The Moses Principle

Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. Your children, my children, our grandchildren, are under a greater assault and a greater attack than any generation in history. That assault, that attack, is coming from the very pit of hell to corrupt the minds of our children through pornography.

Material that was once seen and sold in back alleys is now on open display in magazine racks and neighborhood drugstores. It is being piped into the homes of America's families through cable television. And on top of all of that, the most dangerous and insidious of all is the internet that has come into the home. Now, this battle is so critical because what Satan wants to do is to pollute a child's mind to corrupt that child, to steal from that child the very best, to greatly damage him now, and to take away from that child, that boy or that girl, the future, and the future marital happiness that God wants for him. The devil has a pipeline right now into the homes of America. Our children today have to walk through a mudslide of sludge. Prime time television has become slime time television in every home.

It's heartbreaking. Now, my purpose in this series of messages, and this is the first in a series, is not to convince you that pornography is out there. If you need convincing, somehow you're numb. You're not awake.

It is there. I want to say in the presentation of these messages, I have not looked at pornography, and I don't intend to. I'm not investigating to tell you what is there.

I do not intend to put garbage in my mind, and I don't have to eat swill to preach on hogs, but I have enough awareness to know what is going on. Let me tell you something I think is the most startling thing that I read in all of this research. In 1973, Americans spent no more than $10 million on pornography in a year.

In 1999, Americans were spending $10 billion a year. That is a 1,000% increase in pornography. Now, this is sad for adults, but it's even sadder for children. Your children, my children, your grandchildren, are being systematically seduced. They're becoming roadkill on the information superhighway.

The hardening and destructive force is beyond my power to state and to estimate. Now, what I want to do in these messages, not to make an oration, not to play upon your emotions, but I want to give you a practical and a biblical way to gain the victory, and you can have victory. Now, what I want to do is to show you that there can be no victory until you, first of all, make a personal choice and teach your children to make a personal choice. Where's the answer? The answer is not in political action, though we ought to do all that we can do politically. The answer is not there. The problem is too pervasive, too persuasive, and we're going to have to take the policeman off the street corner and put him in the heart.

The answer is not through electronic safeguards. All of these can be overridden by children, outsmarted, and overruled by adults. These things are not enough because the pull and the enticement and the curiosity of pornography is too strong. There must be a personal choice. We're going to talk tonight about the choice that Moses made, and I want to give you tonight what I call the Moses Principle. It's found here in Hebrews chapter 11. I want you to begin reading with me in verse 24. He said, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing, underscore that word, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Now, Moses chose. Moses chose is what this scripture says very clearly and very plainly.

He chose rather to suffer affliction with the children of God. There will not be victory in your family. There will be no victory with your children until they make a choice. Now, I've often told you when we talk about choice that you're free to choose. Thank God for that, but you're not free not to choose because even not to choose is the choice not to choose. You're free to choose. You're free not to choose. You are not free to choose the consequences of your choice.

First of all, you choose, and then the choice chooses for you. Now, Moses chose, and how did Moses choose? Well, look in verse 24. He did it by faith. Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the children of God.

They had to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now, Moses chose by faith. Well, how do you have faith? You have to hear from God. The Bible tells us in the book of Romans that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10, verse 17, make no mistake about it.

Moses had heard from God, and once Moses heard from God, then Moses was able to make a choice. Now, let me tell you something, parents. Satan's strategy is to keep your children away from hearing from God. Now, if your children do not hear from God, they cannot make a faith choice. And if your children do not make a faith choice, they're going to go down. They are going to fail because it is the Word of God that gets in your heart that enables you to overcome. Satan's chief weapon is to steal away the Word of God from the hearts and minds of young people. If you do not have a Word from God, you will never, in my estimation, if you're a normal young person, overcome pornography, never.

If you're a grown man, you will not do it. Now, the devil has substituted all kinds of sources of authority. For example, there is relativism. Everything is relative. There's no fixed standard of right and wrong. Everything is moving.

There is no fixed, solid standard. And so all ideas just chase other ideas across the terrain. Well, that's out in our world today. That's called relativism. Now, other young people are living by subjectivism.

