Violence & Sex | How to Renew Your Mind

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Sign up at harvest.org. is to fill it with something better. Cultivate your relationship with Jesus Christ. If there's some liquid left in the bottom of a drinking glass, milk, juice, soft drink, and what's the first thing we do to get it clean? We'll rinse it out, right?

Run some water in it and flush it clean. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out the same approach works well with all the stuff that needs to be cleaned out of our minds. We'll see how to wash it clean with a renewed mind and a renewed passion to draw closer to the Lord. It's a message from Pastor Greg's series, simply called 10. Alright, let's turn in our Bibles to two passages today.

Exodus chapter 20 and Matthew chapter 5. How's this for a sermon title? Violence and Sex. That is my message title. You've seen warnings on the screen before a TV program is about to play. A word of warning. The topic we're about to explore may not be suitable for young listeners. Or you see a movie down at the theater and you're thinking, well, do I want to go see this? And it might warn you that there's violence and sex in the film.

That's what I want to talk about. But I don't want to glorify it as is often the case. But I want to tell you what the Bible says about these topics as we're looking at the 10 commandments. Now if nothing else comes from this series on the 10 commandments, part of a larger series on the life of Moses called Water, Fire, Stone, I hope you'll memorize the 10 commandments in order.

Okay. Commandment number one. You shall have no other gods before me. Commandment number two.

You shall have no graven images. Commandment number three. Do not take the Lord's name in vain. And commandment number four. Remember the Sabbath day.

Keep it holy. There's two tablets. Four of the commandments are in tablet one. The final six are in tablet two.

So tablet two. Commandment number six. You must not kill or you shall not murder. And then the next one is you shall not commit adultery.

Let's talk about that. Heard about a little boy that went to Sunday school and the teacher was speaking on the seventh commandment. He seemed to have misunderstood her. He went home to Dad and said, Dad the teacher was telling me in Sunday school today thou shall not commit agriculture. What does that mean?

Dad was smart without missing a beat. He said, Son that means you're not supposed to plow the other man's field. So that's a pretty good summation.

Pretty good summation. What is adultery? Let's just get technical for a moment. Adultery is sexual relations with someone beside your spouse. We hear the word fornication. That would be premarital sex. Adultery is primarily extramarital sex.

The only place for sex to be right and indeed blessed by God who created it is in a marriage relationship between a man and a woman living together committed to each other in a monogamous relationship. Imagine how different our nation would be if we obeyed the seventh commandment. How many divorces would have been avoided? How many families would still be together?

How many fathers would still be home to raise their children? It's such a devastating sin. Sex is not evil.

Sex can be good when it's in its right place. That's in marriage. Hebrews 13 4 says give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

Another translation of that same verse goes as follows. Guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex. So sometimes people think well you know but we need to get to know each other. Find out if we're compatible. So we'll have sex before marriage.

Maybe live together and then we'll later get married. Well that's how to sabotage a marriage. A University of Tennessee study among young women said there seems to be a correlation between illicit sexual behavior and serious emotional problems. And then another study done by the University of Oregon found that those who engage in premarital relationships make poor marital risks. And so it doesn't help you.

It actually hurts you. Now let's see what Jesus says about this. Matthew 5 verse 27. Jesus says you've heard the commandment that says you must not commit adultery but I say anyone who looks on a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Wow. The word that Jesus uses here for looking is not speaking of a casual glance. It refers to the continual act of looking.

It's not an incidental or involuntary glance but an intentional and repeated gazing with a purpose of lusting. It's not just someone that notices someone's attractive. You might see a woman and say that's an attractive woman. Or you might see a man and say that's an attractive man as you would say right now. How about your husband that you're sitting next to or somebody else.

Not me. So there's nothing wrong with it. That's not sinful to notice that someone is attractive. It's sinful when you take that thought and let it go into another arena so to speak and you begin to look at them with the purpose of lusting. So it's an intentional repeated gazing at something with the purpose of stimulating lust for that person.

Listen. You don't feed lust. You starve it. It's certainly one way you can feed lust is by looking at pornography. Actually the word that is used here for adultery, the original root word by Jesus, is the Greek word porneia.

