(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I'm on mute there. All right, so if you look at Second Samuel chapter 11, let's read from verse number one once again, Second Samuel chapter 11 and verse number one, it says, and it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Raboth, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. And so we pick up the story here, where David has sent basically all the men, you know, all the soldiers, he sends his chief captains down to fight the battle. Hey, they have success, but David, he didn't go and fight. Now look, the kings in these days, they were responsible to lead the army. They were to be, you know, the captain, they were to be the general, they were issuing the instruction. Hey, they were there to motivate the others to go into the battle. You know, what point is there of having a past? I'm telling you guys, live a spiritual life. Hey guys, go soloing. Hey guys, read your Bibles, pray. And I'm not doing those things. You know, I'm not setting a good example. And what we see with David, he doesn't set a good example for his men. It says he tarried still at Jerusalem, okay? And so what happens here, we have a great sin that takes place, but it all started with David not doing what God asked him to do. Okay, it started with David just being idle. Just having, a big war's taking place. A big job is taking place, but he's not there. You know, he decided I'm just gonna stay at Jerusalem for a specific reason. Now, some people were gonna look here, you know, of course it's the sin between Bathsheba and David. And I hear preaching that, you know, David just found himself, you know, just in a bad place. You know, he just unintentionally fell into sin. I don't see that in the Bible. I see that David intentionally sent the men, you guys go and fight, and I'm just gonna tarry behind. What for? Okay, well, we learn here, let's keep going to verse number two. And it came to pass in an even tide that David arose from his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman washing herself and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. So I believe, you know, and I'll show you the proof later, that this was David's intention. David's intention was to look at this woman, this woman that was very beautiful, this woman that was washing herself. Obviously, she's naked. Now, I don't know exactly why she's on a roof doing this, okay? But look, the point is, okay, she's out in the open, she's somewhere where the king can look down and see, and look, she was a beautiful woman. The Bible tells us here that she was beautiful to look upon. And so the title for the sermon this afternoon is Dangers of Pornography. Dangers of Pornography. And Brevin, you know, as I'm putting this sermon together, I'm not finding any joy putting this sermon together. Like, you know, if you're thinking, why does the pastor can't preach on pornography? I don't like preaching about it. I don't like talking about it, okay? I don't like, cause you know, mentally, in a sense, when you're putting a sermon together, you know, mentally, you're trying to put this together and you know, things come into your mind, you're trying to cast those things down. You know, the Bible gives us some very clear indications, obviously, just within our hearts we know, looking at a naked woman, looking at pornography is wicked. It's sinful, right? And I don't really wanna grieve the Holy Spirit as I'm putting this together, but what we see, we need to learn from the lessons we have here, okay? Now, David is looking at pornography, okay? Now, I know it's not a computer screen. I know it's not a magazine, but the principle is there. He's idle, he's not doing what God wants him to do. He decides to have a peek, look out the window in the middle of the night and he looks at this naked woman. Now, do you think that's gonna go well for him? Do you think this is all, oh, he's just gonna be able to forget that? No, okay? It eats into the, or it fills him with temptation. Look at verse number three. And David sent and inquired after the woman. Now, this is why some people think that David just fell into sin. He just, you know, he didn't intentionally, he just walked out there, oh, I saw a naked woman, and look, he inquires of the woman. It sounds like he doesn't know who she is, right? And David sent and inquired after the woman, okay? And once said, look at this, is that not Bathsheba, the daughter of Elian, the wife of Uriah, the Hittites? Look, one of his servants knows exactly who this woman is. She's not like, think about how many women that could be living in Jerusalem during this time. The servant knows exactly, I know who she's married to, I know who she's a daughter of. It's like, David, I mean, don't you know this, David? David should know this information, okay? He's just inquiring, oh, look, I don't know what I'm doing. And listen, man, you know, you go in and looking at pornography, you're not just inquiring, okay? You know exactly what you're doing. You know it's sinful, you know it's wrong. You know it's not what God wants you to do, okay? And if any desire, any temptation comes to look at that crap, go and do something. Go do something for the Lord. Go and go soul winning, okay? Go and fight the spiritual war that God has asked you to do, all right? Now, I'm gonna prove to you that David knew exactly who this woman was, but let's just read verse number four first. And David sent messengers and took her, look, he knows her husband's not there, right? He knows, he wouldn't send his messengers if husband was home, all right? David sent messengers and took her and she came in unto him and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness and she returned unto her house, okay? So what do we learn there? He looks at pornography, it doesn't stop there. It wasn't enough, it didn't satisfy him. It caused him to sin, it caused him to commit adultery. Now, you're in 2 Samuel, please go to 2 Samuel 23. There's a reason why the Bible tells us that the servant said she's the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite, okay? Let's not miss the information the Bible gives us. 2 Samuel 23, verse eight. 