Robert Morris - Passing the Purity Test
All right. So we're in a series called Dream to Destiny. I thought of something. When church was really small, it was the very first time I was ever doing this series. And I had it in my notes, actually, and I thought, "Well, I'm going to tell him about it". I got a letter, not an email, a letter, from a little boy, six, seven, eight years old, I would assume, in crayon, asking me to come speak at his school's chapel service. He attends one of the Christian... Attended, I guess he's grown now, but attended one of the Christian schools in our area. And so he said, "Pastor Robert, would you please come speak in our chapel"? And he said, "I have three reasons". Like three points, you know, so. He said, "Number one, they really need you. Number two, they don't bring in funny speakers for chapel". And number three really got me. He said, "We have spaghetti and blankets". And so I thought, "Okay, I'm going. If you'll give me spaghetti and a blanket afterwards, I'm in".
All right, so we're in a series called Dream to Destiny, that God gives every person dream, every person destiny, and just in life, we go through trials and tribulations and testing. And our testing produces character, and our character can support the destiny. So we've talked about the pride test that Joseph went through. We're using his life as an example. The pit test; last week, the palace test. This week is Passing the Purity Test. And so, I read a little part of, verse 6 was where we ended last week in Genesis 39, and I thought I'd just add that to show you how it goes right into verse 7 where we start.
All right. So, Genesis 39:6 says, "Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife", that'd be Potiphar's wife, "cast longing eyes on Joseph". I wanted you notice "longing eyes" because we're going to come back to that. It's a key to overcoming impurity. "And she said, ‘Lie with me.'" It'd be like they slept together, is the way we'd say it today. "But he refused and said to his master's wife, ‘Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness'", notice what he calls sexual impurity, "'great wickedness and sin against God?'" How can I sin against God? "So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day..."
I just want you to notice. Our battle is not with flesh and blood, so I'm not talking about this woman and putting her down. It was the enemy attacking Joseph through her. But this is the way the enemy attacks. He'll never give you a day off. "Day by day". "That he did not", Joseph, it says that he did not heed her. This is where it's talking about Joseph now. "He did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her". And notice, he did nothing wrong. "But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me.' But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside". This fleeing, or running, is congruent with the New Testament scripture, 1 Corinthians 6:18, that says, "Flee sexual immorality". In other words, you need to literally run from it because it is a trap that can catch you.
So, I want to tell you some things about impurity. All right? Here's number one: Impurity affects your family. I don't really think we realize how much, if we open a door in this area and leave that door open; because many of us have opened this door before. Many of us have had struggles in this area. But you can repent, and you can walk away, and you can close that door. But if you leave a door of impurity open in your life. it will affect your children, it will affect your grandchildren, it will affect your family.
One of the most famous examples of this, 2 Samuel 11, is when David fell in adultery with Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 11:2, "Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold". Remember we talked about Joseph was handsome. This woman, the Bible tells us, was beautiful. All right? So David falls in 2 Samuel 11. I want you to see how this affects your family and how it quickly affects. 2 Samuel 12, Nathan confronts him, confronts David, and he repents. 2 Samuel 13, his children fall immorally. It's amazing. 2 Samuel 11, he falls. 2 Samuel 12, the prophet confronts him. He even repents. But 2 Samuel 13, his children fall.
And I'm going to show you what I believe is David's part in this as well, all right? So I'm going to read a lot of 2 Samuel 13, but this is probably the best passage on impurity to show us one of the reasons God says stay pure in this area. All right? So 2 Samuel 13:1 says, "After this..." Just want you to notice. In other words, after what? After David commits adultery. That's what this is talking about. "After this Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister..." Notice again the word lovely because we're talking about lovely, beautiful, handsome. We're going to talk about all the people that we hate. Okay, so, "...Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her".
Just want you to notice that the Bible says he loved her. So, if the Bible says he loved her, he actually did love her, because we're going to see what happens when love turns to lust. Now, let me explain something. David had 300 wives, okay? It was a cultural thing. God never rebuked him for having 300 wives. He did rebuke Solomon for having so many wives because they drew his heart away. But with David, in this day and age, they would marry, these kings would take a wife as a military alliance with another nation. And so, the wife that he took, which was Absalom and Tamar's mother, it tells us also she was very beautiful. Remember, it says Tamar was lovely. It tells us Absalom was very handsome, but she was very lovely, beautiful, it says, but her father was the king of a nation, a small nation right on the Sea of Galilee.
