(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) All right. Amen. Well, this is the last part in our little two-series sermon about fornication. So you could call it shacking up a shekem part two, but I'm not really talking about a shekem anymore. So I'm titling this one fornication nation. Fornication nation. And so just a quick review. Last week, the main point of that sermon was to show you how fornication is a gross violation of God's marriage covenant and what that entails and some of the physical and spiritual dangers that that poses on to God's people, but not just God's people, everybody, right? And again, the point of these sermons is not to blast people that have done this in the past, okay? This is to really preserve the youth that we have who haven't made this mistake yet and to basically scare the hell out of you. Make sure that you understand this is a path that you don't ever, ever, ever want to go down, okay? And you might be thinking, well, you know, what about me? I've already done this and you know what? It is what it is. You know, we're not supposed to be bogged down by our past. You know, you just repent of that and you move forward and that is how it's supposed to go. And I talked about the last week about how the New Testament, I think I said there was 39 books, I meant Old Testament, so there's 27 books in the New Testament and the word fornication in some form appears over 30 times. You're going to find it in Matthew all the way through the book of Revelation. So obviously this is a concept that God needs us to all be on the same page about and to have a very good understanding of. Now, keep your place there in Numbers chapter number 25 and go to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, 2 Corinthians chapter number 12. And so we started the reading off in Numbers chapter 25 and Numbers chapter 25 comes right off of the heels of Balaam and his attempt to get rich and to become a good old boy for Balak and obviously God didn't allow that to happen. So at the end of chapter 24, Balaam and Balak part ways. And as you're reading through numbers, it kind of seems like, okay, well, that's the end of it, right? And I guess Balaam lost. God's not going to allow him to curse the nation of Israel. What you have to understand is that this chapter here deals with what they came up with next. Okay. And we'll get into that here in a moment, but I was doing some research on fornication and some statistics and such, and I found this very interesting. So in 2001, 40% of Americans were against fornication. Okay. 40%. And the article didn't specify whether these people were saved, that they interviewed or whatnot, but 40%, in 2020, it's one in four that are against it. That's a pretty significant drop. And you know who's to blame for that? Anybody who names the name of Christ. Anybody who has the word church out in front of a building and they meet there and they say Bible, they say brother, they say sister, they say God, they say worship, they are to blame. But you know what? This church isn't going to be blamed. Our friends' churches, they're not going to be blamed. A lot of old IFB churches, they're not going to be blamed. You know, but it's all these other ones that actually give the okay. They are to blame for that. Right? I mean, you can't blame the colleges. They don't claim to be Christian. They don't open up the Bible and preach you the Bible. You know, that's just the world and their philosophies. And that's what you get when you go there. It is what it is. It is the pulpits in this country that are responsible for that drop. But I have a question. What is it going to be in 10 years? A half a person out of four? Well, my new man, my new man disagrees with it, but my old man says yes. Is that what we're going to go? I mean, this is absolutely insane. Insane. In other countries in the world, it's even worse. Like in France and the UK, there's places where they're like, we hardly find anybody who's against it. You know, just maybe a small group of people. One in four Americans last year said they have a problem with fornication. Should at least be three out of four, don't you think? I mean, one out of four? That is nuts. That's crazy. And you know what? This is a church that's full of saved, born again, Bible believing Christians. And when we're all on the same page, we're going to be that light. We're going to be that salt. We're going to go out there and we're going to tell people, you know what? This is wrong. This is wicked. Obviously, I'm not going to go knock on doors and make that the priority conversation, right? But it's just us taking a stand and drawing the line in the sand is enough because people come at you from all areas of your life. People talk to you about the stuff at work, your neighbors, you know, and you're going to have these answers and they're going to be blown away by that stuff. You know, just for example, today, my boss came to drop some parts off to me and he's like, Hey man, how's the church going? I'm like, good, good, good. He's like, you let any pedophiles in yet? And I was like, get out of here, man. You know, the answer to that. He was like, I'm just kidding. He's like, but I do have a question. He's like, would you kick somebody out if they drank a beer? I was like, no, if they're drunk. And I was okay. I was just curious. Cause I've been to a lot of churches, man. They'll kick people out for drinking beer. And he goes, would you kick a homosexual out? And I was like, yeah, I've told you that before. He's like, okay. He's like, I just got another question though. It's like, how are you going to convert them? I was like, they can't be converted. They can't believe. He's like, I know. I'm just kidding. I know that. No, you didn't. No, you didn't. You didn't know that. But just that quick conversation there, let him know, let him know, Hey, there are people out there that believe that because you can go pick a hundred Christians off the street right now and ask them that same question. Oh yes. God loves them. What about Genesis 19? Oh, it was just a blurb. God was like, whoa, I shouldn't have done that. That might be a little extreme. You get the point, right? So second Corinthians chapter number 12. Again, I just want to read three verses here just to kind of give you some more purpose on why we're going through this year. Look at verse number 19, verse number 19. It says this. The Paul tells Corinthians this in the second letter to the Corinthians. Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you. We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things dearly beloved for your edifying. That is the whole point of doing these sermons. That's the whole point of preaching. The whole counsel of God is for edifying. But the problem is certain subjects offend certain people. And you know what? It's gotta be that way. It's just, it is what it is. This should be a doctrine here. This should be a teaching here that pierces you. Whether you've done this or not, it doesn't matter. It should pierce you and get you angry when you see those three out of four people advocate for fornication. So think, so he's telling these guys, hey, do you think that we're going to come up with some kind of excuse because you were offended? He's like, no way. No way. We're going to read this. We're going to preach this. And if you don't like it, then there's the door. That's Paul's attitude. Look at verse 20. For I fear lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would and then I shall be found unto you such as you would not. Lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbiting, whispering, swellings, tumult. Obviously, all of these things are wrong and shouldn't be the bulk of a church, you know. And again, you know, not everybody in here is going to agree over every interpretation of every verse. But again, we should all be right on salvation. We should all be right on fornication. We should all be right on these major things, right? Look at verse 21. It says, unless when I come again, my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already. Good luck reading that in another church. And he says, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. So Paul's expectation was when he wrote that first letter to the Corinthians, that these people would recognize the severity of that sin and get right. And what does he say he's going to do when people say, you know what, I don't care. I'm going to go ahead and do what the guy did in Numbers chapter 25. He says, I'm going to bewail you. I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to kick you out of the church. I am going to cause you some serious trouble. Now go back to Numbers chapter number 25. So about two months ago, I was doing some work for this guy over in Meridian and he was telling me, you know what, hey, this is a great weekend. Now that the coronavirus is kind of winding down, he's like, I don't have to have the full virtual wedding. We're actually allowing like 15 people at my wedding. I was like, man, that's pretty brave. Are you okay? It's like, oh yeah, this is going to be great. And I was like, well, great. You know, how long have you known your, you know, your girlfriend or your fiance? I was trying to be careful because I'm like, I don't know if he's as chicken married the other day. He's like, oh, we've been living here in this house for three years. I was like, oh, okay. Didn't really think much of it until we started talking some more and he found out I was a pastor and he goes to Rock Harbor. I was like, did you go through the marriage counseling? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We're, I'm good buddies and I do the youth programs. I'm like, are you joking? He was like, what? You guys have lived here in this house for three years? Like, oh yeah, yeah. He's like, I know. And this is the first time I've had to have a repair guy come over, like completely over his head that I was disgusted by this. I'm like, I'm going to get fired. I'm going to get fired. So I just stopped talking. I was like, okay, I'm going to write this down and I'm going to use this as an illustration sometime. But I mean, how many people does that church have? And isn't that like an offshoot of Stonehenge or something like that? I mean, it's insane. These people out here are crazy. He's so blind, the dude can't even tell that I'm disgusted by what he just told me. It's insane. But anyways, let's look at Numbers 25 verse number one and we'll start the story off here. So again, coming off the heels of Balaam and Balak going their separate ways, it says this, in Israel abode in Shittim and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Now remember last week we talked about Shechem, right? The Bible doesn't say whether or not he was into whoredoms. He's just a picture of the world, right? You grow up in the world with no church, no teaching, chances are you're going to be like Shechem and just not think anything's wrong. Do things backwards, right? We're not trying to beat you up over that. That's the world. That is the course of the world, okay? Just thank God that you're saved now. But these people here are on a whole nother level, okay? So it says they began to commit whoredoms with the daughters of Moab. Interesting. Where was Balaam from? Where was Balak from, okay? Are the Moabites, the children of Israel, were they supposed to marry these women? Not at all. Were they supposed to be sleeping around? No. This is disgusting here. Look at verse two. