WEBVTT 00:00:00.060 --> 00:00:05.140 If you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter five. 00:00:05.180 --> 00:00:06.530 That's where we're going to be starting off today. 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:09.270 Ephesians chapter five. 00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:16.000 So for over the last few weeks, we've been in a marriage series, going over certain different aspects of marriage. 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:19.540 in accordance with the Bible. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:25.560 And what those keys to success of having a successful marriage and a godly marriage entail. 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:31.340 and so this week, we're going to tackle the subject of purity. 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:39.900 As Pastor Nathaniel is away, he'll be here next week and he'll be able to he's going to finish up the series next 00:00:39.900 --> 00:00:40.280 week. 00:00:40.580 --> 00:00:41.100 So. 00:00:42.760 --> 00:00:49.900 so in Ephesians chapter five, the apostle Paul has written this letter to the church in Ephesus, and this is a church 00:00:49.900 --> 00:00:51.860 that he had pastored for some three years. 00:00:52.940 --> 00:00:57.820 he, the book of acts chronicles Paul's missionary journeys. 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:00.100 He's, he as he goes around from town to town. 00:01:00.160 --> 00:01:07.420 And he would go into the synagogue and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the, to those that were in attendance. 00:01:07.780 --> 00:01:09.450 And most of the time he got stoned. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:16.920 But, as we see, there's a book of acts, records, people believed the gospel and churches were planted 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:17.640 and begun. 00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:20.280 And so Paul went from town to town. 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:22.120 And although Paul didn't establish this one. 00:01:23.360 --> 00:01:27.600 he did end up on his third missionary journey, journey becoming their pastor. 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:35.280 And then later on, as he, the Lord, had, uh, had willed it, that he would be arrested and sent 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:37.650 to Rome, he began to write these letters. 00:01:38.160 --> 00:01:44.980 these inspired letters were letters written, um, through the breath of God. 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:48.170 That's what inspiration means through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:54.900 Paul would write these inspired letters that we now call the New Testament, or the majority of it, anyway. 00:01:55.820 --> 00:01:58.760 he has written several of them that are recorded in the New Testament. 00:01:59.240 --> 00:02:00.100 Ephesians is one of them. 00:02:00.900 --> 00:02:08.460 And in Ephesians chapter five, verse 25, Paul addresses the marriage and 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:15.520 the husband and the wife, and he makes a, an argument from an analogy per se, that 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:20.440 in fact, the husband and the wife is kind of an analogy of Christ and his bride, the church. 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:28.460 And so he uses that to show and demonstrate to both the wife and the husband what, they 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:35.560 are to, their responsibilities in that marriage and how by carrying those out in a godly way, 00:02:36.340 --> 00:02:40.000 in a Christ like way would bring a successful marriage. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:43.140 But glory to Christ and to God as well. 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:47.500 So let's begin here in verse number 25 of Ephesians five. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:56.140 Paul writes, husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to 00:02:56.140 --> 00:03:00.380 make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word. 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:08.620 He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing but holy 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:09.860 and blameless. 00:03:10.780 --> 00:03:15.660 Verse 28 goes on to say, in the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:18.720 He who loves his wife loves himself. 00:03:19.880 --> 00:03:21.320 For no one ever hates his own flesh. 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:30.920 This is beginning to draw the context of what God mentioned in Genesis 224, that the 00:03:31.080 --> 00:03:32.480 two shall become one. 00:03:33.160 --> 00:03:37.750 And so we're supposed to view our wife and view our spouse as of the same flesh. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:41.360 And he's saying no one hates his own flesh, but provides for it and cares for it. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:46.960 And he makes this analogy yet again, Christ as Christ does for the church, since we are members of his body. 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:53.220 In verse 31, he does quote Genesis 224 directly. 00:03:53.220 --> 00:03:58.320 He says, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. 00:03:58.980 --> 00:04:01.560 The two will become one flesh. 00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:08.190 So that's God's desire for marriage, that the two would become one. 00:04:08.980 --> 00:04:17.160 And we all know that God has made a way for that to be a very intimate and, um, 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:19.790 encounter between those two. 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:22.180 God wants oneness between that couple. 00:04:22.220 --> 00:04:24.630 They want he wants them to draw close together. 00:04:24.760 --> 00:04:27.960 And he is, as modern science has revealed to us. 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:31.700 next slide please. 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:34.600 This is not an attack of the aliens, I promise. 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:39.980 But this is a kind of a artist mockup of neurons in the brain. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:41.100 All right. 00:04:41.580 --> 00:04:48.700 And modern science has given us a glimpse into God's design, how God has designed us, to pursue oneness and intimacy. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:57.280 in our physiological makeup, in our brain, a great Christian, psychologist, Doctor William Struthers, 00:04:57.340 --> 00:04:58.950 he wrote a book called wired for intimacy. 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:06.560 And so God has designed this in the in the pursuit of oneness that he's given us and created in us a sex drive. 00:05:07.380 --> 00:05:14.880 And in that sex drive, as we pursue those things through the spouse, through our spouse, as 00:05:14.880 --> 00:05:18.050 we pursue that sex drive, and through intimacy. 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:26.480 The culmination of that ends in a, Doctor Struthers calls it a love potion cocktail of, 00:05:28.320 --> 00:05:29.160 love potion. 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:29.580 Cocktail. 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:36.640 It's just this big, surge of endorphins and dopamine and serotonin and all those things 00:05:36.640 --> 00:05:43.880 that happen at the end of, as we pursue intimate intimacy with our spouse and that euphoria that we get 00:05:43.880 --> 00:05:45.680 from pursuing intimacy. 