Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

You've Heard It Said Pt.6

He has raised us up to even more than we could have ever thought as it pertains to His righteousness. We're able to accomplish a lot of things in the natural and in the secular, but as it pertains to things that are acceptable to Him, without Him we can do nothing, praise God. There's not a thing that we can do in our own strength that's acceptable to the Lord. It's all by Him, it's all for Him. The Spirit of God is working in us and is causing us to be able to fulfill His glory, His righteousness. Let's turn to Matthew. We want pick up where we've been in the study on the Sermon on the Mount and pick up where we left off in our last session. We were talking about the spirit that's dominating the age that we live in, this spirit of lust. The Master made it very clear in His teachings, and John in his, "For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, motivated by the pride of life" (1 John 2:16). That pride that's within us causes us to covet, and to lust, and to desire, and to live lives that are discontent if we're not having our way; the way we want it, and the timing we want it in. It's all the fruit of Adam, and it's all the fruit of sin, the partaking of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it's just enough knowledge to be dangerous. An awareness of what's out there and what it can temporally provide and yet, the ignorance and the spirit of the consequences, "For the day that you eat of this world's system thou shalt surely (say it) die."

So we're faced with a world that says, "Come and take a bite, just partake a little bit, it's not going to hurt you. Don't get caught up in all that legalism, and all of those rules like the Ten Commandments. Those are there to hold man down, man has been liberated. We have enlightenment. We're able to walk now according to our own conscience." The Apostle said our consciences are defiled, hearts being hardened, seared souls like righteous Lot, vexed in the environment that he lived in Sodom. We're living in Sodom. We call it Sterling, it's Sodom. This is Sodom. The sin of Sodom was their prosperity, their idleness, this pride of life that so permeates this area that we live in through all of our high-tech that now influences this area. There is a spirit over this area called Washington, D.C. The great political power of the world; today's Rome, today's Babylon. We live here. And to think that we're going to walk out on the streets and not be affected? There are principalities and powers over the regions of the world. There have been since the history of man, and we live in the most dominant forces of satanic whiles, possibly, in the history of man. What are you doing to put on the armor of God when you go out every day? What are you doing to make your stand in this hour?

So we're talking about that. Then we look at the tools that are being used to bring the church down in this day that we're living in. We look, and we say, "Lord, what are we to expect in the last days?" Through the prophets he spoke and said, "...in the last days men will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. There will be a form of godliness, but there will be a denial of the power to walk free from the world" (2 Timothy 3:4-5), to live righteously, to see the presence and the manifestation of the power of God. False teachers are going to arise. Men are going to cause these men to be lifted up, and they're going to have great success and influence. They're going to be part of the world's system. They're going to be part of the great whore. They're going to be the vehicle that launches Antichrist. Professed Christians, the church, religion, false prophets, and the whoredoms of the age that embrace worldliness are going to give place to the Antichrist. So there's going to be a religion, there's going to be a Christianity that says you don't have to be Christlike. In John 15, Jesus said, "Listen, you need to understand something, the world hated me and they are going to hate you" (verse 18). If you are not hated by the world, you are not part of Jesus, period. You cannot be a friend of the world and be a friend of God. So we have a world's system that's taking over professed Christendom in the age that we're living in. One of the ways it's being done is through the tolerance of this lust, the lust for things, material things. We'll talk about that as we go on in this study. We're also talking about what's being so predominant in our day, and that's sexual lust.

The standards of biblical sexuality have been diminished within the church, and the Scripture speaks a lot about this subject. Two different things have happened over the ages. We've come from the Victorian perspective--"Oh, we don't talk about sex, that's dirty." There's nothing dirty about sex, sex is good. God created it, amen? He has given guidelines for it, and He says, "As long as you're operating in these guidelines, then you're fulfilling the will of God, because it's not good for man to be alone." He made him a woman. He made these two one flesh and he said, "I want you two to come together and become one flesh, and out of this union will come a godly seed; and you will raise them up." This is what we see in the generations of covenant children and righteousness. So then, wouldn't it make sense that the one thing that Satan wants to destroy is the godly process of raising up a godly seed, a covenant seed, a way that's pleasing to God? And because of that we have running rampant all through our society all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases. We have ministry in Africa saying that before too long that continent is going to literally be destroyed, wiped out through HIV; and who knows, there's probably something worse than that on the horizon. God has called a people to purity, and holiness, and sanctification. We see, Jesus says, that all of this sexual perversion, all of this disorderly behavior begins with one wrong look. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a women to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. [Let me give you some advice Jesus says], And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: for it is [better that you enter the presence of God maimed] profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:27-30). "Don't fear him that can kill body but fear him who can kill body and cast soul into hell" (Matthew 10:28).

