If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified
and meat for the master's use and prepared unto every good work.
Flee also youthful lusts and follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call
on the Lord out of a pure heart.
So here in this chapter, we learn that God wants to greatly use someone that is a clean
vessel.
And in life, of course, salvation, thank God, is only by grace through faith.
And all you have to do to be saved and to make it to heaven is believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ.
But when it comes to someone that God wants to use greatly for his service, for his kingdom,
that's going to be someone that is living a separated life, someone that's purged themselves
from these things.
What are these things?
We'll look at verse 22.
It says this, "Flee also youthful lusts."
So in order to be someone that's greatly used by God, the Bible instructs us that we need
to flee youthful lusts.
Now, what is lust?
Lust is an intense or unbridled carnal desire, an intense longing, a personal inclination.
A synonym in your Bible is lasciviousness.
And when I think about youthful lusts, I mean, let's think about some of the common sins
of the youth, laziness, apathy, drunkenness, drugs, and of course, the big one, the most
common one that everyone's probably thinking about, is that of fornication.
That is a youthful lust that is very, very common throughout all of the world and at
all time.
And so the title of my sermon this morning is flee fornication, flee fornication.
The Bible says here to flee youthful lusts and the specific youthful lust I want to hone
in on this morning is the sin of fornication.
Go to first Corinthians chapter number six.
And so what we're going to talk about this morning is we're going to talk about what
is fornication.
Why is it that you need to flee fornication?
Number two, we're going to talk about some practical action steps that we could take as
Christians to actually abstain from fornication.
Number three, we're going to talk about what to do if you've sinned in this area in the
past.
And then closing it out, we'll talk about what to do if you know of someone that is
living in this sin, that's committing this sin.
So number one, this morning is simple, flee fornication.
That is the message of this sermon.
Look at first Corinthians six, 18 says this, flee fornication.
Every sin that a man do with is without the body, but he that committed fornication sin
it against his own body.
You know, why is it that we as Christians should flee fornication run away from this
sin?
Well, here's one really good reason, one very simple reason, and that is because God said
so it really is that simple.
Honestly, you don't even need another reason than that.
The Bible simply says, flee fornication.
And of course, we know that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
So who is it that's really telling you to flee fornication in this verse?
It's not just the apostle Paul, really, it's the Lord.
And so that should be reason enough for anyone that has the Holy Spirit inside of them with
a desire to please God in their life, to read this verse and say, you know what?
God doesn't want me to partake in this.
And if God doesn't want me to partake in it, then I don't want to partake in it.
That's the attitude that we should have.
You know, another reason is because fornication actually hurts you.
It actually is harmful to you.
Look at the verse again, flee fornication.
Every sin that a man do it is without the body.
But he that committed fornication sin if against his own body.
And here is the truth about fornication is that it's actually harming yourself.
People commit this sin and they think it's fun.
And of course, there's joy for a moment because the pleasures of sin for a season exists.
Otherwise, people wouldn't be drawn to sin.
Of course, there is a carnal desire in this area that people have and that desire is real.
But the truth is that it will hurt you in the long run.
It absolutely will.
Look at verse 19.
It says, "What?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye
have of God?"
And notice this, "And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.
Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."
Notice, according to the Bible, our bodies are not our own.
It's not my body, my choice.
Our bodies belong to God.
And our bodies are actually the temple of the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells
for your entire life until the day of redemption, and God cares about what you do with your
body.
You know, the Bible teaches that they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and
in truth.
And of course, there is that aspect to serving God.
But also, God cares about what you do with your body.
God cares about what you see.
God cares about what you hear.
God cares about the places you go.
God cares about what you do with your body.
And so your body is not yours to decide what to do with it.
No, it's God's and we should submit ourselves to the Bible, what the Bible says to do with
our bodies.
And of course, the Bible says, "Flee fornication."
Why?
Because it hurts us.
And here's the thing.
People that have committed this sin in the past, they always have guilt about it.
You know, they think it's fun for a moment, and then they get older, and they get married,
and they struggle with that guilt.
Or they bring baggage into their marriage.
Maybe one person in the marriage was a virgin at the wedding day, and the other one wasn't.
And that can cause bitterness and resentment when it comes to your marriage.
And you're going to come to the point where you just realize, "Wow, that wasn't worth
it.
I should have just waited for my spouse.
I shouldn't have given in to this sin."
You know, another reason why it harms you is disease.
We're going to talk extensively about that in a minute.
And, you know, the Bible does say that fornication is related to uncleanness.
Now, go to Deuteronomy 28.