00:05:46.260 --> 00:05:48.580 All those things are God's design for marriage. 00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:54.440 It's God's way of drawing the husband and the wife closer to one another. 00:05:55.940 --> 00:06:03.360 And the even cooler thing that modern sciences has seen and found out and discovered that 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:11.040 as those chemicals are produced, the brain keeps track of what the outside stimuli are, and they 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:12.440 begin to make neural pathways. 00:06:12.620 --> 00:06:20.120 The brain begins to make neural pathways into which, when the outside stimuli brings on this intimacy, 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.320 these neural pathways become larger and larger. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:25.140 They begin to make these pathways. 00:06:25.140 --> 00:06:30.260 And as we pursue intimacy with our spouse, those pathways become larger and larger. 00:06:32.020 --> 00:06:38.020 And ultimately we find oneness and we find intimacy in that spouse. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:40.590 So that's how God has designed it. 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:48.540 In Genesis 224, the pursuit of oneness through intimacy with the spouse was perfect. 00:06:50.200 --> 00:06:53.220 We look to our spouse to for to fulfill that need. 00:06:53.840 --> 00:06:59.880 We look to our spouse and we drew closer and closer with our spouse each time that we did that. 00:07:01.060 --> 00:07:05.690 Unfortunately, as we've already mentioned, we don't live in a Genesis two world anymore. 00:07:06.820 --> 00:07:06.960 Right? 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:11.540 We live in a Genesis three world where we're fallen in, this creation is fallen. 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:19.720 And the unfortunate thing is, God's design for marriage and God's design for intimacy has been 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:25.320 skewed and corrupted by the corruption of this world and the sinful nature that we all have. 00:07:26.940 --> 00:07:35.100 And so instead of intimacy and oneness, being in pursuit of through the spouse and the, institution 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:42.260 of marriage that God has ordained and given us to pursue those things, we now are 00:07:42.260 --> 00:07:49.720 just bombarded, especially the day, with pursuits of lustful cravings outside 00:07:49.720 --> 00:07:54.160 of the bonds of marriage and things such as pornography. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:03.220 everyone knows that it's just a smartphone, a swipe of the thumb and a tap of an icon away that we 00:08:03.220 --> 00:08:10.380 people can begin to pursue intimacy and those things that God has designed for intimacy 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:12.360 outside of the bonds of marriage. 00:08:13.620 --> 00:08:20.860 And so the negative thing is, we hear a lot about, a pornographic addiction or 00:08:20.860 --> 00:08:21.840 sexual addiction. 00:08:22.420 --> 00:08:29.480 All these things are addictive because we see what happens in the brain if we start at young ages 00:08:29.480 --> 00:08:32.520 of young people, they see a lot of young faces in the crowd today. 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:41.020 And if, if this could be a warning, that you would hold to your 00:08:41.020 --> 00:08:42.750 parents and the church. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:50.460 we'd be just, uh, just blessed beyond measure that if you guys would take heed to these things. 00:08:51.580 --> 00:08:59.020 Because God has designed intimacy for marriage, but because we have these alternate routes through our fallen, culture 00:08:59.020 --> 00:09:04.680 and world, we begin to pursue these things outside of marriage. 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:11.740 And those neural pathways begin to be satisfied or being built towards the things we take intimacy out on. 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:14.840 So if we take it to pornography, guess what? 00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:22.520 Those neural pathways begin to be built that you're seeking that, sexual drive, 00:09:22.900 --> 00:09:25.420 the fulfillment of that through pornography. 00:09:26.040 --> 00:09:31.080 And those pathways become bigger and bigger the more and more that you participate in those things. 00:09:31.700 --> 00:09:39.020 And next thing you know, it's just a like a gigantic gravity field sucking you in to 00:09:39.020 --> 00:09:40.640 those things and to those things. 00:09:40.680 --> 00:09:47.740 And so when you come into marriage, you already have these pathways that are weren't designed and weren't intended for God to be built, but they're 00:09:47.740 --> 00:09:48.190 there. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:56.400 And next thing you know, your mate is, being compared to the things that you've experienced in your life 00:09:56.400 --> 00:10:00.900 and not being seen as the only person that can satisfy those means. 00:10:02.940 --> 00:10:04.080 So. 00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:09.520 That's the things that are going on in our brain. 00:10:10.940 --> 00:10:17.280 The great thing is proper biblical theology can overcome our fallen biology. 00:10:18.540 --> 00:10:19.080 That's the great thing. 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:27.600 So it's no surprise here in Ephesians five three that Paul goes on and he I mean, he's been inspired by 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:28.200 the spirit. 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:34.900 And so I, Jesus Christ's whole mission was a rescue mission to rescue us from this fallen and depraved world. 00:10:35.580 --> 00:10:42.780 And so, Paul, as he's writing to these believers in Ephesus, he's telling them in Ephesians five three, but sexual immorality and any impurity 00:10:42.780 --> 00:10:47.260 or greed should not even be heard among you, as is proper for saints. 00:10:49.920 --> 00:10:51.820 So that's a pretty tall order, right? 00:10:53.060 --> 00:11:00.560 I shouldn't even be heard among us, because God's intention for those things, for intimacy and oneness, were 00:11:00.560 --> 00:11:01.840 through the bonds of marriage. 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:08.960 He doesn't want any hint of immorality or impurity to be named among the saints. 00:11:10.300 --> 00:11:18.600 And that's the dangerous part about just parachuting in the middle of a of a book like this, because we have to take in its proper context, because 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:25.360 what Paul is really has done by this point in this letter is he should have driven us to the end of ourselves. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:33.520 So if I were to come and say and just beat you over the head with, you should stop being impure, you should try a little harder 00:11:33.520 --> 00:11:40.600 then we've missed the whole point of what Paul has written to the letter to the members of Ephesus and has written, God, the spirit 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:41.280 is written to us. 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:48.120 It's the all the chapters before here in Ephesians five that we need to quickly consider. 00:11:49.020 --> 00:11:50.020 This is so hard for me. 00:11:50.020 --> 00:11:52.080 This is my favorite book and I know of. 00:11:52.260 --> 00:11:54.380 Pastor Nathaniel has preached on it a couple of times. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:02.860 and I just would love to preach the whole book to you, but we just have a few more minutes left in our time, so we're going to have to 00:12:02.860 --> 00:12:04.840 just do a quick flyby. 00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:12.460 Unfortunately, our I, we lead a, I lead the Tuesday night home group at the Pennington's house, and we've 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:14.540 been doing it for 4 or 5 months now, I guess. 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:20.330 And we're only midway through the second chapter of Colossians, because I'd just like to take my time verse by verse. 00:12:21.040 --> 00:12:28.120 So this is hard for me just to do a fly by, but hopefully you'll be able to see what God Paul's intention and 00:12:28.120 --> 00:12:35.460 God's intention for us is that indeed he does not want to have any immorality and impurity messing up our lives. 00:12:35.520 --> 00:12:37.000 He wants to rescue us from these things. 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:39.340 He wants to rescue us from this depraved world. 00:12:40.040 --> 00:12:42.010 But we have to consider what he's done before. 00:12:42.740 --> 00:12:43.760 There's beginning. 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:51.340 There's six chapters in the book of Ephesians, and the first, the last three are the imperatives, the therefores. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:58.620 Therefore do this and this, do these things, all these commands to the New Testament church that we are to do 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:00.680 as believers and followers of Jesus Christ. 00:13:01.380 --> 00:13:08.560 However, the first three chapters are what God has done for us and the gospel and God's grace. 00:13:09.500 --> 00:13:16.500 And those are the things in which we need to saturate ourselves in and view our identity in before we move 00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:20.600 out and begin to move on to the imperatives of Scripture. 00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:23.000 It's the gospel. 00:13:23.220 --> 00:13:23.520 It's the. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:30.660 We have to make sure we have the right source of power to change in the right motives in fighting our sin. 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:38.940 And so the right source and power of sin, of fighting sin 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:41.260 is the gospel. 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:44.110 And this is what Paul says here in Ephesians chapter one. 00:13:46.090 --> 00:13:48.540 I just have one verse there in verse 13. 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:56.420 But just notice, as I read this, who we are supposed to be viewing ourselves as if you're a follower of Christ today, if 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:03.800 you are, been brought into his church, into his body because you believed and trusted in the salvation or and in the gospel 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:06.900 of salvation, this is who you are. 00:14:07.820 --> 00:14:15.640 And this is a major difference between I got to say this before I forget it, this is a major difference between what we try to do in 00:14:15.640 --> 00:14:23.100 the church to show you your new identity in Christ and secular, although there's many good secular and good counseling 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:23.700 out there. 00:14:24.040 --> 00:14:24.940 Secular counseling. 00:14:25.300 --> 00:14:30.560 Counseling wants to label you as a as an addict, and that's your label for the rest of your life. 00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:31.900 All right. 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:39.500 As we look at the gospel and the New Testament, the gospel, the scriptures are telling 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:42.740 us that we are not, that we are not our old selves. 00:14:43.680 --> 00:14:45.280 If you're in Christ, you're a new creature. 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:47.580 That's your new identity. 00:14:48.060 --> 00:14:50.170 The hard part is taking on that identity. 00:14:51.040 --> 00:14:56.080 I can say that I'm in Christ all day long, but am I living it, or am I just defaulting back to my old identity? 00:14:57.180 --> 00:15:04.540 So we want to be, uh, my intention here today is to see what Paul's written to this church, that 00:15:04.560 --> 00:15:10.300 we can start viewing ourselves as Christ sees us, and that we can walk in newness of life and in his power. 00:15:10.880 --> 00:15:12.290 So the right source of power is the gospel. 00:15:13.340 --> 00:15:14.260 I'm going to start in verse three. 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:23.200 If you want to follow along in Ephesians chapter one verse three, he said, blessed be says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:27.060 has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:35.300 For he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, and he chose us to be holy and blameless, and in his sight, 00:15:36.640 --> 00:15:39.000 in love he predestined us to be adopted. 00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:47.360 Here's that adoption where those who are in Christ have been adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ for himself 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:54.520 according to his favor and will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he favored us 00:15:54.520 --> 00:16:00.180 with in the beloved in verse seven, in him that's who we are. 00:16:00.300 --> 00:16:01.700 We're in him, we're in Christ. 00:16:02.020 --> 00:16:09.060 We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he 00:16:09.060 --> 00:16:10.060 lavished on us. 00:16:10.100 --> 00:16:17.280 With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he planned 00:16:17.280 --> 00:16:24.740 in him for the administration of the days of fulfillment, to bring everything together in the Messiah, all things into Christ, 00:16:24.740 --> 00:16:27.600 both things in heaven and things on earth in him. 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:35.620 Verse 11, In Him we were also made his inheritance, predestined according to the purpose of the one who 00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:42.900 works out everything in agreement with the decision of his will, so that we who had already put our hope. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:50.380 This is the gospel proclamation here, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might being praised 00:16:50.380 --> 00:16:51.140 to his glory. 00:16:52.380 --> 00:16:53.180 Verse 13. 00:16:53.180 --> 00:16:57.240 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, you heard the gospel. 00:16:58.180 --> 00:17:05.579 You heard that you were a sinner in need of you were dead in your trespasses and sin, and that Jesus came to purchase 00:17:05.579 --> 00:17:12.599 you and atone for your sins and all those who believe and trust in that message, and not just mentally assent 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:16.170 to it, but put their trust in the message of salvation. 00:17:17.300 --> 00:17:22.380 I heard a great analogy this week about what it means to put your faith and trust in Christ. 00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:30.120 there's a guy not too long ago that did a tightrope across the Grand Canyon or like, put a tightrope up and walked across the Grand Canyon. 