As we've previously emphasized, every obedience is an application of Ephesians 4, 22, 23, and 24, so we constantly will remind ourselves of that as we finish this study. Hopefully, as we continue a lifetime of studying the Scriptures and receiving them, we must hold on to that model. And it's not that it is not taught elsewhere in Scripture, it's just that it is so classically stated in Ephesians 4, so simply put. We've also emphasized already at some length, and we'll continue to do so, that it is extremely important not only to know what the Scriptures forbid, but also crucial is that we know correctly how and why a thing is forbidden. What is the rationale for it? Because if you do the right thing with the wrong rationale, you can still end up wrong. That's often the result of mysticism, which tries to make but by a different logic than the one by which the Holy Spirit is working. Paul gives us, all the way through the application half of the book of Ephesians, a very clear and detailed set of instructions in this text, no less. He does the same. Clearly, some things must be eliminated from the lives of believers, both with regard to behavior and with regard to attitude. But the rationale for the elimination of forbidden things is every bit as important as the thing itself. Success in morality without genuine faith is simply spiritual suicide. Success in morality without genuine faith is simply spiritual suicide. You'll think you're becoming a better person, you're actually committing spiritual suicide. You'll think you're doing what God said, and you're actually still nurturing and nourishing rebellion in your heart against Him by making amendments to what He said. A legalist cannot agree with that quote, but it holds true nonetheless. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, all the prohibitions in Scripture that you want to attempt to tackle will simply become the letters that kill you, and those are a poor substitute for the Spirit that gives you life. God is trying to give you life, not a better scorecard. He's not trying to ask us to act in better ways so we compare better with other folks in the relativities of life that aren't doing quite so well. That has nothing to do with it. He's giving us His life. Our participation in the divine nature which He gives us depends on our adherence to His promises with absolute trust. So we've got to understand not only the things prohibited, but also the unique rationale for the prohibition and for the replacement. This is a replacement philosophy in Ephesians 4, 22 through 25. So we understand not only the things prohibited, but the rationale for the replacement and the whole new mindset that goes with such a thing. The renewing of the mind must surround all the putting off and putting on. So, Paul very quickly here, in two verses, gives us six things about which there is no doubt, no argument. Don't even attempt one. No doubt, no argument, no discussion, no tolerance, no acceptance, no accommodation. We have to understand those things. Verse three. Uncleanness, or actually if you translate the word fully, unnatural, perverted sexual uncleanness, and any sexual covetousness must not even be named. That doesn't mean it shouldn't happen, that's obvious, that's self-evident. It shouldn't even be named, shouldn't be tolerated, the very statement of it shouldn't be tolerated. Because these things, he says, why not? Because it's not fit for the saints of Jesus. Verse 4, furthermore, on the same subject, let there be no filthy talk, or silly talk, or levity about fornication, or sexual uncleanness, or sexual covetousness. Again, these are not fit for the fellowship of the saints. They're not fit for the mind of a saint. Not fit for the entertainment or the amusement of a saint. So, the putting off part is very clearly stated, and the reason, the rationale under it is this, and Paul's very emphatic here, he hasn't, he's really being negative in the middle of this letter. Evidently, the Ephesians really need to tune up here, as do most people in most cultures, the Corinthians notably. The rationale is this, be sure of this, he says. Be sure of this, no fornicator, no sexually unclean person, no covetous person, and he said, by the way, those people are actually idolaters. Who can deny that sensuality and sexualism are the idols of our age? You can't even sell a toothbrush without appealing to human sexuality these days. He says, be sure of this, no such person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ or of God. Don't let any Gnostic person lie to you about that, and that's what he goes on to say. Do not let anyone deceive you about this truth. Anyone who accommodates or tolerates or excuses these behaviors, he says, is speaking with, quote, empty, deceptive, lying words. And Paul goes on to say, it is because of these very things that the wrath of God is going to fall on all the sons of disobedience. So don't make any mistake about it, there is no accommodation whatsoever by way of liberty or freedom or accommodation of weakness. There's simply zero tolerance among the saints of God on these subjects, which is really just one subject. And I think the entire section is about the same subject, the perversion of human sexuality from its God-given purpose and utility and even its God-given pleasure. Some translators and many scholars don't take that approach, but I don't think he's giving a random list of incoherently associated things. I think these are all affirmations