Audio: Part A (covers points 1, 2 and starts point 3), Part B (recaps 1 and 2, then continues with point 3, then covers points 4-8)
Notes:
> Why do good people do bad things (in the area of purity, that wreck their lives and the lives of those around them, especially those closest to them)?
- It happens because they give in secretly, bit by bit to temptation, to the point at which it has gained so much control/influence over them, (at times unknown to them), and the pressure has built to up so much, that a catastrophic explosion occurs.
- We are all those who are learning from the one who has provided us the answers.
1/ It is imperative that we Cherish the word of God.
Cherish: to value, prize, lay hold of, posses, love, adore
Proverbs 7: 1-5 : How do I Cherish the word of God?
> ‘Keep my words’
> ‘Store my commands’
> ‘Guard my teachings’
>’Bind them to your fingers’
> ‘Write them on the tablet of your heart’
> ‘Say to wisdom you are my sister’
> ‘Call understanding your kindsman’
There give us a graphic picture of how we’re gona get beyond just using the Bible as:
> a book to study
> a proof text to discuss with others
a promise book we turn to from time to time.
…to get to the experience of the Psalmist:
‘…whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.’ ~ Psalm 1:2
The Bible is vitally important to him.
‘Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.’ ~ Psalm 119: 97
Illustration: How Cows Eat: to feed on Gods word means that we are able to them mediate upon it, allowing it to guide our thoughts, attitudes, and decisions.
If we miss this one (Cherishing the word of God), it won’t be a case of ‘if’, but ‘when’ we’re gona stumble in the matter of purity.
There is a direct correlation between the place of ‘The Word of God’, controlling and dominating and guiding my life, and my ability to maintain a passion for purity.
‘ How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.’ ~ Psalm 119:9
Its dangerous to go shopping when your hungry, as you end up just buying junk. In the same why its dangerous to go around spiritually hungry when we haven’t fed on the word of God.
‘One who is full loathes honey from the comb,
but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.’ ~ Proverbs 27: 7
16 See that no one… is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. ~ Hebrews 12:16
‘It is vitally important for each of us, no matter how long we have walked the Christian pathway, to ensure that if we’re going to have a passion for purity, be it sexual purity, biblical purity, whatever purity – there is a direct correlation between having a genuine, earnest love affair with the word of God, because in it we meet Christ, who is the very living word of God.’
Its important to have some kinda of a plan in place for memorising portions of the Bible (something I need to work on). If you do a verse a week, that’s 52 in a year! No matter how good or bad out memories, we need to get the word of God in us. Make a plan that you know fits your ability and commit to it. This is not a case of trying to learn as many verses as possible like its a competition, but to enable you to mediate on God word through out your day, helping you to become the man or women whom God has created you to be and to be able to reach out to others as well.
2/ Stay Awake and Stay Alert
‘I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who had no sense’ ~ Proverbs 7:7
The problem is the young man failed to consider what was going on, he lacked judgement or sense. He was living in a moral dream, with an indifferent careless, which made him susceptible to disaster.
Learn lessons from life:
’30 I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; 31thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest– 34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.’ ~ Proverbs 24:30-34
Verses 30-31: Observation, Verse 32: Application
‘We need to see the mess that is out there, and apply our hearts to the mess that we see. We then have to, on the basis of our understanding of it, make it referential to our lives. (v.33-34).
‘Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.’ ~ 1 Peter 5: 8
3/ We need to make our choices in advance and on the Basis of Gods Word
We need to learn to make decisions before the pressure weighs in (e.g. in the light of day, not late at night when your alone with your computer or your girlfriend or boyfriend).
Make you decisions now, based on the word of God before you are confronted with the issue, so that you are able to reference it saying:
“No, I have already made that decision. I know that this is very appealing. I know that this is tremendously urgent in its strong pull, but I have already made that decision.’
‘I don’t think that people who fall fowl in this area have set out, and have said I’m going out to go and do wrong. I think it is that they have never said, ‘I am going to do what is right’.
There is a difference between simply affirming truth, and laying down a spiritual mile stone in relation to these things.
‘Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.’ ~ 1 Peter 1: 13
‘Get a Grip of your thought processes. Run after what is good and run from what is bad.’
‘Prepare your minds for action, or you and I will find ourselves the seduce able type. We are very very prone to tragedy in this area.’
‘ I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws….I am determined to keep your principles, even forever, to the very end.’ ~ Psalm 119: 106, 112
Running Illustration: don’t look at the end of the street, go from mail box to mail box, ‘…having set your heart, your gonna keep going to the very end, one mail box at a time.’
4/ Determine to Live Our Lives in The Centre of The Narrow Way and Not on The Edge (When it comes to matters of purity)
’13 ”You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. 14 But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.’ ~ Matthew 7:13-14
‘The narrow way is never hit upon (come across) by chance, and neither did a heedless man or woman ever live a Holy (set apart) life.’ – Charles Bridges
It’s an absolute act of determination: prompt by the spirit of God, guided by the word of God, enabled by the power of God, – ‘I have set my heart to it and now I will implement it. And I will determine that I will live in the centre of the narrow way.’
‘Living on the edge of purity is a bad place to be:
’8 He was crossing the street near the house of an immoral woman. He was strolling down the path by her house 9 at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in….27 Her house is the road to the grave. Her bedroom is the den of death.’ ~ Proverbs 8-9, 27
Don’t (consciously) put yourself in a situation where you know that you are likely to face and give into temptation.
‘Can a man scoop fire into his lap and not be burned?’ ~ Proverbs 6:27 Don’t play with fire of impurity, you’ll only get burnt!
‘As a man thinks, so is he’
5/Walk in The Light and Live with the Children of the Day
’5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:5-7
‘Lets be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breast plate and the hope of salvation as a helmet‘
‘The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.’ ~ Job 24:15
6/Don’t be Naive About Sins Appeal and Power
Sin is Predatory: ‘…if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.’ ~Genesis 4:7
‘It’s not the first look that does me in, it’s the second look that does me in.’
7/ Don’t Miss The Obvious
‘Don’t let your heart turn towards her…(temptation)
8/ We need to Live with Eternity in View
(Moses example):’ 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.’ ~ Hebrews 11:25-26
We mustn’t succumb to instant gratification, or sell our soul for the moment, or give up our whole frame work of existence for a fleeting moment of passion.
‘Make sure, that God being your helper and the word of God being your guidance, you will say today, whatever the future holds, whatever disappointments and mistakes of the past, whatever fowl ups have marked your life, if there have been such. That as of today your going to write it down somewhere, you are to ask God to write it in your heart that your going to be committed; not simply to the theme of the year, but to make it the very hall mark of your life.Your going to be committed to a passion for purity.’
‘Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.’ ~ Philippians 4:8
For more from Alister Begg go to http://www.truthforlife.org/
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