00:17:31.320 --> 00:17:31.460 Right. 00:17:31.520 --> 00:17:33.500 And so maybe you might have been there. 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:34.140 Maybe not. 00:17:34.140 --> 00:17:41.200 But if you were there and you saw him with your own eyes, walk across the Grand Canyon and back on that 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:48.760 tightrope, and he gets to the end, and maybe a few hours later, he looks at you and says, do you believe I 00:17:48.760 --> 00:17:49.320 can do that? 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:51.640 And you're like, yeah, I believe. 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:54.920 Well, that's mentally assenting to what he that proposition. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.530 He goes, well, you believe I can do it again? 00:17:58.320 --> 00:17:59.860 Well, yeah, you've done it before. 00:18:00.100 --> 00:18:01.080 He goes, well, do you trust me? 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:05.700 Once you get in a wheelbarrow and I'll take you across, right. 00:18:06.060 --> 00:18:06.680 That's trust. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:14.980 That's believing to the point of trusting what Christ has done, that we that this thing of repentance has 00:18:14.980 --> 00:18:16.260 many different names. 00:18:16.260 --> 00:18:18.940 But it's this according to Scripture. 00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:26.720 And the most basic definition I can give you is that we just come to this point where we see that we are 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:27.570 at the end of ourselves. 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:36.120 We have nothing to offer God this path that we were walking down, whether that be religion or, just 00:18:36.120 --> 00:18:43.340 lawlessness, paganism, because you've made your own god or in your head, the whole 00:18:43.340 --> 00:18:44.920 world's God, whatever you want to do. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:52.300 You've realized when you were confronted with the gospel that you were a sinner and that there was nothing that you could 00:18:52.300 --> 00:18:53.410 do in and of yourself. 00:18:54.260 --> 00:19:00.000 And if you placed your trust in the accomplished work of Christ and Him alone, it's him alone. 00:19:00.620 --> 00:19:03.660 It's what he has done on the cross that saves us. 00:19:04.800 --> 00:19:07.780 And putting our trust in that is not just mentally assenting to that. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:12.380 Yeah, I think he died for James says that the demons believe. 00:19:13.660 --> 00:19:14.380 That there's a God. 00:19:15.560 --> 00:19:16.220 We must trust. 00:19:16.360 --> 00:19:16.890 In that alone. 00:19:16.980 --> 00:19:24.030 We must turn from what we thought was the right way and put our trust completely in the gospel and in Christ alone. 00:19:25.760 --> 00:19:33.000 And so we go on and we see in him you also, 00:19:33.060 --> 00:19:40.080 who in verse 13, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and him when you believed, were sealed with the promised 00:19:40.080 --> 00:19:40.520 Holy Spirit. 00:19:42.080 --> 00:19:49.300 So it's not just this mental assent and this trust, it's this regeneration that happens when the God of the universe invades 00:19:49.300 --> 00:19:56.540 your and invades you and quickens you and makes you alive and rescues you from the 00:19:56.540 --> 00:20:03.240 deadness of your sin and of yourself, and redeems you to a new way and a new life and adoption in the Christ. 00:20:03.580 --> 00:20:10.660 All these things that God that Paul is trying to demonstrate to this church, and God is demonstrating to us that this is who 00:20:10.660 --> 00:20:11.320 we are now. 00:20:12.580 --> 00:20:15.370 We're in Christ, that we have all these spiritual blessings. 00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:20.300 God has been, ordained all this stuff to happen. 00:20:20.820 --> 00:20:22.540 And we're in him and we're blessed to be there. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:31.400 And out of that we begin to spawn the outworkings of good works because of what Christ has done for us. 00:20:32.840 --> 00:20:34.480 That's the right power. 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:36.290 That's the source of power is the gospel. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.880 It's no longer us trying to work our way into approval with God. 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:49.280 It's resting in who we are in Christ, and that's the power that we begin to live a victorious life in him. 00:20:50.800 --> 00:20:53.720 The second aspect is the right motive. 00:20:55.420 --> 00:20:55.770 The right motive. 00:20:57.600 --> 00:20:58.420 God's grace. 00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:07.380 Ephesians two is just a wonderful uh, the entire chapter is just great. 00:21:08.520 --> 00:21:09.840 about the teachings of grace. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:14.810 And I think I listed one there for you or a few. 00:21:16.560 --> 00:21:19.420 Let me just read you verses three through through ten. 00:21:21.320 --> 00:21:21.640 Says. 00:21:22.040 --> 00:21:26.220 Paul writes, we two also previously lived among them in our fleshly desires. 00:21:27.020 --> 00:21:33.580 So he's talking about taking the members of the church back to the time before they were encountered with the gospel, and they trusted in Christ. 00:21:34.560 --> 00:21:35.600 So we were with him, right? 00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:37.560 We're no different than anybody else. 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:38.280 We are sinners. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:41.500 We weren't extra holy or anything like that. 00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:48.110 We were just like them and sinners in need of a Savior, and they were carrying out the inclinations of our flesh. 00:21:48.300 --> 00:21:53.060 We were carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath. 00:21:55.700 --> 00:21:56.760 As the others were also. 00:21:58.060 --> 00:22:05.520 But God, who is abundant in mercy because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with 00:22:05.520 --> 00:22:08.520 the Messiah, even though we were dead in trespasses. 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:13.360 It's that newness of life, the regeneration being born again. 00:22:14.360 --> 00:22:17.780 And he goes to say in verse five, by grace you are saved. 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:20.680 And we need to define our terms. 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:27.780 There's a lot of different terms for grace, but it's explicitly demonstrated and defined in Scripture 00:22:27.780 --> 00:22:29.460 as unmerited favor. 00:22:30.340 --> 00:22:31.580 We don't do anything to earn it. 00:22:32.340 --> 00:22:38.340 It's God doing this, expressing his love, showing an attribute of who he is. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:43.480 Yes, he's holy, but he has also has an attribute of love, and he's demonstrating his grace. 00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:46.820 That's another attribute, extending unmerited favor. 00:22:46.820 --> 00:22:49.800 It's a gift that is given to us when we're born again. 00:22:50.260 --> 00:22:51.620 We don't do anything to deserve it. 00:22:51.620 --> 00:22:53.780 We can't do any type of works to deserve it. 00:22:54.180 --> 00:22:55.320 It's a gift that is given. 