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If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts, and follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." So here in this chapter we learn that God wants to greatly use someone that is a clean vessel. And in life, of course, salvation, thank God, is only by grace through faith. And all you have to do to be saved and to make it to heaven is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But when it comes to someone that God wants to use greatly for his service, for his kingdom, that's gonna be someone that is living a separated life, someone that's purged themselves from these things. What are these things? Well, look at verse 22. It says this, flee also youthful lusts. So in order to be someone that's greatly used by God, the Bible instructs us that we need to flee youthful lusts. Now, what is lust? Lust is an intense or unbridled carnal desire, an intense longing, a personal inclination. A synonym in your Bible is lasciviousness. And when I think about youthful lusts, I mean, let's think about some of the common sins of the youth. Laziness, apathy, drunkenness, drugs, and of course the big one, the most common one that everyone's probably thinking about, is that of fornication. That is a youthful lust that is very, very common throughout all of the world and at all time. And so the title of my sermon this morning is Flee Fornication. Flee Fornication. The Bible says here to flee youthful lusts. And the specific youthful lust I want to hone in on this morning is the sin of fornication. Go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 6. And so what we're gonna talk about this morning is we're gonna talk about what is fornication, why is it that you need to flee fornication. Number two, we're gonna talk about some practical action steps that we could take as Christians to actually abstain from fornication. Number three, we're gonna talk about what to do if you've sinned in this area in the past. And then closing it out, we'll talk about what to do if you know of someone that is living in this sin, that's committing this sin. So number one this morning, simple. Flee fornication. That is the message of this sermon. Look at 1st Corinthians 6 18 says this. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. You know why is it that we as Christians should flee fornication run away from this sin? Well here's one really good reason, one very simple reason, and that is because God said so. It really is that simple. Honestly you don't even need another reason than that. The Bible simply says flee fornication. And of course we know that all scripture is given by inspiration of God. So who is it that's really telling you to flee fornication in this verse? It's not just the Apostle Paul really, it's the Lord. And so that should be reason enough for anyone that has the Holy Spirit inside of them with a desire to please God in their life to read this verse and say you know what God doesn't want me to partake in this. And if God doesn't want me to partake in it then I don't want to partake in it. That's the attitude that we should have. You know another reason is because fornication actually hurts you. It actually is harmful to you. Look at the verse again. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. And here is the truth about fornication is that it's actually harming yourself. People commit this sin and they think it's fun and of course there's joy for a moment because the pleasures of sin for a season exists otherwise people wouldn't be drawn to sin. Of course there is a carnal desire in this area that people have and that desire is real but the truth is that it will hurt you in the long run. It absolutely will. Look at verse 19 it says what know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and notice this and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. Notice according to the Bible our bodies are not our own. It's not my body my choice. Our bodies belong to God and our bodies are actually the temple of the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit dwells for your entire life until the day of redemption and God cares about what you do with your body. You know the Bible teaches that they that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth and of course there is that aspect to serving God but also God cares about what you do with your body. God cares about what you see. God cares about what you hear. God cares about the places you go. God cares about what you do with your body and so your body is not yours to decide what to do with it. No it's God's and we should submit ourselves to the Bible what the Bible says to do with our bodies and of course the Bible says flee fornication. Why? Because it hurts us and here's the thing people that have committed this sin in the past they always have guilt about it. You know they think it's fun for a moment and then they get older and they get married and they struggle with that guilt or they bring baggage into their marriage maybe one person in the marriage was a virgin at the wedding day and the other one wasn't and that can cause bitterness and resentment when it comes to your marriage and you're gonna come to the point where you just realize wow that wasn't worth it I should have just waited for my spouse I shouldn't have given in to this sin you know another reason why it harms you is disease we're gonna talk extensively about that in a minute and you know the Bible does say that fornication is related to uncleanness. Now go to go to Deuteronomy 28 I'm just gonna read for you several verses you don't have to turn to these 2nd Corinthians 12 21 and lest when I come again my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they've committed so in the Bible these are synonyms uncleanness fornication lasciviousness I'll prove that to you