All right, we're here in Genesis chapter 34, and we're continuing our series on common
versus normal.
Common versus normal.
And in case you haven't been here for the other sermons, what we're kind of looking
at is basically this represents what is normal, and you're going to find what's normal in
a standard called God's Word.
And this represents kind of what the world is like, what is common in the Philippines.
Things that are going on.
And you have to realize that if something is common, people will think it's normal.
They become desensitized and it feels normal because it's everywhere, okay?
That doesn't mean it's normal because this doesn't move.
God's Word doesn't change no matter how weird the world gets, okay?
And today what we're going to be covering is fornication, fornication.
Basically sleeping with someone before you're married, okay?
Now this is incredibly common in today's world, okay?
That doesn't make it normal or right, and we're going to see what the Bible says about
this.
But today to start off, there's a lot of people in this room, and I'm not preaching against
past mistakes you made whenever the past is the past.
I understand with this many adults in this room, I'm sure some people were guilty of
this in the past, okay?
But here's the thing.
We don't want kids to make the same mistakes that any of us made.
We want to teach the Word of God so at a young age our children know what's true and what's
right, and they don't get deceived by the world and commit things that are wrong and
sinful, okay?
Because I'd imagine most people in this room, the reason why you even did that is because
it was so common that it felt normal and no big deal.
If you realize that this is normal and that's wrong, then you would have never done it to
begin with, okay?
So let me show you here in Genesis 34, and the first point is this.
Fornication has always been common in the world.
It has always been common in the world.
I'll show you a lot of places to prove that.
Genesis 34 verse 1, and Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she barren to Jacob, went out
to see the daughters of the land.
And when Shechem the son of Hamor, the Hivite prince of the country, saw her, he took her
and lay with her and defiled her.
Now people go crazy off verse number two and they don't read the rest of the chapter, and
they say, well, she got raped.
She got forced.
That is not what the Bible teaches because in this chapter you see them living together,
just living in the same house.
This is not a rape.
This is consensual choice to commit fornication, okay?
You can see that in this chapter, and she chooses to do this.
Now part of the blame is the parents.
Why?
Because she's just running out of her home with the daughters of the land.
Parents don't know what she's doing.
They ought to know what she's doing.
And look, I understand that when my kids grow up, when my son grows up, he's going to have
to learn to work at a young age.
He might be out there working, but we're going to keep a close eye on Christabelle, okay?
We're not just going to let her run out there and not know what she's doing.
And that's what's going on here in Genesis 34, and you see a lot of godly characters
in the Bible that weren't always the best parents, or weren't always the best husbands
and wives and things such as that.
And so basically he takes her and lays with her and defiles her.
So they commit fornication together, okay?
And his soul clave on to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel and spake
kindly unto the damsel.
And Shesham spake onto his father Hamar saying, get me this damsel to wife.
And so he wants to marry her, okay?
This alone shows this is not a rape, because in the Bible when Amnon forced his half-sister,
he hated her.
He didn't want to marry her.
Before he did the act, he wanted to marry her.
He wanted to be with her.
Then afterwards, he didn't want to have anything to do with her, okay?
Look, I want you to understand that if you're in a relationship, you're not married, you
want to destroy that marriage, that potential marriage?
If you commit fornication before you're married, you'll destroy it.
You will destroy it, and that's what we see with Amnon and Tamar, okay?
So in this story, they're choosing to do this, and we assume that she's a saved person, probably
with this ungodly, unsaved person.
And guess what?
They're together, and they want to get married.
But they commit fornication before they're married, okay?
Verse 5, and Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter.
Now his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob held his peace until they were come.
It means he held his peace saying he was angry, but he chose to calm his emotions.
He held his peace, but he's upset about this.
Why?
It was considered that you were defiled if you didn't go to your wedding pure.
Look, a white dress at a wedding represents purity, cleanness, okay?
And it was expected that you would be pure and not defile yourself.
It was considered that if you're together before you're married, you're defiled.
That's not the way God intended it to be.
Verse 6, and Hamar the father of Shechem went out onto Jacob to commune with him.
So he's talking with Jacob.
And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it, and the men were grieved,
and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter.
Which thing ought not to be done?
And so the sons of Jacob are angry about this.
They're mad about this.
And we're not going through this whole story, but this is an entertaining chapter.
Because they basically tricked the guys in the other land and get them to circumcise
themselves, and the guys are basically immobile.
They can't move around.
They're in pain.
And then all of a sudden they just go and kill all of them.
So which is obviously a wicked thing to do.
They shouldn't have done that.
But they're very angry, and that's how they reacted, okay?
It was considered a disgrace if you were to commit fornication before you're married.
It's common in the world.
It wasn't supposed to be common with God's people, okay?
Verse 8, and Hamar communed with them saying, the soul of my son Shechem longeth for your
daughter.
Give her him to wife.
And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters
unto you.
So you have to see here in this story, this is just common to the world.
Committing fornication, no big deal.
See God's standard says this is wicked, she's defiled, it was considered grievous.
In today's world though, this isn't even true anymore.
It's very common with the world still, with God's people it's very common.
It's not considered very grievous anymore.
It's not considered a big deal if you kind of sleep around before you're married.
It's actually very common now even amongst God's people or people that would say they're
Christians.
It's no big deal.
In Genesis 34 it was considered a big deal and a wicked sin, but the world is waxing
worse and worse, and the Christians are going right to the world.
And they're just staying this far away from it.
Turning your Bible to Numbers 25, Numbers 25.
Look, this has always been common from the world, and you say, is it really that big
of a sin?
Because it seems like everybody's doing it anyway.
Well, you're turning to Numbers 25, I'll read you 1 Kings 10 verse 8.
Neither let us commit fornication, which is premarital relations before you're married,
as some of them committed and fell in one day three and 20,000.
When it says they fell, this was not a Pentecostal healing service where they're just falling
over like, oh wow, Benny Hinn just struck 23,000 people down.
No, it's saying they fell as in they died.
God killed 23,000 people for committing fornication before you're married.
You say, man, I thought God was so loving.
Well, I mean, not always.
There's various sides to God.
You need to read the whole Bible to figure it out.
He's not always just love, love, love.
Numbers 25 verse 1, Numbers 25 verse 1.
And Israel abode in Shechem, and the people began to commit whoredom with their daughters
of Moab.
And they called the people under the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and
bowed down to their gods.
And Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Israel.
So what are the people doing?
They're just committing fornication with all these daughters of Moab.
I can pretty much guarantee you it's the same reason as it always is.
They found them attractive.
Well, she's attractive, so I'll just start worshipping her God and just commit fornication
with her.
That's what's taking place.
Genesis 6, same thing.
Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair.
Numbers 25.
And look, in 2020, it's the same way.
God's people will just date unbelievers, commit fornication, no big deal.
Why?
Well, they find them attractive.
Okay?
There's plenty of people you can find attractive, and there's God's people, godly people you
could find attractive, instead of just marrying the daughters of the land, people that do
not love God.
That's what's taking place.
And they bowed down to their gods.
And whenever you see a saved person who chooses to marry an unbeliever, a Baptist marries
a Catholic.
Guess how those kids get raised?
Right.
Catholic.
Because, look, if a guy is willing to say, you know what, I'm willing to sacrifice my
religion and beliefs because I find this Catholic girl attractive, you know what, he's also
going to give in and say, well, yeah, we can, you know, infant baptism, okay, that's okay.
