Human Sexuality - Don't be Deceived

Well, I hope hearing Brother Blake's voice and seeing his face helped you like it helped me. I know that Brother Keith said that to me yesterday that just seeing his face and hearing his own story really helped solidify things in his own heart. And so this morning we're going to do, as Brother Blake has asked us to do, our Anchored in Truth Network has asked us to do, and as many pastors and churches are doing in Canada and in the United States, we're going to stand for what God's Word says about human sexuality and we're going to refute what's going on around us in our land and in our world.

Now with all of that being said, I would like you to take your Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We're going to be in verses 9 to 11. Now I will mention a few chapters, a few of the verses, and as always, just kind of jot those down. I always ask you to take notes and you can write those verses down and read them a little later. They all come together to form the message this before us, but we're really going to divide quite a few of these verses and words in 1 Corinthians 6, 9 to 11. And we will read those verses a little later. Now I did say this earlier. I've said it a couple of times.

There are many churches in Canada and in our country that have taken this Sunday, January the 16th, and they have declared it to be Biblical Sexuality Sermon Sunday. Now for me, that title is a little lengthy and it can be a tongue twister. It was a tongue twister for me. I have shortened it. I am going to call it Biblical Sexuality Sunday. It's not just the sermon that takes a stand, it's all that we do today that's going to take a stand for what the scriptures say about human sexuality.

Now the purpose in setting aside one service like this and one sermon like this is to exalt what God's word says about human sexuality as a rebuttal to what the culture and government officials are telling us about human sexuality. And more specifically for Canadian churches and Christians, this is a rebuttal against Bill C. For which makes it a felony crime to try to convert someone from homosexuality in all forms of the homosexual lifestyle. I know that seems preposterous for us. It's hard for us to believe something like that, but it is true. And to do this, we find out what God says about sex and human sexuality from the scriptures.

God tells us what he says about all forms of sex and anything to do with human sexuality from his word. What God's word says here and our declaration of what God's word says will be our declaration of refuting what's going on in the culture and what culture is telling us. Now in my opinion, this circumstance before us with human sexuality will test us in three ways. I really believe this will test us in three ways. Now I'm not talking about a test like you have in school where you're tested to see what you know or what you may not know. I'm talking about a testing that proves what we believe and it proves who we are.

I'm saying that this circumstance with human sexuality in our day and the days to come will test us and prove who we truly are. And we must examine how we are reacting to this circumstance so as to make the right choices today and the right choices in the days to come. Now let me be a little more specific about the testing. First we will be tested to see if we believe in the authority of the scriptures. This is a basic question but we need to ask this right here. Will we believe what God's word says about homosexuality and everything that pertains to human sexuality?

And more than that will we submit to the authority of God's word in all of these matters? And then second I believe we'll be tested to see if we believe God over what the culture says. Another question that gets a little deeper here. Will we believe God and His word even if all of the culture is saying just the opposite? If everyone in the culture says one thing about sex and human sexuality but God's word says the opposite, will we side with popular opinion or will we side with God? And then the third test. We will be tested to see if we will take a stand against what government and government officials and law say is illegal.

Will we submit to what God says about these things even if our government says that we are breaking the law? Even if one day in the right situation that could even mean arrest. You might say pastor declaring what the Bible says about these things isn't illegal here. I know that. You might even say something like this, pastor, we really won't even get any push back here. Well it's getting closer than you may know. This may surprise some of you. Some 14 states already have similar laws prohibiting the conversion of someone from a homosexual type lifestyle.

Now I'm not a Republican or a Democrat and I really don't even like bringing politics into the conversation. But if you remember the Democrats made anti-conversion a big part of their messaging platform during the last presidential election. Some of you will remember that. And if you think about it, they are in office right now. Now what is my point here? What am I saying here? What Canadian Christians are facing today, we certainly will face tomorrow. I think it is safe to assume that and I think we should. What Canadian churches and Canadian Christians are facing today, I believe we will face tomorrow.

And if I'm in error, I hope I'm in error. But look at what we are facing today. Look at what we are facing in our country today. Today we are bombarded by a culture that is completely redefined what it means to be male and female and the culture is continuing to redefine what it means to be male and female. We are surrounded by a world that is constructed completely new standards when it comes to acceptable human sexuality and those standards are still changing and they are not changing for the good. At almost every turn we are forced to see and expected to accept all sorts of sexual perversions and perverts.

