Sex and the Christian - 12

As I've already noted, and as you already know, today is July 4th, which is the day that we designate as the birthday of our nation.

It was a day when the Declaration of Independence was officially signed and declared and projected, and that becomes the date to which we point the beginning of the United States of America. And we need to remember that the United States was founded primarily to safeguard religious liberty. That is largely forgotten in our day and age where there's a lot of emphasis upon freedom, but we forget that the freedom that was in view at the beginning was first and foremost freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our hearts rather than being forced to worship God according to a state-imposed form of religion.

Now, nobody believes, nobody pretends that our founding fathers were perfect people. They were not because they, like us, were sinners, some sinners saved by grace and some sinners who never came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were sinful and fallen sons and daughters of Adam, just like we are, and therefore they had blind spots, they had misunderstandings about things, but nevertheless, there certainly was a consensus in those early days that we owe our blessings and our liberties to God Almighty above, and that we are ruled by His providence, and that the Bible, the Scriptures, are our guide for living in this nation.

That was pretty well understood even by those who did not believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world and the Savior of their sins. There was a general consensus about these matters which has so largely been lost in our day. A gradual erosion over the years of so many things that were clear in the beginning. We have moved from freedom to worship God to living without any restraints. We have changed the definition, the focus of freedom. We now have adopted an idea that we are free to accommodate our practice of Christianity to suit our desires rather than to conform them to the Word of God. And many other things like this have changed, and what is the result? The result is that today America is nearly as pagan as ancient Rome in the days of the Apostle Paul. And if we don't realize that, if we don't think that, then we're not really understanding what's gone on, what has happened in our nation over the last 200 years and particularly the last several decades. For that reason, therefore, serious Christians are experiencing growing hostility and opposition to just trying to live a simple, quiet Christian life in this world.

But just living that way is a great offense to many people around us today. And therefore, our text today in 1 Thessalonians 4 is as relevant to us today as it was to Paul and to the people of his day. And so looking now at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 1 through 8, we're going to focus on three areas. First of all, a general exhortation, verses 1 and 2. Secondly, the first application of that general exhortation in verses 3 through 6. And then finally, the reasons why we must obey this exhortation.

But there's a general exhortation. It begins in verse 1 when Paul says, Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus. And there are two things that connect what Paul says here with the rest of the book. First of all, that word finally. Almost always translated finally, the Greek word that underlies that translation. But that's a bit misleading because this word finally doesn't mean what we normally mean by finally, which means to us in conclusion, we're at the end, finally, one more thing and I'm done. That's not what Paul is saying. This word finally means as for the rest or in addition. It is to be understood as a word of transition. It's not that Paul is saying I'm done and then goes on for two more chapters.

We made jokes about that. Paul's finally was a lot like sermons that we hear sometimes. I'm almost done.

One more thing and then another five or ten minutes maybe after that. But that's not what Paul is doing. His finally is to say now in addition to what I've already said in chapters 1, 2, and 3, there are some more things that need to be said. And so as for the rest, pay attention to what follows.

So there's first of all a connection to the rest of the book, chapters 4 and 5. But then there's that little word then. Finally, then, brethren. And again, that Greek particle could be translated several different ways.

It's often translated therefore. Finally, therefore, brethren. And that word points us backward. So we've got the word finally that points us forward.

We've got the word therefore or then that points us backward. And what's it pointing us backward to? It's pointing us backward to verse 13 and Paul's prayer for holiness for the Thessalonian believers. Remember this prayer described in verse 11 and 12 and 13 says this in verse 13. So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. So Paul prays for the holiness of God's people and then he says, now I will explain to you exactly what I mean by that. In addition, therefore, in addition to what I've said, therefore, to help you understand what holiness is, here's what I'm going to tell you. And following that, we have the actual general exhortation and I read it all now again. Finally, then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more just as you have received from us how you ought to walk and please God, for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. Let me run through seven quick questions about this general exhortation.

Number one, to whom is it addressed? The answer is to Christians. Brethren, this is a word to Christians.

There's a lot here that would help unbelievers if they would pay attention to it, but Paul is not directing these words to those who are outside of Christ, who are outside the church, but he is directing them very specifically and pointedly to those who are Christians. Question number two, how important is this exhortation? Apparently, it is very important. It has high importance indicated by that double verb, that double appeal. We urge and exhort in the Lord and you don't find that very often in Paul's writings. You'll often use one word or the other, we urge you to do this, we exhort you to do that, but in this case, he doubles them up and that is for emphasis. This is a very important exhortation.