2 Samuel 23, verse eight has a list of David's mighty men. These are David's best warriors. These are the people that fight closely with David, right? These are the guys that, you know, these are the strongest in his army. It says in 2 Samuel 23, verse eight. These be the names of the mighty men whom David had. The Tachmanites that sat in the seat, chief among the captains. The same was Adino the Esnite, he lift up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time. So these are mighty men, these are powerful warriors. This one man, you know, with one spear, slays 800 men in battle, right? I want you to drop down to verse number 34 now. Look at verse number 34. We're still going through the list of the mighty men. There's actually 37 mighty men named here. It says here, Eliphathlet, the son of Ahazbi, the son of Maatachit, now look at this, Eliam, the son of Ahiphathil, the Gileanites. Eliam, who's Eliam? If you remember, it said, is this not Bathsheba? The daughter of Eliam, okay? So the father of Bathsheba was one of David's mighty men. David knows his family. You're gonna tell me he doesn't know the daughter of one of his mighty men. 37 close men that he goes to war with, that he depends his life upon. He targets one of the daughters of one of his mighty men. Not only that, Eliam, the son of Ahiphathil. Maybe you know that name, Ahiphathil, okay? So what we learn here is that Ahiphathil is the grandfather of Bathsheba, right? Let's remember that name. We'll come back to the name shortly. Drop down to verse number 39. Verse number 39, Uriah the Hittite, 30 and seven in all. Guess who else is that mighty man of David? The husband of Bathsheba, okay? David knows who this woman is. He knows her father. He knows her husband very well. And not only does he know them, he knows her grandfather, Ahiphathil. I'm going to read to you in 1 Corinthians, sorry, 1 Chronicles 27 verse 33. It says, and Ahiphathil was the king's counselor and Hushai the Archite was the king's companion. So Ahiphathil, Bathsheba's grandfather, is David's counselor. He's one of the men that David would go if he needs to make some difficult decisions, you know, some decisions for the nation of Israel, he would go to his grandfather and ask for his counsel, ask for his advice. Does David know Bathsheba? He just fell into sin. He knows exactly what's going on. He knows exactly who this woman is, right? And, you know, filled with lust, this is another man's wife. Hey, I can take advantage of this situation. I'm going to send her father. I'm going to send her husband out to war, you know? And I'm going to take advantage at the right time, you know? And I'm going to pretend I don't know who she is. And even he said, don't you know who she is? Of course you know who she is. You know, she's a well-known person in the kingdom, okay? And so brethren, you know, I'm just telling you, you know, he just fell into sin. No, he didn't just fall into sin. And if you look at pornography, you didn't just fall into sin. Hey, you premeditated that. You wanted to go and look at that crap, okay? This is a wicked sin. And it's not going to give you satisfaction. David was not satisfied just looking at that woman bathing. He wanted to sleep with her as well, okay? So by the way, Ahithophel ends up siding with Absalom. If you remember the rebellion of Absalom toward David's kingdom, Ahithophel becomes the counselor. I mean, I kind of maybe understand. I mean, you took advantage of my granddaughter, right? I mean, this might've been his opportunity. It was wrong for him to do that. Don't get me wrong here, okay? It was wrong for him to rebel against David, but he probably had a reason to side with Absalom because David had let him down. They'd taken advantage of his granddaughter. And look, this is the dangers of pornography, looking at a woman. And this is a problem that men can struggle with, but not only men, women can struggle with this as well. But I think primarily it's men. This is an issue that men really struggle with, okay? Now you might say, well, hold on. King David is committing adultery here, all right? I'm not committing adultery by looking at pornography. Someone might say, well, what did Jesus say? Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verse 27, ye have heard that it was said by them of old, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her have committed adultery with her already in his heart, okay? Now look, there is a difference between adultery, okay? And especially adultery with another man's wife, which in the Bible was the death penalty. That's a punishment, the death penalty for adultery, okay? And obviously adultery in your heart, that's obviously not a death penalty. It's not the same level of wickedness, but you know, Jesus is just setting the bar higher. He's showing us the real standard. And he says, look, as soon as you have looked at a woman with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery. You don't even have to be married. You know, normally adultery is something that you do with a married person or you're married yourself and you're treating your wife. You don't even need to be married. You just look at a woman with lust, you'll commit adultery in your heart. You know, God's standard is very high. This is the teaching of Jesus Christ. And in Proverbs chapter six, verse 32, it says this. It says, but whoso commiteth adultery, okay, with a woman lacketh understanding, he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Reverend, why, Pastor, you say, Pastor, why are you preaching this? I don't want you to destroy your soul. If this is a sin you struggle with, I'm telling you, it's gonna destroy your soul. It's gonna have no lasting effects on your life. Get rid of it, stop doing it. It's not gonna help you. It's gonna ruin your testimony, in fact, okay? Stop doing it. Then it says in verse number 33, same Proverbs, a wound and dishonor shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. Hey, it's going to wound you. A pornography is going to wound your life. And then it says, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. Hey, someone finds out you're looking at pornography, husbands, you know, if you're doing this and your wife finds out, your reproach shall not be wiped away, okay? Now you can go to God and ask him for forgiveness. You know, hopefully you repent from that. You have victory over that stuff, okay? But you're gonna be left with a bad testimony. Your wife will forever, okay, not trust you fully. You know, your wife, as soon as you're on a computer or you're alone somewhere, she's, you know, and you think it's not right because you've repented, listen, she's gonna think in the back of her mind, it's gonna cross her mind, my husband might be looking at pornography again, okay? And she will never be able to trust you fully the way she did before. Listen, if this is something you struggle with, get rid of it today, okay? Don't wait any longer, get rid of it today. Don't let it become something that defiles your testimony, okay? It says your reproach shall not be wiped away, all right? So it'll really ruin your testimony. Now, in preparation for this sermon, I looked up at a website, you gotta be careful. Like, this is why I don't really like preaching on this topic because, I mean, there was a, in