Fight Like A Man Against Sexual Sin – Part 2

Fight like a man against sexual sin. Today is part two of that topic, right here on the Christian RealView radio program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host of Christian RealView's a listener-supported radio ministry. Our website is thechristianworldview.org, and the rest of our contact information will be given throughout today's program.

As always, thank you for your notes of encouragement, financial support, and lifting us up in prayer. The book of Proverbs was written to be profitable to all readers, but is particularly directed to young men. One of the prominent exhortations and warnings for sons in Proverbs is on the issue of moral purity. Listen to Proverbs chapter 5, verses 18 through 23. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times.

Be exhilarated always with her love. There's the exhortation, and now the warning. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulterous and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of sin.

He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray. Again, that's from Proverbs chapter 5. God is no prude. He wonderfully designed us with the ability to procreate and to enjoy the one-flesh dynamic of sexual intimacy within the one-man, one-woman marriage covenant, all to his glory. But what God beautifully designed is what the devil, the world, and our flesh relentlessly corrupts. God says, rejoice in the wife of your youth. Satan says, do whatever you want with whomever you want. And the destruction that results from lust and pornography and fornication and adultery and homosexuality and every other kind of sexual sin are everywhere—bondage to sin, broken marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, and ultimately alienation from God.

Because of the pull of sexual desire and the ubiquity of sexual sin, it's common for some to conclude that God's call for sexual purity, both mentally and physically, is an impossible standard. But in part two of our series on personal purity, Emile Zewane, president of Living Waters, a ministry which exists to train the members of Christ's body and the principles of biblical evangelism, will join us to discuss his excellent book, excellent book, Fight Like a Man, a bold biblical battle plan for personal purity. Fight Like a Man is our new featured resource, and we will tell you how you can order a copy today for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. Let's get straight to part two of the interview with Emile Zewane.

Easy. It is such a privilege and special to be here at the Living Waters headquarters in Southern California in Bellflower. So thank you for inviting us over today.

Just tell us about the scope of this ministry, Living Waters. And you've been, I think, with him. You mentioned for 22 years, I think it was.

What has remained the same all those years and what has changed over the years? First of all, David, it's such a blessing to have you here. You know, modern technology is cool.

We can connect remotely, but it takes out that personal element. So I've been wanting to meet you for years and having you here is such a joy. Like I said, I wanted to build a tennis court in the parking lot so I could whip you.

So David Wheaton could be beaten, but it didn't happen. Next time, next time. As far as the ministry goes, the things that have remained the same, I would say the thing, the person would be Ray Comfort. You know, Ray's been my father-in-law now for coming on 29 years.

Next month would be 29 years. And I'm sure you've heard the saying, never meet your heroes. And that's because, you know, we typically build people up and then we get to know them personally.

We realize they weren't all we thought they were cracked up to be. But Ray's been my father-in-law now almost 29 years. It's been the exact opposite with him. You know, the longer I've known him, the more my respect grows. And when I say stayed the same, it's because the guy that you see on our videos, the guy that you hear on our podcasts, the one that you see in our movies, that's him like on or off the camera, on or off the mic. That's him 24 seven. You know, what he's doing is just a overflow of who he really is as a person, his love for the Lord, his integrity, his humility.

It's been great. And the other thing that's remained the same is the vision and the mission to inspire and equip Christians in fulfilling the great commission. And so by God's grace, we've been able to hold to that and whatever outreaches that we do, that is at the heart of it all. And we're going to talk about personal purity today, but just one question about evangelism, maybe we can do another topic on that sometime. But what do you find takes a believer from rarely sharing the gospel? Because I think there's probably some statistics or studies out there that show that very few professing believers actually share the gospel with anyone.

Correct me if I'm wrong. That's true. What takes someone from that state to someone who wakes up in the morning, looking for opportunities and praying for opportunities to go out and impact others with the gospel?

Yeah. The conviction of the Holy Spirit. I would bet you, if you were to look at that statistic for how many believers share their faith when they first get saved, I bet you that statistic would be a lot higher because it's kind of like the leper in Mark chapter one. You remember Jesus touched him, healed him, and then said something to him that still blows my mind to the state. Don't tell anyone about what I just did for you. I mean, a leper, right? This guy is a living death sentence. I mean, his skin is rotting on his flesh. His limbs are falling off. He's secluded in a leper colony.

