You'd open your Bibles with me this evening please to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1. Would you please stand together with me and we will read verse 7. Verse 7. Let us give our attention to the Word of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Amen. May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His good word. Now let's join our hearts together in prayer. We thank Thee, O righteous Father. We bless Thee, O Christ the Son. We magnify Thy Holy Spirit. We come here together tonight to worship our God. We thank Thee for the precious time of prayer Thou hast granted us. We thank Thee for bringing us unity in the Spirit. And now, O Lord, we come to hear Thy blessed Word, to consider the subject before us with care. I pray that thy mighty spirit would come and teach us. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. Well, if any book in the Old Testament connects with the modern idea of worldview, It is certainly Proverbs. The very first seven verses of the first chapter introduce us to Solomon's worldview. And as we read through the book, it is the worldview of all God's people. A worldview, as we have studied in the past, it's always good to be reminded of these things, but a worldview is the framework, it's the framework, it's the set of fundamental beliefs that we use to interpret our world and our place in it. Every day and every moment, we are interpreting our world. Everything that comes our way must be interpreted in some way. We blow it off to our great sorrow sometimes or we misinterpret various things. But every single decision that we make, everything that we do, everything that we're involved in has to do with that fundamental set of beliefs, those filters. through which we see the world and how we live in it, who we are. A worldview is not a philosophy of life. Solomon wants his readers particularly young men, but certainly all young people, and every one of his readers to understand that interpreting the world in one's place and it begins with one thought. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is the beginning of knowledge. He also wants us to understand the other side of that. Fools despise Fools despise wisdom and instruction. So, set before us in this blessed and eternal word is what we have referred to in the past as either God think or serpent think. God-think or serpent-think. The fear of the Lord, of course, is God-think. It's the fundamental filter. It is the fundamental belief by which we understand the world around us. Interpreting reality, interpreting what we see in this world and our place in it according to the Word of God. Not by how we feel as such. Our feelings play a part. But the other side of that is foolishness, despising wisdom, despising instruction. In fact, we can just refer to it, as we said, as serpent-think. God-think obviously begins with God. Serpent-think begins with us. God-think begins with God. Serpent-think begins with us. That's what we were drawn to in the garden with Adam and Eve. Ye shall be as gods. And that's the way we come into this world. God-think means that God decides what is right, what is wrong, what is good for us, and what is bad for us. And His Word is the final authority in all matters of life, all matters of doctrine. As Paul wrote to Timothy, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. What we have set before us in God's holy word is the very foundation of life, because this is the revelation of Almighty God, who He is, what He has done, especially what He has done to save sinners through Jesus Christ, His Holy Son. And we begin as believers to understand our world properly when we are thinking through the scriptures, when they become the spectacles by which we look at this world, take it in, think it through carefully, and then make our decisions. We have been living for decades. Numerous generations now have been consumed with living by how they feel. And that is one of the greatest and most deadly deceptions that human beings can engage in. We must think. We must think according to the Word of God, not just feel, thinking and hoping that it is God. God has given His Scriptures to us that we may evaluate in our lives what brings Him glory and what dishonors Him. and what is destructive to us as humanity and the danger of our final damnation. We must know the living God and the only way to know Him is through His Word by the power of His Spirit. If we truly know our God, if we are born of God's Spirit, We can then fear God and begin everything in our life from that foundation. This is the beginning of knowledge. Now, what we mean by that, ultimately, is knowledge as God would have us understand it. We're not just talking about raw data. This is the time in history of big data. We've got databases everywhere, information everywhere. The information superhighway is as broad just about as it can be that the human beings can attempt to deal with. As a matter of fact, there are whole books being written about the fact now that there is so much information coming at us and we can't process it all. But we can process it properly when we begin with the fear of God. That's knowledge. We have the same information as those who believe in evolution. We have the same information as scientists, but we come to different conclusions because we have a different worldview. We have a different beginning, start button, different place. So Proverbs 1-7 is a vital passage for us, and it's important to us this evening. A prayerful and careful study of Proverbs reveals to us what our worldview really is. If you take this book and read it through carefully, and we spent over a year looking at the first nine chapters, it's been a great deal here, mining the wonderful wisdom, the gold, the silver, the pearls, the diamonds, the sapphires, the