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Man, the title of my sermon tonight is Sanctification and Honor. Sanctification and Honor. The Bible reads in verse number 1 there in chapter 4, Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more, for ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. The last thing I want to point out here is that in the New Testament, there are commandments that we need to be following in our lives. A lot of people just associate commandments with the Old Testament and say like, Well, we're not under the law, but under grace, and so therefore anything goes. As long as you're led of the Spirit, you just do whatever. But you know, God, yes, has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us and direct us, and it's true that if we walk in the Spirit, we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. You know, we don't even need the law if we're walking in the Spirit and God's guiding us, but let's face it, Jesus has specifically told us what we should and shouldn't be doing, and if you're doing stuff that he told you not to do, you're not walking in the Spirit. You can claim, Oh, I'm in the Spirit, so everything is allowed. No, you're not walking in the Spirit, because if you were, you'd be following Christ's commands. So, sure, there are Old Testament commandments, but there are also commandments given by the Lord Jesus. And he says, You know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. So in the New Testament, we've got some do's and don'ts, don't we? We've got rules and commandments that we need to be following. In fact, when Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission, he said, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've suggested. Is that what he said? No. He said, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. And so, the New Testament life involves commandments. There are rules, there are do's and don'ts. Some people don't like that, as we're going to get to a little bit later in this passage. But it says in verse 1, You've received of us how you ought to walk and to please God. You see, the purpose of keeping God's commandments is not to earn our salvation, because it would be impossible to earn such a priceless gift of salvation. It can't be earned or purchased or bought. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, okay? It is to please God that we keep his commandments. How we ought to walk and to please God. We want God to be pleased with us, we want him to be happy with us. And so that's why we keep God's commandments, not because we fear hell, but rather we fear disappointing God. We want to live right because we love God, and we want him to be pleased with us. Also, we want to avoid his chastisement on this earth, because when God's not pleased with you, things can get pretty ugly in your life when God's not pleased with you, all right? Because obviously he can bring down a lot of pressure in our lives and really make things tough for us, or he can really open doors for us and bless us. We want God on our side, we want God blessing us, but what we don't want is for God to be displeased with us. So that's the purpose of God's commandments, not to earn our salvation, but to just please God, avoid chastisement, earn rewards, etc. But it says, you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will of God. This is what God wants, would it be in our modern vernacular. This is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. So he's saying God wants us to be sanctified. What does that mean, sanctified? That's a fancy word. What it means is simply made holy, made holy, okay? He wants us to be holy. He wants, and what does holiness mean? Well, if you study that word throughout the Bible, you'll find that holiness is used synonymously with being set apart, okay? So it's something that's different, and it's specifically different because it is set apart for divine use. The opposite of the holy is that which is just profane, common, everyday, and then there's something that's holy, okay? There are vessels that are just in the kitchen and you pull them out and you get a drink and you drink it and you could spit into it or do whatever with it, but then there were certain vessels in the house of God that were holy because they were set apart for divine use. That's what holiness means. God wants us to be set apart, different from this world, so that we are meat for the master's use, so that we can be used by God, and so God wants us to be sanctified, meaning not living according to the ways of this world, but rather living according to God's commandments so that we can be ready for him to use us. And the Bible says your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. That's one of the ways that we live a holy life is that we as Christians don't fornicate, okay? It doesn't matter what the world is doing. It doesn't matter what society thinks is acceptable. As Christians, if we're gonna be on God's program and follow Christ's commandments, we need to abstain from fornication. What is fornication? Fornication is when unmarried people sleep together, that's fornication, okay? We need to keep that physical relationship between a man and a woman within the bounds of marriage. Doing that outside of marriage is fornication. And the Bible says that we should abstain from fornication but here's the key verse that I really wanna home in on, verse four. That every one of you should know how to possess this vessel in sanctification and honor. So a minute ago, I used the illustration about cups and pots and those type of vessels that could be in our kitchen that we could just use for literally anything. Whereas in the Old Testament, God's house had certain vessels and accoutrements that were sanctified, they were holy. And so everyone wasn't supposed to just touch them or use them for any old thing because they were sanctified for God's use. The Bible compares us to a vessel. As Christians, we're like a vessel that is used by God. And the Bible says that we should know how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. Now our vessel is specifically referring to our physical body, okay? This physical body right here contains my soul but it also contains the Holy Spirit of God because as a saved Christian, I am indwelled by the Holy Ghost and that makes my body the temple of the Holy Spirit. So if my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, what that means, my body is like a container or a vessel that holds the Holy Spirit. And so this is an important job and I don't want to defile this vessel that's being used to house the Holy Spirit. So I want to know how to possess my vessel in sanctification and honor. And by the way, I like how he says that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. How are they gonna know that? By the preacher telling them that. You see, Paul is telling them, this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should have saved from fornication. You see, it's Paul's job to preach against fornication so that people will know how to bear their vessel in sanctification and honor. I mean, if you go to a church where there's no preaching against sin, they're not preaching against drunkenness, they're not preaching against abortion, they're not preaching against fornication, they're not preaching against stealing, they're not preaching against cross-dressing, and all of these rules aren't being preached what the Bible teaches about how to live our lives. If they're not preaching against you printing marks on your body and doing all these things that the world loves to do, you're not even gonna know how to possess your vessel in sanctification and honor. It's when a preacher gets up and tells you, hey everybody, let's turn to Leviticus 19 and see what the will of God is. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 4. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 6. That is how you learn how to possess your vessel in sanctification and honor. Because I can't even count how many times people tell me, man, I wish I would've heard this preaching sooner because I was making all these mistakes, I was doing these things and I didn't even know that it was even wrong what I was doing. So we wanna know how, and that's part of the job of preaching is to tell us how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. So we know what sanctification means, right? Being holy, being set apart for God's use. But what does honor mean? How to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. That's the title of the sermon tonight, sanctification and honor. What's the opposite of honor? I think the opposite of honor in many ways is shame. On one hand we have honor, being honorable in the way that we possess our vessel. And then the opposite of that would be to possess our vessel in a shameful way. Now in our society, we have gotten rid of the idea of shaming people who commit certain sins or who do horrible things. So we've removed the shame from culture. And here's the problem when you remove shame, you know what you end up removing as well? You end up removing the concept of honor. So if there's no such thing as shame in a society, then there's gonna be no such thing as honor either. Because these two things need each other, right? You can't have heaven without hell. You can't have good without evil. And you can't have honor without there being such a phenomenon as shame. It has to exist. But in our society, we've gotten to the point where just everything is okay and we shouldn't shame anyone for anything, right? When it comes to living an ungodly life, people can just, they can just sleep around and it's like don't shame them, right? Because then you're S-L-U-T shaming them, right? By saying that they're a whore or a whoremonger or whatever, right? Because you don't wanna shame that. Now listen, we as Christians should have our own culture that is distinct from what's going on out there in this world, okay? Now obviously, we're supposed to live in this world and operate in this world and be in the world but not of the world. And so I'm not trying to stand out like a sore thumb in my daily life. No, I go out there and I live amongst the heathen and that's what we're called to do and to shine the light of the gospel and to be a witness for Christ. But when it comes to the commandments of God, when it comes to standards of sanctification and honor, we need to have our own culture within the house of God that basically says certain things are shameful and other things are honorable. Now look, I'm not trying to reform Tempe, okay? What kind of a life would that be? That would be a lost cause, that'd be a depressing life if it's my job to clean up Tempe, you know? Because that's just something that I'm not capable of, okay? That's not my job, that's not your job. I'm not trying to fix Arizona, I'm not trying to fix America, I'm not trying to fix this world because you can't fix this world. But what I am trying to do is just live my own life in such a way that pleases God and teach my family to live their lives in such a way that pleases God and to have a church where we exhort one another and iron sharpens iron and where we as Christians can come together in common belief and common values and we can live a Christian life in this world and we have a culture that says this is okay and this is not and it's based on the word of God and it's different than the culture out there saying, well, they have their own ideas of what's okay and what's not. Does everybody see what I'm saying? We need to have a different culture in this church than what's out there. What do I mean by that? I mean that out there, maybe it's okay to be a whore or a whoremonger but in this church, that's not okay. We would have a culture that would shame that kind of behavior. Yes, we would. And you know, the Apostle Paul flat out said in 2 Thessalonians chapter three, he said, if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother. It's not that we don't love people. It's not that we're hateful or judgmental or mean or anything but we are supposed to draw the line at certain sins and there should be shaming and ostracism involved when people commit certain sins. I mean, what does the Bible say? You know, if someone among you is called a brother and they're a fornicator, not to eat with that person, with such a one, no not to eat. Now, why does the Bible tell us that if someone is among us and they're called a brother and they're a fornicator, with such a one, no not to eat? It says in 1 Corinthians five. Well, the Bible explains it there in 2 Thessalonians three. It says, if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him. Why? Why have no company with him? That he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother. It doesn't mean that we don't love you. It doesn't mean that we don't care but we ought to shame that kind of behavior because fornication is shameful and it ought to be considered shameful in this church. Now, I'm not saying I'm gonna go around just shaming every fornicator in Tempe because that would just be a full-time job in and of itself. What's the point? We expect the heathen to be the heathen. The Bible says, what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within but them that are without, God judgeth. Wherefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person and that wicked person is a fornicator. I'm quoting 1 Corinthians five. And so the Bible says, it's not our job to go out and judge all the idolatry out there, all the fornication out there, all of those things, the drunkenness out there. I'm not just gonna go up and down Mill Avenue preaching to all the drunks. And you know what? There are people who do that. There are guys who get a bullhorn and they go out there and they preach to all the drunks how wicked they are and everything. You know, when I go out there in this world, I preach Christ and him crucified. You know, that's what those people need to hear. But within the house of God, within the church, we need to have a culture that shames drunkenness and fornication and these kind of serious sins. It is dishonorable to be a fornicator. It's shameful. And you ought to be ashamed of yourself if you engage in that activity. The Bible says that we should possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. You know, Anselm and I were talking about this and he brought up James Bond, you know, as being basically a character in fiction that is glorified for being a fornicator, right? So he's this ladies man and he is just with another chick every single book or every single movie James Bond is just sleeping with woman after woman after woman, he's what's called a womanizer, right? But the Bible doesn't call it a womanizer, the Bible calls it a whoremonger, okay? And that should be considered embarrassing, shameful. The world will glorify that as being a playboy or a playa, you know, in order to update that a little bit. But you know what, sorry, but God isn't playing with what he's gonna do to you as a Christian if you try to follow in the footsteps of these kind of guys like a James Bond or something that just, oh, he's just hopping in the sack with a different woman every time. You know, is that the kind of role model that we want our children to have? Is that the kind