He's ostracized from his family, friends. He's a living dead. Jesus touches him, heals him, gives him skin like a baby and then says to him, don't tell anyone about what I just did for you. It says he went out and began to proclaim it freely so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the cities and they came to him from every direction. This one man made Jesus famous. He was aware of what happened to him. It was fresh.

It was new. And how much more should we, right? We were touched and healed by Christ, but he gave us a command to go and preach the gospel. So it's conviction. It's being brought to that knowledge that you are an ambassador of Christ. And are you fulfilling that calling? And it's really kind of a spiritual revival that happens in the heart. And when that happens, people get activated.

Yeah, they certainly do. Emile Zawane is our guest today here on the Christian worldview. He's the author of a book we're now going to discuss. It's our new featured resource. If you heard part one of the interview, the title is Fight Like a Man, a Bold Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity. Now, just recently, Easy, Steve Lawson, the really well-known pastor, after about five or six months of silence after what can only be described as a very disheartening fall through a moral situation, finally broke the silence and issued a statement. I'm not going to read the whole thing.

We have it linked on our website. TheChristianrealview.org. It's actually not that long, but I'm just going to read the opening paragraph and just the last couple of paragraphs where Steve Lawson writes, it is with a shattered heart that I write this letter. I have sinned grievously against the Lord, against my wife, my family, and against countless numbers of you by having a sinful relationship with a woman, not my wife. I am deeply broken that I've betrayed and deceived my wife, devastated my children, brought shame to the name of Christ, reproach upon his church, and harm to many ministries. I'm just going to skip forward down just to the last two paragraphs where he says, while I continue to do the hard work of soul-searching repentance, I do not intend to make further public comments for the foreseeable future.

Please pray for the Lord's mercy and grace as I seek to make right the deeply wrong sins I have committed against my wife and family and that in his time and way, he will bring about redemption and restoration in our marriage for his glory, Steve Lawson. And this is just hard to even read for those of us who were impacted by the preaching of Steve Lawson. And it's just to think about the things he wrote specifically about his family and the name of Christ and the church, the ministries he was working with. This was a really heartbreaking situation.

This is something we've discussed in the program. So, you know, at the first we've asked about this because it's such a major story, but as we talk about this topic of moral purity today, what have been some of your takeaways as you've no doubt followed this situation with Steve Lawson and then about what he said in this recent statement? Dr. Lawson was one of my absolute favorite preachers.

We've had him on our podcast and I've been radically impacted by his preaching. What this does for me, David, is it serves as a wake-up call. I'm heartbroken by how much arrogance I've seen in the body of Christ over this, this kind of perception of, you know, how could he and so on and so forth. This sin is deep.

It's grievous. It's completely atrocious and unjustified, but we need to have the spirit of Galatians 6, 1. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Right? Scripture speaks to he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. It can happen to a man like Steve Lawson, a man of the word, a man who really understands scripture.

It can happen to any of us. So we need to wake up. We need to take heed. We need to cry out to God, lead us not to temptation, deliver us from the evil one. And we have to do what my book talks about.

And that's put those safeguards in place, especially our spiritual walk with the Lord so that we guard against this. And I'm heartened by that statement. And my prayer is for restoration for him spiritually and for his family. Breaks my heart. This is something that we're all grieved over, but I'm glad to hear what appears to be genuine repentance. Yes.

Same with me. Yeah. He really expressed and I didn't read the whole thing as I mentioned, but he really did express a lot of penitence in this statement. Again, we have it linked at our website, thechristianworldview.org if you'd like to read it.

Let me quote from page 57 of your book, Fight Like a Man. While even freedom from an addiction to pornography should not be your motive for surrendering your life to Christ, being genuinely born again and having the power of God's spirit dwelling in you are the most effective route to unshackling yourself from Satan's enslaving grip. Define what it means easy to be born again.

We hear this term a lot. Jesus used it in John chapter three, I think three times, but what does it mean to be born again? And why is that the all important prerequisite as you sort of intimate here in this quote from your book to overcoming sexual sin?

That's a very pertinent question. And in the book, I do talk about the deception that's extremely prevalent. And that is that a lot of people think they're saved and they're not. And we have to understand scripture speaks to this very clearly. I mean, first John talks about it by this, we know we've come to know him if we keep his commandments.

So one who says, I've come to know him, but doesn't keep his commandments as a liar. And the truth is not in him. It goes on to say, God is light in him.

There is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, but walk in darkness, we lie and don't practice the truth. Titus 1 16, they profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny him. Matthew seven, Jesus said, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not?