And adults, what is subjectivism? Well, I just feel this is right. I just feel this is wrong. And so everything is based on feeling. And they might say to you, and you'll hear this, well, now listen, what's true for you may not be true for me. What's true for me may not be true for you. And our young people are being taught, be true to your feelings.

Another substitute for fixed truth is not only subjectivism but rationalism. People say, no, don't live by your feelings. Live by your mind. Figure it out. Weigh it. Test it. Measure it. Put it in a test tube. Pull out your slide rule.

Get out your calculator and figure it out. Behavior is based on logic. Thus saith the mind of man rather than thus saith the word of God. For others, the way may be pragmatism. People don't even ask, is it true anymore?

They just ask, does it work? But we've come today to the worst condition of all, which is postmodernism. What is postmodernism? Modernism tried to determine what is right or wrong, and the liberals and the conservatives argued.

The postmodernists don't argue about it because they say, there is no fixed truth. There is no right. There is no wrong. They ask, is there any truth at all? You want your children to live right. You want your children to do right. Parents, you had better inculcate in their hearts and in their minds.

There is a fixed standard of truth, and it is the word of God. You are fighting a battle that you're going to lose. In today's society, it is not enough for you to put your hands on your hips and say, that is wrong. Why, Daddy? Don't ask me why, just because I said so.

That won't work. If you say, just because I said so, you're going to fail. You need to say, son, it is wrong to steal because God says so.

It is wrong to commit adultery because God says so. You are to obey your parents because God says so. You're to have a clean thought life because God says so. You're to put some rock-ribbed convictions in the heart of your children. What is my job as a dad? What is my job as a grandfather?

What is your duty, your job? 3 John 1, verse 4, John said, I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth. Well, I can say amen to that. I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth.

You see, it is the truth that sets you free. Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 for us. Here's what he prayed in John 17, verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth.

Well, sanctify is a big word we don't normally use. And then up in another translation, Phillips translation gives it this way, make them holy by the truth. Do you want holy children?

They're going to have to have the truth. Now, I want to mention three truths, three facts, three treasures that you will learn from the truth. Notice verse 24, he says, faith refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

Now remember, faith comes by hearing the word of God. Verse 26, esteeming, that is considering, figuring, judging the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Now, what is he doing? He's evaluating, he's getting some treasures. And let me just say to begin with, there must be a wise evaluation.

That's the first point. There must be a wise evaluation. Now, Satan does not want you to make that wise evaluation.

He doesn't want your children to make that wise evaluation. And so you're going to be faced and the kids today are going to be faced between two things, pleasures and treasures. Look at verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, underscore pleasures of sin for a season. Esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Now, the choice here is between true pleasures and ungodly pleasures, between true treasures and trash.

Moses had a value system that is working for him. Now, what are three treasures that I want to write upon my children's hearts? Three treasures, three things I want them to evaluate, I want them to see from the Word of God. They call the treasure of a clean heart. Your children need to understand how great it is to have a clean heart. Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 6, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

A clean heart is its own reward, the treasure of a clean heart. When the heart is pure, God is real. You can have that incredible fellowship with God. Put down 1 John 1, verses 3 through 7. John says, that which we've seen and heard declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you that your joy might be full.

Do you want fullness of joy? We have fellowship with one another and with Jesus Christ. This then is the message which we've heard of him and declared unto you, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

I've thought about this. I'll tell you that a clean heart, a pure heart, is the only kind of a heart they can have fellowship with God. And no pornography on earth is worth forfeiting fellowship with God.

That's a treasure to have fellowship with God. I am telling you, I don't care who you are. If you're into pornography, your fellowship with God is broken. You have darkness and you have no joy. I don't care who you are. If you're into pornography, I can tell you without stutter, stammer, or apology, you're not having fellowship with God. And I can tell you clearly, plainly that you have no joy.

Now, what is the evaluation? First of all, we need to teach our children the treasure of a clean heart. A clean heart is its own reward. But secondly, we need to teach them the treasure of a clean heart. But we need to teach them the treasure of true love.

Now, these come in order. Only, only a clean heart can truly love. Go to 1 John again, chapter 2, verses 15 and 16. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. I am telling you, if you get pornography in your life, if the children get pornography in their life, they will automatically lose the ability to love.

