1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 We've been studying through the Ten Commandments, and today we come to number seven in the list. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,080 It's found in your Bible in Exodus chapter 20 verse 14. 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:18,120 And it says, You shall not commit adultery. 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:27,720 Jesus called society of his day an adulterous and sinful generation. 5 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,760 I wonder how he would describe ours. 6 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:36,920 It is flooded with the philosophy of permissiveness. 7 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:43,400 Statements like these are used to describe attitudes towards sexual relationships in 8 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:44,400 our day. 9 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:50,200 Well, as long as it involves two consenting adults, who cares? 10 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:51,920 It's a matter of personal privacy. 11 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,400 It's no one else's business. 12 00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:01,040 As long as precautions are taken, it's okay. 13 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:04,120 If no one's hurt, why not? 14 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,000 Everybody is doing it. 15 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,280 It's healthy to live together before making the commitment of marriage. 16 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:15,480 Otherwise, how do you know if it'll work out? 17 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:23,400 Statements like these reveal ideas that come from a twisted morality that can only be described 18 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:27,360 in biblical terms of sin. 19 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:34,440 The standard of measuring right and wrong is not based upon the most recent Gallup poll, 20 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:41,280 nor is it based upon the lifestyle that is so often presented in television soap operas 21 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,180 or on the movie screen. 22 00:01:44,180 --> 00:01:51,360 The Bible is God's word, and the Bible presents to us the only standard for right and wrong 23 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,720 that we can employ. 24 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:58,440 And it's the only one which will ultimately matter, for it is the one that God will use 25 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:01,920 in the judgment. 26 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:07,720 There are those, undoubtedly, who will find that God's moral standard of sexual purity 27 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,080 is old-fashioned or Victorian. 28 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:16,960 In fact, I believe it's neither old-fashioned or Victorian. 29 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:22,440 It is as relevant today as it ever has been. 30 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:27,480 God's standard of sexual purity is wise and healthy. 31 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:34,040 Furthermore, it is not backward or bashful about sexuality. 32 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:42,080 What God says about it is straightforward, honest, and realistic. 33 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,920 The Bible tells us that sexuality is from God. 34 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:52,000 It was God Himself who made us male and female. 35 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:53,000 Sexuality is His idea. 36 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,100 It's His creation. 37 00:02:55,100 --> 00:03:00,960 He is the one who provided for the one flesh experience. 38 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:10,240 God gave the gift of the marriage union to provide His creatures with intimacy, pleasure, 39 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:14,600 procreation, and protection. 40 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,420 It is the highest form of human love. 41 00:03:18,420 --> 00:03:22,140 It is holy and pure. 42 00:03:22,140 --> 00:03:29,800 As its creator, God knows what will make the expression of marital love the most fulfilling, 43 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,080 wonderful expression that it can be. 44 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:41,560 Likewise, He knows what will destroy it so that it becomes only a selfish game, a lonely 45 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:46,960 experience, and an empty obligation. 46 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:53,640 That is why God placed in the Ten Commandments this word that says, you shall not commit 47 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,320 adultery. 48 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:02,800 To understand why God says this, we need to remind ourselves again that the sexual relationship 49 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:09,840 of marriage is pure, holy, God-given, and wonderful. 50 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:18,600 God also says that any sexual activity outside of marriage pollutes sexuality. 51 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:26,080 The sexual union is a profound and complex union involving much more than just physical 52 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:29,000 oneness. 53 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:37,560 Therefore God forbids not only adultery, irrespective of any so-called mutual consent, 54 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,920 but He also forbids premarital sex. 55 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:49,520 Deuteronomy 22 verses 13-21, 1 Corinthians 6-9, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1-8 all speak to 56 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:51,320 that issue. 57 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,440 He forbids incest. 58 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:57,120 Leviticus 18 verses 6-18. 59 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:04,880 Sodomy Leviticus 20 verses 14-16, Romans 1, 1 Timothy 1-10. 60 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:13,760 Prostitution Proverbs 6 verses 24-33, Proverbs 7 verses 6-27. 61 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:18,560 Rape Deuteronomy 22 verses 25-29. 62 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:23,240 Bestiality Leviticus 18 verses 23. 63 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:24,240 And pornography. 64 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:30,040 Now of course the objection that might be heard is, well listen, those things are fun. 65 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,360 It's pleasurable to do those things. 66 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:37,680 Do you know that the Bible absolutely agrees with you? 67 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,560 The Bible admits that these things are pleasurable. 68 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:48,680 In Hebrews 11-25 it speaks of the enjoyment of the pleasure of sin. 69 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:53,040 God knows that sin can be pleasurable. 