But you know, we should know that our circumstance is nothing new. If we know our Bibles, we know that the Corinthian Christians and the Corinthian church face the same thing in their day. Actually in many ways their circumstance was much worse. Bible scholars like William Barclay and other Bible scholars tell us that homosexuality was like a crippling cancer that infiltrated all of Greek life and Greek culture. Therefore it invaded all of Roman society. Experts tell us that it is hard for us in our day to understand just how pervasive homosexuality and the perversion of human sexuality was in Paul's world in their time.

The famous Greek philosopher Socrates was a practicing homosexual. The famous philosopher Plato was probably a homosexual as well. Plato's well-known Symposium on Love is actually an exposition which glorifies homosexual love. He tells us that probably 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors practiced some form of homosexuality. At the time that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, Nero was the Roman emperor and he took for himself a castrated young boy as his lover. He even had taken this young boy in marriage and he gave himself in marriage to another homosexual lover all while he was married to a female.

This type of homosexual sin continued with the Roman emperors that followed Nero. You can follow the trail of perversion. It's there in the history books. And the Corinthian Christians were not just bombarded by this gross homosexuality. They were bombarded by other sexual sin as well. Historians tell us that Corinth was well known for its brothels and its prostitution. It was said that they had the most experienced and expensive prostitutes in their day. Also in their city, they had the temple that was dedicated to the goddess of love, Aphrodite. The temple of Aphrodite was where pagan idolatry and sexual immorality were one and the same.

Simply in worshipping the goddess of love there in Corinth, men would have all sorts of sexual relations with temple prostitutes. You notice it was in the Corinthian church that Paul refuted the sewer of sexual sin and sexual perversions that the Corinthian Christians were facing in their world. In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul rebutted what their culture said was normal and good when it came to human sexuality and he explained and he elevated God's standard for human sexuality. And to me, for me, and for us right here, I believe this is where we should stand.

We will examine how Paul did that in his day and the day of the Corinthian Christians that they were facing. And with God's help, this will be our stand. This will be our declaration. I guess if I can say it like this, with God's help, we'll draw a line in the sand as well. Now I want us to get to our verses, we didn't read them earlier like we normally do. I want us to read them together and then we'll look at them as we go through the message. First Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 to 11. Many of you are familiar with these verses. Paul says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Now out of these verses, out of these verses, I want us to see that Paul gives us four things, four things that will help us, I believe, today in our time. We're going to look at first the fact that Paul gives these Corinthian Christians, and this church a reminder.

Then second he gives this Corinthian church a warning. Both of those are out of verse 9. And then third he gives them an explanation. This is out of verses 9 and 10, and we won't cover all of that. And then last, Paul gives them a praise, and this is out of verse 11. Now I'm confident that everything that Paul gives us here will help us steer clear from the biggest trap that I believe we face here. There's a big trap, and I will share with you what I think the big trap is a little later in the message. So you see how we're going to approach the verses this morning. So let's dive right in. I want us to look at number one, Paul's reminder.

This is what I am calling Paul's reminder. Now if we look at the beginning of verse 9, we see that Paul is asking the Corinthian church, these Corinthian Christians, a question. Look back at the verse, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" See the question? Now I have to ask, did the church not know these things? Had they forgotten what Paul had already taught them? Think about it. Was Paul giving them new teaching, or was he reminding them of things that they should have known, that they should have remembered?

Personally, I think he was reminding them of what they should have known, what they should have remembered. I think he was reminding them of things that should have been solid in their minds, solid in their thinking, and on the forefront of their understanding. But notice what Paul was reminding them of. He was reminding them of God's standards when it comes to life in the kingdom of heaven. The unrighteous will not inherit life in the kingdom. That's what Paul is saying. But a question here. Is Paul talking about the future? Is he talking about the future as in the future in heaven?