rubies, the emeralds of God's blessed treasure here in this word, in this blessed word. And we, I trust, saw the vital place of a worldview that begins with Almighty God, the Sovereign who created the heavens and the earth, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise God. What each of us must grasp is that no other options exist regarding our worldview. You begin with God or you do not. It's that simple. Some things in life are extremely complex. But this is simple. You begin with God. As He has revealed Himself in His Word. Or you don't. So. You say, well, what does that have to do with pornography and men and purity? Well, it has everything to do with it. Because unless we understand our lives in the presence of Almighty God, we will very often settle for lists and trusting in human beings to help us work out our problems. Now there's a place for our community as believers to work together, hold one another accountable, exhort one another. That's all important. But the final work comes down to this. You will be delivered from your sin, whether it be pornography or any others, by faith in Jesus Christ alone and by his grace obeying His Word. Let me give you just a quick definition of the fear of the Lord. We can say that it's the reverent and loving worship and obedience of God according to His Word. The reverent and loving worship and obedience to the God of Scripture according to His Word. That's where ultimately dealing with any sin begins. With who He is and then who we are in the light of that. Now, with that as our foundational thought, let me give you a quote From Hugh Hefner, some of you will know that name. He said not too long ago, well, I think I've lived long enough to see the world change, and I do believe in a real way that we live in a playboy world now. I think you see that reflected in all the men's magazines, but you see it in the world in general in terms of fashion and pop culture. When I started Playboy, I really wasn't trying to start a sex magazine. I was trying to incorporate sex in a total lifestyle package. That's a worldview. It's not God's. I was the guy that tried to give sex a good name. False. But that is what he believes. And it is what a great deal of the world believes. Everybody talked about sex, but I was trying to give it a good name. In other words, he wanted a world in which people could do what they wanted to do when it comes to this subject. Now let me ask you, as you evaluate the world around you, do you see a world, especially our culture, that magnifies, exalts, and appreciates purity, virginity, holiness? Or do you see a world that is given to virtually worshiping physical relationships between men, women, or anyone or anything else. Whose worldview do you think is predominating right now? Whose worldview do you think is reflected in fashion? Whose worldview do you think is reflected in the media? Do we hear from The media. Well, tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, as we look at the weather here, we don't know what our sovereign God's going to do, but it appears that it might rain. He might send the rain, He might not. If He does, we're going to praise Him. And if He doesn't, we're going to praise Him. How about this? Well, tonight in the news, We see another extraordinary providence of the Most High God. As we see what is taking place in the nations. This is all fantasy. I mean, this is pure fantasy. Whose worldview is dominating? You can't go to any news source that is not running some story about sexuality. It is impossible. Even most of the Christian sites are trying to keep up with and discuss what's going on with whether it's fornication or adultery or homosexuality or any number of the perversions that we find in scripture. Whose worldview is dominating? It's the air we breathe that is Mr. Hefner's, which is simply Satan's. He did not give that blessed act a good name. He dragged it into the filth of men's perverse and darkened hearts. He went to that which is most fundamental about us. And He touched the hearts of one generation after another. with lust and unbridled sensuality. They speak of his publishing outfit and his media as his empire. And so it is. The tragedy is that the empire is Satan's. It is his doctrine. It is nothing but a return to pagan sexuality. You will find nothing in either his work or pornography in general that is not directly tied to things forbidden all through the Old Testament and in the New. There is pagan sexuality which arises from a particular worldview. And then there is the fear of the Lord that arises from the revelation of Almighty God in His Word through the power of the Holy Spirit in His people. I would say to you that one of the reasons we see the plague of pornography in the professing churches of Jesus Christ today is because we have become so enamored in what we call our liberty. That we have sucked up the cesspool of this world and we cannot see nor think right. Some people know what day it is by what television show or what they're going to watch on the Internet is. That they couldn't find Habakkuk in the scriptures if you held a gun on them. I'm talking about people that can confess that they're Christians. They can tell you starlets and celebrities, but they couldn't tell you names of people in the scriptures. We have been deceived and the tragedy has been, it's pretty much been a willful deception. So we want to go back to some fundamental thoughts as we consider this issue of worldviews. There is a glorious worldview and it begins with Jesus Christ. When we truly understand that through the revelation of Scripture, we can begin to make headway in our battle against sin. So let's reaffirm some basic and foundational things. Some of these are so elemental that you would think, well, Pastor, this is almost like a