You see, listen, when a person has fellowship with God, the very nature of that fellowship with God, when he has that treasure of a clean heart, which is fellowship with God, it follows he has the ability to love. There's nothing more debilitating, nothing more stultifying, nothing more harmful to the ability to love than pornography. You see, God wants you to love. But pornography is not based on love. It destroys love. It is based on lust.

Look again in verse 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father.

It's of the world. Now, the highest good is to love. The lowest good for a boy is to love.

But we have a generation today that talks about making love, but they don't know the difference between love and lust. A boy gets a girl, he says, I just love you. I just love you.

I just love you. He doesn't love her. He loves her like a man loves oranges, to suck all of the goodness, the sweetness, the beauty, and throws her away like a piece of garbage. What's the difference between love and lust? Lust wants to get, love wants to give. I'm telling you, pornography is based on lust. It looks at people as though people are objects to be used by one's selfishness. When a person feeds on pornography, he has no respect for himself, and it follows, as night follows day, that he can have no respect for other people. No person who puts garbage in his mind, in his body, has any respect for himself.

And if a person has no respect for himself, herself, you expect them to have respect for other people. You see, the Bible says we're to love others as we love ourselves. Do you think it's wrong to love yourself?

No. It's right and proper to love yourself. How can I love you as I love me unless I love me? And I'm not talking about standing in front of the mirror and singing How Great Thou Art.

You do that, you're sick. I'm saying that you ought to have some self-respect. You ought to have some love for yourself. And when you have love for yourself, then you're going to have love for others because you're going to want others to be treated as you would want your own self-treated, your own self-respect. People who are into pornography look at other people, especially if they're men, look upon women as if they're objects for their own personal gratification and they have no absolute love for them. They cannot have love for them because they don't have fellowship with God. How can they have fellowship with one another?

Put it down big, put it down plain, put it down straight. People who treat sex lightly treat sex lightly because they treat other people lightly. They have no respect for other people.

They have a disdainful, trivial, and selfish attitude toward other people. Don't tell me that pornography is a private act. Don't tell me that pornography is a personal choice. Don't tell me that pornography is a victimless crime.

Don't tell me that pornography is harmless entertainment. Put your daughter, your granddaughter out there as the object of some man's lust. That is somebody's daughter.

That is somebody made in the image of Almighty God. Now, what are the treasures? What are the treasures that we wouldn't trade for anything? Number one, a clean heart. How wonderful to have a clean heart, to walk in the light, to have fellowship with God. Is any filth, any dirt, any pornography worth not having a clean heart? Number two, the ability to love. Don't you want to be able to love people? Don't you want other people to love you?

I am telling you that pornography is the enemy of love. Here's the third treasure you need to write on the hearts of your children, the treasure of a godly family. Because, you see, fellowship with God gives us the ability to love, and the ability to love enables us to have a family. God made the family before He made the government, before He made education, before He made the church. The family is the only part of the Garden of Eden that we have left a monogamous family. That's the reason the devil has leveled all of the artillery of hell against the family.

Nothing is more devastating to the family than pornography. A loving physical bond between husband and wife is God's great gift. Do you think God is opposed to the idea of sex? God created sex. It's God's idea. When God says not to look upon a woman to lust after her, when God says flee fornication, when God says thou shall not commit adultery, God is not trying to keep sex from us.

He's keeping sex for us. It's God's great gift. You know, I feel so sorry for young people today. Young people today talk about going all the way.

Friend, that is the one thing they do not do. You go all the way when you give yourself to somebody, heart, body, and soul in a happy marriage. That is going all the way, but young people today don't know the difference between love and lust, and they've been saturated, as I say, by slime time television, a tidal wave of sludge.

The sad thing is they miss the best. Young people, save yourself for the one you're going to marry. Look forward to a happy, monogamous marriage. You need to see what the treasures are. What are the treasures Moses chose? He chose by faith. He refused the pleasures of sin. He saw the reproach of Christ's greater treasure than all the treasures of Egypt. What are they?

They're so simple. The treasure of a clean heart. I wouldn't take anything for that. The treasure of the ability to love. The treasure of a godly home. Can you write that on the hearts of your children? Can you teach your children the value of a pure heart? Such a value.

