembly. How he'll attack the church and the things that he'll use to try to destroy it. The devil hates the church. He hates the body of believers. He hates local assemblies where God is honored, is isolated and separated from the world system and trying to do the will of God. A church is something that's called out, isolated, separated, but it also has something to say. And we look at these churches that are called out, these examples of churches, and we'll see what they have to say, what they're doing, and then we'll see the devil's attack. And hopefully we can learn some truths that we wouldn't be ignorant, as I've said, of the devil's devices and how we will try to get into our local church, not only here, any church, and try to destroy it. And so we can be on guard from the devil so we wouldn't give place to him. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, we'll read you a couple of verses and then we'll look at this first church and what the devil used to destroy it. 1 Timothy chapter 3, look in verse number 15. Paul's speaking here to young Timothy about the unit of believers, the local church. First Timothy chapter three, look at verse 14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. So the apostle Paul wanted to come to this church, the churches of Ephesus where young Timothy's the pastor. He said, but. If I tarry long, if I come suddenly or immediately, it's a little while before I come, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And we ought to know how to behave ourselves. We've been living a generation, people know how to behave. Don't know how to act. Amen. As born again believers in the body of Christ, we ought to know how to act. But in a local assembly, we ought to know how to act. Amen. We ought to know how to behave ourselves. We ought not to be disobedient. Amen. We ought to be very obedient to the things of God. Look at this in 1 Peter chapter 4. We ought to know how to behave ourselves. Amen. How do you act? How do you conduct yourself? Amen. Hebrews, James, 1 Peter chapter four. Look in verse number 17. What's the first word there? The Bible said, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first began at us, What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? So there'll be some judgment for disobedience. We ought to know how to behave ourselves. So let's look at this first called out assembly, this group of believers, this church, if you will, and what they were called out to do and to say and what the devil used to try to attack it, amen. Look in Genesis chapter number six, Genesis chapter six. This first church, this first called out assembly that's testifying for God in this world and preaching and trying to get this world right, this first church, We'll give it a name. You can call it anything. I kind of thought about this thing. How would you name this first church, this first called out assembly? Of course, it is Noel and his children on that ark, and they're called out from this world, and they're preaching against this world. They've got a message for this world. They're doing the will of God. They're isolated. They're separated from the world. I called it the Ark Baptist Church. Ark Baptist Church. They're gathered in that ark. Amen. Let's read a little bit of it. Genesis chapter number six, look in verse number five. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Pretty much about how it is today. Amen. Bible said, And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and creeping thing and the fowls of the air. For it repented me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man. Amen. You know how to behave yourself, right? And perfect in his generation. You ought to be separated from this old world. And Noah walked with God. Amen. That's a good type of believer here. in his local place of assembly, loving the Lord and serving the Lord. Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make the ark of gopher wood. Room shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make of it. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. A window shalt thou make into the ark, And in a cubit shalt thou finish it above, and the doors of the ark shalt thou set in the size thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And behold, I, even I, will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breadth of life from under heaven, and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee, and every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee, and they shall be male and female, and the fowls of every kind. Drop down to verse 21. And take thou unto thee all food that is eaten, thou shalt gather it to thee, In verse number 22, skip down. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he. So God's called out this local assembly. Amen. It is Noah. Noah, of course, would be the pastor of the church. He doesn't have many members, just eight, counting himself. His wife, his three sons, and their daughters. It's not a great big congregation, but they are called out. They're separated. They're living for God. They've got something to preach to this whole world. Amen. And the simple message, amen, get in and get right. They get on the ark, God's going to destroy this world. God's upset about what's going on. And so that Noah, that called out assembly is just trying to do what's right for God. We know it to be so. Hold your place here and look in 2 Peter chapter number 2. Look what God said about Noah. 2 Peter chapter number 2. Noah is that pastor of this church and he's got a message. You don't have a great big congregation, but he's just trying to live right, isolated, separated from the world, preaching the message that God's given him to preach. In 2 Peter chapter 2, verse number 5, the Bible said, "...and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person." Look what the Bible says, "...a preacher of righteousness." bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. God called him a preacher. He was the preacher of the church. Amen. His wife loved the Lord and served with him. He had his family. Hey, you know what? When it comes to having a church or a local assembly or a gathering together of believers, they don't have to be a high priority on your list to make sure you get your family in. Amen. Noah didn't have nobody but his family. I mean, he tried to get others. He warned and preached and done what God told him to do. He's a preacher of righteousness. He condemned the wickedness of his day. Talked about the righteousness of God and how they needed to get right with God and get on the ark and obey the word of the Lord. Amen. But he didn't get nobody, but he got his family. I'd say that's a pretty big thing, amen. All your family's serving God and all your family's safe, amen. Hey, and when it comes to a church, a local assembly, it ought to be a high priority on your list, my list, to make sure we get our family in. Get your youngins in, get your wife in, your husband in. Try to reach your family, amen. Here he is gathered together, separated from the world, trying to do the will of God, accomplished a lot of great things, built the ark, And God flooded the earth, destroyed the earth, but the devil wasn't going to quit. Amen. He's going to fight. In fact, this man, he was a perfect man and he walked with God and he preached and was faithful to preach and faithful to lead his family into the ark, the Ark Baptist Church, if you will, and they're serving God. But as we see this first called out assembly, it's very clear that it is called out, it's separated. They've got a message to preach. We'll also see what the devil did to destroy this church. What did he do? This is the first thing I want to deal with today on some things the devil will use to try to destroy a church that we need to be on guard of as we look at this principle as it plays out through the Word of God, these called out assemblies. What was the devil's tool to get this church? And what I'm about to say, you've probably seen it happen in your day and time around churches, but we ought to be on guard of it, that it does not happen to the place where we assemble together to worship the Lord. And this is the term I use, and this is the principle that has shown forth through there, lasciviousness will destroy a church. It'll destroy a church. Look in Genesis chapter number nine. What did the devil use to get this church? They're separated, they're isolated, they're living right, preaching, warning the world, doing a work for God. But the devil ain't going to lay down and say, well, you've done a good work, I ain't going to bother you. He's going to fight you to the end. And they've done a great work and floated out away from the wrath of God and that OR. But boy, they didn't end well. And boy, the devil won't quit until this thing's over. He'll fight you to the end. Amen. He will attack your life. Amen. Hey, what did he do? Genesis chapter number 9. Look in verse number 21. Amen. They have been delivered from the wrath. They've been brought out on the other side. Boy, sometimes that's how it works a lot of times. You feel like you come up with a great victory, and boy, the devil's waiting on the other side of that hill to try to knock your teeth out. He ain't going to lay down and let you serve God. He's going to attack you. Amen. And he preached all those years, faithful to preach, faithful to live clean, faithful to do right, deliver from the wrath of God. You'd think, man, he's on the other side. It's just him and his family. No more persecution from the world. Nobody going down there throwing rocks at the ark, saying, that old preacher thinks he knows everything. He thinks he's better than everybody and all those kind of ridicule. It didn't stop him. He just kept building. He kept working. But at the end of that thing, he gets up after the flood, he sit on the earth. Boy, he kind of takes a little ease. Boy, there's never a good time to take any ease. You think I got the world by the tail kind of attitude? Boy, it never happened to me. You better watch that kind of attitude. It won't happen on my watch. It won't happen at our church. Boy, you better be on guard, amen. Hey, it got Noah, it got this preacher, it got his family. Hey, the devil will try to get you also. What happens? Look in Genesis chapter nine, the verse number 20. And Noah began to be a husbandman and he planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and was drunken. And he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the neckiness of his father and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and went backward and covered the neckiness of their father. And their faces were backward and they saw not their father's neckiness. And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done unto him." What happens here? Well, lasciviousness slips in. The preacher got drunk. You said the preacher? Yeah, the preacher got drunk. an upright man, a righteous man. Amen. You think, boy, Noah never do nothing like that. All those years he served God and was faithful to God. Listen, the devil ain't going to quit in your life. Amen. You just take one little bad move, one little bad mistake, and that lasciviousness will slip in. And God's trying to show us a little principle here at what to be on guard, what will attack a church, what the devil will use to attack a church. Amen. It'll be a lasciviousness, an outbreaking of in a regular indulgence of animal desires. That's one of the definitions for lasciviousness. Looseness. Amen. We just get a little loose, a little bit careless. You say, well, you're a little bit want wine, just a little drink, a little wine for my stomach's sake. Hey, you don't play around with that kind of stuff. And you don't play around with wicking. It's just a little look. A little taste, a little dab, a little drink, a little smoke, a little toke. Hey, hey, just a little bit, the devil ain't gonna just, you give the devil place and he'll just run wild and you'll lie. Neither give place to the devil. Hey, it was lasciviousness that attacked the church. There was the drunkenness of the preacher. There's an indication within the context, there was probably some sexual sins committed by one of his sons. And whether it be so or not, it kind of looks that way obvious. When he awoke, he knew what his younger son had done. His other two brothers covered his daddy's neck in this. And by the way, neck in this runs with drunkenness. You get to drinking, you get naked. It's just a part of how that thing works. Amen. So, well, I, you know, you know, I'm not going to do anything bad. One sin leads to another. Then lasciviousness broke out and then the devils had attacked this church that was so called out, so isolated, so separated. All those many years, the ark back in this church was a beacon of light in the world. Now it's destroyed. How many churches have been like that, just a beacon of light, holding forth the blood-stained banner, preaching righteousness, saying what's right? Some things slip in the church, and this judgment began at the house of God, and we don't know how to behave ourselves, and voila, the church is just some kind of social gathering, and they've done away with the Word of God to kind of dilute it down, to kind of justify their way of living, you know, and everything begins to go sideways, and now that church is not much of a church that honors God. Lasciviousness will destroy a church. That's why sin ought to be preached against. That's why judgment ought to be done in the house of God. That's why when things be committed within the church, there ought to be some kind of repercussions for your own doing and things need to get right. Kind of like they did over in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5 about that son having his father's wife. and that fornication in the church. And they called him to the carpet on it and said, this ain't going to happen right here. And they delivered him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Hey, some church discipline, judgment, amen. Hey, why? Because they're not behaving themselves right. Lashiviousness will destroy a church. They say, well, preacher, you ain't got to be that hard against sin. You know, they didn't mean it. And you know what? Maybe they didn't. But if there ought to be some confession, there ought to be some getting right. Amen. You got to judge that kind of stuff. God's given us a principle very early on in this first called out assembly in the world that, hey, hey, the devil will destroy the church with last year business. Looseness, irregular indulgence of animal desires, a wantonness, lustfulness, lasciviousness, drunkenness. Let me just hit this while I'm here. Hey, you got drunk. Listen to this in Proverbs 23. Let me say, well, you know, a little bit of drinking don't matter. And preach it ain't about drinking around our church. Maybe not, but let me make sure I hit on it. So in case you ever get tempted, you don't do it. Amen. You got no business drinking. There's no way to justify it. You try to twist the scriptures for your own destruction and the devil, he don't care what he uses to get you. I mean, he twisted the scriptures without them and even in the beginning to try to get them to do what they did and it happened. The devil ain't gonna be, he's no different. Don't be ignorant of his devices. He tried to get you to slip in and just, you know, nobody knows, just you, you're doing it at home by yourself. Who knew what Noah did? The whole world was dead. But God knew, and it led to more garbage and more destruction. Proverbs chapter 23, look what the Bible says in verse 29. The Bible says this, who has wool? You know anybody got woe? Who have sorrow, who have contentions, who have babblings, who have wounds without cause, who have redness of eyes. Anybody want to guess who that is? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek Mixed wine. Remember what the Bible says, here's how strong God is against drinking. Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it give it this color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. God said don't even look at it, much less drink it. Look, at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women. See, the sexual context with drinking, it's always there. Something about messing with that fruit of the vine. Amen. Something with that neckiness associated with that sin. Amen. Hey, you better stay away from that stuff. Seeking strange women, that I shall utter perverse things is running off in the mouth. Yea, thou shall be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shall I say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me and I felt it not. When shall I awake, I will seek it yet again." Ain't that sad? The sorrow, the woe, the babbling, the nakedness, the sin, and then they get up and say, well, I'll seek it yet again. puke their guts out like on a seasick, on a boat. Hey man, I'll never do it again and get help in the back next Friday night doing the same thing. That's just the way it works. Hey, that drunkenness, that lasciviousness will slip in and destroy your church. Hey, you better keep that stuff out of the church. That's why you gotta preach against it. That's why you gotta call it out. Hey, remind people, don't mess around with this old world. It's a picture of nobody messing around in here. Well, let's just keep being reminded that we make sure we don't do it. Hey, because look how long Noah lived, and look how great he lived, and how holy he lived, and how righteous he lived, and then one day he slipped up, and there it was. Right at the end of this thing. You think, boy, he's got it all under, he's got it all under now, and he's got all the bad days behind him. It'll never happen. Boy, that devil don't quit. He want to get in your life just as much as he want to get in that teenager's life. Because we're in the senior Sunday school class, does it mean the devil ain't after us? Amen. He got the preacher. He'll get in your life. Let's look at this word lasciviousness and see what it does, amen, and study it a little bit in the Word of God and how it will destroy a church and we won't be ignorant of the devil's devices. Look in Mark chapter number 7. The word lasciviousness is mentioned six times in your King James Bible. We'll look at all six of them as we conclude this lesson on what'll destroy the local church or the call out assembly or the believers. Amen. The devil, he'll come at you. Mark chapter number seven. Amen. Lasciviousness, looseness, irregular indulgence of animal desires. Act like an animal. doing things that's not becoming of a saint of God. Mark chapter number seven. You say, where's it come from? I've lived for God all these years and done right and served the Lord. Well, surely I won't do that. You know what the Bible says about lasciviousness, not only just lasciviousness, but sin in general, it shows it in this context. You know where it's at? It's within you. It's within you. That means it's within me. He said, well, not me, I'm saved. Yeah, you're blood washed. Glory be to God. Spirit of God lives in you, but you got an old endemic nature, an old flesh that does not know God, does not love God, and that lasciviousness is just laying dormant in your life, just waiting for a way to get out. That's why we ought to walk in the Spirit and we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. Amen. Hey, it's already there. That's why the flesh is always longing after this old world. Lasciviousness lays dormant within a person. Mark chapter number 7, verse number 20, even the blood washed, saying of God, amen. The Bible says in Mark chapter 7 and verse 20, and he said, that which cometh out of the man, that defiled of the man, for from within. You see that? Out of the heart of men proceedeth evil thoughts. They're in there. Well, you got to keep his flesh in check. You got to keep that animal to desire, even in your grandma. Not grandma, not the old preacher. Yeah, the old preacher was laying dormant in there. He says, adoratories, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, look, lasciviousness. An evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within and defile the man. You know where last year vicious is at? It's inside of you. You better watch it. You better not be ignorant of the devil's devices coming by and trying to lure you and tempt you with his bait to try to get that thing inside of you to react to it. It's in there. It's like we went fishing the other day, amen. I heard him was talking this morning about fishing again, amen. Get a little bit in your blood, you want some more of it, amen. And I think I heard Danny Ray telling Brother Ted this morning, he said, you got to catch this trout. He