So we find that Jesus begins to give us a little bit of insight into how we're to prepare ourselves to combat this perverted force that's in natural man. God gave us the sex drive to create a kingdom, to procreate, and cause a godly seed to be procreated. It's been perverted over the years. The Catholic Church tells us that sexual relations are only for procreation and outside of that it's wrong. The Bible doesn't teach that. You can't find that in the Scriptures, though the Godly seed is part of the plan of God. So then what are the guidelines? We're going to talk about that. We need to talk about, first of all, the general principles about how we conduct our lives as Christians both outside of marriage and inside the marriage contract. We were looking over at Thessalonians, turn over there, this is the last little bit of review that we'll do for this morning. We saw over in Thessalonians, Chapter 4--remember the context of this book, it's being written to a church that was being persecuted. They thought that they were in the last days, and felt that possibly they had missed the rapture of the church. Things were so bad that they thought they could be in the tribulation. He said, "You're not in the tribulation, don't even think that. Jesus can't come, or the Antichrist can't come until these things are fulfilled. Until he that now letteth lets or is taken out of the way. You, the church, are the restraining force of evil by the power of the Holy Spirit, by righteous living, by the anointing of God. We are the only thing holding back the power of sin through the person of the Holy Spirit living within us."

So, he says, "This is how I want you to live your lives, accordingly, this is what your mission is, your ministry." "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more" (verse 1). Well, haven't we talked about this? Abound more and more. Let me ask you a question: are you more sanctified today than you were yesterday? The word "sanctified" we know means to be set apart, wholly for God. Are you holier today? Are you freer from the world today? Are you freer from self-will today? Are you growing in Christlikeness? Do you act and look more like Jesus today? Here is what our teaching to you is: I want you to learn to walk in the spirit, to please God, to abound, grow, to produce more abundantly in a progressive state, more and more. "For this is the will of God" (verse 3). A lot of questions are asked on what's the will of God for my life? The one thing you know is the will of God for your life--people are worried, "Well, is it God's will that I take this job, that I make this much money, that I marry that person, that I live in this neighborhood." That's not what it's all about. Here is the will of God for your life, say it, "sanctification." We've taught you so many times in this one phrase, if you get how God wants you, He'll get you where he wants you.

If your life is sanctified, He'll get you in the right neighborhood, He'll get you the right job, He'll get you the right life's mate, He'll put you in the right ministry, but it's a process of being set free from self. The sanctified life, a life that's wholly given to glory of God. "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification." And then it's interesting what he contrasts sanctification with in this hour that they thought was the hour of the coming of the Son of Man. They thought that the rapture was imminent. Now, this was two thousand years ago. If they thought that it was imminent two thousand years ago, why don't you today? Is that a fair question? Are we living like Jesus could come back at any moment? Is that how we conduct our lives? Is this is where our thought processes are? How many of you already have plans twenty years down the road? How many of you twenty-five year olds are already retired in your minds, you have it all figured out? You have your portfolio together. "Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof" (Mathew 6:34). It's about getting through today for the glory of God. It's about making right decisions and having right thoughts today in a sanctified life, abounding more and more. And so he says, "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, [or your being set apart wholly for God and then he contrasts that with what?], that ye should abstain from fornication" (verse 3). How many of you know that in the word "abstain" there is no moderation; amen? "That you should abstain from fornication." Does anyone know what the word "fornication" in the Greek root is? "Pornea," we get the word pornography from it. Now what is pornography? "Playboy" magazine? Yes, "Playboy" magazine, and "Harlequin" romance novels, and "People" magazine, and "Sports Illustrated", at certain times. We could go on and on. We can name movies, and television programs, and magazines, and checkout stand trash. I can't remember the last time I was at a checkout stand, but the last time I was there, there was trash there. I wish they would take my name off one of those. We have all of this that we're being surrounded by, inundated with. How about music? "Oh yeah, some of that rap music and those nasty words." How about some of the romance songs? We can go on and on, we can become so preoccupied with trying to identify what's wrong that we don't spend our time becoming right.