I'll keep going stay there but Galatians 5 19 now the works of the flesh flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness Ephesians 5 3 but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be named once among you Colossians 3 5 mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry all throughout the New Testament the Bible is relating these things fornication lasciviousness going to bed with someone outside of marriage and what uncleanness and the fact that God says this in so many verses God really wants us to pick up what he's saying here I mean this is a serious warning that can negatively affect you for the rest of your life and God's trying to get it through our heads hey this is unclean now if we see in the Bible fornication listed as something that's unclean we should expect to see reality match that shouldn't we okay so here is cdc.gov okay this is not fundamental Baptist gov this is just the US government Health Department basically this is what they said last year two million five hundred and five thousand twenty seven new cases were reported of chlamydia gonorrhea and syphilis in the United States that's not how many people total have these gross nasty diseases that's 2.5 new cases last year that is disgusting and if you went to public school they went into graphic detail of what these things are the school I went to they showed us horrifying pictures I really wish they wouldn't have done that but you know it scared the heck out of me and it should scare you if you know what these things are it's disgusting it's sick this is their statistics it says currently one in five adults in the United States have an STD that's nearly 68 million people so think about that one out of every five Americans walking around 20% of our country is just walking around filled with disease from this area and that's not even specifying age group that's just all adults you know if you're between the ages of 15 and 30 I'm sure that the percentage of people with those STDs are way way higher and so you better believe that if you just decide to disregard the Bible's warning about this being unclean and you're just gonna do whatever you want you might end up with one of these filthy diseases for the rest of your life and instead of just being wise and waiting another couple years until you're an adult and can get married if you just want to be an idiot in your teenage years you may be in your 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s with a disease that you can never fix look what Deuteronomy 28 says in verse 27 the Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with the M rods and with the scab and with the itch where of thou canst not be healed that's not a very pleasant verse in your Bible that's not one that's gonna be on a hallmark gift card anytime soon it's one of those verses in the Bible kind of just makes your stomach turn a little bit because it's such a gross and disgusting thought but you know actually talking about this stuff could maybe save you from actually experience this gross and disgusting thought it's unbelievable to me how Christians can go to church how they can go to a new IFB Church where these things are preached and they could be still be so stupid to disregard it and go commit fornication anyways look I think you're an idiot if you do that and you may be called out from behind the pulpit if you go and do this retarded stupid sin here's the truth if two virgins marry each other there is a 0% chance that they will ever get an STD you know God doesn't just give his commandments because he wants to be mean to us he wants to keep us from things that are good no actually all of his commandments are for our own benefit and to keep us safe God cares about us and here's the thing we are God's children and God gives us these commandments because he cares about his children and listen kids the reason your parents give you rules too is because they love and care about you and the reason they may not want to just let you have no boundaries and go out and do whatever you want is because they're not an idiot and they don't want you to have to deal with these consequences for the rest of your life go to Esther chapter number two Esther chapter number two you know until until someone is willing to put a ring on your finger ladies and to vow to be with you till death do us part you should never ever give this away to someone you should never ever do it and here's the thing people are so stupid because they'll be dating and they'll think oh well I'm not at risk of an STD because my boyfriend or my girlfriend says they're a virgin okay let me just breaks reality to you to your foolish youthful mind people lie about this you know what's it called now a body count is what people call it look people lie about their body count so oh I'm safe because my boyfriend's never been with another girl he's probably lying to you oh I'm safe because my girlfriend's never been with a guy she's probably lying to you and you know what that's gonna be a really rude awakening when you wake up someday and your boyfriend girlfriend lied to you and now now what do you do you have a disease for the rest of your life is it really worth trusting someone that they're telling you the truth on that no really the only time you can trust someone is if they're willing to buy you a ring and vow vows to God and before man that they're going to be with you for the rest of their life then you can give that away then you can enjoy that for the rest of your life but especially girls especially young women are really harming themselves when they give this away to someone look at Esther to to it says this then said the king's servant King Ahasuerus then said the king servants that ministered unto him let there be notice fair young virgins sought for the king you know what the king was looking for here he was