said, they might bite that bait today and they might not even bite it tomorrow. And you try another one, another one, and a different one, a different color, different makeup. Amen. That's the way the devil is. There's something in that fish that desires to go after that bait. It's something inside of it that triggers it. That's what I want to eat. That's what I like. Amen. You know what the devil will do? He'll come by with an orange one today, and then a purple one tomorrow, and a pink one the next day. He's going to keep trying you. It's in there. He's just trying to get that thing to react. Lasciviousness is within you. Amen. And the devil's just throwing his baits out and throwing his baits out trying to get you to bite. Noah lived a long time, never bit, never gave in. One day he took a bite. Destroyed him, amen. I'm telling you that God's trying to show us a principle here. You better keep lasciviousness out of the church. Keep sin at bay. Judgment must begin at the house of God. We ought to know how to behave ourselves. Hey, those things ought not to be becoming of a child of God. We ought not to be living like that. You got to preach against it. You got to warn people against it. You got to guard yourself against it, amen. You got to stay away from it. Why? Because it's in there. He said, well, I just go sit on the bar stool. You're going to end up drinking. When I just go around where they smoke it, you'll end up smoking it. You can't mess around with it, amen. It's in there, and if you get yourself around it, you're going to sooner or later bite it. Noah said, well, I just plant me a vineyard. Yeah, you better watch out that stuff fermenting. Sit around a couple of days, and he took a few sips. Next thing you know, he's drunk, and look at the mess that happened in his life. Lashiviousness will destroy your church. Hey, people say, well, I don't believe in that preaching against sin stuff, and always got to be judgmental, and yada, yada, yada, yada. You know why people talk like that? Because they're probably living like hell. I mean, it don't bother you. I preach against drinking. If you ain't drinking, it ain't bothering you at all. Unless you're thinking about it, now you're upset. You ain't committing a torture on your wife and laying around in fornication, but if you're doing it and I'm saying something about it, then you're upset. Why the preacher got to say that? Well, how about why not ask it another way? How the Holy Ghost know I was doing it? How did you know I was looking at it? How did you know I was messing with it? Hey, I'm telling you, you better be on guard, amen. Don't let it, hey, I don't want to be the part of one that destroys the church. I would hate to be known as that on my record. When I get before God in glory and give an account of what I've done in my body, one of the things on the list that I did, I was a church destroyer. And it was because of my looseness and my animal desires that I constantly give in to instead of living clean, trying to serve God. It's within you, lasciviousness. Hey, let me say this, number two, look in 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. I give them to you in order, how they end the Bible, how the word lasciviousness shows up. Just a simple word study. Amen. It goes along with that principle of how this early church was destroyed. Lasciviousness, 2 Corinthians chapter number 12, number 1, Mark 7, verse 20 through 23, it's within a person. Number 2, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 19 through 21, lasciviousness breeds within an unrepentant heart. It's in there and it breeds on that unrepentant heart. It'll conceive. You know, it talks about the book of James, enduring, amen, that temptation, blessed is the man that endure of temptation. For when he has tried, he shall receive a crown of life. And every man is tempted when he's drawn away with his own lust, own, it's in there. And when lust is conceived, but bring it forth to death, lust, sin, death, the old saying is that's LSD, it'll kill you. Amen. And it's in that unrepented heart and it's waiting for a conception. It's ready to take the bait and conceive. You don't get right, it's a good breeding ground. You won't repent, won't come clean, it just breeds more. That's why people say, well, how'd they get that far out there? I mean, they just done one little act, now look at them. Now they just kind of all dove in the deep end with it. Because they didn't repent and sin breeds in an unrepentant heart. It's fertile soil. Soil. It's good ground. Amen. Just to keep producing more fruit. And you won't get that thing right. That's why we're to confess our sin. Because God's faithful to just forgive us our sin. Thank God for that. But it messes up the soil. that makes it a little bit harder to produce a fruit. You ain't got the good ingredients, you know? You got to get the soil right. And that lasciviousness breathes in an unrepentant heart. It's good soil. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. Look in verse number 19. The Bible said, again, think ye that we excuse ourselves We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things dearly beloved for your edifying, for I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I should be found unto you such as you would not, lest there be debates, envies, wrath, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, turmults, And lest when I come again, my gods will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and what? Lashiviousness. which they have committed." You know what the problem was? They hadn't repented of it. And it breathes in that unrepentant heart. And Paul said, I don't want to come to you that way. I don't want to come to you in a hard way and be rude. It's not the preacher's desire to just get up and say, I'm going to show you how bad you are. That's what people think a lot of times. Oh, the preacher's just a mean guy. Hey, a preacher don't want to be mean. I don't want to have to deal with that kind of stuff. I'd rather love you and watch you serve God and do right. Who wants to get up and have to call out sin and deal with wickedness in the church? Who wants to have to call somebody in the office and say, listen, we got to deal with this? It's like the people think, well, the preacher just kind of gets joy out of that kind of stuff. No, we don't. I'd rather you serve God and love God and be a witness and help the church grow. But we know at the same time, God showed us some principles that, hey, these things will destroy your church and unless you nip it in the bud, it'll run wild. You better do something with it. Amen. You do it that what? The Bible says that others may fear. That's why you deal with it. That somebody don't get over there. It's bad. Young people bad about it. Old people, we ain't no better. You know, somebody do something, you say, well, they doing it. Now, ain't nobody never said nothing to them. And the devil's in your mind thinking, well, you can get by. We don't want that happening. It breeds in an unrepentant heart. You know what you need to do? You need to confess your sin, get right with God, and don't play around with it. You say, well, I ain't got no lasciviousness in my life. Yeah, but you got backbiting and whisperings, turmoils. Hey man, you making the soil very good for the crop. So I ain't got no irregular animal desires. I ain't getting drunk. I ain't smoking dope and living like hell and fornicating. Yeah, but if you don't soon get right about that unrepentant heart, it'll lead that way. It'll go that way. Just a little bit will run you crazy. Amen. It breathes within a, it's within a person. Number two, it breathes within an unrepentant heart. Amen. Hey, you better get it right. Number three, it's a work of the flesh. Last year we used to say this. Look in Galatians chapter five. That's all it is. We said a little bit about that earlier. It's a work of the flesh. Paul said, in me, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Did you hear what he said? In me, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You know what we do sometimes? Well, I knew they were like that. No, in you, in me, all of us have a wicked flesh. Amen. And if we're not careful, we can be used as the one by the devil to help destroy a church. Well, who would want to be that person? Who would want that on their account in heaven? My shibbiness. It destroyed the Ark Baptist Church. Started at the preacher, led down into his family. What a mess happened. Amen. It's a work of the flesh. Galatians chapter 5 verse 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. Boy, it's a pretty bad list, ain't it? Adultery, witchcraft, hatred, And you think, man, you know, you kind of look at that list, you kind of go down through there, adultery, pretty bad. Fornication, verse 19, pretty bad. Uncleanness, bad. Lasciviousness, there it is. Animal desires, looseness is bad. Idolatry, worshiping idols, bad. Witchcraft, man, who would play with devils? Hatred? Huh. That ain't so bad, is it? Just a little hateful. It's in the list with the rest of them. Variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revilings, and such like. That ain't all of them. And such like. Of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. You'll destroy your inheritance. That's a bad thing. Those works of the flesh will destroy you. Amen. It is a work of the flesh. Never come to the point where you think, well, I can handle my flesh. No, you better walk in the spirit that you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, right? He said in verse 25, if you live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Amen. You better guard yourself. You better get filled with the spirit of God. Amen. You better not think you can conquer your flesh by yourself. It destroyed the Archbaptist Church. Lasciviousness slipped in, unawares. Number four, lasciviousness. Look in Ephesians chapter four. It's the fruit of callousness. You ever been calloused? You know what a callous is, right? Well, some people don't. You people do. You hard workers. You ever get callousness on your hand? all over. Tim says he's seen him with it on his wife a lot. Nubia ain't never had none, is he, Tim? He don't get nothing throwing a rod out, is he? Got to work to get in. A callus. That continual rubbing on the skin, you know, and it kind of build up and get hard. That's the way that, that's, that's, that's what lasciviousness works. It's the fruit of callousness. You get hard. You lose feeling, you know, from continual rubbing and aggravation, you know. You get calloused, boy, boy, anything can happen in your life. Cold. The love of many shall wax cold. Calloused over, hard, no feeling. No one bother you. Amen. Last year, this is a fruit of callousness. Look in Ephesians chapter four, look in verse number 17. The Bible says, this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. So, you know, a little bit ain't going to bother me and you know, you better be careful. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feelings," calloused, no feeling, having given themselves over to what? Lashivishness. It's the fruit of callousness, no feelings. No matter who you hurt, you don't even feel like you even hurt yourself, you're so bad. Having given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. Verse 20 says, but you have not so learned Christ. If so be that you have heard of him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. Callousness. Amen. It's the fruit of callousness. You get hard. You lose feeling. Nothing bothers you. That's a bad way to be as a child of God. You have not so learned Christ. That is not the will of a child of God. Last year, for instance, destroyed the church. It's within you. It breeds within an unrepentant heart. It's a work of the flesh. It's the fruit of callousness. But number five, look in 1 Peter chapter four. It should be. Lashiviousness should be something that we associated with the old life. It ought not to be what we associated with the new life. It shouldn't be associated with what's becoming of a child of God. If there's any lashiviousness in our lives, shame to be, whether it be before salvation or afterwards, surely afterwards, If there is any, if there has ever been any looseness in our lives, an irregular animal desires, a wantonness, a lustfulness, it ought to be before we got saved. The Bible teaches that that is something that's associated with the old life, not the one that's in our lives now. If Noah was going to be like that, he should have been like that before he knew God. He ought not to be doing it now. I mean, surely I'm not even for even bragging about it in the past. I mean, sometimes you even got to be worried about that stuff when you're testifying about what God delivered you from. Some stuff's better just left, left, left in silence. It's a great testimony that God can deliver you out of something bad, and it does show the power of God and what it can do, and I understand the great principles on that side. But the other side, if you're not careful, just bragging about it all the time, that's what it used to do, that's what it used to do, and them little innocent ears listening to that kind of stuff say, well, they've done it, then I can try it, then I can get by, and look what can happen to me. There's danger in it. I guess in its right setting, probably in a drug rehab or in some men's shelter where lives are wrecked and ruined and you get up and say, boy, look where God brought me from and that's what I used to be. I was where you were. But in an innocent congregation with innocent young people listening to your life and they're thinking, man, I never knew that about them, and all they've known you as a servant of the Lord and serving God, and the devil twists that thing in their mind thinking, boy, look where they're at now. And if you give in and you come back later and you'll have a good testimony, and there's all kind of ways that thing can work, in a bad way. You ought to be careful with that kind of stuff. Amen. Even in doing something good and bragging on the Lord and what God can do, it can still be twisted. If it does come away where God opens the door where you can testify about that thing, hey, I believe you ought to really make sure that, hey, this is not something you ought to mess around with, because God could have killed me forever, God said. Amen. But lasciviousness. Number five, the Bible teaches that that thing ought to be associated with our past life. 1 Peter chapter number four, look at verses one through verses five. 1 Peter 4, verses 1, for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, thank God He suffered for us. Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that have suffered in the flesh have ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. Do you know what you're going to do with the rest of your life? Going to be to the will of God. Because what could he say in verse three? For the time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in, number one, last year. It ought to be something that's associated with your former life, not your new life. As a child of God, you got no business living in lasciviousness. For the time past of our lives may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revilings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of rioting, speaking evil of you. By the way, in the context there, you know who's speaking evil of them? Those that used to run with them. So here's a good principle. If you are going to brag on what the Lord