Question number three, what is the basis for making this appeal to these people? And the basis is their union in Christ and that's the import of these words in the Lord. Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus. That is, we urge and exhort you as you are those who are in Christ. You are in vital union with Christ. You are joined to Christ.

You have the life of Christ within you. And because of that, I not only have the obligation, but I have every right to give you the word of Christ as to what he says to those who are joined to him by faith. Question number four, what category does this exhortation fall into? And by that I mean, is this theology, is this doctrine about salvation, about God, about the things that we would consider to be doctrinal, though sometimes we're wrong when we think that practical Christian living is not doctrine, for indeed it is. But the point is that the category here is practical Christian living.

Forging and exhorting you about what? That you should abound more and more just as you have received from us how you ought to walk and please God. That's Christian living language. How we walk, how we live, how we comport ourselves as Christians. And so this falls into the category of practical Christian living.

I have a fifth question. How common was the exhortation that Paul is giving? How widespread was this exhortation known to the people of God? And evidently it is very well known because he says, I've given this to you before. And he makes reference to that again before this text is over. Nothing new. It's a reminder. You heard this from me when I was in Thessalonica.

You're hearing it again. That's indicated by those words, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and please God. This is common doctrine, common teaching. There is a standard of universal Christian conduct among all believers.

Not universal among all peoples, but universal among all Christians. This is what I taught to you. This is what I teach to the Corinthians. This is what I teach to the Ephesians. This is what I teach to all of God's people. I told you this before. I'm telling you this again. This is the way that all people who name the name of Christ are expected to live. And for how long?

What's the duration? Well, this is a lifelong pursuit. We urge and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more and more and more.

Some translations as you are already doing. But the idea is that no matter how well you are now living, according to these words, you haven't arrived at sinless perfection. You haven't arrived at final holiness. You haven't arrived at the final goal. This is a lifelong pursuit to become more and more obedient to the commands of God in regard to the way you ought to live.

So just plan to hunker down and work on this for the rest of your life. And finally, by what authority does Paul impose these instructions upon them? And this is verse two. For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. Two words.

What are they? First of all, commandments. And secondly, through the Lord Jesus. This is the authority. This word commandments is a word that is often used in a military setting of the orders that are passed down from a higher officer to the officer under him who may pass it down to the one under him who may pass it down to those under him. But everybody understands this is not an option.

This is not a suggestion. This is an order, a command. It must be obeyed because it comes down from an authority who is above you. And so these commandments, as you know what commandments we gave you, and then that phrase through the Lord Jesus, this tells you who the authority is that gave the command.

This is the source of the authority. These orders came from Jesus. These orders come from Christ.

These are divine orders that have been given to me to give to you. These are not, we'll see this again in this passage before it's over. These are not the thoughts of the apostle Paul.

These are not his independent ideas. This is not, as some people are prone to do, something that we can set aside and we can say, oh, that's just Paul. That's not Jesus.

Yes, it is Jesus. Everything Jesus said isn't found in the four gospels. Everything Jesus commanded is not found in the red letters of your Bible. Jesus had apostles to whom he gave orders and told them to pass them on to his people with his authority.

And that's what Paul is doing. These are commandments from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And when we get to the end of the passage, we will learn that if you reject these, you're not rejecting man, you're rejecting God.

That's the general exhortation, a general exhortation to godly living, a general exhortation to live according to Christ's commands. No, where here are we told just follow your heart and you'll be fine. No, follow the scriptures and you'll be fine.

Follow the word of God and you'll be fine. Your heart can deceive you. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And even Christians don't have fully perfect, totally sanctified hearts.

Our hearts can deceive us. You don't follow your heart, you follow the Bible. You don't say, well, I prayed about it and I feel peace about it. If the Bible says contrary, then that's nonsense. That's utter nonsense. You may say that, you may feel that, but you're wrong.

Now, there are certain things that the Bible doesn't tell us exactly. Should I accept this opportunity or that opportunity? Should I take this job or that job? Should I go to this school? Should I go to that school? Should I marry this person or that person or this one or this one or this one?

Depending on how active you've been in your social life. I'm smiling now as I say that. But there are things like this that obviously we can't find specific instructions in the Bible. By all means, pray, ask for God's guidance. And to some degree, it pretty much boils down in the final analysis to I have peace about this.