looking for a pretty young virgin and you know what a lot of men are looking for nowadays when they want to get married they want to find a pretty young virgin and if you are not those things the caliber of man that is going to be willing to marry you is going to be low and you know if you have two of those three areas you could get a pretty good guy still but a lot of women today are just throwing all this away why because they're waiting till they're 35 to get married and by the time they're 35 they've slept around in college so much and they've harmed their body by drinking alcohol by doing drugs by living a hard life by committing fornication then they're none of these things and they complain about the fact that they can't find a husband well you know maybe you should listen to the warnings of the Bible and of course you know women want the same thing women want a young man that is clean and that is virgin that has not defiled himself but especially women when you go and just give this away to another man that's not your husband you are severely devaluing yourself as a person go to 1st Corinthians look actually let's go to Hebrews 13 Hebrews chapter number 13 look at verse 4 it says this marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge notice God's not just giving us these commandments like I said because he doesn't want he wants to keep good things from us no he gave us the marriage bed he said the marriage bed is honorable in all its undefiled it's not unclean and you can enjoy that part of your life for a really really long time but it only takes one time to ruin that for forever because you know the Bible says rejoice with the wife of thy youth it's a good thing to get married young and when you get married young you literally have decades and decades of decades of being with your spouse but you know you screw up in your teenage years you screw up in your 20s and you become unclean and then no one wants you for the rest of your life then you don't get to enjoy that blessing for the rest of your life or if you do it's even more filthy and dirty than it was the first time how can God judge us in this area go to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 1st Corinthians chapter number 10 you know we talked about disease is one way here's another way that God can judge people in this area 1st Corinthians 10 8 says this neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed when he's saying some of them in numbers chapter 25 people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab and God killed 24,000 people but look at the rest of the verse it says this and fell in one day three and twenty thousand so in this story in the Old Testament people were committing fornication God killed 24,000 people and in one day he killed 23 of those 24,000 and so it just goes to show the mind of God on this is that God views this sin as much more serious than we often do in our culture and in our country our country downplays how important this is our country teaches that you should go and live with someone before you're married to see if you're compatible with that person you know our culture teaches that you should date people for a super super long time and put off marriage until you've already gone through college and you have your career settled and you have a hundred thousand dollars in the savings account then maybe you could think about getting married but no why no because you're gonna be committing fornication during that time that's why and let me tell you it's better to be young and poor but right with God and not committing fornication then oh I'm so safe because I got all my money squared away I got my career squared away I got my college squared away but I've been sinning against God this whole time and God literally killed thousands of people in the Old Testament for this sin I'm not saying that God's gonna kill you if you commit the sin but he could he could go to if you would 1st Corinthians 5 1st Corinthians 5 here's another way that God can judge you for this sin 1st Corinthians chapter number 5 let's read the first five verses here it says it is reportedly commonly it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife so in the Church of Corinth here there was a fornication situation going on where a guy was sleeping with his father's wife extremely just weird gross situation but the Bible says here that it was reported commonly meaning that people were aware of the situation people knew what was going on and look at how their attitude was in verse 2 it says and you are puffed up and if not rather mourned that he that have done this deed might be taken away from among you so what was their reaction to the situation going on the church in court was actually prideful about this and what I think was probably going on here is that they were probably like these liberal churches that were prideful about how accepting they are of everything and about how long-suffering and loving and kind they are of everything to wear this church in Corinth rather than morning which is the right attitude to have the church should be mourning when there's fornication commonly reported among it and rather than casting out that person from among you this church was actually prideful what does that tell us the right reaction to fornication going on is mourning sadness that someone would create this would would commit this grievous sin and also casting out that person from among you and you know in church fornicators are not allowed I don't care who it is I don't care if it's someone that I like someone that I don't like the Bible says that person is to be cast out from among you look at verse 3 for I verily as absent in the body but present in the spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that have so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus so notice