Abstaining from Sexual Immorality (2) - 05/29/2022

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Our New Testament reading, I'll be reading the second chapter of the book of Romans. So if you could turn to that and follow along.

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Romans chapter two. Therefore you have no excuse, oh man, every one of you who judges.

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For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

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We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

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Do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things, yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?

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Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

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But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when

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God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works.

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To those who by patience in well -doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

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But to those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

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There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the

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Greek. But honor, glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the

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Jew first and also the Greek, for God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.

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And all who have sinned under the law will be judged under the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

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For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves.

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Even though they do not have the law, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel,

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God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. But if you call yourself a

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Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

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While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

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You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor

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God by breaking the law, for as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the

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Gentiles because of you. For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

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So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

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Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.

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For no one who is a Jew, no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a

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Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not the letter.

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His praise is not from man but from God. Let's pray.

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Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you, Lord, for just the wonder of knowing you and serving you.

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We pray, Father, as the word is proclaimed that you would bless us and help us, grant us understanding and wisdom,

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Lord, that we would not just hear this word and walk away unchanged, but that we would be changed, that we would be conformed to your image, that you would teach us and equip us,

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Lord, to walk with you closely. We ask you, Lord, to bless Pastor Jason and help him. May your spirit be upon him, and Lord, may your light shine upon the word for all of us, that we may truly see what you're saying to us today.

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Help us all, Lord, and we thank you for your word in Jesus' name, amen. Last week, we began a two -part series on 1

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Thessalonians 4, verses three through eight, which reveals to us the will of God, which is your sanctification, specifically that you abstain from sexual immorality.

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Our society and culture are far too welcoming of sin. Today, sin is widely accepted.

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Sin is approved. Sin is even applauded, especially when it comes to sexual sin.

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What was once considered taboo is now glamorized. It's now despised, idealized, and romanticized.

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The sexually immoral are enthusiastically lifted up and openly encouraged to embrace, flaunt, and proclaim their unrighteous lifestyles.

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Romans chapter one is being lived out before our very eyes. Romans 1 24 through 25.

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Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their heart to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever.

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Amen. Verse 32. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give hearty approval to those who practice them.

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Today, sexual immorality is not only considered to be the norm, it is celebrated, and it is praised.

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The unbelieving world is united and feels a sense of great camaraderie as wickedness and immoral practices are promoted and encouraged.

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Indeed, the world gives hearty approval to those who practice such things. Just a couple of days, the month of June begins.

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What is the cultural significance of June? June is now the month of pride.

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Pride Month celebrates and commemorates the LGBTQ activism and culture.

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Pride Month is a month -long celebration of sexual immorality.

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And what is the symbol for Pride Month? A six -colored rainbow flag.

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After Noah and his family entered the ark and survived the global flood, which was brought about by the wrath of God for the pervasive wickedness and pride of man, the

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Lord God established a covenant with Noah and his family. And he signified this covenant by putting a symbol in the sky as a testament of his great and infinite mercy, the rainbow.

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Genesis chapter nine, verses eight through 16. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,

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I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you, the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you, every living creature on earth,

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I establish my covenant with you. Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood.

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Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant

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I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come.

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I have set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

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Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.

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Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the cloud,

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I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures and every kind on the earth.

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The rainbow was given by the Lord God, the creator of the heavens and the earth as a symbol of his promise to mankind that he will not destroy the earth again with a flood.

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The rainbow reminds us of God's promise. It is a promise of his mercy. It is a promise of his goodness.

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It is a promise of his faithfulness. This symbol is now splashed across our culture and it is used to celebrate and to glorify that which was the very reason why the

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Lord God sent the worldwide flood in the first place. The Lord God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of his heart was only evil continually.

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I wonder if the gay community realizes their error. To use the rainbow as a symbol for that which the

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Lord God hates and detests smacks of either great ignorance or even greater pride.

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As immoral and wicked as our culture has become, it's really nothing new. There is nothing new under the sun.

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Immoral thinking and immoral practices were just as prevalent in the first century, especially in the city of Thessalonica.

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The culture of Thessalonica was exceedingly immoral and exceedingly wicked. Sexual sin was pervasive and there was no guilt.

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There was no shame. There was no remorse in it. A Greek statement and orator named

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Deimotheses in speaking of the society of his day, proudly boasted, we keep prostitutes for pleasure.

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We keep mistresses for the day -to -day needs of the body and we keep wives for the beginning of children and the faithful guardianship of our homes.