"If we walk in the spirit, the Scripture says, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). So let's be aware of all that stuff, but not preoccupied with it. Let's be preoccupied with putting on Christ, amen? Now, once we do that we're going to be more aware of what's offensive to Him, and we'll have to do something about that. Many of us will have to change certain things in our lifestyle, in the way we conduct ourselves, in the things that we watch, and in the things that we talk about; but we don't want to start there. We want to start with putting on Christ. We want to start with walking in the spirit, because He says to us, listen, "So that you would know how you ought to walk and please God." So this tells me something: the way that I'm going to be free from fornication, from all of this lasciviousness that's in the world today, because in the last days iniquity is going to abound, the love for God is going to wax cold, men will become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. So what we have to do, Paul is telling us here, is to get involved more and more in abounding in the work of God, in the work of Christ. I need to be more taken up with what pleases God. See what it says, "How you ought to please God," verse 1, "more than pleasing myself." It's that simple. I think that we make it too hard. Let's back up and ask ourselves that question, "Am I taken up with what pleases God or with what pleases myself?" Because we're talking about sanctification, we're talking about being free from pornea, pornography, the power of lusts. Now, if it's not Satan's primary tool then why is it so prominent? "Well, it doesn't really affect me, I'm not that taken up with it." Then Satan is stupid, he's choosing the wrong tactics. I think not. I think he knows what's in man, and I think there's scriptural evidence of the primary cause of the mighty falling. I will tell you guys one thing, and I'm talking to the men, primarily, right now. Women and money--that's what it's all about. If you can survive those two, you'll make it. In fact, you can solve one problem with both, if you can find you a good woman, you'll have no money. You can get them both taken care of at one time.

So, we realize what God is calling us to here, the life of sanctification, that we would be free from fornication. He said, "I want you to know how to posses your vessels in sanctification and honor." How do we honor God with our bodies? How do we honor God in this walk of sanctification? By learning that we're not to be involved in the lusts of concupiscence, this passion that's in the world today; sexual passion, passion for all of the different amusements in the world. Amusement just means to not think, to not meditate, and to just be brain dead; things that keep you from meditation, from quietness. To muse upon something, to be able to come up with creative, productive thought, is what a muse was. Amusement is to be without.

Why do you think people today have to have a cell phone all the time, or have something plugged into their ears? People can't get quiet anymore and hear from God, and search their own hearts to come to the understanding of what manner of men we are. The time to know the heart and mind of God, time to spend meditating in the Word of God, being free from the lusts and the passions that are in the world today, that are being propagated by the Gentiles, it goes on to say, "which know not God." See it in that phrase? And so he says, I want you to realize, verse 7, "...God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." So again, we see the will of God and the call of God. God has called us to purity, to innocence, and it's amazing today how Christians almost mock those of us who want to keep ourselves and, especially our children, innocent. "They need experience." We don't need experience, we need wisdom. Wisdom will help you make the right decision, not experience. There are a lot of things you can experience that you don't want to experience. "Well, the more you experience, the better that it is for you." Then come up here and let me pop you in the nose and give you an experience. There are certain things you don't want to experience that Jesus has experienced for us as Jesus was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, amen? He has already taken our pain, and our sin, and all that the world has to offer. It pleased God to bruise Him, to punish Him to free us from so many of the things that so many are wanting to taste and experience.