of guy that wanna glorify as so cool? Because let me tell you something, everybody goes to a James Bond movie, you know what they're thinking in that James Bond movie is just how cool James Bond is. I mean, look, I grew up and I saw a lot of James Bond movies when I was growing up and you know what I thought? I thought James Bond was really cool, right? Sean Connery as James Bond, okay? You thought he's so cool, right? Roger Moore is so cool. That was the Bond movies that I grew up with, okay? And let me tell you something though, in those Bond movies though, my young mind is basically being taught that this cool guy, he's not married, he doesn't have kids. No, he's just sleeping with a different woman every single movie. I don't remember, but maybe even multiple per movie. I don't know if he could get through more than one in two hours of the movie, but I'm telling you, I grew up watching that stuff and you know what? Thankfully, I had it balanced out by hearing preaching in church, getting up and railing against fornication. But folks, people in our society, they grow up watching this stuff and thinking this way and glorifying this type of a character who's a womanizer because the world is trying to convince you that that's honorable. Because he's a pretty honorable guy, you know? He's so sharp and he's so cool and he's so admirable and he's the good guy and he's fighting all the bad guys. No, he's the bad guy. Plot twist, James Bond is the bad guy, okay? He's probably, you know, him and his, he's probably teamed up with, what's that organization called? I'm not up on my conspiracies these days. He's probably working with Mossad or something, you know what I mean? MI6 and Mossad and he's working with the Israelis and he's probably, you know, that turns out the bad guys are actually not even bad and he's bad because he's a whoremonger and he's gonna go to hell when he dies because he doesn't believe in Jesus Christ. Because I don't see him, I don't remember the episode where he went to church, right, or where he's reading his Bible or something. No, he's a heathen and we ought not have that culture in the church that would think that someone like that is cool. You know, if someone is out being a womanizer and sleeping around, they ought to be shamed and ostracized when it comes to the local church. And again, I'm not trying to say that we would treat people outside the church that way, but you know what, within the church, that ought to be shameful and we need to have a culture that honors purity and honors, you know, and that's the thing, like somebody made this really funny meme, you know, comparing me to some Calvinist or James White or something, and the meme was funny, but the meme template was like the chad, one of them was the chad versus the virgin. Who knows what I'm talking about? Okay, but the problem that I have with that is that since when is being a virgin a diss? But that's the culture we live in, isn't it? Where basically, you know, the opposite of the chad is the virgin. Well, guess what? You ought to be proud of being a virgin as a young man. Don't feel bad because you're 16, 17, 18, or even 20, 25, 30, and you're still a virgin at age 25 and 30. You know what? That's something that is honorable. That's you possessing your vessel and sanctification and honor. Look, I got married when I was 19 years old. Everybody's not gonna get married when they're 19 years old. A lot of people get married later than that, and I don't care how late you get married, you remain a virgin until you get married. And in some ways, our society, you know, used to have like a double standard where girls have to be virgins when they get married, but men can go out and do whatever. Folks know they both need to be a virgin. Men need to be virgins when they get married. Women need to be virgins when they get married. But nowadays, we don't have a double standard anymore because now it's just okay for everybody to fornicate in our society, but not in God's house, not in God's eyes, and we need to not be a part of this culture that says that, oh, a virgin. It ought to be like, oh, a filthy slut. Oh, what a dirty disease bag, right? But instead, no, no, no. We shame the virgin. We shame the people who are clean and live right. It's disgusting. We need to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. Hey, look, the people out there, yeah, that's how they are. They don't know God. They don't know the Bible. Their parents didn't raise them right. They didn't hear the preaching of God's word. You did. And so you need to be different, set apart, and you need to possess your vessel in sanctification and honor not like the Gentiles that don't know God. You are held to a higher standard, my friend, because you are a saved Christian, and you've got the Bible, and you've got the preaching of God's word telling you how you ought to walk and to please God, and you know, those people out there, they might be able to commit some fornication and get away with it, but you know what, though? You're not gonna get away with it. You need to get that right. You need to repent of that sin. You need to live in a way that would please God if you want God to bless you in your life. And again, this has nothing to do with salvation, but it has everything to do with walking and pleasing God, and I'm here to tell you that honorable is being clean and following the Bible. That's honorable, and it's dishonorable and shameful and embarrassing to commit fornication. And by the way, that's why if some girl in our church gets knocked up and gets pregnant out of wedlock, we're not putting on a baby shower, my friend. It blows my mind. It's like, girls will get pregnant out of wedlock, and everybody's like, congratulations. Folks, I'm sorry. I will die on that hill. I refuse to congratulate someone for getting pregnant out of wedlock. If someone gets pregnant out of wedlock, it's embarrassing. It's shameful. And you know what, if someone told me that they were pregnant out of wedlock, if it was a relative of mine, if it were a friend of mine, I would say, that's terrible. I'm really sorry to hear that. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Why would I say congratulations? Congratulations on your bastard. That doesn't make any sense, my friend. Oh, oh, you broke God's law and had sex outside of marriage? You fathered an illegitimate child? You are gonna be the mother of an illegitimate child? Well, congratulations. Folks, I won't say that. Now, let me tell you something. If it's somebody outside of the church, if it's somebody who's not a Christian, if it's somebody who's not saved, I'm still not gonna congratulate sin in my life. Now, I just won't say anything in that case. And sometimes it can be awkward when people are telling you about these pregnancies, and you're just kinda like, hmm. You know, cause I don't wanna sit here and just rebuke unsaved people, or just, you know, cause it's not really, they don't even know better a lot of times. They're not even Christians. They're not my problem. They're not my responsibility. They're not even within the church. So I'm just kinda like, huh. Isn't that something? You know, I'm just not gonna say anything. But you know what? If it's actually a brother or a sister in Christ, I would say, that's too bad. That's terrible. I'm really sorry to hear that. Why? Because it's bad news. I mean, if they came and said, my parent died, I'd say the same thing. That's terrible. I'm sorry to hear that. That's terrible news. So why would I get happy? And then people say, well, it's not the child's fault. Well, you know, I doubt that the child's gonna be offended in its mother's womb