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At this time, it was said that morality was nearly dead. Home and family life was nearly non -existent and fidelity was completely non -existent.

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However, it was in the midst of this culture that the church was born.

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The Thessalonian church. In Acts chapter 12, Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica.

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They were in the synagogues and for three weeks, they reasoned with them from the scriptures. Some of the

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Jews, some of the Greeks and some of the leading women were persuaded and this infuriated the

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Jewish people. They formed a mob and they ran Paul and Silas out of town and they chased them from town to town and Paul eventually ended up in Corinth and with an intense burden for this newly born church, he wrote to them the letter of 1

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Thessalonians. Paul was primarily writing to encourage them to stand firm in their faith despite the severe opposition that was bound to face them.

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Hard times are indeed a part of God's plan for his people. Paul then reminds them of the previous instruction that they had received, specifically how they should live and please the

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Lord God and even though the Thessalonian church was doing well, he wants them to excel still more.

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1 Thessalonians 4 verses one and two. Finally then brothers, we ask and urge you in the

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Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God just as you are doing that you do so more and more for you know what instruction we gave you through the

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Lord Jesus. Here Paul is reiterating the command that he had previously given to them.

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He's essentially saying this is how you need to walk and this is how you need to live in order to please the

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Lord God. In these things you need to excel still more and more and the first area of their walk that Paul wanted them to excel still more and more was their sexual morality.

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Paul wanted them to excel still more and more in their purity. This morning we're gonna be finishing up 1

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Thessalonians 4, three through eight. From this text we're gonna discuss and answer three important questions.

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What does the Lord require? How should I accomplish what the Lord God requires and why should

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I accomplish what the Lord God requires? Let's take a look at the text together.

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1 Thessalonians 4 verses three through eight. For this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the

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Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter because the

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Lord is the avenger in all these things as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

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For God has not called us for impurity but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this disregards not man but God who gives his

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Holy Spirit to you. Last week we answered the question what does the

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Lord God require? And the answer is found in verse three. For this is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality.

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To a new church that was filled with men, women and children who had participated for their entire lives in the gross immoralities of the day,

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Paul reminds them of the will of God, their sanctification that they abstain from sexual immorality.

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When the Lord God calls us to himself, he calls us to a life of sanctification.

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He calls us to be set apart from sin from the world to himself.

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This involves sacrifice. We are to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice which is our spiritual service of worship.

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No longer are we to be conformed to this world but we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds and we are to be conformed to his son, the

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Lord Jesus Christ. We are to live for his will. We are to live for his purposes.

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We are to live for his advantage. The children of God are to live for the glory and exaltation of God.

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Sexual immorality, sexual sin, adultery, fornication, premarital sex, pornography, homosexuality, immoral thoughts, self -gratification, these are all contrary to the will of God and these sins may be indulged in by society but not by the church.

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To abstain from sexual immorality means to avoid it. It means to keep far away from it.

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The Greek word carries with it the idea of total abstinence. In regards to sexual sin, do not go anywhere near it.

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Abstain from it, flee from it. What does the Lord God require?

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The Lord God requires that you abstain from sexual immorality. How do

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I accomplish this command? How do I accomplish what the word of God requires?

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1 Thessalonians 4, three through six. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.

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That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor.

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Not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter because the

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Lord is the avenger in all these things. As we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

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In these verses, Paul gives us three very practical ways to abstain from sexual immorality.

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How do I keep this command, abstain from sexual sin? Look at verse four.

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That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. The first way to abstain from sexual sin is self -awareness.

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Every believer needs to know how to control his own body. Every believer needs to know how to control his own body in holiness and in honor.

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First Corinthians 9, 27, Paul wrote, but I discipline my body and I keep it under control lest after preaching to others,

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I myself should be disqualified. The term that Paul uses in this passage, discipline, has a literal meaning of to beat.

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It can be translated as to punch in the face. Paul beat his body.

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He took a punch in the face. He made his body his slave so that he would not disqualify himself for ministry.

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Paul was a man who was in complete control of his physical body. He was in control of his urges.

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He was in control of his passions and desires. Paul beat his body into submission to do the things that would honor and please the

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Lord God so that he might walk in holiness and honor. And beloved, we need to do the same.

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Each one of us is to beat our bodies into submission to do the things that please and glorify the

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Lord God so that we too might walk in holiness and honor. I don't know about you, but I know where my body is weak.