I'm just going to read for you several verses.
You don't have to turn to these.
Second Corinthians 12, 21, "And lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you
and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness
and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed."
So in the Bible these are synonyms, uncleanness, fornication, lasciviousness.
I'll prove that to you.
I'll keep going.
Stay there.
But Galatians 5, 19, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these, adultery,
fornication, uncleanness."
Ephesians 5, 3, "But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be named once
among you."
Colossians 3, 5, "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry."
All throughout the New Testament, the Bible is relating these things, fornication, lasciviousness,
going to bed with someone outside of marriage, and what, uncleanness.
And the fact that God says this in so many verses, God really wants us to pick up what
He's saying here.
I mean, this is a serious warning that can negatively affect you for the rest of your
life and God's trying to get it through our heads, "Hey, this is unclean."
Now, if we see in the Bible fornication listed as something that's unclean, we should expect
to see reality match that, shouldn't we?
Okay, so here is cdc.gov.
Okay, this is not fundamentalbaptist.gov.
This is just the U.S. government health department basically.
This is what they said, "Last year, 2,505,027 new cases were reported of chlamydia, gonorrhea,
and syphilis in the United States."
That's not how many people total have these gross, nasty diseases.
That's 2.5 new cases last year.
That is disgusting.
And if you went to public school, they went into graphic detail of what these things are.
The school I went to, they showed us horrifying pictures.
I really wish they wouldn't have done that.
But you know, it scared the heck out of me, and it should scare you if you know what these
things are.
It's disgusting.
It's sick.
This is their statistics.
Currently, one in five adults in the United States have an STD.
That's nearly 68 million people.
So think about that.
One out of every five Americans walking around, 20% of our country is just walking around
filled with disease from this area.
And that's not even specifying age group.
That's just all adults.
You know, if you're between the ages of 15 and 30, I'm sure that the percentage of people
with those STDs are way, way higher.
And so you better believe that if you just decide to disregard the Bible's warning about
this being unclean and you're just going to do whatever you want, you might end up with
one of these filthy diseases for the rest of your life.
And instead of just being wise and waiting another couple years until you're an adult
and can get married, if you just want to be an idiot in your teenage years, you may be
in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s with a disease that you can never fix.
Look what Deuteronomy 28 says in verse 27, "The Lord will smite thee with the botch of
Egypt, and with the emeralds, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst
not be healed."
That's not a very pleasant verse in your Bible.
That's not one that's going to be on a Hallmark gift card anytime soon.
It's one of those verses in the Bible that kind of just makes your stomach turn a little
bit because it's such a gross and disgusting thought.
But you know, actually talking about this stuff could maybe save you from actually experience
this gross and disgusting thought.
And it's unbelievable to me how Christians can go to church, how they can go to a new
IFB church where these things are preached and they can still be so stupid to disregard
it and go commit fornication anyways.
Look, I think you're an idiot if you do that.
And you may be called out from behind the pulpit if you go and do this retarded, stupid
sin.
Here's the truth.
If two virgins marry each other, there is a zero percent chance that they will ever
get an STD.
You know, God doesn't just give his commandments because he wants to be mean to us and he wants
to keep us from things that are good.
No, actually all of his commandments are for our own benefit and to keep us safe.
God cares about us.
And here's the thing, we are God's children and God gives us these commandments because
he cares about his children.
And listen kids, the reason your parents give you rules too is because they love and care
about you.
And the reason they may not want to just let you have no boundaries and go out and do whatever
you want is because they're not an idiot and they don't want you to have to deal with these
consequences for the rest of your life.
Go to Esther chapter number two, Esther chapter number two.
You know until someone is willing to put a ring on your finger ladies and to vow to be
with you till death do us part, you should never ever give this away to someone.
You should never ever do it.
And here's the thing, people are so stupid because they'll be dating and they'll think
oh well I'm not at risk of an STD because my boyfriend or my girlfriend says they're
a virgin.
Okay let me just break reality to you, to your foolish youthful mind.
People lie about this.
You know what's it called now?
A body count is what people call it.
Look people lie about their body count.
Say oh I'm safe because my boyfriend's never been with another girl, he's probably lying
to you.
Oh I'm safe because my girlfriend's never been with a guy, she's probably lying to
you.
And you know what?
That's going to be a really rude awakening when you wake up someday and your boyfriend/girlfriend
lied to you.
And now, now what do you do?
You have a disease for the rest of your life.
Is it really worth trusting someone that they're telling you the truth on that?
No, really the only time you can trust someone is if they're willing to buy you a ring and
vow vows to God and before man that they're gonna be with you for the rest of their life.