I think this is what I want to do. This is what I'm inclined to do as I have yielded my heart to God and sought His will. And as far as I know, I'm totally submitted to His authority and to His will, and I want to follow His ways. And I'm asking Him for direction, and we sometimes learn that direction. Sometimes we discern that direction by which of these options we feel the best about.

There is a certain element of that. And we decide that that's God's leading in our life because we don't have specific instructions. But when the Bible gives us instructions, we don't pray about it.

We obey. Remember the Old Testament when Achan had defied the commandments of God and had stolen the goods from the enemy and hid them under his tent? And Joshua got down on his knees and was praying to God about it. Oh, dear Lord, what shall I do about this?

And what did God say? Get off your knees and go deal with the problem. You know what to do about it. You know that this was a violation of my word.

You know how to deal with it. Stop praying about it and do something about it. This is not the time for prayer.

This is a time for action. And likewise, when something is clear in God's word, don't be the hypocrite and act so godly and pious. Oh, I'm praying about this. I'm trying to seek God's will about this. If the Bible tells you what the will of Christ is, you don't have to pray about it.

Just do it. It's not, what do others think about this? What do other Christians say about this? How do other Christians view this command?

Your instructions are to obey the Lord, not follow your heart, not seek guidance in prayer for something that God has already given you His will about, not polling other Christians or your friends and trying to find out how they view this matter, but rather whatever God says is His word, that's what I must do. And as I've already pointed out, this general exhortation applies specifically to at least three areas. Number one, to the area of sexual morality, verses three through eight. Number two, to the area of brotherly love, verses nine and following.

And number three, to the area of diligent labor. Christians are to be people who work. But following the general exhortation, we now come to the first application of that exhortation, and this is the area of sexual morality. It is a command for Christians to live according to sexual purity, verse three. For this is the will of God, your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality. This is the will of God, your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality. The first application of this general exhortation to live according to God's will is in the area of sexual morality. This is the will of God.

We're not looking for community standards. We're looking for the will of God. This is the will of God, your sanctification, or that could be translated your holiness.

This is the will of God, that you not commit sexual immorality, that you should abstain from sexual immorality. The Greek word there is porneia. Many of you will know what that word is. It is usually translated fornication, but it doesn't mean what we normally mean by the word fornication.

It's a bigger word than that. It is the word where, the base word from which we get our English word pornography, but what it really has to do with is sexual immorality of all kinds, whatever that sexual immorality may be, whether it's adultery, whether it's premarital sex, whether it's same-sex activity, and any other activity that is not endorsed by God is fornication. It is porneia, and that's what he's talking about here, and what he's telling us by putting that first, general exhortation to Christian living, several things that are in the list, but the first one, and the one that gets the most attention, that has the most verses devoted to it, is sexual morality. What he's telling us is, this is the biggie.

This is the big one. This is the one that probably will trip you up in your effort to live a godly life more than nearly anything else. So pay attention, for fornication is one of the greatest enemies of sanctification. So the first application is no immoral activity, no failure of self-control, and no adultery. No immoral activity, back to verse 3, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality.

Abstain from, that means none, zero, not just cut it down a little bit and be more moderate. Abstain from sexual immorality, porneia, adultery, premarital sex, same-sex relationships, et cetera. In other words, any sexual activity outside of marriage. The Bible is very clear. Hebrews 13, 4, marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators, there's that word again, fornicators, porneia, and adulterers, which is, in biblical language, a narrower subset of fornication, which is the big word, but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. People who go outside the marriage bed in sexual activity are committing fornication, for sure, because that's the big word that includes everything, including adultery, and if it's with another person's spouse, then it's technically adultery, and sexual activity outside of marriage, God will judge because it's sin. It's contrary to his will, his revealed will, what he has told us. Marriage is honorable in all, and the marriage bed is honorable.

It's undefiled. Sexual relationships within marriage are not only permissible, they are designed by God. They're God-honoring. God expects that to occur. God, if you study Paul's writings in 1 Corinthians carefully, you'd have to come to the conclusion God commands that that occur. That's part of what God designed for marriage.

But outside of the marriage relationship, abstain no extramarital sexual activity, for this is the will of God, your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality, from porneia. What about that statement do you not understand? What about that statement is not clear? What about that statement leaves you uncertain as to the will of God? What about that statement would cause you to say, well, I'm going to have to pray and see if God would approve of this relationship I'm having with a person who is not my spouse? What is there about this that you don't understand?

