INTRO.- ILL.- There was a teenage boy and his grandfather who went fishing one day. While fishing, the old man starts talking about how times have changed. The young fellow picks up on this and starts talking about sex and sexually transmitted diseases going around. The teen says, "Grandpa, they didn’t have a whole lot of problems with all these diseases when you were young did they?" Grandpa replies, "Nope." The teen says, "Well, what did you guys use for safe sex?" Grandpa replies, "A wedding ring."
Don’t we wish this were true?!
Adultery and the adulterous woman. What a subject! But this sin is nothing new.
ILL.- Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. In fact, he lived during 300 B.C. And here is something he wrote: "We keep prostitutes for pleasure; we keep mistresses for the day to day needs of the body; we keep wives for the begetting of children and for the faithful guardianship of our homes. So long as a man supported his wife and family there was no shame whatsoever in extra-marital affairs."
That sounds so much like today! As we all know, the world is extremely liberal when it comes to sex: straight, gay or otherwise. In the eyes of the world, almost everything goes and is ok.
PROP.- God’s wisdom reveals the truth and gives us some guidelines to follow in order to avoid the sin of adultery.
1- Store up God’s Word to overcome
2- Following smooth talk leads to trouble
3- Guard the heart for victory over sin
I. STORE UP GOD’S WORD TO OVERCOME
1 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. 2 Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding your kinsman; 5 they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.
My son, keep my words. It pays to pay attention to your father’s words. It pay even better to pay attention to your Heavenly Father’s words.
ILL.- I have read that texting with a smart phone is a good way to not pay attention to what is going on around a person. Those who text and drive are asking for big trouble and possibly death. Even texting and walking can lead to trouble. I saw a video of a lady who was texting while walking in a mall and ended up tripping and falling into a water fountain. I would think that was a lesson learned.
I think we’re all guilty of not paying attention spiritually to many things in life, and especially, when it comes to God’s Word. God says, “Listen to me. Pay attention to my Word. Read my Word but also be a doer of my Word.”
God’s Word is full of wisdom when it comes to relationships and illicit relationships such as sexual sin, adultery, etc.
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Lust is a big problem in our society. The world and the devil love to lure us with lust. That’s why there are so many seductive ads on TV, at the movies, in magazines, on in the internet, etc. In fact, it’s far worse on the internet. I would guess that almost anything and everything is available on the internet when it comes to sex, which promotes more and more lust in people, and especially, men. Both men and women are attracted to one another by sight but when it comes to nudity, etc., men are especially, vulnerable.
I Corinthians 6:15-20 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
How powerful are these words and how clear! Flee, run from sexual immorality. Our bodies belong to God and they must not be joined together with another human person in a sexually immoral situation. God has spoken.
People in our society try to justify their sexual sins in different ways but God’s Word is clear. Of course, we must remember that Paul was writing to Christians. The person outside of Christ may see nothing wrong with being sexually immoral. The world condones almost any type of sexual behavior, including homosexuality.
Remember when your mom and dad used to say, “Just because everybody is doing it, it doesn’t make it right and you’re not going to do it!” God, our heavenly Father, is saying the same thing, only in stronger terms.
God’s Word must be dominate in our thinking and our lives. We must pay attention to it and store it up our hearts and minds in order to overcome any kind of sexual sin or sexual temptation.
ILL.- Chuck Swindoll is a 80 year old preacher and Senior Pastor of the Stonebriar Community Church, in Frisco, Texas. He founded Insight for Living, headquartered in Plano, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more than 2,000 stations around the world in 15 languages. He has also written many, many books which are excellent.
I appreciate Chuck Swindoll’s dedication and commitment to Christ in preaching and all aspects of ministry. And something that I appreciate even more is that he pays attention to the Word that he preaches. He is a doer of God’s Word.
Many years ago he was holding some type meeting for a church and was staying in a motel. While going to his room one night he was approached and propositioned by two young ladies. Chuck quickly but politely turned them down. This story is recorded in one of his books. What kept Chuck from giving in to that temptation? It wasn’t the fact of his long marriage, nor his children, nor his church ministry, nor his radio ministry.
The thing that kept him pure was God’s Word in his heart and mind, namely Galatians 6:7-8 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
We must store up God’s Word in our hearts and minds in order to avoid sexual sin.
II. FOLLOWING SMOOTH TALK LEADS TO TROUBLE
21 With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. 22 All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose 23 till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.
WITH PERSUASIVE WORDS SHE LED HIM ASTRAY. SHE SEDUCED HIM WITH HER SMOOTH TALK.
ILL.- Aesop, the ancient storyteller, told this fable: Once upon a time, a donkey found a lion's skin. He tried it on, strutted around, and frightened many animals. Soon a fox came along, and the donkey tried to scare him, too. But the fox, hearing the donkey's voice, said, "If you want to terrify me, you'll have to disguise your bray." Aesop's moral: Clothes may disguise a fool, but his words will give him away.