You know, whatever the steps are with Catholicism, you know, just all the classes and everything.
Sure, you know, we'll just send him to Catholic school.
I'll just pretend to be Catholic and sit through the services.
And you know what, people literally do that because they find a girl attractive.
Okay?
That's what we're seeing here.
Numbers 25 verse 4.
And so this is common with the world, and then it happens with God's people, and God's
very angry about it.
Numbers 25 verse 4.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before
the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from
Israel.
Okay?
When it says they hang them up, it's not like, you know, clothes on a clothespin or whatever,
you know?
It's saying they hung them up as in they killed them.
They were hung up by the neck.
Okay?
And so they're killed because of this.
And it says in verse 5, And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his
men that were joined unto Baal Peor.
So Moses is told by the hand of God, kill everybody who was involved in this wicked
sin.
Because fornication leads to worshiping a false god.
It's the same thing as in Exodus where they worship the golden calf.
We see these things morph together.
Verse 6, And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren
a Midianite-ish woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of
the children of Israel who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And so God has pronounced the death penalty on this sin.
And somebody just comes in with this woman he's fornicating with, just worshiping her
false god no big deal and just brings them in the congregation.
Okay?
Now just imagine in today's world you have a Baptist church and then somebody you know
is guilty of this wicked sin and God has said they get the death penalty for this.
And they just brazenly bring them into church like it's no big deal.
And you know this takes place in Baptist churches.
You have the pastor's sons that are committing fornication, having kids out of wedlock, just
come right into the service, no big deal.
Well it seems like a big deal to God.
Just walk in here and no big deal and it's the same thing as always the pastor's sons.
It's always the pastor's sons.
They always have kids out of wedlock but since it's the pastor's son, hey, we can't speak
against the man of God.
Okay?
He was the one called by God.
Now whatever took place, that sin could happen to anyone.
It's not his fault.
It's okay.
Be forgiving.
Be loving.
Give the pastor another chance.
That's the world we live in today here in the Philippines.
And so this is what they do.
He brings in this woman who he's committing fornication with and everybody's weeping and
crying because they're saying, man, God's judgment is upon us.
They want God's mercy and then they bring in this person into church.
I remember I was at a church one time and they would have like a yearly program to bring
in lots of kids.
You're going to bring in lots of people and family members.
They had like a special choir and everything and I don't think that's a bad thing to do
but they had a special choir service and me and my friends caught wind of the fact that
there was these two lesbians that were going to be there to watch like their cousin or
nephew or whatever during the service.
And see in the house of God, the Bible says, you know what?
They took them out of the house of God, the ones that were beside the house of the God.
It's not welcome at church, okay?
And we heard that they were going to be in church and literally this story came to my
mind.
I was like, God's judgment might be upon us if we're partaker with that sin by being at
church.
And it's like such a wicked sin and like we were planning to just basically wait outside
and stop them at the door and say, no, you know, you can't come in.
It's just like, no, the Bible says you're not welcome in the house of God, okay?
That is what the Bible teaches.
Verse 6, well verse 7, and when Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest
saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand and he went
after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel
and the woman through her belly.
So basically he takes a javelin, he comes after them and he just chucks it at those
two people committing fornication and it goes through both of them and they're both dead
like that, okay?
Now this is what takes place when you have the rules of the country and the government
doesn't make the rules for you.
This was God's judgment.
God said the death penalty.
God specifically says they get the death penalty.
That's the government they lived under.
So it's like you're guilty of that sin, you get the death penalty.
No ifs, ands, or buts about that.
You say, man, God was angry that they did that, right?
Well let's finish the verse.
Let's see what the Bible says.
So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Stayed means it stopped.
See this plague is killing lots of people and God stops it after they kill those two
people guilty of that sin.
Now the reality is in our world we don't make up the rules of this government and obviously
you cannot do that in today's world.
You'll go to jail, you know, that's just the way it is, okay?
The death penalty was sentenced by God in this situation and they put it in action,
okay?
We can't do that in today's world but here's what we can do as Christians.
We can say as a church we don't let people in that are guilty of that wicked sin, okay?
Now I do want you to understand and I'll explain this later that we have visitors that
come to our church from time to time and somebody might be guilty of some of these sins that
the Bible mentions.
That doesn't mean we're not going to let them visit our church because they could be completely
unaware of it.
But it does mean it's not going to be like five years later we say no big deal.
They could just live in this wicked sin and we're not going to say anything about it,
okay?
It is going to be dealt with, okay?
And we'll see what the Bible says, okay?
But notice what it says in verse 9, and those that died in the plague were 20 in 4,000.
Now in verse 9 is one of the great Bible contradictions throughout the entire Word
of God because in 1 Corinthians 10 I said 23,000 died and here it says 24,000.
Say well how do you answer that?
It said 23,000 died in one day, 24,000 total died, 23,000 in one day and then over the
next day or two days or whatever the other 1,000 died, okay?
In one day fell 23,000 and 24,000 total.
That's what the Bible is teaching.
It's not a Bible contradiction.
Only someone who hates the Word of God would try to say that.
Verse 10, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron
the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel while he was zealous
for my sake among them that I consume not the children of Israel in my jealousy.
Now look, here's the thing, we're obviously not going to kill somebody who visits church
because for one God didn't tell us to do that.
He told them in the book of Numbers to do that for that situation.
The Bible does have the death penalty for certain things but here's a specific situation.
He says this is the death penalty for this situation.
But I will say this, we can turn away the wrath from this church by preaching hard against
sin and not letting this stuff in here.
See here's the thing, when I preach hard against sin it prevents people from making these mistakes.
We've got plenty of kids in this room and when they grow up I don't want them to destroy
their lives.
When they're 18, 19, 20 and they're too young and too immature to understand the repercussions
of their actions.
I don't want them to destroy their lives because they're just too immature and they've never
heard this preached and they don't know what the Bible says.
The reason why this takes place in most Baptist churches very often is because it's never
preached against.
But if you preach against this, it's not going to take place very often.
First Corinthians chapter 5, and so one way you can prevent that as a parent is just don't
let your daughter just hang out with the daughters of the land all the time.
That's what you see in Genesis 34.
Just let her go and do whatever you want.
You don't know what she's doing.
Look, you know what, once she gets married then she's with her husband but look, if your
daughter's like 15 years old and you say, hey, just go ahead and do whatever you want.
And look, here's the reality in the Philippines.
Kids just run around everywhere and their parents have no clue what's going on.
We've had kids just run into this church during the middle of the week.
Like I'm here and then just kids open the door and just run in.
I'm like, what in the world?
It's like a circus or car.
It's like, do their parents, I mean, what are they doing?
They're not even paying attention to what's happening.
It's like you ought to know what your children are doing but you know, here you see you walk
down the streets, just kids are running around everywhere.
Parents have no clue what they're doing.
We'll just assume nothing bad will happen and then at 10 o'clock at night they'll just
come home and take a shower and go to bed.
That's what they do.
That's not happening at our home.
We're going to find out what our kids are doing and look, our son, he's going to have
to work a job when he gets older but he's not just going to run around and do whatever
he wants when he's 13 years old.
Yeah, just go to the movies and do whatever you want.
That's not going to happen in our home.
No, you need to actually pay attention to what your kids are doing otherwise when they're
young and foolish they'll do stupid things.
Someone who's young says, well, I'll just try smoking cigarettes because everyone's
doing it.
It's common so maybe it's not that big of a deal.