00:22:57.400 --> 00:22:59.220 Verse six. 00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:02.740 He also raised us up in him and seated us with him in heaven, in the heavens, in Christ Jesus. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:05.060 Again, another picture of who we are in Christ. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:10.460 We're so quick to live our lives in the squalor of this world. 00:23:11.280 --> 00:23:17.820 But if you're in Christ today, you're seated in the heavens with him high above. 00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:19.840 All things. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:29.360 So in verse seven, so the coming of ages, he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 00:23:31.820 --> 00:23:35.700 Maybe you're like me, and you just can't get over the fact that God has extended his grace to you in salvation. 00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:44.420 But according to this passage, there's much, much an eternity filled of God demonstrating 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:50.400 his grace towards us undeserved sinners who have been saved by the gospel. 00:23:53.560 --> 00:23:54.850 So for by grace you are saved. 00:23:55.040 --> 00:23:55.600 And we know this. 00:23:56.020 --> 00:23:57.890 The lost of us can quote this verse. 00:23:58.420 --> 00:24:02.430 Ephesians two, verse eight for by grace are you saved through faith? 00:24:03.260 --> 00:24:04.780 And this is not from yourselves. 00:24:04.780 --> 00:24:08.760 It is God's gift, not from works, so that no one can boast. 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:09.780 It's God's gift. 00:24:10.560 --> 00:24:11.800 We don't have any room to boast. 00:24:12.540 --> 00:24:19.540 God has given us this gift through sending His Son into this world, the Lamb of God, 00:24:19.620 --> 00:24:26.640 without spot or blemish, to go to the cross and die for our sin and atone, and God's wrath being poured out on him 00:24:27.520 --> 00:24:29.510 instead of us who are in Christ. 00:24:29.760 --> 00:24:35.060 And in return we no longer have our sin, but we receive Christ's righteousness. 00:24:35.180 --> 00:24:36.410 It's called being justified. 00:24:37.320 --> 00:24:41.720 It's the theological term that the New Testament demonstrates its justification. 00:24:41.820 --> 00:24:44.500 God is holy and just, and he cannot wink at sin. 00:24:44.840 --> 00:24:46.880 He must punish sin. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:53.120 And so what he's done is he's allowed his son, who knew no sin, to become sin for us. 00:24:54.080 --> 00:24:58.880 And God poured out his wrath for our sin on him, and we've been justified. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:07.560 And this is an important part when we start talking about immorality and impurity, because these types of sins are those sins that just 00:25:07.560 --> 00:25:09.910 like Adam and Eve, when they first sinned against God, what do they do? 00:25:10.500 --> 00:25:13.680 They run and hid from God in shame. 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:14.860 They covered themselves. 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:16.540 Right. 00:25:17.080 --> 00:25:21.720 And these are the sins that we want to run and hide from God and hide from other people. 00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:26.480 We pull back into the darkness so no one knows just how truly sinful we are. 00:25:28.420 --> 00:25:36.360 But what Paul is trying to demonstrate to us is that we are justified, 00:25:37.320 --> 00:25:42.690 that the sins that we commit have been handled by Jesus Christ. 00:25:43.620 --> 00:25:47.840 We, no matter what we do, if you're in Christ, you are a child of God. 00:25:48.220 --> 00:25:48.990 You have been adopted. 00:25:49.520 --> 00:25:54.020 Nothing you can do as far as sin goes can affect that. 00:25:55.360 --> 00:25:57.180 And that's the position we need to stand in. 00:25:58.840 --> 00:26:00.560 Because too often we. 00:26:03.100 --> 00:26:09.440 The when I was saved, I God just body slammed me and I knew that it was by grace and I had nothing to offer him. 00:26:10.520 --> 00:26:17.680 And I fully embraced being saved by grace and not of my works, because I tried that and I failed miserably at working 00:26:17.780 --> 00:26:18.440 my way to heaven. 00:26:19.800 --> 00:26:25.330 and God did some wonderful things, but for some reason I thought that this process. 00:26:25.420 --> 00:26:27.530 There's another part of this salvation. 00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:28.310 It's called sanctification. 00:26:28.840 --> 00:26:29.620 We're justified. 00:26:30.030 --> 00:26:31.090 Nothing's going to do to change that. 00:26:31.260 --> 00:26:35.060 But as we saw in the Scripture, the Holy Spirit seals us. 00:26:35.060 --> 00:26:42.500 He indwells us, and he begins this process of sanctification, making us this, turning this new creature into one 00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:49.860 that follows Christ and looks more like Christ and becomes more holy and it's God actually working inside of us through his word and 00:26:49.860 --> 00:26:54.780 through the church, with one another that begins this process of sanctification. 00:26:56.420 --> 00:27:00.640 But the problem was, is when I got saved, no one told me about that. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:08.780 And so I defaulted back to although I knew I was saved by grace, I thought my sanctification was all up to me. 00:27:09.620 --> 00:27:10.840 Pick myself up by my bootstraps. 00:27:11.040 --> 00:27:11.770 Try a little harder. 00:27:12.340 --> 00:27:15.260 I'm going to get this sin taken care of, right? 00:27:16.080 --> 00:27:20.080 No, that's what I started this off with, that. 00:27:20.580 --> 00:27:20.650 That blanket statement. 00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:22.960 No impurity or immorality. 00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:26.880 Morality should be even spoken among the saints because we need to come to the end of ourselves. 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:32.360 We need God's grace, not just at the moment of salvation, but we need God's grace every day. 00:27:33.940 --> 00:27:41.080 We need God to invade us and rescue us from our old nature, from those things that 00:27:41.080 --> 00:27:45.460 we've just bombarded our brains with, from a young, young adults. 00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:53.480 Or if you are older and, saved out of, in your adulthood, all those things can be 00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:54.820 rescued and redeemed by Christ. 00:27:55.500 --> 00:28:01.270 But we've got to understand that it's through his power, the gospel, that we are in Christ. 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:05.580 And that's by his grace that he changes us from the inside out. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:13.980 Proper biblical theology can overcome our depraved biology, but we have to begin to live our lives to the limbs. 00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:18.180 This paradigm change, this lens in which we view this world. 00:28:18.180 --> 00:28:24.580 We have to begin to look at it through who we are in Christ and when we want to. 00:28:24.680 --> 00:28:29.640 And we're convicted and we know we have sins of immorality and impurity that are affecting our marriage. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:37.160 Or if you're not married yet, you're building those neural pathways that are not going to be helpful for a marriage down 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:38.560 the future, down in the future. 