when I say that. I doubt that baby's just gonna be in there like just getting its umbilical cord in a knot because I said, hey, I'm really sorry to hear that. It's terrible. Folks, I mean, I think this is common sense, to be honest. You know why we would just, but we live in this weird society where just everything is congratulated. Nothing is shameful. Everything's okay. Anything goes. And you say, well, it's just such a loving society. You know, we just love everybody so much that we don't judge anybody. And so everything's permissible. Everything's okay. But here's what you lose. You know what you end up losing in a society that has no shame? You end up losing all honor. And let me just tell you this. It's not worth it. See, if you give up the shame aspect of our society, you have to give up the honor aspect. And you end up with a society that is totally without honor. And living life without any honor and without any dignity is a very difficult life to live. And that's why this generation is one of the most depressed generations in history, probably the most depressed generation in history. Young people are so confused today, and they're so messed up in their lives because of the fact that when you have this society that has no shame, then basically there's no honor. There's no dignity. And human beings don't like to go through life without having any honor and dignity. We as human beings have a natural, normal desire to have some dignity, don't we? To have some honor. We don't want to be treated like animals, do we? We don't want to be just put in a cage or thought of as less than human or something like that. You know, we want to have certain dignity as human beings. We want to have certain honor. But because our society has lost the aspect of shame, we've also lost our honor. And without honor and dignity, people don't value themselves. And then what they begin to do is they begin to abuse themselves, OK? And so today we see young girls just going out and committing fornication. Why? Because they don't have any respect for themselves. You know, you see young ladies going out there and just basically just showing their bodies in an unprecedented way. Basically, just their buttocks are just exposed completely. This is the style, right? I mean, you see it out there now. And it seems like, I don't remember seeing that before, seems like it's a whole new level of just going out there and just showing off your naked butt in the city, OK? Now, here's the thing about that. I would be embarrassed to walk outside naked. You know, like let's say something happened. You know, let's say there's like a fire or a terrorist attack or something. And you're like in the shower or something or something weird happens. And you had to run out of a building naked. You'd be humiliated, wouldn't you? It'd be super embarrassing, super humiliating. You know why? Because you're a normal person. I'm a normal person because we have normal dignity and honor as human beings where we would be embarrassed. And you just say, well, that's just because you don't look that good. That has nothing to do with it. I don't care how good you look. I don't care how good you look, normal people would be embarrassed to be caught in a situation like that. It would be embarrassing. It would be humiliating, OK? So what is causing these girls to basically just cheapen themselves by just showing virtually everything and just leaving nothing to the imagination but just putting it all out there and just saying, here it is. Here's everything. OK, why would they do that? What is going through their mind when they wake up in the morning and put that on? OK, they obviously lack respect for themselves. They lack respect for themselves. They lack dignity. They lack shame. And the Bible talks about a society that gets this way. It says, were they ashamed at all when they had committed abominations? Nope. They were not ashamed, neither could they blush. A normal person feels shame or embarrassment at being exposed in that way. If someone accidentally had maybe a milder wardrobe malfunction in some way and somehow something was seen that shouldn't normally be seen, they would blush, they'd be embarrassed, they'd be mortified by that. But we're entering a phase of our society here in America where there's no shame. And they don't blush, and they're willing to just put it all out there and just walk around half naked, almost all the way naked. You know, what is going through their mind? What is motivating them? You know, they must really be looking for attention. I mean, they must just really want every dude to just be staring at them. And they just want all eyes in the room on them. So they just look at me, everybody. Here is my naked behind. Here it is, folks. Now look, is that really the best way to get attention? I mean, look, I guess you just want attention so bad, young people. Yeah, you know what? If you were just stripped totally naked and just run through the streets of the city, dark, nude, you'd probably get some attention. Probably, eventually, the police will give you some attention. Right? And that was a fad for a while in the 70s or something where people would go to a football game and just run through. It's called streaking. Just go running through, you know, just, hey, everybody, you know, let me get some attention right now. But why would a person even need that kind of attention? Because of the fact that they have no self-respect, no dignity, and they have no value or worth in their own eyes. So they feel like, basically, they need some kind of validation, or they need some kind of attention, or I don't know what's going on with these people. But basically, it's a lack of self-respect and dignity. And you know, if you young ladies respect yourself and have some dignity and are honorable, then you know what, you wouldn't just let any dude just put his hands all over you. And today, you wonder why men don't want to get married today. Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free? Because you've got women that will just, basically, do everything that a wife does without the commitment. And then they wonder, oh, I don't know why my boyfriend won't commit to me. I don't know, maybe because you're playing a harlot with him, maybe because you're his whore, maybe because you're, you know, and I know this offends people, and I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings. I'm preaching some hard truth tonight, because I want our young people to get the James Bond mentality out of their mind and to get the First Thessalonians mentality into their mind tonight, OK? So I'm not trying to hurt people's feelings who've been big time fornicators in the past. Hey, you know what, if you fix that, then praise the Lord, move on. I'm not trying to guilt anybody about their past. But you know what, if somebody is presently a Christian living in fornication, I do hope this makes you feel guilty. I hope you're being shamed right now, so that you'll get it right. But today, our society has taught women to, basically, just show everything to the world, just walk down the street with their butt cheeks out, just showing that to everybody, and then just giving that to every dude who comes along and gives them a little bit of attention or whatever. And honestly, it's sad. And we need to have a different culture in the house of God that does not approve of that. And you know, it's amazing to me how so many Christian churches nowadays, they won't even talk about this kind of stuff. And the girls will just show up to church and youth activities and super short shorts and low-cut tops, and there's just never any preaching about