Jim Van Gelderen: This week, or a couple days, we’re going to challenge you to make decisions. I want you to understand a decision is, again, not promising to be perfect.

It’s saying, I want things to be different. I’ve got a different focus, and I want to see victory where I’ve been defeated.

Romans chapter 13, if you take your Bibles, Romans chapter number 13. And in just a moment, we’re going to spend a few moments really looking at a subject matter.

I’ve dealt with this some here at our church, and I know some of the young people have heard some of this material, but I want to just deal with a very important subject matter that’s been on my heart the last few months. And if any of you ever go into the ministry, you’ll understand that God, particularly in evangelism, God gives you burdens, you develop those, you continue to work with those.

There’s something that I’ve been on a journey now for a couple years. Some of you are aware of this.

But this last few months, I believe God has opened my eyes to something that has been absolutely stunning, not only to me, but stunning in how it affects people. And I want to deal with this particular subject matter.

I want to deal with the co-infections of moral impurity, the co-infections of moral impurity. I don’t think it’s any surprise to anybody in this room that young people today are under moral assault from many different directions.

I know many of you come from homes where your parents are very much urging and trying to keep you from exposure to some of that, with careful in media and careful with other things.

But obviously in the world in which we live, you cannot completely escape the fact that our world is in an unbelievable moral decline. and you have to understand back when I was a kid it was already started but it was a different day the media of course was not as developed as it is today but my dad moved from Durango, Colorado he was pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Durango, Colorado he started the church and six years later it was

the largest church on the western slope of Colorado it was remarkable growth people getting saved and baptized all the time it was remarkable I think it was about 250 which on the western in Slocal, Colorado, was a large church.

But my dad, God called him to the Market Manor Baptist Church, a town of 6,000 we exchanged for Chicago, which I don’t know at that time was just a few million, maybe three million, which was large at that time in the 1960s. When I came into the Chicago public schools, Christian schools really were not yet developed.

When I came into the Chicago public schools as a first grader, I was in the middle of my first grade year, I was absolutely stunned at the difference in the culture between Durango, Colorado kids and Chicago, Illinois kids. I don’t remember much about the Durango first grade at all, but I know that it wasn’t like Chicago.

When I got to Chicago, every curse word I’ve ever heard, I heard from the lips of first graders probably on the first day. Almost every dirty word I’ve ever heard in my life came from the lips of first graders.

Some of the most dirty, vile people I’ve ever known in my life were first graders. In fact, I couldn’t even tell you some of the things they did because it would be inappropriate even in a mixed audience.

like this.

They were very wicked. I realized for themselves it wasn’t so much to them.

It was many times I’m sure they were just parroting what their parents were saying and what they were exposed to. So at an early age I realized a little bit about the depravity.

Man, the back side of that is this. I preach now to teenagers every week of my life.

I understand public school kids because I figure first graders are that wicked. Probably high schoolers are too.

And they had built a fort down in the railroad yards, which were a couple blocks away from my house. They had built this fort and were very open about the fact that it was completely plastered with pornography, paper pornography.

And very open about it. And laughed about it and all that kind of stuff.

And I realized some of them had older siblings that were a party to it as well. I get that.

But I remember they invited me down to that thing. Of course, by the grace of God, I never went.

My mom and dad had a rule that I couldn’t go a block from the house without permission. And so I never went there, which I’m so grateful for, especially understanding what I understand today.

The only piece of paper pornography I have, I remember seeing in elementary school was so mangled, you really couldn’t make it out. It was all, but it was there on the, blowing across the yard there at the public elementary school.

So back in those days, pretty much everything that was inappropriate viewing-wise was paper, which, you know, I just didn’t come across it. My mother was, I’m convinced it was my mother’s prayers.

I really believe that. She was very big about that kind of thing, praying about moral purity.

She grew up in a very wicked town. It was by Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley’s or believe it or not, I can’t remember which one, rated it.

It had the most bars per capita of any town in America. And I remember as a result of that, my mother did not have parents.

Her mother died when she was nine. Her dad died when she was 14, just the time when she needed parents, she didn’t have them.

So she grew up in a very wicked town. I think she was either the only virgin left in the senior class or her and one other when she graduated from high school.

And so she was very streetwise. If I say this, she’s been around the block more than once.

Very streetwise, but remarkably pure. So she understood it, because she saw what would happen in that town, and she told me the tie between alcohol and immorality is very strong.

And she understood all that. And as a result, warned me, and I’m sure she prayed.

I can’t prove that, but I’m absolutely certain she prayed for me. So back in my day, as I was growing up, it was there, but it was different than it is today.

It was available, it was there, but again it was paper, and just a different day. Now we all know that that day is long gone.

And now we realize that on people’s mobile devices can be accessed the most vile filth that the human mind can imagine. When I began on this journey, one of the things that absolutely stunned me, and it did stun me, it really did stun me, was when I ran across somebody that says, they say today that the average teenager sees in one night more dirty images than a World War II veteran would have seen in a lifetime.

That’s stunning. Stunning.

because I say this carefully, the World War II generation was not squeaky clean.