Well, everybody tries drinking once, right, so I'll just try drinking and see what happens.
Everybody else is just fooling around, I'll do the same thing.
That's what goes through the mind of a young and immature person that doesn't understand
how they can destroy their lives.
Let me prove to you that this has always been common in the world because you say,
well, wait a minute, wasn't it pretty rare 100 years ago?
It's never been rare.
It's always been common and I'll prove it to you in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 9.
Now the world is waxing worse and worse so it is more common in today's world.
It's always been common though.
We saw that in Genesis 34 and Numbers 25 and I'll prove to you in 1 Corinthians 5 verse
9.
I wrote on you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with
the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters.
For then, so if you don't want to be around anybody who's committing fornication, how
do you avoid it?
For then must he needs go out of the world.
You know what the Bible's saying?
Every single country in the world fornication is happening.
These things are happening everywhere.
You want to avoid being around people like that, you're going to have to just go out
of this world.
Just die at a young age, go home to heaven, and there you go.
No one's committing those sins.
But if you want to avoid this, especially in today's world, you'll have to go out
of the world.
You say, can't I go to a more godly country?
What if I went to Korea?
Nope.
It's happening there.
It's happening in Japan.
It's certainly happening in Thailand.
In Thailand it's very common.
It's happening there.
It's happening wherever, China.
It's happening in Europe.
It's happening in Africa.
But the United States used to be so godly 100 years ago.
Nobody was doing this.
Not according to the Bible.
It's always existed.
It's more common in today's world because the world is waxing worse and worse, but it
was in Genesis 34.
It's in Numbers 25.
And in 1 Corinthians 5 the Bible's saying you must needs go out of the world.
So look, the only time you're ever going to avoid this is pretty much like in Genesis
chapter 1 when there's only a couple people in the world.
Then you know there's only a few people, you know Adam and Eve are married, so no problem,
no fornication happening.
But then when you have single people, single people are foolish.
And this takes place.
This has always been common.
And because it's common, people feel like, well, this is kind of normal.
It's no big deal.
Because in today's world half of people live with someone before they're married.
It's very common.
It's no big deal anymore and so people think it's normal.
Turn to Deuteronomy 17, Deuteronomy 17.
And so I want you to realize that when it comes to fornication, fornication has always
been common according to the Bible.
You'd have to go out of the world to avoid it in any time period, okay?
Certain things are more common and it certainly is more common today.
And some things kind of go in and out, but according to 1 Corinthians 5 it has always
been common.
But let me give you something that used to be very common that is not common in today's
world.
Polygamy.
Polygamy used to be very common.
And when you read the Bible, it's like, what in the world?
All these godly people are married to multiple people.
And you know what happens?
It's so common in the Bible, you're like, well, maybe it's not that weird, right?
Because everybody, I mean Abraham and Jacob, all of them are married to multiple women.
So maybe it's not really that big of a deal.
No, no, no.
God's standard doesn't change.
God's standard is here and it doesn't matter if everybody's doing it.
It doesn't matter how many wives King Solomon has.
It doesn't matter how many wives King David has.
That does not make it normal.
It just makes it common.
And polygamy was common for God's people.
Deuteronomy 17, verse 17.
Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 17.
It says, neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away.
Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
So the Bible says in verse 17 that if you multiply wives to yourself, you're going to
turn your heart away.
This is referring to kings, but the principle is going to be the same for everybody.
Anybody who's married to multiple women, his heart is going to be turned away.
Obviously we're saying multiple women at one time.
If you're married and your wife dies and you get remarried five years later, obviously
that's fine, according to the Bible.
What we're saying is you choose to just marry lots of different women.
It's like, oh wow, just have two wives and three wives, like the Muslims, like five wives,
six wives, seven wives, no big deal, or the Mormons.
In Mormonism, because Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were just these massive polygamists,
they had like 35 wives, and half of them were under the age of 18.
This is reality.
Like Joseph Smith, what happened with Joseph Smith is he was caught committing adultery
with like a 13, I think it was a 13 year old girl, and it's like, wait a minute, prophet
of God, God told me to do it.
That's basically what happened.
It's like, you know, God told me to do it, and they're like, oh, okay, you're supposed
to marry lots of women.
So he just starts marrying like every, you know, he's like, it's like the people that
are at his church, he's just like, oh, by the way, I'm marrying your daughter.
That's basically what happened with Joseph Smith.
And you can look up Mormonism, that's the reality, okay, that's what took place.
And so Brigham Young, you know, he took it to another level, I think he had more wives
than Joseph Smith, and then all of a sudden one day they said, you know what, we've changed
our mind.
Even though polygamy was an everlasting covenant.
What does everlasting mean?
Buhay naw walan hangan, forever.
But then once the government said, well, this is illegal, they said, okay, we won't do it
anymore.
Even though it was an everlasting covenant, according to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young,
But with the Mormons, because here's what you have to understand, Mormonism is a denomination.
It's like Baptist.
You have to realize there are hundreds of different Mormon denominations.
Because with Mormonism, they believe one person is basically the pope on earth sort of thing,
right?
So what happens is when one pope dies, a lot of people say, well, I'm the next pope.
And all of a sudden you have all these church splits.
Some people follow this prophet, some people follow this prophet, some people follow this
prophet, some people follow this prophet.
There are hundreds of denominations of Mormons, so when you run into Mormons, they make it
a point to say, we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Why?
Because that's their specific church they link up with.
But see, there's other denominations, and the second biggest one is the Church of Fundamentalist
Latter-day Saints.
And the big difference between the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints, FLDS, and the LDS is with
FLDS, they still marry lots of women.
And so in the FLDS denomination of Mormons, which is their second biggest, they still
have like 20 wives, 30 wives, 40 wives, and like they get arrested for doing all these
things.
And you know, with a lot of these people, they're married to like women and their daughters.
Just wicked grievous, and they're married to like, you know, several people related
in the same family.
And they say it's normal.
But here's the thing, if it was an everlasting covenant, because Joseph Smith basically said,
you're damned to hell unless you marry multiple women.
That is what he taught.
That's what he said, okay?
I know I'm going on a rabbit trail here, but here's the thing about this.
I want you to see polygamy, and it was considered bizarre in this world.
Everyone looks at polygamy and says, that is so weird.
But I want you to understand, that used to be common throughout the entire world, polygamy
taking place.
It's still common with the Muslims and the Mormons, some of the Mormons and stuff like
that.
But it was common with God's people in Deuteronomy 17.
This is why God specifically says, don't multiply wives to yourself.
Genesis 16, Genesis chapter 16.
Say, what's your point of bringing up polygamy?
My point to bring up polygamy is this, polygamy is not common in today's world.
In fact, it's very rare.
What's the reaction of all of us then?
Man, polygamy is so bizarre.
It's so weird.
Why do we feel that way?
Because it's not common.
Here's the thing.
Fornication is very common.
So to us, fornication doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
Let's be honest.
You see it all the time.
It starts to brainwash you.
Well, maybe it's not that big of a deal because it's common.
This is part of the desensitization we have towards sin.
Because it's common, it feels normal.
Polygamy used to be common.
So guess what?
To God's people, they committed polygamy.
No big deal.
I'll be honest with you though.
In the Bible, I would say fornication is a worse sin than polygamy.
Why do you say that?
Look at the judgment upon the people committing fornication dying, being killed.
You don't see that with polygamy.
It's still a sin.
We see that in Deuteronomy.