Then you can give that away.
Then you can enjoy that for the rest of your life.
But especially girls, especially young women, are really harming themselves when they give
this away to someone.
Look at Esther 2.2.
It says this.
"Then said the king's servant," king Ahasuerus, "Then said the king's servants that ministered
unto him, 'Let there be,'" notice, "fair, young virgins sought for the king."
You know what the king was looking for here?
He was looking for a pretty, young virgin.
And you know what a lot of men are looking for nowadays when they want to get married?
They want to find a pretty, young virgin.
And if you are not those things, the caliber of man that is going to be willing to marry
you is going to be low.
And you know, if you have two of those three areas, you could get a pretty good guy still.
But a lot of women today are just throwing all this away.
Why?
Because they're waiting until they're 35 to get married.
And by the time they're 35, they've slept around in college so much and they've harmed
their body by drinking alcohol, by doing drugs, by living a hard life, by committing fornication.
Then there are none of these things and they complain about the fact that they can't find
a husband.
Well, you know, maybe you should listen to the warnings of the Bible.
And of course, you know, women want the same thing.
Women want a young man that is clean and that is virgin, that has not defiled himself.
But especially women, when you go and just give this away to another man that's not your
husband, you are severely devaluing yourself as a person.
Go to first Corinthians.
Look, actually, let's go to Hebrews 13, Hebrews chapter number 13.
Look at verse four.
It says this marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled.
But whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge.
Notice God's not just giving us these commandments, like I said, because he doesn't want, he wants
to keep good things from us.
No, he gave us the marriage bed.
He said the marriage bed is honorable in all.
It's undefiled.
It's not unclean.
And you can enjoy that part of your life for a really, really long time.
But it only takes one time to ruin that for forever because, you know, the Bible says
rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
It's a good thing to get married young.
And when you get married young, you literally have decades and decades of decades of being
with your spouse.
But, you know, you screw up in your teenage years, you screw up in your twenties and you
become unclean and then no one wants you for the rest of your life.
Then you don't get to enjoy that blessing for the rest of your life.
Or, if you do, it's even more filthy and dirty than it was the first time.
How can God judge us in this area?
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter number 10.
You know, we talked about disease is one way.
Here's another way that God can judge people in this area.
1 Corinthians 10, 8 says this, "Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed."
When he's saying some of them, in Numbers chapter 25, people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab and God killed 24,000 people.
But look at the rest of the verse, it says this, "And fell in one day three and twenty
thousand."
So in this story, in the Old Testament, people were committing fornication, God killed 24,000
people and in one day he killed 23 of those 24,000.
And so it just goes to show the mind of God on this, is that God views this sin as much
more serious than we often do in our culture and in our country.
Our country downplays how important this is, our country teaches that you should go and
live with someone before you're married to see if you're compatible with that person.
You know, our, our culture teaches that you should date people for a super, super long
time and put off marriage until you've already gone through college and you have your career
settled and you have a hundred thousand dollars in the savings account.
Then maybe you could think about getting married.
But no.
Why?
No, because you're going to be committing fornication during that time.
That's why.
And let me tell you, it's better to be young and poor, but right with God and not committing
fornication, then, oh, I'm so safe because I got all my money squared away.
I got my career squared away.
I got my college squared away.
But I've been sitting against God this whole time.
And God literally killed thousands of people in the Old Testament for this sin.
I'm not saying that God's going to kill you if you commit this sin, but he could.
He could go to, if you would, first Corinthians five, first Corinthians five.
Here's another way that God can judge you for this sin.
First Corinthians chapter number five, let's read the first five verses here.
It says, it is reportedly commonly, it is reported commonly that there is fornication
among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one
should have his father's wife.
So in the church of Corinth here, there was a fornication situation going on where a guy
was sleeping with his father's wife, extremely just weird gross situation.
But the Bible says here that it was reported commonly, meaning that people were aware of
this situation, people knew what was going on.
And look at how their attitude was in verse two, it says, and you are puffed up and if
not rather mourned that he that have done this deed might be taken away from among you.
So what was their reaction to this situation going on?
The church in Corinth was actually prideful about this.
And what I think was probably going on here is that they were probably like these liberal
churches that were prideful about how accepting they are of everything and about how long
suffering and loving and kind they are of everything to where this church in Corinth
rather than mourning, which is the right attitude to have the church should be mourning when
there's fornication commonly reported among it.
And rather than casting out that person from among you, this church was actually prideful.
What does that tell us?
