1183. When God Says “No,” Listen

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. This week on The Daily Platform, we're featuring sermons preached from the Bob Jones University 2021 Bible Conference with the theme of sanctification. Today's sermon will be preached by Rand Hummel, Director of the Wilds of New England Camp. BJU President Steve Pettit will introduce him.

I don't know anybody who loves young people more than Rand Hummel, and he is faithful, he's godly, he's consistent, he's humble, he's wise, he's effective, he's powerful. And I'm just so glad that he's here to be a part of our Bible Conference as we emphasize the whole theme of spiritually growing sanctification. And I know that you will be blessed by his message tonight. We're going to Ephesians 5 tonight, and I hope you're ready to dig in, okay? Ephesians chapter 5 is where I want you to turn, please. In Ephesians 5, twelve times God says no.

He wants us, he really does, he wants us to be morally pure, no question. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, gave himself for it, that he might sanctify, set it apart, make it special, unique, one of a kind, and cleanse it with a washing of water by the word. If you are engaged, and you're going to get married sometime this year, stand up, stand up. Let's see, if you're engaged, come on.

Oh, yeah. Stay standing, wait a minute, stay standing. If you want to be engaged and get married this year, stand up, alright? How many of you, seriously, how many of you would like to be married someday? Let me see your hands, okay? Very good, it's great, it's wonderful. Now I'm going to ask a hard question because I don't even like what I'm preaching all night, but how, seriously, how many of you want to be cheated on once you get married?

Nobody, no way. Yeah. And when the Bible says, husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, Jesus died. He died to sanctify, to set us apart, to make us that very, very special, unique, one of a kind bride. And positionally, in Christ, he sets us apart, he sanctifies us. But then in a very practical, progressive way, as was mentioned last night, the sanctification begins working where we experience God putting off the old man, okay? That old man, which is corrupt, is rotted with deceitful, lying lust that will not truly satisfy you.

The old man corrupt according to his deceitful lust. God, and it is, okay, it's an imperative, it's an indicative, it's all mixed up together there that God does this for us and we need to be a part of this. And then I love the enjoyment of where it says he puts on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness. You don't have to pretend that you're right with God, you don't have to fake it, it's a true holiness. But the process is found in that middle verse, being renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that's the concept of the washing or the cleansing of the water by the word. Those of you that struggle with thought life, porn, I get asked all the time, how can I get victory over this?

I have found nothing, nothing, nothing except this. Nothing that will cleanse a heart and cleanse a mind but the very word of God. You are clinging to the word which I have given you. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heather to according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee, let me not wander from thy commandments. Our problem is we don't seek him with a whole heart, just a part of our heart.

To put the guilt level low enough so we can make it through another day. And then we get a chapter like Ephesians 5 where God says, not, neither, nor, nor, no, nor, nor, no, not, no, not, not. Twelve times in one chapter he uses a negative. Look at verse 1, chapter 5 verse 1. Be ye therefore, and the therefore is wonderful because as you know chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Ephesians you're in Christ.

As you heard many of you from Dr. Ferguson, the union we have and all the blessings thereof, okay. And then chapters 4, 5, and 6 to be like Christ and that is his goal, okay. Be therefore imitators or followers of God and then that next little phrase, as dear children, don't you miss the innocency of childhood? That you didn't have to struggle with this yucky moral stuff.

You didn't even think about it. As dearly loved children, but even kids need to learn the importance of no. Busy traffic near your house, you teach them no, don't go out on the road. Burning fireplace, I burn wood, we live in New Hampshire, it's cold. The birds wear earmuffs up there, I mean it's really cold, okay. So you teach your kids stay away from the hot fireplace. Balconies and stairs, no.

Taking a booger and putting it from your nose to your mouth, no, no, don't do that. But the innocency of children, and I do, I wish, I do, I wish we could go back to that. We are someday by the way, in the new heaven and the new earth, it would be so cool. No lust, no world, no devil, okay. But kids are so trusting and innocent. I love kids, the kids are great. Somebody sent me, and I may have shared this with you before, but some notes that some second graders wrote to God.

Dear God, I didn't think orange went well with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday, that was cool. Dear God, I think about you sometimes, even when I'm not praying. Dear God, of all the people who work for you, I like Noah and David the best. One more, dear God, thank you for my baby brother, but I think you got confused because what I prayed for was a puppy. Do you know why kids can write notes like this to God? You read it in Hebrews 11, without faith it is impossible to please God. But he that comes to God must believe that he what? He is, and he is everything that this precious word says he is.

He is holy, he is wonderful, he is loving, he is forgiving, and kids believe that. And then we get older and we stop believing that. And it's because we don't follow through with the rest of the verse. He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Let's so dig into this book and begin thinking like God wants us to think because our minds are being washed with his precious word.

And slowly we get renewed. Look at verse 2, walk in love as Christ also has loved us. Loving others just like our precious Lord loves us.