of the same theme. I think the context would bear that out. Our immediately previous subject, was the love and grace of God, which is our direct example and our direct model. There is nothing in the example or model of God or of Christ which confuses or even affiliates human sensuality with those graces of God's love. And we dare not allow the love of God in our life become tainted or confused with fornication and sexual impurity and sexual covetousness or greed. And the put-on part of this section is extremely interesting. I think it's the most interesting part of the section. I think we need to be reminded of the prohibition because in our culture we get lazy about it. We get lazy, we'll be lazy about it before we go to bed tonight probably. But the put-on part is extremely interesting and we miss the put-on part and that might be why we struggle and fail so much with this subject. We don't have the right replacement. The replacement of all this is not something you'll hear from the world. It's not even something you hear from religious philosophies on the subject. I've never read a book that had this in it, except right here in Ephesians. The put on part is this, the missing ingredient, the secret link is this, but instead, notice that in the middle of the verse, but instead let there be thanksgiving. Now, is that weird or what? Is that strange? You'll never win an argument that way. You'll never change someone's behavior that way. That's too tame, it's too mild. Well, no, you won't change anyone's behavior that way unless they're a born again child of God, unless they have a heart for God that they got from God and a faith from God that they got from the Holy Spirit. And unless the Holy Spirit's in their life, this is like pouring water on a duck. Paul's talking to saints, not arguing with the world. And we don't want to use this argument in the world either. When you argue with the world, make sure you tell them what God says is sure to happen. in response to these behaviors. When you're talking to the saints, this is where the power is. This is not the rationale of either legalism or Gnosticism. It makes both of them angry. It's very strange to our ears, at least it was to mine, but it is God's rationale and I hope we can grasp it and appreciate it and, of course, apply it. But let's make sure we understand the prohibitions. The word fornication is the Greek word pornea. No coincidence at all, we get the word pornography from that exact word used repeatedly in scripture. It is the most broad word for sexual sin, the broader word than the word adultery, which does not appear in this text. All adultery is fornication, but all fornication is not adultery. So Paul uses the broader word, the broader context here in his argument. In 1 Corinthians 7, verse 2, he used the word. He said, because of the temptation to Pornia, each man should have his own wife and each woman should have her own husband. In chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians, he had already said, flee Pornia. You don't stand and fight. You flee it. You run. Have no, no accommodation of it in your presence. That's what he means by saying it shouldn't even be named. It's not talking about letting the word cross your lips. Obviously, we'll do that a couple dozen times today. He's talking about having it stand, be named and stand as accepted and tolerated in your presence or in your sight or in your house. Tolerate its presence. The name of Jesus is the name you want before you. So flee it. In Matthew 15, Jesus said, Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adultery and fornication. The word there is pornea. And he said, Jesus said, these are the things that defile a person. They come from, Jesus said, they reflect an evil heart that rebelliously contradicts and opposes God's revealed will. In John chapter 8, verse 41, Jesus was in a heated debate with the Jewish leaders. And they were so exasperated and outraged at the truth of his argument that they resorted to what we call an ad hominem argument, the technique of slandering the messenger if you can't withstand the message. And they said to Jesus, well, we were not born of pornea, and you were. indicating that he was conceived of a sexual sin and rebellion against and in refusal of the marriage with which it is inexorably connected in Scripture. Pornia is anything of a sexual or sensual nature that is contrary or out of bounds of God's revealed prescription on the subject. We're not talking about speculation and societal traditions, we're talking about the written record and the Word of God. Pornia is anything sexually or sensually that is contrary or out of bounds according to what God says. Fornication in any form absolutely has to be eliminated from our lives. If we're born again Christians, there is power to do that and there is requirement to do it. And we may not understand how much of the vestiges of this sin we still have in our lives. We may not realize how far this word reaches, pornea. We should regard it as we would a dangerous disease that we would have contracted. It will not just lie around idle in our minds or in our lives. AIDS is not the problem. STDs are not the problem. That's the world's argument. Fornication is the problem because it violates the will and the mind of God, and fornication includes all heterosexual sin and all homosexual sin and all pornographic sin. AIDS can kill your body, but fornication will kill your soul forever. Verse 6 leaves no wiggle room