Stay Far Away

Good morning. It's good to be with you all together as one community and we have a lot to cover this morning so I'm just going to jump right in.

We are continuing our series in the book of Proverbs. You'll remember that Proverbs is a book about wisdom and wisdom is skill in the art of living.

Wisdom begins its foundation is the fear of the Lord and it continues. It grows with humility. We can't expect to grow in wisdom, to have wisdom, unless we're willing to admit we don't know everything.

And so this morning we're going to be in Proverbs chapter 6 starting at verse 20. I invite you to turn there now and as we come to this portion, section of Proverbs, we're going to again be talking about the topic of sex.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

And so I'm going to repeat virtually the same things I said at the beginning of my sermon last time when we talked about Proverbs chapter 5 at the beginning of July.

Proverbs 5 · chapter mention

First of all, when we come to topics that are hard and sensitive, it's important to note that we're going to say something, but not everything.

There's too much to be said in one sermon and so we trust that as we come to God's word over and over again, we'll receive the full orbed view of what he has to say about a variety of topics.

Second, we're going to come again across this issue of the woman playing the role of the temptress.

That's what we're going to see in chapter 7 and so it's important again to ask the question, why is it the woman and not the man?

And I believe it's because it's a genre issue. So this is a book that's written to a young man and so it makes sense that he's being warned about a young woman.

And if instead this were a book written by a mother to her daughter, we would expect the mother to warn her daughter about the man who is a tempter or a seducer.

So it's important to say that because we need to speak clearly in this issue because often women's sexuality is spoken of in the church that in a way that's harmful, sometimes very toxic.

And so we just want to say up front, both men and women tempt people sexually. Both men and women are tempted. Both men and women desire and enjoy sex. Both men and women struggle with sexual integrity.

So we don't paint these things as a man's issue or a woman's issue. This is a human issue because God's made all of us as sexual beings.

It's also important to note as we come to topics like this, it can be something that bring up memories for some of us, either of sinning or being sinned against.

And so it's important to remember as those things happen that God's with us and that his forgiveness is real.

But those things don't prevent us from looking at the entire counsel of his word, everything that God has to say to us.

God speaks about these things, and so we are unashamed to speak about them as well.

Now, last time when we talked about this, we were in Proverbs chapter 5, and there's some overlap between Proverbs chapter 5 and Proverbs chapter 7.

Proverbs 5 · chapter mention Proverbs 5 · chapter mention Proverbs 7 · chapter mention

But the main emphasis of Proverbs chapter 5 was this, flee sexual sin and do it by running towards your spouse, right?

Proverbs 5 · chapter mention

Have a lot of sex with your spouse.

That is one strategy the Proverbs present to us against sexual temptation.

We're going to see a different strategy this morning from chapters 6 and 7.

It's not run towards your spouse, but run away from sin.

Not run towards your spouse, not have a lot of really good sex with your spouse, but run away from sexual sin.

Now, there's going to be a lot in this passage, right?

We're covering all of chapter 7, part of chapter 6.

There's going to be portions of it that reteach what was taught in chapter 5.

And so we're not going to cover everything equally this morning.

We're going to have a focus, and that focus will be from chapter 7, verse 25.

Let not your heart turn aside to her ways.

Do not stray into her paths.

So we won't treat everything equally this morning, but we'll have a special focus on that because that's the primary focus of this passage.

With that, I invite you again to turn either in your worship guide or in your Bible or in your phone to this portion of God's Word.

We are in Proverbs chapter 6, starting at verse 20.

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

And as we turn to this, remember that this is God's Word.

And God tells us in Proverbs chapter 30, verse 5, that every word of God proves true.

Proverbs 30:5

He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

And so that's why we start now reading at verse 20.

Verse 27.

Chapter 7.

Verse 6.

Verse 10.

Verse 27.

Verse 21.

Verse 21.

Verse 21.

Verse 21.

Verse 21.

Verse 21.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.

And есть luigi comment we ask of trueordo affine the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

and you would challenge us.

We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

You may remember when we were back in Proverbs chapter 5,

Proverbs 5 · chapter mention

there was one small comment that the father made to the son

as he was telling him to pursue his wife,

and it came in verse 8, and it was this,

keep your way far from her,

and do not go near the door of her house.

So there's this woman out there right from chapter 5

that's trying to tempt you.

Stay as far away as you can.

Now that was a side comment in chapter 5.

It is now the main focus of chapters 6 and 7.

The father is not satisfied that he's just given that warning.

