Well, tonight, if you're a visitor, we've been working through a study in human sexuality, and we're working through the little catechism that's an extension, really, of the Heidelberg Catechism. If you don't have a copy, I know there's some guys with the Boltons that have a few copies, so if you put up your hands, they'll bring you one. I found a few in my study. So for our text tonight, I'm just doing a reading from 2 Thessalonians that may not seem quite evident as to how this applies, but we're going to read from 2 Thessalonians 3, 6 through 12. But I thought tonight that the verse that we considered this morning could be the single verse for the sermon tonight in the midst of all the pressures of Babylon and all the delights of Babylon and all the perversities of Babylon in Daniel 1 verse 8, but Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine that he drank. What an application to what we're considering tonight. And I understand that this is more of a sensitive subject. I'll do the best that I can with that. I understand that even the language of pornography and that can be triggering to people. I don't know how best else to address it. I'll try to do it as wisely as I can, but I think it's something we cannot afford to be silent about. In 20 years of ministry, I've never done a sermon on this, and I think as there are times that necessitate dealing with issues that have gone out of control and are deeply affecting God's people, and that's the purpose of this tonight, to give some attention to this issue, hopefully in a way that is helpful to you um in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 there's a section here at the very end on idleness and I put that as a proof text because I believe that's a important issue with regard to this subject where we hear at verse 6 now we command you brothers in the name of our lord that you keep away from a brother who is walking in idleness and not according to the tradition that you've received from us for you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it but we with toil and labor we work night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you it was not because we do not have that right but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate for even when we were with you we we would give you this command if anyone is not willing to work let him not eat for we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person. Nothing to do with them, they may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. the Lord be with you. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is a sign of genuineness in every letter of mine. It is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. And in the section tonight that we've made through in the catechism, we've worked through, we come in the restoration section to this issue of pornography. And I'll be reading the two question answers there you have that it's on page 25 it's question 31 and 32 what is pornography pornography is a lustful desire of the flesh activated through the channel of the eye the looking upon or distributing of naked images of males or females for the purpose of sexual arousal why is pornography so destructive because the use of such images ruins the sexual intimacy intended for marriage supports idolatry in the worship of the creature dehumanizes men and women promoting abuse especially of women advances other forms of sexual impurity creates idleness in society to the harm of our neighbors and degrades the mind into darkness it's the topic we're taking up tonight well we continue our study in human sexuality and the challenges of the the sexual revolution that we are in the midst of and facing different waves of it, of course. The new wave is all the more challenging for us. And tonight we are addressing this particular issue of pornography. It's about the last thing that I would ever want to preach. It's about the last thing that I ever like to sit down and write a sermon about because it's a challenging issue to address. I'm sure there are people here struggling with this. It's a big problem. Do we think it's a big problem? Maybe that's a fair question to begin with. i think we have no idea it may be one of the most important problems that we have to address in light of this issue we'll look at here of jesus addressing the issue of pornea sexual immorality as jesus did address in the gospels as the surveys and statistics go 82 percent of all people have viewed this at some point and that means people in here have have and maybe some struggle with it, 70% of males have viewed it by age 13. Let me say up front, it affects women as well as men, especially if there has been abuse in their past, and I want to be very sensitive to that. I recognize that, and there's a lot of dynamics that go into this. I've always thought that, yes, the woman at the well had five husbands, and the one she had now was not her husband but anytime you have that kind of level of sexual deviance in someone's life I think you goes hand in hand there's abuse there is abuse if you're older tonight you may not quite appreciate this what is happening some of you may not even know how to turn on the computer and I say up front blessed are you blessed are you but you have to know how to help and think and wrestle with helping the next generation who is dealing with these problems there's so much to understand and I would say up front too it's not a sermon to shame or to crush I think that's one of the things about dealing with this subject I've never found totally helpful is is that it comes across as, at times, and not always, but at times, as if this is the unpardonable sin and something that is often used to crush people, especially people who feel like they would love to not be stuck in sins like this and struggle with them. I have to say up front, God is a God of deliverance, and that extends to this particular