The right reaction to fornication going on is mourning sadness that someone would create
this would would commit this grievous sin and also casting out that person from among
you.
And you know, in church fornicators are not allowed.
I don't care who it is.
I don't care if it's someone that I like, someone that I don't like.
The Bible says that person is to be cast out from among you.
Look at verse three, for I barely as absent in the body, but present in the spirit have
judged already as though I were present concerning him that have so done this deed in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to
deliver such in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus.
So notice the Bible's teaching that when someone is committing this sin, they're supposed to
be cast out of church.
And when they're cast out of church, what happens to them?
Their life is basically delivered unto Satan.
God's going to remove that hedge of protection that he had around them.
God's going to remove the blessing that he had on their life for them being in church.
And now they're completely open to the attacks of the devil to destroy their life and even
to destroy their flesh, the Bible says.
And oftentimes that's what it takes for someone to wake up.
And I wish it wasn't that way.
I wish someone could just be smart enough to read the Bible and actually listen to what
it says and actually apply what it says in your life.
But you know what?
Some people need to be smacked around by life to figure it out.
And you know, some of the punishment that God can give you for committing fornication
is being cast out of church, but not even just being cast out of church because pastors
Shelley's policy is to enforce church discipline until the parties are repentant.
And I agree with that a hundred percent, but you know what?
Part of your punishment still may be that your name will just be called out publicly
from the pulpit and you guys have already seen that happen.
And so this is not a game.
This is not a joke.
This is not like, Oh, the preacher is preaching this, but he'll never do it.
If you commit fornication, I will publicly call your name out from behind the pulpit
and you will be publicly shamed in front of this church because America needs to have
some shame again.
It used to be a complete and utter shame when you committed fornication where you'd have
what's called a shotgun wedding because you got pregnant because you were a whore before
you got married.
And so you had to have a quick wedding to hide the fact that you were a whore.
That used to be the case in America.
Now it's so common for people to live together.
Look, if you live together and I find out about it, if pastor Shelley finds out about
it, you're committing fornication, your name will be called out.
You'll be publicly shamed.
You'll be publicly embarrassed.
And it's not that I don't want people to get right, it's not that we don't offer forgiveness
after that.
Of course we do.
It's not that someone can't be restored and serve God.
That's what we desire for their lives is to serve God.
But I'm just telling you, if you think that you can go around committing fornication and
that you could influence the children in this room that have not yet been corrupted like
you, you have another thing coming.
I will call out your name from behind the pulpit.
Go to first Peter chapter four, first Peter chapter four, verse one, for as much then as
Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind,
for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin, that he should no longer live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles
when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banqueting and abominable
idolatries.
You know, many people before they get saved, they lived a rough life and they lived a life
full of sin that was full of lasciviousness, lusts, drunkenness, revelings, banqueting,
abominable idolatries.
What is the Bible saying?
It's saying let the time past of your life suffice to fulfill all those abominations.
You know, you just need to have the attitude as a Christian that if you're sitting in this
room today and you're saved today, just have this attitude that hey, my past is in the past.
And you know what?
People need to actually make the decision in their lives, especially you young people.
You need to just make the decision of whether or not you're going to serve God.
Just make the decision.
Because here's the thing, if you are going to serve God, if you say, you know what?
I do want to go to church.
I do want to live a godly life.
I do want to get married and have a godly family and raise them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord, well, then you better be investing a lot of your time, effort and
energy now as a youth, because here's the thing.
If you say, well, I'm going to end up serving God someday, then why are you wasting your
time right now in the pig pen and say, yeah, I want to serve God someday.
That is the desire of my heart.
Okay.
Then why are you committing fornication now?
Why not just erase that part of your life?
Why not just never even go down that road?
Say, oh, of course I want to serve God with my life, but I'm just going to drink alcohol
now.
No, just just skip that.
Just skip the raunchy phase.
Skip the whore phase.
Skip the fornication phase.
Just obey what the Bible says to do.
Verse four, wherein they think it's strange that you run not with them to the same excess
of riot, speaking evil of you who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the
quick and the dead.
And here's the thing.
People will think you're strange.
People will think you're weird.
People will make fun of you if you are a virgin up until your wedding day.
People will think you're weird.
But you know what I think is strange?
What I think is strange is having disgusting diseases on your body for the rest of your
life.
That's what I think is strange.
What I think is strange is men that go up and knock up all these women and don't even
raise their own children.
I think that's strange.
I think it's strange that we have households in America with no father.
Why?
Because of fornication.