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I know exactly which temptations will get the better of me. I know that there are things that I need to steer clear of because if I don't,

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I could very easily fall into sin. I know my limits and I know my boundaries.

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So should you also know yourself. Know your weaknesses, know your boundaries, know your temptations, know what you can handle and what you can't handle.

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What is it that is going to tempt me? What is it that is going to cause me to stumble?

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What is it that is going to cause me to sin? Find out what it is and then steer clear of it.

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Beloved, you need to know yourself well enough to be able to avoid sexual temptation. You need to know yourself well enough to be able to abstain and to flee when necessary.

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You need to handle your body in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord God. Years ago,

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I had a friend who fell into a season of sexual sin. It started with his thought life and then it progressed to watching inappropriate movies and then it progressed to pornography, internet pornography and then it progressed to chatting with random women online and then it escalated to him visiting bars and pornography shops and strip clubs and then he began to pursue and meet with actual women.

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Over a few months, he went from entertaining immoral thoughts to meeting with prostitutes multiple times throughout the week.

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And then one day without telling anyone, he emptied his bank accounts, he packed up his things in his car and he left his wife and children.

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He took off and he traveled across the country squandering all his money on loose living and adultery.

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Eventually, he ran out of money, he ran out of hope and with his life in utter shambles, in depression, in misery and surrounded by police officers, he stuck a pistol in his mouth and he tried to end his life.

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But thankfully, the Lord God preserved him that day. Now, I had met him a short time after this had happened.

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He had repented of his sin. He had returned home. His wife and his family had taken him back and he was attempting to restore his broken relationships and to rebuild his life.

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And I was very impressed at how determined he was to stay away from temptation.

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He knew his body very well. He knew his weaknesses, he knew his temptations, he knew his limits, he knew his boundaries.

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He knew himself well enough to avoid temptation altogether. And so, he took drastic steps to avoid falling into sin.

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He quit his job and he looked for other employment. He had some ungodly co -workers who were influencing him in a very negative way and there were a lot of opportunities for him to stumble and there were some very strong temptations that threatened his walk with the

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Lord God. So, he completely removed himself from that environment.

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Then he cut up all of his credit cards. He cut up his driver's license. He made it physically impossible for him to leave his family.

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He wouldn't allow himself to be alone with a television or a computer ever.

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And whenever his wife would leave the house, whether it was for five minutes or the day, he would put the television and the computer in the trunk of her car every single time.

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He was never alone in his house with a television or a computer because he knew these were great temptations.

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He knew his body was weak, so he removed them entirely from his life. Now, this was a man who was very serious about his walk with the

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Lord God. This was a man who was very serious about his moral purity. So, he made some extremely difficult decisions.

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He took drastic steps to ensure that he would not fall into sin again. Sin was no longer going to be his master.

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These actions are what we refer to as radical amputation. Remember the words of the

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Lord Jesus Christ in his Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 27. You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

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If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

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And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

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Beloved, to beat sin, you must be willing to take drastic and serious measures.

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If you struggle with some sort of sexual immorality, then you need to tear it out.

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You need to throw it away. You need to cut it out entirely from your life.

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If you struggle with pornographic magazines, get rid of the magazines. If you struggle with internet pornography, then get rid of your computer.

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Get rid of your smartphone. Get rid of your internet access. Paraphrasing Matthew 5, it is better for you to lose your magazines.

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It's better for you to lose your computer. It's better for you to lose your home internet access than your whole body be thrown into hell.

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Now let me ask you something. Is what I just said correct? Is what

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I just said true? If it's true, then why don't we always approach sin in this way?

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Not just sexual sin, any sin. Why don't we always take the drastic measures that are necessary for our holiness?

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Why don't we radically amputate the things that hinder our walk with the Lord God? Well, do you expect me to quit my job?

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Do you expect me to get rid of my computer? Do you expect me to cut up my credit cards and my driver's license?

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I'm not gonna do that. I can't do that. That's not realistic. That's not reasonable. That's not convenient.

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Isn't it? Is your job more important than your walk with the Lord God? Is your computer more important than your walk with the

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Lord God? Is your smartphone more important than your walk with the Lord God? Is the

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Lord God more pleased with your current job or that you walk in obedience to him and holiness?

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Is the Lord God more pleased with the convenience of internet access or that you please and glorify him in your life?

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What is more important than your soul? If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out, throw it away.

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It's better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. Beloved, you must do whatever is necessary to keep yourself from sin.

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You must do whatever is required to keep yourself from sexual sin. And most likely, this will require you to take radical and drastic measures because what is at stake is your soul.