issue, and that will be the theme as we end with, that there is help and there is deliverance from all sin that the Lord promises to give His people. And that's an important thing to say up front. We're going to cover a little bit of challenging ground here, but the purpose is to equip our minds for battle, to have a good understanding. The Bible gives all kind of attention to sexual immorality. You know it's the two twin sins that got Israel in the most trouble. was idolatry and sexual immorality, so much so that, I've said this numerous times, the two sins that you're not called so much to stay around and fight, but to flee the other way as fast as you can are idolatry and sexual immorality. So that has a long history that goes with it. And we have to be equipped to know what the evil one is doing and how he has used these particular avenues of sin to try to destroy our good identity and our union with Jesus Christ. That's an important point that we've tried to maintain in this study. So yes, God is indeed merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness, and he will not put out that bruised reed and smoking flax. He loves to forgive and help his needy children, and that's important in light of this spiritual warfare. Tonight, we're going to look at then what are some of the consequences, but the main goal as with any particular sin is to understand its destructive path in somebody's life that's why knowledge is important in this regard we have to give some attention to that and to understand the consequences of this what it's doing you might say societally and socially and physically to people and the sad effects of it with the goal to help people out of this form of sexual immorality that we might be properly motivated and find grace and help in time of need, which the scriptures promise to us to put to death sexual sins in our lives. So we want to begin tonight with maybe just a basic working definition of what it is that we're looking at, the particular problem that has come to dominate society in our times. And I tried to in the catechism provide a definition it went through a second revision because i didn't like the first one but to give that basic definition and defined it as a lustful desire of the flesh activated through the channel of the eye through the looking upon or distributing of naked images of males and females for the purposes of sexual arousal arousal jesus taught about this you say where did jesus teach about this jesus taught about this he used the greek word pornea to describe sexual immorality and marriage really sort of illicit sexual activity and there's a lot of discussion about how far that what that is what that all encompasses that's not what i'm looking at tonight i'm focusing in on one of these things that is important to address that Jesus taught with regard to adult about adultery it's really an extension of the the seventh commandment isn't it he went much further in helping people understand the implications of the seventh commandment you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away for it's better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell what what Jesus was describing was the promise of lust in this particular application in our day and in our time that has been mainstreamed and normalized in the use of pornography. The sexual relationship was blessed in the context of marriage by God from the beginning. Jesus took the seventh commandment and to the far-reaching depths of the human heart in addressing the issue of lust when he said that jesus was under no delusions let me be clear about that um jesus was under no delusions in other words the pharisees of course prided themselves on keeping the law of god they prided themselves on keeping the letter of the law they they thought they had maintained the law of god but it was a lie Jesus knew that. Jesus was exposing the depths of the commandment. He was exposing how far they reach. And he knew very well when he spoke of lust in the heart that it leveled everyone when he did that. Everyone. He leveled the playing field on this issue. It's not that anyone would be acquitted after Jesus taught on the implications of the seventh commandment. Jesus was describing what takes place in the heart through the channel of the eye with what really amounts to the practice of adultery. Lust becomes sin. And we lust and sin when we entertain these lusts, meditate upon lusts, activate the lusts, pursue them, these temptations, with all the desires and the practices that follow out of that. Pornography is a practice of lust. By taking images and using the eyes to entertain the heart in private for the purpose of fulfilling lust. Fulfilling lust. It's been rightly called. It's solo sex. Jesus was direct about this. One of your members causes you to sin. Cut it off. speaking obviously metaphorically so as to say we have to go to radical lengths in our lives to cut out sin and anyone at this point should have said who has the power themselves to do that well like daniel in babylon today holy spirit was clearly working on and resting upon daniel to make that kind of decision as a 15-year-old. To defy the king's delicacies. We spent time with that. But we have to appreciate the problem here. Years ago, one might find static images of people in magazines. It was years ago, cleaning out grandparents' house in the attic. And I asked my dad, what's going on? And he says, well, we found some things up there. I don't know how long they had been there. They were 1950s magazines. Well, nothing was alive in the picture. They were just photos. And then came the VHS tapes. And then came the movies. And what weirdo went off to watch a movie in public in these things? There was a stigma of shame attached to that. By 2006, inner high-speed internet videos where large portions of these things could be put out for the masses of the population, could