the Bible's teaching that when someone is committing this in they're supposed to be cast out of church and when they're cast out of church what happens to them their life is basically delivered unto Satan God's gonna remove that hedge of protection that he had around them God's gonna remove the blessing that he had on their life for them being in church and now they're completely open to the attacks of the devil to destroy their life and even to destroy their flesh the Bible says and oftentimes that's what it takes for someone to wake up and I wish it wasn't that way I wish someone could just be smart enough to read the Bible and actually listen to what it says and actually apply what it says in your life you know what some people need to be smacked around by life to figure it out and you know some of the punishment that God can give you for committing fornication is being cast out of church but not even just being cast out of church because pastor Shelley's policy is to enforce church discipline until the parties are repentant and I agree with that 100% but you know what part of your punishment still may be that your name will just be called out publicly from the pulpit and you guys have already seen that happen and so this is not a game this is not a joke this is not like oh the preacher's just preaching this but he'll never do it if you commit fornication I will publicly call your name out from behind the pulpit and you will be publicly shamed in front of this church because America needs to have some shame again it used to be a complete and utter shame when you committed fornication where you would have what's called a shotgun wedding because you got pregnant because you were a whore before you got married and so you had to have a quick wedding to hide the fact that you were a whore that used to be the case in America now it's so common for people to live together look if you live together and I find out about it if pastor Shelley finds out about it you're committing fornication your name will be called out you'll be publicly shamed you'll be publicly embarrassed and it's not that I don't want people to get right it's not that we don't offer forgiveness after that of course we do it's not that someone can't be restored and serve God that's what we desire for their lives is to serve God but I'm just telling you if you think that you can go around committing fornication and that you could influence the children in this room that have not yet been corrupted like you you have another thing coming I will call out your name from behind the pulpit go to 1st Peter chapter 4 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 1 for as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm yourselves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of wine revelings banquetings and abominable idolatries you know many people before they get saved they lived a rough life and they lived a life full of sin that was full of lasciviousness lusts drunkenness revelings banquetings abominable idolatries what is the Bible saying is saying let the time past of your life suffice to fulfill all those abominations you know you just need to have the attitude as a Christian that if you're sitting in this room today and you're saved today just have this attitude that hey my past is in the past and you know what people need to actually make the decision in their lives especially you young people you need to just make the decision of whether or not you're going to serve God just make the decision because here's the thing if you are going to serve God you say you know what I do want to go to church I do want to live a godly life I do want to get married and have a godly family and raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord well then you better be investing a lot of your time effort and energy now as a youth because here's the thing if you say well I'm gonna end up serving God someday then why are you wasting your time right now in the pigpen I say yeah I want to serve God someday that is the desire of my heart okay then why are you committing fornication now why not just erase that part of your life why not just never even go down that road say of course I want to serve God with my life but I'm just gonna drink alcohol now no just just skip that just skip the raunchy phase skip the whore phase skip the fornication phase just obey what the Bible says to do verse 4 wherein they think it's strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot speaking evil of you who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead and here's the thing people will think you're strange people will think you're weird people will make fun of you if you are a virgin up until your wedding day people will think you're weird but you know what I think is strange what I think is strange is having disgusting diseases on your body for the rest of your life that's what I think is strange what I think is strange is men that go up and knock up all these women and don't even raise their own children I think that's strange I think it's strange that we have households in America with no father why because of fornication I think it's strange that women waste their youth when they're extremely valuable when they're fair young virgins and they traded in for some sleazy loser of a guy so that they could wake up in their 30s discontented ugly not fertile and past the age of any desirable man marrying you I think that is what's strange I think it's strange that God's people want to live just like the world I think that's strange I think it's strange that people don't want to get married and just enjoy it whenever they want that's what's strange go to mark chapter number seven so we talked about flea fornication part two this sermon is going to be how to abstain from fornication how to abstain from fornication I'm gonna have four steps