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. Now you got to kind of think about this. You've been reading through these chapters here and seeing God's deliverance, right? And it's not like they didn't know that God wasn't delivering. He's been saving them off and on again, you know, for quite a time now since they got out of Egypt. Here and these people are like, yeah, this is a great idea, you know. Let's go and sacrifice unto these gods of the Moabites, even though they realize and they probably remember what Moses did to the children of Israel that worshiped those golden calves, right? See how quickly people forget? Look at verse three. And Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. So Balaam developed a bottom line, okay? And he said this, don't worry Balak. And he didn't really say this, I'm making this up. But he said, if we can't curse the people, then let's corrupt them, okay? If God won't let us curse them, then let's go ahead and corrupt them. And so what you're seeing here is the process whereby Balaam at one point in his life sat down and dreamed up, right? Because he wanted that payout from Balak, didn't he? He wanted the big payday. He wanted that stature increase. He wanted to be popular. He wanted all of that stuff. But at the same time, you know, God used him to prophesy. So he's like, I know the power of God. I understand the power of God. And I realize that if he says no, we just can't do it. So he was steadfast in that aspect of his life. But again, he's not saved. And he's like, I still want the goods. I still want those treats. So there's got to be a way that we can still cause the children of Israel to stumble. I can't curse them. So what can I do? Oh, I know. I'll have them commit fornication with these foreign women. And what did that lead to? It led to the unthinkable, right? Look down again at verse number three, and Israel joined himself. This is the nation as a whole. Okay. Not every single person here, obviously, but by and large, a large chunk. And Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. So fornication led to a lot of these people deciding, you know what, it's okay if we go ahead and worship the devil. Isn't that crazy? Go to first Kings chapter number 11. And so the first statement that I'm going to make this evening is fornication can lead to whoredoms, and whoredoms can lead to idolatry. In fact, that is the natural progression. I believe that's what Balaam sat down and did and said, hey, if we can get these guys hooked on this. You see, Elise Shechem was like, I love this girl and I want to make her mine. Okay. I get he's got some issues, some big issues, right? But he didn't like say, okay, well that was cool. Now I'm just going to go sleep with everybody. Whereas these people, they're like, you know, we're just going to get all these Midianites women. Their fornication is running rampant. And what did those women do to the men in Israel? They seduced them into worshiping the devil, into idolatry. And so that's why this sin needs to be checked because it can fester, it can multiply, it can spread. It starts out with a harmless, well, a seemingly harmless little encounter. And then all of a sudden you get away with it and nobody catches you. And it doesn't seem like a big deal. And then something happens and all of a sudden you start to look for that high again. You start to look for that next feeling, right? The new beginnings, right? That's what people get hooked on with this stuff, the new beginnings. But there's a consequence, a grave consequence for doing that. And it's called blindness. It's called, you will find yourself doing things that you can't, other people are like, how, how in the world can you not see that this is just absolutely absurd? After what God did for this nation, you're telling me you're going to go and worship the devil? You're going to actually sacrifice to the devil? Well, look at 1 Kings 11 because it happened to somebody else. And this wasn't a result of fornication, but still was a result of going off and getting strange wives and yoking yourself up with the daughters of the land, the worldly women. And it just so happens to be the wisest man who ever lived. So if it can happen to him, it can happen to any one of us. 1 Kings chapter 11, look at verse number four. It says, for it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father. Now, right off the bat here, okay, praise God, it doesn't say he lost his salvation. It does say that the Lord Jehovah God is his God. But the Bible's letting us know something here that, hey, when you go off and do this sort of thing, guess what? You lose God's protection. That is what you lose. You lose discretion, you lose protection, you lose discernment, and the list multiplies and goes on. Look at verse number five. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zydonians, and after Milkom, the abomination of the Amorites. Does anybody know if Milkom's like a video game company? It just sounds like some kind of electronics deal to me. I don't know. If not, I'm sure somebody will start one off called Milkom. Look at verse six. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. When you go home tonight, read all of First Kings chapter number eight, and think about this verse here. First Kings 11 six. Go read the prayer that Solomon made on his knees for the nation of Israel in First Kings chapter number eight, and then read this. And you'll be blown away. You'll be absolutely astonished all night. I mean, it's crazy to me. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord after all of that. After seeing what his father went through. After having the vision of God come to him and saying, hey, what would you like? And God communicating to Solomon, hey, that was a wise thing that you asked for. And seeing God's blessings upon this nation. He goes and does this. Verse number seven. Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab. There it is again, man. Moab. Look. Don't ever meet somebody from Moab. Just a little tip for you. I'm just kidding. In the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. Does that Molech there sound familiar? There's still people alive today sacrificing to Molech in the form of an owl. It's crazy. Look at verse eight. And likewise did he for all his strange wives which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. Go back to Numbers chapter 25. So look, we need to have a harsh attitude towards fornication in all kinds of perversion. It needs to be this way. As a whole church we have to have this attitude. It's not something that's optional. You've got the wisest man who ever lived here, sacrificing not just to just one devil, but to multiples. And what caused him to do that? What was the same thing that caused the children of Israel in Numbers 25 to do the very same thing? Strange women. So there's also a lesson in here in making sure that you're not unequally yoked with somebody else. Because it can be a living nightmare for you if you are, okay. So it says that he's building high places for these people. That's insane. And how, I don't want to, I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but I'm sure we can all think of people. We all probably know people who were one time in church doing the right thing, but then they slipped off into this very same sin, right. They went and they just started going off with the daughters of the land, committing whoredoms with the Midianites, and then the next thing you know they're building high places in their life, right. They're building YouTube channels against churches like ours. They're building their lives up and claiming that that's true success. Hey, I'm a recovering Baptist now. I'm no longer under those strict standards and precepts and principles that they preach. I talked to a guy today who said he was scarred by the judgmental Baptist back in the 80s, and he said, I've never stepped foot in a Baptist church again. I was like, well you need to come to ours then. He's like, I don't know. I don't think so. I mean think about it though. People that often, I've seen it. I've seen it in churches like ours. These young people, they just get weary. They get tired. They get whatever. They just slip off. They go and they meet somebody, and they think they're strong enough. Oh, I'll convert that person eventually, and then the next thing you know that person has the believer building a high place against God's people, and now you're wondering like were they ever saved? Probably, of course. Most of the time, yes. Look, Solomon was saved here, and he's off doing this kind of garbage just to please them, just to shut them up. So don't ever think that you're strong enough to handle this because you're not. Nobody is, and so this leads in to my next point here. Look at verse number four. Numbers 25. Look at verse number four. And the Lord said unto Moses, take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And real quickly, just put this in the back of your mind. This would have been a task, I believe, that probably would have taken a lot longer than a day. Okay, and I'll get back to that here in a moment because there's a supposed contradiction, right? 101 contradictions in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Paul gives a number that 23,000 fell in one day, and in this chapter, what does it say? 24,000. And obviously, I'll just give you the answer now. The key is one day, okay? So when one day fell, 23,000 in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. But in Numbers, when you read the account, it just gives you the sum, the total of all the deaths, okay? And so what is the commission here? What is the commandment? The Lord said unto Moses, take all the heads of the people, okay? It's not talking about the leaders, the head of this tribe. No, it's talking about your head, eyeballs, nose, mouth, teeth, and ears, your hair, everything goes along with it. And what's in addition to that? Cut the head off, okay? And the Lord said unto Moses, take all the heads of the people and hang them up, so hang those heads up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. It's not something that God takes very lightly now, is it? That's crazy. Hey, this is a lesson here you ain't gonna get in your Sunday school class, right? I want to see VeggieTales make a little VeggieTale clip on this, because hey, this is good doctrine here, right? I mean, we don't want the fierce anger of the Lord upon us, right? And this is how He views it. He says, hey, hang them up so that the sun bounces off all of their faces so that people can see, and they'll learn not to do that. That was the intent here. All for what reasons? Worshipping the devil through fornication. Look at verse five. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal Peor. And people think that, oh, no matter what God you worship, it's okay because Jesus loves everybody and He'll just forgive you. Do you realize that the rod of iron that Jesus will rule with and reign with in the millennium would include this type of an attitude here? But nobody wants to talk about that, do they? Now, it's important to know here, everybody's on notice. Everybody understands, hey, this is going down. God's obviously upset with the whole nation here, right? I mean, this isn't like a secret, okay? This is going to happen, and people are probably talking about this, and word spreads fast. But with that in mind, you aren't going to believe this here. Look at verse number six. Notice the behavior of this guy, knowing what's going on, knowing the judgment of God. Look at the behavior of this guy here. It almost seems out of place, but it says this in verse six. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midian nightish woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. What do you think about that? So this guy here, he comes back with his new girlfriend, and he sees all these people weeping and crying because they're losing family members who became reprobate by worshiping the devil, or whatever. And he's like, ah, sucks to be you. I got this new girl. It's great. Hey, Moses, do something, boy. Hey, Joshua, Caleb, do something. You ain't going to do nothing. You're weak. That's pretty much what his actions are communicating in the sight of the entire church. This fool thinks he's going to get away with this. You ever met somebody who's blind? Go to Titus chapter number two. And so here's the second point that I want to make. Fornication leads to pride, and pride always leads to us being blind. Absolutely. You would have to be spiritually blind. Not only blind, but extremely, extremely stupid. I mean, it's like, okay, I'm in this nation here. Our leader just got a commission from God to kill everyone who's committing fornications and whoredoms. There's a plague that's gone out. There's all this judgment coming. There's people weeping and crying over the pain that this caused the nation. And this dude's like, I don't care. I got a girlfriend. It's great. Do something, boy. Do something. I dare you. I dare you. That's his attitude here. I dare you. It's like, what in the world are you thinking? You're absolutely insane to not think that somebody isn't going to care about that. That somebody isn't going to notice that. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. And this man is about to fall hard. Titus chapter number two. Look at verse number six. Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober minded. Now, obviously, this applies to us all. Young, old, male, female. We all struggle with pride, but it specifically mentions young men. And it's because it's something that young men struggle with tremendously. Women have their things that they struggle with tremendously. Well, pride is one for young bucks to struggle with. And so what you have to understand is that if you're not sober minded, you're either double minded or you're proud minded. In fact, if I could use that term. And the reason why he's saying that is because when pride consumes you, you're going to be fallen. You're going to be treasured. You will go down. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. You will go down if you don't get straight. And you'll be blind. Just like a blind person, if they don't have the right care, they don't have somebody to lead them about, they don't have a system to navigate, they trip and fall over objects. Well, you know what? When you're spiritually blind and God removes that capability, that discernment from you, you're going to fall. And you're going to do stupid stuff like this guy here. You're going to do stupid stuff like Solomon did. It's the byproduct. It's what happens. But it's also a gift from God because it allows everyone else around to see the stupidity of some people. Right? I mean, because we don't know what goes on outside of the walls of church. I mean, you know, I don't go around to your house like, hey, what are you doing today? Huh? You've been talking to girls. You're talking to dudes. What's going on? You know, nobody's got time for that. Nobody has any time for that. But God has set this up, I believe, for us. Right? Because when people get wrapped up into this, this is what they'll do. I've been to Baptist churches before where I knew that people were doing this and the pastor just wouldn't do anything. They'd be talking about their girlfriend and, you know, certain things in front of the congregation. And I mentioned stuff like that to the pastor. He's like, ah, that guy, you know, he's just hard-headed. Just stubborn. He's just stubborn. No, God has removed his discernment and blinded this person as a result of pride so that you could see it and kick him out so that he'll get right with God and come back because a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. But look at verse 7. In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works. In doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech. Look, if you're full of pride, you're not going to have sound speech. You've got to have a sound mind which will lead to sound speech, sound doctrine, all of those things are connected. But he says sound speech that cannot be condemned. You see, one thing that I've learned about these people is that a lot of times they will say things that are just absolutely unfounded. Not sound at all. Because they're full of pride and they're blind and they give away their position and they either don't know or don't care. I haven't figured out which one it is yet, but he says that cannot be condemned. And so look, a lot of people, I bet if you were to take a poll and I would never do this, I would bet that most people in here have probably gone down this road. Because most people didn't get saved till later on in life. Right? And so with that being said, we ought not to be proud of all the sinful things that we've done in the past. We shouldn't use that to brag and I was the worst sinner than you. I used to deal, date with all these chicks and stuff. I mean that's just arrogance. But you know what? There's Christian rap songs and Christian rock songs that are like that. I used to be bad. I'll take your girl. I hear the stuff out in the community at people's houses. I can't remember who sang this song. I gotta look it up, but it's something this guy's like, I'm a monster. I used to be a monster or something like that. I used to be a monster and I just remember hearing him say that. And I'm working on this washing machine. I'm like, did you just say that? I'm like, monster. I used to take your girl. I'll find it. I'll find a song. I'm gonna find it. But it says this, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you. And that's the goal. Go to 1 Peter chapter one and that's the goal, right? We want to have a sound mind, which leads to sound speech, sound doctrine, so that we can have sound works before the Lord our God. But when we have people that are the opposite of that and they're proud of it, it just trips everybody up. It's a nightmare for the church. Think of all the pain that the church at Israel, Numbers 25, is going through right now because of these things. There's a reason why Paul said, hey, get this guy who's committing this wicked fornication out of your church, right? And then what does he tell him later on? Sounds like he's got right. Bring him back. God's recipe always works. Look, there's hope and there's restoration. Now, obviously for this guy in Numbers 25, he was on a different level. He was like, ah, I don't care. I mean, to actually do that in the sight of the people, that's