Yes a word we get from that. Pornography. Porn as it's often called. 79% of 18 to 30 year old American men watch internet porn at least once a month.

Say well yeah guys are all twisted and perverted. Doesn't surprise me. Really. 76% of 18 to 30 year old American women watch porn once a month. One expert described it as the pornification of America. It's joked about in sitcoms. It's called the porn. It's called the porn.

It's sitcoms. It's coming to the mainstream. Films like Fifty Shades of Grey have brought it to a much larger audience.

So it's everywhere. So you don't want to feed that flame. And I would compare sexual desire to fire. And fire is not always bad. Fire can be good.

It's nice to sit around a fire ring or in front of a fireplace. It's nice to use fire to cook your food. But then fire can be destructive. It can take property. It can take lives. So we want to have fire in its right place.

The Bible asks the question in Proverbs 6 27. Can a man take fire into his lap and not be burned? In case you're wondering what the answer to that is. No. Don't try this at home. Let's start a fire in my lap and see if I get burned.

No. You'll get burned. I'm telling you. It's an obvious question.

An obvious answer. You can lose control of fire. When I was a little kid.

I don't know what the deal was. But I seemed to be some sort of a junior pyromaniac. I like to set things on fire.

And one of my favorite things to do. Not big things. Just little things. You know like army men. I'd buy like 50 army men in a package. They were all green.

Remember those? And they'd be in different positions. There's a guy with the binoculars you know. And then there's another guy kind of with a machine gun down here. And then a guy with a long rifle pointing it.

He was my favorite guy. Because I would light the end of his rifle with the lighter. And the flame would kind of make it so and he would start melting like this and melt and melted.

He'd be a little flaming puddle. So one time I'm lighting my army men on fire. I did it more than once.

And they were on newspaper. Really a bad idea. So the army man melts. Puddle of green. All of a sudden the paper. A little fire. So I scoop up all these papers in a panic. I'm running around.

I'm just a little kid. I throw them into a trash can made out of bamboo. The trash can ignite. Thankfully I got it out. But that's what lust is like. Oh I can control this. Oh this won't get the best of me. But it starts with looking.

That voluntary looking like I'm looking with this purpose. A great example of this or maybe a tragic example would be a better way to say it is David was up on his rooftop. Now back in biblical times the rooftop would be flat.

They might have a patio up there. And David being the king of Israel was on the rooftop of his palace. He had a great view of everything below.

And we read that he was up on his rooftop after he had been sleeping in all day. And he looks and sees a beautiful woman bathing herself whose name ironically was Bath Sheba. Now he saw that.

I guess he couldn't have avoided seeing that the first time. And then he acted on it and gave the order that she be brought up to his bedroom and they had sexual relations. And she became pregnant. Instead of admitting that to the Lord and repenting he tried to hide it. So he called her husband Uriah who served in David's military back home hoping he'd spend a night with his wife and think that was his kid not David's. But this husband of Uriah was such a loyal soldier he couldn't bear the thought of having such a pleasure when the fellow soldiers were out on the front line so he wouldn't go along with David's game plan. So in effect David had him murdered.

He sent him out to battle leading a charge. Everybody fell back. Uriah was killed.

And David married Bathsheba. Thought he had covered it all up. But then it all came out. And everybody found out. And he even saw the same behavior repeated in his own children.

So it starts with what you look at. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We're encouraged when we hear stories of people who've had their lives changed because of the Ministry of Harvest. I just wanted to say I was a drug addict for 10 years.

I've been pleased since 2019. And having a song with St. Greg on the radio and truly helped me through some hard times. I give all of the praise and glory to Jesus. I just want to say thank you for everything you do. I throw on the radio and my day just gets brighter. So thank you.

Do you have a story to share? If so would you let Pastor Greg know? Just drop him an email. Greg at harvest dot org. Again that's Greg at harvest dot o-r-g. Well we're considering the dangers of lust today as Pastor Greg brings a study based in the Ten Commandments titled Violence and Sex.