It's as clear as it can possibly be. This is the will of God that you abstain from sexual immorality, period. No immoral activity. Verses 4 and 5 go on to say no failure of self-control, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. In verse 4 we are told what is required and in verse 5 we are told what is forbidden, what is required, and again we'll just take it phrase by phrase.

Each of you, every believer, every Christian man, every Christian woman, every Christian teenage boy, every Christian teenage girl, every one of you, all of you, no exceptions, each of you know, that is understand what you need to do and how to do it. Let every one of you know how to possess his own vessel. You'd be surprised how many variations there are on what that means, and I'm not going to take the time to go into them all now. It hinges primarily on what is meant by that word vessel, and then there's some other things too as you look at the other words, but vessel. But let me just tell you I have concluded and I'm convinced that it just simply means your body. Every one of you needs to know how to possess or control your own body.

We're talking about sex and you've got to have self-control. I will give you one of the variations and probably the most common variation in translating the word vessel instead of meaning body. Some say well that means wife and that's based on things like Peter's statement where he says giving honor unto the wife as to the weaker vessel. There he calls the wife a vessel.

Yeah, but look at that statement again. He calls the wife a vessel like the husband is a vessel. She is the weaker of the two vessels, whatever that means.

We're not going to go into that right now. What does it mean that she's the weaker? But what is clear is that he's not calling the wife a vessel as in contradistinction to the husband being a vessel. He's calling both of them vessels. So that really isn't a very strong text to conclude that this means wife.

But beyond that, it's clear that he's talking to every one of you. Let each of you, let every one of you know how to possess his own vessel. Well, how would that apply to wives if vessel means wife? How would that apply to the unmarried if vessel means wife?

It doesn't work. Vessel means body. Let every one of you know how to control your own body when it comes to this area of sexual morality. To control his own body in holiness and in honor, in holiness toward God, in conformity with God's standards, in honor toward others because, as you know, even in our promiscuous day, failure in this area brings a certain loss of respect, a certain loss of honor, and particularly in the Christian community. It's a damage to your reputation which will never be fully recovered. God forgives sin, but there's always that stain. David, as we know, committed adultery with Bathsheba and was forgiven by God. But have any of you ever forgotten that David was an adulterer?

That stain was a blot on his reputation for the remainder of his life. And Paul says every one of you need to understand how to control your own body in sanctification toward God and in honor before men. Keep your activities clean. Keep your testimony clear. What we need is, number one, knowledge and, number two, self-discipline. To know how to possess or to control your own body. To know that requires knowledge. You need to know what God commands. To know and to control upon the knowledge that you have.

Learn how to control your body in conformity with God's commands. That's what Paul is saying. That's what is required and what is forbidden, verse five, not in possession or rather in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. Not giving bent to lustful passions like those who do not know God.

Paul fully expects that unbelievers are going to live in immorality. The Roman world was rife with it. The Roman world did not consider engagement with prostitutes to be wrong. The Roman world did not consider adultery to be wrong. The Roman world did not consider homosexual activity to be wrong. All of these things were condoned by society. You can even pull some quotations out of ancient writings that say things like, we Roman men have mistresses for pleasure and we have wives to bear legitimate children. That was just kind of a standard philosophy, a standard community standard of that day.

And it's becoming more and more that way in America, isn't it? We just do what we want to do, whatever makes us feel good, whatever gives us pleasure. It's okay and it's okay because everybody's doing it. It's okay because the community says it's all right.

It's okay because sadly even in many churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not particularly frowned upon and certainly is not dealt with seriously. But Paul says that when you live this way, you're living like those who don't know God, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. Immoral living indicates absence of knowing God.

Let me say that again. Immoral living, when this becomes a lifestyle rather than maybe one tragic fall from which one repents and recovers and continues to live a godly life like David did. But those who live in immorality and continue to live in immorality and continue to justify it and excuse it and will not conform to the commandments of God in this area are those who are indicating they don't know God. No matter what they may profess, they evidently don't know God because this is the way that the Gentiles who don't know God live. Those who know God live differently. We're getting into a lot of serious and solemn matters in this text. This is why when a church has a member who lives in immorality and will not repent, will not cease, will not be called back to godliness, when they're stubborn about it like the man in 1 Corinthians 5, the church is obligated to remove that person from membership.

Why? Because by their behavior they're indicating that what? He or she doesn't know God. In other words, by their behavior we can no longer endorse their claim to being a Christian. We're not claiming to see their heart.