corporate duh moment. We all know this. But the fact is, how do we live this? That's the difference, right? We can hear about it. We can talk about it. But are we living these things? Number one, male plus female is good. foundational the holy and pure God who made the heavens and the earth made man male and female both are in the image of God male and female are the very image of almighty God the sovereign creator the great and thrice holy sovereign now With that in mind, I want to set three things before you. First, physical intimacy is for the unity of a one flesh relationship. We have that said before us in Scripture. Genesis chapter 2 says this. Verse 18, And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him and help meet for him. Praise the Lord. He created man, or the male, Adam, and now he's creating the female. Together they will be mankind. The Lord put Adam to sleep, took a rib, or at least part of his side. There's a beautiful picture here. The Lord takes the man who He has created, a glorious creature, the crown of creation, and He has taken a part of him to make the woman. And then He's going to Having divided the man, bring him back together, male and female, but each in a glorious relationship to the other. Now that's what God intended. In Genesis 2, 24 says, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they too shall be, or they shall be one flesh. This is good. Everything that God has made is good. We read that in chapter 1, verse 31. And the glory and beauty of this is that God has made out of man, male and female, to be mankind. It's good. To be a male means that is the sex of the male. To be female means to be the feminine. part of that great union. Now that's good. That's very good. We're not ashamed of that. I won't do this but we could have all the women stand and at least in this congregation we could all look and know that the women indeed are women. And we could have them sit and then the men could stand and we could tell that all the men are indeed males. We see this. It is plain. We have attempted to set our minds according to the word of God and live in ways that clearly magnify that we are male and female and that this brings glory to God. It's very good. So this physical intimacy is for the unity of the one flesh relationship. Pornography wars directly against that. It cannot build this one flesh relationship. It destroys it. Let me say to the young men who are not married, you're destroying your marriage before you get there. At least let me put it this way. You are at least damaging it. There's always the possibility that you could destroy it. That is why this is crucial. Pornography is attractive because it's about men and women. And that is fundamentally what we are. Pornography does not build this one flesh relationship. That's what God ordained, one flesh, male and female, no one else entering into that relationship sexually. Number two, physical intimacy is for procreation. It's not only for building that one flesh relationship, but it is for physical, it is for procreation. Pornography is not about that. In other words, what we need to understand is that the idea of sexuality with pornography and with marriage are two entirely different things. Entirely different things. Pornography is not about having babies, which is the way the scriptures began our worldview. He made them male and female. Why? To be fruitful and multiply. I mean, this is so clear. The first two chapters of the scriptures, it could not be plainer. But we have been hijacked in our thinking by a pornified culture. We think of the relationship between a man and woman as an end to itself. It's simply about my pleasure. When it is about glorifying God, building a relationship and having babies. Pornography wars against this. Thirdly. Physical intimacy is for sexual purity. It actually advances purity. More about that in just a few moments. But this is vital. Marriage is God's institution. It is a holy institution when we do it His way. And within the relationship, even though we are sinful people, within the proper marriage relationship, a healthy intimacy between men and women is a good thing and it is a pure thing. There are some people who have become so defiled by our culture, they cannot think of this as anything but ugly, wicked, filthy, dirty, et cetera. No, no, no. fornication, adultery, homosexuality. These things are ugly, wicked, destructive. The relationship between a husband and a wife before God is purity and therefore should be protected. There should be a fence around that beautiful relationship. Pornography directly undermines this. The very notion of it takes you out of the protective circle of purity into mental filthiness, mental heart lust with someone with whom you are not married. You never know when the people you're looking at are married or not. You're either involved in fornication or adultery. But these are serious matters. These things damage men and women. They especially damage women in ways that men do not understand. So physical intimacy is a gift from God to build unity in a one flesh relationship with the goal of procreation to the glory of the Lord. And it is a wonderful field, a wide open field of purity for those who enter into it God's way and who walk in it God's way. And I will say this, no matter how far you've fallen, A relationship between a husband and wife can become wonderfully pure in Christ Jesus. Now, male and female then equals good. And that's part of a biblical worldview. That's where it comes from. Secondly, the physical relationship between a husband and a wife is good. It is good. Physical intimacy between a husband and wife is inherently good because the good God created it. It is holy because the holy God created it. God's command to be fruitful and multiply is obviously good. This