And then they give a whole list of religious things they did. And he said, I will say to them, I never knew you depart from me. You who practice lawlessness and nothing makes me tremble more than the thought of someone having believed their whole life, that they knew God, they were Christian. And then they die and stand before him and hear him say those devastating words. I never knew you. It's not just that they didn't know him. He never knew them. And then they spend an eternity in hell, David, that that's what would keep me up at night.

You know, that breaks my heart. And so people need to realize that Jesus said, you must be born again. And if you're not, you will not enter the kingdom. And what that means is that you're regenerated, that you've repented of your sins, placed your faith in Christ. And now you've received the new nature and the Holy Spirit has taken residence within you. And you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. You're now a child of God. You've gone from darkness to light. You've gone from being blind to seeing. You've gone from being dead to being alive.

It's a spiritual reality that happens when God regenerates you, gives you the new nature, gives you the Holy Spirit, and you become a child of God. Yeah. And you have the power to be able to overcome. Exactly.

Does someone who is not born again, really have the inner resources to be able to overcome, be personally pure? Right. Well, not in the truest sense. And sometimes people can reform their life. They can change their life. But the problem is, is that doesn't help them spiritually. It doesn't change the fact they're guilty before God and need to be saved. And a lot of people get surprised. You know, they try to do the things of Christianity and they find no pleasure in them.

And I often tell them, don't be surprised because it's probably because you're not a Christian. It's like, if you take a caterpillar, throw it off the top of the Empire State Building, and then interview it after it splats all over the sidewalk, Mr. Caterpillar, did you have a pleasurable experience? He's going to say, what are you talking about?

You destroyed my life. But if you take that same caterpillar after it's been transformed into a butterfly, take it to the top of the Empire State Building, let it go. And then afterward ask it, did you have a pleasurable experience? It's going to tell you I had the time of my little butterfly life. Same creature, same entity.

But what happened? That metamorphosis took that which was unnatural for it and made it that most natural thing imaginable. And when you become born again, your desires change. Even though you struggle with temptation and the pull of the flesh, you, as Galatians 5 talks about, you desire to please God. The flesh less against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh so that you may not do that which you desire.

Who's the you? The new regenerated born again part of you. And you want to please God. And so now you have the power to do that in a real sense, not for your own self-betterment, but because you want to glorify the God who paid the highest price ever paid to redeem your soul.

Yeah, excellent analogy and very well answered. Emile Zawane is our guest today here on the Christian Real View. Fight Like a Man is the title of the book, a bold biblical plan for personal purity. It's our new featured resource here on the Christian Real View. Just get in touch with us to order a copy for a donation of any amount.

We'll tell you how you can contact us coming up here on the program. You said in that quote, I just read a couple of minutes ago, you use this expression addiction to pornography. What is it about our flesh? And we talked about this last time about the flesh, but what is it about our flesh that so easily develops sinful addictions, whether it's to pornography, for kids, it can be video games, it can be alcohol and drugs, it can be smoking, it can be sex, it can be certain kinds of music or materialism. It seems like there's an unending number of things that we can get addicted to. When we say addiction, what does that mean with regard to our flesh?

The best way to put addiction in a Christian sense is by using the term bondage, you know, because whoever you obey, you become that element's slave, and it holds power over you, and you're in bondage to it. And so the flesh is at the very heart of those things developing, because at the heart of the flesh is self. And as a human being, you're going to be one of two types of people. You're either going to live for God, and he's going to be the center of your life, like it talks about in 2 Corinthians 5, that he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. And we make it our aim, whether absent or present, it says there as well, that we may be well pleasing to him. So when you go with the flow of the flesh, self is always going to be at the center of it. When self is at the center of it, self becomes God, and now you must serve that God. And so you will do anything that the flesh desires, and the flesh is at enmity with God, the flesh is always going to go, and the way of sin. And Galatians 5 talks about that. The fruit of the flesh is adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I told you beforehand, he says that those who do those things won't inherit the kingdom of God. So the flesh has fruit, has cravings, and when self is at the center of it, you're going to seek to satisfy those in every way, unbridled, detached from the God who can give you victory from those things. Yeah, and you mentioned in our first part of the conversation about this triad of the devil and the flesh, which you just talked about, then we haven't discussed yet the world and how the world acts on our flesh as well. Talk for just a minute or two about how the world tempts us to go into the way of moral impurity.

Absolutely. You know, the world, according to scripture, is that system that is opposed to God and his ways, and there is a massive system. The scripture says, look, if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. In fact, if you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God.

