ABC's XXX Sermon
Sermon: ABC’s XXX 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 July 16, 2006
Big Idea: There’s a seedy underside to humanity that threatens to destroy God’s gift of sexuality if it’s not subjected to the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit.
Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sexual sin.
First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more—until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!
It is a fearful thing that people can be “consumed by their own lusts.” Only God’s grace keeps us from the wolf’s fate. There are no exceptions. Every one of us is a sexual being. We have desires, dreams, aspirations, urges and drive.
What areas challenge us most? Magazines, Movies, Television, Billboards, Joggers, Beaches, Romance Novels, Fantasizing about neighbors or co-workers, internet images, internet chat.
God’s Standard is Perfection
There is no such thing as a “victim-less” sexual sin. Every time we engage in a sexual deviation from God’s plan, we hurt ourselves and our partner – even if we don’t have a partner yet. Single men and women here today – listen up – the sexual activity that you participate in NOW will have consequences LATER in your relationship with your future husband or wife. The Bible says, “Do not be fooled, God will not be mocked – whatever you sow, you will reap the consequences.” You need to keep purity in your dating relationships because any impurity then adds to the baggage you will bring with you into your marriage, and it will bring stress to what should be, and is intended to be a wonderful part of your life together.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
v.3 “Avoid Sexual Immorality” What does this mean? Eph. 5:3 tells us:
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.”
We want to measure against our neighbor not against God’s standard as written here. “Sanctified” means to be set apart. It means playing by different rules.
“Hint” Matthew 5:28, “I tell you that anyone who even looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
“You are sexually pure when no sexual gratification comes from anyone or anything but your spouse.” Every Man’s Battle
v.4 “Learn to control his own body” There is hope. God is a God of restoration. Whatever is broken can be fixed. There is hope in Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us in Romans 7:15 that although the grip of sin is not always logical or reasonable, it is real. He says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.” Without control, we are governed by our sin. But through Christ, we see that there is a better way.
2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Take every thought captive. Is that really possible?
“We know those who have failed in their battle for sexual purity and we know some who have won. The difference? Those who won hated their impurity.” Every Man’s Battle
If you want to overcome the sexual sin in your life, you have to choose it.
There are many here who are carrying a load of sexual baggage already. You listen to me today, and inside, if not outwardly, you are nodding your head in agreement. You wish you could go back and do things differently. Maybe you’re a single young man or woman and you’re sitting their beating yourself up because you’ve made bad choices and you feel like you’ve blown it for your future husband or wife.
Maybe you’re married, and you know that there is some real dysfunction in your sexual relationship with your spouse because of the baggage you are carrying. You would love to know that kind of intimacy that God originally had in mind for husbands and wives – but it’s too late. If that is you, then you’ve come to the right place, on the right Sunday morning.
How can a person turn back the tide of bad decisions and poor habits and begin to find the restoration of purity that is available in Jesus Christ?
Repent – Choose to turn from sexual sin and towards purity. This is not a decision for next week or next month. If you want to change, it starts today. Repentance means you will need to first turn away from or reject the sexual sins in your life. Next, you will need to turn towards God by allowing the Holy Spirit to so fill your life on a moment by moment basis that you are fixed on Him.
Recognize – Look at your weaknesses and habits. Start wearing new paths. Find a plan and work that plan. Don’t just stop at making a decision. Make plan.
Accountability is key – Don’t do it alone. If you could trust yourself you wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Identify at least one person who can walk this out with you and hold you to your plan.
Prayer – Repent
Phone Call – You’ve got a call to make. Challenge everyone to make a phone call today and ask one person to have coffee with them. When you meet, tell this person what you’ve repented of, what your plan is and ask them to walk it out with you by meeting regularly in the future for prayer and encouragement.
Big Idea: There’s a seedy underside to humanity that threatens to destroy God’s gift of sexuality if it’s not subjected to the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit.
Radio personality Paul Harvey tells the story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sexual sin.
First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more—until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!
It is a fearful thing that people can be “consumed by their own lusts.” Only God’s grace keeps us from the wolf’s fate. There are no exceptions. Every one of us is a sexual being. We have desires, dreams, aspirations, urges and drive.
What areas challenge us most? Magazines, Movies, Television, Billboards, Joggers, Beaches, Romance Novels, Fantasizing about neighbors or co-workers, internet images, internet chat.
God’s Standard is Perfection
There is no such thing as a “victim-less” sexual sin. Every time we engage in a sexual deviation from God’s plan, we hurt ourselves and our partner – even if we don’t have a partner yet. Single men and women here today – listen up – the sexual activity that you participate in NOW will have consequences LATER in your relationship with your future husband or wife. The Bible says, “Do not be fooled, God will not be mocked – whatever you sow, you will reap the consequences.” You need to keep purity in your dating relationships because any impurity then adds to the baggage you will bring with you into your marriage, and it will bring stress to what should be, and is intended to be a wonderful part of your life together.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
v.3 “Avoid Sexual Immorality” What does this mean? Eph. 5:3 tells us:
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.”
We want to measure against our neighbor not against God’s standard as written here. “Sanctified” means to be set apart. It means playing by different rules.
“Hint” Matthew 5:28, “I tell you that anyone who even looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
“You are sexually pure when no sexual gratification comes from anyone or anything but your spouse.” Every Man’s Battle
v.4 “Learn to control his own body” There is hope. God is a God of restoration. Whatever is broken can be fixed. There is hope in Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us in Romans 7:15 that although the grip of sin is not always logical or reasonable, it is real. He says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.” Without control, we are governed by our sin. But through Christ, we see that there is a better way.
2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Take every thought captive. Is that really possible?
“We know those who have failed in their battle for sexual purity and we know some who have won. The difference? Those who won hated their impurity.” Every Man’s Battle
If you want to overcome the sexual sin in your life, you have to choose it.
There are many here who are carrying a load of sexual baggage already. You listen to me today, and inside, if not outwardly, you are nodding your head in agreement. You wish you could go back and do things differently. Maybe you’re a single young man or woman and you’re sitting their beating yourself up because you’ve made bad choices and you feel like you’ve blown it for your future husband or wife.
Maybe you’re married, and you know that there is some real dysfunction in your sexual relationship with your spouse because of the baggage you are carrying. You would love to know that kind of intimacy that God originally had in mind for husbands and wives – but it’s too late. If that is you, then you’ve come to the right place, on the right Sunday morning.
How can a person turn back the tide of bad decisions and poor habits and begin to find the restoration of purity that is available in Jesus Christ?
Repent – Choose to turn from sexual sin and towards purity. This is not a decision for next week or next month. If you want to change, it starts today. Repentance means you will need to first turn away from or reject the sexual sins in your life. Next, you will need to turn towards God by allowing the Holy Spirit to so fill your life on a moment by moment basis that you are fixed on Him.
Recognize – Look at your weaknesses and habits. Start wearing new paths. Find a plan and work that plan. Don’t just stop at making a decision. Make plan.
Accountability is key – Don’t do it alone. If you could trust yourself you wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Identify at least one person who can walk this out with you and hold you to your plan.
Prayer – Repent
Phone Call – You’ve got a call to make. Challenge everyone to make a phone call today and ask one person to have coffee with them. When you meet, tell this person what you’ve repented of, what your plan is and ask them to walk it out with you by meeting regularly in the future for prayer and encouragement.
posted by pastordan at 8:55 AM
1 Comments:
This is so great to hear. I want to encourage everyone to take that difficult step of making that phone call and approaching a friend for accountability. While it is the hardest step, it is a step that you will not regret. My time spent with my accountability partners is the beneficial time of my week.
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