Let's continue. Try to guard your mind. Job 31 says I've made a covenant with my eyes to not look lustfully at a girl. If a scene comes on your TV or in a theater or on your phone or wherever it is you don't want to expose yourself to that thing. You want to do whatever you need to do to not be looking at that sort of thing.

And obviously I don't think I need to say this but I'll say it anyway. A popular trend is sexting. Sending naked photos of yourself.

Worst idea of all time. There's something now called revenge porn where people get photos of someone they were involved with and then they break up. Then they post it and it's out there on the internet effectively forever.

Just simple thought. Never ever take a picture of yourself naked. Just don't. And don't carry it around on your phone. I got hacked and it's out.

What are you an idiot? I mean these are such no-brainers but these things happen to people and we want to be careful and we want to guard our minds. Listen to this as I wrap this up. The best way to overcome lust and protect your mind is to fill it with something better. Before I tell you what that is let me just make this one statement. For every temptation you have ever had there was always a way out.

Am I right? Always. 1 Corinthians 10 13 says, there is no temptation taking you but such is as common to man. But God who is faithful will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

Let me just paraphrase that. There is always a way out of every temptation. Always. Sometimes it is turning off the TV. Sometimes it is terminating the conversation.

Sometimes it is closing the laptop. Sometimes it is walking out of the room. Whatever you have got to do, do it. Now let me come back to the thing that you should do instead of fighting lust all the time. Fighting lust.

Fighting. Fill your mind and your heart with something greater. And old Puritan put it this way. We need the expulsive power of a new affection. We need the expulsive power of a new affection.

Here is what it comes down to. Cultivate your relationship with Jesus Christ. See that was David's problem. He was known as the man after God's own heart. He was known as the sweet psalmist of Israel. Many of the great psalms that we read and memorize were written by David as love songs to God. But as we find him later in his career in his 50s he wasn't singing love songs to God anymore. He was sort of on what you might call a spiritual vacation. And when the troops were in battle instead of leading them as he had done in the past David was kicking back at home sleeping in and wandering around looking for trouble.

And he found it in his own backyard. And this happens to us. We back off from our study of the Word of God. We back off from attending church. We back off from prayer.

We don't hang around our Christian friends anymore. We get into these other relationships that are hurtful to us. That can drag us down. And we find ourself giving into something we said we would never give into.

You need the explosive power of a new affection. If you love the Lord with all of your heart and your mind and you are focusing on him it will bolster and strengthen you and give you the power you need to resist that temptation. The Bible says blessed is the man that endures temptation for when he has tried he will receive a crown of life.

God will give you the strength to do it. But it all comes down to our need for Jesus. You know sometimes people say well you know Christianity that is like a crutch. Crutch. Christianity is a whole hospital man.

And I need all the help I can get. I don't know about you. And we can turn to the Lord and he will help us. Maybe there is someone here today that is hearing this message and you don't have a relationship with God. I have been talking about cultivating this relationship with Jesus. You are thinking what are you even talking about?

How does that even happen? It happens when you say to God that you know that you are a sinner and you are sorry for your sin and you realize Jesus Christ died on the cross for you. As we look at these commandments don't take the Lord's name in vain. Don't have another God before him. Honor your father and mother. Don't steal. Don't lie. Don't commit adultery. Don't murder.

Don't hate. Who among us has not broken some of these commandments? Every one of us has. The commandments were not given to make me holy. They were given to show me how unholy I actually am. The commandments were given to show me how much I need Jesus.

And listen to this. Jesus stands here now ready to forgive you of any sin you have ever committed. And there might be someone here today that needs Jesus in their life. You need your sin forgiven.

You want to begin this relationship with him. Or there might be somebody else who was walking with the Lord but you have given in to some of these things. And it has hit home.

And you realize it. But you can come back to him. And that is what you need to do.

You need to turn from that sin and start walking with him again. So we are going to close now with a prayer. And I am going to extend an invitation for you to either ask Christ to come into your life if you need him to come in today or an opportunity for you to recommit your life to the Lord if you have fallen into some kind of sin. Let's all pray. Father now we thank you for your Word which is so true.