And that carries with the idea of being one who is partnered with the world, who marches to its drum beat, who is immersed in its ways. And really, the world has wisdom and the world has its ways. And by the way, the world has a massive bully pulpit. Think of all of the tentacles that the world has to impact us through television, through radio, through magazines, through movies, through theater, through, I mean, books.

I mean, all of that is the world's bully pulpit, the system that is opposed to God. And so, it hits us with these mantras that are repeated again and again, if not in word, then in demonstration. One of them is follow your heart.

I mean, right? That's the thing to go to, right, on your grandkids' graduation card to follow your heart or in a speech, follow your heart. Follow your heart. Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful. Above all else, it's desperately wicked.

Who can know it? I mean, Proverbs 28, 26, he who follows his own heart is a fool. No, don't follow your heart. Follow the Lord because your heart will lead you astray. Then, you know, it's the mantra of you only live once. Yeah, you only live once, but then after that comes the judgment. So, there's this like abandonment, like do whatever you want to do, you know, and follow in the ways of the world. And so, there are those elements that seek to attract people and draw them away from the Lord, and we have to be careful to not be influenced by the world's wisdom.

And then it's ways, you know, whether it's fitting in or whether it's if it feels good, do it, or whether it's pursuing whatever it gives you your purpose in life. All those things, we have to be aware of them so that we're not influenced by that world system that's opposed to God. Our guest today is Emil Zewane, president of Living Waters and author of Fight Like a Man, a bold biblical battle plan for personal purity. His soft cover, 272 pages and retails for $17.99. For a limited time, you can receive it for a donation of any amount to the Christian worldview. To order, just go to thechristianworldview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.

Our contact information will be repeated during this break. More coming up with Emil Zewane on sexual purity. I'm David Wheaton, and you are listening to the Christian worldview radio program. The Overcomer Course is designed to help young adults gain clarity and conviction on the most foundational issues of life and the faith. Day one sessions address salvation, the authority of scripture, life purpose, and spiritual growth and discipleship. Day two sessions present God's design on time, work, and money, sex, singleness, and marriage, the local church, and overcoming temptation. Between sessions, enjoy fellowship, food, and fun at the farm, including activities and games, cookouts, an espresso bar, trail walks, bonfires, and more. Tell the young adults in your life about the Overcomer Course Friday, Saturday, June 20th and 21st at Stonehouse Farm in Jordan, Minnesota.

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I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit thechristianworldview.org where you can sign up for our weekly email, The Christian Worldview Journal monthly print publication, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Our guest today is Emil Zewane, president of Living Waters and author of Fight Like a Man, a bold biblical battle plan for personal purity. Now we've gone from talking about easy, what the opponent, what the opposition's like, what we have to face.

Let's get in now into some practical ways to be able to overcome this difficult obstacle that men face and women, of course, as well. At the end of chapter 11 in your book, you list many passages of scripture that are meant to be used as I think what you could call replacers to the lies and the lusts that lead us astray. I'm just going to read one of them from Romans chapter 6 verses 11 through 14 that you have in the book. Likewise, you also, Paul writing here, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness of sin but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead in your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you, this is the new believer, the believer, are not under law but under grace. Again, that's from Romans chapter 6 which I think is just one of the most important portions of scripture in our identification with Christ and being able to overcome the temptations we face. I think it's under preached on this particular passage and so forth how to understand that our identity with Christ but let's get to the point of end of the chapter 11 there where you can explain how reading the word, memorizing the word, recalling the word to mind is such a powerful weapon in overcoming sexual morality sort of like just how Jesus did when he faced temptation in Matthew chapter 4 with the devil.

Absolutely. You know, your word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you. Psalm 119. How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to your word. Look, we have to understand that that scripture is God's revelation to us and that all scripture is given by inspiration of the spirit, right? And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Scripture is living, it's active, it's sharper than any two-edged sword and yet oftentimes I think we demonstrate that we don't value scripture because we neglect it. Value impacts behavior as one well-known author has said, value impacts behavior.

If you want to know what is moving someone, look at what they value. We have to understand that God has given us his word and it keeps us, it preserves us and so we need to memorize it, we need to meditate on it, we need to understand it and when you look at the tone and tenor of scripture you realize it's his radical, remarkable, reliable, reasonable, readable, revolutionary revelation that will not return to him void and so we can't give lip service to, yeah, the Bible is valuable. I remember if you remember the DuckTales cartoon, you had, you know, that giant vault and they'd show them diving into it, it was massive with mountains of gold, you know, and that's what we have in God's word but we don't access it. The world doesn't have that.