Don't multiply wives to yourself because the result is your heart will be turned away.
But I would say fornication was considered worse.
But in today's world, all of us would look at polygamy and say, man, I would never do
that.
I would go to a college campus and ask every single person there, would you ever consider
being married to multiple people?
Everyone would be like, what in the world?
That's wicked.
That's terrible.
No, I would never do that.
Would you ever live with someone before you're married?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, I live with my girlfriend.
No big deal.
Why do they feel that way?
Because it's common.
See, what's common will make you start to feel like, oh, it's actually normal.
God's word doesn't change.
Fornication is a wicked sin.
I'm not showing you this because polygamy, it used to be common.
The result is God's people do it because it's common.
Genesis 16.
Genesis 16, verse 1.
That's why some of these stories in the Bible, you read them and especially in Genesis, you're
like, what in the world?
It's like Jacob.
I mean, you're married to like Leah, you're married to, I mean, just adding wife after
wife, you know, because it was common.
So they didn't think it was that big of a deal.
Genesis 16, verse 1.
But look at the lives of those people after they did that.
Their lives were completely destroyed.
Genesis 16, verse 1.
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children, and she hadn't handmade an Egyptian whose
name was Hagar.
And Sarai said unto Abram, behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing.
I pray thee, and pray basically means to ask, I ask thee, go in unto my maid.
It may be that I may obtain children by her, and Abraham hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
So Abram hearkens to his wife's voice and she says, we're not able to have kids together,
so just sleep with my handmaid.
That's what she's saying.
Now why in the world would anyone do that?
Well, they do that because that was common back then.
So it didn't feel that weird, because we read that, and this is a bizarre story to us, because
it's not common in today's world.
But it was common back then, so it just didn't feel that weird to them, okay?
Now I want you to understand, though, they didn't just come together and commit fornication.
They actually got married, according to verse 3.
Genesis 16, verse 3, and Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, after
Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his
wife.
Now why does he marry her before they sleep together?
Because fornication was not common.
Polygamy was common.
So before we commit this sin, we'll get married first.
Because that's common, so that's just what you did, okay?
It was considered very weird to lie down with someone you were not married to.
Fornication was considered weird with God's people, not with the world, because you'd
have to go out of the world to avoid it.
But it was very common amongst, you know, it wasn't common amongst God's people fornication,
but polygamy was, and so Abram just marries this other woman, Hagar, and they end up being
together.
It's the same thing with Jacob.
Jacob marries Leah, Rachel, I mean, it's just no big deal, right?
Now turn to 1 Samuel 25, 1 Samuel 25.
Look there's only one real way to avoid being brainwashed by the world, because we're all
going to be brainwashed to some degree, even if you don't have a hellavision, even if you
don't listen to worldly music.
You know, you're still going to the stores, you're out and about, you're going to hear
things, you're going to see things, you cannot fully avoid the brainwashing.
But I want you to understand, the entire world is set to brainwash you.
It's all set to brainwash you, why?
Because Satan's the God of this world.
Everything's built to brainwash you, okay?
The only real way to avoid this is read what the Bible says.
And go to a church where you hear the word of God preached.
And you'll see what the Bible says.
Because I promise you, if anybody in this room spent the next year and they never read
the Bible, and they never heard good preaching, you would be so brainwashed after a year.
And you know what you'd think?
You still might think some of these things are wrong, but you wouldn't think they're
that weird anymore.
Yeah, fornication is wrong.
I wouldn't commit fornication, but I don't think it's really that big of a deal.
Why?
Because the world will brainwash you.
Because you see it all the time, and look, you know, you're going to eventually be brainwashed.
This is what it said when I, a couple weeks ago, I talked about Daniel 7, where this is
what the Antichrist will do.
He speaks against the Most High, and it wears out the saints of the Most High.
And so if you constantly see people committing fornication and blaspheming God, eventually
you go from being angry to thinking, not that big of a deal.
Why?
You're worn out according to Daniel 7.
You get worn out in the battle.
The only way to get refreshed is when you're reading the Bible and you're hearing preaching.
Look, soul winning, that alone won't fully refresh you either.
You need to actually read what the Bible says.
Soul winning's great, but here's the thing.
Just soul winning alone is not going to refresh your mind.
Every day you put on the new man and cleanse your mind from the garbage that you saw the
day before.
Because every single day this is going to take place, unless you just stay at home and
just avoid everything, you're going to be brainwashed a little bit every single day.
And it will eventually wear off on you.
It's going to wear you out.
First Samuel 25.
And Abigail hasted and arose and rode upon an ass with five damsels of hers that went
after her.
First Samuel 25, verse 42.
And she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.
So in verse 42, we see that David takes Abigail to be his wife.
Now David's already married.
No big deal though, because polygamy is common, right?
I mean he's married, but hey, I want to marry her too.
It's like, well, you made your choice already.
But notice what it says in verse 43.
Because remember, going back to Genesis, the man and woman become one when they get married.
Look, you can't become one, become one, become one, become one, become one.
No, you're married to one person and two become one.
You share your lives together.
I don't even know how they do it when they're married to multiple women.
I mean do these guys have like four homes?
And then like on Monday they stay at this house.
On Tuesday they stay at this.
I mean literally like what in the world?
Like how do you even do that?
It's bizarre.
It's weird.
And look, I don't know why you would want to be married to lots of different people.
As a guy or a girl.
Because you're going to invest your time into one spouse and your kids and your time, your
energy.
It's tiring.
How in the world do you have the energy to be married to like five or six different people?
I don't really get it, okay?
But the reason why it makes absolutely no sense to me is because this is not very common
in today's world.
So it just seems really bizarre to me, okay?
Verse 43, so he marries Abigail in verse 42.
Verse 43, David also took a Hinoim of Jezreel and they were also both of them as wives.
So verse 42 is like he gets married.
He's like, man, I kind of like her too.
Look, this is not a buffet, okay?
This is not like you're at a buffet and there's like 20 different, oh, here's the Japanese
food, here's the Korean food, here's the Filipino food.
Like I'll take a little bit of this, I'll take one of these and one of these and one
of these.
It doesn't work that way, okay?
But David in verse 42, he takes one wife.
I mean, he's already got Michael as his wife, he takes a second wife, then he takes a Hinoim
also.
Why?
Because once you start committing sins, it becomes more and more and more normal to you.
Because it's more common, it feels more normal.
It doesn't feel like that big of a deal.
And look, if somebody commits fornication one time, it's a wicked sin, but get it out
of your life, never do it again.
But once you do it once, it's probably going to happen twice and three times and four times,
no big deal.
Revelation chapter two, Revelation chapter two.
And let me just read you a quick cohabitation statistic for the Philippines, okay?
Now this basically means living together with someone before you're married.
And in 1993, it was six percent.
It's pretty low.
One out of 16, one out of 17 couples would live together before they're married.
2013, 24 percent.
It increased four times, four times as prevalent in just 20 years.
The world is waxing worse and worse.
That means in 2033, it would be 96 percent of people.
Six times four, 24 times by four, again, 96 percent of people.
Probably not 96 percent of people, but it's just becoming more and more common.
It's just very common in today's world.
And it's every single country around the world.
It's just getting worse and worse.
And in today's world, you can attribute it to the iPhones, the TV, because the media
is just a mass brainwashing session.
The devil is just brainwashing you through the TV shows, through the music, through everything.
It's just so common.
And now in today's world, you just go on Facebook and YouTube and there's all these scandalous
ads on the side, just this wickedness.
