Moral Holiness

First Thessalonians in chapter 4, verse 3, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. Verse 7, For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.

Now the verses we have just read together serve primarily just as a launching point for me. I'm not going to say a lot about them. But I want to just give our attention for several minutes here to the sober subject of moral holiness.

I haven't been in the area for several years. So I think even in the days of social media that you'll at least allow me to say frankly that I am not aware of any particular need of what I am going to address. But having said that, what we are going to be looking at, as sober a matter as it is, it is one that is really a perennial.

It just keeps coming generation by generation by generation. Something that cannot be avoided. So that the Apostle Paul, in these words that we have read just together now to commence, without any qualification, just frankly goes to the point in verse 4 and says, this is the will of God.

In fact, it would hardly seem necessary that he would have to use that to say this is the will of God, that this is what God has determined or purposed, what he desires. But it is the will of God that every one of us, he calls it our sanctification. And that sanctification, that aspect of our distinction of being set apart, and in the present world in which we live, from youth to gray heads, this distinction is becoming increasingly notable.

That people are abstaining from fornication. It has become the norm of our culture to live a promiscuous life, whether there's a marriage bond involved in a relationship, or whether it's youth and experimentation. It's become the norm of our culture.

So to maintain distinction today is very real. If a believer responds to these words, this is God's will, it is your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. And so jumping down to verse 7, God has not called us unto uncleanness.

And if we had read the verses that intervene there, it's obvious that it was the norm of Paul's day even among Gentile nations. But God hasn't called us to continue the character and the behavior of the era in which we live, of the populace of which we are a part. Not at all, but rather he's called us unto holiness.

And the term holiness in our King James here is just the same as sanctification. This is our distinction. And if we despise it, we despise God.

And God has given us his Holy Spirit. It has impressed me from time to time in more recent years, just that term that clarifies and really distinguishes the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. There are many active spirits, if you would, in our present day.

But the distinction that the Holy Spirit makes in a believer in this era is very, very real, very notable, but not just notable, very necessary for the individual. Brother Brandon was reminding us this morning of standing on holy ground and being prepared to defend holy ground. Well, it takes holy men, holy persons, men and women to be able to stand in such a territory and effectively defend it for the glory of God.

We're going to turn then and look at three portions in the Old Testament. And as we remind ourselves at times, Paul wrote to the Romans and to the Corinthian believers that things that were written before time were written for our learning. They were written for our admonition.

The things we're going to look at are not pretty. I will do my best to be discreet. But there are things that are said, and to make them relevant to our present day, I'll be careful how I refer to them.

But I want you to come, first of all, though, to a very precious verse, Job 31. Job is not a young man. Job has lived years.

Job has experience. Job has demonstrated a character and a behavior that the Lord was prepared to speak as exemplary, even to the enemy of God's purposes and the enemy of men's souls. So here, still speaking in his defense, Job says in chapter 31, verse 1, I made a covenant with mine eyes.

Why then should I think upon a maid? Various translations will elaborate on the idea of thinking upon a maid. That is, giving extensive consideration, observation, and, of course, then the fantasy that would arise up in a man's mind if allowed to pursue. We have been hearing of Samson.

Samson's problem really was what Job sought to counteract. Samson saw. Samson desired.

So Job has said, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Now, I'm going to refer to a number of surveys and studies that have been made relative to the ugly subject of pornography. And there are ways of dealing with it if a person has become sadly, distinctly engaged in it, even the term addiction is used.

But all things considered, what mechanisms might be put in place, what relationships and accountability might be put in place, I believe the words of Job are paramount to the individual, both in the preventative aspect and as well in the restoration aspect if things have gotten out of hand. It starts with what we choose to do, what we determine to do. So Job says, I made a covenant with my eyes.

I was going to guard how I used my eyes. And from that then comes this next step. What Job knew, if he looked at, he had the potential to contemplate, to think about it, and it would just escalate from there.

You remember the words of James in chapter 1, verse 15. He says that when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. So lust is the seed.

There was the eye, the look, the longing, and then the sin that develops in the mind and sadly then can be transferred into the behavior. He made a covenant with his eyes. I went out for a walk just briefly this morning.

It was beautiful. Out there in the suburbs of, how do you say it, McWanago? Obviously that wasn't an Englishman that gave it that name. Just briefly off down the road.

Boy, I'm trying to identify this bird, that bird, and the sun's shining, the trees are budding, but that makes a mess with a person's sinus too. Boy, paradise out here in the Pepler neighborhood. But it just struck me.

I don't know if Brother Perkins would remember this. We walked one evening from our new home in Sherman, not long there. Within a couple of months after moving there, Larry and I, we walked out the laneway.

For anybody that lives in an urban setting, our home in the countryside would be like a haven. It would be like a paradise. We were talking in those terms, and yet some very ugly things had unfolded in the area that I wouldn't begin to divulge.