For you to go out and play around and taste, and experience the thing that Jesus experienced for you is to tread the blood of Jesus beneath your feet, and to count it an unholy thing. He suffered that we don't have to. So it's very important for us to understand how all this works. So what are we talking about here? What does it mean when Jesus said, "Hear my teaching"? "Listen to what I have to say, you've heard it said that thou shall not commit adultery, but I'm telling you that it's not just about the physical act of adultery." What Jesus is trying to get us to understand is this--and I made this statement the other night and I want you to get it again--you will never commit physical adultery until you commit spiritual adultery, until you have been unfaithful to God. As long as you're faithful to God, you will never be unfaithful to yourself or your spouse. You say, "I'm not married." You might be some day. You're just preempting your unfaithfulness. For two Christians to come together and not be holy, and not be pure, and not be innocent, and not be virgins, one of you has been unfaithful coming into the contract. So what's the difference if you're unfaithful going in or while you're in? The covenant is not with the person, it's with God, two people making a covenant with God to be faithful. I'm not making a commitment to be faithful to you, I'm making a commitment with you to be faithful to God. Should I say it again? See, marriage is not me making a covenant to be faithful to you, marriage is me making a covenant with you for us to be faithful to God, presupposed that we come in innocent, pure, and holy, and virgins. We will not defile ourselves, either one, to dishonor our God. We help each other stay pure and holy before God. To commit adultery is not to sin against the other individual alone, but to sin against our own bodies. Isn't that what the Scripture teaches? So, we realize, then, that in this union, two are made one.

This is not some casual thing. Christians today throw sexuality around, and we want to play, and all these different things, and I'm not just talking about sexual intercourse. I can't, because of some of the young people and different ones that are here this morning, get as specific as I need to, but I want to tell you something: the definition of sex in most churches today is not defined by the Scriptures, but by Bill Clinton. Tragically, I'm talking about churches. I'm talking about most youth in professed churches; fundamentalist churches do not call sex, sex. I don't even know--this is probably too graphic but I'm going to state it anyway and live with the consequences, but not defining sex as sex unless there is penile, vaginal penetration. "Up until then it's not sex." I beg to differ with you. The Scripture teaches absolutely the opposite, and Jesus says it can even be done in your mind and in your heart. So you have Bill Clinton and Jesus. Now who are you going to let define it for you? What about everything in between? It's unacceptable. So there can't be thoughts, and there can't be touches, and there can't even be verbal enticements and excitements that kindle a fire without covenant. "Well, that just seems so extreme." Yes, holiness is an extreme topic. Purity is extreme, because anything that's not one hundred percent pure is impure. Ninety-nine and what's that soap? Something Ivory and it's ninety-nine--almost. The water in Lake Tahoe is ninety-nine percent. It is beautiful, man. It can fool you. You look and say, "I think I'll stand on that rock." You can see something the size of a dinner plate from forty-feet is how pure that water is. You get out of your boat and step on that rock and you go down. That rock is not as close as you think it is. Pure. Now if holiness is the goal, if purity is the goal, then what do we have to do to guard ourselves? So this is what Paul is saying. This is what the admonition of the Lord is. "You have heard it said of old times thou shall not commit adultery." Don't go in and sleep with your neighbor's wife.

Robbie and I were talking the other day about the history, the workings of men--the history of the Massy warrior. Guys, if you come home from a hard day of chasing lions, and whatever, and you've been to battle the tribes, the clan across the river, The Umoja-Hendrickson clan. You've been at war and now you're coming home, you walk up to your hut and there's a spear outside, you can't go in because some man is in there with your wife. Maasai warriors can take any woman they want at any time. They just put the spear outside and the guy stays out, the husband. I'd assume he heads to that guy's house, I don't know. And we see what's in the hearts of men, and so, God says to His covenant people, "I want to tell you something, you will not take your neighbor's wife. There's a covenant, two shall become one flesh, and if you do, you're going to die. We're going to see to it that you are killed. This is punishable by death."

Now, how lightly do we take it in our society today, the spiritual adultery, especially? What about the Christians committing spiritual adultery, being unfaithful to God by appeasing their own flesh, and their own lusts? God is the one that made the consequences death. Don't you think for a moment that God doesn't divorce people. Read it very clearly in Jeremiah. God will give the handwriting of divorcement. He's the one that introduced it. He said that it wasn't His desire from the beginning, but he gave it because of the hardness of men's hearts, because they refuse to obey, and keep His commandments, and bow their knee; and because of their selfishness I'm going to give the innocent party a right to be free. I'm giving it to you for this purpose. You're no longer bound under such circumstances because God wants us to experience liberty and peace and happiness. There's nothing worse than being with an unfaithful mate. Yet we're married to Him, and how often are we unfaithful? He's calling us into this life and this innocence. We need to see it for what it is. That's why we have taught the young people here for years. Some of you coming in from the outside say, "This seems weird to me. You're weird." We're right. You're worldly, you're carnal, and you're perverted. You've listened to psychology, psychologists and sociologists, and we're listening to the Word of God; amen? So back off and rethink, "Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus." Let's let the Word of God speak for itself.