So David probably did this as a military alliance, we think. Okay. That's what most theologians would believe. But you've got Absalom and Tamar from one mother, but David's the father; Amnon, who loves Tamar. David is the father, but he has a different mother. So she is his half-sister. Everyone got all that? Sounds like a soap opera, I know, but some of the Bible does. It just happens, all right, because it involves humans. All right. "Amnon," verse 2, "was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her".
Now, you almost think because she was a virgin it was improper, and obviously that would be true. But it was improper because the law explicitly states twice in Leviticus and once in Deuteronomy that you are not to have a physical relationship with a half-sister or half-brother, okay? And I'm going to show you the one in Deuteronomy, just so you'll have it, 27:22. "Cursed is the one who lies with his sister", now watch how it shows a half-sister, "the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother". So it would be wrong for a full sister, obviously, too, but even a half-sister. This is in the law, all right? The daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.
So that's why it would be wrong for him to do it. And he knew it was. Now, so he knows it's wrong. He's in love with her, though. Verse 3, "But Amnon had a friend", choose your friends wisely, "whose name was Jonadab the son of Shimeah, David's brother". So that's his cousin. Sorry, you're thinking, "My gosh. This is a soap opera". Okay. "Now Jonadab was a very crafty man". This is similar to the word, it talks about Satan being subtle. He was like the enemy, in essence. "And he said to him, ‘Why are you, the king's son'", notice how he's even manipulating him, "'the king's son becoming thinner day after day? Will you not tell me?' Amnon said to him, ‘I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.'"
I want you to notice again, he loved her. He actually loved her. "So Jonadab said to him, ‘Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, "Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand".' Then Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill; and when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, ‘Please let Tamar my sister come and make a couple of cakes for me in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.' And David sent home to Tamar, saying, ‘Now go to your brother Amnon's house, and prepare food for him.' So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was lying down. Then she took flour and kneaded it, made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. And she took the pan and placed them out before him, but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, ‘Have everyone go out from me.'"
Now, that's another no, no, is to be alone with someone that you're not married to, that you're attracted to or in love with, "but he refused to eat. Then Amnon said, ‘Have everyone go out from me.'" Okay, so I already read that. "And they all went out from him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, ‘Bring the food into the bedroom'", another no, no, "'that I may eat from your hand.' And Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them to Amnon her brother in the bedroom. Now when she had brought them to him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, 'Come, lie with me, my sister.'" In other words, let's sleep together. "But she answered him, ‘No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing! And I, where could I take my shame? And as for you, you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore'", listen to this, "'please speak to the king; for he will not withhold me from you.'"
Now, I think that actually, by this, I'm making an assumption that she actually loved him, too. Otherwise, she wouldn't have said, "Just ask my dad, we can get married. We can do this the right way". We don't know whether David would have done it because of the law, but he might have done it. We don't know, because she thinks that he would. Okay, so ask the king. He won't withhold me. Verse 14, "However, he would not heed her voice; and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her". He raped her. Watch verse 15 carefully. "Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her". He really did love her, but you're going to see how it affects you when you go into impurity. His love turned to hate.
"And Amnon said to her, ‘Arise, be gone!' So she said to him, ‘No, indeed! This evil of sending me away is worse than the other that you did to me.' But he would not listen to her. Then he called his servant who attended him, and said, ‘Here! Put this woman out, away from me, and bolt the door behind her.'" And all of the ladies said, "Jerk"! Okay, here's what I want you to understand. When love turns to lust, and lust is fulfilled, then love can turn to hate. And here's why.
One of the reasons, young ladies, that he loves you is he respects you. The very thing that the world tells you to give him so you can keep him could be the very thing that causes you to lose him, because he lost it. It's love and respect. It's all through Scripture. Love and respect. Love and respect. You can't love someone you don't respect. This is amazing to me. He loves her, but once his love turned to lust, and he fulfilled his lust, we're told by the Bible, "he hated her exceedingly". He hated her, and the hatred was more than the love. I want you to understand, Satan is cruel. Satan wants to ruin your life. He definitely wants to stop you from fulfilling your destiny, but he wants to steal from you, and he wants to kill you, and he wants to destroy your life. And he knows what sexual impurity does to a relationship. And here it is right here. I mean, we have it right there.