for this look at mark 7 verse 20 and he said that which cometh out of the man that defileth the man for from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness and evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness all these evil things come from within and defile the man notice Jesus is describing what the heart of man is like and you know this is the same heart that all of us have we all have the carnal man and what does the carnal man desire to do the carnal man desires to sin so if you want to avoid fornication step one you must be walking in the spirit you cannot just be walking in the flesh and expect yourself to avoid this sin when this is a natural desire that every single person has virtually speaking little Galatians chapter number five Galatians chapter number five Galatians 5 16 says this this I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh for the flesh flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would notice the flesh doesn't want to do what the spirit wants you to do the spirit doesn't want you to do what the flesh wants to do and so what must we do we must walk in the spirit you know some advice I would give to people that are unmarried they're young they desire spouse one thing you should be doing is you should be praying every single day to be filled with the Holy Spirit and for God not to lead you down a path of temptation in this area because if you are just walking in the flesh you will fail and parents better realize that their children will fail and we'll talk about parents in a minute here another thing you could do is set up barriers go to Romans 13 Romans chapter number 13 you know it's not just enough to be relying on yourself walking in the spirit because let's be honest we don't all walk in the spirit every single day right we're all sinners we all come short of the glory of God and we're not just all filled with the spirit at all times that'd be great but that's not the case so because of that we have to set up barriers in our lives look at Romans 13 13 let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and notice this and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof what does it mean to make provision for something well we use this term men providing for their families what does that mean it means men giving their families food shelter the means of surviving and thriving right well we're not supposed to make provision for the flesh we're not supposed to provide ways for our flesh to just feast on sin we have to cut that off make barriers to where that's not even possible we have to starve it to death basically so you know some practical tips and I talked about this recently but it's a good idea not to be alone with someone of the opposite gender and again this is where people are gonna say they're gonna think it's strange concerning you they're gonna think it's so weird that you don't want to be alone with someone of the opposite gender but let me just tell you something if you care about abstaining from fornication here's a surefire way to where you could never commit fornication just don't be alone with someone of the opposite gender and you know married men same thing for you if you want to avoid committing adultery in your life just make it a standard in your life that you're just not going to be alone with someone of the opposite gender now there may be situations in life where this is unavoidable you know women are in the workforce oftentimes you may find yourself to be alone with a woman one time on accident I left the church unlocked at in Hearst and all of a sudden this woman just walked into my office and sat down and I'm just like what the hell's going on like this is weird but she was a woman pastor asking me for money it's like get out like you're insane no this is the wrong church to be asking for money for a woman pastor but you know things like that may happen in your life and if you find yourself in that situation you should still try to give yourself the most accountability as possible you should still try to stand in public places you should still try to be in view of cameras you know I don't care how weird people think it is if I'm alone with a woman that I wasn't expecting to I'll even just call my wife and just have it on my have it you know in my pocket or whatever why because not because I think I'm gonna go down that road or even that I'm accusing the woman of wanting to go down that road but I just want to have accountability and I don't even want someone to be able to falsely accuse me of something and people may think that's weird that's crazy well I think it's just smart I think it's just building barriers in your life so that you don't do this another thing you should do is you should give your spouse or your parents or some sort of accountability partner full access to your phone full access to your devices it's just crazy to me thinking about spouses having phones where the other one isn't allowed to look at it that's weird if you're wanting to hide stuff from your spouse that's a problem you know kids if you want to hide something from your parents you're likely not doing anything good and so parents chill or parents spouses accountability partners should be able to open your phone at any time and look through anything that they want and this could help you avoid going down a dark path of fornication or adultery you know my wife and I we use the life 360 app where she could see my location at any time I could see hers at any time this is just common sense in 2024 America where we're living in perilous time in dangerous times just for safety alone it makes sense to be able to know where someone's at and be able to keep tabs on them to be safe you know dating teens should have chaperoned dates you know dating teens should not be allowed to just go around by themselves without any type