I just said to Larry, I said, yeah, but there's a snake in the garden. There's a snake in the garden. And that came back to me this morning as I walked down the street out there from Corey and Beth's house.

With my mind thinking in these terms, not really wanting to speak in these terms or about this whole subject, but pornography is the snake in the garden. It's an insidious thing, and the problem is it can be very private. And if a covenant isn't made with the eyes, the potential for destruction is down the road.

So what about this business of pornography? Well, what is pornography? The word obviously then is drawn from the word fornication that we have in our New Testament of our Bibles, pornea. But I have been impressed to see that even that word, though it is used then to refer to illicit sexual behavior between people that are not rightly married. And it covers a broad scope of things indeed.

But just to define it that way, the word itself is rooted from a word that means to sell. And so the ugly thing is that people, us persons, any individual that falls into this business is selling themselves out. You say, well, in what way are they selling themselves out? We are selling ourselves out for what God has designed is so much better.

So pornography itself, a term then that the secular world has put together, is the graphic display of things that are not right in that realm. And it doesn't have to involve two bodies in the picture, because the second body is the viewer. We have arrived at what they call Generation Z. I don't know how people ever figured this out.

How are you going to call generation this, generation that? I said to the saints just at home in a different circumstance, you know, we just got past Generation Y. Well, as far as I'm concerned, every generation is Generation Y. If you've raised your own kids and you've got grandkids, they're all Generation Y. Why, why, why, why, why, why? But we got to Generation Z, they're saying now. Hey, I said that like an American. Sorry, Bruce.

I've been converted. Generation Z. Generation Z, they are saying now, is the first generation to grow up totally surrounded by this insidious business of pornography. More than one survey has pointed out that the average age of first exposure is eight or nine years old.

Now, let's not just back up and say, yeah, but I know the kind of homes that's happening in. Anything that I quote of figures here today, I'm not going to qualify. I'm only going to say that the percentages are so high that we cannot be, we are not wise to think that it's not going to happen in our homes.

So average age of first exposure is eight or nine years old. Average age of viewing, so that suggests it's being repeated, is 11. 11 years old.

So 70% of 18 to 34 year olds are regular viewers. But for this Generation Z, it's called the wallpaper of their lives. Can I just suggest this to you, dear saints that are teaching Sunday school, if you've got kids coming in, and I know they're doing a good work here in this place right here, bringing in kids from adverse backgrounds, don't let this subject slide by, because the kids don't know what the norm biblically is.

You want to be careful, sure, how you address it, but with these kind of statistics in front of us, this is something that cannot be ignored in children's work and Sunday school work. Kids need to be advised as to what the biblical standards are and what is the norm in God's eyes, not in this world. It's sad then that because of how that has permeated the thinking and the atmosphere of these younger generations, that their whole perspective is askew.

I'm just looking at a couple of charts here that I pulled off of some research. And what the researchers thought to do is they put together a list of 11 questions or 11 things, and we're not going to read them all, but those 11 different things, they categorized them as to how different age groups would qualify how serious a thing they were, whether they were wrong or, you know, usually wrong, totally wrong. People that are 25 and older, they looked at this list of 11 things, and number 7 in their list was viewing pornography.

Number 1 was taking something that didn't belong to you, so apparently theft is still recognized as a wrong thing. But number 7, it was way down the list of 11. And then right after it, in that age group, 25 and older, was not recycling.

We've got a generation of people growing up that see environmental issues as being the primary way of defining what's righteous in this world. So you take it down a little, and you back up to the teens, 13 to 17, and some adults up to 24, and they went through the same list. Not recycling was up at number 4. So you see what's happening.

The mindset that is permeating this world is all about the environment. And the business of pornography was down at number 9 in that younger group out of 11. So I just point that out to help us understand that we can't think that our generations of younger people are not being affected, homeschooled or public schooled.

The risks are still very real. One group called Covenant Eyes, obviously it's where they got their name from, and again, the group, the demographic, isn't what we would hope to be so specific, but referring to them as Christian men or Christian women, 50% Christian men, 20% Christian women are addicted to this plague. So we need to be careful how we think.

Surveys, of course, are somewhat distorted when you start dealing with young people because they are having trouble defining what the problem is. Of course, you have a little bit of a difficulty of them wanting to be honest and let it be out. So the figures could be even far worse than what the statisticians have been able to put together.

So it's not just something that, quote, conservative Christians are concerned about. The secular world now is suddenly realizing this is a problem. One advisor to the mayor of London in England, former school teacher, she's a consultant to the mayor now on behavior and youth, she said it's very obvious that they're certainly imitating what they're looking at.

So the problem is real, even to the secular people. New York Times ran a story not terribly long ago, maybe a year or two ago, and this was the title of it. It's okay, liberal parents, you can freak out about pornography because they know this insidious thing is ruining the generations that are growing up.