The world, I would liken to sailboat lost at sea without any sails, without any oars, without a motor, without a compass, just left to the whims of the waves in the wind. We have the foundation of God's word, his revealed will for us and it's powerful and we need to let it be our guide in this area. I thought this was an interesting part of the book where you talked about how an evangelistic motivation in life, being an evangelist, discipling others, this can be a, I think you called it a fuel against sexual sins. How does evangelism and being a discipler that we're called to do, great commission, how does that, how is that a hedge against sexual morality? A big way that that impacts the believer is that when you yourself are participating in the glories of the gospel, making it known to others, watching it transform and change others, being reminded of its powerful truths, because look, the gospel is not just the instrument through which we're saved, it's the treasure house of spiritual riches from which we live. The benefits of the gospel go beyond just regeneration. They affect every area of our lives, but when you're preaching it, you're immersed in it, you're reminded of it.

And there's also the safeguard element of, you don't want to be a hypocrite. You're proclaiming how Christ can set you free while you yourself are secretly living in bondage and in sin. And so the reason why evangelism is a guard also against that is because, as we talked about last time, walk in the spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Well, what's the spirit involved in? Part of it is, as we talked about before, evangelism. When the spirit comes upon you, you'll be my witnesses.

So as you're a witness for Christ, you're sharing the gospel, that renders you walking in the spirit, and that will help you to not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Emile Zawane with us on the Christian Real View today, the author of Fight Like a Man. It's our new featured resource here on the Christian Real View. The subtitle is A Bold Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity. We highly recommend you get a copy of this book. We'll tell you how you can do so coming up on the program today.

Now, we're going to get to part four of the book where you have a great section on six C's and a nope. We're going to get to that in just a minute here, but I just want to ask one more question before we get there with regard to the local church. What do you think pastors and the local church can do better to help the men in their churches, maybe everyone in their church, in this battle for personal purity? Because I don't have the facts for this, but it just seems, you know, in my mid-50s now, growing up in the church, there was much more of a taboo.

Like, it's sinful to be living with someone before marriage or certain kinds of divorce situations were considered adultery. It doesn't seem like there's that kind of emphasis in most evangelical churches now. What can pastors and local churches do better? Well, I would say to the pastor in the local church to first of all realize that this is the pandemic of our age. It is ravaging the church and men and families, and by extension, their children and society. It is the issue. And that probably the overwhelming majority of men in your congregation are hooked on it and are living in sexual immorality. So you have to be determined to address this. I just spoke at a men's group on Saturday. The pastor of that church is right now taking 100 men in his church through my book.

In fact, he wrote his own study guide for it, because he so realizes the seriousness of this issue. And so, pastors, you need to shepherd your people. You can't ignore this. You can't pretend it doesn't exist.

You're going to give account for their souls. And so my encouragement to you would be to facilitate the discussion on this, whether it's in a men's group or even address it on a Sunday morning, of course, tactfully. But this is an issue. And again, it's not just men.

40% of women also struggle with that issue of pornography. Okay. Now let's get into those part four, the six C's and the nope. And the six C's are practical points for overcoming sexual impurity. And the six C's are all listed. We're not going to have time to get into all of them.

We're just going to do two of them in brief and listeners can order the book and they're very, very good. The six C's are creation, cross, crisis, crown, and crowd. Again, we'll make it- Christ at the end.

What is it? And Christ at the end. Oh, and Christ. Yes, I forgot the sixth one. Very important. You forgot Christ, David.

Thank you for pointing that out. So let's just start with the first one, because focusing on creation. Why is that an important C in overcoming sexual immorality? David, the thing that people don't realize when they're indulging in sexual morality, let's take lust as an example, is that they don't understand that they are using mind-blowing features and faculties that God has designed and created. So when someone is lusting, first of all, they're using vision.

Think about it. Your eyes have 137 million light sensitive cells. The focusing muscle moves about a hundred thousand times a day. Your eyes have built in super sensitive light meters, immediate automatic focusing, wide angle lens, and full color instantaneous reproduction. Sounds like I'm talking about a camera. This is the human eye.

When you're lusting, you're using this amazing instrument that has God's fingerprints of design all over it. Well, your eyes are connected to your brain. So you not only have vision, you have cognition. Your brain, a hundred billion neurons or microscopic nerve cells, many times more nerve lines, David, than all the telephone lines in the world put together. Electrical signals from 200,000 living thermometer cells, a half million pressure sensing cells, three to four million pain sensing cells, plus all the signals from your eyes, ears, nose, taste buds, all routed to your brain that keeps everything working in perfect order and harmony.