of supervision you know that's a terrible terrible idea you're asking for trouble and you say well that's a lot of work a lot of effort and energy yeah it is but how much work effort and energy is your son and your daughter's virginity worth to you you know when I dated Jasmine Pastor Thompson made sure we had a chaperone for every single date that we had and here's the thing when you're dating like that you know people don't have the incentive to be dating for five years to be dating for ten years because when dating is that is like that you're like I want to get married why so I don't have to have someone looking over my shoulder every two seconds you know and that'll make someone actually make the decision to get married you know if you're an adult you don't have you know parents watching you dating adults should at the very least date in public don't go date at someone's apartment someone's house it's a terrible terrible terrible idea you're gonna go down a dark path if you do that make sure you're in public here's another way that people can abstain from fornication is this women should stop dressing like whores go to Proverbs chapter number seven Proverbs seven you know men are visual creatures whether that's good or bad whether you like that or not whether you know that offends you or not it's just the truth and when women go around dressing like whores they oftentimes know what they're doing and the Bible says that the adulterous woman hunts for the precious life she dresses in a way on purpose to cause men to fall into these areas of sin and if women were dressing modestly we'd have a lot less fornication in America Proverbs 7 7 and I beheld among the simple ones I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding so here's a man who is for lack of a better word and idiots let me tell you what young men are like we're idiots okay we our flesh is just stupid you know we need the Spirit of God to help us and to guide us but just men young men are just dumb all right look at verse 8 passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house in the twilight in the evening in the black and dark night and behold there met him a woman notice this with the attire of an harlot and subtle of heart notice that according to the Bible there can be something that is objectively called the attire of an harlot what is a harlot it's a prostitute so not my opinion God says a woman can be dressed in a way where you could look at her and say she is dressed like a whore she is dressed like a prostitute now I'll read for you Exodus 28 42 says this and thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach and so according to the Bible you know one way we could define this biblically speaking is that if you're exposing your thighs you're exposing your nakedness and so what do whores want to do they want to advertise their body to let you know it's for sale and a lot of women today in America are doing the same thing that aren't even literal prostitutes yet for some reason they're dressing like prostitutes even Christian girls do this how do I know this well last week or the week before we went to this church camp the River Bend Church retreat or whatever and at this retreat is not just steadfast Baptist Church but it's all sorts of churches from all over Texas and they register and they have their weeks there too and there was some like teen early 20s girls group there and all of them were dressed like complete whores they were all wearing the skimpiest shortest short shorts you could possibly imagine to where it was literally obscene and it's just crazy to me because like this retreat they had signs saying like no alcohol is allowed here it's like you need to update your dress code too and it's like how is it that this is a Christian group of girls that they are dressed skimpier than a lot of literal whores would dress on Main Street in Las Vegas Nevada and then these are someone's daughters someone's friends someone's sisters and people are just letting their children dress in the most obscene whorish way what a shame that is to those girls and really what a shame that is to their parents you know especially in church have some respect for yourself have some respect for the house of God have some respect for your brothers in Christ that church should be the one place that men can go without having to watch their eyes and shield their eyes like can we at least not just have church where this doesn't have to just be pushed on men's psyche it's pushed everywhere you go every billboard it's every commercial it's every tick-tock it's every real it's every social media post can we not at least have the house of God where people dress modestly go to 1st Timothy chapter 2 1st Timothy chapter 2 1st Timothy 2 verse 9 in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame face in this and sobriety not with broidered hair or girl or gold or pearls or costly ray but which becometh women professing godliness with good works you know if a woman wants to adorn herself the best way she could do that is by having good works and while of course women are just naturally bored when they're born and when they're young they're just naturally fair young virgins you know if you want to stand out as a young lady if you want to attract a godly man if you want to attract a good husband you know worry less about adorning your body because frankly speaking every young girl is just naturally attractive but what you should do is worry about adorning yourself with good works that's gonna make you stand out to the right guy because every sleazebag is attracted to a pretty girl everyone is but you know what godly men are attracted to women that have good works godly men are attracted to a young lady that's a teenager that actually loves God that actually reads her Bible that actually goes soul winning because she wants