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How do we abstain from sexual sin? By knowing how to control your body. Do not be enslaved to your body, but resist its urges, resist its desire, exhibit self -control, be disciplined and control your body in holiness and honor.

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How else do we abstain from sexual sin? Take a look at the next verse. Verse five, not in the passion of lust like the

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Gentiles who do not know God. The term Gentiles here is really referring to unbelievers.

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Gentiles do not know God. And because they don't know God, they act out in lustful passion.

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Gentiles do not know God, so they are controlled by their fleshly passions. They're controlled by their appetites.

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The term passion here is a very strong term and it implies excited emotions, uncontrollable desires, overpowering urges.

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Passions refer to our out of control cravings. And according to the scriptures, those who do not know

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God are consumed and driven by their lustful, uncontrollable and overpowering urges.

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They are consumed and driven by the out of control desires in their lives.

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Now note the obvious contrast between verses four and five, between the believer and the unbeliever.

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Believers are to control their bodies in holiness and honor, but unbelievers are unable to control their bodies.

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Unbelievers are controlled by their bodies. They're controlled by their overpowering lustful passions.

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Ephesians 4 .17, now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the

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Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding.

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They are alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.

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They have become calloused and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

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In contrast to those who know the Lord God, to those have a relationship with the

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Lord God, to those who belong to Jesus Christ, you have been crucified in the flesh.

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You have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires. If we live by the

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Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Beloved, you are to walk no longer as the

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Gentile walks. You are to walk no longer as someone who does not know the

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Lord God. You are to walk and live by the Spirit of God, which means every thought, every decision, every action will be in submission to the

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Holy Spirit. Every moment of every day is to be lived under the controlling influence of the

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Spirit of God. So do not indulge your body.

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Do not indulge your fleshly desires. Do not indulge your passions. Do not feed them because that's what the unbelievers do.

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They're unregenerate. They don't have the Spirit of God residing within them. But you, you do.

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You have been born of the Spirit of God and you are able to please the Lord God.

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You are able to walk in obedience to him. You are able to abstain from sexual immorality.

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You have the ability and all of the necessary resources to walk by the Spirit of God.

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Do not fall back into slavery to your fleshly passions. Galatians 5 .1,

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for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

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How do we abstain from sexual sin? By knowing how to control our bodies. By not being like those who do not know the

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Lord God. And thirdly, by not taking advantage of others.

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1 Thessalonians 4 .6, that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter because the

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Lord is the avenger in all these things. As we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

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Do not take advantage of anyone. Do not transgress and wrong your brother or your sister in this matter.

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In this matter of sexual immorality. The phrase transgress and wrong means to go beyond what is proper.

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To transgress means to go over the line or to cross that line. And to wrong someone means to selfishly gain something at their expense.

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And this is exactly what happens with sexual sin. The line is crossed and you selfishly gain something at someone else's expense.

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Believers are not to cross the line. Believers are not to selfishly gain something at the expense of someone else.

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In other words, do not cross that line and wrong your brother or your sister in the matter of sexual sin.

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Do not cross that line and take advantage of someone else for your own gratification.

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Do not cross that line and take advantage of someone else for your own fulfillment. This is a very important point.

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Beloved, there are people out there, even people within the church who will seek to use you for their own selfish gratification.

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There are people out there, even within the church, who will try to cross that line and they will try to defraud you for their own sexual fulfillment.

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If someone tells you that they love you, but they also wanna take away your purity, that is not love.

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That is lust. That is defrauding. That is wronging. They are seeking to take from you that which does not belong to them.

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That is not agape love. That is not sacrificial love. That is not the love of God. The love of God is selfless.

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It is sacrificial. It is purifying. If someone is seeking to take from you that which does not belong to them, that is the love of the world and it is not the love of God.

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It is a self -serving and self -focused love. Your purity belongs to the person whom the

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Lord God wants you to marry and none other. So do not let anyone take advantage of you.

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And likewise, do not take advantage of someone else. Crossing that line, defrauding your brother or your sister is a very serious matter to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 18, six. But whoever causes one of these little ones to believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

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If you find yourself in a situation where you are tempted to take someone's purity, someone other than your spouse, when you are tempted to cross that line, when you are tempted to defraud your brother or your sister for your own sexual fulfillment, remember these words.

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Remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be better for you to be dead at the bottom of the ocean, underneath a great millstone than for you to wrong your brother or your sister and cause them to sin.