Now, here's the biggest thing that I wanted you to see from this story. Amnon says to David, "Please let my beautiful sister come into my bedroom, and let me eat from her hand". Any father could have seen through that, but why couldn't he see through that? Because he had an open door in that area in his own life. I'm telling you, men, listen to me. You leave this door open in your life, and you can bring them to church and do all you want in that area, but you're leaving a door open to the enemy for your family. And that's what... Come on! Any father would have seen through this and said, "What? You want her to come to your bedroom? Listen, pal, you're not fooling me. I invented this. Do you understand"? It'd be like when your kid says, "I'm sick. I can't go to school".
And you would say, "Okay, hold on a minute. Now, this is the day the state fair opens. You asked me if you could skip school and go to the state fair with your friends. Your mother and I have to go to work, and now you tell me you're sick? I invented this! I was pretending to be sick before you were even born". Sexual impurity will affect your family if you allow it in your life.
All right, here's number two: Impurity affects your faith. It affects your relationship with God. The reason it affects your relationship with God is because you have to have deception in your life to have sexual impurity. You have to. Let me show you this scripture, James 1:14 says, "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished", which is what happened to Amnon, or fulfilled, "it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren".
In order to walk in sexual impurity, you have to learn to lie. You have to learn to be manipulative. You learn to be deceptive. You learn to have a pretend relationship with people. You learn to put up a facade. When you're dating and you and your boyfriend have decided to start entering into an impure relationship, when your parents say, "What are you all going to do tonight"? You don't say, "We're going to have sex". You lie. And then when you get home and they say, "What did y'all do"? You lie. Please hear me. It opens up a door to so many other things that you don't want in your life.
So, when God tells us to stay pure in this area, it's not because He's a prude. It's not because He doesn't want you to have fun. It's because sin, when it's accomplished, it brings forth death. He knows that. It's like when a parent says to his children, "Don't play in the street". It's not because he doesn't want them to have fun. He doesn't want them to be killed. It's the very same thing.
So, I want to tell you a little about this so you can understand what impurity does when you open up to it. When you have an impure sexual relationship before marriage or even during marriage or whatever; anytime you have an impure sexual relationship, you get this adrenaline rush. And so, let's talk about before marriage. I was speaking to some youth one time, and a young couple in the front row, I was saying, "Ask me some questions. Let's just be honest. Let's just be open. We all struggle in different areas, even sexual temptation. If you have a question about that, ask me". So this couple in the front row said, "We just want to ask you, if we love each other, and we're going to get married anyway. What difference does a piece of paper make"?
Now, notice how crafty the enemy is to phrase that, as if it's the piece of paper that makes the difference. By the way, I'm just going to tell you what Debbie and I did, and you may not have the same conviction, but we told our kids, "We will pay for your education". And we told all three of them, "When you meet the right person," and we're talking about a godly person, it's confirmed by us, confirmed by his or her parents, whether it was one of our sons or our daughter. When it's the right person, we would say, "Go ahead and get married and we will continue to pay for your education". I've had many, many people say, "We've got two more years. We can't get married because our parents won't continue to pay for education if we get married". And yet they've got two years. Listen, God did not design two people to love each other and not be physical. And so we said, "We'll pay for it".
So, all of our kids, it was, I think, eight to nine months for Josh and James and seven months for Elaine, once they met, until they got married. And they've been married for many, many years now, and all doing great, but we continued to pay for the education. Here's what I said, "I would rather you enter..." I'm trying to think of the exact words that I used because I wrote it down. Well, I can't find in my notes, so I'll just say what I think it is. I said, "We would rather you enter into marriage poor and pure than educated and impure". It's that important. And so I'm just telling you what we did. You can do whatever you want with your kids, but I'm just telling you, we said, "When you meet the right one, and we know it's the right one, God didn't design you to wait two or three years. He just did not. So, we want you to go ahead and do it".
