Sexual immorality affects every man in one way or another. In today’s society we are completely bombarded with sexual iniquity. It is in our music, it is on TV, in the movies, in books and magazines. I can’t even drive on the freeway without being assaulted with advertisements for gentlemen’s clubs or really just any advertisement, because the world says “sex” sales. But most recently it has become the preoccupation of millions of people on their computers as they access pornography over the internet. We are drowning in this sea of sexual evil and we don’t even know it. In today’s society, we don’t even care if our leaders are full of sexual sin as long as they agree with our politics. We don’t care because we think it is a private issue and a personal matter. The world considers it an oddity when someone chooses to stay faithful and married to their spouses. We make fun of men who desire to be sexually pure. There are movies created to mock a 40 year old virgin like there is something wrong with that if someone chooses to wait till they are married. All I have to do is look around me at my place of work and I am constantly faced with the talk of pornography, homosexuality, glorifying of sexual sins and married men gawking at other women while talking complete trash amongst one another.

We are much like the frog in hot water that doesn’t know it is being cooked. Think about this, just over 40 years ago on the Ed Sullivan show, they refused to show Elvis Presley from the waist down shaking his hips. Today, people consider it silly that happened. But where are we today with simulated sex on the stage of MTV? We are lost in a world of sexual sin. But there is hope. Christ gives us hope. There is hope from God’s word how we can truly separate ourselves from this world. We know God calls us to live in the world, but not of the world. God tells us that He does not want us to conform to this world, but be transformed by a new mindset that is focused on His will. Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Here we see that we are to renew our minds so we can prove the will of God and that it is good, acceptable and perfect. Let’s take a look at what God’s will is for our life. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 explains these principles and more, “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”

Going through this passage you have to ask yourself three questions. First question is, am I trying to please myself or God? Everyone in this world begins as an incredibly selfish person. When we become a Christian we give up our rights and surrender them to God. In verse 1 we see that the Thessalonians were doing a pretty good job of walking in the ways of God. They were being an Acts 2 Church who was continually devoted to sound doctrine, fellowship, communion, prayer, worship, and giving. But Paul wanted to them to excel even more. Paul knew sexual immorality was a problem in the Thessalonian Church and he wanted to make it perfectly clear that God is calling them to be holy. When we look at our society and know we are in a society filled with sexual immorality, well the Thessalonians were in a society that was comparable to us, or even worse. They were involved in prostitution, adultery, homosexuality and pedophilia. The only difference from then to today is the exposure of it. We can’t get away from it today because it penetrates everywhere. We need to desire to learn how to be holy in this perverse world of ours.

In verse 2 Paul tells, “You know these commandments and these commandments came from God”. They are well aware of the need to abstain from sexual immorality. This is not something man has made up but it is the will of God. Verse 3 tells us that, it is His will for us to be pure. God cares so much about this topic to clearly state this is His will. He tells us it is our sanctification. Sanctification means to be set apart. Not to be like the world. God is telling us the world is full of sexual sin, but I require from you to be pure not to be like the pagans and their lustful passions. Perry Noble quotes on this same passage, “I can’t get to where I want to go, doing what I have always done.” God is telling us to be set apart from sin to holiness. James 4:4, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Corinthians 10:8, Ephesians 5:3-5, Colossians 3:5-6, Jude 1:7,  Revelation 21:8, All point to God distinct view of sexuality and sexual immorality

Do you think God is serious about this subject? I know He is. Reading in Amos, God does not play when it comes to sexual sin. Scripture is clear, God doesn’t play. God knows that sexual sin has more power to destroy you then any other sin. God is not trying to hold you back; He is trying to set you free. Second question, do I believe any lies about sex? We have all been exposed to the lies and yet most of us believe those lies. So how do we overcome this, how do we stand against sexual immorality? Verses 4 and 5 tell us how. First, we need to learn to posses our own vessels, to deny ourselves. Don’t let your body control you. We need to gain mastery over our bodies. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “but I discipline my body and make it my slave.” I believe this applies in a self serving sense just as well. Many men suffer through selfish desires of sexual immorality and God’s command to practice self-discipline is clear. We live in a world where we have to acknowledge and have to learn to control our thoughts and our actions. We have to set up our lives and learn what we can or cannot handle. It is a discipline. You have to discipline yourself to realize, that what God is calling you to do, is greater than sexual sin. Verse 5 really gives us the root problem of sexual immorality, and that is, not knowing God. The lustful passions of the Gentiles were a result of not knowing God. I want to read a quote from John Piper because I think he articulates what it means to know God. “It’s knowledge that stuns you, and humbles you. It’s knowledge that wins you and holds you. It comes like it did for Lydia when the Lord opened the eyes of her heart. At one moment you think you will burst with its fullness, and suddenly there is a chasm of longing for more. It’s the knowledge we call faith—the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. It’s a knowledge that is so real, so precious, so satisfying to your soul, that any thought, any attitude, any emotion, any addiction which threatens to hinder this knowledge will be attacked with all the spiritual zeal of a threatened life. This is the fight of faith that rages in the godly soul when lust lures the mind away from God.”

How do I know God? There is only one way for myself and other men; and that is through His word. How do I stop being sexually immoral, and how do I become pure? I want to tell you that the answer is found in Psalm 119:11, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” This is it. This is what we need. We need the word of God in us, through us, it is everything. It is the only way I know what God wants from me. We need to want to consume it, meditate on it, live it, obey it, and most of all apply it to our lives. This is the solution. This is what we need to stand upon. This is what will give us victory in our bondage to sin. It is the guide book on how to live our lives and to keep from sinning. This is what will convict your heart to stop slapping Jesus in the face with our sins.

God gives us free moral will to choose between right and wrong. Now God has a sovereign will that will get accomplished no matter what moral choices we may make. Look at verse 8, if we reject this idea and say that I don’t care what God thinks about this, then are we not only sinning against God but we are rejecting Him. We are not rejecting some human philosophy but the actual will of God. Why does Paul mention the Holy Spirit in this verse? It is because the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. If we are not convicted by this type of sin then God is not in us. J. Vernon McGee writes, “A child of God is in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. He cannot continue to live in sin because the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The time will come when the child of God will long for holiness in his own life.”

So what does the bible say about practical steps of dealing with sexual sin. Here are 5 steps: Confess your sin 1 John 1:9, God is faithful to forgive us of our sins. Then confess it to a brother. Get an accountability partner who you can discuss these things with. Be like Joseph and RUN. He was confronted with the potential of a sexual sin and instead of pondering it, going over it in his mind and toying with the idea, HE RAN from it. What does this mean to you and me today? Throw the TV out, get rid of the computer and run from the temptation. Hide God’s word in your heart. Make the word a daily part of your life. It is the only weapon we have against the evil one. Prayer, we need to be on our knees praying for holiness, praying to God to help us obey his commandments. Stop, whatever it takes, stop it now. Just stop. Stop your complete selfishness. Deny yourself and pick up your cross. James 1:21, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”

I owe my body to someone else. This is where the respect for women comes in and respecting the relationships that God allowing you to be a part of. I have to hold out. I have to put down the desires of the flesh and extend my desire to see God glorified above all else. 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive making it obedient to Christ.” God calls us to fill our thoughts with Him. The past has no hold on me, but reminds me of how much I want to press forward now and forever. Press forward and Flee Sexual Immorality and cling to the God who has already won the battle!