And you're like, man.
And it comes to the point where you say, should I just get rid of all this stuff?
Because I don't want to have this stuff enter into my mind because mine eye affected my
heart, the Bible says.
But you literally cannot avoid this stuff.
Everywhere you go, it's everywhere.
The world is brainwashing you.
Now as a church like this, we do our best to get the message of God's word out to basically
fight against the world.
But the world is putting their message out a million times more than churches like ours.
It is everywhere you go just brainwashing you and it is desensitizing you to sin.
Because when you see TV shows, and I don't have a TV now, but I used to watch TV when
I was younger like everybody else.
And there's the shows that were common when I was growing up were like Friends and Seinfeld.
And look, if you've ever seen those shows, they just sleep around with one new person
every episode.
And they make it funny, like it's no big deal.
It's like, oh yeah, he's just always sleeping around with somebody.
Like no big deal.
You know what happens?
It makes you feel like, oh, it's not that big of a deal.
It's kind of funny, it's fun, no big deal.
Why?
God is brainwashing you.
And when you allow this stuff to enter into your mind all the time, your eye and your
ears will affect your heart.
That's what the Bible says.
Revelation chapter two.
Revelation chapter two verse 20.
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel
which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication
and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Now I don't know if Jezebel is actually her name or if this is just like a nickname for
her, because she's just like the Jezebel of the Old Testament.
I presume it's just a nickname.
I would say I would never name a daughter Jezebel.
You know, a lot of names enter into your mind, and like Judas and Jezebel, they're off the
list for boys and girls, okay?
It's obviously, it's up to you guys what you want to name your kids.
It's just a suggestion, okay?
Judas and Jezebel, just don't pick those names, okay?
And she's referred to as Jezebel here, and she's teaching and seducing servants to commit
fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols, okay?
Verse 21.
Now here we have a lot of idolatry, but people usually don't eat things that are sacrificed
unto idols.
You've got to go to the Buddhist countries for that, okay?
That's where they literally eat things that are offered, it's like first let's give it
to this statue of Buddha, and then we'll let you eat it, okay?
Eating things that are offered and sacrificed to idols, okay?
Verse 21, and I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not.
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
except they repent of their deeds.
So what you see is this woman is guilty of this wicked sin, but what you also see is
in verse 21, she was given a time period, a space to repent of that sin.
Look, if somebody visits our church for the first time, and they're living with her boyfriend
or girlfriend, we will not kick them out on the first time.
You say, why?
Because the Bible shows you give them space to repent of that.
They're not even aware of these things, okay?
Now let me give you an example, and here's the thing.
Depending on the church and the person running it and the situation, how they deal with it
might vary.
I'm just telling you how we would deal with it and how we have before, and things such
as this, okay?
I remember though when I was in West Virginia, I brought this guy to church, and this guy
was like hanging out with like drug addicts, and there was like a sodomite in the midst,
like five people.
This is in West Virginia.
I invited this group to church just in general, talking to whomever, and then this guy told
me, he's like, oh yeah, I'm going to come to church.
I went to that church when I was a kid, and he's like, I'm saved.
I know I'm going to heaven, and he's hanging out with drug addicts and a sodomite, and
I'm just thinking, yeah, probably not saved, but we'll see, and he's like, he's going to
come to church.
He's like, yeah, I'll give you my number.
He's like, I don't have a ride, and he told me he's going to come to church, and this
is on a Saturday.
I'm thinking, I'm never going to see this guy ever again, and so on Sunday, I gave him
a call.
He's like, yeah, I still want to come to church, so I picked him up, brought him to church,
and he was actually saved.
He got saved, and we don't do children's ministries.
Obviously, I preached about that last week, but it is possible to get saved in children's
ministries, and he had gotten saved as a child at the church I was at like 20 plus years
before, okay, a long time before he'd gotten saved, and I brought him to church and everything,
and then I found out after a couple weeks, he was living with his girlfriend, and so
basically, the first thing I did is I talked to the pastor about it, just let him know
about the situation.
I said, you know, how do you want us to handle it?
The reason why I did that is because it's not my authority because I'm not the pastor
of the church, so I asked the pastor, how do you want me to handle this situation, okay,
and so basically, you know, I was still giving him a ride to church and everything, and so
the pastor talked to the assistant pastor, and he said, here's what I want you to do.
I want you to go to their house and try to get his girlfriend saved, so we did that.
We got his girlfriend saved, so she got saved, and they actually both came to church then,
but here's the problem.
He was still coming to church, and they weren't getting married, and I talked to my pastor
many times.
I was like, you know, how would you like us to handle this, and basically, it was not
being handled at all.
Months and months and months were going by, and it was coming to the point where I was
just like, I feel like God's going to make me get struck down in my car for bringing
this guy because it's like I'm helping him commit this sin and not talking to him about
it.
Now, what was weird was I gave him a Bible reading chart to read through the Bible cover
to cover in the year, and he was reading it every single day because he would talk to
me about it.
He was reading like four chapters every single day and everything, and all of a sudden, I
saw like, you know, he's getting to 1 Corinthians.
So I said, you know what, let me just read.
I'll just like talk to him about those places in 1 Corinthians.
So we get to that point, and I talk to him, and I say, what do you think about these verses?
And he's like, yeah, I was thinking about that, and he's like, you know, I should get
married.
Right?
I was like, yeah.
You know, according to the Bible, I was like, yeah, you know, because you don't want this
to be passed.
I said, this could be passed on to kids.
Now, here's the problem, though.
I talked to this guy many times, and I thought for sure he had told me they had never been
married, either one of them, because the Bible says if you get married, you cannot get remarried
unless your spouse dies, because you're saying till death do us part.
So if neither of you die, you can't marry somebody else.
Okay?
I was positive both of them said they had never been married before, and so he's like,
yeah, you know, I'll talk to her.
He's like, you know, we need to get married, and I remember just asking one time, yeah,
you said you've never been married, right?
He's like, yeah, yeah.
He's like, I've never been married, but she's been married before.
I was like, oh, no.
I've been convincing him for a couple months to basically marry this woman, but she's already
been married, and I was like, man, I don't even know how to undo this situation.
Now, eventually, though, he never did marry as far as I know.
I was given a ride for a little while, and I just, you know, I told the pastor, I was
like, you know, I just can't in good conscience still give him a ride, because I was given
a ride every single week.
Someone else at the church did that for a little while.
They stopped because of the same thing, and he just kind of stopped coming to church.
But here's what I want you to understand.
We gave that guy a chance, because this was all new to him.
I mean, he had been in the church 20 years prior, but he didn't know what the Bible said
about him, and we would do the same thing at this church.
If somebody came into this church, and they were living with their spouse, I want you
to realize we would deal with the situation, but maybe not as early as you would like us
to deal with it, and you have to understand that in every situation, and if you, if there's
a situation, and you say, this needs to be dealt with, here's what you do.
You come to me privately and say, Brother Stuckey, I think this is a situation we need
to deal with.
Okay?
And, you know, you could be right in this situation.
I might say, yeah, you know, we need to just make a decision here.
It's been too long or whatever, but you don't have the authority to kick somebody out, okay?
But I do want you to see in Revelation 2 verse 21 that with this sin of basically committing
fornication, and she's getting other people to commit fornication, and the Bible says
she got a time period, space to repent of that fornication.
We would try to do the same thing, okay?
Now turn in your Bible to Genesis 39, Genesis 39, Genesis chapter 39.