They had a lot of problems. But it shows me how bad we have fled.

Now, I know for many of you, you are like me. You have good parents.

They protected you. They probably prayed about it.

And you have had very little exposure to what I’m talking about. Let me urge every young person who’s in a home that has protected you from being exposed, to be very grateful.

And let me encourage you as well to realize that if I were you, because I’ve done this now for 36 years working with teenagers, if I were you, I would flee it like I would flee the most dangerous poisonous steak on planet Earth.

Do not let, listen, there are young people in this room right now who would right now, it wouldn’t be appropriate, but if it was, would stand to their feet and say don’t go into it, I have paid an awful price for getting it.

If I could go back and never look at it, I would do it in a minute. There’s not a teenager in this room looking at filth that would not go back and say, if I could go back before I ever looked at it and never look at it, I’d take that in a minute.

And you’d get up and urge other young people not to do it. You say, why are you doing that?

Because in a room like this, there are some of you that are still innocent and naive. And I’m going to tell you right now, I’m just going to tell you right now, the greatest protection you have in your life to moral impurity is innocence.

Naivety. and I’m urging you, friend, don’t let curiosity kill you because it will.

And if you’re out here right now, I am begging you, if you haven’t looked at that filth, you haven’t gotten into junk like that, I’ve said it a million times, going to say it again, I would rather have somebody any day come up to me and stick a loaded pistol in my face any day, any day, than have somebody come and put a sensual image in my face.

And I’m not joking with you. Because all that pistol could do is put me in heaven a little bit early.

You know what I’m talking about? But I’m telling you what that sensual image can do.

It can destroy my life. It can destroy my wife.

It can destroy my kids. It can destroy anybody I’ve ever ministered to.

I’m telling you, friends, you ought to fear it. I’m telling you, don’t play.

Listen, we mock and make fun of people who play with snakes because it happens. We’ve heard of snake handlers, and we all think of people out in the woods or out in some hillbilly that’s playing with snakes that gets bit and dies.

The whole world mocks and makes fun, particularly if it’s done in a religious setting. But I’m telling you, gang, that person is not near as bad off as a teenager in this room who’s looking at filth.

You’re playing with something way more dangerous than a snake. And some of you know exactly what I’m talking about.

And for the innocent ones in this room, I’m just begging you to stay there. I am begging you.

And if you could go on the other side and deal with people like I’ve dealt with, you would stay there. You’d fear to get involved.

You ought to fear it like you fear, like I said, a loaded pistol, or you fear a poisonous snake in a foreign country. You ought to honestly, that’s the attitude you ought to take.

But I want you to understand that for some in this room, just like Joe, who grew up in a pastor’s home, you have made poor choices and you have gotten into it. Now, I want you to understand that the issue of lust, that let’s just say today you never look at the filth again.

You say, okay, I’m done, I’m not looking at it anymore. The tragedy is this, that although that sin is gone, there are co-infections that are still with you.

And I want you to understand something. Some of you in this room have maybe been free from looking at filth, but you’re not free from the co-infections.

Now, you can get free. So I’m going to deal with the co-infections of moral impurity, and I want you to understand, gang, that some of you in this room, listen, if you’ve been looking at filth, or you’ve been looking at getting some Netflix movies and look at our rate of junk, and you are, or maybe just your brain is a garbage pit.

In the world in which we live, it’s not hard to come across sensuality, whether it’s in the summertime or just going through life or going through, just going shopping. You can see filth.

And you may be protected, but you and your own mind have allowed your mind to run wild in the moral impurity arena. I’m telling you right now, you’ve got a problem.

It’s a huge problem. And I’m telling you, I believe with all my heart, if this issue will be biblically dealt with, I believe, very dealing with it is going to bring revival.

I know I was talking to somebody recently, and I basically said this, I think pornography is the key to revival. You say, what in the world are you talking about?

It’s so pervasive that if we start seeing men and women get victory over it, the only way you’re going to get victory is revival, and that revival will not only change you, it’s going to change others. We’re sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

And I want you to understand, friends, if you’re hooked in it, you’re a prime candidate to be revived, and a prime candidate to see the power of God come on your life. But you’re going to have to deal with it, and it’s going to be painful.

I tell people when it comes to this stuff, it takes more pain to get less pain. It takes more pain to get less pain.

I’ve used this illustration before, but back when I was a kid, just ask your mom about it. Ask her if she’s ever heard of it.

They use something called methiodate. Methiodate.

How many adults remember methiodate? Okay, these are people that are a little bit older, I’m sure.

But nonetheless, back when I was a kid, I’d get a cut, my mom would take this awful stuff. It was awful.

And she’d paint it on that sore. Man, would that thing sting.

It would sting, but you know what? It always caused the wound to heal.

More pain to get less pain. And really, dealing with some of this stuff does take more pain to get less pain.

But what I want you, young person, to deal with, young man, let me just tell you. You know what God’s standard is?

No lust, no filth in your brain. That’s God’s standard.

Anything less is not victory. Young ladies, same thing is true with you.

I realize young ladies are strung up, but this issue of moral impurity invades that realm as well. Perhaps it’s romantic novels, perhaps it’s viewing issues as well, which can come into young ladies’ lives.