I mean, what computer can you compare the human brain to that actually created the computer, right? I mean, whoa. And then coition, which is, you know, intimacy and the mechanisms involved with that through which procreation happens and another image bearer is created.

It's mind blowing. So we need to recognize what we're doing is we're taking these instruments that God has given us that should cause us to worship him. And we're using them to wound ourselves, others, and the Lord. So that alliterated sentence that goes with that C as, as happens with every C is wield wonders as wellsprings for worship, not weapons for wounding.

We need to, we need to allow ourselves to say, what am I doing now? Wow. My vision, cognition, coition, ah, God made these, his fingerprints of designer all over them.

And we should instead worship God rather than use them against him, ourselves and others. I noticed in the book that you, you do love words. You love alliteration, you love rhyme. Well, you know, English was my second language. I was born in Lebanon, came here in 1984 and a half, didn't speak a lick of English. So I had to pay close attention to the language to learn it.

And I really just grew to love it. Easy. Let's go to another one of these C's, these practical points to overcome sexual impurity. And I'm going to quote from the book here on page one 92, you say the practical outworking of this surrender is that the man of God in the, in the heat of sexual temptation, turns his gaze toward the cross. There's the C and considers its horror, its solemnity, its beauty, its eternal significance, its redeeming power and its transformational impact. This is an act of total surrender. He willingly rejects the temptation to surrender to sexual sin and instead chooses to walk in the self-control that demonstrates how much he truly values the pricelessness of the cross.

So that was very well written and stated very powerful. How does the cross of Christ need to be recalled? Need to be in the forefront of our minds when we're in this heat of temptation.

Yeah. We need to remember that as our savior hung upon that cross, extended his arms and bore those stakes in his hands and his feet, that crown of thorns on his head, he was paying for our sin. Our sin put Christ on the cross and it was there.

He paid the highest price ever paid for anything ever purchased in the history of the universe. And when we willfully sin against him, we're sinning in the shadow of the cross. And in a sense, we're saying that cross means nothing to me.

We're spitting on it or trampling it beneath our feet. We need to pause before we indulge in sin. Look at the cross, look at what the savior did to redeem us and say, I can't sin against the savior who did that. That, that alliterated sentence is stop spitting and stomping on such a sacred symbol. That's what should be at the forefront of our minds when we even consider fulfilling sexual lust. Emilia Zellane with us here on the Christian worldview today, talking about moral purity. I said, we just do two.

Let's get to one more of the season. There's much more developed in the book, but let's just touch on this. And the last one is, is Christ on page 229. One of the most crucial and indispensable things that you must understand about achieving victory over sexual sin is that you must do it through the strength and support of your savior Christ.

You must never forget that apart from him, you can do nothing. John 15, Jesus must be your everything. Glorifying him must be your ultimate motive for walking in purity, bringing his heart pleasure and being a vessel of honor in his hand must be the fuel that propels you forward on the way on the highway of holiness.

And there was more, but I'll stop there. And you mentioned this earlier in the interview about how, how, what we value drives us and what we value is what we love in life. And so how do we have a deeper love for Christ and more value him so that we lessen the opportunity to fulfill the lust of our flesh.

Yeah. You know, it says in Ephesians that you may know what is a width, the length, the depth, the height, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled with the fullness of God. It's meditating on that love that he demonstrated on the cross that will create that preciousness of him in your heart.

And so that's, that's hugely important. And to recognize it, it all begins with him. Look, the book is gospel centric.

It's not about pull yourself up by your bootstraps. It's about trusting in him. It's about looking him. We're saved by grace through faith, apart from anything we can do, we've received the imputed righteousness of Christ, but now we're called to walk in obedience and surrender and submission. So Christ has to be at the center of it. He has to be our everything apart from me, you can do nothing.

He said, right. And so we look to him, we look to him as the one who sympathizes with our weaknesses and says, come boldly to the throne of grace, receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. He's the one who doesn't break a bruised reed.

He doesn't quench a smoldering wick. He fans us back into a flame and he, he mends us again to health. And if these things, at first John says these things were written so that you may not sin, but if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So we have to run to him, even when we stumble to forgive us, to remember he paid for those sins. And that sentence is seek the sweet savior for strength, satisfaction, and sympathetic support.