So when we stop and think about these things, and we talk about innocence and purity, how do we keep that? How do we protect ourselves? By realizing what's in the heart of man, and that in every one of us, beloved, we all have that same propensity. Within every one of us is that natural, innate desire for love and for intimacy. Along with that comes this sexual drive that comes to the place where it's power. It's a very difficult thing to deal with. So how do we walk that we can please God? How do we keep ourselves safe? We've taught that among our young people for years. It is very simple: you don't get alone, you don't isolate. You don't make commitments. You don't play with each other's emotions. You don't play with each other's bodies, but together we seek God. Together we seek the union of soul. Together as we love God, it's so easy to then love my brother. In our marriages, then, you end up marrying your best friends. You end up marrying two that walk together. They have the same heart and the same vision. It's not all cluttered by all this other stuff that's in the physical, emotional realm, but it's a walk in the spirit, and it's pleasing to God. And we look at all of these different aspects of relationships.

We've talked before about this one situation where we're seeing that Jesus has said, "It's not good. Be careful, for I say unto you that whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart." We defined it a little bit the other evening. I'll go back and share with you what the Greek is saying there: "Whosoever looketh upon a woman," now watch, "for the purpose of lusting after her." You see, the lust is usually there before the look. The look doesn't always cause the lust, the lust causes the look. When I look upon a woman to fulfill the lust that's already in there, and then I entertain that, and I allow that to run its course, and bring me whatever type of pleasure that it might, momentarily, then I've committed adultery in my heart. Now, teachers have told us in the past, "It's only lust when you make the determination, if I had the opportunity, if I get the opportunity, I'll take it. When it comes to that place, when I look and I say that if the opportunity ever arises, and I'll take that then it's lust and I've committed adultery." No, it happens before that; but it doesn't happen with just the look. Some of the guys are saying, "Phew, all right."

Listen, I'm not saying go around scoping out all the girls, but I want us to also understand how this thing works so there isn't any unnecessary condemnation, but an awareness and a protection of our own hearts. Ladies, so that you can protect them. You wives need to protect your husbands, and you need to discuss these things. Don't hold your hands up, please, do not raise your hands. Let me qualify it one more time, ladies, don't raise your hands. How many of you have ever seen your husband look at another woman? Discuss it, talk about that. "Why do you do that?" Husbands, talk to your wives. Listen, if you see me doing something that's inappropriate, tell me. "Well, how do you do that?" You do it in love, you do it in protection, you're caring one for another. Not, "Well, I hope you enjoyed that." No, you'd say something at the appropriate time along the lines of, "You wanted me to remind you that you've made a covenant with your eyes that you would not look upon a maid, and to think upon her." "How are you doing? How are things going? Are you staying refreshed spiritually?" There are proper ways to deal with this stuff and to do it, because it's not about you, ladies. It's not about you getting your feelings hurt, feeling unloved, unbeautiful. You noticed I didn't say ugly. You have to choose your words carefully. It's about the holiness of your union; it's about the glory of God. Once we start taking it personally, and start getting our feelings hurt, we're not able to help each other to get free, to honor God, to understand that it isn't lust, necessarily, but it's also not necessary.