This is something that’s far more prevalent than it used to be. And these issues are huge today.

And so here’s what I want you to understand. If you don’t have victory in this area of your life, there is co-infections that come into your life that are actually more devastating.

We’re going to look at Romans chapter number 13. And I should have checked this ahead of time.

Mr. Bosler, when does the session end?

Okay, so we’ve got plenty of time. Okay, let’s go to Romans chapter 13.

I want us to begin looking at verse number 8. The Bible says, Owe no man anything but to love one another.

For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Now what Romans 13 is basically saying, that you know this, that one of the keys to the Christian life is love.

Now the fruit of the Spirit is, first of all, love. Love is supernatural.

It comes from God. When we’re able to love somebody else, it is supernatural.

This is a love that lost people can’t have. Lost people can have philos, they cannot have agape.

If you don’t understand that, that’s okay. But it’s a supernatural love that God gives us.

And God said, this is the standard, I want you to love one another. And when you love one another, you fulfill the law.

Can I put it this way? If you love other people, can I say this?

You don’t need the Ten Commandments because you’ll do them. See, you’ll fulfill the law.

It just automatically happens. It’s not even hard.

So, he even gives a few of the Ten Commandments here when he’s trying to help us understand that love fulfills the law. Look what it says here in verse number 9.

It says, For this, thou shalt not commit adultery. Then it gives up another thing, like thou shalt not kill.

Do you know if you love somebody, you won’t kill them? That’s the only reason some of your brothers and sisters are still alive.

Okay, that’s the only reason. Okay, you haven’t killed them yet.

Okay, yeah, I understand that. Okay, the point is, that makes sense, doesn’t it?

If you love somebody, you won’t steal from them. You won’t rip them off.

Will you? Listen, I don’t hope nobody’s done this, but if you’re the kind that’s gone into your parents’ bedroom taking change out of your mom’s purse or a couple bucks out of your dad’s wallet, you don’t love your parents because you never steal from people you love.

If you ever steal from somebody, you don’t love them. The Bible says that.

Don’t act like you do because you don’t. That’s why a guy and a girl who aren’t married who get together and begin to do things they shouldn’t do, they’re stealing from each other, which means the Bible says you don’t love each other.

You love yourself, but you don’t love that person. How many people say, well, we love each other?

You know what I’m saying? You’re the biggest liars on the planet because if you loved each other, you’d protect each other’s purity.

You wouldn’t take advantage of it. See, it’s not, you don’t love them.

You love you. See, back when I was growing up, the big sin in Christian youth groups was guys and girls getting involved and messing around.

That’s not the big sin anymore. It is in public schools.

But the big sin now is looking at filth. See, that’s the big sin now, which is theft.

So it goes on. If you love somebody, you won’t lie to them.

You lie to your parents, you don’t love them. You lie to anybody, you don’t love them.

If you care about somebody, you’re going to tell them the truth. Okay?

Okay, that’s what God’s saying here. So if you lie to people, you don’t love them.

Okay, so you get the idea. But I want to go back to that first commandment that says, thou shalt not commit adultery.

Now many times we think of adultery only in the context of lack of faithfulness in a marriage. Okay, when a husband or wife gets involved in an affair, and we say, well, that’s committed adultery, which is true.

But Jesus helps us understand something, that adultery obviously is a larger issue than that. Now I’ve heard that, I’ve said this in other messages, but I’m going to just kind of bring this in here, and then we’ll go from this point on.

Okay, now here’s what I want you to understand the idea of adultery. In James 4, verse 4, it says, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, that’s really strong language, Know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Now, that verse of Scripture indicates this.

Right now, he’s talking to God’s people, and of course, we are awaiting one day the marriage supper of the Lamb. One day, the church is going to be raptured out, There’s going to be a trumpet blow, and we’re going to then come to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And there’ll be the union between the bride, which is the church there, and there’ll be a union between us and then the Lord Jesus, and that’s a picture there in the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, in fact, I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll just kind of give you a picture.

Years ago, I was in North Dakota, and a couple sat there and told me that they decided to illustrate Christ in the church.

Now, some of you girls need to take notes because you’re going to want to do this. okay so he asked her will you marry me she said yes and he said well I’d like to illustrate Christ in the church or here’s what we’re going to do you’re not going to know the day of the wedding see do we know the day we’re of the wedding when we’re going to be married to Jesus and the answer is no we don’t know so

you’re not going to know isn’t that exciting girls wouldn’t that be so romantic you have no idea when the day is and you’re just getting ready she literally had her bags packed ready for the honeymoon and she had no idea no idea so I asked him what day did you pick?

He said, I picked Monday. I said, why would you pick Monday?

He said, that is the only day I knew she would think I would never pick. So, I picked it, thinking, man, smart guy, great way to start a marriage, you know.

Okay, great, real smart guy. Okay, but anyway, and so he picked Monday, and now, don’t get me wrong, the whole church knew, so everybody’s ready.

She’s the only one in the dark. And so, one morning, she gets the call, hey, today’s the day.