Or is Paul talking about life in the kingdom on earth, life in the Christian life, and in the church? Well, I think it's both. Paul is reminding the Corinthian Christians that the unrighteous cannot be saved. They will not enter into the kingdom, into kingdom life, on heaven or in on earth. They are excluded from kingdom life. They are excluded from kingdom life on earth and in the future in heaven. So notice what Paul is doing here. He is reminding those in the Corinthian church of God's standard in regards to who is saved and going to heaven and who is not. He is reminding them that the unrighteous are not.

And even though they had been taught by Paul, they had been taught by Paulus, we know that, and some had even been influenced by Peter, they somehow seem to have forgotten God's standard of who is in and who is out. And even if they had not fully forgotten God's standard, they needed some type of reminding from Paul. Isn't that what we see in the question? Now for us in our day, we must see that one of the most crippling things in the life of a true Christian is when they forget God's standard here. It ruins their ability to witness. It ruins their ability to witness to children and to their family and the co-workers and the neighbors.

It ruins that ability. And if you can't understand and accept God's standard that the unrighteous are not fit to be saved and they're not fit for kingdom life in heaven, you will accept and trust anyone as a Christian when they are not. You will invite anyone and all types of people into your life as a true believer, which can cause all sorts of hurt and all sorts of sin. And ultimately, listen church, ultimately this will render you completely undiscerning in most every area of life. And if you get church leadership off here, they will accept goats into the church's sheep. They will accept wolves into the church's leaders.

They will accept the unrighteous as truly righteous and that can destroy the work of the local church. And ultimately, if you have a church and church leaders that fail here, you have become completely undiscerning in just about every area in the life of the church. So we see this reminder here and this might surprise you, but I think you'll see with me that this is an extremely important reminder. Now I want us to keep going. I want us to notice number two, this is what I'm calling Paul's warning. We see what I'm calling Paul's warning in the second part of the verse.

Now if we look at the second part of the verse, we can easily see the warning. We might have missed the question, but look at the warning. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. There's the warning. Now for those Christians in this church, Paul was pointing out something that was either happening or it was a very real possibility that this could happen. Now think about it. You do not warn someone of spiritual error unless one, they are in error or two, they are definitely capable of going into that error. Well, for this Corinthian church, it must have been both.

I personally speculate that it had to have been both. They must have had some who were clearly in the wrong ear and some who are one step away. So Paul is giving them this much needed warning. Now question we need to ask, we need to see this. How can they be deceived? How? How can this type of deception happen in believers, in true Christians and in a church like this? How can this happen? There are three ways that they could have been deceived and all three can clearly be seen in the scriptures. Now if you think about it, this should come to the surface for you. First of all, they could have been deceived by their own hearts.

They could have easily, easily been deceived by their own hearts. You see, men do not need any help with spiritual deception. Jeremiah 17, 9 says the human heart is deceitful above all things, meaning the human heart can deceive itself. Man can be deceived about spiritual things simply by trusting in self. So those Christians, these Corinthian Christians could have been deceived about who is in the kingdom and who is not simply because of their own hearts. Second, they could have been deceived by their own culture. They could have easily been deceived by their own culture.

Now some are terribly influenced by culture in the world, some more than others. Romans 12, 2 says not to be conformed by this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. This means that by the influence of the world and the influence of culture, one can be deceived. So these Corinthian Christians could have been deceived by the pressures and the influence of their world that was pressing in on them every day. And then third, they could have been deceived by the wrong leaders. They could have easily been deceived by the wrong leaders. Some can easily be led astray here by false teachers, especially the immature.

And that was the case all throughout many of the churches in the New Testament. Colossians 2, 8 says to make sure that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the spirits of the world. This means that there are those who are always looking to deceive others with worldly philosophies and empty deceit. So these in the church there at Corinth, they could have been deceived in this matter of who's in the kingdom and who's not in the kingdom simply by false teachers. But look at the danger. Look at the clear and present danger of this deceit.

This pertains to who is in the kingdom and who is not. This pertains to who is actually saved and who is not. So this deceit is of utmost importance. This is dealing with the deceit of souls and the ability to deal with souls properly. This all pertains to eternal things, eternity, heaven and hell. Now for us, we must take note of this warning. We must pay attention here because listen, we could be in error here. We could. Again, we must see the dangers of being wrong here. It cripples our ability to witness. It ruins our discernment in many other areas of life and spiritual life.

