Demonstrations of Christian Love - Part 3

Well if you would take your Bible turn back to Hebrews 13. I did say in our scripture reading we will only be in verse 4 in our Hebrews 13 verses. I will mention quite a few other verses. I always try to say that you're welcome to my notes if you need them and any of the material that I reference or scripture references that I give if you need that information I'd be glad to help you there because we want to be good stewards of what the Lord gives us. We don't want to just listen to a sermon. We want to receive it all. Sometimes that means going back and studying a little more.

Some of the messages that have made the greatest impact on my life I have taken them and listened to them over and over and gone back into the scriptures and just planted that word down deep in my heart and mind. Now for two messages we have been introducing our verses with a question. Really it's one question in the form of two. What is the most important possession and pursuit in the Christian life? What should be our greatest pursuit and possession? Our greatest pursuit and possession in life should be love.

A supreme love for God and love for a neighbor that is like ourself and we know that because Jesus has told us and he's taught us those facts. In Matthew 22 37 to 38 Jesus says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself and to love God with all of our heart means that our love for God reigns supreme. We desire to love God with all of our ability all of our power and we strive to do so.

We truly do love him more than anyone anything even self even self and to love God with our soul this means that we love God with all of our life. This means we want to submit to serve and sacrifice our life for him and we live trying to do so. We are even willing to die for him if that's the Lord's will. I know that's a tall order but that's the truth. And to love God with all of our mind this means that we want to love God with our intellect our thinking our reasoning and intellectual efforts are surrendered to him therefore our thinking and reasoning and our intellectual efforts are guided by and governed by his word his ways his teaching.

And then the Gospel of Mark in Mark's account of these things he adds the word strength to love God with all of our strength means we desire to love God with our works with our labor with our life's toil. Ultimately we want to surrender all of our life's efforts and labor to him for him. We strive to do these things. We see this desire and duty in the book of Ecclesiastes and this may surprise some of you. Ecclesiastes 12 13 says fear God and keep his commandments. Let me repeat that fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

This simply means that honoring and fearing God as well as keeping his word should be our preeminent love desire and duty and these desires these duties are born out of they flow out of a love for God and the love of God that is within us. But Jesus didn't stop there he has been showing us that coming out of this greatest desire love and duty should be a love for our neighbors. Again verse 39 and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

So the second greatest possession and pursuit in life is to be a love for our neighbors which comes out of it's born out of this supreme love that we have for God and these two loves cannot be separated if we love God supremely then we will love our neighbors as ourselves. If we love our neighbors as ourselves that proves that we love God supremely. One tells all from the other if we are lacking in one it reveals we are lacking in the other. Let that sink in. If we do not love our neighbor as we should that reveals that our love for God is flawed it's defective it's not what it should be.

If we do love God as we should then we will be seen as loving our neighbor as we should. And for two weeks we have seen what these verses in Hebrews have to do with the first and second great commandments. Actually I have said they have everything to do with the first and second great commandment. If we love God and our neighbor as we should and strive to live these two loves out as the standard of the Christian life we will demonstrate it by first loving the brethren, second loving the stranger that's showing hospitality to the brethren, third loving the suffering even the brethren in prison, fourth loving and honoring marriage, fifth loving sexual purity which is connected to loving and honoring marriage, last loving God's provision and this comes all the way back to loving God.

Loving God. But what if I told you that many in the church today are liars? Liars. Some of us may be struggling with lying and you may not even know it let me repeat that some of us could be struggling with lying and we may not even know it. 1st John 4 20 says if anyone says I love God and hates his brother he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Listen to the verse in the Amplified. If anyone says I love God and hates works against his Christian brother he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Now listen to my translation of that verse. If we do not love the brethren as well as the stranger and the suffering within our church body as we love ourselves we lie. Because if we say we love God supremely but we do not love our brothers that's to prove ourselves to be liars. But what if I told you that many in the church today have an unbiblical faith? Some among us may be struggling with a defective or lacking faith and they may not even know it. Let me restate that. Some here this morning within our church could be struggling with a defective or lacking faith and you may not even know it.

Now we looked at these verses two weeks ago a couple of pages over James 2 14 to 18. James says what good is it my brothers, he's writing to Christians, if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them go in peace be warm and filled without giving him the things he needed for the body what good is that? So also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead. Now listen to my translation now making application to what we see here in Hebrews 13 4 to 6.