about this. That's unmistakably clear, and that advice to others must come from our lips. Gnosticism, mysticism, wants to make accommodations here for a variety of reasons. Scripture makes none. Paul says, we just can't make any here. We can make some at some points, but not with these. Any sexual behavior apart from marriage is fornication. Perverted sexual behavior, even with association in marriage, is fornication. And so that's what pornea means. It's a very broad umbrella word. Secondly, Paul uses the word that is variously translated as impurity or uncleanness or immorality. This word is commonly used in scripture and it also addresses sexual sin, but I wish it were more explicitly translated. I guess in 1611 it was considered too offensive to translate explicitly. But it's a common scripture word, and it particularly emphasizes degrading, unclean, defiling practices that fall indeed under the umbrella of fornication, but represent a deeper level of degradation. This word, I think, and not just me, other scholars think, addresses things such as sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, all kinds of those things that are more common than you'd like to think in our culture. With the focus of this second word, all doubt is removed about where Paul stands, where the Holy Spirit stands. And we are clearly referenced here to his words in Romans chapter one, where he uses this second word again. In fact, that's the main word in Romans one. And he references this inevitable downward spiral of sexual sin in Romans chapter one. If you if you take time to read that chapter today. In verse 24, this word explicitly addresses, quote, men and women taking up unnatural, illogical, perverted practices, both homosexually and heterosexually. And that's the second word. I can't pronounce it or I'd say it. In verse 26 of Romans 1, Paul says, God gives these rebellious people up. He gives them over to dishonorable, degrading passions. And that means the sky's the limit, or the gutter's the limit. There is no basement to that, to that downward spiral, except death. And God just gives it over. That's what happened to Ephesian culture, incidentally. Go back and read the history books. That's what happened to ancient Greece with all of its noble philosophies and the potential for the pursuit of truth. That's what happened. The downward spiral of degradation sexually. That's what happened to Roman culture. That's what's happening to American culture. Whenever the creator's authority is exchanged for the way that seems pleasurable to the creature, that's what happens. And so this second word harks over to Romans chapter one. All such uncleanness or impurity is technically also fornication, but he wants to be more specific. And it's good that he was, given Ephesian culture and given American culture as well. But the word fornication assumes at the surface at least a biologically normal type of conduct. At least it would be normal animal-type behavior. Still wrong, still immoral, still sinful, still rebellious, but biologically normal at least. The second word has no such restraint whatsoever. And then thirdly, he adds the word, and this seems strange to some people, because many people just insist that he just changes the subject. I insist that he does not. You can see what you think. He adds the word covetousness. Usually that word refers, of course, to money and wealth, and certainly covetousness in any sinful form is absolutely forbidden in Scripture from the Ten Commandments onward. But the context here demands that we take this in connection with the first two words and the three that will follow. This is sexual covetousness, craving, lusting. The word itself means, by definition, quote, a strong inordinate craving. It describes an inability to be content. Keep that in mind with what Paul is going to tell us to put on in replacement. An inability to be content or satisfied In a biblical term, an inability to be content or satisfied with the God-given necessities and blessings of life. And this is the root problem behind all sin. It's specifically the root problem behind all sexual sin, and the replacement is thankfulness, according to our text. I really hope we can season that thought in our minds. Back in verse 19 of chapter 4, Paul used this same word, associating it there as well with uncleanness. Covetousness drives this pursuit of unclean behavior. And again, there is no depth of degradation to which covetousness will not drive us. There is no limit. According to Romans 1, there is simply no limit to the degradation of human sexuality. No limit, no cap, no restraint, and covetousness drives all this. In other words, you nurture it in your mind and eventually you're going to act it out in your body. The opportunity will be given you on a silver platter. You need to replace it in your mind first. And if this rebellious, selfish craving is not crucified, if it is not put to death, is not mastered, is not kicked out of your life, it can't just be set in a corner or kept in a closet or put on a shelf. It has to be killed, put out of your life permanently, and then replaced with faithful trust. and gratitude and thankfulness for the particular providence of the sovereign, wise God in your life, giving you his written word, as well as his provisioning for your life. If we don't do that, then we are destined for that inevitable degradation in that downward cycle to the gutter described in Romans chapter one. And it can start from any point