a pretty good indication that you've gone past the point of no return there. But we'll get into that deeper another time. 1 Peter chapter one, look at verse number 13. So Peter says this, wherefore girt up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So again, if we're not sober minded, obviously if you're not sober, you're drunk, you're not going to understand these things either, right? But if you're high on pride, right, you're not going to have this hope to the end for grace that Peter's talking about here, right? But when we make a decision in our mind to be sober minded and walk in the new man, that's going to be your focus. Those are going to be your thoughts because you're reading the Bible, you're listening to preaching, you're meditating on these things, and that leads to the sound works and the sound doctrine, and it leads to this attitude here in verse 13 that Peter is talking about. Look at verse 14, it says, as obedient children, now don't miss this, not fashioning yourselves according to the formal lusts in your ignorance. We all have formal lusts, we all have a past of some sort. Now some of you teens, your past was stealing cookies and you know, just disobedience and not making your bed and stuff like that. Keep it that way. Keep it that way, okay? Keep it that way. But he says, as obedient children, he says, hey, not fashioning yourself, what that means is not making yourself, right? Don't make yourself of this countenance or this persona that you're like some great superhero that had this great past that you conquered. We ought to be ashamed of that, you know? And there's nothing wrong with using it for an illustration, you know, depending on the severity of it. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with using your past to educate other people and say, hey, I made that mistake and I'm telling you don't do it. There's nothing wrong with that at all. But when we fashion ourselves according to the formal lusts in our ignorance, what does that mean? We are ignorant, we are dumb, we are stupid, we are blind, we are full of pride, and we are not obedient children here, okay? That is the idea. That is, go look at verse 15, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation because it is written, be holy for I am holy. Now go to Judges chapter number 16. And so the idea there is that the key to not being blind is to making sure that we don't fashion ourselves to the formal lusts in our ignorance. That we're not like, you know what, I'm glad I had this past. No, we ought to be ashamed of that because when you start to take pride in those things, they have a way of working back into your life and manifesting themselves through actions, which is what we don't want as a church, okay? And so I got to show you another example here. We kind of went over this when brother Oliver was here, but I think it's worth revisiting. So we're going to talk real quickly about Samson, right? Because what are we doing? We're talking about the sin of fornication, what it leads to. It leads to pride, it leads to being blind, and it leads to idolatry, right? And then if you think about it, Samson kind of went down all three of those roads. Judges chapter 14, he's attracted to a foreigner. How well does that work out for him? Not too well. Judges chapter number 16, beginning of the chapter, what do we see Samson doing? He goes and finds a harlot. Then what happens? He falls in love with Dinah. You guys are familiar with the story, we just read it. Was that her name? What's her name? Delilah, not Dinah. That was last week. Thanks. See, I know when Jessica's like that, I'm like, okay, what'd I say? But anyways, Delilah, I should have wrote this down, that's a problem. I'll get Solomon and Saul mixed up, I'll get Saul and Paul mixed up. But either way, Delilah, that's who he fell in love with, the Philistine. I got that right, the Philistine. What does she do to Samson? She tries to find the source of his strength because that's what the lords of the Philistines want. They want to take Samson down. He loves her. She probably loved him at the beginning, who knows? I mean, she was probably genuinely liking him until these people came along and said, hey, we'll give you all the silver, give you a little bit of money. All you gotta do is just betray him, just find the source of his strength. So she asks him, hey, what's the source of your strength? And he lies to her, sets her up, right? But she actually tries to go through with what he says, like four times. And it's like, Samson, can't you see that she's really trying to find out the source of your strength, which you should keep confidential? Which was a gift from God because if the enemy finds out the source of your strength, it's going to be a lot harder for you to defend yourself and this nation that you're supposed to be a judge over. But he doesn't see it. He's completely blind. And then look at verse number 16. It says this, and it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death. So if you ever want to like find information from somebody, just ask them until they're about to die. And apparently they'll tell you, oh crap, this is what like Chinese water torture is. Look at verse 17. It says this, that he told her all his heart and said unto her, there hath not come a razor upon mine head for I have been a Nazarite unto God for my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go for me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. Now turn to Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. So what do you see there? Well, you see a lot of things there. You see that his perversive attitude towards the physical relationship led to what? Led to being prideful. It led to being blind. But it also led to a lack of commitment, right? He let go of that commitment that he had to maintain that secret, to protect the nation that he was a judge over. What about that certain man in Numbers chapter number 25? How was he for commitment? This is something I've noticed just in my own life, working with tons and tons of whoremongers and whores and forgators, right? It just seems like they all have this one thing in common. They lack commitment. They lack commitment. They just have a hard time committing to things. And that's a problem, but it's a byproduct of what that sin will do to you. Proverbs 15. Look at verse number four. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit. That's what you see in Numbers chapter 25. That's what you see in 1 Corinthians. That's what you see in 1 Kings chapter number 11. That's what you see here going on in Judges chapter number 16. And that's what you'll see in the world today when you study the subject down. It is a breach in the spirit. So when you run into somebody, especially at work, man, this is real popular. You guys probably know this at work. You got that guy that's always running around talking about fornication, right? If you listen to all of his conversations, I'm willing to bet you, even though I don't even know these people, it's probably pretty perverse, isn't it? Very perverse. They just, they'll say things and you're just like, dude, stop. I have, look, I went to this house and they started speaking like this. I was like, oh, hold on, man, we got to stop this right here, okay? This just, I can't, I just can't do it. They're like, oh, I'm sorry, you're like a minister or something? I was like, well, I am a pastor, you know, but besides that, even if I wasn't, okay, we can't be talking like that. They're just like, oh man, I'm so sorry. They don't even know me. I can't, I mean, it's, it's, it would be a shame for me to even hint at the things that they were starting to talk about. And they're lucky that we don't live in Nehemiah's day because I'd rip your hair out. Not you, I'm talking about these people anyways. Go to Proverbs chapter number 25, Proverbs chapter number 25. And so because of that breach in the spirit, there's always going to be a breach in the thought process of these people. There's going to be a breach in their etiquette. There's going to be a breach in their works, just in everything that they do. And that's the breach that you see here in Judges. That's the breach that you see in 1 Kings chapter 11. That's the breach that you see in Numbers chapter 25. And the list goes on and on and on. Proverbs 25, look at verse 19, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth in a foot out of join. Who was that guy that just got his leg broken? What's that guy's name? Yeah, Chris Weidman. So this mixed martial arts fighter, he breaks his leg trying to kick another guy in the shin or something. Is that what it was? And this guy goes to step down like it's just going to be business as usual, right? And his leg does this kind of stuff. And I'm just thinking about this verse. Nobody at that moment of time can have any confidence in that guy to defend him. Even right now, because I don't think that was too long ago, right? It was a couple of weeks ago. But if you could visualize that, I don't think you want to see it because it's just like, ugh, ouch. Right? But I mean, think about somebody who's got their leg broken and tried to step down on it. They can't walk. They can't do anything. That's how it is dealing with fornicators. This has been my experience anyways. And this is what I'm seeing in the Bible here. It's just like, you just can't trust them. You just can't trust them because they have that breach in the spirit. It's all about them. It's that pride in that blindness. Okay. And again, like I said, I'm not trying to beat people up about your past, right? You can get past this as restoration, as healing. We've talked about that. We know that. We understand that. But go back in your Bible to Proverbs chapter number 10. Look at verse number nine. Proverbs 10, look at verse number nine. It says this, he that walketh uprightly, walketh surely, but he that perverted his ways shall be known. And again, I've been saying this in different ways since the beginning of the sermon. When somebody has a breach in their spirit like this, God's going to manifest that. He's going to make that known. That's his formula. That's his recipe. You can hide it for a little while, but not too long. Especially if you're saved. God's going to make sure that that comes to light. Okay. Now go back to numbers 25 and we will move on here. We're getting very close to being done. Numbers chapter 25. I just want to read a couple more verses here before we stop. Numbers 25 verse number seven. Look at this. We got a real go-getter here. It says this, and when Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it. So when he sees the situation here, he's like, are you serious? He's like, no, I don't think so. He rose up from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand and he went after the man of Israel into the tent. Right? So he didn't just come back with his girlfriend and was like, hey, you guys want to meet her? You know her? Get to know her? No, he went into the tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. What does that spear represent? Well, it represents the word of God. The discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. And it'll go right through your belly. But there's another metaphorical application here, and that's fornication leads to pain. That is what it does. It leads to pain. And by pain, I mean physical pain. I believe here, metaphorically speaking, that God is letting us know here that, hey, the sin of fornication, not only does it cause spiritual pain, not only does it cause pain when it goes on inside of a church, not only does it cause pain, you know, in your families and stuff like that, like it did with Shechem, but it also causes disease. Go to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. I was looking this up on the, what is it, the CDC's website. That's right. The CDC's website. And the amount of STDs that cause stomach trouble, that cause trouble in the pelvic region of a human being are astounding. So that