So Job 31, what does he say, "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" I want you to hear that wording. "I made a covenant with my eyes, [look, look], why then should I think upon a maid." You see, it's one thing to think, it's another thing to look, to think, to start meditating on, you know, to start making duplicate copies. That runs along with Matthew 5, "Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her..." The lust is there. I look upon that woman to fulfill the lust, or I look upon a woman and it incites these desires within me. It carries over to another woman, another look, another thought process, or whatever else may be the consequence down the road. Ultimately it ends up sin, and sin when it is finished brings death. So it's very important, and there is a lot said in the Scriptures about the look. So we need to be made aware of that, and make that covenant with our eyes that Job speaks of. We need to pull down every thought, and every evil imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Men, I'm spending a lot of time on this because this is where we live. Now, sociologists, anthropologists will tell us that the reason that we're created this way is to procreate, and to keep the race going. Guys look around, they see something, go and take care of business, and now we have a kid. That's that motivation, it's the lust. That's what stimulates us and draws us, and so procreation continues and the race and the species go on. I've spent a lot of time, and you know what, I just can't flat figure out what our problem is, but it's not what God intended it to be because it's influenced by sin. I know it had a holy purpose, and I know that it's perverted now, but perversion just means not that it's wrong but it's being used improperly. It's being used for self instead of God. So the look is not bad, the look is good, and that's where some of the responsibility also falls onto you ladies. We'll see that in the Scripture in just a moment, because your husbands are looking at you. They should be lusting after you. They should be ravished, seduced by you. You should dress in a way that seduces your husband. You should dress, and speak, and act in a way that seduces your husband that draws him to yourself. Greer and I were driving up the other day and we got stopped by a bus up here, and I looked over and there is this woman getting her kid off to school. She's sitting there with her hair in curlers and pajamas on and everything. I thought, "Dear God. I bet that he's glad he left earlier today." "Well, you know, we've been married for twenty years." "These are my favorite sweats." "This is what I sleep in, sweats and combat boots and a helmet." Well, something has to change! "Well, I'm just modest. I'm very careful." We're talking about different things, and I might be a little ahead of myself right now. I want to share something with you. Certain of you ladies say, "I'm modest. I don't want to be seen by my husband. We've been married for twenty years and he has never seen me without my clothes on. We turn the lights off and I run and jump in bed." You laugh, but, I've dealt with situations like that over the years. All these different things, and all of it deals with non-biblical order; a misunderstanding of biblical sexuality and what modesty is, and how we're to conduct ourselves. The fact of the matter is, when this covenant is cut, we're no longer our own and many of these things are necessary. "Well, I don't like doing all that stuff." That's your job.

Turn over to Proverbs for just a moment. I wasn't planning on spending this much time on this. Proverbs Chapter 5, verse 18, "Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth." He's speaking here of the wise man. He's dealing with what were some of the sins, of course, that we see in Malachi, where they were putting away the wives of their youth and taking on younger women, and taking on those of different nations. In Malachi, the Lord says, "I hate the putting away. You just don't get rid of your wife because you find something that you like better. There's a covenant that has been cut here. There's a spiritual covenant. You can't put away your wife because you like this woman, and you'll tolerate her false religion, her worldliness" (2:16). The greatest treasure that we have is our common faith that we're walking together. So he talks about the wife of our youth, and rejoicing, and that covenant that's made. Let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe. You know there's the poetry--Hebraic poetry is phenomenal. I won't get into all of this, but if you want some real specific information on the poetry here read the Keil and Delitzsch commentaries down through this passage. They give you all the information that you possibly want from the poetry and the Hebrew language. Much is meant by this loving hind and pleasant roe dealing with the shapeliness of these animals, and their beauty, and their movements. "...let her breasts satisfy thee at all times and be thou ravished always with her love" (Proverbs 5:19). That word "ravished" is interesting, it means to be transported. You ladies say, "Great, now the pressure is on. Sheesh!" An out of body experience. The word means ravished, seduced.