If we do not love and honor marriage love and pursue sexual purity and prove it by living out an intentional love for these things in Christian works related to our faith well then our faith is dead at worst it's lacking you see. So church let's make sure we are not struggling with lying. Let's make sure we're not a liar let's make sure we're not struggling with flaws in our faith. I hope and pray none of you possess a dead faith. Our church should be full of truthful Christians. We should be a fellowship of believers who love God and that love is revealed in how we love others especially the brethren.

And we should be a church full of working Christians. We should be a fellowship of believers who demonstrate their Christian faith by living a life full of Christian works especially loving marriage especially loving sexual and moral purity. Now this leads me to the title of the message this is all about demonstrations of Christian love. This is a part three demonstrations of Christian love. Again I want to read the verses and now then I will remind us how we're breaking them down. Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unaware.

Remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them and those who are mistreated since you are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have for he

He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Now, we know by now that we have six exhortations. These are not suggestions. These are commands. First, the call to love the brethren, then the call to love the stranger. Of course, that's hospitality. We covered those in part one. If you didn't get that, you need to go get it. All goes together. Third, the call to love the suffering, even the brethren in prison. And fourth, the call to love and honor marriage. We covered that in our part two.

And again, if you didn't get it, you need to go and get that message. And this morning, we will cover the call to love sexual purity. Now, this is tied to loving and honoring marriage. That all really goes together. And then next week, Lord willing, we will cover the call to love God's provision, which brings us all the way back now to a love for God. We're going to begin and end at the same place. So continuing with our outline, number five, the call to love sexual purity. The call to love sexual purity. Now, it is clear that this call to love sexual purity is connected to the call to love and honor marriage.

So I will briefly recap this call to love and honor marriage, and then I'll put it all together. Remember, this call to love marriage is not a suggestion, nor is it a negative call and command. This is a strong and positive command. And to me, we cannot honor something unless we love it. Think about that. We cannot honor something truly unless we love it. To honor here, it means to esteem, to see as precious and of great, great value. So marriage is to be esteemed and honored by all of God's people. It is to be viewed as an institution of great value in life, and especially in the life of the church among God's people.

And why do we honor marriage in this way? Well, God created it. He established it. And He gave it to us. And He owns the institution. And if He owns the institution, we have no right to do with it as we please. We honor and esteem marriage by obeying and living out what God says about marriage as seen in the scriptures. Doesn't matter what our parents say. Doesn't matter what our grandparents say. It doesn't matter what culture says. What matters is what God says. And God gave marriage purpose. It is for the purpose of having children. Children are a blessing from the Lord.

It is for the purpose of companionship and to help mankind not be lonely. I thought about this quite a bit this week. So many people are lonely today because they do not view marriage the way God views it. And if they did have a godly spouse, well, then they would not be lonely. It is to protect from sexual sin as well. But most importantly, marriage is meant to bring glory to God. Ephesians 5, 31 to 32 shows us that Christian marriage is a picture of Christ's sacrificial love for His church. So we are to love marriage. We are to honor marriage. We are to place great value on marriage.

The institution and ours, the institution and our marriage belongs to God. He gave it to us. It is a great and wonderful gift from God that is meant for good in the life and in the world. And it is meant for the glory of God. In church, we are responsible for that which He gave us. We are responsible to God for that which He gave us. One day, we will stand before God and we will give an account for how we have loved and honored marriage. I thought about this in last week's message. I thought about it this week. This reminds me of the parable of the dishonest manager, the parable of the dishonest steward in Luke 16.

The point of the parable is that we should wisely and faithfully use our earthly goods and resources with eternity in view. And our marriage is included. And as we see in the parable, we will give an account to our Lord at the judgment for how we steward and manage our marriage. Now we are ready for this call to love sexual purity. We see it at the end of the verse. And I want to get at this command by asking two questions. What is the marriage bed? And what does it mean for the marriage bed to be defiled? What does it mean for the marriage bed to be defiled? So what is the marriage bed?

In the language, the word for marriage bed comes from a word which speaks of a place of lying down, a place of resting or sleeping, and a bed for other things, other things that take place in marriage. Simply, marriage bed is an expression, a euphemism, that speaks of personal intimate relations within the marriage. And look, church, this is between a husband, a man, and a wife, a woman. Let me restate that. This is between a husband, a man, and a wife, a woman. And there is no such thing as marriage between two men or two women.