I don’t know about you. I’d like to, back in my day, they called it candid camera.

It was a hidden camera, and they’d film people’s reactions, and then they put it on television, et cetera, like that. Anybody remember Candid Camera?

Okay, same people remember methylate. Okay, but anyway, okay, but anyway, so you’d imagine there, she freaked out, you know, whatever, but anyway, it was an evening wedding, and when the wedding started, she wasn’t there.

Isn’t that interesting, girls? Wouldn’t you love to have a wedding?

You’re not there, and I’m telling you, that was true. This is all true, and so they started the wedding, and they took all the chairs out of the auditorium.

They put in tables, okay, and it was marriage, Supper of the Lamb, okay? These folks are dispensationalists.

They’re littlest. I’m telling you, they are down the deal on the deal.

And so they had that, and they started the wedding, and here’s how the wedding ceremony started. The father got up and said to the son, you may get your bride.

So he goes out of the church, gets in his car, and drives over to the bride’s house. I said, when you drove over to your bride’s house, did you keep the speed limit?

He smiled at me and did not answer. Okay, but anyway, I have no idea.

And so, gets his bride, comes back to the church. Now, I will tell you one thing they did not do, which I think was a huge mistake.

He did not blow a trumpet outside her house. I think he should have done that.

Okay, should have blown the trumpet, got the girl, brought her back, etc. And that’s what they did.

Okay. So, now, you have to understand, that’s the picture in James chapter 4.

The adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that friendship with the world is eminent with God. So, here it is.

The bride doesn’t know when the day is. and as a result, they begin to flirt with the world.

They’re not getting married to the world, they’re getting married to Jesus.

They’re going to flirt with the world and God says, don’t miss this, you’re in spiritual adultery. Now that teaches us some things, gang.

Here’s what it teaches us. You can adulterate the purity of a future marriage.

See, we’re not married to Jesus yet, yet He’s calling us adulterers and adulteresses. You know why?

Because we’re flirting with the world. We’re adulterating the purity of a future marriage.

See that? Now, I’ve used this analogy before, but I think it helps.

Again, I’m not sure where you get it. Chemistry gets it from morality or morality from chemistry.

But all of you that have taken chemistry, if you have pure gold, how many elements do you have? And the answer is, you just got one.

If you adulterate the gold, how many elements do you have? And the answer is, two or more.

Isn’t that interesting, purity and adultery in chemistry? See, so purity is obviously keeping your heart, your life, your mind, your body, keeping it all for one in the bonds of marriage.

Okay, adultery then is bringing into your life the intimacy God only created for future marriage, bringing it in prematurely with somebody else. It could be mental adultery, which would include pornography, looking at R-rated movies, going to places in the summertime that are filthy, that fill your mind with filth.

See, you’re adulterating the purity of a future marriage. See, that’s what I believe God’s telling us in James 4.

Don’t you get this? You’re adulterous and adulteresses.

Now, these are crusade people. Don’t you know you’re flirting with the world?

You’re adulterating the purity of a future marriage? Don’t you know that’s enmity with God?

It won’t work. Later on, He says, purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

He’s going after it. And he’s pointing out they were double-minded, which means more than one person had entered into the intimacy God only intended for marriage.

Now, I want you to understand, when you look at pornography, you are in, you are adulterating the purity of your future marriage. And that’s what he’s talking about here.

There are young men in this room, and even perhaps young ladies, because this issue is huge, are routinely in your brain adulterate the purity of a future marriage by the filth you allow into your brain. Some of you may not be looking at filth, but you think total filth.

Some of you girls read romance novels, you watch soap opera-like stuff, and you fantasize about some guy that is not your husband. You are allowing, listen, some of you out here get involved in guy-girl relationships that cross the line into a relationship that only God intended a husband and wife to have.

And you’re adulterating the purity of a future marriage. Some of you don’t even realize you’re doing it.

See, some of you guys have a terrible relationship with your mom. Some of you girls have a terrible relationship with your dad, and you try to replace it by finding a relationship outside of marriage that God never intended.

And it’s killing you. I just want you to understand, the biggest issue, I’m convinced, not the moral impurity, though that’s a big issue.

The biggest issue is the co-infections. The co-infections.

Now, this passage of Scripture, look down if you would, please, just a couple more verses down. It says in verse number 10, Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

He says it twice now, love’s the fulfilling of the law. But here’s what he says, love works no ill to his neighbor.

Now, I just want you to know this, and I want you to get this down. When you knowingly hurt people, you don’t love them.

Listen, some of you treat your mom and dad like trash. And I want to tell you right now, you don’t love your parents.

You know who you love? You.

If you loved your parents, you wouldn’t yell at them. You wouldn’t hassle them.

You wouldn’t blame them. You wouldn’t call them whatever.

You wouldn’t manipulate them. You wouldn’t do that.

You see, if you love somebody, you do not hurt them. That’s why a guy and a girl in a relationship that gets to step over the line and kindle each other’s lusts, they don’t love each other.

They love themselves. Because if they loved each other, they wouldn’t do that.

See, that’s why the Bible says love doesn’t work ill. Some love doesn’t hurt people.