my time when I was a teenager, you, to look at pornography, you would have to seek it. Like, you would actually have to go and make an effort, like get a magazine off a news agent counter or something, right, I mean, something like that. But I think we all have computers, at least. I think we all have at least one computer in our house. You know, you don't even need to look for it. You know, you just be innocently doing your own thing and it's there. My wife was telling me that she got a friend request, I think if I got this accurately, from some random, I don't think it's even a real person, who knows what it is exactly, but you look at the probe, it's pornography. I mean, you can just be faced with just trying to do some bit of social media, whatever it is, just trying to do some honest reading and a friend request, you don't even look for it, you go, who's this? Oh, what is that? Look, we live in a time where this is becoming a major, I mean, it's always been a major issue. It's been an issue since the time of David, we see that, right? But it's getting worse, it's getting worse. And listen, the more devices you have, there was once we just had one television at home, just one TV. And I remember, you know, the kids at school, did you watch SBS after eight o'clock? I mean, cause that's, you know, you weren't looking for that stuff, you'd have to wait till eight, look, my bedtime was eight o'clock. So, you know, then SBS was a channel that you could barely get reception on. It was really bad back then, right? But you know, everything now, you know what I mean? Any time of the day, any moment of the day, it's available on any device. I mean, think about how many devices you have in your home. I mean, I just think, we try to minimise it, but I think we've got one computer, got like three laptops, we've got a few tablets, we got at least two iPhones or whatever, not iPhones, but smartphones. I mean, these are basically all television. This is all basically SBS eight o'clock, all the time, potentially, okay? And I try to minimise, I know there are families with heaps more. I mean, TVs in every room, and look, the TV is not just some satellite, now it's connected to the internet, connected to the Netflix, connected to whatever, whatever junk, right? And there is this constant bombardment of nakedness, nudity, pornography, you know, to feast your eyes upon. And look, like we saw with Bathsheba, the Bible says she was beautiful, okay? There is a natural response in a man, okay? And there's a proper place for that, it's marriage. A proper place for that is, wow, she's beautiful, I'm gonna see if she's saved, I'm gonna see if she's available, and I'm gonna try to make that woman my wife, there's a right place for that, and that's a good thing. That's a good thing, okay? But listen, and look, I truly believe if you're single, okay, what you should be striving for is just to get married, and I'll cover that one, I'll cover soon why that is, okay? But listen, the devil takes what is beautiful, takes what is right, what is proper, and wants to defile it, and defile your mind, okay? If you've looked at pornography, those images are probably still in the back of your mind somewhere, okay? The brain doesn't forget. Just subconsciously, there are things probably behind in your mind, and brethren, we need God's help in this, okay, this is a battle of the flesh, it's difficult, okay, and it can lead to addiction. We'll cover that soon. I was looking, I said I was doing a bit of research, got sidetracked, sorry. Went to a website called Maripedia, okay? So it's kinda like Wikipedia, you know how Wikipedia's meant to work, so you've got these articles on Wikipedia, and then you've got an appendix at the end where they get all the facts, stuff from, so look at this website, Maripedia, same kind of idea, an article, supported by large appendix of studies and research, and I'm gonna go through a few of these things with you and share that, now, I'm not going word for word what the article said, because there are some things I just don't want our kids necessarily to hear. I'll try to word it carefully as we go on, but you can't really avoid it completely, right? You know, I'll leave it open, parents, you decide if you need to expound this further with your children at their time, but there are six effects of pornography to someone that looks at pornography that was mentioned here, number one, the effects on mind, body, soul, and hearts, or soul and hearts together, effects on mind, body, let me go through these, number one, the mind, the mind, so men who habitually look at pornography have a higher tolerance for abnormal sexual behaviors, sexual aggression, promiscuity, and even rape, okay? The body, next one, body, it's addictive aspects of pornography, okay? The release of dopamine, the hormone, into your brain gives temporary pleasure, and you know what, this dopamine, this release, yes, you know, this is a natural reaction in our body, but when you look at pornography, it is an unnatural reaction, it releases more than what is actually needed, and it's just as addictive, that that pleasure that you receive goes away, and then you want that pleasure again, so you go and look for it again, and then it's gone, okay? And then you wanna look for it again, and it becomes addictive, you want that pleasure in your life, and pornography can be just as addictive as hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin, okay? Now look, I've seen druggies, I used to catch the train to school, we used to go to Cabramatta trains, there was literally druggies everywhere, okay? I mean, there was always ambulances there trying to resuscitate somebody on some hard drugs. Listen, and I'm just looking at this bum on the street and thinking, what a waste of life. You know what, you look at pornography, what a waste of life, get rid of that, okay? It's addictive, addictions are hard to get rid of. You know, the more time you spend in that, the harder it's gonna be for you to find victory on that, okay? Also the effects on your soul or your heart, pornography leads to less satisfaction with their marital partners. Pornography use may lead to infidelity, of course it does, and even divorce. Now this article, first of all, less satisfaction with their marital partners, okay? So the effects it has is you're not going to enjoy men, your wife or your wife, your husbands, okay? You're not going to be able to enjoy them the way God wanted you to have that enjoyment, okay? Pornography will defile your heart. You know, you're not gonna find satisfaction with your spouse, you're gonna be looking for that elsewhere. And the passage, I mean, the article here said pornography use may lead to infidelity and even divorce. Now I know that's not may, it will, it will lead, because I remember doing my own study on this some time ago and I found the study here, I'll just read it to you. It says, now look, this study was done in 2002. That's before the iPhone. That's before the smartphone. That's before we all had devices in our hands, okay? It says here, in an informal meeting survey in 2002, oh sorry, it's not a study, it's an informal meeting, but anyway, it says here, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers questioned 350 divorce attorneys and found that roughly 60% reported that internet porn played a significant role in the divorces with excessive interest in online porn contributing to more than half of such cases. This is 2002, 60% of divorces. One of the major factor was one of the spouses was addicted to pornography. 