watch these things and have no consequences to it. None. Hide from society what they're doing and not think there are any consequences to what is done in private. The consequences that never get discussed is how these things open the door to extreme more forms of sexuality that we're dealing with in the present. What never gets discussed is that this issue may have been the very thing that paved the way for society to completely redefine marriage. This thing. This thing. Nine years of immersion in society with no consequences. Why would marriage matter? No wonder there's no outcry. We say Christendom has ended as evidenced by the Obergefell decision that there was just no real response to that even among Christians, it may be that large swaths of people, including Christians, have been immersed in this, at least we know that as the statistics go, desensitizing us to it all. 20 years. This is the first sermon I've ever addressed on the issue. Because it's just uncomfortable. So we have this huge sin. We have this huge issue in private that rarely gets addressed. And the reality is, many people are indeed, Christians are struggling with this. Sexual sin are the most powerful desires that we face. And I believe the place to begin is to attack the lie that it is not damaging to us or anyone else. That's the first place to begin. I mean, you could say that the most important issue, and should say the most important issue, and I'm going to come back to this, is that it breaks the moral law of God. That alone is the great thing that should bring the restraint to this. But the argument comes back constantly in this regard that sins like this in private don't hurt anyone else, don't affect anyone else. Is that true? Is that true? It's a bald-faced lie. Not only does it offend the Lord who loves purity, but we need to answer that claim, I think, up front to understand what it's doing and how it's hurting people to make progress in helping people through it. And I say that, first and foremost, it's harmful to yourself. How so? Well, here's what we know physiologically. What it does to your brain. pornography rewires the brain there's good news here that i'll come back to but bad news first we have reward centers that god gives us in the brain this is important god's given us a reward system a natural reward system and and and we get to enjoy the pleasures of life the good things of life it's a good benefit from god in the midst of all of these things that god retained for us to enjoy we have natural rewards all the time we enjoy a good meal and we enjoy friendships and and and we enjoy love and we enjoy these good things that god put in place that are that are natural and that are good and that are right for us to enjoy i have this this book i i think the title is i couldn't find it the six pleasures of life and it goes through these simple pleasures of life that today would never amount to pleasures because well i'll come back to that the blessing of friends good choice of books the value of time the pleasure of travel the beauty of nature labor walking walking is a pleasure of life and there's a whole chapter in this book i remember on that a good thing that god gives us walking does wonderful things for you god gave us a built-in pleasure center to enjoy all kinds of good gifts in this life it's remarkable our systems and our brains they our systems release dopamine and other chemicals that balances this all out but there's a normal way of enjoying good things in life there's a healthy way of enjoying good things in life dopamine amps up that part of the brain that deals with rewards what we call brain circuitry cravings and pleasures spike dopamine when they are abused and when you have patterns of abuse that's why addictions occur in the in certain things what happens in that the science tells us that the largest blasts of dopamine an opioid response to our reward centers of our brains comes in the arena of sexuality. God gave the fulfillment of the sexual relationship in marriage. And He blessed it. And so it's good. And it's right. And it's healthy. And it's blessed of God. But what do we do? Well, it's rightly said. Humans are great at destroying good gifts. We take that and we introduce fulfillment in a way that he has not designed for our brains and bodies to handle. It fundamentally affects the brain. When it comes to pornography, the largest blasts of endogenous opioids and morphine-like chemicals hit your reward center and puts everything on overload so that the results are reduced gray matter in the brain that actually wrecks the good design of human sexuality. Addiction does this in all forms to some degree, but pornography has a special way of wearing out your reward system and pre-shrinking the brain. The short of it is, over time, you end up burning out brain circuitry. It messes with the circuits of the brain and how the reward center is supposed to work. Now, this is important. Like any addiction, illicit sexual activity rewires the brain so that the common pleasures of life are actually dull and boring. Dull and boring. And this arena of sexuality, you overload circuits so that you're always searching for something more exciting to maintain and keep the high of the dopamine rush that you learn to live in and seek for. That would explain why sexuality does not stay normal. What we're living in are the most extreme perversities precisely because people are burning out their brain circuity in the search for pleasure. The pursuit becomes more and more extreme wrecking that which God blessed in marriage. So we have to appreciate what's happening to the brain, I think. It's more powerful than drug use, cocaine use. Sexual sins like this produce higher levels of dopamine and opioids than any other natural reward. So let me be clear, when it comes to you, society says, it's good. It's healthy for you. It's good for you, not hurting