It got awfully quiet, and all the men said, "Amen." Yeah, we went to heaven and there was a big line over here, and one guy over here...we won't tell that joke. My wife told me to stand here, remember? We won't have a show of hands--are any of you men interested in sex? Let me ask the wives...no. Ladies, what are you doing to love your husbands, to protect your husbands, to honor God? You see, I want to contrast this in just a moment, probably tonight, with 1 Timothy 2 when it talks about modest apparel. The admonition here is speaking toward, of course, the relationship that we are to have, and the contrast. It says, "Be satisfied with the wife of your youth. Be ravished always with her love." "And why wilt thou my son, [covenant child] be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger?" "Strange" meaning strange in doctrine; one of another nation; one other than the wife of your youth, the covenant partner. He's saying that you're going to be with somebody that's what we are, that's who we are. The fact of the matter is, "Well, I can't wait to get married because once I get married that will solve all of my physical problems and my physical appetite. I want to tell you something: when you come from non-experience and innocence, and you've come into experience and taste this life, it's not easier to abstain, it's harder. You've been there. You've been to Cold Stone and McDonalds isn't getting it. This is the reality. So what he's talking about here is the need to continually be seduced, and fall in love, and have relationship, and be best friends, and have communication, and have physical relations, and have union, and have a goal, and have a vision, and have a ministry so that you're not discontent and moving in this direction. "For why would you then embrace a stranger?" Don't allow yourself to come into that place of discontentment and lose sight of what the union is all about. Getting married and having a physical partner does not solve lust problems. So we realize, then, that what we're dealing with is it gives you an opportunity to move within biblical guidelines to fulfill a natural God-given desire in a way that honors him, and if used properly, will keep you safe. "For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all of his goings." That just basically says that God knows what you are. He knows where you are; He knows what you're doing; He knows what your thoughts are. It doesn't just mean that He's watching everything you're doing and that he's seeing you do wrong. He's not Santa Claus--He knows when you have been bad or good. This implies that He knows what's in us, so He's giving us guidelines. He's telling us what He expects of us, how we ought to walk, and how we ought to please Him with the wife of our youth. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself. You're going to pay consequences. If you break these laws, you're going to pay consequences. That's what He's saying. The sin itself will take you. You sin against your own body, not only the guilt, in our day, the diseases, the broken fellowship with God; He contrasts it over in the next chapter. When you commit adultery, there's nothing you can do to pay that guy off. There's a consequence to be paid.

So he goes on through this, and let me throw this last part out in Chapter 6, and we'll pick up another portion of this in this evening's study. The need, ladies, for your ministry and your care of your husband. He talks about the wisdom of God protecting us. As we saw the other day, the Word of God, verse 23, the commandment, the law being light to us, the reproofs and instructions are the way of life. Be teachable is what He's saying. Be open to the Word of God. Let that counsel, and teaching, and admonition keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of the strange woman. This tells us one of the most dangerous things, ladies, not only the woman that dresses seductively, that tries to catch the eye of your husband, but the most dangerous things are the flatteries. So let me ask you a question: if men are so susceptible to flatteries, how much are you flattering your husband? "You idiot, you can't do anything right. What a bozo. Why can't you be like so-and-so's husband?" "You mean the one that's cheating on her?" Oh, now we're into the gossip teaching, so let's not do that. What are you doing to flatter your husbands? Women have egos, men have egos with testosterone. "You're so strong." There's Don Knotts standing there. Guys are chumps. They're just easy prey. I get embarrassed to be part of them sometimes. Guys are just--we have a whole generation of men that make me want to vomit; Hen-pecked, dominated, by-products of feminism. Now, I'm not talking about the fact that there's a new movement now out in Christian circles. It's kind of a reaction, Christian men getting together and ripping the hair off their chest, cussing, and beating their wives. That's only a slight exaggeration, but it's a reaction to the society that we're in today, a female dominated society. Men, how do we find our biblical place, how do we find out who we really are, and what God expects of us?

The fact of the matter is, we are in a generation right now where men have been so beat up, and beat down, and made to question their role, that they don't know who they are. I want to tell you something, ladies: you can get a lot of mileage if you just start flattering your husbands. Just let them know how great that you think they are. "You go to Hell for lying, you know." I didn't say how great they are; I said how great you think they are. Men are susceptible to this, and if you don't, there's a lady out there that will. She'll gladly take your place, and in the last days, the Scripture says, there are going to be seven women for every man. Guy says, "Yeah, my stock is going up, man. Dear God, there's hope for me yet." We see these principles and it says we're to be kept through the statutes of God, through the Law of God, through doing it God's way and in an orderly fashion, and we will be kept from the flattery of the strange woman. "Lust not after her beauty in thine heart" [So we have flattery, and we have physical beauty, physical attraction, and it causes a man to begin to lust, a strong desire.] Neither let her take thee with her eyelids" (Proverbs 6:24). Flattery, beauty, seduction, flirting, flirtatiousness. I want to tell you, we will get into it this evening--some of you young ladies have no business flirting with the young men. Be sisters, be friends. The flirtatiousness, in many of these things, start a process within men that create in them a course, actions, thoughts that can be a stumbling block, it can be temptation. The little things that you think are cutesy. We're so totally different, we're such different creatures. We need to learn how to relate to one another.