I think it's strange that women waste their youth when they're extremely valuable, when
they're fair young virgins and they traded in for some sleazy loser of a guy so that
they could wake up in their thirties, discontented, ugly, not fertile and pass the age of any desirable
man marrying you.
I think that is what's strange.
I think it's strange that God's people want to live just like the world.
I think that's strange.
I think it's strange that people don't want to get married and just enjoy it whenever
they want.
That's what's strange.
Go to Mark chapter number seven.
We talked about flee fornication part 2 this sermon is going to be how to abstain from fornication how to abstain from fornication
I'm gonna have four steps for this look at mark 7 verse 20
And he said that which cometh out of the man that defile at the man for from within out of the heart of men
Proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness and evil eye
blasphemy pride foolishness all these evil things come from within and defile the man notice Jesus is
Describing what the heart of man is like and you know, this is the same heart that all of us have we all have the carnal man
And what does the carnal man desire to do the carnal man desires to sin?
So if you want to avoid fornication step one, you must be walking in the spirit
You cannot just be walking in the flesh and expect yourself to avoid this in when this is a natural desire that every single
Person has virtually speaking go to Galatians chapter number five Galatians chapter number five
Galatians 5 16 says this this I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh for the flesh
flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot
Do the things that you would notice the flesh doesn't want to do what the spirit wants you to do
The spirit doesn't want you to do what the flesh wants to do. And so what must we do?
We must walk in the spirit, you know some advice I would give to people that are unmarried. They're young they desire spouse
One thing you should be doing is you should be praying
Every single day to be filled with the Holy Spirit and for God not to lead you down a path of temptation in this area
because if you are just walking in the flesh you will fail and
Parents better realize that their children will fail and we'll talk about parents in a minute here
Another thing you could do is set up barriers go to Romans 13 Romans chapter number 13
You know, it's not just enough to be relying on yourself walking in the spirit because let's be honest
We don't all walk in the spirit every single day, right?
We're all sinners. We all come short of the glory of God and we're not just all filled with the spirit at all times
It'd be great, but that's not the case. So because of that we have to set up barriers in our lives
Look at Romans 13 13. Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness
Not in chambering and wantedness not in strife and envying
But put she on the Lord Jesus Christ and notice this and make not provision for the flesh
To fulfill the lust thereof. What does it mean to make provision for something? Well, we use this term men providing for their families
What does that mean? It means men giving their families food shelter the means of surviving and thriving, right?
Well, we're not supposed to make provision for the flesh
We're not supposed to provide ways for our flesh to just feast on sin
We have to cut that off big barriers to where that's not even possible. We have to starve it to death basically
So, you know some practical tips and I talked about this recently
But it's a good idea not to be alone with someone of the opposite gender
And again, this is where people are gonna say they're gonna think it's strange concerning you
They're gonna think it's so weird that you don't want to be alone with someone of the opposite gender
But let me just tell you something if you care about abstaining from fornication
Here's a surefire way to where you could never commit fornication
Just don't be alone with someone of the opposite gender and you know married men same thing for you
If you want to avoid committing adultery in your life
Just make it a standard in your life that you're just not going to be alone with someone of the opposite gender
Now there may be situations in life where this is unavoidable, you know women are in the workforce
Oftentimes you may find yourself to be alone with the woman one time on accident
I left the church unlocked at in Hurst and also this woman just walked into my office and sat down and I'm just like
What the hell is going on? Like this is weird, but she was a woman pastor asking me for money
It's like get out like you're insane
No, this is the wrong church to be asking for money for a woman pastor
But you know things like that may happen in your life
And if you find yourself in that situation, you should still try to give yourself the most accountability as possible
You should still try to stand in public places. You should still try to be in view of cameras
You know I don't care how weird people think it is if I'm alone with a woman that I wasn't expecting to I'll even just
Call my wife and just have it on my have it you know in my pocket or whatever
Why because not because I think I'm gonna go down that road or even that I'm accusing the woman of wanting to go down
That road, but I just want to have accountability
And I don't even want someone to be able to falsely accuse me of something and people may think that's weird. That's crazy
Well, I think it's just smart. I think it's just building barriers in your life
So that you don't do this another thing you should do is you should give your spouse or your parents or some sort of?