He's now going to tell a long story

so his son can understand why that is so necessary,

why it's imperative that he stays away.

And that's the story that we're told in chapter 7.

Starting at verse 6, this father's looking out on the streets,

and he sees this simple person, this young man,

who has not heeded the father's command to stay far away.

It seems it should be implied right by the fact

that he's told to stay away that people know where this house is.

They know the places of temptation.

They know where this woman is lying in wait.

And yet this person is foolish.

I don't know if they're doing this intentionally or unintentionally,

but either way, this foolish person is not being careful

about the way he's walking.

And so he is very close.

He puts himself, just by his very position, in danger.

And then we get to see that there's a process here.

There's a pattern to sin, so it doesn't happen all at once.

It starts with him being in the wrong place,

and then it continues by this woman coming out to seduce him.

First of all, he's there at the wrong time, right?

Verse 9, he's there in the evening.

We might wonder why he's wandering around at night.

And then in verse 10, this woman comes out,

and she has a variety of strategies.

Verse 13, she kisses him.

Verse 14, she helps him understand that what's going on here

because of her religious activities

is at a time where she has a wonderful meal

that she's prepared for him.

That's part of what we're supposed to take away

from the fact that she's performed her sacrifices.

In addition to that, she has created a space

that's welcoming and inviting.

Verse 16, her couch has coverings on it.

She's perfumed her bed.

Verse 17, and not only is there this wonderful experience

that she's offering out to this man,

she's appealing to a variety of senses.

She's also appealing to his desire for secrecy.

Look, you can enjoy this,

and no one will find out.

No one will know.

Verse 19, my husband is not at home.

He has gone on a long journey.

He won't be back for a long time.

And so she uses her dress to attract him.

She's physically attractive.

And of course, she uses her words to attract him.

It's interesting that the Proverbs

put such a highlight on the words of this woman,

both in five and in seven.

She is saying things that this man wants to hear.

It's not just a physical relationship.

There are needs, perhaps, that he feels and has that are unmet,

and she is willing to meet them.

And so we see several principles here

that we have seen before,

that when it comes to the foolish person

and the simple person.

First, the simple person,

as I've told you over and over again,

does not understand the relationship

between present actions and future consequences.

The simple person cannot connect the dots on those things.

And so that's part of what makes him simple.

He can't connect the dots

that being at the wrong place at the wrong time

is going to make him vulnerable to this sin.

He doesn't have any strategy.

Now, maybe he didn't have any bad intentions in this.

Maybe he's just failing to guard himself.

Maybe he knows where he's going.

Either way, that's part of what makes him simple.

He has no strategy in life.

He can't connect how all his actions come together.

Remember, this is what we saw in chapter one, verse 22.

Wisdom cries out and says to the simple person,

how long, oh simple one,

will you love your simple ways?

There's something that the simple person

gets out of their simpleness.

They don't have to do the hard work

of being careful.

But then there's another principle here

that comes to us again from chapter one,

and that's about the fear of the Lord.

It's not just that this simple person

doesn't understand the danger

that he's putting himself in.

It's that this simple person

doesn't have the fear of the Lord.

You'll remember at the beginning of chapter one,

our very first sermon on Proverbs,

I gave you a list of the kinds of things

that characterize someone

who has the fear of the Lord.

One of them is,

this person's goal is to stay far away from sin.

The goal of the person who fears the Lord

is to stay far away from sin.

That's something they're working for.

And so someone who fears the Lord

does not play the game

where they try to get as close to sin as they can

without crossing the line.

Because remember,

the person who fears the Lord loves wisdom.

And so they love what's right.

They want to stay as close to it as possible

because of their love for God

and their knowledge of God's discipline.

That's part of what it means to fear the Lord.

And so this man,

this foolish young man,

this simple man,

he's simple,

so he can't connect the dots.

He's simple,

so he doesn't fear the Lord.

He's not trying and working

to stay away from sin.

If we are trying to get as close as possible to sin

without getting burned,

we don't actually love wisdom.

We're only perhaps afraid

of the consequences of sin.

We don't hate sin for its own sake.

We don't love sin for its own sake.

Wisdom is at most an inconvenience, right?

Maybe the simple person's afraid of consequences,

but the simple person doesn't love wisdom enough

to pursue it and hold firmly to it.

You might think about it like this way.

The foolish person

is the kind of person who knows

there's something, right,

they shouldn't buy.

Maybe it's something that's wrong for them to purchase.