So what happens, though, when you have premarital sex, you develop an appetite, an adrenaline rush, but it's an appetite for sneaking-around sex. And then when you get married, you don't have to sneak around anymore. And that's why a man or woman will say, "It's just not the same. I don't feel the same as before we got married". That's why some people say, "We're not going to get married because we're might ruin it". Isn't that amazing how the enemy then came brought that lie into it. So, what will happen is a man or a woman will begin to flirt or talk with someone else, and they have to cover it up. They have to be deceptive. What they're actually doing is fulfilling that desire, that appetite that God never intended you to have. It's not always this way. For men, many times it's sexual; for women, many times it's emotional.
So when you take polls. We've got the marriage conference coming up in October. Everyone sign up for that, please, please, please. Debbie and I will be speaking. Others will be speaking. But men will list sex, when you say, "What are your needs"? They'll list sex as one or two. One or two. Women in the last poll I saw listed sex as number 13, and gardening was number twelve. It's one of the things when I get a chance to talk to God, I'm going to ask him about this deal. Okay? But what a woman needs is emotional security and emotional attention, and if a man gives it to her at work and you don't give it to her, something could happen. So what happens is, let's just go with the man now. So, he has this premarital affair with the woman he's going to marry. He gets married. They don't have to sneak around anymore. He has an appetite, though, for sneaking-around sex. So, he'll begin to have an affair with this woman.
What's happening is he is satisfying the appetite that the two of you created before you ever got married. This is why God says, don't do this; not because He's a prude, but because He knows this is not an appetite you're supposed to have. And so, then he'll begin to feel with this woman like the way he felt with you before you were married. And he associates those feelings with love because that's the way he felt with you. But now he's feeling it with her, so he divorces you and marries her. Now just think about it. He doesn't have to sneak around anymore.
This is why some people, not everybody that's had multiple marriages, and I'm not saying anything to condemn anyone here, please. But this is why some people have been married three and four and five times, because they've created an appetite that can never be satisfied except in an illicit relationship. You all hearing me? And this will affect your relationship with God because you'll come to church and have your hands raised but your heart covered. You learn to lie and be deceptive. So, it affects your family, it affects your faith.
Number three: Impurity affects your future. Proverbs, Solomon is talking about a young man that... First of all, he talks about an immoral woman that when her husband goes out of town, she brings young men into her house. And it's a whole chapter of Proverbs 7. It's a great chapter to read. But he talks about one specifically young man. Proverbs 7:18. This is the immoral woman talking. She says, "'Come, let us take our fill of love until morning...'"
By the way, it's not love. Lust is never love. "'Let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; He has gone on a long journey; He has taken a bag of money with him, And will come home on the appointed day.' With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, With her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her", listen, watch this, "as an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, Till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare", now watch this, "He did not know it would cost his life". I said, it will affect your future.
Now listen, if you've fallen immorally, I'm not saying you forfeited your destiny. But I will say this, if you continue down that road, you will not fulfill your destiny for God, and it will cost your life. And when I say your life, you might live to be 95 years old, but it'll cost the life that God had for you because He had a good life plan for you. He has good plans for. That's what Jeremiah says. So, it affects your future, and then I have four points again this week. It's a bonus. It's a bonus. It's free. So you don't have to add in another 1% to your tithe or anything. It's free. Okay?
Number four: Impurity begins in the eyes. Now, this is the key, Because you might say, "Okay, I got it. It affects my family, my faith, my relationship with God, it affects my future. So what's the answer, Pastor"? It does not begin in the heart. That's what people think. It begins in the eyes. This is so simple to overcome this. And remember, it says, "She cast longing eyes". Remember, we read that, she cast longing eyes on Joseph. All right, here's Jesus backing it up, Matthew 5:28, in the Sermon of the Mount. "'But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her...'"
Now, I want you to look at the words I underlined there. Just look at them. Leave that on the screen for a minute, all right? Look at the last word, "adultery". Before that, when you back up, you'll see the word "lust". But before that, you see the word "looks". See, somehow we think, and we see that he's already done it in his heart, so we think, "This is in the heart". Before it ever got in his heart, it was in his eyes. Listen to me. This is very simple. Don't look at handsome people. Some of you are thinking, "Pastor, I have no problem, if you've seen my husband". Okay, I understand. Don't look at beautiful people.