God will have to deal with that. But we're claiming with what they indicate by their life. Those who live this way are living like those who don't know God. So if somebody claims to be a Christian but they won't stop living this way, the church has to say, we remove our endorsement of your profession of faith because you're living like somebody who doesn't know God. If you want us to endorse your profession of faith, then live like a Christian.

It's as simple as that. Let your behavior line up with your profession. And if your behavior is a blatant denial of your profession, then it's the church's responsibility to say, we've got to withdraw our endorsement of your profession. You're acting like one who doesn't know God. I've got one other little application here.

This is for some of you will probably not mean a great deal, but I think some of you, it can be very helpful. What does it say again? In verse 5, not in passion of lust like the... And notice the word Paul uses here, Gentiles who do not know God. Not the unbelievers who do not know God, although that's what he's talking about, but the Gentiles who do not know God.

And you'll find this kind of language several times in the New Testament. In other words, where the New Testament refers to unbelievers as Gentiles. And so what's the opposite of a Gentile? Well, in the minds of many people, the opposite of a Gentile is a Jew. And of course, on one level, that's correct.

But that doesn't work here. Gentiles and Jews. If you're talking strictly in the biological level, the racial level, the ethnic level, you've got Gentiles and Jews. But here, Paul is talking about Gentiles and what?

Christians. The opposite of a Gentile is a Christian. Which gets awful close to equating Jews and Christians as opposed to Gentiles. And therefore, it's not so far-fetched to come to the conclusion that Christians are the Israel of God, spiritual Israel.

Now that doesn't go down with some people because it tends to rock a foundation of a certain theological position, but we've got to be honest with Scripture and realize that the Bible uses this kind of language. And therefore, to conclude that, in some instances, depending on the context, but in some instances, the Bible refers to Christians as Jews. In other words, in the broad category of the people of God. You've got the people of God on the one hand and you've got Gentiles on the other hand. The people of God in the Old Testament were primarily Jews. The people of God in the New Testament are Jews and Gentiles who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we can think of them in terms of spiritual Israel as opposed to ungodly Gentiles.

But that's just a passing thought and we have to hurry on. So, the first application of this general exhortation is no immoral activity, no failure of self-control, and finally, no adultery. Verse 6 again, that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified, for God did not call us to uncleanness but in holiness.

Therefore, he rejects this, does not reject man but God who has given us his Holy Spirit. No adultery. Adultery is one form of fornication, one form of porneia.

But Paul singles this out here for two reasons. Number one, because adultery, in addition to being a transgression of biblical morality, sexual morality, is an additional transgression, it's also a theft. So, you're committing two sins. You're basically violating two of the Ten Commandments all in one activity. You are committing adultery on the one hand and you're stealing on the other hand because you're taking something that belongs to somebody else.

You're taking another man's wife or if it's a woman, you're taking another woman's husband. It's defrauding. It's stealing.

That's what defraud means, to cheat or steal. And furthermore, if it's done to a Christian brother, that seems to be even more unbelievable. Not that it's ever right, but you would treat a brother that way.

You would steal from your Christian brother. You would take your brother's wife, your sister's husband, in this matter, in this matter under consideration, this matter of sexual immorality, surely not, no adultery. But then finally, we get to the reasons for this in verses 7 and 8, and I read them a moment ago, and there's three things. Why is this so important? Number one, because of God's judgment. Because, in the middle of verse 6, the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned you and testify. Because of God's judgment. Number two, because of God's favor, verse 7.

We'll see that in a moment. Number three, because of God's enablement, verse 8. But first of all, because of God's judgment. Violations of this order, God's orders for how Christians are to live sexually, violations incur God's punishment. He is the avenger of such. And that's a word that is only used in the Bible of those who punish evildoers. It's used, for example, in Romans 13, verse 4. For he, the civil authority, is God's minister to you for good.

But if you do evil, be afraid. For he does not bear the sword in vain. He is God's minister and avenger.

Same word. An avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. It's the idea of meeting out appropriate punishment upon violators. God is the one who does that. Violations incur God's judgment. As, and here Paul says again, we told you this before, this is not new. We warned you about this before. We testified about this before.

I'm not surprising you with some new knowledge. But the interesting thing is it tells us that God is the judge, the avenger. But it doesn't tell us when, it doesn't tell us how. It leaves that unspecified. And therefore, we really can't say that means at the second coming of Christ. That means this time, that means in that way.

It's deliberately left open. All we know is that God will judge. All we know is that sin has consequences.