Now we could get to the NOPE part, the acronym, but I think we'll let listeners get the book and read about that particular element because I have a few other questions for you as we conclude today. And again, Emile Zawane, the president of Living Waters and author of Fight Like a Man is our guest here on the Christian worldview. When I think about this issue of sexual purity, I think of two stories in scripture often. The story of Joseph who faced temptation to sexual morality, as did King David. Joseph was able to overcome and King David was overcome by it. So when you read those two stories in scripture, two stories of Joseph and King David, why did Joseph succeed and King David fail?

Easy will answer that question after this short break. His book, Fight Like a Man, a bold biblical battle plan for personal purity, is our new featured resource. It's softcover, 272 pages, and retails for $17.99. And for a limited time, you can receive it for a donation of any amount to the Christian worldview. To order, go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.

I'm David Wheaton, and you are listening to the Christian worldview radio program. The Christian worldview journal is our monthly 12 page full color print publication designed to sharpen your biblical worldview on current events and issues of the faith. The journal is anchored each month with three columns, including one by Christian geopolitical and prophecy analyst Soren Kern.

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I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit thechristianworldview.org where you can sign up for our weekly email, The Christian Worldview Journal monthly print publication, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Our guest today is Emil Zewane, president of Living Waters and author of Fight Like a Man, a bold biblical battle plan for personal purity. When I think about this issue of sexual purity, I think of two stories in scripture often. The story of Joseph who faced temptation to sexual morality as did King David. Joseph was able to overcome and King David was overcome by it. So when you read those two stories in scripture, true stories of Joseph and King David, why did Joseph succeed and King David fail? It was timing, David. Think about what Joseph said, how can I do this thing and sin against my God?

And then think of what David said in Psalm 51 after he repented, against you and you only have I sinned. Joseph was wise enough to have what I call preventative preparedness. It was obvious that he feared the Lord, was walking in the fear of the Lord, was conscious and sober. And he chose to flee, right? He ran, he left his tunic and he, it doesn't matter, whatever, I'm gone.

I'm not, how can I do this thing and sin against my God? David, unfortunately, I think was doing stuff that led up to that. He wasn't out where kings usually went, right? With his people in battle, being active in the call of the Lord. So he was complacent, I believe. And there was a moment of weakness and he looked and he didn't think ahead of time, I'm going to sin against God.

He did it. And then in retrospect said, against you and you only have I sinned. Hindsight is 2020. They say, we need to have foresight.

Our foresight needs to be 2020. We need to think ahead and think of the ravages of sin that will destroy us. Think of the, the preciousness of our family, our witness for Christ.

And let that be a stop gate that says, no, I don't want to dishonor my God. I want to obey him and walk in love. And like first John says, and this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. We know that he wants what's best for us and his commands are a delight. And so it's to, it's to be prepared by walking close with the Lord and keeping an active spiritual life that, that is filled with his presence.

Yeah. And the, the consequences of David's sin were just unimaginable. The sword will never depart from your household. The murder of Uriah and nearly the loss of his kingdom and just so many things that happened. And there was forgiveness, but there were, there were the repercussions and there were the scars that lasted a lifetime. Very much. Emile Zawain again with us today here on the Christian worldview, talking about his excellent book, Fight Like a Man.

We'll tell you how you can order a copy in just a minute coming up. You know, we talked about what men need to do in encountering this kind of temptation, but what do fathers, what should parents be doing to help their sons? Because the world that we grew up in now, you and I, you're actually your grandfather, but we have sons and the world we're going up now is, is even harder, I think, than when we grew up in some ways because of the internet and everything else. And it's just everywhere. The television, everything's more raw now, just out there. What do you think parents should be doing to try to help their children, specifically their sons who are preteens, even in their teens, be able to overcome this?

Yeah. Well, fathers need to be men of vision. And sadly that's, that's missing today. We don't have vision for our family. You know, we plan for everything in life. We plan for our weddings. We plan for our careers. We plan for our retirements. We plan for our vacations, but we don't plan in terms of a proactive, intentional discipleship tone in our homes for our children.

And so we need to do that. You know, years back when my kids were young, I crafted a family vision statement and I brought my family together. I seated them in our living room and I, I unveiled this family vision statement for them.

And it goes like this, to gladly and passionately glorify God in every thought, affection, word, and deed, while constantly enjoying Him as our greatest pleasure and most precious treasure. I've memorized that. My wife's memorized that. Our five children have memorized that.