Maybe it's something that's not wrong.

They just can't afford it.

They know it's outside of their budget.

It would be foolish to do it.

And this is the person who goes to the store

where that thing is sold

and they press their nose up against the glass.

They don't stay far away.

They hover around sin.

They know they're not supposed to do it,

yet they dance around it.

They're looking at it.

They're thinking about it.

That's what the simple person is doing here.

As the wise person, right, would stay away.

They would not be in parts of town where that store is.

They wouldn't walk by and look in.

If they had to walk by it,

they'd stay far away

because they know that's a temptation for them.

And that's what the wise person does.

So we've got the principle of the simple person,

the principle of the fear of the Lord.

And then we also see again

the principle that we saw in 1 Peter,

which is that our sexuality,

sexual sin has this gravitational pull to it.

Remember I told you that story

about the man who was a terrorist

who went to bomb an adult theater

and he was so drawn in by the images on the screen

that he forgot there was a bomb underneath him.

He blew his legs off.

Why?

Because there's this gravitational pull to sexual sin.

It has a special power and a temptation to it.

And so this young man underestimates, right,

the power that this is going to have over him.

He has both put himself in the wrong place

and he's put himself in a specially vulnerable place.

And so those are a few of the things

that this highlights for us.

The principle of being simple,

the principle of fearing the Lord,

and the principle of the serious attraction

of sexual sin.

There's a few minor notes here

that I'll highlight as well

that we covered in chapter five,

so I won't go over them in detail.

But this chapter again outlines for us

the serious consequences of sexual sin.

It talks again about the fact

that it can lead to death.

Remember we covered that in chapter five.

It also highlights another principle for us

under the consequences.

If you look at chapter six, verse 26,

we are told that adultery

is an especially damaging form of sexual sin.

So Solomon's not saying here adultery is wrong,

but other kinds of sexual sin are okay.

He's saying adultery is especially damaging.

We might have put it this way.

It is wrong to look at pornography.

It is damaging.

It is even more damaging

to have a sexual relationship

with someone who's married.

And so that's again part of what's being put out here.

There are repercussions

that can carry across generations.

It's not like cheating on your taxes.

You can repent, right?

And you just go back and refile.

Sexual sin's not like that.

You can't go back and undo it.

There are things that you cannot walk back.

That's part of what we see in verse 33 of chapter six.

He will get wounds and dishonor

and his disgrace will not be wiped away.

That's not to say that Jesus doesn't offer real grace

and real forgiveness for sexual sin,

but it is to highlight

that even in the midst of our repentance,

there are consequences

that we may have to walk with

for the rest of our lives.

And so that's why Solomon cares so much

about warning his son here.

As we think about this passage for us,

there are still houses

that we need to stay away from.

It may not be a physical house.

You may not have someone in your neighborhood

who's standing on the corner

trying to tempt you,

but there are places

where sexual experiences are offered.

There are relationships

and people who offer these things.

Some of you have had that experience.

You know when someone's giving you the eyes, right?

And those eyes say this,

I wonder what it would be like

if you were my husband

instead of my current husband.

I wonder what it would be like

if you were my wife

rather than my current wife.

You can see that sometimes, right?

In the way that someone interacts with you,

in the way that they look at you.

Stay away from that person.

It could be flattering, right?

That someone's thinking of you in that way.

Don't be like the simple person.

Don't be flattered by that.

Be scared by that.

Move away.

Have boundaries, right?

You may be someone

who needs to be relocated in your job.

You may need someone

who needs to change

some of the things about your life

so your contact with that person is less.

Of course, it's not just people

and relationships.

I will highlight this.

So there's relationships, right?

We have to know our temptations.

There was a lot of talk

a couple years ago

about the Billy Graham rule

where Billy Graham would resolve

never to be alone

with someone of the opposite sex

and then Vice President Mike Pence

took that rule upon himself

and our culture did what?

They mocked him for it.

They mocked him

for seeking sexual integrity.

Now, I'm not telling you

that you need to adopt

the Billy Graham rule

or the Mike Pence rule.

They were not just staying away

from the foreign woman,

they were staying away

from every woman.

So I'm not binding

your conscience with that.

I'm just saying

that's one application

that those men took.

Now, they're in a different position

than many of us are.

They're public figures.

So they're at especially great risk

for being sabotaged

in some way for scandal.

But this is someone

who in their particular situation

is finding a way

to apply that

in their relationship.