All we know is that this particular sin has particularly severe consequences. So if you don't want severe consequences, then submit yourself to God's morality. Obey the orders that have been handed down to you by Christ because God will judge those who disobey. Secondly, do it because of God's favor.

Verse 7, For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. God has called you out of darkness into what? Into semi-darkness? No, into light. God has called you out of sinfulness into what?

Semi-sinfulness? No, into holiness. God has called you to an entirely different life.

God has done that. God has called you. And this call is God's gracious call, God's effectual call. It's based upon God's gracious choice of you. What an inestimable privilege to know that I have been called of God to become a child of God.

God called me because in eternity past, God chose me. Am I deserving? No. Am I grateful? If you're not, something's wrong with you. If you are not incredibly grateful, why me?

I don't know. I ought to be in hell. And God, by His gracious call, has called me unto Himself. But He hasn't just called me to go to heaven when I die. He's called me to live like a Christian while I live. So that's reason number two, God's favor. And number three is God's enablement. Verse eight. The last part of verse eight. God who has given us His Holy Spirit. God has given us His Holy Spirit.

In other words, you don't have an excuse. I can't help it. These desires are so strong. I can't help it.

Are you a Christian? You have God's Holy Spirit. You can help it. Not because you have the strength within yourself, but because God has called you unto Himself. And along with that call, He has given you His Spirit.

So there is no excuse because God gives enablement. And the force of that is that God keeps giving you His Holy Spirit. He gives and gives and gives and gives again. He gives you as much as you need to obey any and every one of His commands.

God has enabled you. You can do this by the help of His Holy Spirit. And furthermore, as we saw in the first part of verse eight, if you reject this, you're rejecting God. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man but God. He who rejects this is not rejecting Paul. He's rejecting God. He who rejects this is not saying, well, that's what the apostles said or that's what John said or that's what some other writers said, but that's not what Jesus said. No, he who rejects this is not rejecting man. He's rejecting God. Understand that.

Accept that. Therefore, I say that undoubtedly there are some who are here today who are involved in secret immorality. Take heed to what God says.

There are no doubt some here today who are not involved actively in immorality, but you're toying. You're getting close. You're wearing down. You're looking for justifications and excuses. You're trying to find ways to set aside the Word of God so that you can do what your Adamic heart desires. Listen up. Hear what God says and submit yourself accordingly. And in the light of this message, here are some practical steps to take, and let me give them to you quickly. Number one, you must submit to divine authority. Acknowledge that the Bible is God's Word. What God says is His Word.

It's His authority. You must submit to it. Submit to divine authority. Number two, acknowledge and confess your transgressions. Whatever you are involved in, whatever you have been involved in that has not yet been dealt with, that is a violation of God's Word, acknowledge that as sin and confess it to the Lord. Number three, commit yourself to holy living. Commit yourself to living the way that God says you must live. Number four, petition the aid of God's Spirit. You say, I struggle with this. Of course you do.

We all do. But God keeps giving us His Spirit. God keeps giving us His Spirit. The God who tells us how to live gives us the power to live that way. So petition the aid of God's Spirit. And number five, get out of your life those sinful temptations that are triggering your sinful desires. This is part of what it means to know how to control your body. Like Jesus said, if your eye offends you, pluck it out.

If your hand offends you, cut it off. If something is a temptation to you, get it out of your life as much as you can. I know you can't cut out everything without becoming a hermit and go living in a cave and not seeing anything in this world, but there are things that you can control. There are things that you can remove out of your life.

There are knobs that you can turn off. There are things that you can do. So do it. Learn how to discipline yourself.

Learn how to exercise self-control. And if you just have tried this and find yourself unable, then what you need to do is acknowledge that you have a sinful heart that has not been subdued by King Jesus. You have not been born again. You do not have God's Spirit. Your inability to deal successfully with sin in your life is an indication that you're a sinner that needs to be saved.

This is God showing you your sin so that you can see your need of Christ, acknowledge your need and go to Him, for He alone can free you from the bondage of sin. What about our beloved nation? This is where we started in the introduction.

What about the United States of America? Well, there are a lot of things that need to change, but one of the things is that Christians seem to want to focus on the unbelievers that are living like those who don't know God and scolding them for it, when maybe we need to start focusing upon how Christians are supposed to live and to see how well we're doing that. Maybe we ought to start being Christians who live like Christians before we start preaching to the world how unbelievers ought to live. Shall we pray? Father, guide, direct and help us. Apply these words to every life according to the need we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.