For two people of the same gender to have some kind of a ceremony, say they are married, and live as if they are married, that is unnatural. That is a sin against nature in that the two do not correspond with one another. Basic biology tells you that. And ultimately, and more gravely, it is a sin against God because he clearly and strictly forbids it. Man, man-made laws, governments, and so-called churches may say this is possible and even good. And they may even say that God blesses it, but God says otherwise. In church, I believe it insults God. I believe it infuriates God when people say that two people of the same gender are married.

That should make us mad. It makes me mad. Don't say they're married. It's an impossibility. Never forget that 1 Corinthians 6, 9 says that all unrepentant homosexuals do not go to heaven. It's a blanket statement. It's clear. All unrepentant homosexuals do not go to heaven. The opposite is true. They go to an eternal damnation. And what is this undefiled? The King James and the modern translations use the same language. Undefiled, it means unsoiled and unpolluted. It means free from contamination. It means morally pure and free from any kind of sexual pollution. So step back and note what the author is saying here.

This is a call to love, sexual purity, and specifically the personal, private, and intimate relationship between a husband and a wife. You notice that the author uses kind of some code words to communicate this command, the marriage bed. And he commands us to love sexual purity. And you do that by keeping the intimate marriage relationship pure, clean, and unpolluted. You see, he commands us to love sexual purity. And we do that by keeping that intimate marriage relationship pure, clean, and unpolluted. Now next, we should be looking at the ramifications.

The author goes on to say that God will judge those who do not keep marriage intimacy pure and unclean. Of course, those are those who are unrepentant. But I believe we need to see when we are to keep the intimate relationship between a husband and a wife pure. When? We need to look at when we are to keep this relationship pure and unpolluted. First of all, we keep marriage intimacy pure and uncontaminated before we marry, before we marry. Let me restate that. We keep marriage intimacy pure and unpolluted before we marry.

When we are 13 and we get access to the internet at our grandmother's house, when we are 17 and we have a friend of the opposite gender, a girlfriend or a boyfriend, when we graduate from high school and we go to the prom, when we are 19 and in college and our parents are not around to tell us what to do, when we are 23 and we celebrate college graduation with a trip to the beach with our friends, when we are 27 and living on our own, when we are 35 and longing for a spouse and struggling because we are unmarried, we are to love and keep marriage intimacy pure and unpolluted before we marry and before we come to the marriage bed with the spouse that God provides.

It's like an apple. It's like an apple.

It's either an apple that's been chewed on, or it's clean and untouched. Your life, your mind, your thought life, your body is like an apple. You either come to the marriage altar and the marriage bed sexually clean, pure and undefiled, or you come to the marriage altar and the marriage bed, and you have to tell your brand new wife or husband that somebody's been chewing on the apple. Second, we love and keep marriage intimacy with our spouse pure and unpolluted after we marry, all the time we are married until death. I'll restate that.

We love and we keep marriage intimacy with our spouse pure, unpolluted, undefiled after we marry, all the time we are married until death. When we are off on a business trip hundreds of miles away from home, when our husband is off on a business trip hundreds of miles away from home, when you have children and it seems you never get any time alone, when your spouse has health problems and intimacy is difficult, maybe even downright impossible, when your spouse gains 40 pounds and they do not look like they did when they were 20, well, what about when you gain 40 pounds?

We are to love and keep our marriage intimacy pure and undefiled when we are married and after we've been married 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, no matter the challenges and the difficulties we face, no matter how pretty the other woman is, no matter how that other guy makes you feel, we are to love and keep that marriage relationship pure until death. Let me go a little further. We are to keep the marriage bed free from lust for another. This word pornography. You do realize, sir, if you're in the barn looking at pornography, you bring that right back into the home, into the marriage relationship.

Years ago, I was helping a minister with a counseling case and he told me, he said, I've had a rash of women who have been dealing with pornography. We keep the marriage bed free from lust from another. And look, sir, look, ma'am, if you're dealing with pornography, it is a sin, a grievous sin. You need to cut your right hand off according to Jesus. That might mean getting rid of your phone. We are to keep the marriage bed free from flirtations from or with another. We are to keep the marriage relationship and intimacy free from unhealthy relationships with someone of the opposite sex.