And it can be tragic for the church and church leaders if we fail here. So my question for you is this. Will we take this type of a warning very serious? Even if we feel like we are not deceived here, will we take this warning serious and will we examine to see if we need this reminder and if we need to heed this warning? Now at this point in my message, in my teaching, Paul has not dealt with sexual sin. Paul has not dealt with homosexuality or human sexuality. We've not gotten there yet. But I wanted us to see that first Paul reminded them of God's standard of who's in the kingdom and who isn't. It's right there.

And a part of reminding them of God's standard was warning them that they were deceived here or they very well could be deceived here. You see? They were either in error or they were right there next to error. They were either in this gross error or they were one step away from this error. It could have been easily right around the corner. And look, this is disastrous. This is disastrous. But I want to continue. Third, notice Paul's explanation. I want us to see third Paul's explanation. And we see this in the rest of verse 9 and verse 10. I want to read it and then I'm going to touch on a little of this as we continue.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" There's the reminder. "Do not be deceived." Here's the warning. Now here's the explanation. Neither the sexually immoral nor the idolatrous nor adulterers, no men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. See, he's explaining further what that looks like. Now when we look at the rest of the verses, which is what we have done, we see, I see that Paul is just explaining the standard in more detail. He does not give an exhaustive list of sins that keep someone from the kingdom, no.

He gives, notice, a list that speaks to the major kinds of moral sins that show that someone has never been in the kingdom to begin with. Now it's very important for us to see something here before we continue. This is where some make an error. Paul is not teaching that true Christians can somehow lose their salvation here if they commit these sins. He is saying that people who habitually practice these sins are actually not true Christians. John MacArthur explains this well, and I'm quoting, he says, "Paul is not giving a list of sins that indicate one has lost his salvation.

He is rather giving a catalog of sinners who are typically of the unsaved." Continuing with MacArthur's quote, he says, "Persons whose lives are totally characterized by such sins are not saved, and therefore they are the unrighteous." So we must see that Paul is giving, and I'm borrowing MacArthur's words here, a catalog of sinners whose lives, if they are totally characterized by such sins, they are not saved from their sin, and they are the unrighteous. Now for the sake and the point of our message this morning, I will only focus on the sins that Paul deals with that are of a sexual nature.

Now if you know me, it is really hard to leave these other sins alone. I want to divide it all, but we don't have time. And so for the point of the message and the purpose of what we're looking at this morning, I want us to see the sins that Paul deals with that are of a sexual nature. And here Paul uses four words to deal with two types of sins, four words that deal with two types of sins. One type of sin is of the natural kind, and I will explain that more, and one type of sin is of the unnatural kind. First he singles out the sexually immoral, and then second he singles out the adulterers. I'm going to go back and read verse 9.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor the adulterers, nor adulterers." You see that there? Now notice that Paul differentiates between the sexually immoral, the New American uses the word fornicators, and the adulterers. Here the sexually immoral or the fornicator, it refers to the one who is involved in sexual sin and they are not married. But the adulterer refers to the one who is involved in sexual sin who is married.

The sexually immoral or the fornicator is the one who is sexually active before they are married, and the adulterer is the one who is sexually active outside of their marriage. And the difference can be easy to see. And Paul is saying two things here. First, the one whose life is totally characterized by this type of sin is unrighteous. The one whose life is characterized by this sin is not saved and they will not inherit the kingdom. And the second thing Paul is saying is this. God sees sex between a man and a woman before their marriage and outside of their marriage as sin. It is wrong. He shows it as sin and that it is wrong.

And it is never, ever right. Paul is saying that no matter what happens in Corinth, this is sin. This is wrong. And he is calling these in the Corinthian church not to be deceived here. He is reminding them of God's standard in regards to this natural sexual sin. Sex between a man and a woman is natural. It is not contrary as they were created by God. But before marriage and outside of marriage, it is sinful. Those whose lives are characterized by these sins, no matter how natural or good it may seem, they are the unrighteous. So I pause here and I ask you, do you need to be reminded of the fact that this type of sin is sin?