Now, I don't mean don't have a conversation. I'm saying, look in the wrong way. I'm saying, look to desire, is what the word lust means. Let me say it another way. My youth pastor said that the second look is lust. That didn't help me. I just took one long first look. But I have realized, as a person who's overcome this and who had a very difficult problem in this area, I've realized that looking is what stirs it up. That's why pornography and all the things on the internet now that you can go to so easily are wrong. And people say, "I've got a problem with lust". And nearly every time, now, I say, "Do you look, though, at things you shouldn't look at"? This is so simple. I've had to train myself. When I'm driving down the road and there's a woman jogging, don't look, don't look, don't look. Literally, just train yourself not to look and don't look at... For me, Debbie and I love movies, okay, and she's never had a problem in this area.
So, if a movie had a little bit of nudity, it did not affect her the way it affected me. She gets affected by if a movie has violence. I can see a guy's head get blown off and love it. I think it's the greatest thing in the world. And then I go back and watch it in slow motion. It's beautiful. But she can't sleep that night. She's just, like, rattled because she saw that. So she doesn't want to see movies that have a lot of violence. She'll say to me sometimes, "Hey, I have a Pink Night, so you can watch a guy movie". And so, I can watch then. They just kill them all. Kill them all. And here's one, because you'll recognize this one, because they killed your dog. They killed his dog. And, boy, he got them. They never should have killed his dog. All right, but she doesn't like those movies. But for me, I have to say to her, "I can't see a movie that has nudity in it because in this area, I was an alcoholic".
Do you understand what I mean by that? An alcoholic can't have one drink. I can't have one look because it can stir it up in me. And you need to decide, have I had an addiction or a bondage issue in this area. Now, again, we've got the marriage conference coming up, so I'm going to speak very directly to married couples here. Ma'am, let me talk to the ladies for a minute, if your husband has a problem with this, it does not mean that he doesn't love you. It means he has an appetite that God did not intend for him to have. It's an unhealthy appetite. And the best thing he could do is talk to you about it. Please hear me, because I've had guys that talk to their wives about it, and their wives go bonkers because they feel insecure. They feel threatened. I understand that. But he's not telling you he's not attracted you. He's not telling you that he has a problem loving you. He's telling you, "I have an appetite that's unhealthy".
Let me say another way. Try to remember these two words, even if you want to write them on your phone or something. "Struggle together". If you're married, let him struggle with you. Here's the why, Satan works, "Here's the why," that's stupid. But here's why. Satan works in darkness, and if he can't talk to you about it, then you're encouraging him to keep it covered. He needs to bring it out in the light. So please, please, please. I understand that you might need some marriage counseling. Okay? You might want to kill him. I understand that. But let him... Okay, so I'm going to give you an analogy that's not a good analogy. I'm just telling you right now, it's not a good analogy. The reason is the severity of the two are just on opposite ends of the spectrum. I mean, the severity of impurity and the severity of this other are totally not even close. The three sins, basically, the three categories of sin in 1 John are the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes.
Notice, two of them have to do with lust: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes; which sexual impurity falls under both those two. But there are some ramifications, but I don't have time to preach that sermon, okay. But the point is, I'm just going to show you, it's the lust of the flesh and the eyes for a man if he has a problem. It's an unhealthy appetite. Again, please don't get upset because the analogy, you say, "That's not anything at all like what we're talking about". I understand, but let's just say a woman has an unhealthy appetite for sugar, okay? If she confesses it to her husband, he doesn't feel like, "She doesn't love me anymore". It's just an unhealthy appetite. I mean, like, if she says to him, "Pull over. I have to have a Krispy Kreme. Pull over. Stop. The hot sign is on. I have to have a Krispy Kreme. And I only need one dozen. It's just one dozen. I won't go crazy like I did last time. I won't eat three boxes. I just need the full dozen. If you want some, you get your own. But I just need one dozen, okay"?
All right. She has an appetite that has grown unhealthy in her life. Again, the severity is totally different. Please don't get upset with me, ladies. I'm just telling you, he has an appetite that needs to be dealt with in a biblical way. Now, let me tell you a little to understand how to deal with it in a biblical way. It's a sin. He said, "How could I do this sin against God, this great wickedness"? So, some of you had premarital sex, and so you say, "Well, what do we do then to get this appetite out of our lives"? You deal with it like any other sin. You confess it, and you repent of it. And in my opinion, it'd be good to confess it to some friends, not go broadcast it. Don't put on your social media account. "Just want everyone to know, we had premarital sex, and confessing". Also, don't put, "and we talked to @pastorrobert told us to mention this". But just with some trusted friends or a counselor or a pastor and just say, "We want to acknowledge it as sin, and we want to repent, and we want you to pray with us to close the door". Are y'all following me?