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The Lord God is very serious about these matters. What is the command?

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To abstain from sexual sin. How do we abstain from sexual sin? By knowing how to control your body, by not being like those who do not know the

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Lord God, and by not taking advantage of others. There's one last question that we must answer from this passage.

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Why? Why should I accomplish what the Lord God requires? Why should

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I abstain from sexual sin? Look at verses six to eight. And that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the

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Lord is the avenger in all these things. Just as we also told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

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For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the

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God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Paul gives us three very clear reasons why we should abstain from sexual sin.

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And the first reason why we should abstain from sexual sin is that the Lord is the avenger in all these things.

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The Lord is the avenger. This alone is a very compelling reason.

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An avenger is one who carries out legal justice. An avenger is one who enacts or exacts judgment.

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An avenger will make sure that you get exactly what it is you deserve. Hebrews 13, four, let the marriage bed be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

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The Lord God will judge. Well, what kind of judgments are we talking about here? It could be several different things.

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Those who participate in sexual immorality could end up with several different consequences. Could be a disease.

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It could be that your marriage is devastated, your family destroyed. It could be negative circumstances, trials, persecutions, the absence of blessing, or it could even be death.

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In the book of 1 Corinthians five, there was a situation where a man had taken his father's wife as a wife.

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And Paul responds in 1 Corinthians five, verse four, he says, when you're assembled in the name of the

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Lord Jesus and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the

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Lord. Now this phrase, destruction of this flesh, implies that unless this man repented of his sin, he would eventually die in some sort of special disciplinary way.

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King David committed adultery and the Lord God disciplined him. And David wrote about his experience in Psalm 32.

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Psalm 32 three, David writes, when I kept silent about his sin, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

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For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

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The consequence of King David's sin, his physical body wasted away because the

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Lord God's hand was heavy upon him. Because King David had been silent and unrepentant about his sin.

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In Psalm 51, he cries out again, make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which you have broken rejoice.

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Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your

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Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. David's sexual sin had removed all of the joy and all of the gladness from his life.

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He requested a clean heart because he felt dirty. He felt far from the presence of the

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Lord God. King David greatly suffered until he had repented of his sin.

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Until he had turned away from his sin and turned to the Lord God. John MacArthur remarked that sexual sin disregards

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God. It ignores his holiness. It spurns his will. It defies his commands.

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It rejects his love. It flaunts his grace and mercy and it abuses it.

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It is disobedient. It is selfish. It is ingratitude and God will avenge it.

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He will avenge it. Beloved, make no mistake. If you are a

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Christian and if you are involved in sexual sin, then the Lord God will most assuredly avenge.

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There will be consequences for your sin. Why should we abstain from sexual sin?

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Reason number one, because the Lord God is the avenger. Reason number two, because the

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Lord God has a purpose for us. Take a look at verse seven. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

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The Lord God's gracious and effectual call to salvation is a call to holiness.

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It is not a call to impurity. A holy God sent his Holy Son to bring about salvation through his

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Holy Spirit to produce an immoral people. Now that's not what it says.

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A holy God sent his Holy Son to bring about salvation through his Holy Spirit to produce a holy people.

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To produce a people without blemish, without spot, without reproach.

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First Peter one, verses 14 through 16. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

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But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.

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The Lord God's call to salvation cannot be disconnected from his call to holiness.

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Our justification, our being pronounced not guilty because of the work of Christ cannot be separated from our sanctification, which is being set apart for Christ.

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You cannot have one without the other. You shall be holy for I am holy.

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In first Peter four, 16, Peter is referring back to the book of Leviticus, where the Lord God told the

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Israelites to be different from the Canaanites. The Israelites were to live differently from the nations that surrounded them.

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Why? Because the Israelites belong to the Lord God and he had a purpose for them and they were to be holy.

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And this is the same message that the Lord God has given to the church. You have been called out of your former ignorance.

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You have been called out of the darkness. You have been called into the light. You have been called out of death into life and now as obedient children, you too must be holy.

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It is entirely inconsistent for a Christian to live in sexual sin because the

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Lord God has called us for an entirely different purpose. Why should we abstain from sexual sin?

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Because the Lord God is the avenger. Because the Lord God has a different purpose for us.

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And reason number three, look at verse eight. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God who gives his

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Holy Spirit to you. Beloved, we must abstain from sexual sin because of the

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Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit have to do with it? In the book of Corinthians, Paul writes to the

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Corinthian church and in chapter six, verses 18 through 20, he says flee from sexual immorality.