Accountability partner full access to your phone full access to your devices
It's just crazy to me thinking about spouses having phones where the other one isn't allowed to look at it
That's weird. If you're wanting to hide stuff from your spouse, that's a problem
You know kids if you want to hide something from your parents, you're likely not doing anything good
And so parents chill or parents spouses accountability partners should be able to open your phone at any time
And look through anything that they want and this could help you avoid going down a dark path of fornication or adultery
You know my wife and I we use the life 360 app where she could see my location at any time
I could see hers at any time
This is just common sense in 2024 America where we're living in perilous time in dangerous times
Just for safety alone it makes sense to be able to know where someone's at and be able to keep tabs on them to
Be safe, you know dating teens should have chaperoned dates
You know dating teens should not be allowed to just go around by themselves without any type of supervision
You know, that's a terrible terrible idea. You're asking for trouble and you say well, that's a lot of work a lot of effort and energy
Yeah, it is but how much work effort and energy is your son and your daughter's virginity worth to you?
You know when I dated Jasmine pastor Thompson made sure we had a chaperone for every single date that we had and here's the thing
When you're dating like that, you know
People don't have the incentive to be dating for five years to be dating for ten years
Because when dating is that is like that you're like I want to get married
Why so I don't have to have someone looking over my shoulder every two seconds, you know
And that'll make someone actually make the decision to get married
You know if you're an adult you don't have you know parents watching you
Dating adults should at the very least date in public don't go date at someone's apartment
Someone's house. It's a terrible terrible terrible idea. You're gonna go down a dark path if you do that make sure you're in public
Here's another way that people can abstain from fornication is this
Women should stop dressing like whores go to Proverbs chapter number 7 Proverbs 7, you know men are visual creatures
Whether that's good or bad whether you like that or not whether you know that offends you or not
it's just the truth and when women go around dressing like whores they oftentimes know what they're doing and the Bible says that the
adulterous woman hunts for the precious life
She dresses in a way on purpose to cause men to fall into these areas of sin
And if women were dressing modestly, we'd have a lot less fornication in America
Proverbs 7 7 and I beheld among the simple ones
I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding. So here's a man who is for lack of a better word an idiot
Let me tell you what young men are like. We're idiots. Okay, we are flesh is just stupid
You know, we need the Spirit of God to help us and to guide us but just men young men are just dumb
All right
Look at verse 8 passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house in the twilight in the evening
in the black and dark night and behold there met him a woman notice this with the attire of and harlots and
Subtle of heart notice that according to the Bible there can be something that is objectively called the attire of an harlot
What is a harlot? It's a prostitute
So not my opinion God says a woman can be dressed in a way where you could look at her and say
She is dressed like a whore. She is dressed like a prostitute now
I'll read for you Exodus 28 42 says this and now shall make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins
Even unto the thighs they shall reach and so according to the Bible, you know
One way we could define this biblically speaking is that if you're exposing your thighs you're exposing your nakedness
And so what do whores want to do?
They want to advertise their body to let you know
It's for sale and a lot of women today in America are doing the same thing that aren't even literal prostitutes yet
For some reason they're dressing like prostitutes even Christian girls do this. How do I know this?
Well last week or the week before we went to this church camp the river bend church retreat or whatever and at this retreat is not
Just steadfast Baptist Church, but it's all sorts of churches from all over Texas and they register and they have their weeks there, too
And there was some like teen early 20s girls group there and all of them were dressed like complete whores
They were all wearing the skimpiest
Shortest short shorts you could possibly imagine to where it was literally obscene
And it's just crazy to me because like this retreat they had signs saying like no alcohol is allowed here
It's like you need to update your dress code, too
And it's like how is it that this is a Christian group of girls?
That they are dressed skimpier than a lot of literal whores would dress on Main Street in Las Vegas, Nevada
And then these are someone's daughters someone's
Friends someone's sisters and people are just letting their children dress in the most obscene whore ish way
What a shame that is to those girls and really what a shame that is to their parents
You know, especially in church have some respect for yourself have some respect for the house of God have some respect for your brothers
In Christ that church should be the one place that men can go without having to watch their eyes and shield their eyes
Like can we at least not just have church where this doesn't have to just be pushed on men's psyche?
It's pushed everywhere you go every billboard. It's every commercial. It's every tick-tock. It's every real it's every social media post
Can we not at least have the house of God where people dress?
Modestly go to first Timothy chapter 2 first Timothy chapter 2 first Timothy 2 verse 9 in like manner
Also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame faceless and sobriety
Not with broidered hair or girl or gold or pearls or costly ray
But which become if women professing godliness with good works
You know if a woman wants to adorn herself the best way she could do that is by having good works
And while of course women are just naturally born when they're born and when they're young they're just naturally fair young virgins
You know if you want to stand out as a young lady if you want to attract a godly man if you want to attract
A good husband you know worry less about adorning your body because
Frankly speaking every young girls is naturally attractive. What you should do is worry about adorning yourself with good works
That's gonna make you stand out to the right guy because every sleazebag is attracted to a pretty girl everyone is but you know what?