to that actually goes to church because she wants to you know that's gonna attract a godly man you know here's another action step people could take go to Deuteronomy 22 and that is that parents must step up to the plate in this area because honestly I'm not even that angry or shocked by a teenager or someone in their young 20s committing fornication because Jesus said that's what our hearts are like that's what our flesh is like that's what everyone's drawn to I'm not really that shocked that someone fell into that sin because quite frankly if you're not walking in the spirit most if not all people would but what I am shocked about is that parents can be so lackadaisical and be so open and be so free with their children as to not ensure their daughters and their son's virginity at all Proverbs 22 15 says this foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him I'm not mad at a child for being foolish I know they're foolish I know when I was a teenager I was foolish what I'm mad at is parents that know their children are foolish but don't care or don't do anything about it or are so naive that they think well kids are foolish but not my Johnny but not my little Sarah not my little Susie that's the people that I'm upset about look at Deuteronomy 22 the Bible teaches this principle that fathers are responsible for their daughters virginity let's read several verses here verse 13 if a man take a wife and go in unto her and hate her and give occasions of speech against her and bring up an evil name upon her and say I took this woman and when I came to her I found her not a maid then shall the father of the damsel and her mother take and bring forth the tokens of the damels damsels virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate and the damsels father shall say unto the elders I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hated her and lo he hath given occasions of speech against her saying I found not thy daughter a maid and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity and they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city and the elders of that shit city shall take that man and chastise him and they shall immerse him in an hundred shekels of silver and give them unto the father of the damsel because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel she shall be his wife he may not put her away all his day so notice if a man marries a woman and accuses her of not being a virgin on the wedding night who is it that is supposed to go to the elders of the city and basically prove with evidence that their daughter is a virgin is the father and of course if the father is able to prove this and he's able to clear his daughter's name the man that made this false accusation against the woman is going to be fined is going to be punished why because it's a really evil thing to accuse a woman of being a whore that's not a whore you know I'm not afraid of the word whore the Bible's full of it but you know it is wrong to just call a woman a whore that's not a whore of course so I don't just use that word flippantly no I use it in the very sense of the word what it is and if you know you just call a woman a whore that's not a whore that is a serious issue but here's the thing but if the thing be true look at verse 20 but if this thing be true so if she has lost her virginity and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she died because she hath wrought folly in Israel to play the whore in her father's house so shalt thou put away evil from among you so notice the punishment here not not for committing fornication the Bible does not put the death penalty on fornication the the crime here that was committed is marital fraud right if you get married to someone and you tell them oh I am a virgin oh I am clean and then they marry you and you're not a virgin and you're not clean that's a serious problem why because you could pass diseases on to this person that they could have for the rest of their life and so that in and of itself the Bible actually says would be meriting the death penalty but why bring up this story why because fathers need to ensure their daughter's pureness today fathers need to ensure that their daughters are not going to become a whore and really that's what it's going to take for America to cleanse our land of all the whoredom is strong dads in the home again you know a girl that just grows up without a dad you ever heard of daddy issues that's a real thing or growing up with with a father that's not strong is basically guaranteeing that she will be unclean you know I just I can't believe that fathers would allow their daughters to go out and see the daughters of the land no one knowing what they're doing no one knowing where they are you know I've been in church for over 10 years and I remember the youth group I was a part of at one of the churches that I went to an old IFB church and it was just totally fine for some of these teenagers to just be in the car together and to drive across different state lines together and for girlfriend to go hang out at boyfriend's apartment and you know what if you're a parent and you do that you are a fool you are a fool and you're not doing your job as a father you are not taking your solemn responsibility as a dad to ensure your daughter's virginity don't wait until your daughter's 16 18 years old to start caring about protecting her you know start when she's young and just keep that up until you pass her off to somewhere else to someone else number three what to do if you've already sinned in this area go to Proverbs 28 Proverbs 28 you know the reality is a lot of people have sinned in this area we're living in a sinful time in a sinful country and despite this type of preaching this type of preaching is few and far between in churches a lot of churches never bring up this topic a lot of churches