and end up there. The dominating power of any craving in our life that is not a craving for God, not an assurance of His love for us, His provision for us, not a desire for His will, any craving like that must be mercilessly destroyed from our lives. We cannot accommodate it mentally whatsoever. We shouldn't even allow the second thought to run into the first one on that subject. Let no one deceive us with empty words. Any word contrary to what Scripture says here is empty. These things bring the wrath of God on us. The wrath of God will come on us because if we prove to be sons or daughters of rebellion instead of sons or daughters of God, then that's what we're in for. And verse 4 carries the same theme even further into application. And again, I insist that verse 4 is on the same subject. Some say these are different subjects. See what you think. But I think the same thing carries right into verse 4. Same subject of Pornia. That's the headline subject. Let there be no fornication, no perverted sexual practice, no covetousness of porneia or perversion, and furthermore, let there not even be filthiness of communication or silliness about these subjects in communication or any levity whatsoever about these subjects. Anything that brings the eternal wrath of God on someone's head is not funny, has no humor to it, is not tolerable, cannot be accommodated. I don't think anyone would sit down for evening entertainment and amusement and watch a blow-by-blow portrayal of Auschwitz or the extermination of the Jews. I don't think we would get amusement out of that. And I don't think we ought to get amusement out of fornication being portrayed and tolerated in our minds either, whether from the printed page or acted out on a screen by heathen for so-called Christians to pay for. Satan doesn't have a right to take our money and pay for that kind of stuff. It shouldn't be named. It's not fit. Now, he's already said that to begin with. That's why I think this just closes the door on the subject. He says, don't even let these things be named. And then he gets more specific and says, I'm talking about filthiness of communication. Of course, in our day, communication is a lot bigger than it was in his day. Is there any doubt that he would have included everywhere communication goes that he means it? No filthiness of communication or silliness or levity about this subject is absolutely intolerable. When we tolerate it on our TV screens or on the movie screens, we are naming it. And he says it isn't fit. When you accept it into your imagination, even from the printed page, you're naming it. You're trying to hold it at arm's length, maybe, but you're naming it. You're educating your imagination. Well, now, of course, media could restrain itself to presenting and talking about miracle sexual pleasure, but that doesn't sell. And you'll notice, we're all, unfortunately, experienced enough in this subject, the world has a requirement, has a necessity. Haven't you noticed it? The necessity is, things must be against God. No matter what it is, things must defy God. They must rebel against His law. Problem is not sexual behavior. The problem is rebellion against God. And we are not to partake of the sins of others by our participation in them, no matter how much we think it's at arm's length. We're educating ourselves with every imagery that comes through our eyes or through our ears. And we're educating all the others around us. And we're sitting around seeing us accommodate it. Therefore, they take that as a voting for acceptance and tolerance. And they'll take it a step further than we do. That's how the downward spiral works, if we read Romans 1. So we should not participate in the sins of the world, which is going to bring the wrath of God down on their heads for these very things. We cannot participate by our acquiescence, for our accommodation, for our amusement and our entertainment of that which is not fit for us. And how can we be entertained and amused at that which puts people in the fire of hell? So do not accommodate these things, do not tolerate them, don't accept them at all, not in language, not in communication, not in your presence, not in your eyes, not in your ears, for you're giving Satan a toehold into your life. Pornia and perversion are not trivial or humorous or silly issues given the dreadful judgment that God says they will get. We should no more assume to talk with filthiness or be amused at filthiness than we would actually act in that filthiness. Because if we will tolerate it in our talk, Satan can make us tolerate it at the next level, and eventually he'll crash us all the way to the gutter. Jesus said, as you think in your heart, that is who you are. That is what you are. What your heart will accommodate, what you can stand, that's what your character is. Satan believes in incremental accommodation, a little step at a time, until you don't even realize where you're getting yourself, and you wake up, come to your senses, hopefully, and see how far you've fallen off the path. The perversion of God's created things and their uses is direct rebellion against God, and so is the idea that such perversion is even silly or funny or levitist, much less appropriate to a style or manner of conversation or amusement or entertainment. So now notice what Paul very interestingly puts in the place of those sins. What are we to put on here? The answer is Thanksgiving, verse four. Let there instead be Thanksgiving. Instead of all