These are things that the Scripture says cause men to be vulnerable, cause men to be swayed. If that's the case then, ladies, it needs to be something between you and your husbands. They take them with their eyelids. "For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread; and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life [the innocent]" (verse 25). "Women are just so gentle, and kind, and sweet, and nice, and sugar and spice, and everything nice." Women are dangerous, guys, women are evil. I want you to understand that women are evil, and you're a dumb ox, and you have a bag of darts to pierce your liver. So if I were you, I'd hang out around innocent girls like those here that aren't evil, that have been regenerated. I didn't say you regenerated women are evil, I said Eve's daughters are evil. And all of the women here are perfect and have no propensity towards this manipulation.

Woman looks at him, "I can make a real man out of him. When I am through with him..." That's Eve and the propensity one way or another to manipulate. Women are manipulators, guys. We need to learn how to relate to one another and to understand the process. We're out of time; we'll pick it up here. That's a hard one to leave on because I have to go home and get lunch. We're out of time. Hopefully, in this we're going to look at relationships, husbands, wives. We're going to talk about singles, and married here, and we might do one or two more sessions anyway. Let's hear what the Spirit is saying. Let's look how to protect ourselves, to build and to have the best relationships we can to protect ourselves in a day when cheap thrills are at every corner waiting for you to become weary, idle, like David, walking on his rooftop. He should have been at battle and because of his idleness he looks on a women and takes her and commits the most heinous sin of his life. We need to be busy warring in the kingdom to protect ourselves from ourselves, from the wiles of the devil.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We just ask You for Your wisdom and Your strength to guide us in Jesus' name, Amen. Let's stand together. We have another little blessing that we want to lift up before the Lord this morning. It's Mount Moriah. Moriah Rojas. What a blessing, praise God, to see what Father is doing in our midst as German and Erin come. Grandparents, Mike and Debbie, if you will come and join us, and the pastors, we just want to pray. What a blessing to see the opportunity to raise up a godly seed. You know, I watch the lives, and have seen what Father's doing in these lives through German and Erin, and the miracle of how God brings people together. If the Lord tarries, we have a precious, precious gift here in all of these children. We never want to get to where this just becomes a ceremony. This is a covenant. We're saying we're going to see to it, we're agreeing together with these parents that these children will be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That means we speak into their lives. Kids are kids, when you see them out of order somewhere, whatever, every once in a while--our kids are perfect but every once in a while they get a little bit askew. When they do, we're saying we're going to work together, praise God. We're going to speak, we're not only going to speak to it, and deal with issues, but we're going to live lives before them that are exemplary. We'll be able to look to these kids and say, "I want to tell you something, you watch me and you will make it to Heaven." What a blessing. Let's just believe the Lord and pray His peace on each of these lives. We have a lot more coming, praise God. We have an influx. You guys are doing good, keep it up. We're going to turn into Mormons or Catholics yet, just seeing God add to our family.

Father, we thank You right now for these lives, and the blessings that You have bestowed on us. For German and Erin, we pray Your peace. Continue to give them wisdom, Father, and the anointing necessary to raise up a godly seed. We speak peace, Father, in their lives. For Moriah, we speak the presence of God into her life, a godly woman. Cause this to become a Proverbs 31 woman. Father, cause her to know the anointing and the glory of God. And in our lives, Father, let us be those examples. Let us covenant together with this household that we are one, and that these children are not our own, they're Yours, Lord. At best we're stewards over Your heritage. We thank You now and we'll give You, Father, all the glory, and all the praise in Jesus' name, amen. Come up here. Hallelujah! Well, glory, look at this. Is that a blessing? Praise God, well, glory, Moriah. Thank You, Jesus, for Your peace, Your anointing, we give You praise, and everyone said, "Amen." Turn to someone next to you and say, "We're blessed." Praise God, amen. What a blessing.

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