was of course given before Adam and Eve sinned. Physical intimacy has a power to unite in ways that nothing else does. It's not all. It's certainly not even the highest. The most glorious unifier is the power of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through our beloved Lord Jesus Christ. But it is a powerful and it is a primary power that unites men and women in a way that nothing else does. When you understand this, that intimacy has the power to unite two people in ways that nothing else does, you will understand why intimacy is meant to be enjoyed only between a husband and a wife. It unites them emotionally, physically, And it bonds them in a way that simply nothing else can. This is good. God intended that. I've had to counsel people who pursued sexual immorality before they were married. And I've had to sit and deal with the wreckage. And that is always heartbreaking. I knew of one couple that I loved very dearly, very fine, young man and young woman who were converted while they were living together. He moved out. Later, they got married once they were converted. But literally for years and years and years, they had very deep trouble. Because she could never see, she could never relate the notion of their relationship as anything but wickedness. What should have been beautiful and pure and delightful in uniting them was something that she could never get out of her mind as something filthy and wicked. These are tragic things, brethren. They should not happen. But it doesn't simply have to happen in the flesh. Pornography has the same stultifying and damaging effect. It can keep men and women from thinking, seeing, and even acting as they should. Why? Because they've bought the lie of a satanic worldview. They've sucked up all this stuff around us that says, oh, do what you want, be with whom you want. Doesn't matter. Hear it in the music. Oh, it's my liberty to listen to this wonderful gutter stuff that talks about fornication all the time. It's my liberty. I can catechize myself. I can fill my brain with satanic worldview, and it's perfectly okay. That's my liberty. And then they wonder why their views of purity and morality begin to diminish. The things they watch, the things they hear, ultimately the things that they pursue often do not arise from a biblical worldview. One that begins with the fear of the Lord that is instilled in the heart through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. in the exaltation of Jesus Christ the Lord. Well, God's design is for marital intimacy. In our first study, we define sexual purity as keeping one's sexual behavior in harmony with God's revealed character and will. In other words, This book tells us that man plus woman is good. That the relationship between a man and woman is good, done God's way. And that God designed this in a way to bring Him glory. Listen, your sexuality is not about you. It's about God. The God who made you a man or a woman. And you are to bring Him glory as a man or a woman. Magnify and glorify Him. He gave us something which He wrapped up with physical pleasure, emotional satisfaction, psychological fulfillment, and spiritual meaning into one complex and extraordinary relationship. Pornography. Absolutely. invades, damages, and even destroys that. Because it's outside of the model. It's outside of what God designed. Marital intimacy does not include 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, or thousands of women that you don't know. We've also observed that God's character and will are revealed in the Holy Scripture. So it's crucial for us to have a worldview, a biblical worldview, when it comes to this subject. First, God is the absolute and only source of moral authority. I mean, I grew up hearing songs like, if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right. It's about adultery. Country music is filled with this stuff. Don't think that gets you off the hook. I don't listen to that heavy rock stuff. I just listen to booze and women. This stuff gives you an alien worldview. And it takes you away from the idea that you are not the authority about your sexuality. Excuse me. It instills in you the notion that you are the authority about the source of moral authority. It is God, though, the God that made you and the God who has revealed himself in the scriptures who is the absolute and only and final source of moral authority. If his book says it's okay, it's good. If he forbids it, it's forbidden. It is sin. It is damnable. Second, God is holy. His Word reveals this from beginning to end. Isaiah saw Him. And he heard the angels saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. John saw Him in Revelation at the end of the Scriptures. And the angels are still saying the same thing. Holy, holy, holy. The command in Leviticus is, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Peter takes that and applies it to new covenant Christians. Be ye holy, for I am holy. God is holy and morality must reflect His character. I will offer at this point, just as a footnote, the churches of Jesus Christ have been so bad about teaching true morality. Other than just, I don't do this. That we virtually have given our children to Satan. Here, I'm not gonna tell my children anything about this. You tell them. And we turn them over to the television, and we turn them over to the rock and roll musicians, and we turn them over to whatever is out there. when they should be fortified from the time their children about the wonderful goodness of being a boy or a girl, being a male, being a female. And someday you're going to grow up and you're going to marry a young man, a young woman. You're going to honor the Lord and you're going to have babies. That's a glorious thing. Well, thirdly, everything that God created was very good. Everything that God