00:28:38.740 --> 00:28:39.620 Let's put it that way. 00:28:41.460 --> 00:28:48.300 You need to understand that it's through Christ and grace that you can be rescued from those things, and not by your willpower. 00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:57.080 I have a dear friend, just an amazing guy shared with me recently. 00:28:57.080 --> 00:29:03.160 He was raised in the church, Christian church all his life, 20 years. 00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:04.950 He was in the music ministry. 00:29:05.700 --> 00:29:06.180 He shared. 00:29:06.180 --> 00:29:14.280 He had a 20 year addiction to pornography, and he just couldn't in his own power get 00:29:14.280 --> 00:29:14.820 rid of it. 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.450 He was married, has a beautiful family and kids, and he's a beautiful guy. 00:29:19.120 --> 00:29:19.720 Don't get me wrong. 00:29:22.340 --> 00:29:25.360 But he couldn't get over this in his own power. 00:29:26.140 --> 00:29:33.180 And it wasn't until he realized that he needed to view himself in Christ, and he needed to go to Christ for the power 00:29:33.180 --> 00:29:40.520 and for his go to Christ grace for the power to overcome these things, that he finally had victory over 00:29:40.520 --> 00:29:41.300 pornography. 00:29:43.040 --> 00:29:50.580 It was through the amazing, effectual grace that we can be changed through these things. 00:29:50.660 --> 00:29:52.460 John Owen, he's an old Puritan. 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:53.650 He wrote this. 00:29:53.840 --> 00:30:01.080 The thought of trying to put our sin and lust to death based on our own human strengths is the essence and substance of all false 00:30:01.080 --> 00:30:03.780 religions in the world, right? 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:06.360 Do this, do this, do this. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:06.600 No. 00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:08.160 It's done in Christ. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:11.680 We go to him for rescue by his grace and his power. 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:15.520 As we cooperate with the spirit, he gives us victory through those. 00:30:15.820 --> 00:30:18.500 Through these things you need to be rescued. 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.890 You need God's grace, not just on your bad days. 00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:23.940 You need it every day. 00:30:25.100 --> 00:30:27.040 And that's the paradigm we need to view our world in. 00:30:28.740 --> 00:30:33.220 If you're in Christ, we need to change our way of looking at things. 00:30:35.580 --> 00:30:41.860 There's an old hymn before the throne of God that, I used to sometimes sing in my early days. 00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:45.320 And there's a stanza that goes like this. 00:30:46.260 --> 00:30:53.420 When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within upward, I look and see him 00:30:53.420 --> 00:30:55.880 there who made an end to all my sin. 00:30:56.940 --> 00:30:59.050 Because the sinless Savior died. 00:30:59.220 --> 00:31:06.440 My sinful soul is counted free for God the just is satisfied to look on him 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:07.600 and pardon me. 00:31:10.420 --> 00:31:11.340 I just can't get over the gospel. 00:31:13.120 --> 00:31:18.900 And what Christ has done, God has done, and saving us from our wretchedness and depraved nature. 00:31:20.220 --> 00:31:27.400 And it's in those times where we see ourselves in Christ and being rescued, that we can have the power, by 00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:32.680 his grace, to overcome these sins that affect not only us, but those around us. 00:31:33.900 --> 00:31:37.000 Immorality, lust. 00:31:37.500 --> 00:31:39.400 The desire for the unholy. 00:31:39.460 --> 00:31:40.400 Desire for the forbidden. 00:31:41.560 --> 00:31:46.820 All these things we can overcome through the power of the gospel. 00:31:47.980 --> 00:31:55.040 And the motive of seeking God's grace in our daily lives and looking to him for changing 00:31:55.040 --> 00:31:57.540 us day by day. 00:31:58.460 --> 00:31:59.150 Wish it was overnight. 00:32:00.560 --> 00:32:01.110 Wouldn't that be nice? 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:08.700 But it's not day by day learning to become dependent on God, just as we were originally designed in the garden, completely 00:32:08.780 --> 00:32:09.460 dependent on God. 00:32:10.580 --> 00:32:11.520 That's what we need to pursue. 00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:20.740 So becoming dependent on God in our day to day actions with one another, and pursuit of killing off the old self and putting on the 00:32:20.740 --> 00:32:21.020 new. 00:32:21.780 --> 00:32:29.020 So as we move on here, Ephesians chapter four says, therefore the prisoner, 00:32:30.140 --> 00:32:35.080 I, therefore the prisoner and the Lord urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received. 00:32:35.580 --> 00:32:42.700 So remember, verse four is the beginning of the practical implications of what Paul has written to us in the first three chapters of who we are in 00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:45.160 Christ, and the power he's given us by his grace. 00:32:45.640 --> 00:32:49.080 Therefore, because of these things, do these things. 00:32:50.620 --> 00:32:50.900 Okay. 00:32:51.520 --> 00:32:55.580 So we have a responsibility to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in our walk of sanctification. 00:32:56.700 --> 00:33:04.680 And Paul spends the last half of the chapter telling those Christians, this is what the things we need to cooperate, and 00:33:04.820 --> 00:33:06.810 this is what we need to do, in order to walk victoriously. 00:33:07.740 --> 00:33:11.560 So I, therefore, the prisoner and the Lord urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received. 00:33:13.980 --> 00:33:18.700 Ephesians 513 therefore, therefore, because of the gospel, because of great God's grace. 00:33:18.780 --> 00:33:25.420 Be imitators of God and dearly loved children, and walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave himself for us. 00:33:25.980 --> 00:33:29.660 Again, another argument by analogy, because Christ did these things. 00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:31.540 He's our example walk like he has walked. 00:33:33.300 --> 00:33:40.500 Ephesians 417 therefore I say this and testify in the Lord, you should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk 00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:42.960 in the futility of their thoughts. 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:50.880 So this is a picture, a pretty dark picture of what depravity looks like. 00:33:51.780 --> 00:33:58.800 Verse 18, they are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, and 00:33:58.800 --> 00:34:00.300 because of the hardness of their hearts. 00:34:01.300 --> 00:34:08.420 They become callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a desire for more 00:34:08.420 --> 00:34:09.580 and more. 00:34:10.620 --> 00:34:17.679 Anyone that's ever been addicted to the sin of lust, pornography, the, addicted 00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:23.760 sexual addict, all those things that you want to label them as well tell you that you're never satisfied. 00:34:24.900 --> 00:34:32.280 You keep pursuing more and more and more, and you're never satisfied because you're pursuing the things that God had originally designed 00:34:32.280 --> 00:34:36.199 for the union of man and woman outside of that institution. 