And so I want you to see first off that, you know what, fornication has always been common
with the world, and you know what, unfortunately it's now common with God's people in Baptist
churches.
Whether people are saved or not, it's common in Baptist churches, okay?
But polygamy used to be common.
So being common has nothing to do with whether or not it's right.
And it doesn't matter if everybody started marrying multiple wives again.
That doesn't make it more normal.
Normal does not change.
See the word common is a Bible word, the common salvation available to everybody, okay?
Normal is not a Bible word, but what normal means, it conforms to some sort of standard.
So when you ask the world, well, is this normal, it's all an opinion because they don't
have a standard.
It's just an opinion in their head.
And the way they determine if it's normal is the fact, wait a minute, is it common?
If it's common, it's normal.
And what they say is, well, things are normal depending on what country you live in.
Like, you know, we would never worship a cow, but people in India, no big deal, right?
I mean, they grow up in India, that's just what they do, they worship cows and stuff
like that.
No, it doesn't matter what country you live in because this is the standard.
And what's normal is found in this book, okay?
So how do we avoid this grievous sin?
Well, here's the thing, number one, do not put yourself in position to commit this sin.
That's the easiest way to avoid it.
Genesis 39 verse 7, Genesis 39 verse 7, the story of Joseph, Genesis 39 verse 7, and it
came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said,
lie with me.
So this is a pretty scandalous woman.
She's not subtle at all.
She's just saying, just sleep with me.
That's what she's saying.
You know, her husband's away, cat's away, the mice will play.
And yes, I'm calling her a mouse, okay?
She's saying, you know, just sleep with me, lie with me.
That's what she just asks, okay?
And in verse number eight, but he refused and said unto his master's wife, behold my
master wadeth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to
my hand.
So he's saying, your husband trusts me with everything.
It's under my hands, and it's like, man, I'm not going to do this wicked sin, okay?
Now, I do want to say this on a side point.
Look, if you start dating somebody and they want to just bring up the physical and just
move you to another level at a very early stage, and this stuff you shouldn't be doing
at all until you're married, but just run away from that person.
I don't care if they show up to soul winning.
I don't care if...
I love Brother Stuckey's sermons.
It's like, move on from that person.
Why?
Because I want to get you to commit some wicked sin, okay?
Notice what it says in verse nine.
There is none greater in this house than I.
Neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife.
How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?
It says, if I do this, I'm going to sin against God.
This is a terrible thing.
Now, my opinion when you read this story, it seems like from what Joseph's saying is
he probably finds her attractive.
She's probably a very attractive woman, okay?
And the Bible talks about there is a beauty to the whore.
She's a whore, plain and simple.
This is by definition.
She is a whore, okay?
And look, I'm sure that she was attractive.
And you know what?
When it comes to the world, especially as they dress like whores, there is an attractiveness
the Bible mentions in the book of Proverbs to that, okay?
But I want you to understand that, you know, you get involved with someone like that, this
is a wicked person that's going to destroy your life.
The world we live in today with like all kinds of makeup and everything, anyone can look
attractive.
You don't even know what they look like.
It's funny because I remember when I was in college, you know, we always kind of noticed,
this is me and my friends, that, you know, people would always like put on lots of makeup
and everything like that.
But during finals week, people are stressed out and they don't have time to do that.
And you'd see people and it's like, whoa, she looks a lot different in real life.
It's like, I've never seen her looking like that before.
And it's like, look, just because they can change the way they look, and especially in
today's world, because look, I'm just being dead honest, there are guys dressed up as
women that could pass for being a woman and you don't even know in today's world.
That is the reality.
So let me tell you something.
Marry someone who's godly, someone you know, okay, because there's, I mean, just weirdness
in today's world.
You don't even know anymore.
That's the reality.
Verse 10, and it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearken not
unto her to lie by her or to be with her.
So pretty much every day she's saying, Joseph, sleep with me, Joseph, sleep with me, Joseph,
sleep with me.
When this is common, it eventually will affect you.
That's the reality.
And she's saying it all the time to him and eventually just she's saying this over and
over again.
And by Joseph's reaction, I think he's afraid he's going to make this mistake.
So verse 11, and it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do
his business and there was none of the men of the house therewith.
So before this, there's other people there.
So basically, I mean, you have to be an idiot.
I mean, like you're basically pronouncing the death penalty on yourself if you were
to do that.
But now there's nobody there.
Okay.
So maybe she was preparing for this moment.
I don't know.
Verse 12, and she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me.
So she just grabs him by the shirt and basically says, sleep with me.
And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out.
So he just runs out of the house.
What takes place?
She says he tried to force me.
She lies and says the exact opposite thing.
Now obviously, God's with Joseph the whole time.
And you know, Joseph's always protected as he's in prison and things such as that.
But what are you seeing?
Joseph is trying to avoid the situation.
Why?
Because if you don't avoid the situation, you're probably going to screw up.
Turn to Ephesians five, Ephesians five, Ephesians chapter five.
Look, I promise you this sort of stuff goes on in today's world as well.
Because if this is in the Bible, in Genesis, do you think it's just in Genesis 39?
I'm sure you're at a company office, and I'm sure that there's the possibility.
It's like, hey, you know what?
If you sleep with a boss, you can get a pay raise.
That happens all the time at work.
And you know, it's funny because my old job in Maryland, you know, it's like the gossip
corner at my old job.
Okay.
The person who sat beside me, she knew everything about everybody.
She knew everything.
Now, she was incredibly nice to me, and that's why I knew I've got to avoid saying anything
to this woman.
Because she's incredibly nice to everybody, and then all of a sudden I heard what she
actually thought about them when they were gone.
And it's like, I would be just trying to work, and then they'd be telling stories about yeah,
you know, I cheated on my husband with this person.
I'm just like, I mean, you cannot avoid this stuff.
You must go out of the world to avoid this sort of stuff.
It's everywhere.
Okay.
It's like the big gossip corner.
And you know, I lost my train of thought.
I'll go back to that story in a second.
Okay.
Actually, it ties into here, Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians chapter five.
But what I was saying was this, that when you come to an office job, look, I promise
you, because you would hear about how there are rumors that so and so slept with this
person, so and so slept with this person.
Oh, now they're the assistant manager.
Oh, they've only been there six months.
Now they're the assistant manager.
And it's just like you heard the rumors, and it's like it was so common that I knew it
was true.
Okay.
I mean, it was so common.
You heard all these rumors about this happening, and everyone just kind of had this understanding
that, hey, you know, you want to sleep with this person, then you know what, you'll get
a pay raise.
Now, my head boss was not like that.
Okay.
But some of the other people that are in positions of power, you just kind of knew about that
story.
Okay.
That's just what took place.
Look, if this happened in Genesis 39, it happened at my office, I'm sure it happens everywhere.
Okay.
So basically, you want to move up in the company, all you have to do is sleep around, and that
takes place.
Ephesians 5.
So we need to avoid being in the situation, but not just avoid being in the situation.
As much as is possible, you want to avoid hearing or seeing anything about this.
Okay.
This includes the television, the movies, the music, and things such as that.
Like in my old office, look, I couldn't avoid it.
I had to work there.
Okay.
It's just like I wouldn't have been able to do anything.
You know, sometimes I had headphones on listening to like sermons, and I was allowed to do
that.
But sometimes, you know, based on what I was doing that day, I just had to pay attention
to what I'm doing, and I couldn't just listen to sermons.