anyone. I mean, even conservatives like Dennis Prager are on record saying, it's okay. It doesn't harm you. It rewires your brain because God didn't design things to be this way in the perversities of sin. So what are the consequences? Well, here's what it does. It doesn't just hurt you. It hurts everyone else. Here's what follows. It wrecks relationships. It induces depression and anxiety and stress and social anxiety. We know that for sure, especially in the church. A lot of young people stay away from church precisely because of this issue. You can get college reports of how many young people don't even make it to class because of this. It wrecks the design of the marriage relationship and the intimacy that we're designed to enjoy with the spouse that God provides us. It's probably the reason that marriage is happening so late in our society right now. That young adults aren't married and that's not across the board. You understand God has to provide the spouse. I understand that. We'll deal with singles later. But one of the general reasons we could say is that this has an effect on that because dopamine levels like this when you live in them it makes actual relationships boring. The brain has lived on unrealistic perversities that pornography provided for the dopamine levels so that what is normal and healthy and good is right and right is not nearly as exciting. It just can't keep up. So it wrecks the design of intimacy designed by God. It increases anxiety. It wrecks one's ability to focus. It takes away motivation for life. That's because brain maps have been rewired to learn to live for the most extreme dopamine blasts that you can get. All reward, no punishment, no consequence. And these are the sad consequences I laid out in the catechism. It ruins the sexual intimacy intended for marriage. It supports idolatry and the worship of the creature. Think of the second commandment. It forbids making images for worship. It's bowing to an idol. It dehumanizes men and women, promoting abuse of God's good design. Advances other forms of sexual immorality. If you've trained your brain to live for immediate pleasure this way, with the most extreme dopamine blast, you learn to live for the most extreme pleasures elsewhere. That's what you've done to yourself. It creates idleness in society to the harm of our neighbor. That's why I read that passage. That's what this sin can do to people's lives. And society says, it's not harmful for you. It's not harmful for you. Okay, that's the bad. That's a lot of bad news, I understand. You have to understand that all the studies show that this has the hallmarks of an addiction that has to be broken. So anyone who gets into this, rebooting the brain is an important step. Here's the good news, it can be reversed. This is really good news. It can be reversed. The brain can be brought back to a normal reward center and that can be achieved. Physically, these are the benefits of those who all testify of having broken it in their lives. Social anxiety is removed, energy returns. You reverse the damage done to your brain, providing you with a sharper mind. You're able to concentrate and focus on people. Your face becomes more vibrant. You interact with people. You have a normal desire for your spouse. That's just physiological, psychological stuff. but I'd be wrong just to act like an expert in psychology and physiology tonight. It's not what I am. This is just my reading and study on this issue. The most important issue tonight is whom God calls us to be. God calls us to be who we are in union with Jesus and our identity that he indeed has given us. It is such a wonderful truth of the Heidelberg that God promises, this is right out of scripture, to give grace and his Holy Spirit to those who ask. Isn't that wonderful? Does that not apply here? Secular people do beat this, you understand. I mean, there's loads of websites with thousands of visitors. It's just remarkable. Thousands and thousands of visitors every day who are coming together in collaboration. These are not believers. And have all testified in coming together as a community over this issue. That is happening. That is happening. But our purposes are indeed different. It's not just to stop something harmful for us. It's not just to do that, or even our neighbor, which is as important as that is. It is to flee all forms of sexual immorality in our lives because we are children of the King. Who calls us to love purity. Who is pure. And to seek for the glory of His name in our lives. To not just serve ourselves, which is what this is. But to serve the King. To worship the King. God's design of sexuality is a beautiful design in its right way. That's why I read about idleness. He calls us in this arena to take up our cross and to follow. To be a distinctive people in how we live in our union with Christ. That the world is, the delicacies of Babylon, the things of Babylon, the lusts of Babylon do not define us. We've been joined to Him. We've been given the identity of Jesus. We've been remade into His image and true righteousness and holiness. We are to flee these things for His glory because we belong to Him. body and soul and life and in death who died for us to set us free from these things and designates us as a pure bride a virgin without spot or wrinkle it's really remarkable isn't it that's how he characterizes you as people and he wants us to think of ourselves this way and the apostle addressed this problem in corinth there's a major problem in that church what was the key motivating factor that he gave them do you not know that your bodies are temples of the holy spirit who dwells in you whom you have received from God. You're not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God in your bodies. In your bodies. Christ has all the power to help anyone break sin in their lives. Let me say that. We're not defeatists with regards to sin. I