spear, the Phinehas, rammed through both of their guts. That is a picture of the STDs and the judgment of God for doing those things, which eventually lead to death. Romans chapter one, look at verse 27. It says this, and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one toward another. Men with men, working that which is unseemly. Talk about a group of people who are blind. And that are the chiefs of fornication. The alphabet people. The mega fags. And receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was meat, which means which was suitable. Right? They're the biggest group of fornicators alive. The Bible says they're like dogs. They're beasts. That's all they're about and what they do. And so you see that pride and that blindness on a whole nother level. But they're also the chiefs when it comes to STDs. And they bring that into both genders, don't they? Where does that come from? It's a punishment from God. That STD is Phinehas' spear, which God said, hey, that's a righteous man. That's somebody I'm going to bless. Took initiative and stabbed both of those people right through the gut. What are we supposed to mourn and weep? Oh, I can't believe you did that. You're so harsh and so mean, Phinehas, you bad boy. No. Quite the opposite. Again, that's a lesson you're not going to learn in your Sunday school. So quick application. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter number 6. We went over this verse last week. I'm going to show you again. 1 Corinthians 6.18. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that comitteth fornication sinneth against his own body. And I showed it in illustration last week. We talked about that. That is the commandment, to flee these things. Okay. Flee the lust. Flee this problem. Go one chapter over to chapter number seven. Look at verse number one. I'll show you what we do about this. It says this. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. I thought it was funny that when we helped this woman move a couple years ago, who hated our church, we kind of turned into a friend. After we were done helping her move, she was like, I want to give you guys all hugs. And all of us were like, I didn't know what to say. We're like, oh, you know, I guess she doesn't understand our standards and our ways, but we don't really want to do this. We just want her to leave. And Kayden's like, hey, it's good for a man not to touch a woman. You know, he just spouts that right off. And I'm like, yeah, what he said. And I'm like, I'm the pastor here. I didn't say that. Kayden's like, well, that's the idea. That's what we're supposed to do. That's what we're supposed to do. But you don't want to be like the Catholic priests. Okay. Look at verse number two. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband. So we don't struggle with this here at this church, right? But we should be about promoting marriage. What is our country? Is our country today promoting marriage or the colleges or the media, the music? Of course not. They're promoting fornication, right? Dr. Fauci, I don't know if we should have any kind of weddings, guys. You want a fornicate? That's cool. No problem. Hey, it's all good. But no weddings, guys. I don't want anybody getting the sniffles and losing their taste. Okay. Don't want to get sick. Get the sniffles, boy. It's going to be over for you. He's a pathetic piece of crap is what he is. A piece of junk. No better than Bill Gates. Right? So to avoid fornication, this is what we do. We don't take the Catholic position and let's try to keep as many young bucks in here, young guys and gals. I want you guys to be monks. Okay. We're going to live like the Shaolin monks do and just don't be married, right? Just take a vow of jealousy. No. God's like, hey, be real. Most people are going to struggle with this and need to get married, right? Why do you think the Catholic priests are the way that they are? It's because they do the opposite of what this verse says. That's why. And so that's the attitude that we need to have. Promote marriage. And obviously that's a whole separate sermon that we have to address and we talk about those things all the time. But I'm just going to read the last verse that I wanted to go over. Numbers 25, 9 says this, and those that died in the plague were 20 and 4,000. And so again, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 says that it was 23, right? And then at the end here in verse 9, it says that 24,000 people say, ah, contradiction. Gotcha. Can't trust the Bible. Don't have the originals. Can't. You don't have the Bible. No, it says in one day, one day. So obviously, I mean, isn't that a lot of heads to cut off? You know, it's not like they had electronic guillotines like they're making now for us, right? They actually had to get the sword, go find the person, prove that they were worshipping Baal Peor, and lop his head off, and then go hang it up with actual string or in a basket or somehow, probably to tie a clove hitch around it and then, you know, hang it up towards the sun. It took time. It took work. And they probably didn't have a whole host of volunteers that wanted to do it to begin with, right? So obviously, the other thousand died the next day. Like, hey, we'll take a nap, get some sleep, and then when the sun, you know, arises, because we don't have electricity, we'll actually be able to go out and find the rest of them. There's no contradiction. It's fine. But the point is, the plague was stayed. Things turned around temporarily until they got into the next, the next round of sins to get the idea. So we're going to stop there and let's pray. Thank you so much, Lord, again, for giving us such clear and present warnings in your word about this and what it does to us. Just pray this would never happen to our church, Lord, and that you help us to deal with it if it ever comes about. And we thank you for all that you do for us. Lord, please bless the fellowship after the service. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.