It sits on a giant plaque in our living room because we must cast vision. And then we have to be intentional with proactively discipling our kids and sitting down with them and exposing them to the pitfalls that are ahead of them in the world, and then giving them the tools from God's word as we bathe them in prayer to help them fight the battles that are before them. All successful organizations have a clearly defined mission statement, a vision statement.

Why wouldn't we have one for ourselves personally, but also our home? Yeah. And under that vision statement, we created a mission statement that had details of how we're going to fulfill our vision as a family. And it's been a joy through the years, you know, to, to hear our kids echo our vision statement in so many different ways in their lives. So we have to have vision and look, we're all imperfect.

We failed as parents so many times and God has been gracious, but you have to be determined by God's grace to lead and it'll impact your kids. Yeah. A final question for you, EZ. I'm sure there are people who have heard part one and now part two of our conversation who have said, I agree with what he's saying, but I can't do this. They've just been defeated over and over and over again when they've, they've really struggled and tried to be morally pure, but they keep on falling back into it. So what is your, your parting final exhortation today for the person who says, I want the help. I just, I feel like I just can't do it.

Yeah. I would say stop believing that horrendous lie. And in essence, you're calling God a liar because scripture is clear that no temptations come upon you, except what's common to man. God is faithful who will provide the way of escape so that you can endure it.

You are able to have victory, but the reason why you don't is because you've chosen not to fully repent and repentance is the best word in the world. I may have mentioned that last time, you know, that if a video camera was going to be recording your every move, and it was going to be played for your family, your friends, your church, you know, you would refrain. You know, that if every time you indulge in sexual immorality, one of your body parts was going to fall off. There goes an ear, there goes an eye, there goes your left hand, right hand, your foot, you know, that you would stop.

You know, that as I may have shared last time, if you were given a hundred million dollars, if you were to go six months without looking at pornography, you know, you would do whatever it takes to have victory over that and you wouldn't do it. David, if our lungs were sitting on the outside of our chest, rather than being covered by these walls of flesh, you would have a lot less smokers in the world. You've seen the pictures, the healthy lung, the smoker's lung.

The problem is, is the smoker doesn't see his lungs, but if they were on the outside of his chest and he was able to see the damage that's happening, a lot less people would smoke. The problem is, is we don't see what's happening to our spiritual man when we're indulging in sexual immorality. We don't see how we're impacting lives negatively, our children, our family, the testimony, the gospel. We don't realize how we're negatively impacting eternity and we're going to give account before the Lord, but all of that is real. We need to wake up, recognize the repercussions, recognize the sweetness of reward. Blessed is a man who endures temptation for when he has been approved, he'll receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. That's not salvation, that's eternal rewards that are amazing. So we need to wake up, we need to change our value system because value impacts behavior, as I said, and we need to pursue holiness. And listen, we're saved by grace through faith, but scripture is clear, discipline yourself for godliness.

So well said, Easy. We're just so grateful to be able to spend two interviews with you talking about this, such an important topic of moral and personal purity. So thank you for taking the time and the thought and sharing with us what God has really built into you about with this book. And as I mentioned last time, the book is, it's about personal purity, but it really is. It's about how to be a strong sanctified believer.

And so we just recommend our listeners for sure order a copy. So thank you for coming on the Christian Real View today. All of God's best to you and your family and living waters. Thank you so much, David. Okay, one final reminder that you can order Emile Zewane's book, Fight Like a Man, for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View.

Our contact information to order will be given in just a moment. I thought we wouldn't be airing part two this weekend, but Ambassador Agency, the company that distributes the Christian Real View, was kind enough to let us use their studio in Southern California. God has been so good to us on this trip to California.

I'll tell you more in the next program about our Christian Real View partner luncheon at Grace Community Church and our visit to KKLA 99.5 FM and Living Waters as well. Until then, thank you for joining us today on the Christian Real View and for your support of this nonprofit radio ministry. Let's close with the same passage from last week because it's such an important promise. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also so that you will be able to endure it. That's 1 Corinthians 10 13. Winning the battle for moral purity is ours when we are born again and live daily and obediently in the power of the Holy Spirit, in prayer, in the word, and in our local church.

So until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, and stand firm. The mission of the Christian Real View is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out What Must I Do to Be Saved?, go to thechristianrealview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Real View is a listener-supported nonprofit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation. To make a donation, become a Christian Real View partner, order resources, subscribe to our free newsletter, or contact us, visit thechristianrealview.org, call 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Thanks for listening to the Christian Real View.