it. Parents aren't saying anything. The pastor's not preaching about it. The youth leader's not preaching about it. How are they going to know how to live and walk and to please God if there's no preaching, if it's not being taught? It's like, well, we don't want to be judgmental. But here's the thing. OK, I don't want to be judgmental either. But to me, when I think of a judgmental person, I think of somebody who is being nitpicky, and they're just kind of picking you apart. They're trying to find fault. They're trying to put down others in order to make themselves feel better. That's what I think of as a judgmental person. But you know, that's different than somebody who is basically saying, you know what? These are major, major sins that are prohibited in the New Testament. And we don't want our church to be a place where these things are accepted or commonplace. And I think, you know, I was talking to my daughter about this on the way over here. And she basically said, you know, a lot of it is, what is your motive when you talk to someone about these things? Is your motive to actually help that person and actually do good unto them when you correct them on their behavior? And if so, then that's you being loving. If you take someone aside and lovingly tell them, hey, you shouldn't be dressed this way. You know, this is not the kind of guy that you want to attract the kind of guys that are giving you attention the way that you're dressed right now. But today, you know, you've got Christian parents all over, you know, and I was talking to a guy after church about this morning. But you've got so many churches where just anything goes and where the culture just accepts everything. Our culture out there might accept everything, but we should not have a culture in the local church that just accepts everything. Now, I understand that people are new believers. They need to be given time to grow. But I'm talking about families in the church. We need to teach our kids what's right and wrong and not allow them to just do whatever they want. And there needs to be preaching from the pulpit, which is less confrontational than saying it to someone one on one. It's great if it's coming from the pulpit because then people can apply it as needed. But today, you look at a lot of the Christian youth groups and the young people, and you've got a bunch of girls in short shorts, strange piercings, tattoos, and making their hair all kinds of bizarre colors, OK? And you say, well, where does the Bible say not to make my hair bizarre colors? Where does the Bible say not to pierce the middle of my nose like a milk cow or something? Or where does the Bible say not to? But here's the thing about that, OK? All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. And so we should follow the commandments of God. But even if something isn't specifically commanded against, doesn't the Bible also tell us to abstain from all appearance of evil? And shouldn't we not seek to emulate or look like cannibals and sodomites? I mean, is that a weird thing to say? Now, look, obviously, I'm not down on anybody who has tattoos and probably half the church has tattoos, OK? I get it. I'm not down on you because here's the thing about tattoos. They're permanent. They don't come off. And so obviously, people get tattoos and they don't know better. But you know what the Bible says? Thou should not print any marks upon thy body. But even if the Bible didn't say that, the Bible explicitly says don't print any marks on your body. I don't know how it could be any clearer than that. Well, it's the Old Testament. So I guess Jesus died on the cross so you could get inked up. That was why he's just like, basically, the veil in the temple was torn. And then the door outside the tattoo parlor swung open when Jesus died on the cross. Because he died on the cross so that we could all get tattooed. No, my friend, if it was pagan and wrong back then, it's still pagan and wrong. There's nothing in the New Testament that revised God's view on tattoos. But you know what? Even if that verse were not in the Bible, I still wouldn't get a tattoo. And let me tell you why. Because I'm not trying to look like some Polynesian cannibal, that's why. You understand? Why would I want to look like some bone in the nose tattooed cannibal? You know, that's not a Christian society. Okay, why would, and you know what? I told my daughters, I said, you know what? Don't put pink and green and blue in your hair. Because you know what? I see a bunch of lesbians doing that. All these lesbians with all the colors in their hair. And I'm like, you know, I can't find a Bible verse that says not to make your hair pink and blue and green but you know what? If a bunch of lesbian weirdos are doing that, then I don't want you doing it. I want you to look like a normal person. And by the way, it's not very dignified, is it? I mean, what if I showed up to preach and just have blue hair? You know, I'm a pastor, right? I'm up here preaching the word of God and the Bible does not say anywhere not to have blue hair. But if I got up here and my hair were just bright blue, you'd have a hard time taking me seriously, wouldn't you? Because you know who has blue hair is clowns. This is what clowns do, right? When somebody wants to dress up like a clown, what do they do? They may, I mean, the character of the Joker, isn't his hair what, green? Is it green? Okay. So basically, you're gonna make your hair like the Joker and then you want me to take you seriously. I mean, does everybody see what I'm saying? You know, I wanna be taken seriously as a person. And look, I'm not trying to just hurt anybody's feelings or rail on any teenage girls who, you know, have been spraying weird colors in their hair or whatever. But I'm just saying, you know, I don't want my daughters to look like lesbians. Even if they're not, even if they're doing all the right things, I don't want them to look like a cannibal. And I don't want them to look like a sodomite. And I don't want them to look like a freak. You know, I want them to be taken seriously. Now look, you say, well, you're a pastor. So, you know, you gotta be dignified cause you're a pastor. Why don't you be dignified too? Why don't we all be dignified? Why don't we all possess our vessel in sanctification and honor? Why don't we all expect society to take it serious? Cause you know, I hope that my daughters wanna be taken seriously by whatever guy they date. I hope they wanna be taken seriously as a serious wife material and not just someone to be used and discarded when they're done. I want my daughters to be taken seriously. I want them to look serious. And look, anybody who knows me in my personal life knows that I like to joke around and have a good time. I'm a very jovial, cheerful person. And even listening to my preaching, you probably can tell that about me. Okay, that I joke around and have a good time and enjoy life. But you know what, there's also, there's a time to be serious too, isn't there? Life's not a joke. And you know, hey, sometimes I'll make a joke, but you know what, I don't wanna be a joke. And when you're walking around with your naked butt cheeks down the streets of this city, you're a joke. You are a butt of a joke, no pun intended, okay? And basically, people are looking at you and staring at you and gawking at you. And you know what, I guarantee you, they're laughing at you. And I guarantee you that all kinds of guys are getting together. And look, I've been in the locker room. I grew up in this country. I've grown up around dudes in gym class and in the locker room and at sleepovers and everything. And I promise you what's