See, now here’s the point I want you to get. Number one, co-infection to moral impurity is selfishness.

I’m just telling you right now, if you look at pornography, you are selfish to the core. You don’t care about your future spouse.

You don’t care about your kids. You don’t care about your grandkids.

You don’t care about the people God wants you to reach. It’s all about you.

And some of you are killing yourself. I’m not trying to be in kind.

I’m trying to help you. And you can get to the point where you never look at filth again.

And yet, if you don’t deal with your selfishness, you’ve got a problem. See, it’s a co-infection.

Now, here’s what the Bible says. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lusts and entices.

Understand. I want you to get this.

People who are unselfish do not, will not look at filth. Now, we’ve done a big journey about wounds, and I’m not diminishing it because I believe it’s a big, huge factor.

But you get a man who is unselfish, and he gets hurt, He will not look at pornography. Wounds sets you up to look at pornography, but I’ve learned something that’s really helped me.

You cannot look at pornography without one very important ingredient, selfishness. Every man is tempted.

Did you get that? Every man is tempted.

No exceptions. Every man is tempted when he’s drawn away of his own lusts and enticed.

It does not matter what happens to you in life, friends. The bottom line is moral impurity will never become of your life without selfishness.

You take selfishness out, you will not be morally impure. Impossible.

You have to have selfishness. And some of you guys in this room are as selfish.

May I say this as carefully as I know how? God pity the girl that gets you.

Because it’s all about you and it’s never going to be about her. And I’m going to tell you how I’m going to prove it.

You’re looking at filth. You think filth.

You get into relationships with other girls with no intent about the future. sir.

It’s all about you, sir.

And I’m telling you right now, it’s not going to work. And some of you guys are setting yourself up for total tragedy in your life.

I’m not trying to be in kind. I’m just trying to help you.

You’ve got to deal with your selfishness. And I want you to understand, your brain right now, if it could be thrown up here and we could see what’s on your brain, we could tell whether you’re selfish or not.

Every man in this room, I know for sure is going to struggle with the issue of purity. I get that.

But there’s two kinds of young men. Young men are fighting it tooth and nail.

It’s hand-to-hand combat, but they want victory. You know why?

Because they happen to make a decision. I’m going to love my future wife.

You love your wife, you’re going to fight a battle right now. I don’t care if it’s hand-to-hand combat.

I don’t care. It’s like, I don’t care if I die in the combat.

That woman God gave me, I made a decision. I don’t know who she is, but I love her right now.

I made a decision to love her right now. It’s not about me.

It’s about her, and it’s about the kids God gives me, and it’s about the grandkids God gives me. I hope you’ve got enough vision to look in the future.

It’s not about you, bud. It’s never been about you.

One day you’ll understand how big this is. I’m just begging you, friends.

You have to understand selfishness is the number one co-infection. So here’s what happens.

You’ve got to have selfishness to get into moral impurity. It’s just, you have to have it.

The Bible says it. The only way you’re falling for temptation is selfishness.

But here’s the problem when you are selfish and then you get into moral impurity. Your selfishness Increases You know what happens?

You now Moral impurity feeds selfishness Selfishness feeds moral impurity Moral impurity feeds selfishness Selfishness feeds moral impurity And the thing spirals out of control So if somehow we were to pull the moral impurity Out of your life You’d still have a huge problem Because it’s still about you I’m telling you Some of you guys need to get broken about the fact You are selfish It’s all flesh to get broken about the fact it’s way too much about you.

Can I tell you a little bit about life being a little bit older now? It’s not about you and it’s not about me, but it is about His cause.

And the greatest fulfillment you will ever have is when you die to what you want and you start doing what He wants you to do and then you will find real life. The life is like a corner where it falls to the ground and dies and then it brings forth life.

Listen, some of you guys in this room are going to be greatly used of God if you just let God break you, get that stinking flesh, that sinking selfishness out of you. See, some of you right now, you treat your parents like dirt and you think somehow God’s going to use you.

Listen, this is the time for you to realize your parents aren’t perfect, never will be. But I will tell you, I don’t care how bad your parents are, disrespect is never the answer.

Cannot be, will not be, never will be. I don’t care who you are.

Some of you just need to go home, get right with your parents. Those smirks, the way you treat them, you see, it’s just showing you how selfish you are.

So selfishness is what I would call to be the big one. It’s the killer.

And it’s killing some of you guys. You don’t even see that it’s all about you.

Now, I hate to tell you guys, but I’m just going to tell you this straight. I don’t care who the woman is.

There’s not a woman on planet Earth who cannot tell when her husband is being selfish. Can I say this?

You will not be able to hide selfishness from your wife. She will pick it up every single time.

Every time you make a decision that is completely selfish, and you’re not taking her best interest in mind, she’ll know. Every woman has that ability.

She’ll know. That’s why some of you are heading into disaster in your marriage, Because it’s all about you.

It is all about you. I’m not saying women can’t be selfish.

They can. But they have a different propensity.

They have much more of a propensity toward unselfishness. I guess it’s the mothering instinct to sacrifice for their children.