2002, let's add 18 more years. Let's add the smartphone. Let's add every family having a smartphone or some tablet in their hands where they don't even need to look for it. It just appears out of nowhere. I mean, I think it's much higher than 60% now, you know? The first iPhone was released in 2007. Look, you have access to this 24 seven, high speed internet. Anybody can look at this junk now, okay? Now let me move on to point number two. I'm gonna try to hurry up here. Next one is, these are the effects of pornography, desensitization and boredom, okay? Well, that was King David, bored. Didn't go to war. I mean, he would have had a lot of excitement at war. I mean, he would have come back with great stories how God delivered them. Instead, he found himself bored looking at some strange woman, okay? It says here, habitual use of pornography leads to a greater tolerance of sexually explicit material. Thus requiring more novel and bizarre material to achieve the same level of arousal or interest. What is that saying? It's saying that, you know, if you look at pornography and just looking at some straight thing going on there, okay, that eventually if you just keep looking at it, you're not gonna find that interesting anymore. You're going to be looking for something more unusual, something more weird than that, okay? And some of the list here, group sex, inflict in pain, bestiality, sodomy, and the worst part of this, trivializing abuse of children. Now, this article went into stuff about children. I don't even wanna read it, so I'm not gonna be covering that topic right now. I'm not ready to look at that right now, you know? That's just why don't I preach on this topic. There are some things I just don't like, I gotta preach on it. I gotta preach a whole counsel of God. There are just some things that are too difficult and I don't wanna process in my mind too much, okay? But if you don't already know, children are abused in a lot of these videos, a lot of this pornography material that's out there and it's a huge percentage. It's disgusting, all right? Don't even like to think about it. Next point here, heavy exposure to pornography leads men to judge their mates as sexually less attractive, resulting in less satisfaction. Listen, David already had wives, okay? But then he's looking at Bathsheba and says, well, you know, I'm not as attracted to my wife right now and he goes for some strange woman, all right? Less satisfaction with his wife. The need for more intense stimulation due to pornography can lead to boredom and a greater likelihood of seeking sexual pleasure outside of marriage. If you're married and you're looking at this, get rid of it. You're gonna end up in divorce. Okay? I mean, 60% at least of people getting divorced. I reckon a lot of those are vile believing Christians. Okay? We're made of the same flesh, aren't we? You know, these are things that can affect even Christians. The third point here is pornography gives you a distorted perception of reality, a distorted perception of reality. Number one, it makes you think that sexual relationships are recreational in nature. Instead of a sexual relationship being something that's important between husband and wives, something very holy, something very sacred, something very loving and dear, okay, you think about that act as some just recreational thing. It's like, ah, yeah, just whatever. Just, you know, just sow my wild oats. And you don't understand how important that is in your married life, you know? You think that it's just whatever. You know, you might as well just be an animal. You know, just breed like crazy and do whatever you, you know, it distorts reality. Number two, it causes men, sorry, it perceives men as generally sexually driven, okay? Now, that's not what men primarily are made for. When God created man, he created him to work, okay? That's the primary thing that God has put into a man, desire to work, be productive with his hands and provide for a family. But pornography causes, and this is what girls think, and I don't blame them, I guess. They think that all men think about is, you know, sex all the time, pornography all the time. And it can distort reality. That's not really what men are made for. Yes, that's a part of it. Because as I said, in this proper place, in the marriage bed, okay, but it distorts your view of men. And you might be like, well, why would I want to get married to some pervert, you know? And maybe that man, all he wants to do is find a good wife, settle down, you know, work hard, provide for his family. And he can pervert the opinion of a woman toward the man. But also, how men perceive women, it could just have effect, that women are sex objects or commodities. And as we saw today, you know, men are to honor their wives, all right? They're to look after them like that weaker vessel, but pornography could cause you to think that women are just sex objects. You know, not just your wife. You go about life, you see a woman, and immediately your thought is, that's a sex object. That's a, I mean, that's a terrible place to be mentally. If that's all you think of, that's what you think of the world. It says here, all these distortions amount to a serious misunderstanding about sexuality and relationships and the nature of social life, okay? So it causes you to, you know, pornography will cause you not to be able to function in society in a proper way. That's what it's basically saying, okay? I've got six things, I'm up to point number four here from this article. It says that sexually transmitted disease, sorry, pornography leads to sexually transmitted disease, STDs of course, and out of wedlock pregnancy, okay? So users of pornography have a higher likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted disease or fathering an out of wedlock pregnancy, okay? Because again, you get that distorted reality. You think that women are just to be used and abused. You