A man of moral purity
Notes
Transcript
Good Evening,
I enjoy listening to people say that Jesus loves us just the way we are, because while this is partially true, He loved us enough how we were to die for us. He did not do so to leave us in the state we were in. He wants to make us into his image. Jesus had some of the most brutal statements on sin in all of the New Testament. Would a couple of people be willing to read? The first Passage is Matthew 5:27-30, and the second passage is Matthew 18:7-9.
Matthew 5:27–30 “27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”
Matthew 18:7–9 “7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”
The passage in Matthew 18 comes shortly before where we get the process for Church discipline, and if you look through most of the rest of chapter 18, you see it is about restoration with God first and with the church and your brothers second. So if you struggle with sin of any type, it is never to late to turn from it and look back to Jesus. God wants you to return to come back to him no matter what you have done.
Matthew 18:12–13 “12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.”
However that does not mean God is just OK with us living in sin. We see that in both Matthew 5 and here in Matthew 18. Jesus is very brutal here, mind you he is using hyperbole, so please don’t really tear your eye out or cut your hand off, but he does not mince any words. He says we are to cut out the things from our life that cause us to sin.
In Matthew was specifically dealing with lust and adultery, at the time Jesus was speaking this was shocking to hear. I would argue that today, it is probably more shocking to hear than it was at that time. Our society is bombarded with more sexual images than at any other time in history. Globally pornography is a 97 billion dollar industry and I wish I could say it is just a problem outside of the church, but I am not so naive.
These statistics come from a survey commissioned by Proven Men Ministries in 2014, through Barna group, these are not statistics based on men outside of the church either these are statistics based on professing Christians, but what they found was
The statistics for Christian men between 18 and 30 years old are particularly striking:
77 percent look at pornography at least monthly.
36 percent view pornography on a daily basis
32 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 12 percent think they may be).
The statistics for middle-aged Christian men (ages 31 to 49) are no less disturbing:
77 percent looked at pornography while at work in the past three months.
64 percent view pornography at least monthly.
18 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 8 percent think they may be).
Even married Christian men are falling prey to pornography and extramarital sexual affairs at alarming rates:
55 percent look at pornography at least monthly.
35 percent had an extramarital affair.
Statistically speaking at least 4 people in this room look at porn on a monthly basis. Remember this is just statistics so this may not be true here, but it is a high probability.
Look back at what Jesus says at toward the beginning of Matthew 18 verses 5-7.
Matthew 18:5–7 “5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!”
If we are looking at pornography, we are participating in tempting others. Remember it is a 97 billion dollar industry, most of which is build on trafficked individuals, but if something doesn’t make money people don’t do it anymore. I can also show you how even stuff that has been “self posted” was by people who have been groomed and exploited.
We are going to go through this study and I want you to remember that the principles given in our study are applicable to all forms of sin, not just sexual, and we are to be men of Moral Purity. This is to extend to all areas of our lives and we should be striving to be more like Christ each day.
This begins with our thought life. In Matthew 15, the Pharisees were questioning Jesus as to why his disciples did not follow the traditions of the elders and Jesus rebukes them for disregarding the law for the sake of the traditions. He then tells a parable and the apostles ask for the meaning of it, Jesus says
Matthew 15:18–20 “18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.””
We see here a couple of things, but there are 1 or 2 that really stand out about this list. Does anyone notice them?
All of them start with our thoughts
Adultery, sexual immorality, and theft all focus on what we don’t have
False witness and slander are both thoughts about making someone else look worse so we can look better.
The second is not only do they start with our thoughts, we typically have to meditate on each one of these to do them. I have never met someone who was like well I am going to commit adultery now.
First peter 5:8 tells us:
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
We are to be ready for this and Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 “5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
I used to say this a lot, I am human, and there is a new one with sexual purity, it is part of being a man. We are excusing sin because we are human or just men, and on one hand we do expect as people living in a fallen world we will sin, however usually when one of those two lines is said it is to excuse deliberate sin. Sin we knew was wrong. Here in second Corinthians Paul tells the church they are to take every thought captive to obey Christ, but turn back to First Corinthians also chapter 10, we read these last week, but can someone read verses 13-14.
1 Corinthians 10:13–14 “13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
If you need help overcoming sin, I will gladly help as far as I am able, but I will be honest, and you must be committed. I am going to give you an outline very similar to what was in the study for overcoming sin in your life. These came from two Village Missionaries who have a passion for helping men overcome pornography, but these apply to all sin. It is helpful, but like the Christian walk you must be committed. They all start with S to make it a bit easier to remember over the study outline. I also apologize I would have given you these last week, but I had this training just the other day.
Now, for this very reason also, applying all diligence,
In your faith supply moral excellence …” 2 Peter 1:5
STOP! I Thess. 4:1-8
1 Thessalonians 4:1–8 “1 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”
We see here this call to stop. We are to control our own bodies in holiness and honor. We are not to live like the world living for our passions, living like we don’t know God. Rather we are to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him. If you have a sin in you life that you struggle with the first thing to do is just stop it. I also understand that this is sometimes easier said than done.
In the case of pornography, just stop going to those sites or buying those magazines. If you sin in anger, stop, when you feel you are getting angry just stop. Again God said that He will provide a way of escape.
SEPARATE! I Peter 2:11-12
1 Peter 2:11–12 “11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
Let’s switch gears a bit and go with food. But if food is a sin for me, I need to stop eating first off, then I must walk or run away from the refrigerator. I have a finite amount of will power and if I am just standing in the kitchen all day at some point I am going to give in. I am going to open that refrigerator and pull out a snack or 8. If we go back to what Jesus said about tearing out our eye or cutting off our hand if it causes us to sin. We must rid ourselves of whatever the door is that leads us to sin, at least to the best of our ability. If you use your smart phone to look at porn, get a dumb phone, it likely will be aggravating enough it isn’t worth the effort.
STARVE! I Peter 4:1-5
Then we must starve that sin.
1 Peter 4:1–5 “1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
More than likely this will, in some, way be painful. You will be denying something that your flesh wants, we must however starve these cravings. In the case, of food you are literally going without a food, say it is cupcakes and sugar foods, you starve that craving out. Go with out cupcakes and sugar foods and because of the previous two steps you don’t even look at them. The same is true for lust. You stop looking at porn, you remove the portals, then Job says in 31:1
Job 31:1 “1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?”
You don’t gaze at women lustfully. When you see someone, your eyes do not stop on her they keep going. But you have removed all of this stuff, you must fill it with something.
SATURATE!! Psalm 1; Phil. 4:8
We saturate ourselves with God’s Word.
Philippians 4:8 “8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
and Psalm 1 “1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Psalm 119:33–36 “33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. 34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. 35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”
We must have our minds renewed all of the old thoughts and habits must be replaced and that starts with time in God’s word. Meditating on it throughout the day. Add theologically sound music to your day, we can often grasp and remember music better than reading and this can help us to ruminate on God’s word.
SURROUND! II Timothy 2:19-22
2 Timothy 2:19–22 “19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” 20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
We then need to surround ourselves with Godly people.
Proverbs 27:17 “17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
But the opposite is also true.
1 Corinthians 15:33 “33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.””
We must surround ourselves with people who will hold us accountable and help us to grow into the character of God.
Finally:
SERVE! 1 Corinthians 15:58; Galatians 6:9-10
1 Corinthians 15:58 “58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Galatians 6:9–10 “9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
“....seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything
pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him
Who called us by His own glory and excellence.” II Peter. 1:3