Wouldn't that be wonderful if we really lived that? And he's given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savior. This is the Shema, as you know. The greatest commandment of all is to love God and love others, love God and love others. And we see the illustration where Christ died for us, he loves us. And then he always wanted to please his Heavenly Father with the right type of sacrifice there. And he was consumed with loving us and loving his Heavenly Father. In other words, he was motivated by love. The only thing that will help us to listen to God when God says no when it comes to moral issues, it's a motivation of love.

You all want to be married, or most of you, but nobody wants to be cheated on. You start loving you more than you love your husband, you start loving you more than you love your wife. And you may give in to that terrible thing. So as I think through how much God loves us in this whole chapter that deals with the opposite of true love, I have to ask myself, what could steal my love away from God? What is it that could creep into my life? I hate to put it this way, but is the bride of Christ to make me cheat on God?

If you experience something like that, and you're a young wife, it just literally, it's like somebody reaches in, grabs a hold of your heart and rips it out. And I don't know is that how God feels in Ephesians 4 when it says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God? When we so quickly give in to the old, the flesh and stuff, and we don't listen to God on these issues that we're going to talk about. God is a jealous lover. The Bible teaches that. But God is not jealous of, okay? He's jealous for us.

And He knows what kind of love can reach down in every single one of our hearts, what kind of love can reach down and grab hold of our heart and pull it away from Him, guys. And I don't want you to go through the anguish and I don't want my Heavenly Father and through His Spirit to be grieved because of our choices in these areas. So verse 3, fornication and cleanness and covetousness, let it not be, there's a no, once named among you is becometh saints. There's one translation, but among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. Not even a hint.

I hope this is okay, but I'm going to take this coat off, okay? No hint. Guys, is there anything in your life, in your dorm, that would give others a hint that you're really giving in to pornography? Girls, is there anything in your conversations and what you talk about with others that would give them a hint that your thought life is out of control? No hint of fornication, no hint of uncleanness. Do you enjoy being entertained by those who joke about immorality? It's tough, you want to enjoy a good movie, so much of them, the underlying themes are just, well I will say this, they decrease our sensitivity to God's hatred for sin, okay?

They make sin like it's no big deal. No hint of sexual greed, that's what covetousness is, desiring that which God never, ever intended you to have. Do you desire more satisfaction for you married folks that you can get in your marital relationship? Are you that will be married someday in that relationship? And these are the things, that's why I hate preaching through this passage, do you desire, do you covet another man's wife? Or do you desire or covet another man's future wife?

Whether she be in a movie, or magazine, or a website. Fox News did a whole study on abstinence for teenagers, two year study, and this is sad, but it was on sixth and seventh graders. Of those taught safe sex, fifty percent were sexually active within two years. Of those taught abstinence, only thirty three were sexually active, and I hurt for even those thirty three percent.

Now that does mean that two thirds stayed pure. No hint of sexual immorality, no hint of sexual uncleanness, no hint of sexual greed. Peter put it well, dearly beloved, I beg, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lust. Which what? You know, war.

It is a war, because it's tough, and it's a battle, and it's a fight. It says, if you see in the same verse here, at the end of verse three, it says, as becometh saints. As is becoming of that which makes a saint look good in the eyes of others. But what is it about our moral lives that makes the gospel look good? Becoming, saintly, holy lives make God and Christianity look good and attractive to others. Sensual, unholy lives make God and Christianity look ugly, and repulsive.

Verse four, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. Absolutely, no joking. Because what you joke about, especially in sexual things, could be the very thing that ripped the heart of that other roommate, or maybe a teen that you're going to work with in a youth group someday because their dad left their mom for another woman. And it is a big joke until it crawls into your own home. So what do you joke about? Do you make fun of spiritual things?

Do you violate this principle of filthy, foolish jesting? You see, come on Rand, you don't know my heart. True, I don't know your heart. I would have to take and send a spy into you to study your heart.

Well, actually God already did that, didn't he? And it's called your tongue. Because if you think it's cool with your buddies, and you've got a filthy tongue, you've got a filthy heart, I'm sorry. If you have a complaining tongue, you have an unthankful heart. If you have a bitter tongue, you have an angry heart. If you've got a thankful tongue, excuse me, you have a thankful heart. Just listen to yourself.

Listen to yourself and let your own words reveal what your heart is about. What makes you laugh? Is there anything that is filthy in God's eyes and funny in your eyes? So here's a question for you. According to our passage, how do you talk to others about sex?

How do you do this? Now this is all part of this sanctifying and being cleansed and clean. Because we don't want to be in this yucky stuff in our lives.

So you've got to start at the basis here like God tells us here. We're just talking about that what you talk about. Filthiness, obscenity, obscene stories, online sexting, laying in your bed at night.

So dangerous. Foolish talking is empty vein, talk with sexual overtones. Jesting is the coarse, crude, lewd joking. It literally has a concept of a twisting and some people can take anything and twist it to make it dirty. Since they're not convenient, in other words they are totally out of place for a Christian that loves God and others. Because these things are ugly, they're repulsive. I want you to understand that when we joke about something, we belittle it and lessen its importance. Got that? That's why I will not joke about the word of God.

No, no, no. When you joke about something, you belittle it, you lessen its importance. When we thank God for something, we express its importance. So that next phrase at the end of verse 4, but rather giving a thanks.