this, Thanksgiving. You cannot watch this stuff or entertain this stuff or talk about this stuff and be thankful to God while you're doing it. It's impossible. You're totally polar opposite of where God is on this. We've got to discern where carnality is and where spirituality is. Or where holy spirituality is, there's spirituality to carnality. But according to chapter 4, our model formula here, we are actually putting on the new self, the new being, and putting off the old. These things were normal to our old life. They were as natural as a duck getting in the pond to swim. That was natural and normal. But Peter says, haven't you spent enough time in that stuff? Haven't you spent enough time already over there? It's high time, he says, to wake up out of your stupor. The end is near. That was his logic. That was his focus. These used to be part of our natural lives, our wicked lives, our ignorant lives, our uninformed lives, our sinning lives. But when the light comes, when the truth arrives, repent. And with great joy, put on instead thankfulness and gratitude and trust of your provident Heavenly Father and quit doing things your way and start doing things His way. Have you ever used the argument of thanksgiving against sexual sin? That's a challenging thought for us, and I think we need to revolutionize our approach in our ministries and in our own lives. This is the argument. I've never, as I said, read that anywhere except here in this text. But this is the argument of faith. This is the argument of trust. All sin is a lack of trust of God, a lack of trust of His Word. And Paul here says specifically, all this sexual sin is the same thing. All sin demonstrates a lack of faith, and it is logical that a lack of thankfulness goes with a lack of faith. That makes sense. Remember how Satan tempted Eve. He gave her the rhetoric that this God with whom she was so chummy and so blessed was actually miserly, not to be trusted. He was sitting on a gold mine of pleasure, not telling her about it. He was withholding good things. He couldn't be trusted to tell her how to live. And she had no reason whatsoever to believe that lie, but she believed it anyway. And the same empty lies prevail today. The lack of gratitude and the lack of thankfulness is one of the greatest symptoms as God sees it. That's what he takes personally about our rebellion. Fornication and impurity are driven by covetousness. Covetousness is a deep, discontented craving that takes over your life in direct rebellion against the Word and the will and the providence of God. And you may think it's only mental for a while, but Satan is scheduling the opportunity for it to become behavioral. And what you can do to stop it is stop that kind of mental toleration and accommodation and education and amusement and put on thankfulness to God. for his particular providence. We cannot pursue trusting, faithful, contented gratitude for what God has given us and is giving us and will give us. We can't do that while craving and playing around with what he has denied us in any form or fashion. It's an issue of your loyalty to God or your rebellion against God. You're going to be a traitor to God. We're right where Eve was. We're going to be a traitor, a Judas, or we're going to stand where God stands. We're where Cain was. Sin lies at the door. And he says you must master it. You must make a choice. You want to live under the auspices of God's authority or do you want to live under your own? Gratitude is what you feel when you believe that God is for you and not against you. And if you don't think he's for you and you think he's against you, then schedule that as the first thing, the first priority in your life and get it settled. Do business at that point. Gratitude is what you feel when you believe that God only gives you what is good for you and He only forbids what is bad for you. Gratitude is what you feel when you trust that He withholds no good thing from you. Gratitude is what you have, and you realize that by His grace, He has in store for you a multitude, a wealth of pleasure and joy that you cannot even imagine. You couldn't even think of it to ask Him for it. Gratitude is what we feel when we trust Him that even the tragedies of our lives are not proof of His meanness or His incompetence or His unconcern for us, but rather that somehow, someway, sometimes known only to Him, they are the discipline and the educating that a loving Father does for His beloved children. And He values and prioritizes our eternal holiness far above our temporary worldly pleasure and happiness. When we say gratitude, we're saying a mouthful. When we say thankfulness as the replacement, we're talking about the totality of our minds in commitment. Verse 20 will say, Always and in everything give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. That's how I'll sum up all the application points here. Thanksgiving is the alternative. It is the antidote. It is the replacement to all rebellious, sinful cravings. Find a sexual center and you'll find an unthankful person. A person living outside of the gratitude of God, rationalizing it somehow. A thankful, grateful heart will trust and believe that in God's care I have all that is good for me, and I lack nothing that I need. Therefore, I will not dishonor His name or His glory for a few sensations or toys. I will act fitted, appropriate to His calling. And isn't that the root of all these instructions in Ephesians? The walk worthy of the calling He has given