00:34:37.560 --> 00:34:39.199 And it's never going to lead to satisfaction. 00:34:40.560 --> 00:34:48.080 Only when we see God's design and turn and focus on pursuing those things that God given sex 00:34:48.080 --> 00:34:54.179 drive, God given desire for intimacy in the confines of marriage will be satisfied. 00:34:55.639 --> 00:34:59.160 The husband and wife become more bonded to one another. 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:03.700 If you pursue things outside of marriage, you become bonded to someone else or something else. 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:12.470 But instead of pursuing it through a person and intimacy, pornography allows you a way to pursue those things of lust. 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:15.440 But it turns that thing into an object. 00:35:16.460 --> 00:35:19.080 It's no longer about pursuing intimacy with another person. 00:35:19.080 --> 00:35:21.400 It's objectifying women or men. 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:27.360 And just as a means in which to express yourself and gratify yourself. 00:35:29.640 --> 00:35:31.080 And that's the harsh reality of it. 00:35:32.260 --> 00:35:37.100 And I can promise you will never be satisfied pursuing those things outside of marriage. 00:35:39.240 --> 00:35:40.140 Verse 22. 00:35:44.640 --> 00:35:45.800 Ephesians 422. 00:35:45.820 --> 00:35:47.380 You took off your former way. 00:35:47.420 --> 00:35:48.640 So he's not talking. 00:35:48.700 --> 00:35:52.560 He's giving us a picture of what it looked like and what it looks like for those outside of Christ. 00:35:53.740 --> 00:35:54.780 But this is who we are. 00:35:54.820 --> 00:35:57.190 Again, he's reminding us you took off the form, way of life. 00:35:57.800 --> 00:35:59.800 The old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires. 00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:02.020 You put that off when you took on Christ. 00:36:02.220 --> 00:36:04.700 You are being renewed in the spirit of your minds. 00:36:05.620 --> 00:36:12.940 That's God's intention, and salvation is to renew us and rescue us from depravity and restore us to his original intention for us to 00:36:12.940 --> 00:36:15.400 glorify himself and to enjoy him forever. 00:36:16.240 --> 00:36:20.500 As the Westminster Confession says, you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds. 00:36:21.080 --> 00:36:28.220 You put on the new man, the one created according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of 00:36:28.220 --> 00:36:29.450 the truth. 00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:35.780 So this begins a what's called the put on, put off or put off, put on principles of the New Testament. 00:36:37.340 --> 00:36:37.520 Okay. 00:36:37.540 --> 00:36:44.500 He's telling us to put on put off the old man and put on the new and especially Paul, he. 00:36:44.700 --> 00:36:47.920 In Colossians, it's even more explicit as far as putting off putting on. 00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:49.500 But this is what we need to do. 00:36:49.500 --> 00:36:55.140 This is how we cooperate with the spirit, because we can't just stop at putting off the things we can't stop. 00:36:55.220 --> 00:36:56.480 Okay, I'm going to not lust anymore. 00:36:56.620 --> 00:36:57.160 I'm not going to. 00:36:57.580 --> 00:37:01.280 I guess the next PowerPoint gives us examples. 00:37:02.240 --> 00:37:03.100 Okay. 00:37:03.560 --> 00:37:04.350 Put off, put on principle. 00:37:05.120 --> 00:37:10.140 The thief should no longer steal but get a haircut and get a real job, right? 00:37:11.200 --> 00:37:14.900 Okay, maybe that was an yeah. 00:37:14.900 --> 00:37:15.380 Anyway. 00:37:15.400 --> 00:37:17.700 Put off bitterness, anger, wrath. 00:37:17.700 --> 00:37:20.090 We're going to put those things off because that's from the old nature. 00:37:20.640 --> 00:37:22.720 And we're to put on kindness, compassion and forgiveness. 00:37:23.880 --> 00:37:29.080 And then verse five, we're coming back to the full circle here now and walk in love. 00:37:30.600 --> 00:37:30.700 Right? 00:37:31.120 --> 00:37:38.220 The agape love, the self expression of service, giving and loving and sacrificing for others with no expectation 00:37:38.220 --> 00:37:39.420 of what you're going to receive in return. 00:37:40.860 --> 00:37:47.840 That's what Christ has done for us and walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave himself for us a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. 00:37:48.540 --> 00:37:50.510 You bring glory to God when we do these things. 00:37:51.300 --> 00:37:58.380 When we put on these new, this new man, this new creature, this new person, I should say, and we pursue 00:37:58.380 --> 00:37:58.780 those things. 00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:07.300 And then he reminds us of the negative, but sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard 00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:09.260 among you, as is proper for the saints. 00:38:11.240 --> 00:38:11.500 Okay. 00:38:12.260 --> 00:38:19.460 So it's a little bit different when we view that verse through the hopefully you guys will agree with you that with the entire context of 00:38:19.460 --> 00:38:23.900 that letter and not just drop in and say you need to stop being impure or immoral. 00:38:23.940 --> 00:38:30.460 It's because of the gospel and because of God's grace and who we are in Christ that we can have the victory and we can. 00:38:30.700 --> 00:38:36.120 We have been given a new heart of flesh that can that desires to pursue after God. 00:38:37.600 --> 00:38:42.960 And we just need to learn to cooperate with the spirit in those things and rest in his power. 00:38:43.580 --> 00:38:50.680 And as we do those things and seek those things that are godly and what he's given us in Christ, 00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:52.580 what begins to happen to our mind? 00:38:54.040 --> 00:38:55.360 New pathways are being re-established. 00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:55.900 Right? 00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:03.940 The brain starts building new pathways, and we're through the spirit power of the spirit within our 00:39:03.940 --> 00:39:11.100 habits of going back to the old self, of immorality and lust and purity to fulfill those 00:39:11.100 --> 00:39:11.540 desires. 00:39:11.540 --> 00:39:15.940 And those things begin to change because we're putting on the new man. 00:39:16.200 --> 00:39:17.780 We're practicing putting on the new man. 00:39:18.340 --> 00:39:23.370 And those the new aspects, the new characteristics of the new man, where God's created us to be habitual. 00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:30.530 Thank God I don't have to worry about, giving a bunch of brain power to brushing my teeth in the morning. 00:39:30.860 --> 00:39:31.720 I just kind of do it. 00:39:33.040 --> 00:39:34.180 And that's who we are. 00:39:34.280 --> 00:39:35.230 That's what's happening. 00:39:35.240 --> 00:39:37.700 And so as we pursue the new man, things get easier. 00:39:37.700 --> 00:39:44.700 And we as we do that, especially as far as impurity or purity and immorality 00:39:44.700 --> 00:39:51.740 goes, as we pursue the newness of life in Christ and seek God and His forgiveness by his 00:39:51.820 --> 00:39:58.290 grace to overcome those things, we become more pure to our spouses. 00:39:59.860 --> 00:40:06.600 And the great thing about that is Christ's bride becomes more pure as well, right? 00:40:06.640 --> 00:40:08.330 As we put on godly attributes. 