Just kind of innate. And when that’s not there, that obviously means there’s been some really bad choices made in life.

Okay, so let’s go down. That’s first of all selfishness.

Now let’s go to the next co-infection. It’s pretty bad too.

Let’s look at verse 11. And that knowing the time, that it is now high time to wake out asleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

Let us, here it is, walk honestly. It’s in the day.

Number two co-infection. Deception.

Deception. in order for you to have moral impurity in your life and keep it there, you’ve got to have deception.

In other words, it’s like this.

You look at Phil some night, middle of the night, you don’t go to the supper table and say, at the breakfast table and say, Mom and Dad, you’re not going to believe what I looked at last night. You don’t do that.

You know why? You learn, don’t miss this, to act like you’re something you’re not.

See, you could get victory over viewing right now But you know what you still have in your life? A propensity toward deception You know, I’ve done study about this issue You know what I’ve learned?

They say it often takes a man One year after he tells his wife About his pornographic addiction It takes him one year to properly apologize You know why? Two things Number one, he’s so selfish he doesn’t understand how selfish he is.

It takes him a year to realize how selfish he is. Number two, he’s so deceptive he will spin it.

He hasn’t learned how to be painfully honest yet. It takes him a year to learn how to not spin it.

See, I’m telling you, some of you, you have to understand this is a journey. But one of the greatest tragedies of hiding moral filth in your life is you learn to be a really good deceiver.

And that’s really a bad thing to learn. Do you know what God honors?

Light. Do you know what He resists?

Darkness. Do you know what humility is?

Honesty. Do you know what pride is?

Dishonesty. Pride is acting like you’re something you’re not.

Do you know, friends, where the greatest, you know what revival is? Do you know what power is?

Power is everybody knowing how weak you are and then watching God overcome it. I love Francis Havergal’s hymn, The Wordster Hymn, I Cannot Do Without Thee.

I love those words. And my favorite line in there is, Weakness will be power when leaning hard on thee.

You know what revival is? It’s a willingness for everybody on planet Earth to know how weak you are because you’re so excited about leaning on Jesus and watching Jesus enable you where you’re weak.

See, it’s like this, friends. You’re not afraid of your weaknesses and your needs when you’re walking with Jesus, even your past.

See, some of you could not imagine doing what Joe just did, getting up and telling everybody about how bad you are. The only reason you can do that is because you’re seeing God change you.

And he’s seen God change you. That’s the point.

But you’re not afraid of that when you’re walking with the Lord. Did we go out on this?

I think the battery went out. That’s okay.

We’ll keep preaching. And I’m just going to give this to the back here because I’ve got a few things.

Just you can come and get this here. You might take that back over there.

Just run it back there. Now, I’ll be honest with you, gang.

Let me just tell you two is straight. This will not be the first technical difficulty.

You know why? We’re in a battle.

And there’s some of you out here. I mean, God brought you here for purpose.

I’m just telling you, some of you didn’t come here looking for God, but I’m telling you, I tell the SunSafe kids all the time, You didn’t come here looking for God, but God came here looking for you. And some of you, God’s going to get on your front porch and say, that preacher’s talking about you.

And I’m telling you, God doesn’t do that because he hates you. He’s trying to rescue you.

But some of you, the biggest deceivers on planet Earth, you’re two-faced. You’ve got your parents fooled.

You’ve got your little old ladies. Listen, you can fool your little old ladies in your church, and they can think you’re some great kid when you know you’re not.

And God bless little old ladies. I’m thankful for them.

I’m glad that they love all of you kids because it’s a good thing they do. But the point is you can fool them.

You haven’t fooled God. See, here’s the point, dishonesty.

I’m telling you, learn to embrace honesty. That’s where power is.

You know when I see power? The kid bawling, saying, man, I’m bad.

I’ve been looking at filth. That’s where power is.

You know why? God walks through the door.

When you start getting honest with the appropriate people, some of you can relate with Joe. You’ve done partial confession, didn’t do anything for you, did it?

It’s time for you to unload the whole truck and say, I’m sick of it. I don’t care what it takes.

I don’t care what people think of me. I just got to be right with God.

Wow. Dishonesty.

Dishonesty is the big killer for some of you in this room. You’re acting like you’re something you’re not, and I’m begging you not to do that.

Now, let me give you three areas of dishonesty. Number one, hiding sin.

Hiding sin. This is basically when you’re acting like you’re not doing something, you really are.

You’re good at hiding it, getting off the peak, you know. And as a result of that, many times you keep your hands up.

When I’m preaching this to men, I say this. Do you know they say that many times men who are in pornography, their kids cannot get close to them.

And you know what the kids do? They take the blame.

Must be my fault I can’t get close to dad. You know what I’ve done in the research I’ve done?

They have said this.

Usually after a year of victory or so You have to sit down with your kids and you say Kids it was not your fault That you could not get close to me It was my fault I was looking at filth and I didn’t want you to get too close Because I didn’t want you to find out They say it’s very necessary you do that So the kids stop blaming themselves And realize that you had a sin in your life And you

had your hands up and wouldn’t let them get close Listen you guys out here looking at junk One day you’re going to be a dad And your kid’s going to wonder why can’t I get close to dad He’ll blame himself and sometimes he’ll get messed up.

