Today, on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe, human sexuality is a beautiful and a wonderful gift of God to be enjoyed and savored. And would anyone dispute that we here in the United States and in the West live in a sex-saturated society? But because our sexuality is such a powerful force in our lives, God gives clear commands and warnings. Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Sex is a beautiful and wonderful gift of God.
But in today's society, God's clear commands have been disregarded, and sex has been cheapened and abused. it might surprise you to learn that ancient Colossi was quite similar in many ways. Today, we're continuing in Colossians and learning from the Apostle Paul on living in a sex-saturated society. Here's Pastor John Monroe. There's no doubt that our world today is sex saturated.
Pornography is epidemic, and it seems every day we hear of more sexual assaults and sexual abuse. How do we prevent this? Today, in our study of Colossians, we're looking at chapter 3, verses 5, 6, and 7. If you go to the Bible, turn there. Don't you find it remarkable?
that although Paul is writing 2,000 years ago, His words are equally applicable to us today. God made us as sexual beings. Our sexuality is a beautiful and wonderful gift. But because our sexuality is so important The Bible gives us clear parameters. and if we ignore the parameters.
There are serious consequences. Let's learn. from the serious warning all goods. I ask you to open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 7. Three.
We're going to just look at three verses, verses five. Six and seven. Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. This is the English standard version. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion.
evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you two once walked. When you were living in them. In verse 5, Paul is saying Put To death.
Oh Send. All sin. Has to be put to death.
Now, Paul gives the specifics. He mentions five sins which must be put to death. Five characteristics of the old life. Number one, sexual Immorality. The Greek word there is porneia, from which we get our word pornography.
Sexual immorality, porneo, is a broad word encompassing all Unlawful sexual activity. That is outside of marriage. It would include adultery, sex by or with a married person outside of marriage, homosexuality, incest. fornication that is sex between singles? Living together today before marriage is very, very common, isn't it?
Friday's Observer reported that in the south The Bible Belt. In the South, 38% of newly formed unmarried couples have lived together. That's quite a percentage, isn't it? That's called in the Bible sexual. immorality.
It is sinful. It's regarded by our society as just normal behaviour. But according to the Word of God, it is sexually. immoral. Being sexually intimate with a person is not just having a bit of innocent fun, it is sinful.
God says that this is sexual immorality. Put to death all sexual immorality. Secondly, there is this word translated impurity. This is a moral uncleanness or corruption or what we would say a kind of filthiness. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?
Blessed are the pure in heart. for they shall see. This is the very opposite. Rather than purity, this is impurity. The very opposite of being pure in heart.
All sins in our life of impurity must be put To death. They will rob you of all of the joy that God intends for you. For you. Question? Any impurity in your life?
Pornography is an industry of billions and billions.
Now with the computer, now with the technology, it is rampant. That is impurity, it's sinful. It will wreck your sexuality. It will wreck the sexuality. of your husband, of your wife, of your future husband or your wife, practice zero tolerance.
Notice what Paul is saying. Put it to death. Don't just tolerate a little bit of it. No. Put it completely to death.
Kill the sin, or it will kill you. The third word is passion. Sexual immorality, impurity. Passion. Pathos is a Greek word.
This is a shameful drive which leads to sexual excess. Uncontrollable. desires. More and more we hear of so-called sexual addiction. That would be a good example.
of this Passion. As I've said, our sexual desires are a beautiful gift from God. But this passion must be put to death, or it will wreck you. It will take over your life. All of us know people whose lives are out of control.
Who have wrecked their lives, their marriages, their homes, all that was dear to them because of a passion, an uncontrollable desire. destroying their marriages, their children, their careers, their spiritual life. Says Paul. Put all of that. To death.
But there's more. You say, Paul, give us a break, move on. No. Sexual immorality. Impurity, passion, evil.
Desire. What we would say lusts. The very opposite of love. Love gives, lust takes. Love is concerned with the needs of the other person.
Lust is always concerned about me. It is immediate, it is impatient. It is self-centered. Evil desires. And with this, I think Paul is moving very skillfully from the external, the immoral act, to the internal to evil desires And great.
He is moving from the outward manifestations of the sin to the inward craving. and motivations of the heart. The acts of sin He's moving from the acts of sin to their inner Springs. Brothers, sisters, don't allow These lusts, these evil desires. Sexual and other such desires.
Don't allow these lusts, these evil desires, to get a stronghold in your mind. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5, to the teaching of our Lord on this subject in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5. Verse twenty Seven. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery.
As one of the Ten Commandments, right? You shall not commit adultery. But, says Jesus, everyone who looks at a woman With Lustful Intent. The evil desire springing from the heart Everyone who does that has already committed adultery with her in his. Heart.