Anyway you look at it, words our powerful. Words will give us away. Words reveal something to others. And speaking the right way, with the right words, with the proper accent, etc. can move people. Words can move people to do good things.
ILL.- John F. Kennedy in his Inaugural address, January 20, 1961 said: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country....”
As a result of this powerful statement and speech I am sure that many Americans started to think more seriously about their role as an American citizen and what they could do for their country.
ILL.- Around 1873 to 1875 for four months America preacher Dwight L. Moody preacher in London. He set up six different meeting places and preached an average of twice a day. The 285 services Moody preached at were attended by 2,530,000. For 120 days he spoke to an average of 21,000 people a day, an amazing feat without the help of a microphone! Revival broke out among the Christians in London. One pastor remarked of the London meeting: "Such a movement the world has not seen since the days of Whitefield and Wesley. He has proved the power of elementary truths over the hearts of men more mightily than all the learned profession and eloquent pastors in England could do." Words are powerful. Good words, God-inspired words are very powerful.
And God’s Word is extremely powerful whether written or spoken.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
At the same time, we must recognize that evil words are also powerful.
ILL.- Remember who said, “Why don't you come up sometime and see me? ... Come on up, I'll tell your fortune.” And “When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better.” “Love thy neighbor -- and if he happens to be tall, debonair and devastating, it will be that much easier.” And she said a whole lot worse! It was the movie actress Mae West who lived from (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) and died at the age of 87.
She was an American actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. And she sounded very seductive with her words and I’m sure that many men were attracted to her for her looks, her actions and her seductive words. Seductive words are very powerful.
Genesis 3:1-5 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The seductive words of the adulterous or anyone else come from the great seducer himself, the devil. BEWARE! Beware of seductive words.
III. GUARD THE HEART FOR VICTORY OVER SIN
24 Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. 25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.
Do not let your heart turn. Do not let your heart turn to evil and away from the Lord.
ILL.- In the 1940‘s, Rep. Harold Knutson paid Clare Boothe Luce, then Representative from Connecticut, a compliment on the House floor. “She has the best mind of any woman in the House,” he said with a courtly bow. Representative Luce was not having any of that kind of flattery. She said solemnly, “The mind knows no sex.”
Rep. Luther Patrick stood up. “If the lady believes that,” he said, “she doesn’t know the mind of man.”
The mind of man does know about sex, but so does the mind of most women. And sometimes that mind is set on evil.
ILL.- Lynchburg, VA—The Rev. Jerry Falwell was an American evangelical Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative political commentator. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy (now Liberty Christian Academy) in 1967, Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
In November of 1984 Fallwell filed a $45 million lawsuit against publisher Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine, claiming a fake advertisement damaged his reputation. The full-page ad in the November issue of Hustler is entitled “Jerry Falwell Talks About His First Time.” It described what the magazine said was the television evangelist’s first encounter with Campari liquor and sex. Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, contended in his suit filed in U.S. district court, that the ad portrayed him as immoral and alcoholic.
Larry Flynt said he was “really tickled” about the lawsuit “because I want to get him in the courtroom.” “That’s an ad parody. We said at the bottom of the ad that it was not to be taken seriously,” he said. “I don’t really think any of it is true, do you?”
I don’t care what Larry Flynt said, he is a propagator of illicit sex with his Hustler magazine! At one time he was listed as one of the most powerful people or porn! That is not a distinction that any thinking person would want! When it comes to sexual sin the heart of the problem is the heart!
Larry Flynt has a corrupt heart and this corruption has invaded our world and America. Sexual sin is listed by the apostle John in I John 2:16 as one of the three major sins of the world that lead people away from God and Christ. We must get the heart right in order to get the life right!
Job 31:9-10 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door, then may my wife grind another man’s grain, and may other men sleep with her.”
This sounds like Job is saying that if he went astray then his wife would go astray as well. What we do affects one another.
Psalm 7:9 “Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure— you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts.”
Why would God ever probe our hearts and minds? Surely we know why. Because that’s where either evil or good starts.
Psalm 17:3 “Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed.”
Matthew 12:34 “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” And out of the abundance of the heart the person thinks about evil and does evil.
ILL.- J. Stowell, Fan The Flame, wrote: “Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity," "the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will," and "the center of a person. The place to which God turns."
We must guard our inner being, our hearts and minds in order to overcome sin in life, sexual sin or any sin.
CONCLUSION--------------------
ILL.- Purity is a very important virtue to this 23-year-old singer. Rebecca St. James is a virgin and she says she’ll remain one until she gets married. On her right ring finger, she wears a gold band. During a concert in Colorado Springs, she told her audience: “I’d like to tell you about this ring I’m wearing. It is a promise ring, and when my parents gave it to me, they said it was to symbolize my commitment to wait until marriage to have sex. I can tell you right now, I will be waiting for that special person God has planned for me.”
Amen. God bless her and God help us to avoid sexual sin this world. And again as Paul said in I Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