I had to really pay attention to everything, because otherwise it's like a big mistake.
Okay.
Sometimes I could just listen to sermons and the audio Bible, and it was great.
Sometimes though, I had to just put that away and just really focus and find out, okay,
what's going on?
What am I doing wrong?
How do I figure this out?
Okay.
And so I could not fully avoid it.
Right.
It's impossible.
I did.
But you can't always fully avoid it.
Well, notice what it says in Ephesians 5, verse 3.
Ephesians 5, verse 3.
But fornication in all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become
of saints.
And so what the Bible's saying here to a church, the Church of Ephesus, don't let any fornication
or uncleanness or covetousness.
We shouldn't be a church known for being fornicators or unclean or just loving money being covetous.
Okay.
Let it not be once named among saints is what it's saying.
Save people.
Okay.
But I want you to notice verse 5.
Let's skip verse 4 for a second.
Verse 5.
For this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater
hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
I want you to notice that verse 3 and 5 are very similar.
In verse 3, it says fornication, uncleanness, covetousness.
Verse 5 says whoremonger, which is similar to fornication, sexual sin.
Unclean person is uncleanness.
Covetous man is covetousness.
Okay.
Those things line up.
Okay.
Why do they line up?
What is the Bible trying to tell you?
Well, to understand this, go to verse 4, because it's repeating itself, but there's a break
by one verse.
Verse 4.
Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather
giving of thanks.
Now foolish talking and jesting are referring to basically sins of the tongue.
Okay.
What I believe this is trying to tell you with foolish talking and jesting or strong
joking, it's in reference to don't allow to say anything like this or hear anything about
uncleanness, covetousness, and fornication sexual sin.
So basically if you hear any talking or joking about sexual sin, get away from that.
It's wrong.
And look, the world will make jokes about this stuff.
God's people should never joke about that.
Why?
Because you shouldn't joke about uncleanness, fornication.
Don't make a mock at sin.
Fools make a mock at sin.
And so what it's referring to mainly is basically sins of the tongue involving talking about
sexual sin, uncleanness, and covetousness.
Well, let me ask you a question.
What is the television really about?
You're not actually committing those sins, but what was the show like Friends and Seinfeld
about?
It's all about being a whoremonger and a fornicator and a whore.
It's all about sexual sin.
It's all just joking about those things.
And look, when I used to watch those shows, it was funny to me.
It's funny.
Yeah, and guess what?
It rubs off on you then.
You think it's no big deal.
And so let me tell you something.
The movies, the music you love, and the TVs, it is all full of just talking about covetousness
and fornication and wickedness.
And if you listen to that stuff, you're allowing it to enter into your mind, and eventually
it enters where?
Right here.
And then that's when the adultery happens.
Then that's when the fornication happens.
It starts up here.
And when you allow it to enter into your mind and your eyes and your ears, it's going to
enter into your heart.
That is the way it works.
Why?
Affected my heart.
That is what the Bible says.
Verse six, let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
You say, well, Brother Stuckey, all my friends are at church.
I don't have friends with these people that are just wicked people.
Yeah, but do you watch TV every day?
Because you are being a partaker with them when you're basically endorsing that show
and watching that show.
You're partaking with them.
You're part of the problem.
When you listen to that music and those TVs and those movies, and look, correct me if
I'm wrong, but there's no TV show out there, which is just a godly TV show, nothing wrong.
No, it's filled with the lusts of the world that are brainwashing you, okay?
Turn your Bible to 1 John 2, 1 John 2.
And the world's getting worse and worse.
It's waxing worse and worse, the Bible says, because, look, I haven't had a TV for a very
long time.
But I'd imagine the TV shows are not more godly than they used to be.
I mean, by the looks of it, you know, because I go soul winning sometimes and I see Vice
Pong eat on the TV, it certainly doesn't seem like it's godlier than it used to be.
It certainly seems like it's pretty wicked, okay?
Now, let me say this.
The place we moved into already has a TV, but we have never turned it on one time.
I can't avoid it.
It's their TV.
We're renting the place.
Technically, I have a TV, okay?
But I haven't watched it in years, okay?
But look, I would not suggest anyone to watch the movies or the TV or the music.
And I'll tell you what, when I first gave up that stuff, I probably didn't have the
willpower to avoid it.
Now, you know, since I've been, you know, without it for a long time, you realize, man,
I'm not really missing a whole lot.
So I don't really miss, you know, all the things I used to watch, so it's not really
a big deal to me, you know?
But look, you know, I wouldn't suggest anyone watching this stuff.
You say, why?
Because it's filled full of covetousness, uncleanness.
And here's the thing.
You watch that TV show for 30 minutes, I'm sure parts of it are, oh, this is funny.
Then all of a sudden, then they say something blasphemous, and you're like, oh, man.
You feel guilty about it.
And let me just, let me confess my faults one to another.
Something foolish I did like a year after I got saved, you know, less than a year, probably.
I remember there was this rock song I used to like, you know, and I'd only been saved
for a little while.
So, you know, I still had a lot of sin and worldliness in my life.
And I really liked the song, but I knew it was blasphemous, okay?
So I would basically like turn off the radio for like 15 seconds when the song was playing
so I didn't hear the part that was really blasphemous.
You say, why?
Because I felt really guilty about it.
And look, I want you to realize, when you're feeling really guilty about doing these things,
it's because the Holy Spirit's telling you, you know what?
It's pretty wicked.
You need to get out of your life.
First John 2, verse 15.
First John chapter 2, verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Oh, you know, I love God, and I love TV.
Well, not according to First John 2, verse 15.
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
You can't say that you love God and you love the things that are opposing God, okay?
Look, the things of the world, the TV shows, they're against the things of God.
They hate the God of God.
I understand you can go on YouTube, you can find some documentaries, there's nothing bad
in it, education or whatever.
I understand there might be exceptions here and there, but look, 90 whatever percent of
the TV, the music, the movies, it's all garbage.
It's gonna destroy your minds.
Verse 16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
So realize your TV show you watch, look, God's not the one who's endorsing that show.
It's not some independent fundamental Baptist that's basically running the show saying,
we're gonna try to bring the message of salvation out to everybody.
That's not what's taking place.
Turn to First Corinthians 5, we'll close up.
First Corinthians 5.
Say, man, why do you have to preach a whole sermon against fornication?
Because I don't want any of these kids growing up and committing fornication.
I don't know what's gonna happen in the next 15, 20 years.
Maybe someone has to leave this church, they move somewhere else.
I want this to be stuck in the minds of these kids in this room, whatever age they are.
I will never commit that sin.
And look, we have a lot of single people in our church and look, the temptations are natural.
They're given to you by God, they're normal.
Those temptations you have, those are normal.
But they're meant to be used for marriage.
And look, there's people in this room that still need to be reminded of this because
you don't want to destroy your life.
Okay, so what's the big deal about, what if you know it's like a couple days before the
wedding versus a couple days after?
Is that really a big difference?
Yeah, because one thing's called fornication, one's called a normal marriage.
I didn't make up the rules.
Before marriage, whether it's one hour or one year, it's fornication.
It doesn't matter if it's close, well, we're already engaged, well, wait till you get married.
Just wait a few more weeks, okay?
First Corinthians five, verse nine, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with
fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners
or with idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world.
Now let me say this, that I don't believe we'll have this problem in this church because
I'm going to make sure that I deal with any problems we have.