That's it. God Your heart. Put. Evil desires. There is a final one in verse 15.
Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. This is greed. Covetousness. Great.
This is the uncontrollable desire which is never satisfied and always wants more. Insatiable greed. You're quite happy with your home until you learn that your friend who didn't have as good grades as you did when you were at college has got a bigger house. And you want More. Therefore.
Says Paul. Put to death. These things. Sexual immorality. Impurity.
Passion. Evil desires and covetousness. Do you think we need to hear this today? Absolutely. There is not one person here today.
which is immune. From this Message.
Now, Paul has already given a positive motivation to do this in verses 1, 2, 3, and 4. But now he gives a negative motivation to underline the seriousness of it. I think he gives us two reasons why all sin has to be put to death. Reason number one. God's wrath will come on these sins.
Verse six. On account of these The wrath of God. is coming. That makes it serious, doesn't it? gets to us.
God's wrath will come on these sins. Paul is not implying that believers will experience God's wrath on the cross. God bore Christ bore God's wrath for our sins. We understand that. But this warning is a motivation.
to have nothing to do with these Sins. They are totally. Opposite to the life that God has for us, the seriousness. of the sin. is shown by this fact.
that they deserve the wrath. of God. Go back a few pages in your Bible to Ephesians. Before Colossians is Philippians, before Philippines is Ephesians. Just a few pages back.
to Ephesians five, where again we will see this. Ephesians 5 verse 3. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness.
Sounds familiar? Just read about it in Colossians 3. Must not even be named among you as is proper among. Saints. Let there be no filthiness.
nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. Men. Notice verse 4. You're with some of your buddies travelling to Have a game of golf. or to go to a football match or whatever.
And you want to tell a filthy joke. Don't, don't do that. That's what Paul is saying. This is nothing. Toby laughed about.
This is filthy, this is foolishness, this is crude joking, it's vulgarity, it has got no place in the lips. of the Christian. For you may be sure of this, verse 5. That everyone who is sexually immoral or impure Notice he's dealing with sexual immorality and impurity. Or who is covetousness, who is covetous, that is an idolater.
has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ. And God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Notice Paul is emphasizing the seriousness of these sins by saying, listen. These things shouldn't be even named among you.
They shouldn't be talked about among you. Because it's so serious that God's wrath is going to come on those who practice. This sense. Turn over to Hebrews. Towards the end of the Bible.
Hebrews chapter Thirteen for Others. Let marriage be held in honor among all. Marriage Biblical marriage right from creation. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled. For God will judge.
the sexually immoral and adulterous. You get a point? Same thing as he's saying in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5, emphasizing the seriousness of it. The sin is against God. It offends God.
Don't mock God. What we sow, we reap. These sins must be put to death. or serious consequences will follow. Think of immorality, think of impurity, passion, evil desires, and covetousness have serious consequences, don't they?
Think of the loss of virginity. The guilt, the shame, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, emotional and psychological drama, divorce, betrayal, tears, regrets, might have beens. Think of the children affected by adultery, incest, pornography and other sins. And we, as pastors, see this firsthand. Be warned, a holy God will judge.
Soon. The second reason is that we've already seen in verse 7, these sins characterized our lives before Christ. Again, verse 7, in these you too once walked when you were living in them. The Colossians formally committed these sins. This was their lifestyle.
But they were gloriously converted. Paul has said that away back in chapter 1, verse 13, about our great God. He's delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We are now in a different kingdom. We are saved by the grace of God.
And God expects us to live differently. We once lived a certain way, but now that we belong to Christ, we are to live a different way, a way of holiness. You are now united with Jesus Christ. Why would you go back to your old lifestyle? God hates these sins.
And these sins will destroy you. They will create havoc in your life and the life of those around you. Why would you do that? All around us. Yeah.
Our sex-saturated society beckons us. Live it up. You only go around once. Don't miss out. Forget tomorrow.
You deserve happiness. Seize the day.
Someone involved? In an affair In adultery? Brother, sister, end it now. Today, not tomorrow. Today.
Are you single? Value your virginity. Value your purity, protected is a gift. From God. Don't succumb to the world.
Keep your way pure. You say, How do I keep my way pure? Psalm 119 verse 9. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? Question, answer.
By keeping it according to your Works. Spend time. in the word. of God. Be different.
from our sleazy, sex saturated society. Also Immorality includes That unmentionable sin. which sadly defiles even Christian homes. The sin of incense, incest. that abomination whereby fathers and grandfathers and uncles, molest their little daughters and granddaughters and nieces.