know, you go and instead of having one partner for life, you go and, you know, you get yourself those STDs or, you know, you call somebody to fall pregnant out of wedlock. The next one, pornography also promotes sexual compulsiveness, which doubles the likelihood of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease. Okay, so that's the same point there. Point number five, sexual addiction, addiction, all right? We saw how it affects the brain with the dopamine levels. But if you're someone that's sexually addicted to this stuff, it says that it leads to sexually compulsive behaviors that decrease a person's capacity to perform other major tasks in their life, okay? So your productivity at work will go down. You know, your service to God will go down. Your love and service to your wife will diminish when you look at pornography. It affected David, he was not fighting the war. He was not being productive. He decided to look at pornography instead. The Bible tells us in Galatians 5, 17, for the 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. You know what, you think I can just, you know, have a happy marriage, I can be just a great worker, work hard, and also look at pornography on the side. No, it's going to destroy your ability to do the things that you would. The service that you do wanna do, the productivity that you should be able to have will be diminished because it's affecting your body, affecting your mind, affecting your heart, the addiction of pornography. It says addictive pornography use leads to lower self-esteem and a weakened ability to carry out a meaningful social and work life. It also causes severe clinical depression. It says here, it was reported twice as frequently among internet pornography users compared to non-users. So clinical depression can be found with people that look at pornography or not, but twice as likely as the one that looks at pornography, is that what it's saying. You think pornography's gonna give you some buzz, some excitement in your life, it'll cause you to be depressed, it'll cause you to be a low-life, antisocial person that can't function, can't do work, just like cocaine. There's no difference, heroin, okay? Under the influence of these things, you're not gonna be able to function in society. And the last one I have here is aggression and abuse. Pornography causes you to be aggressive or abusive. It says a significant portion of pornography is violence in content. A study, so you don't even know what it's meant to be between husband and wife. Because if you're looking at this stuff and you think that's what it's, is violence, just inflicting pain, you think that's what it is, then what's gonna drive you then? What are you gonna, you're gonna have a misunderstanding of what that relationship is supposed to be like. It says a study of different pornographic media found violence in almost half over 42% of online pornography. When men consume violent pornography, depicting rape or torture, they are more likely to commit acts of sexual aggression. Dangerously, pornography strongly affects psychotic men who are likely to act out their impulses. Okay? You know, psychotic men, they get into pornography, they're the, you know, why does someone go out and rape? Why does someone go and abduct and murder? You know? And abuse their victims. You know where they start? They started with pornography. They started to look at that woman bathing in the nude. Okay, they just started with, this will give me a bit of a buzz, a bit of a high, a bit of excitement. Next thing you know, they're psychopaths. Okay? They don't understand what it's like to deal with proper relationships. And so, those are the effects of pornography. Please, brethren, overcome this sin. It's so bad, it's so bad. You know, Jesus calls it adultery in the heart. Adultery is wicked, extremely wicked, okay? And so is looking at pornography, okay? So is lusting after another woman, thinking about her in that sense. Can you please go to Psalm 119? It's hard to talk through that, honestly. Maybe another three years, or three years down the track I'll do another sermon on pornography, okay? I need three years to get over it now. Psalm 119, verse nine. Psalm 119, verse nine. Because what I want to do now, brethren, I don't know if anyone in this church suffers with it. I can definitely say there are people in this church that have definitely looked at it, and I hope you've overcome it, but if you're still struggling, I want to be able to give you solutions, okay? Solutions to this. Psalm 119, verse nine. Beth, it says here, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? So how can we cleanse our ways, brethren? If you're struggling with pornography, what do you do? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. Verse number 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee, O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Okay? Point number one to find a solution is memorize Bible passages. Not just any Bible passages, but Bible passages specifically about the sin you're struggling with. Okay? What did it say? Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. If you're finding yourself being tempted to look at pornography, just memorize. I'll give you one verse here to memorize, or I'll give you two verses. Proverbs 23, verse 27 and 28. At least start with this one, okay? Proverbs 23, verse 27 and 28. I'll read it to you soon, okay? But listen, when you're being tempted and you're thinking, I'm just gonna turn on the computer, I'm gonna look at my phone, I'm gonna search whatever, okay, you just quote the verse that you memorized. There's power in God's word. Okay, it's gonna help you. It might not stop, look, you might do it and you still might fall in sin. But at least you tried. At least you put that first step into place. Okay? And at least by saying that verse, it's gonna make you feel filthy and guilty. I'd rather you feel that way, okay? Then think, oh, I got away with it and that's fine. Eventually that word, the power in God's word is gonna really affect your life. It's gonna cause you to feel guilty, first of all, hopefully eventually give you the power to overcome it, okay? But Proverbs 23, verse 27 says this. Memorize this one, if you're struggling with it. It says, for a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also life in wait as for a prey and increase of the transgressors among men. You know what this is telling us? That the whorish woman, that pornography increases the transgressors among men. You know, you looking at pornography is gonna cause you to do more sin, other sins. It's gonna make you, you know, you look at pornography, you think it's okay, it's all good, you've done it today, you're gonna do it