70 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:57,820 But I left out one important word when I quoted from that verse. 71 00:05:57,820 --> 00:06:06,300 God speaks there about the passing, the passing pleasure of sin. 72 00:06:06,300 --> 00:06:10,280 The pleasure of sin is only for a moment. 73 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:21,600 A God-given pleasure that is used or gotten in a way that God forbids is sin. 74 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:28,920 The moment of pleasure, which can be brought by an experience like that, brings consequences 75 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:36,920 that can last a lifetime or even an eternity. 76 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:44,960 These pollutants that I have mentioned do not build a person's ego. 77 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:48,080 They do not meet certain needs. 78 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:52,160 They do not liberate a person. 79 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:56,680 All of these things that we put under the heading of adultery this morning actually 80 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:58,440 destroy. 81 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:00,480 They destroy. 82 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,440 That is why God forbids it. 83 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,760 In the first place these things destroy one's own soul. 84 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:18,040 In Proverbs 6-27 it says, Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? 85 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:27,840 When a person brings to himself a sinful, pleasurable, momentary experience like adultery, 86 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:35,920 he does so with consequences that will remain with him and, as I say, may last a lifetime 87 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,040 and into eternity itself. 88 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:45,880 God furthermore says in Proverbs that the one who commits adultery with a woman is 89 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:50,120 lacking in sins. 90 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,880 He who would destroy himself does it. 91 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,840 Do you get what God says there? 92 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:02,240 He who would destroy himself does it. 93 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:10,120 These pollutants, these moral pollutants, destroy us folks from the inside out. 94 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:14,680 But not only do they destroy us as individuals, they destroy society. 95 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:20,560 Historically, these things, as I've suggested, have been outlawed in our society. 96 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:22,760 Why is that? 97 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:30,840 Is it not because a people in a different generation had more moral sense than perhaps 98 00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:37,440 ours and they recognize the breaking of this commandment will undermine the very fabric 99 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:39,440 of society? 100 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:46,800 Today, we live ignoring these laws that are on the books of our states and there are some 101 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:56,040 attempts even to overthrow legislation prohibiting adultery, homosexuality, etc., etc. 102 00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:03,320 If that is accomplished, then you may be assured that the moral undermining of our society 103 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:04,960 will be speeded up. 104 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:11,360 It is interesting that even in atheistic countries where there is no belief in God and no study 105 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:17,520 of the Ten Commandments, there are nonetheless laws against these activities. 106 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,320 They are not promoted. 107 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:21,000 They are severely limited. 108 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:27,280 In atheistic countries, the two of us who had the opportunity to be on the other side 109 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:40,880 of the Iron Curtain last summer noticed how much moral fiber there is of a certain sense 110 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:45,320 in those totalitarian systems. 111 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:50,720 Now they are ultimately immoral because they prohibit personal freedoms, but there is a 112 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,060 certain moral character to them nonetheless. 113 00:09:54,060 --> 00:10:00,840 When you cross into East Germany, you travel through Poland, you travel through Czechoslovakia, 114 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:04,720 you will not see pornography. 115 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:10,640 There are not shops advertising their sexual wares. 116 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:15,400 There is not prostitution openly promoted in the streets. 117 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:16,720 Why? 118 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:22,560 Because they outlaw it, knowing that it will undermine the society they are trying to build. 119 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:28,960 That you cross into Austria as we did out of Czechoslovakia and you will immediately 120 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:37,820 be confronted with all kinds of advertisements regarding pornography and sexual sin. 121 00:10:37,820 --> 00:10:42,640 Is there any wonder that the Western civilization is crumbling and decaying in Europe as well 122 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:52,360 as in America because we have lost our sense of right and wrong when it comes to this commandment? 123 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:57,680 The breaking of this commandment not only destroys one's own soul, it destroys society, 124 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:00,120 and it destroys God's order in the world. 125 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,680 Romans chapter 1 speaks about that. 126 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:08,600 God has established certain order among mankind. 127 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:13,720 That order is destroyed when this commandment is broken. 128 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:19,200 Therefore God has built in certain consequences of this kind of activity. 129 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:27,160 This is found in certain diseases and mental conditions that come as a result of it. 130 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,200 These pollutants destroy. 131 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,560 Why does God give this commandment? 132 00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:35,680 Does he do it because he is mean? 133 00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:39,400 Does God wish to deprive us of pleasure? 