There is a line we just do not walk up to, much less step over. I thought about it like this. Illustrations are good. Y'all know that most of the time, or all the time, I have a glass of water up here. My cup is reasonably clean. But I always put fresh, clean water in here. You know, sometimes I go into the restrooms behind your children. I have a point. If you took one drop of that toilet water and you put it in that cup of water, I wouldn't drink it. It's polluted. Here's my point, sir. Here's my point, ma'am. We are to keep our marriage bed, our marriage relationship, our home free, unpolluted, undefiled.

Not one drop of pollution is permissible. Listen to what the Amplified says. Marriage is to be held in honor among all that is regarded as something of great value. Then the second part of the verse. The marriage bed undefiled by immorality or any sexual sin, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. When I was studying this week and when I got to this part of the message, I thought about our marriage vows. I went back and I looked in my files of different marriage ceremonies and marriage vows. The last marriage I had the privilege to perform was Annie and Elijah's. Well, I pulled out the vows. Listen to the vows.

To the groom, Elijah, repeat after me. I, Elijah, take Annie to be my wedded wife to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live. And then I said, Elijah, do you take those vows in front of God and family and your church family? And to the bride, Annie, I said, repeat after me. I, Annie, take you, Elijah, to be my wedded husband to have and to hold from this day forward for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live.

And then I asked Annie, do you take those vows in front of God, family, and your church family? Now, what is my point? If we take our marriage vows serious, we will not allow sexual pollution anywhere near our home. What does the verse say? What does the verse say? The marriage bed undefiled by immorality or any sexual sin. And church, listen. Listen to your pastor. Work on your marriage. Cherish your marriage. Spend time with your spouse. Do whatever you have to do to have a good marriage.

Keep your marriage relationship pure because you love God first, you love your spouse second, you love your children, you love your family, you love your church family, and so on. And teach your children marriage purity by how you live. Then you teach them verbally. I thought about this this week. My dad passed away this past June a year ago. I can honestly say I never saw my dad's eyes follow a woman across the room. I never heard him say one word about another woman. Never. His eyes were only for my mother. His words were only for my mother. I saw it. Work on your marriage.

Keep your marriage relationship pure because you love God, you love your spouse, you love your children, you love your family. Teach your children marriage purity by how you live. They're watching you. And teach them verbally. Take time to intentionally teach them these things. Obviously, you teach your 13-year-old different than you do your 8-year-old. Finally, the ramifications. The author goes on to say that God will judge those who do not keep marriage intimacy pure and unpolluted. Now, here we need to see who and what. Who is judged and what this judgment is. First, the sexually immoral are judged.

Now, if we look at the different translations, we see some different language. The English Standard and the Legacy Standard, they say sexually immoral. The New American uses the word fornicators, but the King James says whoremongers. That'll get your attention. These are simply different ways, different words to translate the same thing in the original. Now, in the original language, the word here has a strict meaning. It speaks of a man who prostitutes his body to another for hire. And originally, it was used of prostitution, but it came to have a broader meaning to the Jews in that day.

It came to speak of any and all kinds of unlawful, ungodly relations, including adultery, homosexuality, incest, and other forbidden sexual relations. In the New Testament, this very word is used to describe a sexually immoral person and sexual immorality. Its meaning is not limited to prostitution or simply one sin, but it's used broadly to encompass any sexual activity forbidden by God. And here in our verse, although the author used a word that specifically pertained to a man who prostituted himself for hire, it is clearly speaking of any and all sexual immorality that is forbidden by God. It's a broad term.

That's why the English standard says sexual immorality. But then second, the adulterous are judged. Here, all the translations basically say the same thing, and the original uses a word for adultery, adulterer. It's really straightforward. And this is used in a general way as well. It was used to speak of sexual sin outside the marriage. The adulterer is one who is married, but commits sexual sin with one they are not married to. So notice what the author is doing here. He's covering all the sexual immoral bases. He says that God will judge those who commit any and all sexual sin that is forbidden by God as seen in the Scriptures.

And look, church, the only acceptable form of sexual activity is found...

Inside the marriage, between the man and the woman, the husband and the wife, anything before or outside the marriage union is sin. It's clear. The only acceptable form of sexual activity is found inside the marriage, between the husband and the wife. Anything before or outside that marriage union is clear, blatant sin. And scholars tell us that in this first century culture, this was strange, this was unreasonable by the culture standards. All sorts of sexual immorality and perversions were seen as normal. Well, how in the world does our world view sexual purity today?