So in relation to us that are here today, not just speaking about our youth, our younger ones, I believe Job's words are all the more pertinent. I have made a covenant with my eyes. One man in facing this subject with an audience put it this way, as far as his bottom line, how to deal with it, he says theology, using his words, theology with passion for Jesus can conquer biology.

Well, so be it. Our brothers already told us, more than one of them already today. Our only hope, whether it's for assembly preservation or personal preservation, if the persons aren't preserved, the assemblies won't be preserved, is the word of God and effective teaching and exposition and to the point of what it is.

Now I want to look at two very sad circumstances with some comments. Second Samuel, please. First in chapter 11, the two occasions that we're going to be reading are maybe fairly familiar, but this first one most particularly familiar to us.

Second Samuel chapter 11, verse 1 says, and it came to pass after the year was expired at the time when kings go forth to battle that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. It came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. David sent and inquired after the woman, and one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Elam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her.

The story unfolds, we know, as to the fact that she bore a child, and all the rest of how David dealt with that goes from there. Joab said, I've made a covenant with my eyes. David saw.

But there are various details in this circumstance, in this sad story of David's life that I think we can just maybe elaborate on a little more here. I know he's king, he has authority, he has privilege. But nevertheless, David stayed at home when it was time for kings to go to battle.

Now, some might jump to conclusions, look at verse 2 and say, Well, yeah, he was really living the life, lying down during the day. Well, and again, commentators, good men will perhaps have a variety of perspective, but some have pointed out that it wasn't unusual in the culture, in the season, for a siesta-type habit to exist. He did the afternoon, lie down to rest, and then up for the cool of the evening, and then particularly to go to the rooftop patio, as he did.

But the problem, I think, primarily then for us all is to see that David first stayed when he could have been engaged in the battle. And I would have to tell you that this is something that has spoken to my heart in recent years, because now, and you younger ones are just going to say, Well, this will go right over my head. But there comes a point in life where the tendency to disengage becomes very, very real.

Of course, in our society, in North American life, we talk about retirement, age 65, and some are doing it a whole lot earlier due to favorable circumstances. But when that happens, it's just this idea of disengaging in what keeps us occupied. So David had, in his own purpose and design by choice, backed off.

I have to tell you, I don't mind being alone. I know some folks, and they are so people-oriented that they can't go and sit in a room by themselves for five minutes. They've always got to have somebody around them.

I don't mind being alone. My wife is of quite the same nature, but at least you can get two people together that don't mind being alone together, and we're glad for that. So if you hear about the Thompsons taking vacation, going away, and they're not going with other people, please, just let it slide, will you? Because we love to get away with nobody else, just us two loners.

But there comes a time when being alone is not a safe situation. There are times when we're traveling to a distance for a gospel series or a conference or whatever, and it requires a night on the road. I don't really like those nights.

If ever you sense a time when the enemy would be active, it's in those times when you're alone, truly alone, not just simply by choice. David found himself alone, went to the roof, and then he saw. He stayed.

He saw. Obviously, the covenant with the eyes had not been engaged because then he sent. He sent the messengers.

Well, first, rather, he inquired, who is this? And then he sent. You know, he had at least two good opportunities to stop. First, when he saw, he could have turned away.

Second, when he sent and made an inquiry and they said it's Uriah's wife, he could have pulled the plug right there and moved away. David had red flags. David had opportunities to stop.

And we've been talking. Last night, Brother Murray reminded us that not only is our God a God of salvation, but he's a God of restoration, but he's also a God of preservation. He doesn't look to see his people fall.

And often, if we're honest, we'll look back at occasions, experiences in our life, and we will know there were roadblocks that were dropped at our very toes. David could have stopped. But then he sent.

He brought her. And he sinned. Sinned grievously.

So this isn't a young man's problem. David has one of the, what I find, most noble women in Scripture already as a wife. Abigail.

Impressive lady. But David has come to this point in his experience. And for whatever reason, as an older man, the choice is made and the fall unfolds.

Now, I am not making an excuse for anybody here. And Brother Bill was reminding us of Mr. Daugherty's exhortation. As I said, this isn't just a youthful problem.

And dear sisters, please don't think your husband suddenly becomes blind when he gets married. That's like hiding your head in the sand. So don't think that he doesn't see.

The problem is what he does after he first sees. Whether the covenant is engaged. Your husband's not blind.

I have not been able to find definitive record commentary as to Bathsheba's responsibility in this situation. But I think the general consensus is she wasn't doing what she should have been doing. Oh, it's one thing to wash and bathe.

That's okay. But the place, the circumstance, Bathsheba bears some responsibility in this situation. I remember a dear brother telling me that he had made some comment and exhortation at a conference as to his concern and his desire for the sisters in the assembly as to how they attire themselves.