tomorrow, again, you're gonna just lose that contrite heart, the guiltiness that you feel and you're grieving the Holy Spirit and you're just gonna be free to do other sins. Pornography, whorish women will cause you to just transgress, okay? And look, verse number 28 says she also life in wait as for a prey. You know all that pornography, all those women, porn stars that make big bucks doing that, they're waiting for you as prey. They're looking to consume, they're looking to destroy you. They want to destroy your marriage because they get big bucks, okay? By you looking at that nonsense, okay? You're in Psalm, go to Psalm 101. Psalm 101, verse number two. Psalm 101, verse number two. Spoke to you about a lot of us having devices, you know? And these devices that cause you to sin, right? The phone, the tablet, the laptop, the computer, the TV. Can you, I can't believe it. I'm just thinking about my own house. I already talked about this, but I just feel like we try to limit, you know? And look, the computer's in the living room, so if anyone is looking at, you know, there's people walking around. You're not gonna get away with it, but when I think about how many devices I have, I'm just, man, just the likelihood of being tempted and falling to sin is so huge. But Psalm 101, verse two, it says, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when wilt thou come unto me, and I love the next words, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. So I'm gonna say, I wanna walk in house, I wanna have a perfect heart, I wanna have a heart for God, all right? Verse number three, and then it says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me. Listen, brethren, if you struggle with this, I will set no wicked thing, I will set no wicked thing. What's a television called? The television set, okay, why? Because it's a wicked thing that's set before your eyes. Be careful what you look at. Now, there's a time on YouTube, you could watch one of the pastor's sermon, and then recommendation will be just another sermon from that pastor, or like preaching, and the recommendation these days, you know? Well, you know, you might get Joel Osteen or John MacArthur or, you know, but then you get some very wicked things that have been recommended to you on YouTube, you know? Look, do you think that's an accident? You think YouTube's gone from recommending good preaching to you to recommending bad preaching and pornography? And yes, you know, a woman in her bathing suit, to me, is pornography. I mean, you're looking at a woman basically in her underwear, okay? And you're leaving the rest up to your imagination, the lust of her heart, adultery, okay? So, the next point was, brethren, that if you're gonna set no wicked thing before your eyes and you can't help yourself with these devices, destroy the device. Get rid of it. Don't give it to a brother in Christ, okay? They might be tempted to look at that junk, okay? Destroy, in fact, you'll feel better when you destroy it. There's something about destroying that thing that'll make you feel better, okay? Because it's like a picture of destroying that sin, that temptation that you have within yourself, okay? I don't care how much you paid for it. I don't care if you bought it yesterday and it cost you $3,000. If you've looked at pornography there, just throw that thing out, destroy it. Get a hammer, get a crowbar, invite me to go sewing with you. We'll go sewing and then we'll take a few things to it. We'll just smash that thing, all right? We'll grind it to powder, all right? Now look, as a father, I don't want my children to have their own personal devices or smartphones. I grew up without a smartphone. I'm sure my kids can manage, all right? Now look, parents, you've got your own kids, you make your own decisions. I'm not telling you what you should do. I'm just saying, especially preparing for this seminar, I'm like, there's no way my kids are gonna have this stuff in their hands, in their own private use, wherever they go, they've always got this content available to them, okay? Now I'm not saying that I think, that I'll never put a smartphone in my kids' hands. What I'm kind of thinking right now is potentially we could have one smartphone where all the children share it. So if they're out and about and they need to contact us, they can contact us or they can message us. The other good advantage of a smartphone is, you can actually turn on, if you've got Google Maps, I know some people are scared of Google, whatever, but you can track your location. Oh, but Big Brother knows, I don't care about Big Brother, they can know exactly where I'm going, all right? But what I like switching on the, I like putting on the location, especially when I was traveling down to Sydney every week for church, because then Christina can check exactly where I am. All right, so she'd seen, she can look me up. Oh, he's going to the airport. Oh, he's flying to Sydney. Is that the airport? Mom and dad's house. Oh, he's at church, right? And she can exit, she can work out when I'm driving back home. She can see, oh, like he's only 10 minutes away. You know, he's on his way. And I like that because, you know, when I was going down every week, you know, if I could be a weak man and we've seen pastors become weak, okay, it's no surprise. You know, who's to say that, you know, I can't use that night for some wickedness? All right, but this way, my wife can look at the phone. Oh, he's still at church. You know, oh, okay, he's at mom and dad's house, okay? Or if I'm like, honey, my flight's been delayed, you know, and I'm just going to, you know, yeah, delayed. You know, I'm not doing my own thing, right? No, he's at the airport, right? He's at the airport. I like that, I like that. And if my kids are out and about, my kids sometimes play soccer and sometimes I've got to drop them off temporarily. So I don't mind them having a phone where I can sit. Okay, you're still there. You know, you're still there so I can watch over that. So I can see good uses for that, but they're not going to have kids, I'm sorry to say that. If you were hoping to get a smartphone for your birthday or Christmas, it's not happening. You know, if your grandparents or someone in the church gives you, it's mine now. You know, that present is mine, okay? And we're going to smash it. I don't know, we won't smash it, but you know, it's not going to land in your hands, you know? And you know, brethren, you know, we got to be careful. You know, I know, you know, we got children, we got a lot of children in this church. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and it is normal. We can't forget this, okay? You know, a man desiring a beautiful woman is normal, okay? It's normal in its right place, all right? So what happens, your children grow up, they get those hormones, they start becoming young men, young ladies. Part of God's creation is they're going to desire the opposite sex. I mean, if they desire the opposite, I'm just praise God. Right? I mean, this world is teaching them to desire the same sex or desire other things. I'm just like, praise God you're like a girl, okay? Praise God, you know, you're interested in boys. Praise God, let's look good. You know, it's right place now. Hey, you know, let's get ready for marriage then, you know, in this right place. And so I don't want to discourage that. I don't want to discourage and say, well, it's wrong for you to feel that way about a girl. You know, it's just, that's just part of their makeup and we need to, as parents, guide them, instruct them, show them from the Bible where that place is to be, you know, in the marriage bed, et cetera. And so, you know, if your kids, you know, maybe say something a little bit vile, maybe they even communicate to another child in the church, understand two things. Number one, please report it to the parents, okay? But understand, don't like, it's kind of normal. I mean, you've been teenagers, you've gone to school, you've been amongst friends, you know, this stuff comes up, okay? You really can't stop it. I'm not expecting a complete stopping of this. I can't, I have to live in reality. I realize that my kids are gonna hear things from time to time, but brethren, if it's happening, like if my kids, if pastor's kids say something vile, disgusting, perverted to your children, tell me about it. You know, don't just say, well, that's just something, that's something innocent, they're just kids. I want to know about it, you know, about pastor's kids. Yeah, pastor's kids can just be just like any other kids. Okay, there's no difference, you know? The same desires, the same foolishness can come out. And brethren, I want to tell you, just for all the families that are here, I don't want my kids in any chat group, some private chat group with your kids, okay? Please, tell your kids, don't invite my kids to any private chat group, okay? Or some private coded messaging that goes back and forth, none of that, okay? It has to be transparent. If my kids are doing the same thing, understand I don't want them doing that, that's wrong, they're disobeying mom and dad, you come and tell me and I'll sort it out, okay? We can't allow these things to potentially destroy our church, okay? I don't know where I'm going. Okay, go to, go to, I don't know. Go to Job 31, please, go to Job 31. We'll get there eventually, go to Job 31. The next point I have, so the two solutions that I've mentioned so far is memorize Bible passages. Number two was destroy the device that's causing you to sin. Number three is take a no tolerance approach, no tolerance approach, okay? Ephesians 5, 11 says, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Okay, so we are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, instead we're to reprove. Let's have a no tolerance approach to pornography or just vile, disgusting things of that nature. Listen, and I know some of you men work in workplaces where dirty jokes abound, okay? Where you're gonna hear jokes of a pornographic nature. And look, you might even find it in the flesh a little bit funny sometimes, okay? But what do you command it to do? Don't fellowship with that, reprove it. You know, some work colleague, I don't care how close you are to him, tells you some dirty pornographic joke, you rebuke that. You say, look, I don't wanna hear that, okay? That defiles me, that messes up my mind, I don't wanna joke about that stuff. Even if I find it funny, I don't wanna hear it again, okay? No tolerance when it comes to this topic, okay? Dirty pornographic jokes reprove, have a no tolerance approach, and again, when it comes to church, children, this is why I'm all over the place now. But anyway, alert parents immediately, okay? Don't just think this will blow over, you hear certain things, tell the parents immediately, okay? I want you to tell me immediately, I think you would want me to tell you if your kids were doing certain things immediately, okay? So I'm just doing the same favor that I expect from you. And no, I'm not expecting my kids to be perfect all the time. I know, I know my kids, I see them every day. They sin every day, yeah, they do. Even pastors, kids, sin every day, all right? And all it takes is seeing this stuff, and it can just cause you to go on a downhill spiral, and you need to put a stop to it, okay? The next point that I have is, so yeah, remind yourself, this is the next point, so these are the solutions, remind yourself that God is watching, and he will chastise you, he will chastise you, okay? Colossians chapter three verse five says, mortify therefore your members, that's your body, your fleshly body, which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, concupiscence is lust, evil lust, pornography, let's put it in there, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Then it says this in verse number six, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. You look at this stuff, you look at pornography, expect the wrath of God upon you, it's gonna come. You're saying, oh, I got away with it. Maybe you did, you know what, cause that God is long suffering. Know what, God's giving you time, God's merciful. You know, if you're looking at this stuff, and you think you got away with it, you didn't, God watched, God knew exactly what you just did, okay? And he's just giving you time to turn away from that before he brings down the wrath, okay? Okay, before your testimony gets destroyed. You're in Job 31, verse one. You may have gotten away with it this time, but who's to say you're gonna get away with it next time? Okay? Job 31, verse one. Job 31, verse one. Job, you know, who's a very perfect man, an amazing man, he says, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then, should I think upon a maid? Now, that verse gets quoted a lot, I know, but I want you to look at the next verse, okay? So he makes this promise with his, a covenant's like a promise. He says, eyes, you will not look at a woman. I've gotta tell my flesh. You know, it's gotta be under the subjection of the inner man, the spiritual man, okay? And eyes, you don't look at a woman. You don't look at some maid, okay? You're gonna look at your wife. That's what Job had to tell his eyes. And Job was a good man, okay? If he had to do that, you have to do that, man. Men, I have to do that. Okay, if Job had to do that, we have to do that. Okay, you're not as good as Job, I know it, okay? But look at verse number two, look what he says here. For what portion of God is