If you stand for biblical sexual purity, you will be ridiculed, made fun of, and laughed off the stage. Third, what is this judgment? The author clearly says, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. And this speaks of separating, this word judgment. It speaks of selecting or choosing, and this relates to either gaining approval or condemnation. And this is what we have here. God is the supreme judge, and he will separate all the sexually immoral and adulterous people to be judged for their violations of his word and law. And that is not the end. They will be judged in hell for those sins for all of eternity.

Paul says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6-9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? You might say, Pastor, it says nothing about sexual sin. Well, the next part of the verse. Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor the adulterers, nor the adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality. And look, not inheriting the kingdom of God is inheriting eternal damnation in hell. I love a few things that Kittel gives in his theological dictionary. There are three things we should see here. First, the certainty of this judgment. The construction of language tells us God will judge.

This is a declaration of fact. This is not a possibility. God will judge. Second, the objects of this judgment. All the unrepentant sexually immoral face God's judgment. There are no exceptions, no matter what popular opinion says. Third, the authority behind the judgment. God is the authority behind the judgment. God is God. God is judge. And by His right and righteous character and word, He will judge because He is the one and only supreme God and judge. Now, many of you use William MacDonald's Bible commentary. It's a good resource. I like something he says here, but I think he's a little off. I'm going to adjust it.

MacDonald says, no form of immorality will escape. He judges it in this life through bodily ailments, broken families, mental and nervous afflictions, personality deformities, unless it is pardoned through the blood of Christ, he will judge it in eternal fire. But to me, I do not think we should call bodily ailments, broken families, mental and nervous afflictions, personality deformities from all these sexual immorality judgments. To me, these are consequences. Let me restate that.

I believe bodily ailments, bodily ailments, broken families, mental and nervous afflictions, and personality deformities, and you can add to the list, those things are consequences. Let me talk to you about consequences. Folks, don't go out there and sow your wild oats and suffer the consequences for grievous sin and then blame it on God or blame it on trials. Don't do that. If you throw a rock up in the air, it's going to fall and hit you on the head. And if you ask God about it, He may say you shouldn't have thrown the rock. There are horrible, grievous consequences that people face today because of all these gross, immoral, sexual sins.

Consequences. Consequences. My wife will tell you, she spent years helping people deal with the consequences of sin. Not just sexual sin, but all sorts of sin. Consequences. Consequences. But I want to speak about another word he used, pardon. When we come to faith in Christ, yes, we can be forgiven. We can be pardoned. And if you've come to faith in Christ and you've committed sexual sin before, I'm not trying to beat you up or shame you. No. Pardon. We can be pardoned and we can be forgiven. But one thing we do see is when people do come to faith in Christ, yes, they are forgiven.

Those consequences sometimes just follow them all throughout life. Now notice what I'm showing you, church. And I pray that God sears these things with the red-hot iron of the Holy Spirit. First, there are unavoidable consequences on earth when people commit any and all the sins that fall under the umbrella of sexual immorality and adultery. Even when one comes to faith, yes, they're forgiven, but the consequences tag along. And second, the unavoidable judgment of God. It's not on earth. It's brought about throughout all of eternity.

For those who are unsaved, unforgiven, they will suffer the just punishment and judgment of God for those sexual sins in hell for all of eternity. So notice what we have here. It's quite a lot. You might say, Pastor, I can't believe you got all of that out of verse 4. There's more notes I left on my desk. And as I wrap up what we have seen here in verse 4 and beyond, I want us to read the verse in the Amplified, and then I want to move to some application in the conclusion. Listen to the Amplified. Marriage is to be held in honor, loved among all. That is regarded as something of great value. That should be said of all of us, Grace Life.

And the marriage bed undefiled, unpolluted, clean, pure from immorality and any sexual sin, for God will judge the sexually immoral and the adulterous. So this is the call to love, sexual purity, obviously connecting it to the love and honoring marriage. Now, as I move away from the verse, I want to speak about our witness to one another, our families in the world. Our witness to one another, our families in the world. Last Wednesday night, we studied the miraculous and mighty ministry of Paul. Of course, there were others with him while he was in Ephesus. This is his third missionary journey, Acts 19, 11-22.

And we saw the great direct and indirect miracles performed by Paul. The sick were healed and evil spirits were cast out by the hand of Paul, and even handkerchiefs that had been touched by Paul were carried away to the sick, and the sick were healed, and the demonic spirits were driven out simply by touching Paul's handkerchief. And in the message, we asked the question, are we to perform great apostolic miracles today? Well, the answer is no. And if you want to understand why we should not, you need to go get that message.