will never commit or do church discipline but if you've sinned in this area look at Proverbs 28 13 he that covereth his sins shall not prosper but who so confess it and forsaketh them shall have mercy you know if you have committed the sin in your past if you've made this mistake in your past it's not like your whole future is absolutely ruined necessarily though it could be in certain aspects of your life but still God does want to give you mercy and how do you get that mercy it's by confessing and forsaking your sin not covering it up not hiding it but saying truly and sincerely to God hey I messed up in this area this was wrong I feel bad about it I'm sorry I want to stop doing this in my life that's how you're actually gonna get mercy from God I'll read for you first on one nine if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness you know don't think that if you've made this mistake in the past that God can't use you or that God doesn't want you to be in church you know if you've repented from that if it's in the past you know he does he wants to forgive you of that he wants to give you grace moving forward now go to Leviticus chapter 19 what to do if you know someone is involved in this sin well first let me tell you what not to do if you know someone's committing fornication in the church don't go around and talk to every section of the church and let them know about it what is that called that's called being a tailbearer what you should do is you should go to the people that have authority in the situation so what does that mean it means go to the pastor and it means go to the parents not to brother so-and-so not to sister so and so look at Leviticus 19 16 thou shalt not go up and down as a tailbearer among thy people neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor I am the Lord what is the tailbearer it's someone just repeating sensitive information it's not even necessarily whether that information is good or bad it's someone that's just repeating tales and the Bible says not to go up and down as a tailbearer so if you know of something like this going on you know it's not right to just go and tell every single person in the church why because we're supposed to treat others the way that we want to be treated right and if someone's in that sin what they need is they need mom and dad to find out so that they can give them the lightning and they need pastor to find out so that it could be dealt with biblically speaking and so that hopefully the person could be punished and that they can repent and that they could be restored and move on with their life you know I'm glad that not every single sin I've ever committed is broadcast for everyone to know sometimes that's necessary and sometimes in this area that's necessary but still you should go to the pastor and you should go to the parents and not just go around the whole church telling people everything you know I'll close with this verse go to Galatians chapter number six will be the last verse we go to if someone's committed the sin if someone's even been church disciplined and this this will go for any type of church discipline someone has been kicked out of church and they come back how should we treat them look at Galatians 6 one says this brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such and one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted notice if someone is backslidden they commit one of these grievous sins they get kicked out of church but they come back how is it that we are supposed to treat that person we're supposed to restore them we're supposed to consider ourselves hey if I was in that situation how would I want to be treated and notice by restoring them by being forgiving and merciful to them that is according to the Bible the spiritual thing to do so someone ever does commit fornication and they're just living in fornication they're hiding it they will be church disciplined they will be called out they will be in trouble from their parents hopefully but if that person comes back to church you should never ever bring it up to that person ever again someone commits fornication they come back you should never tease them about it joke with them about it hang it over their head bring it up in their face you know that is a wicked thing to do and God has forgiven us of so much of our sins all of our sins you know and God has forgiven us some of us for bigger sins than others and so how would we want mercy from God well we should show people that same mercy so while I'm getting up here screaming about how I will call someone out for this absolutely but once it's done I will be the first person to forgive you I'll be the first person to extend the right hand of fellowship and to never bring it up to you again and to never treat you any different because of that sin you know what that's what real Christianity is real Christianity is yeah we'll deal with problems we'll do exactly what the Bible says when it comes these problems but once it's done it's completely in the past we're gonna forget about it we're gonna forgive them and you know that's how we should address the situation that our church has been in right now you know if this person comes back hey never bring it up to them again forgive them treat them just like you would have treated them before with that let's have a word of prayer Lord thank you for this day thank you for your warnings and your word I just pray that the young people in here would never be so foolish as to commit fornication that they would just trust in you that you would bless them with a good spouse and that they could just enjoy that part of their lives the godly way just help us never have to see the evil repercussions of this sin in this congregation but I'd pray that you'd help us to be vigilant looking out for it in case it does love you and you see me cry