It has nothing to do with that kid. It has everything to do with you.

Man up and deal with it. We need some men just going to man up and realize you’ve got a problem, better deal with it.

I’m just telling a young person, I don’t know how fervently to try to help you understand this is an issue you’ve got to deal with thoroughly. Because if you don’t, deception.

You’re going to be able to learn how to put, You’re just going to learn how to get people off your trail. And to live one way in secret, live another way out there.

Listen, the greatest weapon Satan has to keep you in bondage is secrecy. Oh, you don’t need to tell anybody.

You can get victory. I don’t care who you are in this room.

You’ve made decisions, but you have not followed through on getting honest. And you’ve tried to get victory in secret.

you’re still defeated, right?

You know why? Because you’re proud.

And God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Somebody gets broken, says, Mom and Dad, you ask me any question, I’ll answer it.

I don’t care what I’ve got to do. I’ll get it all right.

You’ll get some grace on that deal. I’m just telling you, friends, number one, you’ve got to stop hiding sin.

You’ve got to stop hiding sin. You know what they say now?

These guys that get right and have a wife already, she’s been living like with a husband she didn’t even know, finds out this whole double life this husband has. You know what, I read a book that was talking about how to get her trust back.

And you know what, I don’t want you to miss this. You know what they said the answer was to get the trust back?

Live and speak in such a way she never has to ask a question. Listen, you have to make your wife say, where were you?

Why are you five minutes late? You know, all those kind of questions.

You know, they said, don’t even, just let her know ahead of time so she doesn’t have to ask questions. Some of you need to stop doing that with your parents.

You live in such a way, you know, you’re evasive when your parents ask questions. Why don’t you just tell them, you know, Mom and Dad, here’s exactly what happened.

You let them know before so they don’t have to ask you any questions. Most of you don’t do that.

You know, how’d it go? Oh, it went okay.

What didn’t okay? You were with your friends.

They were telling dirty jokes. You were laughing at them.

Why don’t you get honest about it?

See, that’s the point So, the first aspect is hiding sin Number two aspect is Masks Oh, I’m not talking about the coronavirus ones I’m talking, now masks I never thought the day would come when I’d have to say it I’m talking about masks This kind of goes with hiding sin But masks is acting like you’re something you’re not Listen, friend, you know what I found about the Christian life You can be who you are with all your problems

and all your needs, that’s okay.

You know why? Because Jesus is the one I’m looking at to change me.

So here’s who I am. And man, I’m so excited about what God’s doing.

It’s not even funny. You don’t have to act like you’re something you’re not.

Listen, every single one of you has a spiritual gift given to you at the moment of salvation. You may not know it yet.

And it’s remarkably supernatural.

And you know what the greatest joys of my life is when my spiritual gift, God’s using my spiritual gift. it’s not me it’s a gift you know what a gift is that means that i didn’t come up with it god gave it to me a moment i got saved i didn’t know it at four years old when i got i didn’t know god gave me the gift of the evangelist but he did and it took me a while to figure it

out in fact people are telling me you’re an evangelist i’m not an evangelist i can’t tell jokes very well i’m not an evangelist my personality is like pop that’s been open for 24 hours i don’t have any is I don’t have much.

You know, I’m just, you know, that’s the way I felt. I’m not evangelist.

Because I didn’t fit my stereotype. I’m telling you, gang, the greatest choice of my life was my gifts operating.

I’m seeing God work. I’m thinking, man, this is great.

This is unbelievable. You know, gang, it’s like this.

I got all kinds of needs. I got all kinds of problems.

But my point is, Jesus is the answer. You know what I’ve learned when you’re preaching?

Nobody can identify with perfection But they sure can identify with imperfection And we’re all a bunch of imperfect people The point is we all need Jesus And you do too So stop trying to act like you’re something you’re not Just be honest about it See that’s the power of it Pull the masks off Acting like you’re someone you’re not That’s the problem with social media You act like you’re something you’re not Let’s just be who we are See that’s another problem

of deception You learn to put masks on The only problem with masks on kind of learn this persona that you’re trying to act like you are when you’re really not.

Okay, so deception. Now, the last thing real quickly is blame.

Blame. You know, it’s amazing to me, and this absolutely blows me away.

But in the research I’ve done, when a wife, when a husband is into this issue, do you know what he often does? He blames his wife for his pornographic addiction.

May I say this to you? If you’re into pornography, it’s not anybody’s fault but yours.

Don’t blame your mom. Don’t blame your dad.

Don’t blame the fact you don’t have a dad. I don’t care what it is.

The problem is you. You cannot blame it on anybody else.

See, blame is one of the big things. You start blaming now, one day you’ll blame your wife and she won’t be a licker.

I tell women all the time, your husband’s into pornography. It is his problem.

It doesn’t mean you’re perfect, but it is his problem and he cannot blame you at all. And listen, some of you blame your parents.

You need to cut that out because that’s junk. That’s deception.

That’s darkness. Just take responsibility.