134 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:40,400 Not at all. 135 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:44,000 God gives it in compassion for us. 136 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:51,660 God gives this commandment in love because he knows that it will destroy something precious. 137 00:11:51,660 --> 00:11:59,000 He knows and wants us to be free to enjoy his gift to its fullest. 138 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:04,520 Therefore he says to us, you shall not commit adultery. 139 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:09,120 But there is more in God's word to be found regarding this subject than in Exodus chapter 140 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,680 20 and in the law. 141 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:17,400 I invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew and the fifth chapter. 142 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:24,120 Here we find a statement regarding this very commandment given by Jesus. 143 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:29,240 In the Sermon on the Mount, several times Jesus refers to an Old Testament law and then 144 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:34,620 elaborates on it as he does in verse 27 of Matthew 5. 145 00:12:34,620 --> 00:12:39,340 You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. 146 00:12:39,340 --> 00:12:46,360 But I say to you that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery 147 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,000 with her already in his heart. 148 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:58,480 So what the Bible teaches us is that adultery is also committed mentally through fantasy. 149 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,200 Our thoughts can lead us to the breaking of this commandment. 150 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:09,920 We may never break it physically, but the very lust and the very thought process of 151 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:15,340 the heart of a person can lead him or her to the breaking of it. 152 00:13:15,340 --> 00:13:21,040 It is committed mentally through our fantasies. 153 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:25,440 That means that there may be many of us here today who could say that we have never committed 154 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:32,200 adultery in a literal physical sense, but if we allow the Spirit of God to take this 155 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:38,200 verse and shine it into our hearts, it would expose us as guilty. 156 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:42,640 Indeed I don't think it would be exaggerating to say that there could not be one of us here 157 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:49,040 this morning who knows what these things are all about, who could honestly pick up the 158 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:53,080 stone and be the first to cast it at someone else. 159 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:59,200 And we understand that adultery is a matter that can be committed in the mind as well 160 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,400 as with our bodies. 161 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:09,440 Adultery is also committed mentally through fantasy. 162 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:13,240 But there is another aspect of adultery that I want to mention before we go on and is found 163 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:23,360 in the book of James, the fourth chapter. 164 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:29,480 James speaks here to a worldly and fleshly group. 165 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:35,880 And he says in verse 4 of the fourth chapter, You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship 166 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,280 with the world is hostility toward God? 167 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:44,280 For whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 168 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:50,480 Please understand that by world he is talking about the world system of evil. 169 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:55,120 He is not talking about becoming friends with people who don't know Christ. 170 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:56,380 We are to befriend them. 171 00:14:56,380 --> 00:14:59,560 We are to build bridges into their lives. 172 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:06,920 But he is saying that if we become friends with that system of evil that controls the 173 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:13,120 world and regenerates, that system that is headed up by Satan, if we become friends with 174 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:23,000 that system then we have committed adultery spiritually through friendship with the world 175 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,920 system. 176 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:30,620 So you see adultery can be committed physically by the physical act. 177 00:15:30,620 --> 00:15:37,560 It can be committed mentally through fantasy and it can be committed spiritually through 178 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,240 friendship with the world. 179 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:47,760 And so when we begin to look at adultery in its broadest context we see that all of us 180 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:51,600 ultimately fall under its shadow. 181 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:57,720 In the Old Testament God again and again and again spoke to his people Israel and called 182 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:01,440 them to return to him from their adultery. 183 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:06,200 He was speaking of the false gods that they worshiped. 184 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:12,720 And in the book of Hosea, Hosea takes to himself a wife of harlotry. 185 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:19,440 She forsakes him and goes out to become a prostitute. 186 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,060 In love he sought her. 187 00:16:21,060 --> 00:16:22,640 He waited for her. 188 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:27,420 His arms were stretched out to her until the day that he went and found her and brought 189 00:16:27,420 --> 00:16:29,720 her to himself again. 190 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:31,040 What is the picture in that book? 191 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:32,800 Why is it there in the Old Testament? 192 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:40,080 It is a beautiful picture of God's love for his adulterous people. 193 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:48,000 God reaches out his arms even today to his children who are committing adultery spiritually. 194 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:54,200 To those of us who have loved the world and who are living for the world, God reaches 195 00:16:54,200 --> 00:17:00,200 out in love to us and pleads with us to return to himself and to be faithful. 196 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,640 I trust that that would be the attitude of every one of our hearts. 197 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:10,540 That we would forsake the adultery that we have been involved in and would come back 198 00:17:10,540 --> 00:17:15,160 to our Lord, our husband, and love him alone. 