happening, you walk around with your butt cheeks out like that, guys are getting together and they're sitting there and they're just talking about every virtue or lack thereof of that naked butt that you're showing around town. I promise you that. I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands of dudes that will testify that I'm telling the truth right now. But that's what they do. And you are, if you knew how shameful that is, you know, to just be showing yourself off in that way, because you know what, these dudes, they're just gonna get together and they're just gonna just say all kinds of things about you. And is that the kind of tension that you want? And you wanna be taken seriously? And you know what, I'm sure they'll be glad to stare at you and drool over you and enjoy the show but you know what, do you think that they really wanna marry? Do you really think that they want their wife, no normal man wants his wife walking around town looking that way. If a dude married a woman who dressed that way, he'd tell her like, okay, now that we're married, you know, now that's for my eyes only. Okay, now there are some dudes that are just okay with their wife looking at their, that's because they're freaks. Men who want other men to look at their wife are freaks. They're weirdos. Normal dudes don't want other dudes gawking over their wife. That's not normal. But we live in a society where a lot of things aren't normal, don't we? But let me tell you something, I wanna be taken seriously. That's why my hair is not blue right now. That's why I don't have dreadlocks up here right now. That's why I don't have a piercing in my tongue and in my nose right now because I want to be taken seriously. That's why I'm not dressed like a clown up here tonight. And let me tell you something, now even independent fundamental Baptist pastors now or preachers or if you can even call them that, I've had people send me pictures where they, I kid you not, they look like Elton John the way that they're dressed. They look like a lesbian and they're a dude. They get up and I'm not kidding. They're wearing like, they'll have like orange glasses and like orange shoes and an orange belt, like white pants. It's like, what the hell is wrong with you? And then the old IFB is like, best race is cussing again. Well, put a quarter in the cuss jar, bastard. But let me tell you something, I'm sick and tired of the old IFB with their faggoty preachers. And then they're like, cussing, cussing, cussing. At least I don't look like Elton John up here. You know, you want me up here looking like Elton John with like a turquoise, turquoise glasses with a matching turquoise belt and turquoise shoes up here, huh? Folks, how, and I'm just thinking about, and I kid you not, I saw these images of this young guy, he's in his 20s or whatever. He's the son of a pastor. So basically that's why they're accepting this guy to come preach to their church because he was like the son of a well-known pastor. I forget his name. He was like the son of a well-known pastor. So basically it's like an independent fundamental Baptist church. And the people in the pews, they're all just like normal Baptists. And they're listening to Elton John preaching to them. And they're all normal. And this guy's just walking around the stage and he just, he's in his little tight pants and his tight shirt and all the weird bright colors coordinating and whatever. And he's just up there frolicking around effeminate as hell. Whoops, there I did it again. Damn it. No, I'm just kidding. But the point is, you know, they're just effeminate as hell, just parading across the pulpit, just act like a complete fairy and a complete freak. And basically the people in the pews are just taking them seriously. Just acting like this is a church service. Folks, what kind of a self-respecting man would sit in a church and have somebody preach to them like that and actually take it seriously and take it as a man of God when they're dressed like a literal queer. And you say, well, how dare you call him a queer? Why is he dressed like one? I don't care if he's the straightest man who has ever existed on this planet. Okay, he looks like a queer, it's wicked. Okay, it's ungodly. And if you want to be taken seriously, then you need to put on some serious clothes and look like a normal person and not dress like a freak. Okay, that's why I don't want my kids to dye their hairs in wild colors. And you say, well, show me in the Bible. Well, the thought of foolishness is sin. But even if it's not in the Bible, wouldn't common sense tell you, don't look like a freak? Don't look like a cannibal. Don't look like a sodomite. Don't look like Elton John. Don't look like the weirdest degenerates of our society. And I keep saying Elton John because that's just the only comparison I can even think of. It's the only person I've ever seen look that weird. Okay, and this is what's happening in independent fundamental Baptist churches. And let me tell you something, if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? And the old IFB is just completely just letting down their guard at these things and letting these things in, in so many cases, it needs to be called out and rebuked, okay? That stuff should not happen. You say, oh, you're judgmental. You're so worried about appearance and the outside. But you know what? Our appearance does matter. Sorry, but it does, okay? And by the way, the old IFB can go shove it for claiming that I cussed because every word that I just use is in the Bible. So I'm using Bible words. So get over it, okay? But you know what? The Bible says abstain from all appearance of evil. You know, we should not be like this heathen, ungodly world and making ourself look like freaks, okay? I want my children to grow up looking normal. You say, well, that's just your aesthetic preference. No, I want my children to grow up looking normal because I don't want them to attract freaks. Because if you look like a freak, you're gonna attract other freaks. I don't want my kids attracting freaks. And I don't want people looking at my kids and confusing them for freaks and thinking, is that a sodomite? Is that guy, because that's the first thing I said. I was like, is this guy an open sodomite? Because why would they be having him preach in an independent fundamental Baptist church if he's an open sodomite? How dare you say that? I don't want people wondering if my kids are queers and lesbians. I don't want that thought. I don't want people thinking that my kids are a joke. I don't want people thinking that I'm a joke. And so I want to possess my vessel in sanctification and honor. And yes, we should cleanse first that which is within the vessel, within the cup and the platter. But what does the Bible say? Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter that the outside of them may be clean also. So all this talk about how the outside doesn't matter, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, cleanse first the inside so that the outside will be clean also. And so it's like, well, you don't know what's going on in the heart. Well, yeah, I do because what goes on in the heart often manifests itself outwardly. And so if I see a young lady walking down the street with her butt cheeks showing, that tells me what's going on in her heart. You know what that tells me? She doesn't have dignity. She's insecure. She's looking for attention. She doesn't have any self-respect or dignity. And you know, it's funny how our society loves to talk so much about pride, don't they? They love to glorify pride and talk about pride and all their filth. But then it's like, you know, but you know what they ought to have is dignity and honor. Forget pride, hang pride, throw pride out the window. How about, let's bring another word, honor. Be honorable, be respectable, be dignified, right? To where people look at you and take you seriously. You know, if you actually dress in a serious way and don't show off your naked body and act like a normal person and carry yourself like a normal person, you will be treated better in this world. People will treat you with more dignity and respect. And women today wanna know why they're not treated with respect. It's because a lot of times it's because they look like a freak or they look like a street walking whore, you know? You're gonna get more respect if you dress nicely. I guarantee you that a woman who walks around town in a dress down to her knees or below gets way more respect than the girl in the short shorts. Guaranteed. And I guarantee you that the woman whose hair is a normal color found in nature on humans is gonna get way more respect than the one who goes around town, you know, looking like a poisonous lizard from South America, okay? I know it's out there in nature, okay? But I'm talking about in humans. And you know what's funny is that even, you know, the world accuses Christians of being so judgmental and whatever, but you know what, even the world has their standards. Even the world draws the line somewhere. You know, I guarantee you that if you walked on campus at ASU with a shirt that said hail Satan, everything'd be fine. Right? There'd be no issue. I mean, I've seen college students around Tempe wearing pentagrams and Satan symbols and even just hail Satan and all that guys. And nobody would bat an eye, would they? But what if you showed up with a shirt that said Heil Hitler? I wonder if that would go over very well at ASU. Now look, both shirts are wicked. Am I right? It's both wicked. Heil Hitler's wicked. Hail Satan is wicked. But isn't it funny though, that basically it's like, well, praising Satan is fine, but you know, Hitler, come on. What? You know, like, does everybody see what I'm saying? So they have a standard, don't they? They have a standard that says, you know, Heil Hitler is wrong, which, amen, I'm glad that they think that's wrong. But then it's like, but hail Satan is fine. And you know, coming to class totally naked, well, that's gonna be a problem. But showing 73% of your naked butt, that's okay. So you know, they've got their standard. Well, you know what? We ought to have our standards too in the house of God. And we ought to have a culture in the house of God that doesn't just go wherever this society takes us. Because this society is getting weirder and weirder, and we need to make sure that we at least teach our children, and that we at least preach to our congregations in this country that we're not going down that road. And I do not think it's right for one second. I don't think it's honoring to the Lord for one second for a pastor to get up behind the pulpit and look like a clown and dress like a clown, okay? And I don't think that God wants our children to look like clowns. And he doesn't want us to look like cannibals or sodomites or anything else. He wants us to look like normal people, Christians, dignified people, have some self-respect, some dignity, some value for ourselves to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. And the Bible says, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified. Now notice how verse six has escalated to adultery now. Because when the Bible says that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, what he's talking about there is to graduate from committing fornication to committing adultery with another man's wife and basically defrauding your brother by having relations with his wife. Because God is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. To holiness, not uncleanness. The Lord is the avenger of all such. Let me tell you something. I'm preaching hard against fornication because it's a big sin in the Bible that God spends a lot of time on in the New Testament rebuking, it's part of holiness is that we be pure and that we not have those kind of relations outside of marriage. It's what God demands of us as Christians. But you know what I take from this passage as well is that those who commit fornication are very likely to graduate to adultery. Because once we cross certain lines in our lives it's easier to cross the next line and it becomes a slippery slope. That's why the Bible says don't commit fornication, you know, don't possess your vessel in the lust of concupiscence so that you don't go beyond and defraud your brother in any matter. So that you don't commit this even worse sin of adultery, taking it even further. And so let me tell you something young lady. The dude that's willing to sleep with you before you're married or maybe he's even pressuring you to sleep with him before you're married, he's the same guy that's gonna cheat on you later. Because if he can't keep it in his pants now, what makes you think he's gonna be able to keep it in his pants five years from now or 10 years from now? Okay, so you want to watch for that and understand that if you wanna have a faithful husband later, then let's see if he can restrain himself right now. Because of the fact that these sins are related. Obviously adultery is worse, but these sins are related. And you know, the practice for being faithful to your spouse is being pure as a young person. As a lady or as a young man, being pure before you're married is the practice, that's the test so that you can be pure. And now look, if you committed fornication and now you're married, I'm not saying that you're gonna cheat on your spouse, of course, but I am saying that as a young person, you should be aware of that opposite gender who wants to just go all the way with you and wants to do all this stuff because guess what? They apparently are willing to cross certain lines, aren't they, that are really clear lines that we're not supposed to cross in the word of God. You know, you want to marry somebody who doesn't wanna cross those lines because you know, maybe now it's convenient for you to cross those lines, but you're not gonna like it when your husband's committing adultery or your wife's committing adultery. I mean, I know these are hard truths tonight that I'm preaching, but I'm not the one who wrote this chapter and I have zero doubt that that's what this chapter is saying. It's saying, don't commit fornication, don't walk in lust because you know, then you could end up going beyond and actually committing adultery with another man's wife and then you're gonna face some serious penalties from God, even more serious than the penalties for fornication. And you say, well, I'm just gonna sin up to this point and then I'm gonna stop. Here's the thing about that though, sin takes you further than you wanna go, keeps you longer than you wanna stay and it costs you more than you were willing to pay and so don't play with it. And then it says in verse eight, after it says, God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness, he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God who also have given unto us his Holy Spirit. So if people get angry at preaching about fornication and adultery and these things, you know, at the end of the day, if you despise the kind of religion that gets up and preaches that we need to be honorable and you ought to be ashamed of yourself if you're getting pregnant out of wedlock and you ought to be ashamed to be a womanizer and being a whore or a whoremonger is shameful and we ought to be honorable, we need to be holy, we need to be