So whether we agree

with that rule,

whether we apply it

to ourselves or not,

we can look at that

and say there's someone

who's trying to stay

far away from her house.

There's someone

who is making

sexual integrity a priority.

There's someone

who, unlike the simple person,

is actively staying away

from sexual temptation.

Of course,

it's not just relationships, right?

We live in a culture

where there are movies

and TV shows

that present us

with things

that are not helpful

for our hearts

and our minds.

Now, I'm not here

to tell you

which shows you should

and should not watch.

And each of us

has to know

our own temptations, right?

For some of us,

there's things

that we watch

that are going to take us

in places in our minds

we should not be.

There's others of us,

those things won't take us

to that place.

So for different people,

that line's going to be

in a different place.

But what we don't do

is we don't take

the assumption

of our culture

and say,

well, you know,

it's a drama,

it's a documentary,

it's not pornography

so I can watch

whatever I want, right?

We know

that that's another house

sometimes we need

to stay away from.

And so we don't just

consume the content

that our culture gives us

without thinking about it,

without discernment.

We are careful

where we park

our sexuality.

I read to you

an excerpt last time

from this book,

Why Does God Care

Who I Sleep With?

And he compares

our sexuality

to a car,

that they're beater cars,

right?

We don't care

what we do with them.

And then he tells

the story of someone

loaned him a convertible

that didn't have

a single scratch on it.

You better believe

he was careful

with that car

because the car

was valuable.

He makes the same point

about our sexuality.

We are careful

about where we park it

because God

values it so much.

It has so much worth.

And so we value it

as well.

And so when it comes

to the people we're with

and the things we watch,

we are careful

where we park ourselves.

We're careful

where we place ourselves.

Now it's not just people.

It's not just entertainment.

Of course,

one of the greatest corners,

one of the greatest houses

that we need to be careful

about in our culture

is what's happening

on the internet.

What we're doing

when we're on our phones

or our computers.

Maybe staying far away

for you

means that you need

a filter

on your phone

and your computer.

Maybe it means you need

an accountability software.

I know many people

and I do this myself

who use a software

called Covenant Eyes

which they put on their phones

and their computers

and it monitors

every single website

that they go to.

And then it filters through them

and it emails

a variety of people

that you've chosen

as accountability partners

any website

that you've visited

that's questionable.

And so it's a way

to stay away

from that house, right?

You know

that you are not

anonymous.

You're not able

to believe the lie

that this woman

offers to this man, right?

This is going to be secret.

Chapter 7

verses 19 and 20.

And so for many of us

maybe for most of us

we don't want to

accidentally stumble

into the wrong part of town.

That means being proactive

about what's happening to us

when we're on the internet.

There are all sorts of things

on the internet

that are wonderful

and all sorts of things

that are terrible

and damaging.

So we want to present

prevent ourselves

from accidentally stumbling

into those areas.

Remember the fool here.

We don't know

if this was intentional, right?

He's just on a walk.

He may not have been

seeking this woman out.

The problem is that

he wasn't proactive

in staying away from her.

Regardless of his intention

he was not on guard.

He did not realize

the fact that he was in a war.

That when we're against

sexual sin

we have to have strategies.

We have to go in

with a plan.

That's what the wise person does.

We are in a war

against sexual sin.

That's what the fool

is unwilling to admit.

That's why he finds himself

at the wrong place

at the wrong time.

I want you to think about

when we think about the internet

think about it like this.

About

over a decade ago

I was in New Orleans.

And if you've ever visited

New Orleans

you know that it's

it's a mixed bag, right?

There are wonderful things there.

There's wonderful music

and musicians.

There is wonderful food.

There are wonderful

cultural events.

And also

you could turn the corner

and suddenly

without warning

find yourself

in the red light district.

No warning, right?

You could be walking around

walking into a jazz club

or a jazz bar

and you look

and you realize

oh

that's a prostitute.

That's the same way

the internet works.

There are many

wonderful things about it.

And

if we are not on guard

we're wandering around

right

without even trying to

we stumble into things

and think

oh wait

I'm in the red district now.

oh that's something

I shouldn't be looking at

even without

in our culture

seeking it out.

And so we make sure

we stay away

from her house.

We make sure

we stay far away

from the places

of temptation.

We have a strategy.

We have a game plan.

We know where

the enemy is, right?

We are in a war

against sexual sin

and so we don't

just wander around.

We want to make sure

we have the high ground.

If you're in a battle

you're not just going

to wander down

into a valley

without thinking about it.