God’s grace is sufficient. But one of the greatest problems with moral impurity is you learn deception.

Blame’s subtle, isn’t it? You know what blame is?

Deception. It’s total deception.

You’re blaming other people for your wrong choices. And I won’t cut it with God.

Number three, co-infection will be done. Unbelief.

Unbelief. Look if you would please there at the passage, verse 14.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t have time to go into this.

God there is asking us to do something He says in Galatians chapter 3 already is. He that is baptized into Jesus Christ hath put on Christ.

So why would God ask you to do something that already is? And the answer is, it’s a decision of faith.

It’s a decision to believe that I’m in Jesus, Jesus is in me. The moment I got saved, that union took place.

When it says, put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s saying, take a step of faith and believe that you’re in Jesus and Jesus is in you because that’s the key to victory. Which brings me to the third aspect, the third co-infection of moral impurity, and it is unbelief.

Unbelief. In the book of 1 Timothy, chapter number 1, it tells us, thou mightest war of good warfare, holding faith in a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.

Let me just put it to you straight. What that passage of Scripture is saying is when you push your conscience away, you shipwreck your faith.

You know, you guys looking at pornography, I guarantee you, your conscience bugs you. You think dirty thoughts, your conscience bugs you.

You read a book, a dirty book, your conscience bugs you. You watch something you shouldn’t be watching, your conscience bugs you.

But here’s what some of you do, you push it away, push it away. And here’s what you do, you’re shipwrecking your faith.

In other words, if you can’t believe God when He says, I will put no wicked thing before mine eyes, how can you believe God when He says, ask and you shall receive? See, if you can’t believe God when it comes to moral purity, You can’t believe God when it comes to revival, transformation, God’s power.

You can’t believe God. Why do you think young men out in the ministry compromise?

I’ll tell you why they compromise. Because they’ve hurt their faith.

You know what it takes to be a Bible believer? Do you know what it takes to be somebody who believes the Word of God and follows it?

It takes faith. The Bible is counterintuitive.

You know what that means? It’s completely opposite to worldly wisdom.

If you gave the gospel to an unsaved marketing program, you know what they do? Destroy it.

They say, you can’t talk about hell. You can’t talk about sin.

That won’t work. Well, it humanly won’t work.

But it works with God. Listen, I’m telling you, friends, you ought to preach the gospel.

You can preach on sin. You can preach on hell.

And you can preach Jesus the answer. And you know what happens?

People get saved. It’s not good marketing, but it sure is good theology.

See, the Bible works opposite. And if you don’t have the power of God in your life, you’re going to have to kind of market the gospel a little bit different, aren’t you?

Why do people compromise? Because their faith’s been hurt.

Bible Christianity does not work without God. It does not work without God.

It does not work. Separatistic Bible Christianity does not work without God.

So when this guy compromises at 30, I can guarantee you this. The reason he’s compromising at 30 is because he was compromising at 13.

He’s pushing his conscience away here, pushing his conscience away here. I am convinced, my dad used to say, that power with God and sexuality are tied.

Seems kind of strange, doesn’t it? But it’s not strange at all.

When you learn to channel your sexuality where God said to channel it, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will learn to have power with God. But you start compromising in the moral arena, young man, you’re going to hurt your faith and your power with God.

Some of you guys in here, you don’t know how to get an answer to prayer. You haven’t had an answer to prayer in who knows how long.

And you won’t have an answer to prayer as long as you’re pushing off your conscience. You’re hurting your faith.

So what are you going to do when the dearest person on planet Earth is in the emergency room and their life is in danger? You can’t get a hold of God because you’ve destroyed your faith.

Yeah, looking at that pornography, compromising with that girl, getting involved in a relationship you know is not right. You’re just pushing your conscience away, aren’t you?

And you’re destroying your faith. You think you’re cool.

I’m telling you, you’re not cool. You know who the cool is?

That nerdy guy who a girl wouldn’t look twice at, who walks with God, and one day he’s going to get married to a girl that loves God and loves him. He’s going to have power with God.

And while you’re sitting around here in some corporation with no peace with God, marriage in trouble and kids hate your guts. You better learn to walk with God.

It doesn’t work. Christianity doesn’t work without God.

I know it sounds funny. Christianity is not much left without Jesus Christ.

All you got is entity. Not much left.

I’m just telling you, it hurts your faith. Moral impurity, you push away your conscience, you’re destroying your faith.

It’s a big deal. Because ministry won’t work without it.

I’m just telling you right now. It won’t work without it.

Your family’s not going to work without it. I’m telling you, your marriage is going to work without it.

You need God. I don’t care who it is.

Every married person in this room will tell you, you cannot have a thriving marriage without God. You just can’t do it.

You need God. You can’t have anything without God that lasts.

See, moral impurity destroys your faith. It destroys your faith.

Now, to be honest with you, it sounds funny. I’m not given a conclusion.

You know why? Because in the next session, Brother Phil Perniman is going to finish the message.

Now, it’s going to be a totally different angle, but he’s going to give you the hope. You can be delivered, but you’re going to have to do it God’s way.

And it’s not necessarily going to be easy,