different, you don't want one sin of fornication to lead to a worse sin of adultery, you need to have some dignity and self-respect and not just parade your naked body around town. You know, if you despise that kind of preaching, what does the Bible say? You know, the Bible says, he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God. And that's why I don't take it personally. If you walk up to me after the sermon and say, Pastor Anderson, I hated your sermon. Walk up to me after the sermon and say it, if that's how you feel. I want you to, if that's how you feel, I want you to walk up to me after the sermon and I want you to say, Pastor Anderson, I hated your sermon, your sermon was trash. And you wanna know what I'll do? I'm not gonna be like, well, get over here, you know. If somebody walked up to me after the service and said, you know what, I hated your sermon, your sermon's trash, you're judgmental, you're slut-shaming, you do, you know, if somebody walked up to me and said, you're uncouth, how dare you use these words and how dare you, you know, get so angry and get so graphic in this preaching. You know what, if somebody walked up to me and said, I hate your sermon, your sermon's trash, I would just be like, okay, all right. Okay, God bless you, bye. See you on Wednesday? No, I'm just kidding. Coming back for more, are ya? You know what, honestly, I wouldn't even care and you know what, I'd go home and just sleep like a baby and I wouldn't even care. You wanna know why? Because I don't take it personally, that's why. I don't take it personally. Now if someone comes up to me and starts telling me that I have crooked teeth or something, I'd be like, hey, wait a minute, what are you, you know. But the thing is, I'm not gonna take it personally. People get mad at my preaching, they get mad at what I'm saying, I'm not gonna take it personally because you know what, I don't care. Because I know that what I've preached is consistent with God's word. What I've preached is consistent with God's word. That's all that matters to me. Now you say, well, everything you preached wasn't in the Bible. Okay, if everything I preached was in the Bible, you wouldn't even need me up here. We could just say, hey, Alexa, read me Bible verses for the next hour and then that could be your sermon. Am I right? If all I do is just get up and say what's in the Bible, then I don't even need to exist because a robot could do that, am I right? I am here to apply the Bible. They say, well, yeah, but you're shaming. The Bible says that nakedness is a shame. I could show you six Bible verses right now, the shame of nakedness. In fact, I think I might have even done a sermon called the shame of nakedness. Probably, that sounds like something I would do. I mean, you know, you say, well, but you know, you're getting a little uncouth and talking about butt cheeks and whatever. But hold on a second. Have you been in the Ezekiel series? Because you know what? Ezekiel is using some really rough language and saying some really graphic things. I'll be honest with you, when I read Ezekiel, I'm thinking to myself, I'm not gonna go that far, Ezekiel. Ezekiel says some pretty graphic things. Whatever I said tonight that hurt your little eardrums tonight, because I said a Bible word that you didn't like or I said damn or hell or slut or something, you know what? Maybe we should bring that word back since everybody thinks it's okay to be one. How about that? But you know what? I have no doubt for one second that Ezekiel would have no problem using that word because he said some other stuff that was way worse than that. I'm not even comfortable saying it right now. It's in the Bible. But I did it when it was in the series, okay? I plowed through every verse. But let me tell you something, folks. At the end of the day, I'm not offended because it's not personal. I don't take it personally because all that matters to me is just did I deliver God's word? Did I preach God's word and did I make it relevant to you? Now, I promise you one thing. Whether you like the sermon or not, I promise you one thing. Nobody's gonna walk out of here and wonder where I stand on these things. Nobody's gonna walk out of here and say I'm not sure how Pastor Anderson feels about our appearance as Christians. I'm not sure how Pastor Anderson feels about fornication. Everybody knows where I stand. And I think everybody's gonna walk out of here with a little bit deeper understanding of 1 Thessalonians 4. And you know what? If you don't like what I have to say, then go to your house tonight and get alone with the Lord and you and the Holy Spirit, you go through 1 Thessalonians 4 and you can make your own little private sermon between you and the Holy Spirit and you can study this passage and figure out what it means and get what you want out of it. But I'm telling you something. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God. You know, I have a feeling that the people who want to be pure and who want their kids to be pure don't get offended by a sermon like this. And the people who want to accept these things that our society accepts that are wicked are the ones who are gonna get offended. And so examine your heart tonight and ask yourself what is important to you? Is it, well, I did that 10 years ago so I don't appreciate him calling it that. So what? We've all done stupid things in our lives. But do we want other people to do them as well? No. You know, look, just because you've made a mistake in the past doesn't mean that I can't preach about it. And that because it's gonna hurt your feelings, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. I don't care about the past. I mean, past means nothing to me. What matters to me is the future. You know, I don't care what, I don't care how much fornication or adultery or drunkenness you've engaged in in the past. What I want is for you to clean up your life and get right now. And I want our young people to not make those mistakes in the first place. And you say, well, I don't appreciate it because my hair is green or whatever. Then you know what? Then, you know, you dyed it green. You apparently know how to dye hair. So maybe you can figure out how to make it brown or whatever now. You know, here, I'll give you a $5 bill and you can go buy some Clairol or whatever and turn it a normal color again. Folks, we have been called unto holiness and we need to bring back the concept of honor. And that means that there has to be something that is shameful because honor can't exist without shame and we need to live in sanctification and honor and we need to have our own culture in the local church so that no matter how weird things get out there, we have a standard in this church of what's acceptable and what's not. And we're not just gonna have just teenage young people in our good Christian families. I'm not talking about visitors or people that are new or something. I'm saying in our godly Christian families that go to this church, it should not be normal for the teenagers to start getting bizarre piercings and bizarre hairdos and wearing their clothing in a bizarre way and sleeping around and doing all these things. No. You know, we need to raise our children to be different in this society. Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you for salvation, that it's free, Lord, but help us not to just abuse the privilege of free salvation through grace by just going out and living however we want, Lord. Please just help us to have some standards in our lives so that we can walk and please you by keeping the commandments that you've given us in your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.