us. So let us cast off the garments of porneia, fornication, impurity, uncleanness, and covetousness, and put on the robes of thanksgiving and gratitude and praise of our Heavenly Father for His particular provident provision." And notice again that a covetous person is actually an idolater. They have forsaken the true God. They have forsaken His Word. They have forsaken His provision. forsaken his will, and they're using his creation, the items in his creation, to worship a false god, hijacking God's provisions and using them for something else. That's what idolatry is. Sexual sin is caused merely by putting self in the place of God, putting some desire in the place of God, putting some other person in the place of God. Covetousness holds that God and his provision is not enough. That God and His provision is inadequate. Therefore, you need to look out for yourself. You can't be fulfilled by limiting yourself to what God prescribes. If you do what He tells you to do, you'll be putting a noose around your neck. You'll be cutting off your life. Of course, Jesus says the opposite. You've got to decide. How does Paul motivate us? How does he move us? How does he urge us to obey God here and to eliminate fornication and uncleanness and covetousness from our lives? Well, he tells us not even to indulge in our minds or in our talk or in our communication or in our presence. Shouldn't even be named, shouldn't stand in existence. But again, he does not at all give us the world's logic. There's no legalistic logic here. He doesn't even quote the Ten Commandments. Do you notice that? Duncan quotes Ten Commandments. His only appeal here, because remember, here he's talking to born-again people. His appeal here is to the regenerate heart, and these things will resonate with a born-again heart. The light will break through. The only obedience that counts is obedience from the heart. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself as love, Paul says in another passage. Obedience of the heart arises from a true confession or a true agreement that the will of God is not only required, but that it is perfectly appropriate and pleasant, as David extols it repeatedly in Psalm 119. But in other words, God's instructions are fitting for God's people, and that's the word Paul uses twice in this short text. Fitting. Here he says, these things are not fitting. They're not appropriate for the saints of Jesus. There is no way to walk a life worthy of the calling he's given you, of the grace he's given us, or the blood he's shed for us. There's no way to do it with these things in our life in any way, shape or form. These things are not fitting. They're not appropriate for the saints of Jesus. This is the content of a renewed mind about the subject. We need to renew our minds that we agree with what the Holy Spirit is saying through Paul's pen here. But the Holy Spirit has powerful leverage like this over a regenerate heart. These things are simply inappropriate. They're fatal things. They're deadly things. Why should we treat them with even lightness or levity or tolerance? With these absolute facts, we must warn the rebellious and the unconvinced. We don't use this kind of leverage with the rebellious, with the unregenerate. Or with the regenerate that we believe and trust and hope is regenerate, but they refuse the leverage of this. We must go to the warning that is given. That's what Paul does. But to those who love Jesus because he shed his blood for these kind of sins of theirs, it's enough to say, hey, he set you free from that. He showed you the light. He put a roadblock in your way so you didn't fall into hell. It's not appropriate. It should have no place in your, not even in your humor. not in your amusement, not in your enjoyment. These things do not properly, accurately represent Him. They're not faithful to Him. They're antithetical to Him. It's always faith versus lack of trust in our lives. It's always thankfulness to God for His provision versus a lack of faith which says we must provision ourselves according to the way we figure the situation out. At whatever point of sin you wake up in, the first and best thing you do is take that Word of God and start there. It's never too late. That's what the hope of the gospel is. It's not too late. If you're breathing and you're interested, it's not too late. But you do not accommodate the darkness and the evil that got you to where you're at. You get hold of the Word of God and start obeying it and doing what He said, no matter what you think it'll do, to inconvenience you. You will never be nearly so inconvenienced by doing what God said as you're going to be by doing what He says not to do. Always take His word more literally. Go to the law. Go to the ancient paths. They contain the truth. This is a matter of respect and reverence and regard for God's person and His law. And He is providing for us. He's providing forgiveness and grace. In His grace we stand. You dare not offend Him in this way. Always analyze the trail of providence. in your life, both in the written words on the pages of Scripture and in the pathway of the events of your life. His hand is discernible most clearly in his written word. But it's not irrelevant in the trail of the pathway of your life. The question always is, has God given this to you? Or did Jesus die for you because of this? It's always the question. Clarify your next step that way. Is God giving me this or did Jesus die because of this? Has God benevolently