created was very good. It has been a great. Tragic blight upon the churches of Jesus Christ to speak of these matters as if somehow there was something ultimately wrong with it. And children are curious, they're going to find out if you don't do your job well, one of their cousins will. You know, or aunt or uncle or grandma or grandpa. They'll find out down at Barnes and Nobles. You better be at work giving them the right worldview and telling them what destroys manhood and womanhood. God made man and woman in his image and made them sexual beings. Male. Female. That's all. There aren't any other categories. And it is quite obvious by the way that they're made that God intended more than simply a platonic relationship. Women are made to bear children. Their bodies scream it. And that's a good thing. And men. are made to be leaders, providers, protectors in their home. That's why they've been given strength and authority. When men and women get a hold of these things, It's wonderful. One of the greatest tragedies of going down to the abortion clinic to plead with people to let their babies live are the sorry men that come walking in behind the women that they've probably impregnated to get rid of that baby. That is one of the most perverse things in human existence. When they were given authority, to provide for and to protect children. They irresponsibly impregnate someone and they do everything they can to get rid of the fruit of their pleasure. This is evil beyond words. We are beings able to reproduce and bring into life the most astonishing thing, another human being made in the image of God. And it's so wonderful. I mean, when I see art, I used to be in a church where when it was announced that someone was going to have a baby, they'd go another one. It is delightful to be in a place where everyone goes, yes, oh, wonderful, great. We'll be praying for you all nine months. What can we do? It's delightful. This is thrilling. We've gone from 11 members here, 11 years ago, to a congregation where we have been fruitful and multiplied. It doesn't stop there. We're to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That's another message. That's another series. But it is glorious, is it not? We are delighted beyond words. Pornography attacks this. Pornography says, no, this is all about you and your experience. Babies, no, no, no, no, no, no. That slows things up. That messes a woman's figure. God commanded men and women to have children and fill up the earth. So the relationship between them is good, it's blessed of God, and it is holy. If done God's way, that's a good thing. Every young man, every young woman, every person here ought to understand that this is good. This is great. This is something to be pursued with joy and thanksgiving. And it is something that needs to be wisely and biblically pursued. So that makes clear for us then that marriage has three primary purposes, as we have alluded companionship, procreation and purity. Men. You will never reach biblical purity without a biblical worldview. And of course, ultimately, to have a biblical worldview is to be someone born of God's Spirit, alive in God's Spirit, filled with his power and able to walk with him. Now, we only have a few moments left. Let me say quickly here, There are three important biblical ideas regarding marriage, and that is chastity, abstinence, and fidelity. To be chaste means to be sexually pure. Pornography damages this if it doesn't utterly destroy it. abstinence. This is one of the ways we fence ourselves up for purity, to give ourselves to someone in purity. Yes, I know, it is hard to find anyone that believes in virginity even in churches. I'm reading articles day in and day out that are breaking my heart about the fact that, like in some seminary campuses and some Bible college campuses, they have to lock the chapel building so that students don't go and use them for fornication at night. This is Christian campuses, or at least in name. Now abstinence, we wait on the living God. We wait for the one whom we will pursue. But there's also a purity. There's a wonderful purity in marriage. To pursue the relationship between a man and woman, according to God's word, is purity. It's even chastity. It is wonderful. Couples that are faithful to each other in marriage are as chaste as unmarried virgins before God. That's hard for people to get a hold of. If that was surprising to you, I would say that your worldview is off a little bit. We need to get our minds in harmony with the Word of God. And finally, fidelity. Fidelity is another form of purity. Fidelity is faithfulness to one's spouse, and that's what keeps purity within the relationship. Pornography, by default, is a violation of that. So what are you going to say, Pastor? After all that, I'm gonna say there's deliverance in Jesus Christ if there is a problem for you in these ways. Number one, first and foremost, if you are not a believer, your heart is the problem. That's the whole issue when it comes to pornography and sexuality. If you're not converted, your heart is the issue. If you're a believer, Your flesh and its remaining indwelling sin is the problem. But don't take that lightly for one moment. You can have a new heart and be overcome by your flesh if you don't know how to fight the battle. Your heart needs to be made new. If you are lost and if you are a Christian, you need it to be cleansed by the blood of Christ. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Number two, Jesus saves sinners and gives them a new heart. It's part of the glories of the promises set forth before us in scripture. Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin, having died upon Calvary's cross. The eternal son of God took humanity to himself. He became the God-man who walked in this world for the purpose of keeping the law of Almighty God, which no other man has done. He died upon Calvary's cross bearing the penalty for our sins that we might have then a positive righteousness. It isn't just that our sins are paid for, but we are righteous in Christ because He has kept the law in our place. And we are in union with him. He saves us from the power of sin because he gives us a new heart. He gives us the power of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the glorious revelation of himself and of his ways in the word. And he wonderfully intercedes for us. He saves us from the pleasure of sin. Let me tell you, Christians cannot sin like the world. Don't misunderstand me. They can do anything the world does. Tragically, they do sometimes. But if the Spirit of God dwells within them, they cannot live going on in that sin. Holy living from the heart, not simple behavior management is the issue. We need Christ. We need the Lord Jesus Christ. We need His mighty eschatological power, the very power of the world to come living in our hearts. The life of God, as Henry Schugel said, the life of God in the soul of man. This is what we need. And when we understand that, we go past simple behavior management. Lost people, and there are tons of books out there being written for lost people. Listen, businesses everywhere are losing millions of dollars for the amount of time their employees are spending on pornography. I mean, they're trying to get people off this stuff. They're doing what they can to filter these things. But you see, you can get behavior management and still have a cold, dead heart. You need to be alive in Christ Jesus. Your stopping pornography must arise from a greater love than the love for yourself, the love of your pleasure, the love of your sin. And what is that? It is in the God who loved us first. To know Him and to know His love in Christ. To know His mercy. To know His grace. Not just know about. You can go straight to hell knowing all about God and Jesus. You need to know Jesus Christ. Here in His life. That they might know Thee. The only true God. And Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. Life. Eternal life. So. Well, there's more that we could say, but we're going to stop. There's certainly a great deal more, but we're going to stop that here. Let me close by saying, I said this in our first message, and I'll say this in our last one here on this subject. There are three nevers to remember. I will never, you will never be free from sexual sin unless you're honest about it. As long as you keep it a secret sin, you're not gonna quit. You'll stop for a while, you'll go right back to it. This does not get better because it's touching what you are as a human being and you've begun to train yourself that this is how you respond to this stimuli. So then when you as a male or a female are beginning to grow and your hormones are aging and you're all ready to be married to someone and have children, it's been hijacked and it's running down that alley. You've got to be honest about it. Number two, you will never be a slave of sexual sin if you confess, repent, and believe on Jesus Christ. His precious blood makes the foulest clean. But you must look to Him, trust Him, and believe gospel truth. And you will never be a sexual slave if you know who you are in Christ. It's not only about knowing who Christ is and what he's done to save you. You must know who you are in union with Christ. That in itself is a series of messages. So I close with these thoughts. God has put up boundaries. His worldview. Gives us this to consider one, his boundaries are for his glory. Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all of the glory of God. Through Jesus Christ, giving thanks through him, God's boundaries, which the world hates. Bring him glory and they do us good. Secondly, God's boundaries rightly observed do not inhibit freedom, they enhance it. They enhance freedom. There's nothing more wonderful than to be free in Jesus Christ, free from the condemnation of God, free from the condemnation of the law, walking in the beauty of his grace and the cleansing blood of Christ. Oh, it's wonderful. to be free. One of the reasons some people have no success, this is just some, this is not to be condemning itself. One of the reasons some people have no liberty is because they've just never been born again. To be born of Christ, to learn to walk with him is freedom, not inhibition. Finally, God's boundaries preserve us from slavery and bondage. What the world calls freedom are chains, bonds, STDs, destruction of a biblical worldview and of the life. May we know Jesus Christ and the living God through his word, know his grace, and walk in it. Oh, my Father in heaven, help us in these things to do thy will. Lord, I pray for those that hear this that may be in bondage. I pray that thou would set them free, but show them what it means. Grant them repentance, faith in Thee, and teach them how to walk in the battle. Father, I do pray for those who are free. Oh, may they not take it for granted. May they thank Thee every day. And God of mercy and heaven, I pray that they would flee to Thee and flee to Thy grace every moment. We love Thee, Lord. And finally, I pray that Thou would strays up out of this congregation and out of all Thy congregations in this world. men and women, young people with a biblical worldview to understand this subject as thou has said it before us, that we might see glory to thy name and great good to thy people and the advancement of thy kingdom. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, brethren, please stand with me and we'll close for this evening. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you to the end. He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Amen. Let's go in the name of the Lord.