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Every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

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Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God? You are not your own.

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You have been bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Beloved, your body is a temple of the

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Holy Spirit. Your body is not your own. Your body has been purchased. You have been bought with a price, the blood of Christ.

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You, Galatians 2 .20, have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer you who live but Christ lives in you.

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And the life you now live in the flesh, you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you.

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For the Christian, we need to remember that we are not our own. We belong to the

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Lord God. Your body belongs to the Lord God. You have been purchased. You have been bought with a price.

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You have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and you are one spirit with him.

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Paul reminds us of this truth in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 15 through 17. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

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Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?

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For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the

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Lord becomes one spirit with him. Beloved, you are one with the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And being one with the Lord Jesus Christ means that you have become one spirit with him.

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Not only is our body for the Lord, but our bodies are of the

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Lord. This means that you are a living spiritual temple in which

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Christ lives. You are a living spiritual temple in which the Holy Spirit resides.

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Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of sexual immorality? Never. May it never be.

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Sexual immorality involves the Lord God and it profanes the Lord God. As Christians, our bodies are not our own, we are members of Christ.

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And we are temples of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us to indwell.

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Beloved, your body is the temple of the Lord and his temple is for worship.

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Thus, your body has one chief end and that is to glorify the

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Lord God and that is to enjoy him forever. And this end, glorifying

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God, enjoying God, will bring you the greatest joy, the greatest fulfillment, the greatest contentment, and the greatest satisfaction in life.

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Sexual immorality is a lie. It may boast, it may promise these things, but it will never deliver them.

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In this world, sexual sin is everywhere and the temptation to it is unrelenting, it's oppressive.

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But what does the Lord God require that you abstain from sexual immorality?

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And how do you accomplish what the Lord God requires? By knowing how to control your body, by not being like the

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Gentiles who do not know God, and by not taking advantage of others, nor by being taken advantage of.

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And why should you accomplish what the Lord God requires? Because the Lord God is the avenger, because the

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Lord God has a different purpose for us and because of his Holy Spirit. We are the temple of God's Holy Spirit.

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Beloved, you can live a holy life even amidst our immoral and wicked culture.

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The Thessalonians were able to do it and so can you. So beloved, excel still more.

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It's also important for us to remember Pride Month. It's important for us to remember what's happening in the world around us.

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Everywhere that six -colored rainbow flag is flown, that is a foothold for the adversary and he is deceiving men and women everywhere that true joy and true happiness is found in the creation rather than the creator,

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Jesus Christ. And for the church, this needs to be a matter of diligent prayer.

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Every time you see a rainbow flag, you need to be praying for those who are being deceived by it, for those who have been deceived by it, that the

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Lord God would grant them the repentance that leads to saving faith. What our world needs so desperately is not our antagonism.

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It's not our condemnation or our judgmental sneers. Our world needs

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Christ. Our world needs to know that Christ is better. Christ is infinitely better than sexual immorality.

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He is infinitely better than material success and riches. He's infinitely better than power, prestige, and popularity.

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Our world needs to know that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he is returning and it is the church.

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It is the church who has been commissioned to proclaim this truth. So beloved, proclaim this truth.

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Let's pray. Our Father, we confess to you that we live in a wicked world and that wickedness has rubbed off on each one of us in many different ways.

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And Lord, we recognize that in our own strength, we can't obey you. And so Lord, we thank you that you have saved us, that you have accomplished what we could never do.

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You kept the law, you kept the will of God. And Lord, now that you have redeemed us, now that you have reconciled us to the

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Father, now that you have equipped us with your Holy Spirit, I pray, Lord, that we would walk in the same path of Jesus Christ.

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Help us to abstain from sexual immorality. Help us to see it clearly. It's not truth, it's a lie.

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It may look good, but it will never deliver anything good. It will only devastate us.

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And so Lord, I pray that as a church, we would steer far from it. Sexual immorality is a real problem in the church.

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So Lord, I pray that you would purify your church, that you would purify each one of us. I pray,

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Lord, that you would protect our church from people who would seek to defraud us. Protect us,

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Lord. Help us to see things clearly in light of your word. And Lord, we exalt you and we thank you that even though we live amongst a sinful people and we are a sinful people, you are gracious and merciful and patient.

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Lord, we sin against you many, many times and you are always faithful to forgive us. You bring us back.

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Lord, help us not to tarry. Help us not to be led astray, but help us to pursue you with all of our hearts.