given this for which you crave or are you acting as God and provider for yourself? Are you trying to fix yourself and amend your situation yourself and improve your situation yourself? We must refuse to serve ourselves outside of the will of God. That's what Jesus did in his great temptation in the wilderness. He could have done any of those things that Satan tempted him to do, but he refused because the will of God meant more to him than his hunger. Now, he had some real craving. This is what David displayed in his conduct toward King Saul, who refused to take matters into his own hands. This is what David failed to do with regard to Bathsheba. He should have done the same thing. So, what has God given you? What has God not given you? Are you content? Do you trust? He has a reason. for that which is being given you and a reason for that which is not given you. He has a reason for it. And Romans 8, 28 promises it's all being worked together for your good. You either trust that and be thankful, realizing the wealth of grace in which he's put you, or you won't trust it. You'll rebel. You'll refuse it. You'll sin against him and pave your own way to hell for it. We will only complicate and confuse and set back His process in our lives by the interference of providing for ourselves. All sexual sin, all pornea, all pornography flows from discontentment with God, lack of belief, lack of trust, lack of faith in His love and His provision, rebellion against His Word. Now again, when speaking evangelistically, we've got to speak about the wrath of God that Paul says twice is sure to fall on all who do these sins. But when speaking to believers, the issue is thanksgiving for what God has given you and trusting thanksgiving as well for what He has not given you. And we must discern the difference in God's giving and in our taking. We have to discern the difference. Our taking usurps God's provident authority. If you trust Him to particularly give you what He wants you to have, and to withhold what He does not want you to have, then contentment with thanksgiving will take the place of covetous sensual craving in your mind, and the power of sexual sin in your life will not gain any traction, won't be able to gain any leverage. The Bible says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. The world doesn't believe that. The natural flesh We'll always fail to grasp that logic. But we need to assess our lives. What has God given us? Are we content? Are we pleased? Are we thankful? Or are we going to rebel? In 1520, Martin Luther wrote an essay called The Freedom of a Christian. And, of course, he was engaged in long-running debates about freedom of the will versus the true perspective on that subject, but this is something he wrote. It was probably about that debate, but it applies to our subject at hand, and he is saying that this is how the renewed mind of a Christian ought to reason, ought to think. Here's the quote. Although I am an unworthy and a condemned person, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation without any merit on my part. God has given to me out of his own pure, free mercy, so that from now on I need nothing except the faith which believes that this is true." Speaking of God's promise, "'Why should I not, therefore, freely, joyfully, with all my heart, be eager to do all that I know is pleasing and acceptable to such a father as this, who has overwhelmed me with his inestimable grace?' Jesus said, To put the whole thing in a nutshell, John 3, 3, "...truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." We need to make our calling and election sure, and in that process, let us include and incorporate the data of our text this morning to know that we are truly born of God. We come to before You fully aware of what Your Word says about all that You have provided us, or for us, and to us, and Your intentions for us in eternity, and what You have prepared there. We have enough to know that it's more than we can imagine. It's better than we could hope for. We know that You take care of our needs. You say that You do. There's always running in us that desire for that which we see, the sight picture instead of the faith picture. And we can see clearly from this morning that the victory is found by believing what you say and clinging to it with everything that we've got. and realizing that we have so much and giving You thanks for that which You have provided, the life road that You have provided, the difficulties that You've provided, the spouses that You've provided, everything from Your hand that has been given to us for us to enjoy its proper use. We thank You for that. We ask this week that You would help us as we discipline our own minds and our thoughts, that we would continue to come back to this idea, this truth from Your word, that You love us and that You're taking care of us, and we can walk in absolute gratitude in this life, trusting in You, and not needing any of the other alternatives that scream out to us as being so appealing. We thank You for Your word, we thank You for Your truth, and we thank You for Your love, and that we really can rest in that. It's not an illusion. It's not like what's being screened out to us. It's the truth. So we thank You for that, and we ask that You would help us to incorporate Your word into our lives and limit the devil's influence in our households and in our minds, and expand on Your Word's influence in our hearts and our minds this week. In Jesus' name, amen.