Where did that come from in this passage? We're talking about all this wicked immoral stuff, so I've got a question for you. How do you talk to God about sex? Thank God for sex as He designed it before man perverted it. Thank God for sex that can be enjoyed in a guilt-free fashion according to God's plan from the beginning. Thank God for sex, which is much more than a release, it's a relationship. And I'm not trying to be crude, but we're not animals. It's not how I can please me. Thank God for sex is the incredible picture of intimacy that it really is. You can't thank God for the filthy, obscene, coarse, crude type of sex that's prevalent online and on screen today. You can't, okay? And when you get down a little farther here to verse 5 and realize that it is one of the most deceiving things that can happen.

Because you guys are doing great publicly, outwardly. But we all, if we're honest with each other, know the struggle we have with our thoughts and our flesh. And look what it says in verse 5, For that ye know that no whoremonger or unclean person covetous men who is an idolatry, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God, let no man deceive you with vain words. Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse their sexual sins. Because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. God's displeasure will fall on those who willfully disobey Him.

How does that happen? I don't know. And I really don't want to find out. Don't be deceived into thinking that immorality has no consequences. How many times does God say no before we finally listen?

Don't be fooled. You guys get an unfiltered internet and a ton of privacy and you know what happens, okay? These things make God upset. And when it's like something that happens directly to us, maybe in a dating or marital relationship, it upsets us. But for whatever reason, we don't really get upset with this kind of sin as we should.

We don't. If you did truly get upset, you would do everything you could. I'm telling you, in my world, because I'm a camp guy and I get calls all the time, just a couple years ago, I had five college guys, different colleges. All was sent to me for counsel, all on the phone or online.

All five were addicted to porn. And they said, Ran, can you help us? I said, I really can, okay? If you'll listen to me, I can. I got a little plan for you, okay? We're going to do it for six weeks.

Let's just take the three weeks, all right? I'm going to tell you exactly what to meditate on, what to read. I want you to spend, get this, I want you to spend an hour in the morning and an hour at night with God. Because you have so habituated your thinking in the wrong way, you just can't take a pill or get a vaccine and this stuff is gone.

You got to renew, make new the mind, change the way you think. So out of those five guys, I'm only asking for two hours a day. How many made it? None.

I think one guy said he almost made it three weeks. And I hurt for them. I really do. But nobody can, nobody can do this for you, okay? No part with immorality. Look at verse seven. Be not therefore partakers with them.

Do not participate in the things that these people do. For you were sometimes darkness in verse eight, but now you're the light of the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth proving what is acceptable to the Lord. In other words, before we do make that choice to literally cheat on our Lord by even cheating on those that we love here, we need to learn to discern, okay?

It's huge. The discernment process puts time between the temptation and instant gratification. Let me say that again. The discernment process puts time between the temptation and the instant gratification. It's similar in dealing with anger to the Old Testament word long suffering.

It means literally to be of long nose or to be of long breath, okay? Everybody, do it with me. Take in the breath. Take it in. Hold it. Now let it out. So when a roommate says something really stupid that upsets you, watch me. That's all it takes. You married men, your wife says something that irritates you. Yes, dear.

Filter with pre-set discernment. Carefully determine what pleases God and what does not please God, okay? Have no fellowship. Take no part with the unfruitful works of darkness, the worthless evil. Rather expose it even to yourself for it's a shame to even speak of those things which are done in secret.

Not partakers. You just don't want any part of it. You don't want to talk about it.

You don't want to think about it. Then why do we? Why do we struggle in all of this? Because we haven't really decided who and what we truly love. You talk about what you think about and you think about what you love. Therefore, if you truly love your God, guys, think about that. You're going to talk about Him and think about Him and learn more of Him. You're going to renew your mind and you're going to be washed by the water of this word. But if you constantly, every chance, feed these struggles and these doubts with more and more lewdness and uncleanness and sexual covetousness, wow, you're going to have a hard time crawling out of this one.

No hint, no joking, no deception, no part. God says no more. Verse 15, therefore, see them, be careful, walk circumspectly. Not more foolishness, okay?

No more foolishness. Just be careful. Just be careful, walk circumspectly. If you know you're headed in the wrong way, just turn and get out of there, okay?

Be careful that you don't waste your time. Verse 16, do you know it takes time to sin? And then it takes time to cover your sin? Then you spend a lot of time worrying about if anyone will ever find out about your sin. Every single student today that I talk to, I say, hey, how you doing?

How's school? Oh, it's busy. If most of us were honest, we could probably pick up two hours a day just by stop sinning, okay?

It's time management in a way. Be careful not to waste your time. Be careful that you certainly don't waste your life.

Think. You've all seen the words viewer, discretion, advised. Even the world knows the need for discretion and discernment. Then why don't we never forget that only fools joke about sin? Because my Jesus died for us because of sin. Please, when God says no more immorality, please listen. You've been listening to a sermon from the 2021 Bob Jones University Bible Conference preached by Rand Hummel. Join us again tomorrow on The Daily Platform.