Godly men are attracted to women that have good works. Godly men are attracted to a young lady
That's a teenager that actually loves God that actually reads her Bible that actually goes soul-winning because she wants to
That actually goes to church because she wants to you know, that's gonna attract a godly man
You know, here's another action step people could take go to Deuteronomy 22 and that is that
Parents must step up to the plate in this area because honestly
I'm not even that angry or shocked by a teenager or someone in their young 20s committing fornication because Jesus said
That's what our hearts are like. That's what our flesh is like. That's what everyone's drawn to
I'm not really that shocked that someone fell into that sin because quite frankly if you're not walking in the spirit
Most if not all people would but what I am shocked about is that parents can be so lackadaisical and
Be so open and be so free with their children as to not ensure their daughters and their sons virginity at all
Proverbs 22 15 says this foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him
I'm not mad at a child for being foolish. I know they're foolish. I know when I was a teenager
I was foolish what I'm mad at is
Parents that know their children are foolish, but don't care or don't do anything about it or are so naive that they think well kids
Are foolish, but not my Johnny, but not my little Sarah not my little Susie
That's the people that I'm upset about look at Deuteronomy 22
The Bible teaches this principle that fathers are responsible for their daughter's virginity
Let's read several verses here verse 13
if a man take a wife and go in unto her and hate her and give occasions of speech against her and
Bring up an evil name upon her and say I took this woman and when I came to her
I found her not a maid then shall the father of the damsel and her mother
Take and bring forth the tokens of the damsels damsels virginity unto the elders of the city and the gate
And the damsels father shall say unto the elders
I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hated her and lo he have given occasions of speech against her saying
I found not thy daughter a maid and yet
These are the tokens of my daughter's virginity and they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city and the elders of that shit
City shall take that man and chastise him and they shall immerse him and in hundred shekels of silver and give them unto
The father of the damsel because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel
She shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days
So notice if a man marries a woman and accuses her of not being a virgin on the wedding night
Who is it that is supposed to go to the elders of the city and basically prove with evidence that their daughter is?
A virgin is the father and of course if the father is able to prove this and he's able to clear his daughter's name
The man that made this false accusation against the woman is going to be fined is going to be punished
Why because it's a really evil thing to accuse a woman of being a whore. That's not a whore
You know, I'm not afraid of the word whore the Bible's full of it
But you know, it is wrong to just call a woman a whore. That's not a whore, of course
So I don't just use that word flippantly
No
I use it in the very sense of the word what it is and if you know you just call a woman a whore
That's not a whore. That is a serious issue
But here's the thing but if the thing be true look at verse 20, but if this thing be true
So if she has lost her virginity and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel
Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house and the men of her city shall stone her with stones
That she die because she hath wrought folly in Israel to play the whore in her father's house
So shut that put away evil from among you. So notice the punishment here not not for committing fornication
The Bible does not put the death penalty on fornication
The the crime here that was committed is marital fraud, right if you get married to someone and you tell them
Oh, I am a virgin. Oh, I am clean and then they marry you
And you're not a virgin and you're not clean. That's a serious problem
Why because you could pass diseases onto this person that they could have for the rest of their life
And so that in and of itself the Bible actually says would be meriting the death penalty
But why bring up this story?
Why because fathers need to ensure their daughters pureness today?
Fathers need to ensure that their daughters are not going to become a whore and really that's what it's gonna take for America to
Cleanse our land of all the whoredom is strong dads in the home again
You know a girl that just grows up without a dad you ever heard of daddy issues
That's a real thing or growing up with with a father. That's not strong is basically guaranteeing that she will be unclean
You know I just I can't believe that
Fathers would allow their daughters to go out and see the daughters of the land no one knowing what they're doing
No one knowing where they are
You know I've been in church for over 10 years
And I remember the youth group I was a part of and one of the churches that I went to an old IFB church and it
Was just totally fine for some of these teenagers to just be in the car together and to drive across different state lines together and for
Girlfriend to go hang out at boyfriend's apartment
And you know what if you're a parent and you do that you are a fool
You are a fool and you're not doing your job as a father you are not taking your solemn responsibility
As a dad to ensure your daughter's virginity don't wait until your daughter's 16 18 years old
To start caring about protecting her, you know start when she's young and just keep that up until you pass her off
To somewhere else to someone else number three what to do if you've already sinned in this area go to Proverbs 28 Proverbs 28
You know, the reality is a lot of people have sin in this area
We're living in a sinful time in a sinful country and despite this type of preaching this type of preaching is few and far between
In churches a lot of churches never bring up this topic a lot of churches will never commit or do church discipline
But if you've sinned in this area look at Proverbs 28 13 he that covereth his sins shall not prosper
But who so confesseth and forsaketh them
Shall have mercy, you know if you have committed the sin in your past if you've made this mistake in your past
It's not like your whole future is absolutely ruined necessarily though
It could be in certain aspects of your life
But still God does want to give you mercy and how do you get that mercy?