199 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:16,680 Give our loyalty to him. 200 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:21,320 Be faithful to him. 201 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:26,320 How can we help each other in this important matter of morality? 202 00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,760 How can we help ourselves to avoid sin? 203 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,360 I would like to make four or five specific suggestions. 204 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:39,040 In the first place, we can help by not defrauding another person. 205 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:44,040 It speaks about this in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 6. 206 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:47,960 It warns there that we are not to defraud another person. 207 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,720 What in the world does that mean? 208 00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:59,280 Biblically speaking, to defraud means to excite in another person, to arouse in another person 209 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:05,840 sexual desires which cannot be righteously satisfied. 210 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:08,020 That's defrauding. 211 00:18:08,020 --> 00:18:14,400 It means to entice another person, to arouse another person so that they have a problem 212 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,840 with lust that cannot be righteously satisfied. 213 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:20,960 How is that done? 214 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:25,280 Well it can be done by the way that we dress. 215 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:30,560 There are some women that surely do not understand the male mind by the way that they expose 216 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,280 their bodies. 217 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:38,520 It can be done through a touch. 218 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:46,120 Sometimes there is much more communicated in a touch than just flesh upon flesh. 219 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:52,520 It can be done on a date with a young man or a young woman who begin to caress each 220 00:18:52,520 --> 00:19:01,360 other and touch parts of the body that should not be touched by another person. 221 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:03,360 That is defrauding. 222 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:05,160 The Bible warns us against it. 223 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:11,360 It says God is the avenger of all of those who are treated that way. 224 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:19,680 For us to defraud another person is to lead that other person into temptation and share 225 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:24,400 in the guilt of his sin as well as be guilty of ourselves. 226 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:29,920 How can we help ourselves and another person by not defrauding another person? 227 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:34,560 Secondly, by obeying biblical commands regarding marriage. 228 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,680 We can help ourselves and others that way. 229 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:43,600 1 Corinthians 7 verses 2 through 5 remind us, husbands and wives, of the duty that we 230 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:46,200 have to each other. 231 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:50,520 In marriage our bodies do not belong to ourselves. 232 00:19:50,520 --> 00:20:00,600 We are never to use marital love as a weapon against our mate. 233 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:06,240 It is never to be used to manipulate, to get your own way. 234 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,880 God's word absolutely forbids that kind of behavior. 235 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:16,600 It is sad, but I believe that it is nonetheless true that there are some people who have, 236 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:26,280 from one perspective, been driven into adultery by a mate that did not obey the word of God 237 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,680 with regard to the marital obligations. 238 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:31,920 We can help one another. 239 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:38,480 We can protect one another by reminding ourselves of what the Bible teaches regarding our marriage 240 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,620 duties. 241 00:20:42,620 --> 00:20:52,040 We can help one another and others ourselves by recognizing that marriage brings new priorities. 242 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:57,480 We cannot expect our relationships from before marriage to continue on in the same level 243 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,500 after marriage. 244 00:21:00,500 --> 00:21:06,600 We have to understand that when that person comes into our lives as wife or husband, those 245 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:12,120 relationships we have had before as wonderful, even as holy as they may have been, now become 246 00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:13,120 different. 247 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:16,080 There is a different priority to them. 248 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:23,120 There are some people who unwisely try to continue on those relationships from before 249 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:24,120 marriage. 250 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:28,660 They cannot understand why the husband or wife becomes jealous. 251 00:21:28,660 --> 00:21:30,680 It is very clear why they become jealous. 252 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,240 It is a holy jealousy. 253 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:37,040 Those relationships cannot be continued on on the same level. 254 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:43,680 There can still be friendship, but there must be a certain distance now as well because 255 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:49,280 of this new priority, this one that God has brought into my life. 256 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:51,280 How can we help each other and ourselves? 257 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:59,080 Number four, by being aware of the danger of counseling situations with members of the 258 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:00,960 opposite sex. 259 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:06,880 Now listen, this is not only true of pastors and professional counselors, it is true of 260 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:09,880 every one of us who is here. 261 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:15,520 We have to be careful of getting into a situation where we become a counselor to a person of 262 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:20,200 the opposite sex who is having a problem in marriage. 263 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:28,160 I have heard time and time again of problems starting innocently where a man at work feels 264 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:35,360 sorry for the secretary who is having problems in her marriage. 