brought you from, the only people that ought to really know about that old life is people that knew the old life. No need in letting people know don't know nothing about it, right? They're going to say, hey, they think evil of you because you don't run with them like you used to, right? He said, verse 4 again, wherein they think it strange that you run not with them through the same excess of right speaking evil of you. Who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead? Amen. For this cause was the gospel preached unto them that are dead, that they might be judged according to the men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Lasciviousness should be associated with our past life, not our present. And lastly, from the last time it's mentioned, look in Jude chapter, Jude verse four, I about said chapter four. There's only one chapter in Jude, correct? Jude 4, Jude verse 4. So we see in lasciviousness destroyed the Ark Baptist Church. The preacher got drunk, sexual sins within the family, lived faithful in the beacon of light in that community, in that ark, in the world to blow it in the end. The devil didn't quit. And I believe the first principle we ought to learn in order to destroy a church is lasciviousness can creep in from the pulpit to the back pew and anywhere in between. We said, number one, it's within a person, Mark 7, verse 20 through 23. It breathes within an unrepentant heart, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 19 through 21. Number three, it's a work of the flesh, Galatians 5, 19. Number four, it's a fruit of callousness, Ephesians 4, 17 through 19. Number five, it should be in our past life, not our present, 1 Peter 4, verse 1 through 5. And number six, Jude four, it can slip in through creeps in your life. First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33 says, evil communications corrupt good manners. The old saying is you lay down with dogs, you get fleas. You can't play around with it. You can't run with that world. I don't care who you are. I don't care how long you've been saved. You think you got it, and you get around co-workers at work, and you try to be a witness and live for the Lord, and then you start hanging around with them, and before long, you'll be talking like them, acting like them, doing the things they're doing. They pulled you back in the world. Jude chapter number four, or Jude verse four, excuse me, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old are ordained to this condemnation. Devil's got people ordained to try to destroy you. Ain't that something? Ungodly men turning the grace of our God into what? Blasphemous. And denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They're denying and if you're not careful, you get to messing around with it, you'll be denying it. It can slip in through creeps in your life. You know what you better do? You better be on guard with the creeps. Keep the creeps out. That's why a pastor is leading a flock. He better watch for wolves coming in, creeping in. And they creep in and they get in little pockets and get around people and try to whisper little things. And there's a lot of things that destroy the church, but this is one of the things they come in and they start, ah, you ain't gotta live like that. You ain't gotta be that clean. You know, a little bit ain't gonna bother you. You watch creeps like that. Lasciviousness destroyed the Ark Baptist Church. And if you're not careful, if we're not careful and we get ignorant of the devil's devices, he could slip in and destroy our church. So the first principle we learn, what the devil will use to destroy a church is lasciviousness. Irregular indulgence of animal desires, allowing sin in a camp, that breeds and destroys a church. Lord, we thank you for your goodness. Thank you, Lord, for the warning through the Word of God as we look through these called-out assemblies. Isolated, separated from this old world, testifying for you, living for you, how the devil will try to attack them. May we learn some principles through your book that we won't allow it to happen by the grace of God on our watch and the place where we gather to worship and other people around the world to gather with their people. May we be on guard for the lasciviousness that can slip in. and those animal desires and the fleshly desires that would love to rise up and destroy a lighthouse in a community. But many a church is destroyed that way and many a preachers and deacons and members and servants of God within local assemblies has allowed the flesh to have the upper hand to be used by the devil as things have crept in to destroy places that at one time were lights for you. Help us to be on guard, let us not ever be lifted up with pride thinking we're better than someone else, but God be on guard. Protect us, help us to walk in the spirit, and please you, learn from these truths, Lord, that we would be on guard for the devil slipping in our way. Help us today, be with us in our worship hour, and bring those out that need some help. Encourage us through the word of God, and reprove, rebuke, and exhort. Give us what we need. We love you. Thank you for loving us. In Jesus' name, amen.