To have fellowship with God, to walk in the light, to be able to say nothing between my soul and the Savior. The first point is there must be a proper evaluation. That proper evaluation is going to come from the Word of God, and you will accept it by faith. Number two, there must be a clear choice.

We must teach our children to choose. Hebrews 11, verses 24 and 25. By faith, when Moses was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Pornography has a tremendous pull, and a person has to come to the place where he or she makes a clear decision. The Bible speaks of the pleasures of sin. Don't you be so foolish as to say to young people, there's no pleasure in sin. You're going against the Bible. There are the pleasures of sin.

The devil is too smart to go fishing without any bait on his hook. There are pleasures and there are treasures, and you're going to have to choose between the two. It was not easy for Moses. It won't be easy for your kids.

Mister, it will not be easy for you, and that's the reason you have to make a radical, dramatic, clear choice, because if you don't choose, you're going down. Now, Moses had been doing some figuring. Look, if you will, in verse 23 of this same chapter. The Bible says he esteemed, he esteemed some things. He esteemed the riches of Christ, greater treasure than the pleasures in Egypt.

He's been thinking about it. He's got some things he's looking at. He says, well, here are the pleasures of Egypt. Here are the pleasures of sin.

I can satisfy my physical lust. But then he looks over here. He sees the riches of Christ. He sees the glory of God. He sees satisfaction.

He sees joy. He says, I'm going that way. I am going that way. Every man in this room, every woman, every boy, every girl needs to make a clear-cut choice. And if you don't choose, you're going down.

Nobody is going to drift into purity in these days. You're going to have to choose. Now, what I'm trying to say is, number one, there must be a proper evaluation. You do that by faith. Number two, there must be a clear choice.

Number three, there must be a determined refusal, a determined refusal. Now, let's begin to Hebrews chapter 11 and notice that Moses not only chose, but he also refused. Now, notice what it says, verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. That means he refused all the pleasures of Egypt. Now, listen to me carefully, and I want you to get the order.

Moses refused in verse 24 because he chose, verse 25, because he had esteemed some things and he made an evaluation. Now, that's always the order. No one will refuse pornography until he first chooses righteousness, and no one will choose righteousness until he makes a proper evaluation and sees what really counts. Now, you're trying to tell your child, don't look at that. Don't go to this film. Don't do this thing.

Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. You say, I'm not going to let you do that. You can't go there. Why, mommy? Everybody else is going.

No, you can't go, darling. You're fighting a losing battle. Do you ever try to take a nasty bone away from a dog? It's a good way to get bit, but I'll tell you how to get a bone away from a dog, put a stake on the ground. Put a stake down there, and that dog will look at that stake and think about what he's got in his mouth. And what he will do, he'll go through a process. Step number one, evaluation. Step number two, choosing. Step number three, refusing.

I want this. That's it. No, that dog has got that much sense. First he evaluates, then he chooses, and then he refuses. You are not going to lead your children until you take the same steps, they make a proper evaluation, then they make a clear choice, and then they make a refusal. And they'll say, no, that's not for me.

Have you made a refusal? No, you won't, but it's going to have to be depending upon God. Satan wants to destroy our families. What Satan wants to do is to defy God, defile the mind, devalue your children, and destroy your family.

Young man, listen to me. God is not a cosmic killjoy. God loves you. God is not trying to keep you from true pleasure.

He wants you to have true pleasure. God is a good God. Let me give you some verses. Psalm 37, verse 4, delight yourself also in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 84, verse 11, for the Lord thy God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Don't get an idea that when God sees anybody having fun, they're going to break up the party. I've served him long enough to know it pays to serve Jesus. I would not take anything for my relationship with Jesus Christ. I would not take anything for my relationship to my darling wife, Joyce. I would not take anything for those things that God wants for me. They are treasures and not trash.

Now, this is the first message. You're asking your children to choose and then refuse after making a proper evaluation. You're going to have to get in their hearts and in their minds that a clean heart is its own reward, that the ability to love is the greatest gift that God gives, and pornography kills that, and the future hope of a wonderful home is the best thing they can have. It is God's highest good apart from heaven itself, and there are no wars against that. If you're a father, it is your major responsibility to open your heart and protect your home.