265 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:37,200 He asks, well, what can I do? 266 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,000 Or would you like to talk to somebody about it? 267 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,400 He sits down to become the counselor. 268 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:48,560 When that began innocently, it began with a sincere desire to help before long. 269 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,360 There is something more going on there than just the sharing of counseling. 270 00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:59,200 There begins to be not only sympathy, but romantic interest, and the temptation to adultery 271 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,160 is very real. 272 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:07,960 I beg of you to be aware of situations like that, and if you are involved in it, you back 273 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:16,960 out of it just as fast as you can. 274 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,640 There is another situation that I think that we need to be aware of so that we can help 275 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,840 ourselves and others. 276 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:31,800 We can do that by avoiding what I call mind pollution. 277 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:37,040 I'm thinking here of such things as soap operas, for example. 278 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,840 What are soap operas all about? 279 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,400 Why are they so popular? 280 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:46,280 What are they selling? 281 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:50,240 Why do you find those so attractive? 282 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,280 You know why. 283 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,160 They sell sex. 284 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:03,000 A survey was done recently, and I think it's in this month's issue of Life magazine, which 285 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,200 talks to teenagers and asks questions of them. 286 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:11,040 One of the things that teenagers admitted was that they like soap operas, and the reason 287 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:17,560 they like to watch soap operas is because of the blatant sexuality. 288 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:25,480 It is possible to get hooked on soap operas, and I may be talking to some today who are. 289 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:30,040 That is mind pollution, my friends. 290 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:35,160 Another example of this would be literature that we read. 291 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:40,560 Even literature that is assigned by some high school teachers is not fit to be read. 292 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:47,120 I hope you parents know what your teenagers are reading, what they are required to read 293 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:48,400 at school. 294 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,760 If you don't know, you should find out. 295 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:57,160 Some of our kids who go to this church have had to read material that I'm sure if you 296 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:04,960 parents knew what they were reading, you would be absolutely amazed and angry, but you don't 297 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:05,960 know. 298 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,400 You haven't taken time to find out. 299 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,120 It is mind pollution. 300 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:18,200 It is assigned under the guise of being aware of contemporary literature, but the result 301 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:23,000 is mind and moral corruption. 302 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:29,520 I would include here movies that include gutter language, or suggestive, or even blatant sexual 303 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,640 themes. 304 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:37,880 I cannot understand how a person who is serious about his relationship to Jesus Christ can 305 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:46,560 go to a movie like that or watch it on television because of the mind pollution that is involved. 306 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:52,000 Because you see what we allow into our minds affects our morals. 307 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:57,880 Jesus said as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. 308 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:05,680 You see how we begin to think affects what we do. 309 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:12,040 You say, well pastor, I agree with what you're saying, but it's too late for me. 310 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,880 I've already broken this commandment. 311 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:23,680 Well, I've got bad news for you and some good news. 312 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:32,520 If you have broken this commandment, you shall not commit adultery physically, mentally, 313 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:35,480 or spiritually. 314 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:46,680 There's no way for you to go to heaven apart from the forgiveness and the cleansing that 315 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:50,680 comes in Jesus Christ. 316 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,680 That's the good news. 317 00:26:54,680 --> 00:27:00,480 On the one side you see God is absolutely holy and there cannot be one sin in his presence. 318 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,960 However little we think it is. 319 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:09,880 It's only in the mind, it's still sin in God's sight, and he cannot receive it into 320 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,920 his presence. 321 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:20,640 There is no way for one who has broken the seventh commandment to enter into heaven apart 322 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:28,080 from faith in Jesus Christ so that his soul is cleansed from sin and he's given perfect 323 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:33,280 righteousness by which to appear before God. 324 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:42,040 Jesus said in his word through the apostle John, if we confess our sins, he's faithful 325 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:48,440 and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 326 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:56,880 You see my friend, I care not how deeply stained may be the record of your life. 327 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,920 And it may be very stained. 