00:40:09.140 --> 00:40:15.220 Take off the old Christ bride, who he died for, is becoming pure just as he has promised. 00:40:16.020 --> 00:40:17.900 And as for his glory, and that's for his grace. 00:40:19.300 --> 00:40:22.360 So in closing, I just want to have one more couple verses here. 00:40:23.220 --> 00:40:30.400 Ephesians five 1113 Paul talks about he gives an illustration between the fruit of darkness 00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:31.400 and the fruit of light. 00:40:33.560 --> 00:40:40.760 11 says, don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to even to mention what 00:40:40.760 --> 00:40:42.040 is done by them in secret. 00:40:42.980 --> 00:40:44.940 Everything exposed by the light is made clear. 00:40:47.220 --> 00:40:54.360 So I can tell you, as a biblical counselor, that these sins of the flesh of lust, if 00:40:54.360 --> 00:41:01.250 you're there, according to the statistics, more than likely there's someone that's addicted to pornography in here, man or female. 00:41:02.740 --> 00:41:10.580 If these things are true, the thing that we don't want to do is hide them in the darkness and 00:41:10.640 --> 00:41:17.140 keep them to ourselves and shame ourselves every time we mess up and say, I'm going to do better, we need to expose them to the light. 00:41:17.960 --> 00:41:18.860 We need to bring them out. 00:41:20.640 --> 00:41:21.820 And it kind of puts a different spin. 00:41:21.920 --> 00:41:22.580 On John one. 00:41:22.580 --> 00:41:27.680 It says, talking about Jesus, entering the word, entering into the his creation. 00:41:28.500 --> 00:41:33.090 And it says in verse four, life was in him again, and Him in Christ life. 00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:34.760 Who wants life? 00:41:35.200 --> 00:41:36.500 Life is in him in Christ. 00:41:37.520 --> 00:41:39.400 And that life was the light of men. 00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:47.480 That life that Christ brings is light, and that light shines in verse five, that light shines in the 00:41:47.480 --> 00:41:47.760 darkness. 00:41:49.300 --> 00:41:51.640 Okay, yet the darkness did not overcome it. 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:57.950 So what I'm saying is that as we see ourselves in Christ, and if you're struggling with these things. 00:41:59.340 --> 00:42:01.020 We need to bring him to the light of the gospel. 00:42:01.660 --> 00:42:02.560 We need to bring him out. 00:42:03.360 --> 00:42:09.120 You can't overcome them without bringing them into the light of Christ. 00:42:10.820 --> 00:42:17.900 We need to be honest with ourselves and understand that those things that 00:42:17.900 --> 00:42:25.060 we are habitually doing outside of the confines of marriage are hurting our marriage and providing 00:42:25.060 --> 00:42:29.140 an example for our siblings or for our, children. 00:42:30.420 --> 00:42:32.860 that is not the fruit of the light. 00:42:35.420 --> 00:42:41.430 And so we need to bring them and expose them and let the gospel shine through. 00:42:41.460 --> 00:42:43.780 And we'd be more than happy to help you here at church. 00:42:44.640 --> 00:42:46.510 There's a pamphlet out on the foyer. 00:42:46.640 --> 00:42:51.280 It's the biblical counseling pamphlet has our contact information if you're a girl. 00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:58.460 my wife Terry would be more than happy if you have someone that's in the church that you've grown really close to spiritually and you want to have 00:42:58.460 --> 00:43:00.220 them as the accountability partner. 00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:01.630 Go right ahead. 00:43:01.940 --> 00:43:06.400 But we need to proactively cooperate with the spirit and these things. 00:43:07.380 --> 00:43:09.120 We need to bring these things out into the light. 00:43:09.960 --> 00:43:16.980 We need to, by God's grace, change our hearts and minds and renew ourselves, for 00:43:16.980 --> 00:43:20.780 the godly things that we are to portray to the world around us. 00:43:22.680 --> 00:43:24.040 So a couple resources for you. 00:43:25.060 --> 00:43:26.980 There's the email that you can reach us at. 00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:34.810 there's also if there's the fear of, talking to somebody here at the church. 00:43:34.900 --> 00:43:39.100 I know we're kind of a small gathering, so there's probably a fear. 00:43:39.100 --> 00:43:46.020 I don't want you to not try to cooperate with the spirit in these things, because you're fearful of letting them be made known. 00:43:47.240 --> 00:43:50.020 So there's a website here, setting captives free. 00:43:50.620 --> 00:43:58.360 It's also on that pamphlet that's out in the, that has several different, 30 day, 60 day courses in 00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:02.780 which, you can take and it's more anonymous. 00:44:03.520 --> 00:44:10.270 So if you're not, if you're uncomfortable with coming to us or someone in the church, I just urge you to take a look at that. 00:44:11.080 --> 00:44:18.100 that good friend that I was telling you about, 20 years in the Christian church, struggling, knew it was a 00:44:18.100 --> 00:44:20.120 sin, just couldn't get over it. 00:44:20.660 --> 00:44:24.760 Setting captives free is the thing in which God used to break him free. 00:44:24.780 --> 00:44:26.920 And he's now walks victoriously in that. 00:44:27.740 --> 00:44:32.640 So it can happen by the power of the gospel and by God's grace. 00:44:33.840 --> 00:44:35.620 Thank you for listening. 00:44:35.620 --> 00:44:42.960 This morning, as I as the band comes up, I would like to just pray a just 00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:43.820 love this prayer. 00:44:44.760 --> 00:44:45.490 Oh that's nice. 00:44:46.640 --> 00:44:47.570 Page just fell out on my Bible. 00:44:49.520 --> 00:44:50.220 Time for a new one, honey. 00:44:50.780 --> 00:44:52.260 All right. 00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:53.440 All right. 00:44:54.280 --> 00:44:54.840 I just want. 00:44:54.840 --> 00:44:58.490 This is a prayer that Paul wrote to the in the in the letter to the Ephesians. 00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:06.320 I just want to pray for us this morning, because we just have to understand it's not about us and picking ourselves up by our own bootstraps and 00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:07.090 trying to do a better job. 00:45:07.900 --> 00:45:14.980 It's changing our paradigm of who we are in Christ and lassoing the spiritual power 00:45:14.980 --> 00:45:17.720 that is in the gospel that can change our hearts. 00:45:18.460 --> 00:45:22.360 And I think this is captured in this prayer here in his the letter to the Ephesians. 00:45:23.980 --> 00:45:31.480 It says, father, I pray that you may grant us according to the riches of your glory, to 00:45:31.480 --> 00:45:34.740 be strengthened with power in the inner man. 00:45:35.980 --> 00:45:42.840 Through your spirit, and that the Messiah who is Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. 00:45:44.340 --> 00:45:51.440 I pray that we, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to 00:45:51.440 --> 00:45:58.620 comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width and height and depth 00:45:58.620 --> 00:46:05.880 of your love, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge. 00:46:06.780 --> 00:46:10.620 So we may be filled with the fullness of God. 00:46:10.680 --> 00:46:18.020 Now to him, to you who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within 00:46:18.020 --> 00:46:18.380 us. 00:46:19.660 --> 00:46:26.720 To you be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and 00:46:26.720 --> 00:46:27.100 ever. 00:46:27.620 --> 00:46:28.120 Amen.