understand that we're not perfectionists in this age. That we make a small advance in holiness until finally in death, a death benefit, we get to put it off forever. But we do indeed, as our Heidelberg says, begin to live according to not just some, but all of God's commandments. That becomes the drive of our life. And I know that there is a lot of guilt with these sins. I know what Satan does to you. I know many Christians have struggled with this and felt like total failures, that there's no help for them. That is not true. Repentance, too, is a grace of the Holy Spirit. And that is His will for you in sanctification. That passage we'll close on. Yes, sin is powerful, obviously, especially if the dopamine blasts are more potent than cocaine use, and we have normalized sin in our lives, we're going to need a lot of help from the Lord. But God is more powerful. And He promises to give us grace and to give us help. He calls us to confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and then do that surprising thing that David learned in Psalm 51. Cleanse you of all that impurity. Isn't that wonderful? There are many practical things that somebody could do if they asked to put away these kind of sins in their lives. With any other addiction, you have to reboot your whole system. There's just no doubt. That's what secular people even say. It's like that with alcoholism. It's like that with drug use. But Jesus called us to put it to death in our lives, all forms of sexual immorality. That has to do with willpower. Like Daniel in Babylon, none of us have the willpower in and of ourselves to do these things. But God helps us in that. And willpower is like a muscle. It just is. I'm not talking about living like a monk. What I'm saying here is denying yourself in the little things builds willpower. Daniel, I will not indulge myself recognizing what's happening, seeing the program of assimilation and reprogramming. I will not indulge myself in the delicacies of Babylon. We have to replace those practices that gratify our flesh with the things that strengthen willpower. I have to say this. I think one of the most important things today for helping especially our young people through this is that you need the church. I have to say that. That's so important to this. You need each other. I think so many silently struggle with sins in their lives. It doesn't have to be this sin. It could be alcoholism. It could be some form of sin and addiction. And they feel totally alone. They don't know who to talk to. And they struggle with this. Maybe one of the biggest needs of the hour in the church in our day is to become a place where we can indeed lean, pray with each other, talk to each other about all the things that otherwise would cause us shame and embarrassment. You know how much we need that? Especially to our young people. I think for too long we've come to church not thinking enough about the fact that it indeed is a hospital for sinners, not the righteous. we you me everyone we need accountability you need someone you can pray with i know two godly men in the ministry who give accountability to themselves to keep themselves from these temptations these are godly men in the ministry if they need that accountability you need that accountability and there's excellent resources out there like covenant eyes in things. Number three, begin to serve others and use the good gifts of relationships and people and serving and caring and enjoying your walk with Christ. And four, remember that your body is your spouse's and that includes your heart. God made things beautiful in the context of marriage. The marriage bed is to be undefiled. five and finally like i keep saying in this series preach the gospel to yourself every day remember that christ loves you and then he gave his son to die for you and remember that you are not your own that you belong in life and in death body and soul to your faithful savior jesus christ who paid for all your sins with his precious blood and that he has the power to set us free from whatever sin is plaguing us and seeking to dominate us. He's already broken its dominion. And this is God's will for us. I close with that wonderful verse. This is God's will for us. That each of you should learn, well, it says that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality. This is 1 Thessalonians 4. That each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans who do not know God. No, you know God. God is your Father because of Christ. God loves you and God promises you the grace of the Holy Spirit to help you. You know Him and you've learned Christ. And so whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, We can do all for his glory. And that's his calling in this area of human sexuality and sanctification that we'd be set apart in every square inch, in every bit of life for his glory, the advancement of his cause as our gracious king, we bow the knee to him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your wonderful mercies to us and thank you for helping us with these things. obviously a big subject, a deep subject, but we pray, O Lord, that You would help us to be a holy people, a pure people, a set-apart people. And to recognize, O Lord, as the society and the world gives themselves over to these sins, how sad that course is. We pray for them that they would come to their senses since they've been taken captive and ensnared by the devil to do His will. Would you give your people strength and grace in the Holy Spirit and encourage them in these things? They would constantly come back to you, O Lord, daily to the throne of grace, receiving from your hand forgiveness, strength, help, and mercy, and that we would remember every day that the Holy Spirit dwells within us as we are temples of the living God. Thank you, O Lord, for helping us through this issue tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.