And it hits home. And I pray for anyone here who does not yet know you. Anybody here who does not have a relationship with you. Anybody here that needs Jesus. Lord I pray your Holy Spirit will convict them and convince them of their need for Christ and help them to come to you now we pray.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important prayer. And if you would like to make a change today in your relationship with the Lord, Pastor Greg will help you in just a moment before we wrap up today here on A New Beginning. Well Pastor Greg there are a lot of people who don't know the Lord and they feel their life has been so troubled that maybe the Lord wouldn't want to know them. But God's grace is bigger than our sin. And that's a message that comes through loud and clear in a new DVD we're making available.

Yeah it really does. And the title of that DVD is Johnny Cash The Redemption Of An American Icon. Now as you may recall I wrote a book by the same title which you might want to order it's a great book. And then we made it into a first rate documentary film. Incredible production value done by the same team that brought you Jesus Revolution. Beautifully done cinematic interviews with people that knew Johnny like Marty Stewart. Others that were influenced by Johnny like Tim McGraw, Winona Judd, Sheryl Crow. And also you hear from members of Johnny's own family including his sister Joanna Cash Yates and his son John Carter Cash and others. I was able to bring a perspective on Johnny's life as well. And so we want to send you this incredible DVD that tells a story of redemption and it brings hope.

And maybe it's your story or maybe it's someone you know. It's their story and they need to see this film. And now for the first time it's available for you to have for good, for keeps, to share with others. You could even give the DVD away if you like to someone and download the film to your phone or your computer or your tablet because we also provide you with a streaming code. And one other thing I would mention is there's bonus content on this DVD you will not find anywhere else. Now you can find this film on the Apple platform, on the Amazon platform, but they don't have this bonus content. And this bonus content includes a message that I gave on how to come to Jesus Christ sort of wrapped around the story of Johnny Cash. So let us send you Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon on DVD complete with streaming code and bonus content for your gift of any size.

Now let me say this. We bring these resources to you to be a blessing but also to give you an opportunity to invest in the work of the kingdom of God. Here at Harvest Ministries we want to teach God's word but we also want to call people to Christ and if you've been a listener for long you will know that we often give an invitation for people to come to the Lord. And did you know that thousands of people come to Jesus every year listening to this radio broadcast? So when you invest in what we're doing financially you play a part in that.

You share in the fruit of that. So be generous when you send your gift to get your copy of Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon. And in advance let me say thank you.

Yeah it's easy to do. Just give us a call and we'll be glad to send it your way to thank you for your investment in keeping these daily studies coming your way. And we won't be mentioning this much longer so contact us soon. Just dial 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 24 7. Again that's 1-800-821-3300 or just go online to harvest.org.

Get your copy of Johnny Cash the redemption of an American icon. Well Pastor Greg you've mentioned before how someone can become a Christian with just a simple prayer. Yeah. Maybe somebody would like to do that right now. Could you help them with that?

Sure I'd love to. A simple prayer is right. In fact I would like to just pray a prayer and I would ask you to pray it after me right now. Pray these words Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I also know that you are the savior because you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead.

Jesus come into my life and forgive me of every sin I've ever committed. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you for answering this prayer Lord and I pray all of this in Jesus name.

Amen. If you just prayed that prayer and meant it I want you to know on the authority of scripture God Almighty has heard your prayer and he will answer this prayer. You are now a newly minted child of God so congratulations you've made the right decision and welcome to the family of God. I want to send you a special gift because of that prayer you've just prayed it's called the New Believers Growth Packet and in it is a copy of the New Testament in a very understandable translation called the New Living Translation. It also is filled with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you've made to follow Christ and there's some other outstanding materials in this little packet I'll send you as well. So order your copy today today and let me be the first to say to you congratulations and welcome to the family of God. And to get that New Believers Growth Packet just get in touch and we'll be glad to send it right out. You can call us anytime 24 7 at 1-800-821-3300 that's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click know God. Well next time Pastor Greg continues his series on the life of Moses called Water Fire Stone. We'll concentrate on stone highlighting the practical application of the 10 commandments etched in stone by the finger of God. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.