You can deal with it. And then if you have this appetite in your life, then you can't look. Like an alcoholic that can't have one drink, you can't have one look. Okay? So, when I was about 25 years old, I opened up to Debbie about my past, my sexual past, and told her everything. Now, she already knew I was immoral before we got married, and even into the first part of our marriage. Remember, I was not a Christian when we got married, so she knew kind of the gist of it. But I felt like I need to tell her everything, and so I told her everything. I just told her everything. And then I said, "I need you..." Oh, I remember saying this to her, I said, "I need to tell you something else. I have a problem with looking". This is when the Lord had shown me this. I said, "I have a problem with looking". You know what she said? "You think"?
It's amazing how men don't think they know. Listen, women are like God. They know all; they see all. Okay? They're omniscient, and they are omnipresent, and they're omnipotent. They're all-powerful. They were made in the image of God, and they got the part we didn't get. All right? Okay. So, I said, "So I want you, if you see me looking, to confront me and to pray for me". The problem was I didn't fully define the word "confront". So not long after this, we were at a swimming pool on vacation, which is not the place to go if you have a problem with looking, men. Just so you know. That's like an alcoholic saying, "I'm going to go to the bar. I'm not going to drink. I'm just going to watch others drink".
So we're at this swimming pool, and Debbie's here. I've got a book. This lady walks by. I happened to notice, and as she goes on by, I realize, I don't think she has a back to her swimsuit, and I don't think she did. I think she had dental floss. I mean, it was, I'm just telling you. And so I am looking, you know. And all of a sudden, Debbie pinched me on the back of my arm, where no human should ever be pinched... and twisted. The Bible explicitly says, "Thou shalt not pinch and twist". Okay. That's in there somewhere. But she pinched me and twisted and said, "Do I need to pray for you"? Well, you get pinched and twisted a few times at the pool, when a woman walks by, "Look at your book. Look at your book. Look at the book. Look at the book. Look at the book".
Okay, I purposefully ended with that illustration because it's a heavy subject, and I wanted you to hear, Debbie and I, she's helped me in this area. And if you're not married and you struggle in this area, find a brother, get in a men's group, get men's ministry. Find someone who can help you in this area. But I promise you, I know this is heavy, but I have to say it, you will never fulfill the destiny God has on your life if you don't pass the purity test. I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. I don't want, again, anyone to feel condemnation. I don't want you to feel that because we've all struggled, I think, in this area. I think if you're a human, you struggle in this area. But I hope that I've given you some reasons to logically process why God says, run from sexual impurity. Run from it, because it will affect your family, it will affect your faith, your relationship with God, and it will affect your future.
But there's a very practical solution that we can do to cooperate with God. Job said it this way. He said, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman"? That's Job 31, I believe. Chapter 31, I think it's verse 1. I have made a covenant with my eyes. You need to make a covenant with your eyes. You need to put some boundaries in place, if you need to add some software to your computer, whatever you need to do, because when lust is fulfilled, it turns to sin, and it brings forth death.
So, every week we say, "Holy Spirit, what are You saying to me"? I don't want you to feel condemned, okay? I'm just telling you this is an area you can have victory in. And if you need prayer after the service, and you're attending one of the campuses, we'd love to pray with you. If you're online or at a Gathering, if you'll contact us, we'd love to pray with you. We'd love to help you any way we can. And again, please come to the marriage conference, because God can do a wonderful work in your life, even if you're not married, but you're planning on it one day. Let me pray for us:
Lord, I want to tell You, thank You that when You say, don't do something, it's not because You don't want us to have a fulfilling life; it's because You want us to have a fulfilling life. And so I pray, Holy Spirit, that you'll take the words that I've spoken today with the truth of Scripture and that You will bring freedom to thousands of my brothers and sisters who, like I, have struggled in this area, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, amen.