328 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:07,120 I talked to a man one time, he was my barber for a short period of time. 329 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:18,120 He told me that he had committed adultery with over 900 women and boasted about it. 330 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:22,720 You may be in that kind of a state. 331 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,200 Maybe you've only broken it once. 332 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,560 Maybe it's only been in the mind. 333 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:36,760 I want you to know that there is cleansing in Jesus Christ. 334 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:43,600 The Lord Jesus Christ is able to take the sponge and cleanse that record book that now 335 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:50,720 contains before God the record of all your deeds. 336 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:59,160 He's able to give you a new life and a new heart and a new mind. 337 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:05,960 However polluted, however stained it be, he is able to make you a new creature in himself. 338 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,040 That's the best news you can hear. 339 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:15,760 Will you let him do that for you? 340 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:26,840 You understand that what you see, what you hear, what you read, and the people that you 341 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:36,400 associate with determine what you will become. 342 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:41,000 How does that grid fit up against where you are today? 343 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,960 What are you becoming? 344 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,160 Stand back and look at your life for just a moment. 345 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,420 What are you becoming a year from now, five years, a lifetime from now? 346 00:29:51,420 --> 00:29:55,800 What will you be? 347 00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:00,560 Because what you will be, you are right now becoming. 348 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:05,240 I can't help but believe that there are some changes that need to be made in our congregation 349 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:09,240 this morning in the lives of all of us. 350 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:10,240 Definite changes. 351 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:15,600 There need to be some right choices made, some new habits begun, and all of those depending 352 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:20,640 upon the Holy Spirit to enable us to keep them. 353 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:25,100 God says, you shall not commit adultery. 354 00:30:25,100 --> 00:30:31,520 He says that because he desperately loves us and wants us to know the fullness of the 355 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:37,360 pleasures he has given us to enjoy. 356 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,760 Will you let Jesus Christ be the Lord of your life today so that you really can know those 357 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:42,760 things? 358 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,760 Let's bow together. 359 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:54,060 I may be talking to someone right now who has never trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. 360 00:30:54,060 --> 00:30:57,120 You may be religious. 361 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,880 You may have been through rituals. 362 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:07,600 You may belong to a church, even a good church. 363 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:12,640 You may even be a moral person who has never physically at least broken this commandment. 364 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:19,260 But today you stand in need, my friend, of salvation. 365 00:31:19,260 --> 00:31:22,200 Will you today pray something like this, Lord Jesus? 366 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,760 I acknowledge my sins. 367 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:32,840 I thank you for dying for my sins on the cross. 368 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:38,000 I receive you as my Savior and Lord. 369 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,400 Forgive my sins. 370 00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,440 Cleanse my life. 371 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:48,480 And make me the kind of person you want me to be. 372 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:54,040 If you prayed that or something like that, God knows your heart. 373 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,560 God knows your desire this morning for being clean and forgiven. 374 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,880 And oh, how His arms are stretched out to you. 375 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:05,440 If you prayed that prayer, would you lift your hand and then put it down? 376 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,820 There's not going to be a come forward kind of invitation today, but I would like to give 377 00:32:09,820 --> 00:32:15,080 you this opportunity to acknowledge what you've done in your heart. 378 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:20,160 By the uplifted hand, will you say today, for the first time I've received Jesus Christ 379 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,680 as my Savior and my Lord, I've prayed that prayer? 380 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:29,080 Is there anyone? 381 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:35,600 But I'm assuming I speak to many of God's children. 382 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:40,580 My brother, my sister, what decisions do you need to make today? 383 00:32:40,580 --> 00:32:44,320 What changes, what choices are before you? 384 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:52,080 God help each of us and strengthen us by His indwelling Spirit to do the right thing. 385 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:58,160 Lord thank you for making it possible for us to be whiter than snow. 386 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:07,640 That though our sins may be a scarlet, they can be forgiven and be like wool. 387 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:17,200 Thank you Lord Jesus for your precious blood that cleanses from the stain of our sin and 388 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,400 makes us right before God. 389 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:28,880 Lord, today we live in a society that would be described like that one which you lived, 390 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,440 adulterous and sinful. 391 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:37,620 Keep us pure. 392 00:33:37,620 --> 00:33:50,080 Make us a holy people who live before the world differently and who can be your channels 393 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:55,160 through whom you will work to bring others to faith in Jesus Christ. 394 00:33:55,160 --> 00:34:04,520 Lord this week, may it be so, may our lives be so pure, not self-righteous, but pure and 395 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:11,520 holy so that others can see Jesus through us. 396 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:35,320 And we pray this in His name, Amen.