How they dress. Certain manners. Sadly, that dear brother had others rebuking him practically for those comments after that.

And I just couldn't understand it. There is responsibility on both parties' side. Bathsheba had exposed herself.

So what David saw was something that triggered the thinking that Job so desperately made a point of avoiding. Let's go to chapter 13. So the awful reality is, as that consultant to the mayor of London had said, the youth are imitating what they're looking at, what they're seeing.

Well, with this insidious snake in the garden, as I've suggested, this business of pornography, if a man or a woman is not going to check that, it's not just going to be a matter of private observation in front of your screen or whatever media is being used. The awful danger is then there is going to be behavior that will be incited by it. Chapter 13, then we read these words, verse 1, And it came to pass after this that Absalom, the son of David, had a fair sister.

Now, listen, it's not the fault of the woman to be good looking. But I have said this on another occasion. For us today, believers today, listen, good looks is a stewardship.

It is something that you have got to handle. If God has so given it, then you better be careful as to how you handle it. So it's not the woman's problem that she's good looking.

So Absalom had a fair sister. She was very attractive. Her name was Tamar.

And Ammon, the son of David, loved her. So you've got half sister, half brothers involved here in the extended family of David. He loved her.

And Ammon was so vexed that he fell sick for his sister Tamar. And she was a virgin. And Ammon thought it hard.

Ammon thought it hard for him to do anything to her. But Ammon had a friend, as something to consider, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very subtle or a crafty, shrewd man.

He said unto Ammon, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day? Wilt thou not tell me? And Ammon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed and make thyself sick. And when thy father comes to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come and give me meat and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it and eat it at her hand.

And so the story unfolds that David takes his request and sends Tamar to do what he had asked about. Listen, we all know Ammon wasn't interested in eating biscuits. David sent her down.

Sometimes there's familial problems, generational things that have to be checked by the grace of God and the impact of his good word. But David carried through with the man's request, and we know how the story unfolds. Ammon will then, I use the word just once, rape his sister.

Ammon said he loved her. It is interesting to my mind that the term love here is in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, is that word we so highly esteem from the New Testament, the agape, love. But it's that love that involves the mind particularly and not so much the heart.

It is the love then that makes a choice, chooses the object to set their desire upon. So the suggestion to my mind was this when looking at this ugly story is this, that Ammon really didn't know Tamar, or else he would have recognized the very character, the uprightness of that half-sister of hers, that she was a virgin and she maintained her manner before the family and the people. She was recognized as such.

And he would never, if he truly loved her for who she was, not just for what she looked like, he would never have pursued this course. So again, it was a problem of eyes seeing and a mind pursuing, thinking upon and making a choice. We don't know everybody in every audience who can never assume.

But my experience over the years is familiar with this very thing. Maybe not brother-sister, but cousins. When parents really hadn't set up the hedges like they should have.

And I'm not talking people out in this community or where I was raised, I'm talking about families within assemblies. Tamar pleaded for marriage with this man to avoid the humility that would come, the humbling of her very reputation and person. What did Ammon do? And I believe it's another testimony to the fact that his love was not the kind of love that produces a genuine relationship.

When the act was over, he turned from, I think he was just infatuated, is what you would say in the beginning, and he was influenced by his friend. And to borrow a term that comes from the dictionary that I wouldn't have in my daily vernacular, his reaction was an infidious one. It was disdain.

When it was all said and done, he sent her away to her shame. And individuals that we've been familiar with over the years that have been abused at the hands of those that they thought they could trust have lived and struggled with the self-image and the self-debasement mindset for years in the aftermath. God is able, and he has demonstrated it.

But dear parents here today raising the next generation, I don't want you to be paranoid, but please, you be very careful at the circumstances and the situations that you allow those boys and those girls when they get to the age when the hormones start to rage. I'm sorry, but it's a warning that's been on my heart for years. It's the first time I've ever addressed it publicly.

The perpetrators that I'm familiar with, their lives are a wreck today. And the victims, God has done wonderful things for some of them, but they still struggle. They still struggle.

So with the age in which we live, where the triggers are so graphically being promoted and displayed and so readily available, don't tell me 8-year-olds go looking for this. They're stumbling over it in the most innocent ways, but it's set. And it's an insidious thing that starts to grow.

One man calls it the seed syndrome, which is very evident. It just grows. There are good ways, I guess, to try and control these things.

And if a person has fallen into it, there are ways to try and get out of it. I was very shocked to see, but not necessarily so, one group that works with people that have been plagued by this, say it's a 2- to 5-year recovery period, if you get deep into the observation of graphic display of immorality. God have mercy upon us.

Give us wisdom, give us grace. But above all, grant us to be a sanctified, holy people in the midst of a generation that thinks it's the norm, but it's part of the testimony of the sustaining grace of God.