What does the Bible say? God will judge such. people. And if there's anyone here involved in that horrendous sin, please listen. God's wrath is coming.
God is not. Marked. And you are causing havoc in the lives of these dear children.
Now, And probably for the rest of their lives. Be warned. Repent. This evening. Repent of all sin.
In Christ, there is freedom, freedom from the guilt of sin, freedom from the power of sin. There is forgiveness at the cross. Jesus bore our sin. When Jesus died, he died for all sins, including our sexual sins. He died for our evil.
He died for all of the depravity of our lives. And the blood of Jesus, as we thought of this morning, is so powerful that it cleanses us from all of our sin. And God is so powerful that irrespective of your past, irrespective of the mess that you've made of your life, the wonder of the gospel is that God will cleanse you. Yes, cleanse you and cast all of your sin in the depths of the sea, separated as far as the East is from the West. Little Claire, when she was baptized, quoted this verse from Isaiah 1, verse 18, where Isaiah says, Come now.
And let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins... Be as Scarlet. They shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as. Whoa.
Got some scarlet sins. In your past. In your present? God says no. Let's reason about this.
I'm so powerful that that which is scarlet That which It's so wrong and so evil. Can be cleansed through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. God's power makes sexual purity possible. Ask God for his help and for his grace. Pursue Christ and His kingdom.
If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you are united to Him. His life is your life. His power is your power. Therefore, Paul says in Romans 8: it is by the Spirit that we put to death the deeds of the body. Oh, we can't do that naturally.
We do that through the power of God. One of the young ladies who's baptized quoted from Philippians 4:I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That's it. Don't say You can't do it. You may not want to do it.
You love it too much, but you can do it in the power of Christ. As you come to Him, as you confess your sin and ask for His power and His strength to forgive you and to give you the strength to live a holy, godly life. Turn away from all self-effort and depend totally on the Spirit of God and yielding to the Spirit. Brian Chappelle tells the story of the battlecruiser USS Indianapolis. On July 30, 1945, the battleship was returning.
From a mission of delivering enriched uranium to Allied forces in the Pacific, it didn't make it home. A Japanese torpedo hit the cruiser on its way back. It sank in only twelve minutes. 300 of the 1,200 men died. 900 men went into the water, enduring four days and five nights without food, without water, in the blazing sun of the Pacific.
Of the 900 that went into the water, only 316 survived, the lack of water and the sharks. One of those who survived was the chief medical officer who recorded his own experience. There was nothing I could do. nothing I could do but give advice. Bury the dead at sea and save the life jackets, and try to keep the men from drinking.
The water. When the hot sun came out and we were in this crystal clear ocean, we were so thirsty. You couldn't believe it wasn't good enough to drink. I had a hard time convincing the men that they shouldn't drink. The real young ones, you take away their hope, you take away their water and food, they would drink the salt water.
And they would go fast. I can remember striking them who were drinking the salt water. to try to stop them. They're Thursday. And they're hot.
And they're in the middle of water, and it looks so nice, so alluring, the beautiful ocean on a beautiful day, and they're dying of thirst. And this man is saying, whatever you do, don't drink that water. And the ones that did and drunk the sea. were killed. Are the waters around us alluring?
Sometimes they are. Paul is telling us, and God is telling us, don't drink. The polluted. Poisonous. Waters.
of sexual sin which seems so alluring. They will destroy you. Paul says the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but is meant for. the Lord. This evening, as I close, will you present your body afresh to the Lord?
Will you present your mind? to the Lord.
Some of you will remember John McEnroe's behavior on the tennis courts. We in Britain thought he was one of these spoiled Americans, but he wasn't the only one. But you remember John McEnroe, a brilliant tennis player, but very, very volatile on the tennis courts. And the umpire would say to him from time to time, at least in Wimbledon, where they tried to have civilized games, they would say to him, Mr McInro. Mr McInro.
That's enough. That's enough. as he would shout and as he would curse. And the umpire says no, stop it. Mr.
McEnroe. We've had enough of that. Stop it. Today God's Spirit. And God's word are saying to us, That's enough.
That's enough. Stop that kind of behavior. Stop that kind of lifestyle. Stop that kind of thinking. Put all of these sins to death.
Keep looking up. Keep looking to Christ. Keep looking to the God of all hope. the Christ. We see that.
At the right hand. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, What's your verdict? With God's grace and in his strength, You will not drink the polluted and poisonous waters of sexual sin. The Bible says that the body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. If there's sexual sin in your life, Confess it. And seek to live for the glory of God.
Go and sin no more. Our Lord Jesus offers forgiveness and purity to all who have sinned. Don't forget to tune in next time as we think of the importance of our speech. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies.
Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