It's by confessing and forsaking your sin not covering it up not hiding it
But saying truly and sincerely to God. Hey, I messed up in this area. This was wrong. I feel bad about it
I'm sorry. I want to stop doing this in my life. That's how you're actually gonna get mercy from God
I'll read for you first on 1/9 if we confess our sins
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
You know don't think that if you've made this mistake in the past that God can't use you or that God doesn't want you to be
In church, you know, if you've repented from that if it's in the past, you know
He does he wants to forgive you of that he wants to give you grace moving forward now go to Leviticus chapter 19
What to do if you know someone is involved in this sin
Well first let me tell you what not to do if you know someone's committing fornication in the church
Don't go around and talk to every section of the church and let them know about it. What is that called?
That's called being a tale bearer. What you should do is you should go to the people that have authority in the situation
So what does that mean? It means go to the pastor and it means go to the parents not to brother
So and so not to sister. So and so look at Leviticus
1916 thou shalt not go up and down as a tale bearer among thy people
Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am the Lord. What is the tale bearer? It's someone just repeating
Sensitive information. It's not even necessarily whether that information is good or bad
It's someone that's just repeating tales and the Bible says not to go up and down as a tale bearer
So if you know of something like this going on, you know
It's not right to just go and tell every single person in the church
Why because we're supposed to treat others the way that we want to be treated, right?
and if someone's in that sin what they need is they need mom and dad to find out so that they can give them the lightning and
They need pastor to find out so that it could be dealt with
Biblically speaking and so that hopefully the person could be punished and that they can repent and that they could be
Restored and move on with their life. You know, I'm glad that not every single sin
I've ever committed is broadcast for everyone to know sometimes that's necessary and sometimes in this area that's necessary
But still you should go to the pastor and you should go to the parents and not just go around the whole church
Telling people everything, you know, I'll close with this verse go to Galatians chapter number six
Let's be the last verse we go to if someone's committed the sin if someone's even been church disciplined
And this this will go for any type of church discipline
Someone has been kicked out of church and they come back. How should we treat them?
Look at Galatians 6 1 says this brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual
Restore such in one in the spirit of meekness
Considering thyself lest thou also be tempted notice if someone is backslidden
They commit one of these grievous sins they get kicked out of church, but they come back
How is it that we are supposed to treat that person? We're supposed to restore them. We're supposed to consider ourselves
Hey, if I was in that situation
How would I want to be treated and notice by restoring them by being forgiving and merciful to them?
That is according to the Bible the spiritual thing to do. So someone ever does commit fornication and
They're just living in fornication. They're hiding it. They will be church disciplined. They will be called out
They will be in trouble from their parents. Hopefully, but if that person comes back to church
You should never ever bring it up to that person ever again. Someone commits fornication. They come back
You should never tease them about it joke with them about it. Hang it over their head bring it up in their face
You know that is a wicked thing to do and God has forgiven us of so much of our sins all of our sins
You know and God has forgiven us some of us for bigger sins than others. And so how would we want mercy from God?
Well, we should show people that same mercy. So while I'm getting up here screaming about how I will call someone out for this
Absolutely, but once it's done, I will be the first person to forgive you
I'll be the first person to extend the right hand of fellowship and to never bring it up to you again and to never treat
You any different because of that sin, you know what? That's what real Christianity is real Christianity is yeah
We'll deal with problems. We'll do exactly what the Bible says when it comes to these problems. But once it's done, it's completely in the past
We're gonna forget about it. We're gonna forgive them and you know, that's how we should address the situation that our church has been in
Right now, you know if this person comes back
Hey, never bring it up to them again. Forgive them treat them just like you would have treated them before with that
Let's have a word of prayer Lord. Thank you for this day. Thank you for your warnings and your word
I just pray that the young people in here would never be so foolish as to commit fornication
that they would just trust in you that you had blessed them with a good spouse and that they could just enjoy that part of
Their lives the godly way just help us never have to see the evil repercussions of this sin in this congregation
But I pray that you'd help us to be vigilant looking out for it in case it does. Love you in Jesus name we pray