You want to know

who's on either side

and what they're going

to do.

The same is true

of our battle

against sexual sin.

We know

where we are

and we're on guard

against it.

That's what the wise

person does.

He knows the territory.

He knows where

the dangers are.

He stays far away

from it.

The other thing

that's interesting

about this foolish

young man

not just is he

in the wrong place

at the wrong time

why is he wandering

around late at night?

Now there could be

a variety of reasons

he's wandering around

late at night.

I'll suggest one to you.

Since he's a simple person

he's probably not an ant.

It's one thing

to stay away

from sexual sin

but why is he wandering around?

This man probably

has too much time

on his hands.

He's not pursuing

the things he needs

to pursue.

He's not working hard

for the things

he needs to work hard for.

So of course

he's open up

to these temptations.

Of course

there are these

opportunities for him.

My last semester

in seminary

I took this class

with a professor

on preparing

for pastoral ministry

and he never gave

our final papers back.

I shouldn't say

he never.

He did not return them.

And then we all graduated

and went to various places.

And he finally decided

I don't remember

how long it was

after

it wasn't quite a year

but the next winter

he finally sent

our papers to us.

And because he was

sending them through the mail

he wrote us all this letter.

And I still have it.

He wrote us this long letter

and a lot of it

was a discussion

about sexual sin.

Writing it to

a majority of men,

young men

coming out of seminary.

And he says this.

It is not possible

simply to deal with sin

in your own heart and life

and by this alone

to become a changed person.

More than anything else

sinful patterns

have to be replaced

with patterns of obedience,

habits of love

and acts of serving

and caring for others.

This is true

with all sins

including the sins

of the many of you

who struggle

with your sexuality.

You have

too much time alone,

too much time

thinking about yourself,

too much time

on the computer

exploring the internet,

too much time

thinking about

your own sexuality

and too much time

finding ways

to serve

your own sexual fulfillment.

your lives

need to become

much more engaged

in living for other people,

most of all

in living for your wives

and children

or husbands and children

for those of you

who are married,

but also in a life

of serving others.

And if you are single,

just get deeply involved

in some truly demanding

relationships

in a ministry

that uses your mind,

heart,

imagination,

soul,

and strength.

You simply

will not have

so much time

or so much energy

and your mind

and heart

will become full

of your concern

for other people

rather than merely

the needs of yourself.

You will develop

genuine battle faith

and an embattled life

because you will become

full of concern,

compassion,

and love

for other people

rather than being

so focused

on your own fulfillment

and your own sin.

And then he goes on

to say this,

in addition

to this general

human problem

and your weaknesses

in this area,

you are children

of this generation,

a generation

in which all

through your lives

you have been encouraged

to love yourself,

to serve yourself,

to make time

for yourself,

to find fulfillment

for yourself.

Instead of this

absurd call

from our culture

to be self-centered,

we have been created

and redeemed

for the Lord

and to give ourselves

every day

to a life of love

for others.

These are the fundamental

and most constant graces

of repentance

for which we need to pray

and at which we need to work.

Of course,

you can see

this is a long letter.

It costs a dollar

for him to mail it.

The point is this,

this man,

it's not just

that he's at the wrong place

at the wrong time.

He is not pursuing the good.

He is not working hard

like the ant.

He is not loving

his neighbor as himself.

So it's not just

his location

but his activity.

If he were an ant,

he wouldn't have time

to be wandering

the streets

by himself,

himself.

Because he's a simple person though,

he has all this time

on his hands.

And so it's not just

that we stay far away,

that we pursue

the love of others.

We pursue true

and real

community.

And of course,

these aren't the only

solutions to sexual sin.

As I've told you,

I'm going to say something,

but not everything,

but that's the one

that's presented here.

We stay far away

from places

where we might be tempted

because we love God

and we love his ways.

And we look to do things

that are serving others.

And so we don't even have time,

right?

We're not even able

to get caught up

in these sorts of things.

Of course,

as I've been telling you,

Jesus is our great

and greater wisdom teacher.

Matthew chapter 12,

Matthew 12:42

verse 42,

tells us that Jesus

is greater

than Solomon.

And Jesus teaches

these very same things.

Jesus also tells us

to stay

far away

from sin.

Remember,

in the Sermon on the Mount,

Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

he says,

this,

if your right eye

causes you to sin,

tear it out

and throw it away.

For it is better

that you lose

one of your members

than that your whole body

be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand

causes you to sin,

cut it off

and throw it away.