But I went on to say that the greatest gospel, Christianity, and church-authenticating miracle we can give the world today is the miracle of the new birth and a life made holy by the power and the work of the Spirit of God in the life. Let me restate that. The greatest gospel, Christianity, and church-authenticating miracle that we can give the world today is the miracle of the new birth and a life made holy by the work of the Spirit of God in our life. Well, I want to add to that this morning.

Church, when professing Christians, ministers in churches, are not sexually pure and clean, that denigrates and destroys the witness of Christ, the gospel, and Christianity in the church. Think about the damage, the sexual sins, of those who profess Christ due to the witness of Christianity in the church when they commit those grievous sins. Here a while back, one of the elders of the church was talking to me about a local pastor. Grievous sexual sin. Think about that. The damage the sexual sins of professing Christians do to the witness of Christianity in the church when they commit those sins.

So as a church and a people, we must, we must, we must be presenting to one another our faith.

our community in the world the miracle of sexual purity. We must be a people who love and honor marriage, therefore we love sexual purity. And if we do honor marriage, if we do love sexual purity, we will affirm and authenticate the gospel Christianity and the church. Now I want to close with four points of application. I'm taking a little more time, but you need this. So maybe sit up straight. Lunch will get here. Pornography. If you've got it in your life, get rid of it. Hard pornography, soft pornography. If you've got it in your life, get rid of it. If you need help, go see one of the men if you're a man.

If you need help, go see one of the women if you're a woman. You're welcome at my house anytime. If you knock on the door, come on in. I'll help you. Sometimes ladies will come to the house for counsel. I'll just go to the back or leave. I don't ask. If you're dealing with pornography, deal with it. I have shared things like this with you before. I led a very privileged life growing up. My grandfather owned 450 acres that I got to hunt on, fish on. I mean it was like heaven on earth. My grandfather was a very eccentric man. He would catch rattlesnakes.

He would catch rattlesnakes, grown rattlesnakes, and he kept them in a pen in the basement of a house. Three, four, five foot rattlesnakes. And he was so eccentric, he would catch rats to feed the snake. I've got a point. He would always look at us grandsons. He'd say, boys, don't ever pick up that snake. Don't you ever pick up a rattlesnake. We would say, granddaddy, don't worry. You're the one that's got one in the cage, not us. If you're playing around with pornography, you're playing with a rattlesnake. It'll kill you. It will destroy you. The internet, what a wonderful tool, but what a dangerous tool.

You're one or two or three clicks away from hell. You're one or two or three clicks away from the sewer, the cesspool, the septic tank of hell. Guard your children. Guard your little boys. Guard their minds. Guard your girls. Look, you can have all of the parameters set up and they can go to a friend's house. They can go to the grandmother's house. The internet is a wonderful tool. We use it every day. If you need help, we'll help you. Parents, be proactive. Make plans. Talk. Do the best you can, but you won't be perfect. There'll come a day when something will happen and you'll question everything you did. I've been a terrible parent.

That might not be the case. We live in a perverse world. Be proactive. Parents, look to older parents. They can help you. Many times they'll sit down and just give you great wisdom and they'll say, I have this great wisdom because I didn't have that wrong. One more, mentors. Parents, encourage. Help your son or daughter find a mentor in our church. If you're an older man or an older woman, you should be mentoring our younger people. You might say, pastor, wait a minute, that's my son, that's my daughter. I'm thankful my girls have had mentors. There are ladies in this room that my daughters have spent time with.

There have been times in my daughter's younger years, they'd say, I'm gonna go to so-and-so's house and talk to them about it. In my mind, I thought, go ahead on, girl. Just go ahead on. She's gonna tell you the same thing we would tell you. Look, church, it takes a church to raise our children. And church, I'll end with one verse. Paul says in Ephesians 5 3, but sexual immorality in all impurity, all impurity, that one advertisement that keeps scrolling up and you keep looking at, that television show you shouldn't see, the music you listen to.

I was at the dentist this week, in the chair, thinking about, meditating on these verses, song after song, oldies, and all they were singing about was perversions. But sexual immorality and all impurity, covetousness, must not even be named among you as is proper among the saints. So, demonstrations of Christian love, a call to love, sexual purity.