there from above? And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? You know what he's saying? The reason I'm creating this covenant not to look at a woman is because what am I gonna get from God? What's gonna happen? He knows God is looking at this. When he looks and lusts on a woman, he knows God can see what he's doing, God can see his wicked heart, and then he says, what is God gonna say about this? He says, no good's gonna come out of this. I'm gonna get no good from above. I'm gonna get no portion, what inheritance? I'll tell you what inheritance, the chastisement, the wrath of God's gonna come upon you. So he reminds himself, God's gonna judge me, God's watching, so I'm gonna make a covenant in my eyes. That's gonna help you not to look at pornography. God is watching. And the last one, well let me go for those points again. Number one, memorize Bible passages. Number two, destroy the devices causing you to sin. Number three, take a no tolerance approach. Number four, remind yourself that God is watching and will chastise you or judge you. And the last one is get married. Okay, get married. Look, I truly believe, I truly believe when you look at the Bible as a whole, that most men, it's just very few men, the eunuch, for the kingdom of God's sake, okay? Been given a special gift of God that has no desire in that area, okay? If you desire a woman, or if you've looked at pornography in the past, you are not the eunuch. That's not you, okay? So what's the next step for you then? Marriage, okay? Otherwise, like I said, this is a normal reaction. You know, a man's desire in a woman is normal. But if you haven't got marriage, you're gonna be seeking that somewhere else, okay? So marriage is important. I won't get you to turn that, I'll just read it. Hebrews chapter 13, verse four. Marriage is honorable in all, okay? This isn't something that, it's just for some people. Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled. But whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. We've looked at that already, okay? But the bed is undefiled, the marriage bed is undefiled. So the proper place for that relationship, the proper place to set your eyes upon that is in the marriage bed, okay? It's undefiled. And my concern is, with pornography being so available, that you will defile yourself mentally, physically, with pornography, you get married, and you think of the marriage bed as defiled. That it affects your relationship with your wife. I don't want that about you. I want you to get rid of that sin, and understand that the marriage bed is undefiled. That's where you can do the things that, well, not all the things that you see in pornography, because you saw, I mean, that's extremely wicked, the stuff that's going on there, right? You know, even things with children. But God wants marriage. God wants you to get married, and find satisfaction with your spouse. That's the proper place for these things. You know, I will encourage every single man, every single man, every single woman, to get married. You know, get yourself ready for marriage. Men, work a job that can provide, that can look after a woman, a wife. That's what God wants for you. And I know that's what you want. I know that's what you want. You know, work a job where you can provide, and you have enough to look after. You know what I want for my kids? A higher education. No. I just want them, when they grow up, and they're ready to get some full-time job, all right, start saving up, start getting themselves ready for marriage, and then when that lovely Christian girl comes by, they're ready to go, okay? And there's probably a lot of guys out there that she can choose from. Hey, but if she's a woman that loves the Lord, that's keeping herself pure for Him, she's gonna be looking for the Christian man that can look after her and sustain her, okay? And girls, the guy you wanna marry is not the lazy bum, the one that's idle, that's not working, okay? We saw what King David was doing when he was idle, okay? What do you think is gonna be in his mind when he gets married? How do you think he's gonna treat you when he gets married, when he's just lazy and not working? And I told you, the first thing God put within a man is to work hard. It gives you joy. It gives you satisfaction. That's what we're made for, man. That's why your wife is the weaker vessel and you're the stronger vessel, because you're commanded to go and work and serve your family. You work, it'll give you joy. You work, it'll give you finances. You work and you'll be in a better position to get married. Okay? You go and you don't become idle-minded. Boy, man, you work, if you work a good eight hours and you're still idle, go find a second job. Because the last thing I want you to do is work hard and then still look at that pornography, okay? Go and find something else to do. Go find some other job. Girls, be careful about the man you marry. Make sure it's a hardworking man. Make sure it's a man who's not idle. You know, sometimes the kids, I get them to do things around the house and things and I'm like, oh, you know, you didn't get to finish this. I was so busy today. Praise God! Praise God you're so busy today. That's life. Stay busy. Because idleness will just cause you to find, we've got wicked hearts, brethren. It's the reality of it. We've got even you as a safe person has a wicked heart. Even you, if you find yourself in idleness, could find yourself looking at things like pornography. In 1 Corinthians 7, verse eight, my last verse, it says, I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I, but if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn, okay? That's the desire for that relationship, that physical relationship, okay? So if you have that desire, as I said, if you're someone that's looked at pornography, you are not the eunuch. Your job is to get married, okay? Your job is to get yourself ready for marriage. You say, well, where's, you know, there's just not enough partners out there. Well, of course God's not sending you someone if you're not ready for marriage, okay? You get yourself ready for marriage, ask God, you know, he'll take care of that. That's what he wants for you. He wants the marriage bed to be undefiled. God does not want you looking for that satisfaction somewhere else, like pornography that'll destroy your life. And so, brethren, the title for this sermon was Dangers of Pornography. Let me just go through those solutions one more time. Memorize Bible passages. Number two, destroy the device that's causing you to sin. Number three, take a no tolerance approach. Number four, remind yourself that God is watching and will chastise you. And number five, get married, okay? All right, let's pray. Have any.