That sexual activity before marriage and outside of the marriage bond, it is sin. And do we need to be reminded of the fact that it is sin? Folks, our Corinth, our world, our culture tells us that it is good and fine to just let anything go here. Isn't that right? But then third, Paul singles out the effeminate in verse 9. And fourth, he singles out the homosexuals. Now to get this, we need to read this in the New American Standard. The English Standard version takes two words from the original and combines them, but the New American Standard points out two words. Let me read it and you will see it or hear it.

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate," there is the first word, "nor homosexuals." Now I've deviated from the English Standard and I've done that on purpose. I've said it already, the English Standard combines two words from the original, but the New American translates these two words from the original saying "effeminate and homosexuals." Now we need to see what's happening here.

Both words, the effeminate and the homosexual, refer to individuals who exchange natural male/female sexual relations for unnatural male to male sexual relations. But there is a difference in these two words. This word "effeminate" as it is used here speaks of one individual who is soft or dainty. In two places in the New Testament in the Gospels, this word is used to describe clothing. Clothing that is soft, clothing that is dainty, clothing that is luxurious. But here with what Paul is writing, this word is associated with homosexuality and it speaks of one individual who is soft, who is dainty.

Some scholars see this as speaking of the one who is soft and passive in a homosexual relationship while the other word used describes the more active and aggressive. But it is no doubt what Paul is doing here. He is being all inclusive. He is aiming at all types, all roles, and all forms of homosexual activity. Paul is clearly saying two things here. First, the one whose life is characterized by this type of sin is unrighteous. They are not saved and they will not inherit the kingdom of God. And second, Paul is saying that God sees any and all homosexuality as sin. It is wrong.

God sees sexual relations from a man to a man and a woman to a woman as sin. It is always wrong and it is never, ever, ever right. Now notice the difference between the natural and the unnatural. Whereas sex between a man and a woman inside the marriage union is good and accepted, all homosexual activity is forbidden. Any and all homosexual behavior in any form is sinful. In Leviticus chapter 18 and 20, God even calls homosexuality an abomination, which means it is detestable. It is disgusting in the eyes of God. And under the old covenant, it was punishable by death.

And if you look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, homosexuality is the only sin, the only sin that God punished by bringing down hell from heaven upon that sin and those who committed it. And if we look at how God judges peoples and nations who reject Him, homosexuality is one of the sins that God turns people over to. And here Paul is saying that no matter what happens in Corinth, this is sin. This is wrong. And he is calling these Corinthian Christians, this church, not to be deceived here. He is reminding them of God's standard in regards to this unnatural sexual sin.

Sexual relations between a man and a man and a woman and a woman is sin. It is always a sin no matter what Corinth says. Now notice what our Corinth is telling us today about this activity. They're constantly telling us that it's good and it is acceptable. And if you pay attention, it will shock you at those who would have rejected this sin yesterday but today they are soft on this sin and even accepting of this sin. Why? Because they do not want to offend a brother, a son, a daughter, or even a neighbor. See for us in our day, we must be like Paul. He refuted what culture said about these sins. The natural and the unnatural.

He refuted what culture said about these sins no matter who they were or no matter how loud the voices were. And we must accept God's standard when it comes to all forms of sexual immorality, whether it's natural or unnatural. We must accept God's standard here. But you know, we have to look at verse 11. Paul doesn't just leave it there. In verse 11, Paul gives what I'm calling a praise. I'm calling this a praise. I cannot help it. Let's look at verse 11.

"And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." Now thankfully, thankfully Paul does not leave things in verse 10. I call this Paul's praise because to me he was praising God and he was praising the Corinthian Christians for what God had done in them. Of course, even though he may be praising the Corinthian Christians, ultimately and finally he is praising God because all that they were was because of God. But notice what Paul says here in the verse. Paul says that is what you were past tense. That is what you were past tense.

You were formally a fornicator. You were formally an adulterer. You were formally a homosexual. You were formally the effeminate. You were formally all of these things, but that word, but is key. But, but, but. The word, but, that is used here is a very, very strong word in the original which emphasizes the difference between their former life and their new life. Paul is actually saying this, "But, but, but you were all these things, but something has happened to you." Now what happened? Paul tells us. Paul says they were washed, which speaks of the regenerative work and the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit of God.