For it is better

that you lose

one of your members

than that your whole body

go into hell.

So Jesus is just repeating

as the greater wisdom teacher

the same thing.

Look,

stay far away from sin.

Whatever might be

drawing you towards that,

even if it's your eye,

run away from it.

Put it to death early

so you don't have to suffer

great consequences later.

Of course,

that's a motivation

of fear

and it's good and right

to talk about

the consequences of sin.

But as I've been telling you,

we need more than fear, right?

We need a new love.

We need something good

and great

to replace things

that are little

and small.

And so Jesus also

offers us something better.

I told you from

Proverbs chapter 5

Proverbs 5 · chapter mention

that he makes us a promise

again in Matthew 5,

blessed are the pure in heart

for they shall see God.

We could say that God

pulls us

into a greater drama.

He pulls us

into something

more beautiful.

I shared with you

last time

from this book

about the fact

that there is

something greater

than sex, right?

That sex points to.

It's our relationship

with God

and the community

that he's building.

And this man points out

from Mark chapter 2

Mark 2 · chapter mention

the fact that Jesus

refers to himself

as the bridegroom.

In other words,

he is the true husband.

He's inviting us

into something

ultimately

that's even greater

and better

than sex

and family

and marriage.

These things

are just small pictures

of the great future

that Jesus has for us

that we experience

in part now

and will experience

in full

in the future.

And so it's not just

that we stay far away

from sexual sin

but we pursue

the real,

true intimacy

and love

and community

that Jesus offers us

now through himself

and through his community.

He gives us

something better

and greater

that is actually

worth our love.

He gives us

a better place

to walk

than the corner

that her house

is on.

Jesus offers us

something better

to pursue

and work for

and chase after.

Jesus,

the bridegroom,

is here.

Recently,

over during

the coronavirus

when we were all

under quarantine,

I received

a friend request

on Facebook

from someone

I have not had

contact with

in over a decade.

And this person

was not even really

a friend of mine.

They were just

an acquaintance.

So I was very surprised

that they were friending me

and I looked on

his profile

and I was shocked

to see that this person

was engaged

in Christian ministry.

The reason I was shocked

is because the time

when I knew this individual,

he was very much

not a Christian.

He was living

a lifestyle

that we would not

follow as people

who love Jesus.

So I immediately

messaged him.

I said,

what in the world?

Why are you working

for such and such

organization?

He messaged me back,

yeah,

lots changed

since I knew you.

And so,

of course,

I was very curious.

I ended up having

a phone call with him

because I wanted

to hear about his journey

to faith in Jesus Christ.

And as we began talking,

I kind of asked him,

you know,

what was it really

that convinced you?

And he shared with me

that one of the most

challenging things for him

in becoming a Christian

was embracing

the Christian sexual ethic.

And I said,

well,

what was it

that changed your mind?

You're like,

what book was it

that you read

or what argument was it

that really,

he said,

it wasn't a book

or an argument.

He said,

I became a part

of a Christian community.

And as I was part

of that community

and I saw the gospel

lived out,

I realized that it was true

and it was plausible.

And even more than that,

and he said,

this might be too much information,

but as I was part

of that community,

as I was involved

in other people

in their lives,

living with them

and loving them,

I found myself naturally

looking at pornography

less and less.

I didn't want it anymore.

I had something better,

right?

He had real

and true relationships

and community.

He was pulled

into real love.

He was pulled

into a place

where he was actually

serving other people,

sacrificing for them.

And so brothers

and sisters,

Jesus calls us away

from sexual sin.

He calls us

to stay far away,

to not even get close.

But he doesn't just

call us away.

He calls us

into something.

He calls us

into his greater story.

He calls us

into a greater community.

He calls us

into real love

and intimacy

and fellowship

and commitment.

And so we can embrace that,

we can embrace him,

and we can embrace wisdom

instead of any other counterpart.

And we do that

because Jesus comes

and does that for us first.

And so we can do it

with joy,

loving and embracing

the people

that God has given us,

loving our neighbor

as ourselves.

I invite you

to pray with me.

Our Father in heaven,

we thank you

and praise you again

for your word

that is your gift to us.

We ask that you

would build us

up into a community

and people

who stay far away

from sexual sin.

and we embrace you

and the better story

that you've given us.

We thank you

that this isn't something

we do

by pulling ourselves up

by our bootstraps,

but it's something

that Jesus gives to us

through his word

and in his community.

And we ask that you

would make that true

of us

and of this church.

And we ask these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.