If you ever go to another church though and you become a member and there's people that
are committing these sins, let me tell you something, I would not go to lunch with them
after the service if I were you.
You say why?
Because the Bible says not to company with them and if they're a fornicator, they're
some wicked person, you shouldn't even be fellowshiping with them according to the Bible.
Now I understand if it's your brother that you talk to from time to time or your parents
or whatever from time to time, but in terms of people that are like supposed to be godly,
that are called a brother, that are called a saved brother, look, if I was at a church,
I would just avoid those people.
Why?
Because if you're accompanying with them, it's like you're endorsing what they're doing.
Verse 11, but now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called
a brother, and by the way, any woman that's called a sister is going to count as well.
Any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or
a drunkard or an extortioner with such in one know not to eat.
The Bible says do not even eat with that person.
Now let me say this, that some of these things can be kind of gray area, but if you personally
think somebody's a railer, okay, maybe I'm not aware of it or maybe I am and I don't
agree with you, but if you personally think someone's a railer, you should not go to lunch
with them.
You say why?
You're sinning against your conscience if you say they're a railer and yet I'm eating
with that person.
If you say someone's a railer and let's say they're always just criticizing the church
or criticizing everybody, you know what?
Don't eat with that person according to the Bible.
And I'll tell you what, I've been at church before where there's lots of people and there's
certain people I just told my wife, you know what, I just don't want you spending time
with that person.
You say why?
Because they're a railer.
Now I didn't go and tell everybody at church, but I told my wife, I was like, you know what,
there's certain people that I'm just not going to hang out with.
Why?
Because I don't want that spirit rubbing off onto me.
The spirit of complaining or murmuring, it's like a virus.
It just spreads.
Yeah, we can all find something to complain about.
Every single one of us, and look, I get it, every church I've been at, in your mind from
time to time you have a foolish thought, oh, I wish this was different, I wish this was
different.
Hey, live with it.
And if someone criticized this church, what you do is you rebuke them and say I don't
want to hear that, you tell me about it, and don't company with that person.
Now I'm not saying that you have the authority to kick them out of church, but if someone's
like railing, say hey, you know what, I don't want to hear you criticize this church.
I don't want to hear you criticize, brother sucky, I don't want to hear you criticizing
some other person at church.
And guess what?
I wouldn't hang out with that person if I were you.
Why?
Because it's going to rub off on you and you went from being happy and once somebody complains
to you, now all of a sudden you're complaining about stuff.
Now all of a sudden you're like, man, you're right.
I used to think Verity was a great church, now, yeah, there's a lot of problems here.
It's like a virus that spreads, okay, that's the reality.
Don't company with them, it says.
Verse 12, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
Do not ye judge them that are within?
See, the Bible says, you know what, we judge those are within, within a church.
This was a church of Corinth, this is the church of Verity Baptist Church Manila.
We judge the situations within and that comes from the leadership, but as I said, you can
come to me privately.
The problem you have sometimes, though, is nobody ever wants to tell the person running
the church.
They just want to tell their five best buddies at church, like hey, did you hear so and so
did this, so and so did this, so and so did this.
By the time I find out about it, everybody knows except me.
That's the way it works at church.
It's like if you've got a problem with someone, you know what, you come to me.
Try to deal with it one on one or if it's something where, you know, they're railing
or they're causing a lot of problems, come to me privately, but don't just tell everybody
at church, okay, that's what the Bible says.
But them that are without, God judges, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked
person.
So look, if somebody doesn't go to this church and they're just fornicating and they're a
wicked person, God's the one who deals with them.
We don't have the authority to run everybody's lives.
We're not this universal Catholic church that runs everybody.
Everybody in the world, you know, you're just forced to obey our rules, okay.
No, but we do deal with this church.
And the Bible says we judge those that are within.
God judges those that are without.
And so what is our judgment on the sin of fornication?
Well, here's the judgment.
It's not acceptable for anyone.
We're not going to let somebody just come into this church and be a fornicator and just
no big deal.
We will give people space to repent of their fornication and we'll show them what the Bible
says in a kind way.
And I've seen this in action from Pastor Jimenez.
And sometimes people change and you know what, they become great church members.
Usually they don't.
Sometimes they do and that's great.
That's the goal.
And you know what, you never bring it up.
You never talk about it.
The past is the past.
Sometimes they don't.
And then eventually it reaches a point where you say, hey, you know what, we need to talk
to you and just say, hey, you know what, this has gone too far.
We told you this and you're still doing this.
You're not welcome here anymore.
And we have had to on a couple of occasions, not for fornication, we've had to on a couple
of occasions ask people, do not come back here.
We gave them a chance.
No doubt about that.
Everyone could say that.
They know who I'm talking about.
We gave them a chance.
But you know what, they just chose not to listen to what we said and follow what the
Bible said.
Look, this sin is very common, fornication.
And here's the thing.
In 2021, it's going to be more common.
2022, it's going to be more common.
It's going to reach the point where it's normal to live together before you're married.
Let me just close with this one story I had from college one time.
I had this class in college, a communications class, and the teacher was asking questions
about successful marriages, like what we thought of statistics.
And she asked this question, who thinks that before you're getting married, it's a good
idea to live with who you're married to beforehand?
Who thinks that ends up resulting in a more likelihood of a good marriage or successful
marriage?
What's basically more likely to get divorced, if you don't live together before you're married
or if you do live together?
And she asked the question, and she asked, who thinks that living together before you're
married will help you have more likely that your marriage will last and it will help out?
And then all of a sudden, she asked for people's opinions, and look, I was just in the class.
I'm just trying to get my grade or whatever.
But then basically everybody raised their hand, except me.
Every single person raised their hand, and they're giving their reasons like, yeah, you
get to know them.
You find out, can you deal with their personality?
And everybody raised their hands and says, yeah.
And then she's like, well, who thinks that you're more likely to get divorced if you
live together before you're married?
I'm the only one, the only one in the class who raised my hand.
And then she has discussion time for five minutes, and she's nodding along as people
are saying, yeah, it will help you learn this and this.
And she's like, yeah, all of you are wrong, except him.
She's like, you're actually four times as likely to get divorced.
She said four times as likely if you live together before you're married.
I want you to realize, we see the story with Amnon and Tamar, fornicating before they're
married.
It doesn't help their relationship.
Not that she wanted to be in that relationship, but you know what I mean.
He doesn't want her after that.
And so, look, especially amongst God's people, if you choose to commit this wicked sin, it's
not going to help your relationship.
It's going to destroy it.
Wait until the right time.
Why?
It doesn't matter how common this is, 23,000 people died in one day.
I'm not saying you would be killed for it, but I'm saying it's a possibility.
And we see many stories in the Bible, and here's a bit of a difference.
God will be more lenient to you if you're not aware.
See, if you went to some other Baptist church, you're not even going to be aware of this.
But you don't go to some other Baptist church.
You know what the Bible says.
I showed you clearly what the Bible said today.
You saw people dying for this sin.
You should heed that warning.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see
your word about this topic of fornication, and we know this is very common in this world.
God, help all of us, people that are not married, to go to their weddings pure and save themselves
for marriage, God, because they will destroy their lives.
The Bible even says you sin against your own flesh when you commit sin such as this, God.
Help people to control the lust that they have, and help us teach these young kids in
this room that aren't even at the point where they have those desires, God, but help us
just to instill to them what the Bible says and not to make the same mistakes that probably
many people in this room have made, God.
We just pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.