He says they were sanctified, which speaks of a new position, meaning they were sanctified. They were set apart to God and for God. He says they were justified, which means they were in a right standing before God. Simply, this was a great praise. These Corinthian Christians were all of these things, but God intervened. God, God, by the power and the work of God, they were cleansed. They were set apart. They were made right before God. For us, we must see that the only hope any sinner has is to be washed by the cleansing power and the Holy Spirit of God.

The only hope that any sinner has is to be sanctified and set apart for God and to God and for His purposes. Their only hope is to be justified before God, otherwise they are unrighteous, you see? And more specifically, we must see that the sexually immoral, the adulterers, must be washed, they must be sanctified, they must be justified. We must see that all homosexuals must be washed, must be sanctified, and must be justified. That is their only hope, you see?

And if you have a son or a daughter who is immoral, if you have a mother or a father that is an adulterer, if you have a brother or a sister that is a homosexual, if you have a dear loved one who is more of the effeminate, if you have someone in your family that is the aggressive homosexual, their only hope is Christ. They must be washed by the cleansing, miraculous power of the Spirit of God. They must be set apart for God and unto God and they must be justified. They must be made right with God. That is their only hope and that is the only way we can praise God for what He does in their life.

Now as I move away from our scriptures, I want us all to see that the circumstances that are before us in our day are a great opportunity. You might say, "Pastor, our circumstances are a little different than Black Kingdom in Canada." Yes, that's true. He has a great opportunity. Did you hear him say that? We have a great opportunity. And listen folks, listen church, we shouldn't shrink back. We shouldn't and we can't live in fear. Our culture and world and even government officials are redefining the standards for human sexuality, but this gives us a tremendous opportunity. The great A.W.

Tozer said, and I'm quoting, "Circumstances do not make men. It is their reaction to circumstances that determine what kind of men they will be." You need to get that folks. I'm going to repeat it. Tozer says, "Circumstances do not make men. It is their reaction to circumstances that determine what kind of men they will be." Now think about Abraham. Think about Lot. And their circumstance with the people in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. That circumstance presented Abraham and Lot with a choice and a series of choices.

They could believe God and God's standards for human sexuality, specifically homosexuality, or they could believe the world's standards. Well look at how those two men reacted to their circumstances. Abraham believed God and God's standards. He did not allow the world to influence him nor his family, but not Lot. Lot loved the world in all that the world could offer him and his family, and he did allow the world to ruin his family and even ruin his heritage. You see for Abraham and Lot, it was their reaction to their circumstances that determined the kind of men they would be. Let that sink in.

For Abraham and Lot, it was their personal reactions to their circumstances that determined what kind of men they would be. They had a tremendous opportunity. Abraham reacted one way while Lot the other. So the circumstances in our day with what the world and the culture and even governments are telling us concerning human sexuality, it is a tremendous opportunity for us to be the light of the world. Doesn't that sound familiar? This is our time to let our light shine before men, first so that we can glorify God, and second, so that we may reach some who are living in this darkness of sexual perversion and sin.

Now I want to close by talking about the trap. Remember I said there's a trap right there for us? What is the trap that I believe we face here? What is the one trap that could begin to get us off the rails? I believe the trap that we can fall into is simply being deceived. It's right there in the text, folks, not seeing, not believing, and not understanding what the biblical standard is here. Was it that the trap Paul was warning the Corinthian church about? Was it that the trap that some no doubt had fallen into? They were deceived. They were deceived. Or they were about to be deceived.

And listen, folks, if we do that, if we allow ourselves to be deceived here, we are one step away, if not already accepting what the world says here. Now, what's the title of our message? It comes right out of the scripture. We're dealing with human sexuality. What the Bible says in the title of the message is this, "Do not be deceived." Now one more thing as you pastor, and then we will pray, and we will close. Folks, go home, study these scriptures, examine this reminder and this warning and the standard and all that is here. Let's go home and talk about God's standard, what the Word says about human sexuality.

Let's talk about it with our spouse, with our children, and let's make sure we are firm in all of these areas because some of you have sons and daughters that must hear this. Some of you have sons and daughters who are already fallen prey into these sins. And listen, if we do not, we can ultimately fall into the trap of being deceived. So let's pray. Let's commit what we've studied to the Lord.